Spiritual formation: The heart that unifies and vivifies being a priest

Author(s): Jaime Emilio González Magaña Vol. 90, No. 3 (2009), pp. 617-639
Published by: GBPressGregorian

SPIRITUAL FORMATION
The heart that unifies and vivifies being a priest

The centrality of spiritual formation in the priestly life

This theme, as well as the challenges it presents to the Church, is not new. It was only after the Second Vatican
Council that there became a greater awareness of the centrality of the person in formation, and it is certainly of vital
importance today. But Pope John XXIII had already decisively underlined its transcendence when, forty-six years ago, he
affirmed: "The education of youth - it is not a matter of the education of the young:
The education of youth - it is never out of place to repeat it - is an arduous and difficult mission. It has rightly
been called the art of the arts. It becomes even more important when it is a question of the youth who decide with a
generous spirit towards the priesthood. Now, the formator of seminarians must be well aware that his personal
preparation for this very high ministry must continue throughout the duration of his service. He must study the
psychology of the students; he must keep his eyes open to the world around them: he must learn from life. But he must
also learn from books, from study, from the experiences of the brothers and from the progress of the pedagogical
sciences [...]. We cannot hide the fact that many mistakes have been made and continue to be made in the educational
field, with the easy excuse that common sense, a clinical eye and, above all, experience are enough to discern vocations
and to form them in a timely manner. And we say this in a sorrowful spirit. A more enlightened spiritual direction would
have spared the Church many priests who were not fully equal to their office, while, on the other hand, it would have
provided her with a decidedly greater number of holy ecclesiastics [...]. If in the field of the formation of seminarians it is
not advisable to become stagnant in outdated schemes, it is nevertheless necessary to be well convinced that the
fundamental principles, without which the whole edifice would collapse and go to ruin, are preserved in all their value. It
is also necessary to be very careful to avoid the danger that marginal reforms, even if they are very important and
perhaps at times opportune, may divert attention from what is the central problem in every seminary formation. Now,
what must be the main focus of our efforts is to create in young men an evangelically integral conception of the
priesthood and a keen and vibrant awareness of their duty to strive for holiness.
From the tone of the Pope's words, we understand that even then the problem was fundamental. The question
of a true and profound spiritual formation for candidates to the priesthood has been decisively taken up by many
experts. All of them have agreed that, at the basis of any kind of spiritual formation, there must not be a single
ideological frame of reference, but a personal anthropological model that must be based solely and only on the person
of Jesus. Of course, we assume that the most delicate part concerns the work of divine grace, which has even been the
subject of study and reflection in repeated exhortations of the Supreme Pontiffs, from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI . All of
them have reiterated that the good dispositions of seminarians must find in their formators a spirit of true
understanding that will help them attain that desired state of perfection called priestly holiness. The spiritual formation
of the priest cannot be limited to the observance of the laws of God and of the Church; neither can it depend on an
operational or apostolic model, on a simple strategic planning or human fulfillment, or even on personal spiritual
perfection, however efficient it may be. When we refer to the need for the spiritual formation of the priest, we are
affirming that it must demand a decisive and indispensable constant reference to the person of Jesus himself, to the
exercise of the Christian virtues and the following of Christ, in such a way that it truly transforms the priest into an alter
Christus, a living image of the Eternal High Priest, according to the different charisms and vocations in the Church.
A significant period of great change in the Church brought about the convocation of the Second Vatican Council
which, in an attempt to respond to the social, economic and cultural circumstances of formation, made possible the
Decree Optatam Totius. Following the profound conciliar intuitions, four fundamental principles were established that
were to guide the reform of formation programs in seminaries. Following Miller, we can summarize them as follows:
1. There is an existential connection between the renewal of the whole Church and priestly ministry; but such
ministry is in close relationship with the formation received by candidates for the priesthood.
 2. Any reform that wishes to bear fruit must be based on tradition. The rules and traditions that have been
considered positive according to the experience of the centuries should be preserved in any renewal of priestly
formation.
3. New rules should be introduced in harmony with the documents of the Second Vatican Council and also in
harmony with the changing conditions of the times.
4. In the universal Church there should be unity among formation programs, but this unity does not mean
uniformity. All norms and programs must be adapted to the needs of different circumstances and to the specific
requirements of the various particular Churches. Priestly formation should be differentiated according to places and
times.
Contemporary reflection on priestly formation owes a series of important magisterial pronouncements to the
Servant of God, John Paul II. Among his most significant contributions we can affirm that they have sought to put into
practice the conciliar directives given by the Decree Optatam Totius of October 28, 1965. Their central objective has
been to promote a formative practice so that "the Seminary in its various forms and, similarly, the house of formation of
religious priests, before being a place or a material space, must be a spiritual environment, a life journey, an atmosphere
that favors and assures a formative process, so that he who has been called by God to the priesthood can become, with
the sacrament of Orders, a living image of Jesus Christ, Head and Shepherd of the Church". The Holy Father repeatedly
insisted that formation must respond to the priestly ideal, incarnated in daily practice and seeking true human and
spiritual maturity. Houses of formation must ensure, therefore, that spiritual formation is received, first, as the
opportunity to configure the personality of the subject in formation to the person of Christ, beginning with initial
formation. Secondly, it should help to create a life itinerary configured to the life of Jesus and his apostles in the service
of the Church, and, ultimately, it should help to facilitate an attitude of availability to ongoing formation since the priest
is, par excellence, the man of God and it can be said that man is truly of God to the extent of his intimate Christian
