'.- s ^ THE EXPLAINED IN FORM OF SERMONS A WORK EQUALLY USEFUL TO THE Clergy, Religious Communities, and Faithful BY THE ABBE LUCHE Now (his is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and "Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John xvii. 3. TRANSLATED AND ADAPTED TO THE WANTS OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BY REV. JOHN THEIN Priest of the Diocese of Cleveland. Author of Christian Anthropology,* "Answer to Difficulties of the Bible," etc., etc. B. HERDER 17 SOUTH BROADWAY, ST. LoUis, Mo. 1898. COPYRIGHT, 1898 BY REV. JOHN THEIN RECOMMENDATION OF RT. REV. IGN. F. HORSTMANN, D. D., BISHOP OF CLEVELAND. THIS volume of Instructions is a translation of Abbe Luche's " Cate- chism of Rodez in the Form of Sermons," which, from its first appear- ance some forty years ago, has remained a standard work for French Catholics.* We are sure that it will find a welcome in its English dress, at the hands of our Clergy. The Instructions go over the whole of Christian Doctrine. What our people need is less of sermons, but far more of instruction. Unless they know their holy faith, its doc- trines, its Sacraments, its practices of piety, and all that constitutes real Catholicity, they cannot love it ; if they do not love it, they will not practice it ; if they do not practice it, they will not make sacrifices for it ; and sacrifice is the very soul of religion. " Overcome thyself," is the foundation of morality, and all morality must be grounded on the truths of faith. Any one who has had experience in preaching and the direction of souls must have learned that the faithful long for such practical instructions. Father Thein has done good service in translating this excellent work of Abbe Luche, and we hope that his enterprise will receive the encouragement it merits, not only from the Clergy, but also from the laity. y Y&*j< & * Abb Luche's work passed through fourteen editions. THE TRANSLATOR. APPROBATION OF THE BISHOP OF RODEZ WE, Louis-August, by the divine mercy and the grace of the Apostolic See, bishop of Rodez, on the report of our Committee for the examination of books, have approved, and do now approve by these presents, a manuscript entitled : " Catechism of Rodez," in so far as it contains nothing that is not conformable to the teachings of the Church, assured that the publication thereof will be useful to the faithful of both city and country through its clear, methodical, and well-considered exposition of the dogmatical and moral truths of religion. + LOUIS, Bishop o AUTHOR'S PREFACE IN THE abridged explanation of the Christian Doctrine which, at the repeated instances of my fellow-priests, I have decided to give to the public, I have followed the plan of the "Catechism of Rodez," without rigorously confining myself to its text. When I undertook this long and difficult work, I had not the preten- sion of offering something new, at least not in the main. The object has been to sum up the points of doctrine and to con- dense them in such a manner that the preacher may go over them all, in the pulpit, within the space of four years at most, as the spiritual well-being of his congregation may require ; to avail myself of the assistance of the most accredited Catechists, such as Noel, Cambournac, Guillois, Couturier, Guillet, Canisius, Bressenvido, Reinerie, etc., and to support myself on the contemporary theology of Gousset and Gury ; to set forth the truths and to give the practical details with simplicity, clearness, and method, in order to put them within the compass of the most ordinary intelligences ; finally to dispose the form of my instruc- tions in such a manner that, by the unity of the subject, the connection of the ideas, and an uniformity of style, they may serve as well for sermons as for catechetical instructions. Such has been my programme and my end. I shall be happy, indeed, if I have succeeded in fulfilling the former and attaining the latter. My readers shall judge, and the future shall tell me. What inspires me with a little confidence, is the favorable judgment of the "Committee on Books" which took such great care in examin- ing my manuscript, and, especially, the high approbation of Monseigneur Delalle, our well-beloved prelate, who, by his learning and accomplish- ments, occupies a distinguished rank in the French episcopate. FIRST PART ON FAITH AND THE CREED I. INSTRUCTION ON FAITH AND THE CREED IN GENERAL JHE Catechism is an abridged explanation, by questions and answers, of the truths which religion teaches, and of the duties which it prescribes. Of all the knowledge which it is important for man to acquire upon earth, there is none more necessary than a knowledge of the Catechism, because this alone can lead us to salvation. Hence arises the obligation for all the faithful to learn it and to try to understand its meaning, to attend diligently the instructions which may be given on its subject-matter, and to listen to them with attention and respect. The Catechism is divided into four parts: ist. Faith and the Creed; 3d. Hope and Prayer; ^d. Charity and the Commandments ; 4th. Grace and the Sacraments. In the first instruction we shall speak of Faith and the Creed in general. Who has created us and* placed us in this world ? Such is the first question which we find in the Catechism, and one which a Christian should often put to himself. Indeed, it is most important to know what we are, whence we come, why we exist, and what shall become of us. Our reason unaided cannot answer any of these capital questions. This is clearly proved by the monstrous errors of paganism, and even of the ancient philosophers, who never had any exact idea of the dignity of man, or of our future state. Christian faith, or revelation, alone can enlighten us on all these subjects. Guided by the supernatural light of faith, we shall instruct you later on with regard to the existence of God and His adorable per- fections, as also with regard to our nature, our origin, and our destiny. (5) 6 FIRST PART. I. INSTRUCTION We shall tell you how man, drawn out of nothing by the Creator, was placed upon earth only to know his author, to love and serve Him here according to his strength, and, finally, to merit by virtue and good works to possess and glorify Him forever in Heaven. But before entering into such important explanations, which em- brace almost the entire Christian doctrine, it is necessary for us to be well instructed on the source of all these truths, and to see how faith is a beacon-light destined to guide us in the midst of the dense darkness with which our intelligence is surrounded, as formerly the fiery column preceded the people of God in their march from Egypt, and directed their steps through the desert. The nature of faith, its excellence, its necessity, its qualities, and where the truths of faith are to be found these, my brethren, are the several points which we are to examine to-day. I. What is faith? Faith is a gift of God, by which we be- lieve, with a perfect submission, all that God has revealed to His Church. We say, first, that faith is a gift, because it is something gratui- tous, which we could not merit by any good work; and I add that it is a gift of God, because it can come only from God. It is a grace, and the first of all graces, according to the language of the apostle St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians : -For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God (Ephes. ii. 8) ; or again, according to the words of the apostle St. James : Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above (James I. 17). When, therefore, we are so happy as to possess the gift of faith, it is to God that we should be thankful : Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift (2 Cor. ix. 15). And if, unfort- unately, we do not possess it, we have to ask Him for .it, according to the example of St. Peter, when he said : / do believe, Lord; help my unbelief (Mark ix. 23), and that of all the Apostles together, when they cried out: Lord, increase our faith (Luke xvii. 5). Finally, we say that faith is a gift of God by which we believe with a perfect submission, to show you that faith is not a human science, a conviction based upon simple reason, but an humble and perfect submission, a full and entire adherence to the truths of revelation, even to those which seem to us the most incomprehensible, because these truths having been taught us by God Himself and by His Church, we need have no fear of being deceived. ON FAITH 7 II. Is faith necessary for salvation? Yes, undoubtedly, for how could God reward in heaven those who refused to believe in Him in this life? Faith is the first of the three theological virtues, that is, of th^ three virtues that have God for their immediate object, viz. : Faith, Hope, and Charity. It is from faith that the other vir- tues have their source and without faith no other virtue is possible. In fact, how could we love God and hope in Him, if we did not believe in His existence and in the truths which" He has deigned to reveal to us? Therefore, much as hope and charity are indispensa- ble to the gaining of heaven, much more is it necessary to have faith, which is the foundation and the root of all justification, according to the Council of Trent. Hence the words of St. Paul that 'without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. ix. 6), and that oracle of our Lord : He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be condemned (Mark xvi. 16). Faith, my brethren, is not only the -principle of hope and charity, but is also the source of all the other Christian virtues, such as humility, patience, and chastity, which without faith would be unknown upon earth. It is faith which germinates them in the souls of the faithful, and which nourishes, develops, and preserves them. The more lively faith is, the more ardent are the other vir- tues, and the more zeal and generosity we show in offering to God all the sacrifices He requires of us. With faith, we triumph over the most violent passions and the most terrible temptations ; we keep away from the most alluring occasions of sin, and surmount the great- est obstacles. Without faith, we flinch before the least privation and the least inconvenience ; we fulfill no duty with a courageous and constant fidelity ; we live in sinful indifference. III. But what are the qualities of faith? They are five in num- ber. It should be enlightened, active, firm, simple, and universal. ist. FAITH MUST BE ENLIGHTENED. Our faith is enlightened when we are instructed in the truths it teaches and in the duties it prescribes. In fact, we cannot believe, at least in an explicit man- ner, truths of which we are ignorant, nor can we practice duties of which we know nothing. Thus everyone is obliged, under pain of damnation, to know, at least in substance, the three mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption. Every one must know and believe that the soul is immortal, and that after this life there is another, happy or unhappy, according as one's 8 FIRST PART. I. INSTRUCTION life here has been good or bad. Everyone should be instructed in the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Com- mandments of God and of the Church, and in the Sacraments, and if any one through his own fault is ignorant of those subjects he is guilty of mortal sin. It is not sufficient to know the letter of the words contained in the Catechism. One must know also their meaning. He who would not make any effort to understand them, would sin more or less grievously, according as the ignorance is more or less great, and according as the points of dogma and morals of which he is ignorant are more or less important. Therefore, how great is the guilt of those persons who do not assist at the instructions of the parish, or who pay no attention to them ! What a serious responsibility for parents who neglect to have their children instructed ! 2d. FAITH MUST BE ACTIVE. That is, we must practice the duties which faith prescribes to us ; without this, we would be Chris- tians in name only, and pagans or atheists in conduct. This is what the apostle St. James teaches us when he says that faith without good works amounts to nothing. Thus, for example, when you believe in God, you must respect His presence, and not blaspheme His holy and adorable name. When you believe in a happy or unhappy eternity, you must labor to avoid the one and merit the other. If you were to remain in indifference, what good would your belief do you? Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself (James n. 17). When you believe in the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, you must submit to its authority and observe its precepts. Faith is an excellent gift, but it would serve only for your destruction and damnation if you did not fulfill its obligations : To him who knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him it is sin (James iv. 17). A fearful truth, my brethren, and well worthy of our most serious meditation. 3d. FAITH MUST BE FIRM and immovable as the motives upon which it is founded. Upon what motives is our faith based? On the word of God and of His Church. Now, my brethren, is God not the truth, the very essence of truth; and is not the Church, His holy spouse, infallible in all her teachings? Our faith, therefore, cannot be subject to any error, and we should believe all that faith teaches us with a firmness that excludes all suspicion of hesitation or doubt. We should believe all its truths as if we saw them with our own eyes, and even more firmly, for the senses might deceive us sometimes, but ON FAITH 9 our faith founded on the word of God can never deceive us. Our faith should have the firmness of the immovable rock upon which the storms and tempests beat in vain, and it should resist all the attacks and temptations of the devil, as well as all the sophisms of infidelity. 4th. OUR FAITH MUST BE SIMPLE. There must be none of those vain inquiries, or of those curious examinations which serve only to diminish faith, instead of strengthening it. God has spoken, the Church has defined, and that should be sufficient for us. It matters not that in our faith there are mysteries above our intelligence. When we cannot well understand natural things which we have daily before our eyes, how can we expect to understand the most profound truths in the treasury of the divine science and wisdom ?. It is written that He tvho is a searcher of God? s majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory (Prov. xxv. 27). Undoubtedly, it wounds pride and self- love not to be able to understand all ; but, my brethren, this is a sacri- fice which God has a right to require from us, and for which we will be well rewarded by that tranquillity of soul and by those sweet con- solations which simple faith procures for us. Are there any greater rewards upon earth? The just man lives by faith, says the apostle St. Paul (Rom. i. 17). Where are the evils that faith cannot sweeten? <( O heavenly faith, w cries out Chateaubriand, <( thou doest more than the moving of mountains; thou removest the pressing bur- dens that weigh upon the heart. * 5th. OUR FAITH MUST BE UNIVERSAL. It must extend to all the truths which the Church teaches, without excepting a single one. The truths of faith are like the links of a chain, which are so connected with one another that one link cannot be removed without breaking the whole chain. Moreover, all the truths of faith having God for their author, and being consequently based on the same authority, what motive could we have to believe one rather than another? And would not that be making of God a God of truth and a God of false- hood, at one and the same time ? IV. Where do we find the truths we should believe? We find them in Holy Scripture and in Tradition accepted and consecrated by the Church. By Scripture we understand the writings made under the inspira- tion of the Holy Ghost, and left to God's Church for our instruction. The book which contains these writings is called the Bible, a word I0 FIRST PART. I. INSTRUCTION which signifies a book par excellence. The Bible is divided into two parts : the Old and the New Testament. The first contains the books written before Christ, that is, the books of Moses, the Prophets, etc. ; and the second, those which were written after Christ, such as the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles. But all the truths of faith are not contained in the Bible. There are some that were handed down to us unwritten from the Apostles, who received them from Jesus Christ. This we call Tradition. It is found to-day in the works of the Fathers and in the decrees of the Councils. But as there are few of the faithful who would be able to remember, or to examine, all the truths scattered in so many works, the Church has collected them all in one single body of doctrine, and has made a very concise abridgment of them in the Creed, and it is this Creed which she puts in our hands, and which she proposes to our belief. There are four Creeds or Symbols : the Apostles' Creed, which we recite every day in our prayers ; the Nicene Creed, which is sung at Mass, and which is only a development of the first ; the Creed of the Council of Constantinople, which merely added some words to that of Nice ; and finally the Creed of St. Athanasius, which expresses in detail the doctrine of the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation of the Word. But in essence these four Creeds, or Symbols, form only one ; because they all contain one and the same doctrine. The Apostles' Creed, which is the first and the origin of all the others, was drawn up by the Apostles themselves, before their sep- aration, and is composed of twelve articles or dogmas. / believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth the first article; and in Jesus Christ His only Son the second article, and so forth. These twelve articles are divided into four parts : The first part teaches what we must believe of the person of the Father, and of the work of creation ; the second part, of the person of the Son, and of the work of the Incarnation; the third, of the person of the Holy Ghost, and of the work of sanctification ; the fourth, of the Church, and of the work of glorification. We shall explain this Creed article after article in the following instructions. V. After having shown you the qualities which faith must have, I will add that it is not enough to possess the faith buried in our ON FAITH tl heart, but that it is necessary often to make acts of faith. Faith is the nourishment of the soul, and our soul has need of this spiritual food, as our body has need of material food. There are circumstances in which we are even bound under pain of sin to make acts of faith. Thus, one is bound to this: ist. When we have attained the age of reason ; 2d. When we are tried by temptations against faith ; 3d When we approach the Sacraments; 4th. When we are in danger of death. But a true Christian does not content himself with making acts of faith in these circumstances only; he renews them often in his life. He makes them daily, and even several times a day ; for the more frequent these acts, the more lively our faith becomes, and the more regular and fervent is our conduct. We must make acts of faith in and from the heart, but we must also make them exteriorly by word of mouth. The exterior profes- sion of faith is sometimes a duty. It is a duty, says St. Thomas, every time the glory of God, or the salvation of our neighbor, de- mands it. For example, if a judge ask you about your religion, you cannot, without apostasy, deny that you are a Christian. If you find yourselves among persons who mock at religion and at its ministers, who ridicule confession, prayer, and the most sacred things, you are obliged to answer them at least when it is not evident that your correction will produce no good effect. Be careful in these circum- stances, my brethren, not to allow yourselves to be overcome by human respect. You know that our Divine Master says that if ' ive are ashamed of Him before men, He 'will be ashamed of us before His Father. On such occasions you must show that you are Christians, and that you glory in being such. And, after all, what does it matter if you displease men, provided you please God? Will men judge you at death, or will it be God? Now, is this faith, such as I have explained to you, solidly estab- lished in your mind and heart? Did you never entertain doubts about some of the truths which it teaches? Did you never carry on or listen to impious and blasphemous discourses against faith? Did you never omit your duties on account of some miserable human respect ? Ah! my brethren, how often, undoubtedly, have we not sinned against this great and fundamental virtue ! Now, then, if we ac- knowledge ourselves guilty, let us very humbly beg pardon of God. and let us resolve to be more careful and more prompt in repelling the I2 FIRST PART. II. INSTRUCTION temptations which may assail us against faith ; more firm in defending it against those who may attack it in our presence ; more generous in conforming our conduct to our belief ; and it is thus that we shall merit eternal happiness. Amen. II. INSTRUCTION FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED: ON GOD I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth I. THE existence of God, my brethren, is the first truth which the Creed teaches: / believe in a God. It is,, therefore, an article of faith, and even a fundamental article, that there is a God, because the whole fabric of Christian doctrine rests upon this basis. Besides it is not only faith that teaches us this great truth, but reason itself. The necessity of a first being who is the creator of all things and of the beautiful order that reigns in the universe is apparent, and the belief of all the nations cannot leave any doubt in this regard. ist. The necessity of a first being. This world has not always existed, for it is contrary to reason that any matter should be eternal, and in considering all the animated beings which fill the universe, we must always go back to a first being, the principle of all others which descend from it, and which is as the first link of a long chain. There has been, therefore, a time \vhen the beautiful firmament, the im- mense seas, the earth which we tread, the men and the animals that live on it, the plants that cover and embellish it, did not yet exist. Now, who could draw forth from nothing all these things so many beings whose beauty enraptures us, whose infinite variety confounds our imagination, who but a God of infinite power? 3d. Moreover, let us admire the beautiful order \vhich reigns in the universe, and see how everything is regulated, even to the small- est details. Behold the sun, the moon, and the millions of stars, pur- suing their course in space, without ever deviating from the route that has been traced out for them. Ravished by admiration, the ON GOD I3 prophet cries out : The heavens show forth the glory of God ! (Ps. xvni. i.) Consider the unchangeable order of the seasons and the uninterrupted succession of days and nights, marking out for man the times for labor and for rest. The earth is placed at a proper distance from the sun in order to be lighted and heated by its fires without being consumed. Consider the numberless multitudes of plants and trees and animals which form the ornament and life of the earth. , What grandeur, and what marvel! The plants, as if under the in-^ fluence of a mystic force, grow and develop ; they renew and perpetu- ate themselves, each according to its own species ; they draw from the earth the sap that nourishes them, and which circulates through them by thousands of different channels, and soon we see the leaves, blos- soms, and fruits. The animals charm and astonish us by their wonderful structure, by the diversity of their forms and colors, by the services which they render to man for his wants or for his pleasures. The smallest, those that escape our notice, have the organs necessary to life just as we have, and all are endowed with a wonderful instinct of self-preserva- tion. Who has taught them the nourishment their nature requires, to prepare for their young ones a sure and agreeable shelter, to dwell in a suitable climate or to pass into a region either warmer or colder, according to the seasons of the year? Oh! how much could I not tell you especially of man, the king and master- work of creation! What beauty, what symmetry, what perfection in the economy of the human body ! <( I will give you a hundred years, w said Galen to the followers of Epicurus, (< to try to find the least defect in the human body. w And in the soul of man, how can we help admiring that memory which so faithfully retains the impressions of the past ; that intelligence which comprehends truth, discovers error, and explains the universe ; that imagination, so lively and fruitful, which creates so many prodigies ! Can any one, after this, refuse to acknowledge the hand of God in this wonderful world which unfolds itself before our eyes? (< Oh, no," said Voltaire, <( I shall always be persuaded that a clock bespeaks a clock-maker, and that the universe bespeaks a God.* 3d. Moreover, my brethren, we find that all the nations of the earth, both ancient and modern, have always acknowledged the exist- ence of God, because everywhere and at all times have been found temples, altars, and sacrifices. Undoubtedly, they were deceived as to I4 FIRST PART. II. INSTRUCTION the nature and attributes of God; but it is none the less true that always and everywhere men have adored a deity. Now, is not a be- lief so unanimous, and a faith so constant and universal, an unanswer- able proof of this fundamental truth? And must we not consider a person bereft of all reason who would refuse to believe in the exis- tence of God ? I will not dwell any longer on this point for fear of offending your good sense. If I have insisted on these truths and arguments, it was only with a view to enlighten your faith. II. But what is God? What is His nature? What are His per- fections? These are questions that will be difficult to answer and to make sufficiently clear. Let me put the answer thus: God is an eternal spirit, all-powerful, unchangeable, immense, who beholds all, who hears all, who provides for all ; in a word, a spirit infinite in all sorts of perfections. i st. God is called a spirit, that is, an intelligence, which cannot be seen by our eyes, or be touched by our hands, or be perceived by any of our senses, just as our souls and the angels. It is true that God is sometimes represented under sensible forms ; God the Father, under the figure of an aged man ; God the Son, under the form of a man dead on the cross ; God the Holy Ghost, under the form of a dove, but this is done only the better to fix our imagination. The Father is represented under the figure of an old man, to show us that he is eternal; the Son. as dying upon a cross, to recall to our minds the mystery of Redemption ; the Holy Ghost, under the figure of a dove, because it was under that form that He appeared formerly upon earth. And when sometimes the Scriptures speak of the eyes of God, of His ears, His arms, and His hands, it is only to make us understand that God sees all things, hears all things, that His power is infinite, and that His wrath is terrible. 2d. God is eternal. He never had any beginning, and will never have an end. When thinking of the eternity of God, you imagine perhaps that He has existed for thousands and millions of years. This is true, but it is not thus that we must understand the eternity of God. For Him there are neither days nor years. Periods of time are only for us who grow old and pass away. God has always been and will always be the same : Yesterday, and to-day, and the same forever (Heb. xin. 8). Picture to yourself thousands of mil- lions of centuries before the creation of the world, and God existed before all this time, and infinitely beyond that. Imagine, again, ON GOD 15 thousands of millions of centuries after this world shall have been destroyed ; God will still exist after all these centuries, and forever. / live forever, says the Lord (Deut. xxxn. 40). If you ask me where God was before the beginning of time, I answer that He was in Himself, occupied in contemplating and loving Himself, enjoying His glory, and having no need of any of the creatures which His power and goodness have since drawn out of nothing. 3d. God is eternal and unchangeable. Here below, everything passes, everything changes and renews itself. Man grows and declines, he learns and forgets, he labors and rests. So also in nature, the earth has its seasons ; plants and animals their change. But God does not change, my brethren ; all in Him is unalterable. He is unchangeable in His existence, because He knows neither childhood nor old age. He is unchangeable in His knowledge, for He knows from all eternity what has been, what is, and what will be. He is unchangeable in His will, for what He wills to-day He has always willed, and He wills for all times to come. Thus, when we say that God repents, or that we can bend His wrath, or that He pardons, we mean merely that we change in His regard, and that, by our virtues or by our crimes, we oblige Him to reward or to punish us. It is with God, under this respect, as with the light of the sun, which is agreeable or disagreeable to us, according as we look at it with a clear or \vith an injured eye. It is not the sun that changes, but it is ourselves that change. 4th. God is almighty : / believe in God, the Father Almighty. It is this that the Creed teaches us ; and it mentions only one at- tribute of the divinity, because it is the most striking and the most apparent for us, and because it is by His almighty power that God has created heaven and earth, of which there is mention in the same article of the Creed. God has a sovereign or almighty power, because He depends upon nobody, because He has no master above Him, and because nothing limits the infinite extent of His perfections. Not only did He create the world out of nothing, but He could have created an infinite number of worlds, infinitely more beautiful and more perfect than the one upon which we live, and likewise with one word He could destroy and annihilate them. From this divine almighty power flows the possibility of miracles, as well as the happy or unhappy immortality which He has prepared !6 FIRST PART. II. INSTRUCTION for us in the next life. God evidently can deviate from the laws of nature which He has Himself established ; and He has been the master to appoint for the just an unending happiness, and for the wicked eternal torments. However, because God is almighty, we must be careful not to conclude that He can do evil. No, my brethren, because, on the contrary, the faculty to sin necessarily indicates a defect of power ; the almighty power consisting in doing all that one wishes and as one wishes, but not in doing what one does not wish. God is everywhere. He himself speaks of His immensity in the most magnificent terms. I Jill heaven and earth. He tells us through the mouth of His prophet : Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool (Is. LXVI. i). Behold, O Lord, cried out the prophet David, if I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present. If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, even there also shall thy hand lead me (Ps. cxxxvin.). God is in heaven by His glory and love; upon earth, by His providence; in hell, by His justice; and every- where by His essence. He is everywhere, because, being infinite, it is impossible that He should not be everywhere, and in each place in particular as well as in all in general. We are surrounded by the im- mensity of God, says St. Augustine, as the fish is by the water and as the bird by the air. And it is in Him, says the Apostle, that we find life, movement, and being : In Him ive live, and move, and are (Acts xvii. 28). But who can understand the immensity of God, present everywhere and present entirely in each place? Behold, my brethren, a mystery above our feeble reason. All that we know is that God is present in the manner of the spirits who occupy no space, as the soul in the body, and who may find themselves even in the most infectious places without being affected. But a more important consequence which results from this great truth is that God being everywhere, He sees and hears all, as we see the things which we have before our eyes, and as we hear the noise that strikes our ears; but He sees and hears infinitely better: All things are naked and open to His eyes (Heb. iv. 13). He sees what passes in the most obscure darkness and in the most retired places, as if it were done in broad daylight. He sounds and penetrates even the most secret recesses of our soul. He knows distinctly our thoughts, desires, and intentions. He sounds the joints and marrow of the ON GOD i-j bones, says the Prophet, and searches the most hidden movements of the heart: The searcher of hearts is God (Ps. vn. 10). If such is the case, what a subject of consolation for the just man when he remembers that God is the witness of all his thoughts, and that everywhere, wherever he may find himself, and in whatever state he may be, God is always with him! But, on the other hand, what a subject of fear and fright for the sinner, to know that he can do noth- ing, not even have a criminal thought, without God as a witness! O you, therefore, who may be tempted to offend the Lord, or you who do not avoid the occasions of sin, remember His holy presence, and say to yourselves: If my father, or my mother, or my confessor were to see me, how I would feel ashamed! I would tremble with fear; and yet I am not afraid of the presence of a God, who sees me, who hears me, who will judge me some day, and who might permit me to fall into hell at this very moment! In whatever place you may be, my brethren, remember the presence of God, and this thought will sustain you, encourage and convert you ; for there is no more useful and no more salutary thought than this : Walk before me and be per- fect (Gen. xvn. i). 6th. God governs all things and provides for all by His wisdom. In fact, it is God who foresees, wills, prepares, or permits all that passes in the world. Nothing happens except by His will. It is He who regulates the course of the stars and the seasons, who ripens the fruits and prepares the harvest. It is He who sends us the cold and the heat, the sun and the rain, abundance or misery. It is He who makes grain grow and bring fruit a hundredfold. It is He who covers the prairies with plants and who gives to all the flowers their beautiful shape and color. It is He who provides for the animals the food that is necessary for them, and who by His watchful care pre- serves all beings in the life which He gave them. But it is especially in regard to man that God's providence is conspicuous. He carries us in His arms, says Isaias, like a mother her children, and all that happens to us, agreeable or disagreeable, useful or harmful, is sent by Him either to reward or to punish us, but always for our advantage. It is only sin that He can neither command nor wish, but He permits it in order not to deprive us of our liberty. Oh, how great and admirable is this divine providence ! And with what a sweet and tender confidence should we not rest upon it, and invoke it in all our troubles and needs! I S FIRST PART. III. INSTRUCTION To sum up in a few words all that we have explained of the divine perfections, we will say : God is a Being infinite in every perfection, and the different degrees of grandeur and goodness which we see in His creatures are only faint reflections of the infinite per- fections of God. God is an ocean of goodness and perfections, an ocean without bottom and without shores. He is an incomprehensi- ble Being which the angels in heaven themselves cannot understand. What a profound respect, therefore, do we not owe to His holy and adorable majesty ! Ah ! what miserable atoms and vile dust of the earth are we in the presence of this great God ! Formerly it was per- mitted only to the high-priest of the Jews to pronounce the holy name of Jehovah. One of the most illustrious and learned men of the last centuries, Newton, inclined his head every time he pronounced the holy name of God. A great sinner who expiated the errors of her youth by long and most austere penance in the wilds of the desert, and became a great saint, the hermit Thais, did not even dare to pro- nounce the name of God. When your lips, my brethren, repeat this holy name, may you always do so with sentiments of profound ven- eration, thankfulness, and love. Amen. III. INSTRUCTION FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Cont'd) On th Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity I. THERE is a God. This we have proved in the preceding in- struction, both by faith and reason. But there is only one God, and there can be but one God, as the first article of the Creed teaches : / believe in one God. In fact, were there several gods they would be either equal or inferior to one another. If they were equal, none would be God, because the plentitude of the divine perfections would be divided among several similar beings, and consequently none would be sovereignly perfect. And were we to suppose them inferior to one another, evidently only the greatest and the most powerful one could be God. Then we would fall into the error of the pagans ON THE MYSTERY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY Ig who adored a number of ridiculous and infamous deities, to whom they attributed the vices and passions of man. II. But though there is but one God, there are three persons in God, and these we call the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And this truth is not less certain than the other, because faith teaches this in the most formal manner. There are three, says St. John, who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one (I. John v. 7)- Go, said our Saviour to His apostles, teach and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matt. xxvm. 19). What can be clearer than these words? Moreover, what do we recite in the Creed ? / believe in God the Father / believe in Jesus Christ His only Son / believe in the Holy Ghost. . . . Are not the cere- monies of the Church always performed, and the Sacraments always administered in the name of these three adorable persons ? In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. III. The mystery of one God in three divine persons this, my brethren, is the greatest and most adorable of all our mysteries, be- cause it is the basis, the foundation of the Christian religion. But it is a mystery which we cannot understand, and which we should not even try to understand, because it is infinitely above our comprehen- sion. One day, St. Augustine, walking on the seashore, was reflect- ing on this impenetrable dogma, and asking himself how there could be only one God, and nevertheless three persons in God, when he noticed a little child continually drawing water from the sea in a shell, and pouring it into a small hole which it had dug on the shore. ft What art thou doing, my child ? w said the great Doctor. * I intend to pour the sea into this little hole." (< But dost thou not see that it is impossible? w (< Oh ! M answered the child, tt so will it also be im- possible for you to conceive what you wish to understand. w Perhaps this child was an angel whom God had sent to Augustine to rebuke his pride. IV. However, although infinitely above human reason, the mystery of one God in three persons is not at all contrary to reason, for we do not say that three Gods are one God; but we say that three persons in God make only one God, and why? Because they have only one and the same nature, and one and the same divinity. We must not repre- sent to ourselves the three divine persons as three persons similar to us, having body and soul, living separately one from another, and 20 FIRST PART. III. INSTRUCTION each possessing a different nature. In God these three persons are perfectly spiritual, occupying neither position nor space, proceeding from one common principle in the most ineffable manner, and forming altogether only one and the same entire being which is God. Behold how Bossuet explains this mystery: (< God thinks substantially, per- fectly, eternally. . . . And in thinking He knows something substantial, perfect, eternal like Himself. This is His begetting, His eternal and perfect generation. . . . It is thus that He is Father and that He gives birth to a Son and He is loved by the Son. This love is substantial like the thought, perfect and eternal like this, and it is this mutual love of the Father and the Son that we call the Holy Ghost. 8 In other words, if we may presume to explain Bossuet, we would say, the Father begets the Son in thinking by Himself, by contemplating His infinite grandeurs and perfections; the Son is nothing else but the thought, the substantial image of the Father ; and for this reason He is called the Word. The Father and the Son love each other with the most pure and most perfect love ; and this love of the Father and the Son we call the Holy Ghost. V. We thus see that these three adorable persons are well distin- guished from one another. Indeed, the Father produces the other persons, whilst neither of the others produces Him ; He is a principle without a principle. The Father and the Son produce the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost produces neither the Father nor the Son. The Father is neither begotten nor produced ; but the Son is begotten by the Father, by the way of the understanding. The Holy Ghost is not begotten, but produced through the Father and the Son, by the way of the will. The Father is the first person, because He is the form and origin of the other persons ; the Son is the second, be- cause He is begotten through the Father, and the Holy Ghost is the third, because He proceeds from the Father and the Son. This dis- tinction of the three divine persons is found clearly expressed at the baptism of our Saviour, where it was the Father who spoke, the Son who was baptized, and the Holy Ghost who descended in the form of a dove. VI. However, these three divine persons, although very distinct from one another, form only one and the same God, because they have only one and the same nature and divinity. Just as the three faculties of our soul : memory, understanding, and will, although differing from one another, form, nevertheless, only one soul, because they have one ON THE MYSTERY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY 2I and the same nature. The nature of a thing, my brethren, is that by which it is what it is. Thus, the nature of man is to have a body and a soul. The nature of God is to be infinitely perfect. Now, the perfections of the Father are the perfections of the Son; as those of the Father and of the Son are the perfections of the Holy Ghost. Thus the Father is eternal ; but the Son is also eternal, because he is eternally begotten through the Father; and the same can be said of the Holy Ghost who is eternally produced through the Father and the Son. The Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Ghost is almighty ; and it is the same in regard to all the other divine perfections. These three adorable persons having only one and the same nature, are, therefore, perfectly equal; and there is among them neither supe- riority, nor preeminence ; and although we say that the Father is the first, the Son the second, the Holy Ghost the third, this language does not suppose any inequality of perfection, but simply indicates the order of origin. In God there is no more perfection in being the first than in being the last, because in God everything is infinite and perfect. From this unity of nature flows as a necessary consequence the in- separability of the three divine persons : where the Father is, there also is the Son, and there is the Holy Ghost ; whatever the Father wills, the Son wills, and the Holy Ghost wills ; what the Father does, the Son does, and the Holy Ghost does. Consequently, we must be- lieve that the Son and the Holy Ghost have contributed to the crea- tion as much as the Father, to whom it is attributed only because it is a work of power ; that the Father and the Holy Ghost have con- tributed to our redemption although it is attributed exclusively to the Son as a work of wisdom ; finally, that the Father and the Son have contributed to our sanctification as well as the Holy Ghost, to whom it is attributed only because it is an act of love. So, also, we must con- clude that the Father and the Holy Ghost are present in the Blessed Eucharist, as well as the Son, although in a different manner ; for the Son is present there as God and as man, whilst the Father and the Holy Ghost are present only as God. Hence we have no more obli- gation towards one than towards another of these three divine per- sons, and we must adore and invoke all three equally, although we can pay them our homage separately. VII. Let us not attempt to fathom any further this ineffable dogma, or penetrate the mysterious grandeurs of God ; let us not seek 22 FIRST PART. III. INSTRUCTION to sound the abyss of the infinite. God has spoken and the Church has defined ; that must be sufficient. Therefore, let us content our- selves with believing and adoring. Let us adore God the Father as our Creator and Preserver ; let us adore God the Son as our Re- deemer ; let us adore the Holy Ghost as our sanctifier. The angels and saints in heaven have no other occupation but to celebrate the praises of the holy and adorable Trinity, by that sublime canticle which they repeat continually : Holy, holy, holy is the God of hosts. Let us do the same upon earth ; let us be filled with the same senti- ments of respect and love which animate the blessed spirits in heaven. But let us not be content with adoring the three divine persons ; let us also invoke them, and invoke them often. In this consoling mys- tery everything inspires us with love and confidence. It is in the name of the Blessed Trinity that we were baptized, that we were con- firmed, and that we are absolved in the sacrament of penance ; and it is the Trinity which is for us the only source of all grace and salva- tion. Let us remember the Holy Trinity, especially in our troubles and in our dangers, and at the beginning of our principal actions. The most useful practices are the sign of the cross, a short prayer that we cannot offer with too great attention and respect, and the Glory be to the Father, which is an homage rendered to the adorable Trinity, a simple and lively prayer, welling up from the depths of our heart. St. Simeon, the Stylite that prodigy of penance, who fasted during the entire season of lent, without taking any kind of nourish- ment, and who, inspired and upheld by divine grace, spent forty years upon a column without sitting or lying down, and whom not only the common people but even kings came to see through devotion or curiosity recited hardly any other prayer but the Gloria Patri, <( Glory be to the Father. w The Church, as we know, grants numer- ous indulgences to those persons who, associated together, recite seven Glory be to the fathers three times a day. These are powerful motives often to adore and to invoke the Most Holy and adorable Trinity. Therefore, as it shall be always the basis of our faith and of our worship, let it also be always the object of our respect, and of our love and gratitude. Amen. ON THE CREATION IV. INSTRUCTION FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Confd) On the Creation I. AFTER having instructed you on the existence of God, and of one God in three divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, there remains for us to speak of His works, that is, of the creation of the world, of the angels, and of man in particular. This world did not always exist. The history of the nations which goes back only a few thousand years, the newness of the arts most necessary for life, which are still being improved every day, and the recent discoveries of immense countries, as that of America, all go to show not only that there has been a time when this world did not exist, as we behold it to-day, but also that its origin is not of such a very remote date. There was a time when there were neither sun nor moon nor stars ; a time when there were neither plants nor animals, neither day nor night, neither light nor dark- ness, neither sea nor earth nor heavens, a time, finally, when God alone existed, having produced nothing outside Himself, and finding His happiness in contemplating His own glory and adorable perfections in the silence of eternity. II. But who could create the world? That is, who could draw out from nothing the heavens and the earth and those immense globes, whose number and grandeur the most lively imagination is insufficient to represent to itself? Certainly, the world