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 A negative inclination for this holy state would certainly not be sufficient. You feel no disinclination to it; it does not appeal impossible to you to fulfil its chief duties celibacy especially; you imagine yourself free from certain violent temptations; you are not destitute of the necessary talents. Is that all that is required for a vocation to the priesthood?

Much less might that be considered a call to it, which rests purely upon exterior reasons or worldly motives.

It is much to be desired that you become a priest. Pious desire! if the honor of God is its sole object, if it be subordinate to the will of God.

Priests are the representatives of God upon earth. They form a separate state. The Lord is their portion (Ps. xv. 5), and their duty consists in being a chosen generation to the Most High (1 Peter ii. 9), and in helping men to reach their eternal destiny.

The vocation of priests is to heal, to pray, and to offer sacrifice.

They cleanse men from the stains of the soul; they educate them for heaven; they fulfil, in regard to the erring, the duties of the Good Shepherd; they pour oil and wine into the wounds of the soul; they give refreshment to weary mortals; they assuage suffering and impart strength.

They praise God in their own name and in that of all the faithful; they make supplications, they give thanks, they petition for