belong to her a thing so evident and clear that we can no more
think it necessary to prove it than we can think it necessary to
prove that the sun shines in the heavens. The practical and
imperative way in which the church enforces holiness of life on
each and every one of us is something with which we are so
familiar that no shadow of doubt can enter into our minds as to
its necessity. The means of grace which she offers to us, and of
which she even requires us to make use, the sacrament of the Body
and Blood of the Lord himself which she gives us, the penances
she imposes upon us by way of fasting and abstinence, the
warnings which she is ever giving us of the condemnation which
will fall upon impenitent sinners, these and ten thousand other
things make the sanctity of the church so well known that it is
not so much an article of faith as a thing which we see with our
own eyes and which falls under our own experience.
But there are those who are without these advantages. There are
many around us, our near neighbors and friends, who are outside
the church, not through their own fault, but by birth and
education. These are not in possession of those means of knowing
the church and her sanctity of which we are possessed; and in
order to have this knowledge they depend to a very large extent
upon ourselves.
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I wish this morning to call your attention to the responsibility
which rests upon us on this account, and to one or two practical
ways in which we are accountable to God for what that
responsibility involves.
Now, that we lie under this responsibility is a truth not very
hard to see. For, as I have said, those outside the church are
ignorant of the doctrine and practices of the church. From their
earliest years they have had utterly false and erroneous
information given them about the church, an information so false
and erroneous that they do not think it necessary or even right
to make inquiries. How, then, are they to have the truth brought
home to them? What way is there of spreading the light? Almost
the only way, and certainly a way so necessary that without it
all others are futile and vain, is that those who are called
Catholics should lead such lives as the church requires of them.
Now, if we do not do this we are of course responsible to God, as
every man, be he Catholic or be he Protestant, is responsible to
God for his whole life and every action in it. But more than
that, a special responsibility in this time and in this country
lies at the door of every Catholic man and every Catholic woman.
Every Catholic man and woman who does not lead a good life is a
stumbling-block and a rock of offence standing in the way and
preventing many poor souls from seeing and embracing that truth
which is necessary for their salvation; and those Catholics whose
way of living forms such a stumbling-block will have to give a
strict account to God not merely for their own sins and for
themselves, but also for the souls of others whom they have
ruined.
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Now, I am going on this account to ask you some questions which I
hope you will answer honestly and conscientiously. And they will
be questions about matters on which the world outside is
competent to judge; and, therefore, if we fail in this respect we
shall meet with its condemnation, and become hindrances to the
knowledge of the truth.
First: There is nothing of which the business world thinks so
much as truth, uprightness, integrity in business matters. To pay
debts promptly, to do work squarely, to execute contracts
faithfully, these are some of the marks of an honest man. Now, in
view of what I have said, ask yourselves, is this way of acting
the mark of all Catholics? Will a man who wants to get a house
built, who is looking for a trustworthy clerk or assistant,
choose out Catholics in preference to others, because he knows
that they are worthy of trust? If this is not the case, if the
being a Catholic is no guarantee of trustworthiness, you will
have to answer to God for the bad effect your dishonesty has upon
those outside.
And now a question for women. You all know in what virtue
consists, the glory and honor of women. You all know what the
world expects of women. You know, too, how much the church makes
of modesty and chastity, in what honor she holds them, how strict
she is in inculcating their necessity. Now, one of the effects of
genuine modesty and chastity is to overawe and overpower the
approaches of the unclean and impure. There is a majesty in
virtue which lays low and keeps at its level vileness and
impurity. Is everyone who comes near a Catholic girl or woman
conscious of this influence?
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Is there something about every Catholic girl and woman which
makes it clear to every dirty fellow that he must go elsewhere if
he wishes to find a victim and a means of satisfying his
disgraceful passions? It ought to be so, for the soul of every
Catholic girl and woman, over and above the majesty of natural
virtue, is the abode and dwelling-place of the grace of God. And
if you are true children of the church such will be the effect
your presence will have.
Well, my brethren, ask yourselves these questions; answer them
honestly; and, if you find that you have done wrong, amend, not
merely for your own sake but for that of those outside.
-------------------
Sermon XXXI.
Bearing One Another's Burdens.
_Bearing with one another,
and forgiving one another
if any have a complaint against one another:
even as the Lord hath forgiven you,
so do you also._
--Epistle of the Day (Colossians iii. 13).
Perhaps you may think, my dear friends, that we have a good deal
to say about this matter of charity and forgiveness, and if you
do you are probably right; it was not long ago that we had
occasion to remind you of it in one of these little morning
instructions. But why should we not speak of it often? Is not the
love of our neighbor the second great commandment, like to and
founded on the first? Does not St. John also make it the test of
our salvation? "We know," he says, "that we have passed from
death to life"; and why?
