tempting God. It is to try and see if he will not do some
extraordinary thing for us which there is no need for him to do;
to presume on his mercy and providence.
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That is what the Latin word means from which our word "tempt"
comes. It means to try, to make an experiment. That, in fact, is
the real meaning of our word "to tempt." When the devil tempts us
he is trying us, to see how far our love of God will go; he is
making an experiment to find out the strength of our souls. God
does not let him try all the experiments he would like to.
He has no right to try us in this way; but God lets him do it for
our own good. But God does not allow us to be trying any
experiments on his mercy and goodness. He does not allow us to
depend upon it, except when we know that we have a right to do
so.
And yet that is what people, and even Christians, are doing all
the time. Perhaps you do not know how; but you ought to know, and
I will tell you.
A man tempts God when he puts himself, without necessity, into an
occasion of sin. He knows, or ought to know, that he cannot
depend on God's grace to keep him from sin in such a case. He
knows that God may indeed help him through, so that he will not
sin, and perhaps that he has done so before; but he knows, or
ought to know, that God has not promised him such a grace, and
that it will be nothing surprising if he does not give it to him.
Such is the case of the drunkard who has some sort of a desire to
reform his life, and who goes into a liquor-store. He ought to
know that he must have God's grace if he is to avoid getting
drunk; and so he tries God, to see if he will give him that
grace. But there is no need for him to make the experiment, for
he could avoid it by simply keeping outside; and that is what God
will certainly give him the grace to do, if he prays and is in
earnest.
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Let such a man remember, before he goes near the place, those
words: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Such is the case, too, of young men or women who trust themselves
in company of one with whom they have often acted immodestly
before. They may pretend to have great sorrow for these past
sins, but it is false; they may deceive themselves or their
confessors, but not Almighty God, who reads their hearts. No one
is truly sorry for his sins when he continues in the great sin of
tempting God.
I will tell you of some other people who tempt God. They are
those who remain quietly in mortal sin, day after day, week after
week, month after month. They say to themselves: "God is good; he
will give me time to repent." God may well say to such a one:
"Thou fool, who has told thee that? This very night I will
require thy soul of thee." He has a right to do it; and you have
no right to expect another day of him. When you do so you are
trying his patience; you are making an experiment on his mercy.
This present moment is all you have a right to depend on. And yet
you will sleep night after night in sin, forgetting that, if God
should treat you justly, the morning would find you dead;
forgetting that your whole life is nothing but a long temptation
of God.
-------------------
Sermon XLII.
_Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God._
--St. Matthew iv. 4.
One of the greatest, if not _the_ greatest, of the defects
of the present time is an inordinate care for temporal and
material things.
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How shall we live? what shall we eat? wherewithal shall we be
clothed?--these are the questions which men are all too much
exercised about at the present day. We see persons who rise, and
cause their children to rise, at a very early hour, and from that
time till late at night they are working and toiling. We see men
of the world who really injure their health, and perhaps shorten
their days, by their close and unflagging attention to business.
Why do people act thus? All for the sake of the bread that
perisheth, all in order to heap up a few dollars which at best
they can keep but for a few years. So great has this thirst for
money-making become that we see it even in our young boys. They
don't want to stay at school; they don't want to store up
learning; by the time they are fourteen or a little older (having
nothing in their heads but reading, writing, and a little
confused arithmetic) they want to be off to the store, the
workshop, or the factory. Why? Because they want to join as soon
as possible in the wild-goose chase after the goods of the world.
Now, all these classes of persons have to learn "that man liveth
not by bread alone." My dear friends, besides that poor body
which you work so hard to feed, to clothe, and to please, you
have an immortal soul. Body and soul united form what we call
man. So, then, you must not act as if you were all body. You
cannot do so without peril to your soul. Suppose you were to try
an experiment of this kind. You say to yourself: "I will eat
nothing; I will have prayers for breakfast, confession for lunch,
prayers and devotions for dinner, and meditation on death for
supper." Then you try it for a week.
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What an elegant skeleton you would make for a museum at the end
of that time! Yet people treat their souls just in that way.
Instead of refreshing it with prayers and devotions, etc., they
give it clothes, meat and drink, calculations of stock,
calculations of profits, cares of this world, etc., and thus the
soul is starved just as the body would be by improper food. So
then, dear brethren, don't try "to live by bread alone." You
can't do it. Try also to live "by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God"--that is to say, by doing those things
which, either by his church or by the interior inspirations of
his grace, he wishes you to do. Are you in business, or at work?
