As it is my last semester in the seminary before ordination to the Holy Priesthood, I have spent a great deal of time in prayer about and meditation upon the priesthood. My thesis is on the theology and reform of the priesthood of St. John of Avila, the great Spanish reformer of the 16th Century. This has led me to so many different writings and thoughts on the priesthood.
It is truly an amazing
role. The priest literally becomes Christ when he is offering the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass and when he forgives sin in the Sacrament of Penance. The
priest represents Christ and the Church in all he does in the world. Yet at the
Altar of Sacrifice, at Holy Mass, the priest represents all of us in what he
does and in what he offers to heaven. The priest is that pontifex, that bridge, between heaven and earth. Only the priest
makes the Eucharist possible. Only the Eucharist sustains the Church, and only
the Church offers the ordinary means for salvation. Think about that for awhile!
The priest has such a responsibility. The priest, by his sacramental power, holds in his consecrated hands his Lord and God. He holds the One Whom the angels adore without ceasing. The priest becomes so united to Christ that he must be a man of great and profound virtue. All the promises a priest makes, all the prayers that he offers, he does out of love and imitation of Our Lord! There should be no behavior in the priest that is inconsistent with what Christ did, with what Christ does.
To
this end, with all temptation, all the weakness, and the sin in the world, we
each must pray for priests! If we do not support our priests, temptations will
grow until they consume them. If we do not support our priests, their human
weaknesses will overwhelm them so that they forget who they are. We must not
allow this to happen. Let us pray for our priests, and let us pray that more
men will answer the call to serve at the Altar of Sacrifice and mediate between
heaven and earth.
Below is a reflection from the daily meditation book, “Divine Intimacy” on the priesthood that
sent a chill down my spine. It is a beautiful mediation, and yet for me, for a
deacon preparing for ordination to the priesthood in ninety-eight days, it
shows me the tremendous honor, daunting task, and transcendent ministry that I
will be given. Please pray for me, that I will be a good and holy priest!
- Deacon Saiki
“Without
the priesthood we would be deprived of the Holy Eucharist; we would never have
the consolation of hear, in the name of God, ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’ (Mt
9,2) If there were no priests, the churches would be deserted, schools would
become secularized, there would be no nuptial blessings, the dying would be
deprived of final consolation, children would be abandoned to evil; all men
would become totally immersed in misery, with no one to raise them up and lead
them to God, with no one to pray to Him in their name and for their welfare.
But Jesus, the sole Mediator between God and man, willed to institute the
priesthood to perpetuate among us, in a visible manner, His work of mediation,
salvation, and sanctification. The priest accompanies us at every step of our
life. Soon after our birth, he welcomes us at the baptismal font; he
administers the Sacraments to us, He helps us to understand divine truths, he
shows us how to lead a good life, blesses our efforts, sustains our footsteps,
and strengthens us in our last agony. He often works unseen and unknown,
misunderstood, never indispensable. Every Christian ought to be grateful for
the gift of the priesthood: in the first place, we should be grateful to Jesus
who instituted it, and then to those who perform its sublime duties. We must
express this gratitude, not only by showing reverent respect and filial
docility to God’s ministers, but also by assiduously offering our prayers and
good works for priestly vocations. ‘Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that He send forth laborers into His harvest’ (ibid. 9,38). ‘What prayer,’
comments Pius XI, ‘can be more pleasing to the Sacred Heart of the Redeemer? .
. . Ask, and it shall be given to you: ask for good, holy priests, and the Lord
will not refuse to send them to His Church’ (Ad
Catholici Sacerdotii). To our prayers we must add good works “to awaken,
foster and help vocations to the priesthood” (ibid). Blessed are the families
that have had the honor of giving a priest to God; blessed are all those who by
their prayers, sacrifices, and good works help in the formation of Holy
priests!”
“Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Ever Day of the Liturgical Year” by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. (Charlotte, NC: TAN, 2000).
Add a comment