You can speak as long as you please, you can admonish and rebuke as much
as you please, without any fear of contradiction; while we are constantly
liable to interruption."

O! what a tremendous power is wielded by the Catholic preacher! Hundreds
of souls are hanging on his words; hundreds are sustained by him in
spiritual life, and leave the Church depending on him whether they go
forth fortified with the Bread of life, or famished and disappointed. I
can say of every Priest what Simeon said of our Lord, "This man is set for
the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel."

Not only are Priests the ambassadors of God, but they are also the
_dispensers of His graces_ and the almoners of His mercy. "Let a man so
regard us," says the Apostle, "as ministers of Christ and dispensers of
the mysteries of God."(499)

How can he be called a dispenser of God's mysteries whose labors are
confined to preaching? But he is truly a dispenser of Divine mysteries who
distributes to the faithful the Sacraments, the mysterious symbols and
efficient causes of grace.

As St. John Chrysostom observes, it was not to angels or archangels, but
to the Priests of the New Law that Christ said: "Whatsoever you shall bind
on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on
earth shall be loosed also in heaven." To them alone He gave the power to
forgive sins, saying: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven."
To them alone He gave the power of consecrating His Body and Blood and
dispensing the same to the faithful. He has empowered the Priests of the
New Law to impart the grace of regeneration in Baptism. He has assigned to
them the solemn duty of preparing the dying Christian for his final
journey to eternity: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the
priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil,
in the name of the Lord."(500)

As far as heaven is above earth, as eternity is above time, and the soul
is above the body, so far are the prerogatives vested in God's ministers
higher than those of any earthly potentate. An earthly prince can cast
into prison or release therefrom. But his power is over the body. He
cannot penetrate into the sanctuary of the soul; whereas the minister of
God can release the soul from the prison of sin, and restore it to the
liberty of a child of God.

To sum up in a few brief sentences the titles of a Catholic Priest:

He is a _king_, reigning not ov