Circular: 20/2024 August 01, 2024
My dear Collaborators,
The month of August will surely keep us busy with organizing a lot of activities and programs at the parish level. This month brings with it the Feasts of St Alphonsus Liguori (Founder of the Redemptorists on August 01); St Peter Julian Eymard (Founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers on August 02); St John Marie Vianney (Patron Saint of the Pastoral Clergy on August 04); The Transfiguration of the Lord on August 06; the Memorial of St Dominic on August 08; the Feast of St Lawrence on August 10; the Memorial of St Maximilian Kolbe on August 14; The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Independence Day of our country on August 15; the Memorial of St Bernard on August 20; the Memorial of St Pius X on August 21; the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 22; the Feast of St Bartholomew on August 24; the Memorial of St Monica on August 27; the Memorial of St Augustine on August 28 and the Memorial of the Passion of St John the Baptist on August 29. In addition, we are going to start the Novenas in preparation for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary from August 30.
On your behalf, I thank Bishop Bernard Lancy Pinto, Bishop of Aurangabad for having preached an inspiring Recollection, this morning, for all the clergy and Religious Men and Women. I am sure, all of us, in some way or the other will translate all that the Bishop has said into action and become priests after the heart of Jesus as our Patron Saint, St John Marie Vianney did in his lifetime.
I cannot but thank you immensely for the priests you are in our Diocese of Nashik. Through your selfless service and your relentless pastoral ministry, our people are being well cared for and they are surely experiencing the love of Jesus in their lives. Without your pastoral service, our people would feel isolated and deprived of the Sacraments, prayer and worship and some may drift away from the Church. May I request you to visit our people regularly so that they continue to feel loved and cared for. I am aware that the huge distances you have to travel from your presbytery to reach out to your people could prevent you from visiting your parishioners, but I beg of you to visit them from time to time. In the words of Pope Francis, be close to your people. Enclosed, please find 4 key traits in the Life of a Priest as outlined by Pope Francis.
I am very happy to note that some of our Commissions and Committees have become active. We see how from time to time the Directors and/or Coordinators of the Commissions and Committees are sending us information and are requesting us for our cooperation. May I request you to collaborate with the Directors/Coordinators so that we can make our Diocese a truly Synodal one where no one is lost, but all are walking together, marching forward with a hope to experience the love of Jesus Christ in our lives.
I want to remind you to pray for the success of the forthcoming second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will take place in Rome from Wednesday, October 02, 2024 to Sunday, October 27, 2024. You may include this intention in the Prayer of the Faithful every Sunday.
Looking ahead, we need to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025 in our Diocese. The theme of the Jubilee 2025 is very pertinent: Pilgrims of Hope. If we look around us, we will see many people who have lost a sense of hope: children, youth, adults, the aged, migrants: the list is endless. As pilgrims on this earth, we need to motivate people to “place their hope in the Lord” and the Lord will surely bless them with peace, joy and happiness in their lives. We have already formed a Core Committee for the celebration of the Jubilee 2025 and Fr Kishor Vidathe is the Coordinator of the Committee. I am sure the Committee will plan activities and programs so that we celebrate the Jubilee 2025 in a meaningful and joyful manner.
As I come to the end of this letter, I wish you God’s abundant blessings in your life. May each one of us continue to be dedicated and committed disciples of the Lord Jesus today and always.
With every good wish,
Yours in Christ,
+Barthol Barretto Bishop, Diocese of Nashik
Encl.: a.a.
RETREAT FOR DIOCESAN PRIESTS Dates: Sunday, November 10, 2024 (Dinner) to Friday, November 15, 2024 Venue: Satyagiri Dominican Retreat Centre, Igatpuri PLEASE BLOCK THE DATES AND ATTEND THE RETREAT |
SOME EXCERPTS FROM THE ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS AT THE SYMPOSIUM ON THE PRIESTHOOD February 17, 2022
On the occasion of the Symposium on the Priesthood, Pope Francis spoke about the four characteristics of “Closeness” for priests:
Closeness to God
First closeness to God, that is, to the Lord of closeness. “I am the vine, you are the branches.” “Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John’s Gospel speaks about “remaining”. – being close to God (Jn 15:5-7).
