CAPG's Blog 

• 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.)