|
The Dignity of the Priesthood
I
Idea of the Priestly Dignity
In his epistle
to the Christians of Smyrna, St. Ignatius, Martyr, says that the
priesthood is the most sublime of all created dignities: "The apex of
dignities is the priesthood." St. Ephrem calls it an infinite dignity:
"The priesthood is an astounding miracle, great, immense, and
infinite." St. John Chrysostom says, that though its functions are
performed on earth, the priesthood should be numbered among the things
of Heaven." According to Cassian, the priest of God is exalted above
all earthly sovereignties, and above all celestial heights-----he is
inferior only to God. Innocent III says that the priest is placed
between God and man; inferior to God, but superior to man. St. Denis
calls the priest a Divine man. Hence he has called the priesthood a
Divine dignity. In fine, St. Ephrem says that the gift of the
sacerdotal dignity surpasses all understanding. For us it is enough to
know, that Jesus Christ has said that we should treat his priests as we
would his own person: "He tkat heareth you, heareth Me; he tkat
despiseth you, desptseth Me." Hence St. John Chrysostom says, that "he
who honors a priest, honors Christ, and he who insults a priest,
insults Christ." Through respect for the sacerdotal dignity, St. Mary
of Oignies used to kiss the ground on which a priest had walked.
II
Importance of the Priestly Office
The dignity of
the priest is estimated from the exalted nature of his offices. Priests
are chosen by God to manage on earth all his concerns and interests. "
Divine," says St. Cyril of Alexandria, "are the offices confided to
priests." St. Ambrose has called the priestly office a Divine
profession. A priest is a minister destined by God to be a public
ambassador of the whole Church, to honor Him, and to obtain His graces
for all the faithful. The entire Church cannot give to God as much
honor, nor obtain so many graces, as a single priest by celebrating a
single Mass; for the greatest honor that the whole Church without
priests could give to God would consist in offering to Him in sacrifice
the lives of all men. But of what value are the lives of all men
compared with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is a sacrifice of
infinite value? What are all men before God but a little dust? As a
drop of a bucket, as a little dust. They are but a mere nothing in His
sight: All nations are before Him as if they had no being at all. Thus,
by the celebration of a single Mass, in which he offers Jesus Christ in
sacrifice, a priest gives greater honor to the Lord, than if all men by
dying for God offered to Him the sacrifice of their lives. By a single
Mass, he gives greater honor to God than all the Angels and Saints,
along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, have given or shall give to Him;
for their worship cannot be of infinite value, like that which the
priest celebrating on the altar offers to God. Moreover, in the holy
Mass, the priest offers to God an adequate thanksgiving for all the
graces bestowed even on the Blessed in Paradise; but such a
thanksgiving all the Saints together are incapable of offering to Him.
Hence it is, that on this account also the priestly dignity is superior
even to all celestial dignities. Besides, the priest, says St. John
Chrysostom, is an ambassador of the whole world, to intercede with God
and to obtain graces for all creatures.. The priest, according to St.
Ephrem, "treats familiarly with God." To priests every door is open.
Jesus has died to institute the priesthood. It was not necessary for
the Redeemer to die in order to save the world; a drop of His Blood, a
single tear, or prayer, was sufficient to procure salvation for all;
for such a prayer, being of infinite value, should be sufficient to
save not one but a thousand worlds. But to institute the priesthood,
the death of Jesus Christ has been necessary. Had he not died, where
should we find the victim that the priests of the New Law now offer? a
victim altogether holy and immaculate, capable of giving to God an
honor worthy of God. As has been already said, all the lives of men and
Angels are not capable of giving to God an infinite honor like that
which a priest offers to Him by a single Mass.
