A letter filled with joyful hope
The letter written by Pope Francis to us priests on occasion of the Feast of St John Vianney, the holy Curé of Ars, on 4 August 2019, is more than simply a formal acknowledgement of the pain priests in the current situation the global Church are going through.
Such a minimalist approach certainly does huge injustice to the letter itself and its noble intention. On the contrary, such a letter addressed to all of us priests fosters that muchneeded joyful hope in order that we, as priests, may keep pursuing with the utmost dedication, joy and mercy the vocation God the Father, through his Son Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, has called us to accomplish. Even if we are frequently hampered by our physical limitations and sins too.
In this very encouraging letter the Holy Father thanked priests for the countless sacrifices they make so as to serve wholeheartedly God’s people. He said: “On this, his [St John Mary Vianney] feast day, I write this letter not only to parish priests but to all of you, my brother priests, who have quietly ‘left all behind’ in order to immerse yourselves in the daily life of your communities. Like the Curé of Ars, you serve ‘in the trenches’, bearing the burden of the day and the heat (cf. Mt 20:12), confronting an endless variety of situations in your effort to care for and accompany God’s people. I want to say a word to each of you who, often without fanfare and at personal cost, amid weariness, infirmity and sorrow, carry out your mission of service to God and to your people. Despite the hardships of the journey, you are writing the finest pages of the priestly life.”
Pope Francis then said that within the actual ambience of the abuse crisis, many priests have suffered. Furthermore, he also observed that during his many pastoral visits he does in various parts of the planet, he has personally witnessed the shock of priests regarding the scandal as well as the great damage that the Church has suffered so far.
“In these years, we have become more attentive to the cry, often silent and suppressed, of our brothers and sisters who were victims of the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers. This has been a time of great suffering in the lives of those who experienced such abuse, but also in the lives of their families and of the entire People of God… This pain has also affected priests. I have seen it in the course of my pastoral visits in my own diocese and elsewhere, in my meetings and personal conversations with priests. Many have shared with me their outrage at what happened and their frustration that ‘for all their hard work, they have to face the damage that was done, the suspicion and uncertainty to which it has given rise, and the doubts, fears and disheartenment felt by more than a few.’ I have received many letters from priests expressing those feelings. At the same time, I am comforted by my meetings with pastors who recognize and share the pain and suffering of the victims and of the People of
God, and have tried to find words and actions capable of inspiring hope.”
In his letter, the Holy Father, while acknowledging both the sexual and power abuse perpetrated by certain priests, greatly emphasized his personal commitment to carry out muchneeded reforms.
“As you know, we are firmly committed to carrying out the reforms needed to encourage from the outset a culture of pastoral care, so that the culture of abuse will have no room to develop, much less continue. This task is neither quick nor easy: it demands commitment on the part of all. If in the past, omission may itself have been a kind of response, today we desire conversion, transparency, sincerity and solidarity with victims to become our concrete way of moving forward. This in turn will help make us all the more attentive to every form of human suffering.”
Pope Francis encouraged us priests to remain always grateful and positive. Fully convinced that “gratitude is always a powerful weapon,” the Argentinian Pontiff expressed his personal gratitude for each and every priest who is working for God’s Kingdom in the Church through a variety of ways. In his rather long litany of thankyous, the Pope said:
“Dear brother priests, I thank you for your fidelity to the commitments you have made. It is a sign that, in a society and culture that glorifies the ephemeral, there are still people unafraid to make lifelong promises… Thank you for the joy with which you have offered your lives, revealing a heart that over the years has refused to become closed and bitter, but has grown daily in love for God and his people… Thank you for working to strengthen the bonds of fraternity and friendship with your brother priests and your bishop, providing one another with support and encouragement, caring for those who are ill, seeking out those who keep apart, visiting the elderly and drawing from their wisdom, sharing with one another and learning to laugh and cry together…
“Thank you for your witness of persistence and patient endurance (hypomoné) in pastoral ministry. Often, with the parrhesía of the shepherd, we find ourselves arguing with the Lord in prayer, as Moses did in courageously interceding for the people (cf. Num 14:13-19; Ex
32:30-32; Dt 9:18-21)… Thank you for celebrating the Eucharist each day and for being merciful shepherds in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, neither rigorous nor lax, but deeply concerned for your people and accompanying them on their journey of conversion to the new life that the Lord bestows on us all… Thank you for anointing and fervently proclaiming to all, ‘in season and out of season’ (cf. 2 Tim 4:2) the Gospel of Jesus Christ, probing the heart of your community ‘in order to discover where its desire for God is alive and ardent, as well as where that dialogue, once loving, has been thwarted and is now barren’… Thank you for the times when, with great emotion, you embraced sinners, healed wounds, warmed hearts and showed the tenderness and compassion of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-27).”
As a priest, I would strongly recommend that we keep this letter always within our reach so that, in difficult times in our vocation, we can resort to it in order to be rejuvenated once again by its healing and transforming power. Above all, we all know that we are where we are today thanks to “God’s love, generosity, solidarity and trust, as well as his forgiveness, patience, forbearance and compassion,” coupled with “the holiness of the faithful People of God, whom we are called to shepherd and through whom the Lord also shepherds and cares for us.”
To all this we, as priests, humbly and with tears full of joyful hope, ardently and steadfastly proclaim with the psalmist: “For his mercy endures forever.”