that belong to him, not because of any right that he has in
himself, but because God has lent it to him; but that we should
render to God the things that he has not lent to Cæsar, whether
Cæsar consents or not. Obedience must always be given to God.
Give it to him through the state in those things about which he
has given the state authority, and in other things without regard
to the state; thus shall you render to Cæsar the things which are
Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's.
------------------
{457}
_Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost_.
Epistle.
_Philippians iii._ 17; _iv._ 3.
Be followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as
you have our model. For many walk, of whom I have told you
often (and now tell you weeping) that they are enemies of the
cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is in their shame: who mind earthly
things. But our conversation is in heaven: from whence also we
wait for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform
the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory,
according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue
all things unto himself. Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren,
and most desired, my joy and my crown: so stand fast in the
Lord, my most dearly beloved. I beg of Euodia, and I beseech
Syntyche to be of one mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee, my
sincere companion, help those women who have labored with me in
the Gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow-laborers,
whose names are in the book of life.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew ix._ 18-26.
At that time:
As Jesus was speaking these things unto them, behold a certain
ruler came, and adored him, saying: Lord, my daughter is just
now dead; but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
And Jesus, rising up, followed him, with his disciples. And
behold a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve
years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For
she said within herself: If I shall but touch his garment I
shall be healed. But Jesus, turning about and seeing her, said:
Take courage, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
{458}
And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus
came into the house of the ruler, and saw the minstrels and the
crowd making a rout, he said: Give place, for the girl is not
dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed at him. And when the crowd
was turned out he went in, and took her by the hand, and the
girl arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that
country.
-----------------
Sermon CXXXVII.
_My daughter is just now dead;
but come, lay thy hand upon her,
and she shall live._
--St. Matthew ix. 18.
Such was the entreaty made by the ruler to our Lord in to-day's
Gospel, and such are the words that the Lord says to us during
the month of November, in behalf of the poor souls in purgatory.
These souls have been saved by the Precious Blood, they have been
judged by Jesus Christ with a favorable judgment, they are his
spouses, his sons and daughters, his children. He cries to us,
"_My children_ are even now dead; but come, lay your hands
upon them, and they shall live." What hand is that which our Lord
wants us to lay upon his dead children? Brethren, it is the hand
of prayer. Now, it seems to me that there are three classes of
persons who ought to be in an especial manner the friends of
God's dead children, three classes who ought always to be
extending a helping hand to the souls in purgatory. First, the
poor, because the holy souls are poor like yourselves. They have
no work--that is to say, the day for them is past in which they
could work and gain indulgences and merit, the money with which
the debt of temporal punishment is paid; for them the "night has
come when no man can work."
{459}
They are willing to work, they are willing to pay for themselves,
but they cannot; they are out of work, they are poor, they cannot
help themselves. They are suffering, as the poor suffer in this
world from the heats of summer and the frosts of winter. They
have no food; they are hungry and thirsty; they are longing for
the sweets of heaven. They are in exile; they have no home; they
know there is abundance of food and raiment around them which
they cannot themselves buy. It seems to them that the winter will
never pass, that the spring will never come; in a word they are
_poor_. They are poor as many of you are poor. They are in
worse need than the most destitute among you. Oh! then, ye that
are poor, help the holy souls by your prayers. Secondly, the rich
ought to be the special friends of those who are in purgatory,
and among the rich we wish to include those who are what people
call "comfortably off." God has given you charge of the poor; you
can help them by your alms in this world, so you can in the next.
You can have Masses said for them; you can say lots of prayers
for them, because you have plenty of time on your hands. Again
remember, many of those who were your equals in this world, who
like yourselves had a good supply of this world's goods, have
gone to purgatory because those riches were a snare to them.
Riches, my dear friends, have sent many a soul to the place of
purification. Oh! then, those of you who are well off, have pity
upon the poor souls in purgatory. Offer up a good share of your
wealth to have Masses said for them. Do some act of charity, and
offer the merit of it for some soul who was ensnared by riches
and who is now paying the penalty in suffering; and spend some
considerable portion of your spare time in praying for the souls
of the faithful departed.
{460}
And lastly, the sinners and those who have been converted from a
very sinful life ought to be the friends of God's dear children.
Why? Because although the souls in purgatory cannot pray for
themselves, they can pray for others, and these prayers are most
acceptable to God. Because, too, they are full of gratitude, and
they will not forget those who helped them when they shall come
before the throne of God. Because sinners, having saddened the
Sacred Heart of Jesus by their sins, cannot make a better
reparation to it than to hasten the time when he shall embrace
these souls that he loves so dearly and has wished for so long.