docility to the signs and spiritual communications of God.
Nevertheless, and despite the need for clarity in this area, a first obstacle we face is that we do not have a
precise definition of the term 'spiritual formation'. Its concrete delimitation takes place in the midst of a plurality of
points of view according to the various theological and anthropological disciplines that study it. Moreover, educational
and formative models are not only diverse but also depend on visions of man that are sometimes not only irreconcilable
but also opposed to each other. Likewise, in recent years, the concept of formation has developed in the Church mainly
due to pressures from the civil sphere and even from the secular culture. For the purposes of this presentation, the
expression 'formation' is understood in the sense given to it in the Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians, when he says "My
children! Again I suffer the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you".
According to Schlier, "the birth pangs that Paul suffers for the Galatians on a second occasion last until Christ
assumes his form in them, until the body of Christ is completely born in them". For Cencini 'to form' means "to propose
a form, a way of being, in which the young person can recognize his identity and vocation." In my opinion, it means to
form according to the heart of Christ and to do everything so that the young men in formation and, in general, the
priests, assume the form of Christ the Shepherd. By spiritual formation we strictly understand formation to the interior
life, even more, formation to the interior life practiced in the field of priestly election. This field can be that of initial
formation for the priesthood given in the seminary, understood as "that college which, according to the ordinances of
the Church, is destined for the spiritual and literary formation of aspirants to the ecclesiastical state". Let us remember
that the Council of Trent had given clear norms on the formation of candidates to the priesthood so that priests would
truly be instruments of God's grace, properly prepared to be instruments of the ecclesial reform that was urgent and
necessary at the time.
Let us remember that St. Paul defines the priest as homo Dei, who must be a man of prayer, committed
apostolic action and mortification. From my point of view, everything indicates that we have forgotten this direction,
that is, that the apostolate must have its foundations in a life of prayer, penance and authentic asceticism. It seems to
me that this dimension is not being emphasized in a decisive way in today's world. It is also important to highlight
another essential point in the spiritual formation of seminarians and priests. I am referring to love for an apostolic life
that is based on the choice of celibacy as a gift and a task that certainly requires a profound spiritual and psychological
preparation. At least if we follow the opinion of the Congregation for the Clergy, this is a basic issue that we can never
ignore. The Vatican Congregation affirms that the great majority of the 700 requests for dispensation from priestly
promises that it receives annually come, in the first place, from the lack of a true spiritual formation and, secondly, from
problems with the affective and sexual life that most probably were not resolved in the seminary or religious formation
and that come to the surface with the first apostolic missions. Hence it is important to say, from the beginning, that
spiritual formation could fall into the error of assuming the formation of seminarians with human eyes without taking
into consideration that, fundamentally, it has to be enlightened with the eyes of the grace of God. Or, in other words,
the error consists in reducing to a problem of ease, what is instead a problem of nobility, of height of vision in the
conception of life; in reducing to a negative and narrow problem of escape from sin what should be considered in the
perspective of a positive and apostolic donation of oneself to God, the Eternal Love.
Faced with the problems described above, the need to integrate the formative wisdom that has guided the
Church through the centuries with the reflection of human sciences such as psychology and pedagogy has recently
begun to be accepted. However, it is necessary to start from the fact that if we accept that spiritual formation requires
the dispositional and pedagogical assistance of man, it is because we recognize a constant presence of divine providence
as the disposition that comes from God in such a way that the formators of seminaries and houses of religious formation
are entrusted with the pupils of his eyes, that is, the youngest. As the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo Vobis affirms:
In recent years and from various quarters there has been insistence on the need to return to the theme of the
priesthood, facing it from a relatively new point of view and one more suited to the present ecclesial and cultural
circumstances. Attention has been focused not so much on the problem of the priest's identity as on problems related to
the formative itinerary for the priesthood and to the priests' lifestyle.
The Church tries to adapt spiritual formation to the apostolic life of priests in such a way that it responds to the
beauty of their vocation and their mission, which calls for the total gift and exclusive orientation of their lives to God and
to souls. In no way does it pretend to deny the problems they will face in their mission. Rather, spiritual formation seeks
to form the person in the beautiful challenge of assuming a completely new life, open to the Spirit of God who
communicates Himself precisely through Him and allows us to conform ourselves to Christ as Head, Shepherd and
Spouse of the Church.
It is about forming the new man with a central attitude that consists in the attentive and continuous
contemplation of the life and mission of Jesus and the way he lived it for the benefit of his brothers and sisters.
One of the fundamental objectives of this formation consists in living our following with the desire to
authentically reproduce in ourselves the sentiments of Jesus and to do and say the same things that He said and did. We
are convinced that the primacy of all formation should be solely that of grace, as the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores
dabo Vobis emphatically affirms with these words:
it is the work of the Spirit and engages the whole person; it introduces into deep communion with Jesus Christ,
the Good Shepherd; it leads to a submission of the whole life to the Spirit, in a filial attitude towards the Father and in a
trusting adherence to the Church. It is rooted in the experience of the cross in order to lead, in deep communion, to the
fullness of the paschal mystery.
However, this formation is not easy in today's society in which some aspects are negatively influencing the
configuration and consolidation of priestly identity. Hence the Church's conviction that "spiritual formation constitutes
the vital center that unifies and enlivens his being a priest and his exercise of the priesthood".

