Pope Francis asks the seminarians of Toledo to learn from the “simple spirituality of the People of God”
“How dumb they are!” Francisco playing Francisco. With a joke, as usual, Pope Francis broke the ice today when receiving the seminarians of the ecclesiastical province of Toledo, which includes the formands of the primate diocese and those of Ciudad Real, Albacete, Cuenca and Sigüenza-Guadalajara .
“It is always good to look at the holy faithful People of God in their spirituality, simple spirituality,” the Pontiff told them, to immediately remind them the three closenesses that he usually repeats to priests: “You know that priests have to be close, they have to foster closeness: first, closeness to God, in such a way that there is this capacity to find the Lord, to be close to the Lord. Second, closeness with the bishops, and the bishops closeness with the priests. A priest who is not close to his bishop is lame – lame -, he is missing something. Third, closeness between you priests, which begins from the seminary. And fourth, the closeness with the faithful holy People of God.” “Don’t forget these four neighborhoods,” he stressed.
Pope Francis, with the seminarians of Toledo
Three fundamental elements of the priesthood
Referring to the ‘Reserved’ partywhich they will celebrate this coming Sunday, November 10 in their seminary with a Eucharist, the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and a procession, Jorge Mario Bergoglio wanted to remember with them the fundamental elements of the priesthood.
First of all, “the Eucharistic celebration. Jesus who comes into our lives to give us proof of the greatest love. Jesus calls us, as the Church, to be present in the priesthood and in the people, in the sacrament and in the Word. I hope that having it on earth absorbs your lives and hearts.”
In second place, “The Lord remains exposed all day in the custody, It is the time to remain alone with Him, to hear His voice in the silence, in listening to the Word, in the testimony of faith of those who pray at our side.” “Only a person-to-person encounter, an encounter in love with Jesus, can illuminate, sustain and sustain the course of our earthly journey. I hope that this meeting is truly an effective revulsive that transforms our existence,” he stated.
Third, “they carry the Lord in procession, Because we receive it to carry it, our ministry is to accompany Christ towards his people, and the people towards Christ.” “Hopefully, without taking our eyes off the one who guides us, we learn to walk together, in the hope of the encounter that we already enjoy here in a sacramental way,” he stressed.
