|  The
Call from God
The
Priest and Celibacy
The
Ordination of the Priest
The
Call from the Bishop
The
Prostration
The
Laying on of Hands
Investiture
of Priesthood
The
Delivery of Instruments
Concelebration
The
Commission to Absolve
The
Promise of Obedience
The
Consecration of a Bishop
Because man lives in a society of free men, there must be some
government and order to make justice prevail. Since there is the
order of grace above creature, it too must have degrees, order,
hierarchy, and government; this Christ supplied in the Sacrament
of Holy Orders with its three ascending levels of deaconship, priesthood,
and episcopacy.
Our Blessed Lord is the Mediator between God and Man, being both
God and man. But in order to meditate His redemption, He desires
human instruments between Himself and the world, each of whom will
be "the minister and dispenser of the Mysteries of God"
(I Corinth. 4:1). And so, some men are appointed by God to deliver
the sacraments to others, just as in human societies one group serves
and ministers to another:
"The purpose for which any high priest is chosen from among
his fellow men, and made a representative of men in their dealings
with God, is to offer gifts and sacrifices in expiation of their
sins.” (Heb. 5:11)
The Call from God
In the fifth chapter of Hebrews, verse four, there is written:
"His vocation comes from God, as Aaron's did; nobody can take
on himself such a privilege as this." When a priest receives
the call from God, something happens to his soul, like that which
happened to Peter in his barque one dark night when Christ entered
it. The young man with a vocation reacts as did Peter: "Depart
from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." There is a double
tension: one of attraction to the divine, the other, subtraction,
because of one's own unworthiness; a desire to approach the All-Holy,
and a shrinking because of one's own sense of inadequacy.
Then begins a minimum of six years of difficult study and moral
and spiritual discipline, as one asks himself a thousand times if
he is worthy. Either with the crucifix that hangs on the wall of
his simple room, or to the crucifix on his desk, he carries on a
constant dialogue.
The seminarian knows how human he is, and yet, like Christ on the
Cross, suspended between heaven and earth, abandoned by one and
rejected by the other, the world expects him to be more than human.
Called to be as pure and as holy as an angel, he is conscious of
his own weakness, bearing about as he does the rich treasure in
a frail vessel. And yet he must fulfill the words of his Master:
"Thou hast sent me into the world on thy errand, and I have
sent them into the world on my errand" (John 17:18). From now
on, he no longer takes the short breaths of the world; he must draw
in strength from the world of the spirit.
The Priest and Celibacy
Our Lord wished to have a group of men who would have the freedom
to give full time to His service; hence He ordained in order that
they who served the altar were to live by the altar. Celibacy in
the Latin Rite stresses this quality of total dedication. The priest
is a celibate in order that he might not have the cares of family
and, therefore, not be afraid to minister to people in plague or
to give the last rites to soldiers dying in battle. St. Paul, speaking
of celibacy as a spur to undivided service, writes: "And I
would have you free from concern. He who is unmarried is concerned
with God's claim, asking how he is to please God" (I Corinth.
7:32).
Chastity, however, is not something cold or negative. It is, as
Francis Thompson called it, "a passionless passion, a wild
tranquillity." A man cannot live without love, though he can
live without romantic love or the Eros. The divine command, "increase
and multiply" (Gen. 1:28) may be verified not only with reference
to the body, but also to the soul. There can be increase of man
in the cultural, moral, and religious spheres. The priest is called
a "father," because he begets souls in Christ. As St.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "My little children, I am in travail
over you afresh, until I can see Christ's image formed in you"
(Gal. 4:19). The purer the mirror of his humanity is, the better
he reflects the image of Christ.
Though a priest is called a father, nevertheless, he is also a
"mother" of children. Our Blessed Lord used two analogies
to describe His attitude toward the city that He loved, and also
to all humanity. He said that He loved Jerusalem as a hen who gathers
her chickens, but the city refused His love. The night of the Last
Supper, He used the similitude of a mother about to bring forth
a child, implying that He would be in labor in His Crucifixion,
but would bring forth new life in His Resurrection.
The Ordination of the Priest
The dress of the priest takes one back to the classical days of
Greece and Rome, when the Church became the spiritual Israel. The
early clergy wore no distinctive dress, but rather clothed themselves
in the garb of the ordinary people. Later on when the classical
Roman dress began to be superseded by the dress of the barbarians,
the conservativeness of religion asserted itself and, in consequence,
the priest wore vestments which were no longer in secular use.
