THE PRIEST AS A TERTIARY

 

To the priest the Third Order will be a safeguard, a help, an inspiration.  The curse of the priesthood is worldliness.  The Third Oder will stand between him and the world.  It will reduce his contacts with the world to the right measure and there where he must come into intimate touch with it, ensure him against corruption.  It will not place upon him new duties but will merely accentuate those which are incumbent on him by  virtue of his holy calling.  The habitual motives for a holy life will receive special reinforcement through the Rule of the Tertiaries.  The Tertiary priest knows that he is not fighting his battle alone but that there is the invisible choir of the Tertiaries spread all over the world that are with him.  In such a thought lies great encouragement and potent inspiration.  He will have to cast about considerably before he will be able to find a better means of self-sanctification than the mild yet effective Rule of St. Francis.

We do not like to fall short of our ideals; well, one has chosen St. Francis as his model and ideal will find this exalted pattern of sanctity a power that uplifts, steadies and braces.  Truly, the Third Order throws a protecting hedge around the priest who is exposed to the assaults of the world; it puts a staff into his hand by which he can steady his faltering footsteps on the path of virtue; it surrounds him with an impregnable armor from which the darts of temptation will rebound; it gives him a weapon by which he can repel the attacks of the evil one.

Prayer and meditation are the salvation of the priest.  The Tertiary Rule will not allow him to neglect these powerful and unfailing means of salvation.  The Blessed Eucharist is the perennial fountain from which he draws strength and courage; the Rule of the Third Order will put him into more intimate relationship with the Sacrament of the Altar.  Love of wealth is a snare that will entangle him and cause his downfall; imitation of the Poverello will fortify him against the allurements of wealth and teach him to love poverty.  Who has ever heard of the spiritual ruin of a priest who faithfully clings to prayer, who keeps himself unspotted from this world, who cultivates the Eucharistic friendship, who is not attached to riches?

Thus the Third Order is a mighty bulwark against the dangers to which the priest is subject.  It is an added guarantee for the fulfillment of his duties.  Personally then, the priest can derive the greatest spiritual benefits from membership in the Third Order.  And we have by no means exhausted the benefits that can be gained; we have merely sketched and faintly outlined them.  Where so much is at stake we would imagine that the prudent priest would seek added assurance and that he would not want to be without the  wonderful protection and confirmation which the Third Order would give him.  Considering the numerous advantages that are associated with the Third Order we are not surprised that the highest ecclesiastical authorities have constantly urged the clergy to enroll in the militia of the Seraphic Saint.

All the ascetic practices which the priest needs are contained in the Tertiary Rule.  This point we need not labor; it follow logically from the fact that the Tertiary Rule is nothing but a practical application of the Gospel  A loyal Tertiary is a practical follower of the example of Christ.  And more the priest need not be.  If he accomplishes that much, he will be a worthy and saintly priest.

 

From: “The Third Order and the Priest”, by Rev. Charles P. Bruehl, PH.D., presented at the 2nd National Congress of the Third Order of St. Francis in the USA, October 1926, NY.