Are you?


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NIHIL OBSTAT:
FR. M. ALBERIC WULF, O.C.S.O.

Fr. M. Maurice Malloy, O.C.S.O.

die 15a Junii, 1939

Censores

IMPRIMI POTEST:
f Fredericus M. Dunne, O.C.S.O.

Abbas, B.M. de Gethsemani

die 20a Junii, 1939

IMPRIMATUR

:

t Joannes A. Floersh, D.D.

Archiepiscopus Ludovicopolitanus

die 2 Julii, 1939

*

(Fifth Printing, 1946)

(55,000)

Copyright 1939

BY THE

abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.



FOREWORD

This little booklet was not written to be
read; it must be meditated. Its one purpose
is to arouse; arouse YOU to THOUGHT.
Hence no effort has been made to smooth
away the many roughnesses incident to rapid
composition; instead, whole pages have been
left with all their original jerkiness, in the
hope that they will jar and jolt you into
thinking about YOURSELF. You will have
to think, because the ideas, for the most part,
are merely suggested; YOU are to do the
developing and the applying to SELF.

Some time back a man told me that, to
him, sunset was music. He said that as the
fiery orb hung in the hollow of the distant
hills, blazing the western sky with glory, he
seemed to be hearing the silent Symphony of
Nature whipped to a mighty crescendo. When
the sun finally sank, he said it was like the
crash of a closing chord which set his whole
being vibrating. Then came the afterglow.
This, he said, was the lingering echo of the
beauty that had been, and it soothed his ting-
ling spirit as it gave hush to his seething
soul. With something like sadness he added,
“Too soon comes the night.” Turning sud-
denly he said, “And so it is with a retreat.
During it, my soul is fired to fever pitch. I
leave it—then comes the afterglow; but TOO
SOON comes the night! The retreat does not
echo and re-echo as I want it to. Father, I
need something tangible to re-awaken those
grand strains that had set my being tingling.
Can’t we do something about it?

Here is my answer. A booklet of personal
questions, which, if frequently faced, will



keep the soul throbbing in unison with the
thunderous beat of the Eternal Truths. Its

main purpose is to keep “the night from
coming TOO SOON.” But its use is not limited
to retreatants. Those who have never made a
retreat in all their lives can face these ques-

tions with profit.

The questions are all turns on popular
phrases. This has been done to arrest at-
tention, arouse interest and to aid the mem-
ory. The titles are new, as new as this morn-
ing’s paper; but the matter under the titles

is as solid and substantial as Loyola’s Exer-
cises, from which it was taken, and as time-
less as Truth. Ponder these pages and you’ll
never “go native.”



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 1
Are YOU . . . “GOING NATIVE?”
You smile and say: “What a question to

ask me! Why, I’m not even ‘going south,’
never mind to the ‘South Seas’.’’

I know that. And still I am asking YOU,
for it is a tragic thing to see anyone “go
native.’’ Out there in the “South Seas,’’
where nights are languorous, days lazy and
the seasons never change, real manhood has
often been murdered and many a character
slain because of ENVIRONMENT. White men
go out there alive with energy, electric with
enterprise and simply sparking enthusiasm.
But soon the enthusiasm cools, gradually the
energy wanes and finally the enterprise is
dead. Environment has triumphed. Then our
white man takes on the listless ways of the
local blacks and browns and were you to
look deep into his half-dead eyes, you would
see the sepulcher of a soul . . . for he has
“gone native.”

“Yes,” you say, “it is tragic”; but what has
it to do with me?”

Just this — you are not breathing your
native air, nor are you living in your
native land. No, indeed! For you are a
Catholic and therefore, a white man in the
midst of blacks and browns, yellows and
reds. The air you breathe is heavy with the
deadening drowse of the tropics, the moral
atmosphere around you is positively ener-
vating. Actually, you are living in a torrid
zone, no matter what the thermometer
reads; for America is as languorous as any
isle of the South Seas and more tropical than
the tropics! Your environment, morally
speaking, is more deadly than the air of Pago
Pago or of Circe’s Isle, and remember . . .
you are almost alone! So you see, the ques-



2 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
tion is most personal and most practical, for
lone-fighters are usually overcome. What I
am asking is: “Are you ‘going native'
morally ?”

Oh, it is hard, it is almost impossible, to
keep from “going native” in our modem
world; for the atmosphere is germ-laden
with atheism, paganism, communism and
materialism and no one is immune to
weathering.

In the business world today there are
many clever policies, plenty of sharp prac-
tices, but almost no clean principles. There
is much hustling, but little real honesty.
“Get while the getting is good” and “You
scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” just
about sums up the code of the modern man
in the hard, fast and heartless game of busi-
ness. Justice, honesty, equity ... what are
these? Good subjects for jokes perhaps, but
certainly not guiding stars to success in this

the Twentieth Century. So you see that
some of your “natives” are black and brown
and yellow.
In the social world it is worse. Home has

yielded to the furnished apartment, family-

life has become a memory and marriage a
mockery! Pleasure is the be-all and the end-
all of social intercourse; and when pleasure
becomes an end . . . virtue vanishes.

Political life contributes its share of germs;

for those who are not “red” are usually a
pale pink, or worse still . . . colorless! So
you see, your “native air” is fouled with
irreligion; the “native ways” foreign to all
that is Catholic and the “natives” themselves,
godless. That is your environment in Twen-
tieth Century America, and no one is im-
mune to weathering.
You may feel strong. You may tell me



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 3
that you have a will of steel; that you are
founded on rock as solid as Gibraltar. I
will be delighted to hear it. . . But
water is the softest thing that I know, yet by
continual dripping, it can wear a deep hole
into the heart of the hardest of hard granites.
Uncle Sam’s destroyers are made of chilled
steel, yet barnacles cling to their keels and, in
time, they have to go into dry-dock. I know
that no one and no thing is immune to
weathering, and that is why I know that
even YOU can “go native.”
How can you help it when pagan ways are

so easy ? . . . “You don’t have to be always
fighting your impulses and denying your
throbbing desires. Reach out and take the
‘forbidden fruit.’ Who forbade it, anyhow?”
How can you help it when materialistic ways
are so delightful? . . .

“
‘Eat, drink, and make

merry.’ Why not? ‘Tomorrow we die.’ Go
ahead! Get a ‘kick’ out of life. There is no
hereafter.” How can you help it when
atheistic ways are so enticing? . . . “Lincoln
freed the slaves! Why, the Declaration of
Independence was written almost two hun-
dred years ago! Be yourself.” How can you
help it when the very air that you breathe
is heavy with godlessness, the whole atmos-
phere saturated and surcharged with irre-
ligion? Newspapers reek with it, stage and
screen parade it and the ceaseless radio gives
you little of God, but much of godlessness.
How can you help it? . . . Simply! Yes, very
simply! You can keep from “going native”
by taking the cure.
“What is the cure?” you ask.
Just this . . . you must become inoculated;

inoculated with the saving serum of God’s
truth. That is the only “sure cure”; that is
the only antitoxin, and if you would avoid a



4 A Trappist Asks—Are You?

deadly disease, you must take your injec-
tions. Let God’s truth get into your blood-

stream; let the “Thou shalt nots” of Sinai

sink deep into your being; let Christianity’s

unshakable principles course through your

entire system and you’ll be IMMUNE to the
deadly germs of godlessness, you’ll be proof
against “going native!” But that means
ISOLATION. It means that you must get
out of the pestilential atmosphere of the

modern world for a few days. It means
that you must give your soul a chance to
breathe. It means that you must consult the
Divine Physician. It means that you must
make a retreat!

In these days of exaggerated and highly

publicized hygiene, when a ten-year-old can

talk, and talk knowingly, about prophylactics

and antiseptics; when the cult of the body is

the religion of the land, we ought to take
pattern from the children of this generation,

who are “wiser than the children of light,”
and think of antiseptics for the soul and pro-

phylactics for the spirit. Now there is only
one antidote for error and that is truth.

There is only one preservative against mod-

ern paganism, and He is Jesus Christ. There
is only one way to retain the health of your
soul and that is by taking the treatment of-

fered by the best of Physicians: isolation,

purgation, inoculation! Three days in which

you get away from the godless world,

breathe a purer air and take incessant in-

jections of the TRUTH and the BEAUTY
which is JESUS CHRIST, the only MAN who
was immune to weathering, the only One

proof against “going native.” Without Him
you are fighting alone; with Him . . . what
a majority you are! Get close to Christ and

you can’t possibly “go native.”



A Trappist Asks—Are You?
Are YOU . . . FACING THE
QUESTION OF QUESTIONS?
Death was caused to many a man by the

riddle of the Sphinx. At Thebes she stood and
accosted every passer-by with the question:
“What it is that walks on four feet in the
morning, two feet at noon, and three at
night?” It was a puzzling question and count-
less are those who died; for when they were
unable to answer her, she slew them. Then
came the day that Oedipus stood before her
and in answer to her riddle spat out the
monosyllable

. . . “MAN” . . . and the
Sphinx slew herself.

Today our QUESTION OF QUESTIONS is
just as deadly. If we fail to answer it cor-
rectly, we die! And countless are the dead
who have gone before us. Our question has to
do not with the Sphinx but with the answer
that Oedipus gave. The QUESTION OF
QUESTIONS is . . . “What is MAN?”
That doesn’t sound deep, does it? It doesn’t

sound puzzling; but it must be a riddle if we
are to judge from the replies that have been
given to it. Many say: “Man is nothing but
matter. He is composed of a few chemical
elements such as carbon, calcium, sulphur,
hydrogen and oxygen. Actually, a man is 85
per cent water and his constituents can be
purchased at any drug store for 98 cents.” I
am fully aware of the fact that that sounds
very flippant; but it is the identical answer
given by many a learned (?) professor in
our state universities this very day. Such an
answer means death—and deserves it!
Others there are who take the opposite

guess (I wouldn’t dignify it with the title of
“thought” or “opinion”). They say, “Man is
all spirit” Now that sounds very foolish, I



6 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
know, but count for me the followers of
Mary Baker Eddy and you have counted for

me those who should die. Their answer is
wrong1

,
very wrong, but sad to say, their

name is Legion.

Then I have heard some claim “Man is
simply a higher anthropoid.” They say that

in all seriousness. Now I know that many a
man has made a monkey out of himself, but
I also know that the “missing link” is still

missing and that the evolutionists are miss-

ing the answer to the QUESTION OF QUES-
TIONS.

Well, what is the answer? It is as simple

as Oedipus’ reply. He saved his life by using

a monosyllable ; we can avoid death by being

equally brief. The answer to the QUESTION
OF QUESTIONS is a single word. . . .
“Creature” is the answer, and the only an-

swer! Man is a creature. He is composed of
body (a material body having all the 98

cents’ worth of chemical constituents) and

soul (a soul which is spirit.) Man is an ani-
mal, but he is as far removed from the ape

as is the glowworm’s feeble glow from the

bursting brilliance of the sun. So, avoiding

all half-truths and untruths, we face the

QUESTION OF QUESTIONS and give ade-
quate answer by saying: “Man is a creature.”

What a world of truth that single word

“creature” tells me! First of all it tells
me

that I am dependent; that I do not belong to

myself. Right away I start blinking and say,

“What is this? I don’t belong to myself?”
And

the answer comes back, “No, you do
not be-

long to yourself because you are a
creature.

