came down, as you know, on the little company of Christians
assembled in the upper room at Jerusalem, to prepare them for the
great combat in which they were about to engage against the devil
for the conquest of the world. He came down upon them to make of
them the church of God; to establish them in the truth, and to
bring to their remembrance, as our Lord had promised, the faith
which they had received from his lips.
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He came to give them not only the knowledge but also the courage
and strength which would be necessary for them to persevere, to
resist and overcome all the attacks of the enemy, and to weather
all the storms which heresy, infidelity, and worldliness were
about to raise against the one true faith.
And he was to come, and has come, not only on them, but on those
who have followed them as well, and for the same purpose. We have
received him, and he abides in the Catholic Church to-day as he
did in the times of the Apostles. The Holy Ghost is the life of
the church; it is his presence which distinguishes her from the
human institutions which have appeared in the world with her and
have one by one sprung up and passed away. It is his abiding with
her that makes her life perpetual, ever the same and ever new.
But how is the Holy Ghost in the Catholic Church? How is it that
he is her life, and that he keeps now, as of old, in the one true
body which all who will but clear the mists of prejudice from
before their eyes can see is the one which Christ promised to
form, and to which all his promises were made?
In the first place, the Holy Ghost is in the Catholic Church by
the gift bestowed on the successors of the Apostles in the
Apostolic See, of infallibility in teaching the faith. In this
way the truth is sure to be kept in the world; it cannot fail to
be taught, while the Vicar of Christ remains to teach it.
But it is not only in the Holy See that the Spirit of God abides.
The bishops throughout the world also teach the faith by his help
and guidance; and this help is also given to the clergy who
assist them.
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Nor does the work of the Holy Ghost stop here; he is also with
the body of the faithful, enabling them also to recognize the
truth when they hear it, and to distinguish it from error. "You
have the unction from the Holy One, and know all things," says
St. John; "I have not written to you as to them that know not the
truth, but as to them that know it."
Yes, the Holy Ghost is throughout the church; he is her life, and
is not only in her head, but also in her members. Were he not in
the members, though the pope indeed should remain to teach the
truth, the faithful would not have remained faithful or attentive
to the truth which he would teach.
What a blessing, then, my brethren, is this light of the Holy
Ghost, which is given in its measure to each one of us; which
keeps us in the one fold, and which makes us, out of many, one
body in Christ; which brings his words always to our minds, and
which preserves us from the ever-changing doubt and confusion
which is the lot of those who arc separated from the one true
church in which he dwells! Let us, then, preserve this
unspeakable gift; let us not quench the Spirit of God within us.
And how is it quenched? How do we lose the light of faith which
he gives?
By sin, and never except by sin. Though instruction be indeed
good and salutary, it is not the simple and the unlearned who
lose the faith, but such as give ear to their passions, specially
those of pride and impurity. All the heresies which have torn
multitudes from the church of Christ have had their roots not so
much in ignorance as in sin. "Keep yourselves," then, my
brethren, as St. John warns you, "from idols"; this is the only
sure way to keep in yourselves the light of God.
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Sermon LXXX.
The Guidance Of The Holy Spirit.
_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 word._
--Gospel of the Day.
To-day, dear brethren, the church sends up her voice of praise
for the coming of the Holy Spirit. On this day the Holy Ghost,
the personal love of the Father and the Son, came upon the
disciples in that upper chamber in Jerusalem, where they were
gathered together in prayer awaiting the promise of the Father.
He came upon weak and timid men, but when he had poured himself
upon them behold we have the great Apostles, the teachers of the
divine word, the fearless and untiring searchers after souls, the
founders of the church.
Ah! what a change had been wrought in these timid followers of
Jesus, who had fled from him in the hour of his need, and who,
after his resurrection, lay hid with barred doors for fear of the
Jews! Their fear and their weakness have disappeared, and the
whole world is not large enough for the exercise of their zeal,
nor less than the conversion of all nations the end of their
noble ambition.
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But, dear brethren, the self-same Holy Ghost, who brought about
this change in the Apostles, comes to us, nay, abides in us, if
we fulfil the condition our Lord lays down--namely, that we love
him. And he makes the test of our love the keeping of his word.
If we love him the Father will love us, and the Father and the
Son will come to us and make their abode with us through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is our sanctifier. It is he to whom are ascribed
the works of love. He dispenses the graces which the merits of
Jesus Christ have won for us. He purifies from sin and unites our
souls to God. He dwells in every one who is free from grievous
sin, and by his light and strength he gives us help to overcome
the temptations which assail us.
