The Dialogue

A brief repetition of many things said above, and how GOD alto gether forbids that priests should be touched by the hand of seculars : and how He invites this soul to weep over these wretched priests.

" THERE are many other sins of which I might speak to thee, but I do not wish to make thine ears itch any longer. I have told thee so much in order to satisfy thy desire, and so that thou mayest be more solicitous to offer before Me thy sweet, amorous, and bitter longings. And I have told thee that the excellence to which I have appointed them, and of the treasure which is administered to you by their hands, that is, of the holy Sacrament, wholly God and wholly man, illustrating this truth to thee by the figure of the sun in order that thou mightest see that the virtue of the Sacrament is not diminished by their sins, and that therefore it is My will that your reverence towards them should not diminish on that account. And I have shown thee the excellence of My virtuous ministers in whom shines the pearl of holy justice and the other virtues. I have also shown thee how displeasing to Me is the offence committed

310 THE DIALOGUE OF ST. CATHERINE

by persecutors of the holy Church, and also the irreverence in which they hold the Blood. For the persecutions directed against My ministers I consider as directed against the Blood and not against them, for I have forbidden My Christs to be touched. I have also related to thee somewhat of the shameful life of My ministers, how wretchedly they live, and what pain and confusion they receive at their death, and how much more cruelly than others they are punished after death. I have now fulfilled My promise to thee, which was to tell thee something of their life and, having consented to fulfil My promise, have satisfied thy demand.

" I now repeat to thee what I said at first, that however great their sins might be, even if they were greater than I have mentioned, I do not wish any secular to occupy him self in punishing them ; and if they do so their sin will not remain unpunished unless they punish it themselves, amend ing their lives with contrition of heart. For both secular and priest are incarnate devils, and through the divine justice one devil punishes another, and both sin, so that the secular is not excused through the sin of the prelate, nor the prelate through the sin of the secular.

' ' I now invite thee, dearest daughter, and all My other servants, to weep over these corpses, and to remain like lambs in the garden of the holy Church, feeding there with holy desire and continued prayers, offering them before Me for their sakes, for I wish to do mercy to the world ; and do not leave this food of yours either, through injuries or through prosperity, for I do not wish My servants to lift their heads with impatience or disordinate joy, but humbly to devote yourselves to My honour and the salvation of souls, and to the reformation of the holy Church. And this will be a proof to Me that thou and My other servants love Me in truth. Thou knowest well that I showed thee how I wished thee and My other servants to be lambs ever feeding in the garden of the holy Church, enduring with fatigue up to the last moment of their lives, and if in truth thou doest so I will fulfil thy desires."

A TREATISE OF PRAYER 3"