Startling, isn’t it? But true! For the
only

titles to ownership that have ever been
recog-

nized as legitimate are those of
formation,

purchase or donation. If I make a garage, it



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 7

is mine; for I made it. If I buy a car to put in
that garage, it is mine; for I bought it. If
someone should be kind enough to give me a
radio to put in the car, it is mine; for it was
given to me. Obvious, isn’t it, that all these
things belong to me? Yes! and equally obvi-
ous is the fact that I do not belong to myself;
for I did not make myself

,

I did not buy my-
self, nor was I a gift to myself! Therefore, I
do not belong to myself; for I have no legiti-
mate title to ownership.

All this jars a bit in these days of “rugged

individualism,” but it is undeniable fact.

And further, it is the foundation of all right-
thinking and the basis for all right-living. I
am a creature; therefore, I belong to God. I
belong to God because He made me and made
me out of nothing. I belong to God because
He bought me and paid the terrible price of
His Son’s Precious Blood for me. I belong to
God because I was given to Him at Baptism.
There is the truth: I don’t belong to myself
and I do belong to God. He has a threefold
title to me: He made me, bought me and re-
ceived me as a gift. Creation, redemption,
and a baptismal donation say that I am
God’s and His alone.

Now look at the next obvious conclusion
that follows. When I own a thing, I can do
with it just as I will, can’t I? If I make a
garage, I can use it as a storeroom or fit it up
as a sleeping-quarters; I can rent it out or let
it stand idle; I can make it into a nice cozy den
or I can keep the ash-barrels there. It is
mine; therefore I can do with it just what I
will. Now I am God’s; therefore He can do
with me just what He wills and I may only
do just what He wills; for that is the meaning
of creaturehood. I must obey the will of God.
But what is that will ? He has told me. . . .



8 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
He wills that I know Him, love Him and
serve Him in this world and he happy with
Him forever in the next. And that is all man!

That is what I should do, but what have I
been doing? I belong to God entirely: body
and soul, heart and mind, eyes and ears and
tongue; I belong to Him in the morning, at
noon and when night comes on; I have be-
longed to Him since birth and will be His
property forever. But how often have I acted
as if I owned my own life? How often have
I played the usurper, using my body as if it
were my very own, my eyes, my ears, my
tongue to do “my own sweet will,” rather
than the will of God? How often have I
played the independent, autocratic dictator,

being a “law unto myself,” instead of follow-

ing the law of God? How often have I loved
myself and myself alone, giving no thought
to God or the love of God ? How often ? And
yet He has said, “If you love Me, keep my
Commandments !”

Time to change, isn’t it? Time to face the
QUESTION OF QUESTIONS and say: “I am
a man, therefore a CREATURE; therefore, I
BELONG TO GOD; therefore, I must do HIS
WILL; therefore, I must KEEP HIS COM-
MANDMENTS!”
The story of the Theban Sphinx is a myth,

but the QUESTION OF QUESTIONS is ter-
rifically true. It is the sternest of stern and

stubborn facts. It is the only question worthy

of your consideration, for upon its answer

depends YOUR life or death ETERNAL.
Many a time have I seen a fog upon a moun-
tain, but never a mountain upon a fog; and

yet those who answer the QUESTION OF
QUESTIONS in any but the terms of the
catechism are trying to do just that: to base

their lives upon a floating fog. They will fail



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 13
tian, who, paradoxical though it seems, be-
comes a real man by imitating the moth and
flying to the Flame of the Sanctuary Lamp.
Here is a flame that you can hover about al-
ways and you’ll never “go native.” Linger
under that Lamp and you’ll learn to see
things in their true light. Look at all things
in the light of that Lamp and you’ll never be
so stupid as the moth-men pf this world who
place gold before goodness; manners before
morals; position before principle; pleasure
before purity; body before soul; creature be-
fore Creator, and self before God. Flit to that
Flame often, for you have lived long in an
environment which is much more conducive
to the hatching out of moths than to the
production of men. Flit to the Flame often
and you’ll learn how to lash yourself to the
sublime principle that God gave me all
things to use JUST AS MUCH as they help
me to heaven. Look at all things under
that Light and you’ll recognize means as
means and never mistake them for ends.
Read often these wise words of Louise Imo-
gene Guiney; make them your prayer:
DELIGHT is a menace, if Thou brood not by;
POWER is a quicksand; FAME a gathering

jeer.

Oft as the morn (though none of earth deny
These three are dear) wash me of them!
That I may be renewed and wander free,
And wander free amid my new-born joys.
Close Thou my hand upon BEATITUDE,

Not on her TOYS!
God is your Beatitude. Heaven your home.

You are Eternity’s child!

Are YOU . . . FOND OF SWEETS?
Oscar Wilde was master of the lilting line;

a poet who could charm by the very magic of



14 A Trappisl Asks—Are You?
his meter. But Oscar seldom looked below

the surface of things. Once he wrote on SIN

and wrote, as he always did, in cadences that

were captivating. He called sin “sweet Sin,’'
and London’s society lauded the poem to the

skies. But when Oscar put his lines into his

life, when he acted out what he had written,
these very same people who praised the poem,
jailed the poet. .Sin was “sweet” in rhyme,

but not in reality. Now you and I want
reality, don’t we? We want truth, deep truth,
and are not going to be caught by surface

appearances. So we are going to THINK.

Wilde was partly right. There is a certain

sweetness to sin. Otherwise none of us would

ever have become sinners. Yes, there is a

sweetness to sin, but it is only surface sweet-

ness; it is the sweetness of sugar-coated

strychnine . . . poisonous! Deep down, sin is

deadly; but neither Wilde nor many of us
have the habit of looking deep down. Surface

appearances catch us and that is why we
make so many mistakes. Now sin is not ugly
in appearance. No indeed. But neither is a
moccasin! It has the prettiest skin imagin-

able; but no one prizes such beautifully col-

ored snakes—for they are deadly. The pole-

cat is a very good-looking animal; but no one

makes a domestic pet out of it! The orchid

is the most beautiful of flowers, but it is a

parasite! So too with SIN ... it is appeal-

ing, it is enticing, it is sweet on the surface;

but deep down it is more deadly than the

orchid or the moccasin, more foul than the

skunk.

Tell me, have you been fond of “sweet

sin?” Have you been often caught by the
surface appearance? Then let us reflect and

see how deadly “sweet sin” really is. Let us
start with the principle that every effect is



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 15
proportionate to its cause. Let us remember
that as we go along looking at some of the
effects of sin, and then we will get a slight
idea of the hatefulness and the horror of
“sweet sin.”

Did you know that all creation was
changed because of one single sin? Yes, all
creation. Paradise was polluted and changed
from a Garden of Delights into a Valley of
Tears. Men and women were visited with
misery. Sickness, suffering and death came
into being. Why, every heartache and every
heartbreak of man’s long history, from the
day that Mother Eve held the lifeless body
of Abel in her arms and knew for the first
time that “the wages of sin is death,” down
to the latest heartbroken mother who weeps
beside the cradle that has suddenly become
a coffin, was caused by one single sin of
disobedience. Because of it your mother and
father have died or will soon die; because of
it you yourself will know much distress of
mind and of body and finally death itself.
That single sin caused the World War just
as it caused every other war of history. That
single sin has made of our world one huge
hospital and our earth nothing but a grave-
yard. The single sin of our father Adam
changed the whole human race into “a cara-
van on the way to death.” And remember
that no effect is greater than its cause!

Oh, God never planned thus. No. He
wanted us to live in Paradise; never to know
pain, sickness, suffering or death. He wanted
us to live in happiness and holiness and
then to fall asleep only to wake up in His
Heaven. But Adam disobeyed and chaos fol-
lowed. Where life should abound, death
reigns supreme. Where happiness should be
universal, misery is the common lot. Meas-



16 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
ure, if you, can, the mountain of misery that
has been heaped up since that one sin. Count,
if you will, the centuries of suffering since
Adam disobeyed. Look at life today and
remember that one single sin made it the
awful affair it is. Go into any large hospital,
walk from floor to floor of agony; go through
ward after ward of sick and suffering human-
ity; pass bed after bed of dying men and
women and remember that God never plan-
ned thus. Man did it by his SIN! How dare
we call it “sweet” ?

Ah, let me tell you that when it comes
home to your very own, then you know what
a hideous thing sin is. If your father rots
from cancer and your mother wastes away
from tuberculosis, if your sister goes insane
from fever and your brother corrodes from
leprosy, if your own little ones die from cruel
paralysis . . . Ah! then you know that sin
is not “sweet.” Why, every asylum for the
insane, every home for the poor and the
orphaned, every potter’s field and cemetery
is a monument to hateful sin! SIN is NOT
sweet!

But all the sickness, suffering and death
that have been, or will ever be, are the
smallest effect of sin. Look! The fairest stars
of Creation’s Dawn were the angels. They
were hierarchies of wisdom, power and
beauty; they were a radiant army shining
with the splendor of spiritual glory; they had
intellects that dazzled and wills that were

bronze. Theirs was the grand destiny to
minister forever at the Throne of the Omni-
potent God. But Lucifer sinned . . . just one
single sin of thought and he and all his fol-
lowers were hurled like a thunderbolt from
the threshold of Heaven into the very throat
of Hell. That was aeons past, and yet, today,



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 17
down deep in the bottomless pit of hell, they
bum, as they have burned these countless
years that have gone, and there they will
burn for all eternity. Oh, what a transfor-
mation took place when Lucifer sinned!
From angels of light and of love they were
changed into demons of hate; from friends
of the Eternal God into His everlasting
enemies; from beauty that was untenable to
loathsomeness that cannot be imagined. They
lost an eternity with Love and won an
eternity of torment and of hate. They for-
feited blessedness and took to themselves
damnation. Oh, sin is a hateful thing for it
created this Hell for Lucifer and the damned.
And remember that God is a JUST God. The
punishment of the angels is commensurate
with their crime. Do you begin to see that
sin is an infinitely hateful thing?

But, perhaps, not yet, have you caught the
truth that sin is NOT sweet; then think of
this: You know what a monk is and what a
monk does. He is a man entirely consecrated
to God, who spends his life in prayer and
penance. His day is twenty-four hours of do-
ing God’s will, thus giving glory to the Trin-
ity, winning grace for the wayward world
and incidentally piling up merit for himself.
Think, if you can, of the veritable moun-
tain of merit a saintly monk piles up for
himself in a single year! Now Romuald was a
saintly monk. For more than a hundred
years he had led the life of a monk and had
led it in a very saintly manner. At the age
of one hundred and twenty he died. Who can
dimly imagine the whole world of merit he
had piled up for himself in that century of
loving service? Now let us suppose. Suppose
that Romuald had committed just one single
sin of thought, a mortal sin, the moment be-



18 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
fore he died and then died unrepentant. . . .
Gone would be that world of merit! Gone
would be that unimaginable reward! Gone
would be all the glory he had acquired for
himself during those long, long hundred
years! The sin of a single second would have
sent Romuald to Hell for ages unending!
And again I say that God is a JUST God.
Do you now see how “sweet” sin is ?

