Zeal must be a dominant note in every priest's life. We should always try to grow in it. Last month we stirred up our fervor by the example of the great apostle of Ars. Let us proceed to examine some of the qualities that must mark true priestly zeal: for on the qualities of our zeal depends its power for conversion and the degree of holiness it brings to ourselves... Prudence is certainly one of these qualities. This cardinal virtue is of paramount importance in the exercise of our ministry: it makes us judge aright of the best means to carry out our apostolate and directs our conduct at every step we take towards that end. On the other hand, how easily zeal can be marred by the lack of supernatural prudence! Let us examine some of the safeguards it will bring us in our ministry.
SAFEGUARDING OUR UNION WITH GOD
One of the greatest dangers to which imprudent zeal exposes us is the modern heresy of putting external activity before interior life, of dissociating our work from the hidden sources of all its efficacy. Yet what is the priest's function except to be the channel through which the grace of God flows into souls? Consequently our chief concern is to keep united to God, that He may use us as His instrument: from Him must come the inspiration for our activity in the confessional, in the pulpit, in all our dealings with souls.
How foolish then for priests to sacrifice prayer to action, to let external work crowd out their spiritual exercises, on the plea of pressing needs of the ministry... "Wretchedly do they deceive themselves," exclaims Pius X in his Exhortation to the Catholic Clergy, "alas, for such miserable blindness! "... Supernatural prudence will save us from this pitfall; it will make us look upon our hours of contact, with God as the most important ones even of our apostolic life: our daily Mass, which unites us to Christ in the oblation of the redeeming Sacrifice, our meditation and spiritual reading which fill us with His mind, our visits to the Blessed Sacrament and our holy Communions which bring us in such intimate contact with the "Fons vitae et sanctitatis."
* Besides looking on prayer as a means of apostolate, do we also regard the spirit of prayer as an essential characteristic of all true apostles?... Do we give all our care to the hours consecrated to intercourse with God?... Do we not easily admit pretexts of pressing work to hurry through our Mass and breviary, to curtail our thanksgiving after Mass and Communion, to omit meditation, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, rosary, examen of conscience? If so, let us stop wretchedly deceiving ourselves'.
SAFEGUARDING OUR VIRTUE
The zealous priest gives himself unreservedly to the calls of the ministry, and so, being thrown forcibly into constant contact with the world, he cannot help breathing in its poisonous atmosphere. Here then is another danger from which prudence must safeguard him... No doubt God's grace is proportioned to our mission, and this assurance must dispel all vain fear in the performance of our duty. But, precisely, that grace includes the cardinal virtue of prudence: and only if we follow its dictates shall we be secure.
Prudence will make us prize our virtue above any good that might be achieved at its expense; it will make us avoid all unnecessary occasions of danger, and forearm us against temptations when they come to us unavoidably... This applies with special force to our virtue of chastity; because this "most precious treasure of the Catholic Priesthood" (Pius XI), imperatively demanded as it is by the sublimity of our functions and the nature of our ministry, is also exposed to many dangers by the very circumstances of that ministry.
* Are we firmly resolved to protect our virtue against all inroads from indiscreet zeal, convinced that even for our ministry what we are matters more than what we do? ... As regards chastity, do we take all precautions to preserve it from even the least tarnish? What is our habitual attitude on this point, in the confessional, in our visits to persons of the other sex, in our relations with boys and girls? Remember "qui spernit modica, paulatim decidet".
SAFEGUARDING OUR MESSAGE
Prudence is also needed in our ministry to prevent the message of God from suffering at our hands. It may suffer in the purity of its object: our mission is to bring Christ to souls, to make Him reign in all hearts; anything foreign to, or unconnected with, this specific aim is not a legitimate scope. Supernatural prudence will make us keep clear of all such deviations: political aims, national and racial aspirations, personal views and inclinations... "Non enim nosmetipsos praedicamus sed Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum."
Our message may suffer also from the manner in which we carry it to our flock. Prudence must save us from harshness and undue severity as well as from compromising weakness, and from all indiscreet ways that may turn men away from our holy Faith: "Nemini dantes ullam offensionem, ut non vituperetur ministerium nostrum."
* Is our ministry always marked by that supernatural wisdom? Do we seek to grow in it by - the habit of reflection, - our readiness to ask for and listen to advice, - above all, humble prayer: to the Holy Spirit "da nobis recta sapere", to the Sacred Heart" in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae", to Mary the "Mater boni consilii"? and "Virgo prudentissima"?
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Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 21.
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.
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