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PROGRAM FOR A

PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

by

Donald F. Miller, C.SS.R.

Copyright 1960

LIGUORIAN PAMPHLETS

REDEMPTORIST FATHERS

Liguori, Missouri



Imprimi Potest:

John N. McCormick, C.SS.R.

Provincial, St. Louis Province,

Redemptorist Fathers

Jan. 4, 1960

Imprimatur:

St. Louis, Jan. 7, 1960

8B Joseph E. Ritter

Archbishop of St. Louis



CONTENTS

Philosophy of Life 5

On the Good Intention 6

On Daily Mass 8

How To Protect Faith 9

On Listening to Sermons 10

On Spiritual Reading 12

The Right Attitude toward Prayer 13

How To Be a Saint 14

The Most Important Devotion 16

Why We Need Mary 17

How To Make a Meditation 19

On Sins of Speech 20

On Temptation 21

On Human Respect 23

On Ideals 24

On Examination of Conscience 26

Queries about Confession 27

On Venial Sin 29

On Communion for the Sick 30

Motives for Charity 31

On Forgiveness 33

On Scandal 34

On Loving Oneself 35

On Poverty of Spirit 37

On the Essence of Purity 38

On Unclean Speech 39



CONTENTS

On Obedience 41

On the “Passions” 42

Fidelity in Marriage 44

On Patriotism —45

On the Education of Children 46

On Devotion to the Holy Spirit 48

On Making a Retreat 49

What Christmas Teaches 51

Background for Resolutions 52

Support for Resolutions 54

On Serving Mass 55

On Spiritualizing Christmas 56

The Way of the Cross 58

On the Right Attitude to Death 59

On Christian Burial 60

The Blessings of Purgatory 62



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 5

Philosophy of Life

We hear a great deal nowadays about “philosophies of

life.” Translated into simple language, a philosophy of life

is simply a unified collection of reasons or principles on

which one tries to base the conduct of his life. Many have

wrong principles or reasons in their philosophy of life. A
genuine Catholic might describe his philosophy of life as

follows

:

1. I was created, like all other things that are, for the

honor and glory of God. That is, God wished to reproduce

some of His own perfections in me, that my existence might

be like an everlasting evidence of His power, intelligence,

and freedom, and therefore an honor to Him just as any

work of art is honor and glory to the artist.

2. I was so created that I must seek happiness in the un-

limited degree in which God made it possible for me. Unless

I can attain this happiness, God will never be honored fully

by my existence because I shall always be something less
than He intended me to be—a poor evidence of His power,
and a miserable image of His intelligence and love.

3. I can attain that happiness only by fidelity to the laws

that He has made to govern my conduct in this world. It
will not do for me to say that I must have happiness, and

that therefore any means of attaining it must be lawful.

God alone understands me fully, and God alone knows what

will lead me to unlimited joy. He has made that known in

the laws He imposed upon me.

4. In attaining happiness and thus giving honor to God

as a perfect man, I shall at times have to undergo sacrifice

and pain. Rejecting temptations, giving up dangerous

friends, densdng my flesh, submitting my will—these things
cost sacrifice and pain. I do not mind, because God Who



6 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

commanded them knew what He was doing, and never acts

cruelly or unwisely.

5. I am the only creature on earth to whom God gave the

privilege of freely honoring Him by freely choosing the

happiness He has intended for me. All other things He

has forced to do His will, to represent His perfections, to

attain the end He set for them. By this I know the mean-

ing of the phrase that I am made to His own image and

likeness, and just as He has freely made me, so I can freely

fulfill or destroy His plan.

At least once a month every Catholic should make a

meditation on these simple elements in the philosophy by

which he should live. These truths make us feel the nobility

of our nature, the folly of sin, the greatness of our destiny,

the value of all our thoughts and words and deeds in

the sight of Him who looks on us as the images of His

own infinite being!

On the Good Intention

It is often said that religion should effect a transforma-

tion in the lives of men. This means, of course, that religion

provides the motives through which sinful actions are

avoided and good actions, like prayer and deeds of charity,

etc., are performed. But it means more than that. Religion

provides the means whereby all indifferent actions are

transformed into expressions of love of God and means of

merit for the soul. This is done by the use of the good

intention—neglected by so many people:

1. God wants not only the direct service and homage of

His children, as it is given in attending Mass and saying

prayers, and receiving the Sacraments; He wants every-

thing they do to be directed to Him. St. Paul makes this

clear, when he says: Whether you eat or drink or what-

ever else you do, do all to the glory of God.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 7

2. It is impossible for a person to be thinking constantly

of God, and consciously directing to Him “all, whatsoever

he does.” God does not expect that. But He does ask that

at intervals frequent enough to carry over from one to the

other, a conscious intention be made by which every thought,

word and deed is given to God.

3. There are certain opportune times for making such an

intention. The most obviously so is the morning, when one

awakens. At meal times is another such occasion. Before

beginning one’s daily work is another. Before entering a

period of recreation is another. In a time of suffering or

pain is another.

4. The expressions by which indifferent actions are trans-

formed into prayers should be very simple, “All for Thee,

O Lord,” “0 God, I give you all my thoughts, words, and
deeds as expressions of my love,” “May this day, or this
action, or this recreation, be to the glory of my God.”

The reward of habitually using the good intention is

beyond conception. It covers the whole of one’s life with

the vesture of prayer; it obtains the special Providence and

protection of God. It makes the avoidance of sin easy be-

cause it keeps the soul mindful that there are so many posi-

tive actions that can be pleasing to God. It takes away the

feeling of futility that so many people experience because

they have time for so few prayers. It makes holiness out of

the ordinary stuff of the ordinary man’s life—and God
Himself asks for no more.



8 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

On Daily Mass

It is always a striking thing to see the out-of-proportion

difference between the crowds who attend Mass on Sunday

in Catholic churches and the paltry few who attend the

same supreme religious service on week-days. We point to
the former as a sign of the vigor of Catholicism in the land

;

we might refer to the emptiness of churches at Mass on

week-days as significant of the fact that there are thousands

of Catholics to whom the following truths seem meaningless

:

1. Week-day Mass is a golden opportunity for beginning

each day in a perfect manner; by offering up the Body and

Blood of Christ for one’s own past sins and for the sins of

the world; by joining with millions of Christians of every

age and nation in the most beautiful prayers that the tongue

can utter; by being reminded that the essence of true re-

ligion is the cross, borne first by Christ and to be borne in

turn by every one of His faithful followers.

2. Week-day Mass is not the difficult, laborious practice

that the absence of many would seem to indicate. It re-

quires one-half hour or less of one’s time
;
for all but a few

it can always be attended before the beginning of their daily

toil
;
it does not tax one’s mind or strength, unless, of course,

one is leading an inordinate night-life that renders him unfit

not only for Mass but for other daily duties as well. It seems

so strange that actual believers in God and in Christ should

begrudge a half hour out of each day’s twenty-four to the

sublime purpose of rendering appropriate gratitude, praise,

petition and atonement to God.

3. Week-day Mass will bring about the sanctification of

individuals and the salvation of the world, if the world is

to be saved from its present decadence. The sanctification

of an individual must begin with Calvary, and Calvary is

represented in daily Mass. The salvation of the world de-



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 9

pends on Calvary, and not until the world returns to it in

the form of the Mass will it be safe from wars, depressions,

and man-made catastrophies.

Many people are wondering these days what they can do

to save society and themselves from the terrors that are

impending. One thing you can do, whether you be learned

or ignorant, powerful or weak, great or small; go to Mass

every morning and you will do more than can be accom-

plished by all the speeches and all the propaganda in the

world.

How To Protect Faith

A great danger for those who have been Catholics from
infancy is that they will forget the truth that, though God

freely gave them the gift of faith, its preservation is de-

pendent in large part on their own actions once they have

grown to maturity. There are three things that may be

called indispensable to the preservation of faith in a Catholic

;

if any one of them is neglected, faith may easily be lost.

1. The first means of preserving faith is that of prayer.

All graces, in our adult lives, come to us through prayer.

The greatest of all graces is the power to believe all that

God has revealed, God may have given that power freely

in baptism but He will not continue to uphold it in a person

who does not pray. Experience confirms this abundantly;

those who give up the practice of frequent prayer invariably

find their faith weakening until at last it may be said to

be lost.

2. The second means necessary to the preservation of

faith is fidelity to what it commands. Deliberate, habitual,

mortal sins frequently end in a loss of faith. It is not hard

to understand why. Sin is a direct insult to Almighty God,

on whose good pleasure faith depends. God is all-merciful,

of course, and for one sin or even several sins does not



10 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

usually permit a person’s faith to die. But when He is

oifended again and again, when a person’s life is built around

a habit of mortal sin, God frequently withdraws all His

graces from that person, and the sad result is a loss of faith.

3. The third important means of preserving faith is the

use of the mind to understand its reasonable foundations

and its essential teachings. Faith is built upon reason, and

the more a person studies its motives, its bases, its logical

connections, its applications to life, the stronger will faith

become. No matter what a person’s education may be, he

is bound to use his mind in some way, e.g., by listening to

sermons, by reading, by asking questions, etc. Many people

lose their faith simply through culpable ignorance; they

give it up as something unreasonable because they have been

too slothful or busy with other things to learn how un-

answerably reasonable it is.

Hence, if anyone finds his faith becoming more or less

shaky, it will be well for him to examine whether he is

neglecting one of these means. Any one of them—even apart
from the others—can gradually lead a Catholic into the
sorry ranks of the hundreds of “fallen aways.” And that

means the loss of the highest gift God can ever give to man.

On Listening to Sermons

During Lent most Catholics have special opportunities for

listening to sermons. Lenten lectures are given in most

churches
;
they are held at convenient evening hours for all

;

they are usually on special topics not ordinarily dealt with

thoroughly during the rest of the year. Every Catholic

should use these opportunities for the following reasons

:

1. Understanding is necessary for the right kind of faith.

St. Paul commands all : Have a reason for the faith that is

in you. To have a reason for faith means to understand the

logical foundations of the true faith, to comprehend how



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 11

perfectly all its doctrines form one unified whole, to know

how these truths must be refiected in the actions of daily

life. Some Catholics go through life with wrong notions of

some of the teachings of their faith ; with ignorance of many

of its necessary doctrines; with rebellion against some of

its laws because they are grossly uninformed of the necessity

of observing them. Listening to sermons is one of the best

means of removing error and ignorance. If “faith comes

by hearing,” as Holy Scripture says, then it is also true

that faith is improved and increased “by hearing.”

