The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1952-01-04
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lHdlC UOpGH oENfuCu VI lllliG GOuSH-
quence - these and other factors
caused one delay after another.
Then finally, after a long wait and
a severe trial. the grace of God
cleared my path.
Now | am a priest, born anew
in Christ as His servant. During
that solemn moment when the
Bishop laid his hands on me to
confer upon me the dignity of the
priesthood, and then one by one,
all the priests present performed
the same symbolic ritual in the
majesty of silence" | knew that
the calling which so long had mov-
ed my soul had found its supreme
fulfillment. "Thou hast formed
me, and hast laid thy hand upon
me-" Ps. 1889.
This fuIlness found its most stir
ring expression in the rite of the
initiation when my hands we're
anointed and | was allowed to
touch for the first time chalice and
paten while the monks choir in
toned the "Veni, Creator Spiritus"
which is above all the prayer of
priesthood.
mo longer do call you ser
wants." says the Bishop at this
point of the liturgy, using John
Is, Is, "but l have called you
friends" And the choir sings IRE
ceive the Holy Ghost, the Para
clete."
/ stood there in front of the
altar, lin facie ecclesiae" C'before
the Church"O, reciting the Creed.
And / remembered: "You are my
friends, if you do the things | COM
mand you" John Is, Ia. | had
entered into an eternal pledge of
divine love under the seal of His
Church.
What contrast to my previous
life! In the presence of the Holy
of Holes it seemed so far behind
me-. Suddenly | found myself re-
moved from the world and its
cares, into the very presence of
God. Could there by any alleg-
lance transcending in Importance
the one that now had been impos-
ed upon me? Indeed, o Lord, Thy
yoke is sweet and Thy burden is
light. Yours is the promise OF
eternal life.
| do not know if any newly or
dained priest has ever been able
to find the right words to describe
the tremendous, soul-stirring ex-
perience of the First Mass. Prob
ably no one would dare attempt it.
To approach the altar, to be in.
timately united with the taber-
nacle, to hold the Body and Blood
of Our Lord in ones hands and to
pronounce in trepidation and awe
the holy words of conservation . /. !.
When this sublime, loftiest, most
exalted of mysteries, Gods coming
on earth, the Goodman manifesting
Himself in our midst, becomes a
reality in the abandonment of our
self to the revelation from on high,
then, indeed, we can but cover our
face as the angels did in Isaias'
vision of the Lords unfathomabIe
glory, in prayer and alteration.
The priest aScends the altar,
and then descends from it TO carry
the consecrated Bread of Life to
the faithful. Vested in the holy
robes / was wearing for the first
time in my life, deacon and sub
deacon on my sides, too, now
was taking the chalice with the
pure and sacred Hosts" to the
Communion rail. There knelt rela-
tives and friends, to receive the
Sacrament, was trembling, over
wheImed with JOY not of this earth,
in the realization that had been
chosen as an instrument of Divine
Grace in the dispensation of the
Gift of all gifts.
Never shall | forget the faces of
the people which almost seemed
transfigured in the tenseness of
that moment, the silence that was
filling the wide nave of the church,
the emotion deep in my heart
which reflected a sense of loving
unity in Christ with all my fellow
men, near and far. If only, | pray