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A BOOKLET FOR PRIESTS



NIHIL OBSTAT

Fr. M. Albericus Wulf, O.C.S.O.

Fr. M. Maurice Malloy, O.C.S.O.

Censores

IMPRIMI POTEST

Fr. Fredericus M. Dunne, O.C.S.O.

Abbas B. M. de Gethsemani

IMPRIMATUR

Joannes A. Floersch, D.D.

Archiepiscopus Ludivicopolitanus

Die 25a Ianuarii, 1940

Second printing, 10,000

Copyright 1940

The Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.



TO

MY BROTHERS

FATHER JACK and FATHER ED

with the

PRAYER

to the

ORIGINAL

that we may

DOUBLE PERFECTLY

for Him

WHO HAS CHOSEN US





Foreword

“The most HONEST body of men in the

world.” That is the character given to the

priesthood of America by a retreat-master who

has worked in many a diocese. I believe him.

I believe that we are fundamentally honest and

never more so than when we are alone by our-

selves and in a reflective mood. Then we

priests face facts
;

then we look reality

straight in the face and give things their

proper value.

Relying on this conviction and on the above

appraisal, I pen these few pages to my fellow

priests of America. I am going to be very

honest; I feel sure that you will be the same.

You know, one time my father, St. Bernard,

tried to help his fellow priests and, as a re-

ward, he received a letter from a Cardinal to

the effect that, “it were better for Cistercian

frogs to remain in their marshes and not dis-

turb the world with their raucous croaking.”

I hope I am not croaking. I further hope that

no one of our thirty thousand priests in Amer-

ica will see fit to say: “Like father, like son,”

and then add : “Let Trappists be what they



are supposed to be — dead men —
;
for ‘dead

men tell no tales/ ”

It is my conviction that, if we all live the

thoughts contained within these few pages, no

one of us will ever die in the strict biblical

sense, and that our natural death will, in all

truth, be an awakening to the ‘facie ad faciem’

vision of Him for whom we have doubled.

Fathers, you are HONEST. What do you

honestly think . . . am I right?

Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

January the twenty-fifth

Nineteen hundred and forty



PART I

COULD MORTAL MAN ASK

FOR MORE?





What Is a Priest?

“Look at them, Father, all fakes! Every

single one of them! Just hiding behind

masks, hypocrites to the core! Yes, old

Shakespeare was right, ‘Life IS a stage/ and

we are all actors, just actors . . . and most of

us ‘ham-actors’ at that. Do you know, Fa-

ther, that there is no one in this whole town

who is really himself? It’s all a show! All a

sham! Just the great ‘boob’ man playing at

‘make-believe’ in the wonderland of ‘Folly-

wood’ !”

“That sounds pretty bitter, Jimmie; what’s

wrong? Going sour on life?”

“Going sour? Ha! That’s good! Tell me,

Father, did you ever meet anyone who was

sweet on it? That is, anyone who knew what

it was all about?”

We were driving in from Hollywood. It
had been a fascinating day for me. I had

been out to one of the biggest of the studios,

watching a ‘super-colossal’ in the making.

Yes, it had been a fascinating day for me, but

it had been a hard one for Jimmie. He was

a stunt-flyer, and five times I saw him do a

stunt that was openly courting death each

time. He had done his part perfectly every

time; but not so the camera man. Jimmie

was mad, and he had reason to be. I took

his talk now to be just so much ‘letting off of

steam.’

Jimmie was a product of the War, Prohibi-

tion and the Depression. When I have said
that, I have said all, except that perhaps I

should add ... a State University after the

War, during Prohibition and just before Pros-

9



perity went ‘around the corner/ Electric with

life and energy, hard with the glittering hard-

ness of diamonds, brilliant with that superfi-

cial, catchy brilliance of ready word and apt

phrase, sharp in his observation, but with lit-

tle real depth of ideas and with next to no

ideals . . . that was Jimmie. He made ex-

cellent company for those who would rather

listen than talk and rather laugh than really

think, for Jimmie was witty; witty with a

caustic wit that was more satire than real

humor, but laugh-provoking withal. In short,

Jimmie was Hollywood. . . . Suspicious of

everyone, skeptical of all virtue, self-centered,

self-satisfied, and yet, heart-hungry and away

down deep quite dissatisfied with self, with

others and with life.

Jimmie had seen what he called life and

love, and had found both very wanting. He

had read this, that and the other thing as

most of our present-day readers read: hur-

riedly, intently, greedily, but with little real

attention and no reflection. Thinking that he

was really thinking, Jimmie had concluded

that there is no God, that religion was only

for the weak, and that Omar Khayyam had

the only worth-while philosophy of life: “Eat,

drink and make merry,” and Jimmie lived that

philosophy. And yet, he had just asked me if

I had ever met anyone who was sweet on life

!

“Yes, Jimmie,” I said, “I have met many

who were very sweet on life. In fact, I am
one.”

I thought that he was going to explode.

Hollywood Boulevard is known as “The Race-

track” and, believe me, Jimmie did nothing to

lessen that reproach.

“You, a priest . . . sweet on life!”

When he had ‘just made’ two more lights by

driving that was positively dizzying, he said:

10



“Father, I haven’t known you long, but you

seem sane. Tell me, just what is a priest?”

For a moment I was stopped. What can

you say to a self-confessed atheist, a scoffer at

all virtue and religion, a present-day pessi-

mistic skeptic? Sparring for time, I said:

“Sure, Jimmie, I’ll tell you, but you see, I’m

Irish and we Irish have a very peculiar way

of answering questions; we usually ask an-

other. So tell me, just what are you?”

“Me? . . . Why, I’m just a ‘sap’ of a double.

One of those ‘dumb-bells’ with no name, no

fame, next to no money, but the one who does

all the he-man stunts, all the difficult and

dangerous things, all the real work. That’s

what I am, Father, just a fool that is ever

ready to break his neck so that the Star may

save his pretty face! That’s what I am, Fa-

ther, just a fool of a double, the donkey that

does all the work and gets none of the credit.

You saw it yourself today. Wait until that

thing is released ! Our ‘pretty face’ will get

write-ups from coast to coast and from border

to border. And for what? For what Jimmie

did! Yes, for what Jimmie did! Everyone

who sees that picture will think that he, that

anemic amoeba, was the dare-devil who land-

ed that old ‘crate’ of a plane on skids. The

fan-mail will be heavy. I can see it piling

up now! And you know his salary goes up

with the weight of those mash-notes. They

say that he is ‘box-office.’ But who does the

real attracting? Your little Jimmie does it!

Yes, my mother’s little boy, James, who takes
a relic that is ready to fall apart a mile or

more up into the clear blue and then brings

it down on skids. Of course, the only danger

was that I might not wake up again ! But

what of that, as long as ‘Baby-face’ gets all

the credit? So you see, Father, that’s what

11



I am; just a dope of a double! How's that

for a description?"

“Fair, Jimmie. But suppose I were a

stranger to these parts and knew nothing of

Hollywood ‘slanguage,' how would you tell me

just what a double is?"

“I don't know what your game is, Father,

but here goes. ... A double is a living-dead
man, a person without a personality. He must

have an anatomy, but he cannot have a per-

sonality. Which makes me think that Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a very lucky person;

he had a dual personality, but a Hollywood

double is just a ‘sap' who puts on the person-

ality of some ‘pretty-faced Star.' So you see,

he lives, but he is dead; he is a person, but he

has no personality. How am I doing, Father?"
“Fine, James, but could you be even a bit

more explicit?"

“Sure, Father, I can be anything, for you

see, I am a double! I can be even a bit more
explicit. How is this? ... You know what a
Star is? — The Original, the Leading Man,
the Protagonist. — That emasculated atom
with the pretty face that you saw on the lot

today. Well, I've got to look like him. What

I lack by nature, the Make-up Department

supplies. I merely furnish the groundwork.

I've got to be about the same height, have

the same build, then I've got to walk like him,

talk like him, sit like him, stand like him, act

like him, in fact, I've got to BE just like him!
For you see, there are times when the Origi-

nal cannot act
;

there are things that the

Original cannot do; things that the Original

dare not do. There is where your little James

comes in. For there is where I must do and

act, and do and act in such a way that every-

one looking on will say that it is the Original

doing and acting. That is what a double is,

12



Father, not an imitation, not a substitution,

but a perfect reproduction. I reproduce the

Star and I do it in such a way that no one can

tell the difference. I submerge my own per-
sonality; I deny my ego its expression, so that
the Protagonist may get all the glory. As I

said before, James is a double, a living-dead

man, a person without a personality, one un-

known to the wide, wide world, yet one who

reproduces for that wide, wide world the

Original . . . that pretty-faced sub-electron you

saw today! Am I clear, Father ?”

“Lucid, James, positively lucid ! Why, you

were even eloquent. I take it that you love

your job.”

“Yes, I do! Why, Father, there are times

when I get so disgusted with the sham of it

all, that I could start a revolution. I go out

and all but break my neck, and the whole
world gasps: ‘Isn’t he!’... that thing back

there with the pretty face, who would get

dizzy on a flying-horse . . . ‘isn’t he brave!’ Oh,

a double’s life is a delightful Hell ! But what

are you getting me all steamed up about; you

know what a double is!”

We were almost home. Jimmie’s flow of
talk with its brilliance and its bitterness had

clicked a new notion into my head. It broke
upon me with the force of revelation, I de-

cided to try it on him. “Jimmie,” I said, “you

asked me a funny question. One that I did
not know how to answer for your particular

benefit; for you see, you and I talk different

languages. My ideals and ideas are not yours
and, for the moment, I did not know just how

to translate my ideas into your language. But
you have done it for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just this . .
.
you asked me to tell you what

a priest is. To you who laugh at religion, I

13



didn’t know how to make answer. But now I
can use your own language and tell you plain-
ly. Jimmie, a priest is a double!”

Jimmie gave a quick turn of his head and a

little squint to his eyes as he flashed a look

at me. Then he said, “Y-e-a-h?” It was a

long-drawn out 'yeah.’ It was a question

mark, telling me that Jimmie was suspicious,
that he was looking for a catch somewhere.

"So a priest is a double, eh? Father, you

are using my words, but I don’t get your
ideas. For whom do you double?”
"That is just the point you made for me,

Jimmie. I had never thought of it before, but

as you went on with your ever more vivid de-

scription of what a double is and what a

double does, it flashed upon me that I, too, am
a double and that every real priest is a double.

Jimmie, A PRIEST IS A DOUBLE FOR
JESUS CHRIST!”

* * *

A Double for Christ

Jimmie slid the car to the curb and came to

a gentle stop. I’ll say that much for aviators

who drive cars, they don’t know how to start,

they don’t know how to drive, but they do

know how to stop. We were now before the
rectory. Jimmie had glided there as grace-

fully and as gently as if he were landing a

plane and taxying her up to the passenger

platform. He killed the engine, pulled out a

pack of Camels and said: "Father, you don’t

have to go in just yet. Smoke this one ciga-

rette with me and tell me just what you mean

when you say you are a double for Jesus

Christ. I read His life once. There was no

Hollywood in His day and, I’m sure, He

wasn’t ‘in pictures.’
”

14



I laughed a hearty laugh. To find Jimmie

interested, and even literal, was certainly

amusing; but I laughed also to cover up a

pause while I thought how far I could go,

how far I should go with this product of

loose-thinking, Twentieth Century America.

