Sermon Outlines

For A Full Year
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On

The Sacraments

And

Means Of Grace

By The Most Rev. John F. Noll, D.D.





Sermon Outlines For

A Full Year

On

The Sacraments

And

Means Of Grace

By The Most Rev. John F. Noll, 0.0.



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INTRODUCTION

Dear Father:

The sermons to be preached in all the churches of

Indiana from the first Sunday of Advent this year until

the last Sunday after Pentecost next year will deal with

the supernatural, with grace, and with the means pro-

vided by Christ for the channeling of grace to individual

souls.

The little Catechism treats this subject, but the im-

mature minds of children do not gather the full import

of the significance of grace, and as adults do not com-

prehend it much better.

Just as Protestants who claim to believe in “justi-

fication by faith alone” have very hazy notions concerning

the meaning of “justification,” so their concept of

“faith” is not ours at all.

It should be made very clear to our people that

because man’s destiny is supernatural it requires super-

natural means for its acquisition. They need to know

that only God can be the Author of things supernatural,

that the Son of God did institute them, and commissioned

His Church to distribute them and to apply them to in-

dividuals through duly empowered representatives.

The Sacramental system, therefore, is not merely

important, but absolutely necessary in the plan that God

devised for the salvation of human beings.

If there is frequent reiteration of some points in

these sermons, it is done designedly. Catholic people,

mingling daily with non-Catholics, should know the Cath-

olic position thoroughly, and also that of Protestants in

relation to the supernatural life.

The rejection of the Sacraments of Penance and

of the Eucharist, and of the Mass by Protestantism,

could not have been due to the lack of Bible support for

these doctrines and practices, but rather to the fact that,

having lost Apostolic succession, the clergy of the re-



formed churches were powerless to forgive sin, and to

produce the Eucharist.

The world is in sore need of the Catholic doctrine

dealing with grace and the means of communicating

it. Such will be the purpose of fifty sermons. As

usual the sermons have Christmas and Palm Sunday free.

Every priest who uses these sermons will readily

understand why so much attention is given to the Sac-

rament of Matrimony, the manner of preparing for it,

and the manner of fulfilling its duties.



NOVEMBER 28

The Sacraments

For a correct understanding of the purpose

and effects of the Sacraments it is necessary to

have a correct grasp (1) of the original condition in

which God created man, and what happened to the entire

human race through Adam’s fall. Without knowing the

facts about those matters we cannot understand (2) the

Incarnation and the Redemption by the Son of God; nor

(3) the Church of Christ, nor the office of the Holy

Spirit in the Church.

(1) God had willed that the human race should

ever be as Adam was at the time of his creation, which

means that every human being should possess not only

the life natural to his soul and body, but also a super-

natural life of soul, and an immortal life of body. The

latter were conferred on Adam as “gifts,” and not as

“rights,” and would become the endowments of his des-

cendants only if he, representing the entire human race

during a loyalty test, would merit the retention of the

undeserved gifts for himself and their transmission to

his posterity.

He proved himself disloyal
,

lost his supernatural

status of soul, and his immortal status of body. In other

words, he fell from the supernatural plane to the natural

before he begot any children. Those whom he did beget,
and their children and children’s children throughout all

generations inherited human nature bereft of God-re-

semblance as to soul, through grace, and subject to mor-

tality and other evils as to body. In other words, they

inherited a fallen nature, tainted with Original Sin.

Heaven, God’s home of supernatural glory, was neces-

sarily closed against the human race deprived of the

qualifications for a supernatural destiny.

(2) The Holy Trinity, in the celestial Paradise,

looked down with pity on mankind, thus estranged from

its loving Maker, and deprived of union with Him both
here and hereafter. It rested with God either to pardon



6 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

outright Adam's disloyalty, shared by all his descendants,

or demand full reparation which, of course, would have

to be infinite, because, by his sin, Adam had attacked
infinite majesty and goodness and love. God demanded

condign reparation, which meant that He Himself must

make it.

Since God the Father created Adam and the soul of
every human being thereafter, God the Son volunteered

to take upon Himself the burden of Reparation or Re-

demption. God the Father was willing that it should be

so, for St. John tells us “God so loved the world as to

give His only begotten Son” (John III, 16). The good

tidings were communicated immediately to Adam and
Eve, and actual grace was given to both whereby they

were able to repent of their sin as far as it was personal,

through their faith in the Redeemer to come and the

antecedent application of His merits to their souls.

God’s chosen people in the Old Law, who were kept re-

minded by one prophet after another of the promised

Messias, were liberated from Original Sin in the same

manner. However their admission into Heaven would be

delayed until the redemption was completed. You will re-

call from the Bible that Christ visited them between

His death and His resurrection to apprise them that

mankind’s debt had been fully paid. God’s chosen people

of the New Law would be “justified” or have the
supernatural life restored to their souls, by the applica-

tion of Christ’s merits through the Sacraments.

(3) Each of the three persons of the Blessed Trin-

ity would have a part in the salvation of every human

soul. The distribution of the merits of the Redemption

was to be effected by the Holy Spirit through the

Church, which He would guide and sanctify after its

establishment by the Son of God.

During the series of instructions on the Sacra-

ments you will hear much about Grace, which is abso-

lutely necessary for the soul’s sanctification and ever-

lasting salvation, but the Author of grace, its Giver,

its Preserver, its Restorer is the Holy Spirit .

The exalted dignity of the human person be-

comes clear when we consider that the three divine Per-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 7

sons cooperated, each in a particular way, respectively

in the creation, the redemption, the sanctification of the

human soul. It is no wonder that Christ, the Redeemer,

asked the question “What will a man give in exchange

for his soul?” (Mark VIII, 38)

;

and “What does it profit

a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of

his soul?” (Matt. XVI, 26).

Comparatively few are they who have a sufficient

realization of the souks value as is manifested by the

manner in which they live. The missionary, who leaves

home, relatives and friends, to go to a pagan land in the

hope of saving a single soul at the cost of his own life,

does realize it. The martyrs all realized it; the saints

throughout the ages have realized it.

You who think of your soul only on Sunday—and
then only under pressure from without—certainly do not
realize its value.

It is the soul redeemed and sanctified that has such

indescribable value; it is not the soul estranged from

God and serving the devil by a sinful life.

If we have hitherto taken our faith as a

matter of course; if we have not sufficiently appreciated

the inestimable blessings we receive through our Church

;

if we seldom raise our minds and our hearts to God the

Father for having made it possible for us to live eter-

nally; to God the Son, our Redeemer, Who ransomed us
from eternal misery; to God, the Holy Ghost, Who, day

after day, operates within our souls in an invisible

manner, then let us resolve to make it a daily practice

at least briefly to reflect on these momentous facts.

DECEMBER 5

How the World was Prepared for the
Redeemer

In our last Instruction we learned that God, Who
declined to do anything for the fallen angels, offered

Himself to make atonement for the sin of Adam and
to reopen Heaven for fallen man. Today let us consider



8 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

how He prepared the human race for the coming of the

Divine Redeemer.

The Incarnation of the Son of God was delayed some

thousands of years, in order to convince man how helpless,

how weak, how treacherous he was when left to himself

—

living on a purely natural plane.

The very first son born to Adam killed his brother,

he becoming the first victim of death. Later descendants

became so corrupt that God sent a universal deluge to

destroy “all flesh” with the exception of eight people.

Later, from the scattered people (1) God selected one

group which He formed into a nation, which He would

instruct and prepare for the reception of the Divine Re-

deemer; (2) through prophets He foretold all the cir-

cumstances of His coming, of His ministry and His

death; (3) He came in a miraculous manner, yet not as

the chosen people expected Him.

(1) God called, from Haran, in Mesopotamia, whose

people were given to idolatry, a certain Abram, whose

name He changed into Abraham, which means “the

father of a great people.” Abraham responded promptly,

leaving that land with Sarah, his wife, his nephew, Lot,

and his servants for the land of Canaan, where they were

instructed in the knowledge of the true God, taught

worship by sacrifice, and were kept mindful of their

fallen state and of the Redeemer, Who would later come
into the world.

To Abraham God said : “I will make of thee a great

nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name . . .

and in thee shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed”

(Gen. XII, 2-3). He tested Abraham’s loyalty and faith

by requesting that he offer his own son Isaac on the altar

of sacrifice. In this he was a figure of God sacrificing

His only Son.

It was at this time that Melchisedech, also a figure

of Christ as Priest, offered a sacrifice of bread and wine.

Under Abraham God instituted the rite of Circumcision,

by which all males were dedicated to the future Re-

deemer, a type of Baptism in the New Law. By that
rite the descendants of Abraham were made members



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 9

of the true religion of the Old Law, as Baptism makes

us members of the true religion of the New Law.

Sinners lived among saints under Abraham as they

now live under the Pope even after the completion of

the work of Redemption. We read of God’s threat to
destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, because of

the wickedness which prevailed in them, and of Abra-

ham’s plea for mercy if only ten just people could be

found in them. There were not that many “just” and,

therefore, the cities were destroyed by fire.

After Abraham’s death God selected as his succes-

sors, in turn, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, one of the twelve

sons of Jacob, who was sold to Egyptians as Christ was

sold to His enemies “for thirty pieces of silver.” Dying,

Joseph prophesied the coming of the “The Desired of

Nations,” to be born of the tribe of Juda. (Aggeus II,

8 ).

Then came Moses to whom God gave the Ten Com-
mandments, and whom he selected to lead the Israelites
from Egypt to the Promised Land. Through him God fed

the Jews miraculously by Manna from Heaven. This was

a figure of the Holy Eucharist, as also was the taber-

nacle which Moses erected.

(2) Settled in Palestine God placed Judges over

the Jews to govern them and to keep them in the true

faith. Later He allowed them to have Kings, as they re-

quested, but chiefly to punish those who did not live

in accordance with His laws.

The second King was David, of Bethlehem, of the

tribe of Juda, who was also a prophet, whose Psalms are

filled with allusions to the future Redeemer’s divinity,

His suffering, His Resurrection, his Ascension into

Heaven, His priesthood, and the triumph of His Church.

The Jewish people continued to be instructed and

warned by prophets inspired by God, Who, in the aggre-

gate, foretold every circumstance concerning the coming,

the life and work, the passion and death of the future

Redeemer—the Messias, as the Jews were wont to refer
to Him. For instance, Isaias foretold that He would
spring from the House of David, be born of a Virgin, be



10 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

heralded by John the Baptist, perform great miracles,

rise from the dead and be glorified.

Despite all this instruction the Jews became divided

into many sects, became indifferentists, and thought of

the predicted Messias only as a temporal Liberator. The

Pharisees among the Jews observed the law outwardly

and by lip service, as many Catholics do today, but in-

wardly they were, as Christ Himself characterized them,

“hypocrites.”

The Sadduccees among them denied the immortality

of the soul, and utterly disregarded God’s Command-

ments, as many people do today.

The Essenes among them observed the Command-

ments very strictly, but saw no need of organized relig-

ion. They, too, have their imitators today.

At the time of Christ’s coming, Palestine was under

the rule of pagan Rome, and the spiritual leaders of the

people were more devoted to politics than to religion.

(3) It was not surprising, therefore, that the

Jewish people were not prepared to give Christ a warm

welcome when He came. You are sufficiently familiar

with the immediate preparation for Christ’s coming to

make unnecessary its repetition here. He came as the

second Adam, born of an Immaculate Virgin—the second
Eve, who, it was prophesied back in Eden, would crush

the serpent’s or the devil’s head. Although Mary lived

at Nazareth the Savior was born at Bethlehem, as pro-

phesied, amid a heavenly scene, but witnessed only by a

few persons on earth.

As soon as the extraordinary event became the sub-

ject of discussion king Herod, the pagan ruling from

Jerusalem only six miles away, sought to take His life.

Learning of this from an angel Joseph took Mary and the

child into Egypt to remain until Herod’s death. There-

after Joseph and Mary journeyed to Nazareth, where

the Creator of the Universe, “was subject to them.” Out-

side of His visit to the Jerusalem temple at the age of

twelve with Joseph and Mary, nothing is reported about

Jesus until He was thirty years of age, when He began



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR li

His public ministry. This started with the miracle of

Cana, a town situated very close to Nazareth. His min-

istry continued for three years, during which time His

name and fame reached every corner of Palestine.

The common people followed Him, believed in Him,

loved Him, but their spiritual leaders, by open antago-

nism and deceit, brought about His death, which, of

course, was intended by Almighty God as the ransom

or reparation price for the sin of the first Adam.

During His public ministry Christ founded Hi-s

Church, a spiritual Kingdom, to become co-extensive

with the world and to endure until its end. He insti-

tuted Sacraments, whereby the merits of His passion

and death would be brought to every individual member

of His Kingdom, through the Holy Spirit, the Church’s

life principle and its members’ supernatural Life-Giver.

We live in this new order, elevated above that of the
original creation. Redeemed by the very Son of God,

we are made partakers of the divine nature, adopted as

children of God and, therefore, as brothers and sisters of

Christ.

With such means of sanctification at our disposal,

there is no justification whatsoever for any Catholic

to live his life separated from the closest union

with God. There is no justification for the indifferent

Catholic, the Catholic sinner
,

for the worldly-minded

Catholic.

Just as God held His chosen people in the Old Law

far more responsible than He held the pagan people who

surrounded them, so does He hold Catholics more blame-

able than people who are not of their faith, who do not

enjoy their advantages, whose souls have never been

under the influence of grace, and who, for a reason

known only to God, have not been favored as they have

been.

Deep gratitude, to which daily expression should be

given; sincere loyalty, and the frequent use of the Sacra-

ments, should characterize Catholic lives.



12 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

DECEMBER 12

The Old Dispensation and the New

In order that you may the better appreciate

what the Son of God did for us, let us com-

pare God’s religion in the Old Law to the religion which

the Son of God brought directly from Heaven for all

mankind under the New Law. (1) The Old Law was

of divine origin, yet not founded by God Incarnate; (2) it

was to be a religion of preparation, not for Heaven,

but for the reception of the Incarnate God; and (3) its

worship and ordinances were not channels of grace, but

only types and figures of the divinely instituted means

of grace in the New Law.

(1) Knowledge of the history of the Old Law is

most helpful to the understanding of the New Law.

Moses, through whom God founded it, resembled Christ

more than any other character in history. He was the

only one to whom God appeared in person to make a
revelation. We read in Deuteronomy (XXXIV, 10)

:

“there arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses,

whom the Lord knew face to face”; and in Exodus:

(XXXIII, 11) we read: “The Lord spoke to Moses face

to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend.” Such

was the effect of this, that when the Israelites saw him

descend from Mount Sinai, where he had conversed with

God, from Whom he had also received the Ten Com-
mandments, they “were afraid to come near him; and till

he had done speaking with them he put a veil on his

face.” He far surpassed any prophet or teacher before

the time of Christ.

Encouraged by the near presence of God Moses

asked; “I beseech Thee show me Thy glory,” but God

answered: “Thou canst not see My face, for no man shall
see Me and live.”

But Christ not only had seen God face to face, but

from all eternity lived with the Father and the Holy

Spirit,- was Himself God, the very image of the Father,

and He could say: “No man knows the Father save the

Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.” Hence

St. John, Christ’s favorite among the Apostles, wrote:



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 13

“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came

by Jesus Christ.”

Moses led the Israelites, strangers and slaves in

Egypt, to an earthly Promised Land. Christ came to lead

us, estranged from God, cast out of paradise because of

sin, into the Heavenly Promised Land.

Moses released the Israelites from the bondage in

which they were held by Pharaoh
;
Christ liberated man-

kind from the more severe and humiliating bondage of

Satan.

Moses was a mediator, an intercessor, for the Is-

raelites before God. He said to the people: “You have

sinned a great sin; but now I will go up unto the Lord;

perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sins.” To

God he said in their name: “This people have sinned

greatly and have made themselves gods of gold; yet now

if Thou wilt, forgive their sins
;
and if Thou will not for-

give their sin, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book.”

Christ our Savior came as the great Mediator be-

tween God and man, did procure the forgiveness of

mankind’s sin, and actually gave up His life in order that

the Father might forgive.

(2) I have told you how God selected Abraham to

take leadership over a people who would become great in

number, who would live under a sort of theocracy, having

inspired teachers called prophets, and priests who would

be mediators between the people and their God, especially

through the offering of sacrifices.

At times God allowed the Israelites to be conquered

and taken captive by other nations as temporal punish-

ment for their sins, but also for another reason, which

is mentioned by Tobias: “Give glory to your Lord, ye

children of Israel . . . because He has scattered you

among the Gentiles who know not Him; that you may

declare His wonderful work, and make them know that

there is no other Almighty God besides Him” (Tob.

XIII, 3-4).

Thus we find holy men outside of Palestine, such as

Job in Arabia, Jonas in Ninive, Daniel in Babylon. Pagan

kings often sought Jewish prophets to interpret their

dreams, or such handwriting as appeared on the wall at



14 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Balthasar’s feast. Inspired men of the Old Law were
always thinking of the future Redeemer, Who was to
be born a Jew, but establish a “universal Kingdom.”

David referred to Christ as “a priest forever,” Who
would offer the reality of which the sacrifice of Melchi-

sedech who lived in Abraham’s time, was a figure. The

Prophet Malachy told the Jews that there was no merit

in the oblation of animal sacrifices except insofar as they

were types of the “clean oblation” which would be offered

among the Gentiles from the rising to the setting of the

sun.

Hence you will have noted a very intimate connec-

tion between the Old Law and the New. It may, in
truth, be said that the Catholic Church dates back to

“our Patriarch Abraham,” as he is designated in the

Mass.

David Goldstein, the convert from Judaism, refers

to the Christian religion as the “flowering of Israel”

whose types and figures lost themselves in the reality.

Recently a Jewish physician and scientist not only

became a Catholic, but joined the Trappists and gave as

the reason for his conversion: “Protestants are divided

into hundreds of disagreeing sects, the Jewish religion

laid no claim to be other than a religion for Jews, while

the Catholic Church proposes its religion as the single

divine religion, and invites all men equally to accept it.”

The Christmas angel reminded us that Christ came

“for all men”; and we know that He ordered the Apostles

to “make disciples of all nations.” St. Paul, than whom

there was no more ardent Jew before his conversion,

tells us that “God wills all men to be saved, and to come

to the knowledge of the truth.”

Hence the Old Law religion was to be a preparation

for the New, to lead to the New. It lacked the means of

grace by which it could itself save.

(3) Certain ordinances in the Old Law might be

likened to the Sacraments, but they did not produce grace

of themselves. They could only arouse in those on whom

they were conferred sentiments of their dependence on

God, of sorrow for sin, of gratitude for favors, etc.

The Rite of Circumcision removed Original Sin,



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 15

but only as it implied faith in the future Redeemer on

the part of the adult, and faith in the same Redeemer,

through the parents of the child, in the case of infants.

The Pascal Lamb was a sacred thing, but only in so

far as it prefigured “the Lamb of God Who takes away

the sin of the world.”

Purifications in the Old Law were related to Sac-

raments in the New; and the ordination of priests was

regarded as important, because God had directed that

they be chosen from the Tribe of Levi only, and had

prescribed, in detail, the manner in which they would be

elevated to the office and the manner in which they should

conduct it. But the priesthood of the Old Law and the

sacrifices of the Old Law, which were offered as acts of

public worship, were sacred in Heaven’s eyes only in

so far as they prefigured the great High Priest, Who
would come down from Heaven to immolate Himself on

the cross as a bloody sacrifice, and in the Mass daily until

the end of the world, as an unbloody sacrifice.

It should be clear to you, therefore, that we who

belong to the Kingdom established by the Son of God, in

which all the prophecies, promises and ordinances of the

Old Law are fulfilled, in which God’s presence is not

merely indicated by the “pillar of fire,” or by the moving

cloud, or by the Ark of the Covenant, but is actual in

the Church to which we belong, in the Sacraments we re-

ceive, in the real indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our

souls.

These preliminary observations should convince you

of the inestimable privileges enjoyed by Catholics in

the New Law. Members of other churches lack the
means by which divine grace is conferred by God on

souls, lack the great Eucharistic Sacrifice, by which the

Son of God descends repeatedly from Heaven into the

midst of even a small congregation, lack the Sacrament

in which God unites Himself personally with the in-

dividual.

Follow our future instructions carefully, in order

that you may have a more accurate and firmer grasp of
the significance of Grace of which the Sacraments are

intended to be God’s channels. Understanding these



16 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

things, you will appreciate your faith and will make use

of these divine things for a high degree of sanctifica-

tion.

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DECEMBER 19

The Savior Showed Us How to Live

We have seen that God Himself decended from Heav-
en to earth in order to “redeem” or “repurchase” man

from the dominion of the devil, under whose sway he

fell through the disobedience of Adam, who, alone hav-

ing the fullness of human nature, represented all man-

kind in his trial. But the Redeemer, the “Light of the

World,” also showed all people how to live if they would

profit by His Redemption. They must (1) follow the

example of Christ; (2) trust in the power of God to

make them perfect; and (3) live the supernatural life.

(1) St. Paul (Philip II, 5) writes: “Let this mind

be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” which means

that we must think as Christ thought, and not as the

“sensual” man, as the man of the world thinks. We must
subordinate the things of time to the things of eternity,

“seek the things that are above and not the things of

earth,” do all “whether eat or drink or whatever we do,

for the honor and glory of God.”

St. Paul writes further: “Put ye on the Lord, Jesus

Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its con-

cupiscences” (Rom. XIII, 14). This perfect imitation of

Christ cannot be accomplished of a sudden, but requires

a steady, long-time effort. But numerous people have

tried it according to Christ’s injunction, “be ye perfect

as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. V, 48). St.

Paul, who had succeeded in that effort, calls on his con-

verts to be “imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” He was

not born as poor as Jesus; did not live as secluded as

Jesus did for thirty years; did not confine the exercise of

his ministry to his own country. But he did preach fear-

lessly, invite persecution, gloried in his “sufferings and

tribulations,” became “all things to all men in order to

save all,” was willing to die “for the brethren.”



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 17

The laity, of course, are not expected to engage in

that kind of a ministry, but they must, in their private

conduct, in their homes, in their neighborhood, and

among their friends, imitate the conduct of Christ. They

too must be “the light of the world ” St. Paul (2 Cor. V,

15-17) tells us that in redeeming mankind, He would

have “all not live to themselves, but unto Him, Who died

for them and rose again.” To live as Christ did, divine

aid, called the “grace of God” is needed. St. Paul, in the

Christmas Epistle, tells us that this “has appeared unto

all men.” He also states its purpose “instructing us

that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should

live temperately, piously and godly in this world.”

(2) If God was interested enough in man’s salva-

tion to subject His own divine Son to hardships and priva-

tions and persecutions and death for his sake, He is cer-

tainly always ready to treat the redeemed with limitless

generosity. Does not St. Paul observe: “He who has

not spared even His own Son, but delivered Him up for

us all, why hath He not, with Him, given us all things”

(Rom. VIII, 32) ?

It is not surprising that the preternatural gifts be-

stowed on Adam, should not have been restored to his

descendants. Why should the members of Christ’s body,
the Church, be treated better than Christ Himself, the

Head

?

Jesus asked two of His disciples, “Did not the

Christ have to suffer these things and so to enter into

His glory?” (Luke XXIV, 26).

St. Paul tells us that we are “joint heirs with Christ

if we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with
Him” (Rom. VIII, 17). Hence temporal afflictions should

not alienate us from God in the slightest degree, but

should rather draw us closer to Him. It is not the

material but the spiritual, not the temporal but the eter-

nal, that counts. When we are in possession of God’s
grace we are in possession of Him, and that should satis-

fy the heart of any person.

United to God by grace we have every reason to have

confidence in our prayers, provided they relate to matters

which conduce to our best welfare.

Speaking of the boy Christ St. Luke tells us that



18 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

he “grew in wisdom and age and grace before God and

man.” This brief characterization of the humanity of

Christ was intended to be the highest eulogy. There-

fore our ambition should be to grow in grace and heaven-

ly wisdom as we grow in age. That goal is within the

reach of every one who, living in sanctifying grace, cor-

responds with actual grace—and in eternity it will be-
come clear to us that nothing else really mattered here

on earth.

(3) Our separated brethren speak of Christianity

as “a way of life”; without identifying Christianity with

the Church, they hold that a Christian is one who lives

“Christlike,” whether he belongs to a religious organiza-

tion or not. Not understanding the meaning of “grace”

or of the “supernatural,” they hold either that a natural

good life will save, or that only the “righteousness of

Christ,” in whom the Christian trusts, can save.

Catholics, on the other hand, teach that the redeemed

men must be incorporated into Christ by a special Sacra-

ment, whereby he is also a member of Christ’s body, the

Church, become a “new creature,” and must henceforth

lead a supernatural life. Declaring oneself a Christian

does not elevate one to a supernatural status. One must

be enrolled as a citizen in Christ’s supernatural Kingdom,

and live as a child of God, guided by the Church. Heaven

is for God’s children only.

Faith without grace is worthless, as are good

works without grace. To understand this is of prime

importance, and its realization will come only from fre-

quent advertence to it.

Future instructions, which will deal with this sub-

ject, should be of vast help to you. Therefore follow

them; reflect frequently on a truth, a fact, which your

best non-Catholic friends never think of, and of which

the generality of Catholics seem to be unconscious, name-

ly, that we must supernaturalize our good works.

You must lead the supernatural life, established and

promoted by grace and, by inference, make frequent use

of those supernatural means which convey, support and

increase it.

Never lose sight of the fact that there is an essen-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 19

tial, even an infinite, difference between Christ's Church

and all others. The sacramental system which they have

rejected, which they lost by severing themselves from the

“body of Christ," is absolutely needed for the salvation

of any creature. It is through the Sacraments that

the merits of Christ's passion and death, by which He

brought redemption to mankind generally, are applied to

individual souls.

No Protestant Church claims more than two Sacra-

ments, namely, Baptism and the Lord's Supper; and since

their Lord’s Supper is really not a Sacrament, they can

really claim only one, and that they have borrowed from

our Church. Claiming Baptism to be a Sacrament, in

theory, most of them regard it only as a symbol in

practice, which means that they recognize no Sacraments,

as Catholics understand them.

DECEMBER 26

The Office of the Holy Spirit

You have been told that the merits of Christ’s Re-

demption reach the individual through the Sacraments,

which were committed to the Church He founded, of

which the Holy Spirit would be the supernatural life

principle. At the time of Christ’s Ascension, the body of

the Church—a divine work—was complete, but it had not
yet received its divine supernatural life-giving principle

—the Holy Spirit, Who would abide in it, guide and pro-
tect it, and perform wonders through it until the end of

time. (1) In the Church the Holy Spirit is the source

of Infallibility; (2) in the soul, the source of sanctify-

ing grace, through the Sacraments, and (3) of actual

graces offered us many times a day.

(1) If the Church is divine in character, it must be

infallible. If its guide is the Holy Spirit of God, it can-

not err in matters of faith or morals. Therefore, what

you are taught concerning doctrine, the Mass, Grace and

the Sacraments must be true. If the Holy Spirit is the

source of supernatural life and its members share it,

they can become saints and, despite the damage done by



20 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Adam, attain the glorious supernatural bliss of Para-

dise. As the sap of the tree penetrates the entire trunk,

branches, and leaves, so grace permeates the whole man.

More than that, the Holy Spirit Himself, so truly

takes possession of the human soul in grace, that He

actually dwells in it. Hence St. Paul calls the human soul

His tabernacle, and the body which houses the soul, His

temple.

Since Christ’s Ascension we live under the dispensa-

tion of the Holy Spirit. Christ had said “hitherto My
Father works and now I work.” He, in turn, committed

His Church and its members to the care of the Holy

Spirit.

Christ Himself was called the “Anointed” because

His human nature had the consecration of the Holy

Spirit, and in the New Testament frequent reference is
made Jo “the Spirit of Christ.” St. Paul, for instance,

wrote “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your

hearts.” Before leaving the world Christ promised to

send His Holy Spirit in Person, just as He Himself had

come in Person, and not by His “influence” only, as He

came to the Church of the Old Law.

When you were born of the Holy Spirit, you were

placed through Him in a state of union with God, and

that union is strengthened and made closer by the other

Sacraments instituted by Christ—because grace is lodged
in them.

(2) The Holy Spirit comes to the soul in such an

individual way that St. Paul writes “You are not carnal

but spiritual, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you”

(Rom. VIII, 9.) In another place St. Paul writes: “Do

you not know that your members are the temple of the

Holy Spirit, Who is in you?” (1 Cor. VI, 19).
Through the grace of the Holy Spirit Christ’s words

are verified “I am come that they may have life and
that they have it more abundantly.” The Old Law had

no Sacraments. It had washings and purifications, but

these did not, of themselves, convey grace. In the New
Law we may actually become God’s sons by adoption,
and therefore co-heirs with Christ of the bliss and glory

of Heaven. Most members of Christ’s Church are not



sermon outlines for a full YEAR 21

conscious of their lofty dignity and of the supernatural

state in which they live. In fact, they live little differ-

ently than the unregenerated in the world; they live for

the world; they incessantly “grieve the Holy Spirit.”

They seldom think of their special consecration to Christ,

and to the Holy Spirit, by which they are registered in

Heaven as God’s own. Hence they do not realize that

they are 100 times more responsible than others. “The

sensual man,” says St. Paul, “perceives not the things of

the Spirit of God”; and even most Catholics do not, be-

cause they live like the sensual-minded outside the

Church. The “spiritual man” follows the Holy Spirit,

remains conscious of His intimate relationship with

God; and if he should, by sin, lose his baptismal in-

nocence, resorts immediately to a Sacrament, which re-

stores it. The “spiritual man’s” home is Heaven, and he

lives in this world as a wayfarer, keeps himself unspotted

in spite of it, so that he may make himself daily more

worthy of everlasting union with God.

(3) When Christ promised to send the “Holy”

Spirit, He, in the same breath, warned against the “evil”

spirit, whom He called “the Prince of this world.” The
Holy Spirit would operate on the heart and soul of man,

and the evil spirit on his senses and appetites, and ani-

mal instincts. The Holy Spirit would enlighten the mind

and give strength to the will, while the evil spirit would

take advantage of the natural darkness of the one and

weakness of the other.

We can merit for Heaven only by corresponding with
the Holy Spirit’s actual graces. When Peter addressed
the multitude representing many nations on Pentecost

3,000 persons who heard him became converted, while

others were driven by their bad will to have him arrest-

ed and banished from Jerusalem. The former followed,

the latter resisted, the Holy Spirit.

Some of you will profit by this instruction, while

others will not get one iota of benefit from it.

If learned men fail to see the truth of Catholicity,
it is because they have no disposition to do so.

St. Paul says that we could not have even a good

thought without the Holy Spirit. We need His help to



22 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

make any work or service meritorious. Yet do we not

almost ignore the Holy Spirit in our prayers and reflec-

tions? We profess belief in His equality with the Father
and the Son when we make the sign of the cross, and

when we recite the Nicene Creed, in which it is declared

“He is glorified equally with the Father and the Son.”

We adore Him, usually quite unconsciously, when we say
the Gloria Patri, but that is the most attention that the

average person gives to the Holy Spirit.

You have heard that by His Redemption the Son

of God merited the grace of salvation for all men, but

you are not of those who believe that a mere trust in

His merits will save you. Christ made your salvation

possible, you must make it actual through a steady

cooperation with the grace earned by Christ and dispens-

ed to your individual soul through the Holy Spirit.

