Chapter VI: Part 6

But however true this is, suffering is not an end in itself; it is only a means to an end; it is but a road to everlasting joy and glory. God permits and commands sufferings in order that he may give to those who endure their sufferings well an abundant reward. As St. Paul says: "That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." And it is in order that we may ever remember this that the church calls upon us to consider the manifestation of the glory of our Lord and Master, to whom we must be made conformable in all things--in suffering in this life, in glory in the next.

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Sermon XLVIII.

Christian Perfection Not Impossible.

_This is the will of God, your sanctification._
--Epistle of the Day.

What, my dear brethren, is the will or intention of Almighty God and of the Catholic Church, which is directed by his Holy Spirit, in establishing for us this fast of Lent, and commanding us to observe it? What is the end which he meant that every Christian should attain by keeping it, and which makes the opportunity now offered to us such a great grace as we were warned last week that it is? The words of St. Paul to-day answer these questions for us. "The will of God," he says, his intention for us at all times indeed, but specially now, "is our sanctification."

But what is our sanctification? It is the making us saints. That, then, is what Lent ought to do for us. It ought to make us saints; God and his church mean that it should.

"Well," perhaps you may say, "if that is the end for which Lent is appointed, it seems to me that the end is seldom attained. For my part, I am afraid I shall never be a saint; saints are few and far between. It will take more than one Lent to make a saint out of such a sinner as I am."

If, then, you say this, I must confess that there is a good deal of truth in it. We must all feel and acknowledge that. Any one who could feel sure now that when Easter comes he will be fit to be canonized must either be very proud and presumptuous, and far from real sanctity, or have some special revelation from God, to which, I think, none of us will pretend.

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But for all that it is true that Lent ought to sanctify us; it ought to make us saints, only we need not take the word in quite so high a sense. Though we may hope for the greatest possible gifts now, we cannot confidently expect them. There is, however, a sanctification that we ought to expect from this Lent, and what is it?

It is what I fear many of you, even though tolerably good Christians, do not expect. What do I mean by a tolerably good Christian? I mean, of course, one who expects to make his Easter duty. One who does not expect and mean to do that can hardly be called a tolerably good Christian; it would be more nearly right to call him an intolerably bad one. Well, then, you who are good Christians expect to make your Easter duty; so far, so good. But it is not far enough. For what is it that is meant, perhaps, by that? Is it not merely to make up your mind to confess your sins and to keep for a few days as you ought to be, and then be pretty much as you were before? Has not that been the experience of the past Easter duties of not a few of you, my brethren; and may not the same be said of the missions you have attended, and the other great graces you have received from time to time in your life? You came up to the surface, as a fish jumps out of the water for a moment, and then down you went again.

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But that is not enough. That is not sanctification, and it is not the will or intention of God. What you ought to expect is much more than that. What, then, is it? It is simply this: that when you have made your Easter duty you are going to stay all your life where it will put you. It is that the habits of mortal sin which you may then have to confess will be gone for good; that those impure thoughts, words, and actions will have stopped for ever; that the shameful drunkenness, and all the sins which came from it, will be things only of the past; that you will never again wilfully neglect Holy Mass; that in every way you will really live as you ought, all the time in the state of grace, in peace with God and men, and in readiness to die at any time, even without the sacraments, if such should be God's will; that, in short, you will be truly converted to him once for all.

That is the sanctification which past Lents have not brought you, but which this one should. Do not, I beg you, think it is impossible, for it is not only possible but easy. Do not make your Easter duty the highest point and the end of your Christian life; it should be only the beginning of it. What a consolation it will be to you, if in your future life you can look back on this Lent and say, "That was the time when I really began to be a good Christian; since then I have not had much on my conscience; I have kept in the state of grace. I made really good and strong resolutions then, and I have been faithful to them ever since."

There are those now, plenty of them, who can say this of some past Lent. Let it be now your turn to say it of this one. It is not a matter of luck and chance; if you will, this grace of a lasting conversion from sin is now offered to each and every one of you. It is yours to a certainty, if you will take the trouble to secure it; for it is the will of God.

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Sermon XLIX.

_The Divine Presence In Our Churches. _

_Lord, it is good for us to be here._
--St. Matthew. xvii. 4.