When the deacons enter the cathedral to be vested, they wear an
amice, which was originally a white linen kerchief worn about the
neck and the shoulders. When he put it on his head and shoulders,
he said the prayer: "Place, O Lord, the helmet of salvation
on my head to the defeat of diabolical invasion." Over the
amice, he wears the alb, which was the original Roman tunic with
long sleeves, around the waist of which he ties the cincture which
is the symbol of chastity.
Over the alb is worn a maniple, which in the early days of the
Greeks and Romans was a kind of handkerchief worn on the left forearm,
used at meals for wiping mouth and hands. The consul during the
Roman Empire used it as a sign to start the races in the circus.
The Church first used it to wipe communion vessels and hands in
the celebration of the Mass. The symbolism of the maniple is to
remind the priest of the bonds which once held the hands of the
Savior. This is signified in the prayer which is offered when the
maniple is put on, begging that the cares and sorrows of earthly
life should be borne with patience in view of heavenly reward.
Now we come to two vestments which are worn by deacons when they
come to the altar for ordination; namely, the stole and the chasuble.
The stole originally was a loose robe worn by the ancients, and
in this sense the word is still used by the English poets. Thus,
Milton pictures Melancholy as having "a sable stole of cypress
lawn, over her decent shoulders drawn."
In the Old Testament, the Levites were described as being clad
in stoles when conducting the sacred Ark to Jerusalem. In the "Book
of the Apocalypse," the saints are "clothed in white stoles."
The stole is worn only by deacons, priests, and bishops, but each
wears it in a different way, and it is associated with sacred orders.
When, however, the deacon enters the Church, the stole is carried
only on one shoulder, while over the left arm the deacon carries
a folded chasuble. In the right hand, he bears a lighted candle,
and in the cincture is a linen cloth, which will eventually be used
for tying the hands, after they have been anointed with oil.
During the ceremony of ordination, the bishop draws a part of the
stole which rests at the back of the candidate's neck over the breast
and lays the two ends crosswise. The chasuble which he carries and
which is a symbol of charity, is folded at the beginning of the
ordination ceremony, as an indication that the one who wears it
is not a priest. At a later point in the ceremony, the chasuble
is unfolded. The symbolism of this is that, in the first part of
the Mass, the deacon is made a priest and given the power of offering
sacrifice to God. In the second part of the ceremony, the chasuble
is then let down when he is empowered to preach and forgive sins.
This indicates the more complete powers of the priest.
St. John Chrysostom explains well the reason why priests wear different
vestments at the altar than on the street: "When you see a
priest offering the Sacrifice, do not think of it as if it were
he that is doing this; it is the Hand of Christ invisibly stretched
forth." The priest is really only a tool, but he is a tool
in the sense that Aristotle called man a living tool. The vestments
hide and submerge his own personality so that men may know it is
Christ Who teaches, Who governs, and Who sanctifies.
The Call from the Bishop
No man can be ordained unless he has been called by Christ through
the bishop. When Our Lord called His Apostles, He called them by
name, and this ceremony is repeated in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
The Latin rite begins by the archdeacon presenting the deacons,
saying that the Holy Church asks them to be elevated to the rank
of priest. The bishop, reading from the Pontifical, reminds them
of the old custom of the Church, when the people were consulted
concerning the life, conduct, and morals of the clergy before they
were elevated to the priesthood. He then tells them that as Moses
elected seventy elders from the different tribes of Israel to aid
him in the government of the people of the Old Law, as Our Lord
chose seventy-two disciples to preach the Gospel, so are they to
aid the bishop in the sacred ministry of sacrificing, blessing,
presiding, preaching, and baptizing.
The bishop seated on the faldstool at the middle of the altar begins
the ceremony of ordination. The archdeacon summons the future priests
with these words: "Let all those who are to be ordained priests
come forward." As they advance, their names are read out one
by one. Each answers: Adsum ("I am present") and then
steps forward. The calling by name means that there shall be no
intruders and that the priesthood is a divine vocation or calling.
Our Lord "calls His sheep by name" even now as He did
in Galilee.
After the bishop calls out the names, there follows a very solemn
warning, that they come not under false pretenses, that they are
under no penalties of the Church, and that they be not illegitimate:
"Most Reverend Father and Lord in Christ, [name of Bishop]
by the grace of God and the Apostolic See, Bishop of [diocese] commands
and charges under pain of excommunication that no one here present
for the purpose of taking Orders, shall presume to come forward
for ordination under any pretext, if he be irregular, excommunicate
in any law or by judicial sentence, under interdict or suspension,
illegitimate or infamous, or in any other way disqualified, or of
any other diocese, unless he has the license of the bishop; and
that none of the ordained shall depart until the Mass is over and
the Bishop's blessing has been received."
