Cardinal
Castrillon told reporters that this year's Letter
is particularly significant because it was signed
in "a place marked by the Cross of Christ," Rome's
Gemelli Hospital.
The cardinal
said that, "In the silence of his suffering, the
Pope, with the example of a life given 'to the
end', repeats the Pauline affirmation: 'we preach
Christ crucified, ... the power of God and the
wisdom of God,' loving all men with Christ's
charity and completing in his own body what is
lacking in the passion of the one Savior and
Redeemer," referring to Colossians
1:24.
The prefect
continued, saying, "From his own cross, the Pope
indicates to each priest the unfathomable dignity,
conferred upon him by ordination, of being able to
pronounce, 'in persona Christi,' the words that
instituted the Eucharistic mystery, and of
receiving the capacity to transform his own
priestly existence into a radical gift for the
Church and for
humanity."
"Conformed to
Christ,” he said, “we priests are called by the
Pope to transform ourselves into Eucharistic
bread, giving thanks to God with our own lives,
for the work of salvation achieved by His only
begotten Son."
Cardinal
Castrillon noted that the Holy Father "reminds us
of 'the obedience of love,' that grateful
obligation with which we have been entrusted, to
give ourselves entirely to the People of God, an
obligation that we assumed on the day of our
priestly ordination and that finds expression, as
an example for all the faithful, in following the
authoritative discernment of bishops, imitating
Christ Who at the last Supper entrusted Himself to
the Church.”
What we are
giving is our autonomy, even our legitimate
autonomy, a giving against which modern culture
rebels as it seeks self-realization in reason
unfettered by any
limitation."
"Once more,”
he continued, “in this year of the Eucharist, the
Holy Father introduces us with love to the
'mysterium Paschae', which is the great mystery of
faith.”
With the
gentleness of faith, we are invited by the Pope to
reverently safeguard the liturgical norms that not
only protect the sacredness of the Rite but give
it luster. We priests will accept his words in
order to be custodians of the Eucharist, in a
continuous vigil and in all corners of the earth,
and on our knees before the Tabernacle we will
place all our
solitude."
The cardinal
concluded by highlighting the fact that "despite
the passing of the years, strengthened by the
Pope's words, we will spread the youthfulness of
God Who is in us and irradiate it to those we meet
on our way.”
The Holy Father assures us that from
priestly sanctity will grow new life for the
Church, with vocations that will guarantee the
ardor of new evangelization, nourished by the
bread of eternal life."
Read the full document at:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/document.php?n=53
