Instead of raising children, priests and religious adopt every soul as their spiritual child. Instead of devoting one's life towards the salvation of immediate family, priests and religious devote their lives to the salvation of the world.
As Our Lord told Saint Faustina; "Do not be guided by feeling, because it is not always under your control; but all merit lies in the will." Indeed, becoming a saint--or, loving God to the point of total conformity to His will--requires nothing other than a persistent good will to do so. To become a saint, only three things are necessary; love, prayer, and mortification.
Diary of Saint Faustina, p.134: "Let no soul, even the most miserable, fall prey to doubt; for, as long as one is alive, each one can become a great saint, so great is the power of God's grace. It remains only for us not to oppose God's actions."
"On a certain occasion, I saw a person about to commit a mortal sin. I asked the Lord to send me the greatest torments so that that soul could be saved. Then I suddenly felt a terrible pain of a crown of thorns on my head. It lasted for quite a long time, but that person remained in the Lord's grace... O my Jesus, how very easy it is to become holy! All that is needed is a bit of good will. Jesus sees this little bit of good will in the soul, He hurries to give Himself to the soul, and nothing can stop Him, neither short comings or falls - absolutely nothing. Jesus is anxious to help that soul, and if it is faithful to this grace from God, it can very soon attain the highest holiness possible for a creature here on earth. God is very generous and does not deny His grace to anyone. Indeed He gives more than what we ask of Him."
Diary of Saint Faustina: "Jesus says: 'This firm resolution to become a saint is extremely pleasing to Me. I bless your efforts and will give you opportunities to sanctify yourself. Be watchful that you lose no opportunity that My providence offers you for sanctification. If you do not succeed in taking advantage of an opportunity, do not lose your peace, but humble yourself profoundly before Me and, with great trust, immerse yourself completely in My mercy. In this way, you gain more than you have lost, because more favor is granted to a humble soul than the soul itself asks for..."
Rather, the gaze of the religious must always be upwards in prayer. Only when fervent prayer is truly the mainstay of the religious, will the community flourish and bear fruit, and the ordinary mundane tasks of common life will become divinized. A good religious will daily find a thousand opportunities to purge himself of "the old man", so that he can become conformed to Love itself, and at the same time save souls in the process.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that the downfall of every priest/religious begins with laxity in prayer. In other words, when the religious forsakes prayer, and stops making an effort to stir his heart, then he has already forfeited his vocation to the enemy.
Yet with prayer, everything is easy and light; the soul is free like a bird, which love makes possible (This is the happiness that perfected souls enjoy, according to Saint Catherine of Sienna--a joy that religious have to look forward to: the bliss of the continual presence of God). As Our Lord told Saint Faustina, what causes Him more pain than anything else, is not the grave sins of those living in the world, but the small imperfections and lukewarmness of religious, whom He awaits with the greatest graces, because He depends on them to sanctify the world through them. Saint Alphonsus De Ligouri even went so far as to say that a religious who does not seek holiness commits a mortal sin. Why? Because the religious state is the state of perfection. When a religious takes his final vows, he is not simply encouraged to become a saint, but rather, he is obliged to become one. It is not sufficient to rest on the dignity of one's state, thinking; "I have left everything for Our Lord," to which Our Lord may respond, "but have you left yourself?... Have you abandoned sensuality, pride, self-will, anger, sloth? The walls of a cloister are not high enough to barricade against a worldly heart.
Let us consider whether we have sufficient courage and resolution to crucify and annihilate ourselves, or rather to permit God to do so. You must understand what it is to be a religious. It is to be bound to God by the continual mortification of ourselves, and to live only for Him. Our heart is surrendered always and wholly to His Divine Majesty; our eyes, tongue, hands and all our members serve Him continually. Look well into your heart and see if you have resolution enough to die to yourself and to live only to God. Religion is nothing else than a school of renunciation and self mortification.”
Padre Pio was once asked what is necessary to become a saint. And his response was candid and unambiguous; "One thing alone is necessary. You must will it." According to the revelations given to Venerable Mary of Agreda, many souls fail precisely because they flee from the cross--especially in the first stage of purification--from dying to self-love;
Our Lady to Mary of Agreda: "I desire, then, that thou labor until all love of self die within thee, that thou suppress all the effects of the first sin until all the earthly inclinations consequent upon it are totally extinguished....for the greatest difficulty in practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the senses. Thou canst not be a fit instrument in the hands of the Lord, such as He desires thee to be, if thou dost not cleanse thy faculties even of the images of all creatures, so that they do not find entrance into thy desires...Be careful not to allow thyself to be mastered by anything, be it ever so small; for in order to start a great conflagration the smallest spark is sufficient...
"Ponder, then, my dear child, upon the small return given for the love of my Son and Lord by mortals, and how forgetful of thanks even his faithful continue to be. Assume it as thy task, as far as thy weak powers allow, to render satisfaction for this grievous offense: loving Him, thanking Him and serving Him with all thy powers, for all the other men who fail to do so. Therefore, thou must be an angel in promptitude, most fervent and punctual on all occasions; thou must die to all earthly things, eliminating and crushing all human inclinations and rising upon the wings of love to the heights of love designed for thee by the Lord...."
Therefore it is absolutely necessary, says Saint Alphonsus, that anyone discerning the priesthood first gain victory over his passions and attachment to sin, and demonstrate a life of virtue before entering the sanctuary.
St. Alphonsus De Liguori, Dignities and Duties of the Priesthood: "For in the religious state, one purifies one's self of one's vices, whilst to receive Holy Orders, it is necessary that one has already led a pure and holy life....
Everything the priest does has an effect on others; his demeanor, a glance of the eyes, a motion of the hand. He will have to give an account of everything. Every aspect of his being must communicate God to others, not just the words in a homily.
He must be all things to all people; a counselor, comforter, healer, friend, father, mother, brother, and spouse.
A priest should see each person in his parish as the son or daughter he never had.
Saint John Marie Vianney was a parish priest who devoted his life to a small parish in a tiny village. And yet, he was able to save 80,000 souls (according to the lamentations of a demon compelled by God to confess this)! This is the power of a just soul. Since we are all part of the body of Christ, everything we do has an effect on the rest of the world. Therefore, if we truly want to change the world, then all we need to do is become holy. No matter which vocation one is called to, even in the married state, holiness is our primary vocation.
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