Because sinners have almost always been the means of the sins of
others. They have, by their bad example, sent others to
purgatory. Ah! then, if they have helped them in they should help
them out.
You, then, that are poor, you that are rich, you that have been
great sinners, listen to the voice of Jesus; listen to the plaint
of Mary during this month of November: "My children are now dead;
come lay thy prayers up for them, and they shall live." Hear Mass
for the poor souls; say your beads for them; supplicate Jesus and
Mary and Joseph in their behalf. Fly to St. Catherine of Genoa
and beg her to help them, and many and many a time during the
month say with great fervor: "May the souls of the faithful
departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace!"
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
--------------------------
{461}
Sermon CXXXVIII.
_When Jesus was come into the house of the ruler,
and saw the minstrels and the crowd making a rout,
he said, "Give place."_
--St. Matthew ix. 23.
One of the great difficulties against which God's church has to
contend to-day is the spirit of worldliness which has crept in to
a very serious extent among the faithful. There are many dear
brethren among us who (as St. Paul says to-day in the Epistle)
"mind earthly things"; Catholics who try as far as they can to
conform themselves to this world and the fashions thereof. We can
see this worldly spirit in the manner in which many Catholics
dress, the style with which they decorate their houses, the way
in which they speak and act. But there is another way by which
this tendency is indicated. I mean the manner in which we bury
our dead.
Now, certainly, there is nothing more beautiful to the eye of
faith than a dead Christian body. What is it that lies there
still, and motionless, and cold? A corpse? Yes; but something
more than that. Brethren, that poor dead thing is beautiful, it
is holy. Its head has been touched by the cleansing waters of
baptism and anointed with holy chrism, its tongue has touched the
Body and Blood of Christ. Its eyes, ears, and hands, all its
senses have been anointed with holy oil. That poor body has been
the temple of the Holy Ghost.
More than this: that cold clay is a germ, a seed from which one
day shall rise a fairer flower than earth hath ever seen; for, as
St. Paul says, "That which thou sowest is not quickened except it
die first. And that which thou sowest thou sowest not the body
that shall be, but bare grain, as of wheat or of some of the
rest."
{462}
Yes, brethren, this dead thing is the "bare grain," but in the
eternal spring-time it shall bud forth into the full ear, for it
is the seed of a body glorified by the power of God.
Oh! then, seeing how holy the dead body of a Christian is, no
wonder that the church should surround the burial of it with a
certain holy pomp.
She burns lights by its side, she carries it in procession, she
sprinkles it with holy water, she censes it with incense. Not
only does she pray for the soul, she also respects the body.
So then, dear friends, to show respect for the dead, to surround
them with that pomp which the church wishes, is well and good;
but to make a dead body an object about which to display earthly
vanity and pride is to defile that which is holy and outrage that
which is decent. Yet this is often done. In place of the simple
shroud or the holy habit which used to be considered the proper
raiment of the departed, we now see them arrayed in garments
which vie in extravagance and fashion with those of the theatre
and the ball-room. Oh! brethren, when I think of our dear
Master's body, in Bethlehem's manger, wrapped up in swathing
bands, in the holy garden enveloped in linen cloths, and even to
this day reposing upon our altars on the fair white linen
corporal, it shocks me to think of those Christian dead who go
down to the tomb decked out in silks and lace, and satins and
trinkets, as though they were rather the votaries of earth than
the heirs of the kingdom of heaven. I seem to see the Master
standing by, and saying, "Give place."
{463}
Again, what an abuse it is to see a body followed to the grave by
a train of carriages which would often be more than enough for
the funeral of a cardinal or a pope. What some one has called
"the eternal fitness of things" requires that something of public
display should be made over those whom God has set in authority.
But to make such display over any ordinary Christian is simply
absurd. Oh! my dear friends, far better spend your money to have
Masses said for the soul than for a hundred vehicles to follow
the body. Alas! I fear those hundred carriages and two hundred
horses soothe your pride far more than they comfort the poor soul
in purgatory who is panting and longing for the possession of
God.
Let me end with a slight paraphrase of the text, such as we may
imagine our Lord, were he now on earth, might use: "And when
Jesus was come into the house of death, and saw the silks and the
satins, and the worldly display, and the multitude making a
tumult, and the horses and the carriages, and the garlands and
the wreaths, and the feasting, he said: Give place, give place to
me and to my church; and may the souls of the faithful departed
rest in peace. Amen."
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
---------------------
Sermon CXXXIX.
_Many walk, of whom I have told you often
(and now tell you weeping)
that they are enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame:
who mind earthly things._
--Philippians iii. 18, 19.
