I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand: by which also
you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached to
you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered to you
first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures: and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by
the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren
at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are
fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the
apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one
born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who
am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his
grace in me hath not been void.
Gospel.
_St. Mark vii._ 31-37.
At that time:
Jesus going out of the borders of Tyre, came by Sidon to the
sea of Galilee, through the midst of the territories of
Decapolis. And they bring to him one that was deaf and dumb;
and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him
aside from the multitude, he put his fingers into his ears, and
spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he
groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be opened.
{367}
And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his
tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that
they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much
the more a great deal did they publish it. And so much the more
did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath
made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
-------------------
Sermon CXI.
Want Of Confidence In God.
_He hath done all things well._
--St. Mark vii. 37.
The spectators of the double miracle related in this day's Gospel
were filled with admiration at our Lord's power and goodness;
they could not help exclaiming, "He doth all things well." Would
to God, brethren, that such a sentiment of our Lord's love and
power filled our hearts! Confidence in God, however, is the very
virtue many Christians lack most. True, we say and believe that
God is infinitely good--that he is mercy itself. But such
language is very indefinite and may express a very dim
conception. It is something like saying that a stone is very hard
or that water is very wet. We are apt to form pictures of God's
attributes in our minds, just as a painter may make a portrait of
some historical personage he never saw; many of our notions of
God are fancy portraits, all imagination.
But just think of the actual grounds of our confidence in our
Blessed Lord. Just realize that this wonderful being is filled
with the tenderest human love for the worst of us, and has all
the divine power at his command--being both man and God--to make
good his love by bringing about our spiritual and temporal
welfare.
{368}
The Incarnation is the divine Mercy made man for the love of us.
Can we suppose that such a being, having begun the good work of
our salvation by giving us the true religion, will leave anything
undone, that we will let him do, to bring us to the kingdom of
heaven? Do you think that such a loving Father would teach us,
his children, A B C except with the set purpose of going clean
through to X Y Z? Just think, that it positively never happened
that any wretched sinner, how ever degraded, ever implored our
Lord's forgiveness and was rejected; nay, that he himself
secretly inspires sinners with their grief and horror for their
evil ways, and then imparts forgiveness in return for his own
gift. The fact is that the question is not whether God will
forgive us, but whether we will let him do it. In a word, this
infinitely good and infinitely powerful being is bent and
determined that we shall enjoy perfect happiness, world without
end.
What a wonder, then, that we can treat our Lord in our
cold-hearted way! Scrupulous persons treat him as if he were a
tyrant; lukewarm Christians treat him like a stepfather;
obstinate sinners treat him with open contempt. The practise of
prayer, the reception of the sacraments and other aids of
religion--we treat them as school-children do their lessons: we
do it all because we are afraid of the consequences if we don't.
Considering how much God loves us his service should come as easy
to us as breathing the air; it should be the element in which we
live. If our faith were a little more practical God's loveliness
would be as plain to us as the open day and the sun in the
heavens.
{369}
Furthermore, and this is still more practical, lack of confidence
in God is why we repine at his visitations. It is easy enough to
say, be resigned to the will of God, but how can we be content to
suffer unless we are penetrated with confidence in the divine
goodness? Brethren, you know how we sometimes take medicine. We
wrap it up in a pleasant-flavored wafer or hide it in a spoonful
of sugar, and down it goes and we never taste its bitterness. So
a lively confidence in God, if we only had enough of it, is the
sweetness to wrap around the bitter things of life. Temptations,
long and wearisome poverty, ill-health, unpleasant companions in
the household--these and other such trials are the bitter pills
of the soul; when we fairly realize that God means them for our
spiritual good we can bear them with patience, even with
thankfulness.
Did you ever hear of the witch-hazel, and how people used to
fancy that a crooked branch of it thrown into the air would fall
on the spot where a good spring of water could be found? Well,
the witch-hazel of the Christian soul is just this question: How
much confidence have you in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for
you? If that does not reveal the hidden springs of your heart and
bring the waters of love gushing forth, then that heart is
hopelessly dry.
-------------------
Sermon CXII.
Devotion To The Blessed Virgin.
Why do Catholics pay so much honor to the Virgin Mary? Are they
not doing an injury to her Son by over-honoring his Mother? What
is the reason, the doctrine, of the Catholic's devotion to Mary?
