Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Year

[Stone]

63. JESUS CALMS THE TEMPEST
FOURTH WEEK AFTER THE EPIPHANY

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, I adore You in the little boat of my soul. Since You are with me, I shall not fear.


MEDITATION

1. In today’s liturgy, especially the Gospel (Mt 8,23-27), Jesus appears in our midst as the ruler of the elements, the conqueror of all tempests. “ And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves.” Let us think of all the persecutions which have beaten against Peter’s barque, the Church, down through the ages; or we can think of the trials which God still permits individual souls to undergo. Whatever happens, the spirit of faith tells us that every struggle and tempest is willed, or at least permitted by God: “Everything is grace” (T.C.J. NV); everything is the result of His infinite love. God is not a tyrant who crushes us, but a Father, who tests us because He loves us. If He permits sorrow, interior or exterior trials, personal or public vicissitudes, it is only to draw out of them some greater good. Virtue and goodness are strengthened in time of difficulty; the efforts made in bearing trials tend to make us surpass what we would have done had we enjoyed perfect calm. Jesus was sleeping peacefully in the stern of the boat when the terrified Apostles awakened Him: “Lord, save us, we perish!” He answered them reproachfully, “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? ”

If we are disturbed and upset by trials, it means that we lack faith. Even when God conceals Himself, when everything seems to fail us and we feel terribly alone, we can be absolutely certain that God will never abandon us if we do not first abandon Him. Instead of becoming bitter or falling into despair, it is the moment to intensify our faith, to make strong acts of faith. St. Thérése of the Child Jesus used to say, “ I count on Him. Suffering may go to its limit, but I am sure He wiil never abandon me ”.


2. The Apostles were saved only when they called upon Jesus. As long as they labored and struggled alone, they had no success. Many times we fail to surmount interior difficulties because we work alone. God wants us to experience our own insufficiency; therefore, He lets us struggle until we have recourse to Him with full confidence. Certainly God wants our efforts, but He does not want us to place all our hope in them. This accounts for the small progress so many make on the road to sanctity— too much reliance on their own resources, too little on God’s help. We must be firmly convinced that “our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor 3,5). We must have less confidence in ourselves and more in God. Jesus can do all things, and confidence works miracles. “ We receive from God as much as we hope for ” (J.C. DN II, 21,8).

There are other kinds of tempests, too, such as those provoked by the difficulties we sometimes experience in our relations with our neighbor. St. Paul in the Epistle (Rom 13,8-10) gives us the remedy : “ Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” Love conquers all. Our love for God overcomes our interior storms; our love for our neighbor, in whom we love Christ, overcomes the tempests which arise from dissensions, misunderstandings, and clashes of temperaments. If from certain people we receive only pain and trouble, let us follow the precious advice of St. John of the Cross : “ Where there is no love, put love, and you will
find love” (L, 22). 

COLLOQUY

“O my Lord, how true a friend You are, and how powerful! For You can do all You will and never do You cease to love! Let all things praise You, Lord of the world! Oh, if someone would but proclaim throughout the world how faithful You are to Your friends! All things fail, but You, Lord of them all, never fail. How little is the suffering that You allow to those who love You! O my Lord, how delicately and skillfully and tenderly do You deal with them! Oh, happy are they who have never loved anyone save You! You seem, Lord, to give severe trials to those who love You, but only that in the excess of their trials they may learn the greater excess of Your love. O my God, had I but understanding and learning to find new words with which to exalt Your works as my soul. knows them! ‘These, my Lord, I lack, but if You forsake me not, I shall never fail You. Let all learned men rise up against me, let all created things persecute me, let the devils torment me; but You, Lord, do not fail me; for I have already experienced the benefits which come to him who trusts only in You!” (T.J. Life, 25).

