Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/146

134 man of sorrows. If he has the intuition of faith to see the sin of the world, and a heart of compassion to feel for the havoc of death both in body and soul, he must share in the sorrows of our Divine Redeemer.

1. The first sorrow of a priest is the consciousness of his own unworthiness.

The words of S. Paul must be in the mind of every priest: "I give Him thanks who hath strengthened me, even to Christ Jesus our Lord, for that He hath counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry, who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and contumelious. But I obtained the mercy of God because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now the grace of our Lord hath abounded exceedingly with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. But for this cause have I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all patience for the information of them that shall believe in Him unto life everlasting." These words show that S. Paul did not count himself to be faithful; that he was conscious of his great past unworthiness; that he was forgiven because he sinned in