Devotion for today: the dignity of the priesthood

Scripture for meditation: Genesis 14:18
And Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

Scriptures for reflection: Psalm 110:4

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."

Hebrews 7:1-3:  This Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, “met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings” and “blessed Him….” His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace. Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Eucharistic Prayer 1 of the Catholic Mass:

Be pleased to look upon these offerings
with a serene and kindly countenance,
and to accept them,
as once you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your servant Abel the just,
the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,
and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.                   

The bishop, acting in the person of Christ~ ordains a man a deacon, priest, or bishop through the imposition of hands on the head of the candidate and by the recitation of a prayer. For example, the prayer for the ordination of priests reads:  "Almighty Father, grant to these servants of Yours the dignity of the priesthood. Renew within them the Spirit of holiness. As co-workers with the order of bishops may they be faithful to the ministry that they receive from You, Lord God, and be to others a model of rightconduct." (http://www.straphaelcrystal.org/sacraments

/57-holy-orders.html)

HOLY ORDERS

Chapter Five of "Holy Thursday: An Intimate Remembrance" by Francois Mauriac.

The Eucharist must not prevent us from considering the other sacrament which was instituted on Holy Thursday: Holy Orders. "Do this in remembrance of me." "Do this, as often as you drink [the cup], in remembrance of me."The grace of Holy Thursday will be transmitted unto the end of time, unto the last of the priests who will celebrate the last Mass in a shattered universe. Holy Thursday created these men; a mark was stamped on them; a sign was given to them. They are like us and yet so different-a fact never more surprising than in this pagan age. People say that there is a scarcity of priests. In truth, what an adorable mystery it is that there still are any priests. They no longer have any human advantage. Celibacy, solitude, hatred very often, derision and, above all, the indifference of a world in which there seems to be no longer room for them-such is the portion they have chosen. They have no apparent power; their task sometimes seems to be centered about material things, identifying them, in the eyes of the masses, with the staffs of town halls and of funeral parlors. A pagan atmosphere prevails all around them. The people would laugh at their virtue if they believed in it, but they do not.  They are spied upon. A thousand voices accuse those who fall. As for the others, the greater number, no one is surprised to see them toiling without any sort of recognition, without appreciable salary, bending over the bodies of the dying or ambling about the parish schoolyards. Who can describe the solitude of the priest in the country, in the midst of peasants so often indifferent, if not hostile, to the spirit of Christ? We enter a village church; we find only an old priest kneeling in the sanctuary, keeping a solitary watch with his Master. The words of Christ concerning priests are proven every day: "I am sending you forth like sheep in the midst of wolves.... You will be hated by all for my name's sake." For centuries, since the first Holy Thursday, some men have chosen to become objects of hatred, without expecting any human consolation. They have chosen to lose their lives because once Someone made them the seemingly foolish promise: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." And elsewhere: "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven…." For every Christian who tries to live according to his belief, inevitable scandals count for little when one considers the holiness of the Catholic priesthood as a whole. Let the heretics boast of not needing anyone to reach God. Do they believe that worthy Catholics do not enjoy the delight of solitude in contemplation and union with the Father? But it is because of its conformity with our fallen nature, with our wounded nature, that Catholicism shows itself to be the true Church. Only in her bosom is kept the promise that Christ made to His disciples, on that Thursday: "I will not leave you orphans." From the very beginning of His public life, He had testified to the power given to the Son of Man to forgive sins. And this power was transmitted to His priests: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them…."

Such is the immense stream of grace which has its source in the first priestly ordination of this sacred Thursday (The entire book may be purchased from Sophia Institute Press, Box 5284, Manchester, NH 03108, 1-800-888-9344 for $16.95 in hardback). (www.ewtn.com)

Prayer for priests: Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord, Keep them, for they are Thine –

Thy priests whose lives burn out before Thy consecrated shrine. Keep them, for they are in the world, Though from the world apart; when earthly pleasures tempt, allure – shelter them in Thy heart. Keep them, and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain, when all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain. Keep them, and O remember, Lord, they have no one but Thee, yet they have only human hearts, with human frailty. Keep them as spotless as the Host that daily they caress; their every thought and word and deed, deign, dearest Lord, to bless. Amen.  Say one Our Father, Hail Mary, Mary, Queen of Clergy, pray for them (The Pieta Prayer Book, Miraculous Lady of Roses, LLC, 2005).