judged; but, above all, by this priests will have to answer.[1]
We ought, then, to live by it now. In all our life we have never done wrong but we might have done right. The liberty and the power were with us. Again, we never left the right undone but we might have done it. We have never done right but we might have done better. We correspond with a few graces out of a multitude, and with inadequate fidelity, and with intermittent efforts. All these are failures in the law of liberty.
What motive, then, is there wanting to constrain a priest to the highest aspiration? We all are bound by the law of nature to obey our Maker with the utmost powers and affections of our whole being; by our redemption we are bound to glorify our Redeemer, for He has bought us for Himself. By our regeneration we are bound to obey the Holy Ghost as sons of God; by faith we are bound to obey the revealed law of God; by hope, to use all means of attaining eternal life; by charity, to love Him super omnia, with our whole soul and strength. This is true of all. But priests are bound
- ↑ "Si reddenda est ratio de iis quæ quisque gessit in corpore suo, quid fiet de iis quæ quisque gessit in corpore Christi quod est Ecclesia."—Inter Opp. Sti. Bern. Ad Prælatos in Concilio.
