lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all abundantly and
upbraideih not, and it shall be given him_." [Footnote 87]
[Footnote 87: St. James i., 5.]
Ask for it, and you shall receive it. What is it? The light that
shall direct our feet in the way of peace, and carry us through
safely to the light of glory in heaven. The light of Christ,
"_in which the Priest from on high hath visited us, to
enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death:
to direct our feet in the way of peace_." [Footnote 88]
[Footnote 88: St. Luke i., 78.]
---------------------
{205}
Sermon XIII.
Mary's Destiny A Type Of Ours.
"Mary hath chosen the best part,
which shall not be taken away from her."
--St. Luke x., 42.
(From the Gospel for the Assumption.)
To-day is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To-day she
entered into the enjoyment of heaven. The trials and troubles of
life are over. The time of banishment is ended. She closes her
eyes on this world and opens them to the vision of God. She is
exalted to-day above the choirs of angels to the heavenly
kingdom, and takes her seat at the right hand of her Son. I do
not mean to attempt any description of her glory in heaven. I am
sure whatever I could say would fall far short, not only of the
reality, but of your own glowing thoughts about her.
{206}
Who is there that needs to be told that the Blessed Virgin is
splendid in sanctity, dazzling in beauty, and exalted in power?
But, my brethren, it is possible to contemplate the Blessed
Virgin in such a way as to put her at too great a distance from
us. It is possible to conceive of her glory in heaven as flowing
entirely from her dignity as Mother of God, and therefore to
suppose it altogether unattainable by us; and as a consequence of
this, to regard her with feelings full of admiration indeed, but
almost as deficient in sympathy as if she were of an other nature
from us. Now this is to rob ourselves of so ennobling and
encouraging a part of our privilege as Christians, and at the
same time to take away from our devotion to the Blessed Virgin an
element so useful and important, that I have determined, on this
her glorious Feast, to remind you that our destiny and the
destiny of Mary are substantially the same.
And the first proof I offer of this is, that the glory of the
Blessed Virgin in heaven is not owing to her character as Mother
of God, but to her correspondence to grace--to her good works--to
her love of God--in a word, to her fidelity as a Christian.
{207}
This is certain, for it is the Catholic doctrine that the Blessed
Virgin, like every other saint, gained heaven only as the reward
of merit. Now she could not merit it by becoming the Mother of
God. Her being the Mother of God is indeed a most august dignity,
but there is no merit in it. It is a dignity conferred on her by
the absolute decree of God, just as He resolved to confer angelic
nature on angels, or human nature on men. It is no doubt a great
happiness and glory for us to be men, and not brutes, but there
is no merit in it; so there is honor but no merit in the Blessed
Virgin's being the Mother of God. Now if she did not merit heaven
by becoming the Mother of God, how did she merit it? for it is of
faith that heaven is the reward of merit. I answer, by her life
on earth. It was not as the Mother of God that she won heaven,
but as Mary, the daughter of Joachim, the wife of Joseph, the
mother of Jesus. It is impossible to read the Gospels without
seeing how careful our Lord was to make us understand this. He
seems to have been afraid, all along, that the splendor of that
character of Mother of God would eclipse the woman and the saint.
{208}
Thus once when He was preaching, a woman in the crowd, hearing
his words of wisdom, and, perhaps, piercing the veil of his
humanity, and thinking what a blessed thing it must be to be the
mother of such a son, exclaimed: "_Blessed is the womb that
bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck,_" [Footnote 89]
but He answered immediately: "_Yea rather, blessed are they who
hear the Word of God and keep it_."
[Footnote 89: St. Luke xi., 27-28.]
No one doubts that the Blessed Virgin did hear the Word of God,
and keep it. So our Lord's words are as much as to say: 'You
praise my mother for being my mother; what I praise her for is
her sanctity.' In the same way, when they came to Him on another
occasion, when there was a great throng about Him, and said:
"_Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking
thee_," He answered: "_Who is my mother? and who are my
brethren? And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he
said: Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do
the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and
sister, and mother_." [Footnote 90]
[Footnote 90: St. Matt, xii., 48-50.]