The archdeacon then bids the bishop to ordain these deacons "to
the burden of the priesthood." The phrase that is used is onus
or burden. The priesthood and the episcopacy are both called burdens,
not honors. This is because the terrific burden or responsibility
of saving souls entrusted to them is laid upon them there. Such
was the idea given to Moses when he complained to the Lord: "Must
I carry a whole people like a weight on my back?" (Num. 11:11).
As if still hesitant as to whether or not the deacons should be
ordained, the bishop then asks the archdeacon the question: "Do
you know them to be worthy?" To which he answers: "So
far as human frailty allows one to know, I do know, and I testify
that they are worthy to undertake the burden of this office."
The bishop then answers, "Deo Gratias" ("Thanks be
to God").
Moral certitude about the worthiness of the candidates is required
like the certitude that Moses was to have when God told him to gather
seventy men among the ancients of Israel whom he knew to be worthy.
This concern for the worthiness of the candidates has always been
present in the Old Testament and the New, for St. Paul tells Timothy
that before he ordains any priests he should be very certain of
their worthiness: "He must bear a good character, too, in the
world's eyes; or he may fall into disrepute, and become a prey to
the False Accuser" (I Tim. 3:7).
The bishop, as if not satisfied with assurance of the archdeacon,
asks the people if they know any reason why the deacons should not
be ordained. There follows a moment of silence, in which the people
are given an opportunity to protest, if need be, against any one
of the candidates.
The Prostration
The deacons now prostrate themselves flat upon the ground and become
as dead men, while over them the Church, chanting the Litany of
the Saints, invokes heaven to intercede, or pray for them, to be
merciful to them, and to make them good priests.
The prostration of the deacons during the Litanies is a slightly
different form of prayer than that which was used in the Old Testament,
when the Jews generally stood to pray. It was only in times of great
stress that they ever knelt (Acts 7:59 and Acts 9:40), such as when
Stephen and Peter knelt. The Jews, however, did lay prostrate before
the High Priest for a solemn blessing on the Day of Atonement (Ecclus.
50:19-26), and as Our Lord did in the Agony in the Garden. But the
reason for the kneeling is somewhat related to a prayer that went
before, where the ordinandi were told "as they celebrate the
mysteries of the Lord's death, they must be earnest in mortifying
their members of all vices and concupiscence." Being prostrate
is a symbol of their spiritual death, in which they die to their
flesh and its
concupiscences at the same time, that they invoke all the saints
in heaven to let them have a resurrection worthy of being ministers
of the Word.
As the body of Adam came from the slime of the earth, when God
breathed into it a living soul, so each priest yielding his body
to be an instrument of Christ, prays fervently that it may never
be a blunt instrument. Then when he rises from the ground, his hands
are bound with a purificator, tied together in slavery, but that
sweet slavery of love. With Paul he says "I am alive; or rather,
not I; it is Christ that lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).
The Laying on of Hands
The bishop lays hands on the priests without saying anything. When
a bishop is consecrated, the hands of the consecrating prelates
are laid on him with the words: "Receive the Holy Spirit,"
but in ordination, these words are omitted. This laying on or imposition
of hands is what is called the "matter" of the sacrament,
and is part of the ritual of other sacraments, like Baptism, Confirmation,
Penance, and the Anointing of the Sick.
There are many instances in the Old Testament of laying on of hands.
Jacob put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and his left hand
on the head of Manasse and pronounced a blessing (Gen. 48:14, 15).
Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the heads of victims to
be offered in sacrifice:
"He is to lay his hand on the head of the victim, and it is
to be immolated at the entrance of the tabernacle that bears record
of me, the priests who represent Aaron's family pouring its blood
upon the altar." (Lev. 3:2)
God told Moses to lay his hand on Josue (Num. 27:18) and Aaron
after offering sacrifice. In the Old Testament, it signified that
a victim or a person was dedicated to a holy purpose, and also that
there was a flowing out of power from the one who laid on the hands.
Investiture of Priesthood
The bishop chants a preface invoking the Holy Spirit upon those
who are to be ordained; then follows what is known as the "form"
of the sacrament:
"We beseech Thee, Almighty Father, invest these Thy servants
with the dignity of the priesthood. Do Thou renew in their hearts
the spirit of holiness. Help them to be steadfast in the office
of second priestly rank received from Thee, O Lord, and to inspire
others to strive for perfection by their example. May they become
zealous fellow workers in our ministry. May they shine in all the
Christian virtues, so that they will be able to give a good account
of the stewardship entrusted to them, and finally attain the reward
of everlasting life. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our
Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever. Amen."
