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Lee diegrammes sulvants tllustrent la mAthode. 6 ^ • MKHQCprv MSOfUTION TIST CHAM 1[ANSI and ISO JEST CHART No. 2) ,JM<4GE Ine 1053 Eg«t Mam St^Mt RochMttr, Nmr Yorfc 14609 USA (716) «2 ^ OiOO - ^ r^ (716)2aaf-59e»-Foip — rH-' }..j:. ■"(iijj ' -^ • *«.^i LENTEN PASTOBAL LETTER . • ; OP THfi ■ W' fl008t IRev. 3olm mttaisb, D.D. arcbWabop ot Toronto; John, by thr Grace of God and the Appointment of thb Holy See, Archbishop of Toronto. ' ■To the Clergy, Religious Communities and Faithful of our Diocese, Greeting and Benediction in the Jjord. Dearly Beloved Brethren : The penitential season of Lent, \vhieh is now at hand, is a time during whicH the Holy Church calls on her children in a npecial; manner to repent them of their sins,, to do pen- ance, and to mortify the flesh, with its yices and concupi- scences* In the burning words of the pirophet, she says to them, " Seek ye the Lord whil0 He may be found : call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his wa.y, and the unjust his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He is bounti- ful to forgive." (Isais Iv.c. 6-7 v.) Lent isittimespecially con- secrated to repentance, to mdrtification of the passions, to fasting and abistinence, and other penitential works. ' '.•lii • ■ .■itA':\ , M. i! X r ■ It should also be ohnracterized by preat fervour in prayer and by earnest meditation mi tlie life, the sufferings and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Lpnten penitential works are based on the imitation ^ of the Son of God, are in qtrict gocord with His divine teach- ings, and borrovir their supernatural value and expiatory power from the merits of His mortifications, sufferings and death. In fact, our Lent is but a feeble attempt, to put into practice the lessons taught us by His works tond 'words. The whole Christian scheme is based on the principles of self- denial, mortification and penance. Our Lord Himself has told us that if we wish to become His disciples, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him (Matt.xvi. 24). And He declares a|^ollow8 : "He that loveth his life .shall lose it, and he thatlKiteth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal." (John xii. c. 25 v.) And hence we find Him acting out this divine philosophy, for our example, inXasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, and In all the humiliations and sufferings of His own life on earth. St. Paul tells as that if we live, according to the flesh we shall die, but if by th^i spirit we mortify tjie deeds of the flesh we shall live (Romans viii. 13), and that tht-y that are of Christ have crucifie^ their flesh, with its vices and con- cupiscences (Gal. v. 24). The reason of this is that we have fallen from our first 'estate, that our passions and inclina- tions tend to evil and must be repressed, that self-love is a fountain of moral corruption, and must be mortified, that we are sinners, and. must therefore repent and do penance, and try to satisfy, in some measure, the justice of God' through those means and agencies which He himself has appointed. Withsin have come into the world the need and the pniyose of penance; and the purport of this letter is to sug- gest some thoughts on this divine remedy of sin, penance- especially as regards its inBtitution and efficaciousness as a sacrament of the Christian dispensation. { / ' ' ' - ' ■ ■ •■•■'. ./•■ : " ■■ 8 • , .: :, _ _ Sin is the' greatest evil, is, in fact, the only essential evil ^..41 in the world. It is tbe great enemy of God and of man ; it !| is a mystery of Iniquity that causes Go^ to veil his face from hie children, and overshadows the world with countless sor- rows and miseries. Sin is infinitely oppoHcd to God ami t<^ Hifl inalienable and sovereign rights in His own creation. God is the sujureme good ; sin is the suprcrae evil ; God is essential order; Wn is disorder; God is love ; sin is hate'; God is plenitude of l/eing, "1 am who am;" sin is absolute decline and negation /and hence there tTtists between God and sin an eternal entaity, an impassable gulf, a necessary contradic- tion, an- infihite repugnance. Sin is/opposed to the happiness and the destinies of man. The true happiness and^destiny of man hero below consist in doing the holy will of God, as manifested to Him in the divine commandments and in the teachings and precepts of the Church, and in thus seeking the kingdom of God ap^gis justice, in order one day to reach His eternal home i^P® kingdom of haaven. Sin niakes man a rebel to the holy inll of God, and therefore destroys his irue" happiness, and robfl him of his immortal destinies. "Who hath ireflisted God," asks holy Job, ** and hath peace?" (Job it. 4.) " Who," asks the royal prophet, " can understand sin ? " (Psalm 18. 