TO PRIESTS: THANK GOD FOR YOUR VERY BEING!

VATICAN CITY, JUN 24, 1999 (VIS) - John Paul II has sent a Message to participants in the Fourth International Meeting of Priests, promoted by the Congregation for the Clergy, which is taking place in the Holy Land from June 22 to 27.

In the Message, which is dated June 19, the Pope says that, despite the numerous challenges of the modern world, by relying on God's help "we have no reason to fear future uncertainties. Rather, we fear not being witnesses of Christ as (our) time and circumstances demand. Consequently, the only question that must trouble us is that of faithfulness to our identity, which must be renewed every day."

"Thanks to ordination in its ontological sense," the Holy Father writes, "you are witnesses of Christ in the service of the Word and the sacraments. At the same time you are the true testimony of Christ, the one High Priest. At the moment of ordination you received a new way of being. You are marked by the sacerdotal character which is a true and indelible spiritual sign. This character does not separate you from humanity, on the contrary, it puts you at its center."

The Pope thanks the priests for what they do and, "above all, for what you are. With intense emotion I want to thank all those priests who, faithful to their own identity and mission, are still suffering in the most diverse circumstances. Thanks for your sweat, for your labors, for your strength, for your tears, for your smiles. Thanks to God for your being! Thanks also to you, priests of the last two millennia who, faithful unto martyrdom to your identity and mission, ... consumed yourselves in the burning fire of pastoral charity and are now our intercessors."

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