ZEAL
First Meditation - Aim and Scope of Priestly Zeal
I. What is zeal? In order to understand it let us study its three constituent elements.
The cause (causa efficiens) is no other than charity or love of God and our neighbour, the twofold object of zeal. But not every degree of charity or love fructifies in zeal; this divine plant brings forth the flower and fruit of zeal only when its life is vigorous and its sap is abundant; or, as St. Thomas says: "the cause of zeal is love's fervency" - Zelus sumitur causaliter pro ferventi dilectione.
Its inner nature (ratio formalis) is the sadness experienced by fervent love when the objects of that love, God or the neighbour, are seen to be deprived of the good which ought to be theirs; - Zelus formaliter sumitur pro tristitia deficientium sibi vel amicis. Hence, the soul of zeal is a great grief, increasing in the measure that our zeal increases, at the sight of the beloved one's lacking all the good and perfection, interior or exterior, which our love so vehemently desires him to have.
The effect of zeal, the product of sorrowing love, can be described as "a movement of the irascible appetite against anything and everything impeding the welfare of the beloved one". It is a movement that resolves itself in a struggle to acquire for the beloved one the good we desire him and, as a consequence, a fight against all who impair or clash with the well-being and perfection of the beloved.
Every kind of love, if strong and vehement, produces its own type of zeal: love of concupiscence or carnal love produces jealousy, an unleashed fury that engages in deadly conflict anyone trying to take unlawful possession of a heart where one had found all one's pleasure and delight.
Self-love, the love for one's personal excellence and prestige, brings forth another type of zeal: the viper that envenoms and gnaws the heart at the sight of another's triumph, the dismal grief which one experiences because another excels precisely in those qualities in which one is lacking and which one longs to possess.
Even the noble love of benevolence and friendship has its zeal, a true zeal crowning it with a royal diadem, a generous regret that the friend is deprived of some advantage or prerogative eminently his by right or convenience. (Cfr. Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 28, art. 4)
II. The Love of God and our neighbour is not, when truly Christian, a movement of the sensible appetite towards its earthly object, useful or delectable; nor is it a mere tendency of the rational will towards the "honorable good" (bonum honestum) either of God or man; it must be pure love.
In other words, Christian zeal is based on the love we have for God and man after a deliberate choice of the intellect, which sees in them objects of the highest esteem, both themselves personally and the good which we desire them to possess. So there is no question of wishing them mere temporal goods and fortune, things which of their nature are too low in the hierarchy of values for supernatural charity to stoop to their level, but divine good things and treasures, whose value is infinite and immense.
God's intrinsic Perfections nobody can impair or plunder; therefore they do not strictly come within the scope of zeal; but the external good constituted by His being glorified and honoured by intelligent and free-willed creatures, and the accomplishment among them of His most holy Will, are certainly the primary objects of zeal, which perceives how greatly God is offended. And as regards man, zeal looks to that eternal life, that life of grace with all the gifts flowing from grace, and realises how men can be without this immense good, and how they can forfeit it after once enjoying its possession.
When the true Christian love for God and my neighbour really begins to burn in my heart the sight of their being deprived of all this good will produce in me the sadness of zeal, and even my irascible appetite and my whole being will be drawn into the fight to procure for them this immeasurable good. This will be my great endeavour, for this I will give, as trifles, time, energy, talents, labours, even blood and life. Such is the logical process of zeal. Have I been through it?
III. Zeal in all its Christian manifestations has but one aim: to further God's glory among men through the fulfilment of His adorable Will and the leading of men to their final destiny.
A worthy employment, indeed, of man's frail existence. In vain will he look for a higher one: neither the scrutinising and spying and bringing to the light of the conscious mind or of public knowledge the secrets cherished under the lock and key of avaricious Nature's enigmatic phenomena - the noble aspiration of students and men of learning; nor the subjugating of the nations and the ruling of the masses by the might and clash of arms or the subtle sophistries of diplomacy - the ambition of conquerors and politicians; nor yet the fascinating of the human eye and imagination with dazzling portrayals of created beauty - the dream of artists, writers, and poets. Zeal is something greater than all this. To devote oneself to enterprises of Christian zeal is tantamount to giving triumphant factual existence to the divine ideals which Jesus Christ condensed in the brief but all-embracing formula of the Our Father :
Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Forgive us our trespasses. . . lead us not into temptation. . .Here we have zeal's plan of action. Is it not enough to absorb all the activities of the most ardent heart and richly-endowed mortal life?
IV. In the practice of zeal the priest is not alone. The Son of God made Man had no other assignment, nor does He at present know of any other. This is the whole meaning of His human existence; this is the reason for the Name of Jesus which the Angel announced at His coming: for he will save his people from their sins. (Matt. i,21)
The Gospel does not record a single event, word, gesture, or movement belonging to the Redeemer which is not directed to this goal. The infinite activities of the God-Man all bear upon and find expression in one thing: to save souls and further the kingdom and glory of His Eternal Father. And today seated at the Right Hand of the Most High, He makes intercession for us (Rom. viii, 34) for this same purpose; and He will abdicate only after He has put the enemies of God and of souls as the footstool to His feet.
Praise to Thee, O Lord, who so graciously permittest me to cooperate in Thy lofty enterprise. Thou art the sturdy father allowing his little son to help him with his insignificant and feeble contribution so as to train and strengthen him and make him a man.
V. Ever since our adorable Redeemer came to the world, from among the countless legions of those souls that have believed in Him, embraced His doctrine, and followed His footsteps on the way to heaven, the purest, the most generous, the cream of mankind, have devoted themselves to the Redeemer's own task of saving souls and spreading the glory and kingdom of God. They form an immense galaxy of heroes, the only heroes truly worthy of the human race, of its praise and glory. All the most outstanding historical figures: those who stunned the earth with their clamorous achievements and at whose feet islands and continents fell prostrate and those who fill the annals of history with the lustre of their name are mostly, by comparison with the heroes of Christian zeal, either robbers or murderers on the grand scale, or wretched little glow-worms or frivolous jesters and the sport of their fellow-men.
What glorious company is mine! Let others with boastful pride display the coat-of-arms and ancient motto of their ancestors - and how eager they are: Prius mori quam foedari - Satis ipse sibi - etc.! - I, when I take up the task of saving souls, have the right and duty to wield the same weapons and display the same family mottoes that so many real heroes used:
The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. (John x, 11.)Resolution
"I will gladly spend and be spent on your souls' behalf." (2 Cor. xii, 15.)
Since the work of zeal is the spreading of God's glory and kingdom, and the salvation of souls, it is only common decency that I should begin with myself, glorifying God and submitting like a good subject to all the Sovereign's ordinances, never rebelling against my Lord and Father by offence or injury, and always keeping to the road that leads to eternal life. The zealous priest's very first conquest is himself. I resolve, therefore, to remain ever in His grace, and if at any time I should fall away, to rise from sin without delay by an act of perfect contrition and Confession at my earliest convenience.
Is it possible for a priest to exercise the ministry out of pure zeal while he himself is living in mortal sin?
The very idea of it involves a paradox and poses a problem of strange inconsistency. If zeal is the flower and flame of charity, and I have not charity, what kind of zeal will be mine? If it so saddens me to see God offended that I wish to cancel out that offence in others, why not begin with my own offences? If so great a good I esteem the saving of souls, why not save my own? If I am in mortal sin and yet I appear to be zealous, either the motives for my zeal are not genuine, or there is something in me which defies my conscious mind and logical procedure.
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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!
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