chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate,
saying: Sir, we have remembered that that seducer said, while
he was yet alive: After three days I will rise again. Command
therefore the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day: lest
his disciples come and steal him away, and say to the people,
He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said to them: You have a guard; go,
guard it as you know. And they departing, made the sepulchre
sure with guards, sealing the stone.
------------------
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Sermon LIX.
Hardness Of Heart.
_To-day if you shall hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. _
These words, my dear brethren, are taken from the beginning of
the office recited by the clergy on this and the following days,
up to Holy Thursday. They entreat us not to let this time,
precious above all others, go by without making the use of it
which our Lord means that we should make; not to let him show his
love for us without giving him love in return.
"Harden not your hearts." How is it that we harden our hearts? It
is by putting off our repentance; by clinging to the world and
its pleasures, to the gratification of our sinful passions, and
waiting for some time to come when it will be more convenient to
give them up, or when we shall feel more strongly moved to do so.
We think that this time will surely come, that the stream of
God's graces will be uninterrupted, and that when necessity urges
we can avail ourselves of the one that happens to be then within
our reach as easily as we could have done of the many that went
by long ago.
But, my brethren, this is a great and a terrible mistake. It may
be, indeed, that God in his goodness and mercy has many graces
yet in store for us equal in themselves to those which we have
had; but if we have despised and neglected the past ones they
will not be the same for us as those were which went before,
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A word of warning, a single prayer, the sight of the crucifix or
of our Blessed Mother, a pious picture, an Agnus Dei, is enough
to move the innocent soul of a child to the love of God; the most
powerful mission-sermon often fails to make any impression on one
who has spent his life in sin. It is not the grace that is
wanting on God's part. No, he is there in his power; his arm is
not shortened; he is still mighty to save. But his voice seems to
the deaf ear of the sinner faint and indistinct; his message is
the same old story. Yes, it is the same old story; it must be the
same, for there is but one. There is but one name under heaven
whereby we can be saved, only one Gospel which we can preach, and
the sinner has heard it so often with indifference that its
interest is gone.
Then--most dangerous delusion of all--he comforts himself with
the hope that at least he will die in the grace of God; that
somehow or other he will, as he passes from life to death, be
brought from death to life. He forgets that the sacraments were
not given to give repentance to the sinner; no, they have for
their object to give pardon and grace to those who have repented.
Do you think it is of the slightest use to anoint with oil the
senses of a man who lies unconscious, and who has not, while he
had the use of his mind, turned really and truly away in his
heart from his sinful life? The priest does it, indeed, in hopes
that he may have repented; but how faint is that hope for those
who have suddenly been stricken down! And even if there is more
time; even if some sort of confession can be made, is it so sure
that the hardened heart, which has all its life loved and clung
to its sins, will now love God and hate sin? God's mercy is
great, it is true; he may now give extraordinary graces, but he
is not bound to do so; and if the ordinary ones have failed
before they may also fail now.
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Yes, my brethren, now is the time--a better time than your last
hour. Now in this Passion season the Precious Blood of Christ is
flowing more freely for you than you can expect ever to find it
again. Listen to his voice now; do not wait till it becomes
fainter. If you have not spent Lent well so far, come now and
make the most of the help so abundantly given you in these holy
days. Harden not your hearts any longer; it is a dangerous game
to play.
-------------------
Sermon LX.
Spirit Of Holy Week.
_Think diligently upon him that endured such opposition
from sinners against himself._
--Hebrews. xii. 3.
The week which we this Sunday enter upon, my dear brethren, is
called Holy Week; and of all the many sacred seasons which the
church has set apart, this is by far the most solemn and sacred.
Everything which it is within the power of external rites and
ceremonies to do has been done by the church in these services,
in order to bring home to her children the great lesson which
this holy season should teach. And while it is true that the
church has not made attendance obligatory under pain of mortal
sin, yet it would argue a very poor and ungrateful spirit, and
one but little in accordance with that of the church, if any one
should without good reason neglect to be present.
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Now, what is the truth which these services have it for their
object to impress upon our minds? No other than that fundamental,
distinctive truth--the Passion and death of Christ, its reason
and effects. The church this week excludes from commemoration
everything else, and applies herself exclusively to tracing the
steps of her Lord and Founder from his entry into Jerusalem in
the midst of acclamations and rejoicings, to the entombment of
his dead and blood-stained body in the sepulchre of Joseph of
Arimathea. Now, every one must have, necessarily has, in these
events the greatest interest--an interest which surpasses every
other.
