CAPG's Blog 

The Catholic Church never changes. 

As her divine Founder is unchangeable, so His Church remains ever the same.

"Is there then to be no progress in the Catholic Church?a learned monk of the fifth century asks. He gives himself the correct answer: "God forbid! Only it must be progress, not alteration in the faith. The idea of progress is growth in identity; alteration means a change from one thing to another. May the whole Church, and each one of the faithful, grow in wisdom and knowledge; not altering, but advancing in the same doctrine, mind, and faith. The doctrines of the divine philosophy of Christianity may be developed, defines, and perfected, but they cannot be altered, diminished, or mutilated without sin. They may, indeed, gain additional proof, light, and definiteness, but to do so they must retain their fullness, integrity, and essence." ( Vincent of Lerins).

With this answer in mind, we shall be able to distinguish between true and false progress, between reality and sham. Growth in wisdom and knowledge, while preserving the identity of truth; advancement in doctrine, mind, and faith; development of Christian philosophy by looking for additional proofs, light, and definiteness - here is what we understand by progress.

Away with your hazy definitions and foggy notions, ye philosophers of the "unknowable,"  ye advocates of "modern" progress! Away with your lying ideals of intellectual advancement, your will-o'-the-wisps of moral and temporal progress! You maliciously accuse the Catholic Church of being the enemy of all progress, while you attempt to reduce mankind to the abominable condition of paganism. Where do you find real progress outside the Catholic Church? Accumulation of wealth or centralization of power under a tyrant is not progress.

The Church encourages not only spiritual progress, but temporal prosperity like-wise. The highest spiritual aims do not interfere with industrial and material prosperity. Look at the history of the Church. "There grew up under the shadow of her mighty Cathedrals those centres of commerce, each one a very forest of towers and spires, palaces, with whose magnificence the residences of no modern millionaires can compare." (Hettinger).

 All the marvels of medieval art, of which only a few memorials remain, were wrought not by the toil of the overcrowded, destitute poor, as is now so often the case, but the humblest as well as the highest shared in the splendor of commercial prosperity. The grand market-places and spacious halls of commerce in Belgium tell us of the material progress that has lasted for centuries and is evident at the present time among a thoroughly Catholic nation. The gorgeous halls of that solid building now used as the University of Louvain was once the place of assembly for the guild of the wool-merchants when religion flourished most in Belgium. Progress, moral and material, follows the steps of the Church. Wherever and whenever the Catholic Church freely exercises her glorious mission, unfettered by temporal governments and secret societies, there true progress flourishes, and peace and prosperity abound.

Source: Spiritual Pepper and Salt for Catholic and non-Catholics, by Bishop William Stang

He was baptized and became a member of the Catholic Church. He was instructed in the faith of Christ. His parents gave him a sound Catholic education; he was frequently nurtured by the holy sacraments. He looked upon Mary as his loving mother and he felt happy in the company of angels and saints. But - oh the dreadful change! - he now spurns the doctrine of the Church, he laughs at believers, he ridicules religious practices, he considers all priests consummate hypocrites, he scorns the ignorance and credulity of simple people.

What has brought about this radical revolution?

He says he has examined things for himself, he has investigated matters thoroughly, he has read, studied, and weighed arguments, and he has come to the conclusion that religion is an imposition.

He lies.

He has examined nothing for himself; he has neither time nor talents for deep study. He has never been able and will never be able to read the product of our master-minds, the great works of our Christian philosophers and Catholic Theologians. If he had studied and reflected, he would not give knowledge as a cause of unbelief; for knowledge leads to religion. He may deceive children with his clatter of speech and his air of wisdom; he cannot thus cheat a sensible man.

Come, and I will show you why you lost your faith. Your pretended infidelity is nothing but the corruption of your wicked heart. You have fallen intellectually, because you have sinned against the light, and now spiritual darkness lies heavy upon you. You boast of it, - boast of your shame and degradation! I never met a turn-coat of this type who was sober, just, and chaste. I never heard of good men falling away from the Church, but I have often heard of good men coming into the Church.

