to be an ignis fatuus! Woe to the light that is extinguished, or hidden under a bushel!
He is the city of God, set upon a mountain (Matt, v. 14). Woe to the mountain that is so surrounded by mists and vapors, that the city on its top is lost to the sight of the expectant pilgrim!
If souls are committed to the priest's charge, and if he is to lead them to heaven, he must surely walk himself in the way of salvation.
If he is to educate mankind in spirituality, he must certainly labor unceasingly at his own spiritual perfection.
How dare the curse of sin adhere to the hands that have been made especially to bless?
Shall the mouth which is to announce the words of life, be the mouth of one spiritually dead?
Shall the priest's actions contradict the word of edification, and pull down instead of building up?
You ask for the marks of a true vocation to the holy priesthood?
First, pay attention to the preliminary conditions:
Do you possess the necessary talents? Erroneously, or rather, almost blasphemously, it is asserted, sometimes, that anything is good enough for God. Hear what he himself says on this point: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is an angel of the
