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길, 66
A priest — whoever he may be — is always another Christ.
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After the points on spiritual direction and the spiritual director, point 66 begins a series of ten considerations on the subject of priests, to whom the faithful normally turn for advice about their spiritual life. St. Josemaría's particular perspective on this was that the faithful need to capture the 'mystery' of the priest in the Church, and treat priests with respect and veneration as a result. These points were written for the lay faithful.
It is interesting, then, to see what he was saying to priests – or future priests – while he was writing these points of The Way. Pedro Casciaro states: "From the time he decided to become a priest, he considered the priesthood as a mission of service to God, the Church and mankind. It could be summarized in what he told me when he first asked me if I would be willing to become a priest. Pointing to a modest strip of red carpet which covered the altar-step of the oratory of the Ferraz Residence in Madrid, he said, 'A priest has to be like that carpet. Over it the body of our Lord is consecrated. It's at the altar, it's true, but it is there to be of use. Furthermore, it is there so that everyone else can have something soft to tread on, and you see how it does not complain, it does not protest... Do you understand what the service of a priest is?'"
The text of point 66 comes from Notebook 6: "Feast of St. John of the Cross, 24 November 1932: The priest – whoever he may be – is always another Christ." Here St. Josemaría was doing no more than summarize the doctrine and terminology of Catholic tradition concerning priests. Pope St. Pius X had expressed this tradition in precise terms in 1908: "If the priest is called another Christ," and is truly such by reason of his sharing in Christ's power, should he not also become and be recognized as another Christ through imitation of Christ's deeds?"
The expression has two senses in spiritual and theological literature, perfectly encompassed in St. Pius X's text. St. Josemaría uses it here (and in the next point) in what we could call the "indicative" or "sacramental theological" sense, which is first in the papal text, and which already appears in The Way; and to underline this sacramental meaning, he adds between parenthesis "whoever he may be," that is to say, that the 'alter Christus' (in this first sense) does not depend on the degree of holiness of the priest.
(The Second Vatican Council has preferred to express this "sacramental theological" content using another traditional expression: that the priest acts 'in persona Christi.' St. Josemaría uses both formulae in his writings.)
But spiritual authors and the later Magisterium also use the adage 'sacerdos alter Christus' in a derived sense, which is second in St. Pius X's text, and which we could called "imperative" or "spiritually theological": demanding that the priest be and live like Christ, "being another Christ" for the others. Clearly the imperative sense is founded on the indicative sense.
St. Josemaría felt the need to transmit all this to the faithful, and especially the sacramental-theological meaning behind it, to help them to understand and respect priests (even those who were personally not very worthy of respect). This urgency to transmit to others the mystery of the priesthood has to be taken in conjunction with the renewed self-awareness of his own priesthood, which was granted to him during the retreat he had made in Segovia the month before he wrote this point. There he made a list of eleven resolutions, and the ninth was:
"To recall frequently that I am ... 'alter Christus' (another Christ)!"
(In this very brief point the hidden play on the two theological concepts of 'sacerdos alter Christus,' is clear; St. Josemaría is proposing here to remind one of what is in the sacramental-theological field so as to be demanding on oneself and to try to be one in the existential plane.)
This sense of respect for priests, based on the objective sacramental mystery which they carry within themselves, already appeared, though expressed differently, in a note written two years earlier, whose starting-point was the fact that all priests are one and the same person: they are Christ.
"Because this will be another characteristic of the Work of God: the profound veneration and respect which all its members show, in word, in deed, and in interior feelings, for all priests, whatever the religious family they belong to, whatever nation, whatever race: because the priest – in the end – is always one and the same: Christ."
(Veneration for the priests – whether secular or religious – is a characteristic of Opus Dei, whose spirit is eminently lay: "the social reality, the spirituality and the action of Opus Dei fit into a quite different vein in the life of the Church. They are in the theological and vital process which is bringing the laity to assume its responsibilities in the Church fully, and to participate in its own way in the mission of Christ and his Church.")
