principle of final rewards. He says they shall be given by way of
justice. The time for mercy will then have passed, and we shall
be weighed in the balance of justice, and our reward shall be in
strict proportion to the weight of merit we have cast into the
scale. "_Therefore, my beloved brethren_ (he writes to the
Corinthians), _be ye firm and immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord; knowing that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord_." [Footnote 141]
[Footnote 141: 1 Cor. xv., 58.]
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Then, there is that passage of which I have already spoken, where
St. Paul illustrates the diversity of rewards. "_For there is
one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another
glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in
glory. So also shall it be in the resurrection from the
dead._"
Thus from Holy Scripture we get these several facts with regard
to the rewards of the next life, namely, first, that it is a
reward, and not merely a favor from God. Next, that it is a
reward for good works. Thirdly, that this reward is given by way
of justice. And lastly, that these rewards differ as widely from
one another as do the several lights of the sun, moon, and stars.
But of what use is Holy Scripture to us without Her
interpretation, whose office it is to interpret, as it has been
to preserve it? I will quote you two, out of many, decrees which
the Holy Church made on this matter at the Council of Trent. "If
any one shall say that the just ought not for their good works
done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from
God, through his mercy and the merits of Jesus Christ, if so be
that they persevere to the end in well doing, and in keeping the
Divine commandments, let him be anathema."
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Again, "If any one shall say that the good works of a justified
man are in such sense the gifts of God, that they are not also
the merits of the justified man himself, let him be anathema."
It is then certain, both from Holy Scripture and from the
decisions of Holy Church, that we can merit the possession of
heaven as a right, by our good works. But you will say, if this
be true, does it not tend to cherish in us a spirit of
self-sufficiency, and of independence of God? No, it does not;
and for the reasons I am now going to give you, in speaking on
the second point, namely:
II. The Sources Of Merit.
There are two sources of merit, neither of which are in
ourselves, but both of them are in God. One is the goodness of
God; the other, the merits of Christ.
1. My brethren, God is not bound to his creatures except so far
as He has been pleased to bind Himself. He could have lived on as
well without any creation at all. And even now that he has
created our race, his promise is the only measure of our rights
and privileges. These promises were forfeited by our first
parents, and God might never have renewed them to us, their
posterity.
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But "_God so Loved the world as to give his only begotten Son,
that whoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life
everlasting_." [Footnote 142]
[Footnote 142: John iii., 16.]
"_Behold what charity the Father hath bestowed upon us_,"
says St. John in his Epistle, "_that we should be called, and
that we should be the sons of God_." [Footnote 143]
[Footnote 143: 1 John iii., 1.]
It is because we are sons of God, "and joint heirs with Christ,"
that God has honored us so much, and made it possible for us to
merit by our good works. In order however, to keep us humble and
to make us mindful that in all things we are indebted to his
goodness, God has reserved to Himself two graces which we cannot
merit, and without which we cannot be saved. These are the gifts
of sanctifying grace and of final perseverance. A man is not
likely to take airs upon himself and be insolent to you, when he
is lying on the broad of his back in the road, and cannot stir
hand or foot to help himself. No, he is most likely to address
you in terms of supplication and entreaty.
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Well, this is our condition when God, of his pure love, bestows
upon us the gift of sanctifying grace. Then, again, though we
should have this gift to-day, we may lose it to-morrow, and but
for God's continued graces we would infallibly lose it. Can you
imagine a dependence which is more pure than ours is upon God? An
infant is not more dependent upon its mother for the preservation
of its physical life, than we are upon God for our spiritual
life. "Give us this day our daily bread," is our every morning
prayer. We are like little birds in a nest before they are able
to fly. All we can do is to make a piteous cry, and hold up our
mouths to be filled. Where, then, is there room for presumption
in such teaching as this? Now, let me go on to my second source
of merit, which is the merit of Christ.
