Vatican daily publishes article on priesthood by Legionaries of Christ vicar

Rome, Italy, Feb 5, 2010 / 15:16 pm

L’Osservatore Romano published an article on Thursday by Father Luis Garza Medina, the Vicar General of the Legionaries of Christ, in which he reflected on what priests should do in response to the challenges “that confront humanity” and the “drama of modern man.”

In his article, Father Garza provides a series of reflections on the Year for Priests. The Legionaries' Vicar General notes that “the priest, animated by the awareness that Christ is the only Savior of the world and that he has been made a minister of redemption by means of the Sacrament of Orders, is called to live in today’s world, amidst the challenges that this presents for the Gospel of Christ, with confidence and holy audacity.”

Father Garza said the priest must be “a man of God” and that “his will and faculties must be imbued with the sentiments of Christ.”

He also said that the priest “should be a man of prayer, a man who listens to and meditates on the Word in order to lovingly comply with what God wants of him. He should celebrate the sacraments with the fervor and anointment proper to the sacred things he is charged with, knowing that because he is a man of God he should make a special effort to resist the dizzying and constant rat-race of the modern world.”
 
After pointing out that “the priest is a man profoundly aware that salvation comes from God,” Father Garza wrote, “The priest seeks the good of the person, he doesn’t seek to reduce him to a number or a statistic” and should be a sign of communion for his peers and for the entire Church.