The Gospel of to-day tells us of the wonderful Transfiguration of our Lord upon the mountain in the sight of his Apostles Peter, James, and John. "His face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as snow." And Peter, wrapt in wonder, yet conscious of the privilege of being present at such a time, exclaimed: "Lord, it is good for us to be here." Jesus has withdrawn his visible presence from us. We cannot, like St. Peter and St. John, behold him with our bodily eyes, nor with our ears can we hear him speaking the words of life. It is better for us that it should be so. In our present sinful and imperfect state we could not bear the splendors of his glorified humanity. When from out the bright cloud which overshadowed him the disciples heard the voice of God proclaiming, "This is my beloved Son," "they fell upon their faces, and were very much afraid." The sight of all this glory, and the knowledge that they were in the presence of Almighty God himself, filled them with fear. So, too, would it be with us now if Jesus were to show himself to us as he now is in heaven. At the sight of his majesty and glory we, too, should fall upon our faces with fear and trembling.

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Now, our dear Lord, knowing this weakness of ours, does not withdraw his presence from us, for he has promised to be with us, even till the end of the world; but he hides his glory from us under the humble appearance of bread and wine. Beneath these outward forms he remains continually in our churches, there in the tabernacle, by day and night, claiming our adoration and our love. In Holy Mass he is daily raised aloft by the hands of the priest, offering himself to God the Father for the sins of the world. In the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament he is lifted up to bless his faithful ones. And God still speaks to us by the voice and teaching of the church as truly as he spoke to the disciples upon the holy mountain, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him." We can still see our Lord, yet only through the cloud which overshadows him--that is, by the eyes of faith. Yet he is none the less really present in the tabernacle upon the altar than he was upon Mount Thabor on the day of his Transfiguration.

When, therefore, we come into his sacred presence, when we enter the church and see the little lamp burning before the altar to tell us that he is there, our sentiments should be those of St. Peter at the Transfiguration: "Lord, it is good for us to be here." It is good for us to often visit him in the Blessed Sacrament; it is good for us to often receive his Benediction; it is good for us, nay, necessary for us, to assist at Holy Mass when the church bids us do so; above all it is good for us, above all it is necessary for us, to receive him in Holy Communion, and especially now at this time for the fulfilment of the Easter duty. Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament only for our own good, for the good of our souls. When, therefore, we see this great goodness of our Lord towards us, how can we be so heedless of our own good as to turn away from him?

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And when you come before the Blessed Sacrament, remember that you are in God's presence. Do not forget to bend your knee in adoration. Do not take advantage of his mercy in hiding his glory from you by forgetting that he is really here, by spending the whole time of Mass with roving eyes and thoughts. Fix your attention upon the altar where he is, and offer him the best homage that your heart can give. It will be good for you to be here, if you have the same sentiments at Mass which the disciples had at the Transfiguration. You should be filled with a holy fear lest your idle thoughts at this holy time should one day be reckoned against you. For now he veils himself from you in mercy and love, but one day he will appear to you in far more dazzling brightness than he ever manifested on earth. Oh! then, despise not his presence here, that when at last you stand before him he may judge you worthy to enjoy his presence for ever.

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_Third Sunday of Lent._

Epistle.
_Ephesians v._ 1-9.

Brethren:
Be ye followers of God, as most dear children. And walk in love
as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us
an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.
But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it
not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: nor
obscenity, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which is to no
purpose: but rather giving of thanks. For know ye this, and
understand that no fornicator, nor unclean, nor covetous person
which is a serving of idols hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words.
For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the
children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them.
For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord.
Walk ye as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is
in all goodness, and justice, and truth.

Gospel.
_St. Luke xi._ 14-28.

At that time:
Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb; and when
he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke; and the multitude
admired: but some of them said: He casteth out devils in
Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And others tempting, asked
of him a sign from heaven. But he, seeing their thoughts, said
to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought
to desolation, and a house upon a house shall fall. And if
Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom
stand? because you say, that in Beelzebub I cast out devils.
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Now if I cast out devils in Beelzebub, in whom do your children
cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I,
in the finger of God, cast out devils, doubtless the kingdom of
God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his
court, those things which he possesseth are in peace. But if a
stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take
away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his
spoils. He that is not with me, is against me: and he that
gathereth not with me, scattereth. When the unclean spirit is
gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water,
seeking rest: and not finding, he saith: I will return into my
house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it
swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they
dwell there. And the last state of that man becometh worse than
the first. And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a
certain woman from the crowd lifting up her voice, said to him:
Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee
suck. But he said: Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the
word of God and keep it.