St. Paul called “the wisdom of this world,” to which

so many of us pay reverence, by its proper name “fool-

ishness.” Isn’t he a fool who prefers this world to the

next, who pampers his body while he completely neglects

his soul? Catholic sinners are the worst fools because

they are better informed.

Try to create an habitual consciousness of your dig-

ity, of the presence of the Holy Spirit within you. Apply

to the life of your soul the same principle you apply to

your body, that is, avoid what is harmful to it, feed it,

correspond to grace. Be actuated by the profit motive,

so that every day you will not only avoid the wrong, but

perform works of supernatural merit.

You could receive no better advice from the priest

than that which St. Paul gave to Timothy (2 Tim. II, 3)

“Labor as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” This means

you must be active supernaturally by faithfully cooper-

ating with the grace earned and dispensed by His Holy

Spirit to you.

JANUARY 2

The Supernatural

If the word “natural” denotes “what belongs or con-

forms to our nature as human beings,” then “super-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 23

natural” implies that there are things above or beyond

our nature, which we could not possess or procure by

our own power. It should be clear that everything in

the order in which God lives must be beyond our natural

powers to attain—His divine life, the means of participat-
ing in it, His Heavenly bliss and the aids by which alone

it can be acquired. Let us only briefly declare (1) what

are some of these supernatural things; (2) how feeble

is the non-Catholic concept of the supernatural; and (3)

what is God’s supernatural plan of salvation.

(1) A few examples will clarify what is meant by
the supernatural

:

(a) The truths which we learn by divine revelation

and could not be learned by human reason alone, are

supernatural. Such truths are, for instance, the Holy

Trinity, the nature of the reward awaiting those who,

with the help of God’s grace, serve Him through love.

(b) Miracles performed by divine power are super-

natural, as are also those genuine apparitions of Christ,

of the Blessed Virgin, on which the Church has pron-

ounced.

(c) The spiritual kingdom founded by Christ in

this world—His Church—is supernatural in origin, in its
guidance and protection.

(d) Those sacred things to which Christ gave

power to impart grace, and which we call “Sacraments,”

are supernatural.

(2) Essential for salvation as are the superna-

turally founded Church and its means of grace, the non-

Catholic world is unacquainted with them. Speak to the

best informed among them about “the supernatural,” and

they immediately think of miracles or the mysteries of

spiritualism, or other preternatural phenomena.

That the end of man is supernatural they have never

thought about; that a supernatural end can be gained

only through supernatural aids—elementary as is such
a truth—has never occurred to them.

Protestants do claim to believe in divine revelation,

as it is presented in the Bible, but they never associate

it with the one Church which gave the Bible to them. It

never dawns on them that sons of this Church wrote the



24 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Bible, and that its reliability as genuine and inspired

could be determined only by this Church.

How they remain ignorant of the beginnings of
Christianity, of the conversion of most of the western

world, of the loyalty of hundreds of thousands of Chris-

tians even unto martydom long before it was possible for

people to have the Bible, can be explained only on the

theory that the prejudices in which they have been rear-

ed obscure even this historical truth.

The Bible was preserved and its teaching perpetuat-

ed only because it was in the hands of the divine Church.

(3) The Bible presents no clear plan of salvation,

while Christ’s Church does. But she is able to support

that plan by Holy Scripture. Because of its bad inter-

pretation the Bible, a precious and inspired book, has

only confused people about what God’s plan of salvation

is. God constituted Himself the end of man, as He was

man’s Creator.

If, since the time of Adam’s fall, the souls of men

are not created in a supernatural condition, evidently

they must be elevated to that state if God Himself is to

be their ultimate end—because the order in which He
lives is divine and not human. It should be equally clear

that man must enjoy union with God even here in this

world if he would hope to be united to Him in everlast-
ing glory.

Because the generality of people have never tasted

the supernatural they are victims of all that is wrong

in the world, of its unbelief, of its secularism, of the

chaos so conspicuous in the political, the social and eco-

nomic orders; of the infidelity, immorality which are

everywhere rampant.

What was needed by the human race as such, nine-

teen centuries ago, is needed today by every human be-

ing, a personal redemption by the application of the

merits of Christ’s atonement. The chief fruit of His

redemption is divine grace or the supernatural life, but

it must be conveyed to every individual, one by one,

through a special Sacrament of Regeneration, and that

supernatural life must be sustained by other sacred



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 25

ordinances which could be instituted only by Christ the

Savior.

The Son of God came down to our level in order to

raise us up to His—and evidently His life is supernatural,
divine.

There are those who believe that the plan of salva-

tion today could be different from what Christ originally

determined. In fact people tell us quite frankly that His

Church fell into error, which would mean that His solemn

words and promises were not kept. God’s plan for salva-

tion could not possibly be altered if it was conceived by

infinite wisdom, and if He would be with His Church “all

days even unto the consumnation of the world” (Matt.

XXVIII, 20),. and if His Church was to be guided and

protected and “kept in truth” (John XVI, 13) by the

Holy Spirit, Who was infused into it on Pentecost, from
which day it has been a divine organism, a living Teacher,

a living Sanctifier.

^ i ^

JANUARY 9

The Supernatural

You have been told that the world outside the Cath-

olic Church does not understand the supernatural; and

because Catholics live in that world they find it difficult

to retain a clear concept of it, even though they partake

of supernatural things. But since the Bible calls “the

world, the flesh and the devil” the chief dangers to our

salvation, let us see how they destroy people’s interest in

the supernatural, and even their belief in its reality. St.

John refers to these three evils as “the concupiscence of

the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of

life” (1 John II, 16). Let us, therefore, briefly see how

(1) the world; (2) the flesh; and (3) the devil are

opposed to the supernatural.

(1) The world in which we live is material, which

is the antithesis of “spiritual”; its goods are temporal,

while our destiny is eternal; its pleasures are for the

body only, while our calling is to a complete happiness of



26 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

soul. This is why St. James tells us that “friendship

with the world is enmity before God” (Jas. IV, 4).

Now most people in the world have no definite knowl-
edge about any other world. Hindus and Mohammedans

and other pagans believe in the continuation of life be-

yond the grave, but lack divine revelation concerning its

character. They believe that one of their remote ances-

tors received some revelation, but do not know that God

Himself actually came to earth, not only to reveal hidden

religious truths, but to elevate us to a divine plane, and

by supernatural assistance to keep each united to God

Himself.

One-half of all Americans have a pagan point of

view; another fourth, calling themselves Christians, sub-

ject revealed truths to their private judgment to pass on

their acceptability to themselves. They claim that the

individual must make his own contacts with God, inde-

pendent of a Church or of Sacraments. In fact, they

hold that we set aside Christ if we look for help through

His Church, the Mass, through Mary and the Saints, or

if we seek grace or forgiveness of sin through Sacra-

ments.

The world and the supernatural are at odds and,

therefore, we can draw no spiritual help from the world’s

influence. It is purely secular and material. Yet how

many Catholics actually love the world, its spirit, its

axioms, and, therefore, follow it, rather than their

Church which, representing Christ, must warn against

it and rebuke it!

(2) We think of the “flesh” and the “spirit”; of
the “carnal” and “spiritual” as opposites. Members of

most other churches are taught that by Adam’s fall all

people inherit a corrupt nature, whose appetites and

passions cannot be controlled, that, therefore, their gra-

tification will not be imputed to us if we have a strong

faith in Christ as a “Savior,” Who antecedently atoned

for all our misdeeds. But the unchurched do not usually

hold that. They rather believe that the gratification

of a natural instinct cannot be sinful, and some even

hold that we can perfect our human nature without any

divine assistance.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 27

Both groups are very wrong. Protestants who claim

to accept the Bible as their rule of faith will find refer-

ence, in practically all of its seventy-two books, to the

dominion the soul must exercise over the body, the spir-

itual over the animal man. Spiritual death is pronounced

on those who will live “according to the flesh.” St. Paul

tells us that if he were not wont to chastize his body

even he would become a castaway. By our souls we are

“only a little less than the angels”; by our bodies only a

little more than animals. Our duty is to become more

and more like the angels if we hope in eternity to share

their bliss.

(3) Every professed Christian must believe in the

devil, and most pagans—even our Indian tribes—have
always believed in evil spirits. If they were not created

“evil,” then they must have fallen from a “good” or lofty

plane. According to Christian doctrine the devils were

originally “angels,” created in a supernatural condition,

which, like Adam, they forfeited, and to recover which,

unlike Adam, they were not given another chance. Hence

they hate God, envy us, who, after their fall, were created

for the same destiny as that which was originally theirs.

Holy Scripture reminds us that we must “watch and

pray” because the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about

seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter V, 8) ; it also re-
minds us that the devil is “a deceiver from the beginning”

(John 8, 44) that he often puts on the “appearance of

an angel of light” (2 Cor. XI, 14) in order the better to

deceive us; that he lays “snares” for us by making “evil

appear good and good evil.”

St. Paul tells us that our chief combat in this world

is not against “flesh and blood,” by which he means our

own evil inclinations and the bad example around us,

but against “The spirits of wickedness in high places”

(Eph. VI, 12). Hence we are urged “to resist strong

in faith” (1 Pet. V, 9). With God’s grace we are far

more powerful than all the devils in hell combined. The

evident lesson is that if we use God’s grace, day after

day, we shall be able to foil his assaults, under whatever

guise they are made. The chief reason why God allows

the devil to molest and tempt us is to afford us opportun-



28 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

ities of defeating him—and every defeat means a victory,
and new merit for Heaven.

Place the letter “d” before “evil,” and you have

“devil”; remove a letter “o” from the word “good” and

you have “God.” The devil is the personification of evil;

God is the personification of good—the Supreme Good.
The devil hates the Church as a work of God and not of

man. Isn’t that a reason why you should love it, listen

to it, use its powerful Sacraments?

In the first book of the Bible we read of Satan’s

attempt to seduce Eve, in which he was successful. He

was even brazen enough to tempt Christ, but was repuls-

ed. Persecution of the Church, whether by Communists

or the sects, is instigated by evil powers, yet too often

Catholics give encouragement to these enemies of God

and man.

You are so vulnerable if you do not correspond with

grace, vulnerable through your appetites, your senses,

your passions, your vanity, your ill-temper.

Since our everlasting salvation will be impossible if

we follow the way of the world, allow our flesh to gain

mastery over our spirit, and permit the devil rather

than God to rule our lives, let us earnestly resolve to live

the supernatural life, the only source of genuine happi-

ness even here. Supernatural living is the only sure

way to Heaven.

JANUARY 16

Institutor of Means of Crace

Outside the Catholic Church Christ is presented

(1) as a Teacher; (2) as a Savior; but not (3) as the

Institutor of means of grace. Without the means of

grace His office as Teacher and Savior would not meet

the requirements of salvation.

(1) Christ came from Heaven to earth in order to be

“the Light of the World,” a divine Teacher, Who could

teach with authority, and thus dispel the chaos in which

the world, over a period of thousands of years, had

become involved. He was to be a Teacher not only



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 29

during the three years of Hi& public life, but through

His Church, with which He promised to remain “all days

even to the consummation of the world” (Matt XXVIII,

20). His work of teaching was not fully completed upon

His return to Heaven, and that is why He told His

Apostles that He would send them the Holy Spirit to

guide the Church, to bring to mind “whatsoever I

have told you” and to “keep it in truth” (John XVI, 13).

Because the Church needs a spokesman to make

its voice heard, He provided for one in Peter and his

successors, declaring that He would “bind in Heaven”

whatsoever the teaching body of His Church would

“bind on earth” (Matt. XVI, 19).

The Catholic Church has this teaching body, whose

authority is respected as much as that of Christ Him-

self, as He declared it must be
—

“he who hears you

hears Me” (Luke X, 16).

Outside the Catholic Church there is no universal

teaching body, no international voice which can declare

what is divine teaching. The individual must try to

find out for himself what is to be believed and done for

salvation by reading the Bible, which the primitive

Christians did not have, and which individuals could not

possibly have had until the printing press, invented in

the fifteenth century, made it available to all. In the

meantime all of Europe was united together in one

faith by the living teacher in Christ’s Church.

(2) Mankind in general was redeemed from the

slavery of Satan by the Savior from Heaven “Christ the

Son of the living God” (Matt. XVI, 16). But no in-

dividual is saved by the mere fact of this redemption,

which made salvation possible, but not actual for every

individual. The merits of His redemption must be ap-

plied to everyone, not by mere “self-dedication” and

“self-appropriation” of the Savior, but in harmony with

his whole plan of salvation.

Citizenship in His Kingdom was one requirement.

This is effected by the same rebirth through which in-

dividuals are made “new creatures,” “children of God,”

and “heirs of Heaven.”

This rebirth is not effected merely by accepting



30 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Christ as Savior. That teaching is the leading heresy

of our age. Acceptance of Christ without also accepting

the binding force of the Ten Commandments, which He

never abrogated, which, as God, He could not abrogate, is

nothing less than blasphemy.

The merits of Christ, our Savior, are applied in an

entirely different manner to the individual. They reach

him through channels of grace which He Himself in-

stituted, one of which actually does effect a rebirth, an

adoption of the individual by God as His child. The

others are designed to keep him in the relationship of

child, to unite him more closely to God, and to enable

him to perform works of supernatural value by which,

in addition to faith, people help earn merit for Heaven.

(3) We have frequently called your attention to
the fact that the Sacraments are the chief means of

grace, or the channels of supernatural and divine life.

Other means are prayer, the Mass, and other forms of

private and public devotions, with which we shall deal

later.

Just as one might be well instructed in secular

knowledge without it being helpful because he never

makes use of it, so one might be a finished theologian,

might have all the knowledge contained in the Catholic

Encyclopedia, and still be a rogue. In other words,

knowledge of one's religion is not all-sufficient. By the

same token one might accept Christ as his Savior, and

still be damned because he refuses to regulate his life

by the unchangeable moral law.

If Protestants do not stress the Sacraments as

means of grace, it is only because, having no claims to

Apostolic succession through the valid reception of Holy

Orders, they are not empowered to administer any of

the Sacraments except Baptism, in whose efficacy most

of them do not really believe. Every early Christian

sect that has survived, even as a small remnant, from the

fourth and fifth centuries, has retained all the seven

Sacraments, because it did not lose the Sacrament by

which, for instance, its clergy are enabled to forgive sin,

to consecrate at the altar, etc.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 31

The merits of Christ the Savior are not channelled

to the soul in any other way than through those divine

ordinances to which we give the name “Sacraments.”

Only today, for instance, we noticed in the daily

paper an account of a Protestant ordination service,

which consisted of an ordination address delivered by

one minister, and an ordination “charge” delivered by

another, assisted by two elders of the congregation.

Such an ordination, of course, imparts no powers.

If we are repeating ourselves on the need of the

Sacraments, on the need of the Church for the salvation

of every individual, it is because most of your Prot-

estant friends have been instructed to believe that the

Church is not necessary, the priesthood is not neces-

sary, Sacraments are not necessary, because salvation is

reached by individual contact with Christ through faith

alone, that, howsoever guilty of sin one may be by

trampling the Commandments of God under foot, he is

saved through the overshadowing of his soul by the

righteousness of Christ—and hence his sins are not
imputed to him. This is a rather easy, but a most un-

safe way, of salvation.

JANUARY 23

The Church’s Sacramental System

The absolute need of definite divine ordinances for

the bestowal, the strengthening and even the restoration

of grace to a soul which came into being without it,

should be apparent. The Church calls these grace-con-

ferring ordinances “Sacraments.” They are seven in

number, and the Catechism has a common definition

for all. It reads: “Sacraments are (1) outward signs;

(2) of inward grace; (3) instituted by Christ. Now
let us try to comprehend this definition.

(1) The Holy Ghost came on Pentecost under a

visible and audible sign. The tongues of fire not only

indicated, but imparted enlightenment to the Apostles

and the gift of tongues.

Grace is something invisible, and we would not



32 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

know that we were receiving it unless the outward sign

or ceremony designed to symbolize and empowered

by Christ to impart it were employed. We call the out-
ward ceremony “the matter” of the Sacrament, and the

words by which it is administered “the form.”

You will recall that Christ, Who could have cured
without the use of either words or ceremonies, nearly

always used them, even when He wrought His miracles

for human bodies. He touched the eyes of the blind man

(Matt. IX, 29) ; He touched the leper (Matt VIII, 3)

;

He took hold of the hand of the daughter of Jairus

(Matt. IX, 25) ; by words He ordered the paralytic to

“arise and walk” (Matt. IX, 6) ; He breathed on the

Apostles, when He imparted to them the Holy Spirit

(John XX, 21).

In Baptism the Holy Spirit and His grace are im-

parted for the removal of Orignal Sin by the application

of water, which signifies “cleansing power.” When the

Apostles administered Confirmation, they “imposed hands

on those already baptised” (Acts. VIII, 17). In the Holy

Eucharist the bread and wine constitute the “matter”

of the Sacament, and the words of consecration the

form. The matter of the Sacrament of Penance is the

Confession of sins, and the form “the absolution im-

parted.” In Extreme Unction the priest anoints the five

senses with holy oil (James V, 14-15). In Holy Orders

there is the imposition of hands by the Bishop, anoint-

ing with oil, and the delivery of the sacred vessels. These

are the outward signs of the inward grace when the

office of the priesthood is received. Christian Marriage is

a sign or type of the union between Christ and the

Church. (Eph. V, 32).

(2) The visible signs, which are the “matter” of

the Sacraments, could not of themselves impart grace,

but they are, and can be, together with the forms used,

the channels by which the grace of God is brought to the

individual soul. No one will question the fact that God

can impart His grace through sacred signs or ordinances

as well as He can confer it directly.

There is no question about Christ having instituted

Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Christ ordered



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 33

Saul to be baptized for that purpose; and Peter told

the multitude on Pentecost “repent and be baptized every-

one of you . . . for the forgiveness of your sins, and you

will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts II, 38).

Evidently if our sins were taken away by Baptism, the

supernatural life of grace was imparted to our souls.

The action is immediate once the matter and form

of the Sacrament are properly used. “He that eateth

My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abidetli in Me” (John
VI, 57). “Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven

them” (John XX, 23) ; “If he (the sick person who is

anointed) be in sin; they shall be forgiven him” (James

V, 15).

Baptism confers sanctifying grace the first time;

and penance restores it after it will have been lost by

sin. These Sacraments are called “the Sacraments of the

dead,” because they are imparted to those who are

bereft of supernatural life. The other five Sacra-

ments are called “Sacraments of the Living” because

they may be imparted only to those who are alive super-

naturally; their purpose is to increase and strengthen

other grace already existent in the soul.

(3) I hardly need to tell you that only God, the

Author of grace, could institute Sacraments, by which

grace, His own divine life, is imparted to the human

soul. When we speak about the grace conveyed by the
Sacrament we mean “sanctifying grace,” often called

“habitual grace,” which elevates the soul from the na-

tural to the supernatural condition, and is intended to

keep it in that condition. The actual graces imparted

by the Sacraments are known as “sacramental graces,”

designed to strengthen the person against the temptations

and dangers which he must continue to face even after

he will have been closely united to God thought the Sacra-

ment received.

Since the Sacraments are all of divine institution,

and were committed by Christ to His Church, they can

be received, with the one exception of Baptism, only

from a Bishop or priest duly delegated by the Church

to administer them. If an exception is made for

Baptism it is because it is so absolutely necessary for



34 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

salvation that its reception is not made dependent on one

who might not be available at a time when it is sorely

needed, namely, when one is dying.

Non-Catholics have not the faintest grasp of the

Sacramental system, yet in God’s plan of salvation its

need is paramount. The clergymen of their church, hav-

ing lost Apostolic succession, are not empowered to ad-

minister any Sacraments. They may as ordinary lay

people administer Baptism because of the reason al-

ready mentioned.

Catholics, on the other hand, accept the Sacraments

as a matter of course, while they seldom reflect on the

inestimable benefits their soul-life derives from them.

No one who has even a mediocre grasp of what the

Sacraments accomplish would remain, even for a single

hour, outside the state of grace.

Divine grace called by Holy Scripture “the pearl of

great price,” is the most precious thing outside Heaven,

yet it is available to you in great measure if you will

only “come to drink at the Savior’s fountains.” Your

indifference towards the Sacraments of Penance and the

Holy Eucharist will, of course, not be excused by God.

If spiritual things are far above material things,

then you are not justified—nor should you wish to be

—

in showing so much concern for your body and so little

for your soul.

JANUARY 30

Only Cod’s Church Can Have Them

In our last instruction we pointed out that the

Church must possess “means” of conferring grace or

supernatural life on the soul, in order to qualify it for

life with God and His angels throughout eternity; that

God alone could be the Author of such “means,” since He

alone can bestow grace, defined as His greatest free

supernatural gift. Today let us consider (1) the num-

ber of the Sacraments; (2) who may receive them; and

(3) why modern Protestantism lacks them.

(1) From the time of the Apostles the Church has



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 35

recognized seven Sacraments, each responding to a spe-

cial need of the soul at special times during the Chris-

tian’s progress through life here to life eternal. There

is birth in the natural order; there must be birth in

the supernatural order. The new-born child must grow

in strength, and so must the new-born soul. The body

of the child must be nourished by material food; the soul

by spiritual food.

There is no way of restoring life to the body after

its death, but because of the importance of it Christ did

provide a Sacrament for the restoration of the super-

natural life to the soul
,

in order to give it repeated

chances for salvation. Through the Sacraments we re-

ceive special graces at the very periods of life when they

are most needed—at birth, at entrance into youth, after
having lost God’s friendship, when we embrace a new

state of life, and when we are in danger of death.

The oldest Christian sects, which separated from

the Mother Church in the fourth and fifth centuries, re-

tained all seven Sacraments, and can legitimately have

them because they did not lose apostolic succession. This

is true also of Orientals, formed into a separate body

by the Constantinople Schism, and who, today, are di-

vided among many national churches and call themselves

the “Orthodox Churches.”

The grace produced by the Sacraments flow from

the infinite merits of Christ, and not from the worthiness

of the person who administers them. They are not ad-

ministered recklessly, and would be invalid if conferred

on any one against his will.

(2) It has been the practice of the Catholic and

the Orthodox Churches, constituting three-fourths of

all Christians in the world, to baptize infants, even

though they are unable to apply for it on their own ini-

tiative. The Church can reasonably presume that if the

child understood the purpose and the effects of Baptism

it would want it. Against this practice Protestants

quote the words of Christ: “He that believeth and is

baptized shall be saved” (Mark XVI, 16). That those

words apply to the adult only is clear from the fact that

whole families were baptized by St. Paul (Acts XVI, 15;



36 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

1 Cor. I, 16). No adult would be admitted to Baptism

in the Catholic Church unless he would willipgly and

honestly declare that he believed in the full teaching

of the Church. Surely every parent would want his babe,

an inheritor of Original Sin to be relieved of it and be

elevated to the supernatural life.

Origen, who lived in the second century, declared

that the practice of baptizing infants dates back to Apos-

tolic times; and St. Irenaeus, who also lived in the sec-

ond century writes: “Christ came to save all; through

Him are born again unto God, infants and children, boys

and youths and elders.”

A Council of the Church held in 416 taught the
necessity of infant Baptism, and later Councils reiter-

ated this need. In fact, no other position could be de-

fended by those who understand the first purpose of

Baptism, namely, the conferring of supernatural life to

the soul destined to a supernatural end.

The need of Baptism is also made clear by the fact

that no one can validly receive any other Sacraments

unless he will have first been baptized. It is declared

by the Church to be the “first and most necessary” Sac-

rament.

We have already seen that five of the seven Sacra-
ments are not received worthily unless the soul be al-

ready in the possession of sanctifying grace.

(3) You may wonder why modern Protestantism

lacks the seven Sacraments when Christian churches of

much earlier origin hold to them. The explanation is

clear although you never hear that explanation from

Protestant churchmen themselves. The reason is that

four of the seven Sacraments, namely, Confirmation,

Holy Eucharist, Penance and Holy Orders, can be valid-

ly administered only by one who himself has received the

Sacrament of Holy Orders, and that can be conferred

only by one who can prove his succession from the Apos-

tolic times. It was the Apostles only, whom Christ em-
powered and authorized to forgive sins, to consecrate

the Holy Eucharist; therefore only their successors can

exercise that power today. The reformers knew this very

well and, therefore, they abolished all the Sacraments



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 37

except Baptism which any one, in case of necessity, can

administer. Since some have what they call “communion

service,” or the “Lord’s Supper,” they speak of it as a

Sacrament, but from what I have just said it is clear

that they cannot have the Holy Eucharist in the Catholic

sense.

Lacking the Sacraments Protestants must reduce

the condition of salvation to the minimum, and that

minimum is a “personal trust in the merits of Christ”

without the intermediary of the Church, of a priest, or

of any Sacrament.

Since most of them do not believe in Original Sin

there is no good reason why they should use even the

Sacrament of Baptism. They speak often of the spiritual

life, but never of the supernatural life, concerning which

they have only the most vague idea; they speak of grace,

because Holy Scripture speaks of it, but they have not

the Catholic concept of grace, the most precious thing

a human being can possess in this life.

Do not merely accept the teaching of the Church

concerning the seven Sacraments, but see in them the

only means, combined with prayer, for your sanctifi-

cation. One cannot reach the supernatural end for

which he was created unless he live a supernatural

life. Think of grace not only as supernatural, but as

divine life in your souls, by which you are most intimate-

ly associated even now with the God Who is to be your
“reward exceeding great” forever.

No Catholic could be indifferent in the service of

God, or indifferent about living in the state of grace, if

he devoted only a few minutes each day to reflection on

the grandeur of grace, and the intimate personal union

with Christ which it furnishes.

FEBRUARY 6

Christ’s Ministry Continued

What Christ was in Person during His public life,

that the Church has been ever since. He summed up His

mission in the few words: “I am the way, the truth



38 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

and the life.” His way the Church makes known to us

through the Commandments
;

His truth through the

Creed, and His life she is able to impart to us and to

sustain it through the Sacraments. None but Christ’s

own Church is authorized to teach in His name, and none

other is commissioned to exercise His supernatural life-

giving ministry.

St. Paul (1 Cor. IV, 1) calls himself a “minister of

Christ and a dispenser of the mysteries of God,” and so

could every duly ordained priest say of himself. His

ministry consists chiefly (1) in exercising Christ’s

priesthood through the Mass, and (2) in dispensing grace

through the Sacraments.

(1) Everyone familiar with modern religions

knows that they lack these two very essential features of

Christ’s ministry. We have already told you how it is
to be explained. No one can bestow the priesthood on

himself. Christ selected the first candidates for His

priesthood, prepared them for it for three years, and

then ordained and commissioned them Himself. These

alone were to select others and, through the Sacrament

of Holy Orders, pass down through the centuries the

identical ministry committed to them. But since those

who, in the sixteenth century, founded new religions,

were not empowered to confer the Sacrament of Holy

Orders, the men who succeeded them lacked the priest-

hood and, therefore, their followers were deprived of all

Sacraments except Baptism, which, because of its abso-

lute necessity for salvation, does not require a duly or-

dained clergyman.

From that time the Protestant ministry has con-

sisted chiefly of preaching, and down to this day Pro-

testants call their clergymen “preachers.” They are not

entitled even to that office, because it too requires a

“commission from Christ or His Church,” which they

never received. We tell you this, prompted not by preju-
dice or dislike, but only to declare an easily provable

fact, which it is important for you to consider.

To most Protestants even the one Sacrament they

may confer, namely, Baptism, is only a symbol, but even

the Old Law had many symbols, which St. Paul called



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 39

“weak and beggarly elements,” because they could confer

no divine life of themselves. That was true even of cir-

cumcision whose merit depended on faith in the future

Messias.

(2) The Sacraments, on the other hand, while out-

ward signs, are empowered by Christ, Who instituted
them, actually to confer grace or supernatural life on the

soul. They are called “mysteries” because of their truly

divine effect. Sanctifying grace is imparted to the soul

in no other manner than through the Sacraments, be-

cause Christ did not institute any other way. Perfect

contrition, born of perfect love, can impart grace and

forgive sins if one knows nothing about the Sacraments,

but he must be disposed to apply for the Sacraments if

he should learn of them.

The purpose of the Sacraments is to sanctify the

soul or to make it holy, to infuse divine life into it, or

to nourish the divine life of which it is already in pos-

session. The divine effect takes place unless the Reci-

pient himself places an obstacle in the way. An unwill-

ingness to be baptized would prevent the act of Baptism

from producing grace. An unrepented grievous sin

would prevent the benefit or the imparting of grace by

the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist, Confirma-

tion, Extreme Unction.

Sacraments are “sensible” signs, because they are

perceived by the senses. Men could not perceive channels

of grace in any other way. And, of course, only God

could give to any sensible thing the power of conferring

grace. Not even the Apostles could have instituted

“means of grace,” which the Sacraments are.

Just as the invisible nature of Christ operated

through His humanity, so the grace of the Sacraments

is channeled through its outward symbol. For instance,

in Baptism “water” signifies a “cleansing,” but it also

actually does cleanse the soul from Original and all other

sins, because Christ gave it that power.

So it is with the imposition of hands and the

anointing with oil in Confirmation; with the contrite

confession of sins and the absolution of the priest, in

the Sacrament of Penance; so it is with all the other



40 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Sacraments; that is, what is known as the “matter and

form” of the Sacraments do not of themselves have

power to accomplish the wonderful effects attributed to

them except by their selection for that purpose by Him,

Who instituted the same—God Himself.
Do not ever yield to the notion that there is little

difference between your Church and all others. There

is not only a substantial, but actually an “essential”

difference not only in their nature and character,

but also in the form of worship and ministry. That

of the Catholic Church is divine and that of all

others is human. Just as Sacraments could not be in-

stituted by man, much less could a Church which pre-

tends to promise salvation to its affiliates. If anything is

clear in Holy Scripture, it is that Christ instituted “the”

Church, “My” Church, and not churches.

— t m*

FEBRUARY 13

"Seven” Sacraments

In a wide sense a Sacrament is a “symbol of a sacred

and mysterious thing.”
.
In that sense the Old Testament

had Sacraments, such as Circumcision, which more than

any other ordinance of the Old Law had the character of

a true Sacrament, because it effected regeneration. It

was a pattern of Baptism.

Then there was the eating of the Pascal Lamb and

the consumption of the “loaves of proposition,” figures

of the Holy Eucharist. Furthermore they had various

purifications, types of the Sacrament of Penance; and

the rite by which the Levitical priesthood was perpet-

uated, a figure of Holy Orders.

But in the New Law there are (1) seven Sacra-

ments; (2) all instituted by Christ; and (3) they have

their efficacy from Christ’s redemption, which is applied

through them to individual souls.

(1) It is an article of faith that there are seven

Sacraments, namely, Baptism, Confirmation, the Euch-

arist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Mat-

rimony. This was declared very clearly by the Council



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 41

of Trent. Luther did not deny the existence of seven

Sacraments until he realized that some of them depended

on the validity of one of them, namely, that of Holy

Orders, which he was not empowered to confer on an-

other. In the year 1520 he declared that there were three

Sacraments, Baptism, Penance and the Eucharist; then

in 1523 he reduced the number to two
,
namely, Baptism

and the Lord’s Supper. But if the Lord’s Supper was to

contain the body and blood of Christ, it, too, could be

effected only through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

This naturally left only Baptism for Protestants. They

may have that Sacrament because it is the teaching of

the Church that any one, Catholic, Protestant, Jew or

even a pagan, may administer Baptism validly, if only

he has the intention of doing that which Christ had in

mind when He instituted that Sacrament, and performs

the rite correctly.

