contemptible thing when rightly understood. There may be
stinginess with it, but stinginess is not a part of it. Economy,
rightly understood, is setting a proper value on the gifts of
God.
Yes; what comes from him--and everything does--is too valuable
to be thrown away. To despise his gifts is very much like
despising him.
And besides, there is not, in fact, an unlimited supply of them,
though there might be. He might have fed his followers in that
miraculous way every day; but he only did so twice in his life.
Our Lord, then, did mean, I think, to set us an example of
economy. Practise it as he did, my brethren. Prize God's gifts,
whatever they may be; do not waste them. But especially his
spiritual gifts; for they are infinitely more precious than the
material ones. Don't count on having a future extraordinary
supply of them.
{184}
You have got enough to save your souls now, and to sanctify them,
if you will only make use of it. You have got the faith, the
sacraments, and the word of God. You don't need to have any one
rise from the dead to convert you. Our Lord tells us that a
certain rich man who was in hell wanted to go back to earth and
appear to his brothers, that they might take warning by his
example. He was told that it was not necessary; that they had
Moses and the prophets. Well, you have got a great deal more. You
know just as well what you must do to save your souls, and even
to become saints, as if you had been beyond the grave yourselves.
Don't expect more yet.
Save up your spiritual gifts, my brethren; you have got plenty
now, but you do not know how much more you will get. When God
gives you any grace make the most of it; perhaps it will be the
last you will have. Bring back to your minds what you have heard,
and the good thoughts and purposes which the Holy Ghost has given
you; serve up the spiritual feasts you have had, not only a
second time, but over and over again. Make what you have got go
as far as possible, and your souls will grow stout and strong.
Wait for unusual graces like a mission or a jubilee, and they
will be thin and weak all the time. Be economical, especially in
spiritual things; that is a very important lesson of the Gospel
of to-day.
----------------
{185}
_Passion Sunday_.
Epistle.
_Hebrews ix_. 11-15.
Brethren:
Christ being come a high-priest of the good things to come, by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that
is, not of this creation: neither by the blood of goats, nor of
calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the Holies,
having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled,
sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost
offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from
dead works, to serve the living God? And therefore he is the
mediator of the new testament: that by means of his death, for
the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the
former testament, they that are called may receive the promise
of eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel.
_St. John viii_. 46-59.
At that time:
Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: Which of you shall
convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not
believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God.
Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. The
Jews, therefore, answered and said to him: Do not we say well
that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I
have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and you have
dishonored me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that
seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: if any man keep
my word, he shall not see death for ever. The Jews therefore
said: Now we know that thou hast a devil.
{186}
Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man
keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Are thou
greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets
are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? Jesus answered: If I
glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that
glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God. And you
have not known him, but I know him. And if I shall say that I
know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know
him, and do keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he
might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore
said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to
cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
-----------------------
Sermon LII.
_But Jesus hid himself_.
--St. John viii. 59.
Thick and fast, dear brethren, the shadows of the Great Week
begin to fall upon us. Only a few more days and it will be Palm
Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. To-day we are left, as it
were, alone. The crucifix, with its figure of the dead, white
Christ, is veiled; the dear, familiar faces of the Blessed Virgin
and St. Joseph are veiled also; and even the saints before whom
we were wont to kneel are all hidden behind the purple veil of
Passion-tide. Not till Good Friday will Jesus look upon us again,
not till Holy Saturday will the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and
the saints once more come forth to our view. We are, then, alone
by ourselves. God wants us to stand up before him just as we are.
Jesus has hidden his face for a while.
{187}
The crucifix has bidden you good-by. In what state were you last
night when devout hands veiled the figure of Christ? Will you
ever look upon the old, familiar crucifix again? It may be,
before the purple veil is lifted from this cross, you will have
looked upon the face of Christ in judgment. O brethren! to-day
the face of Jesus is hidden. May be the last time you looked upon
it you were in mortal sin, and are so still. When and how shall
you look upon it again? If you live till Good Friday you will see
it then held aloft by the priest, and afterwards kissed by all
the faithful. If you die before then, and die, as you may,
without warning or preparation, then you will look upon the face
of Christ upon the judgment seat, then you will hear the awful
words: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Or
perhaps--and may God grant it!--you will next see the face of
Jesus in the person of his priest in the confessional, and there
it will be turned upon you in mercy and forgiveness. There are
some of you, I know, who are as _dead men_. There are some
of you who, even up to this late hour, are holding out against
grace. Still in mortal sin! I point you to the veiled Christ. I
ask you, here in the sacred presence of God, I ask you in the
most solemn manner, when and how will you look upon his face
again? He has bidden you good-by to-day, he has said farewell,
and as he said it he saw that you were a blasphemer, a drunkard,
an adulterer, a slanderer, a creature full of pride, full of
sloth, full of all kinds of sin. Oh! say, shall he still find you
so when he returns? Say, when he is uncovered on Good Friday can
you, dare you add to his grief by still being what you are now?
