SAYING that ordained life entails living a life in imitation of Jesus Crucified, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said priests, as disciples of Jesus, must learn from his examples.
In his homily during Mass on the fourth day of the 2nd National Congress of the Clergy at World Trade Center, the cardinal explained that what priests learn from theology does not come close to the knowledge they gain from Jesus’ teaching from the cross.
He stressed that there is no other way for priests to learn from the cross except by carrying it themselves.
The cardinal said newly ordained priests normally have very little cross to bear because their initial experience of priestly life is usually characterized with wild adulation, abundant gifts and unmitigated affirmation from the faithful.
“But the cross that we have to bear is not the opposite of these, but the exercise of restraint in the face of adulation, gifts and affirmation. The first lesson of Jesus crucified is thus to ‘deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me,’ ” Vidal said.
Learning from Jesus, the cardinal said, is knowing how to seek him with single-minded devotion, and making Him his only choice.
The cardinal also said that learning from brother priests is another way of learning from Jesus.
He, however, noted that the prevailing priestly culture does not usually encourage learning from fellow priests.
“Yet, there is so much to learn from each other’s experiences, struggles, pains and joys,” he said.
“Among priests, there can be so much heated and excited discussions about politics, sports, and business, but when the matter turns to personal and spiritual life, everybody becomes deaf and dumb,” the cardinal observed.
He said the young clergy can learn a lot from the experience of elderly priests.
“It is not so much the stories that matter when it comes to elderly priests, but their testimony of life lived in fidelity and constancy,” said the cardinal.
'Learn also from lay people'
Vidal said priests can also learn from the lay faithful, since they too, have something to share even in spiritual and moral matters.
“The best way a priest can know the condition of God’s people is through the confessional. Like St. John Mary Vianney, a priest should spend much time in the confessional to know the real needs of the people he serves. We do not know the needs of people by virtues they exercise; we know their problems by the sins they commit,” the cardinal said.
Vidal stressed the clergy must put ahead the needs of the poor before his own, because when a priest opts for himself, the poor always takes the last place.
“The quality of our service is determined by the direction of our desires. If our hearts are directed towards the self, we become masters to be served. When our hearts are directed to God and his people, we become the servants of all,” he said.
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