CAPG's Blog 

A priest is not one merely chosen to read public prayers, or preach, or take a leading part in local good works. No sacramental symbol is required to enable a man to discharge these offices. The main function of the priest is to sacrifice; and, in the new law, to absolve from sin. Divine service is not necessarily Divine sacrifice. The rite of sacrifice, as essential, indeed , the main central act of worship, can never perish from the earth, not a priesthood to offer it. Forms, rites and ceremonies may change - not the priestly offering.

The abrogation of the sacrifices of the old law was only the introduction of the one majestic sacrifice of the new, still carried on in the Mass, and offered daily by the new priesthood " from the rising to the setting sun."

 There is, and was, only one sacrifice worthy of God, and adequate to atone for sin - that of Christ on Calvary. That one sacrifice is still offered in an un-bloody manner in the Mass by the visible priesthood, representing and sharing in the power of our one invisible High Priest, Christ. Mystic powers are conveyed in Holy Orders, the chief of which is the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross, "Do this in commemoration of me." This command to sacrifice, i.e., offer Christ's precious Body and Blood, the Church faithfully carries out through her priests. The Victim is the same, the priest the same, Jesus Christ, speaking through His priest, the manner only differs.

The Mass is the Sun of Divine worship. It sums up in solemn splendor and spiritual beauty all other outward forms of sacrifice. We may say, in a reverent sense, that the old and new law survive in the Mass. Nature, in the form of grape and wheat, all that men can bring in the way of art, and wealth, and taste, flowers,a nd music, and, on occasions, majestic rites, are embodied in the great Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass. All men's gifts to God circle round the altar, or are collected in the church, where holy Mass is offered by the priest, "first for his own sins, then for the people's" (Heb. VII, 27). The Mass is the one changeless Sacrifice of the Cross, offered up all the world over, to the quick and the dead.

Source: Holy Orders, by the Rev. William Graham. A Pulpit Commentary on Catholic Teaching: The liturgy of the ecclesiastical year. 1910

The priesthood is a supernatural institution, charged, from the time He was promised to the world, with representing Christ: with figuring Him and prophesying Him before His coming, with continuing Him, serving as His instrument and organ since His advent; and as human paternity reminds us of the Divine paternity; as the regal office among men shadows forth the sovereignty of God; as the idea of sacrifice is explained by that of sin and expiation, so does the priesthood presuppose and show forth not Christ only, but the whole of Christianity which is summed up therein.

Source: Catholic Doctrine as defined by the Council of Trent by the Rev. A. Nampon, S.J.

To what shall we attribute the absence of vocations to the priesthood, of which we are compelled to make complaint? It the cause in the absence of vigorous Catholic faith - a faith grasping in its narrow range of vision the fullness of the responsibilities that a plenary loyalty to the Savior imposes upon His followers - a faith prompt to the call of those responsibilities, ready in generosity of soul and willingness of sacrifice to obey their every behest?
At first sight, this, I confess, would seem to be the cause. Where Catholic faith reigns supreme, youths not the few there should be to rise in aspiration and self-consecration to the mountain-tops where the rays of the supernatural shine the brightest and unfold in clearest light the splendors of divine life. Youths not the few there should be to instantly answer the call from on high: "Speak, O Lord, for Thy servant heareth Thee. " The call from on high is surely spoken, since it is His will that the Church be supplied with priests, and His call it to the whole Church. To every land, in every diocese, to every parish the word is said, once said to Simon and Andrew - "Come follow me." Now, where this call is the voice crying in the wilderness, should we not be tempted to believe that there something is awry, that their Catholic faith is somewhat weak and timid? In an army of soldiers the general level is low, where all clamor to be led, where none are willing to lead, where none spring to battle, so soon as the commander speaks, and rush to the heights of valor and sacrifice.
Given the community of Catholics, which seldom or never makes offering of a candidate to the priesthood - given the diocese, unable to supply itself out of its own bosom with a full legion of priest - what the verdict it at once suggests!