{209}
External advantages, however great, even to be related to the Son
of God, are as nothing in his sight, compared to that in which
all may have a part--obedience to his Father's will. Perhaps,
also, this is the explanation of his language at the marriage of
Cana in Galilee. When the wine failed, and his mother came to Him
and asked Him to exert his Divine power to supply the want, He
said: "_Woman, what hast thou to do with me? My time is not yet
come_." [Footnote 91]
[Footnote 91: St. John, ii., 4.
(Archbishop Kenrick's Translation.)]
He does not allow her request on the score of her maternal
authority, but what He refuses on this ground He grants to her
virtue and holiness, for He immediately proceeds to perform the
miracle she had asked for, though, as He said, his time was not
yet come. So, too, on the cross He commends the Blessed Virgin to
St. John's care, not under the high title of Mother, but the
lowly one of Woman. "_Woman, behold thy son._" [Footnote 92]
[Footnote 92: St. John xix., 26.]
Now why was this? Did not our Lord love his Mother? Was He not
disposed to be obedient to her as his mother? Certainly; but it
was for our sakes He spoke thus.
{210}
In private, at Nazareth, we are told, he was "subject to her,"
but on these great public occasions, when crowds were gathered
around Him to hear Him preach, when He hung on the Cross, and a
world was looking on, He put out of view her maternal grandeur,
in compassion to us, lest there should be too great a distance
between her and us, and we should lose the force of her example.
He wished us to understand that Mary, high as she was, was a
woman, and in the same order of grace and Providence with us. We
might have said Oh, the Blessed Virgin obtains what she asks for
on easy terms. She has but to ask and it is done. She enters
heaven as the son of a nobleman comes into his father's estate,
by the mere title of blood and lineage. But no: our Saviour says:
"_To sit on my right hand is not mine to give you, but to them
for whom it is prepared by my Father_." [Footnote 93]
[Footnote 93: St. Matt, xx., 23.]
It is not a matter of favor and arbitrary appointment; not even
my Mother gains her glory in that way. She must comply with the
terms on which my Father promises heaven to men, and therefore
the Church applies to her words spoken of another Mary: "_Mary
hath chosen the best part; therefore it shall not be taken away
from her_."
{211}
Oh, blessed truth! Mary is one of us. Her destiny, high as it is,
is a human destiny. And she reached it in a human fashion. She
built that splendid throne of hers in heaven with care and labor
while she was on the earth. She laid the foundation of it in her
childhood, when her feet trod the Temple aisles. She reared its
pillars, when with faith, purity and obedience unequalled, she
received the message of the Archangel. And her daily life at
Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth, her holy, loving ways with
Joseph, and with Jesus, her perfect fulfilment of God's law, her
interior fervent acts of prayer, covered it with gold and ivory.
Then, when the blind world was going on its way of folly; while
one King Herod was deluging villages in blood, and another
steeping his soul in the guilt of incest, and of the blood of the
Son of God; while the multitude were doubting, and Scribes and
Pharisees disputing about Christ, the lowly Jewish maiden, with
no other secret but love and prayer, was preparing for herself
that bright mansion in Heaven wherein she now dwells, rejoicing
eternally with her Son.
{212}
Oh happy news! One, at least, of our race has perfectly fulfilled
her destiny. Here we can gain some idea of what God created us
for. Here is the destiny that awaits man when original sin does
not mar it; when co-operation with grace and unswerving
perseverance secure it. The Jews were proud of Judith. They said:
"_Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel;
thou art the honor of our people_." So we may say of Mary: 'O
Mary, thou art the pride of our race. In thee the design of God
in our creation has been perfectly attained. In thee the
redemption of Christ has had its perfect fruit. Mankind conceives
new hopes from thy success. Christ, indeed, has entered into
glory; but Christ was God. Mary is purely human, and Mary has
succeeded. Why tarry we here in the bondage of Egypt? Mary has
crossed the Red Sea, and has taken a timbrel in her hand and
sings her thanksgiving unto God. True it is that she is fleet of
foot, and we are halt and weak; but even she needed the grace of
God, and the same grace is offered to us, that we may run and not
faint. Listen to her song of triumph.
{213}
She does not set herself above us, but claims kindred with us,
and bids us hope for the same grace which she has received.
