Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/183

Rh when we shall hear Him say, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

No priest, then, is friendless. There is always one Friend in whom we may find perfect and changeless rest. Other friends often grieve and disappoint us. One only Divine Friend never fails. But our perception of His friendship will vary in the measure in which we maintain our liberty from all unbalanced human attachments. We owe our whole heart to Him from the hour of our ordination, and if we abide in this equilibrium we shall find His friendship alone enough. It is this craving for human sympathy that hinders our sense of the divine. S. Paul could say, Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo. Some of the servants of our Lord have prayed Him to stay His consolations as too great for them. They were detached from all creatures who so prayed. But in the measure in which we keep ourselves from all importunate and intrusive human friendships, which, being sensible, and visible, and always at hand, so easily steal away what is due to our Divine Friend, in that measure we shall find rest, and sweetness, and sufficiency in Him.

If we be weak and wander to human friendships, we shall soon find that there is no rest anywhere else. Everything else is too narrow for a soul to