On The Dignity of The Sacrament and the Priestly State

In honor of the Ordination of a friend to the Priesthood, I wanted to place the full reflection in front of you, without comment (at this time, however, please look at the image below and meditate on that image and pray for vocations and the recently ordained).  And so I will return to Ch 2 of Bk 1 later, but for now am skipping to Book 4, Ch 5: On The Dignity of The Sacrament and the Priestly State

CHAPTER 5: Of the dignity of this Sacrament, and of the office of the priest

The Voice of Christ: If you had the purity of an angel and the holiness of St. John the Baptist, you would not be worthy to receive or to minister The Blessed Sacrament. For this is not deserved by merit of man that a man should consecrate and minister the Sacrament of Christ, and take for food the bread of Angels. (Ps 78:22-25 (see below)).

Great is the mystery, and great is the dignity of the priests, to whom is given what is not
granted to Angels.



Great is the mystery, and great the dignity of priests to whom that is given which is not granted to angels.
illustration by Ariel Agemian, K.S.G.



For priests only, rightly ordained in the Church, have the power of consecrating and celebrating the Body of Christ.



The priest indeed is the minister of God, using the Word of God by God's command and institution; nevertheless God is there the principal Author and invisible Worker, that to Whom all that He wills is subject, and to all He commands is obedient.

2. Therefore you must give more credit to Almighty God in everything related to this most excellent Sacrament, than to your own senses or any visible sign. And therefore you are to approach this work with fear and reverence.

Take heed to yourself (1 Tim 4:16), and see what kind of ministry is committed to you as priest by the laying on of the Bishop's hands.

Behold! you are made a priest and are consecrated to celebrate Holy Mass; see now that you do it before God faithfully and devoutly in due time, and show yourself without blame or reproof.

You have not lightened your burden, but are now bound with a stricter bond of discipline, and are pledged to a higher degree of holiness.
A priest ought to be adorned with all virtues and to afford to others an example of good life.  (Titus 2:7)

His conversation must not be with the popular and common ways of men, but with Angels in Heaven or with perfect men on earth.(Phil 3:20)
3. A priest clad in holy vestments is Christ's vice regent in that he may pray unto God with all supplication and humility for himself and for the whole people.

He has before him and behind him  the sign of the cross of the Lord that he may always remember the Passion of Christ.

He bears the cross before him on his vestments that he may diligently look upon Christ's footsteps and fervently endeavour to follow them.

He is marked with the cross behind that he may mildly suffer, for God's sake, whatsoever adversities are brought upon him by others.

He wears the cross before him that he may mourn for his own sins; behind him that through compassion, he may lament the sins of others, and know that he is placed as a mediator between God and the sinner. He should not grow careless of prayer and holy oblation, until he prevails to obtain the grace and mercy for which he implores God.

When the priest celebrates Mass, he honours God, gives rejoices with the Angels, builds up the Church, helps the living, has obtains rest for the dead, and makes himself a partaker of all good things.

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Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!


tim


Psalm 78: 22 For they did not believe in God, did not trust in his saving power. 23 So he commanded the skies above; the doors of heaven he opened. 24 God rained manna upon them for food; bread from heaven he gave them. 25 All ate a meal fit for heroes; food he sent in abundance.

Accountability Counts. (Thinking of Puffy Bunny marshmallow Game)

In Book 1, Chapter 2, Paragraph 3, Good Thomas turns his attention to the knowledge element in more detail (see previous post) by focusing on the accountability element to our level of knowledge.  He tells us that knowledge carries a stiff price.  It's okay to be smart (which is different than being knowledgeable) and to know many things, but having the wisdom to put both gifts together is the challenge:

3. The greater and more complete your knowledge, the more strictly accountable you will be at the day of your judgment unless your life be also more holy by measure. Therefore do not be puffed up with any skill or knowledge but rather be accountable for the knowledge which has been given to you.

If it seems to you that you know many things and understand many things well enough, know at the same time that there are many, many more things of which you do not know at all.

Do not be high-minded but rather acknowledge your ignorance. Why would you want to let yourself be above others when there are many others with more knowledge and skill in the Scriptures than you? If you would know and learn anything to its purpose, love to be unknown and be considered as nothing in the sight of others.

In the first paragraph, the leaven for knowing a great deal is holiness, and leading a holy life.  Do you also have the wisdom of knowing when enough is enough?  Does your knowledge have value, or is it just trivial, ego-boosting? 

These questions reminded me of a game my boys used to play in Cub Scouts:  The puffy bunny marshmallow game.  In that game, you are to stuff your mouth full of marshmallows to the point of "cheek exhaustion" and then be able to say "puffy bunny".  The game is silly and fun and the results are hilarious, but I couldn't help but think of it as an analogy for comparing to this passage on knowledge.  Marshmallows have almost no nutritional value, and too many of them in your mouth will keep you from being understood. So to "win" at the puffy bunny marshmallow game, you need to know when to stop ingesting the marshmallows so you can at least say "Puffy Bunny".

And like the puffy bunny game, in the next paragraph, Thomas tells us that no matter how many items we stuff into our heads, there's so much more that we still do not or cannot know.  Just one more marshmallow?

