Quigley Preparatory Seminary - La Petit Seminaire Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 19 text:

plement of medxtatlon, wh1ch com bmed make up the most powerful force m the development and transformatron of the sem1nar1an s soul mto the soul of Chrlst The sem1nar1an has the ever present opportunlty to sl1p 1nto chapel for a word or two w1th Chrlst Perhaps rt IS only for a mmute between classes, perhaps If IS a regular chapel v1s1t w1th hrs class In any case, he finds the chapel a source of refuge and re freshment from h1s stud1es There he can make a short ejaculatlon of ador at1on to the Tf1HlfY ask for a llttle help 1n h1s stud1es, medltate, say h1s rosary make the VN ay of the Cross, or thank Chrlst agaln for H1s mornlng V1S1t, whose fruxts st1ll permeate h1s heart The atmosphere of qulet and sol1 tude ID the chapel was a far cry from that of Gluseppes favorxte boyhood shrlne, the Madonna delle Cendrole lt was ln the qulet and solltude of the semlnary chapel that he now sald h1s rosary, but lt was back at that h1ll slde shrxne that Gluseppe had learned to love h1s Blessed Mother and her rosary Llke G1useppe, every semln arran must learn to love h1s Blessed Mother and the rosary Mary rs the mother of all pr1ests and semlnarlans But whereas before she was the pro tector of our youth, now she assumes an lmportant new role as guardran of our vocat1on Now she IS a potent 1ntercessor for us Her rosary IS now an eff1cac1ous means rn obtalnmg strength of character, guldance m our august vocatlon, a keen sense of ap preclatlon of all that God has glven 7eal and perseverance IH our work, a tender consclence, and perfectlon of v1rtue It IS only w1th the Blessed Mother at h1s s1de that the semmarlan can truly be transformed 1nto Chr1st s other Self A fundamental and vxtal factor 1n the alteratlon of the sem1nar1an s soul IS the cultlvatlon and constant prac tlce of v1rtue Vlrtue lSjL1St what the word 1mpl1CS manhness A real man IS a pure man, a humble man, a char1t able man Smce the sem1nar1an must become a real man m the true sense of the word, If follows that Vlrtue must be h1s rmmedlate goal whlch w1ll lead to his final goal, lntxmate umon w1th God Vlrtue and consequently perfec t1on are the means to thls final goal The cultlvatxon of v1rtue does not mean merely the avoldance of v1ce It means constant prayer for strength actlvely to pract1ce lt, lt means stern determmatlon of the will to l1ve the Gospel every moment of the day That IS what the sem1nar1an IS called upon to do The pract1ce of v1rtue IS d1fH cult but lt IS lmperatlve for It IS an essent1al factor rn the transformatlon of the soul of the sem1nar1an The most consplcuous v1rtue of Giuseppe Sarto s llfe at the semlnary and, for that matter, the most consplc uous v1rtue of h1s entlre l1fe was h1s hum1l1ty It was a hum1l1ty that was Hrst xmbued 1nto h1s soul by h1s de voted parents 1n the humble home at Rlese, It was a hum1l1ty that grew w1th age Th1s hum1l1ty seemed to be the keynote of h1s whole sp1r1tual hfe Everythlng he dxd, everythlng he saxd, only manlfested the more h1s hum1l1ty The sprrrtual hfe of the sem1nar1an must also be founded on hum1l1ty 15 . . , . . . , . . . . . . , J J , . 9 ' ' . , . . . . . ' KI il . . . , . . x

