A HOLY PRIEST ASKS FOR PRAYERS

The following letter from a very courageous Priest was a recent comment on this site.  I decided to make this comment a post so it would more would read it and be not only humbled, but edified, by this fearless leader of Our Lord’s flock.  May God richly bless this most worthy Priest!

Please read and say a prayer for him as we enter Holy Week.

I came across this site providentially today, one year from the date on which the article was originally published online. Here is the article he is referring to.   As a priest who is still in his first year of priestly ordination, I would like to say THANK YOU for this excellent website on spiritual motherhood.

What you say about priests needing the help of faithful laity is completely true. I rely on the prayers of so many faithful laypersons in order to fulfill as faithfully as I can the responsibilities that Our Lord has placed in my hands as one of His priests.

Unfortunately, I do not get a lot of support from my fellow clergy,

as the priesthood that I want to live out is a radical one in which I give myself completely, without reserve, to Our Lord through Our Lady.

Many priests prefer, sadly, the path of least resistance, and a life of comfort. This is why there are so few priests who have the courage to proclaim from the pulpit those Truths of the Catholic Faith that are difficult to say. And yet, is this not our God-given mission? Are we not called to be somewhat like the prophets of old, who had to speak God’s Holy Word even when it meant suffering persecution and being disliked (even hated) by those who do not want to listen?

Please pray, and continue to pray very fervently to Our Blessed Mother, Mary, that she may obtain for Her Son’s Church holy priests, according to the Heart of Jesus.

One holy priest can do so much more for the Kingdom of God than a multitude of lukewarm priests.

I thank you once again for your beautiful website, and for your wonderful apostolate of spiritual motherhood for priests. As you pray for us, we in turn can do what God is calling us to do for you: bring you Jesus Christ, and nothing less. We were ordained to bring Christ to you, but we can only do it by remaining faithful to our call — and this requires a great deal of prayer and sacrifice.

Thank you for all that you do for us priests, and know that your reward will be great in Heaven!

With all my prayers and fraternal, priestly blessing.

-A Canadian Catholic Priest

  Thank you and God bless

Catherine

Phyllis Zagano’s Amazing Theology

Phyllis Zagano, a regular commenter on this site and an advocate for women’s ordination to the Diaconate, has made an astounding prediction:

But by ordaining women as deacons, the Church would

announce to the world that yes, women are made in

the image and likeness of God.

This statement begs so many questions: Whose image and likeness does the Church say we are made in now?  Whose image and likeness are the thousands of canonized women Saints made? Would it really take an action that incurs an automatic latae sententiae excommunication to prove that the Church respects women?

The Mother of God

Most importantly, in whose image and likeness is the Mother of God made?

Stabat Mater, Ora Pro Nobis

Spouse of Christ

The Catholic Church

Part Two

As the spouse of Christ, the Church continues His work for the redemption and salvation of the world. Her mission is to spread the gospel, to preach it to every creature, and to make Christ known, loved, and adored by all men. In this way the Church, as a true spouse, manifests her burning love for Christ.

How greatly she suffers and labors for the extension of His kingdom and the glory of His holy Name!

With what care and solicitude she guards the treasures He has confided to her: His words, His example, the memories of His holy life! Never does she tire of singing His praises, of proclaiming His goodness, of celebrating the episodes and mysteries of His most holy life! Who would remember Christ or His life if the Church did not continually bring Him before us by her preaching and the celebration of her rites and solemnities? Who would teach us to weep and to suffer, to rejoice and to be glad when Christ weeps and suffers or when He rejoices and triumphs? Who would teach us to elevate and offer our hearts to Him as a holocaust to His infinite love? Doubtless, if it were not for the Church, scarcely any remembrance of Christ would remain among men, and certainly the divine fire He brought to earth would have been totally extinguished centuries ago.

The Church alone, being the Bride of Christ and having all things in common with her Divine Spouse, is the depository of the truth.

Pope St. Pius X

The Church is a virgin, the bride of one Spouse, Who is Christ, and this Church does not allow herself to be violated by any error; so that, throughout the whole world there may be for us one uncorruptedness of a single chaste communion.

Pope St. Leo the Great

Mystical Body of Christ

The Catholic Church

Part One

VERY few Christians, even of those who have made re­ligious profession and live the religious life, have a clear and complete idea of what the Church is in itself, what its relation is to us, and, consequently, what our relations and duties are toward the Church. The generality of Christians have no other idea in this regard than that which they learned in the catechism:

“The Church is the congregation of all the faithful on earth, united under one visible head.”

