Recently, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter titled "Novo Millennio Ineunte" ("Starting the New Millennium"). In it, he offers a coherent vision for the future of the Church by proposing a plan of pastoral priorities for the 21st century, a plan which is both insightful and uplifting.
At the recent ordination of Rev. Peter Tkocz, I commended to him and to all our priests the dynamic vision which our Holy Father's letter offers as a stable framework for priestly ministry in this new century.
In his sterling letter, our Holy Father makes clear that as we move into the third millennium, we should not be seduced by the naive expectation that there is some magic formula which will resolve all of the problems and issues that lay before us. Rather, he observes, "we shall be saved not by a formula, but by a person, (the person of Jesus Christ), and the assurance He gives us: "I am with you always."
Rooted in Christ
It is imperative, then, that priests root their life and ministry in the person of Jesus Christ. It is His mission they must be about, it is His message they must communicate to others, and it is His ministry that they must extend into our world.
This relationship with Jesus cannot be a purely intellectual exercise, wherein priests become adept at understanding and communicating the intricacies of Christology or in providing expert scriptural exegesis. Rather, it must be a deep intimate personal relationship, one derived not from a theology manual or a homiletic service but from quality time spent in prayer and contemplation, conversing with Jesus as one's brother, companion, role model and friend.
The Holy Father notes further that this relationship with Christ in prayer is expressed not just in imploring His help, but in thanksgiving, listening and ardent devotion, "until the heart truly falls in love."
Loving the Lord
Indeed, without this love relationship with Jesus, all of the priest's activities -- well motivated and well intentioned as they may be, or as successful as they may be from a personal perspective or from an organizational point of view -- will be empty and hollow, and fail to sustain either our priests themselves or the people entrusted to their pastoral care.
In his apostolic letter, our Holy Father put it this way: "There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: that of thinking that the results depend upon our ability to act and plan. God, of course, asks us really to cooperate with His grace, and therefore invites us to invest all of our resources of intelligence and energy in serving the cause of the Kingdom. But it is fatal to forget that 'without Christ we can do nothing' (John 15:5).
"It is prayer that roots us in the truth. It reminds us constantly of the primacy of Christ and, in union with Him, the primacy of the interior life of holiness. When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration?"
Art of prayer
On the other hand, if our priests have mastered the art of prayer, not only will they benefit personally, but they also will be an invaluable resource for responding to the growing demand for spirituality and the renewed need for prayer that is so evident in the contemporary milieu, despite the widespread secularization which engulfs us. In fact, our Holy Father states that education in prayer should be the key point in all pastoral planning in the Church.
That is why the principal attention of priests must be devoted to fostering prayer, especially the Sunday Eucharist, where God's family gathers around the Table of the Word and the Bread of Life, to be nourished and sustained for the journey of discipleship.
Yes, it is at Eucharist that the Church comes together at church. It is at Eucharist that the faith community gains fresh insights into who it is we are and what it is we are called to be. And it is at Eucharist that we are energized to change our wants, our wills, our loves and our desires. If that ongoing conversion which is at the heart of a Christian life does not take place at the Sunday Eucharist, then, it will not take place at all.
Celebrating
So I urge our priests to make a concerted and substantial investment each and every week to prepare for a meaningful celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, because, as our Holy Father notes, "Every Sunday, the Risen Christ asks us to meet Him, as it were, once more in the upper room, where on the evening of 'the first day of the week' (Jn 20:19) He appeared to His disciples in order to breathe on them His life-giving spirit and launch them on the great adventure of proclaiming the Gospel."
To do this will necessitate great attention to detail: working with the prayer and worship committee in developing liturgical themes and how to express such in art and music...training servers, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, cantors and ministers of hospitality...and, above all, giving great care to developing and delivering the homily so that priests can break open God's word with integrity and authenticity, and in a manner which truly speaks to and connects with the lived experience of the members of their congregation.
The priest's preaching, in other words, must come from the heart and from the real-life stories he has listened to in his daily ministry. It is easier to convey information than personal testimony; yet it is the priest's personal testimony our people must crave.