{370}
Very fair questions, brethren; questions which you should be
ready to answer with intelligence and kindness. So that now, as
we approach the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption into heaven, let
us renew our faith in her dignity. What, then, does the Catholic
faith teach us about her? It teaches us that she is the Mother of
God; and further, that, on account of the foreseen merits of her
Son, she was preserved from the stain of original sin; that she
was always a virgin; and that it is lawful and profitable to ask
her prayers. Such are the articles of faith concerning the
Blessed Virgin.
Once you know something about her Son's divinity you easily
perceive her dignity of Mother of God. Her title of Mother of God
plainly rests upon the fact that her Son is God. Jesus Christ is
God; his nature is divine and his person is divine. And here you
must bear in mind the distinction between nature and person. He
has the nature, being, essence of God. And he has the person of
God; for our Saviour is God the Son, second person of the Most
Holy Trinity. What, then, is human about him? for we know that he
is as truly man as he is truly God. The answer is that he has a
human nature as well as a divine nature. He became man; and he
did so by taking human nature from Mary, his Mother. But, you ask
again, is he a human person also? No, for we have seen that he is
the divine person, God the Son. There cannot be two persons in
Christ. He is but a single person, one individual, and that is
divine. So that the divine personality of the Son of God takes
human nature and unites it to the divine nature. The one divine
person whose name is Christ, and who is of both divine and human
nature, has no human personality, but divine.
{371}
And this is the Son of Mary. Is she not the Mother of our Lord,
personally his Mother? Can any one be a mother and not be mother
of a person? Is he not personally her son? What a dignity! What a
mysterious and wonderful eminence, to be mother of the divine
person of the Son of God made man. No wonder that we honor her;
although we know full well that all she has of dignity and
sanctity she has by no power of her own, but by gift of God, and
that she is purely a human being. Those who do not honor Mary
fail to appreciate the majesty of Christ; fail to understand the
doctrine of the Incarnation; fail to grasp the immensity of the
divine love in God becoming man.
No wonder, then, that God should have saved her from the taint of
Adam's sin, should have preserved her a spotless virgin, should
have saved her pure body from the grave's filth by the Assumption
into heaven. The Angel Gabriel tells us what Mary is: "Behold
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and thou shalt bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Most High. ... The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee, and therefore the Holy (One) that shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God."
{372}
Now, brethren, to be a mother is to hold an office. It is to
exercise by divine right the highest powers committed to a human
being. What wonderful rights a mother possesses! An affectionate
allegiance is due her from her son: an obedience instinctive,
sacred, supreme; a reverential and hearty loyalty which arouses
the noblest emotions in the hardest heart and gives birth to
heroic deeds even in men of the weakest natures. A mother is
entitled to her son's love by the most sacred of all obligations.
Well, just think of it: our Blessed Lord was, and is yet, bound
to his Mother by that imperative divine law; he was, and is yet,
subject to the sweetest and, for a noble nature, the most
resistless impulse to do his Mother's will and to make her happy.
He owes her love, obedience, reverence, friendship, support,
companionship, sympathy. And he that doth all things well, would
he not do his whole duty as Son, would he not be a model Son?
Would he not grant her lightest wish while he lived with her on
earth, will he not gladly do so now in heaven?
Hence our Lord Jesus Christ spent nearly his whole life in his
Mother's immediate company, consenting to postpone for her sake
his Father's work of publishing his divinity and preaching his
Gospel. Hence he worked his first miracle at her request at the
wedding of Cana. Hence he inspired her to prophecy that all
generations would call her blessed. Hence, too, our Lord has
instilled into every Christian heart some little glow of his own
deep filial love for her.
In truth, brethren, whatever Christ's Mother is to him by nature,
that she is to us by adoption. Just in proportion to our union
with him are we bound to her. And if we wish to know him well we
can study in no better school than his Mother's. If we wish to
love him tenderly, her maternal heart can best teach us how. And
if we have favors to ask him we shall be glad, if we are not too
self-conceited, to secure her prayers to assist us.
-------------------
{373}
Sermon CXIII.
Gratitude.
My brethren, we have had a word to say before this about the vice
of ingratitude, and of how mean a vice it is, especially in a
Christian. Now let us consider the opposite virtue--gratitude. It
is, to be sure, one of the little virtues. Yet how can we call
any class of virtues little? No doubt there are, strictly
speaking, grades of merit very much higher one above the other.
But that is not so much from the action done in each case as from
the motive that inspires the action. One saves a man's life for
the love of money; another gives a glass of cold water for the
love of God. The glass of water is nothing compared to a human
life; yet the glass of water will be rewarded for all eternity,
and the saving of the human life is paid for as we pay for a load
of coal. Brethren, beware of thinking there is any thing to be
called little that has to do with God and eternal life; and
always bear in mind that, by practising little virtues with an
earnest purpose to please God, your merit is according to your
heart, and not according to your hand.
