Untitled - Saints' Books

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De
CHAP. vi. i The Sin of Incontinence. \ 1 1
in the midst of the angels And
in heaven.
1
place he has said that by their purity
in another
the hands of a
priest, which must touch the flesh of Jesus Christ,
should be more resplendent than the rays of the sun. 2
On the other hand, St. Augustine asks where can a
man be found so wicked as to presume to touch the
most holy sacrament of the altar with unclean hands? 3
But," says St. Bernard, the priest that dares to ascend
the altar, to handle the body of Jesus Christ, after being
contaminated with sins of impurity, is guilty of a far
more enormous crime." 4 "Ah!
priest of God," exclaims
St. Augustine, the hands that you moisten with the
blood of the Redeemer do not moisten with the sacri
legious blood of 5
Ah! do not allow the hands
sin."
which are bathed in the blood of the Redeemer, shed
one day for the love of you, to be polluted with the
sacrilegious blood of sin.
Moreover, -Cassian says that priests must not only
touch, but must also eat, the sacred flesh of the Lamb;
and therefore they should practise angelic purity. 6
But
Necesse est Sacerdotem sic esse purum, ut, in ipsis coelis collo-
3 "
catus, inter coelestes illas virtutes medius staret." De Sacerd. 1. 3.
2
"Quo solares radios non deberet excedere manus ilia, quae hanc
carnem tractat?" In Matt. horn. 83.
Quis adeo impius erit, qui lutosis manibus Sacratissimum Sacramen
tunVtractare prsesumat?"*
4 "Audent Agni immaculati sacras contingere carnes, et intingere
in sanguinem Salvatoris manus, quibus paulo
ante carnes attrectaverunt."
Declain. n. 13.
5 "
Ne manus quae intinguntur sanguine Christi, polluantur sanguine
peccati." Molina, Intr. Sac. tr. I, c. 5, 2.
Qua puritate oportebit custodire castitatem, quos necesse est
quotidie sacrosanctis Agni carnibus vesci !" Can. Inst. 1. 6, c. 8.
* Instead of these words we read at the place indicated: "Si erubescimus
et timemus Eucharistiam manibus sordidis tangere, plus
debemus timere ipsam Eucharistiam in anima polluta suscipere."
Serm. 292, E. B. App. ED.