III
Grandeur of the Priestly Power
The dignity of
the priest is also estimated from the power that he has over the real
and the mystic body of Jesus Christ. With regard to the power of
priests over the real body of Jesus Christ, it is of faith that when
they pronounce the words of consecration the Incarnate Word has obliged
Himself to obey and to come into their hands under the Sacramental
Species. We are struck with wonder when we hear that God obeyed the
voice of Josue-----The Lord obeying the voice of man-----and made the
sun stand when He said move not, O sun, towards Gabaon . . . and the
sun stood still. But our wonder should be far greater when we find that
in obedience to the words of his priests-----HOC EST CORPUS
MEUM-----God Himself descends on the altar, that He comes wherever they
call Him, and as often as they call Him, and places Himself in their
hands, even though they should be His enemies. And after having come,
He remains, entirely at their disposal; they move Him as they please,
from one place to another; they may, if they wish, shut Him up in the
tabernacle, or expose Him on the altar, or carry Him outside the
church; they may, if they choose, eat His flesh and give Him for the
food of others. "Oh, how very great is their power," says St. Laurence
Justinian, speaking of priests. "A word falls from their lips and the
body of Christ is there substantially formed from the matter of bread,
and the Incarnate Word descended from Heaven, is found really present
on the table of the altar! Never did Divine goodness give such power to
the Angels. The Angels abide by the order of God, but the priests take
Him in their hands, distribute Him to the faithful, and partake of Him
as food for themselves."
With regard to the mystic body of Christ, that is, all the faithful,
the priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering
sinners from Hell, of making them worthy of Paradise, and of changing
them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God Himself
is obliged to abide by the judgment of His priests, and either not to
pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse or give absolution,
provided the penitent is capable of it. "Such is," says St. Maximus of
Turin, "this judiciary power ascribed to Peter that its decision
carries with it the decision of God." The sentence of the priest
precedes, and God subscribes to it, writes St. Peter Damian. Hence, St
John Chrysostom thus concludes: The sovereign Master of the universe
only follows the servant by confirming in Heaven all that the latter
decides upon earth." Priests are the dispensers of the Divine graces
and the companions of God." Consider the priests," says St. Ignatius,
Martyr, "as the dispensers of Divine graces and the associates of God."
"They are," says St. Prosper, "the glory and the immovable columns of
the Church; thay are the doors of the eternal city; through them all
reach Christ; they are the vigilant guardians to whom the Lord has
confided the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; they are the stewards of
the king's house, to assign to each according to His good pleasure His
place in the hierarchy."
Were the Redeemer to descend into a church, and sit in a confessional
to administer the Sacrament of Penance, and a priest to sit in another
confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent, "Ego te absolvo," the
priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, "Ego te absolvo,"
and the penitents of each would be equally absolved. How great the
honor that a king would confer on a subject whom he should empower to
rescue from prison as many as he pleased! But far greater is the power
that the eternal Father has given to Jesus Christ, and that Jesus
Christ has given to his priests, to rescue from Hell not only the
bodies but also the souls of the faithful: "The Son," says St. John
Chrysostom, "has put into the hands of the priests all judgment; for
having been as it were transported into Heaven, they have received this
Divine prerogative. If a king gave to a mortal the power to release
from prison all prisoners, all would pronounce such a one happy; but
priests have received from God a far greater power, since the soul is
more noble than the body."
IV
The Dignity of the Priest Surpasses all other Created Dignities
Thus the
sacerdotal dignity is the most noble of all the dignities in this
world." Nothing," says St. Ambrose, "is more excellent in this world."
It transcends, says St. Bernard, "all the dignities of kings, of
emperors, and of Angels." According to St. Ambrose, the dignity of the
priest as far exceeds that of kings, as the value of gold surpasses
that of lead. The reason is, because the power of kings extends only to
temporal goods and to the bodies of men, but the power of the priest
extends to spiritual goods and to the human soul. Hence, says St.
Clement, "as much as the soul is more noble than the body, so much is
the priesthood more excellent than royalty." "Princes," says St. John
Chrysostom, "have the power of binding, but they bind only the bodies,
while the priest binds the souls." The kings of the earth glory in
honoring priests: "It is a mark of a good prince," says pope St.
Marcellinus, "to honor the priests of God." "They willingly," says
Peter de Blois, "bend their knee before the priest of God; they kiss
his hands, and with bowed down head receIve his benediction." "The
sacerdotal dignity," says St. Chrysostom, "effaces the royal dignity;
hence the king inclines his head under the hand of the priest to
receive his blessing."
Baronius relates that when the Empress Eusebia sent for Leontius,
Bishop of Tripoli, he said that if she wished to see him, she should
consent to two conditions: first, that on his arrival she should
instantly descend from the throne, and bowing down her head, should ask
his benediction; secondly, that he should be seated on the throne, and
that she should not sit upon it without his permission: he added, that
unless she submitted to these conditions he should never go to the
palace. Being invited to the table of the Emperor Maximus, St. Martin,
in taking a draught, first paid a mark of respect to his chaplain, and
then to the emperor. In the Council of Nice, the Emperor Constantine
wished to sit in the last place, after all the priests, and on a seat
lower than that which they occupied; he would not even sit down without
their permission. The holy king St. Boleslans had so great a veneration
for priests, that he would not dare to sit in their presence. The
sacerdotal dignity also surpasses the dignity of the Angels, who
likewise show their veneration for the priesthood, says St. Gregory
Nazianzen. All the Angels in Heaven cannot absolve from a single sin.