Zwingli and Calvin were also forced to hold to the

two Sacrament theory, but they were as powerless as

Luther to produce the Eucharist, as Catholics believe in

it, for their Lord’s Supper.

Up until their time, which meant for fifteen cen-

turies, the entire Christian world accepted and made use

of the seven Sacraments. The Orthodox Churches, five

hundred years older than any form of Protestantism,

have all the seven Sacraments, because they have Bishops

validly consecrated and, therefore, empowered to confer

the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

(2) Christ instituted all seven Sacraments. If Holy

Scripture does not clearly state that He instituted some

of them it is quoted in favor of all of them.

Fathers of the Church hold that when Christ had

Himself baptized by St. John He intended to have water

used for the cleansing of the soul from sin. Of course

He had no sin, but by His example He would impress on

mankind for all time that what He commanded (John

III, 5) : “Unless a man be born again of water and the
Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”

Then before His Ascension He commanded His Apostles

to go into the whole world to preach the gospel and to

baptize: “Go, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing



42 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A F.ULL YEAR

them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of

the Holy Ghost” (Matt. XXVIII, 19).

It was only after the Church was formally estab-

lished on Pentecost that Baptism became necessary as a

“door of entrance” into the Church.

Christ promised, before His passion, that those who

believed in Him should receive the Holy Ghost. While

it is not recorded, in so many words, that Christ in-

stituted the Sacrament of Confirmation we learn that it

was administered by the Apostles soon after they them-

selves received the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. We read
(Acts VIII, 14-16) “When the Apostles, who were in

Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the

word of God they sent to them Peter and John who,

when they were come, prayed for them that they might

receive the Holy Ghost; because He had not yet come

upon any of them, but they were only baptized in the

name of our Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands upon them

and they received the Holy Ghost.”

The institution of the Holy Eucharist is clearly rec-

orded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and its promise record-

ed by St. John. St. Paul tells us that he received a spe-

cial revelation from Christ Himself concerning its in-

stitution.

The Sacrament of Penance was instituted by Christ

Himself on the day of His Resurrection when, breathing

on the Apostles, He said: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,

whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose

sins you shall retain they are retained” (John XX, 23).

Extreme Unction is referred to by St. James in the

words: “Is any man sick among you let him call in the

priests of the Church” etc. (James V, 14-15).

Holy Orders was instituted when Christ empowered

the Apostles and their successors until the end of time

to do what He had done at the Last Supper, namely, to

change bread and wine into His body and blood.

Matrimony is referred to by Paul as “a great Sacra-

ment.” Sometimes the word “Sacrament” here is trans-

lated “mystery,” but it amounts to the same thing.

Matrimony, however, differs from the other Sacraments

in this that it needs a priest only as a witness. It be-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 43

comes automatically a Sacrament for those who are “in

the Church.”

Christ had to be the institutor of all the Sacraments

because they were to confer the merits of His own

passion and death. If Christ is the meritorious cause of

the Sacraments He must have been their author, and

that is why the Council of Trent teaches that they were

all instituted by Christ.

(3) When I said that Holy Scripture does not say,

in so many words, that Christ instituted the seven, I

had in mind that, while it refers to all the seven Sacra-

ments it does not declare definitely that Extreme Unction

and Matrimony were instituted by Him. The fact that

they are all referred to in the Bible at least makes it

clear that they could not have been instituted after the

time of the Apostles.

In his first letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. IV, 1)

St. Paul refers to himself only as the minister of

Sacraments and not as the author of any of them: “Let

a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and

as dispensers of the mysteries of God.” Here we see

the word “mysteries” used in the sense of “Sacrament.”

The rejection of six of the seven Sacraments by

modern religions does not at all mean that there is no

historical or scriptural basis for the seven. It rather

means, as we have said repeatedly, that five of them

could not possibly be conferred by men calling them-

selves “ministers of Christ” without having received

the Sacrament of Holy Orders from one who had him-

self validly received it as a successor of the Apostles.

For fifteen centuries history shows all Christians

to have accepted the seven; and the Bible, as we

have seen, mentions all seven, even if it does not, in

every instance, call it a “Sacrament.” Protestants call

Baptism a “sacrament,” yet the Bible does not so call it.

It is of divine faith that all the Sacraments confer

sanctifying grace, and that all impart special Sacramen-

tal graces and, therefore, Catholics should be eager to

receive them. Three of them may be received only once

in a lifetime; Holy Orders can be received only by com-

paratively few; and Matrimony may not be repeated a



44 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

second time during the life of the partner with whom

he or she contracted the original. But the Sacraments

of Penance and Holy Eucharist may be received with

great frequency, and no Catholic should need any ex-

hortation whatsoever to take advantage of this privilege.

FEBRUARY 20

What Grace Is

When you humbly acknowledge your sinfulness be-

fore God in an Act of Contrition you mention several

reasons why. You tell your Heavenly Father that you are

heartily sorry, first of all, because you have offended

Him, Who is infinitely good and deserving of your love;
then you lament the loss of His grace, and with it all

right to Heaven.

As long as you remain free from mortal sin after

the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism you live in a

state of grace, which is maintained and strengthened and

increased by ether Sacraments, instituted by Christ for

the application to your individual soul of the infinite

merits of His Redemption.

(1) That many people do not fully comprehend the

full import of Baptism is clear from the answer they are

wont to give to the question “What is Baptism for?” The

common answer is “Baptism takes away original sin,

and, in the case of an adult, all sin.” But Baptism does

not merely take away something from the soul. It brings

to it the most precious gift which God, even with His

almighty power, could bestow on a creature, namely,

His own divine life, v/hich elevates the soul to a super-

natural state, which qualifies it for an eternal existence

in the bliss of God’s own Paradise, which places the

soul in the condition which was Adam’s before his fall,

the condition of all the angels before the fall of many of

them.

Last year all the world congratulated Philip Mount-

batten when, through his marriage to Princess Eliza-

beth, he was elevated to a position in the royal family.

But when God’s grace enters the human soul it becomes



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 45

elevated to a much higher order, to a divine order, and

if at the time of its separation from the body in death,

it still possesses that rank, it will share, throughout

eternity, all the joy of the heavenly kingdom.

(2) The grace imparted by Baptism and all the

Sacraments is called “Sanctifying” Grace, which effects

an intimate union of the soul with God, making it,

according to St. Peter, a “participant of the divine na-

ture.” It incorporates the person who possesses it into

Christ; it engrafts him on Christ as the branch is en-

grafted on a tree. Just as a branch so engrafted draws

from the life of the tree itself, so the person incorporated

into Christ draws divine life from Him. Christ expressed

that thought beautifully in the Parable of the Vine and

the Branches, as follows: “I am the Vine; you are the

branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much

fruit ... As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself

unless it remains on the vine so neither can you, unless

you abide in Me.” After uttering these words Jesus said

to His disciples: “These things I have spoken to you

that your joy may be made full.”

Surely there is reason for the person who is a living

branch of Christ’s Mystical Body, united to the Vine,

Christ, to rejoice, to be extraordinarily happy, no matter

what his material or physical lot in this world might be.

St. Paul reminded the Philippians (IV, 3) that, be-

cause of their possession of Sanctifying Grace, their

“names were written in the Book of Life,” which meant

that they had a title to Heaven. If Heaven be the

greatest treasure with which Almighty God could enrich

an angel or human being, then the means to Heaven,

namely, the state of Sanctifying Grace, must be the

next most precious treasure He could bestow.

(3) When we speak of the need of Grace for the
performance of supernatural good works and for the con-

quest of temptation, we refer to an altogether different

kind of Grace—a passing supernatural aid rather than
the permanent supernatural condition of soul.

That grace is called “Actual,” and is given whenever

needed to every human being, Catholic, Protestant,

pagan. It is often called “the Grace of Assistance” be-



46 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

cause
,
its purpose is .to assist one to avoid evil and to do

good. But even this grace is absolutely necessary for the

earning of Heaven. Christ had that in mind when He

said: “Without Me you can do nothing.” He meant

“nothing available for salvation.”

Heaven is a place of supernatural bliss, and Sanc-

tifying Grace is needed as a “ticket of entry,” and actual

grace is needed to give supernatural value to our works.

These works must have a supernatural character if they

are to merit supernatural reward. The means must

always be of the same nature as the end for the acquisi-

tion of which they are intended.

Actual grace offered to us by God works to our det-

riment unless we cooperate with it. Just as the earth can

produce no fruits without rain, and the rain can pro-

duce no fruits without the earth, so we can produce no

supernatural fruits without the grace of God, and the

grace of God can produce no fruits without our coop-

eration.

Actual grace is often defined as an “enlightening of

the mind” and as “a strengthening of the will.” In other

words, it suggests to the mind what the person should

do or refrain from doing, and strengthens the will to act

accordingly. Its effects were demonstrated in a most

powerful way on Pentecost when the minds of the Apos-

tles were enlightened as they had never been before;

and when their wills were so strengthened that they

allowed nothing to stand in the way of the execution of

their commission to “change the face of the earth” amid

the greatest difficulties.

From what has been said you should need no

further exhortation to prize sanctifying grace above

all else, above riches or honors or pleasures, above

life itself. You should never remain for a day in mortal

sin, but do all you can to preserve yourself from falling

by faithful cooperation with “Actual Grace;” and by the

frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and

Holy Eucharist to maintain and strengthen the super-

natural state of soul in which you were “constituted”

when, by Baptism, you were made God’s child and an

heir of Heaven.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 47

FEBRUARY 27

Lenten Regulations

A season for penance and repentance, covering a

period of forty days, dates back to the early centuries.

Christ, although He did not and could not sin, observed

forty days of strict fast and abstinence in the desert,

as Moses and Elias, great saints of the Old Law, did

before Him.

Every person who has sinned must do penance in

some form.

(1) The Bible recommends three kinds of penance,

namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and the Church

would like to have her people practice all three kinds

during Lent: (a) by attending weekday Mass and the

midweek public Lenten devotions; (b) by fasting accord-

ing to the mitigated law in each diocese, and (c) by de-

voting to religious and charitable causes money saved

by the practice of self-denial.

(2) Lenten regulations are not identical all over

the world, as the Church permits Bishops to modify them

according to the circumstances of places and times. In

most dioceses of the United States the Lenten law reads

in substance as follows:

(a) The Lenten fast and abstinence begin on Ash

Wednesday and cease on Holy Saturday at mid-day. All

the days of Lent, except Sundays, are fast days. The

Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent (excepting the Wed-

nesday in Holy Week) Ember Saturday and Holy Satur-

day until noon, are also days of abstinence.

(b) Those who have passed their twenty-first

birthday and have not yet passed their fifty-ninth birth-

day are obliged to fast. The sick and the convalescent,

those to whom fasting would cause grave injury to health
or would cause such exhaustion as would interfere with

their daily duties, are excused from the Lenten fast.

Those who are in doubt whether or not they are excused

should consult their confessor or pastor.



48 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

(c) Those who are obliged to fast are allowed but

one full meal a day, either at noon or in the evening.

They may eat meat only once a day, on the days meat is

permitted. In the morning a small breakfast, meat ex-

cluded, is permitted. People may use the customary fruit

juice in the morning. The luncheon should not exceed

one-third of the dinner.

In some dioceses the breakfast and collation com-

bined may equal the principal meal in quantity.

(d) The law of abstinence from meat, which

applies to all Catholics except infants, forbids the eating

of meat and soups or gravy made of meat; it does not,

however, exclude the cooking and seasoning of food with

drippings or lard.

(3) By virtue of an Indult granted to the Bishops

of the United States by the Holy See for working people,

most Bishops permit working people and their families

to eat meat once a day throughout Lent, except on Fri-

days, Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday until noon.

This Indult allows the same people to have meat at

the main meal on the Ember Days and Vigils (Christmas

excepted) throughout the year.

The term “working man” includes the working

woman if she is the chief bread-winner of the home. But

those who avail themselves of the Indult are expected

to perform some other work of penance, for example, to

abstain from alcoholic drinks, candies, tobacco, etc., and

attend public Lenten devotions. Attendance at daily Mass

is highly recommended.

In order that they may catch the spirit of Lent at

its very beginning, the Church prepares the people for it

from Septuagesima Sunday. Most people begin Lent well,

but grow more lax rather than more earnest and fervent

as the days pass. The world needs the blessing of

Heaven today as never before, and to procure it every

follower of Christ should not only repent and do penance

in his own behalf, but for others who seldom get down

on their knees.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 49

MARCH 6

More About Grace

Grace may be defined as a “supernatural gift be-

stowed by God’s infinite love on man and angel, to fit

them for the supernatural end for which both were de-

stined.” Its name derives from “gratis,” which means

that it is a “free gift” super-added to the soul just as it

was in the case of Adam before his fall.

(1) The angels, at the time of their creation, re-

ceived the life of grace directly from God, as did Adam

and Eve also. Many of the angels forfeited it by the

sin of rebellion and never recovered it, because no re-

paration by a Divine Person was made in their behalf.

With its loss went their opportunity to share in God’s

glory in Heaven.

The souls of Adam and Eve were also deprived of

the supernatural life of grace when they sinned by an

act of serious disobedience to their Creator. If sanctify-

ing grace was made available to Adam after his repent-

ance, aided by actual grace; if it is made available to

you, his descendants, it is due to the “costly redemption”

effected for us by God’s beloved Son. But the fact of the

Redemption did not restore grace to all men, as most

sects teach today. They hold that the merits of the Re-

demption are applied to the individual person who vol-

untarily takes Christ as His Savior, whether it be fol-

lowed by affiliation with any religious organization or

not. But the application of Christ’s merits, they believe,

effect no change in the soul whatsoever. Their sins, after

repentance, are simply “covered” by the righteousness of

Christ so that they say, they are not imputed to them.

Catholics believe, on the other hand, that the merits

of the Redeemer are applied to the individual, one by

one, not merely by a belief in the efficacy of Christ’s

atonement, but through sacramental ordinances, insti-

tuted by Him, to be dispensed through accredited officials

in His Kingdom on earth—His Church.
(2) Only infants, constituted in grace by a re-

generating Sacrament, are admitted into God's heavenly



50 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Kingdom without the aid of “actual” grace. They receive

Heaven as a gift, but others need special supernatural

aid for their preservation from sin, to which all persons

are still prone, and for the performance of works meri-

torious of eternal life. That is what Christ had in mind

when He said “Without Me you can do nothing. If any
s

one does not abide in Me he shall be cast aside as the

branch and wither, and they shall gather them up and

cast them into the fire and they shall burn” (John

XV, 5-6).

Most non-Catholics fail to grasp the significance or

even the need of the supernatural life, because they do

not take into account the fact brought home so forcibly

on reflection that God lives in an infinitely higher order

than that in which we are created. If we be destined to

share eternally God’s bliss in that order our souls must

eventually be elevated to a divine plane while we are still

here below. Perseverance on that plane is dependent on

good works, influenced and aided by “actual grace.”

It is unfortunate that this doctrine of the Catholic

Church, so reasonable, is sadly misunderstood. The

Church is charged with teaching that man is saved only

by the performance of good works of the natural order

and, therefore, having only natural value. Because the

Catholic Church still teaches the need of penance as

well as repentance, the necessity of observing all the

Commandments, they draw that unjustifiable conclusion.

As a matter of fact Catholics make far more of the

merits of Christ than others do
;
and they alone believe

that good works performed in the state of grace have

any value for heaven.

(3) Holy Scripture teaches us the wonderful change

wrought in the soul by sanctifying grace without call-

ing it by that name. It tells us that we are made “new

creatures,” “new men,” “children of God and heirs of

Heaven.” It tells us that the Holy Spirit enters the soul

with sanctifying grace (I Cor. VI, 19) and continues to

dwell in the soul as in a tabernacle; that the body which

houses the soul becomes “a temple of the Holy Ghost.”

Christ refers to what we call “grace” as “a fountain



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 51

of water springing into life everlasting” (John IV, 14).

says we “become partakers of the divine nature.”

Just as cold black iron, when thrown into a furnace,

partakes of the nature of the fire, becomes red as the fire,

throws forth heat as the fire, so we, when our soul be-

comes united to God, become Godlike; the soul reflects

His own divine image because it possesses His divine

life.

Speaking of those who had become converts to the

Church by faith and baptism, St. Paul writes: (I Cor.

Ill, 16) : ”Know you not that you are the temple of God

and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” In another place

(2 Cor. VI, 16) He writes: “You are the temple of the

living God.”

St. Augustine says “as the body without the soul

is dead, so the soul without the grace of the Holy Spirit

is dead for Heaven.” It lacks the wedding garment

referred to by Christ in His “Parable of the Supper.”

You have heard people say that because they

have accepted Christ as their Savior, they are al-

ready “saved.” Without understanding what sanctifying

grace is, they believe that once they make a firm pro-

fession of faith they cannot be lost. This doctrine is most

unscriptural. Grace can be lost by mortal sin, which

means by a serious, wilful violation of a Commandment

of God. If any one had a reason to believe that he was

“saved,” St. Paul did, because Christ Himself referred to

him as a “vessel of election.” Yet this Apostle, living in

grace and free from actual sin according to the text, was

not certain of his salvation. He wrote (I Cor. IV, 4) : “I

am not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not
hereby justified.” The same Apostle tells us (2 Cor. IV,

7) : “We carry our treasure (grace) in earthern vessels”
and, therefore, warned the Philippians (Phil. II, 12)

:

“Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”

The Council of Trent tells us that while we might

be reasonably certain that we are in the state of grace,

without a special revelation we could not have absolute

certainty.



52 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

MARCH 13

Sanctifying Grace

You would certainly be impressed by the extraordin-

ary value of sanctifying grace if you took account of all

that the Church teaches about it. Let us, therefore, con-

sider (1) what the Church does teach about sanctifying

grace; (2) about the Sacraments which confer it; and

(3) what is necessary for the valid and licit reception

of the Sacraments.

(1) The Church teaches (a) that sanctifying grace

makes our souls holy and pleasing to God; (b) that it

brings God Himself into the soul- and places it on the

road which leads to Heaven, because it is the seed of

eternal glory; (c) that good works performed in the state

of grace are all meritorious of Heaven; (d) that sancti-

fying grace can be increased and strengthened; (e) that

it is lost by the commission of mortal sin; and (b) that

it can be again recovered through one of the Sacraments.

Grace is something to which no creature, not even

an angel, has any claim. It is the “pearl of great price”

to which Christ refers in one of His parables. It makes

each soul possessing it worth more than all the world. It

was earned by the costly redemption effected by God,

Who came to earth in order that the supernatural life
of grace might be restored to man.

Grace elevates us to the rank of God’s children and,

therefore, makes of us brethren of Jesus Christ. It trans-

figures the soul as Christ’s divinity transfigured His

body on Thabor, fills it with divine life, so that even the

body becomes “a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

(2) About the Sacraments the teaching of the

Church is as follows: (a) there are seven Sacraments;

(b) they were all instituted by Christ Himself
;

(c) they

are all channels of divine grace; (d) three of them may

be received only once because they stamp an indelible

character on the soul; (e) all the Sacraments except

the Holy Eucharist exist only at the moment they are

conferred, while, of course, their effects endure; (f) the

Sacrament of Holy Orders must be received by the



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 53

clergyman if, as God’s minister, he would confer the

other Sacraments—except Baptism and Matrimony; (g)
the same clergyman must employ the proper form and

use the proper words.

That the Church has always taught that there are

seven Sacraments is clear from the fact that the Ortho-

dox Church, which broke away from Rome one thousand

years ago, still teaches the same; and Christian sects

formed several centuries earlier by breaking away from

the Holy See still retain the seven Sacraments.

(3) About the valid and licit reception of Sacra-

ments the Church teaches (a) six of them cannot be con-

ferred validly before Baptism, which must always be

the first Sacrament; (b) a woman cannot receive Holy

Orders; (c) a priest cannot receive Matrimony; (d) an

adult cannot receive any Sacrament validly without the

intention or will to receive it; (e) for the valid reception

of the Sacrament the subject must be capable of receiv-

ing it.

Those who hold that the Catholic Church ever forced

the faith on people or baptized them against their will

make a very false charge, because it is the clear teaching

of the Church that for all except infants faith must be

a voluntary act. Not even Baptism could be validly re-

ceived by one who opposed it.

You would not be justified, therefore, in baptising,

except conditionally, a neighbor or a friend in danger of

death, if he were unconscious. You would not be per-

mitted to baptize him even conditionally if you had a

good reason to believe that he would not want it.

To receive all Sacraments, except Baptism and Pen-

ance, the state of grace is required. Hence one who, in

the state of mortal sin, receives any one of the other

Sacraments, would receive the same unworthily, which

means that he would be guilty of a sacrilege.

Since the Sacraments play such an important part

in the sanctification and salvation of the human soul,
every Catholic should know at least as much about
them as we have taught in this instruction, but more



54 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

important than the knowledge of what Sacraments are,

and of what they do for the soul, is the frequent

reception of those Sacraments which may be received

over and over, and which are designed to keep God in

your soul and to make the union between yourself and

God more intimate. Your glory in Heaven will be greater

or less in accordance with the abundance of grace or

the lack of it possessed by your soul at the time of death.

MARCH 20

The Law of Mutual Cooperation

St. Augustine wrote: “He who made us without our

cooperation will not save us without our cooperation.” The

acquisition of everlasting bliss in Heaven depends on the

universal role of cooperation between a free God Who
bestows grace, sanctifying and actual, and the free man

who accepts it and utilizes it for the purpose for which it

was given. This is easy to illustrate (1) by examples; (2)

by the experience of everyone; and (3) by the very na-

ture of the heavenly reward.

(1) Addressing the people of two cities of Judea

Christ said: “Woe to thee, Corozain! Woe to thee, Beth-

saida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been worked the

miracles that have been worked in you, they would have

repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” (Matt. XI,

21). He does not say that the inhabitants of Corozain

and Bethsaida were more wicked than those of Tyre

and Sidon, but that they were held more responsible be-

cause they had witnessed His miracles without profiting

by them. Hence He continued : “It will be more tolerable

for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you”

(Ibid. 22).

On another occasion, speaking of the Israelitic

people generally, Jesus warned them that the Kingdom

of Heaven would be taken away from them and given to

another nation, yielding more fruit, within the same gen-

eration. What he predicted took place when Jerusalem



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 55

was destroyed by Titus, and its temple so completely

razed that not one stone was left on another. Since then

the Jewish people have been dispersed over the earth,

without a nation or government, without a priesthood and

sacrifice.

God had been good to the Jews, selecting them as

His own people, sending them holy kings and teachers,

and finally sending His own divine Son to their little

nation, with the declared purpose of “saving the lost

sheep of the tribe of Israel.” But the people did not co-

operate, as we learn from the touching plaint of Jesus,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered

thy children together, as a hen gathers her young under

her wings, but thou wouldst not!” (Matt. XXIII, 37)

(2) Just as Judas had received the same instruc-

tions from Christ and witnessed the same holy example

as the other Apostles without profiting by the same, so

we observe well-informed Catholics, even of good famil-

ies, resist the voice of their conscience and fall deeply

into sin.

Everyone who truly wills it can become a saint, just

as the unwilling person is sure to alienate himself from

God and His mercies. Christ contrasts the “faithful

servant who enters the joy of the Lord” with the “un-

profitable servant, ordered to be cast into exterior dark-

ness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

(Matt. XXV, 30).

God is more generous with His graces to some than

to others. To some He gives five talents, to others one,

but to all sufficient for the accomplishment of good and

the avoidance of evil. He gives in proportion to the man-
ner with which we cooperate. The servant who used the

five talents well, received five more. Christ Himself as-

sures us that “he that hath, to him shall be given and he
shall abound” (Matt. XXV, 28).

One who would hope to receive new actual grace in
quantity after having long resisted it, must, first of all

repent after praying for sufficient grace properly to do

so, which will always be given him. But delay is danger-



56 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

ous for “now is the acceptable time; now is the day of

salvation.” (2 Cor. VI, 2).

(3) Man must reach his eternal destiny as a free

man, because Heaven is a reward, and not a gift except

for baptized infants.

God imposes the terms and the creature-man must

accept them, and regulate his life in keeping with them.

We have often emphasized the fact that Heaven’s re-
ward is “the joy of the Lord,” which is of a divine order

and, therefore, supernatural. This being true it cannot be

attained without the assistance of supernatural aids

which, as you are now aware, is God’s grace—sanctify-
ing and actual. The former is dispensed by the Holy

Spirit through the Church by means of special ordin-

ances instituted by Christ, and known as “the Sacra-

ments.” The latter comes directly from the Holy Spirit

to every adult on earth in large or small measure, usu-

ally in keeping with the worthiness of the subject and

his willingness to correspond.

We must possess sanctifying grace if we would have
our good works, performed with the help of actual grace,

become meritorious of everlasting life.

The lesson is paramount, and therefore should sink

deeply into the consciousness of all of you. Nearly all

Catholics were placed in a state of grace, and started on

the way to Heaven even in infancy. Thus, from the

dawn of reason have had access to a Sacrament by which

the supernatural state of the soul could be restored after

it was forfeited by the commission of grievous sin and,

therefore, there is absolutely no excuse for them not to

“live in the state of grace”; no excuse not to store up

merit in Heaven day after day.

Protestants believe that a trust in the merits of

Christ, apart from the Sacraments, will insure their

salvation. Even if they were correct Catholics would

be in a far better position. They believe as firmly

as Protestants do in the need of having Christ’s merits

applied to their souls. They have an even greater trust in

Christ; but in addition to this, the merits of His passion

and death are channeled to them individually by means of

the Sacraments.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 57

The more freely we drink from the “fountains of

grace,” the more holy we shall become; and we have

Christ’s promise that if we do our salvation is assured.

MARCH 27

Faith Must be Backed by Grace

If the truths of divine revelation are “supernatural

truths,” then the acceptance of them on the sole author-

ity of God’s Church implies a “supernatural act of faith.”

Yet that is not what your Protestant friends understand

by faith. To them it means a trust in Christ as their

Savior, which, of course, is only a part of faith. What

faith really means is expressed in the Act of Faith,

which you are wont frequently to recite. Supernatural

faith must spring from supernatural grace and be as-

sociated with the love of God in order to be meritorious.

Theoretically speaking we do not love unless we are united

to Him, unless we let Him in our souls and reign there.

We “live by faith” (1) when we regulate our con-
duct by it; (2) when we bow our intellects to its teach-

ing; and (3) when we judge the right or wrong of

everything by its dictates.

(1) There is nothing so charming as “simple” faith.

The great scientist Newton, because of his daily study

of the vast universe, acquired such reverence for its

Creator that whenever he heard His name spoken, or

whenever he encountered it in a book, he bowed his head

in an act of faith.

Louis Pasteur, the renouned French scientist, enjoyed

the faith of the peasants of his country. Such faith char-

acterized the great grandparents of us all. Illiterate as

most of them were, their faith was a sort of instinct,

which enabled them to readily detect religious error, as

well as what was not in keeping with the moral law. They

“lived by faith.” It regulated their conduct, their judg-

ment and dictated—always rightly—all their decisions.
The same can be said of the millions who, in the

early centuries, loved Christ enough to give up their



58 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

lives rather than their faith when put to a test. They

were not as well instructed in the different truths of

faith as you are, but they accepted cheerfully and humbly

what those taught them who were agents of a divine

Church. What is more, they felt more realistically than

we do the intimate union they had with Christ through

grace and the Heavenly Father, Whom they had to love
and serve as His children. Believing themselves to be

tabernacles of the Holy Ghost they would allow no de-

filment to enter their souls.

(2) When we reason about matters of faith we show

by our attitude and action that we may entertain doubts

about such matters. During the Civil War days a
southern priest tells how he was called to the bedside of a

non-Catholic soldier at the point of death in a Catholic

hospital. This man had become so impressed with the

simple faith and the beautiful life of his Sister-nurse

that he wanted to die in her religion.

Since the priest had very little time to instruct him,

he examined him only on the few things which every

adult must believe before receiving Baptism. The priest

asked the dying man whether he believed in the Holy

Trinity. He answered that he did not know, and then he

turned to the Sister and asked whether she believed

in that truth. When she answered in the affirmative, the

man said, “Then I also believe in it.” The priest asked

whether he believed in the Incarnation of the Son of

God and the Redemption of mankind by His death on the

cross. The only answer the man was able to give was “I

shall believe in them if the Sister does.”

Many a person receives his first stimulus to con-

version from the simple faith and piety of a Catholic

friend. In fact, ten times more people are led to the

examination of the Catholic Church’s claims by the ex-

ample of good Catholics than are led to it by arguments

in favor of her doctrine.

The real Catholic never has any trouble with any of

the teachings of His Church if he whole-heartedly sub-

scribes to the belief that what she teaches and, therefore,

whatever it be, must be true. Arguments supporting

the divine doctrines are helpful towards the strengthen-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 59

ing of our faith and enable us to defend it when it is

attacked or questioned by our friends or neighbors. But

since “God wills that all men be saved and to come to the

knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. II, 4), all that is actually

needful is that they recognize an infinitely good God,

desirous of sharing His happiness with us, an infinitely

loving God Who came down from Heaven in the capacity
of Savior, of Teacher and Who founded in this world a
supernatural kingdom in which people were to have citi-

zenship, and through which they would be directed and

nourished by supernatural things.

(3) It is quite common even for Catholics to ask

questions about their faith, not chiefly for its strength-

ening, but rather because they show an unwillingness

to accept the same unless they are supported by argu-

ments from reason, which to them would be convincing.

St. Paul, himself a convert and a great convert-

maker, kept before the people only the fundamental

truths, namely, those of the Incarnation, the Redemption,

the Resurrection, man’s supernatural destiny, and how

it could be lost by sin. He felt it was more important

that people should live the supernatural life. He was

ever reminding them that having become children of

God by adoption they must live as His children; that

having laid aside the “old” man they should put on the
“new”

;
that having foresworn the world they might not

live in keeping with its spirit; that the things which

they did as pagans should not even be “known to them as

Christians”; that they should have only one mind in re-

lation to religion and conduct, and that was “the mind of

Christ Jesus.”

In such manner all Catholics should live and act to-

day. They should have the mind of the Church which is

the mind of Christ, and regulate their conduct according

to that mind, no matter how differently their friends or

neighbors might think and act.

Christ tells us that we cannot love both God and

mammon; that we cannot serve “two masters”; that
we may not love the world because it is at “enmity
with God.” As followers of Christ it is our duty to live



60 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

according to His standards, and thereby to be “the

light of the world,” attracting others to our better way

of life and influencing them to adopt it. If we ourselves

follow the standards of the world we not only give encour-

agement to those who are now indifferent to religion,

and keep them away from the Church. They reason

wrongly (but with some excuse) when they ask them-

selves “why should I, against inconveniences and diffi-

culties, become a Catholic if Catholics live no better than

I do at present?

