Search Page

God can work wonders through our perseverance. When a priest, or any sincere follower of Christ, finds it hard to believe in the saving power of the Cross, and sees life as a grim progress with little hope, he should reflect on this truth: whoever imitates Christ and accepts the Cross, in patience, finds that, little by little, it becomes a living thing, fruitful, putting out new branches and leaves, precisely because that person is reproducing Christ's life, and being fruitful in saving souls.

What is the message given to us by those who allow children in baseball hats to stand between some priests, at the altar, during the Eucharistic prayer? It is that it is more important to make children feel involved than to allow the priests to be close to the altar, undisturbed, as they offer the Holy Sacrifice of Christ! This is a tragic piece of evidence of flawed attitudes, today, to the Mass and the Priesthood.

Christ looks on with joy, with His Saints, His heart grateful that some of His flock revere the Traditional Mass - now called the Extraordinary form of the Rite - and that some priests offer it, and some of the laity assist because of their love for Christ, first of all;but also because of their desire to support and encourage priests who revere ancient ways.

Our Blessed Mother looks with gratitude and joy upon all the faithful priests who are living as her Son lived, doing His work - many of them celibate like Christ, and so most surely repeat His pattern of self-giving, in order to save souls and to give glory to the Father.

There are difficult decisions to make in our spiritual lives. A Protestant minister might sit and agonise about whether it's all right to ask for the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or, for example, a Catholic priest agonises over whether to persevere in the Priesthood. Prayer is essential, and trust in God and His Church.

An altar is not a mere table. A priest is not just a leader. A priest who lives in dark times - whether interior darkness or external difficulties - should keep in mind the Heavenly realities. The priest who, on earth, has faithfully lived and offered Sacrifice as 'another Christ' will be served by Christ at the Banquet in Heaven; and his past earthly hardships will seem insignificant.

God understands the sacrifice of celibate men who serve Him. When priests have lived well, they have been Christ amongst others, and have drawn down grace in torrents upon a darkened world. These men, when they die, are greeted by Christ and Our Lady at the edge of Heaven; then they make their way to the Father, in the heights, Who sees in them the image of His Son.

The men who serve Christ in the Church as priests, seem similar, exteriorly; but here and there amongst them are priests in grave sin. Unless they repent, they will suffer the fate of those whom Christ condemned when he said 'Woe to you, Chorazin'. Priests have had wonders worked in their lives. To ignore God's gifts and commit grave sin is to deserve Hell.

Priests who find joy in the knowledge of God's love for them are like men who raise their faces to the sunshine to enjoy its warmth. Someone unhappy is as if holding an umbrella over his head, and shutting out the sun's rays. The umbrella represents any sin not yet confessed, or any injustice not yet put right, of which he was the cause. He needs to be at peace with God.

Those whom Christ has chosen, called and trained to be His witnesses and priests betray Him, if they tell other people, "You don't need Him". Jesus said: "No-one can come to the Father except through me", and, "Be My witnesses".

We can imagine a group of Christians in Roman times, hearing about the privileged men who are chosen to be ordained, to serve as priests in the Church - and to make Christ Really Present in the Holy Eucharist. How fervently some might have said: "Oh! I hope I'm chosen!" It is a hard life, but most men feel honoured to be called by God, though they are unworthy.

A priest's life is often difficult; yet every priest can benefit if he arranges Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Prolonged prayer, before the One whose place a priest takes at the altar, helps a priest in his prayer, and in his care for the lost and the afflicted.

There is no doubt that our priests deserve care and respect both from their parishioners and their Bishops, as well as sufficient rest, and free time. Yet priestly life can only be renewed, where priests are dispirited or dejected, if there is also a humble, sincere, renewal of trusting prayer to Christ, and devotion to His Holy Mother Mary.

A priest has been ordained in order to preach the Gospel and to offer sacrifice, in order to rescue souls from their sins and lead them towards Heaven. So a priest who leads a soul towards Hell by suggesting his mortal sins are not serious, and that, in fact, someone can continue in his sins without any pangs of conscience, is a monster, in God's sight, because he is doing Satan's work.

Priests must be determined to grow in holiness. Men are called by Christ so that the faithful can have a Christ amongst them where they live, and Christ made Really Present in the Blessed Sacrament because of the priest who celebrates the Mass. Amongst pure priests, God sees, here and there, however, a gloomy figure: like an empty space, symbolising a lack of charity, when a priest is in serious sin.

The whiteness of an alb represents the purity that a good priest should have; a very sinful priest is like an area of emptiness, from which the Holy Spirit has fled, leaving only darkness. How can sinful priests be helped, or holy priests kept pure? - By the intercession of the faithful, the Mother of God, and all the Saints, who petition God to help the Clergy.

If we ask, God will rescue us wherther we are priests or laity. To live in alienation from God is like living, spiritually, in an Arctic world, cold and barren, swept away by icy winds, and not supportive of life. To choose to leave that world, by turning to God in trust and penitence is to find the road, that leads to Heaven: a road which is icy at first, but which leads to a warmer 'climate', and towards perfect union with God.

The evil one wants to destroy the Church. So marvellous is the work and life of a priest, that every priest and Bishop is targeted by the evil one. He tempts them, trying to drag them away from Christ, by subtle and determined methods - yet he can not succeed, when men are resolute in prayer, relying on Divine Grace. Satan is like a giant spider who tries to catch weak people and holy people in his web.

Some Catholics foolishly ignore the evidence; that the evil one has been especially active in the Church for four decades, determined to strike at Christ and Catholics by striking at the Mass. The evil one uses all sorts of people and methods to increase ignorance of the Real Presence, to confuse the laity, to discourage priests, to bring about a distorted or truncated presentation of the Faith in catechesis. It's as if he is lurking beneath a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, planning how to lessen our love for Christ and to diminish our fervour.

Christ looks down from Heaven, and notices the great silence in the Church, as few women show concern about their own contraceptive use, only a small number defend the Church's teaching on sexual morality, and many clergy are silent on the subject, preferring to preach about other less challenging issues.