Untitled - Saints' Books

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42 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
1 "
hood and to have praise. That is," says Cardinal Hugo,
to perform the office of praising God." 3
And Cornelius
a.
Lapide says:
Just as it is the office of the angels to
praise God without ceasing in heaven, so it is the office
of priests to praise God without ceasing on earth." 3
Jesus Christ has made priests, as it were, his co-oper
ators in procuring the honor of his eternal Father and
the salvation of souls, and therefore, when he ascended
into heaven, he protested that he left them to hold
his place, and to continue the work of redemption
which he had undertaken and consummated. "He
made them,"
says St. Ambrose, the vicars of his love."
4
And Jesus Christ himself said to his disciples: As the
5
Father hath sent Me, I also send you. I leave you to per
form the very office for which I came into the world; that
is, to make known to men the name of my Father. And
addressing his eternal Father, he said: / have glorified
Thee on earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest
me to do; I have manifested Thy name to the men!" He then
prayed for his priests: I have given them Thy word. . . .
Sanctify them in truth. . . . As Thou hast sent me into the
world, I also have sent them. Thus, priests are placed in
the world to make known to men God and his perfec
tions, his
justice and mercy, his commands, and to pro
cure the respect, obedience, and love that he deserves.
They are appointed to seek the lost sheep, and when
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2 " Fungi sacerdotio et habere laudem." Ecclus. xlv. 19.
Habere laudem, id est, officium laudandi Deum."
3 "
Sicut Angelorum est perpetim laudare Deum in coelis, sic Saccrdotum
officium est eumdem jugiter laudare in terris."
4
Amoris sui velut vicarium "
(Petrum) relinquebat." In Luk. 1. 10,
c. ult.
5 "
6
. . Mani-
Sicut misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos." John, xx. 21.
"Ego te clarificavi super terram; opus consummavi. .
7 "
festavi nomen tuum hominibus."
John, xvii. 4.
Ego dedi eis sermonem tuum. . . . Sanctifica eos in veritate.
. . . Sicut tu me misistl in mundum, et ego misi eos." Ibid. xvii. 18.