The Deacon's Bench
On Sunday morning Pope Francis ordained 19 new priests, exhorting them to serve the flock rather than manage it, and to feed the people of God with heartfelt homilies rather than boring sermons.
“Let this be the nourishment of the People of God,” Francis said during the ceremony in Saint Peter’s Basilica, “that your sermons are not boring, that your homilies reach people’s hearts because they come from your heart, because what you say to them is what you carry in your heart.”
The Pope also urged the new priests to practice what they preach, so that their good example will bear witness to the truth of their words. A good example builds people up, Francis said, “but words without actions are empty words, they are ideas that never make it to the heart and they can even do harm rather than good!”
On the fourth Sunday of Easter, Catholics celebrate “Good Shepherd Sunday,” recalling that Jesus presented himself as the good shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for his sheep, and the Pope drew from this image in appealing to the young priests to give their lives for their people.
“Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd,” he said, “who came not to be served but to serve; not to stay in his comfort, but to go out to seek and save what was lost.”
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