{464}
Here St. Paul gives us, dear brethren, a rule by which we may
know, by their manner of living, the difference between the bad
and the good anywhere in the world. This rule, however, shows us
also who is a bad Christian and who is a good one. For it is too
true that we can find many, calling themselves Catholics, who
hate the cross, who find their happiness in sensuality, who love
this world more than they love God, and who make a boast of their
sins and crimes. The end of these is indeed destruction and
eternal ruin.
Now, who are they? One need not go far to find them. They are
those who are boasting about how much they can eat and drink more
than another. They are those who try to drink others drunk, and
then brag about it. They even make a laughing-stock of the poor,
wretched man or woman who can't stand as much as they can.
Neither are they to be found only among the men who almost live
around and in grog-shops. Young men of great respectability and
old gray-headed parents, of high position in society, do these
things. They even look with contempt upon him who can't sin as
much and as boldly as they do. More than all, the poor man feels
ashamed and blushes because he is not superior to them in this
kind of wickedness.
In the same way do some boast of their impurities, and their
lying and swindling, in a business way, as they call it. These
indeed glory in that which is a shame to the heathen. How much
more, indeed, then, is this a shame to him who calls himself a
Christian.
{465}
But these are not the only crimes in which they glory who are
enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. There are those who cannot
bear to be outdone in malice or revenge. Often do we hear them
say, "I paid him off for it," or again, "She got as good as she
sent." This generally means that by malice, spite, revenge, the
one who did the first wrong was punished more severely than
justice required. It means that the devil and one's evil passions
were listened to, their promptings followed, and all made a boast
of afterwards. A beautiful Christian example! Two immortal souls
trying to see which can insult the crucified Redeemer the most!
How can such an one ever kiss the crucifix? How dare to press
those lips there represented, from which blessings were always
returned for cursing?
Again, those who glory in their shame are those who boast of
their careless lives, of never going to Mass, to confession, or
to their Easter-duty, and of never observing the light law of the
church by keeping the fasts of Lent and other days.
Others, again, boast of spending their money freely, not heeding
the cries of wife and children for food. They neglect those who
have been entrusted to them by God. They let the poor wife work
herself to death merely because they love the praise of a world
which calls their folly openheartedness. These are really the
meanest of men, but they believe the world when it calls them
good, generous, noble.
All of these are, indeed, truly enemies of the cross which all
Christians are bound to love. They are its enemies because the
cross saves mankind, whereas they try to ruin souls. By their
example and false teaching they make others like themselves. They
help souls to hell while our crucified Lord is trying to save
them. They take the part of the devil against their God.
---------------------
{466}
_Easter being a movable Feast which can occur on any day from
the 22d of March to the 25th of April, the number of Sundays
between Epiphany and Septuagesima, and between Pentecost and
Advent, varies according to the situation of Easter. There are
always at least two Sundays, unless Epiphany falls on a Sunday,
and never more than six, between Epiphany and Septuagesima.
Likewise, there are never fewer than twenty-three Sundays after
Pentecost, or more than twenty-eight. The Gospel and Epistle for
the last Sunday after Pentecost are always the same. When there
are twenty-three Sundays, the Gospel and Epistle for the last
Sunday are substituted for those of the twenty-third. When there
are twenty-five Sundays, the Gospel and Epistle for the sixth
Sunday after Epiphany are taken; when there are twenty-six, those
also of the fifth after Epiphany; when there are twenty-seven,
those of the fourth, and when there are twenty-eight those of the
third, in order to fill up the interval which occurs. In any
year, in which there are more than twenty-four Sundays after
Pentecost, proper sermons for these Sundays are to be found among
those which are arranged for the Sundays following the Feast of
the Epiphany. If one sermon is wanting, it is taken from the
sixth Sunday after Epiphany; if two, three, or four are needed,
the last two or three or four sermons which precede Septuagesima
are to be taken, in their order._
--------------------
{467}
_Twenty-fourth or Last Sunday after Pentecost._
Epistle.
_Colossians i._ 9-14.
Brethren:
We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled
with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding: that you may walk worthy of God, in all things
pleasing: being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in
the knowledge of God: strengthened with all might according to
the power of his glory, in all patience and long-suffering with
joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy
to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us
into the kingdom of the Son of his love: in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew xxiv._ 15-35.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples: When you shall see "the
abomination of desolation," which was spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him
understand. Then let those that are in Judea flee to the
mountains. And he that is on the house-top, let him not come
down to take anything out of his house: and he that is in the
field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them
that are with child, and that give suck in those days. But pray
that your flight be not in the winter or on the Sabbath. For
there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been
from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be.
And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be
saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be
shortened.