But the idea had so gripped me that, before I

knew it, I was pushing on. “Jimmie,” I said,

“I don’t think that you will fully understand,

but it is worth the try. Were you a Catholic

the task would be relatively easy, but being

just Jimmie . . . well, that makes things a bit

more difficult. But listen and don’t interrupt

unless you really have to.”

“Shoot, Father, I’m all ears.”

“Jimmie, Jesus Christ is God.”

“That’s what you believe, Father.”

“Yes, Jimmie, that is what I believe and

that is what I am asking you at least to make-

believe for the moment, make believe that you

believe it, too. Jesus Christ is God who be-

came Man. He lived on this earth thirty-

three years. Over nineteen hundred years

ago, He died; and yet He still lives, and lives

on this very earth of ours ! He lives in and

through His doubles! Jimmie, you told me

that a double had to walk like, talk like, look

like, be like the Original, didn’t you? You

told me that that was why you were called

a double, because you reproduce the Original.

You went on and told me that people seeing

you, saw not you, but the Star. You said that

YOU had no name, no fame, next to no money,
that you got nothing because all the credit

went to the Star. Jimmie, Jesus Christ is our

Star. He is the Original, and we priests are

His doubles. We are supposed to walk like
Him, talk like Him, look like Him, BE like
Him! Jimmie, a priest works for no name,

15



no fame, no money; he works that Jesus

Christ may get all the glory! That is the only
reason for a priest’s existence ... to get glory

for God! When people look at a real priest,
they see not the individual, they see only

Jesus. Jimmie, you got eloquent and said

much about being a living-dead man, a person

without a personality, didn’t you? Well, you

were very accurately describing a priest. His

personality is subdued, denied, yes, in a way,

annihilated, so that the Personality of Christ

may shine out through him. A priest is a
living-dead man in the strictest sense of the

word; he should be dead to self, yet just vi-

brant with life for Christ and the cause of

Christ. That is why I call a priest a double

... he is consecrated to reproduce the God-

Man ! He is anointed for only one purpose . . .
TO BE JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH! Jim-
mie, the only difference between your doubling

and mine is that I am supposed to double for
Jesus twenty-four hours a day, seven days a

week, fifty-two weeks a year, while you double

only in spots. There are some of the reasons

why I say that I am a double.”

Jimmie was silent. Perhaps I had become

a little tense as I talked for the novelty of

the idea and the tremendous truth of the con-

cept fired me to near-eloquence. Jimmie’s

reply came slowly and softly: “Yes, Father, I

catch the main outlines. Of course, there’s a

lot I don’t get; but I get the main outlines.

You ask me to believe. You know I can’t; and

I’ll tell you why. ... To me, it is all a beauti-

ful dream, but that is all — just a dream;
for the very idea is contradictory. Think of

it, Father, Jesus Christ is supposed to be God

and yet man. What a contradiction!”

“No, Jimmie, don’t say that. Call it a para-

dox, if you will, but don’t say it is a contra-

16



diction. It is a mystery, I admit, but not a

contradiction.”

Jimmie tossed away his cigarette, blew out

a long inhale and then, as he stepped on the

starter, said: “Father, I don’t fully under-

stand, but we are not going to argue about it.

I gave up arguing on religion years ago and

I am not going to start it all over again, espe-

cially not with you. But, Father, I must say

this much ... if I could believe, if I could

really believe that Jesus Christ was God, then

there is only one thing that I would ever be.

I’d be a priest! Money or no money, good

time or no good time . . . could a human be-

ing aspire to anything higher? COULD MOR-
TAL MAN ASK FOR MORE than to be, as
you say, A DOUBLE FOR THE GOD-MAN?”
Jimmie was almost in awe. His last words

were reverent, worshipful. For one tense,

tingling moment we sat; then Jimmie opened

the door for me and said: “Good night, Fa-

ther. I’ll be seein’ ya,” and roared away down

the street as if he were trying to ‘take-off,’

though actually he had less than a block to go.

I stood there in front of the rectory watch-

ing his exhaust disappear, while his tense

words kept ringing in my ears: “COULD
MORTAL MAN ASK FOR MORE THAN
TO BE A DOUBLE FOR THE GOD-MAN?”

* * *

Mindful of My Dignity

At last I turned, but instead of going to the

house, I went over to the Church and as I

knelt there beneath the flickering sanctuary

lamp, the wonder of my dignity as a priest
of the Most High God burst upon me. Jimmie

had crystallized it for me as it had never been

17



crystallized before. He had used the one word

‘double’ and in that one word I had seen my
DIGNITY AND MY DUTY ... I am to
DOUBLE for Jesus Christ!

Yes, it was true! I was not merely a fol-

lower of Jesus, I was not merely an imitator

of Christ; no, I was more, I was much more,

I was His very double. It is the one word

that is adequate, the one word that fully de-

scribes my being, the one word that tells with
exactness just what a priest is. All others

fall short of the reality. Every Catholic is

a ‘followed of Jesus; every member of His

Church, His ‘imitator’; but a priest is some-

thing more! ‘Substitute’ is a good word, so

also are ‘ambassador’ and ‘vice-gerent’ and yet

they are not quite adequate. For a substitute

does not have to be ‘like’ and a vice-gerent

or an ambassador can be very different from

the ‘original’ and yet be a very good ambassa-

dor or vice-gerent; but a priest ... he can

never be different from Jesus Christ and be

a real priest! Even the age-old and generally

accepted “alter Christus” is not so apt, not so

adequate, not so perfectly descriptive, as the

one word that Jimmie had given me when he

told me what a double was and what a double

does. Indeed, a priest IS a double for the

God-Man!

When I stand with bread in my hands and,
bending down, breathe words over it, what am

I doing? Am I merely imitating? . . . One
who imitates keeps his own personality! Am
I merely a substitute? ... A substitute acts
for another, but in his own way! Am I only
an ambassador or a vice-gerent for Jesus? ...

No! I am more, for I say “This is MY Body.
This is MY Blood” and immediately I am
holding in my hands . . . Jesus Christ! Vice-
gerent, ambassador, substitute, could never do

18



this . . . only His double could ! In this Act of

Acts I do not act 'like/ nor 'for/ nor 'in place

of’ ... I act AS Jesus!

I sit in my ‘box’ and listen to a tale of sin

on sin; I raise my hand and say,
‘Ego te ab-

solvo” ... I, the man? Only God can forgive

sin and yet as I say “/ absolve you,” the sins

are forgiven! Why? ... Because I am a

double for Jesus Christ! Oh! how true it all

is!

I ascend the pulpit and speak, “as one hav-

ing authority.” I demand heroism from hu-

mans as I command things hard and repug-

nant to nature. I lay down a moral code that

is strict and I tell man, woman and child to

obey it. Whence this daring? Whence this

almost imperious effrontery? ... It would be

just that — imperious effrontery — were it
not written: “He that heareth you, heareth

Me.” It would be just that, were I not the

double for the God-Man!

Yes, the truth is there; the tremendous

truth is there. I AM Christ’s double. As the
beauty of it all burst upon me, my heart
swelled to the triumph of being — not mere
man, not a mere follower of Jesus nor His

close imitator, but of being His very double.

Jimmie had seen the wonder of it and, atheist

though he was, he could not help exclaiming:

“Could mortal man ask for more?” As those
words rang in my ears and the truth and the
beauty of my position gripped my heart, I
came nearer to weeping than I had since my
Ordination. “Could mortal man ask for more?”
and here I had been these long, long years

anointed, consecrated, stamped with a char-

acter that will never fade as the very double

of Jesus Christ and I had not been MINDFUL
OF MY DIGNITY! What a dignity! What

19



a destiny! What a deification was mine! To
be a double for the God-Man!

Kneeling before the Original hidden behind

the tabernacle door, I struck my breast and
said: “Oh, Christ of Mercy! forgive one who

should have been doubling for You these long

years through, but who too often has been

acting and doing only for himself. From this

day on grant me but ONE grace, my God;
grant me the grace to be always, in all places,

at all times and with all people, MINDFUL
OF MY DIGNITY ! Let me always remember
that I am Your double, that I am to walk like,
talk like, look like, act like . . . better, BE like
You? Jesus, my Model, my Master, my King,
my Star, help me to be always MINDFUL
OF MY DIGNITY !”

* * *

Induimini

That very same night while I was still un-

der the spell that had gripped me as I realized

the truth that I was a double for the God-

Man, I was startled by: “Well, what have you

learned of Hollywood today ?” I looked up

from these few notes, that I had been jotting

down, to see my brother, a priest like myself,

but a member of a religious order, standing at

my door, smiling at my absorption.

“Come in, Jack! Come in!” I cried. “You

are just the man I want to see. Have a chair.

Have a cigar. Let’s have a chat.”

“Whew! You sound serious. What’s up?”

“Just this ... I learned a lot about Holly-

wood today, but I really think I learned more

about myself. Tell me, Jack, did you ever

think of becoming a double?”

“A double? Ha! Hollywood has got you

20



already! No, I never thought of becoming a

double. I’ve got a job.”

“But, Jack, that is your job . . . being a

double. It is my job, too, and I wonder how

well we are doing it.”

I told him then of my ride home with Jim-

mie, the Hollywood double, and of his ques-

tion. I told him, too, of the visit I had made

to our tabernacled God, and I ended by asking,

“Does it all grip you the way it does me? Do

you see the truth and the beauty of it? Do

you see our dignity, our destiny, our duty?”

He looked at me long. Clouds of smoke

were rising above his head. He had always

been more temperate than I, a deeper thinker

and a much more substantial talker. Many a

time he had pricked the pretty bubbles that I

had blown and many a time he had taken

what was cloudy and confused in my own
mind and, brushing aside the mists, showed

me beauty and truth. He could really analyze;

more than that, he could really express. He

could take what I was stuttering, phrase it,

put in the commas and the exclamation points,

dot the Ts and cross the ‘t’s, and then give

me with clarity and cogency, what I had but

barely perceived. Arguments we had had by

the hundreds, but never a real fight. Now
he took a long last puff at his cigar, rose and

started pacing. I knew that something good

was coming. I waited.

“Yes,” he finally said, “you’ve got some-

thing there. Something novel, something true.

If one accepts your definition of double, the

rest follows. Perhaps some of the formalists

among the theologians may take exception to
the way you have phrased the matter on the

sacraments, but I think that all but the pur-

ists will accept the point. Suppose, Joe, that I

grant your distinction between the word

21



double and the other more common terms of
follower, imitator and vice-gerent; tell me
this, do you substantially differ from St. Paul

when he says: ‘Induimini Jesum Christum’?

Isn’t your idea of double and that of St. Paul

‘Put ye on Christ’ about the same? Have

you anything substantially new?”
“
‘Double’ and ‘induimini’ are identical,

Jack. ‘Induimini’ is a metaphor taken from

the stage; it gives the picture of one putting

on a character, assuming a role or a robe;

hence, ‘double’ and ‘induimini’ do not essen-

tially differ. But, Jack, I have my eye only
on practicality. The accidentally new way

of putting Paul’s metaphor has its merits.

Here, if I say to you: ‘Put on Christ,’ does

it mean as much, does it grip your mind and

your imagination with the same vivid, vital

force that the command, ‘Double for Christ

every minute!’ does?”

“No, it doesn’t. But that may very well be

because I never heard the command, ‘Double

for Christ every minute,’ before. The acciden-

tal difference has that advantage, it grips me

more.”

“Then, Jack, it is a find! and a great find!

