memorable days! The Sun of Justice, the Light of the World, has
gone down in darkness. Jesus Christ is dead; he is buried, and a
great stone is rolled to the door of the sepulchre. The disciples
are scattered here and there, buried in the most profound and
bitter disappointment, consternation and grief. The multitudes
have fled hastily from Mount Calvary, some beating their breasts
with contrition, some blaspheming, but all in terror. The heavens
are overclouded and black, the thunder moans, and an earthquake
shakes the earth. The frightened inhabitants of Jerusalem, as
they return to their homes, are met in the streets by the pale
corpses of the dead, who have left their graves, and are
wandering about among the living. In the temple, those wicked and
unworthy priests are startled at the sudden tearing, by an
invisible hand, of the thick and heavy veil which hangs before
the Holy of Holies. An ominous stillness sinks over the city of
Jerusalem after that dreadful, tragical day. It is the eve of the
greatest Sabbath of the year.
{48}
The Sabbath morning dawns once more; all is apparently quiet, and
God does not appear, to take sudden vengeance on his guilty
people. Annas and Caiphas, and those other wicked priests who
have sacrificed the Lamb of God, with their souls all black and
turbid with remorse, but with a grim and diabolical exultation in
the success of their horrid work, prepare themselves in splendid
vestments for the sacrifices and the ceremonies of the day. The
countless multitudes of Jews, gathered together from every part
of the world to keep the Passover, crowd the vast courts of the
temple. The disciples remain shut up, in silence and in fear. The
Roman soldiers guard the shut and sealed sepulchre of Jesus. The
day passes and the night, and nothing occurs. The first streaks
of the dawn begin to appear in the sky on Sunday morning. The
disciples have forgotten the promise of their Master to rise on
the third day, and have lost heart entirely. Mary Magdalene, and
the other pious women, have planned to steal out early to visit
his tomb, and to bring their spices, and perfumes, and fresh
flowers, to cast upon his dead body.
{49}
They set forth together; while still in the distance, they are
frightened by the sight of torches and armed men in the garden.
They have not courage to go on; and they remember that a great
stone is at the door of the sepulchre, which will hinder their
entrance. Only the courageous and loving Mary Magdalene has the
hardihood to press forward at all risks, leaving the others
hovering about in the neighborhood of the garden. As she
approaches the sepulchre, she sees the stone rolled away to one
side; she pays no attention to the soldiers who are lying on the
ground, apparently stunned and insensible, but goes in, and the
body of Jesus Christ is not there; his grave-clothes are lying in
the spot where his body was placed, and an angel is watching the
empty sepulchre. Bewildered and surprised, and occupied only with
the thought that the body is gone, she runs hastily back to the
place where John and other apostles are staying, tells them in
breathless haste what she has seen, and without waiting for a
reply, returns as speedily as possible to the sepulchre.
{50}
Meanwhile, during Magdalene's absence, the other women observing
that the soldiers have left the gar-den, come also to the
sepulchre, see the stone rolled away, go in, and find two angels
sitting, one at the head, the other at the foot of the place
where Christ was laid. The angels tell them that Christ is risen,
and bid them go announce it to his disciples, and direct them to
meet him in Galilee, as he had commanded them before his death.
They now leave the garden to return to the city, and Magdalene
arrives once more, and while these things are happening the sun
has risen, the sun of the first Easter Sunday, the type of the
Risen Sun of Justice. Mary Magdalene goes into the sepulchre
again, and begins to weep, still too much occupied with the
thought that the body of Christ is gone, to reflect on any thing
else. She sees the angels; but to the questions: "_Woman, why
weepest thou? whom seekest thou?_" she answers distractedly,
"_They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him_." She turns around, and sees the figure of a man,
whom she takes to be the gardener, and asks him where they have
taken the body of Jesus. The well-known voice exclaims: "Mary!"
She suddenly recognizes the Lord, and utters a cry of joy: "Oh,
my Master!"
