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<\/p>\nOn 31 May, I had the immense grace of being ordained a priest at the Basilica of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia in Barcelona. Even today, when I recall that moment, I struggle to find the right words. I keep returning to one very specific feeling: that of feeling small in the face of an immense gift.<\/p>\n
As I prostrated myself on the floor during the Litany of the Saints, I experienced something that, centuries earlier, the holy Cur\u00e9 of Ars had expressed so beautifully: \u2018I prostrated myself, aware of my nothingness, and rose as a priest forever\u2019.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that phrase sums up what I feel, better than any other. The awareness of one\u2019s own frailty does not disappear with ordination. On the contrary. One discovers with greater clarity the disparity between the poverty of one\u2019s hands and the greatness of the mystery entrusted to one. Yet, alongside this awareness of smallness, a deep gratitude also emerges. Looking back on my life, I can only recognise a succession of undeserved gifts, providential people, encounters, communities and experiences that have enabled me to discover something fundamental: before being sent, I was loved.<\/p>\n
And it is precisely from this experience that I find myself wondering about the future of the priesthood.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are living in times of profound change within the Church and in society. The priest no longer occupies the social position he held for centuries. Secularisation, the decline in vocations, cultural transformation and growing religious indifference are forcing us to rethink many forms of pastoral presence. However, I believe that the main challenge is neither organisational nor structural. It is spiritual.<\/p>\n
During the ordination homily, Cardinal Joan Josep Omella shared a reflection with us that continues to resonate within me. He told us that a priest\u2019s way of life is more important than anything he might ever do. In an age obsessed with productivity, efficiency and results, his words sounded profoundly evangelical: \u2018It is not by doing a great deal that you will be better priests, but by how you love and live out your ministry\u2019.<\/p>\n
As I listened to those words, I found myself wondering what sort of priest I hope to become. As I begin this ministry, I do not dream of a packed diary or ceaseless activity. Rather, I hope that my life might reflect something of the Gospel. I would like to be a priest capable of living out brotherhood, of building communion, and of bringing others closer to God. If one day someone were to remember my ministry, I would like it to be not for all that I did, but for having helped some people to feel loved by Him.<\/p>\n
The cardinal also emphasised that unity and priestly fraternity are more important than becoming absorbed in work, that cooperation is more important than acting alone, and that communion is more important than action. These are words that take on particular significance in a Church called to live out synodality. Personally, I wish to learn to walk alongside others. For years I imagined the priestly ministry as an immense task that depended on my own strength. Today I am beginning to understand that the Gospel is best proclaimed when the journey is shared. I am not concerned about getting there quickly; I am concerned about not walking alone.<\/p>\n
The future will need priests who are less concerned with holding on to positions of power and more capable of fostering encounters with Christ. Fewer administrators of the sacred and more witnesses to an experience. Fewer managers of structures and more men imbued with the Gospel.<\/p>\n
From the perspective of the charism of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, this conviction takes on a very concrete meaning.<\/p>\n
As a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, when I think about my future as a priest, there is one conviction that constantly returns to my heart: I wish, above all, to be a man of the Heart of Christ.<\/p>\n
I do not see this spirituality as a devotion added to others, but as a way of looking at reality. The Heart of Jesus has taught me to discover a God who draws near, who seeks, who waits and who loves unconditionally. If one day I lose that perspective, I will also have lost something essential to my vocation.<\/p>\n
That is why I wish to learn, day by day, the language of closeness. To listen before speaking. To accompany before judging. To understand before condemning. I know I will not always succeed, but I would like those who come to me to be able to find, even if only imperfectly, something of the tenderness of the Heart of Jesus.<\/p>\n
In a society marked by loneliness, fragmentation and uncertainty, we will need a priest capable of listening before speaking, of accompanying before judging, and of understanding before condemning.<\/p>\n
A priest who knows how to dwell at the human and existential frontiers where so many people live today: family wounds, emotional crises, the search for meaning, psychological fragility, and material and spiritual poverty.<\/p>\n
It will not be enough simply to convey true doctrines. It will be necessary to make God\u2019s merciful face visible.<\/p>\n
I often think of a phrase by Pope Francis which, in my view, admirably describes the profile of the priest the Church needs:<\/p>\n
\u2018A good priest is recognised by how his people are anointed; this is a clear sign. When our people are anointed with the oil of joy, it shows\u2026 they have the face of someone who brings good news\u2019.<\/p>\n
The decisive criterion will not be effectiveness, nor prestige, nor even the number of activities carried out. The real question will be another: do the people who encounter this priest leave feeling more hopeful? Do they experience something of the joy of the Gospel? Do they sense that God loves them?<\/p>\n
As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we are called to remember precisely this: that the Gospel begins with an experience of love.<\/p>\n
I also wish to live a deeply human priesthood. I do not want to hide my limitations behind a persona or pretend to possess a perfection that I do not have. I would like to learn to recognise my frailties and let God act precisely through them. After all, before being a priest, I remain a disciple.<\/p>\n
The image that best expresses this vision continues to be provided by Antoni Gaud\u00ed.<\/p>\n
When we contemplate the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, we realise that its architect devoted his entire life to a work he knew he would never see completed. He worked on a project that was greater than himself.<\/p>\n
The priesthood is like that too.<\/p>\n
We are not called to complete the work, but to lay a single stone. We do not own the mission; rather, we are servants of a story that began before us and will continue after us.<\/p>\n
That is why I look to the future with realism, but also with hope.<\/p>\n
Perhaps there will be fewer of us. Perhaps we will have fewer certainties and less social relevance. But precisely for that reason, we will be able to return to what is essential. And what is essential remains the same as what the first disciples discovered: that God loves the world, that Christ continues to call men and women to follow him, and that the Heart of Jesus remains an inexhaustible source of hope for our time.<\/p>\n
If I had to summarise in a single image how I envisage my own priesthood, I would say that I wish to be a man in love with Christ, close to people, fraternal towards my brothers, and capable of sowing hope where it seems to have faded. I do not aspire to be remembered for the works I have carried out or the projects I have undertaken. It would be enough for me if some people could say that, through meeting me, they came to understand a little better just how much God loves them.<\/p>\n
As I begin my priestly ministry, I have no great certainties about the future. Just one simple conviction that sustains my life: the Lord has been infinitely kinder to me than I could ever have imagined.<\/p>\n
And so, looking back on the path I have travelled and the one that still lies ahead, the word that continues to well up spontaneously from my heart is the same one I spoke at my first Mass: thank you.<\/p>\n
Gianluca Pitzolu, MSC. Spanish Province<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 31 May, I had the immense grace of being ordained a priest at the Basilica of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia in Barcelona. Even today, when I recall that moment, I struggle to find the right words. I keep returning to one very specific feeling: that of feeling small in the face of an immense gift. As I prostrated myself on the floor during the Litany of the Saints, I experienced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":4165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t