We are facing a crisis of priestly identity

Priestly identity is rooted in the priesthood of all times, which is necessarily linked to the one priesthood of
Christ. In the light of the resurrection experience, the Christians of the early community understood that Jesus had
offered his life as the ultimate and only sacrifice for our sins. They found meaning in the words of Jesus at the Last
Supper, which were to be the figure of his body broken and his blood poured out to the last drop on the cross: "Then he
took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of me." After supper, he did the same with the cup. He said, "This cup is the new covenant sealed with my
blood, which is to be shed for you". The Christian community had no difficulty in affirming that Jesus was a true priest as
the Letter to the Hebrews explains:
 When the others were made priests, God did not commit himself by oath. On the other hand, Jesus is confirmed
by an oath. It is said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not repent: you are a priest for eternity. Therefore Jesus assures
us of a superior alliance [...]. Jesus remains for eternity and no other priest will replace him [...]. Truly, Jesus is, in all
respects, the High Priest we should expect: Holy, without any defect or sin, who has been set apart from universal
wickedness and elevated higher than the heavens.
As we have mentioned before, the Second Vatican Council brought about a true renewal in the Church. Of
course, the priestly identity was presented in a different way, much closer to the people of God, with a less ritualistic
concept and a priesthood probably more committed to the needs and hopes of the people. However, it is necessary to
accept that many mistakes and excesses were made that we still cannot correct. The crisis began to manifest itself in the
very heart of the Church and was brought about by the extraordinary changes brought about by the conciliar
documents. In a second moment, it was complemented by the social transformations promoted by the same ecclesial
event. One of its first manifestations was at the theological level with the development of two different ways of
conceiving the priestly ministry, either as a continuation of Christ's ministry or as a ministry of the Church. Another
manifestation of the beginning of this period of a certain difficulty became evident when, also due to the influence of
the Second Vatican Council, the role and mission of the laity was rediscovered and they were given a more decisive
participation in the different ecclesial activities.
In our days, the expressions of the crisis in priestly identity have been aggravated by what has been called a
'change of epoch' and the effects of what specialists call 'postmodernity', 'late modernity' or 'transmodernity'. Its effects
are visible in
a process of secularization or laicization, that is, with the rupture and progressive distancing between the divine
and the human, between revelation and reason, or, if one prefers, the slow and successive substitution of the Christian
principles and values that had given unity and meaning to the European peoples for at least ten centuries, by the
pretended values of pure reason.
The results of this phenomenon manifest themselves as a process not yet overcome of an enlightenment that
affirms the total autonomy of reason, freed from any civil or religious authority, and the independence of the will in the
moral field: neither religion nor civil law can be presented as moral authority, but only the individual conscience. We
have passed from a theocentrism to an exaggerated anthropocentrism in which religion has been displaced by other
sciences that try to explain and give diverse answers to reality and the ultimate meaning of life.

Faced with the vindication of subjectivity and the desire for freedom
A spiritual formation for our times must assume that, in general terms, we live in a subjectivism characterized by
the supremacy of the 'I' over the 'we' and the search for experiences that satisfy one's own instinct and personal need. It
is relatively easy to see how the new generations are characterized by a certain anthropological immanentism that
exasperates the subjectivity of the person and is expressed in a strong recovery of 'the private'. There is a danger of
closing oneself up in one's own 'I', in one's circle of friends, or in one's own ideologies, so that one seeks and desires only
gratifying individualistic experiences that lead to idolatry of instinct and strictly personal needs. It seems to me that
there has been an exaggerated recourse to the theme of human rights and little recourse to human obligations, with the
risk of seeking convenience and favoring the lack of communication and the absence of authentic communion and
solidarity. Even with the risk that his vision might not correspond to the reality of the world's youth, it seems to me that
the document Nuove vocazioni per una nuova Europa presents some of the main challenges to which today's priestly
formation must respond. I find it of particular interest when it states that:
I giovani europei vivono in questa cultura pluralista e ambivalente, 'politeista' e neutra. On the one hand they
are passionately close to authenticity, affection, personal relationships, greatness of purpose, on the other they are
fundamentally lonely, 'wounded' by goodness, enthusiastic about ideologies, confused by ethical disorientation [...]. Two
aspects, however, seem to us central to understand the 'youthful youth development of the past: the commitment to
subjectivity and the desire for freedom. These are two typically human and worthy of attention. However, however, in a
weak and complex culture such as today's, they give rise to combinations that distort the sense: objectivity now
becomes objectivism, while freedom degenerates into arbitrariness. These are two attentive and typically human
attitudes. However, however, in a weak and complex culture such as today's, they give rise to combinations that distort
the sense: subjectivity now becomes subjectivism, while freedom degenerates into arbitrariness.
If we speak of the vocational aspect and the possibility of service to others, this tendency is located in the
affirmation of the values of the person and the insistent desire to be a protagonist with an enormous thirst for freedom.
The risk could be in exacerbating selfishness and a psychological introspection that isolates from others and does not
favor the formation of community, much less an unconditional and lifelong dedication. As far as the thirst for spirituality
is concerned, the emphasis is on those currents that soothe and make one feel good. Paradoxically, on the other hand,
the fear of freedom leads to opting for schemes that absolutize law, structure and rule by rule. The obvious
consequence is that this tendency manifests itself in a particular way in that young people have increasing difficulty in
maturing permanent and definitive choices. Today's society invites to live styles of partial, temporary belonging, as long
as they are adapted to the circumstances of the moment, that suit the person and, almost always without an authentic
adhesion. The crisis of marriages and the notable decrease in priestly and religious vocations are proof of this
phenomenon. Today's young people like to live superficial, fragile, virtual relationships via the Internet, SMS messages
or cell phones. Other types of relationships are scary, even if, in the end, people live isolated and depressed, without the
possibility of giving and receiving personalized affection. We live immersed in a terrible inner fragmentation that
manifests itself in a continuous tension between desire and action; between the difficulty of being faithful to one's own
will and the decisions we make. The desires of people who want to be loved and the affective immaturity that is
everywhere present situations in which men and women live in continual fear of being themselves.
There is also a growing religious pluralism in which many think that the Catholic religion is not the only one,
much less the only true one. Many religious phenomena are being experienced that are clearly expressed in an
individualistic and intimate way. The phenomenon called new age, or 'new era', is becoming more and more known and
is gaining more followers as a spiritualistic and metaphysical system, almost theological, in which people try to find
peace and tranquility, if not the solution to their problems. Moreover, in our society we are living situations of cultural
plurality that go beyond traditional cultures where the religious element is very present. We are living in a climate of a
secularized culture where God, the Church and religious symbols no longer have any meaning for people's lives. As an
attempt to respond, John Paul II has mentioned the urgency of a new evangelization and Benedict XVI has invited us to
return to what is essential, that is, to love.
Spiritual formation, on the other hand, must face the problem of an over-abundance of stimulation of all kinds.
We live in a world of information technology in which all kinds of information is at our fingertips at the click of a button.
The popular use of the Internet, the global computer network, has become so widespread that today we cannot think of
communication without these sophisticated means. Access to this network and the commercial use of it called the
World Wide Web (the web www) has expanded exponentially. Millions of people have access to this means of
communication that every day has growing options for requesting information, listening to all kinds of music, watching
movies of various genres, exchanging photographs and images, etc. Access to the network is relatively inexpensive and
almost always available and within everyone's reach. It is a fact that its advantages are manifold, but it is becoming
increasingly isolated. It can easily lead to a total abstraction from reality and, while its use can be addictive, in many
cases it has led many people to depression and, unfortunately, to suicide. And this is simply because 'surfing' the net
causes many people - and young people in training are no exception - to live this activity in the strictly private sphere,
producing in them more addiction than other more obvious forms. Some forms of Internet lead to gambling, shopping,
marketing of the most varied products, scientific and academic research, etc. All very positive, in reality, however, they
also facilitate access to pornography, to explicit sexual encounters or to the exchange of materials and dates through
recent webcams.

