an explanation of the important events in the old and NEW TESTAMENTS WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CREED, COMMANDMENTS, SACRAMENTS AND CEREMONIES, ETC., OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR YOUNG AND OLD BY W. WRAY New York, Cincinnati, Chicago BENZIGER BROTHERS PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE Fathm Lasance’s Popular Prayer-Books FATHER LASANCE AUTHOR OF THE MOST POPULAR PRAYER BOOK IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE HAPPINESS IN GOODNESS Reflections, Counsels, Prayers and Devo- tions. Contains also Marriage Mass. 702 pages. Size 5% x 4 in. It is a treasure bringing good cheer, heartfelt joy, and genuine happiness, and should he owned by every Catholic. 2002 Seal Grain Cloth, sq. crs., red edges.. $1.35 2003 Imit. Leather, limp, round crs., red edg. 1.50 2012 Imit. Leather, limp, rnd. crs., gold edg. 2.00 3015 American Seal, limp, gold edges 2.25 Also in extra large type editon, same bindings at $1.75 and up By REV. F. X. LASANCE HtijfIrax|pr~®ocH CATHOLIC GIRL’S GUIDE Counsels and Devotions for Girls in the Or- dinary Walks of Life and in Particular for the Children of Mary By REV. F. X. LASANCE 680 pages. Oblong 16mo. Size, 5% x 3% in. Combines in an eminent degree the qualities of charm and usefulness 2002 Seal Grain Cloth, stiff covers. sq. cors., red edges.......... $1.35 2003 Imit. Leather, gold side, red edg. . \ .50 2012 Imit. Leather, gold side, gold edg. 2.00 3015 Amer. Seal, limp, gold side & edg. 2.25 THE YOUNG MAN’S GUIDE Counsels, Reflections and Prayers for Catho- lic Young Men, by Rev. F. X. Lasance. 782 pages. Oblong 32mo. Size, 4% x 3% in. Pleads for loyalty to Church and country 2002 Seal Grain Cloth, stiff covers, sq. cors., red edges $1.35 2003 Imit. Leather, gold side, red edgs. 1.50 2012 Imit. Leather, gold side, gold edg. 2.00 REJOICE IN THE LORD HAPPINESS IN HOLINESS By REY. F. X. LASANCE 540 pages. 5% in. long, 3% in. wide, % in. thick. Weight, 6 ounces. A Book of Reflections and Prayers, in three parts :—Part 1. A Word of Good Cheer for Each Day of the Year ; Part 2. A Book cf Prayer; Part 3. A Little Book of Indul- genced Ejaculations and Short Prayers. 2003 Imit. Leather, limp, round cor- ners. red edges $1.75 2012 Imit. Leather, limp, round cor- ners, gold edges 2.25 THE NEW MISSAL FOR EVERY DAY A Complete Missal in English for Every Day in the Year. With Introduction, Notes, and a Book of Prayer. By Rev. F. X. Lasance. New Revised Edition 1924 Oblong 32mo. Size, 5% x 3% inches. 2003 Imitation Leather, red edges $2.75 2012 Imitation Leather, gold edges... 3.25 Postage included in all above prices COMPLETE CATALOGUE of FATHER LASANCE’S PRAYER-BOOKS containing besides above mentioned books also full particulars of bis other books, “Sunday Missal,” “Prisoner of Love,” “Manna of the Soul,” “With God,” “Blessed Sacrament Book,” “Visits to Jesus in the Taber- nacle,” “Our Lady Book,” etc., will be sent free on application. REN71GFRRROTHFR S New York Cincinnati ChicagoDRV I OGRO, S6_38 Barclay St 429 Main St. 205-207 W.Washlngton St. Teaching and OLD W. WRAY New York, Cincinnati, Chicago’ BENZIGER BROTHERS PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE AN EXPLANATION OF THE IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE OLD AND NEW TEST- AMENTS WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CREED, COMMANDMENTS, SACRAMENTS AND CEREMONIES, ETC., OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BY BENZIGER BROTHERS VMbil ®betat. REMY LAFORT, Censor Librorum. Imprimatur : i ; . . \ .. 1 : \ i +? MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York. N»w York. December 2, 1896 Copyright, 1899, by Bimzigxm Bxotbxbs. Printed in the United States of America. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE Introduction 7 I. God and the Angels . . . . . . . . 10 II. How the World was made ...... 13 III. The Garden of Eden—The Temptation and Fall of Man—The Punishment of Sin—The Deluge—The Ark of Noe . . 15 IV. The Blessed Trinity—The Annunciation —The Visitation—The Birth of Christ 19 V. The Finding in the Temple—St. John the Baptist—The Public Life of Jesus —The Apostles 28 VI. The Sermon on the Mount—The) Beati- tudes 38 VII. The Miracles of Our Lord—The Trans- figuration 44 VIIL Palm Sunday—The Last Supper—Christ's Agony in the Garden—The Passion. . 49 IX. The Passion of Christ {Continued.) ... 58 X. The Burial of Jesus—His Resurrection —He Appears to the Disciples ... 65 XI. Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples—His Ascension 72 Contents. CHAPTER PAGE XII. The Election of St. Matthias—The De- scent of the Holy Ghost ..... 80 XIII. The Parables i 86 XIV. The Apostles’ Creed 105 XV. The Apostles’ Creed ( Continued . ) . . . .116 XVI. The Commandments of God 127 XVII. The Commandments of the Church. . .186 XVIII. The Sacraments . 145 XIX. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—Bene- diction—Vespers—Compline 154 XX. Prayer — Missions — Pilgrimages — Re- treats 160 XXI. Prayer ( Continued). — 4‘Our Father” — “Hail Mary” 167 XXII. Our Blessed Lady 176 XXIII. The Saints ............ 186 XXIV. Religious Orders 191 INTRODUCTION. When we see the beautiful world around us filled with men, women, and children, animals, trees, and flowers, we wonder how all these things began, and to whom they belong. We know that men can build houses and churches, they can make statues and paint pic- tures, and plant trees and flowers, but they cannot hake them without things to make them with. Their pictures and statues will not live, nor will the trees or flowers grow without the seed which Has been planted.. No man can create—that is, make to be, or exist—a single thing. It is only God who can create or make persons or things out of nothing by His word. If God wishes to make a flower, that flower will immediately exist; but if a man wants a flower he must first plant the seeds which God has made; he must take great pains to water them, and then wait a long time till the flower comes into bloom. Now, if there were no one to tell us about it, we should never be able to know how men first began 7 8 Introduction . to exist; but that same Person who created us has told or revealed to us how and why He made us, and what He wishes us to do. A long time ago there was no heaven, no earth, no men, animals, trees, or flowers; but there was a great Spirit who had always been living, who had had no beginning, and would have no end, and who was almighty—that is to say, able to do all things. It is very difficult for us to understand how any- thing can have no beginning and no end. If you ask your mother to show you her wedding-ring, you will see how it is made all in one piece, without any join, just the same all the way round. Wedding- rings are made in that way because a circle is a symbol or image of eternity. The ring shows that when people are married it is forever and ever. When we see a wedding-ring, it should remind us of God, who has had no beginning, and will have no end. This great Spirit who made us we call God. The Jews named Him Adonai; the French call Him Dieu; and every country has its own name for Him. Before the beginning of the world this great Spirit whom we call God wished to create some beings to His own image and likeness, who should be happy with Him forever and ever in heaven. But first of all He wished them to deserve this eternity of happiness, so He created heaven, and a world on which these beings should live for a time before going to heaven. “ All the people who live on the earth,” said this great Spirit, “ must first show themselves worthy of Introduction . 9 going to heaven by doing as I shall tell them upon the earth.” This is why God created men and the world, and if we listen to what priests and those who are in charge of us tell us, we shall know what God wishes us to do that we may deserve to go to heaven. CHAPTER I. GOD AND THE ANGELS. Before God created men, and the world on which they were to live, He made the angels. Angels are beautiful beings, made by God. They are not like us, for they are pure spirits—that is to say, they have no body, and though they are all around us> we cannot see them or hear them. When God first made these beautiful spirits, He let them live in heaven, but they might not see Him till they had deserved this great happiness. - To deserve it they had to fight against the temp- tation of pride, which made them think themselves as great as God who had made them. Many of the angels would not give way to this wicked thought, and were faithful to God.; but some were proud, and would not fight against temptation; so God al- lowed St. Michael to drive them away out of heaven to a place of punishment called hell, and instead of angels they became devils. Those angels who were good and faithful were allowed to remain in heaven and enjoy the sight of God. The angels love men because God created them and loves them, so they do all they can to help them to live so well upon the earth as to deserve to go 10 God and the Angels. 11 to heaven after their death; but the devils hate men, and are jealous of them, so they try to make them wicked, so that God will not be able to have them in His heaven in the places left empty by the wicked angels. God allows the devils to tempt us, because if we do not give way to temptation we shall deserve to go to heaven ; but He always gives us strength to keep good, and a guardian angel to watch over us. The more times we are tempted, and still remain faithful, the better pleased is God with us. Supposing a little child was left alone in a room with a plate of cherries, or some sweets, the devil would try hard to persuade it to take just a few cherries, or just one or two sweets, and would prom- ise it that no one would find out. If that little child were to say to itself, “ Ho, I will not touch those nice things; they are not mine, and God can see me, and my guardian angel would be grieved,” that little child would deserve that God should be very pleased with it, much more pleased than if the little child had not been tempted and overcome the temptation. It is just the same with big sins. God lets us be tried, but it is only because we have to deserve to go to heaven. When we die we shall not be angels, but we shall be glorious beings like the angels, and shall see God as the angels do. There are very many angels in heaven, more than all the men who will have lived on the earth up to the very end of the world. There are a great many devils too, and they are always trying to tempt men to be wicked. We can- 12 God and the Angels. not see them or hear them because they are spirits; but when we feel a great wish to do something naughty, we know that the devil is tempting us, and we must say a little prayer to God to help us to be good. CHAPTER II. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE. God did not make the world in one day. He created it little by little in six days. When we say “days” we do not mean days of twenty-four hours, as we have them. By “ day ” is meant a certain time : we do not know how long. When God first made the earth, it was covered over with water, and all around was darkness. The “first day” God said: “ Let there be light.” So all the darkness was gone from the earth, and it grew bright and 'cheer- ful. The “ second day ” God said : “Let there be the firmament.”' So immediately the beautiful blue sky appeared, and the clouds that we see upon it. The “ third day ” God commanded the water that covered the earth to collect itself into seas and rivers, and to let the dry land appear. So moun- tains, hills, and plains rose above the waters. Then God said: “ Let the earth bring forth grass and trees and fruit and flowers;” and instantly the earth became fertile—that is to say, covered with trees and plants growing out of it. 13 14 How the World was made. On the “ fourth day ” God made the sun to give us light and warmth in the day, and the moon and stars to shine by night. The “ fifth day ” God said : “ Let the water bring forth fish, and the air every winged fowl, according to its kind,” and at once all these came into being: the waters were filled with fish; birds, butterflies, and winged in- sects appeared in the air. And on the “ sixth day ” God created all kinds of animals. Then He said: “ I will make man to My own image and likeness, and he shall have power over the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and over the whole world.” So God made the first man, and called him Adam. On the “ seventh day” God rested, in order to teach us that we must give up part of our time to His service: the six days of the week we are to work, but the seventh we must keep holy and give up to the service of God. Even little children can do a great deal to keep Sunday holy. When Wey go to Mass they must be careful to say their prayers and their rosary well, and not look about them, or disturb other peo- ple by fidgeting about. If they have a prayer-book, it is best for them to follow the Mass; if they have no book, or are too young to read, they can say “ Our Fathers,” and “ Hail Marys,” and pray for every one they know. i CHAPTEK III. THE GARDEN OF EDEN—THE TEMPTATION AND FALL OF MAN—THE PUNISHMENT, OF SIN—THE DELUGE—THE ARK OF NOE. When God had created the first man, whose name was Adam, He made a most beautiful garden, called the Garden of Eden, for him to live in. God planted in it trees of all kinds and the most lovely flowers. There were streams of water, and everything that could make Adam happy. God told him that he might enjoy everything in this garden, on one con- dition. He must not eat the fruit of one particular tree which God pointed out to him. After a time Adam began to feel very lonely, so God created the first woman, whom He called Eve, to be a companion to Adam; and Adam and Eve lived together in the Garden of Eden, and served God, and were very happy. But the devil, who, as I told you, hates God, and is always trying to do what will offend Him, made up his mind to persuade Adam and Eve to disobey God, so that they would no longer deserve to go to heaven. So he took the form of a serpent, and spoke to Eve, saying : “ Why do you not eat the fruit of this tree? 3ST o 16 The Garden of Eden . other tree in the garden is so beautiful, or has such ripe fruit.” Eve answered that God had told them that they might take what they liked in the garden, but that they must not touch that one tree, or they would die. Then the devil began to tell Eve how silly she was not to taste the beautiful ripe fruit. “ God will never know, if you only take a little,” he said. “ Besides, if you eat of that fruit, you will not die, but you will be as wise as God, for that tree is the tree of knowledge.” How Eve, instead of praying to God to help her to resist temptation, and going quickly away from the serpent, listened to his voice until she was per- suaded to pick some of the forbidden fruit. This she took to Adam, and together they ate some of it. Then immediately they knew what they had done, for the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as soon as they had eaten of its fruit they were ashamed and afraid. They hid them- selves away among the trees, and repented of their disobedience; but it was too late. God spoke to Adam, and said: “ Have you eaten of the fruit which I commanded you not to eat ? ” Then Adam tried to excuse himself, saying : “ Eve, whom Thou didst give me for a wife, tempted me, and I did eat.” Then God said to Eve: “ Why didst thou do this ? ” So Eve tried to throw the blame on the serpent who had tempted her. Then God told the serpent The Temptation and Fall of Man. 17 that he should be punished forever and ever, be- cause of the wicked thing that he had done; and to Eve God said:, “ Thou shalt have many sorrows with thy chil- dren, and thou shalt be subject to thy husband all the days of thy life.” And then God told Adam that the whole earth was cursed for his sin. “ Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow,” He said, “ until thou returnest to the earth from which thou wast taken, for dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.” So Adam and Eve were turned out of the beauti- ful garden, and an angel with a fiery sword stood at the gate of it, to prevent them from ever going back. Adam and Eve were very miserable, for they knew that their bodies would now suffer from the cold of the winter and the heat of the summer, and that they would feel pain and sickness, and at last they would have to die, instead of living so happily in the Garden of Eden till it was time for them to go to heaven; but they were very sorry for their sin, and tried to be very good and patient to make up for it. First, they made themselves clothes out of the skins of animals; for now that their bodies could feel pain, they were afraid of being cold, and also of suffering from the pricks of thorns and nettles. Next, they began to dig and plough, and sow seeds, for when God said to Adam, “ The earth is cursed for thy sin ; thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow,” He meant that the earth would no 18 The Deluge—The Ark of Noe. longer bring forth trees and fruit and vegetables and flowers unless men worked very hard to culti- vate them; so that Adam and Eve would have starved if they had not worked, for the fields would have produced nothing but weeds and brambles. Adam and Eve lived a very long time, and had a great many children and grandchildren, so that at last the world became very full of people, as it is now. By degrees these people forgot to love and fear God, and when the devil tempted them to do wicked things they listened to him, so that the world grew very wicked. Then God sent a dreadful punishment to the peo- ple of the earth. He made it rain and rain without stopping, till at last the whole earth was covered with water and every one was drowned, except one good man, named Noe, and his family, whom God saved hark great big boat, or ark. After a time the waters went down, and Noe and his family came out of the ark in which God had saved them. They lived on the earth, and had more children and grandchildren, till there were again a great many people on the earth. For a time these people remembered how God had punished men for their sins, so they were good and holy, but by degrees they again forgot God, and became more wicked than ever. Now, God had been very sorry to think that His creatures, whom He had meant to be happy with Him, were so wicked that they would deserve to go to hell, so He had determined to save them. I will tell you in the next chapter what God did to save mankind. CHAPTER IV. THE BLESSED TRINITY—THE ANNUNCIATION — THE VISITATION—THE BIRTH OE CHRIST. I told you in the first chapter about the great , Spirit who had always been, and who would never die, and whom we call God. Well, there is onljK one God, but in this one God there are three Per- sons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These three Persons, who are all one God, are all three as great as one another, as old as one another, and as wise, and as good. They are all three quite equal, and are only one God. We call the three Persons the Blessed Trinity. As I told you in the last chapter, God had made up His mind to help the people on the earth to be- come good, so that they might be able to go to heaven; and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, whom we call God the Son, had said that He would come down into the world and take on Himself the sins of men. To do this He would become a man, just like other men, with a body which would suffer pain, and which would die ; so He took a human shape and body, and was born as a little baby on Christmas day. His Mother was 19 20 The Annunciation . the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her husband, St. Joseph, was the guardian or foster-father of our blessed Lord. The little Baby, who was God, took the name of Jesus, which means Saviour, because He had come to save mankind; and we call Him Jesus Christ, which means anointed, because lie is Our King as well as Our Saviour, and kings are always anointed when they are crowned. Mow I will tell you about the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth. First of all, before the time came for Him to be born, God sent one of His angels, whose name was* Gabriel, to tell the Blessed Virgin what was to hap- pen to her. The angel appeared to Our Lady, and said: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”; then he told her that she would have a little baby, and that that little baby would be God the Son, who was coming to the earth to save mankind. Our Lady was at first much frightened, for she knew that no woman could deserve to have such an honor. But she remembered that God knows best about everything, so she said: “ Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word;” that is to say, I am God’s servant, and He must do with me any- thing He wishes. Then the angel told the Blessed Virgin that her cousin, St. Elizabeth, would soon have a little baby; so Our Lady went immediately to visit St. Eliza- beth and to help her. When Our Lady had nearly come to the end of The Visitation . 21 her journey, St. Elizabeth came out to meet her. As soon as she saw the Blessed Virgin, the Holy Ghost told her what had been done, and she said : “ Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb;” for she knew that Our Lady’s little Baby was the Saviour or Messias, whom the Jews had always been expecting to come and save them. For a time Our Lady stayed with her cousin, till St. Elizabeth’s son, St. John the Baptist, was born. The husband of St. Elizabeth was St. Zachary. God sent St. Gabriel the archangel to tell him that his wife would have a son, whose name was to be John, and who would be very good and holy; but St. Zachary would not believe what he was told, so the angel said to him : “ Thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be able to speak, until thy son is born.” So St. Zachary was dumb until after the baby was born, and then God allowed him to speak, and he called the child John, as the angel had com- manded him. Then the Blessed Virgin went back to her home in Nazareth, where she and St. Joseph lived. After a time, the king or emperor, whose name was Caesar, ordered that every man should go to the town to which his father had belonged, so that his name should be written down, for Caesar wanted to know how many people he had to govern. So St. Joseph and Our Lady travelled together to Bethlehem, where St. Joseph belonged. I am sure you have often seen pictures of Our Lady 22 The Birth of Christ. riding on a donkey, with St. Joseph walking be- side her, taking care of her. When they came to Bethlehem it was late in the evening, so St. Joseph tried to find a place of shel- ter for Our Lady; but the houses were all full, and nobody would take them in. At last St. Joseph found a little stable with an ox and an ass in it. He brought Our Lady into this stable, and there Our Saviour was born. His Mother wrapped Him up in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him in a manger full of straw. At Christmas-time, when you visit the crib, you will see a figure of a little baby lying in a poor, miserable stable, with not even a bed to lie on, or nice, warm clothes to wear, and that will remind you of the birth of Our Lord in the stable at Beth- lehem. How proud and grateful we ought to be when we think that God loved us so much that He came down from heaven to live on the earth, to be very poor and suffer a great deal, so as to save us and atone—that is to say, make up—for our sins. We shall not be inclined to grumble at every little pain or trouble or disappointment when we think of the little Baby who was born in the poor stable, though all the while He was King of heaven and earth. Now I must tell you what wonderful things hap- pened on the earth the night Our Saviour was born. The first people to know of His birth were some poor shepherds, who were minding their sheep on a mountain near Bethlehem. As they were sitting round their fire, for it was 23The Birth of Christ. very cold, and they had lighted a fire on the hill- side, they heard a sound of ( most beautiful music, and looking up they saw an angel, who said to them : “ Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, for to-night a Saviour is born to you.” Then the angel told them that they would find the Saviour lying in a manger in a stable at Beth- lehem. Then a great number of angels appeared in the sky, and they were praising God, singing “ Gloria in excelsis Deo,” which means “ Glory be to God in heaven, and on earth peace to men of good-will ; ” that is, to people who wish to be good. As soon as the angels had gone, the shepherds said to one another: “ Let us go at once and see what is this wonderful thing that has happened.” So they left their sheep and went quickly down the mountain, and found the stable in which the infant Jesus was lying, and they adored and wor- shipped Him. When the eighth day after the birth of Our Lord had come, He was circumcised according to the law of the Jews; for, though the little baby Jesus was really God and all powerful, yet, as man, He obeyed the law in all things, so as to set an example of obedience to men. The next people to hear about the birth of Our Lord were very different from the poor shepherds. Far away in the East there lived three kings, who were also very wise and good. God had told men that one day a Saviour would be born to redeem the world, and that wonderful things would happen when He was born, so that men should know that 24 The Birth of Christ . their Saviour was come. Among other signs a new star was to appear to announce or tell of the birth of Our Redeemer, that is to say, Saviour. Once, while these kings were praying, they saw the new star appear in the heavens. So they knew that the Lord must be going to be born. Imme- diately they set off to go to Him, taking with them rich presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold, as the symbol or image of money given in alms to the poor ; frankincense, as the symbol of prayer and praise; and myrrh, as that of penance. These three gifts meant that the kings were willing to give up all their riches and power to serve God and praise Him, and to suffer for His sake. All the time that the Wise Men were travelling the star moved in front of them to show them the way, and at night it shone brightly, so that they were not left in darkness. When they had gone a long way the Wise Men came to Jerusalem, where the king of the Jews, whose name was Herod, was living. So they went to him and said: “ Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star, and are come to adore Him.” But Herod was much frightened and troubled, for he said to himself: “ If there is to be a new King of the Jews, what is to become of me? I shall no longer be king.” So Herod called the priests; and his advisers to- gether, and asked them if it was true that a new King was to be born, and in what place. And they looked in all the holy books and prophecies—that The Birth of Christ. 25 is to say, promises of things that were to happen — and they told King Herod that the time had eome for the Messias, or promised Saviour, to appear, and that He would be born in Bethlehem. Herod was very angry when he heard this, and he determined that he would find this new King, and kill Him. Of course he did not tell this to the Wise Men, but he said to them : “ When you have found out where this new King is, come back and tell me, so that I too may go to Him and adore Him.” This they promised to do. They travelled on towards Bethlehem, and still the star moved in front of them, to show them the way. At last it stopped over a poor stable, and the Wise Men knew they had come to the end of their journey. They got down from their camels, and went into the stable, and there they found the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the little baby Jesus, wrapped in His swaddling-clothes; and, kneeling down, they adored Him, and laid at His feet the , gifts they had brought. When it was time for them to return to their own country, they made up their minds to go back to King Herod and tell him what they had seen; but an angel appeared to them in their sleep and told them to go home another way, and not tell Herod what had happened. How, there was a rule among the Jews that the eldest son of every family was to be given1 up to the service of God. But if the father and mother wished, they might buy him back by giving some present to the Temple. When forty days had passed 26 The Birth of Christ. after the birth of Jesus, St. Joseph and Our Lady took Him to the Temple to present Him to the priests, and to buy Him back for themselves with a pair of doves. While they were in the Temple, there came in a very holy old man, whose name was Simeon. God had promised him that he should not die till he had seen the Messias. When Simeoh saw the Holy Family, he knew at once that the little Baby was the promised Saviour; and, taking Jesus in his arms, he thanked God for letting him live to see his Saviour upon earth. Then Simeon spoke to Our Lady, telling her of the wonderful things her Son would do for men, and how much He would suffer, and how much sorrow she would have to bear. Our Lady felt very sad, but she did not com- plain, for God knows best, and she submitted her- self to His will. Soon after the Wise Men had gone away from Bethlehem an angel appeared to St. Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord, and said to him: “ Arise, take the Child and His Mother, go into % the land of Egypt and stay there until I tell thee, for it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child, to kill Him.” So St. Joseph rose by night and fled into Egypt with Our Lady and the child Jesus. Many pretty pictures have been painted of the Mother nursing her little baby, and riding with Him through the desert to save Him from the,cruel king. When Herod found that the three kings did not return to him as they had promised, he determined that in spite of them he would kill the Child who The Birth of Christ. 27 was to be King of the Jews. So he sent his soldiers to put to death all the little boys who had been born in Bethlehem, or near it," for two years. In that way he thought he would be sure to kill Jesus; but his wicked deed did not do him any good, for Our Lord was safe in Egypt with His Mother and St. Joseph. As soon as Herod was dead the angel again ap- peared to St. Joseph, and told him to go back to Judea, for those who wished to kill the Child were dead. So St. Joseph returned with Our Lady and the holy Child to Judea. He was afraid to go to Bethlehem, for Herod’s son was ruling there, so he went to live in a place called Hazareth. There the Holy Family lived peacefully and hap- pily for many years, and the child Jesus grew big and strong, and was full of wisdom. He was very obedient to His parents, who were very poor, help- ing them with their work, and loving them dearly. CHAPTER V. THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE—ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST—THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS—THE APOSTLES. Every year St. Joseph travelled to Jerusalem to keep the Pasch, a great Jewish feast. One year, when Our Lord was just twelve years old, He also went with His parents to Jerusalem. When the Pasch was over, and His parents had set out to return to Hazareth, they could not find Jesus. St. Joseph thought that He must be with Our Lady, and she believed Him to be with St. Joseph, for in those days the men and women travelled separately. But when they found that He was not with any of the company, they were dreadfully sorry to have lost Him. Quickly they went back to Jerusalem to seek for Jesus, and for three long days they looked for Him, but in vain. At last they found Him in the Temple, sitting among all the doctors and wise men, asking them questions about God, and answering them. Every- body was much surprised that a little child should be so wise and clever; they did not know that He was God, and the King of heaven and earth. When Our Lady and St. Joseph came into the Temple, Our Lady said to Jesus: 28 The Finding in the Temple, 29 “Why didst Thou do so to us? Thy father and I have sought Thee, sorrowing.” But Our Lord said to her : “ Why didst thou seek Me ? Didst thou not know that I must be about My Father’s work? ” Jesus meant to explain to His Mother that she must make up her mind that her Son would have to give up His life to helping men, and later on to die for them. Do you remember what I told you of St. John the Baptist ? How he was the cousin of Our Lord, and how the angel told his father, St. Zachary, that his son St. John would be very good and holy? Well, ak St. John grew older he became very wise as well as good and he began to preach to the people, and to tell them that their Saviour was born into the world, and would soon show Himself to them. St. John used to lead a life of great penance. He wore only a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around him, and his only food was locusts, a kind of big grasshopper, and wild honey. The people listened to St. John and believed him, and he taught them how to prepare themselves for the coming of Jesus. After a time, when people came to St. John and confessed their sins, he baptized them in the river Jordan. Then some of them began to think that he was the Messias himself, but St. John quickly told them that he was only the servant of Christ, and had come to prepare the way of the Lord. “ Soon there shall come,” said he, “ One whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” How when Jesus was thirty years old, the time SO St. John the Baptist. had come for Him to go out into the world to teach men how to deserve to go to heaven, so he left His holy Mother and went to the river Jordan to St. John. St. Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord, was dead. It is supposed that he died while Our Lord was a very young man. When St. John saw that Jesus was coming to him to be baptized, just as though He was only a man, he said to Him: / “ Master, I should be baptized by Thee, and dost Thou come to me ? ” But Jesus answered him, “ Let it be as I have said,” for He wanted to give an example of baptism to all men. In those days people were not baptized in a font in church as they are now, but they were dipped in some river or lake. So Our Lord went down into the river Jordan, i and St. John poured water over Him and baptized Him. Immediately the heavens opened, and God the Holy Ghost came down in the form of a dove on Jesus, and at the same time the voice of God the Father was heard from heaven, saying: | “ This is My well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Soon after His baptism Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray for forty days, and all that time He lived among the beasts, and tasted no food. When the forty days were passed the devil came and tempted Our Lord; for though He was God, Jesus allowed the* devil to tempt Him, that by over- COPYRIGHT i IBM, BY BEHZIB0I MOTHER*. BAPTISM The Public Life of Jesus. 31 coming temptation He might set an example to men. First of all, the devil tempted Jesus by hunger. After having fasted forty days, Our Lord was very hungry, so the devil tried to persuade Him to work a miracle to satisfy His appetite. He said to Him : "Look at these stones lying in the desert! If Thou art really God, Thou canst turn these stones into bread, so that Thou canst eat.” But Our Lord would not work a miracle—that is to say, a very wonderful thing—to show His power, or to satisfy His hunger, so He would not listen to the tempter. Then the devil took Jesus to the top of the high Temple, and said to Him : " Throw Thyself down to the ground, for it is written, 6 He shall give His angels charge over Thee, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone/ ” But Jesus only answered him: " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” At last the devil took Christ to the top of a high mountain, and showed Him all the rich and beauti- ful kingdoms of the world. "All these,” he said, "will I give to Thee, if* falling down, Thou wilt adore me.” But Jesus said : " Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Then when the devil saw that Our Lord would not listen to him, he went away, and the angels came to Our Lord, and fed and comforted Him. How when Jesus returned from the desert to Gali- lee, St. John saw Him coming, so he told the peo- 32 The Public Life of Jesus . pie that here was their promised Redeemer who was coming to save them. “Behold the Lamb of God,” he said, and the people looked at Jesus and knew that He was the Messias. The two first to believe in Our Lord were St. Andrew and his brother St. Simon, whom Our Lord said should be named Peter. St. Peter was after- wards the chief of the apostles, and the first Pope or head of the Church. By degrees other holy people joined Our I^rd, and became His apostles and disciples. The apos- tles were like the bishops that we have now; they helped Our Lord by preaching, and He gave to* them the power of working miracles. The disciples were the followers of Christ, who believed in Him and followed Him. How I will tell you about the first miracle, or wonderful thing, which Our Lord did. You will see that He worked His first miracle to do an act of kindness, and because His Mother wished Him to. We can learn two things from this.^ First^that Jesus likes us to be kind to one another, and, sec* ondly, that He never refuses to listen to His Mother, so that if we pray to her to ask God to give us some grace we are sure to be heard. In a town called Cana two people were going to be married. Jesus, His Mother, and His disciples were invited to the marriage-feast. After a time it was seen that the wfine was finished. Perhaps the people were very poor, perhaps more visitors had come than had been expected. p Anyhow, the people of the house were much grieved to have no wine to offer to their guests. 33The Public Life of Jesus. Our blessed Lady, seeing their trouble, was very sorry for them, and begged her divine Son to help them. ' Now in the room there were six large water-pots of stope. Jesus said to the attendants: “ Fill up these jars with water.” The attendants obeyed, and filled them to the brim. Then Our Lord told them to carry the jars to the chief steward—-that is, the man in charge of the-feast. When the chief steward tasted the water in the pots, he found it changed into wine, and the guests then thanked Our Lord, and believed in Him. Soon after the marriage-feast at Cana, it was time for the Pasch to be kept. Do you remember how I told you that Our Lady and St. Joseph went every year to Jerusalem to keep the Paschal feast? Well, when Jesus went this time to Jerusalem, He found that a number of people were selling oxen, and sheep, and doves for sacrifice, in the Temple, which was very wrong, for the church is a place for prayer, and not for buying and selling. So Jesus drove them out of the Temple, and many of the people were very angry with Him. Then He preached to the people, and told them ^ many things; how they must be baptized and lead a new life if they wished to be saved, and how God had sent His only-begotten Son to take upon Him- self the sins of men, so that they should not go to hell. Then,, after the Paschal feast, Jesus went to Ju- dea, and began to make His disciples baptize the people, as St. John the Baptist had been doing; but * 34 The Public Life of Jesus . some of the people were astonished, and going to St. John, they said: “ Who is this prophet who goes about baptizing as you do ? 99 But St. John quickly told them that Jesus was not a prophet, but God Himself. So many more people believed in Our Lord, and followed Him. Once, when Our Lord was passing through a country called Samaria, He was very tired, and sat down beside a well of water to rest, while His apos- tles went on to the town to buy some food. While He was resting, a woman came to draw up some water from the well, and Our Lord asked her to . give Him some. She was not a good woman, for she had com- mitted many sins in her life. Jesus spoke to her, and told her of all the wicked things she had done. She was much surprised that a stranger should be able to tell her all the things that had happened in her life, and she thought that Our Lord must be a prophet; but Jesus told her that He was not a prophet, but God Himself—the promised Messias. The woman believed what Christ told her, and was very sorry for her sins. She went into the city, and told the people that their Saviour was come, so they came to hear Him preach, and they believed in Him. After a time, Jesus returned to Galilee. As He was journeying along, there came to meet Him a certain ruler, or rich man, whose son was very ill, and he begged Our Lord to come quickly and cure him. Jesus listened to the poor father, and said: “ Go thy way, thy son liveth.” r The Public Life of Jesus . 35 So the man went back to his house, and there he found that his son was well. He asked his ser- vants : “ At what time did my son get better ? ” And they answered him: “At the seventh hour.” The ruler knew that it was at the seventh hour that Jesus had said to him, “ Thy son liveth so he and all his family believed in the Saviour. When Jesus had arrived in Nazareth, the town in which He had been brought up. He went into the synagogue, which is the Jewish church, and preached to the people. But they would not believe in Him, because they had known Him as a little boy; and when He told them they ought to believe, because He did such wonderful things, they got very angry with Him. So these wicked men took Jesus to the top of a mountain, and would have thrown Him down, but Our Lord, passing through the midst of them, went away. At Jerusalem also, instead of listening to Jesus and believing in Him, the priests and the chief Jews were very angry with Him. You see, they thought if the people listened to Jesus, and followed Him, they would no longer obey their priests; so, like Herod, they determined to kill Our Lord, lest He should become the King of the Jews. Soon the Jews and their rulers became still more angry with Jesus and His followers. King Herod had seized St. John the Baptist and put him to death, and the Jews sought for Jesus to kill Him, too; but Our Saviour knew that the time had not yet come for Him to die, so He went away to another city called Capharnaum. 36 The Apostles. When He was passing by the sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Peter and Andrew, the two fishermen who had first believed in Him. They were casting their nets into the sea, but Jesus said to them: “ Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And leaving their nets, and their home, and their business, they followed Jesus to poverty and death. Then two other fishermen, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, joined Our Lord also. , Do you remember how I told you that the apos- tles were the twelve heads of the disciples, and how they took the place of the bishops we have^now? The twelve apostles were Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Thomas, Matthew the publican, James and Thaddeus, Simon the Chananean, and Judas Is- cariot, Philip, and Bartholomew. When Judas had betrayed Our Lord, and killed himself, another apostle was chosen, so that there should still be twelve. This was Matthias. When Jesus and His apostles came to Caphar- naum, they began to preach to the people. Once, when Our Lord was in the synagogue, there was a man who- was possessed by an evil spirit. And Jesus spoke to this evil spirit, and commanded it to go out of the man, and immediately the spirit obeyed. The people in the Temple were very much sur- prised to see the power of Our Lord even over devils, and they believed that He was God. After this Jesus worked many miracles. The mother of St. Peter’s wife was very ill of a fever, so Our Lord went \o her, and, taking her hand, He The Apostles. 37 commanded the fever to go out of her, and imme- diately she was quite well. When they heard of this, all the people who were ill or in trouble came to Our Lord, and He made them well; and those who were im- the power of the devil He delivered, so that many of them came to love Him very much, and to believe in Him. * \ •V CHAPTER VI. THE SERMON" ON THE MOUNT—THE BEATITUDES. Now, after a time, so many people came to see Jesus and hear Him preach, that* it became difficult to find a place where they could all see Him. One day, when a great crowd had come together, Jesus went a little way up the side of a mountain, so that all might see Him. Then, when His disciples had clustered round Him, our blessed Lord explained to them in what way a Christian should live in this world, so as to deserve to go to heaven. First of all, He gave them eight rules by which they should live. These eight rules we call the eight Beatitudes. The first is ; “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” By this Our Lord means that men must not wish to be rich, but to be good; heaven will belong only to the poor of spirit. That does not mean that only poor people can go to heaven, as rich people can be just as humble and poor in spirit, if they remember that their money was given to them so that they might do good to those around them, and hot to spend only on their own pleasures. Our 38 The Sermon on the Mount . 39 spirit may be poor and humble, even if our body is very rich. The second great rule is this : “ Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.” Even kings and great people can be meek and humble if they remember that it was God who gave them their riches and power, and that He can take them away as soon as He pleases. When people come to die, they are all equal, all as poor and miserable as one another. The king is no better off than the little beggar-child, but even worse off, if he has not made a good use of his power during his life. The next rule is a very beautiful and comforting one. When Our Lord said, “ Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,” He promised us that, even if we suffer many troubles and much sorrow in this world, it will, if we are good and patient, all be made up to us when our life upon the earth is over, and we reach heaven, where “ Our Lord shall wipe away our tears, and mourning and sorrow shall be no more.” It is very hard for us to understand, but we know, for God has told us, that it is far better for us to suffer in this world than to be always happy and well; because, you see, we must do penance for our sins, either in this world or the next, so that it is better for us to have to bear trouble and pain dur- ing our short life than to burn for a very long time in purgatory after our death. The fourth Beatitude is: 40 The Sermon on the Mount. (i Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill.” It is not enough simply to believe in God, and lead a life which is not really sinful; we must also be anxious (hungry) for God’s honor %nd glory. It is not even enough for us to do our best ourselves; we must work just as hard to help others to be good. Every one can do that. Priests help others by preaching and giving the sacraments; fathers and mothers by bringing up their children to love and serve God ; even little children can help. Of course they cannot preach or teach, but they can help by trying to give a good example to their little brothers and sisters and friends, and by pray- ing very hard for those who are doing God’s work.. The fifth rule which our blessed Lord gave us was this : “ Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Sometimes, if some one has been unkind to us, we feel very angry, and should be pleased to see that person suffer. Some little children will run and tell their mamma or nurse if their little broth- ers and sisters have done something naughty, and be quite glad to see them punished. Some little children, not many I am sure, take pleasure in hurting poor dumb animals, such as dogs and cats, and even mice and spiders and flies. It is very, very sad to see such children. How grieved their guardian angel, and all who love them* The Sermon on the Mount. 41 must be! For a child who* is cruel to animals will be cruel to other children, and very likely grow up a cruel and cowardly man or woman. We must remember that Jesus loves us all, and died for us all; so if we really love Him, the best way to show it is to love and be good to all His creatures, animals as well as people. Little children can do a great deal of good by simply being kind. If' people are unkind to you, do not try to get them punished, but be very kind to them, and soon they will love you, and be very sorry that they hurt you. Remember that our blessed Lord was kind to those who killed Him, and prayed for them, even while He was dying on the cross, so you can easily bear a little pain or trouble without complaining. Then, if you see some one doing anything wrong, do not run quickly to tell tales of them, but rather persuade them to be good. We are not to act “ policeman ” to one another, but to help one an- other as much as we can. In some ways it is even more naughty and cow- ardly to be cruel to animals than to be cruel to people. The poor animals cannot defend them- selves; they are not able to speak or complain if they are hurt. Besides, they do not mean to do any harm. If they break anything, or do some mis- chief, it is because they do not know any better. We must remember that animals can feel pain just as much as we do, and they are very miserable if those about them are unkind to them. They have only a few years to live, so that we ought to make their short life happy. If men and 42 The Sermon on the Mount. women and children are miserable ih this life, they know that one day they may t>e happy in heaven; but animals know nothing of God j or heaven. The sixth Beatitude is this: “ Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” How can we keep our hearts pure and clean? By not letting any stain of sin be on them. We should never give our blessed Lord the sorrow of seeing on our soul the mark of an untruth, or of a mean or cruel action, for every sin that we commit leaves a mark or stain on our soul, which remains there until the priest takes it away by the absolution he gives us in the Sacrament of Penance. We must also keep our body very clean and neat if we want to show respect to Our Lord, and never say or do anything which we should be ashamed for our guardian angel to hear or see. Perhaps the most beautiful of all the Beatitudes is the seventh: “ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” It is not enough not to do harm to others; we must not be angry with them, or quarrel with them, but we must love them, and try to help them. If we have had a quarrel with them, we must not u let the sun go down upon our wrath ”—that is to say, we must never go to bed without first forgiving those who have offended us. We must never go to church without first trying to make friends with those we have been quarrelling with, for God will not listen to our prayers if we are not at peace with all His creatures. Even this is not enough. * If we see other people The Sermon on the Mount. 43 quarrelling, we must do our best to make them friends again. “ Blessed are the peacemakers.” Of course we must not preach, or think we are better than others; but we must try quietly to put things straight between those who are quarrelling, and in any case we can ask God to help them. The eighth Beatitude is : “ Blessed are they that suffer persecution for jus- tice’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Long ago there were wicked kings and rulers who put to death all who were Christians—that is to say, all who believed in Christ. Very many holy martyrs gave up their lives for their faith, and among them were quite little children. In these days no one will hurt us for being Chris- tians, so, as we have not any great sufferings to offer to Our Lord, we must offer Him all our little pains and troubles, and beg Him to give us courage #nd strength to be faithful to Him all our lives. We must try and remember always these eight rules Our Lord gave to His disciples, for if we fol- low them we shall soon learn to be faithful children of God. That same day that Jesus gave His disciples the eight Beatitudes He also taught them how to pray. He told them how God is always ready to listen to us and help us if 'tfe only ask Him. There is no need for grand words or long prayers, for God knows what we need better than we do ouf- selves. The very best prayer of all is the Lord’s Prayer, or “ Our Father,” which Jesus Himself taught to His disciples. CHAPTER VII. THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD—THE TRAHSFIGURA- TIOM. v How I think you would like to hear about some of the miracles, or wonderful things, which Our Lord did upon this earth. Three times He raised dead people to life and gave them back to the world. You have already heard about St. Peter’s wife’s mother whom Our Lord cured, and about the son of the ruler to whom Jesus said, “ Go, thy son liveth.” Then there was a man sick of a dreadful illness called the palsy. He could not walk, so four kind men carried him in his bed and laid him down before Jesus. Our Lord was very sorry for the poor man, and said to him, “ Thy sins are forgiven thee ; take up thy bed and walk.” —• / Immediately the sick man, who had not been able even to stand for many years, got up and walked, carrying his bed with him. In those days, and in that hot country, people had not heavy iron or wooden beds, with lots of blankets and coverings, as they have now; they had only a light string mat- tress on a wooden frame, with perhaps a cover to put over them, so that it was quite easy t© carry 44 The Miracles of Our Lord. 45 one’s bed, but everybody was much surprised to see that the man who had been so ill was able to walk about. There was another very dreadful illness called leprosy. The people who had this illness were sent away from their homes, and obliged to live out in the desert, with no one to take care of them or love them; for scarcely any one can get better from leprosy, and people can get the illness by simply touching a leper. Now, when these poor sick people heard about Jesus, and the many kind and wonderful things He did, they began to hope that perhaps He would help them too, so many of them came to Our Lord and begged Him to have pity on them. Instead of driving them away, Our Saviour laid His hand on them, and immediately they were made well, and went back happy and grateful to their homes. Many blind men were brought to Jesus, and He made them to see, and many deaf and dumb people, and He made them to hear and speak; in fact, all sorts of poor sick people came to Our Lord, and He never refused to help them. When He went through towns, the people living in them would bring out all the sick, and the blind, and the cripples, and lay them in the road through which Jesus was to pass, so that His shadow might fall upon- them, and they might be made well. In those days sometimes, especially when people had been very wicked, God allowed the devil to take possession of them and rule over them. But Jesus was sorry for these poor people, and by His power f 46 The Miracles of Our Lord . He cast out the devils, and forbade them to go back into the people. Besides bringing dead people back to life, and curing the sick, and casting out devils, Jesus did many other wonderful things. You remember how He changed water into wine at the marriage-feast at Cana. Another time a great number of people, more than five thousand, had followed Jesus a long way to hear Him speak. They were very tired and hungry, so the disciples said to Our Lord: “What shall we do to feed all these people?” Then Jesus answered, saying, “ How many loaves have we ? ” They told Him, “ Only five loaves and two little fishes. What are they among so many ? ” Then our blessed Lord commanded the people to sit down on the grass. He blessed the loaves, and ordered His disciples to distribute them among the poor hungry men and women. When they had all had as much to eat as they wanted, there were still twelve basketfuls left over, for Christ had multiplied the loaves and fishes — that is to say, He had made them into a great many more. Was riot that a wonderful thing? Another time, when again a great many people were listening to Our Lord, there were only a few loaves and two or three little fishes, but Jesus would not let the people be hungry, so He blessed the loaves and fishes, and all the disciples were fed. Jesus was always very sorry to see people sad or disappointed. Twice He came upon some poor fishermen, who had been working all night without finding any fish. Our Lord told them to cast their The Miracles of Our Lord. 47 nets once more, and when they obeyed Him, they found a very great number of fishes in their net. Once Jesus was in a ship with His disciples when a terrible storm arose. Our blessed Lord was asleep, but His disciples quickly woke Him up, and begged Him to save them or they would be drowned. Rising up, Jesus said to the storm, “ Peace, be still;” and immediately there was a great calm. Another time, when the disciples were sailing on the sea, they saw Jesus coming towards them, walk- ing on the water. First of all they were very frightened, but Jesus spoke to them, saying: “ Be not afraid, it is L” Then St. Peter said: “ Lord, if it be Thou, order me to come to Thee.” When Jesus answered, “ Come,” St. Peter began to walk over the waves to Our Lord, but soon he grew afraid, and thought he would sink and be drowned; but Jesus quickly came to him, and, tak- ing him by the hand, led him safely to the ship. Once some people came to Our Lord to ask Him for some money. As Jesus had none, He said to St. Peter: “ Go to the sea, and cast in a hook ; the fish which shall first come up take, and when thou hast opened / its mouth, thou shalt find in it a piece of money.” When the fish was caught, the piece of money was found in its mouth as Jesus had said. Sometimes Our Lord worked a miracle so as to give a lesson to His disciples. One day, while He was travelling with them, He passed a fig-tree, on which were leaves, but no fruit. Jesus said : 48 The Transfiguration. “ There shall never again be any fruit on that tree ;” and immediately the tree withered and died. The disciples did not understand why Our Lord had done this, but He explained that the barren fig- tree was a symbol or picture of a man whose life is barren or empty of prayer and good works. God gives us a great many chances to bear fruit—that is to say, to be good and do ILis will; but, after a time, if w^e continue naughty, He no longer gives so much help and grace, anei _ then our soul may easily commit a mortal sin and lose heaven. Once Jesus went with three of His apostles, Peter, James, and John, up a mountain to pray. As they watched Him they saw a very wonderful thing hap- pen. The face of Jesus was shining like the sun; His garments became white as snow; two holy prophets were speaking with Him. As the apostles gazed, they heard the voice of God from the sky; saying: “ This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him.” They were very much afraid, and fell on their faces. But Jesus came to them, and touched them, saying : “ Arise, and fear not.” And when they looked up there was no one but Jesus. This was called Our Lord’s transfiguration. Many other wonderful things did Jesus do, and many beautiful things He taught His disciples, till at last it came nearly to the time when He was to give up His life for men. Three years did Our. Lord give to teaching men, so that after His death they would know how to live, so as to deserve to go to heaven. CHAPTER VIII. PALM SUNDAY—THE LAST SUPPER—CHRISTAS AGONY IN THE GARDEN—THE PASSION. ( ' After Our Lord had been preaching and working miracles for nearly three years, it was _again time for the Pasch, or Passover; so Jesus and His apos- tles returned towards Jerusalem, so as to be there for the Paschal feast. The chief men among the Jews hated Jesus, be- cause they were afraid that one day He would be- come King of the Jews, and they wanted to kill Him, but they had to be very careful, for they knew that the poor people loved Jesus, and would protect Him if they could. Kow Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, was -a greedy, covetous man, who loved money. He was angry with Jesus because He was so generous, and gave all His money to the poor. So this wicked apostle went to the high priests, and said to them: “ How much money will you give me if I deliver Jesus of Kazareth up to you? ” And they answered him : “ Thirty pieces of silver.” So, from this time forth Judas looked for a chance to deliver his Mas- ter up to His enemies. 49 50 Palm Sunday. On the Sunday before Holy Week Jesus and His disciples left Bethania, where they had been staying, to go to Jerusalem. Jesus was riding on an ass upon which His disciples had spread their cloaks. Many other people were travelling along the same road, and when they saw Jesus, who had done so many and wonderful things, they were very pleased. They took off their cloaks and colored scarfs, and laid them on the ground for Him to ride over. Many pulled down branches of palms and other trees, and strewed them in His path. Some carried palms, which they waved in front of Him, singing “ Hosanna ! ” which means “ Glory to God ! ” It is in remembrance of that day of rejoicing that we keep Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. That evening Jesus returned to Bethania; for, though the people loved Our Lord, they were too much afraid of i/he high priests to let Him stay in their houses. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Jesus slept at Bethania, going in every day to Jeru- salem to preach. On Thursday morning He said to two of His apostles : “As you go into the city, you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house to which he goes, and say to the master of . the house, ‘ The Master saith to thee, where is the guest-chamber, where I may eat the Pasch with My disciples ? 7 And he will show you into a large dining-room, ready furnished, and there you will prepare the Pasch.” It all happened as Jesus said, and the two apos- tles began to make ready the Paschal supper. Per- The Last Supper. 51 baps you wonder what the Paschal supper was, and how it was prepared. I will tell you. In memory of a time when God had delivered the Jews from the power of their enemies, the Egyp- tians, they had on the anniversary of that day a great feast. At this feast they ate the flesh of a lamb roasted whole, with unleavened bread, a sort of flat cake baked in the ashes, and bitter herbs. What they did not eat they burnt in the fire. When the feast waa ready, Jesus and His twelve apostles came and took it, lying or couched on sofas round the table. As soon as supper was ready, Our Lord rose, and, taking some water in a basin, began to wash the feet of His apostles. At first they were ashamed that He, who was their Master, should show them so much honor; but Jesus told them that He was do- ing this to show them that a Christian should be humble, and always ready to serve others. Then Jesus lay down again at the table, and, dur- ing the supper, He took some of the unleavened bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to His apostles, saying : “ Take ye and eat, for this is My body.” ‘ Then, taking the chalice filled with wine, He gave thanks, saying: “ Drink ye all of this; this is My blood.” For Jesus knew that He would soon die, and go away from the earth ; so, by His power, He changed bread and wine into His own sacred body and blood, so that, even after His death, He would always be with us. 52 The Last Supper. Every time a priest says Mass, he, by the powei of God, consecrates the bread and wine—that is to say, changes them into the body and blood of Jesus. Our Lord knew that the time had nearly come for Judas to betray Him, so He looked sorrowfully around on His apostles, saying: “ One of you shall betray Me.” At these sad words the apostles were very much grieved; for they all, except Judas, loved Our Lord very dearly, and they thought they would sooner die than betray Him. They all asked anxiously, “ Is it I, Lord ? ” Then Jesus answered: “ It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread ;” and leaning forward, He broke off a piece of bread and gave it to Judas. You would think that Judas would be dreadfully ashamed and sorry for causing so much sorrow to his kind Master ; but he had listened so long to the devil that his heart had grown hard, and all he thought , of was the money he was to receive. So he got up and went away to try how he could best manage to betray his Master. Perhaps Judas did not know how wicked a thing it was which he was doing. Perhaps he thought that Jesus would deliver Himself from His enemies, as He had sometimes done before. We will hope so. After a time Jesus and the other apostles rose from the table, and went to a garden called Geth- semani. Jesus knew that this was the place in which He was to be betrayed, so He said to His apostles : “ Rest here, while I go yonder and pray.” Christ's Agony in the Garden. 