In a meeting with the seminary community of Alessio Ascalesi of the Archdiocese of Naples, Italy, the Pope reminded that formation is a lifelong process and that if it is interrupted in between, it will go backwards.
C. Roubini Chinnapa9 CTC, Vatican News
Archdiocese of Naples Alessio Ascalesi, Archdiocese Bishop Mon. Domenico Battalia, other bishops and the community of the seminary met with Pope Francis. Thanking the community for the formation process of priests, besides theologians, nuns and married people, the Pope hailed it as an important sign of the complementary process between the ordination and the sacrament of matrimony.
The Pope thanked the students for their response to the Lord’s call and for their willingness to serve the Church. The Pope reminded them that surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit to cultivate faithfulness every day with diligence helps to conform to Christ. The Holy Father likened it to a construction site, warning us not to forget that the process of formation is a lifelong process and that if it ever stops, it will go backwards.
The church is an open building site, open to the newness of the Holy Spirit, a place of continuous building work that resists the temptation to protect itself. The main task of the building work of the Church is to bring the beauty of the Gospel to men with the Crucified and Risen One. The Pope emphasized that we should listen to the Holy Spirit and the people of today, with the conviction that all of us, clergy and laity, are workers engaged in the work of construction, and make pastoral discrimination according to each situation and become ministers.
Ecclesiastical formation is also a place of construction. The Pope, who warned them never to make the mistake of thinking that their formation is complete, asked the students to allow God to build them and allow the Lord to intervene in their lives. Like some demolition on a construction site, the Holy Spirit will knock down in us the things that are unbecoming of faith and hindering growth according to the gospel and give us a new heart, breaking up life in the style of Jesus. Papa said enthusiasm is ripened by the cross. Do not be afraid, it is a hard work but if we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, we can also find pure joy in the tender service of the Lord in weaknesses, the Pope assured. Therefore, the Pope asked to meditate on the Word of God with sincerity and search deeply, to nurture the inner life, and to find through studies not only the questions that are being asked by our time but also the answers to the theological and pastoral supreme questions.
The Pope indicated that new questions and inclusions are needed in clerical formation as in construction spaces. While carefully observing and accepting such innovations, the Pope asked us to accept them as opportunities of grace, service and God’s presence.
Pope reminded us that Lent is a time to rethink our lifestyle. Amazed at God’s love, which is the foundation of God’s call to be found through word and worship, found joy in moderation by avoiding wastes, devoting themselves as ministers to others and being very attentive to the poor, hoping that their community will take the path of repentance and renewal.
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2024-02-18 20:04:04
