Ministers of Your Joy: Meditations on Priestly Spirituality

130 Pages·1989·1.485 MB·English

by  Ratzinger, Joseph

Reflections on
Priestly Spiritqality

MINISTERS OF YOUR JOY

POPE BENEDICT XVI
MINISTERS
OF YOUR JOY
Meditations on
priestly spirituality
4
ST PAULS
Original title: Diener eurer Freude
© Verlag Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1998
Translated from German by Robert Nowell
Most of the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic edition, copyright
1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permis
sion. All rights reserved
ST PAULS Publishing
187 Battersea Bridge Road, London SWl 1 3AS, UK
www.stpauls.ie
English translation copyright:
© St Pauls Publishing UK and Crossroad Publishing Co., New
York, 1989
ISBN 085439 287 4
First publishing in UK 1989, Reprinted 2005
Printed in Malta by Progress Press Company Limited
ST PAULS is an activity of the priests and brothers of the Society
of St Paul who proclaim the Gospel through the media of social
communication
CONTENTS
Foreword 7
I. There are always seeds that bear fruit
for the harvest
'A sower went out to sow. .. ' (Lk 8:4-15) 11
II. Surrendering to his will
'Follow me' (Lk 9:51-62) 25
III. Having complete confidence in him
'And many shall rejoice ... ' (Lk 1:5-17) 39
N. Without him everything is in vain
'I am going.fishing' (Jn 21: 1-14) 55
v. The ministry of the witness
'It is the Lord' (Jn 21:1-14) 67
VI. In the beginning is listening
And be called to him those whom
be 'desired' (Mk 3: 13-19) 81
VII. 'At your word' (Lk 5:1-11)
On priestly spirituality 95

FOREWORD
Of recent years I was often faced with the
necessity of preaching on the priesthood at
Masses in seminaries or for priests. Instead of
continually looking back to the familiar New
Testament texts on this subject for these occa
sions, it seemed to me more fruitful to let
myself be challenged by the readings I was
provided with by the liturgy of the day. When
recently after some time had elapsed I read
over the texts that had emerged in this way it
struck me that this method was indeed fruit
ful: new approaches opened up, different
perspectives became visible, and the thoughts
that had been occasioned by a variety of
causes fitted tog~ther to form an internal
unity. This emboldened me to the venture of
collecting some of these sermons together
and offering them unaltered, as they were
delivered, to a wider public. I hope they can
serve not only a fresh inward acceptance of
the priest's task but also become an aid to
meditative reflection on Holy Scripture and
thus convey to both priests and lay-people a
new joy in the Bible.
Perhaps it would be helpful to the reader if
I were to say something briefly about the
7