May Tomorrow Not Just be Another Routine Holy Thursday
(A somewhat updated
version of several posts from previous years)
“We must begin by purifying ourselves before
purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to
illuminate, draw close to God to bring Him close to others, be sanctified to
sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently…I know God’s greatness and
man’s weakness but also his potential. The priest is the defender of Truth, who
stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to
the altar on high, shares Christ’s priesthood, refashions creation, restores it
in God’s image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is
divinized and divinizes.”
No one expresses this vital
truth more clearly than St. John Chrysostom:
“Zeal for the salvation of
souls is of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our goods to the
poor, or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austerities
cannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable to God than
this one. To employ one's life in this blessed labor is more pleasing to the
Divine Majesty than to suffer martyrdom. Would you not feel happy if you could
spend large sums of money in corporal works of mercy? But know that he who
labors for the salvation of souls does far more; nay, the zeal of souls is of
far greater merit before God…than the working of miracles.”
According to St. Pius X, our sanctity depends in
large measure on the holiness of our priests. This Holy Thursday then is an
appropriate time to reflect on our priests, the imperative that the Eucharist
be the source, center and summit of their lives and ours, and our duty as lay
men and women to treasure, encourage and support them.
We begin by recalling how eloquently St. Gregory
of Nazianzus, Doctor of our Church, wrote of what it is to be a priest:
In 1962 the late Servant of God, Archbishop
Fulton Sheen, advised his fellow priests that they “become significant to their
fellow men not by being ‘a regular guy’ but by being ‘another Christ’.” He
foresaw the failings of his brother priests, as “a want of lively faith in the
Divine Presence.” He was just as astute to recognize “the sanctity of the
priesthood starts there too.” He warned prophetically that “every worldly
priest hinders the growth of the Church; every saintly priest promotes it.” He
prayed that God would make each of His priests “alter Christus”. That too
should be our prayer.
The perspectives of St.
Gregory and St. Pius X and the observations of Archbishop Sheen remain as valid
and essential for us and our priests today as when they first shared them. Zeal
for the salvation of souls cannot be replaced with a misguided emphasis on
community organizing and social justice issues. The Fathers of Vatican Council
II made this clear when they wrote in Gaudium
et Spes that “Christ did not bequeath to the Church a mission in the
political, economic or social order: the purpose he assigned to it was a
religious one.” The physical well-being of people (a notable goal and
obligation for all) must of necessity be secondary to their eternal salvation.
Our priests are under enormous pastoral and
administrative burdens and are, have been and will continue to be viciously and
relentlessly subjected to spiritual attack by the Evil One who knows full well
that without priests there will be no Eucharist. We can not allow that to
happen.
They, like each of us, are human and prone to
sin. Sadly, some of them have grievously sinned and exposed a foul stench
within their midst. Fortunately, the majority of our priests have not succumbed
to such filth. But our priests can faithfully fulfill their role as “another
Christ” only with the grace of God – abundant grace flowing to all priests for
whom the Eucharist is the source, center and summit of their priestly lives,
who treasure offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass daily, who spend time before
the Blessed Sacrament each day, and who have developed a deep and trusting
relationship with and devotion to our Blessed Mother.
They need our prayers, our support and
encouragement. Never a day should pass by without each of us getting on our
knees, thanking God for the faithful priests he has sent and will be sending to
help us on our path to personal sanctification and eternal salvation and asking
Him to provide them with all they need to be faithful to their vocation and
successful against the attacks of the Evil One.
If we do all that, in God’s perfect timing, each
of us will be able to say about all our priests, the same thing one lawyer
reportedly said when, after returning from seeing St. John Vianney in Ars,
someone asked him what he had seen there: “I saw God in a man.”
Do not let this day end without trying to rediscover
a greater sense of awe and amazement for the Eucharist. For many, music,
especially sacred music, is a powerful tool through which to do so. There are
arguably no more beautiful and moving Eucharistic hymns than those composed by St.
Thomas Aquinas – Panis Angelicus, Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo and Adore te Devote. You will hear some of them at the evening’s Mass of the Lord’s
Supper. But will you really be in a position to truly savor and appreciate them?
Do yourself a favor. After you get home and the chores
are completed and the kids are tucked away for the night, go to a quiet place
where you can give your undivided attention to these majestic masterpieces
composed by the Angelic Doctor. Click each of the hymns highlighted in the previous
paragraph, one by one. “But you have linked to the Latin versions,” you say, “and
I don't understand that language.” Relax. Your heart does. Just ask God to
allow these melodies and their Latin lyrics to penetrate your entire being and
bring the great Eucharistic mystery alive in your heart, mind and soul.
Awesome and amazing, aren’t they?
P.S. It's okay to cheat and listen to them now - what a great preparation for tomorrow!
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