Facing the challenges of fragmentation of conscience and will

There are other factors that make urgent the need for a profound spiritual formation that serves as a foundation
for our priestly identity. Many seminarians and priests are perceived as fragile and with few or no ideals. According to
Msgr. Sandro Panizzolo, 22 we are faced with a fragmentation at all levels
fragmentation at all levels: of desire, which is evident in the fall of ideals or in the prospects of small-scale
cabotage; of knowledge, which manifests itself in superficiality, or of will expressed in a growing fragility (...). The causes
of the phenomenon could certainly be multiple: cultural, social and technical. Among them, in my opinion, a very
important role is played by the overabundance of stimuli, which the subject does not manage to organize conveniently,
thus finding himself a little bit broken, as if pulled by thousands of horses.
It is not strange that many young seminarians or young priests "like this" become frightened in the face of
problems and relativize their decisions and even their promises, leaving behind everything that, at other times, was
meaningful to them.
This problem is more common than we might think. When some young priests begin their ministry, they find
that problems overtake them. They find that, once the euphoria of ordination - especially the siesta that has been
expected as 'the goal' - has passed, there come moments of disillusionment and, on many occasions, the desire to give it
all up. It is not uncommon to ask the question: Why become a priest if I can serve the Church as a lay person without
having to give up many things? Why should I sacrifice a family life or economic and professional stability when there are
many lay people who do the same things I do? In many countries, the absence of priests is making the workload
excessive. The average age of the priests is getting higher and higher and no matter how much love they have for the
ministry, many priests find their physical and spiritual health diminished because of the many things they "have to do".
Others lose the sense of their priesthood when they do not find time for themselves, when everything is planned and,
even worse, when nothing is planned and they have to see how to solve the problems of daily life. Faced with spiritual
and existential emptiness, life becomes monotonous, routine and they realize that they live tired and overwhelmed by
the many commitments they have to solve. The problem becomes bigger when in the day to day they experience
neither peace, nor tranquility, much less joy and hope in what they do. It is very common that prayer is put aside in the
face of the growing demands of the people and the desire to respond generously. If we add to this the poor response of
the people, the reduced participation in acts of worship, which little by little has become almost exclusively the
patrimony of the elderly, the burden of the mission becomes overwhelming. Many priests experience moments of
sadness, desolation and even depression.
On other occasions, we witness the drama of many brothers who carry out their mission in poor countries and,
tired in the face of so much injustice, limitations and poverty, the ministry loses its meaning. It is easy to understand
how, when there is no solidity in the spiritual life, the priest loses sight of the fact that, if we truly want to follow Jesus,
there will be moments of loneliness, misunderstanding, humiliation and.... death. The risk is that by confusing what is
essential in our mission, which is precisely our conformation to Christ, we fall into an activism that can be disguised as
false messianism, leading temptations, careerism, or simply fall into individualism, narcissism and crass selfishness,
supposedly "for the sake of the Kingdom". In order to face the criteria of the world - radically opposed to those of Christ
- we need to have the certainty of knowing what we are looking for and whom we are following. If we want to be
bearers of hope to so many suffering brothers and sisters, we need to ask for an inner knowledge of the Lord so that we
can follow Him alone in the realization of the Father's plan. It is then that the request of the Spiritual Exercises acquires
more meaning to ask for the grace to know Him more, to love Him more and to fulfill His plan with commitment, to the
ultimate consequences. It is enough for us to consciously assume that we have understood the meaning of opting for
the Banner of Jesus, that we have the will of the Third Binary and that we ask to have at least the desire to live our
ministry according to the Third Way of Humility.
And everywhere, whether in rich or poor countries, there is the problem of celibacy. At one time, purity was
overemphasized as a central concern in priestly formation and, not infrequently, was the decisive factor in the process
of vocational discernment. Our society is becoming increasingly eroticized, making it extremely difficult to live chastity.
Far from representing a value, celibacy is presented as an attack on the human rights of the priest who has the right to a
family and even the possibility of defending a certain sexual identity. Chastity and the free decision to live a life of
absolute dedication to the Lord are given very little value. The choice of a celibate life - previously so praised and
supported - is today a motive for criticism and, often times, for suspicion of the priests' own sexual identity. Excessive
emphasis has been placed on the errors of some of our confreres and, without taking into account the witness of a life
completely dedicated to the service of the majority, only the negative aspects are emphasized. In these circumstances, it
is urgent to form with the awareness that celibacy is a gift to be asked for, that it is a question of faith that we assume
with the certainty that we have to work on the aspect of the capacity for love and oblation, the offering of the whole
person that frees us from selfish needs. In the same way, it is essential to form to celibacy without neglecting the
affective-sexual maturation for which we must not be afraid to use psychology according to the indications recently
published by the Holy See.

