CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave Monday upon receiving in audience bishops who were ordained in the last year.
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Dear Brothers in the episcopate!
My heartfelt thanks for your visit, on the occasion of the congress promoted for the bishops who have recently taken up their pastoral ministry. These days of reflection, prayer and updating are really propitious to help you, dear brothers, to familiarize yourselves better with the tasks that you are called to assume as pastors of diocesan communities; they are also days of friendly coexistence that constitute a singular experience of that «collegialitas affective» that unites all bishops in one apostolic body, together with the Successor of Peter, «perpetual and visible foundation of unity» (Lumen Gentium, 23).
I thank Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for the courteous words he addressed to me in your name; I greet Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, and express my acknowledgment to all those who in different ways collaborate in the organization of this annual meeting.
This year, your congress is inserted in the context of the Year for Priests, proclaimed on the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney. As I wrote in the letter sent for the occasion to all priests, this special year is «meant to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a stronger and more incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world.»
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. What is more, it is important not to forget that 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.
In this connection, in the post-synodal exhortation «Pastores Gregis,» my venerated predecessor John Paul II observed that the priest’s gesture, when he puts his own hands in the hands of the bishop on the day of his priestly ordination, commits both of them: the priest and the bishop. 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. Therefore the bishop — continues «Pastores Gregis» — «will always strive to relate to his priests as a father and brother who loves them, listens to them, welcomes them, corrects them, supports them, seeks their cooperation and, as much as possible, is concerned for their human, spiritual, ministerial and financial well-being» (ibid., No. 47).
In a special way, the bishop is called to nourish the spiritual life in priests, to foster in them harmony between prayer and the apostolate, looking at the example of Jesus and of the Apostles, whom he called first of all «to be with him» (Mark 3:14). An indispensable condition to produce good fruits is, in fact, that the priest remain united to the Lord; herein lies the secret of the fecundity of his ministry: Only if he is incorporated with Christ, true Vine, will he bear fruit.
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.
The Eucharist is at the center of priestly life. In the apostolic exhortation «Sacramentum Caritatis» I stressed how «Mass is formative in the deepest sense of the word, since it fosters the priest’s configuration to Christ and strengthens him in his vocation» (No. 80). Therefore, 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. At the time of appointing him parish priest of Ars, the vicar-general of the Diocese of Belley said: «There is not much love of God in that parish, but you will put it there!» And that parish was transformed.
Dear new bishops, thank you for the service you render the Church with dedication and love. I greet you with affection and assure you of my constant support joined to prayer so that «you will go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide» (John 15:16). For this I invoke the intercession of Mary Regina Apostolorum, and I impart from my heart to you, your priests and your diocesan communities a special apostolic blessing.
[Translation by ZENIT]
