On January 25, 1936, Bishop Muench preached the feast day sermon at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. The text was printed in an article in The Catholic Bulletin, Feb. l, 1936, p. 1.
“Intimacy with Christ” will produce the cultured and the apostolic priesthood of which the Church stands in need today, the Most Rev. Aloisius J. Muench, D.D., Bishop of Fargo, said in delivering the “St. Paul’s Day” sermon at the St. Paul seminary here on Saturday of last week. Preaching at the patronal feast day celebration at the seminary, the bishop traced the early life of St. Paul, and told of his efforts to destroy the infant Church of which he later became the ardent protector.
“The Conversion of St. Paul,” he said, “was brought about by the direct intervention of Jesus Christ. He was not converted through the ministry of any of the Apostles. In fact, he breathed out hatred and assaults against the disciples of the Lord. Nor was he converted by meditation on the teachings or the wonderful works of Christ.
“The story of the road to Damascus is well known. Filled with thoughts of destruction of the Church of Christ, Paul became its foremost champion. His love for it, because it represented Christ Himself to him, knew no bounds. Everything he said, or wrote, or did was inspired by love for his new Master. His conversion had been a direct personal act of Christ; for Paul it established a direct, personal relationship with Christ. He was merely Christ’s ambassador; he was His minister of reconciliation; in all his sufferings he suffered as a member of Christ’s body; he lived with Christ, for Christ, and in Christ. ‘I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ His association with Christ was more than an association. It was an intimacy such as few saints enjoyed with their Lord. For Paul it meant a fusion of his life with that of Christ. ‘Christ is all in all’ became the dominant thought of his apostolate.”
“The priest of God,” Bishop Muench continued, “no matter in what field of the Church he may labor, can draw inspiration and power from St. Paul’s high conception of what the relation of the priest ought to be with Him with Whom he shares the powers of the priesthood. In the measure that a priest draws close to Christ will his ministry be blessed and fruitful. This ministry will be filled with success if its duties are discharged with the thought that ‘Christ is all in all.’ Out of such ideals have come the great priests in the Church of God.
“To the seminarist of our day are given rare opportunities to establish close and intimate relations with the great High Priest in Whose powers he will some day participate. The cultivation of this relationship cannot proceed without giving diligent attention to the theological studies, without seeking to excel in the virtues that graced the life of the Divine Master, and without putting forth every effort to acquire the basic qualities of a saintly life.
“To these things does the Holy Father point in his recent encyclical on Christ the Priest.† It should be read and re-read by every seminarist. The Church stands in need of cultured and apostolic priests. Intimacy with Christ will produce them. St. Paul’s life is proof of it.”
The patronal feast day Mass, “Corum episcopum,” was celebrated in the presence of His Excellency, the Archbishop [John Murray], by the Rev. Dr. William O. Brady, rector of the St. Paul seminary, with priests of the diocese and seminarians in attendance.
† Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii was promulgated December 20, 1935.
Copyright The Catholic Bulletin / The Catholic Spirit. Reprinted with permission