all our hopes will be realized, and our love made perfect! O you
who thirst for human love! your desire is to love and be loved.
Love is the object of your life, the light of your hearts; but
know this: that no earthly love will ever bring you perfect
happiness; and if it should so happen that you should find a joy
in possessing some creature, tell me, how long will that joy
last? Not long, for God sends death, and He takes away the
objects of your love, the idol that you have placed between Him
and your soul.
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A mother finds the greatest joy in beholding the child to whom
she gave birth. It may be her first-born; she loves it, caresses
it; she spends days in caring for it, and, if at night she
awakes, the first thought is of that child: but some day death
comes in, and lays his icy hand on the life-strings of its tiny
heart, and severs the link that binds it to this life, and it is
no more. But the Christian mother willingly gives it up to God,
for she knows that in heaven she will again embrace that child.
It is the thought of heaven that brings her consolation. A friend
has found unspeakable joy in living with his companion, they were
boys together, they grew up together, they received the Holy
Sacraments together, and, just as they suppose their happiness to
be complete, death terminates the existence of one, and the other
is left alone to learn the lesson all men must, sooner or later,
learn--all persons, all things are perishable, and "the heart,"
as St. Augustine says, "is at unrest until it rests in God." No
matter what bereavement comes over the Christian, he is animated
with hope, and his joy speedily returns when he thinks of heaven
as a place where he will meet and recognize his loved ones. Here,
my dear brethren, we grow tired of the most costly and beautiful
objects. It is impossible for us to keep up our enthusiasm for a
long time, as we are creatures of change and chance.
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In heaven, we shall never grow tired; for, in beholding Almighty
God and all the glories of heaven, we shall be so entranced that
nothing will be able to distract us. In heaven, time will pass
away unnoticed, and its events will have no power to weary us.
There is a beautiful legend told of a Franciscan friar, which
will illustrate my meaning better. He thought that he would
become tired of heaven itself and its occupations; for by his
time of life he, too, had learned the secret that nothing in this
world can bring real, lasting happiness. So, one day, his
superior sent him out to gather fuel for the fire. As he was
picking up the wood, he heard a far sweeter warble than ever came
from the throat of a bird; but it was not a bird of the earthly
forest; it was some sweet strains of celestial music that he
heard. He must pause one moment to hear the end of the song
before making up his bundle of wood. So he stood still, and the
warbling went on, so full, so sweet, so rich, that he almost held
his breath in ecstasy. When it ceased, "How short it was!" he
said, then picked up the arm-load of sticks and returned to the
monastery. He rang the bell at the gate, but a brother came whom
he did not know. "Who are you that takes the place of Brother
John?" he inquired. "But rather who are you?" was the reply.
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"Ah, I am Brother Francis." "Brother Francis! There is no Brother
Francis." Then the oldest monk in the monastery was called, and
he tottered in on his cane, and told how, when he was a boy, he
had heard some old gray-haired monks tell that, long, long ago,
when they were young, Brother Francis had gone, one afternoon,
for wood, and never returned: killed doubtless by the wild
beasts. So they counted the years, and found that Brother Francis
had listened to the bird's song one hundred and fifty years, and
thought that too short. Now, if the sweet singing from the voice
of an angel could so entrance this holy man that he thought so
many years to be but a moment, how much more will our soul be
enraptured with the sight of heaven, with the song of the choir
of the redeemed, and by the vision of the Blessed Trinity! In
heaven, the heart will stand still, and in the fulness of its joy
remain transfixed for ever.
Then why is it that we give way under our sufferings, our daily
trials and crosses? Why do so many grow faint-hearted, and think
that there is no rest, no peace, for them? Why do people despair
of ever being happy? It is because they forget the very object
for which they were created. They lose sight of the eternal joy
and the unending happiness that God has prepared for those who
love Him.
