bold = Main text
Chapter, Paragraph, Number grey = Comment text
1 Intro, 0,1 | from the prophet Jeremiah, God promises his people that
2 Intro, 0,1 | The Church, the People of God, constantly experiences
3 Intro, 0,1 | continues joyfully to thank God for it. She knows that Jesus
4 Intro, 0,1 | definitive fulfillment of God's promise: "I am the good
5 Intro, 0,1 | ministry of shepherding God's flock (cf. Jn. 21:15ff.;
6 Intro, 0,1 | unbroken fulfillment of God's promise, which the synod
7 Intro, 0,2 | grace received! This gift of God does not cancel human freedom;
8 Intro, 0,2 | reason, the total trust in God's unconditional faithfulness
9 Intro, 0,2 | cooperate in the action of God who calls, and to contribute
10 Intro, 0,2 | which the good seed, sown by God, can take root and bring
11 Intro, 0,2 | authenticity of their call from God and to respond to it generously,
12 Intro, 0,3 | very life of the People of God manifests the teaching of
13 Intro, 0,4 | faith in the fulfillment of God's promise: "I will give
14 Intro, 0,4 | the Synod to the People of God," I make my own the words
15 Intro, 0,4 | Eucharist and ministers of God's mercy in the sacrament
16 Intro, 0,4 | discouraged as we are doing God's work; the same God who
17 Intro, 0,4 | doing God's work; the same God who calls us, sends us and
18 Intro, 0,4(8) | Fathers to the People of God, III: L'Osservatore Romano,
19 I, 0,5 | behalf of men in relation to God" (Heb. 5:1). ~The Letter
20 I, 0,5 | the "human character" of God's minister he comes from
21 I, 0,5 | without sin" (Heb. 4:1s)?.~God always calls his priests
22 I, 0,6 | faith.( 11)~The thirst for God and for an active meaningful
23 I, 0,6 | forms of religiosity without God and the proliferation of
24 I, 0,6 | widespread is the search for God.~
25 I, 0,7 | a need to fight against God; the individual feels he
26 I, 0,7 | and religiosity without God.( 14)~A particularly important
27 I, 0,8 | to an explicit refusal of God, causes widespread indifference
28 I, 0,8 | choices, is lived as if God did not exist. In this context
29 I, 0,8 | Gospel and the kingdom of God as a priest.~Often the world
30 I, 0,9 | complete consecration to God as a priest.~The recent
31 I, 0,9 | regular reading of the word of God and in the study of theology. ~
32 I, 0,10 | linked to a "call" which God causes to sound in the historical
33 I, 0,10 | situation, and also through it, God calls the believer -- and
34 I, 0,10(17) | Fathers to the People of God, 1; ~
35 II, 0,12 | relive the very communion of God and to manifest it and communicate
36 II, 0,12 | the ineffable mystery of God, that is, from the love
37 II, 0,12 | order to serve the People of God who are the Church and to
38 II, 0,12 | Christ, of communion with God and of the unity of all
39 II, 0,12 | mission among the People of God and in the world. Reference
40 II, 0,13 | the only begotten Son of God, is in his very being the
41 II, 0,13 | gives us immediate access to God: "God has sent the Spirit
42 II, 0,13 | immediate access to God: "God has sent the Spirit of his
43 II, 0,13 | other "mediators" between God and his people in the Old
44 II, 0,13 | And thus the promise which God had made to Israel was fulfilled: "
45 II, 0,13 | sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1
46 II, 0,13 | that living stone...in God's sight chosen and precious" (
47 II, 0,14 | comes to him directly from God and makes present the very
48 II, 0,14 | present the very authority of God (cf. Mt. 7:29; 21:23; Mk.
49 II, 0,15 | shepherding the flock of God and of teaching (cf. Acts
50 II, 0,15 | revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not
51 II, 0,15 | emerges from the Word of God, that is, from Jesus Christ
52 II, 0,16 | along with the word of God and the sacramental signs
53 II, 0,16 | of the entire People of God; it is ordered not only
54 II, 0,17 | of the entire People of God, leading it to its full
55 II, 0,17 | the laity as children of God and help them to exercise
56 II, 0,17 | they can help the People of God to exercise faithfully and
57 II, 0,18 | of the entire People of God, and requires a new fervor,
58 III, 0,19 | totally and exclusively to God and shares in the infinite
59 III, 0,19 | the infinite holiness of God, who calls him, chooses
60 III, 0,19 | upon" the entire People of God, which becomes established
61 III, 0,19 | people "consecrated" to God and "sent" by God to announce
