to the Gpistles

Reflections on the Epistles of the Sunday

Masses and some of the greater Feasts.

by ^Placidus cdCempf, 0.*S.PB.

Price twenty-five cents

a Grail Publication

St. Meinradf Indiana



Imprimi Potest:

Ignatius Esser, O.S.B.

Abbot of St. Meinrad’s Abbey

Nihil Obstat:

Francis J. Reine, S.T.D.

Censor librorum

Imprimatur:

Paul C. Schulte, D.D.

Archbishop of Indianapolis

November 9, 1947

These Reflections are reprinted from THE MASS
YEAR for 1948.

Copyright 1947

by

St. Meinrad’s Abbey, Inc.

St. Meinrad, Indiana



POSTSCRIPTS TO THE EPISTLES

We sometimes fail to think of the “Epistle 1 * at
Mass as a “letter.** Of the 67 Epistles listed

herein for the Sundays and principal feasts, 51

are excerpts from letters written by St. Paul to

the various congregations of Christians. Zeal made

the ardent Apostle of Christ inventive.

“When Silas and Timothy came to St. Paul at

Corinth, Timothy was able to give an excellent

report on the Church in Thessalonica.. But, there

were also some shadows in the picture. The

people were especially worried about the great

day of the return of the Lord, some trying to

calculate the exact day and hour when it would

come.

“Paul gave the matter thought. ‘Timothy,* he

said, ‘I wish I could go to Thessalonica tomorrow.

But, that will not do; I cannot leave this Church.

Tomorrow morning go out and buy writing materi-

al; we will write a letter to Thessalonica.*

“It was a happy moment when Paul decided to

write that letter, for it was the beginning of one

of the most important achievements of his life; an

important moment in the world’s history as well.

Paul had no inkling that after thousands of years

3



men would think gratefully of that little workshop

in Corinth where his first letter was written. This

was the beginning of the New Testament, and
the first page of the book was a letter born of

the need of the moment. It was A.D. 51, some

twenty years after the Lord’s Resurrection.” (Holz-

ner, Paul of Tarsus, p. 243)

The New Testament begins with the words:
'‘Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church

assembled at Thessalonica in God the Father and

the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace be yours.

We give thanks to God always for all of you,
making mention of you continually in our prayers;

such memories we have of your active faith, your

unwearied love, and that hope in our Lord Jesus

Christ which gives you endurance, in the sight of

him who is our God and Father. Brethren, God

loves you, and we are sure that he has made

choice of you” ( I Thess. 1:1-4).

The “Postscripts to the Epistles” are added as

after-thoughts for yogr reflection and with the

hope that St. Paul will not condemn the humble

scribbling appended to his written masterpieces.

P. K.

4



Feast of the Circumcision

MOTH BALLS OR MOUTH BALLS

“To live . . . a life of order” (Tit. 2:12).

Today you will take last New Year's resolution

from the dark closet of your memory where you

stored it after a week or two, adding a few

mental moth balls to keep the moths (of neglect)

from making it “a part of themselves,” as they

do to the fur coat in the wardrobe. If that is

the length of life of your good resolutions, why

waste so much energy in racking your brain for

a plan of living that dies so soon? Why does it

not work? Because you do not. Possibly your

method of approach is false. A New Year's
resolution is not a dress or hat to be put on or

off at will. Its purpose is not to make you look

dressed up or different, but actually to be differ-

ent. To accomplish that end it must become a

part of you. It must not be stored in “moth

balls,” but it must be a “mouth ball,” an all-year

sucker that both delights you and at the same

time nourishes (becomes a part of) you. We
never fail in accomplishing the things we like

to do. If your resolution is definite, practical,

and according to your liking, there is all likeli-

hood that you will keep it, if you are not a-

shamed of the stem of your all-year-sucker usurp-

ing the place of your favorite brand of cigaret.

5



Feast of the Most Holy Name

A FOUR-CORNERED STONE

"The chief stone at the corner" (Acts 4:11 ).

The corner stone of a building has one of its

four corners exposed, the lines of two are visible

where they join the wall, whilst the fourth is

hidden within the wall. This hidden corner of

Christ, our Corner Stone, may be considered a

symbol of the veiled prophecy concerning Him in

Ps. 117:22, to which Christ (St. Matth. 21:42),

St. Peter (in today's Epistle), and St. Paul (Rom.

9:33), refer. Concerning this "stone" each gives

a different "corner." Jesus says of it: "As for

the stone, when a man falls against it, he will

break his bones; when it falls upon him, it will

scatter him like chaff." And St. Paul says it "is

a stone to trip men's feet, a boulder to catch

them unawares” And St. Peter : "Prized by you,

the believers, he is something other to those who

refuse belief . . . They stumble over God's word,

and refuse it belief" (1 Pet. 2:7-8). "He is that

stone that has become the chief stone at the

corner. Salvation is not to be found elsewhere"

(Ep.). As a proof of his words, St. Peter points

to the Name carved on this Stone—IHS (Jesus

—

Savior)—by the invoking of which Name he had
cured the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the

Temple. 0 Jesus, crush our pride to pieces that

we may not refuse humble belief in Thy Word,

so that Thou mayest be to us not a stem Judge

but a merciful Savior!

6



Feast of the Epiphany

OUR GIFTS

“Bringing gold and frankincense” (Is. 60:6).

St. Matthew (2:11) adds “myrrh” as the third

gift that the wise men offered the new-born

Savior. According to eastern customs the serv-

ant shows his fidelity and attachment to his

master by offering gifts. He wishes to express

thereby that, through the generosity of his mas-

ter, he has been placed in a position where he

possesses something of his own of which he can

dispose as he pleases. The gifts of the magi not

only presage the nature, dignity, and future life

of the Infant King, but they also betoken the

sentiments with which we should offer God the

gifts we have received from His generosity. Gold

symbolizes fidelity
;

incense, veneration, and

myrrh, the readiness to endure bitter sufferings

and privations. But these three gifts also remind

us of the bait the world uses to attract foolish

men. Gold is a symbol of greed; incense, of

pride, and myrrh of lust. Wealth holds the first

place. “I heaped together for myself silver and

gold” (Eccles. 2:8). Pride offers incense to the

idol of self. “He that remembereth incense (is)

as if he should bless an idol” (Is. 66:3). Lewd

women used sweet-smelling herbs to entice men.

“I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and
cinnamon” (Prov. 7:17). Detachment from these

three “roots of all sin” is the best offering you

can make to the poor, humble, and suffering

Babe of Bethlehem.

7



Feast of the Holy Family

SUNDAY CLOTHES

“The livery you wear must be...” (Col. 3:12).

Worn out clothes should not be worn out.

Why? Because they reveal, not your nakedness,

but your character. You wear clothes not merely

to protect your body against the elements, es-

pecially against the biting cold, but also to show

your respect for others. On Sunday, in fact

whenever you go to God's house, you don your

best suit in honor of the Lord before whom you

appear in order to worship. When company comes

to your home or you go visiting, you dress up

according to the dignity of your invited guest

and the solemnity or formality of the occasion.

That is good taste. Today St. Paul reminds you

that there is also a spiritual livery or suit that

you should wear to please, attract, and win your

neighbor to the service of God. It should be “full

dress”
—

“be generous to each other, where some-

body has given grounds for complaint” (3:13).

He leaves no doubt how “full” it should be. “The

Lord's generosity to you must be the model of

yours.” That is the cut of the coat. This gener-

ous pardoning of the faults of others must be

more than the mere outward observance of the

rules of good breeding—it must come from the
heart as all the Lord's acts do.

8



Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

“This is the worship due from you as rational

creatures” (Rom. 12:1).

Nowhere do “actions speak louder than words”

than in the silence of God's house during divine

worship. The tales they often tell there are

neither edifying nor stimulating to devotion. As

a rational creature man owes God worship that

comes from the whole person, from his body as

well as from his soul. The body worships God

by assuming a reverent posture—kneeling, stand-
ing, or sitting, and by performing symbolical

actions, such as making a genuflection or the

sign of the cross, that are expressive of the

interior acts of the worshipping soul. God, who

can make something out of nothing, can make

“nothing intelligible” out of some of the thought-

less gestures that are palmed off on Him as

bodily worship. Can your neighbor in church, a

convert, learn from your making them the proper

way to make a genuflection or the sign of the

cross? Does your action show that when you

genuflect your right knee touches the floor along-

side your left instep, whilst you hold your body

erect? Do you sign yourself with the fingers of

the right hand, extended but joined, touching

your forehead, breast and left and right shoul-

ders? Do you use the soft side of the thumb

(not the nail) for signing your forehead, lips,

and breast at the (last) Gospel?

9



2nd Sunday after Epiphany

I’M DIFFERENT

“The spiritual gifts we have differ” (Rom. 12:6).

The asthmatic, puffing Pharisee, who went up

into the temple, not to pray, but to “bray,” was

truthful when he exclaimed : “I thank thee, God,

that I am not like the rest of men” (St. Luke

18:11). Every man may make the same claim.

There are no two snowflakes, no two flowers, no

two men (even if they are twins) that are just

alike in every respect. Due to the different a-

mount of “spiritual gifts” offered to each accord-

ing to the generosity of a wise Creator and the

cooperation (or lack of cooperation) with these

graces, every human being is different. There is

much comfort in this truth. Each person can

say: “I can offer something to God that no one

else can—that, which in me is different.” But I
should say the same to my neighbor. Just be-

cause I possess qualities and abilities that he

does not have is but a hint from God that He

wants me to furnish to my neighbor just that

which he does not possess or cannot provide

because of his lack of this “gift” or ability. This

wonderful variety of gifts, if properly used, will

make for a beautiful harmony among the differ-

ent members of Christ's mystical body. One

member helps the other by performing his own

task well, the task for which he is especially

fitted.

10



3rd Sunday after Epiphany

DOUBLE DUTY

“Provide good things’* (Rom. 12:17).

From time to time, in the labyrinthine ways of

life, when we come to a dead end lane, or become

hopelessly entangled in a maze of crossroads, we

retrace our steps to some definite starting point

and thence cautiously and patiently try to find a

way out. One such definite starting point for

solving one of life’s great mysteries was given

us by Jesus when He told the ruler: “Why dost

thou call me good ? None is good except God only
”

(St. Luke 18:19). God is goodness by essence.