{51}
She tries to clasp him by the feet, but he forbids her, and bids
her go, announce his resurrection to the disciples. She sets off
immediately, and in a few moments Peter and John arrive, visit
the sepulchre, and see that the body is not there. They also
return to the city. Immediately after his interview with Mary
Magdalene, the Lord appears also to her companions, while they
are returning to their homes. He was also seen by Peter some time
during the day. Toward evening he joins two of the disciples, who
were going to Emmaus, a small village near Jerusalem, and
explains to them the prophecies of the Scripture concerning
himself, but is not recognized by them, until he blesses bread
and gives it to them, and then disappears from view. So the day
passes. First one arrives at the coenaculum, and relates his
story, then another, then others; the day passes in comparing
these different accounts, in conversing together, in expectation
of what is going to happen. When night draws on, the apostles and
disciples are gathered together for prayer; the two from Emmaus
come in just then, and relate their interview with the Lord, when
suddenly he appears among them, and says: "_Peace be unto
you._" So passes this day.
{52}
The four Evangelists give no regular and methodical account of
it. All these occurrences are related by some one or more of
them; and I have strung them together in an order in which they
might have happened, and which reconciles all the accounts with
each other.
Such is the narrative of the Gospel. Is it true? Did these things
really happen? In regard to one fact, Christians, Jews and Romans
were agreed. The body of Jesus Christ was removed from a closed
and sealed tomb, guarded by Roman soldiers, by early dawn on the
morning of Easter Sunday. It was removed either by Divine power,
or by human ingenuity. The rulers of the Jews circulated the
report, which they have repeated to this day, that his disciples
came and stole him away, while the guard was sleeping. "What!"
exclaims St. Augustine, "you will prove your cause by sleeping
witnesses?" If they were asleep, they knew nothing of the way by
which the body disappeared. And if they were awake to see the
disciples steal it, why did they not kill them on the spot.
{53}
The guard were sleeping! A guard of Roman soldiers. Who can
believe that? For a Roman soldier to sleep at his post was an
extraordinary and most disgraceful thing, and here we have a
whole band of them, with an officer at their head--sleeping. The
punishment was death. In this case especially, no mercy could
have been expected, where both Roman and Jewish rulers were so
deeply interested in putting an end to the religion of Christ.
How did they dare confess their sleeping, unless they were in
connivance with the authorities, and bribed to repeat this story.
Why was no trial held? Why were not these soldiers examined
before a tribunal? Why was no search made for the body of Jesus,
and for his disciples? Why is the whole matter hushed up by
common consent between Pilate and Caiphas? There is only one
possible supposition. And that is: that the soldiers saw the
resurrection of the Lord--that they related it to their rulers,
and that by bribes and threats their testimony was suppressed. I
will not pause to accumulate arguments.
{54}
I will not speak of the impossibility that Jesus Christ should be
able to predict that his disciples would attempt such an
incredible task as the removal of his body, and succeed in it. I
will not speak of their timidity, and their perfect want of all
plan of action, all means of carrying out any project whatever;
of their complete perplexity and helplessness; and of the utter
madness of sacrificing all their worldly goods and their lives,
to carry out a manifest imposture. These things are so plain,
that reasoning only seems to weaken the effect with which they
strike conviction to the mind at the first statement.
I return to this simple fact, that the tale circulated by the
soldiers, in common with Pilate and the Jewish rulers, is a
complete and irresistible proof of the Resurrection. And there
are evidences in abundance that it was so regarded at the time,
that this incredible tale was only believed by the most stupid
and besotted portion of the populace, and by those who knew
nothing of the matter, except what they heard by vague rumors. We
have the testimony of Tertullian that even Pilate was convinced
of the truth of the resurrection, "Ea omnia super Christo
Pilatus, et ipse pro conscientia sua jam Christianus, Tiberio
renuntiavit." [Footnote 16]
[Footnote 16: Apol., c. 21.]
{55}
Josephus, the Jewish historian, says of Christ, that "he appeared
to them alive again, the third day, as the divine prophets had
foretold." [Footnote 17]
[Footnote 17: Antiq., Lib. xviii., c. 3.]
Justin Martyr, a most learned Jew, and an eminent philosopher of
the second century, who became a Christian, does not fear to
assert boldly to the Jews: "You know that Jesus was risen from
the dead and ascended into heaven, as the prophecies did foretell
was to happen." [Footnote 18]
[Footnote 18: Dial. cum. Tryph., p. 230.]
The fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was so evident, that
it paralyzed for a time the efforts of the Jewish rulers to
suppress his doctrine. And months elapsed, during which this
doctrine made the most astonishing progress, before they dared to
put a disciple of Christ to death. It was the manifest fact of
the resurrection which caused the sudden and continuous growth
and propagation of the Christian Church. Jesus Christ was far
more powerful after his death than during his life. Not only did
several thousand of the most sincere and pious among the Jews of
Jerusalem and Judea, and of the strangers who had come to
celebrate the Passover, embrace Christianity, but "_a great
multitude of the priests also were obedient to the faith._"
[Footnote 19]
[Footnote 19: Acts i.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Acts vi. 7.]
{56}
Nicodemus, one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Law, and
Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy and powerful Jew, and a member of
the grand council, who had previously been timid, and had
abstained from attaching themselves openly to Christ, came out
now publicly and announced themselves Christians. The centurion,
or Roman officer, who commanded the soldiers by whom Christ was
crucified, with the soldier who pierced the side of our Lord, and
several other soldiers, were converted. The tremendous impression
made by the resurrection of Christ on the whole Jewish nation,
was the cause which gave the impetus to this movement. And it was
the resurrection to which the apostles constantly appealed in
proof of the divine character of Jesus Christ, and the truth of
his doctrine.
{57}
III.
Thus did Jesus Christ, by raising himself from the dead, as he
had foretold, redeem his pledge, and prove himself to be God.
Therefore the Scripture frequently speaks as if Jesus Christ were
made the Son of God by his resurrection. "He was," says St. Paul,
"_predestinated the Son of God in power, by the resurrection
from the dead._" [Footnote 20]
[Footnote 20: Romans i., 4.]
That is, as St. Ambrose explains it--"He, whose deity was
concealed in the incarnation, was predestinated to declare and
manifest himself as the Son of God by his resurrection." During
his life, he declared himself to be God, and promised to raise
himself from the dead on the third day after his death, as a
proof of his divinity. He did rise from the dead; and the
resurrection is thus the grand proof of the central doctrine of
the Catholic faith, the divinity of Christ, and not only of that,
but also of every other doctrine connected with it and springing
from it--of the Catholic faith complete and entire. It proves not
merely the divinity of Christ, but the divinity of his words and
of his acts. His words are words of divine truth; his acts are
acts of divine power. The same Jesus who raised himself from the
dead, said, "_This is my body--This is my Blood;_" and if we
believe that he is truly God, we must believe that the Holy
Eucharist is indeed his flesh and blood.
{58}
The same Jesus who proved his divine power by raising himself
from the dead, transferred and delegated his power to St. Peter
and his successors, when he said--"_Thou art Peter, and on this
Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it, and I will give to thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven_." It is in the Catholic Church that the
testimony to the resurrection, commenced by the first apostles,
is continued and passed down from age to age, by the unbroken
succession of popes and bishops. The apostles were the witnesses
of the resurrection. When the new apostle was to be appointed in
the place of Judas, St. Peter said--"_One of these must be made
a witness with us of his resurrection_." [Footnote 21]
[Footnote 21: Acts i., 22.]
The Catholic priesthood, as it were, joining hands with each
other, run back in an unbroken line to the first fathers and
founders of their glorious order, who saw the risen Saviour, and
clasped the hands nailed to the cross.
{59}
Down this line has passed the uninterrupted, unbroken testimony
to the resurrection. This day itself, the festival, Easter, is a
grand monument of the resurrection. Every year, from this day
back to the day on which Christ rose from the dead, the whole
Christian Church has celebrated the resurrection of Christ on
Easter Sunday. Thus we all join hands with our predecessors in
past ages, until the long chain terminates in the little church
of the disciples, gathered together in the coenaculum, to whom
Christ appeared and said--"Peace be to you." And as we celebrate
these joyous festivities, which carry us back to the very days of
our Lord and his apostles, an electric shock of faith startles
and reanimates our souls. Yes; this is the day of faith. It is
the special festival of faith. The resurrection confirmed and
renewed the wavering, sinking faith of the disciples. "_The
Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared unto Simon._" These
words show how those fainting and almost despairing hearts
revived on that day. Oh! wretched and miserable men, such as
Pilate and Caiphas, and the besotted multitude, who did not,
would not believe--or at least would not act on their
convictions, and confess the truth!
