He also gave a beautiful homily on the priesthood (what it is and isn't) at an ordination yesterday. No official translation yet, but here's the Italian. And Whispers has its own unofficial version, and the Regina Coeli message as well. Check back here; I'll post the official translations once they're up. Anyway, here's a taste. B16 cuts right to it, doesn't he?
Before reflecting on these three essential characteristics of being shepherds, it'll be useful to briefly remember the previous part of the discourse on the shepherds in which Jesus, before designating himself as the Shepherd, says to our surprise: "I am the gate" (Jn 10:7). He is the one who must be entered in the service of the shepherd. Jesus places in a very clear way – one which stands out – this root condition, affirming that “He who ascends another way is a thief and a robber” (Jn 10:1). The word “ascend” [“salire”] evokes the image of someone who goes up into a closed-off place, climbing, to where he wouldn’t be able to legitimately arrive. To “ascend” – this can be seen also as the image of careerism, of the attempt of arriving “on high,” of procuring for oneself a position by means of the Church: to serve oneself, not to serve. It is the image of the man who, through the priesthood, wishes to make himself important, to become a personage; the image of him who has in his sights his own exaltation and not the humble service of Jesus Christ. The only legitimate ascent toward the ministry of the shepherd, however, is the Cross. This is the gate. To not personally desire to become something, but instead that we be for the other, for Christ, and so by means of Him and with Him be for men the One they seek, that He may lead them along the path of life.
