Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by
the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights,
he was afterwards hungry. And the tempter coming, said to him:
If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made
bread. But he answered and said: It is written, "Man liveth not
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God."
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Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon
the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If thou be the Son
of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: "That he hath
given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall
they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou hurt thy foot against a
stone." Jesus said to him: It is written again: "Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God." Again the devil took him up into a
very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them. And said unto him: All these will
I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus
saith to him: Be gone, Satan, for it is written: "The Lord thy
God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve." Then the
devil left him: and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
-------------------
Sermon XLIV.
The Merit Of Fasting And Abstinence.
_Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth,
where the rust and moth consume, and where,
thieves break through and steal.
But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither the rust nor the moth doth consume
and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where thy treasure is,
there is thy heart also._
--Gospel Of Ash-Wednesday.
If any one of us, my brethren, should be asked what is the object
of this holy season of Lent on which we are now entering, or what
is the reason why it has been appointed, the answer would
probably be that it is in order that we may do penance for our
sins. Penance: punishment inflicted on ourselves in satisfaction
for those offences for which we feel we have so imperfectly
atoned, and to obtain from God those graces which we so greatly
need: this, perhaps, is the idea uppermost in most people's minds
when Lent comes round.
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Well, this is no doubt a reason, and a good one, not only for
what we have to do in Lent, but for a great deal more that we may
do, not only now, but all through the year. Few even of those who
lead good lives do penance enough for their sins, even as it is;
almost all go before God with a large account unsettled in this
matter. How much worse would it be if there was no Lent, if the
church never insisted on our chastising ourselves in any way, and
seemed to treat such chastisement as of no consequence! The very
notion of it would drop from our thoughts, as it has indeed long
ago from the minds of those who have separated from the church
and ceased to possess the true faith.
This is, then, a good reason for Lent; but there is another which
we are not so apt to think of, and which, for this very reason, I
would like to emphasize.
This reason is the one suggested by the words of the Gospel of
last Wednesday, which you have just heard: "Lay not up to
yourselves treasures on earth; ... but lay up to yourselves
treasures in heaven. ... For where thy treasure is, there is thy
heart also."
Brethren, we should have no trouble at all in getting to heaven
if we only really wanted to get there. Of course in one way we do
want to get to heaven; that is, we all want to save our souls
from the eternal anguish and misery of hell, and we know there is
nothing for us but heaven or hell in the end. But I am afraid
that many Christians, especially when they have health, strength,
and plenty of this world's goods, have really very little wish to
give them up, in order to pass, even could they do so at once, to
those joys which the heart of man cannot conceive.
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No, their treasure is in this world; all their idea of happiness
is founded on the pleasures which they have had, are having, or
hope to have in it. Their treasure is here, and, as our Lord
says, their heart is here too.
I think, then, that this other great reason and object of Lent,
of which I have just spoken, is that we may do something to
change this state of things; that we may get our hearts off this
world, and see our real treasure in heaven, get to know it and
love it, and have our hearts there with it. We ought now not
merely to stop for a while from worldly pleasures, but to try to
cease loving them, and to care for something better. We must love
and care for something; let us try now to get the right object
for love.
Now, what is this that we should love; what is our treasure in
heaven? It is our Father who is in heaven, and who is heaven
itself. Brethren, it is not so hard to love God as some people
think. We can all try to do a little, at any rate; I mean to love
God, not by keeping his commandments, but to love him in the same
way as we love those things which are lovely and attractive here.
Come to him now, this Lent; that, above all else, is what it was
made for; come to church not only to hear a sermon, but to pray,
to get near to God, and to bring him into your hearts. Shut the
world out of your heart, that he may come in. Ask him to come to
you and make his abode with you. Then, when he is really your
treasure, he will draw you where he is; you will not have to try
to get to heaven; you will go there of your own accord. To die to
the world and live to God, this is the Christian's true life; and
Lent was made to give this life to our souls.
-------------------
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Sermon XLV.
Difficulties Of Fasting.
Brethren, another year has passed, and Lent has come around once
more. I have no doubt that a great many of you wish that it had
not; perhaps you would not be so very sorry if the church would
have the goodness to do away with this tedious season altogether.
Indeed, I imagine that to some people Lent is one of the greatest
mysteries of our religion. And even if it is in some general way
acknowledged as the proper thing in its due time, it never seems
to come in just at the time that would be convenient. If it comes
early, it is a very unpleasant interruption to the winter's
pleasures and amusements; if it comes late, why could it not come
earlier, so that we could get through and have done with it soon?
