Father DiOrio's Latest Article
You are Here
FROM THE DESK OF FATHER RALPH
J.M.J.
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CONFERENCE MASS
VATICAN ALTAR ST. PETER, ROME, ITALY
WHERE REMEMBRANCES ARE MOST PRECIOUS
ISN'T IT A WONDERFUL ACT OF GOD NOT TO HAVE LEFT US ORPHANS?
January 2003
THAT SPECIAL NIGHT:
On the night before our blessed Lord went to complete His holy Mass --The Mass of His Sacrificial Offertory and Consecration - on those excruciating wooden beams of the cross, He authorized His Apostles to take bread and wine, just as He did; He exhorted them to feed His people with His Own precious sacramental being. For this reason, from that moment to this, our church sanctuary lights keep continuously burning to remind us that our blessed Savior has not left us orphans.
TREMENDOUS GRACE:
What a tremendous miraculous grace our dear Lord Jesus conferred when He Himself empowered selective men to be holy priests in His name! He would invite them to sincerely dare live their whole lives, even to the point of death, in victim priesthood - Soulwinning! They who do so will never lose their sacred vocation! They would never suffer any identity crisis.
You, our dear friends, in those precious silent moments of requiem prayer with our dear Lord, remember us. Pray for us priests. Intercede for all dedicated ministers who believe in wholesome love, in consecrated self sacrifice. Pray that we may not spoil God's work.
IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST - ALTER CHRISTUS:
For such God-chosen men, the holy priesthood is to be sincerely another Christ personification. Such professed men do so by faithfully teaching the holy faith and its ensuing morals. They do so by zealously preaching the holy Word of the Lord. But, in particular, the priest as the Lord Himself did at that last Holy Thursday evening supper, was then and is now, to offer daily the master's holy sacrifice of the Eucharist. We privileged priests do this with trembling hands and sensitive hearts. We pray holy Mass for both the living and the deceased. Truly, what a marvelous, what a tremendous gift the Lord miraculously entrusted to weak fickle men! Regardless of man's broken human nature, that is, man always remaining man, and God always being God, the good Lord, nevertheless, trusts us broken weak creatures with authority powers. Powers? Yes! Powers to perform sacred duties; powers to save souls. Remarkable, isn't it? Love always finds a way to express itself. Let us, therefore, learn to love God for who He is, and not for what He has. He is our Savior; He is our memorial gift!
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS TREASURE?
What a tremendous gift Jesus' love left us! He left Himself to us as a prisoner of love. How? Well, as an unmarried Jew in His early thirties, He spoke for the first time those mystic words of consecration at His farewell banquet in a city of the Near East. This was approximately 2000 years ago. Then knowingly and permitingly, He went our to let Himself be killed by a disgruntled mankind whose love turned sour, whose love reversed into hate. They mishandled Him. They tortured Him. And finally, on the following day, they put Him to earthly death as though He were a common criminal. Only a few faithful friends stood by. His mother was there to the end. A friend gently placed Him in his own personal tomb, a tomb which was not even the Lord's.
FOUNTAIN FOR OUR FAITH:
But the tomb could not hold Him captive. And on that Sunday known as Easter, He burst the tomb with wonder. He kept His promise. And thereupon, our faith had a solid foundation to believe. Because of this wonderful historical truthful event, men, women, and children all over the earth today in the Mass share the secret of life everlasting. May every priest sincerely grasp the true meaning of becoming a holy priest; and may every creature come to appreciate the sacrificial love of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
THIS YOUNG JEWISH RABBI
Who was this Jewish young man from Galilee? Who was this Jewish Rabbi who taught a captivating gospel? Who was this itinerant preacher who confirmed His gospel message with miracles and signs of wonder? Who was this vagabond who walked along the streets of sorrow? Who was this troubadour of love? This young Jewish marvelous Rabbi was Almighty God!
DO YOU REALIZE?
You, dear friends, who read this, my annual little message, do you realize that in every age since that moment of Jesus' shameful public execution, not a day has dawned which did not witness that death repeated? Through all the ages past, what our blessed Lord did on that Thursday made holy was and is continued and continued and continued again and again, somewhere, sometime, always until the end of time.
ALWAYS! PER IPSUM, CUM IPSO, ET IN IPSO. THROUGH HIM, WITH HIM, IN HIM. ALWAYS!
This may be in a huge Gothic or ther elaborately decorated cathedral. It could be in a country church, in a concentration camp, in jungles, in prisons, in open war torn bloody battle fields. Regardless of where that altar may stand, Mass is being prayed. In so doing, it is the Christ who is holding back with His crucified outstretched arms the hand of God who justly should strike with a cotton hammer this material world in its works of wrong.
WHAT DID HE LEAVE?
Jesus gave and left Himself to us. He was and is still a God of love. And His love found a way to remain with us. All He asks in return is that we remain in His love. "MANETE IN DILECTIONE MEA / REMAIN IN MY LOVE." (John 15:9.)
MASS AND EUCHARIST - HIS GIFT TO US:
This was the blessing of His Eucharistic presence. It is entrusted to validly consecrated ordained men of God. It is prayed daily anywhere and any place. What a miracle of love and life this is! Can you imagine that somehow, somewhere, a man validly ordained is privileged to pray daily the holy Mass for the sick, the suffering, the deceased souls! He can pray for the whole world! He can apply the merits of Christ crucified to the world's broken wounds. Yes, he, a mere human being is anointed as a chosen vessel for ministering the holy Word and the sacraments. He becomes definitely personified with his Master and divine Lord who two thousand years ago stated: "DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME" (Luke 22: 14-20).
THERE IS POWER, THERE IS DIVINE HEALING IN THE MASS:
The evil one is seeking to keep people away from holy Mass. Why? Because holy Mass fulfills perfectly the four ends of true religion. This holy function is offered to a person and not to a set of rules. This prayer offering of Mass fulfulls the acts of authentic religion; it completes the best of adoration, thanksgiving, rapartation, and the ministry of supplication through intercessory prayer for others and petition prayer for oneself.
WHAT DO I DO WITH THE GIFT?
Through our blessed Lord's death, and the burst tomb which followed it by three days, men, women, and children all over the world can live again and come once more to God. This gift is the Mass. Love calls for love. Do you have a heart full of love? Who holds the key to you heart? Will you bring Him your hear?! Your love? Or like the soldiers at Calvary, will you just thrust into His face vinegar and gall? Love God for who He is and not for what He has. He loves you regardless of your good deeds, or your mistakes. The fullness of the atonement is in the sacrifice of Calvary. That sacrifice with its cross beams still cast their shadow upon you. You cannot escape the Hound of Heaven.
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS GIFT FROM GOD?
GOD BLESS YOU; GOD LOVE YOU+
-Rev. Father Ralph A. DiOrio, Jr., Director