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At Holy Mass, whether it be a festival, fast, or funeral, these
sublime words are sung by the sacrificing priest at the altar,
"__Sursum corda__"--"Lift up your hearts," and the faithful
answer, "__Habemus ad Dominum__"--"We have lifted them up to
the Lord." Now, these words are kept before our minds, on a
festival, to remind us of the eternal joys of heaven; on a
funeral, to call our attention to that home above where there is
no death, no parting, and where all tears are wiped away from the
eyes. Then let "__Sursum corda__" when it is sung this
morning, revive this thought of heaven in your hearts--you who
are sad, who are sick and poor, you who are in the midst of
severe temptations; and carry these words with you through the
week, and, whenever you are tempted to murmur against your lot,
"Lift up your hearts." Think of Paradise. We were made for
Paradise, and we ought always to remember how joyful the thought
of Paradise is to the Christian's heart. "O most happy mansion of
the city above! O most happy and bright day, that knows no night,
but is always enlightened by the Sovereign Truth! The citizens of
heaven know how joyful that day is; but the banished children of
Eve lament that this our day is bitter and tedious. Oh! that this
day would dawn upon us, and all temporal things would come to an
end!"
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Then, at this time, let us all look up, and be more vigilant in
the service of God while on earth. Let us so live here that our
lives may be a foretaste of heaven. Let the Church on earth be
the vestibule of heaven in which we wait patiently for the time
of our admission therein. Let us be faithful to the laws of God
and the Church: "Laying aside every weight and the sin that doth
so easily beset us, by patience let us run the race set before
us; looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who,
having the joy proposed to Him, underwent the cross, despising
the shame, and now sitteth down at the right hand of the throne
of God," [Footnote 93] to whom let us lift up our hearts, and
offer that beautiful prayer which the Holy Church is chanting
throughout the world on this Fourth Sunday after Easter: "O
Almighty God, who alone canst make the faithful to be of one
mind: grant that they may love those things which Thou dost
command and desire, those things which Thou dost promise, that so
among all the changes of this world their hearts may surely there
be fixed where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ
our Lord Amen."
[Footnote 93: Heb xii. i.]
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Sermon XVI.
The Clergy
The Teachers Of The People,
(For The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost.)
St. Matt. vii. 15.
"__Beware of false prophets,
who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.__"
By the word prophet is meant a teacher or leader of the people;
any one who sets himself up, or is commissioned by those in
authority, as an expounder of the sense of the Scriptures, or of
the principles of morality or of religion, so as to lead others
to adopt his opinions, and act according to his directions.
The office of prophet, or teacher, is the most important of all
in human society. For, if we are rightly taught and follow the
teaching, everything goes on harmoniously, and conduces to the
best result; the greatest amount of substantial happiness in this
world, and the securing of our immortal destiny in heaven. If we
are wrongly taught, our great blessings are turned into curses,
and our lives are failures, both for this world and the next.
{245}
And our Lord Jesus Christ took especial pains to provide for this
great need of ours. He selected His twelve Apostles, kept them
with Himself during all the time of His public ministry,
instructed them by word and example, and sent them out to teach
with this full and explicit commission, "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am
with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
[Footnote 94]
[Footnote 94: St. Mark xvi. 15 and St. Matt, xxviii. 20.]
If we desire to know them who are the true prophets, we have the
means of finding out: they are the lawful successors of the
Apostles, the priesthood of the Holy Church. And, on the other
hand, we have the means of determining who are the false prophets
or teachers: all those who are in opposition to this lawful body
of teachers, commissioned by God Himself to teach us.
The priesthood of the Holy Church, then, are our teachers in the
principles and practice of religion, and of morality, which is
embraced in religion. They are the ones to teach us our duty, in
all respects, as individuals, and as members of society; our
duties to ourselves, to our fellow-men, to our families, to the
government or state in which we live, as well as to God.
{246}
This is what many people do not seem to understand. They say, Let
the clergy confine themselves to their own sphere, to the
teaching of religion, and let other things alone. Why should they
meddle with questions of politics or government? Why should they
interfere with private or family affairs? Why should they say
anything about a man's business, or try to interfere with his
personal liberty to do this or that? Now, whence do these
objections arise? From the mistaken notion that religion deals
exclusively with the relations of the individual to his God, and
has nothing to do with society or government; that there is
divorce between politics and religion; that the law of God is
separable from human laws.