Bergier, who lived in the midst of the famous French infidels and read all their works, affirms that their infidelity had no other source than licentiousness and the unbridled sway of their passions. The royal protégé of Frederic II, the arch-infidel Voltaire, was no exception. The king wrote of him to Dargot: "Voltaire behaved here like a consummate scoundrel and cheat. He is a wretch...the most wicked fool I have ever known. You cannot imagine what duplicity, cheating, and villainy he practiced here."

Passions cause men to lose the light of faith. "Every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved." (St. John iii, 20). The great St. Augustine traces all intellectual errors to moral errors: "All error is, in a certain sense, founded on sin." And the distinguished theologian Suarez writes: "Sin alone deceives the soul when, after deserting and despising the truth, it seeks to find what is true."

He who had the true faith and lost it, has lost all, and deserves our pity.

Source: Pepper and Salt for Catholics and non-Catholic By Bishop William Stang

Be most devoted to hearing confessions, regarding this function as one of the chief duties of the priest and as a most necessary most powerful and most effective means of cooperating with God in the Salvation of Souls.

Take great care not to violate the command of our Divine Master, namely: "Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine" (Matt. 7, 6). Let no unworthy person, no public sinner approach the holy table; withhold absolution from those unworthy of it, particularly those who persist in living in the proximate occasion of sin or constitute themselves such occasions for others; those, too, who live at enmity with their fellow men, refusing all attempts at reconciliation; those who remain constantly in the state of mortal sin without purpose or desire of amendment.

Be solicitous for the sanctity of the Sacrament of Matrimony, being particularly careful that none shall enter that holy state unless they are free from all canonical impediments and are thoroughly familiar with the obligations of marriage as well as its rights.

Regarding the Sacrament of Baptism, likewise be on guard against permitting unworthy godparents to assume the duties of sponsors, for these spiritual fathers and mothers cannot discharge the duties of their high office unless they are properly instructed and fitted for the task.

Be diligent in your care of the church, the cemetery and all places set aside for the service of God. Let all appointments reflect the sanctity that must characterize a consecrated environment. Everything should be neat and clean and in good order, especially the objects inside the Sanctuary. There the Great King should be served and honored with a dignity and excellence befitting His exalted position; there above all else the sacraments should be administered with the most exacting care; there the Divine Office should be recited with gravity and devotion, and every ceremony carried out with grace and dignity. The House of God should be a place where the worshiper conducts himself with modesty, respect and appreciation of the Real Presence.

Cherish and ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and her holy spouse, St. Joseph, and endeavor to implant it also in the lives of those under your charge. Likewise impress upon your congregation the necessity of honoring the patron saints of the diocese and of the parish. Have a special devotion to all holy Pontiffs, Priests, and Levites. Let it be felt that the observance of their feast days is actually the celebration of our own brothers and fathers: Filii Sanctorum sumus. (Tob. 2, 18).

Source:The Priest His Dignity And Obligations by St John Eudes

0 great saints, chosen from all eternity by Jesus Christ, the Saint of saints, to be clothed in an especial manner with His admirable sanctity; glorious priests selected from thousands of men by Jesus, the Supreme High Priest, to be His associates in the Divine Priesthood, prostrate at your feet with all respect and humility I salute you!

I honor you by every means in my power as my masters and spiritual fathers, as shining lights in the firmament of the Church, as true shepherds of the flock of Christ, as oracles of the Eternal Word, as prophets of His holy teaching, as chiefs in the celestial militia, as captains of the army of the Great King, as princes of His realm, as kings of His empire.

I revere you as members of the greatest and most dignified order in heaven and on earth, the Eternal Priesthood, founded and established by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I hail you as the solid pillars supporting Mother Church, as the unshakable foundation of the house of God. I respect you as custodians of the keys of heaven, as cherubim stationed with flaming swords at the gates of paradise to prevent the unworthy and profane from entering its portals. I see in you living and perfect images of the Sovereign Priest, Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, with whom you are one, being clothed with the very Priesthood conferred upon Him by His Eternal Father, and one with Him as all members are one with their head.

