The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-06-05
THE PRIEST AND HOLY COM
MUNlON.

The Mass is the sacrificial Act of
the Church When the priest stands
at the Altar, clothed in his priestly
yestments, he represents the Univer-
sal Church, writes Rev. S. l.. S. Kir-
lin in Emmanuel" He is as Moses
on Mt. Sinai, interceding for the
chosen people, as he recites Familiarity
to Almighty God the great hymn of
praise and thanksgiving, precipitation
and. petition Therefore, the majestic
phrases of the Liturgy are couched in
the plural number. When the singu-
lar number is used, as in the Con-
fiteor and the prayers at the begin
ming of the Mass, it is because they
were originally the private devotions
of the priest At the Munda Cor
Meum, the singular number is used
because the priest at Low Mass takes
the part of the deacon For the rest
of the Mass, he is in the person of
Christ, and, therefore, with great dig
nifty, he greets the people: THE
Lord be with YOU" RAISE up your
hearts" He recites to them parts of
the Apostolic letters and portions of
Our Lords Life. He makes the
offering of bread and wine, and with
reverent hands holding the Host, he
says Christ's own words, This is My
Body; this is My Blood.
At the Communion, however, he
stands in his own person, for it is
then he receives the guerdon of the
King for his work done. A kingly
guerdon, indeed, for it is God Himself.
he receives. Therefore, there is in
the Communion Prayer and the Post
| Communion a note that is not found
| in the first prayer of the Mass and
the Secret Prayer. Filled with God,
the priest in most confident manner,
with added majesty recites these
prayers, and that he. may share the
great thing that has happened to him,
blesses the people. In thankfulness
for the great things He Who is AL
mighty hath done to him, he can find
no more fitting9words in which to ex-
press his feelings than the tremend-
GUS beginning of st. Johns Gospel,
Sin the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God and the Word
was Gods' and 10! God Who was the
Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst men, and now has come
really and truly into the heart of the
priest Therefore, he calls on all ma
trre, animate and inanimate, to join
with him in blessing the goodness OF
\ God The Benedicite and the Lau-
date fittingly express the JOY of his
Isoul.
Then comes the sweet converse
with his Saviour HAs iron is welded
Into iron by fire so 10 the priest
i joined with Christ in the Holy Com
| munion. Heart speaketh to heart, in
/ deed, and he can lay before his Lord
all the trials and sorrows of his soul
for comfort and the problems of his
priest1y life for solution. Humbly he
adores and annihilates himself before
his God He returns thanks for the
manifold graces that have come upon
him. With utmost confidence he
makes his request for light to see and
strength to do. He offers himself
heart and soul to the Lord Who has
given Himself to him and resolves
with all that in him lies to begin his
priestly day of work and trial for
the sake of the God Who has been SO
good to him.
When Moses came down from the
mountain, the Bible tells us, his face
did shine so that men could not look
upon him. In such fashion the priest
comes from his daily Communion.
Thou hast signed us with the Light
of Thy countenance, o Lord has it's
fullest meaning in this daily converse
of the priest with his God, "As Adam
walked with Him in the Garden
To be thus united, day after day
and year after year in Holy Com
,munion with Our Lord, puts the priest
} in an Eucharistic atmosphere and
makes him different from all other
} men. For he that eateth My Flesh
and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me
J and I in him." This daily bread of
Gods Body and Blood brings to the
: priest in the fullest sense the promise
of our Lord to his disciples, Behold
l give you power to tread upon ser.
penis and scorpions and upon all the
power of the enemy and nothing shall
: hurt YOU" The priest goes as in
armor and unafraid Calumny and de-
traction and the works of evil he
shakes from him as St. Paul shook
the viper into the fire when it chung
to his hand after the shipwreck. To
him that does not say his daily Mass
anything may happen. To him who
day after day communes with his God
in the great sacrifice nothing can
happen, and Nothing shall hurt YOU ;
Intimate friends learn to have SINH
lar tastes. They come to have the
same point of view. and one finds
himself repeating the Others phrases
or gestures unconsciously. So, the
priest thus closely united day after
day with his Lord in Holy Communion
comes. to get His point of view. He
sees the world and the worlds af
fairs as Christ sees them. He mea.
sures men and things as Christ mea.
sures them. He learns to make allow.
; ances as Christ made allowance. He
; is kind with Christ-like kindness to
the bruised and MANNED who come to
him in the confessional. He is broad
minded and generous to the weak and
foolish he meets in his priestly work