2. We are in a double sense indebted to our Blessed Lord. He is
not only our Creator, our Preserver, and our Benefactor, but He
is also our Redeemer. It is by his bitter Passion and Death, and
in union with these, that what we do in his name has a value and
a price in the sight of the Eternal Father. It is that precious
Blood of his which is poured into our soul in holy Baptism; it is
that precious Blood of his which we drink in Holy Communion, that
constitutes the pure and holy source of every good and
meritorious act of ours.
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He has Himself explained how this is, in the parable of the vine.
"_I am the vine, ye the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I
in him, he beareth much fruit_." [Footnote 144]
[Footnote 144: John xv., 5.]
Let us now try to get at our Lord's meaning. It is quite common
nowadays to see a grapery in a gentleman's country garden. The
entire roof of those ornamental glass-houses is covered with
luxuriant vines; and they in turn are loaded with rich green
leaves, and with beautiful bunches of grapes. The sap has made
its course through the length of the vine, and into the various
branches. Here it has forced out a green leaf, and there a bunch
of fruit. These it continues to feed, by a continuous flow, until
the leaf has gained its size and color, and the fruit its
delicacy of flavor. Both leaf and fruit owe their existence,
their beauty, and whatever is excellent in them, to this sap,
which is the source of all; but will you say that they do not
have these things in themselves? Will you say that the grapes are
not really fine flavored, but only called so because they belong
to an excellent vine?
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No, certainly not. You say the grapes are fine, because they
really are fine, because they answer in point of taste to what
you understand by that term. They have in themselves a something
which is not accidental to them, but which is an essential
quality in grapes of that kind, namely, that delicate flavor
which has established their worth.
Now, apply this to ourselves. We are united to our Lord through
the Sacraments, as branches to a vine. His grace is that precious
Sap which has been let in upon our souls, through those seven
main channels. They cleanse and purify our souls. They sanctity
them, and make them beautiful and pleasing to God. The acts of
the soul, so long as it is united to God by this divine gift of
grace, are at the same time the acts of grace. They are good and
meritorious, inasmuch as they are done by the co-operation of
grace with our intelligence and free will. By rewarding such acts
as these, God rewards the works of his own hands. This is what
St. Augustine says: "When God crowns our merits, He does no more
than crown his own gifts."
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Let me illustrate this in another way. St. Paul says, in his
second Epistle to the Corinthians, "_I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ_." [Footnote 145]
[Footnote 145: 2 Cor. xi., 2.]
Here he calls the soul the wife, and Christ its husband. By this
we are to understand, that the grace of Christ in the soul
enables it first to conceive good desires, and then to bring
forth good works, which are, as it were, the children of the
soul. Thus a dignity and worth are communicated to them, which
are, in a true sense, divine. Suppose, for instance, a Prince of
royal blood were to marry a peasant girl. Her children would
unquestionably have royal blood in their veins, how ever obscure
may have been the parentage of their mother. They would be
entitled to the right of succession, and could claim the throne
of their father. Well, in like manner our good works, having God
as their Author, are able to claim from Him a supernatural
reward.
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III. The Conditions Of Merit.
There is one condition of being able to do a good supernatural
work, which always comes first, and that is, that the person
shall be in the state of grace when he does it. God can find no
pleasure in us so long as our will and affections are turned away
from Him, and this is the case when we are in mortal sin.
Again, our merit will be in proportion to the excellence of the
work in itself considered. One apple is better than another,
though both have grown upon the same branch. To attend the
bedside of some poor sick person, is a more excellent work than
merely to bestow an alms upon him. To be contrite for one's sins,
is more excellent than to do penitential works in expiation of
them. To forgive the injury of one's enemy, is more excellent
than to pardon the unkindness of an acquaintance. The poorest
effort at self-control, is better than the best advice given to
another. I remember a story which shows what even one excellent
work will do for a soul. It is in "The Lives of the Fathers of
the Desert." A monk, who was serving God with much prayer and
self-denial, was tempted with the desire to see a man whose merit
in the sight of God should be the very counterpart of his own.
God gratified his weakness. He was directed to go to a certain
inn in a neighboring village where he would see such a man.