53 Then calling Peter and Janies and John, the three who had been with Him at His transfigura- tion, a little way from the others, He said to them: “ My soul is exceeedingly sorrowful ; stay here and watch near Me.” Then Jesus went a little further away, and began to pray to God. “ Father! if Thou be willing, remove this cup of sorrow from Me; but not My will but Thine be done.” For, though Jesus was God, He was man too, and as man He vms afraid of the dreadful pain and cruel death Ha was to suffer. Yet though He wa* afraid, He was still willing to die for men, if it was God 's will. 'What a beautiful lesson this gives us! ^ If pain and sorrow come to us, we must bear them patiently, because they are God’s will. If we feel sad vg afraid, never mind; Jesus felt sorrow and fear toe just as we do, and so we must just follow His tiple, and say to God: “Not my will* but Thine be done.” After Jesus had prayed for a little while, He re- turned to His disciples, but instead of watching with Him they were all asleep mK so Jesus went back and prayed again to God, and His fear and sorrow grew so great that He would have died, but that God sent His angel to comfort and strengthen Him, just as He sends us help when we need 'it. Then Jesus returned once more to His disciples and woke them, saying: “The time has come; he who is to betray Me is near;” and immediately there was a noise of 54 The Passion. shouting and the trampling of many feet, and a crowd of soldiers, with priests and servants, came hurrying into the garden, armed with swords and sticks, to seize Jesus. It was almost dark, and the soldiers were carry- ing torches.. Many of them had never seen Jesus, so they said to Judas: “ How shall we know which is thy Master ? ” Then Judas answered them: “ The Man whom I shall kiss is Jesus of Haza- reth; hold Him fast.” Then this wicked, cruel man came up to his Mas- ter, who had always been so kind tc Sim, and kissed Him, saying: “ Hail, Rabbi ! ” which word means “ Master.” J^jsus said to him: Friend, why ha^t thou come? Dost thou be- tray Me with a kiss ?” Then turning to the high priests and soldiers, He said to them: “ Whom do you seek ? ” And they said: “ Jesus of Hazareth.” And Jesus answered: “I am He.” At these words they all fell to the ground, struck with fear. Hone of them could have touched Jesus. But He said to them: “ If it is I whom you seek, suffer My disciples to go their way.” For even at that moment, when His cruel Passion was beginning, Jesus thought of others, and wished to save them. The Passion. 55 St. Peter was so angry and grieved to see that the soldiers were going to seize his Master, that he drew his sword, and struck one of them, cutting off his ear. . But Jesus loves all men, even those who wished to kill Him ; so, stretching out His hand, He healed the wounded man. Then all the disciples fled away, and Jesus al- lowed the soldiers to seize and bind Him. First of all they led Him to the house of Annas, who was one of the high priests; but Annas told them to take Him to Caiphas, who was the high priest for the year. All the way along the soldiers treated Jesus most cruelly, striking Him, and doing all they could to make Him suffer. Caiphas and the other priests tried very hard to find something against Jesus for which they could punish Him; but they found nothing, for Jesus had never said or done anything wrong, so they brought false witnesses, who were paid to pretend that Our Lord had said wicked things. But the witnesses did not agree, and everybody could see that they were not speaking the truth. All this time Jesus was silent; He did not defend Himself, but just bore patiently all the blows and insults He received. At last Caiphas said to Him : “ I adjure (that is, order) Thee by the living God to tell me if Thou art indeed Christ, the Son of God.” And Jesus answered that He was indeed Christ. Then Caiphas said: “ What need have we of witnesses ? We have all 56 The Passion. heard Him say that He is God, and therefore we know that He is worthy of death.” And they all began again to strike Jesus, and to spit in His face, and insult Him. All this time Peter had been waiting in the court outside the house of Caiphas. A servant-maid went to him, saying: “ Thou also wert with Jesus;” but Peter was afraid, and denied his Master. 1 ' Then another servant, seeing him, said: “ This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” /nd again in his fear Peter denied Jesus, saying: “ I know not the Man.” Later on there came by a friend of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, and he said to him: “ Hid I not see thee in the garden with Jesus of Nazareth? ” And again Peter said : “ I knovr not the Man of whom thou speakest.” While he was speaking the cock crew, and Peter remembered the words of Jesus: “ Before the cock crow thou wilt deny Me thrice.” And going out, he wept bitterly. As it was still night, the soldiers shut Jesus up in a prison till it should be morning. As soon as it was day (Good Friday morning), the elders of the people and the high priests gathered together, and they said again to Jesus: “ If Thou be Christ, tell us.” And He answered them: “lam.” S And rising up they led Him to Pilate, who was the chief judge, to be condemned. The Passion. 57 £Tow when Judas saw that Jesus was really taken and was to be killed, he grew very sorry and ashamed at what he had done. He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the high priest, saying: ( “ I have betrayed innocent blood.” But they answered him: “ What is that to us ? Look thou to it.” So then, in despair, Judas went out; and, in- stead of going to Jesus to ask Him for His forgive- ness, and to die with Him, Judas went out and hanged himself. CHAPTER IX. the passion of Christ. ( Continued.) Pilate was not a Jew, but a Roman. The Romans had seized Jerusalem and were masters of it, so that the Jews could not put Jesus to death without the permission of the Roman governor ; therefore they led Jesus to Pilate, saying: “ We have found this Man who says He is King of the Jews.” Then they went on accusing Jesus. Pilate said to Jesus: "If Thou art King of the Jews, why have Thy people delivered Thee up to me ? ” But Jesus answered him, saying: “ My kingdom is not of this world ; for this was I born into the world, to give testimony to the truth.” ' Now if Pilate had been a good man, he would have asked Our Lord to teach him the truth, and he would have become a Christian; but instead of doing this, he went back to the Jews and said to them: "I find that this Man has done no wrong.* 58 The Passion of Christ. 59 The Jews were very angry at this, and Pilate grew frightened; so, instead of delivering Jesus, he sent Him to Herod; for Jesus was a Galilean, and Herod was the chief judge of the Galileans. Herod was pleased to see Jesus, for he had heard strange things about Him; so he asked Our Lord a great many questions. But Jesus would not an- swer him at all, for Herod was a very wicked man; so, being angry, Herod mocked Jesus, pretending that He was a fool; and, after his soldiers had clothed Him in a white garment, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate to be judged. Pilate did not know what to do. He did not want to kill Jesus, for he knew Him to be innocent ; but He was afraid to let Him go. So he thought of a plan by which he might set Our Lord free. Upon that day the governor was accustomed to set free some prisoner, as an act of mercy. There was a very wicked murderer, whose name was Barabbas, in prison at that time. Pilate said to the people: “Whom shall I set free? Jesus of Nazareth, or Barabbas ? ” For he thought that the people would be sure to choose Jesus, who had been so good to them. \ But the elders and the high priests persuaded the Jews to choose Barabbas. Then Pilate said : “What must I do to Jesus, who is called Christ? ” And they answered : “ Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! ” But Pilate’s wife, who was a good woman, sent a message to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with 60 The Passion of Christ. this just Man.” So then Pilate tried again if he could not save Jesus. “ What evil has this Man done ? ” he said. “ I find no sin in Him; I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go.” But they cried again with loud voices: “ Crucify Him ! Crucify Him ! ” Then Pilate, being afraid, ordered Jesus to be scourged—that is, beaten, as though Our Lord were a robber or murderer instead of Christ, the Saviour of men. All through this dreadful scourging Jesus never complained, but only prayed for those who were hurting Him so cruelly. ^ After they had scourged Jesu^ the soldiers led Him to the court of Pilate’s palace ; then they stripped Him, and put a purple cloak around Him; f6r in those days kings always wore purple. Then they made a crown of long, sharp thorns, and placed it on His head, and in His hand they put U reed for a sceptre. Then, bowing the knee before Him, they mocked Him, saying: “ Hail, King of the Jew$ ! f And these cruel men spat upon Jesus, and struck Him on the head with the *reed. After this Pilate came again to the people, and showed them Jesus wearing His crown of thorns. “ Behold the Man ! ” he said. “ I have found no sin in Him; He has done no wrong.” But still they cried out, “ Crucify Him ! ” Pilate said to Jesus, “ Why dost Thou not speak to me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee or to release Thee ? ” •OmiflHT, IV BENZISU lUTKEBIa CONFIRMATION The Passion of Chirist. 61 But Jesus answered him: “ Thou wouldst not have that power if it had not been given to thee from Heaven.” Pilate had not the courage to displease the Jews, so he set free Barabbas, the murderer and robber,., and gave Jesus up to the Jews to be crucified. Now that the Jews had Jesus in their power, they did all they could to make Him suffer. They forced Him to carry the great heavy cross to which He was to be nailed, though the road to Calvary was long and hilly, and Our Lord was very weak after His cruel scourging. ’ Three times Jesus fell under the weight of His cross, and each time they drove Him on with kicks and blows. At last He grew so weak that they feared He would die, so they forced a man named Simon the Cyrenean, who was passing by, to help Our Lord to carry His cross. At first Simon perhaps did not like it, but when he saw how patiently Jesus bore His sufferings his heart was touched, and he did all he could to help Our Lord. You will bp glad to hear that Simon afterwards became a Christian and a saint, and that his two sons were martyred for Christ’s sake. As Jesus was passing, carrying His cross, many of those who had known and loved Him came out and wept and lamented to see Him in so sad a state. His holy Mother came too with some of the disciples, and she followed her divine Son, so as to be near Him until His death. When Christ had reached the Molint of Calvary, the executioners—that is to say, those who were The Passion of Christ .42 'ibout to kill Him—told Him to lay His cross down an the ground. They offered Him wine mixed with ft bitter stuff called myrrh, but Jesus would not drink. This wine was given to criminals—that is, wicked people—before they were killed, so as to deaden their pain, but Jesus preferred to suffer* so as to make still more atonement for our sins. Then the executioners again stripped Jesus, and nailed Him by His sacred hands and feet to the cross. Above Him they nailed a board, on which was written, “ Jesus of Nazareth, J£ing of the Jews.” On each side of Our Lord they crucified a robber* for they wished to make it appear that Jesus was being punished with other wicked people because He was wicked Himself. All this time Jesus never complained, but only prayed for His enemies, saying: “ Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Then the soldiers took Our Lord’s clothes and divided them among themselves, each taking a part, and for His coat they cast lots. The people who were looking on mocked Jesus and reproached Him. One of the two thieves joined with them in mocking Jesus, but the £>ther, seeing the patience and goodness of Our Lord, was touched, as Simon the Cyrenean had been. He said to his companion : “ We are rightly punished, but this Man has done no wrong.” Then, turning to Jesus, he said humbly, “ Lord, remember me when Thou comest to Thy kingdom.” The Passion of Christ. 63 Jesus is always ready to hear us when we ask ’Him for help. In spite of His own terrible suffer- ing, He comforted the repentant thief, saying : “ This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” Our blessed Lady was standing at the foot of the cross ; her loving heart felt all the pain her divine Son was suffering, and she,who would willingly have died to save Him a moment’s sorrow or pain, was obliged to stand watching Him hanging in His agony upon the cross. Still, she did not complain or murmur, but stotfd quite close to Him, trying to comfort Him by her presence. St. John the apostle was with her, mourning for her grief and for the suffering of his divine Master. Then Jesus looked down upon His Mother, and spoke to her, saying, “ Behold thy son! ” and to St. John He said: “ Behold thy Mother!” for He % wanted St. John to take care of Our Lady, and He wanted to remind Our Lady that we are her children, and she must love us and pray for us, even though we are wicked and ungrateful. For three hours Jesus hung upon His cross, and a darkness like that of night was over the world. Then Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Perhaps Our Lord said these words so that when we are frightened or in pain we may remember that Our Saviour, too, suffered and was frightened, and all to save U3. Then Jesus said: “ I thirst.” Jesus was really very thirsty, but He also meant 64 The Passion of Christ. that He was thirsty to do good to men, and to save them from the power of the devil. When Our Lord said these words a soldier took up a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and, putting it on to a reed, he offered it to Jesus in mockery. But Our Lord was willing to receive even this last in- sult. When He had drunk the vinegar He said, “ It is consummated.” Consummated means finished. Jesus had finished His work, He had suffered dreadful pain and misery to save men, and now His task was over. Bowing down His sacred head, He said: “ Father, into Thv hands I commend My spirit.” That is to say, “ Father, I have done Thy will ; do Thou now receive My soul.” / CHAPTER X. THE BURIAL OF JESUS—HIS RESURRECTION—HE APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES. At the moment of Christ’s death many wonderful things happened to prove to men that He whom they had crucified w^is their God and their Saviour. The earth shook, the rocks were rent or burst open, and the bodies of many who were buried arose and walked about the earth, showing themselves to their friends. A great tear or split showed itself in the veil of the Temple. This veil was a large curtain which hung in the Temple, separating the people from the “ Holy * of holies,” or inner and more sacred part, which could only be entered by priests. This veil was split, and fell away, to show that the Temple had been defiled—that means, soiled—when the Jews crucified their Messias; also, that the veil or division between God and man had been removed now that God the Son had died for mankind. ' The Jews began to be terribly afraid; they were almost sorry for what they had done, and many said to themselves : “ Jesus of Nazareth must surely have been the Son of God as He said.” $5 66 The Burial of Jesus. All these things happened, as you know, on Good Friday. It was at three o’clock that Jesus died. Now, the Jews always keep their Sabbath, or holyday, on Saturday, and it is not lawful for them to do any work on that day; so the soldiers came to see if the crucified men were dead, in order that their bodies might be removed before night fell, for the Jews count their Sabbath from Friday evening till sunset on Saturday. The two thieves were still alive, for they had only been tied to their crosses, instead of being nailed to them as Jesus had been. The soldiers, therefore, killed the two men by breaking their legs, but when they found that Jesus was already dead they did not break ITis, but a soldier who was near drove his spear into His side, piercing His divine Heart, and there came out blood .and water. Then they left the body of Our Lord hanging on the cross. There was a certain rich man, Joseph of Arima- thea, who loved Jesus and was one of His disciples. This man went secretly to Pilate, telling him that Jesus was dead, and begging to be allowed to take down the body of Christ, that he might bury it, and to this Pilate gave his consent. When evening came, Joseph and some other dis- ciples came to the foot of the cross, where Our Lady and St. John were still; and they took down the body of Jesus, bound it in linen, with spices, as was the custom of the Jews, and laid it in a new sepul- chre, or grave, which was in a garden near Calvary. When the chief priests heard what had been done, they were very angry, and they went to Pilate, say- ing: The Burial of Jesus . 67 “We have remembered that Jesus of Nazareth, while He was yet alive, said, ‘ After three days I shall arise again from the dead/ Perhaps His fol- lowers will steal Him away, and pretend to the peo- ple that He has risen/’ But Pilate answered them: “ You have a guard; go and guard the sepulchre yourselves/’ So the chief priests set a stone before the sepul- chre, and sealed it, and placed a guard of soldiers round the tomb, to prevent any one from going near it. The soldiers waited and watched, and allowed no one to come near the sepulchre; but behold, in the very early morning of Easter Sunday, there was a great earthquake, the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled back the stone which was before the tomb, and sat upon it. His face shone as the lightning, and his garments as snow. The guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men. After a time they went to the high priests, and told them what had happened. The high priests and the elders met together, and called the soldiers before them, and promised them a great deal of money if they would pretend to everybody that they had been asleep, and that dur- ing their sleep the disciples had stolen the body of Our Lord away. This the soldiers did, so that many of the Jews did not hear of the resurrection of Jesus. When morning came, Mary Magdalen and some other holy women went to the sepulchre, taking with them sweet spices, and they said to one another : v 68 The Resurrection. “Who will roll back the stone from the door of the tomb? ” for they knew that it was too heavy for them to move. But when they drew near, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, and entering into the tomb they found that the body of Christ was not there. And as they gazed on the empty grave, they saw two angels standing there. Being very much afraid, they bowed down their heads, but the angels said: “ Why do you search for the living among the dead? Christ is not here. He has risen.” Then the women remembered the words of Christ, “ After three days I shall rise again ” ; and going from the sepulchre they told these things to the apostles and disciples. Some of these could scarcely believe this strange story, and St. Peter and an- other disciple ran quickly to the tomb and saw that the body of Our Lord was not there. Mary Magdalen remained weeping outside the sepulchre, and as she wept she looked into the tomb, and saw two angels sitting there, one at the head, and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Christ had been laid. They said to her: “Woman, why weepest thou?” ^ But she answered them : “ Because they have taken away the body of my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” When she had said these words, she looked round and saw Jesus standing behind her; but at first she did not know Him. Thinking He was the gar- dener, she said: “ Sir, if thou hast taken the body of my Lord away, tell me where thou hast laid Him.” The Resurrection . 69 Jesus said to her : “ Mary ! ” Then she knew Him, and, kneeling, she held out her arms, saying: “ Master!” but Jesus said to her: “ Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father in heaven; go to My disciples, saying: * I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God ” and this Mary did. Jesus, we are told, appeared first of all to Mary Magdalen, though she had been a very wicked woman, to show us that, if we are sorry for our ^ins, and do penance for them, as Mary Magdalen did, they are forgiven, and that God loves us again, as though we had never sinned. But we may believe that even before this He had been to visit His blessed Mother. The next time that Jesus appeared after His resurrection was to the holy women who had come to visit the sepulchre. At first they were afraid, but Our Lord said to them: “Fear not: go, tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they shall see Me.” After this Jesus showed Himself to St. Peter, but we do not know what passed between them. On that same day two disciples were walking to- gether to a place called Emmaus, and as they went on their way they were talking about the strange things that had happened, and grieving for the death of their beloved Master. They were very sad, for they said to themselves: “ How can Jesus have been really the Son of God as He said? for He has - died, just as other men 70 Jesus Appears to the Disciples . Suddenly Jesus came up to them, though they did not know Him. And Our Lord spoke to them, and explained many things to them, telling them that it had always been foretold that the Messias would die to save man- kind, but that on the third day He would rise again. * When they reached the town, Jesus made as though He would leave them, but they begged Him to go with them to their house to rest and eat. When they were at supper, Jesus took some bread and blessed it, then, breaking it, He gave it to them, and immediately their eyes were opened, and they kneW'Him. But Jesus vanished from their sight. Then the two disciples rose quickly, and returned at once to Jerusalem, to tell the apostles what they had seen. But the apostles answered them, saying: “He is indeed risen, and has appeared also to Peter.” That same day nil the disciples had gathered to- gether. The door of the room in which they were assembled was locked, for they knew that the Jews were seeking the followers of Christ, . that they might kill them. Suddenly Christ stood among them, and they were afraid, for they took Him for a spirit, but He spoke to them, saying : “ Why are you afraid ? Do you not see that it is I?” Then He showed them His hands and feet, with the marks of the cruel nails which had pierced them. When the disciples saw that it was indeed their Master, they were very pleased, and welcomed Him. Then Jesus said to them: MPvaiaHT, mi, *y KNZitea imthuc. pe’nance V' r^'i '• v'5 Jesus Appears to the Disciples. 71 “ Peace be with you ! ” and He breathed upon them, saying: “ Receive you the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven.” At that moment and by those words, Our Lord made the Sacrament of Penance, by which priests have the power of forgiving sins. Even after Jesus had spoken to them, some of the disciples could hardly believe that it was their Mas- ter Himself, and not His spirit, who was with them ; so Jesus, in order to prove it to them, took some of the fish and honeycomb which they offered to Him, and ate, so that all could see that His actual body was present. How one of the apostles whose name was Thomas was not with the others when Jesus appeared ,to them; he would not believe what they told him about the coming of Our Lord, saying: “ Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days the apostles were again together, and this time Thomas was with them. And once again Jesus stood among them. He said to Thomas : “ Put thy finger hither, and see My hands, and bring hither thy ha\id, and put it in My side, and be not faithless, but believing.” Then Thomas was bitterly ashamed, and cried out: “ My Lord and my God; ” but Jesus answered him: “ Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.” \ CHAPTEK XI. OUR LORD^S WORDS TO ST. PETER AND THE DIS- CIPLES—HIS ASCENSION. Do you remember how Jesus told the holy women to say to the disciples that they should go to Galilee, and that there they should see Him ? Well, as soon as they were able, they went to Gali- lee, as Our Lord had commanded. There He ap- peared to nearly five hundred of them. Another time some of His apostles were near the sea of Tiberias, and they began to fish. All night they worked, but could catch nothing. But when morning came, Jesus stood on the shore, though at first they did not know Him. He said To them: “ Children, have you any food ? ” which meant “ Have you caught anything ? ” but they answered, “Ho” Then Jesus said : “ Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find.” They cast their net as they had been told, and when they wished to draw it back, they were not able to do so, on account of the great number of fish in it. Then St. John, the beloved disciple, said to St. Peter: 72 Our Lard's Words to St. Peter and the Diseiples. 73 “It must be the Lord;” and immediately St. Peter put his cloak around him, and cast himself into the sea to go to Jesus ; but the other disciples came in the ship, dragging the net filled with fishes, and though there were so many the net was not broken. When they had reached the shore, tired and hun- gry, they found that Jesus had lighted a fire, and prepared fish and bread for them to eat. Then Our Lord, in presence of the other apostles, said to St. Peter: “ Peter, lovest thou Me ? ” St. Peter answered quickly: “ Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee ; ” and Jesus commanded him, saying: “ Feed My lambs.” Twice Our Lord put the same question, and each time He said to St. Peter: “Feed My lambs”; but the third time, He said, “Feed My sheep”—that is to say, “Be My shep- herd over My sheep *—for Jesus meant St. Peter to be the head or shepherd of His flock, and He wished His disciples to understand that no man ought to rule over people unless he loves them and is good to them. Jesus often speaks of the Church as His flock, and Himself as the Good Shepherd, to show that He loves and takes care of every one of His chil- dren, just as a good shepherd guards and shelters every sheep and lamb under his charge. It was to save us that Jesus gave up His life upom the cross, so that we might be happy for all eternity, and He did this because H^ ^ves us. He 74 Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. wants 11s all to love one another; the rich must love the poor; the mighty must take care of the weak and humble; big children must be good to little ones, and do all they can to help them. Even tiny children can be kind to animals, and be useful to those about them. One way in which they can be very useful is by not giving more trouble than they can help. They must not always want to be amused when peo- ple are busy about them; they must not cry or whine when they do not get everything they want; they must not snatch away one another’s toys, or quarrel, or tell tales. Then they would be a real help in the nursery, and they would be obeying Our Lord’s orders, “ Love one another.” J If only the people of the world could always re- member those three little words, they would be very happy themselves, and would make those about them happy, besides pleasing God, and deserving heaven. When Our Lord said to St. Peter, “Feed My sheep,” He told him that when his work was over he should die a cruel death as his Master had done, for God’s sake, and thus wipe out the shame of hav- ing denied his Saviour. After many years of hard work, spent in preach- ing and converting people, St. Peter was seized by God’s enemies. As he would not give up his faith, they determined to crucify him as Jesus had been crucified. But St. Pete^r did not feel worthy to die J the same death as his Master, so he begged his executioners to crucify him head downwards. Though St. Peter had sinned, he was very sorry Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples . 75 for his sins, and tried to atone, or make up for it. Then Jesus loved him, and even made him head of the Church; so you see it is never too late to begin again, and to try to be good and do God’s work. Once more Jesus appeared to the eleven apostles in Galilee, and He said to them: “ All power is given Me in heaven and on earth : going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things which I have told you. And behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe : In My name they shall cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt .them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Many children will not be able to understand these words which Our Lord spoke to His disciples; but they are very important words, and I will try to make you all understand them, so that when you see them in other books you will know what they mean. “ All power is given Me in heaven and on earth.” Jesus, as God, had full power both in heaven and on earth; but even as man He ha^full power in heaven and on earth, for this power was given to Him by God. 4< Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing 76 Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The apostles were ordered to spread themselves over the whole world; all nations were to be taught about God; Jesus died for all men, not only for the Jews. So the apostles dispersed themselves. St. Peter went to Antioch and Rome, St. James travelled to Spain, St. Bartholomew to India, St. Matthew to Ethiopia, St. John preached in Asia. All the apos- tles went to different places, “ baptizing people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Our Lord had already made the Sacrament of Baptism, but by these words He told His apostles that every Christian must be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, that is to say, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. “ Reaching them to observe all things which X have told you.” , It is. not enough to believe in God, we‘must ob- serve—that is, obey—Him in all things. All the commandments and rules which Our Lord gave us when He was upon earth must be observed ; so Jesus told His apostles to teach all men what they must do, and all the rules they must obey. “ And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” Consummation means finishing or ending. Our Lord is with us, and always will be with us, as long as the world lasts. He is in the tabernacle, waiting to listen to your prayers, and when you are old enough to go to holy communion you will receive Our Lord’s Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. 77 His sacred body and blood as the food of your soul. “ He that believeth in Me, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be con- demned.” If we believe in God, and are baptized, we shall go to heaven, if we also love and obey God. But those who have heard of the gospel of Christ, and will not believe in Him, who might be baptized, but do not choose to, will be condemned to ever- lasting punishment, for God is just as well as mer-^ eiful. “ And these signs shall follow them that believe : In My name they shall cast out devils; speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall re- cover.” After Christ’s death there were only a very few Christians ; most of the disciples were only poor ignorant men; still God made use of these humble men to build up His great Church. He gave them wonderful power, so that they might do His work. You remember how He told them to teach all na- tions. Well, they did not know how to talk any language except their own, but God, when He sent them to other countries, gave them power to speak the languages of those countries, so that, wherever they went, people could understand them. As they travelled about, they were exposed to many dangers ; but God protected them till the hour had come for them to die. Snakes did not hurt them, poisonous things did not do them any harm. 78 Our Lord's Words to St. Peter and the Disciples. Over and over again God sent His angels to protect them when cruel men would have hurt them. Besides this, God gave them the power to work miracles, to cast out devils, and heal sick people, because these miracles or wonderful things which they did convinced or showed the truth to the peo- ple, and made them ready to listen to what they were told about God and the C'hurcli, and in this way many were converted and became Christians. If God chose, priests could still do that kind of miracle, just as every day they do a miracle by changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord. Many wonderful cures are still worked by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and at holy places, such as Lourdes, or St. Winifride’s Well. Many saints have had the gift of performing miracles, but, as a rule, God in these days works wonders to our souls instead of to our bodies. He brings souls from death to life, from sickness to health, by the Sacrament of Penance. By contri- tion and the absolution which the priest gives us, we are freed from the power of the devil, to become God’s children. STow I hope that you will understand the words which Our Lord spoke to His disciples. Many times still did Jesus appear upon earth, to teach His followers how they must live, and what He wished them to do. At last came the fortieth day, on which it was foretold that Jesus would ascend into heaven. Our Lord led His disciples to Bethania, and then, standing among them, He lifted up His hands to bless them; and as they gazed upon Him they be- The Ascension . 