- Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

___________________________________________________________

 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 24 April 2014 (VIS) - On Friday 18 the Holy Father accepted
the resignation of Rev. Dom Umberto Beda Paluzzi, O.S.B., from the pastoral
care of the territorial abbey of Montevergine in Italy, in accordance with
canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.
 On Thursday, 17 April, the Holy Father:
 - appointed Rev. Jose Augusto Traquina Maria as auxiliary of the
patriarchate of Lisbon (area 3,735, population 2,237,000, Catholics
1,871,000, priests 551, permanent deacons 86, religious 1,516), Portugal.
The bishop-elect was born in Alcobaca, Portugal in 1954 and was ordained a
priest in 1985. He holds a licentiate in theology from the Portuguese
Catholic University. He has held a number of pastoral roles, including
canon of the Cathedral of Lisbon, vicar, coordinator of the permanent
secretariat of the diocesan presbyteral council, and spiritual director.
 - appointed Jose Trinidad Fernandez Angulo as auxiliary of the archdiocese
of Caracas (area 991, population 4,644,000, Catholics 3,960,000, priests
490, permanent deacons 9, religious 1,597), Venezuela. The bishop-elect was
born in Merida, Venezuela in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1989. He
holds a licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University,
Rome, and has held a number of pastoral roles, including director of
studies, deputy director of various seminaries, and professor.
 - Rev. Can. Francisco Jose Villas-Boas Senra de Faria Coelho, as auxiliary
of the archdiocese of Braga (area 2,857, population 964,800, Catholics
886,700, priests 465, permanent deacons 12, religious 676), Portugal. The
bishop-elect was born in Mozambique in 1961 and was ordained a priest in
1986. He studied theology and philosophy, and holds a licentiate in history
of the Church from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. In 2008 he
was awarded a doctorate from the Phoenix International University in the
U.S.A. During his pastoral ministry he has served as a professor of
theology, spiritual director, canon of the Cathedral, parish priest and
religious assistant.

___________________________________________________________

 HOLY WEEK:

