Having just read the Letter I have one major reflection.
His Holiness' Letter to open the Sacerdotal Year is a panegyric on the Cure D'Ars and at the same time an exaltation of the unique dignity and duties of the ministerial priesthood.
One example of the grandeur of the priesthood is the idea which I first heard at a First Mass reception by Father John Hardon, that "were it not for the Catholic Priesthood Jesus Christ would not be on earth today". That is the idea conveyed in the Holy Father's Letter quoting the following text of the patron saint of parish priests:
"Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put Him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die [as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest. ... After God, the priest is everything! ... Only in heaven will he fully realise what he is".
How shall we call it? Clear clerical identity coupled with selfless service and humble obedience to the Lord in the Church and in Her sacred rituals.
The place in which the reality of the sublime dignity and duties of the priest are best expressed and exercised are in the exalted and most solemn rites of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Ritual. So it is most appropriate that here in New York City we should begin this sacerdotal year with a solemn high pontifical Mass of this feast of the Sacred Heart in the extraordinary form of the Mass. Saint Jean Baptiste, 74th and Lexington, 7PM.
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