{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_59991/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_59991","id":"gutenberg_59991","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59991","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Sermons","Sermons, American -- 19th century"],"text":"Produced by Don Kostuch\n\n\n\n\n\n [Transcriber's notes: This production is based on\n https://archive.org/details/sermonsofstpaul06unknuoft/page/n6\n\n Many footnotes have additional citations indicated by \"USCCB\",\n based on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Bible\n found at http://usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible. Most\n differences appear to be typographical errors not detected in\n proofreading or minor changes in verse numbering. Quotes from\n the book of Sirach were attributed to Ecclesiasticus.\n\n Double underscores are used to indicate text that is both\n bolded and italicized, e.g. __bolded italics__.\n\n End of Transcriber's notes.]\n\n\n\n{1}\n\n Sermons By The\n Fathers Of The Congregation Of\n St. Paul The Apostle,\n\n __New York__\n\n\n Volume VI.\n\n New York:\n The Catholic Publication House,\n\n 9 Warren Street.\n\n Boston: Patrick Donahoe.\n Baltimore: John Murphy & Co.\n\n 1871.\n\n{2}\n\n Entered, according to Act of Congress,\n in the year 1871, by\n\n Rev. I. T. Hecker,\n In the Office of the Librarian of Congress,\n at Washington, D. C.\n\n{3}\n\n Preface.\n\n\nThe publication of another volume of Sermons by the Fathers of\nthe Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, is due to the\nencouragement already given by the extensive sale of the former\nones; and to the frequent solicitations for the continuance of\ntheir publication kindly made by many of the Reverend Clergy, at\nhome and abroad.\n\n St. Paul's, Fifty-ninth Street, New York,\n __Feast of St. John of the Cross,__ 1871.\n\n{4}\n\n{5}\n\n{6}\n\n{7}\n\n Contents.\n\n\n Sermon I.\n\n Remembrance Of Mercies.\n\n __Isaiah__ lxiii. 7.\n\n \"__I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord,\n the praise of the Lord for all the things\n that the Lord hath bestowed upon us__.\"\n\n Page 15\n\n\n Sermon II.\n\n The Three Gifts Of The Magi.\n\n __St. Matt.__ ii. 11.\n\n \"__And going into the house,\n they found the child with Mary His mother:\n and falling down, they adored Him:\n and opening their treasures,\n they offered to Him gifts;\n gold, frankincense, and myrrh__.\"\n\n Page 32\n\n{8}\n\n Sermon III.\n\n How To Pass A Good Lent.\n\n 2 __Cor__. vi. 2.\n\n \"__Behold, now is the acceptable time;\n behold, now is the day of salvation__,\"\n\n Page 42\n\n\n Sermon IV.\n\n Pretended And Real Christians.\n\n 2 __Cor__. vi. 1.\n\n \"__And we do exhort you that you receive\n not the grace of God in vain__,\"\n\n Page 56\n\n\n Sermon V.\n\n The Sins And Miseries Of The Dram-seller.\n\n __Habacuc__ ii. 15.\n\n \"__Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend,\n and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk__.\"\n\n Page 69\n\n\n Sermon VI.\n\n Communion With Jesus.\n\n __St. John__ vi. 57.\n [USCCB: John vi. 56.]\n\n\n\n \"__He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood\n abideth in Me, and I in him__.\"\n\n Page 89\n\n\n{9}\n\n Sermon VII.\n\n The Holy Ghost, The Comforter.\n\n __St. John__ XIV. 16.\n\n \"__I will ask the Father,\n and He will give you another Comforter,\n that He may abide with you for ever__.\"\n\n Page 104\n\n\n Sermon VIII.\n\n The Duty Of Upholding\n The Pope's Temporal Sovereignty.\n\n __Zach__. vi. 13.\n\n \"__He shall bear the glory,\n and shall sit and rule upon his throne;\n and he shall be a Priest upon his throne__,\"\n\n Page 122\n\n\n Sermon IX.\n\n The Living God.\n\n __Jer__. x. 10.\n\n \"__The Lord is the true God:\n He is the living God__.\"\n\n Page 141\n\n\n Sermon X.\n\n The Real Presence.\n\n __St. Matt__. i. 23.\n\n \"__They shall call His name Emmanuel,\n which, being interpreted, is God with us__.\"\n\n Page 155\n\n{10}\n\n Sermon XI.\n\n St. Paul, The Divine Orator.\n\n 2 __Cor__. xii. 9.\n\n \"__Gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities,\n that the power of Christ may dwell in me__.\"\n\n Page 169\n\n\n Sermon XII.\n\n The Value Of Faith.\n\n I __Cor__. xvi. 13.\n\n \"__Watch ye; stand fast in the faith;\n do manfully, and be strengthened__.\"\n\n Page 183\n\n\n Sermon XIII\n\n The Supremacy Of St. Peter.\n\n __St. Matt__. xvi. 18.\n\n \"__And I say to thee: That thou art Peter;\n and upon this Rock I will build My Church__.\"\n\n Page 195\n\n\n Sermon XIV.\n\n The Roman Pontiffs\n The Successors Of St. Peter.\n\n __St. Matt.__ xvi. 18.\n\n \"__And I say to thee: That thou art Peter;\n and upon this Rock I will build My Church__,\"\n\n Page 214\n\n{11}\n\n Sermon XV\n\n The Thought Of Heaven.\n\n __Heb__. iv. 9.\n\n \"__There remaineth therefore\n a rest for the people of God__.\"\n\n Page 230\n\n\n Sermon XVI.\n\n The Clergy\n The Teachers Of The People.\n\n __St. Matt.__ vii. 15.\n\n \"__Beware of false prophets,\n who come to you in sheep's clothing,\n but inwardly they are ravening wolves__.\"\n\n Page 244\n\n\n Sermon XVII.\n\n Humility In Prayer.\n\n __St. Luke__ xviii. 13.\n\n \"__O God, be merciful to me, a sinner__,\"\n\n Page 255\n\n\n Sermon XVIII.\n\n Preparation For A Good Death.\n\n __Isaiah__ xxxviii. 1.\n\n \"__Put thy house in order,\n for thou shalt die, and not live__.\"\n\n Page 269\n\n\n{12}\n\n Sermon XIX.\n\n The King's Marriage Feast.\n\n __St. Matt__. xxii. 14.\n\n \"__For many are called,\n but few are chosen__.\"\n\n Page 283\n\n\n Sermon XX.\n\n Good Use Of Sickness.\n\n __Ecclesiasticus__ xxxviii. 9.\n [USCCB: Sirach xxxviii. 9.]\n\n \"My son, in thy sickness neglect not thy self,\n but pray to the Lord, and He shall heal thee.\"\n\n Page 292\n\n\n Sermon XXI.\n\n Thoughts For Advent.\n\n __Philippians__ iv. 8.\n\n \"__For the rest, brethren,\n whatsoever things are true,\n whatsoever things are modest,\n whatsoever things are just,\n whatsoever things are holy,\n whatsoever things are amiable,\n whatsoever things are of good repute;\n if there be any virtue,\n if there be any praise of discipline,\n think on these things__.\"\n\n Page 306\n\n\n Sermon XXII.\n\n Fraternal Charity.\n\n I __Epistle St. John__ ii. 10.\n\n \"__He that loveth his brother\n abideth in the light,\n and there is no scandal in him.__\"\n\n Page 322\n\n -----------------------------\n{13}\n\n{14}\n\n{15}\n\n Sermon I.\n\n Remembrance Of Mercies.\n\n (For New Year's Day.)\n\n Isaiah lxiii. 7.\n\n \"I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord,\n the praise of the Lord for all the things that\n the Lord hath bestowed upon us.\"\n\n\nIn the midst of our mutual congratulations at a time like this,\nwhilst we are wishing a happy future year to those we love, we\ncannot wholly forget the year that is past, and all that it\nbrought to us for good or evil. I would not, my dear brethren,\ncast a shadow upon the bright pathway of our hopes; I would not\ndampen in the least the ardor with which we joyfully set out upon\nanother year's journey of life. May it be as happy in its\nrealization as we could wish it to be! But I fear for the future\nhappiness of him who forgets the happiness of the past. The\nanticipated joy of life yet to be lived is linked with those\nother joys that are past--joys over blessings whose richest fruit\nshould be the lessons of experience they have taught us.\n{16}\nWould we like to enter upon a new year wholly ignorant of the\npast one? I think not. We have learned many things while it has\nbeen passing--lessons of wisdom upon which we rely to make the\nfuture better and happier. Much there may have been to regret.\nAlas! how much for some of us; but the remembrance of even that\nshall be good for us. There are many of the same stones lying in\nthe roadway ahead of us that we stumbled upon last year. Now we\nshall not come upon them unawares. There are many of the same\nbeautiful but poisonous flowers growing in the valleys of repose\nwhere we shall stop to linger for a while, as we did in days gone\nby. We shall recognize them, and the beauty that deceived us\nbefore shall not deceive us again.\n\nBlessed is the man who remembers. But there is so much good to\nremember! And in that remembrance so much to make the heart\nthoughtful, cheerful, and hopeful. It is this thought which I\nwish you, my brethren, this morning to reflect upon: the duty and\npleasure of remembering the mercies of God--His __tender__\nmercies, as the prophet so aptly calls them.\n\nIt has always been a wonder to me how soon we forget benefits\nconferred upon us. It is too true. The joy we had when the gifts\nwere new wasted itself away as quickly as music melts upon the\nair.\n{17}\nThe keen sense of grateful love toward the giver grows dull, and\npasses into indifference, before the treasure is spent or the\nbeauty of the gem is tarnished. Drink to the health of your\nfriend and praise his bounty, if you will, but have a care--\ningratitude and forgetfulness are the last drops which lie at the\nbottom of the cup. And we treat God no better, if as well as we\ntreat men. His gifts are such as man could never give, and given\nwith a depth of love as unfathomable as the mystery of His own\nbeing and divine life. And yet we can forget! Oh! why is it? Did\nHe who made the human heart make it ungrateful? Did He who so\nloves us make those He loves selfish? Did He who has said, \"Son,\ngive me thy heart,\" ask for a corrupt and treacherous heart? Such\na thought may become that gloomy religion which thinks to exalt\nGod by debasing His creatures; but it is not so that we have\nlearned Him. No, this cannot be. It cannot be that the heart of\nman is naturally ungrateful, or is unmindful of good for which it\nis debtor; that by virtue of its very nature it is selfish toward\nman, and treacherous to God. He who made us has not made us to be\nof necessity the very opposite of what He wishes us to be. What\nexplains this cold forgetfulness, this heartless indifference,\nthat steals over us so soon? There is but one explanation. Love\nand gratitude must have a test.\n{18}\nThe words of thankfulness, the pressure of the hand, the look of\nthe eyes and the aspirations of the heart which are forced from\nus in the first flush of happiness when the gifts are showered at\nour feet, are all good and just testimonies--but they are not\nenough. Gratitude and love must have the true test of merit, and\nthat is endurance. There must be freedom to forget, that the\nfalse be distinguished from the true. That we claim this enduring\nmemory at the hands of others, and are disappointed if it is\notherwise, is a proof not only that such a test is naturally\ncalled for, but that we at the same time deem it possible. How\nmany gifts pass from hand to hand during this season of\nrejoicing, with the words--Remember me! God Himself bestows His\nmost Precious Gift to man with the same request, \"Do this in\nremembrance of Me.\" Yes, now we understand it. The true heart\nwill remember; the false one will forget. The faithful soul\ndelights in cherishing a lively remembrance of benefits received;\nand the further back in the past the moment lies that saw our\nbrows crowned with the tokens of love, the sweeter and more\ntender become the memories of them. Judge by this test, my\nbrethren, if you have a true heart to God. Oh! the deep meaning\nof the prophet's words, \"I will remember the __tender__\nmercies of the Lord.\" Time is a refiner of the thoughts.\n{19}\nThe love of the gift itself, the mere sensual complacency in its\nenjoyment is mixed up in the beginning with the thankfulness we\nfeel for its bestowal. But time will wear off that dross, and\nonly the pure gold of the heart's gratitude will be left. It is\nnot the love of the gift that need last. We do not care for that,\nneither does God. But we and God want the love of the giver to\nremain, and the giving of our gift, that act by which we tried to\nprove our love, not to be forgotten.\n\nLook back, my brethren, look back. What does your memory tell you\nof His gifts whose mercy has followed you all the days of your\nlife, whose hands have been stretched forth full of new blessings\nevery morning? Here it might become me to enumerate some of these\ngifts, but where would I begin, or where could I end? Besides, it\nis you who ought to remember, and remember well. You must have a\ncold heart if you can forget.\n\nYou see, my brethren, what I desire by these words. I wish you to\nknow whether you are grateful to God or not, to that God who has\nso loved us and crowned us with mercy and loving kindness. At a\ntime like this, when you are asking others to remember you, and\nwhen you are thinking of all the dear old friends you have had in\nbygone years, and of the sweet mementos that came from their\nhands or were spoken by their lips, I would compel you to see if\nyou have remembered the oldest, the best Friend of all.\n{20}\nAlas! if you must say--He has been the last and the least in my\nthoughts. That would be sad to hear, and, above all, from the\nlips of those who, by their very faith, with all its blessed\nconsolations, live so near to God.\n\nIf there be any by whom God wishes to be remembered, and His\nmercies brought to mind, it is by us who are His chosen people. I\nknow God loves all men, and more than we can imagine; but there\ncan be little doubt that those whom He has so honored as to make\nthem the brethren of His Only Son, Jesus Christ, upon whom He has\nbestowed the inestimable gift of the Catholic faith, are the\nobjects of His special affection.\n\nOh! it is a great thing to be one of the household of faith! That\nis one of those tender mercies the very thought of which should\nmake our heart bound in our bosom. Sweet and ever present, dear\nCatholic brethren, should be the memory of the day of your\nbaptism, the day when you crossed the threshold of God's own\nhome, the Church, and there became His child. You know well what\nlight has beamed upon your pathway in life ever since. You know\nwhat fountains of refreshment have sprung up to satisfy your\nthirsty soul. When you contrast your own knowledge of religion,\nand peace in it, with the ignorance and restless distrust of the\nblinded world without, then you know how truly wise God has made\nyou.\n\n{21}\n\nIt is true for all who own the Catholic name, but what a\n__tender__ mercy is that to be ever cherished in the heart of\na convert!\n\nO day of joy to remember!--proud, loving, humble joy like that\nwhich stirred the heart of Mary when the words broke forth in\ntumultuous rapture from her sacred lips, \"My soul doth magnify\nthe Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour. For He\nthat is mighty hath done great things unto me, and holy is His\nname.\" O day of peace to remember!--peace like that which fills\nthe soul of the wanderer upon whose longing sight breaks the\nvision of his native shore, when, with hands outstretched, as if\nto embrace the dear land, and in a voice choked with emotion, he\nmurmurs--Home at last! O day of freedom to remember! Freed is the\ncaged bird that beat its wings against bars more cruel than\niron--freedom that says to the soul, Fly, for between thee and\nGod no hand shall be found to stop thee. Cleave the skies with\nthy wings, and go sing at the gates of Paradise, and thou shalt\nhear the voices of angels responding to thy notes of happiness\nfrom within. And who has done all this? O kind God! it is Thou.\nIt is Thou who hast regarded the humility of Thy servant. Let all\ngenerations call me too blessed from henceforth; for Thou, even\nThou, hast also blessed me. Te Deum Laudamus!\n\n{22}\n\nBut it behooves us to ask ourselves the questions--What it is to\nremember God's mercies, and who are they that do it.\n\nHe who does not prize the Christmas or the New Year's gift\n(however humble may be the offering) for the sake of the giver,\nhas already forgotten it. Here is something that God has too good\nreason to complain of us. We do not make much of His gifts, as we\nought. We receive them, perhaps after many prayers. Prosperity\nsmiles upon us, temptations lose their power, our sins are\nforgiven, the impending calamity is averted, death departs from\nour doors, our wishes are granted a thousand times beyond our\nexpectations, and now that the blessing has come, does it look\nmuch in our eyes? Does it seem to us, as it is, a great thing--a\nprecious gift? We are proud to display the gifts of friends. Oh!\nwho is proud of the gifts of God? We plume ourselves upon our\nsuccess, and glorify creatures for their aid, but too often God\ncomplains of us, as He complained of His ungrateful people of\nold, \"They were filled, and were made full; and they lifted up\ntheir heart, and have forgotten me.\" [Footnote 1]\n\n [Footnote 1: Osec xiii. 6.]\n [USCCB: Hosea xiii. 6.]\n\n{23}\n\nBut He has not to complain of all. There are some who recognize\nthe source of their blessings, who wonder, in their humble,\ngrateful hearts, that One so high could stoop to one so low. \"My\nfriends tell me,\" said a recent convert, \"that I never looked so\nbright and happy in my life. They think it is on account of a\npiece of good news I have heard; but it is not that. I am all the\ntime thinking how good our dear Lord has been to me. After so\nmany years, to be permitted to come to Him, seems almost too\ngreat happiness for __me__.\" There is a soul remembering the\ntender mercies of the Lord. \"Too great happiness for __me__.\"\nSuch ought to be the expression of all our hearts at the thought\nof the very least of God's gracious gifts. A bunch of withered\nflowers stood upon a table near the foot of the bed of a poor,\ndying woman. The flowers were many days faded and scentless, yet\nevery morning fresh water was brought to fill the old cracked\nchina vase (the best in the cottage) that held them. \"I love to\nhave them there,\" she would say, \"where I can see them, for they\nwere brought to me by __him__, and they shall be laid upon my\nbreast when I am gone to God.\" \"By __him!__\" No need to tell\nthe name. It was like the supplication of Mary Magdalen, \"If thou\nhast taken Him away, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will\ngo and take Him away.\"\n{24}\nHe who brought those flowers in his hand brought her also the\nholy sacraments of the dying, and was often at her bedside during\nher long illness. She loved him with that tender, holy, and\ntrusting love which so enchains the hearts of the Catholic poor\nto their \"dear priest.\" And the gift had come from him. That, was\nenough. To her the dry, withered stems were daily strengthened by\nthe freshly brought water, the shrivelled flowers looked bright,\nand shed their fragrance still around the poor chamber. Not to\nher senses. No; but to her soul. Why should they not? Other\nflowers might not: but these--\"these were brought by\n__him__.\" Oh! when the heart remembers, how priceless becomes\nthe gift, what shining beauty adorns it, what magic charms does\nit not possess!\n\nThus, beloved brethren, let our hearts remember God for His\nmanifold mercies. They come from Him. They come from the Best,\nthe Holiest, the Truest, the Everlasting Friend. But I speak in\nvain if you do not understand me. If the Giver is not all that\nand more to you, never will His gifts be in your eyes as precious\nand as dear as they should be, and not long will you remember\nthem. It is the question of the Psalmist, \"Who is wise, and will\nkeep these things in mind, and will understand the mercies of the\nLord?\" [Footnote 2]\n\n [Footnote 2: Ps. cvi. 43.]\n [USCCB: Psalms cvii. 43.]\n\n{25}\n\nTo remember the mercies of God is to make good use of them. To\nwhat end has he blessed us with the gift of faith? That it should\nsimply distinguish us from those who do not possess it, and to\nlie idle and fruitless in our soul? Vain ornament, indeed, that\nhonors neither the giver nor him who receives it. You are a\nCatholic in name, and you do not forget it. Is it enough to\nremember that? Oh! answer God to-day. Do you remember when Sunday\nmorning comes, and the priest is ascending the altar, that you\nare a Catholic, and where a Catholic should be found then? Do you\nremember when the Church is calling her children to the\nconfession of their sins, and to the Holy Communion at the joyful\nEaster time, that you are a Catholic, and what it behooves a\nCatholic to do then? Do you remember when obscene and blasphemous\nlanguage is used in your presence that you are a Catholic, and\nthink what part a Catholic should take in that? Tell me, can you\nlift your heart to Him to-day, and say in truth--My God, Thou\nknowest that I have not forgotten Thee? \"I have chosen the way of\ntruth: Thy judgments I have not forgotten.\" [Footnote 3]\n\n [Footnote 3: Ps. cxviii. 30.]\n [USCCB: Ps. cxix. 30; \"The way of loyalty I have chosen;\n I have set your edicts before me.\"]\n\n{26}\n\nYou got over that illness. I know that you said, \"If God spares\nmy life, I will be a changed man--I will be an altered woman. No\nmore will I be seen staggering in drunkenness. No longer will I\nkeep a grog-shop, and stain my hands with the hard-earned and\nwickedly-squandered money of my neighbor--blood-money, cursed by\nthe cries of the brutally treated wife and the moans of the\nnaked, starved children. No longer will I be a nominal Catholic,\na standing scandal to unbelievers, and damning my own soul by my\ncriminal neglect of God and contempt of His Holy Church. I will\ngive up all that spite and malice in my heart, and go and be\nreconciled with those who have injured me for the sake of Him who\nsaid, 'Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.'\" Do you remember all\nthat? Yes; but what avails such a heartless remembrance as yours\nhas been? Even He has reminded you of your promise and of His\nmercy from time to time, as He now again reminds you by my mouth.\nOh! mock Him not. Better, far better, would it be had you wholly\nforgotten both promise and mercy. It would not be generous, I\nallow; but now you are false and treacherous, for the mercy was\ngranted, but the promise remains unfulfilled.\n\nIn the sorrow of your stricken spirit, and with the grievous\nburden of sin lying heavy upon you, your guardian angel took you\none day, trembling, anxious, fearful, harassed by the stings of\nremorse, to the confessional.\n{27}\nThere you poured out your griefs, and told all the shameful\nguilt--griefs that seemed eternal, and guilt that no oceans might\nwash away. And yet, O tender mercy of God! down falls the veil of\ndarkness, and your soul is bathed in light. You, who a moment ago\nwere stumbling in despair at the portals of hell, are now\nstanding before the gates of heaven. You, who had that in your\nsoul which almost drove you to madness, now are in such peace\nthat words fail you, and you weep for very joy. Yes, of a truth\nGod has been very merciful, tenderly merciful to you. Ah! what\nwould you not then do for God--what sacrifices would you not\nmake--what life long resolutions were you not ready to form! Do\nyou not remember? Ah, yes! now I remind you of it. But how long\ndid you remember it to any profit to yourself or praise to God?\nAnd tell me, how now? What of your present remembrance? An East\nIndian having been shown all about the beautiful city of Paris,\nthrough its royal palaces, its galleries of art, its\nmanufactories of wondrous scientific and mechanical instruments,\nmanifested, it was observed, but little enthusiasm. The Indian\nwas too proud to show any emotion at sight of the works of\nstrangers. One day he was taken to the Jardin des Plantes, where\nare cultivated trees, shrubs, and flowers of every clime.\n{28}\nSuddenly he stopped short before a tropical tree, fell upon his\nknees, clasped it lovingly and kissed it, and, as the tears\nflowed fast down his swarthy cheek, cried out, in his own\nlanguage, \"O tree of my own land! O tree of my own native land,\nso far away! Let us go back home again.\"\n\nThere are some of you, my brethren, to whom I have shown the\npicture of a mercy you cannot but remember well. How does the\nsight of it affect you? Are you moved with that deep emotion such\na memory should awaken? Do you hug the memory of that hour of\npeace to your bosom, and does your heart cry out, \"O tender mercy\nof my God! O sweet hour of peace now so far away! Let me go back\nto thee again!\" Blessed remembrance, as happy for yourself as it\nis dear to God. You are wise because you keep these things in\nmind, and have understood the mercies of the Lord, and the praise\nof the Lord for all the things He hath bestowed upon you.\n\nBut can you look at it with indifference, seeing there nothing to\nstir the depths of your soul, nothing to call forth a grateful\naspiration from your breast? Then I think of that uncivilized\nIndian, and must say: He loved his country better than you love\nGod. He was quick to remember __that__; you have been quick to\nforget __Him__.\n\n{29}\n\nI am not asking too much, my brethren, am I? I am not forcing\nupon your notice a subject out of place at this joyous season, am\nI? When the absent one returns to the old homestead to spend the\nChristmas holidays, you who have been the kindest to him, the\nmost lavish in your gifts--you who have been sending him time and\nagain sweet tokens of __your__ remembrance--you do not look\nfor him to think the last about __you__. Oh! no. You are\ntempted to hide yourself in sport before he has seen you, that\nyou may enjoy listening to his anxious and hurried questions\nabout __you__, and his wondering where __you__ are, and a\nthousand eager expressions, which show that he has been thinking\nabout the pleasant meeting he would have with __you__ all the\nway home, and that his joy is not full till he can run into your\nembrace. Oh! his every question almost drags you out from your\nhiding-place. But suppose you listen in vain for the mention of\nyour name; that in the midst of his joyous congratulations and\nhappy wishes he does not ask where __you__ are, and evinces by\nno sign that in your absence anything is wanting to him. Oh! the\nugly pain at your heart as you steal away to your chamber,\nunwilling now to be seen, hurt by his forgetfulness, and stung to\nthe very quick by his silent ingratitude.\n\n{30}\n\nBrethren, I am speaking for God; for the best Friend, who of all\nmust be the nearest and dearest, and the first in your thoughts.\nLooking down from His throne in heaven, he watches, to see who\nhave been making preparations to meet Him; who are renewing at\nthis time their grateful remembrances of Him. Ah! there are some\nwho remember, and they have already gathered about His holy\nTable, and feasted at His heavenly banquet. Though no earthly\nfriends may have been kind or thoughtful enough to send them a\nholiday present, they have still had a Merry Christmas and a\nHappy New Year's for all that. They have met the Friend of all\nfriends with the kiss of peace and the embrace of welcome, and\nthat has been more than enough.\n\nBut there are some who never said a word about Him, never thought\nof Him, never remembered all He had done for them. Nay, there are\nsome who never came at all. Not that __He__ forgot to invite\nthem, not that He neglected to prepare His Christmas feast. No.\nHe is the Friend who never forgets. What shall I say? Does God\nnot feel that heartless coldness and neglect of theirs? Oh! the\nsad, tender, complaining reproaches of Good Friday are heard in\nheaven at Christmas. \"My people, what have I done unto thee, or\nin what have I grieved thee? Answer me.\" \"Put me in remembrance,\"\nas he said to his people of old, \"and let us plead together. Tell\nme if thou hast anything to justify thyself.\"\n{31}\nYes, answer Him, you of whom He is speaking. Answer to that God\nwho has never wearied of heaping blessing after blessing and\nmercy after mercy upon your head. Tell Him what He has done to\nyou that you have forgotten Him. Too well you know, however, that\nin Him you shall find nothing to accuse.\n\nSo, then, let us rather turn to the exciting in our hearts a\nlively remembrance of His manifold mercies, and to make that\nmemory to good purpose. Let us seek to know, if possible, why God\nhas so blessed us; what object He had in view; what He expected\nof us; what promises we made when we received them, and now\nresolve that He shall be no longer disappointed in the fruits He\nlooked for from them. It will help us to acquire that spirit of\nhumble gratitude which so enlarges the heart, and helps us to do\ngreat and generous things for God. With the Psalmist, then, let\nus say, \"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all that He\nhath done for thee. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who\nhealeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from\ndestruction, and crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.\"\n[Footnote 4] So shall the New Year begin with praise and\nthanksgiving, to end with blessings new and better than the last.\n\n [Footnote 4: Ps. cii. 2-4.]\n [USCCB: Ps. ciii. 2-4.]\n\n -------------------\n\n{32}\n\n Sermon II.\n\n The Three Gifts Of The Magi.\n\n (For The Feast of The Epiphany.)\n\n St. Matthew ii. 11.\n\n \"__And going into the house, they found\n the child with Mary his mother: and\n falling down, they adored him: and\n opening their treasures, they offered\n to him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh__.\"\n\n\nThese wise men, who are supposed by many to have been kings, were\nled by the appearance of the miraculous star in the heavens, and\nthe secret inspirations of the Holy Ghost, to Bethlehem, in order\nto find out and adore the Child who was born king of the Jews.\nAfter a long search, they found Him, lying in a manger, and, in\nspite of the poverty and the straw, they recognized in Him the\nKing of souls, the Creator of heaven and earth. With a deep faith\nthey adored Him, and, opening their treasures, offered to Him\ngifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.\n\n{33}\n\nAnd we are all, in like manner, drawn to do the same thing. The\nlight of faith directs us to the poor stable of Bethlehem, where\nwe behold the Lord of Glory disguised in the form of an infant,\nand it becomes us also to offer Him our treasures of gold,\nfrankincense, and myrrh.\n\nAnd, first, what is the pure gold which is acceptable to our God\nand Creator? By gold is understood charity or the love of our\nGod. And by this charity is understood the pure intention of\npleasing God by which we should be governed in all our works. The\nlove of God does not essentially consist in a tender feeling of\naffection or in a sensible devotion of tears, which we are not\nalways able to elicit, much as we might desire it, but in a good\nand pure intention. That this is so should be a great consolation\nand encouragement to us. We have no right to say, as many do, \"I\ncannot love God,\" for this is an untruth. It lies in every one's\npower to love Him, if he only desires sincerely to do so. We\nmight say with truth--My heart is cold, and I am grieved because\nI cannot experience that warm love of God which I desire so much;\nbut I would reply to all such--Set your fears at rest; make a\ngood intention to please and love God to the best of your\nability, and you have, at once, the real, true, and solid love of\nHim which will bring you by the shortest route to the kingdom of\nheaven.\n\n{34}\n\nIt is related that one of the old heathen kings had an avarice so\ngreat that he desired that all he touched might be turned into\ngold. His request being granted, he perished of hunger. Avarice\nfor spiritual treasures has no such evil effect. On the contrary,\nour Lord says, \"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after\njustice, for they shall be filled.\" Now I wish that, in like\nmanner, what ever you touch with your hearts--that is, what ever\nyou long for or desire--might, by a good intention, be turned\ninto the gold of the purest charity. Our Saviour has said, You\ncannot so much as give a cup of cold water in My Name--that is,\nwith a good intention--without receiving a reward for it. The\ntreasures of grace and merit lie in immense heaps all around us,\nand we can help ourselves. Whatever we do, then, let us do it in\nthe name of the Lord, following out the injunction of St. Paul,\n\"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do,\ndo all things for the glory of God.\" [Footnote 5] I hope, then,\nyou will all, on this blessed festival, determine to direct all\nyour thoughts, words, and actions to the glory of God to the very\nbest of your ability, and thus open your treasures, and offer to\nthe Infant Jesus lying on the straw a great heap of pure, bright\ngold.\n\n [Footnote 5: I Cor. x. 31.]\n\n{35}\n\nThe wise men of the East offered not gold only, but also\nfrankincense. What does this signify? It means devotion. You have\noften seen incense put into the censer at High Mass or Vespers,\nand the smoke from it immediately arise straight upwards. It is a\nfigure of the prayers and burning wishes of the soul ascending up\nto heaven. The Scripture says: \"And another angel came, and stood\nbefore the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to\nhim much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all\nsaints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God:\nand the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints\nascended up before God, from the hand of the angel.\" [Footnote 6]\n\n [Footnote 6: Apoc. viii. 3, 4.]\n [USCCB: Revelation viii. 3, 4.]\n\nThe act of true prayer or adoration by which we acknowledge, with\nour whole heart the infinite mystery of God and His complete\ndominion over us, our own entire nothingness of ourselves without\nHim, and by which we declare and protest that we desire nothing\nelse but that He should govern us and dispose of us and all our\naffairs as He pleases--this is the highest and noblest act of\nour own reason. For what could we do so real and true as this?\nHow could we realize in a better way the simplest and at the same\ntime the most sublime of all truths? Our prayers ought to go up\nfrom our hearts as from a censer which contains a fire that no\ncreated thing is able to put out. The smoke of it should\ncontinually arise, and all we do should be done in the way of a\nprayer and supplication to our Last End and Chief Good.\n\n{36}\n\nAlas! we have incense enough to offer to idols. We swing the\ncenser to wealth, honors, and pleasures; we bow the knee, and\nworship houses, and lands, and cattle, and fine clothes, and\nsumptuous fare, and sell our very souls for a few pieces of gold;\nbut we have but little incense for God--no pure and sincere\nhomage for Him, the eternal, uncreated Source of all our good.\n\nAnd when you offer the incense of your adoration to God, offer\npure and clear incense. Do not mix with the frankincense resin or\nother foul-smelling drugs. And what are they? Those desires of\nthe heart by which you cling to the creatures of earth with a\npassionate eagerness. Clear your heart of such desires, so that\nyou may say, \"My God and my all.\" \"My God, if I possess Thee and\nlack all else, I am rich in deed.\" \"If I have the whole world,\nand all it contains, and have not Thee, I am poor, and blind, and\nmiserable, and naked.\" Then will your prayer arise as a sweet\nodor from the golden altar before the throne of God, and in\nnumerable blessings descend upon you, not only for eternity, but\neven in this present life.\n\n{37}\n\nOffer frankincense, or you will have no gold to offer. When you\nopen your treasures, if there is not plenty of incense--that is,\nprayer--you will find the chest, in which you thought there was\nmuch gold, to be empty. For without prayer there is no charity or\nlove of God. Prayer is the food by which you nourish and keep\ncharity alive and on the increase. Prayer is the capital in trade\nby which you are to make your fortune in the charity of God to\nenrich you for eternity.\n\nAnd having offered your gold and frankincense, do not forget the\nmyrrh. And what is signified by myrrh? It means self-denial, or,\nas it is more commonly called, mortification. I wish we all\nunderstood the value of self-denial better than we do, because\nnearly all the miseries which afflict the soul come from the fact\nthat we do not deny ourselves as much as we ought. We give the\nreins to our natural desires and inclinations, and they run away\nwith us. Just as if we were driving a span of spirited horses,\nand instead of putting a curb-bit upon them and holding them in,\nwe should throw the reins down upon their necks and let them go\nwithout restraint. When they once begin to go fast, they break\ninto a headlong race, and never stop until they have dashed\neverything in pieces. Thus we let our desires for amusement and\npleasure run away with us, until we find our pious resolutions\nand the spirit of devotion entirely gone, and drowned in the sea\nof forgetfulness.\n{38}\nHow can we love God if we be absorbed in a love of good eating\nand drinking? Can God come and take up His abode in a soul which\noccupies itself and is taken up with the satisfaction of\nsumptuous fare, rich meats, and choice wines or liquors. Such\nsouls are vividly described in Holy Scripture: \"For many walk, of\nwhom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping) that they\nare enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction;\nwhose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who\nmind earthly things.\" [Footnote 7]\n\n [Footnote 7: Philip., iii. 18, 19.]\n\nHow can God give Himself to the man who is absorbed in\nmoney-making and heaping up possessions? It is impossible for\nsuch a soul to enjoy the presence of God. Neither can He divide\nthe empire of the soul with worldly honors, nor even with a\npassionate human love of wife or children. He is God, and they\nare creatures, the mere work of His hand. They shall pass away\nand be gone, and He shall remain. Such inordinate love is like\ndisgusting vermin in the mansion of the soul, and all such vermin\nmust be swept out. What ever we love must be loved on account of\nGod, and in subordination to His love, or God will not come and\ntake up His abode with us. This is the plain dictate of our\nreason.\n\n{39}\n\nWe must deny ourselves, and that not merely in forbidden things,\nbut in those which are lawful. If we go to the limit of what is\nlawful in self-indulgence, depend upon it we shall soon pass the\nlimit. We shall fall into sin, and very likely into mortal sin.\nMany a one has fallen in this way. He has said to himself, I can\ndo this thing, for it is not forbidden. Again, I can do that; it\nis not certain it comes within the letter of the law. I can\nindulge myself in this respect, for, even if sinful, it is a\nmatter of small consequence. Thus he goes on in a downhill\nprogress, until he becomes utterly selfish, and virtue has died\nout in his soul. Our Saviour has laid down the rule for a\nChristian; \"He that will be My disciple, let him deny him self\ndaily, and take up his cross and follow Me.\" Again, \"He that\nloveth father or mother, wife or child, houses or lands, more\nthan Me, is not worthy to be My disciple.\"\n\nWe must deny ourselves, and, if we would be great friends of God,\nwe must deny ourselves a great deal. The fact is, in order to\nbecome possessed of God, we must deny ourselves in all things, at\nall times, and in all places. We must repress and bring into\nsubjection our desires, so that they may not occupy and fill our\nhearts. The Scripture says, \"Think not for the morrow what ye\nshall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewith ye shall be\nclothed; but think of the kingdom of God and his justice.\"\n{40}\nNow, reflect on this: we cannot be thinking on both these things\nat the same time; one thought will crowd the other out; therefore\nyou must drive out of your hearts those eager desires of the\nworld, and temporal things, and anxiety about the future; you\nmust deny yourselves these earthly desires, or you will never\nbecome spiritually-minded. Could we only banish all care and\nsolicitude for these things, and discharge our duties and our\nbusiness in life without anxiety, for God, and for the ends God\nhas appointed them, we should be recompensed a thousandfold in\nthis life, and we should be filled with gratitude to God for\ninspiring us with such sentiments. Offer myrrh, offer plenty of\nmyrrh to God. Offer it with gold and frankincense--that is, with\nthe intention of cleaning and sweeping out from your hearts all\nvain and useless love, that they may be ready and prepared for\nthe Divine Love, and with many prayers and good wishes; and God\nwill accept it. It will be most pleasing to Him. Without this,\nyour self-denial will be in vain. Self-denial, without the right\nintention, is superstitious, and nourishes an empty pride; with\nit, the least act of self-denial renders you like to God, and\nmore fit to receive the impressions of the Holy Ghost within your\nsouls.\n\n{41}\n\nBegin, then, to offer myrrh with the gold and frankincense. Deny\nyour eyes what they like to look upon, that the eyes of your\nsouls may look on God more steadily. Deny your ears what they\nlike to hear; news and gossip, not to speak of detraction and\nevil talk, that you may more readily hear the still, small voice\nof the Holy Ghost gently speaking within your hearts. Deny your\nsense of smell; the gratifications of perfumes and sweet odors.\nDeny your palates delicate and luxurious food, that you may\nrelish better the plain and solid meat of the Gospel. Deny\nyourselves all around, whenever you can bring yourselves to do it\ncheerfully, for the sake of God, for He loves not the unwilling,\nbut the cheerful, giver.\n\nThis is what the saints did, and it is what made them saints.\nImpelled by the strong desire to love God more, I dare to say\nthat self-denial was the sweetest pleasure to them in this life.\nHaving food and raiment, and wherewith to be clothed, they were\ncontent therewith; the superfluous and the unnecessary they\nabominated, for they knew they would only lead them away from\nJesus Christ.\n\nPresent these gifts not only now, but every day of your lives.\nGod will give them to you, and then you must give them back\nfaithfully to Him, and in a short time He will give you a present\nwhich excels anything you ever thought of. He will give you\nHimself, and inundate your happy soul in an ocean of\ninconceivable joy and unspeakable happiness, never to be lost for\nall the ages of eternity.\n\n ------------------------\n\n{42}\n\n Sermon III.\n\n How To Pass A Good Lent.\n\n (For Ash Wednesday.)\n\n 2 Cor. vi. 2.\n\n \"__Behold, now is the acceptable time;\n behold, now is the day of salvation__.\"\n\n\nThis morning, my brethren, we knelt before this altar, and\nreceived from the Holy Church the ashes from which this day takes\nits name. Why did we do so? Was it merely because we had done so\nin past years? because it is a Catholic custom? because others\ndid so, and we were expected to do the same? To receive them for\nsuch reasons would be better than not to receive them at all; but\nbetter still would it be to feel the meaning, and enter into the\nspirit of this sacred rite.\n\nIn the early ages of the Church, those whose sins were such as to\nrequire (in the severer judgment of those days) a public penance,\nreceived the ashes on this day from the bishop, and were then,\nafter some other ceremonies, expelled from the Church, and not\nallowed to assist at Mass till Holy Thursday.\n{43}\nAs they were being driven out, the words. __Memento, homo, quia\npulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris__--\"Remember, man, that\nthou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return\"--which were\nrepeated to each one of us as we received the ashes this morning,\nwere said to them. Their exclusion from the Church, often during\na much longer time than the few weeks of Lent, was by no means\nthe only penance to which many of them were subjected, besides\nthose which they voluntarily undertook; but it is enough to\nmention so much, that we may understand what are the feelings\nwhich we, who are to-day in the place of these public penitents,\nshould have.\n\nReceiving the ashes was for them a sign of the most profound\nhumiliation and repentance. They were in disgrace, separated from\nthe rest of the faithful as unworthy to partake with them in the\nsacred mysteries; and they expressed by their submission a firm\npurpose to amend their lives, and repair the scandal they had\ngiven. Now it is to us no disgrace to receive the ashes, but even\nthe contrary; and we are not, perhaps, understood as expressing\nsorrow for our sins by the act, but humiliation and penance are\nreally meant by it, and it is in this spirit that the Church\nwishes us to perform it.\n\n{44}\n\nThis meaning is also contained in the very ashes themselves. For\nwhat can more completely express humiliation than ashes, which\nare the mere remains of their former substance, without beauty,\nstrength, or any of its qualities? And what can better represent\nrepentance than the fine dust of which they are composed? For\nthis reducing to dust or powder is the real meaning of\ncontrition: the contrite heart is that which is not only broken,\nbut even ground to dust with sorrow. The ashes, also, as we are\nreminded in receiving them, represent the dust of death to which\nwe must sooner or later come, and in which all the distinctions\nupon which we pride ourselves so much now will be confounded,\nnothing being left of us in this world after a short time but a\nfew handfuls of dust, and our souls having gone to another, where\ntheir claims to consideration will have been judged according to\na very different standard from that which prevails in this life.\nThe thought of death, then, which they suggest, ought to fill us\nwith humiliation on account of the vanity of our worldly\ndistinctions, and with repentance now while we have time, because\nafter death repentance will be impossible.\n\nBut Ash Wednesday is not a day by itself. It is the beginning of\na season in which the sentiments which it suggests are to be\ncontinued and even strengthened. It is of the right way of\npassing this penitential season of Lent that I wish to speak to\nyou to-night.\n{45}\nAnd, in the first place, let us try to have a firm purpose to\npass it in the right way. With a good resolution, the battle is\nhalf won. It is well worth our while to spend a good Lent; heaven\nis, as it were, nearer now, and grace is more abundant. \"Now is\nthe acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.\" Yes, my\nbrethren, the Church does not give us Lent merely as a penance,\nbut to help us in saving our souls.\n\nWhat, then, shall we do to spend Lent well?\n\nThe first thing to do is to cease from sin, and obey those\ncommandments of God which are binding at all times as well as\nnow. To one who will not resolve to quit mortal sin, nothing else\nthat he can do will be of any use except so far as it helps him\nto make such a resolution. All who have lost grace know well\nenough what sins are ruining their souls; and these they must\ngive up, or their Lent will have been of little or no use--\nperhaps even worse than useless, being another of those graces of\nthe good God which they have thrown away and trampled under foot,\nand which He will reproach them with at the last day. Though He\nis always entreating us to give up sin, yet it is now specially\nthat He urges us, as we are about to commemorate the bitter\nsufferings which He endured to redeem us from its power.\n{46}\nAnd though we are always bound to give it up, yet are we\nspecially now so bound, because everything reminds us so strongly\nhow hateful it is to God. Leave off sin, then; that is the great\nthing. I do not say that nothing else must be done till this is;\nbut this must be done sooner or later, and the sooner the better,\nfor it is very dangerous to wait. This night, this very hour, may\nbe the last that we shall have.\n\nThis naturally suggests a special precept that comes to us at\nthis time. Whether we have sinned or not, we must make our Easter\nduty. At other times, our Lord invites us to come to Him; now, He\ncommands us to come, under pain of a new and great sin if we\nrefuse. Obey, then, this loving command as soon as possible; do\nnot delay, especially if guilty of mortal sin; for, besides\nrunning a great risk, you will lose the merit of all you may do\nin this holy season as long as you remain unforgiven. It is not\nso hard as it seems; and the moment of absolution will be the\nhappiest one of life.\n\nAnother positive precept at this time is, of course, the fast, as\nprescribed by the rules of the diocese. This we must keep as well\nas we can, not considering that we are exempted from it merely\nbecause it is difficult; but only allowing such reasons against\nit as make a strict observance really imprudent--remembering, of\ncourse, the exemptions given in the regulations, but trusting to\nthe judgment of a confessor or physician, rather than our own, if\nthere be any doubt about the matter.\n{47}\nAnd let us not make the sacrifice unwillingly, merely because we\nare obliged to, but as cheerfully as we can, so that we may\nplease God, as well as avoid offending Him. In this way we may\ngain more merit, perhaps, than by anything else we can do in the\ncourse of the year, on account of the difficulty of the work, and\nbecause at other times we should hardly be justified in imposing\nsuch a penance on ourselves. Besides, obedience is better than\nsacrifice; and fasting in Lent is an act of obedience. So, if we\ncannot fast, we lose the opportunity of doing something a little\ndifficult, and which we know will please God; which should make\nus sorry rather than glad.\n\nNow, to come to things not absolutely required, but which\nnevertheless ought to be attended to in Lent, and which must be\ndone, if we wish really to pass it well. They may be classed\nunder the three eminent good works, as they are called;\nnamely--fasting, prayer, and alms.\n\nIt may seem as if the subject of fasting had been already\ndisposed of. And so it has, perhaps, in the usual sense of the\nword; we are not required, nor would it probably be advisable, to\nkeep a more rigorous fast than the Church prescribes, at least in\npoint of quantity; but we may give up some things in the way of\nfood, which are not forbidden, practising some voluntary\nmortification or self-denial, as far as the strength of our souls\nand bodies will allow.\n{48}\nIt rarely does us much harm to deny our taste something; to give\nup or limit ourselves in something which we like particularly, if\nwe do not really need it, and there be plenty besides. And though\nabstaining from the sin of drunkenness is not probably a\nmortification, but a most severe obligation at all times, yet, as\nin this penitential season this vice seems to acquire new\nmalignity, still greater precautions ought to be taken in those\noccasions which might lead to it.\n\nBut the word fasting really means more than abstaining from food\nand drink. It implies self-denial in other ways; and there are a\ngreat many ways in which we can deny ourselves besides eating and\ndrinking. The tongue, for example, can be restrained in speaking,\nas well as in its sense of taste. We can talk a good deal less\nthan we might without sin, as well as eat less, and yet be none\nthe worse for it. Then we can restrain our curiosity for news,\nboth public and private; we can refuse to gratify our sight,\nhearing, and other senses--in short, there are plenty of ways for\none who has the will.\n{49}\nBut if we have no will for such voluntary mortification, we can\nat least take patiently what we have to suffer from cold,\nfatigue, or any pain of body or mind; and not complain of those\ngrievances which come to us from the neglect or carelessness, or\neven from the bad will, of others, and of which it might seem\nthat we have, in some sense, a right to complain. We may well\nconsider that we have forfeited our rights by sin, and that\nthough sometimes we are bound to claim them, yet often it will be\nbetter to give them up. But what are the motives for all this\nself-denial? There are many. One is to make up, in some degree,\nfor having gone beyond what was allowable by now stopping\nsomewhat short of it; that is, to atone for our sins. But besides\nthis, it makes us love ourselves less, and God and our neighbor\nmore; and it makes us a great deal more free really than if we\nwere all the time having our own way, for it takes away a\nthousand cares and anxieties which are all the time distracting\nus, and keeping us from attaining the end for which we were\ncreated. Nor can we be happy without self-denial, strange as it\nmay seem; for we cannot be happy unless we are contented; and the\nonly way to become contented is to cease to care about the many\nthings which we are always desiring but often cannot have; and\nthe only way to do this thoroughly is sometimes to give them up\nwhen we can have them. Besides this, God is pleased and gives us\ngrace when we deny our selves; for it shows our love for Him.