Untitled - Saints' Books

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60 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
ing him our petitions; he reconciles the angry Lord, and
wards from us the blows of his justice."
Through priests, God communicates his grace to the
faithful in the sacraments. Through them he makes us
his children, and saves us by baptism: Unless a man be
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God? Through
them he heals the infirm, and even resuscitates, by the
sacrament of penance, sinners that are dead to divine
grace. Through them he nourishes souls, and preserves
in them the life of divine grace, by means of the sacra
ment of the Eucharist: Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you?
Through them he gives strength to the dying, to over
means of the sacrament
come the temptations of hell, by
of Extreme Unction.
In a word, St. John Chrysostom says, that without
priests we cannot be saved. 4 By St. Prosper priests are
called judges of the divine will. 5 By St. Chrysostom,
the walls of the Church. 6 By St. Ambrose, the camps
7
of sanctity, and by St. Gregory Nazianzen, the foun
dations of the world, and the pillars of the faith. 8
Hence St. Jerome says, that the priest by the power
of his sanctity has to carry the weight of all the sins
" 1
Medius stat Sacerdos inter Deum et naturam humanam; illinc
venientia beneficia ad nos deferens, et nostras petitiones illuc perferens
Dominum iratum reconcilians, et nos eripiens ex illius manibus." De
Vcrbis Is. horn. 5.
2 "
Nisi quis renatus fuerit denuo, non potest videre regnum Dei."-
John, iii. 3.
3 "Nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis,
. . . non habebitis
vitam in vobis."
JoJm, vi. 54.
4 "Sine his, salutis compotes fieri non possumus." De Sacerd. 1. 3.
8 "
6 "
Divinae voluntatis Indices." De Vita cont. \. 2, c. 2.
Muros Ecclesise." Horn. 10.
Castra sanctitatis." De Offic.
1. i, c. 50.
"Mundi Fundamenta et Fidei Columnas.
1 "
Carm. ad Episc.