The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-13
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LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER

est care, SO that, if you detect any one
for his own glory or for gain, abusing
the office of preaching, you should
at once remove him from that func-
tion For the man who does not scru-
pie to def1le so holy an office by such
an unworthy perversion of it's end,
surely will not hesitate to descend to
any indignity, and will bring the
stain of ignominy not merely upon
himself, but upon the sacred Office also
which he so unworthily administers.
The same severity is to be. shown
towards those who fail to preach
properly because they have neglected
the acquisition of whatever is neces-
sary for performing this function be-
comingly. What these conditions
are We may learn from the example
Of him whom the Church has called
'the Preacher of TRUTH" the Apostle
st. Paul. Would that by Gods mercy
We might have many more preachers
like him!
The first lesson, therefore, that We
learn from ST. Paul is how well pre-
pared and equipped he was for preach
ing. But We do not refer now to
the learned studies he had assiduous-
ly pursued under Gamaliel. For the
knowledge poured into his soul by
revelation dimmed and nearly eelips-
ed the knowledge he had acquired by
his own efforts, though that the latter
knowledge was of no little value to
him is clear from his Epistles. Learn
ing, as We have said, is absolutely
necessary for the preacher, for if he
is without the light of learning he
easily falls into error, since 'Igno-
rance is the mother of all errors as
the Fourth Lateran Council so truth
fully observes. We would not be
understood, however, to mean every
sort of knowledge, but only that which
it becomes priest to possess, that is
to say, the knowledge, to phrase it
briefly, which consists of knowledge,
of self, of God and his duties. For
self-knowledge, We maintain, will lead
priest to renounce his own advan-
tage. The knowledge of God will lead
him to make everyone else know and
love God, and the knowledge of his
office will lead him to discharge his
own duties and to teach others to do
theirs. If he lacks these three kinds
of knowledge, whatever other learn
ing he has, will only puff him up, and
will be useless.
Spiritual Preparation.
Let us now consider what the Apos-
ties spiritual preparation for preaching
was. The three qualities of his equip
merft most worthy of note are these:
First of all he was a man who always
fully conformed himself to Gods will
No sooner was he smitten, when on
the road to Damascus, by the power
of the Lord Jesus than he uttered
that cry SO worthy of an apostle:
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
(Acts iX:6) For then and there as
ever afterwards, for Christ's sake he
was Indifferent to toll or rest, to pow
erty or wealth, to praise or contempt,
to life or death. There can be no
doubt that he made such progress in
the apostolate because he conformed
with such perfect submission to the
will of God. Wherefore like st. Paul,
every preacher devoted to the. saliva
tion of souls should be first of all so
jealous for Gods service as to feel no
concern about who his hearers are to
be, what success he will have, or what
fruits he is to reap. He should have
an eye not to his own advantage but
only to Gods glory.
But such zeal for Gods service as
that demands soul so prepared for
hardships that it will not avoid labor
or trouble of any kind, and that is the
second quality that was conspicuous
in st. Paul. For when the Lord had
said to him: Il will show him how
great things he must suffer for my
names sake" (Acts ix:16) he so
eagerly embraced suffering that he
could write: 81 exceedingly abound
with joy in all our tribulations"
I'll Cor vita. Indeed, if this patient
endurance of hardships is conspicuous
in a preacher, it effaces whatever hu-
man weakness there is in him and
wins from God the grace. to produce
fruit, and gains for his apostolate, to
a degree beyond belief, the favor of
Christian people. On the other hand,
but little success in moving hearts
is attained by those who, wherever
they go, immoderately desire the COM.
forts of life, and provided they de-.
liver their sermons, put their hand to
scarcely any other work of the sacred
ministry, and the result is that they
appear to be seeking their own ease
rather than the good of souls.
In the third place the spirit of
prayer" as it is called, is necessary,
the Apostle tells us, for the preacher.
No sooner was he himself called to
the apostolate than he began his sup
phcations to God. For behold he
prayeth" (Acts ix:11). For it is not
by pouring forth copious stream of
words, not by using subtle arguments,
not by delivering violent harangues,
that the salvation of souls is effected.
The preacher who is content with
those means is nothing but sound
ing brass or tinkling cymbal"
Il Cor. xiii:D. What gives mans.