Editorial

St. John Paul II’s final letter to priests is worth revisiting

The March 31 chrism Mass at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, as reported on page 1 of this week’s issue of The Criterion, is a liturgy celebrated each year in which Archbishop Charles C. Thompson blesses oils used in the dedication of churches and altars and the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, holy orders and the anointing of the sick across central and southern Indiana.

But the Mass is also noteworthy because priests serving in the archdiocese renew their ordination promises during the liturgy.

It is a powerful witness of faith when priests together, as a band of brothers dedicated to serving Christ and the people of God, annually repeat their commitment to live out their vocation in ordained ministry.

It should also serve as a reminder that our priests, who like so many of us face real challenges, need our prayers and are strengthened by them.

Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) News recently shared a story reflecting on St. John Paul II’s last Holy Thursday letter to priests in 2005, a tradition he began when he was elected universal shepherd and kept throughout his pontificate.

The OSV News article focused on eight points from St. John Paul II’s letter, and 21 years later, we believe they still speak to the heart of a holy priest.

—Eucharist as a formula of life

“I will take as my inspiration the words of eucharistic consecration,

which we say every day in persona Christi in order to make present on our altars the sacrifice made once and for all on Calvary,” Pope John Paul II

wrote. “These words provide us with illuminating insights for priestly spirituality: if the whole Church draws life from the Eucharist, all the more then must the life of a priest be ‘shaped’ by the Eucharist. So for us, the words of institution must be more than a formula of consecration: they must be a ‘formula of life’ ” (#1).

—Gratitude

“In the Eucharist, Jesus thanks the Father with us and for us,” the pope wrote. “How could this thanksgiving of Jesus fail to shape the life of a priest? He knows that he must cultivate a constant sense of gratitude for the many gifts he has received in the course of his life: in particular, for the gift of faith, which it is his task to proclaim, and for the gift of the priesthood, which consecrates him totally to the service of the kingdom of God. We have our crosses to bear—and we are certainly not the only ones!—but the gifts we have received are so great that we cannot fail to sing from the depths of our hearts our own magnificat” (#2).

—Priesthood as a gift to others

“If he is able to offer himself as a gift,” he wrote, “placing himself at the disposal of the community and at the service of anyone in need, his life takes on its true meaning” (#3).

—A life of obedience

“Obeying out of love, sacrificing even a certain legitimate freedom when the authoritative discernment of the bishop so requires,” Pope John Paul II wrote, “the priest lives out in his own flesh that ‘take and eat’ with which Christ, in the Last Supper, gave himself to the Church” (#3).

—Holiness

“Holiness, in fact, is the full expression of salvation. Only if our lives manifest the fact that we are saved do we become credible heralds of salvation” (#4).

“It is our relationship to the Eucharist that most clearly challenges us to lead a ‘sacred’ life,” he wrote. “This must shine forth from our whole way of being, but above all from the way we celebrate. Let us sit at the school of the saints!” (#6).

—Spirituality of remembrance

“The Eucharist does not simply commemorate a fact; it commemorates him! Through his daily repetition in persona Christi of the words of the ‘memorial,’ the priest is invited to develop a ‘spirituality of remembrance,’ ” he wrote. “At a time when rapid social and cultural changes are weakening the sense of tradition and leading the younger generation especially to risk losing touch with their roots, the priest is called to be, within the community entrusted to him, the man who faithfully remembers the entire mystery of Christ: prefigured in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New [Testament], and understood ever more deeply under the guidance of the Spirit … .” (#5).

—Eucharistic adoration

“To place ourselves before Jesus in the Eucharist, to take advantage of our ‘moments of solitude’ and to fill them with this Presence,” Pope John Paul II wrote, “is to enliven our consecration by our personal relationship with Christ, from whom our life derives its joy and its meaning” (#6).

—Totus Tuus

“Who more than Mary can help us taste the greatness of the eucharistic mystery? She more than anyone can teach us how to celebrate the sacred mysteries with due fervor and to commune with her Son, hidden in the Eucharist,” he wrote.

“I pray to her, then, for all of you, and I entrust to her especially the elderly, the sick, and those in difficulty” (#8).

Let us pray for our priests as they strive to live out our late Holy Father’s words of love.

—Mike Krokos