79 held Him ascending—that is, mounting—towards heaven. Soon a cloud hid Him from their sight, hut still they stayed, looking up to the blue sky after the kind Master who had left them. Then, looking round, they saw two strangers standing by them in white garments, and these men —who were in reality angels—said to them: “ Men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall come back in the same way as you have seen Him going into heaven.” When the day of judgment comes, when all men, living or dead, will be judged, Our Lord will come down from heaven, no longer as our protebtor and Saviour, but as a just Judge, who knows all our hidden faults. We must therefore try to live in such a way that we need not be afraid to meet our Judge on that last dreadful day. When Our Lord went up to heaven, He took with Him the souls of all those people who had lived good lives, and had deserved eternal happiness, and had no debt of sin, but who had not been able to enter heaven because Christ had not, by His death, opened the gates of paradise for them. ^These souls had been waiting in a place of rest called limbo, and it is of that place that we speak in the Creed when we say, “ He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead.” CHAPTEK XII. THE ELECTION OF ST. MATTHIAS—THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST. Boon after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, when the apostles were assembled together, they chose a twelfth apostle, in place of Judas, the be- trayer of Our Lord; and their choice fell upon St. Matthias, so that he became an apostle. After nine days of prayer and preparation, the apostles were assembled in one room with our blessed Lady. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole room in wdiich they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, which de- scended on each of their heads, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak in divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Thus the apostles and Our Lady were confirmed; that is to say, they received the Holy Ghost under the appearance of a tongue of fire. When we are confirmed we receive the Holy Ghost, though God does not wish us to see Him as the apostles were able to do. We are not given the power of speak- ing divers, or different, languages, because it is not necessary for God’s glory that we should do so. If 80 Descent of the Holy Ghost . 81 it were, God would give us that power, as He gave it to His apostles. The Holy Ghost brings with Him seven gifts : “ Wisdom,” “ understanding,” “ counsel,” “ forti- tude ”—which means strength— 1“ knowledge ”—that is, knowledge of holy things — “ piety ”—the love of holy things—and “ the fear of the Lord.” There are twelve great “ fruits ” or acts of virtue which we should always produce in our lives^ after the coming of the Holy Ghost. These are : “ Charity,” “ joy,” u peace,” “ patience,” “ be- nignity ”—which means kindness—“ goodness,” “ longanimity ”—that is, not getting tired of show- ing kindness — “ mildness,” “ faith,” “ modesty,” “ continency ”—or self-restraint—and “ chastity ” which means purity. There are six sins which especially offend the Holy Ghost. These are: “ Presumption ”—that is to say, making sure of what God has not promised. “ Despair ”—which m^ans giving up the hope of God’s mercy. “ Resisting the known truth ”—that is, refusing to believe the words of God. “ Envy of another’s spiritual good ”—which means being jealous because another person is holier than we are. “ Obstinacy in sin ” and “ final impenitence ” — that is to say, when people go on to the very end of their lives without being sorry for their sins. 'Now that the Holy Ghost had come down on the apostles, they were filled with wisdom, knowledge, and fortitude. They were no longer afraid to own themselves Christians, and the disciples of Jesus, 4 82 Descent of the Holy Ghost. as they had been before. They went boldly about, preaching and working miracles, quite ready, when the time had come, to give up their lives for their faith. We are not called upon to be martyrs; as the apos- tles, were, but we can be brave, faithful soldiers of Christ, ready and willing to do His work, whatever it may be. In order to do God’s will, we must first underf stand what virtues we must practise and what sins we must avoid. The chief or “ theological ” virtues are so called because they directly relate to God, and “ Theos ” is the Greek name for God. They are: “Faith” “hope,” and “charity.” We must believe in God, hope in His mercy, and love Him and all His creatures. Then there are the four “ cardinal ” virtues. “ Cardo ” is the Latin word for a hinge, and the virtues are called cardinal because all the other vir- tues turn or hinge upon them. They are: “ Prudence,” “ justice,” “ fortitude ”—which word means strength and patience—and “ temperance ” —which word means to be careful not to take too much of anything which gives us pleasure, such as eating, drinking, and enjoying ourselves. There are fourteen ways in which we can do good to our neighbors. These are divided into two kinds, “ corporal ” works of mercy, and “ spiritual ” works of mercy. “ Corpus ” is the Latin word for the body, so the corporal works of mercy are the kind things which we do for our neighbor’s body. They are: “ To feed the hungry,” “ to give drink to the Descent of the Holy Ghost. 83 thirsty/’ “ to clothe the naked,” “ to harbor the har- borless ”•—which means' to give shelter to those who have no home — “ to visit the sick,” “ to visit the imprisoned,” and “ to bury the dead.” “ Spiritus ” is the Latin word for spirit, or soul, so that the spiritual works of mercy are those kind things that we do to help our neighbor’s soul. They are: “ To convert the sinner,” “ to instruct the ig- norant,” “to counsel the doubtful,” “to comfort the sorrowful,” “ to bear wrongs patiently,” “ to forgive injuries,” and “to pray for the living and the dead.” Little children cannot very well practise the first three of these acts, for they do not know enough themselves to be able to instruct or advise other people; but it is easy for them to comfort the sor- rowful, and if they bear their troubles patiently, and forgive all those that have hurt them in any way, they will be doing spiritual acts of mercy. Then we are all bound to pray for those around us, our parents, friends, masters, superiors, and ene- mies, and for the dead—that is to say, the souls in purgatory. There are seven capital or principal sins which we must avoid, and seven virtues which are exactly contrary to them, and which we must try to prac- tise. They are: “Pride,” to which the contrary virtue is “ humility.” “ Covetousness,” which is another word for wanting other people’s things, and which we must try to conquer by practising “lib- erality,” or generosity—that is, giving away one’s things. “ Lust,” of which the opposite is “ chas- tity.” “ Anger,” which we must conquer by “ meek- 84 Descent of the Holy Ghost. ness.” “ Gluttony,” or greediness, which is over- come by “ temperance.” “ Envy,” which means hating to see other people better off, of which the contrary is “ brotherly love”; and “ sloth,” or lazi- ness, which we must fight by using “ diligence.” There are three special good works which please Our Lord very much ; they are prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds. Little children can pray; they cannot .fast, which means going without most of our food, for they must eat what is given to them, and it would be disobedience if they did not ; but they can fast in one way, that is, by sometimes going with- out sweets or cake, or some nice little thing like that. Almsgiving means giving to the poor. Many little children have no money, so they cannot, give it away, but they can give away little acts of kind- ness or love, or they can sometimes give some toy or sweets to a little friend who has none. Some children have money given to them to spend on their own pleasure, so they can spare a few pennies every now and then to some poor person. Besides actually committing a sin ourselves, there are nine ways in which we can share, or take part in, the sins of other people. They are, “by coun- sel ”—that is, advising people to do a wrong thing ; “ command,” telling them they must do it ; “ con- sent,” agreeing to let them do it; “provocation,” acting in such a way as to provoke people to commit a sin ; “ praise or flattery,” “ concealment,” hiding the wrong that another person has done ; “ being a partner in the sin”—that is, getting some good or profit out of the sin ; “ silence ”—that is, not speak- Descent of the Holy Ghost. 85 ing of the sin so that it may be prevented—and by “ defending the wrong done.” Therefore you see that when only one child in the nursery has committed some sin, perhaps all the others are guilty of the sin, too, if they have known of it, helped in it, laughed at it, or even hidden it. Of course this does not mean that children must be always interfering with one another, and telling tales of one another—that would be very bad. They must have sense to know when a thing is really wrong or dangerous, and then, if the child who is doing the wrong thing will not stop, the eldest of the chil- dren must go quickly and speak to mamma or nurse, and tell her what is going on. There are four great things which we must al- ways remember : “ death,” that we must all die some day; “ judgment,” that after our death we shall be judged according to the life we have led ; u hell,” to which we shall go if we die in mortal sin ; and “ heaven,” which we all hope to gain through the merits of Jesus Christ. Last of all, we must remember the two greatest and most beautiful of all the rules which our blessed Lord gave us. The first is : “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength.” And the second is : “ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” We all love ourselves very much, and take great care of ourselves; so, if we love our neighbors as ourselves, we must love our neighbors, that is, those around us, very much, and take great qare of them. CHAPTER XIII. THE PARABLES. Very often Our Lord taught His disciples by means of parables. The word “ parable” means a comparison. Sometimes if you go on a long time telling people to be good, to speak the truth, not to steal, not to quarrel, and things like that, they get tired of listening and go away. But if, instead, you tell them some story, showing how good it is to be truthful or honest, they are interested and listen to you, and then, through the story, they learn what you mean to teach them. That is what Our Lord did. He taught His dis- ciples by “parables” or stories. I am sure you would like to hear some of these parables, and try to understand the lesson they teach. 1. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he scattered it, some fell by the wayside, and the birds came and ate it; some fell on the rock, where there was little earth, and soon it withered away; some fell among thorns, which quickly choked it; but some fell upon good ground, and it grew and flourished. This story means that the Word of God is useful only to those who make good use of it. Jesus spreads His Word as the sower his corn. Some peo- 86 The Parables. 87 pie are like the dry ground ; they listen to sermons, or to good advice, but their minds are so taken up with earthly things that as soon as they leave the church they put it all out of their minds, and the grace of the Word is lost. Others are like the rocky ground: their minds are so hard by being selfish and self-indulgent, that when the Word comes to them they do not heed it, but give way to temptation, and God’s Word is made fruitless. Others again receive the Word of God and act upon it, but, as they also love riches and money, after a time they grow weary of it. They try to serve two masters, and the thorns of covetousness soon choke their good resolutions. But some people are like the good ground: they are constantly working to preserve—that is, take care of—the grace they receive, so that it multiplies, and soon they become good and pious. 2. A farmer sowed good seed in his field. But during the night an enemy came and sowed cockle —that is, a kind of weed—among the good corn. When the com grew up, the cockle also grew with it. Now the servants of the farmer said to him: “ How is it that there is cockle in your field ? Did you not sow good corn ? ” But he answered them, saying: “ An enemy hath done this.” Then the servants asked: “ Shall we not pull it up ? ” But the master replied: “No, lest perhaps in pulling up the cockle yd. destroy also the good wheat. Let them both remain / 88 The Parables. \ * until the harvest, and then my reapers will first gather the cockle and burn it, but the wheat they will gather into my barn.” By this parable Our Lord explains how it is that He allows wicked people to go on living in the world among the good ones. He lets them stay, for if every one were good there would be no more temptations, and temptations and trials are neces- sary t6 men; but when Heath, the reaper, comes, the wicked people are cast into the flames of hell, and the gdod ones are gathered into heaven. 3. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mus- tard-seed, which, when it is sown, is the smallest of seeds; but when it groweth up is greater than all herbs, and throws out great branches, so that the birds of the air may dwell in the branches thereof. This parable teaches us that, as the tiny mustard- seed grows into a great tree, so the Church, which began with a few poor fishermen, has spread over the whole world, and has numbered many millions of people. 4. The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven (yeast), which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal (flour), until the whole was leavened. Leaven or yeast is used by cooks to make their bread rise properly. As a little leaven, when hid- den in the flour, is enough to leaven (raise) the whole of the flour, so the Church of Christ spreads the true faith among all who join her communion, that is, belong to her. 5. If a man should cast seed into the ground, and should then go away and live his life, rising, eat- The Parables. 89 ing, and sleeping, the seed would grow and ripen without his knowledge, for the earth of itself brings forth the flower and fruit, and when the harvest came the sower would put in his sickle and reap the corn. This parable means that God’s Church grows and increases in a way we cannot understand. If we but do our part, God will do the rest. 6. The kingdom of heaven is like to a treasure hidden in a field; which a man having found it, hid it, and, filled with joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field. 7. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, seeking good pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way and sold all he had to buy it. Both these parables are meant to teach us that if only we once find God, we should be willipg to throw away all things else so as to possess or hold Him more closely. / 8. The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, when it is filled with fishes of all kinds. The fishermen draw it out, and sitting by the shore* choose out the good fish into vessels, but the bad ones they cast away. This parable, like the second, teaches us that, when the day of judgment comes, the good people shall be separated froip the bad, the sheep from the goats. 9. A certain man made a great supper and in- vited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of supper, to say to them that were invited that they should come, for now all things were ready. And they all began at once to make excuses. The first said to him: 90 The Parables . “ I have bought a farm, and I must needs go but and see it; I pray thee hold me excused.” And another said: “ I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them. I pray thee hold me excused.” And another said : “ I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” So the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: “ Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and the feeble, the blind and the lame.” And the servant said : “ Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.” And the lord said to the servant : “ Go out into the highways and hedges and com- pel (force) them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.” Our Lord first came to make the Jews His dis- ciples, and He preached to them, and tried to make them Christians; but they would not give up their worldly pleasures and amusements to become, the disciples of Jesus. They were afraid to face pov- erty, or perhaps death, for Him; so- then Jesus turned to the Gentiles—that is, the people of other nations—and taught them instead, so that now the Jews are almost the only people who do not know and believe in Christ. \ mass k>h 231 WWH1BHT, 1IM, BY BCNZI6EB BROTHER!. THE HOLY EUCHARIST The Parables. 91 \ This teaches us that if we will not be good and holy when God invites us, through His Church, some day He may be angry, as the man who gave the supper was, and He will call others to take our place, and not have us for His friends any more. 10. A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. And he said to the keeper of the vine- yard : “ For three years I come seeking fruit on this tree, and find none; cut it down, therefore, that it may not fill up the ground.” But the keeper answered him, saying : “ Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and put manure about it. Then, if it bear fruit, it is well, but if not, after that, thou shalt cut it down.” To us, too, like the fig-tree, many chances are given. Time after time Jesus comes to our soul, hoping to find there faith and good works; but, if we are not careful, the time will come when He will no longer allow us to remain in His Church; we shall be cut down, and lose our chance of heaven. 11. What man of you that hath a hundred sheep, that will not, if he lose one of them, leave the ninety-nine and go after that which was lost, until he find it ? And when he hath found it doth he not lay it on his shoulders rejoicing, and, coming home, call together his neighbors and friends, saying to them: “ Bejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost ” ? I say to you that there yviU be more joy in heaven 92 The Parables. upon one sinner that doth penance than on ninety- nine just that need not penance. 12. Or what woman having ten groats (pieces of money) who, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it; and when she hath found it call together her friends and neighbors, saying: “He- ! joice with me, for I have found the groat which I had lost ” ? So I say to you: “ There shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.” These two parables are very beautiful and com- forting. They show us that Jesus lo^s us, even when we are lost in sin. He seeks for us as the man sought for his sheep, and the woman for her groat ; and when He has found us repentant, our Good Shepherd lifts us in His arms, and carries us with Him 'rejoicing. The angels themselves rejoice and are glad when some poor sinner repents and is saved. 13. A certain man had two sons; the elder of them remained with him and worked with him, but the younger begged his father to give him what money belonged to him; and he went away to an- other country, and there he wasted his money and did no work. After a time there was a famine, and the younger son, who had spent all his money, was nearly starv- ing. He hired himself as servant to a man who set him to mind the pigs. But though the prodigal (wasteful) son would willingly have eaten the pigs’ food, his master would not let him. Then the son returned to his father, and throwing ) The Parables. 93 himself on his knees, he begged to be forgiven and taken on as one of the servants. But his father, raising him, embraced him, and calling his servants, he bade them bring a robe for his repentant son, and a ring for his finger, and he charged them to prepare a feast. “Let us eat and be merry,” he said; “because this my son was dead, and is again alive ; was lost and is found.” Now when the elder brother came home and found what had happened, he was not very pleased. But the father said to him: “My son, thou art always with me, and all that I have is thine ; but it is right that we should make merry, for thy brother was lost and is found.” You see, this parable teaches us the same lesson as the last; Jesus loves us as much as though we had never offended Him, if only we will humbly confess our faults and promise to try to sin no more. There is no reason for good people to be jealous. God loves them and rewards them for their faithful- ness to Him, but He also loves and rejoices over the penitent sinner. 14. The land of a certain rich mhn brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying : “ What shall I do, for I have not room enough to put my fruits? I will pull down my barns and build greater; and into them I will put all my goods. And then I will not work for many years ; I will rest, eat, drink, and be of good cheer.” But God said to him : “ Thou fool ! This night must thou die, and to whom shall all thy goods be- long ? ” 94 The Parables . He is foolish who lays up treasure for himself, and is not generous to God. You see how foolish this rich man was. Instead of giving some of his fruits to the poor people around him, he treasured them all up for himself. We never know when we shall die, so that it is much better to be generous to God—that is to God’s creatures—and not selfishly store up our treasures for ourselves. 15. There was a judge in a certain city who feared not God, and had no pity for men. And a certain widow came to him saying: “ Avenge* me of (that is, punish) my enemy.” At first he would not, but after a time, he did as she asked him—not out of pity for her, or for the love of God, but be- cause he was afraid she would weary hiih by asking too often. By this story we learn that we must go on ask- ing Jesus for what we want; we must weary Him with our prayers. Not that Jesus would ever really grow tired of hearing us, but because He loves us to persuade and beg Him, just as a father may sometimes refuse his child for a time, because he loves his child to persuade and coax him. 16. The next parable is about a man who went to his friend at midnight, asking him for three loaves. At first the friend would not rise from his warm bed, but the man went on knocking and ask- ing till at last the friend got up, and gave him what he needed. In the same way must we go on asking Jesus for what we need. He has said : “ Ask, and you shall receive ; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” The Parables. 95 These words teach us not to be discouraged, even if Jesus does not seem to hear us at once. He has promised that if we keep on asking He will listen to us at last, if what we ask is good for us. 17. A certain man had two debtors—that is, peo- ple who owed him money; the one owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And, as neither of them had any money, he forgave them both the debt. Which, therefore, of the two should love him best? Was it not the one to whom he forgave most? This parable teaches us that the more sins we have committed, and the more often Jesus has for- given us, the greater must be our love and devotion to Him. 18. A certain man had two sons, and coming to the first, he said : “ Son, go work to-day in my vine- yard.” And he, answering, said : “ I will not but afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other the father said the same thing to him. And he, answering, said: “ I go, sir;” but he went not. Which of these two did the father’s will? Does not this story show us how useless it is to pretend and promise that we are going to be good, and then not keep our promise? The son who was disobedient at first, but was sorry afterwards, and did as he was told, was far better than the one who deceived his father, saying, “I will go,” when he did not intend to go. 19. Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. A Pharisee was a man who led an outwardly good life, but many of these men often committed many secret-* 96 The Parables . sins. A publican was a man who collected the taxes for the Roman governors. They were often bad and cruel men, who oppressed the poor, and were much hated. The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus with himself : “ O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, or like this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give much in charity.” But the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift his eyes towards heaven, but struck his breast, saying: “ O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” This man went back to his house, and his prayer was heard rather than that of the Pharisee. Be- cause he that exalteth (raiseth) himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. What does this parable teach us? It is very ea , to see; we must never think ourselves better than any one else; we are all poor and miserable in the sight of God, and if we try to exalt ourselves—that is, try to make ourselves appear great—God will not listen to our prayers. We must be humble and lowly, as the publican was, and own ourselves sin- ners. The Pharisee boasted of his good works; if we do that, we lose all the good they would have done us. He thanked God that he was not as wicked as other people; perhaps his pride offended God more than the sins of the publican had done. 20. There was a certain rich man who had a stew- ard (an upper servant who looks after the other servants), and he heard that this servant had wasted his goods. So he called him, and said: The Parables. 97 “What is this I hear of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou canst be steward no longer.” But the steward said to himself, “ What shall I do, now that my lord taketh away from me my stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that, when I shall be removed from my stewardship, they will receive me into their houses.” Therefore, calling together all those who owed his lord money, he said to the first : “ How much dost thou owe my lord ? ” and he said : “ A hundred bar- rels of oil;” and he said to him: “Take thy bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.” Then he said to another : “ How much dost thou owe ? ” and he said : “ A hundred quarters of wheat ; ” he said to him : “ take thy bill and write eighty.” But the Lord said that in one way the steward had done wisely. If we had only to live in this world, and there were no heaven or hell to come after it, it would be wise for us to do all we can to be rich and comfort- able in this world. The steward let those men off from paying part of what they owed, because he thought that, when he was turned out of his stew- ardship, they would help him, and take him into their houses out of gratitude. He forgot that, by being dishonest to his lord, he was deserving pun- ishment in the next world. If we have money or power, we need not waste it ; we can use it in helping others. Even poor people and little children can help by praying, especially for the souls in purgatory, and then when we come 98 The Parables . to die, and they are in heaven, they will help us by their prayers. By doing this we shall be laying up treasures, not for this world, but for the next. 21. The kingdom of heaven is like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bride- groom and bride. And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five foolish ones, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them, but the wise ones took oil in their vessels for the lamps. As the bridegroom was late, they all slept. And at midnight there was a cry, “ Behold the bride- groom cdineth, go ye forth to meet him.” Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish ones said to the wise: “ Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.” The wise ones . answered, saying: “ Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go you rather to them that sell oil, and buy for yourselves.” !Now, while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: “ Lord, open to us.” But he, answering them, said: u I know you not.” “ Watch ye, therefore, for you know not the hour nor the day when the Lord cometh.” We must try always to live such a life that, when the time comes for us to die, it will find us quite ready to appear before Jesus Christ, who wishes to be the Spouse, or Bridegroom, of our souls. When death comes it will be too late to begin to be good. The Parables. 99 We may think our friends can help : us then, but no one’s prayers can gain heaven for us if we have not deserved it in time. Therefore let us begin at once to prepare our oil, that is to say, our faith, hope, and charity ; then, if a cry comes, “ The Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is at hand,” we shall be ready to meet Him, as were the five prudent virgins. 22. A man was going into a far country. He called together his servants, and to one he gave five talents (large sums of money), and to another two talents, and to a third one talent, according to the cleverness of each one; and then he started on his journey. How he who had received five talents traded with them; that is, bought things with them, and sold them at a higher price, and he gained another five talents. And he who had received two talents gained another two; but he who had received one talent hid it in the earth. When the master came back, he praised the first two servants, but he was angry with the third, who had been so lazy, and had not done anything with his talent; so he took it away and gave it to the man who had ten talents. This parable teaches us that we are bound to make use of whatever God gives us. If we are clever or rich, we must make use of our cleverness or riches to help ourselves and those around us. As we said before, it is not enough not to do harm ; we are obliged to do good, and if we do not use our talents God will be angry with us. 23. There was a certain rich man, who was grandly dressed, and ate good things every dayc 100 The Parables . And there was a poor beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, very sick, and so hungry that he would have liked to have eaten even the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table; but the rich man would not let him have them. The beggar died, and went to be with Abraham, waiting for heaven ; but the rich man died, and was carried down into hell. And looking up from where he was suffering, he saw afar off Lazarus, with Abraham, a holy prophet. And he called out, begging that Lazaru§ should bring him some water, and just touch his tongue with it, for he was burning in the flames. But Abraham said to him, that he must remem- ber that he had received all his good things on the earth, while Lazarus had been suffering. Then he told him that a great gulf, or empty space, lies between heaven and hell, and that no one can cross it. Then the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers, so that they might not come also to this place of torment. But Abraham said “ No,” because if they would not listen to the words of the prophets, they would not listen either to the voice of Lazarus if he rose from the dead. This parable shows us very clearly that, if we care only to amuse ourselves, and be happy in this world, and do not share our good things with those about us, God will make us suffer in the next world. No good thing is given to us for ourselves only; we are bound to share it with others. There is another lesson given us in this parable: that is, that if we do not listen to what the Church teaches us while we are able, the time will come The Parables . 