Chapter XII: Part 12

We all know, to be sure, that one may go to the other extreme, and by a form of sloth be too careless of the future. Some things there are which are certain to come upon us, and their coming must be provided for. There is a judgment to come, and every minute of to-day is like a bailiff busy gathering evidence for that Divine Court. Temptation is sure to come, and its strain upon our virtue must be foreseen in every prayer of every day. The common wants of life for one's self and family are inevitable in the future, and must be prudently provided against. In all such things we know that the future is an actual fact, and is just as present to God as this very instant is to us.

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What our Lord would rebuke is not a prudent foresight, but that weak and idle state of mind which postpones to the future what should be done at once. This is the commonest of human delusions. In a temporal point of view it is condemned by the saying, "Procrastination is the thief of time," and it might be added of many other valuable commodities. In a spiritual point of view the dreadful result of delaying till to-morrow what should be done to-day is expressed by the saying, "Hell is paved with good intentions." Wise men resolve to do in the future only what they cannot do now. Many and many a poor soul has lost the kingdom of heaven for that one reason: resolving instead of doing.

Brethren, a practically-minded Christian lives his spiritual life from day to day. He knows that the future is something entirely in God's hands. As for himself, his actual ability to do good begins and ends with each passing hour. If he provides well for it as it comes and goes he has done his part; God will not fail to take care of the future. One's peace of mind is never secure till one has learned to be content with present duty well done. Oh! what a happiness when one's soul is unburdened of care for the future. Do you covet that happiness? It is yours if you leave nothing undone for the present. If you can honestly say, "That is all I can do for the present," you may add, "and the future also."

But, you say, what about a purpose of amendment? Does not that dwell specially on the future? Yes, it does; but it springs from a present sorrow. And if the sorrow be as heartfelt as it should be the purpose of amendment will take care of itself. A deep hatred of sin is the only true sorrow, and such a hatred must be enduring. The test of a contrite man is not what he promises but what he does. His sorrow unites the past and future in the present. Warned by his past weakness, he begins right here and just now by prayer and work to guard against a future relapse.

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Learn a lesson, brethren, from our Lord's warning and from the fate of the Jews. It is better to say one's morning prayers to-day than to resolve to become a saint next week. To-day is here, and next week is nowhere. This day is mine; I know not if I shall have so much as one other. God has the past and the future. I will thank him for the past, I will beg him for the future. As to the present, with God's help, I will set to work to do my utmost.

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_Tenth Sunday after Pentecost._

Epistle.
1 Corinthians xii. 2-11.

Brethren:
You know that when you were heathens you went to dumb idols,
according as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand,
that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, saith Anathema to
Jesus. And no man can say, The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy
Ghost. Now there are diversities of graces, but the same
Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same
Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but the same
God, who worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man unto profit. To one, indeed, by
the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: to another, the word
of knowledge according to the same Spirit: to another, faith in
the same Spirit: to another, the grace of healing in one
Spirit: to another, the working of miracles: to another,
prophecy: to another, the discerning of spirits: to another,
divers kinds of tongues: to another, interpretation of
speeches: but all these things one and the same Spirit worketh,
dividing to every one as he will.

Gospel.
_St. Luke xviii._ 9-14.

At that time:
To some who trusted in themselves as just, and despised others,
Jesus spoke this parable: Two men went up into the temple to
pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The
Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give
thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, nor such as this publican. I fast twice in
the week: I give tithes of all that I possess.
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And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift
up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O
God, be merciful to me a sinner! I say to you, this man went
down to his house justified rather than the other; because
every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled: and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.

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Sermon CVIII.

Sympathy for Sinners.

_O God, I give thee thanks
that I am not as the rest of men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
nor such as this publican._
--St. Luke xviii. 11.

Did you never notice that pride and hardness of heart go together? That miserable Pharisee could not enjoy his self-glorification without condemning his neighbor, a person, as it happened, far more deserving than himself. Indeed, the worst vices seem to love each other's company as if they were all blood relatives. Coveting our neighbor's goods, for example, goes along with stinginess of our own; gluttony and lust are twins. Almost the same may be said of oppressing others and disobeying lawful authority; and in this hateful Pharisee we behold the union of pride in one's self and contempt for one's neighbor. The sinner seems to be bound with a chain every link of which is double.

