The oath and covenant of the priesthood "is a declaration of our requirement to be faithful and obedient to the laws of God and to magnify the callings which come to us," President Thomas S. Monson said to Melchizedek Priesthood holders in his talk at the priesthood session Saturday evening.
To Aaronic Priesthood holders, he added, "it is a pronouncement concerning future duty and responsibility, that they may prepare themselves here and now."
President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of the priesthood in terms of duty.
"The call of duty can come quietly," he said, "as we who hold the priesthood respond to the assignments we receive." He quoted President George Albert Smith as saying a priesthood holder's duty is, first, to learn what the Lord wants and then to so magnify his calling that people will be glad to follow him.
"What does it mean to magnify a calling?" President Monson asked. "It means to build it up in dignity and importance, to make it honorable and commendable in the eyes of all men, to enlarge and strengthen it, to let the light of heaven shine through it to the view of other men."
One magnifies a calling "simply by performing the service that pertains to it," he explained.
Admonishing priesthood brethren to "reach out to rescue those who need our help and lift them to the higher road and the better way," he told of Harold G. Gallacher, a man whom he visited as a bishop. Brother Gallacher's wife was somewhat active in the Church, as were their children, but he, himself, had never responded. Bishop Monson knocked on his screen door one day to get acquainted and urge his attendance at Church meetings. Without even looking up from reading a newspaper, Brother Gallacher responded, "No, I'm too busy."
The family moved to California shortly thereafter. Years later, when Bishop Monson had become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Brother Gallacher came to see him in Salt Lake City. He came to apologize for not getting out of his chair that day years earlier. "Your invitation to come out to Church, and my negative response, so haunted me that I determined to do something about it," he said. He had become a counselor in his ward's bishopric.
"Harold and I visited together on numerous occasions before he passed away," President Monson summarized. "The Gallachers and their children filled many callings in the Church."
He quoted President Stephen L Richards, counselor in the First Presidency to President David O. McKay, as defining, for practical purposes, the priesthood as "the perfect plan of service."
"This past January," President Monson related, "I had the privilege of witnessing a profound act of service in the life of a woman who lived in my ward when I served as a bishop many years ago. Her name is Adele, and she and her two grown daughters — one of whom is handicapped — have lived for many years in the Rose Park area of the Salt Lake Valley. Adele, who is a widow, has struggled financially, and her life has often been difficult."
Under the auspices of the Gingerbread House Project, their home was renovated by many volunteers during a period of just over three days and nights, working with materials donated by numerous local businesses. During that time, Adele and her daughters were hosted in a city miles away "where they themselves had received some pampering." President Monson was present when they were brought to the house in a limousine, where a group of family, friends and craftsmen who had worked on the project were waiting.
"They were absolutely stunned by the magnificent project which had been completed, including a complete makeover of the interior, redesign of the front, an extension of the home itself and a new roof," President Monson said. He added, "Not only had a widow's burden been made lighter, but countless other lives were touched in the process. All were better people for having participated in this effort."
Those who hold the priesthood, he said, should think of their callings as though they were on the Lord's errand. "Some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord's work, and when we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to the Lord's help."
