Untitled - Saints' Books

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172 Material for Sermons. [PARTI.
ill.
How Secure the Priest who Labors for the Salvation of Souls
Renders his own Salvation, and how Great the Reward
that he shall receive in Heaven.
The priest who has labored for the salvation of souls
can hardly die a bad death. When thou shalt pour out,
says the prophet Isaias, thy soul to the hungry, and shalt
satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in dark
ness. . . . Ana the Lord will give thee rest continually, and
will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones. 1 If
you have spent your life in assisting a soul in need, and
have consoled her in her afflictions, in the darkness of
your temporal death, the Lord shall fill
you with light,
and shall deliver you from eternal death. This was the
doctrine of St. Augustine: In saving a soul thou hast
predestined your own," says the holy Doctor. 2 And,
long before, the apostle St. James said: He must know,
that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of
his way, shall save his soul (that is, his own soul, as appears
from the Greek text) from death, and shall cover a multitude
of sins?
A priest of the Society of Jesus, who during
life devoted
a great deal of time to the conversion of sinners, died
with joy and confidence of salvation; this some con
sidered to be excessive. Hence he was told that at death
we should entertain sentiments of fear as well as of confi
dence. He answered: Have I served Mahomet? I have
served a God who is
so grateful and faithful; why, then,
should I fear? When St. Ignatius of Loyola declared
" 1
Cum effuderis animam tuam, et animam afflictam repleveris, orietur
in tenebris lux tua;
. . . et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper, et
implebit splendoribus animam tuam, et ossa tua liberabit." Is. Iviii. 10.
2 "Animam salvasti, animam tuam praedestinasti."
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Qui convert! fecerit
" peccatorem ab errore viae suse, salvabit animam
ejus a morte, et operiet mulutudinem peccatorum.
v. 20.
James,