With all my heart I thank God for having elevated you to the highest dignity in his heavenly kingdom and in the family of His Divine Son. I rejoice that you are now crowned with glory and happiness, commensurate with the loftiness of your priestly dignity.

From my innermost soul I thank you for the heroic service you have rendered here on earth to our Divine Master and to His Holy Church, by the faithful discharge of your sacerdotal duties, and for the glory you have rendered God in time and eternity.

Who can tell the ardor of the love for Holy Mother Church which consumed you? Who can ever express in words the vigilance and zeal with which you labored in her interests? You realize now more than ever her great need in our materialistic age for priests who will follow in your footsteps, imitating your virtue and holiness. You understand how true is the saying of the Eternal Truth Himself that the harvest is great but the laborers few.

Permit me to address to you the prayer that Our Lord and Savior recommended to all His children: "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest (Matt. 9, 38). But pray that He send workers "approved unto God"(2 Tim. 2, 15), workers seeking not their own interests, but having as their only goal the glory of the Master and the salvation of the souls which He purchased with the shedding of His Precious Blood. Pray that He may send to His Church priests after His own heart, who will walk the same road you trod while you were on earth.

O saintly priests, you know full well the importance and necessity of having holy priests in the Church of Christ. It is the most ardent longing of all true Christians who are animated with the love of God and the zeal for His Church.

Source: St. John Eudes

From the beginning of the world the servants of God were always accustomed to offer Sacrifice to Him, by way of acknowledging His sovereignty and paying their homage to Him ; and in all ancient religions, true or false, this worship of Sacrifice was always regarded as a most solemn act of religion, due to the Deity worshiped.

In the law of nature, and in the law of Moses, there was a great variety of Sacrifices : some bloody, in which the victim was slain ; others unbloody. Some were called Holocausts, or whole burnt-offerings, in which the whole host or victim was consumed in fire upon God’s altar, for His honor and glory : others were called Sin-offerings, which were offered for sins ; others were offerings of Thanksgivings ; others were pacific or Peace-offerings, which were offered for obtaining favors of God— the word “ peace ” in the Scripture style signifying all manner of good and prosperity.

All these Sacrifices of the law of nature, and of the law of Moses, were of themselves but weak and needy elements (Gal. IV. 9), and only figures of a Sacrifice to come, viz., that of Jesus Christ; in consideration of which Sacrifice only, and of the faith of the offerers, by which they believed in the Redeemer to come, those ancient Sacrifices were then accepted by the Divine Majesty, when they were accompanied with the inward sacrifice of the heart; but not for any intrinsic worth or dignity of the things offered, for no other blood but the Blood of Christ could wash away sins. Hence, St. Paul says (Heb. x . 5), quoting from the 39th Psalm : Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not have : but Thou hast fitted to Me a Body. This gives us to understand that, by reason of the insufficiency of the Sacrifices of the old law, Christ Himself would come to be our Sacrifice, and would offer up His own Body and Blood for us.

Accordingly, our Savior Jesus Christ, at the time appointed by His Father, having taken flesh for us, was pleased to offer Himself a Sacrifice for us, dying upon the Cross for the sins of the whole world. By this one offering we were completely redeemed, inasmuch as our ransom was paid, and all mercy, grace, and salvation were purchased for us. Neither can there now be any need of His dying any more, or purchasing any other graces for us than those for which He has already paid the price of His Blood.

Nevertheless, for the daily application of this one eternal Redemption to our souls, and that the mercy, grace, and salvation which He has purchased for us may be actually communicated to us, He not only continually appears in our behalf in the Sanctuary of Heaven, there representing and offering to His Father His Passion and Death for us, but He has also instituted the Blessed Eucharist, the night before His Passion, in which He bequeathed us His Body and Blood, under the sacramental veils, not only to be received by us as a Sacrament, for the food and nourishment of our souls, but also (mystically delivered) to be offered and presented by His ministers to His Father as a Sacrifice : not by way of a new death, but by way of a standing Memorial of His death ; a daily celebrating and representing of His death to God, and an applying to our souls of the fruits thereof.

This Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, daily offered under the forms of bread and wine, in remembrance of His Passion, is what we call the Mass. This is the solemn Liturgy of the Catholic Church. This is that pure Offering which is made to God in every place among the Gentiles, according to the prophecy of Malachi (I. 10 , 11). By this, Christ is a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 109), whose Sacrifice was bread and wine (Gen. xv.)

This Sacrifice of the Mass is the same in substance with that which Christ offered for us upon the Cross; because both the Victim offered, and the Priest or principal Offerer, is the same Jesus Christ. The difference is only in the manner of the offering ; because upon the Cross our Savior offered Himself in such a manner as really to shed His Blood and die for us ; whereas now He does not really shed His Blood, or die. And therefore this is called an unbloody Sacrifice; and that of the Cross a bloody Sacrifice.

By virtue of this essential sameness, the Sacrifice of the Mass completely answers all the different ends of Sacrifice, and that in a way infinitely more effective than any of the ancient Sacrifices. Christ is here both Priest and Victim, representing in person and offering up His Passion and Death to His Father.

This Sacrifice of the Mass is offered up to God, in the Catholic Church, first as a daily remembrance of the Passion of Christ: This do for the commemoration of Me (I Cor. XI. 24) ; secondly, as a most solemn worship of the Divine Majesty ; thirdly, as a most acceptable thanksgiving to God, from whence it has the name of Eucharist ; fourthly, as a most powerful means to move God to show mercy to us in the forgiveness of our sins, for which reason we call it propitiatory ; and, lastly, as a most effectual way to obtain of God all that we need, coming to Him, as we here do, with Christ and through Christ.

For these ends both Priest and people ought to offer up the Sacrifice of the Mass — the Priest, as Christ’s minister and in His person ; and the people, by the hands of the Priest ; and both the one and the other by the hands of the Great High-Priest Jesus Christ. And with this offering of Christ, both the one and the other should make a total offering of themselves also by His hands and in union with Him. 

Source: A Manual Of Prayers For The Use Of The Catholic Laity: Prepared And Published By Order Of The Third Plenary Council Of Baltimore 1888

For carrying on Divine worship, ruling the Church, and administering the Sacraments, a Priesthood is required, and it belongs to God alone to institute the Priesthood.

In the Old Law, God chose and raised to the Priesthood Aaron, his children and descendants, and they were to be assisted in their priestly functions by the members of the tribe of Levi; and thus the Priesthood was transmitted to posterity simply by family descent. In the New Law the means instituted by Christ for the transmission of the Priesthood was not by limiting it to one family or tribe, but by having the Sacrament of Holy Order conferred on those Christians whom the Apostles and their Successors should choose among the baptized, and ordain for that dignity and office.

Holy Order, then, is a Sacrament by which Bishops, Priests, and other Ministers of the Church are ordained, and receive power and grace to perform their sacred duties.

The Sacramental character of Holy Order is manifest in Holy Scripture. St. Paul, in his Epistles to St. Timothy, says: "Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given by prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the Priesthood." (I Timothy IV. 14.) "I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. (2 Timothy I. 6.)

Here we have all the essentials of a Sacrament - the outward sign - the inward grace annexed - and divine appointment; for, as we have before said, God alone can make outward signs to be means of grace.

Source: Catholic Belief: or A Short and simple exposition of Catholic Doctrine by Very Rev. Joseph Faa Bruno 1878

The Mass is the unbloody Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. Through it God has given us the Blessed Eucharist, His living Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity. Through it He Himself is "with us all days," dwelling in the tabernacles of our altars as truly as he dwells in Heaven.

The word Mass is from the Latin missa, derived from the verb mittere, to send, and signifies a sending away, a dismissal. In the ancient liturgy of the Church there were two dismissals at the Holy Sacrifice:

1. That of the catechumens, those partly instructed and not yet baptized after the Gospel and sermon, and 2. that of the faithful at the end of the Mass - still preserved in our Masses by the announcement "Ite Missa Est" ("Go, it is the dismissal") gradually came to denote the service itself. The French from, "Messe," was modified in England into "Maesse," " Masse, and finally "Mass".

