Patience is a necessary condition for success in any enterprise, and when that enterprise is one of great and never ending difficulties, fortitude must be added to patience, so that our energies may not be broken by the obstacles, nor our courage falter and give way. Of such a nature, undoubtedly, is the work of the ministry - for the zealous priest, at any rate. Did not the Cure d'Ars, for all his heroism, exclaim one day: "Ah, if I had known what it is to be a priest, instead of going to the seminary, I should very quickly have made my escape to La Trappe"? Of course, he ever carried on with unabating courage, as Saints will. But for average, unheroic priests great is the danger lest contact with the hard realities of the apostolate cause them to give up their once cherished ideal of self-sacrificing and conquering zeal and, for lack of patience and fortitude, to settle down, instead, to an easy-going, unzealous performance of the daily round of unavoidable duties. . .
THE APOSTOLIC LIFE, A LIFE OF SUFFERING
The apostolic life is necessarily one of trials and sufferings. Our work is the continuation of Christ's work: He brought salvation to men by dying for them on the Cross, and so anyone who would work with Christ at the salvation of souls must be ready to suffer with Christ. Our Lord warned us, on the eve of His redeeming Passion: "The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither is the apostle greater than He that sent him." We must be ready then to pay the price He paid, to walk the way He walked. It is the condition of fruitfulness in our life: the more we are "conformed" to our crucified Master, the more we shall be pleasing unto God and fit instruments of His glory.
What is the history of all the Saints whom God has raised to do great things for Him but an unbroken chain of sufferings, contradictions, persecutions and humiliations? To all of them might be applied what Our Lord said to St Paul: "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. . ." Does it not apply also to all priests who want to be faithful to their vocation and mission? They too are "vessels of election" destined to carry the name of Jesus to their fellow men: so theirs too must be the programme of St Paul: "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus."
* What is my ideal of the apostolate now? I certainly began my priestly life with a great readiness to sacrifice myself for the salvation of souls: have I persevered in those dispositions? If not, let me pray for a renewal of that grace of God which was in me by the imposition of hands. .. Do I seek to grow in those generous aspirations and that spirit of sacrifice, morning after morning, when I offer up the Divine Victim, mindful of holy Church's exhortation to me at the dawn of my priesthood: "Imitamini quod tractatis"?
THE NEED OF COURAGE AND CONSTANCY
If suffering is inseparable from the apostolic life, the necessary condition for persevering zeal is constancy in bearing those sufferings courageously. A difficult virtue, when trials come every day and from every quarter, as happens so often in a zealous priest's life; in fact the greater his zeal, the greater his trials. He finds little response to his pressing exhortations, no co-operation with his parish works; devotedness is often repaid by ingratitude; his best intentions may be misunderstood and maligned; he is not always supported by those he most relied upon, and often thwarted openly by those for whom he spends himself: and of course he will find the devil and the world and the enemies of the faith leagued against all his endeavours to extend the reign of Christ. Or perhaps he may find in himself the trial that calls for patience and fortitude: troublesome passions, defects of temperament, weak health.
True zeal steels the heart of the generous apostle against all these sources of discouragement. It gives him strength and courage to bear all sufferings with indomitable patience, to carry on bravely in spite of disappointments, to begin again after every failure, to keep serene and optimistic instead of nursing his grievances or sorrows, to forget his troubles in the preoccupation of saving souls and making Christ reign.
* Let me scrutinize my life: What steadfastness is there in my zeal, with what firmness do I react to daily troubles and vexations? . . . Do I seek for strength in the grace of God, with unbounded confidence, knowing that "I can do all things in him", and at the same time, in true humility, "glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me"?
THE CROWNING REWARD
The vision of the reward should strengthen our patience and fortitude. The feast of all Saints opens out a vista on the joys and the glory of Christ's apostles: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves." . . . Our turn will come, our place is already marked among them. "Therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head. . . let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us, looking on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith; who having joy set before Him endured the Cross.". . . And let us "exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation", for "the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us . . . ".
* We may read 1 Peter 5:1-4, which summarizes these last two meditations: "To the priests that are among you I give this charge - I, their fellow-priest and witness of Christ's sufferings, yea, and fellow-sharer in the glory that is one day to be revealed -: Be shepherds to the flock God has given you; cordially, not like drudges; generously, not for the sake of sordid gain; nor yet lording it over your charges, but becoming an example to the flock. So, when the Prince of shepherds will be manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." (Epistle of the Commune SS. Pontificum)
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Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 23
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.
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