But this description is incomplete; it does not embrace the whole concept of the Church, but merely its visible-body. It tells us nothing of the bonds that unite us to her and the duties that these bonds imply. In addition to the definition expressed above, the Church can be considered under three fundamental aspects: as the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ, as His spouse, and as our spiritual mother.

The Mystical Body of Christ

As the mystical body of Christ, the Church is composed not only of the congregation of the faithful on earth, but also of the souls of the blessed in heaven and of all those who are united to Him by faith and grace. Moreover, it extends throughout all time, from the beginning to the end of the world, and will endure for all eternity. Accord­ing to this concept, the Church is a great spiritual family whose head is Christ. It forms a truly organic body made up of various members animated by the same spirit and life and provided with the same means of development and of attaining perfection in accordance with the end which God has marked out for them.

From this arises the division of the Church into militant, triumphant, and suffering, and the further division of the Church militant into teaching and taught. From this also proceed the various categories of members which constitute it, with the diversity of functions, ministries, and graces enumerated by St. Paul. Hence also the communion of saints, for inasmuch as all the members form but one body and all are animated by the same spirit and life (that of Christ), so all share in and possess as their own what all the other members possess individually and collectively. This is the perfect union of which our Lord spoke at the Last Supper and which is verified by the indwelling of the three divine Persons in the souls of the just:

“That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee: that they also may be one in Us.”

“We belong to the Church Militant; and She is militant because on earth the

powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass her destruction.”

Thoughtful men, with hearts craving the truth, have come to seek in the Catholic Church the road which leads with surety to eternal life. They have understood that they could not cleave to Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church if they did not belong to the Body of Jesus Christ which is the Church. Nor could they ever hope to possess in all its purity the faith of Jesus Christ if they were to reject its legitimate teaching authority entrusted to Peter and his successors.

What is a Catholic Priest?

Souls Depend on Them for Salvation

What is a Catholic priest? He is a man ordained by Christ to continue the Savior’s work of Redemption until the end of time. He is therefore a person specially chosen to proclaim the Gospel of salvation and lead the faithful to their final destiny. But he is mainly a person who receives unique powers at ordination to consecrate and sacrifice, and to reconcile a sinful people with their God.

As one who proclaims the Good News, a priest is given the grace not only to teach the truths of revelation but inspire his hearers to follow what he teaches. As a leader of believers, he is to be the primary former and sustainer of a Christian community.

What makes a Catholic priest most distinctive, however, and by divine will sets him apart from other men is the power that Christ gives him over the Holy Eucharist and over the sins of mankind.

No one but a priest can change bread and wine into the living Christ. At his words of consecration, what had been bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, so that only the appearances remain. What becomes present is Jesus, the Son of God who became the Son of Mary, now on earth in all the fullness of His divinity and humanity, and with all the qualities that make Jesus Christ who He is.

No one but a priest can offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, in which the same Jesus who surrendered Himself on Calvary now offers Himself in the Mass, through the hands of His priest.

No one but a priest can absolve sinners and restore them to friendship with the Creator whom they have offended.

No wonder the Church is so concerned that priests remain faithful to their high calling. In God’s ordinary Providence, their perseverance is a condition for the perseverance of the faithful. “Like priest like people” is not a clever phrase, but the verdict of almost 2000 years of the Church’s history.

But perseverance in the priesthood is impossible without the grace of God, made available through prayer. Only priests who pray can persevere. The people must also pray, in our day as never before, for the priests of the world. On their fidelity to Christ depends the salvation of more souls than we shall ever know, until eternity.

How to Assist at Mass

Four Steps to Get the Most out of Holy Mass

FIRST STEP

Beginning of Mass to the Offertory

The priest, who is the representative of Jesus Christ, descends the altar steps and puri­fies himself by the confession of his sins and by sentiments of contrition.

Following his example, I should purify my­self by acts of humility and of repentance for my faults.

I confess to Almighty God, . . . Act of Con­trition.

SECOND STEP

Offertory to the  Conse­cration

The priest offers the bread and wine of the Sacrifice. 

I should offer myself in like manner. “Here I am, my God, to do Thy Will.”

• An offering of my entire being; my body and all its senses, my heart with all its af­fections and desires, my soul with all its faculties,
• An offering of the past in repara­tion, of the present in order to sanctify it, of the future in preparation,
• An offering of the merits of Jesus Christ,
• An offering of the Masses being celebrated today through­out the world.