Now, brethren, this is a fault often found in far better souls than this haughty Pharisee. Many of us have too little sympathy for persons whom we know to be in mortal sin. To be sure, it is no harm to rejoice that we are at friendship with heaven. But the worst of it is that some of us are never really happy at the thought of our own virtues till we are quite miserable over our neighbor's wickedness; and when we say with our lips, How wicked So-and-So is! our heart whispers, And how good I am!

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The spirit of correction possesses many good people--a spirit commonly the sign of hidden pride. No sooner do we take the first steps in amendment of life than we are divided between rejoicing in our own goodness and lamenting over other folk's vice. I know not what we good people should do for something to talk about were it not for our neighbor's shortcomings.

Brethren, this vanity is very foolish and very dangerous. Who dare say that he has nothing to fear from the judgments of God? Who can count himself safe so much as one day from his own natural feebleness, or from the wiles of Satan, or from human respect? And if we do rightly trust in God's favor, how can we forget that progress in virtue is a necessary condition of our remaining virtuous at all? Now this progress means simply a right knowledge of our remaining defects and a solid purpose to overcome them; something with which the vice of the Pharisee is quite incompatible. Nothing so blinds us to our own little faults as too much regard for our neighbor's big ones. Doubtless it would have been just as difficult for the Pharisee to correct his harshness of voice, or his lofty bearing, or his patronizing airs as to overcome his great sin of pride itself; and such is the case with many of us. The beam in our neighbor's eye looks so shocking that we quite forget that we have quite a squint in our own eye from various little motes in it.

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Be certain, therefore, brethren, that, if you find hard feelings in your heart toward sinners, you have no long journey to make before you discover the capital sin of pride in your own. Why can we not leave judgment to God, and treat poor sinners after our Lord's example, praying and suffering for them? I do not mean to say that we should forget to mention to them the awful chastisements of God; indeed, a truer friend does not exist than one who warns us of our future destruction, and some, such as parents, are in duty bound to give such admonition. But in the treatment of moral maladies we should bear in mind that bitter words and harsh looks spoil good medicine. And especially should we bear in mind that we have had our own wicked days.

Let us, therefore, regard sinners with much tenderness, dropping out of our view while we deal with them our own darling selves. Let us realize that we ourselves are poor souls, quite capable, but for God's singular favor, of falling into the worst state of sinfulness.

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Sermon CIX.

Morning Prayers.

_Two men went up into the temple to pray._
--From the Gospel of the Sunday.

The lesson of this day's Gospel, my brethren, is prayer; its necessity and its humility. Our short sermon must be contented with a little corner of this great field--that is to say, morning prayers.

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Suppose that your child is sick, what is your first word in the morning? It is, How is the baby this morning? Then follows much more: I think it is a little better to-day; it seems easier; or it passed a bad night; I hope the day will be cool, for it suffers from heat. So, anxiety for your poor little child consecrates your first thoughts and words to its welfare. And do you not know that your poor soul is either sick or runs the risk of catching a deadly sickness every day you live? There are bad sights on the streets that tend to sicken it; there are snares of the devil, such as cursing and foul-talking companions, bad reading and saloons; there is a spiritual cancer within--I mean the temptation of the flesh--which can only be kept from destroying the soul's life by constant and severe treatment. Now, thoughts and words do your sick child little good; but they are the very best things for the soul, especially early in the morning. The man or woman who kneels down and says the morning prayer guards against temptation, heads off the noon-day demon, and provides that happiest of evenings, that is to say, the one which follows an innocent day.

There's a saying against braggarts and promise-breakers that "fine words butter no parsnips." It is not true of words said in charity to our neighbor or in prayer to God. Sincere words addressed to God as the day begins sweeten every morsel of food the livelong day, lighten every burden and weaken every temptation. Why, then, are you so careless about morning prayers? It can only be because you do not appreciate your spiritual weakness or you do not care what becomes of your soul before bedtime. But somebody might say: Father, can't you tell us something to make the morning prayers easy? It is very hard to remember them, and then it is so pleasant to get even five minutes more sleep, especially in the winter time; and, again, I am always in a hurry to get off to work, etc. {362} Now you might as well ask me to tell you something to make you relish a good wash and a clean shirt. If a man does not hate dirt, it is preaching up the chimney to try to make him love to be clean. Prayer cleans the heart. Prayer clothes the soul with the grace of God. Prayer brings down God. Prayer drives away the devil. Or, I might rather say, that for a clean heart, and in order to get the grace of God, and in order to vanquish temptation, prayer is simply and indispensably necessary.

