Untitled - Saints' Books

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CHAP, ix.] The Zeal of the Priest. 1
59
in his works, and not without reason; for as God has
sent Jesus Christ to save the world, so Jesus Christ has
appointed priests to convert sinners. As the Father hath
sent me, I also send you? Hence the Council of Trent
ordains that they that wish to receive priesthood should
prove themselves fit for the administration of the sacra
ments. 2
For this end, says the angelic Doctor, God has
constituted the order of priests, that they may sanctify
others by the administration of the sacraments. 3 And
priests are specially appointed to administer the sacra
ment of penance. For immediately after the words: As
the Father hath sent me, etc.? St. John has added: When He
had said this, He breathed on them; and He said to them:
ceive ye the Holy Ghost? Since, then, it is the office of a
priest to absolve from sins, one of his principal obliga
tions is to qualify himself for that office, at least when
there is necessity, that he may not receive the reproach
contained in the words of St. Paul to his companions in
the priesthood: And we helping to exhort you* that you receive
not the grace of God in vain. 6
Priests, as Venerable Bede writes, are destined by God
to be the salt of the earth, that they may preserve souls
from the corruption of sins. 7 But if salt do not perform
to be cast out of the house
the office of salt, it is fit
only
of the Lord, and to be trodden by all. 8
1
2 " Ad
misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos."
"Sicut
ministranda Sacramenta idonei comprobentur." Sess. 23,
cap. 14, de Kef.
3 "Ideo posuit Ordinem in eo, ut quidam
aliis Sacramenta traderent."
Suppl. q. 34, a. i.
/<?/*;/,
xx. 21.
Re
4 "Sicut misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos."
-John, xx. 21.
Hser cum dixisset, insufflavit, et dixit eis: Accipite Spiritum
Sanctum; quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis." Ibid. xx. 22.
Adjuvantes autem, exhortamur ne in vacuum gratiam Dei recipiatis."
2 Cor. vi. i.
"Ut
sales, condiant animos ad corruptionis sanitatem."
"Vos estis sal terras.
Quod si sal evanuerit, in quo salietur? ad
nihilum valet ultra, nisi ut mittatur foras, et conculcetur ab hominibus."
Matt. v. 13.