Very well; take care of your affairs prudently, work faithfully,
but remember this is not all. You must also find time to pray,
find time for confession and the hearing of holy Mass. Don't
leave piety to priests, religious women, and children, but let
the men also be seen in the church and at the altar-rail. It is a
custom in some places that the men should sit on one side of the
church and the women on the other. Don't you think if we tried
that plan that the numbers on the men's side would often be
rather slim? Why? Because they are out in the world trying to
live by "bread alone." O my dear friends! why care so much for
the goods of this world? Why lay up so much treasure where rust
and moth destroy, and where thieves break through and steal? We
cannot take a cent with us when we go, and our poor body, even
_that_ which we have pampered so much, must decay and return
to dust. Let us, then, this morning make a good resolution, that
when the devil comes and tempts us to give ourselves up too much
to thoughts about our food, our raiment, and our temporal
affairs, we will repulse him with these words: "It is written,
'Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.'"
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
------------------------
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Sermon XLIII.
_Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert,
to be tempted by the devil._
--St. Matthew iv. 1.
Do you know what the word "tempt" means, my brethren? I have no
doubt that you know what it is to be tempted. You know that, as
St. James says, "every man is tempted, being drawn away, by his
own concupiscence, and allured." You yourselves have often been
tempted; your concupiscence--that is, your sinful passions of one
kind or another--have often tempted you, allured you, enticed you
away from the law of God.
But the word "to tempt" does not mean "to allure" or "to entice."
It means "to try." To tempt any one is to try him to see what
sort of stuff he is made of; that's the real meaning of the
word--just as a gun, for instance, is tried by putting in an
overcharge to see if it will burst, though I would not advise any
of you to tempt a gun in that way. It is not a very safe
experiment.
That is the kind of experiment, though, that the devil is always
trying on us. He is not afraid of accidents. If an accident does
happen it will not hurt him. It is just what he wants. So he
tries us in various ways to find where our weak point is; for he
cannot tell without trying.
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When he succeeds, when we break down under his temptations, he
says to himself: "That's good. I hit the right spot that time,
I'll try that again." For you see we are not like guns: we can be
burst more than once.
Now, the Gospel tells us that our Lord himself was led into the
desert to be tempted by the devil; that is, to have the devil
experiment on him. This seems strange. What use was it to try
him? Did not the devil know that he was God and could not sin?
No, my brethren, it is probable that he did not. If he had he
would not have wasted his time in a temptation which would be of
no use. But why did not our Lord let him know it? It was because,
being man as well as God, he chose to be tempted or tried like
the rest of us: first, that he might set us an example in
resisting temptation; and, secondly, that he might merit for us a
grace which should make it easy to do so. So he was led into the
desert, for our sakes, by his own Spirit--by the Holy Spirit of
God.
He has set us the example and merited for us the grace; and,
thanks to what he has done for us, it is easy for us to resist
temptation. But you do not believe it, that is the trouble.
Some of you think it is impossible to resist temptation. You say,
to excuse your sin, "I could not help it." Now, that is simply a
lie; or, rather, it is more: it is a blasphemy against God. It is
as much as to say, "God did not give me the grace to resist
temptation," and thus to make him a partaker in your sins.
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You can help it. When our Lord drove away the devil, as the
Gospel to-day tells us, he made it easy for us to do the same.
And it is a great shame not to do it. What a disgrace to God, and
what a laughing-stock to the devil, is a man or a woman who
breaks down every time he or she is tried! Yet I am afraid there
are plenty of such.
God does not tempt you. St. James tells us that. He has no need
to, for he knows what you are made of. But he lets the devil do
it, that you may merit by resisting; and he does not let you have
any more temptation than you can bear. Remember that, then, the
next time you are tempted. Say to yourself: "I have got strength
enough to resist this with the help of God. I'll turn the laugh
on the devil, instead of his having it on me. I'll show him he
was a fool to try to tempt me. I'll let him see that he hit the
wrong spot instead of the right one; in fact, that there isn't
any right spot to hit. Here's a chance for me to get some merit,
and to show that I am good for something; that I am of some use
after all the labor that my Maker has spent on me."
Say this in the name of God and in the strength which he gives
you, and you will be surprised to see how the devil will run
away. No doubt he will try you again, but if you persevere he
will give it up as a bad job at last, and you will enter heaven
with the reward the Lord wishes to give you--that is, a great
stock of merit instead of sin from the temptations which you have
had.
---------------------------
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_Second Sunday of Lent._
Epistle.
1 _Thessalonians iv_. 1-7.
Brethren:
We pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have
received from us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so
also you would walk, that you may abound the more. For you know
what commandments I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For
this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should
abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how
to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the
passion of lust, like the Gentiles who know not God: and that
no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business: because
the Lord is the avenger of all such things, as we have told you
before, and have testified. For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto sanctification in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xvii_. 1-9.
At that time:
Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. And he was
transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun:
and his garments became white as snow. And behold, there
appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. And Peter
answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here:
if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee,
and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet
speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold,
a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.
