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The Sacrament of

HOLY ORDERS

by Rev. Joseph Hoffman, C.S.C.

AVE MARIA PRESS

Notre Dame, Indiana



NIHIL OBSTAT—John L. Reedy, C.S.C.
Censor Deputatus

IMPRIMATUR—^ Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

June, 1961

All rights reserved. This pamphlet may not be

reproduced by any means in whole or in part

without prior permission.

Second Printing, March, 1962

© 1961, Ave Maria Press



You see him on the street, or in a

car, or in a restaurant. You meet him

in hospitals, at home, at your parish

school. You call him father, yet he be-

longs to no family. Or rather, the whole

world is his family and all men are his

children. For this man is an incarna-

tion. He is a Christ.

3



No one doubts today that Christ was

bom in Bethlehem. For some, the fal-

lacy is to think of that birth as only a

historicEil event. The appeeireince of the

God-Man was the beginning of a new

epoch. His birth began a revolution

that neither the hardened indifference

of men nor their violent hate has been

able to quell. Some souls still feel the

impact of that event.

Not since the Greeks of eintiquity

have scholars looked upon the history

of man as a cycle, ais the recurrence of

the same events, as a self-perpetuating

revolution like the seasons of the year.

Since the advent of Christian revela-

tion, history is seen to have the ele-

ments of good drama: a definite begin-

ning, middle and end. The beginning is

a creation in time. The end is that

glorification of Christ and of mankind

redeemed in Christ which St. Paul spoke

about: “And when that subjection is

complete, then the Son Himself will be-

come subject to the power which has

made all things his subjects, so that

God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15:28).

Lcistly, human history has a middle, a

center, which is Christ.

4



Christ: The Center of History

To place Christ at the center of his-

tory is now a commonplace. Every man

of faith makes such a judgment. It is

implicit in his act of faith wherein he

puts at stake his life, his fortune and

misfortune. In that act man submits

his personal ambitions to the goal laid

out by God. For him “to live is Christ

and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). But

Christ as the center of time has another

broader me£ining, one that is not di-

vorced from but rather dependent upon

the act of faith.

We can project onto the stage of
human history the value Christ heis in

our own life. This is no meaningless

play of imagination nor is it the fruit

of wayward fancy. It is to find in Christ

the answer not only to my own exist-
ence but also to the existence of all

men in every age.

To do justice to those old Greeks

there is much in human life to suggest

a constant dying and rebirth. For each

man in his own time must ask eind

answer to his own satisfaction the

fundamental question what is death, or

better, what is life. We put to ourselves

5



those same queries that a baffled people

of God put to Moses when he led them

out of the hand of Pharaoh. The re-

sponse that Moses gave was sad, indeed.

He spoke of disobedience, of loss, of

despair. But the disobedience was not

irreparable, the loss not definitive, the

despair not final. Salvation was already

at work in the world. God was with His

people and the people knew it.

The Old Testament World

The Old Testament gives divine tes-

timony to the depths of moral degrada-

tion possible to man. Idolatry, murder

and fornication ai’e not enough. Man

can be guilty of blasphemy, fratricide

and sodomy. No human relationship is

left unsullied. Apart from God man is

a beeist.

The sacred writers tell of a world

not much different from our own. Their

story is of men who deny God, of mer-

cenary priests and venal kings who

turn the people from the worship of

God, of weak men who fear to ask a

sign from God because they have no

faith. Yet, while the mass of men was

lying prostrate and unregenerate, there

6



was visible an upward thrust of mein’s

hope in God’s promise. There was a

conscious effort on the part of a few to

rise above the abyss, a stumbling effort

but one that at times reached a height

of dignity and goodness unknown to

most men. The world owes much to

these few who scaled the summit of

holiness. They kept alive man’s link

with God and the hope of a Christ. And

at the peak of this hope, in the fulness

of time, when a segment of the human

race seemed capable of appreciating

spiritual values, Christ appeared.