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On reaching it, there stood before the door a poor fiddler
playing for pennies. The monk understood, by an interior light,
that this was the man. Much surprised, and rather mortified too,
he nevertheless addressed the fiddler, and asked him what sort of
a life he had led, and what he was then doing for God? He
answered, that he had, for many years, gained a poor but honest
livelihood in the same humble employment. That as to his having
done any thing very good, he did not know about that, although
there was one thing that he always remembered with a great deal
of satisfaction. "With some danger to myself, I once rescued a
poor girl from those who would have ruined her." The good monk
was made to understand, that for preventing that outrage, God had
raised this poor fiddler to a great purity of soul.
A good work, again, is more excellent in proportion as it is more
difficult. What a consolation this ought to be to us! How hard we
think it sometimes to get on in life, with its multiplied
vexations and discouragements!
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We say, "What a strange world!" "What a weary world!" In the
language of Holy Scripture we say, "_In the morning, who will
grant me evening? and at evening, who will grant me morning?_"
[Footnote 146] as though things were turning out very different
from what we had a right to expect.
[Footnote 146: Deut. xxviii., 57.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Deut. xxviii., 67.]
Ah! God has been good to us in the planning out of our lives,
better than we should be, if we had all the planning to
ourselves. I have shown you that future rewards are to be
determined by merit; now our merits are measured by our trials.
By your own admission then, this world, in being full of trials,
most completely answers the end for which God created it. If we
could but get into the habit of looking at things from this point
of view, the face of life would be lit up with a perpetual
sunshine. Yes, the harder our state of life is to bear, the more
difficulties we find in following our Lord, the more laborious
the work, so much the brighter are our prospects for the life to
come, if we prove faithful to the end.
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How well the mother of the Maccabees, that noble woman, knew
this! Holy Scripture says: "_She was to be admired above
measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men, who beheld her
seven sons slain in the space of one day, and bore it with a good
courage for the hope she had in God_." [Footnote 147]
[Footnote 147: 2 Maccabees vii., 20.]
As the youngest, her last and dearest, was about to be put to
death, she encouraged him to be resolute; and he went to a
martyr's reward under the influence of a consoling thought, which
he thus beautifully expressed: "_My brethren having now
undergone a short pain, are under the covenant of eternal
life_."
Again, our merit is in proportion to the purity of the intention
with which we do the work. The intention we make, either actual
or habitual, is the chalice, as it were, in which we make our
offerings to God. It is even more than this; for the excellence
of the intention is imparted to the work itself, and becomes the
measure of its merit. I once saw some wooden goblets in the
window of an apothecary shop. Being curious to know what they
were for, I was told by the clerk that they were made of quassia,
a peculiar kind of wood which imparted to pure water, when drank
from these goblets, a most healthy tonic.
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Now, so it is with a pure intention. If the work that we do for
God is only pure and good in itself, the intention will
communicate to it its own peculiar excellence, and the work will
receive the reward of that excellence, which has become its own.
Suppose, for instance, you hear Mass from a mere motive of duty,
as being a Catholic. It is a supernatural work, and it will
secure a supernatural reward. But to that intention you have
added another the next time you hear Mass; namely, the intention
of doing penance for your sins. Well, the same act is now doubly
meritorious. The third time you hear Mass from a pure desire to
make reparation to our Lord for all the injuries He has received
in the Blessed Sacrament, and your intention is more excellent
still, and, if united with the other two, will merit a three-fold
reward.
Again, great merit is gained by small things done for God. This
is surely very encouraging for us who have not the abilities, or
the opportunities, of doing great things. Of course I mean great
things as the world views them.
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A check put upon a wrong thought; the arrest of an improper word;
the silence to which we have forced ourselves, when we feel
within us the swelling of anger; the call we make upon a sick
neighbor in passing; the alms we bestow, however small; the
effort to be patient under sickness or pain; the kind word of
advice to the erring; each such act as these, will be a passport
at the gate of Heaven.
