your King's parade days, his Sundays and Festivals, when he
requires his servants on earth and his angels in heaven to
present themselves in review before him? Where are you during the
holy solemnity of the Mass? Absent; your place vacant, and you
asleep, or lounging, or doing the devil's work. At the Easter
Communion, where are you? You are not to be found, or still
worse, you present yourself without that rich and ornamental
dress of sanctifying grace, which your king requires, under pain
of death. Blush to call yourself a soldier of Jesus Christ, for
if you are one, you are a delinquent and a faithless one.
You profess yourself so loudly a Christian soldier, what then are
you straggling for, behind your column? Jesus Christ allows no
stragglers in his army, and the enemy has ambuscades everywhere
to cut them off.
{140}
These are those heretical churches into which you stray, in
ignorance or neglect of Catholic order and discipline. Hasten out
of these ambuscades of error, delusion and eternal death. Rejoin
your column quickly, and keep within the serried ranks of the
Catholic host, or you are lost.
My brave and vaunting Christian warrior, how do your professions
of fidelity and courage comport with your conduct when put on
guard at night? How have you conducted yourself in temptation?
Have you not committed mortal sin, and then given as an excuse
that you were tempted by the devil, or overcome by your passions?
Have you not said that you could not help cursing when you were
angry, drinking when you were urged, giving way to impure
inclinations when you were assaulted by them, that you could not
keep from mortal sin, because you are so weak? These excuses make
you more guilty. They show that you have slept on your post, or
kept a careless watch on the enemy, or yielded yourself a
prisoner, when you should have fought manfully. It is your very
profession as a soldier of Jesus Christ to fight with the world,
the flesh and the devil, and you cannot be surprised or
vanquished without your own fault.
{141}
To say that you must sin because the devil tempts you, or that
you cannot resist your evil inclinations, is to confess your own
shame, and to make it plain, that you are a coward, unworthy of
the glorious name of a soldier of Jesus Christ.
I call upon you, then, unworthy and unfaithful followers of Jesus
Christ, to renounce your secret and treasonable dealings with the
enemy, to cease to act like traitors or poltroons, and to rally
again around the standard of salvation. No matter what mortal sin
you have on your soul, it is a bond which links you with the
devil, with his desperate cause and his eternal ruin. In spite of
your name of Christian, your badge of soldier, and your military
oath, you are a servant of Satan, and the Lord will one day cast
you out among his open enemies. In God's name, then, no more
double dealing. Choose your side! If you wish for despair, and
have chosen eternal perdition, then Satan is your master, and you
can follow him if you choose. But if Jesus Christ is your king,
his service your choice, and his rewards your desire, come to his
standard, and flinch no more.
{142}
See! the war is raging all around you, in which you must take
part, on one side or the other. The banners are flying, the
trumpets are sounding, the soldiers of Christ are winning eternal
renown and pressing on to battle. Our glorious King is at the
head of his chosen band leading the way to victory, which is
already waving its wings above the unconquerable standard of
salvation. The shouts of conquest are heard in the distance, and
the foremost ranks are pressing in as victors through the gates
of heaven. Shall we stand here like cowards, hugging the
ignominious chains of mortal sin? Far be the thought from every
Christian breast! The voice of our Leader is calling us. Forward!
then. Onward! let us share in the glorious conflict, that we may
share in the triumph, and partake in the everlasting peace that
is to follow.
----------------------
{143}
Sermon IX.
The Epiphany.
"They found the Child with Mary his mother."
St. Matt, ii., 2.
(From the Gospel for the Day).
The Feast of the Epiphany, my dear brethren, is as it were a
second Christmas. Christmas Day is a feast which all Christians
hold in common, whether of Jewish or Gentile blood. If either had
more claim than the other, it would seem to belong rather to
those who are of Jewish origin; for, "_to you is born this day
a Saviour in the City of David_" was the announcement made by
the angels to the Jewish shepherds. But this feast of to-day is
peculiarly ours. This is the great Gentile-Christian feast.
{144}
The motto which we put up over our altar on Christmas eve, and
which still hangs there, "_Christus natus est nobis_,"
"Christ is born for us," is especially appropriate to-day.
