accepting it, they often fall into a snare. "For by whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave."[1] By whatsoever a man is overcome, by the same he is brought in bondage. There is no bondage greater for a priest than an unbalanced personal attachment. When he was ordained he gave his whole soul to his Divine Master; and in return he received the liberty which set him free from all inordinate friendships and all undue attachments. This liberty consists in a perfect equilibrium of his mind. It is poised on the love of God reigning over all his affections, perfecting them all in warmth and tenderness to all about him, but forbidding them so to attach themselves to any one as to lose their balance, or the perfect equilibrium of their mind. The sure signs of an unbalanced mind are frequent meetings, many letters, long visits, weariness at home, restless seeking, waste of time, impatience of solitude. When a priest finds his evenings tedious, his own room lonely, his books tasteless, it is clear that he has lost his equilibrium. He is in bondage to something or to some one, and he has lost his perfect liberty of heart. S. Jerome says: "Let the cleric who serves the Church of Christ first interpret his name, and, finding the definition of his name,
- ↑ 2 S. Pet. ii. 19.