Hence all His acts must be good. We become
good by imitating God’s acts, by keeping the

double commandment of love of God and love of

(God in) neighbor. Here is one of life’s great

mysteries. We strive to be good in our actions
towards God, and to love Him with our whole

heart and soul, whilst, at the same time, we hate

our neighbor. We cannot be half good and half
evil. God is not good towards us and evil towards

others. To imitate God’s actions means to be

good always and everywhere, and to do good to

everyone. Hence St. Paul, in today’s Epistle,

wisely counsels: “Study your behavior in the

world’s sight as well as in God’s.” If we were

to be good to our neighbor around us, we should

find it easier to be really good to God in us.

11



Uth Sunday after Epiphany

ALL DEBTS PAID

“Owe no man anything except to love one

another” (Rom. 13:8).

When the Jewish lawyer asked the Master

which commandment in the law was the greatest,

Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy

God, with thy whole heart and thy whole soul

and thy whole mind. This is the greatest of the

commandments and the first. And the second, its

like, is this: thou shalt love thy neighbor as

thyself” (St. Matth. 22: 37-39). At first sight it

seems that a lawyer will be needed to explain

this fine distinction, not to say, apparent con-

tradiction in the words of the Savior. If I love

God with my whole heart, what power of it is

left for love of self, and, still less, for love of

neighbor? If the love of God fills my whole

heart and every cranny thereof, what room is

left for the smallest particle of self-love or love

of neighbor? And yet, the solution is quite sim-

ple. If we love God entirely
,
we shall love self

as God loves us, and our neighbor as He loves

him. We love man for the sake of the love of

God. Our love of God is expressed by our service

of our fellowmen. God's love for us must not be

kept to ourselves, but must be allowed to flow

through us out to others, unchecked and undi-

minished. If we really love God, we shall love

those whom He loves. In this way we pay our

double debt.

12



5th Sunday after Epiphany

MELODY IN “G”

“Learn to be grateful” (Col. 3:15).

The human heart is the metronome that beats

time for the music of life. It is more. It is the

harp that can play charming melodies that will

captivate the ear even of God Himself. Although

the ears of Christ's glorified body are charmed

by the “harpers, playing on their harps, as they

sing a new song before His throne,” His “de-

lights are to be with the children of men” and

to hear their “harping and singing.” In the

Sacred Host His Sacred Heart beats out its

melody of love in the hope that, by sympathetic

vibration, our own heart will respond with the

refrain. When the bony fingers of death stopped

the ticking of the Sacred Heart on the Cross, It

set man's dead (in sin) heart beating with new-

gained, supernatural life. On Easter morning

the Sacred Heart again resumed its deathless

pulsing, beating out the melody: “Give! Give!”

It says: “I give freely (gratis),” and our refrain

should be: “I give thanks (gratias).” Gratitude

is the melody that Jesus longs to hear coming

from the harp of our hearts. If eternity will be

too short to thank Him for all His graces (free

gifts), had we not better begin in time? Life will

then take on a new meaning and new interest.

13



6th Sunday after Epiphany

NOT ACCORDING TO PATTERN

“You have become a pattern to all” (I Thess.

1 :7 ).

To many non-Catholics the actions of some

Catholics speak louder than their glib words, and

they do not say the same thing. In word they

profess to believe one thing, and in deed they

may profess just the opposite. Faith is not mere-

ly the cleaving of the mind to the light of divine

Truth, but also the action of the will using this

divine fire to generate the steam that makes men

“go up on high.” Faith is not merely the rule

of the only correct way of life
;
it does not merely

point out the way, but it also causes the firm

believer to walk on this one, true way. Reduced

to its simplest analysis, our life does not corres-

pond with our belief, because God's holy will, as

manifested by the teachings of our faith, is con-

trary to our own will and wishes as to what we

want to do and how we want to do it. Thus,

besides being Catholics in name only, we incur

the further commendation of the Lord by keeping

others from professing the true faith, since, as

they proudly boast, their private and public lives

are “more on the level” than the lives of those

who profess to know the only way to and true

manner of life. What do your actions say?

14



Septuagesima Sunday

KNOCK-OUT BLOWS

“Not like a man who wastes his blows on the air"

(1 Cor. 9=26).

From the day of his own “knock-out” on the

road to Damascus, when the Lord “closed” both

his eyes so that He might open them to see that

his title was to consist, not in fighting “against”

but “for” Christ, St. Paul was ever in the ring,

battling for his Master. With what success he

did so he will tell us (with just chest expansion)

in next Sunday’s epistle. What made St. Paul

such a successful fighter was not shadow boxing
—

“I do not fight my battle like a man who

wastes his blows on the air”—but in the knock-
out blows that he landed on his opponent in his

daily workout. “I was given a sting to distress

my outward nature, an angel of Satan sent to

rebuff me” (2 Cor. 12:6). Whether this “sting

of the flesh” was a strong desire for sexual

gratification, or some physical ailment, or the

persecution from his fellow countrymen, matters

little. Whatever this opponent was, it furnished

him with the occasion to learn strategy whereby

to outwit his adversary. There is the lesson for

us. Faith teaches us “how” and grace gives us

the “punch” to “knock-out” every adversary,

whether from within or without.

15



Sexagesima Sunday

DOUBLE DARE

“If any man dare ... I dare also” ( 2 Cor. 1 1 :21 )

.

In childhood great feats of courage are a-

achieved by a taunting
—

“I dare you!” or “I

double dare you!” (for emphasis) from a com-

panion or group of playmates. The fair maid of

our own honor pleads for speedy delivery from

shame, and we surprise ourselves at the untapped

resources and undiscovered resourcefulness thus

brought to light and into play. Does St. Paul,

perhaps, considering us as “children of God,” use

this means to draw us out of our shell of fear-

fulness of effort and courage to strive to keep up

with his daring feats? If he wants us to play

“follow the leader” with him, we shall be kept on

the jump until he gets up to “third heaven”

whither he was “carried out of himself in Christ.”

Yet, it is not to these high things that he dares

us to follow him, but rather that we, as he did,

should delight to boast of the “weaknesses that

humiliate me, so that the strength of Christ may

enshrine itself in me.” Today's Epistle ends with

these words, but the next verse really gives the

reason for his boasting. “I am well content with

these humiliations of mine, with the insults, the

hardships, the persecutions, the times of difficulty

I undergo for Christ; when I am weakest, then

I am strongest of all” (12:10).

16



Quinquagesima Sunday

BALLOON HEARTS

“Charity ... is not puffed up” ( 1 Cor. 1 3:5 )

.

Charity, according to St. Paul, is not “inflat-

ed” (according to the Latin text) nor does it

“blow up” the human heart like a balloon. This

latter figure, however, will serve as a good carri-

er of some “lowly” thoughts on this virtue. Let

us call that ceaseless puffer, our heart, our bal-

loon. At baptism, when the spirit chamber, the

soul, was emptied of its foul inhabitant and was

taken possession of by the Deity, there were

infused into it, together with divine life, the

three theological virtues—faith, hope, and love.
These, and especially love, like the gas in the

balloon, are destined to be expanded and to carry

the soul up into the rarified regions of ever

greater love, perfection, and nearness to God.

Although the soul tends ever upward, like the

balloon, it is chained to earth by the cables of

sensual attachments and the ballast of earthly

possessions. Before there can be an ascension,

these cables (or even mere threads) must be

severed with the knife of mortification, and the

ballast must be left behind (or cast overboard)

by generous renunciation. For, the Divine Pilot

bids us: “None of you can be my disciple if he

does not take leave of all that he possesses” (St.

Luke 14:33). It is not sufficient that we know

what to do
;
we must also use our will and do it.

17



1st Sunday of Lent

PARDON, PLEASE

“We are careful not to give offense to anybody"

(2 Cor. 6:3).

From the taut nerves of every Catholic, who

takes the grave duty of fasting and performing

works of personal penance during Lent seriously

(and what good Catholic does not?) an empty

stomach, a depleted purse, an empty ash tray,

and an unlit screen are apt to entice anything

but a pleasing melody to enchant all about him.

Lenten mortification is apt to make him grumpy,

sour, jittery. It is not without good reason that

Jesus counsels us: “At the times of fasting

anoint thy head and wash thy face, so that thy

fast may not be known to men" (St. Matth. 6:17).

Remove from your person all that might give

your neighbor offense. Put the oil of cheerful-

ness and gracious bearing on your head, wreathe

your mouth with smiles. In a word, do not let

your mortifications mortify others. Your neigh-

bor has the same personal duty as you have. He,

also, is trying to hide his fasting. It is not your

duty to supply him with new and unsought means

of killing off the sordidness of selfish self-cen-

teredness. By trying to look more pleasant than

your neighbor, and by thinking of him rather

than of your cruelly martyred and tortured self,

you will almost forget that you are doing without

your usual three (or was it more?) square meals

a day.

18



2nd Sunday of Lent

CORNS AND CALLUSES

“You are walking” (I Thess. 4:1 ).

Before the days of the gas buggy and the

science of hitch hiking, a knight of the road

(known then as a tramp) would find this boast

on a billboard: BLUE JAY CORN PLASTERS

MAKE HARD ROADS EASY. Small comfort
for a man who had nothing in his pocket but a

hole ! St. Paul reminds us that we “are walking”

to heaven, and he wants us to “make even great-

er progress” on this way during these balmy

(grace-laden) days. He realizes that our walking

may be made difficult, if not stopped altogether,

by the calluses and corns on the feet of our souls.

These he designates as personal impurity and

injustice to our neighbor. Remove the callus of

personal impurity by walking in the presence of

the all-seeing God, Who has called us “unto

holiness in Christ Jesus.” Since “the love of

money is the root of all evil things” (1 Tim.

6:10), excise this painful corn by the roots by

restoring ill-gotten goods to the person to whom

they belong (if known) or by giving alms to the

needy members of Christ’s mystical body. The

blood stream carries health and nourishment to

that part of the body that needs it most.

19



3rd Sunday of Lent

SPICED SAUCE

“No ribaldry or smartness in talk” (Eph. 5:4).

St. Benedict wishes his sons to refrain from

“superfluous talking” and “mirth” during the

penitential season of Lent, and to “lead lives of

the greatest purity” thus to atone during this

holy season for all the negligences of other times”

(Holy Rule, ch. 49). St. Paul, in his letter to you

today, calls attention to a kind of “spiced season-

ing” that should not be found among your Lent-

en fare
—

“ribald or smart speech.” The ability

to entertain company with witty, spicy words is

a special social virtue. To laugh away cares and

to unbend the tensed bow of the mind after the

day's toil is a good rule of health and long life.