Suppose that I keep that idea continually play-

ing on the surface of my consciousness; sup-
pose that I keep reminding myself that I am

a double for the God-Man, what happens?”

“What happens? I’ll tell you what happens.

. . . You won’t be so hasty, you won’t be so

impatient, so impetuous, so imprudent. You

won’t be so proud, so ambitious, so worldly.

You won’t be so self-satisfied, so self-centered.

You won’t be a lot of things you usually are.

In short, Joe, you will be a real priest!”

“That’s right from the shoulder, Jack, and

right between the eyes. But that is just what

I wanted you to say. Then, if I am ever

22



mindful of my dignity, I will be a real priest;

is that right ?”

“Right”

“Then I am ever going to be mindful of my

dignity ! I am always going to remember that

I am a double for Jesus Christ and, oh! the

consequences that follow.”

“For instance. . . .”

* *

Be Ye Clean

“The first one that I have noted down is

that I will hold myself UNTOUCHABLE . . .
UNTOUCHABLE BY ANY!”
“That sounds interesting, but before you go

any further, tell me what is the object of all

this?”

“Jack, we are over 30,000 priests in these

United States. Our record, taken as a whole,

is good. Defections there have been and defec-

tions there will be; yet our percentage is far

higher than that of the College of the Apos-

tles. We do not lose one out of twelve. Nega-
tively, then, we are a goodly body of men. But,

Jack, we are NOT great, and there is the
shame! We are respected when we should be
reverenced; we are fairly holy when we should

be heroically so; we are good when we should

be great! Mediocrity is our curse! We are me-
diocre preachers, mediocre teachers, mediocre

leaders, mediocre thinkers, mediocre students,

mediocre prayers, mediocre priests. Taken as

a whole, what are we? Mediocre — and that
is all! And that should not be!”

“Wait a second, Joe. We have some great
men in our ranks, some truly great church-

men, some very good radio-preachers, quite a

number of really excellent writers. We have
many who are far above mediocrity.”

23



“Granted, Jack, but the mass? The ordinary

teacher and the ordinary preacher, the ordi-

nary pastor and the ordinary curate, the 30,-

000 ordinary ‘Roman Collar like you and

me . . . what are we? . . . Just ordinary, aren’t
we?”

“Ordinary is the word, Joe, but isn’t the

mass always ordinary?”

“The mass of priests SHOULD NOT BE!
And that is my precise point. We are not
mindful of our dignity and our duty, we are

not mindful of the fact that we are doubles

for Jesus Christ and that there is nothing

ordinary about Him! The trouble is, Jack,

that we do not hold ourselves UNTOUCH-
ABLE!”

“You used that word before, Joe, just what

do you mean by it?”

“Remember Isaias? He says ‘MUNDAMI-
NI qui fertis vasa Domini.’ ‘Be ye clean.’

What a command to keep ringing in our ears

!

‘Be ye CLEAN! Be ye CLEAN!’ Of old, Jack,
the lepers used to cry ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ and

the whole world stayed away from them. To-

day, if we priests continually cry ‘Clean!

Clean!’ believe me, the worldlings will keep

mighty far away from us. Jack, we should

hold ourselves untouchable, not because we are

unclean, but because we are consecrated.

Therefore, we are untouchable by man, woman

or child! We are untouchable by the world of
politics and pleasure, the world of business

and banking, the worldly world that is cheap-

ening our priesthood!”

“Getting wound up, aren’t you? Come down

to particulars and stick to your point. You

started with untouchable, went to mediocrity,

then came out with ‘mundamini’ and now you

are back on untouchable again. Just what is

your point?”

24



“Just this ... I am a double for Jesus

Christ, therefore, I must be CLEAN! But to
be clean, I must hold myself UNTOUCH-
ABLE BY ANY!”
“You enumerated man, woman and child,

then the world in general. That is why I am

asking you to be more specific.”

“Jack, I hold as the cause of many a col-

lapse in the clerical life the failure to hold

oneself aloof from the world. We don’t look
upon ourselves as absolutely untouchable. We
mingle with all and we mingle as one of

them. Instead of lifting them up to our level,

we sink to theirs. We mix too freely and al-
low them to be too free with us. Now, Jack,

the world is sordid, the flesh ever assertive

and the devil never sleeps; so what comes of

it all? Loss of dignity and the acquisition of

worldly ways. I am not saying that we should

be hermits. No, we should not even be dis-

tant. But we must always be dignified, for

our dignity is that of Jesus Christ.”

“Still, quite general, Joe.”

“All right, then here are a few particulars.

With men we should be friendly, but too often,

we are positively familiar. Now I know that
our Lord ‘ate and drank with publicans and

sinners/ but, Jack, do you think that we are

actually doubling for Him when we drink with
lay people? You know that I am not a tee-
totaler. I never joined ‘Fr. MatV crowd and
most assuredly never approved of Prohibition

;

and yet, I do wish that there were some Vol-

stead Act to keep priests from indiscriminate-

ly drinking with lay people. To drink im-

prudently with laymen is bad enough, but

when they go further . . . what a degradation

!

And have you noticed how true the saying is,
‘Ubi Bacchus regnat, ibi Venus saltat’?”

“What you say is true, Joe. But never for-

25



get that drink is a creature of God, an indif-

ferent thing in itself. Its abuse, not its use,

is condemnable.”

“And what am I condemning? I am not
talking about a drink, I am talking about
drinking! I know it’s a creature, but what

I am questioning is how many of us use it
as a creature? It is a creature that was made

to sharpen the appetite and to promote con-

viviality, but the only appetite it sharpens in

some is the appetite for more drink and in-

stead of conviviality, it promotes ‘conbibiality.’

It is a creature of God, all right, Jack, but

only the real ‘men of God’ use it as such, only

the perfect doubles for Jesus Christ keep

from abusing it.”

“I admit all that, Joe. Every priest with any

experience will admit every syllable of what

you have said. Drink can be a menace. Drink-

ing, real drinking with lay people is most im-

prudent and degrading, and mixed drinking is

precarious for many. But is it as widespread

as you seem to intimate?”

“Oh, if it were only one, it would be one too

many! But let us drop drink and tell me this,

Jack, do you think that our Lord would have

been a golfer?”

“That is a debatable question, Joe. You

know the open air, the exercise of the links

and the mental relaxation afforded by golf

are mighty helpful for those who lead a sed-

entary life. And you must admit that it is a

wholesome recreation.”

“I know, Jack, but do you think that Jesus

Christ would have made golf His full-time

hobby?”

“If you mean, would He be as fanatic about

a foursome as some of us are; would He be-

come so engrossed in the game as to let it

26



interfere with His dignity and His duty, my

answer is an emphatic NO!”

“And let me add this to it ... if for some

good reason, He thought He could help souls

by playing eighteen holes, I’m positive He

would never make the nineteenth the way some

of us do!”

“All right, imprudent socializing, intemper-

ate drink, and ill-advised and excessive golf

. . . what else?”
* * *

Making a Liar out of God

“Need I go on? Isn’t it only too true that

we priests often make a liar out of God?”

“How?”

“He said: ‘You are not of the world, for I

have chosen you out of the world.’ . . . Yes, it

is true that He did, but we went back to it

and, oh, so soon! Can it be rightly said that

‘we are not of the world,’ Jack? The world is

money-mad and pleasure-mad, aren’t we taint-

ed? Look at our vacations and our recrea-

tions. Look at our cars and our bank-books.

Why, the only thing unworldly about many of

us is the way we wear our collar!”

“Now, don’t get hyperbolic. So far, you

have been pretty sane. Don’t start exaggerat-

ing. Remember that we are entitled to some

recreation and are obliged to provide for the

future.”

“Yes, I know, but the future that should get

most of our attention is the future of the par-

ish and not of the parish-priest. I’ll allow a

prudent amount for sickness, for old age and

for Masses after burial; but I would really

admire more complete trust in Him for whom
we are doubling. He is Provident. He is Prod-

igal. He is Faithful to the faithful! The Will

27



of some pastors has been a scandal to the

parish and a mockery to one who professed to

be a follower of the Poor Christ.
,,

“Again, Joe, I say that you are hitting the

few.”

“Maybe only the few have the actual bank-

accounts, but many desire them, and that is

just as bad. I am sure that Christ would nev-

er have been a banker or a broker. I’m posi-

tive. He’d never be found ‘playing the market.’

And for recreation . . . why, Jack, I have

heard some justify themselves on the grounds

that they were professional men, on a par

with the Judge, the Lawyer, the Doctor, and

hence, entitled to all professional privileges.”

“That’s right, I’ve heard the same thing.

What do you say to it?”

“Just this . . . that the only profession that

we have made is to be a double for Jesus

Christ! Our profession is to try to be poor as

He was poor, not only poor in spirit! Our pro-

fession is to be pastors of the flock and shep-

herds of the people, and who ever heard of a

shepherd taking an extended tour or a long

vacation? Our profession is to be ‘crucified

to the world,’ not apes of its ways. Our only

profession is to ... walk like, talk like, act

like, live like, BE like Jesus Christ! And
while He traveled up and down Judea, He

wasn’t a tourist! While He went to the moun-

tains and the shore of the sea, never in His

three and thirty years of earthly existence

did He take a vacation! He recreated Himself

by a change of phantasm and a change of oc-

cupation. For a rest He usually ‘went up in-

to the mountain to pray,’ or else ‘He took His

disciples apart into a desert place, to rest

awhile’; that is, to make a retreat! What

poor doubles we make for the God-Man! Who

of us has kept himself untouchable? Who of

28



us has verified the words of Christ ‘You are

NOT of the worlds Who of us can say with
St. Paul, ‘The world is crucified unto me and

I unto the world’?”

“But, Joe, we are entitled to some vacation,

particularly the older and worn-out.”

“Oh, I am not talking about those who real-
ly need a rest; I am talking about the mass.
And I say that if we MUST have a vacation,
then let it be a vacation for priests, with

priests and as priests. Pm sure that one of
our greatest regrets for all eternity will be

the Masses that we could have said and did

not! If you know what I mean. . .
.”

“Yes, I know what you mean, all right; and

I must say that you have quite a line-up un-

der your first conclusion. Quite an indictment

against a body that you said is good. Briefly,

your charge is that we have not held our-

selves untouchable and, hence, the world has

ensnared us and made us a body of very

worldly men. That’s about it, isn’t it?”

“That about sums it up, Jack. We have not
been mindful of our dignity nor our duty.

‘Mundamini’ is our watchword. Keep ourselves

CLEAN! Keep clean of the world and the
ways of the world, for Christ has said that

we ‘are not of the world.’ Keep clean of the

world because we are consecrated and to-

morrow with the dawn we will consecrate —
not a chalice, not an altar, nor a church, but

the Body and the Blood of the most Un-

worldly of all men and the Cleanest of all

clean men; with the dawn we will hold in our

hands Him for whom we are doubling! If I

keep telling myself that I am untouchable and,
when the need arises, telling others the same

thing, then I will have little difficulty in keep-

ing clean, in living up to my profession as a
double for the Poor Christ.”

29



“Then you bring it down to being mind-

ful of our dignity ?”