And, first, as to those who are in the habit of going frequently
to the sacraments, who understand their great value, and find in
these means of grace their chief consolation in the midst of the
troubles and cares which surround them. For these the
commemoration of the Passion and death of Christ can not but be
profitable. The author of "The Following of Christ" tells us that
we ought not to consider so much the gift of the lover as the
love of the giver. And we all know that we esteem the trifling
present made by a dear friend more than much more costly things
which we have ourselves bought or earned. Now, the sacraments are
not merely inestimable treasures in themselves; they are also
tokens and pledges of the love of Him who instituted them, bought
by him at the cost of his own most Precious Blood, given to us to
show us his love to us. Every time a man goes to confession,
every time he receives Holy Communion, he is receiving that which
was instituted and established and bestowed upon him out of love;
and if he wishes to know how great that love was he ought to have
a lively sense of what it cost our Lord to merit those graces for
us--namely, his bitter Passion and death.
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But there are many who neglect the sacraments, who come to them
but seldom, perhaps only to their Easter Communion; perhaps not
even to that. What is to be thought of those who act in this way?
Certainly, however smart and keen and intelligent they may be, or
fancy themselves to be, in lower matters which are nearer to them
and fall beneath their senses--in money-getting, in trade, in
art, in literature--such men show but little sense and
understanding about things which are of real importance and
value. In what way may these duller and obtuser minds learn to
appreciate these higher things? Certainly the price given for a
thing by a prudent man is a good means of learning what it is
worth. Now, if those who neglect the sacraments, who make but
little of them, would during this week apply themselves to the
consideration of the price paid by our Lord for those sacraments,
I have but little doubt that they would be led to form a truer
notion of their value and importance.
I wish I could conclude without alluding to another class which,
though I trust it is not numerous, yet does exist--I mean those
who do not neglect the sacraments, but those who do worse: who
profane them. Those who make bad confessions, who conceal mortal
sins, who have no sorrow for their sins and no purpose of
amendment, who make the infinite mercy and goodness of God a
reason and pretext for wallowing in vice and sin--what shall be
said of these?
{208}
We know that our Lord is reigning now gloriously in heaven; that
nothing which we can do can cause him loss or pain; yet it is
also true that those who act in this way do all that lies in
their power to trample under foot that Precious Blood which was
shed for them. But while there is life there is hope, and if even
those would devote this week to meditation on the Passion of our
Lord, they might form a just estimate of what their souls cost
our Lord, and turn to him while there is yet time.
-------------------
{209}
_Easter Sunday._
Epistle.
1 _Corinthians v._ 7, 8.
Brethren:
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new mass, as you
are unleavened. For Christ, our pasch, is sacrificed. Therefore
let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.
Gospel.
_St. Mark xvi._ 1-7.
At that time:
Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought
sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to
the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to
another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the
sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back, for it
was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a
young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe:
and they were astonished. And he said to them: Be not
affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is
risen, he is not here; behold the place where they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you
into Galilee; there you shall see him as he told you.
-------------------
{210}
Sermon LXI.
Easter Joy.
_Hæc dies, quam fecit Dominus:
Exultemus, et lætemur in ea._
--Psalm cxvii. 24.
[USCCB: Psalm cxviii. 24.]
"_This is the day which the Lord hath made:
Let us be glad and rejoice in it._"
So sings the Psalmist. So sings the church today in Holy Mass,
and every Christian heart beats with the response: "Let us be
glad and rejoice."
A happy Easter, then, to you all, my dear brethren! A happy
Easter to the old, to whom, in the natural course of things, many
returns of this blessed day cannot come! A happy Easter to the
young, rejoicing in all the freshness and vigor of youth, and
confidently looking forward to many renewals of Easter joys! A
happy Easter to the rich, upon whom God has bestowed an abundance
of worldly goods! And a thrice happy Easter to God's own special
friends, the poor! Thus holy church bids all be glad and rejoice,
for to-day Christ is risen, the Saviour of us all.
The joy of Easter, my dear brethren, like that of Christmas, is
all-pervading. We feel it in the air we breathe, we see it in the
sparkling eye and radiant countenance of the child. The quick and
hearty salutation of our friends, "A happy Easter to you!"
increases our own joy, for we perceive that all about us are
sharers with us in this great gift of the risen Christ.
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But the joy of Easter differs from that of Christmas in this:
that the latter brings to us the glad tidings of the coming of
the true King, the strong and valiant leader of the mighty host
of Israel, and our hearts leap with joy as we go forth, with
buoyant step and strengthened arm, and fight the great battle of
life. Easter joy is the joy of victory, for our gallant Leader,
the strong Son of God, has gone before; he has overcome the
enemy, and death is swallowed up in victory.
Yes, Christ has fought the battle and won. But there remains for
us a battle to be fought, but not an uncertain one; for we have
received virtue from the victory of Christ, and by following him
faithfully, by keeping our eye fixed steadily on the banner of
Christ--the banner of the cross--our victory, too, is certain.
