their way, are rather annoyed than edified by the examples of
humility that they find in the lives of the saints. It seems to
them like hypocrisy when they read that the saints considered
themselves the greatest sinners in the world. But it was not
hypocrisy; they said what they really felt. They were not in the
habit, as most people are, of noticing their neighbors' faults
and making the most of them, and of excusing their own. So,
though it was not really true that they were such great sinners
when compared with others, it seemed to them that it was.
And, moreover, they were willing that others should think them
so. In that they differed very much from some whom you would
think were saints. The real saints are willing to bear contempt;
they are willing to be considered sinners, even in their best
actions, as long as God's glory is not in question; and, what is
really harder, though it ought not to be, they are willing to be
considered fools. Almost any one would rather be thought a knave
than a fool. There are very few good people who like to be told
of their faults; there are fewer still who like to be told of
their blunders.
Now, it is with regard to this matter that we need specially to
think of our Saviour's example. He, who could not be deceived,
could not believe himself to be a knave or a fool; but he
consented that others should consider him so, to set us an
example of humility.
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He was reckoned among sinners in his life as well as in his
death; and he hid the treasures of his divine wisdom and
knowledge under the appearance of a poor, simple man of the lower
classes. But it was in his sacred Passion that his humility is
seen most plainly; he became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross; he, our Lord and our God, suffered the most
disgraceful punishment that has ever been devised for common
criminals.
There is the example, then, my brethren, for us poor sinners to
follow. And the humility which we need most is nothing but the
pure and simple truth. It is nothing but getting rid of the
absurd notion that we are wiser and better than other people whom
anybody else can see are our equals or superiors; for, strangely
enough, it is always hardest to be humble when it is most clear
that we ought to be. And depend on it, it is high time to set
about acquiring this virtue; for, simple as it seems, to get even
as much as this of it will take, for most of us, all our lives.
-----------------
Sermon LVII.
I will say a few words to you this morning, my brethren, on the
Jubilee just proclaimed by our Holy Father.
What is a Jubilee? It is the proclamation of a great spiritual
favor which may be obtained by any Catholic in the world during a
specified time.
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This spiritual favor is a special plenary indulgence which, if
gained in a way that perfectly fulfils all the conditions and
completely satisfies the intentions of the church, will surely
wipe out not only all the actual sins one has committed in all
his life before, but take away also all the temporal punishment
one would have to undergo in this life or in purgatory on account
of those sins, be they great or small.
No wonder that all the children of the Catholic Church rejoice to
hear such a favor proclaimed by their Holy Father, and that
everybody is so anxious to partake of its benefits.
What is to be done? Just what the Pope says, and in a way
specially directed for his diocesans by each bishop. There are
visits to be made to certain churches, and prayers to be said
there. There is a fast to be observed on one day. There are alms
to be given. There is confession to be made and Holy Communion to
be received. And all to be done by or before next Pentecost
Sunday.
First. The visits. For this city there are three churches named
by His Eminence the Cardinal--viz., St. Patrick's Cathedral, St.
Stephen's, and the Church of the Epiphany. Each one of these
three churches must be visited twice. All the visits may be made
in one day or on different days, and one may, if he pleases, pay
the two visits to the same church at once before going to
another.
Second. Prayers are to be said in the churches; and they ought,
of course, to be devout ones, and offered for all the intentions
laid down by the Holy Father. No particular prayers are
prescribed. One can hear Mass, or say the beads, or say five
times the Our Father and Hail Mary, or one of the Litanies; or
any of these prayers will do.
{202}
Third. The fast. This may be in Lent or after, on any day that
meat is allowed. But on the day you choose for the fast you must
also abstain from meat.
Fourth. The alms. The amount or kind is not prescribed, but is
left to your own generosity. It may be in money, in food, or in
clothing, and it may be given to an orphan asylum or other such
charitable institution, or to build a church. It may be given
when making the visits; and special alms-boxes will be found in
those churches to be visited, into which the offering can be put.
Fifth. Confession and Communion; and both ought to be prepared
for and made the very best one can. Moreover, as one gains the
more merit by doing actions in a state of grace, one will likely
make the Jubilee better if he begins by making a good confession.
Now is the time for great sinners to return to God and obtain his
merciful forgiveness; for the Pope has given special privileges
to confessors, in order that they may absolve the hardest kind of
cases. Let no one, therefore, despair, nor think himself too hard
a case. That is what the Jubilee is for--to bring down the mercy
and forgiveness of God upon this sinful generation. To ensure
this the father of the faithful sets the whole Catholic world
together praying, and fasting, and giving alms, and confessing
their sins, and making holy, devout communion, so as to take
heaven by storm, as our Lord said we might. "For the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away." What a
sublime spectacle, which only the Catholic Church can show--two
hundred and fifty millions of people all turning to God at once!
