Susan Muto
Journeys Unveiled Through Journaling
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The art and discipline of journal-keeping serve as a compliment to other spiritual exercises like formative reading and meditative reflection. Priests have availed themselves of this practice to chronicle their journey of faith, the reasons for their hope and the motivating power of their love for the people of God entrusted to their care. Classical Read More
Purgation, Illumination and Union
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From its earliest teachings to those of the present day, Christianity has promoted and emphasized a spiritual journey involving the transformation of body, mind and spirit in the pursuit of holiness and conformity to Christ. Such a pursuit has been elucidated as a threefold path, involving the dynamics of purgation, illumination and union. Purgation refers Read More
Priestly Celibacy and Celibate Love
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Essential to the life of the Church are the gifts of priestly celibacy and celibate love that embrace all of God’s people and confirm our longing, beyond worldly accomplishments, to share in God’s eternal, infinite love for souls. The gift of celibate love opens priests to a life of intimate presence to the Trinity, expressed Read More
Finding the Portal to Paradise
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The apostle Paul confirms that to follow the narrow gate leads us to the full glory of union with God, that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that Read More
Wholly in Love
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Given the many times in any priest’s life when he feels lonely, misunderstood and more aware of God’s absence than of God’s presence, how is it possible to rekindle his innate desire for union with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? An answer may be found in what St. John of the Read More
A Priestly Priest
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In his famous book, “He Leadeth Me: An Extraordinary Testament of Faith” (Image, $16), Father Walter J. Ciszek admits that in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the town of his birth on Nov. 4, 1904, the neighbors called him tough, stubborn and incorrigible, and wondered what would become of him. Young Walter took no pride in his demeanor, Read More
Ten Principles of Priestly Life
Susan Muto 1
St. John Vianney (1786-1859) once said: “Were we to realize fully what a priest is on earth, we would die: not of fright, but of love. … Without the priest, the passion and death of Our Lord would be of no avail. … What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no Read More
The Evangelical Counsels
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The evangelical counsels of obedience, poverty of spirit, and chaste and respectful love are the pathways by which priests imitate Christ and inspire every member of his Mystical Body to do the same. Thanks to these three foundations, priests witness to God’s presence in the events, things and people they encounter wherever he places them Read More