can now be preached and taught openly; still, it is almost the
same as if it could not, for people outside the church will
seldom come and hear it, or even read books explaining it. The
discipline of the secret still prevails, not because we wish it,
but because the world does. So now, as before, the faith must
catch and spread from one person to another if it is to make much
progress in such countries as this of ours. Protestants run away
from the priest, and will have nothing to say to him; so it will
not do to say that making converts is the priest's business and
does not concern you. No, my brethren, making converts is your
business, as things stand, perhaps even more than his. But how
are they to be made? Not by cursing, lying, and drunkenness, sins
too common, alas! among many who call themselves Catholics, and
specially liable to be noticed by others. It was not by these
that the first Christians converted the world. Not by quarrels
and slanders; it is not by these that you will convince people
that we Christians love one another. Turn, then, from the vices
which repel, and practise instead virtues which will attract
unbelievers, and lead them to inquire why you are so good instead
of wondering that you are so bad. Then they will come to you, as
they did of old to your ancestors in the faith, to learn the
doctrine which has taught you these virtues; and you will be, as
you should be, the leaven which is to leaven the world.
--------------------
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_Septuagesima Sunday_.
Epistle.
1 _Corinthians ix._ 24; x. 5.
Brethren:
Know you not that they who run in the race, all run indeed, but
one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain.
And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself
from all things; and they indeed that they may receive a
corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so
run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating
the air: but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should
become reprobate. For I would not have you ignorant, brethren,
that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea. And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud
and in the sea; and they did all eat the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink (and they drank of the
spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ).
But with the most of them God was not well pleased.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xx._ 1-16.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples this parable:
The kingdom of heaven is like to a master of a family, who went
early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And
when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent
them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour
and saw others standing in the market-place idle. And he said
to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what
shall be just.
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And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth
and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the
eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he
saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to
him: Because no man hath hired us. Ho saith to them: Go you
also into my vineyard. And when evening was come, the lord of
the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the laborers and pay
them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first.
When, therefore, they came, who had come about the eleventh
hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also
came, they thought that they should have received more, and
they also received every man a penny. And when they received
it, they murmured against the master of the house, saying:
These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them
equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the
heats. But he answering one of them, said: Friend, I do thee no
wrong; didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is
thine and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to
thee. Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye
evil because I am good? So shall the last be first, and the
first last. For many are called, but few chosen.
-------------------
Sermon XXXV.
Bodily Mortification.
"I chastise my body," says St. Paul in the Epistle of to-day,
"and bring it into subjection." In these few words he gives us
the great reason for the Catholic doctrine and practice of bodily
mortification and penance, which Protestants so often find fault
with.
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"I chastise my body," he says, "and bring it into subjection";
that is, "I chastise it, because I want to bring it into
subjection. I want to tame it, to become its master; so I give it
a good beating, I starve it now and then, and treat it badly
generally, that it may learn to obey me."
That is the great idea of mortification, my brethren, in a
nutshell. Every one knows that if you want to break a vicious
horse you have to put him through a pretty severe course of
treatment before he will be subject to your will. And every one
knows that the body is naturally unruly, like a vicious horse;
the body is always craving for things which it would be better
that it should not have, and it will have them in spite of us if
we do not take care. So, to subject it thoroughly to reason, we
must put it through a severe course; otherwise, some time or
other, it will get the better of us, and have its own way.
And there is a great deal more need of taming our own bodies than
there is of breaking horses. For the horse can only kill our
body, but our bodies can kill our souls; and furthermore, if we
do not want to take the trouble of breaking a horse, we can shoot
him, or get somebody else to take him; but we can not in anyway
lawfully get rid of our bodies till such time as God sees fit to
take them from us. We are tied fast to them, and cannot get away.
So we are absolutely obliged to conquer them, if we do not want
to be conquered by them. In other words, if we do not want our
bodies to be a frequent cause and occasion of mortal sin to us,
we must to some considerable extent practise mortification.
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That is the Catholic and true doctrine, as taught by the church,
and put into practice, in some degree at least, by all the
faithful who obey her laws. And it is also common sense. Every
one must admit that the body is the great cause and source of
mortal sin to far the greater number of people, and that if its
appetites were thoroughly brought under control our souls would
be saved from very great dangers, which otherwise they cannot
escape. If, then, it is any object to escape these dangers--and
no sensible man can deny that it is--one does not need to be a
Christian, but only to have the gift of reason, and to look a
little into himself and into the world about him, and he must
grant that the bodily penances and mortifications which the
church insists on are not foolish or superstitious, but in the
highest degree prudent and wise.