13.) In sin there are two grievous evils, which God Himself describes in these words, "Be astonished, ye heavens, at 1;. this— for my people have done^two evils ; they have forsaken ; ' ine, the fountain of living water, and have digged to them- selves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. '* (Jer.ii. 12.) In mortal sin, therefore, thfire are two mon- strous evils— the turning away from God, the supreme ^ood, and the fountain of all goodness, graces and mercies, and the embracing in His stead the evil of sin, led thereto by the glamour of some fancied good and happiness, justly compared to the broken cistern that can hold no water to slake the thirst of the soul, or to satisy its wants. I ■I .• Thk N»0K88iTY or Uepkntanck. Now repejjtanoe or penance is th^ only remedy and des- troyer of sin. It la the sincere conversion of the heart from sm to God. It also must have these two qualities or condi- tioni : First, the turning away from sin with loathing and detestation, and with sincere sorrow for having oflfended God; second, the returning to God with sentiments of gratitude and love, and with the firm purpose of faithfully obeying His holy law. ^ ^enanse, in the Christian dispensation, is both a virtue and a sacrament. As a virtue, it simply means sincere and heartfelt contrition, and as such was at all times absolutely necessary for obtaining the remission and forgiveness of sin as we find.from the teachings of Holy Scripture. ^ Thus holy David says to God, " If thou^^t desired Sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted ; a sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 50, 18); wherein it is declared that even the^highest act of worship, sacrifice, would not be pleasing to God, unless accompanied by sentiments of deep and heartfelt contrition and humiliation for having iffended the Divine Majesty. Again the word of God affirms : " When thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find Him; yet so, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all the affliction of thy soul." (Deuteronomy 4, 20.) And again, " Now, when thou Shalt be touched with the repentance of thy heart— and return to Him— the Lord thy Cod will have mercy on thee," (Deut- eronomy xxxi. 1, 2, 8.) In Ezechiel (c. 18 v. 80-31) God Himself declares in the most emphatic manner that penance IS the only plank by whi«h the sinner may escape from the rum and shipwreck of sin: " Be converted to me and do pen- ance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your rum. Cast away from you aU your transgressions, and make to yourself a new heart and a new spirit ; why will you die ■^ « houHo of iHreal ; for I deairo not the death of hira that diotli, saith the Lord God ; return ye' and live." ^ •' Now, therefore," waith the-Lord.V* be converted to me with all you heart, in fasting, and in weeping and in mourn- ing, and rond your heart and not your garments." (Joel 11,12) When St. Jolin the Baptist (»me forth from the desert to prepare the way of the Jjord, he preached the baptism t penance for the remission of sins, and in burning words, that like a cry of agony smote the hearts of his hearers, he ex- claimed. " Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come j bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance." (Luke iii. c. 7 v.) Our Lord Himself began His public ministry by exporting penance : " Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4th c 7v.) And He emphatically declares that penance alone can save the sinner. "I say unto you, unless you do penance you shall all perish." (Luke xiii. p. 5 \.) Hence, the Council of 'ftent affirms, •• Penance was, indeed, at ji||imes,' necessary, in order to attain the grace and justicemRll men who had defiled them- selves by any mortal sin, even for those who begged to be washed by the Saci ament of Baptism." (Sess. xiv, c. 1st.) The Institution op th^ SAdRAMBNT op Penance. Our Blessed Lord came down from heaven to destroy the power of Satan> to overthrow the reign of sin, and to establish in its stead the kingdom of God's peace and charity. The object of His earthly mission, and the work of His divine life here amongst us, was to save mankind from sin and itadread- ful consequences, and to rescue them from the horrors of an eternal death. He therefore took the virtue of penanceVand raised it up to the dignity and the saving power and efficacy ^ of a sacrament, and attached to it for |^1 time the divine at- tribute— the God-power of forgiving sins. Henceforward, this sacrament of penance will be the channel through which in life-giving streams the preciouB blood will be poured abroad ■M: ■I ■^■i ^^■:h ': for the ,.