Alter Christus - The Priest's Responsibilities

In a biography of a saintly French secular priest, Pere Lamy, there occurs a sentence of his that gives us food for anxious reflection:

"There are many parish priests who will get a drubbing at the hour of death. Many parish priests and many curates too. It is a terrible thing to be in charge of souls. Every soul has cost the blood of her (Our Lady's) Divine Son."

Canonized Saints and Doctors of the Church have spoken in the same strain, and with more frightening severity, of the responsibility of priests and of the judgment that awaits them. Some of the hard sayings of St Chrysostom and of St Alphonsus Liguori, v.g., are well known. We are not obliged to share all their personal views. But it remains that the priest's obligations are awe-inspiring. And it is most salutary for us to ponder seriously at times on the grounds for our priestly responsibility, to examine whether we are not found wanting in our duties, and to renew our determination to be thoroughly faithful.


GROUNDS FOR RESPONSIBILITY

The obvious reason why priests have such a heavy responsibility is that the salvation of souls and their sanctiication depend so much on the way they fulfil their priestly duties. God uses secondary causes far the achievement of His designs: in a way He puts the fruits of His Redemption in the hands of His priests. They are co-redeemers with Christ: a sublime dignity. A tremendous responsibility too: if they fail in their duties, souls may be lost for all eternity, or they may never reach the degree of perfection God expected from them.

If we remember the value of souls in the eyes of God, the love He bears them, the price Christ has paid for them on the Cross, we must have a holy fear lest they should be lost through our own fault, lest the yearning of God for their eternal happiness be frustrated totally or in part. It must be a constant solicitude of ours never to fail in our duties towards the souls redeemed by the Blood of Christ. Woe to us if anyone loses his soul owing to a neglect of ours: God will require that soul at our hands. Nor shall we escape punishment if we have neglected to lead souls to the degree of perfection God intended for them, and thus diminished their eternal happiness and the degree of glory they will give to God for all eternity.

* Am I sufficiently and habitually aware of the grave responsibility attached to my ministry?

On the day of my ordination my life ceased to be my own: it was then dedicated to the service of holy Church and of souls. Is it really being spent for them, out and out?

Of every soul that is being lost around me, of every sin committed, of every disappoint­ment that saddened the Heart of Jesus in Gethsemane: if faithful to my duty, I must be able to say, "This is not my work ".

FAILURES IN OUR DUTY

Souls may suffer at our hands in many ways. Perhaps the example of our selfish or worldly life may be the frequent cause of tepidity and laxity in those entrusted to us. Far from being encouraged by our fervour and fidelity they find an excuse for their loose ways in their priest's behaviour in the church, at the very altar, at home, in society. . . And this may be the cause also why non-Christians around us will not entertain the thought of embracing the faith. . .

Then, what about the imperfect use we make of the many means of salvation and sanctification which we cons­tantly handle? Our preaching, our words of advice in the confessional, our visits to parishioners, our care of the sick, our ministry with the dying: all these ought to be abundant sources of divine grace for souls. Alas, how often they produce but scanty results, owing to the careless and per­functory way in which we handle the treasures of God's mercy and love! . . .

And what of the priest who entirely neglects the opportunities he could have or create to bring souls to Christ? He makes no efforts at converting non-Christians, does not try to reclaim sinners, shows no anxiety and takes no trouble to improve the spiritual life of his people. His chief pre­occupation is to carry on the routine of his daily life with as little inconvenience to himself as possible, more solicitous of his own good than of his flock. .. "Vae pastoribus qui pascebant semetipsos" . . .

* Let me scrutinize my priestly life and see if I do not find some of those shortcomings in it.

Am I not inclined to minimize my obligations and to cut out for myself an easy­going, self-indulgent and comfortable life?

I can easily forget or neglect my obligations now, but what a rude awakening I prepare for myself on my death-bed and when face to face with my judge: "Redde rationem villicationis tuae" . . .

RENEWING OUR FIDELITY

To renew our fervour and our generosity, let us call to mind and contemplate three scenes:
(1) The mangled Body of Christ dying on the Cross and shedding the last drop of His Blood for the Redemption of each individual soul I come in contact with... "Sic Deus dilexit..." How do I prove my love for them?...

(2) My ordination to the priesthood, when I rose an "alter Christus", longing to spend my life as He did His, "ut vitam habeant et abun­dantius habeant"...So I felt then. And now?...

(3) My meeting with the Divine Saviour, at the close of my earthly life, when He will ask an account of the innumerable graces He put in my hands for the salvation of souls, all through my sacerdotal career. Will the outcome be "euge, serve bone et fidelis"?...

* "0 Jesus, give me the grace to be true to my holy vocation, and, after Thy example, to be the good shepherd who knows and loves his sheep, lives for them, nay, is ready to lay down his life for them."
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Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 61.

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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.