62 III, 0,19 | consecrated" to God and "sent" by God to announce the Gospel of
63 III, 0,19 | members of the People of God are "inebriated" and "sealed"
64 III, 0,20 | they are consecrated to God in a new way by their ordination.
65 III, 0,20 | care and all the People of God, is able the better to pursue
66 III, 0,20 | member of the People of God, joyfully sharing in the
67 III, 0,20 | involving a new consecration to God through ordination. St.
68 III, 0,21 | true Suffering Servant of God, both priest and victim. ~
69 III, 0,21 | service to the People of God (cf. Mt. 20:24ff.; Mk. 10:
70 III, 0,21 | freely and willingly as God desires. In this way the
71 III, 0,25 | companions and helpers" of God who is "the holy one and
72 III, 0,25 | always and only in Christ -- God's plan has ordained that
73 III, 0,25 | While it is possible for God's grace to carry out the
74 III, 0,25 | unworthy ministers, yet God ordinarily prefers to show
75 III, 0,25 | and unsolicited love of God in Christ. Growth in the
76 III, 0,26 | minister of the word of God. He is consecrated and sent
77 III, 0,26 | communion in the mystery of God, as revealed and communicated
78 III, 0,26 | familiarity with the word of God. Knowledge of its linguistic
79 III, 0,26 | in debt to the People of God. Precisely because he can
80 III, 0,26 | themselves witnesses of God's mercy toward sinners.
81 III, 0,26 | together "the family of God as a fellowship endowed
82 III, 0,26 | Christ through the Spirit to God the Father."( 71) This munus
83 III, 0,27 | relation to the mystery of God, mercy and prudence. A particularly
84 III, 0,28 | work with the People of God: an authority free from
85 III, 0,28 | faith, hope and love for God and his mystery, a hunger
86 III, 0,28 | present in the People of God entrusted to him.~
87 III, 0,29 | to devote themselves to God alone with an undivided
88 III, 0,29 | they have been called by God to the gift of chastity
89 III, 0,29 | celibacy is a priceless gift of God for the Church and has a
90 III, 0,29 | men who have received from God the gift of the vocation
91 III, 0,29 | a precious gift given by God to his Church and as a sign
92 III, 0,29 | this world -- a sign of God's love for this world and
93 III, 0,29 | undivided love of the priest for God and for God's people, with
94 III, 0,29 | the priest for God and for God's people, with the result
95 III, 0,29 | service of the People of God. Celibacy, then, is to be
96 III, 0,29 | as a priceless gift from God, as an "incentive to pastoral
97 III, 0,29 | as a singular sharing in God's fatherhood and in the
98 III, 0,30 | goods to the supreme good of God and his kingdom.( 81) In
99 III, 0,30 | and lives the mystery of God as the one and supreme good,
100 III, 0,30 | that is, with reference to God and his plan. ~Poverty for
101 III, 0,30 | will be held accountable by God and his brothers and sisters,
102 III, 0,30 | royal road of union with God and unity with his brothers
103 III, 0,31 | evangelical care of the People of God in the specific historical
104 III, 0,31 | bear fruit for the glory of God and the good of the entire
105 III, 0,33 | Holiness is intimacy with God; it is the imitation of
106 IV, 0,34 | said, ' Behold, the Lamb of God! ' The two disciples heard
107 IV, 0,34 | principle of unity and peace, God has gathered together and
108 IV, 0,35 | Christian vocation comes from God and is God's gift. However,
109 IV, 0,35 | vocation comes from God and is God's gift. However, it is never
110 IV, 0,35 | Vatican Council reminds us, "God has willed to make men holy
111 IV, 0,35 | all the vocations which God gives her along the path
112 IV, 0,35 | proclaim the kingdom of God to all and who calls all
113 IV, 0,35 | in fundamental service to God -- as a service "to" the
114 IV, 0,35 | increase the kingdom of God in the world.( 99)~What
115 IV, 0,35 | service of the People of God with a particular belonging
116 IV, 0,36 | beings, between the love of God who calls and the freedom
117 IV, 0,36 | indivisible aspects of vocation, God's gratuitous gift and the
118 IV, 0,36 | gracious intervention of God who calls. It is God who
119 IV, 0,36 | of God who calls. It is God who takes the initiative
120 IV, 0,36 | to the primacy of grace, God's free and sovereign decision
121 IV, 0,36 | decision. Vocation is a gift of God's grace and never a human
122 IV, 0,36 | unconditional faithfulness of God who calls. ~"He called to
123 IV, 0,36 | shine out at the same time God's gracious love and the