\n{50}\nAnd at this time He seems specially to ask these sacrifices from\nus. \"Now is the acceptable time\"; and if we do not make them now,\nthere is not much chance that we will at any other season of the\nyear.\n\nThen we must make more prayer now than usual, employing in this\nway the time that we cut off from other things. Try to come to\nearly Mass on week-days; of course, nothing can be better than to\nassist at this, the greatest act of Christian worship. Also, come\nto Vespers on Sunday, and say the beads at home, in common if\npossible, and as many other prayers as there is time for,\nespecially such as are indulgenced, for these are, of course,\nmore powerful in satisfying for sin. And in this time of special\ntrial for the Church and the Holy Father, we will not forget to\npray that the triumph of our Faith, which is sure to come sooner\nor later, may be speedy; that the plans of the persecutors of the\nHoly See may be utterly defeated; and that they may return as\nobedient children to their Mother and ours, the Holy Catholic and\nRoman Church.\n\nBut, besides these devotions, which we can practise at any time,\nthere are also others peculiar to this season: those in the\nchurch on Wednesday and Friday nights, which will be the same as\nin previous years, and which will, no doubt, be attended as well\nas or even better than they have been heretofore.\n{51}\nThere will be a sermon every Wednesday, and the Stations on\nFriday. Next to repenting of sin and confessing it, one can\nhardly do anything more pleasing to God in the time of Lent than\nto assist at the Stations, and help to commemorate His bitter\nsufferings and those of His Blessed Mother. \"He was wounded for\nour iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of\nour peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed.\"\nSurely, the least we can do at this season, when the Church\npresents His Passion to our minds, is to come and go with Him\nover the way of sufferings by which we were redeemed. You will\nnotice, also, by looking at the table of festivals at the door,\nthat the Church commemorates, on every Friday during Lent, some\none of the mysteries of the Passion. These mysteries we will do\nwell to think of specially. Try to come every Wednesday and\nFriday, and not miss a single evening from this to Good Friday;\nand also persuade others to come who are not here to-night, or\nwho have not been in the habit of coming; and come not for\namusement, or even principally for instruction, but for the honor\nand glory of God and the good of your souls.\n\n{52}\n\nMuch hardly needs to be said about alms, the last of the eminent\ngood works. It is evident enough how pleasing it is to God, and\nwhat a rich reward it secures for us. In the office of next\nSunday the Church reminds us specially of this, saying, in the\nwords of Holy Scripture, \"Break thy bread for the hungry, and\nbring the needy and wandering into thy house; then shall thy\nlight shine forth as the morning, and thy justice shall go before\nthy face.\" And, during the following week, she repeats: \"Give\nalms to the poor, and it shall pray for thee to the Lord; for as\nwater quenches fire, so do alms extinguish sin.\" That is, if we\nhave repented of our sins, almsgiving will satisfy for them; and\nif we have not, almsgiving will help us to have contrition to\nrepent, and will move God to give us abundant grace; He will be\nobliged, as it were, by gratitude, to give it to us; for He has\nsaid, \"As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren,\nyou did it to Me.\" Almsgiving will not save us without\nrepentance, but it will help us very much to have repentance;\nand, to impress us with its importance, our Lord seems, in His\nown description of the last judgment, to make our salvation\ndepend upon the charitable works which we have done in this life.\nAnd if, by His grace, we have repented of sin and confessed it,\nalmsgiving will give us a degree of merit and amount of reward\nwhich we may, in one sense, call unjust and excessive, so great\nis the mercy of God.\n\n{53}\n\nFasting, prayer, and alms; self-denial, devotion, and charity;\nthese are the principal good works at this and every time; but\nthey are more urgent and necessary now than usual, if we wish to\nobtain the special fruit of this holy season. And, besides these,\nwe must not put away the spirit of humiliation and penance\nexpressed in receiving the ashes this morning. These are not for\nAsh-Wednesday alone, but for the whole of Lent. We must abandon,\nin spirit at least, the vain distinctions by which we are trying\nto raise ourselves above others, and follow, at a great distance,\nthe example of our God and Saviour, who, being our Creator and\nabsolute Master, became the servant of servants for our sake. And\nwe have an immense number of sins which are not yet fully\nexpiated; for these we must do penance sometime or other, before\ndeath or after it, in this world or in purgatory. We can do it\nbetter now than at any other time; first, because we are obliged\nto do some difficult things, which can be made to pay this\ntemporal debt if they are done with the right spirit and\nintention; and, also, because penance is the spirit of the\nseason, and we can come to the church oftener, and do of our own\naccord other things which are a little inconvenient and put us to\nsome trouble, without any danger of attracting attention or of\ngetting proud about it; for others will be doing the same.\n\n{54}\n\nFinally, my brethren, in the words of the Apostle, \"We exhort you\nthat you receive not the grace of God in vain.\" This may be our\nlast Lent; it certainly will be for some of us; but, at any rate,\nwe shall not feel sorry to have spent it as if it were so. God's\nlove for us is immense; He is continually giving us fresh graces,\nwhich we are trampling under our feet; but there will come a time\nwhen I will not say His patience will be exhausted, but when, in\nthe course of His providence, we must be taken from this world,\nand grace for us will be no more. Then, when we lie on our\ndeath-bed, we shall look back--if, indeed, we are able to\ncollect our thoughts--upon the gifts of God which we have thrown\naway, and wish most earnestly for a day, or even an hour, of the\ntime that we have wasted. Then, if we have spent this Lent badly,\nwe shall remember it and the others that we have neglected, and\nbitterly repent our neglect when it is too late. Then we shall\nfear and tremble at the thought of the awful judgment of God,\nbefore whose face we are so soon to appear; or, if we have\nconfidence that by His mercy the guilt of our sins has been taken\naway, we shall still feel how unfit we are, after a sinful life,\nto remain in His sight, and shall see the flames of purgatory\nprepared to expiate those offences for which this Lent and the\nothers we have wasted might have atoned. Perhaps years of\nsuffering will await us there instead of the few days of penance\nwhich we have refused in this life.\n{55}\nAnd, even if we have spent this time well, we shall then see\nclearly how we might have spent it better; and every good work\nwhich we could properly have done, which we had the grace and\nopportunity for, and yet did not do, will give us more sorrow\nthan its omission gave relief.\n\nBut let us hope better things. There is no reason why this Lent\nshould not be for us all that God meant it to be. That it may be\nso, the first thing to do, and the most agreeable of all, is to\nget into the grace and friendship of God, if we are now in sin;\nand then we have only to go on and do what we can, not in a\ngrudging or weary spirit, but cheerfully and with our whole\nheart, to please our good God, who loves us each as much as if we\nwere His only creature, and has done infinitely more for us\nalready than we can ever do for Him. His Blessed Mother and the\nsaints, especially St. Joseph, under whose patronage the greater\npart of Lent almost always comes, will help us, and we shall have\njoy enough in our souls to fully make up for all that is\nunpleasant or tiresome. And all the while we shall, by penance,\nbe shortening the road that lies between us and our true home in\nheaven, where our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, the Blessed\nTrinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is waiting to have us come\nand be happy with Him for all eternity.\n\n -----------------------\n\n{56}\n\n Sermon IV.\n\n Pretended And Real Christians.\n\n (At Special Lenten Service.)\n\n 2 Cor. vi. 1.\n\n \"__And we do exhort you\n that you receive not the grace of God in vain__.\"\n\n\nWhat is the reason, my dear brethren, that you are all here\nto-night? I know very well what it is. There are very few who\nhave not one and the same reason. You came because you wish, when\nyou are removed out of this world, to reach the kingdom of\nheaven. You came because you would secure yourselves from the\npunishments denounced by God against the sinner. You came here\nto-night because you feel a strong interest in the salvation of\nyour souls. It is the grace of God which stirs within your hearts\nand impels you to come. Now you are here, I say to you, with St.\nPaul, \"Let not this grace of God be in vain.\" It is not enough to\ncome within the church-walls and hear the voice of the preacher,\nunless you arc also willing and anxious to follow out his\ninstructions.\n\n{57}\n\nI want to tell you what it is to be rightly and truly called a\nChristian, and to have a well-grounded hope of salvation. A vast\nnumber of absurd notions are afloat in the minds of many as to\nwhat it is to be a Christian. Where they came from, I cannot\ntell. It is not from the Church, for she never has taught them,\nand never can teach them. It is not from good sense and right\nreason, for they teach exactly the contrary. It must be from the\ndevil, for he is said, in Scripture, to be a liar and the father\nof lies, and these lies are the very ones which are the most\ndestructive of the soul. One of these lying notions is that\noutward communion with the Church of God renders a man a true\nChristian, and makes him sure of his salvation. The Pharisees had\nthis idea. \"Are we not children of Abraham?\" they said. But what\ndid St. John the Baptist say? \"Say not to yourselves, We have\nAbraham for our father; for I say unto you that God is able of\nthese stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Bring forth,\ntherefore, fruit worthy of penance.\" [Footnote 8]\n\n [Footnote 8: St. Matthew iii. 9.]\n\n{58}\n\nAnd our Saviour said unto them, \"If you be the children of\nAbraham, do the works of Abraham.\" If there are any Catholics\nfoolish enough to build their hopes of salvation on the mere fact\nof being Catholics, without having the spirit and the works of\nthe Catholic religion, let them consider the fearful denunciation\nof our Lord against them. Take the parable of the wheat and the\ntares. The kingdom of heaven is like to a man who sowed wheat in\nhis field, and by-and-by, when it came up, a quantity of weeds,\nor tares, came up with it. The servants asked their lord, \"Shall\nwe not go out and pull up the tares?\" \"No,\" he replied; \"lest,\npulling out the tares, ye pull out the wheat with them. Suffer\nthem to grow together until the harvest, and then the wheat shall\nbe gathered into my barn, and the tares shall be bound up into\nbundles to be burned in the fire.\" The question is not--Am I\ngrowing in the field of the Church? but--Am I the wheat? or the\ntares, fit only for the burning? Our Lord never seems to grow\ntired of denouncing this doctrine. Listen to His description of\nthe last judgment: \"And when the master of the house shall be\ngone in, and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand\nwithout, and knock at the door, saying: Lord, open to us; and he\nanswering, shall say to you: I know not whence you are. Then you\nshall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and\nthou hast taught in our streets. And he shall say to you: I know\nnot whence you are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.\"\n[Footnote 9]\n\n [Footnote 9: St. Luke xiii. 25-27.]\n\n{59}\n\nYou see, then, the plea of being familiar in the house of God, of\neating and drinking in His presence, is of no avail. Others, who\nare not in the outward Church of God, though in it in heart and\nsoul, may enter the kingdom of God, but all the wicked in the\nChurch shall be thrust out.\n\n\"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When you shall see\nAbraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the\nkingdom of God, and you shall be cast out. And they shall come\nfrom the east and from the west, and from the north and from the\nsouth, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.\" It is no doubt\nof immense and incalculable benefit to be within the pale of the\nChurch, and within reach of the Sacraments, but if you presume on\nthis alone, instead of getting any benefit, you will only make\nthem the occasion of your damnation. You have received this great\ngrace, but remember that you are thereby rendered responsible for\nthe right use of it. \"Brethren, beware lest you receive this\ngrace of God in vain.\"\n\nNow, there is another false idea of what it is to be a Christian,\nand I am convinced that this prevails much more extensively, for,\nafter all, few are foolish enough to build their hopes of\nsalvation exclusively in the mere fact of being outward members\nof the Church of God.\n\n{60}\n\nThis idea is, that, if a man belongs to the Church and does some\ngood and religious acts, he can indulge himself to some extent in\nmortal sin, and still be a Christian and expect heaven. I know\nvery well there are many sinners who know better. When they sin,\nthey are aware of what they are about: they know well that they\nlose heaven, and that they renounce all pretensions to be true\nChristians, and this salutary knowledge drives them back to\nrepentance and their duty; but are there not some who persuade,\nor half persuade, themselves to the contrary? They drink in sin\nlike water, and make themselves out to be pretty good Christians\nnotwithstanding. Do they not go to Mass? Do they not appear\noccasionally in the tribunal of penance? Do they not cry, Lord,\nLord, and beat their breasts, and call to mind that there is such\na being as God, and that they must do something now and then to\nplease Him, or else He will get angry with them? And then they go\noff and sin as hard as they can, until they come to Mass again,\nand beat their breasts once more, and cry out, Lord, Lord, again.\n\nThe Chinese do very much the same thing. They set up a huge, ugly\nidol in their temples, and now and then go and prostrate\nthemselves before it, and burn incense, and make some offering.\nThis is the sum and substance of religion with them, and I fear\nit is the idea some Catholics, in their ignorance of their holy\nreligion and through their evil disposition, have formed to\nthemselves, too.\n{61}\nSin all the week, and try to appease the anger of the Almighty on\nthe Sunday by some false and hypocritical acts of worship! Why,\nthey must think God to be something like the idols of the\nheathen, instead of being, as He is, the God of in finite power,\nand wisdom, and goodness.\n\nWhat is the story of such people in the confessional? Sin, mortal\nsin, is a matter of course with them. Have they undertaken to\ndeny themselves anything they had a strong desire for, in order\nnot to commit mortal sin? No indeed! They think it quite excuse\nenough that they were tempted. \"I could not help it, I was\ntempted.\" \"Are you determined not to commit this sin again?\" \"I\ndo not know; I will not unless I am tempted.\" The power of God is\nheld very cheap by such people. They stand ready to sell it for\nlittle or nothing at any time: for a filthy gratification, for a\ndrunken debauch, for a dollar or two. Judas sold our Lord for\nthirty pieces of silver. They would sell Him for two or three.\nSuch a person comes to confession after an interval of a year or\nso. What is his story? Guilty of frequent absence from Holy Mass\nwithout any excuse--guilty of repeated drunkenness--guilty of\ncursing, swearing, and indecent language--guilty of unchaste\nconduct. Such has been his life for many years past; and such, it\nis to be feared, will be his life until death closes it.\n{62}\nHis purposes of amendment are only on his lips, and not in his\nheart. They are made, not to be fulfilled, but to be broken. And\nyet such men persuade themselves that this kind of religion is\nacceptable to God, and that it is going to bring them to heaven.\n\nOf what value are your prayers it you lead such a life? The\nprophet Isaias tells you: \"Offer sacrifice no more in vain:\nincense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the Sabbaths,\nand the other festivals, I will not abide; your assemblies are\nwicked. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities; they\nare become troublesome to me: I am weary of bearing them. And\nwhen you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from\nyou; and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear; for your\nhands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the\nevil of your devices from my eyes; cease to do perversely, learn\nto do well.\" [Footnote 10]\n\n [Footnote 10: Isaias i. 13-17.]\n\nNow, I have placed before your eyes the picture of a false and\nhypocritical religion, on the one hand; I will hold up before\nyou, on the other, the idea of a real, true, genuine\nChristianity, which will certainly lead the soul to heaven--the\nidea of our Lord Himself in the holy Gospels.\n{63}\nHe invariably represents the true Christian as one thoroughly\nconverted from the evil of his ways. He compares him to a tree--\n\"A good tree,\" He says, \"cannot bring forth bad fruit; neither\ncan a bad tree bring forth good fruit.\" Why not? Because there is\ngood sap in the good tree, which goes alike into all the fruit of\nthe tree, and makes it all of a good quality, whilst the harsh\nand sour sap of the bad tree affects all its fruit, and makes it\nall bad.\n\nA real Christian has a thoroughly good disposition. He fears God,\nand keeps His commandments. This principle of his affects all his\nactions. The whole tenor and course of his life is good. He no\nlonger brings forth evil actions. He may have been bad once, but\nhe has turned once for all and finally from the evil of his ways,\nand has become good. Once he had a bad disposition; he committed\nsin, and gratified his unlawful passions, in spite of God and His\ncommandments, and his fruit or actions were corrupted by his bad\ndispositions. They were all worthless for eternal life. But he\nturned to God with his whole heart; he was grafted into Christ,\nand it is the sap and nourishment of Christ that flows through\nhis soul, rendering him a new man, and his actions meritorious of\nan everlasting reward. To be a Christian is represented also\nunder this very figure.\n{64}\nSt. Paul says: \"But you have not so learned Christ, but you have\nbeen taught in Him to put off, according to the former\nconversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the\ndesire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and\nput on the new man, who, according to God, is created in justice,\nand holiness of truth.\" [Footnote 11]\n\n [Footnote 11: Eph. iv. 20-24.]\n\nAnd then we have a beautiful summary of the practical uprightness\nand candor of the thus newly-created man, and of the excellent\nfruit of virtue which should proceed from him: \"Wherefore putting\naway lying, speak ye the truth every one to his neighbor, for we\nare members one of another. Be angry, and sin not; let not the\nsun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. Let him\nthat stole, steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with\nhis hands that which is good. Let no evil speech proceed from\nyour mouth. ... Let all bitterness and anger, and indignation and\nclamor, and blasphemy be put away from you. ... And be ye kind\nand merciful and forgiving, even as God has forgiven you in\nChrist.\" [Footnote 12]\n\n [Footnote 12: __Ibid__. iv. 25-32.]\n\nThese are, indeed, golden words, which deserve to be read over\ntime and again, and pondered in our hearts, and embodied, every\none of them, in fervent prayers and ardent desires, arising like\nincense out of our hearts to God, that we may have the grace to\nrealize in ourselves the pattern of the true Christian which they\npresent to us.\n\n{65}\n\nLet us listen once more to the holy apostle, threatening us if we\nfail to conform to this measure and standard of the Christian\nlife: \"The night is past, and the day is at hand; let us\ntherefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of\nlight. Let us walk honestly as in the day; not in rioting and\ndrunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in contention\nand envy; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not\nprovision for the flesh in its concupiscences.\" [Footnote 13]\n\n [Footnote 13: Rom. xiii. 12-14.]\n\nAgain: \"Know ye not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom\nof God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor\nthe effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor\ndrunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the\nkingdom of God; and such some of you were, but you are washed,\nbut you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our\nLord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.\" [Footnote 14]\n\n [Footnote 14: I Cor, vi. 9-11.]\n\nYou see that unless one puts away all these things he has no\nright to the hopes of a Christian. A Christian is a follower of\nChrist. Do we follow Christ when we go to places of drunkenness\nand debauchery? Do we follow Christ when we refuse to forgive our\nenemies? Do we follow Christ when we are covetous and hard\nhearted?\n\n{66}\n\nLook at the first Christians. They were Jews; but when they heard\nthe news of the Gospel of Christ, they turned with their whole\nhearts to conform to it. They burned their bad books. They quit\ntheir evil ways. They confessed their sins. They were even\nwilling to sell all their goods, and throw the proceeds into a\ncommon fund, because this religion appeared to them of more value\nthan all the world besides. They were one in heart and soul. They\nwere steadfast in prayer, and blameless in their lives. You might\nsay of them, without hesitation, that they were of such as should\nbe saved, and their names were written in the Book of Life.\n\nLook at the martyrs. When it was a question of obeying God, they\nlaid down their lives rather than disobey. They did not commit\nmortal sin, and say, \"Oh! it is nothing. I will just swing the\ncenser to that image, or offer that sacrifice, for the fire is\ntoo hot, or the sword is too keen, but I will still remain a\nChristian in my heart.\" No, indeed! They were not Christians of\nthis sort; but they suffered by the fire, and by the sword, and\nfrom the wild beasts, and all kinds of cruel deaths, and thus\nmanfully they earned the kingdom of heaven. These were\nChristians; and they teach us what that sacred name of Christian\nmeans.\n{67}\nWhat kind of Christians are we? Let each one ask himself this\nquestion: Do I come up to the standard? Am I worthy of the name?\nHave I any real, well-grounded hope of salvation? Am I, this\nmoment, in a state of salvation or of damnation? Have I the\nprinciple, the fixed, well-grounded principle, which ought to\ngovern all the actions of a Christian? Have I considered this\nmatter, and looked it steadily in the face?\n\nThese are important questions, and now is the time to answer\nthem. If you have been Christian in name heretofore, but heathen\nin life, do not let this Lent go by without a thorough change.\nArise out of this miserable state, and put on the Lord Jesus\nChrist. Devote the whole of this Lent to this purpose. Say--I\nhave a most important business to transact, and it must be done\nat once, before the Lent is over. Turn away from all sin with\nhorror, and to God with your whole heart. Drop all foolish\namusement. Drop all sinful company. Drop all excess in eating and\ndrinking. Drop, as far as possible, all anxiety about business,\nor any worldly affairs, and give your attention to your poor\nsoul. Think, oh! think of eternity, of death, of judgment, of the\npunishments denounced upon sinners. Do not let the thoughts of\nthese things leave your minds. Force yourselves to think upon\nthem--it is all-important to you. And pray: cry to God for mercy.\n{68}\nThe promise is sure: \"Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye\nshall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.\" Make such a\nuse of this season of penance as God and the Church wish you to,\nand you will find it the best, the most profitable, the most\njoyful of your whole life.\n\nYou will exclaim--I was poor, wretched, blind, now I see, now I\nam rich in grace, now I am indeed happy, for God has spoken the\nword of peace to my soul. Never, never more will I be so\nungrateful as to offend Him again.\n\n -------------------\n{69}\n\n Sermon V.\n\n The Sins And Miseries Of The Dram-seller.\n\n Habacuc II. 15.\n\n __\"Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend,\n and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk.\"__\n\n\nI once made a journey to a strange country; and so utterly at\nvariance did all the social customs and personal lives of its\ninhabitants seem to be with the ordinary habits of people of this\nworld, that I thought for a moment I must have stumbled upon\nbeings who had been transplanted from some other planet.\n\nAmong other remarkable features in their character, I noticed\nthat, instead of being as ambitious of obtaining a high\nreputation amongst their neighbors as men generally are, the\ninhabitants of that country were striving, as it appeared to me,\nduring every leisure hour they could spare from their daily\nlabor, to lower themselves in the estimation of others and become\ndegraded. Instead of riches, they sought poverty; instead of\nlearning, ignorance; instead of health, disease; and a premature\ndeath rather than a long life.\n\n{70}\n\nThe means to which they resorted to bring this about seemed\nequally strange. By a sort of general consent, a certain number\nof them were chosen to absorb all the respectability, property,\nand comfort of the rest. These individuals distributed themselves\nabout in different quarters of the towns, and you could easily\nhave recognized their habitations from the rest for being the\nfiner buildings, which increased in size as the surrounding\ndwellings of their neighbors became the more squalid, desolate,\nand uninhabitable. They, with their wives and children, also\nadded the more to their comfort and luxury as the families about\nthem became the nakeder and the hungrier. So far was all this\ncarried, that, I observed, not a few, after having given up all\ntheir own, would often go and steal from others, and carry not\nonly money, but even articles of furniture and clothing, to these\nmen, who seemed also to be very popular persons and great\nfavorites, if I might judge of the number of their clients and\nthe pleasure apparently derived from long visits to them, to the\nloss of the company of their friends and families, and of their\nnatural rest after wearisome days of toil.\n\nI wondered greatly at all this, and asked my guide to explain it\nto me. \"Do you not see,\" said he, \"that these rich and powerful\npersons are in possession of a wonderful elixir?\n{71}\nIt is said to produce happiness for those who may obtain a little\nof it, and these people are so anxious to be happy that they\neagerly give up all they have, and all they hope for in this\nworld and the next, in order to get some of it.\" \"I do not see,\"\nI said, \"that it makes those who use it happy; on the contrary,\nthey seem to me to be really bartering all their means of\nhappiness away, and getting nothing but misery in exchange.\" \"You\nneed only look around you upon those comfortless homes and\ndiseased men and women, and glance at their daily lives, to\nconfirm the truth of your observation,\" he replied. \"Then these\npoor, misguided souls are only grasping at shadows of happiness,\nand losing the reality in the meanwhile?\" \"You have spoken the\ntruth,\" said he; \"and you need not be surprised at it, for the\ncountry you are in is called the Land of the Shadow of\nHappiness.\" \"I will tarry no longer here,\" said I, \"for the sight\nsickens me. I will return quickly to my own country.\" \"So you\nmay,\" said my guide; \"but the seller of the shadow of happiness\nlives and thrives with you also.\" \"Does he?\" I asked. \"And what\nmay he be called?\"\n\n{72}\n\n \"The Dram-seller.\"\n\nI awoke from my reverie, and found myself standing, not in a\nstrange land, but in the streets of my own city, before a fine\nbrick building, ornamented with cut stone, proudly rearing its\nshowy front, and looking down with contempt upon the humble homes\nof the poor that surrounded it; and glittering in the sunshine\nshone the gilded sign-board over its doors, \"IMPORTED WINES AND\nLIQUORS.\"\n\nYes, the dram-seller lives and thrives with us, too--the vender\nof the shadow of happiness, and dealer in ignorance, disease,\ndegradation, poverty, ruined reputations, strifes, jealousies,\ninsanity, delirium tremens, and dishonored and early graves. The\ndrunkards whom he makes are wretched enough, and commit, through\ntheir intemperance, the most grievous of crimes; but I know not\nif the sins and miseries of the dram-seller be not worse and far\nmore hopeless of reparation than theirs. For in one it is often\nthe result of weak and uneducated minds, unable to use God's\ngifts in moderation, or to bear up against the trials and\ntemptations of this life; but the other must be a cold,\nheartless, calculating, money-worshipping soul, who can thus\nfatten himself upon the sinful appetites of others, and from year\nto year defraud his neighbor by the sale of his vile, adulterated\ntrash, and take the hard-earned dollars of his customers in\nexchange for it without a blush.\n\n{73}\n\nThe dram-seller and his traffic is a well-known and prominent\nrock of scandal in the community, whether it be the secret sale\nfrom one barrel of beer or liquor in the earth-floored shanty, or\nthe flourishing business of a well-stocked and gilded saloon.\n\nWhat are the sins of the dram-seller? He sins against justice and\nagainst charity.\n\nHe sins against justice. To all who have examined the matter, it\nis a well-established fact that in every case this business is\nnecessarily connected with the sale of false, adulterated\narticles, and with an unreasonable, unrighteous, and usurious\nprofit. And the only excuse any one connected with it has ever\nbeen able to offer is, that they are obliged, if they sell at\nall, to keep cheap liquors for poor people, or that, if the\narticle is adulterated, it is none of their business, for they\nsell it, either just as they purchase it from large dealers, or,\nat the worst, only add a certain modicum of water, as they say\n__the raw spirit might do the poor people harm!__\n\nBut they know the fact as well as I know it, that scarcely one\ndrop is dealt out by them that is not more or less adulterated;\nthat their so-called wines never saw the juice of the grape; that\ntheir brandies, and rums, and cordials are all composed of proof\nspirit, coloring matter, drugs of the most poisonous character\nand deadly strength, and water. I am in possession of a document\ncirculated privately among these manufacturers of \"imported wines\nand liquors,\" which purports to give recipes for making any kind\nof wine, liquor, or cordial you can name, with the address of\ncertain houses where the drugs I have alluded to may be obtained.\n\n{74}\n\nA friend was invited by a dram-seller to visit his vaults. Taking\nout the bung of a large hogshead, he drew up from the liquor by a\ncord a gauze bag of very small dimensions, and, with a peculiar\nwink of his eye, remarked, \"You see, that's the way we manage\nit.\" \"Oh! that's the way you manage it, is it?\" the friend\nreplied. \"I am very glad to know it.\"\n\nThe cheap materials from which the drink ordinarily sold is\nmanufactured, and the large adulteration with water made on their\nown premises by the retailers, enables them to make the most\nexorbitant, usurious profits. The popular wonder is, how so many\ncan carry on the business and make money by it. That is the\nreason.\n\nIf the character of the drink sold, or the adulteration of it,\nwere always harmless to the consumer, there might be a semblance\nof palliation to this iniquity, though no just excuse even then;\nfor in such a case the consumer does not get either what he\nsupposes or the worth of his money.\n{75}\nBut when we see the dreadful effects produced by these liquors,\nthe morbid cravings which they engender in those who partake of\nthem, the extra-ordinary prostration of mind and body caused by a\nfit of intoxication on them, the physical and moral degradation\nresulting from their constant use, there can be no excuse for the\ndispensing of such noxious articles, and he who practises it is\nguilty of a fraud--a fraud of the basest and most criminal\ncharacter upon the people, and makes himself a fit object for the\nscorn and righteous indignation of a just community.\n\nAm I not right in saying that the dram-seller sins against\njustice?\n\n2. The dram-seller sins against charity. He sins against himself,\nhis spiritual and temporal good, and that of his family.\n\nThe business is a proximate occasion of sin, and good morals can\nnever allow one to remain in that state. In the first place, it\nis a proximate occasion of the sin of drunkenness for himself and\nfor the members of his household. The necessity of pleasing and\nattracting his customers obliges him often to treat and be\ntreated during the day. The effect of this constant tippling is\nvery visible in the persons of those who have been some time in\nthe business, and the number of those who fall into the sin of\ndrunkenness from the proximity of the occasion furnished by the\nsale is very great. It is not an unfrequent occurrence for them\nto take the pledge, in order to prevent themselves from drinking\nwith their customers.\n{76}\nTheir wives, children, and clerks are exposed to the same\noccasion of sin. The language and character of the frequenters of\nthe dram-shop are demoralizing to the last degree, not only to\nthe man, but to the wife and children, and pave the way to every\nconceivable crime.\n\nHow many a young man has engaged in this vile traffic, who\ncommenced it sober and virtuous, but who, by the occasions it\npresented, soon became a degraded and irreclaimable sot! And when\nhe first thought of going into it, how his conscience reproved\nhim, how often he reflected that this was not a fit thing for a\ngood Catholic and practical Christian. When he met the priest in\nthe street the day or so after the opening of his store or\nsaloon, how he reddened up to the eyes, and was glad if he\nperchance passed him without observing him his pastor, whose nod,\nand smile, and shake of the hand, and cheery \"God bless you!\" he\nused to be so anxious and happy to have from the hour of\nchildhood. But now his uneasy conscience keeps him away\naltogether from the Sacraments, and often from Mass. If people\nenquire what has become of him lately, or wonder that he is seen\nno longer at the altar, the answer that he \"has opened a liquor\nstore\" is deemed a sufficient one.\n{77}\nAnd knowing the wrongs from it, I thank God that there is such a\nsense of Christian propriety and rectitude in the public\nconscience left amongst us, that will deem such, a response a\nsufficient one.\n\nI know that, as time goes on, and the greed of gain takes\npossession of them, the conscience gets less clamorous: but it is\nscarcely ever completely blunted. They are always rather ashamed\nof the business, and never mention the fact of their being\nengaged in it in an open, frank manner. A person, whom I did not\nknow, called upon me once to consult me upon an affair, and I had\noccasion to ask him his profession. He replied, evasively, \"I am\na member of the ---- Convention.\" \"But your business is--\"\n\"Oh!--ah! (hesitating) a grocery and liquor store.\"\n\nBut the sin which adds the last and most grievous stain upon the\ndram-seller and his traffic is the heinous breach of Christian\ncharity against his neighbor. He wrongs his neighbor in his\nproperty, his person, his soul, his family, and in all his social\nrelations. He makes bad husbands, bad wives, immoral children.\nAnd all good citizens and practical Catholics will bear me out in\nthe assertion that the dram-shop is the gulf which swallows the\nhard earnings of the laboring classes; the health, property,\nhappiness, life, and well-being of thousands of the community;\nand is the responsible first cause of the increase of pauperism,\nand crime, and the consequent burden of taxation upon the State.\n{78}\nRecent statistics show that, in the cities of New York and\nBoston, there is a dram-shop for every one hundred inhabitants;\nand that, in Boston alone, the arrests for public drunkenness in\none year were equal to one in ten of the entire population. This\nis a horrible state of things. As a contrast, I remember\npreaching a mission in a certain town where, by the exertions of\nthe parish priest, all Catholics, save one, had given up the\ntraffic. We found the sin of drunkenness in that place\ncomparatively rare. No one who has examined the matter will\npretend to dispute the fact that drunkenness increases in the\nsame ratio with the multiplication of the dram shop. It is\ntherefore a public nuisance, a crying scandal amongst us, a\nproximate occasion of sin, an iniquitous trade in which no good\nChristian can engage without putting the salvation of his soul in\nperil.\n\nSuch or such a man and his family whom you could name were happy\nenough before he got enticed into the dram-shop. It was a sight\nto make the angels smile to witness the clean, bright home that\nman found on his return from business. Every thing was there to\ncheer him. The wife welcomed him with an unclouded brow. The\nchildren dropped their playthings to run and embrace him. If he\nhad not luxury about him, he had plenty and comfort. Plenty of\nfurniture, plenty of clothes for his work, and a new suit for the\nSunday morning.\n{79}\nThe table wanted nothing but the blessing upon the food whenever\nthe meal time came. The doctor's bill never came so very heavy,\nand, if one of the family happened to be ill a little longer than\ncommon, he felt a worthy pride in being able to go and pay the\ndoctor at his office, and exchange thanks. His name was good in\nthe bank whenever he wanted money; and, as year by year rolled\nby, he was getting up in the world. Men talked of his \"good\nluck,\" as they called it. Friends whispered, about election\ntimes, that he would make a capital fellow for this or that\nvacant office in his township. No family stood higher in respect,\nif they did in wealth, at the parish church than his. Happy and\nbeloved at home in the bosom of his family; honored and respected\nabroad; at peace with God and man; what fiend will dare bring his\nfoul presence within the circle of so much joy? Alas! for the\ndark day that he was bidden by the dram-seller to \"be neighborly\nand come in and take a friendly glass.\" Alas! for the fatal hour\nwhen the tempter invited him to \"come round of an evening, and be\nsociable, and not to be such a man-baby tied to his wife's\napron-strings.\" Now it begins the oft-told, woeful tale. A\nhurried supper, and out for the evening. Later and later he\nreturns, with the signs of liquor on him. He used to try to hide\nit at first by washing his mouth with water and taking a smart\nwalk. But he takes too much now to care for Appearances; nor is\nhe able for the walk.\n\n{80}\n\nIn order to smooth over matters, he takes an opportunity on his\nwife's birthday, and brings out the bottle and proposes her\nhealth, and makes her drink with him; and then a little taste of\nthe sugared drops at the bottom of the glass for the children. It\nis brought out every day now; and when the night comes, the wife\nsits up late, goes often to the window, watching his return, and\nthere's a heavy weight at her heart that forces from her eyes\nmany a bitter tear. The plague marches fast. He is drunk every\nSaturday night, and seldom goes to Mass. Work or business is\nneglected, and the time spent at the bar-room. The money leaks\naway extraordinarily fast. Articles of furniture are\npawned--first for food, soon for drink. The wife helps on\ndestruction by trying to drown her sorrow in a glass of liquor\nnow and then. The best Sunday suit and the new bonnet and shawl\nare no longer in the wardrobe. The children's bare feet peep out\nof old shoes, and a strange sadness and silence has come over the\nonce merry little group. They seem to be getting old-fashioned in\ntheir ways, and less like children. Is that the reason, I wonder,\nwhy there are no new toys and presents now at Christmas or at\nEaster, as in the days gone by? Soon comes debt.\n{81}\nHe had to go in debt to procure the necessaries of life, but\nspared a little of the borrowed money to get his daily drams at\nthe grog-shop. But debt must be paid, and, as he has nothing to\ndischarge it with, a few days of delay, and there is a sheriff's\nexecution in the house. All the furniture swept, away! From bad\nto worse, from one step to an other: down goes the family to\nbeggary and vice. Frequent quarrels, blows, and curses pass\nbetween husband and wife, the children and their parents. He gets\nan odd job to do now and then, for he is turned out of his\nregular situation, and drinks a part of the wages, not at his old\nfriend's, but at a low beer-shop; for one night, after the sale\nof his house and lot, he demanded trust for liquor; but, as he\nhad spent his last dollar, his friend, the dram-seller, told him,\n\"__he__ kept a decent place, and wouldn't have any drunkards\naround __him__,\" and kicked him out of doors, bidding him go\nhome and take care of his wife and family! The wife begs around\nfor broken victuals, with a downcast face, and her old hood\npulled far over her forehead to hide a black eye and her untidy\nhair.\n\nThe boy, his eldest boy, that was to be sent to college, was sent\nup last week to prison for shoplifting; and the girl--where is\nshe gone? Answer me, dram-shop, where is the girl gone? And now I\nhave more to ask of you, O mouth of hell! Where is the house and\nlot gone to?\n{82}\nWhere is the furniture gone to? Where now are the good husband,\nthe happy father, the thrifty wife, the faithful mother, the\ninnocent children, the food on the table, the fire on the hearth,\nthe comfort and joy and good name and trust and neighborly\nconfidence, and the good Christians, the pious Catholics, that\nused to be at Mass every Sunday morning in their places? Answer\nme. Do you not hear a righteous God, your judge, demanding in\ntones of wrath, \"Dram-shop, where are my children? You--you have\nrobbed me of my beautiful flock!\" O cruel dram-seller! O\ndram-shop! scandal of our times, look upon the ruin you have\nwrought! See the black cloud which hangs over your dwelling. It\nis a threatening mass of darkness and woe, made up of heavy\ncurses, of sighs from broken hearts, the gloom of grievous\nbitterness of spirit; and that cloud is pregnant with hidden\nlightnings and thunders of the wrath of God descending upon you.\n\"Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his\ngall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold him stripped and\nnaked. Thou art filled with shame instead of glory; drink thou\nalso, and fall fast asleep; the cup of the right hand of the Lord\nshall compass thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory.\"\n[Footnote 15]\n\n [Footnote 15: Habac. ii. 15, 16.]\n\n{83}\n\nYour sin is the sin of Ephraim, whom the prophet reproved. You\nmake to yourself an idol of gain. \"And Ephraim said, But yet I am\nbecome rich. I have found me an idol: all my labors shall not\nfind me the iniquity that I have committed.\" [Footnote 16] To\nthat idol you have sacrificed men, women, and children, and\nbrought upon many a wretched soul temporal and eternal\nruin--robbing heaven of saints, and filling up the caverns of\nhell.\n\n [Footnote 16: Osec xii. 8.]\n [USCCB: Hosea xii. 9.]\n\nHear what God answers to Ephraim: \"I will meet them as a bear\nthat is robbed of her whelps; I will rend the inner parts of\ntheir bodies, and I will devour them as a lion; the beast of the\nfield shall tear them.\" [Footnote 17]\n\n [Footnote 17: Osec xiii. 8.]\n [USCCB: Hosea xiii. 8.]\n\nYour very daily walks must be misery to you, one would suppose.\nFor how can you put on those fine clothes, and see your children\nclad in warm coats and caps and shoes, and your wife parading\nthat beautiful new silk dress and expensive jewelry, when you\nknow that they were bought with money that ought to have been\nused to clothe a family that goes about our streets in\ndestitution and nakedness so pitiable that it makes the heart\nache? How can you sit down and ask God's blessing upon your\nplentifully supplied table, if you ever do it now, when the hand\nthat gave you the money to purchase all these luxuries snatched\nthe piece of bread from the mouths of his starving, hungry\nchildren?\n{84}\nHow can you dare go to sleep in your soft, warm bed, listening to\nthat cutting winter's blast as it goes howling past your windows\ndown the street, and forces its way in the open crevices of the\ndrunkard's shanty, freezing the half-clad forms of his neglected\nlittle ones, huddled in the corner upon a filthy wisp of straw?\nHave you a human heart yet left beating in your bosom? Do you\nknow anything of a husband's affection or of a father's love? Oh!\nthen you must be a miserable man. How do your neighbors speak of\nyou? \"Oh! he's a rum-seller.\" And the tone in which it is spoken\nis a plain index of the contempt they attach to the name. Your\nwife is designated as \"a rum-seller's wife,\" and of your children\nit is remarked, \"Their father sells liquor.\" And it is a common\nreply of many of the most degraded drunkards, that \"although they\nhave drunk pretty hard, they thank God __they__ never sold\nliquor.\"\n\nCan I ask you to quit it? Yes, I can demand of you to quit it.\nYou admit, and the common sense of the entire community admits,\nthat those low groggeries, in which drunken bacchanalian orgies\nare of daily and nightly occurrence, ought to be stopped, and\nthat no man who keeps such a place is fit for absolution--that\nis, none such can claim the right to the sacraments of the\nChurch, living or dying; in a word, cannot save his soul if he be\nnot ready to abandon it.\n{85}\nBut you tell me that your establishment is not of such a\ncharacter; you keep a decent house. I would like you to bring me\none single liquor-seller who does not say the very same. The\nbusiness is notoriously vicious and hurtful, and success in it is\ndependent upon an increase of sin and misery among the people. It\nis a stumbling-block in the way of the salvation of men addicted\nto drink, and woe be to that man who dares assume the\nresponsibility for the loss of a soul!\n\nI have a right, then, in the name of the general well-being of\nthe community, in the name of Christian charity, by virtue of the\nwarning of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it were \"better for a man\nto have a mill-stone hanged about his neck, and he be cast into\nthe depth of the sea, rather than scandalize one of the children\nof God,\" [Footnote 18] to demand of every man who aids, abets, or\nby his own act takes part in this abominable scandal, to quit it\non peril of damnation.\n\n [Footnote 18: St. Matt, xviii. 6.]\n\nI tell you, moreover, that the holy Catholic Church, which some\nof you pretend to belong to and to obey, has solemnly declared,\nin the twenty-second canon of the Third Council of Lateran, that\nall priests are absolutely forbidden to give absolution to those\nwho remain in any employment, profession, or business which they\ncannot pursue without sin, because they remain in the occasions\nof sin.\n{86}\nBut you insist that such is your business, bad as it is, and you\nhave been brought up to that. Yes, I know it is a bad business,\nand will be your destruction. And I wish to know if a man must\nremain a thief because he has been brought up a thief, and never\nlearned an honest trade?\n\n\"But the loss, father; I cannot afford it.\" Do you not hear the\nwords of Jesus Christ thundering in your ears: \"If thy right eye\noffend thee, pluck it out. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it\noff. For it were better for thee to enter lame and blind into\nlife everlasting, than, having two hands or two eyes, to be cast\ninto hell-fire\"? [Footnote 19] Where is your Christian faith and\ntrust in God? \"Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and\nall these things will be added unto you.\" [Footnote 20]\n\n [Footnote 19: St. Matt. v. 29.]\n\n [Footnote 20: St. Matt. vi. 33.]\n\nNo, no, there is not a single excuse which will avail you. I wish\nI could find one. Many and many a time I have wished I could\nframe an excuse for it, when the fact has been thrown into my\nface that so many of our people are engaged in this diabolical,\nunchristian traffic, and, as a consequence, have propagated\namongst us the vice and miseries of drunkenness.\n\n{87}\n\nDo you love your good name as a citizen? Have you any manly pride\nleft? Do you love your religion? Would you shrink from being the\ninstrument of damnation to your neighbor's soul, or of tying the\nhands of the priest and preventing the spread of the true faith\nin our country? Do you love your own immortal soul? Do you hope\nfor heaven? Would you like to hear the approval of your Divine\nLord and Master on the Last Great Day of Account? Oh! rise up to\nthe dignity of the Christian vocation to which you are called.\nStir up within your hearts that fire of generosity which is never\ntotally extinguished in the Catholic breast, and learn to\nsacrifice something for the love of God and for the salvation of\nyour neighbor's soul.\n\nBelieve me, brethren, I have drawn no exaggerated picture of this\nevil, nor deduced any unwarrantable conclusions. So lamentably\ntrue is it all, that, were I to preach this sermon in almost any\ntown or city in the country, there would be found among my\nhearers some who might imagine I was describing the character and\nlife of their own brother or father, near relation or intimate\nacquaintance.\n\nI appeal to you, therefore, loyal Catholics, to set your faces\nagainst the traffic; to aid the priesthood, in company with all\nwho love God and have the social advancement of our people at\nheart, in denouncing and laboring to extirpate this scandal from\nour midst.\n\n{88}\n\nTo you who have hitherto been engaged in it, from whatsoever\nmotive, I appeal; and beseech of you, with all the fatherly\naffection of a Christian priest, and with the supplicating tears\nand sighs of many a broken heart, for God's sake, for the\nChurch's sake, for your soul's sake, to resolve now, and make\nthat resolution good, that hence forth no man shall point the\nfinger of scorn at you and say: \"Woe to him that giveth drink to\nhis friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk.\"\n\n ------------------\n\n{89}\n\n Sermon VI.\n\n Communion With Jesus.\n\n (For Holy Thursday.)\n\n St. John vi. 57.\n [USCCB: John vi. 56.]\n\n \"__He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood\n abideth in Me, and I in him.__\"\n\n\nIt is right, my dear brethren, that, on this Holy Night we should\nmeditate upon and speak of the solemn and wonderful scene which\nis commemorated by the Holy Church, the sad farewell which our\ndear suffering Master took of his disciples before giving Himself\nup to be crucified, and the institution of the sacred memorial\nSacrifice, through which He intended to remain with us always, to\nbe an ever-present Lover and Friend, the Divine Victim for our\naltars, and the Supreme Offering of thanksgiving for the whole\nworld. Kind Lord, I would I had the tongue of angels to tell the\nstory of all Thou didst on this night for me and all who truly\nbelieve in Thee, for human speech is feeble where Thou, my God\nand my Saviour, art the theme. Help me by Thy grace.\n{90}\nHelp these Thy people, whose hearts are yearning to hear what\nThou hast done; help them, that they may know and understand it\nbetter than I can tell them!\n\nThe Gospel tells us that our Lord made an appointment with His\ndisciples to meet them, and to eat the Paschal Supper alone with\nthem. \"And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve\ndisciples with Him.