Take away from me, O Lord, all trust in my own strength. Make me see that I can do nothing without You. Show it to me in a practical way, even if it causes me sorrow and humiliation, O Lord, I no longer desire to rely on my own strength; in You alone do I place all my trust. With Your help I shall continue to strive to practice virtue and to advance in Your ways, but with my eyes always fixed on You, O divine Sun, who alone can make my feeble efforts bring forth fruits of virtue! When storms arise, I will take refuge in You; I will call upon You with all the strength of my heart and with all my faith, certain that You will give me that peace and that victory which I would seek in vain apart from You.

64. JESUS AND MANKIND

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, teach me to love others as You love them.


MEDITATION

1. The sacred soul of Jesus always remains in closest union with the Blessed Trinity and therefore in the most profound contemplation, yet He is ever mindful of the needs of mankind. It was for men that Jesus came—to save them and bring them to the Father; and He gives Himself to them with the utmost solicitude and abandon. The same charity which unites Jesus to His Father descends through the Father upon the men whom Jesus loves so tenderly. He wills to redeem them all because they belong to the Father, to whose image and likeness they were created. In a most touching manner Jesus expressed His tender love for men comparing Himself to the Good Shepherd: “I am the Good Shepherd; and I know Mine, and Mine know Me. As the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep” (Jn 10,14.15). Jesus likens His union with us to the union He enjoys with His Father, the terms of comparison being knowledge and love. Certainly it is only a simple similitude and yet Jesus delights to speak of it. He sees and knows the Father in the splendor of His glory, but He also sees and knows each one of us in the reality of our poverty, sorrows, and
longings. He loves the Father, and gives Himself totally for His glory, and at the same time He loves each one of us and gives Himself wholly for our salvation; or rather Jesus sees and knows us only in the Father and in relation to Him. This is the very reason for His love and for everything He has done for us; His infinite love for the Father has made Him the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep.


2. Our love and contemplation of God, our desire for intimate union with Him, should not make us strangers to our brethren, should not lessen our sensitivity to their needs and sufferings; it should not prevent us from giving ourselves to them with true supernatural charity, as far as our state in life permits. No state of life, even the most contemplative, can excuse us from the duty and necessity of caring for our neighbor : if external works are reduced to a minimum, we must devote ourselves to our neighbor by prayer and apostolic immolation.

When love for God is genuine and intense, it does not confine the soul within itself, but in one way or another it always leads it to embrace all those who belong to God because they are His creatures, His children, and the object of His love.

Although Jesus was God, He did not hold Himself aloof from men. He willed to feel and experience all their needs, even their temptations, “ without sin” (Heb 4,15). He shared with them a life of privation, fatigue, painful poverty, and suffering. Therefore, if we wish to attain to an effective fraternal charity, we must feel the sorrows, the poverty, and the material and spiritual needs of our neighbor; we must feel these in order to sympathize with him, help him, and even share in his trials. We must sacrifice ourselves, our ease and comfort, in order to give ourselves to others. We shall be able to do this only if our love for our neighbor resembles the love of Jesus, that is, if it springs from our love of God. Only one who loves others for the love of God will have that strong, persevering, fraternal charity which never fails.


COLLOQUY

O Jesus, why am I not moved by Your solicitude and tender love for us, Your poor creatures? You enjoy the uninterrupted vision of the Most Holy Trinity, finding in it all Your beatitude and glory, but you do not will that this glory and beatitude should be exclusively Yours; You want to give us a share in it. O Jesus, I see You sharing our poor human life of misery and suffering, so that, making Yourself like to us in sorrow, we might be made like to You in glory.

Men have not understood You; they have not returned Your love...they have crucified You. Yet You still love them because Your love is not for Your own personal satisfaction, but only for the glory of the Blessed Trinity. O Jesus, out of love for Your Father You have loved us to the point of sacrificing Yourself entirely for us; grant that, out of love for You and for Your glory, I may know how to love my brethren and to give myself to them most generously.