Once a man came to me and said: Father, for years I was addicted to habitual vice of the worst kind (and here he named a fearful sin), but I began some time ago to say the Litany of the Blessed Virgin every morning and the Litany of Jesus every night, and this practice has entirely cured me of that dreadful habit. Some such story as that, my brethren, every man must tell before he can say that he is delivered from sin.

For my own part, I look upon regular morning prayers as a plain mark of predestination to eternal life. "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you," is our Lord's promise to those that pray; and the best prayer is the morning prayer. Be ready, therefore, to correct yourself for omitting it. The day you forget it go without something you like to eat, put a nickel in the poor-box, double up your night prayers, make a special request to your guardian angel to get you up in good time for morning prayer the following morning. For the "Our Father," "Hail Mary," "Apostles Creed," "Confiteor," and Acts of Faith, Hope, Sorrow, and Charity, that you say in the morning will in the end give you a happy death and the kingdom of heaven.

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Sermon CX.

Feast Of St. Mary Magdalen.

_Many sins are forgiven her,
because she loved much._
--Gospel of the Day.

My dear brethren, no one who has faith can fail to be more or less anxious as to whether he will in the end save his soul. We all know that our faith alone will not save us; that faith, as St. James tells us, without works is dead. And we know that everything depends on the last moment; that as the tree falls, so will it lie for all eternity. So we tremble to think that perhaps that last moment will find us with our sins unforgiven, and all unprepared to meet our Judge; and that, in spite of our having borne the name of Christ, we may be then cast away from his presence into the outer darkness for ever.

Some people, I know, have a very simple way of reassuring themselves about this all-important matter. They think that, of course, when they come to die they will send for the priest; then, if he gets there in time, of course there can be no question about their salvation. And even if he does not, perhaps they would not altogether despair; certainly their friends will not despair of them. God, they think, will not utterly cast off those who have always believed in him; their prayers and those of their friends will certainly obtain them a place in purgatory, and at last they will save their souls, at least by fire.

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But, after all, do not even the most confident of us sometimes have a fear that even the last sacraments may not make our salvation absolutely sure? The last sacraments are not so very different from the others we have received before; and do we always feel fully prepared to die after every Communion which we make? No, there is a haunting fear that something is not right which pursues us even at the altar-rail; we would give much if we could only do something which would take it away altogether.

Let us not be troubled because we have this fear; it is better not to be entirely free from it; above all, let us not stay away from the sacraments because we have it. If we stay away in any case except that of known and certain mortal sin which is not forgiven, we shall only make matters worse. But still this fear is generally a sign of something wrong; it does not altogether come from humility, or from the desire of salvation. It comes from a want of something which we ought to have; from a want of the greatest of all virtues, of that which includes all others, and brings all others with it--from a want of the love of God. Not an entire want of it, but a want of strength in it, a want of affection; a want of that feeling which we have for our friends, and which, above all, we should have for the greatest and best of all.

Yes, perfect love, as St. John tells us, casts out fear. It is the short cut out of all these worries, difficulties, and anxieties which all who are not hardened sinners must have without it. It was the direct and simple road which St. Mary Magdalen took in escaping from sin. {365} She followed the Friend of sinners as he went on his mission of mercy; she saw the miracles of his power and goodness; she saw the love for men which shone in his face and inspired his every word and action, and her heart was touched and melted. She took it away at once and for ever from all those vain things to which it had been attached and gave it truly and entirely to him who had made it, and who had come in sorrow and suffering to win back his own. And her many sins were forgiven because she loved much; because all the powers of earth and of hell cannot put an obstacle between God and the soul that loves him as he should be loved.

If we would only do as she did; if we would put away all these bargainings about just how much we are bound to give to God, and how much we can safely keep for ourselves; if we would love him as she did, not with a mere passing sentiment, but with that devotion and self-sacrificing affection which it is so easy sometimes to give to a mere creature; if we would let him, as he wishes, into our hearts as our dearest and best, and make everything else give place, then fear would pass away, and we should say, "Let God take me when he will; let me suffer what my sins deserve, but surely he will not keep me from loving him." Yes, my brethren, to love God is the one thing necessary; to love him is to save our souls.

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_Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost._

Epistle.
1 _Corinthians xv._ 1-10.

Brethren:
I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand: by which also
you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached to
you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered to you
first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures: and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas, and after that by
the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren
at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are
fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the
apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one
born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who
am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his
grace in me hath not been void.

