Conference paper

Priestly Fraternity: The Communion for the Mission

Beniamino Stella ; Kongregacija za kler

Abstract

The Holy Father repeatedly reminds us that we cannot be joyful disciples of the Lord if we close ourselves in the individualism.
On the contrary, he stressed the “beauty of the fraternity: being priests together, rather than following the Lord on our own”. Therefore, the sacramental fraternity is a perceivable and lived expression of belonging to Christ the priest, as an effect of the sacrament of Holy Orders. The priestly fraternity cannot be perceived as a set of relationships in a caste or in a club. It is a spiritual family which according to the New testament, surpasses the criteria of the familiar bonds, and becomes a reality rooted in the following of Christ (Lk 8,21). These relationships are similar to familiar ones, a sense of belonging and collaboration is present, of collaboration in work, service and communion in the feelings. This collaboration is revealed in the vicinity showed during the hard times, through sufferings and tiredness, loneliness and physical and spiritual pain. The priestly fraternity does not stem from a need or a circumstance of the present time (the insufficient number of priests), but from a sense of brotherhood, a common mission, that follows the formation in the same womb, the seminary, while being sent to bring happiness and Lord’s strength to the Christian communities of the same diocese.

Keywords

Key word: the sacrament of Holy Orders; priestly fraternity; communion; mission

Hrčak ID:

140718

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/140718

Publication date:

3.7.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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