2. Another reason for attending sermons, especially dur-

ing Lent, is that special graces are attached to the practice.

These graces come through the words of the priest, who

is officially commissioned by Christ through His Church to

preach and instruct, and through the humble submission

of the hearer to the word of God. These graces are received

no matter what the ability or eloquence of the preacher may

be. Some Catholics will listen to a sermon only if the preach-

er has a wide reputation, or if he is especially gifted in the

art of public speaking. Others look only for the type of

preacher who is entertaining. Where there is a possible

choice, of course, they are free to attend those sermons that

they think will do them the most good. But even when a

speaker is not particularly gifted or not up to the average.

Catholics should attend sermons for the graces and instruc-

tion that are always received.

An excellent Lenten resolution for this year would there-

fore be that of determining to attend as many extra sermons

as possible. If twice a week evening services are conducted

with special sermons, it would be incalculably worth while

to make regular attendance at all of them the rule for Lent.



12 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

On Spiritual Reading

An indispensable means of promoting one’s spiritual wel-

fare is spiritual reading. Founders of religious orders lay

down strict rules for daily spiritual reading for all their

subjects; every director of souls has emphasized its impor-

tance in the daily life of those who wish to be holy; self-

knowledge and common sense confirm authorities in this

matter.

1. Spiritual reading is that kind of reading which in-

structs the mind so that it may know more and more about

God, and inflames the will so that it may desire to do His

will. Therefore it may be the reading of the Bible, or of

the lives of saints, or of treatises on the virtues, or on the

vices, or on human nature in its relation to God.

2. The necessity of spiritual reading springs from the

truth that God wants every man to use his own mental

faculties for learning those things that are necessary and

useful for salvation. It is a fact that nothing so stimulates

the mind to think out the meaning of life and man’s purpose

therein as frequent spiritual reading. The reading of the

Gospels forces us to think of God’s intimate relationship to

our souls; the reading of lives of the saints helps us to

understand how the principles of Christ are to be applied;

the reading of studies of human nature and virtue and vice

inevitably assists us to plan our spiritual careers.

3. Such reading is especially necessary when we are sur-

rounded by powerful worldly interests and distractions as

all are today. It was never more true than today that “with

desolation is the land made desolate because there is no man

who thinketh in his heart.” Going to shows, listening to

radio programs, taking part in idle conversations, reading

newspapers and magazines and novels, do not require much

“thinking,” and reveal very little of importance to us. Spir-



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 13

itual reading offsets the din that a pagan world creates in

our ears.

4. Like everything else that is useful and necessary for

salvation, spiritual reading must be made a habit and given

a definite place in one’s daily routine. “I’m too busy,’’ is

no excuse, because it is usually based on unimportant affairs.

“I’m too lazy” is not an excuse because it is just as easy

to say “I won’t be lazy.” “I’m too ignorant” is just a

subterfuge, because there are books for every degree of

intelligence and education, and they are the means whereby

ignorance is destroyed.

The Right Attitude toward Prayer

It can be said with truth that the most important thing

in every human being’s life is prayer. Yet for many people,

distracted by the many activities going on about them, busy

with the material tasks of every day living, prayer is the

first thing that is put off, forgotten, sometimes entirely

neglected for long periods of time. It would not be so if they

would make personal convictions out of the three following

truths about prayer;

1. Prayer is a 'privilege. It is universally thought to be

a privilege to talk to famous men and women, such as leaders

of industry, stage and screen stars, heads of nations, gen-

iuses in any field, even though nothing is gained from such

contacts other than a brief gratification of vanity. But

prayer means talking with God, the King of Kings, the

Creator of all things, the wisest and most loving of all

fathers, and it means talking with Him with the certain

knowledge that He listens and can and will do something

for the one praying. No privilege of human contact can

faintly compare with the privilege of talking thus with God.

2. Prayer is a necessity. Nothing worthwhile in life can

be done without prayer, “Without Me,” said Christ, “you



14 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

can do nothing,” but He also said that through the medium

of prayer in His name a person would be able to accomplish

anything. On the one hand, strength against evil, the power

to do good, the elevation of one’^ nature and the beatific

vision in heaven, are gifts that only God can give; on the

other hand He has promised to give them in response to

prayer. All men want to be good and want to be happy;

neither goal can be attained without prayer.

3. Prayer is infallible. There is no such thing as a wasted

prayer, if it is rightly said. “Ask,” said Christ, “and you

shall receive.” For the intelligent and humble Christian, this

does not mean that the exact thing asked for must always

be given in the exact measure asked for; it does mean that

God answers every prayer, using His divine wisdom and

infinite love to measure out the right kind of answer.

These are the reasons why it is the most foolish thing in

the world to make prayer secondary or unimportant in life,

or to neglect it in favor of action, recreation, sleep etc.

Morning and night prayers, prayers before and after meals,

prayer in time of temptation or of spiritual or material

need, should be considered the most important actions of

every day.

How To Be a Saint

The Catholic Church has a long process of investigation

that she uses in examining the lives of those whose names,

after their death, are proposed to her for beatification. The

first part of the process concerns itself with the question of

whether the perSon practiced heroic virtue in life. All

Christians can be reminded of what to strive for, and what

to make resolutions about, by considering the norms applied

to proposed candidates for the honors of sainthood. These

are the norms:

1. Did the person perform virtuous actions that were

above the ordinary, not common to the majority of men?



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 15

Such actions would be accepting martyrdom for the faith

or for some virtue; practicing even small virtues at great

expense of comfort, convenience, gain; adopting forms of

penance for sinners that average Christians would not

consider, etc.

2. Did the person perform such virtuous actions with

great promptitude and ease? The question here is whether

the higher nature, through the grace of God, had so con-

trolled and dominated the lower nature, that the latter was

not permitted to raise a fuss, or to complain, or to interfere,

when there was a question of practicing virtue even under

difficulty.

3. Did the person perform such virtuous actions with a

certain supernatural joy? This is the answer to the wrong

notion of some people that saints are sad and morose. They

cannot be faints unless they are cheerful and joyous in their

service of God even in the midst of trial.

4. Did the person perform such actions with promptitude

and joy, not once, hut habitually? One heroic act of virtue

does not make a saint, unless it be the final heroic act of

accepting martyrdom cheerfully. Outside of that, heroic

virtue consists of continuous devotion to duty resulting from

acquired habits of doing God’s will under any and all

circumstances.

Human nature by itself cannot fulfill these requirements

of sanctity. But the grace of God makes them possible to

all who begin by awakening strong desires of sanctity in

their hearts, who make use of the many means of grace

God has provided, and who are determined to love God

more than anything in the world.



16 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

The Most Important Devotion

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the most im-

portant of all the devotions that can be practiced by Chris-

tians. It will be noticed that in every apparition of Our

Lord or His Blessed Mother that has occurred since Christ

left the earth, some fundamental truth that He revealed

in his lifetime is merely stressed in dramatic fashion once

more. Devotion to the Sacred Heart, as revealed to St.

Margaret Mary, merely stresses man’s duty of loving God,

and the already known but oft-forgotten manner in which

this love must be given.

1. The appeal of the Sacred Heart is a repetition of Oirr

Lord’s words as recorded in the Gospel : “Thou shalt love

the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole

soul, with all thy mind and all thy will. This is the first

and the greatest commandment.” It is a re-emphasizing of

the words of St. Paul : “If I speak with the tongues of men

and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as tinkling

cymbals and as sounding brass. If I have all faith ... if

I give all my goods to the poor ... if I deliver my body to
be burned . . . and have not charity (the love of God), it

shall profit me nothing.”

2. The appeal of the Sacred Heart is a reminder that the

love of man for God must be inspired and must grow out of

thoughts of the love of God for man as manifested in the

passion and death of Christ. That is why He showed His

heart encircled with thorns and pierced with a lance—that
these might be reminders of all the sufferings of His pas-

sion. No one can seriously believe that the Son of God

suffered and died for him, and bore the agony, the scourg-

ing, the crowning with thorns, the heavy cross, for him,

without being moved to love God. No one can meditate

on any feature of the pasSion of the Son of God without

growing in love for God.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 17

8. The appeal of the Sacred Heart includes a reminder of

the truth long before made known by Him, that the love

of man for God must be manifested in the frequent and

worthy reception of Holy Communion. He had said: “He

that eateth me shall live by me forever.” That statement

offers a test of the love of any man for God, because love is

fictitious unless it wills to stay with the one beloved forever.

In the apparition of His Sacred Heart, He stresses the fre-

quent reception of Holy Communion, not only as a mani-

festation of love but as a means of atonement for those who

refuse to love God.

Thus a man’s principal duties in life are fulfilled in devo-

tion to the Sacred Heart. By that he truly loves God; he

grows in love through being reminded of Christ’s suffering

for him
;
and he expresses his love through frequent recep-

tion of Holy Communion, “Do this,” Christ can say, “and

thou shalt live.”

Why We Need Mary

The only sufficient answer to the question of why devo-

tion to the mother of Christ is so universal and essential

a part of Catholic Christianity is that, according to the plan

of God, we need her in some way for the task of working

out our salvation. The sense of need for Mary must be the

basis on which practices of devotion to her are built up in

the life of the individual Christian. It can be intensified

by these considerations:

1. We need Mary because God gave her to us in the in-
timate relationship of mother to child, and God does nothing

that is foolish or unnecessary or in vain. No Catholic be-

lieves that God needed Mary or that He was bound to be

dependent on her in any way. But the fact that God chose

to come into the world through her, and to permit her to

help Him in working for our redemption and salvation, is



18 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

proof that God foresaw our need of her, and intended that

we rely on her help as He chose to do so freely Himself.

2. We need Mary, according to God’s chosen plan, because

we are made up of body and soul, and we therefore need

not only a knowledge of virtue and God’s commandments

that can be confined to the soul, but also an image and

example of virtue that will appeal even to the senses of our

bodies. Mary was created and made our mother to provide

us with the living picture of one human being like us, who

through God’s grace did perfectly all the things God asks

us to do. God knew that a virtuous human being, especially

one with the title of mother over us, would be far more

eifective in inducing us to practice virtue than a mere de-

finition of virtue.

3. We need Mary, according to God’s plan, because one
of the lingering effects of original sin, and an inevitable

effect of actual sin, in us is a tendency to discouragement

and even despair. As God created the instinctive love of

every mother to be a source of encouragement and confi-

dence to her children, so He created Mary and made her our

spiritual mother to counteract every tendency toward dis-

couragement that might arise in us. We instinctively feel
that if Mary will offer our prayers to her Son, or if Mary

will pray to Him for us, we shall have nothing to fear. God

created that instinct in us as He created Mary to achieve

its purpose.