St. Paul does not condemn innocent quips. He

condemns the wanton sense of humor that relish-

es only such conversation as is seasoned with the

spiced sauce from the devil's pantry. Lewd, sug-

gestive, double-meaning, slanderous, libelous

words give pleasure only to those whose taste has

become so deadened by repeated repasts from

hell's kitchen that they need something “hot and

spicy” to excite the sin-dulled tastebuds of their

mind and heart. Sin is not humorous, it is

tragic. Again, wit laughs at you; humor laughs

with you. Remember, “In the day of judgment

men will be brought to account for every

thoughtless word they have spoken” (St. Matth.

12:36).

20



Uth Sunday of Lent

TRUE LIBERTY

“Such is the freedom Christ has won for us"

(Gal. 4:31).

With the price of His Precious Blood Christ

bought us back from the slavery of Satan, thus

making us “liberi”—children of God, and “liberi”
—free men . Hence, we enjoy true liberty only if
we serve God faithfully. Liberty is often con-

fused with “license,” the right (?) to do as you

please. That is the spirit of lawlessness. Liberty

is the spirit of God
;
"where the Lord's spirit is,

there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3:17). Liberty of

spirit, therefore, consists in keeping your heart

(made to be filled by God alone) totally disen-

gaged (free) from every created thing, that it

may follow the known will of God. If you have

attained to this freedom you will seek only that

the Name of God should be glorified in you, that

His Majesty should reign in you, that His Will

should be done in you. You will then not be

attached to any consolation whatsoever, but, hav-

ing done your duty conscientiously, will remain

indifferent to everything else. The effect of this

true liberty of spirit will be a great sweetness of

spirit, a gentle condescension to whatever is not

sin, a disposition easily moved to all acts of

virtue and charity. You will be a pliable and

useful tool in God's hands, offering no resistance

to His Will. Therein you will find true and

lasting peace of heart.

21



Passion Sunday

DEAD AND ALIVE

“To serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14).

The sacrifices of the Old Law were offered

because God had so comnumded them. Christ,

Who in His own Person represents mankind,

offered Himself freely as an atoning sacrifice for

men’s sins. A free-will offering is of higher
value than a sacrifice offered under compulsion.

To assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass out

of free choice is more pleasing to God (and more

meritorious) than to be driven to attend it by

the fear of incurring the guilt of grievous sin.

In the Jewish sacrifices it was impossible to

combine life and death in such a manner that the

sacrificial victim could also be brought to God as

a living offering. It had to be killed because it

was offered in atonement for the death of sin,

but this dead victim of itself could not be pleas-

ing to God, "for God made not death, neither

hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living"

(Wisd. 1:13). This contradiction in the victim

was done away with in Christ, Who "offered

Himself through the Holy Spirit." As a Lamb,

offered for our sins, He had to die. But, as

Jesus had given His enemies the promise: "De-

stroy this temple, and in three days I will raise

it up again" (St. John 2:19), by His glorious

resurrection the "Victim that had been slain"

entered into the divine Holy of Holies as an

eternal, living sacrifice.

22



Palm Sunday

THE GOD-MAN

“Fashioned in the likeness of man” (Philip. 2:7).

To be “fashioned in the likeness of man”

means to be “true man.” To Christ’s true human

nature belongs all that pertains to the nature

and being of man; from which it follows that

what does not pertain to it strictly did not have

to he present in Jesus . It is not necessary that

man be born of the carnal union of man and

woman, for God made Adam and Eve without

carnal conception. Adam was a true man before

His grave sin robbed him of his preternatural

gifts and made him and his posterity subject to

concupiscence, and, because of these evil ten-

dencies, to be drawn to commit sin, and, finally,

to be subject also to physical death and bodily

corruption. Jesus has been “fashioned as we,

only sinless’ (Heb. 4:15). If Jesus, the sinless

One, still was mortal and actually submitted to

death, it was because He wished to become like

His creatures even in this. Jesus freely assumed

the lowliness of human nature. The Creator be-

came a creature, the Eternal a being of time,

the Lord a servant, the Almighty, weak, the

Infinite, small, the Omniscient, a docile pupil of

man. Could He descend any lower in the scale

of your misery and nothingness? He did all

this for you!

23



Easter Sunday

POSITIVE PERFECTION

“With purity and honesty of intent
11

(1 Cor. 5:8).

Perfection of soul is sometimes considered as

being free from sins and faults. That would be

negative perfection. But perfection is something

positive
,
and not the mere absence of imperfec-

tion. To illustrate. Take, for example, a plot of

ground that is completely covered with grass and

weeds. This is a good picture of the human soul

filled with the fruit of the seed of Adam’s sow-

ing. By persevering, painstaking labor you may

succeed in uprooting every weed and the smallest

blade of grass. The fruit of your toil would be

—a plot of ground on which there is—nothing.
When you pull up a weed you must put in a seed

if you wish to have flowers and vegetables on

your plot. The same holds for the plot of your

soul. St. Paul reminds you that an important

part of your life’s work consists in the cultiva-

tion of purity and perfection of soul. You attain

to purity of soul by confessing your sins and

renouncing all attachment to them. That is your

negative perfection, Your positive perfection

consists in the adornment of God’s renovated

house (Easter cleaning) with all the Christian

virtues. But these must be genuine to please the

appraising eye of the risen Savior. Hence the

necessity of “purity and honesty of intent”—the
practice of these virtues, not for vanity or profit,

but solely to please and glorify God.

24



Low Sunday

WATER AND BLOOD

“Whose coming has been made known to us by

water and blood” (1 St. John 5:6).

That our faith may be “the triumphant prin-

ciple which triumphs over the world,” we must

believe “that Jesus is the Son of God.” As proof

that He is we are reminded of His coming “by

water and blood.” The whole earthly life of

Christ proves that He, the Son of God, became

Man to redeem mankind. The two poles of His

earthly life are designated by “water” (His bap-

tism) and “blood” (His bloody death on the

Cross). These two acts are singled out because

by them Jesus manifested Himself especially as

the Savior of sinful humanity. Both acts recall

the humiliations of Him “Who never knew sin”

but Whom God “made into sin for us, so that in
him we might be turned into the holiness of

God” (2 Cor. 5:21). By permitting Himself to

be baptized Jesus sanctified baptismal water,

which received its cleansing and vivifying power

by coming in contact with Him Who came, “not

in water only, but in blood as well,” that is, from

His death on the Cross. He comes in water and

blood for you today . The Asperges before the

High Mass, called “the little baptism,” reminds

you of your own baptism, the beginning of your

salvation, and the Mass that, until your own

death, it will be your life's work to make your

lively faith triumph over every obstacle to your

soul's salvation and sanctification.

25



2nd Sunday after Easter

BLASTING BOMBS

“He was ill spoken of” (1 Pet. 2:23).

To keep you from going astray like a senseless

sheep, the Good Shepherd has marked life’s high-

way with the “bloody footprints” of His own

beautiful and imitable example. Contrast your

conduct with His on this single point. St. Peter

tells you that Christ “was ill spoken of and spoke

no evil in return.” And you ? Does the least slur

cast upon your good name serve as a spark that

causes your pride-bomb to explode and a barrage

of hot words to blast the speaker’s reputation?

“Christ was ill spoken of.” In the current vo-

cabulary of His enemies there was no term of

vilification that the Jews did not hurl into His

face. They called Him—a man possessed by the
devil; a Samaritan; a sinner; a friend of public

sinners; a rabble-rouser; a Sabbath-breaker; a

deceiver; one who forbids the payment of tribute

to Caesar ; a usurper. Although conscious of His

perfect innocence, Jesus either replied to all

these calumnies by keeping silence (which is the

strongest refutation) or by calmly putting things

in their proper light, and by asking pardon for

His accusers and revilers. “I am not possessed;

Father, forgive them!” It was only when His

Father’s honor was attacked or when He wished

to warn the innocent victims of these ravening

soul-wolves that Jesus hurled the blasts of His

“Woe upon you!” and “Hypocrites!” against

His enemies.

26



3rd Sunday after Easter

ACTIONS SPEAK

“To silence, by honest living, the ignorant chatter

of fools” (1 Peter 2:15).

“Actions speak louder than words," and “talk

is cheap," are proverbial truths. It is easy to say

that you are a follower of Christ; it is a more

difficult matter to live as such under all circum-

stances. Jesus told the multitudes and His disci-

ples concerning the scribes and Pharisees : “Con-

tinue to observe what they tell you, but do not

imitate their actions, for they tell you one thing

and do another" (St. Matth. 3:3). Are you a

scribe or a Pharisee? Do you profess your faith

with your lips on Sunday, but deny it in your

actions during the six “work" days? The world

in which you live and move reverses the Savior's

rule. It pays little heed to your words, but keeps

an eagle eye cocked on your daily deeds. For,

hypocrisy can make a person himself believe that

he, after all, is a model Catholic, but eventually

it will drop its mask when it is caught off guard

or thinks that “no one is looking." The best

reply to the “ignorant chatter" that the enemies

of the Church have carried on since the days

of her infancy is

—

not to do the things of which

they accuse her. And the refutation of the stock

accusation, “Why are Catholics not better than

non-Catholics and non-believers" is—to be better.

27



J+th Sunday after Easter

HOUSE CLEANING

“Rid yourselves, then, of all defilement, of all the

ill-will that remains in you” (St. James 1:21).

This is your advance notice for undertaking a

thorough house cleaning, from attic to cellar, in

your soul for the coming of the Spirit of purity

and love. You must remove all “uncleanness”

and all “ill-will.” By “defilement” St. James

means the love of a life of sensual enjoyment

and a shying away from the sacrifices demanded

of a true follower of Christ, the attempt to com-

bine a Christian (mortified) life with an ease-

loving, voluptuous existence. Christ did not die

upon an upholstered Cross. All “ill-will” includes

the remnants of a former life of sin. The poi-

soned fruit has been carefully plucked and re-

moved from the garden of your heart, but the

root of evil-doing, pride, still remains deeply im-

bedded there. One of its swift-sprouting shoots

is “anger,” which “does not bear the fruit that

is acceptable to God” (v. 20). Pride manifests

itself in wishing to have the floor, to do all the

talking, to insist upon your personal opinion, and

to take offense at the least sign of opposition to

your views. You must, therefore, learn to be a

ready listener, slow to speak your mind, and

slow to take offense. Meekness and patience are

the best antidote to this hidden poison.