101 when, like the rich man, we shall be very sorry that we thought only of pleasure. 24. The kingdom of heaven is like to a king, one of whose servants owed him a great deal of money; but he could not pay it. So the king ordered that he and his wife and children should be sold to pay the debt, for in those days servants belonged to their masters, and those who could not pay might be sold as slaves. But the servant entreated him to have mercy, saying: “ Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” So the king had pity on him, and forgave him the debt. But 'when this servant went out, he found a fel- low-servant who owed him a hundred pence. He seized him by the throat, saying : “ Pay me what thou owest.” The other servant fell upon his knees, saying: “ Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” And he would not, and cast him into prison, till the debt should be paid. When the king heard of this he was very angry. He said to his servant: “ Shouldst thou not have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, as I had compassion on thee ? ” Then he delivered him up to the torturers till the debt was paid. This parable teaches us that, if we expect Jesus to show mercy to us, an<^ to forgive us our sins, we must show mercy to those around us, and forgive them when they have offended us. 25. A householder went out early to hire laborers fer his vineyard. He promised to pay them a penny 102 The Parables . a day (much more than our pennies), and set them to work. Three hours later, at the third hour, he saw other laborers standing idle, and them also he set to work, promising to pay them what was just. And again he went out at the sixth and at the ninth hours, and did the same thing. But at the eleventh hour he went out, and found others stand- ing idle, because no one had hired them; and those also he sent into the vineyard. And when evening came, all the laborers were jiaid, each man a penny; but those who had come first grumbled becahse they had not received more than those who came last, though they h&d worked longer. But the lord said to each of them: “ I do thee no wrong ; did I not promise thee a penny? Take what is thine and go thy way.” God’s Church is like the vineyard. Some of us He calls into it from the moment we are born; that is, of course, from the time we were baptized as tiny babies. Others become Christians when they are quite old, some even on their death-bed. You remember how the good thief repented when he was hanging on the cross beside Jesus. He had been a wicked man all his life, but still he was sorry, and received the baptism of desire, and so went straight to paradise. Perhaps some people might complain, as did the laborers, that some get more for their work than others; but this is not so. God gives us rewards for the love and earnestness with which we work, not only for the length of time we have been work- ing. 26 . There was a householder, who planted a vine- The Parables. 103 yard, and put a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower ; and then he let it out to husbandmen (farmers) and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruits was near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits. But the husbandmen, laying hands on the servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again the lord sent other ser- vants, more than before, and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent his own son saying : “ They will reverence (honor) my son.” But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves : “ This is the heir ; come, let us kill him ; then we shall have his inheritance.” And taking him, they cast him out of the vine- yard and killed him. When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall come, he shall bring these evil men to an evil end, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen. When Jesus told this parable to the Jews they were very angry, for they knew what Our Lord meant by the story. God is the Master of the vineyard—that is, the Church—and He gave it to the Jews. But when the time came for them to give up the fruits, that is to say, to offer sacrifice and to do God’s will, they would not. God sent His servants, the prophets, to warn them, but they put them to death. Again and again He sent holy prophets and holy people to them, and still they would not listen. At last God 104 The Parables. sent His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Him also they put to death. Then God was very angry. The Jews were His chosen people, and to them had been given His Church, but after they crucified Jesus they were no longer God’s people, and the Church could no longer belong to them, but to the Gentiles, that is, people of other nations. We must try not to be like these wicked husband- men. To us, also, is given a vineyard—that is, the hope of heaven. God sends messengers—our con- science, the priests, those who are in charge of us— to warn us when we are doing wrong things. Let us listen to these messengers, and then God will not take away from us His vineyard. CHAPTER XIV. THE APOSTLES" CREED. A creed means an account, or declaration, of the things we believe. The word “ creed "" comes from the Latin word “ Credo,” “ I believe.” When the apostles were sent by Our Lord to teach the whole world the things which He had taught them, they put these things together in the simplest form, so that the people they converted might learn them easily. Since then other creeds have been made, when it became necessary to explain more fully different doctrines, or teachings, about which some question had arisen. So we have the Creed of St. Athanasius, the Xicene Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth, but the Apostles" Creed, of which we are going to speak now, is the one most generally used. The First Article, or division, of the Creed is: “ I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth."" * Our first duty is to know God, that we may love and serve Him; so we must try to understand all that we are told about Him. The Catechism says : “ Gqd is the supreme Spirit, who alone exists of Himself."" “ Supreme "" means that which is the highest of all, above everything. 105 106 The Apostles' Creed. In this world we see many kinds of insects and animals, all rising one above the other in intelligence or cleverness. Then come men; above them, in heaven, the angels, all in their different ranks, till, far above us all, we see the great Creator, who made all creatures, and from whom they all have light and existence. It is difficult to understand what is meant by a spirit, because we cannot see or touch one. A spirit has no body. In a room where there are three or four people there are three or four guardian angels, but we cannot see them because they have no body. God has no body. * He is a spirit, and is everywhere. He fills the whole of heaven and the earth; there is no place where He is not, and from Him every- thing has life. God always was; there was never a time when there was no God. God always will be; there will never be a time when there will be no God. God can do anything He wills. He made everything, and there is nothing that does not do His will, ex- cept men and the bad angels or devils. When God made the earth, the sea, the trees, and plants, He did not give them any choice about serv- ing Him. The sun cannot choose whether it will shine or not; an apple-tree cannot choose whether it wil| bear fruit or not ; only to men and the angels did God give free will—that is, the power to choose whether they would serve Him or not. God gave them this power because it gives Him much more honor if we serve Him because we love Him, and want to please Him, than because we can- not help doing so. The Apostles' Creed. 107 When we speak of God, we usually mean the one , God in three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ; and we must remem- ber that, though these three Persons are quite dis- tinct, they are not three Gods, but one God in three Persons. We cannot understand how there can be three persons in one; that all three can be equally great and equally powerful; that one is not older or wiser than another; but we believe it because God Himself has told us so. We call this God in three Persons the mystery of the Blessed Trinity — that is, three in one, because our small understand- ing cannot know how this can be. If a grown-up person were to try to explain to a tiny little baby that two and two make four, that little baby would not be able to understand; but still it would be quite true that two and two do make four. It is just the same with us. The things that God tells us are quite true, but we can- not understand them, for they are too great and difficult for us. God, the great God in three Persons, has no body. We know that He is a spirit, and everywhere; but He has no body of matter—nothing that we can see; therefore, when He resolved to save us, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man, taking a body and soul like ours, and receiving at His circumcision the name of Jesus Christ, Jesus meaning “ saviour ” and Christ “ anointed.” The Second Article of the Creed which we have to believe is this : “ And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord.” Jesus is truly God, because He is one God with 108 The Apostles 1 Creed. the Father; and He is truly man, because He chose to take a human nature like ours, and to have a woman for His Mother. We must remember that He was always God from all eternity, but that He was man only from the time that He was born into this world. Our Lord’s nature as God and His nature as man are quite distinct, but they form only one Person, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. As God, Jesus is everywhere, but His human nature is not everywhere. It is in heaven, and in the Blessed Sacrament, where Our Lord wishes to be always with us. The Third Article of the Creed tells us that Our Lord was “ conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” Our Lord was the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God; therefore He was truly God. He was truly man, because He was the Son of the Virgin Mary. If He had been God only, He could not have suffered for our sins. If He had been man only, His sufferings would have been of no use to us, as only God could make reparation to God for the insult our sins had been to Him. Though Jesus had no father on earth, St. Joseph, the husband of our blessed Lady, was His foster- father, appointed by God to take care of Him and work for Him. The Fourth Article of the Creed : “ Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried,” tells us in very few words the story of Our Lord’s life. The Apostles' Creed. 109 Pontius Pilate was the governor appointed to rule over the Jews by the Romans who had conquered the country. They were cruel people, and were often very severe with th& Jews; but they wanted to keep the country quiet, and if possible to please the Jew- ish people. You remember that, though Pontius Pilate knew that Our Lord was a good and holy Man, and wished to save Him, still he ordered Him to be crucified when the Jewish priests threatened to complain to the emperor at Rome. If, when Jesus was first brought before him, Pilate had been brave, and said that He was innocent, and must therefore be re- leased, the priests would not have dared to say any more; but Pilate was cowardly, and gave up Jesus to be scourged and crucified. Besides the sins which we commit of our own ac- cord, there are so many times when we hurt and grieve Our Lord by our weakness and cowardice, letting ourselves be persuaded or frightened into do- ing that which we know to be wrong. The Creed tells us of the chief sufferings of Our Lord—His agony in the garden, His scourging at the pillar, crowning with thorns, carrying the cross, and His crucifixion and death between two thieves. We call these sufferings Our Lord’s Passion, be- cause the word Passion comes from a Latin word which means suffering. It wafe on the day that we call Good Friday that Our Lord died to redeem us, or buy us back, at the price of His own blood; for which reason we call Him Our Redeemer. It is in memory of Our Lord’s death on the cross that all Catholics use the sign of the cross so often. 110 The Apostles' Creed . You know that making the sign of the cross means making the mark of the cross upon ourselves by put- ting the right hand to the forehead and then to the breast, making the long part of the cross; then from the left shoulder to the right, making the arms of the cross. While we are doing this we say, “ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” The shape of the cross reminds us how Our Lord died for us, and the words we say put us in mind of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. We like to make the sign of the cross very often, at the beginning and end of our prayers, « before and after meals, when a temptation comes, when we are going to sleep, and at other times. As you have heard before, the high priests were very anxious to be sure that Jesus was dead, for they were afraid that Pontius Pilate might again change his mind, and release Him; so they wanted to break the legs of Our Lord and of the two thieves, and to put their bodies into a deep pit, into which the bodies of criminals who had been executed were al- ways thrown. But when Our Lord was dead, Joseph of Arimathea and Hicodemus, two holy men who believed in Jesus, went to Pilate and begged that they might have the body of Our Lord; and when Pilate gave them leave to take it, they went to Mount Calvary, and took with them all the things that would be necessary to prepare the body of Our Lord for burial. When they got to Calvary, they took Jesus down from the cross most reverently, and wrapped Him in a large winding-sheet of linen, with many sweet- The Apostles' Creed. Ill smelling spices, and they laid Him in a new grave cut out/in a great rock. This grave belonged to St. Joseph of Arimathea; he had got it ready for himself, but he was very glad to give it to his dear Lord. And when they had laid the body of Christ in it, they rolled a great stone in front of it, to shut up the opening. The Fifth Article of the Creed, “He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead,” tells us what happened in the few days im- mediately after Our Lord’s death. As soon as Jesus was dead, His soul, followed by a great crowd of angels, went down to limbo, that place you have heard of, near to hell, where the souls of so many holy people were waiting so anxiously and so patiently for the Saviour who was to release them from their captivity. We who live now are saved because Our Lord died for us; these people who were in limbo were saved because Our Lord was going to die for them; but, until His death had paid the price of their sins, they had to remain in limbo. Limbo was a place of rest, where many of them had* been waiting for thousands of years* always expecting the coming of Jesus, but they could not go up to heaven until He had opened it for them; for heaven had been closed to us by sin, and that sin could not be repaired till Jesus had atoned for it by His death. You may think of the crowd of holy souls, from the time of Adam and Eve, all the patriarchs and prophets, down to the time of the Holy Innocents, and St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist, and the 112 The Apostles' Creed. first saint after Our Lord’s death, Dismas, the good thief, who followed his Master so quickly, and you can imagine how happy they all were to see and adore their Saviour. Very early in the morning of Easter Sunday the soul of Our Lord came back to the tomb where the angels had been watching over the sacred dead body, and, the soul entering into the body, Our Lord lived again, and left the tomb, passing through the rock above it, for He did not need the stone at the door to be rolled away. When Jesus rose again, Llis body was a glorious spiritual body, which could go anywhere, and pass through everything. We . may be very sure that when He rose from the grave. His most blessed Mother was the first to see Him. The Sixth Article of the Creed is, “ He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Our Lord remained in the world for forty days after He rose from the dead. The first day, Easter Sunday, He spent in visiting and comforting His friends. He showed Himself to His apostles and disciples, and taught them many things. When the forty days were over, Jesus ascended — that is, went up—into heaven by His own power, taking with Him all the happy, glorious souls whom He had released from limbo. He opened for us again heaven, which our sins had closed, and there He has prepared a place for each one of us, if we keep ourselves from sin so as to be able to take it. When the Creed tells us that Our Lord sits on the right hand of God, that does not mean that God The Apostles' Creed. 113 has a body and hands, for we know that He is a spirit, but it means that, as man, Jesus is in the highest place in heaven, being equal with the Father, of whom He is the eternal Son. The Seventh Article of the Creed is, “From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” The very moment that the soul leaves our body, and we are dead, we are judged. Perhaps our friends standing round hardly understand that we are really dead, when the judgment is pronounced. Our Lord is there, and the devil to accuse us, and our good angel to speak for us. It will be all over in a-moment,for our every thought, word, and action has been written down. Jesus has seen every sib we have committed, He has even been obliged to allow us to commit sin, for we can do nothing with- out Him; so they will all be before us, and very quickly the sentence will be pronounced, which de- cides forever whether the whole of our eternity is to be spent in heaven or in hell, for, even if we go to purgatory, that is like the beginning or ante- chamber to heaven. However much we may suffer in purgatory, the great question is decided in our favor. We know we are saved, and that, sooner or later, we must go to heaven to God. The first Judgment is between God and our soul only, but, at the end of the world, alFthe people that have ever lived will be assembled before God, with both their soul and body. Then He will say to the good: “ Come, ye blessed of My Father ; possess the kingdom which is prepared for you.” 114 The Apostles' Creed. And He will say to the wicked: “ Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” This great last Judgment will be, as it were, be- tween God and the whole human race. We shall see then how good God has been to us, how patient, what great graces He has given to each soul, so that we could all have been saved if we had chosen; and we shall also understand then many things that seem strange to us now : why God lets some wicked people to be so rich and seem so happy; while others, who are good and try to serve Him, are poor and ill, and seem to have so many troubles. Once Jesus was speaking about the Judgment, and it is very useful to us to know and remember what He said, because it shows us how easily we can help ourselves. He told us tfyat He would say to the good people : “ Come, ye blessed of My Father, for I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink.” And that the good people would answer : “ Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and give Thee to eat ? ” And that He would say to the wicked : “ Depart from Me, ye cursed, for I was hungry, and ye gave Me not to eat ; thirsty, and ye gave Me not to drink.” Then the wicked people also would be much sur- prised, for they would not remember when they had refused to give food or help to Jesus. They had forgotten what Christ said to us, that if we are kind and charitable to other people, He will take it as though we were kind and charitable to Him; while if we are hard and unkind to others, it is The Apostles' Creed. 115 as though we are hard and unkind to Jesus Him- self. Another time Our Lord said: “ Judge not, and you shall not be judged.” If we will keep ourselves from thinking and saying unkind things of other people, we shall find great mercy when we come to be judged, for God has promised us that “ the mer- ciful shall obtain mercy.” That does not mean that if we die in mortal sin God will send us to heaven instead of hell. It means that, even if we fall into mortal sin, God will send us very great grac.es, so that we may repent before we die. So you see that we can arrange for our judgment as we like, for as we treat other peo- ple who are God’s children, so will He treat us. The Eighth Article of the Creed is : “ I believe in the Holy Ghost.” We already know that God the Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and that He is equal to the Father and the Son, being the same Lord and God as they are. We are taught that the Holy Ghost proceeds “ from the Father and the Son,” though He is the same God as they are; He is called the Spirit of God, and the Gift of God, and sometimes the Paraclete. The Holy Ghost showed Himself when He de- scended upon Our Lord in the form of a dove at His baptism, and again in the form of a cloud at His transfiguration, and He descended upon Our Lady and the apostles on the day of Pentecost, ten days after Our Lord’s ascension, in the form of tongues of fire, with the sound as of a rushing wind. CHAPTER XV. the apostles" creed. (Continued.) The Ninth Article of the Creed is : “ The holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.” The holy Catholic Church means all those who submit themselves obediently to the authority or power of the Pope. When Our Lord went up to heaven, after His life of teaching upon earth, -He left the apostles to carry on His work and to teach all nations. He also appointed St. Peter to be over the apostle^ and head of the Church. St. Peter, therefore, was the first Pope. To him Jesus said: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail (be strong) against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” You remember that St. Peter’s name was Simon. The word Peter means “ a rock,” so that when Jesus said “ Thou art Peter,” it was as if He had said : “ Thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” So from that time Simon was called Peter. He was the Bishop of Rome, and now each Pope in turn is Bishop of Rome. 116 The Apostles' Creed . 117 The word Pope means “ father ” ; we call the Pope by that name because he is the spiritual father of all Christians, as well as their shepherd and teacher. We call the Pope infallible because he cannot teach us wrong when he is speaking to the Church as its head, and about faith, and morals—that is, about the things that we have to believe or to do m order to be saved. This does not mean that, when a man becomes Pope, he is so wise and learned that he knows everything. Even if a Pope should be a wicked man, and go to hell himself, when he is teaching as head of the Church, God will not let him teach anything wrong. You see, if the Pope could teach us what is not true, people would never know what they have to believe; so God promised that the Pope shall never err—that is, go wrong—when he is teaching God’s Church. Catholics are obliged to believe everything that the Church teaches ; they may not believe one thing, and refuse to believe another. People who do that are called heretics. People who refuse to obey the Pope, and to be- lieve that he is the head of the Church, are called schismatics; those who do not believe in God or what He has revealed are called infidels. There are some people who say that there is some supreme Being, but that we know nothing about Him, and they are called agnostics. Heathens are those who have never heard any- thing about God, and idolaters are those who mak* images and worship them—that is to say, give then* 118 The Apostles' Creed . the honor that belongs to God alone. They make figures of stone or wood, and pray to them, and ex- pect to be helped by them. You will often hear these words and names spoken of, so it is well that you should understand what they mean. There are four great marks by which the Church is known: she is one; she is holy; she is Catholic; and she is apostolic. When we say that the Church is one, it means that all the members of the Church are under one visible head—that is, the Pope—are all submitted to his government, and obey his or- ders. All Catholics believe the same doctrines. Wherever there are Catholics, all over the world, they all believe the same things ; there is no change in the Church, in no matter what country. All Catholics believe in the great Sacrifice of the Mass, and everything else that the Church teaches. The Church is holy, because all that she teaches is good and holy. She is always teaching us to be good, and do penance for our sins, and to be good to one another. She is holy also because she offers to us all the means by which we may become holy—the Mass, the sacraments, and all kinds of devotions and helps. She is Catholic. That means, she is universal, because she has gone on ever since Our Lord first appointed her to teach us, and she will go on till the very end of the world. She teaches all the things which Jesus commanded to be taught to us, and she is the true fold into which the whole of Our Lord’s flock is to be gathered together. She The Apostles' Creed. 119 has spread out over all nations, and we find her wherever we go, and always the same. When first the apostles went out into the world to teach all nations, they said Mass. The Mass was the same sacrifice that Jesus offered up at the Last Supper, but there was at first no fixed order of prayers, and some of the apostles said Mass in a different manner from others. When, later on, all 9 the ceremonies were arranged as they now are, some small differences in the order of the prayers were allowed to remaip as the apostles had left them. You must, however, remember that the Sacrifice of the Mass is always the same, nothing can change that. You may hear of High Mass, and Low Mass,, and Mass of Our Lady, and Mass for the dead;; that only means that there is some change in the prayers and ceremonies, not any change in the Mass itself. In High Mass incense is offered, and! the prayers are sung instead of said, which makes; it much longer than a Low Mp,ss. In a Mass offered for the dead, the first prayer which the priest says at the foot of the altar is left out, and the “ Gloria n and Creed are not said. The Church orders the Mass to be said in Latin, because that is a language which is not in general use, so that it does not change as other languages do, to which people often add new words, and leave out old ones. If the Mass were said in the language of each country, strangers would not understand. How all learn to follow Mass in Latin, and when they go .to another country, they find it just the same. 120 The Apostles' Creed. When we speak of the fourth mark of the Church, she is apostolic, we mean that the Church has all the teaching of the apostles, and that she has her mission, or sending to teach all nations, from them, through the long, unbroken line of the Popes since the time of Our Lord and His first Pope, St. Peter, till the present time. Since St. Peter there has al- ways been a Pope, and there always will be one till the end of the world. Since the time when Jesus made His apostles priests, at the Last Supper, the Sacrament of Holy Orders has been given to every bishop and priest of the Church. These are the four marks by which God’s Church is known. We see them, and we know by them that she is the Church founded by Jesus Himself, so she cannotf go wrong or teach us what is wrong, because Our Lord promised that the Holy Ghost should teach her all things, and that He Himself would be always with her. The second part of the Ninth Article of the Creed is u The communion of saints.” This means that there are three great divisions in God’s Church.* We call them the “ Church triumphant,” that is, all the angels and saints in heaven ; the “ Church militant,” or fighting, that is, the Church upon earth always fighting against God’s enemies ; and the a Church suffering,” that is, all the holy souls suf- fering in purgatory. These three parts are in communion—that means that they are always helping one another. The saints pray for the people living in the world, and for the souls in purgatory. We on earth pray for EXTREME UNCTION; The Apostles' Creed. 121 the souls in purgatory, and when we have helped them to get to heaven, they in turn pray for us. We people on earth are in communion with one another, because we all believe in the same truths, all obey the Church, and all help one another by our prayers and kind actions. We are in commu- nion with the saints because we honor them and pray to them, and we are in communion with the souls in purgatory, because we pray for them and help them by gaining indulgences for them. You have already been told that a soul which dies in mortal sin goes immediately to hell. Those which die in venial or lesser sin go to purgatory. Besides the wickedness of it, every sin has a punish- ment belonging to it. We very easily forget, when we are inclined to tell a lie or be disobedient, that we shall have to pay for the sin we commit; but it is so, and the debt must be paid, either in this world or in purgatory. If we choose to pay our debt in this world, we can do so, and Jesus will accept very little payment; prayers, acts of mortification, even pains which we cannot help suffering, if we suffer them patiently of our own free will. But if we choose to leave all our punishment for the next world, then it will be much harder to bear. If a person has committed mortal sins, and has been sorry for them, all the guilt—that is, the wicked- ness of them—is forgiven, but the punishment re- mains, and the soul, though it is the dear friend of Jesus,must go to purgatory until all its debt is paid. Many souls die with venial sins unforgiven, and also with the debt of punishment for forgiven sins. 122 The Apostles' Creed. We are told in Holy Scripture that nothing which is defiled—that is, stained—can enter heaven, so all these stains of sin must be cleaned away in pur- gatory before the soul is fit to enter heaven. Before a soul enters purgatory it has been judged, and so has seen our dear Lord, and feels for the first^ time how sinful and how ungrateful it has been. Then it begins to love Jesus as it never loved before, and, when it goes away into purgatory, it is full of longing to see Him again and be with Him. Souls in purgatory are very patient. Though they know that their friends on the earth are amus- ing themselves and forgetting them, they never grow angry or impatient. They are very poor, these souls in purgatory, and have nothing, and cannot help themselves. They could have helped them- selves while they were on earth, but they did not think about it then, and now they can do nothing but suffer. They have to depend upon us for help if their time of punishment is to be shortened. It is an absolute duty to help the souls in pur- gatory. We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, and we should never leave our dear selves to suffer if we could help it. By praying for them and helping them, we can do all the corporal works of mercy, for no one is so poor or so hungry and thirsty for God, no one so without a home, as the holy souls, and if we help them we shall be do- ing merciful acts, and so may expect mercy our- selves. We can say prayers for the holy souls, and offer our Masses for them, and gain indulgences for them. An indulgence is the letting off the punishment The Apostles' Creed. 