Priestly Life and the Radicalism of the Gospel
27. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me" (Lk. 4:18). The Holy Spirit poured out in the sacrament of holy orders
is a source of holiness and a call to sanctification. This is the case not only
because it configures the priest to Christ, the head and shepherd of the
Church, entrusting him with a prophetic, priestly and royal mission to be
carried out in the name and person of Christ, but also because it inspires and
enlivens his daily existence, enriching it with gifts and demands, virtues and
incentives which are summed up in pastoral charity. This charity is a synthesis
which unifies the values and virtues contained in the Gospel and likewise a
power which sustains their development toward Christian perfection.( 72)
For all Christians without exception, the
radicalism of the Gospel represents a fundamental, undeniable demand flowing
from the call of Christ to follow and imitate him by virtue of the intimate
communion of life with him brought about by the Spirit (cf. Mt. 8:18ff.;
10:37ff.; Mk. 8:34-38; 10:17-21; Lk. 9:57ff.). This same demand is made anew to
priests, not only because they are "in" the Church, but because they
are "in the forefront" of the Church inasmuch as they are configured
to Christ, the head and shepherd. equipped for and committed to the ordained
ministry, and inspired by pastoral charity. Within and as a manifestation of
the radicalism of the Gospel one can find a blossoming of many virtues and
ethical demands which are decisive for the pastoral and spiritual life of the
priest, such as faith, humility in relation to the mystery of God, mercy and
prudence. A particularly significant expression of the radicalism of the Gospel
is seen in the different "evangelical counsels" which Jesus proposes
in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt. 5-7), and among them the intimately related
counsels of obedience, chastity and poverty.( 73) The priest is called
to live these counsels in accordance with those ways and, more specifically,
those goals and that basic meaning which derive from and express his own
priestly identity
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