In the early centuries of the Church the Mass was known as the Breaking of Bread, the Lord's Supper, the Solemnity of the Lord, the Sacrifice, the Holy Liturgy and the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving.

A priest who offers the Mass is called its celebrant.

Source: The Visible Church, Her government, ceremonies, sacramentals, festivals and devotions; a compendium of the "Externals of the Catholic Church". Fr. John F. Sullivan 1920

When you enter the church, go to your place as quietly as possible. Some people make a great deal of noise in getting in their seats. This is calculated to disturb the congregation, and is exceedingly unbecoming. The church is the temple of the living God, not merely because it is dedicated to his service, but because he dwells therein. The very walls of is are sanctified. It is at all times holy, and is therefore always to be entered with the respect due to the house of God. "The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." 

Do not walk up the aisles with an air of pride, such as the people of the world may put on in a ballroom. You may be regarded by the world as rich, intelligent, and accomplished; in the church, you are a poor, blind, and sinful being, and should come in all humility to implore the grace and mercy of God.

It is still more necessary to observe these rules, if you enter the church after Mass has commenced. If you happen to enter during the elevation or communion, kneel by the door, and remain there during the more solemn parts of the Mass; you can afterward retire quietly to your place.

You should assist with attention at the holy Sacrifice. When you are not reading your prayer-book, keep your eyes fixed on the altar on which that adorable Sacrifice is offered, and never gaze around in the church.

Do not leave the church until the priest is retiring from the altar to the sacristy. Those who are the last to come to it, and the first to rush out of the church, seldom derive any benefit from Mass, and often do not hear it properly. The practice of all pious Catholics is, to spend some time after Mass in thanksgiving.

Do not remain standing before the church, as if you had no other object in coming than to see and be seen. If you have time before Mass, say the Rosary, or the Stations of the Cross; employ the time in spiritual reading, or in adoring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Remember what those who have gone before you in the faith endured that they might be present at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and reflect with what attention and piety they must have assisted at it. During the early persecutions, no churches could be built. The divine mysteries could not be celebrated anywhere in public. The faithful were compelled to go into subterranean vaults, called catacombs, where Mass was offered on the tombs of martyrs. The candles we burn on our altars remind us of those days, and of the brightness of faith that made them days, not of mourning, but of joy.

To assist properly at Mass is one of the most important acts of Christian life; and hence the Church declares it to be mortal sin to neglect to hear Mass on Sundays or Holydays.

Source: The Holy Family Manual by the Sisters of Notre Dame, 1883

"Then Herod, perceiving that he was deluded by the Wise Men, was exceeding angry, and sending, killed all the men children,"

I. When They Are Raised Against The Innocent.
II. When They Proceed From Hatred To Christ.
III. When They Are Borne In Defense Of Christ.

1. Herod, perceiving that he was deluded by the Wise Men. The Magi might appear culpable in the eyes of Herod for not having made known to him the abode of the Child, as he had enjoined them; but these children neither had committed, nor could have committed, any fault whatever; so that St. Augustine puts these words in the mouths of the mothers :. "If it is a crime it is mine; if it is not, deliver us."

Herod therefore was unjustly enraged against them. In like manner, when persecutors have no just ground of complaint against Priests; when they are "innocent and upright" (Ps. xxiv. 21); when their imprudence has not excited persecution (for it often happens that " the tongue of the fool is his ruin," Eccl. v. 15), let them not grieve; the wrong rests with their enemies. Let them, on the contrary, rest in tranquillity of conscience, and say with the Apostle: "I rejoice in my sufferings " (Col. i. 24); let them remember that they have a share in the eighth Beatitude: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (St. Matt. v. 10). St. Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, observes that our Savior does not name the persons who persecute, but only the motive for persecution, "for justice' sake;" whether you are persecuted by idolaters, or by heretics, or by Christians whom you have perhaps corrected for their faults, if it is for justice' sake, your advantage is the same. Therefore consider not who persecutes you, but why you are persecuted. Let Priests remember that they are the ministers of Him Who said, "They have hated Me without cause " (St . John xv. 25) ; that many of their predecessors have sung with the Prophet, "Princes have persecuted Me with out cause" (Ps. cxviii. 161); and that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. iii. 12). Priests are more exposed to such persecution than other men, because they are "set up a wall for the House of Israel" (Ezekiel xiii. 5), which the enemies of the City assail. By Thy help, O my God, make me "a wall of iron" (Ezekiel iv. 3).

