Adoremus, Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy
Year for Priest starts June 19, 2009
GENERAL AUDIENCE, Saint Peter’s Square, Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The ordained ministry
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As the Year for Priests draws to its close, I would like to devote the catecheses of this Easter season to a series of reflections on the ordained ministry. I wish to speak in particular of the priest’s configuration to Christ, the head of the Church, through the exercise of the three munera of teaching, sanctifying and governing. In their ministry priests act in persona Christi, “in the person of Christ”. The three munera are in fact actions of the Risen Christ, who even today, through his priests, continues to teach, sanctify and govern his Church. The first of the three munera is that of teaching, so important for our times. The priest is called to preach and teach not himself, but Jesus Christ and his revelation of the Father. This teaching, far from an abstract doctrine, is a living proclamation of the person of Christ, who is himself Truth, the source of our joy, peace and spiritual rebirth. The priest’s munus docendi demands that his whole life testify to the truth of the message that he proclaims, in harmony with the apostolic tradition and often in opposition to the spirit of the dominant culture. Following the example of the great Curé of Ars, may every priest proclaim Christ faithfully and speak in such a way that all can hear in him the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Members of the Congregation for the Clergy on the Occasion of Their Plenary Assembly, March 16, 2009
Letter of the Holy Father, John Paul II, to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005, March 13, 2005
Letter to Priests Apostolic Letter: Sacramental reconciliation is crucial to personal holiness, March 25, 2001
Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia Encyclical on the priesthood, centennial of Saint John Vianney, August 1, 1959
The Ministerial Priesthood, Explanation of the Icon, by Monsignor Anthony A. La Femina, Vol. VIII, No. 3: May 2002, Vol. X, No. 7: October 2004
APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY – DECREE: Special Indulgence for the Year for Priests, Cardinal James Francis Stafford, Major Penitentiary, April 25, 2009
Act of Entrustment and Consecration of Priest to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: — Apostolic journey of Pope Benedict XVI to Portugal on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco, young shepherds of Fátima, Church of the Most Holy Trinity – Fátima, Wednesday, May 12, 2010. , Vol XVI, No. 4., June 2010
***
