Liturgical Forumation in Seminaries
To All Local Ordinaries
The document entitled "Ratio fundamentalis institutionis
sacerdotalis" and, following this, the various national
"Rationes" produced by Bishop's Conferences have given to
spiritual formation its deserved place, namely, the most important of
all.
However, there are many signs today which indicate that it might be
opportune and useful to reflect further and deeper on this matter. We
presume that people today are ready to accept such further reflection
and, with the help of God's grace, we expect rich fruit from it.
After pointing out encouraging signs in this field, the present
circular letter aims not at producing a complete and systematic study,
but at calling the attention of seminary authorities to certain,
selected areas where immediate effort seems to be needed. At the
conclusion, a suggestion will be proposed that could be quite important
for the future of the priesthood in the Catholic Church.
I. INTRODUCTION
Providential Signs
The sign which we would like to point out first, since it has made
the greatest impression on us in the Sacred Congregation, is the truly
exceptional quality of the "Plans of Action for Vocations,"
which we ventured to ask the bishops to prepare and which are arriving
here at a rate that we had never dared to expect. The climate of
courageous faith shown by the spiritual aspects of these
"Plans" indicates that the time might have arrived for some
initiatives in the spiritual field that will not be undertaken in vain.
If these "Plans" put forward by the diocese were concerned
only or mainly with clever vocational techniques, they would not justify
this present circular letter. However, the position that prayer occupies
in them -always in the forefront of every initiative and the animating
force behind it—brings evidence of the presence of grace. We are
living in one of the "favorable times" when generous
commitments can be demanded.
Resurgence of Vocations
Moreover, projects and hopes are not the only things involved. The
widespread increase in the number of vocations throughout the world
confirms the presence of a providential activity which is bearing fruit.
Of course, many dioceses and even entire countries—although these are
in the minority—are still behind in this trend and are even a source
of worry. But, it is remarkable that in those places where the upward
trend is the strongest, and especially where it is most unexpectedly
vigorous, one often comes across the following interpretation of the
facts by the bishops: it is, first of all, to the spiritual renewal of
seminaries that the increase must be attributed. This renewal has been
sought and produced in different forms, but there are certain common
points to which we must return if we are to gather any profit from these
experiences and find our way forward.
The Urge To Pray
Another consideration cannot be ignored. Everyone today agrees that
recognition must be given to a real "urge to pray" more or
less everywhere in the Church and even outside of her. The number of
"centers" is almost beyond counting where people come to learn
about prayer, where they gather to pray and where they hope to find a
"teacher of prayer." People sometimes go to great lengths in
order to find such a person and run the almost certain risk of losing
their way and being disappointed. A new method needs only to be
suggested somewhere and immediately students are found who arrive ready
to try it out. But, whatever may be the spiritual qualities involved,
whatever may be the setbacks and errors, it is undeniable that there
exists a general and profound inclination to pray. In many ways this
invitation to prayer is receiving a worthy answer. But, do we realize
sufficiently the extent of this quest or the extraordinary opportunity
that is being offered to the Church for the progress of the Faith? We
do, so long as we are able to find in our priests real "teachers of
prayer" with a firm knowledge of tradition, priests who experience
God in a deep and fervent way, who are capable of being wise and prudent
"directors of souls" following the paths of the great masters,
and who are also responsive to the needs of the time. This is quite a
different matter from judging various prayer movements, often confused
in their origins. Rather it means helping priests to be able to reply
effectively to the call God gives to His chosen ones, so that they can
become "teachers of prayer."
Spiritual Resurgence in the Church
Furthermore, the general context of the life of the Church must be
taken into consideration here. Can one avoid the feeling that the Church
has just lived through an impressive series of events, the spiritual
richness of which has disconcerted the usual opinion makers and left
them confounded, as if they were faced with evidence of the intervention
of something that goes beyond human factors? Who was not struck and even
dumbfounded by the surprising dignity of the funeral of Pope Paul VI?
The whole world was able to witness this through our advanced means of
social communication. Who did not suspect that there was at least
something other that a prominent "news story" in the
astonishingly rapid and unanimous conclaves which followed and in the
eventual arrival of the Pope "from afar," whose simplicity and
radiant faith immediately captured the hearts of the faithful? One can
suppose that the presence of such a leader—emerging from the storms of
the post-conciliar period—is an exceptional opportunity for
encouraging priests to arm themselves with that same faith, a faith that
springs from sources of prayer.
The Young Generation
We must note here the extent to which the younger generation has in
its own way responded to the situation which we have been describing.