If not, then read your crucifix. That will
tell you better than all the above that sin is
a HORROR. Take your little cross and en-
large it, make it life-size. Take then the
quivering Body of the God-Man to it, stretch
Him out well on it, placard God on this gib-
bet of shame, spike your Jesus to the wood of
the criminal. Now—read your crucifix! Look,
Christ is one red, raw and bleeding wound;
His skin has been whipped to shreds; He has
been flayed alive! Scourges did all this. Look!
Long iron spikes are through His hands and
His feet; a helmet of strong, sharp thorns is
on His head; His side is split wide open and
His very heart has been pierced! Why this
outrage? Why this wanton murder of God?
Why? . . . Oh, there is only one answer. Not
Pilate, not hating high-priest nor hypocriti-
cal Pharisee; no, neither Roman nor Jew did
this. YOU did it and I did it by SIN. That is
the only answer: SIN killed God!

Go on now and read it well. Why the
thorns? . . . Sins of pride. Why the spikes
through sacred hands ? . . . Sins of greed

and avarice. Why are the feet hammered
through and through? . . . Sins of pleasure.

Why has that tender Body been flayed? . . .
Sins of the flesh? Why has the side been
crashed open and the Sacred Heart split?

. . . Sins of lust. Read it well. Read that
this is God! No, rather read—THIS IS SIN!



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 19
Now pause and reflect. You have been

fond of “sweet sin,” haven’t you? Think of
the many times that you have been caught
by its surface sweetness. Think of the times
you have sinned—with yourself, with others;
by commission and omission; against the
Commandments of God and the Precepts of
the Church! You have sinned as a boy, as a
youth, as a grown man! On reflection, you
will find that your life has been 'SIN-
FILLED! What can you do about it now?
There is only one thing to do . . . fall down
before your crucified Christ. Tell the God
whom you hammered to the cross that you
are sorry, truly sorry for your stupidity
your short-sightedness and your thought that
sin was “sweet.” Tell Him that from this
moment on your life will be SIN-FREE 1
Then tell Him that you need His Light to see
below the surface; to always see through the
sweet” of sin down to its utter HORROR!

Are YOU . . . PLAYING WITH FIRE?
They tell me that “a burnt child dreads the

fire”; so let us take the advice of St. Bernard
and “go down into Hell while living so that
we will not be condemned there when we
die.” Yes, we are all children, even the
oldest of us, so let us get burnt, really burnt,
by thinking long and vividly on the tortures
that a just God has prepared for those who
“go native,” become “moths instead of men”
and give themselves to “sweet sin.”

I know that modern religion has done away
with Hell. I know that it has succeeded in
painting a sentimental God, so full of good-
ness that He couldn't possibly condemn one
of HIS creatures to unending fire. I know all
that and I further know that God, who is so
good, is also absolutely JUST and I know



20 A Trappisl Asks—Are Yovi?
that justice demands that an infinite offense

be punished with an eternal damnation. Yes,

we can argue to the necessity of Hell from

reason alone, but why take the testimony of

our “thin minds that creep from thought to

thought,” when we have the testimony of In-

fallible Truth? Why take reason when we
have revelation? Why listen to man when
God is speaking? Let the modern sentimen-

talist insist that God is good, but don’t let

him make of God a liar! God tells us again

and again that there is a Hell!

In both the Old and the New Testament
there is reference after reference to a place

of fire and of eternal fire. Jesus, who was
ever so gentle, told of it time and time again,

both in parable and in prophecy. Didn’t He
tell of Dives in Hell begging for a drop of

water? Didn’t He speak of the cockle that
was to be bundled and burned? Don’t you

remember Him telling of the guest without
the wedding garment who was cast out? And
can you ever forget how He told of the Last
Judgment and that awful sentence of God,

“Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting

fire!” Oh, Hell is a fact! Hell is a fire! Hell

is eternal! God has said so!

Let us then think of Hell. And first I

would have you listen . . . listen to the aw-

ful shriek of Hell. Did you ever hear the

scream of one who has been burnt ? It shakes

your very soul! ^^hat then must be the

shriek of Hell where not only a part, but the

entire body and the entire soul are “salted”

with fire. That is the word that the Holy

Ghost uses—“salted.” You can guess what it

t means ... it means soaked, saturated,
steeped, permeated through and through

with fire! Can you imagine then the pierc-

ing shriek of Hell where the countless damned



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 21
are drenched, drowned, “salted” with fire?
. . . And you? Why, you can’t stand the
flame of a single match. Then why play
with fire that will “salt” you for all eternity?
The shriek of Hell may be bad, but what

will be the horror caused by the bellowing of
blasphemy, the loud cursing, and what the
torture of the ceaseless taunting? Hell’s
strident symphony is made up of these three,
and you will add your voice to the awful up-
roar if you die in sin. Think of it, you, the
son of saints, will curse sanctity. You, the
child of Mary, will execrate your Mother.
You, the beloved of Jesus, will hurl hate at
your God. You, the creature of the ever-
loving Father, will blaspheme Him forever
if you die in sin. Listen to the cursing; it is
unceasing, for they curse themselves,
they curse one another, they curse their
companions in sin; seduced curses the sedu-
cer; pupil, his teacher; reader, the author of
false philosophy, false history, filthy fiction;
children curse their parents; husbands, their
wives, and wives their husbands; and per-
haps the worst of all—fathers and mothers
curse their children who led them into sin
Terrible, terrible, terrible is the cursing and
blasphemy of Hell!

But more trying than either of these will
be the taunting that you will hear from Satan
himself. Well may he taunt you, who were
destined to fill his place in heaven. Well
may he laugh at you for your stupidity in
listening to his lies and turning a deaf ear to
Truth. Can’t he jeer at you for thinking that
“his yoke was sweeter and his burden
lighter” than that of Christ? Well may he
mock you for not having taken advantage of
God’s mercy! But what will it be if he paro-
dies the Sacraments ? May he not baptize you



22 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
with fire that flows and tell you

that now

you are indelibly marked as his? May he
not

confirm you with a chrism made from
coals

that flame? And where the bishop lightly

tapped you, Satan will blast you with
a fist

of fire and tell you that now you are a soldier

of the “Lost Legion.” Then he can go on
and

make your confession for you and in place of

the comforting words of the priest and
his

absolution, Satan can laugh at you, drive

you deeper into Hell and tell you that
you

are there forever! Yes, you deserve
such

mockery if you die in sin!

Torturous as is the taunting of
Satan and

the terrible chorus of blasphemous
hate that

ever rises from Hell, there is
another sound

that may very well strike your ears and
tor-

ture your very soul, and that is
the tic

tock” of Hell’s eternal clock.
With slow,

steady, rhythmic swing the gigantic
pendu-

lum ceaselessly says: “Never . .
Forever-

Never Forever.” That is all that
you

will ever ‘hear from it, and it
means: “Never

to get out, forever to stay;
never to see God,

forever to see Satan; never to
know peace or

love forever to have hate;
never to feel

free, forever to be chained
to the depths Oj.

Hell.” On and on it goes, “Never . . .
For-

ever—Never . . . Forever.”

Scripture tells me, “In that
wherein you

have sinned, in that you
shall also suffer

and reason replies that this
is on y jus .

have sinned in our bodies,
our bodies then

shall be burned. We have sinned in our
souls,

our souls then shall likewise
be “salted. e

have sinned by sight, our eyes
then must be

tortured and I think that the
greatest tor-

ture will be to look forever
into the faces of

our companions in Hell. Just
look at the

company we will have in Hell! Who
are



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 23
they? The refuse of humanity! Endlessly we
will look into the repulsive faces of mur-
derers: men and women; endlessly into the
faces of the impure: men, women and chil-
dren; forever into the foul faces of the
drunkards: men and women, old and young.
For ages unending we will have to look on
the thousands and thousands of the lustful,
the gluttonus, the envious and the hateful.
We will see them rolling in a sea of flame,
eyes bursting from their sockets, despair-
gleaming on every countenance, hate trans-
forming every face. Look at them now. Look
at them long and see them clearly. Then
remember that these, the very refuse of hu-
manity, will be your companions forever, if
you die in sin!

You have sinned by your hearing and
Hells' strident cacophony will blast upon
your ears forever. You have sinned by taste.
Food, and especially drink, has been your
undoing many a time and the Psalmist tells
me that the just God has prepared a fitting
punishment for those who have so sinned.
He tells me that there is prepared “a chalice,
which the wrath of God has filled with fire,
sulphur and the spirit of the tempest.”
When ‘The cup that cheers” is offered you
next time, think of the cup that God has pre-
pared for the “drinkers.”

Ah! but all the pain of sense is nothing.
Though you be “salted” with fire, though
your eyes be balls of fire, your tongues
lumps of fire, though you eat, drink, breathe
only fire, though you live and swim and are
overwhelmed in fire, all this, I say, is noth-
ing compared to the awful “pain of loss ”

You have seen something of the compan-
ions you will have in Hell; did you ever
think of the companions you won't have



24 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
there? You won’t have God the Father, Who
made you. You won’t have God the Son,
Who so loved you that He became a Babe,
that you might know and love Him; be-
came a Boy, that you might have a pattern
and a model; became a Man, that you might

have the Way, the Light and the Truth. You
won’t have this Jesus, Who so loved you
that He buried His Infinity in the womb of
a little Jewish maid, lived thirty years as the

“Carpenter’s Son” and then, one Friday after-

noon, hid His Divinity under the red robe

of a scourged Body and was hammered to a
cross. Who was even then not through with
love. To live and die for you were not
enough. He had to stay with you, so He hid
both Divinity and Humanity under Bread,
that you might have Food for the way. You
won’t have the Holy Ghost, Who so loved
you that He sanctified you at Baptism,
strengthened you at Confirmation, came and
made His dwelling place in you; Who was
ever and always aiding you with good

thoughts and holy impulses, and Who would
have brought you to Heaven, but you would

not! Think of it, you won’t have Mary Im-
maculate who mothered you ; the angels who
guarded you; the saints who showed you
how to live and how to die. You won’t have
anyone who is good, holy and true. You
won’t have any love; you won’t have any
home! That is what you will have lost and
the remembrance that all this could have
been yours will be Hell’s greatest torture.

Horrible thoughts, aren’t they ? But TRUE

!

We’ve got to think often on these truths so

that, if our love should ever cool, then fear

will flame. We have got to sear the truth of
Hell’s fire into our very souls so that when
the mists of “sweet sin” arise and threaten



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 25
to blind us, this fear of Hell’s fire will burn
away these mists and give us light to see
clearly that God is love Eternal and that Hell
is burning hate.

De Ranee, reformer of La Trappe (whence
the Trappists get their name) listed fourteen
occasions when, if God had called him to
judgment, he would have been eternally
damned. Make out your own list! It will con-
vince you that you have been “playing with
fire.”

Were you given the choice of a year of
perfect happiness to be followed by fifty
years of terrible pain, would you be fool
enough to take it? — Of course not! Then
why, for a moment’s sinful pleasure, do you
“play with fire” that is eternal?