124 IV, 0,36 | the freedom of following God's call and entrusting oneself
125 IV, 0,36 | to be open to receiving God's gift. And if we cannot
126 IV, 0,36 | gratuitous initiative of God who calls, neither can we
127 IV, 0,36 | back to the giver who is God who calls, an oblation: "
128 IV, 0,36 | of a person's response to God who calls, finds its incomparable
129 IV, 0,36 | come to do your will, O God"' (Heb. 10:5, 7).~The creature
130 IV, 0,36 | hers to the immense love of God. (103)~
131 IV, 0,37 | demands of the kingdom of God, certain social and cultural
132 IV, 0,37 | general and confused idea of God that their religiosity becomes
133 IV, 0,37 | becomes a religiosity without God, where God's will is seen
134 IV, 0,37 | religiosity without God, where God's will is seen as an immutable
135 IV, 0,37 | this is not the face of God which Jesus Christ came
136 IV, 0,37 | Christ came to reveal to us: God is truly a Father who with
137 IV, 0,37 | have an erroneous vision of God cannot even recognize the
138 IV, 0,37 | from the communication of God to the human person and
139 IV, 0,37 | between human beings and God in an individualistic and
140 IV, 0,37 | self - centered way, as if God's call reached the individual
141 IV, 0,37 | not a total dedication to God in the service of the community.
142 IV, 0,37 | pointing to the true face of God, the Father who calls each
143 IV, 0,38 | relationship established by God with human beings in their
144 IV, 0,38 | There one is alone with God whose voice echoes in his
145 IV, 0,38 | nourished by the word of God, creates an ideal environment
146 IV, 0,38 | prayer and meditation on God's word: in silence and listening,
147 IV, 0,38 | that they are a gift of God and, as such, must be asked
148 IV, 0,38 | once again in the People of God "worthy ministers for the
149 IV, 0,38 | is a living experience of God's gift and a great school
150 IV, 0,38 | reveals to us the true face of God and grants us a share in
151 IV, 0,38 | offers himself as a victim to God, in the image of Christ,
152 IV, 0,39 | vocational dimension: The word of God enlightens believers to
153 IV, 0,39 | appreciate life as a response to God's call and leads them to
154 IV, 0,39 | ministerial priesthood, on God's people's."( 110) A properly
155 IV, 0,40 | individual person: Indeed, God with his call reaches the
156 IV, 0,40 | words which the Spirit of God personally addresses to
157 IV, 0,40 | 13:14-15), offering to God a spiritual worship acceptable
158 IV, 0,40 | sensitive to the voice of God who may be calling him to
159 IV, 0,41 | vocation is a gift from God. It is undoubtedly a great
160 IV, 0,41 | every part of the People of God.~There is an urgent need,
161 IV, 0,41 | wanting to the People of God here on earth."( 116) The
162 IV, 0,41 | unconditional dedication to God's flock, their witness of
163 IV, 0,41 | young men a desire to do God's will in that state in
164 V, 0,42 | called to the priesthood by God may become, with the sacrament
165 V, 0,42 | Christ into the service of God the Father and of all people,
166 V, 0,42(122)| Fathers to the People of God, IV.~
167 V, 1,43 | in the incarnate Son of God and which is reflected with
168 V, 1,43 | behalf of men in relation to God" (Heb. 5:1). So we see that
169 V, 1,44 | therefore a loving response, to God's demands, to God's love. "
170 V, 1,44 | response, to God's demands, to God's love. "The human maturity
171 V, 1,44 | obligations with regard to God and the Church and wisely
172 V, 1,44 | listening to the voice of God, who speaks to him in his
173 V, 1,45 | Formation: In Communion with God and in Search of Christ~
174 V, 1,45 | formation. Every human being, as God's creature who has been
175 V, 1,45 | In this wonderful plan of God is to be found the basis
176 V, 1,45 | relationship and communion with God, derives and develops from
177 V, 1,45 | and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son
178 V, 1,45 | meditation on the word of God and in active participation
179 V, 1,46 | which makes us children of God, constitutes the "novelty"
180 V, 1,46 | but hunger and thirst for God. However, the Christian
181 V, 1,46 | the coming of the Son of God who becomes man and gives
182 V, 1,46 | power to become children of God" (Jn. 1:12). It is the proclamation,
183 V, 1,46 | of love and life between God and human beings. Only if
184 V, 1,46 | quaerere Deum (the search for God), is a classical theme of
