Advice for priests from another priest

"When you treat virtuous and sinful acts in your sermons and exhortations, use simple language and sensible idioms.

"Give apt and precise examples whenever you can.

"Each sinner in your congregation should feel moved as though you were preaching to him alone.

"Your words should sound as though they were coming, not from a proud or angry soul, but from a charitable and loving heart.

"Your tone of voice should be that of a father who suffers with his sinful children, as though they were seriously ill or were lying in a huge pit; and he struggles to free them, raise them up, and cherish them like a mother, as one who is happy over their progress and the hope they have of heaven's glory.

"This way of preaching has proven profitable to congregations; for an abstract discourse on the virtues and vices hardly inspires those who listen.

"When hearing confession, you should always radiate the warmest charity.

"Whether you are gently encouraging the fainthearted or putting the fear of God into the hardhearted, the penitent should feel that you are motivated only by pure love.

"Therefore, speak in a pleasant friendly way before you use words that will prod his conscience.

"Finally, if you truly want to help the soul of your neighbor, you should approach God first with all your heart.

"Ask him simply to fill you with charity, the greatest of all virtues; with it you can accomplish what you desire."

from the Treatise on the Spiritual Life
by Saint Vincent Ferrer, priest
in today's Office of Readings