"_My soul doth magnify the Lord, for he hath exalted the
humble, and hath filled the hungry with good things. And his
mercy is from generation to generation to them that fear
him_."
Another proof that the destiny of the Blessed Virgin is
substantially the same with ours, is the fact that, in Scripture
the same expressions are used to describe her glory and ours.
Sometimes those who are not Catholics when they hear what high
words we use of the Blessed Virgin, are scandalized; but we use
almost no words of the Blessed Virgin that may not, in their
measure, be applied to other Saints. It is true that the Blessed
Virgin has some gifts and graces in which she stands alone--as
her character of Mother of God, and her Immaculate
Conception--but, as I said before, these are dignities and
ornaments conferred on her, and are not the source of her
essential happiness in Heaven. In other respects, her glory is
shared by all the Saints. Thus, Mary is called "Queen of Heaven;"
but are not all the blessed called in Holy Scripture, "_kings
and priests unto God_?" [Footnote 94]
[Footnote 94: Apoc. i., 6.]
{214}
Is she said to sit at the "King's right hand?" and are not we too
promised a place at his right hand, and to "_sit on
thrones?_" [Footnote 95]
[Footnote 95: Apoc. iii., 21.]
Is she called the "Morning Star?" and does not St. Paul, speaking
of all the Saints, say, "_star differeth from star in
glory_." [Footnote 96]
[Footnote 96: 1 Cor. xv., 41.]
Is she called a "Mediatrix of Prayer?" and is it not said of
every just man, that his "_continual prayer availeth much?_"
[Footnote 97]
[Footnote 97: St. James v., 16.]
Is she called "The Spouse of God?" and does not the Almighty,
addressing every faithful soul, say, "_My love, my dove, my
undefiled?_" [Footnote 98]
[Footnote 98: Can. v., 2.]
Is she called the "Daughter of the Most High?" and are not we too
called the "_Sons of God?_" [Footnote 99]
[Footnote 99: 1 St. John iii., 2.]
The glory of the Blessed Virgin, then, differs from that of the
other Saints in degree, but not in kind. She is not separated
from them, but is one of them. She goes before them. She is the
most perfect of them. But she is one of them. And for this
reason, the glory of the Blessed Virgin gives us the best
conception of the magnificence of our destiny. When a botanist
wishes to describe a flower, he selects the most perfect
specimen.
{215}
When an anatomist draws a model of the human frame, he makes it
faultless. So we, to gain the truest idea of our destiny, must
lift up our eyes to the Blessed Virgin on her heavenly throne,
and say: Oh! my soul, see for what thou art created. Think of
this my brethren, as often as you kneel before her image, or
meditate on her greatness. You cannot be what she is, but you can
be like her. She is a creature like you. She is a human being
like you. She is a Christian like you. And her joy, her beauty,
her glory, her wealth, her knowledge, her power--nay, even the
mighty efficacy of her intercession--are only what, in their
measure, God offers to you. "_Glory, honor and peace to_
EVERY ONE _that worketh good for there is no respect of persons
with God_." [Footnote 100]
[Footnote 100: Rom. ii., 10.]
If these things be so, what greatness it gives to human life.
Perhaps, if you had lived in the times of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, you would never have noticed her; or if you had known her
by sight, what would she have seemed to you but a good little
Jewish girl, lowly and retiring in her manners and appearance?