A priest is called to intimacy with God. Thus, he will be able to draw all the strength needed for his ministry. This is what “grafts” us to God making us fruitful. Closeness to Jesus and his word, protects us from “stumbling blocks”. Like the Master, you will experience joy, wedding feasts, miracles and healings, multiplications of loaves and repose, moments of praise. But you will also experience ingratitude, rejection, doubt and solitude, to the point of crying out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46).
Closeness to Jesus makes us rely not on our own strength but on the Lords, because we look to him, cling to him and cry out: “Lord, keep me from falling into temptation! Make me realize that I am experiencing a critical moment in my life and that you are with me, to test my faith and my love” (C.M. MARTINI, Perseverance in Trials. Reflections on Job, Collegeville, 1996). Yet it can sometimes take the form of a struggle with the Lord, especially in those moments when his absence is most felt in our own lives and in the lives of the persons entrusted to us, and asking for his blessing (cf. Gen 32:25-7), which will be a source of life for many. At times this is a struggle. A priest who works here in the Curia – he is young and has a difficult job, keeping track of things, said to me that he returned home tired, but he took a little rest in front of Our Lady with his rosary in hand before going to bed. This Curial official, this Vatican employee, needed that closeness. To be sure, sometimes people in the Curia are much criticized, but I can also say and bear witness that there truly are saints in the Curia.
Many crises in the priesthood originate precisely in a poor life of prayer, a lack of intimacy with the Lord. I want to point this out even in formation: the spiritual life is one thing, religious practice is another. “How is your spiritual life going?” “Good, good. I make my meditation in the morning, I pray the rosary, I pray the breviary and all the rest. I’m doing everything. No, this is religious practice. But how is your spiritual life going? I can think of important moments of my own life, where closeness to the Lord proved decisive in sustaining me, sustaining me in dark moments. The intimacy born of prayer, the spiritual life, concrete closeness to God through listening to his word, the celebration of the Eucharist, the silence of adoration, entrustment to Mary, the wise accompaniment of a guide and the sacrament of Reconciliation… Without these concrete “forms of closeness”, a priest is merely a weary hireling who has none of the benefits of the Lord’s friends.
Closeness with God enables the priest to touch the hurt in our hearts, which, if embraced, disarms us even to the point of making possible an encounter. The prayer that, like fire, stirs up our priestly life is the plea of a contrite and humble heart, which, as the Scripture tells us, the Lord does not disdain (cf. Ps 51:17). “They call and the Lord hears and rescues them from their distress. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save” (Ps 34:17-18).
In the words of Saint John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). Intimacy with God makes all this possible, for in prayer we realize that we are great in his eyes, and so, for priests close to the Lord, it is easy to become small in the eyes of the world. There, in that closeness, we no longer fear to be configured to the crucified Jesus, as is demanded of us in the Rite of Priestly Ordination. This is very beautiful yet we often forget it.
Closeness to the Bishop
Obedience is not a disciplinary attribute but the deepest sign of the bonds uniting us in communion. To obey - obeying the Bishop, reminds us that no one “owns” God’s will, which must be understood only through discernment. Obedience is thus attentive listening to the will of God. This attitude of attentive listening makes us realize that none of us is the beginning and the end of life, but that each of us must necessarily interact with others. The “internal logic” of closeness – in this case with the Bishop, but with others too – enables us to conquer all temptations to closedmindedness, self-justification and living our lives as “bachelors”. When priests close themselves off, they end up as “bachelors”, with all the quirks of “bachelors” and this is not good. Instead, this closeness invites us to listen to others, in order to find the way that leads to truth and life.
