{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30579/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30579","id":"gutenberg_30579","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30579","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Psalms XXIII -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"The Shepherd Of My Soul\n\n                        By Rev. Charles J. Callan\n\n                        Of the Order of Preachers\n\n                     John Murphy Company, Publishers\n\n                            100 W. Lombard St.\n\n                              Baltimore, MD.\n\n                         Printers to the Holy See\n\n                                   1915\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPsalm of the Good Shepherd\nIntroduction.\nI. Christ the Good Shepherd.\nII. Shepherd Life in the Orient.\nIII. The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want.\nIV. He Maketh Me to Lie Down in Pastures of Tender Grass; He Leadeth Me\nBeside the Waters of Quietness.\nV. He Restoreth My Soul.\nVI. He Leadeth Me in the Paths of Justice for His Name\u2019s Sake.\nVII. Yea, Though I Walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Will Fear\nno Evil, for Thou Art With Me.\nVIII. Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me.\nIX. Thou Spreadest Before Me a Table in the Presence of Mine Enemies.\nX. Thou Anointest My Head With Oil; My Cup Runneth Over.\nXI. Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me All the Days of My Life; and\nI Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord Unto Length of Days.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNihil Obstat:\n\nM. A. WALDRON, O. P. S. T. M.\n\nJ. A. McHUGH, O. P. S. T. Lr.\n\nImprimi Potest:\n\nJ. R. MEAGHER, O. P. S. T. Lr.\n\nImprimatur:\n\n++ J. CARD. GIBBONS.\n\n\n\n\n\nPSALM OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD\n\n\nThe Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.\n\nHe maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender grass.\n\nHe restoreth my soul.\n\nHe leadeth me in the paths of justice for his name\u2019s sake.\n\nYea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no\nevil, for thou art with me.\n\nThy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.\n\nThou spreadest before me a table in the presence of mine enemies.\n\nThou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.\n\nSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I\nshall dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nNo types more beautiful could have been chosen under which to picture the\ncharacter of our Lord and the souls He came to redeem than those of a\nshepherd and his flock. As nothing on earth could more fitly illustrate\nthe infinite love and sacrifice of the Saviour than the enduring labors\nand tenderness of a shepherd, so nothing here below could better portray\nthe multiple wants of our spirits than the needful dependent nature of\nsheep. After the knowledge we possess of our Redeemer, only a slight\nacquaintance with the characteristics of pastoral life, as it exists in\noriental countries, is needed to discern the charming fitness of these\ncomparisons. The similarity is at once striking and most easily\nunderstood. Hence it is that our Lord, as well as those who described Him\nbefore He came, so often appealed to shepherd life when speaking of the\nMessiah\u2019s mission; hence, also, it is that He was so fond of calling\nHimself the Good Shepherd, and of alluding to the souls He loved as His\nsheep.\n\nIt is the purpose of the pages that follow to trace some of these\nbeautiful and touching resemblances of the shepherd and his flock, on the\none side, roaming over the hills and plains of Palestine, and the Saviour\nof the World with the souls of men, on the other, pursuing together the\njourney of life. We have taken as our guide, in noting these charming\nlikenesses, the Twenty-second Psalm, or the Psalm of the Good Shepherd,\nevery verse of which recalls some feature or features of pastoral life,\nand sings of the offices, tender and varied, which the shepherd discharges\ntowards his flock.\n\nAs this shepherd song was composed and written in the Hebrew tongue, the\nlanguage of ancient Palestine, we have employed here a literal translation\nfrom the original language, simply because it expresses much more\nbeautifully and more exactly than does any rendering from the Latin or\nGreek the various marks and characteristics of the shepherd\u2019s life and\nduties. The oriental languages, like the people who speak them, are\nexceedingly figurative and poetic in their modes of expression; and hence,\nfor our present purpose, it is only by getting back as closely as we can\nto the original that we are able adequately to appreciate the beauty and\npoetry of that simple but charming life about which the Psalmist is\nsinging.\n\nAlthough the Shepherd Psalm refers, in its literal sense, to the human\nshepherd attending and providing for his sheep, it has also another higher\nmeaning, which its author gave it, and this has reference to Christ in His\nrelations with the souls He has made and redeemed. It is by reflecting on\nthis sense of the psalm, and on all His gracious dealings with us, that we\nare enabled to realize how rightly and justly our Saviour is called the\nShepherd of Our Souls, and how beautifully the Psalmist, in the shepherd\nsong, has depicted His relations with us. And how important this is! how\nmuch it means for our spiritual welfare and spiritual advancement to\nreflect on the many mercies of Christ and on the love He bears each one of\nus! If the considerations that follow assist their readers to appreciate\nmore fully and love more ardently the Divine Shepherd of Souls, who daily\nand constantly throughout our lives is ministering to our spiritual needs\nand trying to further our eternal interests, the desire and aim which\nprompted their writing will be fully and perfectly realized.\n\nTHE AUTHOR.\n\n\n\n\n\nI. CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD.\n\n\nIt was announced by the prophets of old that the Messiah, who was to come,\nshould bear the character of a good shepherd. He was to be a shepherd, and\nHis followers, the faithful souls that should believe in Him and accept\nHis teaching, were to be His sheep. It was foretold that He would select\nand purchase His flock; that He would choose them from out the vast\nmultitudes of their kind and gather them into His fold, that He would\nprovide for them and guard them against every evil; that He would lead\nthem out to green pastures and refresh them with the waters of rest. \u201cHe\nshall feed his flock like a shepherd,\u201d sang the Prophet Isaias; \u201che shall\ngather together the lambs with his arms, and shall take them up in his\nbosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.\u201d(1) In like\nmanner did Jeremias, referring to the comforting advent of Christ, liken\nthe offices which the Saviour would perform towards His people to those of\nshepherds towards their flocks. \u201cI will set up pastors over them,\u201d said\nthe Prophet, speaking in the name of Jehovah, \u201cand they shall feed them;\nthey shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed; and none shall be\nwanting of their number.... Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I\nwill raise up to David a just branch; and a king shall reign, and shall be\nwise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.\u201d(2) The Prophet\nEzechiel also prophetically portrayed the Saviour\u2019s character when he\npictured Him in the capacity of a shepherd visiting and feeding his sheep:\n\u201cFor thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and I\nwill visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he\nshall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my\nsheep, and I will deliver them out of all the places where they have been\nscattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will set up one shepherd over\nthem, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them,\nand he shall be their shepherd.\u201d(3)\n\nAnd when at length the Saviour did appear in the world, He declared, not\nonly by His life and example, but in explicit terms, that He was the\nfulfilment of these prophecies\u2014that He was, in truth, the Good Shepherd,\nand that His followers were the sheep of His fold. In the tenth chapter of\nthe Gospel according to Saint John we have His own words to this effect.\nThere He tells us plainly that He has not come as a thief and a robber, to\nsteal, to kill, and to destroy; that He is not a stranger, at the sound of\nwhose voice the sheep are terrified and flee away; that He is not a\nhireling, who cares not for the sheep, and who, beholding the approach of\nthe wolf and the enemy, fleeth and leaveth the sheep to be snatched and\nscattered and torn. The Saviour is not any of these, nor like unto them.\nHe is the Good Shepherd who enters the sheepfold by the door, and not as\nthe thief and robber who climb up some other way. To Him the porter\nopeneth, and He calleth His sheep, and they know His voice and follow Him,\nand He leadeth them out to pasture, to rest, and to abundant life. Nor is\nthis all, for He protects and guards His sheep. By day and by night He is\never near them: when circling the green plains, or beside the still\nwaters, or when asleep beneath the silent stars, the sheep are protected\nby their Shepherd. Faithfully He watches His dependent flock; and at the\nend, as a proof of His love and fidelity, He generously lays down His life\nfor His sheep.\n\n\n\n\n\nII. SHEPHERD LIFE IN THE ORIENT.\n\n\nWe cannot appreciate the beauty of this picture of our Saviour under the\nsymbol of a shepherd, nor can we later understand the detailed description\nwhich is given of Him through the spiritual meaning of the Good Shepherd\nPsalm without first taking into account some of the features of pastoral\nlife as it prevails in eastern countries. For us of the western world it\nis difficult, and at times next to impossible, to represent to ourselves\nthe life and customs of the Orient; and in particular do we find it hard\nto picture to our minds and to understand the simple poetry of that\nshepherd life for which Palestine has always been known. Time has little\nchanged the scene of the Saviour\u2019s earthly labors. The people, their\nmanners and customs, their life and occupations, remain much the same now\nas when the land was graced by His sacred presence. Thus today, as in\nthose olden times, all the level country east of the river Jordan, as well\nas the mountains of Palestine and Syria, serves as vast pasture lands for\ninnumerable flocks and herds. The country throughout is essentially\npastoral in its character, and the care and raising of sheep constitute\nthe chief industry of the people. From sheep the people are furnished with\nnearly all the necessaries of life\u2014with meat, clothing, milk, butter, and\ncheese.\n\nThe care of sheep is a delicate and, in many ways, a difficult task. Not\nthat they are froward or hard to manage, for of all animals they are the\nmost tender and gentle; nor again, that they need abundant nourishment in\nthe way of food and drink, since they require water but once a day, and\ncan maintain life and strength on a plain which, to the naked eye, seems\nlittle more than a barren waste of sand. But because, in other respects,\nthey are exceedingly timid and helpless creatures, especially in times and\nplaces of danger, the burdens which their welfare and safety impose upon\nthe shepherd, while paternal and winning, are, nevertheless, arduous and\nmanifold. There are the changes and hardships of the climate\u2014the cold and\nfrost in winter, and the heat and drought of summer; there are the long\nrough walks, the steep and dangerous passes which they must climb and\ndescend; there are perils from robbers, from wolves and wild beasts, which\nnot infrequently demand the shepherd\u2019s utmost watchfulness and care. The\noriental climate is such that they can graze nearly the whole year\nthrough; and whether they be grazing on the wide open plains, or huddled\nsnugly within the sheepfold, it pertains to the shepherd to provide for\ntheir varied needs. His vigilance can never cease. He must lead them out\nto pasture and to water, he must guide and protect them, he must gather\nthem into the fold at night or into caves and enclosures, at times, during\nthe day, to shield them from great danger, whether from enemies or violent\nweather; and upon all occasions he must be prepared to defend them, even\nat the risk of his own life.\n\nThe folds or sheep pens, it must be observed, into which the sheep are\ngathered for rest or protection are not roofed over or walled in like a\nhouse. They are enclosures left open to the sky, and consisting simply of\na high wall of rough stone, to protect the sheep from the attacks of wild\nbeasts, and from prowling marauders who threaten their safety by night. It\noften happens that several flocks, belonging to different shepherds, will\ngraze on the same pastures during the day, and will be penned in the same\nsheepfold at night. While the sheep are sleeping, and the shepherds near\nby are taking their needed rest, the door of the fold is carefully locked,\nand another shepherd or porter is left on guard, lest perchance a hungry\nbear or wolf might scale the wall and destroy some member or members of\nthe sleeping herds. Early in the morning the shepherds come in turn and\nrap at the door, and to each the porter opens. Then each shepherd calls\nhis flock by name; and they, knowing his voice, follow him, and he leads\nthem out to their pastures. There is never any confusion, for each flock\nknows its own shepherd and obeys him alone. Other shepherds they will not\nheed; and from the voice of strangers they flee.\n\nIt is a beautiful scene to see a shepherd with his flock. First, we must\nremember that he never drives them, but leads them; and they follow him\nwith instinctive love and trust whithersoever he goes. He usually carries\na rod and a staff: the latter he uses, when need be, to assist the sheep\nalong dangerous paths and narrow passages; the former, to protect and\ndefend them, if assailed by enemies or beasts of prey. Another evidence of\ntheir implicit love of their shepherd and trust in his goodness, as also\nof their obedience to his voice and commands, is beautifully manifest when\nseveral flocks are led to drink at the same stream or well. Although the\nsheep need to drink but once a day, the shepherds never forget, throughout\nthe day\u2019s roaming, that they must lead their flock to water. And as the\ndrinking places in Palestine are comparatively few, it often happens that\nseveral herds, whether from the same or neighboring pastures, will arrive\nsimultaneously at the same spring. But here again, there is neither\ntrouble nor confusion. When they have drawn near to the place of water\neach shepherd gives a sign to his flock, and obedient to his voice, the\nrespective flocks lie down and patiently wait their turn to drink. The\ntroughs are then filled with the refreshing water, and when all is ready a\nshepherd calls and his flock at once rises and comes forward to drink. The\nsheep being satisfied, the shepherd gives another sign, and they promptly\nreturn to their previous place of rest, or move quietly away to their\npasture, as the shepherd may direct. Another flock is then called up,\nwatered and led away, and so on, in like manner, till all have been duly\nsatisfied.\n\nWith this passing glance at shepherd life, we can better understand and\nbetter appreciate the likeness between the character of the Saviour and\nthat of the good shepherd. We can see how apt it was that our Redeemer\nshould choose a shepherd, with his multiple and tender cares and duties,\nto illustrate His own watchfulness and loving kindness towards the many\nwants and needs of our souls. For we are, indeed, His sheep. He has called\nus, we have heard and understood His voice, and He has gathered us into\nHis flock and fold. He has literally vindicated for Himself in our regard\nall the attributes and qualities of the good shepherd, so far as\ndescribed, and as still further depicted in every verse of the\nTwenty-second Psalm. This is called the Psalm of the Good Shepherd,\nbecause in it the Psalmist, under the symbol of a shepherd, prophetically\nforetold the character of the Messiah, our Saviour. The psalm has,\ntherefore, a twofold meaning: in its literal sense it deals with the\nfaithful shepherd, ranging with his flock over mountains and plains, and\nproviding for their every want; and in its spiritual and prophetic meaning\nit relates to our Creator and Saviour, caring for our spiritual\nnecessities. Let us see how this is; and that we may better perceive the\napplication in detail, let us take this shepherd song, part by part, and\nsee how beautifully it describes the whole person of Christ as God, and in\nHis capacity as Redeemer\u2014in all His tender relations with us, and towards\nthe various needs of our souls.\n\n\n\n\n\nIII. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT.\n\n\nHow full of meaning and how comprehensive are these simple yet beautiful\nwords which introduce the Good Shepherd Psalm! They at once sum up the\nwhole round of the shepherd\u2019s life\u2014his duties, his solicitude, his\nceaseless care of his sheep. But here, be it noted, in this opening verse,\nthe reference, so direct and unmistakable, is not to an earthly shepherd;\nit is to the benign and constant Providence of Jehovah towards His\nchildren, to the untiring love of God, our Father and Saviour, for the\nsouls He has created and redeemed. The Psalmist is looking back, in\ngrateful remembrance, upon the history of his race, and upon his own life\nin particular, and he traces there at every step the goodness and\nwatchfulness of his Creator. He sees there has never been any want. Dark\ndays at times have come upon his nation, sufferings and trials there have\nbeen; and in these, as in other respects, his own individual experience\nhas mirrored the history of his people; but throughout it all there has\nnever been any lasting want. As the shepherd is ever near his sheep,\nwhether at peace or in trouble, to provide for their needs, so, sings the\nPsalmist in gratitude, has God been near him and his people. And his\nconfidence is unshaken; that which has been in the past will be in the\nfuture; as sheep put their trust in their shepherd, so will he put his\ntrust in his Lord and God. Nor is this gratitude for past favors and this\nunshaken trust for the future to be restricted to the Psalmist alone; his\nwords had meaning not only for himself; he knows the same Providence\nprovides for us all, and therefore he would have his words find an echo in\nthe hearts and sentiments of all.\n\nThe Lord is my shepherd; He ruleth me with the rod of gentleness. I am His\ncreation, He has bought me with a great price, He has set me a divine\nexample and taught me the way to life. There may be times of distress for\nme, brief periods of temporal need; but surely, since I am the possession\nof my God, and He is providing for me, nothing can long be wanting to\nme\u2014permanent want there can never be.\n\nThe Lord ruleth me, and all my kind, as a shepherd ruleth his flock. What\na consoling thought to each one of us, if only we be faithful souls! How\nunspeakable the thought, how surpassing the privilege to know and to be\nassured that we belong to God! that out of countless millions of\ncreatures, far nobler than we, to whom He might have given the joy of\nlife, He has chosen to select us; to think that He has allotted to us a\nshort period of existence here below, during which it is our privilege to\nbe able to merit and draw near to Him for eternity; and that after this,\nour little time of trial, we are to reign with Him in everlasting glory!\nOf a certainty we are a favored people and a royal race, for we belong to\nGod. He has purchased our souls by creating us, He has come down from\nHeaven to redeem and buy us back from the enemy to whom our race in folly\nhad surrendered itself, He has borne our sorrows and our sufferings to\nmake amends for us and to teach us the way to life, and finally He has\ngiven His own life for our salvation.\n\nSince, then, God has created us, it follows that He must have had us in\nHis mind from everlasting, because nothing that is, or can be, is\nunforeseen by Him. From the remotest dawn of eternity, therefore; from the\nvery beginning of the eternal years, He saw us as He sees us now, clearly,\ndistinctly, lovingly. We did not exist from eternity as we do now, but we\nwere present to God before we were to ourselves, He saw us mirrored in\nHimself. And when, in time, He called our race into being and endowed it\nwith life, we know what happened. This human nature of ours which He had\nloved from eternity, and favored in time with existence, turned its back\nupon its God and strayed away to sin and death. This was the disobedience\nof our first parents, and in their sin we all have shared, for the very\nreason that they were our parents and responsible for us as well as for\nthemselves. We became a ruined race, deserving punishment, fit for\nperdition; and yet God did not give us up. He followed after us, as it\nwere; He pursued us, as a shepherd pursues his chosen flock, until finally\nHe led us back to His fold, and to pastures of rest and plenty.\n\nIt was not enough for God\u2019s goodness to give us the gift of life, and to\nendow us with understanding, will, and freedom; it did not satisfy His\nbountifulness to make our life fair here on earth, and to enable us to\nreap much of the joys and pleasures with which even this world abounds\u2014no,\nfar more than all this has He wished and prepared for His elect, for the\nsouls who belong to His flock. It was nothing less than Himself, Heaven\nand its rewards, that the eternal Father had in store for us when He\ncalled us into being. In order, therefore, that we should not lose our\ndestined crowns through the guilt and wounds of original sin, He provided\nfor us a remedy, He sent us a Saviour, who was His only son, our Lord\nJesus Christ.\n\nNow since it is to Christ, the Saviour, that the spiritual meaning of the\nShepherd Psalm refers in a particular manner, it is in Him especially, and\nin His earthly life, that we discern and find fulfilled the chiefest\nqualities of the good shepherd. As God, we see, He has, indeed, been our\nshepherd from the beginning, creating and endowing our nature, and\nproviding for us unnumbered benefits, temporal and eternal. But it is in\nHis human nature, in His character as God and man, that He draws nearest\nto us and proves unto us in ways most gracious that He is, in truth, our\nloving Master and the Shepherd of our souls. Marvelous, assuredly, has\nbeen the goodness of God to create us at all; and still more marvelous\nthat He should have destined us for a participation in His own eternal\nblessedness; but in no way has the heavenly Father so stooped to us, in no\nway has He so manifested His utter condescension towards us, as in the\nabasement of His Only-begotten Son, \u201cwho, being in the form of God,\nemptied himself, taking the form of a servant.\u201d(4) For let us reflect that\nto raise our race from its fallen state and restore it to the divine\ngood-pleasure, it was not necessary that the Second Person of the Most\nHoly Trinity should have come down to earth. Such extraordinary means were\nnot of necessity to bring us back to Heaven\u2019s smile and favor. As by a\nsimple act of His omnipotent will God had called the world and us and all\nthat is out of nothingness in the beginning, so again by a single wish of\nthe same divine will He could have restored us, from a condition of\nbondage and sin, to the realms of grace and peace. And even when the Son\nof God did condescend, in accordance with the will of His Father, to\nclothe Himself with our nature and visit our blighted sphere, how simple,\nreally, He could have made our redemption! How easily could He have\nblotted out the handwriting that was against us, and presented our tearful\nworld, all smiling and glad, to the arms of His eternal Father! Yes,\nChrist could have made our redemption easy. He could have paid our debt to\nGod in a thousand different, simple ways, had He wished it so. One drop of\nHis precious blood, one tear of His eye, one sigh of the Sacred Heart\nwould have sufficed to redeem innumerable worlds like ours.