St. John of Avila was a renowned 16th century Spanish priest and both a contemporary and friend of saints such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Teresa of Avila. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict in 2012.
The zeal of the heart of this priest of Christ is made palpable in every page so eloquently written. In this two part treatise, St. John of Avila begins with a consideration of God’s love for man, a love surpassing all thought, a love eminently manifested in the Incarnate Word who loved his own to the end (cf Jn 13:1). He then moves on to contemplate the grandeurs and obligations of the priesthood in the second treatise.
"O venerable dignity of priests in whose hands, as in the womb of the Virgin, the Son of God is incarnate…In one and the same moment, the same God who presides in heaven is in our hands in the Sacrament of the altar. Heaven looks on in wonder; earth gazes with admiration; man reveres; hell looks in horror; the devil begins to tremble; and the angelic height venerates with all its strength."