|,ali,n „f «„ p,„i,„,, ,;„„, j ^ ^ pro «.t.oa ,.,to „ho»„ l,.,«li„« „a.er. tU. »piritua ly Ik .3 faction 0. hng lh.,„ back to lih and health and hapi inegs -d rctonng them living n.en.be™ to the Holy OhuT o" «re«t?Z7 "7 "'""'*'' ^""' '■""'"'''"' '» e-f'l'li.h Bome boon to be conferred; and then after eome time He fulfilled H- promise by the creation of the inetitution. Tl „ whel Hemtendedto institute the -acrament of the 8^1^ of he pog,«l according to St. John : "The breU whlh ■ redeenaed H,s promise by the institution of he sac ament when He s..d at His last shpper. "This is my nXIZsU my blood." ,Math...,i., So also when He determined J the preservation of the Church's nn,(„ o„j ■'. . .' the primacy of S» pj^ . u- ^ "^ '''''" "staWish Peter "Thl» f fl: ^" '""o*'""". He first said to reter Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build mv Church and the gates of hell shall not. prevail ar«„stabJ I W.1 give to thee the keys of the kingdom of he. w' Math c xvj-v. 19) : and after His BesurrecLn He actu Jly onf r" red the primacy when He commissioned Peter to feed H Umbsandto feed His -baep-that is, the wMe 1 1 of^'' Jvine^sheepfold-all the members of the Ho.J^!^ In accordance with this law of coBdnct, our Divine Re deemer first promised the institnUon of the skcram^Iof nt" ance, when He said to His apostles, " WhalsoeveTyou shali loose on earth shall be .««ed in heaven, and wha soe^r y " «'' if • c BhHll bind on tJarth HhalU)c bound in hfftven/' iMath. xviU ?. 18 ) And wb«n tb« minds and beartn of the apostl«« were in Home ineAmiro propared for the reception of tlii« stu- pendouH power, for the eHtabliibment of this wondrous insti- tution of Ood*B infinite pioty and mercy for smful man, lie then inHtitut.Mi the Hacramont when He said to them, " Re- • oeive y« the Holy Ghost ; whoHo sins you shall forgive they are forgifon, and whose sins you shall retain they are re- tained." (John x%.) 28. The words used by our Saviour in the institution of this sacrament are worthy of our deepest attention, for they seem to have been especially employed to show the awfulness of the institution, to show that it was indeed a new creation on the earth, and the work in a special manner of divine omnipotence and infinite mercy. I le began by assuring the apostles that He constituted them His vicars and represontativcs, and that He there and then conferred on them the same authority to,, teach and the same power to forgive sins with which He Himself as man, had been clothed by the Eternal Father. " As the Father hath sent me I also send you." As if He would say, I as man hold fromXlod the power to forgive sins, and that I have the power I have already proved by i- miracle (Math. iv. c), and I hereby delegate that power to you forever-to the Church, and to its ministers for all time, do I give this divine prerogatve, this God-power for the destroying of the reign of sin in human hearts and sonls, and for the salvation of all penitent sinners. " He then breathed upon them." Wheh God made man "He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen. 2 c. 9 v.) '* He inspired into him the soul that worketh, and He breathed into him a living spint." (Wisdom XV, ll)-that is, the breath of God, breathed into inanimate matter, created man, and made him a living, rational person-gave him the soul that worketh, and th6' living, quickening spirit— made man the master-work of Wm creation, made him a little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. -This is the first instance of 1 > 'M < 'I'll ■\M ■ .,*■ ■' ■■■■ ■.'■ wl.i«h we a« told in Soriptnre that God br^M opo„ „»», .W. "r. "" "'«.™'"*°«« of ™«onaI man, n,L in toe 3 '1 ';'"""r 1 '"^- '■ Constituted in innocence and »!!r' t ,*'■'*'"'' »""* "O'' perfect wort of the first »"«to«'T;nl"'' ""''"' "'" '"e morning stars shone on together and all the eons of God shouted for joy " (Job "r;J "* ^r""""* ''""'"''o "*">'" 0' wh h-,e ':a iX men'^and " V f '"'' «">•*""•«•»-» '"ey started into armv " w .1 ^"1 "P "?»» their feet an exceeding great army We thus find it a setUedlaw, that whenever the /Senpure mentions that God " b.eathe^/ we may e^pU " «u.g«I«: exercise of His creative power. We ha^faS t^ «i>on^^r»'n » ' T"^- """ "-^ ^"'^ "breathed." ITfof rr "f- "* '•'"'"" •*« P«'P'"e'' for 6omec««/,W «/.for a special exerc.se of omnipotent mercy and loye. A^d th.s ,s precisely what occurred. Our Blessed Saviour In m^detaT ''"""" ^" ""'■'"' '"^ '"'o the Church, a^d ml r JT^ "*■""""• "™» a new creation, a new rstlLri h*,f """"*"*''' ""° "«»«.