Gospel.
_St. Mark vii._ 31-37.

At that time:
Jesus going out of the borders of Tyre, came by Sidon to the
sea of Galilee, through the midst of the territories of
Decapolis. And they bring to him one that was deaf and dumb;
and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him
aside from the multitude, he put his fingers into his ears, and
spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he
groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be opened.
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And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his
tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that
they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much
the more a great deal did they publish it. And so much the more
did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath
made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

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Sermon CXI.

Want Of Confidence In God.

_He hath done all things well._
--St. Mark vii. 37.

The spectators of the double miracle related in this day's Gospel were filled with admiration at our Lord's power and goodness; they could not help exclaiming, "He doth all things well." Would to God, brethren, that such a sentiment of our Lord's love and power filled our hearts! Confidence in God, however, is the very virtue many Christians lack most. True, we say and believe that God is infinitely good--that he is mercy itself. But such language is very indefinite and may express a very dim conception. It is something like saying that a stone is very hard or that water is very wet. We are apt to form pictures of God's attributes in our minds, just as a painter may make a portrait of some historical personage he never saw; many of our notions of God are fancy portraits, all imagination.

But just think of the actual grounds of our confidence in our Blessed Lord. Just realize that this wonderful being is filled with the tenderest human love for the worst of us, and has all the divine power at his command--being both man and God--to make good his love by bringing about our spiritual and temporal welfare. {368} The Incarnation is the divine Mercy made man for the love of us. Can we suppose that such a being, having begun the good work of our salvation by giving us the true religion, will leave anything undone, that we will let him do, to bring us to the kingdom of heaven? Do you think that such a loving Father would teach us, his children, A B C except with the set purpose of going clean through to X Y Z? Just think, that it positively never happened that any wretched sinner, how ever degraded, ever implored our Lord's forgiveness and was rejected; nay, that he himself secretly inspires sinners with their grief and horror for their evil ways, and then imparts forgiveness in return for his own gift. The fact is that the question is not whether God will forgive us, but whether we will let him do it. In a word, this infinitely good and infinitely powerful being is bent and determined that we shall enjoy perfect happiness, world without end.

What a wonder, then, that we can treat our Lord in our cold-hearted way! Scrupulous persons treat him as if he were a tyrant; lukewarm Christians treat him like a stepfather; obstinate sinners treat him with open contempt. The practise of prayer, the reception of the sacraments and other aids of religion--we treat them as school-children do their lessons: we do it all because we are afraid of the consequences if we don't. Considering how much God loves us his service should come as easy to us as breathing the air; it should be the element in which we live. If our faith were a little more practical God's loveliness would be as plain to us as the open day and the sun in the heavens.

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Furthermore, and this is still more practical, lack of confidence in God is why we repine at his visitations. It is easy enough to say, be resigned to the will of God, but how can we be content to suffer unless we are penetrated with confidence in the divine goodness? Brethren, you know how we sometimes take medicine. We wrap it up in a pleasant-flavored wafer or hide it in a spoonful of sugar, and down it goes and we never taste its bitterness. So a lively confidence in God, if we only had enough of it, is the sweetness to wrap around the bitter things of life. Temptations, long and wearisome poverty, ill-health, unpleasant companions in the household--these and other such trials are the bitter pills of the soul; when we fairly realize that God means them for our spiritual good we can bear them with patience, even with thankfulness.

Did you ever hear of the witch-hazel, and how people used to fancy that a crooked branch of it thrown into the air would fall on the spot where a good spring of water could be found? Well, the witch-hazel of the Christian soul is just this question: How much confidence have you in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for you? If that does not reveal the hidden springs of your heart and bring the waters of love gushing forth, then that heart is hopelessly dry.

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Sermon CXII.

Devotion To The Blessed Virgin.

Why do Catholics pay so much honor to the Virgin Mary? Are they not doing an injury to her Son by over-honoring his Mother? What is the reason, the doctrine, of the Catholic's devotion to Mary?

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Very fair questions, brethren; questions which you should be ready to answer with intelligence and kindness. So that now, as we approach the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption into heaven, let us renew our faith in her dignity. What, then, does the Catholic faith teach us about her? It teaches us that she is the Mother of God; and further, that, on account of the foreseen merits of her Son, she was preserved from the stain of original sin; that she was always a virgin; and that it is lawful and profitable to ask her prayers. Such are the articles of faith concerning the Blessed Virgin.