\n\nBut the Saviour wished it otherwise. He was our Shepherd and He loved us,\nHis deceived and wounded sheep. He was with the Father when we were\nplanned and made. He it was, in truth, who made us, for He and the Father\nare one.(5) He, therefore, knew our nature, since He designed and gave it\nto us. He foresaw our yearnings and aspirations; He knew the sublime,\ntranscendent possibilities of which, with His help and divine example, we\nare capable; He understood the heights of love and worship to which the\nhuman heart can ascend, when assisted from on high, and hence to awaken\nand kindle on earth these all-consuming fires;(6) to stir the very depths\nof our souls, and elevate and perfect our gifted nature; to afford us the\nutmost inspiration to climb with Him the heights of Heaven. He stooped to\nour own estate, in all things made like unto us, except, indeed, our\nproneness and ability to sin. Since He loved us, He longed to be like us,\nin as far as that was possible, and not even our sin-stained, wounded\nnature could stay the force of His love.\n\nThere is another reason for the mysterious manner of our redemption, a\nfurther explanation of the extreme condescension on the part of our Lord\ntowards the frail creatures whom He came to save. Had he come to us in a\nforeign attire, with a nature unlike our own, would it not have been\ndifficult for us to approach Him, and to put our confidence and trust in\nHim? If He had appeared like an angel, all bright and dazzling with glory,\nif He had come as an earthly king and ruler, crowned and clad in regal\nsplendor, would it not have been hard for the poor ones of earth? would it\nnot have been a trial for those who were in need of a shepherd\u2019s love and\ncare? Already sorely oppressed and trodden down by worldly pomp and power,\nthey could only have tried to shun His notice and draw back from Him with\nfeelings of fear and awe. But our Redeemer came not only to save, but also\nto teach and to lead the way to life. As a shepherd He was not to drive,\nbut to lead His sheep; He does not point the direction, but goes before\nHis flock, and they follow Him, and He leads them out to living pastures\nand to bright, sparkling, far-off waters.\n\nBecause He was God, as well as man, Christ knew that, as a result of our\nsinful state, we should have to pass our earthly sojourn forever beneath\nthe shadow of the cross. When sin entered into the world by the\ndisobedience of the first man, the handiwork of the Creator was despoiled.\nThat which before had been a paradise of pleasure, replete with all\ndelights, was wrecked and ruined, and became a place of sorrow, suffering\nand death. Thenceforth, pursuant to the divine decree, the lot of man was\nto labor, to suffer, and to die.(7) Knowing, therefore, that this was to\nbe our portion, the Shepherd-Saviour of our souls must also teach us the\nsecret of pain and toil, and help us to bear our cross.\n\nAccording, then, to our present state, suffering and sorrow are\ninseparable from us, because we are born into the world with sin upon our\nsouls, and in the wake of sin follow all the evils to which the world is\nheir. And, moreover, under existing conditions, it is necessary for our\nfuture happiness that our earthly life be largely spent amidst toil and\npain and tears. It is only through these that we shall be able to atone\nfor the injuries sin has done, and hold in check the disorders of our\nnature. The cross is before us and we cannot escape it. It is ready for us\nwhen we enter the world, it follows us throughout the length of our days,\nand finally bears us down in death to our graves. This does not mean that\nlife on earth is entirely made up of pain and sorrow, for the divine mercy\nhas mitigated even the stroke of sin, and has caused the world, in spite\nof all its wounds, to bloom with many delights. Nevertheless, our sojourn\nhere below shall always be fraught with diverse ills, and we at last must\nyield to death. In spite of all the world can afford us, in spite of its\npleasures and joys, its sunshine and pleasing pastimes, real, though\nfitful and fast-flying as they are; in spite of health and wealth and fame\nand honor; in spite of all the goods that life contains, it still is ever\ntrue that we live in a region of tears, and that death and sorrow are sure\nto follow upon the footsteps of joy and mirth. It must be so, for the\nstains of sin are indelibly upon the world; and not until the final\nrenovation comes can life on earth be made entirely happy.\n\nAll this our Saviour knew when He chose our human nature and embraced a\nlife of labor and sorrow. His divine foreknowledge took in our lives, and\nthe lives of all our kind, until the end of all shall be. Our infant\ntears, our trials and pains of body, the ceaseless pangs of mind and heart\nthat pursue us throughout life, were all before Him as in a mirror, and He\nmust needs instruct and assist us to fight this battle and walk this way\nof earth, lest all should perish before the journey\u2019s end. Since we were\nto suffer, then He would suffer also; since our lives were to be amidst\nlabors and trials, then He would labor and travail also; since we were to\nfeel the sting of pain, be subject to heat and cold, be in want, in\npoverty, and in distress, be misunderstood, be thwarted, be cast down from\nour highest hopes, and broken, at times, in every cheerful prospect\u2014since\nthese and other countless ills were to be woven in our web of earthly\nlife, He, the divine Master, who came to save, to teach a lesson, to\nsuffer and die, would assume a body so sacred, so delicate, so pure and\nsensitive that, when exposed to the rough and ruthless ways of life, He\ncould truly cry out from the depths of His anguish: \u201cO all ye that pass by\nthe way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!\u201d(8)\n\nHow comforting, then, it is for us to feel that we are not alone in\nsuffering, and to know that, while all we suffer is but just and due to\nour sinful state, we can nevertheless make use of all our ills to attain\nto joys unending in Heaven! If we must toil and struggle while on earth,\nit is because these things are a result of our state; if we must be\nsubject to sickness, to weakness and fatigue, to cold and hunger, to\nweariness and pain, it is not because God is pleased at the misery of His\ncreatures; neither does He rejoice on account of our misfortune. We are\nsimply reaping the harvest of sin and transgression, and sin is the work\nof our own free choice and that of our ancestors. And even though it be\nobjected that we are born into this inevitable condition, and are made the\nunconsulted heirs of a heritage we loathe but cannot escape, the solution\nof our difficulty is not far to seek. We need but hearken to the\npromptings of reason, and lift our sorrowing eyes to the realms of faith\nto be convinced that God\u2019s mercy and goodness are above all His works,(9)\nand that for reasons not less benevolent than holy He has called us into\nlife and permitted all our woes. God could not have created us for\nsuffering and punishment, because He is infinite goodness; He cannot be\npleased at our misfortunes, since He Himself has borne our sorrows and\ncarried all our pains.(10) If He Himself had not come into the world in\nvisible human form; if He had not explained our purpose and destiny, and\nled the way to Heaven; if He had not, by His words and divine example,\nprovided us with the solution for all life\u2019s difficulties, then, in truth,\nwe might object, and sit and grieve and wonder. But in the light of the\nlife of Christ all this is altered; the picture takes on a different\ncoloring. Who now can rail at the crosses of life and think of the\nsufferings of Christ? Who can murmur at the injustice of pain, and\nremember the passion of Jesus? Who can say that God is deaf to our\npleading and unmoved at our tears, and look upon the Saviour dying? Who\ncan believe that our lives are of little worth, or of no account with the\nAlmighty, and recall the price that was paid for our souls and ponder the\ndeath of our God?\n\nThus it is with a bountiful goodness that the Saviour has purchased His\nsheep. By His own free choice, by a life of suffering entirely voluntary,\nendured for our salvation and instruction, through a bitter, but willing\nagony and death, He has provided the means to free us from sin, and has\nbequeathed to us every blessing. Now we can truly say: the Lord is my\nshepherd, and I shall not want. If only we can look into that divine life\nwhich has been given as our model, if only we can ponder it, and read in\nit the lessons, the hopes, the inspirations it contains for us, we shall\nnot be weary of our burdens and cares, we shall not falter in any of\nlife\u2019s battles. Rather, rejoicing at our opportunities, eternal as they\nare, and with feelings of exultant gratitude over our condition, as heirs\nwith Christ to the kingdom of Heaven,(11) we shall bravely welcome all the\nconflicts of life, being assured with St. Paul that \u201cthat which is at\npresent momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above\nmeasure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.\u201d(12)\n\n\n\n\n\nIV. HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN PASTURES OF TENDER GRASS; HE LEADETH ME\nBESIDE THE WATERS OF QUIETNESS.\n\n\nOur attention is now directed to a particular phase of the shepherd\u2019s\nlife, and here we see some of the ways in which he actually provides for\nhis sheep day by day. For it is not enough that the shepherd has purchased\nhis flock, by means however difficult and labors however loving; it is not\nsufficient that he have procured for them, in a general manner, all that\nthey need for their life and safety, he must also arrange for their daily\ncare and provide for their separate wants. Sheep, as we know, are delicate\ncreatures, and they must be directed in their roamings, and sustained by\nsufficient nourishment. Accordingly, we have said that it belongs to the\nduties of a good shepherd to lead them out to pasture, and to provide for\nthem every day adequate food and drink.\n\nHere again we behold the infinite kindness of the Shepherd of our souls.\nNot alone has He deigned to stoop to our fallen state and restore us from\ndeath to life, not only did He take upon Himself our infirmities and bear\nour woes, but tenderly also has He provided for our constant direction,\nand for the daily needs of our lives.\n\nThe level to which the Saviour raised our lives and the dignity to which\nHe invites us are far, indeed, above our natural powers. Left to\nourselves, we could never attain the heavenly heights to which, in His\ngoodness, He has called us. Through the infinite merits of His life and\nsacrifice we have been redeemed and reclaimed from the enemy of our souls;\nthe gates of Heaven, closed against us before, have been opened wide; and\nour wayward race is again restored to the road that leads to our immortal\nhome. But just because our celestial destiny is of so high and sublime a\ncharacter, it is impossible, if left to our own abilities, that we should\nbe able long to pursue it, and vastly beyond our sublimest hopes that we\nshould ever finally attain it. We have, it is true, ever before us, the\nlife and example of Him who has saved us; we know that His cross and death\nhave delivered us from the wrath that frowned upon us. But we are weak and\nfragile mortals. With respect to things of the higher life\u2014of the\nsupernatural world\u2014we, of ourselves, shall always remain as helpless and\nfrail as infants. Not less unable is the babe of yesterday to traverse\nunaided and explore the material world, than the wisest of men would be to\nknow and grasp by his natural powers the unrevealed good of the immortal\nhuman spirit. And as, in our natural state, we could not know the true end\nof our existence, without a divine revelation, so likewise, we could not\npursue and attain our spiritual destiny without special assistance from on\nhigh.\n\nHow well all this was known to our kind and kingly Shepherd! How keenly\ndid He appreciate our frailty and inability to walk alone the paths which\nHe had trodden! Not unmindful, therefore, was He constantly to teach and\ndirect the way which leads to unending life. When going before his flock\nand teaching them by force of example, He did not omit to give them that\nsaving doctrine which, when He had disappeared, would be their guide, and\nthe guide to their future shepherds in the direction of safety and truth.\nHence He propounded a teaching which should be to its obedient followers a\nrealization at once of all He had promised them, and of all their heart\u2019s\ndesires. Not that it would make them rich or great in the eyes of the\nworld and according to human standards, but that it would confer a truer\nand a higher greatness by lifting them above their weak and natural level\nand preparing them for eternal blessedness.\n\nMen had the Law before the coming of Christ; they knew the ten\ncommandments. But the state to which the God-man called them, and the\neminence to which they were raised, were quite beyond anything the world\ntill then had ever been able to conceive. Human nature, under the New\nCovenant, was invited to attain to perfection. Things which before were\nthought impossible, were now to be the objects of our daily strivings. It\nwas no longer an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; now not only was\ngood to be done to those who were good to us, but to those also who did us\nevil; not only were we to love our friends, but to love and assist our\nenemies also; not only should evil deeds be avoided, but evil thoughts\nwere likewise forbidden\u2014yea, we were asked to be, in all our thoughts and\ndeeds, imitators of the Shepherd who leads us.(13)\n\nPoor human nature, when raised so high above its natural powers, stood in\nperilous need of a shepherd\u2019s tender care. The new demands of every day\nmade indispensible new and special daily helps. While our spirits can see\nand know the way, under the light of heavenly teaching, yet how weak and\nfaltering is our flesh! We have the will to do; but to accomplish, we\nalone are not able. Therefore our Saviour said, \u201cOf yourselves, you can do\nnothing, but in me all things are possible to you. The branches are\nnothing unless they abide in the vine; I am the vine, you the\nbranches.\u201d(14) Thus He is our Leader, our divine Teacher and our source of\nstrength. Without Him we can do nothing, but in Him we are strong. And\ndaily and constantly He is near us, though we see Him not. It is He who\nsustains our very life and moves us to all that is good. Like an\never-present friend, He offers us constant assistance: He instructs and\nguides and helps us, and this is the strength and food of our souls. God\u2019s\ngrace it is, always ready for our use, which makes possible all the high\ndemands put upon our nature. Without it we should faint and starve on our\njourney, and hence He who has planned our high perfection, has provided\nthe help to attain it. What are those seven wonderful sacraments which He\nhas left us, but perennial channels of grace, constant fountains from\nwhich stream the life-giving waters that nourish our weary souls and make\nthem strong for life eternal! Through these sacred means we are brought\ninto contact with the life and merits of our Shepherd-Redeemer. They\nprolong His life and labors among us, they continue in our midst the\nstrength of His sacred presence.\n\nIn a manner altogether special is this true of the Holy Sacrament of the\naltar. By the Holy Eucharist, Christ still is with us, and will so remain\ntill the end of time, as really and as truly as He dwelt on earth in the\ndays of His mortal life. Bound down as we are by the things of sense, we\nmay, at times, be tempted to complain that Christ in this sacrament is all\ninvisible to us. We can not see Him directly and immediately. His voice is\nsilent and we do not hear Him; we do not feel the caress of His hand. But\nnevertheless we know He is present, for He has said it, and His word must\nremain, though heaven and earth should pass away. Even were we privileged\nto see the sacred humanity as it was seen of old in Palestine, we should\nnot then, more than now in this sacrament, directly see the divinity\nconcealed by the human frame. Faith then was required as well as now\u2014faith\nin His sacred words, made evident by His sacred deeds. This is not\nstrange; it is not too much to ask. The same demand of faith is daily made\nupon us in much of our intercourse with our fellow mortals. Much that we\ndo not clearly see we must perforce believe, else life would be\nimpossible. The same, in a measure, is also true in all our human\nfriendships. That which is most precious in our friends, that which is the\nsource of life and beauty, of holy words and loving actions, of all we\nlove and cherish in them, is the soul, the spirit that quickens and moves;\nand this we do not see.\n\nThus Christ in the Eucharist is truly present, though faith alone can\napprehend Him. He requires of us this faith\u2014this humble subjection of our\nsensible faculties to the power and truth of His words. It is all for our\ngood that now He is hidden from our sight. He is not the less truly\npresent, not less truly kind, not less loving, not less merciful and\nforbearing; but He wishes to exercise our faith, to prove our fidelity and\ntrust in His teaching and promises, and hence He is hidden from the powers\nof our senses.\n\nIn the sacrament of the Eucharist the gracious Shepherd of our souls\nperforms in particular three offices for us: He is our sacrifice, our\nsilent patient friend, and in communion He becomes the actual spiritual\nfood of our souls. As a victim He is daily and constantly, from the rising\nto the setting of the sun, lifted up for us in the holy sacrifice of the\nmass. The mass is the perpetuation of the sacrifice He offered long ago\nfor our redemption. All the altars throughout the world, on which He is\never born and dies again in mystic repetition, are but an extension of the\none great altar of Calvary, where first He gave His life for our\nsalvation. And in this real and awful sacrifice, forever repeated in our\nmidst, He pleads again our cause with God, the eternal Father. Again in a\nmystic manner He suffers for us, again He bleeds, again He is nailed to\nthe cross and raised on high, and in that same abandoned, pitiable state,\nto which His love for His flock has reduced Him, ever and anon in our\nbehalf He pleads: \u201cFather forgive them, for they know not what they\ndo!(15) Holy Father, Powerful God, stay Thy avenging hand! and save the\nsouls which Thou hast created for Thyself, and for which till the end of\ntime I die!\u201d He lifts, as it were, before the great white throne, His\nbruised and blood-stained hands, He shows those wounded feet, the scar of\nthe spear in His sacred side; He points again to the agony in the garden,\nto the scourging at the pillar, to the cruel crown of thorns, to the weary\nway of the cross, and exclaims to Him who sits upon the throne, \u201cBehold,\nmy Father, and see the price of my sheep, the tears and sorrow and blood\nthey have cost me! and spare them and save them for the sake of Thy Son!\u201d\n\nThrough the holy sacrifice of the mass, identical as it is with the\nsacrifice of Calvary, all the merits of Christ\u2019s life and death are\napplied to our souls. By His physical and bloody immolation on Calvary,\nChrist purchased for us infinite treasures of grace, and it is His will\nthat these graces shall be dispensed to us, even till the end of the\nworld, through the august sacrament of the altar. Moreover, except for the\nmass, we should not be blessed with the abiding actual presence of our\ndivine Shepherd among us\u2014that is, we should not possess Him in that\nspecial, intimate manner in which we now have Him in the Eucharist. For it\nis only in the mass that the sacred species are consecrated; and\nconsequently it is through the mass alone that He takes up His sacramental\npresence in our midst and becomes our food in holy communion. He could,\nindeed, have ordained it otherwise, but such has been His blessed will,\nand such the condition in which we are placed by the direction of His holy\nChurch.\n\nBesides being our daily sacrifice, then, under the appearance of bread and\nwine, besides ever prolonging in our midst that wondrous act of Calvary by\nwhich at once He liberated our race and reopened to us the gates of\nHeaven, the bounteous Shepherd of our souls enters into the tabernacles of\nour churches, and there in silent patient waiting He craves the love of\nour hearts and longs for our intimate friendship. He is not content alone\nto plead for us with God, His Father; He is not content continually to\nrenew in our presence the tragic mystery by which at the end of His\nearthly labors, He procured us every blessing\u2014no, over and above these\nsovereign acts of kindest benediction, He wishes to remain among us, and\nto converse with us, each and all, as a friend would converse with his\nfriend. This is what He meant when He said by the mouth of His inspired\nwriter, \u201cmy delights are to be with the children of men.\u201d(16) As a\nShepherd, His chiefest pleasure, as well as His supremest care, is to be\nwith the flock He has purchased and loves. Yet it is a lonely life for our\nShepherd-King, this abode in the silent tabernacle; but it is all for love\nof us. He wishes to be there where we can find Him, where we can come to\nHim at any hour and speak to Him, to praise and thank Him for all His dear\nand endless gifts, to tell Him our needs and our sorrows, to open our\nbreaking hearts to Him and reveal the secrets of our souls. This it is\nthat He desires from us\u2014the outpouring of our hearts and souls in His\npresence. This it is which renders unto Him that homage of faith and love\nand devotion that He came into the world to inspire. It will not do to say\nthat, being God, He is acquainted with all our thoughts and aware of all\nour wants, for it is intimacy and confidence that He desires, the intimacy\nand confidence which alone can create a true and noble friendship. \u201cI will\ncall you no longer servants,\u201d He said to His disciples, \u201cbut I have called\nyou friends; the servant knoweth not what his Master doth, but a friend is\nadmitted to confidence.\u201d(17) Christ in the tabernacle is our friend; He\nhas loved us unto the end, and He yearns for our love in return. Why is\nthis? Why are we so precious in His eyes? What are we that the great\nCreator should at all be mindful of us?(18) We must remember and ever bear\nin mind the lofty purpose which the Creator had in view when first He\ncalled us into being\u2014the same purpose it was which prompted our redemption\nand all the gracious dispensations that have followed thereupon\u2014namely,\nthat God, while achieving His own eternal honor and glory, might\ncommunicate to us a portion of His own ineffable blessedness. We were made\nfor God, and not for the world, or for creatures, or for ourselves. And\nprecisely because we are the possession and property of God, He wants us,\nsoul and body, for Himself; and in this blessed sacrament He calls to us\nindividually, \u201cSon, give Me thy heart;\u201d(19) \u201ccome to Me, all you who are\nburdened, and I will refresh you.\u201d(20) \u201ccome to Me and find rest for your\nsouls, I will lead you beside the waters of quietness.\u201d\n\nBut the excesses of our Shepherd\u2019s love and care do not stop with the\naltar and with the tabernacle. He is not satisfied with being our daily\nsacrifice and our abiding friend, not satisfied until He enters into our\nvery bosom and unites us to Himself. Union with the beloved object and\ndelight in its presence are characteristic of all true friendship, whether\nhuman or divine. That which we really love we desire to have, to possess,\nto be united with; and hence it is that Christ, the lover of our souls,\nhas not only given His life to purchase us for Himself and Heaven, but has\nso extended His loving-kindness as to become Himself our actual food.