The Holy Father tells seminarians to draw their inspiration from Christ in prayer and to hold on to Him and attend to His people.
“From Jesus, we do not learn things. We welcome Him; we cling to Him, to be able to bring Him to others, he said in his Saturday meeting with seminarians at the Archdiocesan Seminary in Madrid, Spain, according to Vatican News.
Pope Francis remarked that Cardinal José Cobo Cano had come to Rome to take possession of his titular churches of Santiago and Montserrat.
The church’s patron saints—St. James and the Blessed Virgin Mary—combine the “apostolic faith and love for Mary that characterizes all of Spain," he said.
Pope Francis told the Spanish seminarians that many of their bishops wanted to turn their pastoral visions into reality through their schools by making available superior formations for men wanting to be priests.
He cited St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877–1940), who said he wanted a seminary “in which the Eucharist was: in the pedagogical order, the most effective stimulus; in the scientific, the first teacher and the first subject; in discipline, the most vigilant inspector; in the ascetic, the most vivid model; in the economic, the great providence; and in the architectural, the cornerstone.”
The Pope instructed seminarians to let Christ serve as the foundation and driving force for pastoral activity, achievable only through adoration.
He said, “Jesus will make us a pedagogue—patient, severe, sweet, or firm as we need in our discernment because He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He waits for, encourages, and supports us in all our journey.”
The greatest lesson Jesus teaches is humility, which He shared through many varied stories, parables, contrasts, and events of His life.
Pope Francis emphasized that discipline is required for all seminarians and priests to devotely participate in and celebrate the Eucharist daily.
Men consecrated to the service of God and His people must also be attentive and practice austerity. “Silence, prayer, fasting, penance, and asceticism are necessary to free ourselves from what enslaves us and to be all for God," he said.
The Holy Father ended his notes by inviting the seminarians to materialize their inner spiritual labours into an expression of God’s closeness to people around them in their pastoral activities.
“Have confidence in the One who has called you to this beautiful task and prostrate yourselves in adoration to be able to build with docility the temple of God in yourselves and your communities.” (MTV)
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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