And to us all, even the most devout, this lesson of the veiled
crucifix ought not to pass unheeded.
{188}
Christ has gone from us to-day! How will he come back to us? All
torn and bloody, all thorn-scarred, all spear-pierced, nailed to
the cross, and all for love of us! We, too, brethren, who are
trying to walk strictly in the narrow path--we, too, may ask
ourselves. When and how shall we see him again? Perhaps before
Good Friday, ay, perhaps even before our hands can grasp the
green palm-branch of next Sunday, we may see the unveiled face of
our Beloved. Are we afraid of that? Oh! no. We have loved the
face of suffering too well to dread the face of glory. We only
expect to hear from his lips words of love and welcome. Brethren,
there is a day coming when all veils shall be lifted. There is a
time nearing us when all must look upon the face that died on
Calvary's Mount. On that day and at that time will take place the
great unveiling of the face of Christ: I mean the day of general
judgment. O solemn, O awful thought for us to-day before the
veiled image of our Lord! May be the judgment day will come
before that light veil is lifted from the well-known crucifix.
Great God! our next Good Friday may be spent either in heaven or
in hell. Go home, brethren, with these thoughts fixed deeply in
your hearts. Come here often to pray. If you have sins come here
and confess them; and often and often as we turn to the veiled
Christ, let us most devoutly cry: "Jesus, when and how shall we
look upon thy face again?"
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
------------------------------
Sermon LIII.
Under the false accusations of the Jews how calm and
self-possessed our Lord remains!
{189}
He does not return passion for passion, anger for anger,
accusations for accusations, violence for violence; but he meets
calumny with the assertion of truth, and confounds his enemies by
humility and meekness. They accuse him of sin; with the sublime
simplicity of a pure conscience he dares them to convince him of
sin. They call him names: "Thou art a Samaritan"; to so evident a
falsehood he deigns no reply. Blinded by anger, they accuse him
of being possessed: "Thou hast a devil"; a simple denial, "I have
not a devil," the leaving of his own glory to his Father, the
assertion of his divine mission, is the answer to the blasphemous
calumny. "Now we know thou hast a devil," repeat they, waxing
more passionate; but, unimpassioned, Jesus rises above their rage
to the calm heights of the Godhead, and affirms his eternal
generation. Finally, losing all control of themselves, they take
up stones to cast at him; but he quietly goes out of the temple
and hides himself, for his hour--the hour when he would bear in
silence the accusations and indignities of man, and allow himself
to be led to slaughter--had not yet come.
In this our Saviour teaches us how we should behave when the
passions of others fall upon us and we are made the butt of
accusations, just or unjust. In such circumstances what is
generally your conduct? By no means Christian, I am afraid, but
very worldly; for the world counts it true valor and justice to
give tit for tat, to take tooth for tooth and eye for eye. Do you
not give back as good--and often worse--than you get? Prudence,
let alone Christianity, should dictate to you quite another
conduct.
{190}
Your counter-accusations do but strengthen and confirm the
calumny; they allow it to stand, "You're another" and "you're no
better" are poor arguments to clear yourselves. It's a flank
movement that does not cover your position, a feint that does not
save you from attack. The answering of a question by asking
another question is a smart trick, but no answer. A calm denial,
if you could make it, or dignified silence would do the work more
surely and thoroughly. And so the fight of words goes on in true
Billingsgate style; to and fro they fly thick and hot, hotter and
hotter as passion rises on both sides. "One word brings on
another," until white heat is reached and all control of temper
lost. Then, as the Jews ended with stones, so you perhaps come to
more serious passion than mere words. The result is quarrels,
deadly feuds, bodily injuries, and worse, may be--bloodshed and
the jail. A cow kicked a lantern in a stable, and Chicago was on
fire for days. Some frivolous accusation that you pick up, while
you should let it fall, starts within you a fire of anger that
makes a ruin of your whole spiritual life and throws disorder all
around you; families are divided; wife and husband sulk, quarrel,
live a "cat and dog" life; friends are separated, connections
broken. Peace flies from your homes, your social surroundings,
your own hearts; the very horrors of hell are around you.
Christian charity has been wounded to death, and the slightest of
blows, the lightest of shafts has done it. All for the want of a
little patience and self-possession! How often we hear it said:
"Oh! I have such a bad temper; I'm easily riz, God forgive me!
I've a bad passion entirely." Well, my dear brethren, learn from
this Gospel how you should control yourselves, how you should
possess your souls in patience.
{191}
One-half the sins of the world would be done away with, if only
the lesson of this Gospel were laid to heart and put into
practice. What is the lesson?