No wonder the Catholic Church saves the world.
{203}
Look out that you are not found, in eternity, to be one of those
whom she failed to turn to God, and lost for ever because you
would not hear her instruction and counsel, nor be guided by her
into the way of eternal life.
----------------
{204}
_Easter Sunday._
Epistle.
I _Corinthians v_, 7, 8.
Brethren:
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new mass, as you
are unleavened. For Christ, our pasch, is sacrificed. Therefore
let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.
Gospel.
_St. Mark xvi._ 1-7.
At that time:
Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought
sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to
the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to
another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the
sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back, for it
was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a
young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe:
and they were astonished. And he said to them: Be not
affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is
risen, he is not here; behold the place where they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you
into Galilee; there you shall see him as he told you.
-----------------------
Sermon LVIII.
_Mary Magdalen._
--St. Mark xvi. 1.
Dear brethren, you have all felt the great contrast that there is
between the awful rites of Good Friday and the joy of to-day.
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Still fresh in your minds is the memory of the darkened church,
the uplifted crucifix, the wailing of the reproaches. You
remember, too, "the silence that might be felt" that reigned in
God's temple on Holy Saturday. You can recall how still the
church seemed yesterday at early morning, just as if some awful
deed had been done there the day before; you may remember how
unspeakably solemn seemed the silent procession to the porch to
bless the new fire; how quiet and subdued all that followed. But
suddenly a voice rang out into the darkness--the voice of the
sacrificing priest at the altar; an "exceeding great cry" pierced
the stillness, and instantly every veil fell; the sunlight
streamed in through every window; chiming bells, pealing organ,
and choral voices burst upon your senses; everything seemed to
say, "He is risen! he is risen!" And we felt it was almost too
much, almost more than the feeble human heart could bear and not
break for very joy. If, then, this contrast is so marked and this
joy so great after a lapse of eighteen hundred years and more,
oh! what must have been the joy of the first Easter day. The
first crucifix bore no ivory or metal figure; it had nailed to it
the flesh of the Son of God. The first Good Friday was no
commemoration of an event; it was the event itself. Oh! then how
great, how great beyond mind to imagine or tongue to tell, must
have been the joy of the first Easter. Jesus had died, left all
his beloved. He had been buried, and there he rested in the quiet
garden. Very early in the morning come Mary Magdalen and the
other women to the tomb. The sun was just rising; the flowers of
that blessed garden were just awaking; the dew-drops sparkled
like rubies in the red sunrise; the vines and the creepers, fresh
with their morning sweetness, hung clustering round the sacred
tomb.
{206}
To that spot the women hasten; the sun rises; she, Mary Magdalen,
stoops down; her Lord is not there, but lo! the great stone is
rolled away; a bright angel sits thereon; other angelic spirits
are in the tomb. The angel speaks: "He is risen; he is not here.
Behold, he goes before you to Galilee. Alleluia! alleluia!" The
Lord is risen indeed. And now, brethren, wishing you every joy
that this holy feast can bring, I will ask the question. Where or
of whom shall we learn our Easter lesson? We will learn it from
her whose name, whose lovely, saintly name, forms the text of
this discourse. In pointing you to Mary Magdalen, the great saint
of the Resurrection, I do but follow the mind of the church; for
in today's sequence the whole universal church calls upon her,
"_Die nobis, Maria, quid vidistis in via?_"--Declare to us,
Mary! what sawest thou in the way? She saw the sepulchre of
Christ, in which were buried her many sins. In the way, the
sorrowful way of the cross, she saw the Passion of Christ; in the
way, the glorious way of the triumph of Christ, she saw the glory
of the Risen One and the angel witnesses. Oh! is not our lesson
plain? Like Magdalen, let us see the sepulchre, and let us cast
our sins in there. Let us see the way of the cross and walk
therein; let us see the glory of the Risen One and the angel
witnesses in the heavenly kingdom. O poor, repentant sinners! you
who during Lent have kissed the feet of Jesus and stood beneath
his cross in the confessional, what a day of joy, what a lesson
of consolation comes to you! Who was it upon whom fell the first
ray of Resurrection glory?