« spiritual kngd^" T^^l^, ?, "" "''" ^''"^'' ""«' shall never be destroveT and th.t^h.1, etand forever amid the revolutions and cTZes oft,me,do.ng Chrisfswork in the world. To this Sh He cmnmumcated the Holy Ghost to be its abiding ife."°d that d,v,ne Spirit will never henceforward cease through the Jth; toS T """""f ' """' ■"""" """Sht by Christ at the tomb of Lazarus, and as those others wrought bv our Lord dunug His life on earth ,- Hi will raise the US ^^ to he; He will, in a spiritual sense, make the bliud to T' 1 .V. ".! '""*"'' '"« ^^t to hear, and He wiu' preach the blessed evangel of immortal ho^e and infin«e .^ercy and Compassion to poor sinners. As by the fall man of God stamped upon it, so, in the order of restoration effectS through Christ, the Holy Ghost, through the Sacrament of Penance, restores to man the supernatural life he had lost, arid gives him back the image of God in all its pristine beauty and loveliness. And thus the new creation daily operated by the spirit of Ood.Hrough this sacrament, is, if possible, more glorious than the original creation; it seems more worthy of ; God, since it is a brighter revelation of His infinite mercy, compassion and love, and because the re-creation and salva- tion of the soul is a greater exercisoi^ omnipotence, a greater work than the creation of the nfiibrial world, with all its wondrous harmonies and beauties. This line of thought is in accord with what thia gr^at St. Cyril writes on this subject. '^In the beginning," he says, " man was made by the word of God, and God bre|.thed into him the breath of life, arid enriched him by a participation of Is spirit. But since by disobedience Hman fell, and lost his pristine comeliness, God again formed him and restored to , him a new life through His Son, in order that he might leatn that it is the same God who, in the beginning, created human nature and sealed it with the holy Spirit, and again in the beginning of the restoration of human nature communicates by breathing the Holy Ghost to His disciples, to the end that as we were created in the beginning, so also we might be re- newed." The Sacrament of Penance is therefore one of the ' greatest of God's works, and a most powerfuirraiad efficacious means of salvation. It is indee^ the true i^efuge of sinners, the sanctuary of asylum in thenew law, which s|4elds sinners from the consequences of their guilty and hide^ them from the wrath of God and His \tgrrible ju^^^ And if the Church, in the excei-s of her joy; (lar&S to Stri^ on Holy Satur- day '•O felix culpa," " happy fault which merited such ftnd so great a Bedeemer," naay we not venture, in the exuberance of our heartfelt gratitude to God, to say, " happy sins which deserved the institution of so great ^ so wondrous a Sacrament, in which, as in an inexhaustible fountain, the pre- cious blood of Jesus, which speaketh better tha* that of Abel, n '• 1 ;3f •■ v9 . L.i , t '••?■' U' ■i'M .1 ;i'S torever^flowB for the Balvation of sinners, in which it washes the soul from the guilt of sin. and makes it whiter than snow, creating m the sinner a new heart, and renewing an upriaht spirit within his bowels." ^ ** %FBOTS OJ- THE SaCRAMEJJT OF PbnAKCE: We shall now consider some of the eflfects of this holy saferame^t and also some of the merciful provisions it con- tains foi- the salvation of sinners. The object of this sacra- ment, rt has been already said, is to remit sin and to undo its fatal consequences. Now the first effect of mortal sin is to strike the souldead. It cannot, it is true, rob the soul of the life and immortality proper to it as a spiritual beipg and a simple substance, but it destroys its supernatural life, which is sanctifymg grace, and brings death and damnation upon it As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the* sou It follows therefore that mortal sin, by separatiJ the sou from God. brings spiritual ruin and death upon iiT The soul tha^ sinneth, says the prophet, "the same shill die. (Ezechiel xvm. c. 24 v.) And wha£ a sad and awfSl death must be that of the soul in mortal sin ! It is a fact and ^ law regulating the action of death that the nobler a beipg is m hfe, the more foul ,and loathsome it is in death Man is the noblest being in the