He is the Spirit of joy and sweetness, filling us with the fear
of God, urging us on in the love of God, guarding us from the
loss of God's friendship by the winning sweetness of his
consolations. How greatly, then, should we love and adore the
Holy Ghost, the third person of the Blessed Trinity! We should
often call upon him and pray to him. We do not invoke the Holy
Ghost enough. We pray to the Father and to the Son, and so
indirectly honor God, the Holy Spirit; but we should pray more
frequently to him directly. We should call upon him to give us,
if we have it not, the grace of God, and to increase in us the
fire of divine love that we may realize in ourselves the promise
of the abiding of God in us by keeping his laws.
What folly it is for us to imagine that God can have a
dwelling-place in our sin-stained soul! How can the Holy Spirit
find pleasure in one who by mortal sin has made himself God's
enemy; who has been guilty of a deliberate act of rebellion
against his Maker and been unfaithful to or left unheeded his own
sweet drawing?
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Alas for us, if this Pentecost finds us in this awful state!
Alas! if the voice of our conscience has been silenced; this day
then brings no joy to us! The Holy Spirit has no abiding-place
within our souls. We have not loved the Son because we have not
kept his words: "He that loveth me not keepeth not my words." And
because we have not loved him the Father and he will not come to
us. The loving Holy Ghost is not master in our house; we have
driven him out who was our best friend and thrown open the gate
to our enemy. Will you remain thus, you who are in sin? Let not
this day go by and to-morrow find you unrepentant. Grieve for
your past offences, keep the law of God, and you shall have the
fulness of the Holy Spirit.
-------------------
Sermon LXXXI.
The Easter Duty.
In this great feast and its octave, my dear brethren, we
commemorate the last of all the wonderful events which brought
the Christian religion into the world. To-day our Divine Saviour,
having ascended into heaven, fulfilled his promise in the descent
of the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles; to-day the Catholic Church
was fully established, and given power to convert the world;
to-day the order of things was begun which is to last to the end
of time.
And with this octave closes, therefore, that especially holy part
or season of the year which centres round the resurrection of our
Lord, and which has, for most obvious reasons, been appointed as
the time in which every Christian is bound, under pain of mortal
sin, to receive Holy Communion, or make, as we say, his Easter
duty.
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Only one more week remains in which to attend to this most
important of all the obligations of a Catholic, to fulfil this
greatest precept of the positive Christian law.
Now, what is exactly this precept of the Easter duty? Strange to
say, you will often find people who do not seem to have any clear
idea about it at all, in spite of all that is said about it from
the altar and in common catechisms and books of instruction. And
yet it is very simple. It is just this: Every Catholic of
sufficient age to receive Communion is bound to receive it on
some day between the first Sunday of Lent and Trinity
Sunday--that is, a week from to-day--inclusive; and it is very
difficult for any one to have any excuse from complying with this
law.
The Easter duty, then, is not merely an obligation to receive
once a year. A person may receive a hundred times in the year,
and yet not make his Easter duty; just as one may hear Mass every
day in the week, and yet not fulfil the precept of hearing Mass
if he stays away on Sunday. Now this seems quite easy to
understand; but there are people, and plenty of them, too, who
will make a mission shortly before Lent, and then say at this
time: "Oh! I went to Communion not very long ago; there is no
need to go so soon again." They might as well say on Sunday, if
they had heard Mass on Saturday: "I need not go to church to-day;
it was only yesterday that I was there." The law of hearing Mass
is not to hear it once a week, but to hear it on Sundays and
holydays of obligation; so the law of Communion is not to receive
once or twice a year, but to receive at the time appointed. No
other time will do.
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But some may say: "I have not committed any mortal sin since my
last confession; I am just as good as these people who are
running to church all the time." Very good, perhaps you are;
though it may be that Almighty God does not have so high an
opinion of you as you seem to have of yourself. But it is not the
question whether you are good or not; the law is not to confess
mortal sin at Easter; far from it, one ought to have no mortal
sin to confess, then or at any other time. No, the law is to go
to Communion. One should get leave to do so, of course; but if
you have no sin on your conscience, what is easier than to say so
to the priest? You ought to be glad to be able to say it.
Do not, then, make the foolish excuse either that you have been
to Communion at Christmas or there about, or that you have
nothing to confess now. Come this week; if you put your Communion
off one day beyond next Sunday you are guilty of breaking this
law. If you are in mortal sin, get out of it by making a good
confession and Communion; if you are not, do not fall into it by
refusing to obey this most peremptory and most urgent command.
Any one who has not received since Lent began, and refuses to do
so on or before next Sunday, may, indeed, call himself a
Catholic, but is not worthy of the name.
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_Trinity Sunday._
Epistle.
_Romans xi._ 33-36.
O the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge
of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how
unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?
Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to
him, and recompense shall be made to him? For of him, and by
him, and in him, are all things. To him be glory for ever.
Amen.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew, xxviii._ 18-20.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples: All power is given to me in heaven
and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations:
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all
days, even to the consummation of the world.
Last Gospel.