\n\nIt is incomprehensible, in a human way, that the love of a shepherd for\nhis flock, the love of God for His creatures, should be so extraordinary\nas to provide the wondrous benefits which Christ in the Eucharist has\nwrought for us. We simply cannot grasp with our feeble minds the\nprodigality of such enduring love. But the Saviour knew His purpose with\nus, and He knew the needs of our souls. As guests destined for an eternal\nbanquet, and as heirs to celestial thrones, it is needful for us, amid the\nrough ways and perils of life, to be constantly reminded of our royal\ndestiny and strengthened against our daily foes. This world of ours is an\narena in which each one must contend for his eternal prize; and it is not\npossible, considering our natural frailty and the enemies that oppose our\nforward march, that we alone, without an added strength, should ever be\nable to win the battle of life.\n\nHence, as the body, to maintain its vigor and perform its work, needs its\nmaterial and earthly food, so the soul, to live and be strong, must be\nnourished with the bread of Heaven. \u201cThe bread that I will give,\u201d said our\nLord, \u201cis my flesh for the life of the world ... unless you eat of this\nbread you cannot have life in you ... and he that eateth my flesh and\ndrinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the\nlast day.\u201d(21)\n\nIn order, then, to sustain our spiritual life on earth and to make us\nstrong for our daily conflicts, our heavenly Shepherd has left us a food\nwhich is none other than His own body and blood. What a prodigy of love!\nWhat could He do for us that He has not done? But, besides giving us\nstrength, He had another purpose in becoming our food. Since He has chosen\nus for Himself, and has provided, in another world, eternal mansions for\nour souls,(22) He wishes to make certain, not only the happy issue of our\nlives, but our ever-increasing resemblance to Himself. He is therefore\npreparing us, He is fitting us, through communion in the Holy Eucharist,\nfor our celestial home, and for visible companionship with Himself.\nIntercourse, communion, intimate relationship produce likeness, even here\non earth, and it is a singular effect of Holy Communion that, unlike\nearthly food, it changes into itself all those who partake of it.\nMaterial, natural food becomes the substance of our flesh and blood, but\nfrequent participation in the heavenly nourishment of Christ in the\nEucharist transmutes our whole being\u2014our lives and thoughts and\nactions\u2014into its own supernatural character.\n\nThus by living much with Christ on earth, by intimate converse with Him,\nby allowing Him to enter into our lives and thoughts, and shape our\nconduct and actions; and above all, by frequent and fervent communion with\nHim in the sacrament of His love, we become like unto Him, even here in\nour state of exile. And this likeness to Christ, which His faithful\nservants assume here below, is a forestate of future blessedness; it is a\npreparation for the great reunion and the eternal banquet which await us\nin Heaven. Already we are led beside the waters of rest; we are directed\nto pastures of sweetest nourishment; and through the calm and vigor that\nreign in the soul we experience even now a taste of joys unseen.\n\n\n\n\n\nV. HE RESTORETH MY SOUL.\n\n\nThroughout the pastoral country of the Orient there are numerous places of\ngreat peril for sheep. There are also, here and there, private fields and\nvineyards and gardens into which, if a member of a flock should stray and\nbe caught, it is forfeited to the owner of the land. Strange as it may\nseem, the sheep never learn to avoid these dangerous spots and forbidden\nplaces, and it behooves the shepherd to be ever on his guard for them, and\nto rescue them when wandering.\n\nHere we cannot fail to observe the striking resemblance between this\nwayward tendency of the shepherd\u2019s flock and our own inclination and\npropensity to wander from God and things eternal. The world is full of\noccasions to evil; at every turn of the road on our journey through life\nthere are fierce and crouching enemies who are waiting the chance to\ncapture and bear us away. We know this; we have often been warned of the\ndanger; too many sad experiences and breathless escapes have convinced us\nof the sundry perils to soul and body that lie along the way of life. But\nwe, like senseless, erring sheep, if bereft of the Shepherd\u2019s guiding\ncare, do not learn, in life\u2019s sad school, the way to keep free from harm.\nThough wounded repeatedly, and scarred and worn, and left, perhaps,\nwithout human aid, to waste and bleed our life away, we do not see the\nlurking evils; we do not discern beneath the mask the enemy whose purpose\nis ruin and death.\n\nThe creatures of the world, the things of sense take vicious hold of us,\nand often drag us to the very verge of perdition before we are aware. They\ncome to us unprepared, and seek entrance into our lives and thoughts, and\nallure us by deception. They tell us that the world is fair and beautiful\nand full of promise; that God, for the moment, is not concerned; that the\nsoul is secure and safe, and the body and its needs the only object of\npresent solicitude. The process is gradual. The turning away and the loss\nare not at once and from the beginning of seductive influences, but slowly\nand unobtrusively in the guise of hope and high expectation. There is\nAmbition, with its glittering prospects, with its proffered rewards and\ncastles of air. To the young man and young woman, just entering the arena\nof life, Ambition says, \u201cCome and follow me, and I will crown you with\nglory and honor. I will lift you above the common, beaten paths of men and\nseat you on a gilded throne. I will introduce you to my sister Pride, and\nwe two will make you happy. Pride will teach you your true dignity, your\nplace and position in the universe; she will remind you of your gifts and\nfaculties, and enable you to battle with the weak and the strong; she will\ngive you the secret of knowledge and train you to soar above your\nfellow-creatures and probe the mysteries of God and Heaven.\u201d Then\nPleasure, with dimpled cheeks and laughing eyes, and words that sound like\nmusic to the ears, hurries out to greet the passers-by, and charms them by\nher shining gifts. \u201cMake me your object and your end,\u201d she says, \u201cand I\nwill make you blessed. Forget your troubles and your cares, your fears of\npresent and future ills; rejoice and be glad, eat, drink and be merry;\nindulge and drain to dregs the cups of sense, for this is all there is.\u201d\nPhilosophy comes with another hope. \u201cDrink deeply,\u201d she counsels, \u201cat the\nspring of wisdom, and fear not God nor man; believe and trust in me, and I\nwill steal away the sting of sorrow and pain; I will restore you to man\u2019s\nprimeval state and land you safe on the shores of rest.\u201d\n\nAnd when these deceivers\u2014Ambition, Pride, Pleasure, and the like\u2014have\nplundered and sacked their victim\u2019s goods, when these painted idols of a\npassing world have led away their worshippers as slaves, and stripped them\nof all they possessed, they give them over to evil habits and to masters\nthat scourge and tear them. Like other prodigals, these pursuers of\nearthly phantoms take leave of their Father\u2019s house of comfort and plenty,\nthey give up virtue, innocence, honesty, purity; they go into a far\ncountry to waste their substance living riotously, only to awake, soon at\nlatest, to a land of famine, and to find themselves alone and in want.\nInstead of the honor and fame and high estate they sought to gain, instead\nof the escape from evil and pain and labor they hoped to find, they are\nsent into fields to minister to swine\u2014the swine of their own degradation.\n\nSo, to a degree, it is with us, each and all, who listen to other voices\nand heed other calls than the voice and the call of God. If we prefer to\nstray to other fields and desert the pasture of our Shepherd, if we prefer\na far country to our Father\u2019s home, if the world and its fleeting\npleasures are more to us than God and His paternal rewards, then we must\nof necessity find ourselves at length in utter want and penury. It is this\npossibility of deserting God, of seeking happiness outside of Him, of\noverturning the plans which He has made for our salvation, that gives us a\nvision of the awful failure of human life. The gifts of this world are by\nnature fleeting and fast-flying, and if we allow them to take the place of\nHim who made them, no matter how great our present boons, in spite of\nwealth and friends and all success, we have missed our chance and our\npurpose in the world, and can only have at last a desolate and a ruined\nlife.\n\nBut how is it, then, one may ask, that man can be so deceived? How is it\nthat we do not learn from others\u2019 disasters to avoid, every one of us,\nthose deceiving, ruinous masters, those false gods that can lead us away\nfrom the one true Shepherd of our souls? It is, indeed, a curious fact\nthat our deception is so easy. Surely a rational, intelligent being, who\nstops to consider, ought easily to distinguish between the great God of\nHeaven and the creatures of His hands. It ought not to be difficult for us\nto see the transient vanity of human things when compared with the eternal\nmansions. But the truth of the matter is, that we _are_ deceived, we do\nnot at all times see the objects of our choice as they really are\nobjectively. Our vision is defective and blurred. If God stood out in our\nlives as He really ought to stand, if He occupied that place in our\nthoughts and plans which belongs to Him by right, it would not be possible\nthat we should ever be led astray. And that God does not always hold in\nour lives the place which is His due is partly the result of our fallen\nnature; partly, therefore, in a way, excusable; but more frequently and\nchiefly from our own perversity\u2014from wilful neglect of our highest duties.\n\nThe blindness and perversity of our nature, which have come from the\nwounds of original sin, make it easy for us, if we are neglectful and\ncareless of our higher spiritual obligations, to mistake the false for the\ntrue, evil for good, the creature for the Creator. In the midst of the\nworld and its allurements, it behooves us to be ever watching, if we are\nnever to stumble and to fall. Had our nature never been corrupted by\noriginal unfaithfulness, had our first parents never turned away from God\nand transgressed His sacred precept, all our present ills would never have\nexisted. But now it is different. We are born into the world a weakened\npeople; each one of us has had an implicit part in the first\ntransgression; we all, like erring sheep, have gone astray. And while this\ntendency to evil is part of our natural condition, and therefore less\nimputable to us, it nevertheless is true that our actual sins and\nevil-doing are the work of our deliberate choice. If, at any time, we\nreally turn away from God and break His law, it is because we have freely\nchosen so to act. The native perversity of nature in a normal man can\nnever explain and excuse the grievous sins which he deliberately commits.\nIt is only true that a weak and wounded nature leaves one less able to\nchoose what is right, and more disposed to wrong. And since we know the\nstate of things, since we know that the fault is really ours when we dare\nto stray to forbidden deeds and places, how constant and unrelenting, if\nwe are truly wise, should be our efforts to keep our vision unobscured and\nour ears attuned to the voice and call of our heavenly Shepherd! We know\nthat by following Him our way will be certain and clear. Howsoever\nenormous the evils of life, and notwithstanding all our weakness, we know\nthat in Him we are safe and strong. But we must hear Him to follow Him, we\nmust be guided and directed by His gracious commands.\n\nThis failure to hear and obey the voice of God it is which more explains\nthe falls and sins of men than all their inherited frailty. So long as His\nwords are heard and directions heeded, mistake and error are impossible.\nWe see, therefore, why it is that so many actually do desert Him and are\nled by evil voices. The cause chiefly lies in the wilfulness of human\nnature and in the abuse of human liberty. We cannot stand unless God\nsupport us, and we shall surely fall if He withdraws His supporting hand.\nBut the choice of evil, the beginning of unfaithfulness comes from\nourselves; for Almighty God will never forsake us unless we first forsake\nHim.\n\nIf, ever, then, we find our lives to be at variance with God, whether in\nlesser or in greater matters, if it should ever be our unhappy fortune to\nwander from Him, like another prodigal, and waste our lives with the\nenemies of our souls, we can be assured that the desertion is all our own.\nWe forget God, we deliberately wander from His sight and care, and then we\nfall. Engrossed in worldly affairs, taken up with present vanities, with\nourselves, our ease, our temporal advancement, we begin to neglect prayer\nand communion with God, we begin to rely on ourselves and to forge ahead\nof our own accord, only to encounter complete defeat and be shorn of all\nour strength. The secret of our power and success is to keep close to Him,\nto speak to Him lovingly and often, to seek guidance and protection from\nHim, and habitually to live in His comforting presence.\n\nBut such is the boundless kindness of our heavenly Shepherd that, no\nmatter how often we may have wandered from Him, or how seriously we may\nhave grieved Him, He is ever ready to pursue our wanderings, and to seek\nuntil He finds us. He does not stop to consider the enormity of our guilt,\nor our unreasonableness, or our ingratitude, but He seeks us. He does not\npause to take an account of all He has done for us, of the many graces He\nhas given us, of the tears and blood He has shed in our behalf; but He\ngoes after our straying souls, and He will not be appeased until He\nrestore us. God does not will the death of the sinner, but that he be\nconverted and live.(23) He knows all our frailties and our diverse\ntemptations; He knows how alluring are the things of sense to a nature\nperverted like ours; He knows how easy it is for us, blind and ignorant as\nwe are, to forget Him and our dearest interests, and to obey the call of\nother voices; all this He understands, and He has pity on us. \u201cHe knoweth\nour frame, He remembereth that we are dust.\u201d(24)\n\nTo bring us back, therefore, when wandering, and to restore us to the\ncircle of His chosen flock, our Saviour has made ample provision. Through\nthose divine mediums of grace\u2014the sacraments of His Church\u2014He has arranged\nto succor all our wants and to cure our various infirmities. The\nsacraments of Baptism and Penance, in particular, were instituted to raise\nour souls from death to life, and to heal our spiritual wounds. Baptism\nmay be aptly compared to the door of the sheepfold. It is the gate through\nwhich men must enter into the fold of Christ, it is the entrance to His\nChurch. It clears away the guilt and stain of original sin, and restores\nthe soul from a state of enmity to the friendship and grace of God. None\ncan really belong to Christ, none can be of His true fold who have not\nentered by way of the door, who have not been baptized. Many there are who\npretend to belong to Him and think themselves of the number of His flock;\nthey speak of Him as their Master and Shepherd; they pretend to be doing\nHis work; they call Him Lord and preach in His name; but they have not\nentered by the door of the sheepfold, and He knows them not. Like thieves\nand robbers, they have climbed up some other way, and they neither know\nHim, nor does He know them, neither can they understand His voice. Baptism\nis the entrance, it is the door, to the fold of Christ.\n\nAnd as it is through Baptism that our bountiful Lord first recalls us from\nthe ways of sin and makes us members of his flock, so in the sacrament of\nPenance He has provided a means by which we may at all times be recalled\nfrom our wanderings and restored to His friendship. Penance is an\ninexhaustible means of reconciliation between the erring soul and God. It\nlasts throughout our lives, it stretches even to the end of time. If only\nwe are men of goodwill and have at heart our eternal interests, we need\nnot be disturbed at our frailty, or at repeated lapses into sin. There is\nno sin which cannot be forgiven by the sacrament of Penance. Not that\nanyone, knowing that he can be forgiven, should presume to abuse God\u2019s\ngracious sacrament, and yield freely and without restraint to the voice of\nsin; nor that we are not to be truly sorry to the end of our days for\nhaving even once offended our benign Maker and Redeemer; but we must be\nconfident that, whatever may have been our faults and failings, however\nprolonged and extraordinary our transgressions, if we approach the\nsacrament of Penance with sincere sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment,\nGod will always lovingly receive us back to Himself, and remember no more\nour unfaithfulness. God hates sin, because it is opposed to Himself and is\nthe only evil in the world, but He loves the wounded sinner who is made in\nHis own image and likeness. Precious in the sight of God is the penitent\nsinner. Does He not tell us Himself that, like a good shepherd, He leaves\nninety-nine just to go in search of one lost sheep? Yea, He assures us\nthat there is rejoicing among the angels of Heaven over one sinner who\ndoes penance.(25)\n\nTo make worthy use of the sacrament of Penance we must be truly sorry for\nhaving offended God, and be resolved, at the time of confession, to do\nwhat lies in our power never again to turn away from Him. To these\ndispositions must also be joined the intention of doing something to\nrepair the injury which sin has done to God. Given such conditions, and we\nneed only speak the word to God\u2019s duly appointed minister and our sins are\nno more. The dark veil which hung around the soul like a cloud is lifted,\nand we again rejoice in the smile of our heavenly Father. How simple, yet\nhow potent are the means provided for our salvation! None but God could\nhave thought of them, nothing but the love of God could have arranged\nthem!\n\nBut even before the sinner is brought to penance, even while he is\nwandering and reveling afar off in the vile delights of sin, God is\npursuing him, God is seeking after him, calling him by name, whispering to\nhis heart, disposing him for repentance. We cannot return to God, once we\nhave deserted Him, without His help. It is our awful power to be able to\nleave Him, but to return alone we are not able. Wherefore He comes after\nus when we have wandered into the wilds of sin; He pleads as it were, with\nour souls, and offers us the grace to repent. Oh privileged are our souls\nto be thus appraised by God, and happy those who hear and heed the\nappealing voice of His grace!\n\n\n\n\n\nVI. HE LEADETH ME IN THE PATHS OF JUSTICE FOR HIS NAME\u2019S SAKE.\n\n\nThe shepherd country of the East is full of walks and pathways, some\nleading this way, some that. Some lead to dangerous precipices over which\nthe sheep might fall and be lost, others would expose them to the attack\nof wild beasts, while still others would lead them so far astray that they\ncould not find their way back. It is, therefore, always needful that the\nshepherd go ahead of his flock and lead them in the right path. The\nPsalmist, in the title of the present chapter, is applying this\ncarefulness of the shepherd for his sheep to our Lord, in His regard for\nour spiritual welfare. The Saviour goes before us with the blessings of\nHis goodness to help and lead us aright, lest perchance we become lost and\nperish in our journey.\n\nThis solicitude of our Redeemer in providing for the various needs of our\nsouls is characteristic of Him as Saviour. It is implied in the meaning of\nhis name. Before He was born, before He was conceived in His Mother\u2019s\nwomb, it was foretold of Him that He should be called Jesus, which means\nSaviour, for He would save His people from their sins.(26) He exercised,\nas we know, this mission of saviour throughout His earthly career. It was\nfor this that He came into the world, for this that He was born in\nBethlehem with a manger as His cradle, for this that, at the age of\ntwelve, He was found teaching in the Temple, for this that He retired to\nNazareth and was subject to Mary and Joseph, for this that He labored and\nsuffered and bled and died. And with His passing from this visible scene\nto the bosom of His Father, He did not cease to be that for which He had\nbeen eternally anointed\u2014the great High Priest, the Mediator between God\nand man, the Saviour of the world. His work is everlasting; and now that\nHe has gone up on high, He pleads for us ever more with the Father. We\nbelong to Him, He has purchased us with His blood, and He must needs care\nfor our safety to the end.\n\nInasmuch as we are heirs, according to divine decree, to thrones beyond\nthe skies, it was necessary, as we have seen, that He who is our Saviour\nand Shepherd should have left behind Him in this world of ours a doctrine,\na code, or system of instructions and laws, which should safely direct and\nguide us to our royal destiny. Those who lived with Him on earth, those\nwho heard His assuring, life-giving words, and felt the inspiration of His\nexample and visible presence needed not to fear for the direction or\nsafety of their course. The divine, living voice and sacred presence of\ntheir Lord and Master they enjoyed, and care and anxiety fled from their\nsouls. But not for these alone had the Redeemer come, but for all mankind,\nfor all who in future were to breathe the breath of human life. He came to\nsave all, He died for all; and thus the teaching which He gave to the\nworld, and which He committed to His chosen followers, was for every human\nbeing, even to the end of the world, that through it all might live and\nattain to life everlasting.\n\nThe doctrine which the Saviour left us, and the laws which He prescribed\nwere vastly different from the teachings of men. Guiding, saving words of\na Shepherd to his flock, they engendered safety, comfort, peace. Free from\nerror or mistake, sealed with the seal of Heaven, holding out a promise of\nfuture glory, they exhaled the perfumes of the eternal city, they told of\nmansions not built with hands. And since this immaculate doctrine, given\nfor the souls of men, was to last till the end of time, there was need\nthat it should be shielded against the assaults of the world and protected\nfrom the influence of our changing human teachings. It could not be\ncorrected, because it contained no mistakes; it could not be changed or\naltered, because it came from the changeless God; it could have no\nsubstitute from the part of men or creatures of any kind, because it was\ngiven by Him who alone was the way, the truth, and the life. Consequently\nthe truths which the Saviour declared to the world as the only means by\nwhich we can be saved, were at once infallible in themselves, and so\nprovided for that no human agency, no lapse of years or revolutions of\ntime and place should ever be able to infringe on their eternal,\nchangeless character. It was to preserve these truths in their integrity\nand freshness that He founded His unerring Church and committed to it the\noffice of custodian and expounder, under the guidance of His Holy Spirit,\nof all He had revealed for the salvation of human kind. Hence to hear our\nShepherd\u2019s voice, to understand what He says to us, to know what we must\ndo to obey His laws and save our souls, we need but listen to the voice of\nHis Church. Before it was established He declared that He should build His\nChurch upon a rock, and that no enemy, or group of enemies, not even the\ngates of hell should ever prevail against it.