Program of Priestly Formation 6th edition

SPIRITUAL DIMENSION | 101

Kingdom. 297 A man in formation for ministry must demonstrate the necessary freedom and affective maturity. 298 n. Simplicity of life : Spiritual formation encourages a simple approach to the material goods of this world, cultivating a “spirit of poverty in practical ways.” 299 Freed from excessive concern about posses sions, priests and seminarians, particularly those in religious insti tutes and societies of apostolic life, are able to serve in an unen cumbered way. To live with evangelical simplicity is to exercise responsible stewardship over God’s creation by using material goods in a way that is both responsive to the call of the Gospel and ecologically responsible. 300 The witness of a genuine simplic ity of life and of detachment from riches 301 is especially important in the context of affluence in the United States. Spiritual direc tors and priest formators must be sensitive to seminarians’ stew ardship of their own, the seminary’s, and the Church’s material resources. Spiritual formation for simplicity of life and steward ship flows directly from striving to have the mind of Christ Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, / did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. / Rather, he emptied himself” (Phil 2:6-7). This is the Lord Jesus who, again according to St. Paul, “for your sake . . . became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). o. Reconciliation : Spiritual formation fosters a reconciling spirit in those who aspire to be priests in the spirit of Jesus, who prayed that “all might be one.” A peacemaking and nonviolent way of life marks out those who have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation (see 2 Cor 5:18). The power that is entrusted to God’s ministers, a power that takes many forms, must always be 297 See CIC, c. 247 §1. “It is especially important that the priest understand the theological motivation of the Church’s law on celibacy. Inasmuch as it is a law, it expresses the Church’s will, even before the will of the subject expressed by his readiness. But the will of the Church finds its ultimate motivation in the link between celibacy and sacred ordination, which configures the priest to Jesus Christ the head and spouse of the Church. The Church, as the spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her head and spouse loved her. Priestly celibacy, then, is the gift of self in and with Christ to his Church and expresses the priest’s service to the Church in and with the Lord.” Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 29. See also Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 50. 298 See Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 110. 299 Ratio Fundamentalis , no. 111. 300 See Laudato Si’ , nos. 216-221. “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” Laudato Si’ , no. 217. 301 See Catechism of the Catholic Church , no. 2544.