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" If Priests and Religious did all recite the Office as it ought to be recited, the Church would not behold herself in the miserable state to which she is reduced. How many sinners would be delivered from the slavery of the devil, and how many souls would love God with much greater fervor! And how would priests themselves not find themselves ever the same, imperfect, irritable, jealous, attached to their own interests, and led away by vanities! Our Lord has promised to hear every one who prays to him. (Luke xi. 10).

And how comes it that a priest offering up so many prayers in a day, were it only in the Office which he recites, is yet never heard? He is always the same, as weak and prone as ever to fall not only into slight sins (to which he is habituated, and takes neither pains nor care to correct himself of them,) but into grievous sins against charity, justice, or chastity; hence when he recites the Office, he pronounces sentence of condemnation against himself, in these words: Maledicti qui declinant a mandatis tuis. And what is still worse, he feels little remorse, excusing himself as being of the same flesh and blood as other men, and not able to restrain himself.

But if he said the Office with fewer distractions and less negligence, accompanying with his heart the many prayers which he offers to God in reciting it, he certainly would not be so weak but would acquire fortitude and strength to resist all temptations, and to lead a holy life, such as becometh a Priest of God."

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office by Saint Alphonse de Liguori

Four causes there were, right courteous reader, which first moved me to explicate unto thee, according unto my small capacity, the mysteries and ceremonies of the Holy Mass.

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3. The third was, the deep, mortal, and cankered malice of wicked heretics, their most execrable blasphemies, together with many most fearful wild,, and damnable facts, done and committed by them, in hatred and contempt of this divine Sacrifice: and what good Christian is there that will not, to the uttermost of his power, defend a treasure so inestimable from the savage assaults of such wicked miscreants?

Traditional Latin Mass, Holy Name Cathedral Raleigh, NC

"Saint Bonaventure says, that in the Mass God manifests to us all the love which he has borne us, and includes in it, as in a compendium, all His benefits. (...)

On this account the devil has always endeavored to abolish the Mass throughout the world by means of heretics, making them the precursors of Antichrist, who before all things will endeavor to abolish, and in fact will, in punishment of sins of men, succeed in abolishing the holy sacrifice of the altar, according to the prediction of Daniel: And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he shall do and shall prosper. (Daniel 8,12)."

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office Alphonsus Liguori

"Unless a Priest esteem the Holy Sacrifice as it deserves, he can never celebrate it with suitable devotion. Assuredly there is no action, which man can perform, so sublime, so sacred, as the celebration of Mass.

God Himself could not enable a man to perform anything greater than the celebration of Mass."

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office, St. Alphonsus Liguori 1861

"The vastness of Christ's love for the Church is equaled by its constant activity. With the same charity, let us show our devoted, active love for Christ's Mystic al Body. Now, from the first moment of His Incarnation, when He laid the first foundations of the Church, down to His last mortal breath, our Redeemer never ceased for an instant, although He was the Son of God, to labor unto weariness for the establishment and the strengthening of the Church, whether in giving us the bright example of His Holiness, or in preaching, or in conversing, or in gathering and instructing the disciples.  And so We desire that all who claim the Church as their Mother should seriously realize that not only the sacred ministers and those who have consecrated themselves to God in the religious life, but the other members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ as well, have the obligation of working hard and constantly for the up-building and the increase of this Body."

Source: Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, June 29, 1943. The American Ecclesiastical Review.

"By the will and ordinance of God, its Founder, it (the Catholic Church) is a society perfect in its kind, whose office and mission it is to school mankind in the precepts and teachings of the Gospel, and by safeguarding the integrity of morals and the exercise of Christian virtue, to lead men to that happiness which is held out to everyone in heaven. And since it is, as We have said, a perfect society, therefore it is endowed with a living power and efficacy which is not derived from any external source, but from the ordinance of God and its own constitution, inherent in its very nature. For the same reason it has an inborn power to make laws, and justice requires that in its exercise it should be dependent on no one. It must also have freedom in other matters pertinent to its rights.

But this freedom is not of a kind to occasion rivalry or envy, for the Church does not covet power, nor is she urged on by any selfish desire. This one thing she wishes, and this only she seeks: to preserve among men the duties which virtue imposes, and by this means and in this way to provide for their everlasting welfare.