And now, dear brethren, I repeat once more what I said when I
began. There is an aristocracy, there is a hierarchy, in Heaven.
As there are nine choirs of Angels, and, so St. John tells us,
except "the one hundred and forty four thousand" who had
consecrated their virgin bodies as first-fruits to God, none
could sing the "_new song_" or "_follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth_," so shall it be forever.
I will say more; and this is what I wish especially to impress
upon your minds. You must already have gathered it from what I
have said. It is this. That aristocracy, that hierarchy, is in
process of formation at this moment. It is not determined by an
arbitrary choice in heaven, but on the principle of personal
merit, here on earth.
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How is it with a large body of students at one of our colleges or
universities? They are class-mates, or even room-mates, for
years, but look at them after the lapse of twenty years, and what
are their respective positions? One is a merchant, in a small
way, in a country town of a new state; while the other is
representing his country as Minister at a first-class foreign
court. One is a village physician, while the other is the
nation's choice to fill the Presidential Chair. So shall it be
with families. Some will scarcely be saved, while others will
fill up the ranks of the seraphs, which were broken at the time
of Lucifer's rebellion. Where, I ask, shall our place be in this
hierarchy? Our Lord says: "_The last shall be first, and the
first last_." Where shall we be? Grace and a good will are the
only materials wanting in the formation of a Saint Aloysius, a
Saint Stanislas, or a Saint Elizabeth of Hungary; and these are
in the reach of every one. What shall I say in conclusion, dear
brethren, to spur you on to do good works? I will ask you to look
back upon the past. Does it not lie in your memory in all the
blackness and barrenness of a western prairie, over which the
desolating fire of the savage has passed?
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Where can you find the trace of any real care of your souls?
Where your good works? Where your merit? At least let us resolve
now, while our hearts are warm, that we will improve the present,
remembering that "_what things a man shall sow, those also
shall he reap;_" and that "_he that soweth in the Spirit,
shall reap life everlasting_." [Footnote 148]
[Footnote 148: Gal. vi., 8.]
---------------
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Sermon XX.
Self-denial.
"We came into the land to which thou sentest us,
which in very deed floweth with milk and honey,
as may be known by these fruits."
--Num. xiii., 28.
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Num. xiii., 27.]
(A Sermon for the first Sunday in Lent.)
When the ancient people of Israel, after traversing the desert of
Arabia, drew nigh to the promised land of Canaan, Moses, their
prophet and leader, sent out one of every tribe to view the
country, that they might be able to bring back an accurate
account of it--of its productiveness, the number and strength of
its population, and its means of defence. These spies, upon their
return, were all agreed in regard to the wonderful fertility of
the country, but in other respects their account was very
discordant.
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One of their number, Caleb the son of Jephone, was full of
enthusiasm, and said to the people: "_Let us go up and possess
the land, for we shall be able to take it!_" But the others
that had been with him spoke ill of the country, representing it
as unhealthy, and impossible to be conquered. "_The land which
we have viewed devoureth its inhabitants; the people that we
beheld are of a tall stature. There we saw monsters of the sons
of Enac, of the giant kind, in comparison of whom we seemed like
locusts_." Why did these last give such a different account
from the first? It was because they were cowardly, and afraid of
the inhabitants of Canaan, and this blinded them to the fertility
of its soil, its fine fruits and great beauty. Their fears caused
them to exaggerate difficulties, and to overlook blessings which
were within their reach.
This party of pusillanimous Israelites represent a portion of the
Christian world in our day, who, taking counsel of their fears,
and consulting their ease, speak of the practice of self-denial,
and the virtue of penance, as something to be dreaded,
unnecessary, and even criminal. "_It is a land which devoureth
its inhabitants!_"
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They imagine insurmountable obstacles in the way. "_We saw
there monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind_." If
their souls were of a more robust make, if their hearts were a
little larger, their error would be dispelled, and they would see
that a life of Christian mortification, instead of devouring
them, would introduce them to the enjoyment of spiritual
advantages and pleasures such as they never yet conceived of.
