Holy Christians Guarantee Holy Priests

Holy Christians Guarantee Holy Priests | Bishop Fulton J. Sheen | From The Priest Is Not His Own | Ignatius Insight

Holiness descends in the Church from the All-Holy God through Christ, His bishops and His priests, to the entire community that is the Mystical Body. But there is simultaneously an ascending movement of holiness from the Christian community to the All-Holy God. Particularly is this true of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.

There is no priest who does not go through the motions of urging the faithful to pray for vocations. But, too often, the phrases are formal. They are what is  expected of one. In the priest's mind, they are a part of the announcements, on a level with the card party for the Ladies' Auxiliary or the Catholic Youth Organization skating meet.

These other activities are, of course, not to be sneered at. They too foster a Christian life and therefore stimulate vocations. But can we put them in the same category as prayer? Out of hundreds of possible ways of fostering vocations, prayer was the single one Our Lord specified.

The harvest, He told them, is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few; you must ask the Lord to Whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting. (Luke 10:2)

What prompted these words? Luke says that Christ spoke them on the occasion of choosing seventy-two disciples (Lk 10:1). Matthew sketches the background in more detail. It was after a long journey, he noted, and the Lord's heart was touched by compassion for the masses who hungered for knowledge of heaven but did not know where to search for what they lacked.

Yet still, when He looked at the multitudes, He was moved with pity for them, seeing them harried and abject, like sheep that have no shepherd. Thereupon He said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few; you must ask the Lord to Whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting. (Matthew 9:36-38)

Not only those already in the Church but equally those outside her make Him yearn for laborers, lest the plentiful wheat rot in the fields.

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