did not create itself. Neither is the world the work of chance ; for chance is an idle word, which has neither being nor life, which expresses only an ignorance of the causes of events, and which is consequently incapable of producing any effect. Therefore, my brethren, it is God and God alone who, by His almighty power, could create the world. This is what we profess to believe in reciting the first article of the Creed : I believe in God the Pather Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. To create, as we have said, means to draw out of nothing. But who else but God could make anything whatever without preexisting matter? Masons build houses, but they have stones and cement ; painters 2 4 FIRST PART. IV. INSTRUCTION make pictures, but they need paper or cloth and colors. Their whole art consists merely in changing and improving forms and figures. When there is question of giving to a thing the existence which it has not, it is only the Almighty who is capable of doing that. All the men and all the kings of the world together could not create one single grain of sand. III. God created the world by one single word : He spoke and they were made (Ps. xxxn. 9). There were no laborers, no tools, no implements, because there were none yet in existence. His all-power- ful word supplied all this ; and His word is nothing else than Hi& will. It is Moses who relates the wonderful history of the creation of the world the most authentic history of all, and to which all human sciences are obliged to render homage. This is how this great historian, who wrote only under the dictation of the Holy Ghost, relates this astonishing wonder : God created the world in six days, or spaces of time. Undoubt- edly, He had no need of all this time to consider and to complete His- work, for in an instant, and by a single act of His will, He could have created and perfected not only this world such as we see it, but He could have created and perfected thousands of others. Why did He will to employ <( six days B at the work of creation ? For many reasons, undoubtedly, which we do not know ; but perhaps, also, to show us that He acted with a sovereign independence; that He did only what He pleased and how He pleased, and, also, to give us the example of labor during the six days of the week, with the obligation of rest for the seventh day. In the beginning, says the sacred writer, God created heaven and earth. But the earth was at first only a confused mass of beings, or rather of seeds of beings, mingled together, without distinction, with- out order, and without the qualities which should soon embellish them. Then God said: Let there be light. And light was made and He divided the light from the darkness, and thus was formed the day and night (Gen. i. 3-4). Such was the work of the first day. God made light succeed darkness in order that man might give himself up to labor and provide for his wants ; darkness succeeds the light in order that man might more easily taste the sweetness of sleep neces- sary to rest his faculties and renew his exhausted strength. On the second day God made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above it ON THE CREATION 2 5 (Gen. i. 7). The firmament is the space which extends from the surface of the earth to the extremity of space. Imagination cannot represent to itself this immense space. The sun is nearly one hundred millions of miles from the earth. Learned men conjecture that there are fixed stars twenty-seven times further away than the sun, and per- haps beyond these there are millions of others infinitely more distant. What must not be the immensity of a God who fills such a universe ! All nations together are before Him only as a grain of sand. What is the most powerful and greatest man when compared with God? Let us adore His infinite majesty, my brethren, and let us humble ourselves at the thought of so much grandeur on the one hand, and so much nothingness on the other. The earth was still wholly covered by the waters and mingled with them. On the third day, therefore, God assembled in one place all the waters that were under heaven, and He called this the sea by tracing limits which He forbade it to pass : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further (Job xxxvm. n). Then He commanded the earth to bring forth green trees, each producing seed according to its kind. The earth thus adorned and embellished became a worthy sojourn of man. What a magnificent sight should one day offer itself to his view ! What an infinite variety of plants, what freshness of foliage, what brilliancy of flowers, and what sweetness and liveliness of colors! Indeed, to use the words of our Saviour, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as richly as a lily of the field. With what transports of admiration and love must man have been seized in leaving the hands of his Creator and appearing in the midst of this world so new to him ! St. Bernard said that the oaks of the forests were his teachers, and that at their feet he was often wont to meditate on the grandeurs of God. With what a lively and profound impres- sion of the infinite power of God must the first man have been penetrated when he beheld himself placed in the bosom of a nature so mysterious and so wonderful. On the fourth day God made two great lights, the sun and the moon. They are called thus, because they are not only greater than the stars, but because, being nearer to us, they appear to us as such and give us more light. The sun which lights and warms the earth into fruitfulness is an image of the God, the sun of jus- tice, who is the glory and happiness of the saints in heaven and 2 6 FIRST PART. IV. INSTRUCTION the principle and source of all the graces on earth. The sun travels like a giant above the earth, without deviating one particle from the route that has been traced out for it. Do we labor as faith- fully for the glory of our divine Master, and obey as faithfully the laws which He has imposed upon us? On the fifth day God commanded the waters to bring forth fishes and birds, and in an instant a countless multitude of fishes swarmed in the seas and rivers, and an infinite number of birds filled the air. The birds present to us some instructive lessons. Let us listen to the language of the saints : Just as the birds, they say, come down to the ground only to look for nourishment, so also should man habitu- ally raise his mind and heart towards heaven ; and just as the birds alight on the ground only after having observed whether any snares may have been laid for them, so, also, when man ventures into the world, he should exercise the greatest prudence, because it is full of traps and snares placed therein by the enemy of his soul. On the sixth day God commanded the earth to bring forth living creatures, cattle, beasts, etc., each according to its kind; and imme- diately the earth produced a countless number of animals, some of which were destined to nourish man, to clothe him, to guard and to defend him, to assist him in his labors, and for other ends which we often do not know, but which, undoubtedly, are always good and worthy of the divine wisdom. Finally, God ended His work by the creation of man, the lord of nature, and the masterpiece of His hands, who, with the angels alone of all creatures, should be capable of celebrating His glory and recognizing His benefits. Such is the abridgment of the account which Moses gives to us of the work of the <( six days * of the creation. What beauties, what wonders in the whole, and in each of its parts! The power and wisdom of its Author shine out everywhere. Let us cry out in the language of the prophet : O, my soul, bless the Lord ! All the world is full of Thy magnificence ! May all creatures praise Thee forever ! May the heavens and the earth and all that Thou hast made glorify Thee forever and ever ! Amen. ON THE ANGELS 2? V. INSTRUCTION FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Cont' 'd) On the Angels I. HOLY SCRIPTURE does not tell us formally on what day God created the angels. Some holy Fathers believed that it was when God created the light ; and others, when He made the firmament. However this may be, it is a matter of faith that there are angels. The Sacred Books often make mention of them ; and we profess to believe in the angels when we recite the Creed, and when we say: / believe in one God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. The nature and perfections of the angels, their number, the unfor- tunate fall and the punishment of some, the fidelity and reward of the others, their employment in heaven and on earth, the services which the good angels render to us, the hatred which the fallen angels bear towards us, are the points which we have to examine in this instruc- tion. II. What are the angels? The angels, says the Catechism, are pure spirits whom God makes use of to lead men to execute His will. We call them pure spirits to distinguish them from our soul which is also a spirit, but which is united to a body. When we see the angels represented with a body similar to ours, it is only to call them to our mind, and because they have often appeared under this form. The good angels are represented under the figure of winged youth, to show their innocence and their swiftness in executing the orders of God. The bad angels are represented under the figure of serpents, because it was under this form that the devil tempted our first parents in the earthly paradise ; and under the figure of wild beasts, to show their strength and fury. Being pure spirits, the angels are exempt from the infirmities and needs to which bodies are subject ; they are immortal like our soul, in the sense that they had a beginning, as our soul had, but like it they will have no end. III. We do not know the number of angels God created ; but it is certain that the number was very considerable. The holy man Job says that the angels are without number, and the prophet Daniel, as well as St. John, in the Apocalypse, assures us of having seen thou- sands and millions of them. This multitude of heavenly spirits is 2 8 FIRST PART. V. INSTRUCTION distributed into three hierarchies, and each hierarchy into three choirs. The first hierarchy contains the seraphim, the cherubim, and the thrones; the second the dominations, the virtues, and the powers; and the third the principalities, the archangels, and the angels. However, we call all the celestial spirits angels. IV. In what state were the angels created? God created them in the state of grace and sanctity and adorned them at the same time with the most sublime qualities. Exemption from all sin and from every inclination to sin, a pure and holy love, and a will always inclined towards good these were the supernatural gifts with which they were endowed. Great understanding and science, with power, agility, wonderful beauty, and perfect happiness such were the natural gifts with which they were enriched : (< In them was the perfection of nature and the fullness of grace, w said St. Augustine. But not all of them preserved these precious gifts. Lucifer and a great number of others soon became puffed up with pride, on account of their brilliant qualities. Far from acknowledging that God was their author, far from being thankful to Him, they believed themselves equal to Him, and that they could do without Him. They refused Him their love and obedience, and raised against Him the standard of revolt. But the chastisement of so enormous a crime was not long delayed. Hardly had they consummated their wicked attempt when God raised the arm of His justice and ignominiously drove them from heaven, created hell, and hurled them into it for eternity. Such was the lot of the bad angels whom we call the spirits of darkness or devils. We see, my brethren, that it was pride and nothing else that caused the loss of this numberless multitude of celestial spirits. Oh, how inexorable is the justice of God in not giving them either the time or the means to repair their crime! Can we sufficiently detest the vice of pride, the source of so many misfortunes? If a single thought of pride could cause the eternal loss of millions of rebellious angels, what may those Christians expect whose life is one long suc- cession of sins of pride, of vanity, and self-love! Fearful as was the justice of God towards the bad angels, His goodness and liberality towards the good were equally remarkable. To reward them for their fidelity and submission during the time of their trial, He raised the veil which until now had hidden Him from ON THE ANGELS 2 g their eyes ; He showed Himself to them face to face and revealed Himself as He is. He put them in possession of all the celestial delights and overwhelmed them with an eternity of glory and happiness. V. What is the office of the good and of the bad angels? In hell the bad angels are forever cursing and blaspheming the justice of God which chastises them. Upon earth they lay snares for man, tempt him, and endeavor, by all possible means, to drag him down to hell, because they are jealous of his happiness. God allows this in order to render our virtues more meritorious and worthy of a great reward. But we need not fear their malice and fury. God is faithful to His promises, and He will never permit us to be tempted above our strength. "The devil can solicit, he can roar like a lion," says St. Augustine, <( but he cannot bite any except they are willing to be bitten. * To conquer the devil and repel all his attacks, we need only be resolved to do so, with the help of God. But we must will it with all our energy, and know how to make use of the proper means. The most powerful weapons are watchfulness,' fasting, and prayer. The sign of the cross is also an excellent means to put the enemy of our salvation to flight. As odious and despicable as is the work of the bad angels, equally admirable and loving is the office of the good angels. They sing the praises of God eternally in heaven, execute His will upon earth, and watch over our interests. Among the heavenly spirits there is a great number surrounding the throne of God's majesty, awakening the echoes of heaven with their sublime canticle : Holy, holy, holy is the God of hosts. That is the office of the cherubim and seraphim who are the most elevated in glory. Others, as the archangels, are charged to announce upon earth the will of the Most High, and to execute His orders. Thus they appeared in olden times to Abraham and Lot to admonish them of the vengeance which God was preparing against the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They appeared to Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Tobias, and to the prophets of the Old Testa- ment. The archangel Gabriel was sent to the high-priest Zacharias to declare to him the birth of St. John the Baptist, and to Mary to announce the mystery of the Incarnation. Faith teaches us, also, that there are angels who continually watch over us in all the circum- stances of life : For He hath given His angels charge over thee (Ps. xc. n). We call these our guardian angels. ^o FIRST PART. V. INSTRUCTION VI. The services which the good angels render to us are too great, and our duties towards them are too important, to pass over in silence. Prayer, watchfulness, and protection constitute the threefold min- istry which our guardian angels exercise towards us. Our guardian angel for each one has his own never ceases to pray for us, and to beg of God the graces necessary to us. He offers to God our own prayers as well as our works, as the archangel Raphael did for Tobias: / offered thy prayers to the Lord (Tob. xn. 12). He watches over us to warn us against the snares of the devil, and to de- fend us against his attacks. As much as the infernal spirit is anxious to ruin us, so much and more still is our good angel interested in our salvation. Not only does he interest himself in the salvation of our soul, but also in our health and corporal life. Thus, the archangel Raphael enchained the devil who had killed the seven husbands of Sara. The Lord had given His angels charge over thee, says the prophet, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone ; thou shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon (Ps. xc. 1113). Although we cannot see our guardian angel, he is always at our side to defend and to protect us. In a thousand circumstances, per- haps, he has saved our life. When lightning falls at our side with- out harming us, when we escape the jaws of a wild and furious animal, when we are preserved from accidents of water and fire, from falls, from epidemic diseases which might threaten our health or our life, believe me, it is our guardian angel to whom most often we owe our deliverance. Not content with watching over us, he consoles us in our troubles, he assists us with his good inspirations, and tries by every means in his power to be useful to us. In return for so many signal services, my brethren, what are the duties we have to fulfill towards our good guardian angel? First of all, we owe him I will insist no further on this point ; why should I, after the Holy Ghost has spoken in so clear a manner, and since we assert that the entire Christian religion is based upon the dogma of original sin? The Blessed Virgin Mary, alone of all mankind, was preserved from the general corruption of original sin. St. John, the Baptist, was sanctified in the womb of his mother. So, also, was Jeremias. 38 FIRST PART. VII. INSTRUCTION But what must console us is that this misfortune has not been without redress, and that, conformably to the promise which God hastened to make to our first parents, a Redeemer has come who has abun- dantly compensated for all our losses. This will be the subject of our next instruction. VII. INSTRUCTION SECOND ARTICLE OF THE CREED And in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord I. AFTER the deplorable fall of our first parents and the dreadful decree of their condemnation, the only resource left to Adam and to his whole posterity was the divine mercy. The abyss into which original sin had thrown us was too deep for us to rise out of it by our own power. As sin had wounded and outraged an infinite majesty, a satisfaction of an infinite price was due to God. His sovereign justice required a reparation equal to the offense ; so that all the penances, all the virtues, all the prayers, in one word, all the merits of all men and of all the angels together, could never have given to God a sufficient satisfaction. Besides, all being sinners, all being at enmity and in disgrace with an outraged God, what could we do meritorious for our salvation? What could we do that was worthy of drawing upon us the mercy of the Most High? II. God was in no way bound to grant mercy to us. Without in the least derogating from His goodness and love, He could have left us in the state of perdition into which the sin of our first parents had plunged us. However, through an excess of goodness, for which we can never show sufficient gratitude, God had pity on our great misery. As He had not made man to condemn him for all eternity, He did not desire to leave him in the damnation which he had brought upon himself. Hardly had Adam consummated his crime and undergone the sentence of divine justice which excluded him and all his descendants from the abode of the blessed, when God announced the word of pardon and mercy, by promising to him that from the 'woman would rise one u>ho ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 39 'would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. in. 15), that is, who would break down the empire of the demon upon earth and free man from the yoke of his tyranny ; who would reconcile him with God, and restore to him all his rights ; in a word, God promised man a Redeemer. III. But who should this Redeemer be? Ah! my brethren, here I need your full attention in order that you may understand the mystery which I announce to you. What had man done by revolting against God? I have told you already that he had committed a sin of an in- finite malice. Why? because he outraged a God whose majesty is infinite. Indeed, the gravity of the offense is always measured by the dignity of the person offended. Thus a word or an action that would be only a slight fault against a father, would be a crime of high trea- son against a king, and a sacrilege against a pontiff. But when man has committed an offense of an infinite malice, a satisfaction of an infinite price is needed. Would man ever have ( been able to offer to God such a satisfaction ? No ; for the merit of an action is drawn from the dignity of the person who does it. Now, it is quite evident that there is no creature that can produce an action of an infinite value, because every creature is by nature limited and finite. Thus, men, however holy one might suppose them to be, like the patriarchs and the apostles, would never have been able, by their prayers, sacri- fices, works of mortification and penance, to repair in a worthy man- ner the outrage which sin had done to God. The angels themselves, in spite of all their perfections and the excellence of their nature, would never have been able to do it. Only a God could offer to an outraged God a sufficient satisfaction. But as God is essentially happy and incapable of suffering, in order to be able to expiate sin it was necessary for Him to become man, that is, to assume a nature capable of suffering. Hence it was indispensable that the Redeemer be God and Man at the same time; man to suffer, and God to give an infinite value to His sufferings. IV. Did God send this Redeemer upon earth immediately after the sin of Adam? No, according to the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, He sent Him only some thousands of years after. There were reasons for this delay reasons unknown to us, but always worthy of the Lord's wisdom. All we can suppose is that He desired that man witnessing the intense darkness and frightful debaucheries with which the earth was covered in the course of ages, should 40 FIRST PART. VII. INSTRUCTION understand to the full extent the fatal consequence of his crime, should deplore his sin and ingratitude, and learn to sigh for a Re- deemer. In order that mankind should preserve the belief in a Redeemer to come, God was careful to renew His promise from time to time. First he renewed it to Abraham, when he said to him : / will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sands that is by the seashore . . . and in thy seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. xxu. 1718). He told him that from his race should come the one that was to save mankind. He renewed this promise by the mouth of Isaias who foretold that a virgin would con- ceive and bear a son who would be called Emmanuel (Is. vn. 14). He reminds mankind of the Redeemer through David and other prophets who, long before the coming of the Savior, foretold the time and place of His birth, His humiliation, His greatness, His miracles, His death, resurrection, and ascension, in a word, all the circum- stances of His life long before they came to pass. V. It was by this faith in the promised Redeemer that those who lived before the coming of our Saviour could save themselves. This was, indeed, a consoling truth for all men who lived before the advent of Jesus Christ. If men could have saved themselves only after the sacrifice of Calvary, how deplorable would be the lot of those millions of unfortunates who lived before this great sacrifice ! Their eternal loss would have been inevitable ; and, nevertheless, we would be obliged to bow in submission to the decrees of divine justice. But it was not thus ; and it is the belief of the Church that mankind before the coming of Christ could save themselves, through the merits of the Redeemer who has since come. During the thousands of years that preceded His advent upon earth, it was sufficient for salvation to have faith in the Messiah announced by the prophets and to observe the natural law engraved, from the beginning, by the hand of God, in the heart of all men, and later on given to Moses on tables of stone. Thus among the Jews, the patriarchs and prophets, and all those who believed in the future Messiah, could be saved. Such were, for ex- ample, Adam and Eve, about whose salvation we are not permitted to entertain any doubt; Abel, with whose sacrifice God was pleased; Henoch, who, on account of the holiness of his life, merited to be re- moved, both body and soul, from this world without passing through the horrors of death. Such were, again, Noah, Melchisedech, ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 4I Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Tobias, Moses, David, and so many other holy personages of every sex and state, whose faith was so lively, says St. Paul, that it made them surmount all the obstacles opposed to their salvation. Even among the pagans, all those who believed, like Job, in the promised Messiah, were undoubtedly saved through Him, provided that they faithfully observed the precepts of the natural law. It is true, these holy souls could enter heaven only when Jesus Christ, on the day of His ascension, came to open for them its gates. But though they could not enter heaven, neither did they go to hell ; they were detained in a place called Limbo where, without enjoying the beatific vision, they were nevertheless free from all pain. VI. What must we conclude, my brethren, from all this? That we cannot be grateful enough to the Lord for having drawn us from the abyss into which the sin of our first parents had cast us. You have seen that through original sin we were all lost, without resource. God was not bound to redeem us. Without derogating in any man- ner from justice, He could have abandoned us to our unfortunate lot, as He did with regard to the bad angels who revolted against Him. He could have done this so much the more justly as, in order to re- deem us, He had no other means except to sacrifice His only Son, the object of all His love, because, as we have said already, all the prayers and all the mortifications of both angels and men would have been powerless. Therefore let us give thanks to God. Let us thank Him for allowing us to be born in the light of the Gospel. For, although we could have saved ourselves under the law of Moses or under the natural law, how much easier is it not for us to work out our salvation in the bosom of the Christian faith! However, in order to be saved it is not sufficient that a God has redeemed us. It is our duty to profit by His merits. It is not suf- ficient that heaven is open for us ; we must follow the road that leads to it, we must exactly practice the duties which the law of God im- poses upon us, and carefully avoid all that it forbids. The Redeemer by His coming upon earth has furnished us with the means to do this. He has founded an infallible Church to instruct us ; He has established a sacerdotal ministry to direct us ; He has instituted seven Sacraments to give us grace. Now, it remains for us to make a good use of all these means. Woe to us, if, aided by so many graces, and by so many lights, we should still be lost! Our judgment would be much 42 FIRST PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION more severe, and our punishment much greater than if we had never known the Gospel, or if the divine Redeemer had never come to save us. As the fruit of this instruction, let us redouble our love and gratefulness to God, who has loved us so much, and let us renew our zeal in the work of our salvation. Amen. VIII. INSTRUCTION SECOND ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Concluded) I. IN THE preceding instruction, my brethren, we have said that God, through an effect of His infinite mercy, and without being obliged by His justice, had promised to send to man a Redeemer ; and that in order that mankind might not lose the remembrance of this promise upon which their salvation would depend, He was pleased to remind them of it from time to time through His prophets. These men did not limit themselves to merely announcing the coming of a Redeemer ; although they lived so many centuries before Him, they foretold in the most precise manner the different circumstances of His birth, life, and death, absolutely as the Gospel relates them; and they announced the very time when He should arrive among us. The patriarch Jacob foretold that the Saviour of mankind would come -when the sceptre (that is, the sovereign power) should be taken away from Juda (Gen. XLIX. 10). Aggeus and Malachias had an- nounced that the Messiah would come in the time when the temple of Jerusalem, built after the Babylonian captivity, should still exist. Finally, Daniel had pointed out the year when He would be born, that is, within the space of four hundred and ninety years, begin- ning with the day when the order would be given for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Already, my brethren, these events pointed out by the prophets had been literally fulfilled ; the Jewish people had lost its national- ity and fallen under the yoke of the Romans; the temple of Jeru- salem was still standing, but in a few years it was to be completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt again. Finally, the four hundred and ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 43 ninety years of Daniel were drawing to an end, when, amid the general expectation, and when all eyes were turned towards Judea which was to be His cradle, the Desired of the nations came upon earth, the One who was to reconcile heaven and earth, the great Redeemer of guilty man, the promised Messiah. II. Who is this Messiah or Redeemer that came upon earth? It is Jesus Christ, the God whom we adore, and the only one through whom we can be saved. And how do we know that Jesus Christ is the promised Redeemer? Because He and He alone unites in His person all the characteristics of the Messiah, and in Him was literally fulfilled all that the prophets had foretold. We need only compare the history of the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ, such as it is reported in the Gospel, with that which the sacred authors had fore- told, to be convinced that it is the one and the same person. Jesus Christ came upon earth at the precise time when the Re- deemer was to come. He was born of a Virgin, of the family of David, in the city of Bethlehem, conformably to the prophecy of Isaias. His life was passed in the constant and most wonderful prac- tice of all the virtues ; His meekness, patience, and charity knew no bounds. He was the just man par excellence. Betrayed by one of His disciples, He was sold for thirty pieces of silver, overwhelmed with ignominy and insults, made to drink gall and vinegar, His feet and hands were nailed to an infamous gibbet, He was robbed of His garment for which lots were cast. Finally, after having breathed His last, He was placed in a tomb, but preserved from corruption ; and He rose to life again the third day, as David and other prophets had foretold in the most precise manner. Jesus Christ is, therefore, that Redeemer promised and announced from the beginning of the world. This is the basis of our Christian faith. And woe to the one who does not believe this! The Jews refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and what has be- come of them ? The pagans did not believe in Jesus Christ ; and look into what an abyss of errors they have been plunged ! O Jesus, our Saviour, what thanks should we not render to Thee! Yes, we ac- knowledge Thee with lively sentiments of gratitude and love ; it is Thou that hast been sent from heaven upon earth to redeem mankind; and there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. III. Who is Jesus Christ, what is His origin, nature, and person? Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not as men are through grace or 44 FIRST PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION adoption, but really and by nature, or generation, according to the ex- pression of the prophet : Thou art my son; this day have I begotten Thee (Ps. n. 7). This fundamental truth we find declared in the Scriptures in too precise a manner to leave any room for doubt. What did the angel say to Mary, when he came to announce the mys- tery of the Incarnation ? The holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God (Luke i. 35). At the baptism of our Lord by John the Baptist, on the shores of the Jordan, what did the voice of the heavenly Father reveal? This is my beloved son, in 'whom I am 'well pleased (Matt. in. 17). Martha said to our Lord: Lord) I believe that thou art Christ the son of the living God 'who art come into this 'world (John xi. 27). St. Peter, in his famous profes- sion of faith, exclaimed : Thou art Christ, the son of the living God (Matt. xvii. 16). During the whole course of his public life, Jesus Christ constantly called Himself the Son of God, to the great offense of the Jews, who, believing Him a mere man, looked upon Him as a blasphemer and wished to stone Him. But the time when He declared Himself most emphatically in regard to His heavenly origin, was when, dragged before Cai'phas, during His passion, that impious pontiff asked and adjured Him to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus Christ, who until now had kept the strictest silence, believes it His duty to declare Himself, in order to confirm a truth so essential, and He does not hesitate to answer : Thou hast said it. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you shall see the son of man sitting on, the right hand of the power of God, and coming- in the clouds of heaven (Matt. xxvi. 64). Our Lord made this formal dec- laration, though He foresaw very well that by it He would bring upon Himself the sentence of condemnation. IV. Since Jesus Christ, the promised Redeemer, is the Son of God and the only Son of God, does it not follow that He is God like His Father, and of the same nature with Him: God from God, light from light, true God from the true God, as the Church speaks in the Nicene Creed? Holy Scripture formally teaches this, and especially the apostle St. John, when he says that in the beginning -was the Word, and the Word 'was 'with God, and the Word was God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, for the expres- sion Word is the name given to the Son of God, the Son being the word or the substantial thought of the Father. ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 45 Such is, my brethren, after the dogma of the existence of God and of one only God in three divine persons, the greatest and most im- portant of all the truths ; it is the foundation of the entire edifice of the Christian religion. We cannot deny it without renouncing our baptism, without repudiating our title to disciples of the Saviour. Let us, therefore, often make acts of faith in this profound mystery, and may nothing, not even the fear of death, be ever capable of shaking our faith in it. V. Jesus Christ is not only God, but He is man at the same time. This is what the apostle St. John wished to teach us, when he said that the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us (John i. 14). He took a nature similar to ours ; a body like ours, subject to the same wants and to the same infirmities ; and a soul endowed like ours ; with judgment, intelligence, and memory, with this difference that the faculties of the soul of Christ as man were incomparably more elevated and more perfect than ours. Therefore, there are in Jesus Christ two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. The divine nature, because He is God, and the human nature, because He is man. These two natures are united in Him in the most intimate and inseparable manner, and still more closely than our soul is with our body ; for the soul and body can be separated by death, whilst even at His death, the humanity of our Lord could not be separated from His divinity. On account of this intimate union between these two natures, we often say things of the humanity of our Lord which are proper only to His divinity ; and of His divinity, things which are proper to His humanity. We say that God was born, that He died. . . . Jesus Christ was not born, He did not die in so far as He is God, because God is eternal ; but He was born only as man. However, these two natures, although most intimately united, are nevertheless not confounded with each other, no more than the soul is confounded with the body which it inhabits. Each pre- serves the qualities and perfections which are proper to it. Thus, if you were asked whether Jesus Christ is eternal, you should an- swer that as God He is eternal, but not as man; whether He is almighty, yes, He is as God, but not as man. We must make a sim- ilar answer and the same distinction for the other properties which belong only to one or to the other of the two natures which are in Jesus Christ. 4 6 FIRST PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION Because there are two natures in Jesus Christ we must draw the rigorous consequence, there are in Him also two understandings and two wills the divine understanding and the human understanding, the divine will and the human will. As God, Jesus Christ knew everything and could not be ignorant of anything; as man, He had all the knowledges which the most perfect soul can possess, but nothing beyond that. Hence when He was asked when the end of the world would come, He answered that He did not know. As God He knew it, but not as man. It is the same with the two wills in Jesus Christ; as God He could wish a thing, and as man He could have a contrary inclination. We see a remarkable example of this in His agony in the Garden of Olives. His divine will desired the sacrifice which He was about to make for the salvation of the world ; His human will begged that, if it were possible, the bitter chalice of the passion should pass away. However, in Christ the human will was always perfectly subject to the divine will. Although there are in Jesus Christ two natures, Faith teaches us that there is only one person, the divine Person, or the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. This means that the Son of God and the Son of man do not make two Christs, but only one and the same Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and true God by His divine nature ; the son of man and true man by His human nature. And as in Christ the man is united with the God, and not the God with the man, only the divine -person, and not the human person, subsists in Jesus Christ. VI. Such are the teachings of faith on the great mystery of the Incarnation ; a profound mystery and infinitely above our intelligence, but a mystery infinitely adorable, because God Himself has deigned to reveal it to us. Let us admire and bless the immense love which God shows us in this ineffable mystery. What more could He do for us than to sacrifice His only Son by uniting Him with our weak nature in order to clothe its infirmities and miseries, and expiate its crimes? What can be more glorious for our nature than to know ourselves thus associated to the divine nature! O felix culpaf <( O happy fault! w cries out the Church, in speaking of original sin, (< which has brought such a Redeemer, * quae talem meruit habere redemptorem. Let us render unceasing thanks to the Lord, and let us show ourselves more and more worthy of the inestimable benefits of God by an increase -of piety and love. Amen. ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 47 IX. INSTRUCTION THIRD ARTICLE OF THE CREED: INCARNATION OF THE WORD Who Was Conceived by the Holy Ghost I. JESUS CHRIST, the promised Messiah, who came to redeem mankind, is, therefore, God and man at the same time. He is God, because He is the only Son of the Eternal Father; He is man, because He has a body and a soul like ours. Whence did the Son of God derive this body and soul, and how was the mystery of the Incarnation accomplished? Faith will teach us this. The third article of the Creed is expressed in the following terms : / believe in Jesus Christ . . . who 'was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. What do these words mean ? They signify that it was Mary who brought forth Jesus Christ, after having conceived Him in her chaste womb, not according to the ordinary ways of nature, but through the cooperation and almighty power of the Holy Ghost. II. Listen to the history of this wonderful event, as tradition has handed it down to us :- There was at Nazareth, in Judea, a virgin of eminent sanctity, named Mary, whose virtues had attracted the regards of the Most High. Her father was called Joachim, and her mother Anna, both descendants from the royal family of David. At the age of three years her pious parents had permitted her to enter the temple in order to consecrate herself to the Lord, and, first of all the daughters of Israel, although of so tender an age, she made there a vow of vir- ginity. Secluded in this holy asylum until the age of fifteen years, and under the care of the priests to whom she had been intrusted, after the death of her parents, when she was about twelve years old, she did not know the world. She divided her time between the study of the Holy Scriptures, manual labor, prayer, and the service of the altar. Adorned with the most lovely and most beautiful qualities, and powerfully seconded by divine grace, her heart was like a furnace of love for her God. She practiced humility, modesty, obedience, and all the virtues that befitted her age and sex, with a sovereign perfec- tion. Her holiness was so great that she never stained her soul with the slightest venial sin. When she arrived at the age of fifteen, her 4 8 FIRST PART. IX. INSTRUCTION nearest relatives wished her to be married, and they chose for her a husband of the highest virtue, a man named Joseph, who, like her, was descended from the royal family of David. Mary consented to the marriage only under the condition that she should preserve her virginity untouched. III. It was this virgin, so humble and so pure, whom God chose to become the mother of His only Son. When the time fixed by His wisdom had arrived, He sent to her the archangel Gabriel who announced to her the following consoling and beautiful words : Hail, full of grace, the Lord is 'with thee; blessed art thou among 'women (Luke i. 28). Mary, who did not know whence such a salutation could come, was greatly troubled and alarmed at the words of praise which the angel of the Lord spoke to her. Fear not, continued the heavenly messenger, for thou hast found grace 'with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and s halt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of David, His father, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for- ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end (Luke i. 30-33). What a magnificent promise ! To conceive and brin'g forth the Son of God, and thus to become the mother of the Redeemer of man- kind ! Was there ever a greater honor, was there ever a privilege comparable to this? But Mary remembers that she has made a vow of virginity ; and for all the treasures of the \vorld, she would not renounce this pre- cious virtue. She asks the angel how this could happen, how this promise could be fulfilled : How shall this be done, because I know not man? (Luke i. 34.) And the angel answered that God is above the laws of nature, that He changes them whenever He pleases, that the Holy Ghost would come upon her, that the power of the Most High would overshadow her, and that she would conceive and bring forth a son without losing her virginity, because no word shall be impossible with God (Luke i. 37). Once assured of becoming the mother of God without ceasing to be a virgin, she submits her will, and answers : Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word (Luke i. 38). And at the same instant the great mystery of the Incarnation was accomplished. The Almighty power of the Most High overshadowed Mary ; the Holy Ghost formed in her womb a human body to which He joins a human soul. The ON THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION 49 Son of God came down from heaven to unite Himself with this body and soul, just as a sun-ray that descends upon earth without becom- ing detached from the sun. Thus was realized the ineffable union of human nature with divine nature in the bosom of the purest of virgins. IV. How astonishing and wonderful are the prerogatives of Mary in this mystery! She conceives and brings forth Jesus Christ, she be- comes really and incontestably His mother. But if Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, what follows from this? It follows that she became the Mother of God. Of course we do not mean to say that Mary brought forth the divinity, for that would be absurd ; but since in Jesus Christ the divine nature is inseparable from the human nature, and since there is only one Person in Him, namely, the divine Per- son, we can say with truth that Mary is the Mother of God. It is thus that we call a woman the mother of her son, although she begot only his body and contributed nothing towards the formation of his soul. The Church has always honored and invoked Mary as the Mother of God. In the first centuries of the Church, an impious man, named Nestorius, dared to deny to Mary this beautiful privilege. But a General Council was held at Ephesus ; the honor of Mary was vindi- cated, and the title of Mother of God was definitely attributed to her by a most solemn decision and amidst the applause of the Catholic world. Nestorius was anathematized and exiled to Africa where he was attacked by an ugly disease and died in misery and contempt. Whilst still alive his body began to putrefy, and his tongue, eaten by worms, 'fell off in pieces a just chastisement for the blasphemies which he had uttered against the Mother of God. What an honor for a mere creature to be raised to the dignity of mother of God! Can we imagine anything greater, more wonderful, and more sublime! What is the glory of all the angels and of all the saints together, when compared with the glory of Mary! V. Another wonderful prerogative of Mary is her virginity. Al- though she conceived and brought forth Jesus Christ, she never ceased to be a virgin. She was a virgin before childbirth, during child- birth, and after childbirth. The prophet Isaias had foretold this : Be- hold a virgin shall conceive (Is. i. 34). When Joseph, on his part, perceived that Mary, his spouse, was with child, he was troubled and resolved to leave her privately ; but the angel of the Lord quieted him 4 cjo FIRST PART. IX. INSTRUCTION by telling him that the One who was to be born of her was the work of the Holy Ghost ; and that, consequently, his spouse was a virgin. Mary was a virgin before childbirth and she was also a virgin during childbirth. The divine Son of Justice \vent forth from the bosom of His mother like the flower which rises from a plant without damag- ing it, like the water which flows from its source without polluting it, like the light which penetrates glass without breaking it. The prophet had foretold this when he announced that not only should the virgin conceive, but should also bring forth : Behold the -virgin shall conceive and bear a son (Is. vn. 14). Mary remained a virgin after childbirth. Could it have been possible that the bosom of Mary, sanctified by so many wonders, could be profaned by any creature? The title of Virgin has always been attributed to her, without restric- tion of time or circumstance; and the Church has always condemned those who dared to deny her glorious prerogative of perpetual vir- ginity. How great, then, should be our respect, love, and confidence towards Mary! Was there ever a holier, purer, and more perfect creature? She would have most willingly sacrificed the title of Mother of God, if she could not have acquired it without losing her virginity. Was there ever a creature enriched with so many graces, raised to so high a rank ? She was honored with the incomparable dignity of Mother of God, she was destined to become also one day our mother, and to cooperate in the work of our salvation just as Eve, the first woman, cooperated in the work of our destruction. O Mary, be thou therefore forever blessed ! And perish our entire being if thou art not ever after God, the object of our respect, confidence, and love ! VI. Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, as we have explained; is St. Joseph, the spouse of Mary, also His father? No, my brethren, Jesus Christ as man has no father, and as God He has no mother. Jesus Christ is the real Melchisedech. As God He has a father but no mother, and as man He has a mother but no father. It was the Holy Ghost who, through His almighty power and without the inter- vention of any man, created a body for the Son of God in the chaste womb of Mary. St. Joseph was only the guardian and foster father of Jesus Christ, charged by Providence to watch over His first years and to provide for His wants. If Jesus Christ calls Himself sometimes Son of man, it is only to teach us that He is really man, and in allusion to a passage of Daniel (vn. 13), where it is related that in a vision,. BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST r t the Messiah appeared to the prophet as Son of man, that is under the form of a man. So, also, when the Scripture sometimes calls St. Joseph the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is only because He was the spouse of His holy mother, and because he always had for Jesus the affection and the solicitude which a good father has for his son. But we should not honor any less the chaste spouse of the purest of virgins. After Mary there is no saint in heaven who merits more our confidence and love. He was the head of the holiest family that ever lived in the world ; he carried the infant Jesus in his arms ; he was, for many years, the faithful companion and the trustworthy friend of Mary, his august spouse. What a power must he not pos- sess in heaven with Jesus and \vith Mary ! Let us invoke him often with confidence, and let us have for him the most ardent devotion. St. Theresa says that she never asked for any favor through his inter- cession which she did not obtain. Let us always try to imitate his virtues, particularly his chastity and humility : his chastity, because he always remained a virgin ; his humility, because he never desired to leave the obscurity of his humble profession. He concealed his grandeur and appeared in the eyes of men only as a mere workman. By walking in his footsteps, and by often imploring his holy protec- tion, we shall merit one day to share in his glory and happiness in heaven. Amen. X. INSTRUCTION THIRD ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Confd) Birth of Jesus Christ I. NINE months had elapsed since the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bring forth the Saviour, when the Emperor Augustus, desiring to know the number of his subjects, ordered a general census to be made, and obliged each one to be inscribed in the place of his origin. To obey this edict, the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, being of the race of David, went to Beth- lehem, the cradle of the royal family of David. It was thus that 5 2 FIRST PART. X. INSTRUCTION God disposed political events for the fulfillment of Scripture. It had been foretold that Bethlehem of the tribe of Juda would be the place where the Messiah should be born. In Bethlehem was born the Son of God, the expected of the nations during thousands of years, the One longed for by the patriarchs and prophets. When Mary and Joseph arrived at Bethlehem, the city was so crowded with strangers that they could not find a place in the inns. Mary and Joseph being poor, they \vere disregarded by everybody, and it was impossible for them to procure any other asylum but a stable. It was in this miserable place that Mary brought forth the Saviour of the \vorld, and laid Him in a manger. Let us listen to the teaching and wonderful lessons which Jesus gives us from the crib of Bethlehem. Why did he wish to be born in such a sad and poor state, He the King of kings, the Lord and Master of heaven and earth? Undoubtedly, He could have been born in a magnificent palace, He could have had around His cradle all the splendors of earthly kings. But, no! He not only came to save man, but also to show him the way to heaven. He desired to teach him by His example the practice of the great virtues which constitute in themselves alone the substance of all Christian life ; humility, mor- tification, and the contempt of riches. This divine Master knew that man is naturally subject to three vices which are the cause of all his disorders : pride, sensuality, and avarice. And in order to weaken or to destroy them in our souls, by giving to us the example of the contrary virtues, He wishes to be born of a poor mother, in a place so little worthy of His infinite grandeur, and in a state of misery and suffering. O, you lovers of the world, you who sigh for riches, honors, and pleasures, kneel at the crib of Jesus, and there you will learn what to think of the world and its pomps. Do not think yourselves His disciples, do not expect to have a share of the reward which He has promised, if you walk in a path so different from that which He has trod during the whole of His mortal life. II. It was on the twenty-fifth day of December, at the early mid- night hour, that the Saviour came into the world. This blessed and glorious day we call Christmas. To commemorate this event, the Church has instituted that solemnity, beautiful among all other solem- nities, the midnight office. On this day priests offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass three times, in order to honor the threefold birth of Jesus BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST - 3 Christ: ist. That by which He proceeds from His Father from all eternity ; 2d. That by which He was born in time from the Blessed Virgin Mary ; 3d. That which makes Him to be born spiritually in our soul by faith and charity, and, sacramentally, by the Blessed Eucha- rist. From this glorious epoch dates the Christian era; so that when we say that we are in the year 1898, we mean that it is one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight years since the birth of Christ. III. There were at that time, in the neighborhood of Bethlehem, shepherds who passed the night in the fields, watching their flocks. As it is especially to the simple and humble souls that the Lord loves to communicate Himself, these poor shepherds were the first ones the Saviour called to His manger. He sent to them an angel who said to them : Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people. For this day is born to you a Saviour who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall jind the infant 'wrapped in sivaddling clothes, and laid in a manger (Luke n. 10-12). When the angel had an- nounced these tidings a great number of other heavenly spirits chanted that beautiful canticle which we still recite every day at Mass : Gloria in excelsis Deo (Luke n. 14). The shepherds, enraptured by such wonders, said to one another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this 110 or d that is come to pass (Luke n. 15). And having found the child lying in a manger, as the angel had announced, they did not doubt that it was their Saviour and God, and far from taking offense at the lowliness in which He wished to be born, as perhaps more than one among us would have done, they knelt down before their God, offered Him their homage, and went away publishing everywhere the wonderful news. Who among us here, my brethren, does not envy the lot of these poor shepherds? Who would not consider himself fortunate, if he could visit the grotto of Bethlehem where these wonders were accom- plished? Ah! my brethren, we need not envy these happy shepherds, the witnesses of the birth of the Saviour. We have a new Bethlehem among us, and every day the same God, the same Saviour, comes down to be born again upon our altars. Come, therefore, from time to time, to render to Him your homage. Come to Him to seek light and strength. Come to implore the graces of which you are in need. Especially on the night of Christmas, when we celebrate the anniver- sary of the coming of Jesus Christ among men, do not hesitate to- 54 FIRST PART. X. INSTRUCTION interrupt your sleep, to leave your house, and even to brave, if neces- sary, the rigors of the season, to hasten, as these pious shepherds did, to the cradle of Jesus Christ, to honor, by your presence, the mystical birth of our divine Master, and to pray to Him to come and be born also in your hearts. IV. The child Jesus did not wish to call only the poor to His manger. He also called the powerful and the rich ; not only the peo- ple of Israel, but all men and all nations. At the very time when the angels announced the great news to the shepherds of Bethlehem, a wonderful star appeared to the Magi. Who were these Magi? They were princes or philosophers from the East who professed the pagan religion. The prophet Balaam had foretold that a new star would announce the birth of a great King who would rule over the whole earth. Hardly had they noticed that extraordinary star, when, en- lightened interiorly and moved by the inspiration of grace, they set out to seek that Child-King to pay Him their homage. The star went before them and led them first to Jerusalem; but there, as if to try their faith, it disappeared. What did the Magi do? They went, directly to the court of Herod, and, without fear or human respect, they asked him where the King of the Jews was to be born. Herod, having consulted the priests and doctors of the Law, answered them that it was at Bethlehem where He must be born ; and he begged them, that when they had found Him to come back and let him know, in order that he also might go and adore Him. Miserable hypocrisy! This ambitious and cruel prince only desired to find the child in order to kill it; he was afraid that the new King might rob him of the throne he had usurped. The Magi, learning what they desired to know, hastened on their journey; and behold! on leaving the city, the star appeared again to them, and led them to Bethlehem. But here a new trial arose ! Undoubtedly, they expected to find the new King in a magnificent palace, amidst gold and silver, and surrounded by a brilliant court ; and they see only a stable, a manger, and a child wrapped in swaddling clothes. But their faith was enlightened, and they recognized in this child the Saviour of the world. Kneeling be- fore the manger, they offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh, symbols of royalty, divinity, and humanity ; royalty by the gold, divinity by the frankincense, and humanity by the myrrh. Then admonished in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back into their own coun- try by another road. BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST 55 What beautiful examples do we find in the conduct of the Magi! What an obedience, and what an eagerness to follow the star that called them to Bethlehem! Hardly had they perceived it when, with- out hesitating a moment, they left their homes and families, and ex- posed themselves to the fatigues of a long journey : We have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him (Matt. n. 2), Let us, like them, be faithful to the voice of grace when it calls us to the practice of virtue. Far from listening to our passions or to the max- ims of the world, we must say like the Magi : We have seen the light of grace, we have heard the voice of the Lord, and we come to rank ourselves under His laws. But, alas ! is such our language and our conduct? You, especially, sinners, who have so long resisted grace, are you not afraid that God will abandon you to the blindness of your mind and to the hardness of your heart? The Magi, abandoned by the star, were not afraid to go and see Herod, the cruel king, even at the peril of their liberty and life. Do we brave the criticism of im- pious men, do we defy human respect, and practice our duties as Christians, no matter how difficult it is to do so? The Magi offer to the child Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh ; such are the presents which he requires from us also : gold, the affections of our heart ; frankincense, the fervor of our prayers ; and myrrh, the works of penance. Such is the story of the Gospel and the vocation of the Magi to faith. It is generally believed that it was on the thirteenth day after the birth of Jesus Christ that they arrived at Bethlehem. This is why the Church celebrates the feast of Epiphany, which signifies manifestation. This feast is so called, because on this great day God manifested His glory to the nations, and has called all nations in the person of the Magi to the light of the Gospel. Epiphany, therefore, is the anniversary of our vocation to Christianity. And as this is one of the greatest benefits which the Lord has granted us, one cannot exhort you enough to pass this day in sentiments of the most lively gratitude and of the most tender piety. Amen. ^6 FIRST PART. XI. INSTRUCTION XI. INSTRUCTION THIRD ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Confd) Childhood of Jesus Christ. His Hidden Life I. EIGHT days after His birth, the child Jesus was circumcised. Circumcision was a ceremony of the Old Law which God had ordained as a sign of the Covenant which he had made with Abra- ham, and as a distinctive mark of His people among all the nations of the earth. This precept affected only the male children, and although probably it had not the proper effect of effacing original sin, nevertheless the circumcised person confessed himself guilty, and professed his belief in the Redeemer to come. Our Saviour was not bound at all to submit to this painful and humiliating law; but He wished to teach us by His example: ist. To obey faithfully and punc- tually all the commandments of God and of the Church ; 2d. To humble ourselves at the sight of the miseries with which we are filled, and generously to support all the pains and afflictions that befall us ; 3d. To circumcise ourselves by rooting out from our heart all the vices to which it might be subject, 'and by chastising our bodies through the practice of mortification and penance. The Church makes commemoration of the circumcision of our Lord on the first day of the year. On this holy day, we should offer to God the new year, and pray to Him to pardon the faults which we have committed within the year that just closed. The beginning of the new year should inspire us with reflections, on the rapidity of time, and the approach of death and eternity. I am here to-day, the faithful Christian says to himself, but where shall I be to-morrow? How many who on last New Year's day were as young as I am now, and were in as flourishing health as I am to-day, are gone forever! If I were sure that this would be the last year of my life, how would I spend it? II. On the day of Circumcision the name Jesus was given to the divine Redeemer, conformably to the order which the archangel Gabriel had given to Mary and Joseph : Thou shalt call His name Jesus (Matt. i. 21 ). But what does the name Jesus signify? It signifies Saviour; and how worthy is it of our respect and love? Of INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST. HIS HIDDEN LIFE 57 our respect, because it has come from heaven, and because it was in virtue of this holy name that we all have been saved ; of our confi- dence, because our Lord Himself has declared that all we ask of His Father in His name, will be given to us : Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that 'will I do (John xiv. 13) ; of our love, because it reminds us of the immense love of a God towards men, and of all He has done for our salvation. The apostle St. Paul says that the name of Jesus is above all names; that in this name every knee should bo-w, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil. ii. 10). And, indeed, what can be compared to the name that has reconciled heaven and earth, worked so many wonders, and which is still the greatest terrors of the demons? The saints had always the most tender piety towards the holy name of Jesus. St. Bernard assures us that he found joy and sweetness in this holy and adorable name alone, and that books and conversations were insipid to him if he did not read or hear the holy name of Jesus. Jesus, he added, is honey to the lips, a melody to the ear, and a joy to my heart. We read in the life of St. Ignatius, Martyr, that after his death, they found the name of Jesus engraved upon his breast in letters of gold. Let us imitate such beautiful examples, let us often invoke the holy name of Jesus ; but always with sentiments of the most tender devo- tion. The Church, in order to render to this sacred name the honor it merits, grants an indulgence of twenty days to every one who bows his head whenever the name of Jesus is pronounced. The name of Christ signifies w anointed. w The Saviour is so called on account of his threefold quality of king, prophet, and priest, for in ancient times kings, prophets, and priests were anointed. Jesus is king, because He reigns and will reign eter- nally over all souls; He is prophet, because nothing is hidden from Him, and He knows the future as well as the past ; He is priest, be- cause after having immolated Himself on calvary He offers Himself every day upon our altars in the Sacrifice of the Mass. III. Besides the law of Circumcision, there was another which obliged women to present themselves in the Temple forty days after childbirth for a male child, and eighty days for a female child, in order to be purified and offer to God, through the hands of the priest, their new-born child. They could redeem the child by offering a lamb and a turtle-dove, or only two turtle-doves, if on account of their poverty they could not offer a lamb. The Blessed Virgin submitted tj8 FIRST PART. XI. INSTRUCTION herself to this law, although she was not obliged to do so. She sub- mitted herself: ist. Through a spirit of humility, not wishing to dis- tinguish herself in anything from the other women, although she had not contracted any stain in her childbirth ; 3d. Through a spirit of obedience to the law; 36.. Through a spirit of piety, wishing to testify to God the respect which she had for His holy temple, and to show to the Christian mothers that after her example they should never re- enter the church, after childbirth, without having been purified through the blessing of the priest. Hence the ceremony of churching of women after childbirth, so ancient and so respectable, still generally practiced in the Church. The child Jesus, by wishing to be presented in the Temple forty day after His birth, like other children, gives us also very important lessons. He teaches parents that they cannot be too prompt in conse- crating their children to the Lord, in order that He may bless them and that He may remain their sole master, a consecration which they should often renew in the course of life. Moreover, He teaches chil- dren to give themselves to God from their most tender youth. IV. A third circumstance which the Gospel makes known to us about the childhood of Jesus Christ, is the flight into Egypt. Herod had asked the Magi to return to Jerusalem to inform him of the place where the new-born King of the Jews was to be found, saying that he also wished to go and adore Him. But the Magi, being ad- monished in a dream of the evil designs of Herod, returned home by another way. Herod, seeing that the Magi did not return, and afraid that this new-born King would rob him one day of his kingdom, ordered at Bethlehem, and in the surrounding country, a general massacre of all the children below the age of two years, a fearful example of the excesses to which ambition can lead. But Joseph, instructed by an angel from heaven, led the child Jesus and His mother into Egypt. When Herod was dead and there was nothing more to fear, they returned to Judea. The Church ranks those slaugh- tered children as martyrs, and she honors their memory on the feast of the Holy Innocents, which is celebrated on the third day after Christmas. V. The last circumstance in the childhood of Jesus, is His journey to Jerusalem at the age of twelve years. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph went, according to the law, to celebrate the feast of the Pasch in Jerusalem, and they took the child Jesus with them. After fulfill- INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST. HIS HIDDEN LIFE 59 ing this religious duty, they started for their home at Nazareth; but they found themselves surrounded by an immense number that had come for the same motive, and, according to the custom of the coun- try, the men and the women traveled in separate groups. Neither Mary nor Joseph remarked that the child Jesus was missing, each thinking He was with the other, but at the end of a day's journey they looked for Him in vain. Hastening back to Jerusalem, they found Him after a search of three days. God had permitted the child to be left alone in Jerusalem in order that He might commence to manifest Himself to men. Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple, in the midst of the Doctors of the Law, listening to them, asking them questions, and confounding them by the wisdom of His answers. When His mother seemed to reproach Him because He had thus concealed Himself, He said to her : How is it that you sought me ? Did you not know that I must be about my father" 1 s business ? (Luke n. 49.) He thus wished to teach us, even from His child- hood, that He had come upon earth only to labor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. VI. From the age of twelve years until the age of thirty, all that the Gospel says of Jesus Christ, is that He advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace -with God and men (Luke n. 52), and that having re- tired to Nazareth with His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, He was subject to them (Luke n. 31). He advanced in age, that is, His body became stronger in the course of years, as with other children ; He advanced in wisdom, that is, wisdom manifested itself more and more as He advanced in age, just as the sun which, although always equally luminous in itself, shines with greater brightness to our eyes, in the proportion as it rises more and more above the horizon. It is in this manner, my brethren, that children, when they have attained the age of reason, should seek to grow in wisdom and virtue. It is thus they should render themselves more and more agreeable in the eyes of God, by forming themselves to the duties of the Christian life. But is this what is generally done? Is it thus we have acted ourselves? Alas! how many years of childhood and youth have been only years of discord and dissipation? How many, young in years, are already old in vice? O children who hear me, if you are still so happy as to have preserved the grace of innocence, pray to the child Jesus to grant that you may always walk in His footsteps! And you sinners, of whatever age you may be, you who have had the 60 FIRST PART. XII. INSTRUCTION misfortune to abandon the ways of virtue, implore your infant Sav- iour to lead you back and to help you to remain faithful until the end. Jesus Christ passed the first thirty years of His life near the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, and, says the Gospel, He ivas subject to them. What a source of instruction and edification for us! Jesus Christ was always subject and obedient to Mary and Joseph, to two of His own creatures, and He was their master, their sovereign, and their God! And in what was He subject to them? In all things, even the lowest and most painful. He labored with Joseph and Mary, and occupied Himself with the humble cares of the household. He obeyed His parents with the most perfect exactitude and punc- tuality. He obeyed thus until He was thirty years old ; and until that age He wished to remain ignored by all and unknown to the world. Can anyone conceive a modesty more perfect, a humility more profound? O, you who love the world so much, and who desire to appear among men, come to the school of Jesus! You who seek to distinguish yourselves among others by your knowledge, or your rank, or the richness of your dress, come to the school of Jesus, of Jesus the artisan, of Jesus the poor, of Jesus the unknown and forgotten ! But you especially, disobedient and unruly children, who will not obey your father, or mother, or your superiors, come and learn from Jesus Christ! Ah! my brethren, how many Chris- tians are there whose life is condemned by the humble life of Jesus ! My brethren, if, in the past, we have not practiced the virtues of obedience, humility, and contempt for the vanities of this world, let us humbly ask pardon of God, and let us to-day take the resolu- tion to be more faithful to the lessons and examples of our Divine Master. Amen. XII. INSTRUCTION THE THIRD ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Concluded} Public Life of Jesus Christ AT THE age of thirty years our Saviour commenced His public life. It was opened with His baptism by St. John and the fast in the PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST gl desert, and was continued by preaching, the working of miracles, and the practice of the highest virtues. These are the points which will form the subject of this important instruction. I. St. John the Baptist, the precursor of Jesus Christ, had been preaching penance to men, and administering the baptism of water, to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah, whom he declared to be already among men, and whose power and dignity were so great that he was not -worthy to loose the latchet of His shoes (Luke in. 16). This baptism which he gave on the shores of the Jordan was not a sacrament that had the power to remit original sin ; it was a mere ceremony which had no other efficacy than to dispose men to penance, and prepare for the true baptism by water and the Holy Ghost, which was to wash away their sins and open to them the gates of heaven. Although our Saviour had no need of the baptism of St. John, since He was holiness Himself, He nevertheless wished to submit Himself to it in order to give us the example of humility, by mingling with sinners, and by being looked upon as one of them. At His baptism heaven was seen to open, and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the form of a dove ; and, at the same time, a voice was heard saying : This is my beloved Son in ivhom I am ivell pleased (Matt. in. 17). This was a striking manifestation of the three adorable persons of the Holy Trinity. II. After His baptism by St. John, which revealed to men His divine origin, and which is regarded as the first act of His public life, our Lord, led by the spirit of God (Matt. iv. i), says the Gospel, retired into the desert, to prepare Himself by recollection, prayer, and penance, for the sublime ministry He was about to begin. He wished to teach us in what manner we should conduct ourselves, when there is question of choosing a state of life, and He condemned by His example those rash Christians who enter the matrimonial state, or who embrace the religious state, without having sufficiently consulted God in prayer. Buried in the depths of solitude, and removed from all communi- cation with men, our Lord fasted during forty davs and forty nights, ! without taking any nourishment whatever. Astonishing prodigy, of which there had been only two examples since the beginning of the world, that of Moses, the legislator of God's people, and that of Elias, the chief of the prophets. In order to commemorate this fast, as also to remind us of the necessity of penance, the Church has 6 2 FIRST PART. XII. INSTRUCTION instituted the time of Lent. When this holy time arrives, each one should say to himself : If God, who was innocence itself, fasted forty days, is it not just that I, a sinner, should do penance? In the course of this long fast, our Saviour permitted the devil to tempt Him, in order to merit for us the grace to surmount temptations, and to teach us how we should resist them. Temptations are not an evil in them- selves ; on the contrary, they can become for us an occasion of great merit. But we must not seek temptations or expose ourselves will- fully to them ; and if temptations present themselves, we must be prompt in rejecting them after the example of our Divine Master. III. We have come to the time of our Lord's public ministry. On leaving the desert, our Saviour entered into Galilee; but He had no fixed residence from this time. At first, He \vent about alone, after the manner of the prophets, visiting the cities, villages, and every- where preaching the Gospel. But soon He chose twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples, and traveled over the whole of Judea. He preached in the synagogues, in the temple, on the mountains, on the shores of the seas and rivers, in houses, and even in the deserts, whither crowds followed Him. The people abandoned their labors and even forgot their meals in their anxiety to see and hear Him. On two occasions, our Saviour was obliged to work a miracle in order to give bread to a multitude of several thousands who had followed Him, and who had taken nothing to eat for three days. One day, a pious woman of Jerusalem, unable to contain her admiration, cried out : Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck! And our Lord answered : Yea, rather blessed are they -who hear the word of God and keep it (Luke xi. 27). The doctrine of this Divine Preacher, so wonderful and ravishing, was well calculated to excite zeal and enthusiasm. It was expressed in a simple and benevolent language, which made a profound impres- sion upon all that heard it. The parables of the prodigal child, of the good shepherd, and of the marriage feast (figure of the Blessed Eucharist, to which all are invited, the poor and unfortunate as well as the rich and great), are examples of the sweetness, simplicity, and exquisite tenderness of our Saviour's preaching. And how pure are the morals of His teaching ! Is there a vice which they do not condemn, or a virtue which they do not prescribe? Before the time of our Lord, the rich alone were considered happy; but Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matt. v. 3). It was PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST 6 3 considered a duty to revenge injuries, and He says : Blessed are the meek, blessed are the peace-makers (Matt. v. 45). It was considered a noble thing to aspire to the honors and dignities of the world ; men sought to appear in pomp and splendor, and to attract the esteem and admiration of others, but Jesus says : Learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. xi. 29). If any man iv ill come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke ix. 23). How sublime are the teachings of Jesus on purity of heart, fraternal charity, duty of prayer, and on divine Providence which takes care of the little birds and \vhich gives such rich ornament to the flowers of the field ! What new and wonderful maxims ! No man, no philosopher ever spoke as He spoke. The evangelical morals are so holy, so touching, and so complete, that in all times, and even in the worst of days, in epochs of scandal and anarchy, the most impious men have paid homage to them. IV. To these sublime teachings, Jesus Christ has indeed joined mysteries which reason cannot comprehend, such as His divinity, the trinity of persons in God, the original fall, the eternity of hell. But He has proved the truth of His doctrines by public and incontestable miracles, \vhich no one can deny, except he rejects all evidence devils driven out of the bodies of the possessed, storms calmed, the multiplication of loaves, the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead to life ; nothing could resist His power, all nature was obedient to His orders. He suspended nature's laws and commanded the ele- ments at His will. And these wonderful miracles were wrought in an instant, without effort and without preparation ; they were not wrought in secret, or before a few friends only, but in public places and in the assemblies of the scribes and Pharisees, His most bitter enemies, and before multitudes of the people. One day as He came down from the mountain, whither the people had followed Him, a leper approached Him and said: Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean; and Jesus stretching forth His hand, said: I 'will, be thou made clean (Matt. vm. 3). And forthwith he was healed from his leprosy. At another time, on entering Caphar- naum, a centurion came begging Jesus to cure his sick servant ; and Jesus said to Him : Go, and as thou hast believed so be it done to thee (Matt. vui. 13) ; and in the same hour the servant was healed. On another occasion He was in a boat with His disciples, and whilst He slept behold such a violent storm arose that His disciples, fearing 6 4 FIRST PART. XII. INSTRUCTION they would all be drowned, cried out to Him : Lord, save us, iue per- ish (Matt. vni. 25), and Jesus, rising, commanded the winds and the sea to be still; and a great calm ensued. Once, on entering Capharnaum, a paralytic was brought to Him on a bed carried by four men, and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic : My son, be of good heart , thy sins are forgiven thee (Matt. ix. 2). And when some of the scribes who were present said within themselves that He blasphemed, claiming that it belonged alone to God to remit sins, He spoke to them thus : What is easier to say, thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say: Arise and -walk? But that you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then he said to the man sick of the palsy, Arise, take up -thy bed and go into thy house (Matt. ix. 5-6). And the paralytic arose and returned into his house. You have all heard the story of the healing of the man born blind, to whom Jesus restored his sight with a little spittle ; of the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus, and of the only son of the widow of Nai'm, who was being carried to the grave, and of Lazarus who had been buried four days. Do these numerous and incontestable miracles not prove both the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the truth of the doctrine He preached? Who but a God could have acted thus? Jesus Christ declares that He is the Son of God, and God Himself. We must believe one of two things : either He is God, indeed, and then we have only to believe and adore Him ; or He is an impious and sacrilegious impostor. But, in the latter case, we ask whence could He have the power to work so many miracles, and to suspend the laws of nature? If there is a God in heaven, could He have allowed this imposture, and lead men into error? V. But, my brethren, it is not only by His doctrine and miracles that Jesus Christ has proved His divinity; He has proved this also by His heroic virtues and the incomparable holiness of His life. All that He recommended to others, He practiced Himself : Jesus began to do and to teach (Acts i. i). Look on the picture the Gospel traces of Jesus : What love for God and what zeal for His glory! He passes whole nights in prayer, and His food is to do the will of the One that sent Him. What purity of morals! what humility! what disinterest- edness! He passes His whole life in virginity; when He spoke with the Samaritan woman to enlighten and to convert her, His disciples were astonished to see Him converse with a woman. He is poor, and flees the honors and dignities of the world. When the multitude wish PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST ge to proclaim Him king, He retires into solitude ; when the people wish to receive Him in triumph in Jerusalem, He escapes and goes into the country. How touching was His goodness! With what affection does He not receive the poor and unfortunate! He consoles them, He provides for them. He is not afraid to enter the houses of sin- ners, to eat with them and converse with them. He calls the poor His friends ; He declares that He will hold as done to Himself what- ever is done to the least among them. His heart burnt with love for all. He loved little children and wished to have them close to Him : Suffer the little children to come to me, and He threatened with the most severe punishments those who scandalize the little ones. In a word, there is no virtue of which He did not give us an ex- ample and which He did not possess in its full perfection. In His whole life there is not an action in which one can remark the slightest fault or the least imperfection. He challenged His most bitter enemies, and said, with a noble boldness, that belongs not to man but to God alone : Which of you can convince me of sin? (John vin. 46.) During the sorrowful days of His passion, what patience and what kindness He manifests! What courageous and simple firmness in the midst of the most cruel treatment and the most frightful torments ! Not a word of remonstrance escapes His lips. He prays for His ex- ecutioners, and whilst they are inflicting on Him the most atrocious torments, He supplicates His heavenly Father to show mercy towards them : Father , forgive them (Luke xxm. 44). Was there ever a life comparable to His? And still I have sketched only a few traits. Read the Gospels for yourselves ; read them with a docile and simple heart, and you will be touched and con- vinced. You will see that Jesus is truly the Son of God, our master and our model. But if we are disciples of Christ, let us show it by our conduct. Let us humbly obey His laws, let us practice the virtues which He has taught us, let us follow in His footsteps, and let us have confidence in Him, and our works will not remain without reward. Amen. 5 66 FIRST PART. XIII. INSTRUCTION XIII. INSTRUCTION FOURTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED Suffered under Ponthts Pilate, Crucified, Dead and Buried I. So MANY virtues and miracles ought, undoubtedly, to have won for our Saviour the love and gratitude of the Jews. But no, holy and wonderful as His life was by His doctrine and His works, it was ren- dered the more painful by humiliations and sufferings. Jesus Christ had suffered at His birth in the stable of Bethlehem ; He had suffered in fleeing into Egypt, to avoid the persecution of the cruel Herod ; in short, He had suffered His whole lifetime, because, as the author of the w Imitation w teaches, the life of Jesus was one continual martyr- dom. When the Apostles' Creed says that Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, it is to be understood of what He endured on the eve and on the day of His death. These two days were days of continual suffering: ist. In the Garden of Olives, He fell into a mortal agony which brought on a bloody sweat. He was be- trayed by the infamous Judas, taken prisoner by the soldiers, and led away as a criminal ; 2d. He suffered before Annas, the father-in-law of Cai'phas, the high-priest ; He was slapped in His face, under the pretext that He had answered to the pontiff disrespectfully ; 3d. He suffered before Cai'phas, high-priest of that year ; He was accused, condemned, spit upon, and outraged in every manner; 4th. He suffered before Pontius Pilate who, although he recognized the innocence of Christ, nevertheless did not dare to set Him free, for fear of making himself odious in the eyes of the Jews ; 5th. He suffered before Herod who, deceived in his expectations of seeing Christ work a miracle, mocked Him by clothing Him in a white garment and sent Him back to Pilate; 6th. He suffered in the court of Pilate where He was scourged, crowned with thorns, and condemned to die upon a cross which He was obliged to carry upon His own shoulders to the place of execu- tion ; yth. Finally, He suffered on Calvary, where He was crucified between two thieves. In a word Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows. He suffered more than all the martyrs together. We cannot read the history of His passion, without being moved with pity for so much suffering. Even ON THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION 6 7 had Jesus been the last and the meanest of men, no one could hear this sad story without shedding tears. But what a spectacle of patience and resignation! Jesus, in the midst of so much anguish and suffering, did not even open His mouth to complain, but permitted Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter, dumb before those who struck Him. What a striking condemnation of our murmuring and complaints in our little trials and troubles! II. Nailed to the cross, our Lord spoke seven times remarkable words, worthy of being engraved forever on our hearts. First : He prayed to His Father for His executioners : Father forgive them, for they know not -what they do (Luke xxm. 34). What a striking example of heroic charity ! Second : He promised paradise to the penitent chief. What a consoling truth for sinners who are tempted to despair of salvation. Third: He addresses His mother and refer- ring to her the apostle St. John, who was at her side, He said to her : Woman, behold thy son (John xix. 26), and turning to St. John, He said to him: Behold thy mother (John xix. 27). St. John at the foot of the cross represented all Christians, children of the Church. At that moment, my brethren, we all became the children of Marv. What a consolation ! What a source of hope and happiness ! Fourth : Oppressed by a burning thirst, Jesus cried out: / thirst (John xix. 28). It was thirst for salvation of man, thirst for our souls; but for drink the executioners offered Him gall and vinegar. Fifth : // is consummated (John xix. 30). God and man were satisfied. The justice of God was satisfied, the malice of man was satiated. Sixth: Jesus cried out to His Father: My God, my God, ivhy hast thou forsaken me (Matt, xxvii. 46). Seventh: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit (Luke xxm. 46). At these words, Jesus with a great cry bowed His head and died. At the same moment all nature was convulsed. The sun was darkened, the earth trembled, the graves opened, and the dead arose; the veil of the temple was rent in two. Some of the executioners were converted, and all went away striking their breasts and wondering at what had happened. It was on a Friday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, a day forever memorable : the day of all days ; but a day of sorrow and sadness, and which every Christian soul should spend in sor- row and penance, and in meditation on the sufferings of Christ. III. Why did Jesus Christ submit to such horrible sufferings and to such a death? Jesus gave His life to redeem us; He suffered and 68 FIRST PART. XIII. INSTRUCTION died in order to save us from the slavery of the devil, and to reopen to us the gates of heaven which had been closed through the sin of our first parents. He suffered and died, not only for us, disciples of the Gospel, but for all men without distinction. He died for pagans as well as Christians ; for the savages who still roam in the woods, as well as for the most civilized nations : He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the 'whole 'world (I. John ii. 2). By His death He has reconciled us with His Father He has restored us to our rights to the celestial inheritance. Is our salvation certain, and is heaven assured to us? No; but it is open for us, and it depends only on ourselves to merit it. Those who live in infidelity or heresy can arrive at a knowledge of the truths of faith, if they practice the natural law engraved by God Himself on the hearts of all men, and if they cooperate with the graces which He grants them. And we, who are already in the possession of the true faith, shall infallibly enter heaven, if by prayer and the sacraments we apply to ourselves the merits of the blood of Christ, and if we walk in His footsteps, in the -way of His commandments. This, my brethren, is the mystery of Redemption : Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the cross for us; a mystery infinitely adorable and forever worthy of our respect, our gratitude, and our love! IV. Undoubtedly, it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo such suffering. The least of His sufferings being of an infi- nite merit, one sigh, one single tear, would have been more than suffi- cient to redeem the world and thousands of worlds a thousand times more guilty than ours. But, as He wished to give us an example of all virtues, His love for us was so great that He minded no measure, and He was satisfied only when He had shed the last drop of His blood for us. He chose death on a cross, because it was the most cruel and infamous of deaths, reserved only for slaves and the greatest criminals. Among the Jews it was regarded as the most shameful of deaths, and it was inflicted only on foreigners. Christ died for all in general, and for each one of us in particular, and each one of us has as much share in the merits of redemption as if these were for hiih alone. Can any one imagine a greater love? If a king should die to save the life of the meanest of his subjects, what would you think? And, nevertheless, it would be only a man dying to save another man. But a God dies to save criminals, and He foresees their ingratitude. Oh, ineffable love of God towards man! Who can sound its depth? But ON THE MYSTERY OF REDEMPTION 69 let us also remember the rigorous and inexorable justice of God who will punish our sins! If there is anything in the world that gives an idea of the enor- mity of sin, it is the sight or the remembrance of Calvary. In the Old Law God had exercised terrible vengeance against sin. He de- stroyed all mankind in the Deluge ; Sodom and Gomorrah were con- sumed by fire from heaven ; the entire army of the Egyptian Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea, and thousands of Israelites died in the desert. What was all this in comparison with a God dying upon a cross to expiate sin? The sight of a God descended from heaven; upon earth, nailed to an infamous gibbet and pouring out the last drop of His blood, in order to reconcile us \vith His heavenly Father, is the most striking proof of the incomprehensible rigors of divine vengeance. Hell itself, with all its torments, does not move me so much as the cross with its prodigies of humiliation and suffering ; for in hell it is the guilty soul that suffers, but here it is Holiness itself; only vile creatures are there, but here it is the Creator, the Eternal One, who dies. Let us adore and bless the infinite mercy of a God to men ; but let us also tremble at the sight of His justice. V. The cross is the instrument of which Jesus Christ made use for the redemption of mankind, and the altar upon which He immolated Himself for the glory of His Father. Let us love and revere the cross. It teaches us the enormity of sin, the immensity of God's love for us, and the infinite rigors of His justice. What an eloquent preacher it is ! A God praying for His executioners ; a God abasing Himself and dying like a criminal on an infamous gibbet ; a God suffering awful torments and outrages \vithout even opening His mouth to complain ! Was there ever a more perfect model of charity, patience, and humility? Let us often meditate, my dear brethren, on the mystery of the cross. What sight is better fitted to instruct, to touch and convert our hearts ! After the example of the saints, let us always cherish for the cross the greatest veneration and the most tender love. It is the symbol of our faith and the sign of our salvation. Let us salute it re- spectfully wherever we see it. Woe to him who is ashamed of the cross ! St. Paul gloried only in the cross of Christ. Keep a crucifix in your house, and kneel before it from time to time. Carry a small crucifix about with you to remind you of the sufferings and death of Christ. 