“Right. Our dignity and our duty sum-

med up in the one word double. Jack, if we

would only be self-conscious all the time, con-

scious of our real self, believe me, we would

stay clean ! Look here ... we never allow

man, woman or child to touch a consecrated

chalice, ciborium or monstrance, do we? We
couldn’t think of allowing a woman to come

into the sanctuary and touch the holy ves-

sels; yet, I am the living chalice of the Pre-

cious Blood, I am the ciborium for the con-
secrated Host and every priest is a breathing

monstrance in which is displayed the Living,

Breathing God . . . and yet, what undue free-

dom do we allow and even encourage from

men, and some of us, even from women! We
should be much more untouchable than a

chalice; that can lose its consecration; we

can never lose ours! And let me tell you that

no man, woman or child ever touched a priest

without having been first encouraged. It is

the priest’s fault every time.”

“I think that you are right there. . . .”

“I know that I am right there! What a
sacrilege it is to desecrate the living mon-

strance of the Great High God ! Paul said

‘Portate Deum in corpore vestro,’ if we would

only listen to Paul and realize that our bod-

ies are sacred things, we’d keep them untouch-

able. Then no man, woman or child would

ever lay forbidden hand on the consecrated

Temple of the Holy Ghost, the living Taber-

nacle, the breathing Monstrance for Jesus

Christ. “Untouchable” is the slogan for these

God-given garments of our immortal, our

priestly souls. ‘Mundamini’ is the command!”

“There is substance in what you say, Joe,

but I have been wondering as you’ve been

30



talking, if you’re not hitting the ‘noisy mi-

nority/ All that you say about priests is true,

but it is not true about all priests. When one

priest goes wrong, that’s news; but when thir-

ty thousand keep straight, that’s nothing. That

is the way the world looks upon it and that

is really a tribute to us as a body. Now, you

have been hitting at one element in the priest-

hood and, thank God, it is far from being the

principal element. I willingly admit that we

are all somewhat tainted by worldliness and

that we all have a tendency towards what you

have been decrying, but we are not all golf-

fiends, or money-grabbers; we are not all fol-

lowers of the philosophy of Omar Khayyam.”

“Ah, but what I have been saying about our

dignity and our duty; what I have been say-

ing about untouchableness; — isn’t that ap-
plicable to one and all? Aren’t we all doubles

for the God-Man?”

“The ideas that you have been putting forth

are practical and can be used by all; I am
merely objecting to some of the arguments

and examples that you are using. To be a

double for the God-Man is a thrilling idea. It

should serve the thoughtful as a stimulant to

gratitude and to greatness. The idea of keep-

ing ourselves untouchable ought to serve all

as a check against worldliness. But, do you

know the most impressive point you have

made so far is the one that you have not de-

veloped. I mean the point of mediocrity. That

is certainly applicable to the mass. When you
think of what we should be and what we

could be . . . you have to sum us up as me-

diocre.”

“There is hardly any necessity to stress the

obvious, Jack. Anyone with half an eye can

see that we are mediocre and in some things

even below par. What a condemnation for us

31



when we think of what twelve ignorant, un-

educated, but prayerful fishermen did to the

world 1900 years ago and we, over 30,000 in

this country of ours and we haven’t converted

a single state!”

“There was only one Pentecost, Joe.”

“That is my precise point, Jack. There
should be more, and the fault is not with

God ! Look at all our systematized education,

our years of philosophy and theology, our

A.B.’s, our M.A.’s, our Ph.D.’s, and our

S.T.L.’s, and yet twelve fishermen put us to

shame.”

“Yes, Joe, naturally speaking, we are much

better equipped.”

“Naturally, yes, but supernaturally ... oh

!

And the trouble is with us. We start out to
evangelize the world, and in no time the

world has completely evangelized us!”

“Why . . . that is what I want to get at. . . .
Why?”

“Because we are not mindful of our dig-

nity!”

“All right, Joe, to be always mindful of our

dignity, to remember at all times, in all places,

with all people, that I am a double for the
God-Man would certainly rectify much that

needs rectifying. It is a remedy. That I

grant. But for a complete cure of our disease

you’ve got to get to the focus of the infection.

Find out just WHY we are so forgetful of our
dignity and you have got something! Until

you have gotten that deep, you are giving us

temporary relief, you are not effecting a per-

manent cure.”

“Doubling for Christ is a fundamental idea,

Jack, and our basic ideal.”

“Yes, but why is it that we so quickly for-

get the ideal? How is it that the idea, if it
does stay, exerts so little influence on us?

32



That is the root of our difficulty and the cause

of our mediocrity. WHY are we so unmind-
ful of our duty and our dignity

?”

* * *

on Your Knees

You’ve Got To Get Down

I went over to my desk and looked at the
notes that I had jotted down. . . . “Here, Jack,

this may sound like a digression, but it isn’t.

Here is something else that Hollywood taught

me today. Jimmie was doubling for a well-

known Star this morning and he did it perfect-

ly. The Make-up men did their part, of

course; but Jimmie put on the finish. He

walked just like the Star; he stood exactly

like him; he had even caught that character-

istic spring on the toes, of which the Star is

so fond when he stands looking off into space.

From only a short distance, seeing them to-

gether, whether walking, standing or sitting,

you could not tell who was the Star and who

the Double. Now tell me, how did Jimmie ac-
quire that perfection ?”

“By aping the Star. Jimmie is an excel-

lent mimic, you know.”

“Wrong, Jack! At least, not deep enough.

Jimmie got that perfection from study, and

only from study. He observed, he analyzed, he
reflected; then, and only then, did he essay an

imitation. . . . And, Jack, if I am to double for
Jesus Christ, I must do the same thing! I

must study Him, I must analyze Him, I must

reflect upon His ways. In short, I must get

down on my knees! If you are asking me the
root cause of our failure to live up to our

dignity and our failure to be ever mindful

of it, I say ... NEGLECT OF PRAYER!”

33



“Yes, I’ve heard that before. But look here,

Joe, we pray an hour of the Office every day,

and we say our Mass every day, and that, with

its preparation and its thanksgiving, takes an-

other hour; therefore, we give at least two

full hours to prayer every day of our lives

— that is to formal prayer — and you must
never forget that work is a prayer.”

“Yes, Jack, work is a prayer when it is

done ‘per Ipsum et cum Ipso et in Ipso/ Work

is a prayer when I use it as a means of keep-

ing me close to Christ, a means of binding me
ever more tightly to God. Work is a prayer

when it is an elevation of the mind and the

heart to God, when it is done for Him! But

tell me, how many of us work that way? I

once heard an Apostolic Delegate say: ‘There

was a time when we priests had an actual in-

tention before all our works, but soon we were

satisfied with a virtual intention, then it be-

came habitual and now ... I wonder whether

we can call it interpretative/ ”

“There is something in what he says, Joe,

but admit that it could be and that it should

be a prayer. . .
.”

“Yes, it could be and should be, but it isn’t!

It isn’t for the mass of us, and we are talking

about the mass of us. There are some who

make their work a prayer; you’ve met them

and so have I, but they were real priests!

They were men of prayer! Men who gave an

hour, or more than an hour, to the Holy Sac-

rifice; for they would never think of vesting

until they had spent a good twenty or thirty

minutes in meditation, preparing their heart

and their mind for the Wondrous Act, and

then spent another twenty or thirty min-

utes after their Mass, saying ‘Thank You’ to

God. Men who with Augustine can and do

say, ‘Psalterium meum, jucundum meum.’ Men

34



who really PRAY their Office, for they realize

that they are the Lips of the Church, conse-

crated to praise, thank, impetrate and satisfy

God for the rest of the Faithful. Men, I re-

peat, who PRAY their Office; but most of
us . . . don’t we only READ it? And how many
of us know what we are reading? Oh, I know

it isn’t essential; but in all honesty, will you

tell me what kind of praise it is when I

don’t know what I am saying and don’t take

the trouble to find out?”

“You gave the definition of prayer when

you said ‘elevation of the mind and heart to

God.’ Don’t demand more than the Church!”

“I won’t; but I would like to know what

sort of an elevation of the mind it is when I

am reading not sentences, not ideas, but only
words, and words whose meaning I do not

know! But, even if I read my Office ‘digne,
attente et devote,’ even if I say my Mass de-
voutly, that is not enough ! Those are public

prayers and if I am to be a man of God, if I
am to be a real double for Jesus Christ, I
must have private prayer and plenty of it! I

must get down on my knees often!”
“We are not contemplatives, Joe; ours is

an active life.”

“What a fallacy! I’ve heard you, yourself,

explode it many a time!”

“Well, let me hear you do it now.”

“Gladly! Ours is an active life. Granted.

But the one activity to which we are bound,

the one activity that is the heart and the very

essence of our active life, is to reproduce

Jesus Christ in self and in others. We have
to be always in action and that action is dou-

bling for the God-Man. But how can we re-
produce Him in our every action if we do
not know His every action? How can we ever
double without an intimate knowledge of the

35



Original? A real artist never paints from
memory; he has his model ever before him. A
real sculptor works with hammer and chisel;

but his eye is ceaselessly traveling to his

model. And any priest who thinks that he can

be a real priest without always keeping his

eye on Jesus Christ; any priest who thinks

that he can double daily for the God-Man; any

priest who dares to do the active work of the

active ministry, without having his Model, Je-

sus, ever and always before him, is attempting

the absurd and essaying the utterly impos-

sible! You can’t follow unless you see the

Leader! You can’t reproduce unless you study

the Model! You can’t double unless you know

the Original ! In short, you can’t be a priest

unless you MEDITATE!”
“Are you pleading for formal meditation?”

“I’m pleading for nothing. I’m merely stat-

ing facts; I’m simply saying that unless I

study Jesus, I’ll never get to know Him; that

if I don’t really know Him, His manners and

His motives, I can never double for Him and,

if I fail to double for Him, I am not a priest!
My claim is that the only right way to study
Him is to study Him prayerfully. Books, ‘qua

books,’ will never give me the intimate heart-

knowledge that I must have. What I need is

called ‘illumination and inspiration,’ what I

must have is called GRACE, and that is won

in, by and through prayer.”

“Again, I ask, are you demanding formal

meditation?”

“No, Jack, I am not demanding formal medi-
tation, if you mean by that that I must have

three points and a colloquy preceded by three

preludes
;

but I am demanding that priests

pray! That they really meditate! That they

have almost uninterrupted converse with God!

Formalism is a curse, I know; but you want

36



to know why we are so unmindful of our

dignity and I say because we have not been

formal enough. If we did make a formal

meditation every morning, or some time dur-

ing the day, we would not so often forget that

we are doubles for Jesus Christ.”

“Come on, Joe, make up your mind; either

you are or you are not demanding formal

meditation. Which is it?”

“Oh, Jack, when I say meditate, I mean be

a man of prayer; when I say be a man of

prayer, I mean be one who makes readings

meditatively, one who uses ejaculatory prayer

very often, a man who has a pure intention in

all his works and who renews this intention

frequently; I mean be a man who PRAYS his
Office, who loves the sanctuary and is often

seen lingering under its lamp, a man who pre-

pares for his Mass and makes a real thanks-

giving after it, a man who lives continually

in the presence of God.”

“Then I say that you are talking about con-

templatives.”

“And I say that I am talking about a very
active priest in a very active parish.”

“You’re talking about the habit of prayer.”

“Exactly! And I’m telling every priest that

he can’t be a real priest unless he gets the

habit of prayer!”

“You’re asking a lot, Joe.”

“I’m asking the least that a man can give
if he is to double for Jesus Christ. I am con-
vinced from experience and observation that

EVERY collapse in the priesthood is due to
lack of prayer. I know that we are unmind-

ful of our dignity only because we are un-

mindful of our duty to pray. We've got to get

down on our knees often!”