185 V, 1,46 | meditation on the word of God, active participation in
186 V, 1,47 | meditated reading of the word of God (lectio divina), a humble
187 V, 1,47 | strength of the word of God that one's own vocation
188 V, 1,47 | in being the terminus of God's word which calls man and
189 V, 1,47 | man's word which answers God. Familiarity with the word
190 V, 1,47 | Familiarity with the word of God will make conversion easy,
191 V, 1,47 | heart with the thoughts of God, so that the faith (as a
192 V, 1,47 | we approach the word of God and listen to it as it really
193 V, 1,47 | brings us into contact with God himself, God speaking to
194 V, 1,47 | contact with God himself, God speaking to us. It brings
195 V, 1,47 | with Christ, the Word of God, the truth, who is at the
196 V, 1,47 | the "words," "the word" of God, as the Council reminds
197 V, 1,47 | Scriptures contain the word of God, and because they are inspired,
198 V, 1,47 | inspired, are truly the word of God."( 138) The Council also
199 V, 1,47 | revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col. 1:15; 1 Tm. 1:
200 V, 1,47 | knowledge of the word of God and a prayerful familiarity
201 V, 1,47 | preacher of the word of God to others, not being a hearer
202 V, 1,47 | a hearer of the word of God in his own heart' (St. Augustine,
203 V, 1,47 | The priest is The man of God, the one who belongs to
204 V, 1,47 | the one who belongs to God and makes people think about
205 V, 1,47 | makes people think about God. When the letter to the
206 V, 1,47 | priest in the service of God' (Heb. 2:17).... Christians
207 V, 1,47 | will help them to turn to God, to rise up to him. And
208 V, 1,47 | have a deep intimacy with God. Those who are preparing
209 V, 1,47 | atmosphere vital for perceiving God's presence and for allowing
210 V, 1,48 | sacraments. Communion with God, which is the hinge on which
211 V, 1,48 | a law of charity toward God and humanity, as a response
212 V, 1,48 | prolonging of the charity of God toward humanity signified
213 V, 1,48 | Ps. 51:14) and of meeting God who is "rich in mercy" (
214 V, 1,49 | a life of intimacy with God, a life of prayer and contemplation.
215 V, 1,49 | But this very meeting with God and with his fatherly love
216 V, 1,49 | completely to the service of God and the pastoral ministry.
217 V, 1,50 | of the "precious gift of God,"( 153) which will lead
218 V, 1,50 | behalf of the People of God. In particular, as he witnesses
219 V, 1,51 | participates in the light of God's mind" and seeks to acquire
220 V, 1,51 | knowing and adhering to God.( 156)~The intellectual
221 V, 1,51 | priest assents to the word of God, grows in his spiritual
222 V, 1,51 | a personal experience of God. In this way a purely abstract
223 V, 1,51 | communicate the mystery of God to the people."( 159)~
224 V, 1,52 | with the world and with God. A proper philosophical
225 V, 1,52 | gift by the supreme truth, God; that, albeit in a limited
226 V, 1,52 | truth, even that relating to God and the radical meaning
227 V, 1,53 | truly welcomes the word of God, it will lead to a radical "
228 V, 1,53 | full and definitive Word of God to the world (cf. Heb. 1:
229 V, 1,53 | Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God: Mature reflection has to
230 V, 1,53 | humility, or study without God's grace, or to expect to
231 V, 1,53 | lacking the infused wisdom of God."( 168)~
232 V, 1,54 | vision of the truths which God has revealed in Jesus Christ
233 V, 1,54 | the study of the word of God: the word set down in holy
234 V, 1,54 | person, who converses with God: the person who is called "
235 V, 1,55 | preserving the People of God in the truth which sets
236 V, 1,55 | understanding of the word of God found in the Scripture and
237 V, 1,55 | incarnation of the word of God and with Christian anthropology,
238 V, 1,57 | of the revealed word of God, making it their own by
239 V, 1,58 | necessary that the man of God who is to be equipped for
240 V, 1,59 | thanks to the very grace of God that is entrusted to the
241 V, 2,60 | meditation of the word of God and with the sacrament of
242 V, 2,62 | express their effort to find God and the faith (cf. Evangelii
243 V, 2,63 | infrequent to find that God's call had been perceived
244 V, 2,63 | conclusion: "This explains that God loves in a special way those
245 V, 3,67 | unifies, in the plan of God, all the different branches