{468}
Then, if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or
there, do not believe him. For there shall arise false christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold I
have told it to you beforehand. If therefore they shall say to
you: Behold he is in the desert; go ye not out: Behold he is in
the closets; believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the
east, and appeareth even unto the west, so shall also the
coming of the Son of Man be. Wheresoever the body shall be,
there shall the eagles also be gathered together. And
immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of
Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn: and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds
of heaven with great power and majesty. And he shall send his
angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts
of the heavens to the uttermost bounds of them. Now learn a
parable from the fig tree: when its branch is now tender, and
the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So also
you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near,
even at the doors. Amen I say to you, this generation shall not
pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away.
---------------
Sermon CXL.
_Behold I have told it to you beforehand._
--St. Matthew xxiv. 25.
{469}
Once in a venerable manor-house, at the head of the carved oak
stairway, stood an old clock. About half a minute before it
struck it made a curious, buzzing, whirring sound. Then all the
children of the house said, "Ah! the old clock is
_warning_"; and upstairs they ran to see the clock strike.
The clock told them beforehand what it was going to do.
Now, brethren, there is a clock that has gone on warning and
striking for many a century, and that clock is called "the
Church's Year." It was wound up last Advent, and since then it
has struck Christmas, it has struck Epiphany, it has struck St.
Paul's Day, it has struck Easter, Pentecost, Assumption, All
Saints and All Souls. To-day it has nearly run down; it is
_warning_ for next Sunday, when it will strike Advent again.
The Church, next Sunday, will bring you face to face with
judgment. To-day she _warns_ you that the great season of
Advent is coming once more; that the old year is passing, that
the new one is about to begin. So, then, brethren, before the
clock strikes for judgment, before time is dead, while life and
grace and opportunities still remain, take up your stand before
the old clock; look at the hours depicted on the dial, and ask
yourself how you spent last year, how you would be prepared if
judgment should come to you a week hence.
Listen! How merrily that chime rings. You heard it about a year
ago. It was the Church clock striking Christmas. Where were you
then? Some of you, we know, were where you should be--at holy
Mass, receiving Holy Communion at the altar-rail. You heard the
organ pealing and the choir singing _Adeste fideles_; you
saw the little Infant Jesus in the crib, and the bright
evergreens decking the church, and felt in your hearts that
indeed there was peace on earth. Happy you if it was thus.
{470}
But alas! was it so? Were you not away from Mass last Christmas?
Were you not neglecting your religion? Were you not in mortal
sin? Were you not revelling, getting drunk, thinking rather of
feasting and enjoying yourselves than of devotion and
thanksgiving?
Then the hour of Epiphany struck! What gifts had you to bring to
the manger-bed? Had you the gold of Christian charity to present?
Had you the incense of faith and the myrrh of sweet and fragrant
hope? Ah! it is to be feared that some knelt not at the
manger-bed of Jesus, but on the brink of hell: forgetting God,
scandalizing their neighbor, damning their own souls. On the
"Feast of Light" (as the Epiphany is sometimes called) some were
kneeling at the shrine of the world and '"holding the candle to
the devil." Didn't you hear the pendulum of the old clock
ticking, ticking, and seeming to say, as it swung: "Behold! I
have told you beforehand! Behold! I have told you beforehand!"
Why, then, did you not do penance?
Then came Lent; and on the first Sunday of that holy time the
clock warned loud and clear for Easter. A voice almost seemed to
be heard shouting in your ears: "Easter-duty! Easter-duty! 'Time
and tide wait for no man!'" And so at last the clock struck.
Easter had passed. You had been "told beforehand." You did not
heed, and thus, oh! listen heaven, and listen hell, another
Easter-duty was missed, and another mortal sin committed.
To-day, dear friends, the Church clock warns you again. The
Church herself cries to you to cast "off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light." Give ear, then, while there is
yet life and hope. Have you been negligent? "Better late than
never"; _now_ is the time to mend.
{471}
Have you been a drunkard? _Now_ "be sober and watch." Have
you neglected your children? Begin to care for them as you
should. Have you neglected the sacraments? Come, prepare at once
to receive them worthily. Whatever your state may be,
remember--judgment is coming; death is at hand! Maybe God's clock
in heaven already points, for you, at the last hour; maybe this
is the last time that you will be _warned_, and then the
clock will _strike_ and you will be in eternity. Time and
tide are rushing on. Every tick of the clock brings you nearer
heaven or nearer hell. Oh! then prepare yourself for the great
day, that so when time _is_ dead and gone; when the great
clock strikes for the _last_ time, you may be found ready,
and go in with Jesus to his marriage feast.
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
-----------------------------
Sermon CXLI.
_That you may walk worthy of God._
--Colossians i. 10.