c) "THE PRIEST'S PRAYER"

"The fruits of preaching and of the ministry depend on grace"

How full of zeal you must be and how vigorously you must work at it.  It is by virtue of your office that "you have become surety to your neighbor, given your hand in pledge to another, have been snared by the utterance of your lips, caught by the words of your mouth.  So hurry, stir up your neighbor!  Give no sleep

to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids" (Prv 6:1-4).

I cannot think of anything that will challenge and stir up your zeal more than these words.  You may recall that I have already urged you to close every sermon with a thought on the Eucharist, to look for any occasion, in season and out of season, for giving a Eucharistic exhortation.

Now I would like to suggest something else to you: prepare your sermons before the Blessed Sacrament so as to pass on to your people the very words Christ will have inspired in you.  This is also what Moses and the Prophets did.

A priest before the tabernacle pleads insistently that his icy heart be melted by the heavenly fire that burns in Christ and that his soul be filled with divine fervor so that he may become a living witness before his people.

You know very well that the fruits of preaching and of the ministry depend on grace, as the Apostle Paul tells us: "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who causes the growth.:²¹

"Let your people often see you kneeling before the tabernacle"

It would be highly desirable and praiseworthy for a priest to go and kneel before the holy tabernacle early every morning, almost as if to be ahead of the sun in praising God, and there make his meditation, prepare himself fittingly ‑- always before the Blessed Sacrament ‑- for the Sacrifice of the Mass, and, after Mass, to remain for an appropriate thanksgiving.  But, unfortunately, priests all too often go to celebrate Mass without any preparation, without even a prayer, and right after Mass get all taken up with worldly affairs (...).  They cannot endure kneeling before the tabernacle in prayer before Christ for a quarter of an hour every day, and they leave with a feeling of impatience reserved only to God.  Christ, the neglected guest, the stranger in your house, could very well address this lament to you: "I have become a stranger to my brothers and sisters and an alien to my mother's children?" (...).

Let your people often see you kneeling before the tabernacle, sometimes for the recitation of the breviary, at other times for the examination

of conscience.  Let them see you stopping in to pay a visit to Christ before you leave the house to ask him for his help and grace, and let them also see you going back to Him to thank him upon your return.  Blessed is that priest who occasionally interrupts his work to spend some time in fervent prayer before Christ the Lord and knows how to flavor his work with a friendly conversation with Christ.²²

"Frequent encounter and dialogue with Christ"

The second element of Eucharistic life ‑- of which the pastor of souls must give good example to his people ‑- is the frequent encounter and dialogue with Christ.

There is nothing more proper and salutary than this encounter.  Christ in the Eucharist is the deposit entrusted to the priest, the priest's treasure.  Do we not expect vigilance and surveillance for deposits?  Does not the heart hasten and linger where its treasure is?  Christ in the Eucharist is the wisdom, the prudence, the protection, and the strength of the priest: Christ is the wisdom that enlightens him, the prudence that guides him, the protection that shields him, and the strength that makes all difficult things easy for him (...).

Maybe we had this experience in the first years of our priestly ministry.  But with the passing of time the gold got tarnished and its luster got dim.  We became like those of whom the Apostle Paul speaks: simulators of a piety that is just a facade.  We have been in intimate contact with Christ in this sacrament for twenty, thirty, or forty years and yet have received very little from its fullness.  While, as sharers in this mystery, indeed as its authors, we enrich others, we ourselves are wasting away in our misery.  How can this be?  Is it not perhaps because our faith is waning?  We come into contact with the material aspect of this mystery but do not know how to penetrate sufficiently into it, for the voices speaking to us of Christ in this sacrament are silent.²³

"Recommendations to the clergy"

Always keep in mind the vocation God has bestowed on you.

With your vocation vividly and constantly in mind, you must so adorn yourselves with virtues that others will see holiness shining

from you as from a beacon; a holiness that should be great in the other states of life but much greater in you, ministers of the mysteries of God and dispensers of divine grace.

Try to conduct yourselves like angels of God and to lead so heavenly a life here on earth that it will set an example of supernatural virtues for others.

With one mind and one heart, devote yourselves to divine worship, to meditation of heavenly things, to prayer, and to the study of sacred and ecclesiastical disciplines.  Shun the vanities and seductions of the world.  Freed from all bad habits, walk straight in the way of the Lord.  Enthusiastically embrace charity, the fountain of all virtues.  Practice humility, meekness, patience, justice, temperance and fulfill all the duties of a truly Christian life.

Let your minds dwell on whatever is pure, true, holy, and religious.  Live these valuees.

Pray constantly.

With a pure mind and deep recollection, spend half an hour a day in mental prayer.  To the best of your ability, let it be your first task.  Mental prayer, in fact, is the hinge, the foundation of priestly life.  If you are faithful to it, you can expect all kinds of good things.

Celebrate Mass devoutly and piously.  Prepare yourselves for its celebration with real devotion, meditating deeply on such an awesome mystery.  To celebrate Mass worthily, examine your conscience thoroughly and frequently.  In celebrating Mass, watch out for mistakes.

Do not let a day pass by without a visit of adoration and supplication to Jesus present in the Eucharist.

Have a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and our holy patron saints.

If you want to preserve and increase the spirit of prayer, do not let a day go by, for whatever reason, without examining your conscience at midday and at night or doing spiritual reading and reciting the Rosary.

Through the mercy of God, venerable brothers, you were ordained priests to preserve and promote the glory of God.  So, discharge your ministry with dignity and honor.

Your dress, your walk, your behavior should be in keeping with the holy orders you have received.

Be content with frugal meals and with spare and modest furnishings.

Avoid ostentation, luxury, and the pursuit of honors, as well as

ambition and vanity.  Scrupulously practice the moderation your clerical life calls for.