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Sermon L.

Immodest Language.

How pertinent to our own times are the words of St. Paul in the Epistle of to-day, addressed nineteen centuries ago to the Christians of Ephesus: "But all uncleanness, let it not be so much as named among you, as becometh saints. ... For know ye this and understand that no unclean person hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

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There is no vice, my brethren, more common among men at the present day in all classes of society, from the professional man to the day-laborer, among the rich and the poor, the old and the young, than that of obscene or immodest conversation.

Among the better educated this poison of impurity is clothed in language which serves to veil its disgusting nudity, and thus the more securely to insinuate itself and to deceive the unwary; while among the less educated it is oftener expressed in words that reveal its horrid filthiness and shock common decency.

Listen to the conversation of almost any chance gathering of young men, and you will soon hear the double-meaning joke, the attempt of some one to be witty, which serves as much to expose the shallowness of his pate as the corruption and rottenness of his miserable heart.

Holy Scripture says that "out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh." How true this is! But if one were to use this criterion in judging the thoughts that fill the hearts of many amongst us, how debased and pitiable must be their condition!

And how shocking it is, my dear brethren, to meet a young man whose dress and manner at first give evidence of respectability and good breeding, but who, when an immodest allusion is made or an impure joke uttered, is the first to shout with laughter! Such a one is well described by our Blessed Lord as "a whited sepulchre? full of dead men's bones."

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And yet these whited sepulchres are not very rare in the community. You meet them in every walk of life--in the counting-room and in the factory, at the "respectable" club-room as well as in the grog-shop, and alas! must we say it, among Catholics as well as among non-Catholics.

Yes, among Catholics, who have been elevated to a supernatural state through the merits and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ; whose hearts have been sealed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and on whose tongue the Body and Blood of our Lord has often been placed--even these have dared to cherish in their hearts and express with their tongues thoughts and sentiments that would shock the moral sense even of the unregenerate.

Are they laboring under the incredible and awful delusion that they commit no great sin when they entertain or give expression to such thoughts? Do they think that they escape mortal sin when their impurity is expressed in the form of a joke or a pun, or when they by a laugh countenance and encourage the like impurity in others? Ah! my dear brethren, it is to be feared that too many consciences have been lulled to sleep by this cunning device of the devil.

The first introduction to sin for many a one has been the listening with pleasure to the double-meaning word uttered, perhaps, by a companion, or while in the company of others. He was then put on trial not by the devil alone, but by the one also who uttered it. But the blush of modesty which rose instinctively to his cheek from a pure heart was by an effort suppressed through human respect, and the voice of conscience, that told him to administer a rebuke to the minister of Satan or abandon his company at once, was hushed into silence, and the demon of impurity from that moment took possession.

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Take warning, then, my dear brethren, from the words of St. Paul, and never countenance by a laugh or in any other way any offence against holy purity, in whatsoever form it may be expressed; "for know ye that no unclean person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

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Sermon LI.

Honorary Church-members.

_He who is not with me is against me_.
--Luke xi. 23.

Societies in our day, brethren, have become a great moral force, the very best means of promoting and spreading any great cause. Men recognize this fact, and so combine together, that by unity of purpose they may better advance the principles they desire to support. Many of these societies are made up of two distinct classes--the active members, who are the bone and sinew, the life of the institution, and the honorary members, who take no personal interest in the management or working of the society, but who, nevertheless, are good enough, or interested enough, to advance the cause they honor by the support of their name.

You and I, brethren, belong to a society, the Catholic Church, which embraces the whole world. We have in view one great object--the salvation of souls, the spread of the kingdom of Jesus Christ among men. But this society of ours, a real, living, organic institution, differs from most others in this: that it does not need the support of _honorary_ members; neither will it approve their existence in its bosom.

