Pondering Tidbits of Truth - December 5, 2003

(Source:unprofound.com)

 Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.

 Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

“The secondary purpose of the grace which the priest receives at ordination is the sanctification of the faithful. If the priest has the care of souls, he has a special obligation to strive for holiness of life because of his duty toward the Mystical Body of Christ. In no other way will he be able to sanctify the souls committed to his charge or avoid the dangers of the world which are not to be found in a monastery. (Cf. St. Thomas, loc. cit.)

The priest must be a man of prayer, mortified and hum­ble. His wisdom and prudence must be supernatural, and his intention must always be upright and pure. He must possess that strength of will which is born of great char­ity and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He should never revolt against adversity, and in all his work he should have Christ's interest at heart, not his own. (Cf. Phil. 2:21.) ‘For we are the good odour of Christ unto God, . . .the odour of life unto life.’ (2 Cor. 2:15-16). ‘Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.’ (2 Cor. 4:10). That is to say, the priest must share not only in the priesthood of Christ but also in His state of victim to the degree determined by the Will of God for the saving of the souls committed to his care.”

(From The Priest In Union With Christ)

Frank Moriss

“The Sunday Christian is no real Christian at all. The Christian vocation is a seven-days-a- week, 365-days-a­-year one. The men and women of God's People are called to do whatever they can do in service to Christ and His Church. Marking their labors with the highest virtues their faith inspires, they carry Christ wherever they go, including the marketplace of everyday life which is the special realm of the laity. It is impossible truly to keep God's day holy if one does not attempt to sanctify the weekdays which belong to the world and its cares.”

(From Heralds of Christ in the Marketplace)

Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.

“We moderns shrink from pain; we shun all that can afflict body or mind. We have forgotten that we were saved by the Body's agony and the Mind's torture. We have forgotten that the problem of evil was solved by ropes, whips, and thorns, nails that were pounded through the flesh of God and by three hours of anguish such as no other human has or ever will know. We have forgotten that pain has a sacred purpose; that all suffering can be and should be sublimated into Sacri­fice - His Sacrifice. We have forgotten that we are Christians — members of a Body whose Head is thorn-crowned! We have forgotten that since there is sin, there must be suffering that will atone.”

(From God, A Woman, and the Way)