Q & A with Pope Benedict: Priorities in Ministry

In today’s world of constant activity the person involved in ministry is beseiged with many duties and tasks to the point that the prospects can overwhelm the individual. Of course when one thinks of the Pope’s task and his age to boot–he is the perfect person to answer this question:
In exercising  pastoral ministry we are increasingly burdened by many duties. Our tasks in the management and administration of parishes, pastoral organization and assistance to people in difficulty are piling up. What are the priorities we should aim for in our ministry as priests and parish priests to avoid fragmentation on the one hand and on the other, dispersion?

Pope Benedict’s Answer:

That is a very realistic question, is it not? I am also somewhat familiar with this problem, with all the daily procedures, with all the necessary audiences, with all that there is to do. Yet, it is necessary to determine the right priorities and not to forget the essential: the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

On hearing your question, I remembered the Gospel of two weeks ago on the mission of the 70 disciples. For this first important mission which Jesus had them undertake, the Lord gave them three orders which on the whole I think express the great priorities in the work of a disciple of Christ, a priest, in our day too.

The three imperatives are: to pray, to provide care, to preach. I think we should find the balance between these three basic imperatives and keep them ever present as the heart of our work.

Prayer: which is to say, without a personal relationship with God nothing else can function, for we cannot truly bring God, the divine reality or true human life to people unless we ourselves live them in a deep, true relationship of friendship with God in Jesus Christ.

Hence, the daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist is a fundamental encounter where the Lord speaks to me and I speak to the Lord who gives himself through my hands. Without the prayer of the Hours, in which we join in the great prayer of the entire People of God beginning with the Psalms of the ancient people who are renewed in the faith of the Church, and without personal prayer, we cannot be good priests for we would lose the essence of our ministry. The first imperative is to be a man of God, in the sense of a man in friendship with Christ and with his Saints.

Then comes the second command. Jesus said: tend the sick, seek those who have strayed, those who are in need. This is the Church’s love for the marginalized and the suffering. Rich people can also be inwardly marginalized and suffering. “To take care of” refers to all human needs, which are always profoundly oriented to God. Thus, as has been said, it is necessary for us to know our sheep, to be on good terms with the people entrusted to us, to have human contact and not to lose our humanity, because God was made man and consequently strengthened all dimensions of our being as humans.

However, as I said, the human and the divine always go hand in hand. To my mind, the sacramental ministry is also part of this “tending” in its multiple forms. The ministry of Reconciliation is an act of extraordinary caring which the person needs in order to be perfectly healthy. Thus, this sacramental care begins with Baptism, which is the fundamental renewal of our life, and extends to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. Of course, all the other sacraments and also the Eucharist involve great care for souls. We have to care for people but above all — this is our mandate — for their souls. We must think of the many illnesses and moral and spiritual needs that exist today and that we must face, guiding people to the encounter with Christ in the sacrament, helping them to discover prayer and meditation, being silently recollected in church with this presence of God. And then, preaching.

What do we preach? We proclaim the Kingdom of God. But the Kingdom of God is not a distant utopia in a better world which may be achieved in 50 years’ time, or who knows when. The Kingdom of God is God himself, God close to us who became very close in Christ. This is the Kingdom of God: God himself is near to us and we must draw close to this God who is close for he was made man, remains man and is always with us in his Word, in the Most Holy Eucharist and in all believers. Therefore, proclaiming the Kingdom of God means speaking of God today, making present God’s words, the Gospel which is God’s presence and, of course, making present the God who made himself present in the Holy Eucharist.

By interweaving these three priorities and, naturally, taking into account all the human aspects, including our own limitations that we must recognize, we can properly fulfil our priesthood. This humility that recognizes the limitations of our own strength is important as well. All that we cannot do, the Lord must do. And there is also the ability to delegate and to collaborate. All this must always go with the fundamental imperatives of praying, tending and preaching.

Interview with Pope’s Brother

Here and here are two questions:

Recently, there have been critical voices – because of the Motu proprio and the statement that the Protestant churches aren’t churches in the narrow sense. How much do such controversies affect you ?

Ratzinger: It barely affects me, I have to admit. I only have contacts to people who wish my brother and me well. The negative voices only get to me through detours, where they’ve already been “purified” and don’t hurt me anymore.

You aren’t being confronted in person with such criticism ?

Ratzinger: No, I’m not. But, these critical voices were to be expected – if everything were to go smoothly, it wouldn’t be a good Pontificate. A person who is active in God’s kingdom has to expect resistance, just like our Lord, who also encountered enemies time and again. It can’t all be hunky dory. (literally “peace, joy and pancakes”)