“ O my Jesus, how great is the love that Thou hast for the children of men! The greatest service that we can render Thee is to leave Thee for love of them and for their advantage. By doing this, we possess Thee the more completely; for, although the will has less satisfaction in the enjoyment of Thee, the soul is glad that Thou art pleased, and sees that, while we live in this mortal life, earthly joys are unsure, even though they seem to be bestowed by Thee, unless they are accompanied by the love of our neighbor. He who loves not his neighbor, loves not Thee, my Lord; for in all the Blood Thou didst shed, we see the exceeding great love which Thou bearest for the children of Adam ” (T.J. Exc, 2).

O Jesus, grant that like You I may live in continual union with God and at the same time give myself to my neighbor. May I lead a life of continual recollection, prayer, and contemplation, yet a life wholly devoted to the service of others.

65. LIVING CHRIST

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, deign to imprint Your likeness on my poor soul, so that my life may be a reflection of Yours.


MEDITATION

1. The imitation of Christ should not be limited to some particular aspect of His life; it means living Christ and becoming completely assimilated to Him. The life-giving principle of our resemblance to Christ is grace: the more grace we possess, the greater our resemblance to Him. The principal characteristic of Christ’s soul is the unlimited charity which urges Him to give Himself entirely for the glory of His Father and the salvation of souls. This same charity increases in our souls in the measure in which we grow in grace and live under the influence of Jesus, who is the source of grace, and to the degree in which our souls are directed by the same divine Spirit that directed the soul of Jesus. Each one of us will be an alter Christus (another Christ) in the measure in which he receives Christ’s influence, His grace, His virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and, above all, the motion of the Holy Spirit, which urges us to make a complete gift of self for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor. However, in order to accomplish this fully, we must continually die to ourselves, “ always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest...in our mortal flesh ” (2 Cor 4,10.11). Jesus lived a life of total abnegation in order to save us; we too must follow in His footsteps that He may live in us and we in Him. “ For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil 1,21) is the cry of the Apostle who had so lived Christ that He was able to say, “I live, now not I but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2,20).


2. “ My God, I desire to seek but one thing, and that is to become a perfect copy of Yourself. Since Your life was a hidden life of humiliation, love, and sacrifice, such shall henceforth be mine” (T.M. Sp). If we truly desire to “ live Christ, ” we must make St. Teresa Margaret’s resolution our own. However, the Saint did not intend to be merely a detached copy of Christ, the divine model; rather, she wanted to live His very life : with Him, by Him, and in Him. Weare to imitate Jesus by conforming and identifying ourselves with Him by grace and love, until each one of us becomes, as Sr. Elizabeth of the Trinity expresses it, “ another humanity, wherein He may renew all His mystery ” (E.T. IIT).

As the word Christian is an extension of the word Christ, so the life of a Christian should be an extension of Christ’s life. St. Paul said, “I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh” (Col 1,24). The life and Passion of Jesus are perfect in themselves; nothing can be added to His infinite merits. However, it is His will to continue to live and suffer in us, the members of His Mystical Body, so that through us He may continue His redemptive work until the end of time—that work of applying the fruits of the redemption to every new soul that comes into the world. Yet there are very few souls whom Jesus can freely use to carry out His lofty plans. Therefore, let us give ourselves wholly to Him, that in our humanity He may continue to immolate Himself for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls, continue to adore His Father, love mankind, and make all souls share in the solicitude of His most merciful heart. Let us give ourselves to Him, “so that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. ”


COLLOQUY

“O my Christ, whom I love! Crucified for love! I long to be the bride of Your heart! I long to cover You with glory and love You...even until I die of love! Yet I realize my weakness and beg You to clothe me with Yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of Your own. Immerse me in Yourself; possess me wholly; substitute Yourself for me, that my life may be but a radiance of Your life. Enter my soul as Adorer, as Restorer, as Savior!

“O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, descend upon me and reproduce in me, as it were, an incarnation of the Word; that I may be to Him a super-added humanity wherein He may renew all His mystery!” (E.T. HI).

