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Sermon
pronounced by His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen Dear Father, from now on you are a priest. You no longer face years of formation, but rather a burden of responsibility. The great honor of the priesthood is yours, with the grace of God, with the support of those who love you and of all those who, already in heaven, put their mantle of protection around you so that you may be able to carry out a wonderful apostolate. As we all know, you have been chosen to lend a helping hand to all those who will come to the Catholic university soon to be opened in Paris, where you will have a special apostolate, marked by a special enthusiasm and a special importance, because this is what Our Lord Himself did. He chose a small group, He formed His Apostles, and with these twelve Apostles He transformed the world. An apostolate based on a chosen few is a very important apostolate. You will have to bring these souls, especially chosen by God, to an understanding of the ideal they are searching for, and to make of it a Christian ideal, so that, whatever the vocation to which they are called, they will fulfill it in a Christian manner, a Catholic manner, in union with Our Lord, according to the teachings of Our Lord, in the light of Our Lord Jesus Christ, because Our Lord came to you too, as to us, when He said to His Apostles and His disciples: “You are the light of the world." And so, particularly in this task to which you have been assigned, you will be the light of the world. Now what is the light of the world? Where is this light of the world? Our Lord Himself gives the answer: "I am the Light of the world." We don't have to look for it; it is already there. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, Light, that is to say, from God. Could we have a light more clear, more dazzling than one which comes from God Himself, which is God? Our Lord is God, so we will find the light in Him, and He is what you will teach. You will act as St. Paul, who said, "I have wanted to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified." This is what St. Paul said; his entire message is summed up in this – to speak of Christ, Christ Crucified. Your task will be to show these chosen souls how to know Christ, how to unite themselves with Our Lord, meditating on His words, on His life, on what He is; and in this way they will find the light of their life. What a beautiful apostolate! How I hope these souls entrusted to you may profit from your ministry and give to the world the basic principles it needs, the basic principles of our first catechism, the catechism which summarizes the teachings of the Church, all the teachings of Our Lord. This should be the foundation of the life of every individual, of family life, of social life, political life. We must lay this foundation which is so necessary for people and for families, so that peace and prosperity and the truly Christian life which ours should be, may flourish. And you will not only be the light of these souls; you will also give them life – the life of Our Lord. Not only His light, but His own life, the supernatural life of grace, grace which you will give them in the sacraments and especially in the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion – sacraments which we need almost every day to sustain us in the spiritual life. You will make them understand that they need these sacraments, this life, this divine life. Today, alas, it is so hard to lift oneself up to these spiritual realities, as we are caught up in the material world, the materialistic world which wants to know only earthly joys and closes its eyes to eternal realities. It is hard to understand that the supernatural life, the divine life of Our Lord in us, is the one thing necessary. It is what will get us to heaven. We should be already in eternity, at this moment. Our soul is eternal and imperishable and therefore we must bathe our soul in the life of Our Lord, in the supernatural life and make it truly full of eternal life. The day God calls us and tells us that our life here below is over, that life will continue, as it says so well in the Preface of the Requiem Mass, "Life is not taken away but changed.” God does not extinguish our life. It goes on, with a change. It changes, yes, in incidental ways, but it does not end; it goes on, if we have been careful to imbue it with the eternal life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is what you will do; you will build this bridge between the life of God, the life of Our Lord, and these souls who will come to you, searching for true life. And finally you will set an example. As Our Lord said, you are not only the salt of the earth, you are not only the light of the world, but you act in such a way that the world may give glory to God when they see your works: “…and seeing your good works they will glorify the Father Who is in heaven.” You will set this example, therefore, and exemplify the virtues of Our Lord by gentleness, goodness and perseverance in the priestly life, in the apostolate. And you will do good for souls, for all who come to you. This should be your ideal. I am sure you already understand this, and I am sure that you realize that what I have been talking about is nothing more than an extension of your Mass. Live your Mass every day, every second of your life, prolong it through the course of the day, that is, prolong the teaching you give us in the words of the Epistle and Gospel, the words of Our Lord. Prolong this life of sacrifice which you will make present, in a few moments, on the altar, by the presence of Our Lord, who is prolonging His Sacrifice of the Cross and showing us His love. Here it is: you will love souls, you will give yourself to souls, you will sacrifice yourself for souls, for love, for love of God and love of your neighbor. This is the whole Sacrifice of the Mass. You will give yourself to souls as you give Communion. You will give Christ to souls through knowledge of Him, Christ in His life. This is your Holy Mass, this is the Communion you will give, this is the Christ you will give to souls. Thus your whole priestly life is a continuous Mass. You are a priest. You have begun your first Mass. But your Mass must never end. Your whole life now will be a continual Mass. May God give you the grace to live your Mass and encourage all around you to do the same, and to understand that our whole lives should be a Mass, an oblation which is complete and continuous, a continuous sacrifice of ourselves for love of God and love of our neighbor. This is your ideal, this is what we are going to pray for all together, today, pray for you that this joy of yours, the profound joy of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, may remain in you, that you may continue in this joy, in this spiritual peace which will make you a true priest. I must not end without putting you under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary was with the Eternal High Priest throughout His life, right up to His complete self-sacrifice on the Cross. She was there. So then, be assured that Mary, Mother of the priest, will be with you too, all the days of your life. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Ghost. Amen.
1. Translated from Fideliter, September/October 1980 (No. 17).
Courtesy of the Angelus
Press, Regina Coeli House |
