Hearing God's Call » Year for Priests

St JV: On Being Thankful for Priests

HGC — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:52:34 +0000

“If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, ‘There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul.’ At the sight of a church tower, you may say, ‘What is there in that place?’ ‘The Body of Our Lord.’ ‘Why is He there?’ ‘Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass.’”

-The Cure d’Ars, “Catechism for Priests”

St JV: On The Necessity of Priests

HGC — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:28:58 +0000

“The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests and they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go away, you would say, ‘What can we do in this church? There is no Mass…Our Lord is no longer there…we may as well pray at home.’ When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.”

-The Cure d’Ars, “Catechism for Priests”

St JV: On Holy Orders

HGC — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:41:05 +0000

“If we did not have the Sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed Him there in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it to give it strength to make its pilgrimage? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God by washing that soul for the last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest – always the priest.

And if that soul comes to the point of death, who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and to peace? Again, the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from God without finding side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.”

-The Cure d’Ars, “Catechism for Priests”

Words From St John Vianney

HGC — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:56:38 +0000

“Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the body and blood of our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, ‘Go in peace; I pardon you.’ Oh how great is a priest!”

-The Cure d’Ars, “Catechism for Priests”