Are YOU . . . BRIBING THE JUDGE?
Yes, I mean YOU. For you are going to

trial soon — of that I am certain. You are
going to trial very soon and you will stand
all alone to be tried for life . Of that, too, I
am certain. Not a very pleasant prospect, I
know; but you want the truth, don’t you?
Well, here it is: You are going to be appre-
hended suddenly, taken by surprise, rushed
before the Judge and immediately your trial
will be on . . . your trial for life. So take my
advice and bribe the Judge now! Go, tamper
with the witnesses; prejudice them in your
favor. Were it a trial by jury, I’d tell you
to buy the jury; for the case is black against
you. But this is to be a trial before a single
Judge, so bribe Him and bribe Him well.
Pay the price that He asks, because your life
is at stake!

I suppose you don’t believe me. I suppose
you are convinced that you are in no danger
of being apprehended and tried for life. I



26 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
suppose you think me quite insane when I
insist that you are going to be tried and tried
very soon and that the trial will be for your
life. Well, don’t believe me; but do take the
word of God for it! He says: “It is appointed
man once to die and after death, the judg-
ment

”

So you see I am talking fact! You
are going to die, and after death you are go-
ing to be tried and the trial will be for your
life eternal.

Oh, death is certain! Men have denied al-
most everything that is; no matter what the
evidence against their denial. They have de-
nied the existence of God, though His name
is clearly written in the sunrise and the
sunset; though His majesty is seen in the
mountains and His power in the ceaseless
sea; though His eternity is seen in the never-
failing seasons, His infinity in the countless

stars that are ever on the wing and His
gigantic love in life! They deny the exist-
ence of the soul, though they can look upon

the corpse of their dearest and nearest and

see that something has gone, something that

was spiritual, something that gave life. Yes,
they have even denied the existence of matter

. . . but no one has ever dared to deny the

existence of death. That is too obvious!

That is too certain!

Just look at the certainties of death. That

it is coming to YOU is certain. That it is
coming SOON is also certain. Your past life
has sped, hasn’t it? Your future years will

go even more quickly. Yes, death is coming

very soon and the terror of it is that it is

coming only ONCE. There is no second
chance at life; and that is what makes death

so terrific. God has said, “It is appointed

man once to die ” We may fail in business
we have another chance. We may fail in



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 27
social, political, even domestic life—we have
another chance. We can even fail in health
and there is another chance. BUT fail in life
and all is lost! There is no other chance!
And the startling part about death is that it
is going to take you by SURPRISE. God
says: “I will come like a thief in the night.”
Experience tells me that every death is sud-
den. Men have been on their deathbeds for
months, even for years, yet when death
finally did come, they were taken by sur-
prise. Yes, in a very true sense, death is
always sudden!

Now those are the ’certainties of death. It
is coming to you, coming soon, coming once,
coming suddenly to take you by surprise.
Add to these the facts that it will strip you of
everything

,

for “there are no pockets in
shrouds” and you go down into the grave
alone. There you have the certainties of
death. Don’t they make you think ?
Now look at the uncertainties. WHEN will

you die? ... I don’t know. Maybe in fifty
years, maybe in fifty days, maybe in fifty
seconds! I don’t know, for death is uncertain.
WHERE will you die ? ... I don’t know. Will
it be at home, in the hospital, on the street,
in the air at sea ? I don’t know, for
death is so uncertain! IN WHAT CIRCUM-
STANCES will you die ? . . . I don’t know.
Maybe alone, maybe surrounded with
friends, maybe suddenly after a terrific
accident, maybe quite naturally after a long
illness. I can’t tell, for death is so very
uncertain. HOW will you die ? . . . Will you
be praising God or cursing, will you be fear-
ful or unafraid, will you be sin-filled or
stainless? I don’t. ... OH YES, I DO know!
For as you live, so shall you die! If you
live praising God, you will die that way. If



28 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
you live close to God through prayer and

the Sacraments, if you hold fast to the

friendship of God by keeping His Command-
ments, then you will die fearlessly and

unafraid. But if you live otherwise . . .! As
you live, so shall you die; and as you die, so

shall you live eternally! For “after death . . .

the judgement.”

Oh, that judgment is a soul-shaking

thought! Think of it—YOU will stand alone,
stand as the accused before the bar of God’s

Justice. There, in all His majesty, but with-

out any of His mercy, will sit the Judge

,

Jesus Christ. With dread solemnity He will

call the witnesses against you, and the whole

host will marshal themselves there pointing

an unanswerable finger at you. The devil

will be there, the angels of all those with

whom you have sinned, of all those whom
you have in any way scandalized; the angels

of parents, family and friends, the angels of

foes, of wife and little ones, the angels of all

whom you have led into sin. Then the
creatures of God whom you have abused
will be there — food, drink, time, pleasure;
your own body will be there along with the
faculties of your soul and finally your own
conscience. What an array of witnesses!
Christ will demand the entire testimony

,

every thought, word and deed of your life

from the moment that you reached the age
of reason until the moment that you lost the
use of that reason, as death approached.

Suppose you were called this moment,

could you face the Judge? The record is

pretty black, isn’t it? Think of what the

devil could say! Could he not laugh at Christ

and say: “This man is mine! He made a
mockery of Your Sacraments. At Baptism he

renounced me and all my works, but in every-



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 29
day life he followed me closely; he listened to
all my lies; he sinned and sinned and sinned.
Actually he renounced You, Jesus Christ!

He ‘went native,’ he was a ‘moth instead of
a man,’ he was most fond of ‘sweet sin.’
Come, Christ! He has ‘played with fire’ all
his life, give him to me now forever. He
was mine in time, I will take him for
eternity!” What would angels of others
say against you? What would the angels of
your own family testify ? Tell me, what
would your own Guardian Angel say of the
places to which you have been, the people

with whom you were, and the things that
you have done? Yes, the record is mighty

black; and the sentence must be given
according to that record! What could Christ
say at the moment? Would it be, ‘'Come,
you blessed,” or ‘‘Depart, you cursed?”

There is your complete picture; there you

have the accused, the Judge, the witnesses,
their testimony and the sentence. Does it
scare you? Well, remember this . . . you are
writing the sentence NOW. Christ can read
only what you have written. It is up to you
whether it be “Guilty” or “Not guilty of
Hell.”

What is to be done NOW? Just what I
told you at the beginning of this paper . . .
BRIBE THE JUDGE! Pay His price; for
your life, your eternal life, is at stake.

Need I tell you the price He asks? Need I
tell you how to bribe Him? There are Ten
Commandments. . . . Keep them! There are
six Precepts. . . Observe those! There are
two Sacraments that you can frequent—
Confession and Communion! There is one
Sacrifice in which you can participate—The
Mass! That is the price that will buy this
Judge; and let me add that He is most



30 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
anxious to be bought. Simple, isn’t it? Yet
so eternally important!

Then the witnesses. . . You can very
easily prejudice these in your favor. Be the
man, the Catholic man, that you should be.
Give the good example to family, friend and
foe that your faith demands that you give.
Let them see you frequently at the church
and at the altar-rail! Repair the past by a
Catholic present and future, and the entire
trial will be in your favor! You will have
the Judge, the witnesses and the sentence
all for you! But start NOW for the trial
will be SOON! Remember, “As we live, so
shall we die; and as we die, so shall we live
forever

”

Zeno, the Grecian philosopher, was once
asked: “How shall I live?” He answered:
“Ask the dead.” There is a world of wisdom
in that reply; let us use it! Ask the soul of
one dead and damned in Hell, “How shall I
live?” and he will tell you: “Bribe the Judge;
keep far away from sin.” Ask the soul of
one dead and now in Purgatory, “How shall
I live?” and he will tell you: “Bribe the
Judge, go to Confession and Communion
often. Ask the soul of one dead and now in
Heaven, “How shall I live?” and he will tell
you: “Bribe the Judge; stay very close to
Christ

”

Are YOU ... A CONFIDENCE MAN?
By that I mean a man full of confidence

in the goodness of God.

“Well,” you say, “I know that God is good,
but, Father, after looking into memory’s
mirror and seeing there the lapses of my life
from youth to my latest years, I am afraid.
My life, as you say, has been sin-filled.”
Then I tell you that that is the greatest



A Trappisl Asks—Are You? 31

reason for you to be a “confidence man,” a

man full of confidence in the almost unbe-
lievable mercy of God. I say “almost unbe-
lievable, “ because if any but the Holy Ghost
had been author of the Bible, I’d say that the
tales of God’s mercy were all fiction!

Let us take a good look at our God, this

side of the grave. Let us look at Him as
delineated, not by man, but indelibly done
by the Spirit of Truth. It will make us
“confidence men”; and if there is one thing
that we poor mortals need in this battle of
life, it is confidence. We will go first to the
Old Testament and look at our God, this
side of the grave.

Our first picture is that of the Israelites.
They show us God in all His beautiful mercy.
Look at them there in Egypt. Slaves!
Burned all day by the merciless sun and
slashed by the heartless lash. Their nights
were n'ghts of weeping, longing for their
native land and for liberty. Pharaoh was a
monster and the Jews were living a veritable
Hell. Then God came to them in the person
of Moses and through Moses secured for
them the liberty they longed for and started
them on their way to the Promised Land.
Oh, what a journey that was; just one long
miracle! There was the cloud by day, the
pillar of fire by night; there was the passage
of the Red Sea, when stormy waters stood up
as stalwart walls; there was the manna and
the quail in the desert and the water from
the rock. Wonder after wonder for almost
forty years . . . and yet these people, favored
by God as never were people before, thanked
God for His greatnesses by ingratitude and
apostasy! When Moses was up on the moun-
tain talking with God, these people gathered
all the gold that was theirs, melted it, molded



32 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
it into a silly calf and then fell down in
adoration before the senseless, lifeless and
silly-looking- thing. What an abomination!
What an insult to God! Moses was so
wrought up over it that in holy anger, he
smashed the very Tables of the Law. ’But
God? . . . He forgave these people, led them
through the midst of their enemies, on and
into the land flowing with milk and honey.
Such is God, this side of the grave . . all
mercy!

Now think of David. . . . How God blessed
that man! Anointed by Samuel while still a
mere boy; while yet a child he was made
armor-bearer to the King; still a strippling,
he slew Goliath the Philistine giant and all
Israel loved him. To him was given the
King’s daughter, Michol, as wife and Jona-
than, the King’s son, was the other half of
his soul. At thirty this former shepherd boy
was made King of Israel. What more could
mortal man want; and yet David fell! Fell
horribly! One day he looked at the wife of
Urias and lusted after her. With her he
sinned and when he learned that she had
conceived by him, he sunk even lower. He
sent for Urias, who was fighting the King’s
war for him, and tried to get him to go down
to his wife. But the valiant soldier refused.
As long as his men were in the field, their
captain would not go down to his home.
Then David made him drunk, hoping that
alcohol would fire his passion and, thus
aroused, he would seek his wife. But not
this soldier! In desperation, David did a
dastardly thing: he sent Urias back to the
front, but with him he sent secret orders to
the effect that Urias was to see service in
that sector where death was certain. These
secret orders were obeyed and David was a



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 33
murderer. What did God do to such a man?
. . . He sent Nathan, a prophet, who stood
before David and told him the story of the
rich man, who, though rolling in wealth of
cattle, stole from a poor man the one and
only lamb he had and which he loved ex-
ceedingly much. In kingly wrath, David
rose at the story’s conclusion and swore, “By
the living God, that man is a child of death.”
Yes, that was man’s judgment, “He is a
child of death.” What did God say? . . .
Nathan pointed to the King and said, “Thou
art the man!” And David for the first time
recognized his awful sin. God forgave David
and that is why we have the beautiful
“Miserere ” God, this side of the grave, is

all mercy!