“Yes, but look at what you’re asking. . . .”

“I’m asking about twenty minutes or half

37



an hour in the morning and five, or better, ten

minutes every night. A good long look at
Jesus in the morning and a good long look at

myself in the night. Promise that little and I

promise you a clergy that will renovate the

earth
!”

“But a moment ago you were asking for

the one who walked constantly in the presence

of God, was immersed in the atmosphere of

prayer, a man who made of everything a

means of uniting himself with God. Before

you were describing a mystic, now you come

down to a man. So that is all you want . .

.

thirty or forty minutes of my day.”
“Give me that, Jack, and the rest will fol-

low. Give me thirty or forty minutes and I

promise you sanctity. Don’t laugh at mystics;

for in our own mitigated way, we all have to

be mystics. But give me thirty or forty min-

utes of your day and all the rest will fol-

low.”

“How?”

“Let me study Jesus for a little while every

morning or some time during the day, let me

study Him with the heart more than with

the head; let me watch Him in action; let

me thus study with an eye to reproduction

and the rest follows! Formal meditation, as

you call it, ends after twenty or thirty min-

utes, but the fruit of the meditation is to be

found throughout the entire day. The matter

of the meditation is never fully absent from

my mind, the resolution from my will, nor the
affections from my heart. What I saw before
the break of dawn influences me from sunrise

to starlight. My meditation does not end when
I rise from my knees, it is then only really
beginning! What I have seen of the Original

in those twenty or thirty minutes, I repro-

duce throughout the hours of the day. That

38



little meditation is the dynamo of my day;

whatever light, heat or energy marks my do-
ings during the day as I double for Jesus,

were all generated during those few moments

in which I studied my Star. If my meditation

ends when I get up off my knees, I have per-

formed a pious exercise, maybe, but I most

certainly have NOT been meditating! Real
meditation goes throughout the entire day.

That is why I say give me a clergy that will

really meditate for twenty or thirty minutes

every day, then let Stalin, Hitler and Car-

denas dictate, let Communism, which is now

smouldering all over the land, break out in all

its flaming fury, let the very ANTICHRIST
rise up in all his power, and I will not worry;

for he will be met by a body that is as un-

breakable as Gibraltar, as inflexible as steel,

as unconquerable as the Christ for whom they
are doubling! Let every one of our 30,000

priests get down on his knees every day for

twenty or thirty minutes and look at the won-

der of his ordination, marvel at the mystery

of his vocation, realize the height of his eleva-

tion, be awe-struck at the actuality that God

uses as His doubles, weak men; then let him

resolve a man’s resolve this ONE DAY to be
mindful of his dignity . . . then we will have a

clergy that will ‘walk worthy of the vocation

to which they have been called’; then we will

have a saintly body of doubles for Jesus

Christ
!”

“Well done, Joe! Very well done. But how

are you going to get it out of the ideal and

into the real?”

“Simplicity will do, Jack.”

“Simplicity?”

“Yes, Jack, simplicity in its purest form. If

we become simple men, in no time we will be

saintly men.”

“How so?”
39



Men of One Idea

“A simple man is a man of ONE, ALL-
ABSORBING IDEA. He has but one ideal
and that has gotten into his head and gone

down deep into his heart; it is the jugular

vein of his very blood-stream. When I say all-
absorbing, I mean just that . . . ALL-AB-

SORBING!”

“So that is your idea of simplicity, is it?

That’s your concept of a simple man?”

“That IS a simple man, Jack. Such a man
is an intense individual. His one idea has be-

come his ruining passion. It is his single

standard, the one and only norm he has for

everything.”

“That’s a fine slant on simplicity, Joe;

absence of multiplicity.”

“Exactly! And, Jack, it has worked al-

ready. Look at Paul . . . his one idea was

‘Christ Crucified.’ Look at Bernard ... he

was ever asking himself ‘Why have I become

a monk?’ Aloysius’ question was ‘Quid hoc

ad aeternitatem?’ Stanislaus kept telling

himself that he ‘was born for higher things,’

and Ignatius was ever spurred on by his

ceaseless ‘ad majorem Dei gloriam.’ Sim-

plicity such as that means sanctity!”

“And for us today?”

“Just what I’ve been saying all night . . .

one only idea ... I am a double for Jesus
Christ ! Let that get into my blood stream, let
that be my one and only norm, the standard
by which I judge what is to be done and the

way it is to be done; let that really grip my
heart and I’ll be a real priest. And, Jack,

let me insist that morning meditation will

put it there and evening examen will keep it

there.”

40



“Oh, so that is what you want me to do

with the ten minutes in the evening? I had

almost forgotten them. So you want a nightly

examination of conscience ?”

“Yes, Jack, and it is as important as, if

not more important than, the morning medi-

tation. It is a perfect check-up on what I

am doing and why I am doing it. If I really

examine myself every night, I’ll get to know

when I fail
,
where I fail and why I fail to

double for Christ. Such an examen will be

the mirror of my make-up. If I look into it

every night, I'll see myself as I really am and

not as I think myself to be.”

“That is a very good point.”

“That is my plan for a better priesthood,
yes, I dare say it, for a perfect priesthood. A
look at the Model every morning and a look

at the man, who is trying to reproduce the

Model, every night. That plan, faithfully fol-

lowed, will have me living rightly and ready

to die nightly. Simple, isn’t it? But you

must admit that it is sound and substantial.”

“Yes, Joe, you’ve got a practical plan there

and a very simple one. It is one that is easily

within the grasp of all, for there is not one of

the 30,000 who cannot spare twenty minutes

or thirty in the morning and five or ten at

night.”

“To me, Jack, it is not a question of sparing

them, it is a necessity to MAKE them!”
“Yes, I know, and you are right. But the

thing that bothers me is whether you can get

your idea across to them or not. You are en-

thusiastic tonight. A new idea has come your
way, really a new grace. You are holding it

up as the cure-all for the clergy. I’ve listened

and I’ve thought. You’ve gone down deep and

you’ve been most logical. You say we fail

because we are not mindful of our dignity;

41



and you insist that we are unmindful of our

dignity because we do not meditate. Hence,

you hold morning meditation . . . one that will

influence our entire day, as the universal

remedy for our cursed mediocrity and for all

things worse. It is A cure; that, I am not
denying; but is it THE cure, and the ONLY
cure? that is what I want to know. Fm going
to sleep on it and when Eddie comes in to-

morrow, let the three of us get together, pool

our experiences, and see whether we can’t ar-

rive at what we need. . . . The cure for our

condition, which, while not bad, is not all that

it should be.”

With that, Father Jack left, and long into

the night I sat and thought; thought of the

wonders that could be and would be wrought

if 30,000 priests became fired with the reali-

zation that they had but ONE work to do in
these United States and that is to

DOUBLE FOR JESUS CHRIST!

42



PART II

“MY GOD, WHAT A LIFE!

AND IT IS YOURS,

0 PRIEST OF JESUS CHRIST!”

(Lacordaire)



See a Doctor

Father Eddie arrived the next day. He is

our younger brother, like myself, a secular;

but unlike myself, a very successful retreat-

master. Three brothers, three priests, and

yet, three as unlike in ways of thought,

speech and character as three brothers can be.

It was not often that we three met, but when

we did, you can be sure that we made the

most of it.

Father Eddie knew as much about Southern

California as most Far Easterners do ...

nothing; so it was more than ‘next day/ as

Father Jack had planned, before we got down

to our discussion, and then, believe it or not,

it was Father Eddie who introduced it.

“Have you a regular confessor, Joe?” he

asked. And I had to say, “No.”

“How about you, Jack?”

“How could I have a regular confessor when

I am not at home two months out of the year?”
“Well, what do you think of getting one?”

“Ad quid?”

“As the only means of insuring your soul’s

sanctification. That was the plea of the mas-

ter of a recent diocesan retreat, and I have

been thinking of adopting it myself for the

retreats I give this year. What do you think

of it?”

“I’d be happy if all would go to regular con-

fession, never mind having a regular confes-

sor,” said Jack; “but what is your precise

point?”

“Jack, we can get absolution from any or-

dained priest who has jurisdiction, but we can-

not get advice, counsel, direction from any

and every priest and, let me tell you, that

44



what we priests need is direction! With a

great many I find that the results of the re-

treat are short-lived. They mean well, they

are really determined to do better, but the

pressure and the distraction of their work

soon disrupt all their good plans and their

resolutions evaporate. I’ve been trying to de-

vise some way to insure more permanence to

the work of the retreat and I think that a

regular confessor will do it, one who under-

stands the spiritual life and knows the in-

dividual soul.”

“Regular confession will do it.”

“No, it won’t, Jack, not even for the care-

less; but what of the vast majority of good

and earnest priests? How many of them
have a regular confessor? Why, even with

some of you religious it is becoming more

rare and with us seculars, it is the great ex-

ception.”

“What is your line of argumentation, Ned?”

I asked.

“Simply this. . . . We priests do not make
the most of the Sacrament of Penance. We are
wise in the matters of the body, but not so

in those of the soul. We seek out a specialist
for our bodily ailments and usually stay with

one physician who knows our ‘case history’

from A to Z
;
but for the soul and her ills . . .

anyone will do. Now that is a very impru-
dent way to act.”

“Going to develop the idea of a confessor

being a doctor for the soul, eh? That’s a good

idea, Ned,” said Jack, “for we are all sick;

most of us chronic individuals, and the sickest

are those who think themselves well.”

“That’s about the main idea. I’m not going

to ‘blast’ this year, I’m going to plead for pru-

dence. Prudence in the care of the soul is

my big plea and that demands a regular con-

45



fessor, one who will know my soul inside out.”
“But how about those who are so circum-

stanced that it is most inconvenient to get to

a regular confessor?”

“For instance? . . .”

“The country pastor, the one away out in

the ‘wide-open spaces\”

“First of all there should never be a ques-

tion of convenience or inconvenience when my
immortal soul is at stake; but, granting them

the inconvenience, did you ever see a country

pastor who would not travel to the city to seek

out his favorite ‘M.D.’ whenever he has an

ache or a pain? If he has a chronic illness, the

trip to the city is a weekly affair and no noise

is made about the inconvenience. Why should
it be any different when the soul is in ques-

tion? What do you think of the idea, Joe?”

“I was thinking of what St. Bernard has

said on the point. . . .”

“What did he say about it?”

“Talking about those who follow their own

advice in things spiritual, he says that ‘they

are following the advice of a fool’! You cer-

tainly could use that, Ned. Strange, isn’t it,

that we who are always handing out advice,

seldom seek any for ourselves.”

* * *

Can This Be the Trouble?

“You’ve got a good point there, Ned, a

strong one and one that ought to go across

with the fair-minded,” said Father Jack; “but

what I am trying to get at is what is the big

fault of the clergy; what is our main trouble.

How do you diagnose it?”
“Effeminacy

!”

“Whew! That’s dynamite!” I exclaimed.

46



“They won’t take it
,

77

said Jack.

“I know it
,

77

laughed Father Ed, “they

won’t take it as a group. You can argue the

point with individuals and they will admit it;

but for the mass, you’ve got to sugar-coat

the idea, which, after all, is but another proof

of the truth of the ‘blast .
7 77

“But you said that you were not going to

‘blast
7

this year
,

77

I reminded him.

“No, I’m not. But I was asked to name the

besetting sin of the clergy and that is my
answer. . . . Effeminacy! Look at their dress.