2. He was exceeding angry. The wrath and hatred of Herod were not, says St. Leo, directed against the children for their own sake, but for the sake of the Messiah, whom he sought to destroy in the cradle; and therefore they died martyrs, and are venerated as such by Holy Church. For which reason, observes St . Augustine, no honor shown them by the tyrant could have profited them so greatly as did his hatred. In like manner Priests are often objects of the hatred of unbelievers, because these men hate Christ and His Gospel, His Church and His Heavenly Father. He forewarned His Priests of this when He ordained them, saying, your enemies "have hated both Me and My Father" (St. John xv. 24); and remember that "if the world hate you, know you that it hath hated Me before you" (ib. 18); and it hates you precisely "because . . I have chosen you out of the world" (ib. 19); and as this hatred was the cause " that they have persecuted Me," so will it be the cause that " they will also persecute you" (ib. 20). Therefore let us arm ourselves with these forewarning, let us fear the love of the world more than its hatred, and let us not flatter ourselves that the world can love the members whilst it hates the Head. As St. Augustine says, we ought, for the love of Christ, to endure the hatred of the world along with our Head. Let us pray to God to give us patience and courage under the persecutions to which He shall see fit to subject us, and may all Priests who in any part of the world are now suffering the persecutions of the wicked, by His grace triumph over them; and we and they shall owe our eternal blessedness to those very persecutions.

3. Killed all the men children. The Innocents, by their death, saved the life of the Divine Child, for the tyrant, believing Him to be included in the general massacre, no longer sought Him. Moreover they proclaimed the name of the new-born King, "not by speaking, but by dying;" for, as St. Leo says, this atrocious act caused His birth to be made known even in the Capital of the World, where a foundation was thus laid for the promulgation of the Gospel. Priests are in like manner often persecuted for defending Christ; and here let us recollect that he who defends the truth, defends Christ, for He said: "I am . . . the Truth" (St. John xiv. 6). He who defends Wisdom, Justice, or .any other Virtue, defends Christ, for He is Wisdom itself, Justice itself, Virtue itself. "He is made unto us of God, wisdom, and justice " (1 Cor. i. 30); "Christ the power of God" (1 Cor. i. 24); "He who defends the Church defends Christ, for He is the Head of the Church" (Eph. v. 23). Blessed, then, are we if in such a cause we suffer calumny, sarcasm, oppression, or even death. St. Ambrose tells us that there is nothing we should fear so much, that nothing is so dangerous before God, and contemptible before men, as silence when it is our duty to denounce sin.

"In God I have put my trust, I will not fear what flesh can do against me." —Ps. lv. II.

"Thou deliverest them that wait for Thee, O Lord, and savest them out of the hands of the nations."—Eccles. li. 12.

Source: Meditations for the use of the clergy, for every day in the year. On the Gospels for the Sundays, Volume 1 by
Angelo Agostino Scotti (abp. of Thessalonica.)

• Because this is the only dignity which will remain in that Day.
• Because it will shine, not only in the soul, but also in the body
• Because it will then be given in recompense for the endurance of past reproaches.
  

When these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand."—St. Luke xxi. 28.

