On one occasion the Lord Jesus said to St. Bridget:
“I have appointed priests and guardians of the Blessed Sacrament, who are in a sense above the angels by their office, for I allow them to touch Him with their fingers and lips, whom even the angels in reverence do not dare to touch. I also honoured the priests with a sevenfold veneration, as it were gradually increasing.
First, they are to be My standard-bearers and special friends through purity of soul and body. For purity is the first step to approaching God; Which nothing touches, to which nothing has access, which is unclean.
In the second degree I ordaind priests to become angelic men through humility; for humility of spirit and body pervades Heaven and conquers the proud Satan.
On the third stage I placed the priests, so that they might become disciples of God through the continual reading of the Scriptures. As soldiers they are given the sword, the bishops give them the books (knowledge) so that they may know what to do, and that they may endeavor by meditation and prayer to appease the wrath of God against the people.
On the fourth stage I have placed priests as guardians of the temple and shepherds of souls, to whom the bishops therefore give to be concerned for the salvation of the brethren; that they may teach them by word and example, and that they may inspire the weak to greater perfection.
On the fifth step I placed them as stewards, ministers of the altar, and as men who despise worldly things. So that, while they serve the altar, they live from the altar and by no means occupy themselves with earthly things, except when their vocation requires it.
On the sixth step I placed them, that they might be apostolic men by preaching the truth of the Gospel, and that they themselves might live as they teach.
I have placed them on the seventh step so that they may be mediators between God and man through the offering of My Body and Blood. On this step the priests stand in their dignity, as it were, above the angels.
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