Your speech, too, should follow these standards.  In your speech there should be nothing vulgar, frivolous, or indecent.

Strengthen your heart so that it does not go after trivialities, worldly amusements, or other trifles.

Keep your senses under control lest they become servants of your passions, whereas God has given us the senses as servants of our reason.

Your eyes must be innocent and pure, your hearing chaste and guarded, your mind and senses chaste, your way of living spiritual and chaste.

To keep chaste, be on the defensive.

Do not get involved in worldly affairs.

Do not be greedy for money or gain.  If you are poor, do not desire to be rich lest you fall into many temptations and into the snares of the devil.  Do not bear your poverty grudgingly.  Christ, our heavenly teacher, who at his birth was laid in a manger and died naked on the cross, loved and taught poverty.  They can lack nothing who fear the Lord and call upon his holy name, especially religious and priests.  Distribute the church income to Christ's favorites, namely, the poor, the widows, the sick, the pilgrims, all the indigent and hungry.  If you deny them the food they need, you will be guilty of sin against charity in the sight of God.

Whatever time you have free from church functions, from prayer and meditation and from other priestly duties, do not waste it in idleness, in laziness, and in frivolous things; but, called as you are to be the portion of the Lord, meditate day and night on his law.

Hence, apply yourselves with great diligence to the study of the sacred sciences.  You should so love these sacred studies that whoever despises them will hear these words from the Lord: "Because you have neglected knowledge, I reject you and do not want you to be my priest."

You should have the Scriptures in your hands day and night.  Spend time with the treatises on dogmatic and moral theology, with Canon Law, with books on sacred liturgy and Church history, and with the works of the Church Fathers.

In the words of St. Jerome, you must all be in communion with the See of Peter, namely, the Supreme Pontiff.  As members of one body, we must not only obey the august Head of the Church but also desire,

think, and judge like him, almost as if we had no distinct will of our own but thought, spoke, and acted through him.

In a matter of such importance, we must be absolutely on guard against sophistry, quibbling, hesitation and arbitrary interpretations, all of which are unbecoming to a priest and already smack of desertion.  Away with such things!  Instead, when we submit to the Pope, we give evidence of unwavering discipline, wherein lies the strength of every institution.

In the sight of God and the people, you must all be of one mind and one heart with your bishop and never forget the eloquent words of St. Ignatius Martyr: "Those who belong to God and to Christ are with the bishop"; and the words of St. Cyprian: "Whoever is not with the bishop is not with the Church."

So banish all discord, which, especially in our days, the enemy often tries to sow between the shepherd and his flock, and stay closely united with the shepherd God has given you.  Leaving aside personal ambitions, cooperate with him in all good works.  The bishop's authority must be something sacred to you.

You can be sure that, if not exercised under the authority of the bishop, priestly ministry will be neither holy nor effective nor fruitful.

Be careful to preserve obedience.  You solemnly promised obedience to the bishop.  Ever since you became priests, you no longer belong to the world, to your family, or to yourselves, but to the Church.

Whatever be their high office or intellectual prowess, keep away from those priests who do not openly and sincerely side with their bishop.

You pastors must look to Christ, the chief shepherd, as to your preferred model.  Since you stand above the people in dignity of office, you also have an obligation to be an example to them of virtue and diligent fulfillment of your duties.

First of all, you must know your sheep.  You must lead them and protect them.  Keep accurate parish records.  Get to know the life and customs of your parishioners.

Make sure superstitions do not make their way among your people and bad books and antireligious newspapers do not spread with impunity.

Identify those who corrupt the people.  Try to dissuade them from the path of corruption with all the means charity can suggest to you.

Keep note of the poor, the widows, the orphans, of all those in need.  Give them your advice, your consolation and your help.  If you

cannot help them personally, warmly encourage others to help them.

Above all, nourish the people entrusted to you with the preaching of the word of God, with salutary admonitions, with the administration of the sacraments, and with your example and prayer.

Teach the children catechism.  Encourage their fathers and mothers to personally take their sons and daughters and the rest of the family to catechism.

At Mass, especially on Sundays and holy days, never omit expounding the gospel or the other Mass readings to the faithful and explaining the mystery of the most holy Sacrifice so that, having been instructed more fully, they may also take part in the Mass more devoutly.

At least on Sundays and on solemn feast days, give religious instruction to the people entrusted to you, according to their capacity, and nourish them with the word of salvation.

You must often and strongly exhort parents to bring up their families religiously in the school of Christian virtues.  Convince them to keep at home good books, approved by you, which they should read especially on Sunday so as to form themselves and their families to a holy life.

"Safeguard the deposit": these words are addressed to each one of you so that you will safeguard your flock, at any cost, like a deposit entrusted to your faithful care, and will diligently guard your flock and keep it from harm.

To help sinners back to the path of salvation by the grace of God, you must persist in season and out of season with private admonitions, if need be, with advice, with corrections, and with reprimands.

Sharers in my labors and solicitude, you are the workers in the vineyard entrusted to me: work and struggle with me so that, by the help of God's mercy, we may gather our people as good grain into the heavenly granaries.

You, the young priests who help your pastors as associates, do not expect of them more than is fair.  Live in the parish house like good and faithful friends, without revealing to outsiders what happens there.  Have respect, love, and obedience for your pastor and cover up his eventual defects with filial love.

You clerics, buds of the olive tree, delight of your father, the shepherd's first and sweetest thought, behave as your ecclesiastical state requires.  You are clerics, that is to say, the portion of the Lord; and, in return, God himself is your portion.  You must behave accordingly,

then, so as to possess God and, in turn, be possessed by God.  Think how important it is for you to be faithful to your duties, how incomparably chaste your life and your behavior should be.  The Lord has chosen you so that you might stand before him and serve him.²⁴