28



5th Sunday after Easter

YOUR MIRROR

“One who gazes into that perfect law” (St. James

1 .25 ).

This morning you did not use your mirror

merely to see “the face you were born with”

(which you know by heart), but rather to steer

aright the scraper or hedge clipper or to apply

the artificial blush to either modest cheek. At

Mass Holy Mother Church holds up a “soul-mir-

ror” to your mind's eye in the Epistle and Gospel

in order that you may gaze “into that perfect

law, which is the law of freedom.” Eternal Truth

is the crystal clear Mirror in which every flaw

and defect of your soul's face is clearly seen.

The words of St. James may be applied to two

classes of persons who look at this face in the

mirror. One “looks at himself, and away he goes,

never giving another thought to the man he saw

there.” Either the face that looks back at him

from the Mirror of Truth is too terrifying, or

he thinks it is not his own, but that of the man

or woman in the seat behind him—that is, he
does not apply God's word to himself. The other

looks long and intently at that face in the Mir-

ror; “he does not forget its message, he finds

something to do and does it, and his doing of it

wins him a blessing.” To which class do you

belong ?

29



Feast of the Ascension

LOOKING HEAVENWARDS

"They strained their eyes towards heaven” (Acts

1 :10 ).

Humanly speaking, God had a hard time to

direct His chosen people, the Jews, to do His

bidding, for again and again He refers to them

as a "stiffnecked” or stubborn people. This was

a soul ailment—stiff-heartedness, rather than a
physical disability. A stiff neck is brought about

by straining (craning) it to watch some aerial

display of skill or deviltry. Because God does

not want you to incur this painful inconvenience,

He has made you to sit, stand, and walk in an

upright position so that it does not require much

effort to raise your eyes often to your true home

—above. The animal, whose life will end on and
in the earth, is so built that it constantly is

looking at its end. By looking less upon the

earth, from whose lowly dust you were formed

as a child of Adam, and more up to heaven, your

destiny as a redeemed and sanctified child of

God, many cares about earthly things would van-

ish, to be replaced by a clearer, fuller view of

life. When the disciples turned their eyes towards

heaven, whither their beloved Master had as-

cended, did their mind mull over the thought as

to where they would spend the rest of that day

and what the menu for luncheon or dinner had

in store for them?

30



Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension

STEWARDS OF GOD

"As befits the stewards of a God so rich in

graces” ( 1 Peter 4:1 1 )

.

“I can do as I please” would be true if you

had made yourself and given yourself all the

gifts of body and soul with which you are en-

dowed. But, God made you and gave you all that

you have. Hence you are not the proprietor of

His manifold gifts, but only the steward entrust-

ed with the commission to use these gifts for

the purpose for which they are loaned to you.

This purpose, St. Peter tells you, is to “share

with all whatever gift you have received.” Bodi-

ly health is a gift of God. You share this gift

with others if you work to support them, es-

pecially the sick and the disabled. A good mind
and memory are gifts of God. You share them

with the ignorant and forgetful by imparting to

them a share of your acquired knowledge and

experience. Natural beauty is a gift of God. You

can make others profit by it if it spurs them on

to strive for supernatural beauty of soul. Life

is a gift of God. It should be spent in the service

of God and of your neighbor. Thus, you are

not merely the receiver, who profits by God’s

manifold gifts, but also the almoner to your

needy brother.

31



Pentecost Sunday

STRANGE LANGUAGES

“Hearing them tell of God's wonders" (Acts

2:11 ).

The radio is considered one of man's great and

rather recent inventions. Yet God, from the very

dawn of creation, has used the ether waves to

broadcast His message to His ever-increasing

family. Man is both a receiving set and a broad-

casting unit. Through his eyes and ears he should

receive the “strange language" broadcasts of

inanimate creation, and, after translating them

in the studio of his mind, broadcast them on the

ether waves of love through his will to the ever-

open ears of God as a never-ending program of

adoration and thanksgiving. If you are too busy

on weekdays to listen to the harmonious voice of

nature (it is only man's broadcasts that produce

the static), at least take time out on the Lord's

day to tune in with your appreciative eyes to the

language of the green fields, of flowers and blos-

soms of every design and tint, of dwarf shrub

and giant tree, of the ever-shifting scene on the

sky's cyclorama, and with your attentive ear to

the songs of the birds in the air, to the distinc-

tive call of the animals on the earth, and to the

whispering breezes and boisterous chatter of the

winds. All creation tells of God's wonders and

expects you, its king and interpreter, to give

utterance to its broadcast by intelligent praise

in its name.

32



Trinity Sunday

THREE

“Who has understood the Lord’s thoughts?” (Rom.

11 :34 ).

The mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity is,

according to St. Paul, the “most unfathomable,

inscrutable, and undiscoverable.” Let us apply

these three terms to the three Divine Persons.

“Unfathomable” is what has no bottom, no mov-

ing cause, but is its own cause of being. “The

Father is from no one” (Athanasian Creed).

“As the Father has within him the gift of life,

so he has granted to the Son that he too should

have within him the gift of life” (St. John 5:26).

“Inscrutable” is what cannot be clearly grasped

as to its origin and distinctiveness. Of the Second

Person Holy Scripture asks : “Who shall tell the

story of his age?” (Acts 8:33). Who shall be

able to form a clear idea of how an infinite Spirit

can give birth, truly and actually, to another

infinite Spirit, without having the generated One

outside Himself, but so that both remain in the

indivisible unity of Being? “Undiscoverable” is

that actuality or truth whose content is so rich

that one can never finish contemplating it. Of

the Third Person Holy Scripture says: “There

is no depth in God’s nature so deep that the

Spirit cannot find it out ... No one else can know

God’s strength, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor.

2:10-11). It is this truth-giving Spirit that

serves as the light in which we see the light,

but only His own infinite eye can fathom His

own light.

33



Feast of Corpus Christi

NOT WORTHY

“A man must examine himself first" (2 Cor.

11:28).

There is a difference between being "worthy"

and being "pure" as a proper preparation for

receiving Holy Communion. The latter lies in

our power; the former can never be attained.

For, even after the best and longest preparation

the communicant must still strike his breast

three times and say : Lord, I am not worthy that

Thou shouldst come into the lowly dwelling of

my heart. But, purity of conscience can be at-

tained and is demanded of us. Just as we stain

our conscience by an act of the will in choosing

evil, so, by an act of the will we must turn away

from the evil and all attachment to it. Although

freedom from the guilt of grave sin is all that

is required in order to receive Holy Communion

fruitfully, the holiness of our Guest, Who comes

to make us one with Himself, demands that we

be free also from wilful venial sin. The moment

of receiving Holy Communion can well be made

the goal of all our striving to become better. I

shall deny myself this pleasure, I shall practice

this particular virtue, I shall refuse my consent

to this temptation, that I may be better prepared

to receive my Savior tomorrow morning, the soul

may well say. By thus stimulating your spiritual

appetite, the Divine Bread will be all the more

effective in making you more one with Christ and

in imparting a more abundant measure of His

stimulating Life.

34



Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

BRACE UP!

“Let there be no discouragement” (1 John 3:13).

Discouragement is a temptation and should be

treated as such. It is not a temptation to do

something wrong, but to avoid doing much good.

It saps our spiritual vitality and makes us sub-

ject to other temptations, especially to sins of

impurity. When we are “down in the dumps”

the devil likes to suggest that we seek some

consolation in sins of the flesh. Discouragement

almost invariably springs from hidden self-love

and pride. Because it springs from pride it is,

by that very fact, unreasonable, because pride is

unreasonable, as it is the product of falsehood.

All that God asks of us is good will, not success.

This latter does not lie in our power. We have,

therefore, but to do our best. If we fail or fall,

we get up again. Our relapses are stepping

stones to something higher. A humiliating re-
lapse into sin evokes new efforts, and these ef-

forts, prompted and sustained by grace, give in-

crease to God's glory. According to Father Faber,

“Many heroic and saintly lives will be found at

last to be simply an entanglement of generous

beginnings. There is true heroism in always

beginning over again.” Father William Doyle

says: “There is one fault which should not be

forgiven either in this world or in the world to

come, and that is DISCOURAGEMENT.”

35



2nd Sunday after Pentecost

SUICIDAL MURDER

“A man cannot hate his brother without being a

murderer” (1 John 3:15).

A conscienceless gangster, quick on the trigger,
will snuff out the life of another as nonchalantly

as the streamlined altar boy extinguishes the

candles on the altar. But he will think twice

before he turns his gun upon himself. He loves

himself too much for that, and the law of self-

preservation is too deeply ingrained in his nature.

The hater, however, with this deadly weapon

takes his own life. He might well stop to think

twice. His hate, unless it goes over into action,

will do no harm to his neighbor. The object of

his hate may not even be aware of it. But he

does snuff out the spiritual life in his own soul.

Love is a fire. To burn like the fire in the stove

it must breathe by ventilation. Close the air

vent, smother the fire, and it will extinguish

itself. That is what hate does to the soul. The

fire of love must “breathe” in acts (ventilation)

towards God and neighbor. When denied this

natural outlet, it dies, only to be kindled by the

fire of hell, the jail from which there is no bail

for this capital offense. Hate, therefore, is not

only foolish, it is fatal. If this collar encircles

your heart, take it off before it chokes you.

36



3rd Sunday after Pentecost

FREE PARKING

“Throw back on him the burden of all your

anxiety; he is concerned for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

The pastor of a rural parish overheard a group

of boys during recess discussing the deep ques-

tion
—
“Was God happy before He created Ad-

am?” A lad of a family of ten children thought

that He was. When asked for the reason of his

conviction, he naively replied: “Because there

was no one around to bother Him.” True! But,

perhaps God wanted someone to bother Him.

God was infinitely happy before creation. He did

not need to create man. Yet, though He knew

beforehand how much bother and grief animated

clay was to cause Him, He still created man to

be the recipient of His infinite mercy. The Latin

word for mercy is
—

“misericordia.” God takes

our “misery” (miseria) “into His Sacred Heart”

(in corde), the seat and symbol of His infinite

Love. In the presence of misery His goodness

and love become “mercy.” Jesus can feel com-

passion for (suffer with) us because He has a

human Heart. He has made that Heart the in-

finite parking space for all human miseries,

cares, worries, troubles. He took our pains upon

Himself once and atoned for them all. The open

door (wound) in His Sacred Heart invites us

now to enter and find rest and relief from our

cares.

37



J+th Sunday after Pentecost

TRUE LIBERTY

“To share in the glorious freedom of God’s sons”

(Rom. 8:21).