But I know, my dear brethren, that you do not think that the
mortification of the body required by the church is useless or
superstitious; I give you too much credit for faith as well as
for reason to imagine that. You do need courage, though--we all
need it--to act up to what we believe in this matter. Let us then
look this question fairly in the face. There is heaven before us
to be gained, and sin to be overcome that we may gain it; and
here are our bodies, with their depraved, corrupted, and often
dangerous and sinful desires, standing in the way of our gaining
it. If we will only determine in earnest to get the mastery of
them, heaven is almost sure; if we do not, they will be very
likely to carry us to hell. If we overcome them, we save
ourselves and them, and make them a help instead of a hindrance
to us; if not, they will do their best to drag us down with
themselves to destruction, and if in the mercy of God we may
indeed be saved it will be as by fire. Shall we not take a little
trouble when such tremendous interests are at stake? Shall we
trust to luck when a little effort will make heaven sure?
-------------------
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Sermon XXXVI.
Sudden Death.
_Watch ye, therefore,
because you know not the day nor the hour._
--Matthew. xxv. 13.
These words, my dear brethren, are taken from the parable of the
ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride.
Five of them, being wise and prudent, took oil in their lamps,
that they might be ready at any moment to light them; but the
five foolish ones gave no thought to the matter. At midnight,
when they least expected it, the cry was heard, "Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him." Then the foolish
virgins tried to borrow oil from the wise to fill their lamps,
but were told to go and buy for themselves. While they were gone
the bridegroom came; they were not ready; the door of the
marriage-feast was closed when they returned, and in answer to
their entreaty, "Lord, lord, open to us," came only the words, "I
know you not." "Watch ye, therefore," says our Lord, in
concluding this parable, "because you know not the day nor the
hour."
Brethren, the meaning of this parable is so plain that it hardly
needs even a word of explanation. Yet how unheeded it is, alas!
by the majority of Christians!
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What does this oil mean that the foolish virgins neglected to
provide for themselves and to have in their lamps? What but the
grace of God, with, which our souls should be provided, and
without which they are in the state of mortal sin? If this
precious oil of God's grace is in our souls we are ready at any
moment to meet the Bridegroom; no matter how suddenly the cry is
made that he is coming, we can go forth with confidence to meet
him and feel sure that the door of the marriage-feast of heaven
will not be closed to us.
But if we have not this oil, if the lamp of our soul is empty, if
we are in the state of mortal sin, what dismay comes on us, what
terrible fear and distress of mind, when we are suddenly told to
prepare for death! We have been saying all along, "Oh! there will
be plenty of time," and now there is not plenty of time. God is
coming to meet us, and to demand of us an account of our lives;
we cannot hide from his face, and he will not wait. The hour
fixed in the eternal counsels of his wisdom has come, the hour on
which everything depends, the hour for which the years of our
life should have been one long preparation, those years so
carelessly thrown away.
Friends may stand around us who have not wasted the oil in their
lamps as we have ours. Their souls may be full of the grace of
God, preserved and increased continually by prayer and good
works, by the love of God and frequent confession and Communion.
They may have enough and to spare; but they can not lend to us.
"No," they must say to us, "go rather to them that sell, and buy
for yourselves. Go rather," that is, "to the regular sources of
that grace, the sacraments, which our Lord has placed in his
church, to give life to the dead. Send for the priest, and with
his help fill the lamp of your soul, and prepare to meet our
Lord."
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But too often it is as in the parable of the virgins. While the
foolish Christian, who has put off his preparation for death, who
has lived in the state of sin, expecting to die in the state of
grace, goes to fill his lamp, his Lord comes, finds him, and
judges him as he is. The priest comes, but only to look on him
lying dead. Or even if the oil of grace is brought to the sinner,
he has not, perhaps, the price to pay for it; that is, he has not
those dispositions of sincere penitence and amendment of life,
without which all sacraments are vain and ineffectual.
Brethren, it is a fearful point in the parable of the wise and
foolish virgins that not one of the five who were so carelessly
unprepared was able to have her lamp ready to meet the bridegroom
in his coming. It should teach us to expect that, as a rule, a
man must die as he has lived. No doubt there are exceptions; the
mercy of God is over all, and wills not that the sinner should
perish. But the only safe way, the only way, indeed, that is not
the wildest folly, and even insanity, is to live as all good
Christians do live, continually prepared for death; with the
grace of God always in their souls, with no stain of mortal sin
on them; with "their loins girt, and lamps burning in their
hands"; and "like to men who wait for their lord when he shall
return from the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh they
may open to him immediately."