An Act of Oblation:  Take, O Lord, and re­ceive my freedom, my memory, my understand­ing, my will; all that I have and all that I pos­sess Thou hast given me, O Lord. I return it all to Thee; it is all Thine. Do with it as Thou wilt. Give me Thy love and Thy grace; they satisfy all my desires

THIRD STEP

Consecration to Com­munion

The priest immolates the Divine Victim; he says in the name of Jesus Christ:

“This is My Body . . . This is My Blood.”

In union with my Savior I should immolate myself without reserve. Humble and loving acceptance of the daily crucifixion . . . duties of my state in life . . . trials of this life . . . hidden sufferings . . . physical pain . . . annoyances . . . humiliations . . . deceptions . . . loss of temporal goods, of friends, parents . . . spiritual trials . . . crosses no matter what kind they may be.— A general and particular acceptance in union with Jesus Christ.

“Obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.”

FOURTH STEP

Communion to the end of the Mass

Jesus Christ unites Himself with the priest and with the faithful.

I should unite myself to Him . . . Sacramen­tal or Spiritual Communion … In becoming one with Him I accomplish more perfectly the four ends of the Mass: I adore … I thank . . . I petition … I expiate.

St John Vianney Speaks about the

Priesthood

“The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”

“O, how great is the priest! … If he realized what he is, he would die.”

“Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption here on earth…What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of His goods…Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest and they will end by worshiping the beasts there..The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you.”

Suffering

The Catholic Teaching and Explanation of the Cause of Suffering

“To them that love God, all things work together unto good.”

MANY people are intent on probing into the causes of suf­fering and are assailed by temptations against faith when they see its extension and magnitude in the world, for it seems to be irreconcilable with an all-good and loving God. Assuredly, for those who lack faith or disdain its light, for ‘John 4:13. those who heed only the light of reason and consider the natural order as supreme, for those who regard the natural goods of this life as absolute, for such as these, pain has no possible explanation. Neither can it be explained satisfac­torily to those who regard suffering as an instrument of the intellectual and moral dignity of man in the natural order, for it seems to have no adequate compensation; it does not even seem necessary, for all creatures attain their natural ends without such costly assistance.

Only in the light of the supernatural order do we find the key to the solution of this mystery. Actually, the natural order is not supreme and absolute; its goods have a purely relative value, as do its evils, which are merely privations of those goods. Wherefore, those very evils may be valued as good, inasmuch as they are or may be the

The Golry of Suffering

source of greater good. God may permit such evils in order to obtain greater good and this is what He has done.

It is not so important to know the reason for the existence of good and evil in the world as to know whether in that good or evil there shine forth an infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. The works of God can have no other purpose than the manifestation of His glory. And what we should seek to know is whether that glory shines forth in all things: whether we see His goodness, justice, wisdom, power, mercy, and love everywhere: in heaven, on earth, and in hell.

Assuredly, as long as we are enveloped in the darkness of this life, as long as the sun of eternity does not shine upon our souls, we shall not be able to contemplate these divine attributes clearly; but even in the midst of the darkness of faith we perceive brilliant gleams of light which fully sat­isfy our hearts. If we were to consider the infinite good we gain through suffering, we would change our lamentations into hymns of joy and exultation to our God who works such great marvels.

We shall understand this better if we bear in mind that, although the divine plan is not subject to man but that man is subject to the divine plan, nevertheless, when man subjects himself voluntarily to this plan, it seems, admirably enough, to be ordained solely for man’s good. As St. Paul says:

“To them that love God, all things work together unto good.” 

“Even sins,” add the commentators, but per­haps more than anything else, suffering.

After Christ died on the cross and sanctified suffering, He infused divinity into it, so to speak, and made it a kind of sacrament by means of which the graces of heaven de­scend upon earth. Suffering is the living cross on which and through which every man must be redeemed and saved. Christ redeemed us by giving us the power to redeem our­selves by means of His grace and His Cross. Every Christian is another Christ and as such must suffer and die in order to attain the glory of the resurrection.

This is the economy of suffering. Through it, all things are restored; the order of justice is re-established; man is reconciled with God, is re-instated in His friendship and grace, and attains sanctification. Suffering is, therefore, the eternal executor of the redemption of the world. The fact is that suffering is the great agent of our purification. Noth­ing defiled can enter the kingdom of heaven. No one can enter into the possession of God without first detaching himself from all that is not God, and that is what suffering effects in our hearts.