Is it not this - that faith there is weak, unable to do more than hold its life, without ever bursting forth into luxuriant leaf or blossom? Is it not this - that the soil, into which the divine word is cast, is wanting in native nutriment, or is without that art of cultivation which not only begets the common crop of plant and shrub, but, now and then, here and there, bids upward the tall tree, the fragrant rose-bush, where with to adorn the landscape and cause the passerby to pause and be gladdened?

The cause is this - people  and priests have not been asked to advert to the problem confronting us, have not been made to understand its bearings and the obligations it imposes. A trumpet sound is in order to re-echo far and wide, proclaiming needs and duties, summoning priests and people to the charge to the work, which once seen will surely be done.

 Source: The Maine Catholic  Historical Magazine

We become so accustomed to rejoicing in the many accessions daily coming into the Church from
 among the well disposed who are ever seeking that peace and contentment, that tranquility of life
 which the possession of the true faith alone can give, that we not un-frequently lose sight of the losses
incurred by the Church through the negligence of those who once claimed the honor of membership in
 her fold. Nothing is perhaps sadder than to unravel the history of a Catholic who has been unfaithful to
 his great trust, for it is then that the results which might have been, dawn on us, and we see how utterly
impossible it is to repair the loss.

Just to illustrate: A few years ago, a lady well along in years came to see a priest about being received
 into the Catholic church which her mother had left on the occasion of her marriage. She told the priest
that she was one of seven children, four of whom had married and had become the parents of twenty-four children.

"Your mother, then," rejoined the priest, "was responsible for the loss of her own seven and in all probability
 of her twenty-four grandchildren, making in all a known loss of 31 members suffered by the church, through
 her defection."

Like many another weak and careless mortal, she had gone on through life, unconscious of the havoc her
defection had wrought in the Lord's fold, or unmindful of the awful responsibility laid upon her, and the great,
 untold, immeasurable damage for which she would one day have to answer. The fact is real: it is only one
of the many which almost constantly come to the experience of a priest on the missions: and while from his
 heart he may deplore and pray for the wandering member of the House of Israel, he must leave to the
 recording angel the sad task of summing up the souls thereby lost to God's eternal kingdom.

Source: Maine Catholic Historical Magazine, 1916

The confessor is forbidden under grave penalties ever to betray by word, sign, or in any other way, what he has heard in Sacramental confession. The obligation of the seal of confession differs from all other secrets, in that it is never lawful under any circumstances to make known the least thing that has been manifested by a penitent in confession. If questioned about confessional matter, even in a court of justice, the priest must always answer that he knows nothing about it, as with perfect truth he may do, for what he knows as a confessor he knows as the Vicegerent of God, not as man.

We do not deny the force of prayer. We feel it. We acknowledge it. We grant it in all its fullness. But we have no time.

What! Christian soul; you have no time to pray!

You are naked, and blind, and deaf and weak, and have no time to pray! Your soul is naked of God's grace;
it is blind to His light; it is deaf to His whispering; it is weak and faint, and yet you have no time to pray.
If your body were naked, would you have no time, think you, to seek wherewith to clothe it?
 If your eyes were blind and could be restored to sight for the asking, would you have no time to ask?
 If your ears were deaf and could receive their hearing by knocking, would you have no time to knock?
Take care soul, take care. Search your heart more searchingly, and you will find that it is not time that you have not;
 it is the inclination, and you have not the inclination because you have not the faith. You have time for your friends,
 but because God is not on your list of friends, you have no time for Him. You have had no introduction.
 You have time for your farms, for your oxen, for your household, for your secular business, nay, even for every
 frivolous amusement; but for God's farm you have "no time;" for God's household you have "no time;"
for the business of God's eternity you have "no time."
Where is your faith, O naked one! O blind one! 0 deaf one! O preoccupied one! This man has had time to make
 himself a judge, a lawyer, a merchant, a millionaire, and has not had time to be a Christian. All have time to take
 their meals. However busy, however pressed, they find time to get them at stated hours, or failing that, they find
 some other time for them. Their meals never fail them. But for their spiritual meals, no time; for their soul's
 nourishment, no time. One-third of life is spent in sleep, and yet we have no time for spiritual repose.
 In a word, for temporal things we have time and to spare, for spiritual things no time.