I can do as I please! Please, do as you can!

As a creature you must
,
therefore you can and

do obey. You obey either God, your Creator and

loving Father, or the devil, a hateful slave-driver,

or yourself, a hard-headed fool. Will it be hard

to choose to which master you will give your

whole-hearted service? Your heart longs for true

freedom, but it can be free only when it plays

its part as a loving son of God. To free us from

the slavery of Satan and sin, the heavenly Father

demanded of His only and well-beloved Son the

most exacting obedience, obedience to the most

cruel death on the Cross. In this terrible sacri-

fice this Son poured out the last drop of His

Precious Blood. With such an example ever be-

fore our eyes and with God’s accompanying grace

it becomes easy to do our little, God-assigned

task faithfully and cheerfully. It is because we

have not yet acquired the perfect obedience of

God’s saintly children that we find it hard to

say in daily practice, “Thy Will, 0 Lord, be done

on earth as it is in heaven.” Practice makes

perfect, and more perfect obedience means a

higher degree of liberty and a deeper sense of

true peace of heart.

38



5th Sunday after Pentecost

HEIRS OF BLESSING

“You will inherit a blessing in your turn" (1 Peter

3 :9 ).

When your clumsy neighbor steps on your corn

—be it the horny protuberance on your little toe,
caused by crowded housing conditions, or the

sensitive little peak of pride in your soul—it is
like pressing the button at your front door—it
rings a bell. The physical or spiritual pain, like

an electric current, charges your soul with the

heat of anger that seeks exit in a storm of hot

and blistering words. Right here St. Peter steps

in and bids you say to the unfortunate victim of

your scorching wrath
—
“God bless you!” instead

of “God damn you!” Say it, even if you do not

mean it. At first you will not. But you will still

be a channel of blessing instead of an instrument

of cursing. By constant repetition these words

will also work this blessing in your soul, that

you will readily pardon the clumsiness of your

neighbor and bear the pain in silence, yes, even

joyfully. For, to be an heir to the blessing of

God you must imitate the patience and longsuf-

fering of God. How often have you offended God,

and He has blessed instead of cursed you! And,

how often has not your forgiving neighbor called

down blessing on your own thoughtlessness and

clumsiness? You are indeed an heir of untold

blessings.

39



6th Sunday after Pentecost

OUR OLD MAN

“Our former nature has been crucified with him”

(Rom. 6:6).

A woman may refer to her husband as her

“old man.” But that is not a woman's sole privi-

lege, but the sad state of every child of Adam.

It is our family heritage. We have been wedded

to this “old man" for life, and it has been said

that self (our old man) will die a quarter of an

hour after we do. Hence there is no chance of a

divorce, but there is a possibility of living to-

gether amicably, provided “he" is kept in his

place. Our parents furnished the elements for

our body, the seed of Adam. God created our

soul, good and beautiful, but as soon as it was

wedded to our body for life, it not only contract-

er the fatal germ of original sin but also spirit-

ual death, in which our soul remained until

reborn in the life-giving waters of baptism. Our

nature, because of its inherited weakness tends

downward, away from God, but our true purpose

and end in life is to strive upward to God. We
cannot go in both directions at the same time.

We cannot divide our lower and higher nature

and let each go its way. We are one, and so there

must be unity of striving and achievement at-

tained by “crucifying self" and “annihilating the

living power of our guilt."

40



7th Sunday after Pentecost

HIGHER WAGES

“Sin offers death for wages” (Rom. 6:23).

Philosophy defines man as “an animal endowed

with reason.” When he sins, he is not only “un-

reasonable,” but he is even worse than the sense-

less beast, for the latter does nothing to its own

harm or destruction. Self-preservation is the

first law of a creature. Sin violates this first,

in-born law by causing spiritual suicide, or death

to the deathless soul. Taking a selfish view of

the gravity of “deadly” sin, this alone should

make us avoid the folly of signing up to work

for temporal misery and eternal torment. The

ordinary workman may have to wait until the

end of the week for his pay envelope. Despite

the saying that “Sin does not pay,” sin does pay

off its slaves immediately with the wages of the

contract, freely agreed upon before the work was

started—spiritual death, though this be a mere
flashing thought. The energy expended in work-

ing for eternal death and spiritual bankruptcy

could so easily be made productive of ever-deep-

ening spiritual life and eternal blessedness by

merely turning the little lever that decides on

which payroll our ever-active soul shall be-—our
human will. Do not strike for higher wages,

work for them. Join the Union of Wills—God

and man. Your first pay-check for doing good

will be “fatter” than all the promises of sin.

41



8th Sunday after Pentecost

HEIRS OF GOD

“If we are his children, then we are his heirs

too’
1

(Rom. 8:17).

According to the Psalmist, with the Lord there

is “plentiful redemption” (Ps. 129:7). Not con-

tent with buying us back from the slavery of sin

and of Satan, and making us free men, Jesus

raises us even to the dignity of His brothers,

children of His heavenly Father, and as such en-

abling us to share in the boundless riches of His

own true Son. St. Paul sums up the extent of

our riches when he says: “Everything is for

you ... it is all for you, and you for Christ, and

Christ for God” (1 Cor. 3:23). Our treasures

are Jesus—His own Sacred Humanity, Body and
Soul, His childhood, hidden life, public life, sa-

cred Passion, the Blessed Sacrament, His glory

at the right hand of the Father, His Mother, all

He is and has, the nine choirs of angelic spirits,

all the good works and penances on earth, all the

Masses that are offered, the sufferings of the

Poor Souls in Purgatory, the sanctity of the

Saints, all the praises of the birds and beasts and

the orderly elements, God’s past mercies through

the Old Testament history down to the present

moment, the love which the three Divine Persons

bear to each other and the incommunicable love

wherewith God loves Himself eternally—for, our
inheritance is God, to be possessed totally and

individually. Could we desire more?

42



9th Sunday after Pentecost

TURN IT OFF

“As some of them complained” (1 Cor. 10:10).

When the volume of sound, issuing from your

radio, is too great, you tone it down. If static

wrecks the harmony of the music, or the program

is uninteresting, you turn it off. Each human

heart is a broadcasting station to the omni-

present, all-seeing and all hearing God. There is

one program that He does not like, for it is an

insult to His Person—that of murmuring or com-
plaining. This is the static that wrecks the har-

mony that should exist between the Creator and

His creation. But He does not tune down the

radio or shut down the broadcasting station. In

olden times it was different. St. Paul warns us

not to complain “as some of them complained till

the destroying angel slew them.” These were

the representatives of each tribe that Moses had

sent to view the promised land. Because of their

ill report they had caused all the people to mur-

mur. Ten of these reporters (Josue and Caleb

did not participate in their sin) “died and were

struck in the sight of the Lord” (Num. 14:37).

Since then God has been listening with divine

patience to all the murmuring, complaining, grip-

ing broadcasts, not only from one human heart,

but from millions of men. What “volume” that

must be! Is there anything you can do about

it? Definitely! You can shut down your own

little complaint station, and open up the continu-

ous praise program put on by your patient

resignation.

43



10th Sunday after Pentecost

DUMB IDOLS

“You let yourself be led away ... to worship false

gods” (1 Cor. 12:2).

Ridiculous, is it not? To make an idol with

your own hands, and then fall down on your

knees before it in worship and call it your god,

who made you! If man-made “dumb” idols and

false gods could speak, they would laugh at

foolish man. Yet, he takes his folly seriously. If

not, he would become an idol smasher. Each man

has his own idol. There is, first of all, the su-

preme deity of self. Grouped about this deified

dragon are the lesser deities in greater or less

numbers, just as self-will decrees. These rise or

topple with the supreme god, for they are merely

his manifold manifestations, such as pride, an-

ger, vanity, selfishness. Destroy self-love, and

the true God is ready to come into the temple of

your heart, there to take possession of His lawful

throne, for He made you to be a god. But how

shall we destroy the idol of self? By the recipe

used by Daniel to kill the great serpent that

the Babylonians worshipped. “Daniel took pitch,

and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and

he made lumps and put them into the dragon's

mouth and the dragon burst asunder” (Dan. 14:

26). By means of pitch (detachment from sin to

which self-will clings), fat (fasting), and hair

(humility) you will cause the dragon of self to

burst—and don't put the pieces together again.

44



11th Sunday after Pentecost

CHARACTER BUILDING

“Unless your belief was Ill-founded*’ (1 Cor,

15 :2 ).

Some commentators explain these words of St„

Paul to mean, “unless your belief has been in-

effectual, ** that is, has not succeeded in forming

a true Christian character. St. Paul clearly shows

that the foundation of our faith, Christ, is solid

;

He is truly God and Man, the Savior. On this

solid foundation we must erect the superstruc-

ture of a Christian character. Faith furnishes

the blueprints or plans, and grace the crew of

eager workmen. All that is needed still is the

foreman to erect the edifice—good will. This
superintendent of construction must study the

plans thoroughly and then carry them out con-

sistently. We use the word “character” often to

denote a person of exceptional will power. In

general, character is synonymous with the dis-

tinctive stamp of personality. It is made up of

man’s inherited nature, the influence of his sur-

roundings, and personal endeavor. By the latter,

aided by grace, he aims at achieving an equilibri-

um of the perfected parts of his nature, for that

is the ideal, the goal for which he should strive.

The superstructure that he is to erect on the

foundation of faith is to raise his thinking and

acting (hence being) from the natural level to

the supernatural plane. This is a lifelong task

that demands great courage and hard work. Man

will not see the result until he views his life in

the spotlight of eternity.

45



12th Sunday after Pentecost

HIGHEST COMMON DENOMINATOR

“All our ability comes from God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

There is no doubt about it, you do have excep-

tional gifts . This last word is the sharp sword

that severs the Medusian head of proud self-will

with her permanent wave of self-satisfaction. A
gift supposes a giver. “Whatever gifts are worth

having, whatever endowments are perfect of their

kind, these come to us from above
;
they are sent

down by the Father of all” (James 1:17), “who

distributes (divides) his gifts as he will to each

severally” (1 Cor. 12:11). If, then, you have a

keen mind, did you win it by your shrewdness at

the races? If you possess distinctive executive

ability, did you inject it with a needle, as the

diabetic gives himself a “shot”? If the artist in

you parades before the gaping public on the

colorful canvas or in cold (because nude) marble,

or if your inventive genius has devised the latest

gadget for the modern streamlined kitchen or

office—do you claim all the credit? Once you
were nothing; now you are something; hence

there must have been a Creator. That you have

made something out of yourself with the gifts

that God gave you (and the raw material) shows

that you have only done your duty to the highest

common Donor. “We are servants and worthless

;

it was our duty to do what we have done” (St.