Young people are waiting for Christ. They are awaiting someone to point
Him out to them and to make them love Him. They are ready to welcome
priests who are able to do this. Many of them would give themselves
enthusiastically for this very mission. Therefore, our seminaries must
be prepared to meet their expectations. The future of the Church at the
present moment depends most of all on the spiritual formation of future
priests.
In the soul of a young person today, spiritual hunger naturally and
generally takes the form of an anxious search for a reason for living,
which the world about him does not provide. It leaves him to face life
while being deprived of what would give sense of purpose to life. We
ourselves know, through faith, that this reason for living is none other
than Christ. The young man who aspires to the priesthood usually has
already begun to understand this. He also knows that other young people
already have some intuition about Christ and that, more or less
distinctly, they have already begun to call on His Name. He would like
to make Him known to them in the fullness of truth. He expects the
seminary to make him capable of rendering this service to them.
Christ, the Ideal of the Seminarian
No other group than the young is more aware of the spiritual vacuum
that needs to be filled. However, because of this there is no other
group in which solutions born of despair are more to be feared: the
attraction of false ideologies, the mindless promise of destructive
experiences such as drug-taking, the rejection of all constraint whether
moral, familial, or social, and, in extreme cases, the renunciation of
life itself. One who brings to this generation the Person of Jesus
Christ, who is the only true response, will himself have to be solidly
prepared for his task and to have found in Christ not only light but
strength, the true reason for living, the authentic model for humanity
to follow, the Savior to whom we must submit and with whom we must
"cooperate" to use a well known phrase of St. Teresa of Avila.
It is from this starting point that the essential task of a seminary
must begin, the task that belongs to all who are responsible for forming
future priests.
It is toward Christ, in fact, that grace has attracted the gaze of
the young men who aspire to His priesthood. They have already given Him
their hearts in an outburst of generosity which is still ignorant of the
demands of formation, but which already instinctively consents to all
the sacrifices involved. The future priest knows that he will have to
give everything and, in the depths of his soul, he already has done so.
Jesus Christ: life in a seminary must be designed solely to allow
this initial grace to come to full maturity, according to the measure in
which it is given to each. The heart of the future priest will have to
free itself from everything which, by nature or habit, could constitute
an obstacle to the development in him of the love of Christ. All the
resources of his being must be employed so that they become instruments
to the accomplishment of this one end. It must be Christ who is
contemplated with enough fervent and patient persistence so that, little
by little, according to the admirable idea of St. Paul (cf. 2 Cor.
3:18), the very face of Christ is imprinted on that of believers. It
must be Christ who is ceaselessly offered to the Father for the
salvation of the world in the mystery of which the future priest cannot
fail to proclaim and whose kingdom, by the power of the Holy Spirit and
to the glory of the Father, must be the permanent concern and the only
reason for the seminarian's existence.
II. GUIDELINES
Four Directives
We believe it is our duty to point out four of the most urgent
guidelines which the work of spiritual formation for future priests
ought to follow:
1. Priests need to be formed in such a way that the Word of God is
welcomed by them and loved in depth. This Word is none other that Christ
Himself. For this end we must begin with the cultivation of a sense of
genuine interior silence. To acquire such a sense is difficult. As St.
Ignatius of Loyola says, "To find Christ" is not possible
without long and well-directed, patient effort. It is the way of prayer
which is esteemed, loved and desired here despite all the distractions
and all the obstacles. The future priest, through his own real
experience, must be able to be a "teacher of prayer" for all
those who will come to him or whom he will seek out, and for all whom so
many false prophets today easily lead astray.
2. Priests need to be formed today who recognize in the Paschal
Mystery, of which they will be the ministers, the supreme expression of
God's Word. To this end they must be taught the way to communion in the
mystery of Christ who died and rose from the dead. It is there that
Christ is truly the "Savior." If the image we have of Christ
is not that of the "Crucified One," we have an image of
someone else. St. Paul recalled this with singular vigor (cf. 1 Cor.
1:23; 2:2). Now it is the priest who in the Eucharistic Mystery makes
present the sacrifice of Christ and gathers the Christian people around
him to participate in it. One can say, without hesitation or
exaggeration, therefore, that the life of a seminary can be judged by
the understanding it is able to impart to future priests about this
Mystery and about the inalienable responsibility which priests have to
make the faithful communicate worthily in it.