\" They met in a large upper chamber, far from\ntumult and noise. Look in, my dear brethren, upon that group.\nJesus you cannot fail to choose from among them all. There is a\nstrange beauty about that face, a beauty which at once attracts\nand awes the beholder, and, what is more, the countenance tells\nof the hidden beauty of his soul. There is revealed at one glance\nthe beauty of Holiness itself, the most spotless of all innocent\nlives, the supreme perfection of all virtue, the mirror of all\ntruth. What kindness beams from out [of] those gentle eyes! What\na sweet expression plays about the half-parted lips, as a\nharbinger of some holy words soon to be spoken! What a calm\nmajesty rests upon that broad, pale forehead, needing no crown of\ngold to tell its royalty!\n\nNor would any one mistake who is Master here. One is the object\nupon whose word, look, or movements the eyes of all the others\nwait. They call Him Master. Well they may. He is truly Master of\nall hearts. They call Him Teacher. Well they may.\n{91}\nHe is the source of all Truth, the Eternal Wisdom, the Word of\nGod. They call Him Lord. Well they may. He is Lord of lords, and\nKing of heaven and earth. It is Jesus. Seated there, only a few\nknow Him yet as He is. But the world will soon know Him, and\ncurse its ignorance and blindness on that day. Around Him are a\nfew disciples, of whom living men, in ignorance of their worth,\ndespise, but when they are dead their tombs will govern the\nworld.\n\nNo sooner are they assembled than they know that Jesus has\nbrought them together to bid them farewell. \"With desire I have\ndesired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer.\" Yes, on the\nmorrow He was to be betrayed into the hands of wicked men, and to\ndie in expiation of the sins of the world.\n\nBut why this desire? The events will show. It was the time of the\ngreat feast of the Passover, which the Jews kept every year to\ncommemorate the miracle which took place when that whole nation\nwas in bondage in Egypt--a miracle which brought about their\ndeliverance. Their Egyptian masters refused to set them free, in\nspite of many warning plagues which God sent upon them; and at\nlast, one terrible night, the angel of God passed through that\ndoomed land, and in the morning the first-born in every Egyptian\nhouse lay dead.\n{92}\nThe Israelites had been commanded by Almighty God, through Moses,\nto prepare for this, and what they did became, as God intended, a\nceremony typical of the greatest mystery the world has ever\nknown--the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, the deliverance of\nthe world from the slavery of sin and hell by that death, and the\ninstitution of a sacrifice which, should be an ever-present,\ncontinual, and lively memorial of that act. This is what they\ndid: They killed a lamb without spot or blemish; ate it with\nunleavened bread; and sprinkled the door-posts of their houses\nwith its blood. \"I am the Lord. The blood shall be unto you for a\nsign in the houses where you shall be, and I shall see the blood,\nand shall pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to\ndestroy you when I shall strike the land of Egypt.\" [Footnote 21]\n\n [Footnote 21: Exod. xii. 13.]\n\nThe performance of this solemn commemorative ceremony was\nobligatory upon every Jewish family, and this was the occasion\nwhich brought our Lord and His disciples together, and you see\nhow exactly the sacrificial death of the Paschal Lamb, the\nsprinkling of its blood on the door posts, typified the death of\nJesus, the Immaculate Lamb of God, whose blood was sprinkled on\nthe wood of the cross. But there is something else for us to\nnote. A part of the lamb was to be eaten, and with unleavened\nbread.\n{93}\nWhat was that a type of? Was Jesus, the Lamb of God, slain for\nour sins, to be eaten, and with unleavened bread? Listen to what\nHe said some time before this night: \"I am the living bread,\nwhich came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he\nshall live for ever: and the bread which I will give is my flesh\nfor the life of the world.\" [Footnote 22]\n\n [Footnote 22: St. John vi. 52.]\n [USCCB: St. John vi. 51.]\n\nNow, after the Paschal Supper was finished, Jesus took the\nunleavened bread, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to them,\nsaying--\"This is My body which is given for you. Do this for a\ncommemoration of Me. In like manner the chalice, saying, This is\nthe chalice, the New Testament in My blood, which shall be shed\nfor you.\" Here then, is a perfect fulfilment of the Old\nTestament. Here is the real Paschal Sacrifice of the New\nTestament. The supper-table becomes an altar; Jesus becomes,\nunder the forms of unleavened bread and wine, the victim, and He\nis at the same time the priest. What He did Himself, he tells His\ndisciples to do. \"Do this for a commemoration of Me.\" Then and\nthere He ordains and consecrates them to be priests, and gives\nthem the awful power of sacrificing His body and blood under the\nforms of bread and wine.\n\n{94}\n\nFrom that supper-room they go forth to do His words, and to\nreceive the fulfilment of His promise: \"I dispose to you, as My\nFather hath disposed to Me, a kingdom: that you may eat and drink\nat My table in My kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the\ntwelve tribes of Israel.\" [Footnote 23]\n\n [Footnote 23: St. Luke xxii. 29, 30.]\n\nWhat was all that for? Why this sacrifice of the body and blood\nof Jesus Christ? Why should this be repeated all over the world?\nListen once more: \"He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood\nabideth in Me, and I in him.\" The reason was that his disciples\nand all others who should partake of that sacrifice might be\nunited to Him in the closest manner possible--\"should abide in\nHim, and He in them.\" We call that sacred act\nCommunion--communion with Jesus. That is what it is, brethren.\nOur souls and bodies are united in a mysterious manner to the\nDivine Person of our dear Lord and Saviour, who became man and\ndied on the cross for our salvation. He calls us to this\ncommunion, and gives Himself to us as the sweetest pledge of His\nDivine Love, as the most precious means of our sanctification, as\na comforting food, as a holy offering by which we may praise and\ngive thanks to God, as a feast of joy and the kiss of peace to\nthe forgiven sinner.\n\n{95}\n\nIf the Cross be, as it is, the measure of sin by which we offend\nJesus, Communion is the measure of the love with which Jesus\nloves us. Love is measured by sacrifice. One loves another only a\nlittle if he is content to give up only a little in the other's\nfavor. His love is perfect if he willingly gives up all. This is\nwhat our Lord does in Holy Communion. He sacrifices all for us,\nbecause He sacrifices Himself. What do I mean by this sacrifice?\n\nHe makes Himself so utterly nothing for us, that He does not keep\neven His appearance. He hides His divinity, His blessed and\nbeautiful Person, under the veils of bread and wine, and in that\nstate He abandons Himself so utterly to our power that we can do\nwhat we will with Him. The life of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament\nis a life of total self-abnegation. He does not even protect\nHimself from ill-treatment, from the contempt and scoffing sneer\nof the unbeliever, from the mockery of silly children, nor from\nthe horrible sacrileges committed against Him by bad Catholics.\nHe can suffer all that, and does so without a murmur, in order\nthat He may approach us, and that we may receive Him in such a\nmanner as shall be the best for our comfort, for our joy, for our\nsoul's peace. We know by experience, I hope, what a good, happy\ncommunion is.\n{96}\nIs it not the moment of supreme happiness, and of such happiness\nthat nothing else is like it in the world? Then we cry Lord, now\nthat Thou art mine and I am Thine, I am all blessed. There is no\nchord in the heart that does not vibrate with thrills of love at\nthe presence of Jesus. He makes us feel then, more than we can\nexpress, how much He loves us; and cold must be the heart that\ndoes not respond with some emotion to the sweetness of His loving\nembrace.\n\nThe love of our dear Saviour for men is more ardent, more\nconstant, more, shall I say, anxious than __our__ love can\never be; and the reason is, because __His__ love is wholly\nunselfish. The life of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament proves it.\nHe does nothing there apparently for Himself, nor takes any\nthought of Himself that we can divine. It is for us that He lives\nso. For our love He has given up all.\n\nYou may say that it was by dying for us that He proved His love\nthe best, as He Himself said, \"Greater love hath no man than that\nhe should lay down his life for his friend.\" Yes; but do you not\nsee that it is just in the Blessed Sacrament that He brings that\nproof home to us? It is a memorial of His passion and death. He\nhas linked the two together, so that they make only one act. The\nsacrifice of the Mass, in which the bread and wine are\nconsecrated into His body and blood, and the sacrifice of\nCalvary, are one essential act.\n\n{97}\n\nIt was in the night in which He was betrayed that He instituted\nit. On __this__ night. What did He say? \"This is My body which\nis given for you. This is My blood which shall be shed for you.\nDo this for a commemoration of Me\"--of Me, upon whom the shadows\nof death are already falling--of Me, who even now begin to be\nsorrowful and sad at heart, knowing that My hour is come--of Me,\nwho to-morrow will be spit upon, and scourged, and crowned with\nthorns, and nailed to a cruel cross, and suffer the bitter\nagonies of a horrible death for you, My beloved--you for whom I\ncame into the world--you for whom I live--you for whom I die. \"A\nlittle while I leave you, and a little while I come unto you.\nRemember that, when we shall meet again. When I come to you in\nHoly Communion, then you will receive One who you know loved you\nto the end. I will come to you, and be the surest pledge of what\nI have done for you, and how much I have loved you.\"\n\nHoly Communion is one of the most powerful means of\nsanctification granted to us. What shall the presence of the\nAll-Holy be unable to do? What other light and grace could we\ndesire both to detect and shun all evil, and to delight in what\nis pure and true? Oh! when Jesus comes to the willing heart, and\nfinds a welcome there, all is easy. No tempest of passion or of\ndoubt is to be feared when the Master is with us.\n{98}\nMy dear brethren, this world is very foolish when it sneers at\nthe sanctification of the soul, or bids us follow its guidance in\ngetting rid of the power or shame of sin, and in our strivings\nafter higher and better things. Little it knows about the true\nprogress of the soul. Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom, is the sole\nteacher. A fervent communion with Him will do what the world\ncannot do. It will make us holy. It will make our souls sacred to\nGod--more sacred to Him than the altar before which we bow, or\nthe precious vessels upon it that hold His Body and Blood. If you\nwould confirm that sanctity, come often to the source of\nsanctity. Come so often that He may be said to abide with you;\nthen will you surely live and die a saint.\n\nIn the next place, Communion is an act which possesses a peculiar\nsignificance for the forgiven sinner. It should have. It was sin\nthat made Him die, and Communion is a memorial of His death. But\nwhy is it that a contrite sinner, burdened with the memory of the\nmany outrages he has committed against Jesus Christ by his bad\nlife, by his cursing, his profanation of the Holy Name, his\ndrunkenness and debaucheries, his lies and thefts, his dark\ncrimes, it may be, that make even his brother men shun him as\nthey would a poisonous reptile--why is it, I ask, that even such\nan one, coming, heartily sorry, to Confession, ready and eager to\namend his life and do better, and so receives absolution, should\nhave such a strange longing, as all forgiven sinners do have, to\nget Communion, and that as soon as possible?\n{99}\nOne would think they would rather fear to approach Him, and dread\nto be confronted with the awful memorial of their crucified and\nso cruelly offended Lord. Not so. Their hearts are Christian\nafter all; and He draws them to Him closer and closer by the\nstrong cords of love the moment they turn to Him. True, He\nappoints His priest to forgive them in His name. But that does\nnot satisfy the desire with which He desires to be reconciled\nwith them in person. \"Come to Me,\" He cries from the altar; \"come\nto Me now. My poor lost one. Come, get My kiss of peace. Come, we\nhave been separated too long. I have been watching you. I have\nheard you praying. I saw you go into the confessional. I heard\nyou tell your sins. I saw the tears course down your cheeks. I\nfelt every throb of your heart. My hand, too, gave you absolution\nand full forgiveness for all. You went there one of the devil's\nown. Now you are Mine. Come, now, take Me to your heart. We will\nbe friends again, and I shall have only one reproach to make you;\nOh! why have you stayed so long away?\" The forgiven sinner knows\nJesus is saying all this.\n{100}\nDo you wonder that he goes home from confession a happy man; that\nhe counts the hours until he can come back, and thinks the time\nlong until he can go up to the Holy Table, and there clasp his\nlong-forgotten and neglected Lord to his bosom? Oh! the earnest,\nupturned face, radiant with joy, which makes the priest's hand\ntremble with sympathetic emotion as he gives him the Holy\nSacrament. You have seen friends long separated and divided come\ntogether and make up. You know what a touching scene it is. There\nare smiles upon your lips and sparkling tears in your eyes at the\nsame moment. So it is often here when Jesus meets and makes up\nwith old hardened sinners. Blessed, a million times blessed, be\nthe kind and loving heart of Jesus, which, once laid open by the\nspear, is never shut to any one who will enter in and abide\nthere.\n\nHoly Communion is a Feast of Thanksgiving. That is the meaning of\nthe word Eucharist--thanksgiving. It is one of the names of the\nBlessed Sacrament. You remember that when Jesus first broke the\nbread on this night He gave thanks. He meant that we also should\nuse it as a worthy and precious thank-offering for all He has\ndone for us; for having created us; for having redeemed us; for\nhaving died for us; for His great love in this Holy Sacrament;\nfor all the benefits with which He has crowned our lives.\n{101}\nWho is there that can approach here without crying out with the\nPsalmist, \"What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has\nrendered to me? I will take the chalice of salvation, and call\nupon the name of the Lord.\" [Footnote 24]\n\n [Footnote 24: Ps. cxv. 3, 4.]\n [USCCB: Ps. cxv. 12, 13.]\n\nNo word of thanks at your Communion--not a grateful thought in\nyour heart? Oh! how is this? Have you really come back to make up\nwith Him, or have you come--O horrible thought!--only like Judas\nto betray Him? Does He say to you as He said to that lost\ndisciple, \"Friend, dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?\"\n\nAre you, then, half-minded to go back to your old sins? Have you\nnot, after all, given up the devil and his works? Then I do not\nwonder that you are thankless and ungrateful. Then I do not\nwonder at that cloud upon your brow, nor at the indifferent\nmanner in which you presume to receive the Body of your Lord.\nFriend, that cloud is the shadow of impending damnation. For says\nthe apostle, \"He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and\ndrinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Body of the\nLord.\" [Footnote 25]\n\n [Footnote 25: I Cor. xi. 29.]\n\nOh! no; let me hope I am mistaken; that it is far otherwise with\nyou; that if indeed you may have ever done this before, you are\nnot come to repeat it now.\n\n{102}\n\nNow you have utterly cast off all sin and all intention to sin.\nNow you wish to belong only to Jesus. Seeing from what a pit of\nhell He has delivered you, and knowing to what a height of grace\nand glory He has raised you, I feel sure you are only anxious\nabout one thing, and that is, how you can give expression to the\ngratitude of which your heart is so full. Shall it be in long,\ndevout prayers, full of emotion and tender feeling, telling the\nLord over and over again that you are so thankful for what He has\ndone for you, for His great condescension and surpassing love?\nWell, brethren, you may do that if you like, and I think Jesus\nwill be pleased with it. But that is not the only test of a\nthankful heart. If you can say truly--O my Jesus! my dear Lord! I\nlove Thee above all; for Thee I love all that Thou hast loved,\neven my enemies, and I forgive them all the offences they have\ndone to me, as freely and fully as Thou hast forgiven me; and now\nit is my firm purpose never to commit another sin while I\nlive--then, dear brethren, I am sure you will praise Him aright.\n\nLet your prayer be such as Blessed Henry Suso made in his\ncommunion. His words are far better than mine, and they will be\nmore profitable to you. Let me end my discourse with them:\n\n{103}\n\n\"Lord, if my heart had the love of all hearts, my conscience the\npurity of all angels, and my soul the beauty of all souls, so\nthat by Thy grace I should be worthy of Thee, I wish to receive\nThee to-day so affectionately, and so to bury and sink Thee to\nthe bottom of my heart and soul, that neither joy nor sorrow,\nneither life nor death, could separate me from Thee. Amen.\"\n\n --------------\n\n{104}\n\n Sermon VII.\n\n The Holy Ghost, The Comforter.\n\n For The Feast Of Pentecost.\n St. John xiv. 16.\n\n __\"I will ask the Father,\n and He will give you another Comforter,\n that He may abide with you for ever.\"__\n\n\nTo-day is the Church's grand high festival of the coming of that\nother Comforter, who abides for ever with those whom Jesus loves.\n\nWe are tempted to wonder why He, who had done so much for the\npeace of the world, whose coming was the pledge of every joy to\nthe human heart, whose words are a healing balm for every wound,\na solace for every misery, and through whom comes all forgiveness\nfor sins, should not have remained Himself to bless and comfort\nHis own with His Divine presence.\n\nWhat other Comforter of our souls would we ask or could we need\nthan Him? Oh! that He had stayed with us! Had we not all in\nhaving Him? When the Father in His love sent Him to us, did he\nnot send all He could give? What other Comforter is there in\nheaven to give that will be better than He?\n\n{105}\n\nTruly, brethren, we would not be able to imagine that anything\nmore or better could be done for us than that our Blessed Lord\nshould remain amongst us, had He not Himself said: \"It is\nexpedient for you that I go; for if I do not, the Comforter will\nnot come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.\" [Footnote\n26]\n\n [Footnote 26: St. John xvi. 7.]\n\nThere is a mystery here which we cannot fathom, because we are\nnot able to fathom the works of God. Our Lord knew that it was\nbest for Him to depart, and that the Holy Ghost must come, as He\nsaid, to bear testimony of Him, to teach all truth, to fill the\nhearts of the faithful with grace, and kindle in them the fire of\nDivine Charity, so that they might strive manfully for the faith,\nand win the crown of everlasting joy set before them.\n\nIt is not in vain that our Lord called the Holy Ghost the\n__Comforter__, which signifies the strengthener. We are weak,\nvacillating, full of wandering desires, led away from God and\nheaven by trifles, easily cast down and disheartened, in constant\ndanger by temptation, discouraged by doubts, crushed quickly\nbeneath some present sorrow, and fearful of the coming storms of\nadversity and grief; and grace, which it is the office of the\nHoly Ghost to bring to us, is the life-giving force which leads\nand directs us, which enlightens, strengthens, and comforts us in\nall.\n\n{106}\n\nIt is this which inspires the Holy Church, in the sequence of the\nMass for to-day, to cry\n\n \"Veni, Sancte Spiritus,\n Et emitte coelitus\n Lucis tuae radium.\n Veni, Pater pauperum,\n Veni, dator munerum,\n Veni, lumen cordium.\n Consolator optime,\n Dulcis hospes animae,\n Dulce refrigerium.\n In labore requies,\n In aestu temperies,\n In fletu solatium\n O Lux beatissima,\n Reple cordis intima\n Tuorum fidelium!\"\n\nI cannot do better than explain these words of the Holy Church,\nwhich express in so many beautiful forms the comforting grace of\nthe Holy Ghost.\n\nWho is this Divine Comforter? God the Holy Ghost. Not an\nattribute of God, such as His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His\njustice or mercy, but the Person of God Himself. God lives in\nHimself an eternal, infinite life; a mysterious life to us, in\nthat He needs no other object besides Himself to give Him life.\n{107}\nGod is but one being; and hence the Holy Ghost is the same God as\nthe Father and the Son; but God possesses, as it were, a\nthreefold personal life, which, being mutually dependent and\nunited, is but one. The Father is the Infinite Personal Cause of\nHis own Divine Life; the Son is the Personal Life of God,\nbegotten of the Father; and the Holy Ghost is God personally\nenjoying, living the Divine Life, begotten by Himself. Think of\nit! This is what we invoke when we cry, __Veni, Sancte\nSpiritus!__ This is what was promised by our Lord, when He\nsaid: \"I will ask the Father, and He will send you another\nComforter.\" The Life of God! Life full beyond human imagination,\nof ineffable joy, and of peace that passes understanding! Life\nfull of beauty, sublimity, and majesty! Life of omnipotence and\nof glory! \"O Lord, my God,\" exclaims the enraptured Psalmist, in\none of the Psalms of to-day's matins, \"Thou art exceedingly\ngreat! Thou hast put on praise and beauty, and art clothed with\nlight as with a garment.\" [Footnote 27]\n\n [Footnote 27: Ps. ciii. 1,2.]\n [USCCB: Ps. civ. 1,2.]\n\n{108}\n\nThe sun rises in his splendor, and no man may look with\nunblenched gaze upon it; but who shall describe the dazzling\nbrightness of Him who dwells in light inaccessible! And it is a\nray of the light of the Life of God we crave for our darkened\nsouls, when we say, __Veni, Sancte Spirtus, et emitte coelitus\nlucis tuae radium!__ \"Come, O Holy Spirit, and send forth upon\nus a ray of Thy heavenly light!\"\n\nThe coming of the Holy Ghost to man is the completion of the\nmysterious union between God and us. By the Father Almighty we\nare created. Something of the hidden essence of Life is given to\nus in creation. \"And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the\nearth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man\nbecame a living soul.\" [Footnote 28]\n\n [Footnote 28: Gen. ii. 7.]\n\nIn creation, we are united to the Life of God the Father. By the\nIncarnation of the Word, the Son of God, we became, as St. Peter\ndeclares, \"partakers of the Divine nature.\" Humanity became\nunited to the Life of God the Son through Jesus Christ; and now\nthe Life of God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Love, descends and\nfills with Divine grace the hearts of the faithful children\nbegotten to God through the creation and Incarnation; the union\nbetween God and man is complete, and the love of God to man is\nexhausted.\n\n{109}\n\nTruly, the Father Almighty was a Comforter, to bring us out of\nnothingness, and bestow upon us the boon of being and the joys of\nan eternal existence. God the Son was a Comforter in redeeming\nus, and regenerating us, and giving us the right, which angels\nmight envy, to call our Creator our __Father__; but the Holy\nGhost was yet another Comforter, and He would not deny Himself to\nthose whom the Father had loved to create, whom He had yet loved\nmore so as to send His only-begotten Son, that whosoever\nbelieveth in Him \"might have life, and might have it more\nabundantly\"; and thus the life of man becomes exalted and deified\nby its union with the Eternal, Infinite life of the Triune God.\n\nLook down from the deck of a ship in mid-ocean, and pierce the\nmighty depths of waters with a glance. Look up into the blue\nvault of heaven, and with unaided vision scan the uttermost\nbounds of space, far beyond the dizzy distances where roll the\nlast stars in their lonely course; but fathom if you can the\nheight, the depth, the immensity of that Infinite Life of the\nFather, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in which, as in a boundless\nand fathomless ocean of comfort, and as in a measureless\nfirmament of glory and of rapture, the soul of man is swallowed\nup and lost in the love of his God.\n\n{110}\n\nBut who among men belong thus entirely to God? To whom does the\nHoly Ghost come in His fulness? Not to all; for I read that our\nLord said that \"the world cannot receive Him, because it seeth\nHim not, nor knoweth Him.\" [Footnote 29] To whom, then? Let St.\nJohn answer us: \"As many as received Him (Jesus Christ, who is\nthe Word of God), to them He gave power to become the sons of\nGod, to them who believe in His name. Who are born, not of blood,\nnor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of\nGod.\" [Footnote 30]\n\n [Footnote 29: St. John xiv. 17.]\n\n [Footnote 30: Ibid. i. 12, 13.]\n\nIt is not enough, then, to be a creature of God, to be born of\nthe flesh, or of the will of man. The soul who would receive the\nHoly Ghost, to see and have God in His fulness, must be born of\nGod. \"Except a man be born of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot\nenter into the kingdom of God.\" [Footnote 31] As the Son of God\nbecame incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin, so the sons of\nmen must be born again of water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism, to\nbecome the sons of God. Then, and then only, can we call God\nFather. Then, and then only, do we \"receive the spirit of\nadoption of sons,\" as St. Paul declares, \"whereby we cry, Abba\n(Father).\" [Footnote 32] We must believe in the Word made flesh,\nin Jesus Christ, else that other Comforter will not come unto us;\nand hence the Church invokes the Holy Ghost to come down into the\nhearts of the __faithful__, or the believers in Jesus Christ.\n\n [Footnote 31: Ibid. iii. 5.]\n\n [Footnote 32: Rom. viii. 15.]\n\n{111}\n\n\"Come, O Holy Spirit! fill the hearts of thy faithful, and kindle\nin them the fire of thy love.\" Alas! for those who do not realize\nthis great truth. By their rejection of Jesus Christ and the new\nbirth unto God in Baptism, they remain for ever in the lower\nsphere of the simple creature, with no hope of the enrapturing\nvision of the Blessed Trinity when their souls shall have passed\nbeyond this human life, in which the choice of that higher\ndestiny is given to them. This is the first thought suggested to\nus by the opening invocation of the sequence of the Mass.\n\nAnd now the sentiment of the sequence suddenly changes. Though we\nbe so exalted by the Divine relationship, though the light of\nHeaven's glory is beaming upon our footsteps as we advance\ntowards it, and our loosened tongues cry out with St. Paul, \"O\nthe depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of\nGod!\" [Footnote 33] yet what is our human life now compared with\nthe Heavenly Life in God! It is a blessed truth to me, some of us\nsay, and a hope that I would not part with for life; but though\ninexhaustible riches, and crowns and harps of gold, are waiting\nfor me in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father, here I am poor,\nhere my heart is too sad to sing.\n\n [Footnote 33: Rom. xi. 33.]\n\n{112}\n\nThough there I shall possess wisdom, to which the wisdom of this\nworld is foolishness, yet here I am ignorant. There shall be no\nwant, I know; but here I am ever in want. I cry, Give, give, and\nmy soul is never satisfied. There, in the light of glory, shall\nbe peace, rest, and victory; but here is toil, strife,\ntemptation, defeat, and my heart is oft darkened within me, even\nto forget my God. Hark what the Holy Church inspires you to say:\n\n \"Veni, Sancte Spiritus,\n Veni, Pater pauperum,\n Veni, dator munerum,\n Veni, lumen cordium!\"\n\n \"Come, O Holy Spirit!\n Come, O Father of the poor!\n Come, O giver of every gift!\n Come, O light of every heart!\"\n\nAre you poor? Repine not, for Jesus has said it is a blessed\nstate. God loves you, and has given you poverty, that through it\nyou may receive the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Money is the\nriches of man, but the comforting grace of the Holy Ghost is the\nriches of God; and the poor may have that easily if they will.\nGod has deprived you of the things of this world that you may set\nyour heart on Him. Wonder not that thousands of Christians have\nleft all, and vowed themselves to poverty, that they may get the\ngrace of God easily, like you.\n{113}\nAsk for grace, then, poor man, and your requests shall be quickly\ngranted. Cry with the Holy Church--__Veni, Pater pauperum!__\nCome, O Father of the poor! and the Comforter will come, and pour\nout upon you a flood of graces that shall make your heart sing\nfor joy. Then you will say with the Psalmist, enjoying nothing\nhere below, \"The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my\ncup; it is Thou who wilt restore my inheritance to me.\" [Footnote\n34]\n\n [Footnote 34: Ps. xv. 5.]\n [USCCB: Ps. xvi. 5.]\n\nAre you in ignorance of what is best for you here and hereafter?\nIs it hard for you to think of God? Lift up your heart, and\nsay--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, dator munerum!__ Come, O\nGiver of every good and perfect gift!--and you shall receive the\nComforter's gift of Divine Wisdom.\n\nAre you ignorant of the truths of faith, or do they seem\ndifficult to you and beyond your grasp? Pray--__Veni, dator\nmunerum__!--and the Comforter will bestow upon you the light of\nthe gift of understanding.\n\nAre you ignorant of the ways of God's providence? Do you look\naround, and see the wicked prospering, the good suffering, the\nwidow oppressed, and the orphan deserted, while wickedness and\ninjustice are enthroned in high places, and are you tempted to\ndoubt if God careth for His own? Pray with the Church--__Veni,\ndator munerum!__--and the Comforter will bring you His gift of\nknowledge.\n\n{114}\n\nAre you wayward in heart, now overzealous and now too lukewarm,\noftentimes grieved and cast down at the ill-success of your\nundertakings or your prayers, and disappointment and disgrace\nmake you feel as if you would almost give up trying to be good?\nCry to the Giver of every good gift, and say--__Veni, Sancte\nSpiritus!__ and that Comforter will enlighten you with His gift\nof counsel.\n\nAre you hard-hearted, stubborn, and resentful, easy to take\noffence? Do the sins and offences of others destroy your peace of\nmind, and dry up within you the fountains of mercy and pity for\nsinners? Do you wish you could feel more like God, kind and\nlong-suffering, and less like Satan, watching for the falls of\nothers, and exulting over them? Oh! cry to the Holy Ghost, and\nthat Comforter, the Spirit of perfect charity, will soften that\ndry heart of yours with the grace of His gift of piety.\n\nAre you timid and shamefaced in your service to God? Are you a\nvictim to human respect? Are you a Christian who is ashamed of\nChrist, and do you draw back from a bold, consistent profession\nof your holy faith when the wicked scoff and sneer? Or, are you\none who dares do great things for the God who has done so much\nfor you?\n{115}\nDoes your heart burn to offer Him a glorious and complete\nsacrifice, and yet you can not summon up the courage to\naccomplish it? Put up your supplication, and say--__Veni, Sancte\nSpiritus! Veni, dator munerum!__--and the Comforter, the Divine\nStrengthener, will come with His grace, and cover your weak soul\nwith the armor of His gift of fortitude.\n\nAre you proud? Does the demon of intemperance, of anger, or of\nlust creep stealthily into your breast, and leave foul traces of\nhis presence there? Is the majesty, the power, the holiness of\nthat God to whom you belong forgotten? Do you tremble no more\nwhen you hear of justice, of chastity, and of the judgment to\ncome? Pray, for your danger is great. Put up a strong and earnest\ncry, and say--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, dator\nmunerum!__--and the Comforter will be with you, bringing the\nhelp you need in your peril, with the grace of His gift of the\nfear of God.\n\nThese seven good and perfect gifts it is the office of the Holy\nGhost to impart to those who ask for them. We prize the simple\ngifts of friendship and affection which serve us in our daily\nlife for our comfort or protection. Oh! that we but knew the\ngifts of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Friends bestow their\ngifts and depart, but the Almighty Friend abideth with His gifts\nfor ever in the faithful soul.\n{116}\nThe gifts of men wear out and tarnish, and the rust and moth\ncorrupt them; but the gifts of God are as incorruptible and as\nunchangeable and as eternally bright and beautiful as His own\ndivine, unchangeable life.\n\nThe sequence now invokes the Holy Ghost as \"the Light of every\nheart.\" The soul of the innocent child, of the pure-minded youth\nand maiden, of the upright man and pious matron, of the aged\nChristian, whose locks are whitened in the service of God, is\nbright with this heavenly Light; but even these know their hours\nof heaviness of spirit. \"Though one may have rejoiced in many\nyears,\" as says the Scripture, \"he must remember the darksome\ntime, and the many days, in which the passed things shall be\naccused of vanity.\" [Footnote 35]\n\n [Footnote 35: Eccles. xi. 8.]\n\nThere are times to the merriest soul when the heart is dark. The\nhour of sorrow will come sooner or later--sorrow for earthly\nlosses and disappointments, grief for the misspent years, anguish\nfor our or others sins and misfortunes; the grave will open at\nour feet and rob us, the house will be hung in black, the\nmourners will go through the streets, the clods will fall upon\nthe coffin, and we shall return to the home that has been\ndespoiled, and cover our faces against the light of day, and sit\nin loneliness and gloom with our own darkened hearts.\n{117}\nSpeak not to us now, nor smile upon us when our hearts are dark.\nLeave us alone. Alone with what? Alone with my own wretchedness\nand comfortless thoughts, says the unbeliever. Leave me alone,\nsays the Christian, with my God. Yes, the Christian has his God\nto go to in his darkest hour. He has always abiding with him that\nother Comforter, the Light of every heart.\n\nSinner! now contrite and sorry for the bitter past, who, weeping\nwith the penitent Psalmist, say, \"My heart hath expected reproach\nand misery. I looked for one that would grieve together with me,\nbut there was none; and for one that would comfort me, but I\nfound none\" [Footnote 36]--you have a Comforter to go to. Raise\nyour drooping head, and cry--__Veni, lumen cordium!__ Come, O\nLight of every contrite heart! and the seeds of the grace of\ncontrition, which He has already planted in your soul, will\nspring up, and bear the sweetest fruits of peace and pardon. Go\nto thy God, and confess thy sins to Him, and when the Holy Ghost\nshall give thee the grace of absolution, thou shalt return\nlighter of footstep and comforted in spirit.\n\n [Footnote 36: Ps. lxviii. 21.]\n\n{118}\n\nChristian mourner and sufferer, I know that the brightest days\nare obscured by the clouds of sorrow which hang over your\nbereaved head, and the nights are oppressed with a thicker\ndarkness than comes when the sun goes down; but a Light is\nshining ever in heaven, behind the dark clouds which hover over\nthis world--the comforting Light of every sad heart. Call to\nHim--__Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Veni, lumen cordium!__--and\nthough the tears cease not to flow, yet comfort will steal in\nupon you, and the spirit of holy resignation to that higher and\nbetter will in which you trust will descend, and abide with you\nfor ever.\n\nWhile I am speaking, there is one, now lying in a poor, humble\ncabin, whom God has been pleased to afflict with a lingering\nillness, which must soon end in death. As she told me of the\nlong, weary days and sleepless nights she spent, I said to her:\n\"You must be very lonely.\" \"Not so lonesome,\" she replied; \"for,\nafter all, God is not far away.\" On another occasion, I said:\n\"This world is but short, my poor child; but, short as it is, it\nhas pleased God to give you many dark days of suffering in it.\"\n\"Ay, priest dear,\" she answered, \"it is His blessed will, glory\nbe to Him. But, then, when once I am on the bright side of the\ncloud, it is not much thinking of the dark side I'll be.\"\n\n{119}\n\nOh! surely you, and all who invoke that Divine Comforter, will be\nready to exclaim, in the words of the sacred song,\n\n \"Consolator optime!\n Dulcis hospes animae,\n Dulce refrigerium!\"\n\nO Thou of all consolers the Best! most welcome Guest of every\nsoul! O sweet Refreshment to the weary heart! no labor for either\nearth or heaven tires when Thou art near. No burning heats dry up\nthe welling springs of grace whilst overshadowed by Thy dove-like\nwings. No sorrow wrings the breast to which Thou canst not bring\na solace, and wipe the tears away.\n\n \"In labore requies,\n In aestu temperies,\n In fletu solatium!\"\n\nIn all that concerns our happiness, here and hereafter, there is\nthe Holy Ghost, the giver of all happiness, the heavenly\nComforter. Whichever way we turn, there is the God of love\nbeforehand with us, waiting with His gifts of peace.\n\nLook at the Holy Church herself. Is she not our pride, our glory,\nour comfort? Why is she holy? Because the Holy Ghost dwells\nwithin her. If we have any comfort from the security and surety\nof our faith, it is because the Holy Ghost keeps that faith pure\nand unchangeably true. If we have any comfort in her words of\nwisdom, her good instructions, her guidance of our souls in a\nholy life, it is because the Holy Ghost keeps her pure in morals.\n{120}\nIf we have any comfort in the Sacraments, those blessed means of\ngrace, it is because the Holy Ghost is the life-giving power in\nthem all. If we think a good thought, or speak a good word of\nprayer, of kindness or advice; if we do a good deed of mercy or\nof charity, it is because the Holy Ghost is the Inspirer of them\nall. Through His influence all conversions are made, whether of\nsinners or of unbelievers. He is the Infinite Goodness, the\nSource of all holiness, and there is nothing that is good but\ncometh from Him. Nay, more, my brethren. If God the Father was\ngood to us in creating us, it was because of the love of the Holy\nGhost. If God the Son was good to us in redeeming us and bringing\nus to salvation, it was because of the same Holy Spirit; and now\nHe Himself, God the Holy Ghost, fills up the measure of His\nmercies, and God Himself can do no more.\n\n__O Lux beatissima!__ exclaims the Church. O most blessed\nLight! fill the depths of the hearts of Thy faithful. Break\nforth, Christian soul, into singing, and with rapture praise the\nHoly Ghost.\n\nYes, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove! may we never cease to invoke\nThee in our needs, and praise Thee for the comfort Thou dost\nbring us. The words of the Psalmist are upon our lips: \"Oh! how\nThou hast multiplied Thy mercies, O my God! The children of men\nshall put their trust under the covert of Thy wings.\n{121}\nThey shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou\nshalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure. For with\nThee is the fount of life; and in Thy light\"--O Lux\nbeatissima!--\"we shall see light.\" [Footnote 37]\n\n [Footnote 37: Ps. xxxv. 8-10.]\n\n ---------------\n\n{122}\n\n Sermon VIII.\n\n The Duty Of Upholding The Pope's\n Temporal Sovereignty.\n\n (Preached On The Feast of Pentecost,\n 1870, When A Collection Was Made\n For The Holy Father.)\n\n\n Zach. vi. 13.\n\n \"__He shall bear the glory,\n and shall sit and rule upon his throne;\n and he shall be a Priest upon his throne__.\"\n\n\nWe celebrate on this day the foundation of the Catholic Church.\nFor it was on this day that the Holy Ghost came down on the\nApostles to bestow those gifts of grace which make the Catholic\nChurch a reality. This descent of the Holy Ghost was the\nfulfilment of prophecies made by the ancient prophets of the old\nlaw, who, under the figures of Sion and Jerusalem, have described\nthe Holy Roman Church, and the universal Church under her\nobedience, diffused through out the world. In their inspired\nvisions respecting the building of the second temple, among\nothers, they have foretold the foundation, the extension, and the\nglory of this true and everlasting Church and kingdom of Christ\nupon the earth.\n{123}\nAs, for instance, the prophet Zacharias, sent by God to build the\nwalls of Jerusalem and the second temple, has foretold the\ninstitution of the sovereign pontificate of the Bishops of the\nRoman Church, the Vicars of Christ, who unite the priestly and\nthe royal dignity in their persons, in the words of my text. \"And\nthou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and thou\nshalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the\nhigh-priest. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: BEHOLD A MAN,\nTHE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him shall he spring up, and\nshall build a temple to the Lord. Yea, he shall build a temple to\nthe Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule\nupon his throne; AND HE SHALL BE A PRIEST UPON HIS THRONE.\" This\nis the kingdom of Jesus Christ, called by the prophet THE ORIENT,\nwhich he exercises through his Vicars, the Roman Pontiffs, and\nwhich is a spiritual sovereignty, with a temporal sovereignty\nannexed, as is shown by the words, \"a priest upon his throne,\" as\nwell as by the emblem of the two crowns, one of gold and one of\nsilver. The prophet also foretold that the new Jerusalem, the\ncity of this priestly monarch, should be built of a size so great\nthat it could not be enclosed by walls. \"I will be to it a fire\nround about: and I will be the glory in the midst thereof.\nJerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the\nmultitude of men.\" [Footnote 38]\n\n [Footnote 38: Zach. ii. 4.]\n [USCCB: Zechariah ii. 9.]\n\n{124}\n\nThis is the Holy Roman Church, considered in its Catholic\nextension as the mother and mistress of churches in all parts of\nthe world, which are bound together in one Holy Catholic Church\nby their obedience to the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff. The\nHoly, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church includes the whole vast\nnumber of the faithful in her fold in fact, and all mankind in\nright. No walls--that is, no bounds short of the limits of the\nearth--can be set to her rightful jurisdiction. And beyond this,\nthe prophet teaches us that her strength does not consist in\nfortifications and bulwarks of stone, or, in other words, is not\nderived from any material resources, whereas it is spiritual in\nits origin and nature. God is a wall of fire round about her, and\nher glory in the midst of her. The Roman Church is made glorious\nby the gifts of the Holy Ghost, by spiritual might and force, by\ntruth, grace, and sanctity. These same divine gifts and powers\npervade the whole Catholic Church by virtue of communion with the\nSee of the Vicar of Christ. The burning light of faith, the\nburning fire of charity, are concentrated within, and diffused\nall around the Catholic Church, constituting all her glory and\nall her power, and by these she illumines and inflames the whole\nworld.\n{125}\nThe Church is really and truly a kingdom, that is, a stable and\nperfect society, established upon a permanent constitution, with\na hierarchy having power to make laws and exercise jurisdiction,\nand bound together in unity by a monarchical regimen. This\nkingdom is spiritual, because it is established for the spiritual\nand eternal welfare of men, and because it is founded on ideas\nand principles which belong to the supernatural order. That is,\nit is founded on faith in Divine revelation, in truths and\ndoctrines made known by Divine inspiration, and on a right and\nauthority conferred immediately by Jesus Christ, acting in his\nquality of Redeemer and Regenerator of mankind. Moreover, it is\nby supernatural and Divine grace, by Divine, life-giving\nsacraments, that men are constituted members of the Church and of\nthe hierarchy. The Church overcomes the minds and hearts of men\nby truth and grace, by inward conviction and conversion, and\nthus, through both mind and heart, subdues them entirely to\nherself. She makes individuals and nations her subjects, by\nmaking them parts of the Church, and thus amenable to her laws.\nThey are subject to her jurisdiction, as the spiritual kingdom of\nGod, in everything which relates to doctrine, sacraments, and\nmorals; and, therefore, in everything, even of the natural and\ntemporal order, so far as it relates to religion and morality.\n\n{126}\n\nIt is, therefore, necessary that the Church should be completely\nindependent of all human authority, and supreme in her own\nsphere. Her rights, her property, and the persons of her\nhierarchy must be sacred and inviolable. She must have full and\nunrestricted liberty to exercise the powers and fulfil the\nmission committed to her by her Divine founder, without any\ninterference of kings, rulers, or the people; of lawless\nindividuals, or any usurping, tyrannical state. It is most\nnecessary of all that the Supreme See and Sovereign Ruler of the\nChurch--that is, the Roman Church and Pontiff--should possess\nthis perfect liberty and independence. The Pope is the Vicar of\nChrist, the supreme judge of all questions of doctrine and\nmorals. So far as the rights of religion are concerned, he is the\njudge of all sovereigns and states, and they owe him obedience.\nHe is the judge, also, of the justice and morality of laws,\nwhether national or international, and of all practical cases in\nwhich conscience and the divine or ecclesiastical law are\nconcerned. For this reason, he ought not to be the subject of any\ntemporal prince or state. And, in point of fact, Jesus Christ has\ngiven him the rights and privileges of a sovereign.\n{127}\nWhen tribute was exacted of our Lord, before paying it, He stated\ndistinctly to his disciples that He Himself was above all human\njurisdiction and law, and insinuated, in an equally unmistakable\nmanner, that He designed to communicate this privilege to St.\nPeter. \"And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received\nthe didrachmas came to Peter, and said to him: Doth not your\nMaster pay the didrachma? He said: Yes. And when he was come into\nthe house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion,\nSimon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take tribute or custom?\nof their children or of strangers? And he said: Of strangers.\nJesus said to him: Then the children are free. But, that we may\nnot scandalize them, go thou to the sea, and cast in a hook; and\nthat fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast\nopened his mouth, thou shalt find a stater: take that, and give\nit to them for me and thee.\" [Footnote 39]\n\n [Footnote 39: St. Matt. xvii. 23-26.]\n [USCCB: St. Matt. xvii. 24-27.]\n\nThe argument used by our Lord is very plain. The son of a king is\nexempt from tribute. \"I am the Son of the King of kings, and,\ntherefore, owe no tribute to the servants of My Father.\" But, if\nour Lord owed no tribute to any temporal ruler, He owed no kind\nof obedience or subjection. And as He paid tribute as a free act\nof condescension, in order to uphold the authority of kings, so,\nfor the same reason, He respected that authority in other things.\n{128}\nHis emblematic action in providing, miraculously, a coin for the\ntribute-money, which He ordered St. Peter to pay in the name of\nChrist and for himself also, insinuates in the most significant\nmanner that St. Peter was to obtain from Him a like privilege\nwith that which He possessed by natural right as the Son of God.\nChrist is a sovereign in His own native right. The Vicar of\nChrist is a sovereign by a delegated privilege. The obedience of\nChrist to temporal rulers and laws was not due by the obligation\nof a subject, but a mere voluntary conformity for the sake of the\ncommon good. So, also, the Vicars of Christ, independent of all\ntemporal rulers and laws, should be bound to God alone, and not\nbefore men, to subject themselves to the authority of an earthly\nsovereign, only so far as times and circumstances might require\nthem to do so for the well-being of the Church. For several\ncenturies it was, in fact, necessary for the Popes to submit to\nthe sovereignty of the Roman emperors, pagan and Christian.\nDuring this period they maintained their spiritual independence\nand supremacy chiefly by an incessant conflict with the imperial\npower--frequently ended only by their martyrdom. It was partially\nsecured by the voluntary respect and obedience of the Christian\nemperors to the spiritual authority of the Vicar of Christ. But\nthis was an imperfect state, suited only to the beginnings of the\nChurch; and therefore the providence of God gave to the Popes the\ntemporal sovereignty over Rome.\n{129}\nThe personal sovereignty and independence of the Pope was given\nhim by a divine right, and conferred on him immediately by Jesus\nChrist. This divine right did not, however, convey an immediate\ntitle to the possession of any temporal kingdom of subjects. It\nonly gave the right to acquire such a kingdom by human right, and\nmade this human right, once acquired, sacred and inviolable. The\ntitle of the Popes to the sovereignty of Rome is, therefore, in\nits origin human, and based on principles of human law and\njustice; but in regard to its inalienable, inviolable sacredness,\nit is of divine right. It is not essentially contained in that\nsovereignty which Christ gave to St. Peter and his successors,\nbut it is its natural and necessary consequence. It is annexed to\nit for its maintenance and protection. Ever since the civilized\nnations became Christian, this sovereignty has been necessary,\nand it still continues, and must remain in future, necessary for\nthe due exercise of the spiritual supremacy of the Roman Church\nand Pontiff. The sacredness and inviolability of the temporal\nsovereignty of the Pope over the Roman kingdom, and the\nnecessity, under the present condition of things, of this\nsovereignty to the well-being of the Church, have been repeatedly\nand solemnly declared by the sovereign pontiffs and by the\nCatholic episcopate.\n{130}\nIt is impossible for any true and loyal Catholic to think\notherwise; and the events which have occurred and are now\noccurring make it clearly and plainly manifest that this judgment\nis just. God has given to the Roman Pontiff a temporal throne and\nkingdom, a country and a capital, that it might be a Christian\nSion and Jerusalem, a holy and inviolable sanctuary, in which the\nVicar of Christ can possess and exercise in sovereign freedom and\nindependence all the rights of his spiritual supremacy over the\nuniversal Church.\n\nFrom what I have thus far said, which is the expression not of my\nopinion merely as an individual, but of the common belief of the\nwhole body of sincere and faithful Catholics throughout the\nworld, I draw the following evident conclusion: In that combat\nwhich the Holy Father has been so long waging, he has defended\nonly what God has given him for the spiritual and eternal welfare\nof the human race. This determined and glorious conflict with\nunprincipled governments and the detestable horde of\nrevolutionists for the defence of the temporal princedom of the\nRoman Pontiff, is a combat between infidelity and faith, hell and\nheaven, Satan and Jesus Christ.\n{131}\nThe real and final aim of those who have conspired together to\noverthrow the temporal sovereignty of the Pope has been and is\nthe subversion of his spiritual supremacy, and of the freedom and\nindependence of the Catholic Church; the abolition of the kingdom\nof Christ upon the earth; and the emancipation of human society,\ntogether with all the individuals who compose it, from the law of\nGod. It is true that many of those who have taken part in this\nconspiracy have not clearly foreseen or intended this final and\ninevitable tendency of their movement toward communism and\natheism. But these are merely the purblind followers and\naccomplices, the servants and tools of more clear sighted and\ndesperate leaders, who make use of them, and who despise them.