The Angels guardian procure for the souls committed to their care grace
to have recourse to a priest that he may absolve them: "Although," says
St. Peter Damian, "Angels may be present, they yet wait lor the priest
to exercise his power, but no one of them has the power of the
keys-----of binding and of loosening."
When St. Michael comes to a dying Christian who invokes his aid, the
holy Archangel can chase away the devils, but he cannot free his client
from their chains till a priest comes to absolve him. After having
given the order of priesthood to a holy ecclesiastic, St. Francis de
Sales perceived, that in going out he stopped at the door as if to give
precedence to another. Being asked by the Saint why he stopped, he
answered that God favored him with the visible presence of his Angel
guardian, who before he had received priesthood always remained at his
right and preceded him, but afterwards walked on his left and refused
to go before him. It was in a holy contest with the Angel that he
stopped at the door. St. Francis of Assisi used to say, "If I saw an
Angel and a priest, I would bend my knee first to the priest and then
to the Angel." Besides, the power of the priest surpasses that of the
Blessed Virgin Mary; for, although this Divine Mother can pray for us,
and by her prayers obtain whatever she wishes, yet she cannot absolve a
Christian from even the smallest sin. "The Blessed Virgin was eminently
more perfect than the Apostles," says Innocent III. "It was, however,
not to her, but only to the Apostles, that the Lord intrusted the keys
of the kingdom of Heaven." St. Bernardine of Sienna has written: "Holy
Virgin, excuse me, for I speak not against thee: the Lord has raised
the priesthood above thee." The Saint assigns the reason of the
superiority of the priesthood over Mary; she conceived Jesus Christ
only once; but by consecrating the Eucharist, the priest, as it were,
conceives Him as often as he wishes, so that if the person of the
Redeemer had not as yet been in the world, the priest, by pronouncing
the words of consecration, would produce this great person of a
Man-God. "O wonderful dignity of the priests," cries out St. Augustine;
"in their hands, as in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, the Son of God
becomes incarnate."
Hence priests are called the parents of Jesus Christ: such is the title
that St. Bernard gives them, for they are the active cause by which He
is made to exist really in the consecrated Host. Thus the priest may,
in a certain manner, be called the creator of his Creator, since by
saying the words of consecration, he creates, as it were, Jesus in the
Sacrament, by giving Him a Sacramental existence, and produces Him as a
victim to be offered to the eternal Father. As in creating the world it
was sufficient for God to have said, Let it be made, and it was
created-----He spoke, and they were made-----so it is sufficient for
the priest to say, "Hoc est corpus meum," and behold the bread is no
longer bread, but the body of Jesus Christ. "The power of the priest,"
says St. Bernardine of Sienna, "is the power of the Divine person; for
the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the
creation of the world." And St. Augustine has written, "O venerable
sanctity of the hands! O happy function of the priest! He that created
[if I may say so] gave me the power to create Him; and He that created
me without me is Himself created by me!" "As the Word of God created
Heaven and earth, so," says St. Jerome, "the words of the priest create
Jesus Christ." "At a sign from God there came forth from nothing both
the sublime vault of the Heavens and the vast extent of the earth; but
not less great is the power that manifests itself in the mysterious
words of the priest." The dignity of the priest is so great, that he
even blesses Jesus Christ on the altar as a victim to be offered to the
eternal Father. In the sacrifice of the Mass, writes Father Mansi,
Jesus Christ is the principal offerer and victim; as minister, He
blesses the priest, but as victim, the priest blesses Him.
V
Elevation or the Post Occupied by the Priest
The greatness of
the dignity of a priest is also estimated from the high place that he
occupies. The priesthood is called, at the synod of Chartres, in 1550,
the seat of the Saints. Priests are called Vicars of Jesus Christ,
because they hold his place on earth. "You hold the place of Christ,"
says St. Augustine to them; "you are therefore His lieutenants." In the
Council of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo called priests the
representatives of the person of God on earth. And before him, the
Apostle said: For Christ we are ambassadors, God, as it were, exhorting
by us. When He ascended into Heaven, Jesus Christ left His priests
after Him to hold on earth His place of mediator between God and men,
particularly on the altar. "Let the priest," says St. Laurence
Justinian, " approach the altar as another Christ."
