< - " 1 } ■ ' 1 *■ ■ * • ■ rcpilitralf fcgKHgJjffiJ im mB gfySg V- -: ■ ■ I. BBi ?'.■■■.■■■■.= .■■ m Km fci.' HIS E' ;, W 5f8*J T r£ ■HQKcStt !*^S«:^r E ■■• '- ■ ' ■ ■■ ■LgB MBl aliMHW si / er <'6\^~ arabbas, or Jesus, Who is called the Christ ?' At once there uprose a unanimous shout : ' Not this man, but Barabbas !* Pilate, astonished at their injustice, and enraged at their vindictive cruelty, exclaimed : ' Why, what evil hath He done ?' They answered him by still more furious shouts for the release of the robber and murderer. ' What, then,' he 360 LECTURES FOR BOYS cried, ' shall I do with Jesus ?' ' Away with Him !' they screamed. ' Crucify Him ! Crucify Him !' ' Shall I,' he answered — while his whole frame quivered with scorn and indignation — 'shall I crucify your King?' Maddened into a very paroxysm of fury by this taunt, and by the delay which he had made in satisfying their thirst for blood, they shrieked out that most humiliating admission for a Jew : 'We have no King but Cassar ' — acknowledging thereby that the sceptre had indeed passed away from Juda, and that they were now under the Gentile yoke. II. How awful an insult did Pilate offer to Jesus, in thus putting Him upon a par with a robber and murderer ! But what must have been the anguish of Our Lord, when on being compared with Barabbas, His own chosen people gave their deliberate preference to this outcast, to this human beast of prey ? Jesus the holy, the wise, the great Prophet, the worker of deeds which no man had ever done before, the speaker of words which no human intellect could devise, and no human tongue bring forth with so much eloquence and power — even He, the reputed Messias, had been set below a wretch stained with deeds of the darkest dye — whose hands had even been imbrued in Jewish blood ! Jesus heard the Governor ask the people this question. He heard their frantic cries for His death, and for the release of the robber. He stood there silent, crushed with shame, despised, rejected, the outcast of His people ! You yourselves have, perhaps, tasted how bitter, and how galling a thing it is, to be set aside by your companions, and to see one whom you looked upon as in every way inferior to yourselves, chosen out and thought to be superior to you. The verdict of your companions upon you and upon him may have been about nothing more important than your respective proficiency in games. Yet, even in so trivial a matter as this, the thought of your own worth, and of the injustice done to you, has made tears of indignation start from your eyes, and caused your heart well-nigh to burst with the effort which you were obliged to make, in order to keep down your anger, and prevent it from breaking forth. JESUS REJECTED FOR BARABBAS < i Think, then, of the agony of suffering which Jesus endured, and learn from Him, that sweet humility which keeps the rebellious heart quiet, restrains the angry tongue, and holds back the storm of winged words in which your wrath would otherwise expend itself. III. Examine into the secrets of your heart, and see whether you have ever dared, like Pilate, to propose to your soul the choice between Jesus and mortal sin. See whether you have not, like the Jews, taken to yourself a Barabbas, and rejected Christ. As your mind travels back through the past, you will, perhaps, remember either some particular day, or hour, when circumstances put before you the fasci- nating charms of sin, and the less gaudy but more enduring beauty of virtue. In your ears a voice whispered those words, which, either sooner or later, are addressed to every- one : ' Which of these two do you wish to be given to you ? Which of them do you choose for yourself?' If, incited by the frenzy of passion, you preferred the more showy attrac- tions of sin, you were guilty of as great an insult to Jesus Christ as the wretches, who in their savage delirium, chose the robber and murderer in preference to the adorable Son of God. For, by rejecting virtue, you rejected His law; you rejected Himself: and cried aloud: ' Not this man, but Barabbas.' Alas ! how often is this the case with boys ! As soon as the light of reason has given them power to discriminate between good and evil, they unfortunately, in but too many instances, choose the evil, and reject the good! 'We will not have this man to reign over us,' they cry, we prefer the charms of our own passions. The ignoble gratifications which they can give, we prefer to the sweets of virtue. We are too young to be tied down to the hard ways of what you call a holy life ; later on we will, perhaps, try it, when we have sated ourselves with sin ; but not till then : ' Not Christ, but Barabbas !' O ! what a choice ! That vile robber will turn upon them and make them his wretched slaves, and they will find that he is an exacting and cruel task-master. He will not 362 LECTURES FOR BOYS be satisfied with their service ; nothing but their life's blood will suffice for him. Oh ! if this has been your choice, melt, by the hot tears of true repentance, the chains which bind you ; flee to the bosom of Jesus, and never again abandon Him. THE SCOURGING OF JESUS. I. Though Pilate's effort to save Jesus had thus far proved of no avail, he did not, on that account, give up all hope of ultimately delivering Him from the hands of His enemies. As soon, therefore, as he had released Barabbas unto the Jews, he did not straightway condemn Our Lord, but having once again protested that he found in Him no crime worthy of death, he nevertheless declared himself ready to enter so far into their views with respect to Him, as to give Him a most severe correction, and then set Him at liberty. Upon this, the soldiers led Jesus away from the presence of the Roman Governor, into the Pretorium. There they stripped Him of His garments, and, having bound Him to a pillar, grasped in their cruel hands the much-dreaded flagcllum. This was not the ordinary virgae, or rods, with which, according to Roman law, malefactors were usually flogged. The flagellum consisted of leathern thongs tipped with lead or with iron. To be struck by it, was looked upon as the lowest degradation, and none but the worst criminals were ever punished in this way. Nevertheless, with this instrument, and by the hands of brawny ruffians, Our Re- deemer was now to be tortured. Swinging these whips over their heads, they brought them down upon the virginal flesh of Jesus, with all the might of their muscular arms. Each lash left upon the white, delicate skin a long bloody weal, and, as the fury of the torturers increased, the flesh was broken, torn, and, in places, whipped from the bones, till the blood ran down upon the pavement, bespattered the walls, and crimsoned the hands of His merciless tormentors. Forty stripes save one were all that the law sanctioned ; but the revelations of the Saints tell us, that the soldiers THE SCOURGING OF JESUS 363 struck till their hands grew weary. Then, and not till then, did they desist, and leave Jesus quivering with agony, fainting from loss of blood, a spectacle at which the stoniest heart would have melted with pity. As we think of this flagellation, our flesh creeps with horror, and the blood curdles in our veins. But this terrible chastisement did not satisfy the vengeance of Christ's enemies. Naught would content them but His heart's best blood. II. Pause and reflect, for a few moments, upon this awful torment which Jesus endured for you. At the present day a punishment, somewhat similar in kind, but incomparably lighter in degree, is inflicted upon those who are guilty or robbery with personal violence. Generally speaking these are burly, hardened ruffians, apparently void of feeling, and oftentimes little better than the brute creation. Neverthe- less, there is no punishment, with the exception, perhaps, of death, from which they shrink with more horror, not because they feel that it degrades them, but because of its intolerable pain. Yet the number of lashes inflicted upon them, rarely exceeds thirty ! These, moreover, are adminis- tered by one of the prison officials, who bears no ill will to the culprit, and a physician stands by to stay his hand from inflicting more punishment than the wretch is able to bear. In spite, however, of all these mitigating circumstances, the boldest ruffian shrinks and shudders at the first touch of the biting thongs. Few go through the punishment with sufficient fortitude to repress their shrieks of agony. Many swoon away after it is finished ; many even before the tenth stroke ! What, then., must have been the agony which Our Lord endured during His merciless flagellation ? His judge did not give Him into the hands of a cool, unimpassioned minister of justice ; no one in authority stood by to restrain the ferocity of those who tortured Him ; no one even to restrict the blows to the legal number. His torturers were brutal by nature, and, amid the lawless license of their soldier-life, had lost what little of pity they ever possessed. 364 LECTURES FOR BOYS They were many in number, and were lashed into fury by the devil, and hounded on by the rage and the hatred of Our Lord's enemies. They struck Him with all the might which fury lends to a powerful arm. They struck Him till they tore the flesh from His bones. They struck Him so long and so heavily, that, had He not been supported by His divine nature, He would have died. Yet no cry of pain escaped from the lips of that unresisting Victim. Like the sheep which is led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth. What a spectacle for us to look upon ! Torn, mangled, disfigured, quivering with the agonising smart of the cruel throngs, He stands there, well-nigh fainting with the keen- ness of a punishment more severe than mortal flesh had ever felt before. Truly, ' God did put upon Him the iniquities of us all, and for them hath He struck Him, till He has become a very worm, and no man.' III. Yes, for our sins God, suffered wicked men to strike the sinless flesh of His only-begotten Son, till He became like unto a leper, disfigured with bloody weals and gaping wounds, as the leper is with the loathsome corruption of his foul disease. Sin is a leprosy with which men disfigure their souls, till, in a spiritual sense, they become the exact counterparts of that torn and disfigured body of Christ, leaning against the pillar, now all crimsoned with His blood. Think of this, ye children of Jesus Christ, and remember why your Lord and your God thus suffered shame and degradation. He allowed Himself to be publicly stripped of His clothing before a crowd of vile wretches, to atone for all the immodesties which are committed in the world ; to be publicly whipped like a common slave — like the worst criminal, like the most ferocious human wolf, whom society is about to cut off from the face of the earth— in order to satisfy, by the agony of His lacerated flesh, for all those sinful delights by which men defile their hearts, and change them from the temples of the living God, into the abodes of the devil. Therefore, let it be your aim, after reflecting upon the THE CROWNING WITH THORNS 365 torture which your Lord endured in His cruel scourging, to obtain, by means of humble, earnest, persevering prayer, a great love for modesty, a deeper and more determined resolution to preserve yourselves from the stain of unclean- ness. To wash away this stain, and to provide a healing balsam for our gaping wounds, He suffered His sacred flesh to be torn open, and His precious blood to leap forth. But, at the same time, He wished us to bear Him company in His sufferings, and to share in His Passion, by mortifying our sinful flesh. If we have not the courage to smite ourselves with those scourges, with which the love of God has armed the Saints, we may at least strike ourselves with the equally galling whip of self-denial. If we cannot resist unto blood, we may at least endure the pain of turning away from what the flesh so eagerly covets, and sacrifice, for the sake of Jesus, some little of that ease which, by reason of our many and oft-repeated transgressions, we do not deserve to enjoy. THE CROWNING WITH THORNS. I. The inborn cruelty of the brutal soldiers who tortured Jesus, suggested to them one other means by which they might add insult to the degrading injuries which the)- had already heaped upon Him. Calling to mind that His enemies had accused Him of styling Himself King of the Jews,they said one to another, ' If He is a king, He must be crowned '; and, going forth into the gardens which surrounded the palace, they cut off a branch from the acanthus thorn, and, having twisted it into a wreath, returned into the hall where Jesus stood. Rudely pushing Him into a seat, they brought forth an old, tattered, purple cloak, and threw it over His bruised and bleeding shoulders. Then, placing the torturing wreath upon His head, they struck it down with their mailed lists, so that the sharp thorns penetrated to the bone of the skull. Finally, they put into His hand a reed for a sceptre, and thus completed the derisive coronation. Now began a scene of insult and of mockery — a scene 366 LECTURES FOR BOYS so full of diabolical cruelty that, were it not recorded in the Sacred Scripture, we should deem it to be the invention of a poetical fancy rather than the sober record of historic truth. The whole band of soldiers gathered into the hall to witness the sport. Some of these wretches approached Him, and, bending the knee with mock reverence, said : ' Hail, King of the Jews !' Others thrust out their tongues at Him, and leered in His face. There were some among them cowardly enough to spit upon that adorable face, upon which the Angels desire to gaze, and to strike Him with the palms of their hands as He sat there bound, defenceless, and writhing with pain. The pitiless spectators received each insult with shouts of laughter. Every clumsy joke made at His expense, and every piece of coarse buffoonery played upon Him, excited still more their rude hilarity, and their cruel desire to plague and ridicule Him. Oh ! how hard must have been the hearts of those men who could look into the face of that unresisting Victim, and thus smite and flout Him ! His eyes were filled with blood, His face was pale with the intense agony of His thorny crown, His whole body seamed and torn with the thongs of the scourges ; yet, in spite of this, they ceased not to add to His sufferings, and to trample upon His fine sense of honour, by their vile words, their scorn, their gibes, and vulgar jests, till even they wearied of their sport, and felt relieved when the Roman Governor once more summoned Jesus into his presence. II. In the Canticles, the inspired writer cries out : ' Behold King Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals '; but let us say to ourselves : ' Behold Jesus, Our Lord and Our God, in the diadem wherewith our sins have circled His brows.' Yes, for there is a terrible significance in this coronation of the head of Jesus with thorns. The head is ' the palace of the soul.' In that palace, reason and the other intellectual faculties are supposed chiefly to reside. There it is that the soul brings to life and indulges in all those thoughts and imaginings by which God is so often and so grievously offended. The THE CROWNING WITH THORNS 367 Eternal Father, therefore, deemed it fitting to lay upon the Redeemer's head all their crushing weight. As the sharp points of the thorns pierced through His flesh, rending and tearing His sacred temples, He thought of those who, being filled with an overweening esteem of self, look down upon and contemn others. He thought of the countless millions who revel in that spiritual luxury of pride, and strive to rob God of the glory which is His due. He thought of those who pine away with envy and jealousy at their neighbour's good. He thought of those who sit brooding for years over some petty wrong, or some fancied slight, hatching thoughts of revenge. But, most of all, He thought, with shuddering horror, of those who admit into their heads, and cherish in their hearts a troop of wicked thoughts, thus turning the temple of God into an abode of the devil, and defiling the throne of the Lamb with the filth and mire of carnal sins. Ah ! look at Him as He sits there, exposed to the insults and the rude laughter of those pitiless monsters — so gentle, so patient, so uncomplaining — and then reflect upon the share which you have had in this cruel business. Through the mist of blood which is darkening His eyes, He gazes wistfully upon you, and asks for compassion, or at least for one tear of sorrow for your share in striking down upon His head that crown which burns His brows like a circle of flame. Think upon the thoughts of your soul, and, if they have ever been of a nature to torture your Lord, weep over them ; kneel before Jesus, not to deride, not to mock, not to strike, not to spurn Him, but to tell Him the sorrow of your heart, and your determination never again to offend Him. III. In the present condition of our corrupt nature, we cannot always exclude from our minds these various thoughts of pride, envy, jealous)', revenge, and the like. Our nature is a fallen one, ever tending to corruption ; the devil watch- ful and cunning ; the world attractive ; and all these com- bine together to tempt us from our allegiance to God. But, though we cannot altogether exclude these thoughts from our minds, we have the power always to eject them, as soon 368 LECTURES FOR BOYS as our intelligence adverts to their presence. One vigorous act of the will, aided by divine grace, is sufficient to do this; and a most efficacious means to remind us of our duty, is the recollection of that pale, agonised face, and of those wistful e}'es, which from beneath the thorny crown look out so beseechingly upon us. Therefore, bring that picture before your mind, when the images which excite these various passions are presented to it by the devil, or by corrupt nature. It may be that you have met with some signal success, either in your studies, or in the games which are played at College ; and you begin at once to swell with pride, to look with disdain upon your less fortunate and less gifted comrades. Think of the thorny crown which the pride of men has fixed upon your Saviour's brow. Others have perhaps carried off the prize for which you have laboured so hard and striven so well ; you envy them their success ; you are jealous of their talents; and your heart, like a frail vessel, is tossed about by the storm of these passions. Oh ! think of the thorn-crowned head which throbbed with most acute pain for you ! You are injured, grossly, wantonly, and you pant for vengeance ; or, worse still, you are harassed and tormented with troops of evil imaginations, wicked thoughts, and the desires which spring from them. They give you no rest ; they weary you ; they seem to cling to you. But fear them not ! Look upon the thorn-crowned head of your Lord. Remember His bitter pain, the throbbing of His temples, the sickening agony, the burning pangs which shot through His sacred head, and beg of Him, by all that He suffered then, not to allow you to be unfaithful to Him. Bear patiently with the disgust which these temptations cause you. Loathe and detest them, and, in order to in- crease your horror of all that they suggest to you, bear in mind that to blot out, and to atone for their wickedness, Jesus suffered Himself to be crowned as a mock king, to be derided by the brutal soldiers, and to be scorned as never man was scorned before. 'BEHOLD THE MAX." 369 'BEHOLD THE MAN!' I. It seems, from St. John's Gospel, that Pilate had given orders to the soldiers to conduct Jesus into his presence after they had scourged Him. For he still entertained a hope that the pitiable spectacle of Our Lord's torn and bleeding body might soften the hearts of His enemies, and induce them to let Him go. With this object in view, he brought Jesus forth upon the balcony of his Palace, whence He could be seen by all the people, and pointing to Him, cried aloud : ' Behold the man !' These words, few and simple as they seem, have in them a depth of meaning which we must try to fathom. Coming from the lips of the Roman Governor, they were meant to convey to the people some such ideas as these : ' Here is the man who called himself your king; who made himself equal to God ; who threatened to overthrow your temple, and in three days to build it up again. For these offences, frivolous as I deem them to be, I have punished him with the utmost rigour, in order to satisfy you. Look at him ! Behold the man ! He is clothed in his royal purple ; his body is torn with numberless wounds; his face is swollen with blows and defiled with spittle; his eyes are full of blood ; his head is crowned with thorns ; he is bound like a criminal; he has been degraded and punished severely. Be satisfied, therefore, with the punishment which I have in- flicted upon him ; for he has suffered enough to atone for his folly and his offences.' But that piteous spectacle moved not their stony hearts. The words of the Governor were received with one long and piercing cry for His life's blood : - Away with him !' they shrieked ; ' crucify him, crucify him !' Jesus stood there facing the angry mob. He heard their fierce shout for His death. He heard Himself rejected by the voice of His people : ' We will not have this man to reign over us !' He heard them protest in the face of heaven and of earth ' that they had no king but Caesar.' The time had come ; the prophecy had been fulfilled. A ruler of the tribe of Juda no longer held the sceptre. -4 370 LECTURES FOR BOYS There stood Jesus, ' without comeliness, without beauty ; a worm and no man, the reproach of men, the outcast of the people.' Nevertheless, do you look at Him, and as the words of Pilate ring in your ears, ' Behold the man !' adore Him as the God-Man, Christ Jesus. II. There are two ways in which you may make these words useful to yourselves. In the first place, you may re- gard them as addressed to you by God, in order to make you fully understand the sad condition to which sin ha? reduced our human nature. Jesus Christ, as He stands there before 3 7 ou, presents to your view an image of the soul ravaged by sin. Sin has weakened it, in all its faculties and in all its powers. It has wounded the soul, and by wounding has drained it of its vital force. It has filled it with the thorns of unrest and of remorse. It has darkened its intellectual vision. It has marred the peerless beauty with which God adorned it, left it well-nigh a mere wreck, and made it like a creeping thing of the earth — an outcast from the sons of God. In the next place, you may look upon the words of Pilate, as addressed to you by Our Lord Himself; and, so regarded, they will become to you like a shield of defence in the time of temptation. Therefore, in the day of bitter trial, imagine that you hear Jesus say to you : ' Behold the Man ! Look, and see what I have endured to cleanse you from sin, and to preserve you from ever again falling into it. You are tempted to disobey your masters — look at Me. I have been obedient, even to the death of the Cross. You are, perhaps, filled with proud and vain thoughts, proud of your abilities, vain of your personal appearance. Look at Me ! there is no beauty nor comeliness in Me, and I have been treated as a madman and a fool. Your heart is full of angry thoughts and resentful feelings; I have borne patiently with spittings, revilings, and degrading blows. Do the evil spirits and your own rebellious flesh tempt you to debase yourself? Ah ! I beseech you, look upon Me ! From the crown of My head to the sole of My foot there is no soundness in Me. My temples are wreathed with thorns, My eyes are blinded 'BEHOLD THE MAN." 371 with blood, My tongue is parched with burning thirst. I am giving up My life for you, My friend, My child ! Do not therefore scorn nor revile Me, nor spit upon My face, for I am your friend, your Father, your God. Look well at Me. I am what I am, through love of you. Do not add to My pains. Let not your hand strike down My thorny crown, nor wield the cruel lash, nor drive home the nails into My quivering flesh. Look upon Me, and spare Me.' III. In your past life, brief as the time has been, between the dawn of reason and the present moment, there have, perhaps, been occasions about which your heart will feel a pang of sorrow when you make considerations such as these. It may be that, like the Roman Governor, you have stood between Christ and your own passions, willing, on the one hand, to defend Him from them, and yet not courageous enough, on the other, to crush them, rather than either offend or injure Him. While looking upon the face of Christ, you have, perhaps, allowed the wild cries of your passions to prevail, and, like a coward, yielded up your Saviour to their savage and brutal treatment. Or, again, you may be able to call to mind certain moments when, like the Jewish people, who called so loudly for the blood of the Redeemer, there came before the eyes of your soul the sad spectacle of Jesus — thorn-crowned, scourged, derided, and yet so patiently, so meekly looking at you, and pleading with you for your love and your fidelity. Like the Jews, you may have cried aloud : ' Away with him ! Crucify him ! I will not have this man to reign over me !' If in your life there have been moments of so great mad- ness, now is the time to atone for them by heartfelt sorrow. Kneel in spirit before that much-enduring, much-derided Man of Sorrows, and weep over the share which you have had in bringing Him to so sad a pass. Recall those words with which you sentenced Him to death, and resolve never again to deliver Him up to His enemies. Promise Him that, when the time comes for proving your fidelity to Him, when you must either deny yourself, or renounce and crucifv Him over again, you will picture Him to yourself as He 372 LECTURES FOR BOYS stood that day before the Jews, and will say to your heart : ' Behold the Man, Christ Jesus, such as my sins have made Him.' If you do this when the devil, or the world, or your own flesh tempts you to forget and to forsake God, you will never be among the number of those who answer the cry of conscience bidding them ' Behold the man !' with the frenzied shout : ' Away with him ! Crucify him ! Crucify him !' JESUS CONDEMNED TO DEATH. I. The Roman Governor at last began to see that all his efforts to deliver Jesus were vain. The wild rage of the populace startled him, and made him fearful of the conse- quences which might flow from their fanaticism, if he should attempt any longer to thwart their wishes. Though he had repeatedly pronounced their prisoner free from guilt, yet he now weakly gives way before the clamours of an excited mob, and delivers Him up to their pleasure. Therefore, seating himself upon his tribunal, he ordered water to be brought, and, in the presence of all, caused it to be poured upon his hands, calling them to witness, by this strikingly symbolical act, ' that he considered himself to be guiltless of the blood of this just man.