7 FIRST PART. XIII. INSTRUCTION But above all, my brethren, let us make the sign of the cross. No prayer is more agreeable to God and more potent to drive away the devil and to draw down upon us the graces we need. Make the sign of the cross in the morning on rising, to offer to God the actions of the day, and in the evening on going to bed, to ask of God the grace to pass the night well. Make it at the beginning of your principal actions in order to purify your intention ; before and after meals ; in dangers and in temptations. Make it properly and with respect, and not mechanically and with distraction, as so many careless and indif- ferent Christians do. Begin by piously placing your right hand on your forehead, in saying with a respectful attention : In the name of the Father, and then on your breast, saying: and of the Son, and, finally, on the left and right shoulders, saying : and of the Holy Ghost. It is with the sign of the cross that the Church commences and ends all her ceremonies and offices. All the Sacraments are administered, and all the blessings are given with the sign of the cross. At baptism it was the sign of the cross that introduced us into the Church ; in the hour of death it should be our last prayer. The Way of the Cross is also a pious practice established to honor the cross and the sufferings of the Saviour. It is an eminently useful devotion on account of the mysteries which it recalls, and on account of the numerous indulgences attached to it. I cannot recommend too much this practice of piety, nor can I engage you too earnestly to follow our Saviour in the sorrowful Way of the Cross. Finally, my brethren, another way of honoring the cross is to bear the crosses and trials the Lord is pleased to send us. Such are the in- firmities that befall us, the contradictions of life and the reverses of fortune. If we are the disciples of a God who carried His cross to Calvary, let us also carry our own crosses, and let us carry them with- out complaint. Let us carry them with resignation and patience and in a spirit of penance for our sins ; and these crosses which we must carry, even though we are unwilling, will become for us sources of consolation and merit, and will infallibly lead us to eternal happiness. For the royal way to heaven is the way of the cross. Amen. RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. HIS ASCENSION 7I XIV. INSTRUCTION FIFTH AND SIXTH ARTICLES OF THE CREED He Descended into Hell; the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead. He Ascended into Heaven and Sitteth at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty I. OUR Divine Saviour, nailed to the tree of the cross, heaved a last sigh, and His soul separated from His body. But both soul and body remained united to the divinity, so that they were always the soul and the body of the 'Son of God, and, consequently, always equally worthy of our adoration and homage. The adorable body of Jesus Christ, after death, remained for a time suspended on the cross; and, in the interval, one of the soldiers pierced the heart of our Savior with a lance, in order to assure himself of His death, little thinking that thereby he had opened to us an inexhaustible source of consola- tion and grace. Finally, when evening came, Joseph of Arimathea, one of the disciples of Jesus, and at the same time one of the noblest and wealthiest of the Jews, went to see Pilate and boldly asked him for the permission to remove the body of our Lord, and to bury it. Pilate granted the permission and Joseph, together with Nicodemus, also one of the disciples of Christ, but secretly until now, for fear of the Jews, went to Mount Calvary and took down the sacred body from the cross, and having embalmed it they wrapped it in winding sheets and deposited it in a new sepulcher, where no one had yet been laid. They then closed the entrance with a large stone. The chief priests and Pharisees, remembering that Jesus had said that He would rise again on the third day, and fearing that His disciples might steal the body in order to make the people believe that He had really risen, sealed the entrance of the sepulcher with the seals of the State, and stationed a troop of soldiers around the grave to guard it. Divine Providence disposed things in this manner in order that even the most inveterate enemies of the Saviour should become the chief witnesses of His resurrection. II. Whilst the body of the Saviour lay in the sepulcher, what be- came of His soul? His soul, says the Apostles' Creed, always united with His divinity, descended into hell ; that is, into a place generally called Limbo. But in order to understand what the Church teaches 7 2 FIRST PART. XIV. INSTRUCTION hereby, we should know that there are three kinds of hells : The hell of the demons and of those souls who die in the state of mortal sin, and whose torments are eternal ; the hell of the souls of those who died in a state of grace, but who had not yet entirely satisfied divine justice for their sins. The torments are like those of hell, but they last only for a time. We call this place Purgatory. Finally, Limbo, a place of peace and rest, free from all suffering, except the privation of the sight of God, and where those pure and holy souls were de- tained who had entirely satisfied for their sins, but who, having died before the coming of the Redeemer, could not enter heaven, because it was closed by original sin, and was to be opened to them only by the death of our Lord. Here were detained the souls of Adam and Eve, our first parents ; of the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Law, Job, Tobias, and many other holy personages whom we do not know. It was into this Limbo that our Lord descended, in order to announce to them the glad tidings of redemption. What must have been their joy when they learned that the day of their deliverance had finally arrived, and that they were to go forth and possess God forever in heaven! III. It was the third day after the death of our Lord when the prediction that He had made repeatedly that He would (< rise again on the third day w was fulfilled. On a Sunday, about six o'clock in the morning, a few pious and holy women had come to the tomb to em- balm the body of the Savior with precious perfumes which they had brought with them. But they found there only an angel, under the form of a young man, who said to them : You seek Jesus of Naza- reth, who ivas crticified; he is risen, he is not here; behold the place "where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you (Mark xvi. 6-7). Such is the simple manner in which the Gospel relates the resur- rection of the Saviour this important mystery which forms the foun- dation of the Christian faith. I shall dwell little on this mystery in order to show its reality and certitude. Since the Gospel declares it, we are not permitted to have the least doubt about it. Besides, the body of our Lord having been deposited in a tomb, in the sight and to the knowledge of everybody, it must certainly either have risen, or His disciples must have stolen it, but how could they have stolen it, since the tomb was surrounded by a troop of soldiers charged to watch over RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. HIS ASCENSION ?3 the body which it contained and to prevent it from being removed. On the other hand, did not our Saviour appear repeatedly after His resurrection to His apostles and his disciples, conversing with them, eating with them, and making them touch His body and wounds? Did He not even show Himself on one occasion to a multitude of five hundred persons gathered on a mountain ? But what should completely dispel any doubt that might exist in our minds is the effect which this miraculous event produced in the world. Hardly became it known, when Jews and Gentiles were con- verted in crowds, during three hundred years, and great numbers were not afraid to die for their faith in the resurrection. The atrocious persecutions which broke out against the disciples of the Crucified only helped to increase the number of converts, and soon the idols tumbled down, paganism was overcome, and the world became Chris- tian. And what is still more astonishing, it has remained Christian. For nearly nineteen hundred years the Christian religion has flourished on earth, in spite of all the persecutions of the tyrants, in spite of all the attacks of the infidels and impious, and it is still full of vigor and life, and one can well understand that it has promises of immortality. If the resurrection of the Saviour had not been real, if it had been only a lie and a strategem skillfully conceived by His disciples, would the world have embraced the faith of Jesus Christ, and constantly re- mained faithful to it, and would Christians have defended and pre- served the faith even at the price of life itself? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the strongest proof of the truth of faith and of' the divinity of the Saviour. It is the basis of the whole edifice of Christianity. If Jesus Christ had not really risen again our faith would be vain, says St. Paul (I. Cor. xv. 14). His re- ligion and Gospel would be only a fable, and He Himself (pardon me, O my God, for the impious supposition) would be only an im- postor. If Christ really rose from the dead, what is the consequence? It follows that He is God and that His religion is divine. Indeed, who but a God could foretell, as He did, that He would rise again, and that He would rise on the third day? This is the proof which He gave when the Jews asked Him for a sign of His divinity : This evil and adulterous generation, He said, seeketh a sign; and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was in the whale' 1 s belly three days and three nights, so shall the son of 74 FIRST PART. XIV. INSTRUCTION man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights (Matt, xn. 39-40). The Church celebrates the great mystery of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The feast of Easter is regarded as the greatest of all the feasts of the year. On this great day the Church displays her most beautiful ornaments, her most majestic ceremonial, and makes the arches resound with the chant of joy, Alleluia, praise the Lord! Oh ! let us repeat, ourselves, this cry of glory and triumph, a triumph over the devil and over our passions, and a passage from death to life, from sin to grace. Hence, during the time of Lent let us prepare our- selves for our spiritual resurrection through mortification and pen- ance. According to the example of our divine Master, we should commence by crucifying ourselves, by dying to ourselves and to all our passions, in order to begin a new life, a life of faith and charity, a life of zeal and fervor, and thus we shall rise with Jesus Christ, and more than this, we shall rise like Jesus Christ. The body of Jesus Christ after His resurrection became so agile and subtile, that it could easily penetrate the hardest substances, as in the Cenacle, and trans- port itself from one place to another, with the rapidity of thought. Once risen to the life of grace, we should work out our salvation with so much activity and zeal, that no obstacles should stop us in the ways of God. Finally, as the risen body of Christ became brilliant with glory and light, as formerly on Mount Thabor, so, also, after our resur- rection from sin, we should strive to spread everywhere the light of our good example, to give a new brightness to our actions, even to the most common, through pure and upright, intentions, and to gain souls to God through the good odor of our virtues. IV. Although Jesus Christ had consummated by His death the work of our redemption, He did not, however, wish to ascend into heaven immediately after His resurrection. His disciples needed to be prepared for the separation, which should be so hard for them; they were also in need of instruction on many points, and even, per- haps, of being confirmed in the faith of His resurrection. For this purpose Jesus remained forty days upon earth, conversing familiarly with them, giving them all the necessary instructions, either on the mysteries of faith which they were to preach, or on the government of His Church, the sacraments and the manner of administering them. It was in this interval that He gave to St. Peter the keys of His Church, and that He established him as its chief ; that He charged the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. HIS ASCENSION je apostles to carry the Gospel throughout the world, that He gave to them the understanding of the Scriptures, and that He manifested to them other truths which the Church has always preserved and respected as the word of God, and which form what we call the apostolic traditions. Finally, the day which the Saviour had chosen to ascend into heaven having arrived, He entered suddenly into the house at Jeru- salem, where He had given orders to His apostles to assemble. He saluted them friendly, wished and gave to them peace, ate with them, and reminded them of all He had taught them. Then having told them that He would send them the Holy Ghost, who would transform them into new men, He led them up the Mount of Olives; and, there, after having blessed them for the last time, He arose majestically into the air; a brilliant cloud soon hid Him from their eyes while they were still looking up ; the gates of heaven were opened, and as a king who returns from conquering a kingdom, Jesus made His triumphant entry into heaven amidst the acclamations of the heavenly court, accompanied by all the holy souls of Limbo. The Church honors this mystery every year on Ascension Day, forty days after Easter. The ascension of the Saviour of the world was a wonderful act of His almighty power ; for it was He Himself who, by His own power and \vithout any assistance, raised Him- self into heaven. Hence, there is a difference between the ascen- sion of Jesus Christ and the assumption of the Blessed Virgin, who was transported thither not by her own power, but by the hands of angels. Although Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, He is, nevertheless, always present upon earth. He is sacramentally present in all the Catholic Churches of the world, and spiritually with His Church which He has always assisted, and which He always will assist until the end of time, with His divine light. But what does the Creed wish to teach us when it says that Jesus Christ in heaven sits at the right hand of God the father? Has the heavenly Father a right hand, or a left hand? No, undoubtedly, because He is a spirit. Can Jesus Christ Himself, in His glorified state, be considered as sitting or standing? No, because He partakes in the nature of the spirits. What, therefore, do the apostles mean to say? They mean to tell us that Jesus Christ in heaven is as in a place of rest ; that He occupies near God the most distinguished place; 7 6 FIRST PART. XIV. INSTRUCTION that He is above the angels and saints, being in all things equal to His Father. This article of the Creed naturally suggests some interesting ques- tions. Why did Jesus Christ ascend into heaven? What does He do there? What are the advantages which we will derive from His ascension ? Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, my brethren: ist. Because He had not come upon earth to remain here always ; the object of His mission having been fulfilled, He returned to His Father who had sent Him. ad. To confound the carnal Jews, and to show them that His kingdom was not of this world. 3d. To glorify His humanity which had been so humiliated upon earth. 4th. To send the Holy Ghost to His apostles, according to His promise : For if I go not the Paraclete 'will not come to you; but if I go, I ivill send Him to you (John xvn. 7). 5th. Finally, in order to prepare a place for us. What does Jesus do in heaven? Although He is in everything equal to His Father, He continues to perform there for us, as formerly upon earth, the offices of advocate, of priest, and of mediator; of advocate, by interceding continually for us; of priest, by immolating Himself continually for us in a mystical manner ; and of mediator, by applying to us the merits of His precious blood. What are the advantages we derive from the ascension of Jesus Christ ? One is that it depends only upon ourselves to ascend into heaven after Him. There where the head is, the members should also be. The gates being opened to us, why should we not enter? I admit that there are obstacles; our passions are strong; the devil tempts us, and the world is around us with all its pomps and pleasures. But is it not worth the pain to make some efforts and to impose upon ourselves even the most painful sacrifices, when there is question of gaining an eternity of happiness, and of a happiness such as it is not even possible, here below, to form an idea? After all what must we do to gain heaven ? One single thing : to think often about it ; for it is impossible to think often and seriously about it without feeling ourselves penetrated with zeal, ardor, and invincible courage. What are, indeed, all the joys and all the pleasures of this world, in com- parison with that boundless ocean of joy and happiness! My son, I conjure thee, look up to heaven, said the mother of the Machabees, to the last of her children, when exhorting him to martyrdom (II. Mach. vn. 28). I say the same to you, my brethren, to you all, in whatever ON THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 77 position you may find yourselves; in sorrow or in joy, in temptation or in calm ; look up to heaven, think of heaven, meditate on the happi- ness of heaven ; Sursum corda ; and this thought will sustain you, this thought will encourage you, this thought will make you triumph over all obstacles, and will lead you to the happiness of heaven. Amen. XV. INSTRUCTION SEVENTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED From Thence He Shall Come to "Judge the Living and the Dead IT is an article of the faith, my brethren, that we all shall be judged at the hour of death. At the moment our soul is separated from the body, it shall appear before the supreme Judge, who will demand an account of all its thoughts, words, and actions, and in the same instant we shall be rewarded or punished according as we have deserved. This particular judgment will be an irrevocable judgment and without appeal, because it will be pronounced by a judge infin- itely knowing and incorruptible, who has seen all, heard all, and whose sentences are as unchangeable as God Himself. And besides this particular judgment, which takes place between God and the soul of each one, there will be another judgment, where all men, either in heaven, in purgatory, or in hell, shall appear. This judgment will be held by Jesus Christ Himself, appearing in all His glory and majesty, surrounded by the heavenly court ; but this public and solemn judgment will take place at the end of the world. The Apostles' Creed teaches this when it says that the Saviour will come down from heaven to judge the living and the dead. He will come to judge the living, that is, those who shall be living at the end of the world, or, according to another less literal interpre- tation, those who have died in the state of grace; He will judge the dead, that is, those who have died before the last day, or those who have died in a state of mortal sin and are dead to grace. Oh! how different will be this second coming of the Son of God from the first ! In the first, Jesus appeared in the poorest and humblest jS FIRST PART. XV. INSTRUCTION state one can imagine ; but in His second coming He will judge all men, and will judge them with such pomp and grandeur that, as Scripture says, the powers of heaven shall be moved (Matt. xxiv. 29); and every one shall confess Him to be the Master of the universe. Undoubtedly, my brethren, the General Judgment at the end of the world will be only a solemn ratification of the first, which was rendered at the hour of death. Nevertheless, it is necessary that it should take place, and why? For three reasons : ist. That justice may be rendered to everybody. There are upon earth sinners who are venerated as saints, and saints who are despised as sinners. Is it not just that the hypocrisy of the one and the innocence of the other should be unveiled before all men? 2d. How many crimes and how many virtues there are which will have their full consummation only at the end of the world, the virtues of an apostle, for instance, or the crimes of a heresiarch, and which, consequently, can be punished or rewarded only then in their just proportion ! 3d. Finally, on seeing so many wicked persons in prosperity and happiness, whilst so many holy souls are sighing in \vant and misery, we are often tempted to accuse the Providence of God. Why should there not be a day when the divine wisdom will show itself in its full glory and splendor, and where all shall learn that if God sometimes seems to punish or to reward wrongfully here below, it is only to show more clearly His rewards or punishments in eternity? Let us meditate to-day, my brethren, on this fearful truth, and let us review what revelation teaches us, either about the signs preceding this judgment, or about the events that will accompany it, or about the terrible sentence that will follow it. II. And, first, what are the signs that will precede the Last Judg- ment? The Gospel thus names them: ist. There shall be a great weakness of faith, so great that the Son of Man will hardly find believers on earth. The Sacraments shall be abandoned, the Sundays profaned, the churches deserted, luxury and debauchery at their height. This will be the beginning of the end. 2d. The coming of the Anti-Christ, a powerful and impious man who will try to make himself adored as a God, or a monster who, in his infernal hatred against religion, will do all in his power to complete the corruption of men. Persecutions against the Church and against Christ will be so violent that, from the beginning of the world, noth- ing like it will have been seen. The maxims and doctrines of the ON THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 79 Anti-Christ will, nevertheless, be so captious, and he will do s'uch wonderful things and work such prodigies, that the elect themselves would be seduced if God did not send Elias and Enoch to confirm them : For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive, if possi- ble, even the elect (Matt. xxiv. 24). Let us pray, my brethren, that the Lord may not reserve us for this time of seduction and scandal, jd. There shall be wars, famines, pestilence, and earthquakes which will ravage and overthrow all the world. Battlefields will flow with blood; and the famines will be so frightful that mothers will kill their own children and eat their flesh. 4th. Whilst the earth shall be in mourning and consternation, there shall be still more frightful signs in heaven. The sun shall be darkened, the moon shall cover itself with a bloody veil, the stars shall fall from the sky; in a word, all the celestial powers shall be in confusion and disorder. 5th. Finally, when the last moment shall have arrived, God shall wrap the entire world in flames which will consume all in an instant; and, the world having been thus destroyed by fire, He shall send His angels to call all men before His judgment seat. w Go,'* He will tell them, <( minis- ters of my glory, sound your trumpet to the four corners of the earth and to the bottom of the abysses, and announce to all that sleep in the dust that the hour of judgment is come." And at the same moment the angels shall go to the four corners of the earth, and shall sound their trumpets, crying out : Arise, ye dead, and come to the judgment! And immediately the graves shall open, and the earth and the sea shall give forth the bodies that sleep in their bosom since the beginning of time ; and the souls descended from heaven or delivered from the flames of purgatory or come forth from hell, shall be reunited with their bodies ; and thus reunited in soul and body all men shall be assembled before the Sovereign Judge in the valley of Josaphat. Oh ! how terrible shall be those last days, my brethren ! How- can we think of them without being seized with fright and terror? You, especially, sinners that listen to me here, do you think of them, do you believe in them? But let us continue, for this is only the beginning of the great day of divine justice. HI. When all men, obedient to the voice of the angels, shall be assembled for this solemn judgment, the cross of Jesus will appear in the sky more brilliant than the sun, and Jesus Himself, accompanied by the entire celestial court and surrounded with glory and majesty. g FIRST PART. XV. INSTRUCTION will come and sit on His throne in the midst of that numberless crowd awaiting the judgment which shall settle their lot forever. He will begin by commanding the angels to separate the good from the bad, as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep, placing the good at His right hand and the wicked at His left, according as the glorious or frightful appearance of their bodies shall signify whether they are of the number of the elect or of the damned ; and then Jesus will proceed with the judgment. And here, my brethren, you must not imagine that the discussion will be a long one. Jesus needs only to open the book of life and death in which are inscribed, day by day, and hour by hour, all our actions, all our words, and even all our thoughts, good and bad. He will lay this great book before our eyes, and there we shall see, in an instant, all the evil we have done and all the good we omitted. This book will be like a vast looking-glass in which the Son of Justice will show us, in a twinkling of an eye (I. Cor. xv. 52), all our vices and all our virtues. And, besides, we shall read not only our own sins, but we shall read therein, also, those of others ; you shall see mine, as I shall see yours ; parents shall see the sins of their children, and children shall see the sins of their parents; we shall see the sins of all men: Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur unde mundus judicetur. What confusion for those hypocrites who had taken such great care to hide their shame and their sins, even from the ears of a charitable confessor. In this book of life, which will be written in fiery letters, we shall see all that has not been effaced through penance ; all, even the most secret thoughts and affections : For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed (Matt. x. 26) ; all, even the evil which we ourselves have not committed, but which we caused others to commit, or which we did not hinder them from committing when we could have done so ; all, even the good which we should have done and which we omitted to do, or which we did badly. What a severe account we shall have to render at this last day ! Do you think of this, you sinners, who live for so long a time in the filth of vice? Do you think of this, you lukewarm and indifferent souls, who do nothing, absolutely nothing, for heaven? Perhaps we might feel assured, if on that day we could find some one to take up our defense. But what shall we say before a Judge who has seen and heard everything, and what excuse can we give for the crimes we have committed by desire? ON THE GENERAL JUDGMENT gl My brethren, it will not be with God's tribunal as with the tribu- nals of men. There will be no need of any accuser, of any witness; our own conscience shall be the accuser, and crushed under the weight of evidence, we shall be the first to condemn ourselves. IV. The sins of all men being revealed before the whole world, the Sovereign Judge will rise from His throne, and turning to those at His right, will say to them in a tone of ineffable goodness : Come, ye blessed of my Father, come, my friends; you have carried my cross upon this earth of exile and pilgrimage long enough; come and possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the -world (Matt. xxv. 34). You holy apostles, illustrious martyrs, zealous confessors, pure virgins, come and enjoy the reward which you have merited by your virtues. Then turning to those at His left, He will say to them with a voice full of indignation and wrath : Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire (Matt. xxv. 41). You have denied My authority, you have trodden under foot My commandments, you have abused My graces. It was in vain that I came upon earth to show you the way of salvation ; it was in vain that I sent you zealous ministers to remind you of your duties ; it was in vain that I fur- nished to you all the possible means to come to Me. You have despised all, you wished to listen only to your passions, even at the hour of death you remained plunged in a guilty indifference, or you have even continued to hate and to blaspheme Me. Depart from Me, you cursed, to receive in hell the just punishment of your crimes. And, at the same time, the elect of the Lord, shall rise with Him into heaven to enjoy forever its ineffable delights ; and the wicked shall fall into the eternal abyss of hell, never more to leave it. V. This, my brethren, according to the Scripture is what will pass on the great day of judgment. These are the circumstances attending the second coming of Jesus Christ upon earth ; day of wrath and of vengeance for sinners, but day of joy and triumph for the just, -terri- ble and frightful day for the one, day of unspeakable consolation for the o.ther! When shall this great day come? Ah! my brethren, we do not know, because Jesus was not pleased to make it known to us, but it is certain that it will come and that it will come, perhaps, even sooner than we think. At least, when we see so little faith upon earth to-day, when we see the disorders and unheard scandals of every day, the persecution of the Church, the overthrow of empires and kingdoms, the bloody wars which tear nations asunder, the 6 82 FIRST PART. XVI. INSTRUCTION subversive doctrines which undermine society, and hear the rumbling of that storm which threatens to sweep away all society, we might be tempted to believe that we are even now near the end of the world. However this may be, the end of the world arrives every day for many; death may surprise us at any moment, and our deathbed will be the first tribunal where we shall be judged. Suppose that this judgment should take place for us at the present hour, would we be prepared to undergo it? On what side would our conscience place us at this moment? Would it be on the right, or on the left? Ah! the judgment of God is so severe and so dreadful ; if we have to render an account of everything, even of an idle word ; if, according to the language of faith, the great Judge sees spots even in the sun; if He judges even justice itself, what have we not to fear, we miserable sin- ners, who swallow iniquity like water, and whose crimes surpass, perhaps, the number of hairs on our heads! Let us tremble at the thought of this judgment. The greatest saints have done this. St. Jerome tells us that he always seemed to hear the trumpet calling the dead from their graves. St. Gregory of Nazianzen and St. Chry- sostom often shed tears in thinking of the last day. St. Agathon, shortly before his death, passed three days immovable with fright and stupor ; and when he was asked, after having recovered his senses, why he was so much afraid, <( Ah ! w he said, <( I have assisted at the judgment of God, and oh, how different are his judgments from those of men ! * Let us think often of the last judgment, my brethren ! Let us prepare for it, and for this purpose let us commence by' judging ourselves severely, and by placing ourselves now in the state in which we should like to be found at death. XVI. INSTRUCTION EIGHTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED / Believe in the Holy Ghost IN THIS instruction we have three things to explain : what the Holy Ghost is in Himself, what He is with regard to us, what we should do in order to draw Him down upon us and to preserve ON THE HOLY GHOST 83 Him in our souls. Important subjects which will demand our full attention. I. Faith teaches that there is a Holy Ghost. The Holy Scriptures make mention thereof, so to say, on every page. He it was, accord- ing to the account of Moses, who in the days of creation moved over the waters and covered them, in some sort, by His shadow, in order to give them fruitfulness; it was He who spoke with the ancient pa- triarchs Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and led and upheld their steps in the painful exile of this life ; through His inspiration Moses and all the great men who came after him governed the people of God with so much wisdom ; it was under His dictation that all the prophets wrote. On opening the New Testament, we read that it was the Holy Ghost who formed the body of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary; that he descended in the form of a dove upon our divine Savior at His baptism, and upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Our Lord often spoke of Him, and promised to send Him upon earth, in order not to leave His apostles orphans, after His own ascension into heaven. The existence of the Holy Ghost is, therefore, an incontestible truth, and the apostles have inserted it in the Creed as one of the fundamental truths which we must believe : / believe in the Holy Ghost. But who is the Holy Ghost? He is the third person of the Holy Trinity, truly existing, and really distinct from the Father and the Son. By the word person we understand an individual substance which wills, speaks, acts, thinks, and reasons. Now, do we not see in the sacred books that the Holy Ghost is endowed with intelligence and will, that He speaks, enlightens, teaches, and that He is even the principle and the source of all light, of all consolation, and of all truth? Do not those words, alone, of our Lord to His disciples, on the point of leaving them : My Father will send you another Para- clete (John xvi. 16), point out a person, a Consoler really distinct from the Son, who announces Him, and from the Father, who is to send Him? The Holy Ghost is, therefore, really a divine person, and not a simple attribute of the divinity, as certain heretics have pretended ; and this person is really distinct from the Father and the Son, as these latter are distinct from each other. 8 4 FIRST PART. XVI. INSTRUCTION The Holy Ghost is God like the Father and the Son; this has been the constant belief of the Church. He partakes of all the perfections of both Father and Son. The Father and Son are eternal, and the Holy Ghost is also eternal. The Father and Son are almighty, it is the same with the Holy Ghost. There is nothing unequal, nothing inferior in these three adorable persons. All three are equally infinite in perfections, in elevation, and in authority. When we call the Holy Ghost the third person, it is only on account of His origin, as we will explain further on. This is why we render to the Holy Ghost the same homage and adoration that we pay to the Father and the Son : Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The rea- son is, that these three persons, although distinct from one another, form, nevertheless, one and the same God, because all three have together one and the same divinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God, but they are always one and the same God. There are three 'who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (John v. 7). As we have explained, my brethren, in speaking of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Father begot His Son in contemplating Him- self, and the Father and the Son produced the Holy Ghost in loving each other; so that the Holy Ghost is nothing but the consubstantial love of the Father and the Son, just as the Son is nothing but the Word, the thought or consubstantial contemplation of the Father. And this is what constitutes the most essential difference between the three adorable persons; for the Father who begets is not begotten, the Son who is begotten does not beget, and the Holy Ghost who is not be- gotten, but who is produced, does neither beget nor produce. Great and sublime truths! We cannot, undoubtedly, comprehend them, for God, alone, can comprehend Himself, but we must believe them such, because God has so revealed to us. II. What are the graces which the Holy Ghost brings to our souls ? The Catechism tells us that He sanctifies us, and makes us live a spiritual life ; two wonderful effects, two wonderful operations, which it is important for us to understand. i st. The Holy Ghost sanctif.es us, and how? By purifying us from our sins, and by implanting in our hearts that charity which renders us agreeable to God. He purifies us from our sins first by the holy inspirations and by the graces of conversion and of salvation which He grants us; secondly, by the Sacraments to which the remission of ON THE HOLY GHOST 85 sins is attached, such as baptism and penance ; third, by rooting out from our hearts the inclinations of our corrupt nature, and by estab- lishing in them the opposite virtues. When the heart is thus free from the bonds of sin, from all affection for sin, the Holy Ghost en- riches it with His most beautiful and magnificent gift, sanctifying grace. This grace clothes our souls with a ravishing beauty and renders them agreeable to God, and gives them a right to the celestial inheritance. By it the Holy Ghost comes to reside in us, to establish His kingdom in our hearts, and to pour out His gifts on us. It is thus that the Holy Ghost sanctifies us, and that is the reason why He is called the Spirit of Sanctification. It is from Him that all holiness and all virtue derive their source ; it was He who made the martyrs, the confessors, and the virgins. If there are still upon earth holy souls who, by their piety and good works, preserve the world from the scourges of the celestial wrath, it is only through the grace of co- operation of the Holy Ghost. 2d. Not only does the Holy Ghost sanctify us, but He makes us live a spiritual life, and maintains us in virtue through the graces He grants us. These graces, or special favors, we call the gifts of the Holy Ghost. They are seven in number, namely : The gift of wis- dom, which makes us prefer God and the things of God ; the gift of intelligence, which makes us know and believe the truths of salva- tion ; the gift of counsel, which shows us the way to heaven, and guides us in our progress ; the gift of science, which teaches us to distinguish good from evil, and gives correct ideas of the grandeur of God ; the gift of strength, which fills us with courage and energy to resist sin and to overcome the obstacles which stand in the way of our salvation ; the gift of piety, which moves us to fulfill cheerfully and with a religious spirit, our duties towards God, towards our neighbor, and towards ourselves ; and, finally, the gift of fear, \vhich imprints in our souls a great respect for God's majesty and a holy fear of His judgments. III. These were the wonderful gifts which the apostles received in so brilliant and striking a manner on the day of Pentecost. The Acts of the Apostles have preserved to us the account of this remark- able event. It was on the tenth day when the Apostles had been shut up in the Cenacle, with the Blessed Virgin and the disciples, ac- cording to the order the Lord had given them, that suddenly a great noise was heard, like that of a violent wind, which filled the whole 86 FIRST PART. XVI. INSTRUCTION house, and they saw fiery tongues which divided themselves and sat on each of them. This violent wind was a token of the presence of the Deity, as it had mainfested itself on Mount Sinai, amid thunder and lightning. The fiery tongues symbolized the effects which the Holy Ghost should produce in the Apostles ; for the Holy Ghost is like a luminous and ardent fire that enlightens the spirit and enkindles the heart. Indeed, the apostles had hardly received the Holy Ghost under the different emblems, when they began to speak in many languages, so that the various peoples assembled on this day at Jerusalem from all parts of the world to celebrate the Pentecost, understood them per- fectly, and in their astonishment cried out : Behold, are not all these that speak, Galileans? And hoiv have ive heard every man our oivn tongue 'wherein ive are born? (Acts n. 7, 8, 12.) The gift of tongues was not the only effect which the Holy Ghost produced in the Apostles. Until now they had been so simple and ignorant, that they could not understand the doctrine of their Divine Master. But hardly had they been enlightened by the Holy Ghost, when they found themselves enriched with the most sublime knowl- edge, and instructed in the most profound mysteries. In an instant they had learned infinitely more than the philosophers and the learned men of antiquity had during centuries. And this was not all. On that memorable day the Holy Ghost filled them with such strength and courage that, whilst before even St. Peter was so \veak and timid that he trembled at the voice of a servant, henceforth nothing could hinder them from proclaiming their faith everywhere, even before the most cruel tyrants; and in spite of threats and the fear of the most terrible torments, they preached Jesus crucified. IV. The Holy Ghost produces these wonderful effects in us as in the apostles, if we are well disposed to receive Him; not, indeed, with the same brilliancy and the same abundance, because we have not the same mission to fulfill, but in each according to the measure of his wants. Is it necessary to tell you what need we all have of the assistance and gifts of the Holy Ghost? Without Him we would be nothing but ignorance and corruption. Without His lights we would not know what God is, and what we ourselves are, or what will become of us. We would not know the truths we should believe, and the duties we should practice. Without the help of His grace, inclined ON THE HOLY GHOST 87 to evil as we are, we could neither avoid sin, nor efface it from our soul, if we had the misfortune to commit it. We could not even have a thought meritorious for salvation. But what should we do to draw down upon us this divine Spirit? Three things are necessary: The first is to be recollected. The Holy Ghost never communicates with souls that live in noise and dissipation : The Lord is not in the wind (III. Ki. xix. n). This is why the Apostles, when they wished to prepare themselves to receive Him, retired into the Cenacle, where they remained shut up during ten days. It is for this reason that every day we see pious souls separating themselves from the world, burying themselves in retreat in order to occupy themselves solely with God and with their salvation. Undoubtedly, these are examples which you cannot generally imitate in your state of life. But if you cannot leave the world, can you not, at least, avoid its distracting entertainments? Can you not, from time to time, forget your affairs and your pursuits? Can you not at times separate yourselves from the world in spirit and heart? The second disposition is prayer. Although the Holy Ghost knows our miseries and needs, He wants us to confide them to Him ; such is the order of Providence, and God ordinarily grants His graces only to those that ask for them. Look at the Apostles in the Cenacle ! What prayers, what sighs to draw down upon them the divine spirit who should be to them a father, a master, a liberator, and protector; who should enlighten them, and give them all the strength necessary to fulfill the mission with \vhich they -were charged! My brethren, every time you stand in need of particular graces, for example, in preparation for the Sacraments, or in the choice of a state of life, and in many other circumstances, pray to the Holy Ghost to come down in your souls, in order to enlighten you and to strengthen you. Remember that prayer is ordinarily the necessary condition to draw down upon us the Holy Ghost. The prayers And thou august and holy Pontiff, who sittest on the imperishable chair of Rome, thou art the head of the whole Church, the successor of Peter, the vicar of Jesus Christ, the father of all the faithful, thou who since many years hadst to bear so many attacks, who hadst to wrestle against the combined efforts of heresy, schism, and impiety ; thou who, like an immovable rock in the midst of raging waves, hast triumphed thus far over all the storms and all the tempests that have assailed thee ; permit us, the least and humblest of thy children, to pay thee our homage of profound veneration and devotedness. Ah ! we know that great tribulations agitate thy soul ; but what consoles us and removes our fears is that thou art Peter, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee. Amen. I0 8 FIRST PART. XXI. INSTRUCTION XXI. INSTRUCTION NINTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Confd) On the Church I. ACCORDING to all that has been said in the preceding instruc- tions, the Roman Church is the true, and the only true, Church. Thus, when we speak of the Church in the United States, in France, in Spain or Italy, we do not mean to say that these are so many differ- ent churches. Under these various names we designate simply the particular churches, which are portions of the true Church, because they are united to one another by the bonds of the same faith, and by the submission to the same lawful pastors. So, also, when we make mention of the militant church, the suffer- ing church, or the triumphant church, we always mean to speak of the same Church, but considered in three different states. When we speak of the Church upon earth, we call it the militant Church, on account of the attacks which the faithful have to withstand ; when we speak of the Church in purgatory, we call it the suffering Church, on account of the torments which these souls have to endure that have not entirely satis- fied the justice of God; and when we speak of the Church in heaven, we call it the triumphant Church, on account of the joys and triumphs of the saints. All this means that among the members of the Church, there are some in heaven, others upon earth, and others in purgatory, but they are all brethren, forming together only one and the same Church. II. From this fundamental truth that the Roman Catholic Church is the true Church, and the only true Church, we may derive important consequences. The first is, the impossibility of working out one's salvation outside the Church. In fact, no one can be saved without living the life of Jesus Christ ; that is, without believing and practic- ing all that He teaches us ; and no one can live the life of Jesus Christ who does not belong to the true Church. Whoever is not of the true Church of Christ is like a branch cut off from the vine, and good for nothing but to cast into the fire. The Church is that ark of Noah outside of which none could escape the Deluge. This is what our Saviour Himself teaches us when He says that if anyone -will not hear ON THE CHURCH IO9 the Church, he must be looked upon as a heathen and a publican (Matt, xvin. 17). Those who are outside the way of salvation are : ist. All those that have not received baptism, such as Pagans, Jews, Mohammedans ; 2d. Apostates, who abjure Christianity, and who are worse than infidels ; 3d. Heretics who refuse to believe one or more truths of faith and whom the Church has anathematized ; 4th. Schismatics, who do not wish to acknowledge the authority of the lawful pastors; 5th. Fi- nally, excommunicated persons whom the Church has cut off from her society. These different classes being outside the fold of Jesus Christ, can have no part in His rewards, which He has promised only to His dis- ciples. However, the Church rejects only those of her rebellious children who remain obstinate in their revolt, or who are in bad faith, and who do not wish to abandon their errors, although they know they are in the wrong. But as to those who are not yet of an age to rec- ognize their error, or who sincerely believe themselves to be in the bosom of the true Church, although they are not, we may say that their good faith will save them. As to those who have not received baptism, such as infidels, Jews, and pagans, the difficulty is greater, because our Lord has said that unless a man be born again of 'water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John in. 5). However, as the baptism of desire is sufficient, when the baptism of water cannot be received, if a person faithfully observes the natural law, and has the intention to do all that is necessary for salvation, such a one would be held to have at least the implicit desire of bap- tism, and perhaps it would be possible, as such pious and learned authors as St. Liguori, the Cardinal of La Luzerne, and the Abbe Frayssinous teach, that the gates of heaven will be opened to them. In any case, such persons \vould be in the same state as those who lived before the preaching of the Gospel, and if they lead pure and innocent lives, God, in His mercy, will find a hundred means to call them to the knowledge of the truth. Be it as it may, my brethren, let us thank the Lord for having caused us to be born in the bosom of the true Church, for having placed us, from our infancy, in the mystic ark where salvation is so easy. Let us pray to Him to spread more and more upon the earth the light of the Gospel, and let us join, if possible, the Society for the IIO FIRST PART. XXI. INSTRUCTION Propagation of the Faith, that most excellent work of our time, in order to do what we can, that all those peoples who still sleep in the darkness of error, may come to know the way of truth. III. The second consequence is that the Church must have four other qualities, not less essential than the marks of which we spoke before, namely : visibility, infallibility, supreme authority, and perpe- tuity. If the Church were not visible, the faithful could not know where it is; if it were not infallible, it might lead us into error; if it had no supreme authority, it could not impose laws upon us and there would be in her bosom neither order nor discipline; if it were not perpetual, there would come a time when persons could no longer be saved. The Roman Church possesses, in an eminent degree, these four prerogatives, ist. She is -visible, because she has a visible head in our Holy Father the Pope, visible ministers in the bishops and priests. 2d. She is infallible, for our Lord has given to her this privilege of infallibility, when He established her the pillar and ground of truth (Tim. in. 15) ; and when He said, speaking to the apostles, and to their successors in the person of the apostles : Go, and teach all nations. . . . Behold I am -with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matt, xxvin. 