Once you know something about her Son's divinity you easily perceive her dignity of Mother of God. Her title of Mother of God plainly rests upon the fact that her Son is God. Jesus Christ is God; his nature is divine and his person is divine. And here you must bear in mind the distinction between nature and person. He has the nature, being, essence of God. And he has the person of God; for our Saviour is God the Son, second person of the Most Holy Trinity. What, then, is human about him? for we know that he is as truly man as he is truly God. The answer is that he has a human nature as well as a divine nature. He became man; and he did so by taking human nature from Mary, his Mother. But, you ask again, is he a human person also? No, for we have seen that he is the divine person, God the Son. There cannot be two persons in Christ. He is but a single person, one individual, and that is divine. So that the divine personality of the Son of God takes human nature and unites it to the divine nature. The one divine person whose name is Christ, and who is of both divine and human nature, has no human personality, but divine.

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And this is the Son of Mary. Is she not the Mother of our Lord, personally his Mother? Can any one be a mother and not be mother of a person? Is he not personally her son? What a dignity! What a mysterious and wonderful eminence, to be mother of the divine person of the Son of God made man. No wonder that we honor her; although we know full well that all she has of dignity and sanctity she has by no power of her own, but by gift of God, and that she is purely a human being. Those who do not honor Mary fail to appreciate the majesty of Christ; fail to understand the doctrine of the Incarnation; fail to grasp the immensity of the divine love in God becoming man.

No wonder, then, that God should have saved her from the taint of Adam's sin, should have preserved her a spotless virgin, should have saved her pure body from the grave's filth by the Assumption into heaven. The Angel Gabriel tells us what Mary is: "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and thou shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. ... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and therefore the Holy (One) that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

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Now, brethren, to be a mother is to hold an office. It is to exercise by divine right the highest powers committed to a human being. What wonderful rights a mother possesses! An affectionate allegiance is due her from her son: an obedience instinctive, sacred, supreme; a reverential and hearty loyalty which arouses the noblest emotions in the hardest heart and gives birth to heroic deeds even in men of the weakest natures. A mother is entitled to her son's love by the most sacred of all obligations. Well, just think of it: our Blessed Lord was, and is yet, bound to his Mother by that imperative divine law; he was, and is yet, subject to the sweetest and, for a noble nature, the most resistless impulse to do his Mother's will and to make her happy. He owes her love, obedience, reverence, friendship, support, companionship, sympathy. And he that doth all things well, would he not do his whole duty as Son, would he not be a model Son? Would he not grant her lightest wish while he lived with her on earth, will he not gladly do so now in heaven?

Hence our Lord Jesus Christ spent nearly his whole life in his Mother's immediate company, consenting to postpone for her sake his Father's work of publishing his divinity and preaching his Gospel. Hence he worked his first miracle at her request at the wedding of Cana. Hence he inspired her to prophecy that all generations would call her blessed. Hence, too, our Lord has instilled into every Christian heart some little glow of his own deep filial love for her.

In truth, brethren, whatever Christ's Mother is to him by nature, that she is to us by adoption. Just in proportion to our union with him are we bound to her. And if we wish to know him well we can study in no better school than his Mother's. If we wish to love him tenderly, her maternal heart can best teach us how. And if we have favors to ask him we shall be glad, if we are not too self-conceited, to secure her prayers to assist us.

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Sermon CXIII.

Gratitude.

My brethren, we have had a word to say before this about the vice of ingratitude, and of how mean a vice it is, especially in a Christian. Now let us consider the opposite virtue--gratitude. It is, to be sure, one of the little virtues. Yet how can we call any class of virtues little? No doubt there are, strictly speaking, grades of merit very much higher one above the other. But that is not so much from the action done in each case as from the motive that inspires the action. One saves a man's life for the love of money; another gives a glass of cold water for the love of God. The glass of water is nothing compared to a human life; yet the glass of water will be rewarded for all eternity, and the saving of the human life is paid for as we pay for a load of coal. Brethren, beware of thinking there is any thing to be called little that has to do with God and eternal life; and always bear in mind that, by practising little virtues with an earnest purpose to please God, your merit is according to your heart, and not according to your hand.

