Saints – Page 89

Pruining the Overgrown Soul

Sometimes you can get inspired by reading the blogs. Today, Fr. Mark posted on his blog the Apostolic Exhortation Haerent Animo by Saint Pius X.
Given that today is the 100^th anniversary of the exhortation’s publication and the feast of Saint John Baptist Mary Vianney, reading Haerent Animo was excellent spiritual reading. It took me the better of the morning to ponder what the saintly pontiff was saying, not because the prose was difficult, or the concepts too mysterious but because I kept stopping to reflect on my concrete experience of priestly formation and thinking of the lives of priests I know. I was sadly dwelling on the problems the priesthood has had in recent years.

In writing this exhortation on the occasion of his 50^th anniversary of priesthood, the Pope is taking seriously his “responsibility of forming Christ in others.” So, what’s revolutionary about Haerent Animo? Nothing! AND that’s the point. We already know what we have to do to be men of God, holy priests, men of “high dignity” called to be priests, i.e., servants of the Lord and the Church. A good reminder is helpful. Therefore, objectivity the pope presents in Haerent Animo relates to the following work one has to do if a holy priesthood is to exist. The Pope re-proposes:

-daily meditation

-daily examination of conscience

-daily celebration of the august rites of the Church with beauty by proper preparation spiritually and intellectually

-daily prayer, particularly the Divine Office

-frequent confession of mortal and venial sins

-self denial

-seeking the Lord’s clemency

-yearly retreat with others

-Lectio Divina (attentive reading of sacred Scripture)

-develop good friendships

The point is that the priest’s conduct must be stellar for fear of causing scandal in others. But fear of causing scandal ought not be the criterion for doing what the Pope re-proposes: the encounter with honesty, faithfulness, love and Christ ought to be included. Say it another way, an overgrown plant will bear no fruit. So our responsibility is to be watchful, be vigilant, and pray. This work will lead us closer to Christ in His words and in His actions; this work will lead to a deeper friendship with the Lord; doing this work will lead to holiness of life.

One thing the pope mentions is forming priestly associations to create a closer union among priests, to help one another in difficult times, to develop a taste of sacred learning, to have a solicitude for each other’s vocation, and to identify the skills needed to effectively preach the Gospel. It is a fact if one wants to be “good priest” then it being a part of such associations from the first day of one’s ordination. Either join a group or found one: But do something. Seminarians in the Archdioceses of Denver Saint Paul-Minneapolis recently founded priestly associations of type such as Saint Pius recommends.

I recommend that you read Haerent Animo soon. It will be good for you!

Encountering the Will of God: Saint Alphonsus Ligouri

Today is the feast of a great bishop, founder and doctor of the Church, Saint Alphonsus
Ligouri (1696-1787). The saint’s spiritual, dogmatic, liturgical and systematic writings are remarkable sources of inspiration and challenge. Little recognized but nontheless true is Saint Alphonsus was a poet and a musician. After all, the saint is from Naples! It is reported that Giuseppe Verdi said of St. Alphonsus’ great Christmas carol: “Christmas without ‘Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle’ is not Christmas.”

Among the writings that you’ll find helpful are his Way of the Cross, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, The Moral Theology and The Glories of Mary.

For our lectio I propose the following:

Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: “Charity is the bond of perfection”; and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s: “The principal effect of love is so to unite the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same things.” It follows then, that the more one unites his will with the divine will, the greater will be his love of God. Mortification, meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all certainly pleasing to God — but only when they are in accordance with his will. When they do not accord with God’s will, he not only finds no pleasure in them, but he even rejects them utterly and punishes them.

Conformity to God’s Will
St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri

O God, Who did inflame blessed Alphonsus Your confessor and Bishop with a burning zeal for the salvation of souls and through him did enrich Your Church with new offspring; grant we beseech You, that imbued with his wholesome precepts and strengthened by his example, we may come happily unto You.

Venturing into Life

Today is the feast of the Saint James the Greater. The Venerable Servant of God John Henry Newman reminds us in his Parochial and Plain Sermons that St. James’ acceptance of risk in following the Lord unto his death was a vow recorded in heaven. How could he not respond positively to the question the Lord posed, “Are you able to drink from the cup I will give you?” James’ answer, like that of Peter’s, was little understood because he had no true idea of what was in store. Namely, that he’d be the first to die by the sword in Jerusalem. The faith James had was exceptional; it was a faith born in the trust in the person of Jesus Christ; it was a faith based on the encounter with such an exce St James.jpg ptional Presence that offered more to life than mending nets.

When it comes to us, I am afraid that we are often too zealous for the wrong in life and insincere in things that matter. Do we confine ourselves to the idea of truth without risking the implications what believing really could mean? Are bromides that only thing we can remember? Can we follow James’ example who said, “Come, Lord Jesus,” at the end of the day conforming all of our desires and hopes, joys and sufferings to the Lord’s Will and thus making a venture that would allow us to live with Him forever? Or is eternal life too hard to grasp, too weird to accept as part of the promised hundred-fold?