No More Boring Sermons, Says Pope to Priests
On Sunday morning Pope Francis
ordained 19 new priests, exhorting them to serve the flock rather than manage
it, and to feed the people of God with heartfelt homilies rather than boring
sermons.
“Let this be the nourishment of the
People of God,” Francis said during the ceremony
in Saint Peter’s Basilica, “that your sermons are not boring, that your
homilies reach people’s hearts because they come from your heart, because what
you say to them is what you carry in your heart.”
The Pope also urged the new priests
to practice what they preach, so that their good example will bear witness to
the truth of their words. A good example builds people up, Francis said, “but
words without actions are empty words, they are ideas that never make it to the
heart and they can even do harm rather than good!”
On the fourth Sunday of Easter,
Catholics celebrate “Good Shepherd Sunday,” recalling that Jesus presented
himself as the good shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for his sheep,
and the Pope drew from this image in appealing to the young priests to give
their lives for their people.
“Keep always before your eyes the
example of the Good Shepherd,” he said, “who came not to be served but to
serve; not to stay in his comfort, but to go out to seek and save what was
lost.”
“You will share in the mission of
Christ,” Francis said, “who is the only Master. Share with all the Word of God
that you yourselves have received with joy. Read and meditate assiduously on
the Word of the Lord so you may believe what you read, teach what you have
learned in faith, and live out what you have taught.”
The Pope also gave practical advice
to the new priests: “When you celebrate Mass, be aware of what you are doing.
Do not rush through it!” he said.
He told them never to refuse baptism
to those who ask for it, and to be ready to hear peoples’ confessions and
forgive their sins in the name of Christ and the Church.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Francis
said, “I ask you not to grow weary of being merciful. In the confessional, you
are there to forgive, not to condemn! Imitate the Father who never gets tired
of forgiving.”
Francis also warned the priests to
flee from vanity, which only drives people away from God. “Be intent on
pleasing God and not yourselves,” he said. “It’s ugly when a priest lives to
please himself, and ‘plays the peacock’!”
Later on, after the midday Easter
prayer of the Regina Caeli, Pope Francis once again addressed
the newly ordained priests, and urged them to see themselves as servants of the
people and not as “managers.”
“Follow the Good Shepherd,” he said.
“Especially those who have the mission of guiding the Church—priests, bishops,
popes—are called to assume the mentality of servants, and not of managers, just
as Jesus emptied himself and saved us through his mercy.”
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