I do not intend to speak specially, just now, of gratitude to God; but between man and man gratitude is one of those gentle virtues that increase our fondness for each other. Gratitude is a short cut to sincere and lasting friendship. {374} And if a supernatural motive inspires one's gratitude to his friends, then a holy friendship is the result. Some people complain that they have no friends. I think they are most to blame themselves. Have they never had a favor done them? Why, every one of us has had a score of favors done him every day of his life. Those who bear it in mind, who say a word of hearty thanks, who watch a chance to do a favor in return, never lack friends. Brethren, never forget a favor. Return it if you can, at least in part; but at any rate never forget it. Feel grateful at least; say a thankful word; offer up a prayer for your benefactors now and then. The best use we can make of our memories is to remember our benefactors. Favors done and favors gratefully remembered are the two halves of a happy life. It would be only simple justice if we looked on gratitude as we do on a just debt; for gratitude pays debts, first in good-will, and before long in a more substantial manner. You know that an honest debtor will always try to save a little from day to day to pay his debts. So we can do a little from time to time by way of instalments, so to speak; we can say a daily prayer for our benefactors, write an occasional letter, pay a visit now and then, often praise them to our friends.

Of course, those who have done us the greatest favors are entitled to the deepest gratitude. Now, who has done so much for us as our parents? Certainly, next to God, our parents stand first in the list of our benefactors. Yet many, especially after they have married and settled down in their own families, are wanting in gratitude to their parents. Married persons who are badly treated by their own children should sometimes ask themselves if it be not in punishment for their forgetfulness of their own parents. {375} Of course, when we are in middle life, what was done for us in childhood seems very far away; it was diffused over many years; it was a regular habit and course of life; it was bound up in our parents own happiness. But let us bear in mind, all the same, how true and deep the love that inspired it; how unwearied the patience; how self-forgetful the devotion of our parents, and let us seek every chance to make their last years happy.

Brethren, shall I say a word about gratitude due to us of the sanctuary? Has not some priest done you a favor; converted you by a sermon, inspired you to perseverance by his advice in the confessional, soothed your sick and weary heart, or reconciled you to a dreary burden? If so, you ought to pray for him, and especially for your pastors.

But gratitude to God is, of course, the first and best of all. From him we have received all, and, having forfeited every favor, again and again received them back from the divine bounty.

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_Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost._

Epistle.
2 _Corinthians iii._ 4-9.

Brethren:
Such confidence we have, through Christ towards God. Not that
we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God. Who also hath made
us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but
in the Spirit. For the letter killeth; but the Spirit giveth
life. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters
upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his
countenance, which is done away: how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of
condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice
aboundeth in glory.

Gospel.
_St. Luke x_. 23-37.

At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples:
Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. For I
say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the
things that you see, and have not seen them: and to hear the
things that you hear, and have not heard them. And behold a
certain lawyer stood up, tempting him, and saying: Master, what
must I do to possess eternal life? But he said to him: What is
written in the law? how readest thou? He answering, said: "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind:
and thy neighbor as thyself." And he said to him: Thou hast
answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing
to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbor?
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And Jesus answering, said: A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped
him, and having wounded him, went away, leaving him half dead.
And it happened that a certain priest went down the same way,
and seeing him, he passed by. In like manner also a Levite,
when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. But a
certain Samaritan being on his journey came near him; and
seeing him was moved with compassion. And going up to him,
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him
upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the
host, and said: Take care of him: and whatsoever thou shalt
spend over and above, I at my return will repay thee. Which of
these three in thy opinion was neighbor to him that fell among
the robbers? But he said: He that showed mercy to him. And
Jesus said to him: Go and do thou in like manner.

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Sermon CXIV.

The Good Samaritan.

_Go and do thou in like manner._
St. Luke x. 37.

How few of us, brethren, are really naturally of a self-sacrificing disposition! How few actually enjoy, for example, the offices of the sick-room, or so much as a little visit of condolence to an afflicted friend!

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That is why our Blessed Lord, in this day's Gospel, has given us the beautiful parable of the good Samaritan. Although a heretic and schismatic against the law of Moses, he is chosen as a model because he had a tender, compassionate heart, and was willing to put himself to trouble and expense for his neighbor's welfare.

The corporal works of mercy, brethren, are the easiest of the ways to the love of God. People are fond of admiring the members of religious orders, who, for the love of God, serve the sick and the aged, the insane and the orphans; often forgetting that if this is good as a life-work for them, it is not bad as an occasional practise of virtue for us living in the world. All around us there are shoulders bending under weary burdens and hearts breaking with insupportable cares: yes, even in one's own household. How often do men deny their wives the pleasure of their company; when Sunday comes, going off with any chance companions and leaving the poor mother to mind the children, to miss Mass, and sit lonely at home the livelong day. How very often do young men think of taking anybody's sisters to some respectable place of amusement rather than their own sisters! I think that if a spiritual thermometer were dipped into such men's hearts they would be found pretty near the freezing point.