Firstly, never seek self-praise in self-justification. Jesus
turns aside the calumny of the Jews, but leaves the glorifying of
himself in the hands of his Father, "who seeketh and judgeth."
Secondly, pay no attention to accusations that are absurd,
evidently untrue, and frivolous. When Jesus is called names and
is made out to be what every one knows he was not--"a
Samaritan"--he makes no answer. Thirdly, if serious calumny,
calculated to injure your usefulness in your duties and state of
life, assail you, it then becomes your right, and sometimes your
duty, to repel the calumny, as Jesus did when he was accused of
"having a devil." But in this case your self-justification, like
that of our Saviour, should ever be calm, dignified, and
Christian. It should be a defence, never an attack. The true
Christian parries, he does not give the thrust; he shields
himself from the arrows of malice, he does not shoot them back.
Superior to revenge, he pities enemies for the evil they do; he
forgives them and prays for them, as our Lord has commanded. This
is Christian charity, and Christian humility as well. But as it
avails little to know what we should do, if we have not God's
grace to enable us to do it, let us often say, especially in
temptations to impatience: "O Jesus, meek and humble of heart!
make me like unto thee."
----------------------------
{192}
Sermon LIV.
Why is to-day called Passion Sunday, my brethren? There does not
seem to be any special commemoration of our Lord's sacred Passion
in the Mass, as there is next Sunday, when the long account of it
from St. Matthew's Gospel is read; and most people, I think,
hardly realize that to-day is anything more than any other Sunday
in Lent.
But if you look into the matter a little more you will notice a
great change which comes upon the spirit of the church to-day,
and remains during the two following weeks. The Preface of the
Mass is not that of Lent, but that of the Cross; the hymns sung
at Vespers and at other times are about the cross and our Lord's
death upon it; and all the way through the Divine Office you will
see evident signs that the church is thinking about this mystery
of the cross, the commemoration of which is consummated on Good
Friday.
And if you look about the church this morning you will see the
pictures all veiled, to tell us that during these two weeks we
should think principally of our Lord's suffering and humiliation;
that we should, as it were, for a while forget his saints and
everything else connected with his glory. And even the cross
itself is concealed, for it is after all a sign of triumph and
victory to our eyes; it is waiting to be revealed till Good
Friday, when the sacrifice shall be accomplished and the victory
won.
To-day, then, is called Passion Sunday because it is the opening
of this short period, from now till Easter, which the church
calls Passion-time.
{193}
What practical meaning has this Passion-time for us, my brethren?
It means, or should mean, for us sorrow, humiliation, sharing in
the Passion of our Lord. Lent, all the way through, is a time of
penance; but more especially so is this short season which brings
it to a close. Now, surely, is the time, if ever, when we are
going to be sorry for our sins, when we cannot help thinking of
what they have made our Divine Saviour suffer. Now is the time to
think of the malice and ingratitude of sin; to see it as it
really is, as the one thing which has turned this earth from a
paradise into a place of suffering and sorrow; to see our own
sins as they truly are, as the only real evils which have ever
happened to us, and to resolve to be rid of them for our own sake
and for God's sake; for he has suffered for them as well as we.
Now is the time to go to confession, and to make a better
confession than we have ever made before, or ever can make,
probably, till Passion-time comes round again. For now is it
easier for us to be sorry for our sins, not only because we have
everything to show us how hateful they are, but also because
God's grace is more liberally given. He has sanctified this time
and blessed it for our repentance and conversion. He calls us and
helps us always to penance, but never so much as now.
Hear his voice, then, my brethren, and, in the words with which
the church begins her office today: "To-day if you shall hear his
voice, harden not your hearts." Do not obstinately remain in sin,
and put off your repentance and confession to a more favorable
time. There is no time nearly as good as this; this is the time
which God himself has appointed.
{194}
You must make your Easter duty, if you would not add another
terrible sin to the many which you have already made our Lord
bear for you; make it now before Easter comes. Take your share
now in the Passion, that you may have your share of the Easter
joy.
And there is another reason why you should come now to
confession; for there is another unusual grace which God now
offers you--the grace of the Jubilee, which you heard announced
last Sunday. Now, a Jubilee is not a mere devotion for those who
frequent the sacraments; it is a call and an opportunity for
those who have neglected them. I beg you not to let it be said
that you have allowed this opportunity to go by. Come and give us
some work to do in the confessional; the more the better. We will
not complain, but will thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
The best offering you can make to your priests, as well as to the
God whose servants they are, is a crowded confessional and a full
altar-rail at this holy Passion-time.
-------------------
{195}
_Palm Sunday._
Epistle.
_Philippians ii._ 5-11.
Brethren:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery himself to be
equal with God: but debased himself, taking the form of a
servant, being made to the likeness of men, and in shape found
as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath exalted
him, and hath given him a name which is above every name: that
in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are
in heaven, on earth, and in hell. And that every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the
Father.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xxvii._ 62-66.