* Upon the word, there uprose from the crowd that fearful shout which sealed the doom of the Jewish nation, and even at this distance of time sends a thrill of horror through our hearts, when we call to mind its dreadful import: 'His blood/ they cried, * be upon us and upon our children.' Then Pilate pronounced a sentence of death, the most iniquitous ever uttered by the lips of man. Strange and unheard-of spectacle ! Here is a judge who repeatedly testifies before the assembled multitude that the prisoner at the bar is one whose conduct has ever been free from blame. He knows full well that the accusers, though making a great show of zeal for Roman authority, hate it with all their hearts, and are really actuated by malice JESUS COX DEM N ED TO DEATH 373 against the prisoner, whom they are hunting to death to glut their own private revenge. The witnesses, too, are lamentably at variance with one another, and give contra- dictory evidence. Yet he has not manhood enough to stem the tide of public prejudice, and, through a love of justice, dash it aside as a something formidable only to a cowardly heart. He weakly yields, and, while proclaiming Jesus to be innocent, basely condemns Him to death. Nevertheless, he would salve over his conscience by an empty ceremony. He would wash away the murderous stain from his hands by a little water ! Vain sophistry ! His knowledge of law would tell him that he who incites another to do some deed of injustice, is responsible for the act which his agent commits. Vainly did the people offer to take the whole guilt upon themselves. Their willingness to do so could not free him from the stain of innocent blood-shedding. His hands were as deeply crimsoned by the deed done upon Calvary, as were those of the men who drove the nails through the hands and the feet, and pierced the side of Our Lord. Upon him, as well as upon the Jews, fell the awful weight of that precious blood. II. The evil example which upon that memorable day Pilate gave to men has been faithfully copied by them, and there are many who dare to treat Jesus, as that cowardly wretch, in the brief day of his power, treated Him. They know perfectly well the justice and the goodness of God's ordinances. They have for them even a sort of barren ad- miration, as for a something which is, in the abstract, good and beautiful. But when they are forced to confront their fierce, tumultuous passions, they shrink from the labour and the difficulty of subduing them : and, rather than undertake so arduous a rask, they trample under foot the sacred claims of truth and of justice. Have you yourself never done so ? Reflect for a moment and see. In College, as in the world, there are virtues which all admire. Public opinion expects them from each individual, and God also requires them from those who would be His servants. Let us take, for example, the virtues of truthful- 374 LECTURES FOR BOYS ness and honest}'. Every one admires and praises these two virtues, and would think himself grossly insulted, if he were told that he is a liar, or a thief. But now, put some college boys to the test upon these points, and see whether their boasted love of truth and of honest}- will stand the trial. Let us suppose that a boy finds himself forced to choose between truth and falsehood. He has done something for which he deserves punishment, and is detected. His only means of escape is a lie. If he tells that lie, his conduct, to a certain extent, resembles the conduct of Pilate ; for he acknowledges the justice and the goodness of truth, but sets it aside, and chooses instead, a foul and disgraceful lie. Again ; let us suppose that he stands in need of money, that money is thrown in his way, and that he takes what is not his own. He acknowledges the beauty and the goodness of honesty, but he rejects it for dishonesty ; because, in this case, as in the preceding one, his passions cry out against the impulse of his better nature, and 'their voices prevail.' So it may fare with the other virtues. To set them aside, and to choose in preference those things for which corrupt nature craves, is to be guilty of an act similar to that which Pilate committed. It is to say, in the face of heaven and of earth : ' I know that this virtue is good, and that to love it, to adhere to it, is to obey the law of God ; yet, because my passions clamour for its destruction, I will hand it over to them to be destroyed. It is their fault, let them look to it.' III. If we imitate this wretched example, upon us will fall that curse which fell both upon the Jewish people and upon him who weakly yielded to their fanatical rage. The blood of Jesus will be upon us for our destruction, and its crimson stain will mark us out for punishment, more dire than was that inflicted upon the cities of the Plain, which God over- threw in the hour of His fierce anger. ' It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for us.' But let us not incur so wretched a fate. Let us strive rather to make the blood of Jesus fall upon us for our greater good in this world, and for our eternal welfare in the world to come. JESUS CONDEMNED TO DEATH 375 In spite of ourselves, that precious stream has flowed in upon us and over us. At our Baptism, the priest poured it upon our heads to wash away the stain of the original trans- gression. When the Bishop, at our Confirmation, imposed his hands upon us, and gave us the Holy Spirit to enlighten and to guide our steps, the blood of Christ purchased for us that inestimable boon. That same blood is given us to drink, when we kneel at the holy altar to partake of the body of the Lord. When we are stretched upon the bed of death, the priest of God will be called in to wipe away the last relics of our sins, with that holy unction which receives its power and its efficacy from the precious blood of Jesus. God's minister, who is for us the representative of Christ, derives his wondrous power from the virtue of that blood. Our very parents were joined together in the bonds of holy matrimony by the blood of Jesus Christ, which cemented and sanctified their union, and filled their hearts with un- dying love for us. Since, then, we cannot escape the stream of blood which issued from our Saviour's heart to save us, let us do our utmost to hinder it from having been poured upon us in vain. Let us bear in mind that in Baptism God sealed us with it ; that in Confirmation we swore allegiance to Him, and became His soldiers ; that in the Holy Eucharist He feeds us with it ; in Penance, washes us from the filth of our sins with it ; that in the sacrament of Holy Orders He pro- cures for us teachers and guides ; and in the sacrament of Matrimony infuses into our parents' hearts, with that same blood, strength to be faithful to each other, and to bring us up in the fear of God. Oh ! may that precious blood fall upon our hearts like a fertilising rain, which will make them bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. JESUS CARRYING HIS CROSS. I. When the fatal words of condemnation had passed the lips of Pilate, the ministers of his tribunal made all speed to carry the sentence into execution. They hastily constructed 376 LECTURES FOR BOYS a rude Cross, and brought it to the place where Jesus stood. Roughly tearing from His lacerated shoulders the purple robe of scorn, they put on Him once again His own seam- less garment. Then they laid upon Him the instrument upon which He was to die ; the Centurion in command of the soldiers gave the word to advance ; and Jesus set forth upon the last weary journey of His mortal life. Everywhere the streets were thronged by a multitude of people, eager to see Him pass to His death. There were some who exulted over Him, either because His tongue had not spared their wicked lives, or because His heavenly wisdom had brought confusion upon them, when they attempted to contradict His teaching, or to gainsay His word. Others were indignant that they had been carried away and deceived by a man, upon whom they were now taught to look as a mere charlatan. Some few compas- sionated Him. They were the women and the children, who were laughed at and despised for their weakness and sim- plicity. There, in the midst of His enemies, with their gibes, scoffs, and bitter taunts ringing in His ears and piercing His heart with sorrow, Our Redeemer slowly drags His tottering limbs along, under the weight of the heavy Cross. A strong man would have found its burthen as much as his strength could bear; but Our Lord, in His pitiable condi- tion, after so many hours of mental and of bodily torture, and after so great a loss of blood, must have been well-nigh crushed beneath its weight. Behold Him, as His weary eyes look sorrowfully around searching for one friendly, compassionate glance. The sweat of death is trickling in great beads down His face, as it does from those who are exhausted by sickness or by overmuch labour. It is purple with the blood which flows from His many wounds. His hands are trembling; He is panting with fatigue ; the whole scene swims around Him ; and He falls under His burthen, not once only, but again and again. Is there no heart of flesh there to pity Him, no eye to weep over Him, no hand to help Him ? None ! He JESUS CARRYING HIS CROSS 377 is lifted up, and pushed forwards. There is no more rest for Him in this world, for He is bearing the heavy load of our sins. It must crush and torture Him till He has breathed forth His holy soul into the hands of His Eternal Father. II. As we call to mind the image of Our dear Saviour, thus wearily staggering along under the weight of the Cross, let us remember that if we would be followers of Him, as we pretend to be, we must, like Him, take up our cross: 'If any man would be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his Cross, and follow Me.' Every one, whether he wills it or not, must bear the Cross during his mortal life. But it is not unto all men an instrument of salvation ; for they do not fulfil the conditions which make its burthen light, sweet, and meritorious ; they will not deny themselves, they will not follow Christ. The Cross nevertheless is upon their shoulders — a crushing and hateful burthen, from which they try by every expedient to rid themselves. They murmur against it; they cast it off; but in one shape or in another it meets them again, and galls their unwilling shoulders. Since the Cross, then, cannot be avoided, it is only common-sense, on our part, to try to turn it to advantage, and to make a virtue of that which is a necessity. How are we to do this ? By willingly accepting our Cross ; for, by so doing, we shall be denying ourselves, and treading in the path which Jesus trod before us. In your life at Col- lege, there passes not a day in which you do not meet with your Cross, and find occasion to deny yourself, and to follow in the footsteps of your Lord. It comes to you from external causes, as well as from your own self, and from your spiritual enemies. It is, for in- stance, a grievous Cross to you to rise from your bed in the morning, in obedience to the call of duty. It is hard to be tied down to your books, to be obliged to keep silence, and to limit yourself to the bounds marked out for you by Rule. It is difficult to be striving at all times to accommodate yourself to the imperfect characters of those with whom you have to live. Many of them, it may be, are sources of 378 LECTURES FOR BOYS annoyance unto you, and if there are not many, there is sure to be at least one from whom you have much to endure. To use a common expression, he is a thorn in your side, and a daily source of suffering. Your Superiors, your equals, your inferiors, all in their turn, may add to the burthen which you are obliged to bear. If you fight against your Cross, it will but gall you the more. Bear it, then, patiently, for God's sake. Do not try to cast it from you, for then another, and very likely a heavier one, will fall to your lot. Therefore, in imitation of Our Lord, bear that one which is laid upon you ; it will furnish you with many occasions of daily and hourly deny- ing yourself, and of treading in His footsteps. III. Furthermore, do not forget that even though all external sources of annoyance were actually removed, you would nevertheless be a heavy Cross to yourself. As a matter of fact, what is it that most frequently makes a boy's life burthensome to him ? Sometimes it is his own ill-humour, which, causing him to be disagreeable to his companions, draws down upon him their well-merited re- sentment ; or it is his critical spirit, which makes him find fault with everybody and with everything around him, till others, in self-defence, pick out his faults and defects, and parade them before the public gaze. Is he not frequently for days, it may be for weeks, made quite unhappy through fits of childish jealousy at the suc- cess of a rival ? If he would only frankly acknowledge his inferiority, he might be as light-hearted and as gay as are the most successful of his schoolfellows. What greater source of misery can there be to a boy than is that ridi- culous vanity, which makes him so sensitive to some slight check, or fancied wrong, or the thoughtless rudeness of his companions ? Again, supposing for a moment that, being free from these defects, he is also screened from the misery which they draw after them, yet even so, he cannot escape the Cross. For if he be striving to become holy and virtuous, he will have to suffer unceasingly from the assaults of the devil. True, JESUS CARRYING HIS CROSS 379 it is a glorious warfare, and the satisfaction of victory amply repays us for the trouble and the anxiety engendered by the conflict ; nevertheless, the persistency of the persecution, and the harassing nature of the devil's temptations are so great, that it is of all other Crosses perhaps the most diffi- cult to bear. Therefore, fix your eyes well upon Jesus, as He totters along under the weight of His heavy Cross. That spectacle will give you courage to bear your own. It will give you strength to carry it in the footsteps of Our Lord ; and should you ever grow weary, and be well-nigh fainting under your burthen, you have but to look at Jesus, and you will persevere. Say to yourself: ' Can I not bear this light and easy weight for the love of Him, Who from beneath the crushing weight of the Cross, looks at me with weary eyes, and asks me to keep Him company ?' Surely, after all that He has suffered for you, you will not refuse Him this little consolation. Courage therefore ! If you wish to be His children you must deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow in His footsteps. INCIDENTS ON THE WAY TO CALVARY. I. On the way to Calvary three incidents befell Our Lord, from which we may gather profitable instruction. Two of them are mentioned in the Gospel : for the third we have no other authority than that pious tradition for which St. John's Gospel furnishes sufficient grounds. The first of these incidents is that which the Sacred Text records about certain pious women of Jerusalem. St. Luke tells us that as Our Lord toiled up the steep way leading to the place of His death, His face all disfigured by blows, defiled by spittings, and stained by blood, some holy women who looked upon Him and saw His pitiable condition, burst into tears and bewailed His misery. Jesus turning to them said : ' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.' The second relates to Simon of Cyrene, who happened to 380 LECTURES FOR BOYS be coming into the city from the country, as the cortege which led Our Lord to execution passed through the gates. Jesus had probably stumbled under His heavy burthen and fallen to the earth, and His executioners, fearing lest He should die before reaching the appointed spot, seized upon Simon, and compelled him to carry the instrument of torture after Our Lord. The third is that tradition which tells us that the Mother of Jesus, led and protected by the beloved disciple, stood by the roadside to catch a glimpse of her Only One as He went to His death. This is, to say the least of it, very probable, since she must have trodden that way of sorrows, to stand, as she did, by His Cross of shame. We are told, then, that as Jesus staggered along under the crushing load of His painful burthen, and drew nigh to the place where His Mother awaited Him, He raised His weary head and looked into her face. Their eyes met, and the sword of sorrow, foretold by Simeon, entered her soul. There, before her eyes, her Child and her God slowly and painfully laboured onwards to the place where He must die ! He had ever been so loving, so obedient, so gentle to her ; and now she saw Him disgraced, reviled, and insulted. She heard the bitter taunt of priest and of Scribe ; she saw the savage blows, and the merciless soldiers goading onwards the unresisting Victim. As Jesus looked into her white, agonised face, and saw the speechless woe stamped upon her features, He trembled in every limb, His little remaining strength forsook Him, and He fell crashing to the earth. Who can doubt but that the Mother in an instant flew to the side of her Son, and imprinted upon His brow her parting kiss ? No priest, nor Scribe, nor soldier, hardened and brutal as he might be, would dare to arrest, or to lay a hand upon her in that last act of maternal affection. II. From each of these incidents we may learn a useful lesson ; for we may take it for granted that they were allowed to happen for our instruction. The words of Our Lord to the holy women, teach us that the grief excited by INCIDENTS ON THE WAY TO CALVARY 381 the contemplation of Christ's sufferings must not be a grief of mere sentiment, a grief which might be produced by the perusal of some pathetic story. If it be of that nature, it will be fruitless. Our sorrow must be made to spring from grief at the cause of His sufferings. It must be a sorrow for our sins, and for our unmortified passions. ' Weep,' He says to us, ' for yourselves and for your children — for those passions which are the offspring of your will, and of your self-love.' To shed tears over Our Lord, for any other motive than this, is to indulge a morbid sensibility which is tickled and gratified by contemplating the moving spectacle of human woe. Solid piety is rarely generated by it. It is for the most part a mere matter of nerves, and does not' affect the will so as to move it to action. Of Simon of Cyrene we are told that he made a virtue of necessity, and willingly carried Our Lord's Cross, so that he thereby changed what would have been a disgraceful imposition, into a source of merit and salvation. In the last lecture, we said enough upon this subject to induce you to turn to account the various Crosses which must of necessity fall to your lot. But we may add here, that the example of Simon will furnish you with one reason the more, for patiently enduring the little trials and contradictions which are thrown in your way. By so doing you will, like him, be made to share in the suffering and the shame of your Redeemer. You will be bearing the Cross with your Lord, and atoning for your sins. Think of this when you are refused some favour for which you ask. Bear it in mind when you feel inclined to pursue some branch of study which is out of place at the time. Remember it especially when the burthen of daily routine presses heavily upon you, and seems to be wearing you away, like galling manacles upon the wrists of a prisoner. Look up; Jesus is before you — faint, weary, panting with exhaustion. Take up your burthen cheerfully — it is the Cross that you are helping your Saviour to carry. III. From our holy Mother, we may learn never to be ashamed of Our dearest Lord. At the moment when her 382 LECTURES FOR BOYS eyes met His, the priests had succeeded in branding Him as a public malefactor. They had said to the people : ' He is not a prophet ; he is not even a just man; he is not the expected deliverer. We have unmasked him, and found him to be nothing more than a clever cheat, whose im- posture and cunning failed to serve him, just at the very moment when he hoped to carry away with him the minds and the hearts of all.' Men pointed at our Lady as the Mother of this notorious criminal whom the Roman Governor had condemned to death. They looked upon it as a disgrace to have known Him, or to have been in His company. What must it have been in their eyes to be His Mother? But that spotless, loving Mother acknowledged Him in the presence of them all. She followed in His footsteps. She stood faithfully by Him to the very end. Learn, there- fore, from her, never before men to be ashamed of Jesus, that He may never have cause, before the face of heaven and earth, to disown you, upon the great accounting day. You will find occasions for exercising this sort of fidelity to Our Lord, even within the precincts of your College. For sometimes, through a want of moral courage, boys are led to assent to, or to connive at, what is wrong. When, for instance, either their neighbour is spoken ill of in their presence, or their masters are ridiculed and detracted, they foolishly laugh with the crowd, not being bold enough to stand up resolutely, and openly to take God's side. They violate Rule, through fear of being thought cowardly ; and alas ! sometimes also, they countenance unbecoming con- versation, through dread of giving offence. What is this but to be ashamed of Our Lord ? What is it but a prelude to that still more culpable denial of Him which they will make later on before the giddy and unbelieving world ? What is it but that shame of the faith, and that indiffer- ence to high principles, which are the ruin of the young men of the present day ? Therefore, always endeavour, even in the smallest matters, to stand up courageously for the right. Disregard the INCIDENTS ON THE WAY TO CALVARY 383 tittering and the sneering of the moral cowards who cover their want of manhood by a foolish laugh. Never do wrong to please some so-called friend. He is unworthy of that honoured name, if he strives to turn you from the path of duty, which your conscience bids you follow. Therefore, go not into his company, for if you do, he will speedily make you like himself. But if, carefully shunning all those who make light of God's law, you boldly, on all occasions, declare yourself for it, you will soon fear no one but God ; and as a reward for your fidelity, that good God will, before the whole world, acknowledge you as His son. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRUCIFIXION. I. Before we contemplate the last cruel act of this sorrowful drama, we must reflect upon a few of the circum- stances which accompanied it. These will be brought out clearly before us, if with St. Thomas we ask : Why did the Jews crucify Our Lord upon Calvary ? why did they choose the mid-day hour ? and why, of all other times in the year, did they commit that crowning sin upon the greatest of their solemnities ? In each of these circumstances there is a mystical reason, which we must try to understand, and turn to our spiritual profit. The first thing that strikes us in these various adjuncts of Our Lord's death, is that they served to make it more igno- minious. Calvary, in His days, lay beyond the walls, a conspicuous spot, visible from every part of the city. Hence, when the executioners lifted Christ up upon the Cross, He became an object upon which every eye might gaze. Being, moreover, the place where criminals suffered the extreme penalty of the law, all who saw Our Lord hanging there would conclude that He was some notorious malefactor, who had been guilty of a great crime, for which outraged justice had let loose upon Him her direst wrath. Furthermore, they crucified Him at mid-day, God having thus ordained it, to give us to understand that as the sun then reaches his meridian height, and shines with greatest 384 LECTURES FOR BOYS splendour, so did Christ's love for us burn with its most intense ardour, when the sins of a wicked world were putting Him to death. Lastly, they crucified Him upon the greatest festival of the year, when, in memory of their deliverance from Egypt, they were immolating the Paschal Lamb, in order that a greater multitude might be witness of His ignominy ; but God willed it so, in order that Our Lord's followers might see that now the real Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, had sacrificed Himself, to free mankind from the slavery of sin, and to throw open unto them the gates of the kingdom of heaven. Thus, the very means employed by His enemies, to cover Him with ignominy, served only to bring out into clearer light, His humility, patience, and undying charity for us all. II. After dwelling upon the reasons which lie hidden under these circumstances of Our Lord's death, we have next to try to learn from them the lessons which He intended them to convey. Do we, like Him, seek for public humilia- tion ? Alas ! we are very far from these holy dispositions. In fact, we are so far from seeking humiliation, that we are ever on the watch to obtain honour. We like to make a figure before the eyes of our little world — to be talked of, to be admired, and to be eagerly sought after. If we dare not, like Our blessed Lord, seek for occasions of humbling ourselves, we ought at least to shun publicity, and to be content to liye a hidden life at College, by not wishing to be the leading spirit, the prominent character among our fellows. Again ; in imitation of that fervent love with which the heart of Jesus ever burned for us, we must try to lead a life of fervour in His service. Let us not imagine that this means being always in a state of spiritual sweetness, and never feeling any difficulty in accomplishing our duty to God. This is a false notion of fervour. For, though these delightful consequences often enough flow from it, they do not constitute its essence, but are rather its accidents. Fervour is nothing more than the exact fulfilment of our CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRUCIFIXION 385 duties both to God and to our neighbour. The fervent boy does not omit these duties when they cease to be pleasing, nor sluggishly perform them when they have lost their novelty. In one word, fervour is a steady, equable, perse- vering, common-sense service of God. It is founded upon this simple truth, that God being always the same, our service of Him ought consequently, at all times and in all circumstances, to be the same. Strive, therefore, to pay to Him this debt of fervent service, not only on great feasts, and on days of Holy Communion, but at all times. Give this to Him in the dark, dull, and dreary days of study and of labour, as well as in the bright, joyous holiday-time, when the genial sunshine and the anti- cipation of coming pleasure gladden the heart, and make it susceptible of pious emotions. But piety which has not a more solid foundation than this, is not lasting. It passes away with that which gives it birth. In imitation, therefore, of God's abiding love for us, let us endeavour to pay to Him every day of our lives the service of duty conscientiouslv performed, no matter at what sacrifice to personal feeling or to personal convenience. III. Lastly, out of gratitude to Our dearest Lord, for having offered Himself in sacrifice for us, let us nerve our- selves to make every day some little sacrifice of our self-will, and of our personal convenience. To a good and piously- disposed boy, opportunities for so doing are never wanting at College. The obedience due to college rule and discipline, calls upon him each day and each hour to sacrifice his self-will and his convenience. If he gladly endure the restraint which this imposes upon him, remembering the goodness of Him Who came to teach us obedience and submission, he will frequently, each day, offer up a sacrifice of self to God. In his intercourse with his fellow-students he will also meet with much to try his temper, and to humble his pride. On these occasions let him not retaliate, nor strive by brute force to win for himself a very precarious peace. This frame of mind would soon beget in him a temper which would 2 5 386 LECTURES FOR BOYS brook no contradiction, and unfit him to deal, in after-life, with the men among whom his lot may be cast. Let him always put himself in the lowest place, and try to treat others as he himself would wish to be treated. Then there will not pass a single day upon which he will not feel the keen knife of self-sacrifice. Let him patiently endure the hardships which most boys meet with at College — the cold of winter, the heat of summer, rough fare, early rising, and close application to difficult and distasteful studies. Let him unite these to the sacrifice which, during His mortal life, Christ made of all that could please flesh and blood. By doing these things he will learn that lesson of self-denial without which a spiritual life is impossible, and he will make his college life resemble that which Jesus led for his sake in this world — a life of humility, of fervour, and of continual self-denial. THE CRUCIFIXION. I. Jesus at last reached the spot where the law appointed that He should suffer the worst punishment that His enemies could inflict. In order to degrade Him in the eyes of His nation, they caused Him to be led thither in com- pany with two malefactors, who were about to receive the just reward of their crimes. By this piece of malignity, however, they unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, who said of Our Lord : ' He was reputed with the wicked.' As He stood upon Calvary, meekly awaiting the com- pletion of the arrangements for His death, the executioners offered to Him, according to custom, a draught of wine mingled with myrrh. This they gave to criminals who were about to die, for the purpose of deadening their senses to the agony of their torments. Our Lord just put His lips to the cup that He might taste of its bitterness, and then re- fused the draught, that He might be able to drain the: chalice of suffering to the very dregs. THE CRUCIFIXION 387 They then stripped Him of His garments. This inflicted upon Him a two-fold torture — one of physical pain, by re- opening once more all the wounds which He had received in His cruel scourging ; the other of moral pain, by exposing Him naked to the gaze of the multitude. Being thus made ready for the sacrifice, they threw Him down upon the wood of the Cross, and the revolting scene of His crucifixion began. Fixing a huge nail upon the palm of His hand, they drove it home by the blows of a hammer, through the quivering flesh and muscles, into the wood of the transverse beam. Then seizing the other arm, which had shrunk up in the agony of this cruel torture, they stretched and pulled it till the hand reached the spot marked out in the wood for the nail. Again the blows were struck, and again the nail was driven into the wood of the Cross. The sacred feet of the unresisting Victim were then drawn down and fastened to the place marked for them. How fearful must that spectacle have been ! We cannot look upon even a trivial surgical operation ; how should we have been able to stand by while Jesus suffered this terrible agony for us ? There He lay, silent and uncomplaining, crushed beneath the weight of the world's iniquity. After a few moments the soldiers came, and, raising the Cross aloft, carried it to the hole which had been made in the ground to receive it. There they firmly secured it, and the disfigured, scourge-torn, bleeding form of Our Lord ap- peared high above the heads of all, a spectacle unto Angels and unto men. II. Look at your Lord and Master as He hangs upon the Cross, and learn from Him a lesson of patience and resig- nation. No word of repining, no murmur, no complaint will ever break from the lips of him who fixes his eyes upon that torn and bleeding Victim. It matters not how sorely he may be tried, by anguish of mind or by pain of bod)', his sum of woe cannot even be compared with that ocean of sorrow which deluged the heart of Jesus. ' Oh ! all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be sorrow like unto My sorrow.' 