This, then, is why Easter time gladdens the heart of every true
Christian, for it brings with it the assured hope of final
victory over sin, which is the sting of death, by a glorious
resurrection.
But, my dear brethren, mid all these rejoicings may there not be
some poor soul among us who does not participate in the joys of
Easter time? Some soul for which Christ on Good Friday poured
forth the last drop of his Sacred Blood, but which to-day finds
itself estranged, nay, even in a hostile attitude towards its
only true friend? Oh! would to God there were not even one such
ungrateful soul in the whole world. But, alas! I fear there are
many upon whom our loving Saviour, the risen Christ, must look
this day as his declared enemies; some wretched souls over whom
hangs the thick, black cloud of mortal sin, unrepented and
unforgiven, and through which the bright rays of God's infinite
love cannot penetrate. Yet even these need not despair; the joys
of Easter time may still be theirs, for the same loving and
sword-pierced Heart of Jesus is still ready to be reconciled with
them.
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Oh! if there be such a one present here this morning let him take
courage, come at once to the tribunal of penance, become one of
the friends of the risen Christ, and share with us the joys of
Easter.
And those who have been, but are no longer, strangers to God's
grace, persevere, I exhort you, during the short space of this
life in the friendship of our crucified Lord, and yours, too,
will, like his, be a glorious resurrection.
Let us, then, my dear brethren, on this happy Easter day elevate
our hearts to God in humble thanksgiving for all his benefits,
and let us unite with the holy church in the prayer of the office
for to-day. God! who, through thine only-begotten Son, hast on
this day overcome death and opened unto us the gate of
everlasting life, we humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special
grace preventing us, thou dost put into our minds good desires,
so by thy continued help we may bring the same to good effect.
Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and
reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God,
world without end. Amen.
-------------------
Sermon LXII.
Easter And The Love Of God.
_This is the day which the Lord hath made:
let us be glad and rejoice therein._
--Psalm. cxvii. 24.
[USCCB: Psalm cxviii. 24.]
{213}
Familiar words these, my brethren, and for ever associated in our
minds with this greatest of all Christian festivals. Frequently
on this day and through its octave does the church repeat them to
us; they sound now continually in our ears. And no doubt they
find some echo in our hearts. Yes, we are glad, we do rejoice;
surely no one who can call himself a Christian could hear unmoved
the outburst of our triumph and exultation yesterday as the
"Gloria in Excelsis" was intoned in the Mass, telling us that the
lion of Juda has conquered, that God has arisen and that his
enemies are scattered, that he has put death and hell under his
feet. For the moment at least we would say with St. Paul: "O
death! where is thy victory? O death! where is thy sting? Thanks
be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ."
But as the newness, the freshness of the Easter joy and triumph
passes away, does not another feeling come and mingle with it? A
feeling of awe, almost of dread, comes upon us, like that terror
which came upon the guards at the sepulchre as they saw the angel
who rolled away the stone, of whom St. Matthew says that his
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow;
like that fear which came even on the holy women as they saw the
two angels in shining apparel standing at the empty tomb; and
upon the Apostles themselves when Jesus stood in their midst soon
after; for the evangelist tells us that they were troubled and
frighted, in spite of his words giving them peace and telling
them not to be afraid.
Indeed, I think there was no one of those who saw our risen Lord,
except his glorious and Blessed Mother, whose love was so perfect
that it quite cast out this fear.
{214}
And still more is it in our poor and imperfect hearts; we cannot
shake it off. How many are there of us, unless, indeed, those
innocent ones who have not yet known what sin is, who, if this
were really and truly the morning of the resurrection, and the
risen one could be seen by those who should seek him, would arise
gladly and run to meet him, and fall in loving adoration at his
feet?
If we can in our inmost heart feel that we would, we have reason
indeed to be glad and rejoice to-day. But to feel so there must
be something in us besides that thrill of triumph and of victory
which overpowers us as the splendor of the resurrection first
breaks upon our souls. There must be a true, fervent, and deep
love of the God who to-day comes so near to us; a hatred from the
bottom of our hearts and souls of all that in the least degree
separates us from him; there must be, beside faith, also hope and
charity, such as the saints have had--that hope which knows that
he loves us and has forgiven us, that charity which would make us
die sooner than offend him again. And these we have not because
of our sins.
Yes, it is sin which casts the shadow on our Easter; it is the
love and affection for it which still remains in us; it is that
compromising spirit which is even at our best times holding us
back, keeping us from fully loving, trusting, and giving
ourselves up to God, for fear that we might lose something by
doing so; it is this that makes us afraid to approach him and to
share in his joy. As for mortal sin, that, of course, takes the
happiness of Easter away altogether; to one who is in its
darkness the thought of meeting God brings, and can bring, no
thought of joy. But even venial sin brings its dread with it,too.