O my Jesus, this is my great desire : to be an extension of Your humanity, so that You can use me with the same freedom with which You used the humanity that You assumed on earth. Now in Your glory in heaven, You continue to adore the Father, implore Him on our behalf, give grace to our souls; You continue to love us and offer the merits of Your passion for us; but You can no longer suffer. Suffering is the only thing that is impossible for You, who are glorious and omnipotent, the only thing which You do not have and which I can give You. O Jesus, I offer You my poor humanity, that You may continue Your passion in me for the glory of the Father and the salvation of mankind. Yes, Jesus, renew in me the mystery of Your love and suffering; continue to live in me by Your grace, by Your charity, by Your Spirit. I want my humble life to be a reflection of Yours, to send forth the perfume of Your virtues, and above all the sweetness of Your charity.

You know O Jesus, that the world needs saints to convert it—saints in whom it will be able to recognize and experience Your love and infinite goodness, saints in whom it will find You again. O Lord, although I am so miserable, I also want to be of the number of these Your faithful followers in order that through me You may continue to win souls for the glory of the Blessed Trinity. O Jesus, give us many saints and grant that many priests may be counted among them.

66. JESUS OUR ALL

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, my God and my Redeemer, make me understand that You are my All and that in You I may find all that my soul needs.


MEDITATION

1. Jesus is both true God and true Man. As Man, He is our Way : He came to take us by the hand and lead us back to our Father’s house. He is the source of our life because He merited grace for us and still continues to dispense it to us; He is the Master who shows us the way to go to God, the Model who, by His example, teaches us how we should live as children of God. Having merited our participation in the divine life, which He as the Word possesses in its full plenitude, Jesus has made us worthy to be readmitted to the intimacy of the family of God. In His last prayer, as if summing up His work as Redeemer, Jesus said to the Father, “ And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, as We also are one” (Jn 17, 22). Yes, He has given us His grace, His Spirit, and has thus made us sharers in the glory of His divine Sonship, true children of God and temples of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus, the one perfect Mediator between God and man, we find everything we need for our sanctification and our life of union with the Triune God. We belong to Christ, we live in Him, “who, of God is made unto us wisdom and justice, and sanctification, and redemption ” (1 Cor 1,30).


2. As God, Jesus is our End : He is the Incarnate Word and, as the Word, He is in all things equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Equally with the Father and the Holy Spirit He is our Beginning, the Creator of everything in the natural and supernatural order. He is also our last end, the End toward which we must move in this life with faith, love, generosity, and perseverance, in expectation of the joy of eternal union with Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven. Jesus, as Man, merited grace for us; as the Word He bestows it upon us. He creates it in union with the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity. If, as Man, Jesus merited the coming of the Holy Spirit, as the Word, He, together with the Father, is continually sending the Spirit into our souls, because the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him as well as from the Father.

In Jesus, therefore, we find our Mediator and our God. When as Mediator He guides us, He is also drawing us to Himself as God; and when we are united to Him as Man we are also united to Him as the Word of God. Whether we fix our gaze on the humanity of Jesus or on His divinity, we shall always behold Him in the Word. To go to Jesus is to go to the Word; and to go to the Word, to the Son, is to go also to the Father, to the Trinity. That is why St. Teresa of Jesus insists so strongly that we must never separate ourselves from Christ : “It is by this door [Jesus] that we must enter.... Let us seek no other way: that way alone is safe. It is through this Lord of ours that all blessings come” (Life, 22). St. Paul says the same: “And you are filled in Him ” with all good things; “ Christ is all, and in all” (Col 2,10 — 3,11).


COLLOQUY

O Jesus, my God and my All! You are everything to me, and I want to belong entirely to You, consecrating my whole self to Your love and service. “Now do I see, my Spouse, that You are mine; I cannot deny it. For my sake You came into the world; for my sake You suffered such great trials; for my sake You endured to be scourged; for my sake You have remained with us in the Most Holy Sacrament.... I have seen clearly that it is by this door that we must enter if we wish Your sovereign Majesty to show us great secrets. He who loses You will be unable to find his way. “What am I, Lord, without You? And what am I worth if I am not near You? If once I stray from Your Majesty, where shall I find myself?