According to St. Cyprian, a priest at the altar performs the office of
Christ. When, says St. Chrysostom, you have seen a priest offering
sacrifice,consider that the hand of Christ is invisibly extended. The
priest holds the place of the Savior Himself, when, by saying "Ego te
absolvo," he absolves from sin. This great power, which Jesus Christ
has received from His eternal Father, He has communicated to His
priests. "Jesus," says Tertullian, "invests the priests with His own
powers." To pardon a single sin requires all the omnipotence of God. "O
God, Who chiefly manifestest Thy almighty power in pardoning and
showing mercy," etc., says the holy Church in one of her prayers.
Hence, when they heard that Jesus Christ pardoned the sins of the
paralytic, the Jews justly said: Who can forgive sins but God alone.
But what only God can do by His omnipotence, the priest can also do by
saying "Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis;" for the forms of the
Sacraments, or the words of the forms, produce what they signify. What
the priest does what is wonderful, for by saying "Ego te absolvo" he
changes the sinner from an enemy into the friend of God, and from the
slave of Hell into an heir of Paradise. Cardinal Hugo represents the
Lord addressing the following words to a priest who absolves a sinner:
"I have created Heaven and earth, but I leave to you a better and
nobler creation; make out of this soul that is in sin a new soul, that
is, make out of the slave of Satan, that the soul is, a child of God. I
have made the earth bring forth all kinds of fruit, but to thee I
confide a more beautiful creation, namely, that the soul should bring
forth fruits of salvation."
The soul without grace is a withered tree that can no longer produce
fruit; but receiving the Divine grace, through the ministry of a
priest, it brings forth fruits of eternal life, St. Augustine says,
that to sanctify a sinner is a greater work than to create Heaven and
earth. And hast thou, says Job, an arm like God, and canst thou thunder
with a voice like Him? Who is it that has an arm like the arm of God,
and thunders with a voice like the thundering voice of God? It is the
priest, who, in giving absolution, exerts the arm and voice of God, by
which he rescues souls from Hell. According to St. Ambrose, a priest,
in absolving a sinner, performs the very office of the Holy Ghost in
the sanctification of souls.
Hence, in giving priests the power of absolving from sin, the Redeemer
breathed on them, and said to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose
sins you shall forgive, they are foygiven, and whose sins you shall
retain, they are retained. He gave them his own Spirit, that is, the
Holy Ghost, the sanctifier of souls. and thus made them, according to
the words of the Apostle, His own co-adjutors: We are God's
co-adjutors. "On priests," says St. Gregory. "it is incumbent to give
the final decision, for by the right that they have received from the
Lord they now remit, now retain sins." St. Clement, then, had reason to
say that the priest is, as it were, a God on earth. God, said David,
stood in the congregation of the gods. These gods are, according to St.
Augustine, the priests of God. Innocent III has written: "Indeed, it is
not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the
priests are so many gods." VI. Conclusion. How great, then, says St.
Ambrose, the disorder to see in the same person the highest dignity and
a life of scandal, a Divine profession and wicked conduct! What, says
Salvian, is a sublime dignity conferred on an unworthy person but a gem
enchased in mire? Neither doth any man, says St. Paul, take the honor
to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. For Christ did
not glorify Himself that He might be made a high priest, but He that
said unto Him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Let no
one, he says, dare to ascend to the priesthood, without first
receiving, as Aaron did, the Divine call; for even Jesus Christ would
not of Himself assume the honor of the priesthood, but waited till His
Father called Him to it.
From this we may infer the greatness of the sacerdotal dignity. But the
greater its sublimity, the more it should be dreaded. "For," says St.
Jerome, "great is the dignity of priests; but also, when they sin,
great is their ruin. Let us rejoice at having been raised so high, but
let us be afraid of falling."
Lamenting, St. Gregory cries out: "Purified by the hands of the priest
the elect enter the Heavenly country, and alas! priests precipitate
themselves into the fire of Hell!" The Saint compares priests to the
Baptismal water which cleanses the Baptized from their sins, and sends
them to Heaven, "and is afterwards thrown into the sink."
|
|