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No, the church would have all her members living, active, earnest supporters of her principles, and from them all she requires a pledge that they will keep her laws, advance her ends, and fight her battles for the kingdom she was established to uphold. She will welcome no mere spectators to her ranks, and as for neutral ground, she recognizes none; for those who are not with her are against her.

And yet there are many who call themselves Christians, _would-be honorary_ members of the Catholic Church, who do not even realize what the word Christian means; who seem to forget that to be a Christian imposes the obligation of being at war with all that is anti-Christian. An honorary membership for such Christians is very convenient; a membership that would allow them to be on good terms with Christ and Satan. The fasting and praying, the vigils and good works, the real brunt of the battle they would leave to the active members, while they would look on with an encouraging smile of approval.

Ah! brethren, learn this lesson once for all and well: between Christ and the world there can be no compromise. He who is not with me is against me. There is no neutral ground, for the moment we desert the Christian rank and file we give the hand of fellowship to the enemy. We cannot serve two masters well, and in the Catholic Church there is no membership worthy the name that is not an active, complete membership. The drones of the hive may nourish and thrive for a time, but let them remember they run the awful risk of final destruction.

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The question I would have you ask yourselves today, and meditate upon during this holy season, is this: Are you active, living members of the church, that mystical body of which Jesus Christ is the head and the Holy Ghost the life-giving principle, or are you simply _would-be honorary_ members? Have you at heart the interests of God's holy church; are her sorrows, her wants, her trials yours? Are the sacraments she offers you the source and support of your life? If so, you have reason to thank God.

Or are you standing afar off ready to give an approving nod when the world smiles, or slink off like a coward when the world frowns? Are the laws of the church irksome to you and so avoided? If this be the case, you are nothing but dead limbs, and liable to be cut off without a moment's warning from the living body, for dead members are against, not with, the parent stem.

Would-be honorary members of the Catholic Church, beware of the error of trying to give one hand to God and the other to the devil; beware of the fallacy of thinking that because you are outwardly connected with the church you cannot be lost--that hell was never intended for Catholics; that, somehow or other, you will come out all right in the end. That is what Judas thought when with his sin-stained lips he kissed his Lord whom he had so lately sold to the enemy.

Have you still the faith, then beware lest your want of charity may bring on a want of faith. Have you still a conscience, beware lest your frequent attempts to stifle it may extinguish it altogether. If there be a spark of it left I beg of you stir it up. Be in earnest, and at least let not this Lent pass without a good confession and communion, the only condition on which you can become active members of God's holy church. Put your heart in the work and you will be happier for it here and certainly happier hereafter.

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Sermon LII.

Half-Hearted Christians.

_He that is not with me is against me._
--Gospel Of The Day.

These words, my dear brethren, like many others spoken by our Blessed Lord, may be interpreted in various ways. They may be understood to mean that he who is not with Christ, by being united to his true flock, who does not belong to the one church which he has founded, is injuring the cause of Christ, is persecuting and hampering his church in its warfare against its enemies; or, in other words, that Protestants and heretics in general, zealous Christians though they may seem to be, are really hurting Christianity about as much as they help it, if not more. And it is plain enough to us that this is true. If there had never been any heresies and schisms in the church, we cannot doubt that there would have been now few nations not Christian.

But this, true though it may be, seems to have little practical bearing for us. We are not heretics or schismatics, and I hope that we have no inclination to be so. Still we must remember that bad Catholics do about as much harm to the work of Christ and his church in the world as heretics. In fact, there would never have been any heretics had there not been bad Catholics to begin with.

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But, after all, it does not seem that our Lord is speaking so much of heretics, or of bad Catholics, when he says: "He that is not with me is against me." For he goes on to tell us that "when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith, I will return to my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

The meaning of this is plain enough. It is that a man cannot give up a bad life, and then remain betwixt and between, neither bad nor good. His soul cannot stay empty, swept, and garnished. He must keep the love of God in it; he must have good thoughts and do good works, or the devil will come back, take possession of the empty soul, and make it worse than it was before.

So this gives a new sense to the words, "He that is not with me is against me." He that is not a real good Christian, trying to live for the glory of God, and to do the work for which God has put him in the world, will be a bad one before long, if he is not already. We cannot lie low and shirk the duties which belong to us as Christians and as Catholics. We must be God's servants, and live in such a way as to be known as such, or we shall begin again to serve his enemy.