The Coming of Christ

Whatever was good in the Old Tes-

tament is now incorporated in a new

vision and a new life. The obscure and

tortuous lines of human history are

made clear. The Law and the Prophets

are not destroyed but fulfilled, devel-

oped and enhanced. A new law of char-
ity includes the Ten Commandments

in its observemce. A deep interior life
becomes not only an ideal and a possi-

bility but— in Christ— a concrete re-
ality, tangible and attractive to men.

The focal point of this new law emd life,

7



the point of contact between man and

his God, is the body of Christ.

As Moses had raised up a brazen

serpent, so now God raises up His Son.

What shocking symbol is this? The

serpent, so often identified with sin and

Satan, is a picture of Christ? Yet seen

in the light of a crucified Saviour the

mysterious sign reveals its meaning.

“He Who knew no sin was made sin

for us, so that in Him we might be made

the justice of God” (II Cor. 5:21).

Not a real serpent did Moses lift up,

but the bronze image of one; so Christ

came not as a real sinner but in the

likeness of sinners, taking upon Him-

self the pain of sin, without the sin it-

self.

Through this body Christ’s divine

healing power is felt in miracles accom-

plished by a word, a touch. Forgive-

ness of sin, a prerogative of God, is

given with the tender compeission of a

heart that knows human loneliness. He

is able to have compassion on the igno-

rant and erring because He Himself is

beset with weakness. For those seek-

ing a moral ideal, there walks in Gali-

lee a Man Whose every word eind action

8



is pleasing to God. To those yearning

for the interior power that divinizes

human activity, this same body of

Christ is offered as food. And when

that hour is come, the hour towards

which God has directed the course of

human history, the hour when the

abyss between God and man is to be

bridged, it is this same body stretched

between heaven and earth in sacrifice

that will accomplish the reunion.

The God-Man is not only the initial

step and effective cause of the re-crea-

tion of m£in. He is also its final stage

and ultimate development.

In the beginning, when God created

man. He made him to His own image

and likeness. In the new creation man

is remade according to the image and

likeness of Christ. The Christian is not

only called to be a son of God. He is

to be in truth a son, to live with the

life of God and not under a legal fiction.

Thus the task begun on Calvary will

not be ended until all those called to

this sublime vocation share in this su-

pernatural identification with Christ.

Baptism and Confirmation are in-

deed sources of grace for the Christian.

9



These sacraments are likewise sources

of a new deputation to take an active

role in rendering worship to God, the

kind of worship the Son gives His

Father. Not everyone, however, is

called to that perfect identification with

Christ as High Priest. Many will teike

on a resemblance to the True Son in

virtue of the grace and character of

Baptism and Confirmation. Few will

resemble the Son so perfectly that they

can administer to others the grace of

salvation.

Every Christian has the obligation

to give to all men the love of Christ.

Only the priest has the duty to give

Christ Himself. Every Christian can

share in the sacrifice of Christ. The

priest alone can renew that sacrifice

in the Mass.

The Priest: An Incarnation

Nothing in the whole of creation

worked so intimately with God as the

humanity of Christ. The union of man

and God resulted in a single reality,

Jesus of Nazareth. Nor will any other

creature approximate that nearness to

God. But if we should seek for some

10



comparison of the Incarnation, we

should find it in the priest.

Only God can give man divine faith;

but the priest gives Baptism, the sacra-

ment of faith. Only God gives hope of

eternal life and final perseverance; but

the priest gives Extreme Unction, the

sacrament of hope and final persever-

ance. Only God fiUs men’s hearts with

charity; but the priest gives the Holy

Eucharist, the sacreiment of charity.

Only the God-Man said in sacrifice,

“This is My Body.” The priest uses no
other words to renew that same sacri-

fice.

