June 1989 Print

 

Translated from the Spanish by Fr. Dominique Bourmaud

Homily of H. E. Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta during the ceremony of ordinations of priests and deacons at the International Seminary of Our Lady Corredemptrix, La Reja, Argentina, 12-10-88. Bishop de Galarreta, of northern Spanish origin, only 31 years old, was consecrated bishop last June 30th and celebrated his first pontifical Mass with the ordination ceremony at La Reja. A great collector of Marian books, his acute and profound theology of the Blessed Virgin Mary in relation to the priest betrays a typically Spanish feature.

Rev. Father General, Rev. Fathers, dear seminarians, and especially dear ordinands, dear friends,

The present ceremony of priestly ordinations seems to me a good occasion to ask ourselves what reasons justify it and therefore, what the fundamental motives of the episcopal consecrations of the past June 30th are. Is it in the spirit of rebellion? Hearing so many accusations made against us might convince us and trouble our conscience. Are we moved by pride?

Many of our contemporaries become very nervous at hearing that we possess the truth. They cannot conceive how a group so little on the world scale can pretend to possess the truth. The conclusion is simple and immediate: it is not a matter of pride. Well, I believe it is exactly the contrary. In our case, it is a matter of docility of the mind to the truth, and especially to the truth revealed by Our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the very contrary of pride: it is a matter of humility. Humility and docility of the mind to accept, without discussion, the Divine Truth and the laws of God.

Certainly—and here I would like to make an observation—at times we, the Traditionalists, the Catholics who defend the faith, are very firm to defend the truth but we fail a little in the manner of doing it. And the mode has a great importance. The apostle St. Paul tells us that we must communicate the truth in charity, and charity in the truth. What he means is that in the defense of the truth, we must be very careful to be charitable with people. We must learn indeed, not to answer evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good. And thus shall we heap on the heads of our adversaries, the enemies of the faith, hot coals—hot embers which will at last inflame them with charity. Meekness opens the hearts of men to receive the Revealed Truth. It is therefore, essentially a question of humility and of love for the truth, even if this treasure is contained in fragile vessels, and even if at times the truth, immaculate and perfect to which we adhere, is imperfectly defended.

And the most certain proof that we are not moved by pride is that we oppose with all our power liberalism, which could be defined as the philosophy of pride. It is the philosophy of pride, pride erected into a system. What are therefore, the real motives? What is the goal of this ceremony? After reflection, I find the following reasons: first, the salvation of souls, which is the true love of man. Why would these young levites who are approaching the priesthood leave everything if it is not to do good to others? Is the priest then the enemy of society?

We perform this ceremony out of love for the Church which is today a Church intensely suffering so that it may shine, spotless, without wrinkle, and immaculate as it should appear before the eyes of man. We do it also out of fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, true Man and true God. It is because we believe in Him, we hope in Him, and we love Him, that we defend the Catholic priesthood. And we do it too out of the fear of God; something so much forgotten... fear of God. The apostle St. Paul teaches us that we must obey God before men and that we must fear God before men. That is why there is a gift of the Holy Ghost called the gift of fear, so that the filial piety and reverence towards God, impregnated with the love of God, may make us live according to His holy law and make us respect it according to what it is.

In summary, what is the purpose of this ceremony? It is the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

We can also add another reason: our love and our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is for the love of her that we defend the priesthood. It is because a boy cannot see his mother cry without being moved, without trying to console her, to defend her, and protect her; without trying to render her with love—all that the world denies her, all that the world refuses to offer to her.

