CAPG's Blog 

By the brushwood we understand short excerpts from the Scriptures, which wicked men violently tear out of context to support their contentions, and with smoke and fire kill great numbers of people, that is, the smoke of error and the fire of passion, so that the flames of lust might consume the mind of those who are deceived by their evil teachings and so that the darkness of their vicious doctrine might confound them.

These indeed, are the remains that were seen in the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah after these cities had bee destroyed: "Next morning," Scripture says, "Abraham rose early and went to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the wide extent of the plain, and there he saw thick smoke rising high from the earth like the smoke of a limekiln." Again when he besieged the town of Thebez with his forces, Abimelech seemed to prefigure the attack on chastity. "There was a tall castle in the middle of the city," as Scripture affirms, "and all the citizens, men, and women, and the princes of the city took refuge there. They shut themselves in and went on to the roof, standing upon the battlements of the castle. The city is the universal Church, the castle of chastity is its high point, in which both men and women, the strong and the weak, take refuge, and also the princes of the city, namely, the order of clerics who wield authority in the Church. And when Abimelech came up to the castle, the battle became more fierce, and, approaching the gate, he tried to destroy it by fire.

In the same way senseless and wanton clerics attempt to set fire to the castle of chastity as they exhort many to follow the example of their voluptuousness and burning madness. Firebrands in hand, they attack the castle of chastity as the impure enkindle the chaste with the flames of their pernicious arguments.

But who will end this battle? On whom does this struggle bestow the trophies of victory?

Scripture says: "And then a woman threw a piece of millstone down on Abimelech and fracture his skull. He called hurriedly to his armor bearer and said: "Draw your sword and dispatch me, or men will say of me: A woman killed him." So the young man carried out the order and killed him.

Source: The Letters of Peter Damian, Letter 162

The devil knows that he would meet with a poor reception were he to attack a priest openly; he, therefore, uses every artifice to ensnare him.

Some times he tries to make vice appear less deformed and less shameful than it really is. At other time he points out to the priest the great number of clergy whose lives are no better than his own.

At one time he tempts the priest to presumption, and at another time to despair. Some he emboldens and lulls to sleep by the secret suggestion that they have great virtues which hide their little weaknesses, and that, moreover, they are resolved not to go too far.

There are some who even make virtues of their very vices, who call their sinful attachments by the sacred name of charity. We imagine, says St. Augustine, that whatever we love is good, and that whatever is pleasing is holy.

Again, how many priests have been ensnared by inordinate curiosity! Under the pretext of gaining information, they have been anxious to see everything, to hear everything, to read everything, to know everything, and soon they came to do everything also!

There are certain ties which a wise man does not simply untie or unknit; no, he breaks them off at once. There are moments in our life when we must be able to say with calm, unflinching determination: "Non possumus."

There are victories which can be gained only by flight (St. Aug. Serm 250. De temp.) In order to preserve their chastity unsullied the saints suffered and sacrificed everything. Why did St. Augustine shed so many tears? Why did St. Jerome go through so many night-watches? Why did St. Hilarion keep so many severe fasts? Why did all the saints undergo so many maceration and mortifications? It was that they might preserve unstained the holy virtue of chastity. How many of them have even sacrificed their lives, in order to preserve this virtue, thus uniting the palm of martyrdom with the crown of virginity? The virtue of holy chastity is in itself a miracle of fortitude - a strength which seems to surpass even the fortitude of martyrs. The combat of the martyrs is fierce indeed, but it is not lasting; but the combat of the virgins ends only with their last breath.

Let us glorify and bear God in our body. Let us offer this body to God as a living, holy and pleasing victim. Let us unite the sacrifice of our body with that of the adorable victim which we daily offer on the altar. Where shall we find this mortification of Christ, if not in those who nourish themselves daily with the flesh of Christ? Let us pray that God may forever preserve and increase in us this angelic virtue. Let us pray especially to the Virgin of virgins, that she may obtain for us that glorious crown which is reserved for the virgins in heaven.

A servant of God once saw in purgatory many who were suffering for having committed sins against the virtue of holy purity; but she did not find one priest among them. On asking the reason of this, the angel told her that scarcely one impure priest ever does sincere penance for his sins, and that consequently such unworthy priests are lost.

Source: The Catholic Priesthood by Rev. Fr.  Michael Muller, 1885