The Priest at Prayer, June 26

The Third Part - Vices and Virtues

HOPE

First Meditation - The Foundations of Hope

I. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, with groans beyond all utterance; He asks for us to be given eternal life; He petitions the Father from the inmost sanctuary of our hearts, where He dwells by His grace. (Cfr. Rom. viii, 25-27)

And our Divine Redeemer Himself, how eagerly He exhorts us to lay up treasures for Heaven!

Are my ideas and aspirations in consonance with the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and with the Saviour's exhortation? To be honest with myself, are there not goods of this world which I desire with greater yearn­ing and towards which I tend with stronger impulse and in whose attainment I spend more energy than for eternal life?

Why should I not expect to receive from my Father in Heaven what He so frequently and loyally promises, and so insistently begs me to take? But, have I imagined that He will give it me without even a thought on my part? without forcing myself to acquire it?

"The kingdom of heaven has opened to force, and the forceful are even now making it their prize." (Matt. xi, 12)

II. For God's part, we are so certain of heaven that, in the Gospel phrase, if we live in His grace we are already in possession of eternal life. Grace is the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the Spirit of God, of the Spirit of Christ, infused into our souls; it is a spirit of divine adoption, whereby God makes us His children and grants us full right to call Him Abba, Father. And, being children of God, we are also God's heirs, and co-heirs with Christ: heirs to God's estate, to Christ's kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. (Cfr. Rom. viii, 17) Moreover, the spirit of adoption, grace, confers upon us not so much a lawful claim to inherit as the inheritance itself, eternal life.:

And I give them life everlasting: and they shall not perish for ever.(John x, 28)

At the small cost of obtaining forgiveness of my sins and of remaining in His friendship, I can, thanks to my heavenly Father, possess even here below His Life, life everlasting.

Do I enjoy the moral certainty that now, at this very moment, I am the holder of so rich a treasure? Do I esteem it higher than all worldly goods? Do I use every precaution to safeguard it?

III. Another pledge of eternal life is given me, a pledge of still greater value: the Son of God Himself! O Father, Thy own divine Son, Thine only-Begotten Son, is given to the world to answer for the truth of Thy promises!

For God so loved the world, as to give his only-­begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. (John iii, 16.)

Not content with delivering Him to us by the Incar­nation, the Father did not spare the Son, but gave Him up to death for our ransom. As Origen says: "His own He gave up to strangers, His own Son, for the sake of sons of adoption." Jesus signs the Father's promise for us in His Blood on the Cross. He remains our Divine Hostage in the tabernacle of our Altars, the pledge of our eternal peace.

Father in Heaven, what will it cost Thee to com­municate Thy happiness to us - Thy happiness which does not diminish or lose in the communicating - seeing that Thou gavest us the very Blood of Thy own Son, in Whom Thou hast all Thy delight?

Believing all this, as I do, am I still in doubt about God's promise? Do I still hesitate?

IV. There is still another pledge and earnest of eternal life, the pignus futurae gloriae, as I call it using the Church's words: the sacred Banquet wherein Christ is received.

"This is my body, given up for you; this cup is the new testament in my blood."

Certain people insist on drawing up their wills in their own handwriting, they do not entrust them to another's hand: a sign of the scrupulous and painstak­ing care they demand in the execution of their wills. But Thou, Lord, hast surpassed them all. Thou didst write Thy last will in Thy own Blood; or rather, it is Thy Blood Itself which constitutes Thy will on my behalf; not only Thy Blood on Mount Calvary, but, as it were, a fresh copy every day in the Sacrifice of the Mass. And this Blood of the New Covenant, this Will of Thine written in Thy Blood, is to be not merely handed over to me, but incorporated, by drinking, into my inmost being.

Hic calix Novum Testamentum est in meo sanguine. . . .

A testament that stands, that is valid, unchangeable, eternal.

And what dost Thou leave me, O Lord, in Thy will?

qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remis­sionem peccatorum.

The remission of sin, and Thy grace; and therefore, as a consequence, Thy own glory.

Could I ask of Thee, or couldst Thou possibly give me, a better guarantee? Lord, I hope, I trust, I have confidence, in Thee!

Resolution
I will not put my trust in the wealth of this world, nor in mortal man - a staff that easily breaks and splinters the hand which leans too heavily upon it; nor in my own earthly life - a fleeting shadow, a wisp of cloud that the breeze evaporates; nor in my own per­sonal worth, which is very meager; but in God alone. Yes, even in the affairs of ordinary daily life; but much more so when it comes to obtaining the grace of avoid­ing sin or of rising up from sin and of persevering and finally winning eternal life.
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Adapted from The Priest at Prayer
by Fr. Eugenio Escribano, C.M. (© 1954)
Translated by B.T. Buckley, C.M.

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