wasting. Then it will stand out before us in its true value; we
shall see that it should have been redeemed, and that it is now
irredeemable. And what is more, God, who gave it to us, will
require an account of it at our hands. He gave it to us for an
object; there is not a minute of it that he did not mean us to
turn to good use. And we can carry out his purpose if we only
will. Let us, then, beware of idleness; even our recreation and
rest should be such that we can feel that he would approve of
them, and that they will help us in our remaining hours to do the
work that he has required and expects us to do. To kill time--let
this be a word unheard among us; to kill time is to trample down
the seed of eternal life and to invite death to our souls.
-------------------
{461}
_Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost._
Epistle.
_Ephesians vi._ 10-17.
Brethren:
Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put
you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against
the snares of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh
and blood: but against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of
wickedness in the high places. Wherefore take unto you the
armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day,
and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of justice: and your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace: in all things taking the shield of faith,
wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of
the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation;
and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xviii._ 23-35.
At that time Jesus spoke to his disciples this parable:
The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who would take an
account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the
account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand
talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord
commanded that, he should be sold, and his wife and children,
and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant,
falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and
I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant being moved
with compassion, let him go, and forgave him the debt.
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But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his
fellow-servants that owed him a hundred pence; and laying hold
of him, he throttled him, saying: Pay what thou, owest. And his
fellow-servant, falling down, besought him, saying: Have
patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not:
but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Now his fellow-servants, seeing what was done, were very much
grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done.
Then his lord called him, and said to him: Thou wicked servant!
I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me:
shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy
fellow-servant, even as I had compassion on thee? And his lord
being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he should pay
all the debt. So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if
you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
-------------------
Sermon CXLI.
Forgiveness Of Injuries.
_Shouldst not thou then have had compassion
on thy fellow-servant,
even as I had compassion on thee?_
--St. Matthew, xviii. 33
These words of to-day's Gospel are spoken by our Lord to every
one who has been wanting in charity to his neighbor. Each one of
us, as a servant of God, as a steward of the gifts, both temporal
and spiritual, which he has entrusted to us that we may use them
for the furtherance of his honor and glory, is a heavy debtor to
the divine justice. But his mercy and love are always ready to
temper his justice, if only we show the proper dispositions, if
only we bend our rebellious wills to the condition he requires of
us, without which it is impossible for us to obtain forgiveness.
{463}
This condition is found in the oft-repeated but little thought of
petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those that trespass against us." The servant in the
parable received forgiveness from his lord for the sum of ten
thousand talents (a very large sum of money), yet he was
unmerciful to his fellow-servant, who owed him a hundred pence.
The difference between these sums is by no means so great as the
difference between our offences against Almighty God and those of
our brethren against us. If we could only realize who it is that
we have offended, and then reflect as well upon our ingratitude
in offending him, as upon the innumerable benefits he has
showered upon us, we might form some faint idea of the gravity of
our sin, and of the immense debt that we owe to his justice. We
could not then refuse forgiveness to our neighbor for the
trifling, and perhaps merely fancied, injuries that we may have
suffered from him. "With what measure you shall mete, it shall be
measured to you again." "If you forgive not every one his brother
from your hearts," you cannot hope for pardon from God.
How, then, can we best practise this forgiveness which is so
necessary for us? In the first place, it must be earnest and
sincere forgiveness. It must be "from your hearts," as our Lord
says. No mere outward show of forgiveness will be enough, for God
sees the heart, and no appearances will satisfy him. But, on the
other hand, the forgiveness will not be real and earnest unless
it be shown outwardly. Many profess their willingness to forgive
who yet show resentment and a spirit of revenge in many little
ways, by looks, words, and actions which prove that there is no
real forgiveness in the heart.
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Then again we find persons who, when they are urged to forgive
some wrong, answer: "Well, father, I suppose I must forgive, if
you tell me so." It is plain that this is but a very unwilling
and faint-hearted forgiveness, which, will not answer before God.
Why will not the generosity of God towards us lead us to show a
like spirit towards our brethren?
We should strive to forgive offences the moment they are
committed against us. Our natural impulse when any insult is
offered to us is to resent it at once, and pay back in the same
coin. How different is this from the example set us by our Lord,
"Who, when he was reviled, did not revile; when he suffered, he
threatened not." We should check the first uprisings of
resentment, and keep back the angry reply, in imitation of our
Blessed Lord's silence before his accusers and tormentors. By the
practice of this Christian silence many a feud of long
continuance would be prevented.
We must also "lay aside all malice," and be ready, when an injury
has been done, to be reconciled with our offending brother. This
is often very hard for us to do, and very repugnant to our
natural inclinations, but it is, nevertheless, absolutely
necessary. If we bear malice towards any one, we are not worthy
of the name of Christians, or followers of Christ.