(27) He established the\nChurch as His mouthpiece, and He said to the little band that constituted\nit in the beginning, \u201che that heareth you, heareth me, and he that heareth\nme, heareth Him that sent me;\u201d(28) and, as if to emphasize this\ndeclaration, He added that any one who would not hear and obey the Church\nshould be considered as a heathen and a publican\u2014types of all that was\nbad.(29) The Church, therefore, is the oracle of God, it is His\nmouthpiece; it possesses and guards the only revelation which God has made\nto His rational creatures; it alone has the words of eternal life.\n\nThus it is that our divine Shepherd goes before us, leading us in the\npaths of truth and justice, preserving us from danger and error with\nrespect to our spiritual destiny. We cannot go astray if we listen to Him\nspeaking to us through His church. In all our perplexities and\nuncertainties, when confronted by any doubt, or confused and distracted by\nthe wrangling voices and conflicting opinions of men, we can be calm and\nat peace, assured in our inmost souls that the voice which guides us\ncannot err, that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for\none word of His to fail.(30)\n\nHe leadeth me in ways of justice, in the ways of holiness, in the ways\nwhich the saints have walked. How exceeding great, indeed, is our\nprivilege, and how certain and individual our election! All that remains\nto us is to listen to His words and to follow Him, and present peace will\nattend our labors, while future glory waits upon our end.\n\nBut in the midst of abundant blessings and spiritual favors which have\nsurrounded and sheltered us from infancy, we are apt to be unmindful of\nour state of plenty and forgetful of the duty of gratitude. We are apt to\nventure out like thoughtless children, trusting in our own strength to\nbattle with the foe; or else, on the contrary, we sluggishly presume that\na bountiful Providence will provide for us regardless of our own\nco-operation. We have never known what it is to want for spiritual food\nand spiritual direction, except when indolence, careless indifference, and\nour own folly have led us astray. These are evils which continually assail\nus, and we often make friends with them, not knowing what we are doing for\nthe most part, until the blood of life has almost ebbed away. We are not,\nindeed, removed from a world where sin abounds and where deceiving voices\nmay allure us this way and that. Like the pastoral country of the Orient,\nthe walks of life are fraught with perils: false teachers, false\ndoctrines, false prophets, pseudo-christs;(31) \u201cperils from our own\nnation, and perils from abroad, perils in the city and perils in the\nwilderness, perils in the sea and perils from false brethren\u201d(32)\u2014all\ntrying to attract and lead us away from the paths of justice and deliver\nus to the enemy of our souls.\n\nIt is necessary that we should know that wolves are abroad in sheep\u2019s\nclothing; \u201cfalse apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into\nthe apostles of Christ.\u201d(33) They come to us with winning words and easy\nteachings, with new creeds, new forms of belief, new ways to the promised\nland.\n\nThe doctrine and truths which Christ taught and which He entrusted to His\nChurch are set aside or explained away by these modern teachers, and the\nnovel and the strange are made to assume the role of the old, the familiar\nand the true. The harm done is incalculable. How many innocent and unwary\nsheep have been lost to the fold of Christ by following the call of these\nunworthy preachers and false shepherds! What multitudes of precious souls\nhave been deceived by their polished words and led away into paths of\nerror, into deadly ways of thinking, believing, and acting, never to\nreturn to the path that leads to life!\n\nThis poisoning of the soul and the heart by erroneous doctrines is\neffected in many and diverse ways; the victims of falsehood are variously\ncaptured. There are the wisdom and sagacity of men, there are the\nconquests of science and the learning of the philosophers, the discoveries\nof our day, the strides of history, the breakdown and overthrow of many\nthings held sacred by our forefathers\u2014and all these changes and ruptures\nin the order of a former generation are now used to beguile the flock of\nChrist and sway them from the paths of truth and righteousness. But amid\nall this din and uproar of conflicting voices, amid the wrangling tumult\nand confusion of converging opinions, those who will may hear and discern\nthe loving voice of the true Shepherd speaking to the world through His\nChurch with the same calm, assuring words which He uttered to living\nwitnesses two thousand years ago. He has not changed, neither has His\nteaching; He has not deserted His chosen flock, but is with it all days,\neven to the end of the world.(34) His love for us, His watchfulness for\nour needs, His enduring care for our interests, in spite of our enemies,\ncan never fail.\n\nAnd while assured of this, it behooves us also, as appealing to our sense\nof gratitude, and as inducing to greater love of Him, to reflect that this\nabiding faithfulness of our Saviour in caring for our wants is not from\nany worthiness of ours, or because of our merits, but only for His Name\u2019s\nsake, because He is Saviour. It was His love for us that prompted our\ncreation, His love that provoked His passion and redeemed us, His love\nthat made Him suffer for us, His love that teaches and shall guide us to\nlife everlasting, for His love endureth forever.\n\n\n\n\n\nVII. YEA, THOUGH I WALK IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR\nNO EVIL, FOR THOU ART WITH ME.\n\n\nBesides the paths and dangerous walks in the shepherd country that would\nlead the sheep to destruction and death, there are other paths all\nencompassed with evils through which, nevertheless, they are at times\nobliged to make their way. Safety from all harm there cannot be for the\nshepherd\u2019s flock. They must in their journeys encounter many perils, even\nwhile pursuing the proper paths. There are deep and darksome valleys,\nwalled round on all sides by towering rocky hills, which at times the\nshepherd cannot easily escape. And within these shadowy valleys and somber\nravines there dwell not infrequently wild and ferocious animals that will,\nif aroused, attack and kill the tender sheep. The utmost care and caution\nof the shepherd are called into service safely to conduct his dependent\nflock through these places of deepest peril. But in spite of all his\nwatchfulness it sometimes happens that a wolf will get into the very midst\nof the sheep. The timid, terrified animals become wild with fright, and\nare scattered, running this way and that, until the shepherd calls and\nbids them collect together. No sooner do they hear his voice, than they\nall rush swiftly together in a solid mass, and either drive the enemy from\ntheir midst or cripple and crush him to death.\n\nThus in times of greatest peril the shepherd protects his sheep, and\nwrests them from the jaws of harm. The sheep know this, and they fear no\nevils; they know that their master is with them. Yea, though they walk in\nthe shadow of perils and dwell in the midst of the valley of death, they\nfaint not, neither do they fear, for they know that the shepherd is near.\n\nThe case of the sheep in the valley of perils is not unlike our own in the\nmidst of the evils of the world; and the peace and safety which we enjoy\nshould be similar also to theirs. We are assured, first of all, by an\nunflinching faith in God and our Redeemer that, if we trust our Master and\nobey Him, we shall be led aright throughout our lives, even to the kingdom\nof Heaven. We shall be led in the paths of justice and love, and crowned\nat length with the crown of glory, if we but follow the voice of our\nShepherd-King, and avoid the walks of disaster and ruin. And to hear His\nvoice and to know it we have but to listen to the teachings of His Church,\nwhich will hush to silence our troubled hearts, and direct our wayward\nfeet into the paths of heavenly peace.\n\nBut, like the shepherd\u2019s flock, we have to avoid in our journey through\nlife, as perils to our safety and spiritual welfare, not only the false\nshepherds and teachers and doctrines that surround us on all sides; but we\nmust also, to pass to our reward, actually encounter inevitable evils and\nfight many necessary battles. Many of the paths of life through which we\nmust of necessity pass are hard and difficult, and full of deadly perils.\nWe must remember that sin has ruined the primeval beauty of our earthly\nhabitation and made our life here below a labor and a toil to the end.\n\nWe not only come into the world with sin on our souls, and are thereby\nexiles from the city of God, but even when our sin is forgiven us the\nremains of the malady continue as wounds in our nature as long as we live\non earth. The deadly guilt is wiped away, but the effects of the evil\nremain. And it is chiefly these wounds of our nature, in ourselves and in\nothers, that render life\u2019s journey, even when pursued in accordance with\nthe law of God, at times truly difficult and perilous. Fidelity to God and\nto His law is not always a safeguard against the wickedness of the world\nand of men; at times, in fact, it is just the contrary. Indeed, is it not\na truth that many, perhaps the majority, of those who endeavor sincerely\nto please and to serve God must often suffer severely for their very\ngoodness and faithfulness? Are they not misunderstood, and criticised, and\ncensured? Are they not frequently accused of all manner of wrong, their\nwork disparaged, and their motives impugned? Are not persecution, and even\nmartyrdom, often their portion? Now all this is the result of sin. Those\nwho call into question the deeds and motives of God\u2019s saints; those who\nupbraid, and criticise, and impute evil to the sincere, faithful servants\nof God, inflicting upon them dire evils, are but showing the effects of\nsin in themselves, are but giving exercise to the evil that rules within\nthem. Their particular acts and words may be without present malice, they\nmay be inwardly persuaded that in reviling and condemning their neighbor\nand doing him harm, they are rendering a service to God Himself; but in so\ndoing they but manifest the effects of earlier sin, personal, perhaps, and\noriginal, which has darkened their understanding and made perverse their\nmoral vision, so that, having eyes, they see not, having ears, they hear\nnot, neither do they understand.(35) Following the corruption of their own\nnature, bleeding from the wounds of original sin, they are prone to\nblaspheme whatsoever they fail to comprehend;(36) and thus it is that they\noften make life and the world for the servant of God a truly perilous\nsojourn, a veritable valley of death.\n\nThis failure to be understood, this misjudgment of actions, motives,\ndeeds, are doubtless common evils from which, in a measure, we all must\nsuffer. But it is also true that the more elevated the life, the higher\nits aims, the loftier the spiritual level on which it proceeds, the\ngreater the difficulty of its being understood and appreciated by the\nmajority, who always tread the common paths of mediocrity. A saint is\nnearly always a disturbance to his immediate surroundings, he is\nfrequently an annoyance and an irritation to the little circle in which\nhis external life is cast, simply because he really lives and moves in a\nsphere which the ordinary life cannot grasp. Like a brilliant, dazzling\nlight that obscures the lesser luminaries, and is therefore odious to\nthem, the man of God is frequently a disturber to the worldly peace of\ncommon men, his life and works are a living reproach to their life and\nworks; and hence, without willing it, he becomes a menace to their society\nand is not welcome in their company. Worldly, plotting minds cannot\nunderstand the spiritual and the holy; sinful souls are out of harmony\nwith the virtuous; the children of darkness cannot find peace with the\nchildren of light. And not only is there a lack of sympathy in the\nworldly-minded for the men and women who are led of God, but there is\noften positive hatred for them\u2014a hatred which spends itself in actual,\npersistent persecution. To be devout, to refrain from sinful words and\nsinful deeds, to shun the vain and dangerous amusements of worldlings, to\nattend much to prayer and recollection, to love the house and worship of\nGod, to be seen often approaching the sacraments and partaking of the\nbread of life at the communion rail\u2014even these holy acts are sufficient\nfrequently to draw down on the servants of God the curse and persecution\nof a world which knows not what it does.\n\nAnd that which happens individually to the faithful children of God takes\nplace on a larger scale with respect to God\u2019s Church. The children of this\nworld, those who have set their heart on temporal things, or who, through\nwilful error have deviated from the right path to things eternal, never\ncease from pursuing and persecuting the Church of God. They hate the\nChurch and attack it unceasingly. Like the perverse and blinded Jews of\nold who reviled the Saviour and His words and deeds, who pursued Him and\nput Him to death, these ever-living and ever-active enemies of light and\ntruth never abate in their fury against the chosen friends of Christ, and\nagainst His holy Church. But need we be surprised at this? Was it not\nforetold? Did not our blessed Shepherd, speaking in the beginning to His\nlittle flock, warn them that men would deliver them up in councils and\nscourge them? Did He not say to them plainly, \u201cAnd you shall be hated by\nall men for my name\u2019s sake; but he that shall persevere unto the end, he\nshall be saved. And when they persecute you in this city, flee into\nanother.... The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above\nhis lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the\nservant as his lord. If they have called the good man of the house\nBeelzebub, how much more them of his household.\u201d(37)\n\nIt happens, therefore, that fidelity to God, and careful adherence to the\npaths of justice and holiness, can frequently be the occasion of perils\nand sufferings for us individually, as they also are the excuse for a\nvaster persecution of the Church in general. All holy persons and holy\nthings are signs of contradiction. They are not of the world, they do not\nfit in with it; and between them and the world there will be strife and\ncontention until the renovation comes.\n\nBut the enemies that lie along the ways of life, that beset and threaten\neven the most righteous paths of our pilgrimage, are not all from\nwithout\u2014the most numerous and menacing are perhaps from within. \u201cThe\nenemies of a man,\u201d says the inspired writer, \u201care those of his own\nhousehold.\u201d(38) That is to say, the most potent evils which we suffer, the\nchiefest foes to our present and future welfare are from ourselves\u2014our own\nwaywardness, our tendencies to evil, our wilfulness, our self-love and\nself-seeking, our own sins. It is from these and like causes that we\nsuffer most. Hard and trying it surely is to bear persecutions and\ncontradictions from others; severe is the strain to nature when, in the\nface of our noblest efforts, proceeding from noblest motives, we meet with\nmisunderstanding and even condemnation; but to the upright, religious\nheart that is sincerely and truly seeking God amid the shadows and\npitfalls of life, the sorest of all trials and the fiercest of all enemies\nare one\u2019s own temptations and passions and inclinations to evil. Easier it\nwere to conquer the whole external world of foes, than to reign supreme\nover the little world within. Of Alexander the Great it is said, that\nwhile he actually subdued the whole known world of his time, he\nnevertheless yielded in defeat before his own passions. He could overcome\nhis external enemies, but surrendered miserably in the battle with self.\n\nThis, then, is our greatest warfare, the struggle with ourselves; and this\nour greatest victory, a triumph over self. \u201cIf each year,\u201d says the\nImitation, \u201cwe could uproot but one evil inclination, how soon we should\nbe perfect men!\u201d(39) But it is not for us to be free from enemies and\nperils, both from without and from within, during our earthly sojourn.\nThey are a part of our lot here below, they are necessarily bound up with\nthe darkened regions through which the Shepherd must lead his flock; and\nhence, entire safety there shall never be before the journey\u2019s end, until\nwe say farewell to present woes, and hail \u201cthe happy fields, where joy\nforever dwells.\u201d\n\nIn our present state, therefore, it is important for us to realize our\ndangers and to be prepared for conflict. There is no way of escape from\ncrosses, and perils, and dreadful battles for all those who wish to win\nthe crown of victory. They must follow the Shepherd as he leads the way,\nand hence our Lord has said, \u201cif any man will come after me, let him take\nup his cross daily and follow me.\u201d(40) Yes, it is the following of the\nShepherd, it is his leadership, his constant presence, that give comfort\nto the sheep, and dispel the dread and fear of perils. And though we pass\nthrough the valley and shadow of death, we need fear no evil, for He is\nwith us. At times, frequently perhaps, as we sail the sea of life, the\nwaves roll over and deluge us so completely that we are all but smothered.\nThe clouds gather, thick and black, and overcast the sky of our souls; the\nsorrows of death surround us, and the pains of the pit encompass us;(41)\nwe are overwhelmed with sadness and plunged in darkness. We think of God,\nwe remember Him, but He seems afar off. The evil which weighs us down\u2014the\npain of body, the agony of soul, the sadness and dejection of heart and\nmind, \u201cthe madness that worketh in the brain,\u201d muffle the voice and all\nbut still the trembling pulse, and we are not able so much as to lift our\ndrooping heads and tear-dimmed eyes to see the gentle Shepherd standing\nfaithfully at our side. It is our failure to discern and apprehend Him\nthat causes extreme agony. If at these times of utter desolation, when the\nsoul is swept by the winds of sorrow, we could only raise our eyes and\nthoughts to Him, with faith and hope and child-like trust, the spell would\nbe broken; and we should see the clouds lift and part and float away on\nthe wind, only to let in God\u2019s cheerful sun to raise the drooping spirit,\nand warm and soothe the troubled soul.\n\nBut it is difficult, when oppressed by sorrow and affliction, to lift the\nheart and mind to things above. Nature of itself tends downward, and\nunless it has learned to discipline itself and to engage with the enemy in\nsturdy battle, it is not yet prepared for life. For the world is a\nbattlefield and life a warfare, even from a natural point of view, and\nonly they can hope to win in life\u2019s hard contest who have learned to brave\nthe battle, who have prepared themselves for conflict. But who is ready\nfor the struggle, and how shall we be able to encounter our foes? Left to\nourselves and to our own resources, we shall surely go down in defeat. The\nopposing forces are too gigantic, too numerous. They throng from near and\nfrom afar. They swarm from within and from without; from our own nature\nand from others, from the world around, and from our own household; from\nthose at home, and from them that are abroad. Frequently during life we\nare, of a certainty, encompassed round with perils; we hardly know where\nto turn or what to do, we are breathless with fright; but even then, if we\nhave proper faith, we shall grow calm, like the shepherd\u2019s flock in the\nmidst of devouring animals and beasts of prey, for our Saviour and\nShepherd is with us, and no evil can befall us. Even when we think Him\nfarthest, He is often nearest; when we think Him sleeping, His heart is\nwatching. He loves us, His weak and timid sheep; we are the objects of His\nheart\u2019s affection and ever active solicitude; He will not let perish, if\nwe trust Him, the price of His precious Blood.\n\nAnd the training we are to receive, and the preparation we are to make, in\norder worthily and victoriously to engage in the battle of life are\nnothing, therefore, but lessons of love and trust in the constant goodness\nand faithfulness of our divine Saviour. Unless we viciously drive Him away\nby deliberate, grievous sin, He is really never absent from us, and least\nof all when we need Him most. It is our fault, if we do not by faith\ndiscern Him, if we do not feel His ever-gracious presence. We need to\ndiscipline ourselves in acts and deeds of faith and love, and then we\nshall realize that He is always near us, even in the darkness of the\nshadow of death.\n\nWe must try to know our Shepherd, first of all; we must endeavor\nintimately to understand Him. For to have faith in Him, to trust Him, to\nbelieve in His power and goodness, in His overruling care for us and our\ninterests, presuppose a knowledge of Him, just as faith and confidence in\nan earthly friend follow upon an intimate acquaintance with that friend.\nBut this close knowledge of our Master, so necessary to our present peace\nand future happiness, will never be ours unless we make Him our confidant,\nunless we accustom ourselves to live in His presence, to look to Him, to\nspeak to Him often, to listen to His gracious direction. And this intimate\nrelationship with our Saviour, this habitual communion with Him, will\nenkindle in our souls the fire of love. Once we know Him, we will trust\nHim, and having faith and confidence in Him, we will link our poor lives\nto His divine life by the strong cords of heavenly charity. Fear and\nuncertainty will then be impossible, even in the darkest hours.\n\nIt is love, above all, that directs our life\u2014love, indeed, which is born\nof knowledge. We do not, it is true, love anything before we have some\nknowledge of it; this would be an impossibility; but once the soul has\ncaught the vision, it is love that drives the life and stimulates and\nenriches the knowledge. The objects of our affections are the interpreters\nof our life and actions. If we love the world, we are led by the world; if\nwe love God, it is God that leads and directs us. Where the treasure is,\nthere will the heart be also;(42) and where the heart is, thither will the\nlife make its way. But if God is the object of our love, we shall fear no\nevil; for \u201cGod is charity,\u201d says St. John, \u201cand he that abideth in\ncharity, abideth in God, and God in him ... Fear is not in charity; but\nperfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain.\u201d(43)\n\nIt is only the love of God, therefore, that will steady our lives, and\nbear us up in the thick of tribulations. It is the confident assurance\nthat we, although so unworthy, are the objects of divine complacency that\nawakens in our hearts a return of burning charity, and enables us to say,\nwith the Psalmist, when the day is darkest \u201cThe Lord is my light and\nsalvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of\nwhom shall I be afraid?\u201d(44) We are not to fear men, said our Lord, who,\nwhen they have destroyed the body, can do no more;(45) neither shall we be\nin dread of our Master, if armed with the gift of His love, \u201cfor fear hath\npain, but love casteth out fear.\u201d Rather shall we, like the martyrs of\nold, mindful of the gift of God, go bravely forth to the battle of life,\nor to the slaughter, calmly, hopefully, cheerfully. While humbly, but\nsteadfastly trustful of the Shepherd that leads us, we shall not be\ndisturbed or troubled; the present shall be shorn of its terrors, the\nfuture of its forebodings. This truly is the triumph of life, when love,\nnot fear, has come to rule us. This is the broader, larger life\u2014the\nforerunner of life eternal in which our days are passed in calm\nserenity\u2014in which we press on with undaunted tread, alike under frowning\nclouds, or under a star-lit sky; alike with the joys of friendship around\nus, or alone amidst the graves of the dead.