All the grumbling in the world, however, will not alter the fact.
We cannot get rid of Lent, and we cannot fix its time to suit us,
even if there is any time which would seem suitable. It is
possible, indeed, to free ourselves from its burdens; we may do
so either by neglecting its obligations altogether, or by getting
somehow or other dispensed from them, without putting anything
else in their place. But, after all, if we do this, we shall
hardly feel any more comfortable. The best plan is, since Lent is
here whether we will or not, to face it boldly and cheerfully,
and make the best of it that we can.
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And, when we come to look at it, is it such a very terrible
infliction? Do we not make rather too much fuss and complaint
over what is not really such a very great penance?
Let us look, then, and see what is required of us. The principal
thing, of course, is the fasting, as we call it, on one meal.
Now, if we actually were reduced to only one meal in the
twenty-four hours, I confess that it would be pretty severe; but,
you see, in point of fact, we have the collation, at which eight
ounces, or half a pound, of solid food is allowed. Now that is as
much as many people would take anyway at tea-time. And then you
can have a cup of coffee or tea and a small piece of bread in the
morning. So, when we come to sift the matter, the fact hardly
amounts to more than this: that the breakfast is rather a light
one. And then, for those who really have hard work, even what is
left of the fast goes by the board altogether.
Well, next there is the abstinence from flesh-meat. Some seem to
think this dreadful. "Oh!" they will say, "I can't eat fish; it
makes me sick." Indeed? Perhaps you are not very hungry, and do
not need anything very much. When you are really hungry the fish
will not taste so bad. But, then, who, except indeed the
fisherman, wants you to eat fish? I do not think there is any law
requiring it to be eaten; and if it has such a bad effect on you
I would let it alone and try something else. And though fish is
so uneatable, perhaps an oyster or two might now and then be
worried down.
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Now, after the fast and abstinence, what is left? Really nothing
at all in the law of the church, at least in black and white.
There is, however, a custom, having about the force of law,
prohibiting such parties and theatre-going as would be allowable
enough, at other times. But have not you had a pretty good chance
for these amusements for the last few months? And, if you are in
the habit of some indulgence of this kind, a little quiet at home
might be agreeable by way of a change.
But perhaps you do not like so much church-going. Well, this is
not absolutely required of you. But it certainly is expected; and
it will be well to cultivate a taste for it. Ought it to be such
a great penance for a Christian to come and spend a little while
in the presence of Him with whom he hopes to dwell for ever?
I think, then, that if you will look at Lent in the right light
it will not seem so very grievous. It may be even that you will
feel that now is a time to be a little generous with our Lord;
and, since he does not ask much, you may be disposed to give him
a little more than he absolutely demands.
-------------------
Sermon XLVI.
Wasted Opportunities.
_Brethren, we exhort you
that you receive not the grace of God in vain. _
What is this receiving of God's grace in vain, my brethren,
against which St. Paul warns us in these words of the Epistle of
to-day? It is receiving it and making no use of it; receiving it
only to waste it and throw it away.
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We are all the time receiving graces from God. Every day, every
hour he is giving them to us. For what is a grace? It is a help,
a means to our salvation which comes from him. And these helps he
gives us continually, by instructions, by admonitions, by good
examples; by the evidences which he puts all around us of the
shortness and uncertainty of life, of the instability of earthly
riches and happiness, of the peace which virtue gives, of the
misery which comes from sin. All these and countless other helps
to lead us, almost to force us, into the way of his commandments
are lavished on us incessantly. They come more or less to all
men, but most of all to us children of his holy Catholic Church,
who have the full light of his faith, the full teaching of his
law.
But more than all he himself is every day speaking in our hearts,
inviting, urging, begging us to turn from mortal sin; or, if we
have indeed done that, to rise higher, and serve him more
perfectly. If we had listened to all these calls, if we had
availed ourselves of all these helps, we should now be far
advanced on the way of the saints; we should, like St. Stephen at
his martyrdom, see heaven opened before us and our salvation
morally secure.
But we have not done that. We have been doing just what the
Apostle warns us against; we have been receiving these graces in
vain. We have received them, and it has been worse with us than
if we had not; for we have received them, many of them at least,
only to throw them away and trample them underfoot.
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What would you think, my brethren, of a man who, being anxious to
reach a distant country, which was his true home, and where were
those whom he loved, and, having no means to do so of himself,
should throw away with contempt the sums which from time to time
might in charity be offered him to enable him to accomplish his
desires, should throw them absolutely away, not even using them
to supply his daily wants or to secure some passing pleasure? You
would say that he was a madman or a fool; that he had not the
gift of reason, which raises man above the brute.
