NECESSITY OF GRACE FOR SANCTIFICATION

27. Everyone knows, beloved brethren, that it is impossible for a Christian and, in a special way, a priest, to imitate the admirable example of the Divine Master in daily life without the help of grace, and without the use of those instruments of grace which He Himself has placed at our disposal: a use which is as much more necessary as the grade of perfection to which we are bound to attain is higher, and as the difficulties which arise from our natural inclination to evil are greater. For this reason, We judge it opportune to pass on to the consideration of certain other truths, as sublime as they are consoling, from which should appear still more clearly how deep should be the sanctity of the priest, and how efficacious are the helps given to us by the Lord to enable us to fulfill in ourselves the designs of His divine mercy.

The Priest's Life a Life of Sacrifice

28. As the whole life of the Saviour was directed toward the sacrifice of Himself, so the life of the priest, which should reproduce in itself the image of Christ, ought also to be with Him, and through Him, and in Him, a pleasing sacrifice.

After the Example of Jesus on Calvary

29. Indeed, the sacrifice which the Lord made upon Calvary, hanging on the cross, was not only the immolation of His own Body; for He offered Himself, a Victim of expiation, as the Head of the human race and, therefore, "while commending His Spirit into the hands of the Father, He commends Himself to God as man, in order to commend to the Eternal Father all mankind".³⁷

. . . and in Holy Mass

30. The very same thing occurs in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, which is the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross: Christ offers Himself to the Eternal Father for His glory and for our salvation. And in so far as He, the Priest and Victim, acts in His capacity as Head of the Church, He offers and immolates not only Himself, but all Christians, and in a certain manner, all of mankind.³⁸

The Treasures of the Eucharistic Sacrifice

31. Now if this holds true for all Christians, much more does it hold for priests, who are the ministers of Christ, principally in order to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice. And precisely in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, when "in the person of Christ", he consecrates bread and wine, which become the Body and Blood of Christ, the priest can draw from that same fountain of the supernatural life the inexhaustible treasures of salvation and all those helps which he needs for himself personally and for the fulfillment of his mission.

Living the Mass

32. Being in such close contact with the divine mysteries, the priest cannot but be hungry and thirsty after justice,³⁹ or not feel inspired to assimilate his life to his exalted dignity, and orient his life towards that sacrifice in which he must needs offer and immolate himself with Christ. Consequently, he will not merely celebrate Holy Mass, but will live it out intimately in his daily life; in no other way can he obtain that supernatural vigor which will transform him and make him a sharer in the life of sacrifice of the Redeemer.

Being a Victim with Jesus

33. St. Paul sets down as the basic principle of Christian perfection, the precept, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ".⁴⁰ Again if this precept applies to all Christians, it applies in a particular way to priests. But putting on Jesus Christ does not mean merely adapting one's mind to His doctrine; it means that a person enters upon a new life which, in order to shine with the splendor of Thabor, must first be conformed to the sufferings and trials of our Redeemer suffering on Calvary. This involves long and arduous labor, by which the soul is transformed to the state of victim, in order that it may participate intimately in the sacrifice of Christ. However, this arduous and assiduous labor is not to be accomplished through empty velleity, nor achieved through mere desires and promises; it must be an indefatigable and continuous exercise, which aims at a fruitful renovation of spirit; it must be an exercise of piety, which refers all things to the glory of God; it must be an exercise of penance, which tempers and checks the immoderate movements of the soul; it must be an act of charity, which inflames the soul with love of God and the neighbor, and which effectuates works of mercy; it must, in fine, be that active and ready willingness by which we strive and struggle to accomplish whatsoever is most perfect.

The Admonition of St. Peter Chrysologus

34. The priest should, therefore, study to reproduce in his own soul the things that are effected upon the Altar. As Jesus Christ immolates Himself, so His minister should be immolated with Him; as Jesus expiates the sins of men, so he, by following the hard road of Christian asceticism, should labor at the purification of himself and of others. Hence the admonition of St. Peter Chrysologus: "Be you the priest and the sacrifice of God; do not lose that which has been given to you by the authority of God. Clothe yourself with the garment of sanctity, gird yourself with the cincture of chastity; let Christ be the covering for your head; let the cross of Christ be the protection before your face; instill in your breast the sacrament of divine wisdom; constantly burn the incense of prayer; grasp the sword of the Spirit; let your heart be, as it were, an altar on which you may safely offer your body as a victim to God . . . Offer Him your faith, for the chastisement of perfidy; offer Him your fasting, that gluttony may cease; offer your chastity as a sacrifice that passion may die; place on the Altar your piety, that impiety be put away; call upon mercy, that avarice may be overcome; and that folly may disappear, the immolation of sanctity is called for. In this way shall your body be also your victim, if it has not been wounded by any dart of sin".⁴¹

Mystical Death in Christ

35. We wish to repeat here in a special manner for priests what We have already proposed to the meditation of all the faithful in the Encyclical Mediator Dei: "It is quite true that Christ is a priest; but He is a priest not for Himself but for us, when in the name of the whole human race He offers our prayers and religious homage to the eternal Father; He is also a victim since He substitutes Himself for sinful man. Now the exhortation of the Apostle, `Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,' requires that all Christians should possess, as far as is humanly possible, the same dispositions as those which the divine Redeemer had when He offered Himself in sacrifice: that is to say, they should, in a humble attitude of mind, pay adoration, honor, praise and thanksgiving to the supreme majesty of God. Moreover, it means that they must assume to some extent the character of a victim, that they deny themselves as the Gospel commands, that freely and of their own accord they do penance and that each detests and satisfies for his sins. It means, in a word, that we must all undergo with Christ a mystical death on the cross so that we can apply to ourselves the words of St. Paul, 'With Christ I am nailed to the cross.'"⁴²

The Riches of the Blood of Christ

36. Priests and beloved sons, we hold in our hands a great treasure, a precious pearl, the inexhaustible riches of the blood of Jesus Christ; let us use them even to prodigality, so that, by the complete sacrifice of ourselves offered with Christ to the Eternal Father, we may become, in truth, mediators of justice, "in the things which appertain to God",⁴³ and that we may deserve to have our prayers accepted and obtain a super-abundance of graces which may refresh and make more fruitful the Church and the souls of all men. Only when we have become one with Christ through His oblation and ours and when we have raised our voice with the choir of the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem, as we read, "We join ourselves in song with them, our hopes in Holy Sion,"⁴⁴ only then, strengthened by the virtue of our Savior, shall we be able to descend in safety from the heights of sanctity to which we have attained, to bring to all men the life and the light of God by means of our priestly ministry.