Luke 17:10).

46



13th Sunday after Pentecost

PROMISED BLESSING

“To impart the promised blessing to all who be-

lieve in him” (Gal. 3:22).

To all but a lawyer a legal document seems to

be an agglomeration of strange terms that aim

at making hair-splitting distinctions, and seem

merely to make the point at issue more unclear.

In today's Epistle St. Paul takes an “argument

from common life—a valid legal disposition." The
“argument" is expressed in verse 14, “In Christ

Jesus the blessing of Abraham was to be im-

parted to the Gentiles, so that we, through faith,

might receive the promised gift of the Spirit."

Four hundred and thirty years after God had

promised Abraham that in his “seed (Christ) all

the nations should be blessed" (Gen. 22:18), God

gave His law to Moses “to make room for trans-

gression," to make His children aware of many

things they did as being contrary to God's will,

and also that the law was powerless in itself to

prevent these transgressions. This could take

place only through faith in the promised Re-

deemer. The fulness of blessing of God's (new)

covenant of law and grace rests on the human

nature of Christ, the “seed of Abraham." Be-

cause Christ is a Divine Person, these blessings

go back to Abraham and reach forward to the

end of time. We, born “under the bondage of

sin," share in these blessings through birth in

His Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

47



Hth Sunday after Pentecost

WHAT DOWRY ?

“Learn to live more and more in the spirit” (Gal.

5 : 16 ).

The human soul is a spirit, hence it has no sex

or gender. In the Latin, Greek, and German

languages, the word for “soul” is considered

feminine. Hence we may say “she” when speak-

ing of our soul. Our virgin soul is created as a

bride-to-be by God. She cannot remain single,

but must freely choose her husband as soon as

she has reached marriageable age, the age of

reason. Two suitors, to speak figuratively, will

then sue for her hand, the Holy Spirit, who is

already wedded to each baptized soul, and the

evil spirit. Of the first union will be bom angelic

beings, of the second, demoniacs. As a dowry

each suitor will offer you that for which you

were created—to have a superabundance of true
pleasure. The Holy Spirit offers you Himself as

dowry or surety for your highest joy here, and

everlasting, perfect happiness in His mansion

above. The evil spirit offers you what appears to

be luscious fruit, pleasing to the eye of desire,

but full of worms and the poison of death. If it

is hard to choose between the two, just look at

the children you will have, depending on your

choice, as portrayed by St. Paul today. If you

have made a mistake and have been unfruitful

in the past, you can get a divorce by an act of

perfect love and the promise to be faithful to

your first Love in the future.

48



15th Sunday after Pentecost

IN DUE TIME

“We shall reap” (Gal. 6:9).

Into the contrite hearts of Adam and Eve,

after their sin, God sowed the seed of hope by

promising them and their posterity a Redeemer.

It took 4000 years of patient waiting and eager

longing before this seed sprouted and the earth

opened to “bud forth a Savior” (Is. 45:8). We

sow in the morning, and expect to reap the har-

vest in the evening of the same day. Impetuous

St. Paul, who went places and did things, had to

confess: “It was for me to plant the seed
,
for

Apollo to water it, but it was God who gave

the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6). That is our duty—

to plant the seed. If we were to use all our time

in sowing, there would be no leisure to waste in

looking for the fruits of our labors, so that we

might congratulate ourselves on how much we

have accomplished. The eternal day of rest in

heaven is planned just for that. We must be
content to sow the seed, but only good seed. If

the seed is good it must produce fruit according

to its kind in due time, otherwise it would not

be good. A kind word, a word of encouragement,
of sympathy, of instruction, of deserved praise,

is the good seed that we can sow all the day

long and all life long. Only let us do it lavishly

as the Lord does. We shall reap in due (God’s
set) time.

49



16th Sunday after Pentecost

TAKING MEASUREMENTS

“To know what passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).

It seems that we are doomed to failure from

the start. St. Paul would have us attempt to

measure the immeasurable, the infinite. “May

you be enabled to measure, in all its breadth, and

length, and height, and depth, the love of Christ.”

But, why should we try to take measurements?

Merely for the sake of theoretical knowledge?

No, but in order that we may have a rule or

guide for our love of God and man. Like Christ's

love for us, so our love for Him (and Him in

our neighbor) should be as high as heaven, as

deep as the sea, as broad as the earth, and as

long as life lasts, or rather, until death trans-

forms our imperfect love into perfect love. These

measurements give work aplenty for the longest

life. Love of neighbor is not merely a proof and

tangible measure of our love of God; it is also

the laboratory in which we may test or try out

our love of God. No one objects to being made

the test tube for experiments in the still not yet

fully explored field of charity. Opportunities are

not lacking for making daily tests. Once we

forget self and think first of our neighbor and

of how we might help him, our love of him must

go deeper and grow broader.

60



17th Sunday after Pentecost

ONE

"Eager to preserve that unity the Spirit gives you"

(Eph. 4:3).

One! Two! Three! We need go no further.

There always was ONE God. He created TWO
human beings. In this act of creation the Three

Divine Persons cooperated. “Let us make man to

our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). There al-

ways was perfect unity between the three Divine

Persons. The trouble is with the TWO, with you

and your neighbor. Often there is only one at

fault, and that one may be you. St. Paul urges

us to preserve that unity “whose bond is peace.”

It takes two to fight; when one does not strike

back, the fight is off. Some people resemble the

book worm (the real worm) and must always be

“boring in.” Put a book worm in a glass with

a piece of paper and it will die of starvation and

inactivity; it must “bore” for a living. A fight
often begins by one person insisting on his real

(or supposed) rights. The fact that you are

right is not the gong to fight. You need not

uphold your rights by knocking down the one

who opposes or disagrees with you. He, also, has

rights. By letting right and justice stand their

own ground you show that you are the wiser, not

a coward, and that you let the Supreme Umpire

decide who wins.

51



18th Sunday after Pentecost

TAKING STOCK

“There is no gift in which you are still lacking”

(1 Cor. 1:7).

The value of the various material elements of

which man’s body is composed has been set at a

few cents. It is but the plastic container of our

priceless soul, purchased at the infinite price of

the Precious Blood from the infernal jailer.

Through our Redeemer’s sufferings we have “be-

come rich in every way,” so much so that “there

is no gift in which we are still lacking.” Only

in the light of eternity shall we be able to enu-

merate and rightly evaluate all God’s spiritual

gifts to us. With the initial grace of baptism

we may say what the Holy Spirit says of Wisdom,

“All good things came to me together with her,

and innumerable riches through her hands. She

is an infinite treasure to men: which they that

use become the friends of God, being commended

for the gifts of discipline” (Wisd. 7:11,14). By

this initial grace we participate in the uncreated,

Divine Nature, which effects a supernatural simi-

larity to this Nature, conferring upon us the

highest perfection, and making us partakers of

the sanctity of the Divine Nature, wherefore it

is rightly called “sanctifying grace.” By grace

we receive the Person of the Holy Spirit into

our soul. He infuses the theological virtues of

faith, hope, and charity, His seven gifts, His

twelve fruits, and so on.

52



19th Sunday after Pentecost

THE CHRISTIAN CUT

“Justified and sanctified through the truth” (Eph.

4 :24 ).

False religions sometimes dictate a distinctive

style of dress for their adherents. God is not

interested in the latest fashions in dress. He

merely asks that your clothes modestly cover and

protect your body against the elements—and fit
the size of your pocketbook. But He does pre-

scribe a definite cut for the robe of your soul,

and His tailor, St. Paul, today gives you the

distinctive style of this soul-garment. “You must

be clothed in the new self, which is created in

God's image, justified and sanctified through the

truth.” God is a God of truth. He hates all lies,

deceit, injustice. Hence the distinctive cut of all

Christians, of all followers of Christ, the true

God, ought to be seen in their just dealings with

all men in all circumstances. It is for them to set

the fashion in this matter by looking often into

Christ, our mirror, and then becoming mirrors

for others. Others will like the sharp, distinctive

lines of this soul-dress and have a suit like it

made to order. Are you setting the style for

your neighbor's soul-dress?

53



20th Sunday after Pentecost

IN EVIL TIMES

“Hoarding the opportunity" (Eph. 5:16).

The weather and the times in which we live

are ready-made topics of conversation, and come

in for a great deal of blame and bewailing. Yet,

come to think of it, the times are made by men.

As men are, so are the times, good or bad. We
may not be able to make the weather as we

should like to have it for our own little pet

project, but we can do something positive towards

making the times better—by making ourselves
better. The difficulty lies in the fact that we

like to reform others, but dread to undertake this

distasteful task on ourselves. Yet, whereas we

cannot expect to accomplish much in remaking

others according to our blueprints of goodness

or perfection, simply because men resent this

meddling in their personal affairs, we can effect

much by confining our efforts at improvement to

the little back yard of self. We live in a little

world, and by making self the center of radiating

goodness, this would grow like the ripples en-

circling a stone cast into the water. Each ripple

imparts its motion to the next until the last is

stopped by the bounding shore. If we were wise

we should use the present opportunity for doing

something constructive for the betterment of the

times by bettering ourselves. All investment of

time and energy in self-improvement pays imme-

diate dividends in peace of conscience and joy

of heart.

54



21st Sunday after Pentecost

GOD’S SWORD

“The sword of the spirit” (Eph. 6:17).

“You must wear all the weapons in God’s ar-

mory, if you would find strength to resist the

cunning of the devil,” St. Paul admonishes us

today. Then he lists this spiritual armor that we

are to use in our struggle “with those who have

mastery of the world in these dark days.” We
must match cunning with cunning, in fact, out-

wit cunning, if we would “be found still on our

feet when all the task is over.” Our cunning will

consist in making use of God’s word as a God-

sword . St. John saw one who seemed like a son

of man . . . “from his mouth came a sword sharp-

ened at both its edges” (Apoc. 1:16). This is

the word of God which St. Paul assures us “is

something alive, full of energy; it can penetrate

deeper than any two-edged sword, searching the

very division between soul and spirit, between

joints and marrow, quick to distinguish every

thought and design in our hearts” (Heb. 4:12).