There is, however, still another distinct class of persons to
whom this day ought to be especially dear. You, my dear brethren,
who had not the greater privilege of belonging to the Holy
Catholic Church from your infancy, but whom God in his mercy
brought into it in after years, this is your feast. You have an
interest in these Gentile converts, your ancestors in the faith,
whom the Church commemorates to-day, which they have not who
never knew any other creed. What I propose this morning, is,
1. To give you a sketch of the history of today's feast; and
2. To show you how these Gentile converts are models of men truly
converted to God.
I. History Of The Feast.
Whilst angels were telling to the shepherds of Judea, as they
kept watch over their flocks on Christmas eve, of the glad
tidings of the birth of the Redeemer of the world in Bethlehem, a
strange apparition aroused the inhabitants of a great city in the
far distant east.
{145}
They were awakened from their sleep, and the windows, doors, and
streets were thronged to look at a bright star, which hung in the
sky, just over the city.
You remember, I dare say, what a stir was made in this country
and elsewhere, a few years since, by the unexpected appearance of
that beautiful comet. How groups were to be seen standing about
every evening, both in and out of doors, with telescope or the
naked eye, gazing at it, and expressing to one another their
wonder and delight. Well, some such feeling as this, mingled with
a certain religious awe, must have taken hold of this people of
the east on that night. How brilliant! what can it be? what can
it mean? how close to us! who will tell us something about it?
Exclamations such as these, were heard on all sides, from the
lips of rich and poor alike. Now there were men in that kingdom
who might naturally be supposed to know something about it, for
they had made the science of the stars, in their supposed
connection with human action, or astrology, a special branch of
study.
{146}
They were men of education. They were high in civil station too,
and filled such offices as magistrate, and governor, and even
that of a sort of petty sovereign. They were called Magi. They
were in their own country what the Mandarin is in China; what the
Brahmin is in India. But how can they know any thing of a star so
unusual in its appearance as this? There were two sources through
which a certain prophecy connected with the appearance of a star
might have reached them.
1. Fifteen hundred years before, a prophet or diviner, whatever
his office may have been, whose name was Balaam, had uttered a
most remarkable prophecy. It was as follows: "_I shall see him,
but not now; I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall rise
out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel_." If
Balaam was a fellow-countryman of these Magi, as some learned
writers have supposed, then they could hardly have been ignorant
of this prophecy.
{147}
2. One thousand years after that again, the Jews were carried
away in captivity to the city of Babylon, and dispersed
themselves through that region of country. It is natural to
suppose that in this way their traditions and sacred writings
became publicly known. In that case, these men of science could
hardly have failed to notice the fact of Balaam's prophecy being
found in the Jewish book of Numbers. They would moreover find, in
the course of that familiar intercourse which was now established
between the people of both nations, that the Jews had always
considered this prophecy as having reference to the promised
Messias, or future Ruler of their people.
Whatever may be the fact as to their having any information at
all, or the particular sources through which it came, or whether
their wills were moved directly by inspiration from God, certain
it is that these holy kings did recognize in that star their
guide to the newly-born king of the Jews. Among the historical
records of God's dealing with the Jewish people, they perhaps
remembered how He had led them through the wilderness under the
guidance of a pillar of fire, and consequently were more willing
to trust themselves to a guide of a similar kind.
{148}
Difficulties now sprang up on every side. It was no easy thing to
make up their minds to leave their kingdoms (or whatever was the
peculiar nature of their charge), in the hands of others, who
might usurp their authority in their absence. Travelling over the
deserts to the westward was most tedious, and attended with much
danger. And after all might not this vision be a delusion? Such
were some of the trials their faith had to surmount, and it did
surmount them. I will not say more of their journey, than that
they were faithful to their guide. They halted when it stood
still, they continued their march when it led the way. Here are
they now within a short march of the city of Jerusalem. The
morning light is breaking, and word is passed to harness the
camels, and to fold up the tents. The encampment is alive with
joy, at the prospect of the speedy and successful termination of
their undertaking, when a cry of distress is heard; "the
star!--where is the star? it is gone! what shall we do?" Let us
try to conceive what their distress must have been.