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Is it because we fast, say long prayers, visit the church, or
even because we receive the sacraments often? No, it is "because
we love the brethren." And he continues: "He that loveth not,
abideth in death. ... We ought," he goes on to say, "to lay down
our lives for the brethren."
In the latter years of the life of St. John, when he had become
so old and feeble that he had to be carried to the church, and
was not able to preach at any length to his beloved people, he
would still give them a little short sermon. It was very short;
not even a five-minute sermon; and it was not fresh every Sunday,
but always the same. It was just this: "Little children, love one
another." But his people, in spite of their great reverence and
affection for him, were something like people nowadays, and got
rather tired of hearing this same old story. They wanted
something more novel and startling, and one day they asked him:
"Master, why do you never tell us anything but this about loving
one another?" He answered: "Because it is the Lord's command, and
if it is fulfilled it is sufficient."
If St. John, then, preached about this matter of charity every
Sunday, certainly we may be allowed to speak of it several times
in the year. And you, my dear Christians, will not lose anything
by hearing about it pretty often. For the matter is one in which
there is always great room for improvement for us all. St. John
said "little children"; but he was not speaking to the
Sunday-school, if, indeed, he had one; no, it was to the
children, big as well as little, children all of God and of his
holy church, that his words were addressed.
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And these words are more needed now than they were then. Why, in
the early times Christians used to be known from other people by
their love and charity for each other. It was this that made
converts to the faith, more, perhaps, than preaching or miracles.
"See," said the world, "how these Christians love one another."
But now I am afraid it would be hard to pick out very many
Christians by this test. No; it is more likely that our infidel
friends would say of all the Christians that they happen to know:
"See how these Christians are all the time quarrelling with each
other! They never seem to be content unless they can show their
pride by having at least some one who is not supposed to be
worthy of their acquaintance. They go to church and say their
prayers--oh! yes; but perhaps there is some person, even in the
next pew, that they used to know, but have not spoken to for
years, and have no notion of ever speaking to, unless, perhaps,
on their death-bed if the priest should insist on it. Bearing
with one another, indeed! Is it possible that one of their
Apostles told them to do that? Why, they do not put up with half
as much as a sensible man would who had no faith at all. Let them
suffer the least even fancied slight or indignity, and there is
an end of all their friendship. Forgiving one another, as they
say the Lord has forgiven them? Well, if the Lord forgives as
they do, his forgiveness does not seem to amount to much."
My brethren, depend on it, those not of our faith feel often this
way, though they may not say it right out. And they are not far
wrong. The kind of bearing with others, the kind of forgiveness,
that is given them by those who have the name of Christians is
too often one that will not stand the test of God's judgment.
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I am afraid that many pious people have found themselves in the
wrong place after death on account of it. Let those who still
remain profit by this lesson while they have time.
-------------------
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_Sixth Sunday after Epiphany._
Epistle.
1 _Thessalonians i._ 2-10.
Brethren:
We give thanks to God always for you all: making a remembrance
of you in our prayers without ceasing, being mindful of the
work of your faith, and labor, and charity, and of the enduring
of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father:
knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election: for our gospel
hath not been to you in word only, but in power also, and in
the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness, as you know what manner of
men we have been among you for your sakes. And you became
followers of us, and of the Lord: receiving the word in much
tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that you were made
a pattern to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from
you was spread abroad the word of the Lord, not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, your faith which
is towards God, is gone forth, so that we need not to speak
anything. For they themselves relate of us, what manner of
entrance we had unto you; and how you were converted to God
from idols, to serve the living and true God. And to wait for
his Son from Heaven (whom he raised from the dead), Jesus who
hath delivered us from the wrath to come.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xiii_. 31-35.
At that time:
Jesus spoke to the multitude this parable: The kingdom of
heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and
sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds; but
when it is grown up it is greater than any herbs, and becometh
a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the
branches thereof.
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Another parable he spoke to them. The kingdom of heaven is like
to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, until the whole was leavened. All these things Jesus
spoke in parables to the multitudes: and without parables he
did not speak to them. That the word might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open my mouth in
parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the
world."
-------------------
Sermon XXXII.
How To Make Converts.
_The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven,
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,
until the whole was leavened. _
--Gospel of the Day.
By the kingdom of heaven is meant in this Gospel, as in many
other places, the holy Catholic Church; the spiritual kingdom of
God, which is of heaven, though on earth; and leaven is another
word for what we call yeast, and is used in the making of bread.