material creation, and accordingly we find that the action of dikth upon him is more terrible and repulsive than on any other being of this lower world If by this law we may judge of the death of thesoul, what a glimpse wre catch of its dreadful state, and of the foarfully loathsome and repulsive spectacle it must present to God and to His holy angels. Lazarus dead and buried in the grave is but a type and image of a soul dead and buried in the grave of sin I then the merciful Jesus groaned with sorrow and shed bitter tears on beholding the dead body of his friend, now Stiff and cold and redolent with foul breath and stench of the grave must noHhe sigirt of a soul dead in sin, robbed'of its Ler! natural Me, blmhted and blasted like a fallen angel and de 1 prived of its. peerless beauty and Ukeness to God, must not such a sight, ^e say, be calculated to brings 'tears, if that ^ wejie possible, from the God that made it and the (Christ that redeemed it, and^ to dim the very joys of heaven with the shadow of a great sorrow. Of a soul in such a state we may well 8|x: with the prophet "to what shall I compare thee; or to what shall I liken thee ; to what shall I equal thee ; for great as the sea is thy destruction ; who shall lieal thee ?" (Lamen ii 0. 13 y.) Now as Christ raised Lazarus from the dead and restored him to his home, so the saorament of penance raises the dead soul to life and restores the sinner as a living mem- ber to the holy Church of GoS. This sacrament is called a sacrament of the dead because it raises souls dead in sin to the life of justice and virtue. The soul in its spiritual re- surrection effected by Penance rises into a new life, puts off the foulness and repulsiveness of death and the breadth and stench of the grave, and resumes its likeness to God an^ its former beauty and comeliness. It is no longer a dead thing ; it is no longer full of the poison of sin and of the stench of the grave ; but it is now a living and immortal being, a thing of beauty and a joy forever, a child of God, an heir of heaven, and a sister to the holy angels. It has ceased to be an object- of loathing and of hatred to God, to grieve the loving heart of Christ and to fill the angels with sorrow, and it has be- come a new creature created accordins; to God in justice and the holiness of truth ; it is an object of love to the Sacred Heart of our Lord, and there is joy in heaven because a sin- ner has done penance and received the grace of absolution. This then is one of the great effects of the sacrament of Pen- ance. It raises the soul dead in sin to a life of jiistice and grace, it effects a new creation, a new transformation ; it puts off from the repentant sinner "the old man who is corrupted according to the desire-of error, and it clothed him with the new man who, according to God, is created in justice and in holiness of truth." (Ephes. iv c. 24 v.) As the first Adam, being the head of the hliman race, involved it in his fall and .V ■I ■ f •r't ■', ■ s '►' ; ■ ■ ^ ( " ■"-> : .% Ji ■]'f m ■i; ^ "'. :.uy? 11 ''M ■; -:■'. •,■, ■ ■ . ■ w: ■.■■ ' ' -■ mtLltt W^*^ »f "deemed and regenerated mankind com! Then h r„th P^ "" '":"" '"*• """"Kb^pU,™ fi„t. and then through Penance. This in what St. Paul mean, when aL:^ a?; "• *""" ?" *"'■ ^» """' '" Christ al'sL^t: alive (let Corn, xv o. 2-i v.), and also when in several places he teaches that in Christ we are made " new . creator" .OT tiis mfcnite pity and compassion, is a more gracious and Zl^^T^TV''"^'''''^"'^'^-''''''^'''^^^ and Sns and tht""'*'?K "«'^"°"-"""' »)! '"« glories of the nlT Thil ';"!''„'"""'««'■ "P""^ aliroad on the face of .he redemptiou rr'rd^;S^rrgi:Ll^^^^^^^ or.g.„a creation. (D.u. gui ku^anae^LtZdMm Morta sin not only strikes the soul dead but it also de mnla ea during years spent in a state of grace and in the hTr^'rf. ""^ •""y "»"'»• » » a'doctrine of f.1 tjat good, that IS supernatural works, donein a state of grace' are, by the free appointment and good-will of God, meritorious of eternal We and of proportionate degrees of glory in helZ den a, or'::- ? ""*: "'"• '"^ ■""' ""»''> <" """"y » -If- den al o. p,ety will receive a reward both in this Jife and the next according to those actions. Every person who performs actsof virtue wU receive an increase of virtue andof grace in this life; and hereafter, as the Council of Florence dsiSs the^glory of the blessed shall be in proportion to the Measure of their chanty on earth. There is a lini. of connection between the moasnre of our charity here and the measure of - ^«lory hereafter. This is what is understood by mMu' Now mortal sin destroys at One blow all the merits of a whole tL»!!r"f?'""