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I. The Priest Is God's Merciful Gift To Humanity The Word of the Lord From the Gospel of John You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another (Jn 15,14-17). Meditation From the Letters of John Paul II to Priests "Mercy is the absolutely free initiative by which God has chosen us: "You did not choose me, but I chose you' (Jn 15, 16). Mercy is his deigning to call us to act as his representatives, though he knows that we are sinners. "Mercy is the forgiveness which he never refuses us, as he did not refuse it to Peter after his betrayal. The avowal that 'there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance' (Lk 15,7) also holds true for us. Let us then rediscover our vocation as a 'mystery of mercy'" (Holy Thursday, 2001, nn. 6, 7). "How marvellous is this vocation of ours, my dear Brother Priests! Truly we can repeat with the Psalmist: 'What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord'" (Ps 116,12-13) (Holy Thursday, n. 1, 2002, n. 1). From St John Chrysostom "These are really the ones who are in charge of spiritual travail and responsible for the birth which comes through baptism. Through them we put on Christ, and are buried in union with the Son of God, and become members obedient to our blessed Head (cf. Rom 6,1; Gal 3,27). For that reason they should not only be more justly feared than rulers and kings, but also be more honoured than our parents. For our parents generated us of blood and the will of the flesh (cf. Jn 1,13), but the priests are the authors of our birth from God, even that blessed regeneration which is true freedom and adopted sonship according to grace" (cf. St John Chrysostom, De sacerdotio, III, 6, PG 48, 643-644). From St Anthony of Padua "Our altar of gold is the Heart of Christ. We must enter into the Holy of Holies, which is this same Heart of Jesus, and gather up the riches of His love" (St Anthony of Padua). From St John of Avila "If the Jewish High priest carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on his shoulders and on his breast, how much more Christ, our High Priest, carries our names written on His Heart" (St John of Avila). From the holy Cure of Ars "The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus" (CCC, n. 1589 — St John Vianney, quoted in B. Nodet Jean-Marie Vianney, Cure d'Ars, 100). "The priest is not a priest for himself. He does not give absolution to himself. He does not administer the sacraments to himself. He does not exist for himself, he exists for you" (Cure of Ars: Monnin II 453). From Blessed John XXIII "Today everything which concerns the Sacred Heart of Jesus has become familiar and doubly dear to me. My life seems destined to be spent in the light shining from the tabernacle, and it is to the Heart of Jesus that I must look for a solution to all my troubles. I feel I would be ready to shed my blood for the cause of the Sacred Heart. My fondest wish is to be able to do something for that precious object of my love. "At times the thought of my arrogance, of my unbelievable self-love and of my great unworthiness alarms and dismays me and robs me of my courage, but I soon find reason for comfort in the words spoken by Jesus to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque: 'I have chosen you to reveal the marvels of my heart, because you are such an abyss of ignorance and insufficiency.' "Ah! I wish to serve the Sacred Heart of Jesus, today and always. I want my devotion to his Heart, to be the measure of all my spiritual progress. I desire to do everything in intimate union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. "My greatest joy will be to seek and find comfort only in that Heart which is the source of all consolation. I am determined to give myself no peace until I can truly say I am absorbed into the Heart of Jesus" (Bl. John XXIII, Journal of a Soul, ["During the retreat in preparation for the ordination to the diaconate, 9-18 December 1903"], pp. 208-209, New English Library: London, 1966). Praise and Thanksgiving From the Letter to the Ephesians Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5,25b-27). From the Psalms The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Ps 22[23]). Prayer "The Heart of Jesus is also my own, I have the courage to say it. If, in fact, Christ is my head, what is His must be mine as well. As the eyes of my body are truly mine, so the Heart of my spiritual head is also my heart. I am so fortunate: behold that I have one same heart with Jesus . . . With this your and my heart, O sweetest Jesus, I will pray to you, my God" (St Bonaventure). II. Sacramental Confession And The Priest The Word of the Lord From the Gospel of John On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you'. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you'. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained' (Jn 20,19-23). Meditation From the Letter of John Paul II to Priests "Left to himself, man can do nothing and he deserves nothing. Before being man's journey to God, confession is God's arrival at a person's home. In confession, therefore, we can find ourselves faced with all kinds of people. But of one thing we must be convinced: anticipating our invitation, and even before we speak the words of the sacrament, the brothers and sisters who seek our ministry have already been touched by a mercy that works from within. Please God, we shall know how to cooperate with the mercy that welcomes and the love that saves. This we can do by our words and our attitude as pastors who are concerned for each individual, skillful in sensing people's problems and in delicately accompanying them on their journey, and knowing how to help them to trust in God's goodness" (Holy Thursday, 2002, n. 6). From the Apostolic Letter 'Dilecti Amici' of John Paul II "It is also necessary — and always in relationship with the Eucharist — to reflect on the Sacrament of Penance, which is of irreplaceable importance for the formation of the Christian personality, especially if it is linked with spiritual direction, which is a systematic school of the interior life" (Apostolic Letter Dilecti Amici of Pope John Paul II to the Youth of the World on the Occasion of the International Youth Year, n. 9, Palm Sunday, 31 March, 1985). From St Ephrem the Syrian "I tremble and shudder when I think of my hidden sins, when I weigh my works. The frightening memory of my sins and of the day of judgment fill my heart with fear, fill my thoughts with anguish. But . . . despite that, I do what is wrong; I know what is right and I end up doing what is wrong . . . I am well versed in the sacred writings and in their reading, but I am far from doing my duty. I read the Bible to others, but nothing enters my ear. I admonish and exhort the ignorant, but I do not carry out what is good for me . . . And so I take refuge in you, Lord, from this perverse world and from the body so full of evil, cause of all sin. For this reason I cry out to you, as the Apostle Paul did, 'When will I be set free from this body of death?' (cf. Rom 7,24). ". . . Mysteriously there arises in my thought a consoling thought, that counsels me for good and stretches out its hand of hope to me . . . 'Listen, sinner, — penitence whispers in my ear — I wish to give you a life-giving counsel! . . . Do not be discouraged, do not surrender to despair . . . The Lord is kind and merciful, he desires to see you at his gate and he is happy if you will be converted, so he can embrace you again with joy. Your sin, that is so great, cannot even be compared with the smallest drop of his mercy; he purifies you with his grace from the sins that reign in you. The sea of your sins cannot suffocate the slightest breath of his mercy . . . Do not look at the immense number of your hidden sins . . . your Lord can purify you from every sin, wash you clean from every stain . . . He will make you white as snow, according to what is written in the prophet Isaiah (Is 1,18). Sinner, abandon your misdeeds, repent of what you have performed and,