Try, then, to put in practice the teaching of this day's Gospel,
and forgive from your heart those who have offended you, showing
your forgiveness by your words and acts. There is nothing more
scandalous and injurious to the Christian name than constant
quarrels and long-continued animosities between those who go
regularly to the sacraments. Follow, then, the injunction of St.
Paul: "Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and
clamor, and blasphemy be taken away from you, with all malice.
And be ye kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another,
even as God has forgiven you in Christ."
-------------------
{465}
Sermon CXLII.
Gossiping.
_Laying hold of him he throttled him, saying:
Pay me what thou owest._
--Words Taken From To-day's Gospel.
The Gospel of this Sunday, my dear brethren, inculcates in the
strongest possible way the distinctively Christian virtue of
brotherly love--the duty, that is, of cherishing a spirit of
charity and consideration for other men, and especially of
forgiving any injuries which they may have done us. This
obligation is, however, so clearly and frequently and earnestly
enforced in the New Testament, and from our earliest days has
been brought home to us in so many ways, that at first sight it
might seem that I could do something better this morning than to
go back to such an old and familiar subject. And yet, old and
familiar as it is, every-day life affords so many proofs that we
do not carry our knowledge into practice that I am sure that nine
in every ten, perhaps ninety-nine in every hundred, stand in need
of being reminded of this old and familiar though badly learned
lesson.
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For of what is the every-day talk of most women and a great
number of men made up, if not of ill-natured criticism and
depreciation of their acquaintances, neighbors, and even friends?
In the words of St. Paul, are we not continually biting and
devouring one another? Are not the newspapers filled with stories
which pander to this uncharitable spirit? What, in short, is more
common than detraction, and even slander? Yet even these evils,
grave and deadly as they are, are but small compared with other
manifestations of this same uncharitable spirit. Why, I have been
told of people who have worked side by side in the same
work-shop, attended the same church, even knelt at the same
altar-rail, and yet, for some trifling cause or other, have
refused to speak to one another for years! What trouble priests
have with people who come to confession to them! Sometimes the
very most they can get is a vague, half-hearted expression of
forgiveness, but on no account can they in some cases induce
their penitents to extend to one another that which is due to
every man, be he Jew or Turk, Catholic or Protestant--the
ordinary salutations which civility requires.
Now, that all this is wrong is evident. Not one of us is so blind
as not to be able to see that. But what the Gospel to-day points
out, and what I wish to present to your serious consideration
this morning, is the very unpleasant consequences which will
infallibly follow upon such conduct. We know the story very well.
A slave is in debt to his master for a very large amount--an
amount which, while quite willing, he is utterly unable to pay.
His master releases him from this debt. Whereupon this fine
fellow, meeting a brother-slave who owed him a paltry sum,
accosts him in the brutal manner mentioned in the text, demands
immediate payment of the money, and, not withstanding the
debtor's entreaties and his willingness to make it good as soon
as possible, locks him up in prison until the amount is
forthcoming.
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Thereupon his conduct is brought to the knowledge of their
master. He at once summons the wicked slave before him and
"delivers him to the torturers until he pays all the debt." Then
our Lord says, and I ask for your serious attention to his words:
"So also shall my Heavenly Father do to you if you forgive not
every one his brother from your hearts."
Of course, it is unnecessary to point out how strictly this
applies to us. Many other texts might be cited from the Gospels
to the same effect. One only I will mention, and that is, that we
cannot say an "Our Father" without making the very forgiveness of
our sins, which we ask for, dependent upon our forgiveness of the
faults of others. We must forgive if we wish to be forgiven, and
this forgiveness must be from the heart; no mere form of words,
sufficient to satisfy men, but it must be a forgiveness sincere
and genuine, such as to satisfy God, the searcher of hearts,
before whom we must appear to give an account of our whole life.
-------------------
Sermon CXLIII.
Mixed Marriages.
I wish to give a short instruction on the Sacrament of Matrimony
this morning.
{468}
If a marriage with a merely nominal Catholic be fraught with
dangerous consequences, and be the cause of much disturbance and
anxiety to one who wishes to be a Christian in deed as well as in
name--and that it is so I think all will agree--what shall we say
of a mixed marriage, as it is called--of the union of a Catholic
with one who holds religious views opposed to the faith of the
church, or who, perhaps, has no belief or religion at all? How
can any true harmony or peace be expected when there is
discordance in the matter of religion, which lies nearest to the
heart, and is more thoroughly interwoven in all the ideas,
opinions, feelings, and practices of a practical Catholic than
any other whatever?
