We must fast and abstain from vice and sin (3 Cel. 32), as well as from excessive eating and drinking, and we must be Catholics. We should frequently visit churches and esteem and honor the clergy, even if they are sinners—not for their own sake, but because of their ministry and their care for the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they offer in sacrifice upon the altar, receive, and distribute to others. And let us all be firmly convinced that no one can be saved except through the words of the Lord and through the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; these are what priests preach, proclaim, and administer.

O sublime humility! I beg all of you, brothers, kissing your feet, to show, with all the love possible, as much reverence and honor as you can to the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom “all things in heaven and on earth have been reconciled” (Col. 1:20) to Almighty God. Likewise, I implore in the Lord all my brother priests who are now priests, who will be priests, and who desire to become priests of the Most High, that whenever they wish to celebrate Holy Mass, they should reverently and worthily offer the sacrifice of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with a holy and pure intention; not for earthly gain, nor out of fear of or affection for any person, “as those who seek to please men” (cf. Col. 3:22). Let every effort, insofar as the grace of Almighty God enables it, be directed toward God alone, seeking to please Him alone, the Almighty Lord. For here He Himself acts as He wills, as He Himself says: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk. 22:19). But if anyone acts otherwise, he becomes a traitor like Judas and will be “guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27). Remember, my brother priests, what is written concerning the Law of Moses: the one who violated it even outwardly died, by God’s judgment, without mercy. “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28–29) .A person despises, dishonors, and tramples underfoot the Lamb of God when—as the Apostle says—he fails to discern and “does not distinguish the Body of Christ from ordinary food and rites” (cf. 1 Cor. 11:29), or when he receives it unworthily. Or even if he is otherwise worthy, he participates without proper intention and in an unworthy manner, as the Lord says through the prophet: “Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully” (Jer. 48:10). And He sternly condemns those priests who refuse to take this to heart, saying: “I will curse your blessings” (Mal. 2:2).