"Perhaps the sole ends of the priesthood are to say Mass, and to recite the Office, and then to live like seculars?
No, the end for which God has instituted the priesthood has been to appoint on earth public persons to watch over the honor of his divine majesty, and to procure the salvation of souls.
'For every high priest,' says St. Paul, taken from among men, 'is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err.' "
~St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori
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