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And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very
much afraid, and Jesus came and touched them, and said to them:
Arise, and be not afraid. And when they lifted up their eyes
they saw no man, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no
man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
-----------------------
Sermon XLIV.
_And he was transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun:
and his garments became white as snow. ...
Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them.
And behold! a voice out of the cloud, saying:
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. _
--St. Matthew xvii. 2, 5.
I think, brethren, one can hardly read the above account of the
Transfiguration of our dear Lord without having suggested to our
minds one of the most beautiful of the many services of the
Catholic Church. I mean the rite of Benediction of the Blessed
Sacrament. We ourselves are the three disciples. The mountain up
into which our Lord brings us is the holy altar. His face,
shining as the sun, is represented to us by the bright lights
that cluster round his throne, and by the refulgence of the rays
of the monstrance which contains him. Then his garments are
indeed as white as snow; for he veils his divinity under the form
of the purest wheaten bread, and hides himself beneath its
appearances as though he should wrap his sacred Body in pure
white raiment. Then the bright cloud is the floating incense, and
the voice out of the cloud the tinkling bell, which seems to say
to us as Jesus is held aloft and as we bend low in adoration:
"This is God's beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased."
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So then, the Gospel for to-day naturally suggests to our minds a
few reflections on this great devotion of the church--Benediction
of the Blessed Sacrament. Now, a great many persons seem to think
that Benediction is only "tacked on," as it were, to the office
of Vespers. This idea is all wrong. To be sure. Benediction is
often given directly after Vespers, but it is an entirely
separate and distinct service. Vespers end with the Antiphon of
the Blessed Virgin; Benediction begins when the Holy Sacrament is
taken from the tabernacle and placed in the costly metal frame
called the monstrance, or ostensorium. So, then, Benediction is
not part of Vespers, or of any function which may precede it; and
I want to make this very clear, because I think the false notion
that it is merely something supplementary is a reason why so many
people neglect it. What, then, is Benediction? It is the solemn
exposition of the same Jesus whose face shone so bright on
Thabor. He stays there upon the altar for a little while, that we
may kneel before him, adore him, praise him. Then he is lifted up
in the hands of his priest, and he gives us his blessing.
Remember, it is not the priest who blesses you at Benediction; it
is Jesus himself who does so. Now, it is very true, dear friends,
that people are not _bound_ to come to Benediction; yet
surely, if each one realized what a blessed thing Benediction is,
no one who could come would stay away. Jesus is there on the
altar. He is waiting to hear your prayers, waiting to receive
your acts of love and adoration, waiting to bless you. Oh! then
come often to Benediction. Do not say, "There is nothing but
Vespers this afternoon"; remember there is something more
--Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
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There is a day fast approaching on which the Holy Sacrament will
be carried in procession, and then placed in the most solemn
manner in the repository. I mean Maundy Thursday. Now, that is
also an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and, although Jesus
is not held aloft by the priest as at ordinary Benedictions, who
can doubt but that Jesus blesses us as he passes by? I pray you,
then, when that day arrives to remember who it is who comes to
you. Let us see the church full, not of gazers at the lights and
flowers, but of faithful worshippers of their King and God. If
you go from church to church on that day don't go to peer, don't
go to see, but to to pray. So when the devotion of the Forty
Hours is announced in your church--that devotion which is the
most solemn of all the expositions and benedictions through the
year--be devout; spend at least an hour in the day before the
Lamb of God. Remember that the Holy Sacrament is Jesus
Christ--the very same who was born in Bethlehem and died on
Calvary. Lastly, come to Benediction always with a living faith
and a burning love. Never let your place be vacant, if you can
help it, when you know it is to be given. Set a great store by
it. In the words of a living preacher: "Night by night the Son of
God comes forth to you in his white raiment, wearing his golden
crown; night by night his sweet voice is heard, and he looks for
you with a wistful gaze; do not turn away from such blessedness
as this; do not refuse to listen to his pleading words; do not
let your places be empty before the altar when Jesus comes."
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
-----------------------
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Sermon XLV.
_And that no man over-reach,
nor deceive his brother in business;
because the Lord is the avenger of all such things._
--1 Thessalonians iv. 6.
These words are from the Epistle of to-day, my dear brethren, and
are certainly suggestive, or at least should be so, at this
season which the church has assigned as a time for examination of
conscience and repentance for sin.
