Zagreb, (IKA) – The national pilgrimage by Croatian priests to Zagreb concluded on April 15 with the Evening Prayer in the crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. The archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić; the apostolic nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Mario Roberto Cassari; the Croatian bishops led by the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Marin Srakić of Đakovo-Osijek, and priests who had arrived from all the dioceses in Croatia were welcomed by the guardian of the Monastery of Our Lady of Lourdes, Fr. Slaven Milanović Litre. In an address to the pilgrims, the provincial of the Franciscan Province of the Most Holy Redeemer, Fr. Željko Tolić, said that they had come with all the four winds, led by and in fellowship with the bishops, to the thresholds of the graves of saints: in the morning at the tomb of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac in the cathedral and now at the tomb of the Servant of God Fr. Ante Antić (1893-965), who was distinguished by “pastoral zeal and a virtuous life, love of Jesus Christ and his Most Holy Mother, and fidelity to the Catholic Church and Franciscan charism. Fr. Antić always thirsted and hungered for God and his graces, devoting all his free time to God in profound prayer, work on his own personal sanctification and the sanctification of the most diverse classes of the Church and society. Thus he became a charismatic confessor and spiritual leader, not only for theologians but also monks, nuns, many priests, families and particularly educators. His letters clearly tell us that he always felt the presence of God, collaborated with his grace, and that his theology was a kneeling theology, practiced on his knees in prayer in his monastery room or before the Blessed Sacrament in the monastery chapel.
Great things, pleasing and dear to God, happen for us priests through collaboration with God and his holy grace, on our knees or before the Blessed Sacrament. St. John Mary Vianney – Curé d’Ars, the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac – archbishop of Zagreb, and the Servant of God Fr. Ante Antić – charismatic confessor, testify to this in many ways. They belonged fully to God, as the stars belong to the sky. Thus, they became our guides and teachers. A student cannot choose another path, except that through which his Teacher has passed,” emphasized the Franciscan provincial. He cautioned that it is a great grace to be a priest but “although we are priests, we are not God’s secret counselors. We are not clergy who know everything better than others, a selected society of the intelligent. We are sinful servants who serve one Lord, who is the unfathomable God, who dwells in unapproachable light, whose ways are inscrutable and judgments unsearchable. To stand near Him, to be in His service, to share His secrets and utter His words, to be God’s and belong to God cannot be without great humility and simplicity, without prayer and kneeling, without one’s countenance always turned toward God; it is not possible without frequent sacramental confessions and a permanently converted heart. … From day to day, a priest should walk a path that leads from the good toward the better. If we understand God, we shall understand that God comes without weapons, because he does not want to conquer us from the outside but to renew us from within through his words and sacraments. It is not possible to sit on two chairs and it is not possible to succeed with the philosophy that today I’ll still do things halfway and starting tomorrow I shall do them perfectly. As it is not possible to adapt faith, Church dogma and tradition, diocesan guidelines and monastic regulations, vows and celibacy, priestly duties and religious devotion according to ourselves, we must change ourselves in every way that is possible and wherever possible. This should be our priestly ethic, our codex and our secret obligation,” concluded the provincial at the end of his homily.
“Christ’s fidelity, which is the foundation of priestly fidelity, can only be consistently practiced in fellowship and communion with the Church and mutual priestly love and support,” said the president of the Commission for the Clergy of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Bishop Vjekoslav Huzjak of Bjelovar-Križevci, noting the importance of such priestly meetings for priests and the faithful. He announced that the Council for the Clergy will organize such pilgrimages every two years. The president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Srakić, thanked everyone who contributed to the pilgrimage. At the tomb of the Servant of God Ante Antić, a prayer for his beatification was offered by Cardinal Bozanić, followed by the prayers of individual priestly pilgrims.