3. Priests need to be formed who are fearless in accepting the fact
that real communion with Christ entails self-denial, and, in particular,
in understanding that following Christ entails genuine obedience. Thus
the seminary will have to impart a sense of penance. This means, of
course, the sacrament of Penance, but also and above all, it means
teaching seminarians that penance which is indispensable for anyone who
wants to live in Christ, not participating falsely in His Mystery, not
refusing a share in His passion, but carrying one's cross in His
footsteps, acquiring those virtues which support a Christian soul and
enable it to prevail, that is to say, "stand firm" against the
enemy in the combat, which St. Paul compares to the contests in a
stadium (1 Cor. 9:24). A seminary which allows a future priest to leave
unaware of the struggles which await him and of self-denial, without
which his fidelity is impossible, just as for the ordinary faithful,
would have gravely failed in its mission.
4. Finally, a seminary ought to be a school of filial love towards
her who is the "Mother of Jesus" and whom Christ on the cross
gave us as our mother. This must not be merely a pietistic and
sentimental note attached to spiritual formation in seminaries. Rather
the taste for prayer to the Blessed Virgin, confidence in her
intercession, and sound habits in this area are to be an integral part
of the formation program of a seminary.
Now we shall discuss each of these points more thoroughly.
1. Christ, the Word of God
Interior Silence
A candidate for the priesthood must become capable of listening to
and understanding the Word, the "Verbum Dei."
It is not necessary to insist here on the manifest quest for interior
silence, both among Christians and non-Christians alike. One could cite
the groups being formed, the "centers" being created, the
often frantic search for those who are deemed able to unlock a
"secret" in regard to this matter, the interest shown in
various formulas which more or less take their inspiration from certain
areas of Asia, etc.
Let us leave aside all detailed description of these searches for
silence and all attempts at judgement. Let us here simply recognize the
quest and go on to draw conclusions in regard to our future priests.
They must receive an experience of interior silence. They must acquire a
genuine sense of it. They must become capable of communicating it to
others.
First of all, it is important that priests should have a precise idea
about this silence. They must know in what it consists. Surely nobody
will confuse it with a simple external silence, from which, however, it
is in a certain way inseparable, which we shall mention later. There are
other, more serious, ambiguities in this field, and many people become
exposed to them when they get involved in oriental mysticism or other
similar activities. Christian mysticism has no other aim than to bring
about a meeting with Christ, to foster an interior intimacy and a real
dialogue with Him. Genuine interior silence, about which someone like
St. John of the Cross speaks so well, has in Christ its source and its
goal. It is the fruit of living faith and of charity. It is abandonment
to God and dependence upon Him and is, in itself, "distinct from
one's feelings and from the extraordinary" (St. Louis Marie Grignon
de Montfort). It is a profound attitude of soul which seeks everything
from God and is entirely turned towards Him. It is not linked
essentially to any bodily position and even less does it concern a
sensible manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is what the seminarian
will have to be made to discover and accept. This will be done by
training him in the school of sound spiritual masters and in that of the
Church herself in her official prayers.
The Art of Prayer
To attain interior silence proper steps must be taken. Training in
this field is slow and difficult because it involves liberating a man
from certain internal inclinations and from the constant distractions of
the world. Without pretending to make quick and superficial judgements
about some methods proposed here and there, we must beware of
"short cuts" which promise too much too soon, throw us off the
right track, and create false quests with an illusion of almost
automatic and deceptive results. What results? A certain human warmth is
taken for spiritual well-being; violence is done to the body in a way
that harms the soul; beguiling music is taken for prayer, etc. The
school of faith is arduous, and it is this that we are speaking about
here. The true instruments in this area are: contact with authentic
teachers, prayer that is patiently cultivated, and above all, a perfect
and deep participation and sharing in the official prayer of the Church.
We must add to this the presence of a guide, the sort of director which
the future priest himself will become tomorrow. Furthermore, we must not
separate this aspect of the life of faith, which is truly fundamental,
from the other aspects of formation, making the rule a faith which is
exercised through love.
Spiritual Masters
The Church, thank God, has never lacked "spiritual
teachers." Their recognized personal sanctity and the extraordinary
fecundity of their activity are there to invite us and encourage us.
They are the "saints" who have formed generations of saints.
Everyone remembers their names, but how many future priests will come
into real contact with them before leaving the seminary? How many will,
through such contact, acquire a genuine spiritual climate for
themselves, a taste for the things of God, and a desire for interior
silence, which is not deceptive and which allows them to discern
falsehood in these areas? Every seminary must have a policy about this,
and each seminary must give its students a habit and a taste for the
great spiritual writers, the real "classics." Reading these
classics does not exclude other spiritual reading, but reading these
writers must be a preeminent activity and must remain indispensable.