20). In fact, where Jesus Christ is, there is the truth, the very essence of truth and there can be no error. But to understand this well, we must distinguish between the hearing Church and the teaching Church. The hearing Church is composed of all the faithful who hear and believe what the Church teaches ; and the teaching Church comprises all the bishops, with the holy Father, the Pope, at their head. To the bishops, col- lectively, with the Pope at their head, and to the Pope, individually, Christ gave infallibility. The bishops enjoy this privilege, either when they are assembled in an Ecumenical Council, or when they re- main dispersed all over the world, but judge dogmatically, and accord- ing to canonical rules. When the Church has thus pronounced a decision and when she has declared anathema against all those who dare to maintain the contrary of what she teaches, we would sin grievously if we were to deny the truths which she has defined, and we would be heretics if we would obstinately continue in our denial. We have said that infallibility was granted to the Church collect- ively, that is, to all the bishops, with the Pope at their head, and individually to the Pope alone. The Pope is the successor of St. ON THE CHURCH III Peter. Now, our Blessed Lord conferred upon St. Peter personally and independently the authority of infallible teaching, which He had just given to all the apostles dependently on and subordinately to St. Peter! At the Last Supper Jesus singled out St. Peter from the other apostles, and addressed him thus: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But / have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren (Luke xxn. 3132). St. Peter was thus made personally infallible in his teaching as head of the Church, for, if he himself were capable of erring, he could not confirm his brethren in the faith. The fact that our Saviour gave St. Peter, personally and independ- ently, the power of teaching infallibly, is the foundation of what was always held in the Catholic Church as her general and approved teaching. When the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and the successor of St. Peter publishes any decree in matters of faith or morals, that is, when teaching ex Cathedra, he is infallible. This doctrine, though dragged into controversy, as far back as the fifteenth century, was not solemnly defined until 1870 in the Vatican Council. It is quite different, my brethren, with the doctrine of Protestant- ism, which, by its principle of free interpretation, gives every one the right to discuss the Scriptures and to believe only what seems good to him. But what has been the consequence? Protestantism, in the same measure as it developed itself, became divided into numberless sects, each accusing and combatting the other, so that to-day we cannot find two among them that have the same belief. This is another proof that the Holy Ghost does not reside with them, and that, consequently, their religion is false. These endless dissensions and continual differences in the bosom of Protestantism show us the neces- sity of an infallible authority to regulate the faith and settle our minds. Either there is no Church at all, or it must have an absolutely in- fallible authority, for without this authority it could not form a body and preserve the unity necessary to it. 3d. The Church has supreme authority for the government of con- sciences. Our Lord clothed her with this power when He said to His apostles, as He had said to St. Peter in particular : Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven; and 'whatsoever vou shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt, xvni. 18). And again when He said: He that heareth you heareth II2 FIRST PART. XXI. INSTRUCTION me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me (Luke x. 16). And, finally, when He declared that he who does not hear the Church should be regarded as a heathen and a publican (Matt. xvm. 17). Jesus Christ gave to His Church His own authority ; and, conse- quently, to disobey her would be to disobey Jesus Christ Himself. Whence it follows that the commandments which the Church imposes upon us, such as those of fast and abstinence, of annual confes- sion and of Easter communion, are as binding upon us as the com- mandments of God. To transgress them in a grievous matter would be to incur damnation ; and there is even, in certain cases, the pain of excommunication for those who refuse to acknowledge this. 4th. Finally, the Roman Church will last until the end of the world. Our divine Saviour made this magnificent promise when He said that it ivas built upon a rock, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it (Matt. xv. 18). According to the language of the Scriptures, the gates of hell signify the infernal powers, and the mal- ice and impiety of men inspired by the devil, who will always be powerless in his attacks against the Church. Christ gave to His Church a new assurance of perpetuity, when, before ascending into heaven, He solemnly declared that He would be with her until the end of the world. Indeed, how could our Lord be with His Church if this Church should cease to exist? Besides, my brethren, an assured pledge of this promise, and a striking proof that the Church will not perish, is the fact that she has existed nearly nineteen hundred years. We have a right to conclude that she will exist to the end of time. If the Church could perish, then certainly she would have perished long ago. Indeed, what attacks had not the Church to withstand, and to what trials has she not been subject from the beginning down to our own days! During the first three centuries, the entire pagan world waged a bloody war against her and tried to crush her by every imaginable means. We cannot read the history of so many thousands of martyrs without shuddering with terror, and without being roused to indignation against the tyrants of this epoch, who exhausted everything that the evil spirit could invent, and employed the most barbarous and atrocious torments in order to make the Christians abjure their faith. But as the rage and fury of the tyrants redoubled, the number of the faithful increased. When persecutions ceased, heresies and schisms arose. Enemies appeared in the very bosom of the Church, and ON THE CHURCH II3 Arians, Nestorians, Pelagians, Protestants, Jansenists, and many other heresies followed one another from century to century, and attacked one after another the dogmas of the Catholic faith. In modern times, my brethren, what has not an infidel French philo- sophical school done, what efforts were not made by Voltaire, by Rousseau, and so many others, to destroy not only the Church, but the entire Christian religion! What treacherous sophisms, what sarcasms, what detestable insults! What contempt thrown on the dogmas and the practice of faith! Finally, what did not that great French Revolution do, nearly a hundred years ago, the fruit of the pernicious doctrines of an infidel philosophy! Everywhere in France altars were overthrown, the churches closed, and streets ran with the blood of the priests, bishops, and nobles of the country. If the Church had not been maintained by some divine power, it would have perished hundreds of times amid such terrible trials and dreadful persecutions of every kind. But the hand of God was there, and the raging waves broke against this immovable rock. Thrones have tottered and fallen, civil constitutions have been destroyed, and society itself nearly perished, but the Church, though attacked on every side, has come forth triumphant from the combat, as a victorious soldier, all covered with blood, comes forth from a battlefield. The impiety of some and the barbarity of others have only added to the vigor of the Church and served to render her more resplendent and beautiful. Every day she makes new conquests. Bulgaria has just been converted and has reentered the bosom of unity ; England seems to stretch forth its arms towards the Church ; China has opened her ports to Catholic missionaries, and in these United States the Church has made immense progress during the last hundred years. But what has been the lot of the enemies of the Church, of those who sought to destroy her ? Read their history. What a spectacle ! What has become of the synagogue which tried to smother the rising Church in her cradle? It is gone, and those infamous tyrants who tried to crush her in her growth, they are dead and their empire is destroyed. And those great heresiarchs, Arius, Pelagius, Nestorius, and so many others? They are dead, and the doctrines and sects which bore their names are only a memory. And what of Protestant- ism ? It is split into numberless sects which separate themselves more and more from the doctrines of their founders, and are lost at last in absolute negation of all the truths of the Gospel. And those impious 8 II4 FIRST PART. XXI. INSTRUCTION philosophers of the last century? They have passed like a torrent which leaves only ruins behind it, and their memory has fallen into contempt. But the Church cannot die. She is always erect. She is the tree which strikes its roots deeper the older it grows and which acquires new force to resist the fury of the wind and storm. Ah ! indeed, the Church, or the light of faith may cease to shine in a country ! It has abandoned Africa, it has abandoned England, and may abandon any country which continues to abuse its light and graces ; but if the Church leaves one place, it is only to establish itself elsewhere, and its losses will always be compensated by new conquests. The Church will always live, until the time shall arrive when its mission will be accomplished, when the earth will be destroyed, and when eternity will commence. Let us deem ourselves happy, my brethren, to be born in the bosom of the true Church where salvation is so easy, whilst so many thousands have such great difficulties to overcome, and are in danger of being lost forever, because the light of the Gospel is unknown to them. But let us not limit ourselves to a cold and sterile thankful- ness. (< Noblesse oblige, w as we say in things of the world; with much more reason faith puts us under obligations. Since the Church is our mother, since she has brought us forth to Jesus Christ, and since she alone can lead us to Him, let us attach ourselves to her, let us follow her maxims, let us obey her precepts. But this is not yet enough. We must also labor to spread her glory, and to make her loved and respected by all, as a good son should act towards his mother. In this manner, we shall share in her blessings and favors here upon earth, and in heaven have a share in her joys and triumphs. Amen. ON THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS ,j,j XXII. INSTRUCTION NINTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED ( Concluded) On the Communion of Saints AFTER having explained to you what the Church is, under what conditions one can be a member of the Church, by what marks it can be distinguished from heretical and schismatical sects, and after hav- ing enumerated the various privileges with which its divine founder has endowed it, it remains for me to speak of its riches, its treasury of grace, and of the manner in which it communicates them to us that is, of the Communion of Saints. I. What do we understand by the Communion of Saints? We understand two things : ist. The union which exists among the Saints themselves. 2d. Their participation in the spiritual goods of the Church. We do not speak here of the Communion which we receive at the holy table, and which constitutes only a part of the treasures of the Church, but we speak of the treasure of the Church in general, of the share each member of the Church enjoys, and of the ties which unite the members to one another. But who are the saints of which the Creed speaks ? Is it the saints who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, or the holy souls who live upon earth? No, my brethren, we mean all the faithful who are members of the Church, whether they be holy, or whether they be sinners. They are all called saints, because the apostles called all the faithful saints, in the Epistles which they wrote to the different churches. At the head of their Epistles they wrote : To the Saints of the Church of Rome; To the Saints of Corinth; To the Saints of Ephcsus, etc. In the first centuries there were almost as many saints as faithful. Moreover, we all have been sanctified by baptism, and we all are called to holiness. We do not speak here only of the faithful upon earth, but also of all those who are in purgatory or in heaven ; for the triumphant Church, the suffering Church, and the militant Church, all form one and the same Church, and all the mem- bers form' only one and the same mystical body, whose head is Jesus Christ. II. How are the saints, that is, all the faithful on earth, in purga- tory, and in heaven, united to one another? They are all members n6 FIRST PART. XXII. INSTRUCTION of the same Body, the Church ; children of the same father, Jesus Christ; and heirs of the same heavenly kingdom. The faithful living upon earth, be they just or be they sinners, are united to one another by partaking of the same sacraments and by the submission to the same pastors. And if they are all in the state of sanctifying grace, they are also united by the interior ties of faith, hope, and charity, the same bonds that unite the holy souls in purga- tory. But the bond of charity alone unites them to the saints in heaven, for, in the bosom of God, there is no longer any faith or hope, since the saints in heaven see and enjoy the God in whom, on earth, they believed and hoped. III. It follows from this intimate union which exists among the faithful on earth, that all the spiritual goods of the Church are com- mon to them, and they all share in them, each according to his state. The comparison of the human body will make this clear. In the human body no member exists and labors for itself alone, but all work to assist one another, and the good of each is the good of all the others. Thus, the eye does not see for itself alone, but serves to direct the hands and the feet ; the feet move for the good of the whole body, and the stomach digests for the nourishment and support of all the mem- bers. Such is the harmony which reigns in the whole body of the Church. The prayers and other good works of each one do not profit him alone, but contribute to the good of all the faithful. Thus, when I pray it is not only for myself that I pray, but for the whole Church. When I do penance, or when I give alms, it is for the whole Church that I do it ; each member of the Church has a share in the good work according to his dispositions, as I myself have a share in all the prayers and good works of all the faithful. But to explain this difficult matter more clearly, we must distin- guish two kinds of spiritual goods in the treasury of the Church; the general, or the external goods, and the particular, or internal goods. The general goods are the sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, the preaching of the word of God, the offices of the Church, burial, and other religious ceremonies. The particular goods are the prayers, fasts, alms, mortifications, and other good works of each one in par- ticular, and the indulgences which each individual gains. As to the general and exterior goods, only those that belong to the body of the Church can partake of them. Apostates, heretics, schis- matics, and excommunicated persons have no share in the general ON THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS 117 treasures of the Church. We call apostates, or renegades, those who leave the Catholic faith to embrace a false religion. Heretics are those who join a religion condemned by the Church. Schismatics are those who refuse to submit to their lawful pastors, and who, without altering the faith, form a separate society. Excommunicated are those persons whom the Church has cut off from her communion in punishment for some crime. Such rebellious and unnatural children can no longer be admitted to the Sacraments, nor in Catholic coun- tries can they assist at the offices of the Church, nor receive Chris- tian burial. As to the faithful who still belong to the Church by exterior bonds, but who are in a state of mortal sin, they can still share in these gen- eral goods of the Church. They may, therefore, assist at the offices of the Church, listen to the word of God, and receive the Christian burial, except in certain cases provided by the sacred canons, such as suicide, or death in the act of crime. They can even be admitted to the Sacraments, but only after a good and sincere penance ; and the Church, always a good and tender mother, never ceases to exhort them to penance. But the faithful who are in the state of mortal sin, although en- joying a share in the external goods of the Church, can have no share in the particular goods of the Church, such as the prayers, alms, pen- ance, and indulgences of the faithful. Being dead to grace, they are like paralyzed members which partake no longer of the life of the body, or like a dry branch through which the sap of the tree no longer circulates. But pious souls can pray for those in mortal sin, and obtain for them the grace of conversion. Only those who are in the state of grace can have part in all the interior goods of the Church. If we are in the state of sanctifying grace, there is not a prayer, not a fast nor an alms-deed, not a Mass without our having a large share in the work. All this contributes to our sanctification and assists us to acquire greater merits. What a consolation, my brethren, for a faith- ful soul to know that he partakes in all the Masses which are said every day, and in all the churches of the world, and in all the good works, in all the. mortifications that are practiced ! What a powerful motive for us to persevere in virtue and grace, if we have the happi- ness to be in that state, and what an incentive to regain the state of grace as soon as possible, if we have had the misfortune to fall into mortal sin ! Hg FIRST PART. XXII. INSTRUCTION IV. What a source of consolation it is, my brethren, to know that the Communion of Saints unites us with the saints in heaven and with the holy souls in purgatory ! The saints in heaven who already en- joy the eternal happiness have no need of our prayers and good works. They have finished the race, they have received their reward, and there remains nothing for them to desire. But we can praise their virtues, celebrate their triumphs, and beg their intercession. Although they have no need of us, we have need of them, and faith teaches us that they are always ready to help us, and that they enjoy great credit with God. Hence the practice of invoking the protection of the saints in public calamities as well as in particular necessities. The souls in purgatory can help us but little, according to the common opinion of the Doctors of the Church. Shut up in their fiery prison, their time of merit is past. They can do nothing for them- selves and nothing for us. But what they cannot do, we can do, and it devolves upon us to relieve them, and even to deliver them, by our prayers and good works. As the saints who are in heaven can assist us by their prayers, so, also, we can contribute to the deliverance to these unfortunate souls, not only by our prayers, but also by our mor- tifications, fasts, alms, indulgences, and, especially, by the application of the holy sacrifice of the Mass. My brethren, a day will come when these holy souls, powerless now, can be infinitely useful to us; for once admitted into heaven, they will remember those who remembered them, and they will repay a hundredfold all that we have done for them. We give thee thanks, O God, because, by a particular favor, thou hast made us members of this holy society ! How beautiful and con- soling is the faith of our Church ! But let not this faith remain barren in our souls; and since it teaches us that the state of grace is necessary in order that we may share in the prayers and good works of the faithful, let us try to be always in a state of grace ; let us redouble our zeal and fervor for the relief of our brethren who are in purgatory and who claim our help, and let us invoke the assistance of those other brethren who have finished their earthly pilgrimage, and who have gained the celestial inheritance, in order that they may assist us also to merit eternal glory. Amen. ON THE REMISSION OF SINS XI p XXIII. INSTRUCTION TENTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED The Forgiveness of Sins JUST as the doctrine of the Communion of Saints consoles the Christian who lives by faith, so does the dogma of the remission of sins. We are sinners from our birth, and what would become of us if God's justice were inexorable, and if, after having once incurred His wrath, there should be no means left to reconcile ourselves with Him? But God is goodness itself. He did not create us to be lost; and so, foreseeing our weakness and frailty, He gave His Church the power to remit sins. And He even made the power of forgiveness of sins an article of faith, so that neither the number, nor the enormity of our crimes, might ever discourage us. I. Only God has the power of forgiving sins, because only the one against whom the offense is committed can forgive it. This is why the Pharisees were scandalized when they heard the Saviour say to the paralytic : Thy sins are forgiven thee. They murmured loudly against Him, saying: Who can forgive sins but God alone ? But our Lord confounded them instantly : That you may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, . . . I say to thee : Arise, take up thy bed and go into thy house (Luke v. 20-24) ; thus proving to them His divinity in the plainest manner, because the divine power is not less necessary for miracles than for sin itself. II. But the one who has the power to forgive sins, can undoubt- edly commit it to others; and this is what our divine Saviour did when He said to His apostles: Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt. xvm. 18). And this power, to bind and to loose, is nothing else than the power to forgive or to retain sins. Our Lord expressed Himself in a still clearer manner, when, on the eve of His ascension, He spoke to His apostles these solemn words: As the father has sent me, I send you; receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven ; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained (John xx. 23). What could be clearer and more precise? But our Saviour did not mean to confer this power upon His apostles only; He wished to grant it also J20 FIRST PART. XXIII. INSTRUCTION to their successors until the end of the world. For the fruit of His death was to remain forever ; the gates of heaven were always to be open to the faithful ; man ought to be always able to say : / believe in the remission of sins. Faith teaches us that the power to judge con- sciences and to remit sins has passed from the apostles to the bishops whom they consecrated, and from the bishops to their lawful suc- cessors, who have communicated it, and communicate it still, to all those whom they ordain to the divine ministry ; and it will be trans- mitted in the same manner to the end of the world. III. Did you ever seriously reflect on this great and ineffable power which God has bestowed upon the priests to remit sins? A simple priest, a mortal man like you, to be invested with the power to, ; say to any sinner, even to the greatest criminal in the world : Go in peace., thy sins are forgiven theef After the power of consecrating the body and blood of Jesus Christ, there is no power on earth greater than this. The priests of the Old Law had, indeed, the power to de- clare the healing of a leper, but they had not the power of curing him. Kings and princes of the earth can act only on the body, but they have no power over the soul. The angels themselves in heaven can- not remit one single venial sin. There is no power upon earth or even in heaven that can be compared to the power of the priest. If you should see a priest go up to a grave and call a dead man to life, you \vould be amazed at the miracle, and justly so. But is it not a more wonderful thing to raise a dead soul to the life of grace, to snatch it from the slavery of the devil, and open to it the gates of heaven? This is what the priest does in the sacrament of penance. Sitting in the tribunal of penance, as a judge on the bench, he decides upon the state of consciences and the salvation of souls ; he pro- nounces sentence, he absolves or retains sins, and whatever he does, God holds as done by Himself, and ratifies the act in heaven. Such is the power which Jesus gave to the priests, such is the pre- eminent dignity with which He has invested them. Is there anything else necessary to render them worthy of all your respect? And re- member that God has not only allowed them to remit slight faults or failings, but all kinds of sins, however numerous and grievous they may be. He wished that there should be no sin that could not be for- given, except final impenitence, or death in sin. This is a sin against the Holy Ghost, of which our Saviour said that it shall not be remitted either in this world, or in the world to come. It cannot be remitted ON THE REMISSION OF SINS I2I in this world, because the sinner refuses repentance until to the very end, and it cannot be remitted in the next world, because after death there is no longer any forgiveness of sin. But it is not less true that in this world God never rejects a contrite and humble heart, and that He has given to His Church the power to remit all sins. Let us bless the Lord, my brethren, for this grace ; and however great our guilt, let us never be discouraged. But let us also be careful not to fall into the contrary excess ; and let not an over-confidence in the goodness of God be a motive of offending Him anew. Woe to us if we are wicked because God is good. His justice is as great as His mercy, and sooner or later He will demand a strict account of such malice and such ingratitude. IV. The sacraments by which the Church remits sins, are baptism and penance. Baptism remits original sin and all the sins one may have committed, after attaining the age of reason. Penance remits the sins committed after baptism. The sacrament of Extreme Unction has also the power of remitting sins in certain cases, as when a sick person is unable to make his confession. But it is, especially, the sacrament of penance that has been insti- tuted for the remission of sin. We shall explain this sacrament in the proper place. However, I cannot let this favorable occasion pass by without saying a few words on the great benefits it procures for us, or without exhorting you often to have recourse to it. We often greatly deceive ourselves in regard to the sacrament of penance. We look upon confession as a thing so hard and so painful, that some evade it altogether, and others make use of it as seldom as possible. And, nevertheless, my brethren, after Holy Communion there is noth- ing more consoling, more useful, and more salutary than confession. Is it, then, a matter of indifference to be enabled, by so simple a means, to obtain pardon of all our sins, to escape eternal damnation which we have incurred, and to regain all our rights to heaven? Moreover, what means is there more efficacious than confession to remind us of our duties, and what bulwark more sure against the raging of our passions! And what peace, what calm, what joy, does confession not procure to the soul ! You feel that a great burden has been raised from off the soul. The words of the priest : Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee, bring you unspeakable happiness. It was this that made Tertullian say that the happiness of a sinner on earth is pen- ance: Poenitentia hominis rei felicitas. Undoubtedly, you have I22 FIRST PART. XXIII. INSTRUCTION experienced this. Were you ever happier and more content than when leaving the tribunal of penance absolved from your sins, after a long course of iniquity and shame ! Every day we priests see examples of the happiness confession procures. Ah ! how many sinners have cast themselves at the feet of the priest with a con- science full of trouble, anxiety, and bitterness, and who have risen so consoled, so happy, that they seemed to carry heaven in their heart ! It is related that a wealthy man, having had the misfortune to com- mit a grievous fault, was so filled with shame that he never had the courage to confess the sin. Having heard some one say that there was no obligation to confess forgotten sins, he tried by every means to lose all remembrance of the sin which caused him so much shame. He indulged in entertainments, in long travels, in serious studies ; he tried everything to ease his conscience ; but all in vain. His sin was always before his eyes ; and as time went on remorse oppressed him all the more. In his despair he resolved to put an end to his life, and he was already on his way to accomplish his purpose. But a kind Providence was watching over him. He met a holy priest, who divined the state of his soul. The holy man spoke to the sinner of confession, he exhorted and encouraged him to penance ; he even went so far as to ask him whether it was not a certain crime, naming the sin, that alarmed him so much. It was the very sin that he had so long concealed. The unfortunate sinner fell at the feet of the holy man, made his confession, opened his heart to him, and received abso- lution. His joy was unbounded, and he said to the holy priest: (< O Father, from how much anguish of mind confession has delivered me ! O, what a serenity, and what a joy a good confession brings to the soul ! V. Since such are the graces and consolations which the sacra- ment of penance procures to us, let us often have recourse to it. And you especially, sinners, who are in a state of spiritual death, removed from God and on the road to hell, why do you neglect so sure and so efficacious a remedy? Do not let false shame or human respect deter you. When there is a question of peace and of the salvation of your soul, can you give way to such a weakness? Do not content your- selves with an annual confession during Easter time ; come often to plunge yourselves into this wholesome bath. This is the duty which you should remember every time you recite the tenth article of the Creed : / believe in the forgiveness of sins. If you believe that the ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY I23 priest has received from Jesus Christ the power to absolve you, is it not criminal negligence not to have recourse to his sacred ministry? In order that it may produce happy fruits in your souls, try to bring to the- sacred tribunal the necessary dispositions I mean that pro- found sorrow for your faults, and that sincere resolution to amend them, without which everything else is useless. You will obtain par- don and mercy, will draw down upon yourselves treasures of graces, and will open to yourselves the gates of eternal life. Amen. XXIV. INSTRUCTION ELEVENTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED / Believe in the Resurrection of the Body I. To RISE again, my brethren, is to come to life again after death. The words : / believe in the resurrection of the body, signify there- fore : I believe that the dead shall rise again. And we say : I believe in the resurrection of the body, and not in the resurrection of man, because man does not die entirely; only his body dies. Thus, by this article we make profession of faith in the immortality of the soul. We profess to believe that the body and soul will be reunited at the last day; and that all the bodies which are moldering in the earth, or buried in the depths of the sea, will gather all the members of which they were composed, will resume their original shape, and be human creatures again as before. This important truth is attested by both the Old and New Tes- tament, as well as by tradition: I know, said the holy man Job, in his afflictions, / know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my Jlesh I shall see my God (Job xix. 25-26). It was by this same faith that the Machabees consoled themselves in the midst of cruel torments which the impious Antiochus caused them to endure. Thou, indeed, O most wicked man, cried out one of them on the point of death, destroyest us out of this wicked life; but I2 4 FIRST PART. XXIV. INSTRUCTION the King of the world -will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life (II. Mach. vn. 9). The hour comet h, says Jesus Christ, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment ( John v. 28). I know, said Martha, that my brother shall rise again in the resur- rection at the last day (John xi. 24). God, says St. Paul (I. Cor. vi. 14), hath raised up the Lord, and will raise us up also by His own power. St. Gregory relates that Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who did not believe in the resurrection of the body, having fallen sick and rinding himself at the point of death, desired to make a public retraction of his error, and in the presence of assistants, he re- peated several times the following words : <( I believe and confess that we all shall rise again in the flesh. I have erred when I said and maintained the contrary. * And after having made this solemn profession of faith, he recommended himself to God and died in peace. II. It is an article of faith that we all shall rise again, and that we shall rise with the same body which we had during life ; with this difference, however, that then we shall no longer be subject to the imperfections we had during life. Thus, after the resurrection, the blind will recover their sight, the crippled will have the use of their members. Our body will be restored in its perfection and its natural integrity. We shall rise again, not in a state of infancy, not in a state of old age, but in a state of perfect manhood, just as Adam came forth from the hands of his Maker. But, according to St. Augustine, the martyrs will rise with the scars of the wounds they received for Christ, and they will be to them a glory and a triumph. When the end of the world shall have come, the angels will sound the trumpet to the four ends of the world, and will call the dead to rise, and to appear before the judgment seat of God. Instantly, obe- dient to the voice of heaven, all the bodies that sleep in the dust shall rise as a man whom one wakes up after a long sleep ; the bowels of the earth and the depths of the seas will give up the bodies of all men ; in an instant all their bones and flesh will be joined together, and the soul of each descended from heaven, or come forth from hell ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY ,35 or purgatory, will be united to the body which it had animated in this world, never more to be separated from it. How can such a wonder take place? Nothing is impossible with God. If with one word He could draw the world and all creatures out of nothing, why should He not be able to draw forth the dead from the graves and restore them to life? You asked me, said St. Paul to the infidels of his time, how do the dead rise again. . . . Sense- less man, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first (I. Cor. xv. 35-36). It is thus that God will raise you to life again whenever He wishes and in the manner He wishes, and it will not be more difficult for Him to gather the different parts of your body at the end of the world, than it was for Him to create the world out of nothing. Do you desire to know the reason why God wishes to raise our body to life again? It is to make it partake of the eternal happiness or unhappiness of which the soul will already be in possession. As upon earth, the body shares after its own manner in all the good the soul does, in all the good works and in all the virtues it practices, it is but just that it should also partake in its rewards. So, also, as it is an accomplice in all the evil that the soul does, and in all its vices, it must also share in its chastisements and torments. III. Therefore, we all shall rise again one day, all, great and small, rich and poor, saints and sinners. In whatever condition Prov- idence permitted us to be born, we shall rise again with the same flesh in which we are clothed, with the same eyes, hands, and members we have now. But shall we rise again in the same manner and in the same state? No, my brethren, as much as the lot of the just and of sinners will be different in eternity, so much will their resurrection be different. The bodies of the just like the body of Jesus Christ risen from the dead, will have four glorious qualities : impassibility, agility, subtility, and brightness. 1. Impassibility. There will be no more of those alterations of sickness and health, of heat or cold, for the bodies of the just ; no more hunger or thirst, no more fatigue, no more corruption, no death; but on the contrary, a continual state of pure pleasure and sweet en- joyment : // shall rise in incorruption (I. Cor. xv. 42). 2 . Agility. Instead of that vulgar mass which we drag along so painfully during the sad days of our mortality, the elect will have a body of extreme agility, that will permit them to transport themselves I2 6 FIRST PART. XXIV. INSTRUCTION from one place to another with the rapidity of lightning and without pain and without effort : // shall rise in power (I. Cor. xv. 43). 3. Subtility. That earthly flesh which now serves us as a cover- ing, will be, in some sort, spiritualized. But it will still be flesh, says St. Augustine, and not a spirit. But in preserving its nature, it will have acquired such properties, that no material obstacle will be able to stop it. It will be able to penetrate the hardest and most compact bodies, without breaking them, just as the light passes through glass. It was thus that our Saviour, after His resurrection, entered the Cen- acle, although the doors were closed : // shall rise a spiritual body (I. Cor. xv. 44). 4. Brightness. The bodies of the just will be brilliant like the sun: Then shall the just shine as the sun (Matt. xm. 43) ; just as the adorable body of Jesus Christ in His transfiguration on Mount Tha- bor. But the splendor of the glorious bodies will be greater or less, according to the degree of their virtues and merits. The sun has his brightness, the moon has hers, and the stars have theirs ; so, also, the bodies of the blessed will differ in brightness according as they are elevated in glory : It shall rise in glory (I. Cor. xv. 43). Such are the ravishing qualities of the bodies of the blessed. But how different will be the bodies of the damned ! While the bodies of the saints will be resplendent with glory and full of agility and power, exempt from all pain and infirmity ; the bodies of the damned, on the contrary, plunged in a dungeon of horror and darkness, over- whelmed with shame and ignominy, will have to suffer unspeakable torments during all eternity. What a subject for reflection ! Consider those youths, once proud of their bodies, who were so careful of their bodily charms, so afraid of spoiling their beauty by a day of fast or by an act of mortification ! Look at the bodies of those who fattened in delights and who lived in effeminacy and pleasures ! O, what a stench ! What a horrible sight ! What hideous monsters ! They enjoyed the false pleasures and the transitory happiness of the world, and now they are deprived forever of the sovereign good and of supreme felicity ! They shunned even the slightest sacrifices, the smallest privations which religion imposes upon us, and now they are condemned to unspeakable humiliations and sufferings, and that forever. IV. We all shall rise again, some to eternal happiness, others to endless suffering. If we are of the number of the elect, what a joy ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY I2? to see ourselves associated with all the blessed, and to enjoy the sight of God, and to celebrate His praises! But if we are of the number of the damned, what a gloomy despair to behold ourselves thrown, body and soul, into the fire of hell for all eternity ! My brethren, what fruits should we derive from this great truth? First, a great zeal in regulating our conduct, so as to keep ourselves always in the state of grace, for fear of being surprised by death. (< I shall rise one day, w we should say to ourselves, w but in what state shall I rise? " If I were to die at this moment, would I join the num- ber of the elect? Or would I be damned? And death may surprise me at any moment. Do we not hear of sudden deaths every day? A second fruit which we should derive from the hope of a future resurrection, is that we have in this truth a great subject of consola- tion in the afflictions of life. Indeed, what can be better calculated to sweeten our pains, and to calm our griefs here below, than that certitude which we have that they will end one day, and that our body, so frail and suffering here on earth, will rise again to enjoy a happiness all the greater the more we will have suffered for Jesus Christ. In all things we suffer tribulations, says St. Paul, but we are not distressed; we are straitened, but we are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but tve are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not. . . . Knowing that He who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus (II. Cor. iv. 8, 14). It was this same thought that upheld the martyrs in their torments, and the anchorites in the wilds of the desert, and which still, every day, upholds and encourages so many just and afflicted souls who would otherwise suc- cumb under the weight of their sufferings. Let us often reflect seriously on the general resurrection. This salutary thought will detach us from the world and its vain pleasures, it will strengthen us against our passions and against the temptations of the world ; it will assist you to practice virtue and the good works which religion commands us, and thus, by making us live the life of Jesus Christ on earth, it will make us partakers of His glory in heaven. Amen. I2 g FIRST PART. XXV. INSTRUCTION XXV. INSTRUCTION TWELFTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED / Relieve in Life Everlasting WE HAVE come to the last article of the Creed, which treats of eternal life. This article is placed the last, because all the others refer to it. God created us, redeemed us, and instituted the sacra- ments and all the other means of salvation, only to lead us to eternal life. Is there a future life? And if there is, what is the nature of this future life? Oh, the folly of men who do not think of a future life! Behold the subject of the instruction for to-day. I. When I speak of a future life, I do not need to tell you that there is question of a life which will succeed the present one and in which God's justice will reward virtue and punish vice. To convince you of the existence of a future life I need only ask the following questions: Is there a God? Fdr if there is a God, He must distin- guish between vice and virtue, between man as a sinner and a saint; He must reward the good and punish the wicked, in proportion to their merits. Where would be the justice of God, where would be His wisdom, if everybody were permitted to live according to his. own caprices; if theft, homicide, and adultery were so many indiffer- ent acts in the sight of God, and if we had to fear neither punishment for our faults, nor reward for our virtues? But do we see any just retribution in this world? On the con- trary, does it not mostly happen that the holiest souls, the most char- itable and the most edifying men, groan under the weight of misery and are oppressed with infirmities, persecutions, and ignomy, whilst the wicked, the impious, and the debauched live in pleasures and abundance, are raised to honors, and enjoy a consideration which they never have merited. Surely it is not in this world that virture is rewarded and vice punished, as they deserve ; and so there must be, therefore, another world where justice is meted out. The evidence of this truth is so apparent that it has been acknowleged at all times and in all nations. * Go back, w says the famous Massillon, w to the begin- ning of the world ; travel over the whole earth ; read the history of kingdoms and empires ; listen to those that come from the remotest ON LIFE EVERLASTING I2 o lands ; the immortality of the soul, the dogma of a future life has always been, as it is still, the belief of all the nations of the earth. Catholics and heretics, Christians and infidels, Jews and pagans, even the most savage tribes, witness to the truth of a future life." Now, a belief so universal and unanimous is surely an incontrovertible proof of the reality of a future life ; and could God, who is wisdom itself, have left all men in error at all times? But a still more convincing proof, and one which cannot leave any doubt in a Catholic soul, is the revelation which God Himself was pleased to make in the Sacred Books, and through the teaching of the Church. I shall not quote all these oracles ; suffice it to recall to your mind the words of the prophet Daniel who teaches us that those -who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it forever (Dan. xn. 2). And the words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who, on the day of judgment, will turn to those at His right and say to them : Come, ye blessed of my father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the -world; and then, addressing those at His left: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. And then adds the Gospel, the one -will go into everlasting punishment, and the others into everlasting life (Matt. xxv. 34-36). You see, my brethren, that according to these texts and many others which I could quote, the dogma of another life could not be revealed to us in a plainer manner. The Fathers of the Church and all tradition have always been one in teaching this great truth. We make profession of this faith every time we recite the Apostles' Creed, and say, <( I believe in life everlasting.