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"I have told you all this, dearest daughter, that you
may the better recognize the dignity to which I have
called My ministers, so that your grief at their
miseries may be more intense.
"If they themselves considered their own dignity
they would not be in the darkness of mortal sin, or
defile the face of their soul. They would not only
see their offenses against Me, but also, that, if
they gave their bodies to be burned, they would not
repay the tremendous grace and favor which they have
received, inasmuch as no greater dignity exists in
this life.
"They are My anointed ones, and I call them My
Christs, because I have given them the office of
administering Me to you, and have placed them like
fragrant flowers in the mystical body of the holy
Church. The angel himself has no such dignity, for I
have given it to those men whom I have chosen for My
ministers, and whom I have appointed as earthly
angels in this life.
"In all souls I demand purity and charity, that
they should love Me and their neighbor, helping him
by the ministration of prayer, as I said to you in
another place. But far more do I demand purity in My
ministers, and love towards Me, and towards their
fellow-creatures, administering to them the Body and
Blood of My only-begotten Son, with the fire of
charity, and a hunger for the salvation of souls, for
the glory and honor of My Name.
"Even as these ministers require cleanness in the
chalice in which this Sacrifice is made, even so do I
require the purity and cleanness of their heart and
soul and mind.
"And I wish their body to be preserved, as the
instrument of the soul in perfect charity; and I do
not wish them to feed upon and wallow in the mire of
filth, or to be inflated by pride, seeking great
prelacies, or to be cruel to themselves or to their
fellow-creatures, because they cannot use cruelty to
themselves without being cruel to their
fellow-creatures; for, if by sin they are cruel to
themselves, they are cruel to the souls of their
neighbors, in that they do not give them an example
of life, nor care to draw them out of the hands of
the Devil, nor to administer to them the Body and
Blood of My only-begotten Son, and Me the True Light,
as I told you, and the other Sacraments of the holy
Church. So that, in being cruel to themselves, they
are cruel to others." |