Explore "The Existence of the Pastor is Expressed in Dialogue" by Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Homily, Funeral Mass for Cardinal Juan Carlos Aramburu, Archbishop Emeritus of Buenos Aires-November 22, 2004.
The death of our pastor reminds us of his entire journey as a priest: his hopes, his work, his discreet and laborious elderly years. The Lord called him precisely when he was about to go to carry out his ministry, the ministry he never stopped rendering: hearing confessions. Behind that intense life, of his activities and concerns, he had-as every pastor-a dialogue with the Lord. It is the dialogue between Jesus and his disciple. A dialogue that begins with a glance, a word: "Follow me," and continues to grow throughout a lifetime. The existence of the pastor is expressed in that dialogue, an existence that, in its deep intimacy, only the two of them know; and they walk together through this existence. The dialogue between the pastor and his Lord takes a lifetime and is always projected further on: toward the people of God whom he must serve, and toward eternity.