* It is an article of faith, that after this life there will be another one in which each one will be rewarded or punished according as he de- serves. -We cannot doubt this truth any more than we can doubt the existence of God Himself, or any other truth of religion. This truth serves as foundation to the whole edifice of faith, and being the only sanction of the law, we would have to reject the entire Gospel and repudiate our quality as Christians, if we would refuse to believe it ; and not only would we be Christians no longer, but we would be worse than pagans, because there was never any religion in the world which did not teach the truth of a future life, nor was there ever a people that did not believe in it. 9 I30 FIRST PART. XXV. INSTRUCTION II. But what will this future life be? The life to come must be considered under a double aspect, as the reward of the good and as the punishment of the wicked. The place where the just will receive their reward is called heaven ; the place where the wicked will suffer their punishment is called hell. Now, two things will constitute the happiness of the blessed in heaven ; exemption from all evil, and the enjoyment of every good ; as, on the other hand, for the damned, it will be the privation of every good and the combination of every evil that will constitute their eternal punishment. In heaven there will be no more sickness, no more infirmities, no more pains ; suffering, sadness, and sorrow will be banished forever ; there will be no more troubles and anxieties, no more temptations, no evil of any kind : And God will wipe away all tears ( Apoc. xxi. 4). In heaven the elect will enjoy all the happiness they can possibly de- sire, because God Himself will be their reward. / am thy reward ex- ceedingly great (Gen. xv. i). The apostle St. Paul, desirous of giv- ing us an idea of the happiness of heaven, was unable to find suitable words, and he limits himself to telling us that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man, what thing's God hath prepared for them that love him (I. Cor. n. 9). <( In heaven, w says St. Augustine, (< we shall see God, and in seeing Him we shall love Him; and in loving Him we shall bless Him. 8 In heaven, we shall see God, not in a mystery and through the shadows of faith, as upon earth, but face to face and such as He is (John in. 2) ; that is, in all His perfections and in all His infinite loveliness. And in Seeing God, we shall see at the same time the whole heavenly court. We shall see the Blessed Virgin, sitting on a throne of glory, inferior indeed to God, but above all that is not God. We shall see that num- berless multitude of blessed spirits, glorious as the sun. The sight of so many wonders will plunge us into such an ecstasy of love and joy that our hearts will be fully satisfied : / shall be satisfied when the glory shall appear (Ps. xvi. 15). And in this sweet inebriation of ineffable happiness we shall break out into sublime canticles of bless- ing and thanksgiving, and we shall intone that eternal Alleluia and that eternal Amen with which the vaults of heaven are continually re- sounding. : But in the same degree as the happiness of the saints in heaven is 'great and ravishing, so the lot of the damned in hell is frightful and desperate. The privation of God and of heaven which they have lost ON LIFE EVERLASTING I3 ! through their own fault ; the pain of fire, according to the common opinion of the Doctors of the Church, and of a fire which will burn continually without consuming them, and so fiercely that all the fires of the earth are as nothing in comparison with it ; such are, in a few words, the torments of hell. III. What will be the duration of this future life, of this life of happiness or of torments ? It will be eternal : / believe in life everlasting. The eternity of the life that awaits us is an incontest- able truth of the Christian faith. The divine oracles do not leave room for any doubt: And these shall go into everlasting punishment (Matt. xxv. 46). I am well aware that many infidels have protested against this eternity of hell. But such is the teaching of faith, and unless we reject the entire Gospel, we cannot reject this truth. <( But,* you may say, <( how can a crime of a moment be punished with an eternity of torments ? * But is the punishment of a crime measured by its duration ? The punishment is measured by the nature and enormity of the crime. Human justice condemns crimi- nals to death and to hard labor for life for a crime of a moment. "But,* you may ask, <( what becomes of God's goodness and mercy? * But let me ask you in my turn, what would become of His wisdom and of His justice, if the punishment of the wicked were not equal to the reward of the just ; if vices and passions were not checked through the fear of an eternal punishment? God is good, undoubt- edly, and He shows His goodness by the numberless graces with which He overwhelms us every day. But because He is good, must He cease to punish miserable sinners who died in their sin and who cursed His goodness? And if the damned in hell are eternally curs- ing God, who created and redeemed them at the price of His blood, must not the same God also eternally punish them? Cannot a God, who is infinitely good, place us in the alternative either to merit by our virtues an eternal happiness or to draw upon us, by our sins, everlasting torments? Besides, my brethren, who are we that aspire thus to regulate the wisdom and justice of God? Who are we that pretend to understand the whole extent of the malice contained in mortal sin, and of the outrage which it commits against the Supreme Majesty ? If it needed the blood of a God-man to expiate upon the cross the sins of men, is an eternity of torments too much to punish it as it deserves? Be this as it may, God has spoken, the Church teaches, and all tradition affirms this truth. Such is, therefore, our 132 FIRST PART. XXV. INSTRUCTION faith, and whatever our proud reason may maintain, we must submit ; the cause is judged. There is an eternity! And what will this eternity be? Ah, my brethren, who can conceive a correct idea of eternity? In this world we can compare the most dissimilar things to one another, because there is always some analogy, some resemblance that admits of a com- parison. Thus, I can compare a drop of water to the most extensive sea, because the sea, however extensive it may be, is, however, only a composition of drops of water; thus, I can compare a grain of sand to the earth, because the earth is only a composition of grains of sand. But there is nothing in this world that we can compare to eternity. Time has no relation with it, because eternity is no succession of cen- turies, or of years, or of moments. You might make all kinds of suppositions and calculations, but never would you arrive at an understanding of what eternity is. Suppose you had passed in heaven or in hell as many millions of centuries as there are leaves on the trees in spring, or grains of sand upon earth, or stars in the firma- ment, you would scarcely have commenced eternity. Imagine for a moment, that an ant would come once every thousand years and carry to the sea all the sand on the shore, bringing one grain every time. Since the beginning of the world, it would have removed only six or seven grains. Still the time would come when all the sand would be removed, and even the mountains and rocks could be carried away, grain by grain, and thousands of worlds like this could be carried off in the same manner, but eternity would hardly have commenced. Eternity is an abyss which has neither bottom, nor shores, it is like a circle, never commencing and never ending. I transport myself in spirit to heaven, and at the sight of those torrents of delight with which the elect are deluged, I ask them how long their joy and happi- ness will last? And they answer me: "Forever and forever. M I descend in spirit into hell, and at the sight of that ocean of flames, where so many thousands of victims are burning, I ask them how long those torments and that despair will last? And they answer me : (< Forever and forever. w IV. Such is, my brethren, the teaching of faith in regard to the next world. Is there a truth more consoling, and at the same time more frightful ? Is there one more worthy of serious meditation ? But alas! who is there that thinks seriously of eternity? People think continually of the affairs, of the pleasures, of the goods, and of the ON DEATH , 33 vanities of this world, and hardly find a moment to think of eternity. It is hard to understand this apathy and indifference on a subject so important. Even were it doubtful whether there is an eternity or not, would not prudence require us to prepare for it? But if we have faith, and believe that there is a happy eternity for the good, and an unhappy eternity for the wicked, is it not an unpardonable rashness, an unpardonable folly, not to think about it? Oh, sinners (for sinners alone are capable of such blindness), you believe that there is a hell, and you do nothing to avoid it! You believe that there is a heaven, and you do everything to lose it! You sleep on the very brink of a precipice. You do not realize that death may surprise you at any instant, that at any moment you might be hurried off into eternity. What folly! What rashness! But I know the cause of such deplorable forgetfulness. The passions of the heart, ill-gotten goods, human respect, and criminal relations, . . . such are some of the things that blind you. But what good will all these do you, if you lose your soul ? Can you not make some sacrifices when there is question of saving your immortal soul, and of escaping eternal pun- ishment? My brethren, I implore you, think about eternity, and act as you would have wished to have acted on the day of your death. That day is, perhaps, nearer than you believe; if you were sure to die on this very day, or during this night, what would you not do to prepare yourselves? Therefore, let us do now what we would wish to have done then ; let us keep ourselves always ready. In this way death will never surprise us, and we will merit to find grace at the judgment seat of God, and be admitted to a happy eternity, which I wish to you all. Amen. XXVI. INSTRUCTION ON THE FOUR LAST ENDS OF MAN THE four last ends of man are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. In the last instruction we have sufficiently spoken of heaven and hell. The eleventh instruction was devoted to the last judgment. I34 FIRST PART. XXVI. INSTRUCTION There remains for us, therefore, to speak only on the first of these ends, which is death. The thought of death, the necessity of prepar- ing for death, and the manner of preparing for it these will form the three heads of my instruction. I. We must all die. The sentence has been passed from the beginning of the world, and we all know with what rigor it has always been executed: // is appointed unto man once to die (Heb. ix. 27). If you wish to be penetrated with the salutary thought of death, you need only glance at the sad spectacle of this world, and ask your- selves what has become of all the many generations that have lived before us. What has become of the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Law; of the apostles and doctors of the New Law? What has become of the proud kings, the famous conquerors, of the men illus- trious for their learning, who once filled the earth with their fame, and whose memory history has preserved to us? What has become of our ancestors, and even of many persons whom we have known in life, whom we visited and loved, but whom we see no longer? Ah! they were once what we are to-day upon earth ; like ourselves they gave themselves to agriculture, to commerce, and to arts, but their last hour sounded, the sovereign judge called them before His dread tri- bunal, and they died : It is appointed unto man once to die. We must die ! All nature unceasingly preaches the thought of death. The sun which rises and sets, the rivers which flow on for- ever to the sea, the trees which winter robs of their leaves, the flowers which bloom in the morning and in the evening fade away; all crea- tures that rise and disappear, all tell us that thus we shall live and die, that we are only simple travelers upon earth, and that each pass- ing day is a step nearer to the tomb : // is appointed unto man once to die. We must die ! And, my brethren, do we not find, even in our- selves, foreshado wings of death? Our strength decreases, our mind becomes weaker every day, our body is consumed little by little, ill- nesses and infirmities oppress us, and all this is not for us an answer of death ? as St. Peter says. Dost not all this announce to us that we must die ? It is appointed unto man once to die. We must die ! Does not the tolling of the funeral bell remind us of death? Do not the daily funeral processions remind us of our own end? The name of the dead that you hear read every Sunday, the ON DEATH I3 j mourning dress that people wear all remind you of death : // is appointed unto man once to die. Let us think of death, and think of it often. Is there a thought that is more salutary ; is there one that contains so many grave and solemn teachings on the frailty, vanity, and nothingness of things here below? How can we attach ourselves to the perishable goods of this world when we remember that we must quit them in a very short time, and leave them, perhaps, to ungrateful heirs, who will hardly think of us, and who will squander in a few years, in luxury and debauchery, the fruit of our lifelong labor and economy? How can a person attend dances, plays, and vain pleasures of this world, while he remembers that death is ever at our heels? Does a con- demned criminal laugh and joke on his way to the gallows? O, death, how good and salutary is the remembrance of thee! O, death, thy sentence is 'welcome to the man that is in need (Eccl. XLI. 3 ). II. But it is not sufficient to meditate on death, we must also seriously prepare for it. Time is fleeting, the hour of death is uncer- tain, and the consequences of death are all-important. I st. Time is fleeting. Indeed, says St. James, 'what is the life of man upon earth? It is a -vapor which appeareth for a little 'while and afterwards shall vanish away (James iv. 15). It is a torrent, says the prophet, a cloud, a wind, a shadow, which pass without leaving behind the least trace. I feel, says St. Paul, that my years pass away, that my life is gliding by, that the time of my dissolution approaches, and that each day removes something from my frail exist- ence (I. Cor. xv. 31). And, indeed, hardly are we born than we commence to die. Death gains upon us every moment, and as many days and years as we have lived, so many days and years are we nearer death. How must we not wonder at people when we hear them counting the number of their years. I am twenty years old, says one ; I am thirty, says an other. O, foolish man, says a pagan philosopher, these years are not yours; it is death that has robbed you of them. And the number of the few years that are still left to you to pass upon earth will soon have passed away like a dream. For it is written that there is only one step between life and death (I. Ki. xx. 3). But if death is so near, is it not time for us to prepare for it? And are a few years, or a few days too much, when there is question 136 FIRST PART. XXVI. INSTRUCTION of earning an eternity of happiness, or of avoiding an eternity of misfortune ? 2d. A still more powerful motive is the uncertainty of death. When shall we die ? Shall it be in a few years or in a few days ? We do not know. Shall it be suddenly, or after a long illness? We do not know. Shall it be in youth, or in full manhood, or in a ripe age? Shall it be at home, in our bed, or among relatives and friends, or in the street, or far from home, without assistance? We do not know. Shall there be a priest at our bedside with all the consolations of religion, or shall we die without confession, without any sacra- ment? Shall we die in the state of grace, or in sin, under the curse of God's anger, or in the peace of the Lord? Shall ours be the death of the just, or the death of the damned? We do not know. But what we do know is that death will surprise us when we least think of it. We may die at any age. Youth is no more secure than old age against the surprises of death. Sudden deaths are very com- mon. Every day we hear of some one being dead, of some one who is dying. This one was struck with apoplexy, that one was killed by lightning; one was drowned, another was burned to death. 3d. The most powerful motive to induce us to prepare for death is the consideration of the terrible consequences of the hour of death. We must leave everything : goods, riches, pleasures, relations, and friends. Our body will fall into corruption and dust. Look into a coffin and contemplate the hideous spectacle ! Oh, youth and maidens so infatuated with your beauty, see what will become of you! Liber- tines, misers, debauchees, and drunkards, look at what awaits you! If all were over at death, if there were nothing beyond the grave, then we \vould not need to be afraid at the thought of death ; but what will become of our immortal soul? At present we do not know; but at death the veil will be raised, the cloud will disappear, and our last hour will decide for us an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery. On whatever side the tree shall fall there it shall remain. The bed on which you will die will be the first tribunal where you will be judged. There is no interval between death and judgment, nor between judgment and eternity. In the morning we hear that some one is dying, and in the evening we are told that he is dead ; this means that his fate has been settled for all eternity, that he has been judged on a life like our own, that is, on a life of zeal, or a life of indifference, on a life of crimes or of virtues ; judged by a just and ON DEATH I37 inexorable God, who knows all and pardons nothing ; finally, judged forever and without appeal judged for all eternity. Oh, God! how terrible is this last moment! Oh, death, how can we think of thee, without thinking at the same time of penance? No one, my brethren, who has faith, can seriously consider this supreme moment without resolving to lead a better life. III. These are the three great motives that should lead us to pre- pare for death : The shortness of life, the uncertainty of the hour of death, and the terrible consequences of death. But let us also con- sider the manner of preparing for death. ist. Before all, my brethren, you must renounce sin and all the occa- sions of sin ; for without this first disposition, all the others would be useless. And you must do so without delay, because the least delay might put you in danger of being lost forever. You may have ill- gotten goods to restore, you may have to be reconciled to an enemy, you may have to break off some evil habit. Is it not folly to perse- vere in evil, when you know that life is so short and so uncertain, and when a sudden and unforeseen accident might cast you into eternal misery? 2d. You must do penance for your sins. St. Ambrose says, that to have sinned once is sufficient reason for continual penance. What, then, should he do whose whole life has been one long chain of sins? 3d. You must make a good use of the time God gives you. Alas! life is so short ! What remorse will be yours at death if you find yourselves with empty hands ; if you have no good works to offer to the Sovereign Judge ! On the other hand, what a consolation if, like the good servant in the Gospel, we can say : Lord, Thou hast en- trusted to me five talents; behold, I have gained with them five more. As long as we have time, let us try to do good : Whilst we have time, let us work good to all men (Gal. vi. 10). Let us attach ourselves to the service of God, let us rigorously embrace the practice of virtue; let us combat our passions and vices; in a word, let us prepare our- selves now as we would like to be prepared at the supreme hour of death. 4th. You should often think of death. The Holy Ghost teaches us that there is no more useful and more salutary thought, no thought more suitable to turn us away from sin : In all thy works, remember the last end, and thou shalt never sin (Eccl. vn. 40). It is an ex- cellent practice to choose every month, or at least every year, a day of 138 FIRST PART. XXVI. INSTRUCTION retreat to prepare one's self for death. Go to confession and com- munion on that day, recite the office of the dead, or the prayers for the dying, meditate seriously on the four last ends of man, recommend yourself earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, to your guardian angel, and your patron saint, begging them to obtain for you the grace of a happy death. But you should not be satisfied with thinking of death once in a while. You should think of it every morning on rising, by imagin- ing that the present day will perhaps be the last for you. You should think of it in the evening on going to bed, by representing to yourselves that perhaps the sheets in which you are going to sleep may be your winding-sheet to carry you to the grave. You should think of it at the beginning of your principal actions, by asking your- selves the question which St. Bernard often asked himself: <( If thou shouldst die at this moment, what wouldst thou do? In what manner wouldst thou do it ? w You should think of it when the clock strikes the passing of another hour; you should think of it when you are ill and suffering. 5th. The affairs of your soul are, undoubtedly, the most important. But in occupying yourselves with your eternal interests, do not for- get your temporal affairs. Make your will, and do not wait, as it too often happens, until you are dangerously sick, until the last moment; for, besides the danger of not making it at all, a sick man is often not in the right frame of mind to understand \vhat he is doing, and he is often unable to make his will as it suits him, because he may be un- duly influenced by greedy friends and relatives. In the distribution of your goods, think also of yourself, remember the poor, and remem- ber the Church, if your means allow you; for perhaps it is the only advantage which you will derive, after your death, from the goods which you have so painfully acquired. These, my brethren, are the different means of preparing your- selves for death. The most important of all is to think often about it, and to keep yourselves always in the state of grace, for fear of being surprised by death. But if God is pleased to admonish you by some serious illness, you should hasten to prepare yourselves in a more immediate manner. Penetrate yourselves more and more with senti- ments of contrition, charity, and resignation, which the Lord demands from you. Do not be afraid to call the priest as soon as possible to hear your confession and to administer the last sacraments, while you ON DEATH 139 are still in possession of your faculties. Do not look with too much security on God's judgment, or on the abyss of eternity which lies open before you ; but have a wholesome fear of God's justice. To revive your confidence, look at the Crucifix. You can hope every- thing from a God who died for you upon a cross. And when your hour has come, invoke anew the holy name of Jesus, give up your soul into His hands ; thus you will merit to die a good and holy death. You will leave this life of misery and afflictions, and go into eternal happiness. May God grant you this grace. Amen. SECOND PART ON HOPE AND PRAYER I. INSTRUCTION ON HOPE [OPE, which is the second of the three theological virtues, is a gift of God by which we expect, with a firm confidence, the goods which God has promised us. We say : ist. That it is a gift of God: for it is with hope as with faith ; God must give it to us ; we cannot acquire it by our own power ; we can only ask for it, and then strengthen it by frequent acts. 2d. That hope makes us expect the goods 'which God has promised us.- that is, heaven and the rewards of eternity, heaven and the neces- sary means to obtain it; but not the goods of this world, such as health, honors, riches, for God has not promised these to us. II. Is hope necessary for salvation? Yes, my brethren; for to arrive at God, says St. Paul, one must first believe that He exists, and then that He rewards those that seek Him. Faith is the first and most necessary virtue, and the foundation of all the others. But hope must arise from faith and cannot exist without it. Faith is the root of the tree, hope is the stem, and charity the fruit. III. On what motives is this great virtue founded? It is founded on the promise of God, who cannot deceive us. on His almighty power, on His infinite mercy, and on the merits of Jesus Christ. Can there be a stronger foundation ? ist. On the Promise of God. God often repeated these promises through the mouth of His prophets and His own Son that He would give eternal life to those who should merit it, and also all the graces necessary for this end : The Lord will give grace and glory (Ps. (140) ON HOPE I4 I LXXXHI. 12): The just go into everlasting life (Matt. xxv. 42). These are unchangeable and infallible promises; for it is written that heaven and earth shall pass a-way, but the -word of God shall not pass (Matt. xxiv. 35); and promises which have been confirmed by an oath, as St. Paul says (Hebr. vi. 17), in order, we might say, to render them more sacred and inviolate. 2d. On His Almighty Po-wcr. God in His infinite power com- mands and all obey. He needs only to will and everything is accom- plished. What can oppose His sovereign will? It is not with God as with us. We often promise something without being able to keep our word, because our will is unsteady and changeable, and because being weak and dependent creatures, we are often powerless to con- trol things and to do what we have promised. 3d. On His Infinite Goodness. In God all perfections are infinite; one cannot be greater than the other. But if there could be a differ- ence between them, undoubtedly His goodness would be greater than all His other attributes. His tender mercies are over all His works (Ps. cxliv). God has created us, and does a creator not love the work of his hand? He is our Father, the best of all fathers, and is not a father fond of his children? He is our Redeemer, and if He dies for us, must not His charity and mercy towards us be infinite? Could He have given us a greater proof of His love? Greater love than this no man hath, than a man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13). 4th. On the Merits of Jesus Christ. This motive is still more powerful than the others, for here is a question not only of mercy and of promises, but of a right actually acquired. Our Saviour, by dying for us, has opened for us the treasures of grace, and it only remains for us to draw them ; He has opened to us the gates of heaven, and it only remains for us to enter. Through the merits of His blood and passion, He has paid our debts; He has restored to us all our rights to the heavenly inheritance. Whatever may be the rigor and extent of divine justice, God cannot henceforth refuse heaven to us as long as we place no obstacle in the way. It was especially by the remembrance of the merits of Jesus Christ that St. Bernard animated his hope: <( I am not worthy, he says, "of the graces of my God; but Jesus Christ has merited them for me, and I can look upon heaven as a thing that belongs to me, through the right which my Saviour has given to me." I42 SECOND PART. I. INSTRUCTION Such are the solid motives upon which our hope is founded. What more can we desire? Unless we have no faith, which God forbid, could we refuse to put all our confidence in Him? IV. What are the qualities which our hope must have? It should have the three following: It must be firm; it must be accom- panied with a mistrust of ourselves, and it must be joined to good works. ist. It must bejirm, firm as the anchor thrown into the depth of the sea, according to the expression of St. Paul: Which we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm (Hebr. vi. 19). And nothing in the world, not poverty, not illness, not temptations, not persecutions, not trials of any kind, ought to be able to shake our hope. / know, says the apostle, whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep that 'which I have committed unto Him against that day (II. Tim. i. 12). Ye sinners that listen to me, whatever may be the number and greatness of your sins, whatever may be the violence of your pas- sions, do not be discouraged; for God will never permit you to be tempted above your strength, and His mercy is greater than your wickedness. You souls that are afflicted, desolate, persecuted, and oppressed with reverses of fortune, ever hope in your Heavenly Father because if He afflicts you in this world, it is only to reward you the more in the other. 2d. Though our hope must be firm, it ought also to be mingled with a mistrust of ourselves. Though we can hope everything from God's goodness, we should be fearful of ourselves, on account of our incon- stancy and weakness. Without this salutary fear, hope would be a mere presumption. This is why the Holy Ghost recommends us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. n. 12) ; and, when we stand, to take heed lest we fall (I. Cor. x. 12). For, alas! human frailty is so great, and the enemies that surround us are ever plotting our ruin. Full confidence in God, but great distrust of ourselves, such is the essential character of hope. 3d. Finally, our hope must be accompanied by good works. God, who has created us without our cooperation, says St. Augustine, will not save us without our cooperation. Read the Gospel and you will find what God requires of us to merit heaven ; you will see that the way to heaven is rough and the gate is narrow ; you will find the commandments we have to observe, the virtues we have to practice, the sacrifices we have to make. Oh! how blind and insensible are ON HOPE 143 those who hope to enter heaven without imposing upon themselves the least constraint and inconvenience! No, my brethren, it is with hope as with faith; without good works it is vain, it is sterile and deceptive, and it serves only to render us more guilty, on account of the abuse we make of grace. V. May your hope be clothed with this threefold quality we have just explained, and then it will produce in you the most salutary effects. It will console you in your pains, it will sustain you in temp- tations, it will assist you to detach yourselves from the things of this life, and will constantly encourage you in the service of God and in practice of all Christian virtues. Let us say a few words on the advantages of hope. i st. Hope Consqles Us in Our Sufferings. The trials which God sends us in this world are often great. . . . But if you have hope you will not be downcast, because you will remember that if you ac- cept these afflictions with a humble submission you will merit a great reward, and as many acts of patience as you will make in the midst of your tribulations so many pearls will you add to your heavenly crown. St. Paul, in his sufferings, said: / suffer, but I am not ashamed (II. Tim. i. 12). Consider the holy man Job in the midst of his trials. What was it that consoled him? It was the hope of a future life. I kno-w that my Redeemer liveth (Job xix. 25). Not only does hope aid us in bearing the crosses and afflictions of life, but it makes us find sweetness and joy in them, because of the resemblance they give us to Jesus Christ crucified, and of the increase of glory they merit for us. One day St. Francis of Assisi was asked how he could support his pains with so much cheerfulness, and he answered : <( Because the reward which I expect is so great that all these pains and crosses appear a pleasure to me. w 2d. Hope Sustains Us in Temptations. God is my light and my salvation, said the royal prophet. He is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. xxvi. i.) Let the passions, let the devil, let hell unchain itself against you. The thought of heaven will be suffi- cient to gain the victory. Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin (Eccl. vn. 40). In trouble and agitation remember eternity; ask yourselves whether for a moment of pleasure you should expose yourselves to lose heaven and to deserve hell, and this sole considera- tion will quench the fire that is burning within you, and you will come forth triumphant from the most violent combats. 144 SECOND PART. II. INSTRUCTION ^d. Hope Detaches Us from the Present Life. What attachment can we have for a life which lasts for so short a time and in which we are exposed to so many miseries? Does the prisoner love his dungeon or the pilot love the stormy sea in which he has nearly been ship- wrecked? Unhappy that I am, says St. Paul, ivho ivill deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. vn. 24.) Oh, cried out David, when shall 1 appear before the face of God? As the heart panteth after the fountain of water, so doth my soul pant after thee, Oh, God! (Ps. XLI.) These are the sentiments with which we ought to be pene- trated when we are filled with hope. 4th. Finally, Hope Reanimates and Eticouragcs Us in the Love and Service of God*. If the hope of a temporal and uncertain gain inspires merchants with such zeal and constancy in the fatigue and embarrass- ments of their commerce, if the hope of worldly glory can encourage soldiers in the dangers of war, what zeal and courage should we not exhibit for the immortal crown ! O, sweet and amiable hope, what are all the sacrifices thou askest of us in comparison with the ineffable goods thou hast promised ! Ah ! I understand the courage that en- abled the martyrs to defy torments, and the anchorites to bury them- selves alive, so to say, in the wilds of the deserts, and which still moves so many missionaries to stifle the voice of flesh and blood and to brave all kinds of privations and fatigues, to spread the Gospel. O, holy and strong virtue of hope, mayest thou always dwell in our souls! Mayest thou, together with faith and charity, thy inseparable companions, be always the motive of our thoughts, words, and actions; and mayest thou animate our sentiments during life, our last sigh at death, and mayest thou open for us the gates of eternal happiness! Amen. II. INSTRUCTION ON PRAYER I. PRAYER is an elevation of the soul to God, by which we render Him the homage that is due to Him and ask Him for what we need. Prayer is an elevation of the soul to God, because when you pray you must forget the things of this world, your affairs, your goods, and ON PRAYER I4 e your pleasures, and raise your minds and hearts to God, and occupy yourselves only with Him and with your salvation. In prayer we render to God our homage and ask Him for the graces of 'which we stand in need. Indeed, prayer has a double object : ist. To offer to God the homage of respect, love, and gratitude we owe to Him ; and 2d. To tell Him our needs and to solicit whatever is necessary for us, either for soul or body, for this life or the life to come. II. There are two kinds of prayers: mental and vocal. Mental prayer is the prayer of the heart, and vocal prayer is the prayer of the lips and heart together. In mental prayer our soul alone entertains itself with God without words, and in vocal prayer we express by word of mouth the thoughts and sentiments with which our soul is penetrated. Mental prayer, also called meditation, may be very agreeable to God without the help of vocal prayer, because God who searches the hearts and reins (Ps.-vn. 10) has no need of an exterior manifestation to know its affections ; but vocal prayer, when it is not from the heart, is no prayer at all. It is an act of hypocrisy. Mental prayer cannot be too warmly recommended. It is through mental prayer that we learn to know God and to know ourselves; but we must not neglect vocal prayer, because our body, as well as our soul, is obliged to pray, and the edification of others often requires vocal prayer. There are also ejaculatory prayers, short but effective aspirations of the mind and heart to God. Such are : My God, I love Thee. My God, have pity on me. May God's will be done, and other similar ejaculations. This manner of praying was in great use among the ancient hermits of Egypt, and all the masters of spiritual life advise us to practice it often, especially if our occupations do not allow of long prayers. We read in the life of St. Francis of Assisi that for weeks he said no other prayer but the beautiful words : My God and my all. III. Is prayer necessary for salvation ? Yes, prayer is absolutely necessary for salvation. Three principal reasons impose upon us the rigorous duty of prayer: ist. The honor which we owe to God; ad. The need which we have of grace, and 3d. The formal command of Jesus Christ. ist. The Honor which We Owe to God. God is our Creator, our Father, sovereign Lord and Master. Both faith and reason teach us that He created man only for His glory, and in order to have adorers 146 SECOND PART. II. INSTRUCTION in spirit and truth. It is therefore the duty of every rational crea- ture to render homage to God and to express to Him his respect, love, and gratitude. This duty we fulfill through prayer. Hence, it is an impiety, and a very criminal impiety, not to fulfill this duty, espe- cially when one neglects prayer through affectation, indifference, or bad will. Those men also act criminally in the eyes of God who never pray or who pray without attention. They are worse than pagans, who at least adore their idols and invoke them and offer sacrifices to them. ad. The Need which We Have of Grace. It is an article of faith, that without grace we can do nothing for our salvation : Without me you can do nothing (John xv. 5). On the other hand, it is certain that prayer is absolutely necessary to obtain grace. Undoubtedly, God grants certain graces without our asking for them, such as vocation to the faith, as St. Augustine teaches us; for we cannot ask Him for something of which we do not know. But it is not the same, in the ordinary course of Providence, with the other graces necessary to do good and avoid evil. If we desire to obtain them, we must ask for them. It was this that our divine Saviour taught us, when He said that if we seek we shall find, if we ask it shall be given to us, and if we knock it shall be opened to us (Luke xi. 9). Undoubtedly, God knows our wants before we make them known to Him ; but He has a right to require us to ask Him for His help. It is His will that we should make known to Him our pains and miseries, just as beggars show their poverty and nakedness when asking for alms ; and often it is only under this condition that God deigns to grant us what we need. 3d. The Precept of Prayer Given Us by Our Saviour. Nothing is more formal in holy Scripture: Watch and pray (Mark xin. 33). We must always pray (Luke xvm. i). And St. Paul: Pray night and day (I. Thess. n. 10). Pray without ceasing (I. Thess. v. 17), etc. There is no question here of a mere counsel, but of a rigorous precept. We must . . . It is a real and indispensable duty which our divine Master wished to impose upon us, just as much as it is a duty to love God and to render justice to our fellow-men. The pre- cept of prayer applies to everybody, to rich and to poor, to the learned and to the ignorant, to sinners, and to holy men. In order to impress upon us the necessity of prayer, our divine Saviour gave us the exam- ple in a most admirable manner ; for although He was not obliged at ON PRAYER I47 all to pray for Himself, He passed entire nights in prayer: And he passed the 'whole night in the prayer of God (Luke vi. 12). Prayer is, therefore, an absolute necessity. It is to our soul, says St. John Chrysostom, what the nerves are to the body. As the body is without strength and life as soon as the nerves are destroyed, so, also, our soul cannot live the life of grace without prayer. (< Prayer is to the soul," says the same holy doctor, <( what the bulwarks are to a city, what weapons are to the soldier in battle." A city without bul- warks or soldiers without weapons cannot long withstand the enemy. So, also, without prayer we are powerless in the face of the enemies of our salvation. IV. When should we pray? We must pray in the morning on rising and in the evening on going to bed. As soon as you awake, offer to God your heart and all the actions of the day. As soon as you are dressed kneel down and say your morning prayer. This is not a simple practice of piety but a real duty of conscience ; we must consecrate to the Lord the first fruits of the day. To allege lack of time is an idle excuse and hardly worth answering. Have you not time for worldly amusements and pleasures? Can you not set aside some moments for prayer? Pray in the evening before going to bed. Kneel down and thank God for the graces and ask pardon for the sins of the day. Evening prayer answers to the sacrifice that used to be offered to God at the end of the day, just as morning prayer answers to the morning sacrifice of old. Both morning and evening prayer are excellent Christian practices to which faithful souls are inviolably attached. I would recommend to you the pious custom of reciting them together in the family. This union in prayer offers a holy vio- lence to heaven and infallibly draws down God's graces upon the family, according to the promise of Jesus Christ : Where there are two or three together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. xvin. 20). We should also pray often during the day : at the beginning of our principal actions, to offer them to God ; before and after meals ; in reciting the Angelus morning, noon, and evening; in temptation, danger, illness, and affliction; and at the hour of death, to beseech God to receive us into the bosom of His mercy. In a word, we must pray always and never cease to pray ; but in what manner? In performing for God and in a spirit of penance all our daily actions, for even our most common actions become a SECOND PART. II. INSTRUCTION continual prayer, if we do them with this intention. How, again? By living continually in God's love and grace, and having no other desire than to please Him and to do His will in all things. V. Lastly, what should we ask of God? We should ask Him, first, for spiritual goods, that is, the goods of grace for a happy eter- nity, because these are the principal objects of prayer. But we may also ask Him for temporal goods, such as health, good crops, cessation of a plague, success in our affairs, and other temporal favors. For, al- though God has not promised us temporal goods, still, like a kind and indulgent father, He is often pleased to grant them to us, provided we put no obstacle in the way of His gifts by our evil dispositions. But we must ask for temporal favors with an entire resignation to God's holy will and for a good purpose, for it is certain that if we should ask for health or wealth only to make a bad use of them, God who reads our hearts, who knows our most secret intentions, would not hear our prayer. If, after good and fervent prayers, you do not obtain what you desire, you must not murmur against Providence. God always has His designs in the goods He refuses to us, and \vhen He permits us to be afflicted either through sickness, or losses, or other adversities, He does it only for the good of our soul ; either to punish us for crimes, or to detach us from this world, or finally to make us acquire more abundant merits for heaven. V. Have you been faithful until the present, my brethren, to the indispensable duty of prayer ? Are there not some among you whose conscience reproaches them ? How many are there who never or very seldom pray, or who pray so badly that their prayers are rather sins than acts of virtue! O you, lukewarm and indifferent souls that listen to me, you hardened sinners who never pray, beware! For if you continue to refuse God the homage of respect, love, and gratitude which you owe Him, you are guilty of great impiety and of shameful ingratitude; and if you do not ask God for the graces you stand in need of, you will surely not obtain them; your passions and the devil will have full power over you, and your ruin will be inevitable. Yes, without prayer salvation is impossible. This is a truth upon which I cannot insist too much, because it appears not to be sufficiently un- derstood, and because it is so easily forgotten. Pray, therefore, whoever you may be, holy men or sinners, but you especially, sinners, pray and do not cease to pray. Pray in the ON PRAYER I49 morning, pray in the evening, and let no pretext hinder you from doing so. The prophet David prayed seven times a day. Daniel, when a captive at Babylon, although the king had forbidden him under pain of death to pray publicly, continued to pray three times a day, opening the windows looking towards Jerusalem, until he was condemned to be thrown into the lions' den. The saints always made prayer their principal occupation. Follow their example, pray for yourselves, and then pray for your families; pray for the conversion of sinners, pray for the souls in purgatory, for your benefactors and for the Church. If you pray as you ought to, God will hear your prayers, He will overwhelm you with the gifts you ask for others, and He will grant to you finally the re- ward which He has promised to His faithful. Amen. III. INSTRUCTION ON PRAYER ( Confd) IN THE previous instruction I made you acquainted with the nature of prayer and its different species, and I proved the indispensable necessity of prayer, on account of the honor we owe to God, the need which we have of grace, and the formal precept which Jesus Christ has given us. But how must we pray? This will be the subject of the instruction of to-day. If our prayers are so often without effect, it is because we do not pray well, and because they are not accom- panied with the necessary dispositions, for our Lord has given us His word that He will hear us, and He has promised to grant us every- thing what we ask His Father in His name. The apostle St. James says: You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss (James iv. 3). What are, therefore, the dispositions with which we must pray? They are six in number : A good preparation, humility, attention, devotion, confidence, and perseverance. ist. We must prepare for prayer. The Holy Ghost recommends to us to collect our mind and to turn to God before commencing to pray: Before prayer prepare thy soul (Eccl. xvni. 23). Indeed, !,jO SECOND PART. III. INSTRUCTION how can one expect to make his prayer well, if he commences it with a mind agitated by the affairs and pleasures of this world and a heart troubled by passions? Hence, before prayer we should collect ourselves for a few moments, invoke the assistance of the Holy Ghost, be penetrated with the presence of God, and resolved to avoid all dis- tractions. 2d. We must pray with humility. The prayer of him that hum- bleth himself shall pierce the clouds (Eccl. xxxv. 21). God resistcth the proud and giveth grace to the humble (James iv. 6). Humility in prayer must be interior and exterior. What are we before God but miserable sinners unworthy of pardon, poor worms of the earth? If we had to appear before a prince of this world to ask him for some favor, with what respect would we appear before him? This interior humility, my brethren, must manifest itself exteriorly by a respectful attitude of the body, and by a modest deportment. In the first place, we should be kneeling, for however much we may humble ourselves we can never humble ourselves too much in the face of the supreme Majesty. The saints always prayed on their knees. Daniel prayed with his (< face to the earth. }> David calls upon us to (< prostrate our- selves before the Lord.'* St. Paul tells us that he prayed by bowing his knee: / bow my knee (Ephes. in. 14). And you know in what manner our Lord prayed in the Garden of Olives, and the publican in the temple. We should pray with our eyes cast down and the hands joined. The thought of our baseness, the remembrance of our sins, suggests this humble behavior, and it is also the ordinary attitude of all pious and fervent persons. Oh, you Christians, full of lukewarm- ness and indifference, who are more sitting than kneeling, or who are half reclining in your seats, with your eyes wandering in every direc- tion, and hardly folding your hands, how can you dare to pray thus to a God that sees you ? Far from expecting His favor, you ought rather to be afraid of His wrath. But this pious attitude of body is to be understood only of the prayers of obligation, for when we have rendered to God the homage to which He has a right, and when we have paid to Him the tribute we owe to Him, we may, of course, pray sitting or standing, while laboring or traveling, while dressing in the morning, or in the evening when lying down; because these prayers, if otherwise well made, cannot be anything but good and meritorious. 3d. We must pray with attention. Prayer is an elevation of our soul to God. But how can our soul elevate itself to God if the mind ON PRAYER !-! is occupied only with distracting thoughts, with the affairs and pleas- ures of the world ? It is the want of attention that renders so many prayers useless. (< How can God hear you, w says St. John Chrysos- tom, (< if you do not hear yourselves? How could He listen to a prayer in which you do not know what you are saying or doing ? w Undoubtedly, it is not easy to keep free from all distractions; and we know the greatest saints were subject to them. But they must not be voluntary; you must reject them as soon as you notice them, you must not give occasion to them by keeping your eyes open to every thing about you, or by praying in places where you are too much exposed to dissipation. You must, on the contrary, retire to a secluded place : When thou shalt pray enter into thy chamber (Matt. vi. 6). You must guard against distractions beforehand by driving away from your mind all earthly preoccupation and by a firm and sincere resolu- tion to pray well. If you take these precautions, your distractions will not be culpable and your prayer will be agreeable to God. But if you do not banish distractions; if you do not wish to impose upon yourselves the least inconvenience; if you content yourselves to pray with your lips, whilst your mind is occupied with other things, not only is your prayer worthless, but, on the contrary, you offend God and draw upon yourselves rather His \vrath than His graces and favors. 4th. To the attention we must add devotion; that is, the love of God and the ardent desire to obtain what we ask. Is prayer only an empty sounding of words on the lips? No, it is a sentiment of the heart, a cry of the soul inspired by an ardent love. If you desire God to listen to you and hear your prayers, speak to Him in the affection- ate and burning language of love. Just as incense rises into the air and spreads a sweet odor only when it is spread upon burning coals, so prayer cannot ascend into heaven except it is inflamed with the fire of love. O you lukewarm souls, souls obstinate in sin, do you pray with these sentiments? Perhaps you do not even know what you ask for in your prayers, and would, perhaps, be surprised and dissatis- fied if God were to give you what you ask for; for example, the grace to correct yourselves of your evil habits, the grace to reconcile your- selves with your enemy, the grace to make restitution, or the grace of conversion. Your prayers are not prayers; they are only acts of hypocrisy and impiety. 5th. We must pray with confidence. To pray with confidence is to pray with a firm assurance that God will hear us. Such should be !jj2 SECOND PART. III. INSTRUCTION the disposition of our soul. Why? Because God is a father full of tenderness and goodness, eagerly desirous of our salvation, and, more- over, He has promised to grant us all what we ask of Him. Ask and you shall receive (John xvi. 24). Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that 'will I do (John xvi. 13). In the lives of the saints we see striking proofs of God's mercy and love, and of the faithful fulfillment of His promise. Josue prays, and God stops the sun in its course ; Moses prays, and God opens a passage in the Red Sea ; Elias prays, and fire descends from heaven ; the Ninivites pray, and they are spared. The apostles, the martyrs, the confessors, the virgins pray, and they raise the dead to life, heal the sick, and work the most astonishing miracles ; they face the rage of tyrants and un- dergo with courage and serenity the most cruel death ; they openly profess their faith and preserve themselves pure in the midst of the temptations of the world and the snares of hell. Ah ! if we would but know to pray in this manner, how many graces would we obtain which we now lose by want of confidence ! 6th. We must pray with perseverance. We ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke xvm. i). God who is pleased to try our constancy, loves to be solicited, pressed, and importuned, if I may so speak. Although He appears sometimes to be deaf to our prayers, we may be sure that He hears them, and a time will come when we shall obtain what we asked for. Our Saviour Himself assures us of this when He says : Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him : Friend, lend me three loaves, be- cause a friend is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him. And he from 'within should answer, and say: 7\~ouble me not, the door is noiv shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask and it shall be given you (Luke xi. 5~9)- How consoling are these words! Remember the parable of the Chanaanite woman. Although a stranger and of a cursed race, she asked our Lord to heal her daugh- ter who was cruelly tormented by the devil. At first, Christ did not even deign to answer her. Then His disciples said to Him : Lord, send her away, for she crieth after us. And our Lord, affecting a severity, said : I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house ON THE LORD'S PRAYER ^ of Israel. The Chanaanite woman insists, and prostrates herself at His feet. No, said the Saviour, it is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. The woman is far from becoming- discouraged : Yes, Lord, she says, for the ivhelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. O woman, cried out the Saviour, great is thy faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt (Matt. xv. 23-28). And her daughter was healed the same moment. This is an admirable example of perseverance in prayer. God loves to try our faith and confidence, and ends by permitting Himself to be touched, and by granting to us all we ask. Therefore, let us be firm and constant in our prayers, for the moment we cease to pray might perhaps be the moment of grace. Have you brought to prayer all the dispositions I have just enu- merated? How many prayers are made with willful distractions, luke- warmness, and indifference, and rather through routine and custom than with a spirit of devotion and with that sentiment of obstinate confidence which does a holy violence to God ! Let us humbly ask pardon of God, and let us take the firm and sincere resolution to say our prayers with all the care, all the attention, fervor, and love we are capable of. In the last instruction we said that prayer is a duty, and such an indispensable duty that we cannot be saved without it. Can we ful- fill this duty and obtain the graces of which we stand in need, if our prayer is not made in the right way? Therefore, let us pray with recollection and attention, with the sentiments of a lively piety and an humble and ardent confidence which never wearies. Amen. IV. INSTRUCTION ON THE LORD'S PRAYER I. As OUR divine Saviour often recommended prayer to His disci- ples, both by precept and example, His disciples said to Him one day : Lord, teach us to pray (Luke xi. i). Our Saviour answered : When you pray, say: Our Father ivho art in heaven. . . . This prayer je 4 SECOND PART. IV. INSTRUCTION is called the Lord's Prayer, because our Saviour Himself taught it to us. Of all the prayers that are recited in the Church, there can be none more beautiful and more excellent. Why? Because it has a God for author, and, short though it is, it contains in abridgment all that we have to ask of God, as the Apostles' Creed contains all that we must believe, and the Decalogue all that we must practice. The Lord's Prayer is composed of a preface, seven petitions, and a conclusion. The preface consists of the words : Our Father who art in heaven, then follow the seven petitions, of which the first three have for their object our duties towards God, and the last four our own needs. The conclusion consists of the word Amen, which means <( So be it.* Since the Lord's Prayer is such an important prayer, and one which everybody ought to know and understand, I shall explain it in detail. II. Our father ivho art in heaven. Our Father! What a sweet and tender name ! It is the first word we learned in our infancy, and it is the first cry of a child when in danger or in need. Our Lord could have taught us to say : <( O Thou, who art our God, our sover- eign master and who will be one day our judge. w But He wished to inspire us with the most tender confidence, because He knew well that confidence is the soul of prayer. Hence, the first words He puts upon our lips are : Our Father. God is our Father: ist. Because He has given us life and preserves it. Our parents were only the instruments of His providence. It was He that formed our members in our mother's womb, and who joined to our body a spiritual, intelligent, and rational soul. He also preserves our life through the nourishment He furnishes and through the safeguards with which He surrounds us. Perhaps we do not think of this ; and nevertheless is it not God who gives us the air we breathe, the bread we eat, and the clothing we wear? He provides for all our wants and preserves us against thousands of accidents that might befall us. zd. But God is not only our Father because He has given us life and preserves it, but also because He has adopted us through His grace. To adopt some one, means to take him for son. Now, faith teaches us that the eternal Father has acknowledged us as His children in baptism, and thus has rendered us brethren and coheirs of Jesus Christ: Behold 'what manner of charity the Father hath bestoiued upon us, ON THE LORD'S PRAYER jce that 'we should be called and should be the sons of God (I. John in. i). What a glory and what a happiness for us! If a prince of this world were to rank us among his children, how happy would we esteem ourselves! But we are made the children of the King of kings, the lord and master of the universe. St. Paul calls us : Coheirs of Christ. God, by adopting us as his children, and by making us brothers of Jesus Christ, made us at the same time the heirs of His kingdom. Heaven, and heaven with all its imperishable goods and its ineffable delights, is the magnificent heritage reserved for us, if we live as good and worthy children of God. But why do we say <( Our Father," and not My Father? Our Saviour wished to remind us that being all children of God, we are all brothers among one another. Since we are all brothers, should we not love and mutually assist one another as members of the same family? We should all be united in sentiments of real affection, which should man- ifest itself exteriorly by a true devotedness and by effective services rendered to our neighbor. It is not sufficient to speak of equality and fraternity. If we are really brothers in Christ, if we really love God, our Father, we will also sincerely love our neighbor, we \vill live in peace, and we will form only one heart and soul like the early Christians. Our Father who art in heaven! The word (< heaven w reminds us that, although God is everywhere, nevertheless heaven is the princi- pal sojourn of the Deity, the throne of His glory, and thither our thoughts and desires should be directed. Prayer being an elevation of our soul to God, it is in order to assist us to elevate ourselves to Him, that our Master makes us say: <( Our Father who art in heaven.* If we wish to enter into the spirit of our Lord, we should at the begin- ning of (< Our Father, ft raise our thoughts towards heaven, and con- template God and the happiness which He has there prepared for us ; and we say : (< Our Father who art in heaven w in order that we may detach our hearts from this world and raise our minds to heaven. III. Let us enter now into the explanation of each of the seven petitions which compose the <( Our Father. ist Petition. Hallo'wed be thy name. By these words we must not understand that the name of God can acquire any addition of glory ; for the name of God is holiness itself. But when we say : <( Hallowed be thy name,*' we ask that the glory and sanctity of God's name may be spread to all parts of the earth, and that men may 156 SECOND PART. IV. INSTRUCTION always render to Him the homage and honor that are due to Him. We pray for pagans and infidels in order that God may make Himself known to them, and that they may abandon their false worship and embrace His holy and adorable religion. We pray for heretics and schismatics, in order that they may return to the bosom of the true Church which alone can lead them to salvation. We pray for sin- ners, and particularly for those who dishonor God's holy name through perjury, cursing, and blaspheming, in order that they may recognize the enormity of their sins and turn from their wicked ways. But we pray especially for ourselves in order that He may give us the grace to bless His holy name and to love and serve Him with an always increasing fervor. But in asking God for all these graces, let not your conduct be in opposition to your words ; you especially who have the habit of speaking injuriously of God, of religion, and of its ministers, be on your guard ; for you cannot recite the words : w Hal- lowed be Thy name,'* without condemning yourselves. 2d Petition. Thy kingdom come. The kingdom of God is three- fold : i st. His temporal kingdom upon earth through the triumph of the Gospel. 2d. His spiritual kingdom in our souls through His grace, and 3d. His eternal kingdom in heaven. To ask God that His kingdom may come is, therefore, to ask, first, that the Church may be spread and flourish everywhere ; second, that God may reign in our soul by His grace, and that He alone may be its Master ; third, that He may make us merit to reign with Him forever in heaven. The Church of God is always at war with the world and with the powers of hell. The enemies of our salvation are continually laboring 1 at our destruction ; it is to call God to the assistance of His Church and to our help, and to conjure Him to preserve us from the dominion of the devil, that we ask Him that His kingdom may come. We ask that it may come to us in this world by the constant and ever progress- ive triumph of the true religion, as well as through the infusion of grace and the presence of the Holy Ghost in our souls ; and that it may come also in the next world, by the possession of the eternal glory. <( Thy kingdom come. * How sweet and loving a wish ! It is as if we would say : (< Oh, God, we do not want the kingdom of the devil, nor of the passions, nor of the world; but we desire that Thou mayest be our sole sovereign and Master; we desire that Thou only shouldst reign in us during life, in order that we may reign with Thee after death in a blessed eternity. w But how can we say that we ON THE LORD'S PRAYER !^ 7 desire the kingdom of God in our souls, if the devil reigns there as absolute master and we do nothing to drive him out ? How can we hope to reign one day in heaven, if we employ no means to merit it, and when, by our sins and vices, we put ourselves in continual danger of losing it? jd Petition. Thy 'will be done. In God there are two kinds of will : one by which He determines all things and which nothing can resist ; the other, by which He signifies and declares to us what He desires us to do, but which we are free to obey or not to obey. The first of these two wills is manifested to us in the happy or unhappy events that befall us, such as health or illness, abundance or misery, joy or sorrow. Evidently, this will is always fulfilled whether we consent to it or not. But what we ask of God by the words : <( Thy will be done, w is that we may receive with gratitude and love the goods which He grants to us, and submit ourselves, with resignation and patience, to any evils which heaven sends to us. This resignation to the will of God is a great grace, for besides being indispensable to salvation, it becomes for us the source of the most abundant consola- tions, as we can see in the lives of the saints, and especially in that of the holy man Job. The other will of God by which He manifests to us what He requires from us, leaving us our free will, is made known to us : 1st. Through the commandments which He imposes upon us; 2d. Through the wonderful lessons of virtue which our Lord has given to us in the Gospel ; 3d. Through the instructions of those whom He has given to us as guides, viz., the priests of His Church; 4th. Through the voice of our parents and temporal superiors ; 5th. Fi- nally, through the secret inspirations of grace. But we would commit sin more or less grievous, and expose ourselves to damnation, if we were to refuse to submit to God's holy will in all things. Let us pray to God to give us the grace to conform ourselves faithfully to His holy will, and to show the same zeal and love which the angels and saints display in heaven. Ah ! what a beautiful spectacle would the world present if God's will were done everywhere ; if everywhere there would be resigned, submissive, and obedient hearts ; if the thousands of human wills would always conform themselves to the divine will ! Let us pray that this may be the case with us in future ; for this is not only the fulfillment of the Gospel, but it is the perfection of the Gos- pel. All the precepts and all the counsels of spiritual life can be reduced to one duty conformity to the will of God. 5 g SECOND PART. V. INSTRUCTION Such is, my brethren, the meaning of these three first petitions. What excellent teachings they contain ! We say : (C Our Father who art in heaven.* But are we really His children? We say: (1 Hal- lowed be Thy name.* But can we sincerely desire the glory of God's name and at the same time outrage it by sins and blasphemies ? <( Thy kingdom come.* Why, then, do we permit the devil to reign as mas- ter in our soul? <( Thy will be done.* But why do we murmur and why are we impatient in the evils which God sends us ; and why do we violate the laws which the holy will of God imposes on us? Be- ware, my brethren, of condemning yourselves, if your life is not in harmony with your prayer. Humble yourselves before God for your carelessnesses in reciting that admirable prayer and in future try to say it with sentiments of faith, with profound respect and with a sincere sorrow for your sins. Amen. V. INSTRUCTION ON THE LORD'S PRAYER ( Concluded} 4th Petition. Give us this day our daily bread. Here begin the petitions that have for their object our own wants. By the words : * Give us this day our daily bread,* we ask God to grant to us all that is necessary for us for both body and soul. For the soul we ask for the bread of the word of God, for the Blessed Eucharist. It is written : Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every 'word that proccedcth from the mouth of God (Matt. iv. 4). It is especially in the instructions and sermons that this bread of the word of God is distributed to you. Come, therefore, to assist at them with exactitude, and listen to them with attention and respect. Woe to the one that shows only indifference and disgust for this spiritual nourishment of the soul ; his state is similar to a sick person to whom the best of nourishment appears tasteless, who has no desire for any kind of food, and who, consequently, will end by dying of starvation. We ask, also, for the Eucharistic bread which is the bread par ex- cellence, the supersubstantial bread, as St. Matthew calls it, the bread of angels. He that eateth this bread shall live forever, says our ON THE LORD'S PRAYER I59 divine Saviour (John vi. 59). It is, therefore, His desire that we should eat this bread, because for reward He promises us eternal life; and it is even His will that we should eat often thereof, because He calls it our daily bread. But we must receive it with the necessary dispositions, that is, with purity of heart, with sentiments of humility, love, and confidence. Without these this heavenly manna, far from being for us a wholesome nourishment, would be for us a mortal poison. Do you often have recourse to this divine nourishment? How many there are who, instead of making it their daily bread, hardly come to receive it once a year! And with what unworthy dispositions do they even then receive it! For the body we ask three things : nourishment, lodging, and clothing ; for all our corporal necessities can be reduced to this three- fold want. All these things come from God, and though our labor and industry is necessary to procure them, it is not less true that the God of mercy ^grants them to us. But to obtain these goods, we must ask them for a worthy purpose, and we must have the intention to use them only for the greater glory of God and the salvation of our soul ; for were we to make use of them only to offend God, certainly it would be much better to be deprived of them forever. Moreover, let us ask only what is necessary, what is sufficient for our needs, renouncing cheerfully everything superfluous. Indeed, says St. Paul, having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content (I. Tim. vi. 8). And if God grants us the superfluous without our asking for it, we must consider it as a deposit \vhich God entrusts to us for the poor, and to make use of it only to relieve the unfortunate. Finally, let us avoid a too much anxiety in these kinds of demands, and let us be careful not to be occupied too much with the next day. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof (Matt. vi. 34), says our Lord in the Gospel. And when He desires that we should humbly expose to Him our needs, He also desires that we should rely upon His providence and His paternal care. For this reason He teaches us that we should ask of Him each day the bread that is necessary for the present, and not bread for our whole life. 5th Petition. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. In this petition we ask God for two things : The pardon of our sins, and the means to obtain it, that is, the grace of penance. Contrition is the indispensable condition of pardon. Con- sequently, in order that God may grant us the pardon of our offenses, SECOND PART. V. INSTRUCTION we must sovereignly detest them, or at least we must commence to do so. Without this sorrow for our faults, or this commencement of repentance, our prayer would be nothing but hypocrisy, and we would be like an unnatural son, who, after having outraged the best of fathers, would excuse himself and continue, at the same time, to outrage him. Notice also, my brethren, under what condition you ask pardon. <( Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. w It is only in so far as you pardon others that you ask to be par- doned yourselves. Therefore, he who does not wish to pardon his neighbor and to forget the injuries received, cannot expect God to pardon him. Does he not, in making this petition, rather ask God never to pardon him, because he tells God to treat him as he himself treats others? Supposing that some one has sworn an implacable hatred against his enemy, and has declared that he would always keep the remembrance of the offense, and that he would not pardon him even at his death; how could he repeat the words: <( Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," without call- ing on God to refuse His pardon, even at this last moment, because he himself refuses it to his enemy. You, therefore, whose hearts are full of bitterness against your neighbor, hateful and vindictive souls, think seriously of this; when you say the Lord's Prayer with such evil sen- timents, you pronounce your own condemnation. Commence by par- doning with a cheerful heart, by reconciling yourselves with your enemy, and then you can say with sincerity : Three principal motives should induce us to love our neighbor: the voice of nature, the voice of grace, and the formal command of God. 12 i 7 8 THIRD PART. II. INSTRUCTION I. The -voice of nature. We are all children of the same father and members of the same family. Rich and poor, great and small, Christians and infidels, we all have the same origin which is God, the same nature and the same destiny which is heaven. Hence, that sympathy by the natural inclination we feel for our fellow-men, when we are not influenced by selfishness and passion. Man naturally seeks the company of man ; he loves it, he desires it, and he feels mis- erable and unhappy if he is condemned to live in solitude. Men are born to live in society, to help one another in their pains and needs ; they are not made to live in a savage state, like the ani- mals in the woods. But without this benevolent charity, and without this mutual love of which we speak, how would society be possible? Is it not evident that without it men would soon come to treat one another like ferocious beasts, always ready to surprise and to devour one another ; whilst by charity man becomes to man like a second Providence, by the good offices he renders him. My brethren, if we would all love one another, what a happy change would soon take place in the world! How compassionate would the rich be to the poor ! How honest and obliging would the poor be to the rich! What peace and good order would reign in fam- ilies, in parishes, and communities. There would be an end of all disorders, divisions, and hatreds, which so often bring on terrible catastrophes and even threaten to overthrow society ! Whence arises that dissatisfaction \vhich exists to-day more than ever in society, that violent antagonism between the poor and the rich, those mutterings of discontent and that rumbling of a strife that threatens to subvert society? It is because there is no longer any charity among men. People have become selfish, each one seeks only his own interest, and envies all that are above him in rank and fortune, and men are not ashamed to employ the most unjust means to elevate and to enrich them- selves at the expense of others. Show me a country, a parish, a family where charity reigns and you will see that there is neither trouble, nor discord, nor theft, nor slander. Peace reigns supreme therein, and the members have a foretaste of paradise. How happy and peaceful men would be, if everybody would practice charity! II. The Voice of Grace. We are not only rational and social beings, but we are also Christians, brothers of Jesus Christ, and mem- bers of the same holy Church. What a powerful motive for union and mutual love. Behold, says the apostle St. Paul to the Romans, ON THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR I79 the different members which compose the human body ; how anxious they are to assist one another ! When one of them is suffering, how all the others feel uneasy, how they exert themselves, as if they were anxious to assist it! When you happen to get a pin in the foot, says St. Augustine, the eye quickly tries to discover it, the back bends down, and the hand makes efforts to tear it out. When somebody wounds you in any part of the body, the tongue cries out : You hurt me. It does not say : You hurt my foot or my hand, but : You hurt me ; showing the intimate union which reigns among the various members of the body. So, also, are we all members of the mystic body of Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ we should sympathize with the miseries of one another, assist one another in our needs, and love one an- other with the most sincere and most efficacious love. Look at our divine Saviour, our chief and our model, and see what wonderful ex- amples He has given us of this charity during His whole mortal life. Was there ever a man that loved his fellow-men as Jesus Christ loved us? Follow Him in all the circumstances of His hidden life, as well as of His public life, study Him in all His words and in all His actions, and you will see that His every word and action was dictated by the most tender charity. I shall not enter into detail about all that He did in favor of men, to relieve them in their evils and to do them good. I would have to quote the entire Gospel ; let it be sufficient to remind you of the stable of Bethlehem and of Calvary. What more could He do to show us His love? Now, my brethren, should not the disciple follow in the footsteps of his Master? And how can we flat- ter ourselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ, if, instead of this frater- nal love and this sympathizing charity with which the whole Gospel breathes, we have for our brethren only indifference, hatred or con- tempt? III. The Formal Precept Which God Has Given Us. If there is in the Gospel a positive and fundamental law, it is certainly the law of charity. One day a Doctor of the Law asked our divine Saviour which was the greatest precept of the Law, and He answered : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 'with thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and first command- ment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. xxn. 37-39) . During His whole lifetime, Jesus Christ often reminded His disciples of this obligation ; but in order that it jgo THIRD PART. II. INSTRUCTION should never be effaced from their memory, He returns to it again on the eve of His death, and in that wonderful discourse which He made at the Last Supper, and which we may regard as His last will, He said to them: My children, my little children, Jilioli mci, I am going to leave you. But before I separate Myself from you, I wish to give you a new commandment, 'which is to love one another, as I have loved you (John xv. 12). Why does Jesus Christ call this commandment new? It is not new, indeed, as to the substance, because it dates not only from the law of Moses, but from the very origin of the world ; but it is because Jesus Christ asks of us a more perfect love than that which had been prescribed until then. In another place He adds that it is not only a new precept which He wishes to give them, but it is His precept : This is my commandment. As if He were saying to them that this is His whole law, and that all the other obligations which He imposes on them can be reduced to the one : To love one another as He has loved us, That you love one another as 1 have loved you (John xm. 34). And in order that there may not be the least doubt about His words, and to make us understand the importance He attaches to this commandment, He adds, in the same place, that it is by this mark, that it is by this fraternal love that everybody will know whether we are His disciples. By this shall know all men that you are my disciples (John xm. 35). It is not, says St. Augustine, by the power of driving out devils, or raising the dead to life, or by working the greatest miracles, that Christians will be known, but they will be known by fraternal charity. Our Saviour wished that charity should be the distinctive character of the Christian, the mark by which everybody could recognize His true followers. How, then, can we doubt the necessity of fraternal charity, and how can one believe himself to be a Christian if he does not love his neighbor? Consider the life of the early Christians, instructed in the school of the Saviour; what peace, what union, what charity! There was never among them the least hatred, the least discord; never any lawsuits nor litigations; even poverty was unknown among them, because those who had goods shared them with those that had none. In a word, the Acts of the Apostles tell us that they had but one heart and one soul (Acts. iv. 32). Even the pagans, those sworn enemies of the Christian religion, were astonished and amazed at the chanty which reigned among the Christians : Behold how they love one ON THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR !g r another, they said, thus rendering involuntarily testimony to the word of our divine Master, who had said : By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. How, then, can any one call himself a Christian if he has no charity? You, hateful and revengeful spirits, who never let pass an occasion to injure your neighbor, can you call yourselves Christians? And you, unjust retainers of another's goods; you, indefatigable litigants, going to court for the most trivial causes ; you, men without heart, and you who let the poor die of hunger or cold rather than assist them, can you say that you are the disciples of a God who died a victim of love for us ? Can you claim to be members of a religion whose distinctive mark is charity and benevolence? No, you are not Christians, and if you continue to walk in your evil ways, you can- not expect to share one day in the rewards of Jesus Christ. My brethren, it is related in Church history, that the apostle St. John, while living at Ephesus and being unable to walk, on account of his great age, caused himself to be carried into the church on the arms of his disciples, and not having the strength to make Jong dis- courses to them, he contented himself with saying : (< My children, my little children, love one another. w And when his disciples, some- what tired of hearing him always repeat the same thing, remonstrated with him, he made to them the beautiful answer : (< I always repeat this to you, and this alone, because it is the precept of the Lord, and it alone is sufficient, provided it is well observed. w Neither can I, my brethren, repeat these \vords too often : love one another. Charity, the Gospel, behold the epitome of the Chris- tian religion! Without charity all the rest is useless; I would deem myself happy, if I had convinced you of the absolute necessity of charity, especially if I could win you to practice it always. Oh, how happy the parish, how happy the family would be, if charity reigned triumphant ! O God, if there is any desire in my heart, it is that charity may reign among this little flock entrusted to my care, which I love with my whole heart, and to which I desire to consecrate my cares and my life ! Amen. j8 2 THIRD PART. III. INSTRUCTION III. INSTRUCTION ON CHARITY TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR ( Concluded} IN THE last instruction I demonstrated the necessity of fraternal charity; to-day, I am going to show you its practice. Our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself taught us this when He said : This is my com- mandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you (John xv. 12). Jesus Christ loved us to the extent of suffering and dying for us ; our charity must, therefore, be sincere and efficacious. Jesus Christ loved us solely for our salvation ; our charity must, therefore, be pure and holy. Jesus Christ loved us all and without exception, because He suffered and died for all men ; our charity must, there- fore, be universal. I. Our charity must be sincere and efficacious. Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, says the apostle St. John, but in deed and in truth (John in. 18). Our Lord says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. v. 43). The love we bear to ourselves must, therefore, be the measure of the love we bear to our neighbor. We must wish and do to others what we desire that others should wish and do to us. <( Therefore, let us examine, w says St. Augustine, "how we love ourselves and from this let us conclude how much we should love our neighbor." Everyone loves himself, and no one likes to hear others speak ill of him ; let us, therefore, never speak ill of our neighbor. Everyone wishes to raise himself to honor and fortune, to succeed in his affairs ; let us, therefore, not be jealous of the honor, the fortune, and the success of others. Everyone wishes to have his faults tenderly dealt with, to be consoled in affliction and to be helped in sickness and want; let us, therefore, do to our neighbor what we wish that he should do to us. If charity consisted only in words, or in protestations of compas- sion and love then, indeed, there was never a century more charitable than ours. But we must come to actions. We must make sacrifices to relieve the unfortunate, to give bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked. We must not stop at words of pity. Our actions must demonstrate our charity, else we lay ourselves open to the charge that we love our neighbor with our lips, but our heart is far from him. It is easy to love our neighbor in words, but the true test of charity lies in the sacrifice of our goods, our pleasures, and ease and comfort for ON THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR t 8 3 the sake of the unfortunate. Charity in words is mere egotism. Like the Jews of whom the Gospel speaks, who seeing a man lying by the road, covered with wounds and half-dead, and seeing him passed by, so do we often remain insensible to the miseries of others. Ah! my brethren, let us imitate the good Samaritan, let us prove by works that we love our neighbor as ourselves, and let us treat him as we would wish to be treated ! II. Charity must be pure and holy. What motives have we to love our neighbor as ourselves? We are all children of the same father who is God, members of the same body which is the Church, and because Jesus Christ, our Head, commands us to do so. There- fore, we must love all in God and for God's sake. The natural affec- tion which we feel for certain persons, on account of their character or physical or moral qualities, is not charity. This attachment may bo good, but it has its dangers. (< Would it not be loving for hell, );> says St. Chrysostom, <( if one would love another only with evil intentions and wicked designs . ?)> Religion does not disapprove the human affec- tion which one has for his parents, benefactors, and friends. It is a law which God has implanted in our hearts. But that natural affection, without relation to the Creator, is not what religion prescribes. To love our neighbor only with a natural and interested love would be loving him as the pagans do. and there would be no merit. w The true Christian,* says St. Francis of Sales, <( loves God in his neigh- bor, and his neighbor in God. w He loves God in his neighbor, be- cause he refers to the Creator all the affections he has for the creature, and because he loves his neighbor only on account of God. He loves his neighbor in God and for God, that is for the salvation of his soul, and because God wills it. This is that pure and holy charity, that sacred fire which Jesus Christ came to bring upon earth. How beautiful and precious it is, and what blessings it would procure us, if we would practice it accord- ing to the example of the Saviour! But alas! where are they who truly love their neighbor? Some love, because nature inclines them to love, and their heart can no more be without love than the sun can be without heat and light. Some love only those whose character and opinions agree with their own, or those who do them good, or who are able to help them. Some love their companion in pleasure, or the accomplices in crime. They damn the souls of others they love, while damning their own. What strange charity! Is this the love !84 THIRD PART. III. INSTRUCTION commanded by the Gospel ? And are not those scandals and disorders that we see all around us, those quarrels, those family dissensions, the fruit of a perverted and criminal love? Young people of both sexes, be careful never to permit the fire of impure love to be enkindled in your hearts. III. Charity must be universal. Such was the charity of our divine Saviour. He loved poor and rich, pagans and Jews; those who persecuted Him as well as those who loved Him. He suffered and died for all men. He wants us to imitate His example and love all men without distinction of character, country, condition, and even of religion. He wishes that we love the stranger, as we love our nearest and dearest neighbor, Jews, Mohammedans, and heretics, just as we love the members of our own true Church. Thou shalt love thy neighbor (Matt. v. 43). He excepts nobody, not even our enemy. Tou have heard, says the Saviour, that it hath been said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that perse- cute and calumniate you, that you may be the children of your Father that is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the Just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, -what reward shall you have ? Do not even the publicans the same ? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more ? Do not also the heathen this ? (Matt. 43-47.) If, then, we desire to be true Christians, we must love all our fellow-men, without distinc- tion. And if there were in the world only one single person, whom we did not love, we would not have charity. But you may say : How can I love those who, far from loving me, seek, on the contrary, to injure me in every possible manner? I know that the love of our enemy is something verv difficult. Perhaps it is the most difficult precept of the entire Gospel. But God commands it and we must obey. But, you may say, to love my enemy I must pardon him; and if I pardon him I will be looked upon as a coward. No, my dear brother, do not believe this ; on the contrary, you will be only the more respected and esteemed by all good people, for there is no greater victory, no victory more honorable than the victory over self. In the Lord's Prayer you say : (< Forgive us our trespasses as we for- give those who trespass against us. 8 But if you do not pardon, why do you ask to be pardoned? And by asking God to treat you as you treat your neighbor, you ask Him not to pardon you. You ON THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR 185 cannot recite this prayer without condemning yourselves. In temp- tations to anger or revenge, look on the crucifix. Think of Christ on the cross. Can you call yourselves the disciples of a God who par- doned His very executioners and prayed for them on the cross, if you cannot forgive an injury, or even an unkind word? O cross of my Saviour, what hatreds and wraths hast Thy remembrance extin- guished! It was the cross which disarmed John Gualbert, when, having met his enemy unarmed and alone in the forest, he was about to revenge himself for the murder of one of his relatives. After this victory over himself, God rewarded him with such extraordinary graces, that he became a great saint. It was the cross that caused the tomahawk to fall from the hands of a savage at the moment when he was going to strike the holy bishop of Bardstown, Monseigneur Flaget. This pious missionary uncovered his breast and showed to the Indian his crucifix, saying: (( Behold the image of Him who died for you on the cross; strike, if you dare! w Instantly the savage fell at the feet of the holy bishop and asked to be baptized. Imitate these beautiful examples and pardon your enemies, not once, but "until seventy-seven times, w in the words of our Saviour, that is, always. Do not content yourselves with pardoning your enemy in your heart, but go and reconcile yourselves with him, salute him, speak with him when he desires to speak with you. Has your charity all the marks of true Christian love? Charity m.ust be sincere and efficacious. Do you give to the poor according to your means ; do you bear with patience the faults of others? Charity must be pure and holy. Do you love everybody in God and for God's sake, or do you nourish at the bottom of your heart an impure and criminal affection? Charity must be universal. Do you harbor hatred against any one? Do you love everyone as you love yourselves? Do you wish to everyone the same good which you desire for yourselves? St. Paul enumerates the qualities of true charity: Charity is pa- tient and full of kindness; it envies not; it is not puffed up, it is not ambitious and seeks not its own; it provokes not to anger, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things (I. Cor. xm. 4-7). May God grant that your charity be such, and that after having been united by the bonds of an intimate charity here on earth, you may love one another in a happy eternity. Amen. T 86 THIRD PART. IV. INSTRUCTION IV. INSTRUCTION ON CHARITY WORKS OF MERCY AFTER having spoken to you of the necessity of fraternal charity, and of the qualities it should have, there remains for us to instruct you on the works of mercy which it prescribes. These works are of two kinds: corporal and spiritual. The first are seven in number: ist. To feed the hungry ; 2d. To give drink to the thirsty ; 3d. To clothe the naked ; 4th. To visit the imprisoned ; 5th. To harbor the harbor- less ; 6th. To visit the sick; yth. To bury the dead. I. As to the last work of mercy, burying the dead, we cannot have praise enough for the zeal of persons who are ready to assist at this sad and pious duty. It is an act of charity which can be of great merit before God, if it is fulfilled with Christian views. Holy Scrip- ture teaches us that, through the care he took to bury the dead, the holy man Tobias merited an angel to descend from heaven to accom- pany his son on a journey to a distant country. It is also a laudable custom to accompany the dead to their last abode. Is it not the last service which you can render to a relative, a friend, or a benefactor? But in doing so you should not be guided by a sentiment of propriety, but by a spirit of true piety which moves you to join your prayers with those of the Church for the repose of the departed. II. The sixth work of mercy is visiting' the sick, especially those who are in need of assistance. I do not need to insist on the neces- sity and advantages of these visits. Our Lord tells us that by visit- ing those who suffer, we visit Him. / was sick and you visited me (Matt. xxv. 36). If charity requires us to assist the poor who are well, and who can help themselves, with much more reason ought it to lead us to aid those who cannot leave their home on account of sickness or infirmities. But in order that these visits may be useful, they should not be visits of mere benevolence or human respect, still less of pastime, or tiresome visits, which, on account of their length or their inopportuneness contribute often only to increase the fatigue and sufferings of the sick. They should be inspired by a sincere charity, and should be made with a view of advancing both the spir- itual and corporal good of the sick person. If the sick person is poor and it is especially to the poor that visits are useful you should ON WORKS OF MERCY 187 inform yourselves about his needs. See that he has proper food and the means to procure the remedies that are necessary for him ; that he has wood or coal to keep himself warm, clothing to cover himself both day and night, and that he has some one to attend to him. If the person you visit is in no need of help for the body, you can always do good to him spiritually. If he is pious and a practical Christian, he will listen with pleasure and gratitude to the words of edification you speak to him ; if he is a sinner, perhaps it will be necessary for you to remind him of his last end, to exhort him to go to confession. Often one word of a devoted friend helps more than all the exhortations of the priest. III. The four works of mercy which concern food, drink, clothing, and lodging, are all comprised under the common term of alms. I shall not speak of the fourth work : To -visit the imprisoned, because we live in a country where there is hardly any occasion for it. i st. Almsgiving and Its Necessity. You would deceive yourselves greatly, my brethren, if you were to believe almsgiving is only a work of counsel, and a mark of high perfection. It is a strict and indis- pensable duty prescribed to us both by the natural and by the divine law. What does natural law or simple reason teach us? That we are all brethren, all made of the same clay, all the children of the same Father. Should we not, therefore, have compassion for the miseries of one another? And if any one were to remain insensible to the sufferings of others, would he not prove that he has no heart and that he is unworthy of the quality of man? What, again, does reason tell us? That we must do to others as we wish them to do to us. Who is the one, who, being in need, is not glad when an- other assists him? There is nothing more formal in Holy Scrip- ture than the obligation which God imposes upon us to give alms. / command thee to open thy hand to the needy, says God in the book of Deuteronomy (xv. n). I command thee: hence it is not a simple counsel, but a precept. In another place God tells us that we must not defraud the poor of alms (Eccl. iv. i) ; as if charity were a sacred debt to the poor which we cannot deny him without committing a great injustice. The sentence which our Lord Jesus Christ shall pronounce on the day of judgment is especially strik- ing. Addressing first those at His right hand, He will say to them : w Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ; for I was hungry, and you jgg THIRD PART. IV. INSTRUCTION gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in ; naked, and you covered me ; I was in prison, and you came to see me." . . . And then turning to those at His left hand, He shall say to them : w Depart from me, you cursed . . . for I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink ; I was a stranger, and you took me not in ; naked, and you covered me not ; sick and in prison, and you visited me not." And then the wicked shall answer: <( Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?" And the sovereign judge shall answer them: Amen, I say to you, as long- as you did it not to one of these least ones, neither did you do it to me (Matt. xxv. 34-45)- After such words, my brethren, can one still have any doubt of the necessity of giving alms, since it is principally upon charity that our Lord makes our salvation or our loss depend? You may answer : <( I cannot give alms because my property, my narrow circumstances, do not permit me." If you cannot do it, un- doubtedly God will not oblige you to do it. But is this not very often an idle pretext? Do you not find money for your vanities, your dress, or even for saloons and theatres? You find means to satisfy your whims and all your sensualities; why should you not, also, find the means to assist those who are dying of hunger and cold? You may answer me : (< But I have a large family, and I would not like to reduce my children to want." Do not be afraid, says St. Cyprian, for if God takes care of the little birds, how much more will He help those who help Him in the person of the poor? Remember, also, that experience has proved that after an avaricious father often follow squandering children. Moreover, if you have children, you should give them the example of giving alms. (< But," you say, <( the poor deceive us so often by their appearance." If there are beggars who are not poor, must those who are really poor be victims of the lies and deceits of others? What must you give in alms, and what should be the measure of your charity? I answer to you in the words of Tobias to his son : <( If you have little, give little ; but if you have much, give much." Do not deprive yourselves of what is necessary, but in what is superfluous give as much as you can. 2d. Advantages. Do not believe that all that you give to the poor is lost to you. The proverb says that w alms do not make poor." This ON WORKS OF MERCY 189 was even acknowledged by pagan philosophers, and especially by an Emperor, a sworn enemy of Christianity, Julian the Apostate, who said : <( Show me a man who has become poor through alms. My almsgiv- ing has always enriched me, in spite of my generosity." And how many among you, perhaps, could say the same? God blesses generous and charitable souls. He blesses their fields, their flocks, as He formerly blessed the oil and flour of the widow of Sarepta. This woman, in a time of famine, had only a handful of flour and a little oil in a vessel. Nevertheless, she shared it with the prophet Elias, and God, touched by her charity, miraculously multiplied the oil and flour in such a manner that it did not diminish, although she used it every day for herself and her son. Add to this the spiritual advantages which almsgiving procures us. In reward for her alms, a pious woman named Tabitha, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, merited, after her death, to be raised to life again. For the same reason, the centu- rion Cornelius was the first Gentile called to the knowledge of the Gospel. There is also nothing more powerful than almsgiving to merit for us the grace of conversion and salvation. Hence the words of Holy Scripture, that alms deliver from all sin (Tob. iv. n) And do you count as nothing the consolations which almsgiving procures to us? What happiness you feel when you have relieved some unfor- tunate ! How happy the rich man feels when he is blessed and loved by the poor and the sick ! 