Year for Priests Pilgrimage Journal
Pope Benedict XVI declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 19 June 2009. The year concluded in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father from 9-11 June 2010.
Rev Luis Fernando Montano Rodriguez MG, Parish Priest of St Monica's in North Parramatta, was one of the priests from the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta who participated in the Rome celebrations. Below is the fourth and final instalment of Fr Fernando's Year for Priests pilgrim's journal.
Pilgrimage Journal Part IV: Journey's End
The following day was the big day, the closing of the Year of the Priest on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Very early in the morning priest were gathering outside St Peter’s square for the big celebration. The final number of priests that attended the final mass was calculated or around 15,000, all the papal schools in Rome gave the day off so priests and seminarians studying in Rome could attend the celebration. It was a very sunny and hot day in the Roman summer.
The Mass was very solemn, priests were asked to keep an atmosphere of prayer not taking pictures during the celebration of the Eucharist. The homily was again very inspirational, it will be remembered as the homily when the Pope said that “the priesthood is a gift from the Heart of Christ”, part of the homily was also based on the meditation of the Psalm 23, the lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. The Pope reminded us that for a priest as for every Christian, Jesus is the only one we shall want, he fulfils every single desire of the human heart and also based on that Psalm he mentioned that priests also walk sometimes through the valley of death that for a priest sometimes are solitude and temptations, the rod and the staff of the lord are our strength. Very true!
The inspiration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
At the end of the mass the Pope made an act of consecration of the Priests to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A beautiful prayer that we all did kneeling down under the Roman heat, but with true devotion, praying not only for our own priesthood but also for all our brothers in the priesthood, especially those more in need of our prayers. I want to share with you the prayer so you can keep it and say it during your prayer time. With this prayer I want to finish this series of articles about my pilgrimage to Rome for the closing of the year of the Priest, I want to remind you, as the Holy Father did, that even when the Year of the Priest comes to a close, the meditation and the insights about the Priesthood keep going. Hopefully the Sacred Heart of Jesus will inspire many young men to follow him more closely.
Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, called together by the love of your Son Jesus the Eternal High Priest, we, sons in the Son and his priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s will.
We are mindful that, without Jesus, we can do nothing good (cf.Jn 15:5) and that only through him, with him and in him, will be instruments of salvation for the world.
Bride of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the inestimable gift of transformation in Christ. Through the same power of the Spirit that overshadow you, making you Mother of the Saviour, help us to bring Christ your Son to birth in ourselves too.
May the Church be thus renewed by priests who are holy, priests transfigured by the grace of him who makes all things new.
Mother of Mercy, it was your Son Jesus who called us to become like him: light of the world and salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-14)
Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to
the wiles of the Evil One.
Preserve us with your purity, guard us with your humility and enfold us with your maternal love that is reflected in so many souls consecrated to you, who have become for us true spiritual mothers.
Mother of the Church, we priests want to be pastors who do not feed themselves but rather give themselves to God for their brethren, finding their happiness in this. Not only with words, but with our lives, we want to repeat humbly, day after day, Our “here I am”.
Guided by you, we want to be Apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and to offer to those who request it the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Advocate and Mediatrix of grace, you who are fully immersed in the one universal mediation of Christ, invoke upon us, from God, a heart completely renewed that loves God with all its strength and serves mankind as you did.
Repeat to the Lord you efficacious word” “They have no wine” (Jn2:3), so that the Father and the Son will send upon us a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Full of wonder and gratitude at your continuing presence in our midst, in the name of all priests I too want to cry out: “Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).
Our Mother of all time, do not tire of “visiting us”, consoling us, sustaining us. Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us. With this act of entrustment and consecration, we wish to welcome you more deeply, more radically, for ever and totally into our human and priestly lives.
Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest, so that all mankind shall see the salvation of the Lord, who has the name and the face of Jesus, who is reflected in our hearts for ever united to yours!
Amen.
Peace in Jesus
Fernando
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Part I: Paray le MonialThe wonders of His love
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| Fr Fernando Montano in Paray le Monial as part of the Year for Priests Pilgrimage. |
By Fr Fernando Montano
I am so happy to be back home after my short pilgrimage to Europe to participate in the closing ceremony of the Year of the Priest in St Peter’s square. The trip was full of many experiences that I want to share with you.
The pilgrimage was mainly to three places, Paray le Monial, Ars and Rome. The group consisted of around 12 priests from Sydney and Parramatta diocese and the group leader was Bishop Julian Porteous from Sydney. After a long flight we arrive in Paray le Monial for the first stop in our pilgrimage to Rome.
I have to admit that I was not very familiar with that place. When I heard that we were going to that little village in the French country side I kept asking myself what is there for me to see or visit? I was happily surprised to know that that is the place where the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century. The first apparition of the Sacred Heart happened on the 27th of December 1673, the feast of St John the apostle, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her, as He had formerly allowed St Gertrude, to rest her head upon His Heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of His love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work.
