back souls to God, and to see the likeness of God once more shine out from the darkness of their past, and to watch over their steadfast perseverance in the way of life, is a recompense beyond all labours.
Next come the mourners.
S. Barnabas had a title brighter than a crown. He was Filius Consolationis, a son of the consolation of Israel, and a messenger of the glad tidings of good; and that because he was "full of the Holy Ghost," a disciple of the Paraclete, the Divine Comforter. A priest's ministry is twofold. He is a physician to heal both sin and sorrow: these are distinct but inseparable, and each needs a distinct treatment. Many who can deal with sin are unskilful in dealing with sorrow. To deal with sinners sometimes makes us hard, as if sorrows were imaginary. But no man can be a son of consolation who has not known sorrow for his own sin, sorrow in penance, sorrow for the sins of others, sorrow for the wreck which death has wreaked upon the world. The beatitude, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," is a promise that God will console them, not only by the Paraclete, but by those who are consecrated to be "sons of consolation"—the priests and pastors who share the office, the tenderness, and the sympathies of our great High Priest,