Learning How To Pray
In this context, the students must be taught to pray. They must
accept the fact that at first this will be arduous and sometimes
disappointing. There should be no fear of issuing rules, of humbly
adopting a method, and of putting the method into practice. If in a
given context ample prayer in common is not thought possible, then at
least the times for private prayer must be firmly stipulated and the
seminary must make certain that personal prayer is conscientiously
carried out. Abstract preparation should be avoided. Instead, one must
turn to the Gospel and constantly recall the goal: "to search for
Christ," "to wait on Him alone," "not thinking a
beautiful idea is necessarily a good result," "learning the
limits of one's knowledge," "deepening rather than widening
one's experience," etc. This then effects a development; from
simply listening one passes to asking, from wordless adoration one
passes to praise, etc. This is what the guide or director must
continually call to the seminarian's mind so that he will not go astray
and may evaluate his progress correctly.
Prayer of the Church
Nothing, however, is more important and decisive than a deeper and
more complete participation in the official prayer of the Church. That
is to say, first of all, the Mass and the Liturgy of the Word which
constitutes the first part of it. (We shall return to this later.) But,
it also means the Liturgy of the Hours. The prayer of the Church is
nourished by the prayer of the psalms. The Church receives from God
Himself these "inspired" words. They are like the
"mold" into which she pours human thoughts and feelings. It is
the Holy Spirit who through the psalms suggests words and forms the
heart. It was thus that Jesus prayed. His passion bears witness to this.
It was thus that Mary prayed, if one accepts the evidence of her
"Magnificat." There is no prayer more able gradually to create
the inner silence that men seek, the silence which is true, the silence
which comes from God, than the Divine Office when it is simply,
intelligently, and perfectly sung, either inwardly or, better still, in
community.
External Silence
In all of this, material silence is not useless nor a matter of
indifference. When inner silence exists it calls forth external silence.
It demands this, and it fosters it. In its turn external silence serves
the purposes of interior silence. In a seminary which is preparing
future teachers of prayer, there must be external silence. The seminary
Rule of Life must provide for this as a priority. However, if the
students do not understand the origin of such silence and what it is
meant for, it can only be received by them as meaningless and be badly
accepted. On the other hand, where internal silence has been deepened,
the demand for material silence is all the stronger and more vigorous.
There can be no doubt that in a seminary where external silence does not
exist, interior silence is also absent.
General Seminary Climate
It is immediately obvious that such initiation into prayer requires
certain conditions and if such conditions are not provided, seminaries
are failing in their duty. We have already stated that formation for
prayer is inseparable from general education. It cannot remain isolated.
It must be linked to a life of neighborly love and to a search for
Christ through study and to service in the kingdom of God which is
present and will be present in the future in the Church. However,
training in prayer also demands specific and particular methods. Above
all, the main task of those responsible for the running of seminaries is
the formation of the students in interior silence. They must make
continual and concerted efforts in this undertaking. Each has a special
part to play in this, from the rector to the spiritual director, to each
member of the staff. If this chain is broken, there is no real
formation. If each seminary authority is not aware of his responsibility
for this formation, in his conscience and in fact, or if he does not
allow this to be the object of mutual and continuous reflection, the
best methods will lose their value because the right general climate
does not exist.
2. The Word of the Cross; the Redemptive Sacrifice
Sacrament and Sacrifice
The prayer of the Church reaches its "apex" in the Liturgy
of the Eucharist. In the words of the Constitution on the Liturgy of the
Second Vatican Council (no. 10), it is "the summit and the
source." In fact, the Eucharist is nothing other than the sacrifice
of the Lord which is offered and shared within the community of the
baptized. The providential renewal begun by Pope St. Pius X has borne
great fruit, and the Second Vatican Council has given new thrust to this
effort. Future priests must be able to exploit this movement in depth
and at the same time maintain its proper direction. Today this requires
a firm hand, a solid and sure theological sense, an absolute fidelity to
the discipline of the Church, and deep, well nourished personal
experience.
The Eucharist is the "sacrament of the redemptive
sacrifice." Theology has never ceased explaining this mystery from
which the Church permanently draws life. The fullness of this mystery is
such that human thought can scarcely grasp it. At times there is a risk
of reducing it in order to make it fit within the categories of human
reason. At other times there is risk of exploiting one aspect of it to
the detriment of others, which is to say there is a risk of disturbing
the structure of our Faith. That is why in a seminary the doctrine about
this matter must be taught with extreme care and must be constantly
recalled. No single aspect should be sacrificed to another. The teaching
of the Council of Trent on the reality of the sacrifice must be
professed in all its force, as must the teaching on the "Real
Presence." The aspect of brotherly communion, however deeply
understood, cannot overshadow the fundamental aspect of the sacrifice of
Christ, outside of which the Eucharistic Banquet loses its meaning. The
deviations which are occurring today on these points cannot be ignored
and future priests must be carefully warned about them. Pastoral work
which does not have its basis in doctrine cannot be considered
beneficial.