Our Divine Lord, then, tells us that his church, to which we
belong, is like yeast; and his meaning, if we consider a little,
is plain enough. It is, that as a little yeast is put into a mass
of flour or dough, to raise it, as we say, so he has put his
church, which was in the beginning a very small thing, into the
world, to raise the world to life and the knowledge and love of
him.
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And certainly his comparison of the church to yeast was fully
justified. In the beginning the world was everywhere attracted
and moved in spite of itself by the lives of the first
Christians. The heathen could not help admiring their mutual
charity, their patient and forgiving dispositions, their
temperance and self-sacrifice; and they could not refrain from
asking themselves and each other: "Who are these that they call
Christians? What do they believe, and what do they teach? What is
it that makes them so loving and so amiable, so calm and
peaceful, so happy in all their troubles, so ready to assist and
serve not only each other, but all the world beside?" But no one
could answer these questions but the Christians themselves; so
the heathen had to go and get instructed in this faith which had
been made so charming to them. Thus they were converted, and in
their turn became apostles in the same way to others.
So the leaven spread through the mass; the contagion, so to
speak, of faith, piety, and virtue was diffused over the world;
people caught it from their neighbors. The Apostles had no need
to make many converts in any one place which they visited. If
they got a few, these few would take care of the rest. The little
congregations which they founded grew and multiplied wonderfully,
in spite of distress and persecution, by the force of the holy
lives and good example of their members.
But was this way of growing only meant for God's church in the
beginning? No, by no means. Our Lord says that the leaven of his
kingdom was to go on working "till the whole was leavened." Does
it, then, still move the world in this way? If so, how rapidly
ought the church now to increase, when there are a thousand
faithful for one in those early days!
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Yes, my brethren, it ought. For in spite of the boasts which the
world is making of its reformed religion, especially just now,
and of its progress and civilization, it feels at heart very
uneasy. It has fallen away from God, and lost the truth, and in
its inmost soul it knows this; and it is looking for somone to
bring light to its darkness, and to put its confusion in order.
Why, then, does not the church increase more rapidly? Why does
not the world now come to us as it did in those former days of
its anxiety and doubt? Prejudices it has now against us, I know;
but it had its prejudices then, too. There are many slanders
believed against us, but that has been so from the very
beginning; our Lord warned us of this, and it is a mark of his
true church to be thus belied. So this is not the real trouble;
no, the trouble is that most Christians do not by the good odor
of their lives induce the world to inquire into their faith, and
thus overcome its prejudices. We may argue till we and everyone
else are ready to drop, but we shall never be as the first
disciples were--the leaven of God's kingdom--till we show by our
lives that there is something more in us than the natural
feelings, good or bad, which make up the lives of others.
Christians who forgive and excuse their enemies, who have charity
for all, who are chaste and pure in word and deed, who are humble
and self-denying, those are the ones--and, thank God, such there
are--who make converts; and if we want the leaven of the kingdom
to spread and raise the world to Christ we must be like them.
-------------------
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Sermon XXXIII.
The Blessings Of The Faith.
_I will utter things
hidden from the foundation of the world._
--Matthew. xiii. 35.
These are the concluding words of to-day's Gospel, and they refer
to the great truths that are made known to us through the
revelation of Almighty God. For as believers in a divine
revelation we know things that have been hidden from the
beginning, and we have a knowledge that transcends all human
knowledge. Our faith gives us light which our reason could never
supply. We might spend our whole lives in the most profound study
and investigation, we might dip into all the systems and master
all the sciences, and we should still be ignorant of certain
truths which our faith makes known to us. When we look back over
the world's history and see the greatest minds of every age and
country groping in the dark, seeking in vain for the knowledge
which we possess, we can appreciate what a glorious privilege it
is to be enlightened by the divine light of faith. For where its
rays do not penetrate there can never be sufficient security in
regard to the most vital truths of human origin and human
destiny. We see the sad evidences of this all around us in the
world to-day. Men who refuse to accept the revelation of Almighty
God and the teachings of his church are in ignorance, or at least
they are in doubt, about the origin and end of life. They are
even in doubt as to the existence of God himself, though the
universe by a thousand voices proclaims his presence and their
own souls reflect his image.
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From age to age the human mind busies itself over the deep
questions of philosophy and the discoveries of science. From
generation to generation men seek to solve the great problems of
life by the force of reason; but revelation alone can adequately
disclose the "things hidden from the foundation of the world,"
and without its divine light and guidance mankind must ever
remain liable to sink into darkness and doubt.
