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Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his own accord.

Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation to keep us from that communion with Him which is so essential to the benefit of our own souls.

Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.

The whole mystery of temptation is to have sins suggested to us, and to be swept after them by a sudden enthusiasm, which sometimes feels as strong as the Spirit of God ever made in us the enthusiasm for virtue.

Those who operate through the Holy Spirit are more equipped to resist temptation.

What makes resisting temptation difficult for many people is they don't want to discourage it completely.

Why resist temptation? There will always be more.

Yet, so far from laboring to know the forbidden tree of worldly pleasures and its various fruits, man gives himself up to a careless and thoughtless state of life, and yields to the lust of the flesh, not considering that this lust is really the forbidden tree.

I have been exposed to a great amount of temptation throughout the course of my career.

The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognized as love at all.