3d. Conditions. I need not insist any further on the obligation and advantages of almsgiving, for I know that in this congregation the poor and unfortunate find ready help. How should almsgiving be practiced in order to be meritorious? My brethren, always give alms for God and with the view to please God. See Jesus Christ in the person of the poor, for God rewards only what one does for Him- self and out of love for Him. Give alms without ostentation and without seeking to be seen; otherwise you have received already your reward here below : When thou dost give alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth (Matt. vi. 3). Give alms with- out murmuring, for, says St. Augustine, when you help unwillingly and only to free yourselves from the importunities of the poor, you lose both your alms and the merit you could have had in giving it. Give alms with judgment, that is, to those who are really in need; do not give to those who, by labor and proper economy, could easily furnish themselves what they need. In the distribution of your alms, 190 THIRD PART. V. INSTRUCTION always prefer the bashful poor to beggars, good people to bad people, natives to strangers, and relatives and neighbors to outsiders. May God grant that my words fall upon good ground, and that the divine seed may bring forth its fruit! Amen. V. INSTRUCTION ON CHARITY WORKS OF MERCY (Concluded] IF THE corporal works of mercy are very meritorious, then the spiritual works of mercy are indeed much more meritorious, as the soul is far more precious than the body, and spiritual goods infinitely more precious than temporal goods. The spiritual works of mercy are seven in number : ist. To instruct the ignorant; 2d. To warn the sinners; 3d. To counsel the doubtful; 4th To comfort the sorrowful; 5th. To bear wrong patiently; 6th. To forgive injuries; yth. To pray for the living and the dead. ist. The Instruction of the Ignorant. This is a duty especially of parents in regard to their children, and of masters in regard to their domestics. They are obliged to this both by their state and by charity. They would sin doubly before God, if they did not fulfill this duty. Therefore, they are bound to have those under their charge instructed in the Christian doctrine, and to see that they attend the instructions given in the parish church or Catholic school. What parents and masters are obliged to do by their state of life, all Chris- tians should do by charity. Is it not, indeed, a work of the greatest charity to teach the poor and the ignorant to know God and to serve Him? He who fulfills this duty well, will be great in the kingdom of heaven, for the Gospel tells us: He that shall do and teach shall be great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. v. 19). How many poor and abandoned children there are, especially in cities, who cannot fre- quent the schools, and whose parents are too ignorant to teach them anything! If somebody did not perform this good work, what would become of these poor children ? Who would teach them the things ON WORKS OF MERCY ! 9 ! necessary for the salvation of their souls? Hence there are circum- stances and particular situations where one is strictly bound by the great law of charity to teach and explain the catechism to those who are ignorant of it. 2d. Correction of Sinners. The wise man says in Ecclesiasticus : And He gave to every one of them commandment concerning his neigh- bor (Eccl. xvir. 12). The Lord has commanded each one of us to interest himself in the salvation of his brethren. Our divine Saviour gave us a formal commandment when He said : If thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother (Matt. xvm. 15). If charity obliges us to relieve the corporal miseries of our neighbor, why should it not oblige us to relieve his spiritual miseries, if we are able? To alleviate the temporal miseries of one's neighbor, and remain indifferent to his spiritual wants, would be like saving a man's furniture from the fire, but letting the man himself burn to death. The saints were always zealous for the salvation of souls. St. Ignatius of Loyola said that, even if he had one foot already in heaven, he would prefer not to enter, if a sinner upon earth should present himself to be converted. St. Theresa declared that, to gain a soul for God, not only would she give her own life, but would even resign herself to the flames of Purgatory until the end of the world. <( What folly! w cries out St. Bernard, w an animal falls down and people hasten to raise it up again ; a soul falls into the mire of vice, and no one moves to assist it. w We are obliged, under pain of sin, to admonish our neighbor of his faults ; and a neglect of this duty might be even a mortal sin, if the fault is grievous, and if we think that, by a charitable advice, we can hinder the sin. Who are more especially bound to the precept of fraternal correc- tion? They are the pastors in regard to their flocks, parents in regard to their children, teachers in regard to their pupils, and masters in regard to their servants. For all these it is not only a duty of charity, but also a duty of their state of life. We shall speak more at length of this in the fourth commandment. This obligation, how- ever, is not only binding on superiors, but also on equals, and gener- ally on every one. The evil to be hindered, or the disorder to be corrected, must be grievous before correction is attempted, and espe- cially it must be certain that the correction will produce a good effect. I9 2 THIRD PART. V. INSTRUCTION Fraternal correction is one of the most delicate points of the evan- gelical teaching. Many fail in this duty, either because they do not do it when they ought to do it, or because they do it badly. If some one commits a fault in your presence, or utters indecent or impious words, and if you are his superior in age or position, you must ad- monish and reprove him. Even if you were only his equal, you should still correct him, if you believe that your advice will be salu- tary. On the contrary, if the person is older than you, more in- structed, of a more elevated rank, and you are sure that he would laugh at your remonstrance, or that he will speak or act the worse, then keep quiet; but do not countenance his conduct or language by your presence. Leave his company if you can conveniently do so. If you cannot, then show by your cold and serious behavior the pain you feel at his conduct. But you must correct sinners with prudence and discretion; for, says St. Gregory, the same admonition does not suit every class of persons. Therefore, suit your correction to the time, the place, the age of the person, his character, and to all the different circum- stances. Admonish children differently from older people; the poor differently from the rich. In some cases one word said opportunely will be sufficient, whilst in others, severe lectures and rebukes are required. Again, the correction should be made privately, in order to spare confusion to the guilty. Public rebukes seldom do good, except when private admonitions would be useless and when it is necessary to counteract and repair public scandal. Lastly, correc- tion must be made with kindness. Harshness and bitter words serve merely to exasperate the guilty. However, this kindness must not exclude firmness. Our Saviour gave us an example of firmness, when, with the whip in hand, he drove out the merchants and money- changers who profaned the temple. Correction must be received with docility, with humility, and with gratitude. If you had on your face a spot which rendered you hid- eous or ridiculous, would you not be glad if some one drew your atten- tion to it? Why, therefore, do you become angry when attention is drawn to the spots on your soul? The best friend we can have in this world is the one who admonishes us unsparingly of our faults. St. Gregory the Great did not acknowledge any other kind of friend; and St. Louis, a bishop of Toulouse, in France, used to have religious accompany him everywhere to reprove him for his faults. ON WORKS OF MERCY , 93 The third work of mercy is to counsel the doubtful. The fourth to comfort the sorrowful. Everybody can easily understand these, and they need no explanation. The fifth work of mercy is to bear ivith patience the injuries and faults of others or of our neighbor. Our neighbor may have faults of mind, of heart, or of body, defects of memory and intelli- gence, vices and evil habits, a difficult character, or an irritable temper. Indeed, we have much to suffer from the part of persons with whom we are obliged to live. It may be a husband who dissipates in foolish expenses the little he gains, whilst, at home, his wife and little children are suffering with hunger ; a negligent and lazy wife, who does not take care of her household ; a disobedient and intemperate son ; a vain and worldly daughter, who listens to nobody, and laughs at the ad- vices and counsels of her parents ; a cross mother-in-law ; a proud and haughty daughter-in-law, who has no regard for the age or infirmities of her aged parents ; a neighbor who cannot bear the least word and is always disposed to complain, to criticize, and to blame. We must be patient with them all. We must bear with the faults of others as we wish that others should bear with us. St. Paul says: Bear ye one another" 1 s burden (Gal. vi. 2). Our reason tells us, that being all members of one and the same body, we must have com- passion upon the miseries and infirmities of one another. Do not say that it is impossible for you to bear patiently with such a fault or such a person; with God's grace you can do it if you wish ; you only need to ask for patience. Moreover, we are obliged to suffer the faults of those persons that surround us, whether we will or not ; only if you suffer them with patience, you can lay up treasures of merit for heaven ; whilst, on the other hand, you offend God by giving your- selves up to impatience and anger ; you destroy peace and union in the family, which is the most solid and true happiness of life. . A pious lady had, out of charity, given shelter to a poor woman who had an unbearable temper. Tired of her faults, she was one day on the point of sending her away, but she went first to consult St. An- thony. Do not do it, said the Saint to her, for you would lose there- by all the merit which, through your patience and charity, she caused you to gain. What a happy change would take place in your house- holds, if everyone would bear with the faults of his neighbor ; if the mother of the family would be kind and patient towards her husband, and the husband more reasonable and more indulgent towards his 13 194 THIRD PART. VI. INSTRUCTION wife ; if the children would always show themselves obedient and respectful towards their parents ; if servants would love their masters and forget little wrongs, and if masters, in their turn, had patience with their servants! The family ties and neighborly relations which should form the charm of life, are, on the contrary, often only the sources of torment and unhappiness, and the fountain of misery and sadness. The sixth work of mercy is to forgive offenses. We have spoken of this at length in another place. As regards the last, it is sufficient for me to recall it to your mind : To pray for the living and the dead. Such are, therefore, my brethren, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. I pray to God to give you the grace to put them in practice. Charity, as we have said, in commencing the series of instructions, is the first and greatest of all virtues; charity is the whole Gospel. Practice charity towards God and towards your neighbor, and you will fulfill all the obligations of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, your life will be found full of good works, and you will receive in heaven a reward without end. Amen. VI, INSTRUCTION ON MORTAL SIN SIN is any thought, word, action, or omission contrary to the com- mandments of God or of the Church. You sin every time you perform a forbidden action or hold for- bidden discourses, every time you omit duties prescribed by the com- mandments, or entertain thoughts or desires contrary to the law of God. It is, therefore, not only by action or omission we may sin, but also by thoughts and desires. There are two kinds of sin : Original sin, which we all have in- herited from Adam, our first father, and actual sin, which we commit of our own free will. Actual sin is of two kinds: mortal sin and -venial sin. Mortal sin deprives the soul of its life, by causing it to lose God's grace which is its true life. In the soul there are two kinds of life, 195 natural life and the life of grace, which is God's friendship. Our soul cannot lose natural life, because it is immortal, but it can lose the life of grace, if it has the misfortune to fall into mortal sin. Let us now try to understand the ugliness of mortal sin and the horror we should have for it. Few persons seem to be sufficiently in- structed in this matter, or, rather, few seem to appreciate the enormity of sin. To have some idea of the enormity of mortal sin, you only need to consider it as the greatest evil in the eyes of God, and as the greatest evil that can befall man. I. Sin is the greatest evil in the eyes of God ; because it contains in itself a threefold malice of impiety, of revolt, and of the blackest ingratitude. 1st. The degree of an injury is measured by the condition of the one who offends, and by the dignity of the one who is offended. What would be only a slight failing against a simple individual may become a capital crime in regard to a king or an emperor. Now, who is the God that is outraged by the sin of man, and what is man who outrages God by sin ? Our mind loses itself, our imagination becomes confused in contemplating the immense interval that separates God from man. God, the Creator and Master of all, before whom all that exists is as if it did not exist ; and man, weak and frail creature, formed out of the slime of the earth and whom one breath of God can destroy ! God, the eternal and unchangeable Being, who fills heaven and earth with His majesty, who created all things by a single word and who could annihilate everything by a single word in the same manner ; and man, who is only of yesterday, who will no longer be by to-morrow, and who hardly occupies a perceptible place in space ! God, infinite in holiness and in all perfections ; and man who is nothing else but an abyss of corruption and miseries. And man, that pitiful creature, that atom and nothing, dares to outrage his God, to insult His infinite maj- esty, not through ignorance or weakness, but through malice, with deliberate purpose and out of mere wantonness, not once, but thousands and thousands of times, even though he knows that this same God whom he offends is present everywhere and is the invisible witness of his actions, even the most secret. And why does he thus outrage God, the source of all good goodness itself? For some frivolous in- terest or for the pleasure of a moment! Can one imagine greater malice and more shameful impiety? 3d. I have added that sin is a rebellion against God. 196 THIRD PART. VI. INSTRUCTION Everything in nature claims the obedience which we owe to the Creator. From the beginning of the world God spoke, and the uni- verse came forth from nothing. He called the stars, and the stars took their place in rank like an army in battle array. He spoke to the sea: <( Thus far shalt thou go and no farther w ; and the sea, always respect- ful and obedient, breaks its pride against a bulwark of sand. He commanded the earth to cover itself with flowers and fruits ; and the earth, that fruitful mother, is to this day inexhaustible in its bounty, and its bosom is still filled with the richest treasures. In the midst of this unanimous concert of homage and praise, what does man do, man the only reasonable creature, man the only one capable of knowing and loving his Creator? From the height of Sinai, God gives man ten commandments, and says to him : Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and thou shalt serve him alone. Thou shalt not take my name in -vain, and thou shalt not prof ane it through impiety and blasphemy. Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Thou shalt respect the life, the honor, and the goods of thy neighbor. Thou shalt not commit fornication nor uncleanliness. And what does man answer? He answers, if not in words at least in act, that he will not acknowledge the authority of his Creator, and that he does not want to be subject to Him, that he intends to obey only his passions, and be the slave of his caprices. But, says the Lord : Am I not thy God and thy Master? No! answers the sinner, the God I adore is avar- ice, licentiousness, the goods and pleasures of this world, and I do not acknowledge any other master. I shall not serve thee (Jer. n. 20). But beware, sinner, and remember that by revolting thus against thy God and Creator, thou wilt provoke His wrath and expose thyself to all kinds of evil. No matter : I wish to enjoy life, I wish to content and satisfy my passions ; actual happiness is all that I want ; I do not care about the rest. I shall not serve thee. What audacity, what temerity, what folly! Imagine a little worm that revolts against the foot that is going to crush it; or represent to yourselves a man suspended on the brink of an abyss, and who seeks to repel the hand that tries to save him. Oh, sinner, wilt thou com- mence to understand the blindness and perversity of thy conduct? 3d. What completes the enormity of sin is its character of ingrat- itude. Listen to a parable which gives us an idea of this : A man of very low station was condemned to death for the crime of high treason. Already the instrument of execution was ready and ON MORTAL SIN X p 7 soon the fatal hour was to strike. The son of the king appears before his august father and asks pardon for the condemned man. The father, although a merciful man, answers that justice must be done, and that the good of society demands that the crime should not remain unpunished. "But,* answers the son, (< if there must be a victim, I myself shall die instead of the guilty man. Let his life be pardoned rather than mine.* The father consents to the sacrifice, although the victim is his only son, the object of all his love. The prince hastens to the place of execution, and he finds the criminal already bound hand and foot on the scaffold. The hangman is ready to spring the fatal trap : (< Stop,* the prince cries out, <( it is not he but I that must die.* . . . You expect the criminal to throw himself at the feet of his benefactor, and protest that he will not permit the innocent to die for the guilty. But no, the monster helps to bind the king's son, hands and feet, places him on the fatal trap and helps to execute him ! You shudder, you are seized with indignation. Turn this indigna- tion against yourselves, for it is you, it is your sins which crucified, not a prince of the earth, but the Son of God who came to give you life. It is your sins that nailed Him to the cross and made Him spill the last drop of His blood. And you have renewed this execution every time you committed a mortal sin. You have trampled under foot the sacred blood He shed for you. <( Ah!* said St. Mary Magda- len, of Pazzi, on her deathbed, <( I must leave this world without hav- ing been able to understand a frightful mystery, without understand- ing how any one can commit sin which cost the blood of God ! * Do you understand, my brethren, how a Christian who has faith and reason can carry his ingratitude and malice to the point of crucifying anew this adorable Saviour who became flesh for us, who humbled Himself for us, who gave Himself up to death out of love for us ? The outrage which sin causes God is infinite, and 'we may well pity the one who is not seized with horror for such a frightful evil, the sovereign evil, the greatest of all evils, or rather the only evil in the world. What should also contribute to make us detest sin, is the wrong which it causes to ourselves. II. I will not insist on the physical evils which sin draws down upon us already in this life. You all know that it was sin which, from the beginning, introduced into this world death, illness, and all the miseries that inflict us. When all mankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, were engulfed in the waters of the Deluge, when 198 THIRD PART. VI. INSTRUCTION the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrha \vere consumed by a rain of fire and brimstone ; when war, pestilence, famine, and so many other plagues of divine wrath ravaged the earth, it was always sin that was the cause. But all these temporal evils are as nothing in comparison with the evil which sin causes to the soul. What was the state of our soul before committing sin? Clothed with the garment of innocence, it was white as snow, brilliant as the sun ; but once it was soiled by sin it lost all its beauty and became an object of horror. Before sin, it enjoyed the sweet friendship of its God, who was pleased to dwell in it and overwhelm it with favors; but since it* sin, it is an object of hatred and execration in the eyes of God. God withdrew Himself from the soul; the devil replaced Him, and reigns as master, and holds it as his captive, as his slave. Not only does sin degrade the soul and make of it a hideous corpse, \vhose sight we could not bear, but it robs the soul of all the goods which it had acquired, and despoils it of all its merits. By prayers, mortifications, and good works, the soul had woven around its brow a magnificent crown for a happy eternity ; heaven with all its joys and with all its delights was to be its reward ; but from the moment it had the misfortune to fall into mortal sin, it lost all its rights to the celestial inheritance, and if it happened to die in this sad state, it would receive no reward for its virtues and merits. Yes, my brethren, even if the soul had led a penitential life as austere as that of the anchorites in the deserts, as humble and chaste as that of virgins in the cloisters, N if it should fall into mortal sin before its last breath, all would be lost and lost forever! Think of a traveler, loaded with riches, who has come from a distant country, and succeeded in crossing the seas, being shipwrecked just as he enters the harbor! Think of a farmer who, on account of a violent storm, has the misfortune to lose his whole har- vest on the very 'day he is going to reap it! Such is the lot of the sinner who, after long years of virtues and merits, commits a mortal sin and dies in this deplorable state! It is true, if he does penance, all his merits will be restored to him ; but if he does not repent, all is lost forever. Oh, the frightful ravages of sin in a soul! Oh, the blindness and the insensibility of the sinner! Nor is this all. .Not only does sin rob the soul of its merits, but makes it impossible to acquire new ones. The state of sin is a state of death, and in a state of death no one can perform any acts of life. By sin you break your union with Jesus Christ, you are cut off from ON MORTAL SIN ! 99 the stern and become similar to branches which are separated from the stem and can bear fruit no longer. Are, then, the prayers and good works of the sinner void in the eyes of God? No, God forbid; but as long as one is in sin, one can do nothing meritorious for heaven. Thus, whilst a glass of water given to a poor man can obtain for you an eternal happiness, if you do this trifling action in the state of grace, on the contrary, all the fasts, and all the alms, and all the prayers you may do, avail nothing if they are performed in the state of mortal sin. For the soul which has the misfortune to fall into mortal sin, all is not limited, alas! to the loss of an eternity of happiness. By losing heaven, you deserve hell; if you die in the state of mortal sin, even though you had committed only one mortal sin, you are lost forever ; forever deprived of the sight of God and His glory, forever con- signed to avenging fire, to rage and despair, in the horrible sojourn of the damned! Do you think of this, my brethren, when you give yourselves up to sin? For a moment of pleasure, for a mere nothing, you expose yourselves to lose an eternity of unspeakable happiness and to fall into an eternity of misfortune ! Ah ! how different was the conduct of the saints! Consider the martyrs in the midst of their torments, the anchorites in the depths of deserts, the virgins in the cloisters ! Why did they sacrifice their liberty, the honors and pleasures of the world? Why did they sacrifice their very life, if it were not to avoid sin and the danger .of committing it? Great threats were once made against St. John Chrysostom, because he refused to grant the Em- press Eudoxia what she demanded : (< Go, w he answered to the cour- tiers, <( tell the Empress that John is afraid of only one thing, sin." <( My son, w Queen Blanche used to say to her child, who was to become the great King St. Louis, (< thou knowest how much I love thee, and, nevertheless, I would prefer to see thee dead at my feet, rather than to know thee guilty of one mortal sin. w St. Edward, St. Anselm,' and St. Catharine of Genoa said that if they were in a sea of molten lead and could leave it only under the condition of committing a mortal sin, they would prefer to remain in it than to be delivered from it at this price. After the example of the saints, my brethren, flee from sin as the greatest evil in the world, and be ready to sacrifice everything, even life itself, rather than ever commit one mortal sin. Amen. 200 THIRD PART. VII. INSTRUCTION VII. INSTRUCTION ON VENIAL SIN VENIAL sin is a sin which does not cause death to the soul, but which lessens charity and disposes the soul to mortal sin. The word venial (from the Latin venia, pardon) signifies pardon- able. This sin is so called, either because God pardons it more easily than mortal sin, or because he has given us a greater number of means to purify ourselves from it, such as confession, even without absolu- tion, holy communion, alms, holy water, etc. It is not easy in many cases, as the most learned theologians teach, to distinguish venial sin from mortal sin. The only rule is, that for mortal sin, two conditions are needed : Grievousness of matter and perfect consent. The matter is grievous when the sin is a serious offense against God, against our neighbor, or against ourselves ; and the consent is perfect, if the evil is done with full and entire reflec- tion. If one of these two conditions is wanting, the sin is regarded only as venial. Venial sin, however, may become mortal through a false conscience, an evil intention, or on account of the scandal that follows. If some one were to commit a venial sin with full delibera- tion, thinking it were a mortal sin ; or in stealing a small piece of money, he had the intention of stealing a much larger one; or if by loose words or actions, even though not obscene enough to constitute a grievous matter, one should scandalize his neighbor in each case the sin, though seemingly venial, would become mortal. There are two kinds of venial sins : venial sins of weakness, which are committed through ignorance or inadvertence, and venial sins committed with deliberate intention, through negligence, malice, or through the effect of a bad habit. As to the venial sins of weakness, we should try to avoid them ; but as they are inseparable from human frailty, we must not expect to be free of them altogether : A just man falls seven times (a day) (Prov. xxiv. 16), says the Holy Ghost. Only the Blessed Virgin Mary, by a special privilege, was exempt from even the .least venial sin. But venial sins committed with full deliberation are not so pardon- able, for we can easily avoid them with God's grace. Generally speaking, we are far from having for deliberate venial sin all the ON VENIAL SIN 2OI horror it merits. To convince ourselves of this, let us consider venial sin in regard to the injury it does to God, and in regard to the evil it causes to the soul that commits it. I. God is our father and friend, the best of friends and the most tender of fathers. Under this title He has a right to our obedience and our love. In His quality of father, He imposes laws upon us. Can we refuse to obey them ? Although He does not require their fulfillment under pain of incurring eternal punishment, is it not always an injury we commit against Him in refusing to obey His laws? What would you say of a child that would be content to obey his father only when the father threatens him with exclusion from home, or with the privation of his inheritance? You would say that such a child has an evil heart, that he has neither love nor respect for his father, and that cer- tainly he merits the most severe reproaches and punishments. It is the same with us, my brethren, if we do not scruple to commit venial faults. We offend God who is our Heavenly Father, we afflict His heart, and expose ourselves to His wrath. But God is not only our Father, He is also our friend, and the best of all friends. He gives us striking proofs of this by the numberless favors and graces with which He overwhelms us every day. What pain, therefore, must we not cause Him if, instead of rendering Him love for love, we show Him coldness and indifference, and when we do not scruple in the least to displease and offend Him. Nothing can give us a better idea of the injury which venial sin causes to God than the manner in which He has punished it in certain cir- cumstances. Moses, the friend and the intimate confidant of God, was forbidden to enter the Promised Land, on account of a slight mistrust of God. Oza touched the Ark of the Covenant to prevent it from fall- ing, and was struck with instant death ; fifty thousand Bethsamites lost their lives because they had looked irreverently on the Ark of the Covenant ; David beheld his kingdom afflicted with cruel pestilence because through vanity he had ordered a census of his subjects; Ana- nias and Saphira fell dead at the feet of the apostles for having told them a lie. These are frightful examples of divine justice, but they are not astonishing if we compare them with the penalty which God reserves, in the future life, for venial faults. Nothing defiled can enter the kingdom of heaven. If you die before having satisfied for venial sins, 202 THIRD PART, VII. INSTRUCTION you will have to expiate them in the flames of purgatory. And what are all the evils of this world, what are all the most frightful diseases, what are all the most violent torments, compared with the pains of purgatory ? Will you, then, maintain that venial faults are trifling things? Will you say that lies, petty vanities, anger, slight distractions, negli- gence in prayer, small injustices, irreverence in church, light \vords, slight infractions of the law of fast and abstinence, and other similar failings, amount to nothing? Ah, my brethren, this is not the teach- ing of the Doctors of the Church, who believe that after mortal sin there is no greater evil upon earth than venial sin, and that it is never permitted to commit a venial sin, even to preserve honor and life. They go still further and declare that even if by one single venial sin, the fire of hell could be extinguished, and all the damned souls brought to heaven, one would not be permitted to commit it. The reason is, because it is never permitted to do evil that good may result, and sin, however small it may be, attacks God, and is opposed to His adorable perfections, and, however slight it may be, it robs Him of more glory than all our virtues and all our merits can procure from Him. Hence that horror which the saints always had for wilful venial sin. It is related of Maria Theresa, Queen of France and wife of Louis XIV., that having fallen into a sin for which she reproached herself most bitterly, her attendants wished to quiet her by saying that it was only a venial fault : <( No matter, * she answered, sobbing, (< God is offended, and it is mortal for my heart. 8 II. Let us consider it in regard to the evil which it causes to the soul that commits it. The effect of habitual venial sin upon the soul is a state of lukewarmness and the disposition to mortal sin. First, the state of lukewarmness. If a friend treat his friend with coldness and criticize him, laugh at him and mock him, surely his friend will begin to avoid and gradually break off all relations with him. Such is the conduct of God in our regard. When He sees that we limit ourselves to the essential duties, and that we trouble our- selves little about the others, that we have for Him no longer that tender and generous love which made us so agreeable in His eyes, that we consider it as a trifle to displease Him, when we offend Him, and under the most frivolous pretexts, then He separates Himself also from us, He withdraws from us a part of His graces, He diminishes His favors, and abandons us, to a certain extent, to our weakness and ON VENIAL SIN 2O3 frailty. Now, what can such a soul do abandoned by God and de- prived of those graces which until now had assured its perseverance? Like a plant which a negligent gardener fails to water, the soul soon falls into languor and dryness, it looses the taste for piety, it abandons prayer, it practices no longer that recollection, that flight from the world, that vigilance, that mortification so necessary to make progress in the ways of God, and ends by falling into the most deplorable luke- warmness. Indeed, lukewarm souls that listen to me, since when did you begin to abandon frequent confession and communion? Since when have you that disgust of prayer, that dissipation and worldliness that marks your whole exterior? It is since the time the spirit of God separated itself from you after you had separated yourselves from Him ; it is since the unfortunate habit of committing venial sins. The evil which venial sin causes does not stop here, and from the state of lukewarmness into which it has plunged the soul it is seldom that it does not drive it into mortal sin. * One does not become wicked all at once,'* says St. Bernard; <( great vices have their beginnings as well as great virtues. M But by becoming familiarized with evil, one ends by giving oneself up to it without remorse and without scruple ; according to the measure one satisfies his appetite, the appetite in- creases, and the soul thus dragged slowly towards the abyss, finally hurls itself into it, and often even without the least suspicion. The devil on his part is very careful not to tempt us at first to great sins. He insinuates himself into us little by little ; he com- mences by persuading us that it is quite a small matter to miss a prayer, to tell a lie, to entertain certain intimacies with persons of the other sex, to permit oneself certain familiarities with them which do not appear to be very guilty. And when the enemy of our salvation has succeeded in calming our conscience about these first faults, he tempts us to commit greater ones, he ensnares us more and more in his nets, and leads us on to the most frightful excesses. It is thus, my brethren, that an illnesss, light at first, often becomes grave and mortal after it is neglected. It is thus that a spark not extinguished soon enkindles a great fire : Behold, hoiv small a fire, ivhat a great 'wood it kindleth! (James in. 5.) It is thus that a house falls into ruin, if a small leak in the roof is not repaired: it is thus that a vessel which admits a little water soon becomes shipwrecked. Ah, how many saints have fallen most deplorably, how many defenders of the faith have become apostates, how many religious have abandoned 2O4 THIRD PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION the cloister and become the scandal of the world for having neglected small things! Behold, how small a fire, 'what a great wood it kindleth! I could quote many examples both of sacred and profane history, but we need not look at history. Glance around you. How is it that such a person who was once so zealous, has to-day abandoned himself altogether to sin? How is it that some who once edified us so much during a mission, in a retreat, at the forty hours, are worse than they were before ? Because they did not watch over themselves, because they were not careful to avoid little faults. Behold, how small afire, what a great wood it kindleth! I conjure you, my brethren, to take the firm resolution of avoid- ing venial sin with the greatest care, and to try to correct yourselves of all evil habits you may have contracted in the past. Be careful to examine your conscience, to declare in your confessions even the faults which seem to you very slight, and impose upon yourselves some pen- ance when you commit them anew. Devote a few moments every day to prayer, to pious reading, to meditation ; frequent the sacra- ments. Practice watchfulness and mortification, fly the world, avoid dissipation and dangerous company ; and though you cannot preserve yourselves entirely from venial sins, you will avoid at least a great number of them, and you will not fall into the habit of venial sin. You will assure your perseverance in good, you will acquire treasures of merit for a happy eternity, which I wish to you all. Amen. VIII. INSTRUCTION ON THE CAPITAL SINS ON PRIDE THERE are seven capital sins : pride, covetousness, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, and sloth. We call them capital sins, because each of them is the source of several others. However, these sins are not always mortal ; they are mortal only when the matter is grievous and when the consent is per- fect. It is important to be instructed about the nature and malice of the seven capital sins, as well as about the remedies to employ in ON PRIDE 20 ,j correcting ourselves of them, because there is always one which domi- nates in us and from it arise almost all the faults to which we are subject. This is what we call the predominant vice or passion, a passion which we cannot combat with too great force and constancy, for on the issue of this combat depends our salvation. I. What Is Pride? Pride is an inordinate love of ourselves, which moves us to think too much of ourselves, to prefer ourselves to others, and to attribute to ourselves what conies from God. In other words, it is a disorderly love of ourselves and of our good qualities, true or sup- posed, which makes us esteem ourselves more than others and always desire to be elevated above them. Undoubtedly, it is not forbidden to love oneself, and it would be impossible not to do so, for it is as nat- ural to man to love himself as it is to breathe. So, also, it is not for- bidden to esteem in oneself all that is really estimable ; and all that we have received from God is certainly worthy of esteem, but this love of ourselves must be regulated, it must be kept within proper limits and must be subordinated to the duties either towards God or towards our neighbor. We may sin through pride in five ways : ist. By glorying in the natural or supernatural advantages we possess ; 2d. By regarding them as a reward of our own merits ; 3d. By attributing to ourselves what is due to God ; 4th. By claiming advantages which we have not and seeking to make others believe that we possess them ; 5th. By despising others. These five ways are so many degrees or aggravating circumstances which render us more and more criminal before God. Thus, you, who are rich, or illustrious by birth, you glory in yourself, you esteem yourself on account of your fortune or origin ; you, man of talent and learning, you pride yourself on your knowl- edge and talents ; you, worldly woman, are proud of your agreeable exterior; or you, young man, proud of your strength; you, mechanic, proud of your success in your art and industry, etc., you all sin through pride. This vain complacency in yourselves, this self-sufficiency, is the first degree of pride. If you go so far as to persuade yourselves that to you, alone, belongs the merit of all these advantages of fortune, birth, talent, beauty, strength, and industry, that God has nothing to do with them, that you are indebted for them to yourself alone, that they are due to your skill, to your industry or by a right of heritage, you fall into the second and even into the third degree of pride, and your fault becomes much more grievous. But your pride will become criminal and odious, and you will arrive at the fourth and fifth degree 20 6 THIRD PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION of this vice, if, full of illusion and blindness, you glorify yourselves on account of the gifts which you have not received, of qualities which you do not possess, and if you despise your neighbor, because you be- lieve him less talented than you and not enjoying the same advantages. II. Pride gives rise to several other vices, the principal of which are vain glory or vanity, boasting, hypocrisy, ambition, and stub- bornness. ist. Vain Glory or Vanity. A proud person does not generally content himself with being pleased with himself and with his true or supposed qualities; he also desires that others should acknowledge and admire them. Not content with esteeming and adoring himself, so to say, he also wishes that everybody else should have the same opinion and esteem of him. It is the vice of those rich ones who dis- play with so much complacency the luxury of their garments, their apartments, and their furniture. It is the vice of the literary man who seeks to parade his talents and science. It is especially the vice of young girls, who dream only of toilets and dresses, and who seek only to attract the gaze of others. Undoubtedly, it would be unjust to reproach all maidens with this vanity. I am pleased to acknowl- edge that many are really humble and edifying by their simplicity and modesty. But how many are there who do not resist that spirit of vanity towards which they are so naturally inclined ! How many are there given up entirely to frivolity and fashion, who speak of nothing else, who only long for Sunday and holy days in order to display all the luxury of their dresses, and who, even in church, seek only to see and to be seen ! At all times, luxury has reigned in the world ; but I may truly say that never before has it taken such fright- ful proportions. To-day all classes of society are confused. The poor hired girl wishes to appear like the daughter of the rich mas- ter who employs her; the wealthy daughter, in her turn, seeks to rival persons of an elevated rank, and even of the highest con- dition. Nothing is too costly, nothing can stop her in her vanity. Some are not afraid to run into debt to satisfy their follies, and in order to keep up with the style, children do not hesitate to rob their parents, and the wife to misapply money that should serve for the support of the family. Young persons, do not permit yourselves to be dragged along by the torrent of fashion; do not follow that spirit of vanity which becomes a source of so many dangers. Be simple in your dress and ON PRIDE 207 in your tastes; let each one be content to live according to his means. Far from running after all the fashions and whims of the day, adopt only what your state of life requires and permits. Do not buy clothes at prices which you hardly can afford to pay. Permit nobody to look upon you as a worldly person; be well persuaded that by this regu- lated, wise, and Christian conduct, you will be more agreeable to God, and all the more esteemed by people; and if you are called to the holy state of matrimony, you will open for yourselves a surer and easier way to an honest and becoming alliance. 2d. Boasting. Boasting consists in praising oneself without necessity, or seeking for praise. How many there are who are subject to this, vice ! One boasts of his birth, another of his fortune, one boasts of his qualities of mind, another of his qualities of body. Some publish their virtues and good works to the world, others glory in their faults, their sins and disorders. Some have good taste enough not to praise themselves ; but what skill do they not employ that others may praise them, and with what pleasure do they not listen to compliments and eulogies? Such behavior is, to say the least, ridicu- lous, and draws down upon the person only mockery and contempt. It is not permitted to praise oneself except when edification requires it ; and even then one must be careful to refer to God the merit of all the good works or of the qualities one speaks of. 3d. Hypocrisy. Some do not wish to be virtuous, and, neverthe- less, they desire to appear so. They do not wish to correct themselves of their evil habits, and still they desire to approach the sacraments. In church they have an air of piety and respect, they behave like angels, but elsewhere they throw themselves into vice and behave like demons. They do good actions, they pray, they give alms to the poor, when they are seen ; but when they are not seen they will abandon the exercise of all virtue. What vice is more odious than hypocrisy? It was the crime of Judas who, at the Last Supper, mingled among the other apostles to receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and who, soon afterwards, in the Garden of Olives, dared to betray his divine Master with a kiss. It is the vice of all those who hide their corrupted heart under the mask of devotion, who limit themselves to barren practices of piety and do not trouble them- selves to fulfill their duties. Ah! my brethren, do not seek the regard of men, seek solely the favor of God. What good can the approbation and esteem of men do you if you incur the displeasure 208 THIRD PART. VIII. INSTRUCTION of God who reads the bottom of your heart, and who will demand an account one day of your most secret actions? 4th. Ambition. The proud man is never content with his lot or with the place he occupies. As soon as he is in one position, he desires to ascend to a higher one ; when he is in an inferior condition, he aspires to leave his state, and to elevate himself to the highest ranks of society. He does not wish to be subject to anybody, and wishes to command all. He would like to see everybody below him and almost at his feet. He is angry, so to say, because he has superiors and masters, and would like to occupy their places. (< Get away there, that I may get there, w is the vulgar cry of the ambitious. Such is the end of all his intrigues and of all his actions. And to arrive at his end, what pains must he take ! How many difficulties to surmount, how many humiliations to impose upon himself, how many rebuffs to sus- tain! Happy those who are born in a state in which they cannot aspire to the honors and dignities of the world! Ambition is an insatiable passion which undermines and consumes those who are attacked by it. 5th. Stubbornness. The proud man is never in the wrong. And if he is alone in his opinion, he claims to be in the right and every- body else in the wrong. If he is contradicted, see his excitement, irritation, and anger! Hence arise quarrels, disputes, lawsuits, and implacable hatreds. Finally, Pride Is the Beginning of All Sin (Eccl. x. 15). Back- biting, calumny, revenge, insubordination, disobedience, presumption, credulity, impiety, have often no other origin but pride. Pride has been the fatal source of the heresies which desolated the Church of Jesus Christ from the very beginning. Nothing is more common than pride ; it infests the small ones of the world as well as the great, the poor as well as the rich, the ignorant as well as the learned. It is the vice of all men. We often see more pride under the coarse dress than under one of silk and gold. The simple day laborer has his preten- sions, his vanity, his self-love, and even the beggar desires to elevate himself above others. Persons making profession of faith and piety are not always exempt from pride. Sometimes they glory in their practices of piety, in their good works, as the people of the world in their qualities and riches. Contradict or blame that woman whom you see so often in the church, at confession, at the holy table, and you will see how angry she becomes, how she flies into a passion and ON PRIDE 209 gives way to a torrent of bitter and injurious words. Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke (Ps. CXLIII). III. But as much as pride is a common vice, so much is it to be feared on account of the injury it does to God, and on account of the danger to which it exposes us. There is no vice which displeases God more than pride, because there is none that attacks Him more directly. The proud man does not hide himself, he openly defies God, and whilst in the other vices we always find a pretext for excuse, such as ignorance, interest or weak- ness, the proud man acts for the sole pleasure of outraging God, seek- ing to equal Him, to rob Him of the glory that belongs to Him. "All other vices flee from God, w says St. Thomas,