“Blessed is he who loves You in truth and has You always at his side. What more do we need than to have at our side so good a Friend who will never leave us? O my Lord, my mercy and my good, what more do I want in this life than to be so near You that there is no division between You and me? In such company what can become difficult? What can one not undertake for You, with You so near? Never, with Your help and favor, will I turn my back on You.

“What can I do for my Spouse? How can I be Yours, my God? What can a person do for You who has contrived such evil things as I? I can only lose the favors You have granted me. From such a one what services could be hoped for? And even if, by Your favor, I should accomplish something, consider how little a miserable worm can do. How can a powerful God have need of it? Only love allows us to think that this true Lover needs us.

“ But if You come to me, Lord, can I doubt that I can render You great services? From this moment, Lord, I will forget myself and look solely at the ways in which I can serve You; I will have no will but Yours. But my will is powerless, my God; it is You that are powerful. All I can do is to resolve to serve You, and this resolve I make and will henceforth carry into action” (cf. T.J. Con, 4 — Life, 22 - Int C VI, 7).

67. THE CHURCH

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, You have given me the Church as my Mother; grant that I may love her with true filial love.


MEDITATION

1. Jesus loves us so much that He wills to remain with us until the end of time. Therefore, He abides with us in the Blessed Sacrament as the Companion of our earthly pilgrimage, as the Food of our souls, but He also remains with us in the Church as our Guide, our Shepherd, and our Teacher. Jesus formed the first nucleus of the Church by His preaching, by choosing and instructing the Apostles; He gave life to her by dying on the Cross. “The Church,” as the Holy Father notes, “came forth from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, Mother of all the living” (Mystici Corporis). Jesus sanctified her by shedding His Blood for her. He gave her His power; He made her His spouse and collaborator, continuing through her His work of sanctifying and directing souls. Today Jesus no longer dwells among us as He did nineteen hundred years ago; His Physical Body is gloriously enthroned in Heaven at the right hand of the Father. But He does abide with us in His Mystical Body, the Church, His Spouse and our Mother. Jesus is the living Head of the Church; it is always He who rules her invisibly by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He sustains and vivifies her unceasingly, gives her life, and distributes graces to each of her members “ according to the measure of His giving” (cf. Eph 4,7). 

The Church lives by Christ alone; she is holy with His holiness; she is the Mother of souls through her union with Him. This union of Christ with the Church is so intimate and vital that the Church can be regarded as a prolongation of Christ. Indeed, Pope Pius XII teaches that “ Christ sustains the Church in a divine manner; He lives in her to such a degree that she is, as it were, another Christ ” (Mystici Corporis). Even as it is through the Eucharist that we unite ourselves to Jesus and are nourished with His immaculate Flesh, so it is through His Church that guided and ruled by Him, we are vivified by His grace and nourished by His doctrine. And as we cannot become more one with Christ in this life than by uniting ourselves to Him in the Eucharist, so we can have no greater assurance of living according to His Spirit, of being directed and taught by Him, than by uniting ourselves to the Church and following her directives.


2. To be a “Child of the Church” is the most glorious title for a Christian and second only to that of “Child of God.” These two titles can never be separated — one depends upon the other; for, as St. Cyprian has said, “He who does not have the Church for a Mother, cannot have God for a Father.” Jesus wishes to save and sanctify us, but He wishes to do it by means of the Church. He gave His life and shed His Blood for us; He put His most precious merits at our disposal; He gave us the Holy Eucharist and left us the heritage of His doctrine, but He wished the Church to be the sole depository and dispenser of these inestimable benefits, so that all who wish to enjoy them must have recourse to her. Let us go, then, to the Church with the complete confidence of children, certain to find Jesus in her, Jesus who sanctifies, nourishes, teaches, rules, and directs us by means of His representatives. If the thought of being a Child of the Church does not make our hearts vibrate, if our love for the Church is weak, if our recourse to her is not confident, this indicates a lack of the spirit of faith : we have not sufficiently understood that the Church is Christ, continuing to live in our midst to sanctify and sustain us and to lead us to eternal beatitude. “We can think of nothing more glorious, more noble, and more honorable than membership in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, by which we become members of such a holy Body [the Mystical Body of Christ], are guided by one and so sublime a Head [Jesus Christ], are filled with one divine Spirit [the Holy Spirit], and finally, are nourished in this earthly exile with one doctrine and one same heavenly Bread until we are permitted to share the one eternal beatitude in heaven” (Mystici Corporis). Let us love the Church, “the most perfect Image of Christ ” (ibid.); let us love the Church, the most pure Spouse of Christ and our Mother; and as He loved her whom “ He hath purchased with His own Blood” (Acts 20,28), so let us love her with a true spirit of obedience and filial devotion, offering ourselves completely to serve, glorify and defend her.