In his 1933 retreat in Madrid, he wrote:
"Goal of the priest: 'Alter Christus'... on the Cross. To save souls." Catholic tradition of the priesthood has always been the sacramental reality insofar as it provides the foundation for and demands apostolic dedication.
St. Josemaría, delving into the original sense of Baptism, which configures the whole of Christian existence, later came to the conclusion – as has been noted in the commentary to point 2 – that the "alter Christus" both in its sacramental (indicative) sense, and its spiritual (imperative) sense, was valid for a Christian as such. The topic is introduced in The Way – see point 687, which is in the spiritual theological plane – and which is made clear in later writings:
"God's call, the character conferred by Baptism, and grace mean that every single Christian can and should be a living expression of the faith. Every Christian should be 'another Christ, Christ himself, present among men."
And in his homily entitled 'The Christian Vocation,' this doctrine is, as it were, the synthesis of such a vocation. He ends the homily saying:
"Our Lady, Holy Mary, will make of you 'alter Christus, ipse Christus': another Christ, Christ himself!"
He also offers us a formula to understand the different ways of being 'alter Christus' in a priest and in the other faithful:
"Some people keep searching for what they call the identity of the priest... What is the identity of the priest? That of Christ. All of us Christians can and should be not just other Christs, 'alter Christus,' but Christ himself: 'ipse Christus'! But in the priest this happens in a direct way, by virtue of the sacrament."
The 'alter Christus' is, for St. Josemaría, the sacramental configuration which is the effect of the sacrament of Orders:
"I am, on the one hand, a member of the faithful like the others; but, above all, I am Christ at the Altar! I am renewing in an unbloody manner the divine Sacrifice of Calvary and I am consecrating, 'in persona Christi,' in the person of Christ. I really represent Jesus Christ, for I am lending him my body, my voice, my hands and my poor heart, so often stained, which I want Him to purify."
See point 947, where St. Josemaría also introduces the topic of 'ipse Christus,' identification with Christ.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[excerpted from "The Way: Critical-historical edition," prepared by P. Rodriguez of the Josemaría Escrivá Historical Institute]
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길, 66
A priest — whoever he may be — is always another Christ.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After the points on spiritual direction and the spiritual director, point 66 begins a series of ten considerations on the subject of priests, to whom the faithful normally turn for advice about their spiritual life. St. Josemaría's particular perspective on this was that the faithful need to capture the 'mystery' of the priest in the Church, and treat priests with respect and veneration as a result. These points were written for the lay faithful.
It is interesting, then, to see what he was saying to priests – or future priests – while he was writing these points of The Way. Pedro Casciaro states: "From the time he decided to become a priest, he considered the priesthood as a mission of service to God, the Church and mankind. It could be summarized in what he told me when he first asked me if I would be willing to become a priest. Pointing to a modest strip of red carpet which covered the altar-step of the oratory of the Ferraz Residence in Madrid, he said, 'A priest has to be like that carpet. Over it the body of our Lord is consecrated. It's at the altar, it's true, but it is there to be of use. Furthermore, it is there so that everyone else can have something soft to tread on, and you see how it does not complain, it does not protest... Do you understand what the service of a priest is?'"
The text of point 66 comes from Notebook 6: "Feast of St. John of the Cross, 24 November 1932: The priest – whoever he may be – is always another Christ." Here St. Josemaría was doing no more than summarize the doctrine and terminology of Catholic tradition concerning priests. Pope St. Pius X had expressed this tradition in precise terms in 1908: "If the priest is called another Christ," and is truly such by reason of his sharing in Christ's power, should he not also become and be recognized as another Christ through imitation of Christ's deeds?"
The expression has two senses in spiritual and theological literature, perfectly encompassed in St. Pius X's text. St. Josemaría uses it here (and in the next point) in what we could call the "indicative" or "sacramental theological" sense, which is first in the papal text, and which already appears in The Way; and to underline this sacramental meaning, he adds between parenthesis "whoever he may be," that is to say, that the 'alter Christus' (in this first sense) does not depend on the degree of holiness of the priest.