The heart that unifies and vivifies priestly formation

The Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo Vobis places spiritual formation after human formation and places it in
close relationship with configuration to Christ the Head and Shepherd. It also relates it to the pastoral charity of priests
as "participation in the same pastoral charity of Jesus Christ: a free gift of the Holy Spirit and, at the same time, a duty
and a call to the free and responsible response of the priest". After devoting six paragraphs to his analysis, he
emphasizes that:
Human formation itself, if developed in the context of an anthropology that embraces the whole truth about
man, opens up and is completed in spiritual formation. Every man, created by God and redeemed by the blood of Christ,
is called to be regenerated "by water and the Spirit" (cf. Jn 3:5) and to be "son in the Son". In this efficacious plan of God
lies the foundation of the constitutively religious dimension of the human being, intuited and recognized also by simple
reason: man is open to the transcendent, to the absolute; he possesses a heart that is restless until it rests in the Lord.
The educational process of a spiritual life, understood as relationship and communion with God, begins and develops
from this fundamental and inalienable religious requirement. According to revelation and Christian experience, spiritual
formation possesses the unmistakable originality that comes from the 'newness' of the Gospel. In fact, "it is the work of
the Spirit and concerns the whole person; it introduces into deep communion with Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd; it
leads to a submission of one's whole life to the Spirit, in a filial attitude towards the Father and in a trusting adherence
to the Church. It is rooted in the experience of the cross in order to lead, in deep communion, to the fullness of the
paschal mystery".
This important document has done nothing other than continue the itinerary described in the Decree Optatam
Totius of the Second Vatican Council, which expresses:
Spiritual formation must be intimately united with doctrinal and pastoral formation, and with the cooperation,
above all, of the spiritual director; it must be given in such a way that the students learn to live in continual
communication with the Father through his Son in the Holy Spirit. Since they are to be configured by sacred ordination
to Christ the Priest, they should become accustomed to be united to him, as friends, in an intimate consortium of life.
Let them live the paschal mystery of Christ in such a way that they know how to unify in him the people who are to be
entrusted to them. Let them be taught to seek Christ in faithful meditation on the word of God, in intimate
communication with the sacred mysteries of the Church, especially in the Eucharist and in the Office; in the Bishop who
sends them and in the people to whom they are sent, especially in the poor, in children and in the sick, in sinners and in
unbelievers. Love and venerate with filial love the Blessed Virgin Mary, who at the death of Christ Jesus on the cross was
given as a mother to the disciple.
The Church asks that young men in formation, young priests and all priests be men immersed in the mystery of
God. She has the right to ask us that our vocation and our apostolate be a reflection of the fact that we act animated
and motivated not by an external moral code, but by the conviction born of the heart that our priesthood has meaning,
if and only if we want to be disciples of Jesus and follow him to the ultimate consequences. It is not simply a matter of
observing the philosophical and theological concepts learned in the houses of formation or in the university. Knowledge
of Jesus and his criteria are the key to realizing the Father's purpose in the priesthood. It will also be the only valid
criterion to know if our knowledge and love for Him is authentic so that we can confront our ministry in a realistic way
and that our adherence to Jesus Christ is not only on an intellectual level. Neither should it be as one who adheres to an
ideology accepted as revealed truth; much less accept the Lord Jesus as if we believed in a simple doctrine. Our
following of the Lord cannot and should not be reduced to a crude mechanical, routine, conformist or voluntarist
mimicry. Today, more than ever, the priest must be formed in such a way that he rejects the role of a civil servant who
receives a salary or obeys in a servile manner. The priest should not follow Jesus according to the criteria of the world
based on efficiency, power, image or money. Nor in an individualistic way, independent and isolated from the universal
community as if an intimate, solitary, sniper-like holiness were intended.
The challenge of spiritual formation is - and will always be - to collaborate in the realization of the Father's plan,
in the style of Jesus who is love and who communicates life. This is what we have to do as his disciples: we will realize
ourselves as children of God by loving like Jesus, which is the only valid path to follow. If this is so, the priest will learn,
above all, the true meaning of love, which consists in giving life to those who have no life. Giving one's life for one's
brothers and sisters is the only way to realize the Father's plan in, with and like Jesus. In a word, to assume the
conformation with Christ as something dynamic, in a constant activity, in a continuous availability of discernment to let
oneself be led by the Spirit of God who is love and unconditional surrender. To be spiritually formed implies renouncing
all ambition for power, strength and human glory. It is to listen to the voice of God, to draw near to the one who is the
way, the truth and the life. It is to have him as the only ideal that is truly attainable; it is to aspire to know him as the
only model that can guide our life, as he is. In short, it is to identify ourselves fully and progressively with Him who is the
Son, the One sent by the Father, the only High Priest.