Objections to devotion to Mary are often built on the

mistaken notion that such devotion is contrary to the truth

that God is all-powerful and perfectly independent of the

help of any creature. That truth remains intact, and devo-

tion to Mary flourishes, when it is remembered that God

gave her to men, not because He needed her, but because

they would need her as they would need many other things

that He freely gave them.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 19

How To Make a Meditation

Meditation is thoughtful prayer. Anyone can meditate,

old or young, educated or illiterate, sick or well.

Any place will do for a meditation. Best, a church or

chapel, before the Blessed Sacrament. But also in one’s

room, or before a hearth-fire, or even in the kitchen.

It is all in knowing what to do, and a little practice. Here

are the simple steps in the process

:

1. Try to recognize the presence and companionship of

God. Ask Him, then, to help and inspire you during these

moments of prayer.

2. Read a paragraph or a page from a good spiritual book

-^ne that appeals to you. The Gospels, the Imitation of

Christ, any Life of Our Lord, any work on the Cliristian

virtues, etc.

3. Close the book and think out the meaning of what you

have read. Concentrate on some particular truth it reveals.

Think of it as if God were telling it to you, enlarging on it,

illustrating it, revealing it in His human life.

4. Apply the truth to your own life. Is it something new

to you? Something you knew before, but seldom thought

about? Something you thought about, but seldom applied?

Something you could practice today or tomorrow?

5. Speak to God of your need in this matter. Ask Him

to help you. Tell Him you love Him and want to know His

Will, to remember it, to fulfill it. Tell Him especially you

will try to put into practice the truth or virtue or lesson

that has come to you from your meditation.

6. Put your intention into the form of a simple resolution.

Repeat it several times prayerfully, as an act of love for



20 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

God. Ask the Mother of God, your patron saint, and your

Guardian Angel to help you.

Such is the simple process of making a meditation. It

may be made in any length of time—five minutes, fifteen
minutes, half an hour. If you are distracted at any point

unconsciously, that does not spoil your meditation.

On Sins of Speech

There are many different sins committed in speech. Some

are against the 6th and 8th commandments of God, and

some are involved in sins of anger against the 5th com-

mandment. However, confused ideas are most common in

regard to sins against the 2nd commandment. The words

“cursing,” “swearing,” “blaspheming,” “profanity,” are used

wrongly so often that clear statements of what each one

means may be helpful.

1. Swearing means calling upon God to witness to the

truth of what one is stating or promising. In serious mat-

ters, such as court trials, swearing is legitimate and meri-

torious, as when the witness swears he will tell the truth.

To swear “by God” or holy things in trivial matters of con-

versation is a venial sin of disrespect to God.

2. Perjury is false swearing; calling upon God to attest

the truth of what we know is a lie or a false promise. Per-

jury, whether in a judicial court or in private affairs, is a

mortal sin.

3. Blasphemy is any derogatory or contumelious state-

ment of imprecation about God or holy things. To say de-

liberately and consciously that God is unjust or cruel or a

tyrant; that He is unworthy of love or service; to scoff at

saints or the Sacraments or the Mass—these are forms of
blasphemy. It is always a mortal sin.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 21

4. Cursing, in its most common form, means expressing

a desire for the damnation of a fellow human being. If this

desire is real and intended, to curse a human being whether

through the words, “May God condemn you to hell or damn

you” or in any other form is a mortal sin; it is a serious

offense against charity, and a form of blasphemy as at-

tributing to God a desire for a soul’s damnation. Cursing

inanimate or irrational things is always a venial sin of

irreverence to God.

5. Profanity, irreverence in speech, etc., means the light

and irreverent use of God’s name or of the name of Jesus,

or of the names of saints and holy things, in anger or in

ordinary conservation. It means using the holy names as

one might use slang. It is always a venial sin.

, The habit of swearing or cursing or of using profanity is

usually a sign that religion means very little to the one who

has allowed himself to acquire such habits. Even though

the majority of the offenses committed in conversation are

venial sins, still those who misuse the holy names will meet

with a sad awakening when they stand face to face with

the all-holy God whose love they have professed, but whose

Name they have so frequently derided.

On Temptation

Ignorance of the meaning of temptation is often the cause

of sorrow and discouragement, and not infrequently leads

to deliberate sins that could otherwise easily be avoided.

When a person understands the what and why of tempta-

tion, he is fortified for the battles of life, and not unduly

disturbed by even severe attacks of temptation. Hence this

instruction.

1. A temptation is not a sin. It is an invitation to sin. It
may be a bad thought just arisen in the mind, or an evil

desire just awakening in the soul, or an inclination to some-



22 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

thing wrong first felt in the senses, or a tendency to satisfy

curiosity attacking the eyes or the ears at the chance sight

or sound of something evil. As such it is not a sin. It is

then an invitation to think deliberately, to desire willingly,

to enjoy fully, to see and hear all despite sin. Only he who

accepts the invitation involved in these things after he is

conscious of their sinfulness, changes a temptation into a sin.

2. Temptations are the lot of all men because they are

the battleground on which God and heaven are won. “The

Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear

it away,” said our Lord. In other words, we have to earn

heaven, and the chance to earn it comes through temptation.

And whether the temptations are against chastity or charity

or humility or justice or obedience or any other virtue, they

are all equal opportunities for gaining merit and climbing

nearer to heaven.

3. To gain merit from temptation, the observance of two

simple rules is sufficient. As soon as a temptation is

recognized, one should 1) make an act of the will rejecting

the evil offered, which is best done by a positive act of love

of God or any little prayer. Utterance of the holy names

of Jesus and Mary is sure proof that a temptation has been

rejected by the will; 2) place the external faculties under

control; i.e., insist that they take no part in answering the

invitation to sin. If these two conditions are fulfilled,

temptations no matter how violent or prolonged never

become sins.

4. Three consoling truths are worth remembering about

temptation: 1) No temptation that is not deliberately sought

is a sin. 2) No temptation is ever allowed to attack a person

that is beyond his strength to overcome. 3) Every tempta-

tion is a means of gaining merit and favor from God that

could not otherwise have been gained.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 23

Whoever understands these truths and is ready to apply

them, has “prepared his soul for temptation.” They are

all contained in the word of our Lord to one of His saints,

who complained to Him saying: “Where wert Thou when I

was so sorely tried by evil?” He answered: “During all

that time I was in the midst of your heart.”

On Human Respect

Human respect is a vice that flourishes most luxuriously

in a democratic country like ours. Where all men are

considered in theory, equal, it is natural that the principles

and practices that are current and popular exert a powerful

influence over the individual who does not want to be

different from his fellows. To succumb to that influence

is to lose one’s individuality and very probably one’s soul.

It is necessary, therefore, to recognize its meaning and

appeal.

1. Human respect means that excessive regard for the

opinion of men that leads one to act contrary to the principles

of faith or Christian morality. It is slavish subservience to

man-made standards of conduct; it is a cowardly fear of

being criticized by men for something that in itself is good

and pleasing to God.

2. Human respect may influence one in a negative way;

i.e., may lead to sins of omission and to the neglect of

practices that one knows are necessary or good. The man

who misses Mass because he is in the company of non-

Catholics and does not want them to remark about his

religious loyalty is a slave of human respect. The man who

doesn’t admit his faith when it is being criticized or

condemned, or who doesn’t pray or attend Catholic devotions

because doing so would make him different from the crowd,

has a soul enslaved by human respect.



24 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

3. Human respect often influences men in positive ways.

There are those who take part in unclean conversations and

smutty story telling only because this is a means of keeping

in well with a certain crowd. A large percentage of those
who practice contraception to limit their families are in-

fluenced solely by human respect; they have a craven fear

of what others think and say.

4. The surest remedy for human respect is a realistic

meditation on the last judgment. There each man and

woman will be judged not by the standards of the age in

which they lived, but by the immutable principles of the

law of God. There the craven and the coward, the slave

and the weakling, who has knowingly rejected God and

served men, will cry out for the mountains to cover him;

and the company of all his ilk will not make less bitter his

shame.

There is no one who is free from the danger of human

respect today. The society of equals in an irreligious land

tends to create and foster its own principles and standards

of conduct and morality; it tends to ostracize those who

refuse to conform. The individual Catholic must be willing to

be ostracized
;
willing to be criticized

;
willing to be different

in his loyalty to the divine truth that has been revealed.

On Ideals

Much has been written on ideals. Some of it is theoretical,

verbose, impractical. Ideals should play a practical part in

a person’s progress toward good—towards perfection. They
should be the goal toward which resolutions are directed.

For all this their meaning needs to be simplified.

1. An ideal is one’s concept of what is the highest, best,

noblest degree of any quality proper to and desirable for

man. It must, of course, have truth
;
it must be the concept

of “something truly proper and desirable for men.” A high



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 25

degree of skill and cunning at thievery might be made an

ideal by a man—but it would be a false ideal—as represent-
ing something not proper to nor desirable for manj as he

has been created by God.

2. From this it is clear that ideals require knowledge.

Without study and knowledge of what is good for one, all

sorts of false ideals will be formed and pursued. He who

has never learned by self-examination nor been taught the

meaning and necessity and high value of chastity will not

be able to form an ideal of that virtue; he may even be

led to form the false ideal of unlimited self-indulgence in

sensuality.

3. After true ideals have been formed and clarified, they

mu^ be remembered. It is hard to remember an ideal in the
abstract; it is difficult to be moved simply by the definition

of the highest degree of a certain quality. Therefore, ideals

should be associated with images ; with persons ; with models

and examples. The saints are the embodiments of ideals;

St. Paul, for example, puts flesh and blood on the ideals of

courage and zeal; St. John the Evangelist on that of love

of God; St. Mary Magdalen on that of true repentance, etc.

4. Christ became man, for one of many reasons, to make

ideals live and appeal in the flesh and blood of His human

personality. The commandments and counsels are ideals in

the abstract
;
Christ is their living image. “Love of enemies”

is a Christian ideal; Christ forgiving His enemies on the

cross is a personified and therefore powerful ideal. The

Mother of Christ is the embodiment of many ideals.

When true ideals have been formed, associated with images

and persons and examples, and remembered, it is only left

to strive and keep on striving to make them exist not only

in one’s thought but in one’s character and soul. No dis-



26 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

couragement, nor lapses, nor failures should be allowed to

put an end to “striving.” Resolving is a form of striving;

vesolve on the ideals you need.

