Page:Catholic Magazine And Review, Volume 3 and Volume 4, 1833.djvu/208

194 "5. The dignity, to which you are aspiring, of becoming priests and missionaries is so sublime, so awful and so holy, that admission to it is closed against all who do not give proofs of their vocation by the innocence and regularity of their behaviour, and by sweetness and docility of disposition. It is not you (says Jesus Christ to his apostles) who have chosen me; but I have taken you, to make you the princes of people. It would, be rash and sacrilegious to assume the honour of priesthood, without being called to it as Aaron was. For this reason I feel it my duty to warn you seriously to study to know the will of heaven, to pray fervently for divine direction, and to consult your spiritual guide respecting it. Look therefore, into the recesses of your consciences; examine whether you have preserved undefiled the robe of baptismal innocence, or, if not, whether you have, at least, appeased the wrath of God by worthy fruits of penance; whether you be disposed to die a thousand deaths rather than commit another mortal sin, and to shed the last drop of your blood in the cause of God and his church. See, moreover, whether you have sincerely renounced the world, yourselves and your own wills; whether you are studying in earnest to acquire the virtues and the knowledge neecessarynecessary [sic] for so sublime a state, and whether the unbiassed choice and judgment of your directors call you to the functions of the sanctuary. For it is only by these signs that a solid judgment can be formed of your vocation."

"Lastly, my dear children, since you are preparing yourselves to carry the light of the gospel to infidel nations, labour assiduously during your abode in the college to enrich your souls with all the treasures of virtue and wisdom, that it may never be said of any of you on account of your ignorance; this man hath begun to build, and hath not wherewith to complete his work. Apply yourselves particularly to the study. of favourite virtues of Jesus Christ and his apostles, whose successors you are to be in dispensing the mysteries of God. These virtues are, humility, obedience, chastity, patient zeal for the salvation of souls, charity to the poor, mortification and self-denial. In a word, animate yourselves to diligence in your studies by the recollection that ignorance in ministers of the gospel is the mother of all the errors at