He Was Loving the Church

“The greatest gift a father can give to his children is to love their mother.” This is what Jesus was doing on the cross: loving our Mother, the Church. He was loving her by giving up everything for her. He did not demand His own way ("not my will by thy will be done..."). He did not ignore her needs. He did not think about Himself first. He did not question whether she even deserved what He was doing for her; He did it because she was His bride.

And, just as the quote above is true for the human family (husbands and fathers, pay attention!), it is also true for what Christ does for the Church. In this same way, as the priest is "in persona Christi" (acting in the place of Christ for the people), so also the best thing that a priest can do for his parishioners is to love the Catholic Church, and his parish specifically.

Say an extra prayer today that we would all live up to our calling before God. Pray for me as your priest, and for your fellow parishioners. Pray that God will use us to spread the news of great and wonderful love of Christ for us.