123 that is due for our sins. It could never let off the wickedness of sin; that must be forgiven by the Sacrament of Confession. We cannot gain any in- dulgences if we are in a state of mortal sin. There are two sorts of indulgences — “ plenary” and “partial.” A plenary or full indulgence lets off the whole of the punishment that is due; so that, if we were to gain a plenary indulgence and then die, we should go straight to heaven, because there would be no debt owing. To gain a plenary indulgence the usual conditions are : confession, communion, and some prayers for the Pope’s inten- tion, said in a public church after communion. When we pray for the Pope’s intention, we mean those things which the Pope wants for the good of the Church. It is enough to say for these in- tentions five “ Our Fathers ” and five u Hail Marys. After you have made your first communion, you can gain plenary indulgences, and you can, if you choose, gain several by one communion ; but, if you do, the prayers for the Pope’s intention must be said separately, and a separate visit must be made to say them for each indulgence. To gain the plenary indulgence fully, all the con- ditions must be very carefully done, and we must be very sorry for our sins ; so, as we cannot be sure that we have gained a plenary indulgence, it is well to try for as many as we can. A partial indulgence lets off only a part of the punishment of our sins. You often see in your prayer-book that by saying some prayer, you can get forty, or a hundred, or three hundred days’ in- dulgence. That does not mean that you will be let 124 The Apostles' Creed . off actually a hundred or three hundred days of purgatory, for in purgatory there are no nights or days. It means that you will be let off as long a time in purgatory as if you had fasted or done some severe penance for that number of days. To obtain a partial indulgence, confession and communion are not required; all we have to do is to say the prayers carefully and devoutly. Indul- genced prayers must always be said with our lips, not merely thought in our minds, as some prayers may be. Now you see how very easy it is to help the holy souls. Even little children who have not made their first communion can gain partial indulgences, and give them to the holy souls. Many indulgenced prayers are very short; they do not take a moment to say. One can say the words, “ My Jesus, mercy ! ” as fast as one can breathe ; they can be said in the midst of a game of play, and no one will notice. One can say them going up and downstairs, out walking, or going to sleep at night, and each time a hundred days’ indulgence is gained for some loving, suffering soul. Jesus loves these souls, and wishes very much to have them with Him in heaven. How grateful He will be to any one that helps His poor children, and brings them to Him; and how pleased He will be, when our time comes, to remember that we were merciful, and that He can show mercy to us, as He promised. Many people like to gain all the indulgences they can get ; so it is well at our morning prayers to make an intention—that is, say that we mean to get The Apostles' Creed. 125 as many as we can in the day, and offer them to the Blessed Virgin for the holy souls; she knows which of them want help most. Or we can offer them ourselves for any of our own friends, or for the soul that has the fewest peo- ple to pray for it, or for the one that is nearest to coming out of purgatory, so that it may come quickly to God. The Tenth Article of the Creed is, “ The forgive- ness of sins.” This means that God gave to His Church the power to forgive sins, when He said: a Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain (keep on), they are re- tained.” Sins, as you know, are divided into two kinds, “ original ” sin, and “ actual ” sin. “ Original ” sin is the guilt that came upon us from the sin that Adam committed, and it is for- given by the Sacrament of Baptism. Every crea- ture, since the time of Adam, has been born in origi- nal sin, excepting only our blessed Lady. She was immaculate, that is, she was born without the stain of Adam’s sin. She was to be the Mother of God, and so could never have belonged to the devil. God, who knows all things, knew that she would never commit the least sin, and He gave her the great privilege (favor) of being born without the stain of Adam’s sin, so as to make her fit to be the pure, immaculate Mother of His Son. “ Actual ” sins are the sins that we ourselves commit, and they are divided into “ mortal” sin and “ venial ” sin. “ Mortal ” sin kills the soul, and deserves hell; “ venial” sin makes the soul ill and 126 % \ The Apostles' Creed. weak, but does not kill it. Mortal and venial sins are bo^h forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance or confession. \ Sometimes you hear people say, “ It is only a venial sin,” as if a venial sin were a very small, trifling matter. You must remember that, though mortal sin is the most dreadful thing in the world, much more dreadful even than being burned to death, still, after mortal sin, venial sin is a jnost terrible thing. If you hear that some person has a bad fever, or a broken arm, you do not say, “ It is only a fever, or a broken arm, so it does not matter.” That is because you can see how ill and sore the body can be, but you cannot see what happens to the soul when a venial sin has been committed. The Eleventh Article of the Creed is, “ The resur- rection of the body..” This means that at the last day our bodies will rise again—these very bodies that we have now. When we die, our bodies will be put into the grave, where they will turn into dust. They will remain so until the great day of Judgment. Then they will be joined again to the souls, and both together will appear before God, to hear again the sentence that was pronounced upon them at their own Judgment after their death. The Twelfth Article of the Creed is, “ life ever- lasting.” This means that our bodies and souls, once more joined together, will live forever. The good people will go into heaven, and there they will be happy forever and ever with God. The wicked people will go, body and soul, into hell, where they will be forever with the devils, God’s great enemies and ours. CHAPTER XVI. THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. The Ten Commandments are ten great orders which God gives to us, and at the last day we shall have to give an account to Him as to how we have kept them. The first three Commandments belong altogether to the service of God ; the other seven show us what we are to do about our neighbors—that is, the peo- ple who are around us, and have to do with us. It ought not to be difficult to us to keep the Com- mandments, for all the things we are told to do or not to do are for our own good, and if we disobey the Commandments, it does us harm even in this world. The first and greatest of all the Commandments is this: “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.” This Commandment means that we must know God, and love Him, and serve Him. We cannot love God if we do not know anything about Him. Even a little child, who takes pains to learn its Catechism and listen to what it is taught, can know 127 128 The Commandments of God. a great deal about God, and how good He is, and how much He loves us. When we know that, we shall begin to love God, because we always get to love people who show that they love us. Once we love God, we shall begin to want to please God and serve Him. Little children do serve God when they are kind and patient to one another, and keep from telling lies or being disobedient, because He has forbidden these things. The First Commandment also tells us that we must believe all that God’s holy religion teaches us, and that we must pray to God and always ask Him for help. The Second Commandment is, “ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” That means that we must always speak very respectfully about God and holy things. Sometimes children get a bad habit of talking in a silly way about their Catechism, or about priests, or the church they go to, but you must remember that this is wrong. You must not use the name of God in play, and if He is spoken of, it must be very reverently. The Second Commandment says that we must not take any oath or vow that is not necessary. An oath is when we ask God to witness—that is to say, to see that we are speaking the truth about something. An oath usually has to be taken in a court of justice, and if we took a false oath—that is, swore, or called God to witness that something was true when it was not, that would be a mortal sin, called perjury. 139The Commandments of God . A vow is a solemn promise to God to do some- thing. Monks and nuns take vows of poverty and obedience—that is to say, they promise to give up all their money and to obey their superiors. A vow is a very terrible and solemn thing; little children need never make a vow. It would be a great sin to vow to do something that was impossible or wrong, and if we had vowed to do something wrong, we would be obliged to break the vow. To curse a person is to wish that God may do some harm to that person. It is very wrong to wish to injure any one, and God will punish us for the wish. If we are angry with some person, the best thing to do is to pray for him. The Third Commandment, “ Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” reminds us that God gave us six days for our work, but that the seventh day was to be given to Him. The Jews used to keep the seventh day, our Sat- urday, for their holy-day, but the Church tells us to keep the first day of the week, Sunday, because Our Lord rose from the dead on the first day, and the Holy Ghost came down on the apostles, and many other things happened on that day. We are to keep Sunday holy by hearing Mass, and we are not to do any unnecessary work. Some work must be done; the fires must be lighted, and the food must be cooked, but we are not to do more than is really wanted, because if we are busy with all sorts of work, we have not time to hear or read about God, or to go to Mass and Benediction, and the day would be our day and not God’s day, on 130 The Commandments of God. which He wants ns to have time to think of Him, and speak to Him, and visit Him in church, as we cannot do on the other days, when we have work to do. The work is a good thing, and should be done to please God, but not on the day when He wants us to be quiet, and attend to Him more than to anything else. The Fourth Commandment, “ Honor thy father and mother,” commands us to be obediedt to all those who are put over us by God. USTot our fathers and our mothers only, but nurses, governesses, teachers, and all those who are in charge of us. We must remember that there are two ways of being disobedient; sometimes we are told to do something, and we do not do it : that is disobedience. The other kind of disobedience is to do something which we have been told not to do. It is wilfulness, which is very like disobedience, when we do something which we know we ought not to do, and excuse it by saying that we had not been forbidden to do it. Obedience should be cheerful and willing. Even if we do not like to do what we are told, we must not grumble or argue about it or be sulky. If any one in charge of us should tell us to do that which would be a real sin, we must not obey. The Fifth Commandment : “ Thou shalt not kill,” forbids us to kill any one in anger. Soldiers, as part of their duty, have to kill their enemies; but this is not murder, because they do not know any- thing of the persons they kill, and have no anger against them. Sometimes a murderer is sentenced to be hanged, and the hangman or executioner has The Commandments of God. 131 to kill him, but that is not murder on his part, as he is obeying the laws of the country. The Fifth Commandment also forbids anger, quarrelling, provoking another person, and revenge. Revenge means doing something to hurt or vex other persons because they have hurt or vexed us. Sometimes, when they are angry, children say or think about another: “ I will pay him (or her) out for this.” That is revenge, even if it is only a small thing we mean to do. There is another part of this Commandment which children often forget. We can see our neigh- bor’s body, and when we have hurt a person he cries out, so that we know we have hurt him; but we must not forget that it is quite as easy, and much more sinful, to hurt our neighbor’s soul. This does not make the person cry out, and he does not always feel that he is hurt; but if we give a bad example, or persuade some one to commit a sin, we do what may injure his soul very much; and if we have persuaded him to commit a mortal sin, we have killed his soul—and that is worse than if we had killed his body. The Sixth Commandment, “ Thou shalt not com- mit adultery,” does not concern children, so we will not say much about it here. You remember when we spoke of the eight Beatitudes, you heard of the promise that God made to the clean of heart—that they should see God. In the same way this Com- mandment requires us to keep our hearts and our bodies very pure and clean, and to be very careful and watchful over ourselves—never to say or do anything that we should not like to say or do before 132 The Commandments of God. our guardian angel, or when our mother was looking at us. The Seventh Commandment is : “ Thou shalt not steal.” We all understand what is meant by stealing — that is, taking away what belongs to another per- son ; but there are many other ways of breaking this Commandment. It forbids us to wrong our neigh- bor, in any way, concerning the things that belong to him. We must not borrow things and then spoil or lose them; we must not borrow money if we shall not be able to pay it back again. Any cheating in buying or selling would be against this Commandment, for we are not to do anything that would do harm to our neighbor in his property. Sometimes children cheat when they are playing at cards or at different sorts of games, and though this may be done for fun and may not be a sin, still it is a very bad habit, and comes from a selfish wish to have the best, or to be first. You must remember that if you have taken any- thing belonging to another person, you must give it back, or give the value (that is, what it is worth) of it. If we want to keep it, it is unjust, and shows that we are not really sorry for having taken it, so we cannot be forgiven. The Eighth Commandment is : “ Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” To bear witness is to tell what we know about anything, and it is very easy to injure other people by telling what we know about them. We all know that it is very wrong to tell lies, but The Commandments of God . 133 we do not always think how many sins we commit by talking carelessly, saying things that are only partly true or that are exaggerated—that is, made greater than they really are. It is much easier not to talk at all about other people than to speak of them so as to do them no harm. If we say anything really bad about any one, and it is not true, it is called “ calumny,” and is a bad sin, for it is a lie, besides doing harm to our neigh- bor. If we say anything bad of our neighbor, and it is true, but people do not know about it, it is called “ detraction.” Even if a thing is perfectly true, if it is not known we must not tell it, because, if we do, peo- ple will not think as well of the person we speak about as they did before; and we must not do any- thing to injure his character—that is, to make peo- ple think badly of him. We must not tell tales about people, or speak un- kindly about them, and if one person has spoken unkindly about another, we must never repeat what has been said so as to make mischief. God loves us all so much that He has said that He will consider any harm done to any of us as if it were done to Himself, so you see how very careful we must be not to do any harm to another person, either to his body, or soul, or character, or property. If we have said anything that is not true about a person, we must “ eat humble pie,” as people say, and go and tell that what we said was not true be- fore we go to confession. If the bad thing we said was true we cannot take it back, but we can try to 134 The Commandments of God. speak very kindly of the person, so as to make it up, if possible. Sometimes—but that only happens very seldom — we are allowed to tell harm of our neighbor, that is, if we were to see a child doing something wrong, and we could stop it by telling its mother, or the people who are in charge of it. The Ninth Commandment is : “ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” This Commandment tells us to keep our minds and thoughts pure and clean, to be very watchful over all the thoughts that pass through our minds. Many people believe that there is no sin in thoughts as long as we do not commit sinful ac- tions. This is quite wrong. If we like to think about a sin, or wish or intend to do it, the sin is committed, even if we should not do the outward action. Therefore we must turn away from any wrong thought the moment we see that it is in any way wrong. The Tenth Commandment is : “ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.” This Commandment is like the second part of the Seventh Commandment. That says that we shall not steal our neighbor’s goods, and this says that we must not even wish to take them. To covet means to wish very much to have a thing. Now, if we go on looking at a thing that belongs to some one else, and wishing it were our own, we may eas- ily be tempted, if an opportunity comes, to take it, and then we have committed the sin of stealing. So we must not let ourselves go on wishing, but must think of something else. The Commandments of God. 135 To wish that we had another thing of the same kind would not be a sin, but if we kept on thinking and thinking, we might easily run into temptation, so it is better to try to turn our thoughts to some- thing quite different. chapter xvrr. THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH. < There are six Commandments, or orders, given by the Church, and we are bound to obey them under pain of sin. * The difference between the Commandments of God and of the Church is this: Xo one could ever give you leave to break one of the Commandments of God; but the Church, which made its own Commandments, can give us leave to break them, or set them aside when there is real necessity. The Church is our Mother, and will not ask us to do anything that is too hard for us ; but we must remember that God looks to our will, and if we disobey the Commandments of the Church only to please ourselves, we shall commit a sin. The First Commandment of the Church says that we must hear Mass on Sundays and holydays of obligation. The Third Commandment of God tells us that we must keep the Sunday holy; this tells us in what way we must keep it holy—we must hear Mass—that is, we must be present at the whole of the Mass. If by our own fault we come to Mass so late that 136 The Commandments of the Church. 13? the Offertory is begun, we have not heard Mass as we ought, and if we knew we should be so late, and that was the only Mass, we should commit grievous sin. It is a venial sin if we come in by our own fault after Mass has commenced. To hear Mass is a most important and solemn thing, and we should not miss any part of it. If we do so by our own carelessness, it shows that we do not understand what the Mass really is, or how grateful we should be to be allowed to be present at it. There are six holydays of obligation in the United States—that is, days when we are bound to hear Mass, and which must be kept like Sunday if pos- sible; but this is a Protestant country, and many people are obliged to go to work in offices or shops after they have heard Mass, and sometimes, if their work begins very early, or they live far from the church, they cannot even hear Mass. The six holydays of obligation kept in the United States are the Immaculate Conception, Christmas Day, the Circumcision, the Ascension, the Assump- tion of Our Lady, and All Saints. The Second Commandment of the Church is, “ To keep the days of fasting and abstinence appointed by the Church.” By “ fasting” we mean days on which we may have only one full meal. We may also have a small meal, called a “ collation,” and we may take a small piece of bread at breakfa§t-time. The fasting days are the forty days of Lent, the vigils or days before some great feasts; the Ember days, that is, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 138 The Commandments of the Church . of one week in each quarter, when we pray for men who are about to be made priests. All from the com- pletion of their twenty-first year to the beginning of their sixtieth must fast unless lawfully excused. Abstinence days are days on which we may have our usual number of meals, but we may not eat meat or anything made with meat. All Fridays are abstinence days, except when a holyday comes on a Friday. On some days of Lent, though they are fasting days, the Church gives us leave to eat meat, as long as we do not have more than the proper number of meals. There is no fast or abstinence if a vigil falls on a Sunday, and whenever meat is permitted, fish may be taken at the same meal. Children begin to keep abstinence when they are about seven, but fasting does not begin till the age of twenty-one. The fasting and abstinence days must be kept under pain of sin if we can do so, but the Church does not wish us to injure our health; so, if we cannot do without our meals, or without meat, without making ourselves ill, we must tell the priest, and he will advise us, and, if he considers it necessary, tell us not to fast or to abstain. We must be careful, if we are obliged to give up fasting and abstinence, not to do so without suffi- cient reason, nor to go on too long without trying again; and it is good to impose some little morti- fication on ourselves to make up for that which we are unable to perform. The Third Commandment of the Church is, “ To go to confession at least once a year.” The Church only orders us, under pain of sin, to go to confession once a year; but we must not The Commandments of the Church. 139 think that this means that we ought not to go oftener. We should be very sorry, and very much ashamed, if we had to show ourselves before other people with our faces and clothes all covered with mud; that is because we can see our bodies and know what we look like. Yet we forget that sins cover our souls with black marks which are most disgusting in the sight of God and His angels; we cannot see our souls, and therefore we think it does not matter. That shows that we do not remember that God is always looking at -our soul, and that He is grieved and angry when we do harm to it, for we are His children, and He wants us all to be with Him in heaven. The more care we take of our souls, and the cleaner they are, the more often will we wish to go to confession. If a cloth is quite white and clean, we notice the least spot upon it; if it is dirty and soiled, we scarcely see any new spots that come; so in the same way the saints, whose consciences are quite pure, see and grieve over sins which we would hardly notice; for our souls, when they have been long away from confession come to be covered with stains. The Fourth Commandment of the Church orders us to “ receive holy communion at least once a year, and that at Easter or thereabouts.” , Some people are so foolish that they very seldom go to holy communion, and when they are told that they ought to go often, they say : “ The Church says we need only go once a year.” This is very silly. If a doctor were to tell them that they must 140 The Commandments of the Church . eat at least once a week, or they would die, they would never think that he was advising them to eat only once in the week; on the contrary, they would be careful to eat several times a day. They do this because their body likes food, and craves or longs for it, and if it does not get plenty it feels weak, and makes them very uncomfortable. But the poor soul, when it is starved and weak, cannot cry out like the body does, so people take no notice of it. We must remember that the soul can- not live without its food, the Blessed Sacrament, any more than the body can live without the many sorts of foods that God has made for it. Then, when our souls are weak, temptation comes upon us, and we have no strength to resist, so per- haps we fall into mortal sin, and our souls are killed. When we have, by our own carelessness, let our souls get weak, we cannot expect them to work, or to do things for God. God wishes to live in our souls, to have them for His home. He wishes exceedingly to come to us in holy communion; but if He is to come, our souls must be made clean, and prepared to receive Him. We make the soul clean by a good confession, and then we should try to prepare in it what is pleasing to God. He wants to find in it faith, hope, and charity : Faith, that He is really God, though He comes only under the appearance of bread. Hope, that He who gives us Himself, will give us all other things that we need, and that one day we who have received Him into our hearts in this life shall be received into His home in heaven. i The Commandments of the Church . 141 God also wants to find in our hearts, when He comes, a great charity or love for Him. Besides faith, hope, and charity, we must have contrition for our sins, and humility, seeing how unworthy we are that the great God should come into such a poor miserable place. God wants , us to wish very much to receive Him. We should not like to visit a friend if we thought that friend did not care to have us, and found it a great trouble to prepare for us. In the same way, our dear Lord will not take pleasure in coming to us if He sees that we do not care to receive Him, and that we only go to communion because we are obliged. He sees when we are unwilling to take any trouble to prepare ourselves for communion, or to give up any little pleasure or amusement in order to keep our thoughts recollected. The night before communion we should keep our thoughts from anything that may distract us in the morning. If we have been reading a story, and keep on thinking about it till we go to sleep, it will come into our minds as soon as we wake, and it will be difficult for us to fix our minds on the great and wonderful thing we are going to do. Always, when we are going to holy communion, we must be fasting from midnight—that is, twelve o’clock—when the new day begins. The reason of this is, that the Blessed Sacrament should be the very first food that we have had that day. There- fore, if we have taken anything—a drink of water, a dose of medicine, or even the smallest scrap of food—we cannot go to communion that day. If some scrap of food should remain between our 142 The Commandments of the Church. teeth from the night before, it would not break our fast to swallow it, nor wopld a drop of water, if we swallowed it by accident when we were cleaning our teeth, but we must not take the least thing as food. We must remember to make our thanksgiving very carefully after communion. Our blessed Lord remains with us for about a quarter of an hour, and that j time is the most precious of our lives. Our Lord belongs to us entirely ; He is attending to us, listening to us, as if' there were no one else in all the world. We should not begin immediately to ask Him for things we want ; first we must adore Him, and thank Him for having come to visit us; after a little while we may ask Him freely for the things we want for ourselves, and for other people, tell Him if anything makes us unhappy, and ask His help against the temptations we most easily fall into. Jesus knows everything, but He like v s us to tell Him everything we want, as if He did not know it. When He lived upon the earth, and people came to see Him, He always made them tell Him what they wanted. There were very many blind men in Judea, and many lepers, but only those were cured who went to Our Lord for help, or were carried to Him by others. There are many people in this world whose souls are blind and covered with sin. They do not know Our Lord, so they cannot go to Him for help, but we can bring these poor souls before Our Lord, and say for them what they cannot say for themselves, “ Jesus, Son of Mary, have pity on them!” The Commandments of the Church. 143 Both for ourselves and for others, it is better to pray for souls than bodies. We cannot ever be wrong in asking for grace, for more love, more hu- mility or contrition—every one wants these things. But we do not know what is good for people’s bodies, and we may be wasting our time in asking some- thing for ourselves or others which would not be good for them, and which God, our loving Father, will ndt give, any more than a loving mother would give her child a dose of poison because it cried for it. Our thanksgiving after communion should last a quarter of an hour, because Our Lord remains with us about that time, but, if we can, we may make it longer, because it is such precious time, and we can do so much with it. However often or seldom we go to "communion, we must be sure to go during the time the Church fixes, that is, between the beginning of Lent and Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. If we should be ill, and not able to go to Church, the priest would come to hear our confession, and give us holy communion, so that we could fulfil our Easter duties, as this confession and communion are called. 5die Fifth Commandment of the Church, “ To contribute to the support of our pastors,” means that all are obliged to give, as far as they can, money for the support of the priests of their parish. When a man becomes a priest, he gives himself en- tirely to the service of God and the people. He cannot be a doctor, or a lawyer, or follow any trade so as to earn money. He must be always at the 144 The Commandments of the Church . church, to say Mass for us, to hear confessions, visit sick people, and baptize children; so we must give him in return money for his house, and clothes, and food. People often forget this, and then the priests are very poor; but we are just as much obliged to obey this Commandment as any of the others. Children have very little money and therefore this Command- ment does not concern them much, but when they grow older they must not forget it. The Sixth Commandment orders us “ not to keep marriage-feasts at forbidden times, nor within cer- tain degrees of relationship.” This does not con- cern children. It means that we must not, without some special reason, have marriage-feasts in Lent or Advent. Marriage is generally a time of rejoicing and feasting, and the Church does not want us to re- joice at the times set apart for doing penance, and preparing for the great days of Easter and Christ- mas. CHAPTER XVIIL THE SACRAMENTS. In this chapter we are going to speak about the seven Sacraments which, with prayer, are the great means of getting God’s grace. You know already that prayer is speaking to God, and asking Him for what we want. Grace is the help which God gives to us all, that we may save our souls. To each person God gives all the help he needs; to some He gives more, to others less, but each one has as much grace as will save his soul if he makes the proper use of it ; so there will be no use saying at the day of Judgment, “ I could not help sin- ning.” The chief way in which God gives us His grace is by means of the Sacraments. Each of these Sacraments has an outward sign, as well as an inward grace. We cannot see the soul of a person, and we cannot see the grace of God; therefore there must be some sign that we can see, so that we may know when the grace has been received; and God has promised us that when the outward sign, which is our part of the work, has been prop- erly done, He will give the grace. 145 146 The Sacraments . There are two sorts of grace. One, which is the life of the soul, is called “ sanctifying ” grace, that is, grace which sanctifies or makes holy; and the other “ actual ” grace. If we commit a mortal sin, we lose “ sanctifying ” grace, and our soul is dead. If the devil is wanting us to do a sin—to tell a lie or be disobedient—we must quickly ask God, and He will send us a grace or help not tp do the sin, and that sort of grace is called “ actual ” grace. The names of the seven Sacraments are: Bap- tism ; Confession, or, as we call it in the Catechism, Penance; Confirmation; Holy Eucharist; Holy Orders; Matrimony; and Extreme Unction. Of these, Baptism is the first and most important, because without it we could never go to heaven. The outward sign of Baptism is the pouring of the water on the baby’s head, while the person who is pouring says the words : “ I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” The two things must be done at the same time, or our part is not properly done, and the grace will not come to the child’s soul. We can only be baptized once, because when Adam’s sin is washed away it cannot come back again. Besides making the soul clean, Baptism makes it the child of God and heir of heaven. Ho you know what this means? If a man possesses money and houses and land, his children are his heirs; that is, if they are alive when their father dies, the property is theirs. In the same* way heaven belongs to us, as God’s children, and if our soul is alive when the time comes, we shall have it; but i -rnEmi . , w* IIB YI£k 1hM GK^ WMMlt HR. »T IUIIICI IMTMEM. MATRIMONY The Sacraments . 