The bishop arranges the stole in the form of a cross over the chest,
saying: "Take the yoke of the Lord, for His yoke is sweet and
His burden light." Then he invests each with the chasuble,
still unfolded, saying: "Receive, the vesture of priesthood,
which is the symbol of charity. God is well able to increase charity
in you and make perfect your works."
After the "Veni Creator Spiritus" has been sung, in which
the Holy Spirit is invoked, the bishop proceeds to anoint the hands
of each in the form of a cross. The bishop's right thumb is dipped
in the oil of catechumens; with the oil he traces a cross with his
right thumb, a line from the thumb of the right hand to the index
finger of the left, and the other from the thumb of the left to
the index finger of the right. Then he anoints the hands all over,
and as he does so, he says: "Be pleased, O Lord, to consecrate
and hallow these hands by this anointing and our blessing. Amen."
He makes a sign over each saying: "Whatsoever they bless may
be blessed, and whatsoever they consecrate may be consecrated and
hallowed in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."
In the Old Testament, the candidate was anointed with holy oil
which, in the case of the high priest, was poured upon his head,
but in the case of the other priests, it was merely put upon his
forehead. The anointed hands of the priests are folded and tied
together with a linen cloth, so as to allow the oil to penetrate
into his hands. He then becomes Christ's bondsman (Eph. 3:1).
The Delivery of Instruments
The bishop now presents each of the newly ordained with a chalice
containing wine and water, and a paten upon the chalice with a host.
Because the anointed hands of the priest are bound, he touches with
the fore and middle fingers both the paten and the cup of the chalice.
During the ceremony the bishop says: "Receive the power to
offer sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass, both for the living
and the dead in the name of Our Lord. Amen."
Concelebration
After the Offertory, the newly-ordained priests begin to celebrate
Mass with the Bishop saying the prayers aloud with them. They even
say the words of consecration with him. The meaning of the ceremony
is that as the Apostles learned to celebrate Mass from Our Blessed
Lord at the Last Supper; so too, in concelebrating with the bishop,
the new priests learn a ritual from a successor of the Apostles.
As the newly-ordained priests concelebrate with the bishop, so too,
they receive communion, drinking from the same chalice, and consuming
a host that was consecrated at the Mass.
The Commission to Absolve
Before the Communion prayer is read, the Mass is interrupted a
second time to give the priests a new function in the Mystical Body
of Christ. After the profession of faith, the bishop sits down and
lays both hands on the head of each one kneeling before him, and
says: "Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive,
they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are
retained."
The bishop does not wear gloves for this second imposition, but
he does for the first. The Mass is interrupted here, for the second
time, to give the power to forgive sins, because this power was
given by Our Lord at a time distinct from that of the authority
to offer the Mass. The night of the Last Supper Our Lord ordained
His priests, after having offered the sacrifice of bread and wine,
saying: "Do this in commemoration of Me." But it was after
His Resurrection that He gave them priestly power to forgive sins
and the power of binding and loosing. This corresponds also to the
double ceremony of the chasuble: first, the putting it on as folded
for the pre-Resurrection power; and secondly, the unfolding, to
indicate the giving of additional priestly powers of forgiveness.
When the chasuble is unfolded, the bishop prays: "May the Lord
clothe you with the robe of innocence."
The Promise of Obedience
The newly-ordained priests now come up for what is called the "stipulatio."
There is not a clasping of hands here, for that would signify equality.
The hands, being the instruments of action and service, are put
inside the bishop's hands to signify his will to be put at the service
of the bishop. It is a commitment of the young priest to his father
in Christ.
The Consecration of a Bishop
The bishop too must be called by the Vicar of Christ and cannot
be consecrated without his express permission. The consecration
ceremony begins with the question, "Have you the mandate?";
i.e., has the Holy Father, the successor of St. Peter, given us
the authority to number this priest among the Apostles? Two things
hang together there: apostolic succession and the Primacy of Peter.
The night of the Last Supper when Our Lord consecrated His Apostles,
He reminded them of how they were bound together in Peter, whom
He had chosen as the rock, the leader and the first, not only in
honor, but in jurisdiction.
What is very singular about the words of Our Lord is that He did
not pray for all of the Apostles as equals: He prayed for them in
and through Peter. It was through their oneness with Peter that
they would share in His prayer of victory over the evil of the world.
