FEATURE: ‘In Every Priest, Another Christ’ – Pope & Cardinal Parolin Thank New Opus Dei Priests for Their ‘Yes’ to Christ

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Below is a ZENIT-provided translation of the full homily of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, at the Ordination:

Homily Given at the Ordination of

Opus Dei Presbyters

Sant’Eugenio Basilica

 Rome, September 5, 2020

Dear Prelate of the Opus Dei,

Dear Brothers in the Priesthood,

Dear Ordinands,

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I greet each of you with warmly and affectionately, grateful for your invitation to this Ordination of 29 priests of the Opus Dei’s Personal Prelature.

We have just heard Jesus proclaim Himself Good Shepherd: in fact, I would like to share some thoughts with you on this.

The idea has rather taken root that the shepherd designates almost exclusively the leading of the flock: the shepherd is certainly he who leads, who, preceding the sheep, points out to them the way, sets the pace, traces the course of what we in fact call “pastoral.” However, a wider perspective emerges in the Gospel. Jesus evidences the difference between the shepherd and the mercenary. As opposed to the latter who interpret their work as a job, the shepherd does not play a role but assumes a style of life. In fact, in those times especially, he was not understood as someone who had a task to be performed, but as one who shared everything with his flock. The shepherd didn’t live as he liked, but as was better for the flock, he was not where he wished to be, but where the flock was. He moved with the sheep and spent every hour of the day and of the night in their company. More than leading the flock, he lived immersed in it.

Therefore, the image of the shepherd seems to refer first of all not to government, but to life. It’s no accident that Jesus characterizes the shepherd as he who gives “his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). The ministry you are about to assume, dear brothers, is a question of life: assimilated to the Good Shepherd, immersed in His flock, you won’t be called, in the first place, to “do something” — perhaps not even that to which you feel more inclined to — but to give and to share your life. Thus you will be able to realize fully the call to act “in persona Christi”: not only in the administration of the Sacraments, but by embodying Jesus’ style, because, as Saint Josemaria Escriva wrote, “the priest — whoever he is — is always another Christ”, (The Way, 66).

Christ the Good Shepherd came to seek us where we were lost, in the dark valleys of sin and of death: He took our sin upon Himself; He suffered our evil; He shared our death, dying on the cross. He redeemed us this way, gathering us with mercy and placing us with love on His shoulders, as Christian art portrayed immediately, in an eminent way, in this city. The life of the priest is called to witness the joy of the encounter between God and us, the joy that God feels in showing us mercy. Saint John of the Cross wrote: ”It is truly a marvel to see the pleasure and joy that the loving Shepherd and Spouse of the soul feels in seeing it rediscovered and placed on His shoulders and Held with His hands in this desired union” (Spiritual Canticle, Manuscript B, Strophe 22,1). To be pastors today means to become witnesses of mercy. “Today is the time of mercy!” — the Holy Father proclaimed in the imminence of the opening of the last Jubilee (Homily, October 25, 2015). So, the grace of the ecclesial today and your existences meet on this day, in the sign of the merciful shepherd that gives his life for the flock.

I’ll try to draw a couple of more practical consequences from this first aspect, inherent to the life of the shepherd, referring to the words and to the forgiveness of the presbyter. The words with which you preach cannot but be words of life. The First Reading has reminded us that preaching always has the kerygma at the center, the perennial and healing novelty of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for us (cf. Acts 10:39-40). It is the foundation of the proclamation: proclaimed always, before exhorting, is the beauty of salvation. In regard to forgiveness, in the Second Reading Saint Paul has reminded us of its absolute prerequisite. Therefore, be ambassadors of mercy, bearers of forgiveness that revives existence, priests that love to dispose brothers and sisters to allow themselves be reconciled with God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20). I know how much attention and care you give to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to Confession: I can do no other than exhort you to continue to do so, to be dispensers of that grace and of that forgiveness of the Lord of which today’s world is in extreme need!