°'"'"«»" a man may have spent in virtue and in holiness, no matter what heights of Christian «i' 1ft perfeotioti he may have reached ; he may have had the spirit of prayer like St Teresa, the spirit of mortifioation and pov- erty like St. Benedict Labre, the burning zeal of St. Francis .Xavier, the ardent charity of St. Vincent de Paul ; he may have spent years in the exercise of all those various virtues, and may have spread around him in his journey through time the blessings that ever well forth from a saintly life, and the sweet fragrance, the good odour of Christ unto salvation ; one sin unto death cancels all his merits as by a stroke of lightning; and blots them out from the book of God's remem- brance. This soul is now robbed and despoiled of all those inestimable, priceless treasures, and is wrecked and ruined beyond the power of words to describe ; it is like a vine fruit- . laden, utterly destiroyed by a fierce storm ; like some once glorious cathedral suddenly overthrown and in ruins; like a great ship sunk in the sea with all its treasures. It is indeed, inthe language of inspiration, "Wretched and miserable, and poor and blind arid naked." (Apoc. iii c. 17 v.) Of such a soul it may well be said : — *' How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stories of the sanctuary are scat- ' tered ; the noble sons of Sion and they that were clothed with the best gold ; how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands." (Lameri. iv c. 2 v.) { Now the sacrament of penaiice not only restores to the penitent sinner the life of grace he had lost,, but it renews and restores all his merits, of which sin had deprived him. In the sacrament of his compassion the good Samaritan takes up the poor traveller that lay by the roadside, robbed and wounded and bleeding, and be cares for him and binds up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; ^^and heals him and givec him back all the rich savings of his well-spent years. In the words of the prophet he restore^ to him " the years whi^ the locust and the bruchus arid the mildew and the palmar- worrii had eaten.'* (Joel ii c. 26 v.) Sin is the winter^f the soul with all its desolations; Penance is the retilrning spring, which renews all nature, clothep the fields/with verdure, the '?fr--'-^ • ',. •• \*-'i '■'<■■ ■ft'*. •*^-. . ■ ■ .:•■■ . ^i ■ , trees with leayes and bloBBoma and fiUa the woods with mel- 1 ,ody and joyfulness. The sinner is tlfe prodigal son that leaTes his father's house, goes into a disllant country, spends . his fortune in riotous living and is reduced to beggary and starvation. The repentant sinner is the Prodigal returning home to his father's house t6 make his confession; he is tat- tered, torn, foot-sore, penniless and hungry, having lost his fortune and his honour, and forfeited all rights to his father's love and to a place in the home of his childhood and inno- • cdnce, Jesus in the sacrament of Penance is the father of the Prodigal who forgives and forgets the tinhappy.past, em- braces his guilty but repentant child with the kiss of peace clothes him With the best garments in His ample wardrobe' (charity), puts on his finger the ring of his recovered sonship' and of his restored rights in his father's house and prepares for Jim the rich banquet of his love, even that bread that came down from heaven and giveth life to the world. Pen- ' ance then is a mighty agent in that order of renovation and refi|;oration established on earth by our Lord and Saviour J^Us Christ. It disarms the Cherubim that with flaming sword beckoned us away from Paradise and gives us the right to return to it and eat of the tree of life. Mortal sin incurs the debt of guUt and the penalty of eternal loss. This debt the sinner cannot pay of himseif nor can he by his ujaaided efforts escape the dread penalty attached to it. Were he to die in that state the debt due by . him to the infinite justice of Ood would stand recorded against him forever, and the doors of the eternal prison would ever r^ain closed against him. The Precious Blood applied through the sacrament of. Penance pays the debt and remits the penalty ; . it wipes out the handwriting of death that stood against the sinner and purchases him with a great price ^ A p^apnwhx) for some capital crime haa befen condemned b death^or to imprisonment for life, with what transports of joy d^es he receive the glad tidings that his sentence is cancelled and that he is soon to be restored to liberty • with what feel^ '-.