Thus, whilst, like our Divine Model, we repel the

attacks of the wily tempter with this two-edged

sword, we must also use it as a scalpel to cut out

the tumor of self, to outwit our greatest tempt-

er and traitor, the enemy within the castle of

our soul.

55



22nd Sunday after Pentecost

CUT TO SUIT

“With the tenderness of Jesus. Christ himself”

(Philip. 1:8).

We know that St. Paul was a tent-maker by
trade, but we do not often think of him as being

a tailor. Yet, he is constantly taking measure-

ments of our Divine Model—the breadth and
length and height of Christ—for the garment of
our souls. Tradition tells us that Mary wove the

tunic of her Son in one piece, which grew with

Him. When St. Paul takes measurements of

Christ's virtues for you and me, the garment at

first fits our littleness, but as we “grow into

Christ” by daily, earnest effort, we are filled with

the completion God has to give” (Eph. 4:19).

As special cut for our soul's suit or dress our

tailor suggests: “The livery you wear must be

tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness

and patience; you must bear with one another's

faults, be generous to each other, where some-

body has given grounds for complaint
;
the Lord's

generosity to you must be the model of yours”

(Col. 3:12-13). A daily look at Christ, Who is

our mirror, will enable us to see whether we “be

clothed in the new self, which is created in God's

image, justified and sanctified through the truth”

(Eph. 4:24). Because of that daily “renewal in

the inner life of their minds” God's saintly

children are always well-dressed.

56



23rd Sunday after Pentecost

GREAT BEL

“Their own hungry bellies are the god they wor-

ship” (Philip. 3:19).

He laughs best who laughs at himself first.

Often our own stupidity is greater than that of

our neighbor, which so often makes us smile, or

even laugh boisterously. Bel, the idol that the

Babylonians worshipped, was not on a starvation

diet. ‘There were spent upon him every day

twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty

sheep, and sixty vessels of wine” (Dan. 14:2).

Daniel, the king's guest, smiled when the king

said to him: “Does not Bel seem to thee to be a

living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth

and drinketh every day?” (v. 5). But he laughed

outright when the king really believed that the

idol had “licked the platter clean.” “Behold,” he

said, “the pavement
;
mark whose footsteps these

are!” (v. 18). The next serving that Bel got was

a “plate of hash,” composed by royal mandate of

the priests, their wives and children, “after they

had shewed him the private doors by which they

came in and consumed the things that were on

the table” (v. 20). Your guardian angel, your

unseen guest at each meal, does not smile or

laugh when you make your belly your “Bel.” For

then your mind is too dull to heed his admoni-

tion: “In eating, in drinking, in all that you do,

do everything as for God's glory” (1 Cor. 10:31).

That is God's truth.

57



2kth Sunday after Pentecost

IN LIFE’S LEDGER

“May you live as befits his servants, waiting con-

tinuously on his pleasure” (Col. 1:10).

A husband, examining the expense account of
his wife, found many items listed in the family

expense book as GOK. When asked to decipher

this code, she explained: “God only knows!” At

the end of the ecclesiastical year we naturally

think of balancing our account book with God.

Many items therein are known to Him alone and

the recording angel. There may be a vast differ-

ence between the debit and credit side. St. Paul

in today’s epistle suggests a very simple means

by which we can be sure that everything will be

entered on the credit side of our life’s ledger by

our conscientious and all-seeing recorder, that we

be “in all things pleasing,”—that whatever we
do, be it great or small, be pleasing to God ; that

we live as befits His servants, waiting continu-

ously on the manifestation of His will and exe-

cuting it properly and “as directed.” (After all,

He has promised us a reward for doing “His”

will, not for following “our” will and fancy.)

We must choose to be on God’s payroll and then

execute the particular work assigned to us. By

putting all our attention on “what” we do and

“how” we do it, we shall have no other cares or

worries as to our expense account—the use of
God’s advanced funds, His actual graces.

58



Feast of the Assumption

TRANSPLANTED

“I took root" (Ecclus. 24:16).

Instead of the customary likening of Mary to a

flower, Holy Mother Church today changes the

resemblance to a tree, in fact, to five varieties

of trees—a cedar, cypress, palm, olive, and plane
tree. The cedar tree is a symbol of Mary's

greatness as Mother of God. Comparing the

greatness of the chosen people of God to a tree,

the Psalmist sings: "How the cedars, divinely

tall, are overtopped by its branches" (Ps. 79:11).

Mary "overtops" angels and saints, because from

the "top of the branches God has cut a tender

twig" (Ez. 17:22), the human nature of Christ,

His Son. The cypress tree, used to beautify the

temple that Solomon built to the Lord, reminds

us of Mary's glory as Virgin-Mother. "I will

glorify the place of my feet" (Is. 60-13). The

palm tree, a symbol of beauty and perseverance,

since some trees live 200 years, is a fitting em-

blem for a Saint and Martyr. Mary is their

Queen. The evergreen olive tree is a symbol of

enduring happiness. "The Lord called thy name,

a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, and beauti-

ful" (Jer. 4:16). The plane tree (resembling

our sycamore) is cultivated as an ornamental

tree and for its wood, which is used in cabinet

work. Because Jesus has taken His human nature

from Mary's flesh, He did not let this undergo

corruption, but "transplanted" it to heaven today.

59



„ Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

COME OVER TO ME

“Be filled with my fruits” (Ecclus. 24:26).

Eve tempted Adam to eat of the fruit of the

tree of knowledge of good and evil that caused

their death. Mary, the second Eve, gave us the

fruit of her virginal womb, the fruit of the Tree

of Life, that we may “eat and live for ever”

(Gen. 3:22). Today she invites us to come into

the “enclosed garden” of her Immaculate Heart

to eat of the special fruit she keeps there for our

refreshment and nourishment. But we must

pluck it ourselves, she does not serve it to us

on a silver platter. What is this fruit? Not an

apple, but the pomegranate. This fruit, with the

shape of an orange and the color of an apple has

nine or ten compartments that contain in all

about 1000 seeds. Its sweet- bitter taste makes

it a pleasant fruit. The pomegranate is a symbol

of Mary's eminent virtues. If we object that we

cannot practice the virtues of Christ, because He

was both God and Man, this excuse will not hold

with regard to Mary, who was all human. The

consideration of her virtues will be at first

“sweet to the palate” of our mind by contempla-

tion, but when we crush these seeds (by imita-

tion) we find them bitter because of the seeds of

Eve's fruit in our nature. Let us “get up early

to the vineyards
;
let us see ... if the pomegran-

ate flourish” (Cant. 7:12).

60



Feast of Christ the King

A DOUBLE CROWN

“Transferring us to the kingdom of his beloved

Son” (Col. 1:13).

When St. John writes in the Apocalypse that

the twenty-four elders “threw down their crowns

before the throne” (4:10), he tells us that they

did so as a sign of worship. Out of reverence,

and as a sign of subjection, a man removes his

hat before the earthly throne of his God and

King. When God created man a microcosm or

“little world” He crowned him king of all crea-

tion. But he was destined to wear a second

crown—that of a child of God, should he stand

the simple test in the garden of pleasure. Adam

there threw away this second crown by his own

free (bad) choice. Christ, the Son of God and

second Adam, picked up this discarded crown

and gave it back to him. But, He did still more.

By assuming human nature and uniting it to His

Divinity He added new lustre to man's first

crown and made possible again the second. It is

our human nature that is crowned here with the

merits of Christ, our royal, elder Brother, and

that will be crowned one day in the kingdom of

our Father, as Christ Himself was, with a crown

made of the gold and jewels of our personal

merits, or good use made of the royal gifts

of God.

61



Feast of the Immaculate Conception

OUR BACK YARD

“Playing before him at all times" (Prov. 8:30).

These words call up a picture of a carefree,

healthy, and, consequently, happy child at play

in its paradise—the back yard. Sheltered by the
high fence from all intruders, it finds no end of

enjoyment in its playthings, its pets, the flowers,

the birds, the glad sunshine. Adam was such a

happy child, the first child in his paradise of

pleasure. As he lacked a playmate, God gave him

Eve. Both were to play in God’s back yard until

this would be too small for their growing family.

Then they might have the rest of the world as

playground. The work of keeping the grass cut,

the flowers tended, the trees trimmed, and the

animal pets fed and watered, was to be mere

play, an endless round of exciting experiences,

revealing always more of the wisdom of Him

who had made all things for man. One day an

intruder came who envied these two children with

such happiness. He made them wish to be “grown

up." Well, you know the rest of the story. Sin

has changed the backyard of our soul from a

cheerful, inviting paradise, where God plays with

His children all day long, into a yard filled with

noxious weeds, discarded tins of forbidden

sweets (?), rags, rubbish, and rats—the devil’s
playground. Would we invite our Immaculate

Mother to set her spotless foot there and even

play with us?



1st Sunday of Advent

HIGH TIME

“It is high time for us to wake out of our sleep"

(Rom. 13:11).

Mike, coming back from the Land of Nod a

moment before Big Ben cleared his throat for

his “rousing" cheers, smilingly greeted his morn-

ing caller with, “I fooled yez that time ! I wasn't

aslape at all!" If our alarm clock had a mind

to see the ridiculous it would chuckle repeatedly

at that apparently super-human feat of rising

promptly in the morning. For, no sooner has it

promptly recalled us from the anaesthesia of deep

sleep than we use the first rays of consciousness

to invent reasons for “lying just a moment long-

er." After all, the opiate of sleep does kill the

dread of tackling tasks that we dislike. (We need

no alarm when we plan to spend the day at a

picnic.) But, experience has proved beyond a

doubt that lying just a little longer makes the

getting up and doing all the harder. Hence St.

Paul, fearing that we may pay no heed to the

Baby Ben of our conscience, comes in person

today to our bed of spiritual sluggishness and

sinful sleepiness and fairly shouts into our ears

:

“Get up at once ! Throw off the covers of habitual

sin, discard the nightclothes of actual sin, and

dress in your Sunday best—put on the white
innocence of the Lord Jesus Christ

”

63



2nd Sunday of Advent

SOUL-SALVE

“That through the patience and the consolation

afforded by the Scriptures” (Rom. 15:4).

St. Benedict requires of the Abbot that “he

must be well-versed in the Divine Law, that he

may know whence to bring forth new things and

old” (Ch. 64), for the needs of his subjects. In

correcting them he must apply “the ointment and

unction of his admonitions, the remedies of the

Holy Scriptures...” (Ch. 28). According to St.

