SIXTH SACRAMENT: HOLY ORDERS
319. Holy Orders is a sacrament that gives the power to exercise the sacred ministries, and impresses on the soul of the one who receives it the character of a minister of God.
320. Priestly power consists principally in being able to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in forgiving sins.
The Order imprints the character of a minister of Jesus Christ.
Only men can receive this sacrament.
The minister of Holy Orders is the Bishop, who gives the Holy Spirit and sacred power, by the laying on of hands and the delivery of the sacred objects, proper to Orders, saying the words in the prescribed manner.
It is called order, because it consists of several degrees, from which results the sacred hierarchy.
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Sacred Hierarchy
The Tonsure is not Order, but a preparation for Order.
There are seven Orders: four minor and three major.
The four minor ones are: Porter, Reader, Exorcist and Acolyte.
[That was in the past, this book was printed in 1964, it had the nihil obstat in 1961. In 1972 the major and minor orders were modified, for the worse, on August 15 of that year, but I suppose that S. Paul VI did not do it, but the double who impersonated him.
I copy a few paragraphs from the Messages of Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of mothers (remember that the Messages must be read in their entirety. www.tldm.org)
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This paragraph is no more in English messages (I searched November 20th and 24th)
"There is a formation within My House that I call and mark as the evil men of the cross... They have come in to destroy. They have reached and achieved the highest leadership in My House on earth. They are recrucifying Me in My House. Your Vicar is a prisoner within My House."
- Jesus, November 22, 1972
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Pope Paul offered as sacrifice
Jesus – “You will keep now a constant vigilance of prayer. These prayers will ransom some time for your Vicar who has offered himself as sacrifice for those who have fallen in his House.”
Veronica – I see Pope Paul. He’s sitting in a large room. There’s a desk. But he doesn’t look very well. He looks very sick. It seems like he can’t seem to keep his eyes open. His head is falling to the right. And then he sits up, and he’s falling to the left. Now he’s leaning over on the table. Now there are screams outside. And people are shouting, and they’re throwing all rocks, and they’re trying to come in the door. And they’re shouting. And Pope Paul—now he’s walked over, and he’s kneeling next to a statue of Our Lady. He’s praying to Our Lady, and he’s crying; tears are coming down his face. He looks awfully thin. The marks are still on his hands. I see him raising his hand up now above his head. Oh! Oh!
And outside the door there are cardinals, five cardinals; they are hiding knives behind their backs. And over by the window, looking in, is a man. He looks like a cardinal, but he’s dressed in black. And he has a pillbox on his head, like, standing up. He also is holding a knife behind his back. And over on the right side, looking in the other window, I see a group of bishops. There are two, three, four, five—there are fifteen or sixteen bishops. They also are hiding knives behind their backs.
Now it’s all faded away; I can’t see any more. And Jesus says:
Jesus – “Now you will know why you must keep a constant vigilance of prayer, now until December. You will continue telling your beads for your Vicar.”
July 25, 1972]
The major Orders are: Subdiaconate, Diaconate and Priesthood.
Sacred ministry that can be exercised by each of the ministers, by reason of Orders:
The Porter: to open and close the door of the church, to admit the worthy and to reject the unworthy.
The Reader: read the Psalms and Lessons from the pulpit, in church, and instruct the people in the things of faith.
The Exorcist: casting out demons by means of exorcisms instituted by the Church.
Currently, only the priest licensed by the Bishop can exorcise.
The Acolyte: to serve the Subdeacon at the solemn Mass, to light the candles, to prepare and deliver the bottles of wine and water.
Subdeacon: to serve the Deacon at Solemn Mass, and to sing the Epistle in solemn rite.
The Deacon: to immediately assist the celebrant at solemn Mass, to sing the Gospel, to preach with due permission, and to distribute Holy Communion.
The Priest or Presbyter: consecrate in the celebration of Mass the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and forgive sins.
The Episcopate is not an Order distinct from the priesthood, but its fullness or complement.
The Bishop has the power to confirm, confer Orders, teach and govern the faithful.
Papal Consecration is not Order.
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, who, by reason of the primacy, enjoys supreme authority over all the faithful, even over the bishops.
Jesus Christ Himself instituted the episcopate and the simple priesthood, and through the Apostles, the diaconate, from which the other lower orders are derived.
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General Obligations of Clerics of Major Orders
Those who have received major orders are obliged to keep perfect chastity, to pray the divine office daily and to remain in the ecclesiastical state all their lives.
Jesus praised chastity, saying that it is a gift from heaven granted to chosen souls (St. Matthew, XIX, 11).
St. Paul, in the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians (c. VII, v 32 and 33), says:
"He that hath no wife is careful of the things that are of the Lord, of how he shall please God.
"But he that is with a wife is anxious about the things of the world, and how he should please his wife, and he is divided."