{60}
Equally unhappy are those now, who have no faith; who do not
believe in the Son of God; who do not await the resurrection of
the dead; who believe in nothing, but pass their lives in
miserable and endless doubting and unbelief.
Equally unhappy are those who, though enlightened once in
baptism, and brought up from childhood in the Catholic faith, are
weak, wavering and hesitating in their faith; who neither believe
or disbelieve; who dare not renounce their religion, and yet will
not adhere to it firmly and profess it openly; but hang, as it
were, in the outskirts of faith, and around the courts of the
temple of Divine Truth.
Equally unhappy are those who, believing firmly, deny their faith
by their acts, and disobey the Lord whom they acknowledge to be
their true God and their final Judge; who, on the day when Christ
is risen from the dead, lie buried in the grave of mortal sin;
who have no part in his life and grace, and have not received his
Paschal sacraments.
{61}
But blessed are they who believe; whose hearts are full of faith,
and whose works correspond with that faith;--into whose bosoms
the Paschal joy has entered by the devout reception of the
Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, and who can look forward
with hope to the day of the general resurrection from the dead.
For all such good Christians, this is the brightest, the
happiest, the most glorious day of the whole year. All things
sympathize with the joy of the risen Saviour. The earth breaks
the icy bonds of winter, and starting from the state of
lifelessness, awakes to new life and growth and freshness. The
spring begins to appear, and the signs of approaching warmth and
of the time of buds and blossoms and green foliage show
themselves. The Church puts on her festal attire and sends up her
joyous hymns, and solemnizes her splendid ceremonies. The
faithful everywhere, leave their sins, do penance for their
misdeeds, weep at the foot of the cross, reconcile themselves
with God, and come with purified hearts to partake of the Paschal
Lamb--the flesh and blood of the Divine Jesus, in the blessed
Sacrament of the altar.
{62}
And while we go back in our thoughts to that day on which Christ
arose, the first-begotten from the dead, all these external signs
and ceremonies point also forward to that last Easter
Sunday--that day of the resurrection of all mankind. The change
and renovation of the earth in the season of spring, and the
resurrection of souls by the Paschal sacraments, and the solemn
celebration of Christ's resurrection, these are all types of that
glorious morning when the redeemed human race shall start from
its tomb; when the old things shall pass away, and all things,
the heaven and the earth, and all things that are in them, shall
be made anew. When the obscurity of faith shall give place to the
light of glory, and the hope of salvation shall be changed into
the beatific vision of God.
{63}
Sermon IV.
Giving Testimony.
"You shall give testimony of me."
--John xv., 27.
(From the Gospel for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost.)
These words were spoken by our Lord to his disciples, before his
departure from this world. He had chosen them from the beginning,
and imparted to them a full knowledge of the truth, that they
might bear testimony to it. "_All things whatsoever I have
heard from my Father I have made known to you."--"I have chosen
you, and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring
forth fruit, and your fruit should remain._" [Footnote 22]
[Footnote 22: John xv., 15, 16.]
{64}
The disciples did give testimony. They labored in season and out
of season in spreading the truths which they had learned from the
lips of our Saviour. "_Their sound went over all the earth, and
their words unto the ends of the world._" [Footnote 23]
[Footnote 23: Rom. x., 18.]
Their testimony was not only in sound and words: their lives
testified to the truth which they preached. They suffered
persecution, poverty, imprisonment, and sealed their testimony to
the truth with their blood, by willingly laying down their lives
for it. These disciples were true to Christ. Their testimony was
faithful, loyal, heroic. We, too, are disciples of Christ, and
have our testimony to give; and I propose to show in the first
place, what are our obligations to give this testimony of Christ;
and in the second place, who are those who fail in their
obligations to give this testimony.