Catholic Priest: Lover of Souls

Catholic Priest: Created for Souls

Love for souls reigns in the heart of the priest, as in the Heart of Jesus, for these two hearts, united in the same loves, henceforth form but one. Before all, the priest loves souls because his Master has loved them. He is willing to sacrifice himself for them because Jesus offered Himself in sacrifice for their salvation. The need which he has to imitate his adorable Model in everything urges him with irresistible force towards these souls, so ardently loved by Jesus.

Other motives also urge him to cherish them: he has been created by Love, he has been created for souls. God is Love: all that goes out from Him is Love, all the beings which He has created are creations of love. But most particularly the priest is a creation of love. God has so loved souls, that He gives them His only Son; the Word has so loved them, that He became, incarnate and offered Himself up in sacrifice for them! And when Jesus, in obedience to the will of His Father, ascended to His glory, God, in His love, created the priest for souls, in order that there might be always other Jesus Christs with them, to instruct them, console them, absolve them and love them.

The reason why the priest should love souls so much is that he is what he is, the privileged one of God, another Jesus, only for them, and on account of them. The priest has been given to souls and souls are given to the priest. From this double donation there should result in the heart of the priest a devotedness, a zeal, a tenderness which approach the infinite. It is the creature of God that he loves in souls; the object of the passionate love of His Master, the special gift of divine love. Souls are the reason these graces exist, the favors and the privileges which have been granted to him; they are the cause of his greatness!

Souls belong to God, and the priest belongs to souls. To them, then, belong his labors, his sweat, his tears and his blood. To them belong the labors of his intellect, the determination of his will; to them belong his words, his thoughts, the activity of his life ; to them belong the first bursts of the enthusiasm of his youth, the virile works of his manhood, the last works and the last efforts of his old age.

Jesus has loved souls, and He has proved His love by suffering for them and by uniting Himself to them even to making Himself their nourishment. The priest of Jesus follows the example of His divine Master, he enters into His loving disposi­tions, he shares His sentiments. He suffers for souls, and sometimes very painfully, but in the anguish of spiritual childbirth, he rejoices, for he knows that it is by suffering thus he gives new children to God. He unites himself to them by giving himself entirely, by living only for them, by making everything in him serve for their good, for their salvation.

This eternal salvation of souls is the great, the only thought of the priest; the conquest of a single one to the love of Jesus is his greatest joy. With his eyes fixed on God, he goes ever forward in his sublime conquests. This holy passion for souls dominates him to such a point that he forgets him­self completely. His happiness, his sovereign con­solation, is to be able to lay at the feet of his adorable Master the fruit of his labors, the love-trophies of his victories. To open the bosom of Mercy to a sinner; to wash away from these images of God the defilement which sullies them, and by incessant toil, by successive touches to remake the divine resemblance; to see masterpieces of sanctity being formed under his hands — these are the sacred joys, this is the divine intoxication which love for souls has in store for the priest of Jesus!

Respect for the Priest

Bossuet says somewhere, when speaking of the Blessed Virgin: “Mary is Christ commenced. ” The priest is Christ continued. His life is, as it were, a prolongation of the earthly life of Jesus across the centuries. His word is not an echo more or less sonorous of the word of the Master; it is the very word of Jesus ringing through the voice of the priest, for has not our divine Savior said to His priests: “He that hears you hears Me” (Luke X, 16)?

If such be the case, if the priest is another Christ, with what respect should he not be surrounded? He still finds this respect, this honor due to his character in those who have kept a right conscience and an appreciation of great things. But he often suffers insults, and it is for him an honor and a joy to be in that conformable to his divine Master.

But does the priest always respect himself sufficiently? Has he an adequate idea of his dignity, and of his greatness? Does he know what adoration and thanksgiving he owes to God, what love and intimacy he owes to Jesus Christ, and what edifica­tion and devotedness he owes to his brethren? It is the ardent desire of Jesus Christ to see his priests, penetrated with the sublimity of their character, and, at the same time, with the consciousness of their own weakness, come to His Sacred Heart and receive from that divine furnace both the light which illuminates and the warmth which vivifies.

Go then, priest of Jesus, to the fountains of the Savior. Go and press your lips to this wound of love, this living fountain from which the Blood of your chalices issues forth. Go to this hearth of Infinite Love, fill your hearts, fill your breasts with its fire, fill yourselves with love and diffuse it all over the world. Jesus has brought fire on the earth; His desire is that it be enkindled and that it burn (Luke XII, 49), and it is for you, priests of Jesus Christ, to fan these divine flames and to inflame the world with love.