___________________________________________________________

 CHRISM MASS: ANOINTED WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS
 Vatican City, 17 April 2014 (VIS) - At 9.30 this morning, in the Vatican
Basilica, Pope Francis presided over the Holy Chrism Mass which is
celebrated today, Holy Thursday, in all Cathedral Churches throughout the
world. The Holy Father concelebrated with the Cardinals, Bishops and
priests (diocesan and religious) present in Rome. During the Eucharistic
celebration, the priests renewed the vows they made on the day of their
ordination; the oils used for catechumens, to anoint the sick, and for
confirmation were then blessed. Following the Gospel reading, the Pope
pronounced the following homily:
 "In the eternal 'today' of Holy Thursday, when Christ showed his love
for us to the end, we recall the happy day of the institution of the
priesthood, as well as the day of our own priestly ordination. The Lord
anointed us in Christ with the oil of gladness, and this anointing invites
us to accept and appreciate this great gift: the gladness, the joy of being
a priest. Priestly joy is a priceless treasure, not only for the priest
himself but for the entire faithful people of God: that faithful people
from which he is called to be anointed and which he, in turn, is sent to
anoint.
 Anointed with the oil of gladness so as to anoint others with the oil of
gladness. Priestly joy has its source in the Father’s love, and the Lord
wishes the joy of this Love to be 'ours' and to be 'complete'. I like to
reflect on joy by contemplating Our Lady, for Mary, the 'Mother of the
living Gospel, is a wellspring of joy for God’s little ones'. I do not
think it is an exaggeration to say that the priest is very little indeed:
the incomparable grandeur of the gift granted us for the ministry sets us
among the least of men. The priest is the poorest of men unless Jesus
enriches him by his poverty, the most useless of servants unless Jesus
calls him his friend, the most ignorant of men unless Jesus patiently
teaches him as he did Peter, the frailest of Christians unless the Good
Shepherd strengthens him in the midst of the flock. No one is more 'little'
than a priest left to his own devices; and so our prayer of protection
against every snare of the Evil One is the prayer of our Mother: I am a
priest because he has regarded my littleness. And in that littleness we
find our joy. Joy in our littleness!
 For me, there are three significant features of our priestly joy. It is a
joy which anoints us (not one which 'greases' us, making us unctuous,
sumptuous and presumptuous), it is a joy which is imperishable and it is a
missionary joy which spreads and attracts, starting backwards - with those
farthest away from us.
 A joy which anoints us. In a word: it has penetrated deep within our
hearts, it has shaped them and strengthened them sacramentally. The signs
of the ordination liturgy speak to us of the Church’s maternal desire to
pass on and share with others all that the Lord has given us: the laying on
of hands, the anointing with sacred chrism, the clothing with sacred
vestments, the first consecration which immediately follows ... Grace fills
us to the brim and overflows, fully, abundantly and entirely in each
priest. We are anointed down to our very bones ... and our joy, which wells
up from deep within, is the echo of this anointing.
 An imperishable joy. The fullness of the Gift, which no one can take away
or increase, is an unfailing source of joy: an imperishable joy which the
Lord has promised no one can take from us. It can lie dormant, or be
clogged by sin or by life’s troubles, yet deep down it remains intact, like
the embers of a burnt log beneath the ashes, and it can always be renewed.
Paul’s exhortation to Timothy remains ever timely: I remind you to fan into
flame the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.
 A missionary joy. I would like especially to share with you and to stress
this third feature: priestly joy is deeply bound up with God’s holy and
faithful people, for it is an eminently missionary joy. Our anointing is
meant for anointing God’s holy and faithful people: for baptising and
confirming them, healing and sanctifying them, blessing, comforting and
evangelising them.
 And since this joy is one which only springs up when the shepherd is in
the midst of his flock (for even in the silence of his prayer, the shepherd
who worships the Father is with his sheep), it is a 'guarded joy', watched
over by the flock itself. Even in those gloomy moments when everything
looks dark and a feeling of isolation takes hold of us, in those moments of
listlessness and boredom which at times overcome us in our priestly life
(and which I too have experienced), even in those moments God’s people are
able to 'guard' that joy; they are able to protect you, to embrace you and
to help you open your heart to find renewed joy.
 A 'guarded joy': one guarded by the flock but also guarded by three
sisters who surround it, tend it and defend it: sister poverty, sister
fidelity and sister obedience.
 The joy of priests is a joy which is sister to poverty. The priest is poor
in terms of purely human joy. He has given up so much! And because he is
poor, he, who gives so much to others, has to seek his joy from the Lord
and from God’s faithful people. He doesn’t need to try to create it for
himself. We know that our people are very generous in thanking priests for
their slightest blessing and especially for the sacraments. Many people, in
speaking of the crisis of priestly identity, fail to realise that identity
presupposes belonging. There is no identity - and consequently joy of life
- without an active and unwavering sense of belonging to God’s faithful
people. The priest who tries to find his priestly identity by
soul-searching and introspection may well encounter nothing more than
'exit' signs, signs that say: exit from yourself, exit to seek God in
adoration, go out and give your people what was entrusted to you, for your
people will make you feel and taste who you are, what your name is, what
your identity is, and they will make you rejoice in that hundredfold which
the Lord has promised to those who serve him. Unless you 'exit' from
yourself, the oil grows rancid and the anointing cannot be fruitful. Going
out from ourselves presupposes self-denial; it means poverty.
 Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to fidelity. Not primarily in the
sense that we are all 'immaculate' (would that by God’s grace we were!),
for we are sinners, but in the sense of an ever renewed fidelity to the one
Bride, to the Church. Here fruitfulness is key. The spiritual children
which the Lord gives each priest, the children he has baptised, the
families he has blessed and helped on their way, the sick he has comforted,
the young people he catechises and helps to grow, the poor he assists...
all these are the 'Bride' whom he rejoices to treat as his supreme and only
love and to whom he is constantly faithful. It is the living Church, with a
first name and a last name, which the priest shepherds in his parish or in
the mission entrusted to him. That mission brings him joy whenever he is
faithful to it, whenever he does all that he has to do and lets go of
everything that he has to let go of, as long as he stands firm amid the
flock which the Lord has entrusted to him: Feed my sheep.
 Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to obedience. An obedience to the
Church in the hierarchy which gives us, as it were, not simply the external
framework for our obedience: the parish to which I am sent, my ministerial
assignments, my particular work ... but also union with God the Father, the
source of all fatherhood. It is likewise an obedience to the Church in
service: in availability and readiness to serve everyone, always and as
best I can, following the example of 'Our Lady of Promptness' who hastens
to serve Elizabeth her kinswoman and is concerned for the kitchen of Cana
when the wine runs out. The availability of her priests makes the Church a
house with open doors, a refuge for sinners, a home for people living on
the streets, a place of loving care for the sick, a camp for the young, a
classroom for catechising children about to make their First Communion...
Wherever God’s people have desires or needs, there is the priest, who knows
how to listen (ob-audire) and feels a loving mandate from Christ who sends
him to relieve that need with mercy or to encourage those good desires with
resourceful charity.

--- MPost/386 v1.21