The sin which St. Paul warns us against goes, when it is
practised in other ways, by worse names than the one which he
gives it here. A man meets you on a lonely road and takes your
money forcibly from you; what do you call it? You call it
robbery. A man enters your house at dead of night and carries off
your property; what do you call it? You call it burglary. A man
picks your pocket on the street; what do you call it? You call it
theft. Well, it is all one and the same thing. All these are
various ways of breaking the Seventh Commandment; and what is
that? _Thou shalt not steal._
And what is it to deceive or over-reach some one else in
business? It is just the same thing as these; it is the breaking
of this same commandment; it is stealing, just as much as
robbery, burglary, and theft are, only it does not go by so bad a
name, and is not so likely to be punished by the laws of the
land. And what do I mean by this over-reaching or deceiving? I
mean selling goods under false pretences for more than they are
really worth; using false weights or measures; evading in one way
and another the payment of one's just debts; taking advantage of
one's neighbor's difficulties to make an undue profit for one's
self; in short, all the many ways in which men turn a dishonest
penny or dollar; in which they get rich by trickery and
injustice.
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All these are stealing, just as bad and a great deal more
dishonorable than robbery, burglary, or theft, because not
attended with so much risk to the person who is guilty of them.
Now, it seems to me that this sin of cheating--for that is the
bad name such sharp practices ought to go by, though they often
do not--is a most strange and unaccountable one; much more so
than those other kinds of stealing. The man who breaks into your
house or who picks your pocket is generally one who is pretty
badly off, and who needs what he takes more than the people do
from whom he takes it. You do not expect to find rich men setting
up as burglars or pickpockets. It is true, sometimes you do find
people who have a passion for stealing things when they have
plenty of money to buy them; but that is commonly considered to
be a special kind of insanity, and they have a name made on
purpose for it; they call it "kleptomania." The people who do
this are supposed to be crazy on this particular point; but is it
not really just the same thing for a man who has enough and to
spare to be trying to cheat his neighbor? Such a man, it would
seem, must be crazy too.
And there is another way in which cheating is a strange thing,
and especially in a Catholic. For every Catholic at least must
know that if he tries to cheat he himself gets cheated worse than
the people he is trying to impose on. For he gets himself into a
very bad position. He has got to do one of two things.
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One is to restore, as far as possible, what he has cheated other
people out of; and that is a very hard thing to do
sometimes--much harder than it would have been to have left
cheating alone. But hard as this is, the other is much harder.
For the other thing is to go to hell; to be banished from God for
ever; to pay for all eternity the debt which he would not pay
here.
Do not, then, my brethren, get yourselves into this position. But
if you are in it do the first of these two things. Restore your
ill-gotten goods. Do it now; not put it off till you come to die.
It will cost you a struggle then as well as now; and even if you
try to do it then, it is doubtful if those who come after you
will carry out your wishes. A purpose to restore which is put off
till a time when you cannot be sure of carrying it out is rather
a weak bridge on which to pass to eternal life. Remember now what
you will Wish at the hour of death to have remembered; remember
those words of our Lord: "What doth it profit a man, if he gain
the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?"
------------------------
Sermon XLVI.
Those of you, my brethren, who are keeping Lent as it should be
kept are beginning by this time, if I am not mistaken, to think
that it is a pretty long and tedious season. Fasting and
abstinence, giving up many worldly amusements, getting up early
in the morning and going to Mass as so many of you do, and other
such things, get to be rather tiresome to the natural man after a
few days; and I have no doubt you are quite glad that Lent does
not last the whole year, and are looking forward to the time when
it will be over. I have always noticed that there were not many
at Mass in Easter week, and there are very few, I imagine, who
fast or abstain much then.
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And perhaps you are even inclined to say: "What ever did the
church get up Lent for at all? Certainly we could be good
Christians without it, or save our souls, at any rate." But when
you come to think of it you know well enough why Lent was
instituted. You know that we cannot save our souls without
abstaining from sin, and that we shall not be likely to abstain
from sin unless we abstain sometimes also from what is not
sinful. You know also that we cannot get to heaven without doing
penance for our sins, and that it is better to do penance here
than in purgatory. And you know, too, that most people will not
abstain much or do much penance beyond what the church commands;
so you know why the church got up Lent.
She did it that we might get to heaven sooner and more surely.
That ought to be our encouragement, then, in it, that every good
Lent brings us a good deal nearer to heaven; that heaven is the
reward of penance and mortification. And it is partly to keep
this before our minds that the church tells us in to-day's Gospel
the story of our Lord's transfiguration: how he took Peter and
James and John up with him on Mount Thabor, and there appeared to
them in his glory; and filled their hearts with renewed courage
and confidence in him, and with a firm belief that it was worth
their while to follow him, even if they had to sleep out at
night, and not get much to eat, and suffer in many ways--that it
was worth while for the sake of the good time coming, of which
his glory was a promise, though they did not know just when or
what it would be.
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They thought, perhaps, it would be in this world; that their
Master would come out in the power and majesty that they could
see that he had, put down all his enemies, and reign as a great
king on the earth. We know better; we know, or ought to know,
that it will not be in this world. But we know that the good time
coming will be something a great deal better than anything that
can be in this world.