\nAll together are but the instruments and agents of one who is far\nmore clear-sighted and more desperate than any of them, the great\nenemy of Jesus Christ, the original author of all rebellion, the\napostate archangel, Lucifer.\n\nThe Holy Father and his devoted adherents have been fighting for\nthe principles of truth, justice, and morality, for the welfare\nof society, the laws of God, the cause of religion throughout the\nwhole world. Rome is the sanctuary where these precious jewels\nare treasured. Those good, brave men who have died in defence of\nthe Holy See have died as martyrs for the faith and law of\nChrist. All Catholics owe them reverence and gratitude, and ought\nto be stirred up by their glorious example to an equal zeal and\nloyalty in the sacred cause of God and the Pope.\n{132}\nAll Christians have sworn allegiance to Jesus Christ as their\nKing. The Pope is the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and, therefore, no\nChristian can pay allegiance to Jesus Christ without paying\nallegiance to the Pope. This allegiance is spiritual, but, by its\nvery nature as a spiritual allegiance, it binds every Catholic to\nsupport and assist the Pope by all possible and lawful means to\ndefend and preserve those temporal rights, which are necessary to\nhim and to the Church, as the condition and the guarantee of the\nfreedom and well-being of both.\n\nIt is also the interest of all Catholics, as well as their duty,\nto stand bravely and loyally by the Pope in his struggle against\nthe enemies of the Church and of religion. What is there so\nprecious to the Christian as the faith, the holy and divine\nreligion into which he has been baptized; the Church, which is\nhis ark of safety; the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, which is\nthe link between heaven and earth; the Communion of Saints,\nthrough which he remains still united to the faithful departed\nwhom he once loved on earth; the hope of future glory and\nblessedness in the kingdom of God? Health, wealth, pleasure,\nhonor, science, art, home, country, the whole wide world itself,\nare of no value in comparison. But the treasure which each one\npossesses in his religion he holds only by virtue of that charity\nwhich binds him to all other members of the Catholic Church, and\nto its Head.\n{133}\nOur interests are in common, and if any member, but especially\nthe Head, be wounded, the whole body and all the other members\nmust suffer with it. Each one has an interest in the well-being\nof the whole Church. We have an interest in the preservation of\nthe sacred deposit of faith and grace in all nations; in the\nsalvation of our neighbor, in the spiritual good of our\nposterity; in the prosperity of Christendom; in the conversion of\nthe world; in the triumph of Jesus Christ; in the glory of God.\nAll these are bound up in the cause of the Holy See, the Roman\nChurch, the Sovereign Pontiff. It is only by the Catholic Church\nthat mankind can be saved and that God can be glorified. Peter is\nthe Rock on which this Church is built. The successors of Peter\nhold the golden keys by which hell is shut and heaven opened. The\nSee of Peter is the centre of unity, light, life, and strength,\nfor the whole Church throughout the world. It is against the Rock\nof Peter that the forces, proceeding from the gates of hell to\nmake war on religion, morality, society, the spiritual and\ntemporal well-being of the human race, direct their most fierce\nand obstinate assaults. The downfall of this citadel would cause\nthe destruction of the kingdom of God on earth, and give the\nvictory to Satan in his warfare against Christ.\n{134}\n\"The gates of hell shall never prevail against it.\" God will\npreserve the Roman Church until the end of the world. But He will\nnot do it altogether by miraculous and supernatural means, or by\nHis own immediate intervention in human affairs. God ordinarily\nworks through secondary causes, and by means of human agencies.\nHe has established the civil princedom of the Roman Pontiff as\nthe bulwark of his spiritual supremacy, and this bulwark must be\ndefended by the loyalty and valor of all true Catholics against\nthe assaults of the gates of hell. If faithless sovereigns and\nwicked conspirators despoil the Sovereign Pontiff of his lawful\npatrimony, rob the Roman Church of her possessions, and thus\nweaken and embarrass the functions of the supreme government of\nthe Catholic Church, duty and interest alike require of the\nfaithful to repair this injury, and to succor the distress of the\nMother and Mistress of all churches by their generous and\nabundant contributions.\n\nThis is the obligation of the poor and of the rich alike, though\nnot in equal measures. Upon those who are relatively poor, by\ncomparison with the wealthier class--that is, those who are\ndependent upon their own hard labor for a modest livelihood--it\nis not necessary to press this obligation in urgent terms. They\nmake up the great body of the faithful, and by their zeal and\ncharity it is in a great part that the enterprises of the Church\nare sustained.\n{135}\nTo those of you, my dear brethren, who belong to this class, what\nI have said already will be enough--that is, to the greater part.\nFor there are some who waste in the service of the devil what\nthey can save from their earnings, and, therefore, have little or\nnothing left to give to God and the Church. Those who give\nthemselves to excessive drinking--as some unhappily do, to their\nown shame and ruin and the scandal of religion--waste their\nhard-earned money in the service of the devil. So, also, those\nwho give their money to unlawful societies, and to foolish,\nwicked enterprises, which are forbidden both by the laws of the\nChurch and of the country, waste it in the devil's service. All\nsuch persons are bad subjects and rebels in the kingdom of God.\nTherefore, I exhort them to return to their fidelity and\nallegiance, to renounce the service of the devil, and to give a\npart of what they have devoted to his wicked works to the holy\ncause of God and the Church. Let those, also, who are led away by\nfoolish vanity to spend more money than is suitable and right\nupon the decoration of their person, sacrifice those ornaments\nwhich are not in keeping with the modesty of their state in life,\nthat they may have more to give to our Lord, and may merit more\nprecious and lasting jewels, which will never lose their lustre.\n{136}\nThose who serve the meek and lowly Saviour of the world, who put\non the form of a servant for our sakes, in humble labors and\noffices, are ennobled by their Christian charity. Imitate,\ntherefore, the zeal, self-denial, and generous liberality of your\nforefathers and brethren in all ages and countries, who, out of\ntheir poverty, have made such great gifts to God and their\nfellow-men, and whose alms have swollen from small rills to such\nan abundant stream, fertilizing and blessing the earth. It will\ncome back to you a hundredfold, especially when it is bestowed on\nthe Vicar of Christ, who is, like his Divine Master, in a special\nsense the father of the poor.\n\nThe obligations of the rich in respect to giving are far greater\nthan those of the poor, but not generally so well fulfilled. The\nspirit of the Catholic religion ought to inspire them with a\ngenerous and lavish charity. The spirit of God is a princely\nspirit; and in the early and middle ages this princely spirit was\nmanifested in a princely munificence. There are not wanting, in\nour own times, many signal instances of this same generous and\nnoble magnanimity of Christian character in the great and\nwealthy. The present needs of the Holy See have called forth, in\nnumbers of those who are noble or rich, a manifestation of that\nsame piety, devotion, and liberality which has adorned the\nhistory of happier epochs, and given a purer lustre to so many\nillustrious names.\n{137}\nBut our age is one of luxury and self-indulgence. The rich are\nexposed in an unusual degree to those temptations which have\nalways made their state so dangerous. Therefore, they need\nspecial admonitions to administer well the goods entrusted to\nthem by Almighty God, and beware of that excessive love of money,\nthat pride, selfishness, and extravagance, which are so contrary\nto the spirit of Christianity. They need to be stirred up to give\nin proportion to their wealth to the sacred cause of God, and not\nto stint themselves to the small measure which, for the poor, is\ngenerous and honorable, but which for them is niggardly and\ndisgraceful. To the rich, therefore, I say that they should\nimitate the example of those holy and noble persons who have\nconsecrated their wealth to God.\n\nYou serve an exacting Master. You are placed in a position which\nis beset with responsibility and danger. It is a responsible\nposition, because of the great and important duties and\nobligations which are annexed to it; dangerous, because of its\ngreat difficulties and temptations. Those who are favored and\nelevated above their fellows by Divine Providence, have not\nreceived these blessings in order that they may make a display of\nthemselves or indulge their passions, but in order that they may\nglorify God and do good to their fellow-men.\n{138}\nIf they wish to be safe in the midst of the allurements and\nseductions of this world, to derive real and lasting advantage\nfrom their wealth, and to save their souls, they must consecrate\ntheir riches to the service of God. There is but one end for\nwhich one can live in this world which is worthy of a\nChristian--the exaltation of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.\nPrinces, nobles, men of power and influence through their\ntalents, learning, station, or wealth, if they do not devote\nthemselves heart and soul to the advancement and extension of the\nCatholic Faith and the Catholic Church, are recreant to their\ntrust. It is this treason of the great and rich in Catholic\nnations to the sacred cause of Christ and His Church which is the\nchief cause of irreligion and vice among the people, of rebellion\nand revolution, political and social disorder, and which\nthreatens to produce convulsions still more extensive and\nterrible, in which the privileged classes will become the victims\nof a conflagration which their own folly and wickedness have\nkindled. The throne of the Roman Pontiff is the keystone of the\narch of political and social order, public peace and prosperity,\ncivilization and good government. Those who have the greatest\nstake involved in the social commonwealth have the greatest\ninterest in maintaining the rights of that august and sacred\nthrone.\n{139}\nIt is a disgrace to Christendom that the Sovereign Pontiff of the\nCatholic Church should be left to struggle almost alone and\nsingle-handed with enemies who have plotted the overthrow of the\nHoly See and of religion. It is shameful that he should be left\nto bear the burden of debts and embarrassments which have been\ncreated by those who have unjustly invaded and despoiled the\npatrimony of the Church. The majestic figure and attitude of Pius\nIX. is a condemnation of the nations of Christendom in this\nnineteenth century before the tribunal of conscience and of\nAlmighty God. Only those can free themselves from this\ncondemnation who are found on his side, sustaining his cause by\nword and deed, proving their loyalty to Christ and His Vicar by\ntheir open renunciation of all sympathy and complicity with the\nenemies of the Holy See, and by their zealous and active support\nof the spiritual supremacy and temporal princedom of the Roman\nPontiff.\n\nBy the grace of God, my dear brethren, we will not incur that\ncondemnation. We are true and faithful members of that Holy\nCatholic Church which was founded on the day of Pentecost.\nAlthough remote in the distance of space from the See of Peter,\nthe Holy Roman Church, we acknowledge with pride and joy that the\nMother and Mistress of Churches is the Mother and Mistress of the\nChurch of this Western world.\n{140}\nWe are the loyal and devoted children of our Holy Father, Pius\nIX. His rights we will sustain while life shall last. Our prayers\nshall never cease to ascend to heaven for his success and\ntriumph; our generous contributions to his temporal necessities\nshall never fail him. We rely on the unfailing word and almighty\npower of our Lord Jesus Christ to give victory and triumph to the\ncause of His crowned and anointed Vicar and of His Holy Church;\nand we will, therefore, do our duty zealously and faithfully to\npromote that victory, that we may share in its glory and reward.\n\n ---------------------\n\n{141}\n\n The Sermon IX.\n\n The Living God.\n\n (For Trinity Sunday.)\n\n Jer. x. 10.\n\n \"__The Lord is the true God:\n He is the living God__.\"\n\n\nTo-day the Church makes a solemn profession of faith in the\nmystery of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is true this is a\nprofound, inscrutable mystery, which we could never have\ndiscovered, and which, even now that it is revealed, we cannot\nfully grasp with our reason; but it is not so absolutely\nimpenetrable that we may not reason about it in so far as to see\na fitness in it, and to recognize its truth and conclude its\nnecessity from its perfect harmony with the other mysteries of\nthe Christian faith. We can see how the whole system of religion,\nwhich shows us God as the Creator of the universe, and the\nRedeemer and glorifier of the human race, finds its fittest\nsanction and most reasonable explanation in its truth; while the\nrejection of it would leave the mind oppressed and bewildered\nwith a thousand difficulties impossible of solution, and of such\na nature as to lead us to abandon the belief in God as a living\npersonal Being, and seek for their explanation in some theory of\nPantheism or Polytheism, the first of which denies the\npersonality, and the second the unity, of God.\n\n{142}\n\nIf I needed an apology for endeavoring to show the reasonableness\nof this doctrine, it would be that in our day it is famentably\ntrue that the great body of so-called Christians, who have cast\noff the primary authority of revealed truth, and set up the\ndestructive theory of private judgment in its stead, are fast\nlosing their faith in this necessary truth of Christianity, and\nfalling away into Rationalism and Infidelity. It becomes the\nChristian preacher, therefore, to raise his voice in defence of\nthis fundamental doctrine of Christianity. Christianity is true\nonly because the Trinity is true. Abandon that, and belief in\nChrist the incarnate Son of God is impossible.\n\nLet us consider, then, with all due reverence, the mystery of the\nbeing of God, and express the reasons which our own mind can\npresent to confirm the faith of the Christian, when, signing\nhimself with the sign of Christ, he adds the solemn declaration\nof his belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.\n\n{143}\n\nFirst of all, it is proper to state distinctly what the doctrine\nof the Trinity is. We believe that there is one infinite, eternal\nBeing, whose nature is in no way divided, nor can be conceived of\nas partly one thing, and partly another thing. We believe that\nGod, though one in being, is a Trinity in person. This Trinity of\nperson in God does not separate His being into parts any more\nthan His attributes, such as His wisdom or His justice, could\ndivide Him, making His wisdom or justice one thing, and Himself\nanother thing, which is not wisdom or justice.\n\nIt is God who is both wise and just, and His wisdom and justice\nhave no existence but in Him. So it is God, one Being, who is\nFather, Son, and Holy Ghost, and these three Persons, taken\ntogether, or one by one, are not something else besides the being\nof God, but they, each and all, are God. God __is__ the\nTrinity. So that the Father cannot regard the Son, or the Holy\nGhost, as some other being--some other God, because the Son and\nthe Holy Ghost are the same God as the Father is. In being God is\nnot three, but one. Nor does the fact of there being three\nPersons add anything to the being of God, or lessen the absolute\nperfection of His unity, by introducing an element of division:\non the contrary, we shall see that a perfect being must exist in\nthree persons, and a being with only one person, such as we are,\nis necessarily an imperfect being.\n\n{144}\n\nAnd when we say that the three Persons are distinct one from the\nother, so that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy\nGhost, that again in no manner can affect the unity of the Divine\nBeing, which in all three is identically the same. God, whose\nbeing is one, lives in three persons, and we can address\nourselves to any one of the three separately, to God living as\nthe Father, to God living as the Son, or to God living as the\nHoly Ghost; but the Being who __lives__, either as Father, or\nas Son, or as Holy Ghost, is One, and cannot be addressed in any\nmanner as if He was double or triple. This very reasonable\ndistinction between a being and the person of that being seems to\nbe something which many wise and learned men appear either unable\nor unwilling to understand.\n\nThe being of God lives. He is the living God, and the three\npersons are His life. Not that God has three different lives;\nthat as Father he has one life, and as the Son a second life, and\nas the Holy Ghost a third life. There is but one life in God, and\nit is the three persons that live that life. This appears to me\nto be the most reasonable explanation of the Trinity which our\nminds are capable of conceiving, and I will develop this thought\nin a few words.\n\n{145}\n\nGod is a __living__ being. Let us ask ourselves whence does\nGod receive the life of His Divine Being? Who is the author of\nHis life? Plainly, from no one but from Himself. He is the first,\nand only, and complete cause of His own life. There was nothing\nbefore Him from which He drew His infinite being, nor upon whose\nprior existence He depends for life. There is nothing now that\ncan sustain Him or support His life, neither can there be\nanything after Him. He is the eternally living God. He is, then,\nthe eternal cause of His own life.\n\nWhat is He as cause, and what is this divine life of His being\nwhich is the effect of that cause? As cause, He is the Father,\nthe Parent, the Progenitor, the Producer, the Begetter of His own\nlife. And that life, which is begotten in Himself, is the Son. He\nis the eternally living God, and hence the Son is eternally\nbegotten of the Father. The Person of God who begets His own life\nis the Father. The Person who is the Life begotten is the Son;\nand is a Person, because it is God who says by the mouth of the\nSon--I am the Life begotten.\n\nBoth the Father and the Son are equal, because it is the same\nDivine Being who is both Father and Son, as we profess in the\nCreed--\"__consubstantial with the Father__.\" Both are eternal.\nThe Father does not exist before the Son, because it is the same\nDivine Being which is the life as Son, as well as Giver of life\nas the Father. God is the Father, because He begets a Son--His\nLife.\n{146}\nGod is the Son, because He is the Life begotten of the\nFather--the Divine Progenitor of the Life of the Eternal Godhead.\n\nGod is the eternally living God. He lives the life which He gives\nHimself. His life is infinitely perfect, infinitely lovely,\ninfinitely good. He enjoys the life He has. We possess life, not\nlike the life of God, it is true, because it is limited in\nduration, imperfect in action, subject to change, and incapable\nof absolute happiness; but, such as it is, we live it, we enjoy\nit. The enjoyment or living of our life proceeds from two\nsources. First, from the cause of our life--from that which makes\nus live; and, secondly, from the life we possess. And we say--I\nenjoy my own life. But, mark it, we cannot say as the Father can\nsay--I give myself life; nor as the Son of God can say--I am the\nlife. We can only say--I enjoy the life which is given to me.\nHence we are only one person--the person living, enjoying the\nlife which is not from ourselves, but from God.\n\nSo God enjoys with an infinite beatitude His own life. It is the\nPerson of the Holy Ghost. He says not--I give myself life. It is\nthe Person of the Father which says that. He does not say--I am\nthe life. It is the Person of the Son who says that. But he\nsays--I am God, living My life; I am God, enjoying My life.\n{147}\nYet it must be kept in mind that all this is one simultaneous act\nin God: the eternal giving of life to Himself; the life itself\neternally springing into being, and the eternal enjoyment or\nfruition of life. These are not separate acts, but one, single,\ninseparable act of the Triune God. The Being which acts is God,\nand God is not one or two of the Trinity, but the Trinity itself.\nThe principle of the act is attributed to the Person; the act\nitself to the God head. Hence, again, the Son does not live a\ndifferent life from the Father, or the Holy Ghost a different\nlife from the other two Persons, but the life they live is all\none.\n\nTo the Holy Ghost is attributed the living or enjoyment of life,\nas we attribute the living of our own life to our own person;\nand, therefore, our person is, in a remarkable manner, an image\nof the Holy Ghost. We speak of our __spirit__ as living,\nrejoicing, etc., and when we die or yield up the living of our\nlife, we say--We give up the ghost.\n\nIn Me, says the Holy Ghost, are all possible perfections; I\nrejoice in them. My life is all good, wherefore I love Myself\nwith infinite love. My life is all beautiful, wherefore I admire\nit, and am well pleased, and take an infinite delight in it. My\nlife is all holy. I am the supreme object of My own adoration. My\nlife is all true, wherefore I contemplate all truth with\nunspeakable bliss. In My life is no conflict, no change, no\nanxiety, doubt, or sorrow, wherefore I am in eternal peace.\n{148}\nMy life is all that is or can be, wherefore I seek not for My\nhappiness outside of My own happy being. Such I am, and such I\nlive, the Holy Ghost, who proceed from the Father and the Son,\nwho, together with the Father and the Son, am adored and\nglorified, the great I AM, the Ancient of Days, Alpha and Omega,\nthe Beginning and the End, who was, and who is, and who is to\ncome, the Almighty, Good, Wise, Just, and True, the eternal,\nliving God.\n\nDear brethren, such thoughts, I know, are bewildering, and leave\nour poor human intellects stupefied in presence of that Majesty,\nthe simplest idea of whom is beyond all power of expression.\n\nBut we know that God is, and that we know Him, great as He is,\nincomprehensible as He is, so far transcending all grasp of our\nfeeble minds; yet even in His mysterious Being He is no stranger\nto us. The doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in God is\nwonderful, but it is not a strange doctrine. It is a truth full\nof light and consolation. It is a revelation of Him, who is all\nin all, that draws us, if I may say so, nearer to Him.\n\nStarting with this view of Him, enlightened with this truth, all\nthat He has done for us in the world of nature and of grace,\nbecomes clear, plain, reasonable, and consequent. All the other\nmysterious truths of Christianity, as I have said before, suppose\nthe truth of this, and, indeed, would be unmeaning without it.\nThe consideration of one or two of these will confirm the view I\nhave taken of it.\n\n{149}\n\nLook at creation. This is fully as incomprehensible to our minds\nas the mystery of the Trinity itself. But without a revelation of\nthe Trinity, it would be more difficult of belief, further away\nfrom our grasp, baffling more utterly all our attempts to form a\nreasonable conception of it. What is it? It is that God, who is\nall that is or can be, yet can create and has created something\nwhich is not God. It looks like a contradiction. Those who have\nrejected the Trinity and yet believe in God so regard it, and are\nled to imagine that the created universe and all that is in it\nand of it is Divine.\n\nWe read that, when God created man, He said, \"Let us make man to\nour image and likeness.\" [Footnote 40]\n\n [Footnote 40: Genesis i. 26]\n\nThe creature is, then, an image of the Creator. Creation is not\nGod, but is an image of God; that is, the being and life of\ncreatures, analogous to the being and life of God, is not of\nthemselves, but is a reflected image of God, which we may compare\nto the reflected image of ourselves in a mirror. The image we\nbehold is not our own being, but an imperfect likeness of it. So\nthe creation which God beholds imaged in His own Divine mind is\nnot His own Divine being, but an imperfect likeness of it.\n{150}\nAnd now it is not the image of an abstract being--of an ideal\nbeing--but of a living being. The living God is the Trinity, as I\nhave shown. The mystery of creation is illuminated by this truth,\nas you will see.\n\nWe say in the Creed, \"I believe in God the Father Almighty,\nCreator of heaven and earth.\" He is the Personal Cause, the\nProgenitor of all creation. Yet we also say, with St. John: \"The\nWord was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was\nnothing made that was made.\" [Footnote 41] And with holy Job:\n\"The Spirit of the Lord made me, and the breath of the Almighty\ngave me life.\" [Footnote 42] And again, with the Psalmist: \"Thou\nshalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created: and Thou\nshalt renew the face of the earth.\" [Footnote 43]\n\n [Footnote 41: St. John i. 1-3.]\n\n [Footnote 42: Job xxxiii. 4.]\n\n [Footnote 43: Ps. ciii. 30.]\n [USCCB: Ps. civ. 30.]\n\nWe speak of creation, then, either as of the Father, of the Son,\nor of the Holy Ghost, because it is of the Trinity--one act of\nthe Godhead. But we attribute creation properly to the Father,\nbecause He is the Infinite Personal Cause. We attribute it to the\nSon, because He is the Infinite Personal Life. \"In him was the\nlife,\" says St. John, in the next sentence after that in which he\nsays all things were created by the Word, \"and,\" he adds, \"the\nlife was the light of men.\"\n{151}\nSo chant we in the Credo: __Lumen de lumine__--Light of light.\nIt is the first word spoken by God at the creation--\"__Fiat\nlux!__\" Admirable conception! Light is, as it were, the Creator\nof the image reflected in a mirror, and the Divine Word is the\nlight--the Creator of the creature who is the image and likeness\nof God. St. Paul calls our Lord, who is Man united to the Word,\n\"the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every\ncreature. In Him were all things created in heaven, and on earth,\nvisible, and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or\nprincipalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and in\nHim: and He is before all, and by Him all things consist.\"\n[Footnote 44] Because our Lord was the Word of God, the same\nthing is declared of Him, as the Eternal Wisdom, by the inspired\nprophet: \"I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the\nfirst-born before all creatures.\" [Footnote 45] The creative act\nis, then, an image of the Son of God being divinely begotten by\nthe Father; and creation in existence is an image of Him who\ntruly said, \"I am the Life.\"\n\n [Footnote 44: Coloss. i. 15-17.]\n\n [Footnote 45: Ecclus. xxiv. 5.]\n [USCCB: Sirach xxiv. 3.]\n\nWe attribute the creation to the Holy Ghost when we say in the\nCreed, \"And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and\nLife-giver.\"\n\n{152}\n\nRecall what I said about the Holy Ghost, that He is God living,\nenjoying His Divine life. Creation is the image of God living,\nand hence of the Holy Ghost. When man was created, the Sacred\nRecord says, \"God breathed the breath [or spirit] of life into\nhis face, and man became a living soul.\" With man, everything\nlives and enjoys its being with an enjoyment which is a\nreflection of the supreme living beatitude in God. Thus exclaims\nthe writer of the Book of Wisdom: \"The Spirit of the Lord hath\nfilled the whole earth: and that, which containeth all things,\nhath knowledge of the voice.\" [Footnote 46]\n\n [Footnote 46: Wisdom i. 7.]\n\nIt is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, the Lord and Life-giver,\nwho, as holy Job declares, \"hath adorned the heavens\" with their\nradiant beauty, who hath filled the whole earth, and vivified it,\nso that it is not a dead but a living image of the Eternal,\nOmnipotent, Living God. Did I not say well, my brethren, that the\nmystery of the Holy Trinity is an illumination of the mystery of\ncreation?\n\nLook, again, at the Mystery of the Incarnation, in which are\nincluded the other Mysteries of the Regeneration and Redemption\nof man. We can not understand its manner. We cannot see how it\nis, any more than we can understand how the Son is begotten of\nthe Father, or how the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both.\n{153}\nBut the Trinity illuminates that also, and enlightens us to see\nand believe it, now that it is revealed to us. Like Creation, it\nis an act of the Trinity, because it is God uniting His Divine\nPerson of the Son to humanity, His created image. This is why our\nLord, as Man as well as God, calls Himself the Son of God. This\nis why the Apostle calls us, who are His brethren in the flesh,\nsons of God. It is the act of God as the Father. \"God so loved\nthe world, as to give his only-begotten Son.\" [Footnote 47] It is\nan act of God as the Son. In His last discourse, Jesus says to\nHis disciples: \"I came forth from the Father, and am come into\nthe world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father.\"\n[Footnote 48] It is an act of the Holy Ghost. As we say in the\nCreed, and as the Scripture testifies, \"He was conceived by the\nHoly Ghost.\"\n\n [Footnote 47: S. John iii. 16.]\n\n [Footnote 48: __Ibid__. xvi. 23.]\n [USCCB: John xvi. 28.]\n\nThe mystery of the Trinity thus enables us to recognize the\nDivinity of the Person of Jesus Christ, as also the sublime\ncharacter and object of His Incarnation. It reveals to us the\ntrue destiny of man, and shows us how the very reason of creation\nis in God Himself, and is to find its end, its accomplishment and\nfruition in God. For, as you see, the Incarnation was an act, of\nwhich the Person of God Himself was the object.\n{154}\nIt was God communicating His Divine Life to the creature, and\nthus all creatures, through Jesus, who is the First-Born of them\nall, are to find their destiny, the end of their creation, in\neternal union with the Divine Life. \"I am the Life,\" said our\nLord, and \"because I live, you shall live.\" [Footnote 49] He and\nthe Father are one. But, O wonderful revelation! \"In that day you\nshall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.\"\n[Footnote 50]\n\n [Footnote 49: St. John xiv. 6 and 19.]\n\n [Footnote 50: __Ibid__. 20.]\n\n\"God hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world,\" says St.\nJohn, \"that we may live by Him.\" [Footnote 51] \"Ye are the\ntemples of the living God,\" [Footnote 52] exclaims St. Paul. \"We\nare made partakers of the Divine nature,\" [Footnote 53] says St.\nPeter. And St. Paul again designates us, first, as the \"partakers\nof Christ,\" [Footnote 54] and next as the \"partakers of the Holy\nGhost.\" [Footnote 55]\n\n [Footnote 51: Ep. St. John iv. 9.]\n\n [Footnote 52: 2 Cor. vi. 16.]\n\n [Footnote 53: 2 Ep. St. Peter i. 4.]\n\n [Footnote 54: Heb. iii. 14.]\n\n [Footnote 55: Heb. vi. 4.]\n\nOnce more, our Lord bids us fear not the apparent annihilation of\ndeath. \"I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in\nMe, though he be dead, shall live. And every one that liveth, and\nbelieveth in Me, shall not die for ever.\" [Footnote 56]\n\n [Footnote 56: St. John xi., 25, 26.]\n\n{155}\n\nHow clear, how consistent is every word! As we contemplate the\ntruth of the Incarnation in the light of the revealed Trinity,\nour faith must grow stronger, and the hopes and aspirations of\nour hearts be confirmed, and our love wax the deeper; for this\nbrighter view of God must draw us nearer to Him by sight and by\nlove. We, too, burn to answer our Lord as did Martha, when He\nasked her if she believed His words: \"Yea, Lord, I have believed\nthat Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God, who art come into\nthis world.\" [Footnote 57]\n\n [Footnote 57: St. John xi. 27.]\n\nWe set out, my dear brethren, to look at the reasons which\nChristian philosophy is able to show us of the reasonableness of\nthe mysterious doctrine, of which we make acts of profession\noftener, perhaps, than of any other, for we do it every time we\nmake the sign of the Cross; and in honor of which we are to-day\nkeeping solemn festival. We have been talking and thinking like\nphilosophers on this deep mystery, and to us might be very\nproperly addressed that pertinent remark of Thomas \u00e0 Kempis:\n\"What doth it avail thee to discourse profoundly of the Trinity,\nif thou be wanting in humility, and, consequently, displeasing to\nthe Trinity? If thou didst know the whole Bible by heart, and the\nsayings of all the philosophers, what would it all profit thee,\nwithout the love of God and His grace?\" [Footnote 58]\n\n [Footnote 58: __Imit. Christi__, book i. ch. I.]\n\n{156}\n\nTruly, a question of no little import to us all. Today the Church\nbrings us, as it were, face to face with the awful Majesty of the\nEver-Blessed Trinity, the Living God. It is a fearful thought to\nbe in that Presence, for it must compel us to ask ourselves--Are\nwe indeed the image and likeness of the Living God? And not only\nthat, but are we, as we should be, __living images of Him?__\nAre our souls living in His Divine grace, or are they standing\nbefore Him to-day dead in sin? To be wise in the knowledge of the\nBlessed Trinity is well, but to love Him is better. To be\nignorant of the Blessed Trinity is a misfortune; but to sin\nagainst Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being is a\ncrime against the Life of God. Wonder not that to lose God is to\nlose eternal life, and fall into hell, the eternal death. To sin\nis, in the language of St. Paul, to \"trample under foot the Son\nof God, and offer an affront to the Spirit of Grace.\" [Footnote\n59] Filled with horror at the thought of this crime against the\nHoly Trinity, he exclaims: \"It is a fearful thing to fall into\nthe hands of the Living God.\" [Footnote 60]\n\n [Footnote 59: Heb. x. 29.]\n\n [Footnote 60: Heb. x. 31.]\n\nTherefore, brethren, let us adore with profound humility the\nEver-Blessed Trinity, full of gratitude that He has vouchsafed\nthis revelation of His mysterious Being to us, and thus\nenlightened our minds that we may know Him, and love Him, and\nserve Him better.\n{157}\nBut let us so live, as children of the Heavenly Father, as\nbrethren of Jesus Christ our Lord, and as sanctified temples of\nthe Holy Ghost, that, when the veil of this life be rent in\ntwain, and we shall stand face to face in eternity before the\nglorious majesty of God, and in presence of the glittering hosts\nof angels who surround His throne, we may be able to present the\nrecord of a life which has truly been an image and likeness of\nthe Life of the Living God--the Father, the Son, and the Holy\nGhost; to whom be glory now and for ever throughout eternal ages.\nAmen.\n\n -----------------------\n\n{158}\n\n Sermon X\n\n The Real Presence.\n\n (For The Feast Of Corpus Christi.)\n\n St. Matt. i. 23.\n\n \"__They shall call His name Emmanuel,\n which, being interpreted, is God with us__.\"\n\n\nWe conclude the seasons of Easter and Pentecost with the Feast of\nthe Blessed Trinity, following in thought our ascended Jesus up\nto the right hand of His eternal Father. From Christmas to\nAscension we commemorate the mission (as it is called) of the\nSecond Person of the Trinity: how the Father sent the Son to\nbecome Incarnate, to accomplish our redemption, and found the\nChurch. At Pentecost we celebrate the mission of the Third\nPerson: how the Father and the Son together sent the Holy Ghost,\nto become incorporate in the Church, and abide with and in it\nthrough all time. Then, on Trinity Sunday, the Church, in her\nturn, bids us remember that, although the Son and the Holy Ghost\nwere sent down to earth, yet they never left heaven; where they\nhad dwelt from eternity, and will dwell to eternity,\nconsubstantial and coequal with the Father.\n\n{159}\n\nBut the Church is the kingdom of the Incarnation; and the\nIncarnation is God made visible. Therefore, as a true spouse,\nliving only for her Beloved, she does not leave us contemplating\nthe invisible God, but quickly sets before us the Incarnation\nagain--the end of her yearly song no less than its beginning. For\nthe feast of Corpus Christi is to Christmas as the end to the\nbeginning of a chain of mysteries which centre in the\nIncarnation. It is, indeed, a sort of second Christmas--the\nsacramental life of our Lord bearing striking resemblance to His\nhelpless infancy. Again, lest we should forget that our ascended\nLord left behind Him the very body He carried into heaven, the\nChurch does not let us stand gazing up after Him with the group\non Olivet, but invites us to turn and rejoice with her in the\nmystery of His perpetual presence here below--a presence not the\nless real because supersensible, nor the less consoling because\nveiled.\n\nI shall speak, then, of the Blessed Sacrament, first, as a\nreality; and, secondly, as a consolation.\n\n{160}\n\nFirst, as a reality. You are aware, my dear brethren, that no\narticle of our faith excites so much the wonder of those who are\nnot Catholics as the doctrine of the Real Presence. They are\nforced to acknowledge, too, that we actually do believe in it,\nand take it as a matter of course. Their wonderment is natural\nenough: for they judge of it only by the senses; and certainly we\ncannot conceive of any mode in which it would have more apparent\n__un__reality. If, however, they believe that the Christ who\nwas born in a stable, lived in obscurity for thirty years, was\nrejected by the Jews as \"the carpenter's son,\" and, at last, died\na felon's death, was God, they must allow that the Godhead in Him\nhad very much apparent unreality, and that its surprising\nconcealment can only be accounted for by design. Again, if they\nare familiar with the Bible, they know that in several passages a\ncertain adorable secrecy and shyness are ascribed to God as\ncharacteristic of Him. As, for instance, in the Psalms we are\ntold that He \"makes darkness His hiding-place.\" [Footnote 61] In\nJob it is asked, \"Peradventure thou wilt comprehend the steps of\nGod, and find out the Almighty perfectly? He is higher than\nheaven, and what wilt thou do? He is deeper than hell, and how\nwilt thou know?\" [Footnote 62] while Isaias breaks out with the\nexclamation: \"Truly Thou art a hidden God, Thou God of Israel,\nthe Saviour!\" [Footnote 63]\n\n [Footnote 61: Ps. xvii. 12.]\n [USCCB: Ps. xviii. 12.]\n\n [Footnote 62: Job xi. 7.]\n\n [Footnote 63: Is. xlv. 15.]\n\n{161}\n\nAs far, then, as the hiddenness of the Real Presence goes, it\nought rather to commend our doctrine than otherwise, and create a\npresumption in its favor.\n\nBut the radical difficulty with the stranger to the truth lies in\nhis not understanding the Incarnation and its object. It is\nnothing to him, I may say. He professes belief in it, indeed, but\nhas utterly \"lost its meaning\" (as dear Father Faber says). Let\nhim once begin to realize the Incarnation, and he will find he is\ntaking the road to Rome: he will find that there is such a thing\nas a visible Church, and such a person as the Mother of God. To\nthe Catholic, on the contrary, the Incarnation is everything. It\nis the fount of the whole system to which he glories in adhering.\nThe Church exists for nothing else. The world exists for nothing\nelse. The world for the Church, the Church for Christ, and Christ\nfor God.\n\nNow, the object of the Incarnation was briefly this: The\nestablishment of a visible kingdom, in which the Creator should\nreceive an adequate worship from the creature, and the creature\nbe raised to the highest possible union with the Creator. We say,\nthen, that the Church is this visible kingdom--to wit, an organic\nbody, of which we are made members by Baptism (an outward and\nvisible rite); and that the twofold end of worship and union is\naccomplished by the perpetual presence of the Incarnation here on\nearth, as at once a sacrifice and a sacrament.\n{162}\nA sacrifice in which the creature offers to God a divine\nvictim--the only adequate worship He can receive, God being\noffered to God--and in a created nature. A sacrament, in which\nthe assumed humanity in Christ, hypostatically united with the\ndivinity, is made to blend with our humanity in a union so close\nas to render us, in turn, \"partakers of the divine nature.\"\n[Footnote 64] Moreover, we say that the form of food, in which\nour Lord chose to impart to us His deified and deifying humanity,\nwas (so to speak) the most natural form He could have chosen:\nsince food becomes one substance with its recipient--the\ndifference between ordinary food and this divine food being that\nthe latter, instead of being changed into us, transforms us into\nitself.\n\n [Footnote 64: 2 St. Peter i. 4.]\n\nTherefore, to us, who, by the grace of faith, understand the\nIncarnation and its object, the doctrine of the Real Presence is\nsimply the supplement to the doctrine of the Incarnation. The one\nis the consequence of the other. We behold in the Church, with\nthe Blessed Sacrament on her altars, the mystical Mary with the\nDivine Babe on her lap: and when we kneel to her, that she may\ngive Him to us, or bless us with Him, we have no more feeling of\nunreality than the Shepherds and the Magi had in the cave at\nBethlehem.\n\n{163}\n\nThe feast of Corpus Christi, then, my brethren, is one of a\nblessed __reality__: a reality which ought to make us thank\nGod every day of our lives that we are Catholics. For can\nanything be more dismal, more barren, more pointless, than a\nChristianity in which the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed\nVirgin have no place?\n\nBut, secondly, it is a feast of peculiar consolation. It is this\nwhich most endears the Blessed Sacrament to us. For as long as we\nare in exile from our true fatherland--the \"patria\" of the __O\nSalutaris__--we shall always be wanting consolation, and prize\nit as a foretaste of our rest. This consolation, then, this\nforetaste, is abundantly vouchsafed to us in the Blessed\nSacrament. And, first, as regards our Lord Himself. It is\nimpossible to love Him without sorrowing for all He once\nsuffered; without grieving at the thought of the world's sins,\nand our own share of them, which drenched His soul with anguish,\nand steeped His heart in woe. And what pains us most is the\nmelancholy fact that His love was thrown away on the majority of\nmankind, and is so at this hour. It is, therefore, indeed a\nconsolation that now He dwells on earth without the condition of\nsuffering--impassible for evermore; that, at last, He \"comes\nunto His own, and His own __do__ receive Him\"; that He is\nenthroned King of His elect in the kingdom He so dearly\npurchased; that He can now take unmixed \"delight\" in \"being with\nthe children of men\"; that if His Sacramental Presence is still\nto the heretic \"a stumbling-block,\" and to the sceptic\n\"foolishness,\" yet to millions upon millions, who believe and\nlove, it is \"the power of God and the wisdom of God\"; and,\nfurther, that whatever degeneracy may come upon Christ's kingdom,\nhowever widely the \"love of many may wax cold,\" yet, even in the\nworst times, \"those whom the Father hath given Him\" will\nunfailingly confess Him their \"Emmanuel.\"\n\n{164}\n\nAgain, the Blessed Sacrament is full of consolation as regards\nourselves. In the first place, because it is our Emmanuel--God\ntabernacled with men; and because the veiled Presence here is an\nearnest of the unveiled hereafter. Also, because it is an abiding\n\"propitiation for our sins,\" and the perpetual oblation of\ninfinite merit to obtain us all good things. Again, it is the\nfood in the strength of which we travel, like Elias, through the\nwilderness of this world \"unto the mount of God\": [Footnote 65]\nthe medicine of our spiritual diseases, the balm of our sorrows,\nand, sweetest thought of all, perhaps, our viaticum in death.\n\n [Footnote 65: 3 Kings xix. 8.]\n [USCCB: 1 Kings xix. 8.]\n\n{165}\n\nIf God could thus address His people of old, how much more\nmeaning have His words for __us__: \"Fear not, for I have\nredeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine.\nWhen thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and\nthe rivers shall not cover thee; ... for I am the Lord thy God,\nthe Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.\" [Footnote 66]\n\n [Footnote 66: Is. xliii. 1-3]\n\nBut especially ought we to take comfort in the Blessed Sacrament\nin times of trial for the Church, such as that which is on us\nnow. You remember how the ship of Peter was tossed one day on the\nlake of Galilee, and the disciples got terrified and awoke their\nMaster, who was asleep on a pillow. [Footnote 67]\n\n [Footnote 67: St. Mark iv. 36-38.]\n\nAnd He rebuked them for their want of faith; because, let wind\nand sea rage as they might, could that vessel have perished with\nthe Lord of the elements on board, though He __was__ \"asleep\non a pillow\"? Now, that ship is a striking figure of the Church,\nwith the Blessed Sacrament reposing on her altars. She has ridden\nout many a heavy gale as yet, and no matter how many more are in\nstore for her, weather them she __must__ while she carries the\nAlmighty Saviour. Instead of losing heart, then, our aspiration\nshould be that of the sacred poet:\n\n \"Amid the howling wintry sea,\n We are in port if we have Thee.\"\n\n{166}\n\nAnd even if there should come a time, as many think, when \"the\ndaily sacrifice shall be taken away,\" when it shall be death to\nsay Mass or to hear it, and the Church has to \"fly into the\nwilderness\"--if the final persecution thus exceed even those of\nthe C\u00e6sars, yet Mass __will__ be said and Communion\n__will__ be given; and still, at the words of the priest,\n\"even as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth unto\nthe west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man\" to His altar;\nand still, \"wheresoever the Body shall be, there will the eagles\nbe gathered together.\" [Footnote 68]\n\n [Footnote 68: St. Matt. xxiv. 27, 28.]\n\nIn conclusion, my dear brethren, let me remind you how apt we\nare--we who are so favored with the faith--to neglect the Blessed\nSacrament, to be irreverent in its presence, to show it\ningratitude by receiving it too seldom, and to betray our\nforgetfulness of its presence by never coming to visit it. I\nwould dwell a little on this last point. When we meet with\nmisfortune or trouble of any kind, we often brood over it at\nhome, and get impatient and fretful, and make mischief in\nconsequence to others as well as to ourselves, instead of coming\nto tell the Sacred Heart all about it, and draw on an ever-ready\nhelp. So, again, we are constantly complaining how cold the world\nis, what a want there is of sympathy, how selfish and thankless\npeople are.\n{167}\nAnd what are we but cold and unsympathizing, selfish and\nthankless, toward our best Friend? He is here \"love's\nprisoner\"--__our__ prisoner; and how few of us take any notice\nof Him as such! Were an earthly dear one in prison for our sake,\nwe should move heaven and earth to get to him. But here is the\nLover of all lovers, the infinite beauty, accessible all day\nlong, and how many come to visit Him of those who are __not__\nreasonably prevented? I wonder that more of us are not haunted by\nthose words, \"I was in prison, and ye visited Me not.\" [Footnote\n69]\n\n [Footnote 69: St. Matt. xxv. 43.]\n\nLet us endeavor, then, my brethren, to realize more the treasure\nwe possess in our Emmanuel, our __Ges\u00f9 Sacramentato__\n(Sacramented Jesus), our __Dios Sagramentado__ (Sacramented\nGod), as the happy Italian and Spanish languages can word it. If\nwe could only accustom ourselves to think a little more of the\nBlessed Sacrament, it would soon have a perceptible influence on\nour lives, on our domestic relations, on our intercourse with\nsociety, on our dealings with the world of business. And this\ninfluence would be anything but oppressive, as some of you may\nthink. It would exercise a wholesome restraint, indeed, for which\nwe should often be deeply thankful afterwards, but would give us\na true cheerfulness and an abiding sense of calm. Oh! that all\nour words and actions might harmonize in one ceaseless chorus of\npraise--\n\n{168}\n\n \"Blessed and praised every moment\n Be the most holy and most divine Sacrament!\"\n\n ---------------------\n\n{169}\n\n Sermon XI.\n\n St. Paul, The Divine Orator.\n\n (For The Patronal Festival.)\n\n 2 Cor. xii. 9.\n\n \"__Gladly, therefore,\n will I glory in my infirmities,\n that the power of Christ may dwell in me.__\"\n\n\nThe Church and the world are agreed in the estimate formed of St.\nPaul as a preacher. By a common judgment, the name of this great\napostle has been inscribed at the head of the illustrious list of\nteachers of doctrine. His renown increases as time goes on, and\nin our own day his personal character, life, and writings have\nbeen made the subject of an extraordinary amount of discussion,\nand have elicited newer and higher eulogiums.\n\nThere is this difference, however, in the judgments formed by the\nChurch and the world of the prince of Christian preachers. The\nworld's panegyric is illogical, being made in direct\ncontradiction to its principles and the lessons which it has ever\ninculcated as necessary to an orator's success.\n{170}\nThe Church alone, by the aid of the supernatural principles of\nfaith, is able to explain the true secret of the wonderful power\nhe wielded in life, and the miraculous influence of his words\nupon the nations of the earth during the many centuries which\nhave elapsed since he ceased to speak face to face with men.\n\nWhat, indeed, are these words of his, \"I will glory in my\ninfirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me,\" but\nfoolishness to human wisdom, or, at best, an enigma without\nsolution! But it is precisely these infirmities of which he\nboasts that gave him the power he possessed, and laid the\nfoundation of all his glory. \"When I am weak,\" he says again,\n\"then am I powerful.\" Nonsense to human reason, but divine wisdom\nto faith.\n\nIf, therefore, I would praise St. Paul, as is befitting on this\nday, I must praise hid infirmities--weaknesses which the world\ncalls misfortunes, and deficiencies upon which none but saints\never rest their hopes of success.\n\nTo judge after the manner of man, we would ordinarily expect to\nfind in one who is an orator of great power certain personal\nqualifications which, in the very nature of things, would serve\nto impress and win his audience. We would seek for great polish\nin the style, and consummate art in the preparation and delivery\nof his discourses.\n{171}\nFor one who aims at swaying not only a chance multitude who, for\nthe moment, comes within the sound of his voice, but at\nconquering their souls, and winning them to the point of making\nmost heroic sacrifices; who not only preaches to his hearers, but\ncommands them with the air of one having authority, we would look\nfor the favorable, popular verdict shown in honors and dignities\nshowered upon him, in credit and influence, and his having\nreached that summit where men vie with one another in giving him\nplace, and when even his enemies fear to gainsay or persecute\nhim.\n\nSuch, indeed, are the orators whom the world crowns with its\nlaurels. But in all these St. Paul was lacking; and yet, by the\nworld's own confession, he has surpassed them all. To meditate\nupon this mystery of Divine Providence, which makes use of the\nweak things of this world to confound the strong, and the foolish\nto confound the wise, cannot fail to enlighten and edify us.\n\nWe who, like the world in general, have known the great Apostle\nchiefly from the sublime picture which his unparalleled success\npresents, have doubtless imagined him to be a person of tall and\nmajestic stature, of pleasing address and magisterial deportment;\nbeing, as we say, a man of fine presence, whose appearance was\nalone sufficient to bring forth plaudits from his auditory, and\nenforce at once a respectful and submissive hearing.\n{172}\nSuch are, indeed, the ideal portraits of him with which we please\nourselves, and such have the masters in art represented him. But\nfrom various allusions he makes in his writings to himself, it is\ncertain that he was frail in body, of a diffident and submissive\nbearing, and altogether wanting in that air of decision and\nself-assertion which naturally overawes the multitude.