How widely different is the state of the mind established in the
settled convictions of faith from that where there is nothing but
the theories and opinions of human knowledge! In the one there is
the repose of certainty, security, and peace; in the other there
are many puzzles unsolved, promptings unsatisfied, disquiet, and
unrest. One short lesson learned in the school of divine faith
will give more light and bring more comfort to the soul than all
the knowledge that can be acquired in a life-time in the schools
of human learning.
Great stress is laid nowadays on secular education. And we are
told that what the country needs, what the world needs, are
intelligent and cultivated men and women; and certainly education
is an excellent thing, and most desirable for all. But why make
so much of a knowledge that concerns only the petty things of
earth and the fleeting course of time, and ignore a knowledge
that relates to the Infinite God in heaven and a life that is
everlasting? What will it profit us on our death-bed to have
learned the facts in the world's history, to have been familiar
with the teachings of philosophy and the discoveries of science,
to have studied the writings and mastered the thoughts of men, if
we know nothing of our Creator and our relation to him and the
course of our destiny; nothing of the preparation we should make
beforehand and the thoughts that should animate us as we stand on
the brink of eternity?
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Here is the great contrast between the knowledge that God imparts
to us and all human science--the one imparts to us the truths of
eternity, the other teaches us the truths of time; and the
difference between them is just as great as that between time and
eternity. And if, as is generally the case, we estimate the value
of a thing by its importance and permanence, there is surely no
term of comparison here. The little child who has learned the
first page of the Catholic Catechism has already acquired a
knowledge which forty centuries of human speculation have never
reached, and the simplest believer in Jesus Christ and his church
is possessed of a wisdom far higher, far holier, than was ever
conceived of by the greatest sages of old.
Let us realize, then, that faith is the highest knowledge, that
it discloses to us "things hidden from the foundation of the
world," and makes us sharers in the knowledge of God himself, and
therefore elevates and crowns our reason.
-------------------
Sermon XXXIV.
Good Example As A Means Of Making Converts.
_The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven,
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,
until the whole was leavened._
--Matthew xiii. 33
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This may seem a very strange comparison, my brethren, if, instead
of letting it in at one ear, as the saying is, and out at the
other, we stop to think of it a moment. For what sort of likeness
is there between that glorious kingdom of heaven, which we hope
some day to enter, and a little leaven or yeast put into flour to
raise it and make it into bread? Surely, we should say, none at
all. What could our Lord have meant when he said that the two
were alike?
But let us think a little more about the matter. Is the kingdom
of heaven of which he was speaking that heaven into which all the
saved are to enter? Or is there not some other meaning which we
may give to the words?
There is another meaning, and it is the true one in this place
and in many others in the Gospel. It is the kingdom of God or of
heaven, not in heaven, but on earth, of which our Saviour is here
speaking. When he says the kingdom of heaven, he means the
kingdom which he came to establish, his holy Catholic Church.
But how is this leaven, or yeast? Well, it is not so very hard to
see this. It is because, being put into the world in the
beginning in the form of a few weak, poor, and unlearned men and
women, like the little spoonful of yeast put into a great mass of
flour, it soon spread through the whole known world, and is even
now spreading in the same way, changing and influencing in many
ways all whom it meets with, even if it does not fully convert
them: just as the yeast is spread through the whole of the dough,
raising it and making it into good and healthy food.
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Yes, my brethren, this was the way that the church spread through
the world and made its converts, especially in the early times.
It was not only by preaching. The Apostles and their successors
did not have much chance to preach to the world in general. They
were not allowed to do so; public preaching would have brought
down on them much greater persecutions than those which they
actually suffered, and it would have required great miracles on
God's part to preserve his church had such preaching been tried,
especially in the great cities. No, they had to teach their
doctrine, as we may say, on the sly; in fact, part of it was
reserved for those who had already become Christians. It may seem
strange now, but in early times no one was allowed to hear
anything about the real presence of our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament till after he had been baptized. This was called the
discipline of the secret, and was kept up for a long time.
So, you see, Christianity was not learned in the pagan Roman
Empire so much by preaching as by private instruction joined with
good example. One person caught it from another, as the particles
of dough get raised by those next to them. Masters and
mistresses, for instance, caught it from their servants, others
from their friends and acquaintances--first, from noticing their
virtues, so different from those which the pagans had. They saw
how gentle and affectionate, and still how courageous, they were;
how they bore suffering without a murmur; how they shrank from
the idols worshipped by others, and from all the vices which
these idols represented; how little they cared for pleasure; how
each sacrificed himself for his neighbor. "See," said the world,
"how these Christians love one another." Then the world began to
inquire what was the reason of this love and of the other
Christian virtues; and so religion spread from the lowest to the
highest, till at last the Roman emperors themselves knelt before
the cross.
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