But, brethren, the sick-room--ah! that is the place on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho where men and women are oftenest found lying in the direst distress. Have you ever been very sick? If so, you know the value of a little good nursing. A man who was just recovering from a very dangerous sickness told me once that when his head was burning with the fever he would willingly have given a hundred thousand dollars for the cooling, restful relief he enjoyed every time the nurse rearranged the pillows for him.

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And if you cannot be a regular nurse for the sick, there is no reason why you should not pay an occasional visit to the sick-room. You can spend a pleasant quarter of an hour in cheerful conversation. You can relieve some poor, weary watcher, so that she or he may get a little rest. You can take the ailing child from the worn-out mother's arms and let her lie down and rest her stiffened limbs, or go to church to refresh her anxious soul. You can bring some little delicacy to soothe the sick person's palate. You can read some prayers beside the sick bed morning or night; for we all know that in time of illness it is almost impossible to pray one's self. You can lend a hand to set things to rights, to cook a meal of victuals, or wash the dishes, or run an errand to the drug-store or grocery; and ever and always you can say a word of comfort, of hope, of resignation to the divine will--words cheap to give but precious to receive.

And when at last death is come your presence may be of the deepest comfort. Then is the time to come forward promptly and help to lay out the Christian corpse; to set up for a night beside that strange, silent guest in the coffin; and, when you find two or three gathered about it, to have the courage to lead in reciting the rosary for the soul's happy repose.

I know, brethren, that there are many kind hearts who zealously practise these lovely virtues. But there are others, especially among the men, who nearly quite forget them. And others still who do them grudgingly, and only after many entreaties. To obtain a kind act from an unwilling heart, and after encountering many excuses, is like blowing a dying fire: before you see the bright coals your face is pretty well covered with ashes and cinders.

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Brethren, let us not be put to shame by the Samaritan. When confronted with persons suffering from poverty, sickness, death, or any misfortune, do like the Samaritan: forget all about their nationality, or acquaintanceship, or religion. Say something or do something in charity and for the love of God; your neighbor's deepest gratitude and God's sure reward will amply repay you.

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Sermon CXV.

Our Neighbors.

_Which of these three, in thy opinion,
was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?
But He said, he that showed mercy to him._
--Gospel of the Day.

We are taught in the Gospel of today to love our neighbors as ourselves. Now, if we have this love it shows itself in deeds. If, when we see our neighbor in distress, we pass by, thinking some one else may help him, but _we_ cannot, we are like the proud priest and the Levite, not like the good Samaritan. Our Lord, after describing the charity of this Samaritan, says: "Go and do thou in like manner." We can not pass by our neighbor when he is in extreme necessity without sin; and if his necessity be great we must help him, at least out of our abundance. It is a mistake to think that we are free of obligation in this matter. St. John says: "He that hath the substance of this world and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him?"

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Are not all men creatures of God? Are not all men redeemed by the Blood of Christ? Does God give more of this world's goods to one man than to another because he loves one more than another? Not at all. The poorest in this world's goods may be rich in God's grace. It is plain, then, that if God has charity for all men, we cannot have his grace if we do not exercise charity towards all, and particularly our neighbor in distress. We must love those whom God loves if we love God, and this love must be _active_--"not in word nor in tongue," says St. John, "but in deed and in truth."

We all pray to God for mercy; but if we would find mercy we must show mercy. "Blessed are the merciful," says our Lord, "for they shall obtain mercy." But, says St. James, "judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy." Mercy shall be granted to the merciful, but it shall be denied to the hard of heart. "Deal thy bread to the hungry," says Isaias, "and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house. Then thou shalt call and the Lord shall hear."

St. Jerome says: "I have never known a merciful man to have a bad death." The word of God encourages us "to redeem our sins with alms and our iniquities with works of mercy to the poor." It says further: "For alms deliver from all sin and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness." We are taught also in Holy Scripture that Christ considers as done to himself what we do for the poor, but that if we refuse to help those in distress it is as if charity were refused to Christ himself. The sentence which shall decide our eternal happiness or woe will be according to our behavior towards our neighbor in distress.