An understanding, therefore, of the

sacreiment of Holy Orders will foUow

upon our grasp of the role of Christ’s

body in the plan of redemption. For in

Holy Orders a man is entrusted with

power over the real body and over the

Mystical Body of Christ. In this two-

fold power lies the sublime nobility of

the priest

Power Over Christ’s Body

During His earthly life Jesus gave

three groups of people power over His

body. They were His mother cind foster-

11



father, His Apostles and His execu-

tioners.

Of all these the ones most worthy

to receive Him were Mary and Joseph.

In Mary, Jesus sank His roots in human

nature, drawing flesh of her flesh and

blood of her blood. In Joseph, He gained

a position in the society of men; He is

the Son of a carpenter of the family of

David. Moreover, these holy persons

belong to His introduction to this world

rather than to His ultimate mission.

And before He strikes out on His mis-

sion, He shall have left them both.

The demarcation in the life of Christ

is drawn most sharply by the parallel-

ism of John’s account of the marriage

feast at Cana and the words of a dying

Jesus to His mother. Meiry is men-

tioned only twice by John and in both

instances Jesus addresses her as “Wom-

an,” a term of respect but not endear-

ment. Nor is it the word to express

mother-son relationships among the

ancient Jews. No, Jesus is calling at-

tention to the supernatural bond that

links Him to the Father, and to the

supernatural bond that will imite His

mother to Himself when His hour (the

12



Crucifixion) occurs. Mary and Joseph

have no part in His public ministry.

Later a role will be given to Mary, not

now. For in the fulfillment of a GJod-

given destiny even the good things of

this life must at times be sacrificed.

Natureil ties are feeble in the face of

God’s demands.

There could not but be sadness in

the heart of Mary as she watched her

Son set out alone on the road from

Nazareth. It is the kind of sorrow

known by every mother who watches

her son, suitcase in hand, descend the

porch steps emd turn toward the sem-

inary. He is lost to her. Or rather, her

task is over.

From now on other men and wom-

en shall have a claim on him. In his

work she can take no active role. The

natural bond of blood is impotent in

the supernatural work for souls. Like

Mary, though, the mother of the priest

will share in his work when she offers

her prayers and sufferings for the good

of the souls in his care.

With what tender and trembling

love did Jesus hand Himself over to

His Apostles? Only He at that moment

13



recognized the value of His gift aind the

consequences of His act. Until that hour

He had been all His own, the master of

His own fate. He could go out in search

of the lost, show mercy to the penitent

and even hide Himself from His ene-

mies. His last will, however, is likewise

a New Testament. Henceforward, He

is someone else’s to give or withhold.

Someone else will search for sinners;

someone else will speak His words of

forgiveness. A body has been fitted to
Him for the accomplishment of a mis-

sion. As the mission changed hands, so

now the body would be under the con-

trol of His most cherished friends.

In its deepest meaning the Church

is faith and the sacraments of faith.

The Church, in its life, illustrates the

transmission of divine life. It is because

the Church has been entrusted with

the real Body of Christ that she can

exercise control over the Mysticed Body.

The Apostles, then, prepare men to re-

ceive the Body of Christ by bringing

them faith, as they too, received Him

first in faith and then in the flesh. In

this they imitate their Master and com-

plete the mission of Him Who saved

14



till the end His last, best gift, His own

Body.

Christ in Our Hands

Lastly Jesus gave His body into the

hands of His executioners, the temple

guard and the Roman soldiers. They

beat Him, spat on Him and nailed Him

to a cross. Sin has made culprits of us

all in this crime. At some time in our

lives we all belong to this cleiss of peo-

ple. The saddest plight, however, is

that of the culprit who belongs to both

the second and third classes of people

to whom Christ gave power over His

body. Of all sinners the most tragic is

the unfaithful priest. As long as God

wills to put Himself in the hands of

potential sinners, a Judas will always

be possible. We cannot judge him. We
can only pity him and pray for him.

Such a one bears his own condemnation

and pronounces his own curse.

