sent
has power from God to teach God's words to the faithful. He is the
ambassador of God, commissioned to do His work with His authority; the
vicar of Christ continuing the work He commenced; and the organ of the
Holy Ghost for the sanctification of souls. He is ever imitating his
model, going "about doing good." He devotes his life to alleviate the
sufferings of men. To spend one's life instructing man is but second in
importance to alleviating his sufferings. This the priest is ever doing.
He rescued us from barbarism; saved for us at the risk of his life the
Holy Scriptures, the classics of Greece and Rome, and the writings of
the Fathers; founded the great universities of Europe; and is to-day, as
in the past, the greatest educator in the world. He does all this for
love of God. Do you wonder, then, that Catholics love and revere their
priests?

Nowhere can there be found a body of men or a series of rulers so
venerable, so renowned for wisdom, justice, charity, and holiness, as
the Popes, bishops, and priests of the Catholic Church in every age,
_from the time of Christ until the present_.

XVII. Celibacy

"He who is unmarried careth about the things of the Lord, how he may
please God" (_i Cor_. vii. 32).

THE Catholic Church recognizes matrimony as a holy state. She recommends
celibacy to those desiring greater perfection, and enjoins it on her
priests because, as St. Paul says, "He who is unmarried careth about the
things of the Lord." It is said that the life of the priest is a hard,
lonely one, and that it is unscriptural. Let us see. That his life is
one of hardships is certain. His path is by no means one of roses; it is
rather one covered with thorns. The young man knows this well before he
enters it. With a full knowledge of its duties and responsibilities, he
willingly enters the priesthood. He knows well that it is a life full of
trials and crosses. He knows, too, that the whole life of Jesus Christ,
from the stable of Bethlehem to the cross on Calvary's heights, was one
continuous trial, cross, mortification; and that the life of every
follower, especially every minister, of Jesus Christ should be fashioned
after that of his divine model. "If any man will come after Me," He says
in the 16th chapter of St. Matthew, "let him deny himself, take up his
cross and follow Me." The disciple, the minister of Christ, is not above
his Master; and it is not becoming that the path of the disciple or
minist