_St. Luke vi._ 36-42.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and
you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be
condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it
shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down, and
shaken together and running over, shall they give into your
bosom. For with the same measure that you shall measure it
shall be measured to you again. And he spoke also to them a
similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? do they not both fall
into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master; but every
one shall be perfect, if he be as his master.
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And why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye, but the beam
that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? or how canst thou
say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy
eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Thou
hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye, and then
shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's
eye.
-------------------
Sermon LXXXII.
The Divine Majesty.
_For of him, and by him, and in him are all things;
to him be Glory for ever and ever. Amen._
--Epistle of the Day.
To-day, my dear brethren, the church, having completed the round
of feasts and fasts which she began on Christmas, having brought
to our remembrance our Lord's birth, his holy childhood, his
ministry on earth, his Passion and death, his glorious
Resurrection and Ascension, and the coming of the Holy Ghost as
he had promised, finally brings us into the presence of the Being
by whom all these wonderful works have been accomplished, and who
is the sole object of our adoration, the ever Blessed Trinity,
the three Divine Persons, the one God. She bids us contemplate,
so far as it is possible for us, the great and ineffable mystery
into the faith of which we have been baptized, and to join with
the angels and saints in the canticles of heaven, "Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to
come."
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"Of him, and by him, and in him are all things," says the
Apostle, reminding us of this highest of all the teachings of the
Christian faith. Of the Father is the Son, and by the Son is the
Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and in whom
is their life and mutual love. The distinction of the Divine
Persons is thus intimated to us; but the Divine Nature is only
one; of, by, and in that One are we and all things created.
We and all the world around us are of God; not part of him, nor
born of him according to nature, nor proceeding from his
substance, but still of him in that we owe our being entirely to
him, who drew us from nothing by his almighty power. Nothing
could ever have existed outside of God himself except through the
wonderful, incomprehensible act of creation. From nothing,
nothing of itself could come; all things are from and of God, who
created them from nothing.
By his almighty power, then, we have been created, and by it now
we are sustained. We could not live for a moment except by his
continual support. It is only by his aid that we can draw a
single breath, walk a single step, or perform the simplest act.
The winds and the waters, and all the powers of nature, as we
call them, are his powers, too, which he lends to us, and makes
subservient to our use.
And in him we live and move and are. He is nearer to us than we
to ourselves. It is not only that he makes us live; it is his
life by which we live; our life comes from and belongs to his
eternal life. The life of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is
in himself; ours is in him.
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To him, then, the one and only true God, "be glory," as the
Apostle says, "for ever and ever." How often we say these words,
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,"
and how little do we think of what they mean! If all that we are
and have is from God, by him and in him, how can we set ourselves
apart from him, or claim anything for ourselves against him? How
can we glory in ourselves, or desire glory from others, when all
glory, praise, and honor belong of necessity to him from whom, by
whom, and in whom all things are?
For this is what it means when we say, "Glory be to God." Not
some glory or praise or recognition of his greatness from us, as
a sort of tax or tribute which we must pay to keep the rest for
ourselves. No, when we have given glory to God as we should,
there will be nothing left for us to keep. This is the perfection
of the creature, to prostrate itself at the foot of its Creator's
throne, and to cast all the crowns it has received before him
that sitteth thereon, and to say with the angels and saints in
heaven, "Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and
honor and power, because thou hast created all things, and for
thy will they were and have been created."
-------------------
Sermon LXXXIII.
The Mystery Of The Holy Trinity.
_Go ye, therefore, teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost._
--St. Matthew, xxviii. 19.
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It was the faith in the Most Holy Trinity that the Apostles were
sent forth to teach throughout all the world to every creature.
It is into this faith that every Christian is baptized by the
invocation of the thrice-holy name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, and because of this baptism he is bound to
persevere all his life long in that steadfast faith in the Holy
Trinity for which the church to-day teaches us to pray. Think it
not strange that this doctrine should be so deep a mystery. We
are surrounded on all sides by mysteries. There is scarcely a
department of knowledge into which we can turn our minds where we
are not met by things which we cannot understand. There is,
therefore, nothing wonderful in the fact that God is the greatest
mystery of all. We cannot solve the mysteries of nature and of
life as we see them before us. How, then, can we expect to
comprehend the nature and the inner life of God? It is not for
us, with our poor, feeble minds, to ask the how or the why, but
simply to bow down in humble adoration before the truth of God as
he has revealed himself to us. Faith would not be the virtue that
it is if everything were perfectly plain to us. The chief merit
of faith is in accepting on God's authority that which is beyond
our own reason. His revelation of himself to us is only partial.
The full light that we are capable of receiving will not come
until we are before his throne, and see him face to face, for it
is only when that which is perfect shall come that that which is
in part shall be done away. For now we see, as it were, through a
glass, in an obscure manner, now we know but in part, but then we
shall know even as we are known. Meanwhile our time of trial
remains, and we must submit our minds as well as our hearts and
wills to God.