-.v.... ..■&"■- : M 15 ^ ings of heartfelt gratitude is be not animated for the remis- eion of his sentence. Sometimes the jo^ of the pardoned has been so overpowing as to deprive them of life. ^ Should we not, therefore, whose sentence of eternal death has been so often remitted and cancelled from the book of judgment by the sacrament of Christ's compassion, feel for- eyer deeply and heartily grateful to our merciful Lord? Should we notunceasingly thank Him for His infinite mercies ; should we not remain for ever true, faithful and loyaUto our.. heavenly King whose royal prerogative of pardon He has left behind Him on earth embodied for all time in this institution of penance for the release of prisoners held captive in the chains of Satan, for the pardon of the condemned and their restoration , to spiritual life and the liberty of the children of God. The sacrament of which we treat can pardon the greatest of sinners if they be truly penitent and can forgive the great- est sins. No matter how wicked a sinner may have been, no matter how habitual in his relapses, he is within the reach of forgiveness through this sacrament. When our Lord said to the apdstles '• Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven," He excluded no child of Adam from this universal commission of pardon ; all races and conditions of men were included in it provided they were believers and penitents. The greatest and most grievous sins, though they were as red as scarlet and black as midnight, may be forgiven by it; no matter how numerous one's sins may be, even though they were as count- less as the stars of heaven or as the sands oh the sea shore, the tide of the Precious Blood flowing through the channel of Penance will rise above them and drown them in eternal oblivion. There is but one sin that will never be forgiven, and this is the sin against the Holy Ohost, viz., the sin of final impenitence and that sin is excluded from the universal commission of pardon, not by any special decree of God but because of the moral bar and hindrance it opposes to it. Our Lord forgave the denial of Peter, He pardoned Mary Magdalen her innumerable sins, He absolved the thief on the ^i j -..'I'M ■|| m ■ \ -«,»;'- ■ V '' '1 . Cro8B. He would haTe forgiven Judas his treason were he .truly penitent; and so His pardpning power in Penance for- gives the greatest and the most heinous offences when accora- ptoied by true repentance. It is like His Precious Blood, omnipotent to forgive and to cleanse all sin. ' . Penance forgives the sinner not once or twice but as often as he comes to it with worthy dispositions. It is a vfountam always open, inexhaustible and accessible, and always potent to heal our spiritual maladies no matter how often we may contract them. It is not like the well of Pro- batica whose waters healed but one at a time out of the sad multitude of invalids that lay languishing on its brink. The blessed waters of penance heal again and again the patient who IS eager for his spiritual cure. Herein we beholdanother merciful provision for the salvation of sinners. The rebel hous angels sinned but once, and for them there was no Redeemer, for them there was no sacrament of pardon; they fell once, and they remain forever fallen. And during the thousands of years that have rolled by since their overwhelm- ing fall they have never harboured a good thought or done a good work, and so it will be evermore during the endless eternity that lies before them and before us all.' The deaZ poison of their sm at once penetrated their whole being and .began to hve and work there, as it shall continue to live and work there forever. •<" "ve ana HimfTf^'^T*^'^^'''' ^'^ ^'"^* ''^ »« ' H« ^ame down H mself from heaven to pardon and to save us. ^ He estab is^ed a sacrament of His pardoning love to ioMe Z not a one •' seven times, but till seventy times seven^es" • As often as men sm, so often they may return ; and the^I;. doning power forgives always for the first time w th a dSl^ P-f t-bsoluUon. Our Divine Lord maTn" dwtuiction. An who come with the necessary dispositions areforgl^^n. .