TO PRIESTS: "A LETTER FROM THE UPPER ROOM"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 30, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father John Paul II's Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2000, which has been published in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese and Polish. The document was signed on March 23 in the Cenacle of Jerusalem, from where, writes the Pope, "dear brother priests, I embrace all of you in spirit and I cordially impart my blessing."

"Today, this visit to the Upper Room," the Pope begins, "gives me an opportunity to survey the entire mystery of the Redemption. It was here that Christ gave us the immense gift of the Eucharist. Here too our priesthood was born. ... I am indeed writing to you from the Upper Room, thinking back to all that took place within these walls on that evening charged with mystery."

John Paul II encourages the priests to "never cease meditating anew on the mystery of that night. We should often return in spirit to this Upper Room, where we priests especially can feel in a sense 'at home'."

"In this holy room I naturally find myself imagining you in all the various parts of the world, with your myriad faces, some younger, some more advanced in years, in all the different emotional states which you are experiencing: for many, thank God, joy and enthusiasm, for others perhaps suffering or weariness or discouragement."

The Holy Father recalls that many priests have been "exemplary disciples, saints, martyrs," and asks "how can we forget, in this Jubilee Year, the many priests who have witnessed to Christ by their lives, even to the shedding of blood? Such martyrdom has accompanied the entire history of the Church; it has also marked the century just passed, a century characterized by different dictatorial regimes hostile to the Church. From the Upper Room, I wish to thank the Lord for the courage of these priests."

"From this place where Christ spoke the words instituting the Eucharist, I invite you, dear priests, to rediscover the 'gift' and the 'mystery' which we have received. To go to the heart of it, we must reflect upon the priesthood of Christ."

The Pope went on: "How can we not return ever anew to this mystery, which contains the entire life of the Church? For two thousand years, this Sacrament has given nourishment to countless believers. It has been the source of a great river of grace. How many saints have found in it not only the pledge, but as it were the foretaste of Heaven!"

"Christ's presence will be expressed in many ways. But of these His Eucharistic presence will certainly be supreme: no mere remembrance, but a 'memorial' which makes present what it commemorates; not a symbolic evocation of the past, but the living presence of the Lord in the midst of His own. The enduring guarantee of this will be the Holy Spirit, constantly poured out in the Eucharistic celebration so that the bread and wine may become the Body and Blood of Christ."

"Let us remain faithful to what the Upper Room 'hands on' to us, to the great gift of Holy Thursday. May we always celebrate the Holy Eucharist with fervor. May we dwell long and often in adoration before Christ in the Eucharist. May we sit at the 'school' of the Eucharist. Through the centuries, countless priests have found in the Eucharist the consolation promised by Jesus on the evening of the Last Supper, the secret to overcoming their solitude, the strength to bear their sufferings, the nourishment to make a new beginning after every discouragement, and the inner energy to bolster their decision to remain faithful. The witness which we give to the People of God in celebrating the Eucharist depends in large part upon our own personal relationship with the Eucharist."

"Let us rediscover our priesthood in the light of the Eucharist!" exclaimed the Pope. "Let us help our communities to rediscover this treasure in the daily celebration of Holy Mass, and especially in the more solemn Sunday assembly. Through your apostolic labors, may love for Christ present in the Eucharist grow stronger. This is a particularly important goal in this Jubilee Year."

After recalling the International Eucharistic Congress, due to take place in Rome from June 18 to 25 on the theme "Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the World, Bread for our Life," John Paul II confirmed that "it will be a highlight of the Great Jubilee, which is meant to be 'an intensely Eucharistic year'. The Congress will emphasize the profound link between the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Christ's Real Presence."

The Pope concludes his letter from the Upper Room by saying "I embrace you in the Eucharist. May the image of Christ surrounded by His own at the Last Supper fill each of us with a vibrant sense of brotherhood and communion."

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