Part IV: Meditations on the Priestly Obligations': First Meditation (3)

The Second Way to Love God is to Keep his Commandments

In order to love God truly you must establish in your heart a firm resolution of keeping God's commandments and those of His Church, as well as following the rules and obligations of your calling. You must discharge every duty well, especially those directly concerned with your priestly functions and the practice of the virtue of religion. Seek in all things to please and serve the Master.

If you examine yourself carefully on these points, you will find much to humiliate you. Be not discouraged. Form a real desire to fulfil all your obligations out of love for Him. Invoke the help of heaven and

the intercession of Mary and the angels and saints, particularly those whose lives were filled with divine love.

Ejaculatory Prayer: I love Thee, 0 my God; I love Thee, 0 infinite Goodness; and I wish to love Thee more and more." Amo Te, Deus meus, amo te, bonitas infinita, amo te, et magis atque magis amare volo.

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Seventh Meditation

Obligations and Duties Towards Christ

Reasons Why We Must Honor and Serve Christ

There are three principal reasons why as Christians we must honor, serve and love Christ.

First, we must honor all that belongs to Him, His divinity and His humanity, His body and soul, His thoughts, words, actions and sufferings because they are infinitely holy, divine, admirable and adorable and merit infinite love and praise.

Secondly, we should honor and love all that honors and loves God. Yet everything in Christ renders to God the Father homage and love worthy of His supreme grandeur. In fact, God receives no honor and glory but through His Son Jesus, as the words of Mother Church so clearly state: "Through Him and with Him and in Him is given Thee, 0 Father Omnipotent, in union with the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory." It is certain that not a single good act is done except through Jesus Christ. "Without me you can do nothing" (John 1 5 , 5). It is He who thinks, speaks and suffers in the members of His Mystical Body all things which are pleasing to the Creator. It is through Him and with Him and in Him that the angels and saints glorify God: 'through Whom the angels praise and the dominations adore Thy Majesty." Thirdly, we are bound to love and serve Christ because of the privations, humiliations and sufferings He endured as well as the gifts He bestowed upon us. What has He not done for us? What has 198

He not given up? What has He not suffered because of us? He gave all, suffered all, endured all.

0 Jesus, what should I not endure and do for Thy sake? Even if Thou hadst done nought for me, I should do all for Thee because Thou didst render such great glory to the Eternal Father, and because Thou art so lovable and adorable! 0 Good Jesus, mayI be all Thine, my body and my soul, my life, all that I have and all that I am!

Special Reasons Why Priests Should Honor and Serve Christ

Besides our obligations towards Christ as Christians, we as priests have a multitude. of additional obligations. We are clothed with a dignity possessing the quality of the infinite. Through our priesthood we are associated with Him in His noblest prerogatives, in His role as Mediator between God and man, Sacrificer of the Eternal, Saviour of the world.

Likewise, we are made cooperators with Him in the salvation of souls, receiving from Him the right to continue His most lofty tasks on earth, such as illuminating men's minds, reconciling them with their Maker, washing away their sins and bringing sanctifying grace to their souls. We have received the power of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of giying His Body and Blood to the faithful as well as to ourselves.

Within our keeping are placed His treasures, mysteries, merits and grace; He entrusts to us His Body and Blood, His Church and every precious gift which is His. We take His own place in the world, with full powers to continue the work of redemption, discharging His own priestly functions. We receive graces in keeping with the high state to which He has called us, for it is true that He always bestows graces i n conformity with the office to which He calls a chosen soul. When He bestowed the priesthood upon us, its wealth of graces came to us, unless we put some hindrance in their way.

Thinking over these things, what mind could conceive or what tongue express the depth and breadth of the priest's obligation to be all in all to Jesus? How could he but employ all his time, his life, his mind, his heart and his will and all that he has or knows or is in His service and for love of Him? If he acts differently, what a dreadful death he must expect! What a judgment! What a hell!

