God is ruled according to the law of natural things or of fortune. So every man is seen to have a double power; for every man ought to have the power over the movements of his members, and therefore has the power of walking in grace, so also the spiritual power has manifold subdivisions, for there is one power of orders and another common to all. The power of orders is called the spiritual power. This is that which the clergy has to administer the sacraments of the church that the clergy may profit itself and the laity, and such power is the power of consecrating the mass, absolving and performing the other sacramental acts—sacramentalia. For the power of consecrating the mass exists of itself and immediately, that the priest may consecrate just as dispositions of moral virtue are ordained because of acts better than the dispositions. And as the priest, in order that he may consecrate worthily, is guided as to the gifts of grace, the above description holds.
But the spiritual power, which is common, is the power which every priest[1] has in doing spiritual works whether in his own person or among others, and about these the verse reminds us:
Doce, consule, castiga, solare, remitte, fer, ora.
Teach, counsel, punish, console, remit, bear, pray.[2]
For as many as received Christ by faith to these hath he given the power to become the sons of God, so that they may guide themselves and their brethren in the way of their Father Christ, and by rebuking in love as Christ said: "If thy brother sin against thee, go show him his fault between thee and him alone," Matt. 18:15.
- ↑ Plebanus, the term common in the M. A. for the parish priest.
- ↑ The seven spiritual gifts of mercy, namely, teach the ignorant, direct the doubting, reprove the erring, console the sorrowing, forgive those indebted to thee, bear the infirmities of others, pray for all—in opposition to the seven bodily works of mercy: Visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo, condo, namely, I visit the sick, give drink to the thirsty, feed the hungry, release the imprisoned, clothe the naked, care for the stranger, bury the dead. See Huss, Super IV. Sent., p. 596.
