{"id":17807,"date":"2015-02-05T15:37:40","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T21:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=17807"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:58:48","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:58:48","slug":"my-young-priests-be-not-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/my-young-priests-be-not-afraid\/","title":{"rendered":"My Young Priests, Be Not Afraid!","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Wednesday, February 4th, 2015<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"ord-prostration_Fotor\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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AFTER <\/strong>Mass today, the words came strongly to me:<\/p>\n

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My young priests, do not be afraid! I have put you in place, like seeds scattered among fertile soil. Do not be afraid to preach My Name! Do not be afraid to speak the truth in love. Do not be afraid if My Word, through you, causes a sifting of your flock…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As I shared these thoughts over coffee with a courageous African priest this morning, he nodded his head. “Yes, we priests often want to please everyone rather than preach the truth… we have let the lay faithful down.”<\/p>\n

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It is true that, as a pastor\u2014or a lay evangelist myself\u2014we want to appeal to as many people as possible. And St. Peter tells us how:<\/p>\n

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…do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. (1 Pet 3:16)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So whether by our words, or by our silent witness, we are sowing supernatural seeds in the hearts of even our detractors. Remember, it was not Christ’s ministry but His Passion that converted the Centurion.<\/p>\n

But what has slowly evolved over the past several decades is a watering down of the Gospel, a muting of the moral teachings of the Church, and an obscuration of the entire raison d’\u00eatre<\/em> of the Church’s existence:<\/p>\n

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\u2026the transmission of the Christian faith is the purpose of the new evangelization and of the entire evangelizing mission of the Church, which exists for this very reason. Moreover the expression \u201cnew evangelization\u201d sheds light on the ever clearer awareness that countries with an ancient Christian tradition also need a renewed proclamation of the Gospel to lead them back to an encounter with Christ which truly transforms life and is not superficial, marked by routine. <\/strong>\u2014POPE FRANCIS, Address to the 13th Ordinary Council of the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, June 13th, 2013; vatican.va<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But this New Evangelization in the West has been hampered by a political correctness that has often made the pulpit impotent, the sermon sterile.<\/p>\n

The priest, more than anyone else in the Church, is configured to Jesus Christ through ordination. No one else, therefore, should be more configured to His ministry. Consider how the preaching of Jesus, though at first attracting thousands, soon became a scandal to his flock such that, by the end, only three people stood with Him beneath the Cross. May I so boldly repeat the words above to Christ’s beloved priests: don’t be afraid to lose members of your flock because you preach the undiluted Gospel, for Jesus did not come to bring peace, but the sword\u2014that is, the living Word of God!<\/em> [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Heb 4:12<\/span><\/span>