I do not intend to speak specially, just now, of gratitude to
God; but between man and man gratitude is one of those gentle
virtues that increase our fondness for each other. Gratitude is a
short cut to sincere and lasting friendship.
{374}
And if a supernatural motive inspires one's gratitude to his
friends, then a holy friendship is the result. Some people
complain that they have no friends. I think they are most to
blame themselves. Have they never had a favor done them? Why,
every one of us has had a score of favors done him every day of
his life. Those who bear it in mind, who say a word of hearty
thanks, who watch a chance to do a favor in return, never lack
friends. Brethren, never forget a favor. Return it if you can, at
least in part; but at any rate never forget it. Feel grateful at
least; say a thankful word; offer up a prayer for your
benefactors now and then. The best use we can make of our
memories is to remember our benefactors. Favors done and favors
gratefully remembered are the two halves of a happy life. It
would be only simple justice if we looked on gratitude as we do
on a just debt; for gratitude pays debts, first in good-will, and
before long in a more substantial manner. You know that an honest
debtor will always try to save a little from day to day to pay
his debts. So we can do a little from time to time by way of
instalments, so to speak; we can say a daily prayer for our
benefactors, write an occasional letter, pay a visit now and
then, often praise them to our friends.
Of course, those who have done us the greatest favors are
entitled to the deepest gratitude. Now, who has done so much for
us as our parents? Certainly, next to God, our parents stand
first in the list of our benefactors. Yet many, especially after
they have married and settled down in their own families, are
wanting in gratitude to their parents. Married persons who are
badly treated by their own children should sometimes ask
themselves if it be not in punishment for their forgetfulness of
their own parents.
{375}
Of course, when we are in middle life, what was done for us in
childhood seems very far away; it was diffused over many years;
it was a regular habit and course of life; it was bound up in our
parents own happiness. But let us bear in mind, all the same, how
true and deep the love that inspired it; how unwearied the
patience; how self-forgetful the devotion of our parents, and let
us seek every chance to make their last years happy.
Brethren, shall I say a word about gratitude due to us of the
sanctuary? Has not some priest done you a favor; converted you by
a sermon, inspired you to perseverance by his advice in the
confessional, soothed your sick and weary heart, or reconciled
you to a dreary burden? If so, you ought to pray for him, and
especially for your pastors.
But gratitude to God is, of course, the first and best of all.
From him we have received all, and, having forfeited every favor,
again and again received them back from the divine bounty.
-------------------
{376}
_Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost._
Epistle.
2 _Corinthians iii._ 4-9.
Brethren:
Such confidence we have, through Christ towards God. Not that
we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God. Who also hath made
us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but
in the Spirit. For the letter killeth; but the Spirit giveth
life. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters
upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his
countenance, which is done away: how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of
condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice
aboundeth in glory.
Gospel.
_St. Luke x_. 23-37.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples:
Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. For I
say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the
things that you see, and have not seen them: and to hear the
things that you hear, and have not heard them. And behold a
certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying: Master, what
must I do to possess eternal life? But he said to him: What is
written in the law? how readest thou? He answering, said: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind:
and thy neighbor as thyself." And he said to him: Thou hast
answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing
to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbor?
{377}
And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped
him, and having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead.
And it happened that a certain priest went down the same way,
and seeing him, he passed by. In like manner also a Levite,
when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a
certain Samaritan being on his journey came near him; and
seeing him was moved with compassion. And going up to him,
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him
upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the
host, and said: Take care of him: and whatsoever thou shalt
spend over and above, I at my return will repay thee. Which of
these three in thy opinion was neighbor to him that fell among
the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And
Jesus said to him: Go and do thou in like manner.
-------------------
Sermon CXIV.
The Good Samaritan.
_Go and do thou in like manner._
St. Luke x. 37.
How few of us, brethren, are really naturally of a
self-sacrificing disposition! How few actually enjoy, for
example, the offices of the sick-room, or so much as a little
visit of condolence to an afflicted friend!
{378}
That is why our Blessed Lord, in this day's Gospel, has given us
the beautiful parable of the good Samaritan. Although a heretic
and schismatic against the law of Moses, he is chosen as a model
because he had a tender, compassionate heart, and was willing to
put himself to trouble and expense for his neighbor's welfare.
