The Priest has the key to the treasures of Heaven!
by VP
Posted on Thursday February 20, 2020 at 12:00AM in Books
All the other gifts of God would avail us nothing without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if there were no one to open the door for you?
Now, the priest has the key of all the treasures of heaven; it is he who opens the door. He is the steward of the Lord's household, the administrator of his goods. Without the priest the passion of our Lord would profit us nothing. Look at the poor heathens. Of what benefit is our Lord's death to them? Alas! They can have no share in the Redemption, so long as they have no priest to apply Christ's blood to their souls.
Ah! To whom shall I compare the priest? There is no created being like him, even in heaven or on earth. In establishing the priesthood God seems to have exhausted all the treasures of His power and mercy. Indeed, in the light of faith, the man disappears altogether in the priest. Faith beholds in him nothing but Jesus Christ, continuing, in him and through him, the work of redemption for the honor of His Father and the salvation of mankind.
Truly, when we see the priest of the Catholic Church, weak and sinful as he is, gifted with powers which angels dare not claim; power to forgive sins, power to announce his word, power to which Satan submits, when we see the priest possessing power over God Himself, possessing power to bear Him, to place Him, to give Him to whom He wills - we cannot help exclaiming in amazement: " O wondrous miracle! O unheard-of power!" A greater power than this God could not give: it is His own almighty power! A greater dignity that this God could not bestow upon a mortal being!
Since God, then, has placed the priests of the Catholic Church upon the thrones of His own power and sanctity, since He has given them the titles of "saviors of the world," since He call them His cooperators in the divine work of redemption, what wonder if He commands all men to hear, to obey, and to honor them, as they are bound to hear, to obey, and to honor God Himself! "He that heareth you," says He, "Heareth me; He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye."
Source: The Catholic Priesthood, Fr. Michael Muller 1885