\n\nWe must not infer from this that the love of God which is our strength,\nthe source of our courage, will blunt our feelings or harden our lives. It\ndoes not seal up the fountain of tears, or make us insensible to the pains\nand sorrows of life, which belong to the lot of all. In a certain sense it\nis likely true that those suffer most in life who are most united to God;\nfor they feel most the coldness of the world and its desolation, its want\nof love and sympathy, its degradation and its misery. Hence it would be a\nmistake to think that the friends of God in this life are either exempted\nfrom pain and sorrow, or made insensible to them, either in themselves or\nin others. Of these and other evils they are truly more keenly aware than\nworldly men, if for no other reason than because of the superior\nrefinement of their nature and the spiritual outlook of their vision. It\nis sin, after all, that hardens while it weakens. Sin closes the heart to\nlove, it renders its victims cold, unsympathetic and selfish; whereas the\ngifts of grace and holiness are tenderness, mercy, strength. But though\nall have to suffer, both the holy and the unholy, the difference between\nthem is this, that the ungodly are borne down and overcome by their\nsorrows and crosses, while the spiritual are always triumphing even in the\nmidst of apparent defeat. To the foolish they seem to be vanquished, yet\nthey conquer; often they seem on the verge of surrender, when they emerge\nin victory; they seem to die, when behold they live!(46)\n\nThe spiritual man, then, does suffer; he suffers in the cause of God; he\nsuffers for others and for himself. More than this, it is doubtless true\nthat he feels his crosses more keenly, he grieves more profoundly, than do\nthe children of the world; but through it all he remembers his Saviour and\nis comforted. He knows that the tribulations of the just are many, and\nthat from all these the Lord will soon deliver him,(47) and he shall not\nbe confounded forever.\n\n\n\n\n\nVIII. THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME.\n\n\nIt is already plain to us that the sorrows and sufferings of the present\nlife are, without doubt, the result and consequence of sin. That we should\npass our mortal days so full of pain and tears, that our fellow-man, that\nthe beasts of the field and the elements, which we need and use as helpers\nand servants, and most of all that our own nature, with its passions and\nevil tendencies, should rise up against us and oppose us, was assuredly\nnot a part of the original plan. As a wise and all-powerful Designer and\nCreator, God founded the world after a masterful fashion\u2014devoid of evil,\nfree from defect, perfect according to the plans framed in Heaven. The\nhills and mountains He founded and set on their bases; the streams and\nrivers and valleys He formed, all rich and lovely, intended for the\ncomfort and happiness of man; the blue deep He constructed and beautified\nwith its millions of shining wonders; and in all these stupendous\ncreations, in all the diverse works of His mighty, omnipotent hands there\nwas in the beginning no trace of fault, of defect, of error or sin. The\nupheaval came when man disobeyed and wrought the commencement of all our\nwoe. And hence it is to man\u2019s first disobedience and the fruit of that\nforbidden tree, that we owe all the evils from which our nature suffers\nand to which our flesh is heir.\n\nBut although we know the source of our sorrows and feel the guilt of our\nsins, this does not make our burden lighter or shorten the path of our\npilgrimage. We are confronted by the problem of labor and suffering as\nsoon as we enter the world. No one is entirely exempted; and, strange as\nit is, we see that it frequently happens, that those are most afflicted\nwho are farthest removed from the wickedness of the world and purest in\nthe sight of God. \u201cMany are the tribulations of the just;\u201d and how true is\nit that the very fidelity of the servants of God is often an occasion of\ntheir sufferings! It is not wonderful that sorrow and fear should be the\nportion of sinners throughout the length of their days, for \u201ccontrition\nand unhappiness are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not\nknown;\u201d(48) but that all, even the saints of God, should suffer alike and\nbe oppressed with miseries is, at first sight, a problem and a baffling\nmystery.\n\nIt is something, indeed, to feel in our suffering that we are paying the\ndebt of our sins, whether personal, or original, or both; it is much to\nknow that our crosses, severe and inevitable as they are, are a curb to\nour wayward nature, and a restraint against further sins; it is assuredly\na great privilege and a high honor that we, unworthy and unfaithful\nservants of our Master, should, through our tears and sorrows and\nsufferings, be enabled to conform our poor lives to the tearful and\nsorrowful life of our Saviour; it is a comfort that words cannot tell to\nbe assured by our faith that in the midst of pains and perils the Shepherd\nof our souls is ever near to shield, to guard, and to save\u2014all this is\nsurely much\u2014enough to encourage and strengthen us daily to take up our\ncross and joyfully follow our Redeemer, even to the hill of Calvary, even\nto the death of the cross. But this is not all. A deeper meaning lies\nhidden behind the veil of tears, beneath the cloak of pain and sorrow. The\nmiseries of life are not a mere inheritance, neither is their value of a\npurely negative character. We instinctively feel that somehow, somewhere\nbeyond the scope of mortal ken, there is a higher explanation and a more\nvalid justification for all the failures and pains and sorrows of life,\nthan that which appears on the surface of things, or issues in results\nthat are only negative. Suffering for its own sake was never intended; and\nwe were not made to suffer. We were not created for misery, but for\nhappiness; not for failure, but for victory; not for death, but for life;\nnot for time, but for eternity. And hence there is a deeper meaning, a\nhigher explanation for all the failures and miseries of the present life\nthan those that are apparent to the casual observer.\n\nIn the title of this chapter the Psalmist, referring to the shepherd\u2019s\ncare for his sheep, says: \u201cThy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.\u201d The\nstaff the shepherd uses, as already explained, is to assist the sheep\nalong their perilous journeys, and the rod to protect them in case of\nattack. The rod and the staff are necessary for the welfare of the flock,\nnecessary to guide and shield them in their wanderings, and to bring them\nsafely home. So too, it is with us, the children of God. To be properly\nprotected and guided to our happy end we have need of the rod of\naffliction and adversity, and likewise of the staff of mercy.\n\nAlthough human miseries\u2014pain, poverty, suffering and death\u2014are, as we\nknow, the consequences, just and equitable, of original sin, it is a\nshortsighted faith and a defective vision that find in these crosses only\nchastisement for sin. Truly, they should not have been, had we never\nsinned; but as God, in His mercy, draws good out of evil, so has He made\nthese inevitable results of our transgression serve a higher purpose and\nminister to noble ends. The Saviour came that we might have life, that we\nmight progress and advance to ever fuller and more abundant life.(49) His\naim, and the aim and purpose of His heavenly Father, since the very dawn\nof our creation, has been to lead us to happiness\u2014to perfect, abundant,\neternal happiness. It would be of little account to be happy here, unless\nwe are also to rejoice eternally. It would be a poor exchange and a paltry\nsatisfaction, to be present at the feasts of men, only to forfeit our\nplace at the banquet of angels. But our heavenly reward and our celestial\ncrown are to be merited and won here below; they are to follow upon our\nearthly labors. \u201cOnly he shall be crowned,\u201d says St. Paul, \u201cwho has\nlegitimately engaged in the battle.\u201d(50) And did not the Master say\nHimself, \u201cLet him who wishes to come after me deny himself and take up his\ncross and follow me?\u201d(51) Did He not declare that we must die to live?\nthat we must surrender our life here, if we would keep it eternally?\n\u201cAmen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the\nground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die it bringeth forth much\nfruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life\nin this world, keepeth it unto life eternal.\u201d(52) We cannot serve two\nmasters, we cannot serve God and mammon. If we would seek to avoid all\npain and sorrow, and spend our lives in the pleasures of sense, we must be\nprepared to forego the future joys of the soul; if we would pass our days\nindulging the flesh and chasing the phantoms of time, we must needs make\nready for the death of the spirit and the forfeit of all that is lasting.\n\nWe have no choice, then; if we would succeed eternally, we must follow the\nway of the cross. This is the only way to life\u2014to that abundant, celestial\nlife which our Creator has wished us to live. And it is the bearing of our\ncross, patiently and resignedly to the will of God, together with our\nother good works, that enables us to merit, in so far as we can, the joys\nof the kingdom of Heaven. But the sufferings and labors, so inevitable and\nnecessary to our earthly state, which serve as a means to supernal\nrewards, have still another, deeper meaning, and serve another purpose. We\ncannot evade them, we must encounter them. They are not only unavoidable,\nbut necessary to our dearest interests, as we see, since they are strewn\nas thorns and brambles all along the narrow way that leads to eternal\nlife. We cannot choose them or lay them aside at will. We may, indeed, if\nwe be foolish and impious enough, refuse to walk the narrow way of the\njust and choose the broad road that leadeth to destruction; but we shall\nnot even thus escape the pains and perils inseparable from this mortal\nlife. Or again, we may, in our folly, rebel against the crosses and labors\nthat confront and pursue us; but whether we go this way or that, whether\nwe will it or not, we can no more eschew all the evils of life than escape\nfrom the air that we breathe. The pressure, it is true, is not always upon\nus; we are not, without ceasing, weighed down by our labors and groaning\nto be delivered from the body of this death. There is interruption, there\nis passing pleasure, a rift in the clouds and a smile of the sunshine even\nfor the darkest and poorest life. And yet withal, we know and we are\nconscious that we are ever under the sentence of death, that life is a\nfleeting shadow, that like\n\n\n    \u201cA flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,\n    Man passes from life to his rest in the grave.\u201d\n\n\nThere is no evading the conclusion, therefore, that the days of man in\nthis world are few and full of miseries. \u201cThe life of man upon earth is a\nwarfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. He cometh forth\nlike a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow.\u201d(53) \u201cFor all\nflesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The\ngrass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away.\u201d(54) To the\nnatural man all this is appalling, and how frequently it finds its\nsolution in unbridled self-indulgence, in mental unbalance, and\nself-destruction! But the saints, and all the truly wise, have viewed the\nproblem of human suffering in a vastly different light. They have\ndiscerned it, first of all, as really distinctive of the road to Heaven,\nand as essentially pertaining to the royal way of the cross. They have\nunderstood that it extinguishes the wrath of the heavenly Father, that it\natones for sin and makes the soul conformable to our suffering Saviour,\nand therefore have they loved it. And more than this, those who have been\nled by the wisdom of God have found, not only that the crosses of life are\nessentially connected with the way of salvation, but that by them and\nthrough them alone we are often _positively driven_ to God. We may try to\navoid them, and at times, perhaps, succeed; we may flee from them or\nendeavor to still the voice of their pain; or, when unable to escape them,\nwe may, in our wrath and desperation, rise up against them and rebuke\nthem: but they persistently remain, they continue to haunt, as if to woo\nand to win us to penetrate their deeper meaning, and discover the treasure\nthat in them lies concealed. The very breakdown of human things, the\nsevering of human ties and relationships, the loss of health and wealth,\nof treasures and friends, and of all that life holds dear, are really\nmeant, in the deepest sense, to drive us to the divine. This is the\nmeaning of those tears and sorrows, those pains and sufferings, that\nloneliness, that grief, that agony of heart and soul which belong to this\nworld of tears. All these are intended to teach us that here below, on\nthis crumbling shore of time, we have no abiding city, or home, or life,\nor love; but seek a city, a home, a life, a love that hath foundations,\nwhose builder and maker is God.(55)\n\nWe need God, we were made for God, and our nature, with all its longings\nand powers, cries out for Him. And therefore has God so arranged the\nworld, in spite of all its evils, and in spite of all our sinfulness,\nthat, if we do not prevent it, it will lead us out to happiness\u2014lead us\nout to Himself. It was our sin that despoiled the face of the world; but\nGod, in His mercy, has drawn good out of evil, He has made the effects of\nsin minister to our advantage, if we will but have it so. We may,\nforsooth, refuse, because we are free; we may object, and rebel, and\noppose our lot; we may take our destiny out of the hands of our Creator\nand attempt to shape it for ourselves; we may deride and despise the\nhumble, the lowly of heart, the patient, the mortified and the suffering;\nwe may upbraid the Providence of God and its workings, and refuse to\nsubmit to the rule of the Creator; we may hold in derision and contempt\nthe little band that is sweetly marching the way of the cross, preferring\nfor ourselves the company of the multitude that knows not God\u2014all this can\nwe do, because we are free; but if such be our choice, and if we persevere\nin it, our portion is fixed, and we shall have at last only to say with\nthe wicked: \u201cTherefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light\nof justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not\nrisen upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and\ndestruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we\nhave not known. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the\nboasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a\nshadow, and like a post that runneth on.\u201d(56)\n\nSufferings, therefore, are common to all, to the good and the bad, to the\nwise and the foolish, to the children of light and to the children of\ndarkness. But only those who are directed by grace and light from above\nare able to pierce the deeper meaning of the cross. All have to bear it,\nbut not all understand it; all feel the weight of it, but all do not know\nthe power of it. Like fortune, it knocks at every door, into every heart\nit endeavors to enter and make known its deeper significance, its hidden\nsecrets, lest any of us should suffer in vain, and our lives be altogether\na failure. To be able to suffer patiently and gladly for God\u2019s sake, is\nthus a great wisdom; it is a sign of future blessedness. It is the wisdom\nof God, which is foolishness to men. \u201cIf thou hadst the science of all the\nastronomers,\u201d says Eternal Wisdom; \u201cif thou couldst speak and discourse\nabout God as fully and well as all angels and men; if thou alone were as\nlearned as the whole body of doctors; all this would not bestow on thee so\nmuch holiness of life as if, in the afflictions that come upon thee, thou\nart able to be resigned to Me and to abandon thyself to Me. The former is\ncommon to good and bad, but the latter belongs to My elect alone.\u201d\n\nWe know that our Saviour took upon Himself the cross of sorrow and\nsuffering, not alone that He might satisfy for our transgressions and be\nour ransom from bondage, but also that He might be unto us an example and\na leader. And knowing that our unfaithfulness had incurred severest\nmaladies from which none could escape, He bore our infirmities and carried\nour sorrows for us, in order that we, in our time, might bear our\ninevitable afflictions for His sake, for love of Him, and thereby attain\nto unending glory with Him. \u201cFor the spirit himself giveth testimony to\nour spirit, that we are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also; heirs,\nindeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with him,\nthat we may be also glorified with him.\u201d(57) \u201cIf you partake of the\nsufferings of Christ,\u201d says St. Peter, \u201crejoice that when his glory shall\nbe revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.\u201d(58) The chains of\nsorrow which bind us here below, our Shepherd thus would turn to golden\ncords of love, which draw and hold us to Himself. We cannot, as we see,\nascend to Heaven, rise to blessedness, except by the way of the cross. And\nour degree of glory in Heaven, the eternal happiness which we shall enjoy,\nwill be in proportion to the degree of charity or love of God which our\nsouls possess at death; and this divine charity, which is to measure our\nfuture beatitude, is acquired and augmented by faithfully doing the will\nof God\u2014by patiently and lovingly bearing the cross of life. Sacrifice is\nthe test of love. And hence the more we do and suffer for Christ\u2019s sake,\nthe more we prove our love for Him and the greater shall be our happiness\nin the kingdom of His Father. All holy writers, all the masters of the\nspiritual life agree in teaching that God particularly chastises those\nwhom He loves with a special love. He proves the elect to find if they are\nworthy of Himself.(59) He does not spare them now, that He may spare them\nhereafter; He tries them for a time, that He may reward them forever; He\nseems harsh with them here, during the time of probation, only that He may\ndraw them closer to Himself everlastingly.\n\nThe devoted friends of God and the ardent lovers of things spiritual have\ndeeply pondered these momentous truths. They have realized that our days\nhere, though few and fast-flying, are really to determine our lot and\ncondition throughout the eternal years. They have known that the passing\npresent is the price of the lasting future; that this is the seeding time,\nand hereafter the harvest. And because our future happiness is to be in\naccord with our merits here acquired, jealously have they sought and\nembraced every present occasion to increase their merits and their\nworthiness for the glory that is to come. This is why they have loved the\ncross, the symbol of salvation, the emblem of victory; this, too, is why\nthey have felt disturbed and full of fear when the cross was absent from\nthem. Unlike the unenlightened sufferer, who sees only punishment in his\npains, the saints of God have ever accepted their crosses as a sign of\nspecial love, a divine visitation, a preparation for the great communion.\n\nWe see now how it is that the rod of chastisement and the staff of mercy\nare able to give joy and comfort to God\u2019s chosen friends; and thus are\nthey designed to console and comfort everyone who is truly led by faith\nand love. Sufferings are really a blessing, but the eye of faith alone\ndiscerns it. They keep us from present pleasures, from hurtful occasions,\nfrom alluring vanities; they direct us into the way of salvation, they\ndrive us to God, they increase the glory of our eternal blessedness. What\nare the trials of earth when compared with the joys of Heaven? Rather, how\nprecious are they! since, if we use them aright, they lead us out into a\nhigher life, to a closer friendship with God. And if, through the mercy of\nour heavenly Father, we permit the cross to lead us to His knees and\nenrich our lives with His love, who can speak its infinite value? What\ntreasure can be likened to it? Surely nothing that we know can surpass it\nin worth. We might, indeed, enjoy all that life can give; we might possess\nall riches, all health, all success; we might have honor, fame, glory,\npower; the praise and love of men, the treasures of earthly friendship and\nearthly affection\u2014the whole world we might gain and enjoy; but if through\nall these, or in spite of all, we should not be led to the love and\nfriendship of God, we should know only vanity, and life for us would in\nits issue be nothing but a dismal failure.\n\nBut if, on the contrary, through the sufferings and losses, the\ndeficiencies and limitations of life, we have been led to make God our\ndearest friend, if we have been taught, by the coldness and harshness of\nmen, to take refuge in His love, how blessed are we! how cheaply the\npurchase has been made, even though it has meant the loss of every passing\ngood, of all that the world can give, even the pouring out of our own\nlife\u2019s blood!\n\nTeach me, O my Master, in the day of sorrow and tribulation, to understand\nthe meaning of the cross, to know the value of my sufferings, to grasp the\npower and the secret of Thy rod and Thy staff. Assist me to see Thee\nthrough the darkness that surrounds me; and give me to feel, in the midst\nof loneliness and perils, amid pain and desolation, the nearness to my\nsoul of Thy loving-kindness, and the strength of Thy merciful presence.\n\n\n\n\n\nIX. THOU SPREADEST BEFORE ME A TABLE IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES.\n\n\nIn the preceding verses of the Shepherd Psalm the Psalmist has described\nthe constant care of the shepherd for his sheep\u2014the rest and refreshment,\nthe protection and comfort he provides for them. And now, in the present\nverse, he speaks of a feast he has prepared for them, which is to be\nlikened to a bountiful banquet\u2014a banquet which they are to enjoy, a feast\nwhich they are to consume, in the sight of their enemies, in the presence\nof the evils that afflict them. He refers, at first, to the manner of\npreparing or spreading a table in the Orient. Often the custom of olden\ntimes was not much different from that which prevails among the Arabs even\ntoday. To prepare a table means with them simply to spread a skin or a\ncloth or a mat on the ground.\n\nAnd it is to this kind of table that the Psalmist refers when he sings of\nthe feast of the sheep. He means nothing more than that he has provided\nfor his flock in the face of their enemies a rich pasture, a spreading\nslope, where they shall feed with contentment and peace, in spite of the\nevils that surround them.\n\nBut the quiet and peace which the sheep enjoy, while partaking of their\nspread-out banquet, are entirely owing to the protecting presence of the\nshepherd. And it frequently happens that here again the utmost skill and\ndiligence of the shepherd are called into play in thus securing the peace\nand safety of his flock. The most abundant pastures are many times\ninterspersed with noxious weeds and plants, which, if eaten, would sicken\nand poison the herd; while around the feeding places and grazing grounds\nvery often lie hid, in thickets and holes and caves in the hillsides, wild\nanimals, such as jackals, wolves and panthers, ready to spring out, at the\ncritical moment, and devour the innocent sheep. The shepherd is aware of\nall these evils and enemies of his tender flock; and he goes ahead and\nprepares the way, avoiding the poisonous grasses, and driving away, or\nslaying, if need be, the beasts that menace the peace and security of the\npasture. The evils are not entirely dispelled, but only sufficiently\nremoved or held in check so as not to imperil the flock.