The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1957-05-03

Us. and they were his only
signs OF "feroeity." We could
not always agree with him; we
could never discover that his
disIikes were based upon any
neanness OF heart or mind.
He seemed to have discovered
very early in life the exact peaks
on the distant horizon towards
which he knew his soul impelled
him, and towards these he went
with singular fidelity and singular
simplicity.
He understood his life as gift
of God. There was joy in his use
of the gift, there was loyalty,
there was reverence. When he
took the step of decision which
meant the priesthood for him, he
did not repudiate the steps which
he had not chosen, he did not dis
own them, draw back the gar
ments of his soul from their pos
sible touch. One thing | am sure
his Older students will recall is
his humorous discussion of what
too many think of as the "sacri-
fices" of the priesthood, and his
touching glimpses of the happy
family life he had known at
home. He could not understand
rather stilted forms of detach-
ment in this last matter. To love
and appreciate always what one
had once been happy enough TO
love and appreciate seemed to
him the only sane and normal
rule. 1t says a great deal, a tre-
mendous deal, for the purity of
such temperament, that such a
rule would have occurred to him
as the only possible one.
He understood his life as a re-
turn to God. Here again was a
quality of great simplicity. He saw
his duties to God clearly and he
put himself to the daily task of
fulfilling them. From what |
could observe in his talks to the
students, he was much impressed
by our Lords words, 'If any one
loves me, he will keep my COM
mandments." There was no vague
ness about his love, no uncertain
ty: he saw its exercise in the
commandments. II was enough
for him, more than enoughl that
God had enabled our view of His
nature of love to be moral view,
view of obedience-in the en-
ergy of keeping His command
ments he put himself.
He was priest. The priesthood
was something which he had ac-
cepted as a sacred trust and re-
sponsibility from His Lord, and
he carried it daily in his soul as
such. 1t was the burden of redemp-
tion which he had taken upon his
shoulders, and daily he tried to
take up his share of it. The priest
hood seemed to have become a
kind of connatural thing to him,
but he was always reverent be-
fore its possession and in its use.
Its duties we're sacred duties TO
him; its traditions were sacred
traditions. He was at home in it,
but it was a sacred home, a place
where his soul was in silence.
He spoke relatively little about
the priesthood, but he was always
in admiration of those qualities
which make the priesthood effec-
tive, and his very admiration was
to us an eloquent discourse on
what the priesthood meant to him.
To him il meant serving: serving
God, serving others, doing those
things which he had been ordain-
ed to do "for the sake of others, /"
and doing them with proper dis.
patch, care, kindness, and a Ger.
tain healthy detachment. He had
that blessed and splendid inner
chastity which brings people to
oneself but gives them to God.
His life was one of the great
courtesy. To this he exhorted con.
stantly by his example, and when
necessary by ''few, well-chosen
words" No one had to speak first
to him, he spoke to them; no one
had to stammer diffidently re-
quest while the eyes of authority
bored down and pierced through
all deceit and subterfuge-Mon
signor embraced ones wish, en-
couraged one to state it, and, il
possible, granted it. He loved peo
pie, all kinds of people.
Their particular state meant lit
tie to him in this matter. He no
ticed the humorous things about
people { a good sign that he wa!
noticing them) and would regalt
us with them.
Yet there was never any un
kindness about any of this, bu
simply vast appreciation of or
dinary human beings. He dislikec
intensely any kind of regimenta
ton, "massism," because to him i
was an intolerable affront to thu
dignity of human person. Anc
for the same reason he disliket
having to deal with lots of people
all at once - it Wearied him anC
dried him up. II was a strain upor
him, as he grew older, to have Il
meet new faces: he seemed TO fee
unequal to the necessary re
sponse. But the point is that HI
knew a response was necessary