And yet this is what we have been doing; and even more than this.
For there have been some, perhaps many, graces which God has
given us which would even alone, if rightly used, have answered
for all our needs. They would not have been mere contributions to
our passage-money for heaven, but would have put us aboard the
vessel, and made our reaching port little more than a question of
time. But these, like the rest, are gone without being used; they
are strewn on the road behind us, and we cannot turn back to pick
them up.
Such a great grace is the one which, in spite of our
unworthiness, ingratitude, and folly, is now once more offered to
us by our Father in heaven, who does not follow the rules by
which an earthly benefactor would be guided. This season of Lent
on which we are entering is one of the great helps, the great
opportunities which he gives us to reach that country where he
awaits our coming. One who spends even one Lent as it should be
spent will be at its close well established in the way of solid
virtue and peace, the way which leads certainly to the kingdom to
which we all hope to go.
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It is for this that Lent is given us, not merely for a season of
penance and suffering, to be got through with somehow or other as
best we can; it is for this reason also that the church to-day
solemnly warns us to use it as it should be used. Listen, then,
to her warning voice; listen out of love and gratitude to God;
listen out of love and holy fear also for yourself; for it may be
the last great grace that will ever be brought to your door.
-------------------
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_Second Sunday of Lent._
Epistle.
1 _Thessalonians iv._ 1-7.
Brethren:
We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have
received from us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so
also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know
what commandments I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For
this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should
abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how
to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the
passion of lust, like the Gentiles, who know not God: and that
no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business: because
the Lord is the avenger of all such things, as we have told you
before, and have testified. For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto sanctification in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xvii._ 1-9.
At that time:
Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. And he was
transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun:
and his garments became white as snow. And behold, there
appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. And Peter
answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here:
if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee,
and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet
speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them.
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And behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. And the
disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much
afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them:
Arise, and be not afraid. And when they lifted up their eyes
they saw no man, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no
man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
-------------------
Sermon XLVII.
The Joy Of Penance.
_He was transfigured before them._
--Words from To-day's Gospel.
At first sight, my dear brethren, it seems strange that just as
we have entered upon this season of fasting and penance the
church should have chosen for to-day's Gospel one of the few
accounts which the Evangelists have given of the manifestation on
earth of our Lord's glory and majesty. The Gospels, as you are
aware, are mainly made up of the record of our Lord's words,
actions, and sufferings; they tell us how the Son of God made man
went about from place to place doing good, healing the sick,
consoling the sorrowful, and in the end undergoing cruel
sufferings and an ignominious death. There are but few instances
recorded of his being glorified and honored with more than human
glory and honor, and when such is the case no long and detailed
description is given, the fact is barely mentioned, and the
narrative passes on.
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But to-day's Gospel forms an exception to this general rule. In
it special pains have been taken by the Evangelists to give us in
detail a description of the other side, so to speak, of our
Lord's life. We are told that our Lord chose, out of the twelve,
Peter, James, and John, and led them up into a high mountain, and
was transfigured before them: so that his face did shine as the
sun, and even his garments became shining and exceeding white as
snow, "so as no fuller upon earth can make white." And then there
appeared to them Elias with Moses talking with Jesus. And so
astonished and impressed was Peter that he exclaimed: "Lord, it
is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make three
tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias."
Now, why has the church, by selecting the account of the
Transfiguration at this season, turned our thoughts to what seems
so inappropriate a subject? It would seem that it would have been
better to have chosen those parts of the Gospel which treat of
sin, of the judgment to come, of the punishments which await the
impenitent sinner. Well, I do not know that I can tell you all
the reasons why the church has made this choice, but I think I
can give you one reason, and that is, that the church wished to
encourage us and to animate us at this season by placing before
us the glory which is in store for those who do penance and
suffer here.
In this life there is nothing so familiar to most of us as
suffering in some form or other. Most of us are obliged by our
circumstances to pass our days in exhausting toil and labor.
Disease and anxiety and want and disappointment are to be met
with on all sides, and there are but few who are free from all
these evils.
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And to all--even to those who are the most favored in this
life--there is an hour coming which nothing can avert--the hour
of death. This, as every one may see, is the present state of
things. Moreover, our Lord, so far from encouraging us to expect
freedom from suffering, insists continually upon its necessity.
"Deny yourselves," "take up your cross daily," "blessed are the
mourners," such are the words our Lord addresses to his
disciples. And the church, that this teaching of our Lord may not
be a mere speculation, brings it down into every day practical
life by commanding us at this season to fast and abstain. From
all this the necessity of suffering is evident.
