The Priest

Who is it that received our soul at its entrance into life ? The priest. Who supplies it with the life-giving nourishment in the strength of which it is enabled to make its earthly pilgrimage ? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, . by washing this soul a last time in the Blood of Jesus Christ ? The priest, always the priest. And should this soul die, who will resuscitate it, who restore its lost peace and happiness ? Still the priest. We cannot recall a single one of God’s benefits, without perceiving the priest standing beside it.

God’s other benefits without the priest would avail us nothing. Of what use to us were a house

J9 filled with gold were there no one to open to us the door ? The priest holds the keys of the celestial treasures ; it is he who opens the doors leading thereto ; he is God’s treasurer, the administrator of His goods.

After God, the priest is all ! . . . Leave a parish twenty years without a priest, and the people will adore beasts.

When you see a priest you should say to yourself, “Behold him who has made me a child of God, opening Heaven to me by holy Baptism, him who purifies me when I sin, him who feeds my soul ! ”

We set a great value upon objects that have been placed on the cup of the Infant Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, at Loretto, but are not the fingers of the priest that have touched the adorable flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged in the chalice containing His Blood, the ciborium where reposes His Body, far more precious ?

The priest is the love of the Heart of Jesus. When you see a priest think of our Lord.

The priest is for you as the mother, the nurse of a babe but a few months’ old. She gives it its nourishment, for which it has only to open its mouth. The mother says to her child, “ Come, my little one, eat ” ; and the priest says to you, “ Behold the Body of Jesus Christ! Take ye and eat ! May it preserve your soul unto life everlasting ! ” Oh, beautiful words !

A child when it sees its mother, runs to her and

struggles against those who would restrain it, it opens its little mouth and puts up its tiny hands to embrace her. So does our soul, in the presence of a priest naturally go forth to meet him.