To place our hope in the Lord alone

A spiritual formation suited to our times must foster privileged times of discernment, of interiorization of the
Hamada, of falling in love with and discovering the Lord. It is essential to stress the importance of an intense life of
prayer as "the first and fundamental form of response to the Word [...], which undoubtedly constitutes a primary value
and requirement of spiritual formation". The priest must be formed with the awareness that one aspect, certainly not a
secondary one, of the priest's mission is to be a "teacher of prayer". But the priest will only be able to form others as
disciples of the praying Jesus if he himself has been formed and continues to be formed in the same school. The people
trust that "the priest is the man of God, the one who belongs to God and makes people think of God". Dazed by noise,
haste and activism, the priest must be formed in an atmosphere of external silence that favors internal silence and,
therefore, contemplation and meditation. Prayer and silence are the best ways that can lead the seminarian and the
priest to seek the Eucharist as the center of his life and ministry as well as the summit of Christian prayer. No other
activity should be above the Eucharistic celebration, which should always be the most important moment of the day.
And even knowing that today the sacrament of reconciliation is not fully appreciated, spiritual formation must insist on
its urgent necessity. As the Magisterium of the Church indicates:
In a culture in which, with new and subtle forms of self-justification, there is a risk of losing the "sense of sin"
and, consequently, the consoling joy of forgiveness (cf. Ps 51:14) and of the encounter with God "rich in mercy" (Eph
2:4), it is urgent to educate future priests in the virtue of penance, nourished with wisdom by the Church in her
celebrations and in the seasons of the liturgical year, and which finds its fullness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
When, together with the loss of the sense of sin, one lives a fierce individualism, it is also convenient to train in
the availability to the surrender of one's own life. The priest is invited to assume that he is called to approach poverty,
generosity, humility and service as did the Samaritan in the Gospel parable. We need a special sensitization that
prepares us to be closer to pain, sickness and death. In the same way as Christ who freely stripped himself of his divine
condition to be a slave and who was not afraid of contact with the leper, sinners, women or children. Spiritual formation
must seek a priest who feels and thinks according to the style of Jesus, because "our High Priest does not remain
indifferent to our weaknesses, having been subjected to the same trials as us, but which, to him, did not lead to sin". Or
because "he had to become like his brothers in every way in order to become the High Priest who asks forgiveness for
them, being at the same time compassionate and faithful in the service of God". Precisely because it is not easy to
assume and live our ministry from the approach of the cross, this is our main challenge. Amid situations of darkness, and
even death, we priests are called to be signs of light and hope like Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, because, as the
Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo Vobis affirms, "From here comes the meaning of the cross and the meaning of the
cross",
From here come the meaning of asceticism and interior discipline, the spirit of sacrifice and renunciation, the
acceptance of fatigue and of the cross. These are elements of the spiritual life, which often appear particularly difficult
for many candidates for the priesthood, accustomed to conditions of life of relative comfort and well-being, and less
prone and sensitive to these elements because of models of behavior and ideals presented by the mass media, even in
countries where living conditions are poorer and the situation of young people more austere. For this reason, but above
all in order to put into practice, after the example of Christ, the Good Shepherd, "the radical gift of self" proper to the
priest, the Synod Fathers point out that "it is necessary to inculcate a sense of the cross, which is the center of the
Paschal Mystery. Thanks to this identification with the crucified Christ, as a servant, the world can rediscover the value
of austerity, of pain and also of martyrdom, within the present culture imbued with secularism, greed and hedonism".
Living ministry from the perspective of simplicity, trusting surrender and the cross requires us to be well aware
of our limits and capacities. In the first place, it implies not wanting to be what we are not or aspiring to certain positions
to fill gaps in our history or our past. Like Jesus who, together with his mother and father Joseph, had to learn their
language, their Jewish culture, day after day, "growing in wisdom, in stature and grace before God and before men".
Thus, every time we assume with maturity our personality, our way of being, or, even, our character in these difficult
times, it could be translated into the free choice of a lifestyle capable of responding with love to situations of conflict. In
a second moment, from a theological point of view, we can be moved and impelled by pastoral charity, making the same
move that Jesus made, who "being in the form of God, did not claim equality with God in deed, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant, and became in the likeness of men. Moreover, when he saw him, it was proved that he was
a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." In order to develop this
argument further, I refer to what I have discussed elsewhere regarding the challenge we face in renewing our priestly
identity, and I will limit myself to mentioning two aspects that still seem to me to be fundamental to the topic at hand.