388 LECTURES FOR BOYS You may be tempted severely by the devil ; he may give 3 7 ou no rest by day or by night, but fill your mind with foul images, whisper filthy suggestions into your ears, and affright you with his illusions. This is a sore trial, but it cannot equal the Cross. Your heart may be oppressed with despondency ; your spirit may faint within you, and all hope seemingly die out of your soul ; yet dark and God-forsaken as your life may be, it cannot equal the gloom and the abandonment of the Cross. Even when all that you undertake fails miserably, and a blight falls upon plans which ought to have succeeded — yet reflect that your life cannot possibly seem to be a greater failure than the life of Our Lord appeared to be when it closed amid the horrors of a public execution. If corporal infirmities should attack your mortal frame, and fill it with searching pains, look at the Cross, and you will endure them all with patience. In the loss of all that is dear to you — when parents are called away, or property is lost, or friends prove unfaithful, look at the Cross ; Jesus is there, stripped of all that He possessed; deprived of His good name; abandoned by His disciples ; without a spot on which to rest His dying head, or a friendly hand to wipe away the gathering sweat of death. There is no one nigh to Him but His loving Mother, whose presence does not assuage, but rather augments His pain ; and as for the few friends who with her have not feared to stand by the Cross, their grief serves only to cut Him to the heart. Verily, then, does Jesus hang before us as the man of sorrows. Looking upon Him, the most afflicted of the sons of men may find consolation in the midst of the direst mis- fortune. He can point to Him and say: ' There is no sorrow like unto His sorrow. It is great as the sea. Who shall heal it?' III. We must not, however, contemplate Jesus hanging on the Cross, merely for the purpose of making our own misfortunes tolerable. We must meditate upon His suffer- THE CRUCIFIXION 389 ings, in order to obtain from Him, through their merits, that courage which will enable us to support the ills of life with that holy resignation which He displayed in the midst of His bitter Passion. In times of temptation, when our wearied and harassed souls begin to sigh for rest, and to think that perhaps it would be better to yield, than to go on enduring this merci- less persecution, the sight of Jesus hanging on the Cross will inspire us with a willingness to suffer that which, after all, is a mere nothing compared with the misery of sin. It will tell us to be brave and generous, and not to fling down our arms under the very eyes of our Captain, Who has stood the brunt of the fight, and broken for us the might of our adversary's arm. In times of dejection it will bid us hope on, and wait confidently for the moment when God shall again visit us. Did not the dark pall of disgrace and of death hang gloomily enough over the crucified form of Our Lord on Calvary ? Yet there lay in store for Him the glorious day of His resur- rection. So will it be with us also. We are now in dark- ness and in sorrow, but let us wait patiently for the Lord, and He will give us the desires of our hearts. If our projects always fail, even so, we must not lose courage. The recollection of Our Lord's perseverance in a career, which to the eyes of men seemed to be an utter failure, ought to enable us to go on hopefully and persever- ingly, till we win our crown. In sickness and in pain, a glance at the Cross will remind us that for our sins God struck His only Son ; and we shall be comforted and strengthened to bear patiently with our malady, by the thought that we are making some little atonement for our transgressions, and helping OurJLord to carry their heavy weight. Should death take away those who are dear to us, or should false friends desert us in the days when fortune smiles not upon us, still, when we look at the Cross, we feel assured that there is One at least, Who will stand by us to the last, to soothe and comfort us, because we have ever 390 LECTURES FOR BOYS turned to Him, to learn patience in our sorrows and trials, and have made them tolerable by seeing that none of them can be compared with His. JESUS HANGING ON THE CROSS. i. If we may judge of the temper of the Jewish crowd which gathered to witness Our Lord's death, from that of the rabble which a few years ago used to assemble round the gallows upon the day of a public execution, we should give them credit for at least some few sparks of humanity. For no matter how great might be the public indignation against a felon's crime, the mob which came to witness his death-agony rarely reviled him at the supreme moment. It was not so in the case of Our Lord. \\ nile He hung upon the Cross, they passed in front of Him and blasphemed Him. They wagged their heads, shot out their tongues, and pointing the finger of scorn at Him, said : ' Yah ! thou who destroyest the Temple of God, and in three days dost build it up again, save thyself ! If thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.' The soldiers who stood by to keep order, joined with the people in jeering at Him and taunting Him. Nay, even the two robbers, who were suffering the same punishment, outraged Him by their words, though, as we shall see later on, one of them, being converted by the patience of Our Lord, afterwards repented, and publicly atoned for the sin which he had committed against Him. Some one may say : ' It need not be matter of wonder that those who attend public executions should show them- selves brutalised to the last degree, and should be capable of gloating over and of insulting the dying, in their last hour of shame and pain.' But this excuse has no force when we reflect that those who uttered these revolting taunts against Our Lord were not merely the dregs of society — the scum and sweepings of a great city. They were the polished, well-educated men of Jerusalem. For listen to the words of St. Matthew : ' In like manner, the chief priests and the Scribes and the Ancients, mocking Him., said : " He saved JESUS HANGING ON THE CROSS 391 others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God ; let Him deliver him, if He will have him ; for he said, I am the Son of God.'" What a spectacle is this ! Men who ought to have learnt how to control their passions, men in whom we should have thought that the fire of hate had been slackened by the snows of age, so far forgot both themselves and the sanctity of their office, as to mingle with a crowd of ruffians, in cursing and reviling their now helpless enemy. They put the word of scorn, the bitter taunt, the cutting gibe, into the mouths of those who had not wit enough to frame them for themselves, and so led the chorus of hate and malignity which struck upon the ears of Christ dying upon the Cross. II. How deeply must these insults have wounded the heart of Our Lord ! The priests and the Ancients jeered at Him for four things, in which He took the greatest glory. In the first place, they derided His power. ' If He was, as He pretended to be, the Son of God, where was that omni- potence which must have been His, in consequence of His divine nature ? He had not been able to frustrate the treacherous designs of a false disciple ; nor to burst the feeble bonds which held His hands; nor to escape from His captors. He could not ward off the blows which were showered upon Him ; nor avoid the sentence of death ; nor loose Himself from the accursed tree. He saved others ; Himself He could not save. Therefore all His miraculous works were nothing better than cunning impostures, con- trived and executed by the aid of the devil.' In the next place they sneered at His royalty : ' If he be the king of Israel, let him come down from the Cross. There he hangs, this so-called king ! A king without subjects, crowned with thorns, with a reed for his sceptre, and a gibbet for his throne.' They forgot that He had said: ' My kingdom is not of this world '; that the day should come when they should see Him seated upon the throne of His majesty. Their shouts of rage had drowned all this. Yet He had spoken it. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 392 LECTURES FOR BOYS that word shall not pass away. Little as they recked of it, that moment kept swiftly advancing upon them, even while they stood there and made little of His royalty. Furthermore, they dared to jeer at Him for even the confidence which He placed in God. ' Where,' they cried, ' is that boasted trust of his in the Lord ? If such a man as he ever had any trust in God, let God now give to us a proof of this much-vaunted reliance on Him. Let Him prove that this criminal is innocent, by coming to deliver him ; for, if he be the Son of God, God will surely claim His own.' Finally, to crown all their profane and blasphemous injuries, they insult Him for having said : ' I am the Son of God.' At His trial they charged Him with blasphemy for having uttered these words, and shrieked out : ' He is worthy of death for daring to usurp that title.' Now they taunt Him with it. Jesus, upon His bed of pain, could dimly see them through the mist of blood and the shadows of death which were falling over His eyes. He could hear their laughter and their rude jests. He was dying to save them, and they were looking up at Him, jeering at Him, wagging their heads in bitter mockery, and gloating over Him in the agony of His death. All the time the red drops were falling one by one upon the earth. He generously gave all His blood to save them, but they would not have it. They trampled it under their feet in the dust. III. Do not imagine that the mockers of Jesus have ceased to exist. The impiety of those who dared to insult Him in His death has been imitated, and is still imitated, at the present day. Some, like the Roman soldiers, deride Him by their unbelief; others, like the Jewish people, by their wicked lives ; and others again, like the priests and the Ancients, by turning the special gifts and favours which God has bestowed upon them, into so many instruments with which to offend Him. College boys, who give themselves up to sin, belong to this last and most guilty class; for upon them God has showered His choicest blessings, and bestowed, both for the purpose of knowing and of serving Him, innumerable advantages which are denied to multitudes of others. JESUS HANGING ON THE CROSS 393 Take one rapid glance at the past and the present, and see whether you ought to count yourself among those who reviled and jeered at Our Lord ! If the past has had upon its records many a dark account scored up against you, let us hope that tears of repentance have long since cancelled your debt. But look well to the present, and see whether you are not hurried away with the crowd, and mixed up with those who jeer at Christ. Beware, lest, like them, you come at last to scoff at your Saviour, by trampling under foot His holy law. If your past has been wicked, tremble lest the seeds of evil habits have been sown in your heart. It is against these that you must specially guard, if you wish not to be of the number of those who derided Our Lord. Beware, therefore, of ever again giving yourself up to sin. Do not flatter yourself with the notion that when you grow older, you will be better able to master your passions. You will not be able to do so. For if you indulge them now, you will make them master you, and they will bind you in fetters which nothing but a miracle of grace will be able to break asunder. Now, in the days of your youth, root out of your soul all vices while yet they are feeble, and in your riper years you will be master of your own heart. But if you cherish them, and weakly yield to them, you are preparing for yourself a wicked manhood and a cynical old age — evils which are oftentimes the earthly punishments of a misspent youth. Pray God to avert from you so dire a fate, and be- seech Him that by a virtuous college life, you may avoid being of the number of those who have made their souls a desert, scorched by the fiery heat of passion, and swept by all the storms that torment an undisciplined heart. 4 FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.' I. No insult, nor sarcasm, nor taunt, however bitter, had been able thus far to exhaust the patience of Jesus, as He hung upon the Cross. He made no retort, He uttered not 394 LECTURES FOR BOYS a syllable in answer to the outrageous conduct of the Jews. Their hour had come, the hour of darkness, and they might consequently both do and say to Him what they pleased. But yet, being mindful of us, He wished to teach us a lesson by word of mouth, as well as by example, and, therefore, from the Cross, uttered a few words which show us the sentiments animating His heart in that supreme moment, when the iron had entered His soul, and the waters of tribu- lation had well-nigh closed over His head. They were not words of indignation, nor a cry for ven- geance, like that which broke from the lips of Elias, and brought down fire from heaven to consume his enemies. He did not, like the prophet Eliseus, curse those who reviled Him. Being the Saviour, His heart overflowed with gentle- ness and mercy, which found expression in the first words that He uttered: ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Forgetful of Himself, He thought only of His tormentors, whom He could dimly see passing before Him. He prays for them, and thus literally fulfils His own grand precept of charity. The)- had struck Him upon one cheek, and He had not averted the other. They were cursing and reviling Him, and He blessed them. They had stripped Him of everything that men hold dear, of property, of friends, of reputation ; they were about to take away even His life, and He prayed God to shower upon them His choicest blessings. What goodness, what magnanimity is here ! In His deep humility He sets aside His Godhead, and says not, ' I for- give you '; but, speaking from the lowliness of His humanity, He says, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' He screens them from guilt by attributing their sacrilegious acts, their blind hatred, their malignant and persistent persecution, to ignorance : ' They know not what they do.' Their blindness, it is true, is wilful. It had been brought on by the indulgence of their wicked passions. Their hatred is irrational. Their persecution is undeserved. But He remembers none of these things. He seizes upon the slightest shadow of excuse to palliate their guilt, and 'FATHER, FORGIVE THEM' 395 obtain mercy for them, that, their eyes being opened, they may see their wickedness, and blot it out with bitter tears of repentance. II. This lesson of the sublimest charity is one which you can never learn too well. Therefore, listen attentively to it. Repeat it over and over again. Meditate upon it till it sinks down deeply into your heart, and becomes a part of your being — one of the motive principles of your life. For there are few virtues which you are called upon more frequently to practise, and there is perhaps none which it is more difficult to preserve and exercise to the full extent of the Gospel requirements. In your every-day life at College, little differences are sure to occur between you and your companions. They become complicated, and the breach between you widens daily more and more. You think yourself injured by reports which are circulated concerning you, and you feel that your heart is full of vengeful thoughts against him who has set the malicious story afloat. It is a pity that these things should ever occur at all ; but it must needs be that they should happen. For since no one is perfect, it is morally impossible that our mutual failings should not now and then come into collision. What, then, are you to do ? Are you to stand upon your dignity ? Are you to treat the offender with coldness, or to repay with interest the injury which he has done to you ? If you pursue this line of conduct, you will never be at peace. Look rather at Jesus upon the Cross. Mark well how grievous are the insults and the injuries heaped upon Him. Can your wrongs be compared with His ? Has He not just cause to flash forth His lightnings, and smite those who so foully maltreat Him ? Yes ; but His heart is full of charity, for He is God, and ' God is charity.' Listen, therefore, to His words : ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' How true is it, in the case of those who wrong you at School, 'that they know not what they do!' There is too much generosity in the boy-nature to do, out of pure malice, 396 LECTURES FOR BOYS an injury unto any one. The evil which they do to one another is the result of the waywardness and the thought- lessness of youth. If they reflected for a moment, they would not do to you what would cause you pain. Be generous, then, towards your school-fellows, for Our dear Lord's sake. Make no account of the slight offences which they commit against you, and looking at the figure of your crucified God, say with Him : ' They know not what they do.' III. There are one or two other motives, which it will be well to suggest to you, since they are very efficacious means for moving the will to act in a forgiving spirit towards those who offend against you. In the first place, remember that your college companions do not, in the course of a whole year, commit against you one tithe of the offences which during a single day you commit against God. Just consider the matter for a moment. What is it that you have most frequently to complain of in your companions ? It is oftentimes nothing greater than some little act of coldness, or contempt, or indifference. A sharp word escapes them, or they are rude, or sarcastic, or impolite towards you ; they are disobliging, ill-tempered, and the like. But how do you treat God, your Lord and Master ? When you approach to speak to Him in prayer, you are indifferent, cold, and irreverent. Would you dare to behave to one of your masters, when you go to speak to him, as you do to God ? Do you not sin against Him by anger, and dis- obedience, and untruthfulness ? Do you not in many other ways offend and grieve Him ? What are your companions' faults against you, compared with your sins against God ? In the second place, you may take it for granted, that as you find some of your companions very troublesome and offensive to you, so there are doubtless others in the School who find you a very disagreeable person to live with. To them you are rough, unkind, morose, sharp-tongued, and altogether very unlovable in character. As, then, you yourself are full of faults, bear in mind that others also are not Angels. If, therefore, they have to put * THIS DA Y SUA LT THO U BE Wl I'll ME IN PA RA DISE ' y } j up with your imperfections, and to suffer from them, justice demands that you also should tolerate their shortcomings. Consequently you must resolve, after the example of Our Lord, to be ready and willing to forgive the little faults of which your schoolfellows are guilty towards you. Call to mind this resolution when you repeat that petition of the Lord's prayer : ' Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.' In this way ' you will bear one another's burthens,' and, in the words of the Apostle, ' you will thus fulfil the law of Christ." 'THIS DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.' I. To render the death of Our Lord more ignominious, there were crucified with Him two thieves, the one on His right hand, the other on His left. Their association with Him, while it satisfied the revenge of His fanatical enemies, also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias, who said of Jesus : ' And with the wicked He was reputed.' For the sake of one of these men Our Lord opened His lips for the second time, and spoke from the Cross. Three of the Evangelists record that, at first, both these malefactors reviled and insulted Jesus as He hung between them. Only St. John gives us the good tidings that one of them afterwards repented, and won for himself eternal life. He very probably owed his conversion to the patience with which he saw that Jesus suffered His cruel torments, and the magnanimity with which, forgetting Himself, He thought of and prayed for His persecutors. It seems, then, from the narrative of the beloved disciple, that when the impenitent thief again took up the words of the mockers and blasphemers who stood around, taunting Our Lord with His inability to save Himself, the other turned upon his former associate and rebuked him for his impiety. ' Is it possible,' he said, ' that thou dost not fear God, seeing that thou art in the same condemnation ? We, indeed, suffer deservedly; for we receive the just penalty of our 398 LECTURES FOR BOYS deeds; but this man hath done no evil.' Then, with all faith and humility, addressing himself to Jesus, he said : ' Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom.' By these words he professed his belief in the divine nature of Jesus. Looking into his own heart, and seeing his guilt, he did not deem himself worthy to share in that heavenly kingdom, over which he believed that Christ should one day rule as Lord and Master. He feared not to say, in the presence of priest and of Pharisee, that they had un- justly condemned Jesus to death. He confessed Him openly before men ; and Jesus, breaking the silence of His agony, openly acknowledged him as His son, and promised him a share in the glory and the happiness of His heavenly Father's court : ' This day,' said He to him, ' shalt thou be with Me in paradise.' II. It is a terrible thing for us to reflect, that by the side of Jesus dying upon the Cross, and pouring out His blood for the salvation of men, there hung two human beings, one of whom was saved and the other lost. It is but natural that we should ask ourselves how this came to pass. For, looking at the matter from a rational point of view, we should expect that when the same cause is operating upon two men of a similar class, the same effect will be produced. Both ought, therefore, to have been responsive to the move- ment of divine grace and have been converted to God. Yet they were not ; for though the same cause operated upon the souls of both, it did not work in both the same effect. How, then, are we to account for this, since we believe that God wills all men to be saved, and gives unto all, grace sufficient to accomplish that object ? We can account for it by this simple reason : one of these men put no obstacle in the way of grace, and the other did. One of them, as soon as he heard the whisperings of God's Holy Spirit in his heart, listened to them, and allowed them to sink down deeply into his soul, to stir up his better nature, and to turn it to God. The other did not do so. When that gentle voice first made itself heard, and bade him look at the evident signs of a divine nature which shone • THIS DAY SHALT THOU BE 11777/ ME IN PARADISE ' 399 through the torn and bleeding figure hanging so near to him, he thrust back the thoughts which began to throng in upon him. He had heard, in a confused sort of way, of miracles, the like of which no prophet had ever wrought before ; of blind men restored to sight ; of the lame, to the free use of their limbs ; of the loathsome leper, to complete soundness of flesh ; of the very dead, to the life which they had lost. These things had been told to him of Jesus, Who now hung beside him upon the disgraceful Cross. He could see the derisive crown of thorns upon His head; His face becoming rigid at the approach of death ; His body quiver- ing with agony. The shouts of the crowd, cursing and blaspheming Him, reached his ears. He saw all this, and would not believe, but said to himself: ' This cannot be the Son of God.' Then, with that strange, irrational, and un- accountable rage, which not unfrequently takes possession of the wicked at the sight of the just, he opened his mouth to curse and to revile. He died impenitent, untouched by grace, within reach of its source, his very body stained, it may be, with the precious blood which Jesus shed for him in vain. III. Can we assign a reason why this wretched man should have been so hardened? We can; and the thought of it ought to be a warning and a lesson to each of us. The probability is that he had been going on for a long course of years in the habit of oft-repeated sin, which banished from his heart all fear of God, and all shame of evil. In course of time, custom so deadened his moral sense that evil lost for him its hideous nature, and assumed the appearance of good. His soul being cased, as it were, in armour of proof, received no refreshing dew of divine grace, and his heart, consequently, became hard and barren as the unproductive rock. The blows of adverse fortune made no impression upon it, and the strokes of human justice might break, but could never soften it. Thus it came to pass that this hardened sinner did not accept the proffered pardon of Almighty God, though the source of grace poured out its crimson stream at his very side. 400 LECTURES FOR BOYS Here is a warning lesson for each of us. Say not : 'There is much time yet before me. Youth is the time to give a loose rein to the soul,' or, as the world has it, ' To sow one's wild oats.' This language is foolish and impious. The silly dupe of the devil thinks that, by sowing his wild oats, he is burying them like dead things which have in them no germ of life. But he is sowing seed which will produce a harvest such as the devil will eagerly gather into his barns. Sin added to sin induces a habit, and a sinful habit becomes a heavy chain which is not broken in a day. Nothing but long years of patient, unwearying effort can burst its links asunder. Shall you have the strength and the courage to go on perseveringly in that effort ? It is very doubtful ; for you will have to keep at bay a whole troop of ferocious passions, which like wild beasts will cry savagely for their food of sin. Fettered with your heavy chain, weakened by self-indulgence, how shall you be able to hold them in check ? How shall you, as you are obliged to do, strangle and destroy them ? Either you must destroy them, or they will destroy you. Therefore now, while you are young, carefully guard your- self against contracting a habit of sin. Take upon yourself now, in your boyhood's happy years, the yoke of Jesus Christ. In your early manhood it will be an easy burthen to bear, and in your old age a crown of glory upon your head. 'WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON; SON, BEHOLD THY MOTHER.' I. 