On Examination of Conscience

Lent, as everyone knows, and as the Church reiterates in

her daily prayers, is the time for the removal of sin and

affection for sin from the soul. To accomplish this, a daily

examination of conscience is almost indispensable. Every

religious community makes a daily examination of conscience

as a part of the ordinary routine; lay people, however, often

think of the practice as only connected with the actual

preparation for confession. Many will be glad to learn how

it can and should be a part of one’s daily spiritual life. The

rules are as follows

:

1. Choose a definite time for the examination. Perhaps

during a regularly made visit to a church each day. Perhaps

shortly before the evening meal in the home. Or, if at no

other time, at least before retiring.

2. Begin the examination always with a prayer. A prayer
of thanks for graces received and a prayer of petition for

help in the work of self-searching at hand.

3. Decide on a virtue that is needed, and make it the

subject of the examination for a week or even a month at

a time. This will not make for any lop-sided effect in seeking

to perfect self, because the attainment of any one virtue

will always carry along gradual development in all the

others. Begin, of course, with the outstanding need of the

soul.

4. Make the actual examination according to these suc-

cessive points

:



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 27

. My outward conduct in regard to this virtue. For

example if the virtue needed be love of neighbor, search

out faults in word, action or omission.

. My inward tendencies against the same. For example,

against charity, feelings of envy, or unchecked inward anger,

or rash judgment, etc.

c. My particular needs with regard to the positive manner

of practicing this virtue. It is helpful here to try to represent

the virtue as illustrated in the character and actions of

Christ, and to try to prepare to act as he did when parallel

circumstances arise.

5. Close always with a) an act of sorrow; b) a strong

but simple resolution; c) a prayer to Our Lord and His

Blessed Mother and some favorite saint for help to carry

it out.

Such an examination of conscience need not take long,

and would show definite results in a short time. Self-

discipline and earnest concentration will be needed at first;

but gradually the practice will weave itself sweetly and

naturally into the pattern of daily life.

Queries about Confession

There are certain questions concerning the sacrament of

confession that are asked repeatedly both by Catholics

trained in their faith from childhood and by converts who

have recently been introduced into its consoling practices.

Some of the most common of these questions are answered

here:

1. Must I not go to confession before each reception of

Holy Communion? It is amazing how many Catholics there

are who ask this question under the impression that the

answer has to be in the affirmative. The right answer is



28 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

No. Any Catholic may receive Holy Communion any day

on which he is not conscious of having committed a mortal

sin since his last good confession.

2. If I have committed a deliberate venial sin since my

last Communion, must I not go to confession before receiving

Communion again? No. It is good to go to confession to

have venial sins forgiven before Communion, but it is neither

necessary nor commanded. And no one should stay away

from Communion for the sole reason that he is conscious

of venial sins and has no opportunity of confession. A good
interior act of sorrow for such sins is sufficient to make

one worthy of Communion.

3. If several days or a week or two have elapsed since

my last Communion, must I not then go to confession before

receiving again? Time has nothing to do with this matter.

You are bound to go to confession before Communion only

if you are conscious of a deliberate mortal sin.

4. How often should one go to confession who receives

Communion daily, or weekly or frequently? It is good to

go to confession at least every three to four weeks, at best

every week, if one receives Communion often. But failure

to do so, or lack of opportunity to do so, need not keep one

from Communion, so long as one remains in the state of

grace.

5. Why should I go to confession often if I seldom have

even deliberate venial sins to tell? Because confession is a

sacrament that, besides forgiving sins, also gives strength

against future sins, even if one has only a sin of one’s

past life to tell.

It is a grave mistake for Catholics to speak or act contrary

to any of the above answers to questions about confession.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 29

Too often Communion is neglected for a false or foolish

reason. Both confession and Communion have a part to play

in every Catholic life. What that part is should be clearly

known.

On Venial Sin

As Lent progresses and the soul finds it has learned more

and more of the lesson of God’s love for mankind, there

should gradually revive a hatred not only of serious sin, but

light faults as well ! To promote this desirable effect, venial

sin may be made the subject of salutary meditation. These

points in particular should be pondered

:

1. Venial sins are the stepping stones to mortal. No sinner,

it is reasonable to assume, ever started his career of rebellion

by a serious offence against God. The way was gradually

prepared for the final tragic act of enmity by smaller faults

gradually increasing in boldness and in number. Judas is

an example of this—beginning as he did with interior envy
and a series of petty thefts—ending in the very betrayal
of his Lord.

2. Venial sin has a great deal to do with the Passion and

Death of Our Blessed Lord. Venial sins are the slights and

hurts dealt out by those who call themselves friends. Some-

times these things hurt almost more than the scourgings

and taunts of declared enemies; and there can be no doubt

whatsoever that Our Lord felt them keenly throughout His

sufferings.

3. Venial sins are the destroyers of character and nobility

of soul. Pagans often present to the world a more amiable

character simply because they avoid for natural reasons

those petty faults and sins that, despite both natural and

supernatural reasons, are not avoided by Christians. Gossip-

ing, lying, breaking out in anger, using profanity—these



30 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

venial sins mar the character of Christians and frequently

give more scandal and disedification than certain more

serious sins which the pagan world has not learned to

recognize.

4. Venial sin will demand atonement—^and the cleansing
fires of Purgatory will teach the soul—^if it does not learn
by merit and effort here—^its real meaning in the sight of
God. “To the last farthing” will our account be rendered

and when the conscious little faults mount into the hundreds

and thousands—that last farthing will be long in being paid

!

Lent should not pass away without a serious attack upon

our light faults. The love of the Redeemer will inspire it,

and His help will assist it to a successful conclusion. Start

by singling out the fault most frequently committed; allow

no day to pass without at least a few moments' self-examina-

tion on the matter; and designate some small penance to

be assumed for every conscious violation. This will bring

results.

On Communion for the Sick

One of the unkindest omissions on the part of the family

and relatives of seriously sick Catholics is not to arrange

for them an opportunity to receive the Sacraments. When

one is either seriously ill or bed-ridden for a long period of

time, the priest should be informed and requested to visit

the sick person and administer the Sacraments if possible.

When the priest comes to the house with the Blessed

Sacrament, these rules should be followed:

1. Before the priest arrives, the following things should

be prepared beside the sick person’s bed; a small table

covered with a white cloth. On the table a crucifix, two (or

at least one) blessed candles, a small glass half filled with

water, and a teaspoon. If Extreme Unction is to be admin-



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 31

istered, a small wad of cotton should be added. The table

should be free of other articles.

2. When the priest arrives, he should be met at the door

by a member of the family holding one of the lighted blessed

candles, who should kneel as the priest enters and then lead

the way to the sick room in silence. There the candle should

be placed on the table beside the bed. If the sick person’s

confession is to be heard, all present should leave the room,

waiting outside until the priest opens the door to readmit

them before Communion is given. Those present should

then kneel about the bed.

3. If the priest has to leave immediately after Holy

Communion is given, one of the family should read from a

prayerbook a few prayers of thanksgiving to the sick person.

It is not right to begin conversation on ordinary topics

inunediately after Holy Communion has been received,

because the Body and Blood of the Saviour are still present

for some minutes.

It is not unusual for Catholics either to neglect to call the

priest when serious illness comes to some member of the

family, or to find themselves without the things necessary

for the Communion call. Every Catholic home should be

provided with the simple items enumerated above and should

know how and when to use them.

Motives for Charity

It is impossible to practice charity in all that it implies

unless one has accepted the motives for charity provided by

the religion of Jesus Christ. All charity otherwise motivated

will be found to fail in some particular or to degenerate into

selfishness, when a real test of it is given. The motives

Christ gave, on the contrary, are sufficient to overcome every

form of that selfishness which is forever taking issue with

incentives to charity. These motives are:



32 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

1. The motive of the love of God. Every human being is

bound to love God with all his heart and soul and mind and

will. Loving God means loving the things God loves, and

God loves every human being He created with an infinite

love. He became man for all men, lived, worked, taught,

suffered and died for them. He loves even sinners until by

dying unrepentant they are lost to Him forever. Anyone,

therefore, who possesses in his heart the love of God, has

to love his fellowmen with a real and active love. That is

why St. John said : If any man say that he loves God and

hates his neighbor, that man is a liar.

2. The motive of the brotherhood of man. God made all

men brothers in a social and spiritual sense, dependent on

one another for peace on earth and the salvation of their

souls. One who realizes this relationship of others to him

and their dependence on him, both for happiness in this

world and in the next, cannot let selfishness stop the flow

of his charity because he knows that to do so is to disrupt

his own peace and to spoil his own chances of salvation.

Thus the second motive of charity makes a man understand

that working for himself means working for all.

3. The motive of incorporation in the mystic body of

Christ. The true Christian is a member of Christ’s body,

and remains a living member only so long as the principles

and example of Christ continue to live in him. The outstand-

ing principle and example of Christ’s life was that of charity

;

the external mark of all the members of His body must

always be a like charity in thought and word and deed.

That is why Christ said: By this shall all men know that

you are my disciples, that you have love, one for another.

Some people, with no belief in Christ, try to practice

charity because they love peace. Others attempt it because

they want to be loved and honored. But every natural and



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 33

purely human motive for charity places limits as to how

far charity should go. Only that charity which is based on

the love of God and the everlasting brotherhood of man and

in imitation of Christ is unlimited enough to eifect peace on

earth and happiness in heaven.

On Forgiveness

One of the essential marks of a Christian is willingness

to forgive. It is not one of the easiest marks to acquire,

nor is its task the easiest to fulfill. There are two extremes

to be avoided: The one is that of those nominal Christians

who say that it is natural to resent injuries and unnatural

to forgive them. The other extreme is that of worried and

scrupulous persons who cannot distinguish involuntary feel-

ings of resentment and remembrance of wrong from sheer

unwillingness to forgive. Perhaps the following principles

will help to clear up the matter:

1. All enemies must be forgiven, whether the wrong they

have done us is real or imaginary, great or small, malicious

or unintended.

2. This forgiveness means two things: 1) an internal act

of the will, condoning the injury, rejecting the temptation

to wish harm to the offender, wishing him well, i.e., wishing

the salvation of his soul and all things needful for it; 2)

an external act, by which we show readines to be reconciled

if the occasion offers, or by which we treat the person with

ordinary signs of human recognition and decency.