APRIL 3

Union with God

We have seen that our faith does not deserve the
name unless it be active for our own growth in love for

God, for our sanctification, and for the drawing of others

to God. If through the possession of sanctifying grace

God actually dwells in our souls, how can we live (1) un-

conscious of that fact; (2) without communing with

Him constantly; and (3) without great care not to offend
Him?

(1) You would have been more habitually conscious

of God’s presence within you if your parents had daily

reminded you of it from the time you could understand

simple language. You probably received your first in-

structions about God entering your soul when you began

your preparation for first Holy Communion, yet from the

day of your Baptism the three Divine persons really

and actually dwelt in your pure soul. Because the gener-

ality of children were not so instructed through their

early childhood on the personal presence of God in their

sou£s, they grew up with the erroneous notion that only

through Holy Communion does God the Son pay a pass-

ing visit to them.

Just as we can have a cold belief in the Incarnation,

without reflecting on the infinite goodness of God, and

in the Redemption, without pouring out our heart in



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 61

gratitude, so we can believe in the truth of God's in-

dwelling in the soul, and in the fact of Christ’s personal

visit to us in Holy Communion without an outpouring

of our heart’s love in return for such intimate love dis-

played by Him for us. It all adds up to this, that we can

perform works of piety without having a lively faith

because we seldom reflect or meditate, and do not nour-

ish our faith by spiritual reading.

(2) If, when in the state of grace, God lives in the

tabernacle of your soul as truly as Jesus dwells in the

tabernacle of your parish church, how is it that you sel-

dom turn your thoughts to Him, commune with Him by

spontaneous prayers and aspirations of love. It shows

that God, Who does not need you for His happiness, is

a thousand times more interested in your welfare than

you yourselves are.

You should need no other argument in proof of your

soul’s worth than God’s intervention in its sanctification

and salvation. He so loves it because He made it for

Himself, because it reflects His own image, enjoys His

own divine life. He doesn’t want you to deliver it to

the devil, or even to have you prize it less than the whole

world. He wants your hearts to be pure, so that you may

see Him more clearly even on earth. He wants all your

love for your own eternal sake, and you cannot love Him

with your whole heart, if most of its love goes out to the

world, to things that are harmful to your soul. His is

a disinterested love and merits more serious considera-

tion. Because of His personal presence within you St.

Paul tells you that you should “pray without ceasing.”

That can be done without effort. You simply do for

His sake everything that is not sinful, offering to Him

your work, your recreation, your rest, your meals. All

,

this requires only the expression of your intention to do

“all for Him.”

(3) If you were truly conscious of God’s presence

in your soul, you could never offend Him in His very face.
Your prayers would be fervent and interesting instead

of cold and dry. You would be truly humble and, there-

fore, would cheerfully accept the trials, hardships and

sufferings and misunderstandings with which the aver-



62 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

age life is so full. These things would be borne for love

of the God Who sends them, in order that you might
make of them stepping-stones to bliss eternal.

Many people pray for detachment, but do not want
it; they pray for a “clean heart,” but feed it with read-

ing unclean; they know the purpose of Lent, but seek to

be excused from its insignificant hardships. You must

analyse what you say to God in stock prayers, lest you

may find yourselves to be speaking dishonestly to Him.

No heart that has given itself to God has ever been

disappointed, because God always floods it with happi-

ness. But how many hearts have been broken by other

loves, especially if, in their pursuit, God was driven out

of the heart?

Infinite love bestowed on us by God will always be

a mystery to those who make light of their own soul's

worth, and destiny. The wisest and most consistent per-

son is the one who makes a life profession of loving God,

and of promoting His cause by the practice of spiritual

and corporal works of mercy.

APRIL 10

Palm Sunday

APRIL 17

Easter

APRIL 24

Original Sin and Baptism

If you will recall the teaching of Holy Scripture

concerning Original Sin, you will understand why Bap-

tism is not only important, but necessary for everyone’s

salvation. If we inherited human nature tainted at its

source or origin
., a soul bereft of that life, without which

God could not be united to it either here or hereafter,

then every one must go through a re-birth. That is what

Christ Himself calls Baptism. Let us consider (1) the



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 63

nature of Baptism; (2) its miraculous effects; (3) the

beauty of the baptized soul.

(1) The word Baptism is derived from a Greek

word which means “a washing/’ or “cleansing,” or an

“immersing.” Many Protestants understand it only as

“immersion” and, therefore, maintain that the Catholic

practice of “pouring the water” on the head of the per-

son being baptized is not valid.

They give another reason for the immersion meth-

od. They say that Baptism represents, according to St.

Paul, the “burial of the person and his resurrection.”

They claim that the immersion of the subject into a

pool signifies a burial, and that his exit from it denotes

resurrection. But that argument is weak when we con-

sider that a re-birth, or as St. Paul expresses it “the

putting off of the old and the putting on of the new”,

implies a dying to sin and a rising to a better life.

The Catholic Church does not reject Baptism by im-

mersion, provided the one who baptizes uses the proper

“form” while immersing the subject, and has the in-

tention of doing that for which Christ instituted Bap-

tism.

But since one needs not to be immersed in order to

be washed, the Catholic Church adopted, for her prac-

tice, the method of pouring water on the head, because

this method alone can be used on all people in all cir-

cumstances.

St. Paul baptized while he was in prison and, evi-

dently, there was no pool of water there; he baptized

whole families, and it is not likely that he immersed

babies. Sick people, dying in hospitals, often call for

Baptism, but they cannot be immersed.

(2) The raising of the dead to life is not a greater

miracle than the raising of the soul to a supernatural

state. St. Augustine says “while Christ raised only a few

people from the dead corporally, He raised hundreds

from the dead spiritually.” Baptism not only removes

Original Sin from the soul of the child, and all sin from



64 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

believing adults, but it actually confers divine life on

the soul. St. Paul calls it “the washing of regeneration”

(Titus III, 5) ; and St. Peter (2 Peter I, 4) speaks of

it as conferring divine life. St. Paul also tells us that

its effect is to transfer the one who receives it from the

“power of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of God’s

love.” This Kingdom is God’s Church and, therefore,

Baptism enrolls the individual as a member of the Church

of Christ.

Jesus Himself refers to Baptism as a “re-birth”

(John III, 5) when he says: “Unless a man be ‘born

again’ of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into

the Kingdom of God.” This text also proves the absolute

necessity of Baptism, and of the need of baptizing in-

fants as well as adults. While the text reads “Unless a

man,” the original, as well as the Latin, reads “unless

any one.”

Surely not even the infant, tainted with Original

Sin, would be entitled to the supernatural bliss of Heav-

en, into which, according to Holy Scripture, “nothing

defiled can enter.”

To the one who reflects the Catholic teaching seems

elementary, namely, that if God does not live in a hu-

man order but in a divine order, in an order that befits

a God, then no person, living only in a human order, can

expect everlasting union with God unless he, by some

ordinance instituted by God Himself, be elevated from

the human to the divine order, from the natural to the

supernatural state. This should be easy to explain to

your non-Catholic friends, who would readily grasp the

soundness of the argument. It is something that has

never properly been brought home to them and, there-

fore, they have never reflected on it.

(3) If the creation of the material world was so

great a work of God that the mind becomes bewildered

and reels in contemplating its vastness and glory, what

must be the investment of the soul with divine grace,

reflecting not natural but supernatural beauty, not tem^

poral, but eternal glory!



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 65

A little babe is brought into your church and held
over a font by a sponsor chosen by its parents. The

Sacrament of Baptism is administered, and in an instant

a new spiritual world is born within it, incomparably

more marvelous than anything in the material universe.

God communicates His own divine life to that babe’s

soul, and so loveable does it become that He adopts it

as His child, so that it becomes a “domestic of God,” a

little brother or sister of His beloved Son.

Saints who were wont to contemplate this marvel

have wondered whether one could look upon a soul so

clothed in the glory of God and live.

This little child was taken to the parish church as a

creature of God and brought home as His child. The

mother who looks into the face of that babe so frequent-

ly every day should ponder the interior beauty possessed

by her child from that day on; and her ambition should

be, like that of its own guardian angel, to protect the

divine life within it. It becomes the duty of the parents,

of course, to see that this child of God will be reared

as such, that it will be taught to pray to Him, and then

be formed in a Christian school.

That child has rights of the supernatural as well

as of the natural order, and these must be respected,

encouraged and realized through the parents. It’s super-

natural life may lie dormant for six years, just as the

life bulb of a lily sown in the earth in the fall lies dor-

mant until spring. But this flower root was planted only

that it might germinate into fuller life. So, too, sancti-

fying grace at the dawn of reason should grow and ex-

pand. At that time there is the terrible possibility of

sin to destroy the beauty of soul. Parents and sponsors

must do their utmost to prevent that thing from hap-

pening.

It is unfortunate that the general impression pre-

vails outside the Catholic Church that we become “chil-

dren of God” by the very fact of creation. Such a con-

clusion could not be reached by good logic. By creation

we become “creatures,” and not “children,” of God. Re-

calling that the offspring belongs to the same order as

the parent, no creature can be a child of God unless per-



66 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

tonally adopted by God, and elevated to a divine plane.

vour non-Catholic friends understood this truth—

and it should be understood so easily—they would at
rm/*p perceive how different must be the interior of the

baotized as compared to the unbaptized child. Innocence

does not spell interior beauty; neither does exterior

beauty or loveliness. The beauty of the soul is not visible

to the bodily eye, but reason readily endorses the teach-

ing of faith that if a new “birth,” a “regeneration,”

that divine life is infused into the soul, it is beautified

beyond all comprehension.

«B*i-

MAY 1

Baptism

Baptism was instituted by Christ to confer on the

individual soul the supernatural life of which it was

deprived at creation, but which it absolutely needs for

supernatural eternal bliss.

(1) When God created Adam and Eve He added

to the natural life of their souls a life much like unto

His own. St. Peter (2 Peter, I, 4) speaks of it “as a

participation of the divine nature.” When they sinned

they forfeited this higher life, because it cannot co-exist

with sin in the soul. They forfeited it not only for them-

selves but for their descendants, because Adam was put
on trial, not only personally, but also as a representative

of the human race. The human nature which the 2,-

000,000,000 people now in the world have inherited

from him was tainted as its source, and this taint is

known as Original Sin
,
which might be defined as the

soul’s privation of the divine life which, though not

belonging to its nature, is nevertheless needful if the

soul would enter the supernatural glory of God when it

returns to Him at death.

In His goodness God provided for the restoration

of the supernatural life by the application of the merits

of the divine Redeemer through the Sacrament of Bap-

tism. Baptism is, therefore, called by Christ (John III,

5) a “rebirth”: “unless one be born again of water



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 67

and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter the Kingdom of

God.”

Baptism is so important that, without it, one could

not possibly hope for a state of life in the other world

higher than that which is in keeping with the natural

life of the soul—a state of natural happiness.
God Himself lives in a much higher order, in a

divine order, and the creature must be elevated to that

order, not at death, but during life, so that he may

merit supernaturally by his good works assisted by

God’s grace.

Baptism is, because of its very purpose, the first

Sacrament received and it is called the “most necessary”

Sacrament because of Christ’s own utterance quoted

above.

(2) When referring to the Sacramental System we

spoke of a transfer of the creature from the order in

which he was created to the Kingdom of “the Son of

God’s love,” or from the natural to the supernatural

order, and because this transfer is absolutely necessary

if the creature would be placed on the way to Heaven,

Baptism in case of necessity may be administered by any

one who believes in its regenerative power and performs

the ceremony correctly. It is necessary for the person

who baptizes to do that which the Church requires,

and to say ivhile 'pouring water on the head of the person,

“I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Ghost.”

It should not be difficult for people to believe that we

do not become children of God by the mere fact of

creation. By creation we become creatures; by baptism

we become children of God by adoption, and citizens in

His Kingdom. One may live most of his life in the

United States, yet he does not become a citizen of the

United States on that account. If he had been born in

some other country, he becomes a citizen of the United

States only when he submits to a formal ceremony of

naturalization. So it is with man in relation to the

other world. He must submit to a process of superna-

turalization, which is effected by Baptism.



68 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

(3) The Church requires one or two Sponsors for

the baptized person and expects them, in case parents

should predecease the child, to interest them in the

spiritual life and in the religious practice of the one

for whom they were selected as god-father and god-
mother.

Too many Catholic parents select Sponsors with-

out any relationship to the duty which they are ex-

pected to perform. You need not be told how many chil-

dren must be reared by others because of the death of

one or both parents, because of their separation through

a civil divorce and, therefore, how important it is that

there be someone obligated to take the place of a

deceased or neglectful parent for the proper religious

and spiritual upbringing of the child.

Sponsors also fill another function. One must be-

lieve as well as be baptized in order to be saved. But

the infant cannot make a profession of faith. The Spon-

sors, therefore, do it for the child. Because they do make

this profession of faith in its name, and promise, also

in its name, to renounce Satan and all his works and

pomps, it is clear that they have an obligation to see

that the child will profess and practice its faith after

it will obtain the age of reason.

Therefore always select as Sponsors only those who

themselves are good, practical Catholics, so that they

may consistently direct the child and set it the right
kind of example.

Sponsors are chosen not merely to comply with

the law of the Church, but for the fulfillment of a very

serious obligation. They should recognize that obliga-

tion and take a delight in filling it, becoming by the

seriousness of that obligation “a guardian angel” to the

child, with which they contract a spiritual relationship.

Do not delay the child’s Baptism beyond a week or

ten days at the most. The life of the infant is delicate

and fragile, and therefore is always danger of it dying

without Baptism. But do it also in order that almost

from the day of its birth it may become by adoption

God’s own child.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 69

Then during the six or seven years to follow always

think of the child as “full of grace,” as innocent and holy

as an angel in Heaven. Should it be taken by God during

those years be not only reconciled, but happy that it

has gone into the everlasting bliss and glory for which

it was created, while you and your interests here on

earth will be furthered by its intercession.

MAY 8

Confirmation

In these days even the child has a hard battle

to fight because he receives little encouragement to

right living either from his relatives or neighbors. But

Christ provided His Church with a Sacrament which is

designed to make the recipient, even a child, a soldier

in His army. The battle against sin, temptation, bad

example, begins with the dawn of reason and that is

why the child needs the special graces and gifts of the

Holy Spirit. He receives that assistance (1) from the

Holy Spirit in person; (2) from the sacramental grace

which the Sacrament confers; and (3) from the gifts

of the Holy Spirit.

(1) Children learn in the Catechism that the Holy

Spirit comes to them in a “special manner” through the

Sacrament of Confirmation. What is meant “by special

manner”? It means that while the Holy Ghost comes

to the soul through His grace in other Sacraments,

He comes in person in the Sacrament of Confirmation,

just as the Son of God, Who instituted the seven Sacra-
ments, comes to the soul in person in the Sacrament

of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Spirit comes, not for

a mere passing visit, but to live in the soul, make of

it His “tabernacle,” and of the body which houses it,

“His temple.”

Most parents do not realize what happens at Con-

firmation, as they do not realize sufficiently what hap-

pens in Baptism. They regard Confirmation as one of

the Sacraments which all should receive, and seem to

act on the theory that when it is over the child will



70 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

have complied with an obligation, which is now ended.

As a matter of fact, Confirmation is only the beginning

of a life of Catholic Action, only the beginning of a

militant, active service in the army of Christ. A child
may be still too young, and unprepared to explain his

faith, defend it competently or to answer questions about

it, but he can do much, in the manner that counts most,

by his good example.

If you ask the average child what new duties he

assumes wdien he receives the Sacrament of Confirma-

tion, he will answer that he must pray more and try

harder to conquer his faults, but would he not be

obliged to do these things even as a child of God? While

Confirmation should have the effect of making the child

“a more perfect Christian,” more spiritual, its real pur-

pose is to enable him to work in the open and accom-

plish more, not for himself, but for the cause of Christ.

(2) The Sacrament does not make the child strong

of a sudden, but sows in his soul the seeds which should

steadily mature into fruit. Just as the farmer must

cooperate with nature if he would hope to have a harvest

from the seeds he sows, from the grain he plants, so

must the Catholic cooperate with the Sacramental

graces brought with the Holy Spirit to his soul through

Confirmation. Of course, the child will continue to

need encouragement from his parents, from his older

brothers and sisters, and from his sponsors.

That is the sole purpose of sponsors, yet they seem

not to realize it. They are asked to become “sponsors”

of the child, and assume that the office ends after they

will have led the child to the Bishop. Their office

begins only at that time. They contract a spiritual rela-

tionship with the child, and are obligated, especially if

parents are neglecting their duty, to take a deep inter-

est in his welfare.

Just as human agents lead children astray, even

more than the evil spirit, so must human agents protect

the innocence of the child. Just as the devil uses human

agents, so also must God.

Of course, Confirmation, like the other four Sacra-

ments of the living, increases sanctifying grace, but it



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 71

also imparts a special grace to enable the recipient to

fulfill his duties as a soldier, while it stamps the soul

indelibly, “seals it with the seal of the Holy Spirit” as

a soldier “forever” in Christ’s army.

(3) The gifts of the Holy Ghost mentioned by

Isaias (XI, 1-3) as characterizing Christ Himself as the

Anointed of God, are “Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,

Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and the Fear of the Lord.

Four of these gifts are intended for the mind, and the

other three for the will. Those intended for the mind

evidently cannot be immediately effective in the small

child.

The gift last mentioned by Isaias—Fear of the Lord
—usually has the greatest effect on the child. It im-
pels his tender conscience to avoid offending God from

fear of punishment. Since the greatest person in the

world is powerless before God and, therefore, has reason

to “fear” the consequences of rebellion or even indiffer-

ence in His service, it is called “the beginning of wis-

dom.” Our world would be an entirely different world to-

day if its political leaders, the members of Cabinets and

Parliaments, were filled with a little more “fear of

the Lord.”

Piety should be associated with fear because then

it would be backed by love. Piety leads the person to

see God as a Father instead of a Judge and, therefore, it

leads to prayer, reverence, and service.

Knowledge enlightens to the mind to know what

pleases and displeases God. Fortitude strengthens the will

so that one may have the courage to follows what the gift

of knowledge proposes. The gift of Counsel is designed

to make us prudent, cautious. Understanding reduces

mechanical faith and mechanical service. Wisdom

prompts us to relate everything we do in this world to

our ultimate end, to choose and use the best means of

attaining it. It helps us to live aiid act in accordance with

God’s plan of salvation, to subordinate the temporal to

the eternal in everything.

We have repeatedly, in this course of instructions,
emphasized not only the importance, but the need

,
of



72 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

the Church’s Sacraments. Baptism and Confirmation

can be received only once because “once a child of God

and once a soldier of Christ” it was assumed that we

would always be true and loyal, and certainly not be-

come apostates or traitors. But the Sacraments which

we may receive more than once and even frequently
we should receive often, such as those of Penance and

the Holy Eucharist. That means we should resort to

the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist for

growth in grace and in love of God without any compul-

sion or even suggestion from others. Why should one
have to be urged to do that which will make him eternally

rich and happy?

MAY 15

Catholic Action

You all will recall how, during the late war, the only

observable interest which engaged the attention of every

one was that war. Its progress was kept before the

public m prominent headlines in every newspaper; the
leading articles in every magazines dealt with some phase

of it; so did national and international radio broadcasts;

day after day people were pressed to purchase war

stamps and bonds; they were organized for civilian

defense; they made sacrifices by the forced ration of

foods. Through these media every one became war-

conscious.

Now, if religion’s first duty is the glorification of

God, if “the one thing necessary” is the salvation of our

soul, then we should all be (1) religion-conscious; (2)
vie with one another to work for the cause of Christ;

and (3) organize with others to do this systematically.

(1) We often speak of “religious fanatics,” but
one cannot become too fanatical for religion provided

he thinks and acts prudently. Some one recently said

“religion is something worth while becoming crazy

for.”

If the world needs anything it needs its attention

drawn to the religion and teachings of Jesus Christ. If



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 73

the heads of nations only helped that cause, the citizenry

would be deeply moved and probably follow, and the ills

of separate nations, as well as of the world at large,

would become automatically removed.

Pope Pius XII said on the eve of Lent in the year

1941: “People in human society have need to know

God. The tremendous present-day events are principally

the consequence of negation of God; and irreligion,. like

contagion, disturbs and corrupts the soul of people, and

like a fire threatens Europe and other continents. It is

the proof through which our Lord, with powerful voice,

wishes to recall mankind to the faith and divine service.”

If, in our country the radio were to flash a ten

second religious thought; if before the feature movie

were shown, a signal were sounded on “right living”

much as we were wont to hear about war bonds; if the

daily newspaper editors wrote more on the subject

of religion; if the comics, devoured by millions of chil-

dren, turned our thoughts towards God, towards religion,

towards better morality, nearly every one would become

religion-conscious, and, to be consistent, would begin to

practice it.

Out of this interest would ensue a general recogni-

tion of the sovereignty of God, of the allegiance of which

both ruler and subject owe to Him, of the source of

man’s rights and of his correlated duties to both God

and his fellow-men; of the eternal law of justice and

charity as applied to human relations; and such recogni-

tion would determine the basis for the establishment of

a tranquil order of society, and even insure its

permanence.

(2) Why should Catholics not be at least as zeal-
ous as Communists? They work for the devil and a

bad conscience, which should inspire every one else to

work for God and a good conscience. It is the evil of

Communism and the zeal of Communists which neces-

sitated the spending of billions of dollars of American

money under the Marshall Plan.

But let us suppose that religion and right living

were uppermost in every one’s mind, as representing the



74 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

“one thing necessary,” religious instruction would be

brought to every child in the nation; religious prayers

would reach every home; family life would become holier

and happier and, therefore, the divorce evil would soon

disappear; the nation’s $15,000,000,000 crime bill would

be reduced by four-fifths; the lewd magazines would go

out of existence; in the light of its almost divine dignity

and its divine everlasting destiny the child would be

wanted and, therefore, the practice of contraception

would become a rare thing; the Christian brotherhood

which would develop would cure the evils of capitalism

and of class conflict; Socialism and Communism would

lose their appeal; and millions would probably knock

at the priest’s door for instruction.

To establish just such a condition of society God

became Incarnate; to bring such a state of society to

realization through the sanctification of the individual,

is the one mission of the Church; it is the thing for

which Christ taught us to pray in the first petition of

that prayer par excellence, which He enjoined on all

children of the common Heavenly Father: that His name

may be hallowed; that His Kingdom may come; that His

will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven. It is not,

therefore, a phantasy for which I plead, but for the

things which St. Paul demanded the “elect of God,” the

“chosen generation,” the “fellow citizens of the saints,”

to make actual.

(3) Catholic Action means “organized action.” The

individual is not supposed to go out on his own, but to

unite with a parish society or a city-wide group approved

by the Bishop, and with a mandate from him to labor

systematically with their priests for the extension of

the cause of Christ.

This “cause” of Christ embraces many things. It

means bringing the light of faith to others, the removal

of the prejudices in which they have been reared, the

refutation of errors to which they are committed, the

defense of Christ’s code of morality; and an apostolate

of example to prove that that code can be observed.

Christ certainly thought of the perversity of the

human will, of the evil inclination of the human being



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 75

when He became Incarnate, promulgated His law and in-

stituted divine ordinances which make easy the .ob-

servance of His religion in its entirety. It were sur-

prising if others were not weaker than Catholics because

most of our citizenry have never possessed sanctifying

grace, have never been elevated, as Catholics have been,

to the rank of soldiers in Christ’s army; have never been

armed, as they are, with the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

With the divine religion backing us, there should be no

grounds for despair or even for discouragement.

The world was once entirely pagan, and it was con-

verted to Christianity by comparatively few persons.

Christ said to His mission “I have overcome the world”

and St. John tells us: “This is the victory which over-

comes the world, our faith.” If Christ has since lost

fhe world that He overcame, it is because of the lack of

zeal and the indifference of His followers. If a victory

for faith is not taking place in the world today it is due

to the same reasons, namely, the unwillingness of the

followers of Christ to fight for Him.

You are actually enrolled in Christ’s army and will

remain so enrolled not only until death, but for all eternity.

If you allow Christ’s cause to suffer defeat it will be held

against you everlastingly. It is through Confirmation

that the laity is elevated to the rank of a “royal priest-

hood,” when it becomes their duty to live not only as

“more perfect Christians,” but to fight in the front ranks

of God’s army for the winning of the world to Christ.

MAY 22

The Holy Eucharist Foretold

You are quite familiar with the miracle which our

Divine Savior wrought in the desert in favor of thou-

sands who had remained with Him for three days with-

ing having had anything to eat; and you will recall

that 1500 years before, God, through Moses, head of

the Israelitic religion, had also fed a large throng in

the desert with Manna, or with a “bread from Heaven”



76 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

(Edodus XVI, 4). Following Christ’s miracle of the

“loaves and fishes” He walked over the waves of the

Sea of Galilee to Capharnaum, where there was a large

synagogue, erected by a pagan ruler, whose son had

been miraculously cured by Jesus. The people who had

witnessed the two extraordinary miracles crowded the

synagogue, and Jesus took the occasion to promise that

He would, in the near future, give His own flesh to men

as food for their souls.

Let us see how the reaction of His hearers resem-

bled that of non-Catholics today: (1) they refused to

believe that He meant literally what He said then; (2)

many who had begun to believe Him refused to listen to

Him any longer; and (3) rejecting the graces offered

they even became hostile.

(1) In the sixth chapter of St. John the promise

of the Eucharist is very clearly recorded. Speaking to

the throng in the synagogue Christ said: (vs. 26-27):

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek Me not because you
have seen signs but because you have eaten of the loaves

and have been filled. Do not labor for the food that

perishes, but for that which endures unto life everlast-

ing, which the Son of man will give you.”

Then Christ said to them (vs. 49-52) : “I am the

bread of life. Your fathers ate the Manna in the desert

and have died. This is the bread that comes down from

Heaven so that if any one eats of it he shall not die. I

am the living bread that has come down from Heaven.
If any one eat of this bread he shall live forever; and

the bread I will give is My flesh for the life of the
world.”

That promise was so unexpected and so extra-

ordinary that the people refused to accept it. To one

another they said: “How can this man give us His flesh
to eat” (vs. 53), but Christ renewed His promise under

oath: “Amen, amen I say to you unless you eat the flesh

of the Son of man and drink His blood you shall not
have life in you” (vs. 54). To renew from them the

notion that He was talking figuratively, He reiterated
His clear words over and over (vs. 55-59) : “He who



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 77

eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life everlasting,

and I will raise him up on the last day. For My body

is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who

eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I

in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and as I live

because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall

live because of Me. This is the bread which has come

down from Heaven; not as your fathers ate the Manna

and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.”

Followers of modern Protestantism speak and act

in the same manner as did the people who heard Christ

in the Capharnaum synagogue. While maintaining that

they accept the Bible as inspired, they insist on the right

to sit in private judgment on God’s own clear teaching.

(2) St. John tells us that when Jesus saw how

His teachings was received He said to the people “Does

this scandalize you? What, then, if you should see the

Son of man ascending where he was before” (vs. 62-63).

Then we read: “From this time many of His disciples

turned back and no longer went with him” (vs. 67).

Would it not have been Christ’s duty to point out

to them that He was talking in a figurative manner if

that were the case? Could He, as God, have permitted

the people to be deceived? That He meant precisely

what He said, in its most literal meaning, is clear from

Christ’s reaction. We read (vs. 68) : “Jesus, therefore,
said to the twelve. Do you also wish to go away.” The

evident implication is that Christ was willing to per-

mit even His apostles to leave Him if they, understand-
ing it or not, did not accept His promise in its literal

sense. For the twelve Apostles Peter spoke: “Lord to

whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting
life, and we have come to believe and to know that Thou

are the Christ, the Son of God” (vs. 69-70).

The hesitancy of the Apostles to accept this strange

teaching was quite natural since they had not received

the Holy Spirit. But that hesitation vanished when they

saw that Christ was most serious, and evidently meant

that He would fulfill, in a literal sense, what He had

then so solemnly promised.



78 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Therefore the Apostles were not surprised at the

Last Supper when Christ actually fulfilled the promise

He had made. It was His last night on earth, and if

His promise was ever to be realized the time was at

hand.

(3) What took place at the Last Supper was, there-

fore, the literal fulfillment of the promise Christ made

a year previously, and the Apostles unhesitantly received

Christ’s flesh and blood in Holy Communion. So promin-

ent a place was the Eucharist and the Mass to have in

Christ’s religion that the whole Christian world for

fifteen centuries accepted the same without any excep-

tion. Other heresies broke out in Christendom in the

early centuries, but none relating to the Holy Eucharist.

When, about one thousand years after Christ, Beren-

garius was bold enough to attack the Eucharist, he was

spontaneously rebuked by the people and withdrew his

protest.

It may not be known to our Protestant brethren,

but even today three-fourths of all Christians believe

as we do concerning the Eucharist and the Mass. There

is a reason why the one-fourth should not so believe,

but there is no reason why they should, as they are,

become hostile. Their disbelief is to be explained by the

same argument by which we have explained their opposi-

tion to other Catholic teaching, namely, by the fact that

their spiritual leaders, enjoying no commission to pro-

duce the Holy Eucharist or to forgive sins through the

Sacrament of Penance, are reluctant to concede that

the clergy of the Catholic Church has any such commis-

sion and power despite the plain words of Holy Scrip-

ture. It is this superior claim, of which they are

jealous, that renders them hostile. What they call their

own “Lord’s Supper,” they maintain, is only commemora-

tive of an incident which Christ told His followers to

remember.

But if anything is clearly established in the New
Testament, it is the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist as

Catholics believe it. We have quoted from St. John re-
garding the promise of the Eucharist in the Catholic



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 79

sense, and we shall, in our next instruction, quote St.

Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. Paul for proof that

Christ actually kept His promise.

How non-Catholics can claim that they accept Christ

and are saved by accepting Him, and at the same time

not only doubt but repudiate His solemn promise made

under oath about giving His actual flesh and blood to

His followers; how they can repudiate the clear gospel

record dealing with the fulfilment of that promise; how

they can repudiate His other promises, such as that

relating to the protection of His Church from error “all

days,” and still claim they “accept Christ,” is incompre-

rensible. Belief in the efficacy of His redemption, con-

bined with the repudiation of His teaching, of the Church

He established, of the Sacraments He instituted, is cer-

tainly not “accepting Christ/’

Do you ever take the trouble to call the attention of

your non-Catholic friends to this glaring inconsistency?

MAY 29

The Holy Eucharist

The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is called by

St. Thomas a “compendium of all mysteries.” All the

attributes of God are revealed in it. The Bible Prot-

estant cannot disown the Eucharist, but because his

religious leaders cannot produce, they use force to ex-

plain it away. To others it seems “too good to be true.”

But let us note (1) that it is not difficult to accept; (2)

Christ prepared people for it; and (3) it is taught more

clearly in the Bible than many other doctrine.

(1) Doesn’t it require extraordinary faith to ac-

cept the Catholic teaching on the Holy Eucharist?

Not at all, if we, as do all Protestants, accept the

teaching of the Church or even the historical fact that

God the Son, purely out of love for man, descended from

Heaven, took a human body and soul, and lived here on
earth for 33 years. Since every Christian believes the



80 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

further fact that out of pure love for man the Son of

God, while on earth, subjected Himself to poverty, to

persecution, to hunger and fasting, and finally per-

mitted Himself to be tortured and cruelly murdered, be-

lief in the Eucharist should be easy. It would require

much more faith to believe these things, which are gen-

erally accepted, than, after believing them, to believe that

the same infinitely good God invented a means of re-

maining on earth with men “all days even to the con-

summation of the world” (Matt. XXVIII, 20) in order

to continue His love for the individual by nourishing his

soul, as He nourished the souls of the Apostles at the

Last Supper, with His Sacred Body and Blood.

