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"I have shown you, dearest daughter, a sample of the
excellence of good priests (for what I have shown you
is only a sample of what that excellence really is),
and I have told you of the dignity in which I have
placed them, having elected them for My ministers, on
account of which dignity and authority I do not wish
them to be punished by the hand of seculars on
account of any personal defect, for those who punish
them offend Me miserably.
"But I wish seculars to hold them in due
reverence, not for their own sakes, as I have said,
but for Mine, by reason of the authority which I have
given them. Wherefore this reverence should never
diminish in the case of priests whose virtue grows
weak, any more than in the case of those virtuous
ones of whose goodness I have spoken to you; for all
alike have been appointed ministers of the Sun --
that is of the Body and Blood of My Son, and of the
other Sacraments.
"This dignity belongs to good and bad alike -- all
have the Sun to administer, as has been said, and
perfect priests are themselves in a condition of
light, that is to say, they illuminate and warm their
neighbors through their love. And with this heat they
cause virtues to spring up and bear fruit in the
souls of their subjects.
"I have appointed them to be in very truth your
guardian angels to protect you; to inspire your
hearts with good thoughts by their holy prayers, and
to teach you My doctrine reflected in the mirror of
their life, and to serve you by administering to you
the holy Sacraments, thus serving you, watching over
you, and inspiring you with good and holy thoughts as
does an angel.
"See, then, that besides the dignity to which I
have appointed them, how worthy they are of being
loved; when they also possess the adornment of
virtue, as did those of whom I spoke to you, which
are all bound and obliged to possess, and in what
great reverence you should hold them, for they are My
beloved children and shine each as a sun in the
mystical body of the holy Church by their virtues,
forevery virtuous man is worthy of love, and these
all the more by reason of the ministry which I have
placed in their hands.
"You should love them therefore by reason of the
virtue and dignity of the Sacrament, and by reason of
that very virtue and dignity you should hate the
defects of those who live miserably in sin, but not
on that account appoint yourselves their judges,
which I forbid, because they are My Christs, and you
ought to love and reverence the authority which I
have given them.
"You know well that if a filthy and badly dressed
person brought you a great treasure from which you
obtained life, you would not hate the bearer, however
ragged and filthy he might be, through love of the
treasure and of the lord who sent it to you. His
state would indeed displease you, and you would be
anxious through love of his master that he should be
cleansed from his foulness and properly clothed.
"This, then, is your duty according to the demands
of charity, and thus I wish you to act with regard to
such badly ordered priests, who themselves filthy and
clothed in garments ragged with vice through their
separation from My love, bring you great Treasures --
that is to say, the Sacraments of the holy Church --
from which you obtain the life of grace, receiving
Them worthily (in spite of the great defects there
may be in them) through love of Me, the Eternal God,
who send them to you, and through love of that life
of grace which you receive from the great treasure,
by which they administer to you the whole of God and
the whole of Man, that is to say, the Body and Blood
of My Son united to My Divine nature.
"Their sins indeed should displease you, and you
should hate them, and strive with love and holy
prayer to re-clothe them, washing away their foulness
with your tears -- that is to say, that you should
offer them before Me with tears and great desire,
that I may re-clothe them in My goodness, with the
garment of charity. Know well that I wish to do them
grace, if only they will dispose themselves to
receive it, and you to pray for it; for it is not
according to My will that they should administer to
you the Sun being themselves in darkness, not that
they should be stripped of the garment of virtue,
foully living in dishonor; on the contrary I have
given them to you, and appointed them to be earthly
angels and suns, as I have said.
"It not being My will that they should be in this
state, you should pray for them, and not judge them,
leaving their judgment to Me. And I, moved by your
prayers, will do them mercy if they will only receive
it, but if they do not correct their life, their
dignity will be the cause of their ruin. For if they
do not accept the breadth of My mercy, I, the Supreme
Judge, shall terribly condemn them at their last
extremity, and they will be sent to the eternal
fire."
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