The corporal works of mercy, brethren, are the easiest of the
ways to the love of God. People are fond of admiring the members
of religious orders, who, for the love of God, serve the sick and
the aged, the insane and the orphans; often forgetting that if
this is good as a life-work for them, it is not bad as an
occasional practise of virtue for us living in the world. All
around us there are shoulders bending under weary burdens and
hearts breaking with insupportable cares: yes, even in one's own
household. How often do men deny their wives the pleasure of
their company; when Sunday comes, going off with any chance
companions and leaving the poor mother to mind the children, to
miss Mass, and sit lonely at home the livelong day. How very
often do young men think of taking anybody's sisters to some
respectable place of amusement rather than their own sisters! I
think that if a spiritual thermometer were dipped into such men's
hearts they would be found pretty near the freezing point.
But, brethren, the sick-room--ah! that is the place on the road
between Jerusalem and Jericho where men and women are oftenest
found lying in the direst distress. Have you ever been very sick?
If so, you know the value of a little good nursing. A man who was
just recovering from a very dangerous sickness told me once that
when his head was burning with the fever he would willingly have
given a hundred thousand dollars for the cooling, restful relief
he enjoyed every time the nurse rearranged the pillows for him.
{379}
And if you cannot be a regular nurse for the sick, there is no
reason why you should not pay an occasional visit to the
sick-room. You can spend a pleasant quarter of an hour in
cheerful conversation. You can relieve some poor, weary watcher,
so that she or he may get a little rest. You can take the ailing
child from the worn-out mother's arms and let her lie down and
rest her stiffened limbs, or go to church to refresh her anxious
soul. You can bring some little delicacy to soothe the sick
person's palate. You can read some prayers beside the sick bed
morning or night; for we all know that in time of illness it is
almost impossible to pray one's self. You can lend a hand to set
things to rights, to cook a meal of victuals, or wash the dishes,
or run an errand to the drug-store or grocery; and ever and
always you can say a word of comfort, of hope, of resignation to
the divine will--words cheap to give but precious to receive.
And when at last death is come your presence may be of the
deepest comfort. Then is the time to come forward promptly and
help to lay out the Christian corpse; to set up for a night
beside that strange, silent guest in the coffin; and, when you
find two or three gathered about it, to have the courage to lead
in reciting the rosary for the soul's happy repose.
I know, brethren, that there are many kind hearts who zealously
practise these lovely virtues. But there are others, especially
among the men, who nearly quite forget them. And others still who
do them grudgingly, and only after many entreaties. To obtain a
kind act from an unwilling heart, and after encountering many
excuses, is like blowing a dying fire: before you see the bright
coals your face is pretty well covered with ashes and cinders.
{380}
Brethren, let us not be put to shame by the Samaritan. When
confronted with persons suffering from poverty, sickness, death,
or any misfortune, do like the Samaritan: forget all about their
nationality, or acquaintanceship, or religion. Say something or
do something in charity and for the love of God; your neighbor's
deepest gratitude and God's sure reward will amply repay you.
-------------------
Sermon CXV.
Our Neighbors.
_Which of these three, in thy opinion,
was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?
But He said, he that showed mercy to him._
--Gospel of the Day.
We are taught in the Gospel of today to love our neighbors as
ourselves. Now, if we have this love it shows itself in deeds.
If, when we see our neighbor in distress, we pass by, thinking
some one else may help him, but _we_ cannot, we are like the
proud priest and the Levite, not like the good Samaritan. Our
Lord, after describing the charity of this Samaritan, says: "Go
and do thou in like manner." We can not pass by our neighbor when
he is in extreme necessity without sin; and if his necessity be
great we must help him, at least out of our abundance. It is a
mistake to think that we are free of obligation in this matter.
St. John says: "He that hath the substance of this world and
shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from
him, how doth the charity of God abide in him?"
{381}
Are not all men creatures of God? Are not all men redeemed by the
Blood of Christ? Does God give more of this world's goods to one
man than to another because he loves one more than another? Not
at all. The poorest in this world's goods may be rich in God's
grace. It is plain, then, that if God has charity for all men, we
cannot have his grace if we do not exercise charity towards all,
and particularly our neighbor in distress. We must love those
whom God loves if we love God, and this love must be
_active_--"not in word nor in tongue," says St. John, "but
in deed and in truth."
We all pray to God for mercy; but if we would find mercy we must
show mercy. "Blessed are the merciful," says our Lord, "for they
shall obtain mercy." But, says St. James, "judgment without mercy
to him that hath not done mercy." Mercy shall be granted to the
merciful, but it shall be denied to the hard of heart. "Deal thy
bread to the hungry," says Isaias, "and bring the needy and the
harborless into thy house. Then thou shalt call and the Lord
shall hear."