Beware; this no time drags thousands down to a miserable eternity. Correct this irregularity; in God's August Name
 correct it. If you have every day a certain time set apart for sleep, for meals, for business, for amusements,
have also some time at least for prayer. I am not now speaking of morning and evening prayer. A man need
only be half a Christian to say them. I speak of a time wherein to place yourself daily at God's feet, as did the
 Magdalene, there to talk with Him, to open your hearts to Him; to tell Him your wants, your hopes, your aspirations
 For some short time at least be Mary, if all the rest of the time you are obliged to be Martha. "I have lifted up
my eyes to the mountain whence help shall come. He will not sleep, nor does He sleep. Who keepeth Israel."
 And I do not want you to speak in set phrase from a book. Speak from your heart as to a loving father.
 He bids you call Him Father. Open everything, conceal nothing; He knows everything beforehand; He waits
 only for the asking; and when you ask, ask in groans and sighs. Take a lesson from the worldling.
For what does the worldling groan? For that he is miserable after so many vain efforts to be happy.
Why does he sigh? Because the pleasures and riches and honors of this life fly before him like a butterfly,
no matter how fast he runs.

During your short time of prayer (the shorter the more fervid,) do you likewise sigh and mourn as the worlding
does, but let it be for spiritual things, not temporal ones. Groan for the miserable failure through human weakness
 of your efforts for spiritual advancement. Sigh for the riches and honors of Heaven; groan and sigh thus, and He
Who has said, "Ask and you shall receive," will not desert you. It is want of faith that leaves prayer so distasteful
 to us. If we could catch but one glimpse of Heaven—if we could hear but one phrase of Heaven's melody—
if we could feel but one thrill of Heaven's joys, we should need no urging; our prayer would be spontaneous, gushing,
overflowing. Gold represents everything which men call precious, i.e everything “buyable”, and what is there which
cannot be bought?

It is said that even the most high toned and honorable men have their price. It may indeed take more to buy men of
coarser mold, but still they are to be bought. Now if you had promised you a mountain of this gold, which buys
everything, even to high-toned and honorable men; if this mountain was promised for the asking—or even if it were
promised you for the fetching—or even if it might be yours by force of arms, would you have no time to ask? Would
you have no time to beat up recruits, to buy ammunition, and go to the fighting? And yet what comparison between
 this mountain of gold and the Heaven of eternity? Your mountain of gold, however high, however wide, however deep,
 with the heavens and the earth, will pass away; but the Heaven of eternity never. And yet you would prefer the gold,
 O ye of little faith, and have no time to obtain Heaven by the asking. You have not the intelligence of the tramp,
 low down in the social scale as he is. Give him three pence and he will be with you on the morrow, or if he be not,
 his friend will for him; and when all his friends are exhausted he will have put up a mark on your gate posts to guide
 others to your bounty. You have not the instinct of the robin. Give it a crumb or a small worm and it will be with you
 on the morrow and on the morrow's morrow to the end of time. Your Heavenly Father offers you treasures untold
for the asking. He asks you to ask, and you have no time, O ye of little faith! The tramp will walk miles to gain
your three pence for the asking; the robin will wait at your window by the hour for your crumb; but you have no time.
You have not the intelligence of the tramp, Christian soul. You have not the instinct of the robin, O ye of little faith.
 The wisdom of the nations is crystallized in the proverb, "Where there is the will there is the way." And there is
 the will, Christian soul, where there is faith.

Source: Norbertine Fathers, 1896 (page 93, Annals of St. Joseph, Volumes 8-10)

Priests are advised to recite, before the celebration of Mass, some certain prayers in honor of St. Joseph. Pope Pius IX., who declared St. Joseph the Patron of the universal Church, has indulgenced them. Who does not know those beautiful anthems: O felicem virum beatum Joseph and the Virginum custos et pater, Sancte Joseph?

It is prompted by these beautiful anthems that I propose a brief sketch of a fruitful meditation.