\n\nWhen he, with his companion apostle, St. Barnabas, healed the\ncripple at Lystra, the people imagined them to be gods; but in\ncalling St. Barnabas, rather than St. Paul, Jupiter, it is\nevident that other apostle far surpassed St. Paul in the dignity\nand majesty of his person. He can write boldly, he says, but \"in\npresence is lowly\"; [Footnote 70] and, again, he affirms the\ntruth of what people said of him, that \"his bodily presence is\nweak, and his speech contemptible;\" and the frequent contrasts he\ndraws between his personal infirmities and his spiritual power\nand graces, leave the fact beyond doubt that he was by no means a\nman of dignified aspect or commanding mien.\n\n [Footnote 70: 2 Cor. x. 1]\n\nWe might be tempted to think he would feel this infirmity most\nkeenly as a serious drawback to his success as an orator, as we\nourselves would judge it to be. But no. He will rather glory in\nhis infirmities as the source of his power; and here at the\noutset we get an insight into the whole spirit of this champion\nof the Gospel.\n{173}\nFrom the instant of his miraculous conversion, he appears to be\nwholly absorbed in the contemplation of the sublime mystery of\nthe voluntary abasement of God in concealing the awful majesty\nand splendor of his Divine Being in human nature, that what he,\nwith apostolic hardihood, calls the \"foolishness of God\" and the\n\"weakness of God,\" might subdue and atone for the sinful pride\nand vainglory of men. He rejoices, therefore, that he has nothing\nin himself which might cause the admiration of men and make void\nthe humility of Jesus and His cross--a thought which so fills his\nsoul that he says he knows nothing else besides. The less he has\nin himself to glory in, the greater is his consciousness of the\npower of the Gospel of the Crucified, which he only lives to\npreach. \"Power is made perfect in infirmity,\" was the revelation\nmade to him when caught up to the third heaven. \"I will glory,\ntherefore,\" he exclaims, \"in my infirmities.\" I am glad that I am\nweak in bodily presence and contemptible in speech. Freed from\nthis temptation of human vanity, which in turn would divert the\nsouls of my hearers from the Gospel to the preacher of the\nGospel, the power of Christ will dwell more fully in me. \"When I\nam weak, then am I powerful.\"\n{174}\nWhen I, Paul the Apostle, am nothing, then will the victory of\ngrace be complete in the souls who, through me, believe and are\nconverted--when I have nothing in me to please and attract the\nsight, men will see only the Cross which I hold up to their gaze.\n\nSo fearful was he of attracting to himself any personal\naffection, that he avoided baptizing his own converts and\nreceiving them into the church, lest they should say--I am of\nPaul, I belong to the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, instead of\nacknowledging, as he was always doing himself, \"By the grace of\nGod, I am what I am--a Christian saved from hell by God's mercy.\"\n\nLet us look now at his second and greater infirmity--his weakness\nas an orator. He had a strange, difficult, shocking, and what he\nterms a scandalous doctrine to preach--the redemption of the\nworld by a crucified God. Surely, this man, who is so lacking in\nthe external qualifications of an effective speaker, possesses at\nleast the magic power of sublime eloquence. He who has such a\nrepulsive truth to announce will seek the most polished phrases,\nand cover up the hard things which he has to say by flowers of\nrhetoric, and, with studied art in his tones of speech, will\ncharm his unwilling audience to receive and obey the austere\nlessons of the Gospel.\n{175}\nBy no means. Such was his infirmity in this respect that his\ndisciples called his speech contemptible, and he acknowledged the\ntruth of their judgment, and reminds his beloved Corinthians that\nhe was \"with them in weakness, and in fear, and in much\ntrembling,\" adding, \"My speech and preaching was not in the\npersuasive words of human wisdom.\" [Footnote 71]\n\n [Footnote 71: I Cor. ii. 4.]\n\nNot only do we see in the discourses recorded of him the most\nsimple and unadorned phraseology, but even his writings, full as\nthey are of the most profound and heavenly doctrine, are the most\ninartificial, disconnected, and poor in imagery that could well\nbe imagined. What a misfortune for an orator! cries the world.\n\"What a glory is mine infirmity!\" responds the Apostle of that\nGospel which is wisdom hidden from the self-sufficient rich and\nthe insolent magnates of a depraved world, but a revelation of\ndivine truth to babes. And I, who praise St. Paul, will praise\nthis infirmity of his as well, knowing that he has not rested his\npower as an apostle and his hopes of success upon it in vain.\n\nIf St. Paul be unable to use, or disdain in his preaching all\nrhetorical flourish and tricks of oratory, if his language is\nalmost rude in its plainness and harsh from the total absence of\nbrilliant metaphor or well-rounded period, it is because he has\nnothing to preach but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\n{176}\nAll those harmonious cadences which flatter the ear, all that\nfanciful imagery in which the orators of human doctrine and\nscience deal so largely and are paid with clapping of hands, are\nat best but showy tinsel, unworthy of the Incarnate Wisdom, and a\nvain mockery of the lowly speech and simple words of the Man of\nSorrows. What we adore in our Lord's person is His lowliness and\nhumility, mingled with a certain divine and grand simplicity of\ncharacter. So are all His words, plain and simple; spoken\nevidently without passionate gesture, and in no loud or clamorous\ntone. Simple, because all that is divine is simple; all else is\nhuman pride and sensuality. Such is what I may call the divine\ninstinct of the Church, the Body of Christ, who also disdains,\nwhen she lifts her voice in prayer or praise, all the effeminate\nand meretricious ornaments of harmony or melody, which are the\nsources of attraction and admiration in worldly music, and\nadheres to what is simple in its enunciation, grave in movement,\nand moderate in tone, as one who reveals divine thoughts, and not\nthe dreamy, overwrought imaginations of impassioned genius, which\nminister rather to the senses than to the soul.\n\n{177}\n\nBehold, therefore, the great Apostle, inspired by this simplicity\nof Divine truth, going out upon his great mission to become the\npreacher of that truth to the whole world, but so thoroughly\nimbued with the spirit of the meek and humble-hearted Jesus that\nhe speaks in weakness, in much fear and trembling, yet with such\npower that even Greece, that mother of philosophers and orators,\nforgets the fervid eloquence of her Plato and Demosthenes to\ndrink in the divine lessons of the Gospel from the lips of this\nunskilled orator; and Rome herself, the mistress of the world, at\nhis word overthrows her idols and consecrates her majestic\ntemples of glory to the worship of a Man crucified at Jerusalem.\nO glorious Apostle! well mayest thou glory in that which before\nmen is thy weakness! Thine infirmity is thy power. Without human\npower, thou abandonest thyself wholly to the divine power of\nChrist, and that--that is more than enough power to conquer the\nworld. That world in its pride will criticise you, and ridicule\nyour want of polish and lack of rhetoric, and your trembling,\nhesitating gesture, but it will believe in Jesus Christ and Him\ncrucified whom you preach. Its orators will not follow you as a\nmodel, but they themselves will beat their breasts, and confess\ntheir sins, and do penance at your bidding.\n\nBut, powerful as he is in the infirmity of his speech, to fully\nconvince the world of the truth of his awful and austere\ndoctrine, he has yet to measure his strength against a more\nobstinate and unyielding enemy to the Gospel of the Cross.\n{178}\nThe mind of man cannot long blind its sight to the illumination\nof the truth; but who shall subdue and win the hardened heart? O\nwondrous science of the saints! O divine enigma which no one\nshall understand who does not write its solution in his own\nblood! \"__Regnavit a ligno Deus!__\" \"God hath reigned from the\nwood of the cross.\" Even God cannot reign in the kingdom of the\nhearts of men until He is a crucified man, whose streaming blood\ncries aloud and pleads, with the irresistible torrent of the\neloquence of suffering, to heaven. Yes; to heaven must the voice\nof suffering preach; for Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but\nGod alone can give the increase. From God alone can come the\ngrace that achieves the consummation of the triumph of the truth,\nand completes the labor of the Apostle. When was Jesus Christ the\nMaster of the world? Where was it that He drew all things to\nHimself by the cords of Adam and the bands of love? Was it when\nHe went about doing good, working miracles, preaching His divine\ndoctrine? Ah no! It was when He was lifted up the pleading\nVictim, whose blood and wounds spoke better things than the blood\nof Abel, and whose requests could not be denied.\n{179}\nWell does the Church say, \"__Regnavit a ligno Deus!__\" And\nwhat shall we expect, if even Jesus is only powerful from His\ncross, but that His chosen vessel of election, who shall carry\nHis Gospel to the whole world, first shall say: \"I judge myself\nto know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified\"; and that\nafterwards his life should prove the truth of his same infirmity\nin himself: \"With Christ I am nailed to the cross,\" [Footnote 72]\n\"I die daily;\" that he should be stoned and scourged, and\nimprisoned and persecuted, and driven from city to city, \"in\njourneyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in\nperils from the Jews, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in\nthe city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in\nperils from false brethren, in labor and painfulness, in long\nwatchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and\nnakedness;\" [Footnote 73] and, added to all these sufferings,\nthose interior trials and bitternesses of spirit with which God\ninvariably purifies the souls of His elect. He must preach in the\nstead of Christ, and therefore he must suffer in His stead.\nWherefore he says: \"I fill up in my own flesh those things that\nare wanting of the sufferings of Christ.\" [Footnote 74]\n\n [Footnote 72: Gal. ii. 19.]\n\n [Footnote 73: 2 Cor. xi. 26, 27.]\n\n [Footnote 74: Col. i. 24.]\n\nNor are we surprised, if the world be, that he should please\nhimself in this life of constant suffering in what seems to be,\nas men judge, failures and losses, and disheartening, conflicting\nobstacles to his success.\n{180}\nThe world, to whom the cross of Christ is foolishness, would\ndemand for a preacher who could hope for a success equal to St.\nPaul's, invariable good health, a well-nourished body, a mind not\novertaxed, popular applause, and a career of unvarying triumph.\nBut I, who would praise St. Paul, will praise him for his life of\nsuffering. When he is weak before men, then is he powerful with\nGod. God and the whole court of heaven is the audience of the\nsuffering man; and he who would sway the Divine Mercy must take\ncounsel from the Crucified Incarnate Wisdom, and find an advocate\nin his own blood.\n\nFor thirty long years did this \"Victim dear to heaven\" suffer a\ndaily death, yet rejoicing always that he was counted worthy to\nsuffer for the name of the Lord Jesus; and as we follow him about\nfrom country to country, and from city to city, we can number his\nsuccesses by the number of his adversities--adversities which had\nno power to subdue his exalted soul, or shake for one instant the\nconstancy of his superhuman love for Christ and His cross. Hark\nto that outburst of generous love from his undaunted heart--\"Who,\nthen, shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall\ntribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or\npersecution, or the sword? I am sure that neither death nor life,\nnor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,\nnor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any\nother creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of\nGod, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\" [Footnote 75]\n\n [Footnote 75: Rom. viii. 35-39.]\n\n{181}\n\nThirty years of restless labor and fatigues, and now this aged\nand worn-out Apostle, to whom we would fain grant some days of\nsweet repose for his declining years, must gird up his loins and\nprepare to meet the crowning suffering of his life--a martyr's\ndeath.\n\nRome, imperial Rome, palace of pride and sensuality, thou\nboastest that thou art the mistress of the world; that thy name\nand power is honored and feared by every nation, and none dare\nrefuse thee tribute! Proud throne of the world, tremble! for\nthere is coming into thy gates a conqueror who will humble thee\nin the dust, who will take away all thine armor in which thou\ntrustest, and compel thee to pay tribute to him; and, through\nhim, constrain thee to bring the world under another Ruler, whose\nkingdom shall be without end, and whose principality no man shall\ntake away. Go, O captain of many victories! __Prospere procede,\net regna__. Rome will laugh at thy apostolic folly, but thou\nshalt make her weep. Rome is the world's citadel of error; thou\nshalt make her the ever-enduring and infallible chair of truth.\nRome will bring thee into her as a prisoner in chains, but thou\nshalt prove her liberator.\n\n{182}\n\nRome will put thee to death, but the voice of thy martyr's blood\nshall cry to heaven and give her eternal life. Take glory to\nthyself, O holy Paul! and rejoice and exult in thine infirmities,\nfor now is the hour when thy strength shall be divine!\n\nThough dead, he yet speaketh. From his tomb St. Paul is still the\npreacher of the truth to the whole world. Still he announces the\ntruth as it is in Christ Jesus and Him crucified. Still he\nconfounds the Gentile philosophies of every age, still draws with\nirresistible eloquence the hearts of men to the sacrifices of an\nheroic love for Christ. The text of St. Paul living and suffering\nwas, \"Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\" He who to-day approaches\nthe vast temple beneath whose majestic dome repose the sacred\nashes of the divine preacher, descries upon the base of a lofty\nobelisk that confronts the portals of the Apostle's\nworld-renowned sepulchre the text of St. Paul dead and\ntriumphant:\n\n \"Ecce crucem Domini!\n Fugite partes advers\u00e6.\"\n\n \"Behold the Cross of the Lord!\n Let all its adversaries be put to flight.\"\n\n -----------------------\n\n{183}\n\n Sermon XII.\n\n The Value Of Faith.\n\n (For The Feast Of St. Peter's Chains.)\n\n I Cor. xvi. 13.\n\n \"__Watch ye; stand fast in the faith;\n do manfully, and be strengthened.__\"\n\n\nWe celebrate to-day the feast called \"St. Peter's Chains,\" to\ncommemorate the miraculous union which took place between the two\nchains that had bound St. Peter in prison--the one under King\nHerod, and the other at Rome, under Nero--when they were brought\ntogether.\n\nWhy was St. Peter willing to be bound and imprisoned for the\nfaith of Christ? Because he esteemed it more precious than\nliberty, or any thing else that the world prizes; as he says when\nhe writes to others suffering for the same cause, \"That the trial\nof your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried in the\nfire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the\nappearing of Jesus Christ.\" [Footnote 76]\n\n [Footnote 76: I Ep. St. Peter i. 7.]\n\n{184}\n\nWhat is it that gives to faith its priceless value? Why is it to\nbe esteemed above liberty, the possession of wealth, more than\nfriends, parents, the whole world, and even more than life\nitself? There are those who do not possess this gift, and who, to\nall appearances, are as happy as those who do. Nations have\nexisted, and now exist, strong and prosperous, and are without\nfaith. What is there in faith that makes it worthy of being\npraised as the \"pearl of great price,\" as \"more precious than\nfire-refined gold,\" as something better to be desired by\nmen--yes, even by nations--than power, rank, or glory? The value\nof things may be got at in two ways. The first is by estimating\nthem according to their real qualities; the second, according to\nwhat men are willing to give or sacrifice for their possession.\nLet us consider the value of faith weighed in each of these\nbalances.\n\nThere are many things which men prize highly. At certain seasons\nthey cross the seas, endure fatigue, spend a great deal of time\nand money--and what for? To gaze on beautiful scenery, view works\nof art, and visit great men and places renowned in history. They\nare charmed with the aspect of the mountains, the trees, the\nflowers, the streams, the glowing sunsets, and are filled with\nadmiration. These moments of joy outweigh with them all the\nfatigue, expense, and time expended in reaching these favored\nspots of nature.\n{185}\nIt is the same at home. We leave our busy cities in the summer,\nand hasten to our mountains, our lakes, and the sea-shores. And\nwhy do men prize these beautiful scenes? There must be, there is\nsomething valuable in them. Their charms, the joy and pleasure\nderived from nature, spring not from ourselves. What attracts us\nin creation is the traces of God's beauty, and in contemplating\nthese the soul is drawn nearer to God, and its joy increased. It\nis God in nature who dilates the soul.\n\nWhy do men love poetry, music, architecture, painting, and\nsculpture? Why have the verses of a Homer, a Dante, a\nShakespeare, been the delight of ages? Why is it that a whole\nnation feels honored in the possession of a work from the chisel\nof Michael Angelo, or a Madonna of Raphael, or a Cathedral of\nCologne, or in having given birth to Dante or Shakespeare? Why\nare our souls enlarged and raised above the senses in listening\nto strains of music composed by a Palestrina or a Beethoven or a\nMozart? It is because art is a higher expression of the Divine,\nand brings us nearer to the All-True, Holy, and Fair.\n\nWe know how men are devoted to science, to philosophy; how they\nrival the severest ascetic in their self-denial, in order to\nadvance knowledge. The astronomer, gazing on the heavens,\ndiscovers new planets, and finds out the great laws which govern\nall material things.\n{186}\nThe geologist digs deep down into the bowels of the earth, and\nreveals to us its secrets and its ages of growth. The philosopher\nanalyzes thought and the secret folds of the soul, and teaches us\nits laws and dignity. Why all these studies--why so much time,\nenergy, patience, and devotion to the sciences? What sustains\nthese men of science? What pays them for all their trouble? What\nis it that stimulates them in their pursuits? Is it pride and\nlove of fame, or selfishness? No! it is the hope of the discovery\nof unknown truths. What is Truth? God is Truth. Then, at last\naccount, these men are seeking God.\n\nYou perceive that nature, art, science, are only different\nchannels of arriving at the one source of all truth and\nbeauty--God; for all truth is in harmony. The truth, whether in\nnature or art or science, is derived from the same source, as is\nalso the truth in our souls or in the sacred Scriptures, which\nthe Holy Church infallibly teaches. If men sometimes fancy there\nis a discrepancy between religion and science, it \"arises chiefly\nfrom this, that either the doctrines of faith are not understood\nand set forth as the Church holds them, or that the vain devices\nand opinions of men are mistaken for the dictates of reason.\"\n[Footnote 77]\n\n [Footnote 77: Vatican Council.]\n\n{187}\n\nThis capacity to perceive the true and beautiful in nature, in\nart, and from the discoveries of science, belongs to our natural\nreason, and cannot be esteemed too highly. It is a sin against\nits Giver not to improve it. It is the glory of the Holy Church\nthat, by her institutions of learning and her encouragement and\nfostering care, she has ever been the promoter of science and of\nthe fine arts.\n\nBut what unaided reason can know in nature of God does not\nsatisfy man. The soul seeks to know more of God, to come nearer\nto God. Nature, art, and science do not suffice to satisfy its\naspirations--aspirations after the real, of which nature, art,\nand science are only imperfect images or limited conceptions. It\nis to meet this want that the divine light of faith is given to\nthe soul. It gives to the soul a greater knowledge of God, by\nrevealing to it truths above nature and beyond the utmost reach\nof man's reason. The strength which faith imparts brings the soul\nnearer to and in closer union with God.\n\nIf, therefore, men value things because they give a clearer\nknowledge of God, and bring them closer to Him, how much more\nought they to value the light of Christian faith? If men love\nnature, art, and science, that is the reason why they should be\nChristians, and all the better Christians, because Christianity\nbrings us nearer to the object of all our seeking than reason,\nart, and science can ever possibly do.\n\n{188}\n\nReason brings us to God as His creatures, and makes Him known to\nus as Providence. Faith brings us to God as His children, and\nleads us to cry to Him with the inmost affections of our hearts,\n\"Abba, Father!\" Reason, by science, art, and philosophy, leads\nthe mind to the contemplation of God as the great First Cause and\nthe Archetype of all beauty. But faith makes us participators in\nthe Divine nature, \"heirs of God,\" and, when perfected by the\nlight of glory, enables the soul to gaze on the Divine Essence,\nfills it with torrents of delight, and bathes it in the sea of\nGod's own beatitude. Is not everything else as nothing compared\nwith the Divine light of faith! O inestimable faith! the crown\nand glory of human reason! the best of God's gifts to man!\n\nHaving learned that faith is inestimable on account of its\ninherent qualities, now let us test its value by what men have\ndone and suffered to keep so great a possession.\n\nLook upon the crucifix above the altar, that tells you what the\nGod-Man suffered to bestow this gift upon man. His wounds, His\nblood, His life, is the price He paid in our stead for it. If a\nthing can be estimated by what __men__ pay to suffer or do for\nit, look at Calvary, at what God has paid and suffered for it,\nand tell us what is comparable with faith.\n{189}\nThe Apostles, before they obtained it, were weak and timid; but\nwhen they had received it, they suffered and gloried therein.\nThey lived, labored, suffered, and in turn laid down their lives\nin testimony of the priceless value of that gift of all gifts.\n\nAnd when the faith was preached in pagan Rome and throughout its\nEmpire, honors, riches, and all earthly joys and ties were, by\nall classes of men, renounced for its sake, so highly did they\nprize it. For it Stephen, Ignatius, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia,\nAnastasia, and the millions of martyrs, \"full of faith,\" poured\nout their blood like water, and cheerfully laid down their lives.\n\nIt was the wish to communicate this rare gift to others that\nstimulated the zeal of the apostles of the nations--a St. Patrick\nin Ireland, a St. Augustine in England, a St. Boniface in\nGermany, a St. Francis Xavier in the Indies, and led the saintly\nFather Jogues to our land, who was martyred by the Indians on the\nbanks of the Mohawk. Columbus prized so highly the gift of faith,\nthat, to bring its light to the benighted savages whom he\nsupposed existed on this hemisphere, he encountered unknown\ndangers, and sustained heroic sufferings, in the enterprise of\nits discovery.\n\n{190}\n\nMost of you, my dear brethren, are from the old country, and have\ncome to this strange land--and why? Did your native hills lose\ntheir charms for you? Did the ruins of your land and the graves\nof your ancestors awaken in your bosoms no longer any feelings of\nattachment and veneration? Have you no affection left for those\nparents, those brothers and sisters and kindred, left in the old\nhome? Have you forgotten the glories of your history, and think\nit nothing to lose your nationality, and see your children after\nyou grow up the sons and daughters of another soil?\n\nWhy, then, have you renounced all that men hold so dear? It is\nbecause you loved your faith above every consideration in life.\nYou counted all else as nothing compared with it, and so that you\nmight keep it, you were ready to endure suffering, poverty, and\npersecutions, and abandon all that men hold dear. This is why you\nare here to-day and not in Ireland. Had your forefathers, or you,\nchosen to apostatize from your Catholic faith, and deny the truth\nof Christ, you could be this moment prosperous and smiling under\nthe favor of kings and princes in your native country.\n\nLook, again, at the throng of converts who have cast aside\nposition, wealth, and fame for that holy faith, and in turn\nbecome the heralds of truth to the world. A Prince Gallitzin\nchose banishment and the sacrifice of a princely fortune in\nbecoming a Catholic; and when a priest, hiding even his rank and\nname, lived and toiled like an apostle in the wilds of the\nAlleghany Mountains.\n\n{191}\n\nLook at an Ives, who esteemed it greater to possess the faith in\nthe humble position of a Catholic layman, than to hold the rank\nof Bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church without it.\nThousands have given up parents, brothers, and sisters, and\nkindred, become poor and outcasts, to gain this pearl of great\nprice, the gift of faith, thus fulfilling the words of our Lord,\n\"He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of\nMe; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not\nworthy of Me.\" [Footnote 78]\n\n [Footnote 78: St. Matt. x. 37.]\n\nO holy faith for which the martyrs died, the missionaries and\nsaints toiled, and for which houses, lands, parents, and friends,\nand all things, are counted as nothing! Do we prize thee, O\ndivine gift, as these have done? Art thou to us above all price?\nIf so, then to us the words of the apostle have a true and living\nmeaning:--\n\n\"__Watch ye__,\" or else this gift will be stolen from you.\nNations to which the Church gave birth, and under whose fostering\ncare they have grown great, have lost the faith. There is not a\npeople upon earth to-day, as a nation, to whom the Holy Church\ncan look for defence against persecution, spoliation, and\ndownright robbery.\n{192}\nAs in the days of paganism, she is surrounded by enemies, and has\nno one to rely on but her Divine Founder. Why has the faith been\nstolen from the nations? Because it has first been stolen from\nthe people. It will be stolen from each one of us, unless we keep\na constant watch over ourselves.\n\nWatch over what we read. The literature of our time is filled\nwith misrepresentations, calumnies, and falsehoods concerning our\nholy faith. The press, the most powerful engine of modern times,\nis on the side of the enemies of our faith. The very atmosphere\nwe breathe is poisoned with scepticism, infidelity, and atheism.\n\n\"__Stand fast in the faith__.\" Claim our rights. To claim\nthese, we shall be charged with stirring up strife. But this must\nnot disturb us. The same charge was made against our Lord. \"He\nstirreth up the people,\" said the envious priests.\n\nAs to our rights, they are equal, if not prior, to all others.\nCatholics discovered this continent. The feet of Catholics first\ntrod the native soil of these United States. Catholic\nmissionaries first reddened it with their blood for the Christian\nfaith. Catholics fought and bled for our independence, and for\nits maintenance. Our right to breathe freely the air of heaven,\nto religious liberty, to equal political rights, and equal\nprivileges with all other American citizens, is indisputable. We\nask for these--no more; and with no less will we be content.\n\n{193}\n\n\"__Do manfully__.\" Can men say what they please against our\nholy faith, and we not lift up our voices in its defence! It is\nour joy that our holy faith can never be opposed except by\nignorance or calumny. Shall all we hold sacred be caricatured,\ncalumniated, and we sit with folded arms in silence? Shall the\nliterature of the day undermine the faith of our people, and the\npress caricature and falsify it, and we not employ this most\nefficient weapon in its defence and for its propagation? A\nCatholic invented the printing-press. Catholics first used it.\nAre the children of darkness always to be wiser than the children\nof light? Shall we not turn their own weapons against them? Let\nus be up and do manfully.\n\n\"__Be strengthened__.\" Our faith is our force. Our forefathers\nknew how to die for the faith. Can we not live for it? Be strong\nin our convictions of its truth! Defend it publicly, politically,\nand privately! We cannot suffer by so doing, for no man is\nesteemed who is false to his own convictions. Acting thus, we\nshall be strengthened, and though every one of the enemies of our\nholy faith were ten thousand, we shall be victors. The hour of\ndeath will then be the crowning point of our lives.\n{194}\nWe shall be able to say, with our great patron St. Paul, \"I have\nfought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the\nfaith: and, as to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of\njustice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that\nday.\" [Footnote 79]\n\n [Footnote 79: 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.]\n\n ----------------------\n\n{195}\n\n Sermon XIII.\n\n The Supremacy Of St. Peter.\n\n\n (Feast Of Ss. Peter And Paul.)\n\n St. Matt. xvi. 18.\n\n \"__And I say to thee: That thou art Peter;\n and upon this Rock I will build My Church__.\"\n\nThe shortest, most direct, most conclusive, and most intelligible\nmethod of proving the truth of any system is to find its\nprinciple, its fundamental idea, and to establish the reality and\ncertainty of this idea. When this is done, the whole system which\nis logically and justly built on this foundation is already\nproved. In the case of the Christian religion, we have only one\nthing to establish, in order to convince all pagans, Mohammedans,\nmodern Jews, and unbelievers, who are truly rational, of its\ndivine truth. That one thing is the divine mission of Jesus\nChrist. When that is established, there is but one question which\ncan be reasonably asked--What is the authentic doctrine and law\npromulgated by Jesus Christ?\n{196}\nIn the same manner, in order to convince all rational men that\nthe Catholic religion is entirely true, and the real Christianity\nestablished by the Apostles, it is only necessary to prove its\nfundamental principle, the Supremacy of St. Peter and his\nsuccessors, the Roman Pontiffs. This doctrine, held and\nunderstood in its strict and complete Catholic sense,\ndistinguishes the Catholic religion from every other. This once\nestablished in the conviction and belief of the mind, the truth\nof the whole Catholic religion, in all its parts, follows as a\nnecessary consequence. It follows that the communion of which the\nPope is the Supreme Head, is the true Church established by Jesus\nChrist--One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, incapable of falling\naway, and infallible in doctrine. The foundation of this great\nand world-wide Church is the Papal Supremacy of St. Peter and his\nsuccessors, and its principal portion is the Roman See. If I\nprove that this foundation was laid by Jesus Christ, it will be\nevident that the Church founded upon it is the true Catholic\nChurch, and the faith of that Church the true Christian and\nCatholic faith. I will then endeavor to prove, first, that Jesus\nChrist appointed St. Peter as Prince of the Apostles, His Vicar,\nand the Supreme Pastor and Ruler of the Church; and, second, that\nthe Bishop of Rome is St. Peter's successor.\n\n{197}\n\nFirst, Jesus Christ appointed St. Peter as Prince of the\nApostles, His Vicar, and the Supreme Pastor and Ruler of the\nChurch. This will be the theme of the present discourse.\n\nThe title, Prince of the Apostles, signifies that St. Peter was\nthe chief and head of the Apostolic college, and enjoyed a\npre-eminence of honor and authority over the other Apostles. This\npreeminence of St. Peter is everywhere manifest in the New\nTestament. He was not the first called, for St. Andrew was before\nhim, yet he is always placed first in the catalogue of Apostles,\nand is expressly called the \"First\" by St. Matthew. He generally\nappears as the leader and spokesman of the other Apostles, and is\nalways mentioned as the first of the three Apostles who enjoyed\nthe peculiar confidence of Jesus Christ, were witnesses of His\ntransfiguration and agony, and in other ways were preferred\nbefore the rest, the other two being James and John. He was the\nfirst of the apostles who saw the Lord after His resurrection,\nand the angel at the sepulchre sent him a special message by\nname, \"Go, tell the disciples, __and Peter__.\" He was the\nfirst who pronounced in the Council of the Apostles his judgment\nthat they must elect another Apostle in the place of Judas--the\nfirst who preached Christ to the Jews, and the first who admitted\nthe Gentiles to baptism. He pronounced sentence in the Council of\nJerusalem.\n{198}\nWhile the other Apostles confined themselves within a particular\ncircle, he visited the Church everywhere--\"__pertransivit\nuniversos__.\" He approved the writings of St. Paul, and the\nsame St. Paul went expressly to Jerusalem, as he says, \"to see\nPeter,\" commanded by \"a revelation\"; that he might submit his\ngospel to the judgment of the Prince of the Apostles, of St.\nJames the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the other Apostles there,\nin order to obtain the approbation of St. Peter and his\nfellow-bishops--\"lest perhaps,\" as he writes to the Galatians, \"I\nshould run, or had run in vain.\" Perhaps the most striking proof\nthat St. Peter had a real oversight over the other Apostles, as\nthe pastor of pastors, is found in the fact that Jesus Christ,\nimmediately before His passion, committed the other Apostles to\nhis care, and offered up a special prayer for him, to obtain the\ngrace necessary for this high trust. He said to all the Apostles,\nspeaking to St. Peter by name as their representative, \"Simon,\nSimon, behold Satan hath desired to have __you__ [in the\nplural number, designating the eleven], that he may sift you as\nwheat. But I have prayed for __thee__ [in the singular\nnumber], that __thy__ faith fail not: and thou being once\nconverted, confirm thy brethren\"--\"__Aliquando conversus\nconfirma fratres tuos__.\" A remarkable passage! Our Lord, at\nthis awful moment, disclosed a portion of His divine knowledge,\nand gave His Apostles a glimpse into futurity.\n{199}\nHe showed them Satan, exerting his utmost to destroy them as the\nguardians of the faith, and the custodians of all the hopes of\nthe human race. He intimates very plainly that but for Him they\nwould be inevitably swept away. But He had prayed for them, and,\nwhen He prayed with an unconditional will that His prayer should\nbe heard, its effect must be infallible. His prayer was\nespecially for St. Peter, that __his__ faith should not fail,\nin order that he might confirm his brethren. So that it was by a\nspecial grace conferred on St. Peter, by which he was enabled to\nwatch over them, that they were to be confirmed in faith. Who\ndoes not see here that pre-eminence of St. Peter over his\ncolleagues which is expressed by the title, Prince of the\nApostles? [Footnote 80]\n\n [Footnote 80: Matt. x. 2; Mark iii. 16; Luke vi. 14; John i.\n 33-41; Luke xxiv. 34; Acts i. 15 et seq.; ii. 14 __et\n seq__.; x. 34; xv. 7; ix. 32; 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16; Gal. ii.\n 2; Luke xxii. 32. __Conf. Perrone Loc. Theol__. De\n Primatu.]\n\nI cannot sum up all this testimony of Scripture better than in\nthe grand, concise language of Bossuet, in his sermon on the\n__Unity of the Church__:\n\n\"Peter appears in every respect as the first: the first to\nconfess the faith; the first in the manifestation of love; the\nfirst of all the Apostles who saw the Saviour raised from the\ndead, as he was the first witness of the fact before all the\npeople; the first, when it was necessary to fill up the number of\nthe Apostles; the first who confirmed the faith by a miracle; the\nfirst to convert the Jews; the first to receive the Gentiles; the\nfirst everywhere.\n{200}\nIt is impossible for me to mention every proof. Everything\nconcurs to establish his primacy; yes, even his very faults. When\npower is given to several, the exercise of the power by each one\nis restricted by the fact that others share it with him. But\npower given to a single individual over all, and without\nexception, necessarily implies the plenitude of power. ... All\nthe apostles receive the same power, but not in the same degree,\nor with the same extent. Jesus Christ commences by the first, and\nin this first one He develops the whole, in order that we may\nlearn that the ecclesiastical authority which was originally\nconstituted in the person of one man is not imparted to others,\nexcept on the condition of remaining always subordinate to the\nprinciple from which its unity is derived, and that all those who\nshall be charged with its exercise are found to remain\ninseparably united to the same chair.\"\n\nThis is enough to show what some of the most eminent Protestant\nwriters even have acknowledged, that St. Peter was the first, the\nchief, the most pre-eminent, the Prince of the Apostles. St.\nPeter was also the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Supreme Pastor and\nRuler of the Church.\n\n{201}\n\nThe title of Vicar of Christ implies that Jesus Christ delegated\nto him His own jurisdiction over the Church. A vicar is one who\nexercises the authority vested in the principal by delegation\nfrom him. A viceroy or vice-king governs a subordinate kingdom,\n__vice regis__, in place of the king. A vicar-general\nexercises episcopal jurisdiction, __vice episcopi__, in place\nof the bishop, and governs the diocese during his absence. So\nwhen St. Peter is said to have been made by our Lord His Vicar,\nit means that he received jurisdiction to govern in the place of\nJesus Christ Himself, Who is by personal and inherent right the\nHigh Priest of the Catholic Church, but Who, being absent from\nthe earth, must exercise His functions by a substitute. It is\nunquestionable that, under the Old Law, the high-priest was the\nvice gerent of God, and the supreme head of the Jewish Church. It\nis equally unquestionable that, in establishing the New Law,\nChrist appointed St. Peter His Vicar and the Supreme Head of the\nChristian Church. There is nothing clearer in the New Testament\nthan this. Jesus Christ distinctly promised to St. Peter that He\nwould build His Church upon him, and would give him the keys of\nthe kingdom of heaven; and He actually fulfilled these promises\nbefore He ascended into heaven, by committing His universal flock\nto him alone to feed and rule it. This promise is recorded in the\nsixteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel:\n\n{202}\n\n\"Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter\nanswered and said: Thou art Christ the Son of the living God. And\nJesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona:\nbecause flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My\nFather who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That them art Peter;\nand upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell\nshall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of\nthe kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth,\nit shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose\non earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.\"\n\nIn this magnificent promise, Jesus Christ evidently declares His\nintention to delegate supreme power to St. Peter, and constitute\nhim His Vicar in the Christian Church.\n\nThis supreme power is signified by a double metaphor, viz., a\n__foundation__ and __keys__. First, He says: \"Thou art\nPeter; and on this rock I will build My Church.\" In order to\nunderstand the force of this declaration, it is necessary to call\nto mind that the name of Peter, which signifies Rock, was not the\nproper name of the Apostle. His name was Simon. The Lord gave him\nthe name of Peter when He first called him to the apostleship, as\nan appellation significant of his character and office in the\nChurch.\n{203}\nBut it was on the occasion of his noble confession of Christ,\nmade by a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that He first\nannounced the full import of that mysterious name. St. Peter\nsaid, \"Thou art Christ\"--by this title, which signifies the\nAnointed One, acknowledging all those divine attributes and\nprerogatives which are implied in the character of the Messiah of\nGod and Redeemer of the world. The Lord replied in a manner\ndenoting the solemnity of the occasion, and speaking with all the\ndignity and authority of a Legislator and a Prophet, by\nconferring on St. Peter, in return for the honor which he had\njust rendered Him, the highest honor which was in His gift: \"Thou\nart Peter [i.e., a Rock]: and on this Rock I will build My\nChurch.\" The plain and natural sense of these words of Christ is,\nthat He appoints Peter to occupy a position in the spiritual\nedifice of the Church corresponding to that occupied by a\nfoundation in a material building. The foundation sustains and,\nas it were, rules the whole edifice--__i.e.__, by its strength\nit keeps the whole building in order, and every portion of it in\nits proper place, thus keeping it from crumbling into ruin--and\nlosing all structural form in a mass of shattered fragments. The\nfoundation is to the building the principle of its unity, repose,\norder, and durability.\n{204}\nTherefore, Peter must be the same to the Church. By him the\nChurch must be sustained, ruled, kept in order, and prevented\nfrom falling in pieces, and thus losing its organic form. His\nauthority must be the principle of its unity, strength, and\nperpetuity. All the force of its laws must be derived from him,\nand all its authority must ultimately rest on him as its final\nground and basis. This is the first portion of our Lord's divine\ndecree concerning St. Peter. Let us now examine the second.\n\n\"I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.\" Among\nthe principal nations of antiquity, and particularly among the\nHebrews, it was a received usage that the tradition of the keys\ndenoted the transfer or acknowledgment of supreme power over the\nhouse, citadel, or city to whose gates they belonged. These keys,\nwhen made of precious metal, and, as was often the case, richly\nornamented, were a symbol of power and dignity, and carried only\nby kings, princes, and magistrates. In the Hebrew monarchy, the\nchief of the royal household, who was a kind of grand chancellor\nof the kingdom, or vicar of the king, carried a large key on his\nshoulder as a badge of his office.\n{205}\nIn the Prophecy of Isaias,[C. xxii.] we read this prediction\nconcerning Eliacim, son of the high-priest Helcias: \"I will place\nupon his shoulder the key of the house of David, and he shall\nopen and there shall be no one who shall shut, and he shall shut\nand there shall be no one who shall open, and he shall be on the\nthrone of glory of his father's house.\"\n\nThis probably signifies that Eliacim should become high-priest in\nhis father's place; and gives us a plain proof that the keys were\nan emblem of the sovereign pontificate in the Jewish Church. In\nthe Apocalypse of St. John, the same emblem of the keys is used\nto designate the sovereign pontificate of Jesus Christ Himself:\n\"These things saith the Holy One and the True One, He that hath\nthe key of David; He that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth,\nand no man openeth.\" [Footnote 81]\n\n [Footnote 81: Apoc. iii. 7.]\n [USCCB: Revelation iii. 7.]\n\nOur Lord, as the lineal descendant of David, was the lawful King\nof the Jews, and this royal lineage according to earthly and\ntemporal laws, was typical of His inherent royalty as the Son of\nGod. Therefore, the key of David, or the outward and visible sign\nof David's royalty, is taken as expressive of His supreme\ndominion as Lord and Redeemer of the world. When Christ promised\nto give the keys of the kingdom of heaven--the keys of His own\nkingdom, and the symbols of His own Sovereignty--to St. Peter, He\nmust have intended to delegate that sovereignty to him, and to\nconstitute him His Vicar on the earth: To make it still more\nplain that He meant this, our Lord made a distinct and express\ndeclaration to this effect, in these words: \"And whatsoever thou\nshalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and\nwhatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also\nin heaven.\"\n{206}\nThese words designate the plenitude of power to be conferred on\nSt. Peter, of making laws, and binding the consciences of all to\nobserve them, punishing transgressors, abrogating these same laws\nand pardoning offenders, and doing whatever else the good of the\nChurch or its individual members may require, according to the\ndiversity of times and circumstances. Jesus Christ gives before\nhand the seal and warrant of His divine authority to all these\nlaws. This is what is called, in the language of commerce and\npolitics, giving __carte blanche__. King Charles V. of Spain,\nwhen he sent commissioners to America to inquire into the abuses\nand cruelties perpetrated by the avaricious Spanish colonists\nagainst the Indians, gave them a number of blank sheets already\nsigned and sealed with the royal sign-manual, that they might\npromulgate royal edicts according to their own judgment. In the\nsame way, Jesus Christ promises that He will give to St. Peter\nthis unlimited power of exercising jurisdiction, in His name, in\nthe Catholic Church, with the sealed sign-manual of heaven.\n{207}\nBut Jesus Christ not only promised to bestow this power on St.\nPeter: He made to him, after His resurrection and before His\nascension, a formal grant of this power, and solemnly delivered\nup the care and government of His universal flock into his hands.\nThis fact is recorded by St. John, in the twenty-first chapter of\nhis Gospel. Everything about this chapter is mysterious and\nsublime in the highest degree, and every word, every\ncircumstance, points to that high office of the Chief Pastor,\nand, after Christ, principal founder of the Christian religion,\nwhich was given to St. Peter.\n\nIt was an awful moment; like that mysterious and solemn period of\ntwilight, when the sun has set, but still leaves some lingering\ngleam of his light behind him, before the dark hour of night\ndraws on, and the milder and fainter radiance of the moon\nsucceeds to the brightness of day--the brief period of transition\nfrom day to night--from light to darkness--the holiest hour of\nthe day, when the soul, as it were, naturally withdraws from the\nworld towards God and heaven. Such a moment had now come in the\nprogress of time, the twilight of the world. Jesus Christ, the\nLight of the world--the Sun of Justice, who had risen in the East\nwith healing in his beams--had gone down to the grave, had closed\nHis earthly career, and the world henceforth, so long illuminated\nby the presence of the bright Sun of truth and grace, would have\nno longer any other light to shine upon it except the reflected\nlight of the Catholic Church.\n\n{208}\n\nThe time of night and of the absence of Jesus Christ from His\ndisciples was approaching. And yet He was not altogether\nwithdrawn. Still, in His spiritual and glorified body, He\nlingered on the earth, coming and going, approaching and\nvanishing before His disciples. He was still with them, but no\nlonger as an inhabitant of the earth, but of heaven. At this time\nit was that St. Peter said to his fellow-disciples, \"I go\na-fishing.\" Who can fail to see here, with all the wisest and\nholiest interpreters of the Scripture, a mysterious foreshadowing\nof that great fishery for the souls of men, in which the\nApostolic net was to draw so many into the Church? It was Peter\nwho was the leader and chief here, and by his orders the nets\nwere cast. Suddenly, Jesus Christ appeared standing on the shore,\nand commanded them to cast their nets on the right side of the\nboat. They did so, and, although they had before this caught\nnothing, their net was immediately so filled with large fishes\nthat they could not draw it. It required the assistance of all\nthose who were on board several other boats to draw the net. And\nyet, when the Lord commanded some of these fishes to be brought,\nSt. Peter, alone, went and drew the net up on the beach.\n{209}\nEvidently do these emblematic events indicate St. Peter as the\none who should command the ship of the Church, and preside over\nthe grand fishery of souls, and by his supernatural power should\npull the net by which the elect of God were drawn from the waves\nof perdition to the shore of eternal life.\n\nJesus Christ assembled His disciples around Him on the beach, by\nthe seaside, and they dined together from the fish which they had\ntaken. Then, when this mysterious meal, the parting banquet of\nJesus and His disciples, was finished, the Lord exacted from St.\nPeter three times a profession of his love, and of his peculiar\nlove--a love greater than that of the other Apostles. \"Simon\nPeter, lovest thou Me more than these?\" And thrice He gave him\nthe solemn charge: \"Feed My lambs. ... Feed My lambs. ... Feed My\nsheep.\" In these words, Jesus Christ evidently committed not one\nor the other portion of His flock, but His entire flock, all His\npeople, the universal Church throughout the world, to his\npastoral care. The expression, \"Feed My lambs--feed My sheep,\"\nindicates much more than simply to give them their food, namely,\nby teaching salutary doctrine. Two different words are used in\nthe original Greek, [Greek text]; which is literally in Latin,\n__Pasce in cibo, agnos meos__--Feed My lambs.\n{210}\nBut after using this expression, which indicates the tender and\npaternal care of the pastoral office, He uses another expressing\nits authority, [Greek text]; this signifies, as a learned\ntheologian (Perrone) remarks, __pascere cum imperio, pascere\npr\u00e6sidendo__, to feed by ruling, to feed by presiding, or to\nfeed, rule, and preside over at the same time, as a shepherd over\nhis flock. This is in accordance with the usage of ancient\nwriters and the Scriptures.\n\nIn Homer and other ancient authors, kings are called shepherds or\npastors, and __poimaine__, feed, signifies to rule or exercise\nkingly authority. In these words, then, Jesus Christ constituted\nSt. Peter chief pastor and supreme ruler over His universal\nflock--sheep and lambs together; not merely the lambs, who\nrepresent the laity, but the sheep, those to whom the lambs are\nsubject, and by whom they are fed--that is, the bishops and\npastors of the Church. It is in vain that the enemies of St.\nPeter's chair exert all their ingenuity to escape the force of\nthese passages. They are too plain and clear to be evaded, and,\nafter centuries of exertion to heave the Rock of Peter out of the\nScriptures, there it stands, an immovable and unquestionable fact\nthat the Rock of Peter is the foundation of the Catholic Church,\nthat the Catholic Church is built on the Rock of Peter, that\nPeter received the keys of heaven from Jesus Christ, and was\nconstituted by Him chief pastor over His universal flock.\n\n{211}\n\nAnd here allow me to remark how singular it is that Protestants\nshould be ready to build up with out hesitation a vast pyramid of\ndoctrine on the narrow foundation of a few texts of Scripture,\nand at the same time reject the most clear and unequivocal\nstatements of the New Testament. For example, they will most\npositively assert the transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to\nSunday, because the word Lord's Day is once used, and the\nassembling of the faithful on the first day of the week is once\ncasually mentioned, although nothing is said of their being an\nobservance of divine obligation intended to supersede the\nSabbath. They will prove the baptism of infants from the\ncircumcision of Jewish children, and from the fact that some\nentire families were baptized, although there is no evidence that\nthere were any infants in these families. Some will prove\nEpiscopacy, and others Presbyterianism, and others\nCongregationalism, from the Scriptures. And yet they will reject\nwithout hesitation the evidence of the supremacy of Peter, which\nis so clear that even some Protestants are forced to admit it in\na partial sense; and the celebrated Jewish infidel Salvador, a\nman who perhaps excels all the modern advocates of infidelity in\nperspicacity of intellect and ingenuity of reasoning, declares\nwith out hesitation that the supremacy of the See of St. Peter is\nan institution of Jesus Christ, and an essential part of\nChristianity.