What are our obligations to give testimony of Christ? There are
many Christians who seem to think that they are at liberty to
choose what course of life they please, that they can live as
they like; that whether they attend to their religious duties or
neglect them, whether they are patterns of Christian virtue or
scandals to their faith, is nobody's business.
{65}
This opinion is false, most false, because all Christians are
under a lasting obligation to Christ to lead a Christian life.
Christ is our Lord and Master, and as such has a complete right
of control over all our actions. There can be no dispute about
this. "_You call me Master and Lord._" says he; "_You say
well, for so I am._" [Footnote 24]
[Footnote 24: 1 John xiii., 13.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is
John xiii., 13. (Gospel, not epistle.)]
Christ is not only our Master and Lord, but also our Creator,
"_for by Him all things were made that are made_." His
dominion over us is therefore absolute and supreme. In His
presence we are simply subjects, and have only duties to fulfil.
Christ as Man has the full right of purchase over us. He can
claim of us all our actions, for he redeemed us from the
captivity and slavery of sin. "_Knowing that you were not
redeemed_," says the Apostle Peter to the faithful, "_with
corruptible gold or silver from your vain conversation of the
tradition of your fathers; but with the precious blood of
Christ_." [Footnote 25]
[Footnote 25: 1 Peter i., 18, 19.]
{66}
Can any one who listens to these words be so destitute of
intelligence and faith as to entertain the idea, for a moment,
that God created us and became man and died for us, only to leave
us at liberty to live as we please, and to sin as much and as
often as we like? No; says the Apostle Paul, "_Christ died for
all._" And why? Listen, faithless Christian: "_That they
also who live may not live to themselves, but to Him who died for
them, and rose again._" [Footnote 26]
[Footnote 26: 1 Cor. v., 15.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is 2 Cor. v., 15.]
What is it to live to Christ? To live to Christ is, to live to
please Him; it is to follow in His footsteps and copy in our
lives His virtues. This is made clear from what the same Apostle
says in another place, on the same subject: "_Our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people, acceptable,
pursuing good works_." [Footnote 27]
[Footnote 27: 2 Titus ii., 14.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is: Titus ii., 14.]
A Christian, then, is one who lives to Christ by keeping free
from all iniquity and pursuing good works. This is the testimony
that Christ requires of us, and which we are bound to give by
every sacred obligation which binds us to Him as our Creator and
Redeemer.
{67}
Another reason why we are under obligation to give testimony of
Christ by leading an exemplary life, is that Christ came into the
world not only to be our Redeemer, but also our Model. Hear him:
"_You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am,
.... and if I, then, being your Lord and Master have given you an
example, as I have done to you, so you do also_." [Footnote
28]
[Footnote 28: St. John xiii. 13, 14, 15.]
For is there any one so uninstructed as not to know that it was
wholly unnecessary for Jesus Christ to practise on his own
account, humiliations, poverty, obedience, self-denial, meekness,
and embrace the sufferings and bitter death of the cross. He
practised these virtues in order to induce us to practise them,
for these were due to us as punishment for our sins, and
necessary for us as preservatives against our vices. God became
man to teach men by example how they ought to live. "_Christ
suffered for us,_" says the apostle St. Peter, "_leaving you
an example, that you should follow his steps_." [Footnote 29]
[Footnote 29: 1 Peter ii., 21.]
He then is false and faithless to his obligations, who claims the
name of a Christian, and does not follow in Christ's footsteps.
No Christian, then, has the right to live as he likes, but is
bound to live as Christ likes.
{68}
The Holy Church too, has a right to exact from us the obligation
to lead an exemplary life. For as in a flock of pigeons, on
seeing one fly all the others follow, so it is in the society of
the Church, the good example of one member encourages and edifies
the whole body. That you may understand the watchfulness and
jealousy of our Lord over his flock, listen to his own language:
"_He that shall scandalize one of these little ones that
believe in me, it were better that a mill-stone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. ...
Woe to that man by whom scandal cometh._" [Footnote 30]
[Footnote 30: Matt, xviii., 6. 7.]
The Church has not only the right to claim from us to follow in
Christ's footsteps for the sake of believers, but also for the
unbeliever. According to the words of Christ: "_Let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father in heaven_." [Footnote 31]
[Footnote 31: Matt, v., 16.]