Sympathy, union of interests and desires, of plans, hopes, and
efforts, must exist in all true friendship; nay, more, without it
association or companionship of any kind soon becomes a burden.
There is no remedy for this except by dropping or putting in the
back ground those aspirations and affections which are not shared
by the other party. And what is true of all friendship is, of
course, true above all of that which should be the highest,
nearest, and dearest of all friendships--namely, that of
marriage. The only way for a Catholic to be at all happy in a
mixed marriage is to put religion in the background; to regard
it, as, unfortunately, too many do, as a matter of very little
importance; as something to be professed, indeed, and
occasionally practised, but which is to have no special influence
on the general course and tenor of one's life.
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How can a Catholic wife, for instance, who is earnest about her
religion be really happy with a husband who cannot attach any
importance to, or see any sense in, her practices of devotion; to
whom holy Mass, Benediction, the sacraments, the veneration of
the saints and angels, and many other things which are her great
helps and consolations in life, are mere idle mummeries and
superstitions; who looks contemptuously on her observance of
Lent, of Fridays, and fast days; who considers all the teachings
and laws of the church an imposition and a fraud, to be done away
with as far as possible; who, in short, either looks forward to
nothing at all beyond this life, or, if he hopes for heaven, has
a different one from hers, and seeks for it in a different way?
The only plan that can be followed to secure even a seeming peace
and agreement is to bring down the Catholic religion to its
lowest level, to make out that it is not so very different from
Protestantism after all; to be content with Mass on Sundays; to
eat meat on Fridays whenever it is more convenient; to let the
pope and the church generally get on as best they can, and to say
no more about them than can be helped. Yes, this mixture even in
the Catholic party of Catholic and Protestant is only too likely
to be the result of a mixed marriage.
I know that it may be said, and with truth, that Protestants are
not always prejudiced against our religion; that sometimes a
Protestant husband is not only willing but anxious that his
Catholic wife should attend thoroughly to her religious duties;
and we find cases of Protestant wives even becoming Catholics,
mainly, as it would seem, to induce by their example a more
faithful practice of religion in their Catholic husbands. But
these are results which we have no right to expect--no, not even
if they are promised beforehand. And too often we find a state of
things in a mixed marriage much worse than what I have described.
{470}
We find, in spite of the most solemn promises made beforehand, a
bitter and shameless persecution; Mass and the sacraments
forbidden; children denied not only Catholic instruction, but
even the grace of baptism; the priest not allowed in the house
even in time of sickness, and nearly all hope gone of receiving
the last rites of the church at the hour of death. We do not wish
to blame the Protestant party too much in these cases; he may be
acting according to his conscience, but such a conscience, though
perhaps good enough for him, is not one which a Catholic should
run the risk of being governed by.
-------------------
{471}
_Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost._
Epistle.
_Philippians i._ 6-11.
Brethren:
We are confident of this very thing, that he, who hath begun a
good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus.
As it is meet for me to think this for you all: because I have
you in my heart; and that in my bonds, and in the defence, and
confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my joy.
For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels
of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your charity may more
and more abound in knowledge, and in all understanding: that
you may approve the better things, that you may be sincere and
without offence unto the day of Christ. Replenished with the
fruit of justice through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
praise of God.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xxii._ 15-21.
At that time:
The Pharisees going away, consulted among themselves how to
ensnare Jesus in his speech. And they sent to him their
disciples with the Herodians, saying: Master, we know that thou
art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest thou for any man; for thou dost not regard the
person of men. Tell us, therefore, what dost thou think, Is it
lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? But Jesus, knowing
their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, ye hypocrites?
Show me the coin of the tribute. And they offered him a penny.
And Jesus saith to them: Whose image and inscription is this?
They say unto him: Cæsar's. Then he saith to them: Render,
therefore, to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the
things that are God's.
-------------------
{472}
Sermon CXLIV.
Obedience To The Civil Authorities.
_Render therefore to Cæsar
the things that are Cæsar's,
and to God the things that are God's._
--Matthew xxii. 21
Our Lord made this reply, my dear brethren, to the question of
some who asked him whether it was lawful to give tribute to
Caesar or not; or, in other words, whether it was right to pay
taxes to support the government of the Roman Empire, to which the
Jews were then subjected, and which was a pagan, and in many ways
an impious and ungodly power. They hoped that he would say that
it was not; for if he did, they would have a very good charge to
make against him before the Roman governor, as one who was a
rebel and a disobeyer of the laws; and could thus bring about his
ruin, which they earnestly desired. Now, if it really had been
wrong to pay these taxes Christ would of course have said so;
for, as they had said to him in truth, though they meant it as
flattery, he was a true speaker, and would not betray the truth
to please any man or to escape any danger. But instead of
answering in this way, as they hoped, he surprised them by saying
that they ought to pay the taxes which were imposed on them; he
commanded them to obey the power, hateful in many ways as it was,
whose subjects they were.
