A liAP OF LIFE salvation, has no effect at all on the sacramental work Christ uses him to do. To hold otherwise would actually be to place a man between us and God. If his moral character could afifect the grace we receive, then it would be in some way derived from the priest and not wholly from Grod.* Of the others. Penance is the sacrament of the forgiveness of sins. A man receives the Supernatural Life at Baptism, he can lose it only by a deliberate act of rebellion against God — what is called a mortal sin: mortal because it brings death: for death is the loss of life and by mortal sin the soul loses the Supernatural Life. The life thus lost is regained when we ♦ There are two truths that must be seen in proper relation: (i) the priest is simply an instrument in the hands of Christ: yet (a) as minister of the sacrament he must have the right intention. According to the first, the sacrament does not flow from the priest but from Christ and the sacrament is not affected in the faintest way by the priest’s character — neither gaining from his holiness nor suffering loss from his sins. According to die second, the priest, simply withholding his intention, can prevent the sacrament from taking place. The priest’s character cannot affect the sacrament, yet his intention can. At first sight this may seem a contradiction. But it is not so. The priest is an instrument: that is, he gives certain of his human acts, and these are used by God as channels of grace. But for a complete human act, intention is necessary. The act a man does not intend cannot be called his act at all. Therefore if a priest has the true intention, God uses him — as an instrument y God doing the work. But if the priest withholds his intention, God cannot use him as a sacramental instrument, and nothing happens at all. The question “How can a bad priest administer a sacrament?” misses the point. In this sense there is no such thing as a bad priest. There are priests who are bad men, just as there are doctors who are bad men. But as one only calls a man a bad doctor if he practises medicine badly, so one can only call a man a bad priest if he does his work badly. But, in the case in point, priestly work consists simply in giving certain of his acts which can be used by God sacramentally. IVovided he does this, he does all that the holiest man can do. If he does not do this, there is no sacrament at all. Il6