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Forum Focus
Our Priests and the Most Holy Sacrament of the AltarIntroduction At this time, the Wanderer Forum Foundation is dedicating its August web site features to the priesthood. In this year of the Eucharist, we are not dealing with "community" or "feel good" or mere symbols. This year was dedicated by Pope John Paul II to Christ our Lord, truly present in the Holy Eucharist on the altars around the world. At the same time, the year must be dedicated to the priest, who brings Christ to our altars and is charged with the sacred duty of teaching us about Him and how to be Christ among men in the world. The Holy Eucharist is not to remain in the tabernacle, thought about only during the Sunday liturgy and to be forgotten during the week. The Holy Eucharist is to become part of us, informing our hearts and minds in the mind of Christ and making us desire to be Christ-like in our day-to-day life. Nothing shows this transforming power of the Eucharist better than a study of the missionaries. Their lives were dedicated to bringing Christ to pagan people. No trial was too great for these workers in the vineyard, it seems, for they possessed singleness of purpose in their work: saving souls. They could not accomplish all that they did without Christ's sacred presence on the altar and their conformity to His will however it was manifested. A good example of this Eucharistic missionary spirit is in Fr. Pierre De Smet, S.J., who is called the Apostle of the Rocky Mountains. Native American tribes to this day, such as some in Idaho, follow their Catholic faith vigorously and with great devotion due to the efforts of this Black Robe who brought Christ to them over one hundred years ago. What conviction he must have conveyed when he preached, for people would beg for baptism on the spot. And the native peoples responded especially to his priestly dedication, understanding very well that by his celibacy, the Black Robe was wholly at their service for the salvation of their souls. "This year," wrote the missionary to his bishop, "as in preceding ones I have passed among the Indians, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin was for me a day of happiness and consolation. I celebrated the first Mass ever said in this part of the world, and afterward baptized ninety-two children and ten adults advanced in years. In the evening the cross was erected, the standard of the Saviour being planted on the shore of the lake to the salvo of eighty guns. At its foot, the entire tribe offered their hearts to the Great Spirit, promising inviolable attachment to our holy religion, and they destroyed what remained of their ancient superstitions" (The Life of Father De Smet, S.J., by Fr. E. Laveille, S.J., TAN Books, Rockford, Illinois, p. 173-174). Without sustenance of Christ in the Eucharist, without being transformed into Christ present to these peoples, Fr. De Smet could not have endured the thousands of miles of harsh travel through the mountains, along rivers, and thick forests. He could not have boldly gone to a hated tribe, met with the chief, and spoke of Christ to him. He could not have met the people on their own terms, whether it was in the consumption of native foods (black moss pie) or in facing a tomahawk-armed attacker and administering "a good cowhiding" (p.177), without being first armed with his Eucharistic Lord. Likewise the missionaries everywhere, from the Franciscans who accompanied the conquistadors in Mexico - in a few short years of the conversions there, Our Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego (see "Turbulent Waves of Error," Wanderer Forum Foundation) - to St.Isaac Jogues in Canada, and St. Peter Chanel, S.M., in the Pacific, Christ in the Holy Eucharist, present before them on the altar, made them what they were and used them for His sacred purpose. The same can be said for John Vianney, as indicated in this month's feature article. The same can be said for any priest living his celibacy and working in a secularized society and holding fast to the singleness of purpose: saving souls. Christ in the Eucharist does this through priests for us.
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Previous Forum Focus Stephanie Block: Evangelization for the Springtime of the Church… Take Care That It's Catholic James Bemis: The Good Example: A Convert's Perspective on Evangelization |