“It is better to talk to us, than to talk about us.” With these powerful words, the Bishop of Gozo Anton Teuma exhorted the crowd gathered for the Mass of the Blessing of the Oils on Maundy Thursday morning in the Gozo Cathedral.
He said this in the greeting before the final blessing, where he thanked the priests again for their ministry for the benefit of God’s people, then he turned to the laity to thank them too for their collaboration with the priests.
Earlier in the homily the Bishop had already made a strong call to the priests to take care of each other. He spoke about how the mission of every priest is a “relational” one, where he does not deal with a multitude but with “persons with their first and last name.”
Here he encouraged them not to be afraid of the challenges of people who come in their need. “Let’s remove the obstacles from our weak hearts,” the Bishop invited them, “so that we can fulfil the mandate that Jesus gave us. Among these obstacles can be the spirit of upbringing, character, personal history, but instead of this, the priest must let in the Spirit of God.”
The words that Jesus quoted from Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lk 4:16-21; Is 61:1-3a,6a,8b,9), in the “so dear Gospel” broadcast in Thursday’s Mass the morning Communion, shows that the Holy Spirit really “is upon us right now… in the present,” said Bishop Teuma to his priests, because “we are consecrated by him constantly.” Always with reference to the priests, the Bishop continued to insist that “the first to announce and release” was “us.”
“God put his Spirit in us because he took grace with us,” said Bishop Anton to the large number of priests gathered in the Cathedral of the Assumption.
He recalled how the Ordination made them brothers of each other and with it the Spirit gave them a dignity that they are called to protect and defend in a true spirit of fraternity. So he encouraged them to take care of each other, especially the weak among them.
But above all, the Bishop of Gozo explained in his homily, the Gospel puts the ‘mission statement’ of Jesus Christ which should also become the pastoral vision of the ministerial life of every priest.
This consists first of all in the broadcasting of the Word of God. Therefore the time and energy of every priest should revolve “with the broadcasting of the Word,” the Bishop said. Jesus himself in the Gospel repeats twice that he was sent to announce the Good News. “This should again drive the priest to be encouraged in what is specifically his: the broadcasting of the Gospel.”
But the same Gospel, continued the Bishop, also shows what concrete charity should emerge as a fruit of this broadcasting, and here Jesus specifies four categories of “poor” as well as the particular type of “therapy pastoral” that must be applied to them.
This is a continuous process of healing where the priest simply shares his ministry with others, the Bishop said.
The Bishop of Gozo concluded the homily saying, “we ask the Lord that the Word of God will come to our ears, while we are listening, so that in his Word he will give us his Spirit and salvation will take place.”
During the Mass, as every year, the Renewal of the Priestly Vows and the Blessings and the Consecration of the Holy Oils took place.
In the evening, the Bishop celebrated the Memorial of the Lord’s Supper with the residents of the Kordin Correctional Facility.
Photos: Diocese of Gozo/Jeremy Scicluna