\n{212}\nIt is one among many proofs that those who profess to make the\nBible their only rule do not really derive their doctrine from a\ncandid examination of the Scriptures; but that they receive what\nthey have been taught by their parents and religious teachers,\nand search the Scriptures to find proof and confirmation of these\ndoctrines. Thus, each one, in stead of conforming his belief to\nthe Scripture, bends the Scripture into conformity with his\nbelief. Those parts of the Scripture which are not easily bent\ninto this conformity remain to him a dead letter, they make no\nimpression on his mind, and, no matter how clear and plain they\nmay be, he forgets them if he can, and, if he is forced to pay\nattention to them, he explains them away. Thus it has been with\nthe passages of the New Testament which prove so clearly the\nsupremacy of St. Peter. There is nothing in the New Testament\nmore clear, more plain, more explicit, more obvious, than this\nsupremacy; when these various passages have been once collated,\nplaced in juxtaposition with each other, carefully examined and\nreflected on, and confronted with the great fact of the perpetual\nexistence of the supremacy of the Roman Pontiffs as the\nacknowledged successors of St. Peter. This last topic I have not\ndirectly considered in this discourse, but have reserved it for\nanother.\n{213}\nNevertheless, whoever will attentively consider what is involved\nin the very idea of St. Peter's supremacy will see at once that\nthis supremacy must be, by its very nature, perpetual. It was\nmade the foundation of a perpetual structure; it extended over\nall bishops and all the faithful, without any limit of time or\nplace; it provided for the exercise of that power of the keys\nwhich is necessary in all ages; and it was made the means of\nkeeping the rulers of the Church in unity of faith under the\nseverest assaults of Satan, which are undoubtedly those of the\nlast days of the world.\n\nOur Lord in establishing the supremacy of St. Peter gave to His\nChurch a constitution and a government. He placed His kingdom\nunder one monarchical head. He made the sacerdotal hierarchy\nsubject to one chief. This law must therefore last as long as the\nChurch lasts, that is, through all time. There is no power which\ncan change the divine law of our Lord. The supremacy of St. Peter\nmust therefore be perpetual in his successors. And that these\nsuccessors are the Roman Pontiffs I shall proceed to show in my\nnext discourse.\n\n ----------------------------\n\n{214}\n\n Sermon XIV.\n\n The Roman Pontiffs\n The Successors Of St. Peter.\n\n St. Matt. xvi. 18.\n\n \"__And I say to thee:\n That thou art Peter;\n and upon this Rock I will build My Church__.\"\n\n\nI have proved in a former discourse that St. Peter was\nconstituted Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ,\nwith supreme jurisdiction over the Catholic Church, by the Lord\nHimself. It remains now to show that this supremacy was given\nalso to the successors of St. Peter, and that the Bishops of Rome\nare his successors, and consequently inherit his supremacy. That\nthe Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church is the See of St.\nPeter, and the Mother and Mistress of Churches; and that the\nBishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ, and Supreme Visible Head\nof the Church--this is what I now undertake to prove.\n\n{215}\n\nThis is proved, in the first place, by an argument, the force of\nwhich is admitted in all courts of law, viz., the argument of\n__prescription__. The Roman Church is in possession of this\nclaim, and has been from time immemorial. A claim on a certain\nproperty or to a certain right, which is so ancient that the mind\nof man runneth not to the contrary, is always admitted as valid\nin a law court. Now, it is evident that the Roman Church now\nasserts this claim; that she asserted it before the Reformation;\nthat she asserted it before the Greek schism; and that not a\nsingle Church exists in the world which has not at some time\nadmitted this claim, and submitted to it. If we go back, then, to\nthe earlier centuries, we find the Roman Church always in\npossession of this supremacy, and we can never find its\nbeginning. Protestants and others, who wish to prove that it\nbegan after the Apostolic age, can never agree together as to the\nepoch of the rise of the Papal power, although all give it a very\nearly date. Now, I say that, according to all sound principles of\nreasoning, the fact that this claim had been made and assented to\nfrom time immemorial is a certain proof that it is just. It could\nnot have been established so early and so universally without\nviolence and without resistance, unless it existed under the\nApostles, and was established by them in the infancy of\nChristianity.\n{216}\nJust as it would be impossible for the Governor of Virginia to\ntake peaceable possession of the Presidential chair and govern\nthe United States, as its acknowledged chief magistrate, without\nany election of the people; so it would have been equally\nimpossible for the Bishop of Rome to make himself peaceably the\nsupreme ruler of the Catholic Church, unless he were appointed by\nSt. Peter and the Apostles, according to the divine constitution\nof the grand Christian commonwealth, with the knowledge of all\nChristians. This argument alone would be perfectly conclusive,\neven if the New Testament were altogether lost, or were entirely\nsilent on the subject.\n\nBut when we compare the fact that the Roman Church, under the\nname of the See of St. Peter, has always existed as the principal\nedifice of a vast agglomeration of smaller but similar edifices,\nwith the prophecy of Christ that He would build the Church on the\nRock of Peter, the conclusion is irresistible that the fact is\nthe fulfilment of the prophecy. Here is the prophecy of Christ,\nthat He would build His Church on Peter as a foundation, and that\nthe gates of hell should not prevail against it. There is the\nRoman Church, evidently built on Peter as its foundation, which\nhas endured through eighteen centuries, and is now as firm and\nimmovable as ever. It is impossible to escape the conclusion that\nthis is the Church built by Christ. The fact corresponds exactly\nwith the prophecy, and there is no other fact which does,\ntherefore the fact is the fulfilment of the prophecy.\n{217}\nLet me illustrate this by a comparison. Suppose you describe the\nMoro of Havana to some one who has never seen it, and who is\nabout taking a voyage to Cuba. You tell him it is a castle of\nlarge size and great strength, built on a rock which rises\nperpendicularly from the sea, at the mouth of the bay. There is\nno castle similar to it: on his route. Now, when this traveller\ncomes on deck some morning, and sees a castle founded on a rock\nat the mouth of a harbor, with a large city in the distance, is\nit not evident that this is the Moro? If you sail from the city\nof New York, knowing that there is an American ship of the line\nanchored in the bay, and you pass a large man-of-war with the\nUnited States flag, and the broad pennant of an admiral flying at\nher mast-head, is it not evident that this is the ship in\nquestion? Though a hundred smaller vessels are anchored in the\nvicinity, you cannot hesitate a moment, you can not for an\ninstant imagine that any of these is a man-of-war. The first\nglance tells you which is the line-of-battle ship, for there is\nonly one which makes any pretension to that character, which has\nthe size, the armament, or in any aspect the appearance of a\nman-of-war.\n\n{218}\n\nPrecisely so it is with the Roman Church, which professes to be\nthe See of Peter, the only one which bases a claim of universal\njurisdiction on the supremacy of Peter; which pretends\n[puts\u00a0forward a claim] to be the ship of Peter, and to bear his\nstandard. It is unique, unrivalled, and alone in its character\nand claims. It must be, then, that Church which the Lord promised\nto build on the rock of Peter, with such immovable firmness that\nall the assaults of hell could never overthrow it; it must be\nthat Church which the Lord committed to the guidance of Peter,\nand which is destined to outride all the storms of time. But,\nalthough I consider that the claim of the Roman Church to\nsupremacy is fully proved by this argument from prescription, I\nwill not confine myself to it, but proceed to adduce some\npositive testimonies. The perpetuity of St. Peter's supremacy in\nthe Church can be clearly proved from Scripture, and the fact\nthat the Bishops of Rome have inherited this supremacy is not\nonly evident from the fact that no other supremacy has ever\nexisted, but from a clear chain of historical facts and\nevidences, running back to the very age of the Apostles.\n\nIn the first place, it is clear from the Scripture that St.\nPeter's supremacy was to continue. A number of the ablest\nProtestant writers have proved most conclusively what is called\nthe Apostolic succession, that is, that Bishops are the\nsuccessors of the Apostles, tracing their authority and descent\nin an unbroken line of ordination to the Apostles. This is\nperfectly evident from the commission of Jesus Christ to the\neleven Apostles:\n{219}\n\"Going therefore teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name\nof the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching\nthem to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and\nbehold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the\nworld.\" [Footnote 82]\n\n [Footnote 82: Matt. xxviii. 19.]\n [USCCB: Matt. xxviii. 19-20.]\n\nIf the Apostles by virtue of the commission of Jesus Christ were\nthe perpetual pastors of the Church, and enjoy the perpetual\npresence of Jesus Christ to the end of time, the Apostolic office\nis by its own nature perpetual in the Church, and the original\nApostles have been succeeded by others. For the same reason, the\noffice of Prince of Apostles must be perpetual. The plenitude of\nthe Apostleship was given to St. Peter alone, under the\nsimilitude of the keys, and afterwards the same power was given\nto the others by participation and in subordination to him. The\nsupremacy of the chief enters, then, into the primary\nconstitution of the Apostolate or Catholic Episcopate, as one of\nits essential and component parts, and is therefore perpetual.\nJesus Christ committed the government of His Church to one\nsupreme Ruler, whose authority was signified by the symbol of the\nkeys. He committed His flock to one chief Pastor, when He said to\nSt. Peter: \"Feed my lambs--feed my sheep.\"\n{220}\nIf, therefore, the authority of St. Peter expired with his\nperson, then a total and fundamental change took place after his\ndeath in the constitution and government of the Church, a\nsupposition not to be admitted for one moment without clear\nevidence. But there is none such. On the contrary, our Lord\ndeclares without distinction or limitation that \"there shall be\none fold and one shepherd.\" [Footnote 83]\n\n [Footnote 83: John x. 16.]\n\nThe metaphor of a foundation which He uses to express the\nsupremacy of St. Peter, of itself shows the perpetuity of his\noffice. This supremacy is the Rock on which the Church is built.\nBut a foundation must last as long as the building itself; it can\nneither be removed nor changed; therefore the supremacy of Peter\nmust endure with the Church itself.\n\nAgain, the reason for which Christ instituted the Primacy exists\nalways, and, indeed, demands much more imperatively its\ncontinuance than it did require at first its foundation. The\nreason is thus expressed by St. Jerome: \"__Ut capite constituto,\nschismatis tolleretur occasio__\"--\"That a head being\nconstituted, the occasion of schism might be removed.\" [Footnote\n84]\n\n [Footnote 84: Lib. i. adv. Jov. 26.]\n\n{221}\n\nThe preservation of unity was the reason for instituting the\nprimacy. What is the reason of a central government, with a\npresident at its head, in Washington? The preservation of unity\namong the States. It is the unanimous teaching of tradition that\nChrist established the Primacy in the Church for the same\nreason--the preservation of unity among all particular churches\nand Bishops, by their dependence on one Mother Church and one\nChief Bishop. But there was far less necessity to guard against\nschism, and to watch over the preservation of unity by means of a\nhead or central authority, in the days of the Apostles, who were\nall saints and inspired, in the days of persecution, of primitive\nzeal and piety, and when the members of the Church were few and\nher extent limited, than at any subsequent period. The Primacy\nwas more necessary after the Apostolic age than during it,\ntherefore it was intended to continue. The supremacy of St. Peter\nonce admitted--and it is proved by invincible arguments--the\ncontinuance of this power in his successors follows necessarily.\nThe seat of power is the Roman Church, of which St. Peter was the\nfounder and first Bishop.\n\nThis requires no proof; for the Bishop of Rome is the only one\nwho claims the power of St. Peter, and his title is admitted by\nall those who admit any supremacy in the Church, according to the\nuniversally received tradition.\n{222}\nSt. Peter, after having preached in different regions without\nhaving fixed himself in any particular see, for about six years,\nfounded the Patriarchal See of Antioch, which he governed for\nseven years, and then, having consecrated another Bishop in his\nplace, went to Rome, where he fixed his See permanently, and,\nhaving presided over it for twenty-five years, was crucified, in\nthe year of our Lord 67 or 68, under Nero; St. Paul being at the\nsame time beheaded.\n\nThe New Testament contains no regular or complete history of the\nevents of the Apostolic Age, but only some fragmentary annals of\nsome of the acts of the Apostles, chiefly of St. Paul, and some\nallusions in the Epistles.\n\nIt is not surprising, therefore, that it gives no account of the\nfoundation of the Roman Church. St. Paul, however, in his\ncelebrated Epistle to the Roman Church, already speaks of that\nRoman Faith, \"__fides Romana__\" which has been in every age so\nadmirable and so renowned throughout the world: \"First, I give\nthanks to my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, because your\nfaith is spoken of in the whole world.\" [Footnote 85] He also\npredicts the future greatness of the Roman Church: \"And the God\nof peace crush Satan under your feet speedily.\" [Footnote 86]\nThis is a form of speech which expresses a prediction under the\nform of a prayer.\n\n [Footnote 85: Rom. i. 18.]\n [USCCB: Rom. i. 8.]\n\n [Footnote 86: Rom. xvi. 20.]\n\n{223}\n\nNow, how was Satan crushed under the feet of the Roman\nChristians, if it were not when, by the conversion and victory of\nConstantine, this great capital of the world and seat of idolatry\nwas changed into the capital of Christendom, the heathen temples\ntransformed into Christian churches, and the cross everywhere\nerected in triumph over this proud and pagan city?\n\nThere is no event in history better established than the\nepiscopate and martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome. It is admitted by\na great number of the most learned Protestants. It is proved by\nthe catalogues of Roman Bishops in ancient writers all tracing\nback the succession to St. Peter. It is proved by pictures,\nstatues, and other ancient monuments; by the pilgrimages which\nfrom ancient times were made to the tomb of the Apostles, of\nwhich even Eusebius in the fourth century makes mention. It is\nproved by the testimony of St. Clement, the immediate successor\nof St. Peter; St. Ignatius, Papias, St. Dionysius, St. Iren\u00e6us,\nCaius, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St. Cyprian, Eusebius,\nLactantius, St. Athanasius, St. Epiphanius, Julian the Apostate,\nSt. Augustine, Palladius, and others. Indeed, any one who would\ndispute the fact, that the Bishops of Rome have succeeded each\nother in that see in a direct line from St. Peter, might as well\ndispute the succession of the Roman emperors from Julius C\u00e6sar,\nof the English kings from Alfred, and the kings of France from\nCharlemagne.\n\n{224}\n\nThe fact that the Bishops of Rome succeeded also to the supremacy\nof St. Peter over the whole Catholic Church is also proved by a\ncrowd of testimonies in every age. It is, as every one will see,\nnot convenient, in a discourse like the present, to cite and\nexplain at length those passages from the ancient writers,\nespecially after having already taxed your patience so severely.\nI will therefore cite only a few passages as samples of the\nmanner in which ancient writers have spoken on this subject, and\nleave it to yourselves to read over the testimonies more\ncarefully in some of the various works where they are collected.\n\nSt. Iren\u00e6us, Bishop of Lyons, who conversed with the immediate\ndisciples of the apostles, says: \"With this Church, on account of\nthe more powerful principality, it is necessary that every\nChurch, that is, the faithful who are in every direction, should\nagree.\" [Footnote 87]\n\n [Footnote 87: L. iii. c. 3. Kenrick.]\n\nTertullian, about the end of the second century, exclaims: \"From\nno other cause have heresies arisen and schisms sprung up, except\nfrom a want of obedience to the priest of God, and because they\ndo not remember that there is one judge for the time being in the\nChurch, in the place of Christ.\"\n{225}\nThe great and general Council of Nice, A.D. 325, in one of its\ncanons says: \"The Roman Church has always held the Primacy.\" The\nCouncil of Sardica, in a letter to the Pope, says: \"This seems\nexcellent and most suitable, that the priests of the Lord from\nthe respective provinces should report to the Head,\" __i.e.__,\nto the See of the Apostle Peter. In the fifth century, all the\nBishops of the province of Aries, in France, in a letter to Pope\nLeo, say: \"The Holy Roman Church, through the most blessed Peter,\nPrince of the Apostles, has the principality above all the\nchurches of the world.\" The grand Council of Chalcedon, where six\nhundred Bishops were present, mostly from the East, and out of\nthe limits of the particular patriarchate of Rome, when the\nletter of the same Pope Leo was read, defining the faith of two\ndistinct natures, divine and human, in Christ, exclaimed with one\nvoice, \"Peter has spoken by the mouth of Leo.\" At the beginning\nof the sixth century, the Bishop of Patara said to the Emperor\nJustinian: \"There may be many sovereigns on the earth; but there\nis one Pope over all the churches of the universe.\" Not only\nChristian bishops and councils speak in this way of the Roman\nSee, but emperors, and even pagans, use the same language.\n{226}\nIn the year 268, when Paul, Patriarch of Antioch, was condemned\nof heresy by a council, the pagan Emperor Aurelian directed that\nthe Church of Antioch \"should be delivered up to those whom the\nBishops of Italy and the Bishop of Rome should appoint.\" Ammianus\nMarcellinus, a pagan writer of the fourth century, affirms that\n\"the Bishops of the Eternal City enjoy a greater authority.\" The\nChristian Emperor Valentinian, in a decree of the year 455, says:\n\"The merit of the blessed Peter, who is the Prince of priestly\norder, and the dignity of the Roman city, the authority also of\nthe Synod, strengthened the Primacy of the Apostolic See.\" These\ntestimonies extend from the sixth back to the second century,\nwhen the disciples of the Apostles still lived. They are not\nmerely the testimonies of the Bishops of Rome themselves, or of\nthose who lived in the vicinity and under the immediate influence\nof Rome, but they are collected from Italy, France, Africa, and\nthe whole Eastern Church, where those great Patriarchs flourished\nwho afterwards renounced their subjection to Rome. Thus, it is\nevident, from these and a host of similar testimonies, that,\nduring the first six centuries, the Bishops of Rome claimed to\nexercise the supremacy in the place of Peter, and that this claim\nwas universally acknowledged.\n\n{227}\n\nThis is only a confirmation of the texts of Holy Scripture which\nI have already cited, and was foreshadowed when Christ chose the\nbark of St. Peter in preference to the rest, to preach from it to\nthe multitude on the shore. The conversion of nations through\nmissionaries sent by the Pope is Peter superintending the\nmiraculous draught of fishes and drawing them upon the shore. His\nexercise of authority over patriarchs, bishops, and churches\nthroughout the world is only the fulfilment of the commission,\n\"Feed my lambs--feed my sheep\"--be the pastor of my entire flock,\nthe prince of pastors, the Bishop of bishops. The might, the\npower of the Roman See, is the fulfilment of the prophecy, \"On\nthis rock I will build My Church.\" On the foundation of Peter,\nthe Catholic Church was built, and on this foundation she has\never rested. To Peter was given the power of the keys, of binding\nand of loosing, and his successors have ever exercised this\nsupreme authority. If time permitted, I should now go on to show\nthat this authority committed to St. Peter and his successors is\nthe same, and equally of divine right in his present glorious\nsuccessor, Pius IX., as it was in the times of the martyr popes\nof the first century; that the Roman Church has never failed,\nnever fallen, never forfeited her supremacy, and never will while\nthe world shall stand. But I must waive all further consideration\nof the attributes and notes of the Catholic Church. At present, I\nwill only allude to the concluding part of our Lord's promise to\nSt. Peter: \"The gates of hell shall never prevail against it.\"\n{228}\nHere there is the divine assurance that this rock on which the\nChurch is founded shall stand until the end of the world, and the\nChurch itself, on account of the firmness of its foundation,\nshall never be overthrown. The supremacy of his successors shall\nendure until the last day, and that Church which is governed by\nthe successors of St. Peter shall alone continue to be the true\nChurch. The gates of hell shall wage perpetual warfare against\nit, but in vain. That rock shall remain immovable and\nimpregnable. By this rock it is that Jesus Christ has provided\nfor the preservation of the Faith and for the salvation of the\nworld. Let us recall to mind the object which we had before our\nminds at the commencement of these discourses: it was to find the\nsure and immovable basis of the Catholic faith and religion. And\nhow admirable is the provision of Almighty God for this purpose!\nHe has taken the greatest and most powerful city of the earth,\nthe capital of the world; there He has erected the beacon-light\nof faith; there He has fixed the immovable seat of truth; there\nHe has established the capital city of Christianity, the chief\ncity of His kingdom on earth; there Jesus Christ has placed His\nVicar, the pastor and teacher of the world, that Rome, once the\nmistress of the world by her arms, might rule by her faith as the\nMother and Mistress of churches, and that title of the Eternal\nCity which was given her by her pagan soothsayers might be\nliterally fulfilled.\n{229}\nHappy those who, amid the storms and winds of error, doubt, and\never-changing doctrine, take refuge within the walls of the\nEternal City; whose faith is built not upon the shifting sands of\nprivate judgment, but on the immovable basis of church authority;\nwhose wanderings terminate, like those of St. Paul, at Rome,\nwhence, like him, they ascend to that celestial city whose\nbuilder and maker is God! Such a person is like the wise man of\nwhom our Lord speaks, \"that built his house upon a rock, and the\nrain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon\nthat house, and it fell not; FOR IT WAS FOUNDED UPON A ROCK.\"\n\n ---------------------\n\n{230}\n\n Sermon XV.\n\n The Thought Of Heaven.\n\n (For The Fourth Sunday After Easter.)\n\n Heb. iv. 9.\n\n \"__There remaineth therefore a rest\n for the people of God__.\"\n\nThese words, my dear brethren, are full of consolation to each\nand every one of us. They lift our minds, at this Paschal season,\nfar away from this earth, and fix them in contemplation on that\nhappy land, the heavenly Jerusalem, where there is no sorrow, no\npain, no sickness, and no death; they take us with the beloved\ndisciple to see that celestial country, the city of God, in which\nstands the tree of life, and where flows the river of life,\nbeside whose banks are seated all those who have died in the\nLord, and rest from their labors. They open those pearly gates to\nallow us to behold the white-robed army of saints who stand\nbefore the Lamb; and we can almost hear their anthems of praise,\nset to music which no human heart can conceive of, that swell the\ncourts of heaven with the celestial cry of, \"Holy, Holy, Holy\nLord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come!\"\n\n{231}\n\nHeaven, a rest after the toils of life are over! Heaven, a reward\nfor fidelity! Oh! how good is the thought of heaven! How\nnecessary to many as a stimulant to practise virtue and persevere\ntherein! What a reward for a good life! The thought of heaven is\nvery good, for it encourages us when we grow faint-hearted; the\nthought of heaven is that which prompts a man to abstain from\nevil and do good, because he knows that heaven will be his\nreward, and the loss of it his punishment. It is necessary; for,\nwithout this thought being before the mind of a Christian, he\nmight give way to many an enticing temptation. It is far more\nmeritorious, also, than the thought of hell, just as an act of\n__contrition__ is more meritorious than an act of\n__attrition__; for the former excites us to sorrow for having\noffended a good God, who has created us for heaven, and the\nlatter excites us to fear lest we incur the displeasure of an\nangry God and be condemned to hell.\n\nThe Holy Church, as a stimulant to the doing of good, as an\nencouragement to persevere under many difficulties and\ntemptations, and as a reward for all our labors in saving our\nsouls, ever keeps the thought of heaven before our minds. In the\nSacraments she does this.\n{232}\nThe unregenerate cannot go to heaven because there is an\nobstacle--original sin; it is removed in Baptism; and the\nstrength to fight in the spiritual warfare, is given by\nConfirmation. She calls us to Confession, because something is\nagain between the soul and heaven, and that is mortal sin. She\nabsolves us, and sends us to Holy Communion, which is a foretaste\nof heaven. She anoints the dying, that all the peculiar\ntemptations which attack them in the hour of death may be\novercome. She unites the \"children of the saints\" in Matrimony,\nbecause marriage is a sign of the union of heaven and earth, and\ngives the grace for the married couple to \"marry in the Lord.\"\nShe ordains her clergy, that they may teach the way to heaven,\nand distribute all those means of grace that are sure to bring us\nthere. So you perceive that this seems to be the leading thought\nin the mind of the Church. It is the development of the response\nto the question that every Catholic child can answer--Why did God\ncreate you? \"That I might know Him, and love Him, and serve Him\nhere in this world, and be happy with Him for ever in the next.\"\n\nThe thought of heaven conveys the greatest consolation to those\nwho in this world find but little happiness, and are surrounded\nby peculiar difficulties in the practice of virtue. It gives\nstrength to those who grow tired of the spiritual life, and who\nwould give up were it not for this thought. Hence the thought of\nheaven is good, necessary, and comforting.\n\n{233}\n\nThe rest spoken of in the text is not for all, but only for the\npeople of God. Who are the people of God? They are the people of\nGod who are baptized and made members of the Catholic Church. But\nnot all will enter into that rest prepared for them, because\nsomething more is necessary than simply being called by that\nname. Baptism is a sacrament which requires those whom it admits\nto be __heirs__ of the kingdom of heaven, first to answer\ncertain questions, and imposes certain obligations to be\nobserved. The priest says to the person to be baptized, \"If thou\nwilt enter into life, keep the commandments, love the Lord thy\nGod with thy whole heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.\" So you\nsee that, at this very instant, the thought of heaven is\nsuggested to the person, and the way to arrive there is clearly\nshown. And, before the priest pours the sanctifying water on the\nbrow of the person, he says, \"Dost thou renounce Satan and all\nhis works and all his pomps?\" When the person promises, \"Yes, I\ndo renounce them,\" then baptism is administered, and that person\ntakes his place in the world a Christian. But not all who are\ncalled Christians are Christians indeed. Many do not live as\nthough they believed in a God, a church, a heaven, or a hell.\n{234}\nThey follow the inclinations of their own sinful hearts, and live\nup to the false maxims of this wicked world. They do not walk\naccording to the Spirit, but rather according to the flesh. They\nlook on life as something to be enjoyed to the utmost, and when\nthat is ended they consider all ended, body and soul. Ah! foolish\npeople! who thus deceive themselves, who are ashamed of the\nreligion of Jesus Christ, who violate without any remorse their\nbaptismal vows, who treat our Lord far worse than did the Jews of\nold, for they never professed to believe in Him.\n\nThe way, then, to be a Christian in deed as well as in name is to\nlive up to that \"perfect law of liberty,\" that law which was made\nand given by God, which allows the highest kind of freedom to its\nobservers, and which ennobles and elevates man rather than\ndegrades him. This law is simple, and, if it is observed, all\nthings will go on peaceably. As of old, the saying was, \"All are\nnot Israelites that are of Israel,\" [Footnote 88] so they are not\nheirs of the kingdom of heaven who do not walk in the path marked\nout for them to follow, or who do not fulfil the conditions\nrequired for a holy life. \"Not every one that says to me, Lord,\nLord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth\nthe will of My Father who is in heaven.\" [Footnote 89]\n\n [Footnote 88: Rom. ix. 6.]\n\n [Footnote 89: St. Matt. vii. 21.]\n\n{235}\n\nAnd that will is made known to us all by the Catholic Church. She\nis the ark that will bring us safe to the haven of rest. She sets\nherself in array against the powers of this world and wicked men,\nbecause she is holy; she is born of God, and divine; she does\nthis by her sacraments, her sacrifices, her laws, instructions,\nmissions, and her institutions of charity. She teaches men\nreverence for holy persons and holy things; she teaches them to\nvenerate the name of their Creator; she tells them to sanctify\nSundays and holydays; she enjoins, under pain of eternal\ndeath--which includes the loss of heaven--honesty, justice,\npurity, sobriety, and all the other requirements of the\ndecalogue. She is not conformed to this world or its ways. The\nworld says: \"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.\" \"If your\nenemy strike you, strike him back; if he calumniate you, never\nforget it; if he do you an act of injustice, if he slander you,\ntreasure it up, do not forgive, but pay him back some day with\ninterest.\" The world says: \"Eat and drink, grow rich in this\nworld's goods, have a gay time, make the most of life: heaven is\nfar away, and you will have opportunity to prepare when the time\ncomes for it.\" \"Make plenty of money,\" says the world, \"no matter\nwhether the business be just or lawful, you may get to heaven\nafter all; others worse than you have had time to do penance\nbefore they died.\"\n{236}\nBut the Holy Church says differently. She enjoins charity,\nmeekness, poverty of spirit, preparation for death. \"If thine\nenemy hunger, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink.\"\n[Footnote 90] \"If a man strike thee on one cheek, turn to him the\nother.\" [Footnote 91] \"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs\nis the kingdom of heaven.\" [Footnote 92] These are her lessons of\nheavenly doctrine, which all must learn and put in practice, if\nthey would obtain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. And every\nday she writes in letters of fire before our eyes: \"In the hour\nthat ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.\"\n\n [Footnote 90: Rom. xii. 20.]\n\n [Footnote 91: St. Matt. v. 39.]\n\n [Footnote 92: St. Matt. v. 3.]\n\nSo we perceive that man needs to pay attention to that immortal\nsoul of his just as much as to attend to his mortal body. And a\nman cannot attend to a business of importance in a short time, of\nwhich he has been ignorant all his life, and in which he has had\nno practice, and therefore very little experience. It would be a\ndifficult task, indeed, for a man who has been nothing but a\nsalesman in a store all his life, to become a scientific\nartificer, or to undertake to discharge the duties that devolve\non a professor of the higher branches of science, because he has\nnever given any thought or study to these things. So will it be\nvery, very difficult for that Catholic to properly prepare for\nheaven after long years of neglect of the means to obtain it,\nand, because he has never thought about it, it will be hardly\npossible for him in his last hours to make proper preparation for\nit.\n{237}\nThe mind will be so absorbed with the past, and so perplexed as\nto the future, that he cannot give his famishing soul the\nnourishment that it needs. The death-bed scenes of worldly-minded\nmen certify to the truth of this. They have viewed heaven as\nsomething to be thought about in the future, and intended to\nprepare for it, but all of a sudden sickness prostrates them, and\nwhen told they will never hear another sermon, never attend\nanother Mass, the trouble begins not so much about their soul as\nabout their body and the business of this world.\n\nBut thanks be to God! while there are those who are walking on\nthat broad and pleasant way which many, too many, find, and which\nleads to destruction, there are many faithful Christians who,\neven though some of them have but little or no comfort here, are\nlooking forward, and hastening unto that reward which awaits\nthose who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven, to them, is no\ngloomy word. Heaven does not make them regret leaving this world,\nwith all its fleeting joys, for heaven is a most interesting and\nimportant subject to them. Heaven is the reason of all their\nhopes, the reward of all their prayers, fastings, and other good\nworks.\n{238}\nTo the pious and virtuous, the thought of heaven is the polar\nstar which guides them to their eternal happiness, To the poor\nand desolate, it opens the celestial country where flow milk and\nhoney, and where the foot is never weary, where all tears are\nwiped away from their eyes, and where the sweetest consolation of\nan eternal reward awaits them. The thought of heaven brings the\nyoung to give their hearts early to God. It leads them to their\nfirst Confession, and encourages them to make their first\nCommunion, so that, by keeping God's holy laws, they may receive\nthe crown of life. The thought of heaven helps the old, who are\nweak and trembling, for they receive new strength when they see\nthe evening of their lives, and view the dawning of that happy\nland, the Canaan of the children of God.\n\nHow comforting, indeed, then, is the thought of heaven, for then\nall our hopes will be realized, and our love made perfect! O you\nwho thirst for human love! your desire is to love and be loved.\nLove is the object of your life, the light of your hearts; but\nknow this: that no earthly love will ever bring you perfect\nhappiness; and if it should so happen that you should find a joy\nin possessing some creature, tell me, how long will that joy\nlast? Not long, for God sends death, and He takes away the\nobjects of your love, the idol that you have placed between Him\nand your soul.\n{239}\nA mother finds the greatest joy in beholding the child to whom\nshe gave birth. It may be her first-born; she loves it, caresses\nit; she spends days in caring for it, and, if at night she\nawakes, the first thought is of that child: but some day death\ncomes in, and lays his icy hand on the life-strings of its tiny\nheart, and severs the link that binds it to this life, and it is\nno more. But the Christian mother willingly gives it up to God,\nfor she knows that in heaven she will again embrace that child.\nIt is the thought of heaven that brings her consolation. A friend\nhas found unspeakable joy in living with his companion, they were\nboys together, they grew up together, they received the Holy\nSacraments together, and, just as they suppose their happiness to\nbe complete, death terminates the existence of one, and the other\nis left alone to learn the lesson all men must, sooner or later,\nlearn--all persons, all things are perishable, and \"the heart,\"\nas St. Augustine says, \"is at unrest until it rests in God.\" No\nmatter what bereavement comes over the Christian, he is animated\nwith hope, and his joy speedily returns when he thinks of heaven\nas a place where he will meet and recognize his loved ones. Here,\nmy dear brethren, we grow tired of the most costly and beautiful\nobjects. It is impossible for us to keep up our enthusiasm for a\nlong time, as we are creatures of change and chance.\n{240}\nIn heaven, we shall never grow tired; for, in beholding Almighty\nGod and all the glories of heaven, we shall be so entranced that\nnothing will be able to distract us. In heaven, time will pass\naway unnoticed, and its events will have no power to weary us.\n\nThere is a beautiful legend told of a Franciscan friar, which\nwill illustrate my meaning better. He thought that he would\nbecome tired of heaven itself and its occupations; for by his\ntime of life he, too, had learned the secret that nothing in this\nworld can bring real, lasting happiness. So, one day, his\nsuperior sent him out to gather fuel for the fire. As he was\npicking up the wood, he heard a far sweeter warble than ever came\nfrom the throat of a bird; but it was not a bird of the earthly\nforest; it was some sweet strains of celestial music that he\nheard. He must pause one moment to hear the end of the song\nbefore making up his bundle of wood. So he stood still, and the\nwarbling went on, so full, so sweet, so rich, that he almost held\nhis breath in ecstasy. When it ceased, \"How short it was!\" he\nsaid, then picked up the arm-load of sticks and returned to the\nmonastery. He rang the bell at the gate, but a brother came whom\nhe did not know. \"Who are you that takes the place of Brother\nJohn?\" he inquired. \"But rather who are you?\" was the reply.\n{241}\n\"Ah, I am Brother Francis.\" \"Brother Francis! There is no Brother\nFrancis.\" Then the oldest monk in the monastery was called, and\nhe tottered in on his cane, and told how, when he was a boy, he\nhad heard some old gray-haired monks tell that, long, long ago,\nwhen they were young, Brother Francis had gone, one afternoon,\nfor wood, and never returned: killed doubtless by the wild\nbeasts. So they counted the years, and found that Brother Francis\nhad listened to the bird's song one hundred and fifty years, and\nthought that too short. Now, if the sweet singing from the voice\nof an angel could so entrance this holy man that he thought so\nmany years to be but a moment, how much more will our soul be\nenraptured with the sight of heaven, with the song of the choir\nof the redeemed, and by the vision of the Blessed Trinity! In\nheaven, the heart will stand still, and in the fulness of its joy\nremain transfixed for ever.\n\nThen why is it that we give way under our sufferings, our daily\ntrials and crosses? Why do so many grow faint-hearted, and think\nthat there is no rest, no peace, for them? Why do people despair\nof ever being happy? It is because they forget the very object\nfor which they were created. They lose sight of the eternal joy\nand the unending happiness that God has prepared for those who\nlove Him.\n\n{242}\n\nAt Holy Mass, whether it be a festival, fast, or funeral, these\nsublime words are sung by the sacrificing priest at the altar,\n\"__Sursum corda__\"--\"Lift up your hearts,\" and the faithful\nanswer, \"__Habemus ad Dominum__\"--\"We have lifted them up to\nthe Lord.\" Now, these words are kept before our minds, on a\nfestival, to remind us of the eternal joys of heaven; on a\nfuneral, to call our attention to that home above where there is\nno death, no parting, and where all tears are wiped away from the\neyes. Then let \"__Sursum corda__\" when it is sung this\nmorning, revive this thought of heaven in your hearts--you who\nare sad, who are sick and poor, you who are in the midst of\nsevere temptations; and carry these words with you through the\nweek, and, whenever you are tempted to murmur against your lot,\n\"Lift up your hearts.\" Think of Paradise. We were made for\nParadise, and we ought always to remember how joyful the thought\nof Paradise is to the Christian's heart. \"O most happy mansion of\nthe city above! O most happy and bright day, that knows no night,\nbut is always enlightened by the Sovereign Truth! The citizens of\nheaven know how joyful that day is; but the banished children of\nEve lament that this our day is bitter and tedious. Oh! that this\nday would dawn upon us, and all temporal things would come to an\nend!\"\n\n{243}\n\nThen, at this time, let us all look up, and be more vigilant in\nthe service of God while on earth. Let us so live here that our\nlives may be a foretaste of heaven. Let the Church on earth be\nthe vestibule of heaven in which we wait patiently for the time\nof our admission therein. Let us be faithful to the laws of God\nand the Church: \"Laying aside every weight and the sin that doth\nso easily beset us, by patience let us run the race set before\nus; looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who,\nhaving the joy proposed to Him, underwent the cross, despising\nthe shame, and now sitteth down at the right hand of the throne\nof God,\" [Footnote 93] to whom let us lift up our hearts, and\noffer that beautiful prayer which the Holy Church is chanting\nthroughout the world on this Fourth Sunday after Easter: \"O\nAlmighty God, who alone canst make the faithful to be of one\nmind: grant that they may love those things which Thou dost\ncommand and desire, those things which Thou dost promise, that so\namong all the changes of this world their hearts may surely there\nbe fixed where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ\nour Lord Amen.\"\n\n [Footnote 93: Heb xii. i.]\n\n -------------\n\n{244}\n\n Sermon XVI.\n\n The Clergy\n The Teachers Of The People,\n\n (For The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost.)\n\n St. Matt. vii. 15.\n\n \"__Beware of false prophets,\n who come to you in sheep's clothing,\n but inwardly they are ravening wolves.__\"\n\n\nBy the word prophet is meant a teacher or leader of the people;\nany one who sets himself up, or is commissioned by those in\nauthority, as an expounder of the sense of the Scriptures, or of\nthe principles of morality or of religion, so as to lead others\nto adopt his opinions, and act according to his directions.\n\nThe office of prophet, or teacher, is the most important of all\nin human society. For, if we are rightly taught and follow the\nteaching, everything goes on harmoniously, and conduces to the\nbest result; the greatest amount of substantial happiness in this\nworld, and the securing of our immortal destiny in heaven. If we\nare wrongly taught, our great blessings are turned into curses,\nand our lives are failures, both for this world and the next.\n\n{245}\n\nAnd our Lord Jesus Christ took especial pains to provide for this\ngreat need of ours. He selected His twelve Apostles, kept them\nwith Himself during all the time of His public ministry,\ninstructed them by word and example, and sent them out to teach\nwith this full and explicit commission, \"Go ye into all the\nworld, and preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching them to\nobserve all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am\nwith you all days, even to the consummation of the world.\"\n[Footnote 94]\n\n [Footnote 94: St. Mark xvi. 15 and St. Matt, xxviii. 20.]\n\nIf we desire to know them who are the true prophets, we have the\nmeans of finding out: they are the lawful successors of the\nApostles, the priesthood of the Holy Church. And, on the other\nhand, we have the means of determining who are the false prophets\nor teachers: all those who are in opposition to this lawful body\nof teachers, commissioned by God Himself to teach us.\n\nThe priesthood of the Holy Church, then, are our teachers in the\nprinciples and practice of religion, and of morality, which is\nembraced in religion. They are the ones to teach us our duty, in\nall respects, as individuals, and as members of society; our\nduties to ourselves, to our fellow-men, to our families, to the\ngovernment or state in which we live, as well as to God.\n\n{246}\n\nThis is what many people do not seem to understand. They say, Let\nthe clergy confine themselves to their own sphere, to the\nteaching of religion, and let other things alone. Why should they\nmeddle with questions of politics or government? Why should they\ninterfere with private or family affairs? Why should they say\nanything about a man's business, or try to interfere with his\npersonal liberty to do this or that? Now, whence do these\nobjections arise? From the mistaken notion that religion deals\nexclusively with the relations of the individual to his God, and\nhas nothing to do with society or government; that there is\ndivorce between politics and religion; that the law of God is\nseparable from human laws.\n\nNothing can be more untrue than this idea. The divine law is the\nrule according to which all human laws must be conformed. These\nlaws derive all their authority and sanction from the divine\nwill. Religion cannot be divorced from politics, from government,\nfrom legislature, from the family, from business, or from any of\nthe affairs of life. Wherever a moral question is involved in\npolitics, there religion is involved. Every Christian is bound to\ncarry the law of Christ into his politics.\n{247}\nEvery voter is bound to vote for those who sustain this divine\nlaw, and never for the opponents of it; and every legislator is\nbound not to make any law which is in opposition to it.\n\nAnd the authorized teachers of the divine law are the ones to\nexpound what the law is, and to lay down the duty of each one in\nreference to it. They are to teach, and to insist upon the\nobservance of what Christ has taught them: in the state, the duty\nof obedience to the civil authority, and the wickedness of\nresisting it, in the lawful exercise of its power;--in the\nfamily, the sacredness of the marriage-tie, in spite of any human\nlaws contrary to God's law, and the obligation of the religious\neducation of children;--to the individual, the sin of unlawful or\nimmoral combinations, and many other things which will readily\nsuggest themselves to any one who will reflect.\n\nThose, then, who try to depreciate the influence of the clergy,\nand to bring their teaching into contempt, or to set themselves\nup as independent judges of the morality and right of all\nquestions relating to politics and society, are false prophets,\nboasting of their liberty, appealing to pride, worshipping\nthemselves in place of God, and flattering the passions of\nothers. They are ravening wolves, destroying the spirit of\nreligion and the souls of men, and leading their victims to\nanarchy, riot, and bloodshed.\n\n{248}\n\nDo not misapprehend my meaning. I do not mean that the clergy\nshould come down into the arena of party politics to advocate the\nclaims of this or that candidate for office, or convert the\nChurch into a political debating-room. Thank God, they have a\nbetter idea of their sacred office than that. But where the\nduties of the individual or the general interests of religion are\ninvolved, they are bound to speak out, and they should be\nlistened to as the ambassadors of God.\n\n\"Let the clergy mind their own business,\" is sometimes said.\nWell, and what is the business of the clergy? It is to seek the\nsalvation of souls. It is to keep the people, as far as possible,\nfrom any violation of the commandments of God; from the\ncommission of sin, which leads to the destruction of souls. If\nthey can foresee that this or that course of action will involve\ntheir people in sin, they are bound, disregarding all\nself-interest or any worldly consideration, to raise their voice\nin protest against it. If the people rush into any unlawful\ncombination, which, perhaps, involves loss of property or loss of\nlife, or, at any rate, is sinful and tends to the destruction of\nthe soul, then, whether the thing is popular or not, they are\nbound, as far as they can, to set their face against this evil,\nand warn the people to keep from it.\n\n{249}\n\nIf they do not do this, then they do not \"mind their own\nbusiness.\" They are no better than the \"hirelings who flee when\nthe wolf cometh.\"\n\nBut why are the clergy especially fitted to exercise this office\nof prophet or teacher? Because, in the first place, they are, as\na class, men of education and thought. They have withdrawn from\nother pursuits, and passed many years in study. They have had\nparticularly to study questions relating to morality; of right\nand wrong; of the meaning of the law of God, and are better\nfitted than any other class of men to give decisions on such\nquestions.\n\nThis is reason enough why the mass of the people, who have not\nthe time, the freedom from other occupations, the books, or the\nhabit of reasoning correctly, should defer with great respect to\nthe opinion of the clergy on any important question. It argues a\ngreat want of humility--an antichristian and unreasonable pride,\nwhen their opinion is treated with contempt and brought into\nridicule.\n\nIn the second place, they are disinterested parties, and are able\nto decide, for the most part, free from prejudice. The only\nprejudice they can have is, that God's law be observed and His\nhonor vindicated. They are a body of men independent, free from\nfamily ties, and cares, and obligations; freed in an unusual\ndegree from what prejudices other men--the desire of heaping up\nwealth. In short, they have every inducement to love right and\nhate wrong.\n\n{250}\n\nThirdly, they are the fathers of their people. Having no wives or\nchildren of their own, the people are their children. The term\n\"father\" by which they are addressed is a true expression of the\nfeeling which the people have towards them, because they have a\ntruly parental affection for them. That priest must be a monster\nwho does not love his people, as a general thing so devoted and\naffectionate to him. Our Saviour says, \"The good shepherd will\nlay down his life for his sheep.\" The Catholic people are the\nflock of the priest; it is his business and his happiness to look\nout for their interests; to advise them and warn them of dangers;\nto go after them and bring them back when they go astray; and it\nis only natural for them to look up to him for advice, for\ncounsel in doubt, for consolation in trouble. There is no sweeter\nor more beautiful tie than that which binds the priest and people\ntogether.\n\nBut lastly, and above all, the priest is the representative and\nagent of Jesus Christ. This last reason includes and carries with\nit all the others; they all grow out of it. Hear what St. Paul\nsays: \"And some he gave to be apostles, and some prophets, and\nsome evangelists, and others pastors and teachers.\n{251}\nFor the perfection of the saints, for the edification of the body\nof Christ.\" [Footnote 95] All that relates to the building up or\nedification of the faithful belongs to their sacred office. In\nthe direction of St. Paul to Titus, he tells him: \"Admonish them\nto be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word, to be\nready to every good work.\" [Footnote 96] And again: \"These things\nspeak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man\ndespise thee.\" [Footnote 97] Once more he says: \"Let a man look\nupon us as the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the\nmysteries of God.\" [Footnote 98] And when our Lord sent out His\nApostles, He used these emphatic words: \"He that heareth you\nheareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me.\"\n\n [Footnote 95: Eph. iv. 11.]\n\n [Footnote 96: Ep. Tit. iii. 1.]