Emotional love will always be a mystery even to the most experienced. It s unfortunate we have to go into such detail on such matters, but things have changed a great deal in the past forty years. There seems to be a lot more to this than in generations past. It s unpleasant to think about and talk about what has and can happen with priests, but it appears to be necessary to spell it out. We have to be more aware of the problems and the solutions.
Experience helps, prudence is needed, but grace is indispensable.
Unless a priest fills his life up with a strong prayer life at least a holy hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament frequent confession, daily Mass, devotion to Mary and reading the lives of saints to stir his heart, he will be an easy mark for the devil. If Satan doesn t trip him up with Eros , he ll catch him on something else. Prayer is at the heart of the priesthood. We have seen the sad things the evil one has done to our priests. There Lewis said, . . .