COLLOQUY

“O Christ, our Lord, You have transmitted to Your Church the sovereign power which You have received. By virtue of Your dignity, You have made her Queen and Spouse. You have given her supreme power over the entire universe. You have commanded all men to submit to her judgment. She is the Mother of all the living, and her dignity increases with the number of her children.

“Every day she gives birth to new children by the operation of the Holy Spirit. As a vine, her branches cover the whole world. Her boughs are upheld by the wood of the Cross and they reach up to the Kingdom of heaven.

“Your Church, O Christ, is a strong city built on a mountain, visible to all and enlightening all. You are her Founder and fore most Citizen, O Jesus Christ, Son of God and our Lord.

“We beseech You, eternal King of souls, Christ our Lord, stretch Your omnipotent Hands over Your holy Church and the holy people who belong to You; defend them, guard them, preserve them; combat, challenge, subdue all their enemies.

“May Your Church always remain pure and living! May she chant Your praises under the guidance of the holy angels! We pray to You for all her members; grant them pardon and remission of all their sins; grant that they may sin no more. Be their defense; take away from them all temptation. Have pity on men, women, and children; reveal Yourself to all, and let the knowledge of Your Holy Name be written in their hearts ” (from an ancient Liturgy).

68. THE PRIESTHOOD

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, give to Your Church many holy priests.


MEDITATION

1. The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is not to be regarded merely as a spiritual institution which can be neither touched nor seen; it is a concrete organism which is visible in its members, the faithful, who are joined together under the leadership of their pastors. “For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office ” (Rom 12,4), so in the Church there are members of diverse importance, having various functions: there are the faithful and there are the shepherds, the priests appointed by Christ to guide souls. To state that Jesus sanctifies and governs us by means of the Church, is to say that He sanctifies and governs us by means of the Bishops and the Pope. Jesus has placed all the powers given to His Church in the hands of the priests, who have been chosen by Him from among the people to become His ministers. “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you” (Jn 20,21); “He that heareth you, heareth Me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Lk 10,16). The priestly dignity depends upon this investiture by Christ, this appointment as His representative and minister. Priests must be thoroughly aware of the great dignity of their call if they wish to live at the height of their vocation. “They must be holy, says St. Pius X, because they are the friends and representatives of a holy God.”

The faithful on their part should see and venerate Christ Himself in their priests. St. Paul, writing to the Christians of Corinth, gave them the exact meaning of his priestly authority: “ For Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors, God, as it were, exhorting by us” (2 Cor 5,20). And St. Catherine of Siena cautioned her disciples to see priests only as “the dispensers of the Blood of the humble, Immaculate Lamb” and to overlook the faults which they might notice in them. A priest is a man, and therefore always remains fallible and capable of making mistakes, but this does not prevent him from being the Anointed of the Lord, marked forever with an indelible sign and having the power to consecrate the Body of Christ, to administer the sacraments, and to preach to the people in the name of God.