The Bishop is a father and must show this closeness. He remains for each priest and for every particular Church a bond that helps discern the will of God. Yet we should not forget that the Bishop himself can be a means for this discernment only if he is himself attentive to the lives of his priests and of the holy people of God entrusted to his care. As I wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, “we need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart that makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur. Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply bystanders. Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has sown in our lives” (No. 171).
Evil, in order to destroy the fruitfulness of the Church’s work, seeks to undermine the bonds that establish and preserve us in unity. To defend the bonds of a priest with his particular Church, and with his Bishop, makes priestly life trustworthy and sure. Obedience is the fundamental decision to accept what is asked of us, and to do so as a concrete sign of that universal sacrament of salvation which is the Church. Obedience can in some cases lead to tension, but never a rupture. This necessarily demands that priests pray for their bishops and feel free to express their opinions with respect, courage and sincerity. Likewise, bishops should demonstrate humility, an ability to listen, to be self-critical, and to let themselves be helped.
Closeness to other priests
The third form of closeness - closeness to other priests (the fraternity) which emerges from the first two. Jesus is present wherever there are brothers and sisters who love one another: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20). Fraternity means choosing deliberately to pursue holiness together with others, and not by oneself. As an African proverb, which you know well, says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others”. Sometimes it seems that the Church is slow, and that is true. Yet I like to think of it as the slowness of those who have chosen to walk in fraternity. Also accompanying those who are least, but always in fraternity.
Saint Paul, in the First Letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 13), has left us a clear “roadmap” of love and, pointed out the goal of fraternity. Before all else, to learn patience, the ability to feel responsible for others, to bear their burdens, to suffer in some way with them. The opposite of patience is indifference, the distance we create with others, so as not to get involved in their lives. Many priests experience the drama of solitude, of loneliness. Indeed, it can appear that from others we can expect only judgment, not goodness or kindness. Others seem unable to rejoice in the good things happening in our lives, or we ourselves seem unable to rejoice when we see good things happening in the lives of others. This inability to rejoice in the good of others is envy which is very present in our circles; it is an obstacle to the pedagogy of love, not merely a sin to be confessed. Sin is the end result; it comes from an attitude of envy. Envy in priestly communities is a destructive attitude: through the envy of the devil, sin entered the world (cf. Wis 2:24). It is not that everyone is envious but the temptation to envy is there at hand - from envy comes gossip.
Fraternal love does not insist on its own way, or yield to anger or resentment. When I encounter the meanness of others, I choose not to harbour a grudge, even perhaps to the point of rejoicing over evil in the case of those who have caused me suffering. True love rejoices in the truth and considers it a grave sin to offend truth and the dignity of our brothers and sisters through slander, detraction and gossip. And this is very sad. When we ask for information in order to appoint someone a Bishop, many times we receive information poisoned by envy. This is a sickness of our presbyterates.
Fraternal love, for priests, finds expression in pastoral charity (cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis, 23), which inspires us to live that love concretely as mission. We can say that we love only if we learn to express love in the way that Saint Paul describes. Those who live with the syndrome of Cain, convinced that they are incapable of loving others because they themselves feel unloved and unappreciated, end up living always as restless wanderers, never feeling quite at home, and precisely for this reason all the more exposed to evil: hurting themselves and hurting others. This is why love among priests has the role of safeguarding, of safeguarding each other mutually.
I would also add that when priestly fraternity, closeness among priests, thrives and bonds of true friendship exist, it likewise becomes possible to experience with greater serenity the life of celibacy. Celibacy is a gift that the Latin Church preserves, yet it is a gift that, to be lived as a means of sanctification, calls for healthy relationships, relationships of true esteem and true goodness that are deeply rooted in Christ. Without friends and without prayer, celibacy can become an unbearable burden and a counter-witness to the very beauty of the priesthood.
