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In view of the wickedness and impiety of the days in which our lot is cast, what Is it that causes the vengeance of the Almighty to tarry, and not to punish a great number of the dwellers upon earth by letting loose upon them the waters of a second deluge? It is the blood of the just Abel, of the incarnate Son of God, which is offered up every day many thousands of times upon our globe in the sacrifice of the Mass; and which ascends to the throne of God, calling down, not vengeance, but infinite grace and mercy, upon the sinful sons of Adam. How dark and how dreary would the earth appear were this mystical sun to withdraw its beams, were the daily sacrifice of the Mass to be no longer offered, were we entirely deprived of priests. This shows how very important is the office of the priest and how much respect and gratitude he merits on this account. Priests are indeed the ambassadors of God; they are the representatives of Christ.
Therefore be careful to observe the command of Holy Scripture: “Reverence his priests.” Consider well and lay to heart all that the priests does for you. At the commencement of your life he purified you from sin in the waters of holy Baptism. He instructed you in the doctrines of the Catholic faith: he is your support in life, your comforter in affliction, your helper in the hour of death, your surety for heaven. He feeds you with the bread of angels in holy communion. When sorrow and anxieties oppress your heart, and you are ready to sink into despair, if you betake yourself to the priest in the confessional, the oil and wine of sound advice and soothing words are poured into the wounds of your soul, and you are healed by means of the Sacrament of Penance.
When at last, sick and suffering, you are stretched upon your deathbed, when no earthly friend can aid or comfort you, the priest approaches and consoles you, even if he has to do this at the risk of his own life. He stands by your side in the last awful conflict, brings you pardon and peace in the holy Sacrament of Penance, strengthens you with heavenly food in the holy viaticum, imparts to you strength and courage by means of Extreme Unction. Even after death he does not abandon you: he prays for you and offers the holy sacrifice on your behalf in order that your soul may be delivered as speedily as possible from the flames of purgatory. Now what are you to offer the priest in return for all these benefits? you should offer three special gifts: gratitude, confidence, and prayers.
Gratitude is a charming virtue, one which it is indispensable that a young girl should possess. A grateful daughter will be also a good and dutiful daughter. And who has the chief claim on your gratitude? In the first place God and your parents, in the next the priest, by whose means God has enriched your soul with so great and so many benefits. He it was who prepared you with much pain and fatherly tenderness for your first confession and communion. Be grateful therefore to him as long as you live. Show your gratitude to him by rejoicing his heart with the sight of your blameless truly pious life, by lightening for him the heavy burden of his office, by obeying him implicitly, and by always seconding him in all his efforts for the good of souls. I trust that you will never so far forget yourself as to cause your anxious pastor to utter the reproach: “My child, I should never have expected this of you!”
Treat your confessor with confidence. He merits your confidence, since he has been appointed by God to be the guide and guardian of your soul, your spiritual father. You may perhaps have to go out into the world, and, unacquainted as you are with its seductions and temptations, you may be led astray by them and fall grievously. On this account unspeakable anguish may enter into your soul. If you think that among the strangers by whom you are surrounded there is no one to whom you can speak of the heavy burden which is weighing you down, no one from whom you can receive counsel and comfort, or who can show you how to regain your lost footing, remember that such a friend is always to be found in the person of every good and faithful priest filled with zeal for souls.
Seek him therefore in the confessional; tell him what is troubling you, tell it in a simple, childlike spirit, confide in him and be not afraid. Never say to yourself: “But what will he think, if I tell him all this?” Believe me, my child, when I tell you that a priest, in the discharge of his duties as a confessor, for a length of time, cannot fail to become well acquainted with every kind of grief and suffering, every phase of danger, sin and temptation, every condition of the soul: so that you can tell him scarcely anything which he does not already know. As the result of study and much careful observation, he knows only too well the snares of the devil, the force of temptations, the power of evil occasions and habits of sin, the weakness of human nature, the attractions of the world, he knows all this, I repeat, so very well that it is not probable he will be surprised at anything you may say to him.
Be particularly careful to seek his advice when it is a question of choosing a state of life, for this is the most important point you can have to decide. If you make the acquaintance of some young man whom you wish to marry, lay the matter before your director and confide in him.
A third way in which you can evince your gratitude to the ambassador of Christ, is by praying earnestly for him; therefore bestow upon him the alms of your prayers. The same may be said in regard to the prayers of a grateful, faithful, spiritual child for her confessor as has been already remarked concerning the prayers offered by a dutiful daughter on behalf oof her parents. Such petitions pierce the clouds, and if we may so speak, exercise upon God Himself a sort of holy compulsion. I am speaking from my own experience when I say, that it is the sweetest consolation to a priest, when one of his spiritual children, whom he has perhaps not seen for years, and whose truthfulness he has no reason to doubt, assures him that she has not allowed a single day to pass without saying for him at least one Hail Mary. The confessor who is thus sustained by the prayers of his spiritual children will be all the better able to sanctify his own soul, and to do much to promote the salvation of the souls under his care.
When he reflects upon the great dignity with which he is invested, the immense importance of the office he has undertaken, the awful responsibility which weighs upon him, and, on the other hand when he thinks of the dangers which surround him, and of his own human weakness, then does he most deeply feel that he can only hope to be saved through the prayers of others.
Therefore, my dear daughter, I entreat you, always to remember in your prayers your confessor, the ambassador of Christ!
The Priest Our Lord doth send
To teach to us His love;
To be our kind and trusted friend
Our guide to heaven above.