Today is the Feast of St. John Eudes, a great saint of the 17th c. A great missionary. He was a promoter of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and spiritual writer. Canonized in 1920’s, he has a gigantic statue in a niche in Saint Peter’s Basilica. He founded the “Eudist” fathers.
I have posted this from St. John Eudes before, from The Priest: His Dignity and Obligations – HERE
On bad priests…
Bad priests are a sign of God’s anger
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds. Instead of nourishing those committed to their care, they rend and devour them brutally. Instead of leading their people to God, they drag Christian souls into hell in their train. Instead of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, they are its innocuous poison and its murky darkness. St. Gregory the Great says that priests and pastors will stand condemned before God as the murderers of any souls lost through neglect or silence….
When God permits such things, it is a very positive proof that He is thoroughly angry with His people, and is visiting His most dreadful anger upon them. That is why He cries unceasingly to Christians, “Return, 0 ye revolting children . . . and I will give you pastors according to my own heart” (Jer. 3, 14-15). Thus, irregularities in the lives of priests constitute a scourge visited upon the people in consequence of sin.
A good priest…
He is an ever burning and shining light set in the candelabra of Mother Church, burning before God and shining before men: burning in his own love for God, shining by his charity for his fellow man; burning with the perfection of his inner life, shining by the perfection of his exterior deportment; burning in fervent prayer for his people, shining by his preaching of the word of God. The priest is a sun cheering the world by his presence and bearing. He brings heavenly blessings into every heart. He dispels the ignorance and darkness of error and radiates on every side bright beams of celestial light. He extinguishes sin and gives life and grace to the multitudes. He imparts new life to the weak, inflames the lukewarm, fires more ardently those who are aglow with the sacred flame of divine love. He is an angel purifying, illuminating and perfecting the souls that God has entrusted to him. He is a seraph sent by God to teach men the science of salvation which is concerned only with knowing and loving Almighty God and His Divine Son, Jesus Christ. The priest is an archangel and a prince of the heavenly militia, waging constant war against the devil who strives to drag countless souls into the depths of hell. He is the real father of the children of God, with a heart filled with love which is truly paternal. That love urges him to work unceasingly to nourish his flock with the bread U the sacred word and of the sacraments, to clothe the faithful with Christ and the Holy Ghost, to enrich them with celestial blessings and to secure for them every possible assistance in the salvation of their souls. …
He is a captain in the mighty army of God, always ready to battle for the glory of God and the defense of Holy Mother Church. He is ever prepared to lay siege to the world, the flesh and the devil. For him the conquest of kingdoms means only the salvation of souls for each soul is a kingdom more precious than all the empires of the world.
Please pray for priests. Pray for me.
Always on the right sidebar.
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Thank you for your insights on this feast day, which also happens to be the first anniversary of my godmother’s passing into eternity. I am struggling with the offer by a recent confessor, who struck me as certainly compassionate but not as certainly orthodox, to help me with problems resulting from having been beset for 30 years by a particular sin. How can one discern, given the modern state of the Church (reflected by the lack of a screen in the confessional I used and of proper soundproofing in the one I avoided) and the enthusiasm of his offer (which was not quite part of my penance), if my concerns about his motives are warranted, or a temptation, reflecting me more than the priest (paraphrasing my godmother from a conversation late last decade regarding another Church-related topic), to refuse the proverbial life raft from God? What should I look for in a first meeting to decide whether to continue? Anyhow, please pray for me and for the repose of my godmother’s soul.
I read this and wonder about the Winnipeg Statement in my home of Canada. Its spiritual impact is evident for those who have eyes to see. It’s a punishment no doubt. Its lasting impact is for generations to come. It’s strange, almost all societal problems with housing, wages, lack of population, collapsing services all can go back to this time. Three days before Humanae Vitae was published the Cathedral in Winniepg burnt to the ground. Coincidence?
Scorched earth.
We will remember you in a particular way during our family rosary this evening.
Plague, famine, war, bad priests; in that order.
The Great War, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, the “another war, even worse”, and then: the Second Vatican Council.
Servant of God Lucia’s last known interview (St. Stephen’s Day, 1957) is a very interesting read – especially – when considered against these horrid six decades past.
Miserere nobis, Domine! Miserere nobis!
O Almighty Eternal God, look upon the face of Thy Christ, and for the love of Him who is the Eternal High Priest, have pity on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the bishop’s hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the Enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.
O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely and desolate priests; for Thy young priests; for Thy aged priests; for Thy sick priests, for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in Purgatory.
But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted, and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me, or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly N. O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy Heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.
IMPRIMATUR
+Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, 6 September 2018
My grandmother always said for every demon tempting us, 7 are attacking a
priest. Today she would probably say to multiply that 7×7!
I am very grateful to be under the faithful leadership of an outstanding bishop (Bishop Edward Malesic of Cleveland) and an equally holy young pastor. Having encountered perhaps less worthy priests, I am all the more grateful for them and do not take them for granted.
In less than 6 years, after *decades* with no vocations, my parish and our sister parish have been blessed by two young ladies, one a fully-professed Nashville Dominican and the other a Mercedarian who has professed her first vows, one young man in priestly formation at the Benedictine monastery in Oklahoma, one young man who has started his second year at our Diocesan seminary, and a young man (a recent graduate of our local secular university, who was a member of the Newman Center which meets at our parish and whose chaplain is our good pastor) who has just started his first year at the Diocesan seminary. And 5 teenaged servers thinking of the priesthood who, with their parents, visited the seminary and met with the bishop this past summer. It is no coincidence that this is the result of the faithful, joyful leadership and good example of our bishop and pastor.
I will pray for you with great pleasure, Father. We pray the Rosary, Angelus, and Memorare before every (well-attended – 40+) daily Mass for the spiritual and physical health and protection of Pope Francis, Bishop Malesic, our parish priests, all seminarians, and especially the young men and young ladies who are sons and daughters of our parishes who are discerning service to the Church.
God bless and protect you, Father, and all here!
So many of the Bad Priests tm, today have no calling. So why are they Priests? Social Justice, homosexuality, to name a few. The Fires of He’ll are being stolen high by the burning of the Bad Priests, tm.
My life and soul have been saved by good priests! As to the bad priests that I have encountered over the years, the less said, the better.
Speaking of bad Priest, Cardinal Cupich gave the “blessing” at the Democrat National Convention.
Planned Parenthood is there giving free abortions and vasectomy.
Unfortunately, this sounds like the kind of punishment that falls hardest on the actually FAITHFUL faithful who want to please God and do His will. The people who are living sinful lives aren’t going to have that much of a problem with bad priests, are they?