For this reason, the Holy Church, ruled and governed by the Holy Spirit, obliges clerics of major orders to observe celibacy, so that they may be freer and better able to attend to the things of God and to the salvation of souls.
The duties of the clergy are not a heavy burden, for God, by his grace, makes it light.
The ecclesiastical state must be embraced voluntarily, not by force; major Orders can be received only at the age when one is able to know well and freely accept the obligations attached to the Orders.
Whoever, after having received major orders, leaves the ecclesiastical state, is an apostate, that is, a vile deserter from religion.
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The Need for the Christian Priesthood
There never was any religious society without priests, that is, without persons who had the special charge of ordering all that pertained to the honor and worship of the divinity.
Our Lord Jesus Christ constituted the Church as a perfect society; therefore, there must be in it those who command and those who obey.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He entrusted the Apostles with the continuation of His work, He transmitted to them the priesthood and the faculty of communicating it to others, to perpetuate it until the end of the world.
The priesthood is perpetuated through Orders.
The priesthood is necessary in the Church, for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for the administration of the sacraments, and for the teaching of religion.
The Catholic priesthood, despited the war that hell wages against it, will last until the end of the ages; for Jesus Christ has promised that the powers of hell will never prevail against His Church.
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Priesthood Dignity and Respect Due to It
The dignity of the Christian priesthood is very great, because its mission is to continue on earth the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The priest is a representative of Jesus Christ.
Great is therefore the respect that must be paid to the priest.
The first one who must respect the priest is the priest himself, never doing anything unworthy of one who is invested with so great dignity.
Jesus said to his Apostles, and in their person to all priests:
"You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world”, etcétera.
All Christians must see in the priest, not a man like any other, but a representative of Jesus Christ and as such respect him.
There are unworthy priests, it is true; among the twelve Apostles there was a Judas; it is not strange that among so many thousands of priests there are some imitators of that traitor.
The angels sinned in heaven, Adam and Eve in the earthly Paradise; it can also happen that some priests commit sins, and even great sins.
But even if there are bad priests, it is not reasonable to cease to believe or practice the holy religion for this reason.
The priest is not the religion; the priest is a man, and, as such, he is subject to miseries, changes: he who is good today can be bad tomorrow or vice versa.
Our faith must be placed, not in man, but in God, who never changes, He is always the same; this is how our faith should be, firm, unwavering, without paying attention to what others do or say.
Bad priests cause much harm to religion, for the discredit of priests undoubtedly results in the discredit of religion.
For this reason, the enemies of religion publish the faults of priests (with truth, rarely; with lies, almost always); not because they abhor the vices of which they accuse them, for they usually have the same and worse vices, but because of the hatred they have for a religion so pure and holy, that condemns all iniquity.
It is a most grave sin to despise and insult priests, because that is to be against Jesus Christ Himself, who said to the Apostles: "He who despises you despises Me" (Luke, X, 16).
Whoever becomes aware of a serious fault on the part of a priest, should try to inform the Bishop of him, so that he may take the measures he deems appropriate.
[A priest said in a meeting recorded on the Internet: If you find a bad doctor you don't abhor medicine, you look for another. (If you find a bad priest, look for another.) If you find a bad mechanic, you do not send the car to the scrapyard, you look for another mechanic.]
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Provisions for embracing the ecclesiastical state
The sole purpose of embracing the ecclesiastical state must be the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
In order to enter the ecclesiastical state, the divine vocation is necessary first of all.
To know if God calls one to the ecclesiastical state, it is necessary:
1. To earnestly pray to the Lord to manifest what His will is.
2º To take advice from the Bishop himself or from a wise and prudent director. (Read the Messages of Our Lady of the Roses, where Veronica is commanded not to have a spiritual director, that God the Father directs her).
3º To examine diligently whether one has the necessary aptitude for the studies, ministry and obligations of this state.
Whoever takes the ecclesiastical state without a divine vocation would do a grave evil and expose himself to the danger of damnation.
Parents who, for temporal reasons, induce their children to embrace the ecclesiastical state without vocation, commit a most serious sin, because they usurp the right that God has reserved to Himself to choose His ministers, and they put their children in danger of eternal damnation.
321. The faithful, towards those who are called by God to the priesthood, have the following duties: 1. to leave full freedom to their children to follow God's vocation; 2) to beseech God to deign to grant worthy ministers for His Church, and 3) to keep special reverence and respect for the ministers of God.
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Ceremonies and sacred objects
The ceremonies and sacred objects that are used in divine worship have their special significance.
It is a phrase proper to the impious and ignorant: In the Church there is too much luxury.
For the service, worship, and honor of God, we are to use the best.
The innocent Abel offered God the best, the wicked Cain, the worst.
Jesus rebuked those who criticized Magdalene, because she used a very precious substance to honor the Divine Savior Himself.