Eucharistic Adoration
Eucharistic faith has undergone an inevitable and gradual development
through the centuries in the matter of worship outside of the liturgical
sacrifice. This has opened up a certain space for eucharistic prayer,
offered with grateful fervor to Christ given for us in the host and
sacramentally present beyond the confines of the Mass, especially
reserved as "Viaticum" for the dying. The continuous
development of the cult of Eucharistic adoration is one of the most
marvelous experiences of the Church. The extraordinary sanctity which
has developed from it, and the number of whole communities specifically
consecrated to this adoration are a guarantee of the authenticity of its
inspiration. Someone like Brother Charles de Foucauld, alone in the
desert with the Eucharist, yet shining out in the Church through his
"Little Brothers" and "Little Sisters," is a most
striking example of this in our own time. A priest who does not have
this fervor, who does not acquire a taste for this adoration and is
unable to communicate this to others is betraying the Eucharist itself
and is blocking the way of the faithful to an incomparable treasure.
The Priesthood
The doctrine of the priesthood is grafted onto this. The
encouragement given to the theological consideration of ministries in
the Church should not cast doubt on the doctrine of priestly ministry as
this was happily and solidly defined in the Church, especially in the
Council of Trent. Clerics and lay people have a complementary mission in
the Church. The development of lay ministries does not alter the
specific nature of the ministerial priesthood. Far from compromising the
sense and importance of God's Word, the Eucharistic action consecrates
it. Two aspects are welded and bound together in the person of the
priest, the two aspects by which people are given food from heaven.
These are the two aspects which are stressed so strongly as radically
united in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John,
speaking about the preaching of Jesus at Capharnum. The priest is
ordained to prepare and distribute under two sacramental forms—that of
the sign of the word, and that under the sign of bread—the eternal
bread which is Christ.
Even in these, his own fields, in missionary areas, the ministerial
priest might need some assistance. However, whatever aids the Church
recognizes as legitimate and on occasion necessary from the laity, a
priest cannot lose nor abandon his own essential responsibilities. When
a layman is asked to preach, the priest remains responsible for the
choice of a collaborator, whose appointment cannot be taken lightly, and
for the contents of what he preaches. It is exactly the same way when
the priest chooses extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. This is
why the seminary must attach extreme importance to the means which the
Church has instituted for preparing future priests to become conscious
of the charge laid upon them and its special significance. The two
liturgical ministries, which formerly were called minor orders, namely
lectorate and acolytate, are no less indispensable or serious today in
the rather modest garb they now wear. To underrate their value, for
example, by conferring them both at the same time, is to go against a
good of the first order and to deprive oneself of a supernatural,
pedagogical resource in a serious area. One ought to reread the moving
letter of St. Cyprian (Epistle XXXVIII, in the edition of Can. Bayard,
Paris, 1925, pp. 96—97), in which he called to the office of lector a
young Christian who rendered himself worthy of it by risking martyrdom.
St. Cyprian presents this office as a necessary and desired preparation
for higher responsibility, that of the priesthood.
The Discipline of the Church
Understanding the Eucharist leads one to understand and to respect
meticulously the discipline of the Church in this matter. People often
speak today about "creativity." However, this can only be
understood correctly within the framework of the rules formulated by the
Church. The rules which order prayer must be accepted with the same
obedience as those which concern faith, according to the classical
formula lex orandi est lex credendi. These are inseparable. The rules
formulated by the Church are deeply liked to the essential values which
individuals might lose sight of, even inspired, as they might be, by
real pastoral concerns. Thus it is possible for the faith to become
disordered. Furthermore, this produces difficult problems and painful
divisions. The essential point of reference here is the Ecumenical
Council. It has been abundantly proved that the general orientations of
the Council, if they are faithfully observed, do not irritate the People
of God. They rebel only against novelties and excesses. For instance,
the Council is far from having banned the use of the Latin language.