First. St. Joseph, by divine election became the foster-father of the Infant Jesus as he was also the spouse of the Blessed Mother of God. All honors due him on account of the exalted position thus held and the privileges he enjoyed, come vividly before our mind, when we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament. Pondering over them we feel inclined to asked our Lord in the Sacred Host to bless us for the sake of St. Joseph; and assurance comes to us that our humble petition will be listened to. Let us remind Jesus of what the loving foster father has done for Him in his mortal life, and feel assured that St. Joseph's advocacy will be most powerful.

Second. Who has such weighty reasons to put his trust in the prayers and intercession of St. Joseph as has the Catholic priest? What St. Joseph was to our Lord in the days of His infancy on earth, that the priest is to Jesus when ministering to Him at the altar. Helpless and in the state of utmost destitution, our Sacramental Lord craves for that kind care and solicitude which he once enjoyed at the hands of His beloved foster-father. Often the priest is in no better way of finding shelter for Jesus in the Holy Sacrament than St. Joseph was, when, after a vain search for a suitable dwelling, he, at last, betook himself to a lonely stable as a resting place for the Savior to be born. And is the priest not glad, when, to such a humble abode as he may have found, the faithful come, like the shepherds of Bethlehem and the three wise men, to adore the Lord of hosts seated on a throne void of all ornaments? St. Joseph's joy is his.

Did you ever witness the care and labor of the priest in his endeavors for the construction and embellishment of a church which was to serve as the abode of the Sacramental Lord, without being reminded of St. Joseph, who labored in the sweat of his brow for the beloved Infant? Deep is the grief and unspeakable the agony, which the faithful priest experiences, when profanation threatens the Sacred Host, or when the Holy Sacrament is snatched away by an unworthy communicant and forced into the dark dungeon of a sinner's heart, or even of a God-forsaken sacrilegious priest. Then it is, that you behold St. Joseph portrayed in his anguish of heart in his flight into Egypt, to save his beloved child from the ruthless hand of Herod and his cruel soldiers. St. Joseph was the first guardian of Jesus, but we priests have received from God the guardianship of Jesus living, but persecuted and treated contumeliously in the Blessed Sacrament.

Third. Compare, if you will, the privileges St. Joseph enjoyed, with those of the priest. Is it not as if you saw the Holy Patriarch appearing amongst us, his countenance beaming with delight as he embraced the Infant with tender affection, clasping Him to his bosom, carrying Him on his arms, leading Him by the hand, working ceaselessly for his honored charge, listening to His sweet voice? Is it not so to you, I say, when you behold the priest ministering to the King of hosts in the Holy Sacrament? O priest of God, do not envy St. Joseph, but rather congratulate yourself and break forth into transports of joy, recalling the words of the holy canticle: Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est. For, you also touch the body of the Lord; you carry Him on your heart when on your way to the sick to administer to them Holy Communion and Viaticum; you more than press Him to your bosom at Holy Communion. He obeys you with the same willingness and promptness as He did His foster-father. And were you only to listen to his holy inspirations, when communing with Him, joy and consolation would be yours, as was the sweet portion of St. Joseph in his intercourse with the Divine Infant.

Fourth. Is the office of the priest in its holiest moments not similar to that of St. Joseph? and do not the highest privileges of both blend, indeed, in a most perfect manner? If so, what is the natural inference to be drawn from such a comparison? Oh! the minister of the sanctuary should strive to imitate the most conspicuous virtues of that exalted saint. By so doing, he would ennoble his life and draw from his holy functions perennial streams of genuine happiness, and blessings abundant for himself and for those confided to his care.