3. We are not necessarily unforgiving if we cannot forget

the wrong done us, if bitter thoughts and feelings continue

to rise up in us even though we try to reject them, if we

cannot be as friendly with the person as we were before.

So long as we pray for the offender, and try to treat him

decently, we are not guilty of wilful sin.



34 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

4. The command to forgive does not demand that, if we

have been defrauded of material goods, we forego using

means to gain back what has been unjustly taken. We may

forgive a person in our hearts, and yet take him to court,

when no other means would be fruitful, and thus make him

restore.

5. Signs of unforgiveness are: refusing to speak to a

person—refusing publicly to shake hands when it is the
conventional thing to do—^wilfully rejoicing when evil befalls
him, etc.

No one will deny that to forgive a real enemy is difficult

for fallen human nature. Yet no one can say that Christ

has not clearly demanded that His followers do so : in fact.

He has made our own forgiveness in His sight dependent

on our forgiveness of those who have wronged us!

On Scandal

The word “scandal” is a rather widely abused term. Some

use it only in connection with uncharitable conversation, as

when they speak of spreading scandal about others. Others

use the term as synon3nnous with any notorious evil deed,

which is called a scandal. It is true that the sin of scandal

usually accompanies backbiting and uncharitable conversa-

tion
;
and is usually inherent in a notorious crime

; yet it has

a very definite meaning.

1. Scandal is any word or action which causes spiritual

harm to another; e.g., which causes another to sin, or makes

it easier for him to sin; which causes another to be less

virtuous; which lessens his respect for religion or for the

things and persons of religion.

2. It is at its worst, when a person deliberately sets out

to cause another to sin, whether from deliberate malice and



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 35

evil, or from passion and desire for pleasure, or because the

other’s help is needed for the commission of a sin.

3. It is still the sin of scandal, however, if, though one

does not wish or intend the sin of another or the lessening

of virtue, he yet forsees that his action or words will have

such an effect. Thus, if one spreads or passes on evil litera-

ture or pictures, he may not intend the sin of another, but

he is guilty of serious scandal nevertheless, because he can

foresee very probable sin.

4. It is still scandal, if one tries to induce another to do

evil, but fails; or if he acts or speaks in such a way that

evil could easily follow, even though as a matter of fact,

in a given instance, it does not.

5. It is not scandal, if an action which is in itself good,

is misinterpreted by another and made the cause of evil, or

used as an argument against religion.

The sin of scandal has its own particular malice. It is

the most serious sin against charity, because it does harm

to immortal souls. It was for this reason that the gentle

Savior condemned it in such terrible words : “He that shall

scandalise one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were

better for him that a mill-stone be hanged about his neck,

and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

On Loving Oneself

The obligation every human being has of loving himself

is not often spoken of for two reasons. First, it is not only

a law but also a powerful instinct, which does not require

frequent injunctions. Second, far from neglecting the duty

of love of self, most people are in danger of loving themselves

immoderately or in an evil way, so that they must be



36 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

reminded of the importance of loving God and their neighbor

more often than of loving themselves. However, there is

great value in pondering the meaning and extent of love of

self.

1. The love of self means the supreme desire of fulfilling

the glorious destiny that has been set for every man by

God. It means placing first on the list of all one’s hopes

and ambitions the salvation of the soul, and only secondary

to that the attainment of whatever good things may be

enjoyed on earth. The love of self is manifest in a fear of

hell, a desire of heaven, a hatred of sin above all evils, and

in the determination to avoid all unnecessary occasions of

sin. The heart of the duty of self-love is therefore the

desire to preserve one’s soul for the happiness of heaven.

2. The love of self need not be called a selfish love if it be

remembered that desiring one’s salvation is desiring the

same thing for self that God desires for every rational soul

He has created. It is through obedience to God that a man

saves his soul, and at the same time honors and glorifies God.

Selfishness would mean desiring for self something that is

contrary to the will and the plan of God. That is why sin

is a very selfish thing. It wants and takes something that

is contrary both to God’s will and one’s own ultimate good.

3. The love of self may also manifest itself in the desire

of good things on earth, so long as these are not contrary

to one’s ultimate destiny. The love of self is the love of life,

though not at the price of a denial of faith in God and the

loss of the soul; the love of material goods, though not to

the extent that one will neglect God or do evil to attain them
;

the love of pleasure, but never of pleasure that is forbidden

by God.

The command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”

means that, as a man must place his own salvation above



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 37

every other interest and good in life, so too must he be

willing to help his neighbor save his soul, sometimes at the

expense of many of the lesser goods in life that he wants

for himself.

On Poverty of Spirit

Christmas emphasizes in dramatic fashion the poverty of

spirit which Christ insisted that all His followers, rich and

poor, must practice. Some of the elements that constitute

poverty of spirit are the following, as they can be learned

from the example of Christ:

1. Poverty of spirit means willingness to do with less in

the way of material comforts than one has to. It means

being able to have the best material things, but freely

choosing to get along with less than the best. How clear

was the example of Christ in this regard. He could have

had the most magnificent surroundings for His birth. He

chose a stable. A rich man is poor in spirit who, for the
love of Christ, deliberately chooses to spend less on his

home, his car, his servants and his trips than he can afford.

2. Poverty of spirit means utilizing what is saved by not

living as expensively as one might, to help others who are

unable to live as decently as human beings should. This is

the only way to avoid the pitfall of becoming a money-miser.

Misers are willing to live in cellars and stables, not to be

able to help others, but to increase their store of money.

To practice poverty of spirit, one must not only do with

less than one has to, but must be willing to give away most

of what is thereby saved. Christ not only gave up things

by being born in a stable; He thereby earned heaven for

His people.

3. Poverty of spirit means being content and cheerful

when circumstances deprive one of some of the material

comforts that others have and that are usually loved. It is



88 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

not being poor that is pleasing to Christ; it is being content

in poverty. It is not possessing wealth that in itself makes

one displeasing to Christ; it is not being able to do without

the things that money could buy. Christ was both the rich

Godhead and a poor family’s child in the stable. The

important point is that He was content with His stable.

St. Paul gave a classic definition of poverty of spirit when

he said that Christians “must use this world as if using it

not, because the fashion of this world passes away.” Whether

a man be rich or poor, capable of having the best or the least

of material things, he must show that he is not dependent

for happiness on such things.

On the Essence of Purity

The essence of the virtue of purity rests on three simple

principles that are easily grasped by the human mind. While

knowledge does not make one pure, it is a necessary founda-

tion of purity, and above all, an indispensable means of

avoiding wrong attitudes and mistaken notions about purity.

1. First 'principle: The powers of sex with which God

has endowed men and women are in themselves good and

holy, and are intended by the Creator to be used for the

sublime purpose of procreation, in a state wherein children

conceived and bom can also be reared and trained for their

work in this world and their happiness in heaven. The only

such state is that of indissoluble marriage. For those who

use the powers of sex rightly in marriage, without inter-

ference with their primary purpose, God prepared a high

degree of pleasure, which would act as both an incentive

and a reward for the use of sex in the right relationship

to its important purpose.

2. Second principle: Any deliberate indulgence in the

pleasure that God has destined solely for married persons,

taken alone or with others, outside of marriage, before



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 39

marriage, or in marriage but contrary to the purpose of the

functions of sex, is against the natural and divine law and a

serious breach of purity. This includes direct seeking of the

forbidden pleasure, or indirectly accepting it by placing

actions that almost inevitably lead to it.

3. Third principle : The strength of the instinct that God

implanted in human beings toward the pleasure and the

fruits of marriage, indicates the strength of the measures

that must be taken by those who truly wish to remain pure

outside of marriage. They must avoid strong incentives to

forbidden pleasure such as would arise from bad thoughts,

obscene reading, salacious shows, evil conversation, and

immodest or exciting conduct and contact with others. And

just as God provided special sacramental graces for those

who marry and so have a right to the proper use of sex, so

He provides powerful supernatural means to purity for

those who remain unmarried : frequent or daily Communion,

frequent Confession, and the habit of prayer.

One who understands these principles must, of course,

apply them to possess and preserve the virtue of purity.

One who does apply them need not fear temptations, which

will inevitably arise. Temptations are the lower nature

suggesting indulgence in sinful pleasure; the intelligent

and spiritual nature can always resist the suggestions and

so avoid sin.

On Unclean Speech

One of the most frequent dangers met with today is that

of unclean conversation. In a society that harbors so many

non-religious and pagan individuals, it is to be expected

that there will be an exaggerated interest in the things of

sex. Pagans always drift deeper and deeper into sensuality.

The true Christian and genuine Catholic must know what

unclean speech is, how important it is to take no part in it,

and what to do when it is thrust upon him.



40 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

1. Unclean speech is any form of conversation that deals

with the sacred things of sex in a light, flippant, prurient

or even unnecessary way. There is a difference between

sinful unclean speech, and vulgar or unrefined speech. The

latter deals with subjects that are crude, i.e., not brought

up in any decent company, but which are not concerned with

sex as such. Vulgar speech need not be sinful, except that

it usually fails against charity and good manners. But

unclean conversation is marked by its concentration on sex.

2. A Christian worthy of the name realizes that flippant,
jesting and unnecessary sex talk is both a revelation of

coddled sex thoughts in the speaker, and an offer of unre-

strained bad thoughts to others. He knows that it is his

duty to defend purity, to set an example of purity, to resist

the spread of impurity in the world. Therefore he makes

it an unbreakable rule that he will never relate a sexy story,

he will never join in discussion of sex-actions and sex-sins,

he will never promote the dangerous thoughts that may

already be lodged in the minds of others.

3. Because it is all but impossible, if one mingles in the

world at all, to escape ever hearing any bad conversation,

the true Christian has a program all worked out as to what

he should do when he cannot evade evil talk. If in a given

case he has either authority or influence over the one who

indulges in evil talk, he uses it to reprimand the person

and to try to put a stop to the practice. If he has neither

authority nor influence, as is often the case with persons

working in the midst of others in an office or factory, he

learns to show no interest in the evil talk, and to act as if

he did not even hear the words that were said. Even when

someone tells an unclean story directly to him, he has a way

of showing by his reaction that he has no interest in that

sort of thing.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 41

If more persons would adhere to these rules in respect

to indecent conversation, there would soon be far less of it

in the world. Too many, forgetting the principles for which

they stand, allow human respect to influence them to a point

where they show great amusement over evil talk, or even

take an active part in it themselves.

On Obedience

The virtue of obedience enters of necessity into every

man’s life. Its necessity arises from the fact that God

decreed, in the very manner of creating human beings, that

men should be ruled by men when and where men have an

evident title to represent the authority of God. There are

two principles pertaining to obedience, one for those things

in which obedience to others is due, the other for those

in which authority is exercised over others.