Nothing can be more untrue than this idea. The divine law is the
rule according to which all human laws must be conformed. These
laws derive all their authority and sanction from the divine
will. Religion cannot be divorced from politics, from government,
from legislature, from the family, from business, or from any of
the affairs of life. Wherever a moral question is involved in
politics, there religion is involved. Every Christian is bound to
carry the law of Christ into his politics.
{247}
Every voter is bound to vote for those who sustain this divine
law, and never for the opponents of it; and every legislator is
bound not to make any law which is in opposition to it.
And the authorized teachers of the divine law are the ones to
expound what the law is, and to lay down the duty of each one in
reference to it. They are to teach, and to insist upon the
observance of what Christ has taught them: in the state, the duty
of obedience to the civil authority, and the wickedness of
resisting it, in the lawful exercise of its power;--in the
family, the sacredness of the marriage-tie, in spite of any human
laws contrary to God's law, and the obligation of the religious
education of children;--to the individual, the sin of unlawful or
immoral combinations, and many other things which will readily
suggest themselves to any one who will reflect.
Those, then, who try to depreciate the influence of the clergy,
and to bring their teaching into contempt, or to set themselves
up as independent judges of the morality and right of all
questions relating to politics and society, are false prophets,
boasting of their liberty, appealing to pride, worshipping
themselves in place of God, and flattering the passions of
others. They are ravening wolves, destroying the spirit of
religion and the souls of men, and leading their victims to
anarchy, riot, and bloodshed.
{248}
Do not misapprehend my meaning. I do not mean that the clergy
should come down into the arena of party politics to advocate the
claims of this or that candidate for office, or convert the
Church into a political debating-room. Thank God, they have a
better idea of their sacred office than that. But where the
duties of the individual or the general interests of religion are
involved, they are bound to speak out, and they should be
listened to as the ambassadors of God.
"Let the clergy mind their own business," is sometimes said.
Well, and what is the business of the clergy? It is to seek the
salvation of souls. It is to keep the people, as far as possible,
from any violation of the commandments of God; from the
commission of sin, which leads to the destruction of souls. If
they can foresee that this or that course of action will involve
their people in sin, they are bound, disregarding all
self-interest or any worldly consideration, to raise their voice
in protest against it. If the people rush into any unlawful
combination, which, perhaps, involves loss of property or loss of
life, or, at any rate, is sinful and tends to the destruction of
the soul, then, whether the thing is popular or not, they are
bound, as far as they can, to set their face against this evil,
and warn the people to keep from it.
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If they do not do this, then they do not "mind their own
business." They are no better than the "hirelings who flee when
the wolf cometh."
But why are the clergy especially fitted to exercise this office
of prophet or teacher? Because, in the first place, they are, as
a class, men of education and thought. They have withdrawn from
other pursuits, and passed many years in study. They have had
particularly to study questions relating to morality; of right
and wrong; of the meaning of the law of God, and are better
fitted than any other class of men to give decisions on such
questions.
This is reason enough why the mass of the people, who have not
the time, the freedom from other occupations, the books, or the
habit of reasoning correctly, should defer with great respect to
the opinion of the clergy on any important question. It argues a
great want of humility--an antichristian and unreasonable pride,
when their opinion is treated with contempt and brought into
ridicule.
In the second place, they are disinterested parties, and are able
to decide, for the most part, free from prejudice. The only
prejudice they can have is, that God's law be observed and His
honor vindicated. They are a body of men independent, free from
family ties, and cares, and obligations; freed in an unusual
degree from what prejudices other men--the desire of heaping up
wealth. In short, they have every inducement to love right and
hate wrong.
