Letter of the Congregation for the Clergy on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, to be celebrated on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 15 June 2007.

            Dear Priest Friends,

            The World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests which will be celebrated on the upcoming Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an opportunity to reflect together on the gift of our priestly ministry, sharing your pastoral concern for all believers and for all humanity and in particular, for the portion of the People of God entrusted to your respective Ordinaries, whose most precious collaborators you are.

            The theme proposed for this year: “The priest, nourished by the Word of God, is a universal witness to Christ’s charity”, is in tune with the recent Magisterium of Benedict XVI and especially with the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (22 February 2007).

            The Holy Father writes in it: “The love that we celebrate in the Sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with all. What the world needs is God’s love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the Church’s life, but also of her mission: ‘an authentically eucharistic Church is a missionary Church’ (Propositio 42)” (n. 84).

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