{215}
And what is the remedy for this dread? It is very simple. It is
only to try now to begin to love with our whole hearts him who
has loved us, and given his life for us; whose delight is to be
with us and to have us come to him; to keep nothing back from
him--in short, to live here in our feeble measure the life we
hope to live in heaven. This is the way, and the only way, for us
to enter now as we would wish into the joy of our Lord.
-------------------
Sermon LXIII.
The Triumph Of Christ.
_This is the day which the Lord hath made:
let us rejoice and be glad in it. _
--Psalm. cxvii. 24.
[USCCB: Psalm cxviii. 24.]
The festival of Easter is, above all things, my brethren, a day
of joy. Just as we love the sunshine more after days of cloud and
tempest, so also is our joy keener and more intense when it
follows sorrows.
It is for this reason that the joy of Easter is greater than that
of Christmas, or of any other season of the Christian year. For
we have been passing through a time of sorrow. We have beheld in
Passion-tide our dearest Lord in suffering. We have beheld him as
the King of Martyrs, worthy of the title, because his pains were
so far in excess of anything that mere man has ever suffered or
could ever suffer. We have seen him in his agony in the garden,
when the sins of the whole world and of all time were presented
to his vision and pressed heavily upon him, filling his Sacred
Heart with deepest grief.
{216}
We have called to mind his betrayal by his trusted friend and
disciple; his arraignment before impious and unjust judges; his
cruel condemnation and death. Despised and rejected by his own
chosen people whom he had come to save, a robber and murderer
preferred before him, we have beheld him abandoned to the
tortures of the heathen soldiers, scourged, and spit upon, and
crowned with thorns, and finally led forth to die a malefactor's
death upon the cross.
And worse than all is the thought that he was forsaken by those
whom he held most dear, those whom he had chosen to be his
special friends and disciples, and who had been his constant
companions in his public ministry. They all forsook him and fled,
leaving him to die.
Then we have followed him along the sorrowful way of the cross;
we have meditated deeply upon his three last hours of agony; we
have almost heard his deep, expiring groan as he rendered up his
soul to the hands of his Father.
Now, if we have thus learnt well the lessons of Passion-tide, the
joy of Easter will come to us in all its fulness. If we have
pondered well the depth of humiliation to which our Lord
subjected himself in his death upon the cross, we shall well
realize the greatness of his triumph to-day. The joy that filled
the hearts of the Apostles, of the holy women, and, above all,
the Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Lady when they knew that the
Lord had risen indeed will be ours to-day, and we shall cry out
in the words which the church puts into our mouths: "This is the
day which the Lord hath made: let us rejoice and be glad in it":
for "the Lord is my strength and my praise, and is become my
salvation." Therefore, to-day the voice of praise and of
salvation "is in the dwellings of the just throughout the world."
{217}
"For the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength"; the right
hand of the Lord--that is, his almighty power--has raised up
Jesus from the dead. He has risen glorious and triumphant, and in
his glory and triumph all mankind are sharers. For by his
resurrection he has overcome death and opened unto us the gates
of everlasting life. He has triumphed over sin, which brought
death into the world, and which was the cause of his death. His
resurrection, therefore, means our deliverance from sin and
death, and is a pledge to us of that life which he will give to
his faithful ones.
Surely, then, we can have no greater cause for rejoicing than
this. Pray, then, my brethren, that your hearts may be filled
with the true spirit of Easter joy. "Ask and you shall receive,
that your joy may be full; and your joy no man shall take from
you."
-------------------
{218}
_Low Sunday._
Epistle.
1 _St. John v._ 4-10.
Dearly beloved:
Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the
victory which overcometh the world, our faith. Who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the
Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ; not in water only, but in water and blood. And it is
the spirit that testifieth, that Christ is the truth. For there
are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And there are
three that give testimony on earth: the spirit, the water, and
the blood, and these three are one. If we receive the testimony
of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the
testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified
of his Son. He that believeth in the Son of God, hath the
testimony of God in himself.
Gospel.
_St. John xx._ 19-31.
At that time:
When it was late that same day, being the first day of the
week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were
gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in
the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had
said this, he showed them his hands, and his side. The
disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. And he
said to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent
me, I also send you. When he had said this he breathed on them;
and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose you shall
retain, they are retained.
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Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not
with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said
to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Unless I
shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his
side, I will not believe. And after eight days his disciples
were again within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to
you. Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see
my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side;
and be not incredulous, but faithful. Thomas answered, and said
to him: My Lord, and my God. Jesus saith to him: Because thou
hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that
have not seen, and have believed. Many other signs also did
Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. But these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may
have life in his name.
-------------------
Sermon LXIV.
How To Use God's Gifts.
_If ye be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God._
--Epistle to Colossians. iii. 1.