But what are the most conspicuous characteristics of St. Joseph, worthy to be acquired by every priest? None other than his astounding humility and his spotless virginity. Though of little account in the estimation of the world, they were the foundation of his exalted dignity. His royal crown could not have been devoid of these two ornaments. The humility of St. Joseph and his marvelous chastity were, so to speak, the frame-work on which was to rest his dignity as the father of Jesus and the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So with the priest. Humility and chastity are the jewels of the Catholic priesthood. No priest will be honored by God, nor will he have honor before men, if he doesn't appear wrapped in the royal mantle of humanity and chastity. O priest of God, take St. Joseph for your model and flee pride and sensuality; if you do not, the royal robe of your priesthood will fall into shreds, the crown of your dignity will lose its luster and the scepter of your authority will be broken in your hands. Contemplate, admirare, imitare, Quando litas precans ad altare, Fungens Sancti Joseph opere, et beare.

Source: Annals of St. Joseph, Norbertine Fathers, 1896 Vol. 8-10

"It is not necessary", said the Curé, "to talk so much in order to pray well. We know that our good God is there in the tabernacle; we open our heart to Him; we are happy at being in His presence: that is the best sort of Prayer."

Source: The Dublin Review: A Quarterly and Critical Journal. p354

I implore you, in God’s name, and all the more because of the events. full of sorrow and of shame to Christian men, which have crowded so thick upon us of late that, with all your heart and will, and all the weight of your soul, you cast yourselves on God. He alone can save. Use all your influence with those around you, in your homes, your households, your friendships; and if you have public influence, public trust, public authority, strive that all who bear responsibility shall cast themselves on God, as the only hope for society and for the people.

Do you want to see what man without God can do?

Read the history of the last eighty years in Paris.

You have there one simple phenomenon—generation rising after generation without God in the world.

And why? Because without Christian education. First, an atheistical revolution; next, an empire penetrated through and through with a mocking philosophy and a reckless indifferentism; afterward came Governments, changed in name and in form, but not in practice nor in spirit. The Church, trammeled by protection, its spiritual action faint and paralyzed, could not penetrate the masses of the people, nor form the rising youth. It labored fervently; its sons fought nobly for Christian freedom; thousands were saved; but for eighty years the mass of men has grown up without God and without Christ in the world. My whole soul pities them. These out bursts of horror, strife, outrage, sacrilege, bloodshed, are the harvest reaped from the rank soil in which such seed was cast. All this is true.

But how did souls created to the image of God grow up in such a state? They were robbed : robbed before they were born, robbed of their inheritance, and reared up in an education without Christianity.

Let this be a warning to ourselves. We are on the turn of the tide. A few active, busy, confident, and eloquent men were a year ago carrying us away with theories of State education without religion. We were told that a child might be taught to read and to write and to spell and to sum without Christianity. Who denies it? But what does this make of them? To what would they grow up? The formation of the will and heart and character, the formation of a man, is education, and not the reading and the writing and the spelling and the summing. For fifteen hundred years, Christians served God and loved man, before as yet they received this cultivation; and we, because we have it profusely; we are forgetting the deeper and diviner lessons. (...)

In God’s name, stand fast, and save it. I can add no more. Do not be afraid, if you find yourselves in the minority. “ Woe to you when men shall bless you " You must be censured if you are the disciples of Jesus Christ. The world that hated Him will not love you. “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master. and the servant as his lord ." “ If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household ? " And therefore, if you have the mark of the world's hatred upon you, accept it; press it to your bosom. It is the token that you are the disciples of the true and only Master. If you have the world’s favor and sunshine, look to yourselves. There is a dark future before the world. What it may be, God alone knows.

The Church will have to suffer; but there is a light upon it, and that light can never fade. We are in evil times, marked deeply by the four great evils of which I have spoken. Around us are “evil men and seducers, who grow worse and worse, erring, and driving into error.” “ Many shall come in my name," our Lord has said, “and seduce many "; and because of their iniquity the love and the charity of the many shall wax cold. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be wars and pestilences in many places. But the end is not yet. This is only the beginning of troubles. Keep close to the footsteps of the Master who spoke those words; and, when these signs are in the sky and upon the earth, remember that He also said, “ When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption is at hand."

 Source: Cardinal Manning ( Our Faith and Belief: A Carefully Selected Compilation from Great Writers, Essayists and Lecturers Among the Prelates, Priests and Laymen of the Catholic Church, on All Important Subjects of Our Holy Faith and Catholic Belief. 1917)