Come now to the New Testament and look
at Jesus in parable and in practice. You all
know the story He told of the lost sheep.
How one eventide, the shepherd counted
only ninety-nine of the flock that was one
hundred. Straightway he leaves the ninety-

nine and hurries off up the mountainside;

through brambles that tear and cut, he

rushes; up over stones that bruise, he goes;

and is ever calling, calling. Finally, there, on

the very edge of the precipice, he sees his

little lamb, wounded, trembling and half-
dead from fright. Tenderly he bends down,
gathers the little lamb in his hands, raises it
to his bosom and starts off down the moun-
tainside whispering soothing words to the
trembling little thing as he staunches its

flowing blood. And when he gets home, the
first thing he does is to call his neighbors to

rejoice, “for he that was lost is found.” Then
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
What was Christ in practice? Recall the

woman taken in adultery. The Jews were



34 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
going to stone her and they had the law on
their side. But Jesus bent over and wrote
in the dust the secret sins of all the band
Rising, He spoke and said, “Let him cast the
first stone who is without sin among you,”
and bending over He wrote again. They
left then! Every one of them, from the old-
est to the veriest youth. When they were
alone, these two, Jesus and the woman, He
spoke

^

again, asking, “Doth no man condemn
thee?’ ana the answer with shame came
back, “No man, Lord.” Then Jesus said,
Neither do I! Go now and sin no more ”
How merciful Jesus is!
Think of Magdalene . . . the woman of the

streets, Magdala’s notorious courtesan! One
day she came to a banquet where Jesus was
and flinging herself at His feet, wept the
hard, bitter, heart-wrenching tears of the
penitent. Pharisees mocked that day, mocked
Him and her; but Jesus said, “Much is for-
given her, for she hath loved much.”
How did Jesus deal with Peter, the man

who had denied Him and denied with an
oath that he knew the Man? ... A look,
that was all. A look that gently reproved
and yet spoke full forgiveness. “And going
out Peter wept bitterly.” Now remember
that Peter was the Prince of the Apostles.
Remember that he was the foundation stone
of the Church. Jesus only looked!
Think of Judas. Oh, how Jesus tried to

save that traitor! When Judas had blistered
His lips with the traitor’s kiss, Jesus gently
said, “Friend, dost thou betray the Son of
Man with a kiss?” To the man who had just
sold Him for the price of an ordinary donkey
of the Jerusalem streets, He said, “Friend,”
and into that word He put all the tender
mercy and the promise of forgiveness that



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 35
lies in the Sacred Heart. That is your

God,

this side of the grave, all mercy!

Look last at Calvary! Hate,
malice and

cruel ingenuity have done their
utmost. They

have hammered Jesus to a cross and
raised

Him high to be the sport of the vulgar
rab-

ble. What does your God, this side of
the

grave, do? He prays and pleads for
His

persecutors! “Father,” he cries,
“forgive

them, for they know not what they
do.

What wonder of mercy is this!

Ah but the tenderest, most touching
and

truest picture of our God,
this side of the

grave, is found in the story
of the prodigal

How we love that parable! And why
not?

Haven’t we all been prodigals? Haven’t
we

wanted to know what it was all about?
To

be independent? To be free
frorn

^

our

Father’s house? To know the “sweets
of

sin? Yes, this parable is
precious! Cant

you see the Father at eventide,
standing at

the front of his house, shielding
his failing

eyes against the glare of the setting
sun as he

looks away down the road to where it bends,

looks longingly for his boy ? Can’t you
hear

him sigh as the sun sinks, the purple

shadows deepen and the road is empty ?

Can’t you hear his aged heart ache ?

But ’one evening there IS one who takes

that bend in the road, a ragged,
weak and

footsore thing, hardly a man at all. But the

father knows! and he is off the porch
like

lightning. Love gives strength and youth
to

his aged limbs and an old man runs down

the road. Coming to the ragged thing that is

limping along, he falls on his neck and kisses

him while tears of joy rain down upon a

dust-covered face that is trying to tell his

father that he is sorry.

Now, remember, this boy has squandered a



36 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
fortune. Remember that he has dragged the
illustrious name of the family in the mud
and the mire of sin. Remember that he has
been living with harlots and then with swine.
. . . But what does the father care ? Let the
fortune go! Let the family name go! Let
everything go! What cares he? His boy is
back! His boy is still alive! That is all that
matters. So the neighbors are summoned to
feast on the fatted calf. The best robe is
brought out and the ring for the finger; “for
he that was dead has come to life again; he
that was lost, is found.” That is God this
side of the grave. A tender Father, who will
run to meet you if you but take the bend in
the road.

Now there are some of the reasons why
you should be a “confidence man,’’ because
God, this side of the grave

,

is all mercy. Let
me call your attention to the fact that I have
used nothing but the Word of God to depict
God; for if I, or any other human, were the
author of the above stories and incidents
who could believe them? Such mercy is
beyond our ken and above our invention.
You couldn’t believe man were he the auth-
or, but you can’t help believing God; and
He is the One who wrote the stories! Nor
have I exhausted the stories or the facts, for
there is the story of the Good Samaritan and
the fact of the Good Thief. But I need not
tell you all, for it is most evident that God
this side of the grave, is all mercy. But I
must say that God is waiting for you to take
advantage of that mercy. He is waiting for
you

T !? ,
ta
^
e that bend in the road. The sandsm Life s hourglass are trickling through

before the last grain falls, take that bend in
the road. Say a sincere “I’m sorry God ”
and then be A CONFIDENCE MAN!



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 37

Are YOU . . . HOLDING

THE WINNING HAND?

Now I don’t know too much about “poker”;
but I am told that you need a straight face,
a lot of nerve and quite a little “bluff”; but

above all you need good cards. I am further
told that if I should pick up an ace, I have

a good card; that if the next two should hap-

pen to be the king and the queen, I had bet-

ter set my face and grip my nerves. I am
finally told that if the next card should be a

jack, I will need all my nerve to pick up the
fifth card with a straight face. But suppose

I do, and suppose that I find it to be the ten

and that all the cards are not only the same

color but also the same suit! To tell you the
truth, if that happened to me, my face would
not be straight, though my “hand” would; my
face would be more royally flushed than my
“hand.” But you know that real players could
sit back with such a “hand” and just wait

for the betting to start; for they would be
holding “the winning hand.”

Well, you are sitting in at a game; they call

it the “game of life

”

And at times it really
seems as though the “deck” was stacked

against you, doesn’t it? Aren’t there times

when you feel that the dealers are saving all

the useless cards just for you? Then let me
deal you a real “hand,” a “winning hand,”

one you are to hold, to bet on, to bank on. I

am going to deal you five perfect cards; I am
going to deal you a Royal Straight Flush. If

you hold it always in this “game of life,” you
will go home, when the “game” is over, a very
rich man!

Here is the first card: it is an ACE; it is
known as FAITH. It is yours. It has been



38 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
yours for years; but what have you been do-
ing with it? Do something with it NOW.
Make it vital; make it virile; make it a red
blooded belief that God is! that He made you;
that He loves you; that He works for you;
that He waits for you; that He has a hand-
some reward all for you. Make it an effective
Faith; one that spurs you on to do good, be-
cause God wants good done; one that makes
you avoid evil, simply because evil offends
God. Make it a Faith that gives you HOPE
in Time and for Eternity. A Faith that tells
you that there is no such thing as life; that
the cards in the “game of life” are not stacked
against you; a Faith that tells you that all
things come from God, and hence, all things,
even sickness, suffering and death, are good!
A Faith that tells you that there is only one
real evil and that is sin! A Faith that urges
you to look up, up beyond the earth, beyond
the sky, beyond the stars themselves, up to
the hid battlements of Heaven” where love,
long, endless years of life and love await you
for keeping the Faith here on earth! Such a
Faith makes life worth living. Hold it fast!

The second card that I deal you is the
KING. This card is PRAYER. Did you ever
know that the most manly act that a he-man
can perform is prayer? Well, know it now!
and know that by it, man uses his highest
faculties for the highest end possible for a
human to attain this side of the grave. Prayer
is contact with Divinity! Prayer is the
noblest act that we can perform, for in it we
acknowledge the real truth. We acknowledge
God as our Maker, our Redeemer and Re-
warder, our Provider, our Master and our
King. By it we say that God is our ALL!
Prayer is nothing but a trustful turning to
God in weal and in woe. When things go



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 39
well, we turn to Him and thank Him; when
things are all wrong, then we turn to Him
and tell Him to put them right. Prayer is a
mighty virile thing. There is nothing soft or

sentimental about it, nothing “old-woman-

ish/’ Real prayer is a straight-from-the-

shoulder, reverent, heart-to-heart talk with

God. Pray, then, that kind of prayer, at all

times. Pray at the dawning that the day go
well; pray at the noontide, and at the night-
fall a longer prayer, to tell Him that you are
grateful for the day and sorry for your slips.
Pray all kinds of prayers. . . . Use vocal
prayer, your beads; use mental prayer, just

think long and lovingly of Jesus; use ejacu-
latory prayer, just whisper to God. Pray
always, for prayer brings Grace and Grace
is the life of the soul. Prayer is easy, prayer
is pleasant, prayer is necessary. . . . Use it
more often!

Here is your third card: it is the QUEEN.
And what is this? . . . The Mass. Ah, here
you have the very heart of our religion. Get

to know your Mass and you will come to love
it; love it and then, no matter what the blows
and the buffetings that this world may send,
life is all sweetness.

Faith is a grand thing, for it gives you be-

lief in God. Prayer is a powerful thing, for

it unites your mind and heart with God. But

the Mass! . . . Ah, that gives you God! Body
and Blood, Soul and Divinity, really and truly

present in the Holy Sacrifice. The Mass is
your everything. It is your redemption, your

sanctification, your glorification. It is the

most direct means that you have of fulfilling
the end for which God made you. Look! You
are a man, therefore you’ve got to adore
God . . . you do it through the Mass. You
are a dependent man, therefore you’ve got to



40 • A Trappist Asks—Are You?
give thanks for all that you have received
... you do it through the Mass. You are a
sinful man, therefore you’ve got to make
reparation for your offenses . . . you do it
through the Mass. Finally, you are a very
weak man, therefore you need help mightily
. .

. you get it through the Mass. The won-
der of the Mass is astounding, but think
what happens when you communicate at the
Mass, a thing you should always do! Why,
then you undergo a Blood-transfusion, and
into your soul courses the Blood of Jesus
Christ, true God and true Man. And oh,
how you need Jesus! Remember, away
back in our first paper we saw that He alone
is proof positive against “going native” ?
Remember that we also saw that no one is
immune to weathering? So I wisely say that
you NEED the Mass, you need Jesus Christ!
But you are looking for two more cards to

fill out the “hand,” aren’t you? Well, here
is the JACK. This card is PENANCE, the
Sacrament and the virtue. Through Penance
you get clean and through it you keep clean
in this very dirty world. The Sacrament has
been established just for you and how little
you appreciate it. Suppose for a moment that
there were no confessional. Suppose that
there were no priest to whom you could go
and get absolution, advice, encouragement
and consolation. What a weary, weary world
this would be for you! Birds might sing and
the sun might shine, but for you the whole of
creation would wear only a gray, if not a
dismally black, look; for guilt would hang
heavy on your soul! You’ve got to thank
God for this Sacrament, and the very best
way to thank Him is to go to it often

!