We must, therefore, conclude that the power of the state, or the
law of the land as it is called, has a real claim in the name of
God and of Christ to our obedience. For if our Lord required
those who heard him to obey the Roman authorities, he would also
require us to obey the duly constituted authorities under which
we live at any time. For the cruel and persecuting pagan empire
of Rome was surely no more worthy of respect and obedience than
any other under which our lot is like to be cast.
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And if we could have any doubt as to our duty in conscience on
this point, St. Paul confirms this lesson most emphatically.
"There is no power," he says, "but from God; and those that are,
are ordained of God. ... And they that resist purchase to
themselves damnation. ... Wherefore be subject of necessity, not
only for wrath" (that is, for fear of the consequences) "but also
for conscience sake." And coming to the very matter of which our
Lord has spoken, he proceeds: "Render, therefore, to all men
their dues. Tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom
custom."
We see then clearly, my brethren, that the laws of the land bind
us in conscience. And we do not by any means need to go back to
apostolic times to find instruction to this effect. The
successors of St. Peter, and those teaching in union with them,
have always insisted on this duty of obedience to the civil power
very strongly. Only last year, for instance, our Holy Father,
Pope Leo XIII., has, in an encyclical letter, taught it to us
very clearly. "The church," he says, "rightly teaches that the
power of the state comes from God." And he tells us that,
whatever the form of government may be--that is, whether the
rulers are chosen by the people or not--it is not simply from
the people that their right to rule and to be obeyed comes; the
people in an elective government do not make the power, although
they designate the person or persons in whom the power of God is
to rest.
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Of course no one denies that the civil power may, in particular
cases, forfeit its claim to our obedience by requiring of us
things manifestly unjust or plainly contrary to the law of God or
of the church; as, for instance, if it should require us to
attend Protestant worship, or should forbid us to make our Easter
duty. But such cases are very rare, at least here in this
country. We shall know easily enough when they arise. There is
little fear, as things now are, of too great respect for law
among us; the danger, rather, is of our regarding laws as the
mere decisions of a majority, to which we have to submit as far
as we cannot help it, and because we cannot help it, but to which
we owe no interior reverence, and by breaking which we commit no
sin. Whereas the truth is that we do sin by breaking any law of
the land which is not manifestly unjust or contrary to the rights
of God and the obedience we owe to him.
Remember, then, my brethren, to render to Cæsar the things that
are Cæsar's. The President, Congress, our governors and
legislatures, and the other powers that be are really God's
vicegerents, though not in so high an order as the spiritual;
still in their own place they truly act in God's name. Find out
and consider what they require; confess and amend any disregard
or disrespect for their laws, unless you wish to be guilty of
contempt and disobedience to him from whom all law comes.
-------------------
{475}
Sermon CXLV.
Thanksgiving Day.
_Giving thanks to God the Father._
--Colossians i. 12.
This week, as you know, my brethren, a day has been appointed by
the civil authorities, according to long-established custom,
which we are invited to devote specially to thanksgiving for the
many blessings which we have received from God during the year.
And though the observance of this day is not an ecclesiastical
obligation, yet there is a singular appropriateness in it for us
on account of its falling just at the close of the year which the
church celebrates. At this time, when we have completed the round
of the mysteries of our faith, and are about to recommence it in
the season of Advent, it must naturally occur to us to look back
and thank God, not only for all his temporal benefits, but also
and especially for the spiritual blessings which he has given us,
and which we have just finished commemorating.
Even in the temporal order, however, we have abundant cause to be
grateful to God. True, we have had our trials and sufferings,
some more, some less; though even these we can perhaps even now
see, and shall see more clearly hereafter, to have been blessings
in disguise. But we have had much happiness and comfort in spite
of these trials. Surely we ought not to pass this by unnoticed.
But this is just what we are too likely to do. Somehow or other,
we are all apt to take things when they go right as a matter of
course, and only to notice them when they go wrong. When we are
sick we complain and make a great fuss, and perhaps are not
satisfied unless we can make everybody else unhappy as well as
ourselves; but when we are well, that is just as it should be: no
thanks to anybody for that.
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No thanks to God, whose loving care and providence are necessary,
and are given to us at each moment of our lives, and who is
continually warding off from us a thousand dangers to which we
are exposed, often through our own fault; no thanks to him whose
angels watch over us to keep us in all our ways. By our ignorance
and imprudence we are frequently endangering this wondrous life
which he has given us; with all the science in the world, we do
not understand it and could not direct it; it is he who causes
our breath to come, our hearts to beat, and our blood to flow in
our veins.