'There stood by the Cross of Jesus,' says the Evange- list, ' Mary, His Mother,' and close by her side that disciple whom Jesus loved. Both were looking up with streaming eyes into the face of the dying Saviour. The}' could dimly see it through the gathering darkness of the miraculous eclipse ; and though the deepening obscurity concealed its increasing pallor from their view, they felt that the end could not now be far off. ' WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON' 401 Jesus, also, from His Cross looked down upon them. His failing eyes were fixed first upon His own dear Mother; and no doubt the memory of His childhood, and of the count- less times He had nestled in her bosom, came back upon Him, flooding His soul with anguish unutterable. He thought of her standing there by His Cross of shame, watching the life-stream slowly ebbing away from His pale and disfigured body. He thought of the sword of sorrow which had pierced her heart ; of her surpassing love for Him; of her unswerving fidelity; and compassion for her added one other ingredient of bitterness to the gall of His chalice. At last He opened His parched lips, and, with feeble voice, addressed her : ' Woman,' He said, ' behold thy son/ By these words He intimated that He willed her henceforth to be a mother to His beloved disciple, and to transfer to him all that wealth of earthly love which she had hitherto lavished upon Him as her Son. ' How great/ exclaims St. Bernard, ' is the exchange here made ! She receives the disciple, instead of the Master ; the servant, instead of the Lord ; the son of Zebedee, instead of the Son of God.' In very truth, the iron had now entered her soul. Then Jesus, slowly turning His dying eyes, and fixing one last parting look of love upon His young disciple, said to him : ' Son, behold thy Mother.' He gave to him the only earthly treasure dear to His heart. He gave him His own Mother, to be to him what she had been unto Himself. He gave the spotless Virgin to the pure and virginal Apostle. He committed the care of the Virgin to one who was him- self a virgin, and by that same act He made us the children of His holy Mother; for St. John is generally looked upon, by the Fathers, as having represented, upon Calvary, all Christian people ; and they argue, that by saying to Him : ' Son, behold thy Mother,' Jesus addressed Himself also to each of us. II. Since, then, Jesus has willed that the ever-blessed Virgin should be the Mother of those whom He disdained not to call His brethren, it is our duty to learn what are the 26 4Q2 LECTURES FOR BOYS obligations which, by that bond of kindred, we have con- tracted towards her, and also what are the offices which she will perform for us, if we be faithful to our part of the con- tract. If she is our Mother, we owe to her love, honour, and obedience. Love is the first duty that she claims from us. Let us remember that, according to the interpretation of the Fathers, Mary is looked upon, in the economy of the redemption, as the second Eve, and is consequently Mother of all the faithful. The words of Jesus to her made her, in a spiritual sense, the Mother of those who should be born of His redeeming blood, and associated to His Church. As, therefore, we owe a debt of love to the mother who bore us — a debt which we must continue to pay till our last breath —so do we also owe a similar debt to our Mother Mary for her spiritual maternity. From the love which we bear to her, there will spring up in our hearts a chivalrous sentiment, which will incite us to manifest our love by certain external marks of honour and veneration, to which her peerless dignity, as Mother of God, in every way entitles her. When we remember that the incarnate God took flesh of her ; that she cherished Him in her arms ; that He loved her as never son loved a mother ; that He obeyed, that He honoured and respected her, we cannot adduce any authority either higher or more trustworthy to give its sanction to our honour and veneration. If, then, we love and honour the Mother of God, we shall, like all dutiful children, be most obedient to her wishes. Her will is that all men should ever be obedient to the most holy law of God. By endeavouring to observe that law, we shall be rendering to our Mother's wishes an obedience which will please her beyond measure. Therefore let us strive to be pure in heart and in mind ; to be humble in our thoughts and in our bearing towards others ; to have charity with all, even with those who show none to us ; and we shall thus be loving, honouring, and obeying her whom Christ gave to us to be our Mother. III. After having learnt what our duties are towards the ' WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON' 403 Mother whom God, in His loving-kindness, has given us to watch over the growth and the development of our spiritual nature, we may, in the next place, ask what are the offices which we may expect from her in return for our obedience, veneration, and love. If we do what she requires of us, we may look with confi- dence to her for an ever-constant, ever-faithful love. That love of hers for us will never vary, because as long as we observe the law of her Divine Son, we are in the state of grace. Now, the child who has that inestimable happiness, is conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Hence the Blessed Virgin, seeing us made like to her beloved Son, will love us as His brothers, and as her children. She will be able to obey the injunction of her Son when He said : ' Behold thy son.' As, therefore, her love for Him never varied, it will never vary in our regard, so long as we pre- serve His image in our hearts. But suppose it should happen that her earthly child should mar, by wilful sin, the beauty of God's image in his soul, does her love at once cease? No; for she remembers the sad plight of Jesus, when He bore upon Himself the iniquities of us all. She calls to mind the blows and the outrages, and she sees again the gentle look of His eyes when He lifted up His head to pray for His tormentors. Poor sinners ! be not afraid ! The heart which beats within Mary's bosom is most conformed to the heart of Jesus. If He so prodigally bestowed His love upon you, if He bore so patiently with you, she also will remember that unspeak- able gentleness and forbearance, and will lift up her spotless hands before the throne of grace to pray for you ; and as she faithfully followed Jesus during the last hours of His life — as she did not desert Him when He hung like a male- factor upon the Cross — so will she prove herself a faithful Mother to you. She will stand by you, to pray for you, and to defend you. 404 LECTURES FOR BOYS 'MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FOR- SAKEN ME?' I. The shadow cast upon the circle of the dial marked the hour of mid-day, when the Jews filled up the measure of their iniquities by hanging Jesus aloft upon the Cross. His enemies had at last gained their wish, and were now re- joicing over Him in the agonies of His ignominious death. But the sun, shining in meridian splendour, hid its face when they had accomplished that awful deed, and a preter- natural darkness settled down upon the world. This was not the result of a mere eclipse, for the paschal moon was at the full ; but God had worked a stupendous miracle, by which He wished to show His horror at a deed of darkness, the like of which the world had never seen before. A deep fear, an indescribable awe, took possession of all hearts. Men groped about, unable to see whither they were going, and remorse for the share which they had had in crucifying this just Man, began to gnaw like a serpent at their hearts. There, high above the heads of the hushed and awe-stricken multitude, hung the tortured frame of Our dying Saviour. It could be seen, gleaming white against the murky darkness of the sky ; it hung motionless, save when the drooping head wearily moved from side to side, vainly seeking a little rest. At last He once more raised His voice, and its mournful accents were heard from out the darkness, saying : ' My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?' Only extreme anguish could have wrung this complaint from Him ; and these words give us a glimpse of the utter desolation of His soul. Centuries before, by the mouth of His prophet, He had spoken of that sad hour, beseeching God to pity Him in the day of trial : ' Save Me, O God,' He had said, ' for the waters are come in, even unto My soul.' His cry of agony proves to us, that the material wounds of His body did not pierce His soul with one tithe of the anguish with which the withdrawal of those heavenly con- solations tortured Him, consolations from the enjoyment of which He had shut Himself off by a heroic act of His own ' MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?' 405 will. Hence He became like one abandoned by God, to spiritual darkness and despair. His soul had no comfort. It had become like unto a land scorched by the fierce heat of a tropical sun. II. There are two ways in which God forsakes the children of men. The first is when He withdraws Himself from them on account of their sins; the second, when He hides Him- self from them, only for a time. In the latter case it is to try their virtue, or to punish their negligence, and so to take off their affections from what might prove very prejudicial to them. When anyone sins grievously, he is instantly aban- doned by Him, and straightway becomes the abode of the devil. His soul is buried in the profoundest darkness, because the light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world has gone out of his heart. Hence he is no longer able to see the beauty of that virtue in which he used formerly to take so great delight. He begins to despise it, and to think that it is nothing more than a figment of the mind — a poetical fancy. He begins also to be blind to the hideous deformity of vice, and very soon is guilty of actions which would once have filled him with shame and horror. To the eyes which are thus darkened, vice assumes the livery of virtue, and is mistaken for it. It is received into the heart and cherished there as a friend. Alas ! how many a boy has thus been abandoned by God, and taken possession of by the devil ! A wicked companion, it may be, makes him acquainted with sin. At first he re- coils from it with horror, and then, perhaps through a miserable shame of being laughed at, grows bold in wicked- ness, and loses all fear of it. He casts God out of his heart. He becomes blind, and sees not whither he is stumbling. Therefore, O child of Jesus Christ ! be watchful and given to prayer, lest so sad a fate should ever befall you ! Flee from all evil companions, and never be ashamed to stand up boldly for God. Blush not to serve Jesus Christ. Speak out fearlessly for Him, and turn your back upon those who are so wicked as to laugh at you for your innocence. By acting thus, you will encourage the weak to resist, and 4 o6 LECTURES FOR BOYS to do as you have done. You will put to the blush those who would dare to laugh at piety and honour, and they will feel in their inmost soul that they are worthy of scorn, and you of praise and glory. Act thus, and you will always walk in light, for you are following Christ, and ' he that followeth Him, walketh not in darkness, saith the Lord.' III. But the darkness which God sometimes allows to envelop His children, is far different from that which is the result and the punishment of sin. For, though they cannot see His face, through its thick and heavy pall, though they are made to feel all the anguish that men experience who have lost a great treasure, yet they are confident that He has not quite abandoned them. They are simply in the dark, and Jesus, though hidden from their view, is nigh to them all the while, just as upon Calvary He remained nigh to our Lady and to St. John, though concealed from their eyes by the miracu- lous darkness. This happens to all Christians, and oftentimes without an) f fault on their part. When this is the case, it is sent as a trial to purify them from hidden defects, and make them more perfect. You who are at College will no doubt have had some slight experience of this. You will have felt the sweetness of God's actual presence in your soul, especially when you were doing 3'our best to love Him, and to keep His holy law. Prayer then delighted your heart ; you felt no difficulty in exercises of piety ; Holy Communion filled you with ecstatic joy. But suddenly all this changed. Prayer became a torture. You knelt down, and straightway a whole crowd of idle thoughts about play or about study rushed in upon you, and you were surprised to find that the prayer had come to an end, and that you had not been with God. You arose from your knees abashed and dissatisfied. Your daily medi- tation became an impossibility. It cost you an effort to go to Communion, and that holy mystery lost all its savour for you. Doubts about your confessions filled your mind, and scruples arose, peopling the past with hideous phantoms of sin, the recollection of which seemed to have completely escaped your memory. ' MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME ?' 407 In addition to this, the devil perhaps assaulted you with many and grievous temptations. Hence you imagined that you were abandoned by God, that you were left in the midst of your enemies ; and there arose to your lips that cry of anguish which broke from the lips of Our dying Lord : ' My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?' But yet God stood nigh to you all the time. Should this trial again come upon you, first examine whether you have not perhaps deserved it by your careless conduct, and by the commission of a multi- tude of venial faults. If you discover this to be the case, humble yourself, renew your fervour, make generous efforts to be faithful to Jesus Christ, and, after a time, the darkness will be dispelled, and the brightness of God's countenance will once again shine upon you. But if you cannot see that there has been any fault on your part, look upon this priva- tion of God's sensible presence, as a cross sent to try your courage ; and remember that a good boy must love God for His own sake, and not for the sensible sweetness which is sometimes to be found in His service. 'I THIRST.' I. In reading of the battles which are recorded in history, you cannot have failed to remark, that the pain of thirst is always mentioned as one of the greatest tortures of the wounded. What must the sufferings of Our Lord have been, after His many and so grievous wounds! No drink had passed His lips since the preceding night, when He had supped with the Apostles. Every circumstance that had happened to Him in the interval, served only to add fresh fuel to the raging thirst which consumed Him. No sleep had closed His eyes during the preceding night. On the following day the Jews had wearied Him out with journeys from one tribunal to another ; and had subjected Him to the most cruel treatment ever endured by man. His flesh had been rent and torn by scourges ; His head tortured by a thorny crown ; His hands and feet pierced by nails ; His body well-nigh drained of its vital stream. 4o8 LECTURES FOR BOYS Consequently, the thirst engendered by all this suffering and loss of blood must have been intense. So notable did this feature in Christ's bitter Passion seem to the Royal Prophet, that he thought fit specially to mention it in the twenty-first Psalm : ' My tongue,' he says, ' hath cleaved to my jaws, and Thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.' In order, therefore, to fulfil another prediction of this same Prophet : ' In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink,' Our Lord once again lifted up His voice, and by saying, ' I thirst,' made known the anguish which He suffered. Hear- ing this, one of the soldiers ran to a vessel filled with vinegar, which lay near the Cross, and dipping a sponge into it, fastened it upon a stalk of hyssop, and raised it to the mouth of Jesus. Our Lord tasted the vinegar, but would not drink it. His Mother stood by, and saw this. She knew what torture her dying Son endured, but she could not give Him any relief. He cried for a little water to moisten His lips, and she could not procure it for Him. Gladly would she have forced her way through the dense crowd which covered the place of Calvary, and gone for water to allay His thirst ; but she knew that Jesus did not wish for it. He spoke merely to let us know what He suffered, and probably would have refused the draught had it been raised to His lips. II. Our Lord endured the torment of excessive thirst, and purposely made known the anguish which it caused Him, in order to give us courage to curb our thirst after three things, for which our corrupt nature is ever craving. We thirst to satisfy our own will ; we thirst after honour ; we thirst after pleasure. Christ, by making known the torment which He endured, brought about the fulfilment of His Father's will ; for His words reminded the executioners that there re- mained yet one pain which He had not felt, and so caused it to be inflicted upon Him. Thus He denied His own will, and accomplished that of His Eternal Father. How very different is our conduct ! The aim of our life is in all things to do our own will. We rarely ask ourselves whether that which we wish to do is conformable to the 'I THIRST' 4°9 holy will of God. Nay, we very frequently wish that God would make His will conformable to ours, and we sometimes do what we wish, even though we know it to be directly opposed to the law of God. This must not be. Jesus has given us a very different example ; let us try to imitate it, by being obedient to the will of God. As this is made known to us by the commands which our Superiors impose upon us, let us do what they wish, whether it is pleasing to us or not ; and then we shall be suffering like Our Lord ; we shall be athirst to do something which we very much desire, and yet we shall deny our own will, in order to do His. When, therefore, your Rule prescribes that you should employ your time upon a certain branch of study, be very exact in obeying its injunctions. Do not disobey rules which your Superiors have made, because these rules happen to be somewhat galling to you. If you feel inclined to be idle when your manifest duty is to work at your books, yield not to the thirst for ease ; rouse up your indolent nature, and force it to do the will of your master, which in that particular instance is the will of God. Do not look upon disciplinary rules as mere restraints put upon your liberty, restraints which must be shaken off whenever an opportunity presents itself, but rather as indications of God's holy will, to be obeyed for His sake. III. Again ; there is in the heart of every one a thirst for honour. There is no boy that does not wish for distinction, in some way or other, and that does not erect for him- self airy castles, in which he disports himself, vested in all the splendour of that particular kind of excellence after which he aspires. Of his own powers and abilities he has a certain estimate, upon which he builds the entire structure of his fancied greatness, whether it is that of a distinguished physician, or an acute lawyer, a stately bishop, or an able general. Of these things he dreams, and for them he thirsts with all the intense avidity of nascent ambition. But do not indulge in these day-dreams, for by not so doing you will mortify to a certain extent, your thirst after honour. Be awake and active ; be up and doing ! Study rather what 4IO LECTURES FOR BOYS is set before you ; and in that study let your aim be, not to gain those honours to which you aspire, but to fit yourself to fill that position in life for which God destines you. If you act thus, He will give you that which will be most advan- tageous for you. Finally, the devil will not fail to strew in your path the fascinating snares of sensual pleasures, and to kindle within your heart, if you listen to his solicitations, a raging thirst for them. But do not give ear to him. Listen to the advice of the prudent, and fix not your eyes upon his allurements. What he offers to you looks very tempting, and promises much happiness. But do you resolutely turn away from it. It is nothing more than a lying cheat. You will perhaps find it hard to do this, and you will feel the torture of a raging thirst which craves to be satisfied. Yet if you be wise, you will not satisfy it, and in due time God will give you to drink of the torrent of His heavenly delights. Even in this life you will taste a sweetness, and enjoy a tran- quillity, compared with which the delirium of sensual plea- sures is but as a sickly dream. If you need courage to nerve you to despise the present delights of the senses, look up to the Cross. Behold how the lips of Jesus are parched with burning thirst. He endured that torment to teach you a little forbearance. Surely, you will not refuse to endure some little mortification for the sake of Him Who endured so much for vou ! ' it is consummated; I. That last act of barbarity by which the Jews gave Our Lord vinegar and gall to drink, caused Him to speak once again. For, after tasting the bitterness of what they had offered to Him, He said : ' It is consummated.' These words, coming from the mouth of Our dying Redeemer, are full of a deep meaning, upon which we must meditate. From them we learn that before breathing His last, He cast back one rapid glance upon the life which He had spent upon earth. He called to mind the lowliness of His birth, ' IT IS CON SUM MA TED ' 411 His life of poverty and toil, the wearisome journeyings of His missionary career, the contradictions and malignity of His enemies, and the torrent of woe unutterable of which He had so plentifully drunk during His bitter Passion. Looking into every circumstance of His earthly career, He could say : ' All that My Father hath ordained for Me to suffer, I have suffered. I have drained the chalice to its very dregs — " It is consummated." ' Considering the end for which He had come into the world, He could also say : 'It is accomplished.' He came to expiate the disobedience of Adam — He had done so ; for He was obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross. He came to crush the serpent's head, and to conquer death and hell. He came to open the gates of heaven, and to teach us the road thither, both by word and by example. By that example He established evangelical perfection upon a firm and solid basis, showing men in His own person how to despise the joys of earth, how to preserve the jewel of purity, even in vessels of clay, how to submit their stubborn will to the yoke of obedience. All this His Father had willed Him to do, and having accomplished it, He said with triumph : ' It is consummated.' Finally, He saw that all the figures by which He had been typified had in His person received their fulfilment. There- fore, He announced all these things to the world by saying: ' It is consummated.' The night with its darkness was fast passing away ; the dawn was at hand, when the Sun of justice, bursting through the clouds which had obscured His splendour, should triumph for ever over death and hell. Only those shall share in that triumph, and reign with Him in His glory, who shall be able to say of the task which God gave them to accomplish during their mortal life : ' It is consummated.' II. For each of us also a moment will come, when, standing upon the confines of eternity, we shall cast a glance backwards over the course which we have run. As we look through that past, the diorama of our life will unfold itself to us, till every incident of our brief career shall have passed 412 LECTURES FOR BOYS in review before our eyes. We shall see the enemies whom we encountered, and the persecutions with which they assailed us. Memory will give up the records of the contests which we have had with the powers of darkness, and will represent to us once more the many bitter struggles which we have undergone in the warfare of life. Our works, our plans, our schemes — the thoughts of our minds, the desires of our hearts, the evil and the good — all will start up again into life and appear before us. We shall look upon them all, and say: ' Consummatum est — It is finished.' Shall we utter these words with satisfaction and joy, or shall they escape our lips while we sicken with regret over what is past, and shudder at the dark future which is swiftly advancing, and which has already cast its shadows upon us ? If we have led evil lives — if in the pride of our strength we have said, each to himself: ' Young man, rejoice in thy youth! Give free course to the desires of thy heart. Refuse thine eyes, thine ears, thy hands, nothing that will gratify them ' — alas ! with what horror and despair shall we utter these words : ' Consummatum est ' — It is all ended now ! Yet a few moments more, and all that earth and creatures can give will have passed away ! What will it profit us then to have lived in the enjoyment of sinful pleasures ? They have vanished like smoke, and have left behind naught save the burthen of guilt and the sting of remorse. Do not wait until that last moment to think these thoughts and to say these words. Reflect upon them now, and repeat to yourselves the words with which they will inspire you. They will teach you that true happiness consists in waging an unceasing war against the unruly desires of the heart. They will make you resolve to set a guard before your eyes, to hedge round your ears with thorns, to put a bridle upon your tongue, and to answer all the foolish invitations of the world, the flesh, and the devil with these words of wisdom : ' What will it profit a man if he lose his soul ?' III. Moreover, these words of Our Lord ought to suggest to you, that like Him, you have come into the world to 'IT IS CONSUMMATED 7 4'3 finish a work which has been marked out for you by your heavenly Father. Ask yourself therefore now : ' Shall I, at the end of my life, be able to say of that work, " Consuiu- matum est /" ' — It is finished ? Put clearly before your mind now what that work is. God gave you life, and sent you into the world, to prepare yourself for an eternity of happiness ; you are to show your- self worthy of so high a destiny, by fidelity to God's holy law, during the short span of your mortal life. Have you kept this end of your existence before your eyes ? Have you thus far, even so much as realised, and brought home to yourself, what is the meaning or purport of your existence ? Alas ! there are very many who do so for the first time, when a voice is heard in the night crying : ' Behold the Bridegroom cometh ; go ye forth to meet Him.' Conscience then wakes up and cries in their terrified ears : ' You have a soul to save. This is the end of your being. All other pursuits are unimportant and secondary.' You have reversed the order, and, putting out of sight the only object for which God created you, have pursued with avidity unimportant trifles. Now the end has come : ' Con- summatum est /' The night has closed around you ; you cannot work. God clearly pointed out to you the means by which you might easily have accomplished the task imposed upon you. You had to mortify yourself ; to tame your flesh ; to subdue your pride ; to bend your stubborn will. The accomplishment of these things was that Cross, which He commands all His disciples to take up, and to bear after Him. But what have you done ? You have shunned every- thing that could either pain or thwart you. You have indulged your imperious passions. You have been proud, disobedient, selfish, and greedy of pleasure. You have angrily cast from your shoulders the Cross which God put upon them. You have turned aside from the path traced out by His footsteps, and have followed the guidance of corrupt nature. God grant that you may not have to listen to these reproaches in that terrible moment, when your lamp of life is feebly flicker- ing, and the dark curtain is about to lift from before your 4 i4 LECTURES FOR BOYS eyes, and to throw open to your gaze the boundless ocean of eternity. May each of us be able to look back then upon a life well spent, a race bravely run, and a work entirely and faithfully accomplished. ' FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT.' I. Jesus would not consent to die until He had fully accom- plished the work appointed for Him by His heavenly Father. That being done, His day of life had ended. The moment had come when He must yield His spotless soul to God. Gathering up, by a supreme effort, all His remaining strength, He cried with a loud voice, ' Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit, and bowing down His head, He gave up the ghost.' Men had done their worst ; they could now injure Him no more. While, therefore, His life- less body hangs before us, gleaming white amid the darkness, let us ponder upon the significance of these His last words. We also shall one day have to look into the face of Death, that king of terrors ; but shall we be able at that moment to turn to God, and say as Jesus did, ' Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit' ? These words can come with truth only from the lips of those who have looked upon God as their Father, and proved their love for Him by obeying His holy law. But they will be sadly out of place in the mouths of those who have practically regarded Him as a hard task- master, and treated His commands with contempt, unless, indeed, God touch their hearts with sorrow, and so cause them to utter these words from the depths of a contrite spirit. To those, however, who will not repent, God does not show Himself as a loving Father, eager to welcome them to His heavenly^home, but rather as a severe and angry master, who is about to exact from them a rigorous account of all that they have done. Learn, therefore, from these words of Christ, whither you are to direct, during your mortal life, 'FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT' 415 all the energies of that soul which He has intrusted to your care. God is your Father, and your last end. In Him, there- fore, put your trust. During your life, seek for rest and happiness in Him, and at the hour of death you will find Him a refuge, a consolation, and a reward exceeding great. Remember, also, that only your soul is worthy of the greatest care. See what a lesson Our Lord gives you in this respect. He does not commit His sacred body to His Father's care, nor His reputation, nor His honour. He gave up all these to His enemies, as of little worth compared with His soul. Hence impress deeply upon your mind that saying of Our Lord's, ' One thing is necessary,' and that is, to save your soul. ' What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?' II. As all Our Lord's lessons were intended by Him to be eminently practical, it is our duty to turn to the best account those which He taught us with His last breath. The first of these is to regard God as Our Father ; for if we can imprint this idea upon our hearts, its influence upon us will be productive of many virtues. As Our Father, there is due to Him from us a debt of love and of confidence, in return for that everlasting love with which He loved us. This love is not to be a mere sentimental emotion, but a love which will show itself in act by the faithful discharge of duty, and by the strict observance of God's commands, no matter at what cost to our poor fallen nature. A college-boy loves God as his Father when he applies himself steadily, hour after hour, to lessons which are difficult and distasteful, whereas, if he chose to shirk his duty, he might employ him- self more pleasantly. Again, he loves God as his Father when he manfully endures some punishment which he might easily escape by basely telling a lie, but does not do so, because this would offend God. One act of this sort of love is worth a whole lifetime of mere sentiment. Sentiment promises much, but does very little. It is full of pious affections, but cannot bear a sharp word. It spends much time in prayer, but it does not urge him to study. Distrust 416 LECTURES FOR BOYS all devotion of this kind. It is no sign of the love of God. It may exist in the soul, together with a will rebellious to God's commands, and a heart wide open to the inroads of His enemies. To the love of God you must join confidence in Him, such as a dutiful boy puts in his father or in his dearest friend. To excite this in your heart, you have only to con- sider how good God is. You have been told that the love of a mother for her child is but a faint image of the love which God has for you, His dear child ; that His heart is ever yearning for you ; that His eyes are ever open to see your wants, His hands ever stretched forth to succour you. Now, as it is one of the greatest pleasures of those who love, to bestow gifts and favours upon those whom they love, so there is nothing that gives God greater pleasure than to shower His blessings upon those whom He loves. There- fore, have a great confidence and a boundless trust in Him. If your heart, at times, feels weary and faint with the struggle which a Christian must maintain against his enemies, do not despair — trust in God ; He will uphold and defend you, and bring you safely through the fiery ordeal. III. Besides loving God, and confiding in Him, you must aim at possessing Him in your heart. This is the work which God gave you to do, and by accomplishing it you will save your soul. Therefore, he who wishes to gain pos- session of God, must be determined to thrust aside whatever may come between him and the object at which he aims. The obstacles to the possession of God are your own self, or your companions, or the perishable goods of this world. These were never intended by God to be hindrances to your salvation. They were given to you by Him to be helps, and they cease to be helps only when you no longer use them as means to an end, but rather rest in them as the end itself. Hence, just in the same way as that in which your studies were not meant to be the end of your existence, but only the means or instruments to train your mind, and fit you to take your position in the world, so also the various created 'FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT' 417 objects upon which you so often fasten your affections were never meant by God to be the end or purpose for which you are in the world, but only the aids to assist you in winning the great prizes of life, which are God and a happy eternity. Therefore, if you wish to obtain possession of God, you must make all things else subservient to this aim. If they start up before you, and stand in your way as obstacles, you must, without hesitation and without remorse, sweep them from your path. If you have not courage enough to make this paltry sacrifice, you will lose your soul. Surely that precious jewel for which Christ died is worth more than a little earth, than a vapour which appears for a while, than a momentary pleasure, which is gone like a lightning flash. Therefore, let nothing be more precious to you than is your immortal soul. Be ready, for its sake, to sacrifice the love of father and of mother, the comforts of home, the ease of riches, nay, even life itself, rather *than imperil its safety. Let not human respect, nor the love of some friend, ever lead you away from God. Keep ever in your mind those words with which every Catholic boy is so familiar : ' What- soever I lose, if I gain Thee, all is gained, and whatsoever I gain, if I lose Thee, all is lost.' Let your heart, then, for ever set up its rest in God, and it will undervalue all things else to gain the eternal reward. He who acts thus during the pilgrimage of his mortal life, will be able to look fearlessly into the face of death, and to say with confidence to God : ' Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.' MIRACLES AT OUR LORD'S DEATH. I. An event so extraordinary as the death of a God-Man, necessarily gave birth to portentous signs by which God intended to glorify His Son, to manifest His anger against those who had crucified Him, and to express, in a material way, the spiritual effects which were to flow from His death. 