His tabernacle."[1] The "one thing" of a priest's life is to dwell near our Lord on the altar, to bear the key of the tabernacle, and to be as a disciple ad latus Domini—by the side of his Lord. The title "Alter Christus" is both a joy and a rebuke. If we be identified with our Lord He will dwell in us and reign in us. "The charity of Christ urgeth us"—that is, His love to us urges us to love Him, to serve Him with all our inward life; for He died for us to this end—"that we should no longer live unto ourselves." "With Christ I am nailed to the Cross; and I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."[2]
If the presence of Jesus penetrates throughout the soul; if it pervades the intellect, the will, the affections, He lives in us, and we, by Him, should live a supernatural life. All our freedom would still be perfect, but His mind and His inspiration would reign over us. We should think His thoughts, speak His words, do His acts. What a multitude of sweetness it would bring into our whole life if we, as priests, could say, "I live, not I, but Christ liveth in me." The world would have nothing in us: we should neither seek it nor fear it. The consciousness of our predestination and vocation, and justification and adoption, and of our