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Let us take care not to be deaf to the cries of the suffering poor; let us rather embrace with affection the lovely virtue of mercy. Bishop Challoner says: "It was mercy which brought the Son of God down from heaven to us, and it is mercy which carries us up to him." He calls "mercy the favorite daughter of the great King." The reward of the merciful will be very great. "He that hath mercy on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and he will repay him."

Those of us who labor in the sacred ministry and those who do work in the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul meet continually with persons whose distress appeals most powerfully to our charity. How we wish the offerings for the poor were more generous! How we wish God would inspire pious Christians to send in donations for the poor! If you would sometimes send into the church-office envelopes containing money for the poor, what good use we could make of it, and how it would call down the mercy of God upon your souls! Brethren, we have Jesus Christ with us in the persons of the poor.

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Sermon CXVI.

Occasions Of Sin.

_Who is my neighbor?_
--From the Gospel of the Sunday.

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This is a very important question, my brethren. We depend much for our happiness on the kind of persons who live around us and on how they feel to-wards us. Our Lord answers the question by the famous and touching parable of the Good Samaritan. By that parable he teaches us kindness of heart; he makes that the mark of true neighborly conduct. The good neighbor is the friendly and benevolent one. But may we not turn the question around and learn another good lesson from it? I think we can. The Gospel is like a piece of good cloth. You know when a wise mother buys some cloth to make the children clothes she will get a piece that, as they say, will do to turn--that is, when one side is worn out you can rip up the garment and make it over again with the inside turned outside, and so it will last quite a while longer. So we may learn, perhaps, another lesson from the question in the Gospel by reversing it and asking, "Who is not my neighbor?" The saloon-keeper is not your neighbor. Geographically speaking, no doubt he is your neighbor. He takes care to be handy to you. He is on the ground-floor of the big tenement-house you live in, so that you must pass his door to get to your own. Or he is on the corner you must turn twenty times a day. If nearness were the only mark of a neighbor, the saloon-keeper is very neighborly indeed. But, morally speaking, and in the meaning of our Lord's parable, he is perhaps the last man who can claim to be your neighbor. Yet many honest fellows treat the saloon-keeper not only as their neighbor, but as a partner in their business. They do the hard work; the workingman's share in the partnership is to bend under the heavy hod in the hot sun, or to strike with the heavy sledge on the rocks, or to be half-stifled the livelong day in the hot factory; the other partner has for his share of the work only to smile and pass the bottle. {384} You know which one gets the bulk of the profits; or if you do not, the working-man's wife and family know it all too well. How many foolish men are there who have taken this bad neighbor into partnership the most confidential, and not only give him most of their money in return for worse than nothing, but have made him, besides, the managing partner of their leisure, their friendships, and their politics! As to the sorrows that are bred by the saloon-keeper's traffic, he manages to escape them for a time; and may God give him the grace to repent of his sins and fly from their occasion--that is, change his business--that he may escape the divine wrath in the future.

Another very bad neighbor, and one very unworthy of that name, is a certain class of newsdealers. I say a certain class, for I hope that not all news dealers are alike. But there are very many of them who are guilty of the loss of human souls by selling periodicals and books which can only corrupt the mind and heart of the reader. I ask you, Christian parents, what do you think of those who dress out their windows, with bad pictures to lure passionate youth to the early wreck of soul and body? What do you think of persons who actually make a living in selling journals which are but the pictured proceedings of the police courts? O my brethren! how often is the grace of a good confession and Communion destroyed by a few minutes bad reading! How many there are whose first mortal sin has been some act of youthful depravity suggested by what was bought at a newsdealer's! Such news dealers hold Satan's certificates to teach the science of perdition. {385} What need has the Evil Spirit to fear the Catholic Church and Catholic school as long as he is not hindered from laying his snares for youthful virtue in every direction, as long as the laws against obscene literature are a dead-letter? Therefore, let Catholic parents furnish their families with good reading, both secular and religious; let them take at least one Catholic paper, and let them patronize and direct their children to patronize news dealers who do not sell dangerous matter.

Of course there are other bad neighbors, such as those who invite you to a public dance, or a moonlight excursion, or a Sunday picnic, or a low theatre. But I think you will agree with me that the commonest vices are intemperance and impurity, and that our worst enemies are those two bad neighbors, the saloon-keeper and the vender of impure literature.

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_Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost._

Epistle.
_Galatians iii._ 16-22.