Pope Francis at Chrism Mass: the joy of being a priest
(Vatican Radio) “The Lord anointed us in Christ with the oil of gladness, and this
anointing invites us to accept and appreciate this great gift: the gladness, the joy
of being a priest.” At the Chrism Mass in Saint Peter’s, Pope Francis spoke about
“priestly joy,” a joy, he said, “which anoints us,” an “imperishable joy,” a “missionary
joy.”
The joy which anoints priests, the Pope said, “has penetrated deep within
our hearts, it has shaped them, and strengthened them sacramentally.” It is a joy
that can never be taken away; although it “can lie dormant, or be clogged by sin or
by life’s troubles … deep down it remains intact, like the embers of a burnt log beneath
the ashes, and it can always be renewed.”
Pope Francis focused especially
on the third feature of priestly joy: “Priestly joy is deeply bound up with God’s
holy and faithful people, for it is an eminently missionary joy.” This joy, he said,
“arises only when the shepherd is in the midst of his flock.” There, his joy is “guarded”
by the faithful, by “God’s faithful people” who are able to protect and embrace their
priests, to help them open their hearts “to find renewed joy.”
Priestly joy,
the Holy Father continued, is guarded, not only by the flock, but “by three sisters
who surround it, tend it, and defend it: sister poverty, sister fidelity, and sister
obedience.”
Explaining these three “sisters,” the Pope said that because the
priest is poor “in terms of purely human joy,” he must seek his joy “from the Lord
and from God’s faithful people.” The priest must go out of himself, seeking God and
the people of God. “Going out of ourselves,” he said, “presupposes self-denial; it
means poverty.”
Priestly joy is also a “sister to fidelity,” Pope Francis said
– not, he explained, “in the sense that we [priests] are all ‘immaculate’ (would that
by God’s grace we were!), for we are all sinners, but in the sense of an ever renewed
fidelity to the one Bride, to the Church.” Priests will find true joy when they are
faithful to their mission, doing “all that he has to do, and letting go of everything
that he has to let go of, as long as he stands firm amid the flock which the Lord
entrusted to him.”
Finally, priests find joy in “sister obedience,” an obedience
not only to the externals of their mission, “but also union with God the Father, the
source of all fatherhood.” The Pope continued, “It is also an obedience to the Church
in service: in availability and readiness to serve everyone, always, and as best I
can,” following the example of Mary.
“All who are called should know that
genuine and complete joy does exist in this world,” Pope Francis said. “It is the
joy of being taken from the people we love and then being sent back to them as dispensers
of the gifts and counsels of Jesus.”
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis prayed
that the Lord might “enable many young people to discover the burning zeal which joy
kindles in our hearts as soon as we have the stroke of boldness needed to respond
willingly to his call.” He prayed, too, for the recently ordained, for priests who
have been in ministry for some time, and for elderly priests.