\n\nSuch is the table prepared for the sheep by their provident and watchful\nshepherd; and such is the feast of which they partake with quiet joy in\nthe sight and presence of their enemies. But, as just said, the tranquil\njoy which is theirs comes not from the fact that danger has been all\nremoved, nor from the fact that they have become hardened and used to its\npresence. They know it is always near; and they are conscious, as far as\nanimals can be, of their own utter helplessness, if left to themselves, to\nsurvive an attack of their powerful enemies. But they do not fear, they\nare not disturbed or anxious, solely for the reason that they feel their\nshepherd is present, and they know he will guard and protect them. Hence\nthe Psalmist is speaking for the sheep when he says to the shepherd with a\ntone of confident joy, \u201cThou spreadest before me a table in the presence\nof mine enemies.\u201d\n\nThe spiritual meaning of this, like the other verses of the Shepherd\nPsalm, is peculiarly descriptive of our Lord, the Good Shepherd of human\nsouls. He, in a manner altogether divine, precedes His elect, and prepares\nthem the way of salvation. He does not deliver them from enemies and\ndangers, which would be unnatural in the present state, but He makes use\nof evils, as said before, to increase the perfection of His chosen souls.\nGradually, step by step, from a natural He leads them to a higher\nstate\u2014from diffidence to trust, from fear to love, from sorrow and anguish\nto peace and joy.\n\nThe change in the soul is rarely at once and immediate; it does not come\nof a sudden. At first it is difficult and repugnant to nature to find joy\nin sorrow and pleasure in pain, to see gladness in tears and rest in\ndisturbance, to find peace in the midst of our enemies; but God, in His\nomnipotent goodness, so disposes and provides for the souls of His elect\nthat sooner or later they penetrate to the meaning of things, and find\nthere their hidden treasure. When the fabric of life itself has crumbled\nto its native dust, when friends have gone and charms departed, when the\nvery earth we tread seems trembling beneath our feet, and every dream of\nearthly bliss is fled, when enemies sit where loved ones sat, and the\nheart has all but ceased to beat, then is the acceptable time and\npropitious moment, for the devout and faithful soul, that has washed its\ngarments in the blood of the Lamb, to look up to Heaven with expectant\njoy. The thrilling vision of eternal love so much desired, so long perhaps\ndelayed, is then, indeed, about to dawn.\n\nThe sweetness of God and the peace of His spirit are not to be found in\nthe market place, nor in the noise and clamor of the busy street. It is\nnot at the banquets of earthly kings that we taste of the joys of the\nSaviour\u2019s feast. It is not amid honors and riches and the pleasures of\nsense that the calm dews of Heaven refresh the soul. We were made for a\nhigher friendship, for a more intimate union, for a sweeter companionship\nthan any that earth can provide. And it is only when the door has been\nshut to the outer world, when the vanities of time have ceased to be\nsought, that the soul is ready for the wedding garment, and able to\nprepare for the marriage feast. It is in the inner sanctuary and alone,\ndivested of fleshy trammels and freed from the bondage of earthly\nattachments, that the soul is able to meet its God and hold intimate\nconverse with Him.\n\nThere are few, comparatively, out of the multitude of souls that are\ncalled to the feast which is spread for them, that ever sit down at the\nMaster\u2019s table. Many are invited, and the servant is sent out at the hour\nof supper to say to them that were called, that all things are ready, and\nthat they should come; but they tarry, they are not ready, they begin to\nmake excuses and wish to be held excused. Some are entangled in perishable\nriches and cannot leave their possessions; others are preoccupied with\nworldly affairs and must not neglect their business; still others are\npursuing the pleasures of earth, and have no time for the things of\nHeaven. But the feast is not for these, after all. The Master invites\nthem, He calls them, He sends His ministers in search of them, He reproves\nand chides them, He thunders against them to make them hear and obey; but\nthey will not come, they shall never taste of His banquet. He has not\nspread a table for the proud, the haughty, the arrogant; He cannot meet in\nloving communion the worldly, the sensuous, the lovers of ease and hurtful\npleasures. Such as these are not prepared to meet Him; they would be out\nof place and ill at ease in His company, they do not like His society.(60)\n\nTo be able to come to the Master and to sit at His feast there is need of\npreparation. The garments of the world must be changed for the garments of\nHeaven, the ways of men must be made to yield to the ways of God. For what\nis wisdom with men is foolishness with God,(61) the weak things of earth\nare the strong things of Heaven, the outcast of the world are the chosen\nof the Father Almighty. And hence our Saviour under the figure of the\nmaster in the parable who prepared a great supper, says of all those who\nwill not hear Him, who neglect His divine inspirations and despise the\ncall of His ministers, that they shall never taste of His feast. But who,\nthen, shall sit down at His table? for whom has He prepared the banquet?\nHe tells us Himself, that those who shall partake of His supper are the\nlowly, the humble, the poor, the lame, and the blind; the despised of men\nand the outcast of the people; those who have known sorrow and suffering\nand penance, who have found the way of the cross and embraced it; who, for\nthe kingdom of Heaven and the love of Christ crucified, have given up\nfather, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters; yea,\nand their own life also, that they might inherit everlasting crowns that\nfade not away.(62)\n\nSt. Paul was one of these masterful spirits, who surrendered all that he\nhad, all that he prized most dearly for love of Christ and His service.\n\u201cThe things that were gain to me,\u201d he says, \u201cthe same have I counted loss\nfor Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the\nexcellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the\nloss of all things, and count them but as waste, that I may gain\nChrist.\u201d(63) What a struggle, too, was that which St. Augustine describes,\nspeaking of his own conversion! The parting with those sinful delights\nwhich had hitherto held him in chains was like the forfeiture of all he\npossessed, and it seemed to him that life thereafter would not be worth\nliving; yet he generously and vigorously gave them up that Christ might\nbecome his possession. He has also described for us the change. \u201cHow\nsweet,\u201d he says, \u201cdid it at once become to me to want the sweetness of\nthose trifles, which to lose had been my fear, but which to have lost was\nnow a joy! Thou didst cast them forth from me, oh Thou true and highest\nsweetness! Thou didst cast them forth, and in their stead didst enter in\nThyself, sweeter than all pleasure!\u201d(64)\n\nIt is such as these, heroic souls, who for the sake of God and His\nkingdom, have made the world their enemy, that compose the company of the\nelect. And for these alone it is that the Shepherd of souls has spread a\ntable of rest and peace, even in this life, of which they partake in the\nsight of their enemies, in the presence of those who think evil of them,\nwho despise and deride them, in the sight of the world which hates them.\nThese holy souls, the elect of God, whom the Father has chosen for\nHimself, have learned, through the trials and losses of life, the lessons\nof peace and detachment which crosses are intended to teach. They have\nlearned, by exclusion and retirement from worldly festivities and\npernicious delights, to draw near to God, out of love for His beauty and\nmercy, or if only to ease their breaking hearts and dispel the loneliness\nof their forsaken lives. In the words of the Psalmist, they have tasted\nand seen that the Lord is sweet, and that there is no one like unto\nGod.(65) With the image of the Crucified before their eyes and conscious\nof the presence of their loving Shepherd, they greet with delight the\nsufferings that oppress them, and they feast in peace in the presence of\ntheir enemies. They know that all is arranged or permitted by the hand\nthat guards them, and by the One that loves them; and, though He slay\nthem, yet will they trust Him.(66) For what can happen to those that love\nGod? what evil can befall them? Angels have charge over them to keep them\nin all their ways.(67)\n\nIt is confidence, therefore, in their Saviour and God that gives peace and\ntranquillity to the souls of the just. To know Him, to love Him, to trust\nHim, to dwell in His presence and to please Him, throughout all the\nvicissitudes and evils of life, are the objects of their constant actions\nand the highest aspirations of their fervid souls. Confident of the favor\nand protection of God, and rooted in His love, they despise all pain and\nthe threats of men; and in the midst of the battle of life they rejoice in\na peace of mind and soul of which the worldling cannot dream. The pasture\nin which they feed, the banquet of which they partake are nothing else\nthan the love and friendship of God which nourishes and refreshes their\nspirits when to every mortal eye they seem destitute, abandoned and alone.\nAnd this peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding,(68) develops in\nsouls truly spiritual a habit of mind and a character of life that even\nhere below partake of the stability and calm sense of victory which, in\ntheir perfection, belong only to the state of the blessed in Heaven. They\nfeel that all things are possible to them through Him that strengtheneth\nthem,(69) and that no temporal affliction, no power of man or any creature\nshall wrest from them the feast which they enjoy. And hence they are able\nto ask, in the confident words of the Apostle, \u201cWho shall separate us from\nthe love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or\nnakedness; or danger, or persecution, or the sword ... In all these things\nwe overcome, because of him that hath loved us. Therefore we are sure that\nneither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor\nthings present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor\nany other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,\nwhich is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.\u201d(70)\n\n\n\n\n\nX. THOU ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL; MY CUP RUNNETH OVER.\n\n\nIn these words the Psalmist alludes to one of the most touching offices\nperformed by the good shepherd towards his sheep. The day is drawing to a\nclose, the golden orb of light has sunk to rest, and the shadows are\ncreeping up the hills. The hush of night is falling round, and the\nshepherd must gather his flock into the fold. The labors, the journeys,\nthe trials, the wanderings of the day are over, and now comes the time for\nrest. It is a scene full of peace, and the sheep greet its approach with\nfeelings of restful anticipation. Many of them are foot-sore and lame;\nmany have received bruises and scratches during the journeyings of the\nday; some have gaping and bleeding wounds from the attacks of wild beasts;\nwhile others are simply tired out and exhausted from the long walks and\nsteep climbing of hills. The shepherd knows all this, and before leading\nthem into rest he takes care to see that the wounds of all are dressed and\nsoothed, so that nothing shall disturb the sweet repose of their sleep.\nFor this purpose he stands at the door of the fold as the sheep pass in.\nHe has olive oil and cedar-tar to use as healing ointments for their\nwounds, and he has cool, refreshing water for those that are worn and\nweary. Lovingly and tenderly he regards each member, as one by one they\nenter into rest; and they that are wounded or over-weary he holds back\nwith his rod, till their scars and sores are duly cared for and made ready\nfor the night\u2019s repose.\n\nHow closely these offices performed for the sheep by the shepherd resemble\nthe care of our Father and Saviour providing at the end for the souls that\nHe loves! He has been with them all through life, leading, guiding,\nguarding, shepherding them at all times, going before them with the\nblessings of goodness. And when at length the end approaches, they feel\nthe need of His loving-kindness perhaps more than ever before. Like the\nshepherd\u2019s flock, their needs are many and various. Some souls there are\nwho, through the special grace of God, are able to pass their lives in\ninnocence and holiness, living in the world, yet not of it, dwelling in\nthe midst of men and in the sight of their wickedness and sin, yet\nundefiled withal, beautiful witnesses of the power and love of Him that\nstrengthens and preserves them.\n\nBut the majority are not thus favored. Notwithstanding all their graces,\nthey have been subject to falls\u2014perhaps to many grievous falls; they have\nsuffered many wounds and bruises, they have had many tears to shed.\nMultitudes there are, in fact, who come down to the verge of life, to the\nvery gate of death, sin-stained, racked and wounded, their life blood\nebbing out through sores and wounds which they themselves have made by\nwilful open friendship with sin and vice, the deadly foes of their souls.\nWe have many varying examples of these straying souls. There is the type\nof Mary Magdalen, of St. Peter, of St. Paul, of St. Augustine, who passed\na portion, brief or prolonged, of their mortal days far from the Father\u2019s\nhome, feeding on the husks of swine; but who, while yet in the vigor of\nlife, felt the touch of the merciful hand and heard the sound of the\nloving voice, leading them, calling them back to God, back to the \u201cbeauty\never ancient and ever new.\u201d Such souls as these, it is true, constitute\none class of erring, but repenting sinners; but there is another class\nwhose plight is far more pitiable. They are those long-delayed, but\nfinally repentant sinners, men and women who have lived their lives away\nfrom the Church and its sacraments, who have grown old and gray in the\nsins of their youth, and now, at the last, when death is coming, are\nmoved, by a special grace from Heaven, to weep for their sins and wasted\nyears before they enter their eternal abode.\n\nFor each and all of these how important it is that the Shepherd should\nstand at the door of the fold and bind up their wounds with His tender\ngrace before they pass through the portals of death! Scarred and wayward\nchildren, victims of evil circumstances, creatures of vanity and of folly,\nthey realize at the end how impotent they are, how helpless in the\npresence of the coldness of death to redeem or make sure the years that\nare fled, unless He draw near and assist them who has sustained them in\nlife, and who is at once the author and the master of both life and death!\n\nBut for all, without exception, the need of the Shepherd is imperative at\nthe end. The victory, the happy issue of life\u2019s struggle, \u201cis not of him\nthat willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.\u201d(71)\nAll may run, all may strive, indeed, for the prize of eternal life, but\nnone can be sure, short of the mercy of God, that he will be saved; none\ncan merit this crowning glory of life. Whether young or old, whether\nfavored or neglected, whether innocent or guilty, whether the life has\nbeen dowered with special blessings and never known the stain of grievous\nsin, or whether it has been eked out amidst deepest misery and defiled\nwith hateful crimes, the same uncertainty for all remains as to the manner\nin which the end shall come. Men may reason and conjecture, from what they\nsee and know, that this one or that is in God\u2019s favor, and shall so\npersevere to the end; that the members of a certain family, or class, or\nstation in life, are sure to be saved, and shall never fall short; but\nthat those of another class or condition shall, on the contrary, die as\nthey have lived, in the filth of their sins, to be forever in torment. But\nthese are the reasonings of men, which are of no avail in the sight of\nGod. It is only the Father in Heaven who knows the elect. He alone is able\nto tell who shall remain to be crowned, and who is to be condemned.\nPerseverance is a gratuitous gift of God, we cannot merit it. All our good\nactions and holy deeds, which are performed in the state of grace and out\nof a motive of charity, do, it is true, merit a reward in Heaven, they\ntend to increase our blessedness hereafter; but just as it is not in our\npower to merit the first grace, by which we are raised from a state of\nsin, so are we utterly unable to do anything which shall secure for a\ncertainty the final grace, by which alone we can be saved. Wherefore the\nPreacher said: \u201cAll these things have I considered in my heart, that I\nmight carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and\ntheir works are in the hand of God; and yet man knoweth not whether he be\nworthy of love or hatred. But all things are kept uncertain for the time\nto come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked,\nto the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that\noffereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so\nalso is the sinner; as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.\u201d(72)\n\nThis uncertainty as to the end of life, and of the gift of final\nperseverance, all holy souls have felt. To die in the friendship of God,\nand thence to enjoy His presence forever, is a gift of so transcendent a\nnature, so far above our natural powers and utmost deserts that no\ncreature, which can at all conceive it, would dare claim it as a right. It\nwas this conviction that made the saints tremble to think of it. This it\nwas that prompted St. Paul to admonish the Philippians to work out their\nsalvation with fear and trembling,(73) and that also evoked from the same\nApostle those candid words concerning himself: \u201cI chastise my body, and\nbring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I\nmyself should become a castaway.\u201d(74)\n\nAnd have we not sometimes witnessed instances which, so far as man can\njudge, give ground for this fear as to perseverance, and emphasize the\ngreat truth that to die in God\u2019s favor is, indeed, a singular and a\ngratuitous gift? How many have we not known who started well, but\nterminated ill! How many are innocent and holy in youth and give every\npromise of splendid manhood, but fade and drop, like poisoned flowers, ere\nthe age of maturity has dawned! How many are able to pass through the most\ncritical period of their lives, unshaken and undefiled, full of faith,\nhope, love, purity; but who, when the age of security is thought to have\ncome, lose the grip which seemed so firm, turn to evil, yield to vicious\nhabits, and die reprobates of God! Look at King Solomon! Who was ever more\npromising than he in his youth? Who ever gave fairer prospects of\ncontinued holiness and of a beautiful end? He was so lovely, so amiable,\nso favored of God in the morning of life; graced with such high\nperfections, not knowing evil, a stranger to vice, a lover of sanctity, of\nwisdom, and of grace. It would seem that he could never fall\u2014he who was\nthe object of such unwonted favors, who dwelt so supremely in the smile of\nHeaven. But lo, and behold the end of him who had received so many graces,\nwho chose wisdom as his handmaid that he might be guided aright! Behold\nthat youthful figure, so full of promise and goodly hope, praying to God\nthat he might never deviate from the ways of grace; and then see the\ngray-haired apostate tottering to the grave, borne down by the weight of\nhis sins and of his years! And how many more there have been, like King\nSaul, like Renan and Voltaire, and numerous others that we ourselves\nperhaps have known, who were great and good in youth, and for a term of\nyears, but whose end was a miserable failure!\n\nOur perseverance, then, or the favor to die in the state of grace, is not\nof ourselves, not the reward of our efforts, or of our good works, \u201cbut of\nGod that sheweth mercy.\u201d We must do all in our power to merit eternal\nlife; we must press on to the mark, waging ceaseless battle in behalf of\nGod and of our souls, even to the last moment; but for the happy end of it\nall we must perforce rely on the tender mercy of God. This is why our\nLord, before He departed from earth, prayed to His heavenly Father for His\ndisciples: \u201cHoly Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given me;\n... I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world; but that\nthou shouldst keep them from evil.\u201d(75) This same truth the Psalmist also\nhad in mind when he prayed: \u201cPerfect thou my goings in thy paths, that my\nfootsteps be not moved.\u201d(76)\n\nIt is this appalling uncertainty about the end and outcome of life,\ntogether with our own inability to make them secure, that makes death so\nterrible to the minds and thoughts of multitudes, even of Christians and\nwell-living persons. They fear to fall into the hands of the living God.\nFor them the present life may be not so attractive; on the contrary, it is\nlikely replete with pain and toil; but somehow they wish to linger here,\npreferring that which is certain, although so miserable, to that which is\ndoubtful, perhaps awful and irreparable. So long as they continue in this\npresent world there is chance for change, there is hope of improvement.\nBut when death intervenes, and the soul is removed to the other life, all\nhopes of change are swept away, and the lot of the soul is fixed for\neternity. There is, of course, a fear of death which is altogether\nnatural. Many dread death who pretend not to believe in a future life, or\neven in the existence of God. And many there are whose lives are holy, and\nwho have not whereof they ought to fear, but for whom, nevertheless, the\nvery thought of death is fraught with all manner of terrors. As some are\nnaturally afraid in the absence of light, and tremble with fear at being\nalone in a dark and lonely dwelling, or spot, or place, so there are many\nwho, without assignable reason, other than a native tendency, are appalled\nat the thought of death.\n\nBut when all due allowances have been made for the uncertainty of final\nperseverance, and for the anxiety arising from natural temperament, it\nseems not too much to say that, for the most part, the fear and dread of\ndeath which haunts so many Christians can be reduced to two causes: a\ndefect of faith or a love of the world. It is one of these causes, or both\nof them together, which alone can explain, in the majority of cases, why\nsuch numbers of Christians and Catholics are unwilling to surrender the\npresent life, and are disturbed at the very thought of dying. Either they\ndo not realize by faith the surpassing glories of the life beyond\u2014doubting\nits reality, questioning its nature, misunderstanding the goodness and\nmercy of God; or else they are so attached to the present existence that\nall serious thought and desire for a better life are excluded from their\nminds and hearts. Fenelon says that the condition of our spiritual life is\nindicated by the answers we give to the following questions: \u201cDo I love to\nthink of God? Am I willing to suffer for God? Does my desire to be with\nHim destroy my fear of death?\u201d We do not fear to meet or to be with one\nwhom we really love, for \u201clove casteth out fear.\u201d There is no dread at the\ncoming of the parent or friend whom we truly love, unless, perchance, we\nhave offended him, and lack full faith that we have been forgiven and\nreinstated in his favor and friendship.