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The Priesthood, perfection as depicted in the fragrant cedars of Lebanon, all are the cause of a robust holiness and the inestimable qualities of the Priesthood. "As a first point, there are basically two things that the Almighty requires in his sacred ministers...the light of sanctity and the salt of doctrine. Vos estis lux mundi, vos estis Sal terrae (1). Above all, good example of life and along with it preparation for the ministry must be the bases for the special delights of anyone dedicated to the Sanctuary. To each one, the Apostle says: Attende tibi, attende lectioni, exhortationi, et doctrinae, noli negligere gratiam quae est in te(2). And oh! Quam pulchra est casta generatio cum claritate!(3) How beautiful are those souls that are mystically generated with a singular clarity of holiness; the brilliance of their virtue removes them from the darkness, the fogginess of vice and of sin. Hence purity of life, as figured in the candor of the lily, tenderness of love as symbolized in the red rose, tireless search of ecclesiastical."

"The sanctuary is the place of an exalted holiness. It seeks inhabitants who will emulate what is heavenly. Required is a detachment from everything and from everyone; a deep humility, a suffering longanimity, a tireless desire to cultivate one's talents in order to perfect them and direct them for the welfare of the Church and the advantage of the faithful."

Dominus pars hereditatis meae(4). As a creature, as a Christian and most of all as a priest and missionary, I should be entirely God's, with all my soul and body, with mind, with heart and with my actions. So, no other thought than the thought of God and his glory; no other love than the love of God and my neighbor, procuring the salvation of souls, the conversion of sinners, the sanctification of people. Spare no labor in seeing that God is honored and loved, relating everything to him. I wish for myself only the scorn of the people of the world etc. Am I really what I am supposed to be? Are the qualities of an apostolic person found in me? For whom have I labored up to now? Oh! Those labors that were thus lost, like a treasure tossed into the depths of the ocean, if the Lord is not content with me! "I must seek the glory of God by procuring the salvation of souls. I am in a Congregation, in an Institute which is regulated, directed by obedience. Hence, this is what I set down for myself: to serve God, to work for his glory in that office, in that place, with those people that obedience will assign to me. Thus I will remain quiet and peaceful, certain that I will be doing the will of God. Can that be done?

NOTES
(1) You are the light of the world, You are the salt of the earth.
(2) 1 Timothy 4:13, Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have.
(3) How beautiful are those souls that are mystically generated with a singular clarity, see Wisdom 4:1
(4) The LORD is my inheritance, Psalm 16:5

"(Reform) Weapons for gaining heaven"
Prayer
Humility
Confidence

"Reminders"
The Crucifix
The tree of life
Seat of truth
Mirrors of Sanctity

Blessings to all on the Solemnity of the Most Precious Blood.(July 1st) In a world where little is precious or sacred, maybe it is time to reflect on the true freedom given to us in the Most Precious Blood. The following is an old article of mine, basically my homage to St. Gaspar's letter 57. I post it here to move it from my old blog and to make it available for any new readers.

Judie asks in the comments on the post below if I am going to be posting Gaspar lent reflections this year like in years past. I am thinking of revising my book this year as we journey through Lent.

So, you decide. I will do whatever commenters want. Do you want me to post the reflections each day, or do you just the link to the PDF file of the whole collection?

...selections from Volume 1 can be found here.

This is the most recent addition to the page on the Writings of St. Gaspar. It is the deposition of Venerable Giovanni Merlini at the ordinary process begun at Albano for the Beatification and Canonization of St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

For more on the life of Venerable Merlini, go here.

It is time to pay another visit to the new site of St. Gaspar's Letters.

Thanks to RC I have discovered Open Office and this enormously speeds up the process of retrieving documents, cleaning them up and converting them to PDF.

I have added to the site this morning two depositions that were part of the ordinary process in the Beatification and Canonization of St. Gaspar del Bufalo. Probably the more significant of the two is the Deposition of St. Vincent Pallotti. You may remember that Pallotti was a friend of Gaspar's, was present at his death and was the one who anointed him and gave him Viaticum.

The other deposition is from the helpers of St. Gaspar. The deposition of Vincenzo Severini, Giovanni Menicucci, and Bartolomeo Panzini at the processes for the canonization of St. Gaspar give us a rather human face for our saint by people who were very close to him.

Enjoy!

All of the Letters of St. Gaspar del Bufalo in English are now available on-line. Today I finished cleaning up the WordPerfect files and converting them to PDF, and uploaded letters 2751 through 3959.

