which to find out whether or not we deserve to be called sincere
Christians or hypocrites. In order to be a sincere Christian,
what has a man to do? He has to get control of himself; to get
his soul and all that it can desire subject to the law of God; to
get all pride, covetousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, and
sloth under the control of his own will; to get that will subject
to and one with the will of God; and, what is more, he must keep
himself in this state of mind at least so far as to restrain
himself from committing mortal sin and the graver venial sins if
he desire sincerely to keep his soul well out of danger. He who
acts thus is a truly good man, and that man's religion is not
vain.
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What is the first thing to be done to begin to live in this way?
It is to examine and see in what way a man commits the greater
number of sins. One will soon find that the tongue of man is the
means by which a man sins most frequently and in the most
devilish manner. For, says St. James, "The tongue is a fire, a
world of iniquity, ... defileth the whole body, ... being set on
fire by hell." We see from this how dangerous to the soul is the
tongue of man. As we do see this, are we not bound to keep in
check, _at all costs_, this source of evil? Any one can see
that, if he does not bridle his tongue, his religion is vain
indeed. In fact, it is nothing but a merely outward show. It is
hypocrisy of the worst kind. But what are the sins of the tongue
we most often hear? They are blasphemies, curses, and oaths; the
retailing of our neighbors faults with delight and evident
pleasure; quarrels, bickerings, constant reproaches for faults
that are past, gone, and even sincerely repented of long ago;
immodest and impure conversations, with jokes and stories a
heathen feels ashamed of; hints and little words that seem almost
nothing, yet injuring seriously the reputation of some one,
separating friends, and making even those near and dear to each
other by every tie cold and distant for a long time, if not for
the rest of their lives. God deliver us all from the evil tongue!
It works in our very homes. The husband becomes by it bitterness
and gall to his wife and family. The wife becomes a torture to
husband and children. Both by it make home a curse instead of a
blessing, and separate those of whom the word of God declares,
"Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder." Too often
do we see sad examples of this kind. Too often do we find such a
husband, who is like a roaring wild beast in his home, and a wife
whose tongue once set going, even for a slight cause, is like a
clock running down, or like the mill-clapper, so often used as a
figure of an unruly tongue.
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The bad tongue of a child is the ruin of all in the house. That
child is a tale-bearer and a traitor against those who begot him.
A detestable habit of the evil tongue is what the world calls
"damning our neighbor with faint praise," or, in other words,
praising him highly, even to the skies, and putting in a little
word of evil that destroys him all the more surely. One will
excuse himself by saying: "But, after all, I spoke well of him.
It can't do any harm!" Yet he knows in his inmost soul he has
ruined or seriously injured his neighbor. How would I feel if I
were spoken of in this manner? is the question one should have
asked himself before he said a word.
How common is it to find persons the moment they see anything
wrong done by another or hear of it hurry in great glee to tell
it at once! Do we not know, my dear brethren, that such a one is
a scandalizer of men, and that the Christian rule requires us to
be silent then under pain of sin? But the greater the evil done
the more delighted are they to tell it. It should be just the
other way. Never reveal to any one the sin of your neighbor,
unless to save an innocent person or another from damage of some
kind. This damage must be serious to oblige one to tell, even
then, the sin of another, for he is equally obliged by God not to
tell it under ordinary circumstances.
Remember, then, that no one can be a true Christian unless he
keeps from these sins by bridling his tongue. Otherwise, as the
text declares, "this man's religion is vain."
-------------------
{255}
Sermon LXXV.
Perseverance In Prayer.
_Yet if he shall continue, knocking, I say to you,
although he will not rise and give him,
because he is his friend;
yet because of his importunity he will rise;
and give him as many as he needeth._
--St. Luke xi. 8.
Many people complain that their prayers are not heard. Again and
again they have made some special requests for temporal, or it
may be even for spiritual, blessings, and nothing seems to have
come of these petitions. Others get what they ask for, but they
are not so favored; and they almost make up their minds that it
is of no use for them to pray. They think, perhaps, that they are
too great sinners for God to hear them; or that they do not know
how to pray right; or they are even tempted to believe that
prayer is a mistake altogether; that God's will is not moved by
it; that, if any one does seem to get anything by it, it is only
by chance, and would have come without it just as well.
Now what can be the reason of the failure of these good people in
prayer? Is it, perhaps, because what they asked was really an
evil for them, and so God could not in mercy grant it, but had to
give them something better instead, which they have not noticed?
Or is it that they did not strive to do their best to win what
they wanted also by their own exertions as well as by prayer;
that they would not put their own shoulder to the wheel? If it
was some virtue, such as charity or patience, that they were
asking for, and meanwhile took no real pains to cultivate and
practise it, no wonder that God would not give it to them.