They would find it a land "_which in very deed floweth with
milk and honey, as may be known by these fruits_."
Their error concerning the virtue of Self-denial is owing in some
measure to a misconception of its true meaning. To establish its
true meaning, let us ask ourselves first of all, what is a true
Christian life? The little catechism tells us that man was
created to know God, to love Him and to serve Him in this world,
and be forever happy with Him in the next. A true Christian life,
then, consists in knowing, loving and serving God. If we give any
other direction to our thoughts, or affections, or actions, we
live falsely. Self-denial, as a Christian virtue, consists in
renouncing all misdirection of the powers of the soul, or in
setting aside all things which stand in the way of our realizing
the great end for which we were created. Complete self-denial
places the soul in true and complete relations with God.
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Man has become in a great measure the servant and slave of the
appetites and passions of his inferior nature, and by every act
of self-denial he recovers his lost superiority, and renders
himself again their master. Whenever, therefore, we find our
passions and appetites are leading us astray, we should resist
them, and practise self-denial and mortification. If a man, for
instance, finds that his sensual appetites lead him to gluttony
and drunkenness, he should fast and practise sobriety. If pride
and vanity are entering his heart, he should exercise himself in
humility. When he finds that the love of riches is making him
miserly, he should be liberal to the poor. Anger must be overcome
by meekness, incontinence by chastity, and sloth by vigilance and
action. Briefly, the office of self-denial is to deny to the
instincts of our lower nature what is contrary to right reason,
and to God's holy law.
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Should there, however, arise conflicting claims between our
higher and lower nature, then the renunciation of one good for
another of a higher order must be practised; according to the
words of Christ: "_If thine eye scandalize thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee_." [Footnote 149]
[Footnote 149: St. Matt, xviii., 9.]
For what, after all, are created things, or the members of a
man's body, or even his life, compared with the eternal salvation
of his soul? Men do not hesitate to sacrifice the less to save
the greater; to cut away the masts of a ship in a storm to save
the vessel; to amputate a limb to save the whole body. It is on
this principle that our Lord declares that, "_It is better for
thee that one of thy members should perish, than that thy whole
body should go into hell_." Again our Lord says, on the same
point, "_If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sister, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple_." [Footnote
150]
[Footnote 150: St. Luke xiv., 26.]
The meaning of our Lord is not that there is in these human ties
any thing contrary to God's law, for his commandment to us is,
"Honor thy father and thy mother;" "Love thy neighbor as
thyself."
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The meaning of the text is; if your father, or your mother, or
your wife or children, or your brother or sister, or even your
own life, should stand in the way of your duty to God, then they
must be subordinated, or even sacrificed, to your obedience and
duty to Him. Our duty to God is supreme; and when the question
arises of obeying Him or clinging to something else we possess or
prize, He is content with nothing less than an unconditional
surrender. So, then, self-denial is practised not to deny one's
self of any thing that is a real good, but in regulating what is
disorderly, in repressing what is excessive, in renouncing what
is evil, that we may come in possession of our sovereign good. It
aims at restraining the excesses of our animal instincts, and
holding them in subjection to reason, and not at their
destruction. For, in themselves considered, there is nothing even
in our animal instincts which is irreconcilable with the
perfection of the soul.
The same may be said of all human relationships; if they are not
made to stand in the way of our salvation, and the keeping of the
Divine Law, they render our natural life the more complete, and
the obligation for their renunciation ceases.
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Did not Christ look upon mankind with human eyes, and make all
our human feelings his own? As a son He obeyed his mother until
his death; and even while suffering on the cross, such was his
filial love and solicitude for her welfare, that He gave her in
charge to his beloved disciple. As a friend, He wept at the death
of Lazarus. In fine, all human sympathies, sorrows, and woes,
found a home in his bosom. No, there is nothing in all created
things, nor in human nature, even in its lowest appetites and
passions, which may not be brought into harmony with reason, be
reconciled with what holds the first place in the rank of our
duties, and be made to contribute and adorn the perfection of the
soul.