If God’s love be infinite then we could not even

conceive of it going too far; if there were any limit to

His love it would not be infinite, as all His attributes

must be. Understand we are not saying that man was

worthy of this infinite love of God. We are merely say-
ing that it is as easy to believe in the Holy Eucharist

as to believe in the Incarnation and the Redemption,

which is expected of every Christian.

The Holy Eucharist seems very reasonable also in

the light of what God’s people in the Old Law enjoyed.

They enjoyed the very perceptible Presence of God in

the Ark of the Covenant, which was held most sacred

by the Jews precisely because God manifested His

Presence in it. If one accepts the teaching of St. Paul

that the symbols and even the realities of the Old Law

were mere types and figures of what the New Law was
to have how can he honestly reject the clear teaching of

the New Testament concerning the Holy Eucharist?

In the Old Law the Jews actually had “bread from

Heaven,” a miraculous bread, called “Manna,” to which

Christ referred—as St. John quotes Him in the sixth
Chapter of his Gospel—as something considerably less
than the Christians were to have in the New Law.

(2) Instead of requiring great faith to accept the

Holy Eucharist, the rejection of the Holy Eucharist is a

flagrant violation of the faith the Protestant is expected

to have. To prepare the large concourse of people for



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 81

the acceptance of the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist,

Christ first of all multiplied the loaves and then walked

on the waters of Lake Genesareth. Because of these

miracles the crowd which already had been with Him for

three days, remained another day and followed Jesus to

Capharnaum, where He took the opportunity to relate

these miracles to a future miracle which He would per-

form, in which His own flesh and blood would be offered

as the food of souls. He said to the multitude: “Do

not labor for the food that perishes, but for that which

endures unto life everlasting, which the Son of Man

will give you” (John VI, 27). We would here refer you
to the balance of Chapter VI of St. John’s Gospel, where

you will note that Christ would not endure a rejection

of His clearly stated promise; that He was willing to let

His disciples “go away from Him” rather than that

they should even doubt. He was willing to dismiss the

very Apostles themselves, whom He had already had with

Him for two years, if they showed a disposition to ques-

tion the plain meaning of His words. This was a whole

year before the Last Supper. Hence the apostles were

not surprised when, the night before He died, He ful-

filled His promise. He could not have postponed it

longer.

(3) There is no doctrine of religion so clearly and

frequently stated in Holy Scripture as the doctrine of

the Holy Eucharist. Its institution is mentioned by the

evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and St. Paul tells us

that he received a special revelation on the subject from

Christ. Then he proclaimed the doctrine in the same

words used by the evangelists and Paul (1 Cor. XI, 23-

30).

St. Paul speaks of some people receiving Holy Euch-

arist unworthily, and he declares that they receive un-

worthily because in sin “they are guilty of the body and

blood of the Lord”; “he who eats and drinks unworthily

without distinguishing the body of the Lord, eats, and

drinks judgment unto himself.” If His body were not

present in the Holy Eucharist, people could not “Dis-

tinguish that body”; if what one receives were mere sym-

bols of Christ’s body and blood, one could not “drink



82 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

judgment (or damnation) to himself/’

All Christians could not have been wrong all the

time; but all Christians, from the days of the Apostles

until the sixteenth century, did believe in the Holy

Eucharist as a sacrifice and as a sacrament; they at-

tended Mass and received Holy Communion. The altars

in the catacombs, which were built by the first Christians,

eager and ready to become martyrs for the faith, are

living witnesses to the practice of these first Christians

of attending Mass and receiving the Holy Eucharist.

The more than 100,000,000 Oriental Christians,

separated from Rome, believe as Catholics do; so also

do the High Church Episcopalians. Lutherans teach that

in Holy Communion the true body and blood of Christ

are received, even though these clergymen do not claim

Apostolic succession.

If we can believe in the Incarnation, as all Cath-

olics do, and as most Protestants do; if we can believe in

the crucifixion of a God, as practically all Christians

claim they do, then certainly it should not be difficult to

believe in the Holy Eucharist, the Mass, or any other

truth of faith whatsoever. The value of the human soul

and, therefore, the infinite love which God must enter-

tain for it, and the anxiety of God that it be made safe

for all eternity at any cost, are the keys to the solution of

practically every momentous truth of faith.

JUNE 5

The Eucharist as a Sacrifice

Before instituting the official form of worship to be

featured in His religion until the end of time, Jesus,

with the Apostles, observed the Jewish feast of the

“Passover,” which commemorated the liberation of the

Israelites from the tyranny of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Just as God commanded that that event should be com-

memorated every year throughout the Old Law, so did

Christ command that what He did at the Last Supper be



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 83

commemorated throughout the New Law, or “until the

end of time.”

On the feast of the Passover, a lamb was sacrificed

and then eaten. At the Last Supper and thereafter

“from every place from the rising to the setting of the

sun” the unbloody offering of the Lamb of God would

be made, for the glorification of God and for the applica-

tion of the fruits of Christ's redemption to souls every-

where and throughout all ages.

That the Eucharist offering of the Last Supper is

a real sacrifice is clear (1) from the Bible; (2) from

the teaching of the Church; and (3) from the liturgies

followed by the first Christians.

(1) Christ had frequently declared Himself to be

the “Son of God” as well as “the Son of man.” When

He promised the Eucharist His hearers asked one an-

other “How can this ‘Man’ give us His flesh to eat?”

Evidently He could do it if He was God, and to prove

that He was God He wrought two miracles which should

have disposed the people to accept His divinity. He fed

thousands of people with a few loaves of bread; and

then to show that His body, glorified, would not be sub-

ject to the laws of physical bodies, He walked on the

waves over the waters. Impressed by those miracles

the Jews still wanted another sign and asked (John VI,

30-31) : “What sign do you show then that we may see

and believe; our fathers did eat Manna in the desert, as

is is written, ‘He gave them bread from Heaven to eat'?”

This gave just the proper opportunity to Jesus to

set them right. He answered: (vs. 32-35): “Amen,

amen I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread

from Heaven, but My Father gave you the true bread
from Heaven. I am the bread of life: I am the living
bread which came down from Heaven, and the bread

which I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.”

You will note that Christ's hearers understood Him

as we Catholics do, and began to ask the question which

Protestants ask: “How can this man give us His flesh

to eat?”



84 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

This all took place a year before Jesus died. Then

on the eve of that death He fulfilled His solemn promise.

In St. Matthew (XXVI, 26-28) we read: ‘‘And while

they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed and

broke, and gave it to His disciples, and said: ‘Take and

eat, this is My body/ And taking a cup, He gave
thanks and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of this

for this is My blood of the New Testament, which shall
be shed for many unto the remission of sins.’

”

You will note that Christ, acting as “the priest

according to the Order of Melchisedech” (Hebr. V, 6),

connected His unbloody offering of the Last Supper to

the bloody offering on the cross.

St. Mark records what happened at the Last Supper

in almost identical words. He writes: “And while they

were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessing it, broke and

gave it to them, and said : ‘Take
;
this is My body’

;
and

taking a cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them,

and they all drank of it; and he said to them: ‘This is

My blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for
many” (Mark XIV, 22-25).

St. Luke (XXII, 19-20) writes: “And having taken

bread, he gave thanks and broke and gave it to them,

saying, ‘This is My body, which is being given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.’ In like manner he took

also the cup after the supper, saying, ‘This cup is the

new covenant in My blood, which shall be shed for you.”

St. Paul (1 Cor. XI, 23-25), speaking of the special

revelation he received from Christ on the Eucharist, uses

almost the same words recorded by the three evangelists

above.

(2) Just as the Pascal Lamb was not only sacri-

ficed, but also eaten, so, St. Paul says: “Christ, our

Pasch, is sacrificed” (1 Cor. V, 8). His glorified body,

with the new properties it would have after His resur-

rection, was to be given in Holy Communion for the

nourishment of souls “until I come” (1 Cor. XI). If the

New Law was to be the perfection of the Old, then it

certainly must have a form of worship far superior to

that which the Israelites had. They were ordered by God



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 85

Himself to worship Him by sacrifice, but the Prophet

Malachy, who lived 500 years before Christ, told the

Israelites that their symbolic sacrifices would soon come

to an end in favor of a “clean oblation” which would be

offered in every place among the Gentiles.

Every ecclesiastical writer of the early centuries held

that the Eucharist was a true sacrifice. St. Irenaeus, who

lived in the second century, (Adversus Haereses) wrote:

“This oblation the Church received from the Apostles,

and in the whole world she offers it to God.”

St. Cyprian, in the third century, compares the sac-

rifice of the Mass to the pagan sacrifices, and rebukes

those who receive Christ’s body and blood before their

“conscience has been purged by sacrifice and the hand

of the priest” (Epis. ad Thibar).

In similar strain write Saints Cyril of Jerusalem,

Athanasius, Hilary, Ephrem, John Chrysostom, of the

fourth century; and Saints Ambrose, Jerome and Gau-

dentius of the fifth century.

(3) In the earliest liturgy or missal used in the

Church we find the prayer immediately following the

consecration of the Mass: “Wherefore, 0 Lord, we thy

servants and likewise Thy holy people, calling to mind

the blessed passion, of the same Christ Thy Son, our

Lord, together with His Resurrection from the grave,

and also His glorious Ascension into Heaven, offer up to

Thy most excellent Majesty, of Thine own gifts bestowed

upon us, a Victim which is pure, a Victim which is holy,

a Victim which is stainless, the holy Bread of life ever-

lasting, and the Chalice of eternal salvation.”

The Protestant historian, Grotius, in his Votum pro

Pace, writes: “I find in all the Liturgies, Greek, Latin,

Arabi, Syriac, and others, prayers to God that He would

consecrate, by His Spirit, the gifts offered, and make

them the body and blood of His Son. I was right, there-

fore, in saying that a custom so ancient and universal

that it must be considered to have come down from the

primitive times, ought not to have been changed.”

The Mass was to be a “memorial” of Christ’s death,

but a living memorial—not a mere monument as a nation



86 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

is wont to erect to a great president of general here.

There can be no Eucharist or Communion of the body

and blood of Christ without the Consecration, which in

religion implies sacrifice.

Christ came from Heaven to earth not merely

to redeem man, but to found a religion in which

the Holy Trinity would be infinitely and, therefore, ade-

quately glorified without interruption. One act of glori-

fication would have been sufficient to make amends for

mankind’s sins, but it would not meet the chief require-

ment of religion, namely, to worship, to atone, to thank,

to petition, the Almighty in a manner worthy of Him

by all people of every generation.. God is worthy of

the highest worship every day, every moment of the

day, and the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered every moment

of the day or night somewhere. The Christian religion

would not be perfect if it did not have such a sacrificial

offering as the Mass.

JUNE 12

Offer the Mass with the Priest

Catholics must correct the habit of attending Mass

mechanically chiefly for their own good. The Mass is a

divine Sacrificial Act, and has too much significance for

you, to justify a routine attendance at the same. The

priest offers it every day, while you are obliged to par-

ticipate in it only once a week, yet it is your sacrifice

as well as his.

You should be thinking today of tomorrow’s Mass,

determine the special purposes for which you will offer

it with the priest, and manage to be in your pew before

the priest comes out from the sacristy.

In the Mass there is (1) a part of preparation;

(2) a part in which you join the priest in his oblation

and make an oblation of your own; and (3) a part in

which you receive what was consecrated.

(1) If you are not at Mass from its very beginning,

you fail to acknowledge your sins and your unworthiness



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 87

to participate in so holy an offering, as the priest says

the Confiteor; you deprive yourself of the special absolu-

tion which the priest pronounces in the words : ‘‘May the

omnipotent and merciful Lord grant you pardon, absolu-

tion and remission of your sins.”

It has never been the mind of the Church that you

should be present at Mass only physically, or that you

should say prayers in your own way, without any relation

to the purpose of the Mass, or without any association

with the priest who impersonates Christ Himself.

It is very true* that one may say the Rosary or

other prayers, but these should begin only after one will

have united himself with the priest offering the Sacri-

fice and has specified the intentions for which one

would have the Sacrifice applied, at least in part.

Every Mass has infinite value and, therefore, it

should first be offered for the infinite glorification of

God, as an adequate atonement for sin, for the spread

of God’s Kingdom on earth. It can be offered for these

things without any detriment to your own intentions,

whether your intentions be to procure blessings for

yourself or for others, or help for the departed. Every

Mass is fully capable of covering all these intentions.

We venture to say that most people come to Mass
without offering it for any intentions whatsoever.

(2) While you are told that you do not sin mor-

tally if you are present for the Mass from the^Offertory

on, that does not mean that you do not sin at all if you

miss the first part of the Mass known as the “Mass of

the Catechumens.”

In the early ages of the Church, the faithful would

chant the offertory verse (which differs in every Mass'

while marching in procession, and carrying the gifts they

brought from their homes. These they took into the

sanctuary where they were blessed during the Holy Sac-

rifice, and from among them the offerings for the Holy

Sacrifice itself were taken. To offer, means to present

a gift to Almighty God; to honor, to thank, to petition

and to make expiation. Bread and wine have no special

value in themselves, but draw their value from their use



88 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

in the sacrifice, during which they will be changed into

the very body and blood of Christ.

When the priest raises the paten with the host and

offers it to God, you should gather and place on that

paten next to the host all your trials, difficulties, and

sufferings of a physical nature. When he offers the chal-

ice of salvation, you should place therein all your loneli-

ness, homesickness, temptations, and all suffering of a

mental or spiritual nature, that all may be united to the

elements which will be transformed into Christ, a sacrifi-

cial Victim, holy and pleasing unto God.

Just as the priest prepares the bread and the wine

for the Holy Sacrifice, so you, the faithful members of

the mystical body of Christ, must prepare your hearts

for what will soon follow.

(3) After the words of Consecration have been

spoken, the priest presents the Body and Blood of Christ

to the majesty of God. God is well pleased with His be-

loved Son, and accepts the gift most graciously. As we

have become one with Christ, our hearts, our sacrificial

hearts, have also become a pleasing gift in the sight of

Almighty God. As we address “Our Father Who art in
Heaven,” we pray that His Will be done. Once more we

acknowledge our unworthiness, and then proceed to the

table of the Lord to partake of the sacrificial meal. By

that act we become most intimately united to Christ, and

can say with St. Paul : “I live, now not I, but Christ lives

in me.” When we can not receive Christ sacramentally

we should do so spiritually with an ardent desire to re-

ceive Him.

We must live our offering. It is only before the altar
of God that we can draw that supernatural strength that

will keep us up under the burden of each day. If we

try to live in union with Christ, then there will be happi-

ness in our hearts regardless of all outward circum-

stances. Each day will bring us closer to His heart, each

day we shall grow in love and grace until that day when

we shall surrender our sacrificial hearts to Christ, not

before His altar on earth, but before His throne of glory

in Heaven!



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 89

Let me close this instruction, as I began

it, namely, by asking you, for your own sake, to

take the Mass seriously, to have intentions in your mind

for which you will offer it, and in your hearts stir up

sorrow for your sins and love for Him Who, day by day,
makes Himself available to you as a “perfect gift,” an

infinite gift, in Whom “the Father is well pleased.”

Since the Heavenly Father will be pleased with your

dispositions, with your offering made to Him in con-

junction with His divine Son, I hardly need to tell you

that you will profit immensely by every Mass in which

you participate.

JUNE 19

The Sacrament of Penance

Those who believe in the need of the Sacrament

of Baptism to cleanse the soul from Original Sin, and

from whatever actual sins were committed prior to the

reception of Baptism, cannot consistently reject the Sac-

rament of Penance, which was instituted for the purpose

of forgiving sins committed after Baptism.

For the average person what would be the benefit of

a Sacrament designed to take away sins committed up to

a certain time in his life, if there were no other Sacra-

ment to take away sins committed after that time?

A Sacrament to remove actual sin is so reasonable
that opposition to it can be due only (1) to wrong im-

pressions concerning its application; or (2) to the

notion that sin can be forgiven without sorrow for it; or

(3) that confession is unnatural.

(1) One reason why many people antecedently re-

pudiate the Sacrament of Penance is that they are in-

fluenced by the erroneous notions they have held con-

cerning the Catholic practice. They labor under the im-

pression, for instance, that the only requisite for for-

giveness is the confession of sins to the priest; and

never having inspected a confessional, assume, as they

have often been told, that the relationship between the



90 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

priest and penitent is so close that the confessional itself

may be a source of wrong.

Today people flock to psychologists and psycho-ana-

lysts not only to tell them their inmost secrets, but to be

probed by all kinds of questions. There is no probing,

no asking of questions, in the confessional unless it

chances to be necessary. The individual acknowledges his

chief faults, beginning from his last confession, receives

a little advice from the priest, is given a penance to

perform, and then upon assurance of sorrow and amend-

ment, is given absolution.

Instead of being repellent, the Sacrament of Pen-

ance has been the principal reason for the conversion of

many people. The late Gilbert Chesterton said that his

chief reason for becoming a Catholic was “to have my
sins forgiven/’

(2) As a matter of fact, the mere confession of

one’s sins to a Priest, Bishop or Pope, unless there be

genuine sorrow for the sins, coupled with a firm resolu-

tion of amendment, would not obtain forgiveness for

them.

It is the Sacrament and not the priest, that forgives

sins, just as it is the Sacrament of Baptism, and not the

one who administers it, that takes away sins committed

prior to the reception of that Sacrament.

For the valid and worthy reception of the Sacrament

of Penance the person must examine his conscience, then

awaken sorrow for his sins, confess them, and perform

the penance assigned. Only then does absolution pro-

nounced by the priest become effective.

If you asked what the Scripture warrant is for the

Sacrament of Penance, we would ask you to examine the

words of Christ addressed to the Apostles on the day of

the Resurrection, and quoted by St. John (XX, 21-23).

Christ prefaces His commission with the remark: “As

the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (V. 22).

From these words it is clear that the mission of the

Apostles was to be identical with that of Christ; and His

mission, according to His own words, was to “save the

lost sheep”; “to call the sinner to penance.” True He



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 91

had died for sinners, but His merits must be applied to

each individual soul.

Because the Apostles were only men and, as such,

had no divine power, the significance of the balance of

the text is very clear: “When He had said this, He

breathed upon them and said to them : ‘Receive the Holy

Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven

them; and whose sins you shall retain they are retained.”

It was by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power

of God Himself, operating through the Sacrament of

Penance, that the Apostles and evidently their real suc-

cessors, were empowered to forgive sin in God’s name.

(3) To those who claim that confession of sins was

intended to be public, we might only refer to the many

instances of Christ dealing with individual sinners

—

with Zachaeus, the Samaritan Woman, Magdalen, Peter,

the thief on the cross. In fact, there is not a single in-

stance of Christ pronouncing a whole group forgiven.

The public confession of sins often took place among the

early Christians, but it was in addition rather than as a

substitute for private confession.

It has always been God’s policy to deal with man

through man. When He gave His Ten Commandments to
the Israelites, congregated at the foot of Mount Sinai,

He did not promulgate them directly, but called Moses

aside, and commissioned him to deliver these Command-

ments to the people. When the ten lepers came to Christ

to ask for assistance, He said to them: “Go show your-

selves to the priest.” Leprosy was a figure of sin, and

even in the Old Law the priest was expected to pro-

nounce people forgiven.

The Sacrament of Penance, so needful in God’s plan

of salvation, is also a most natural thing. How often do
we hear it remarked that “murder will out.” How often
do we hear people speak of the relief they find in telling

to another what disturbs and agitates their hearts?

Those who patronize the Sacrament of Penance feel

much better, because they know for a certainty that what

they have told will never be revealed—will never even
stop in the mind of the priest to whom the story is told.



92 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

The priest could not remember a person’s confession if

he would, because he hears so many. Immediately fol-

lowing one confession he hears another, and after having

heard a dozen or fifty or a hundred on the same after-

noon or evening, he could not possibly recall any par-

ticular confession. But, as a matter of fact, he is not

permitted to try to do so.

Christ wanted His representatives throughout the

centuries to be physicians of souls, but they cannot act

in that capacity unless they become acquainted with the

affliction or disease, just as no physician of the body

could do anything for a patient until after a diagnosis.

Not what modern religions teach and practice,

but what was taught and practiced all through the

centuries must be taken into account. The Greek Or-

thodox Church, several centuries older than Protestan-

tism, has the Sacrament of Penance, and so have the

remnants of sects which were formed a thousand years

before Protestantism was born. Hence the practice of

confession was prevalent in the Christian Church at the

time the schisms from the universal Church took place.

Apostolic succession is required in the clergyman who

administers the Sacrament of Penance—and modern
churches, of course, cannot claim that. Their clergymen,

therefore, cannot claim the power to forgive sin.

JUNE 26

The Sacrament of Penance

Just as we take the Sacrament of Baptism for

granted, which cleanses the soul from sin and adorns

it with divine beauty, so do we take the Sacrament of

Penance for granted, which reclaims the soul from the

devil and starts it once more on the road that leads to

Heaven. It is God, of course, Who confers sanctifying
grace, and Who restores it but always through a Sacra-

ment instituted by Christ.

Let us consider now the wonderful effects of the

Sacrament of Penance when the three chief conditions



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 93

are fulfilled namely: (1) confession of sins; (2) super-

natural sorrow; and (3) the absolution of a priest.

(1) We have called your attention to the wonder-
ful transformation of the soul as soon as the act of

regeneration takes place through Baptism. We reminded
you that the child of the parent taken to the Church for

Baptism, it is carried home as a child of God, beau-

tiful in soul beyond all description, and that it remains

in that state of blessedness and holiness until, with full

knowledge of God’s law and with full consent of the

will, it later in life violates God’s law in a serious mat-

ter.

When you line up with scores of others before the

confessional on Saturday evening or afternoon, we are

certain that you do not reflect on the miracles taking

place in that tribune. Assuming that all the penitents

have lost the state of grace there is wrought within their

souls a spiritual resurrection no less astounding than a

physical resurrection from the dead would be.

A soul, once possessed of sanctifying grace and now
bereft of it, will have been transformed from beauty to

a state of deformity more repulsive to the eyes of God

than the remains of a dead human body, made hideous by

corruption, would be repulsive to your vision.

Never does the mercy of God, which David said “I

shall sing always,” and which he declared to be “above all

God’s work,” so manifest itself as in God’s tribunal of

mercy here on earth, which is the confessional.

The sinner merely acknowledges humbly and with

sorrow before God and before His representative the sins

he has committed, and the priest, by the words of absolu-

tion pronounces him forgiven, just as Christ, in person,

pronounced forgiveness to the thief on the cross, to Mary

Magdalen, and the young sick man with the palsy.

(2) Recital of sins, as a child might recite a prayer

whose words he does not understand, is not sufficient for

the worthy reception of the Sacrament of Penance. Sor-

row must be felt in the heart and expressed in words by

the one-time child of God who had deserted him, turned

traitor to Christ, and begun to follow Satan. That sow-



94 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

row must be supernatural, which means that it must have

at least some relationship to the God of love, and it must

be coupled with a firm resolution of amendment.

I hardly need to tell you that sorrow for a sin is to

be gauged by one’s determination not to recommit it, or

at least his sincere effort, through the use of the proper

means, to prevent its re-commission.

Priests fear that many people approach the Sacra-

ment of Penance in a routine manner because, as little

children, they started to make their confession in that

way. As a child you had little to confess and, therefore,

little for which to be sorry. You were told to tell your

sins and to make an Act of Contrition for them, most of

the words of which you did not even comprehend—and
the way children start is the way in which most of them

continue to receive the Sacrament of Penance.

The examination of conscience is seldom complete,

and thought of amendment does not enter seriously into

the mind of the average person. We call him a “peni-
tent,” which implies that he is filled with repentance

for what he has done, and that implies, in turn, his deci-

sion to improve with the aid of God’s grace.

(3) We have reminded you that it is God Who for-
gives sins and, therefore, the question asked by many

Protestants “how can your priest forgive sins” is legiti-

mate and deserves the proper answer.

Even a pagan who administers the Sacrament of

Baptism properly and with the right instruction, for-

gives sin, because it is Sacrament and not the one who

confers it, which cleanse the soul and imparts grace. So

it is with the Sacrament of Penance. Christ empowered

the Apostles and their successors to forgive sins in His

name, through a Sacrament in which, again, it is God

Who operates and confers grace. No priest nor Bishop

nor Pope can, of his own power, confer grace. You could

conceivably make your confession to the pope and receive

his absolution and still leave the confessional unforgiven,

either because you would not make a complete confession,

or because you would not have supernatural sorrow,

associated with the determination to amend your life.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 95

The absolution of the priest, which is a part of the Sacra-

ment, is effective only when the person receiving it will

have complied with the other conditions for the efficacious

reception of the Sacrament.

But when you will have done your part, the priest’s

part, which consists in absolution, will, in a moment, re-

move every scar of sin from your soul, and re-instate you

not only in favor with God, but restore your baptismal

innocence.

St. Paul, speaking to his new converts, said: “You

were hitherto darkness, but now you are light in the

Lord. Walk, then, as children of light” (Eph. V. 8). If

that advice is applicable to every baptized person, it is

equally applicable to every one who, after falling back

into the darkness of sin, is restored to “light of grace.”

Through Lent the thought in the liturgy of the Church

runs “Today you should hear His voice harden not your

hearts” (Heb. Ill, 8), which means that if your consci-

ence accuses you of having violated any of God’s laws in

a serious matter, you should hearken to the call of His

grace, and receive the Sacrament of Penance. You

should receive it often, because you have learned from

your little Catechism that “we must take more care of

our soul than we do of our body.” If you did not wash

your body oftener than once in two or three months, you

would be ashamed to appear in public. If you do not

wash your soul with greater frequency, you should be

ashamed to be under the eyes of God, Who sees you every
moment of the day and night, and calls on you to re-in-

state yourself in His favor.

JULY 3

Actual Grace vs. Actual Sin

We have spoken of Actual Grace, but the Catechism
also refers to “Actual” Sin. As the infusion of sanctify-

ing grace into the soul the first time removes Original

sin, so Actual grace (1) prevents Actual sin; (2) en-

' ables us to grow in grace and to become closely united to



96 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

God; and (3) enables us to merit Heaven.

(1) Sin and grace cannot so-exist in the soul; they

are like darkness and light, which are mutually exclusive.

But just as grace is not merely the privation of sin, but

something very positive and beautiful and divine, so sin

is not merely the absence of grace, but is destructive of

the merits of what ever good works we had previously

performed.

In the Tower of London they have the largest dia-

mond in the world, and whenever it is on display there

is an armed guard placed near it to protect it. Because

the soul of a child or of an adult in the state of grace

is much more precious before God than all the diamonds

in the world, God has placed every human being a special

“guardian angel” to protect that treasure surpassing all

the world in value.

But divine grace in the soul is always threatened and

is in danger of being robbed, as Holy Scripture tells us,

by the invasion of the devil, and by our neglect to make

use of actual grace, which God imparts daily for the

enlightenment of our minds and the strengthening of

our wills.

It is precisely because God foreknew that the average

person would not, at all times, correspond with His graces,

would even oppose them, and thus lose the inestimable

treasure of sanctifying grace that He instituted another

Sacrament for its restoration.

(2) Sanctifying grace can be augmented or increas-

ed day by day by the faithful use of actual graces, which

are nothing less than inspirations and special assistance

of the Holy Ghost.

Without fully comprehending what grace means most

Protestants are taught that once one becomes united by

faith he is saved for all times. To support this belief

they quote one Scripture text against which dozens of

others could well be quoted for its refutation. Their text

is “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be

saved” (Acts XVI, 31).

Holy Scripture tells us that he who “is holy should

be sanctified still” (Apoc. XXIII, 11), or made more



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A 'FULL YEAR 97

righteous, which means that he should grow in grace.

St. Luke tells us that the human soul of Christ “grew

in grace” as He grew in age and wisdom (Luke II, 52).

If faith alone produced jurisdiction all believers

would enter Heaven in the same condition of soul, while

the Bible tells us that, in Heaven, they will “differ in

glory as one star differs from another” (I Cor. XV, 41).

St. John (Apoc. XIV, 13) calls those blessed “who died in

the Lord, because their works follow them”—the super-
naturally good works they perform with the help of ac-

tual grace, and the benefit of which they do not lose by

the commission of mortal sin.

If grace is marvelous when it is brought to the soul

the first time, it is no less marvelous in its restoration

through the Sacrament of Penance. This Sacrament ef-

fects a miracle of no less magnitude than that which

Christ performed when He raised Lazarus from the

grave. The former is a spiritual, and the latter was a

physical miracle, both equally requiring the almighty

power of God.

(3) You have been reminded of a certain fact so

frequently that it should be easy for you to think accord-

ingly, namely, that the reward we hope to receive in

Heaven is supernatural, and therefore, the works by

which we earn it must also have supernatural value. But

no good works performed when we are bereft of sancti-

fying grace can merit supernatural rewards. The only

value they can have is to attract the mercy of God and

induce Him to give to us sufficient actual grace for a
thorough repentence.

Every reflecting person will apply to the promotion

of the supernatural life the principles followed by every-

one on earth in relation to his natural or physical life.

One who receives a large inheritance never wilfully de-

stroys it. Every one is much concerned about the growth

of his bank account, about social security, about employ-

ment. Now should not people be much more concerned
about having a bank account in Heaven, about making

themselves eternally secure? This is only another way
of asking whether they should not be much concerned



98 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

about growth in grace through prayer and the perform-

ance of good work. We earn our physical living by work,
and we could earn our supernatural merit here by work-

ing for God, for others, under a supernatural motivation.

There is never any need for unemployment; there is

never a depression in the spiritual life and, therefore,

there is no reason why we should not become and re-

main supernaturally rich even here on earth, rejoicing

all the while that, by retaining these riches, we shall be

made eternally rich with God and his angels in Heaven.

Do you make the Morning Offering regularly by

which you offer to God all the prayers and the good deeds

of the day for His glory and for your own growth in His

favor and love? When you do this, you “supernaturalize”

these works in keeping with St. Paul’s advice: “Whatso-

ever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the

Lord Jesus” (Col. Ill, 17).

St. Ignatius adopted that as a motto for all members

of the Society of Jesus for all time.

When the Church encouraged the Apostleship of

Prayer in League with the Sacred Heart, it urged the

Morning Offering, whereby our own motto for the day be-

comes “all for God.”

JULY 10

Contrition

We have seen that for the worthy reception of the
Sacrament of Penance we must first of all examine our

conscience, to ascertain in what ways and how often we

have offended God grievously since we received the same

Sacrament the last time. Then we should awaken sor-

row for our sins. This done, we enter the confessional,

and acknowledge our sins to God’s representative, the

physician of souls, the priest. The priest, in turn, gives

us absolution, in the name of Christ, and also stipulates

a penance, which we are expected to perform after our

confession.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 99

Our sorrow for the worthy reception of the Sacra-

ment of Penance must be (1) supernatural; (2) must be

combined with a firm resolution of amendment; and (3)

we must reflect if we would awaken it.