But however true this is, suffering is not an end in itself; it
is only a means to an end; it is but a road to everlasting joy
and glory. God permits and commands sufferings in order that he
may give to those who endure their sufferings well an abundant
reward. As St. Paul says: "That which is at present momentary and
light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly
an eternal weight of glory." And it is in order that we may ever
remember this that the church calls upon us to consider the
manifestation of the glory of our Lord and Master, to whom we
must be made conformable in all things--in suffering in this
life, in glory in the next.
-------------------
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Sermon XLVIII.
Christian Perfection Not Impossible.
_This is the will of God, your sanctification._
--Epistle of the Day.
What, my dear brethren, is the will or intention of Almighty God
and of the Catholic Church, which is directed by his Holy Spirit,
in establishing for us this fast of Lent, and commanding us to
observe it? What is the end which he meant that every Christian
should attain by keeping it, and which makes the opportunity now
offered to us such a great grace as we were warned last week that
it is? The words of St. Paul to-day answer these questions for
us. "The will of God," he says, his intention for us at all times
indeed, but specially now, "is our sanctification."
But what is our sanctification? It is the making us saints. That,
then, is what Lent ought to do for us. It ought to make us
saints; God and his church mean that it should.
"Well," perhaps you may say, "if that is the end for which Lent
is appointed, it seems to me that the end is seldom attained. For
my part, I am afraid I shall never be a saint; saints are few and
far between. It will take more than one Lent to make a saint out
of such a sinner as I am."
If, then, you say this, I must confess that there is a good deal
of truth in it. We must all feel and acknowledge that. Any one
who could feel sure now that when Easter comes he will be fit to
be canonized must either be very proud and presumptuous, and far
from real sanctity, or have some special revelation from God, to
which, I think, none of us will pretend.
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But for all that it is true that Lent ought to sanctify us; it
ought to make us saints, only we need not take the word in quite
so high a sense. Though we may hope for the greatest possible
gifts now, we cannot confidently expect them. There is, however,
a sanctification that we ought to expect from this Lent, and what
is it?
It is what I fear many of you, even though tolerably good
Christians, do not expect. What do I mean by a tolerably good
Christian? I mean, of course, one who expects to make his Easter
duty. One who does not expect and mean to do that can hardly be
called a tolerably good Christian; it would be more nearly right
to call him an intolerably bad one. Well, then, you who are good
Christians expect to make your Easter duty; so far, so good. But
it is not far enough. For what is it that is meant, perhaps, by
that? Is it not merely to make up your mind to confess your sins
and to keep for a few days as you ought to be, and then be pretty
much as you were before? Has not that been the experience of the
past Easter duties of not a few of you, my brethren; and may not
the same be said of the missions you have attended, and the other
great graces you have received from time to time in your life?
You came up to the surface, as a fish jumps out of the water for
a moment, and then down you went again.
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But that is not enough. That is not sanctification, and it is not
the will or intention of God. What you ought to expect is much
more than that. What, then, is it? It is simply this: that when
you have made your Easter duty you are going to stay all your
life where it will put you. It is that the habits of mortal sin
which you may then have to confess will be gone for good; that
those impure thoughts, words, and actions will have stopped for
ever; that the shameful drunkenness, and all the sins which came
from it, will be things only of the past; that you will never
again wilfully neglect Holy Mass; that in every way you will
really live as you ought, all the time in the state of grace, in
peace with God and men, and in readiness to die at any time, even
without the sacraments, if such should be God's will; that, in
short, you will be truly converted to him once for all.
That is the sanctification which past Lents have not brought you,
but which this one should. Do not, I beg you, think it is
impossible, for it is not only possible but easy. Do not make
your Easter duty the highest point and the end of your Christian
life; it should be only the beginning of it. What a consolation
it will be to you, if in your future life you can look back on
this Lent and say, "That was the time when I really began to be a
good Christian; since then I have not had much on my conscience;
I have kept in the state of grace. I made really good and strong
resolutions then, and I have been faithful to them ever since."
There are those now, plenty of them, who can say this of some
past Lent. Let it be now your turn to say it of this one. It is
not a matter of luck and chance; if you will, this grace of a
lasting conversion from sin is now offered to each and every one
of you. It is yours to a certainty, if you will take the trouble
to secure it; for it is the will of God.
-------------------
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Sermon XLIX.
_The Divine Presence In Our Churches. _
_Lord, it is good for us to be here._
--St. Matthew. xvii. 4.