During our stay in Paray le Monial, we had the chance to immerse ourselves into the message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A must for every pilgrim is the visit to the chapel of the apparitions a few meters away from the main
Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the chapel is still next to the convent where the Sisters pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament and lead the Divine Office; pilgrims are always welcome to attend. As in many pilgrimage sites, people from all sorts of life come to visit the place where the revelations took place. There is an atmosphere of prayer and devotion that accompany the prayers we present to our Lord.
"Behold the Heart that has so loved men"
The chapel of the Visitation (as the Chapel of the Apparitions is usually known) has changed a bit since the apparitions. The sanctuary remains the same size and with little changes after the apparitions, there is a painting that represents the second main apparition to St Margaret, where she saw Our Lord with the wounds of the Cross like shining suns and the wound in his side like a furnace of fire. We were blessed to have the chance to say Mass there.
One of the main spiritual insights I will keep from this place are the words that The Sacred Heart say to St Margaret during the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the “great apparition” reportedly took place, where Jesus said, “Behold the Heart that has so loved men…instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude...”. These words are written at entrance of the little chapel and for me, summarize the whole message of Paray and the Sacred Heart. The love of God who is so big and instead we love him so little, he gave his life for us and instead we give him not the best of us but just leftovers.
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Part II: ArsAct of Love at Ars
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| Mass at Ars for the Year for Priests pilgrims. |
The second stop in our journey was Ars. The little village were St John Baptist Marie Vianney, the holy Cure of Ars lived. Being the Year for Priests and we trying to make our way for the closing ceremony in Rome, the visit to Ars was just the most logical thing to do. He was a French parish priest who in the Catholic Church is venerated as a saint and as the patron saint of all priests. He is often referred to as the “Curé d’Ars”. He became internationally notable for his priestly and pastoral work in his parish because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortification, his persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession, and his ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ars is still a very small place, the main feature is the Basilica to St John Vianney, build in the exact place as the old church. I was surprised at the size of the original church; I said to myself, the parish centre we just built is bigger than this! The entrance to the Church is worn down after so many years of pilgrims coming to visit the tomb of his holy man. His body can be seen uncorrupted above the main altar of the new basilica. Going into the sacristy, pilgrims can still see the famous confessional where the saint spent up to 16 hours during summer time and up to 12 hours in winter time hearing confessions.
The place was already full with pilgrims when we arrived, as in many pilgrimage sites, Masses happen one after the other in different languages. I was pleased to hear that the Mass that was about to finish was in Spanish and suddenly my memory went back to my childhood when I heard some of the Hymns.
Just when the Mass in Spanish was about to finish I saw a priest walking into the basilica. He kind of looked disappointed when he realized the Mass was almost finished. He looked at me as if he wanted to ask something but I thought he drew back when he saw me with the Aussie group. So I asked him in English where was he from. He said Mexico. To his surprise I replied in Spanish, where in Mexico? He said, Puebla (the place where my parents live). Then I asked Oh where in Puebla? He was really shocked by then so I said I came from Mexico myself and my parents live in Puebla, he explained to me that he works in the Seminary and was running late as he was about to leave for Rome, he just arranged for a couple of hours in Ars and was a bit disappointed that he had missed mass. So I invited him to join us for Mass he agreed happily.
Our Mass was scheduled for 11 o’clock; to our surprised the sacristan had booked the Mass in the main basilica at the 11 o’clock was the Mass in French. They tried to convince Bishop Julian to be the main celebrant and to follow the Mass in French.
He explained to them that his French was not up to that standard (though I must say his French is very good) and he insisted to say mass in English with his group of Pilgrims from Australia. After a few arrangements the Sacristan agreed to allow us to say Mass in the crypt, a small chapel underneath the main altar where the saint was first buried. The chapel still holds the altar from the original church, so it was the altar used by the saint to say Mass. An extra was added when they let us use the chalice Pope John Paul II used in his visit to the shrine.
With all these extra arrangements we felt extra blessed, the Mass was simple but very prayerful. After the Mass we all shared how special the Mass felt for us. Bishop allowed us some time to add our own intentions during the prayers of the faithful. Most of us, parish priests, we prayed for our communities, for our ministry, for the people who asked for our prayers in these holy places, for seminarians in formation, for priests in doubt or troubles, a very inspiring moment.
After the Mass we had some extra time to visit the house of the saint and a small chapel where his heart is kept. A very interesting place to visit for every priest! At the end of the Mass, pilgrims are asked to say a prayer that the Saint wrote, I got a copy of the prayer that I want to share with you for your spiritual meditation.