\n\nSo it is with God. If we are unwilling to meet Him, or filled with fear at\nthe approach of His coming, it seems of a certainty that our faith is at\nfault. Why should we not wish to meet Him who has made us, who loves us,\nwho has washed away our sins with His own blood, who alone can comfort our\ntrembling souls and fill us with every good? Perhaps we have sinned and\nbetrayed our Maker many times and grievously in our lives, and the voices\nof those sins are haunting us, and bidding us beware of the hour of death\nand of the judgment that follows. Perhaps there is a lurking suspicion\nthat we have not been forgiven, a temptation that we are not sincere, a\nfeeling that our sins are too grave to be pardoned, a conviction that we\ndo not belong to the company of the elect. We may have notions, moreover,\naltogether severe, of the nature of God and of His justice; we feel His\nimmensity and sanctity, we have heard so much of His ineffable beauty,\nthat, weighed down with a sense of our nothingness, of our poverty and\nmisery and sinfulness, we cannot but shudder at the thought of appearing\nin His presence. These and similar terrors may take hold of us and fill us\nwith a dread of death; but is it not clear that, whatever their cause,\nthese fears are born of a lack of faith? We do not trust, as we ought, the\nShepherd that loves us, we are not convinced of His mercy and kindness, if\nwe do not believe with child-like confidence that He stands ready ever to\nforgive and bless the least of His children that humbly and sincerely seek\nHim, asking for the help they need. The severity of God toward sinners\nendures only so long as they refuse to acknowledge their guilt. His\nharshness with them, like that of Joseph with his brethren, is but love in\ndisguise; and as soon as they are brought to own their guilt, that which\nbefore was the anger of God is swiftly turned into His love and mercy.\nChrist did not come to destroy, but to save. He will not crush the broken\nreed, nor extinguish the smoking flax.(77) \u201cAs a father hath compassion on\nhis children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him; for he\nknoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.\u201d(78)\n\nBut there is also the love of the world, which enslaves so many. So\nnumerous and so bewitching are the attractions of the present life that\nthey are loath to leave them. It is a beautiful world, this universe of\nours, so deep, so wide, so vast! It is filled with pleasures and\nallurements and graced with myriad charms; and he, indeed, seems cold of\nheart who can easily turn from its enchanting beauties, and close his ear\nto its manifold voices. Ponder for a moment the richness of nature, its\nsimilarity and variety, its sameness and its diversity; consider the\nabundance of the harvest\u2014the glowing fruits, the green and golden crops,\nthe sweet-scented flowers and gift-bearing grasses; see the stars above\nand the waters beneath\u2014all the wonders of earth and sky; and then when you\nhave ranged over fields and waves and mountains, when you have climbed up\nthe steeps of the sky and gazed on the marvels of the heavens, descend\nagain to earth and consider the human form\u2014the chiefest work of the\nAlmighty hand, and the crown of the natural world. What beauties are here\nconcealed! What a mingling of material and spiritual, of human and almost\ndivine! What words can express, what lines portray the beauty of the human\ncountenance? Who can describe or adequately define the loveliness that\nstreams from human eyes, or echoes from the human voice? And yet these are\nbut the outer fringes and dimmest glimpses of the beauties of the soul\nthat dwells within.\n\nHow painful, then, it is for the worldly to forsake the beauties and\npleasures of this present life. Bound down to their beds of clay by the\nthings of sense, they are grieved to part with a life so full of diverse\nattractions. How can they think undismayed of closing forever their eyes\nand ears to these charms of color and sound! It is such a difficult thing,\nand so hard to nature, to abandon these scenes of enticing pleasure, to\nbid farewell to those that are dear and be hurried away alone and forlorn\nto the chill and gloom of the grave.\n\nSo reason the children of the world; but are not their reasonings and\nfeelings a proof of their little faith, and of their poor conceptions of\nspiritual and eternal interests? They do not want to leave the world,\nbecause they love it; and they love the world, because their faith is too\nweak to raise them to a vision of higher things. The plain on which they\nstand is too low clearly to see the things of Heaven. How poor and\ntrifling at best is the earth and all it contains to Him who beholds with\na vivid faith the world above that is to come! How gladly does he lay down\nhis life and give up the struggle with ceaseless battles, who sees by\nfaith, just beyond the portals of death, the great home of the blessed,\nspread out like a city on the mountains, bathed in light inaccessible,\nfull of joy and unending gladness, where \u201cdeath shall be no more, nor\nmourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more.\u201d(79)\n\nThe man of faith, therefore, is in no wise straightened or disturbed by\nthe approach of death. He has learned to know and to trust the good Master\nwhom he serves. Like the Apostle, he is only concerned that Christ should\nbe glorified in him at all times and in all things, \u201cwhether it be by life\nor by death;\u201d for to him also, \u201cto live is Christ, and to die is\ngain.\u201d(80) He lives in the world, but is not of it; he treads the ways of\nearth, but he really belongs to the kingdom above. Hence his cup of\ninterior peace is ever running over. Though surrounded by many evils, he\ndoes not faint; though tempted exceedingly, he does not yield; but is\njoyous and peaceful withal; because at all times and in all things he\nfeels himself to be the faithful servant of God, \u201cin much patience, in\ntribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in strifes, in prisons, in\nseditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in\nknowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity\nunfeigned; ... as dying, and yet living; as chastised, and not killed; as\nsorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having\nnothing, yet possessing all things.\u201d(81)\n\n\u201cPrecious in the sight of God is the death of His Saints.\u201d As they have\nlived for Christ, they gladly welcome the summons that calls them home to\nrest. Calmly and fearlessly they go down to death; joyously and with\nfeelings of exultation they hail the coming of Him on whom their thoughts\nhave rested throughout life, of Him whom they have ever seen by faith,\nwhom they have loved, whom they have trusted, whom they have chosen for\ntheir own. Confident of the power and goodness of their faithful Shepherd,\npain daunts them not, the enemy frets them not. The last hour for them is\nnot one of darkness, but of light; it is not a time for lamentations, but\nfor joyous and gladsome strains. The end may be sudden, or it may be\ngradual in its approach; it may come early, or late in life; it may be at\nhome or abroad; it may be in the winter, or it may be in summer; on the\nsea or on the land; but to the just and spiritual it can never be a\nsurprise, it can never be lonely, never sad. It is the time for which they\nhave always longed\u2014a time of liberation, of emancipation from the trammels\nof earth and flesh, the end of continuous dying and the beginning of\nlasting life. What a supreme moment, what a joyous event is death for a\njust and holy soul! What sweet emotions must thrill the spirit, as the\nSaviour stoops over the bed of death to wipe away forever the last of\nearthly tears! Mary is there to hush the voice of reproach and to whisper\nwords of peace; Jesus has come to claim the soul and take it to Himself,\nand flights of angels are waiting to sing it to its rest.\n\n\n\n\n\nXI. SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY SHALL FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE; AND\nI SHALL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD UNTO LENGTH OF DAYS.\n\n\nIf the tender lambs and timid sheep of the shepherd\u2019s flock could speak\nthe sentiments of their innocent hearts, each one would certainly voice\nthe words which here the Psalmist has uttered for them all. Throughout the\nlive-long day, throughout all the days of their lives, they experience the\nshepherd\u2019s goodness, they are the objects of his constant mercy. He has\nbeen caring for them since their birth; he has led them out each morning,\nsince first they were able to walk; he has provided them with food, and\nled them to water; and he has ever been present to shield them from harm,\nand to protect them from their enemies. After such repeated experiences\nand trials of his loving-kindness, they have grown accustomed to his\nfaithfulness and are filled with love of his goodness and mercy. And while\nthey have not the power of speech, and cannot by words express their\nfeelings, they do by the louder voice of action\u2014by their quiet trust in\nhis care, by their habitual mildness and gentleness and quick response to\nhis every word, by the absence of solicitude and fear in view of his\npresence\u2014by these and all the other actions that speak their simple hearts\nthey show their love for their shepherd. Though often wounded and bleeding\nand exhausted from the roughness and length of their journeys, they have\nno distrust about the future, no fear for the morrow. In the midst of\ndistress the shepherd, they know, will provide. The Psalmist, therefore,\nin the closing words of the shepherd song, gives utterance to the feelings\nof the sheep when he sings: \u201cSurely goodness and mercy shall follow me all\nthe days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord unto\nlength of days.\u201d\n\nBut here, as in the opening verse of the Shepherd Psalm, the words of the\nsacred Singer, although truly expressive of the sentiments of the sheep,\nare more directly the expression of his own inner feelings, and of the\nfeelings of all faithful souls towards the Lord who rules and guides them.\nAll those whose lives have been really and sincerely led by faith, have,\nlike the shepherd\u2019s flock, grown trustfully accustomed, in the course of\nyears, to the goodness and mercy, to the faithfulness and love of the hand\nthat provides for them. As they look into their lives, and retrace the\nsteps they have taken, they cannot fail to see how God has been always\nwith them, patiently enduring their faults, mercifully binding up their\nwounds and hurts, and lovingly leading, drawing them to Himself. They can\nsee their advancement, slow perhaps as it has been; and they know it is\nGod who has given the increase. Looking now at their lives through the\nperspective of the years that are gone, how many problems they are able to\nsolve! for how many apparent mysteries they have found an explanation! All\nthose crosses and trials, all those struggles and battles with the enemy,\nall those attacks from within and assaults from without, all, in fact,\nthat they have ever endured, their sins alone excepted, they now can\ntrace, through the light of faith, back to the hand of their Father in\nHeaven. Not everything, forsooth, has yet been explained, but enough,\nindeed, is sufficiently clear to remove every doubt from the faithful soul\nas to the goodness and Providence of God. And hence she exclaims with the\nPsalmist, out of the abundance of her faith and confidence, \u201cSurely\ngoodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall\ndwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d\n\nIt is doubtless a lack of implicit trust in God and divine Providence\nwhich, more than anything else, accounts for the unhappiness and spiritual\nbarrenness of so many Christian and religious lives. Poor and scanty is\nthe fruit they yield, simply because they have no depth of soil, they are\nnot deeply and firmly rooted in faith and confidence in God. Like reeds\nshaken by the wind, like houses built on the sand, they tremble and shake\nwith every blast, they are all but overturned by every tempest that rises.\n\nNor is it wonderful that this should be so. The higher gifts of the spirit\ncome from God, and hence the good fruit which the spirit yields is also\ntraceable back to Him. \u201cWe do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from\nthistles; and as a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, so neither can\nan evil tree bring forth good fruit.\u201d(82) And just because the abundance\nof the harvest of the spiritual life is dependent upon God as its giver,\nis it strange that any distrust of Him and His Providence should be a\ngreat hindrance to the soul\u2019s advancement, and to the bestowal of the\nconstant help it needs? Can God be pleased with those who do not confide\nin Him, and who do not trust Him? Our Lord\u2019s own chiding words to His\ndisciples are a proof of His displeasure at any distrust in His power and\ngoodness. How often did He rebuke them for their want of confidence in\nHim! How often did He accuse them reproachfully of their \u201clittle\nfaith,\u201d(83) of being \u201cslow of heart,\u201d(84) of being an \u201cunbelieving and\nperverse generation!\u201d(85) He was constantly pointing to their lack of\nfaith, reminding them that it was the source of their weakness, the cause\nof their ignorance in things spiritual, the reason of their powerlessness\nin the face of difficulties and against the enemies of their souls. It is\nclear that Almighty God, being a generous and loving Father, must be\noffended at those of His children who do not trust Him; and their want of\nfaith in Him is consequently the reason for His denying to them the help\nwhich is the life of their souls, and without which they are powerless to\nbe useful servants in His vineyard.\n\nAnd this failure to confide in the goodness of God betrays itself in other\nways. Besides sealing up the fountains of special graces and closing the\ndoor on divine generosity, besides a general unfruitfulness in the\nspiritual life, and the lack of all greater works for God and for souls,\nwhich are its immediate consequences, it also penetrates into the interior\nsanctuary of the spirit, and weakens at their source the springs of\nspiritual action. The results are manifest. Not only is there no yielding\nof fruit, but growth is likewise wanting. And if, under fairer conditions,\nthere has ever been any progress, it is soon perceived to wither and wane\nin a soul devoid of living faith. All the exercises and practices of the\nChristian life participate in the baneful effects. Prayer and the use of\nthe sacraments are either seriously neglected or gradually given up, and\nthe blighting influences of irreligion rapidly spread and overrun all the\ndepartments of life. The view one takes of God, the faith or lack of faith\nand trust one has in Providence, have their effect on the character and\ngive a direction to all one\u2019s ways of thinking, feeling, acting, in regard\nto the world we live in, in regard to mankind in general, in regard to the\ncauses, purposes, and destinies of all things.\n\nOur conceptions of Providence are vital, therefore. They really determine\nwhat our life is to be, and they are an index to the life that is\nfinished. It is impossible that we should be quite the same whether we try\nto eliminate God from our lives, or allow His blessed influence to cheer\nand lead us on; whether we look upon Him as a cold Master, waiting to\nexact and to punish, or as a kind Father and Shepherd, seeking to spare\nand to save; whether we regard Him as hid far in the heavens, caring\nnaught for the creatures and the world He has made, or whether we conceive\nHim as intimately bound up with all the works of His hands, although\ndistinct from them, as guiding and regulating everything, as tenderly\nloving and providing for all the needs of our souls.\n\nAnother most harmful result of deficient faith and confidence in God is\nthat it leads us to trust in creatures. It causes us to reverse the proper\norder of things. We are dependent beings, and we instinctively feel our\ndeficiencies and the need of some one, or something on which to lean, at\ntimes, and to which we can look for assistance. We may not be entirely and\nalways conscious of this tendency in us, we may be too proud or too blind\nto admit it, or we may wish we could overcome it and rid our lives of so\nconstant a need; but whether we see it and acknowledge it or not, whether\nwe encourage it or try to repress it, the need is always there, deeply\nengraved in our nature as creatures, and we cannot but seek to satisfy it.\nThere is none of us, frail beings that we are, who is entirely sufficient\nunto himself. Sometimes, of course, the voice of our needs is silent, and\nwe feel that we shall never want; \u201cI said in my abundance,\u201d observes the\nPsalmist, \u201cI shall not be moved forever;\u201d(86) but when the tide begins to\nebb and prosperity subsides, how soon do we remember that we are dust! How\nfrequently in times of trouble, in times of illness and poverty and\nsuffering, when face to face with our foes, or when death steps in and\nslaughters, are we made aware of our insufficiency, and of our utter\nhelplessness to live our lives alone and meet single-handed the burdens\nand misfortunes of earth! It takes but a little frost to nip the root of\nall our greatness, and then when our high-blown pride breaks under us we\nquickly realize how fragile and insecure are the personal foundations of\nour lives. Naturally and reasonably, therefore, did the pagan philosophers\nconclude that friendship and friends were necessary to man.\n\nProfoundly aware of this fundamental need of help and support which is a\nresult of our nature, we habitually stretch out our hands to others, not\nonly during the years of infancy and childhood, but to a greater or less\nextent throughout the whole period of our earthly existence. At first, of\ncourse, it is to creatures that we necessarily look\u2014to parents, relatives,\nguardians, teachers, and later on, to friends and acquaintances. Our needs\nin the beginning and in early years, though many and imperative, are\ncomparatively simple; they can be satisfied by those around us. But as we\nadvance to maturity and take in more completely the meaning of our lives,\nand consider not so much the needs of the body as the demands of the soul,\nwe find that the multiple requirements of infancy and youth, which were\nable to be supplied by those that were near, have given way to the fewer,\nbut vast and unlimited, claims of age, which express the wants of the\nspirit. It is when we appeal to creatures for the complete and permanent\nsatisfaction of these latter necessities of our being, that we seriously\nerr, and open the way to disappointment and sorrow. Not that we are to\nhave no cherished and chosen friends, or that we should despise the needs\nand gifts, the privileges and blessings of friendship, which in truth our\nnature requires; nor again that we are to regard with skeptical,\ndisdainful eyes the world and human nature; but we must not deceive\nourselves by trying to find in any created being that which it does not\npossess. We must not endeavor to get from any creature that perfect\nsatisfaction which we need, and which the Creator alone can give. Neither\nmust we seek to fill the unlimited capacity of our souls with those gifts\nonly, poor and defective at best, which frail mortals like ourselves are\nable to supply. It is folly in the highest degree to expect from anyone\nless than God that which only God can afford.\n\nThe mistake, therefore, is made when creatures of any kind are allowed to\ntake the place of God; when they are sought and reposed in as an end in\nthemselves, and as sufficient satisfaction for the needs of the human\nspirit. Unwise, indeed, is this mode of action, and bitter are the sorrows\nof soul to which it inevitably leads! One man trusts in riches, another in\nglory, another in the esteem of men; one leans upon his friends and\ncompanions, another upon his relatives\u2014all forgetful of the frail and\nunsubstantial nature of every earthly prop. Frequently they never awaken\nto the peril of their state until they find themselves face to face with\ntheir doom and the awful disillusionment. The crash may be delayed, but\nthe day must come sooner or later for all of us, who have advanced but a\nlittle beyond maturity, when all the natural lights of life go out, when\nevery human prop is removed, and we find ourselves out alone and in the\ndark, so far as depends on the world and creatures. How miserable then\nshall we be if we have put our trust in men! if we have tried to make\ncreatures play the part in our lives which only God can play! When we need\nthem most they fail us, when we fain would find beneath their protection a\nshield against the fiery darts of life, behold they wither like the ivy of\nJonas and leave us alone in our want!(87) How vain, therefore, and\ngroundless is that confidence which is put in men, and how wretched that\npoor man that hangs on princes\u2019 favors! \u201cThou trustest in money,\u201d says St.\nAugustine, \u201cthou holdest to vanity; thou trustest in honor, and in some\neminence of human power, thou holdest to vanity; thou trustest in some\nprincipal friend, thou holdest to vanity. When thou trustest in all these\nthings, either thou diest and leavest them here, or in thy lifetime they\nall perish, and thou failest in thy trust.\u201d(88)\n\nIt is no despisal, then, of the needs and helps of earthly friends and of\nour fellow-creatures to say that we should not put entire trust in them\nfor all the wants and demands of our being. They are good, they were made\nby God, they are oftentimes able to assist us\u2014nay, we need them to a\ncertain extent; but they are utterly unable to satisfy us completely, they\ncannot if they would, simply because of the extent of our wants. And even\nif creatures could give us a partial contentment, as at times they seem to\ndo, we know that it cannot last, and in the midst of our joy and pleasure\nwe are haunted by the thought that some day, soon at latest, it all must\npass away. We are seeking for rest, for peace, for happiness, and that\nunending; we want something to steady our lives and satisfy the yearnings\nof our souls forever: but we must not look for these things in the world,\nfor the world at best is passing away. There is no stability to human\nthings; the cloud and the storm swiftly follow the sunshine; we have not\nhere below a lasting habitation. Today we are sitting at the banquet of\npleasure, tomorrow we are draining the cup of sorrow; today we receive the\napplause of men, tomorrow we may be the objects of their scorn; today we\nput forth the tender leaves of hope, tomorrow there comes a killing frost\nthat ruins all our prospects.\n\nSuch, then, is the lot of man when considered in his relations to\ncreatures and to the world. It is a lot full of uncertainty, of\ninstability, of vicissitude; but this should not make us skeptical or\ncynical; it affords no justification for pessimism. It is a condition\narising, on the one hand, from the very nature of limited beings, and on\nthe other, from the vast potentialities of our souls, which, while they\nare limited in giving to others, cannot be appeased except by the God who\nmade them. There is a craving in the heart of man for something which the\nworld cannot give. He clutches for the things that are passing, he toils,\nhe labors, he struggles; he strives for money, for power, for place, for\nhonor, not that any of these things are in themselves what he desires, but\nonly because he conceives them as means and helps to the satisfaction, to\nthe stillness of mind, and peace of heart, and rest of soul and body for\nwhich his nature longs. Peace and happiness and contentment of life are\nthe objects of all our dreams, of our persistent efforts, of our ambitions\nand aims; but until we give up the hope of finding these things in the\nworld, in our fellow-mortals, in anything short of God, we shall never\nknow the blessedness for which we yearn. If we would ever attain to the\nstate which we covet, we must learn the lesson, even though it be through\ntears and sorrow, that God alone, who made our souls with all their vast\ndesires, is able to comfort us and steady our lives amid the storms and\ndistresses of earth.