Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2009 / 10:27 am
The secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, said this week the proclamation of the word of God is an undeniable task that priests must carry out with dignity and wisdom, to show Christ to others. It is a mission that leaves no room for subjective views of the Lord or relativism, he said.
In an article published by L'Osservatore Romano, the archbishop said, "No priest proclaims himself or his own ideas, nor his personal or subjective interpretations of the one and eternal Gospel.”
Carrying out this labor with dignity requires engaging people's hearts, since that is where true knowledge of the Scriptures originates. This knowledge comes “from daily intimacy with Him, from lectio divina, as part of the great tradition of the fathers, from deep meditation that gradually transforms each priest into a ‘living Gospel,’” the archbishop said.
“We know well,” he continued, “that the ‘Gospel is not only words, Christ himself is the Gospel’ and we are called to be conformed unto Him, through the exercise of the ministry of proclamation as well.”