{149}
You know that in some parts of our country there are great caves
underground, into which one can penetrate bypaths winding hither
and thither to the distance of twenty, thirty, or even forty
miles from the entrance; as for example, the great Mammoth cave
of Kentucky. Of course, the darkness there is absolute. Perhaps
you may remember having seen an account given by one of a party
of persons whose only light had gone out on an excursion of this
kind. He tried to describe the horror that he and his companions
felt when they found themselves in such total darkness, and,
unless relieved by persons outside, in the face of certain death.
To move, even for a few feet, might, for all they knew, be sudden
destruction. To remain where they were was certain death by
starvation. Now some such feelings as these must have overwhelmed
our travellers from the east when they lost the star. Their guide
was gone; they were in a strange and, it might prove, an enemy's
land, especially as they had come in search of a rival to him who
was sitting on the throne of Judea. What should they do? They
determined to enter the city, to go to the king himself and
fearlessly demand to know from him "_where is he who is born
king of the Jews; for we have seen his star in the east and have
come to worship him?_"
{150}
King Herod called in the priests from the temple; the Scriptures
were brought, the prophecies were examined; and Bethlehem was
found to be the favored spot. "_Thou Bethlehem, the land of
Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda for out of thee
shall come the ruler who shall rule my people Israel_." They
do not stay to be entertained with banquetings, or with what is
curious or interesting in this great city, but they resume their
journey, when lo! their beautiful guide appears before them once
more. Oh! what joy it must have been to them to see it again. I
dare say they thought it a hundredfold brighter than before, as
they gazed up at it with their cheerful faces. ... At last it
stops just over a poor shed on a hillside. This the birth-place
of the king of the Jews!! Impossible. They look up at the star.
There it stands motionless. They dismount with their presents,
and pass through the rude entrance. A wonderful light fills the
lowly place, and they see a young woman sitting upon some straw
on the ground, a beautiful infant on her lap, and one who seems
to be her husband, at her side. That same faith which had led
them so far, made them bend the knee in adoration. "_They had
found the child with Mary his mother_."
{151}
Such, my dear brethren, is the sketch I promised you of this most
interesting history of today's feast. To me, I must confess it
has a peculiar charm and beauty. Now, what holy lesson shall we
try to learn from it?
II. These Magi Are Models To Us Of Men Truly Converted To God.
1. _In their prompt obedience to his inspirations_. That
star was a call from God. He asked a great deal from them.
Luxuries, comforts, country, kingdom, home, all must be, for the
time at least, abandoned. It would seem so easy for them to have
said, as we say now-a-days, I can arrange to go in a few months
time,--but _at once_, this is quite impossible. But there
stood their bright guide, a rebuke to any such thoughts, and in
setting out at once, in obedience to this call from God, these
holy men teach us a most wholesome lesson. How often has God not
called us, either from some path of sin which we were following,
or to a closer union with Himself?
{152}
At one time He has spoken to us plainly, by some word in a sermon
or book, at another, by some secret fear or inspiration! We
answer, "to-morrow, to-morrow," and that morrow never comes. That
to-morrow is the devil's light, a very "Will o' the wisp," which
leads us on and on to danger and destruction. Oh! let us in [the]
future be on the watch for these secret whisperings of grace to
our souls, and let us learn to be prompt in corresponding with
them.
2. _In their courage_. When these holy men had promptly set
about obeying the will of God, their difficulties had only just
begun. They would soon have become disheartened but for the
supernatural courage that sustained them. Their attendants and
servants, not having their Master's faith, magnified every
difficulty as it arose. The oppressive heat by day, the cold at
night, the length and wearisomeness of the way, the danger of
murder and robbery, all these afforded them subjects for
continual murmuring. But now, to crown all, the star has
disappeared, and they clamor loudly to be allowed to return back
in haste to their homes. But no; a courageous faith supported
these royal pilgrims, and God rewarded it, by their finding, at
last, the object of their search, "the Child with Mary his
Mother."