2. Without the priesthood we would be deprived of the Holy Eucharist; we would never have the consolation of hearing, in the name of God, “Thy sins are forgiven thee ” (Mt 9,2). If there were no priests, the churches would be deserted, schools would become secularized, there would be no nuptial blessings, the dying would be deprived of final consolation, children would be abandoned to evil; all men would become totally immersed in misery, with no one to raise them up and lead them to God, with no one to pray to Him in their name and for their welfare. But Jesus, the sole Mediator between God and man, willed to institute the priesthood to perpetuate among us, in a visible manner, His work of mediation, salvation, and sanctification. The priest accompanies us at every step of our life. Soon after our birth, he welcomes us at the baptismal font; he administers the Sacraments to us, He helps us to understand divine truths, he shows us how to lead a good life, blesses our efforts, sustains our footsteps, and strengthens us in our last agony. He often works unseen and unknown, misunderstood, never sufficiently appreciated; yet his apostolic work is priceless, indispensable. Every Christian ought to be grateful for the gift of the priesthood: in the first place, we should be grateful to Jesus who instituted it, and then to those who perform its sublime duties. We must express this gratitude, not only by showing reverent respect and filial docility to God’s ministers, but also by assiduously offering our prayers and good works for priestly vocations. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest” (ibid. 9,38). “What prayer,” comments Pius XI, “can be more pleasing to the Sacred Heart of the Redeemer?... Ask, and it shall be given to you: ask for good, holy priests, and the Lord will not refuse to send them to His Church” (Ad Catholici Sacerdotii). To our prayers we must add good works “ to awaken, foster and help vocations to the priesthood” (ibid.). Blessed are the families that have had the honor of giving a priest to God; blessed are all those who by their prayers, sacrifices, and good works help in the formation of holy priests!


COLLOQUY

“Lord, do not look upon my sins, but hear Your servant through the mercy of Your inestimable charity. You did not leave us orphans when You departed from us, but You left us Your Vicar and Your ministers to baptize us in the Holy Spirit. By Your sacred power, they cleanse our souls from sin, not once, but again and again.

“O eternal Mercy, grant that Your Vicar and Your ministers may hunger for souls, may burn with an ardent desire for glory, and in all things seek You alone, O supreme, eternal Goodness.

“Sanctify these Your servants, O eternal God, that they may follow You alone, in simplicity of heart and with a perfect will; look not upon my wretchedness, but receive my prayer and establish them in Your will.

“O eternal God, I know that Your arm is powerful and strong, that it will deliver the Church and Your people, rescue them from the hands of the demon, and put an end to persecution. I know that the Wisdom of Your Son, who is one with You, can illumine our intellects and scatter the clouds which hover around Your dear Spouse, the Church.

“Then, eternal Father, I beg and implore Your power, the Wisdom of Your only-begotten Son and the clemency of the Holy Spirit, abyss and fire of charity, to show mercy to the world and restore the warmth of charity so that peace and union may reign in the holy Church. Alas, I do not want to wait any longer : I pray that Your infinite goodness may constrain You not to close the eye of Your mercy on Your holy Spouse, O sweet Jesus, Jesus-love ” (St. Catherine of Siena).

69. THE SACRAMENTS

PRESENCE OF GOD - Grant, O Lord, that the grace You give me so generously may not be given in vain.


MEDITATION

1. Just as the human body is endowed with organs capable of “ providing for the life, health, and development of each of its members, so the Savior of the human race... has provided in a marvelous way for His Mystical Body, endowing it with the Sacraments, so that by so many consecutive, graduated graces, as it were, its members should be supported from the cradle to life's last breath” (Mystici Corporis). The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is a living organism possessing elements which are capable of propagating, conserving, and nourishing life in all her members. This vital force emanates from her divine Head and is the fruit of the grace merited for Her by this most loving Redeemer when He died on the Cross, that grace which He still diffuses in all His members by means of the Sacraments. In fact, “when the Church administers the Sacraments by means of exterior rites, it is He who produces their interior effect” (ibid.). Jesus is the author of grace and has complete dominion over it; He created it as God, merited it as Man, and can dispense it as He wills and to whom He wills, even without the medium of the Sacraments. However, He ordinarily communicates grace to us through these sensible signs which He Himself has instituted, thus giving us greater assurance of having received it.

