The cardinal, originally from Guinea, ordained 12 priests during a recent visit to Cameroon
Newsroom (17/04/2024 12:27, Gaudium Press) Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, made a recent visit to Cameroon, arriving in the country on 2 April.
After presiding over the ordination of 12 priests in the square of the city of Obala, north of the capital Yaoundé, on 6 April, the cardinal met with the bishops taking part in the plenary assembly from 7 to 13 April.
Addressing the newly ordained priests, Cardinal Sarah recalled the significance of the ministerial priesthood:
“To be a priest is to become, in fact, Jesus Christ Himself. It is to prolong His saving presence among men; it is to strive daily to carry everywhere and always, in our body, the sufferings of Jesus’ death, and to radiate His presence in order to give God His central and priority place in the world, because a world without God is a world without hope.”
“Being the sign that reminds us of God’s primacy in a world that is increasingly frivolous, indifferent and even hostile to Jesus, His Gospel and His Church, “the priest makes God’s presence visible,” the cardinal emphasized.
For this reason, he continued, “being a priest is the greatest gift that God has given to humanity, because it makes us and helps us to continue the work of evangelization begun by Jesus”.
It is clear that the priest “must be attentive to the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians to shepherd them, in communion with your bishop,” adding that the priesthood was instituted for the preaching of the Gospel and to re-establish communion between God and humanity through the Eucharistic sacrifice and prayer.
Nourished by love for Jesus, they renounce possessions, because God alone is their only good
Cardinal Sarah explained that the source of the priesthood lies in the supreme and exclusive love for Christ, because “feeding the sheep is in fact an act of love, and only if we love Jesus exclusively will we have the authority and responsibility to lead the people of God”.
Cardinal Sarah clarified that the priest has the obligation to do “everything in his power so that Christ can shine through. The priest’s soul must be pure, purer than the rays of the sun, so that the Holy Spirit never abandons him and he can say: ‘I am crucified with Christ; I live, but it is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me.’
Cardinal Sarah also spoke of the renunciations that priests make for the sake of their high mission, following in the footsteps of Christ: “Priests, because they are radically consecrated, offered and given to God, renounce marriage, family, material and financial gains. God alone is their only good, their only love, their only happiness and their inheritance,” he explained.
Renouncing all power, all possessions and all family, “priests must imitate and embody the poverty of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who had nowhere to lay his head, to choose only God as his only wealth,” the cardinal added, inviting those present to pray for and accompany the 12 new priests in their priestly ministry.
With information from Vatican news
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