. . . Decency we must always have, but just

try to count for me the clerical ‘fashion-

plates’! And let me tell you, Jack, that this

is more common among the younger religious

than among the seculars. I hope you don’t

mind my saying it, but it seems to me that
religious poverty is not being practiced as it

should be. I saw a pair last winter that were

a disgrace to the Roman Collar . . . smart der-

bies, white scarfs, mocha gloves, and, believe

it or not, canes! Now that is what I call De-
cency gone drunk!”

“Don’t get fervid, Father Edward,” I ad-

monished, “we are in a very warm climate.”
“Oh, I can become eloquent on the point.

Why, I have seen some of them go about their

morning shave and, believe me, if a woman
takes as much time and pains with her ‘make-

up
,

7

I’ll sanction legal separation. Not so long

ago, I looked at the week-end bag of a young

religious and, take it from me, the women

have it all over them with their ‘compacts .
7

In this bag he had shaving cream, cleansing

cream, massage cream, after-shave lotion, a

skin-bracer and a skin balm! As for powder.

. . . Oh ! Mennen’s may be for men, but most
assuredly not for he-men or for men of God!
Why, that wasn’t the overnight bag of a re-

47



ligious, that was a traveling barber-shop with

a beauty parlor inside
!”

“Those are only accidentals, and aren’t you

satirizing the exception?”

“Come on, Jack, you know better than that.

You know that it is the rule among my gen-
eration and not the exception in yours!”

“By heavens, the boy is right, Jack. You

can call it effeminacy and it is most manifest

in the care of our bodies, our clothes, our food

and even in our drink. . .
.”

“Yes,” cut in Father Ed, “in everything ma-

terial. Luxurious Twentieth Century Ameri-

ca has made inroads into the daily life of the

clergy, and, Jack, these externals argue to an

emasculated interior.”

“Prove that.”

“They have an anemic way of thinking and

of preaching. They seldom hit from the

shoulder; they seldom demand anything; they

very seldom flat-footedly lay down the law.

They insist that we must merely insinuate.

Can you imagine that? Hinting to our sophis-

ticated, self-satisfied, sin-filled world! Why,

some of those who make missions do not fully

comprehend when you hit them over the head

with a sledge-hammer, and yet, our modern

apostles want to teach by indirection. I tell

you it is effeminacy in its worst form!”

“You’ve put a new title to what Joe calls

worldliness. You surprise me, Ned; not with

your idea but with the force of your feeling on

the matter.”

“Oh, sometimes I get quite disgusted. It

may be my youth and it may well be that I
am focusing on the exception and talking

about the extreme, but really, many are

preaching and many more are living a Fifth

Gospel. They actually have a New Asceticism,
one in which mortification is Taboo.’

”

48



“That is a little more euphonic, Ned,” I put

in. “Call them unmortified and they will

squirm, but tell them that they are effeminate

and they will rebel.”

“I know it, Joe, and as I said before, that is

one of the surest proofs of their effeminacy. I

can’t call a spade ‘a spade’ with them; I have

to call it ‘a skillfully devised improvement to

aid in excavating.’ Bah! They defend them-

selves on the grounds of culture and refine-

ment, but to me it is effeminacy and the ac-

cent is on the Tern.’
”

“But what is this New Asceticism you spoke
of, Ned?” asked Jack.

“Briefly this. . . . That as long as I work, I

do all. I need no bodily mortification — my
work is my penance. I need no meditation —
my work is my prayer. I need no self-disciplin-
ing — my work is my ‘flagellum.’ I need no
aids to sanctification — my work is my sancti-
fication. Work is my Purgative, Illuminative,
and Unitive Way. Work is my Rule Book, my
Cross and my stream-lined cabin-plane that is
going to ride me right into heaven . . . and do

you know, most of us haven’t enough work to

keep us out of trouble ! A real day’s work
would kill half of us!”

“I see,” said Father Jack. “So you think

that lack of mortification is the cancer that is

sapping the vitality of the clergy? Something

in what you say. How are you going to fit
that into your theory, Joe?”

“Easily. Why are we so unmortified? Be-
cause we do not meditate! Because we are not

mindful of our role as doubles for Jesus

Christ. If I took a good look at Jesus, who

was God and yet had the Cross before Him
from Bethlehem to Calvary ... do you think I

could be unmortified? If I really studied the

virile, vigorous, divine ‘He-Man’ who was Je-

49



sus ... do you think I could be effeminate?

No, indeed! Jack, I think I’ve got the cure —
it is morning meditation.”

“What’s all this about?” asked Father Ed.

With his usual brevity and clarity Father

Jack gave the substance of the talk that we

had had the night that Jimmie, Hollywood’s

stunt-flyer, had opened my eyes. I was thrilled
to see the way that the idea of double grip-

ped Father Ed; he was alive with enthusiasm

for it, but when it came to morning meditation

and evening examen as the means to keep this

idea and ideal vital . . . his face changed.

“Oh, that IS the solution. That is the only

solution. But can you get it over? We in the
priesthood have a very high sales-resistance

to anything like formal mental prayer and,

oh! the inconsistency of it all! Here we are

preaching the absolute necessity of grace for

every salutary work and we in the ministry

have the most salutary of all salutary works,

for we have to save not only our own souls,

but the souls of others as well; we have to,

as you say, double for Christ. . . . What an

ocean of grace is necessary for our work! We
know that we can get that grace through

prayer; we teach that it is infallibly certain
— Me congruo infallibile,’ I admit, but never-
theless infallibly certain — that we can get
that grace through prayer, and very stupidly

... we do not pray!”

“Distinguo,” broke in Father Jack. “We do

not pray formal meditation, concedo; but that

is not the only form of prayer.”

“Oh, I know it, Jack, but did you ever see

any priest who could use vocal prayer effec-

tively without also trying to be a master of

mental prayer? Isn’t it a very subtle dis-

tinction, when we come down to actualities?

Can you say your Rosary well without em-

50



ploying mental prayer? Can you read your

breviary as you ought without using mental

prayer? Of course, if you are going to pin me

down to the mechanics of mental prayer and

claim that only that is meditation which starts

with putting myself in the presence of God,

making the humble gesture, having a compo-

sition of place, an opening prayer, three dis-

tinct points and a precise time for my collo-
quy, then I don’t meditate and I don’t know

any priests who do. But, from what you out-

lined, Joe doesn’t mean that. If I am allowed

a distinction, I will say that we must have

mental prayer but that it will only come from

formal meditation. But call it anything you

like as long as you think, think deeply, think

long and lovingly over what He was and what

He did, with an eye to being and doing just

as He. That is what I mean by mental prayer

and that is what Joe means, too, if your out-

line was correct.”

“Right you are, Ned, and Jack knows it, too.

He gave me the same objection and met with

the same answer. I don’t know just what he

has in mind.”

“I’ll tell you what I have in mind. Both of

you admit that the idea of formal meditation

will not be welcome to the clergy. I know it

perhaps better than the pair of you and that

is why I have objected. I wanted to see if I

could get you to phrase your idea some other

way; to get you to present your sound idea

with a new label. Sell them that idea; it is

THE solution; but to sell it, you will have to
wrap it up in different tissue. But here, we

three are agreed as to what should be done.

The positive side of our life is to be stressed

more than the negative, we are to encourage

for the future, rather than discourage for the

51



past. Suppose, then, that I ask you what is

the ONE virtue we most need as a body.”

* * *

Is This What We Need?

“Fear of God,” snapped Father Ed and

really startled both me and Father Jack, for

Father Ed was a fun-loving, jovial priest. He

always had a laugh and was always on the

‘qui vive’ to give others a laugh. Often had I

heard him say that there was not enough

laughter in life and yet, here he was calling

for fear of God.

“If you ask me, we priests have become too

familiar with God and the things of God. We
forget our tremendous responsibilities. How
many of us sit in the confessional with the

realization that an eternity, an eternity for

an immortal soul, is being decided every time

we push back the slide? How often do we not
act as mere ‘absolving machines’ ! How often
do we forget that we are supposed to be, not

only judges, but also doctors, advisors, fa-

thers to every soul that says ‘Bless me, Fa-

ther, for I have sinned’ ! Tell me, how often

do we look at our Moral Theology books to

be sure that we are forming judgments ac-

cording to approved principles and not ac-

cording to our own whims and fancies? Prob-

abilism is a system based on sound principle;

it is not a maze of personal opinions. What ef-

frontery it is to go into the ‘box’ without a

heart-sincere ‘Veni, Creator Spiritus’! There

is such a thing as the grace of state, I know,

but I wonder if it does not bear some rela-

tion to the state of grace. ‘Facienti quod in

se est, Deus non denegat gratiam,’ but how

many of us are in the ‘facienti quod in se

52



est’ class? I say that we need to be frighten-

ed into thinking of our responsibilities. That

is what I mean by the fear of God. We are too
familiar, too off-hand in doing His work.”

“What you say about the confessional is

true, Ned. We do not pray enough, nor study
enough. We certainly burden the Holy Ghost.”
“Ah, but, Jack, that is not the only place

that we show our lack of fear. When we as-

cend the pulpit to preach, do we reflect that

we are the mouthpieces of God Almighty? Do

we strive to teach His doctrine in a clear,

forceful, captivating way? Or is it just an-

other sermon to be delivered, or worse still

. . . some twenty minutes to be put in Talk-

ing’? What a tragedy! We, who have the

only philosophy of life, the only key to hap-

piness, the only solution to the many press-

ing problems of the day; we, who have the

‘good-tidings/ the Word of God . . . we Talk.’

With the world religion-hungry, with our own

people starving for real meat, we allow a re-

vivalist or a sentimental columnist to capti-

vate them with pap! We seculars Talk’ for
from seven to twenty minutes on a Sunday

morning and are satisfied. You regulars get

up one set of sermons, standardized, stereo-

typed, trite . . . and are satisfied. Great heav-

ens! As preachers of the Word of God, we

are a disgrace! You just bet we need the

fear of God!”

“Yes, Ned,” said Father Jack, “with our

people so sensitive to form and finish from

the ceaseless radio, with the bulk of our au-

diences educated to the receptivity of only the

truly interesting, appealingly put, we priests

have got to work over our sermons. You’re

right, most of us are a disgrace as preachers

of the word of God.”

“And then our Mass. ... If we stopped to

53



think of what we are going to do at the altar;

if we realized that we were about to bring

down the Great God into our tiny hands and

that we were going to hold Him up to His
Father as the Reason to yet spare this sin-

ning and sin-filled world, don’t you think that

we’d say a ‘Miserere’ before we vested and ask

Him to ‘amplius lava me’? Then, do you think

we’d be finished in fifteen or twenty minutes?

Don’t you see how much we need the fear of

God?”

“Once again it comes down to being mindful

of our dignity, doesn’t it, Jack?”

“You are certainly strong for that point,

Joe.”

“I think he’s right in being strong for it,

Jack. If we were ever mindful of our dignity,

as Joe says, don’t you see the reverence, the

respect, the holy awe, the filial fear of God

that we would have? If we only realized that

we were consecrated, set apart, made holy to

do the work of God for God’s people . . . what

a change there would be in the health of the

Mystical Body!”

“You’re right, Ned, and some of us need

to be frightened through and through. Hell,

Death and Judgment are topics some of us

should never set aside, and then perhaps we

would have a salutary fear of God.”

“Ah, if I could only frighten, really fright-

en, the ‘Apostles of the Parlor’ and strike real

terror into them, the parasites of society!”

“Going in for titles now, are you, Ned?

