“The priesthood can never be a way to achieve security in life or to gain a position in society".This was Benedict XVI stern warning to priests today as he conferred the sacrament of Holy Orders on 14 deacons from the diocese of Rome today in St Peter’s basilica.
The concept is not new to the Pope's teaching, and was repeated later, before the Angelus prayer, after which he also appealed that " peace and security will soon be restored in southern Kyrgyzstan" and recalled the World Refugee Day celebrated today.
The real way to be priest was thus indicated by Benedict XVI, inspired by the Gospel episode of “St Peter’s confession” from that "you are the Christ of God," which made Simon the first of the apostles.
Commenting on Jesus’ reply, "that being a disciple means “losing oneself”, but only to fully rediscover oneself (cf. Lk 9.22-24)," Benedict warns that " the man who aspires to the priesthood to enhance his personal prestige and power has misunderstood the meaning at the root of this ministry. The man who wants above all to achieve a personal ambition, achieve personal success, will always be a slave to himself and public opinion. In order to be considered, he will have to flatter; to say what people want to hear, he will have to adjust to changing fashions and opinions and thus deprive himself of the vital relationship with the truth, reducing himself to condemning tomorrow what he would praise today. A man who plans his life like this, a priest who sees his ministry in these terms, does not truly love God and others, only himself and, paradoxically, ends up losing himself. The priesthood - let us always remember - rests on the courage to say yes to another will, in the awareness, to be nurtured everyday, that our compliance with the will of God, our "immersion" in this will, does not cancel our originality, rather on the contrary, it helps us enter deeper into the truth of our being and our ministry. "
"We too - he said later, after the celebration, before the Angelus, addressing the 20 thousand people present in St Peter's Square - can know God through faith in his Word and Sacraments, Jesus invites us to follow Him every day and also reminds us that to be his disciples we must take upon ourselves the power of his Cross, the culmination of our goods and the crown of our hope”.
First, addressing the newly ordained, Benedict XVI stressed that "the central one task of the priest is the celebration of the Eucharist. "You are entrusted the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, you are entrusted his body given his blood shed". "We pray to the Lord to give you an ever vigilant and enthusiastic consciousness of this gift, which is at the centre of your being priests! So that he may give you the grace to be able to experience in depth all the beauty and strength of this and at the same time your priestly service, the grace to live this ministry with consistency and generosity every day”.
Even in our days, he said later during the Angelus "there are many Christians in the world, inspired by love for God, who take up the cross every day, the cross of daily trials, and the cross procured by human barbarity, which sometimes requires the courage of the ultimate sacrifice".
Extending his gaze to the tragedies of today's world, the Pope, after the Angelus, launched an "urgent call for peace and security” to “ be restored soon in southern Kyrgyzstan”. "To the relatives of victims and those suffering from this tragedy - he continued - I express my heartfelt closeness and assure you of my prayers. I also invite all ethnic communities in the country to renounce violence or any provocation and ask the international community to work so that humanitarian aid quickly reaches the affected populations".
Finally today's celebration of the UN World Refugee Day was also remembered, "to draw attention to the problems of those who have been forced to leave their land families, and customs arriving in environments that are often very different .
The refugees want to find acceptance and be recognized in their dignity and their fundamental rights, at the same time, they want to offer their contribution to the society that welcomes them.
Let us pray - he concluded – so that in a just reciprocity, we may respond adequately to this expectation and that they may show the respect they nurture for the identity of the communities that receive them".
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