still more purified; but the impure are consumed. For God is a consuming fire.[1] Only those who are configured to the High Priest of their salvation, and by a true will desire to be perfectly sanctified in body, soul, and spirit, can stand before Him. On them His sanctity has a power of assimilation, which perfects the work which He began in them when He first called them. Isaias, when he saw the Lord of Hosts in His glory, was conscious only of his own impurity before Him. But one of the seraphim flew with a live coal from the altar and touched his lips; and his sin was cleansed.[2] The nearer the pure approach to God, the more they are purified. Of the accessions of sanctity in the soul of our spotless Mother through her earthly life by union with her Divine Son, both before and after His ascension, we will not speak; for she was singular in all things, being without sin and sanctified above the seraphim. But we may meditate on the sanctity of S. John and of S. Peter, after their call to follow our Divine Redeemer. The conscious unfitness of S. Peter made him cry out, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."[3] The miracle of the fishes opened his eyes to the power of Jesus; but it was His sanctity that made him fear to be in His presence. The
Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/39
THE THREE RELATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD.
27