Nevertheless, the true priest is kept

humble by the realization that he can

abuse the great power given him. Un-

less he keeps in mind his humble ori-

gins, he may be overwhelmed by his

dignity. He can think that the Body

15



he handles and cares for meikes it im-

possible for him to sin and leaves him

untouched by the temptations that

harass other men. And his error will

occasion his fall.

The apostolic priest avoids this pit-

fall by approaching the altar in the

spirit of the Mother of Jesus, “He that

is mighty has done great things for

me. . . .”

Who wm Be the Victim?

The priest in chairge of the real Body

cannot long remain unaffected by the

consuming love of Jesus. He longs for

still greater union, a yet closer identifi-

cation with Christ. He desires to be not

merely a priest, but a priest-victim, as

was his Master. This objective is not

nearly so accessible as reaching the

altar itself. Here he is often outstrip-

ped by holy laymen whom he is expect-

ed to surpass in holiness.

In this connection I think of Father

Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., the zealous

apostle of the Family Rosary. Ap-

parently friistrated in his advance to

the priesthood by an attack of tubercu-

16



losis, he asked and got from Our Lady

the grace of being cured. But his cure

did not go unpaid for. Two days before

the doctors permitted him to leave his

bed, his mother had died. A short time
later came a letter that read: “Her

prayer was that ciU your sufferings

might come upon her so that you might

go on Eind become a priest. Your mother

got her wish.” She was the victim; her

son the priest.

There is a mysterious saying of St.

Paul which Scripture scholars treat

with caution. Paul in prison says he

makes up for what is lacking of the suf-

ferings of Christ. Far from being de-

rogatory of the immeasurable value of

Christ’s Redemption, it emphasizes the

identity with Christ of the apostolic

endeavor. As eternal life was not pur-

chased but by the shedding of blood, so

the salvation of souls will not be effect-

ed but by the suffering of apostles

bringing Christ to men.

The plan of God calls for a continua-

tion of the redemptive effort of Christ

in those called to work for man’s salva-

tion. Therefore, Paul and every minis-

ter of the gospel bears in his own body

17



the siitfering of Jesus so that the life

of Jesus be made meinifest (II Cor.

4:10). Since Christ cam suffer no more,

His ministers above all must bear what

Christ would, if He were able. If there

be a lack, it is in our flesh, not that of

Christ.

To begin to say Mass is to begin to

suffer. This is a hard saying and one

difficult for the priest to comprehend

as he ascends the steps of the altar one

by one. To go up to the altar, to be

intimately united with the tabernacle,

to hold the Body and Blood of Our Lord

in one’s hands and to pronounce in

trepidation and awe the holy words of

consecration ... nothing could be more

joyous, more alien to pain.

It is when the priest comes down

from the altar and walks among men,

carrying in his hands £md heart the

Christ he loves, that his agony begins.

It is there among men that he en-

counters his Calvary and relives in

himself the suffering inflicted by a

spiteful Sanhedrin, the unjust judgment

of a pagan world and the violent rejec-

tion by those he has come to save. To

the priest is committed the real Body

18



of Jesus. To the priest is given a Man

crucified.

Power Over the Mystical Body

The second power in Holy Orders

is power over the Mystical Body of

Jesus. In virtue of this power the priest

preaches the word of God and, more

importantly, forgives sin. Within a few

days anyone can learn the rubrics of

saying Mass and in less than a minute

he can be validly ordained. Yet to exer-

cise the power over the Mystical Body

a lifetime of priestly study scarcely

suffices. For it is here that the talent,

education and virtue of the priest is

tried most severely.

“Whose sins you shall forgive they

are forgiven; whose sins you shall re-

tain they are retained.” By these words

Jesus gave His priests power to open to

men or to withhold from them the in-

finite treasures of God’s mercy. The

priest and no other is to judge who is

worthy of absolution. And the judg-

ment he makes stands in heaven. How
memy years of study will prepare a

priest to read the heart of man? What

books will lay bare the malice or the

19



love, the hypocrisy or the sorrow, the

guilt or innocence of a soul? Who are

the authors who can describe the

gravity of one mortal sin?

