My dear Fathers and Brothers,
With the Apostolic Letter, Porta fidei, Pope Benedict XVI had declared a Year of Faith intending to bring about a renewed conversion to the Lord Jesus and to the rediscovery of faith, so that we will be credible and joy-filled witnesses to the Lord in the world of today - capable of leading those, many in today’s world, who are seeking to the “door of faith” (Deus Caritas est, 1). Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end" (Porta fidei, 14).
Each one of us is called to live a life of holiness and life of witness. Faith is both a personal and a communal act. It is a gift from God that is lived in the communion of the Church and must be communicated to the world. A community which lives by faith witnesses itself to all the standards of Christian life, more so in the life of a priest. The Holy Father says that the Year of Faith is a special “time of grace” (Porta fidei, 15) and therefore, we must make use of this special time to renew our own life and ministry based on faith and morals.
What God calls one to can be discerned precisely in the facts of one’s life and situation. One must often ask, “What is my vocation’ which means to ask ‘in what direction should my personality develop, considering the sanctity of the place I am in, the vocation I am called to be, and what I have in me and what I have to offer to God’. Only in such questions one will find the elements of God’s reply in the appeal of human, spiritual and moral values. Msgr. Vincenzo Zani, Undersecretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education while issuing the document Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry said: “The Church needs ‘suitable’ candidates and must avoid men who ‘show signs of being profoundly fragile personalities”. One who lives in faith, lives a life of grace, virtues and in the fear of the Lord. The integrity of a person is measured by his actions: moral truth and upright character. Therefore, one must constantly examine and recognize these values in the vocation to the priesthood. What the Church needs is zealous and honest young men capable of leading others to faith. Let our actions be such that they may always bear witness to an authentic life of faith.
Since vocation is God’s calling, its source is God’s providential plan. Thus, one may not decide arbitrarily about any one or particular element of one’s vocation. There are several, each one important: a receptive listening to the Word of God and the Church, fervent and constant prayer, recourse to a wise and loving spiritual guide and a faithful discernment of the gifts and talents given by God. In other words, there is no room for a false or partial discernment of priestly vocation through the means of ‘survival’ in the blanket of priesthood. God appeals to the conscience of the one called to leave behind all those elements, which vitiate or cloud the authenticity of a true vocation and asks us to rely solely on the Word of God as the sure source of faith and vocation.
Even today the Word of God continues to grow and spread, thus becoming a “new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man’s life” (Porta fidei, 6). Let us celebrate this Year of Faith by living our faith as a living witness to the vocation to the priesthood so that we take stock anew of our own life of faith as a true and authentic witness of Jesus in order to become a ‘door of faith’ to many others.
Fr. Francis D’Souza
Rector