\n\n [Footnote 97: Ep. Tit. ii. 15.]\n\n [Footnote 98: I Cor. iv. 1.]\n\nWho are the false prophets we have the most need to be warned\nagainst at this present time? Not the professed teachers of\nheresy, because they are too well known; their doctrine and their\nprinciples have lost all attraction for Catholics. Their hatred\nand opposition to the Holy Church and her doctrines is too\nviolent and untruthful to have any power of attraction for the\nCatholic heart. I should say they are not wolves in sheep's\nclothing, but rather wolves in their own skins. No, it is not\nthey.\n{252}\nIt is rather the irreligious, unprincipled newspapers which are\nsowing the worst principles broadcast in the community, which are\nridiculing all that we hold most sacred, which make all religion\nto consist in the present and laugh at the future world; which\nare prating all the time about clerical influence, and extolling\na purely secular education; which are talking everlastingly about\nprogress and enlightenment, and this nineteenth century, and the\ndark ages and superstitions; whose infernal doctrine may be\nsummed up in one sentence: \"Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for\nto-morrow we die.\"\n\nThese are the false prophets who clothe themselves with sheep's\nclothing, that is, with professions of liberty, enticements to\npleasure, and to the gain of worldly goods, as if there was no\nhereafter, no responsibility, but each one was free to do as he\npleased.\n\nAnd who are some of the other false prophets? They are leaders of\nsecret societies; interested persons who make a living out of\nprofessions of patriotism and love of country; who live in\nluxury--many of them, out of the hard earnings of the poor\nlaborer and the girls at service; who beguile the ignorant into\nunlawful and forbidden ways, sinking them down deep in mortal\nsin, and hindering them from getting out of it, because they\nimpose a distrust and dislike of the clergy and of the Church\nwhich condemns them. Like the Pharisees, they \"move heaven and\nearth to make one proselyte, and, when they have made one, they\nmake him more a child of hell than themselves.\" Avoid them, for\nthey are truly \"ravening wolves.\"\n\n{253}\n\nAnd lastly, avoid another false prophet within yourself: the\nspirit of pride and self-will. Without this, all the others I\nhave mentioned above would be powerless to hurt you. This is the\nvery evil one himself who stirs up within you every evil passion.\nBe cautious, weigh well the thoughts of your hearts. Try them by\nthe standard of the Gospel and of the example of Jesus Christ,\nand, if they cannot abide the test, no matter how fair an\nappearance they have, abandon them.\n\nAh! if we would only stop to consider calmly what we are about;\nif we would only utter one sincere prayer to God for guidance,\nand to obtain a good-will, this false prophet of self-will would\nbe detected and driven out, and we would be quickly delivered\nfrom destruction.\n\nFinally, give good heed to the Scripture which says: \"Obey your\nprelates, and be subject to them, for they watch as being to give\nan account of your souls, that they may do this with joy, and not\nwith grief.\"\n\n{254}\n\nObey the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope, the Head of the Church\nand Father of the faithful. When he solemnly pronounces his\njudgment as to the lawfulness or unlawfulness of anything, obey\nas you would if you heard it from the lips of Christ Himself. It\nis a fearful thing for any one to put himself in opposition to\nChrist's Vicar and the Successor of St. Peter, to whom our Lord\ngave the charge to feed both His sheep and His lambs.\n\nObey your Archbishop, who is more immediately placed over you. It\nis his place to judge what is for the good of religion, and to\nforesee the evils likely to arise at any time among ourselves.\nLet those who disregard his admonition look well to it, lest they\nimplicate themselves in grievous sin, and in inflicting great\ninjury upon the religion of Christ. Such men are a scandal and\ncause of ruin to the faithful, and our Lord has denounced the\nanger of God upon those who are guilty of it.\n\nObey your priests, who will have to give an account of your\nsouls. Give no cause of offence or scandal in your parish, but\nrather co-operate with your fellow-parishioners in the extension\nof Christ's kingdom upon earth.\n\nIt is by this spirit of docility and obedience you will break\nthrough all the snares of Satan, and be delivered from error.\nThus, walking in the clear light of truth, you will finally be\nunited to the Eternal Truth, God, the fountain of all joy,\nforever.\n\n ------------------\n\n{255}\n\n Sermon XVII.\n\n Humility In Prayer.\n\n (For The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost.)\n\n St. Luke xviii. 13.\n\n \"__God, be merciful to me, a sinner.__\"\n\n\nOne of the chief lessons our blessed Lord intended to teach us by\nthe parable told in to-day's Gospel is the necessity and power of\nhumble prayer. Let us see this, and try to draw some useful\nthoughts from it.\n\nThe great positive precept of prayer goes hand in hand with a\nman's salvation. Nothing can excuse the neglect of it, nothing is\npromised except through it, and therefore one cannot hope for\nanything without it. Yet it is not every spirit of prayer that is\nof God. In spite of a professed total disregard for it by some,\nnevertheless men have an instinctive faith in prayer. The\nhardiest blasphemer and scoffer at religion will often be found\nthe first to pray when in imminent danger of death.\n{256}\nHe prays in fear. Others, with out any spirit of devotion, will\nbe found praying at stated times, like the Pharisee, because it\nis a highly respectable thing to do, and keeps up their credit\nand good character, who apparently regard prayer as a sort of\nbusiness transaction with God, the fulfilment of certain\nconditions of barter with Providence, by which they may expect to\nhold their own, and be further well rewarded. These pray in\npride. Others are full of themselves and their own desires.\n__They__ wish to be happy, let others be as miserable as they\nmay. __They__ want no sickness, no accident, no reverse of\nfortune, no contempt, no temptation, let God try other souls with\nHis chastening hand as He pleases. These pray in selfishness. And\nyet all these are the first to complain that their prayer is not\nheard and instantly answered. They become petulant over delay,\nand utterly discouraged if their desires are not fulfilled.\n__God's__ will is nothing to them. It is not \"Thy will,\" but\n\"My will\" be done. Listen, my brethren, to the true spirit of\nprayer, the only kind of prayer which will infallibly be heard.\nIt is the prayer of those who pray in humility.\n\nThe very essence of prayer consists in the acknowledgment of\nGod's supreme dominion and government over us, and our complete\ndependence upon Him as the source of all blessings, spiritual and\ntemporal. The better this is acknowledged by the soul, the more\nperfect must be the prayer; and, if this be the spirit which\ninspires only a few words of prayer, or even a silent aspiration\nof the heart, then more is accomplished than if hours had been\nconsumed in the recitation of forms of prayer, where this high\nand reverent thought of God is wanting.\n\n{257}\n\nNow, this is also the fountain thought of humility: that God is\nall in all to us, that it is He, and not we ourselves, who has\nmade us, and prospered us, and blessed us, and raised us up, and\nobtained peace and forgiveness for our erring hearts; that He is\nthe Truth; that the true religion is His making, not what we may\nfashion to ourselves. These are the thoughts to bring the heart\ninto a proper relation with God, the relation of an humble hope,\ntrust, and reverence for Him, and in this we need lose nothing of\na proper and just esteem for ourselves. It is the secret of the\nmaking of great saints and heroes in religion (all of whom were\nrenowned for their humility), that a man is always the gainer by\njust so much as he gives to God.\n\nSo we see in the case of the humble publican, that God regarded\nhim the more because he did not so much as lift his eyes to\nheaven. God drew the nearer to him, the farther he stood off. God\ncomforted him, and justified him, the more he acknowledged his\nown wretchedness, and condemned himself. Not without reason, it\nis true, because he __was__ a sinner. While he, who was not a\nsinner, went up in his pride and sinned in his very prayers. The\nhumble sinner went away justified; the proud, just man went away\ncondemned.\n\n{258}\n\nAnd hence we may conclude that, if one does not pray in humility,\nhis prayer is of no value, and he moreover runs a great chance of\ncommitting sin by praying, and of receiving curses instead of\nblessings in answer.\n\n\"God resisteth the proud,\" says the Apostle, \"but giveth grace to\nthe humble.\" [Footnote 99] He is, as it were, shocked and\nindignant to see a man approaching him in presumption or pride.\nHe has no grace for such an one, and then without that he will\ninfallibly commit sin and be lost.\n\n [Footnote 99: St. James iv. 6.]\n\nFor what happens? He who prays without humility thinks that he\nhas done a great thing, for which God honors him, and holds him\nup as an example for the admiration and imitation of others,\nespecially for those who seldom or never go to their knees, or\npray so quickly and unobtrusively that no one notices them. So he\nrises from his prayer puffed up with self-conceit.\n\n{259}\n\nLook at the Pharisee. He came to the treasure-house of God with a\nlarge sack; he extolled its capacity, and stretched it out to its\nutmost dimensions; he made his prayer long, wordy, and full of\nself. As he really did not profess himself to be in want of\nanything, God sent him away, with his sack empty of everything\nbut his own windy words, which God despised and returned to him\nfor his pains. His load was not heavy, and he could walk with\nhead and shoulders proudly erect.\n\nAs he passed out he gave a scornful glance at the miserable\npublican, crouching in the porch, and thought within himself:\nWhat bad people there are in the world, to be sure! The humble\nobject of his disdain followed him out with bent shoulders and\ndowncast head. He had come empty-handed to God's treasury. But\nsomething had passed between him and God which the proud Pharisee\nlittle imagined: and he might well go away still humbly bending\nto the ground, for God's mercies and blessings lay heavily upon\nhim. So sang the humble Virgin: \"He hath filled the hungry with\ngood things, but the rich he hath sent empty away.\"\n\nMany imagine that the wealthy are the chief ones who pray like\nthe Pharisee; but this is a great mistake. There are quite as\nmany poor \"rich Pharisees\" as wealthy rich ones. Being in humble\ncircumstances does not make one humble. The Blessed Virgin did\nnot mean the rich in this world's goods, but those who were rich\nin their own conceit.\n{260}\nSo we see many who have not much money to boast of, yet will\nboast pretty loudly of their piety. They come to pray to God for\nforgiveness of their sins; and what do they say? \"I don't do\nmuch. I don't curse. I don't steal. I don't slander my neighbor.\"\nAnd if God did not rouse them up to a sense of the sins they do\ncommit by questioning their consciences, they would go away fully\npersuaded that they were out-and-out saints, while all the rest\nof the world were thieves, and liars, and extortioners, and\nworkers of all kinds of iniquity, especially that quarrelsome\nneighbor who has just taken their place in the confessional, and\nwho, they hope, will meet with severe and righteous treatment. O\nself-sufficient, rich Pharisee! it is true I have seen you in\nsilk and broadcloth, but I have seen you also in a cotton gown,\nand a coat out at [the] elbows.\n\nNot a few are found lacking in this requisite to make prayer of\nany value, because they pray in fear. At first sight, fear would\nseem to be almost identical with humility; but it is quite a far\ndifferent thing, for humility brings the soul nearer to God,\nwhile fear drives it away. Humility recognizes the greatness and\ngoodness of God, and, while it reverences Him, holds Him for that\nknowledge in the highest esteem; but fear hides itself, and, in\nplace of esteem, holds Him in slavish dread.\n{261}\nHumility is hopeful; fear is full of despair. See those sinners\nwho find themselves in shipwreck, or in some imminent danger of\ndeath from disease. They pray, it is true, but how? Is it in\nsorrow for their sins? Do they want to get back the lost love of\nGod? Oh! no; that is the last thought they have. It is to be\nsaved from death; it is to be cured of their diseases; and what\ndoes it all amount to, but that they are trying to make a truce\nwith God? Their whole lives have been at enmity with Him; and\nnow, when God compels them to acknowledge Him, when He conquers\nthem and brings them down, it is not peace they want, but a\ncessation of hostilities. It is plain enough God is the master.\nSuch souls tremble at death, because it is bringing them nearer\nto God; the humble souls fear life, because it is so full of the\ndanger of losing Him.\n\nSuch was the prayer of the wicked King Antiochus, who prayed to\nGod and made great promises; but it was only fear that wrung the\nprayer out of him. He cared for nothing but to be restored to\nlife and health; but God rejected his prayers, and left him to\ndie a horrible death, being eaten up by worms. The Scripture says\nof him: \"Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of whom he was\nnot to obtain mercy.\" [Footnote 100]\n\n [Footnote 100: 2 Macc. x. 13.]\n [USCCB: 2 Maccabees ix. 13.]\n\n{262}\n\nNow and then the judgments of God hang over sinners. Hell gapes\nunderfoot, and they pray and cry to the Lord for mercy, yet are\nnot heard, because they have no contrition; and are wanting in\ncontrition, because they have no humility. Their fear is the fear\nof those sinners described by the prophet: \"The sinners in Sion\nare afraid; trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites.\" [Footnote\n101] But the humble soul is not afraid to draw near to God, for\nthe promise encourages it: \"An humble and contrite heart, O God,\nThou wilt not despise.\" Such are not afraid, because their\ncontrition is founded on the love of God, and is real and hearty.\n\"Perfect love,\" says St. John, \"casteth out fear.\"\n\n [Footnote 101: Isa. xxxiii. 18.]\n [USCCB: Isa. xxxiii. 14.]\n\nLook at Mary Magdalen. There was an example of boldness in a\ntruly contrite, humble heart. She dared a good deal. Jesus, her\nLord, the God of infinite purity, is the honored guest of a\nwealthy and proud citizen; she, an abandoned woman. Yet she dared\nenter the rich man's door. She dared the sneers and contempt of\nthe servants. She dared enter the banqueting hall as an unwelcome\nintruder, at the risk of being ignominiously expelled. She dared\napproach the Spotless One, and touch His sacred feet with her\npolluted hands. But perfect love casteth out fear.\n{263}\nHer tears were so many eloquent words of prayer that went\nstraight to the heart of Jesus. Her penitent love chased all fear\naway, and moved the Lord to say of her: \"Many sins are forgiven\nher, because she hath loved much.\"\n\nBut the most common want of humility is seen in those who pray in\nselfishness. Has God seen fit to send them a trial--say, a defect\nin their hearing or sight, or one of their children is born\ndeformed or sickly--then they act as though the like had never\nbeen seen before, so querulous are they under the affliction.\nThey pray--a good long string of complaints--over it. Or else the\nselfishness takes another shape, and, while they can look with\nindifference upon hundreds who suffer worse, they cannot bear to\nhave the hand of the Lord touch __them__. They come to beg of\nthe priest to cure them; they come humbly enough in their manner,\nwill go down on their knees, and even kiss the ground, but they\nhave not a particle of humility in their hearts. They are so\nselfish about their pains and aches that they are quite surprised\nand vexed if the priest does not profess himself quite ready and\nable to perform a miracle in their favor; as if the Almighty owed\nthem miracles, or as if they were the only people in the world\nabout whose ease and comfort He was concerned. And then they go\naway disappointed, giving no heed to the holy words with which\nthe priest tried to teach them to profit by their affliction, and\ninstruct them how to pray to God to be relieved of it, if it be\nHis holy will.\n{264}\nVery probably, such people are not in the grace of God at all;\nand it is plain even to human wisdom that, if God heard and\nanswered their selfish prayers, they would go away puffed up with\npride, never think of returning Him any thanks, and lead a worse\nsinful life than they have before. For it is a proverb: \"Do a\nproud man a favor, and he hates you for it.\" He dislikes the idea\nof being laid under an obligation; and this is just what would\nhappen to such. They would dislike God for putting them under the\nobligation to serve Him the more strictly in return for His\nfavors. God sees this, and, because they have no humility, their\nprayers are not heard.\n\nIt is the same with many spiritually minded persons too. They are\nled to look for mortifications and crosses, and, when these are\nsent, then they are both mortified and crossed in another sense.\nThey are humiliated, but not humbled. Oh! how hard they pray to\nbe delivered from these very means of their sanctification. But\nit is selfishness that makes them pray. They thought themselves\nsaints, and it galls their pride to be treated as though they\nwere yet far from perfection. They suffer, and keenly too, I\nknow. So did our Blessed Lord in His agony, and dereliction on\nthe Cross. But when __He__ prayed, He said to His Father, \"Not\nMy will, but Thine be done.\"\n\n{265}\n\nThe want of humility in prayer is the bane of those living in\nheresy. Heresy, you know, is the offspring of pride. Souls fall\ninto it, and wilfully remain in it from an undue opinion of their\nown wisdom. All heresy must have \"private judgment\" as its basis\nof religion. If the true religion ever comes up before them for\nexamination or acceptance, they are almost afraid to pray at all,\nlest they should pray themselves into submission to it.\n\nThey see that the road before them is the road of humility. They\nstart back at the hard sayings. Wanting humility, they have very\nlittle conviction of sin; and, like the Pharisee who went up to\nthe temple to recount his good deeds, you will not unfrequently\nhear such persons, in speaking of the confessional, say with\nunaffected surprise: \"Why, what in the world can you have to\ntell? I don't think I have any sins to confess.\"\n\nOh! if they could once be brought down to pray humbly for light\nand guidance, how differently would they talk, and how quickly\nall their fancied difficulties and impossibilities would fade\naway!\n\n{266}\n\nA celebrated master in the spiritual life used to send persons\naway to pray who came to him to talk controversy. If they were\nhumbly seeking the truth, they found all their objections\nanswered in prayer before they returned. If not, he knew their\npride would be proof against both prayer and argument, however\nlong the one or powerful the other.\n\nMy brethren, we have all got to pray for what we want, and to\npray humbly too, if we expect our prayers to be heard. To pray\nlike the Publican, \"O God, be merciful to me a sinner,\" and not\nlike the Pharisee, \"O God, I thank thee I am not like the rest of\nmen.\"\n\nI recollect an instance, on one of our Missions, which will be a\nlesson for all those whom I have been addressing this morning. A\nyoung man came to me, whom I soon learned to be one of those\nunfortunate Catholics whose parents do nothing more towards\nmaking them Christians than to get them baptized. The first words\nhe said to me were these: \"Father, I'm a mighty hard case.\" I\nfound he was quite ignorant of the principal doctrines of the\nfaith, and sent him away for a few days to learn them. When he\npresented himself again, he was surprised I did not recognize\nhim. \"Why, don't you know,\" said he, \"I'm the mighty hard case?\"\nIt was necessary not only to instruct him, but to give him some\nserious warnings, that he might keep out of bad company, and live\nthenceforward a good life.\n{267}\nPerhaps I was led to speak in a tone that appeared to him rather\nsevere; and it went to my heart to hear the poor fellow repeat\nthe humble judgment he had passed upon himself: \"Yes, father, I\ntold you so. I told you I was a __mighty__ hard case.\" The\n\"mighty hard case\" got his communion with great joy and a holy\npride; and I remembered the words of the Lord: \"Amen, I say to\nyou, this man went down to his house justified ... for every one\nthat humbleth himself shall be exalted.\"\n\nReflect upon this touching example of an humble soul, and, when\nyou go to pray, think of the necessity of humility, and of\npatience and resignation to God's will in all things.\n\nPray! Not in proud self-conceit, for God will despise you, and\nresist your supplications, and withhold His grace. Without grace\nyou will find yourself falling so repeatedly and grievously into\nsin that you will lose faith in prayer. When it comes to that,\nyou are on the road to hell.\n\nPray! Not in fear. That is a bad sign. It looks as though you did\nnot love God; and, it such be the case, you cannot expect Him to\nhearken to you, or grant you any favors.\n\nPray! but not in selfishness. Let God and His holy will be all in\nall to you. Take what He sends. Learn to trust Him in humility\nand patience. The Lord does not always tell us the reasons why.\n{268}\nWhether He commands us as a Master, chastises us as a Father, or\nteaches us to imitate Him in some hard lesson of humiliation--as\nwhen He Himself washed the Apostles feet--He very often has but\nthe same answer to us that He gave to the astonished Peter: \"What\nI do thou knowest not now; but them shalt know hereafter.\"\n\nPray in humility, O ye doubting, distrustful souls! God's truth\nis near enough and plain enough. It is you who are too\nhigh-minded to see it, too proud to pray that you may know it.\nAsk not with Pilate, \"What is truth? what is truth?\" in the\npresence of the Infinite Truth, and then, like him, turn away and\nnever hear it.\n\nCease not to pray, though the morn is long in dawning, and the\nday of redemption be delayed; but cease not to pray humbly, for,\nsays the wise man, \"the prayer of him that humbleth himself shall\npierce the clouds, and he shall not depart until the Most High\nbehold.\" [Footnote 102]\n\n [Footnote 102: Ecclus. xxxv. 21.]\n [USCCB: Sirach xxxv. 17.]\n\n ---------------------\n\n{269}\n\n Sermon XVIII.\n\n Preparation For A Good Death.\n\n (For The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost.)\n\n Isaiah xxxviii. 1.\n\n \"__Put thy house in order,\n for thou shall die, and not live__.\"\n\n\nWhen I read the Gospel for to-day, which describes the raising of\nthe widow's son to life, I ask myself the question--Did he die\nprepared? When his friends could no longer give him any hope of\nrecovery--when he was forced to make that bitter acknowledgment\nto himself, \"My time is come,\" then did he make ready to die? Did\nhe put his house in order? Had he time to do it? Was he in a fit\nstate to do it? When his soul had departed, could his widowed\nmother console herself with the thought--He lived a good life,\nand he died a good death? We can not answer for the young man, as\nthe Gospel tells us nothing either of his life or of his death,\nbut we can answer for many whose lives and whose deaths we know;\nand, knowing our own lives, we ought to be able to answer for the\nkind of death we would die if the word of the Lord came to us as\nit came to King Ezechias: \"Put thy house in order, for thou shalt\ndie, and not live.\"\n\n{270}\n\nA friend, about to take a journey to Europe, remarked: \"I have\narranged all my affairs, so as to have a pleasant journey.\" He\ndid well. We will do better when we shall have arranged all our\naffairs for a pleasant journey to that far-off land from which we\nshall never return. Let us see, brethren, what it is to arrange\none's affairs that one may die a good death. This preparation may\nbe summed up in the fulfilment of three obligations--the first,\nto God; the second, to our neighbor; and the last, to one's self.\n\nTo die well and happily, we must fulfil our obligations to God.\nHere I must confess I am somewhat troubled to answer how a man\nwho is near death, whether he be in good health at the present\nmoment or given up by his physician, shall satisfy this demand,\nif he has not already done so. The last, and usually the most\nuseless, hours of one's life are hardly the time to give God his\ndue. God's obligations are fulfilled in living not in dying,\nwell. Our Lord compares the dealings of God with us to a man who\nhired workmen to labor in his vineyard; to another who gave\ncertain talents to his servants which they were to improve; and,\nagain, to a husbandman who sowed his seed expecting to reap a\nharvest from it in due time.\n{271}\nThese are very apt figures of the duties and the fruits of life.\nThe heavenly reward will be bestowed upon him who labored at\nGod's work in life. He shall enter into so much of the heavenly\njoy of his Lord as he has fitted himself for by the improvement\nof the talents which God gave him. God will reap just so much of\na harvest as the seed of His divine grace has been cultivated and\nallowed to grow in the heart. Now we are sent to begin our work,\nto improve our talents, and His grace is sown in our hearts when\nlife begins. God's obligations begin when we begin to live, not\nwhen we begin to die. Oh! this is a startling truth! What a\nfearful thought this must be to him who has never realized it as\nlife went on, and only now begins to think about it when the\nterrors of the coming judgment are casting their shadows before,\nand darkening the last hours of his misspent life!\n\nI hardly know what to say to that man to whom religion has never\nbeen a reality in life, who has shirked its duties, and deafened\nhis conscience to its appeals, who thinks of it only when life is\nnot worth thinking of; who makes use of it only to smooth his\ndying pillow, to bless his grave, and pray for him when he is\ngone.\n{272}\nThe thought that his life, the only life he has had or will have\nupon which God has such a heavy claim for his service, for the\nworship and love of his heart, upon his personal exertions and\nsacrifices for the cause of His holy faith--has simply been\nallowed to wear away, day after day and year after year, and that\nnothing has been done, must be a thought of misery and dismay,\nsuch as would overwhelm the mind of a merchant who, after making\na long and, as he supposed, prosperous voyage across the ocean,\nfinds, to his disappointment, that he has forgotten to bring\neither the money or the letters of credit wherewith to purchase\nhis expected cargo.\n\nI hardly know what to say to that man whose life has been little\nmore than a mockery of the God whom he pretended to serve; whose\nprinciples and faith were indeed Christian, but whose practice\nand works have been heathen. He has been a Catholic--oh! yes, in\nname, but not in deed. It would be better to say of him that he\nwas not a Protestant, nor a Jew, nor an infidel. That is all.\nThat he is a Catholic seems to be a happy accident; for, to judge\nfrom the indifference he manifests in its practice, it is to be\nfeared that, had circumstances made him anything else, the\nCatholic faith would be the last thing to which he would give a\nserious thought. When such are suddenly surprised with the\nmessage, \"Put thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not\nlive,\" indeed it is hard to say how they are to prepare to answer\nto God for their life.\n{273}\nTheir memory brings up little else than despised warnings, grace\ntrifled with, neglected sacraments, prayerless days, and\ndesecrated Sundays; and I know not where they are to find the\nfruit that God comes seeking of them.\n\nYou see, my brethren, that the first condition of being able to\nprepare for a happy death is to have lived well. But you ask--Is\none who begins late in life to serve God, who knows that he has\nbut a short time to do something for Him, to give up his case as\nhopeless, and despair of fulfilling this great obligation? Must\nhe say I have, alas! made no life-preparation of this solemn\naccount, and it is too late now? Far be it from me to say that;\nbut this I know: he must begin now all the more earnestly, and do\nwhat he can with all the greater effort, as the time is the\nshorter. O my dear brethren! that these late workmen in God's\nservice, and the dying, would understand this! Such an one falls\nsick. He is attacked with a disease which will soon run its\ncourse. He sends for a priest. He makes his confession as well as\nhe can--he would have made a better one if he had been well, for\nhe is not in a condition to remember the events of so many years;\nhe is sorry for his neglect and his sins; sorry for all the\ncomforts of religion that he has lost; but, tell me, is he sorry\nfor what God has lost by his careless life?\n{274}\nDoes he express one regret that God has not only not had His own,\nbut that He has also been dishonored by his bad life; that the\nChurch of the faith he professes has been a loser by him; that\nhe, by his inconsistent conduct, has been a stumbling-block and a\nrock of scandal to the unbeliever and the scoffer? No, this is\nthe last thing that troubles him. What is one to do? Plainly\nthis: Religion ought now to be his all-absorbing thought. Every\nmoment should be employed with a holy jealousy in prayer, lest\nGod might be forgotten again. One, and only one, desire ought to\nfill his heart, and that is a desire to love God as perfectly as\nhe may before he die. He should frequently call to mind that\ncomforting assurance which our blessed Lord gave to the penitent\nMagdalen: \"Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath __loved\nmuch__.\" It is not the time for excuses, as so many seem to\nthink it to be, but a time of humble abandonment to the will and\nthe mercy of God. It is a painful sight to witness the contrary;\nto see the sick and the dying full of complaints, resisting the\nwill of God, and praying for a few more years of a miserable\nlife. If it were for the purpose of living in the love of God,\nand repairing the bitter past, it would be well. But no, their\nhearts are breaking to think they are forced to part with the\nworld that they have loved too well.\n{275}\nBut oh! how sweet it is to see a soul, at the close of life,\nstriving to detach itself from the world, and, as it were,\nreaching forward to throw itself into the embraces of its God.\nTrue, it may have been idle for many long years, and it may have\ncome only at the eleventh hour, but that hour, at least, is well\nspent. These are they of whom the Master will say: \"I will give\nto these last even as to the first.\" [Footnote 103] Such may also\nsay, in the language of the wise man: \"I awaked last of all, and\nas one that gathereth after the grape-gatherers. In the blessing\nof God I also have hoped; and as one that gathereth grapes, have\nI filled the wine-press.\" [Footnote 104]\n\n [Footnote 103: St. Matt. xx. 14.]\n\n [Footnote 104: Ecclesiasticus xxxiii. 16, 17.]\n [USCCB: Sirach xxxiii. 16, 17.]\n\nTo die well and happily, we must, in the second place, fulfil our\nobligations to our neighbor. Scarcely a day of our life passes in\nwhich we do not find that our neighbor has had somewhat against\nus. Debts accumulate, disputes arise, the incautious word is\nspoken, the scandal is given, the character of our neighbor\nsuffers from our folly or our spite, reconciliation is not made,\nforgiveness is neither asked nor given, friends are alienated,\nthe sun goes down upon our wrath, and on the morrow we must die.\nWho is there who is able to say, when he comes to die--I owe no\nman anything; my debts are all paid; I never wronged any one to\nwhom I did not make full restitution; I never lost a friend but I\nfound him again; I have not an enemy on the face of the earth?\n{276}\nHappy is that man, for he will die a happy death. But how many\nthere are who find themselves at the hour of death as they have\nalways been, both unwilling and unable to pay their just debts!\nHow many leave behind them an unsettled inheritance to their\nrelatives, which becomes an inheritance of discord, law-suits,\nenmities, and deadly feuds! How often men die, and show no fear\nto go to God with unclean hands--hands stained by the contact of\nill-gotten goods and stolen money! How many die unreconciled with\ntheir neighbor, and with no earnest wish to be so! How lightly\nthe wrongs of a lifetime weigh upon their conscience! How many\ndie and make no restitution of all the detraction and the calumny\nof which they have been guilty, and go to their grave amid the\nsecret jeers and curses of their neighbors! \"Blessed is he that\nis defended from a wicked tongue,\" says the Holy Scripture, \"that\nhath not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn\nthe yoke thereof, and hath not been bound in its bands. For its\nyoke is a yoke of iron: and its bands are bands of brass. The\ndeath thereof is a most evil death: and hell is preferable to\nit.\" [Footnote 105]\n\n [Footnote 105: Ecclus. xxviii. 23, 24.]\n [USCCB: Sirach xxviii. 19-21.]\n\n{277}\n\nDo you wish to escape such a lamentable end? Would you die the\ndeath of the just, leaving your name in benediction, your loss\nsincerely mourned, and your soul defended with prayers at the bar\nof judgment? Deal with thy neighbor now whilst thou art in the\nway with him. \"Put thy house in order,\" and especially when you\ncome to die. Let no worldly consideration, no thought of pride,\nhinder you from a perfect reconciliation with all men--a full\npayment of every debt--a free forgiveness for every wrong you\nhave suffered. The few moments that remain to you, you will need\nto pray for God's forgiveness for your own sins. Remember the\nLord's words: \"For with what judgment you have judged, you shall\nbe judged; and with what measure you have measured, it shall be\nmeasured to you again.\" [Footnote 106]\n\n [Footnote 106: St. Matt. vii. 2.]\n\nLastly, to die well, we must fulfil the obligations we owe to\nourselves. We are Christians, and should meet death like\nChristians. That is, we owe it to ourselves to show at that\nsupreme moment some evidence that we are not being forced out of\nlife as if there were no existence beyond it, but that we are\nready to answer the call that God makes to us to come home; not\nthat we are setting out upon a journey of darkness and lonely\nmisery, but that we are following Jesus, who has overcome the\nsting of death and robbed the grave of its terrors.\n{278}\nThat we may be encouraged in this, we should bring to mind the\nexamples which the holy martyrs and the other saints of God have\nleft us in their deaths. Death, in its very nature, is\nhumiliating and degrading to human nature. It conquers us; it\nleaves us not a trace of our beauty nor a vestige of our power.\nNo wonder that the flesh is weak and trembles before it; but the\nspirit, ennobled with Christian faith and hope, and strengthened\nwith Christian charily, is willing and courageous. The\nChristian's death is then no longer an ignominious defeat, but a\nglorious sacrifice. The flesh goes, indeed, to the prison of the\ngrave; but the spirit, set free from its mortal bonds, mounts to\nthe skies to be crowned with power and immortality.\n\nOne thought alone should occupy our minds in our last hours--the\nthought of uniting our souls to God, whom we are so soon to meet.\nIt is painful to see a dying person thinking of nothing but how\nto give some momentary relief to his body, each instant calling\nfor some new comfort, as anxious and careful as if he were\npreparing for a long life, instead of employing the precious\nmoments in prayer, in acts of contrition for the sins of his past\nlife, and in acts of love to God. I know that many persons think\nit useless to try to pray at such a time, when the strength is\nfailing and the senses are growing dull; but it is not so.\n{279}\nThey can \"pray in their soul,\" as a saintly woman told me on her\ndeath-bed. Seeing that I noticed the beads in her hands, she said\nto me: \"I am not able to __say__ my beads, father; but, when I\nfeel lonesome, I take them out to keep me company, and I pray in\nmy soul.\" We may make all our acts acts of prayer, if we will.\nOur acceptance of sickness and death in the spirit of penance is\nprayer. Our resignation to the will of God--our patience in\nsuffering--our gentleness and mildness with those who are tending\nand watching us--all these things are prayer, if we practise them\nwith the thought that they are pleasing to God.\n\nThen, there are the holy sacraments of the dying, full of grace,\ncomfort, and strength to our souls. I know few Catholics wilfully\nneglect these, but it is a source of grief to the priest to be\ncalled, so often as he is, to administer the last sacraments to\nthose who ought long ago have received the first ones they need.\nI think it is one of the most discouraging events in the ministry\nto go to a dying man and find that it is years since he confessed\nor received the Holy Communion. Confession! I tell you that it is\nvery seldom that one on his sick-bed makes as good a confession\nas he would if he were well. He cannot do it. His mind is not as\nclear; his memory fails him; and, worst of all, he makes little\nor no effort to prepare himself for it. What is the consequence?\n{280}\nHis contrition is as vague and indifferent as is his confession.\nWith how much devotion does he receive the Holy Viaticum and the\nExtreme Unction? Alas! this man did not begin to pray or to think\nabout either till an hour ago, when the doctor told him he had to\ndie. The priest absolves him, and he and his friends are content.\nBut did God absolve him? Tell me if he made a good confession, or\nwas sincerely sorry for his sins, and then I will tell you\nwhether God absolved him. Woe be to him if he did not, for it is\nthe last chance he has to confess, and but too frequently it is\nthe last appeal he makes to God for forgiveness. The priest gives\nhim the Holy Communion. Does he receive it worthily? Not, of\ncourse, because he is going to die, or because this is his last\nCommunion. Does he receive it in as good dispositions as would\nmake it a worthy Communion if he were well, and had received it\nin the church at the altar? If not, he makes an unworthy\nCommunion, and eats and drinks damnation to himself. The priest\nanoints him. Is he signed and consecrated to God, and are his\nsenses purified, and his soul strengthened? Yes, if he be in the\ngrace of God. If not, he is signed and delivered over to Satan by\nit, and his soul is prepared for hell. Oh! if one wishes to be\nable to fulfil these obligations well at the hour of death, he\nmust not neglect the preparation for them in life.\n\n{281}\n\nBeautiful is the happy death of a Christian! Death! He does not\ndie. He enters into life; he rests from his labors; he falls\nasleep in the Lord. Not long ago, I received an invitation to\nattend the funeral of a priest. It was couched in these words:\n\"You are invited to attend the funeral of the Very Rev. Patrick\nMoran, who entered into his rest at half-past eight on Wednesday\nmorning last.\" Fitting sentence, indeed, to describe the death of\nthat venerable and holy old man! Through a long life he lived and\nlabored only for God. Full of years and of merit, ripe for\nheaven, and ready to begin his eternal life, he ceased from work\nat the call of his divine Master, and entered into his rest. Thus\nshould every Christian die. It is what the Holy Church wishes for\nus all. When the solemn dirges are chanted over us, again and\nagain she prays: \"__Requiem \u00e6ternam dona eis, Domine.\"\n\"Requiescant in pace.__\" \"Eternal rest grant unto them, O\nLord!\" \"May they rest in peace!\"\n\nMy brethren, I have tried to-day to lay before you the duties of\nthe dying Christian. Soon will some of you be called upon to put\nthem in practice. Are you all ready for the last preparations? Is\nyour life to-day such as you would like it to be, if to-morrow\nyou are to die? Is your confession made for this year? Have you\nreceived the Easter Communion? Are you at peace with God and men?\n{282}\nThese are questions which you will wish to be able to answer in\nthe affirmative when you call upon the priest for your holy rites\nand his parting blessing. Prepare now, that you may be prepared\nthen. Begin to-day, for the hour may come sooner than you imagine\nin which you shall hear this awful message from the Lord: \"Put\nthy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.\"\n\n ------------------------\n\n{283}\n\n Sermon XIX.\n\n The King's Marriage Feast.\n\n (For The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost.)\n\n St. Matt. xxii. 14.\n\n \"__For many are called,\n but few are chosen.__\"\n\n\nThere are some Catholics who, with the smallest quantity of the\nspirit of the Catholic religion, are very boastful of the name.\nThey look down upon those who are out of the fold of the Church\nwith scorn and contempt. Their whole demeanor indicates that they\nconsider themselves immensely superior to these unfortunate\ncreatures, who are all doomed necessarily to eternal destruction.\nAs to themselves, they deem it impossible that they should incur\nthe same doom, because they are Catholics. They are not members\nof the Church so much by a special divine favor, but rather they\nhave conferred a favor on God by belonging to it. The Church\nbelongs to them by the right of birth, and the fact of their\nparents having been Catholics gives them the privilege of\nsneering at all not born under similar circumstances.\n{284}\nI have even heard such persons call converts to the faith by the\nsweet and charitable epithet of \"turncoats,\" and say they should\nhave remained where they were, and that it is a disgraceful thing\nto abandon the religion of one's forefathers. Catholicity with\nsuch is a thing of descent and of family pride; not a thing of\nthe heart and of the will.\n\nThe Holy Ghost understood this spirit, and, by the mouth of St.\nJohn the Baptist, rebuked it severely: \"Bring forth fruits worthy\nof penance, and do not begin to say, We have Abraham for our\nfather.\" [Footnote 107] These words, applied to the Jews of old,\nmight well be translated for the benefit of many Catholics\nnowadays--Do not begin to say, We are born of Catholic parents,\nour forefathers have been Catholics for many generations, if you\nare living like the heathen; but bring forth fruits worthy of\nthat holy and sacred name of Catholic; otherwise you will never\ncome to enjoy the presence of God, but be everlastingly cast out.\n\n [Footnote 107: St. Luke iii. 8.]\n\nThe parable of to-day gives us the most useful instruction on\nthis very subject. A certain king made a marriage feast for his\nson. This king is the God of heaven and earth. The marriage feast\nHe makes is the participation of the creature in His own glory; a\nboundless and inconceivable happiness, which shall never have end\nor diminution; a realization of more than we have dreamed of, or\ncould possibly imagine.\n\n{285}\n\nThis is the marriage feast of His Eternal Son, our Lord Jesus\nChrist, because He, by taking our flesh upon Himself and becoming\nman, by suffering and dying upon the cross, has redeemed us from\nsin, elevated us far above the capacity of nature, and enabled us\nto aspire to this magnificent destiny. It is His marriage feast,\nbecause it is the celebration of the eternal nuptials of Himself\nwith the soul. It is the marriage feast in which the Omnipotence\nof the Eternal Beauty is exercised to render the guests eternally\nand supremely happy, filling them with an ocean of unbounded joy\nand contentment.\n\nThe king sent out his servants into the highways and public\nstreets, with directions to call or invite to his feast all they\nshould meet, and urge them to come in.\n\nThis is what God does now every day. He calls, indiscriminately,\nthe rich and the poor, the noble and the lowly, into the fold of\nHis Church. It is no merit on their part which brings them the\ninvitation. They are all ragged and dirty in the sight of God.\nNot one of them but would be a disgrace to the King's feast; but\nGod does not look at that. He is moved only by His desire to do\nthem a great favor, and confer upon them great happiness.\n{286}\nWhen He invites them, He intends to make them fit; to wash off\nthe dirt, and put suitable clothing upon them, so that they may\nbe made fit to enter His banqueting-hall. He has them brought to\nan outer room, where are baths and precious ointments, and\nsplendid garments, and servants in abundance to put them on. They\nneed not trouble themselves with the expense of providing\nanything, for the King provides all.\n\nA child is brought to the priest for baptism. That child is of\nCatholic parents, and they bring it. The child knows nothing at\nall of what is done for it. It had no choice in the matter. It\nmight have been born of another race and of another religion, but\nGod, and not itself, has caused it to be born of Catholic\nparents, and to be brought by them to baptism. It is, as it were,\nmet on the highway and called in, all stained by original sin, to\nbe washed in baptism, endowed with the right to the sacraments,\nand invested with an immortal inheritance. So likewise Jesus\nChrist has commanded His ministers to go and preach the Gospel to\nevery creature; to go and invite everybody who hears their voice\nto come in and enjoy the same privileges. Those who accept the\ninvitation have as much right as those who are invited in the\nother way, by the accident of their birth; for no one has any\nother right than what comes from the pure bounty and goodness of\nthe King.\n{287}\nThose who are born of Catholic parents, and those who are\nCatholics by their own free choice in later life, stand on the\nsame footing. We are all a crowd of beggars, who were in the\nbroad highway, and have heard the invitation of the King of\nkings, and have come in in obedience to it. We are now all\nstanding in the outer hall of the eternal banquet, or rather in\nthe banqueting-room itself, waiting for the King to come in, when\nthe music will begin, and all its grandeur be lighted up by His\npresence.\n\nIt is a most solemn reflection, my friends. You and I have\nreceived this invitation. The King's messengers have met us on\nthe highway, and they have forced us to come in. We have been\ncompelled to come in, for ruin and death were the alternative of\nstaying out. We have no longer the liberty of ranging the\nhighways. We are no longer in the position of the\nheathen--without the knowledge of the true religion, and without\nbaptism. The indelible mark, or character as it is termed, of\nbaptism has been imprinted on our souls; all the ages of eternity\nwill not suffice to wipe it out. Poor as this privilege was to be\nhungry and ragged and miserable, it is ours no longer, but we are\nin the banqueting-hall of the marriage feast.\n\n{288}\n\nThere we are, and we cannot go out into the highway again. Once\nin, the door is shut behind us, and there is no key to unlock it.\nOnce removed out of the state of our birth and made heirs of the\nkingdom of heaven by baptism, it is impossible to put us back\nagain in our former relations. The mark of baptism, stamped upon\nour souls, will remain with us either in heaven or in hell.\nElevated by God's goodness far above the condition of our nature,\nif we fall, it must be down, deeper far than the condition from\nwhich we were first taken.\n\nA man may neglect his duty to God, and try to persuade himself\nthat the end and object of his existence is to get money, or\nfame, or power, or pleasure, but he will find to his cost that it\nwas no such thing. The end and object of his existence was to\nlearn to love and serve God in this world, in order to be happy\nwith Him in the next; to prepare to be a worthy guest at the\nmarriage feast of the Lamb, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\n\nAnd now we are all in at the feast, and the King comes around to\nsee the guests. He discovers one without a suitable garment on;\none who has had the brazen-faced shamelessness to intrude himself\ninto the company all ragged and dirty, without the least pains to\nmake himself look decent, and pay respect to the King and his\nguests. Could there be a more outrageous insult?\n{289}\nCould anything be more wanton and impudent than such conduct? The\nKing had provided everything; all they needed was at hand; He had\nwarned them to make themselves fit before going in: and here is\nthis man, in spite of all this, deliberately walking into this\nsplendid entertainment, with old tattered clothes and unwashed\nface and hands. The King is justly indignant, and commands him to\nbe bound hand and foot, and cast into a dismal prison.\n\nIs it not so? Has not God provided the Holy Sacrament of Penance,\nwhere, with little trouble, the soul can be washed and cleansed\nfrom all its defilements? The Holy Sacrament of the altar, where\nthe soul is nourished, and strengthened, and adorned by feeding\non the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are not\ninnumerable graces and virtues waiting for us, ready to be given,\nif we will only take the trouble to ask for them?\n\nYes, the King of Glory will come around to see the guests at the\neternal feast. He will inspect each one of us. When will He come\naround? When we die. Then it is the Judge of the whole human race\nwill come around to see if we are in the banqueting-hall of the\neternal feast with the marriage garment on.\n\n{290}\n\nWe came up to the door of the church, and we received a ticket of\nadmission. All right so far. We entered the door, and we remained\nwithin among the rest. Still all is right, and no doubt we felt\npleased to be in such good company, and no one turned us out. But\nwhat good will all this do if we have not the wedding garment on?\nWhat good will it do us to have gone to the church and heard the\nsermons, if we have not on the wedding garment? What good to have\nhad the sacraments in life, or even at the hour of death, if we\nhave not on the wedding garment?\n\nWhat is this wedding garment? The grace of God. If we are in\nmortal sin, we have not the wedding garment on. We pulled it off\nwhen we committed sin, and rendered ourselves utterly unfit for\nthe company of heaven. If we are in mortal sin at this moment, we\nare now in the marriage feast of the King's Son without the\nwedding garment, and woe be to us if the King should happen to\ncome around. At any moment His eye may fall upon us, and we may\nhear the words, \"Friend, why camest thou in hither with out\nhaving on a wedding garment?\" You will be struck dumb with\nconfusion and have nothing to reply; and then will go forth the\nirrevocable sentence, \"Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into\nthe outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of\nteeth.\"\n\n{291}\n\nOh! who can comprehend the folly of the human race--a race of\nbeings so feeble and miserable, and limited by its nature, and\nyet so unlimited and unbounded in its cravings for happiness--\nwho can make so little of that offer which lifts them out of all\nthis misery and exceeds their highest expectations? One would\nthink this offer would fill them with delight and a noble\nenthusiasm to avail themselves of it. And yet, what do we see?\nGod's offer is despised. An immortal destiny is thrown away. Man,\ncreated to the image and likeness of God, makes himself like the\nbeasts that perish. He boasts and prides himself on the fact that\nhe lives for the body, and despises eternity and God.\n\nMany are called. Many are placed in the way of salvation. Many\nhave an abundance of means in their hands to attain to it. With a\nlittle attention, with light exertion, many would be saved who\nare lost. What inexcusable folly! Let us not be guilty of it. Let\nus live for our immortal souls. Let us put on the wedding garment\nof truth, and sincerity, and justice--that white garment that we\nreceived at baptism--and see that we keep it unspotted until the\nend.\n\n -----------------------------\n\n{292}\n\n Sermon XX.\n\n Good Use Of Sickness.\n\n\n (For The Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost.)\n\n Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 9.\n [USCCB: Sirach xxxviii. 9.]\n\n \"__My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself,\n but pray to the Lord, and he shall heal thee.