When will you appreciate God’s goodness
to you? When will you learn that the Sacra-



A Trappisl Asks—Are You? 41

ment of Penance is not only to forgive sins

but also to give Grace ? When will you
realize that the priest is in the “box” not

only to forgive but also, in a very special

manner, to give! He has spent long years in
study to perfect himself in the science of the

soul; he is your soul’s doctor, and just as you

consult a doctor for the ills of your body, so,

too, you must consult your “doctor” for the
ills of your soul. Now it is the part of wis-
dom to have only one doctor for your body,
a man who knows your “case history” from
beginning to end; it is equally the part of

wisdom to have one “doctor” for your soul, a
single confessor who knows your soul from
A to Z. That is the only way to insure proper
prescriptions and real health; and the health
of your soul means holiness.

Concerning the virtue of Penance . . .
never worry. As long as life is, opportuni-
ties to practice this virtue will never be

wanting; for life is action and where there is
action, there is bound to be friction; where
there is friction, there is sure to be heat! If

you keep cool, if you keep your head and
your tongue in the midst of all life’s friction-
ings, and do it just to be like Christ, you will
be practicing heroic Penance!

Now I don’t say that the cards come in the
order I have dealt them. But I do say that
the four I have given you are necessary, very
necessary, and yet, without the fifth, they
are useless. You need that most necessary
“ten.” Well, here it is, for without it, the
other four are so much pasteboard. The TEN
is AVOIDING THE OCCASIONS OF SIN.
Now you have your Royal Straight Flush.
Now you have the “winning hand.” Of all
the cards, perhaps the most important is this



42 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
last. It makes the “hand” and it will save
your soul!

I want you to study this last card. I want
you to notice that I say, “Avoid the OCCA-
SIONS of sin.” I do not say, “Avoid sin.”
No, that would be poor advice; for if a man
wants to avoid colds, he keeps out of drafts;
if a man wants to avoid drowning, he stays
out of the water; if a man wants to keep
from being burnt he avoids fire; so YOU . . .
if you want to keep away from sin, avoid
the people, the places and the things that
have in the past led, and may again in the
future lead, you into sin. That is what I
mean by avoiding the OCCASIONS of sin!
My good fellow, hold this “winning hand”

and you’ll be a saint. Not a mystic or a
miracle-worker, but that other more com-
mon and more attractive kind ... a real
man, a he-man, Catholic to the core. That is
what a saint is ... a MAN who does WHAT
he ought to do, WHEN he ought to do it and
IN THE WAY he ought to do it. By your
Baptism you promised to be such a man.
Redeem your promise then by holding the
“winning hand.” Play it “close to your
vest.” Better still, put it into your heart!

Are YOU ... A SLACKER?
Loyalty to a CAUSE and devotion to a

LEADER has changed the face of the world
many a time. It can do the same thing today!
Do you remember the World War? Do you

remember how we rallied to the call of
“make the world safe for democracy?” Ah,
that was a CAUSE that fired the soul of the
nation. It stirred us to the last atom of our
being; it straightened the back of all and sent
the very flower of our manhood to Flanders
fields. Patriotism was at its peak in those



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 43
days and all of us were fighters—men,

women and even little children. We were
all most anxious to do “our part” and “our

part” was small, even for the biggest of us.
But we were convinced that if everyone did
“his bit,” the war was won and the “world
was made safe for democracy.” The CAUSE
really captivated us. It stirred the blood of

the most sluggish, made even an amoeba of

a man, noble, and the anemic, red-blooded.

It was a CAUSE that called for sacrifice, and
with ready will we all did sacrifice. There
were sugarless days, heatless days and meat-

less days; there were Liberty Bonds and

dollar-a-year-jobs. All tiny things in them-

selves, but when mounded together, did just
what we wanted . . . had “the boys out of the
trenches by Christmas” of 1918.

Yes, the CAUSE was captivating, but we
also had LEADERS who were magnetic!
There was the wise Wilson with his scholarly
ways; there was “Black Jack” Pershing, a

soldier to his finger-tips; there was Marshal
Foch, Catholic to the core, a God-fearing,

man-inspiring commander-in-chief. There was

a whole host of others whom we could follow
with confidence and courage. Small wonder,

then, that we were all stirred to brave daring
and to even braver doing!

Yet, despite the CAUSE and the LEADERS,
there were “slackers” . . . men who turned a
deaf ear to the call, dodged even the draft

and, able-bodied though they were, hid be-

hind overalls in some shipyard, instead of

being behind a gun at the front. How we
despised them! And weren’t we right? When
tiny tots would give their pennies for bonds

and babies would shiver one day a week and
take their porridge “straight” weren’t we
justified in holding as despicable every able-



44 A Trappisl Asks—Are You?
bodied man who did not answer the call and
do “his bit” to “make the world safe for
democracy?”
Ah, but tell me, have you ever listened to

the call of Christ? Have you ever thought
of His CAUSE? He wants to “make the
world safe for God,” and to do it, He needs
YOU.

“But,” you say, “what can a tiny thing like
myself do to ‘make the world safe for God?’
What can I do to help Jesus Christ?”

Tell me, what did you do in the World
War? Not much, was it? Even if you had
captured a trench or, better still, a whole
sector, what would it have been when there
were miles and miles of other trenches and
at least three other “fronts” in Europe alone?
Ah, you played a very tiny part of the great
World War; we all did. Even the biggest of
us was only an atom. Yet every bit helped!
So, too, in the World War for God, every tiny
bit will help tremendously; and you can at
least do a tiny bit, can’t you? Think of it!
Tiny you, sinful you, weak and wayward you,
can really HELP God Almighty. Could you
want a nobler Cause ? And as for the
LEADER . . . look at Him . . . He is Jesus
Christ, the GOD-MAN! What a Cause!
What a Commander! What a challenge to
YOU!
But here we must pause to point out a

great difference. In the World War, leaders
gave the command to “Advance!” “Go
ahead!” they were saying; for Wilson stayed
at home; Pershing never fired a shot from a
front-line trench, and even Foch directed
things from a distance. But Christ . . .
never! He is your King and your Comman-
der, but He is more . . . He is your Com-
rade. His command is never, “Go ahead”; it



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 9

and fail miserably. They will fail to live
rightly, for they are failing to think rightly.

Thought always precedes action. That is

why man is measured by his ideas and his
ideals. If you think rightly, there is high

probability that you will live rightly; and

there is only one right way to think of man
. . . He is a creature.
Take the truth then, that you belong to

God, and inject it into your system; then
you’ll never “go native.” Get that into your
very blood-stream and you can let the
atheist rave and the communist rant, you can
let the materialist be flippant and the spirit-
ualist foolish . . . for you will be safe! You
will live the life of all-living. You will act
like a MAN, which means being a CHILD
OF GOD!
Are YOU ... A MOTH OR A MAN?
A moth is a very stupid animal. Flame is

not its food nor its home; it can’t live in
flame, it can’t eat flame, it can’t get a sin-

gle thing from flame . . . yet light a candle
and watch the foolish moth. It flits round
and round, dips in and dips out, shoots up,
then down, flies near, then far, yet ever and
always back to the one thing that can do it
no good. Be it a feeble candle glow or a
tremendous torch, it makes no difference; as
long as it is flame, the moth will come. And
what happens? Well, most moths get their
wings singed—and many die. Foolish, foolish
moth!

Men are like moths. Just as stupid. Just
as foolishly flitting about flames. Yes, I said

just as stupid, for when facing the question
. of questions we saw that man was made by
God and for God. It follows then that “we
have not here a lasting city,” that earth is
not our native land, that we are Eternity’s



10 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
children. Yet there are men who devote
themselves to things other than God. There
are men who, though made for Eternity, give
themselves and their entire life to things that
are of Time. Yes, men are like moths, just
as stupid, just as foolishly flitting about
flames!

Here is my proof: Flames are tenuous
things which soon die away; so too are all
things in this wondrous world of ours; just
as tenuous; just as soon passing away. Yet
men flit about them! One man flies to the
“spotlight.” His end is FAME. To get into
the headlines he will sacrifice anything and
everything, risking even life itself. If you
think that an exaggeration, recall the many
who tried to fly the Atlantic before Lind-
bergh. Oh, how many have lost, not only
their names, but even their lives, flitting
about the spotlight of fame!

Others are attracted by the blaze of POWER.
They want to be “up on top,” to be mighty,
or at least friends of the mighty, and to at-
tain this end they will sacrifice principle, self-
respect and honor. Why did Pilate condemn
Jesus Christ? He admitted that “he found
no cause in the Man”; he knew that “the
Jews had delivered Him up out of envy.” Pi-
late was convinced that Jesus was innocent,
yet he condemned Him to death because, “if
you free this Man, you are no friend of
Caesar’s.” Ah, how many have made them-
selves other Pilates, flying about the con-
suming blaze of power!
Some there are who never go near big

flames. These play around the dim and the
dull. These find the “red light” enough for-
them. PLEASURE is their end and pas-
sion their finish! And how many men become
moths flitting about the “glow” of ALCO-



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 11
HOL.? Yes, the “glow” that it gives attracts
them, 'but they usually end up — luminous!
Often it is the light in some woman’s eyes

that makes a moth of a man, and, as you well
know, the “glitter” of gold has frequently
been the light that made misers and maniacs
of rational beings. But why multiply ex-
amples? You know as well as I do that money
has been the “flame” for millions and still is.
You know that pleasure, power, passion, fame,
excitement, food, drink, health, happiness . . .

all have made moths of men. And you
further know that most have had their wings
singed and not a few have died! Foolish,
foolish moths of men!
Now don’t think of the “other fellow.” I

am asking YOU this question. And, remem-
ber, the light that attracts, does not have to
be great. When I say that money is a flame,
I do not men millions . . . thirty pieces of
silver ruined Judas. When I say that pleas-
ure is a flame, I am not thinking of a whole
long life in luxurious debauchery . . . one
dance by Salome made a murderer out cf
Herod. Think then of yourself, for there is
no man who has not his own particular
“flame,” there is no man who is not moth-
like.

“But how be man?” you ask.
Well, at the outset of this paper, I was go-

ing to ask you, “Are you lashed to a mast?”
and tell you the story of wily Ulysses. He
had to sail through the waters where the Si-
rens sang, but he knew the strength of their
song and the weakness of his own will, so he
lashed himself to the mast of his ship, for he
well knew that if he were not roped, he’d be
ruined. You have to sail past many an isle
and listen to many a siren song, so you must
be just as wily as Ulysses was and lash



12 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
yourself to the mast of the solid principle,
“Use a means as a means; don’t make it an
end.” It is the only principle that will save
you from ruin. It is the only principle that
will ensure you sanity and ultimately lead
you to sanctity.