^orall transgressions, for all postwS - 8ms whatsoevek for those committed after repentS and after repeated absolutions, for those e«n„,itKn'l^g ■"%[ life of devotionB as well aH those committoa time and again, after repeated lapses and repeated pardons, for all the sad, long catalogue of grievous sins that outrage God and ruin man, there is but one condition of pardon re(iuired, sincere sorrow, an^ the firm resolve to sin noraoro; and then the ab- solution imparted is certain of effect, is sure and full and complete. the unfathomable depth of the pardoning love of Christ : thl inestimable and inexhauKtiblo riches of His mercies in the| Sacrament of Penance : O tree of life that stands forever ik the Eden of Gods Church for thehoahngof the Nations : Divine Probatica whose saving waters forever flow in life-giving streams for the cleansing of sin and the salvation of immortal souls. Let us then, dearly beloved brethren, cherish a deep and abiding devotion for this holy sacrament; Idt us approach it frequently and with worthy dispositions, confident thai if in this respect we sow in tears we shall reap in joy. One of the worst efforts of the enemy of souls is to inspire sinners with fear and aversion of this divine ordinance of salvation. The world hates it and condemns it, because the world is the enemy of God's intersts, and, is the friend and ally of Satan in the destruction of souls. But all who wish to beat the side of Jesus, all who value their immortal souls, all who seriously wish to work out their eternal salvation, will make use of this moat powerful meanfi of grace, and will .not fail, through itto cpme frequently to the good Shepherd for mercy and pardon, to come to Him as Magdalen did, for the remis-' sion of many ^ins, to come to Him as the Prodigal to his father, for restoration of their lost rights and merits, for tiie recovery of th^r lost Sonship with their heavenly Father, alad their heirBhipjto the kingdom of God's eternal gbry. ' In conclusion, dearly beloved brethren, leWu^arnestly exhort you to spend this holy and penitential season of Lent in accordance with the spirit and requirements of the Church. Let all pirform their Easter duty by worthily receiving the Sacrament of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist, as we ■ ■ Mk ■■r4 >■, ■ « 'f .r J- I I. '•s^' u , aiwesj Ajefc us Bincorelv rflnnnf /^r «. . Kf»v«««; pen- m ".e bitternes, olZ7rJZiUoS "'°'' "'T""'"" *•""" for meroT and fn, f„ • ' "' ""'•""' <'«'ly to God "d death to live clr '"''" "' "'" '"""'' I"'""""' be punctually Lid^l. "' '*"",'* P^^"-" "">'' '!'« Rosary /«nlohu hi aitST^^^^^^ death of Christ h. «• *"»'"''"'■ '«' «•'« l"i»»u,„ fi„d Ple..ing to God. and fruiWuM^ h7 ^f" '" » '""""^ we .hall emerge fromThl , ."'l'*" '° <""■"'"«:«"«» happy in the XdZnlofZ.,"?'^"''" ^»''"" ^^--^ «.God..«|ory;arr.rLn^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Hoi, Satoiday. ThTjiVS k '"'^•'"'' *='"'«' "e-k .id Mej luid fcom eiU«» 0, Lh Vhnr ? °''' •*""°' "■'"'°' '"-^^-"y •d'anoed .g,, hard wmV » L 'hoM who. on .ooounl „, .llhealth. ■ «l«r« the taw ^J"t ;^,""!.;.^'.'«w:''"'»'« «•-». «>»« no «n>m«i.I.wolp«,d»;V^rt„M"; "■"" ^•'^""ed ,ro not exempt >«d and suet mav hA no»j • *^ **"^' season of Lent, and »1m ottiSl d J- Tf*""'* '"'""^ '°°«» ^'^ri°g tiie ' wben tatter oal^StCi:^ T^ •% Q- tn >d II II (I y a i -^ %9 &lb. FWi Mid tioA meal may not b© umA mi any one moal, whether on Sandays or week day« within the l4)nt. 0th. Paatom are rc«iulrod to hold in their re«peotiiro ohurohei, at leait twice in the wc«lt duriD« Lent, devotion- and ln.t»uotion» rolt^ to the holy m»mou, and they ihould earneitly exhort their people to attend theie public devotions. They are hereby authorlacd to Kive on these occaalone Benediction of tho HleHiwid 8aoram«ut. Benidea the pablic devotioni, family prayer*, especially the holy Rowry of the Blessed Virgin, should be recited in every household of tho diocese. 7th. The time for making the Easter Communion dates from Alb Wednesday and terminates on Trinity Sunday, Tho grace of our Lord JesuB Christ, and tl^e charitjjj of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost, be with yqu all, (II Cor., 0. 18, V. 18.) / This pastoral shall be read in all tho churchea of. the Archiocese, and at chapter in our religious communities on the first Sunday after its reception; or if found too long for one Sunday, its reading may be continued on the following Sunday. •• Giyen at St. Michael's Palace, Toronto, on the 16th of February, A.D. 1898. ^ . ^^ t JOHN WALSH, Archbishop of Toronto. By order of His Grace, James Walsh, Secretary. ■•*■■'. , let N -■■'■■ ' ■ \\ ■ \ ■ ■ ■■■'•/.. 1 * . ■ ', .■ .■ 1 . . ■ ? . ■ ;• ^ .. ,.. .' * -.--..,-.. ■'-■'..■-it-: ■ 'J-' ■ 1 ^ 1 ■ ■ ' '. ■'■- . 'A ■ ■ ■ 1 t. s. • ■ , '" - ^ . • * ' ' ■ ■ '■ s ■\ ■ ,' ■ ■ f , ■ -^ ■■■'•■? ,(• ; •' * ■■ ."■ -y ■ _■■ ,■•■" ■'. .._L_,a.™.:- ■ - -•»". - . m '. ' . ■ "■ - . ' ■ ■ ■-'- ' . .' ■■■.'•''_■ ■,*a ■ *■ B - ' f". * • /''\