Who are the ‘Apostles of the Parlor’?”
“The social lions of the clergy who spend

almost all their time either in their own or

some one else’s front room . .
.
just entertain-

ing. Their day is a success when some fe-

male gasps, ‘Oh, I think Father is a peach of

a fellow,’ or some man says, ‘Father is a reg-

54



ular scout. He knows the score/ These fops

haven’t got sense enough to realize that what

they consider compliments are really condem-

nations. There is only one compliment that

can be paid to us and that is, ‘Father is a real

priest’ or ‘He is a man of God.’ Yes, I’d like

to scare the very consciences of these social

lights
!”

“But that is a relatively small number,

Ned,” said Father Jack.

“Yes, but their number is growing. And

again I have to say that the religious are

more mesmerized by this sort of popularity

than the seculars.”

“Your fear seems to have varying degrees,”

I ventured.

“It has, Joe, some need to be thoroughly

frightened, others merely aroused and for the

most of us, what we need is reverence, awe,

a holy respect. I much prefer to awaken this

reverential fear by an appeal to appreciation

than any other way. Taking your idea of a

double, I think I can do it. If we can only be

awakened to the wonder of what we are ! If we

would only think of what we mean to God

and what we mean to man ! If we would
realize what we do! . . . Boy! We’d be fright-

ened! We’d be reverential!”

“He seems to have been won to your idea,

Joe.”

“Yes, I’m won to his idea. I think that if we

are mindful of our dignity and our duty,

we’ll have a salutary fear of God. You know,

Jack, the way some of us act, you’d think that

Ordination was a confirmation in grace. We
are God’s elect, it is true; but it is also true

that we are still sons of Adam. The Bishop

consecrated us, he did not kill concupiscence.

Hence, I say that we need a holy fear of God,

one that will make us use the necessary means

55



that will bring us to a proper doubling for

the God-Man, and one of the means is mortifi-

cation. So you see I’m back where I started,

so let some one else do the talking. What do

you say, Joe, what is the ONE virtue that we
need?”

* * *

Or Is It This?

“I say Faith, Ned. That is the one thing

we need more than anything else, and it will

give the fear for which you are pleading. If

we have a strong, virile, vibrant faith, your

awe, reverence and holy fear will follow and

there will be no need of fright. But without

this faith, your fear will border on the servile

rather than on the filial.”

“You two are certainly getting down to

fundamentals; but tell me, haven’t you found

the faith and the humility of the priesthood

inspiring? On or off retreats, every time a

priest kneels to me in confession, I find my-
self lost in admiration and awe at the humility

and the manly faith of the individual. When

men more learned, more experienced and much

more holy than I, kneel and ask absolution

from my hands . . . ah, then the heroics of the
saints pale before the real humility of the

priests. I have never given a priests’ re-

treat in which I have not been humbled to the

dust and inspired beyond speech by the faith

and the humility of our own clergy.”

“Right, Jack, and I can eulogize the faith

of certain individuals and prove to Ned that

they have not only fear of God but have actu-

ally attained to angelic awe. Why, some of

them before the Blessed Sacrament are spell-

binding. For them, the Real Presence is not

a dogma ... it is a living, palpitating reality

56



. . . they feel the very pulse-beats of the Sa-

cred Heart. But don’t be using red-herrings!

We know that the mass of the clergy need
something to shock them out of their self-

complacency and to an extent, Ned is right.

We need to be frightened out of our almost
criminal carelessness and, at times, our ab-

solute neglect of our duty as Christ’s doubles.

My only point is that deeper down than lack
of fear is lack of faith!”

“Yes, and I can see that you are going to

develop the idea of double all over again, say-

ing that once we are saturated with the idea

that we are doubling for the God-Man, once

we have faith enough to believe that we are

reproducing Jesus Christ every moment of

our lives, then we will have a filial fear that

will have us avoiding all the pitfalls of the

clergy. Joe, there is one thing that we will

have to admit, and that is that you have a

passion for unity. Really it is a gift. No one

is ever going to miss your main idea! I’ll bet

that you are going to say that this faith will

be vitalized by morning meditation and kept

at white heat by evening examen.”

“Jack, you’re a mind-reader!”

“You can’t get away from the logic of it,

Jack. But tell me, Joe, do you really think

that we lack faith?”

“Yes, Ned, we lack the faith that energizes.

Oh, we all have a strong belief
;
but what I am

talking about is the faith that influences mind

and will and judgment, the faith that has me
looking at everything as part of God’s plan,

the faith that has me always looking through
secondary causes and seeing only the First

Cause

!

In short, a faith that is ever active.”

“Just what do you mean by ‘active’?”

“This. ... It is one thing to say ‘I believe

in the Real Presence’; it is another and a far

57



better thing to have my attitude and all my
actions around the sanctuary say it for me.

It is one thing to say that Jesus lives and

lives through His priesthood, but it is a far

different and a far better thing to prove to

the world that He lives by actually, at all

times and in all places and with all people,

doubling for Him. In short, Ned, it is one thing

to say ‘Credo’ and another thing to live it!

That is the faith that I want for myself and

that is the faith that I want all others to

have, a faith that will keep us constantly

mindful of what we are, and a faith that

will stimulate us to an effort ever more manly,

to be what we should be!”

“That’s good, Joe, but is it tangible enough?

Is it forceful enough for priests?”

“The way he builds it up, it is,” Father

Jack answered for me. “It is full of force.

Not directly frightening as much of your

matter is, Ned, it won’t startle the way yours

will, but it is really awe-inspiring when pon-

dered.”

“Ah! A convert at last!”

* * *

We Certainly Need This!

“No, Joe, not at last; but from the first.

The very night you broke the idea to me I

was taken by it. To me, real priestliness is

grounded on a passionate, personal love for

Jesus Christ. Anything else is either sand

or shale. For true priestliness, we need rock,

solid rock, and the only solid rock there is, is

love for Jesus Christ. Hence, whenever I

think of the ONE thing we priests need, I
do not think of fear, nor of faith, I think only

of LOVE!”

58



“Yes, Jack, but I can’t love what I don’t

know, and I will never know unless I study*

and the only study for me is meditation.”

“Right, Joe, but I will never really study

what I don’t in some way love.”

“You mean I will never intently study what

I am not intensely interested in; and I say

that I won’t be intensely interested until I

firmly believe that Christ is God and that He

has called me to be His living double. So I

still say that the first and the vital need is

faith
!”

“And I can be stubborn enough to say that

you won’t rightly double for Christ unless you

have a holy reverence, an awe, a real, salu-

tary, filial fear of Him and the divine work

to which He has called you. So I guess we are

all right. Actually, we are all talking about

the same thing; we are merely placing the

stress differently. The idea is the thing! The

idea of doubling for God! You might say it

takes faith to believe it, but, once believed, it

will generate a holy fear and will only be car-

ried out through a great-hearted love. But

you two have a head-start on me in this mat-

ter. Let me in on some of the practical ap-

plications of this double idea.”

“They are obvious, Ned. We priests are
called to a divine work, therefore, we must

be divine, different from the world and all

that is in the world.”

“That is my first point, Ned; we must hold
ourselves UNTOUCHABLE. We must make
ourselves clean and keep ourselves CLEAN!”

“Yes, we must be untouchable by anything

of the world and yet we must be tangent to

all things in that world. We must be as para-
doxical as was the Christ. That is another

point that Joe brings out. He says that we
must be human, yet divine; crucified to the

59



world, yet a very vital part of the world; we

must be in perpetual motion, always working

for others and yet we must be interior men,

never forgetful of self and our sours sancti-

fication. I like to think that Lacordaire

summed it up pretty well in his famous ex-

clamation: ‘To live in the midst of the world

without wishing its pleasures
;
to be a member

of each family, yet belonging to none
;
to share

all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal

all wounds; to go from men to God and offer

Him their prayers
;

to return from God to

man to bring pardon and hope
;

to have a

heart of fire for Charity and a heart of bronze

for Chastity; to teach and pardon, console and

bless always. My God, what a life! And it
is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ !’ I espe-

cially like that closing line ‘MY GOD, WHAT
A LIFE! AND IT IS YOURS, O PRIEST
OF JESUS CHRIST !’ ”

“How do you think he meant that last ex-

clamation, Jack?”

“I don’t know, Ned, but I take it as an ex-

clamation of wonder that God should use men

for things so divine; as an exclamation of

awe at the greatness and the glory of the

priesthood; and finally, I take it as an ex-

clamation of despair; as if he would say:

‘Who can lead such a life?’”

“And the answer to that, Jack, is: Only

men of deep faith, reverential fear and ardent

love; only a man who clings close to Christ.

You’re right, old boy, we certainly need a

great-hearted, personal love for the God-Man

to lead our life.”

“Ah, but how acquire that?”

“By being mindful of our dignity, Ned.”

“What is our dignity?”

“Exactly what he has been saying right

along, Ned, that of a double for the God-Man.”

60



“Let that get into my blood-stream, Ned,
and the rest follows.”

“Yes, it is all true. We are doubles for the
God-Man; but it is equally true that neither

you, Ned, nor Joe, here, nor I myself, am a
perfect double. So the work before us, and the

work before every priest in America, is to see

how he can perfectly double, to see how he

can more exactly ‘walk like* talk like, look

like, act like, be like, live like, love like Jesus’
!”

* * *

Results

“How our attitudes towards all things will

change if we do that! In our dealings with

women, we will remember that there are Mag-

dalenes to be changed to Marys by the sweet

persuasiveness of His personality; that there

are Marthas, who are troubled about many

things, and need to learn that ‘only one thing

is necessary/ Let me but double rightly and

I can raise many a daughter of Jairus and

hand her back to her parents
;

I can come upon

many a woman taken in adultery and say,
‘Neither do I condemn thee. Go, but sin no

more/ Ah, the whole world of women needs

Christ and needs Him badly; BUT there is
only one way to get Him, and that is through

His doubles ! How many a Samaritan is
standing by the Well of Jacob asking for the

‘life-giving waters’ ! How many are making
bold efforts to ‘touch but the hem of His

garment’ ! Count the widows who are to be

consoled for the loss of their only son. Yes,

there is a whole world of women to be won to
Christ and His doubles must do the winning!

If they do . . . then Christ will have followers

when all His disciples have fled; for the wom-

61



en are more courageous than the men. They

will go up to Calvary, stand ’neath His cross,

assist at His burial and with the rising sun

of Easter, will be found hurrying to His tomb.

That is what I can accomplish in the world of

women IF ... IF I am mindful of my dignity,
IF I double for Jesus Christ.”

“That’s powerful ! Nice work, Joe. How
about it, Jack?”

“Yes, Ned, it’s very good, and see how easy

it is to apply it to the world of men. Think

of the Matthews, the millions of Matthews,

who are to be called from their money-tables

and made followers of Christ. Think of the

countless lawyers who are to be told the Law

and the whole Law. Think of the Scribes and

the Pharisees who are to be excoriated. Think

of the hordes of the poor who are to be com-

forted and lifted out of their despair by the

Beatitudes. Think of the thousands of moral

lepers who are crying to the Son of David to

be made clean . . . and the Son of David can

do it and will do it ... IF ... IF we double for

the God-Man.”