Means to Serve Christ

We must seek the means best suited for serving Christ. We may do so by thoughts, words, actions, mortifications, vocal and mental prayer, by acts of adoration and love. The best method is to work unceasingly to imprint upon our hearts a living image of His life and His virtues. We must fulfil our priestly duties with His spirit and His dispositions. We must seek always to act in a way worthy of Him i n Whose honor and for Whose glory the sacerdotal office is discharged.

This desire shall be our aim. We must give ourselves to Christ that we may thus act, begging Him who set us in His place, to engrave within our being His image, so that loving Him with all our hearts we may become partakers of His saintly virtues and divine dispositions.

Ejaculatory Prayer: "I live, now not I: but Christ liveth in me. Vivo autem, jam non ego: vivit vero in me Christus (Gal. 2, 20).

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Eighth Meditation

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Every Christian Should Honor the Blessed Virgin Mary

Adore God in His infinite love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the great designs He had upon her from all eternity and in all the effects of grace and glory which He has worked and will work through her i n heaven and on earth. Rejoice with her in all the favors conferred upon her by Almighty God. Thank the Blessed Trinity and associate yourself with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in their love for her, and in their zeal for her honor that you may thereby honor and love her becomingly.

Know that true devotion to the Mother of God is but a continuation of the love, respect and submission with which Christ honored her on earth. Adore these sentiments in the Divine Heart of Jesus and give yourself to Him that His sentiments may be yours. Since He associated you with Him in His relationship of Son of Mary, He desires you to partake of His own sentiments and dispositions towards her. Pray that He may engrave them upon your heart, that you may honor and venerate her as your mother.

Consider the multitude of reasons obligating you to honor Mary, because of the perfection and excellence with which He endowed her, because of the service and honor she rendered and renders continually to the majesty of God, and because of the immense and incomprehensible blessings you have received through her intercession. "All good

things came to me together with her" (Wis. 7, 11). "We are filled with all good things through ( her ) " (Tobias 12, 3).

0 great and holy Mary, how admirable thou art! All worthy of praise and honor art thou! What obligations are mine to revere, serve and love thee and to be only thine! This I desire with all my heart; therefore, I offer thee and give thee my body and my soul, my heart, my mind, my life, my being with all its capabilities, my time and my eternity. To thee I protest that I wish that in all these things I may render thee homage now and hereafter. It is my earnest wish that I may lead others to praise, glorify and serve thee. Use on my behalf, I beg thee, the powers God bath given thee over men; possess me entirely so that thy Divine Son may establish the reign of his grace and love in my soul.

Special Union of Mary and Priests

There is a particular alliance between the Blessed Mother and priests. As the Eternal Father made her a partaker in His divine paternity, giving her the power of forming Christ within her womb, so, too, He communicates this same fatherhood to his priests in permitting them to form Christ in the Blessed Eucharist and in the hearts of the faithful. Christ made Mary a cooperator in the work of redemption; He also makes his priests coadjutors in the salvation of souls. The Holy Ghost associated Mary with Himself i n the most divine of all His operations and in the mystery of the Incarnation; He associates priests with Him to continue this mystery in each Christian soul where Christ is reincarnated by Baptism and in the Blessed Eucharist. Since all graces coming from God pass through Mary's hands, so, too, they are given to you by the ministry of His priests. Mary is the treasury of the Blessed Trinity; priests also share this prerogative. Finally, as through Mary, Jesus was offered to His Eternal Father at the very first, as well as at the very last, moment of His life, so He is immolated and offered to God daily by His priests at Mass.

Because of this close alliance with Mary, priests owe her particular obligations of love, honor and service. They should be clothed with her virtues and dispositions. Humiliate yourself for neglecting your obligations to her. Form a great desire to fulfil them worthily. Offer yourself completely to Mary Immaculate and beg her to help you.

