"You are witnesses of mercy. The men of the world tut-to implore the mercy of God. " With the thousands of priests who had come to Ars from all coun-is at the withdrawal of the priesthood, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn pick up words of Gio-vanni Paolo II, spoken in Po-Lonia in 2002. Strong words, almost, Schönborn says, "a testament" to the priests left. Words that shake in the basilica of Ars-is this group of priests - whites, blacks, Vietnamese, Indians, or come here from distant Pacific islands - which in no small country French meditation on "The joy of being priests." A title against the backdrop of a crisis of vocations and secularization-tion that deals with the priesthood at least in Europe. Scenario that the ar-Archbishop of Vienna does not hide, "We are in this diocese France - he says - in which the priest as it should-it is the bishop. " Yet. Yet in Ars, in memory of the saint cured me-that of AN-no priest is the center, are a visible excitement and vitality that amazed the observer. So-no six Chinese priests, the very young, they tell you their hopes for the Church are the monks in the early morning boys who walk the streets with open breviary in his hand. Schönborn speaks as a brother of them. Also gives them memories-person, almost confession. As when, to say the essence of prayer, recalls his years as a young Dominican, "The post-conciliar crisis was for us young priests, in the '60s, as a tsunami wave. We were convinced that only the action had to re-renew the Church. I took too much to let-tera this idea, and I stopped to pray. At first I felt relief: the Office, before the Council, it was so long. But little by little, the religious life seemed to lose direction, spiritual things fade. After a year, my vocation wavered. It was the crisis of prayer, the dram-but my generation of priests. Those years are now gone. But the priest must never lose the a-bitudine of praying. " "I know - con-tinues Schönborn - We all struggle with time, time that man-ca, and that must be found in day-born. But think how long it will take away the TV and the Internet, as emptiness and eventually leave us. Look, rather than spend hours alone on a computer, make a game of cards with friends. Fa mol-to well, it's a great way to stay to-gether, "smiles the Cardinal. Being together, not alone. It is a topic that Schönborn back. It urges the priests to have a-cats to share the hardships. "A challenge of the priesthood in the XXI century - he says - will, I believe, to find ways of living together, or co-RONMENT of Close. " But solitude is not only undermines the pre-ti. In Vienna, "more than half of people living alone." It seems well known, the archbishop, the great loneliness of his city, full of old and with so few children. Yet. Yet men are still in need of priests. "It cer-sion in our managers, nor of the great preachers. Simply look of men of God cu-rato d'Ars was a simple man. But his parishioners said, was ba-stand by him, to feel better u-mini. " Already, the parish priest of Ars, a poor priest in a village of 230 souls after the storm of the Revolution, the wing-ba in the confessional, for the entire day-no among the people with his frock-know them. Witness mercy. Schönborn to the thousands who hear silence: "Only in the light of the I-sericordia of God we can re-look into the face of our misery. If there is a perception of mercy of God, not men-Tano withstand the truth. In a world without mercy all tend to self-justify, and blame others. And when we realize our misery, we are tempted of discouragement and despair. " The sacrament of mercy, confession, Cardinal dedicates a large teaching (we write a Part, ed.) But the priests still appli-from the heart of their own ministry-I. "Without the Eucharist, the non-priests of our life would lack its center," he says. That sacrifice what, exhort, to celebrate in silence. "I myself, I confess, I often arrive late in the sacristy, taken from the thoughts. Let us pause to pray at least while dressed in the vestments. As Gogol said, "At that moment the priest wearing the robes, to stand by himself." So for example, to show-night, now, in persona Christi. " And I ask you, let a moment of silence after Communion at Mass. We chased the silence the liturgy. How much do we need in-stead. " And another picture Schönborn extracts from the memoirs. "1961, I was 16. I went with the parish pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo-ni. I felt so alien to popular piety, which disturbed me in the crowd shouted at four in the morning already calling this brother. Then, I saw him celebrate Mass. Never seen before and since, a Mass like that. I had the impression that you-ing the reality of Christ's sacrifice, as if the veil of the Sacramento-fos if dropped. Then, in the sacristy, in-between that you've had the privilege of kissing her hand. " The thousand listen intently. Co-me renewed in me an army-memory of its origin, and what they are called. Journalists in the press conference insisted:-and the crisis of vocations? And the reasons for the bachelor-to? They Schönborn responds: "I believe that vocations in reality there is-no, and many. Often they do not vest because of a climate of indecision that plagues society for young people. As for the wedding. Meet men of 40 years who enter the seminary. Even at 20 years had desired, but no one had helped them understand. God, I believe, is always calling. The prob-lem is know how to listen. Look then in many young co-movements and Christian communities, how many vo-cations. Let us ask ourselves why there are there. We do not like some years ago that my brother was complaining-no lack of courage of the young, and did not realize that their own lifestyle cen-Larizza, their 'horizontal theology that' it could not remove them- '. And celibacy, Eminence - pursues a journalist - the reasons for celibacy? Schönborn: "The priest makes this choice voluntarily, in a perspective of availability to God and man. Following the example of Christ. Who chose that path, giving himself entirely to God and his mission. That this choice is pos-sible, we see it in vi-ta of many priests. " But, and yet with a profession of Schönborn here at Ars, for its priests, the Archbishop of Vienna pre-ar-ga. "Every night my ULTI-but prayer is for them. Then, of course, as the prayer is extended to all who are in distress. I think the prison-rati, abused women, children beat-you. For drug addicts, prostitutes, to the hoped-vo-glia no longer live. Prayer then becomes shared-sion of the soft-ence of Christ in Gethsemane. And only the pain of plunging uo-mini abyss of the love of Christ-I am, my prayer for you last evening prayer of confidence. " (Future)
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