Excerpt from Josef Cardinal Tomko's
Address to the Seminarians and Staff of College General on 28th. August,
It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to visit you
during my first Pastoral Visitation to your country.....
This evening, after having the privilege of celebrating Mass with you,
I would like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts with you concerning
our common vocation - our call to be servants of Jesus Christ as priests.
An important word here is SERVANTS, for that is what we are, as
priests and ministers of the Church....
If I ask all of you now, "Why are you here in the seminary?", what would
you answer? How would you explain your presence here, your studies, and
your goal? Are they not a direct response to this special invitation of
Jesus? You are here because you have felt this call of Christ. It has stirred
your soul. You want to do more than just follow the commandments.
You are here because you have accepted this special invitation of Jesus
to devote your whole life to the service of the Church through the
I would go on to say that this is the road you have chosen to also achieve
your personal happiness in this life. Yes, your happiness. One does not
take up the call of Christ in order to be unhappy!...
A Call to be Good, Holy and Dedicated
With the growing knowledge and dedication of so many lay persons in the
Church, the faithful demand good, holy and dedicated pastors ... and
this is the goal to which you must dedicate each day of your life!....
Called To Mission
No longer is it enough for a diocesan priest to be content only with
caring for the baptized in his parish. As our Holy Father stated in his
Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, "Especially in those areas where Christians
are a minority, priests must be filled with a special missionary zeal and
commitment. The Lord entrusts to them not only the pastoral care of the
Christian community, but also and above all the evangelization of those
of their fellow citizens who do not belong to Christ's flock.(RM n.67)..."
The Gift Of Celibacy
I said earlier that we are here to live out our call to happiness through
the priesthood. Celibacy is an integral part of that call. And we must
be very clear about this - anyone who cannot accept this life of total
chastity and celibacy will never be happy as a priest. He will be tempted
to live a double life, a life of deceit, where his self-esteem diminishes
each day, and where the respect people have for him also decreases.
"The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest
in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head
and Spouse loved her. Priestly celibacy, then, is the gift of self
in and with Christ to his Church and expresses the priest's service to
the Church in and with the Lord." (PDV n. 29) it can be everywhere successfully
and happily observed with the grace of God. To succeed in living
faithfully this charism, we need to observe it fully now, in the seminary,
and then constantly guard it through prudence in our dealings with others
while maintaining constant and intimate union with Christ, especially through
Priests Dedicated to the Poor
You men are about to enter into the consecrated service of the Church
to the people of Malaysia. The church here needs dedicated disciples,
who are willing to be counter-signs of the consumerism and materialism
affecting the world. In the spirit of Jesus, we are particularly called
to minister to the poor, and to maintain a spirit of true detachment from
worldly goods and comforts which detract you from your true mission...
Mary, our help and model
I invite you then to become holy priests, compassionate priests and
happy priests. May I conclude now by recommending in a special way your
devotion to the Virgin Mary, who is a special help to all priests.
Through her example and intercession, you will grow in a more profound
union with her son, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, who came to bring
salvation to all people. Learn compassion from her, as you learn total
service from Jesus, who has called you to leave everything and who today
invites you to : COME FOLLOW ME!
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