{256}
Or, lastly, is the reason for their disappointment that they were
praying for others whose will was obstinately set against their
prayers? A mother prays for her son, and her prayers are heard,
though they may not seem to be. Graces are granted to him, but he
resists them. God has not promised to send them, in such a
torrent as to sweep away and break down all opposition, though he
may yet do so, if she will only persevere.
Persevere! Ah! that word suggests what may be the real
difficulty, the true reason for the seeming uselessness of so
many good prayers. They are good as far as they go, but there are
not enough of them. The effect that is to come of them is to come
all at once; it is like the fall of a tree in the woods under the
blows of the axe: the tree will come down, but not at the first,
the second, the tenth, or perhaps even the hundredth stroke.
Yes, my brethren, our Lord could no doubt grant our prayers as
soon as we made them, but he does not wish to do so. And I think
we can see at least two reasons why he does not. First, if he
grants what we ask at once we will go off with what he has given
us, and hare no more to say to him. And, strange to say, he
enjoys our society; he has himself said his delight is to be with
the children of men. So he keeps us around him, though it be only
to tease, as a father would the children he loved, if he could
not keep them any other way. And, secondly, he knows that it is
good for us to be with him; and that every time we pray in
earnest we come nearer to him, and our souls become stronger. So
it is that, both for his own sake and for our good, he sometimes
will not grant our prayers unless we persevere in them for a very
long while.
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Our Lord has given us to understand this importance of
persevering in prayer very plainly in the Gospel read on these
days, called Rogation Days, between to-day and the Feast of the
Ascension. He represents to us in the parable of this Gospel a
man who has gone to bed, and is roused at midnight by a friend
who wants to borrow some bread to set before an unexpected guest.
He at first tells the disturber to leave him alone; he says that
he cannot be bothered to get up at such an inconvenient time; he
pretends to drop off asleep, and keeps his friend outside
knocking and pounding for so long a time that he almost gives it
up as useless. "Yet," says our Lord, "if he shall continue
knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him
because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will
rise and give him as many as he needeth."
This is the lesson, then, it may be, for those who have had no
success at their prayers. They did well to begin, but they did
not keep at it long enough. Let them go at it once again, and
keep on. Let them ask, and keep asking, and they shall receive;
let them seek long enough, and they shall find; let them keep
knocking and making a disturbance, and at last the door shall be
opened, and they shall obtain what they desire.
-------------------
{258}
_Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension._
Epistle.
1 _St. Peter iv._ 7-11.
Dearly beloved:
Be prudent, and watch in prayers. But before all things have a
mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a
multitude of sins. Using hospitality one towards another
without murmuring. As every man hath received grace,
ministering the same one to another, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the
words of God. If any man minister, let it be as from the power
which God administereth: that in all things God may be honored
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel.
_St. John xv._ 26-xvi. 4.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples:
When the Paraclete shall come whom I will send you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he
shall give testimony of me. And you shall give testimony,
because you are with me from the beginning. These things have I
spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They will put
you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh that whosoever
killeth you, will think that he doeth a service to God. And
these things will they do to you, because they have not known
the Father, nor me. But these things I have told you, that when
the hour of them shall come, you may remember that I told you.
-------------------
{259}
Sermon LXXVI.
After A Mission.
There is nothing, my dear brethren, which can give more joy and
consolation both to pastor and people than a mission such as that
which was closed last Sunday.
Thank God, there were many who had been living previously in sin,
but who really turned from it then with their whole hearts, and
who now have a happiness in those hearts to which they had long
before been strangers. This happiness ought to last all their
lives. God means that it should; they can make it do so if they
will.
But how will it be in fact; how is it too often, after such times
of grace and fervor? We have had missions before, which really
seemed as if they marked a new era in the history of our parish;
but we look for their fruits now and find them only few and far
between. Too many of those who made them went back a month or so
afterward to the old ways of sin.
What was the reason that they did not persevere? Why was it that
they had the same sad story to tell when they came back this time
that they had a few years ago?
Was it that they never expected it to be otherwise? Perhaps so.
Some Christians--shame to say it--seem to think that mortal sin
cannot be avoided. Such do not really try to avoid it; how can
they? How can any one seriously attempt what he believes to be
impossible? No wonder that such as these fell; the question is if
indeed they ever arose.
{260}
For how could they have made the purpose of amendment which a
good confession requires? Let them understand, at least now, that
it is possible to abandon mortal sin at once and for ever.