{153}
How is it, my dear brethren, with us on the way of life? Is it
not too common to hear such language as this: 'I have such an
unfortunate temper;' or, 'I have such disagreeable neighbors;'
or, 'I have such an unmanageable family;' or, 'I am thrown with
such reckless companions;' or, 'I have no comfort in my prayers;'
and 'There is no use in trying to be good; I would give any thing
if I only could be good; I am sure it is the only way to be
really happy, but somehow or other I cannot get good.' Oh! poor
cowardly souls that we are! Did I not say truly, that in these
Magi we should find an occasion of confusion to ourselves, as
well as true models of courageous perseverance under difficulties
however great or peculiar? Dear brethren, begin again this
morning your journey of life, in the spirit of these holy
converts. Be faithful to the light that God never fails to give
you, through your directors and confessors, through good books
and by holy inspirations, and joy and consolation will come all
in good time.
{154}
The only way that will surely, safely, and speedily bring us to
our Lord, is the way of the Cross. Surely it is worth the
venture, worth the toil, if only we find at last, as we shall,
"that Child with Mary his Mother."
3. _In their offerings_. It is a beautiful custom among the
nations of the East, that they never go into the presence of
their sovereign without some offering. Behold these holy men, as
they bow down within the entrance of that poor lodge, and hold
out in their hands the gold, the frankincense and the myrrh which
they have brought so far, in honor of their newly found
Sovereign, the infant king of the Jews! Let us kneel in spirit
with them. We have here, our Bethlehem. The infant Jesus is
within this little Tabernacle. There, above the altar rail, the
still light is burning, which is the silent monitor to our faith,
that Jesus is here. The world would have found it hard to adore
the infant Saviour, with those three kings, in so lowly a place;
and the world finds it too hard now, to kneel with us, in a
Catholic church, before the blessed Sacrament. These holy men did
not find it hard, nor do we, for they and we have the same
blessed, gift of faith.
{155}
_They offer gold_--You have none! Oh yes, you have. Put your
ten-penny, five-penny, and three-penny pieces, put your pennies
too, into the offertory, with a pure intention, or bestow an alms
on the poor outside, in the name of Jesus, and they will be
changed into the purest gold. Love is a far more acceptable
offering to God than gold. He has no need of your money; for, as
the Psalmist says, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof." One thing alone you have it in your power to keep from
Him, and he deigns to ask you for it. It is your heart. It is
your love and your service.
_They offer incense_--You have none! Oh yes, you have. What
does holy king David say? "_O Lord, direct my prayer as incense
in thy sight._" Prayer is the blessed incense that is
incessantly streaming up before God. This it is that restrains
the arm of his anger, and brings down blessings like showers of
rain. There is one prayer above all others which in a special
manner is doing this. It is the Holy Mass. Blessed Leonard of
Port Maurice asks himself, why it is that God does not nowadays
visit nations with such terrible and unmistakable judgments as He
did the Jews, and the nations round about them?
{156}
Then he makes answer to himself, it is because of the
all-powerful intercession of the Holy Mass. As that pure and holy
sacrifice ascends up like clouds of incense, from ten thousand
altars, all over the world, God is disarmed of his anger. A
wicked world is spared too, for the sake of what those little
tabernacles contain, on the altars of Catholic churches.
Hear mass, then, on a week day, or make a visit of a few minutes
to the Blessed Sacrament, and you have the most fragrant incense
to offer to God.
_They offer myrrh_--You have none! Oh yes. Myrrh preserves
from corruption. This was among the spices that the holy women
brought on Easter morning to embalm our Lord's body. Well, there
is something that preserves our souls, as myrrh and spices
preserve our bodies. This is self-denial. Self-gratification is
the corruption both of soul and body. Look around at the army of
drunkards, and seekers of forbidden pleasures, and you will have
abundant proof of the corruption of the body, and of the soul
too, though not in the awfulness of its corruption, as God sees it.
{157}
Well, restrain your tongue; restrain your eye; restrain your
appetite; and offer this to God in penance for your sins, in
union with that sublime act of self-denial on the Cross, and you
will offer to your Saviour as pleasing an offering as these holy
Magi.