Let us take an instance, and you will see well enough what I mean. A young man or woman has been going with bad company, who, though perhaps they call themselves Catholics, are a disgrace to the name, and has joined with them in all their vile conversations and sinful actions. {182} Now, too many of those who have been living in this way seem to think that after their confession and communion they can go back to this company and still avoid remark; that nobody will have occasion to say that they are pious, or notice any change in their life; that they can keep all right in God's sight, and also in that of their bad companions; that they can avoid doing any harm, and still do no good.

Let such remember these words: "He that is not with me is against me." If you want to stay in the grace of God, you must hate sin, and love virtue; and if you really do this your life and conversation will show that such is the case. You must be a friend of Christ and an enemy of the devil and of all his works, and not only be willing but proud to be known as such; if you will not do this our Lord will not have you or keep you. Choose, then, which side you will take; do not fancy that you can take neither. If you try to steer a middle course, and live an empty and unprofitable life, neither one thing nor the other, you will soon slip back just where you were before.

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_Fourth Sunday of Lent._

Epistle.
_Galatians iv._ 22-31.

Brethren:
It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bond
woman, and the other by a free-woman: but he that was by the
bond-woman was born according to the flesh: but he by the
free-woman was by the promise. Which things are said by an
allegory: for these are the two testaments: the one indeed on
Mount Sina which bringeth forth unto bondage, which is Agar:
for Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath an affinity to
that which now is Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her
children. But that Jerusalem which is above, is free: which is
our mother. For it is written: "Rejoice, thou barren, that
bearest not: break forth and cry out, thou that travailest not;
for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her
that hath a husband"; now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise. But as then he, that was born according to
the flesh, persecuted him that was according to the spirit: so
also now. But what saith the Scripture? "Cast out the bond
woman and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be
heir with the son of the free-woman." Therefore, brethren, we
are not the children of the bond-woman, but of the free: by the
freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.

Gospel.
_St. John vi._ 1-15.

At that time:
Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias:
and a great multitude followed him, because they saw the
miracles which he did on them that were infirm. And Jesus went
up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
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Now the pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand.
When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a
very great multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip: Whence
shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to try
him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him:
Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that every one may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew,
the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy here
that hath five barley loaves, and two fishes; but what are
these among so many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in
number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves: and when
he had given thanks he distributed to them that were sat down.
In like manner also of the fishes as much as they would. And
when they were filled, he said to his disciples: Gather up the
fragments that remain, lest they be lost. So they gathered up,
and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley
loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten.
Then those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had
done, said: This is the prophet indeed that is to come into the
world. When Jesus, therefore, perceived that they would come
and take him by force and make him king, he fled again into the
mountain himself alone.

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Sermon LIII.

The Happiness Of True Penance.

_Rejoice Jerusalem_.
--Introit of the Mass for the Day.

This is called "Lætare, or rejoicing Sunday." It may surprise you, dear brethren, to be told that this is a day of rejoicing; you will be amazed, no doubt, that, in the midst of the rigorous Lenten fast, when men should bewail their sins and do penance for them, and sounds of mirth and joy are hushed, the church should bid us rejoice. {185} Yet thus she does to-day. In mid-Lent even she would have her children rejoice, would have them forget for the moment penance and turn their hearts to thoughts of gladness, that, by so doing, she may teach them that the rigors of this season, the self-denial and curbing of the flesh she imposes on us, is undergone that we may realize more fully the spirit of her teaching--that we may, in truth, preserve, or get back if we have lost it, that interior joy, that spiritual jubilation which is the portion of every one who serves Christ as he should be served.

Our religion is one of joy, because we are Christ's and he is ours; and what more can we ask, or what greater can be bestowed upon us, than the having of Christ; Christ, at once perfect man and true God; Christ, whose life is the model of our lives, whose grace is the source of all joy; Christ, to have whom is to have a brother, and, at the same time, the eternal God; the God by whose word were made all things that are, who knows no limit to his power, who has in himself all perfections that man can desire or conceive of; a brother--a man like ourselves, with a human heart like our own, with affections like those of other men; a brother burning with tender love for us, knowing our weakness, knowing our wants and ready to succor us; a man who was himself tempted, who has himself suffered the miseries of this life, who, in a word, was made like to us in all save sin. This is whom we have when we have Christ, and should we not rejoice at having such a one?