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But he has not given us this partial revelation of himself in
order to perplex and worry us. He has told us all that is good
and needful for us to know in our present state. We should not,
therefore, fix our minds upon that which he has chosen to hide
from us, but upon that which he actually has revealed to us, and
we shall find in this more than enough for our love and devotion.
Each Person of the Blessed Trinity has some special relation to
us, and there are, therefore, special acts of love and adoration
which we can pay to each. He has revealed himself to us as the
Father, not only as the Father of the Eternal Son, but as our
Father as well; our Father, because he has adopted us as his
children. Nothing that we know on earth of a father's love can
compare with the tenderness with which the Eternal Father regards
his children. We, therefore, must become as little children
towards him, looking up to him with love, with reverence, with
simple trust, striving to fulfil his holy will in perfect
obedience, knowing that he wills only our good, here and
hereafter.
God the Son has revealed himself to us as our Saviour and
Redeemer, and because we are through him the children of God, as
our Elder Brother, sharing in our human nature, having been
tempted like us, and having suffered far more for our sake than
we shall ever be called upon to suffer for him. Hence in all our
trials, in all our temptations, in all our sufferings, we have
his example to cheer us, knowing that we are but treading the
steps that he trod and bearing our cross after him. His Precious
Blood is still flowing through the sacraments to cleanse us from
our sins, his grace is ever ready to help us in the hour of need.
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And God the Holy Ghost is revealed to us and given to us as the
life of our souls, our helper, our comforter, our sanctifier,
stirring up the flame of divine love in our hearts, urging us to
good deeds, and giving us the strength to perform them. We, on
our part, must listen to his voice and follow his guidance, that
so we may abide in the love of the Father and of the Son.
Thus is the Blessed Trinity revealed to us, as Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. Let us not question, but praise, adore, and love.
-------------------
Sermon LXXXIV.
The Divine Judgment.
_And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying:
"All power is given to me in heaven and in earth." _
--Matthew, xxviii. 18.
When these words were uttered by our Lord he had risen from the
dead. On this occasion he had with him only the eleven Apostles,
whom he had instructed to meet him by appointment at this time
and in this place--a mountain in Galilee. A few words they are,
but full of meaning. The Apostles saw our Lord in the flesh
again; they heard his own human lips utter this truth: that all
power is his in heaven and in earth.
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How did they understand him? They understood that the Man they
saw, the human being who then stood before them, was endued with
all power that God would exercise in heaven and in earth; that to
rule this vast universe was his right; that to sit on the throne
of heaven, to be worshipped and adored as God by every creature,
to shape the destiny of this world, of its many nations, of its
many families, of every single soul born and to be born in it; to
open and shut the gates of hell at his own will, to judge all
without exception, each separately at the moment after death, and
all together in the great Judgment day of God, is his right and
office as the Man, because he is Man in God and God in Man; the
Man selected to be the One through whom the Divine Nature
manifests himself in all the fulness of the Godhead in human
nature.
But what, therefore, is the first thought that must enter our
hearts? It is necessarily this: How will that Man receive us when
we are called into his presence, one by one, as we leave this
world? How will that countenance look to us at that moment? How
will those ears listen to our reports of our own lives? How will
those lips speak to us in that dread moment?
But why do we ask ourselves these questions? Because we know that
we are to meet that Man in God, face to face, to give an exact
account of all of our deeds in the body, and that he is the One
to praise or blame us, reward or condemn us, receive us into
eternal blessedness or cast us out into eternal, never-ending
darkness, and deliver us over to the rule of those who shall be
our masters in hell.
Can we tell what the result will be? Yes; and to a certainty! If
our lives have been good, or if we die in his friendship, the Man
Christ Jesus will give us a blessed and glorious welcome; but if
our lives have been wicked, that Man will reject us for ever. He
will not have us anywhere near him. He will not endure our
presence a single moment, nor permit us to speak in his presence,
nor ever again to mention his holy name, but will cast us into
that region of creation where holy names are not permitted to be
uttered.
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Do we truly hope that this sad fate will not be ours? Then we are
truly good, leading good lives, are faithful to our duties as
good Catholics. If we truly hope for his approval we can judge
ourselves now and know we shall receive it.
How is this? If each one can say to-day, the last of the
Easter-time, I have obeyed the commands of the church and made my
Easter duty, then each soul is free from mortal sin and knows the
judgment of our Lord will be in his favor. Let any such soul die
at any moment now and the mercy of God is surely his, for he is
now in the friendship of God, his soul is restored to its
heavenly state, and every soul in this state is so acceptable to
our Lord that he can not condemn it, but must welcome it to the
society of those who are saved for ever.