Source: Pope Leo XIII, encyclical Praeclara June 20, 1894. The American Ecclesiastical Review

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"The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts, and exalted office is now publicly known as the prize of impiety. The result is, that the worse a man blasphemes, the fitter the people think him to be a bishop. Clerical dignity is a thing of the past. There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord's flock with knowledge. Ambitious men are constantly throwing away the provision for the poor on their own enjoyment and the distribution of gifts. There is no precise knowledge of canons. There is complete immunity in sinning; for when men have been placed in office by the favour of men, they are obliged to return the favour by continually showing indulgence to offenders. Just judgment is a thing of the past; and everyone walks according to his heart's desire. Vice knows no bounds; the people know no restraint. Men in authority are afraid to speak, for those who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement. And now the very vindication of orthodoxy is looked upon in some quarters as an opportunity for mutual attack; and men conceal their private ill-will and pretend that their hostility is all for the sake of the truth. Others, afraid of being convicted of disgraceful crimes, madden the people into fratricidal quarrels, that their own doings may be unnoticed in the general distress. Hence the war admits of no truce, for the doers of ill deeds are afraid of a peace, as being likely to lift the veil from their secret infamy. All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth. The mouths of true believers are dumb, while every blasphemous tongue wags free; holy things are trodden under foot; the better laity shun the churches as schools of impiety; and lift their hands in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heaven. Even you must have heard what is going on in most of our cities, how our people with wives and children and even our old men stream out before the walls, and offer their prayers in the open air, putting up with all the inconvenience of the weather with great patience, and waiting for help from the Lord.

3. What lamentation can match these woes? What springs of tears are sufficient for them? While, then, some men do seem to stand, while yet a trace of the old state of things is left, before utter shipwreck comes upon the Churches, hasten to us, hasten to us now, true brothers, we implore you; on our knees we implore you, hold out a helping hand. May your brotherly bowels be moved toward us; may tears of sympathy flow; do not see, unmoved, half the empire swallowed up by error; do not let the light of the faith be put out in the place where it shone first."

Source: ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the Italians and Gauls. letter 92

Prayer for Spiritual Fathers

Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for thou faithful priests and bishops, whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion is so vital to the faith of your people. May our spiritual fathers be guided by the example of St. John Vianney. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for Thee, for their families, and for all Thou people throughout the world.

May the light of Thy Truth shine through their lives and their good works. Assist all spiritual fathers, that through Thy Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of Thy Truth. May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them, Through Christ our Lord,

Amen.

"We must not be deterred by the idle reproach preferred by some that we are ever speaking of the Savior's Passion, that we exhibit the life and death of a Christian as an expiatory immolation. Now can we do otherwise? As ministers of the Gospel have we the right to preach anything but Jesus and Him crucified? Is other knowledge than this needed in the spiritual life of the faithful? If the Cross today is a scandal to the worldling and the sensualist, if it is only folly to the superficially brilliant and the proud, that is certainly no reason why the capital dogma of faith and salvation should be toned down or veiled to bring it into accord with an erroneous view.

We must preach this dogma, and in its entirety; the Cross prolonged in the Eucharist and touching the confines of heaven; the Cross the portion of the baptized, of the believer, of the communicant who must needs be sacrificed upon it, but only that he may live eternally; the Cross the loadstone of the ages, today more than ever sweetly drawing to itself privileged souls the nobles, the purest, the best, who become enamored of suffering in order to continue and complete the Passion of Jesus. Who can adequately tell the beauty, the fecundity of the Cross dominating as it does the Christian world?"

Source: The Priesthood in the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J. Grimal SM

"When you meet very serious difficulties in the path of holiness and the exercise of your ministry, turn your eyes and your mind trustfully to her who is the Mother of the Eternal Priest and therefore the loving Mother of all Catholic priests. You are well aware of the goodness of this Mother. In many regions you have been the humble instruments of the mercy of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in wonderfully reviving the faith and charity of the Christian people.

Our Lady loves everyone with a most tender lover, but She has a particular predilection for priests who are the living image of Jesus Christ. Take comfort in the thought of the love of the Divine Mother for each of you, and you will find the labors of your sanctification and priestly ministry much easier.

To the Beloved Mother of God, mediatrix of heavenly graces, We entrust the priests of the whole world in order that, through her intercession, God will vouchsafe a general outpouring of His Spirit which will move all ministers of the altar to holiness and, through their ministry, will spiritually renew the face of the earth."

Source: Pope Pius XII in his exhortation Menti nostrae, issued on Sept. 23, 1950. The translation is from p46 of the NCWC edition. Mary and the Priest, The American Ecclesiastical Review. March 1951.

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"Let the cause of schism be immediately cut off with the sword of St. Peter, that is, by a true confession of the faith in a synod, and the detestation and anathematisation of all heretics."

"The Roman Church admits to its communion none who impugn the Catholic faith."

Source: Publications of the Catholic Truth Society, Volume 10. Saint Columbanus (539-615) by the Rev. John Golden page1