27 418 LECTURES FOR BOYS The first of these miraculous portents occurred in the Temple. Between the Sanctuary and the people, there hung a great veil to shut out the gaze of the vulgar from the Holy of Holies. At the very moment when Jesus upon the Cross, bowing His head, breathed forth His soul into the hands of His Father, an invisible hand rent this huge curtain in twain throughout its entire length. Caiaphas, to mark his pretended abhorrence of the blasphemy which he impiously fastened upon Our Lord, rent his garments in the sight of the people, and God now rends the veil of the Sanctuary, to manifest His abhorrence of the sacrilege which the confederates of that hypocritical priest had committed upon the person of the Lord's Anointed. Also, He worked this miracle to intimate to mankind that the gates of the sanctuary were unlocked by the blood of Jesus ; that the law of fear had passed away; and that henceforth His people might with love and confidence approach their God. The next miracle consisted of the quaking and shuddering of the earth, which seemed to tremble at the deed which had been done. In many places the rocks were split asunder, the graves yawned and gave up their dead, who glided about the dark streets, appeared in the Holy Place, and filled with terror the awe-stricken people. Lastly, the Centurion, and some of the pagan soldiers who stood around guarding the place of execution, hearing the loud cry with which Jesus had given up the ghost, feel- ing the earth quivering beneath their feet, seeing the rocks splitting, and the weird figures of the sheeted dead flitting to and fro, struck their breasts with sorrow for the part which they had played in this iniquitous drama, and went away, openly confessing their belief in Him Whom they had crucified, and fearlessly proclaiming : ' He is, in very deed, the Son of the Most High God.' II. If these were the effects produced in inanimate nature, and in the hearts of pagan soldiers, by the death of Jesus Christ, what, let us ask ourselves, ought to be the effects which the contemplation of that great sacrifice of love should produce in the hearts of Christian boys ? These effects ought, MIRACLES AT OUR LORD'S DEATH 419 in a spiritual sense, to be the exact counterpart of those which took place in the sight of the people of Jerusalem. First of all, there is sometimes hanging before the eyes of boys, a veil which prevents them from seeing things in their true light, and from attaching to them that importance which they deserve. Hence, they often mistake shadow for sub- stance, falsehood for truth, and consequently waste their energies in the pursuit of a phantom which always eludes their grasp. This veil, in their case, is nothing more than a spirit of carelessness, of slothful indifference, and not, as in the case of worldlings, a darkening of the intellect, sent by God in punishment of sin. Boys frequently do not pray, or, if they pretend to do so, their very prayer becomes offensive to God. They do not attach sufficient importance to the duties of religion, and consequently do not receive the grace which is necessary to curb the uprisings of their nascent passions. Hence it is that they oftentimes plunge headlong into sin, and go on from bad to worse, till they become frightful examples of youthful depravity. If any boy wishes to avoid the spiritual darkness induced by these disorders, a darkness which will fill his youth with vices, and his mature age with a brood of savage passions, he must at once tear down this veil of careless indifference about the things of God. He will be moved to do so, by careful meditation upon the Passion of Our Lord. It will convince him, by the example of Christ, that life is not given to him as a time in which to amuse himself, but to do a particular work marked out for him by God — that is, to save his soul. It will teach him that he must not, in this world, look for what is easy and pleasant, but prepare himself to do much that is hard and distasteful ; to be humble, to be pure, to be true to God, faithful, and loyal ; in a word, to be like those children of whom Jesus told His Apostles, that unless they resembled them in humility, purity, and simplicity, they should not enter the kingdom of heaven. III. A second effect of meditation upon the Passion of Our Lord, will be somewhat analogous to that which His 420 LECTURES FOR BOYS death produced upon inanimate nature. It will make the college-boy tremble and quake with fear, when he beholds, in the person of Christ, the awful severity with which God punishes sin, or rather, the shadow of sin ; because Jesus did no sin, but simply took upon Himself the guilt of all our iniquities. Nevertheless, God struck Him with a severity which makes all who reflect upon it shudder with terror. Let your heart, therefore, picture to itself, if it is able, the storm of wrath which will sweep down upon those who sin against God by thought, by speech, by desire, by act ; who lead others into sin, and thus become well-springs of evil — the poisonous waters of which may never cease to flow till the day of doom. Do not turn away from this startling thought, for its influence is most salutary. Fear will burst asunder the hard rock of your heart. The deeds which you have done, and which, like dead men, are locked up and buried in its depths, will be cast out of their graves. They will stand up before you in all the horror with which they are invested. Then you will weep over them ; you will be sorry for them ; you will strike your breast with compunction, and determine that they shall never again be admitted into your heart. This is that true sorrow which breaks the hardest heart, or rather softens it, and prepares it for the influence of divine grace — and this is the third effect of the contempla- tion of Our Lord's Passion. Let the memory of what He suffered for you never depart from your mind. Frequently call up before your imagination that blood-stained figure of Our Lord — bruised, broken, abandoned, despised ; and, as you think of the darkness, the earthquake, and the risen dead — startled from their graves by the death of Life — strike your breast as the Centurion and the affrighted soldiers did, and, grieving over the share which you have had in His sufferings, resolve, once for all, to break with sin, and never again to incur its frightful guilt. THE SIDE OF JESUS PIERCED BY A SPEAR 421 THE SIDE OF JESUS PIERCED BY A SPEAR. I. The Jews feared very much lest Pilate should leave the bodies of the three crucified men upon their respective crosses all the next day which, being the Sabbath, and the most solemn day of the great Paschal festival, would be desecrated by their presence. To prevent so great a pro- fanation, they sent a deputation to the Governor, beseeching him to remove them as speedily as possible. Pilate im- mediately gave an order to this effect, and the soldiers proceeded at once to execute upon the crucified the extreme penalty of the law. One of them grasping in his hand an iron bar, dealt each of the thieves a tremendous blow both above and below the joints of the arms and the legs, and then crushed out what little life yet remained in them, by one finishing blow upon the chest or the stomach. On coming to Jesus, he found that death had rendered any further punishment in His case superfluous. Deeming it, therefore, useless to treat Him in the same way as that in which he had treated the two thieves, he did not break His bones, but taking a lance, drove the point through His side into the sacred heart. Instantly there flowed out through the gaping wound a little blood and water — all that remained of moisture in His lacerated body, which had been trodden like grapes in the wine-press of the wrath of God. Jesus made no movement as the soldier inflicted upon Him this last outrage. The body hung there still and lifeless. But though He had already passed far beyond the reach of pain, there stood beside the blood-stained Cross one whose heart felt most keenly the pang intended for Him. Then, in very deed, did that sword of sorrow spoken of by holy Simeon, transfix the virginal heart of Christ's afflicted Mother. The bright steel which pierced His flesh inflicted upon her soul a most cruel wound. Like her Divine Son, she could now say with truth : ' It is consummated. I have stood here and seen all the prophecies that related to my Son accomplished to the full. They wished to break His 422 LECTURES FOR BOYS bones, and yet did not dare to do it ; for it is written : "You shall not break a bone of Him." They have, indeed, in wanton cruelty opened wide His sacred heart; but in so doing they have but fulfilled another prophecy, which said : " They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced." : II. Let us now try to penetrate into some of the reasons for which God allowed this last outrage to be perpetrated upon His Son. One of these was doubtless to anticipate and refute an objection which would be urged against the Divi- nity of Our Lord. Some unbelievers have maintained that He did not really die upon the Cross, but only swooned away through loss of blood, and that careful treatment afterwards restored Him to life. They tried, in this clumsy way, to account for the resurrection, which Christ always appealed to, as a proof of His divine nature and mission. Their blasphemous assertion is, however, rendered not only untenable, but absolutely absurd, by the seemingly wanton cruelty of some nameless Roman legionary, whose lance pierced the side of Christ, penetrated into His heart, and drew forth that blood and water which make the fact of death indubitable. But though this reason may serve to strengthen our faith, we will pass it over, to dwell more particularly upon another, which will appeal more directly to our hearts, and be more productive of spiritual advantage to our souls. Jesus wished to be stricken and punished, not only externally, but even in the very centre of life, in order that He might atone by the rending of His heart for all the evil that proceeds from the hearts of men. It is the heart, or the carnal nature of man, that is the source of the greater part of our errors and sins. By it the Sacred Scripture understands all those sensitive faculties which men gratify by the criminal indulgence of their flesh. From it, as from a well-spring, there issues forth that stream of iniquity, the fatal waters of which Christ referred to when He said to His Apostles : ' From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies ' ; in one word, all those things which defile the soul. THE SIDE OF JESUS PIERCED BY A SPEAR 423 By suffering His heart to be opened, He caused to flow thence a healthful stream, of which we may drink, in order to purify that source of evil which we carry about within our own breasts. Go frequently to that well of life, in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Drink deeply of its saving waters, and they will fertilise your barren heart, and make it bring forth virtues which God will crown with glory in heaven. III. Another reason urged Our Lord to allow this wound to be inflicted upon His side, and upon His sacred heart. He wished to give us one last proof of the boundless gene- rosity of His love. When the soldier's spear had pierced His lifeless body, the Eternal Father could call upon us to look at Jesus nailed to that Cross, and tell Him whether He could do anything more to prove to us how much He loves us. There hung His only begotten Son, consubstantial with Him, eternal, almighty. He had given His body to the strikers, His cheeks to the pluckers. He had not turned away His sacred face from those who spat upon it. He had most plentifully given His blood, and, lest we should say that He had made any reserve of it, He willed that its very source should be drained. He had done all that God could do, to write upon the heart of man : ' I have loved thee with an everlasting love.' All that He asks in return, is that we should love Him with our poor, weak, human hearts, and as a proof of that love, give our obedience to His holy Son. He does not ask much, and He gives us strength to do even the little that He does ask. He nerves us to encounter self-denial, by the sight of His crucified body ; He gives us courage to face slight persecutions, by upholding us with His own strong right arm ; and when we are hard pressed by our enemies, we shall ever find a sure refuge, a place of rest, in the wound of His sacred side. When sorrow wrings our heart, we can look upon Him and we shall see that our sorrow is not equal unto His. When the world turns against us, when men despise us, and treat us with harshness and injustice, we may look up with confidence to that white figure hang- 424 LECTURES FOR BOYS ing upon the Cross. We can see the gaping wound of His side ; there is our sanctuary ; there our harbour of rest ; for over it is written that loving invitation to all the down- trodden, weary wayfarers of earth : ' Come unto Me, all ye that are heavily burthened, and I will give you rest.' THE BODY OF JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS. I. If the laws usually observed in the execution of criminals had been carried out, the body of Jesus would have been left in the hands of the ministers of justice, and upon them would have devolved the task of committing it to the grave. But since He had now fully accomplished the end for which He had come into the world, the hour of darkness, during which the wicked were suffered to work their will upon Him, had passed away. Their hands could never again be laid upon Him. God, in His fatherly providence, had prepared for the burial of His Son two men, noble of birth, and up- right of heart, who had loved and reverenced Jesus, but through timidity of character had up to this time done so only in secret. The spectacle of Our Lord's cruel torments, however, had upon them an effect similar to that which the descent of the Holy Spirit had upon the Apostles. It filled them with courage to face any danger, and nerved their hearts to make any sacrifice for Him, Who had given to them so noble an example of devoted love. As soon, therefore, as they knew that Jesus had breathed forth His soul, one of them, named Joseph, a rich man of Arimathea, went boldly to the Governor and asked him for the body of Our Lord, that he might bury it with the honour due to One so holy, and held in so high repute by the great mass of the people. How keen a lash did this petition apply to the soul of the irresolute, time-serving Pilate ! Here there came before him a man of spotless integrity and of high standing with his nation, asking for the body of Him Whom he had handed over to the blind THE BODY OF JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 425 fury of a fanatical mob. The contrast between Joseph's courage and his own vacillation and weak acquiescence in the wishes of the profane crowd, cut him to the heart. He did not refuse the petition, but ordered the body to be delivered up to Joseph's care. Armed with this warrant, the loving disciple hastened to Calvary. There he found Nicodemus, who had brought with him precious unguents, balm, and sweet-smelling spices, with which to prepare the body of the Lord for burial. These two devoted men, assisted by the pious women, drew forth the nails from the hands and the feet; disengaged the thorny crown from the tangled hair; and then the sacred body was gently, tenderly, and by the hands of those who loved and reverenced Jesus, lowered from the Cross, and laid in the arms of His Mother. His head reposed in death upon that bosom which had been His first resting-place upon earth. II. Let us now draw nigh to that broken-hearted Mother as she sits at the foot of the Cross, and look upon Him Whom God has stricken for our sins. There He lies without sense, without motion ; His eyes are closed, His limbs are rigid, His flesh is gashed, torn, and rent with cruel wounds. There is now no beauty nor comeliness in Him. From the crown of His head to the sole of His foot there is no soundness. He is like a leper, and one stricken by God and afflicted. Truly He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows, and because it hath pleased Him to take their guilt upon Himself, the Almighty hath exacted from Him the great debt of justice which we were unable to pay. O children ! so dear to Jesus Christ ! look well at this piteous spectacle ! Let the boy whose heart is proud, and whose head is full of vain thoughts, study attentively the picture which lies before him. There is Jesus, Who on account of our pride, bent down His own sacred head, that the billows of the world's scorn and contempt might roll their tumultuous waters over Him ; that the lowest rabble might laugh at, and insult, and flout Him. Let him who is revengeful — who resents the smallest 426 LECTURES FOR BOYS injury, and treasures up enmity in his mind, approach and look upon Jesus. Those upon whom He had heaped countless benefits have brought Him to this sad plight, and yet He prayed for and forgave them. Above all, let him before whom the devil displays the allurements of the senses, and who feels tempted to swallow the glittering bait — let him look upon the dead body of Jesus. Where is the faculty of mind, where the power of sense that has not been strung to its utmost tension by torture, the keenest that could be devised by the mind of man ? His head is all wounded by cruel thorns, to atone for our sinful thoughts; His eyes are blinded by blood, to expiate the wicked indulgence of our lascivious eyes ; His ears are stunned by blows, to satisfy our sins of hearing ; His mouth is swollen by blows from the horny fists of His enemies, to make amends for our wicked speech ; His hands are pierced, to wipe away our evil deeds ; His feet are bored through, on account of the speed with which we ran in wicked ways ; His heart is well-nigh cloven in twain, to wash away the unholy desires of our hearts ; His whole body is one vast wound, to pay the penalty due to our sinful flesh for the carnal delights in which it has indulged. III. What are the thoughts suggested to you by the contemplation of Jesus lying thus in the arms of His most holy Mother ? Are they not bitter recollections of the share each of you has had in making Him what He is ? There is not one of us that cannot point to some scar upon that sinless flesh and say : ' It was I that did that !' Have not our thoughts, at times, struck down the points of the thorny crown into the sacred head and temples of Our Lord ? Have not our deeds filled His eyes with tears of blood ? Our words have perhaps dealt Him blows, which were as heavy as the one which He received from the servant, who, in the house of the High Priest, struck Him upon the mouth. Our sinful acts have been unto His flesh as the thongs of the biting scourge, as the nails which burnt like red-hot iron, as the keen point of the lance which drank the last drop of His heart's best blood. THE BODY OF JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 427 Looking upon the work of our hands, can we gaze un- moved upon the lifeless form which with mute eloquence appeals to us ? Oh ! let not our hearts be harder than were the very rocks which burst asunder at His death. Let us look upon the body of Our Saviour, resolve to atone for the past, and by tears of sorrow, to blot it out from the memory of God. Let each of us determine never again to reopen the wounds of Jesus. When evil thoughts, whether of pride or of revenge, whether of vanity or of wickedness, come into our minds, let us reject them, and we shall thus be plucking out the thorns from the head of Jesus. When we refrain from the commission of sin, we shall be warding off from His sinless flesh the thongs of the galling whips. When we walk in the narrow path of virtue, we shall be taking out the nails from His hands and feet ; we shall be holding off the lance from His side ; we shall be fastening ourselves to the Cross in His stead, and thus deserve to bear in our flesh the marks of His glorious Passion, by crucifying our vices and con- cupiscences. THE BURIAL OF OUR LORD. I. Before consigning the body of Our Lord to the tomb, Joseph and Nicodemus, aided by the holy women, performed for it all those offices of piety which their faith and love prompted them to bestow. Having first cleansed it from the foul stains which the rage and brutality of the Jews had left upon it, they next, with the most profound respect, anointed all its gaping wounds, pouring over them sweet- smelling spices, and covering the whole body with myrrh. They then wrapped round the lifeless form a clean winding- sheet, and covered the sacred head with a linen cloth. Naught else now remained to be done except to bear that precious burthen to the grave, which Joseph had hewn out of the rock as a resting-place for himself. No one had yet been buried there, so that it had not been defiled, but had been providentially reserved as a receptacle for that virginal 428 LECTURES FOR BOYS body, which, though lifeless, yet remained hypostatically united with the Divinity. But before the grave closes over the body of her Son, Mary kneels once again by the shrouded form. Her face is bent over the veiled features of her Child, once so beautiful, and* now so cruelly disfigured by the savagery of the Jews. She again presses to her bosom that sacred head, which had so often nestled there in the happy days of childhood. The tears break forth from her eyes. She imprints one farewell kiss upon the brow, now, alas ! concealed from her view, and feels, in that supreme moment, all the agony of a broken heart. By her side there kneels the beloved disciple, the spotless St. John, whom Jesus had given to her as a son instead of Himself. His tears fall fast, as he tries in vain to comfort her. Magdalen, deeming herself unworthy of aught else, stations herself at the feet of her Lord, and performs for them in death that office of love which she had not feared to per- form in life, when He sat in the midst of His jealous and ever-watchful foes. With unspeakable gentleness and tenderness, Joseph, Nicodemus, and John take the body of Jesus from the arms of His Mother, and bear it into the cavern. They lay it upon the ledge of rock prepared for its resting-place, and having closed the entrance of the sepulchre with a great slab of rock, all withdrew, to await in sorrow, and yet in hope, for the dawning of the glorious resurrection morn. II. There are mystical meanings attached by devout men to the various incidents of Our Lord's burial, and upon these we must reflect, in order to draw thence matter for our own edification. In the preparation of Our Lord's body for the tomb, special mention is made of the use of myrrh. Its specific property is its power to preserve bodies from cor- ruption. By spiritual writers it is always looked upon as a symbol of Christian mortification, which is so bitter, and yet so beneficial to human nature. From the use of it in the embalming of Our Lord's body, they would have us understand that, as the sharpest mortification entered so THE BURIAL OF OUR LORD 429 largely into His whole earthly career, so also, if we pretend to be His followers, should we make it hold a prominent place in the service which we render to Him. Bear in mind that without mortification no one can lead a holy life ; and the best mortification for you who are at College, is to keep your hearts free from the taint of sin, and to do your duty exactly and well. In the accomplishment of this you will find bitterness enough to preserve your soul from the poison of this world's corruption. Again ; from the fact that Our Lord's friends wrapped His body in a clean winding-sheet, spiritual writers take care to point out to us the love which Jesus always mani- fested for purity. As He made it the darling virtue of His life, so He would mark His love of it, even in the grave, by causing His body to be enveloped in a cloth of dazzling white- ness, to symbolise the virtue which He so highly prized. See that your love of it be also very great Be willing to suffer much from the assaults of the devil and from the rebellion of your corrupt nature, in your struggle to guard it from all spot or stain. Let your courageous defence of it be a pledge to God of your love for Him, and of your desire to serve Him. Lastly, from the new sepulchre, in which no one had yet been laid, learn a farther lesson of purity. Your heart, when you go to Holy Communion, becomes in a certain sense the tomb of Jesus Christ ; for the true body and blood of the Son of God are laid up there as in a tabernacle. Therefore, see that your heart be always pure and clean. Let there be no filth nor rottenness of corruption in it, nothing that is unclean, for then Our Lord would shrink from all contact with it, with as much horror as that with which we should flee away from the loathsome tomb. Therefore, let the cry of your heart to God always be the Royal Psalmist's fervent prayer for purity : ' Create in me a clean heart, O God !' III. Apart, however, from the mystical lessons which Our Lord's burial presents to us, there is a very solemn thought which it ought to raise in our minds. This is the thought of the nothingness of the present life, and of all the seeming 430 LECTURES FOR BOYS good that it can give to us. To say that it passes away more quickly than an arrow, which divides the air and leaves not a trace behind, is to say what everyone knows, but what few are able to realise. Yet, whether we are able to bring this home to ourselves or not, the day will inevitably come, when it will be forced upon us. The grave will close over us, as we have seen it close over others ; our friends will drop a few tears upon the mound which covers our remains, and, with a final ' May he rest in peace/ will depart, and so life and the world will have ended for us. Look at that newly-made grave, in which one of your schoolfellows is laid to rest. You knew him well — his thoughts, his aspirations, his future hopes. To him they are now at an end for ever ! You go away from his tomb awe-stricken, as you reflect that he has looked upon the face of God, that he now knows the secrets of the unseen world, to which you also are hastening. What does it avail him to have been nobly born, to have been rich, clever, beloved by all, flattered, sought after, admired ? Nothing — unless he aimed at those unseen goods for which God created him. If he has not done so, his life has been a mistake, his end is the beginning of eternal sorrow, and his occupation will be to weep over lost opportunities, which will never return. A fate like this may be yours. It is in your power to prevent it, by making a right use of the present time. Time is now given to you to prepare for that future life which alone deserves the name life. Therefore, regulate all your actions now with an eye to that future existence. See that no thought be harboured in your brain, and that in your heart no desire be suffered to find a resting-place, which desire might develop into an evil deed, and bear the fruit of eternal death. Your days will thus be passed with God, and when your allotted time shall have run its course, you will close your eyes upon this perishable world, with the firm hope that when you open them again, it will be to look into the face of God your Father, welcoming you with a smile of approval to His heavenly home. DEPARTURE