But we must not forget that, if the exterior rite is indispensable for the reception of the corresponding grace, this grace is always produced by Jesus, who, in cooperation with His ministers, intervenes with His sanctifying power each time a Sacrament is administered. ‘This shows the deep, inseparable union between Jesus and His Church. He wills to make use of her exterior acts in sanctifying souls, but He reserves for Himself the power to vivify these acts and make them effective. When we receive a Sacrament, it is not the priest alone who is attending to the good of our soul, but with him is Jesus, whose all-powerful action penetrates and vivifies the inmost fibers of our spirit. This is why the Sacraments, when administered to those who are capable of receiving them, have of themselves an infallible efficacy: in them is the action of God Himself.


2. The Sacraments act ex opere operato, that is, they always give the grace that corresponds to the outward sign, for it is Christ by His all-powerful action who is producing it in them. This is the profound motive for the great esteem and respect which we should have for the Sacraments.

The frequency and ease with which we can receive certain Sacraments often make us approach them with negligence, inattentiveness, or even with that superficiality with which we treat things of little value. This attitude is the result of a lack of right knowledge and appreciation, and a weak spirit of faith. How necessary it is to awaken and revive our faith, to place ourselves actually and sincerely in the presence of God in order to open our souls to His action! When we approach a Sacrament, we are approaching Christ; we are putting ourselves in contact with Him to receive the effusion of His grace, to welcome a renewed communication of His divine life. “It is true,” Pius XII teaches, “that the Sacraments have an intrinsic power, inasmuch as they are the acts of Christ Himself who communicates and diffuses grace from the divine Head to the members of the Mystical Body; but to have their due efficacy, they require good dispositions in our souls” (Mediator Dei).

In other words, every time we approach a Sacrament, Jesus infallibly offers us the gift of His grace, but the Sacrament will produce its sanctifying effect only in proportion to the intensity of our good dispositions. Just as the very best seed, sown in uncultivated ground, brings forth little or no fruit, so divine grace, although in itself sanctifying, fructifies in us only in the measure of our good will. Oh! how Jesus desires that His grace, so generously given by means of the Sacraments, should find our hearts well disposed, open to His coming, docile to His action!

Zach Sacrament brings us a gift of sanctifying grace, either an initial grace or an increase of grace; in addition it offers us the sacramental grace which is proper to it alone. Thus God puts at our disposal His immense riches — immeasurable possibilities of sanctity. Let us endeavor with all our strength that such great gifts may not be given in vain.


COLLOQUY

“© eternal Word made flesh, You have given us the Sacraments endowed with the virtue of Your Blood and Your Passion. Through them our souls are bathed in Your Blood, nourished by Your Blood.

“Your Sacred Side is the fount of water and of Blood, from which flow the waters of Baptism and the Blood of the Sacraments. We are bathed in the waters of this fountain when we receive holy Baptism, which enables us to glorify God and receive His gifts. We drink the Blood from this fountain when we receive the sacraments, especially Penance and the Sacrament of the Altar, by which the soul is fed and nourished, taking refuge, O Christ, in the fount of Your Sacred Side.

“Oh! how great is the dignity of priests! They are the ministers of this fount, they bathe us in the water of Baptism and then nourish us with Your Blood! Oh! how great is their dignity! They are, O Lord, Your secretaries and treasurers, for in transmitting Your word to us, they reveal Your secrets and, in administering the Sacraments, they give us Your treasures” (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

“O good, sweet Jesus! Father of lights, from whom every perfect gift proceeds, look upon us with mercy, upon us who know You, who truly understand that we can do nothing without You. You gave Yourself as the price of our redemption. Although we are unworthy of such a precious gift, grant that we may correspond with Your grace entirely, perfectly, and in all things, so that, being conformed to the likeness of Your Passion, we may recover what we have lost by sin, the likeness of Your divinity ” (St. Bonaventure).