(1) The most important part of these several re-

quirements is supernatural sorrow for our sins, because

God will certainly not forgive us, even through the

Sacrament, if we are not sorry for having offended Him,

and if we have no intention to desist from committing

the same sins anew.

Whenever you talk about the Sacrament of Penance

with the non-Catholic you should emphasize its chief

requisite, Contrition, because he entertains the notion

that Catholics may sin as much as they choose, and may

continue to offend God after they will have gone to con-

fession. His prejudice against Confession would be well

grounded if it were true that no sorrow and an amend-

ment of life were required of the one who makes his

confession. It is certainly not the Church’s fault that

such unwarranted impressions are held, because she cer-

tainly does emphasize the need of supernatural sorrow

or contrition in her teaching on this Sacrament.

When we say sorrow must be supernatural, we mean

that the sinner must grieve over his sins principally be-

cause he has offended God or has deserved God’s punish-

ment in the other world. Natural sorrow would not

suffice. For instance, if a child regretted something he

did because he received a severe punishment for it from

his parents, that sorrow would not be supernatural. If

a gambler is sorry because he lost a great deal of money

in a game, that sorrow would not be supernatural.

Our sorrow must be related to God in some way.

If we are sorry for our sins because by them we lost the

right of Heaven and deserved the punishment of hell, the

sorrow is supernatural, but imperfect. It is superna-

tural, because Heaven is what it is because God is

there; and because the chief punishment of hell is the

privation of God. But we should strive at a higher sor-
row than that. It should arise from love. When we are
sorry because we have offended God Who is infinitely



100 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

good, and because His laws, meant for our own good,

should be observed, our sorrow is supernatural and per-

fect.

(2) Interior sorrow often manifests itself exterior-

ly as in the case of Magdalen, who bathed the feet of

Christ with her tears (Luke VI)
;
or of St. Peter who,

after denying Christ, “went out and wept bitterly” (Matt.

XXVI, 75).

However we do not gauge the one's sorrow by the

manner in which it affects him exteriorly, because sor-

row is really grief of the soul for having been disloyal

and disobedient to God.

Sorrow, to be genuine, must be coupled with a “firm

resolution of amendment.” In fact, if you would satisfy

yourself whether your sorrow is sincere and earnest, you

need only to answer affirmatively the question: “Am I
prepared to employ the means necessary to overcome the

grevious sins which I am about to confess?

What if a mother, after punishing a child for an act

of disobedience, asked him whether he would ever do it

again and he answered “Yes.” She would likely give

him another punishment more severe than the first.

Now you may not have in your mind that you will
go on committing your sins, but your confession might

be unworthy if you did not actually think about amend-

ment. We fear that there are many who, because of
routine, after examining their consciences, enter the con-

fessional without having given any thought to the awak-

ening of sorrow.

We have already told you that it is the Sacrament
and not the priest who administers it, which takes away

your sins, and that Sacrament would not have its effect

if there were an obstacle in the way—and the absence
of supernatural sorrow is an obstacle.

(3) The best way to awaken sorrow, after the

examination of your conscience, is to try to realize

that some of the sins you have committed, would, if they

were not forgiven, make you deserving of everlasting

punishment. You certainly want to have them forgiven

and, therefore, you sincerely regret that you have com-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 101

mitted them. This, as we have intimated, is imperfect

contrition, although supernatural. Then you will try

to recall your relationship to God as a child, who has

been most disobedient to Him, as a soldier who should

have actually been fighting for Him instead of acting as

a traitor. You should bring to mind that the infinite love

of God led Him to come down from Heaven to earth and

to die on the cross for your salvation. You should try

to elicit an act of perfect love, in which you tell Almighty

God that you “love Him above all things from the bottom

of your heart, because He is infinitely worthy of such

love,” and that, therefore, you will not wilfully offend

Him again in any serious manner.

Then you have the higher kind of contrition which,

coupled with the confession of your sins and absolution,

will effect a thorough cleansing of your soul. You should,

of course, trust in the infinite mercy of God, and that

mercy is displayed in the Sacrament of Penance, which is

called “the Sacrament of Mercy.”

After your confession you should feel that you are

forgiven as thoroughly as was the young man to whom
Christ said: “Be of good heart, son, thy sins are for-

given thee”
;
as thoroughly as Magdalen felt that she was

forgiven when Our Lord said “Many sins are forgiven

her because she has loved much.”

Catholics are urged to receive the Sacrament of

Penance often even if they do not fall into serious sins,

because through that Sacrament they receive additional

sanctifying grace. Frequent confession assists greatly

in leading one to know his weakness, and it keeps him

in the disposition to strive from day to day not only to

overcome evil, but to do good.

JULY 17

Extreme Unction—

1

Some Protestant sects “anoint the sick” whether

they be in a dying condition or not, but they do not hold

such anointing to be a Sacrament. Their opinion amounts



102 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

to nothing in face of the practice of the Universal Church

from the days of the Apostles, and of the practice today

among three-fourths of all Christians.

Let us (1) examine the text of St. James (V, 14-

15) ; (2) see what makes Extreme Unction a Sacrament;

and (3) its secondary effects.

(1) The Scripture authority for the Sacrament of

Extreme Unction is contained in the fifth chapter, 14th
and 15th verses, of the Epistle of St. James. It reads:

“Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the
priests of the Church and let them pray over him,

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And

the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the

Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins they shall

be forgiven him.”

That this practice was actually prescribed, is clear

from its use in the Church from Apostolic times.

The Protestant version reads a little differently. It

reads as follows: “Let him call for the ‘elders’ of the

Church”; its implication being that elders were not

priests, that they were lay-people and that, therefore,

Extreme Unction is not a Sacrament. It would take too

much time to argue about this play on words and their

significance. But why should lay people be called in to

pray for the sick and to anoint them with oil, when the

spiritual care of the sick evidently belongs to the clergy?

In the new translation even the Douay Version uses the

word “elders,” who, in Greek, are called “presbyters.”

The word “presbyter” might be correctly translated

“elder,” but the important thing is to determine what the

word “elder” connoted to the people of the first centuries,

when the New Testament was written. The first priests

were “elders” in the sense that they were not young. But

it is presumptuous to suppose that the word “elder” had

the same meaning then as in our day.

In all living languages, that very word has taken on

an entirely new meaning in the past centuries. For in-

stance, the word “signor” in Italian; “senor” in Span-

ish; “monsieur” in French, “sir” in English, are all de-

rived from the Latin word “senior” whose strict meaning



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 103

is “elder.” These words are applied not only to elderly

people today, but also to young people. In England, even

a baby baronet is entitled to the word “sir.” Those words

today ascribe a mark of dignity, and that the word

“presbyter” connoted the dignity which belonged to the

priesthood is clear from the fact that the official liturgical

word for “priesthood” is “presbyteratus.”

The order still stands: “Is any man sick among you?

Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them

pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of

the Lord.” It is the Christian practice throughout the

centuries which should settle the matter and it has ever

been the practice for the relatives of the sick to call in

a priest to anoint the afflicted one with consecrated oil,

and to pray over him.

(2) That the anointing of oil, together with prayer,

was not to be merely a symbol, but was actually to remove

sin and to impart grace, is clear from the words “and

the prayers of faith shall save the sick man; and the

Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins they shall

be forgiven him.” This anointing must be a Sacrament,

or it could not take away sins.

The olive oil used in the anointing of the sick is con-

secrated by the Bishop on Holy Thursday of each year,

as is also the oil which is used in the Sacraments of

Baptism, Confirmation and others. Oil is a symbol of

strength, having been used from time immemorial by

athletes. It symbolizes, also, healing. Since it is admin-

istered “in the name of the Lord,” every Christian should

readily perceive that it must be one of the Sacraments,

and, therefore, it is to be administered by an official

representative of the Church.

How sick must a person be before this Sacrament
may be administered?

He must be “in danger of death,” either because of

sickness or an accident. This does not mean that he

must be near death’s door. On the contrary, the Church

would have relatives call for the priest to administer the

Sacrament of Extreme Unction as soon as the physician

says there is danger. It would require a real miracle to



104 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

restore a sick person to health if he were actually

dying.

(3) The physical effects of this Sacrament, or the

“cure of the sick man” is secondary, that is why not all

people who receive the Sacrament are restored to physical

health. However, every Catholic priest can testify, and

numerous physicians, Catholic and Protestant, will also

testify, that immediately following the reception of Ex-

treme Unction, the condition of many sick persons be-

comes improved, and they are often restored to health.

In fact priests are sometimes asked by non-Catholics if

they might receive this Sacrament, even though they

were not ready to enter the Church—believing as they
did, that Extreme Unction often starts restoration to

health.

Does it not seem eminently fitting that a Sacrament

should have been instituted by Christ, designed to pre-

pare people for their entrance into eternity, to remove

the “remains of sin,” even of sin repented of but often

viewed not too seriously; a Sacrament calculated to re-

lieve the dying person of fears and anxieties, and to re-

store peace of mind, so that death may be faced, as it

should be faced by the true Christian, bravely and even

cheerfully?

You could hardly have followed our instructions on

the Sacraments without being filled with gratitude to

God for all that He does for the sanctification of the

members of His Church—His own dear children, and
heirs of life eternal in His paradise of glory and bliss.

JULY 24

Extreme Unction—

2

Although you are told that there are some Sacra-

ments which are not necessary for salvation, it does not

mean that they should be regarded lightly. Every one of

the seven was instituted by Christ for a very definite pur-

pose, and every one, therefore, is of very great impor-

tance. One can conceive of a person saving his soul.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 105

without receiving the Sacrament of Extreme Unction,

but it is likely he would have a longer purgatory if he

did not receive it.

If Baptism is necessary for salvation the reason is

very clear. Without Baptism there would be no

Christians, and every one in the entire world would still

be pagan. There would be no members of the divine

Church, which Christ established and ordered to be car-

ried to all nations. But if the priest often risks his life

to bring Extreme Unction to the dying that Sacrament

also must be important.

Let us consider (1) when you should send for the

priest to administer Extreme Unction; (2) how you

should prepare the room for the Sacrament; and (3) how

grateful you should be for this Sacrament.

(1) The teaching of the Church as we have been

informed, is that one may receive the Sacrament of Ex-

treme Unction only if he be in danger of death by sick-

ness or as the result of an accident. The Sacrament,

therefore, could not be administered to one who was about

to take a perilous trip, or venture on a dangerous under-

taking But when the physician in attendance pro-

nounces the sickness of a Catholic dangerous the priest

should be sent for. This applies even to a child who has

attained the age of reason.

Many relatives of a dangerously sick patient hesi-

tate to call the priest to anoint him or her for fear that

the patient, not realizing his danger, would become

scared into believing that death was imminent. Every

one should know that Extreme Unction is not going to

hasten death, but rather that one of its effects is actually

to retard it. What patient would honestly wish to wait

until he lapsed into unconsciousness before receiving

this Sacrament? He should wish to receive it when he

has the complete use of his reason and of his senses.

Neither should one hesitate to send for the priest

because it would be a great inconvenience for him to re-

spond to such a call as, for instance, when he is instruct-

ing the children in school, or instructing converts in the

evening, or even after he will have retired at night.



106 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Every parishioner has a claim on the priest’s time, and

particularly before he dies. If the priest can assist in

removing the remains of sins, and in preparing the dying

person for a greater welcome by his Judge, evidently he

wants to do that.

Of course, a priest should not be called out at night

if the physician believes that there will be no risk in de-

laying his visit until the next day.

Extreme Unction should be administered, according

to the mind of the Church, by the pastor of the parish

to which the person belongs, even if some other priest

had been called to hear the patient’s confession.

A priest may be summoned to anoint one who has
just expired. Theologians believe with scientists that thS

soul does not leave the body immediately with the last

breath of the dying person; that it may linger in the

body for at least half an hour thereafter. Hence during

that time the priest should be called to give conditional

absolution and Extreme Unction.

(2) If the sick person is to be anointed in a hos-

pital, it is likely that the good Sister, or one of the

nurses, will prepare the things requisite for the ad-

ministration of the Sacrament. But if the priest is called

to the patient’s home there should be placed at the side

of the bed a stand or small table, properly covered, and on

it a crucifix and a candle. There should also be a dish

holding five pieces or small cotton balls.

Since the Viaticum (Holy Communion for the dying)

is usually given immediately following Extreme Unction,

there should be on the table a glass of water and a spoon

and a finger towel.

If members of the immediate family or other rela-

tives are present, they should reverently kneel round the

bed, and pray while the priest administers the Sacra-

ment. If, at the same time, he says prayers for the

dying, they should, of course, make the responses.

If it be the will of God that the person should die, he

will be all the better prepared for it after having re-

ceived this Sacrament; but if it be God’s will that he

should recover, the Sacrament, according to the teaching



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 107

of St. James, will hasten the recovery. Therefore there

could not possibly be a good reason for Catholics to have

their loved ones wait until too late to call the priest to

administer Extreme Unction.

Even non-Catholic physicians recognize that some-

thing extraordinary happens through Extreme Unction.

The patient becomes usually more peaceful and calm,

which disposition usually enables the physician’s services

to become more effectual.

Non-Catholics, who observe the effects of Extreme

Unction, are agreed that the Catholic religion is the best

one in which to die, even if it be a harder one in which to

live.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was once asked by a clergy-

man what effects religious beliefs had on the minds of

the dying, and his answer was: “So far I have observed

persons nearing the end of life, the Roman Catholic un-

derstands the business of dying better than Protestants.

I have seen a good many Roman Catholics on their death-

bed, and it always appeared to me that they accepted the

inevitable with a composure which showed that their be-

lief, whether or not the best to live by, was a better one

to die by.”

(3) You have never heard, I am sure, that a Cath-

olic who practiced his religion during life was ready to

change it at the time of death. But it is quite common

for Protestants who gave little thought to the Catholic

religion during their lifetime asking for admission into

the Church before they die.

St. James, who describes the effects of Extreme

Unction, distinctly says this about one of the effects:

“The prayer of faith shall save the sick man; and the

Lord shall raise him up.”

Of course, Extreme Unction will not always have

that effect; if it did a Catholic who received the Sacra-

ment whenever he was seriously ill would never die. But

the implication is—and every priest has witnessed it

—

that the person will often begin to recover even after the

doctor will have told relatives “there is no hope.”



108 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

This reminds me of telling you that one may receive

the Sacrament of Extreme Unction as often as he is

brought low by a different illness. It can even be re-

peated during the same illness if it endures long and the

person will have been able to be up and around after a

previous anointing, and once more lapses into a serious

condition.
*

In these days of more frequent sudden death by heart

attacks or by apoplexy or cerebral hemorrhage, there is

good reason for us to pray with the Church for protection

“against a sudden and unprovided death.” A sudden
death is not an evil if a person should be ready for it,

but it would be the worst thing that could happen if

he should be in grievous sin. This thought should induce

those who are not living as good practical Catholics, or

who receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Euch-

arist only a few times a year, to change their ways, so

that they will be better prepared to enter eternity should

they be called suddenly without the advantages of the

Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and of Holy Viaticum.

People do not truly love their relatives who are ser-

iously ill if for a human reason they neglect to call for

the priest to do what he can for them spiritually, and

especially through the special Sacrament which was in-

stituted for just such a crisis. Extreme Unction will not

cause one to die a minute earlier, but will enable the

person to die much better prepared. Neglect on the part

of relatives to bring these benefits of the Church to the

dying person will certainly not be recalled cheerfully by

that relative after his or her death—and they will be
held accountable by God for their responsibility for such

neglect.

JULY 31

Holy Orders—

1

It could be presumed that Christ would institute a

Sacrament to be administered by one who enjoys the

fullness of His priesthood, designed to empower others



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 109

to administer the Sacraments generally. He did this

when He instituted the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

We shall briefly consider (1) what Holy Orders is;

(2) what the priest’s chief function is; and (3) why the

priest is needed.

(1) According to the Councils of Trent, Holy Or-

ders—sometimes simply called “Order”—is a Sacrament
instituted by Christ, by which there is set up in the

Church a Hierarchy constituted of Bishops, priests and

subordinate ministers, and it, like Baptism and Con-

firmation, imprints an indelible mark or character on

the soul of the one who receives it.

The Priesthood is conferred by the Bishop, Arch-

bishop, Cardinal or Pope, on one who had previously

reached the office of Deacon. In the ceremony of ordina-

tion the Bishop imposes his hands on the candidate for

the holy priesthood and invokes the Holy Ghost to enter

his soul. He clothes the candidate with stole and chas-

uble, anoints his hands with the Oil of Catechumens, and

presents him with a chalice containing wine and water

with the paten, on which rests an unconsecrated host,

saying

:

Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God and to

celebrate Mass, both for the living and the dead.

Thereupon the one being ordained celebrates Mass

from the Offertory until the end jointly with the or-

daining prelate.

Towards the end of the ceremony the Bishop again

imposes his hands on the candidate’s head, saying:

Receive the Holy Spirit
;
whose sins you shall forgive

they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain they

are retained (John XX, 22).

(2) It hardly needs to be said here that the Cath-

olic clergyman is called a “priest” because his primary

purpose is to lead the congregation in the worship of

God by offering the New Testament Sacrifice instituted

by Christ Himself at the Last Supper. It is called the

Sacrifice of the Mass.



110 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

Evidently one could not have the power to offer the

Sacrifice of the Mass or to forgive sins unless he were

empowered to do both through a special Sacrament.

Mention is made in the New Testament of the trans-
mittal of priestly powers to others by the Apostles them-

selves, in order that all people to whom the gospel would
be preached might have the benefit of the services of the

priesthood. In the Acts of the Apostles (XIII, 3) we

read that Paul and Barnabas were ordained and conse-

crated Bishops “by prayer and the imposition of hands.”

In his second Epistle to Timothy (I, 6) St. Paul speaks

of consecrating Timothy. Reference is also made to the

elevation of men to the order of Deacon (Acts VI, 3-6).

The Church regards Holy Orders as the highest

calling, and does the Holy Spirit, as we read in the

case of Paul and Barnabas:

The Holy Spirit said to them: “Separate me Paul

and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have taken them.”

Then they fasting and praying and imposing hands,

sent them away. So they being sent by the Holy Spirit

went to Seleucia (Acts XIII, 2).

In addressing Timothy, whom he had himself or-

dained St. Paul said

:

I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God,

which is in thee by the imposition of my hands (2 Tim.

I, 6).

(3) If Christ was to be with His Church until

the end of the world, carrying on through her the same

mission which He entrusted to the Apostles, then evi-

dently the Apostles must have successors throughout the

ages—Bishops and priests—duly commissioned to preach
the gospel, to baptize, to forgive sins, and to carry out

the injunction of Christ at the Last Supper when He

offered the first Mass “do ye this in commemoration of

Me.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch, who died in the year 107,

speaks of the Bishop as one who received his ministry

from Christ. St. Cyprian, who died in the year 258,

calls Bishops “successors of the Apostles by ordination.”

Pope Sylvester I, who died in the year 355, declared that



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 111

“The episcopal grace is given by God through men; men

imposing hands
;
God bestowing the grace.” St. Gregory

of Nyssa, who died in the year 395, said of the newly

ordained priest: “He who was but yesterday one of the

people becomes suddenly . . . the dispenser of hidden

mysteries.”

The Greek Schismatics place the greatest emphasis

on the need of the Sacrament of the Holy Orders, and

those Anglicans, who hold that Apostolic succession is

necessary, claim that they have the same because they

received the Sacrament of the Holy Orders. Of course,

the Catholic Church does not agree that the clergymen of

the Church of England have valid orders, because the

priesthood was abolished in England under Elizabeth in

the sixteenth century.

In modern Protestant religions the clergyman un-

ordained by a Sacrament is called a “preacher,” and does

not even attempt to offer sacrifice, which God Himself

constituted the one way of worshipping Him as no other

being may be worshipped. The priest is irrevocably

consecrated to God and his ministry is solely for the

people. That is why he is and must be revered. He is

God’s agent in this world for the spiritualization of the

individual and society.

AUGUST 7

Holy Orders—

2

I reminded you several times during the course of

our instructions on the Sacraments, that most of them

depend on the Sacrament of Holy Orders, by which

one is empowered and commissioned to exercise the

ministry of Christ; and I have told you that if Prot-

estants do not have all seven Sacraments, it is because

their clergy never received valid Holy Orders, which is

needed for the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist,

Confirmation, the power of consecrating. In fact, they

would also need Apostolic succession even for the com-

mission to preach.



112 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

The Sacrament of Holy Orders was (1) instituted

by Christ at the Last Supper; (2) it was conferred by

the Apostles on others; and (3) it is preceded by the

reception of other Orders known as Minor and Major.

(1) The first duty of the priest is to offer the

sacrifice of the New Law, and to be the instrument by

which Christ Himself can be a “priest forever.” At the

Last Supper our Divine Savior made it clear that He

was establishing a new “Covenant” in His own blood.

He related it to His immolation on the cross the next

day.

It was foretold by David, and later emphasized

by St. Paul, that He would be a “priest forever according

to the order of Melchisdeck.” He could not be a “priest

forever” here on earth except through the instrumentality

of others, empowered to offer the identical sacrifice He

offered the night before He died. After He made that

offering in person He said to the Apostles who were

at the table with Him, and who had received Holy Com-

munion at this first Mass “Do ye this in commemoration

of Me” (Luke XXII, 20). St. Paul tells us that order

would be carried out “until He comes,” hence through

succession of the Apostles.

Then three days later, on the day of His Resur-

rection, addressing the same Apostles, He empowered

and commissioned them to forgive sins, with the words:

“Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive,

they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain they

are retained” (John XX, 22).

God’s way of remitting sin and of conferring sanc-

tifying grace through the ages was to be through Sacra-

ments, but not every one is empowered to administer

Sacraments, such as the Holy Eucharist and Penance.

It was necessary, therefore, for Him to institute a Sac-
rament for each of these purposes, as He instituted a
Sacrament to take away sin in the first instance. Holy

Orders is not necessary for the conferring of Baptism,

because being necessary for salvation, God could not make

its reception in all cases dependent on the presence of

the priest.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 113

(2) We read in the New Testament (Acts XIII, 3)
that Apostles consecrated Paul and Barnabas with “pray-

ers and the imposition of hands”; and also (2 Tim. I, 6)

that St. Paul, in turn, consecrated Timothy. Apostolic

succession was thereby started, and has continued since

the days of the Apostles down to our times.

While the imposition of hands with prayer is re-

garded as the essence of Holy Orders, the ceremony as

it takes place today is an elaborate one. The Sacrament

is conferred during the celebration of Mass which is in-

terrupted several times. The candidates for ordination

first prostrate themselves on their face before the altar

while the Litany of All Saints is chanted; then the Bishop

imposes his hands upon the head of each one separately,

and all priests witnessing the ceremony, after placing

the stole over their shoulders, do the same thing. Then

the candidate is invested with stole and chasuble.

Following the singing of Veni Creator Spiritus the

Bishop anoints the hands of each candidate with sacred

chrism in the form of a cross, and empowers him to

bless and to sanctify the things blessed. He then de-

livers to each the chalice and paten with words which

impart to them the power to offer the Holy Sacrifice of

the Mass.

I have told you that from the Offertory until the end

those being ordained recite the Mass with the Bishop,

and even the prayers of the Canon and Consecration,

which are usually said inaudibly, are said loudly by both

Bishop and those offering the Mass with him. This is

called co-celebration.

After the Communion of the Mass the power of

absolving from sin is imparted with the same words

Christ addressed to the Apostles “Receive the Holy

Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven”

(John XX, 22).

The newly ordained promise their Bishop, or, if they

be Religious, their high Superiors, respect and obedience.

(3) During the course of theology pursued by the

candidate for the priesthood, the Bishop confers Tonsure



114 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

on him, at which time he is invested as a cleric, and re-

minded that he is “taking the Lord as his inheritance/’

The word “Tonsure” derives its meaning for the cutting

of five bits of hair from the front, the back, both sides

and the crown of the head by the Bishop. From that day

until the end of his life, in Catholic countries, a small

space on the crown of the head is kept shaven to remind

others that he belongs entirely to God.

A year later two Minor Orders are conferred on the
tonsured one, and after another year, two other Minor

Orders, which delegate and commission them to take

care of the church, serve at the altar and to exorcise.

Then later the Subdiaconate is conferred solemnly.

From that day the candidate is obliged to recite the Di-

vine Office throughout his life and to observe celibacy.

Then comes the Diaconate, about which we read much

in the early Church, even during the time of the Apostles.

It confers the power to preach, to baptize, to dispense

Holy Communion. After pursuing further studies the

deacon is ready for the order of priesthood.

When the priest is elevated to the Episcopate he re-

ceives the fullness of the priesthood, is empowered to

transmit the Sacrament of Holy Orders to others, and

given wider jurisdiction in the government of the Church.

No dignity is higher than that of the priesthood and

no other service to mankind can compare to it. There-

fore parents should regard themselves as specially hon-

ored by God if He invites their son to embrace this state

of life. On the other hand, they should not exert pres-

sure on their boy to prepare for the priesthood if

he himself has not a leaning and a strong desire for it.

The Church needs priests badly everywhere in the world

;

and if a young man should like to serve God professional-

ly throughout life as His special agent in promoting

the sanctification and salvation of souls, the priesthood

offers him that glorious opportunity. It is a high vo-

cation and, therefore, boys should pray from youth to

ascertain whether God would have them embrace it.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 115

AUGUST 14

Christian Marriage a Sacrament

Marriage is a sacred contract which had God as

its Author Who, even in the Old Law, ordered the

promulgation of an extensive code of laws for the fam-

ilies of His chosen People to observe. That Christ re-

garded it as a very sacred thing is clear from the rebuke

He administered to those who disregarded its indissol-

uble character, and from His plain declaration that in

His Church it would be a holy thing.

It is the teaching of the Church that Christ raised

marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament. Let us, there-

fore, see (1) for whom marriage is a Sacrament; (2)
under whose jurisdiction it falls as a Sacrament; and

(3) what are some of the laws relating to it.

(1) Marriage is a Sacrament for all baptized per-

sons. When two baptized persons, capable of marrying,

give their consent in the presence of the proper wit-

nesses, they not only are validly married, but receive a

Sacrament.

In other words, the marriage is not first a contract

and then a Sacrament, but the contract is itself a Sacra-

ment entered into by two baptized persons. I hardly need

to mention here that only the baptized can receive any

Sacrament; that, therefore, while two unbaptized persons

may enter a sacred marriage contract, they do not re-

ceive a Sacrament.

If the contract and the Sacrament are one, it follows

that the same individuals who make the contract also

administer the Sacrament. While a law of the Church

requires that the marriage vows be pronounced in the

presence of an authorized priest, his presence is only

that of an official witness. That means that the two

baptized persons, free to enter such a contract and

promising to accept it “for better or worse until death,”

are really the ministers of the Sacrament. It is the

only Sacrament, besides Baptism, which can be effected

by lay people. The contract and the Sacrament are iden-

tical for the baptized, and when the espousing parties



116 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

enter such a contract they necessarily receive the Sacra-

ment.

(2) Since Baptism admits the one baptized into the

Church; and since Christian marriage itself is a Sacra-

ment, evidently the Church has jurisdiction over it as

a Sacrament, and has the right to make laws and to

pass judgment on matters pertaining to its validity and

to its lawfulness.

You have heard that there can be impediments to

any marriage; hence they can impede marriage as a

Sacrament also. According to God’s own laws no one,

already married, whose partner is still living, may validly

contract another marriage. That was solemnly declared

by God at the time He married our first parents, and it

was reaffirmed by Christ.

Some laws relating to the contract of marriage are

identical both in the State and in the Church, such as

that relating to a marriage between very near relatives.

But when the State gives permission to remarry to one

who is already validly married for life, it assumes an

authority which it does not have, because God, Who is
superior to the State, has forbidden such second or third

unions. You should write that to your Hollywood idols.

It is when people are under diriment impediments,

or such as make a marriage impossible, that the Church

declares a previous contract null and void. In other

words, while you have heard about annulments of mar-

riages by the Church, they were not actually annul-

ments of a valid marriage, but rather a declaration that

the original contract entered into was not a valid one and,

therefore, was no marriage at all. The Church has made

some laws intended to prevent marriages between certain

people or under certain conditions, but since not all these

interfere with the validity of the marriage, but rather

with its lawfulness, they are called “prohibitive impedi-

ments.”

(3) The Church forbids, for instance, a Catholic

to marry a non-Catholic even if he should have been

validly baptized. This is done because it is the business

of the Church on earth to promote the faith of Christ,



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 117

and to protect the interests of God in this world gener-

ally. If, in the Old Law, when marriage was not a

Sacrament, God forbade His chosen people, the Jews, to

marry outside their faith, then there is a greater reason

for the Church in the New Law to oppose a union be-

tween a Catholic and a non-Christian, or a Catholic and

a Christian, who is outside the pale of the true Church,

whether knowingly or unknowingly. It was Christ Who
declared “A house divided against itself cannot stand”

(Mark III, 25).

Just as I have noted that the State has no power over

a law of God, so neither has the Church. When she is

called on to judge whether or not a marriage had been

validly contracted, the case is referred to the Diocesan

Matrimonial Court, which makes a very careful investi-

gation. If the court finds that a diriment impediment

existed at the very time of the marriage, it gives a

declaration of nullity, but this does not mean that it is

granting a divorce with permission for a second mar-

riage. It means that she declares that there was no real

marriage in the first instance, therefore, if one or both

parties see fit to marry again it becomes their first real

marriage.

The Church can allow no dispensations for a mar-

riage between people to whom divinely established diri-
ment impediments apply. But she may grant dispensa-

tions and does so, for good reasons, when there is ques-

tion only of her laws, and not of God’s laws or a law of

nature, interfering.

Never, for a moment, entertain the thought that

your Church is old fashioned in reference to marriage.

It is our modern generation which is “new fashioned”

and in conflict with laws imposed either by nature itself,

or those promulgated by God, the Father, the Author;

or God the Son, Who elevated marriage to the rank of
things holy, for all persons who had become God’s chil-

dren by Baptism.

The wisdom of the Church in her regulations deal-

ing with the sacrament of Matrimony is made clearer and

clearer with the passing of the years. Broken homes are



118 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

comparatively rare among Catholics, but a very common

thing among others, separating children from parents,

and weakening the very fabric of our nation, which can

be no stronger than the families which comprise it.

^ < m

AUGUST 21

God Wants to Bless Your Marriage

One of the most beautiful scenes recorded in the

New Testament is the appearance of Jesus and Mary at

the marriage feast of Cana, and the significance of their

appearance at this wedding was immensely impressive.

Cana is only a short distance from Nazareth, where

Christ had lived with Mary and Joseph from the time

of His return from Egypt, following the death of Herod.

That scene is repeated frequently in every parish

church. Jesus (1) wants to be present at your marriage;

(2) He will bless it if you are worthy; and (3) He wants

you to regard marriage as something “holy.”

(1) In accepting the invitation to the Cana wed-

ding Christ wished to impress on all people for all times

the fact that God wants to be invited to every wedding

in order to bless it.

This is why He elevated marriage, according to St.

Paul (Eph. V, 32) to yie rank of a Sacrament which, for

Christians, would not be dissociated from the contract

itself. As a Sacrament it would confer special blessings

and graces on the wedded pair, so that, throughout a long

career, they might be truly happy, and in that state of

life, and through the fulfillment of its duties, attain a

high place in Heaven.