Here is what I mean: We are living* in a
wondrous world, surrounded on all sides by
creatures that are mightily enticing. Every
one of these creatures is g*ood, for God made
them, and He makes only good things. BUT
He made them as means, not as ends. He
made them as means to help us get to our real
end . . . Which is God. Wealth, health, power,
good name, even great name, are all good
things and they will all help us to our end,
IF we use them ONLY INASMUCH as they
help us to God. Money is necessary; get it,
but don’t make a god out of it! Pleasure is
desirable; enjoy it, but don’t adore it! Power
is a great good, but it is not essential for our
soul’s salvation, and that is our only end.

God made all these things and He made
them for our use, but the “great boob man”
abuses them. God made them as means, man
makes them ends. Food is a creature of God
and we eat to live; but there are those who
make it an end and who live only to eat.
Drink is a gift from God and it will set the
whole being aglow; but man, in his stupidity,
is not satisfied with the glow, he wants a
blaze. Physical well-being is a grand thing,
but tell me, why adore it? Why worship the
body?

Oh, don’t be like the stupid moths around
you who have made ends out of mere means.
Be a MAN who lives by the principle, “I will
use things ONLY INASMUCH as they help
me to God.” Don’t be a moth that flits about
flames that burn and even kill; be a Chris-



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 45
is always, “Come, follow Me!” And let me
tell you that you will never be asked to do
one-half of the things that your Leader does
in this World War for God. I must again in-
sist that you will never have to do the
HALF. Then what manner of man would
you be to refuse the little that He does ask?
No, you can’t shirk in this War, you can’t
be a “slacker.” The Cause is too great, the
Leader is God. So whatever He asks, you
will do.

Here are the things that you can do as you
“follow the Leader.” He had actual poverty
for three and thirty years; you can at least
be poor in spirit. He was hidden away in a
despised town, of a despised province, of a
despised people all His life; you can at least
be humble of heart. He had pain at His birth,
in His flight into Egypt, in His hidden life;
He had obloquy ip His public life; He had
Calvary, the Crucifixion and Death as the
consummation to a Scourging, a Crowning
with Thorns and the Carrying of the Cross.
You can accept a little suffering, a little sick-
ness, a little set-back with silence, even with
resignation. He was Purity Itself, who
clothed Himself in clay and walked the ways
of men, looking on foulness and sin with eyes
that were divine; you can at least be clean of
heart. He suffered agonies silently; can’t you
be meek? He did even more than love allows.
Won’t you do your duty? Again, I ask, can
you be a “slacker” when there is such a
Cause and such a Leader ?

“Of course not!” you blurt. “But tell me
how to follow Christ.”
That is simple, for His first command is a

request. “My child,” He says, “give Me thy
heart.” That is what He is asking of YOU.
Oh, it is His. He made it. He redeemed it.



46 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
And it was given Him at Baptism. But He
wants volunteers, only volunteers. There are
no “draftees” in the service of Christ.

“How am I to give Him my heart?” you
ask.

You already know! Love thy God. Love
thy neighbor. Keep the Commandments and
the Precepts. Perform the corporal and spir-
itual works of mercy. Oh, you know how!
Keep that heart of yours clean. It is a tiny
thing, a very tiny thing, but it has a tremen-

dous hunger. Keep it clean by modeling it on
the meek and humble Heart of the meek
and humble Jesus. Do as He has done. He
made a frontal attack on pride by His humil-
ity; on riches by His poverty; on pleasure by
His purity! Follow your Leader and keep
your heart clean. See that nothing clings to

it and that it clings to nothing but Christ
and Christianity. The world with its wealth,
its honors and its good times will appeal to
you; the flesh with its passions and its lusts
will torture you; the devil with all his wiles
will try to trap you . . . but you keep your
heart clean. Keep close to Christ and all
will be well. The devil will camouflage
everything—it is his way—but Christ is the
light and if you stay near Him, you will see
everything clearly and truly.

But perhaps as yet I have not been specific
enough. Then I say, “Use the positive means
that I gave you in ‘the winning hand.’ Go
to Mass more often than once a week; and
when you do assist at Mass, always receive
Communion. Never allow a week to pass
without confession; for God gives Grace
through that Sacrament and Grace is the air
and the sun of your soul. Finally, pray! Pray
morning, noon and night; for prayer is the
dynamo which keeps the soul running.”



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 47
Really, it is all as simple as playing the

child’s game of “Follow the Leader ” Follow
Christ, He is your Leader. He was an ex-
ample for all . . . you, too, be an example
for all. In the business world, let your associ-
ates see Christ and His principles in action;
in your home, let your near ones see the
sweetness, the gentleness, the lovableness of

Jesus in your words and in your ways; in
your social life, let friends and acquaintances
see the nobility and the graceful charity of
Jesus, who ever “went about doing good.”

Now, all the above are little things, just
the ordinary Christian duties. But let me tell
you that when they are mounded together,
they produce that rarity of the world ... a
real follower of Jesus Christ, a he-man, in

the best sense of the word ... a saint!

You can’t be a “slacker,” with such a Cause
and such a Leader. Never! So play “follow

the leader”; it is a miraculous game. It makes
saintly he-men out of have-been “slackers.”

It will make you a good soldier of Jesus
Christ.

Are YOU . . . USING YOUR HEAD?
I am willing to wager that, as you faced

the last question and read about the Call, the

Commander and the Cause, you said within
yourself, “This is all fine fiction, but it is far

from fact.” I am further willing to wager
that you have reasoned in this manner: “I am
living and yet I do not feel that I am in any
army. I don’t feel as if there were a war.
In fact, I don’t find life such an awful battle.”

Many have reasoned that way before you
and that is the reason why I am asking, “Are
YOU using your head?”

It is a challenging question, I know, almost
an insulting one, but here are my reasons for



48 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
asking it: War has not only been declared,
but it is actually being waged. At this
moment, a very real battle is going on; and
your soul is the prize that the opposing par-
ties seek! I am not spinning fancy, I am talk-
ing facts! Scripture and tradition, reason
and experience all testify that what I say
is true. God, speaking through Job, says:
“Life is a warfare.” Tradition tells me that
Satan hates God and everything pertaining
to God, and I know that your immortal soul
is the very image of its Maker; I know, and
by this time you ought to know, that you be-
long entirely to God. Then reason tells me
that there is no victory without a struggle,
no reward without an effort, no crown with-
out contention, no Heaven except by violence.
Ah, but if I had not reason or revelation, I
would know that life is a battle from my
own daily experience. Look within yourself
and try to find any other explanation for
what goes on. How can you explain the
many contradictions that every day take
place within your very soul? You long for
sanctity, yet you sin. You want to be good,
yet you do evil. You desire purity and yet
are dirty in mind, in desire and in heart. You
aspire to the very heavens and yet grovel in
the filth of the earth. The things of eternity
are your goal and your ambition and yet you
are entirely taken up by the things of Time.
You want to be a man, a real man, a saintly
man and yet find yourself little better than
the beast. Why these cruel contradictions?
Why this ceaseless struggle in your soul? Be-
cause WAR has been declared. Because war
is being WAGED!

Come now and “use your head.” Recognize
obvious facts. The War is on. God wants you.
Satan wants you. God loves you, Satan hates



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 49
you. God is your Changeless Friend, Satan
your implacable enemy. God longs to have
you in Heaven for all eternity, Satan is de-
termined to have you damned in Hell for-
ever. Is it any wonder that there is a war?
You were made in the image and likeness of
God, you were made to take the place of
Satan in Heaven and that is why you will
never know peace until your immortal soul is
separated from your body and you are etern-
ally judged. Christ and Satan, Love and
Hate are contending; these two have been in
pitched battle for that soul of yours since

reason's dawn and will be battling for it un-
til the day of death. Recognize the fact! And
further recognize the terrible truth that YOU
are the one who decides the issue! YOURS
is the final verdict whether God shall win or
lose, whether you will go with Satan or with
Christ.

“But,” you say, “no one is going to prefer

Satan to Christ ”

And I answer: “YOU have done it.” Yes,
every time that you were “a moth and not a

man” you preferred Satan to Christ; every
time that you sought the “sweets” of sin you

preferred Satan to Christ; every time that

you “played with fire” you preferred Satan

to Christ. Oh, it is a stupid choice, for there

is no comparison between the leaders, there

is no choice between the camps. Christ is in-

finite Love, Truth and Beauty; Satan is

nothing but Hate. Christ gives you every-

thing in Time and promises you much more
in Eternity; Satan takes everything from you

here—first, light of intellect, then strength
of will and finally health of body—and here-
after he will give you only torment. Satan

is a liar; Christ can neither deceive nor be

deceived. Jesus says: “My child, give Me



50 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
thy heart that I may bless it forever in the
happiness of My Heaven.” Satan says:
“Give me your soul that I may 'salt’ it with
the eternal fires of Hell.” And you choose
Satan! You’ve done it time and time again.
Why? . . . I’ll tell you why . . . Because
you did not “use your head.” You did not
challenge everyone who approached your
soul with the cry: “Who goes there? Friend
or enemy?” I’ll tell you why . . . You were
not wise to the wily ways of Satan. Oh, I
know that you did not mean to choose Satan.
I know that you want God here and here-
after; so I am going to give you what I know
of Satan’s strategy so that, in the future, you
will “use your head.”

Satan’s entire campaign is DECEIT. He is
a liar and the father of lies. But he is clever!
Almost infinitely clever. For all the long
aeons since Hell was created his one work has
been to capture human souls, and experience,
added to his angelic intellect, makes him al-
most unbeatable. He knows human nature
down to its last atom; he is well acquainted
with its every flaw and failing, he knows its
strength and its weakness, and he uses his
knowledge well. Why, he knows you better
than you know yourself. He knows just ex-
actly what will appeal to you and how much
it will appeal to you; he knows what you
will resist and how long you will resist. He
has been following your every move since
you were born and has studied you with all
the zeal that hate can inspire, so that today
he knows your soul from A to Z. You have
never seen Satan, have you? No; and most
likely you never will; for it is not his way to
appear in the light. Deception is his method.
Never yet has he put evil before an indi-
vidual as evil; he presents it as good. If



51A Trappist Asks—Are You?
he showed sin in all its horror, he would

never get anyone to sin; so he shows it as

“sweet/’ Were he to appear himself, he

would never capture a single soul, for he is

the personification of hatefulness; so he

appears through his helpers and they are far

from hateful.

Let me acquaint you with a few of Satan’s

helpers so that you can “use your head.” The

“movie” is his helper as it portrays sin in
all

its seductiveness; making a heroine out of
a

harlot and an idol of a roue; making divoice

delightful and marriage a mockery. The

“talkie” is his helper when it fashions pretty

speeches, which, when stripped of their fine

phrases, mean only passion and sin. The

“tabloid” is his helper when it prints pic-

tures that bring the blush to any real man,

but stir the passions of youth. The daily

paper is his helper when it reports filth and

scandal, when it gives you all the rot of

humanity, when it falsifies facts just to have

a flaring headline. The magazine is his

helper when it makes a hero of a murderer,

an idol of a clever thief and a glory out of a

“gangster.” Poets have seen Satan’s songsters,

and novelists his right hand. Wine, women
and song have all done the work of the

devil, and especially do I say wine! Truly,

his name IS “Legion.” There are some of

his helpers; and knowing his helpers, you

know something of his ways. He appeals to
the animal in man, cleverly, subtlely, sur-

reptitiously and ' makes of most men . . .
animals! Think of it! All this ingenuity, all

this clever subtlety, all this intelligence of

Hell is hurled against tiny, little you. What
chance have you got? Alone, you have none!

