But the priest must remember that the closer he is united to Christ and guided in his activities by the spirit of Christ, the more fruitful his ministry will be. Thus, his priestly work will not be reduced to a purely natural activity which tires the body and mind and draws the priest himself away from the right path with no little detriment both to himself and to the Church. But his work and his labor will be fruitful and corroborated by those gifts of grace that God denies to the proud but concedes generously to those working humbly in “the Vineyard of the Lord,” not seeking themselves and their own interests56Cf. I Cor., X, 33. but the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Hence, faithful to the teachings of the Gospel, let him not trust in himself, as we have said, and in his own strength but let him place his faith in the help of the Lord. “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God Who gives the growth”.57I Cor., III, 7.
When the apostolate is directed and inspired in this manner, it is impossible that the priest should not attract the souls of everyone to himself with an almost divine strength. By his reproducing in his habits and his life a living image of Christ, all those who turn to him as a master will recognize, thanks to some inward conviction, that words he speaks are not his but God’s and that he does not act of his own accord but by the virtue of God: “If anyone speaks, let it be as with words of God. If anyone ministers, let it be as from the strength that God furnishes…”58I Petr., IV, 11. In striving towards holiness and in exercising his ministry with the greatest diligence, the priest must spend himself to represent Christ so perfectly as, in all modesty, to be able to repeat the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”.59I Cor., IV, 16.