7.
God Himself assures you that you may walk without fear under the guidance of those He has charged with your direction, that when you hear them, it is Himself you hear, and He considers the obedience you show to them as shown to Himself, or on the contrary when you show them contempt, it is Himself you despise [3]; that He has given them command to watch over you, and you may depend upon them as upon guardians and sentinels who are charged to answer for your soul, and even for your mistakes, if they proceed from their advice and not from your indocility.
After all these assurances, you still require certainty before you will go a step. This is either a want of faith or presumption -- want of faith, if you believe not the word of God; presumption, if you refuse subjection to the order established. To wait for the daylight before you proceed is either to want confidence in your guide, or to refuse his assistance.
8.
No, you will reply, it is not my wish to guide myself. I will obey the guide appointed for my soul, and my obedience would be entire, if his conduct was more perfect [4]. Some trifles displease you in his manners, and your fear of being misled aggravates you extremely. Suppose this is so and even worse. He may not be a fervent priest [5], but he is a good confessor [6]. Perhaps he possesses not that recollected piety full of tenderness and grace that you desire to find in him, but he tries to lead you to it. Should he be unworthy of these gifts, he would be not less the channel of them for you. The grace of his vocation will not be taken away for his personal defects. The best physicians do not always enjoy the best health, nor is their regimen always most exact. Choose your confessor with care and discernment, and then go simply and confidently as he directs [7]. [Emphasis added.]
[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/confessor?s=t
[2] Ambroise de Lombez, OFM, Cap. A Treatise On Interior Peace. Trans. Sister Marie Celeste, SC. (New York: Alba House, 1996), 32-33.
[3] "Ouch."
[4] Precisely how I feel.
[5] This would include a known fornicating priest, a child-molesting priest and a bigoted and hypocritical priest.
[6] Should a penitent confess to priest who is a known fornicator, an adulterer (a priest is "married" to his vows), a pedophiliac, a bigot or a hypocrite? Can such a priest be trusted to lead one away from sexual addiction of all kinds, bigotry and hypocrisy? The reply is difficult to refute and is making me revisit my judgments. If such priests are such good confessors, and they continue to sin in their ways, should they continue to be part of the Catholic church and clothed with apparent authority to hear confessions and administer the Holy Eucharist? On second thought, maybe I ought to adhere to my condemnation of such priests -- but then we are not to judge. Instead, we are to hope that one day that such sinning priests would repent and be forgiven by God. Since God is love and will forgive, who are we, ourselves sinners, not to forgive and to love in order to be forgiven and loved by God?
[7] Did the author send a warning to his readers by these words: "Choose your confessor with care and discernment"? Is it possible that the author is trying to caution the penitent to walk not into a confessional or the confessor's office blindly and trustingly and be seduced or molested, but instead to go "simply and confidently" as the confessor directs (in whichever manner that pleases him) only after choosing him "with care and discernment"?
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