Escribano "The Priest at Prayer"

I am using this book for my morning meditation at the moment and I thought some readers would appreciate an extract or two. Escribano was a spanish Vincentian priest who died in 1951. His principal work, in the spirit of the Congregation of the Missions, was in giving retreats to clergy. The first volume of his Meditaciones Sacerdotales was published in 1928 and it was held in such regard that several Spanish Bishops of the time recommended it to their clergy.

The Translator's Preface to the English version, first published in 1954, draws attention to the effect of Escribano's writings in strengthening the spiritual life of the clergy who were to be called to martyrdom in their thousands during the Spanish Civil War.

There is much in the book that is directly relevant to the crisis of scandal that the Church in various countries has suffered. As a taster, consider this point from the meditation entitled "Harm done by the scandalous priest".

Try to find a heretic, a calumniator, or any opponent of the Church, who in his attacks and diatribes does not base his hostility on crimes committed by the Church's ministers: you will not find one.

The heresies of our times - if from a doctrinal point of view they deserve the name and not that of sheer apostasy - those social and political systems that have de-christianised the masses and severed from Jesus Christ and from the bosom of His Church the nations united to Him for many centuries, what new dogmas, what great sophisms, have they brought to their defence? Ordinarily just one: the dishonouring of the clergy, covering them in the mire of calumny, the bringing to light of our personal shortcomings; and by that expedient alone they have succeeded in persuading thousands upon thousands of souls to renounce Christ and consider Him no longer their Saviour and their God.

Have there not been in my priestly life, dear Lord, evil deeds that in the hands of Thy enemies have become thorns to Thy brow, spittle to Thy face, a tattered cloak of derision upon Thy shoulders, presenting Thee thus disfigured to the eyes of the gullible masses with the sarcastic Ecce Homo?

The "Resolution" which follows, invites the priest reader to study his life to see if there is anything that could be a stumbling-block to others, because "It could happen that the only basic reason for my condemnation before Christ would be my having caused the downfall of the weak by my thoughtlessness".

In another passage he gives vent to the torrential energy that characterises many passages of the book:
A priest giving scandal! What a paradox! Salt that corrupts and rots, light that darkens, water that stains and bemires, shepherd who scatters and slaughters the flock, father of souls who murders them with his own hands and throws them like carrion into the cesspool of hell; Christ - sacerdos alter Christus - who re-sells for a trifle souls purchased with divine Blood and throws them back to the devouring jaws of Satan.
Now many schools of "spirituality" today would reject such considerations as unduly harsh or despairing. But he does not leave the priest there but suggests the following resolution:
With all the force and zest of my love for my priestly vocation and for Jesus Christ my Lord and God I shall detest scandal, the poisonsed weapon of the spirit of darkness for overcoming the Redeemer of men and for annulling the supernatural action of hte Catholic priesthood. With acts of heartfelt contrition at least, I shall wipe out the cursed trail of evil left by my transgressions real or apparent.
It is characteristic of the meditations that he "sets the bar high", offering a fearful denunciation of the bad priest (and perhaps motivating some to conversion) but applying the lesson in such a way that every priest who sincerely examines his conscience could benefit.

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