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We should and do rejoice; our hearts are always full of gladness when we are in God's grace, and Christ is ours and we are his; and this is what the church wishes for all her children--the friendship and the love of God. She ever has Christ herself, and so is never sad; though she may mourn with him suffering, still there is joy behind all her sorrow.

If she puts on sombre garments, if she calls man to penance, if she fasts and covers her head with ashes, she is still glad in the depths of her heart. She is calling you and me to share the gladness, to get it back if we have lost it by mortal sin; she is bidding you and me to keep that gladness by chastising our bodies; she is warning us that we may lose God's grace, as, alas! too many before us have lost it, unless we are vigilant.

Dear brethren, listen to the church's voice to-day; come, all of you, come and share her joy. If you are not in God's grace do not let another day go by without making your peace with God. Oh! how much you are losing, and for what? For some trifling satisfaction which cannot bring true happiness; some mean gratification of your lower nature; for sin you are letting slip by the offer of God's friendship and the joy of a good conscience. Do you want to die as you are living? If you do not, repent of your sins to-day; before you leave this church promise God that you will sin no more; that you will be in fact what you are in name--a Christian.

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Sermon LIV.

Liberty Of Spirit.

_By the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free._

These, my dear brethren, are the concluding words of the Epistle read at Mass to-day. They ought to be of unusual interest to us, for they speak of a matter which we all care very much about; which some care so much about that they are willing to fight for it, and to die for its sake.

If you have listened to these words of St. Paul, which I have just read, you know what this is of which I speak, and for which we all care so much. It is freedom or, as we often call it, liberty. Many, as I just said, will even die, if need be, rather than abandon it; and indeed thousands, nay millions, have actually done so. Man feels that he must have it. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness he claims as his right.

Especially do people nowadays ask for liberty, and insist on having it. The child is no sooner out of his mother's arms than he wants and tries in all things to have his own way. Obedience is a lesson that he seldom willingly learns. He thinks that when he is a man he can do as he pleases; and he does not see why he should not even now. Sometimes he succeeds in having his own way, in spite of his parents; he runs away from school and, when a little older, from church; he passes his life among such companions as he chooses, who help him to get the liberty which they think they have themselves got, by defying all the laws of God and of man.

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But is this really liberty which these foolish children, and young men and women more foolish than children, think they have got by trampling on all law? No; a thousand times no! It is to true liberty only as the shadow to the substance, as they find to their cost before they have travelled very far on this road. They have but escaped from a light and easy yoke to take on their necks one far heavier and more grievous, and which becomes more and more so every day. They have left the service of the kind and good Master to whom they belonged and entered into that of a hard and cruel tyrant instead. He has filled them with base and beastly passions, and made them slaves to these passions. They are given over, body and soul, to impurity, gluttony, or drunkenness, or it may be to a mean and miserable greed for money. At last, perhaps, they try to turn back and shake themselves free from these accursed lusts, which have fastened on them, and are draining the very life-blood from their souls; but it seems that they cannot do so. They set out to do as they pleased, and how has it ended? In their being bound, hand and foot, in the slavery of sin.

But what was their mistake? Were they altogether wrong in wishing for liberty? Is the desire for freedom, which is implanted in us, all a delusion? Are we never to do as we desire, but always to have a restraint and a yoke upon us?

No, my brethren, the idea of liberty is not a mistake. We are right in wishing for liberty, hoping for it, and trying to secure it in the right way. But the mistake these foolish people of whom I have spoken make is in going the wrong way in the search for it: in looking for it in the wrong place.

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Where, then, is liberty to be found? I will tell you; and you may be surprised at what I say, for it does not sound as if it could be true; but it is true, nevertheless. True liberty, then, is in the service of God. Those who serve God best are the freest men on earth.

But how can this be? I answer, It can and must be very easily and very plainly. For those who serve God best of all--that is, the saints in heaven--always do just what they like, and enjoy doing it most perfectly. They have got rid of all the hindrances that, more or less, prevent every one here below from doing what he wishes.