{216}
or, later in life, a poor young woman thrust away, with her
husband, from a crowded inn, or fleeing by night with an infant
child? or, still later, the mother of a condemned malefactor,
watching his sufferings in the crowd. Herod did not know her, and
the nobles of Jerusalem were ignorant of her. She was not one of
the friends of the Queen's dancing daughters. Even the rustics of
the village of Bethlehem looked down on her. She carried no
servants about with her, and had no palace to live in. But Faith
tells us of angel visits, of union with God, of heavenly
goodness, and an immortal crown. So, in like manner, how our life
becomes grand and dignified when it is lighted up by faith! You
know there are porcelain pictures, which in the hand are rough
and unmeaning, but held up to the light reveal the most beautiful
scenes and figures; so our common ordinary life, rough and
unmeaning as it often seems, when enlightened by faith becomes
all divine. There is a little girl who learns her lessons and
obeys her parents, and tells the truth, and shuns every thing
that is wicked; why, as that little girl kneels down to pray, I
see a bright angel drawing near to her, and he smiles on her and
says: "_Hail! Blessed art thou: the Lord is with thee._"
{217}
That young man who, by a sincere conversion, has thrown off the
slavery of sin, and regained once more the grace of God--what is
his heart but another cave of Bethlehem, in which Christ is born,
and around which angels sing: "_Glory to God in the highest; on
earth, peace to men of good will_." That Christian family,
where daily prayers are offered, and instruction and good example
are given, and mutual fidelity is observed between the
members--what is it but the Holy House of Nazareth?--the House of
Jesus? Yes, good Christian, do not be cast down because you are
poor, or because you suffer, or because your opportunities of
doing good are limited; live the life of a Christian, and you are
living Mary's life on earth. We have not, indeed, Mary's perfect
sinlessness, but we have the graces of baptism, by which we may
vanquish sin. We have not, as she had, the visible presence of
our Lord, but we have Him invisibly in our hearts, and
sacramentally in the Holy Communion. We are not "full of grace,"
as she was, but we have grace without limit promised to us in
answer to prayer.
{218}
Let us assert the privileges of our birth-right. We belong to the
new creation. Angels claim kindred with us. God is our father.
Heaven is our home. We are the children of the Saints--yes, of
her who is the greatest of the Saints. Let us follow her
footsteps, that one day we may come to our Assumption, the glory
of which surpassed even the power of St. John to utter.
"_Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it hath not
yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear
we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is_."
[Footnote 101]
[Footnote 101: 1 John iii., 2.]
Every thing depends on our co-operating with grace. How did the
Blessed Virgin arrive at such glory? By corresponding to every
grace. See her at her Annunciation. The Angel comes and tells her
of the grace God has prepared for her. If she had not believed,
if she had not assented, what would have come of it? Why, she
would have lost for all eternity the glory attached to that
grace. But she did not refuse. She was ready for the grace when
it was offered.
{219}
She said "_Fiat_," "_Be it done to me according to thy
word_." Oh, how much hung on that _Fiat!_ an eternal
glory in Heaven. So it is with us. There are moments in our lives
big with the issues of our future. God's purposes concerning the
soul have a certain order. He gives one grace; if we correspond
to that He gives another; if we do not correspond we lose those
that depended on it; some times, even, we lose our salvation
altogether. This is the key of your destiny--fidelity to grace.
You have an inspiration from God: He speaks to your soul. Oh,
listen to Him, and obey Him! To one He says: Abandon, O, sinner,
your evil life, and turn to Me with all your heart. "_Now is
the accepted time, now is the day of salvation!_" To another,
who is already in his grace, He sends inspirations to a more
perfect life, a life of higher prayer and more uninterrupted
recollection. Another, by the sweet attractions of his grace, He
draws away from home and kindred to serve Him as a Sister of
Charity by the bed of suffering; or as a nun, to live with Him in
stillness and contemplation; or as a priest to win souls for
heaven. Oh, speak the word that Mary spoke: "_Be it done to me
according to thy word_."
{220}
Are you in sin? Convert without delay. Are you leading a tepid,
imperfect life? Gird your loins to watchfulness and prayer. Do
you feel in yourselves a vocation to a religious or sacerdotal
life? Rise up and obey without delay. To-morrow may be too late.
The grace may be forfeited forever. Why stand we all the day
idle? Heaven is filling up. Each generation sends a new company
to the heavenly host. Time is going. The great business of life
remains unaccomplished. By our baptism we have been made children
of God and heirs of heaven. Labor we, therefore, to enter into
that rest. Mary, dear Mother, lift up thy voice for us in heaven,
that we, following thy footsteps, may one day share thy glory,
and with thee praise forever God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost;
Amen.
----------------
{221}
Sermon XIV.
Mortal Sin Exemplified In The History Of Judas.
"Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed."
--Matt, xxvi., 24.
(A Sermon for Passion Week.)