In the place of Christ the priest

authoritatively grcUits or refuses abso-

lution. To exercise this function reason-

ably he must make two essential judg-

ments: neunely, whether there is suffi-

cient matter for absolution, eind wheth-

er the sinner is properly disposed. We
call these judgments essential because

an error in either of them can affect

the validity of the absolution.

Nowhere more than in the confes-

sional must the priest be all to all.

There is the penitent who comes unpre-

pcired, not from ill will, but simply not

ready to make a confession. There is

the child whose little faults need more

practiced attention them the great sins

of an adult. Indeed, the confessions of

children are among the most difficult.

There is the long series of “ordinary

confessions” that vary so little. There

are penitents who speeik so softly as to

be inaudible except to God. There is the

penitent who loses himself in useless

detail or is too generic in his accusa-

20



tions. There is the penitent who wants

to argue. There are habitual sinners

and backsliders and the most unfortu-

nate ones of all, the impenitent. These

latter the priest must try to bring to

sorrow, or, failing in this, leave them

with their burden of sin and weight of

decision. His refusal must be decisive

but never blunt. Tact, prudence and

courtesy at all times, these are the vir-

tues of the priest who carries in his

heart the solicitude of Christ for all

sinners.

The real test of a devoted confessor

comes only after the novelty has worn

off. The enthusiasm of the early years

is gone. Will it be replaced with devoted

care or will the hours of confession be-

come monotonous? The time for hear-

ing confessions rolls round with regu-

larity; it interrupts other works. Long

lines of penitents are tiring; long inter-

vals between confessions are vexing.

And since we are dealing with a human

being, let us remember that pennant

drives and World Series are not post-

poned for confession periods. You

parishioners who can set your watches

by the entrance of the pastor into the

21



confessional, know that you have an

apostle in your midst Know that here

is a priest dedicated to your souls.

Without study a priest could never

defend the rights of God and render

just judgment. Barring em act of God,

the priest has no other way to hone his

conscience to that fine edge which cuts

through vain excuses, specious rea-

sonings and pretended ignorance, and

lays open the root of sin to the healing

grace of the sacrament of Penance.

“Go, show yourselves to the priest,”

said Christ to the 10 lepers whom He

made clean. While divine grace is not

limited to sacramental channels, yet it

was clearly the will of Jesus that sin-

ners come before the tribunal of Pen-

ance when He gave His Church the

power of the keys. Penitents return to

God only when they have the desire at

least of submitting their sins to that

sacerdotal power.

The Priest As Judge

In his role as judge, the priest needs

more than the sacrament of Holy Or-

ders. The Bishop must extend to him

22



authority over the members of his dio-

cese. As in civil courts a judge may

not be competent to render a decision,

so in the tribunal of Penance the priest-

judge is not competent to forgive sin

until he receives jurisdiction from his

Bishop. A priest validly absolves only
those subject to him.

Speaking of civil courts, we priests

have good reason to envy those judges

their spacious benches. The narrow

confines of the confessional are more

conducive to mortifying the priest than

helping him in his task. It is certain

that modern confessionals did not orig-

inate with the Apostles. Peter was a

fisherman; Paul a tentmaker ... a good

combination for a camping trip. At

any rate they both loved the open spaces

too much to be cooped up in a box with-

out leg room.

St. Teresa of Avila once had a vision

of herself in hell. She felt as though

she were locked in a very small room

— so small, in fact, that she felt she
would be suffocated if she were not re-

leased soon. Some priests get similar

“visions” every Saturday night.