I propose a second word to you, always inherent to the figure of the pastor: simplicity. We think of the shepherds present at Jesus’ birth: they certainly did not represent the cultural apex of the people and they were not the expression carried out of ritual purity, yet they were the first called to receive the Messiah who appeared on earth. We think of the young David that, in as much as shepherd, was not even counted by the father among the ideal sons to be consecrated. But the Lord, who looks at the heart, loves the little ones and seeks the simple.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, the Saint whose Liturgical Memorial is observed today, can come to our aid. Perhaps you know the “Simple Way” she delineated, tracing in a few words the essential trajectory of the believer: “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace,” — simple words to connect each one with the poles of existence: God and others. The first and decisive step suggested by the Saint is to find time every day for silence and to enter in prayer. This constitutive dimension of the believer — “foundation of the spiritual edifice” was defined by Saint Josemaria, not failing to recall that it is “always fruitful” (The Way, 83.101) — it will represent for you also a true and proper opus to exercise faithfully for the whole People of God. Mother Teresa, when approached by a priest dedicated to works of charity, who was in a hurry to speak to her of his commitment and activities, often interrupted him brusquely to ask him: “How many hours do you pray every day?” (A. Comastri, Mother Teresa: A Drop of Clean Water, 2016, 35).

The simplicity, which stems from the transparency of prayer, implies also concrete choices to go to the essential of the ministry. In fact, to be truly such pastors one must have first of all a well-ordered life and this also means not to let oneself be engulfed by a thousand things, with the risk of losing the simplicity of a heart fully dedicated to the Lord. Saint Escriva expressed himself thus: “The Lord knows that giving is proper to those in love, and He Himself indicates to us what He desires from us. He doesn’t care about riches, fruits or the animals of the earth, of the sea or of the air, because everything is His; He wants something intimate that we must offer Him with freedom: My son, give Me your heart. You see, He is not content with sharing; He wants all. He doesn’t seek our things, He seek us, ourselves” (Homily for the Epiphany of the Lord, January 6, 1956).

Life, simplicity and, finally, mission. It’s the third word that I would like to share in connection with the good pastor. He goes in search of the lost sheep: he leaves the fold, and is not content with seeing the crowd of the ninety-nine, but wishes to reach the only one lost (cf. Luke 15:4-7). This heartfelt desire of the Lord also emerges in today’s text: “I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So, there shall be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

You, dear brothers from various latitudes and from different contexts, are being ordained presbyters during a Pontificate that is transmitting to you, in addition to the priority of mercy lived and to the call to evangelical simplicity, the exigency, which can no longer be postponed, of the mission, as the main vocation of the Church. To be a Church going forth means no longer to conceive oneself as an end, but as a means; to take not ourselves but the Lord to the world. It means to be not introverted but extroverted, not anxious to obtain prominence, but to make Jesus known to those, as happens especially in the most secularized contexts, who think that the question of God belongs to the past.

We are called to make the voice of the Good Shepherd heard, that voice that the sheep recognize because they feel themselves recognized by it, that is, loved, as the biblical meaning indicates of the verb to know. This requires to combine pastoral charity and healthy evangelizing creativity, fidelity and flexibility, well-rooted faith and an available heart; it requires to go and encounter, more than

to wait, to accept not reject, the most disquieting and complex questions of today, particularly those of the young generations, often far and sometimes riotous.

It’s difficult to carry on one’s shoulders disordered lives, apparently empty, but it is these sheep that, today, in particular, the Lord desires us to approach.

Concluding, it seems beautiful to me to let ourselves be challenged again by Mother Teresa, or better, from the beginning by the writing that appears on the wall of the Children’s House at Calcutta; “Man is unreasonable, illogical, egocentric. It doesn’t matter, love him.” On that wall appears the overcoming of the logic of walls. There is the invitation to amplify, without fear and without pretexts, the gift of grace that the Lord gives us freely. In fact, to be ministers means to be servants. Dear brothers, if every day you let the voice of the Good Shepherd, who has served you by giving you Himself, vibrate in your heart, sometimes hurting it and challenging it, then, drawn by Him, you will express words and gestures of life, you will become prophets of evangelical simplicity, you will spread renewed mission ardour.

I confide to you that I was truly moved when I heard your answer: ad sum! The Church encourages you, She accompanies you and She thanks you for your yes. May the Good Shepherd, who wills to conform you to Himself, bring to fulfilment what He has begun in you.