Paul's method of expression, the Scriptures, the

unction and ointment of God's admonitions to

the soul, are like a medicine chest from which

we are to take the remedy for any soul-need.

The sacred writings do contain a remedy for

every soul-need, but we often fail in the patience

necessary until the applied remedy takes effect.

Material salves and ointments assist nature in

her slow process of replacing diseased bodily

tissue. In our bodies we can see and feel the

effects of this healing process, a consolation de-

nied us with regard to the workings of our souls.

Here all the more patience is required until

God's word produces its salutary effect. Again,

it is necessary that we know what remedy to use

and how to use it. That is acquired by careful

reading and experimentation. Our soul is not

merely the patient, but also the laboratory for

testing the effects of the Word of God as ad-

ministered in Holy Mass.

64



3rd Sunday of Advent

POLISH OR PAINT

“Give proof to all of your courtesy” (Philip. 4:4).

Polish may be called the soul of the gold,

silver, or marble, brought to the surface by a

process of intensive rubbing. Paint is the skin

stretched over the surface of one kind of materi-

al to simulate another. Thus, it may be spread

over wood to make it resemble marble or onyx.

In this sense good manners may be either polish

or paint. They may be the outward, perfumed

flowering of a beautiful soul, produced by a long

process of rubbing off the rough surface of self,

or, a mere camouflage that is donned “when com-

pany comes.” It is not hard to guess which type

is more attractive and lasting—the soul-deep, or

the (less than) skin-deep variety. As a powerful

factor in attaining to the genuine type of cour-

tesy, St. Paul suggests the constant remembrance

that “the Lord is near.” He is as near to you

as your neighbor in whose soul He dwells. More

than that, by dwelling in your own soul, He is

nearer to you than you are to yourself. He sees

through all sham, as most men and women also

do. God detests sham, man condones it; possibly

because he has enough strength of character to

admit that he also is addicted to this weakness.

Will you not strive for the genuine type of

courtesy, which, when shown to your neighbor, is

really a worship of God in him?

65



Uth Sunday of Advent

THE LORD’S SCRUTINY

“I am not even at pains to scrutinize my own

conduct” (1 Cor. 4:3).

“That is where St. Paul and I agree,” you

say. But, do you, really? St. Paul does not mean

to say that he never examined his conscience. In

fact, he has done this task so often and well that

he can truthfully say: “My conscience does not,

in fact reproach me; but that is not where my

justification lies.” Even if a most careful check-

ing of his personal accounts reveals nothing on

the debit side of his soul’s ledger, he does not

feel that he can trust that auditing of his own

books. He knows that, due to human weakness,

many factors work together to falsify man’s

judgment of the true state of his soul. We are

constantly acting in a responsible way, yet so

often pay no heed to our actions, not to speak of

weighing them in God’s just scales as He does.

By the habit of sinning we have succeeded in

silencing or bribing our conscience. We are not
free from the bias of self-love that puts many of

our doings in a favorable light, and so on. If

we are such poor judges of ourselves (and what

man could know us better?) how shall we dare

to sit in judgment on our neighbor, whose ex-

ternal actions, indeed, we see, but not the mo-

tives that prompted them?

66



Feast of the Nativity (I Mass)

NO SACRILEGE

“To ransom us from all our guilt” (Tit. 2:14).

Our pocketbook belongs to our Sunday outfit.

We contribute our tithe to the Sunday collection,

not because the pastor must live, the teachers

must be paid their meager salary, and the inter-

est on the church debt must be met, but because

our gift of money is our ambassador to God, to

speak for us at His throne, to ask in our name,

for it really represents ourselves, whom we offer

with it—our worship of God. We come to give
back to God His gifts in gratitude. But, we

have also come to take, to empty the church’s

treasury, which cannot be emptied, by giving

back to the Father His greatest gift to us, His

new-born Son. He came for us. He belongs to

each of us. He wishes us to use Him, not only

to repay God’s goodness, His gifts to us which

are without number, but also in payment to His

justice for the debt we owe Him by our number-

less sins. This is the only sterling coin that the

Father will accept. Minted on earth in Mary's

chaste womb, this heavenly Coin bears the stamp

of divinity which gives It infinite value. To take

Him is not robbery
;
not to take Him is the great-

est folly. He came as an eager Babe to be

“taken up.”

67



Feast of the Nativity (II Mass)

BORN TWICE

“Giving us new birth and restoring our nature

through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

A second time time today we come to the Crib
to “see” the Babe of Bethlehem. He begins His

work of redemption by the very form He has

chosen as Savior. Of the countless forms Jesus

could have chosen in which to come as Redeemer,

Jesus chose that of a lovely, new-born Infant.

That is the first step to salvation, the “A” of the

soul’s alphabet that Nicodemus could not under-

stand. A man cannot see the kingdom of God
without being born anew. “Believe me, no man

can enter into the kingdom of God unless birth

comes to him from water, and from the Holy

Spirit” (St. John 3:5). A twofold spiritual birth
is necessary, one by immersion and one by in-

fusion. The soul, immersed in the life-giving

waters of baptism, is reborn from the death of

original (and personal) sin to a new life in God.

The ebb tide of sin gives place to the flood tide

of sanctifying grace. That is the cleansing and

birth by water. The second birth, the “restoring

of human nature” takes place by fire—the Holy
Spirit, who comes into the soul to cleanse it more

fully and to anneal it to Himself. Can you read

this lesson from the mute lips of the smiling

Babe in the Crib?

68



Feast of the Nativity (III Mass)

TELEVISION

“With a Son to speak for him” (Heb. 1:2).

A third time today we kneel at the Crib, this

time to “hear” the Christmas message of the

Infant Savior. St. Paul, our radio announcer,

gives us the message whilst faith takes the place

of television. The message is—this speechless
Babe is the “Eternal Word,” and the vision is

—

in this Son we can see the Father. “To see me

is to see him who sent me” (St. John 12:45).

Faith sees the eternal Father forever speaking

this “Eternal Word.” As Father Faber so poeti-

cally puts it, “He is the first Word ever spoken,

and He was spoken by God, and He is in all

things equal to Him by whom He was spoken.

He was uttered from eternity, uttered without

place to utter Him in, without sound accompany-

ing the utterance, and the Father who uttered

Him, or rather who is for ever uttering Him, is

not prior to the Word He utters.” In the Gospel

St. John tells us : “At the beginning of time the

Word already was; and God had the Word abid-

ing with him, and the Word was God. He abode,

at the beginning of time, with God. It was

through him that all things came into being, and

without him came nothing that has come to be”

(1:1-3). This Word resounds over our own “void

and empty” hearts to make them a new creation.

69



Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity

GOD’S KINDERGARTEN

“We toiled away at the school-room tasks” (Gal.
4 :3 ).

Scarcely is a child born into this world of a

thousand mysteries when it curls itself up into

the shape of a twitching question mark and cries:

“Why, why?” A little later, when it can propel
itself on hands and feet, it begins its tour of

investigation. Everything within reach must be

touched, tasted, and swallowed, if at all possible.

Later still, with open eyes, ears, and mouth it

drinks in the wonders of this world on its chair

in the kindergarten. St. Paul reminds us today

that we are all children who have but one word

to learn—Abba—backward and forward, until we
know the depth of meaning of this simple word

—

Father. When the appointed time came, God, our

Father, sent His Son on a mission to us to give

us the answer to the philosopher’s sevenfold ques-

tioning. WHO, The Father, sent WHAT
(WHOM), His Son, WHERETO, to earth on

Christmas night, WHY, to redeem man, BY
WHAT MEANS, by His death, IN WHAT MAN-
NER, on the Cross, WHEN, on Good Friday,
and daily at Holy Mass. This lesson is always

the same, but our mastering of it should become

more perfect each day that we attend the school

of the Holy Sacrifice. It is our fundamental

lesson, our ABC’s.

70



Mass for the Dead

DRY YOUR TEARS

“Tell one another this for your consolation” (1

Thess. 4:17).

In a humorous article, entitled “The Niobites,”

a chaplain of a certain convent proposed to found

a new order for sad-faced nuns “to atone by

incessant weeping for the abundant joy and hap-

piness to be found in all the convents of the

world . . . The more gifted nuns will be chiefly

occupied in writing letters of “desolation” that

will plunge the recipient in gloom.” St. Paul's

letter is not one of these. He has “a message

from the Lord himself”
—
“Who comforts us in

all our trials” (2 Cor. 1:4), which he would have

broadcast to all mourners by the fiery tongues of

the six burning candles that flank the coffin. We

(1) “believe that (2) Jesus underwent death and

(3) rose again. When He (4) comes back (5)

God will bring back those (6) who found rest in

Him.” “Faith” in the mourner and “rest” for

the deceased. What the mourner now sees by

faith, the departed sees by vision; and the rest

of those who “died in Christ” should be the peace

and joy of the living. St. John, also, has a mes-

sage of comfort, in fact, a command, for the

mourner: “Write thus: Blessed are the dead who

die in the Lord. Yes, for ever henceforward, the

Spirit says: they are to have rest from their

labors; but the deeds they did in life go with

them now” (Apoc. 14:13).

71



MASS YEAR REFLECTIONS

Each year the Reflections from THE MASS YEAR
are printed separately in pamphlet form. Below is

the list :

—

LITURGICAL, ESSAYS by Benedictine Monks, 25*
Some of the symbols and ceremonies of the Church are

the subjects of these essays which demonstrate the beauty

and the influence of the Liturgy on the spiritual life of

the Faithful.

DIGEST OF THE LITURGICAL SEASONS, compiled
from the works of Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., by
Bernard Beck, O.S.B., S.T.D., 25*

The Six Seasons of the Church Year are explained and

a brief history of each given.

ROUSE THY MIGHT by Sister M. Gonzaga, 25*
Reflections on the “Colleots,” the greater petition prayers

of the Church, contain meditation material for Sundays

and the greater Feasts.

NEWNESS OF LIFE by Placidus Kempf, O.S.B., 25*
Reflections on the “Introits” for the Sundays and great-

er Feasts will help attune your soul to sing more in

harmony with the Church.

FRUITFUL DAYS by Placidus Kempf, O.S.B., 25*
Reflections on the “Communion Chants” of the Sundays

and greater Feasts will foster greater devotion toward

the reception of Holy Communion as an active participa-

tion in the Holy Sacrifice.

CHRIST’S FACE by Placidus Kempf, O.S.B., 25*
Reflections on the “Gospels” of the Sundays and greater

Feasts are the best way to mirror the Face of Christ in

our daily lives.