Indeed, it did the contrary. Thus the systematic exclusion of Latin is
an abuse no less to be condemned than the systematic desire of some
people to use it exclusively. Its sudden and total disappearance will
not be without serious pastoral consequences. Only in a gradual way can
the "Word of God" take on, for the general good, the apparel
of everyday language. Otherwise it will be confused with the "words
of men" in the consciences of the faithful (cf. 1 Tim. 2:13). This
is why the seminary must ensure that future priests understand the
seriousness of what is at stake and help them not only to practice, but
also to love obedience. There is quite enough room for new initiatives
in the liturgy within the framework of the official directives.
Christ, the Bread of Life; Word and Eucharist
The disciples on the road to Emmaus felt their hearts burn within
them (cf. Lk. 24:32) while Scripture was being explained to them by the
mysterious traveler. But, they recognized Him only in "the breaking
of the bread." At each Mass the Church retraces the same road.
Through His Holy Spirit, Christ comments on the Scriptures for His
people so that they may be ready to take part in the banquet prepared by
His hands. The deep unity of the mystery of the Divine Word, now offered
so liberally in the liturgy, with the Eucharist itself is something that
must be evermore deeply
experienced by future priests. There are in fact not two separate
"tables," since the one leads to the other, just as the
revelation in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John goes
from the bread of the Word to the bread of the Eucharist. The whole of
this Gospel is slanted towards the "hour" of Christ which He
spends so much time explaining. The whole teaching of the Word was
designed to bring people to an understanding of the Paschal Mystery. In
fact, it was "for this that He had come." The Liturgy of the
Word prepares one for the sacrifice. It is in this Liturgy of the Word
which precedes the Eucharist that the Word acquires its full meaning. It
lives fully only through formal contact with the Eucharist. The
"celebrations of the Word" provided for by the Ecumenical
Council cannot avoid making reference to the Eucharist. And, it is here
that the prayer life of a future priest must realize its full promise,
find its full significance, and locate its true value.
Clerical Dress
It can be truly said that one can judge the spiritual climate of a
seminary by its participation in the Eucharist. Is this not the place
perhaps to note that at the Eucharist people see the need and the
meaning of clerical dress, which has been too easily abandoned, to the
harm of the very pastoral work this was supposed to foster?
Pope John Paul II has already recalled on several occasions the need
for a priest to appear before men for what he is, one of them,
certainly, but marked by a deep sign which sets him apart and which
sends him out in the name of God to God's followers and to all the
world. Now how is it possible to deny the evidence? In the eyes of the
faithful and in the very conscience of the priest, the significance of
the "sacraments of faith" is steadily degraded when a priest
is habitually negligent about his clothing or even fully secularized
when he is the minister of them. These sacraments include Penance,
Anointing of the Sick, and, above all, the Holy Eucharist. Often the
situation ends with the priest not even using the prescribed liturgical
vestments. If this trend is thought to be inevitable, the end is
disastrous and fatal. The seminary has no right to be lax when faced
with such possible consequences. It must have the courage to speak, to
explain, and to make demands upon its students.
3. The Word of the Cross;
Spiritual Sacrifices
Alongside the Eucharist, Penance must be assigned an important place.
This word has been used as the name of a sacrament, but when used in the
context of priestly life one must obviously extend its meaning to one
which involves an effort tending to unite one with Christ the Redeemer
and to participate personally in His passion in an effective way. The
priest must become a "teacher of penance" to others in the
same way that he must be a "teacher of prayer."
Preparation for Penance
The Second Vatican Council did not relegate the sacrament of Penance
to the shadows. If it seems to have become less important when compared
to the practice of the recent past, one can state that this is a real
abuse. "Penitential celebrations" were not designed to
gradually eliminate individual confession and to substitute for it
"general absolution," which some falsely claim is a return to
early Christian practice. Public penance in the early Church involved a
small number of specific sinners who were well known from private
contact over a period of time with the bishop. The so-called
"public" penance involved bringing to public notice a penitent
whose penitential journey had up to that time been private. What has
this ancient rite got in common with an absolution given to an
indeterminate group about whom nothing is known? Even if the Church
allows "general absolution" in cases of necessity and under
certain conditions, it is in private penance, in the way in which
theology has progressively defined and explained it, that one finds a
resemblance to the public penance of the past ages.
Having said this, it must now be asserted that penitential services
are a very fine initiative which in a timely way bring people's
consciences to a state where they feel able to go individually to a
priest. Some find that these devotional services provide a suitable
spiritual atmosphere, which they did not have in the past, enabling them
to gain a clear idea about the will of God and His specific demands and
allowing them to put things right which had been long amiss. One can see
what kind of rich training the seminary must give to future priests if
they are to succeed in this area, following the Instruction on
Liturgical Formation in seminaries, issued by the Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education recently (no. 35). Through authentic contact with
the Word of God, seminarians must be trained to have a right idea about
the structure of a Christian conscience, which is certainly based on
charity, but which is also well aware of how charity has to be
translated into action, in justice, temperance, fortitude, and prudence,
to use the classical expressions. At the same time they must be trained
to put all this reflection and investigation in the context of the love
of God from which genuine and calm contrition can spring.
