Untitled - Saints' Books

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68 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
he must not appear before God stained with the guilt of
any sin; if he is the vicar of the Redeemer, he must be
like him in his life. If he is the light of the world, he
must be refulgent with the splendor of all virtues. In
fine, if he is a priest he must be holy. If he correspond
not with God s graces, the greater the gifts that he has
received, the more frightful the account that he shall
have to render to God. For," says St. Gregory, the
gifts of God while augmenting augment the account
that one has to render." 1 St. Bernard says that, the
priest "holds a celestial office, that he is made an angel
of the Lord, and [adds the saint], as an angel he is
elected to glory or condemned to 5
hell." St. Ambrose
says that a priest should be exempt even from the
smallest faults. Not a mediocre and ordinary virtue
is suitable to the priest," says the same holy Doctor;
"he must be on his guard not only against shameful
falls, but even against light
faults."
Hence, if a priest is not holy, he is in great danger of
being lost. What do some, or rather the greater number
of priests do in order to acquire sanctity ? They say the
Office and Mass, and do nothing more: they live with
out making mental prayer, without mortification, with
out recollection. Some will say, It is
enough for me to
be saved.
No," says St. Augustine,
it is not enough;
if
you say that it is enough, you will be 4
To be
lost."
holy, the priest must lead a life of detachment from all
things, from worldly society, empty honors, etc.: and
particularly from inordinate attachment to relatives.
1 "
Cum
enim augentur dona, rationes etiam crescunt donorum."
/;/ Evang. horn. 9.
" -
Cceleste tenet officium, angelus Domini factus est; tanquam
3 "
angelus, aut eligitur, aut reprobatur." Declam. n. 24.
Neque enim mediocris virtus sacerdotalis est, cui cavendum, non
solum ne gravioribus flagitiis sit affinis, sed ne minimis quidem."
Epist. 82.
4
Si dixeris: "
Sufficit; et peristi."
Serm. 169, E. B.