This is brought out in the way Our Lord addressed Peter in the second
person singular in distinction to the Apostles whom He addressed
in the second person plural:
"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has claimed
power over you all, so that he can sift you like wheat: but I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail, when, after a while,
thou hast come back to me, it is for thee to be the support of thy
brethren." (Luke 22:31, 32)
He told Peter that he would deny Him, but afterwards would return
and be the support of his brethren.
When the Communists in China attempted to destroy the Church, they
cleverly sought to insert a division between apostolic succession
and the Primacy of Peter. Brainwashing a few bishops, they succeeded
in inducing them to consecrate a few priests. The priests would
then, because they were consecrated by bishops, be in the line of
apostolic succession; the Communists thus hoped that the faithful
would accept them. But because they had not the authority or the
mandate from the Holy Father to do so, the Communists thereby denied
the Primacy of Peter. As it turned out, the Catholics refused to
accept the bishops who may have been in the line of apostolic succession,
but certainly were not embraced in the prayer of Christ for Peter.
Both apostolic succession and the recognition of the Primacy of
Peter go together. It is very much like the problem of lighting
a city by electricity. Suppose in this city there were a thousand
houses. The wire from one house ran only a foot, another twenty
feet, another five hundred feet, another fifteen hundred feet, another
eighteen hundred. But suppose that the dynamo that supplied all
of this power was about two thousand feet away from the houses.
It would follow that none of the copper cables would be able to
light a house; regardless of how close they came to the dynamo,
they would not be in actual contact with power.
So it is with the transmission of priestly authority and power.
Any organization which starts today, or which started fifty years
ago, or five hundred years ago, or one thousand years ago, is incapable
of transmitting the divine power of Christ's Passion, unless there
is a contact with Christ Himself and under the conditions Christ
laid down. As in biology, life comes from life, so in theology,
divine life comes from divine life. An unbroken succession of authority
and power is essential for the divinization of souls in the twentieth
century. The bishops, who are successors of the Apostles, are one
in Peter and his successors, to whom alone Christ promised that
the "faith would fail not."
During the ceremony, after the bishop-elect has been interrogated
concerning his fidelity, submission, and obedience to God and the
Church and all the truths of faith, the consecrating prelate accompanied
by two co-consecrators tells him at the beginning of Mass: "It
is the duty of a bishop to judge, interpret, consecrate, ordain,
offer, baptize, and confirm." After all the saints of heaven
have been invoked in the Litany, the consecrator and his co-consecrators
successively touch with both hands the head of the bishop elect
saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit." These words constitute
the matter of the sacrament. Then comes the prayer that is known
as the form:
"Be propitious, O Lord, to our supplications, and bestowing
the abundance of sacerdotal grace upon this Thy servant, pour upon
him the power of Thy blessing, through Our Lord Jesus Christ Who
liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost."
He anoints the head of the consecrated kneeling before him, making
first the sign of the cross on the crown, and then anointing the
whole crown of the head, saying: "May the head be anointed
and consecrated by heavenly benediction in the pontifical order
in the Name of the Father +, in the Name of the Son +, and of the
Holy Ghost. + Amen."
After a prayer, the newly-consecrated bishop has his hands anointed
with chrism in the form of a cross. The consecrator draws two lines
with the thumb of his right hand, one from the thumb of the right
hand to the index finger of the left, the other from the thumb of
the left hand to the index finger of the right; then the whole palm
of the consecrated is anointed while these words are said by the
consecrator:
"May these hands be anointed with the sanctified oil and the
chrism of sanctification; as Samuel anointed David to be king and
prophet, so may they be anointed and consecrated in the Name of
the Father +, the Son +, and the Holy Spirit +. We make the Sign
of the Holy Cross of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who redeemed us from
death and led us to the Kingdom of Heaven."
The newly-consecrated Bishop concelebrates the Mass with his consecrator,
even drinking of the same chalice. Passing over many other details
for want of space, his newly-acquired powers are symbolized in his
crozier, mitre, ring, and gloves.
Because the bishop is the father of a spiritual family, or a shepherd,
he is given a shepherd's staff. Our Blessed Lord called His bishops
and priests to be both shepherds and fishermen. Because the bishop
is the spouse of the Church, he is given a ring to indicate that
espousal. Because he is to be a mediator of the Old and the New
Testament, he wears the helmet of salvation, which is the mitre.
Because he hopes to receive the blessing of the Heavenly Father,
as Jacob received the blessing--thanks to covered hands--he wears
gloves.