You have often heard it said that “Marriages are

made in Heaven.” Cana’s was, and every one should

want his or hers to be. They are arranged there for

those who make themselves worthy of such a display of

interest by God, and who will pray for His assistance

in the selection of a partner. But numerous are the mar-

riages arranged by God’s archenemy, who realizes that a

bad marriage usually means a big victory for him. Its



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 119

evil effects may endure for generations. The devil real-

izes that a marriage is likely to result badly if he can

assist a young man or woman in the selection of a part-

ner; and he knows that he will have little interference,

according to a declaration of Almighty God Himself, if,

in preparing for marriage, youth will “shut God out of

its life”; if youth will associate with people who have

neither faith nor morality; if youth “will not live accord-

ing to the spirit, but according to the flesh.” Every pas-

tor has seen unhappiness come to many, who, against

their own better judgment, yielded to the stronger will

of another.

(2) Even if Heaven were not interested in your

future welfare on earth, you yourself should be; and your

temporal welfare will depend largely on the kind of

marriage you will contract. Our country is full of brok-

en homes, of mismated married couples, and, therefore,

of marriage failures. In fact, never before was marriage

such a risk, and this should lead young people to use

their heads more than their hearts, and to rely on their

faith more than on their inclinations, in choosing a sweet-

heart.

Generally speaking youth should not begin keeping

company with one whose family record is bad. Vice is

often inherited, and good character is usually not formed

in a home where good moral influence was lacking.

A young woman should not fraternize with one who
has not ambition, whose rendezvous place is the saloon

or the poolroom or the gambling hall. The young man

should not court girls whose tastes are extravagant, whom
he, therefore, would not likely be able to support and

please; and the young woman should not go out with

a young man who lives beyond his means, who does not

pay his debts, who spends much money on her.

It is important, as we mentioned before, that young

people should try to learn the character and disposition of

others by observing their attitude towards their parents,

towards their brothers and sisters. Since human nature

does not change through marriage, every young married

woman must expect her husband to treat her much as he



120 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

treats his sisters and mother, and every young man

can be sure that the girl’s attitude towards her broth-

ers and father will later be her attitude toward him.

(3) We have reminded you that the importance
which Almighty God attached to marriage was shown by

the presence of Christ at the marriage of Cana; but its

importance should be extremely clear even from the pur-

pose which it is intended to serve. If, through mar-

riage, Heaven is to be peopled; if the family, resulting

from marriage, is the very foundation of society; if hus-

band and wife are so closely united that, in the words of

Genesis (XI, 23), they are expected to leave father and

mother permanently and cleave to each other
;
if they are

actually joined together by God Himself (Matt. XIX,

16), then certainly marriage is something very sacred

and holy.

Precisely because marriage does hold such an im-

portant place in the plan of God, we are not surprised

that Christ, in founding a new world-wide religion,

should elevate marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament

for all those capable of receiving a Sacrament, namely,

the baptized—those who are incorporated into His King-
dom.

The union of Christ with His Church, which He came

from Heaven to establish in His own blood, is certainly

intimate, holy and perpetual, and, in the mind of Christ,

so should marriage be.

If marriage is a life-long contract, if the weal or

woe of society depends on its stability, then, even apart

from religion, it is the most sacred alliance on earth.

Marriage is less sacredly considered by people in the

United States than anywhere else in the world. We have
innumerable marriage mills and divorce mills. Many

people become acquainted today, tomorrow will procure

a marriage license without difficulty, and will have even

less difficulty in finding a Justice of the Peace, or a Prot-

estant clergyman to witness their marriage.

County has vied with county to get the marriage

business; state with state, to get divorce business—all
from a purely financial motive.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 121

Marriage mills and divorce mills are closely related.

If we are to have hasty and thoughtless marriages, then

we are naturally going to have machinery with which to

break up these marriages. If it were difficult to procure

a divorce, then people would give more thought and

reflection to marriage, and exercise more caution in the

selection of the marriage partner.

The State has the right to make certain demands

in relation to marriage. It may establish, for instance,

a minimum age; it may require a residence in the state

or county for a certain period; it may require that the

parties proposing to get married, receive a license from

it; but it may not “put asunder” what God, from whom
civil power is derived, “hath joined together.”

AUGUST 28

The State as Weak as Its Marriages

The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Penance,

Extreme Unction exist only at the time they are being

received; the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist endurses

as long as the species last; but the Sacraments of Holy

Orders and Matrimony endure throughout life.

St. Robert Bellarmine likened the Sacrament of

Matrimony to that of the Holy Eucharist, because it

continues beyond the time of the sacramental contract.

Since the family is based on marriage, and society on

the family, evidently (1) no state can be stronger than

its homes; (2) the state must be as unspiritual and ir-

religious as the families composing it; and (3) the re-

form of the state must begin in the home.

(1) Just as the Church orders a light to be burn-

ed before the tabernacle because the Eucharist endures

as a Sacrament as long as the accidents under which it

is contained endure; just as the Church demands that

the species be carefully protected against desecration ; so

should the wedded couple be reminded of the continua-

tion of their sacramental contract. They need to be re-

minded that the Sacrament is desecrated not only by



122 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

divorce and unfaithfulness, but even by the neglect of

parental duties. This is the lesson which Catholics need

to keep in mind, a lesson of which the generality of

people of our country and of the world never even think.

Of course, most marriages that take place in the United

States are not Sacramental, and, therefore, not accom-

panied by the Sacramental graces, which the married

need very much in a country whose social life is pagan.

If the family is the unit of society, evidently no

state can be stronger than the families which compose

it, and it is not likely that its constituent families will be

made stronger until they take marriage itself more

seriously. Today marriage is no more seriously con-

sidered than is the thing which disrupts it. If it begins

without the blessing of God through His Church, it must

be continued without sacramental graces, and, as you

well know, it is becoming ever more and more unsafe

as a permanent union.

George Washington declared, in his Farewell Ad-

dress, that neither private nor public morality can exist

apart from religious principles. If these principles are

lacking in most homes they cannot exist in the nation.

(2) According to statistics issued by the United

States government one-half of all the people of our na-

tion are unaffiliated with any religious organization,

which means that they have never learned the ABC’s of

religion. For the most part they have never received

any Sacrament, not even that of Baptism, which must

be the starting point of a spiritual and supernatural life.

Of those who do belong to one of the more than 200

Protestant religions comparatively few are instructed in

the faith. Even many of these have never been baptized

because they have never been taught that it is essential

for salvation.

Only one-tenth of the school population receives any

knowledge of religion or morals in the school; and only

one-half of all Catholic children do. Hence unless par-

ents become their religious teachers and set the example

of spiritual living there can be no reform of society along

religious, spiritual or moral lines.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 123

God obligates both the Church and Catholic parents

to be the child’s teachers and guides. The Church is so

obligated because by Baptism the child became a child of

God, and must be reared as a child of God by the Church

of which it—also through Baptism—became a member;
and by its parents, who evidently must do far more than

most of them are doing to educate their children as

“children of God.” It is a plain duty which is imposed by

the Sacrament of Matrimony.

From these observations it must be clear that society

can be reformed today only by Catholics, every one of

whom is God’s adopted child, and nearly every one of

b
whom is a professed soldier of Christ, and all of whom

have the benefit of the grace and aid-giving Sacraments.

For them to follow the unspiritual and irreligious among

whom they live and work, rather than to lead the latter
by their example and instruction, is a crime before God.

(3) If all homes were religious the state would be

religious; if all homes were truly spiritual, the state

would be spiritual-minded; if all people regulated their

lives by the Commandments of God, these would become

the basis of all laws passed by the State and Federal

legislatures.

There were many centuries during which kings and

emperors took their membership in the Church as seri-

ously as the people, and cooperated with the Church

in every possible manner. The citizenry was, therefore,

Christian, instinctively, and even if poorly educated in

the books, it had an innate sense of what was right and

what was wrong. Marriage was held to be a very sacred

contract by all the people and, therefore, divorce was not

permitted by the State. Religion was a part of the edu-

cational system from the primary grade through college

and university, and it was the norm by which people

felt impelled to settle all national and international prob-

lems. If there had been such cooperation between the

State and the Church during our lifetime there would

have been no wars, no conflicts between capital and la-

bor, no cultivation of hatred as between races and na-

tions.



124 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

It must have occurred to you frequently during the

late war and since, 'that Almighty God was never in-

voked at international conferences, that the heads of

states never called on their citizenry to repent, do

penance and pray for guidance for their statesmen. This

itself is proof sufficient that the average State is neither

religious nor spiritual-minded, that it tries to build on

the sand of political opinions and expediency, and not

on the rock, which is Christ.

A thousand years before the establishment of Chris-
tianity David declared “Unless God build the house, they

labor in vain who build it.” We have seen such vain
labor on the part of the world’s present-day leaders, yet,

among themselves, they have never appealed to God to

help them build the house of peace.

Just as the family is the unit of society, so should

the heads of families and every individual in the family

regard themselves as bound to assist in improving the

religious and spiritual condition of their community. The

community, built of families, is a larger unit of the

state, and if all of them were greatly improved by the

Catholics who are part of them, we would eventually,

at least, have a religious and spiritual nation on which

Heaven would look down with favor.

SEPTEMBER 4

You Must Prove Your Freedom to Marry

Marriage, regarded as the holiest of all contracts

from the beginning of the human race, was elevated by

Christ to the rank of Sacrament for all Christians.

Like all other Sacraments, it was placed by Christ in the

custody of His Church. Five of the seven Sacraments

offer grace and help to the individual. Matrimony and

Holy Orders are, in a special manner, social Sacraments,

and impart grace and help for the benefit of many—the
former for all the members of the family, the latter

for members of the Church.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 125

According to Church legislation Catholics must (1)

marry before a priest and two witnesses; (2) they must

produce a certificate of Baptism and have the banns

promulgated; and (3) strangers to the priest must prove

by affidavit their freedom to marry.

(1) The Church is a sovereign society as well as

the State, and since marriage is a Sacrament for Cath-

olics, the Church must enact laws relating to Matrimony

as a Sacrament.

The State has authority over marriage as a civil

contract, and may exact the observance of certain forms,

such as the procurement of a license; it may enact laws

determining the age, the health, etc., of the applicant.

In a similar manner the Church has authority over

marriage as a Sacrament.

For a Catholic marriage is always a Sacrament,

while it is never a Sacrament when contracted by two

unbaptized persons. Because it is a Sacrament for

Catholics they must pronounce their vows before an

official representative of their Church, and in the pre-

sence of two witnesses. The official representative is the

pastor of the bride, when both parties are Catholics, and

the pastor of the Catholic, when one of the parties is

a non-Catholic. No other priest may officiate at the

marriage unless delegated by the proper pastor.

Since a Catholic cannot enter marriage without at

the same time receiving a Sacrament, and since Cath-

olics come to their Church for Sacraments, when a

Catholic contracts a marriage before a Protestant min-

ister, before a Justice of the Peace, it is null and void.

(2) Because the Sacrament of Matrimony presup-

poses the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, a Bap-

tismal Certificate is required from the pastor of the

church in which the parties were baptized. If the Bap-

tismal Certificate be almost impossible to secure be-

cause, for instance, one or both parties were baptized in

a foreign country, then affidavits from parents or Bap-

tism sponsors must be procured.

Not of absolute necessity, but of importance, is a

Certificate of Confirmation also. It offers evidence that



126 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

the person, now seeking marriage, had a Catholic train-

ing beyond the time of the use of reason.

The Church requires that a forthcoming marriage

be promulgated three times in all parish churches in

which the prospective bride and groom had member-

ship for six months. While it is not always possible

to conform to the letter of this law, the wisdom of it in

our days is clear if the priest who is to assist at the

marrage is to be assured that no impediments obstruct

a free marriage.

The civil law in many of our states, and in many

other countries, has copied this Catholic Church policy

by requiring that notice be served in the courts or to

newspapers of a forthcoming marriage three weeks be-

fore a marriage license will be issued. The purpose of

such a law is three-fold: (a) to prevent hasty marriages,

which usually end in failure; (b) to prevent unlawful

marriages; and (c) to prevent people diseased from

marrying.

Thoughtful Catholics want the banns published. It

is a challenge to people “to find fault if you can.”

Secret and unannounced marriages provoke very unkind

gossip.

(3) When the pastor of the Catholic party is ask-

ed to witness a marriage between that parishioner and

another Catholic who, to him, is an entire stranger, he

must not only be furnished with proof of the Baptism,

but also with evidence that the stranger is free to con-

tract marriage. A stranger to the priest who is asked
to perform the marriage, whether Catholic or non-Cath-

olic, must take an oath, with his hand resting on the

Bible, to the effect that he either was never married

before, or that his consort to a previous marriage is

dead. Evidence of the latter must be produced. A
civil divorce and a license to contract a second mar-

riage according to the laws of the State do not make

a second marriage either licit or valid before God. Not

even the non-Catholic’s conversion to the Catholic Church

would invalidate a previous valid marriage, except

under the Pauline Privilege, which is explained else-

where.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 127

The Church, God’s agent, must, especially in these

days when divorce is so common, make sure that the

applicants are eligible for marriage. So many non-

Catholics do not feel that they are obligated by the laws

of the Catholic Church, and do not hesitate to deceive

the priest. But in nearly all cases they violate a law

of God rather than a law of the Catholic Church.

If a Catholic contracts a marriage which endures

for life he certainly should pray and exert prudence and

caution in selecting a permanent mate. He should not

take for granted that every young person under twenty-

five is free to marry. In these days it is not out of place

to ask the friend who wants to court you “Am I going
with one who tried marriage before? In more cases

than you think the answer would be “yes.”

SEPTEMBER 11

As a Sacrament Marriage Belongs to the

Church

Since only baptized people are in position to re-

ceive Sacraments, marriage is a Sacrament only when

the contracting parties are baptized. Otherwise it is

only a natural contract which, however, because so

declared by Almighty God, its Author, is binding unto

death. The priest who performs the marriage and

blesses it is only its witness in the name of the Church;

the contracting parties, through their mutual consent,

effect the binding contract.

Marriage is (1) a true Sacrament; (2) it binds hus-

band and wife until death; and (3) as a Sacrament it is

under the control of the Church.

(1) St. Paul (Eph. V, 23-32) teaches that Chris-

tian marriage is “a great Sacrament,” because it repre-

sents the intimate and holy union between Christ and

His Church. One would suppose that marriage would

be given a Sacramental character in the Church of

Christ not only because it is the foundation of a Chris-



128 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

tian home which, in turn, is the foundation of a Chris-

tian state of society, but also because special grace is

needed by the contracting parties if the marriage bond

must last “until death does them part.” The Sacrament

confers the graces needed for the wedded pair to meet

their obligations and to carry their burden throughout

life.

With the rejection of the sacramental character of

marriage, following the origin of Protestantism, came

also the disastrous plague of divorce, with all its at-

tendant evils. Luther allowed the first divorce in Ger-

many to the Prince of Hesse. Henry VIII, a King,

granted himself the first divorce ever known in Eng-

land.

That marriage was regarded as a Sacrament

throughout the centuries is clear not only from the

testimony of early Christian writers, but from the fact

that the Greek Church—hundreds of years older than
Protestantism—has always held it to be such.

A. S. Barnes, in his The Early Church in the Light

of the Monuments, page 141, notes that representations

in the catacombs, dating back to the fourth century or

earlier, prove that marriage between Christians was

regarded as a sacred rite.

(2) That the marriage bond was to bind until death

is clear from the words which Almighty God addressed

to Adam (Gen. II, 24), words quoted by Christ Himself

(Matt. XIX, 5-6): “For this cause shall a man leave

father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and

they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore, now they are

not two, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined

together let no man put asunder.”

In St. Mark (X, 11-12) Christ is quoted as saying:

“Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another,

commits adultery against her, and if the wife shall put

away her husband and be married to another, she com-

mits adultery.” Our Savior is quoted by St. Luke in

the same way (XVI, 18) ; and by St. Paul (1 Cor.

VII, 2-11).



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 129

The most the Church is authorized by her divine

Founder to allow in behalf of a married couple who

cannot live happily, is a “separation/’ which does not

give either the privilege of remarrying.

The Church may grant a dispensation by which a

Catholic and an unmarried non-Catholic can validly

marry, but she cannot grant a dispensation for a mar-

riage between a Catholic and a divorcee, whether he

was baptized or not. If you have ever heard that a Cath-

olic, once married, has been permitted to remarry dur-

ing the lifetime of the partner from which he or she

was separated, the explanation is that, upon investiga-

tion, it was discovered that the first marriage was not

valid in the eyes of God. If it was not a valid marriage,

it was not a marriage at all and, therefore, the so-

called second marriage is really the first true marriage.

(3) If marriage is a Sacrament, it should be clear

that Christian marriage falls under the control of the

Church, and not of the State. As you have already

been told, the State may legislate concerning

the age at which people may marry, concerning the pro-

curing of a marriage license, and concerning certain

civil effects of marriage. But it is not empowered by

God, no more than is the Church, to dissolve a valid mar-

riage, and to allow the separated parties to marry again.

We know that this is done, in a wholesale way, in this
country, but that does not make it licit before God.

There are Catholics who fail to understand all this,

because they do not take account of the Sacrament char-

acter of marriage for all Christians. Many have the

notion that if they should attempt a marriage with a

divorcee before a Justice of the Peace, they only violate

a law of God, and are no more married after such a

ceremony than they were before. If the Pope cannot

annul a valid marriage certainly a judge of a civil court

is not empowered to do so.

In explaining the wrong of remarriage after divorce

never say that “the Church” forbids it, but rather God

forbade it back in Eden, and Christ forbade it most

definitely, as Matthew, Mark and Luke quote Him, and as

St. Paul clearly teaches.



130 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

SEPTEMBER 18

Church Cannot Annul a Valid Marriage

We have seen how sacred Christian marriage was
intended to be, yet how lightly it has come to be regard-

ed by our generation. We have pointed out that Al-
mighty God Himself, Who sealed the first marriage con-
tract, declared it to be indissoluble; that His Divine

Son, Who came to be mankind’s Teacher, left no room
for people even to doubt its indissolubility.

We have quoted the Evangelists and St. Paul, who
report Christ’s characterization of a second marriage

following a civil divorce as “adultery.”

The law of God is expressed by the Church (Canon

119) in these words:

A valid marriage, ratified and consummated, can be
dissolved by no human power, and by no other cause

than death.

Let us remove some wrong impressions: (1) Legal

Separation does not warrant remarriage; (2) the

Church cannot annul a valid marriage; (3) what the

Pauline Privilege implies.

(1) Although the Church permits separation for a

just and serious cause, it cannot grant the right to those

validly married to remarry, because God Himself forbids

it. The Church recognizes as a valid and serious cause

for a separation, but not for a new marriage, unfaith-

fulness on the part of one of the spouses, unless the other

spouse consented to the crime, was responsible for it or

condoned it, or committed the same crime.

It is Almighty God Himself, Who forbids such a
marriage, and the Church only promulgates His law.

Once God has emphatically spoken, the hands of His

agent, the Church, are tied. Not only are the hands of

the Church tied, but the hands of the State as well. No

king or president, no Federal or State legislature, has

any authority to alter a law of God, Who, after marry-

ing the first human pair, declared

:



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 131

“Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and
shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one

flesh.”

Not only was that decision of God never abrogated,

but it was solemnly reiterated by Christ when He said:

“What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.”

He declared that its temporary suspension, as in the

Old Law would not be tolerated in the New, because

the union of man and woman in marriage would repre-

sent His own union with His Church, from which,

according to His own testimony, He would never be sep-

arated. The Church is called Christ’s bride. Because

husband and wife were to be united in a similar holy

manner and need the blessing of God on their union,

Christ’s first public act was to attend a marriage in

order to bless it. Marriage is called by St. Paul a “great”

sacrament, because of its mysterious relation to Christ

and to His Church.

(2) If no one may marry a divorcee, then no one is

permitted to carry on a courtship with a divorcee—be-
cause no one may keep regular company with one whom

he or she is not permitted to marry. Because young di-

vorcees are so numerous, Catholic youths are likely to

meet them in social life without suspecting that they

had once been married. It is, therefore, important that,

before any Catholic young man or lady gives encourage-

ment to a stranger, he or she elicit from him or her a

statement on his or her freedom to marry. It seems

impossible to believe that any Catholic, realizing the

consequences of marrying a divorcee, should even dream

of it, because such a marriage would be no marriage at

all before God; in fact, in the very words of Christ and

His Apostles it would be an adulterous union.

Marriage is a serious affair and, therefore, youths

should proceed cautiously, pray and seek guidance, live

religiously and morally, in order to be worthy of the

blessing of Heaven needed to make them happy.

You have heard of some people being permitted to

contract a second marriage during the lifetime of the

spouse to a first marriage; but you judge wrongly if



132 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

you assume that that first marriage was actually valid

in the eyes of God. Because of an impediment to a valid

marriage the first contract was null and void.

(3) Holy Scripture justifies remarriage only in one

instance. It is the dissolution of a natural contract (not

Sacramental) between two unbaptized people, one of

whom later embraces the faith and the other refuses to

live peacefully with him or her on that account. Becoming

separated, the convert is permitted to contract marriage

with a member of God’s Church if his or her former

spouse refuses to return to him or her. This is called

the Pauline Privilege.

You have also heard the Catholic Church charged

with permitting a second marriage to rich people who

were willing to pay w^ell for a dispensation, but you have

heard a wicked libel. You hardly need to be told that all

of England could have been saved to the faith if the

Pope had granted permission to Henry VIII to remarry.

He surely would have paid any price. But the Church

refused even him, as she was obliged to do.

Upon appeal to Rome there are far more marriages

declared null in favor of the poor than of the rich. But

understand correctly, that no dispensation was granted

for a second marriage, but rather the first contract was

proved to be null or invalid whereupon the so-called

second marriage became the first.

It was your Church which changed completely the

status of woman, which elevated her to the same rank

and dignity enjoyed by the man; which protected her,

which made her a partner in marriage, a partner in her

husband’s goods, which compelled her husband to be true

to her throughout life, which took account of the rights

and security of their children, which gave to the family

a sacred character and, therefore, to society its unity and

stability.

The world would probably be engulfed in barbarism

today, if indeed the European population had not become

extinct before America was discovered, if the Catholic

Church had not saved it. In pagan and Mohammedan

countries women are still treated as slaves and have few

rights.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 133

SEPTEMBER 25

The Divorce Evil

Although most people are called by God to embrace

the state of Matrimony, it is becoming increasingly risky

for a Catholic to enter a marriage contract except with

one of his or her own religion.

The number of marriage failures has grown so

rapidly from year to year in this nation that the United

States now leads all countries of the world in divorces,

as it also does in crime. Short-lived marriages are be-

coming so common that they no longer attract unfavor-

able attention.

Not many years ago the remarried divorcee was

socially ostracized; but, today, despite the fact that

before God he or she lives in adultery, no public animos-

ity is shown toward him or her.

Despite the prohibition of divorce and remarriage by

God and even by nature (1) the divorce rate is ever on

the increase; (2) it has changed the mentality of the

people; and (3) it is most injurious to society.

(1) From the latest statistics on divorces we cull

these comparative ratios between marriages and divorces

in several countries:

England had only one divorce in 1939 for every

twenty marriages, but in 1946, there was one divorce

for every five marriages;

France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and the Scan-

dinavian countries had an average of only one divorce to

every 35 marriages.

In Canada, there was only one divorce for every 161

marriages, yet Canada borders the United States.

In the United States there was one divorce for every

six marriages before the late war, but in 1946, one for

every three or even two marriages in all cities, and the

situation is growing worse.

In Detroit during 1945 every second marriage ended

in divorce. In St. Louis there were as many divorces as
marriages during the first four months of 1946. In Cali-



134 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

fornia there was a divorce for every 1.65 marriages. In

some cities there were more divorces than marriages.

Since most divorcees remarry it means that they actually

“live” in adultery, and St. Paul clearly teaches that the

adulterer will be damned eternally. Catholics will be safe

for happiness here, sanctify themselves and bring up

their children properly only if they marry among them-

selves “until death do them part.”

The ratio of one to six before the late war was for

the United States as a whole. In rural areas the ratio

was one to eleven.

In some countries there were no divorces because

they are not granted.

(2) The effect on the mentality of the American

people is evident. They now take divorce as much for

granted as marriage. Most non-Catholics no longer

think of marriage as a permanent contract and hence,

antecedently, assume the right to apply for a separation

from their marriage partners if they should tire of them

or become attracted to another.

Those who have that antecedent attitude cannot even

marry validly, and for this reason the Church requires

that the non-Catholic, desirous of marrying a Catholic,

declare over his signature that he regards marriage as

indissoluble except by death.

The Catholic who believes in the permanency of the

marriage bond certainly should not marry one who does

not believe in it with equal firmness, because the life-

long fidelity of such a one could not be presumed.

How so many Protestants can maintain that the
Bible is their rule of faith and still uphold the dissolution

of the marriage bond is impossible to understand.

When you, therefore, answer questions about di-
vorce, never say that your Church forbids it, but that it

is forbidden in the clearest terms by God Himself, over

Whose laws the Church has absolutely no jurisdiction.

The Church is God’s agent on earth and must defend His

laws. She would not represent Him nor deserve the re-
spect of people if she did not.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 135

According to the law of Nature, marriage must be

permanent if husband or wife is to be protected against

the other forming a new friendship, or if the rights of

the children to the care and support of both parents are

to be safeguarded.

Children are innocent parties to every divorce, and

a grave injustice is done to them when their father and

mother separate and leave their fate to the civil court.

(3) A Cleveland Judge, who recently reported that
he hears 4,000 divorce appeals every year, told the public

in a statement that divorce is the greatest underlying

reason for the decadence in government, because it con-

tains in itself the very thing that is opposed to good gov-

ernment.

Since a nation is constituted of families, if half of

it is constituted of broken families, with children separ-

ated from their true parents, and other children turned

over to people who are neither their father nor their

mother, one will agree that the Cleveland Judge utters an

indisputable truth. Religion can be the only permanent

bond of union between the individual and God.

For the same reason that a community suffers from

disagreement among families, so the individual family

suffers from disagreement between husband and wife

on the matter of religion. Just as husband and wife be-

come one through marriage, so should the children be one

with their parents in religion in order to have the perfect

home. It was Christ Himself, Who declared that “a
house divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark III,

25).

If no nation can be better than its homes, of what

will our nation be able to boast if from one-fourth to one-

half its homes are not only disunited, unhappy, but

broken ?

The Judge, whom we have quoted, pointed out the
remedy in these words : “Put religion back in the family;

work towards having it fostered in the schools. Make the

Ten Commandments the family rule of life. Cease paying

attention to the irreligious and immoral ideas about love

and marriage carried in so many American magazines.”



136 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

About the time the Cleveland Judge spoke as we

quoted him, a Chicago Judge resigned from his office be-

cause, he said, “I cannot continue being a party to the

wholesale breaking up of homes.”

The true Catholic marriage is blessed by God when

it is prepared for in the right manner, and if God made

it indissoluble, He will also make it possible for husband

and wife to be permanently happy in their first marriage,

and make parents happy in their children. Of course,

they must cooperate with God all through their lives;

dedicating their children to God, and rearing them in a

religious home, both by teaching and example.

OCTOBER 2

Biblical Reason for Remarriage

Many Catholics must still entertain the notion that
remarriage after divorce during the lifetime of the di-

vorcee, violates only a Catholic Church law, or they

surely would not dare to attempt it.

Christ is invoked as allowing a remarriage after

separation for one special reason—unfaithfulness. But
let us see (1) what Christ did say; (2) How all Christians
until recently understood marriage

;
and (3) note a false

accusation.

(1) The New Testament furnishes us with four
very plain pronouncements on the indissolubility of mar-

riage. They are contained in the tenth chapter of St.

Mark, verse 9:12; in the sixteenth chapter of St. Luke,

verse 18; in First Cor. VII, 10-11; in Romans VII, 2-8.

St. Matthew also quotes Christ on the indissolubility

of marriage in Chapter V. 32, and Chapter XIX, 9.

Although there are those who would justify divorce

and a new marriage on the ground of unfaithfulness, a

close inspection of Matthew’s two texts make it very

clear that Christ justified only separation, with no right

to remarry. In both texts He very plainly declares: “He

that marrieth her that is put away committeth adultery.”



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 137

St. Luke writes “Everyone that puts away his wife

and marries another commits adultery; and he that mar-

ries a woman who has been put away from her husband
commits adultery”; and St. Mark uses the word “who-
ever.” He says: “Whoever puts away his wife and mar-
ries another, commits adultery against her; and if the

wife puts away her husband and marries another, she

commits adultery.”

There is hardly any doctrine of faith taught so

clearly in Holy Scripture as the doctrine concerning

marriage and divorce.

(2) That it was the custom of Christians, Catholic

and Protestant, to regard marriage as a permanent con-

tract is clear from the marriage ceremony in the ritual

of every sect, and even in the ceremony performed by

officers of the civil law. In every marriage ceremony,

the words “until death do us part” occur. Therefore

there may be no “trial” marriages. Everyone, Catholic
or non-Catholic, who has entered such a union is living

in the state of grievous sin.

There is no record of divorce being granted to any-

body in Christian countries from the time of Christ until

the sixteenth century, and even after that time they were

of very rare occurrence. A civil marriage was unheard
of among Christians until after the “Reformation,” and

not until the French Revolution was marriage held to

be a civil contract. There are still many countries in

which there is no such thing as a divorce law. According

to contemporary historians Luther regretted more than

anything else the permission to remarry granted by him

to the Landgrave of Hesse.

The very words “matrimony,” “wedlock,” “conjugal”

state, imply permanency. They signify that both husband

and wife accept a common yoke, which they must carry

throughout life.

(3) Quite commonly the Catholic Church is accused

of pronouncing invalid every marriage which does not

take place before her own clergy. This is a most wicked

libel, because the Catholic Church passes no judgment

on marriages of people who are not of her fold. She



138 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

takes for granted that they are valid, although, naturally,

she would hold, as every Bible Protestant must hold, that

marriage in which one of the parties is a divorcee with

wife or husband still living, is invalid.

It is unfortunate that multitudes have been taught,

and, therefore, falsely believe, that the Catholic Church

repudiates marriages contracted by Protestants among

themselves, and stamps as “illegitimate” the children, of

such alliances

The law that requires people to be married before

their parish priest and two witnesses applies to mar-

riages between Catholics only, or to a marriage in which

one party is a Catholic. Since the Church holds that for

the Catholic marriage is a Sacrament, and that Sacra-

ments are in her custody, it is her business to determine

on what conditions one of her own children may enter

that holy state. She is deserving of great praise for

defending the sanctity of Christian marriage in the face

of the paganism which attacks it. Just as all of Eng-

land could have been saved for the Church by compromis-

ing with the king, so today the Church could win a mil-

lion converts in short order by receiving divorcees into

her fold. But “what God has joined together, let no

man put asunder.” That warning of Christ does not

exempt the Pope or God’s Church.

OCTOBER 9

Bishops Dispense by Delegated Power

When St. Paul exhorts people to “marry in the Lord”

he means that they should “marry in the Church.”

Tertullian, who lived in the second century, in inter-

preting St. Paul’s words, declares that Paul “is not ad-

vising, but strictly commanding.”