{207}
Who is it upon whom the great voice of the church liturgy, in the
Holy Sacrifice, calls to-day? Ah! it was and is upon the
"sometime sinner, Mary." Joy! joy! for the forgiven sinner
to-day. Alleluia! alleluia! to you, blood-washed children of
Jesus Christ; for she who saw the Master first was once a
sinner--a sinner like unto you. Alleluia, and joy and peace, unto
you all in Jesus' name, and in the name of the redeemed and
pardoned Mary! Alleluia, and joy and peace! whether you be sinner
as she was, or saint as she became. Alleluia, and joy and peace!
for "Christ our hope hath risen, and he shall go before us into
Galilee." Alleluia, and joy and peace! for we know that Christ
hath risen from the dead. Lord, we know that we are feeble and
sinful, but lead, "Conquering King," lead on; go thou before to
the heavenly Galilee. Time was when we feared to follow; but she,
"more than martyr and more than virgin"--she, Mary Magdalen, is
in thy train, and, penitent like her, we follow thee. Alleluia,
and joy and peace, to young and old! Alleluia, and joy and peace,
to saint and pardoned sinner! for Christ hath risen from the
dead.
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
------------------------
Sermon LIX.
_He is risen._
--St. Mark xvi. 6.
This is Easter Sunday, and the heart of every Christian is full
of joy; for on this day the voice of God is heard assuring us
that the dead can and will rise again to enter upon a new and
never-dying life. To die is to suffer the most poignant grief,
the greatest loss, the most grievous pain that man is called upon
to endure.
{208}
However long or sweet may be the pleasure of the draught of life,
and health, and prosperity that one may drink, all must find this
one bitter drop at the bottom of the cup. It is death; and if God
himself did not tell us, how could we know but that it is the end
of all? "But now Christ is risen from the dead and become the
first fruits of them that sleep." Who says Christ is risen again?
God. How do we hear his voice of truth, which cannot deceive nor
be deceived? We hear him when we hear the voice of his divine
church, which he has made "the pillar and the ground of the
truth." This is, then, her joyful and triumphant news to-day. All
who die shall rise again from the dead, because our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, first of all rose from the dead, and promised that
the change of a similar resurrection should come upon all
mankind. And I say again that we know that to be true because the
Catholic Church, the only divine voice there is in the world,
assures us that it is true. Bitter as death may be, the hope of
the resurrection is its complete antidote. Now I understand why
the words, "a happy death," is so common a speech among
Catholics. It implies an act of faith in the resurrection, and a
confidence that he who dies has not only prepared himself to die
but also to rise again. This is an important reflection to make
on Easter Sunday, for there is a resurrection unto eternal life
and a resurrection unto damnation, which, compared to eternal
life, is eternal death. A philosopher said: "Happy is that man
who, when he comes to die, has nothing left but to die." But the
Christian says: "Happy is that man who, when he comes to die,
leaves the world and all he has to do or might do in it, sure of
a happy and glorious resurrection."
{209}
All Catholics believe that they will rise again from the dead,
but I am free to say that many of them do not prove their faith
by their works. They seem to think so much of this world, and
give so much of their thoughts and words and actions to it, that
certainly no heathen would imagine for a moment that they thought
even death possible, or that there was any future state to get
ready for. I wonder how any one of us would act or what we would
be thinking about, if we were absolutely sure that in less than
an hour's notice we would some day be called to be made a bishop
or a pope, or a king or queen; or would be carried off to a
desert island, and left there to starve and die without help.
We do not believe either fortune likely to happen to any of us,
therefore we do not prepare for it. Alas! so many Catholics do
not prepare for the sudden call to rise to a glory and dignity
far higher than that of any prelate or prince, or to sink to a
miserable state infinitely worse than to starve and die on a
desert island; and why not? I say the heathen would answer,
because they do not believe that either fortune will be likely to
happen to them. If they did their lives would prove their faith.
Now, I know I have set some of you thinking, and that has just
been my purpose. Have I a right to participate in the Easter joy
of to-day, or am I only making an outside show of it, while my
conscience tells me I am a hypocrite? Have I kept the
commandments of God and of the church? Have I made my Easter
duty, or resolved to make it?
{210}
What kind of a life would I rise to on the day of resurrection,
if I died to-night? What would Jesus Christ, my Judge and
Saviour, find in me that looked like him, and therefore ought to
give me the same glorious resurrection as he had? Dear brethren,
that is what he wants to find in us all. That is what he died to
give us. That is what the Holy Spirit is striving hard to help
every one of us to obtain. Come, a little more courage, and let
us rise _now_ from all that is deathly, or dead, or corrupt,
or rotten in this life we are leading, and Jesus will be sure to
find in us what will fashion us unto the likeness of his own
resplendent and divine resurrection to eternal life.