23



Perhaps you have seen the priest

leave the confessional although there is

a line on either side. You and the others

have been waiting more than a half

hour, even an hour, to get in. You are

tired of standing. People are shifting

from one foot to the other. The Church

is overheated and stuffy. You are about

to enter the box. And without warning

the priest calls a halt to the moving

line by his departure. Let me say that

there comes a moment when sacra-

mental power and grace must give way

to the frailty of human nature. At that

time the priest, grown tense and fa-

tigued by lengthy periods in the con-

fessional, had best get out, stretch his

legs and perhaps smoke a cigarette.

Refreshed and calm, he can return to

his task with the vigor and gentleness

his penitents expect of him. Only then,

for example, can he be indulgent to the

sinner with alcohol on his breath.

Neither disrespect nor incapacity is

necessarily involved. The penitent may

have taken a “bracer” just to get cour-

age to come to confession. The tired

priest might get uselessly annoyed by

this.

24



The Priest As Physician

Besides being a judge, the priest in

the confessional is also a physician. He

is trained to give advice that is direct

and practical. He asks questions not

only to determine the degree of guilt

but also to find out the situation of the

penitent’s soul. He tries to cure bad

habits, to prevent the formation of such

habits emd to help in the acquiring of

good habits. This supposes that he be

grounded in sound asceticism eind is

abreast of solid progressive psychology.

If penitents, on the other hand, were

more aware of this priestly function,

they would see the value of a regular

confessor, one to whom they would go

as they do to the family physician.

Such a confessor can give the particu-

lar advice this soul needs, can shift

approaches that prove ineffectued, be

more lenient when leniency is desirable

and inspire a soul to higher sanctity

with the dogmatic truths he knows to

be most stimulating and encouraging to

this soul. In the act of contrition we

promise amendment. Anyone serious

about that promise wants to know what

he must do here and now to bring about

25



greater union of his soul with God. It

is rare in our day to get skilled advice

without charge.

The Priest As Father

Lastly, in the confessional the priest

earns his title as father. At the door

of God’s treasure house he stands with

open arms. As judge he must stsmd

above and apart from the sinner. As

father he embraces the sinner and pulls

him to his heart. The priest sees that

this penitent is weak. Perhaps he has

stayed too long away from the sacra-

ments. He lives in a situation in which

his faith is tried severely. The priest-

judge must mete out a just sentence.

The priest-father tempers the penance

and takes upon himself the duty of satis-

fying all that divine justice demands.

The priest cannot die to satisfy for

sin; but in the likeness of Christ he can

suffer vicariously for the sinner he

loves.

The Priest in the Pulpit

Outside the confessional the priest

also exercises his power over the Mys-

tical Body of Christ. He preaches the

26



word of God. An old pastor once said

that when God gave His Apostles the

power to preach He came as a mighty

wind rushing . . . and that some ser-

mons have never been any more than

that. Most priests desperately want to

preach well. I do not mean that their

sermons will flow with cadences and

periods, with action verbs and picture

adjectives. I mean sermons that ex-

plain the Faith with a warmth of spirit

that enlightens the mind and quickens

the heart.

In the pulpit the priest faces many

challenges. He has to sell the gospel;

that is, he hsis to make the doctrine of

Christ just as vital, just ss relevemt as

it was centuries ago to the people of

Palestine. He must avoid hackneyed

catch words and phreises, translate the

scientiflc idiom of theology into the

current parlance of knowledgeable

Americans. And he must do this in 10,

perhaps 15 minutes. He makes a one-

shot appearance; yet he must overcome

the combined influence of newspapers,

magazines and television. Critics are

wont to point to television as the force

in shaping Americans into a sedentary

27



and passive audience. Let me say that

such influence is not readily apparent

in Church. The priest still prays, “Lord,

help them to sit still.”

Or perhaps the ineffectiveness of

preaching is attributable not to the

hardness of the pews but to a hardness

of heart. Have the people of God grown

gross and dull of hearing?

Who Becomes a Priest?

I have heard it said of my co-labor-
ers, “I respect him as a priest, but not

as a man.” Such comment seems to

have a valid foundation, for we have

often heard the argument that the un-

worthiness of priest or Bishop or even

Pope does not impair the bcisic sanctity

of the Church; nor has the whole

Church been thereby led into error.