The greatest contact priests have with our people is through the proclamation of the Word of God in the Sunday homily. This, then, will demand that priests strive to employ the imagination of the novelist and the creativity of the poet in making the Scriptures alive and relevant to the hopes, desires, fears and expectations of seniors, baby boomers, generation X-ers and the next generation whose appellation is yet to be determined.
Essentials
In his apostolic letter, Pope John Paul underscores further that a meaningful proclamation of the Word and celebration of the Eucharist inevitably lead priests to address two essential dimensions of the Church's pastoral plan for the third millennium: service and evangelization.
First, service. We know from the Gospels that at the outset of His public ministry, Jesus was anointed by the Spirit and sent forth "to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, release to prisoners and to announce a year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18).
The theologian William Thompson has suggested that the Spirit who anointed Christ was stretching Jesus outside Himself, so to speak, tugging at Him (as a man) to be sensitive to others' burdens and, indeed, to shoulder these burdens and lift them from other's backs.
Serving others
This view of the Spirit as "stretcher" and "tugger" who enables us to see possibilities and depths of commitment which were previously opaque, and to take sides with "the other" whether captive, oppressed or blind, describes well, I think, the role the priest must play today in calling people to use their gifts for service, especially on behalf of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those lacking in basic medical care both at home and abroad; as well as in challenging them to be sensitive toward those thwarted by despair emanating from the lack of meaning and purpose in their lives.
That despair can come, for example, because of addiction through alcohol and drugs, because of fear of abandonment in sickness and old age or because of marginalization and racial, sexual and social discrimination.
Imbued with the spirit of Jesus, then, priests must foster continually within the faith community an atmosphere where the poor feel at home, and "the other" -- or different -- feel accepted. For without this type of caring service and social advocacy, the proclamation of the Good News risks being misunderstood or submerged by an ocean of words devoid of genuine Christian love.
Evangelizing
The second essential dimension of the Church's pastoral plan for the third millennium is evangelization, which is an extension of the priestly ministry of Jesus and which our Holy Father says should be a priority for every priest, whose heart should pulse with that burning conviction of St. Paul, who cried out: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16).
There are many ways for priests to exercise the mission of evangelization. Certainly through homilies. Every priest realizes that when he presides at baptisms, weddings, funerals, graduations and baccalaureate services as well as at Christmas and Easter liturgies, there are many unchurched in front of him as well as so-called "cultural Catholics" for whom religious practice is but a nominal experience. To be cognizant of this reality by creating a welcoming atmosphere and by relating Gospel stories in a way that takes these circumstances into account can be real moments of evangelization.
So, too, can the priest's efforts to foster and promote lifelong faith formation, for example, through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, adult education programs, or small faith-sharing groups, which enable people to make the connection between faith and real-life issues like marriage, divorce, human sexuality, suffering, illness, death, loss and grief; as well as with issues of social justice and the need for communication and parenting skills.
Those activities can be a positive and effective way to advance the mission of evangelization. For the more priests relate faith to life, the more credible and attractive their ministry of Word and sacrament will be. It should be noted, however, that whatever initiatives priests undertake in evangelization should never be coercive or condescending. Rather, priests must always be sensitive to the life experience, culture heritage, and social and language background of those who are the focus of evangelizing activities.
Significant themes
Prayer, a focus on Sunday liturgy through diligent homiletic and pastoral preparation for its celebration, and a commitment to foster apostolic service and the work of evangelization are the key ingredients of our Holy Father's pastoral plan for the 21st century, along with other significant themes like ecumenism, multi-culturalism, collaboration and collegiality.
I encourage our priests to read and re-read Pope John Paul's magnificent apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" because I believe it offers a profound, practical and sure guide for their priestly journey.
Further, I urge all our faithful to read this pastoral message of our Holy Father because it is truly a beautiful reflection on the challenges and opportunities to be embraced by all Catholic Christians in the 21st century.
(Editor's note: The text of "Novo Millennio Ineunte" can be found on the Vatican's website: www.vatican.va.)