1. Obedience to lawfully constituted authority is obedi-

ence to God. Lawfully constituted authorities are: a)

Parents, to whom God gives His own authority to govern

when He sends them children who need their physical,

moral, religious and intellectual guidance and help for many

years, b) Eeligious superiors. Pope, bishops, pastors, etc.,

to whom the Son of God directly gave authority to govern

in His name, c) Civil rulers, whose authority comes from

God once they have been duly elected, chosen or confirmed

by the people, because God so made men to live in groups

that He obviously intended His authority to be vested in the

rulers without whom group-life would be impossible, d)

Even more limited superiors, such as teachers, physicians,

superintendents in business relations,—even these share
God’s authority in that which pertains to the field in which

leadership is necessary for the fulfillment of purposes neces-

sary to man. Obedience to all such superiors, in all that

pertains to the scope of their authority, excluding of course



42 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

anything that might be sinful, may be looked upon as

obedience to God and will be rewarded as such.

2. Those who hold authority are bound to exercise it in

subjection to God’s plans, in conformity to God’s evident

purpose in delegating His authority. For example, God

gives His authority to parents that they may prepare their

children for successful, God-fearing lives on earth and the

ultimate happiness of heaven; any exercise of authority

that would distort that plan of God would be abuse and

misuse. Civil rulers have authority over their citizens only

in those things necessary for their temporal welfare and

which the citizens cannot privately procure; to go beyond

that, to try to command their consciences or to interfere

with personal or family rights would be misuse and abuse.

So all authority has a scope based on its purpose; it is the

authority of God only so long as it remains within that

purpose and scope.

When obedience to lawful superiors is denied, and when

superiors themselves misuse and abuse the authority they

have been given, disorder, strife, increasing chaos prevail

in the world. In the recognition of the source of all true

authority, and remembrance of that both in commanding

and obesdng, consists peace for the family, the state and

the world.

On the "Passions”

The word “passions” is associated with any number of

strange and contorted ideas in the minds of many people.

To some it immediately suggests something evil, something

to be constantly suppressed. To others it suggests only

pleasure and self-gratification, as if indulgence of passion

were man’s only means of joy. Neither of these two ideas

conforms to the truth about the passions of man, as may

be seen from the following:



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 43

1. The passions of man are simply the inclinations of an

appetite of the body that always desires what is pleasing

and detests what is displeasing. Indulgence or gratification

of a particular passion therefore depends for its goodness

or badness on whether the object towards which the passion

inclines one is good or bad. Sometimes an object, highly

pleasing to the bodily appetite, is at the same time dangerous

or harmful or destructive to either the body or the soul. To

permit passion to pursue such an object would be to act

immorally. At other times an object highly pleasing to the

bodily appetite is perceived to be wholesome or necessary

and not harmful in any way; to pursue and enjoy such an

object would be to act in a morally good way. Thus every

incentive to indulge passion must be judged as either good

or bad according to the goodness or badness of the object.

2. A simple example makes this clear. In the presence
of food a hungry man experiences the passion of desire. If

the food desired be not destructive to his health, or forbidden

by some higher law (like the positive law of fast or

abstinence) he may indulge his desire and in so doing is

performing a good action. If the food desired is harmful

or poisonous to him, or forbidden for some other reason,

then to indulge his desire would be to perform a bad action.

3. Hence the important thing in regard to passions is to

cultivate the habit of passing a reasonable judgment on the

object desired (or hated) before letting the passions have

their way. The difference between a strong character and a

weak character is simply this : the strong character subjects

his passions to reason and faith; the weak character lets

his passions rule him as if they could not possibly desire

anything not good. Ultimately, the latter destroys himself.

Thus it would be wrong to say either that all indulgence

in passion is good or that all such indulgence is bad. The

objects attractive or repulsive to passion must be judged



44 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

by higher standards than the body alone possesses; it is

on the basis of those judgments that a particular indulgence

is seen to be good or bad.

Fidelity in Marriage

On entering the state of marriage, every man and woman

made a promise of fidelity until death. This fidelity in

practice means three things, each of which should be con-

sidered carefully by engaged couples before marriage, and

adhered to loyally by husbands and wives after marriage.

1. Fidelity in marriage means admitting into the mind

no thought of divorce and marriage to someone else. Divorce

and remarriage Christ called simply “adultery.” “If any

man put away his wife and marry another, he is guilty of

adultery.” A hundred thousand examples of this do not
make it anything less than adultery. Separation between

validly married Christians is sometimes permitted her chil-

dren by the Catholic Church for very grave reasons, but

never with a permission to marry again while one has a

lawful spouse still living.

2. Fidelity in marriage means the absolute avoidance of

regular company-keeping with a third person. Husbands

are guilty of infidelity who have a girl friend on the side

with whom they have regular dates. Wives are guilty of the

same if they accept regular dates or visits with a male friend

alone. This principle holds even for divorced Christians.

Divorce, for any reason, does not lift their responsibility

for fidelity to their lawful partners till death, and this

makes regular company-keeping, as if they were free to

marry, seriously unlawful.

3. Fidelity in marriage means a deep hatred and a con-

stant defense against partial or complete sins of adultery.

Adulterous actions of husbands or wives are gravely evil

under four heads. They are sins against fidelity to a solemn



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 45

oath; against the justice they owe their partners and

families; against charity in the form of scandal, because

they involve cooperation with another’s sin ; against chastity

in a most detestable form. Adultery is so hated by God that

He usually punishes it in this world as well as by everlasting

torment in the next.

Pagans make light of infidelity, and renegade Christians

very often have lost their faith by reason of this sin. But

Christ still demands and expects that all true Christians

will cherish fidelity in marriage as the indispensable price

of redemption through Him.

On Patriotism

Too often it is forgotten or not even known that patriotism

is a virtue, and that as a virtue it is a habit of the will and

not merely an exercise of the emotions. Like all virtues, it

stands in the middle between two extremes ; hence, to learn

what it is not, is a good way to establish a foundation for

what it is.

1. Patriotism is not a love of country that transcends all

principles of morality, that excludes from one’s love the

human beings of any other country, that manifests itself in a

blind support of every institution in one’s country and scorns

everything connected with a foreign country. Patriotism is

not an inexplicable feeling. Patriotism is not a blind infatua-

tion. Patriotism is a combination of justice, gratitude and

love for one’s country inspired by the good things that a

country gives to its citizens.

2. Patriotism is not, on the other hand, an empty word,

or something to be scorned by educated and sophisticated

men and women. Patriotism is not a virtue for the ignorant

and unenlightened only. Patriotism is not a cloak to be

worn as a covering for selfishness and greed, as when men

make love of their country the basis for demanding the right



46 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

to exploit their neighbors. Patriotism is not separable from

other virtues. It is a part of justice; it is nothing without

brotherly love; it is subject to and bound up with the love

of God; it is inconceivable without self-sacrifice and self-

denial.

3. Patriotism is therefore an intelligent, strong, active

love of the country of one’s birth or adoption. It is intelli-

gent, because all true love must be intelligent, i.e., based on

the good perceived in the object loved. Patriotism is a strong

love, because the ardor of love must be measured by the

benefits received from the one loved. Patriotism is an active

love, because no true love can be internal alone, but must be

manifested in service, in gifts, in loyalty and sacrifice.

It is therefore only a sham patriotism in a man if he loves

what is bad as well as what is good in his country. He must,

if he loves his country, try to change what is bad into good.

It is mock patriotism if a man loves his own country, not

merely more ardently than other countries, as he should,

but to the exclusion of all other countries. It is no patriotism

if a man professes to love his country, but will do nothing

and suffer nothing to help or protect it.

On the Education of Children

The opening of school always calls for the reaffirmation of

the principles binding on Catholic parents and guardians in

regard to the kind of education they are to provide for their

children. This is a matter that is dealt with clearly and

adequately in the general laws of the Catholic Church and

a loyal Catholic will not think of either setting up his own

principles of education nor of breaking the laws the Church

has made. There are three principles that must be kept in

view:

1. Only the bishop, or his representative (usually the

pastor), may grant permission to parents to send their



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 47

children to a non-Catholic school. Parents may not take

this upon themselves if there be any possibility of providing

a Catholic education for their children. Furthermore, if

Catholics send their children to a school where non-Catholic

religious doctrine is taught, they are said by law to be

“suspected of heresy,” i.e., it is considered probable that

they are no longer truly Catholic in their beliefs.

2. To obtain permission from a bishop to send children

to a non-Catholic school, parents and guardians must have

a serious reason. If they were to use lying or deceit to

obtain permission, they would be just as guilty as if they

had no permission at all. Thus to plead financial inability to

undertake the extra expense that a Catholic education might

involve when they can well afford it, would be to invalidate

the permission. That is why most bishops demand that the

reasons for sending a child to a non-Catholic school must

be fully submitted to the pastor and judged by him before

the permission can be granted.

3. Even after a valid permission to send children to a

non-Catholic school has been granted, the law of the Church

commands that special precautions be taken and special

means used to prevent a loss or diminution of faith on the

part of the children. This means that all parents who have

children in non-Catholic schools must see to it that the

latter attend instruction classes and must themselves try

to instill the principles and knowledge of the faith into their

children.

For these reasons parents may never be said to escape

any obligations by educating their children in non-Catholic

schools. Rather they assume thereby greater and harder

responsibilities. What a Catholic school might have done

in a religious way, they must now do themselves. If they

fail in that, both they and the children will suffer.



48 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

On Devotion to the Holy Spirit

There are three persons in God, the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit. The worship of God the Father takes the

form of perfect submission to His authority and perfect

acceptance of His Providence ruling all things wisely and

well. The worship of God the Son concentrates especially

on His redemptive sacrifice on the cross, and the love and

mercy of God as manifested thereby. While these forms of

worship of God seem natural and instinctive to the Christian,

the worship of God the Holy Ghost is less widely understood

and practiced. It should take pre-eminently the following

three forms.

1. A strong sense of hatred and opposition to the devil,
who is called the Prince of Darkness, the Father of lies, the

Spirit of Evil. It is Satan’s constant endeavor to nullify

the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and to induce souls to

give up the treasure of divine grace. The more one hates

and fears the devil, therefore, the more he will seek guidance

and strength from the Holy Spirit. The recognition of the

suggestions of the devil who is constantly urging men to

give in to pride, human respect, lust, greed, etc., leads to

reliance on the Holy Spirit, whose inspirations are strong

incentives to virtue at any price.