-------------------
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Sermon XXXVII.
Life's Purpose.
_Brethren, know you not that they that run in the race,
all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that you may obtain._
1 Corinthians. ix. 24.
There is a great question, my dear brethren, that comes home some
time or other to every man in the world who is not entirely taken
up with the passing pleasures and fleeting interests of the
moment; to every man, that is, who lives as a man, and not as a
mere child. It is the most important and vital of all questions;
and it will return often on us, put it away as much as we will.
It is this: "What am I here for? what is the use, what is the
purpose of all this life which I am living? What is the goal to
which it is tending? what end do I hope to obtain?"
Yes, we must look forward in this way sometimes, and we must try
to find something in the future better worth having than what we
have now, or our life, with its labors and fatigues, becomes a
burden almost too great to be borne.
So one man proposes wealth, another knowledge and learning,
another fame and honor as his object in life; or at least he
looks forward to bringing up children to whom he can leave his
memory and his name, and who will carry on and complete the work
he has begun.
But we Christians do not seek for an answer to this question. The
answer is written plainly by faith in our souls; we may try to
forget it or put something else in its place, but we shall find
no other in which we can believe.
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The answer for us is, that this life has no end or object in
itself which can justify or explain it, but that it is a time of
trial, of probation for something better; that we live in order
that it may be seen from our life whether we are worthy to share
in an eternal life; that only beyond the grave can what the soul
longs for be attained, and that we may fail in attaining it if we
do not keep it steadily in view and work for it with all the
strength we have.
So our life is a race, a struggle for an immense and unspeakable
prize to come at its end; and a prize which will never be offered
again if we do not secure it this time. If we fail in this life
our failure can never be retrieved; nor will anything else ever
be offered us to live for. For all eternity we shall see what we
might have had, and shall be tortured with vain remorse; and
nothing else will give us even a moment's peace. This eternity
will be intolerable, even were there no other pains in it; but on
account of this alone we shall seek death for ever, and never
find it.
And from this race, this struggle in which we are now entered,
there is no escape. We cannot withdraw and have our name struck
from the list of contestants. There is no half-way place which we
can take between triumph and defeat. "Know you not," says St.
Paul, "that all run in the race?" Yes, a power greater than ours
has put us on the track, and is drawing us along it, whether we
will or no. We cannot remain as we are, for He whose power has
placed us here has made us for himself, and we cannot rest till
we rest in him.
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Since, then, we have to run in the race; since we have to suffer,
to labor, to pursue a happiness which we now have not; since we
must do this even in spite of ourselves; since we cannot sit down
and give up our place, what folly it is to run to no purpose, to
turn aside and try to forget the only possible reward for all our
toil, the only thing that can make the life which we must live
worth living! Let St. Paul's words on this Sunday sink into our
minds; and, since we have to run in this race on which everything
depends, let us not trifle and lose its precious moments, but so
run that we may obtain.
-------------------
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_Sexagesima Sunday_
Epistle.
2 _Corinthians xi._ 19-_xii._ 9.
Brethren:
You gladly suffer the foolish: whereas you yourselves are wise.
For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour
you, if a man take from you, if a man be extolled, if a man
strike you on the face. I speak according to dishonor, as if we
had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man is bold (I speak
foolishly) I am bold also. They are Hebrews; so am I. They are
Israelites; so am I. They are the seed of Abraham; so am I.
They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise), I
am more; in many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in
stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times
did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with
rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night
and a day I was in the depth of the sea; in journeys often, in
perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own
nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from
false brethren: in labor and painfulness, in watchings often,
in hunger and thirst, in many fastings, in cold and nakedness.
Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the
solicitude for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not
weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn? If I must needs
glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for
ever, knoweth that I lie not.
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At Damascus the governor of the nation under Aretas the king,
guarded the city of the Damascenes to apprehend me. And through
a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped
his hands. If I must glory (for it is not expedient indeed);
but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know
a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I
know not, or out of the body I know not: God knoweth), such an
one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body, I know not: God
knoweth; that he was caught up into paradise; and heard secret
words which it is not granted to man to utter. Of such an one I
will glory; but for myself I will glory nothing, but in my
infirmities. For even if I would glory, I shall not be foolish:
for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should
think of me above that which he seeth in me, or anything he
heareth from me. And lest the greatness of the revelations
should puff me up, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an
angel of Satan to buffet me. For which thing I thrice besought
the Lord, that it might depart from me; and he said to me: My
grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in
infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Gospel.
_St. Luke viii._ 4-15.