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Thirdly, they are the fathers of their people. Having no wives or
children of their own, the people are their children. The term
"father" by which they are addressed is a true expression of the
feeling which the people have towards them, because they have a
truly parental affection for them. That priest must be a monster
who does not love his people, as a general thing so devoted and
affectionate to him. Our Saviour says, "The good shepherd will
lay down his life for his sheep." The Catholic people are the
flock of the priest; it is his business and his happiness to look
out for their interests; to advise them and warn them of dangers;
to go after them and bring them back when they go astray; and it
is only natural for them to look up to him for advice, for
counsel in doubt, for consolation in trouble. There is no sweeter
or more beautiful tie than that which binds the priest and people
together.
But lastly, and above all, the priest is the representative and
agent of Jesus Christ. This last reason includes and carries with
it all the others; they all grow out of it. Hear what St. Paul
says: "And some he gave to be apostles, and some prophets, and
some evangelists, and others pastors and teachers.
{251}
For the perfection of the saints, for the edification of the body
of Christ." [Footnote 95] All that relates to the building up or
edification of the faithful belongs to their sacred office. In
the direction of St. Paul to Titus, he tells him: "Admonish them
to be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word, to be
ready to every good work." [Footnote 96] And again: "These things
speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man
despise thee." [Footnote 97] Once more he says: "Let a man look
upon us as the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the
mysteries of God." [Footnote 98] And when our Lord sent out His
Apostles, He used these emphatic words: "He that heareth you
heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me."
[Footnote 95: Eph. iv. 11.]
[Footnote 96: Ep. Tit. iii. 1.]
[Footnote 97: Ep. Tit. ii. 15.]
[Footnote 98: I Cor. iv. 1.]
Who are the false prophets we have the most need to be warned
against at this present time? Not the professed teachers of
heresy, because they are too well known; their doctrine and their
principles have lost all attraction for Catholics. Their hatred
and opposition to the Holy Church and her doctrines is too
violent and untruthful to have any power of attraction for the
Catholic heart. I should say they are not wolves in sheep's
clothing, but rather wolves in their own skins. No, it is not
they.
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It is rather the irreligious, unprincipled newspapers which are
sowing the worst principles broadcast in the community, which are
ridiculing all that we hold most sacred, which make all religion
to consist in the present and laugh at the future world; which
are prating all the time about clerical influence, and extolling
a purely secular education; which are talking everlastingly about
progress and enlightenment, and this nineteenth century, and the
dark ages and superstitions; whose infernal doctrine may be
summed up in one sentence: "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for
to-morrow we die."
These are the false prophets who clothe themselves with sheep's
clothing, that is, with professions of liberty, enticements to
pleasure, and to the gain of worldly goods, as if there was no
hereafter, no responsibility, but each one was free to do as he
pleased.
And who are some of the other false prophets? They are leaders of
secret societies; interested persons who make a living out of
professions of patriotism and love of country; who live in
luxury--many of them, out of the hard earnings of the poor
laborer and the girls at service; who beguile the ignorant into
unlawful and forbidden ways, sinking them down deep in mortal
sin, and hindering them from getting out of it, because they
impose a distrust and dislike of the clergy and of the Church
which condemns them. Like the Pharisees, they "move heaven and
earth to make one proselyte, and, when they have made one, they
make him more a child of hell than themselves." Avoid them, for
they are truly "ravening wolves."
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And lastly, avoid another false prophet within yourself: the
spirit of pride and self-will. Without this, all the others I
have mentioned above would be powerless to hurt you. This is the
very evil one himself who stirs up within you every evil passion.
Be cautious, weigh well the thoughts of your hearts. Try them by
the standard of the Gospel and of the example of Jesus Christ,
and, if they cannot abide the test, no matter how fair an
appearance they have, abandon them.
Ah! if we would only stop to consider calmly what we are about;
if we would only utter one sincere prayer to God for guidance,
and to obtain a good-will, this false prophet of self-will would
be detected and driven out, and we would be quickly delivered
from destruction.
Finally, give good heed to the Scripture which says: "Obey your
prelates, and be subject to them, for they watch as being to give
an account of your souls, that they may do this with joy, and not
with grief."