But was it, perhaps, that they thought they could keep the grace
they had got by their own unaided strength; that they could fight
the devil single-handed, or even that he would never trouble them
much again? Ah! my brethren, if any of you thought that he made a
terrible mistake. Satan does not give up the souls which he has
once possessed so easily. He knows the advantage which all habits
of sin give him, and he is going to make the most of them. He
will surely attack you, and you are weak, while he is strong. If
you undertake to fight him alone, you will go to the wall. You
cannot conquer him unless God helps you.
But, after all, there are not many Catholics who do not know that
it needs God's help to persevere. Oh! yes; almost every one will
say, when asked after confession if he is going to avoid sin for
the future, that he will, "with the help of God."
Well, then, what is the matter? If we know that we are in danger,
and that we can escape from it, but only by God's help, why does
not that help come and save us?
I will tell you why it does not. And to do so I have only to turn
to the first words of to-day's Mass: "He shall call on me, and I
will hear him; I will deliver him and glorify him."
That is the whole story. If we want God to deliver us, we must
ask him to do it. In other words, if we wish to persevere, we
must pray. If we do not go to God to get the strength which we
need, we must be without it.
{261}
The sinner who repents, and does not pray often and fervently
afterward to keep the grace he has, being especially careful of
his morning prayers; who does not, above all, make often the best
of all prayers--that of again coming to the sacraments--is a
fool, and the devil's laughing-stock.
The great majority of those who have been leading a bad life, and
who abandon it at a mission, or at any other time, will not
persevere unless they are willing to take the trouble to make
frequent and earnest prayers, and to come to confession again
within a month. That is simple fact; it is the teaching of
experience, not mere guess-work. Are you, my friends, willing to
take that trouble for your soul's sake, or do you prefer to fall
as you have fallen before?
-------------------
Sermon LXXVII.
Bearing Witness For Our Lord.
_And you shall give testimony,
because you are with me from the beginning._
--St. John xv. 27.
It might be asked, dear brethren, what need God has of _our_
testimony, or why the creature should act the part of witness for
the Creator? Certainly Jesus Christ needed not the testimony of
men, but in his infinite goodness and wisdom he has seen fit to
commit to each one of us a sublime and holy mission, none other
than that of giving testimony of him before the world, for the
sake of our fellow-man.
{262}
"You are," says St. Peter, "a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, that you may declare the virtues of him who hath
called you out of darkness."
This, then, is our mission, to be witnesses for Jesus Christ; and
to-day we are going to consider how we are fulfilling it. You
know, brethren, with what a keen sense of criticism the world
examines the testimony of those witnessing in behalf of others,
and how it values their testimony in proportion to their
uprightness and integrity. Well, so it is with regard to us and
the testimony we are called upon to give of our Blessed Lord. We
Christians are all on the witness-stand of this great world.
To-day the unbelieving world is passing judgment upon our
testimony, deciding whether it be for or against Jesus Christ;
but, brethren, there will come a day when Christ himself will sit
in judgment upon this same testimony and reward us accordingly.
Since, then, this our mission is so important, brethren, how are
we to fulfil it? It seems to me in no better way than by leading
truly Christian lives, and thus forcing the world to acknowledge
that we are animated by the spirit of God. The early Christians
brought the light of faith to thousands, not by preaching, but by
the holiness of their lives; and so, when the pagans and infidels
came in contact with them, they were forced to admire and
exclaim, "Behold how these Christians love one another!" Would to
God that the life and conduct of every Christian to-day could
force a similar confession from the unbelievers of our time.
{263}
Indeed, brethren, all Christians of our day have a great mission
to fulfil in this regard; but _we_ especially, for the
reason given by our Lord himself--"because you are with me from
the beginning." You, beloved brethren, who have had the faith
from the beginning--from your earliest childhood--have a special
reason why your testimony for Jesus Christ should never be
failing. Has it ever been so? Have your virtuous lives and
edifying example brought home the truths and beauties of the
Catholic faith to those outside the church? I fear, brethren, the
conduct of bad and negligent Catholics has kept back many from
inquiring into the true faith. Such Catholics, wearing the livery
of Satan, have given false testimony of God, and will have to
render an account for it.
We can all of us, brethren, give testimony of Jesus Christ by
every action of our lives. Parents can and should render this
testimony by the good example they give their families, and the
Christian solicitude they have for their spiritual welfare. Young
men and women should give this testimony by the profession and
practice of God's law and the church's precepts. Let the
consideration, dear brethren, of this our high mission, our being
called to give testimony of God, be the means of animating us to
renewed fervor in the service of Jesus Christ.
-------------------
Sermon LXXVIII.
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
_Watch in prayers._
--1 St. Peter iv. 7.