It is more by the testimony of a good example than by miracles,
that unbelievers are brought to the light of truth. This is
illustrated by the example of the martyr St. Lucien.
{69}
It is related of him by Surius, that he led many unbelievers to
the knowledge of the truth and to embrace the Catholic faith, by
the modesty of his life and his exemplary conduct. So powerful
was the influence of his example, that the Emperor Maximilian,
when seated upon his throne and about to condemn him to death,
commanded that he should be kept out of his view, behind a veil,
lest even the mere sight of the saint should change him into a
Christian. Is it not then with good reason St. John Chrysostom
says: "There would be no heathens were we such Christians as we
ought to be. ... Paul was but a man, yet how many did he draw
after him! If we were all such as he, how many worlds might we
have drawn to us!" [Footnote 32]
[Footnote 32: 1 Tim. Hom, x.]
How was it St. Paul attracted so many to Christ? He tells us
himself, in these words: "_Give no offence to the Jews, nor to
the gentiles, nor to the church of God; as I also please all men
in all things, not seeking that which is profitable to myself,
but to many; that they may be saved._" [Footnote 33]
[Footnote 33: 1 Cor. x., 31, 32.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is: 1 Cor. x., 32-33.]
{70}
It is clear, then, beyond all dispute, that every one who claims
the name of a Christian is bound by a lasting and sacred
obligation to give testimony to Christ by following in his
footsteps, and consequently those who fail are guilty of robbing
their Lord and Master of his rights, and are no true Catholics,
but traitors to the faith.
Who are they who fail to give this testimony of Christ? I will
tell you.
You will find many who were born of Catholic parents, were
baptized in the faith when young, and yet never acknowledging the
faith of their fathers, and of their baptism. They are not open
apostates, they neither attack their faith, nor defend it when
attacked. You might know them for years and not dream that they
were Catholics. It is hard to tell what they really are. They are
not Protestants, nor Jews, nor Turks, for these have religious
convictions, and do not deny them, but the men I speak of either
have no religious convictions, or want the manliness to
acknowledge them. They do not like to be known as Catholics, and
yet they identify themselves publicly with free-masons,
odd-fellows, and similar secret societies.
{71}
Another class consists of those who confess themselves Catholics,
but never, or very rarely, enter the Church. They take offence at
the slightest irregularity, whether it be in the priesthood, or
the preaching, or in the manner of conducting public worship; and
under some such pretext they excuse their grievous neglect of
worship, and their profound indifference to all the sacred duties
of religion. These claim the name of Catholic, and their conduct
is that of an infidel.
A third class is composed of those who now and then on occasion
of a jubilee or a mission, or some similar event, come to Church,
and perhaps receive the holy sacraments. Their religion is like a
fire in the straw, it soon dies out. Talk to these men of their
business, and they will tell you that a man who does not watch
and pay constant attention to it, will soon find himself
bankrupt. Speak to them of the affairs of the nation, and they
will tell you that the country is going to ruin, because its
citizens neglect to attend political meetings and fail to
approach the polls at election times. On business, or politics,
on almost every thing but their religion, they reason correctly,
and act like sensible men; on their duties to God and the affairs
of their soul they appear to be as destitute of reason as they
are of loyalty. Money is their God, and their religion is
politics.
{72}
The fourth class is made up of the rank and file of
sinners--cursors, drunkards, and the army of grog-shop keepers.
These latter, under the pretext of making a living, spread more
misery, wretchedness, and crime among our people, than all the
plagues of Egypt brought upon the inhabitants of that land. The
source of nine-tenths of the scandal to our holy religion is in
the grog-shops; and to make the scandal of their vile and
unlawful traffic more conspicuous, they congregate by preference
in the neighborhood of a Church, justifying the well-known
proverb:
"Where God erects a house of prayer,
Satan must have a chapel there."
The grog-shop keepers are the worst enemies of our holy religion
in this country, for they not only occasion the destruction of a
vast number of Catholics, but by the disgust which their bad
example creates, they offer the greatest hindrances to the
conversion of non-catholics.
{73}