Private Penance
From all this, personal contact with a priest becomes a natural
consequence. Nothing can take the place of that meeting with a priest
when a mind that has been informed and a heart that has been stirred
asks him whom God has given the power to forgive sins to utter those
irreplaceable words which we hear so often in the Gospels and which
touch the heart of each repentant sinner: "Your sins are
forgiven." If possible and when it is thought useful, this pardon
is matched with appropriate advice. While the preparation may have been
communal and has permitted each penitent to benefit from the prayers of
all, the pardon is, of itself, personal and incommunicable. The seminary
must impart to its students a taste for this private absolution along
with one for communal celebrations of penance where these are possible.
The future priest who has grasped this well will find the courage to
impose on himself the hard regime that made the Cure of Ars a saint and
of which someone like St. John Bosco has given a magnificent example in
more recent times.
Spiritual Directors
It is important to note that, in the context of the sacrament of
Penance which is, worthily and authentically received, the light of the
Lord passes freely and goes beyond pardon. A priest who hears
confessions becomes in many cases a "spiritual director." He
helps people to discern the ways of the Lord. How many vocations have
never been discovered through a lack of this unique supernatural contact
in the course of which a priest could have at least asked a question?
One can probably attribute the striking slackening off in the number of
vocations at least partially to the gradual decline in the practice of
private confession. A seminary must realize that it is preparing future
"spiritual directors."
Self-denial and the Rule of Life
The sacrament of Penance is never anything other than the
intervention of God who comes to bring to fruition an individual's work,
in which the penitential service was a preliminary and fortunate stage.
God comes to meet the penitent who must continue as a Christian to carry
his cross in the footsteps of Christ. The expression
"self-denial" is rarely heard today. Self-denial itself is
accepted very unwillingly. However, it is indispensable for everyone
according to his state in life. A priest cannot be faithful to the
charge laid upon him and to all his priestly commitments, especially
celibacy, if he has not been prepared to accept and impose upon himself
real discipline. Seminaries do not always have the courage to say this
or to demand it, especially in relationship to a "Rule of
Life," a set of rules which are wise, modest, and yet firm and
which will prepare the students to impose on themselves in the future a
rule of life. The absence of precise rules to be obeyed is a source of
many problems for a priest. He is left open to wasting time, to losing
all idea of his mission and of the restraints it imposes on him, to a
progressive vulnerability in all attacks of his feelings, etc. It should
be remembered what sacrifices conjugal fidelity involves. Surely
priestly fidelity can demand no less. This would be quite paradoxical. A
priest simply is not permitted to see, hear, say, or experience
everything he feels inclined toward. A seminary must train future
priests to enable them, in their inner liberty, to bear sacrifices and
to accept personal discipline both intelligently and loyally.
Obedience
One cannot avoid pausing a moment to consider the problem of
obedience. The word "obedience" must stop being a forbidden
word. One cannot be a disciple of Christ and still deny a title which
St. Paul uses for Christ as one of His claims to glory (cf. Phil.
2:8-9). Not only is personal freedom uncompromised by obedience but,
when it is well understood, it is the highest expression of freedom.
Obviously then, obedience must be well understood.
One certainly cannot claim to be obedient to God when he refuses to
obey those to whom God has confided His mission. Indeed, the exercise of
authority and obedience cannot be understood unless on both sides there
is expressly involved a notion of obedience to God. In this matter both
the rector and the seminarian must have their attention fixed constantly
on the will of God. This will of God is made explicit in the
"common good" of the seminary. It is the rector's job to
clearly define this "common good," to help people to see it
and accept it, to help them understand it and love it, to stimulate
people to put their initiatives and good will at its service, to
interest his students in grasping this "common good" to in
those points where they might find it unclear, and to dialogue about it.
Finally, he must judge with authority and without hesitation. It is the
duty of a future priest to listen to and understand the rector whom the
Lord has given the mission of governing in His name. It is also his job
to cooperate, according to his capacity, in bringing about the
fulfillment of the common good. This always consists in creating and
maintaining an atmosphere in which the priesthood of Christ can be
discerned and recommended to all, in which the grace of God can do it's
work in everyone, and in which not more or less is demanded than people
are capable of giving.