I would like to speak a few moments to those especially who will receive the priestly ordination, to indicate the intimate relation which exists between our Lady and the priest; the intimate union and predilection of the Blessed Virgin and the priest. She is, without any doubt, the mother of the priest. And I believe that this predilection is based firstly in the life of our Lord. The priest works in the person of Christ when he administers the divine sacraments, especially the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And thus, our Lady sees in him the perfect image of her Son Jesus Christ and naturally shows more predilection for his soul. For do not forget that God does not love things because they are good, but rather they are good because God loves them. That means that something is good in the measure in which God loves it. The love of God is the cause of good. What is more elevated, what has more perfection in itself, is more loved by God? And the priesthood is quite a high definition of this love; it is one of the things which God loves best, as it is one of the highest goods. It is also certain that the heart of the Blessed Virgin beats in unison with the heart of God and that she loves with predilection the same thing which God loves with predilection.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of grace—Mater Divinae Gratiae—Mother of Divine Grace. She is the mediatrix, the treasurer, the dispenser of all the graces of God. And what is the function of the priest if it is not to transmit grace to all the souls of God? What is his function if not that of a channel dripping the water to each of the trees planted in the ground in need of that water for its life? We could say in this sense, that we are the collaborators of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If we are like the channels which bring the water, the Blessed Virgin is the aqueduct. She is the main channel through which descend all God's graces to man. There is indeed in the priestly ministry a close collaboration with the Blessed Virgin in the work of sanctification and of the distribution of graces.

She is also the Mater Dolorosa—the Sorrowful Mother. The Blessed Virgin Mary is coredemptrix. She participated in a special way in the holy Sacrifice of the Cross and she necessarily participates in the holy Mass which is its prolongation. She participated by her compassion, expiating for mankind. And she participated in many other ways. She is the one who provided the subject of the priestly ordination, that is, the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ (for He is not priest by His divinity but by His humanity). She is the temple where this ordination took place. She prepared the Victim (our Lord is both Priest and Victim); she also participated at the foot of Calvary. She is therefore closely united to the priest whose function is to renew the Sacrifice of the Cross, to which she is certainly united in thought, by her intention, by a continual oblation and immolation in union with that of her Son at every Mass which is celebrated by the priest.

And I believe that it is there, at the foot of Calvary, that we find the perfect model of priestly devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This model is the apostle St. John; St. John the Evangelist. Our Lord sees His mother and the beloved disciple and then He says to her: "Behold thy Son", and then to the disciple: "Behold thy mother." And the gospel tells us that since that time, the disciple took her into his home and he lived with the Blessed Virgin, his mother. We may wonder why our Lord chose St. John the Evangelist and not another one. Perhaps because St. John was the virgin apostle? Doubtlessly this was one of the reasons, but certainly not the only one, since there were other apostles, and probably many souls which had preserved their innocence; their virginity, and had a great purity of heart. Would it be then, because St. John was a priest? I don't think that could be the main reason since there were other apostles, other priests, and even some with greater dignity, as St. Peter. Was it because St. John was faithful and remained there close to our Lady at the foot of the Cross? Neither can this be the only reason since there were other persons.

Why did our Lord entrust His holy mother to St. John? I believe that in addition to all the above reasons which St. John possessed perfectly, the main one was that the evangelist had a great devotion and a great love, a singular love of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And we can understand it easily. It is a given principle that every being seeks and loves its similar. How then could the pure apostle not love her who is the most pure? How could the apostle and the priest not love the Virgin Coredemptrix? How could the one who so deeply loved our Lord not imitate Him in His love for the Blessed Virgin? And there is also another reason. It is that holy souls render love for love. And it is indubitable that the Virgin had a great predilection for the apostle St. John since our Lord Himself had it. Therefore, he responded to this predilection with a love of predilection. To this special love he responded with another special love. And in the person of St. John are included and represented all the priests since we all receive, as treasurer, the Virgin Mary, and we all must love her in a special way.

We thus beg you on this day, and especially you the ordinands, to learn how to imitate the apostle St. John so as to accomplish in the world this ideal which he kept throughout his life; which is nothing but the ideal of charity and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and love of the Virgin Mary.

Let us pray to the apostle St. John that he bestow on these future priests—priests in a few moments—a loving heart for our Lord and His mother. Let us, as St. John, love our Lord with the heart of the Blessed Virgin, and the Blessed Virgin with the Heart of our Lord.