My brethren, we are all on the road to another, the true
Bethlehem. We, too, are going in search of Jesus and Mary. Our
Bethlehem is heaven. Our glorious, supernatural, infallible
guide, is the Holy Catholic Church. We have met with trials; we
shall meet with more. Perhaps, thus far, we have only passed
through a sort of preparatory state, which shall enable us to
bear up under the real sacrifices that we shall be called upon to
make in time to come. Nothing will sustain us under these, but
implicit faith in our Guide, and an unshaken fidelity to her. Be
loyal to her then. Show your love for God, by your obedience to
her. Cling to her side, and she will lead you to that Bethlehem
above, where it may be said of you also,--
"They found the Child with Mary his Mother."
----------------------
{158}
Sermon X.
Renunciation.
"And after six days, Jesus taketh unto him
Peter and James and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.
And he was transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun,
and his garments became white as snow."
--St. Matt, xvii., 12.
(From the Gospel for the Transfiguration).
A wise general, in order to excite the ardor of his soldiers, and
to render them forgetful of the dangers to which they are
exposed, pictures to them on the eve of battle the spoils and
glory to be acquired, if they fight bravely. In like manner, our
Lord, in order to cheer up and console his disciples, who began
to be dismayed at the prospect of that death He was about to
suffer, imparted to them a foretaste of the joys of paradise, and
a "vision" of the splendor of his divinity.
{159}
"_He was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as
the sun; and his garments became white as snow._" Peter, as
soon as he recovered from his ecstasy of delight, exclaimed:
"_Lord, It is good for us to be here_."
But, to prepare His disciples for this anticipation of heaven, He
brought them into a high mountain apart; indicating thereby that
such privileges can only be obtained by separation from the world
in solitude. This is not only true relative to these high and
special favors, but equally true in order to persevere in the
practice of a Christian life. Separation from the world is an
indispensable duty of a Christian. This truth, so plain in Holy
Writ, is nevertheless liable to be misconceived, for which reason
we must make the following distinction:
There is a world we are not required as Christians to separate
from. There is a world we are under the strictest obligations to
separate from.
The condemnation of the world by our Lord and his apostles is too
plain and frequent not to have met the eye of any one who has the
slightest acquaintance with the New Testament.
{160}
"_You are from beneath,_" said the Saviour to the Jews,
"_I am from above. You are of this world: I am not of this
world_," [Footnote 51] "_Love not the world,_" says the
beloved disciple and apostle, "_nor the things which are in the
world. If any man love the world the charity of the Father is not
in him._" [Footnote 52] St. Paul, teaching the Romans, says:
"_Be not conformed to the world._" [Footnote 53] "_The
friendship of the world,_" says St. James, "_is enmity with
God._" [Footnote 54] "_The whole world_," says St. John,
"_is seated in wickedness._" [Footnote 55]
[Footnote 51: St. John viii., 23.]
[Footnote 52: 1 John ii., 15.]
[Footnote 53: Romans xii., 2.]
[Footnote 54: St. James iv., 4. ]
[Footnote 55: 1 John v., 19.]
These declarations of the sacred Scriptures are plain and to the
point. To be a disciple of Christ is to have nothing to do with
the world. If any further proof were needed of so plain a fact,
we may find it in the baptismal service, where the catechumen is
engaged by the most solemn promises to turn his back upon the
world. But what this world is, that we are so strictly engaged to
renounce, is not at first sight so clear.
Is it the visible world, called nature, so full of instruction
and rich in beauty, that we are to turn our backs upon?
{161}
Are we called upon in our character as Christians to close our
eyes to the flowers, the mountains, the rivers, the glowing
sunsets, and the stars of heaven? Are we bound to shut our ears
to the murmuring winds, the music of the rivulet, and the songs
of the birds? Are we to be counted Christians on the condition
only of our shutting out from our senses that beauty, which
surrounds us on all hands, of the visible world? What is there
profane in nature when Holy Writ assures us that, "The Lord is
holy in all his works." [Footnote 56] and that "_all things
serve Him?_" [Footnote 57]
[Footnote 56: Psalm cxliv., 13.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Psalm cxlv., 13.]
[Footnote 57: Psalm cxviii., 91.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Psalm cxix., 91.]