The call to live from simplicity and in the darkness

An adequate spiritual formation should focus on achieving in the priest a maturity that has to be in reference to
his whole evolutionary process from the initial formation in the seminary to the phase of ongoing formation in the
development of the ministry. This is closely related to the subject's awareness of himself, of his potentials and limits and
the ideal plan he has for the future. Very often this challenge is identified as 'unity of life'. All formation, but in a
particular way spiritual formation, must tend to achieve a harmonious integration of all the dimensions of the person in
his individuality. Likewise, it should seek the ideal values that are in the mind of the subject during the whole process,
susceptible of partial progress that will only end with death.
The formation must aspire to greater things, such as making the subject free and assuming responsibility for his
own education, formation and, in the end, his transformation. The result will be a person free in essence and truth
because only by respecting the infinite character of human freedom, as a sacrament of the image of God and
participation in his freedom, will it be possible to safeguard its truth and authenticity. The theme of freedom opens the
possibility of personal discernment in such a way that the subject in formation discovers where the immutable and
transcendent values are that will guide him to the possession of himself. Through discernment, the person in formation
will be able to reach a just perception of his maturity and of the final objective of the formative process. Thanks to an
authentic process of discernment, the person will be able to be open to discover where the truth is and where the lie is.
We are well aware that it is extremely difficult for us to find the right parameters to live our personal needs with a
Christian balance; hence, the urgency of a continuous examination that helps us to discern the will of God and to
unmask the traps of the evil spirit. Being in tune with the Spirit of God will allow us to recognize that our happiness is
not in the material goods we possess nor in the academic degrees we have attained in a university. Everything we know
or have - which is always very relative -, means nothing if we compare it with the possibility of being alter Christus, as
witnesses of God's love, the only Absolute. Nor should priestly fulfillment be sought in the ministries that shine the
brightest or in the offices that, while we should put them at the service of the people, lead us to use them for our own
personal benefit and personal gain. The priest is called to preach from the conviction that "the Jews ask for miracles and
the Greeks seek a superior knowledge. Meanwhile, we proclaim a crucified Messiah. For the Jews, what a scandal! And
for the Greeks, what madness!"
Spiritual formation is based on interpersonal communication relationships between God, Supreme Formator and
the person being formed. Through Sacred Scripture, as the Word of God, we live an authentic personal and
communitarian formative process, gradual and progressive, with moments of rupture and real qualitative, energetic and
merciful leaps, always inserted in history through a series of collaborators and human mediations, in Jesus through the
Holy Spirit. A fundamental element of this formative dialogue is the contemplation of the mystery of the hidden life of
Jesus. Specialists have interpreted this silence as the authentic meaning of the Incarnation of Jesus who has to become
man like all men. Jesus as a child, who learns from his parents, Jesus as a young man who has to develop physically and
affectively; Jesus who has to learn his mission of service. In the contemplation and meditation of this mystery we will
find a profound message of the Lord: Jesus silences all the falsifications of life that circulate among men. The criteria for
living in fullness is not in what society considers to be a successful and brilliant coma; quite the contrary. The hidden life
of the Son of God becomes a reason for hope and joy for the vast majority of our brother priests who live in anonymity,
without any prominence, without fame, without power and without prestige. Just like Mary, who thus becomes another
model of priestly formation. While the world is sinking, living in depression, hedonism, consumerism, in a suicidal
loneliness, threatened by an absolutization of sexuality, understood only as genitality, we are encouraged by the
presence of many brothers who live poor, chaste and obedient, credible witnesses of those who live their vocation with
great peace and happiness....

The call to grow in holiness

We cannot - nor should we - live our priestly ministry with a continuous attitude of bitterness or frustration. This
becomes contagious and leads us to believe that we are truly incapable of assuming our daily mission and to fall into a
depression that creates a sense of limitation and inability to go on living. We are called to be witnesses of hope and, in
spite of all the problems, to be men of God who believe in the possibility of being ourselves, with our lights and
shadows, always open to fraternal correction and a life in growing maturity..., until our last breath. To achieve this, we
must be clear that we are called to integrate our priestly activity with an intense spiritual life, assuming that there are
different charisms to achieve this, but only one is the way to reach God. Our identity will be strengthened when we
understand that first we are called to be priests and then to carry out the tasks that our ministry asks of us. This will be
possible when we strive to achieve an authentic unity of life that will make it credible that our mission leads to our
sanctification. As St. Ignatius of Loyola said, we are called to seek God in all things and all things in Him and to make Him
our true Principle and Foundation.
This is the meaning of an authentic spiritual formation: to deepen our own identity as a sacrament of Christ the
Shepherd, which requires us to be a reflection in what we are, say and do, of the same traits that define the Person of
Jesus, as a Good Shepherd, close to all, without exception. This implies continually renewing the experience of pastoral
charity that translates into the smallest details in which people can recognize the traits of the Lord, whether from a desk
in a parish office, with our daily presence in all the places where we move and, of course, in the celebration of the
sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. Our communities do not deserve our faces of sadness, bitterness or frustration.
They expect us to be credible witnesses who speak of what we have seen and heard from the Lord through a life of
prayer, discipline and sacrifice. They need us to speak to them of our familiarity with the Lord because they are not just
looking for wise professionals who claim to know everything about everything but "it is a knowledge that is not purely
science, but deep life experience, capable of making us understand and discern, live and act, supported by resources
that surpass those of pure human wisdom". Our people want us to transmit the experience that gives us the intimate,
passionate contact with Jesus and that makes us capable of being men of hope, joyful, ready to share everything, even
suffering, keeping Him alone at the center and trying to make the evangelical counsels come alive.