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As Gluseppe, every semmarlan finds ln medltatlon, coupled w1th the Eucharxst, the secret of perfectlon From medltatlon, he draws the hungry deslre to plerce the hldden meamng of the words and actlons of the D1v1ne Savlour The more he medrtates, the more he wants to learn about Chr1st, the more he medrtates, the more he 1S asslmllatmg hlmself to Chrlst, the more he medltates, the more he IS lncreasmg hls pr1estly sanctlty whlch accord1ngly experxences a momentous growth Through medltatlon, the semlnarlan cultlvates a profound adm1rat1on for the Man God an admlratlon that IS 1nev1tably converted to 1m1tat1on It 1sn t easy to medltate, It doesn t come naturally It requires self d1sc1 plme and a strenuous effort Its perfect cultxvatlon calls for the purlficatlon of mmd, and of w1ll Its development calls for mort1ficat1on and spxrltual readmg The semmarlan must qulckly come to reallze that splrxtual readlng pro v1des the foundatlon upon whxch the work of medltatlon IS to be bullt, lt affords an lmmedlate preparatlon for the exerclse of medltatlon In realxty, splrltual reading may be called the seeds of medltatlon, the actual exer CISC of medrtatlon causes these seeds to grow to maturlty, and the fru1t pro duced IS prlestly sanctlty Splrltual readlng offsets ev1l tendencles ofnature by awakenlng supernatural tendencies ln the soul, It substltutes for the maxlms and example of the world the ldeals and example of Our Lord and the samts It IS an 1nv1tat1on to look beyond the world to God and 14 the things of God Mortlficatlon loos ens the soul from any earthly bond that mlght be holdmg It down, whlle spmtual readmg ra1ses the soul to the supernatural plane on wh1ch the sem marlan can medltate on the dynamlc Personallty of the Gospel Every mornmg the semmarlan adds an lndlspensable lngredlent to the transformatlve process when he w1t nesses the most thr1ll1ng act ever per formed Every mornlng he IS a spec tator at the Dlvme Drama But yet he IS not only a spectator or a wltness, he hlmself IS offered wxth the Sacred Humanlty IH the perfect eXp1at1on Never a more thr1ll1ng moment, never a more preclous moment ln h1s day as that moment when Omnlpotence Itself humbles I-Ilmself so much as to obey the call of the prxest and descend tzm for s1n H1m whom the heavens cannot contaln, and yet Hlm VVho answers the call of the prlest and l1ke a gentle lamb submxsslvely offers I-I1m self to the Immolator for the sacrlfice Every mornlng the semlnarlan IS part of thls sacrlfice, one w1th Chrlst ln offermg to the Father, one ln mind, one m w1ll, one ln oblat1on Thls oneness wlth Chrlst IS preclsely the essence of prlestly sanctlty Chrlst offers Hlmself not only to the Father 1n the sacrlfice, but also to man 1n Holy Communlon The recep t1on of the D1v1ne V1s1tor IS the ful fillment of the sem1nar1ans oneness wlth Chnst, the confirmatlon of hrs unlon wlth Chrlst And every slngle day the semmarlan IS the object of such outpourmgs of D1v1ne Love The Blessed Sacrament IS the perfect com U . , . . . , conscience, purification of heart, of to the altar to become again the Vic-

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Humlllty must be the keynote of h1s l1fe too It must be the foundatlon of prlestly sanctlty, the root of Chrlstllke holmess And the root of humllnty hes m the sacrament of Penance and lts resultlng self knowledge It IS through h1s weekly confesslon that the semm arnan IS able to read more and more clearly h1s own heart and plerce the depths of h1s soul The tremendous graces of Penance not only wash away his sms and refurblsh h1s soul, but they also perform thelr mevltable work of fosterlng and nourlshlng the growth of hum1l1ty What weekly confesslon IS to the combat of 1mperfect1on, dally Mass and Communlon are to the at tamment of perfectxon Gxuseppes ever present hum1l1ty formed the basls of other v1rtues Hls respect for author1ty was rooted en tlrely 1n the reallzatlon that obedlence ns a pre em1nent character bullder Gzuseppe was so SubmlSSlVC, and mam festly so, that h1s superlors made hlm prefetto della camerata Durmg study per1ods when no professor was present ln the classroom, Gluseppe was responslble for the behavlor of h1s class mates It was these llttle dutles that were entrusted to hlm ln the semmary that paved the way for the day when the entlre Mystlcal Body and all 1tS responsxbllltles would be entrusted to hlm, that day when, even after he humbly begged the College of Cardmals not to elect hxm, the cares of the world would be put upon h1s shoulders But he would be capable of such an oH-ice 16 because he possessed to a lofty degree prlestly sanctlty prxestly sanctlty that became all the more mamfest under the stram of the papal crown prlestly sanctlty that would some day be held up for the adm1rat1on and 1m1tat1on of all prrestly sanctlty that was born nn the semmary' The semmary' It was there that Gluseppe Sarto was transformed mto a man, mto a priest, 1nto Chrlstl It was there that Gluseppe had learned to medltate, to reallze the nature and value of vlrtue, to put on the sensus Chr1st1 How precxous those years were, how prlceless they were' Now as pope he was ever so deslrous that semlnarxans realxze how prxceless those was keenly lnterested m the spmtual welfare of h1s sem1nar1ans and prlests As pope, h1s fatherly mterest m the development of prlestly sanctlty as sumed world wlde proportlons In an exhortatlon to prlests and sem1nar1ans all over the world Blessed Plus placed the goal of prrestly sanctxty before them and showed them the way to attaln lt, just as he had been shown back 1n the semmary But more powerful than words, Blessed PIUS left us the example of h1s llfe the ldeal prlestly llfe, the perfect prxestly sanctlty The semmary had accomplxshed :ts work It had welded prlestly sanctltv to the soul of Gluseppe Sarto, lt had transformed another young, lmmature soul mto a l1v1ng lmage of Chrlstl . . . . H , . .,, . 0 l . n q . . . Heetmg years ln the semmary are. He ll li ' ' l