You Shall Be a Blessing

German Cardinal Gerhard Müller is a voice contemporary Catholic priests need to hear. You Shall Be a Blessing is an affirmation of priestly life and ministry presented in twelve letters. Müller offers personal encouragement through finely honed theological and spiritual insight on the meaning, history, and importance of the priesthood to today’s Catholic Church.

Vocational identity is an enduring concern among Catholic priests, bishops, teachers, and many lay Catholics around the world, particularly because of the challenges wrought by a changing Church and rapidly shifting culture. The struggle to navigate the personal and sacramental meanings of a priest’s place in the Church is made more difficult by the disheartening loss of the Church’s credibility in recent years and by seismic shifts away from the practice of religion by believers across the western world. Yet most priests continue to serve and lead the people in their care with great compassion, conviction, and desire to serve.

In You Shall Be a Blessing, Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writes as a spiritual father and careful teacher in twelve letters to priests, offering clear picture of their role in the life and work of the Church. He also addresses the theological tasks and spiritual disciplines needed by priests as they give witness to the Word, serve, and sanctify the Church.

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017. He was appointed bishop of Regensburg, Germany, in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. Müller was elevated to archbishop in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI and to cardinal in 2014 by Pope Francis. Prior to being named prefect, Müller served on the Pontifical Council for Culture, Congregation for Catholic Education, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. After Müller ‘s appointment as archbishop and prefect, he also became ex officio president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Müller retired in 2017. He has written more than six hundred works on various topics including dogmatic theology, revelation, ecumenism, and the diaconate. He is the editor of the Complete Works of Joseph Ratzinger—Pope Benedict XVI in sixteen volumes.

“Never was such a book more timely.”
Ulrich L. Lehner
Author of God Is Not Nice

“Cardinal Gerhard Müller is a theologian of the first order: a serious scholar who articulates the richness of the faith with nuance, balance, and depth. And he does so from a place of deep personal communion with Christ. Priests and seminarians alike will find in this collection a rich source for their reflection, prayer, and ministry to the Church.”
Msgr. Michael Heintz
Academic Dean at Mount St Mary’s Seminary
Emmitsburg, Maryland

“Cardinal Gerhard Müller is an eminent systematic theologian whose pastoral advice to priests arises from a theology of Holy Orders that is precise and clear. These letters are seasoned with wisdom from years of pastoral experience, making this book very helpful for any priest or seminarian, or for anyone who knows and loves the Catholic priesthood.”
John C. Cavadini
McGrath-Cavadini director at the McGrath Institute for Church Life
University of Notre Dame

“In the wake of the clergy abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, this account makes a bracing case for the Sacrament of Holy Orders as a subject of reflection and responsibility—scriptural, historical, theological, and cultural—for us all.”
Rev. Kevin G. Grove, C.S.C.
Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology
University of Notre Dame