RC tells me that the sidebar can not be amended for a while, so the link to St. Gaspar's letters will have to wait, but I was able to upload a file to that old site to redirect people.

Here, again, is the new site for the Letters and other writings of St. Gaspar del Bufalo.

Again, I wish to pay tribute to my friend, Fr. Ray Cera, C.PP.S. He is to be credited for translating all the letters of St. Gaspar and making them available to an English speaking audience.

I recommend for your reading a new book available in English.

The Life and Times of St. Gaspar del Bufalo
by Giorgio Papasogli

I have had the book for a while and have been reading short sections of it between other books. For my vacation I intend to read it all again, straight through.

Also during my vacation, I intend to put the whole thing on-line. You can find my first efforts here.

The one thing I find beneficial is is all the background material about the politics and the economy and the social life in the late 18th and early 19th century, a time that contributed to the formation of St. Gaspar. There was a passage I read this morning, that taken out of the violent context that was France and Italy of the time, could actually be used to describe the day in which you and I live.

The little boy Gaspar and his group of friends heard these stories and at night, with their eyes open, they thought and continued to think of these incredible tragedies. One thing was clear in these little minds: the most populous nation had murdered God and invited other nations to do the same. This is what these little infantile souls felt.

In reality there were all kinds of thing about this tragic conflict which, apparently developed among men, but actually it was something between heaven and earth. There are enemies of God, but there are also heroes of God. There are vacillating souls, there are souls solidly believing in the death of God; there are apostles, there are weak ones, there are cowards, there are the indifferent ... Each life, each soul is implicated and is graded according to the strength with which it reacts.

But the external values provoke, as in this case, a taking of an interior position. Resistence, in order to be sustained, has to be superhuman.

From letter 2140, to Pope Gregory XVI, March, 1831

Finally, adding just a few more things in this preface, it is to be noted that in carrying out these apostolic works of the ministry, we seek to give a cult of compensation to the mysteries of our redemption, so greatly abused by sinners. We wish to awaken in their souls the great idea of the inestimable price of our eternal salvation. ... You have redeemed with blood. ... you were bought at a great price.. Those who have gone astray are encouraged to have hope for the pardon of the faults that they have committed, Christ loved us and washed us in his blood. ... what usefulness in my blood? and, finally, this is an opportunity for helping them take notice of the motives which caused a St. Bernard (Ep. 7) to exclaim: The blood of Christ calls out like a trumpet and a St. Thomas (Opusc. 158) to say: The blood of Christ is the key of paradise. St. Catherine of Siena, during the schism of her time, received the inspiration from the Lord that on this devotion depended peace within the Church.

From Letter 2193, July 28, 1831, to Mother Maria Nazzarena De Castris

From your letter I note that holy love of God is calling your soul to a special testing of your virtue. So, you must call to mind the sufferings of St. Catherine of Siena and the response that she received from the Lord. Courage "I am with him in tribulation." all of the anguish of your soul lies in the imagination; however, your heart is under the press of, suffering, and God sees what suffering there is because of your fear of offending God. But, one does not lose God without knowing it. That is, as you know, how St. Teresa put it. Suffering, then, is a sign that God is mindful of us, and there can be no more terrible temptation than that of thinking that we have been abandoned. While you are drinking that chalice of suffering, the devil would love to profit from it for himself; but, They conquered the dragon because of the blood of the Lamb.

Letter 3617, to Geltrude Crvciani

I must tell you that you should enkindle evermore your devotion to most holy Mary and never be fearful of the different surprises that the tempter may offer. Serve the Lord with joyfulness of spirit and may the Crucifix be our great book of learning. I offer you, therefore, three most useful things to be remembered and practiced in a holy fashion; they are the ones given by St. Catherine: "Keep eternity in mind; keep God in your heart; keep the world under your feet". With these maxims in mind, always regulate your actions and rid yourself of every bothersome thought that might upset you.

"But how is Jesus to be imitated? Look at him for just a short while. As an example to us, he is obedient to Joseph and to Mary and lives in the humblest of homes. He is employed in manual labor, shows himself to be a model of silence and is withdrawn from the world, a benefactor to all." …Seek, then, to be of service to the Society and respect the will of the Creator in his creatures. No task is menial if it tends to glorify the Almighty. On the contrary, your work is similar to that of Jesus Christ who aided his foster father, St. Joseph. Purity of intention alone is necessary for you to properly regulate your interior and exterior actions. Realize, too, that a hidden and humble life is a special shield against vanity and human glory."

From the Third Circular Letter