-------------------
Sermon LX.
_Christ, our pasch, is sacrificed.
Therefore let us feast,
not with the old leaven
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth._
--1 Corinthians v, 7, 8.
There are none of us, my dear brethren, I am sure, who can fail
on this Easter morning to have something of the spirit of joy
which fills the church at this time, and which runs through all
her offices at this season. "This is the day that the Lord hath
made," she is continually saying to us; "let us rejoice and be
glad in it."
Yes, we are all glad now; we all have something of the Easter
spirit, in spite of the troubles and sorrows which are perhaps
weighing on us, and from which we shall never be quite free till
we celebrate Easter in heaven--in that blessed country where
death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow
shall be any more; where God shall dwell with us, and he himself
with us shall be our God.
{211}
But what is the cause of our joy? Is it merely that the season of
penance through which we have just passed is over, that the
church no longer commands us to fast and mortify ourselves? That
may, indeed, be one reason, for there are certainly not a great
many people who enjoy fasting and abstinence; but there should be
another and a much better one. It should be that Lent has not
left us just where it found us; that we can say to-day not only
that Christ has risen, but that we also have risen with him.
Yes, my brethren, that is the joy that you ought to be feeling at
this time. What is Easter, or Christmas, or any other feast of
the church worth without the grace of God? It is no more than any
secular holiday; merely a time for amusement, for sensual
indulgence, and too often an occasion of sin. If you are happy
to-day with any happiness that is really worth having, it is then
because you have the grace of God in your souls, either by
constant habits of virtue, or by a good confession and communion
which you have made to-day or lately. It is now, as at the last
day, only to those who are really and truly the friends of Christ
that he can say: "Well done, good and faithful servant: ... enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord." For this is the day, the great
day of his joy; and it is only by being united with him that you
can share in it.
This, then, is the desire which I have when I wish you to-day a
happy Easter, as I do with my whole heart: that if you have not
made your Easter duty, you will make it soon; and that if you
have made it, you will persevere--that, having risen from the
dead, you will die no more.
{212}
It is the wish compared with which all others are as nothing; for
the happiness of the world is but for a few short years, but the
joy of the soul is meant to last for ever.
And if you would have it, there is one thing above all which you
must do--which you must have done, if you have made a really good
communion. Holy church reminds us of it in a prayer which is said
today at Mass, and which is repeated frequently through the
Easter season. This is to put away all that old leaven of malice
and wickedness, that spirit of hatred and uncharitableness for
your neighbor, which is so apt to rankle in your hearts. If you
would be friends with God you must be friends with all his
children. Let there be no one whom you will not speak to, whom
you would avoid or pass by. When there has been a quarrel one of
the two must make the first advances to reconciliation; try to
have the merit of being that one, even though you think, probably
wrongly, that you were not at all in fault. This day, when we
meet to receive the blessing of our risen Saviour, is the day
above all others for making friends. Unite, then, with your whole
hearts in this prayer of the church which I am now about to read
at the altar, first translating it for you: "Pour forth on us,
Lord! the spirit of thy charity, that by thy mercy thou mayest
make those to agree together whom thou hast fed with thy paschal
mysteries; through Christ our Lord. Amen."
------------------------
{213}
_Low Sunday_.
Epistle.
1 _St. John v_. 4-10.
Dearly beloved:
Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the
victory which overcometh the world, our faith. Who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the
Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ; not in water only, but in water and blood. And it is
the spirit that testifieth, that Christ is the truth. For there
are three that give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. And there are
three that give testimony on earth: the spirit, the water, and
the blood, and these three are one. If we receive the testimony
of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the
testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified
of his Son. He that believeth in the Son of God, hath the
testimony of God in himself.
Gospel.
_St. John xx_. 19-31.
At that time:
When it was late that same day, being the first day of the
week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were
gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in
the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had
said this, he showed them his hands, and his side. The
disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. And he
said to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent
me, I also send you. When he had said this he breathed on them;
and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose you shall
retain, they are retained.
{214}
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not
with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said
to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Unless I
shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his
side, I will not believe. And after eight days his disciples
were again within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to
you. Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see
my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side;
and be not incredulous, but faithful. Thomas answered, and said
to him: My Lord, and my God. Jesus saith to him: Because thou
hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that
have not seen, and have believed. Many other signs also did
Jesus in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. But these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing you may
have life in his name.
--------------------------
Sermon LXI.
_Unless I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the place of the nails,
and put my hand into his side,
I will not believe._
--St. John xx. 25.