OF BLESSED VIRGIN FROM THE TOMB 431 DEPARTURE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN AND THE REST FROM THE TOMB. I. The ponderous stone which closed up the mouth of the sepulchre, shut out the weeping Mother from the body of her Child ; yet she still tarried by the spot, as if fascinated, till the beloved Apostle, who held the place of Jesus in her regard, gently and lovingly led her away. Her body, indeed, he might withdraw to a distance from her Son, but her heart remained with Him in the grave, for where her treasure lay, there also her heart rested. How great must have been her desolation, how bitter her sorrow, as with head bent down and faltering step, she walked away from the spot where they had entombed Him ! She must, perforce, pass by the Cross, crimsoned with His blood. There she would carefully tread the ground, lest she should trample upon that which had lent its regal dye to the wood. But, though plunged in a sea of sorrow, her heart would doubtless not forget those who had been so generous, and so courageous in their love, as to honour and care for the body of her Lord. They would not be suffered to depart to their homes from that scene of sorrow before they had heard from her lips the expression of her deep gratitude, for the noble part which they had played towards Him. How"sweet must have been those words of commendation which issued from that Mother's lips, and how entrancing the thrill of spiritual joy which the glance of her tearful eyes shot through their hearts ! Then the Apostle St. John took her to his home, where she passed the night. There, no doubt, the rest of the Apostolic band gathered round her, full of grief for the loss of their Lord, and of shame for their cowardly 'desertion of Him in the hour of danger. Sad and desolate as her own heart must have been, she had yet to comfort them and to lighten the burthen of their sorrow. Thus did those whom Jesus loved so well, mourn over their grievous loss, and pass in review all the incidents of His bitter Passion, which they either had themselves witnessed, or had eagerly 432 LECTURES FOR BOYS gathered from the narratives of those who were present : ' Weeping, they wept in the night, and the tears were upon their cheeks.' Among them were sounds of lamentation and of great mourning over Him Whom they loved : they would not be comforted, because He was not. II. When we look back into the past, we may perhaps be able to call to our remembrance certain occasions when we, like our Lady, were separated from Christ. But how different was our separation from hers ! We had slain Our Lord, cast Him out of our hearts, and buried Him beneath the heavy load of our sins. We had turned our backs upon Him, and had gone away with smiling eyes, and a heart made delirious by the poisoned draught of the devil's chalice. Gentle hands were stretched forth to seize and draw us back from the brink of the precipice whither we were hastening, and warning voices cried aloud to us, ' Beware !' We saw, we heard, but we heeded not. Our proud hearts resented their interference, and we hurried forwards with a swift step and a defiant glance. Yet, what had we done to be proud of? or what had happened to fill us with exultation ? Like cowards we had deserted our Leader in the day of trial, thrown down our arms in the midst of the battle, and yielded up our persons to the power of His and of our enemies. We gave Him up to the fury of His bitterest foes, and basely sold Him for a reward more vile than were the thirty silver coins for which Judas betrayed Him to the Jews. Oh ! if thoughts like these come back like avenging furies to torture your soul for the deeds of the past, and if the devil should try to make you think so unworthily of God as to despair of pardon, call to mind all that He endured for you in His Passion, and you will feel what were the depth, and the length, the height, and the breadth of His undying love for you. Do not, like the traitor Judas, distrust that love, but rather, like the other Apostles, return sorrowing to wait for pardon and to weep over your weakness. Like them, draw nigh to the ever gentle Mother of God. Ask her to DEPARTURE OF BLESSED VIRGIN FROM THE TOMB 433 intercede for you with her Son. Beseech her, by her never- failing love, and by her unwavering fidelity, to obtain your pardon, and like a loving mother, she will present your petition to Him Who never refused her any request. He will take you back to His heart, and with the help of divine grace, you will never again desert Him. III. Now that we have come to the end of these holy days of Lent, now that we are preparing to celebrate with joy the glorious feast of Our Lord's resurrection, let us cast a rapid glance at the stirring thoughts which have been placed before us during this penitential season. Christ is God, and He became man for love of us ; He lived upon this earth of ours, and felt, so as to learn experimentally all our miseries, sin only excepted. Like a common labourer, He toiled at an ignoble handicraft, and by so doing invested labour with a dignity which has made its sharp penance for ever honourable. He came forth from His obscurity and taught a heavenly philosophy, which lifts men out of the mire of earth into the kingdom of God. He taught them to look upon this world as a place of exile, this life as a pilgrimage. To solace their misery and to strengthen their weakness, He gave them Himself to be their food during the days of their banishment. To blot out the handwriting against them, the Eternal Father had decreed that He should die. He submitted to His Father's will. The time for the fulfilment of that divine decree arrived, and Christ entered upon His bitter Passion. Over His whole being there crept a dread of death, so intense that it filled His soul with a mortal agony, and caused Him to sweat blood. One of His disciples basely betrayed Him ; one of His creatures condemned Him to death, and handed Him over to the ungovernable fury of an angry mob. His people rejected Him, and chose in His stead a robber and murderer. They scourged Him like a malefactor, nailed Him to the disgraceful Cross like the vilest slave, and there — between two thieves, amid the cruel jeers of His own nation, — He died a lingering death of the most acute pain. Reflecting upon all this, each of us can say : ' Christ 28 434 LECTURES FOR BOYS died for me, and delivered Himself up for me." Surely, greater love than this no man hath, that he should give up his life for his friends. Therefore, let us not be behind- hand in generosity of love to Him. Let us give to Him all that we have, our hearts, our souls, our faculties, our powers. Henceforth let us be determined to serve Him only. But as we cannot do this without His assistance, we must ask Him for it, and He will give it to us. Let us ask Him so abundantly to bestow His grace upon us, ' that neither life nor death, neither Angels nor men, neither principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, may ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' THE SACRED HEART. THE OBJECT OF THIS DEVOTION. I. In order that you may be able to appreciate the motives which induced the Church not only to sanction devotion to the sacred heart, but very earnestly to recommend it to her children, it will be necessary at the outset to tell you what the precise object is towards which she directs your adora- tion. A clear knowledge on this point will preserve you from every shadow of error, will anticipate and refute objec- tions, and make you eager to practise the various acts of piety instituted to do honour to the loving heart of Our dearest Lord. What, then, is the object towards which the piety of the faithful is directed in devotion to the sacred heart ? It is not the heart of Our Lord, considered apart from His human nature, or abstracted from His body. It is not the heart of Our Lord, looked upon as separated from His divinity. Nor is it that same heart regarded as a mere symbol or sign of the immense and undying love of Jesus for each of us. In none of these respects is the sacred heart the object towards which the Church turns the devotion of her children, and bids them offer to it their adoration and their most ardent love. These are the errors and the misrepresentations of men whom either party spirit or the demon of heresy has so blinded that they do not wish to see. The object which the Church proposes to her children's devotion, is the real and physical heart of Jesus Christ, the 436 LECTURES FOR BOYS heart which is now living and beating in His breast, and therefore the heart of a divine Person. When we adore it, our adoration is directed to it as being a part of the Man- God, Christ Jesus, and consequently, in adoring it, we adore by one and the same act the whole Person of Jesus Christ ; that is to say, we adore the Person of the incarnate Word, and in that Person the whole humanity, and the most sacred heart, living, animated and hypostatically united to the Word, considering it as the heart of a divine, incarnate Person. Therefore, the material object of our adoration is the material heart of Our Lord, not separated from His humanity or frormHis divinity, but the living heart of the incarnate God. II. But besides this material object of our devotion, there is also a spiritual one, of which the sacred heart of Our Lord is a symbol. This is the burning love of Jesus for men, as well as all those internal sentiments which filled the human nature of the God-Man. No tongue can tell the intensity of that love which burned in the heart of Jesus Christ. When we contemplate it, we are forced to lift up our hands in amazement, and silently to gaze upon the proofs which He has left us of its length and its breadth, of its height and its depth. That love laid Him as a helpless, wailing infant in the manger. It made Him toil in obscurity at a humble trade. It exposed Him to the envy, the contradictions, and the malignant hatred of a proud and fanatical priesthood. It nailed Him to the Cross, and rent wide open His sacred side. It holds him still among us in the solitude of His eucharistic prison. Of all this the sacred heart is to us a symbol, inasmuch as it is what theologians call the object of the manifestation of that boundless love. For, though the heart cannot strictly be said to feel either love or sorrow, either anger or resentment, because these are really acts of the will, yet, because the heart is the organ upon which the movements of our intel- lectual and our physical nature make their chief impressions, it is natural for us to attribute these acts to it, though they are in reality accomplished by the will. OBJECT OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 437 Hence, as the heart of Our Lord felt all the intense energy and vehemence of the acts of His will, by which He either loved or grieved, by which He suffered anguish, or fatigue, or bodily pain, it has become for us the object by which all these actions and affections of Our Lord's internal nature are made known to us. As such, it is the symbol of His love. By adoring it, therefore, we, in a spiritual way, pay homage to all that tenderness and compassion which He felt for the infirmities of our human nature. III. Having learnt, then, what the precise object is towards which the Church, in her devotion to the sacred heart, directs the adoration of the faithful, we must next inquire into the motives which urged her to sanction that devotion, and wish for its wide diffusion among her children. First, she intended by this means to meet and counteract the pestilential spirit of Jansenism, which made salvation well-nigh impossible, by cutting men off from the Sacra- ments, which are the channels of grace. This spirit had already diffused itself far and wide in France, when the vision vouchsafed to the Blessed Margaret Mary gave a fresh impulse to this devotion. For we must not suppose that the devotion is an entirely new one. It is really as ancient as that sorrowful day when the brutality of a Roman soldier pierced the side of the dead Christ, and threw open to us the portals of that sanctuary of love. Secondly, she desired that the love which the devotion excites in the hearts of those who practise it, might enable them to resist that materialistic spirit, and that total in- difference to religious teaching, which seem to be the char- acteristic marks of modern society. These, we may say, were the Church's two great motives in wishing for the wide diffusion of this devotion among the faithful. But besides these, there were numerous other motives for the encouragement of a devotion which is now so popular. Of these we will mention one or two, and then suggest a few pious practices in honour of the sacred heart. The sacred heart is the most noble part of that immacu- 433 LECTURES FOR BOYS late body which is united to the divine Person of Christ. That body paid the price of our redemption ; it is the food of our souls, and the victim of propitiation, daily offered for our sins. Therefore, it is only right that we should adore the most noble part of it, as forming one whole with it. Furthermore, since ungrateful men, instead of repaying the immense love of the sacred heart, pierce it anew with sorrow by their indifference and their sins, and so frequently outrage it in the Holy Sacrament, the Church, by sanction- ing this devotion, gives to all an opportunity of making reparation by their fervent love, for the injuries which are heaped upon this uncomplaining Victim. Therefore, let no day pass by without saying some little prayer to the divine heart of Our Lord. Assist more de- voutly at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which that sacred heart is daily immolated for you. Neglect not to visit the most Holy Sacrament in which Jesus waits so lovingly to receive you, and you will thus be complying with the wishes of His Church ; you will atone for the ingratitude and the indifference of men ; you will give pleasure and bring consolation to the heart of Our Lord ; and He will pour down upon you in return those spiritual blessings which will finally bring you to your true home, close to that heart which has so tenderly loved the poor sinful race of men. UTILITY OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART. I. Devotion to the sacred heart recommends itself to all classes of the faithful without exception ; but to none with more reason than to college-boys. For it procures for them, in the spring-tide of their life, three qualities of which they stand very much in need, to enable them to win their crown. These are strength, courage, and steadiness of purpose to fight down their carnal nature, and to gain the upper hand in their struggle with the powers of darkness. They need strength ; for they have arrived at that critical UTILITY OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 439 period of life, when they become conscious of the existence within themselves of passions which fight against the law of their mind. They begin to know that their nature is partly carnal and partly spiritual ; that their spiritual nature must either subdue and make their carnal nature its bond-slave, or be itself brought under subjection. The flesh is strong, and the spirit weak. The visible things which surround them appeal to them through eye, ear, and sense, urging them to revolt against the salutary, but stern, rule of their spiritual nature. Faint, however, is its voice, amid the loud clamours of carnal nature ; feeble and ineffectual its resist- ance, unless the powerful aid of grace comes in to curb the imperious demands of the flesh. That grace will be communicated to the boy, if he be devout to the sacred heart. For, whenever he feels his own heart parched with the lire of conflicting passions, the memory of the beauty and the holiness of Our Lord's sacred heart will be as a balmy dew, and as a cool, refreshing breeze to the fever-heat of his youthful blood. The majesty of its spotless purity, and the calm serenity of its unruffled peace, will charm him and inspire him with a love for all that it loves, and with a desire to possess some faint shadow of its virtues. The love engendered by this desire will bring about a union between his soul and the sacred heart, and that spiritual union will make him long to unite himself to Jesus, not in spirit only, but in reality, by means of Holy Commu- nion. Thus united to the source of sanctity and of purity, he will be armed with the might of Jesus Christ, which will make him able to cope with the powers of darkness, who are plotting his destruction. II. But the possession of strength alone will not ensure victory, for, in addition to strength, a boy requires courage in order to be able to face difficulties and dangers, to bear up against the weariness of sustained effort, and not to lose heart even in the ignominy of defeat. For in the path of virtue which the love of the sacred heart has inspired him to tread, there are many obstacles which cannot be removed by mere strength, many enemies who cannot be scattered 440 LECTURES FOR BOYS by the fury of a single onslaught. They stand up before him, and obstinately contest his passage. They are not to be disposed of out of hand, nor dispatched at a single blow. Their destruction is a very tedious work indeed, requiring much patience and continual hard labour, with scarcely a moment of repose or a day of security. He must ever be on the alert, with arms in his hands, and a will determined to hold his own. This prolonged effort, this tension of all his powers, is wearisome in the extreme. Still it is most necessary, and even with all this watchfulness and good-will to do battle for Christ, there may at times steal over him moments of weariness, in which he grows careless, and is off his guard. Then the foe creeps in upon him, and by snatching from him a decisive victory, forces him to retreat with great loss. Against this also it is necessary for him to bear up, and not to despair of ultimately defeating his enemies. Now where, except in the sacred heart of Our Lord, will he be able to obtain this courage to hold his own, to face difficulties, to persevere in his resistance, and not to despond, even after some signal defeat ? In Jesus Christ he will find what always inspires great courage, a kindly heart which takes a deep interest in all that concerns him ; a con- siderate heart, which will bear patiently with his faults ; a sympathetic heart, which knows how to feel for him in trouble and in failure ; a heart to which he can go with confidence, and from which he may expect naught but con- solation and sweet words of encouragement. After communion with that heart of Jesus, the boy who has grown weary of the incessant struggle against a bad temper, a vain heart, a proud spirit, an untruthful, deceitful disposition, departs from the Holy Table with renewed strength and a will firmly resolved not to yield to the enemies of God, nor ever to give up His sacred cause, though it may be full of difficulties and trials which are very hard to bear. III. In addition to spiritual strength, and courage to make use of that strength against his foes, the college-boy will need a determined will to ensure his perseverance UTILITY OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 441 in good. It is easy to make a beginning, and to go on for some time with the work which has been under- taken ; but the true test of genuine piety, is perseverance in that way which we are convinced will lead us to everlasting happiness. This steadiness of purpose is difficult to secure. For, after a time, the novelty of God's service wears off. The sweetness, too, which we experienced at the beginning, disappears, and leaves us with a daily recurring round of duties which have lost their savour, and have become a most wearisome task. How insipid do those duties now appear to us, duties which we once performed with so great relish ! To rise from bed, to observe Rule, to apply to distasteful studies, to live apart from the family circle, and to subject ourselves to the rough discipline of public school-life, are now so many acts against which we internally revolt. At prayer, too, there is no longer a consciousness that we are speaking to Our Father, that He is looking at us, and blessing us. Our communions are dry and barren ; our confessions seem never to make us any better ; and then, added to this, there are troubles from without, and troubles from within. Surelv, to remain steadfast in our resolve, and not to give way in these circumstances, requires a fixedness of purpose border- ing upon the heroic. Nevertheless, you will secure this for yourself by devotion to the sacred heart. That heart is human as well as divine. It felt all those very miseries — sin alone excepted — to which you find yourself subject. There were times when the work of daily life became distasteful to it ; when it sighed for relief; and yet persevered under a weight of depressing cares, which none but a divinely human Person could have borne. In the Garden of Olives, and upon the Cross, all sweetness departed from its prayer, and anguish unutterable wrung its every fibre, till the agony which this caused forced Jesus to cry out in the excess of His sorrow : ' My God ! My God ! why hast Thou forsaken Me?' That is the heart to which you go in your trials and in your difficulties. Can you fail to be spurred on to fresh and 442 LECTURES FOR BOYS more vigorous exertion, when you know that your Saviour before you felt all these miseries ? No ; you have too much generosity to make yourself unworthy of so trusty a friend, of so kind a master. You will pluck up fresh courage ; you will make strong efforts ; you will put self out of sight ; and, remembering that it is the duty of the creature to accom- plish his appointed task, and to serve God, not for his own pleasure, but for the pleasure and the satisfaction which that service gives to God, you will be content to persevere in darkness and in storm, as well as in sunshine and in calm. The example and the encouragement of the sacred heart will inspire you with this fortitude ;. and thus strengthened, thus encouraged, thus made steadfast in your resolution, you will persevere to the end, and receive the reward due to those who have fought the good fight and kept their faith. IMITATION OF THE SACRED HEART. I. To the college-boy, the utility of devotion to the sacred heart is beyond dispute, inasmuch as it furnishes him with the very weapons of which he stands most in need at the outset of his career. He needs strength to cope with his passions, courage to subdue them, and a determined will not to be turned aside by difficulties, till that desirable end is gained. All this is secured to him by devotion to the sacred heart, provided always that his devotion is practical, and induces him to imitate that heart which he strives to love. This is a necessary condition, without which devotion itself is of little worth. The boy must strive to make his heart resemble, in its sentiments, the sacred heart of Our Lord. By the heart, we mean, of course his moral nature. If he look well into that, he will see at a glance that it needs much cultivation. Like his intellect, it is a barren soil that must be diligently tilled, otherwise it will produce nothing but those evil passions which Our Lord says spring up there in rank luxuriance. It will be without nerve to resist evil, without courage to meet difficulties, without any high or any noble aspirations after good. IMITATION OF THE SACRED HEART 443 Consequently, it is a matter of the first necessity that the heart of each boy should be cultivated by modelling it, as far as possible, upon the sacred heart of Jesus Christ. In that process it will, like a diamond under the skilful hand of a lapidary, be freed from the foreign matter which obscures its beauty and lessens its value. Like the golden ore, it will be purged from dross. Like the marble block, it will be chiselled into shape, smoothed, and polished, till every vein be brought out clearly in all its wealth of colouring. It will be cleansed from selfishness, from unholy desires, and will be made to beat in unison with the heart of Jesus, by obedi- ence to the divine law. This is what St. Paul asks us to do, when he says: 'Be ye imitators of God, as most dear children.' This is what he means when he bids us, ' Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' By obeying that injunction, we are also accepting the sweet invitation of Our Lord, Who says : ' Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart.' II. Now that you are fully alive to the necessity for modelling your heart upon the likeness of the heart of Jesus, you will perhaps ask, ' How is it to be done ?' We answer, By so chastening and subduing your heart, that it will become one in sentiment with the heart of Jesus. For, as all true friendship as well as all true love consists in the union of wills, so that the two individuals may be said to will and not to will the same thing — ' idem velle ct nolle ' — so, when the heart of a boy has come to esteem and love what Jesus esteems and loves, and to hate what Jesus hates, he may be said to have made his heart like unto the sacred heart of Our Lord. Therefore, consider attentively what are those qualities which Jesus loves in a boy, and make it the aim of your life to acquire them. Does He set great value upon strength of limb, or beauty of form, or nobility of birth, or elegance of manners, or high intellectual ability ? Not unless these things are accompanied by virtue. They are His gifts, it is true ; and some of them are the external trappings which we are accustomed to regard as the marks of a gentleman. As such they ought to be duly valued. But what He 444 LECTURES FOR BOYS esteems most are lowliness of heart, unselfishness, truth, purity. These constitute the real gentleman, for they beget that noble and generous feeling, that lofty courage, that heroic fortitude, to which all pay homage. Aim, then, at the acquisition of these. Be not high- minded. Set not too great store upon mere externals. These are the things which base spirits worship with so much servility. Never imagine that you have made even the first step towards true gentlemanliness, until you can recognise it under a rough exterior and dressed in tattered garments. Seek not self. Be attached to truth. Scorn all that is false and deceitful. Keep your heart pure. Esteem, honour, and love these things, and then your heart will love what Jesus loves, and will hate all that He hates. You will hate pride, deceit, self-seeking, and every- thing that could sully the purity of your heart, and make it the abode of God's bitterest enemy. To a heart like this, Almighty God will love to unite Himself, and around it the Angels will cluster in admiration and in love. III. There is no royal, no easy method to accomplish this much-to-be-desired likening of our hearts to the heart of Jesus. It is a work of some difficulty ; but yet not of so great difficulty that the youngest boy at College may not hope to succeed in it. He cannot, of course, succeed by his own unaided efforts, but with the help of God's grace it will be easy for him to do so. Therefore, the first means that every boy must employ in the accomplishment of this necessary and important work is prayer ; because by prayer grace is obtained from God, Hence, whenever a boy unites himself to the sacred heart in Holy Communion, he must ask Jesus to transform him into His likeness. No oppor- tunity is more suitable for obtaining this favour ; for in that divine banquet he leans his head upon the loving heart of Our Lord, just as St. John did at the last supper. He may then address Him and say : ' Dearest Lord, make my heart like unto Thine.' He must lift up his voice for this same purpose when he kneels before the tabernacle at his daily visit. He must do it frequently during the day, by short IMITATION OF THE SACRED HEART 445 ejaculatory prayers, which like fiery darts will reach the heart of Jesus, and draw thence the strength which will enable him to trample under foot all that is displeasing to God, and make him love and esteem everything of which God thinks highly. To prayer he must add his own individual efforts to make his heart one in sentiment with the heart of Jesus. For this purpose, let him frequently ask himself: 'What would Jesus do if He were put in precisely the same position as that in which I am, at School ?' Sometimes I feel weary and inclined to waste the study hours in folly or in useless trifling. What would Our Lord do in these circumstances, if He were here as a boy seated at this desk ? In spite of weariness, He would go on with His work ; so will I. If He were sneered at, and ridiculed, and despised, what would He do ? He would bear it patiently, and would not break out into a fury of passion ; therefore, under the like provocation, I will crush down my temper. If He were wrongly accused, and had base and unworthy motives attributed to Him, what would He do ? He would modestly and firmly exculpate Himself, and then let the matter rest. In this respect, likewise, I will try to imitate Him. By these practical means a boy will, in a short time, make his heart in all things like the heart of Jesus. Therefore, knowing how necessary it is to do this, resolve to take up every practice that will assist you in so glorious a work. You know what virtues you have to aim at in order to accomplish it ; make the attainment of them the object of your life, and with the help of God's grace, and the powerful assistance of our dear Lady's prayers, you will become like your divine Lord. As a dear child, you will imitate your God ; you will put on the Lord Jesus Christ ; and learn the great lesson which He came on earth to teach. LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART FOR GOD. I. It is necessary, as we