{264}
To-day is the Sunday of expectation, and it brings to our minds
that upper chamber in Jerusalem, where the little band of the
chosen disciples of the Lord were gathered together waiting for
the coming of the Holy Ghost. There were the eleven Apostles and
the faithful women, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and his
brethren. "All these," says the sacred chronicler, "were
persevering with one mind in prayer." Hence the Epistle of to-day
urges us to imitate them, and begins with the exhortation:
"Dearly beloved, watch in prayers."
We too must watch and wait for the coming of the Holy Ghost. He
has, indeed, already come into our souls in Holy Baptism,
cleansing them from original sin and making them his temples. He
has come again in Confirmation, with all the fulness of his
sevenfold gifts, to make us strong and perfect Christians and
soldiers of Christ.
Yet he comes to us continually every day, knocking at the door of
our hearts and begging for admittance. Every impulse of what is
known as actual grace is from the Holy Ghost, and such graces we
are receiving all the time, every hour of the day. We must
therefore prepare ourselves for his coming, and when he has
entered into our souls we must strive to keep him there. The Holy
Ghost is the life of our souls. It is his constant presence and
indwelling which is the state of grace which makes us pleasing to
God. To obtain and to preserve this abiding presence of the Holy
Ghost we must imitate the Apostles in their watchfulness and
prayer. We must watch lest the time of temptation should find us
unprepared and off our guard; we must pray that the Holy Ghost
may come into our hearts, bringing with him ever richer treasures
of divine grace; that he may take possession of our souls and
make them all his own; that he may guide our minds, and with the
fire of his love inflame our hearts to do his holy will in all
things.
{265}
But we must first of all prepare for the Holy Ghost by cleansing
our souls from sin. Where sin reigns the Holy Ghost can never
dwell. The Apostles prepared for his corning by penance. To that
upper chamber in Jerusalem came St. Peter, who had denied his
Lord, St. Thomas, who had doubted his resurrection, and the
others who had wavered in their faith, and, in the time of trial,
had forsaken their Master and fled. But now they had been
convinced of their error, and they came together with sorrow for
their past unfaithfulness, and a full determination to lay down
their lives, if need be, for him who had died for them. This is
the spirit in which we should prepare for the Holy Ghost. If your
hearts are defiled with mortal sin, delay not the time of
penance. The Holy Ghost is ready to descend upon you. He only
waits for you to do your part. Make ready, then, a place in your
heart, that he may enter in and dwell there.
"O my dearly beloved brethren!" exclaims St. Gregory the Great,
"think what a dignity it is to have God abiding as a guest in our
heart! Surely, if some rich man or some powerful friend were to
come into our house, we would hasten to have our whole house
cleaned, lest, perchance, when he came in he should see anything
to displease his eye. So let him that would make his mind an
abode for God cleanse it from all the filth of works of
iniquity."
{266}
"And they were persevering with one mind in prayer." Our prayer
must be persevering if we would gain that which we desire. This
is what our Lord meant when he said that we ought always to pray
and not to faint. Unless we persevere in prayer we shall without
doubt faint by the way in the journey of life. And let us do as
the Apostles did, join our prayers to those of Mary, the Mother
of Jesus, and we shall have a sure hope of obtaining what is most
needful for us. Then, as the Holy Ghost once descended upon her,
and wrought within her the Incarnation, so also will he come into
our hearts, and make them the abode of the Holy Trinity. Then, if
we listen to his blessed voice within us, we shall grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for
the Holy Ghost will teach us all things, according to the
promise.
-------------------
{267}
_Feast of Pentecost, or Whit-Sunday._
Epistle.
_Acts ii. _1-11.
When the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all
together in the same place: and suddenly there came a sound
from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them
cloven tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of
them, And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they
began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost
gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews,
devout men out of every nation under heaven. And when this
voice was made, the multitude came together, and were
confounded in mind, because that every one heard them speak in
his own tongue. And they were all amazed and wondered, saying:
Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how have we
every one heard our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians,
and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea
and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt
and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians; we have heard
them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.
Gospel.
_St. John xiv._ 23-31.
At that time Jesus said to his disciples:
If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will
love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.
He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which
you have heard is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.
{268}
These things have I spoken to you, remaining with you. But the
Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to
your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give to you: not as the world giveth do I
give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let it be
afraid. You have heard that I have said to you: I go away, and
I come again to you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad,
because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it come to pass: that when it
shall come to pass, you may believe. Now I will not speak many
things with you. For the prince of this world cometh, and in me
he hath not anything. But that the world may know that I love
the Father: and as the Father hath given me commandment, so I
do.
-------------------
Sermon LXXIX.
The Holy Ghost In The Church.
_The Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things,
and bring all things to your mind,
whatsoever I shall have said to you. _
--Gospel of the Day.