PRIEST'S MISSION IS TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF WITH DIVINE FATHERHOOD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos and Archbishop Csaba Terniak, respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, presented the Holy Father John Paul II's Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 1999 this morning at the Holy See Press Office.

Archbishop Terniak said that the reason for the Pope's letter is for the celebration of Holy Thursday, "because this is the day on which the ordained priesthood was born, the priesthood which partakes in that original and intransferable priesthood of Jesus Christ, of which the priest is gift and sign of love for His Church."

He announced that the next international meeting of clergy will be held in the Holy Land from June 22-27, and said that like the three previous such meetings, this one "responds to that deep desire of staying a while with the Lord, in a heart to heart (encounter), in the palpable reality of priestly communion."

For his part, Cardinal Castrillon explained that the Letter is focussed on the theme of divine fatherhood. It begins with the invocation "Abba Father", a term used by Jesus in the Garden of Olives and which "indicates an intimacy for which there are no examples before Christ."

"Priests are invited to be permeated by this fatherhood, but they are also called to give it to the whole world, which is in such urgent need of it! ... Spiritual fatherhood involves bringing the light of the Gospel, the light of the Word of God to others."

The prefect of the Congregation for Clergy ended by stating that "the Eucharist is the inexhaustible mystery of Christ and from his prayer is the summit and source of all good. ... The Holy Sacrifice is the absolute center of the life and day of the priest. Priesthood and the Eucharist are indissolubly united."

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