ght by his
intercession, see Benedict XIV.,[3] and especially the acts of his
canonization.

{649}

A pastor of souls must be careful to animate all his exterior actions
and labors in the service of his neighbor, with the interior spirit of
compunction, humility, zeal, charity, and tender devotion. Without this
he loses the fruit of all the pains he takes, and by them will often
deserve only chastisements in the world to come; so much will his
intention and the affections of his heart be infected with self-love,
and depraved by various imperfections, and secret sinister desires even
in the most holy functions. Therefore, a fervent novitiate, employed in
the exercises of an interior life, ought to be a part of the preparation
for this state; and in the discharge of his duties, a person ought
always to unite contemplation with action, and reserve to himself
sufficient time for conversing with God and his own soul, and taking a
frequent review of his own interior. From his labors he must return
frequently to prayer, and constantly nourish in his soul a spirit of
fervent devotion, which will thus accompany all his exterior actions,
and keep his thoughts and affections always united to God. Those who are
not faithful in thus maintaining and improving in themselves an interior
spirit of piety, and in watching with fear and compunction over the
motions of their own hearts, will generally advance very little the
kingdom of Christ in the souls of others, and are in great danger of
losing their own. This is what St. Bernard feared in his disciple pope
Eugeuius III., whom he conjured with tears never to give himself up
entirely to the care of others, so as not to live also for himself; so
to communicate a spirit of piety to others, as not to suffer it to be
drained in his own heart; to be a basin to hold it, not a pipe for it to
run through.[4] This lesson is applicable, with due proportion, to other
states, especially that of teaching the sciences, in which the exercises
of an interior life are so much the more necessary, as the employment is
more distracting, more tumultuous, and more exposed to the waves of
vanity, jealousy, and other secret petty passions.

Footnotes:
1. The Indians were infamous for their debaucheries, and became so fond
of the Spanish wines, after having once tasted them, that to
purchase a small quantity they would give all their gold, and were
never sober as long as they had wine to drink.