After the enthronement, the consecrated bishop then gives His blessing.
He goes to the Epistle corner of the altar, kneels and sings, "For
many years"; then going to the middle of the altar, he again
kneels and sings in a higher voice, "For many years."
As he approaches the one who consecrated him, kneeling a third time
he sings in a still higher voice, "For many years." Then
he receives the kiss of peace from the bishop who consecrated him
and from the other bishops.
The keynote of the bishop's mission is not administration, but
life--the communication of the life that Christ brought to this
earth. If there is administration--and administration there must
be--it is in the service of divine life. All the bishop's powers
are directed to the formation of Christ in the souls of the people.
Others may be instructors, but in each diocese there is only one
father, the bishop. As St. Paul said: "Yes, you may have ten
thousand schoolmasters in Christ, but not more than one father;
it was I that begot you in Jesus Christ, when I preached the gospel
to you" (I Corinth. 4:15).
Father he is, because he has the right and power to administer
all the sacraments. Father he is, because his government is in the
exercise of the Heavenly Fatherhood. Father he is, because his domain
is universal. He is sent first to the world and then, only for jurisdictional
reasons, assigned to a diocese. The reason is that the universal
Church is not the sum total of all the diocese throughout the world;
rather, the dioceses derive from the Church, not the other way around.
The Church preceded them. It has been founded entirely on the episcopacy
and its mission to make disciples of all nations. The bishop is
not primarily the pastor of a single flock. He is a pastor of the
universal Church in union with the supreme head of the Church, Peter
and his successors. Hence, one of the primary responsibilities of
the bishop is to the missions of the Church.
The bishop is a father also because he alone has the power to generate
priests, though priests have the power to generate Christians. No
priest has the power to ordain another priest, though he has the
power to beget the faithful.
The priest, or the bishop, in his daily round, is a minister of
God, a messenger from another world, bringing upward to God prayers
and adoration, and bringing down from God graces and blessings to
the people. he is to lay hold of anything and anybody who wills
to be ennobled curiosity, or an accountant, like Matthew at his
desk, or a fellow-traveler with the enemy. His feet are scarred
from thorns, where the lost sheep or the fallen-aways have become
entangled; they are to be dusty from searching and sweeping for
the lost coin of spiritual wanderers.
From proud tempers, he will meet ridicule and insult; from the
blasphemer, blows; from the oppressed, entreaty; from the poor,
a pleading. But he is one who after every contact should inspire
others to say as the woman at the well: "Come and have sight
of a man who has told me the whole story of my life; can this be
the Christ?" (John 4:29)
No case to him is hopeless. Every soul must be to him like the
drop of water in the ugly gutter which, looked at closely, reflects
the deep serious blue of the far off sky. He knows that he cannot
convince others that he comes from another world, unless he acts
as if he had been there. The world may see his acts, but they do
not know his thoughts.
When he mounts the altar, he carries with him all the woes and
the wounds of the world. His feet, that walk up the altar steps,
must have on them the imprint of the homeless, the refugees, and
the wanderers of the earth. His face, as he kisses the altar, should
bear within it the faces of those whose eyes are blasted before
furnaces, darkened in salt mines, wet with the tears of grief and
furrowed with the worry of sin. His vestments should be heavy with
the millions of souls who know not Christ and yet who are clinging
to his vestments, hoping for they know not what. As his fingers
lift up the body and blood of Christ, he asks that all the sufferings
of the world be united with Christ and that no pain go to waste.
He will feel sad, because he knows how men are bitterly losing
the good in their lives, but he will be consoled knowing that God
is near them even if they know it not; around them, even though
they perceive it not. In his conversations, he will seek to lift
flippancy into reverence, controversy into thoughtfulness, frivolity
into practical life. When he mounts the pulpit, he should be a speaking
crucifix.
But above all, he will not be just a priest, but a victim, for
Christ was that, offering Himself for our salvation. There will
be no tear shed by fellow man that does not bedew his own cheek;
no mourning parent who will not pierce his heart with grief; no
sheep who will be without a shepherd. And because he knows that
he is too often a priest offering Christ, and too seldom a victim
sharing His Cross, he will daily pray to the Mother of Christ:
"Since you formed Christ the priest and victim in thy body,
form Him, I beg thee in my heart. Do this, that in addition to the
words of consecration at Mass, I may say them, as thou didst gaze
on thy Son on the Cross: 'This is my body; this is my blood.' Then
I shall, through thy help, live and die with Him."
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