“So you see, Ned, there is no difficulty about

the application. There is no question of the

practical results, if I do what I am supposed

to do! The idea that I am doubling must ab-

sorb me and I must be mindful of my dignity
and my duty at all times. I must socialize,

but it must be only as Christ’s double. We
can dine in many a house like that of Simon

the Pharisee and perhaps, if we really repro-

duce the God-Man, some Magdalene may weep

and be ‘forgiven much because she hath loved

much.’ There are plenty of Publicans, who,

like Zacheus ‘seek to see Jesus,’ but cannot

‘because they are of little stature.’ Call these

down from their sycamore trees and ‘bring

salvation to their houses.’ Why, the world is

62



simply yearning for Christ, rich and poor,

old and young, male and female, sinner and

sinned against. But they will go on yearning

unless we priests stop being satisfied with

just ‘doing our job’ and start to live our vo-

cation . . . start being Jesus Christ four and

twenty hours every day!”

“I see it all now. It goes into every aspect

of our lives, into every sphere of the world’s

activities. I must be up in politics, but only

as Christ was ... to insist that everyone

‘render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’

and only those that are his! I must know

something of the world of letters ... in short,

I must be ‘all to all,’ as Paul was, but for the

one and only purpose of ‘winning all to

Christ.’
”

“Yes, Ned, but don’t forget that the first

thing to do is to BE Christ! In other words,
I look upon Joe’s light as a grace from God,

and grace must be cooperated with! Hence,

the very first thing to do is to change myself.

I must saturate myself with the truth that I

am His double. I must be merciless with my-
self until that idea becomes part of me, so

much a part of me, that I will see all things

as Christ saw them, will only what Christ

wills and love just as He loves. This process

of becoming a double begins interiorly. Hence,

it seems as if we MUST get down to daily
meditation and nightly examen. That is what I

would call really cooperating with God’s

grace and in my mind, there is no doubt that
this IS a grace!”

* * *

63



Quitting on God

We were just about to separate when Father
Jack suddenly said: “Wait a minute, you two.

Do you realize what we have been doing?

We’ve been talking about the theological vir-

tues and we’ve made a big omission.”

“What is that?”

“Well, you say ‘Faith,’ I say ‘Charity’ and

Ed’s ‘Fear’ is a combination of both; but we

have omitted HOPE and, by heavens, that is
what we priests need as much as anything

else.”

“I don’t follow,” said Father Ed.

“Here, Ned,” countered Father Jack, “there

is not one of the 30,000 priests in America, but

knows that we need sanctifying grace; that

with the sanctifying grace come the virtues.

There is not one who does not know that

these give us the ‘vis,’ the ‘posse agere’; but

there is not one either, of all the 30,000, but

will tell you that what he wants is not the

‘posse’ but the ‘facile posse.’
”

“Drop the terminology and tell us what you

mean,” said I.

“Joe, a lot of water goes over Niagara

Falls every minute. It is potential electricity.

But that water could keep on going over the

Falls for years and years and never would

a single, tiny bulb glow in Buffalo or Lacka-

wanna, unless that water hits the turbines.”

“That’s right, Jack. Didn’t we hear some-

thing, somewhere, about ‘a posse ad esse’ ‘non

valet-ing’? I think I see your application.

We’ve got the potency, every one of us, of be-

ing a real double; but what we must do is

reduce the potency to act!”

“Yes, but that is an obviosity. We’ve been

talking about that all night without all the

64



learned terminology. But Jack said he had

something new, something about Hope.”

“Don’t get excited, Joe; my point is this.

. . . We’ve been talking about the theological

virtues all night and it just struck me that

we might have more profitably talked about

the moral ones.”

“Whew! Are you intimating that all we

have said has been so much talk? I don’t think

our Father Joseph will admit that. Come,

Jack, what have you got up your sleeve?”

“Oh, no, Ned, I don’t mean to say anything

like that. All that we have said tonight is

true. We’ve got to be doubles. There is only

one way of insuring the success of our dou-

bling, and that is by daily meditation and ex-

amen. That is the ONLY antidote against
worldliness. That is the only thing that will

shoot us through and through with the super-

natural. That is the only way to keep ‘our

hearts right, as His Heart is with ours.’ All

that we have touched on will follow from a

daily fusing of our life with His. Our Faith

will be more virile, vibrant, really active; our

Awe and Reverence truly filial
;
our Love more

dynamic. And yet I say that what we need is

what we haven’t named.”

“I’m still sticking to ‘Mindful of my dig-
nity of a double,’ obtained through a morning

look at the Model and a nightly look at the

man who is trying to reproduce the Model.”
“Yes, Joe, and so am I. But do you know

what we need for that? . . .”

“A will of steel,” put in Father Ed.
“Right,” snapped Father Jack. “But if you

want to label it rightly, we need the continu-

ous exercise of the moral virtue of FORTI-
TUDE ! Courage is what we priests need! We
know what’s what. We see the road. We know
it leads to our goal . . . BUT. . . .”

65



“But what?”

“But, Joe, we haven’t got the intestinal for-

titude to stick to the road! We think that we
can find short-cuts. We fool ourselves into the
absurdity that we can fittingly double for

Christ, that we can be supernaturally robust

on the ‘ex opere operato’ of the sacraments;

forgetting most often and most frequently

the plus, and the mighty big plus, of the ‘ex

opere operands’; forgetting that we must

have the daily welding of our wills to His,

the daily ‘skull-practice’ with Christ by vir-

ile, persistent and consistent prayer and ex-

amen.”

“Well, at last the boy has come to.”

“No, Ned, I have been here all the time,

but the thought of the Moral Virtues just

struck me. We need them badly! For some
of us the best exercise of Temperance will be

total abstinence
;

of Prudence, to keep our-

selves untouchable; of Justice, to be mind-

ful of our dignity; but to do all these, or any

of them, persistently — we need Fortitude,
the courage, the unbending backbone to get

down on our knees morning and night to look

at Him, to study Him and then with real,

virile love go out and reproduce Him. Joe, you

have got THE solution. There is no doubt
about that; but to put that solution into prac-

tice calls for ‘grit.’ If you ask me now what

is the ONE thing we American priests need,
I say COURAGE ! Fortitude is the virtue we
lack!”

“And what about your love?”

“That will come. That is there. All that we

have said about it is true. ‘Love IS the ful-

filling of the law.’ ‘If you love Me, keep

My Commandments.’ ‘If I have not charity
[that is — love] I am a tinkling cymbal.’ But
it is not the mottoes that we hang on the

66



wall that count; it is the mottoes we live!

Love’s best tribute is imitation! You don’t

really love unless you carry through
;

you

can’t carry through unless you love. Love,

then, comes to demand the courage and the

fortitude to LIVE Christ!”

“Right, Jack! Now you are really talking;

but you won’t live Christ, because you can’t

live Christ, unless you know both yourself and

Him!”

“Exactly my point, Joe. And you won’t
know either Him or yourself without medi-

tation and examen.”

“Then you are back to Joe’s original plan.”

“With this new slant, Ned, to take Joe’s

way, which is the RIGHT way, demands what
most of us haven’t got, or at least, haven’t

shown as yet, it takes COURAGE !”

“Where are we going to get it?”

“God’s grace! God’s grace won through

prayer. Odd, isn’t it, that we get the ability

to pray by praying? Joe, we have the water;

we have the turbines
;

we’ll generate the

electricity when we make the water hit the

turbines. It’s up to us. Let’s give Christ and

ourselves a chance. Let’s start with fifteen or

twenty minutes of meditation and five minutes

of examen today! And let’s KEEP AT IT!”
“That’s putting it up to us. You are say-

ing that WE have got to work.”
“Precisely! God does His part every time.

We are the quitters ! Wasn’t it you who said
something tonight about ‘Facienti quod in se

est, Deus non denegat gratiam’? Well, in plain

English all that means is that if the priest-

hood of America wants to be a priesthood

and not a motley mass of mediocrity, if we

want to be priests and not parasites, if we

want to be what we should be ... doubles

for the God-Man . . . we’ve got to get down

67



on our knees! And there is where the cour-
age, the fortitude, the continual exercise of

that manly virtue is needed
!”

“Why do you say that, Jack?”
“Ned, most of us make a start. We make

meditation and examen for a week or so, but

then along comes a little dryness or a little

extra work and we quit. Oh! what a crowd

of quitters we are ! Strong men, fighters

though we be in almost every other line, we

are quitters on God. When it comes to the
spiritual life, the life of prayer, the real fun-

damentals of the souks life, we show the

white flag every time. There is not one in the

30,000 who cannot say, ‘Video meliora pro-

boque; deteriora sequor.’ Why? — Because
we are quitters on God!”

“Right you are, Jack, we get discouraged

mighty easily; on the heels of discouragement

comes a distaste for what is hard in the

spiritual life
;

then disgust and finally, as

you say, we quit. By heavens, you’ve hit it,

we are quitters on God. What a condemna-

tion!”

“No, Joe, what an elevation! To have made

the discovery and the admission is a grace.

Let’s cooperate with it! Let’s get in there

daily and FIGHT!”

“I’m for it, Joe. As Jack says, we’ve got to

cooperate with grace, so for me it’s a man’s

resolve to get down on my knees every morn-

ing for a real heart-study of the Man of all

men, my Model, Jesus, for whom I must

double. All I can say now is, ‘Thanks, Joe,’

and ‘Thanks, Jack,’ and above all, ‘Thanks,

God!”’

“And to think it all came out of an atheist’s

description of what a double is and what a

double does. Strange indeed are the ways of

68



God. So it is settled, then, that we all make a

new start?”
“
‘Nunc coepi!’ is the cry, Joe. Now at long

last let us really start to DOUBLE FOR
THE GOD-MAN!”

* * *

Semina Aeternitatis

My Father, you have read this far; may I

not be bold enough to say that it is an exter-

nal grace? Clear water can run through rusty

pipes, you know. Hence, may I not dare to

say with St. Paul, ‘I have planted, YOU do
the watering and GOD will give the increase’?

That metaphor of Paul’s reminds me of one

of St. Bernard’s. He calls our actions ‘semi-

na aeternitatis’ . . . seeds of and for eternity.

Beautiful thought, isn’t it? And one that

frightens, too! Father, you and I are going

to meet this little booklet again. You and I

are going to meet this call to “look like, walk

like, talk like, think like, act like, BE like
Jesus” again. You and I are going to meet

this grace of God, this spur to live up to

our dignity and our duty. You and I are

going to meet this plea for a manly getting

down on our knees daily . . . for fifteen or

twenty minutes in the morning to look at

the Original, for five or ten at night to look

at the double. You and I are going to meet it
. . . in eternity! This IS a “semen aeternitatis.”

May it then have flowered, and beautifully
flowered, into the “facie ad faciem” vision of

the Original and all because you and I have

doubled perfectly for Jesus Christ!

Father, there is only one way to heaven,
and He is Jesus Christ. There is only one way
for you and me to heaven, and that is to be
the God-Man's Double!

69



The seed is sown! YOU do the watering!
. . . only thirty or forty minutes a day . .

.

GOD will do the rest!
We are getting nearer the grave; are we

getting more like God? We are sowing our
“semina aeternitatis

,,

!

I close as I opened. Father, you are HON-
EST. Tell me honestly . .

.

Am I not right?

11

70



UT NOMEN CONGRUAT ACTIONI

ACTIO CORRESPONDEAT NOMINI;

NE NOMEN INANE ET CRIMEN IMMANE

;

NE SIT HONOR SUBLIMIS

ET VITA DEFORMIS

NE SIT DEIFICA PROFESSIO

ET ILLICITA ACTIO!

(St. Ambrose)

* * *

FINIS

71



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