and the probation of man. As Head of the Church He is in every living member of His mystical Body. But as Head of the Church He is in the glory of the Father, and from the right hand of the Father He never departs till He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. Our relation to Him in heaven is nevertheless a divine and real dependence. But this is common to all alike. The priesthood has another relation, as we have seen, in the custody of His sacramental Presence. Mundamini qui fertis vasa Domini. If they who bore the vessels of the Lord were bound to purity, what is the obligation of the priest, who bears the Lord Himself? A trust is a sign of confidence; to be trusted by God, who knows our hearts, is a pledge of an especial confidence; to be intrusted with the presence of the Incarnate Word is the highest pledge of the most absolute confidence. What a vocation is the call to be a priest. What an integrity and sincerity of heart does it demand. Happy for us if we could think that our Master saw in us what He saw in Nathaniel—a heart in which there is no guile. When He was on earth He did not trust Himself to men, because He knew what was in men.[1] Can it be that He knew what was in us when He com-
- ↑ S. John ii. 24, 25.