And, of course, those who try to walk in the path of the saints here on earth also have much of this freedom. The more they learn to do God's will the more they love it; and so they are always doing more and more what they like, and more and more easily all the time; and that is just what liberty is: to do what you like, and to do it without pain or difficulty.

The servants of God, then, have their liberty, because they have got free from sin, which is the only obstacle to it. And this freedom from sin is the gift of Christ, it is the fruit of his Passion; it is, then, the liberty which he has given us. It is ours if we wish it. Try, then, my dear brethren, in this holy season of Lent, when his graces are so abundantly poured out, to gain that freedom which they will surely give us, that "freedom wherewith. Christ has made us free."

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Sermon LV.

The Lust Of The Eyes.

_Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.
For the things that are done by them in secret,
it is a shame even to speak of._
--Ephesians v. 11, 12.

Some weeks ago, my dear brethren, we had occasion to speak of the horrible and filthy vice of impurity, which is every day dragging into hell thousands of souls with the mark of the cross of Christ on them, and washed in vain with his Precious Blood. As was said then, many Christians do not seem to realize the enormity of sins against the Sixth Commandment--at least those of thought and of the tongue; to which may be added those coming from the use of the other senses, especially that of sight.

An immodest imagination or desire, wilfully entertained or enjoyed, is a mortal sin, and gives the soul so harboring it instantly into the power of the devil. Let us hope that no one having the Catholic faith will doubt this, or think it too strict a doctrine; for it is the unanimous consent of all the teaching authority in the church from the beginning, amply supported also by Holy Scripture. What shall we say, then, of wilful and deliberate gazing at immodest pictures, or of reading matter directly calculated to inflame impure passions, and certain to have its effect?

Now, I hardly need to say that a city like this is full of these temptations coming through the eyes into the heart. The good and pure instinctively avoid them, and scarcely know that they exist; accustomed to watch the slightest movements of their souls to evil, and instantly to repress them, they shrink with horror from those filthy words and pictures on which others eagerly gaze. {191} They know that, as the Apostle says, it is a shame to speak of these things, a greater shame to write or to read of them, a greater shame yet to expose them to sight, to incite temptation by them, and thus to destroy the souls for which Christ died.

I say that the good and pure are not likely to be caught in this net of Satan; by this I mean those who have been warned of the evil, who understand its danger, and from well-formed habits of virtue set themselves resolutely against it. But there are others who are good and pure--in their baptismal innocence, perhaps; young, at any rate, and unused to sin, at least of this kind--who are not forewarned and forearmed like those of maturer years, who, seeing bad pictures in papers sold even at stores otherwise of good repute, and kept, perhaps, by Catholics, do not fully understand how bad they are, and are led to look at them with pleasure, to learn evil which they knew not of, and thus to contract habits of sin which they will never overcome.

Now, what does our Lord say of those who thus put temptation in the way of the young and innocent? You all know his words: "He that shall scandalize one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea." Strong words these, but they are those of the Divine Wisdom, and beyond correction by human lips. Yes, it is better to die, better even to die in the state of sin, than to add such a sin as this to our number.

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Let us beware, then, not in any way, however indirect, to give sanction or encouragement to this work of the devil in our midst. "Have no fellowship with these works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Do not buy or even take up for a moment the indecent papers or books now unfortunately so common among us; still more, do not sell them; do not allow them to be in the house; do not suffer your children to look at or read them; do not frequent places where they are to be had. Set your faces resolutely, for the honor of God and the Catholic name, as well as for your own souls sake, against this plague of immodest literature, which has assumed such fearful proportions and become so bold and unblushing in these days in which we live. Think nothing to be light or of little moment in this matter; mortal sin is much easier in it than you may believe.

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_Passion Sunday._

Epistle.
_Hebrews ix._ 11-15.

Brethren:
Christ, being come a high-priest of the good things to come, by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that
is, not of this creation: neither by the blood of goats, nor of
calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the Holies,
having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled,
sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost
offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from
dead works, to serve the living God? And therefore he is the
mediator of the new testament: that by means of his death, for
the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the
former testament, they that are called may receive the promise
of eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel.
_St. John viii._ 46-59.