Means of Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary

If you have a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, seek the means of honoring and serving her. You may honor her by thought, applying yourself to the consideration of her mysteries, her virtues, her actions and her sufferings, as well as by interior acts of veneration and praise for her perfect cooperation with the grace of God. You may also honor her by words, in inciting others to love her, and by vocal prayer, principally the rosary. Lastly, you may serve by action, offering to her every deed you do, particularly almsgiving, fasts and mortification.

You may quite commendably enter any sodality or religious association established in her honor. Your devotion will also be strengthened by having her picture ever near you, and by observing her feasts with special affection.

Yet, the most efficacious of all means is the imitation of her virtues, especially her humility and submission to the divine will, her purity and hatred for sin, her love for God, her charity towards men, her patience, meekness and zeal for the salvation of souls.

With sorrow realize how far removed you are from this ideal; yet, you are amongst her chosen children. Pray to your heavenly Mother that she may obtain for you true repentance for your past transgressions, and the grace of God to be more faithful in the future.

Ejaculatory Prayer: "0 Mother most amiable, show thyself a mother to me." Mater amabilis, monstra te esse Matrem.

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Ninth Meditation

Obligations Towards the Church

What the Church is with Regard to the Three Divine Persons

And to Priests

Adore the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity in all that They mean to the Church, Their incomprehensible love and lofty designs upon it from all eternity. Adore and bless all that They have effectuated through the Church or will ever accomplish. Study the love and zeal of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost that you may learn to love and serve the Church as the beloved daughter of the Eternal Father, who gave her His Son to be her Spouse, and His Holy Spirit to be her Soul and Heart.

The Church is the sister, the mother and the spouse of Christ, as well as His Body and His fulness, as St. Paul remarks: "Which is his body and the fulness of him who is filled all in all" (Eph. 1, 23). The Church is likewise Christ's accomplishment and His perfection, His inheritance, His kingdom, His house, His treasure and crown, His glory and delight.

Moreover, the Church is the mother who engendered you for God by baptism, bears you within her womb, is the nurse who nourishes you with the divine word, as well as with the Body and Blood of her Spouse. The Church is your queen, your governess and directress, guiding you on the road to eternity. She is your teacher who instructs you in the eternal truths of heaven. She has given you the Sacrament of 204

Holy Orders, whereby you have been made a partaker of the priestly office with its privileges, graces and blessings.

How much then should you love and respect the Church! With what zeal you should serve her! How you should venerate her sacraments, ceremonies and customs! What sorrow you should know when she i s made to suffer! What a duty is yours to thank God for having established her on earth! How you should pray that He may guide her always, sanctify and solidify her and give her priests according to His Heart!

Christ's Love for his Church

Adore Christ in all that He means to His Church, and remember that He is her Redeemer, Saviour, Founder, Brother, Spouse, Head, Doctor, Judge and Pastor; He is her Physician, Advocate and Mediator. Yet, at the same time He is her Servant for He said: "The Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Matt. 20, 28). He is the Church's food, her life, her heart, her treasure, her reason for existence, her happiness and her God. He calls her His dove and well beloved, His spouse and His sister and His heart, "My heart bath forsaken me" (Ps. 39, 13). He speaks of her as His dear soul, I have given m y dear soul into the hand of her enemies" (Jer. 12, 7).

Behold in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, His sentiments of zeal, care, vigilance and love for His Church. His love is apparent in three principal ways: first, in all the marvelous things He did on her behalf; secondly, in all that He suffered for her; thirdly, in the infinitely precious gifts He bestowed upon her.

Thank Him for all these favors; unite your heart with all the honor and love which has ever been o r ever will be rendered Him by His Church. Embrace the sentiments expressed in the words of the Apostle, "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2, 5). Beg Him to inflame your heart with those dispositions,

that you may truly say, "The zeal of thy house bath eaten me up" (Ps. 68, 10).

Our Duties Towards the Church

When the Son of God called you to the priesthood, He made you a partaker with Him in those all important qualities and offices He exercised in the Church, namely saviour, chief, doctor, father, pastor, physician, mediator, servant and judge.