(The Second Vatican Council has preferred to express this "sacramental theological" content using another traditional expression: that the priest acts 'in persona Christi.' St. Josemaría uses both formulae in his writings.)
But spiritual authors and the later Magisterium also use the adage 'sacerdos alter Christus' in a derived sense, which is second in St. Pius X's text, and which we could called "imperative" or "spiritually theological": demanding that the priest be and live like Christ, "being another Christ" for the others. Clearly the imperative sense is founded on the indicative sense.
St. Josemaría felt the need to transmit all this to the faithful, and especially the sacramental-theological meaning behind it, to help them to understand and respect priests (even those who were personally not very worthy of respect). This urgency to transmit to others the mystery of the priesthood has to be taken in conjunction with the renewed self-awareness of his own priesthood, which was granted to him during the retreat he had made in Segovia the month before he wrote this point. There he made a list of eleven resolutions, and the ninth was:
"To recall frequently that I am ... 'alter Christus' (another Christ)!"
(In this very brief point the hidden play on the two theological concepts of 'sacerdos alter Christus,' is clear; St. Josemaría is proposing here to remind one of what is in the sacramental-theological field so as to be demanding on oneself and to try to be one in the existential plane.)
This sense of respect for priests, based on the objective sacramental mystery which they carry within themselves, already appeared, though expressed differently, in a note written two years earlier, whose starting-point was the fact that all priests are one and the same person: they are Christ.
"Because this will be another characteristic of the Work of God: the profound veneration and respect which all its members show, in word, in deed, and in interior feelings, for all priests, whatever the religious family they belong to, whatever nation, whatever race: because the priest – in the end – is always one and the same: Christ."
(Veneration for the priests – whether secular or religious – is a characteristic of Opus Dei, whose spirit is eminently lay: "the social reality, the spirituality and the action of Opus Dei fit into a quite different vein in the life of the Church. They are in the theological and vital process which is bringing the laity to assume its responsibilities in the Church fully, and to participate in its own way in the mission of Christ and his Church.")
In his 1933 retreat in Madrid, he wrote:
"Goal of the priest: 'Alter Christus'... on the Cross. To save souls." Catholic tradition of the priesthood has always been the sacramental reality insofar as it provides the foundation for and demands apostolic dedication.
St. Josemaría, delving into the original sense of Baptism, which configures the whole of Christian existence, later came to the conclusion – as has been noted in the commentary to point 2 – that the "alter Christus" both in its sacramental (indicative) sense, and its spiritual (imperative) sense, was valid for a Christian as such. The topic is introduced in The Way – see point 687, which is in the spiritual theological plane – and which is made clear in later writings:
"God's call, the character conferred by Baptism, and grace mean that every single Christian can and should be a living expression of the faith. Every Christian should be 'another Christ, Christ himself, present among men."
And in his homily entitled 'The Christian Vocation,' this doctrine is, as it were, the synthesis of such a vocation. He ends the homily saying:
"Our Lady, Holy Mary, will make of you 'alter Christus, ipse Christus': another Christ, Christ himself!"
He also offers us a formula to understand the different ways of being 'alter Christus' in a priest and in the other faithful:
"Some people keep searching for what they call the identity of the priest... What is the identity of the priest? That of Christ. All of us Christians can and should be not just other Christs, 'alter Christus,' but Christ himself: 'ipse Christus'! But in the priest this happens in a direct way, by virtue of the sacrament."
The 'alter Christus' is, for St. Josemaría, the sacramental configuration which is the effect of the sacrament of Orders:
"I am, on the one hand, a member of the faithful like the others; but, above all, I am Christ at the Altar! I am renewing in an unbloody manner the divine Sacrifice of Calvary and I am consecrating, 'in persona Christi,' in the person of Christ. I really represent Jesus Christ, for I am lending him my body, my voice, my hands and my poor heart, so often stained, which I want Him to purify."
See point 947, where St. Josemaría also introduces the topic of 'ipse Christus,' identification with Christ.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[excerpted from "The Way: Critical-historical edition," prepared by P. Rodriguez of the Josemaría Escrivá Historical Institute]
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