saw in our last lecture, that the college-boy should imitate the sacred heart of Our Lord, if 446 LECTURES FOR BOYS he wishes to derive any benefit from his devotion to it. But in order to imitate, he must first know the sacred heart. He must understand its virtues and its sentiments, its wishes and its aims. This knowledge, however, can be obtained only by meditation upon that adorable heart. For by meditation the boy puts the heart of Our Lord before his mind, just as an artist keeps before his eyes the model from which he is copying, while he either transfers its beauties to his canvas, or makes them stand out in bold relief from the marble block at which he labours. Let us then, to-day, try to learn the great, the most prominent virtue of the heart of Jesus, namely, its love of the Eternal Father. That love is the love of a human heart, but of a human heart which is deified, for it has been assumed by a divine Person to be the heart of a Man-God. Hence, there is in its perpetual act of love, an intensity of ardour which it would be impossible for a merely human heart to feel. Love fills and wholly occupies it. All its affections, all its desires, all its thoughts, all its aims are centred in God. His glory is the object which makes it beat within the bosom of Jesus. As that glory can in this world be given to God, only by making His infinite perfections known to His creatures, it is the desire of Our Lord's heart that men may know Him, and by knowing may learn to love, and by loving may glorify Him ; since that love will make them strive to express in their own hearts the beauty of holiness which they perceive in His. This work Jesus, as man, undertook to accomplish. He laboured at it as no one ever laboured at any work before. Yet in that work He had no thought of self. He sought not glory, nor renown, nor fame among men. ' He sought not His own glory.' ' There was one who sought it for Him.' He looked not for ease, nor for gratification, in the accomplishment of His task. The good pleasure of God, and the fulfilment of His wishes, were to Him what glory, honour, and a world-wide reputation are to other men. Hence, His whole heart lived and laboured only for God. Its pleasure consisted in doing the will of God, and in doing LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART FOR GOD 447 it to spend itself and to be spent. It is thus that the sacred heart loves God. II. As we contemplate this burning, this all-absorbing love of Jesus for God, and then compare with it our own love for Him, what a contrast is presented to our eyes ! It is so great that each of us may well ask himself: ' Do I love God at all ? and if I do, what sign is there in my daily life to prove that I do ?' For, if love of God exists in the heart, it is of its own nature so absorbing, as to leave no room there for any other love that is not of God. It carries the whole heart away with it. It seizes upon all its thoughts, upon all its desires, and fixes them upon its treasure. Hence, where that treasure is, there also is the heart. Can you say this of your love of God ? If you could, then would your love resemble the love of the sacred heart. God's interests would then be your interests. You would consider them first, and most important. The)' would be the theme of your thoughts, the burthen of your words, for your tongue would speak from the abundance of your heart. You would labour for His glory, and in that work of love, self and self- interest would be forgotten. You would hail even suffering as a welcome minister come to put to the test your burning love for God, and prove that it is not a mere passing emotion, that your protestations of undying affection are not the vain vapourings of a coward heart, which flinches at the first touch of pain, loses courage at the first difficulty, and despairs at the first reverse of fortune. But what is really the case ? The interests which absorb your whole heart and soul are your own. You shun trouble, difficulty, and inconvenience when the cause of God requires you to meet them. In the little world which surrounds you, you seek to advance your own reputation and glory. You work for yourself, you stud}' for yourself. You wish to be thought clever, brave, upright, and honourable, for your own gratification, and care little, perhaps, whether you possess the reality, provided that you can assume the shadow of these things. As for God's interests, alas ! how ill it fares with them in 448 LECTURES FOR BOYS your heart ; and yet God intended that heart to busy itself chiefly about them — to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him — in one word, to glorify Him. But do you seek to bring about so happy a consummation ? If so, why do you not work at your heart in order to root out from it pride, ill-temper, untruthfulness, and the first germs of sensuality ? He who truly loves God would do this. But what do you do ? Look first into your own heart, and then contemplate the heart of Jesus, and you will see what you have to amend. III. The vast difference which you will perceive between the love of the heart of Jesus for God, and your own love for Him, will clearly point out to you what you have to do. You must reform your heart, by modelling it upon the heart of Jesus. This reformation will be effected, by withdrawing its love from the objects to which it has learnt to cling, and the modelling of it upon the heart of Jesus will be accom- plished, by inspiring it with a love for all that He loves and values highly. In order to effect this, you must first ignore self, and deem it worthy of only a secondary place in your affections. When you have learnt this lesson, you will have made much progress in the science of God. You will discover, however, that the task of putting self in its proper place involves a great deal of work. It is, in fact, no less a work than that of changing most of your affections, and your motives of action. At present, you look upon your life only as a prepara- tion for your career in the world. You study, simply to fit yourself for some office which will bring you honour and emolument. Most of your thoughts are directed to gain these ends. In the meantime, how fares it with your eternal interests ? Do you ever think of them, and of that future world to which you are hurrying with a speed of which you take so little account ? Do you try to shape your life, and the motives with which it is actuated, by those views which will direct you to your only true and real end ? Perhaps these things do not strike you, or at least have not yet struck you. Let them do so now. Deem nothing LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART FOR US 449 worthy of real esteem, except that which tends to the interest and the glory of God. Look upon your life as a prepara- tion for the eternal life which awaits you beyond the grave. Though you may regard your studies as a work which is to lit you for your duties in the world, yet always look upon them as subordinate to that all-important task which God has sent you into the world to finish. In fine, let everything that in any way either touches you, or occupies your mind, first be looked at in its bearing upon eternity, to see in what way it may be directed to the glory of God. By acting thus, you will be breaking loose your affections from the things of the world, and fastening them upon the things of God. You will be filling and occupying yourself with God's interests. You will be working for His glory, and in your measure and in your degree, you will come at last to love God with your whole heart. LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART FOR US. I. As love is one of the most powerful levers for moving the human will, it is natural that its influence upon the impres- sionable boy-nature should be well-nigh unbounded. It is for this reason that all educators who are worth)' of the name, strive to win for themselves the love of their boys. If they succeed in doing this, their task will be an easy one ; for when a boy loves those who teach and guide him, his character may be moulded by them into whatever shape they please. Hence we consider that one of the best methods to make you practise the virtues of the sacred heart, is to inspire you with a love for Jesus Christ ; for if you love Him, you will do all that He desires. We will, therefore, in this lecture, bring before you the love of the sacred heart for you, in order that, seeing how great it is, you may strive more earnestly to make that heart a return of love. If we look about for any special manifestation of that love, we can find none better than the most Holy Sacra- ment of the Altar. There the sacred heart dwells, and is 29 450 LECTURES FOR BOYS present as really as it was to St. John when he leaned upon the bosom of Jesus, and heard its rapid pulsations, while Our Lord gave to His Apostles a manifestation of love, whereat the whole court of heaven stood amazed. That same heart is in the silent Chapel, within the narrow limits of the tabernacle, often with no other company than the flickering lamp and the adoring Angels who cluster round His altar-throne. He thinks of each of you, and loves you. He sees your thoughts, He observes your actions, He knows your difficulties, trials and temptations. He is full of the most tender compassion for you. His heart yearns for you, and goes out towards you. He wishes to have you quite close to Him. He desires you to go to Him and to receive Him into your hearts, that He may dwell there and make you love Him. He does all this for you, and you remain cold and in- different. He is burning with love for you, and how do you treat Him ? You sit at your desk, you pore over your books, and never give Him a thought. You amuse yourself in the playground, without ever casting a glance at the Chapel where He is thinking of you, and whence He is looking at you. Perhaps you do not go for even a few minutes to pay Him a visit, and lay before Him the necessities which press upon you, and weigh down your young heart with sorrow. Yet Jesus does not cease to love you, to wait for you, to call you to Him. His love is patient, because it is eternal. II. Examine, therefore, more deeply into the nature of the most Holy Eucharist, and try to learn what God's love for you has caused Him to do in that wondrous Sacrament. He wished to be with you in His humanity and in His divinity. He desired that His sacred heart should be given to each of those whom He loves. But in order to accomplish this, He had to lower Himself, not, as St. Paul says, ' by taking upon Himself the form of a servant/ but by lying concealed under the species of bread and wine. He puts Himself into the power of every priest throughout the world, and, at the bidding of His creature, He descends from heaven. He remains quite passive in the hands of that creature, and LOVE OF THE SACRED HEART TOR US 451 awaits, with all the longing of a fond father, for his little ones to come and be clasped to His sacred heart. His priests are ordered to call all men unto Him, to press them, to compel them to approach this feast of love. His children need not there fear the intolerable glory of His Divinity, nor the majestic dignity of His humanity. He has veiled them both from their sight, that they may draw nigh with greater ease and confidence. Besides this, He makes Himself, in the Holy Eucharist, a Victim to be offered up in sacrifice, as an atonement for your sins, and as an acceptable peace-offering to the offended majesty of God. For the Victim which is immolated in the Mass, is identically the same as that which was offered upon Calvary, the manner only in which it is offered constituting the sole difference between the two. In the unbloody sacrifice, the same Jesus offers up His sacred heart, and, in a mystical way, pours forth His precious blood for each of you. He does this daily and hourly, upon every altar throughout the world, so that there is no limit to His im- mense, His infinite love. He offers Himself for you indi- vidually, just as if no other soul existed in the world. Judge, then, from this, the love of the sacred heart for you, and when you look at the tabernacle, where His love holds Him a prisoner, let St. Paul's words come into your mind, and fill you with unbounded love for Him : ' Christ died for me, and delivered Himself up for me.' III. What return, then, will you make to that sacred heart for its boundless love of you ? Surely your gratitude will not fail to do something which will prove that the treasure of God's affection is not spent upon you in vain. You can do nothing better than try to make your love for Him resemble that which He bestows upon you. He is ever thinking of you, and planning for your welfare. Try not to let an hour pass away without sending forth your heart to Him in His prison of love. Lift up your thoughts to Him while you sit in the silent study, labouring at your appointed task, and offer it to Him Who laboured so hard for you. When you are arrested by difficulties, ask Him for 452 LECTURES FOR BOYS help ; when tempted to idle your time, call to mind His laborious life ; and endure the mortification of hard work for the sake of Him Who tasted so much bitterness for you. During your hours of recreation, and even while playing at your games, turn to Him for a single moment, and tell Him that you are recreating yourself for His glory, and ask His blessing upon yourself and upon your companions. If either dejection or sorrow falls upon you ; if the devil raises up a storm of temptation about you ; if your companions either malign or maltreat you, seek your consolation in the sacred heart, and you will thus learn to think frequently of Him Who so often thinks of you. In the next place, as Our Lord abides with you, and is living in the very house in which you dwell, never let a day pass without paying Him a loving visit. There are some boys who repair to the Chapel three times in the day to visit their Lord : in the morning, to ask a blessing on their studies ; in the afternoon, to offer them to Him ; and at night, to thank Him for all the blessings of the day. Do you go, at least once each day, to visit Him. Ask for grace not to sin ; never to yield to temptation ; for success in your studies, and for courage to persevere faithfully in the service of God. This will be some return for the unspeakable blessing of having God so nigh to you. Lastly, since Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament invites you with so much earnestness to receive into your heart His body and blood, His soul and Divinity, let not sluggishness, nor self-convenience, nor any other excuse, keep you from accepting His pressing invitation. The college-boy must know, that if he would be holy, if he would be pure and acceptable to God, he cannot be so without partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, Who is the source of all sanctity. Therefore, go frequently — once a week is not by any means too often — and unite yourself to the sacred heart. That heart will purify you from your defects ; it will give you the strength of God to resist the devil; it will encourage you in your pursuit of virtue ; it will console you in time of dejection and of sorrow. You can give to Our Lord no THE LOVE WHICH WE OWE TO THE SACRED HEART 453 better proof of your love, than to approach and receive Him in Holy Communion. Therefore, in return for the love of that holy heart, learn to think willingly of its love, to visit it every day in the tabernacle, and to receive it into your heart, to be your strength, your light, your consolation, and the pledge of that future life in which you will be for ever united to it. THE LOVE WHICH WE OWE TO THE SACRED HEART. I. The sacred heart of Jesus most tenderly loves each of us, and awaits with unwearying patience for us to make Him a return of love. We must, therefore, imitate Him in this respect also, as in so many others ; and our love for Him must resemble that which He lavishes so bountifully upon us. Of what nature, then, is the love of the sacred heart for us ? It is what theologians call a love of preference ; that is to say, a love which causes a man to prefer the object of his love to all other things whatsoever. Is not this the nature of that undying love with which the sacred heart loves us ? Let us examine and see. There is not the slightest doubt that Our Lord might have redeemed the world in a way altogether different from that in which he effected it, and without that total ' emptying of Himself,' as St. Paul expresses it. He might have come among us, as the Jews expected that He would come, clothed in all the power and the majesty of an irresistible conqueror. He did not do so, because He chose to win our love. He preferred our love to power, wealth, and the obsequious obedience which ever attends on kings. There- fore, He came as a poor despised Galilean, of humble birth and lowly presence. He came from a city so despicable, that men who afterwards heard of His wondrous deeds, used to ask, in scornful surprise : ' Can aught of good come from Nazareth ?' He did this, because He preferred our love to the glory and the honour which were due to the noblest, the wisest, the best man that ever trod this earth. What is more precious than a good name ? Yet Jesus 454 LECTURES FOR BOYS preferred our love to it. He suffered Himself for our sakes to be called a liar, a deceiver, a blasphemer, an enemy of God. What do men strive after with more intensity of purpose than they do after honour ? Yet Jesus preferred our love to His own honour. For us He did not disdain to be despised, rejected, and counted worse than one who was a murderer and robber. What do men value more than ease, and wealth, and friends ? Is it not life ? Yet Jesus set it aside and esteemed it of no value compared with our love. He preferred our love to all that men hold dear; and in order to win it for Himself, He sacrificed all that we cling to with so great tenacity, and that we sometimes prefer to the love and the obedience which we owe to God. II. Jesus loved us, and still loves us with a love of pre- ference. How do we love Him ? If we cast ever so rapid a glance over our daily life, we shall see that our preference is given in most, if not in all cases, to mere perishable things, rather than to that God Who has been so prodigal of His love to us. In grave matters, let us hope that we shall never suffer anything to be dearer to us than are the love and the friendship of God ; but this should be so in matters of minor importance likewise. Unhappily this is not the case, as a moment's reflection will show. Let us call to mind some of these lighter matters and see. We know, and we are always taught, that in obeying our Superiors, and in following the rule of life which they have traced out for us, we are doing the will of God. Yet when called from recreation to study, we are slow to give up our play, or our conversation, or our reading, and in consequence we fail in our duty ; we follow our own will ; we prefer it to the will of God, manifested to us by the will of our Superiors, whose wish it is that we should obey at once. When our own ease and convenience are in question, do we not prefer them also to the will of God ? How else can we account for our reluctance to rise when called in the morning, and for our sluggishness during study time, when we should THE LOVE WHICH WE OWE TO THE SACRED HEART 455 give up our own convenience and ease at the summons of duty. Again ; we have, perhaps, a very false notion of honour, and consider that we are obliged to quarrel with our com- panions, because some vain, empty-headed boy will consider us to be cowardly and spiritless, if we do not resent every slight and injury that we receive. We do this, because we prefer our honour to the honour of God. Furthermore, we study and perform our various actions, to gain applause from our masters and companions, and not to do God's will. Why ? Because we prefer our reputation to the good pleasure of God. In these, and in many other ways, our conscience will tell us that our love of God is not what it ought to be, and hence our chief aim should be to make it resemble, as nearly as possible, that love of preference which the sacred heart has for us. Then we shall, in small things as well as in great, put God first, and prefer His will and His good pleasure to our own ease, honour, reputation, and every- thing else that self would bid us love. III. From this contrast between the love which the sacred heart has for us, and our love for the sacred heart, we shall be able to put our finger upon the defects which mar the beauty of our soul's love for God. It will teach us what we have to do, in order to have for God that love of preference which He has for us. Let it, then, from this time forth, be our fixed purpose to put God in the first place in small matters as well as in great, and we shall soon discover that this purpose, if pursued with determination, will, little by little, weed out that self-love which makes us prefer our own ease to the will of God. At our studies, when tempted to relax our efforts, or to cease from them altogether and give ourselves up to the luxury of idleness, let us call to mind that God wills us to work during the time allotted for study, and that if we idle, we are preferring ourselves to Him. If at times it is some- what galling humbly to obey the command of a Superior, let not that spirit of resistance which comes of pride, stiffen 456 LECTURES FOR BOYS our necks, and harden our hearts, and make us do our own will. Let us repress our heart's uprising, and force it to be docile to another's will. We shall thus be preferring the will of God to our own. As for the foolish idea that we must upon all occasions defend our honour, and by ill- temper and pugnacity cause others to respect it, let us set this down as a pagan notion to be got rid of as soon as possible. It is an overweening love of self, rather than a care for what is right, that keeps alive these false principles among boys. Let us be ready to give up our own will, our own ease and convenience, our honour and the reputation which we enjoy among our schoolfellows, whenever by re- taining any of them we should prefer ourselves to God. Thus we shall love God in preference to all other things, and if we persevere steadily in this course from day to day, from year to year, it will beget in us so strong a habit of self-denial, that it will cost us very little to sacrifice self to God, and the result of this will be, that our love for the sacred heart will resemble that love of preference with which the sacred heart so generously and so unselfishly loves us. PATIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART. The great Apostle, mindful of the infinite tenderness and love of God for man, thought that he could delineate His character for us in no better way than by that one, short, pregnant phrase : ' God is charity.' The love of God for us made Him take upon Himself our nature, and appear among us in human flesh. Hence the sacred heart of Our Lord may be said to be the incarnation of the charity of God. Now St. Paul, in his eloquent eulogium upon that divine virtue of charity, enumerates its various attributes, and, first among them, places the virtue of patience : ' Charity,' he says, ' is patient.' How true is this of the heart of Jesus ! If there is a model of patience, it is surely Jesus Christ. We know, at least in some degree, the burning zeal, the wistful eager longing of His heart for the salvation of men. We can PATIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART 457 guess its intensity, from the vigour and the force of the divine will, which energised His human will ; and yet for thirty years He bided His time, and continued patiently waiting for the moment decreed by the Eternal Father to begin that work, the accomplishment of which threw open to us the gates of the kingdom of heaven. Then, when He had begun His work, and had chosen out the men who were to be the pillars of that Church, by means of which He intended to reform and purify the world, see how patiently He bore with their imperfections ! They were rude, unlettered fishermen ; they had low views of His aims ; they were slow of intellect, and full of petty jealousies and childish rivalries. Yet He kept them close to Him, and with imperturbable patience, taught and trained them. The heroism requisite for a task of this kind, will be feelingly appreciated, only by those who have had to bear up against the weariness and the disgust inseparable from teaching boys, who are either too dull or too idle to learn. Furthermore, when He actually came before men to call them to Himself, and to deliver unto them the message which He had received from His Father, His enemies, the priests, the Scribes and the Pharisees, opposed, and hated, and maligned Him. They contradicted and reviled Him. They called in question the purity of His motives, and met all His advances with the most fanatical hostility. Yet no word of impatience escaped His lips, so that even pagans and His bitterest opponents marvelled at Him. But this wondrous patience shone forth most con- spicuously, during the short day of darkness during which His enemies had Him completely in their power. A menial struck Him on the face ; lying witnesses falsely accused Him; a time-serving judge unjustly condemned Him ; and yet He remained patient. His people rejected and finally crucified Him. Throughout all this He continued to be patient. No murmur, no complaint, no harsh word against His enemies passed His lips. Before this endurance, before this superhuman patience, we bow down in homage and reverence, for it is the patience of the God of charity. 