Day 217: The Effects of Holy Orders (1581-1589)

• t’s Day 217!!

• THE EFFECTS OF THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

• THE INDELIBLE CHARACTER

• Kind of like Baptism and Confirmation

• Once a priest, always a priest

• IN FACT…

• Scripture says, “You are a priest forever.”

• THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

• What is that?

• It is a grace of STRENGTH

• It is a grace of WISDOM and all those GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

• There is a special strength to serve that God has given 

• St. Gregory of Nazianzus was a very young priest

• St. John Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests

• St. John Vianney says in Paragraph 1589, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for giving us yourself, for giving us your Son, for giving us your love, and giving us access to your heart, Father in Heaven. Help us to love you with hearts that are undivided. Help us to follow you with wills that are undivided. Help us to be able to focus on you with a mind that is undivided, and help us to belong to you, united in love for you, this day and every day. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• What are the effects of Holy Orders?

• Paragraph 1581 says, “This sacrament configures the recipient to Christ by a special grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he may serve as Christ’s instrument for his Church. By ordination one is enabled to act as a representative of Christ, Head of the Church, in his triple office of priest, prophet, and king.”

• Remember Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony are sacraments of service

• THey are oriented towards building up the Body of Christ on Earth

• The bishops, priests, and deacons receive this sacrament

• Holy Orders has an indelible spiritual mark just like Baptism and Confirmation

• It cannot be repeated

• It cannot be conferred temporarily

• It cannot be removed

• You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek and according to the order of Jesus

• Someone may say they know a priest who no longer serves as a priest and he was laicized

• In cases of grave reasons, a priest can be discharged from the obligations and functions linked to the ordination

• OR…

• For grave reasons someone can be forbidden to exercise them

• BUT…

• That person does not go back to being a layperson

• They are forever a priest

• Because the character imprinted by ordination is forever and they are marked permanently

• Paragraph 1583 says, “The vocation and mission received on the day of his ordination mark him permanently.”

• We are never worthy of the sacraments

• We never deserve them

• We oftentimes fail to live up to these sacraments

• We are unworthy adopted sons and daughters of God

• Paragraph 1584 says, “Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting.”

• When the priest baptizes, it is Jesus who baptized

• When the priest or bishop confirms, it is Jesus who confirms

• When the priest forgives, it is Jesus who forgives

• St. Augustine says in Paragraph 1584, “As for the proud minister, he is to be ranked with the devil. Christ’s gift is not thereby profaned: what flows through him keeps its purity, and what passes through him remains clear and reaches the fertile earth…”

• God’s grace is so thorough and full that what comes to us, even through an unworthy priest, how it comes through is Jesus

• What comes through is the Lord

• Paragraph 1586 says, “For the bishop, this is first of all a grace of strength (‘the governing spirit’: Prayer of Episcopal Consecration in the Latin rite): the grace to guide and defend his Church with strength and prudence as a father and pastor, with gratuitous love for all and a preferential love for the poor, the sick, and the needy. This grace impels him to proclaim the Gospel to all, to be the model for his flock, to go before it on the way of sanctification by identifying himself in the Eucharist with Christ the priest and victim, not fearing to give his life for his sheep…”

• That is the heart of what it is to be a bishop

• SO GOOD!!

• In Paragraph 1587 is this prayer that the Lord will fill the priest with the gift of the Holy Spirit and that they would be worthy to stand without reproach at the altar of the Lord

• Paragraph 1587 says, “The spiritual gift conferred by presbyteral ordination is expressed by this prayer of the Byzantine Rite. The bishop, while laying on his hand, says among other things: Lord, fill with the gift of the Holy Spirit him whom you have deigned to raise to the rank of the priesthood, that he may be worthy to stand without reproach before your altar, to proclaim the Gospel of your kingdom, to fulfill the ministry of your word of truth, to offer your spiritual gifts and sacrifices, to renew your people by the bath of rebirth; so that he may go out to meet our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, your only Son, on the day of his second coming, and may receive from your vast goodness the recompense for a faithful administration of his order.”

• The words that we all long to hear at the hour of our death are, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

• Whether it’s the single person who continued to give, love, show up, and pray

• Or the mom or dad or the husband or wife or the religious sister or priest

• Whatever state in life we are in or whatever vocation we live out in the course of our life, we long to hear those words at the hour of our death

• Apologetics are an explanation and defense of the faith

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s story about St. Thérèse of Lisieux…

• St. Paul wrote that the greatest gifts are Faith, Hope, and Love

• So she decided to be LOVE

• It would be amazing to be a missionary

• It would be amazing to be a priest

• But she realized that was not her call

• Her call was to be LOVE

• Some priests are called to continue to do the work of redemption on Earth

• The gift of the priesthood is not an indictment on anyone who is not called to be a priest

• It does not mean they are not called to be holy

• Holiness is not dependent on the particular vocation a person is called to

• Holiness is dependent on our response to God’s call with love

• St. John Vianney says in Paragraph 1589, “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”

• The way in which bishops, priests, and deacons will become holy is the degree to which they respond to that call with love despite their unworthiness

• Please pray for Fr. Mike’s priesthood

• He wants it to glorify God

• He doesn’t want it to scandalize anybody in his own weakness or unworthiness

• Please pray for your bishop

• Please pray for your priests in your life from childhood to now

• Please pray for your deacons

• It’s one part of the Body of Christ

• It’s a part of the Body that we need

• We need strengthening

• We need purifying

• We need holiness

• So please pray for all of them

• Fr. Mike is praying for YOU!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!