Obedience will always be a sacrifice. It must at the same time be a
joy, for it is a way of loving God. In the future, a young priest will
have to practice obedience in many ways. He must in the seminary be
enabled to understand it in the person of Christ and to love it. In this
context one can authentically experience a real brotherly, Christian
community in the seminary in which all are bound together by the will to
cooperate with each other for the good of the kingdom of God.
4. The Word Made Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin Mary
The Marian Mystery—an Object of Faith
A point of major importance would be omitted in the present
circumstances if there was neglect in remembering briefly and firmly the
place that should be occupied in seminary life by devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
The word "devotion" today is rather equivocal. It might
seem that what is being dealt with here is a personal and entirely
optional matter. In fact, it is a question quite simply of accepting the
Faith of the Church and living out what our creed requires us to
believe. The Word of God became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin
Mary. The words of Christ on the cross would serve to show, were it
needful, that it is not some simple, ephemeral contribution made by Mary
to the economy of salvation that we are concerned with here. The
Annunciation is another name for the Incarnation. The Church gradually
has become more aware of the Marian mystery. Far from adding her own
conjectures to what she found in Sacred Scripture about Mary, she has
met the Virgin at every stage of her journey towards the discovery of
Christ.
Christology is also Mariology. The fervor with which our Supreme
Pontiff, Pope John Paul II, lives the Marian mystery is nothing other
than fidelity. This is the way in which love of the Blessed Virgin must
be taught in a seminary. The problems which Christology faces today
could find their main solution in a fidelity of this kind. In
particular, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary can and must be a
guarantee against everything which would tend to eradicate the
historicity of the mystery of Christ. One cannot help but wonder whether
the decline in devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary does not often mask a
certain hesitation to profess frankly and openly the mystery of Christ
and the Incarnation.
Marian Attitude
Obviously, the mystery of the Virgin cannot be lived out except in an
inner climate of simplicity and abandonment, which has nothing to do
with sweet sentimentality and superficial outpouring of feelings.
Contact with the Blessed Virgin can only lead to greater contact with
Christ and His cross. Nothing better introduces on, in the Spirit of the
Second Vatican Council and of the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis cultus
of Pope Paul VI, to the joy of believing. "Blessed are you who have
believed" (Luke 1:45). A seminary must give its students, without
shrinking from this task, a sense of the authentic mystery of Mary. This
should be done through the means traditionally used by the Church to
arrive at a real interior devotion, such as the saints possessed as, in
the expression of St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, the
"secret" of salvation.
III. CONCLUSION
In conclusion we wish to offer a suggestion. In fact, we would like
this suggestion to be followed and gradually to become part of the
normal seminary practice in a solid and lasting way.
The ideal which we have in part described is not easy to attain. The
generous young men who offer themselves for the priesthood come from a
world in which inner recollection is almost impossible because of
continuous over-excitement of the senses and of over-abundance of
concepts. Experience shows that a period of preparation for the
seminary, given over exclusively to spiritual formation, is not only not
superfluous but can bring surprising results. There is evidence from
seminaries in which the number of candidates has suddenly gone up. In
these the people responsible attribute this to such a brave initiative.
This period of spiritual apprenticeship is welcomed by the students. It
appears that it is the diocesan authorities who are rather opposed to
this spiritual propaedeutic period. This seems to come from a lack of
priests and a view that it would be foolish to institute such a
practice. In reality, were it tried they would soon become convinced of
its benefits. Permit us to insist, in conclusion, that this suggestion
be tried.
This period of preparation would benefit from being conducted
somewhere other than the seminary itself. It should be of sufficient
duration. Thus something could be achieved at the beginning which might
be very difficult or impossible to achieve later on when seminary
training is taken up with a great deal of intellectual work. Then the
students often do not have the leisure and the freedom of mind to
accomplish a real spiritual apprenticeship.
If this suggestion is followed, the things indicated in this circular
would have a good chance of success, and one could expect they would
bear rich fruit.
Evidently, this will not always be possible. But, other possibilities
might open themselves up to generous imaginations of those who will try
to understand and put into practice the matters mentioned in this
circular letter, and who are prepared to give themselves trustfully to
Christ so that their labors may be helped and sustained by His grace.
Given at Rome, from the offices of the Sacred Congregation for
Catholic Education, the 6th of January in the year of our Lord 1980, the
Solemnity of the Epiphany.
Gabriel-Marie Cardinal Garrone, Prefect
Antonio-Maria Javierre-Ortas, Titular Archbishop of Meta, Secretary