Untitled - Saints' Books

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134 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
unworthy wretch ! if
you wish to commit the enormous
crime of celebrating Mass in the state of sin, at least
procure another tongue, and do not employ that which
is washed in the blood of Jesus Christ; procure hands
different from those which you stretch out to touch his
sacred flesh. Oh 1 ! let the priest who wishes to live at
enmity w r ith God at least abstain from sacrilegiously
offering sacrifice on his altar But, no ! !
says St. Bonaventure:
he will, for the sake of the miserable stipend
that he receives, continue to commit a sin of such hor
rible enormity. 2 Perhaps he expects that the sacred
flesh of Jesus Christ which he offers in sacrifice will
deliver him from his iniquities
? Shall the holy flesh, says
the prophet Jeremias, take away from thee thy crimes in
which thou hast boasted? 3
No: the contact of that sacred
body, as long as you remain in the state of sin, shall
render you more guilty and more deserving of chastise
ment. He, says St. Peter Chrysologus, who commits
a crime in the presence of his judge can advance no
4
grounds of defence.
What chastisement does not the priest deserve who,
.instead of carrying with him to the altar flames of
divine charity, brings the fetid fire of unchaste love !
Speaking of the punishment inflicted on the sons of
Aaron for having offered strange fire, St. Peter Damian
says: Let us take care not to mingle unholy fire, that
is, the flames of lust with the salutary
sacrifices."
" 1
Quando ergo peccare volueris, quaere aliam linguam quam earn
quae rubescit sanguine Christi, alias manus praeter eas quae Christum
suscipiunt."
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2
Accedunt, non vocati a Deo, sed impulsi ab avaritia." De
Prcep. ad M. c. 8.
3
Numquid carnes
"
sanctae auferent a te malitias tuas, in quibus
gloriata es ?" fer. xi. 15.
4
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Excusatione caret, qui facinus, ipso judice teste, committit."
Serm. 26.
5
Cavendum est "
ne alienum ignem, hoc est, libidinis flammam,
inter salutares hostias deferanuis." Opusc. 26, c. i. I.evil. x.