«Today the need for security makes people aggressive, closes communities in on themselves, leads them to look for enemies and scapegoats. Your security does not lie in the role you have, but in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.” Pope Leo on a Sunday that he himself defines as “full of life!”, because “even if death surrounds us, Jesus’ promise is already coming true: “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance”. ordains eight new priests. Precisely in the availability of these “young people who the Church today asks to be ordained priests”, we see generosity and hope.
«Sunday – every Sunday – calls us out of the “tomb” of isolationof closure, because we meet in the garden of communion, of which the Risen One is the guardian”, reflects the Pontiff. And he adds that «the service of the priest, on which the call of these brothers invites us to reflect, is a ministry of communion. “Life in abundance”, in fact, comes to us in the very personal encounter with the person of the Son, but it immediately opens our eyes to a people of brothers and sisters who already experience, or who are still seeking, the “power to become children of God”.
Here is the «first secret in the priest’s life”, reveals Leone. «The deeper your bond with Christ, the more radical your belonging to common humanity. There is no opposition, nor competition, between heaven and earth: in Jesus they are united forever.” It is a living mystery which, as for the spouses, “engages the heart in an indissoluble love: it engages and fills it”. He speaks of “celibacy for the Kingdom of God” which “must be preserved and always renewed, because every true affection matures and becomes fruitful over time”. And he explains to them that «you are called to a specific, delicate, difficult way of loving and, even more, of letting yourself be loved, in freedom. A way that can make you, as well as gods good priests, even honest citizens, available, builders of peace and social friendship”.
Explaining the Gospel of John, with the irruption of brigands «who climb over the limits, do not come “except to steal, kill and destroy”» and who have a different voice from the Master. The Pope underlines that «there is great realism in the words of the Lord: he knows the cruelty of the world in which he walks with us. With his words he evokes forms of physical, but above all spiritual, aggression. However, this does not deter him from giving his life. Reporting does not become renunciation, danger does not lead to flight.” This is the second secret of the priest’s life: «reality must not scare us. The Lord of life is calling us. May the ministry entrusted to you, dearest ones, communicate the peace of those who, even among dangers, know why they are safe.” But we must not close ourselves off in communities, on the contrary we must continue to commit ourselves knowing that salvation “already works in so much good done silently, among people of good willin the parishes and in the environments to which you will be close, as traveling companions. What you announce and celebrate will protect you even in difficult situations and times.” Communities are “places where the Risen One is already present”. We must learn to distinguish and recognize “his wounds, distinguish his voice”. But it will be the same communities that, he explains to the new priests, «will also help you to become saints! And you help them to walk united behind Jesus the Good Shepherd, so that they may be places – gardens – of life that is resurrected and communicated. Often what people lack is a place where they can experience that together is better, that together is beautiful, that we can live together. Facilitating the meeting, helping those who would otherwise never meet to converge, bringing opposites together is all one with celebrating the Eucharist and Reconciliation. Gathering is always and anew planting the Church.”
And it explains the image of the “shepherd” again. Those who listen to Jesus do not understand him and so he speaks of the sheep door. «In Jerusalem there was a gate called exactly that, “the gate of the sheep”, near the pool of Bethesda. For it sheep and lambs entered the temple, first immersed in water and then destined for sacrifices. It’s natural to think about Baptism.” Jesus is the door. «The Jubilee showed us how this image still speaks to the hearts of millions of people. For centuries the door – often a real portal – has invited people to cross the threshold of the Church. In some cases, the baptismal font was built outside, like the ancient probatic pool, under whose porticos “a large number of sick, blind, lame and paralytics lay””. The Pope asks those who are about to receive the sacrament of orders to feel “part of this suffering humanity, which awaits life in abundance. In initiating others into the faith, you will revive your own. With the other baptized people you will cross the threshold of the Mystery every day, that threshold which has the face and name of Jesus. Never hide this holy door, do not block it, do not be an obstacle to anyone who wants to enter». Jesus’ rebuke, in fact, is: “You did not enter, and you prevented those who wanted to enter.” He says this to those who “hid the key to a passage that should have been open to everyone”.
Today that i numbers “seem to outline a detachment between people and the Church” priests are invited to keep “the door open! Let in and be ready to exit. It’s another secret to your life: you are a channel, not a filter. Many believe they already know what lies beyond that threshold. They bring with them memories, perhaps of a distant past; often there is something alive that has not died out and that attracts; sometimes, however, there is something else that still bleeds and repels.”
It must be «reflection» of the Lord’s patience, «and of his tenderness. You belong to everyone and you are for everyone! May this be the fundamental profile of your mission: to keep the threshold clear and indicate it, without the need for too many words.”
Following his example, we must not suffocate freedom, whereas instead «there are affiliations that suffocate, companies that are easy to enter and almost impossible to leave. Not so the Church of the Lord, not so the company of his disciples. Whoever is saved, says Jesus, “enters and goes out and finds pasture”. We all seek shelter, rest and care: the door of the Church is open. Not to alienate us from life: life does not end in the parish, in the association, in the movement, in the group. He who is saved “goes out and finds pasture”.
And then we must be an outgoing church. The Pope asks: «Go out and find the culture, the people, the life! Marvel at what God causes to grow without us having sown it. Those for whom you will be priests – lay faithful and families, young and old, children and the sick – inhabit pastures that you must know. Sometimes it will seem like you don’t have the maps. However, the Good Shepherd has them, whose voice is so familiar to listen to. How many people feel lost today! Many feel like they can no longer orient themselves. There is then no more precious testimony than the one that confides: “He makes me rest on grassy pastures, he leads me to calm waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me on the right path because of his name””-