246 V, 3,68 | to fulfill the will of God," they should accompany
247 V, 3,68 | serve the entire People of God in the fraternal communion
248 VI | TO REKINDLE THE GIFT OF GOD THAT IS WITHIN YOU~The Ongoing
249 VI, 0,70 | to rekindle the gift of God that is within you" (2 Tm.
250 VI, 0,70 | by virtue of the "gift of God" which they have received
251 VI, 0,70 | characteristic of every gift from God, who makes all things new (
252 VI, 0,70 | dynamism of grace intrinsic to God's gift. God himself, in
253 VI, 0,70 | intrinsic to God's gift. God himself, in other words,
254 VI, 0,70 | and truly is, a word of God. It is a word of God which
255 VI, 0,70 | of God. It is a word of God which calls and sends forth.
256 VI, 0,70 | sacrament of holy orders, God calls the candidate "to"
257 VI, 0,70 | priesthood The fact is that God continues to call and send
258 VI, 0,70 | constant call or will of God. Thus the apostle Peter
259 VI, 0,70 | death he was to glorify God .) And after this he said
260 VI, 0,70 | of love for the People of God, at whose service the priest
261 VI, 0,70 | justice: The priest owes it to God's people, whose fundamental "
262 VI, 0,70 | to receive the word of God, the sacraments and the
263 VI, 0,70 | this right of the People of God. The heart and form of the
264 VI, 0,72 | and so on. ~The People of God should be able to say about
265 VI, 0,72 | Christ, the true face of God, and as a result the true
266 VI, 0,72 | the priest himself seek God's face and contemplate it
267 VI, 0,72 | service of the People of God, helping them to give an
268 VI, 0,72 | another, as good stewards of God's varied grace" (1 Pt. 4:
269 VI, 0,73 | more aware of the gift of God and to live it out constantly.
270 VI, 0,73 | steward of the mysteries of God (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1). Paul expressly
271 VI, 0,73 | sacrament of the love of God for mankind, every time
272 VI, 0,73 | instrument for conferring God's grace upon men and women.
273 VI, 0,74 | gathering together the family of God as a brotherhood inspired
274 VI, 0,74 | uniting him to the People of God: He is not only "in the
275 VI, 0,74 | freedom of the children of God in the only begotten Son,
276 VI, 0,74 | the good of the People of God, that the priest must live
277 VI, 0,74 | those of the whole People of God. For their part, religious
278 VI, 0,75 | comes from all those whom God is unceasingly calling to
279 VI, 0,75 | stewards [of the mysteries of God] that they be found trustworthy" (
280 VI, 0,75 | ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in
281 VI, 0,75 | speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness
282 VI, 0,76 | incarnate the unique wealth of God's gift which is the priesthood
283 VI, 0,77 | bringing to him as the "man of God."~Ongoing formation should
284 VI, 0,78 | appropriately to the greatness of God's gift and to the urgency
285 VI, 0,78 | themselves but the People of God. So, ongoing formation,
286 VI, 0,78 | doing good to the People of God itself. Besides, the very
287 VI, 0,78 | of people who truly love God, the courageous application
288 VI, 0,78 | so the entire People of God, in each and every one of
289 VI, 0,79 | be faithful to the gift God has given him and to respond
290 VI, 0,79 | solicitude for the People of God. He is responsible for ongoing
291 VI, 0,79 | priests such as the People of God wishes to have and has a "
292 VI, 0,79 | chosen to give himself to God and neighbor, should always
293 VI, 0,79 | the family will help bring God's providential plan to completion. ~
294 Conclu, 0,82 | Today, this promise of God is still living and at work
295 Conclu, 0,82 | feels in her heart that God's gift begs for a united
296 Conclu, 0,82 | reply: The entire People of God should pray and work tirelessly
297 Conclu, 0,82 | conscientiously to welcome God's gift and put it into practice,
298 Conclu, 0,82 | specific path toward holiness.~God promises the Church not
299 Conclu, 0,82 | after his own heart." And God's "heart" has revealed itself
300 Conclu, 0,82 | salvation as the supreme gift of God's love. All this is done
301 Conclu, 0,82 | rekindle daily the gift of God you have received with the
302 Conclu, 0,82 | joy of seeing the flock of God grow in an ever greater
303 Conclu, 0,82 | better than any other to God's call. Mary became both
304 Conclu, 0,82 | your sons,~O holy Mother of God.~O Mother of Christ,~to
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