14? if we kill our soul while the body still lives, and the soul is dead when the end of our life comes, then we never can have heaven. Baptism is one of the Sacraments which make a mark on our soul, so that at the last day every one will see that we have been made children of God, whether we go to heaven or not. We have said that the stain of original sin can never come back; but when we grow up we commit other sins ourselves, so that we need another Sacra- ment to clean those away ; therefore God gives us the Sacrament of Penance. There are two sorts of sin, mortal and venial sins. These are not different kinds of sin, as a table is different from a chair; they are the same kind of sin, only mortal sin is the big kind, and venial sin the smaller kind. Mortal sin kills the soul, because it destroys the grace of God, which is the life of the soul. Venial sin does not kill the soul, but it makes God angry, and is like an illness in the soul. So, you see, we want a Sacrament to bring the soul to life again if it is dead, and to make it clean and strong if it is dirty and ill. In the Sacrament of Penance there are three parts —contrition, confession, and satisfaction—and of these three, contrition is much the most important. Contrition means being very sorry that we have done bad things, and meaning not to do them again* because by doing them we have grieved God, who is Our Father, and loves us so much. Sometimes people are only sorry because they are afraid of going to hell; that kind of sorrow is called 148 The Sacraments. “ attrition.” By it our sins are forgiven in the Sacrament ; but it is a selfish sorrow—thinking first of ourselves—and it does not please God very much. Confession is our part of the outward sign, and means telling our sins to the priest. You see it is God who hears us and forgives us ; but we can- not see Him or hear His voice, so He tells us to go to the priest in His place. We must try to remember our sins, and tell them to the priest; but if we really forget some, God knows them, and that we meant to tell them, so He forgives them to us. In confession we must never tell other people’s sins. It would not do to say, “ I was cross, but So-and-so made me cross”—we must only speak of our own sins. Satisfaction means doing the penance the priest gives us. We must notice what prayer he tells us to say, and say it as soon as we can ; and we must pronounce the prayers with our lips, not only think them in our mind. When we are preparing for confession, the first thing we must do is* to ask God to help us, for we could not remember our sins, nor tell them to the priest, if God did not help us to think and to speak. Then we must examine our conscience. Our conscience is the feeling which God gives us all, which tells us when we have done something wrong, even if no one sees it or speaks to us about it. If we take a little quiet time and listen to it, our con- science will tell us when we have told a lie or been disobedient; and when we have thought of all the bad things we have done, and put them together, we know what we have to confess to the priest. The Sacraments. 149 We must always remember that the priest is in God’s place, and that he never thinks about our sins, or never tells any one what we have said, so we need not be afraid to tell him everything. When we know our sins as far as we can, the next thing is to try to be sorry for them, for God will not forgive us if we are not sorry. To try to make ourselves sorry, we must remem- ber how very good God is to us, how much He has loved us, so that He died for us, and that He wants to forgive us and make friends with us even more than we want to make friends with Him, so He says, u Just come and tell Me yourself what you have done, and that you are sorry for having done -it, and I will wash it all away.” You know that, if we do not tell God ourselves ajid get forgiven for our sins, He knows them with- out being told, and when we die He must punish us, though He does not want to punish us, His children, whom He loves so much, and wants to see in heaven. If we think of these things, and of Our Lord suffer- ing so much pain to save us from pain, we shall be sorry that we have done naughty things. God does not require us to sit down and cry about our sins, because we cannot do so, but He does want us to be able to say truly, “ I am sorry that I did this thing, and I will not to do it again.” This is called the “ resolution of amendment,” and it is very important, for God would not forgive us if we meant to do the same thing again. When we have made our confession, the priest will talk to us a little, advising us how to do better, then he will tell us what prayers we must say for 150 The Sacraments. our penance, and then he will give u& absolution,, When he raises his hand and says the words of absolution, if our part has been well done, all our sins are washed away from our souls. When we go out of the confessional, we must make our thanksgiving—that is, we must thank our good God for His great mercy to us. Once Our Lord made ten lepers clean. He told them to go and show themselves to the priests, and while they were going they found that they were quite clean and well. Hine of them went on to their own houses to see their friends, and make themselves happy, but one man went straight back to Jesus to thank Hip. When Our Lord saw him. He said : “ Were not t4n men made clean? Is only this one found to give thanks ? ” We must not be ungrateful, like these lepers, and grieve the heart of Our Lord ; so before we go home we thank Him for what He has done for us, and tell Him again that we mean to try to be better. We have said a great deal about grace, but some- times children find it hard to understand about it. They think that if they ask Him, God will “ make ” them good without their having any trouble about it; and sometimes, if they have asked for grace and then fallen into sin, they think that it was be- cause God would not give them the grace. How, God always gives us the grace we need, but He expects us to do- our part as well. If we feel inclined to be angry, and ask for help, God gives it, but we must ourselves fight against the feel- ing of anger. If we fight well, we shall find that The Sacraments. 151 we are strong . enough to conquer it, but if we do not try hard, it will conquer us, in spite of the grace. When Our Lord cured the poor man sick of the palsy. He said to, him “ Arise,” and as soon as the man tried he found that he could walk. Our Lord did not make him get up, and if the poor man had chosen to say, as we often do, “ I cannot,” then he would have remained on his bed, for it would not have been strength that he needed, but will, and God will not force our wills. If any one gave you a piece of money, and you locked it up in a drawer, you would have the money, but it would not be any good to you. It is just the same with grace if we do not use it. The next Sacrament we have to think about is Confirmation. Confirmation is the special Sacra- ment of strength. Like Baptism, it makes a mark upon our souls, so x hat we can only receive it once. Our soul has grown up since Baptism made it a child of God, so now Confirmation makes it a sol- dier of God. We may be bad, unfaithful soldiers, but still the mark will be upon our souls, to show forever that we belong to God’s service, and that we must give an account of the great graces which Confirmation gives. The outward sign of this Sacrament is given by a bishop. Holy Eucharist is the greatest of all the Sacra- ments. The others give us the grace of God, but Holy Eucharist gives us God Himself to be the food of our souls. God has made very many sorts of food for our 152 The Sacraments . bodies, but our souls are spirits, and there is only one food for them, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He loves our souls, which are made to His own image and likeness, so much that He gives us His own body and blood to keep them alive. If we gave our bodies no food, they would die ; so also would our souls die if we did not feed them with the Blessed Sacrament. You remember how, at the Last Supper, Our Lord changed the bread and wine into His own body and blood, and said that His priests were to do the same thing, so that He might be always with us. He also promised that those who received His body and blood worthily should have everlasting life. In communion we receive Our Lord under one kind only—that is, we receive both the body and blood under the appearance of bread only, but priests receive under the appearances both of bread and wine; still, we must remember that they do not receive more than we do, as the whole body and blood of Our Lord are present both under the form of bread and under the form of wine. Holy Orders is the Sacrament that makes men into priests, and gives them very ^reat and Wonder- ful graces to make them able to help our souls by saying Mass, hearing confessions, and giving us the other Sacraments. ' When once a man is a priest, he always remains a priest. The Sacrament makes a mark upon his soul which must always re- main, so the same mark can only be received once. Extreme Unction is the Sacrament that people receive when they are very ill. When they receive it, it often makes them strong and well again; so The Sacraments . 153 / • that we should always receive Extreme Unction as soon as we are seriously ill. It gives us a special remedy against the evil done to our souls by all the sins we have committed with our hands and feet, our eyes, ears, and mouths, and if we are to die it gives us great help to make a good and happy death. We can only receive Extreme Unction once in our illness, but if we get better, and then afterwards get ill again, we may have the Sacrament a second time. Matrimony is the Sacrament by which God gives grace to people when they are married, so that they may be loving and kind to one another and bring up their children to be good and love God. CHAPTER XIX. THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS—BENEDICTION —VESPERS—COMPLINE. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass means the offer- ing up of Our Lord’s body and blood upon the altar for us. You remember that at the Last Supper Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and said: “ This is My body.” Then afterwards He took some wine in a chalice, or cup, and said : This is My blood,” and the bread and wine were changed into His body and blood. Then He said to His apostles, “ Do this in remembrance of Me,” and ever since that time at every Mass that is said the priest does what Our Lord did, and changes the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The Blessed Sacrament is not a sacrament only, it is also a sacrifice. It is a sacrament which we receive as the food of our soul ; it is a sacrifice when it is offered up for up on the altar. Our Lord made Himself our Brother and the Head or Chief among men, so that He might offer Himself up to God as a sacrifice for our sins, which He took upon Himself. * 154 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 155 The first part of the Mass is only the preparation for the sacrifice. The priest confesses his sins in the sight of God, prays for forgiveness, says many prayers, and reads the Epistle and Gospel, which change every day. After the Gospel the priest puts the wine and water into the chalice, and offers them and the Host to God, and we should join our intention to his. Every Mass is offered up for these four great in- tentions : 1. For God’s honor and glory. 2. In memory of the Passion and death of Christ. 3. In thanksgiving for all the blessings we have received. 4. To obtain the forgiveness of our sins, and all the means which are necessary to our salvation. We may also offer up the Mass for what we want ourselves, for our own friends, for the souls in pur- gatory, or anything else we like that belongs to God’s service. After the Offertory, as it is called, comes the Preface, when we ask all the saints and angels to join us in praising God. At the end of the Preface the bell rings three times, and the priest says . “ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts! ” At the Consecration, when the priest says the words, “ This is My body,” the bread is changed into the body of Our Lord. When he takes the chalice and says, “ This is My blood,” the wine is changed into the blood of Christ. The body and blood of Our Lord cannot now be separated or divided, so that they are both con- tained under the appearance of bread, and both un- 156 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass . der the appearance of wine. The Church shows them to us on the altar as if they were separate, to remind us that on Mount Calvary Our Lord’s body . and blood were really separated, when He shed all His blood and died for us. So, after the Consecration, or after the Elevation, when the priest raises or elevates first the conse- crated Host, and then the chalice with the precious blood, that we may see and adore them, Our Lord is truly present on the altar, looking at us and hear- ing us speak to Him, as truly as when He listened and spoke to the people in Jerusalem and the towns where He preached, so you see how reverent and respectful we ought to be at Mass. At the Communion the bell rings three times, when the priest strikes his breast and says three times these words: “ Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof ; say but the word and my soul shall be healed.” After that the priest gives himself holy com- munion, and if there are any people going to re- ceive communion, they go up to the altar rails. The part of the Mass that comes after that is the thanksgiving for the great sacrifice which was made when Our Lord came upon the altar to be the food of the priest and of the people in holy com- munion. When the Mass is over, Our Lord still remains on the altar, when the Blessed Sacrament is kept in the tabernacle. He said to us : “ Behold, I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.” And He keeps His promise by being always in the The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass . 157 tabernacle. The tabernacle is the kind of box which is in the middle of the altar, and is generally covered by curtains. Jesus is fhe Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep, and the tabernacle is the place where He lives that He may be npar to us, and that we may always know where to find Him. In the long dark nights, when the church is shut up and we are in bed and asleep, our dear Lord is in the tabernacle watching over us and praying for us, and He is very pleased if we get up in the morn- ing and go to pay Him a visit. Our* Lord likes to be always there, so that if any one is ill He can be carried to the house, to give Himself to the poor sick person, to feed his soul and comfort him, and be with him if he is going to die. When Our Lord gives Himself in communion to a person who is very ill, we call it “ Viaticum,” which means “ On the way with thee,” that is, Jesus, who died for us and knows how sad and painful death is, will be with us at this time to help us to die well and to give us strength and courage. When you go into the church and see the lamp burning in the sanctuary, you know that Jesus is there, for the lamp always burns when the Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle. When we pass in front of the altar, we should always kneel down on one knee; but if the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar, that means, is out of the tabernacle for Benediction, or because holy communion is being given, we should kneel down on both knees. There are several services of the Church that you 158 Benediction , Vespers , Compline . often hear about, and to which you may sometimes go. These are Vespers, Compline, and Benediction. Of these, Vespers and Compline are always late in the afternoon or in the evening; the word “Ves- per” means evening. At Vespers the priests and people meet together to sing some psalms, and some parts of the service change according to the feast of the day. There are five psalms which are generally the same ; the antiphon and “ little chapter ” change according to the feast. Priests and members pf religious orders say Vespers every day, but m churches it is usual to have them only on Sundays. In the same way, Compline, which is also part of the priest’s office, is sometimes sung in church after Vespers, and sometimes by itself, when the service would otherwise be too long. Compline is shorter than Vespers, and is made up of four psalms, which are said by the priest and by the people in alternate verses. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is, after Mass, the most beautiful of all the Church services. It can take place at any time in the day, but it is usually in the evening, so that people may attend it when their day’s work is over. As you know. Our Lord is always with us in the tabernacle ; sometimes we like to assemble together to praise Him and sing hymns to Him, and then to ask Him to give us His blessing, or benediction, before we go home again. It is a very simple ser- vice. The Blessed Sacrament is taken out of the tabernacle and put into a case of gold or silver, which has a glass front, so that all can see the Host. 159Benediction , Vespers , Compline. The priest puts this ease, which is called the “ mons- trance,” on a raised place called the “ throne ” over the tabernacle. Many lighted candles are on the altar, and some- times flowers. Then the people or the choir sing the two hymns “ O Salutaris Hostia ” and “ Tantum Ergo,” so called from the first words of the hymns. These two are always used, and between them is sung the litany of Our Lady, or some other hymn. The priest incenses the sacred Host, that is, offers before it the incense, which is a sign of prayer. Then he takes the monstrance down from the throne, and, holding it in his hatids, which are covered with a white or gold veil, he makes with it the sign of the cross over the people, who all bow down their heads to receive Our Lord’s blessing. Before putting the Blessed Sacrament again into the tabernacle, the priest kneels before it and says the “ Divine Praises,” which you will find in your prayer-book. CHAPTER XX. PRAYER—MISSIONS—PILGRIMAGES—RETREATS — CONFRATERNITIES. There are a great many different ways in which we can pray. Praying is not only saying words of praise, or petition, or contrition to God, it is also doing anything which we have to do for God’s honor and glory. We can pray by eating, sleeping, playing, or work-, ing, if we offer np our action, whatever it may be, to God. There is a Latin proverb which says, . “ Laborare est orare,” which means, “Working is praying”; that is, of course, if the work is good, and done with a good motive or intention for God’s sake. Supposing you were to see some poor sick man in want of help, but* you would not help him, be- cause it was your time to say prayers or the rosary, do you think your prayer would be pleasing to God? Certainly not. First do all you can to help others, offering up your action to God, and then go back and say your prayers. Our Lord will value them much more. It is well every morning when you first get up to make an act, offering up for God’s service all the thoughts, words, and actions of the day, because 160 Prayer. 161 it is difficult to remember to make such an act be- fore each thing we do. There is a motto which I should like to see writ- ten up in every nursery; it is, “ Work while you work, and play while you play.” If only little chil- dren could remember these words, they would give very little trouble to those around them ; but, in- stead of that, they want to play at prayer-time, while they are being dressed, during meals, or when they ought to be going to sleep; in fact,' all the time when they should be quiet and steady. Then sometimes, when it is play-time, and they are wanted to amuse themselves, they suddenly find that they do not care to play, and they bother every- body to come and amuse them, or else they quaryel or cry about nothing. They must remember that Jesus was once a little child like themselves, and they must try to behave as He would have behaved. It is good to play at play-time, for, as I have told you, playing is a sort of prayer, if we intend to ' honor God by it. Grown-up people have many different kinds of prayer, which little children do not understand much about. T will try to explain them to you, so that, when you hear people talking about them, you will know what they mean. Sometimes you hear of people going on pilgrim- ages. That means that they go to visit some place that is holy, so as to say their prayers there. There are many such places in the world. The greatest of all these is what is called the “ Holy Land,” that mdans, the country round Jerusalem and Bethle- hem, where Our Lord was born, and where He did / 162 Pilgrimages. so many wonderful things, and especially Calvary, the mountain on which He died to save mankind. People like to travel to the Holy Land, which is called Palestine, and then they go round from place to place, visiting the spots at which Our Lord is known to have been, and praying there. Many other pilgrims go to places at which the Blessed Virgin has appeared to people at different times. There is Lourdes, in the south of France, which is a very favorite pilgrimage.. I will tell you the story of this place. Very many years ago a little peasant girl, named Bernadette, lived at a village called Lourdes. She was a very good little girl, and often while she was minding her sheep she would be praying to Our Lady. One day as she was kneeling to pray on a mountain side, she heard a voice, and, looking up, she saw our blessed Lady standing at the opening of a grotto or cave in the mountain. The Blessed Virgin spoke to Bernadette many times. The last time, before she disappeared, she caused a miraculous stream of water to pour out of the grotto near where she had been standing. In this blessed water hundreds of poor sick people have been bathed, and thereby healed ; hundreds of poor cripples have received the use of their limbs after being dipped in it; and many hundreds of people who did not believe in God have been con- verted by the sight of the wonderful cures worked by Our Lady of Lourdes. To this very day these cures still go on, so very many people go to Lourdes, some to bathe in the water, others to pray there and honor Our Lady. Pilgrimages. 163 Besides Lourdes, there are many other places in nearly every country where there are miraculous statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which pil- grims go to venerate. There are also many places to which people go to honor some special saint. You may have heard of St. Winifride’s Well, where so many people are cured. Hundreds of years ago a holy martyr, called Winifride, was killed there. At the' place where her head fell when it was cut off a stream of water gushed out, and since that day numberless sick peo- ple have been cured by bathing in the miraculous waters. The same thing happened at a place near Rome, called Tre Fontane, or “three fountains.” The head of St. Paul when it was cut off rolled into these three places, and from each there sprang a stream of water. These three streams still flow, and many people go every year to drink of them, and to pray to St. Paul. How I think you must know what pilgrimages are. Then you must often have heard of people mak- ing “ novenas ” and “ triduos ” ; that means that they resolve for nine or three days to say sbme par- ticular prayer or do some particular act of morti- fication to obtain some special grace or favor they want. Many people make a novena to the infant Jesus by saying, for nine days before Christmas, the litany of the holy Child, so as to obtain grace to overcome their faults during the following year; others make a triduo to Our Lady by saying for three days three “ Hail Marys ” to Our Lady to 164 Retreats . obtain some favor they want. Many little children like for three days to make some little acts of pen- ance, such as doing without sweets, and offer up their mortification to Our Lady for some one they love. We can be very kind to the souls in purgatory by offering novenas or triduos to Our Lord, that He may have pity on the souls of the faithful de- parted. To make a retreat is a very favorite form of de- votion for grown-up people, or even for girls and boys at school. For three days, or sometimes even for eight days, they devote their whole time to de- votion, listening to sermons, making meditations, saying prayers, and reading pious books. They do not talk to anybody, or receive any letters, but try to think of nothing but the sins they have com- mitted, and what they are going to do to become better Christians in the future. Many people are too poor or too busy to give all their time in that way—they have their work to do in the daytime; so priests come and give a “ mission” for them—that is, they say Mass and preach in the morning for these people, and in the evening they preach again, and give Benediction. Besides this, there are other services in the day for those who have time to attend them. The priests do all they can to excite the people to begin again to lead a better life, and to persuade those who have not ]?een to confession and communion for a long time to be more regular for the future. Then many pious people join confraternities, of which there are different kinds—some for women. Confraternities. 165 some for men, some for children, some which every- body can join. The best confraternity for children is that of the “ Holy Childhood,” for the age of admis- sion into it is from baptism to the age of twenty- one. The object of this confraternity is to save little children in foreign countries, to baptize them, and, if they live, to bring them up to be good Christians ; so you see that, by joining this confraternity, even little children can help others who are not as happy as themselves. Byjkhe rules of this society we have to say each day one “ Hail Mary,” and the little prayer, “ Virgin Mary, pray for us and for the poor little pagan children.” Besides this, we must pay one penny in the month, or twelve cents a year. This is not very much to spare; we can easily manage it by doing without a few sweets or a toy every now and then, and it is nice to think that we are helping to save some little brother or sister. In China and other countries poor people are very cruel to their children; they put them out in the roads or fields to die of cold and hunger, and even to be eaten by dogs. The kind missionaries, as the priests who work in strange countries are called, and many holy nuns go about picking up these poor neglected children, and carrying them back to their houses or convents. Many of the poor little things die as soon as they are baptized, and their souls go straight to God; others live and are brought up to different trades; they become good Christians, and many, in their 166 Confraternities. turn, become missionaries, and carry on the work of the confraternity. When I tell you the exact meaning of the word confraternity—con, “ with,” frater, “ a brother ” — you will understand how beautiful it is for Chris- tians of all ages and ranks and countries to work together, as “ one brother with another,” to help God’s poor suffering children. There are other confraternities that children can join, such as that of the “ Holy Angels ” and “ St. Aloysius.” As they get older, and have made their first communion, they may become “ Children of Mary”; but, however young they are, they must remember to be faithful brothers or sisters, and to be careful not to forget any of the rules of their confraternity. CHAPTER XXL prater ( Continued)—•“ our father ”— “ hail MARY.” Once, after Our Lord had been preaching to them, the apostles asked Him to teach them some prayer which they could always say* and Jesus taught them the “ Our Father.” Since that time it is the prayer that we most often use, but many people pronounce the words of it without thinking of their meaning. We ought to try to understand what Our Lord wished to teach us, and as 'we repeat His words ourselves really enter into their meaning, and say the prayer very reverently, as Jesus Himself said it. You will notice that the first three parts or pe- titions concern God and our duty to Him; those that come after concern ourselves and what we want and do. “ Our Father.” We are here speaking to the great God in heaven, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. When Jesus spoke to St. Mary Magdalen, after He had risen from the dead, He said: “I go to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” He had made Himself our brother, the eldest of 167 168 Prayer—“ Our Father.” our family, and He speaks to God with us as “ Our Father.” When we say the prayer, we say it with all our brothers and sisters; that is, all the men and women in the world, and specially those who belong to us and are dear to us. When God tells us to call Him “ Father,” He reminds us that He is really Our Father, that He loves us as no earthly father could do, and also that He takes upon Himself a duty towards us to take care of us and provide for us, in the same way as an earthly father has a duty to take care of and provide for his children. “ The words “ who art in heaven,” remind us of God’s power to protect and help us. A father on earth may be very anxious to do good to his chil- dren, but he may be poor and not able to help them ; but our other Father is the powerful God of heaven, who can do all things. He reminds us that heaven ' Is His home, and that children, if they are obedient and loving and good, have a right to their Father’s home, and that therefore there is a place in heaven for each of us if we deserve it. We must not forget also that there is a place ready, not only for us, but for all our neighbors, so that we must look forward to seeing them in heaven, and pray that they may not lose their places. “ Hallowed be Thy name.” Hallowed means kept holy, so that by these words we pray that God’s name may be always praised and reverenced. Es- pecially God wants us to reverence His name of Father. He might have told us to speak to Him as God, or Creator, or Judge, but He does not; we are told to call Him Father, and our prayers to Prayer— * ‘ Our Father. 18* Him as Our Father are more pleasing to Him than prayers offered to Him by any other name, because He wishes us to love Him with our whole heart. “ Thy kingdom come.” These are very few words, but it would take us a very long time to think of all the things they mean. God wishes to be King^over us, to rule over and protect us; but often we will not let Him. We obey the lawrs of the country; we do not kill or steal, because we should be put into prison and punished if we did, but we will not obey God’s laws and do what He tells us. We choose to forget that He, too, will punish us, because the next* world seems such a long way off that we dp not trouble ourselve^ about it. So you see, by this petition, we pray that every one all over the world may keep the Command- ments and may love God, because the order to love Him is the first and greatest of the Commandments. We pray, too, that the Church, which has to teach people about God and how to serve Him, may be spread over the whole world and may be everywhere more powerful; also we pray for ourselves, that we may belong more and more to God, and that His kingdom, which is the happiness of heaven, may come to us. “ Thy will be done.” This is a very big prayer, too. God sees and knows all things. He sees what is right and best for every one, therefore we ought ,to wish for only the things which God wishes us to have. Instead of that, all over the world, people are trying to do their own will and get their own way. 170 Prayer— ‘ ‘ Our Father. Children often say in their morning prayers “ Thy will be done,” but presently, perhaps, they want to go out and it begins to rain. God wished it to rain, and they have just been praying that His will may be done, and still they are crying and grum- bling because they did not get their way about go- ing out. Do you think they can really have meant what they said in their prayers? We should try to think what we are' saying and then really mean it. By this petition we are asking that all the people in the world may do what God wants them to do, that priests and monks and nuns may be very holy, that poor people and sick people may be very pa- tient, that fathers and mothers and children, and all sorts of people, may be good. We pray that people whom God wants to be Catholics may be brought into the Church, that those who are wicked may repent, and that those who are dying may have a happy death. Just see what a number of things we ask when we say “ Thy will be done ” ; we are just asking for all the things that God wants. “ Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the first petition or prayer which we make for our bodies, as well as for our souls. It means that we are to ask every day for the things that we want. God might have ordered us to ask on the first day of every year for all the things we wanted for the year. But then, when we had got what we wanted, we might have forgotten God until next new year’s day. So God said that we must ask Him every day for what we want, and that makes us have to pray every aay. esrvmmTt 1»». » mmjimi iMT»e«. HOLY ORDERS Prayer— “ Our Father.” 