Priesthood isn't an assignment – it's a mission, Pope tells seminarians

Vatican City, Feb 16, 2018 / 07:38 am

On Friday Pope Francis met with the community of the Pontifical Maronite College, explaining how their seminary formation isn't about them or even for them, but for the people they will eventually serve in their parishes and dioceses.

"The human, intellectual and spiritual enrichment you receive in these years is not a reward for you, much less a good to be earned for your career, but a treasure for the faithful who await you in your Eparchies and to whom your life looks forward to being donated," the Pope said Feb. 16.

"You will not be called to exercise, even well, an assignment – it is not enough! – but to live a mission, without savings, without many calculations, without limits of availability."

Pope Francis held an audience at the Vatican with around 45 seminarians and priests of the Pontifical Maronite College in Rome, which was founded in 1584 by Pope Gregory XIII as a place of study for Catholic seminarians of the Maronite rite.

The Maronite Catholic Church traces its roots to the early Christians of Antioch, the first believers to be called Christian. In its liturgy, the rite still uses the Syriac language, which is a dialect of Aramaic, the same language Jesus spoke.

The rite takes its name from the fourth century hermit St. Maron, whose way of life inspired many monks and laity to follow him, eventually resulting in the distinctive Maronite rite.

During the encounter, Pope Francis told the priests and seminarians that as pastors, they will need to listen to people a lot, and that God will "confirm you through their lives, through many encounters, through its unpredictable surprises."

"And you, as pastors in close contact with the flock, will savor the most genuine joy when you bend over them, making yours their joys and their sufferings, and when, at the end of the day, you can tell the Lord the love you have received and given," he said.

Pointing to the Maronite Church's recent Feb. 9 celebration of St. Maron, the Pope praised the monastic life of the saint, saying it shows a proper discontent with living only a moderate or mediocre faith, but wants "to love with all its heart."

"It is by drawing on these pure sources that your ministry will be good water for today's thirsty people," he explained.

Our heart is like a compass: It orients and directs itself toward what it loves, Francis said, quoting the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be."

He explained that these years of study, spiritual formation, and community life in Rome are a good time to "arrange the heart well."

"All this you are called to live in a time not without suffering and dangers, but also pregnant with hope," he said, pointing out how the people they will be called to serve will be unsettled by the instability which continues to plague the Middle East.

They "will search for, in you, pastors that console them: pastors with the word of Jesus on their lips, with their hands ready to wipe away their tears and caress suffering faces," he continued.

"Pastors forgetful of themselves and their own interests; pastors who are never discouraged, because they draw every day, from the Eucharistic Bread, the sweet power of love that satisfies; pastors who are not afraid to 'be eaten' by the people, as good bread offered to brothers."