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Obey the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope, the Head of the Church
and Father of the faithful. When he solemnly pronounces his
judgment as to the lawfulness or unlawfulness of anything, obey
as you would if you heard it from the lips of Christ Himself. It
is a fearful thing for any one to put himself in opposition to
Christ's Vicar and the Successor of St. Peter, to whom our Lord
gave the charge to feed both His sheep and His lambs.
Obey your Archbishop, who is more immediately placed over you. It
is his place to judge what is for the good of religion, and to
foresee the evils likely to arise at any time among ourselves.
Let those who disregard his admonition look well to it, lest they
implicate themselves in grievous sin, and in inflicting great
injury upon the religion of Christ. Such men are a scandal and
cause of ruin to the faithful, and our Lord has denounced the
anger of God upon those who are guilty of it.
Obey your priests, who will have to give an account of your
souls. Give no cause of offence or scandal in your parish, but
rather co-operate with your fellow-parishioners in the extension
of Christ's kingdom upon earth.
It is by this spirit of docility and obedience you will break
through all the snares of Satan, and be delivered from error.
Thus, walking in the clear light of truth, you will finally be
united to the Eternal Truth, God, the fountain of all joy,
forever.
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Sermon XVII.
Humility In Prayer.
(For The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost.)
St. Luke xviii. 13.
"__God, be merciful to me, a sinner.__"
One of the chief lessons our blessed Lord intended to teach us by
the parable told in to-day's Gospel is the necessity and power of
humble prayer. Let us see this, and try to draw some useful
thoughts from it.
The great positive precept of prayer goes hand in hand with a
man's salvation. Nothing can excuse the neglect of it, nothing is
promised except through it, and therefore one cannot hope for
anything without it. Yet it is not every spirit of prayer that is
of God. In spite of a professed total disregard for it by some,
nevertheless men have an instinctive faith in prayer. The
hardiest blasphemer and scoffer at religion will often be found
the first to pray when in imminent danger of death.
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He prays in fear. Others, with out any spirit of devotion, will
be found praying at stated times, like the Pharisee, because it
is a highly respectable thing to do, and keeps up their credit
and good character, who apparently regard prayer as a sort of
business transaction with God, the fulfilment of certain
conditions of barter with Providence, by which they may expect to
hold their own, and be further well rewarded. These pray in
pride. Others are full of themselves and their own desires.
__They__ wish to be happy, let others be as miserable as they
may. __They__ want no sickness, no accident, no reverse of
fortune, no contempt, no temptation, let God try other souls with
His chastening hand as He pleases. These pray in selfishness. And
yet all these are the first to complain that their prayer is not
heard and instantly answered. They become petulant over delay,
and utterly discouraged if their desires are not fulfilled.
__God's__ will is nothing to them. It is not "Thy will," but
"My will" be done. Listen, my brethren, to the true spirit of
prayer, the only kind of prayer which will infallibly be heard.
It is the prayer of those who pray in humility.
The very essence of prayer consists in the acknowledgment of
God's supreme dominion and government over us, and our complete
dependence upon Him as the source of all blessings, spiritual and
temporal. The better this is acknowledged by the soul, the more
perfect must be the prayer; and, if this be the spirit which
inspires only a few words of prayer, or even a silent aspiration
of the heart, then more is accomplished than if hours had been
consumed in the recitation of forms of prayer, where this high
and reverent thought of God is wanting.
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Now, this is also the fountain thought of humility: that God is
all in all to us, that it is He, and not we ourselves, who has
made us, and prospered us, and blessed us, and raised us up, and
obtained peace and forgiveness for our erring hearts; that He is
the Truth; that the true religion is His making, not what we may
fashion to ourselves. These are the thoughts to bring the heart
into a proper relation with God, the relation of an humble hope,
trust, and reverence for Him, and in this we need lose nothing of
a proper and just esteem for ourselves. It is the secret of the
making of great saints and heroes in religion (all of whom were
renowned for their humility), that a man is always the gainer by
just so much as he gives to God.