Untitled - Saints' Books

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88 Material for Sermons. [PART i.
CHAPTER V.
THE INJURY THAT TEPIDITY DOES TO THE PRIEST.
I.
To what the Tepid Priest is
Exposed.
THE Lord commanded St. John in the Apocalypse to
write to the Bishop of Ephesus the following words: /
know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience?
I know well
all that you do; know I your labors for my glory; know
I
your patience in the toils of your
office. But he adds:
But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first charity? But I must reprove you for having fallen
away from your first fervor. But what great evil was
there in this ? What great evil ? Listen to what our
Lord adds: Be mindful, therefore, from whence thou art
fallen; and do penance, and do the first works : or else I come
to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place? Remember
whence you have fallen; do penance, and re
turn to the first fervor, with which, as my minister, you
are bound to live, otherwise I will reject you as un
worthy of the ministry that I have committed to you.
Is tepidity, then, productive of so much ruin ? Yes,
it
brings with it great ruin, and the greatest evil is, that
this ruin is not known, and is, therefore, neither avoided
nor dreaded by the tepid, and especially by priests. The
1 "
Scio opera tua, et laborem, et patientiam tuam." Apoc.
ii. 2.
a
Ib. 4.
Sed habeo adversum te, quod caritatem tuam primam reliquisti."
3
Memor esto itaque unde excideris, et age poenitentiam, et prima
opera fac; sin autem, venio tibi, et movebo candelabrum tuum de loco
suo." Ib. 5.