And the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the
chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate,
saying: Sir, we have remembered that that seducer said, while
he was yet alive: After three days I will rise again. Command
therefore the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day: lest
his disciples come and steal him away, and say to the people,
He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said to them: You have a guard; go,
guard it as you know. And they departing, made the sepulchre
sure with guards, sealing the stone.
-----------------------------
{196}
Sermon LV.
_Behold thy King cometh to thee meek._
--St. Matthew xxi. 5.
Through humility and suffering to exaltation and glory--that is
the way our Lord went to heaven, dear brethren, and that is the
way we must go if we wish to follow him. To-day is Palm Sunday,
the day on which our Lord rode in triumph to begin his Passion.
Yes, in triumph; but what an humble one! He rode upon a lowly
beast; there were no rich carpets spread along the way, only the
poor and well-worn garments of the apostles and of the multitude
thrown together with the boughs and branches torn from the
wayside trees. All was humble, and doubly so if we think that he
was riding to his death. Yes, brethren, those palm-branches were
scarce withered, the dust had hardly been shaken from those
garments, when the cross was laid upon his shoulders and the
thorny crown pressed upon his brow. Dear brethren, let us ask
ourselves this morning if we want to go to heaven. Do we want to
be where Jesus is now, and where he will be for all eternity? If
we do we must follow him through suffering and humility to
exaltation and glory. We must be content with little and short
happiness in this world; for, as I have said, the triumph of Palm
Sunday was short-lived indeed. What followed? Jesus was brought
before Pilate. He was condemned to death, forsaken, set at
naught, buffeted, mocked, spit upon. He, the innocent Lamb of
God, was scourged, stripped of his garments, crowned with thorns.
Then upon his poor, torn shoulders was laid a heavy cross, which
he carried till he could no longer bear it. And, lastly, outside
the city gates they nailed him to that same cross, and he died.
But after that came the glory and the triumph--the glory of the
resurrection; the triumph over sin, and death, and hell.
{197}
Brethren, we needs _must_ think of heaven to-day; the waving
palms, the chanted hosannas, all speak to us of that delightful
place. We cannot help thinking of that great multitude, clad in
white robes and with palms in their hands, of whom St. John
speaks, and of those others who cast down their golden crowns
before the glassy sea. We want to reach that blessed place; we
want to hear the sound of the harpers harping upon their harps;
we want to hear the angels' songs and see the flashing of their
golden wings; we want to gaze upon Jesus and Mary and all the
heavenly host. But, brethren, not yet, not yet. See the long path
strewn with stones and briers; see that steep mount with its
cross of crucifixion at the top. That way must be trodden, that
mountain scaled, that cross be nailed to us and we to it, or ever
we may hear the golden harps or the angels' song. Through
humility and suffering to exaltation and glory. Oh! let us learn
the lesson well this Holy Week. Let us learn it to-day as we
follow Jesus to prison and to death; let us learn it on Holy
Thursday when we see him humble himself to the form of bread and
wine; let us learn it on Good Friday when we kiss his sacred feet
pierced with the nails. Yes, let us learn the lesson and never
forget it. Heaven has been bought for you. Heaven lies open to
you: but there is only one way there, and that way is the way of
suffering. So, then, brethren, when your trials come thick and
fast; when your temptations seem more than you can endure; when
you are pinched by poverty, slighted by your neighbors,
forsaken--as it seems to you--even by God himself, then remember
the way of the cross. Remember the agony in the garden; remember
the mount of Calvary.
{198}
Grasp the palm firmly in your hand to-day; let it be in fancy the
wood of the cross. Cry aloud as you journey on: "Through humility
and suffering to exaltation and glory." Keep close to Jesus.
Onward to prison! Onward to crucifixion! Onward to death! Onward
to what comes afterwards! Resurrection! Reward! Peace!
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
------------------------
Sermon LVI.
_He humbled himself,
becoming obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross._
--Philippians ii. 8.
We are entering to-day, my dear brethren, on the great week, the
Holy Week, as it is called, of the Christian year--the week in
which we commemorate the Passion and death of our Lord; and at
this time our minds cannot, when we assist at the offices of the
church, be occupied with any other thoughts than those which are
suggested by his sufferings for our redemption.
And surely there is enough to occupy them not only for one short
week, but for all our lives. The Passion of Christ is a mystery
which we can never exhaust, in this world or in the world to
come. It is the book of the saints, and there is no lesson of
perfection which we cannot learn from it. So we must needs look
at it to-day only in part, and learn one of its many lessons; and
let that be one suggested to us by the words of the text, taken
from the Epistle read at the Mass: "He humbled himself, becoming
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
{199}
What is this lesson? It is that of humility, which is the
foundation of all supernatural virtues, and yet the last one
which most Christians try to acquire.