None whatsoever! So “use your head” and
“follow the Leader”; get close to Christ, for



52 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
He is a Conqueror! He has subdued the
world, the flesh and the devil. He has van-
quished Hell. He has conquered Death. Stay
close to Christ and you will win. Without
Him—you die, and die eternally.
Now you have heard all this before. You

have made other retreats and left them with
the fixed resolve to stay close to Christ. What
happened? I’ll tell you what happened . . .
You were not thorough. You only half-be-
lieved. You only half-resolved. You know
there are three classes of men: The ‘‘do-
nothings,” the ‘‘half-way fellows” and the
‘‘go-through men.’” Now, if you belonged to
the last named class, the truth that you are
a soldier of Christ would have so seared it-
self into your soul that religion would have
been a twenty-four-hour-a-day proposition
with you and not a Sunday-morning affair.
Christ and His Cause would have been a
heart-interest and an everyday concern to
you. Confession would have been a weekly
matter and Communion a daily delight. Yes,
I say DAILY. Tell me, are you strong enough
to battle Satan alone? Are you strong enough
to live in twentieth century pagan America
and not “go native” ? Don’t you really need
the strength of Omnipotence ? Tell me
honestly, have you one valid reason for not
becoming a daily communicant? Oh, I hate
to say it . . . but God will understand . . .
if ten-dollar bills were being handed out at
the altar-rail, you’d be there every morning,
you and your whole family! Then what
price do you put on God?
What class of man are you going to be in

for the future? Oh, get out of that terrible
mediocre class of “half-way fellows” and be-
come a “go-through man.”
They tell of a young French soldier who



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 53
was to be shot at sunrise because he had

been found asleep at his post. Day was just
breaking on the morn appointed for the
execution and the youngster was looking

sad-eyed at his last gray dawning, when he

heard the steps of soldiery along the prison

floors. With an effort, he straightened him-

self, stiffened his quivering lip, set his teeth

and made ready to face it all “like a soldier/’
The cell door opened, the youngster made a
perfect military turn and looked straight into

the eyes of . . . his King. The monarch

smiled and said, “My boy, you are young. I
know that you slept out of fatigue. Tell me,
what will you do if I give you back your

sword?”

The boy’s head came up, two big tears
stole down his cheeks as with all the pent-up
emotion of his young heart, he blurted out:

“Sire, Til die for you ”

Now Christ has given you back your sword
time and time again. Wont you “use your
head” and live for Him? Won’t you be
always on your guard? Won’t you ever be

mindful of the fact that Satan never sleeps;

that he wants you; that he is going to use

every possible means to get you? Oh, be wise

and know that he will appeal through the
plausible and the pleasurable. He has many,
many helpers and among them are these:

“There is no danger here of YOU” . . .
“Just this ONCE” . . . “Everybody does it”
. . . “Just ONE more,” and finally and
worst of all . . . “By and by.”

All are liars! Jesus has said, “NOW is the
ACCEPTABLE TIME.”



54 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
Are YOU . . . LIVING UP TO
YOUR BLOOD?

“Blood will tell.” So the saying goes and I
have found it true. Blood always tells.

Hence, as a parting question, one that will
serve as a preview and a review, I ask: “Are
you living up to your blood?” I am asking it
because I want you to crystallize your entire
retreat in the one resolve, “I will live
worthy of my blood”; and in that resolve you
will have everything!

What am I talking about? Simply this . . .
that once you have been baptized, you have
been “blooded” with the noblest of all noble
blood; you have been received into a family
of heroes and made the scion of saintly sires.
Look at your ancestors and you will see that
they are wonderful. Look and learn that you
can be as they. Look and really resolve to
be just what they have been.

First, look at the bravery of your martyr-
sires. Many of your ancestors preferred to
become living torches in the garden of Nero
than drop a tiny grain of incense into the
brazier that was burning before the image of
some false god. Then there were those who
rejoiced when the blood-thirsting Roman
mob roared, “Christians to the lions!” Yes,
actually rejoiced and then walked out into
the sands of the arena confident and un-
afraid. Starving lions charge down on them;
they knelt, signed themselves with the sign
of the cross and died talking to God. Count-
less are the members of your family who
have died for God and are called martyrs;
not only under the pagan Caesars and the
barbarians, but under the Caliphs of the
seventh and succeeding centuries; under the
Reformers of the sixteenth, the Revolu-



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 55
tionists of the eighteenth and the atheists of

the twentieth century. Your brothers and
sisters died bravely under Nero and his ilk,
under Saladin and Henry VIII, under Crom-
well and Robespierre, and they are dying

today in far-off Russia and nearer Mexico
under Lenin and Calles. Your turn may be
next. Will you “live up to your blood ?”

Look now at the love of the Confessors and
the Virgins. It takes bravery, great bravery,

to die for God, but it takes a greater bravery,

one that we call “love,” to live for God, and
to live for Him alone; and, oh! how your
lineage bespeaks this love for God! Millions

of your family have so loved God that this
wondrous world of ours was weariness to
them; they so loved God that they hated
themselves; they so longed for God that this
life on earth was to them . . . death.

Now do not think that this nobility of
bravery and of love was limited to full-
grown men and women? You would have
reason to glory and to blush were I to name
only the elders; but what will you do when I
tell of the mere boys and girls? Look at

Tarcisius, shielding with his boyish body the

helpless Christ in the Host. Listen to Pan-

cratius, calling for the panther that had

given his father the martyr’s crown. Watch
Stanislaus and Aloysius as they sign away
princedoms in order to be poor with the

poor Jesus, and look at Berchman’s “filling

up a long span in a brief interval of time,”

because he loved much!

I suppose you are wondering how you can
ever measure up to the stature of such

mighty men and women, such giants of boys.
Well, it can be done and it must be done. You
can do just as they have done. Love the

Sacred Heart of Jesus as your sister Mar-



56 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
garet Mary has done. Be pure as your little
sister Agnes was. Be a knight of the Blessed
Sacrament and a Child of Mary as your “kid-
brothers/’ the “boy-saints,” were. Be an
heroic follower of Jesus Christ, for you have
the identical blood that flowed in the veins
of such heroes as Benedict, Bernard and
Ignatius; you have the same ancestry as
Oliver Plunket and Thomas More. Be brave,
be loving, for you can claim kinship with
Monica, Cecilia and the Little Flower. Be
generous, for you have been sired by the
same parents as Louis of France and Eliza-
beth of Hungary. “Noblesse oblige

”

is your
motto, for you are sprung from a stock that
is noble.

But why do I linger with your brothers
and sisters? Tell me, who is your Mother?
. . . Your Mother is the Immaculate One, the
only sinless one, the all-pure Mother of God.
Then it follows that Jesus, the Son of God.
is your Brother. Yes, that is true, as true as
the Gospel of God! Then can you be any-
thing but a “go-through man” from now on?
Can you be anything but a “hundred-per-
center,” a man who lives life to the hilt, the
Catholic life, the life of God ? Resolve a
man’s resolve today “to live worthy of your
blood” for you are a brother of Jesus!
Shhh! For as yet I have not told you all.

To have a God-man for your Brother is
thrilling, but it is not all; for if Jesus is your
Brother, then God must be your Father and
you must be a son of God! Think of that
. . . you are a son of God Almighty!
Have I gone too far? Have I bewildered

you with your nobility? Does it all seem too
good to be true? Well, I have not finished; I
have not told you all. But let me come to
more tangible things, things that you can



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 57
see and feel and touch. Let me tell you of
your body. Do you know what it is? It is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Tabernacle

of the Most-High God, the Monstrance for

Divinity. That is a staggering thought, isn’t

it? and one that is terrifying in its conse-

quences. You wouldn’t dare defile a con-
secrated chalice, would you? You wouldn’t

dare even to touch a ciborium containing the

Sacred Host . . . then how dare you sin in
that body of yours? It is a chalice con-

secrated to the omnipotent God; it is a living

Tabernacle for the ever-living God; it is the

very Monstrance in which is to be seen

Divinity. Then never again dare sacrilegi-

ously to defile that body of yours with foul-

ness, impurity, drunkenness . . . SIN!

Oh, I despair of ever telling you all the

wonders of your Catholic manhood; but I

must add this last truth as the crown of the

retreat. It is a truth that will keep you from

ever “going native,’’ from ever being “a moth

instead of a man,” from ever “playing with

fire” as you go after the “sweets of sin”; it is

a truth that, once grasped, will have you al-

ways “using your head” and being a “go-

through man” instead of a “slacker”; a
thought that will cause you so to live that

you will always be “ready for trial” because

you will always “hold the winning hand.”

What is this climaxing and unifying truth?
What is this actuality which will make you
“a man full of confidence”? It is this . . .
you are a living member of the Mystical
Body of Christ! Your blood is really divine!

This brief glimpse at the glory that is your

lineage makes your past look pretty black,
doesn’t it? But I tell you to FORGET IT! It
is PAST! Look to the future and plan for
that. Are you fearful that you cannot “live



58 A Trappist Asks—Are You?
up to your blood” ? If so, then let me insist
that you BE CONFIDENT. Paul was con-
verted from hate, Magdalene from impurity,
Peter from weakness. You, too, can be com-
pletely changed, but only by doing what they
did. Only by getting close to Christ

!

You’ve got to make a resolution and it has
got to be kept. The years are flying fast
and you are getting nearer and nearer to the
Judgment . . . You can’t stand there empty-
handed, for Eternity is too long! Resolve,
then, to “live worthy of your blood,” and the
only way that you can put that resolve into
execution is by clinging close to Jesus Christ.
But you will never get closer to Jesus this
side of the grave than you do in Holy Com-
munion. So your practical resolve is a man’s
resolve to go to CONFESSION every week
and to COMMUNION every day! That will
be “living up to your blood.”

My man, you can’t handle pitch and come
away clean! You can’t play with fire and
not be burned! You can’t live in the midst
of this foul world and be sinless. You can’t
keep from “going native” . . . UNLESS . . .
you stay close to Christ, your Captain, your
Comrade, your Brother and your God. Do
it through Holy Communion!

I sum it all up for you and put it in easily-
remembered words when I say: “BE A ‘G’
MAN!” By that I mean, “Be a Man of God.”
It is the only sane, the only honest thing to
do; for God made you, God redeemed you,
God is your beginning and God is your end;
you were given to God in Baptism, your soul
is the image of God, your body is the Temple
of God; in life you are sustained by God, in
death you will be judged by God and by
God you will be rewarded with God for all
eternity, if from now on you be what you



A Trappist Asks—Are You? 59
should be ... A “G” MAN ... A MAN OF
GOD! That is the resolve to take this day
and that is the resolve to KEEP! If you do
that, I promise you PEACE here and PARA-
DISE hereafter. Could even YOU ask for
more?
BE A “G” MAN, then, and God will bless

you!

U. I. O. G. D.

Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani

Feast of The Visitation of Our Lady

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