VATICAN - Cardinal Filoni to the seminarians: a vocation that has the entire world as its horizon

Friday, 27 May 2016 filoni   pontifical mission societies   missionary animation   local churches  

Seminario S.Luis Bertran

Bogotà (Agenzia Fides) - On the afternoon of May 25, Cardinal Fernando Filoni presided over the Mass at the "San Luis Bertrán Intermisional Seminary" in Bogotà, together with the educational community and seminarians, as part of his pastoral visit to Colombia (see Fides 19/05/2016).
"This seminary, which was founded in 1959 by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is preparing to live its sixtieth year of life – recalled the Cardinal in his homily -. It wants to be, according to the intentions of the founders, a place of formation of Apostolic Vicariates, and promote and guide the clergy to take evangelization as the primary objective of future priests at heart. Today, with more than 100 students, while we also remember the many active priests in the different vicariates, it continues to meet the same expectations".
The Cardinal then underlined the importance of the management of the Seminary is to be entrusted to the Episcopal Conference, while retaining its missionary character and is under the care of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. "What is nice is that the Bishops of this country feel that the responsibility for the work of evangelization all over the country and the formation of pastoral operators also falls on them".
Taking a cue from the Gospel proclaimed before, in which the evangelist Mark tells how Jesus, for the third time, prepares the disciples to the mystery of his passion (Mk 10,32 to 45), Cardinal Filoni focused on the theme of service, as it is largely connected to the priestly mission. "Christ has not ceased to be an example to his disciples, becoming servant and giving his life on the cross ... The logic of the Kingdom of God is that of service, not that of power, not that of making a career, that of the total self-giving to the Gospel, not the pursuit of social promotion. Priestly vocation is God's call to serve his brothers ... I recommend, therefore, the meditation of this Gospel as motivation of your priestly and missionary vocation".
Finally, the Prefect told the seminarians: "you are called to participate in the Church's mission that lies before you and that the Lord, through the Bishop, will entrust you. Now it is up to you to prepare and respond whether to accept or not". The Cardinal invited them to "be fascinated by Christ", to "discover the beauty of giving him life" to "not limit oneself to small projects". "Have the courage to accept a big call, that has the whole world as its horizon, and be willing to seriously consider the proposal of offering the best years of your life in full missionary availability even in more difficult and marginalized places compared to your particular Churches and, why not?, beyond your borders". (SL) (Agenzia Fides 27/05/2016)



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