Untitled - Saints' Books

114 Material for Sermons. [PARTI.
an heresiarch; by Henry VIII., first the defender and
afterwards the persecutor of the Cburch. This was
also experienced by Solomon; first a saint, and after
wards an idolater. The same happens to the unchaste
priest. They shall, says the Prophet Sophonias, walk like
blind men, because they have sinned 1
against the Lord. Miser
able man! in the midst of the light of the Masses that
he celebrates, of the Offices that he recites, and of the
funerals that he attends, he remains as blind as if he
believed neither in death that awaits him, nor in a future
judgment, nor in hell that he purchases by his sins.
Mayest thou, says the Lord, grope at midday as the Mind is
wont to grope in the dark? In a word, he is so blinded by
the fetid mire in which he is immersed, that after having
forsaken God who has raised him so much above others,
he does not even think of returning to ask pardon.
They will not, says the Prophet Osee, set their thoughts to
return to their God; for the spirit of fornication is in the midst
of them? Hence St. John Chrysostom says, that neither
the admonitions of Superiors, nor the counsels of virtu
ous friends, nor the fear of chastisements, nor the danger
of shame shall be sufficient to enlighten the unchaste
priest. 4
No wonder: for he is so blind that he can no longer
see. Fire hath fallen on them, and they have not seen the sun?
"This fire is no other than the fire of concupiscence,"
6
" 1
Ambulabunt ut caeci, quia Domino peccaverunt." Soph.
i. 17.
2
"
Percutiat te Dominus amentia, et caecitate, ac furore mentis, et
palpes in meridie, sicut palpare solet caecus in tenebris, et non dirigas
vias tuas." Deut. xxviii. 28.
3 "Non dabunt cogitationes suas, ut revertantur ad Deum suum;
quia spiritus
fornicationum in medio eorum, et Dominum non cogno.
verunt." Os. v. 4.
4
Nee "
admonitiones, nee consilia, ne aliquid aliud salvare potest
animam libidine periclitantem." Horn, contra lux.
5 "
Supercecidit ignis, et non viderunt solem." Ps. Ivii. 9.
6 "
Supercecidit ignis, id est, concupiscentiae." 2. 2, q. 15, a. i.