Respect for the Priests of Blessed Alphonse Marie

The greatest grace, which God gave us,

is the Eucharist and the priesthood,

 thanks to which priests can administer the sacraments to us.

 

 These are the words of the mystic, Blessed Alphonse Marie,

baptismal name Elizabeth Eppinger

 

1. A Source of a Respect for Priests and Priesthood of the Young Elizabeth

 

It is right to ask ourselves, how the respect towards priest’s dignity, priests, and priesthood was born in still little Elizabeth.

We have to say that this respect began in her with her upbringing in the Eppinger family.

Her early recollections, about which Elizabeth narrates, lead us to know the atmosphere of her family. In her Autobiography, from her own mouth, we learn how important is the care for good moral and religious education in her family despite hard work and how much she evaluates the principles she has received through the good care of her parents.

In her biography, the talks with her mother and father on different topics are repeatedly written. They both tried to answer her questions, and as she says, “I remembered their answers for a long time”. She also keeps memories of mother and father’s loving gestures and how she ran to them for help having difficulty with memory to learn homework for school.

Elizabeth also learns from her parents the respect and a meaning of obedience, which makes her very soon to be able to evaluate her actions. She has a firm and decisive, even stubborn nature. Yet she finds in her parents definite and safe leaders, who teach her to know and discipline herself. Another strong feature of good care is a talk with parents, which manifests their ability to convey religious beliefs in a simple way which is the speech of everyday life. These are the talks about a prayer, priests and their role, suffering and death of Christ on the cross, and eternity. It has to be said that Elizabeth, as the oldest daughter, very early understands adult language, which they use.

 

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