The Priesthood: a gift in earthen vessels

 

A small minority of Priests have done great harm to the faithful entrusted in their pastoral care.  Priests who abuse innocent people in their care are always wrong.  Their misdeeds hurt the Church, the embodiment of Faith in Christ.  We are suffering because of this and it weakens what has been achieved so far to bring people closer to Christ… the Light and Life of the World.  What stumbling darkness!

 

The Priesthood is:

 

To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasures;

To be a member of every family, yet belonging to none

To share all sufferings, to penetrate all secrets, to heal all wounds;

To go daily from men to God, to offer him their homage and petitions;

To return from God to men, to bring them his pardon and his hope

To have a heart of iron for chastity and a heart of flesh for charity; 

 To teach and instruct, to pardon and console, to bless and to be blessed for ever.

 God, what a noble life – and this is yours, and  'tis thine

 O priest of Jesus Christ.

The greater majority of Priests continue to do so much to help the faithful in their care.  In all cultures, rich and poor, those in peace and those in wars, big and small, in almost all the lands in the world, so many dedicated Priests continue, humbly to give their all, to all people of good faith, in and for Christ… the Lord of peace and justice.  What great light!

 

The Perfect Priest

A recent survey in America has compiled all the qualities that people expect from the perfect priest.  These were fed into a computer and the result showed that the perfect priest is 28 years of age, tall, slim, athletic and handsome.

He preaches for exactly ten minutes, he frequently condemns sin and social evils, but never upsets anyone.

He earns Lm100 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car and gives about Lm50 a week to the poor.

He is a man of limitless patience, gentleness and kindness, but also strong, vigorous and decisive leader.

He gives himself completely to others, but never gets too close to anyone lest he be criticised.

He has a burning desire to work with teenagers, but spends all his time with senior citizens.

He spends his entire day in parish visitations, in comforting the sick and bereaved and in working in the schools, but is always in the presbytery when anyone phones or calls.

He is a man of deep spirituality and wide learning, but of down-to-earth practicality, a capable administrator, a financial genius, a wise counsellor, an architect and a builder.

How does your parish priest measure up?

Courtesy of Priests & People, APRIL 1999

 

You Are Blessed

If you woke up this morning with health than illness…you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation… you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death… you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep… you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace… you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married… you are very rare.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful… you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion in the world that cannot read at all.

 

Ignatian Maxims (3)

11. We should often be exhorted to seek God our Lord in all things, stripping off from ourselves the love of creatures to the extent that this is possible, in order to turn our love upon our Creator , by loving Him in all creatures and all of them in Him, in conformity with His holy and divine will. (Constitutions SJ, [288])

12. The love which moves me and makes me choose something has to descend from above, from the love of God; so the person who makes the choice must first of all feel interiorly that the love, greater or lesser, felt for the obvject chosen is solely for the sake of his or her Creator and Lord (Spiritual Exercises , 184)

13. We experience “spiritual consolation” when any interior movement is produced in the soul that leads her to become inflamed with the love of her Creator and Lord, and when, as a consequence, there is no created thing on the face of the earth that we can love in itself, but  we love it only in the Creator of all things. (Spiritual Exercises , 316)

14. To lead a holy life, ask God our Lord  to grant you the grace to suffer a lot for His love – for within this grace many others are contained. (“Sayings and facts” gathered by Ribadeneira  M.I., Font. Narr. II, Mon., 19, cII, n.9, p.481)

15. In a case where through our human weakness and personal misery  we do not experience in ourselves ardent desires to suffer for the Lord, we should ask ourselves whether we have any desire to experience these desires. (Constitutions Sj Examen Gen. C.4 [102]

Fr. Arthur Vella SJ