2. A great appreciation and gratitude for the gift of
sanctifying grace, and the help of actual grace which is

given to all who desire and ask for it. The Holy Ghost is

called the Sanctifier, the one through whom grace comes

to the soul. Thus Christ said “a man must be born again

of water and the Holy Ghost” to enter heaven, and St. Paul

tells Christians that their members are the temple of the

Holy Ghost, who is in them. Thus the Holy Spirit sanctifies

the Christian through grace, and grace makes him a child

of God and heir of heaven. This is the greatest privilege

ever bestowed on human beings, that through grace they



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 49

may become participators in God’s nature, and the thought

of it leads inevitably to devotion to the Holy Spirit.

3. The practice of seeking help and guidance from the

Holy Spirit, who can enlighten the mind so that it will know

the good and follow it. With sanctifying grace, the Holy

Ghost brings seven gifts to the soul, and four of them are

concerned with the knowledge that is necessary for virtue

and salvation. Those four are wisdom, understanding, knowl-

edge and counsel. Since so many of the gifts received from

the Holy Ghost are concerned with enlightening the mind,

it is natimal to look to the Holy Spirit for guidance in times

of doubt, perplexity and ignorance. Thus when examining

the conscience, when striving to understnd difficult doctrines,

when perplexed as to how to act in given circumstances, one

should always seek the help of the Holy Spirit by special

prayers.

These practices of devotion to the Holy Spirit will not fail

to render faith more childlike, the will more determined

in the pursuit of virtue, and the whole being more loyal to

God. As God the Father is the supreme authority, providence

and preserver, as God the Son is the merciful Redeemer,

so the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier, enlightener and com-

forter of human hearts.

On Making a Retreat

During the summer months the laity will be given

numerous opportunities for making retreats. A large num-
ber, a number that grows every year, will make use of the

opportunities, but others—many others there are, who are
“inhibited” or “complexed” about the whole idea. Let them

consider the following reasons for making a retreat:

1. Since your days at school when you studied the

catechism, you have had little chance of studying or even

viewing the chief tenets of your faith as a whole, as a unit.



50 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

as a morally, intellectually, even emotionally satisfying

pattern for your life. You have heard sermons, but they

dealt with isolated topics. You have attended missions, but

they had to stress the negative aspects of religion to bring

back sinners. You have read, probably. Catholic books and

magazines, etc., but they were not pointed directly at your

needs. A retreat puts your faith before you as a whole.

2. Your daily life brings you into an atmosphere that does

anything but foster the growth of religious faith and prac-

tice, as you know. Rather it tends to blot out of your mind

the memory of God, and to loosen your grip on the ironclad

principles of conduct which God has made known. A retreat
offsets the dangerous influences of your daily world

;
jolts you

into realization and remembrance
;
spurs you to enthusiasm

for the highest and noblest things.

3. You have a duty in today’s world more than that of

saving your owm soul, which latter is a task difficult enough

in itself to provide ample reason for making a retreat. But

over and above that—or rather as part of it—^you have a
duty of Catholic leadership—of leading other Catholics by
your example and through the use of opportunities in word

and deed
;
of leading your blind, groping, stumbling, unhappy

fellow-citizens to the rock of stability and the haven of peace

by every means in your power. Have you ever thought of

that? It takes a retreat to make you intelligent and eager

in this regard.

These are cogent reasons for every thinking la3unan. Let

him only thrust from his mind all fear and apprehension,

all those vague prejudices against retreats that have no

foundation,—and he will find making a retreat the most
joyous and inspiring and salutary experience of the year.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIIT! 51

What Christmas Teaches

The purpose of Advent is to give all of us time to think

out the virtues especially taught by Christ through the

circumstances of His birth, so that we may celebrate

Christmas by bringing to Him the virtues He brings to us

in the stable. It is hard to think at all about the events

of Christmas without becoming impressed with powerful

incentives to three great virtues:

1. The first is the virtue of humility. Humility funda-

mentally means the remembrance of our utter dependence

on God and of the deserts of our sins, and therefore inspires

the putting aside of all spurious claims to honor, attention,

consideration and praise. Was there ever an example of

humility like that of Christ in the stable? He had a right,

as God, to honor and praise, but in becoming one of us. He

had to give up that right and appear as helpless as we must

remember we are in the eyes of God. Therefore, the stable,

bleak and cold, the animals, mute and unthinking com-

panions, the lack of all pomp and convenience—all cry out
to us: Remember, thou too must be content with little,

unconcerned about honor, humbly submissive to all that

God wills!

2. The second is the virtue of detachment. Detachment

means a happy-go-lucky freedom from worry about the

material circumstances of our lives. It means really believing

that if we have God in our hearts, it does not really matter

whether we have fine raiment or patched garments, expen-

sive food or left-overs and remnants, money in the bank or

barely enough to live on. Was ever detachment more perfect

than Christ’s ? He could have chosen the best, but He chose

the worst of all possible material things, to prove that we too

should not be anxious about what we possess and what we

are lacking in our lives.



52 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

3. The third is the virtue of charity expressing itself in

zeal. Zeal means a constant and burning desire to make

others happy and to save their souls. At the crib we learn

that true charity and zeal begin with stripping oneself of

all that might be held dear. He Who came to save all, came

with nothing He could call His own; those who have true

zeal begin by emptying all self-love out of their souls. Too

many would make others happy and save their souls, if

only they could do so and yet lose nothing of their own.

Saving others means losing oneself with Christ in love for

others.

Bring these three virtues to Christ this Christmas. Bring

Him humility by learning to say: Jesus, meek and humble

of heart, make my heart like unto thine ! Bring Him detach-

ment by repeating over and over
;
0 Lord, I shall be content

with little so long as I have Thy love! Bring Him zeal by

saying over and over : Nothing for myself, 0 Lord
;
all for

Thee and for souls!

Background for Resolutions

Many New Year resolutions have little force because they

lack sufficient motivation to win fidelity and perseverance.

The foundation necessary to make resolutions effective is the

spirit of penance. If there be no real spirit of penance over

the past there will hardly be fidelity to resolutions made for

the future. The spirit of penance means these four things

:

1. It means the remembrance of one’s past sinfulness.

Not a detailed, picturesque remembrance of the kind of sins

committed, which might cause revived temptations, but the

remembrance of the fact that one has been a sinner, a rebel

against God, a person who might have been condemned by

God forever. This is indispensable for the spirit of penance.

Many saints became saints through the constant remem-

brance of the offense that they had given to God.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 53

2. It means sO(dness over the remembrance of one's sin-

fulness. This sadness arises from the realization that every

sin ever committed added something to the sufferings of

Christ in His Passion and death. It is not a sadness of

despair, because the sins should long before have been

forgiven; but a sadness of ssonpathy that lingers in the heart

when one realizes that he has cruelly mistreated another.

3. It means hatred of sin, hatred so great that one is

willing to suffer any misfortune or hardship rather than

offend again. The spirit of penance is empty and unreal

unless it include this kind of hatred of sin. To say: “I am

sorry for sin" without saying ‘T shall die rather than sin

again” is to make use of words without meaning.

4. It means the will to atone for one's own past sins, and

for the sins of others at the same time. Every Catholic

knows that even after sins are forgiven by God, the necessity

of atonement often remains. This amount of atonement that

can be made is immeasurable, because even if all atonement

for one's own sins could be made, there are always the sins

of others for which a friend of Christ is eager to make

atonement. It is a part of the spirit of penance never to be

satisfied with the amount of atonement that is being offered

for sin, in the form of resignation in sorrow, voluntary

mortification, etc.

Anyone who possesses the spirit of penance for past sins

as here described, will have sufficient motivation for almost

any prudent resolution. So long as that spirit remains, there

will be constancy and perseverance in fidelity.



54 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

Support for Resolutions

It is foolish to make resolutions, whether to break with

certain evil habits or to do good that one had not been doing

before, without at the same time preparing to use means

that will keep one mindful of the resolution and alert to

strong motives for keeping it. Some of the most important

means to these ends, tested by universal experience, are the

following:

1. Regular, daily if possible, spiritual reading. Without

continuing and growing desires to do better and to be better

spiritually than one has been before, the best of resolutions

will not go unbroken very long. One of the surest ways of

stimulating the strong desire to keep a certain resolution is

daily spiritual reading. The life of Christ, well-written lives

of the saints, inspiring treatises on the four last things, the

virtues, the sacraments, etc., feed the mind with thoughts

that create strong desires for goodnes of life, and specifically

for the good to be attained by a resolution one has made.

2. Daily prayer at a specific time and in a specific place,

for the strength to be faithful to the resolution that has been

made. One of the convictions most necessary for overcoming

evil in one’s life is that which Alcoholics Anon3onous try to

impress on new members : “I am helpless by myself to do the

thing I want to do. I must humbly recognize my dependence

on a higher power for the help that I need.” This holds for

any worthwhile resolution. There is only one way of putting

it into practice and that is by daily prayer to God for help.

This should be at a specific time and place so that it will

be regular, and will be a definite reminder and renewal of

one’s resolve at the same time.

3. A daily examination of conscience, not only on the
resolution that has been made, but on the strength of one’s

motives for keeping it. The importance of this may be seen



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 55

from the fact that no religious order has ever been founded

without provision for a daily examination of conscience.

Such an examination includes a renewed act of sorrow for

past sins, a check-up on the present, and a repetition of

one’s resolution with a prayer for the help to keep it for

another day.

Anyone who is serious about making a resolution should

seriously plan to use these means of supporting and main-

taining it unbroken. Without such means the best resolu-

tion would be what the philosophers call “an inefficacious

act of the will.”

On Serving Mass

Altar boys have a privilege second only to that of the

priest in the celebration of Holy Mass. They are so neces-

sary to the proper fulfillment of the great sacrifice that the

law of the Church forbids a priest to say Mass without a

server, except in unusual circumstances. The privilege of

serving Mass is so great that every youth who shares it

should train himself to perform his duties in the best possible

manner. These rules especially should be observed:

1. The server should know the Mass prayers as near

perfectly as possible. When he answers the priest’s prayers,

he is speaking not for himself alone but for all the people.

Therefore he should not mumble the words, or glide over

them so rapidly that they have no meaning, or be contented

with learning only the general sound of the words. He

should know each single word, pronounce it clearly, and now

and then read to himself the English of the Mass prayers

so that he will have some understanding of what he is

sasdng.

