The Priest In Union With Christ [Paperback]

Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

In The Priest in Union with Christ, the famous Thomistic theologian Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. expounds in a disciplined manner upon the specific holiness of the priesthood and the supernatural fruitfulness of the priestly apostolate. Steeped in Sacred Scripture, St. Thomas Aquinas and other traditional Catholic sources, the author presents the classic Catholic traditions on the priestly vocation traditions which many seminarians and young priests today may have never even heard of. Impr. 264 pgs, PB

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: TAN Books and Publishers (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895557029
• ISBN-13: 978-0895557025
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apparently you're not to say the mass while inebriated!, December 11, 2008

By 

Bobby Bambino (Lebanon, NH United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Priest In Union With Christ (Paperback)

This book goes through the roles and duties of the priest, from saying mass to hearing confessions and giving spiritual direction and all things in between. Father Garrigou-Lagrange discusses proper and improper dispositions of the priest when celebrating the mass, the proper form of a homily, how to be a good confessor, and how to give spiritual direction amongst many other things. Although I am married (so the priesthood is out for me), I learned a lot from this book and gained a new and deeper appreciation for not only the priest and what he does, but also the mass and the sacraments. Of course, this is a MUST READ for anyone discerning a call to the priesthood and probably anyone who is a priest. It seems there is a lot of bad training of priests these days, and the author makes solid cases and arguments for why certain things should be the way they are.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Catholic Priesthood, July 25, 2009

By 

Lesha "L. Giovanni, M.Th." (Denver, CO, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Priest In Union With Christ (Paperback)

The Priest In Union With Christ
This book discusses the priesthood going back to the Old Testament and how the Levital priesthood was a precursor to the New Testament priest, so it is very Biblical in that way. However, there is also much of a culture point of view verses a scriptural point of view. For example, some pagan ideas about purgatory mold and shape a priesthood of works by the priest, including suffering, etc. instead of depending on the redemptive, substitutionary work of Christ. The culture overrides the gospel. There is a theoretical concept of the priest being Mary's son, because Jesus which is just a cultural idea. To maintain celibacy, priests identified themselves that way. Much of the perspective of the book is based on human reasoning, instead of Jesus Christ.

If one studies the ministry gifts in 1 Cor. 12 and other places, one can discern the wonderful work of Christ through the priesthood.

There are discussions of proper and improper dispositions of the priest when celebrating the mass, the proper form of a homily, how to be a good confessor, and how to give spiritual direction, it covers the gamut very well, but with the good, there is also the discomfort of the unscriptural teatment of purgatory and how that is applied to the priest. It contains the Dogmatic Teaching of the Church on the mass. The discussion of purgatory is unscriptural and has since the writing of the book been revised.

Here is an excerpt from the book:
"Confessor is not intended merely to rid the penitent of his vices but also to conduct him along the way of perfection and to help him grow in virtue. Such has been the constant teaching of the Saints: for instance, St. Alphonsus:

"One perfect soul is more acceptable in God's sight than a thousand imperfect ones. So when a confessor finds a soul whose life is free from serious faults, he should take all possible care to lead such a soul into the way of perfection and of divine love. Let him bring home to that soul how deserving God is of all our love and the gratitude we owe to Jesus Christ, who has loved us to the extent of laying down His life on our behalf. He should also point out the danger to which a soul exposes itself by resisting a special call from God to a more perfect way of life."
Therefore, spiritual direction is one of the normal means of progress in virtue and of arriving at intimate union with God."

"St Francis de Sales says that a good director "must be full of charity, of knowledge and prudence; if one of these three qualities be wanting in him, there is danger. Knowledge is required of the spiritual life and of the means which lead to union with God: prudence is essential for the practice application of principles to the individual being directed: fervent charity is required so that the director inclines his will toward God and not toward himself, leading souls to God and not to himself. This spirit of sincere and fervent charity is opposed to sentimentality which is merely a pretence of love existing in the emotions and hardly at all in the will."