At that time:
Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews:
Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to
you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the
words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not
of God. The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him: Do we
not say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus
answered: I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and you
have dishonored me. But I seek not my own glory; there is one
that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: if any man
keep my word, he shall not see death for ever.
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The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil.
Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man
keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art thou
greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets
are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? Jesus answered: If I
glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that
glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God. And you
have not known him, but I know him. And if I shall say that I
know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do know
him, and do keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he
might see my day; he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore
said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to
cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.

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Sermon LVI.

The Precious Blood.

_The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin._
--1 Epistle St. John i. 7.

We all know, my dear brethren, that when a man is born into the world he is born _unclean_ before God. He is then _so_ unclean that he is not fit to associate with the sons of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. He is then so unclean that he can never be anything but an outcast from God until he is made clean.

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Is there any way in which he can be made clean? Yes, for when he is baptized he is made a new creature; he is cleansed from the stain of original sin, made a child of God and heir of the kingdom of heaven. He is then so pure and holy that if he die immediately he will go, to a certainty, straight to heaven. For baptism applies the Blood of Christ to his soul, and he is become truly clean. But suppose he does not die immediately after baptism, how is it with him then? If he keep his baptismal innocence, so far as never to commit a mortal sin, he still has a right to go to heaven. He can then demand of God permission to enter heaven.

Can he, however, demand this permission to enter heaven immediately after his death if he has committed only venial sin? That depends entirely upon his contrition at the moment of death. If he is not so sorry for all his sins that his contrition is [not] perfect, then he can't enter heaven immediately, but must go to purgatory to be made perfectly pure, so that he can be taken into heaven.

I have said that baptism applies the Blood of Christ to the soul and makes man pure and innocent. Now, baptism is a sacrament. It is the first one and is necessary to salvation. Without it no man can enter heaven, nor even purgatory, for the purgatorial state is the first and lowest state of blessed and holy souls who must go to heaven in the end. But the blood of Christ is applied to the soul of man in other ways, although baptism must come in in the first place.

In what other ways is the Blood of Christ applied:

First, by the Sacrifice of the Mass. For by the Mass we repair our sins, get grace to keep from sin, and make our purgatory shorter in consequence. He who hears Mass daily makes the best prayer that a man can make, and he is more certain to have his prayer answered. He also helps the living and the dead, and brings down upon himself and his own special graces from God.

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Secondly, the Blood of Christ is applied to our souls by the Sacrament of Penance. Men defile their souls by sin, by _mortal_ sin after baptism. He who receives the Sacrament of Penance worthily--that is, with true sorrow for all mortal sin, with a firm determination to lead a good life and repair the wrong he has done--that man receives again the grace of God that restores his soul to eternal life.

Thirdly, in Holy Communion we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in a hidden manner, but in deed and in truth. The consecrated Host is the eternal and ever-living God himself. You know, my dear brethren, the strength of this divine food. How it gives new energy to the soul, destroys the power of concupiscence, banishes, or at least weakens, temptation, always giving us the grace to hold our own against the world, the flesh, and the devil. _And there are Catholics who refuse to make this Communion once a year!_

But there is one thing that ought to be said here. A Catholic ought never to consider as useless, or as almost useless, any one of the sacraments. This too many do as regards confession. They underrate it. They think, therefore, it is no good unless they receive Communion every time they go to confession. Now this is a grave error. One is _not_ obliged to go to Communion every time he goes to confession. Those who cannot go to Mass nor Communion, on account of their business or employment or work keeping them away, can at least go to confession very often during the year. All such an one has to do is to prepare himself carefully, step into the rector's house, make his confession, and go on to work again. If he but make an arrangement with some one of the priests he can always be heard at once. Frequent confession is a wonderful help to a good life and a happy death.

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Sermon LVII.

Christ's Passion.

_Which of you shall convince me of sin?_
--John viii. 46.

To-day, dear friends, is Passion Sunday, and our long Lenten pilgrimage is nearing its end. Heretofore our thoughts have been on ourselves, our own shortcomings, our own sins. Now we stand, as it were, on the hill overlooking the Holy City, and see before us, as a map unrolled, the scene of our Redeemer's agony: Bethany, the olive-garden of Gethsemani, and, further on, the barren mount of Calvary, with its three crosses standing forth, black and cruel, against the fair blue sky.