THE PRIEST AND THE MASS

I know this mystical union with Christ through the holy priest.

It is there, in the Mass, I encounter Him. I know Him in deepest intimacy.

It is through the hands of the holy priest, the ones consecrated to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, that we receive an immense outpouring of His grace, His divine life.

Oh, not only through the holy priest; through the hands of any priest His great life flows.

But, oh, when a priest is so holy, in his oneness with Christ, the grace flows and flows.

To be at a Mass where the priest is so one with Christ is to be at a Mass where I really feel Christ's presence in the priest. At every Mass, I am so aware of Christ celebrating the Mass through the priest. But when a very holy priest celebrates the Mass, I feel an immense presence of Christ there. I feel the flow of His grace and I am moved deeply within my heart and I cry from this immense presence of God. I am in awe. I unite to Jesus in every move of the priest, every word, when he is so united to Christ. I feel Christ so alive in Him. Every gesture, every word spoken, is as though Christ is present offering the sacrifice and I am fed with His divine life.

I love God so much. Through the hands of His holiest priests, I am taken into ecstasy in the Mass for I am so wrapped in His divine love.

Oh, I want Him so much. I yearn for this intense oneness I get in the Mass, when I receive Him in the Eucharist. My heart burns to receive my Divine King.

I see the hands, the hands of a man, a priest, and I see Christ celebrating the Mass in the priest. Oh, the merger of Christ and the priest in this Holy Sacrifice is one that takes me to the heights of heaven.

I am in awe of the Almighty God truly present through the hands of the priest. Oh, God, I love You. If you would ever take away the gift of the Mass, of the Eucharist, I would be in such suffering. Oh, this gift I love so much. I live each day to attend the Mass and receive the Eucharist. I am yearning for this. My whole day is centered around the Mass, and my reception of the Holy Eucharist. Oh I love Him, my beloved, in the Eucharist. I see this merger between Our Divine Lord and the priest and I love God so much.

God comes to me in the hands of a man, but I see this immense merger in every action of the priest, in every word between him and Jesus. It is a place I go to in the Mass, a place as heaven to me.

The Mass starts and my soul is filled with such love of God, and I long for Him so much to unite and be one with Him. This place I know, as no other on the earth, a place with intense presence of God, flowing from the priest to me. I love Him, my God, so much. So much of this love has come from attending the Mass, celebrated by a holy priest, one who has consecrated his heart to Jesus and Mary and has a very deep union with Christ.

My heart burns for this Mass. When he, His holy priest, celebrates Mass, I see this merger between Our Divine Lord and the priest and I love God so much. The Sacraments are special encounters with Christ to give divine life.

Oh life, Oh, divine life, Oh, fountain of His divine life that flows through the hands of a holy priest! I long, I thirst, I want this great gift given from God.

He shares His life with me and I know Him.

I have developed this immense love affair with My God through the hands of a holy priest celebrating Mass and through adoration before the tabernacle.

I fell in love with Jesus in these most intimate moments in the Mass, especially after Communion when He gives Himself to me.

I fell in love with my precious One as He remained hidden behind the tabernacle, but oh, His presence and His life! He poured out His life to me and I fell in love with my Divine God.

Oh, how to write, for to write is to limit this great gift of God Himself to a paper and pen, and it is nothing as how it truly is.

Oh, I want Him so much. I want these precious moments in the Mass when I encounter Christ so vividly as He gives Himself to me.

How Our Lord is treated, and He gives us Himself and He gives us His love!

Oh, the Mass, from the beginning to the end, I love it so much. I long for the Mass. I want to be there and I pray for the greatest grace to unite so deeply with Our Lord.

Why are there not more vocations, with such a great honor God gives to his priest?

Being a priest is the greatest honor God gives to a man. God gives a man the power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

God gives to a priest the power to Baptize, to elevate a human nature to one in which the person shares divine life.

God gives to a priest the power to take away sins, which makes the difference to a soul dead in sin.

God gives such power to a priest, such a great gift given to a priest.

Why are not more young men priests?

Many priests do not realize the great gift that God gives them.

I sit in the pew and I am fed by Christ, Who celebrates the Mass through the priest. I am taken into ecstasy as I see the priest merge with Christ and feel Christ celebrating the Mass through the priest.

Oh, I am fed. Oh, I am so sensitive to every gesture, every way he speaks the Word of God. I feel Christ speak to me as the priest reads the Gospel. The Word feeds me. The words spoken by a holy priest penetrate my heart and my soul. It is as a two-edged sword. I feel all the words in my being, every word in the depth of my soul.

I love God so much and I love the priest. I love the Eucharist. I love the hands that give my God to me. The Mass is the greatest gift of God's love!

So why are there not vocations? The priest must give himself in consecration to Jesus and Mary to be so one with Christ.

When the priest is in love with Jesus with his whole heart, his whole mind and his whole soul, the man being called to the priesthood will see the great honor it is to be a priest and men will flock to the seminary. The modeling isn't there.

Oh, priests wear your priesthood proudly. You are given the greatest honor bestowed to a man-the title of a priest!

The priest must love God with a burning heart and love his people with the Heart of Jesus.

It is powerful to be loved by the priest in the Mass. The priest must love his flock, that he would die for them. He must love Christ so much he gives himself totally to Him and holds nothing back.

Love is giving. The priest must give himself completely to God to have proper union with Him.

Oh, how the Mass unites us in one body, in the Body of Christ. I become one in Him. You become one in Him. We are one body in Him. His life flows through His body, the Church.

Oh, fountain of life, the Church - flowing on God's people. His abundant grace flows through the Mass.

Life flows from the Father, in the Holy Spirit, through the pierced Heart of Jesus, through the heart of Mary, to us.

We are one body. The life flows through us. It feeds us and makes us whole.

His life flows in His Church through the Mass and the Sacraments. Oh, God, protect what your right hand has planted.

Ps. 80:14-18:

God Sabaoth, come back, we pray,
look down from heaven and see,
visit this vine;
protect what your own hand has planted.
They have thrown it on the fire like dung,
the frown of your rebuke will destroy them.
May your hand protect those at your side,
the child of Adam you have strengthened for yourself!
Never again will we turn away from you,
give us life and we will call upon your name.

Jn. 15:5-6:

I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him,
bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
is thrown away like a branch
-and withers;
these branches are collected
and thrown on the fire
and are burnt.

God is the vine, we are the branches. We need His life or we wither and die.

The people feast copiously on His divine life abundantly flowing through the hands of the holy priest in the Mass.

His life flows as a fountain on His holy people.

The priest is like the opening through which this spring pours forth.

When a priest has given his heart to Mary, this divine life flows as a shower through her Immaculate Heart, watering the earth with His glistening grace.

Oh, how abundantly doth your grace flow, Lord.

It will flow in proportion to our giving ourselves to Jesus and Mary.

At Fatima Mary told Jacinta: "Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask grace from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."¹

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Copyright © 1997 Shepherds of Christ Ministries
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact Shepherds of Christ Publications
First Printing: September, 1997