__\"\n\n\nThe Gospel of the day relates the miracle of the healing of the\nruler's son. That this man had the right kind of faith which\npleases God, and obtains extraordinary favors from His hand, is\nshown by the promptitude of his belief in what our Lord said to\nhim. Although he had urged and insisted upon our Lord's going\ndown to Capharnaum with him, yet, no sooner did he hear the\nwords, \"Go thy way, thy son liveth,\" than he immediately returned\nhome alone without further doubt or remonstrance.\n\nI do not think, my brethren, that we exercise enough of this\nfaith in God in our sicknesses; not, understand me, that we are\nto look for miraculous cures of our ailments and diseases, or\nthat we are to condemn ourselves for want of faith if our prayers\nfor relief are not answered on a sudden; but what I mean is, that\nwe too often misapprehend the cause of our sicknesses, and do not\nmake the good use of them we might. Let me say a few words which\nmay be for our instruction and edification on these points.\n\n{293}\n\nIn any event, whatever may be the direct cause of our sickness,\nit is, after all, the will of God. If we fall sick through our\nown culpable neglect or criminal excesses, it is still the will\nof God. We have, in this, disturbed the good order of His\nProvidence, and suffer the natural consequences of it. There are,\nbesides, those countless forms of disease and phases of ill\nhealth which afflict us, and which we are not able to trace to\nany fault of ours. We fall sick, and cannot tell how or why. An\ninvisible hand has touched us at a moment we knew not, and our\nstrength is gone, the light has fled from our eyes, and the color\nfrom our cheek. A secret poison has insinuated itself into our\nblood, and dried up the fountains of health and vigor. Fierce and\nrapid in its destruction, a week, a day, or even a few hours\nsuffice to bring us to the point of death, and shatter the\nboasted glory of our strength. Then, if the danger passes and the\nprospect of returning health smiles upon us, we have yet to pass\nthrough the long and tedious days and nights of convalescence,\ngathering but slowly, and with great labor and suffering, that\nwhich we lost so quickly and so easily.\n\n{294}\n\nThe first and most necessary truth for a Christian to reflect\nupon in the time of sickness is that, in some way or other, God's\nhand is in it, and that the stroke falls either in chastisement,\nin mercy, or as a special favor and blessing. We must never\nforget that life is given to us with all its vicissitudes of joy\nand sorrow, of prosperity and adversity, of pains and pleasures,\nmore because of eternity than on its own account. Sickness comes\nin its proper turn at fitting times as a part of the life that we\nare to lead here below; and when it is good for us, then God\nsends it. He has ends in view that we may be wholly ignorant of.\nHe knows our souls well and watches over them, and a Christian\nought to believe that he is never sick in body but for the sake\nof the health of his soul.\n\nBut some one may say that is bringing sickness, health, and the\nlike within the pale of religion. \"O ye sons of men! how long\nwill ye be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after\nlying?\" We are cunning enough in the ways of the world, but why\nso slow to understand the ways of God? Is there anything that we\nare, or have, or can be that is not of God? Why forever trying to\nlie to ourselves, and leave Him out of account? Are we sick or\nwell, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, honored or despised,\nthat God does not know it, has not so appointed it, and has not\ngood reasons for it? And is not the referring of any or all of\nthe states of our being to Him an act of religion?\n\n{295}\n\nThe truth is, my brethren, that the manner in which one receives\nand bears an attack of illness is a good test of one's religion.\nYou will see some giving away to inordinate fear and anxiety upon\nthe approach of the first symptoms of disease. They are not in\nthe habit of referring even their health to God, or of thanking\nHim for it. They imagine they live of themselves. So, when they\nfeel their own strength leaving them, and are forced to say--I\ncan hold up myself no longer, then terror seizes upon them, as if\nall aid, human or divine, was wanting, because they can no longer\nhelp themselves.\n\nSee, too, how the positively irreligious and wicked man generally\nacts in the commencement of sickness. He talks about his fate,\nhis ill-luck, and curses it. He utters incoherent cries of\nimpatience, and is full of anxiety to discover the act of\nindiscretion on his own part, or the fault of others, through\nwhich he has fallen ill.\n\nBut the true Christian, whose soul is prepared for tribulation,\nwith whom God is no stranger in the time of health, recognizes\ninstantly the hand of God when that health is threatened. With\nholy Job, he exclaims: \"If we have received good things at the\nhand of God, why should we not receive evil?\" [Footnote 108]\n\n [Footnote 108: Job ii. 10.]\n\n{296}\n\nHe may be surprised, as all are, at the unlooked-for blow, but\nthere is no sign of angry complaint or of envious repining. It is\nall right, he says, God knows best. This one thought satisfies\nhis heart, God knows about it. He knows why He sends it. He knows\nhow long it will last; how much I shall suffer, and how it will\nend. May His holy will be done!\n\nYou see, my brethren, that what I desire to impress upon your\nminds is that, in all sickness, from whatever cause, the will of\nGod is to be acknowledged. It is not every Christian, I regret to\nsay, who does so look upon it. Too often you will find it\nregarded as a grievous misfortune, having no good reason why it\nshould be, and without any compensation for the loss of worldly\nenjoyment and advantages which it necessarily entails; and, even\nif they do agree that God has sent it, then it is because God is\nangry with them. He is taking vengeance upon them. There appears\nto be no other possible reason that can be given for it.\n\nAs I said before, we are afflicted with sickness not only as a\nchastisement for sin, but sometimes also in mercy, as an act of\nloving-kindness and forethought on the part of God; and again\nvery frequently, as in the case of holy Job, as an opportunity to\ntry our faith, to enable us to show our constancy and love to\nGod, and is therefore to be looked upon as a mark of\npredilection, and a positive blessing and grace.\n\n{297}\n\nCertainly, sickness is sometimes sent as a punishment for sin. It\ncomes as a natural and just consequence of sinful excesses. Look\nat the drunkard and the debauchee. They have gone on for awhile\nin seeming impunity, but every debauch was a blow struck upon the\ncitadel of life and health. Soon it is shattered, and totters and\nfalls into ruin. Go into the streets, and you may meet them, with\nhaggard faces and trembling limbs. Go to the hospitals and the\ninsane asylums, and see those wrecks of humanity, almost soulless\nmen and women, drivelling idiots, and sickening masses of\ncorruption. Go to many a sick bedside, in palace or in hovel, in\nthis great city, and you may see how sin is punished by an\noutraged God. And, though you yourself could not trace the fever\nthat blighted you for many long weeks to any natural cause, you\nknow that you deserved it all. Your alarmed conscience did not\nfail to tell you that there were crimes of your life that\ndemanded retribution. Your overweening pride, your ungovernable\nanger, has been humbled in the dust. Your days are shortened\nbecause of your disobedience and cruelty to your parents.\n{298}\nThe money you have stolen and would not restore has been wrested\nfrom you by the heavy charges of your illness. Your disorderly\nappetites and lusts are now punished with compulsory and\nexhausting fasts from all food. \"He hath struck you as being\nwicked, in open sight; who as it were on purpose hath revolted\nfrom Him, and would not understand His ways: so that you have\ncaused the cry of the needy to come up before Him, and He has\nheard the voice of the poor.\" [Footnote 109]\n\n [Footnote 109: Job xxxiv. 26, 28.]\n\nYou thought in your sin that you were stronger than God. Now He\nhas rebuked you by sorrow on the sick bed, and has made all your\nbones to wither. Bread is become abominable to you, and to your\nsoul the meat which before you desired. You have trampled on\nGod's holy law; you would not go to Mass to worship Him. Now,\nthough you would gladly go any distance, and suffer any pain to\nbe present at it, you are denied that joy and consolation. You\nare as one upon whom the church doors are closed, for whom the\naltar is thrown down, and the priest departed. \"In whatsoever a\nman sins,\" says the Holy Scripture, \"in that also shall he be\npunished.\"\n\n{299}\n\nSickness has come upon you. Why? In mercy, God sees how\nindifferent you have become to Him. He sees how your soul has\nbecome absorbed in worldly things. Your heart is following after\nstrange gods, and your footsteps are leading down to hell. As\nEliu said to Job, \"Your guardian angel has spoken to God for you,\nand said, Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption.\"\nand God in mercy has heard his prayers, and your way is stopped.\nIt is because God loves you, and would save you, that this has\ncome upon you. In the days of pain, and during the long, feverish\nnights, you will remember God. In your anguish you will turn to\nHim for comfort, and in your fear you will put your trust in Him.\nThis world has had too much of your heart. On a sick bed you will\nbe able to judge how much it is worth. You will condemn the\nvanity of your life. The past will be repented of. New\nresolutions will be made. You will come back to health with a\nrefreshed and chastened spirit. What the friend of Job said to\nhim, you will say of yourself: \"My flesh is consumed with\npunishments, that I may return to the days of my youth. I will\npray to God, and He will be gracious to me: and I shall see His\nface with joy. When I look upon men, I shall say, I have sinned,\nand indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I\ndeserved, hath delivered my soul from going into destruction,\nthat it may live and see the light.\" [Footnote 110]\n\n [Footnote 110: Job xxxiii. 25-28.]\n\n{300}\n\nYes, my dear brethren, I think this is the cause of a great deal\nof the sickness that is sent upon us. The fever, the cholera, the\naccident, are good preachers, and they make themselves heard. I\ndo not wonder, then, to see men compelled to listen to their\nthreatening tones, and their souls terrified at their menacing\ngestures of death, and their eloquent descriptions of the coffin\nand the grave. The words of God's appointed preacher fall\nunheeded upon their ears. As long as they have strength enough to\nhear us, they have courage enough to disobey us. But God shows\nthem a vision of a newly made grave, and causes their feet to\ntotter upon its brink, that they may not go down into it\nunabsolved.\n\nO blessed sickness! how many wandering souls have you not brought\nback to a forgotten God! How many almost lost have you not\nsnatched from the jaws of hell! God is a kind and thoughtful\nFather to us, when we often think Him a hard and cruel Master.\nLike a surgeon, the deeper and more hidden the wound, the more\nresolutely does he cut down upon it, and lay it open, in order to\neffect a radical cure. He chastises us in mercy here, that He may\nspare us at His judgment-seat in the day of His wrath.\n\n{301}\n\nWhy are you sick, you who have no grievous crimes to expiate--you\nwhose whole heart has belonged to God this many a day? Because\nyou are the object of His special graces, and a chosen vessel of\nelection. What is the secret of this apparent contradiction? God\nwishes to try you, and prove your constancy. Not that He doubts\nyou. On the contrary, He knows how true your heart is. He has\nevery confidence in your fidelity. But He wishes to glorify that\nfidelity. He wishes to give you a chance to show that you can\ntrust Him in the darkness as well as in the light. He strikes\nyou, that you may have glorious wounds to show at the last day.\nDo you not know that to suffer for any one is to give a better\nproof of love than to confer favors and benefits? You have done a\ngood deal for God, I know. He does not forget it. He asks you to\ngive up that which it is the hardest thing in the world to\nsacrifice--your health. It seems the most unreasonable thing to\nsacrifice. Your friends and neighbors pity you. They know how\nmuch good you were able to do when you were strong and well. They\nregret to see your usefulness cut off. That usefulness was your\nconstant self-sacrifice for the good of your neighbor. They would\nlike to see that go on. They forget that God wants you to do a\nlittle self-sacrifice for Him, for Him alone, just as if there\nwere no one in existence except you and He in the whole universe.\nThis is why you are sick and suffering.\n{302}\nRejoice, then, O Christian sufferer! and bear your cross, not\nonly with patience and resignation, but with holy joy and a\nthankful heart. Your labors are accepted in His sight, and only\nthis is yet wanting to you--the merit of suffering for Him.\n\nMy brethren, this is, I well know, a strange doctrine in the ears\nof the world, and especially to the unbelieving world around us\nin our day. Meritorious suffering is something which our\nProtestant friends not only do not comprehend, but laugh at, so\nthat to most of them, even the very passion and death of our Lord\nis an enigma. They may believe it, but it is an unreasonable\nbelief on their part, for they ridicule the very principle upon\nwhich its reasonableness is founded.\n\nThe Catholic Church teaches us that there is a merit in\nsuffering, in voluntary mortification, in fasting and abstinence,\nin giving up the world, its friendships and its pleasures; that\nit is meritorious and pleasing to God for the priest and the\nvirgin to deny themselves the joys and comforts of the married\nstate; in a word, that God is glorified as well by suffering as\nby act. This is her principle. It is the only principle which can\ngive any reasonable explanation of the atoning sacrifice of our\nLord, and to deny it is to deny Christ.\n\nAccidental, or rather Providential, suffering, such as we have in\nsickness, is turned to the same account, and sanctified by our\noffering it to God in the spirit of sacrifice; for it is not in\nthe act of suffering itself, but in the will, that merit is\nobtained.\n\n{303}\n\nNow, my brethren, you see in what spirit we should receive and\nendure sickness. The will should accept it at once, calmly,\nwillingly, without murmur or complaint. It is God's will. That\nshould be sufficient. Our own will must respond and make an\nentire and generous offering of it. In the beginning of sickness,\nthen, let us say, O my God! I accept this at your hands with all\nthe pain I shall suffer, whatever may be the reason you have so\nwilled it, in satisfaction for my sins, as an admonition to lead\na better life, and as a happy chance to suffer something for your\nsake in union with the sufferings of my Lord and Saviour Jesus\nChrist. Help me by your grace to profit by it as you desire.\n\nWhile the sickness lasts, let us often look back upon God, as a\ngallant knight upon a perilous journey thinks upon his liege\nlord, whose behests are his law, and whose honor is in his hands,\nrenewing again and again our first fervent offering and oath of\nfidelity. There will be times when we need to think upon\nGod--times of trial and temptation, when nothing but the thought\nof God will support us. For there are moments of suffering, when\nour nearest and dearest friends are dumb in our presence; when\nthe friendly hand, uncertain, stops and hesitates before us,\nfearing lest too rudely it may draw aside the veil that shrouds\nour anguish--agonizing moments when all human thought and\nlanguage dies upon the threshold.\n{304}\nHappy the soul who then knows whither to turn for that longed-for\ncomfort which the world in its weakness cannot give! Happy is he\nwho has learned the secret of sanctifying suffering! For such the\nLord's words have a meaning: \"Blessed are they that mourn: for\nthey shall be comforted.\"\n\nThese thoughts and the lessons they teach appear to my mind not\ninappropriate to the season through which we are passing. Nature\nis putting on her autumn garb of sombre tints, telling us that\nher strength and beauty are passing away, and that her days of\nbrightness are declining. The woods, once vocal with the song of\nbirds, now begin to look lonely and deserted. Their stillness is\nbroken only by the rustling fall of the dry and withered leaves,\nlike the stealthy and hushed footsteps heard in the sick chamber.\nThe sighing of the winds through the branches robbed of their\ncrown of verdure is mournful in the ears of the listener, as the\nlow, dreamy moanings in a sick man's sleep. They both speak of\ndecay and whisper of death. Of those of us, my brethren, for whom\nGod is preparing the couch of sickness, against whose sight the\nlight of day will be shut out, and upon whose prostrate form the\nshadows of suffering will soon fall, some will rise and walk\nforth in the warm sunshine of a hopeful spring, and some, like\nthe fallen leaves, will never flourish again, but lie, like them,\nto crumble, decay, and mingle with the dust.\n{305}\nTheir white pall of the winter snow shall also be ours. The\nfierce winter storm shall howl its doleful requiem over our heads\nas it passes by, but we shall not heed it. The earth shall smile\nin beauty again, but not for us.\n\nOh! be it for us as it may--God knoweth! it will be well for us\nto have thought upon sickness, and to have prepared our souls for\nthe trial. If health be again granted to us, we shall return to\nit again all the better for having known how to receive it and\nhow to improve its time. If not, then, when our name shall have\nbecome a memory, and our form a vision of the never-returning\npast, we shall look back from the further shore of the dark river\nof death over which we have passed, and be glad that we learned\nhow to lean upon God in those last dreadful hours in life, glad\nthat we offered to Him beforehand the willing sacrifice of health\nand strength and life, and thus ascended from the altar of the\nbed of suffering, as a victim of acceptable merit in the sight of\nHim who rewards, more than tongue can tell, the least we ever do\nor suffer for His sake.\n\n ----------------------\n\n{306}\n\n Sermon XXI.\n\n Thoughts For Advent.\n\n (For The Third Sunday Of Advent.)\n\n\n Philippians iv. 8.\n\n \"__For the rest, brethren,\n whatsoever things are true,\n whatsoever things are modest,\n whatsoever things are just,\n whatsoever things are holy,\n whatsoever things are amiable,\n whatsoever things are of good repute;\n if there be any virtue,\n if there be any praise of discipline,\n think on these things__.\"\n\n\nThe Christian is so deeply impressed with the truth, that a time\nwill come when his faith will be changed to sight, his hope be\nrealized in reward, and his charity be perfected in the enjoyment\nof all that is good, that he may be said to have this thought\nalways uppermost in his mind. It regulates his conduct, consoles\nhim in affliction, cheers him in the hour of darkness and of\ndoubt, and puts in his mouth and hands the words and deeds of\nencouragement to his fellows. It is a magnetic thought, which,\namid the storms and tempests of life, and through all its weary\nwanderings, keeps one's heart ever turned towards God and\neternity.\n{307}\nThis blessed time for which we are all looking is the coming of\nthe Lord, the manifestation and glorious consummation of the\nKingdom of God. As the Apostle expresses it: \"Looking for the\nblessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our\nSaviour Jesus Christ.\" [Footnote 111]\n\n [Footnote 111: Ep. Titus ii. 13.]\n\nThe holy season of Advent brings this truth more strongly before\nus, and directs our thoughts to it by the Gospel prophecies of\nthe second advent of Christ, and by the warnings to prepare for\nit which St. Paul gives so often in his epistles. The words of\nthe text follow immediately the admonition of the great Apostle\nwhich the Church has chosen for the third Sunday of Advent: \"The\nLord is nigh.\" Let us to-day, then, think on these things, and\nendeavor to make these thoughts profitable.\n\nI. __Whatsoever things are true__. Here is a thought worth\nthousands. We look around us, and see so much insincerity,\nduplicity, and double-dealing; we meet so many who will overreach\nus with a friendly smile on their countenance, and cheat us\nwithout a blush, that we are tempted both to exclaim with David,\nin haste, \"All men are liars,\" and to descend from our Christian\nstand-point of high integrity and noble frankness, in order to\ncope with the world after its own fashion, and meet it with its\nown weapons.\n{308}\nBut it is an unfortunate day for the Christian when he begins to\nforget or disbelieve in what is true, and to think on what is\nfalse. His mind is quickly pervaded with a subtle poison, which\ninduces a meanness towards his fellow-men--a distrust of their\ngood faith, and ends in a practical disbelief of the Providence\nof God. To him such unmerited success as attends the corrupt and\nswindling practices of the day is at first astonishing. The\nwicked seem to have it all their own way, and profit by the\ndelay, and despite the coming of the hour when the secrets of all\nhearts shall be revealed before the judgment-seat of Christ. His\nChristian simplicity and candor gives way little by little before\nthe attacks of this lying spirit; his faith in truth, honesty,\nand pure motives is gone, and his practice is not slow to follow\nhis faith.\n\nIt is a trite saying that the world is full of humbug, but it is\na degrading thought; and to accept this saying as a universal\ntruth, or as the guide of his actions, is unworthy of the\nChristian man. I envy not the man who acts on the despicable\nmaxim, \"Treat every man as a rogue until he has proved himself\nhonest.\" Rather, a thousand times, would I trust in the power of\ntruth, be true to myself, and, if need be, suffer the loss\nthereby; for he who has cheated me is the loser in the end, while\nI have preserved, for a small price, that which is above value,\nmy Christian honor and loyalty to truth.\n\n{309}\n\nSincerity and candor are not dead, neither has humbug killed\nthem. There are many true people in the world, be there ever so\nmany hypocrites; and truth is always living, real,\nindestructible, for it lives with a divine, immortal life.\nRemembering our blessed Lord's words, then, let our \"speech be\nalways yea, yea, and nay, nay; for that which is over and above\nthese is of evil.\" [Footnote 112] Whatsoever things are true, let\nus think on these.\n\n [Footnote 112: St. Matt. v. 37.]\n\nFrom another point of view, what a thought that is for those who\nare out of the pale of the Catholic Church! Have they the true\nfaith? Have they now that truth which shall stand the trial at\nthe coming of Jesus Christ? Do they consider their present state\na true one in all respects--true before their conscience, and\nwithout doubt before their intelligence? Do they regard their\nreligion as a sure religion? What a serious thought it ought to\nbe for many of them who are even now struggling with the strong\npower of duty, which bids them make their calling and election\nsure, by embracing, at all hazards, and with ready obedience and\ntrust in God, that truth in the Holy Catholic Church, without\nwhich they would not now dare to die.\n{310}\nOh! how earnestly, sincerely, and courageously ought they to\nlisten to the Apostle's words, and think upon those things which\nare true!\n\nThere is one of the eight beatitudes for those who think upon the\ntruth. It is the first: \"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for\ntheirs is the kingdom of heaven\"--the poor in spirit; the simple\nin heart and mind; a heart and mind to which cunning, duplicity,\nor falsehood is both strange and repulsive. Theirs is the kingdom\nof heaven which Christ will bring at His coming, who are poor and\nhumble in spirit, receiving God's truth as a little child, and\nnot rejecting it with high-minded and arrogant self-will, or with\nproud disdain. Brethren, whatsoever things are true; let us think\non these things during the Holy Advent time.\n\nII. __Whatsoever things are modest__. Modesty is a marked and\nwell-known characteristic of the Christian. No one would ever\nthink of using the expressions, \"heathen modesty\" or \"Mohammedan\nmodesty,\" simply because it is neither a heathen nor a Mohammedan\nvirtue. The Apostle evidently uses it here in the sense of\nreservedness of action which springs from true humility of heart.\nThis displays itself in a most pleasing manner to us in the\npersons of those who, though endowed with some remarkable talent\nor accomplishment, yet, through the Christian humility they\npossess, are not on that account arrogant and puffed up, but bear\ntheir honors meekly, and with gentle, unassuming manners.\n\n{311}\n\nSo with their natural gifts. God has given to some, more than to\nothers, beauty of face or form, or some personal qualification\nwhich excites our admiration or affection. And in those who are\nthus favored, how much all this beauty is enhanced by the\nsoftened halo which Christian modesty and reserve throws about\nthem! Who would pretend to compare the beauty of the haughty and\nsensual Magdalen, flaunting her profane charms in the streets of\nCapharnaum, the theme for the toasts of libertines, to the beauty\nof the saintly and almost angelic penitent, bathing the feet of\nJesus with her tears, and wiping them with her dishevelled hair!\n\nHe whose thoughts are modest cultivates an unselfish spirit.\nAlas! what with our fund of pride, our intolerant self-will, and\nungovernable temper, how much we need to think on whatsoever\nthings are modest! How prone we are to stand upon our rights; how\nready to quarrel with and grumble about our neighbors! A\nprofitable thought for the Advent time, St. Paul urged this\nespecially: \"Let your modesty be known of all men.\" And why so?\nBecause \"the Lord is nigh.\" Yes, He is nigh who taught us a\nsimilar lesson: \"Learn of Me; for I am meek and humble of heart.\"\n[Footnote 113]\n\n [Footnote 113: St. Matt. xi. 29.]\n\n{312}\n\nAt His coming He will recognize for His own flock, not the\nwolves, but the sheep; not the bold-faced and giddy votaries of\nfashion and pleasure, but the meek and humble Christians, whose\nbeauty is the beauty of their holiness. It is not the useless\nthorns and briers, which no one can approach without being\nwounded, but the hidden and inoffensive wheat that will be\ngathered into the garner of the Lord.\n\nThere are two beatitudes for the modest-minded--the second and\nthe third: \"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the\nearth.\" And again; \"Blessed are the mourners: for they shall be\ncomforted.\" For the meek and modest, who possess as though they\nhad not; who teach as though they learned; who rule as though\nthey obeyed; whose beauty of body and soul shines among men as\nthough they but reflected that of others; whose inheritance is\nrenunciation, and whose wealth is in their gifts; for them is the\nwhole earth reserved, in its beauty and its glory, at the coming\nof the Lord. For the blessed mourners, whose perfection in\nChristian modesty has led them to fly all worldly honors and\nescape its flatteries; to exchange the gay paths of life for the\ntearful road of penance, and whose contrite and humble hearts God\nhas promised not to despise--for them is dawning an everlasting\nday of comfort.\n\n{313}\n\nIII. __Whatsoever things are just__. The just man always\ndesires to act honorably and fairly in his dealings. The\nChristian is required to give anxious thought as well to the\nobligations he has contracted towards his neighbor. The closing\nyear naturally brings these obligations to mind; the debts that\nare owing, the promises made, and the claims for support which\nothers hold against us; and it is a mark of the good,\nconscientious Catholic that he is anxious about these things, and\nis earnestly striving to discharge them.\n\nA wise thought for Advent. For now the Lord is nigh, the day of\nHis Judgment approaches, when all wrongs will be made right. The\nunjust escape payment here, through some quibble in the law, or\nthrough practices of chicanery and partial testimony of which\nthey take an unfair advantage, but whose unpaid debts and hidden\nthefts will not escape the memory of their righteous Judge on the\nlast day. Let our thoughts be, then, to render quickly unto every\nman his due, \"because the Lord cometh, because he cometh to judge\nthe earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people\nwith His truth.\"\n\n{314}\n\nHe who thinks upon whatsoever is just will think upon the poor.\nIt is the word of God, that \"the just taketh notice of the poor,\nbut the wicked is ignorant of them.\" [Footnote 114]\n\n [Footnote 114: Prov. xxix. 7.]\n\nGod has given to the poor and needy rights which no Christian man\ncan ignore. They are committed to him by his Master, and their\nFriend and Protector, to be taken care of, to be thought about,\nto be sought out and ministered unto. Oh! a thousand times\nhappier is he who in Advent time thinks upon the poor: when\nwinter, with his icy blasts, is making the poor shiver with cold\nand nakedness; when the poor man goes sadly home to find the\ncupboard bare and his little ones moaning for hunger; when lonely\nwidows and friendless girls, whose homes are in hovels and\ncheerless garrets, sit up far into the night with no fire in the\nstove, warming their weary and chilled fingers over the candle,\nthat they may be able to ply the needle that keeps them from\nstarvation. Oh! blessed is that man who, knowing no hunger or\nthirst for his body, yet hungers and thirsts in his soul after\njustice for the poor; whose thoughts revert to them when the\nweather grows colder, and the storm howls more fiercely, and can\nsay when he lays his head upon his pillow at night: \"Thank God, I\nhave not forgotten them to-day!\"\n\n{315}\n\nYou all know the beatitude in store for those who think on what\nis just. It is the fourth: \"Blessed are they who hunger and\nthirst after justice: for they shall be filled.\" Yes, God will\nreward them plenteously. The Psalmist says of them: \"The just\nshall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow up like the\ncedar of Libanus; they shall increase to a fruitful old age, that\nthey may show that the Lord our God is righteous.\" [Footnote 115]\n\n [Footnote 115: Ps. xci. 13, 15.]\n [USCCB: Ps. xcii. 13, 15.]\n\nIV. __Whatsoever things are holy__. The vice of the world is\nirreligion. Its votaries do not believe in sanctity. Unholy in\ntheir lives, so are their thoughts. They are ever ready to scoff\nat holy persons and things, and to stigmatize the pious as\nhypocrites. But the Christian is slow to suspect evil. To his\npure mind all things are pure. His religion, which is the law of\nhis life, he knows to be replete with holiness; that it is holy\nin doctrine, holy in its moral teachings, and glorious in the\ngreat multitude of its saints. And just so far as his religion\nguides him, and exercises its hallowing influence over him, just\nso far will he delight to think upon what is holy and pure. There\nare times when the evil we are forced to witness becomes a severe\ntrial to us. Scandals are now and then brought to light which\ngrieve the saints, bring the blush of shame to the cheek of the\ngood Christian, and not unfrequently destroy the faith of the\nlukewarm.\n{316}\n\"Scandals must needs come,\" said our Saviour; but is it,\ntherefore, necessary for us to think about them and brood over\nthem? No; there is good enough for our thoughts, good enough for\nus to glory in, and for which to praise God. The Church never\nbears her name in vain. She is always the __Holy__ Catholic\nChurch; and we should rather be striving to prove that holiness\nin our own lives, \"pressing forward towards the mark, for the\nprize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,\" than stay and\nlinger on the way, losing our time in mourning an evil we see and\ncannot remove.\n\nThere is a beatitude for those whose thoughts are holy. It is the\nsixth: \"Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.\"\nThe pure-minded, the holy in heart, are those who are most dear\nto God. Brethren, this is a blessing worth winning, and it is\neasily won. Remember that the Lord is nigh. Keep your thoughts in\nthe presence of God, and you will prepare your hearts and minds\nto see Him in the clear vision of His glory, which is promised to\nthe clean of heart.\n\nV. __Whatsoever things are amiable__. To the Christian there\nis something sacred in all the beauties of nature and of grace.\nIn everything he sees the hand of God, and all the acts of\nProvidence are admirable, and he does not need to be told that\nthey are the best that could happen.\n{317}\nOne who has such thoughts is sure to be a kind-hearted soul. The\nworld wears easily with him, for he sees only what is pleasant,\nis long mindful of favors, and quickly forgets and forgives\ninjuries. If his friends happen to be at a disagreement with him,\nor even among one another, it is a positive pain to him. He is\nuneasy until it is all made up again. It gives him unfeigned\ndelight to bring about a reconciliation between people at\nvariance. Oh! charming and beautiful is such a soul! Sweet is the\ninterior peace which it enjoys. He is filled with thoughts of\nkindness and gentleness because he thinks on those things that\nare amiable.\n\nThere is a beatitude for such. It is the seventh: \"Blessed are\nthe peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God.\"\nLet us strive, dear brethren, to merit this blessing during holy\nAdvent time, when we are preparing to meet our Lord, who came to\nbring peace on earth to men of good-will.\n\nVI. __Whatsoever things are of good repute__. I love to see\ngood honest pride. It tells me that there is a desire not only to\nbe respected by men, but to stand well and blameless before God.\nHow much sin would be avoided if Christians would only be more\nthoughtful of the character and name they bear! And how many\ncould easily be rescued from shame and degrading despair if one\ncould inspire them with true self-respect!\n{318}\nOne day, there came to a priest a young man in the lowest state\nof moral cowardice from drunkenness. He thought it was of no use\nto try to retrieve himself, and his friends looked upon him as a\nhopeless case. The priest, however, did not say one word of\nreproach to him. He did not need that, poor fellow; he was down\nenough already. But he shook him warmly and encouragingly by the\nhand, and said to him, \"Why, my dear sir, you have only to think\nwhat I believe about you, and in three months time you will be\none of the most respectable members of the church.\" He heard\nhimself called \"sir,\" and \"my __dear__ sir,\" and it would have\ndelighted you to see the change that came over him. He brightened\nup immediately, his eyes filled with tears, and, returning the\npressure of the priest's hand, he said, with a voice choked with\nemotion, \"So I will, father\"; and he departed full of hope, and\nstrengthened to make good his resolution. Thoughts of good repute\nwill shut the mouths of backbiters and slanderers, and will\nschool the tongue to speak well of every one. The love of our own\ngood repute should teach us to be merciful to others. For, if\nthere was one who knew all our sins as we ourselves know them,\nand threatened to expose us before the world, how piteously would\nwe cry to him for mercy, and beseech him to spare the good name\nwe hold!\n{319}\nHe who would have that mercy shown to him, let him show it to\nothers, and bury the knowledge he possesses of their shame in\nthat deep oblivion and secrecy in which he would wish to hide his\nown.\n\nThere is a beatitude for such. It is the fifth: \"Blessed are the\nmerciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\"\n\nVII. __If there be any virtue, if there be any praise of\ndiscipline__. The presence and influence of the Holy Ghost in\nthe Church has infused into her members a spirit whose manifest\nworkings have made the world stand in awe. It is Christian\nfortitude. This has enabled the martyr to smile in the midst of\ntorture, and changed the dungeon into an ante-chamber of heaven.\nThis has nerved the missionary to bid an eternal farewell to\nhome, friends, and kindred, and carried him with a fearless heart\ninto the haunt of the savage, to the shore of the cannibal, and\nto the land of the relentless and cruel pagan who gloats over the\nhorrible death he makes a Christian die. This it is that gives\nstrength to timid, weak woman to put on the habit of sacrifice,\nand enter the pestilential wards of the hospital with a cheerful\nstep, and watch through the long and weary night by the bedside\nof the dying stranger, whose contagious disease carries death to\nher own brave heart.\n{320}\nThis gives her courage to face the cannon's mouth, and stand amid\nshot and shell ready to bind up the bleeding wounds of the\nsoldier, or to waste and wear her life away in seeking out,\nteaching, and reforming the vilest outcasts upon the streets.\nThis it is that covers the Little Sister of the Poor with a\npanoply of heroism as she goes from door to door begging for the\nsuperannuated and bedridden wretches whom she has picked up out\nof the gutters, or from the purlieus and filthy alleys of the\ncity, degraded, friendless, and miserable from want or disease;\nand it wreathes her head with a halo of glory as she sits down\nwith a merry laugh to eat the scraps of food which they have\nleft, or puts on the thin and ragged dress which is not warm\nenough or good enough for her dear old poor.\n\nThis Christian fortitude, this heavenly virtue, this divine power\nof discipline and mastery over souls, is seen in the earnestness\nand the fearlessness of all the deeds of charity and mercy, of\nall the admonitions and exhortations, and even of the threats and\nwarnings of God's Holy Church to the nations of the earth. She is\nable to teach her children to carry out the lesson of the Lord:\n\"Fear not them that kill the body, and after that have no more\nthat they can do.\" [Footnote 116]\n\n [Footnote 116: St. Luke xii. 4.]\n\n{321}\n\nOh! let us think a little upon this virtue, this discipline\nworthy of all praise, and it will lead us to be more trusting and\nloyal to the Church, and also to obey her commands the more\nreadily who, like her Divine Founder, \"speaks as one having\nauthority.\" A thought for the Holy Advent time: for at the bottom\nof it all lies the grand reason of the Church's existence and\nwork. She prepares men for the coming of the Lord. She is looking\nfor the establishment and triumph of the kingdom of our Lord on\nthe earth. The principle of her actions, which she learned at the\nfoot of her Master's cross and with which she inspires her\nchildren, is this: Sacrifice for love; suffering for justice's\nsake.\n\nShe wins a blessing for it. It is the last: \"Blessed are they who\nsuffer persecution for justice's sake: for theirs is the kingdom\nof heaven.\" I have not brought the beatitudes to mind in\nconnection with these Advent thoughts without reason. St. Paul\nhas a promise of beatitude to those who think on these things--a\ncomprehensive beatitude, the sum of all happiness: \"And the God\nof peace shall be with you\" [Footnote 117]--a blessing, my dear\nbrethren, which I hope we may all enjoy when the coming Christmas\nshall bring the angelic salutation to our ears: \"__Pax hominibus\nbon\u00e6 voluntatis!__\"\n\n [Footnote 117: Phil. iv. 9.]\n\n --------------------\n\n{322}\n\n Sermon XXII.\n\n Fraternal Charity.\n\n (For The Festival Of St. John The Evangelist.)\n\n I Epistle St. John ii. 10.\n\n \"__He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,\n and there is no scandal in him__.\"\n\n\nWe celebrate to-day the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, the\nApostle who is distinguished in Holy Scripture as the disciple\nwhom Jesus loved, and who is represented as leaning on the bosom\nof the Lord at the Last Supper. Now, we may ask what is the\nreason the Lord showed this marked preference and especial\naffection for St. John above the other Apostles? It must have\nbeen because St. John was more like the Lord than any of the\nothers, for God must always love us in proportion as we approach\nHis divine image and likeness. The more we put on Christ--that\nis, the more we are clothed with the thoughts, ideas, feelings,\nand dispositions of Christ, the more is Christ attracted to us in\nlove.\n\n{323}\n\nNow, what was the characteristic virtue of this great Apostle,\nwhich rendered him so like to Christ and so dear to Him? It was\nhis tender and overflowing love to his neighbor--that is, to all\nhis fellow-men. He is pre-eminently the Apostle of fraternal\ncharity, or of the love of one's neighbor.\n\nNothing, then, will please St. John better today than to speak of\nthe excellence of this virtue, which was the continual subject of\nhis discourse.\n\nWhat, dear brethren, is the end and object for which we live in\nthis world? Undoubtedly it is to acquire the love of God. This\ndivine love will render us for ever blessed, and we shall be\nblessed just in the proportion we have acquired it. The greatest\nsaints are those who have loved God best; the least in heaven are\nthose who have loved Him least; but all must love God in some\ndegree, or there is no place in heaven for them.\n\nNow, I assert that the easiest, shortest, and most efficient road\nto the love of God is the love of our neighbor, or of our\nfellow-man, who is designated by the word neighbor. I assert it\non the authority of St. John himself, who has laid it down in the\nclearest manner. We read in the breviary of to-day this beautiful\nnarrative of St. Jerome:\n\n \"The blessed John the Evangelist, whilst he was living at\n Ephesus, in his extreme old age, was scarcely able to be\n brought to the church by the hands of his disciples, and could\n not weave together many words into a sentence. He did nothing\n at the different assemblies but repeat the same words, 'My\n little children, love one another.' At last the disciples and\n brethren who were present, getting tired of always hearing the\n same thing, said: Master, why do you always repeat this? He\n replied in a sentiment worthy of St. John: 'Because it is the\n precept of the Lord, and if this alone be observed it is\n sufficient.'\"\n\n{324}\n\nHow beautiful is this! \"Little children, love one another,\" and,\n\"This alone is sufficient.\" We must love one another with the\nsincerity, the artlessness, of little children. There must be no\nhypocrisy about our love; it must be genuine, and flow from the\nright fountain. And what is this fountain? It is the love of God.\nOur love of our fellow-men must proceed from the love of God. We\nmust love him for the sake of God, and because God wishes us to\nlove him, and because he represents God to us.\n\nThere is a love which is not on account of God, but, on the\ncontrary, opposed to God, and which destroys the love of God in\nus. A parent, for example, is distractedly fond of a child\nbecause the child is beautiful, or talented, or amiable, and this\nchild is consequently indulged and spoiled; is educated for show\nand vanity, or, to sum it all up, exclusively for this\nshort-lived world and its object.\n{325}\nSuch love as this does not lead to God, but turns the soul away\nfrom Him. With passionate eagerness it fixes it on the present,\nas its last end and chief good, and quenches its thirst for God,\nwho is the only last end and chief good for which it was created.\n\nWe must love our neighbor, because we see in him an immortal\nsoul, created to the image and likeness of God, and destined to\nparticipate at last in the glory and happiness of God. We must\nlove our neighbor, because he has been bought by the blood of\nJesus Christ, his God, who was willing to lay down His life for\nhim, after thirty years of toil and hardship, suffering the agony\nof the cross.\n\nNow, dear brethren, let me explain this a little more\npractically. You see a person who is in some respects repugnant\nto you. His manners and ways of acting are not pleasant to you;\nindeed, some of his actions are very disagreeable. Well, then, if\nyou are actuated in loving your neighbor by the love of God, you\nwill not allow your mind to dwell on these things so far as to\nconceive a dislike or hatred, but, on the contrary, you will rise\nabove such thoughts, by considering his relation to God. You will\nsee God in him, and this will keep your mind sweet, gentle, and\nkind towards him.\n\n{326}\n\nThis is what our Lord says: \"You have heard what has been said:\nThou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy; but I say unto\nyou, Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and pray\nfor them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be the\nchildren of your Father who is in heaven; who maketh His sun to\nrise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the\nunjust. For if you love those that love you, what reward shall\nyou have? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute\nyour brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathen the\nsame? Be ye perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is\nperfect.\" [Footnote 118]\n\n [Footnote 118: St. Matt. v. 43-48.]\n\nThere, Christians, is the doctrine of our Lord and Master, Jesus\nChrist. If it is not yours also, is it proper to call you by His\nname, Christians? Should you not rather be called, according to\nHis way of naming, heathens and publicans?\n\nBut how many objections are raised against this plain and\nheavenly doctrine? How much repugnance and fighting against it!\nYou see a poor man in the street, or in his miserable shanty. He\nis ragged and dirty, for rags and dirt are often necessary\naccompaniments of poverty. Do you see in him Jesus Christ? No;\nonly an object of disgust. Instead of relieving him, you begin to\nreason. Why does he not go to work?\n{327}\nHe is idle and shiftless. If he is relieved, he will be just the\nsame. Instead of helping him, let him be forced by stress of\npoverty and starvation to find work. And after all, the poor man\nhas done his best, and at least should not have to bear\nundeserved reproach, as well as his poverty.\n\nMy dear brethren, how is it possible that we should have this\nright love of our neighbor, which is supernatural, unless we love\nhim for God's sake; unless we hunger and thirst to please God and\nacquire His justice, and unless we pray constantly to God to\ngrant us this wonderful effect of His goodness?\n\nLet us understand, then, that, if we will acquire the love of\nGod, we must pray for the love of our neighbor, and then act it\nout in all sincerity whenever an opportunity offers itself to us.\nSt. John tells us in his epistle: \"How can we love God whom we\nhave not seen, when we love not our neighbor whom we have seen?\"\nThis text deserves an explanation. You desire to love God more;\nyou feel that this love is of more value to you than anything\nelse; this prompts you to fall upon your knees and beg earnestly\nfor it. You say My God, give me Thy love; give me a great decree\nof this love. Then comes the natural thought What shall I do to\nacquire this treasure? How shall I conduct myself and order my\nlife, so as constantly to preserve and increase it?\n{328}\nIf God would only show Himself to me, and I could behold His\nbeauty, and experience His goodness, then I should know how to\nlove Him. Why does He not reveal Himself?\n\nBut all is dark, all is silent. God is hidden: we cannot form a\npicture of Him in our minds. We have never seen God at any time,\nand we shall not see Him as long as we remain in the flesh.\n\nBut God and our Lord Jesus Christ walk the streets every day. We\nmeet them whenever we go abroad. How is that? It is in the person\nof every one we meet, particularly of the poor, the miserable,\nand the despised. The promise is absolute: \"Inasmuch as ye did it\nunto one of these, ye did it unto Me.\" Love one of these poor\nmen, entertain a sentiment of compassion for him, and you have\nmade a genuine act of love of God. Entertain an habitual love for\nhim, and respect him for the sake of the One he represents, and\nyou will form the habit of God's love in your soul.\n\nWhen St. Martin cut his cloak in two, and gave half of it to a\npoor man he met on the roadside, our Lord appeared to him the\nsame night with the half cloak upon his shoulders, and said:\n\"Martin the catechumen (St. Martin was at that time under\ninstruction for his baptism) has clothed Me in this garment.\"\n\n{329}\n\nIn the account of the last judgment, everything is described as\nbeing settled on this one principle. \"Then the King shall say to\nthem that shall be on the right hand: Come, ye blessed of My\nFather, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation\nof the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat: I was\nthirsty, and you gave Me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took\nMe in: naked, and ye clothed Me: sick, and ye visited Me. I was\nin prison, and ye came to Me. Then shall the just answer: Lord,\nwhen did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee\ndrink? and when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or\nnaked, and covered Thee? or when did we ever see Thee sick or in\nprison, and visit Thee? And the King answering, shall say to\nthem: Amen, I say to you, as long as ye did it unto the least of\nthese, my brethren, ye did it unto Me.\" [Footnote 119]\n\n [Footnote 119: St. Matt. xxv. 34-40.]\n\nThis is what the saints understood and fully realized. St.\nCatharine of Sienna found an old woman sick of the leprosy. She\nwas so disgusting and loathsome an object that everybody had\ndeserted her, and she was perishing of neglect and starvation.\nThe saint gladly took charge of her, cleansed her sores, prepared\nher food, and lavished upon her every possible attention.\n{330}\nThe mother of the saint was not so charitable. She heard of her\ndaughter's proceedings, and became very angry. In her fear of the\ninfection, she forbade her to attend the sick woman any longer.\nBut St. Catharine pleaded our Lord's case so strongly that her\nmother was obliged to yield. Then the old woman, overcome by her\nmiseries, took a dislike to her, and repaid her kindness by a\nconstant torrent of the foulest abuse. St. Catharine, in spite of\nall this, never relaxed her kindness a moment. As a further\ntrial, she caught the infection, and her hands were all covered\nwith the loathsome disorder. But nothing deterred her from her\npurpose until she had the satisfaction of receiving the last\nbreath of this poor creature, who died in sentiments of the\ndeepest contrition. Then the saint finished her work by burying\nher with her own hands, and, as she cast the earth into the\ngrave, those hands became instantly freed from all traces of\ndisease, and became white and more beautiful than ever before.\n\nIf we love for God's sake, we shall love all, and no one will be\nexcluded from our love. Love will flow from our hearts, like the\nwater from a perpetual, inexhaustible fountain, which makes all\nthe soil it waters fertile, producing rich fruits and beautiful\nflowers, These fruits and flowers of divine charity are well\nenumerated by St. Paul: \"Charity is patient, is kind: charity\nenvieth not, dealeth not perversely: is not puffed up; is not\nambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger;\nthinketh no evil: rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the\ntruth: beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all\nthings; endureth all things.\" [Footnote 120]\n\n [Footnote 120: I Cor. xiii. 4-7.]\n\n{331}\n\nDear brethren, let us reflect on this virtue of fraternal\ncharity, and resolve to increase in it. Let us be more pleasant\nand kinder in our way of speaking. Let us look more kindly upon\nothers, and their ways of acting. Let us endeavor to maintain\ntowards all such a manner of speaking and acting as we suppose\nour Lord Jesus Christ to have had, and, altogether, be more\namiable than we have ever been before. Indeed, let us set no\nbounds within our own hearts to our love of our fellow-men.\n\nEvery action of love, no matter how small, will increase the love\nof God in our hearts. Everyone will be another stroke of the oar\nwhich drives forward the little boat of our soul toward the\nkingdom of heaven. Every one will be an increase of merit and of\neternal reward.","title":"Sermons by the Fathers of the Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle, Volume VI.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":75626}