The prayer is called an Act of Love of the Holy Parish Priest of Ars:
I love you, oh my God, and my only desire is to love you until my last breath.
I love you, oh infinitely loveable God, and I prefer to die loving you than to live a single moment without loving you.
I love you, oh God, and I long for heaven only in order to know the bliss of loving you perfectly.
I love you, oh my God, and I only fear going to hell because there I will never experience the sweet consolation of loving you.
Oh my God, if my tongue is not able to say at every opportunity that I love you, I want at least my heart to repeat it to you as many times as I take a breath.
My God, give me the grace of suffering out of love for you, of loving you while I suffer.
Give me the grace of one day breathing my last out of love for you and at the same time feeling how much I love you.
The closer I come to my final end the more I beseech you to intensify and perfect my love for you.
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Part III: Rome |
Full of energy and enthusiasm we arrived in Rome! My impressions of Rome are always the same, a beautiful place to visit but a terrible place to drive in! Our hotel was located in the centre of Rome a walking distance from the Colosseum and the Pantheon. As soon as we arrived, Bishop Julian had already registered the group and we were given our ID and bus tickets that allowed us to use public transport for three days. The good news was that the congress was set to be a memorable occasion as more than 10,000 priest were registered. The original estimate was only about 5,000. Due to this there were a few changes in the way things were going to happen. The original plan was that on the first day priests were sent to the Basilica of St Paul outside the walls, the place where tradition says St Paul was buried. The second day we were supposed to be going to St Mary Major, one of the main Basilicas in Rome. However due to the number of priest attending the congress, the two places were used both days by the same language groups. Our group was allocated to the Basilica of St Paul outside the walls to attend the catechesis with pilgrims who spoke Italian and German. The magnificent Basilica was the proper setting for this important preparation before the closing of the year of the priest. It was moving to see priests from different parts of the world; different languages and different ages come together and venerate the place where St Paul was buried. After the traditional prayer to the holy place it was a moment to take some pictures, especially when the Basilica was all lit up and we could admire the beautiful mosaics. As one of the priests told me before the catechesis started: “With a Basilica full of priests, they better be good!” And of course they were, meditations about the priesthood, the need for conversion in priest, the place of Mary in the life of the priest were all very uplifting and inspirational. Each day we concluded the meditations with the celebration of the Eucharist. The afternoons were free for us to enjoy Rome. There is always something to see in Rome, Churches, Piazzas, Fountains, Trattorias, and of course shops. Religious shops are the favorite among priests; we were all trying to get the best bargains for ourselves or our churches. Rome is the place where you can find almost anything you are looking for your church. Just as a sign of solidarity with my fellow priests I got myself a few shirts with roman collar, a bargain at 14 Euros each! And two beautiful scapulars (a kind of stole for mass but that goes just in the middle, you will recognize when you see it) one with the image of the Risen Christ and the other one a Image of Christ as represented in Greek icons, hopefully you will like them as much as I do. Among the spiritual food I was also able to enjoy the beauties of Italian food, with good wine and of course some coffee, the famous Italian ice-cream was also something I enjoyed even though I don’t like sweets. On Thursday evening we were scheduled to have a vigil with the Holy Father, as in all the events the Holy Father is present we had to be there in St Peter’s square two hours before the event started. The view of St Peter’s Basilica during twilight is just magnificent. The spirits were up as the time came closer to see the Pope, when he finally came out in the Pope mobile he made the traditional round at St Peter’s square. With all the media and the bad publicity priests had received in the last few months it was the time for us to show our love for the Church and the Holy Father. As it happened in WYD we found ourselves shouting and clapping BE NE DE TTO...all the way until the pope reach his chair. As the camera made a close-up of him we could see a tear in his eye, a surprise to most of us as we usually do not associate the Holy Father with those forms of affection. I looked to the priest next to me and I asked him is the Holy Father crying? He told me...I think he is but I am surely crying he told me as I saw tears running down his cheeks. A few testimonies were given, from a German family who of their children one is a priest, one a seminarian, one a religious sister, one a consecrated lay person and one married. They spoke about the role of the family in the formation of Priests. One seminarian spoke about his feelings as he approached the day of his ordination, one more religious sister spoke about the role of religious sisters praying for priests. When the time came for the pope to speak it was a response to five questions that priests from five different continents asked him. The answers that the Holy Father gave were very inspirational; he spoke about the priesthood as a vocation, not as a career. The importance of a celibate life as a sign of the life to come, the necessity of testimony in times like these where the priesthood has been challenged by the recent scandals in different parts of the world. What I liked about this vigil is that the pope spoke from his heart, no text was followed as usually with any papal homily. I was very moved and inspired by this vigil. View Year for Priests Pilgrimage Media Gallery Photos Visit St Monica's North Parramatta Parish |