2. The server should be a model of devotion and piety in

his manner around the altar. He should not look around,

nor talk to other servers, nor argue with them about things



56 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

to be done. He should walk reverently about the altar, and

not run or hurry. He should kneel erect and straight,

genuflect slowly, and keep his hands folded whenever they

are not occupied. His object should be to inspire devotion

in the people who attend Mass, and not to distract them by

irreverent actions.

3. The server should cultivate a great love of the Mass,

and try to understand it better every day. He can do this

by learning to follow the priest’s prayers, not only when he

has to answer them, but at all times during the Mass. Many

lay people nowadays use English missals at Mass and know

just what is going on at any moment; every server should

be eager to do this, and should save his money until he can

buy a complete English missal and then have someone

explain it to him.

Mass-servers who keep these rules will be adding im-

mensely to the beauty of Holy Mass, will be gaining graces

that will last throughout their entire lives, and will be a

real source of inspiration to all who see them at the altar.

On Spiritualizing Christmas

In the midst of the sheer worldliness with which many

people approach the season of Christmas it is very important

that true Christians concentrate on the predominantly spir-

itual aspects of the great feast. This means three things

that are of the essence of a proper celebration of Christmas

:

1. Self-examination and correction. The whole point of

Christmas is that it is a reminder of the coming of God

into the midst of men to And them eager and worthy to

receive Him fittingly. Of course God in turn will do tremen-

dous things for those who do receive Him fittingly. Eeceiving

Him thus means sweeping out all the ugly results of



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 57

attachment to sin. It means making a good confession with

a powerful determination that it won’t be necessary to seek

forgiveness for the same sins again.

2, Turning more completely to God. Religion is properly

defined as “man’s communication with God, based on God’s

communication with man.’’ There must be some proportion

between the two communications. Christmas reveals how

perfect and complete was God’s communication with man

—

unto “emptying Himself, taking the form of a servant,”

being born without any of the trappings of His Godhead.

On the basis of that communication, there can be no limit

to the degree of communication with God that man should

seek, through his mind to know Him, through his will to

love Him, through all his faculties to serve Him by perfect

obedience.

3. Spiritttalizing gift giving to neighbors. The spirit

behind every gift planned and given to another at Christmas

should be that of supernatural charity. When making up a

list of gifts to be given, one should concentrate more on

those who need the help and uplift of a present, than on

those who don’t; more on the kind of gift that will be

helpful and fruitful than on those that are merely tokens

and symbols; and more on the motive of love of God ex-

pressing itself in love for others than on mere custom or

tradition.

These three things should enter and occupy every true

Christian’s thoughts during the season of Advent. They

will make Christmas a time of great spiritual rejuvenation

and of true spiritual joy.



58 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

The Way of the Cross

It has been truly said that it is impossible for a person

to have a true and effective sorrow for sin without medita-

tion on the sufferings the Saviour endured to atone for sin.

One of the most popular and perfect means of practicing

such meditation is by making the Way of the Cross.

1. The way of the Cross is an imaginative pilgrimage to

the holy places where Our Lord suffered and died for sin.

Centuries ago all Christians dreamed of being able some day

to make such an actual pilgrimage. Because this was im-

possible for many, representations of the way of the cross

were erected in their homelands to permit them to make

the journey in spirit.

2. The Way of the Cross may be made in one of three

ways: 1) By walking from station to station, wherever the

fourteen stations have been officially erected, and pausing

before each one to meditate on the sufferings of the Saviour.

No special vocal prayers need be said when making the

Way of the Cross in this way, either before, during or after

the journey. 2) By remaining in one’s place in church, with

a congregation of people, while a priest walks from station

to station and reads aloud a meditation on each. 3) By

holding in the hand a crucifix which has been blessed for

this purpose, and reciting 20 Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and

Glory Be to the Fathers, while meditating on the Passion of

Our Lord. This last method may be used only when one

cannot make the Way of the Cross in one of the above ways

in a church or chapel. Those who are too ill to recite 20 Our

Fathers, etc., may gain the indulgences by merely kissing a

crucifix blessed for the Way of the Cross and saying a short

prayer or ejaculation in honor of the Passion of Our Lord.

3. The Way of the Cross is said to be the most richly

indulgenced devotion in the world. Among others, a plenary



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 59

indulgence is gained each time it is made, and a second

plenary indulgence is gained at the same time if the person

has received Holy Communion on the same day.

It is impossible to think seriously of what the Saviour

suffered for sin without being moved to deep son'ow for

one’s own offenses. It is recommended, to those who wish

to practice the virtue of penance well, that they make the

Way of the Cross every day.

On the Right Attitude to Death

The penitential season of Lent is filled with reminders

of the salutary value of thoughts about death. The climax

of the season is the death of the Redeemer, and the steps

that led to that death, its purpose and achievement, should

be an incentive to thoughts about his own death on the part

of every Christian. All thoughts on that subject should be

centered around these principles

:

1. Death is a penalty that the whole human race must

share, the pain of which arises chiefly from the fact that

human beings are endowed with a powerful aspiration and

a God-given capacity for immortality. Nature revolts at the

thought of death, and there is nothing evil about the feeling

of revulsion that it inspires. The first means of keeping that

revulsion within bounds is to accept death as a penalty

rather than to fight it mentally as an injustice. Penalties

involve pain; recognizing death as a due penalty for the

sins of the human family means to accept the cringing of

nature when it comes to mind.

2. Even the instinctive cringing of nature over the

thought of death can be modified and lessened by the thought

of what a good death means and the determined will to

experience such a death. A good death means the beginning
of a close union with God, the source of all human delight.

Saints reached a point of desire in respect to that which



60 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

made them long and sigh for death, as witness St. Paul:

“I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ”. The ordinary

Christian can at least come to think of death without horror

or fear, because it brings the thought of happiness with God.

Those on the contrary who are not living in such a way as to

be able to expect to be united with God at death experience

a double horror; the natural revulsion of nature, and the

terrible fear of God’s punishment. Many try to escape the

latter by denying God and the hereafter, but it is usually

clear that it is their sins, not their intellects, speaking in

such denials.

3. The death of Christ is the third source of peace for

good Christians at the thought of death. He died as the

sinner would have to die, had there been no Redeemer to

bear the major part of his burden for him. Each separate

pain of the suffering and dying Christ took something away

from the pains of the death of those who love Him. That

is why death seems so easy for those who can lovingly hold

a crucifix in their hands when they come to die.

Happy is the man who has reached the point where he

has a greater fear of dying in sin than the fear that nature

experiences at the thought of dissolution. Such fear makes

good men, good Christians, great saints.

On Christian Burial

One of the great privileges to which every Catholic looks

forward fondly is that of Christian burial, when God takes

his soul from his body. Believing, as he does, in the resur-

rection of the body and the reunion of his body and soul

forever, he desires with the Church that his body be given

the reverence and care that are due to that which has been

a temple of the Holy Ghost, and that through the reverence

paid to his body, his soul will be remembered in prayers.

The Church has made wise laws for the fulfillment of these

instinctive desires.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 61

1. It is commanded that the bodies of Catholics be buried,

not cremated. The practice of cremation began in history

as a public denial of the truth of the resurrection of the

body; today it continues at least as a negative sign of

unbelief. If a so-called Catholic were to direct that his body

be cremated, his Catholic relatives would be forbidden under

pain of serious sin to carry out the direction ; and he would

be denied any part of the Catholic burial ceremonies.

2. Christian burial includes bringing the body to the

church, where it is to be placed before the sanctuary while

the appropriate honors are paid to it and the sacrifice of the

Mass and the beautiful liturgical prayers are offered for

the repose of the soul. From this great privilege are excluded

apostates and heretics, Catholics pronounced excommuni-

cated, Catholics who have joined forbidden societies, deliber-

ate suicides, those who died in a duel, public and notorious

sinners, such as Catholics living in invalid marriages, and

as noted above, those who directed that their bodies be

cremated.

3. Christian burial means having the body placed in a

grave located in a Catholic cemetery, either consecrated or

blessed, with the appropriate rites of the Church. Catholics

may not be buried in non-Catholic or non-sectarian ceme-

teries, except for a most urgent reason and with the express

permission of the bishop. Catholic priests are forbidden to

provide any of the rites of Christian burial for those who

have arranged to be buried in non-Catholic or non-sectarian

cemeteries. The only exceptions are made in behalf of

converts under very special circumstances, but converts

should consult authorities about the matter of their burial

long before their death.

All these laws have but one purpose, which is easy for

true Catholics to understand: to manifest the faith they



62 PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE

possess concerning the end of life, the meaning of death,

the resurrection of the body and the reality of heaven. No

Catholic who has tried to practice his faith in life, will want

to appear as anything but a Catholic in death.

The Blessings of Purgatory

Purgatory is a place of great suffering which can be

relieved by the prayers and sacrifices of the living. But at

the same time it is a place where there are compensating

blessings. The thought of these blessings need not lessen

one’s zeal for helping the poor souls; it will, nevertheless,

inspire the determination on the part of the living to escape

hell, and to avoid even venial sins that so easily lead to

mortal sin and the loss of one’s soul.

1. The greatest blessing of the poor souls is the knowledge

that their souls are saved, even though they have to wait

and suffer before they can enter heaven. With the greatest

gratitude they look back on their lives and realize how

eternally important were the decisions by which they resisted

mortal sin, or made a sincere confession or prepared well

for death. It is true that they suffer keenly from the fact

that they now know the infinite goodness of God and have

to wait to be united with Him
;
but the fact that they know

they will be united to Him is a great relief and even joy.

2. It is common teaching and Catholic belief that the

suffering souls are permitted by God to know that their

friends on earth are remembering and helping them. This

enables them to experience the continuing joys of human

friendship and love. At the same time it inspires them to

use whatever power of petition they possess to pray for

their relatives and friends on earth, to beg of God special

graces that will help them to bear their trials and to save

their souls.



PROGRAM FOR A PRACTICAL CATHOLIC LIFE 63

3. The souls in purgatory aquire many new friends while

they are awaiting their purification and readiness for heaven.

It is most probable that they come to know other souls who

met the same trials on earth as themselves; that they

cultivate new friendships that will be enjoyed for all eternity

in heaven.

No sensible person will be inspired by the thought of these

blessings to aim only at avoiding hell while worrying little

about small faults and sins. No sensible person is unaware

that unconcern about venial sin is one of the sure ways of

slipping into serious sin. There will be enough to atone for

in purgatory, even if one battles vigorously against every

fully deliberate venial sin.

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