So where does humility fit in?  The last paragraph tells us that being humble in our knowledge is the best practice, since there are clearly others who know more, not only about "things" but about The Lord or The Scriptures.  I can think of at least 4 people right out of Scripture, who know more than me:  Jesus, Solomon, Moses, St. Paul.  And I'm fairly sure my Bishop and my Pastor knows more than me.  Then there's my friend Kay, who reads her Bible daily. And I'm fairlysure that my friends and Deacons, Dave and Tom know more than me...hmmm.  Anyone else?  Of course there is our Patron Saint here, Good Thomas A'Kempis, who knows more than me.  So with that august crowd, I'm feeling okay with acknowledgeing my ignorance here.

My prayer then, is this:  "Lord Jesus, please help me to moderate my eagerness to know so much about everything.  Help me to direct this effort with Your leaven of humilty and holiness.  Help me to seek those things worth knowing, especially where it concerns You or The Faith.  And where the Faith is the focus, please know me more for my holiness and obedience to You than for my knowledge of Scripture."

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!
tim
p.s.  Next time we will finish up Chapter 2 with an exploration of how to empathize with all those bad people out there.  We will first look at our friend in the mirror.

On Heuristic Algorithms…huh?..Many words from talking heads, few saints.

I'll keep this one short, given the title.   But the essence of this week's reflection is trying to justify our wordiness by our level of knowledge, when the formula really is simple:  too much talking = pride.  It's a heuristic algorithm. See the footnotes below for definitions.  Here's the reflection:

Thomas tells us in Book 1, Ch 2 (Having an Humble Opinion of Ones Self):

2. Cease your excessive desires of knowing all things because there is found only distractions and deceit. They who are learned want to appear wise and want to be called wise. There are many things the knowledge of which is of little or no value to the soul. In fact, to ever pay such attention to knowledge of things other than how these serve to his own salvation is very unwise and even foolish. Many words do not justify the soul; but a good life gives peace to the mind; and a pure conscience affords a great confidence in God. (1 Timothy 3:9)

Today, there is so much "blah, blah, blah....ad infinitum," from talking heads to The Talking Heads, to Talk Radio, to Podcasts (of which I'm a fan).  I listen to more talking than I should, and I talk more than I should.  Often, Mr. Pride takes over my head and tongue, since he (I, me, himself, that is, me) wants to appear important or wise or smart. 

I'm one of those people who also wants to know everything.  My typical excuse is:  "that's the way God made me!"  But ultimately, I know it's a pride issue. 

My other excuse is that I'm just curious.  But most of the time, it's because I don't want to appear stupid or uneducated....or don't want to be quiet, or DO want to be the center of attention.  It's a full circle, pride is.

Next time, we'll explore the concept of
"Accountability Counts" - the puffy bunny marshmallow game.

Until then: Thanks for praying with me -

Be imitators of Christ!


Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a good enough solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical. Examples of this method include using a "rule of thumb", an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense. In more precise terms, heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings and machines..]

An algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions[ for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning.

Starting from an initial state and initial input (perhaps null),] the instructions describe a computation that, when executed, will proceed through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing "output”] and terminating at a final ending state. The transition from one state to the next is not necessarily deterministic; some algorithms, known as randomized algorithms, incorporate random input.]

Haughty, and Knotty, and Proud of it! Where are You Among the Billions and Billions?

Thomas opens Chapter two: On Having an Humble Opinion of One’s Self with the notion that we first have a natural desire to know things about our world, our selves, and He Who made us. Thomas’ caution goes back to the Garden of Eden, when Adam & Eve looked to the tree of knowledge and decided that they, too, should avail themselves of its fruit even though God told them not to pursue its fruits. While Thomas does not cite to Gn 2, the notion is the same:

Everyman naturally desires to know (or have knowledge), but what does knowledge profit you without the fear and respect of God?

Indeed a simple peasant that serves God is better than a proud scholar who watches the stars but neglects knowledge of himself. (see Sirach 19:20-21)

He who truly knows himself well is vile in his own eyes and is not delighted with being praised by others. If I should know all things that are in the world and should not be in charity (Rm 8:8, 1 Cor 13:2) how would it help me in the sight of God who will judge me by my deeds?

Thomas brings us to a comparison of a simple peasant who serves the Lord, compared with a haughty scholar who knows where the stars are in the night sky, but not of the One who made the stars. This reminded me of Carl Sagan.  God tells us that he will repay the haughty (see ps 31 below) in opposition to the protection of the loyal.  So snap out of it, you naughty haughty!

Thomas then calls us to bring our conscience into focus. If we are honest with ourselves, and know our own thoughts and our own history, we know that what Thomas is saying here is as true as St. Paul’s letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1: 13-15*) where Paul delineates his sins and calls himself chief among sinners. So that makes me at least second…Where are you on the list?

Next time, we’ll look see what Thomas has to say about heuristic algorithims….huh?

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

See also:  Psalm 31: 23-24


23 Once I said in my anguish, "I am shut out from your sight." Yet you heard my plea, when I cried out to you.

24 Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD protects the loyal, but repays the haughty in full.

25 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.