At that time:
When a very great multitude was gathered together and hastened
out of the cities to him, he spoke by a similitude. A sower
went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed some fell by the
wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was
sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And
some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it,
choked it. And some fell upon good ground; and sprung up, and
yielded fruit a hundredfold. Saying these things, he cried out:
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples
asked him what this parable might be.
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To whom he said: To you it is given to know the mystery of the
kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they
may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the
parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And they by the
wayside are they that hear: then the devil cometh, and taketh
the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be
saved. Now they upon the rock, are they who when they hear,
receive the word with joy: and these have no roots; who believe
for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. And that
which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going
their way, are choked with the cares, and riches, and pleasures
of this life, and yield no fruit. But that on the good ground,
are they who in a good and perfect heart, hearing the word,
keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience.
-------------------
Sermon XXXVIII.
Perseverance After A Mission.
_Power is made perfect in infirmity. _
--Epistle of the Day.
Not so very long ago, my dear brethren, we had a great mission in
this church. It was well attended--that was almost a matter of
course; for, thank God, every one considers it a shame to neglect
so great a grace when it is offered, and the Catholic who refuses
to attend a mission is regarded by those who know him as being in
a very bad and dangerous state.
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And the mission, I trust, was on the whole well made by those who
attended it. They made good confessions; they felt true sorrow
for their sins. And they made real purposes of amendment against
their vices, whatever they might be. The drunkard promised to
abstain from drink for God's sake, though it might be almost the
only thing that gave him pleasure; the impure promised to abandon
and stamp out his evil passions and habits; the one who had
neglected Mass and the other duties of his religion out of
laziness, gluttony, or indifference, promised to be faithful to
them for the future.
But how many of the thousands who made these promises have kept
them? How many of those who were not leading a Christian life
before the mission are now doing so? Some certainly; yes, some of
the seed of the word of God, of which our Lord speaks in to-day's
Gospel, which was then sown, has indeed sprung up and borne
fruit, it may be a hundredfold. Some, in a good heart, hearing
the word, have kept it, and brought forth fruit in patience.
But, alas! how many, on the other hand, have been like the
wayside, the rock, or the thorns in our Lord's parable! The seed
sprang up, and remained for a few days or weeks; but now, if you
look for it, it has gone, trampled under foot, choked, or
withered away.
Now, what is the reason of all this sad want of perseverance? Was
it that those who made their confessions then were not sincere;
that they made promises which they did not really expect to keep?
Perhaps that may have been so with some of them; for some people
do seem to think that one cannot be expected to avoid mortal sin,
unless he is a priest or a religious, and even call others
hypocrites who believe that they can and do avoid it. But there
were others who failed--and these were a great many--because
they thought they had only to say that they would do the thing,
and that then the thing would be done.
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They did not know how weak they were; perhaps they do not know it
yet. They will find it out sometime, as those do who have often
taken the pledge in vain; and then it may be that they will
despair, which will be the worst of all. But if they use this
knowledge right it will be their salvation.
And how will knowing that they are weak save them? Will it make
them strong? Yes, but not in their own strength; it will save
them by making them turn to the infinite power of God. This is
what our Lord told St. Paul, as we learn in the Epistle of
to-day, when he asked to have his temptation removed. He said to
him: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect
in infirmity." The more we know our weakness the stronger we
shall be, if our terror and distrust of ourselves will only make
us turn to God in frequent, earnest, and fervent prayer for help,
and in continual approach to the sacraments which he has given
for our aid.
Oh! if Christians would only learn this one great truth, how the
whole face of things would change! How the most obstinate vices,
the most deep-rooted spiritual disease, would melt away at the
touch of the Great Physician of our souls, if we would only go to
him continually for their cure! How easily we should overcome the
enemy if we would only understand that of ourselves we cannot
overcome him, but that we can do all things in Him who
strengtheneth us; and, understanding this, would go to him for
the strength that we cannot get elsewhere!
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My brethren, you who have fallen and now fall so often, I beg you
to put this truth in practice. You fail, and why? Because you
have undertaken more than you can do. You wish to succeed? I hope
so. Well, there is only one way. Do as you have done before, but
also call God to the rescue. Pray frequently and fervently, and
go often to confession and Communion, and success, instead of
being hopeless, will be sure.
-------------------
Sermon XXXIX.
Good Seed But No Harvest.
The Gospel of to-day, my brethren, is the parable of the sower
who went out to sow his seed. Our Lord himself explains the
parable, and tells us that the seed is the word of God; and the
real sower of this word, of course, is God, from whom it comes,
and from whom it has all its life and power.