The call to live an authentic pastoral charity

The way we relate to our brother priests is also decisive. Hence the advisability of ensuring that, from the time
of initial formation, we insist on being men of the Church who feel and think in, from and with the Church. We have
been greatly affected by the fact that people see us as divided, that we do not love one another or that we do not miss
an opportunity to speak ill of one another, to publicly express our differences and weaknesses. It is common to hear
severe criticisms of envy among us as well as of the little recognition we give to the success of our brothers in the
priesthood. In this aspect we have to grow much more and ask for forgiveness for the damage we have done to
ourselves. It would be beautiful if we could learn to collaborate between the older and younger generations and rely on
the experience of the former and the generosity and enthusiasm of the latter.
According to the Document Formation of the Presbyterates in the Italian Church: "the main factor that
characterizes the current generation of young people consists in subjectivism, with its poisoned fruit, narcissism, which
leads to seeing the ministry as a pedestal for the affirmation of the self (self-referentiality) while the presbyterate is for
the ecclesial ministry and not for personal dignity". In fact, the ministry is not a prize or an achievement. It is a gift, not a
merit. It is not the property of individual presbyters but 'ministry', that is, a service, whatever the hierarchical grade. As a
symptom of the pathology of the individualistic 'I', there is leaderism, or managerialism. And, "in these cases, there is
nothing to marvel at, but much to suffer! If the exercise of the ministry becomes a hectic and convulsive routine or a
cross to bear with much sorrow and little sense and not as a service, even if suffered, a 'sacrifice', that is, a 'holy thing',
blessed and sensible, exciting and attractive". And, precisely for this reason, the Church has emphasized that the
essential content of pastoral charity is the gift of self, the total gift of self to the Church, sharing in the gift of Christ and
in his image.
Pastoral charity is that virtue by which we imitate Christ in his self-giving and service. It is not only what we do,
but the gift of ourselves that shows Christ's love for his flock. Pastoral charity determines our way of thinking and acting,
our way of behaving towards people. It is particularly demanding for us [...]. The gift of ourselves, the root and synthesis
of pastoral charity, is addressed to the Church.
In a society eager for scandals, we must support each other, grow in friendship and trust among all, diocesan
and religious. In this way, we will strengthen our communion and avoid that terrible loneliness in which many of our
brothers live and all this "because the priest is not only a Christian among the other Christians of his community, but he
is also characterized by communion with other disciples who have received the same ministerial assignment". Thus we
will understand that the fruit of pastoral charity is the mission: the fruit, not an extrinsic appendix or an adventitious
supplement. In the same way as the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo Vobis affirms when it insists that "a correct
and profound knowledge of the nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood is the path that must be followed, and
that the Synod has in fact followed, in order to overcome the crisis regarding priestly identity". This will be the main
challenge for an authentic spiritual formation in our times because
it is this face of Christ on which the eyes of faith and love of Christians must be fixed. Precisely on the basis of
this 'contemplation'. [This problem can only be answered by a prior reflection on the goal to which the formation
process is directed, that is, the ministerial priesthood as a participation in the Church in the very priesthood of Jesus
Christ. Knowledge of the nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood is the indispensable presupposition, and at the
same time the surest guide and the most incisive stimulus, for developing in the Church the pastoral action of promotion
and discernment of priestly vocations, and that of formation of those called to the ordained ministry.
Thus, if spiritual formation is the 'heart' of formation for the priesthood, pastoral charity is truly the 'center' of
that heart. Moreover, "the interior principle, the virtue that animates and guides the spiritual life of the priest as
configured to Christ, Head and Shepherd, is pastoral charity, a participation in the same pastoral charity of Jesus Christ: a
gratuitous gift of the Holy Spirit and, at the same time, a duty and call to the free and responsible response of the
priest". This should characterize our pastoral work, that is, a total and spousal, decisive love for God and his Church,
even unto death. In this way, our witness and priestly identity will allow us to spread the certainty that it is possible to
live our dedication and apostolic mission with the same attitudes of Jesus. And this is not achieved only with the
systematic and logical exposition of a more or less beautiful theory. There is nothing that has a stronger impact on the
lives of young people than preaching by example and sharing the joy of a life of self-giving, with the feelings of true love,
friendship, dedication, sacrifice, generosity, compassion, self-denial and forgiveness. There is no more effective spiritual
formation than that of inviting the youngest to base their lives and their choices on hope transformed by the only real
certainty we can have in priestly life: if we have been disciples of the one Lord, at the end of our mission, we will find the
cross and, together with Him, we will rise to a full life in Him.

RESUMEN

La dimensión espiritual en la formación sacerdotal ha sido siempre objeto de preocupación. El Magisterio de la Iglesia
nos ha ofrecido importantes documentos con el propósito de clarificar los criterios de una formación integral. El Santo
Padre Juan Pablo II demostró su preocupación al respecto y, con la Exhortación Apostólica Pastores dabo Vobis, ha
querido dar respuesta a la difícil situación que presenta la sociedad de nuestros días. Este articulo pretende hacer una
reflexión sobre las dificultades y los retos a enfrentar con el fin de formular algunas líneas de acción para una formación
espiritual adecuada para los seminarios y casas de formación religiosa.
The spiritual dimension in the priestly formation has always been a subject of great concern. The Teaching of the Church
has offered important documents with the purpose of clarifying the approaches for an integral formation. The Holy
Father John Paul II demonstrated his concern in his Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo Vobis and he wanted to give a
proper answer to the difficult situation that presents itself in our society today. This article seeks to make a reflection on
the principal difficulties and challenges that we face in formulating some action plans for an appropriate spiritual
formation for the seminaries and the houses of religious formation.