While it is true to say that sin be-

longs in no way to the Church, the

axiom does have its limits. This man

was chosen for the priesthood. He did

not seek it on his own. That complex

of qualities we call personality was very

much an object of divine selection. Try

as he might, no priest can reflect all

the attractiveness of Christ. Nor was

28



Christ without both His admirers and

His critics. He had to redirect the mis-

guided praise of the pious woman who

shouted “Blessed is the womb that bore

Thee.” He had to discourage the ambi-

tions of those who sought only glory

in His Kingdom: “Can you drink of My

chalice?” He had to ignore the fame-

seekers who urged Him to preach in

Jeruseilem and not in the hinterland of

Galilee. There will always be some who

want to remake Christ to their own

image. Is it so hard to accept Him as

He is?

There was a time when spiritual

writers insisted that a strong interior

attraction was a certain sign of a divine

call, that without such a sensible long-

ing, there could not be any real voca-

tion. Such teaching is not entirely ac-

curate.

Oftentimes there is no such longing

present . . . and even when such a long-

ing exists it is not the final criterion

of a vocation. There are three external

signs of a vocation which the candidate

must possess: sufficient health, intelli-

gence and virtue. Added to this must

be the intention of giving oneself to

29



God’s service in the priesthood. This

intention and the three external signs

are far more important than the ab-

sence or presence within the candidate

of any sensible longing. And the final

mark of a vocation comes at the mo-

ment of ordination when the Bishop

accepts the candidate in the name of

the Church.

In the Gospels eind the Acts of the

Apostles, we read the dramatic story

of the divine calling of Peter, Paul and

the other Apostles down to Matthias.

Today, that same vocation— to come
and follow Christ, to continue the work

of Christ— is still given to men, but
in a less spectacular manner.

But if this pamphlet has been suc-

cessful, the point has been made that

the priest and Bishop are an incarna-

tion, are Christ, and that the vocation

to embrace this state is divine. Christ

is still the center of history; the priest

— as Christ in our midst— is the cen-
ter of our history.

The sacrament of Holy Orders is

given through an imposition of the

hands. Yet another moment in the cere-

mony is equally impressive. The priest

30



kneels before the Bishop and holds out

his hands, palms upward. It is an atti-

tude of offering and receiving. The

Bishop rubs on those upturned palms

the sacred oil. The priest retires, clasp-

ing his hands tightly and holding them

sideways so that the oil cannot seep

out.

In this rite the Church teaches us

visibly that the priest is an anointed

one, a Christ. Henceforth he belongs

to God. And if he never offers the

sacrifice of the Mass, if he never for-

gives a single sin, yet God has visited

His people. And the promise is fulfilled,

“I am with you all days.”

31



There are eight pamphlets in this

series on the sacraments. Each

pamphlet has 32 pages plus a two-

color cover. Priced at 15 c-ents each.

THE SACRAMENTS
by Rev. Louis J. Putz, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

BAPTISM
by Rev. Bernard I. Mullahy, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

HOLY EUCHARIST
as Q sacrament by Rev. Thomas Barrpsse, C.S.C.

as a sacrifice by Rev. John Maguire, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

PENANCE
by Rev. John L. Reedy, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

CONFIRMATION
by Rev. Ralph Fisher, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

MATRIMONY
by Rev. Charles W. Harris, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

HOLY ORDERS
by Rev. Joseph Hoffman, C.S.C.

The Sacrament of

EXTREME UNCTION
by Rev. John Maguire, C.S.C.

These eight pamphlets are valued at

$1.20 if purchased individually.

Place your order now for the complete

set, attractively packaged, for only ^ 1 ,

AVE MARIA PRESS

NOTRE DAME, INDIANA

Please send

your remittance

with your order.



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IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUESTS

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READ A CONDENSED VERSION IJM . . .

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