171 God has said that He “delights to be with the children of men,” so He wishes us to come to Him very often, to ask Him for what we want for our souls and bodies. For our souls, we ask for God’s help and grace, for any of the sacraments of which we are in want, and for the actual grace to keep us from falling into sin. For our bodies we ask for food and clothes, and all the things we need to keep us in health. You see, we are to ask for our daily bread; that is, for what is really necessary. God does not want us to be always wishing for cakes and sweeties and pleas- ant things, though He often gives them to us. We must ask for what we want for the day, not for things that we ^lay want to-morrow or next year. We must learn to trust in God that He will give us what is needful for us. “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” Our trespasses are the bad things that we do against God or our neigh- bor. When we say these words we are asking God to forgive us our sins as we forgive other people the unkind things that they have done to us. So that if some persons have vexed us, or done some- thing to hurt us, and we will not forgive and be friends with them, we are asking God not to forgive us or be friends with us, who are always offending Him. Very often people say, “ I will forgive So-and-so, but I never want to see him or her again.” What would happen to us if God said, after giving us absolution, that He never wanted to see us again? When we think of this, we shall see how careful 172 Prayer— “ Our Father. we must be to keep away angry feelings towards those who have displeased us. “ And lead us not into temptation.” These words do not mean that God leads any one into temptation to make him sin. God allows temp- tation to come to us that we may show how far we are really trying to be good. Many people think, when no temptation is near them, that they will never fall into sin, and that they are much better than their neighbors. When the temptation comes, if they fall, they begin to see how weak they are, and then they turn to God for help, and they are more humble. Remember that every time a temptation comes, the grace to resist it comes too, and if we are brave and resist, we please God much more than we should have done if we had never been tempted. So by this prayer we do not ask to have all temptations kept out of our way, but only those temptations by which God sees that we should fall into sin. “ But deliver us from evil. Amen.” By this petition we ask to be kept from all those things which are bad for our souls. Children often do not think what this means, for it is difficult to understand what evil is. Some people think it is an evil to be poor or sick, or to have people say unkind things, but God sees that these things are not evils at all, but often very good for our souls. If poverty had really been an evil, would God have given it to His blessed Mother, or to the apostles, or to the saints. His friends? When people have prayed a long time to be de- livered from evil, they think that God has not heard D Prayer—“ Hail Mary.” 173 them, because crosses and pains come to them, when all the time God has heard their prayers, and de- livered them from the evil that too much comfort and pleasure was doing them. The “Amen” we find at the end of almost all prayers. When the priest is saying Mass, and the server says, at the end of each prayer, “ Amen,” he is joining in the priest’s prayer, and asking that it may be granted. In the same way, in public pray- ers or family prayers, one person says the words, and the others join in by saying “ Amen,” which really means “ so be it.” The “ Hail Mary ” is the chief of all the prayers to our blessed Lady. It is the prayer which has been taught to us by God Himself. He sent the archangel Gabriel to say to her, “ Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women.” The Holy Ghost, when He told St. Elizabeth that her cousin, the Virgin Mary, was the Mother of God, taught her to say, “ Blessed art thou amongst wom^n, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” The Church, under the guid- ance of the Holy Ghost, added the words, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Our blessed Mother is “ full of grace ” because she was free from every sort of sin, original and actual. God had given her the most wonderful graces to make her fit to be the Mother of God, and she had never lost one single grace. When God gives us grace, if we use it, another grace follows and then another, like the links in a long chain. If, when the grace comes, we do not use it, then the 174 Prayer—“ Hail Mary” next does not come, so we lose all that we might have had. Our dear Mother used every grace to the utmost, so new ones were poured in upon her soul, making it more and more beautiful in the sight of God. “ The Lord is with thee.” Jesus was in a most special manner with our blessed Lady. All her life He was with her, guiding her and defending her, and He is now with her most perfectly for all eter- nity. Our Lord is with each one of us, always look- ing at us, always listening to us, and defending us from danger. Sometimes we think that there are so many people in the world, that God will not notice in the crowd if we do not often think of Him or speak to Him; but we must remember that God sees each one of us as though we were the only person in the world. Ho one can take our place; if we do not speak, there is silence. If we thought of this a little more often, we should not let so many hours pass by without speaking to God or looking at Him. “ Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the*fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Only one woman could be the Mother of God, and how blessed was she in being chosen for that great honor ! How blessed was she when she held Him in her arms, and fed Him, and hushed Him to sleep, and when He grew older, and looked in her face and called her Mother ! How blessed was she when He was always near her, and she felt how much He, her God and dier Son, loved her. How Messed was she when she stood beside His cross. Prayer—“ Hail Mary . 175 and knew that she was helping Him by her love in His great work of saving souls! We must try to understand that she was the most blessed of all women, though she had none of the things that we call blessings. She had not money, or fine clothes and beautiful houses and plenty of things to amuse her, for she was only a poor car- penter’s wife. Though in statues and pictures we see Our Lady very grandly dressed, we know that, when she was on earth, she was very poor and humble, though now she is Queen of heaven. “ Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Jesus was *so anxious that we should be saved that He gave us to His blessed Mother to be her children, in order that she might pray for us. She is His Mother, and He cannot refuse her prayers ; therefore, if she will pray for us, we shall be saved. Our Lord knows how much we want prayers, so that, even when He was nailed to the cross, He put His Mother and our Mother by His side that she might prav for us. The time when we shall most want prayers is when we come to die; therefore God has taught us to ask Our Lady every day, and many times a day, to pray for us that we may be ready when He calls CHAPTER XXII. OUR BLESSED LADY. After our love and devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ must surely come our love and devotion to His most holy Mother, the blessed Virgin Mary.: She is not only His Mother, but our Mother, and she loves and cares for her weak and sinful children. She is never tired of loving us and praying for us; however weak or sinful we have been, we know that her Mother’s heart, is always ready to welcome us, as soon as we are sorry and wish to do better. If we feel lonely and miserable, we know that we have always a Mother in heaven, to whom we may look for help and comfort; for she too has known sorrow and loneliness. Her only Son died upon the cross to save us, and yet she loves us and calls us her children. What an example to us, who find it so hard to forgive any one who has offended us, even in some small thing ! When we say the litany of Our Lady, we call her by many names of love and respect. Sometimes little children find it hard to understand what some of these names mean. The first and most beautiful title we can give 176 Our Blessed Lady. 177 t© the Blessed Virgin is that of Mother — “ Mother ©f Christ,” “ Mother if divine Grace.” We call Our Lady that name, for, as Jesus is the source ©r fountain of grace, all grace flows from Him, and, through Him, from His holy Mother. “ Mother most pure,” “ most chaste,” “ inviolate*” “ unde- filed.” All these words mean that Our Lady is ab- solutely spotless; not even the stain of original sin ever touched her for a single minute. )“ Mother most amiable,” that is, most loving and most worthy of love ; “ most admirable,” the being whom we admire above all others. “ Virgin most venerable,” that is, whom we venerate or respect; “ Virgin most renowned,” that is, most great, most famous; for what Christian is there in the whole world who does not know of Our Lady’s greatness? “ Mirror of Justice,” which means the very mir- ror or reflection of truth and justice ; “ Seat of Wisdom,” for was not Our Lady taught by God Himself, the fount of all wisdom ? “ Spiritual Vessel,” “ Vessel of Honor,” “ Singular Vessel of Devotion ”—all these titles mean that Our Lady was like a precious vessel, or vase, filled with honor and devotion. “ Mystical Rose.” As the rose is the queen of flowers, so is Our Lady the Queen of all women. “ Tower of David.”, Our Lady was of the house, or family, of King David. “ Tower of Ivory,” for ivory is pure white, as is the soul of the Blessed Virgin. “ House of Gold,” for gold is the most precious of all metals, as our Mother is the most precious of all creatures. “ Ark of the Covenant.” The stone tables on which God wrote His law, or covenant, with His 178 Our Blessed Laay. people, were the most precious and cherished treas- ures of the Jews; they kept them in an ark of pure gold, so that we speak of Our Lady as of the ark in which was held our greatest treasure, Jesus Christ. We like to use these titles, because when, in the Bible, the prophets spoke of Our Lady, tell- ing how one day the Messias would be born of her, they gave* her these names of praise. Then we call Our Lady the “ Gate of Heaven,” for how can we hope to pass into paradise unless our Mother pleads for us ? “ Morning Star ” is another name for her. When the shipwrecked sailor sees the star of morning gleaming before him, he knows that day is coming, bringing with it help and safety. In the same way, when our souls are shipwrecked and afraid, the thought that our Mother in heaven is always waiting to help us is like a star shining before us, bringing hope and comfort. “ Health of the Sick,” “ Refuge of Sinners,” “ Comforter of the Sorrowful.” What lovely and whkt true names are these for our loving Mother! Then she is our Queen—Queen of angels, of saints, and of men. I “ Queen conceived without original sin ” : for, as you know, Our Lady was born with- out even a stain of original sin; the devil never entered into her pure heart for one single minute. “ Queen of the most holy Rosary,” for we know that the Rosary is the form of prayer most pleasing to Our Lady. I am sure that you would like to hear more about the Rosary now that you know how pleasing it is to the Blessed Virgin, so I will tell you about it. Our Blessed Lady. 179 You all know what a rosary is like. At the end there is a crucifix; then one big bead, then three little ones. Then the rest of the rosary is divided into five portions or decades, with one big bead and ten little ones in each. * The rosary is made to represent a crown or chap- let of roses, which we offer to Our Lady. On the cross it is usual to say “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, an4 of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” On the first big bead we recite the Creed, and on the three little ones three “ Hail Marys.” Then begin the five decades, for each of which one “Our Father” is said on the big bead, and one “ Hail Mary ” on each of the little ones. At the end of each decade is added the “ Glory be to the Father.” While we are saying the Rosary we try to medi- tate, that is, think about something that happened during the life of Christ or of the Blessed Virgin. These meditations, or thoughts, are arranged in this way: The first five decades—that is, once round the rosary—are given up to joyful thoughts; those are the five “ Joyful Mysteries ” : the “ Annunciatipn,” “Visitation,” “Birth of Our Lord,” “Presentation,” and “Finding in the Temple.” You see, all these things ^happened before the suffering part of Christ’s life began, while He was still with His parents. The next five decades—that is, the second time round the rosary—are f called the five “ Sorrowful Mysteries.” While we say them we meditate on the Passion of Christ, His “ Agony in the Garden,” “ Scourging at the Pillar,” “ Crowning with 180 Our Blessed Lady. Thorns,” “ Carrying of the Qross,” and “ Cruci- fixion.” f Then begin the “ Glorious Mysteries,” the time after the death of Jesus, when. His sufferings and His works were over: the “ Resurrection,” “ Ascen- sion,” “ Descent, or coming down, of the Holy Ghost,” the “ Assumption of Our Lady,”* and her “Coronation.” You see, we speak of the “ Ascension ” of Our Lord and the “ Assumption ” of Our Lady. That is because Our Lord ascended or rose into heaven of His own power and will, while Our Lady, as creature, was assumed or raised up there. God sent His angel^ to fetch their Queen up to heaven to reign over them. If you think of all these things while you are saying the “Our Fathers” and “Hail Marys,” you will he pleasing Our Lady very much, and you will also be learning to meditate. All over the world Catholics love to honor Our Lady, and especially to honor her by reciting her favorite prayer, the “ Hail Mary.” In another part of this book you will read why the Blessed Virgin loves this prayer so much. During the month of October the Holy Father—that is, the Pope:—has ordered that five mysteries be said in every church, and he has promised special indulgences to all who take part in this devotion. In every country one month is specially devoted or given up to prayer forborne special intention. We are not obliged to choose any particular order of intention, but I will give you one which many people like to use. January, in honor of the Sacred Our Blessed Lady . 181 Infancy; February, the Holy Family; March, St. Joseph; April, the Passion of Our Lord; May, the Blessed Virgin; June, the Sacred Heart; July, the Precious Blood; August, the Holy Ghost; Septem- ber, the Immaculate Heart of Mary; October, the Holy Angels; November, the Souls in Purgatory; December, Advent. In the same way the days of the week can be given to some devotion : Sunday, the Blessed Trin- ity; Monday to the Holy Ghost and the Souls in Purgatory; Tuesday, the Holy Angels; Wednesday,^ St. Joseph; Thursday, the Blessed Sacrament; Fri- day, the Sacred Heart; and Saturday, the Virgin Mary. When we wish to honor the sorrows of Our Lady, we speak to her of the seven dolors or sufferings which she endured upon earth, and we thank her for suffering them so patiently, and because she loves us still, though we have made her suffer so cruelly. The first dolor was the prophecy of Simeon. Do you remember how the holy prophet Simeon told Our Lady that her little Baby would die a cruel death to save men? What sorrow this must have caused the poor loving Mother! The second dolor was the flight into Egypt, when Our Lady was obliged to leave her happy home to fly into Egypt with her little Child, to save Him from Herod. The third dolor was when Our Lady sought her Son for three days. Do you remember how at last she found Him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors ? 182 Our Blessed Lady . The fourth suffering of Our Lady was when she tnet' Jesus carrying His cross on the way to Cal- vary; she saw Him suffering, and she could not help Him. Then she saw Him die. That fifth dolor must almost have been the worst of all. Our Lady must have felt so sad and lonely when she knew that her Son was deaj, and could never be with her again ^ upon earth. When the soldier had pierced the Heart of Jesus with a lance, and St. Joseph of Arimathea and Hicodemus took His sacred body down from the cross, a sword of sorrow, the sixth dolor, pierced the heart of His Mother, who stood by the cross to the last. The seventh sorrow, came to Our Lady when she saw the body of her Son laid in the tomb, and hid- den from sight. She could no longer watch by Him, but was obliged to return to her desolate home. It is comforting to think of Mary’s joy when her divine Son rose from the dead, and she saw Him again in all His glory and happiness. For long years she lived a life of prayer and good works; then, when the time had come, she gave up her spotless soul to God, and the third -day after her death He sent His angels to carry her body up to heaven to reign there as Queen forever and ever. Another very good way in which we can honor the sufferings of Jesus and Mary is by making what is called the “ Stations of the Cross.” You will see the pictures for them in every church ; the Pope has 7 promised many indulgences to all who take part in this devotion. Our Blessed Lady. 183 The first station is when Jesus is condemned to death. We try to think ourselves standing with Jesus before Pilate; we mourn over His sufferings, and beg Him to forgive the part we have taken in causing them. While we are thinking, we say one “ Our Father,” one “ Hail Mary,” and one “ Glory be to the Father.” In the second station we follow Our Lord, as it were, on His road to Calvary; we see His patience as He carries His heavy cross, and we say the same prayers as before. Then, at the third station, Jesus falls for the first time under the weight of His cross; we remember that it was our sins that caused Him to carry that cross, and we promise to try to sin no more. Then we watch Jesus as He meets His holy Mother; we mourn for the dreadful grief of those two loving hearts. How many times have we, by our sinfulness, caused grief to Jesus and Mary! At last Jesus grows too weak to support the weight of His cross. The cruel executioners seize 'Simon of Cyrene, and force him to help Jesus. At first his heart is hard, but soon it melts with com- passion, and Simon loves Jesus. We, too, can help Our Saviour to carry His cross if we will forget ourselves, and do only God’s will. A woman, moved with pity, comes forward, in spite of the mockery of the guards, and wipes the face of Jesus. Let us pray that we, like Veronica, may have the courage all our lives to follow Jesus, in spite of the difficulties and temptations. Although Simon of Cyrene does all he can to help Our Saviour, Jesus falls a second time; the cruel 184 Our Blessed Lady. soldiers drag Him up with blows and insults. Let us try, by our love and devotion, to make reparation to Our Lord for the insults He receives from men. Some holy women in the crowd that watches Jesus are touched by His patience and the sight of His sufferings; they weep for Him. But Jesus is not thinking of Himself, He comforts the sorrow- ing women. Should not this teach us to think less of ourselves and our little troubles,, and more of those around us and their troubles? For the third time Jesus falls, but still He is patient and does not complain. Let this ti^aght comfort us if, time after time, we fall into sin. Jesus will be patient with us. At last Our Lord has reached Calvary. His executioners strip Him of His clothes. Let us strip ourselves of our pride, and of the false shame which would prevent us from owning ourselves the serv- ants of Christ. Jesus is nailed to the cross for our sins. Shall we not beg His forgiveness again and again, and resolve to be faithful to Him who suffered so much for us? When the cross on which the body of Christ has been nailed is raised before us, let us kneel and worship Our Saviour. At least we can promise to do some little act of mortification, and lay any suf- fering we may have to endure at His feet. And now the sufferings of Christ are over. St. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus tenderly and reverently take His sacred body down from the cross, and lay it in the arms of the Blessed Virgin. Let us pray that we, too, may be received iii the Our Blessed Lady. 185 arms of Mary, our Mother, and the Mother of God. Jesus is laid in the sepulchre. He has died for our sins; at least we will be grateful to Him, and not wound His Heart again by our negligence and want of love. / CHAPTER XXIII. THE SAINTS. When we say the litany of the Saints we say: “All ye holy Martyrs, pray for us;” “All ye holy Confessors, pray for us.” Some little children wonder how there come to be so many different kinds of saints. I will ex- plain to you about them. Saints are holy people who are declared by the Church to have died in such a degree of holiness as to make it sure that they are in heaven; therefore we ask fhem to beg Our Lord to grant our prayers. Remember, we do not pray to saints or angels to help us themselves, for they could not do that, so we pray them to beg Our Lord to help us. But the saints did not all serve God in exactly the same way. Some of them gave up their lives for their faith; that is to say, they preferred to suffer torture and death rather than deny their faith. Such saints are called martyrs, and on their feasts the priests wear red vestments when they say Mass. Confessors are those saints who confessed—that is, declared and lived up to their faith, but were not martyrs, and on their feasts the vestments are white. The virgins are holy people, such as monks, 186 The Saints. * 187 priests, and nuns, who were never married, but re- mained single all their lives, so as to be able to devote their whole time to God’s service ;\ but as a rule, when we speak of virgins we mean women saints who were never married, and generally white vestments are used for their feasts; The evangelists were the two apostles and two other disciples who wrote about the life and works of Jesus Christ. Their names were St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. Doctors are very learned men, to whom the Church gives the title of doctor, or teacher, on ac- count of their learned writings ; such are St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Hermits were holy men and women who went away to the desert and lived, all alone, a life of prayer and penance, in memory of the forty days „ Our Lord passed in the desert ; St. Peter the Her- mit and St. Anthony were among them. The patriarchs were the" holy men who lived be- fore the coming of Our Lord, such as Moses, Abra- ham, and Hoe. The prophets were those holy people to whom God gave the power of foretelling what was to happen, such as Elias, Jeremias, and Isaias. We do not pray to the pictures or statues of saints we see in church, neither do we adore the relics of saints. Protestants may think 'that we do, but it is not true. We honor and preserve relics of saints because they are part of, or have belonged to, some very holy person; just as we are very fond of the pictures of people we have loved, or of something that has belonged to them. 188 The Saints. One of the greatest relics is that of the true cross —that is to say, a tiny piece of the cross on which Our Saviour was crucified. We love and honor this relic because it once touched the sacred body of Jesus„ and it reminds us of Him ; but we certainly do not pray to a little piece of wood, as people who are not Catholics like to say we do. They say just the same thing of crucifixes, rosa- ries, scapulars, and “ Agnus Deis,” but it is not true of any of them. We honor crucifixes because they remind us how much Jesus loved us, since He was willing to die on the cross to save us. We honor rosaries because on them we say prayers to Our Lady, and we know that she wishes us to honor them. Medals are like tiny pictures of Our Lord and Our Lady, or some saint. Scapulars are little pieces of cloth or flannel representing the habit of some religious Order, which are worn by pious peo- ple, who would like to have some part in that Order. “ Agnus Deis ” are like little pictures, in wax, of our blessed Lord, in the shape of “ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” We like to wear them because they remind us of our salvation. Rosaries, medals, scapulars, and “ Agnus Deis ” are blessed, and the Pope grants indulgences to those who use them. All the saints are worthy of our love and respect, for they are all God’s chosen friends, and have all done His work; but some of them we know much better than others, so that of course we feel more affection for them. Especially we should have a great love and devotion to our patron saint, that is, the saint whose name was given to us when we were The Saints. 189 baptized. Of very many saints we know nothing, not even their names. The little children who were killed by King Herod in the place of Our Lord were martyrs, for they gave up their lives to save that of Our Lord; we do not know their names, but we honor them under the title of the “ Holy Innocents.” Once a holy saint named Ursula went with a great many companions, perhaps some hundreds, to convert some people called the Germans; they were all martyred, but we do not know the names of any oUthe others, so we venerate them as St. Ursula and companions. Hundreds of holy missionaries are still giving up *!heir lives, trying to convert the pagans of different countries, but we do not know their names, so, when we wish to pray to them, we say, “ All ye holy saints, pray for us.” There are many saints who were children. St. Agnes was only twelve when she gave up her life for her faith. They promised her riches and hap- piness if she would deny Christ, and they told her that she should have her head cut off by the execu- tioner if she remained a Christian. But St. Agnes was not afraid; she knelt down joyfully to receive the blow, for she knew that her soul would go straight to God. Sometimes the noble courage of the martyrs was the means of converting even their cruel execu- tioners. Once a beautiful Christian maiden, named Doro- thea, was led out to death. So great was her courage, and so touching the words she spoke, that 190 The Saints. the executioner threw down his sword, declaring that he too would be a Christian. They threatened him with torture and death, but he remained firm, and, by giving up his life, received a martyr’s crown. This man, who had known nothing of God, and had not been baptized in the usual way, went straight to heaven, for baptism washes away every trace of sin from the soul, and this man received at the very moment of death the baptism of blood, which you know is the same in the result as the baptism by water. It is very grand and beautiful to be a martyr, but if God does not call on us to die forJHis sake, we can become just as holy by living for Him, that is to say, by serving Him all our lives in the wa/ He wishes, and by giving by our goodness an ex- ample to those around us. Priests and nuns can do This better than people in the world, in a way ; for they give up their whole lives to God’s service. But we who are not priests or nuns can do a great deal. All kinds of soldiers are wanted to make up an army; Christians are God’s soldiers, and all kinds of them are wanted to fight for God’s glory. - CHAPTER XXIY. RELIGIOUS ORDERS. Little children cannot be priests or monks oi nuns, but I am sure that they would like to hear about these holy people, and the lives they lead. We will begin with priests and monks. Priests are men who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and who give up their lives to, the service of God’s creatures; they say Mass, preach, administer—that is, give the sacraments—and see that children are brought up to know God. They visit the sick and those who are under their charge, and they lead a busy, useful life. Monks are holy men who give up their lives to God. They are not quite like priests, for many of them do not receive Holy Orders ; they live together in a monastery, and are bound by very strict rules. Some of them, as the Cistercians, never speak to one another; they get up to pray during the night, and they eat only once in the day. All their time is given up to prayer, study, and hard work; so, you see, they help others by their prayers and ex- ample, but not by teaching. Most Orders, qf kinds, of monks, have some special work they carry on. The Dominicans, or followers 191 192 Religious Orders . of St. Dominic, preach and give missions. The Eedemptorists used to go and try to save slaves and prisoners ; now that people’s bodies are no longer slaves, they try to save their souls. There are some monks who live on the top of a high mountain called Mount St. Bernard. They trstin dogs to go out and save people who have lost their way in the snow. The monks take these poor peo- ple to their monastery, and take care of them. There are a great many different kinds of monks, and they all have their special work to do. In the same way, there are many different kinds of nuns. Some Orders are “ contemplative ” ; that means that the nuns, like the Cistercians I told you about, give all their time to prayer, meditation, and penance. Then there are teaching Orders, where the > nuns give up their time to teaching children. These nuns have to study, as well as pray, so that they may be able to give the children under their care a good education. Many nuns, such as the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Little Sisters of the Poor, devote themselves entirely to poor people. They visit the sick in their own homes, or nurse them in the convent, and they take care of little children and old people. They teach girls to do all kinds of work, so that they may be able to earn their living, and they take care of blind, or deaf and dumb peo- ple; in fact, they do all they can to help God’s poor. Then there are nuns who nurseflhe sick. Some- times they have hospitals to take care of, sometimes Religious Orders. 193 they go to the homes of the sick people and nurse them there ; always they are ready to help any sick person who wants them. Nuns cannot preach, but they can give retreats to ladies, and prepare children for the sacraments; or they can instruct converts, that is to say, people who are converted and have become Catholics. Of course, they have to be taught all about the Catho- lic religion, and many nuns do the work of instruct- ing them. Though there are so many different kinds of monks and nuns, they are all alike in one thing: they all do God’s work. He has many different kinds of work to be done, so He wants different kinds of people to do it. We must always treat with great respect all those who are giving up their lives to God’s service. Do you remember how we spoke abbut scapulars, and said that they represented the habit of some religious Order? 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