Benedict XVI tells recently appointed bishops: "Prayer is Always the Best Employed . . ."

VATICAN - Benedict XVI tells recently appointed bishops: “The time that the priest and bishop dedicate to God in prayer is always the best employed, because prayer is the soul of pastoral activity...the inexhaustible source

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of missionary fervor.”

Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) - “One of the essential tasks of the bishop is precisely to help priests, by example and with fraternal support, to follow their vocation faithfully, and to work with enthusiasm and love in the Lord's vineyard.” This is what the Holy Father Benedict XVI said in an audience held on September 21, in the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, with Bishops ordained in the last year, who had participated in an Encounter promoted by the Congregations for the Bishops and for the Eastern Churches.

Recalling the context of the Year for Priests that is being celebrated, and the Letter that he sent on the occasion, to all priests, Benedict XVI highlighted that: “The imitation of Jesus the Good Shepherd is, for every priest, the obligatory path for their own sanctification and the essential condition for exercising the pastoral ministry responsibly. If this is true for priests, it is even more so for us, dear brother bishops.”

Recalling the gesture of the priest placing his hands in the Bishop's hands in the rite for priestly ordination, the Pope cited the observation made in the Post-Synodal Exhortation Pastores gregis of John Paul II: “The new priest chooses to entrust himself to the bishop and, for his part, the bishop commits himself to guard these hands (No. 47). Well seen, this is a solemn task that is configured for the bishop as paternal responsibility in the custody and promotion of the priestly identity of the presbyters entrusted to his pastoral care, an identity that unfortunately we see today subjected to a harsh test by growing secularization.”

Benedict XVI continued, saying that in a particular way, the Bishop “nourish the spiritual life in priests, to foster in them harmony between prayer and the apostolate...A presbyter's mission and, with greater reason, that of a bishop, entails today a lot of work that tends to absorb him continually and totally. The difficulties increase and the incumbencies multiply, also because we are faced with new realities and growing pastoral demands. Nevertheless, attention to the problems of every day and the initiatives directed to leading men on the way of God, must never distract us from our profound and personal union with Christ. To be available to people should not diminish or obfuscate our availability to the Lord. The time that the priest and bishop dedicate to God in prayer is always the best employed, because prayer is the soul of pastoral activity, the 'lymph' that gives it strength, it is a support in moments of uncertainty and the inexhaustible source of missionary fervor and fraternal love toward all.”

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In concluding his address, the Pope mentioned that “the Eucharist is at the center of priestly life” and told the Bishops: “May the Eucharistic celebration illumine your day and that of your priests, imprinting its grace and spiritual influence in sad and joyful, agitated and peaceful moments of action and contemplation. A privileged way of prolonging in the day the mysterious sanctifying action of the Eucharist is to recite devoutly the Liturgy of the Hours, and also Eucharistic adoration, lectio divina and the contemplative prayer of the rosary. The holy Cure d'Ars teaches us how precious are the priest's empathy with the Eucharistic sacrifice and the education of the faithful in the Eucharistic presence and in communion. With the Word and the Sacraments -- I recalled in the Letter to Priests -- St. John Mary Vianney edified his people.”

(SL) (Agenzia Fides 22/9/2009)

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