\n\nIt is futile to trust in men, or \u201cin the children of men, in whom there is\nno salvation.\u201d(89) The peace and blessedness which we seek are \u201cnot as the\nworld giveth;\u201d(90) and unless we turn away from the world and cease to\ntorture our lives with its vanities, our portion can never be other than\nheartaches, secret loathing, consuming thirst. \u201cFor many friends cannot\nprofit,\u201d says Thomas a\u2019Kempis, \u201cnor strong helpers assist, nor prudent\ncounsellors give a profitable answer, nor the books of the learned afford\ncomfort, nor any precious substance deliver, nor any place, however\nretired and lovely, give shelter, unless thou thyself dost assist, help,\nstrengthen, console, instruct, and guard us.\u201d(91) Such has been the\nhistory of the race, and such is the experience of every individual in the\nrace that has placed his hope and trust in anything created.\n\nWe are confronted, therefore, on the one side by the inherent weakness of\nour own nature and the constant needs that arise therefrom; and on the\nother side, we are assured by the history of the race, if not by our own\nexperience, that so long as we strive to satisfy our wants by an appeal to\nanything but God we are doomed to disappointment and sorrow. It is\nunfortunate that most people must first be crushed by the world and\ncreatures which they serve before they grasp the fundamental truth that\ncreatures are not their God. Comparatively few of those who enjoy the\nworld are ever brought to realize the dignity and divine purpose of their\nsouls until the world and its allurements, like a false pageant on a false\nstage, give way beneath them, and they fall helpless and alone. It is\ncommonly only after repeated awful experiences, when worn out and\nexhausted by years of fruitless quest for peace and happiness and\ncontentment, that men wake up to the simple fact that the treasures which\nthey seek are not in the world, nor as the world giveth.\n\nBut it is one thing to turn away from the world disappointed, disgusted\nand betrayed; and it is quite another thing to turn to God and to\nrecognize Him as our good Father and Shepherd, patiently waiting to\nreceive us, ever able and ready to satisfy our wants. There are many\npeople who find the world a disappointment and a deception, and who turn\nfrom it with loathing and hate, but who fail ever to lift their weary eyes\nto the proper object of their trust. Like the Israelites of old, they\nsucceed at length in escaping from the hands of oppression and tyranny,\nbut only to wander in a desert land throughout the length of their days.\nThis is the region where dwell the pessimist, the skeptic and the\ncynic\u2014miserable mortals that have wasted on creatures the talents they\nshould have given to their Creator, or that have otherwise failed in their\nconception of life, and have left unmultiplied the money of the\nMaster.(92) There is plainly no middle course for us, if we would not\nencounter disaster; we are not negative as to the necessities of our\nnature; it is not enough for us to turn from positive harm, from the\nobjects that deceive and disappoint us; we must further turn to positive\ngood, and to Him who alone can quiet and appease our yearning spirits.\n\nOne of the most evident and convincing reasons, then, why we should put\nour trust in God above all else is that He alone can satisfy and give us\nrest. Only God is able adequately to respond to all the needs of our\nbeing. The simplest process of reasoning should assure us of this, when\nonce we perceive the vastness of our wants and the impossibility of their\nsatisfaction through the medium of created things. We know our nature,\nwhich has come from the source and essence of truth, cannot be false.\nNeither can our unlimited capacities for knowledge, for joy, for happiness\nbe a deceiving mockery. There is a way to peace for us, and a source of\nsupreme contentment; there is a fountain of living waters from which, if\nwe drink, we shall never thirst again. Hence our Saviour said: \u201cCome to me\nall you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you;\u201d(93) and\nagain, \u201che that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not\nthirst forever: but the water that I will give him shall become in him a\nfountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.\u201d(94)\n\nBut we shall never be able to come to God, we shall never succeed even in\ngetting near the secret of interior peace and contentment until we are\nable to grasp more or less comprehensively the great basic truths of our\nexistence: that God loves each one of us with the love of an infinite\nFather, and that His Providence is so universal and omnipotent as to\nextend to all things, even to the numbering of the hairs of our head. We\ntalk much about chance and fortune and accident, we speak every day of\nthings happening, as if by the sheerest contingence, without warning or\nprevious knowledge; and so it is with reference to ourselves, and to all\nthe world perhaps: but with reference to divine Providence it is not so;\nthere is nothing accidental, nothing unforeseen with respect to God.\n\u201cWithout Thy counsel and Providence, and without cause, nothing cometh to\npass in the earth,\u201d(95) says the Imitation. But what does this mean, \u201cGod\nprovides?\u201d It means that the will of the omnipotent Father directs and\ngoverns everything. \u201cProvidence,\u201d says St. John Damscene, \u201cis the will of\nGod, by which all things are fitly and harmoniously governed,\u201d(96) and\nsuch is its power that nothing can elude or deceive it, neither can it be\nhindered or baffled in any way. \u201cFor God will not except any man\u2019s person,\nneither will He stand in awe of any man\u2019s greatness; for He made the\nlittle and the great, and He hath equally care of all.\u201d(97)\n\nAnd just as divine Providence disposes and governs all the events of life,\ndirecting each to its proper end, so the divine Will is the cause of\neverything that exists. Just as it is impossible that anything should\nescape God\u2019s knowledge and directing hand, so is it impossible that\nanything should exist or come into being without the direct intervention\nor permission of His will. There is nothing in the world which God has not\nmade, and nothing takes place which is not according to His good-pleasure,\nexcept the malice and guilt of sin. Even all the other evils of life, such\nas sickness, suffering, disease, poverty, cold, hunger, thirst, and the\nlike, God actually and positively wills. And precisely because these\nthings proceed from His will, they cannot be bad. God is the author of all\ngood, and evil He cannot do. So good, indeed, is He that, if He were not\nsufficiently omnipotent to draw good out of evil, He would never have\npermitted any evil to exist. \u201cGod has judged it better,\u201d says St.\nAugustine, \u201cto work good out of evil, than to allow no evil.\u201d(98) We must\nnot argue in our foolishness and try to understand all the doings of God,\nfor His ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts.(99) It is\noften beyond our power even to understand our fellow-creatures, and how\nfoolish it is to complain because we cannot comprehend the great Creator!\nEnough for us, if we be sincere and right of heart, to know, as we do,\nthat God is good, that He loves us individually, and that His protecting\nhand guides and governs all the events of our lives, even to the smallest\ndetail. These are truths which we must take hold of and lay close to our\nhearts, else we shall go the way of error and issue in ultimate disaster.\n\nAnd from these truths, so certain and unquestionable, it further follows\nthat everything existing in the world, so far as it affects us, everything\nthat falls to our lot, all that we encounter, all that we suffer, all that\nwe do, aside from sin, has been purposely arranged by Almighty God for our\ngreater spiritual good and eternal salvation. This must be so, since God\nis the universal cause of all things, and since He sincerely loves us and\ndesires above all to save us. If it were otherwise, either He would not\nhave omnipotent control of everything, or He could not be said really to\ndesire our salvation. How sadly we misunderstand these great truths in our\ndaily lives, when we murmur and complain at the evils that afflict us! How\nnarrowly we conceive the all-powerful will of God, and the infinite abyss\nof His goodness which would lead us to eternal delights! We would like to\nescape all the evils of time, we love our lives, and we wish to save them\nfrom final wreck; but when failing to trust to the will of God we forget\nthe words of Christ, that \u201che that loveth his life shall lose it; and he\nthat hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal.\u201d(100) We\nwant to save our souls, and we are, perhaps, much disturbed about doing\nmany and great things in the cause of God and of Heaven, unmindful the\nwhile of the Master\u2019s warning that, \u201cnot every one that saith to me, Lord,\nLord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of\nmy Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of\nheaven.\u201d(101) It is doubtless our aim to draw ever nearer and nearer to\nour Saviour, and to deepen our relationship with Him; but do we remember\nthat He said, \u201cwhosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and\nmy sister, and mother?\u201d(102)\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d you will say, \u201cThis is all true; I know it is so; my faith is at\nfault. If I only had that beautiful faith and trust in God which many have\nit would be easy for me, and I should be happy! Faith is a gift and\nfavored are they that possess it.\u201d But, dear reader, can you not pray? Can\nyou not ask from God that heavenly gift which will move mountains and\ntranslate them into the sea?(103) Can you not overcome your indolence and\nyour repugnance, and patiently and persistently implore from on high that\nsuperior vision which pierces the clouds and sees in everything the hand\nof God? Surely you can say, with the devout author of the Imitation of\nChrist, \u201cBehold, Oh beloved Father, I am in Thy hands, I bow myself under\nthe rod of Thy correction. Strike my back and my neck too, that my\ncrookedness may be conformed to Thy will.\u201d(104) Here again, remember the\nwords of your Saviour, \u201cThe kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the\nviolent bear it away.\u201d(105)\n\nPerhaps the greatest trial to our faith in divine Providence is in bearing\nwhat we call the wrongs of life. That we should have any crosses to suffer\nat all; that there should be death and sickness and disease; that there\nshould be poverty and misery, distress and worry, labor and sorrow; that\nthere should exist any of these things, is to our infirmity, if we forget\nour sins and the sins of our race that have caused these evils, a trial\nand a test of fidelity. But still more is it difficult, except to minds\nthat are deeply religious, to meet with the gentleness and serenity of\nfaith the positive injuries\u2014the injustice, the scorn, the ridicule, the\npain and persecution which others, needy creatures like ourselves,\nactually inflict upon us. It is easier, we say, to bear poverty than\ninsult; it is easier to suffer the inclemency of the elements than to\nendure the unkindness of our brethren; it is easier to put up with the\npain and weariness of bodily sickness than to come under the lash of the\ntongues of men. There is here, however, no room for hesitation and\nquestion; the rule is the same for all the crosses that come to us. God\noften permits us to be afflicted by the sins of others for our greater\nspiritual profit. Since, therefore, all alike proceed from God, either by\npositive act or divine permission, and since we know that He is supremely\ngood and loves us, having given every proof of His desire to save us, even\nto the delivering up of His only Son,(106) we can never reasonably or\nsincerely doubt that every evil and cross of life, with the sole exception\nof our personal sins, has been arranged for our good. My God, do Thou\nteach us the wisdom of the cross! \u201cFor this is a favor to Thy friend, that\nfor love of Thee he may suffer and be afflicted in the world, how often\nsoever and by whom soever Thou permittest such trials to befall him.\u201d(107)\n\nIt is helpful that here also, in learning to discern the source and\nmeaning of our afflictions, we have ever before us the examples of the\nholiest souls. We know that in all trials they steadfastly look beyond the\ncross that presses them to the hand of Him who has placed it there. Like\nthe shepherd\u2019s sheep, they are convinced of the power and goodness of\ntheir Master, and nothing can shake their trust in Him. Without\ndistinction or question they accept all as coming from God by special act\nor sovereign permission, to purify them, to detach them from the world and\ncreatures, to increase their nearness and likeness to Himself, to multiply\ntheir merits for Heaven and bring them to everlasting crowns. They\ndiscover the workings of Providence everywhere, in things that are\npainful, as well as in things that are pleasant to nature. Thus behind\ntheir pangs of body and mind, behind the whips and scorns of time, behind\nthe tongue that slanders and calumniates them, behind the oppressor\u2019s\nwrong, the injustice and tyranny of princes and rulers, behind all the\nevils of life they see the hand of Him who directs and governs all. But\nhere we must not conclude that the Saints and holy persons have never\nresisted evil and evil-doers, and that consequently we must not. This\nwould be a serious mistake, as Church history and hagiography plainly\nprove. Who was ever more vigorous and fearless in opposing wrong and the\ndoers of wrong than St. Paul, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome? Who was ever\nmore persistent in his efforts to prevail against the evils of sin in\nothers than St. Monica, St. Teresa, St. Dominic, and St. Catharine of\nSiena? After their example, then, we may and we must struggle against\nevils of all kinds, whether physical or spiritual, whether from ourselves\nor from others, in so far as it is not certain that it is the will of God\nthat we should submit to them. But when we have exerted ourselves\nreasonably and lawfully to rid our lives of that which afflicts us, and\nstill it persists, there can be no further doubt that it is the will of\nGod that we should patiently and submissively accept our condition and our\ncross. Since, however, we do not know how long it is the wish of\nProvidence that we should be burdened and afflicted, we may continue\npatiently to use every legitimate means to be delivered, provided it be\ndone with humble resignation to the will of our heavenly Father.\n\nThe acceptance of injuries, therefore, on the part of holy souls is not a\nweak yielding to inevitable circumstances, nor a willing consent to the\nwrongs of others. Like St. Paul, they know whom they have believed,(108)\nand they are certain that, in due time, divine justice will bring all\nevil-doers to an evil end and will deliver the just from their troubles.\nAnd further, when the vengeance of the persecutor is turned upon them, and\nthey are hunted down without reason by their kind, even by the members of\ntheir own household, they remember the words of their Shepherd, \u201cThe\ndisciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is\nenough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his\nlord. If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much\nmore them of his household!\u201d(109)\n\nAnd again, when the servants of God behold the wicked prospering and the\njust oppressed; when they see the ambitious, the covetous, the\nunscrupulous preferred and honored, and they themselves plotted against\nand rejected, their heart is not disturbed, because they know first of all\nthat \u201cto them that love God, all things work together unto good,\u201d(110) and\nsecondly, they are persuaded that the efforts of sinners must finally\nfail. \u201cFor the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the\nwind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and as a smoke\nthat is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of\none day that passeth by.\u201d(111) In a word, then, those who are really the\nfriends of God have faith and confidence in their heavenly Master; and all\nthe perils of earth, and all the powers of darkness cannot avail to daunt\nthem or turn them aside from their purpose.\n\nThis steadfastness of religious trust we, in our turn, must strive to\nacquire. It is the only way to peace and victory. If we would ever rise\nabove the evils of our lives we must learn to look to God for every thing.\nAnd this looking to God must be, not only as to our bountiful benefactor,\nbut as to a kind master who knows how best to discipline his servants and\npreserve them from irreparable harm.\n\nThere is a substantially correct translation of the final verse of the\nShepherd Psalm, which may be rendered as follows: \u201cAnd Thy goodness and\nkindness pursue me all the days of my life, _that I may dwell_ in the\nhouse of the Lord forever.\u201d It is the special wording of the second clause\nof the stanza that expresses the real purpose of divine Providence in\nregard to the elect. Everything in life has been ordained and arranged for\ntheir eternal salvation, and for the increase of their heavenly rewards.\n\u201cTherefore,\u201d wrote St. Paul to Timothy, \u201cI endure all things for the sake\nof the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ\nJesus, with heavenly glory.\u201d(112) It is this firm conviction that infinite\nlove is at the bottom of all the workings of Providence, doing everything\nfor the sake of the elect, that consoles and steadies the souls of the\njust throughout all the trials and crosses of life. In the thick of the\nbattle they never lose sight of the faithful Shepherd that leads them, and\nthey ever behold by faith the unspeakable delights He has prepared for\nthem that love Him.\n\nWhat joys are there in our faith and hope! If by the mercy and goodness of\nGod we succeed in saving our souls, how cheap will seem the price we shall\nhave paid for Heaven, and how benign and ineffably loving will appear the\nProvidence of God which is leading us there! At times now in our fervor we\ncan faintly and feebly imagine what it will mean to throw off forever this\nveil of faith and see distinctly and continually the Shepherd of our\nsouls. But our liveliest conceptions here are infinitely inferior to the\nvision to come. \u201cTo see God face to face, as He is; to gaze undazzled on\nthe Three Divine Persons, cognizable and distinct in the burning fires of\ntheir inaccessible splendors; to behold that long-coveted sight, the\nendless Generation of the All-holy Son, and our hearts to hold the joy,\nand not die; to watch with spirits all out-stretched in adoration the\never-radiant and ineffably beautiful Procession of the Holy Ghost from the\nFather and the Son, and to participate ourselves in that jubilee of\njubilees, and drink in with greedy minds the wonders of that Procession,\nand the marvelous distinctness of its beauty from the Generation of the\nSon; to feel ourselves with ecstatic awe, and yet with seraphic intimacy,\novershadowed by the Person of the Unbegotten Father, the Father to whom\nand of whom we have said so much on earth, the Fountain of Godhead, who is\ntruly our Father, while He is also the Father of the Eternal Son; to\nexplore, with exulting license and with unutterably glad fear, attribute\nafter attribute, oceans opening into oceans of divinest beauty; to lie\nastonished in unspeakable contentment before the vision of God\u2019s\nsurpassing Unity, so long the joyous mystery of our predilection, while\nthe Vision through all eternity seems to grow more fresh and bright and\nnew: O my poor soul! what canst thou know of this, or of these beautiful\nnecessities, of thy exceeding love, which shall only satisfy itself in\nendless alternations, now of silence and now of song?\u201d(113)\n\nIf regret were possible for the blessed hereafter, they would never cease\nto mourn over the loss of their opportunities on earth to increase their\neternal beatitude. It is only when the veil shall have been removed that\nwe shall fully realize how the goodness and mercy of God have always\npursued us in this life, that we might be saved and enjoy the rewards of\nHis house forever. May God give us all that child-like trust in our\nheavenly Master which the sheep display toward their shepherd; may He\ngrant us that vivid constant faith of the Saints which will enable us to\nsee in every event of life, in adversity as well as in prosperity, in our\npains as well as in our joys, the designs of a loving Father who is ever\nwishing and trying to lead His children to His home of eternal delights.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 Isa. xl. 11.\n\n    2 Jer. xxiii. 4, 5.\n\n    3 Ezech. xxxiv. 11, 12, 23.\n\n    4 Phil. ii. 6, 7.\n\n    5 Jno. x. 30, 38; xii. 45.\n\n    6 Luke xii. 49.\n\n    7 Gen. iii. 19.\n\n    8 Lam. i. 12.\n\n    9 Ps. cxliv. 9.\n\n   10 Isa. liii. 4.\n\n   11 Rom. viii. 17.\n\n   12 2 Cor. iv. 17.\n\n   13 Matt. v. 48.\n\n   14 Jno. xv. 5.\n\n   15 Luke xxiii. 34.\n\n   16 Prov. viii. 31.\n\n   17 Jno. xv. 15.\n\n   18 Ps. viii. 5.\n\n   19 Prov. xxiii. 26.\n\n   20 Matt. xi. 28.\n\n   21 Jno. vi. 52, 55.\n\n   22 Jno. xvi. 2.\n\n   23 Ezech. xviii. 23; xxxiii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9.\n\n   24 Ps. 102. 14.\n\n   25 Luke xv. 4, 7.\n\n   26 Luke i. 31.\n\n   27 Matt. xvi. 18.\n\n   28 Luke x. 17.\n\n   29 Matt. xviii. 17.\n\n   30 Matt. xxiv. 35.\n\n   31 Matt. xxiv. 24.\n\n   32 2 Cor. xi. 26.\n\n   33 2 Cor. xi. 13.\n\n   34 Matt. xxviii. 20.\n\n   35 Ps. cxiii. 13, 14.\n\n   36 Jude 10.\n\n   37 Matt. x. 17, 22-26.\n\n   38 Mich. vii. 6; Matt. x. 36.\n\n   39 Bk. i. 11. 5.\n\n   40 Matt. xvi. 24.\n\n   41 Ps. xvii. 4, 5.\n\n   42 Luke xii. 34.\n\n   43 1 Jno. iv. 16, 18.\n\n   44 Ps. xxvi. 1, 2.\n\n   45 Matt. x. 28.\n\n   46 Wis. iii. 3.\n\n   47 Ps. xxxiii. 20.\n\n   48 Ps. xiii. 3.\n\n   49 Jno. x. 10.\n\n   50 2 Tim. ii. 5.\n\n   51 Luke ix. 23.\n\n   52 Jno. xii. 34.\n\n   53 Job vii. 1; Job xiv. 2.\n\n   54 Isa. xl. 6, 7.\n\n   55 Heb. xi. 10.\n\n   56 Wis. v. 6-9.\n\n   57 Rom. viii. 16, 17.\n\n   58 1 Peter iv. 13.\n\n   59 Wis. iii. 4, 6.\n\n   60 Luke xiv.\n\n   61 1 Cor. i. 25.\n\n   62 Luke xiv. 26.\n\n   63 Philip iii. 7, 8.\n\n   64 Confess. ix. 1.\n\n   65 Ps. xxxiii. 9; lxxxii. 2.\n\n   66 Job xiii. 15.\n\n   67 Ps. xc. 11.\n\n   68 Philip iv. 7.\n\n   69 Philip iv. 13.\n\n   70 Rom. viii. 33-39.\n\n   71 Rom. ix. 16.\n\n   72 Eccl. ix. 1, 2.\n\n   73 Philip, ii. 12.\n\n   74 1 Cor. ix. 27.\n\n   75 Jno. xvii. 11-15.\n\n   76 Ps. xvi. 5.\n\n   77 Isa. xlii. 3.\n\n   78 Ps. cii. 13, 14.\n\n   79 Apoc. xxi., iv.\n\n   80 Philip i. 20, 21.\n\n   81 2 Cor. vi. 4-11.\n\n   82 Matt. vii. 16-19.\n\n   83 Matt. vi. 30.\n\n   84 Luke xxiv. 25.\n\n   85 Matt. xvii. 16.\n\n   86 Ps. xxix. 7.\n\n   87 Jonas iv.\n\n   88 In Ps. xxx. Exp. 2.\n\n   89 Ps. cxlv. 2, 3.\n\n   90 Jno. xiv. 27.\n\n   91 Bk. iii.; ch. lix. 3.\n\n   92 Matt. xxv. 24-31.\n\n   93 Matt. xi. 28.\n\n   94 Jno. iv. 13, 14.\n\n   95 Bk. iii., ch. 1, 4.\n\n   96 De Fide orthod. ii. 29.\n\n   97 Wis. vi. 8.\n\n   98 Ench. tom. iii., ch. 27 and ii.\n\n   99 Isa. lv. 8; Rom. xi. 33.\n\n  100 Jno. xii. 25.\n\n  101 Matt. vii. 21.\n\n  102 Mk. iii. 35.\n\n  103 Mk. xi. 23.\n\n  104 Bk. III., ch. l. 6.\n\n  105 Matt. xi. 12.\n\n  106 Rom. viii. 32.\n\n  107 Imitation, Bk. III., ch. l. 4.\n\n  108 2 Tim. i. 12.\n\n  109 Matt. x. 24, 25.\n\n  110 Rom. viii. 28.\n\n  111 Wis. v. 15.\n\n  112 2 Tim. ii. 10.\n\n  113 Faber, Creator and Creature, Bk. II., ch. v.","title":"The Shepherd Of My Soul","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":34629}