There are some men whose crimes have made them objects of
universal and eternal infamy and execration. One of these is
Judas Iscariot, whose very name is a bye-word among men. Most
persons seem to think that he was quite a different being from
ordinary men, and was naturally a kind of evil monster, without
any thing human in him. This is a mistaken opinion. There is not
so great a difference between these extraordinary sinners and
ordinary ones as is commonly supposed.
{222}
There are a great many who have an equal degree of malice, but
who have no such opportunity to show it. There are others who
would become equally bad under equal temptations, but whose evil
tendencies are kept under by favorable circumstances, and the
absence of great inducements to wickedness. It is not probable
that Judas was much worse than the common run of wilful and
malicious sinners, until, by a just judgment and a dreadful
calamity, he fell into the occasion of committing a crime, the
greatest which ever has been or can be committed by man.
In his case, the malice that is in mortal sin is only more
perfectly exhibited than in others that are less heinous. The
treason of Judas is an example, first, of the evil of mortal sin
as an offence against God; and, second, as the ruin of the soul.
I.
The treason of Judas is an example of the evil of mortal sin,
considered as an offence against God. The gist of the offence in
mortal sin lies in the turning from God to the creature.
{223}
It is a renunciation of God's friendship, a desertion of his
service, a discarding of his authority, for the sake of some
created good which we cannot obtain without this complete
desertion from God. No one ever did this, or had the chance to do
it, so plainly and visibly as Judas. He was in personal and
immediate attendance upon our Lord, who is God in human nature.
He was the friend, the servant and the companion of the Lord in
his visible and human life. He deserted and betrayed Him for a
little money, for the favor of the Jewish rulers, for the sake of
a more free and self-indulgent life, and to get rid of a cross he
was tired of carrying. What can be a more perfect illustration of
mortal sin? You have done the same, my friend, when you have
denied your faith for the sake of a genteel marriage; when you
have gone to a fashionable Protestant church for the sake of
improving your business; when you have dropped confession for the
sake of indulging with less restraint in worldly dissipation. You
need not reproach Judas, for all you say against him rebounds
upon yourself, and by your own mouth shall you be condemned, oh,
wicked servant!
The offence of Judas was heightened by the lowness of his origin,
compared with the dignity of Jesus Christ.
{224}
He was a poor young man, without family, rank, or other claim on
the notice of our Lord. He chose him as one of his disciples, and
destined him to be one of his twelve apostles, a sharer in the
glory of St. Peter and St. Paul. For such an one to betray the
Master who had raised him from a station so humble to a rank so
exalted was a double crime. But it is just what every sinner
does. We have fallen by the sin of Adam into a low condition.
Destitute of the nobility of sanctifying grace, devoid of all
supernatural merit, without any claim on heaven, we have been
raised to the rank of children of God, as a boon of pure mercy,
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, if we then sin
against God, in what respect are we better than Judas?
There was not only a great indignity in his conduct toward our
Lord, but an equally great ingratitude. He owed to our Lord not
only respect and obedience on account of his character and
authority, but personal affection and gratitude on account of his
goodness and kindness to him. He betrayed a friend as well as
deserted a master.
{225}
Oh, baseness without a parallel! But beware, lest in saying this
you reproach yourself. Whenever you sin mortally you are guilty
of the same ingratitude toward Jesus Christ. He has been good to
you, too, and you owe Him love and gratitude. But you repay his
favors with outrages and offences.
To crown all, Judas delivered up his Master to an ignominious
death, and imbrued his hands in the blood not only of an innocent
man, but of a friend, a benefactor, nay, more, in the blood of
his Lord and Redeemer. This was a new and unheard of crime. Men
had heard before of fratricide, of parricide, of regicide, but
they had yet to learn of that which included all these and more,
of Deicide. Strictly speaking, this crime of Deicide can never be
repeated. The Son of God gave to wicked men the chance of putting
Him to death, once, and only once. But every one who commits
mortal sin, is guilty of a crime which partakes of the nature of
the crime of Judas. Sin was the cause of the death of Jesus
Christ. He died for every sinner and for every sin. Whoever
commits sin, then, consents to that which caused the death of our
Blessed Lord, makes common cause with his murderers, and thus
becomes accessory to his death.
{226}
II.
The treason of Judas is also an example of the way in which a
sinner ruins himself.