566. August 4, St John Mary Vianney, Cure of Ars (II)

Meditations no. 497 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Church needs holy priests.

St John Mary Vianney was a priest fully dedicated to his ministry, with a constant zeal to bring many souls to God. This is what priests must always strive to do, since Christ has placed them in the Church as his ministers and dispensers of God’s mysteries. And consequently, above all, they need personal holiness, as our Father tirelessly stressed: Following the Church’s entire tradition, we realize that, by virtue of its sacred duties, the priesthood requires more than a morally upright life. It demands sanctity in those who exercise it, for they have been constituted mediators between God and men.

A priest shares the authority by which Christ builds up, sanctifies and rules his Body. He makes present the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the holiest action a man can perform in this world. He preaches the word of salvation and, through the administration of the sacraments, makes grace abundantly available to all souls.

Through the intercession of the holy Cure of Ars, we ask our Lord to grant his Church many holy priests, who recognize the dignity of their mission and the importance of their ministry for the salvation of souls. That the harvest is great and the labourers few is very apparent. Let us ask the Lord of the harvest, then, to send workers into his harvest. May they be workers who respect the word of truth. May they be faithful workers who are the light of the world, who work not for the food that perishes but for that which will last for eternity. May they be workers like the Apostles, workers who imitate the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, solicitous for the salvation of souls.

Our founder passed on to us his zeal for the sanctity of all priests.

The Church has always prayed for the sanctity of priests, especially at certain appointed times. With deep veneration for the priesthood, we too accept her invitation joyfully. And on the days indicated by our founder, like the feast of the Cure of Ars, we intensify our prayer and mortification for the sanctity of all priests with the conviction that, as our Father writes, everything we do to help priests, giving them supernatural life, showing them that they should be in love, that they are not alone, means to save them. And saving a priest means saving countless souls. Naturally, we will especially remember in our prayer those who belong to our spiritual family.

From the moment he was ordained a priest, our founder spent himself in the spiritual care of secular priests, eager to provide them with effective help for their personal life and their priestly ministry. Don Álvaro wrote that around the years 1948, 1949 and early 1950, our Father was so concerned about this, and so keenly felt God pushing him to work with the diocesan clergy, that he even decided to abandon Opus Dei, if necessary, in order to establish a new foundation for diocesan priests. He spoke about his decision to his sister, Aunt Carmen, to his brother, Santiago, and to the members of the Council… God allowed him to make the sacrifice of Abraham. Our Father accepted making this sacrifice, and God immediately provided the solution. Since each member of the Work must seek sanctity through the sanctification of his own professional work and in his own state in life, it was clear that there was also room for secular priests in the Work.

Recalling those moments our Father wrote, In his infinite goodness, God our Lord chose to give me the solution within our Opus Dei, without the need to create a new spiritual family. I will never stop thanking him for his providence. God wanted many priests to belong to the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, who without leaving their place, with a divine vocation-the same as the other members of the Work-would find in the spiritual resources of Opus Dei the supernatural energy needed to carry out their diocesan apostolate with the eagerness of those who sanctify their ordinary work.

Associate and Supernumerary priests of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

Our Associate and Supernumerary brothers in the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross do not alter their status as diocesan priests by their incorporation. It is an essential characteristic of the spirit of Opus Dei not to take anyone out of his place. Unusquisque, in quo vocatione vocatus est, in eo permaneat (1 Cor7: 20). Rather, it leads each person to fulfil as perfectly as possible the tasks and duties of his own state in life and of his own mission in the Church and in society.

Therefore when a priest joins the Work he neither modifies nor abandons any part of his diocesan vocation. He remains dedicated to the service of the local Church in which he is incardinated. He is still fully dependent on his own bishop. He continues to have a secular spirituality. His solidarity with other priests is not changed. On the contrary, he undertakes to live his vocation to the full For he knows that he must seek sanctity precisely by carrying out his obligations as a diocesan priest.

The spirit of the Work confirms and strengthens their love for their own diocese, their pastoral zeal for the apostolates entrusted to them, and their fraternal affection for their fellow priests. Their divine calling, which leads them to foster a deep desire for sanctity, helps them to be Christ’s leaven in their own diocese, striving to fulfil their pastoral duties as well as possible.

Our Father writes that, above all, these priests find in Opus Dei the continuous ascetical help that they desire. They find it independently of the personal and circumstantial changes that may take place in the government of their local Church, and it is endowed with a secular and diocesan spirituality. Thus, besides the collective spiritual direction given by the bishop through his preaching, pastoral letters, addresses, and disciplinary instructions, they have a constant, caring personal spiritual guidance no matter where they are. This complements the common direction given by the bishop and always dutifully respects it. Such personal, spiritual guidance has been strongly recommended by the Second Vatican Council and by the ordinary magisterium. It helps foster the priest’s life of piety, his pastoral charity, his steady, continued training in doctrine, his zeal for the diocesan apostolates, his love for and obedience to his own bishop and his concern for vocations to the priesthood and to the seminary.

This work bears fruit for the local Church where the priest serves, and this gives me great joy because I bear within me the soul of a diocesan priest. Moreover, on repeated occasions I have had the consolation of seeing how affectionately the Pope and the bishops bless, desire and encourage this work. Consequently, our Father wrote, from the spiritual and psychological point of view, the hearts of these sons of mine can only experience the confirmation of their joyful ministry, and of their self-sacrificing service to their own diocese and to all souls, along with a filial submission to the diocesan bishop.

We ask holy Mary to win from our Lord many vocations to Opus Dei from the diocesan clergy, priests who are holy… learned and pious, with a sporting spirit, who will serve God and the Church effectively.