Weigh well the obligations attached to these lofty prerogatives. Seek to ascertain how you have discharged them, and you will be astonished to find that there is much for which to reproach yourself and implore His pardon. Make the resolution to be more assiduous and faithful in the future.

In order that you may truly appreciate and love these high qualities which you share, picture the burning love which animated the apostles and all holy priests in their devotion to the Church. Study their zeal, vigilance and affection in spreading the Gospel and sanctifying the Church. Learn how meticulous they were about the cleanliness and the appointments of God's temples; how carefully they carried out the liturgy; how faithfully they obeyed all Church laws and with what holiness they administered the sacraments. See how devoted they were to the preaching of the word of God, and how anxious they were at all times to in sure the salvation of the faithful.

Consider the sacrifices and sufferings of the apostles and all holy priests on the Church's behalf; see how they lived, not for themselves but for the Church, using their thoughts, words, actions, their strength, minds, their all, for that one object alone, so that truly they could say, "I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls" (2 Cor. 12, 15).

Let shame engulf your soul as you realize how far you have wandered from the noble example set you by the saints. Beg them to help

you know their zeal. Resolve to try to imitate the ideal they have set. Beseech Mary, the Mother of Christ, to help you by her prayers.

Ejaculatory Prayer: "Holy Mary and all Holy Priests and Levites, intercede for me." Sancta Maria et omnes Sacerdotes et Levitae, intercedite pro nobis. 208-

Tenth Meditation

The Cassock, the Surplice and the Biretta

Meaning of the Cassock and Surplice

The black cassock signifies that the priest who wears it should at all times be in mourning for Christ, his Crucified Saviour. It means, too, that he should be dead to sin, to the world and to himself, doing penance for his own sins and for the sins of the world. It signifies finally that the priest's body should be at all times mortified in such manner that in him Christ's life is made evident to the faithful.

The surplice represents the "new man," our Lord Jesus Christ, as emphasized by the words used at ordination: "May the Lord clothe thee with the new man created in justice and holiness according to God." I t follows that the priest must be like Christ, clothed with His perfection, humility, charity, modesty, purity and His other virtues.

The ordaining prelate when bestowing the surplice calls it the "habit of holy religion." Likewise, he prays that Almighty God may free the candidate from all the slavery of secular dress whose ignominy is put off. Since the Holy Ghost speaks through the Bishop, these words show us the purpose of the surplice in the mind of God.

How many careless or worldly priests there are who by their lives make a mockery of these words and ceremonies! The Church demands that the clerics who wear the surplice, lead a life in conformity with Christ's. Yet there are priests who live as worldlings, and look upon their clerical dress as a bar and a hindrance to pleasures which they renounced at ordination. The Church, through the person of the

Bishop, asks Almighty God to forgive the ordinands' sins, and to free them from the slavery of secular dress. Yet these same clerics cultivate an inordinate love for it, rather branding their own clerical attire as something of which to be ashamed.

0 frightful blindness! 0 damnable profanation of sacred and holy things! Ask God to help you always to respect the attire of your calling, and to lead a life in conformity with the holiness of your clerical dress.

The Meaning of the Biretta

The biretta is simply a cross which clerics wear on their head to show that the cross of Christ i s their crown and their glory, whereby they re-echo St. Paul's words, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal. 6 , 14).

Engrave these truths upon your heart. Thank God for having given you the privilege of wearing the robe of religion. Ask His pardon for any profanation you may have made of it. Begin to practise with renewed zeal all that it requires and demands of you. Take seriously the meaning of the cassock, the surplice and the biretta. Treat them with fitting reverence. Pray God to give you the strength to persevere in your good resolution.

Ejaculatory Prayer: "Let thy priests, 0 Lord God, put on salvation." Sacerdotes tui, Domine Deus, induantur salutem (2 Par. 6, 40.

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