Never forget your first love, Pope encourages priests

(Vatican Radio) Priests must be pastors first, scholars second, and they should never forget Christ, their "first love".  This was Pope Francis’ message to all men consecrated to God in the priesthood, at Friday morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta.

"How is your first love?". That is, are they still as in love with you as the first day? Are they happy with you or so they ignore you? These are universal questions which we should all ask ourselves regularly, says Pope Francis. And not just couples, but priests, bishops too, in front of Jesus.  Because He asks us just as he one day asked Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me?".

The Pope began his homily reflecting on the this dialogue in the Gospel where Christ asks the first of the Apostles three times if he loves Him more than others: "This is the question I ask myself, my brother bishops and priests: how is your love today, the love of Jesus? Is it like first love? Am I as in love today as on the first day? Or does work and worries lead me to look at other things, and forget love a little? There are arguments in marriage. That's normal. When there is no love, there are no arguments: it breaks. Do I argue, with the Lord? This is a sign of love. This question that Jesus asks of Peter brings him to first love. Never forget your first love. Never".

In addition to this first aspect, says Pope Francis, there are three others to be considered in relation to a priest’s dialogue with Jesus. First of all – before study, before wanting to become "a scholar of of philosophy or theology or patrology – [a priest must be ] a "shepherd", as Jesus urged Peter: "Feed my sheep". The rest, says the Pope, comes "after":

"Feed. With theology, philosophy, with patrology, with what you study, but feed. Be the shepherd. For the Lord has called us to this. And the bishop's hands on our head is to be shepherds. This is a second question, is not it? The first is: 'How is your first love?'. This, the second: 'Am I a shepherd, or an employee of this NGO that is called the Church?'. There is a difference. Am I a shepherd? A  question that I have to ask myself, that bishops need to ask, even priests: all of us. Feed. Lead. Go forward".

Pope Francis continued,  there is no "glory" or "majesty” for the pastor consecrated to Jesus: "No, brother. You will end up in the most common, even humiliating circumstances: in bed, having to be fed, dressed ... useless, sick ... ". It is our destiny is "to end up like Him": Love that dies "as the seed of wheat, that will bear fruit. But I will not see it".

Finally, the fourth aspect, the "strongest word", with which Jesus concludes his conversation with Peter, "Follow me!".

"If we have lost the way or do not know how to respond to love, we do not know how to respond to being pastors, we do not know how to respond or we do not have the certainty that the Lord will not abandon us even in the worst moments of life, in sickness. He says, 'Follow me'. This is our certainty. In the footsteps of Jesus. On that path. 'Follow me”.

Pope Francis concludes, may the Lord give all of us priests and bishops "the grace to always find or remember our first love, to be pastors, not to be ashamed of ending up humiliated on a bed or even losing our faculties. And that He always give us the grace to follow Jesus, in the footsteps of Jesus: the grace to follow Him".

Indianapolis Archbishop warns of “balkanization” of Catholic Church in America

Here are some of Archbishop Tobin's words given at a theological convention last Friday.  In the address, and consequent question and answer, he said:

"In my opinion, finger pointing does a great harm to religious life because it makes us defensive." Under such finger pointing, he said, "we feel constantly compelled to defend ourselves against other parties in the church."

In response to one question, Tobin even said some U.S. bishops are finding Pope Francis' leadership style difficult to understand.

"What I've seen is how disruptive Pope Francis has been within the hierarchy of the United States," said Tobin. "I was talking to a couple of brother bishops a while back and they were saying that bishops and priests were very discouraged by Pope Francis because he was challenging them."

"I think there was a particular image, perhaps, of what it means to be a pastoral leader in this country, and Francis is disturbing it," he continued. "I think there is some resistance to a different way of doing the Gospel mission of the church."

"I wonder whether some of the echo of name-calling, labeling, and intolerance that appears to increasingly characterize the American political discourse — I wonder whether this intolerance passes unchallenged in the heart of the American Catholic church."

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Another kidnapped priests located and being moved to safety

The Afghanistan forces have arrested a man in connection with the abduction of 47-year-old Indian national, Fr. Alexis Prem Kumar Antonysamy. Sources in the Afghanistan Police, meanwhile, said Father Kumar has been located in the Gilan district of Herat, the capital of the western province of the same name.

According to officials, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was monitoring the situation and India is said to be in constant touch with the Afghan government and local authorities that have launched a search operation for 47-year-old Alexis Prem Kumar, who was abducted Monday afternoon, according to the official sources. Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha is in touch with the Afghan government in Kabul while the consul general is in touch with the local authorities in Herat, said official sources.

The deputy police chief of Herat, Mohammad Nadir Fahimi, that "six gunmen" had abducted Premkumar and may have taken him to Gulran district. He said authorities are working with "district elders" to try to mediate his release. "We are trying to get him to safety," Herat's Provincial Governor Fazelullah Wahidi was quoted as saying.

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Parents of priests video, The Gift of the Priesthood: Parents of the Called

"Do not cage the Holy Spirit!" says Pope Francis

(CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday afternoon Pope Francis told throngs of Charismatic Catholics to not obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit in evangelizing, but make the adoration of God the “foundation of renewal.”

“Go forth into the streets and evangelize, proclaim the Gospel. Remember that the Church was born to go forth, that morning of Pentecost,” the Pope said June 1.

“Let yourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, with that same freedom. And please, do not cage the Holy Spirit!”

He addressed 52,000 people from 55 countries who had gathered in Rome's Olympic Stadium for the national convocation of “Renewal in the Spirit.”

Actual video footage of the love of God in war through Fr. Kapaun

Abducted Catholic priest released in Ukraine amid unrest

(CNA/EWTN News).- In the midst of ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland who was kidnapped May 27 by separatists in the city of Donetsk has been released.

Father Pawel Vitka says he was accused of being a spy by separatists affiliated with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Fr. Vitka, who works in Kazakhstan but was visiting a fellow priest in Ukraine at the time, was freed after 24 hours in captivity.

“Tuesday morning I was praying with a rosary outside the DPR administration building,” Fr. Vitka told Catholic News Agency on the day of his release. “They asked to see my documents and I explained that I didn’t have them on me at the moment.”

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