Untitled - Saints' Books

Luke,
Declam.
"
1 66 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
render an account of the sins of all, says the author of
the Imperfect Work. And 1
before him the apostle said:
For they watch as being to render an account of your souls?
Thus the sins of others are imputed to the priest that
neglects to prevent them, says St. John Chrysostom. 3
Hence St. Augustine has said: If on the day of judg
ment one can scarcely render an account of one s own soul,
how will the priest fare if he has to render an account of
all sins?"
Speaking of those that become priests not to
4
save souls, but to secure a more comfortable means of
living, St. Bernard says, Oh, how much better would it
have been for them to labor in the field, or to beg, than
to have taken to the priesthood! On the day of judg
ment they shall hear complaints against them from so
many souls that have been damned 5
through their sloth.
II.
The Pleasure that a Priest who Labors for the Salvation of
Souls gives to God.
To understand how ardently God desires the salvation
of souls, it is
enough
the work of the redemption of man. Jesus
to consider what he has done in
Christ clearly
expressed this desire when he said: / have a baptism,
wherewith I am to be baptized ; and how am I straitened until
it be accomplished? He said that he felt as if
swooning
" 1
2 "
Unusquisque pro suo peccato reddet rationem; Sacerdotes, pro
omnium peccatis."
Horn. 38.
Ipsi enim pervigilant, quasi rationem pro animabus vestris reddituri."
Heb. xiii. 17.
3 "
6 " Quod alii peccant, illi imputatur."
In Act. horn. 3.
4 "Si
pro se unusquisque vix poterit, in die judicii, rationem reddere,
quid de Sacerdotibus futurum est, a quibus sunt omnium animse
requirendre? Serm. 287, R. B. app.
Bonum erat magis fodere, aut etiam mendicare, Venient, venient
ante tribunal Christi; audietur populorum querela, quorum vixere
stipendiis, nee diluerunt !"
peccata n. 19.
6 "
Baptismo autem habeo baptizari; et quomodo coarctor usquedum
perficiatur
?."
xii. 5Ov.