The law against mixed marriages is a universal law

of the Church. Therefore (1) only the head of the Uni-

versal Church can mitigate it; (2) good Catholics will

not marry a non-Catholic; (3) they should not point to

exceptional cases.

(1) It is generally known among Catholics that their



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 139

Bishops may grant a dispensation to effect a valid mar-

riage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic, but it does

not seem to be so commonly known that the Bishop

has this power only by delegation from the Supreme

Head of the Church.

The law forbidding marriages between Catholics and

those who are not of that faith is a universal law in the

Church. Therefore it can be dispensed only by him,

who rules over the universal Church.

To make the relaxation of the law, when conditions

warrant it, more practical, the Vicar of Christ delegates

to Bishops, usually for a period of a few years at a time,

the power to grant certain dispensations.

On the other hand, the Bishop, being unacquainted

with the people for whom the dispensation is sought,
must depend on the pastor of the Catholic party to

pass judgment on the marriage in individual cases. The

pastor, in turn, must expect the greatest honesty and

sincerity in the applicant.

More frequently than not, there are two reasons

alleged why the dispensation should be granted, namely,

that the non-Catholic shows a disposition to take an

interest in the faith, with probable conversion as a re-

sult, and that the Catholic party, weak in the faith,

would possibly attempt marriage outside the Church.

(2) But is it not precisely because so many Cath-

olics who wish to contract alliances with non-Catholics

are weak, that there is a greater danger than there would

otherwise be, of the Catholic becoming indifferent and

raising his children in indifference?

A good Catholic, one to whom religion means more
than life itself, one who fears that the blessing of God

would not follow the marriage unless husband and wife,

and later the entire family, enjoyed God’s favor, always

does his or her utmost to interest the non-Catholic long

before marriage. He or she will always talk “religion”

early in courtship before giving any promise of mar-

riage to the non-Catholic.

We reiterate what we have already mentioned sev-
eral times, that the attitude of such a Catholic would not

be evidence of narrowness, but of loyalty to God, of



140 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

fidelity to his or her own conscience, of a sense of duty

to the children, who might eventuate from the marriage.

The responsibility of risking the loss of faith to the

next generation, after its continuance through the an-

cestry of the Catholic over a period of one thousand

years, is certainly a terrible one.

Let us suppose that because of a mixed marriage to-

day the faith which had been in the family of the Catholic

for centuries would not be practiced by their children,

nor by their children’s children for another 200 or 300

years—and the frightful responsibility certainly will be
apparent.

(3) It is very true that some mixed-marriages turn

out happily for husband and wife, and that the children

are reared according to the faith of the Catholic parent,

but these cases are exceptional. They are quite naturally

so, because God cannot condone indifference towards the

religion which He brought to earth, and towards the

Church which He calls His own bride; He cannot con-

done the inconsistency of a father who, while insisting

on his children following the religion of the mother, is

not himself interested in it.

St. Ambrose, who converted St. Augustine, writes:

“There can be scarcely anything more grave than a

marriage with one who is an alien to the faith . . .

And how can that be called a union, in which there is
discord as to faith?” (Ep. 19 A. D., Vigil.).

St. Augustine, in defending the straight Catholic

marriage before heretics of his time, wrote:

“These miserable people, believing in Christ, have

their food at home in common, but the table of Christ

they cannot have in common. Must we not weep at so

often seeing the husband and wife vowing to each other

in Christ to have their bodies faithfully united in one,

whilst they rend the body of Christ through being at-

tached to different communions? Great is the scandal,

great the devil’s triumph, great the ruin of souls.” (Ep.

23, n. 5).

In every house to house canvas for a complete parish

census the consequences of invalid marriages, of the dis-

continuance of religious practices by the Catholic, be-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 141

come only too evident. Children are found to be un-bap-

tized and reared without religious instruction, and of

course, they do not attend Mass. The Catholic parents

will certainly be held to a severe accounting by their

Judge, and blamed for the non-practice of their faith

of all succeeding generations.

OCTOBER 16

Some Questions on Marriage

Let us today answer a few questions often asked

about marriage. For instance: (1) what is meant by the

impediment of consanguinity? (2) of affinity? (3) why

must the banns of marriage be published? (4) may

mixed marriages take place in the church? and (5)

what is a clandestine marriage?

(1) The older ones of you learned from your Cate-

chism that Catholics are not permitted to marry within

the fourth degree of kindred, which is another word for

consanguinity or blood relationship. However this pro-

vision was altered some years ago so that the impediment

now covers only the third degree. Father and daughter,

mother and son, are related in the first degree; first

cousins in the second degree; second cousins in the third

degree. Most states have a law conforming to that of

the Church, which forbids first cousins to marry. Now
while the Church extends her provision one degree fur-

ther, namely, to second cousins, if there be good reason

for such a marriage a dispensation is procurable.

(2) The impediment of affinity arises from every

valid marriage between a man and the blood relatives of

the woman; and between the woman and the blood rela-

tives of the man. The relatives of the husband become

related to the wife in the same degree as they are related

to him by blood, and vice versa. Affinity is not con-

tracted by a brother or sister of the husband, or by a

brother or a sister of the wife. Hence a brother of the

husband may marry the sister of his wife.

(3) The banns of marriage must be promulgated



142 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

chiefly for the purpose of eliciting information about the

freedom to marry on the part of one or both parties.

Every priest has had experience with one who comes

from some distant point and represents himself to some

unsuspecting Catholic as being free to marry, while an

investigation disclosed that he had deserted a wife, and

oftentimes little children elsewhere. It must be remem-

bered that our country has millions of comparatively

young men and women who are divorced, and who, be-

cause the law would permit them to marry again, do not

feel that they are obligated in conscience to apprise the

friend whom they would marry that they had been pre-

viously married and since divorced. Since the termina-

tion of the war every community has young divorcees re-

sulting from hasty and unpremeditated marriages.

Catholics should never ask for a dispensation from

the banns, nor should they try to keep the marriage a

close secret. The tongues of gossipers become busy and

indulge in unkind insinuations. Is not there something

very commendable about a bold announcement, which can

be construed as an invitation to the public “to find fault

if you can”?

Many states now follow the practice of the Church

in demanding that people . intending to marry publicize

their intention some days before a license may be issued

to them.

(4) In most dioceses of the United States mixed

marriages may not take place in the church proper, even

outside the sanctuary. This is due to the fact that the

Church only tolerates mixed marriages. But there is no

definite law binding on Bishops, which prevents a mixed-

marriage in the Church.

Hence, there are places, especially in the south and

in the west, where the priest has no home of his own, or

where it is too small and unattractive for marriages.

There mixed marriages are permitted in the church. They

are also permitted in some dioceses in the north, because

their Bishops believe that the marriage would take on a

more sacred character if it were associated with more

religion.

A mixed marriage in the home of the bride is also



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 143

discouraged by the Church, because it might leave the

impression that the Church does not look on it with dis-

favor. Follow the diocesan custom, or you will create a

great embarrassment for the priest.

(5) A clandestine marriage is one which is at-
tempted without the presence of the parish priest, or one

delegated by him, and without two witnesses. For Cath-

olics that is not a marriage at all.

The witness at a Catholic marriage should also be a

Catholic. If a Catholic should ask a non-Catholic friend

to act as bridesmaid, it should always be as an additional

witness, and not as one of the two required by the law.

Since people are expected to be married only once in

a lifetime, they should even voluntarily seek to have it

performed right. If they would have the biggest possible

blessing come to it, they should enter marriage accord-

ing to the will of God and His Church, which represents

Him in this world.

*e < —

OCTOBER 23

Pre-Nuptial Promises

During one year (1945) clergymen of several de-

nominations, including the Lutheran, Baptist, Presby-

terian, Congregational, issued pamphlets condemnatory

of the Catholic practice of requiring a non-Catholic, de-

sirous of marrying a Catholic, to make certain commit-

ments in writing before a dispensation for the mixed

marriage will be granted. These pamphlets represent

that such demands force the non-Catholic to sign away

his rights as well as the rights of his children.

To many non-Catholics this charge may seem quite

in place, but it is actually based on an assumption which

is not warranted.

Let us make clear (1) that the Church would be

disloyal to Christ if she did not take measures to con-

serve the faith; (2) the non-Catholic violates no prin-

ciple in accepting the Catholic terms; and (3) what

some of these terms are.

(1) In the pamphlet distributed by “The Commis-



144 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

sion on Marriage and the Home of the Federal Council

of the Churches of Christ in America,” entitled “If I

Marry a Roman Catholic,” it is represented that the

Catholic Church requires certain commitments from Pro-

testants for the one purpose of “gaining the non-Catholic

and all children for the Catholic faith.” This is not the

purpose at all.

You are well aware that the Catholic Church urges

you, with all the power of persuasion she can muster, not

to marry a non-Catholic. There is no bigotry behind this

position. The Church would rather have you receive a big

blessing of God on your marriage by having faith marry

faith, by providing for the Christian upbringing of chil-

dren according to a program accepted by both parents.

We could accuse the Protestant churches of bigotry
on the same grounds that they accuse us of it, because all

of them dissuade their members from marrying Catho-

lics. There are two classes of Protestants. The first, a

minority, consists of those who have been strictly reared

according to very definite doctrine, such as the Luther-

ans, and the other is constituted of those who are only

nominal members, or at least know practically nothing

concerning what their church teaches or stands for.

Every priest who has instructed converts has met both

kinds.

Only religious prejudice could explain the Protes-

tant objection to a marriage with a Catholic, because the

Catholic Church’s standards are high, because it teaches

everything which Protestant churches regard as funda-

mental, and because it is the “Mother Church,” the

Church to which two-thirds of all Christians in the world

even now belong.

(2) The Protestant who marries a Catholic violates

no religious principle, because he is usually committed to

the idea that “one religion is as good as another.” On the

other hand, the Catholic honestly believes that Christ in-

stituted only one Church and that his is that Church, a

fact that can be proved historically as well as from the

Bible.

If the Catholic Church honestly believes that there

is only one divinely founded institution, and that hers is



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 145

that, she could not, without violating principle and with-

out betraying Christ, be indifferent concerning how her

children marry, or how they bring up their children.

Mixed marriages were forbidden by God Himself in

the Old Law; and in the New Law, Christ, as St. Paul
(Eph. V, 32) makes clear, arranged for sacramental

marriages for His followers. St. Paul compares the

union of husband and wife to the union between Christ

and His Church, which was holy and sacred and indis-

soluble. Christ identifies His Church with Himself and,

therefore, could not be expected to bless a union between

a member of His Mystical Body and one who is not.

In the pamphlets, to which we have referred, it is

also represented that if the Catholic Church requires the

non-Catholic to receive a certain number of instructions

in the religion of the Catholic party, Protestant churches

should, with equal right, demand that the Catholic party

take instruction in the religion of the Protestant party.

This objection is not valid either, because one Protestant

church does not require that members of other Protestant

organizations take instructions. In the Federal Council

of Churches there are some twenty-five Protestant de-

nominations represented, and however much they may
differ from one another in teaching, they are given the

same standing.

(3) The Catholic Church believes marriage to be

dissoluble only by death, and this is in keeping with the

teaching of Christ. But most Protestants condone divorce

and remarriage. They do not do this officially, but in

practice most of their members can be divorced and re-

married without losing their good standing in the

churches. One of the commitments which Protestants

seeking to marry Catholics are asked to make is an en-

dorsement of the indissolubility of marriage. That gives

great protection to the Catholic who does so believe, and

it would certainly be a very poor bargain if the Catholic

committed herself to be married until death, and the non-

Catholic did not.

The commitments to which the non-Catholic party

to a mixed marriage agrees are the following: the

acceptance of the Catholic position on the purpose of



146 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

marriage; the permanency of marriage; the need of the

Catholic to be married by a priest before two witnesses,

and of the obligation of the Catholic to have his (her)

children baptized and reared in the Catholic faith.

The Catholic would also be very inconsistent and dis-

loyal to Christ if he permitted his children to be baptized

and reared in a faith in which he didn’t believe. The non-

Catholic may not antecedently believe in the Catholic

Church, but during a course of instructions he is likely to

have his doubts and wrong notions removed.

The Catholic holds that Baptism elevates a child to

the high rank of “child of God.” It confers on the child

the right to be reared as a child of God, and on the

parents, as well as on the Church the duty of so rearing

it.

It is also represented in the pamphlet that Catholics

hold all Protestant marriages to be invalid or no mar-

riages at all. The Church does not so teach. But she

teaches that a marriage between a Catholic and a non-

Catholic, if not performed by a priest after the proper

dispensation is granted, is an invalid marriage, because

the Church has jurisdiction over Sacraments. A contract
is a contract only when both parties thereto agree to

the same thing, and the Catholic cannot agree to mar-

riage without also agreeing to the Sacrament, while the

average non-Catholic cannot receive a Sacrament. There

are nearly 70,000,000 unbaptized in the United States.

It should be clear to every informed person that the

Church’s chief reason for requiring the non-Catholic to

make commitments is not to win new members. If ex-

pediency instead of principle actuated her she could in-

crease her membership by 1,000,000 within a month, by

accepting the Protestant attitude towards divorcees.

OCTOBER 30

Do You Want a Prejudiced Life-Partner?

The Catholic who keeps company with a non-Cath-

olic, yet hesitates to speak to him about taking instruc-

tions in the Catholic religion, is either unpardonably



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 147

timid, or lacks the conviction that there is only one re-

ligion in this world in which God Himself has a big in-

terest. That religion is his—the religion founded by
Christ Himself during three years of daily instruction

imparted to His self-chosen Apostles, who were to spread

it over the earth.

(1) No Catholic should be willing to have his or her

partner live outside the true religion; (2) no Catholic

should want a prejudiced life partner; and (3) no Cath-

olic should wish to be under God’s displeasure.

(1) To His own religion Christ gave His very self,

and promised to be with it “all days even unto the con-

summation of the world.” To it He sent the Holy Spirit,

Who would abide with the Church forever, and keep it in
truth. To it He committed such divine helps as, accord-

ing to St. Paul, astonished the very angels in Heaven

—

the Sacraments capable of conferring divine life, pre-

serving it and restoring it. To it He committed the per-

petuation of the Sacrifice of Calvary, in which in nearly

every place on earth, at every hour of the day, Christ

continues to be our Victim, and the Dispenser of His

merits to individual souls.

No other Church has any of these things. The

only Sacrament others have is Baptism, and that does

not make any person a Protestant, because it was in-

stituted to make people Catholics.

Every Protestant boasts of his Bible, but you should

surely know that his church got even that from us. But

his church did not get with the Bible a Supreme Court

competent to interpret it accurately.

Very many Catholics excuse themselves for not talk-

ing religion to their non-Catholic friends before marriage

on the grounds that “a person should not become a Cath-

olic just to get married.” We do not ask people to be-
come Catholics “just to get married.” We ask them to
examine the Church’s claims to see whether they cannot

believe in the religion of their Catholic partner, so that

both may be able to believe alike, to serve God alike, to

rear their children alike, and win God’s blessing on a

united home.

If the non-Catholic should ask you to examine his



148 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

church’s claims, you could consistently refuse, both be-

cause you are certain that your Church is right, and

because no Protestant churchman even claims to be able

to prove that his particular religion traces its origin

to Christ.

(2) It is very true that your non-Catholic friend

may be prejudiced, but do you wish to have a husband

or a wife, all through life, who is prejudiced against your

religion or that of your children? If he be prejudiced,

is not that a clear reason why you should have him take

a course of instructions with an open mind? Does it

not seem reasonable that he should wish to know some-

thing about the religion of the one he intends to marry,

and a great deal about the religion in which he must

agree to bring up his children?

Either he has no religion of his own, or he concedes

that other religions are as good as his. You hold that

yours is not only the Mother Church, but that it is es-

sentially different from all others. Should he not be

eager to find that out, and therefore, cheerfully take a

course of instructions? If he has a real desire to become

correctly informed, he can easily be convinced.

You could tell your non-Catholic friend that in re-

questing him to come to the parish priest for instruc-

tion you have no thought of “forcing” your faith on him;

that the priest would not even receive him into the

Church unless he could honestly say that he is convinced

of the truth of the Catholic religion and wants to become

a member. Some non-Catholics have, only to please their

intended partners, agreed to take instructions without

having their heart in the same, without even learning

the essential difference there is between the Catholic

Church and other religions. But you should tell your

non-Catholic friend that you want him to be serious;

that you would like to have him even propose objections

he has heard raised against the Catholic faith.

(3) You must never forget that the devil is intensely

interested in involving you in an unhappy marriage, and

that he will never tire of trying his best to make you

timid, to induce you to grow a little more careless about

prayer and about the Sacraments during courtship than

previously in your life.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 149

Usually your non-Catholic friend becomes interested

in the things in which you are interested. If he sees

that you are intensely interested in your religion, that

you derive a great deal of happiness from its practice,

that you would rather sacrifice a date than to miss some

special service in your church, you will have him half

converted before you ask him to take instructions. In

fact, if he observes that your religion means much to you,

he would be greatly surprised if you did not ask him

to begin to learn something about it.

If you live your Catholic ideals, it will be easier to

convert him, for he will be glad to have a wife with such

ideals, and will try to show her that he himself can live

in accordance with them. Submerge your ideals and he

will not be attracted to your religion. Why should he
become a Catholic if your Church has not been able to

do more for you than his has for him?

NOVEMBER 6

The Way to Find the Right Partner

Marriage is a Sacrament, opening a special life-

long vocation. Hence it should be prepared for (1) by

prayer; (2) without impatience; and (3) with discre-

tion.

(1) The Apostles were well instructed by Christ,

yet before He took leave of them to return to Heaven

whence He came, He directed them to observe a Novena

to the Holy Ghost, Who would be sent to them for their

further guidance and to bring them light and strength

for the work entrusted to them.

At Notre Dame University, there is held annually a

Novena among the students for a happy marriage, a

practice which youths, beginning with high school age,

should observe once a year.

You do not need to learn from the Catholic Church,

because you can well learn from your own observations,

that a very large proportion of marriages turn out un-

happily. Inexperienced youth, which in other matters is

grateful for guidance and direction, usually insists on



150 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

striking out in its own particular way for the finding of a

life partner, not realizing that the devil takes delight

in making a match for which he has innumerable young

people in reserve, disposed, both by their lack of relig-

ious training and their loose notions of morality, to spoil

rather than strengthen a marriage contract.

The Notre Dame students are urged to have special

devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to St. Joseph in view

of a marriage which they want to be successful and last-

ing, and to be blessed by Heaven.

We copy the following paragraph from a Religious
Bulletin published by the University:

The Catholic Church holds up to us the Blessed

Virgin as the ideal of pure womanhood, and St. Joseph

as the ideal of manly chastity. And to prove that these

models are possible of imitation she lays before us the

long roll of saints, men and women, who consecrated their

chastity to God. To see that these models still have

ardent imitators you have only to watch the file of

rugged, healthy young men approaching the Communion

rail each morning. “Blessed are the clean of heart, for

they shall see God.”

(2) Then Notre Dame students are urged not to

engage in courtship until their school days are over. If

this is good advice to young men who are through with

high school and attending college, young men ranging

from nineteen to twenty-three years of age, then it is

certainly good advice for boys and girls attending high

school. The advice is prompted both by the consideration

that the students will not have serious distraction during

their studies, and by the consideration that more mature

youth is likely to make a more judicious decision. The

hasty marriages which were contracted during the late

war were more than 50% failures.

Every Catholic youth should be delighted to think

that he has the benefit of the divine and human wisdom

of the Catholic Church. She is possessed of divine wis-

dom because she is guided by Heaven through the Holy

Ghost, and her human wisdom is the result of 1900 years

of experience with people in this world.

You will make all kinds of mistakes if you will try



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 151

to be only worldly-wise in this day when the United

States leads all nations of the world, even the pagan

nations, in divorces, when four-fifths of the children in

school are deprived entirely of religious instruction and

guidance, when lust is identified with love, when the ex-

terior of the human being is estimated more highly than

the interior, when wealth is esteemed more highly than

character.

(3) Do not marry a girl who is extravagant, who

during courtship expects you to spend your money lavish-

ly on her, who gives you no reason to believe that, after

marriage, she would help you to save, or to make the

least sacrifice for you or for your mutual benefit.

Should you have a good position, or have well-to-do-

parents, satisfy yourself during courtship that the girl

thinks more of you than of your money. What her motive

is will be easy to discover; for if she expects you to pur-

chase expensive gifts for her, then she evidently thinks

more of such gifts than of you. After marriage she

might turn you down and sue you for most of your

income by way of alimony.

The girl should not marry a young man who is sel-

fish, who is spoiled by his parents, who has no ambition

and lacks the moral courage to try to make anything of

himself.

Do not think of marrying one who does not regard

marriage as a very sacred state of life, who would prefer

to be a society belle than a mother.

Do not contract a marriage before knowing the back-

ground of the girl whom you court, before knowing her
parents, her ideals, her tastes, her willingness to cooper-

ate with you, both in a spiritual and a material way.

Do not think of marrying one primarily for the pur-

pose of reforming him. If he has been addicted to drink;

if he has been known as a worthless sort of fellow, then,

as a friend, you might expend your best efforts on his

reformation without any view of marrying him. But do

not risk a bad marriage.

Do not marry the man or the woman who has not a
high regard for virtue, because you can be sure that, after

marriage, you will be suspicious and jealous of him or



152 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

her. That is the lesson of history and the lesson of

common sense. Holy Scripture makes it very clear that

Almighty God will not bless a marriage which was not

preceded by a clean courtship.

“Common sense” on the part of both parties is a pre-

requisite for happiness. You might call it level-headed-

ness. This common sense is needed for the management

of the home, for the following of a budget, for the proper

rearing of children.

-

NOVEMBER 13

Trial Marriages

We have referred to trial marriages as no marriages
at all. Some years ago they were recommended by a

Denver Judge as “companionate marriages,” and the first

one to try it was the daughter of Haldeman-Julius, the

atheistic publisher of hundreds of infidel and immoral

little “blue books,” which you have frequently seen ad-

vertised in papers and magazines.

Why is the trial marriage (1) not a marriage at all ?-

(2) Why is it an immoral union? and (3) What would be
some of its consequences?

(1) The so-called “companionate marriage” is ren-

dered invalid by two prenuptial agreements: (a) the

agreement not to have children until, and if, and when,

the contracting parties find it mutually agreeable to have

them; and (b) the agreement that either party may di-

vorce the other at any time, without giving any reason

to the consort or to the Court.

The companionate marriage, as originally recom-

mended, required that the wife would not call on the hus-

band for support, because she would support herself and

even live at home with her folks. Evidently, therefore,

such an arrangement might be companionate, but not a

marriage, because it is in conflict with the very purpose

of marriage; under the cloak of marriage it would only

glorify and give license to passion.

If the end of marriage, by its very nature, is pro-



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 153

creation, then nature prescribes its indissolubility, as

God Himself did most explicitly.

Companionate marriage is neither more nor less than

what has long been called “common law” marriage, which

was not witnessed either by a clergyman or a justice of

the peace, or by any other person.

(2) Evidently in a companionate marriage, which to

all intents and purposes was to be temporary, neither

party would want children, since they would be a great

handicap should the two separate, and one who attempts

marriage with a deliberate understanding not to have

it become fruitful does not contract a real marriage.

The powerful nations of old allowed what, in our

day, is termed “companionate marriages,” but they first

became weakened by that practice and finally became ex-

tinct.

Birth prevention, more commonly known today as

birth control, or planned parenthood, if practiced by a

multitude, must spell “race suicide,” a name given to the

practice by the late President Theodore Roosevelt.

Whether it be practiced by the use of artificial appliances,

or by deliberately checking the effect after the cause is

placed, it not only strikes at the chief purpose of mar-

riage, but it violates nature’s law as well as God’s.

What people need, generally speaking, and particu-

larly in marriage, is “self-control.” We become more
truly men and women when we~ can control both our ap-

petites and our passions, when we act and live temper-

ately. Self-control is a virtue
;
it conduces to the welfare

of both the physical and spiritual life, and the married

have a real opportunity to acquire it.

(3) The woman, who decides not to receive financial

support from her husband, will certainly not care to

have children, which she would regard as a burden in

several ways. They would interfere with her going to

work and earning her own living, and they would also

stand in the way of her social freedom, the chief excuse

she alleges for entering such a bargain.

Under a companionate marriage the man is not



154 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

liable to alimony and, therefore, he would not want chil-

dren, either because they might prolong the companionate

union which he should like to have terminated, and would

impose on him the obligation to bear the cost of support

of the children, should he separate.

You do not hear so much about companionate mar-

riages any longer, but they abound more than ever as

“trial marriages/’ They are not promulgated or reported

even under that name, but those who enter such a union,

between themselves, decide that if it does not turn out

to be happy it will be mutually satisfactory for either

to go to the divorce court. Because of the possibility of

separation they do not wait to see whether the marriage

will result happily or not. Hence they often cultivate the

friendship of another, which provokes a cause for sep-

aration.

Catholics today cannot be certain that the non-Cath-

olic who, in a moment of fascination, shows a readiness to

sign any agreement, will really accept marriage as in-

dissoluble, or at heart accept the primary purpose of

marriage, despite his signature. But when he does sign

such an agreement under oath the Church accepts it as

earnest and sincere and, therefore, will not allow remar-

riage of the Catholic party.

Would that marriage today were respected by non-

Catholics as much as they respected it fifty years ago, and

would that their attitude towards divorce were what it

was then!

God can provide a happy marriage and a lasting

marriage for every Catholic, and since He actually calls

most Catholics to the married state He must be prepared

to lead them into a happy life-long union and through it

to a happy eternity— if the parties concerned will make
themselves worthy of His interest in their marriage and

its happiness. Since marriage is a holy vocation, it

should be prepared for by prayer and an effort, through

the frequent reception of Sacraments, to keep Heaven’s

interest.

You who have already married for life, “for better

or worse,” should help communicate this viewpoint to

your children.



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 155

NOVEMBER 20

Frustrating the Purpose of Marriage

From the day Almighty God, after marrying Adam

and Eve, bade them “increase and multiply,” it has been

held—by Jews before Christ and by Christians until our
own time—that “the primary purpose of marriage is the
procreation and education of children”; that its secon-

dary purpose is “to furnish mutual assistance through

the fusion of two lives, and to furnish a remedy for

concupiscence.”

Hence (1) the Planned Parenthood movement is

wrong; (2) marital sacrifices are meritorious; and

(3) selfishness spoils marriages.

(1) A childless marriage was regarded by God’s
people in the Old Law as the greatest human misfortune,

because husband and wife shrank from the idea of enter-

ing Heaven alone. They craved the merit of sending

many offspring, flesh of their flesh, and bone of their

bone, to Heaven also.

When there is a deliberate intention to prevent the

marriage from becoming fruitful, husband and wife defy

God, Who stands by to create a human soul, and they
order Him to desist from His intention. It should be

clear, therefore, that the deliberate prevention of concep-

tion, except by abstaining from the use of the marriage

privilege, is a serious sin not only against God, but

against nature.

Today the limitation of the family is advocated

under what is called “Planned Parenthood.” There would

be nothing wrong in this if the “planning” consisted in

the exercise of self-control, the best builder of strength

of character. Those who have learned through many

years to “crucify their flesh with its vices and concu-

piscences” (Gal. V, 24) ; “to chastise their body and

bring it under subjection” (1 Cor. IX, 27) should cer-

tainly be able to exercise self-control during that short

period each month when the pregnancy which they would

like to avoid would likely eventuate.

Children are the bond uniting father and mother in



156 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

mutual love, as the Holy Ghost Himself is the bond unit-

ing the Eternal Father and His beloved Son.

Marriage has a lofty dignity and has far-reaching

consequences, because Almighty God communicates to

husband and wife a divine power which makes them co-

creators with Him of human beings destined to live for-
ever. When, through their influence, the beginnings of a

human body are formed, God Himself creates an im-

mortal soul to vivify it, and the being thus created,

constituted of the body representing the very flesh and

blood of parents, and of the soul made after the image

and likeness of God, is “only a little less than the angels,”

and, like the angels, is destined to everlasting bliss with

God throughout an endless eternity.

(2) In the seventh chapter of the Second Book of

Maccabees we have a classic example of the manner in

which temporal interests, temporal convenience, even

temporal hardships, pains and sufferings should be cheer-

fully borne by parents because of the glory everlasting

which they make it possible for their children to inherit.

The story of the Maccabean mother and her children is so

interesting that you should read it in the Bible.

That Maccabean mother and her seven children did

suffer intensely, but the torments were all over within a

day, and during the 2,000 years which have since elapsed,

they have been an ineffably happy family in Heaven,

mother rejoicing over the bravery of her children, and

children over that of their mother, and each glorifying

God for having given them the opportunity to reach ever-

lasting salvation, no matter what it had cost.

(3) One of the reasons why many people become

disillusioned early in married life is that they expected it

to remain uninterruptedly happy, with no intermingling

of sorrow with joy, of disappointments with satisfac-

tions, of sufferings with pleasures.

Before a month will have elapsed, your faults,

hidden during courtship, will become known to your wife,

and hers to you. It will be your own fault if you had

suppressed them. But you had no right to expect perfec-

tion in your partner; you had every reason to believe

that he (she) was -human, and that your dispositions



SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR 157

probably differed much. But if your love is true, it

should make allowances for differences in tastes, in tem-

perament.

It will rest with both of you to preserve the cheer-

fulness of the courtship days and of the honeymoon,

even amid trials and difficulties, which are certain to

come. Mutual forbearance, mutual service, mutual coop-

eration will become a delight, if you try to grow in

mutual love. Of course, you must be sure during court-

ship that you are drawn together by genuine love in-

stead of by physical attraction alone. Nothing is more

true than that “beauty is only skin deep.” A homely
face may rest on a perfect body and vice versa.

You will get along well if you suppress selfishness;

if you try to conquer your pronounced likes and dislikes;

if you make sacrifices for the common good and for the

establishment of a real home; if you have a common

religion, and pray jointly to God for His support and

blessing.

Make up your mind that you marry “for better or

worse,” “for richer or poorer,” and that you will be

married for life—then you will try harder to be sympa-
thetic, to submerge self, to become brave and strong of

will. You would have plenty of disappointments if you

did not marry, and have no right to expect that married

life is unalloyed bliss. Try for physical, moral and

spiritual harmony, and your married life will be a success

and happy, but not if you refuse to adjust yourself to

unpleasant situations, as you would have to adjust your-

self to them outside marriage. He may have to adjust

himself to her inexperience as a cook, as she will have to

adjust herself to his disposition to find fault. These

matters can be harmoniously settled during a good-mood

conference, but never when either is angry.

Your disposition, and that of your marriage part-

ner, will be reflected in your children. Hence kindness,

patience, self-control, cheerfulness, piety, should be cul-

tivated until they become a state of mind and heart.

Shun books which deal with the subject of how to

get the most satisfaction from the physical side of mar-



158 SERMON OUTLINES FOR A FULL YEAR

riage. Those who think only of the physical will regret

their marriage before the end of the first year.

Marriage must be based on love, which, while it does

not disregard the physical, relates chiefly to personality,

congenial disposition, character—traits quite apart from
the physical.

Modern books dealing with Sex are the cause of

many marriages failures. Sex is related to marriage, but

it certainly is not the <vhole of marriage.