1. Look up. Behold, O Priests, in the last great day, the extinction of all dignities. Now, the great ones of this world die, but greatness dies not; sovereigns die, but sovereignty lives on, for, as one prince dies, another succeeds him; hence the wise man beheld the great of the earth hunted and trodden down by those who came after them: "I saw all men living, that walk under the sun, with the second young man who shall rise up in his place" (Eccles. iv. 15). Then greatness itself, sovereignty itself, shall vanish, and Jesus Christ shall appear, in His full power, the only Great One, the only and sovereign Lord. "Great is our Lord, and great is His power" (Ps. cxlvi. 5). Magistrates, princes, emperors, will sleep the sleep of death, and in the resurrection no remains of authority will be found in their hands: "They have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands " (Ps. lxxv. 6). They were great as long as the scene of their life was on this world's stage; but, as St. Paul says to the Corinthians (i vii. 31)," The fashion of this world passeth away." But it is not so with Priests: their character is indelible; their dignity alone will remain to all eternity, and be resplendent in the face of the universe. If it remain indelible for the punishment of the reprobate, it will equally remain indelible for the recompense of the elect, as says St. Augustine. And, as he says again, when Jesus Christ our Lord comes to judgment, He will not efface His own character in His ministers.

2. And lift up your heads. Then holy Priests will lift up their sacred heads—those heads which had received the imposition of hands—they will raise them out of the dust of the tomb, in which their natural body was sown, "to be raised a spiritual body," as says St. Paul (i Cor. xv.); that is, they will be endowed with the gifts meet for a spiritual body. They themselves will see, and the world will see, their dignity. The sacerdotal character will be resplendent even in their bodies; for, as St. Thomas teaches, the glory of the body will be caused by the glory of the soul, and this glory will be spiritual in the soul, and corporeal in the body; and the greater the glory of the soul, the greater will be the glory of the body. Those members will be more especially resplendent which were employed in the functions of the ministry, which nourished men daily with the Flesh of Jesus Christ, and which preserved holy chastity in the midst of temptation. Hence it was that the first Priests of the New Testament groaned within themselves, "waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of their bodies" (Rom. viii. 23). Then shall their voices be raised to praise God, those voices which glorified Him during their mortal life; and with their bodily eyes shall they see the glory of their divine Head. For as Isaias says (lii. 8), "the voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye." May these considerations aid us to keep our bodies in sanctity and honor; let us not abandon them to corruption and concupiscence: "in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust" (1 Thess.lv. 4, 5)

3. Because your redemption is at hand. Then, O Priests, shall you be freed from the calumnies of the world, and your prayer, "Redeem me from the calumnies of men" (Ps. cxviii. 134), will be fully answered. The world knew not Christ; it despised Him and calumniated Him: neither does the world recognize the dignity of His Priests; it despises them and calumniates them:"We are without honor . . . even unto this hour" (1 Cor. iv.10, n). But then the scene will change, and the world will see, as says St . Prosper, that Priests were the ornament of the Church; that, as St . Augustine says, they were angelical men; that, as St . Clement says, they were, after God, terrestrial gods. St. Cyril remarks that God ordered Moses to number the people in order to show that He kept His elect numbered in the book of life; but He ordered the Levites to be numbered apart, in order to show that Priests are written down in other books. So does this holy father explain the prophecy of Daniel, "The judgment sat and the books were opened " (Dan. vii. 10). Then shall worldly men behold with the dark envious eyes of Aman how the King of kings causes His Mordechais to be honored: "thus shall he be honored whom the king hath a mind to honor" (Esther vi. 9). Let us then bear injuries with meekness, let us bear labors with patience, and all the trials to which it is the will of our King to expose us, with the certain hope of future happiness. The day will come when God will recompense us for all we have suffered. Let us not lose our confidence in God, which will have a great reward; rather let us revive it during this holy season of Advent, which brings to our remembrance the mercies of our Savior.
"Judge my judgment and redeem me: quicken Thou me for Thy word's sake."—Ps. cxviii. 154.
"O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have waited for Thee."—Is. xxxiii. 2.

Source: Meditations for the use of the clergy, for every day in the year ..., Volume 1 (By Msgr. Angelo Agostino Scotti, abp. of Thessalonica.)