Closeness to people
Our relationship with the holy People of God is for each of us not a duty but a grace: “Loving others is a spiritual force drawing us to union with God” (Evangelii Gaudium, 272). Thus, the proper place of every priest is in the midst of people, in close relationship to others. In Evangelii Gaudium, I stressed that “to be evangelizers of souls, we need to develop a spiritual taste for being close to people’s lives and to discover that this is itself a source of greater joy. Mission is at once a passion for Jesus and a passion for his people. When we stand before Jesus crucified, we see the depth of his love which exalts and sustains us, but at the same time, unless we are blind, we begin to realize that Jesus’ gaze, burning with love, expands to embrace all his faithful people. We realize once more that he wants to make use of us to draw closer to his beloved people. Jesus wants to make use of priests to draw closer to the holy faithful People of God. He takes us from the midst of his people and he sends us to his people; without the sense of belonging we cannot understand our deepest identity” (No. 268). Priestly identity cannot be understood without this belonging to the holy faithful People of God.
I am convinced that, for a renewed understanding of the identity of the priesthood, it is important nowadays to be closely involved in people’s real lives, to live alongside them, without escape routes. “Sometimes we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people” (ibid., 270). “A people” is not a logical category, no; it is a mythic category. To understand this we must approach it as we approach a mythic category.
Closeness to the People of God, a closeness that, enriched by those three other forms of closeness, invites and indeed demands that we imitate the Lord’s own “style”. That style is one of closeness, compassion and tenderness, in which we act not as judges, but as Good Samaritans who acknowledge the wounds of our people, their silent sufferings, the self-denial and sacrifices made by so many fathers and mothers to support their families. A style of closeness that allows us to pour balm upon wounds and to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord (cf. Is 61:2). It is imperative to remember that the People of God are hoping to find shepherds in the style of Jesus. Not “clerical functionaries” or “professionals of the sacred” – let’s recall that period in France, the time of the Curé of Ars: he was a curate, but there was also “monsieur l’abbé”, a clerical functionary. Today, too, people are asking us to be shepherds of the people and not “professionals of the sacred”, shepherds filled with compassion and concern. Men of courage, ready to draw near to those in pain and lend a helping hand. Contemplative men, whose closeness to people enables them to proclaim before the wounds of our world the power of the Resurrection even now at work.
One of the distinctive marks of this, our society of “networks”, is people’s growing sense of being “orphaned”, a current phenomenon. Though connected to everybody and everything, we lack the feeling of belonging, which is something more than mere connectivity. The closeness of a pastor makes it possible to gather a community and foster the growth of that sense of belonging. For we belong to God’s holy and faithful people, which is called to be a sign of the breaking of the kingdom of heaven into the here and now of history. If their shepherd strays or withdraws, the sheep will scatter and be at the mercy of any and every wolf.
I would like to relate this closeness to the people of God with closeness to God, since the prayer of a shepherd is nurtured and becomes incarnate in the heart of God’s people. When he prays, a pastor bears the marks of the sorrows and joys of his people, which he presents in silence to the Lord, to be anointed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Such is the hope of every shepherd who trustingly and tirelessly works so that the Lord may bless his people.
The forms of closeness that the Lord demands – closeness with God, closeness with the Bishop, closeness among us priests and closeness with the holy faithful People of God – are not an added burden: they are a gift that he gives to keep our vocation alive and fruitful. If we are tempted to get caught up in interminable speeches, discussions about the theology of the priesthood or theories about what the priesthood should be, the Lord for his part simply looks upon us with tenderness and compassion. He shows priests the signposts that point the way to appreciating and rekindling their missionary zeal: closeness that is compassionate and tender, closeness to God, to the Bishop, to brother priests and to the people entrusted to their care. A closeness in the “style” of God himself, who is ever close to us, with compassion and tender love.
Thank you for your closeness and patience, thank you, thank you very much! I wish all of you well in your work. I am going to the library because I have many appointments this morning. Please pray for me and I will pray for you. I wish you all good work!
Pope Francis