458 LECTURES FOR BOYS II. When we contemplate those manifestations of patience, they surprise and strike us with awe. But when we come to examine the patience of God with regard to ourselves, it is no less startling, no less wonderful. Just consider, for a moment, the infinite patience of the sacred heart, with yourself personally. Look at the period of your childhood when you first began to be able to distinguish good from evil. Did you turn away at once from that hideous monster sin, and cleave, like a true child of God, to Jesus Christ ? God grant that you did, and, furthermore, that you have persevered in your allegiance. But, if you did not, reflect for a moment in what meshes of evil you were entangled by your newly-awakened passions. God pitied your in- experience, and patiently bore with you. He waited for you, and did not, as He might have done, and as He has done in the case of so many others, punish you after the first transgression. Later on you may have been led into more grievous sins. Still He patiently waited. How long-suffering has He been with you, in your sins of ungovernable anger, in your selfish- ness, your pride, and disobedience ! Has He had nothing to rouse His indignation in your use of His Sacraments ? Have you always been sincere in the tribunal of penance ; and with respect to the most holy and tremendous mystery of the Eucharist, in which Jesus gives Himself to you, have you always been in a fit state to partake of it ? May it not have been that, like those of whom St. Paul wrote, you have there eaten and drunk your own condemnation ? If so, has not the sacred heart had a great deal to bear from you? Even now, when you are at your best, what are you to think of your coldness in the service of God, of your care- lessness at prayer, your giddiness in church, your sluggish- ness in confessing and in communicating ? Does the heart of Jesus feel no smart of pain from your conduct in these matters ? Dearest children ! when you think of these things, the pale, blood-stained face of Jesus seems to look reproachfully at you, and to chide you for your want of love. Let it stir up within you every feeling of generosity, and PATIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART 459 make you resolve to be better for the future, and never again to trespass upon the infinite patience of that loving, sacred heart. III. Therefore, the practical lesson which you must learn from all this, is to make your own heart patient, like the sacred heart of Jesus. Living as you do, and as you must do to the end of your days, among those who are very im- perfect, occasions will of necessity present themselves, when your companions will be a source of grave annoyance and of even positive pain to you. But do not suppose, when others make you feel the weight of the Cross, that they, in their turn, have nothing to suffer from you. They see and feel the defects of your faulty character, just as you see and feel the defects of theirs. Consequently, on the principle of ' bear and forbear,' you must make up your mind to endure and to be patient. Hence it is that the Apostle says : ' Patience is necessary for you.' You must, therefore, brace up your will, and nerve your- self to meet and to bear with patience the many trials which are unavoidable in your college life. For instance, those with whom you live may not be all that you would desire ; they may be rude, selfish and despotic. They may take a pleasure in contradicting what you say, and in tnwarting your wishes, no matter how reasonable they may be. They may satisfy their cruel disposition, by teasing and causing you all the petty annoyance which it is in their power to inflict. Yet do not storm, and break forth into a fury of passion. Be good-humoured, and for God's sake endure the passing inconvenience. It may happen that you will meet with some who will go so far, and be so malicious, as wrongfully to accuse you of some fault of which you are wholly innocent, or to attribute to you some meanness which you utterly detest ! Trv to bear with patience even this, because the heart of Our Lord had to taste of this bitter chalice also, and to drain it to the very dregs. Nay, there are occasionally to be met with in Colleges, certain characters who regard as hypocrites those who are 460 LECTURES FOR BOYS trying to lead lives of piety. They insult them, and try to fasten upon them this odious epithet. Should you ever encounter these contemptible wretches, be firm, in spite of their raillery and bitter scorn. The best proof that you are not a hypocrite will be, not to notice the vile accusation, but to bear it with patience. On these, and the like occa- sions, keep down your rising anger, and restrain the hand which is tingling to do battle in defence of your honour. Remember whose child you are ! Look on the patient heart of Jesus, and bearing in mind all the scorn, insult, and contumely, which He endured for you, be patient under these little trials, which are sent to test of what metal you are made, whether you are true gold, or only lead, which yields to every impression. KINDNESS OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Our Lord once said to those who were listening to His preaching : ' From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' This proverb will furnish you with a measure by which you will be able to gauge the height and the depth, the length and the breadth, of His kindness towards the young. For, if you examine the words which He spoke about children, you will be able from them to form some notion of the wealth of kindness which is stored up for them in the treasury of His sacred heart. How, then, did Jesus speak of little children ? He spoke in so tender away as to put before you a true picture of His unutterable love for them. On one particular occasion, numbers of them were gathered round Him. Either their parents had brought them to re- ceive His blessing, or they themselves had forced their way through the crowd, and found places quite close to His sacred person. The Apostles, observing this, wished to thrust them, back, thinking, no doubt, that they incom- moded Jesus, and held the ground which would have been better occupied by those who had wiser heads. But Our Lord did not think so ; He prevented them from expelling KINDNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 46 1 the children, and said, with great gentleness : ' Suffer them to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' These words express the kindness of His heart for the young. But He did not restrict that kindness to mere words. He called them to Him, laid His hands upon their heads, took them into His arms, embraced them, and placed them close to His sacred heart. From these words and acts, judge of the kindly thoughts which Our Jesus must have entertained about children ! With what sweetness must these thoughts have manifested themselves in the kindly glance of His eyes, and the sweet smile with which He met their upturned gaze ! These drew the little ones to Him, for, with the quick instinct of child- hood, they saw that He loved them, and hence they feared not to go to Him, to take Him by the hand, and be raised up to receive His loving caresses. II. From the kindly words, actions, and thoughts of Jesus about the young, you ought to conceive a great love for the sacred heart, whence they have all flowed, as from an inex- haustible well-spring. This love will lead you to Him in all your necessities. You are now young ; you are inexperiencd ; you are weak. It is for these very reasons that the heart of Jesus goes out to you with all the unutterable tenderness of the great, omnipotent God. If you are perplexed by the evil to which your eyes are but just opening, ask Him, Who so fondly loves you, to avert it from you, and to keep your feet from its snares. If the bait which is held out to seduce you from the narrow way makes you feel weak and giddy, and about to yield to the fascination of evil, go to Him Who loves you. He is the mighty One, and in His strength you will be able to grapple with, and to overcome, the most potent champion of hell. By thus fleeing to Him in your hour of weakness and peril, you will show Him that you love Him with your whole heart. Again ; let the kindness which He has invariably mani- fested towards the young, inspire you with that childlike confidence, which always springs up in the hearts of those 462 LECTURES FOR BOYS who come under the fostering influence of a kindly man. Be not afraid of your Lord ! Confide in Him, as you would confide in a loving and tender-hearted father. Let not the thought of your many present defects, of your short- comings, of your failures, and of even your sins, keep you away from His heart. He has seen and known them all. But He is your Father. Look up, therefore, into those eyes which speak so eloquently to you. Stretch forth your hands to Him. Run to Him. He will not receive you frowningly. He will not reject you. He will open wide His arms, and catch you to His heart, and you will thence draw strength tenderly to love Him, trustfully to confide in Him, and never again to cause one moment of anguish to His kind, fatherly heart. III. But, if the heart of Jesus is so full of kindly feeling, and of so unspeakable tenderness for you, it is but right and just that you should try to fill your own heart with similar sentiments for those whom God loves, just as much as He loves you. Your little world of College is often enough made sad and intolerable to many a heart, because of the unkindly disposition of certain boys. They both think and speak unkindly of one another ; they do unkindly and un- brotherly acts to one another. Now, out of love for that sacred heart, which is so full of kindness for us all, make a resolution this very day to try to imitate it, by being kind to those with whom you live. First of all, do not think harshly of them. You cannot penetrate into their souls, and hence you cannot know the motives which have prompted either their words or their acts. You often, in fact, see their actions through a false medium, which only distorts and makes them appear monstrous. What you deem evil, may be good ; what you regard as unmanly, may in reality be most courageous ; what you look upon as mean and ignoble, may be the result of some high principle. Therefore, interpret all that you see, in the best sense that it will bear, and what you cannot defend, try at least to excuse. If you are kind in your thoughts, you will be kind in your KIXDNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 463 words also. Never let a harsh, or an insulting expression escape your lips. Do not be either biting or sarcastic in your speech ; words of this kind are like barbed arrows ; they stick in the heart ; they rankle there for years ; and inflict a wound so deep, so painful, that no length of time can heal its smart. Therefore, be kind in your speech, for kind words fall like balm upon a wounded spirit. They fill with joy many a dejected heart, and spur on to fresh exertion many a despairing soul. One kind word has before now arrested a poor sinner on the brink of hell, and made him a happy, loving child of God. Therefore, speak these words to your companions, and you will be among them as an Angel of God, filling their hearts with confidence and with love for Him. Also, do kind actions for them whenever you are able. Many an opportunity for the exercise of these will present itself during the course of each day. Anticipate the wishes of others ; help them in the difficulties of their lessons ; go on their messages ; look upon yourself almost as the servant of all, and you will win the hearts of all, not only to yourself, but to God. At the same time, you will be laying up for yourself in heaven treasures which never fade, and adding many a bright jewel to that crown of glory which will grace vour brows for ever. HUMILITY OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Honour, glory, power, and praise are due to Jesus Christ, because though clothed in human flesh, He is never- theless really and truly the great, almighty God, before Whom all the hierarchies of heaven bend the knee in trembling adoration. But as He came to redeem us from our miseries, He brought with Him, in His human heart, the antidote of that poison which had been our ruin. Pride cast us down from the lofty eminence to which God in the beginning had raised our human nature ; and, therefore, humility must be planted in our hearts to restore us to our dignity, and to induce us to imitate Him in this most neces- sary virtue. 464 LECTURES FOR BOYS Just consider in what way He has given us, in this respect, a most glorious example. He cast aside the glory and the obsequious homage which were due to His nature and to the dignity of the Messias, and chose rather to be born in the utmost poverty. His parents were very poor and very lowly. His reputed father held no higher position than that of a common workman. They were so poor, that they could not send Him to the schools in which the wealthy and the noble were educated. They, therefore, brought Him up in illiterate toil, and He earned His daily bread in the sweat of His brow. He ought to have been the king and ruler of men, and, had He so willed it, all creatures would have stood waiting to catch the faintest whisper of His will. But being humble of heart, He preferred to obey rather than to command. He submitted Himself to His Mother and to St. Joseph. He fulfilled all the requirements of the civil and of the ecclesiastical law. He yielded Himself up to the hands of His enemies, and obeyed them, even to the ignominious death of the Cross. The profoundest veneration and respect were His by in- alienable right ; yet, through love of humility, He waived His claim to the homage of His people, and chose rather to endure their contempt and their bitterest scorn. They loaded Him with the most atrocious calumnies. They looked upon Him as a blasphemer, a liar, a cheat, and a seditious demagogue. They preferred to Him a thief and murderer, and caused Him to end upon the Cross, between two malefactors, the days of His mortal pilgri- mage. Thus did Jesus love humility. He chose it as the instrument by which to regenerate the human race. We fell by pride ; we »are raised to our former dignity by humility. II. Do you love humility, and try to foster its growth in your heart ? Alas ! how far removed are boys generally from the lowly sentiments which filled the heart of Jesus ! They are so far from them, that they take pride in those very things which Jesus rejected. There are some who pride themselves so much upon either their noble or their genteel HUMILITY OF THE SACRED HEART 465 descent, that they seem to think that they have conferred upon the world a signal service by deigning to come into it. Upon all those who cannot boast of blood so pure as their own, they look with a degree of scorn which is laughable to behold, and deem them to have incurred disgrace, by being born of parents ' who commit the enormity of living by an honest trade.' Had they been brought in contact with Our Lord during His youth, they would probably have contemned and despised Him for being the son of a carpenter. In their eyes He would not have been a gentle- man. Others, again, upon whom God has bestowed great intel- lectual ability, while by a law of compensation He has with- held from them what is called genteel parentage, plume themselves unduly upon their powers, and laugh cruelly at the stupidity which is sometimes the distinguishing feature of those who boast of, and set too great a value upon their gentle blood and their high connections. Not a few are silly enough to glory in matters of such minor importance as are personal appearance, strength, height, and prowess in the football or in the cricket field. Finally, all without excep- tion, who in a greater or in a less degree, sin against God by pride, look for repute among their fellows, and expect to receive from them a certain amount of consideration, for the various excellences which they have, or which they imagine themselves to have. They are full of conceit, which manifests itself in their looks, their walk, their every gesture ; and when those who are wiser than they endeavour both by word and by deed to correct them of their folly, they rage and storm, and talk about their honour and their dignity, and play such fantastic tricks before the whole School, as call loudly for the vigorous application of the birch-rod, to whip the offending Adam out of them. III. Boys of this stamp are certainly very far from having their hearts like the sacred heart of Jesus. If, then, you have any desire to resemble Him, any wish to be pleasing to Him, and to find a place in His most holy heart, you 30 466 LECTURES FOR BOYS must root out from your own all the faults which we have mentioned, for they disfigure it, and make Jesus turn away from it with displeasure. Do not, therefore, set very great store upon gentility of blood, if God has bestowed it upon you. It is certainly very often a great advantage — the source of many and inestimable blessings, for which God must ever be thanked and praised. But, at the same time, do not be so foolish as to despise those who do not possess the like privilege. God does not regard you with one whit the more favour on account of it ; and, if it be the only recommendation that you possess, sensible men will treat you with but scant courtesy on its account. They look for something more than high birth to command their esteem. Let those also who are sharp-witted, and gifted with a clear head, a far-reaching mind, and a ready tongue, set not their hearts on these favours of God, nor take pride in them as if they were their own. They are not their own. They are God's gifts ; and, to regard them as one's own, and to glory in them as if they were one's own, is to deprive God of what is His upon so many titles, that He never will suffer it to be given to another. Besides, it is as silly for a boy to be proud of his intellectual power as it would be for a man to be proud of the clothes which he has borrowed from another. Therefore, let each boy attribute to God all that he has, and never scorn others for not pos- sessing those gifts which God has conferred upon him, but has not thought fit to bestow upon them. As for the foolish pride which inflates some boys for their personal beauty, or for their strength and their dexterity, let it find no place in your heart. A slight sickness will deform the fairest face, just as a blight destroys the most beautiful flower. A fever will paralyse the strongest arm, and render futile the most consummate skill. Therefore, glory not in these transitory goods. ' Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength,' but let it be your aim to glory in the humility of Jesus Christ. Look upon all that you have, in intellect, in social position, MEEKNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 467 in wealth, in strength, or in health, as the pure gift of God. Thank Him for it, and give Him whatever glory and con- sideration may accrue to you from its possession. MEEKNESS OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Besides the fundamental virtue of humility, there is, very nearly akin to it, another virtue which Our Lord calls upon us to learn from His sacred heart. This is meekness, which the Prophet Isaias foretold should be one of the characteristic marks of the future Messias. He came as a meek king; His enemies led Him to the slaughter as a lamb— the type of meekness, the symbol of all that is gentle and inoffensive. Hence, when the Baptist caught sight of Him, he said to his followers: ' Behold the Lamb of God ! behold Him Who taketh away the sins of the world !' With the greatest truth could he say this ; for in Our Lord the virtue of meekness was in its plenitude. It kept His mind and all the faculties of His human soul in the most pro- found calm. It regulated all its motions, and all its im- pulses. It banished thence all haughtiness, and stifled all anger. In that holy heart, where meekness sat a queen, there was no bitterness, no disdain of others, no uprising of contempt or of scorn. On the contrary, there welled up from it, as from a fountain-head, naught but mercy and beneficence. A glance at His life will prove the truth of all this; for, in the midst of provocation the sorest that ever tried the equanimity of a human heart, His meekness always kept His soul unruffled, and in peace. When men treated Him with the utmost contumely, when they took up stones to kill Him, interrupted Him in His speech by unseemly questions, and applied to Him epithets whereat the meekest heart would have been fired with anger, Jesus remained unmoved, and answered with a degree of quiet, imperturbable dignity, which must have filled His enemies with amazement. To those who, with Him, observed none of the courtesies of discussion, but vented in passionate abuse the baffled 4 68 LECTURES FOR BOYS rage of their wicked hearts, He replied without bitterness. He did not scorn those who scorned Him, nor contemn the presumptuous impertinence of those who tried to entrap Him with captious questions. He did not, as He might so easily have done, take sum- mary vengeance on those who rejected Him, and strove their utmost to rob Him of His life. No ; the Lamb of God being meekness incarnate, kind, gentle, and affable to all, became a refuge for those who were weak, helpless, down-trodden, and afflicted. His hands were ever stretched forth to do good. ' The bruised reed He would not break, and smoking flax He would not extinguish.' II. Such was the meekness of Jesus Christ. It gave to Him an indescribable charm, and invested Him with a magnetic influence, which drew to Him every noble and upright heart. If you seriously reflect upon it, you, also, will not fail to be drawn to Him. You will feel your heart longing to possess a virtue which gives a boy so great strength of character, and invests him with so much power to gain a mastery over all hearts. Therefore, if you wish to acquire meekness, you must cultivate the virtues from which it springs. These are humility and self-denial. Humility fills the boy who strives to possess it, with a very deep sense of his manifold transgressions against God. It keeps the memory of the fact that he has reviled and insulted God ever fresh in his mind, and this makes him only too glad to atone for it by every means in his power. Hence, when his com- panions speak injurious words against him, or insult him to his face, or attribute to him motives which he detests, or accuse him of acts which he would scorn to commit — though he may acutely feel the smart — he will, nevertheless, still the tempest of his indignation by the thought of the way in which he has treated God, of the patience with which God has borne with him, and of the meekness with which Jesus always dealt with His enemies. Again ; because he has in the past gratified himself by- sinning, he will try now to deny himself, and this self-denial MEEKNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 469 will cultivate in him the spirit of meekness. For what is it that most frequently causes us to sin against the virtue of meekness ? It is our own overweening love of self. Our ideas and our views are our idols. We would wish all others to view things as we view them, to adopt our notions upon various points, and in no way to run counter to our will. Consequently, one of the best means for cultivating a spirit of meekness in our hearts, will be not to gratify this love which we have for our own will. Therefore, when you are contradicted, and when others prefer to follow their own opinions, to be guided by their own lights, and to have things done in their own way, learn to keep your soul in peace. Do not suffer it to be disturbed by allowing your self-love furiously to run away with you, and make you resent as an affront what all admit to be the right of each individual. By attending to these injunctions, you will be fixing in your heart a spirit of humility and of self-denial, from the union of which there will spring up the true spirit of meekness, which will mould your heart into the likeness of the heart of Jesus. III. Knowing, therefore, the sources whence this beautiful virtue of meekness springs, and having before you the glorious example of your Lord, you must now resolve to win it for yourself. This you cannot do, unless you practise it whenever an opportunity for so doing presents itself. Of these there will be no lack, as the experience of college-life will no doubt have abundantly proved to you. For, un- happily, owing to the many imperfections of those who, like yourself, have come to School to be trained in knowledge and in virtue, occasions for exercising humility and self- abnegation will present themselves uncalled for, and perhaps more frequently than you desire. Nevertheless, do not let one of them slip from you, for they will all contribute to build up in your heart a spirit of meekness which will make you resemble Our Lord. For this purpose, take care to practise the following precepts : Look upon all, without exception, as equal in every respect to yourself. Be not haughty, nor distant, 470 LECTURES FOR BOYS with them, and let not their weaknesses — their boasting, their vanity, their selfishness — make you either scorn or sneer at them. If they thwart and contradict you, keep under control the indignation which will naturally rise within you. They have just as much right to their views as you have to your own, and, if they prefer their own to yours, and, as it seems to you, without good reason, calmly endeavour to point this out to them, and then, if they do not yield, but even turn upon you to revile you, repress your anger, and suffer it not, like a tempestuous wind, to trouble the calm of your soul. On all these occasions, let not bitterness against those who have differed from you, rankle in your heart and destroy your peace. Think not of revenging yourself upon those who have treated you contemptuously, but endeavour to bury the matter in oblivion. Your mild behaviour will make an impression upon your companions, and in time will either win them over to your side, or prepare them favour- ably to hear your arguments, and to yield to your suggestions. Thus you will be able to practise frequently the Christian virtues of humility and self-denial. You will be able daily to feel the weight of the Cross, and the smart of the thorns. So noble a warfare against self will end by crowning you with meekness, and giving you a command over your own heart and a mighty influence over the hearts of others. UNSELFISHNESS OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Humility and self-denial are the parents of many beautiful virtues, but of none more beautiful and more pleasing to the hearts of men than is that of unselfishness. This virtue, which causes us to forget self, and ever to study the advantage of others more than our own, is one which shines with surpassing lustre in the sacred heart of Our Lord. In Him we perceive a total absence of self- seeking, of all thought which looked not to the task which He had come to accomplish, and to the men whom He so ardently desired to save. He aimed neither at glory nor UNSELFISHNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 471 at fame; He cared not for His own ease nor for His own convenience. He came to do Another's will, to seek that Other's advantage, and to forget personal discomfort in the attainment of that end. But to accomplish this, He had first to embrace those hardships from which men so eagerly turn away. Poverty and toil, opposition and disgrace, torments and death, stood in His way, but could not daunt His courageous heart. He loved men too much for that, and, therefore, in all His actions we find Him regardless of His own feelings, of His own interest, and wholly occupied with that which benefited and turned to the advantage of others. In His very child- hood this zeal for the good of others, and this forgetfulness of self, gleamed forth for an instant when He left His parents and gave that wondrous manifestation of His wisdom which we brought before your notice in the in- struction upon the three days' loss at Jerusalem. Yet He did not satisfy that absorbing desire to care for others, because His heavenly Father willed that, for eighteen long years to come, He should first be subject to His own creatures. When at last the moment preordained of God did actu- ally arrive, He spared not Himself in labouring for others, but with infinite pain and inconvenience to Himself, sought out the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The search after them involved frequent and wearisome journeys, with scant food and comfortless lodging. It meant toilsome days of teaching, amid continual contradiction from malignant opponents, and that, too, when He worked astounding wonders in healing the diseases of the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, cleansing the lepers, and raising the dead to life. But when the hour had come in which the powers of darkness were allowed to prevail over Him, His forgetful- ness of self particularly shone forth in its brightest lustre. As soon as His enemies seized Him in the Garden, He thought not of Himself. He cared only for His Apostles. When His ferocious captors laid hands upon Him, He 472 LECTURES FOR BOYS besought them to let His Apostles go free. Also, when the women of Jerusalem wept at beholding His sufferings, His thoughts were not upon His own pain, but upon the miseries which were about to fall upon the Jewish nation. Even on the Cross, while His enemies were deriding Him, mocking Him, and triumphing at His approaching death, His thoughts were filled with God, pleading with Him for pardon and for mercy. Truly did Our Jesus love Himself last ; His unselfish heart put our advantage before His own ; and made Him count it a gain to suffer for us. He readily endured the worst that His foes could inflict upon Him, provided only that we should reap the benefit and that He should taste all the bitterness of the wormwood and the gall. II. Very different is the story which we should have to tell of most boys, on the score of unselfishness. Not one of them would like to be told that he is selfish. He would very probably resent the imputation as a personal insult. Yet, if any of them will take the trouble narrowly to ob- serve his conduct for a short time, and try to note those actions in which this unlovely trait betrays itself, he will be startled by the number of selfish acts which will disclose themselves to him in the course of even a single day. Bear in mind that it is selfishness to seek your own ease and convenience, without taking the trouble to examine whether one of your companions is not thereby annoyed, and subjected to much discomfort. It is selfishness to look only to your own gain, without trying to prevent that gain from being your neighbour's loss. It is selfishness to con- sult your own pleasures and your own taste, without a thought whether that which amuses you is equally amusing to your companions. It is selfishness to impose upon others either your own will or your own tastes, when they are un- willing to accept them. From these, and many other instances which might be cited, you will see how easily selfishness may hold possession of a boy's heart, and he be all the while unconscious of it. Just look around, and observe what is daily and hourly UNSELFISHNESS OF THE SACRED HEART 473 happening under your very eyes, and you will see many, if not all the instances of selfishness which we have men- tioned, committed by the boys with whom you live. The aim of some of their lives seems to be to have the best of everything for themselves. They strive for the best and most comfortable places at the fire ; they seize upon the best bats and balls, and occupy in the play-ground the best position for the games. At table, they select the best meats. In the choice of amusements which are to fill up a recreation day, they will have their likings and their dis- likings taken into account, and will be angry and discon- tented unless their views be carried out. But though, by their selfishness, they put their companions to much inconvenience and pain, they do not care, and they are dumb with amazement, and swell with anger, if even a hint is dropped that their conduct is selfish. When they thrust weak and delicate little boys from the fire, they do not reflect that they are guilty of a selfish act, because it is so natural for them to consult their own ease. They seem to forget that others have rights as well as they ; have aims, and tastes, and views, which they would like to see attended to, as well as they. An unselfish boy would take these things into consideration, and be ingenious in devising means by which his companions might have as large a share of the good things of the College as he himself has. But not so the selfish boy. With him all charity begins at home, and stays there. He takes care to love himself, but conveniently forgets that there is a neighbour to whom he owes an equal debt of love. He is to himself first, and last, and above all things else. He never thinks of others. He cares not what pain, nor what inconvenience, nor what damage is inflicted upon them, provided that he himself is at ease, and has all that he desires. He is his own centre, his own idol, and he loves and worships himself with a devotion which, while it disgusts some, cannot fail to raise a smile, half of pity, half of scorn, upon the face of every sensible man. III. As there is no boy that does not indignantly repu- diate the accusation of selfishness, and look with contempt 474 LECTURES FOR BOYS upon those who are selfish, let each try with a persevering effort to root from his heart this detestable fault. But while engaged in a task which is worthy of so great praise, let not the chief reason for undertaking it be, because selfishness is so unlovely in the eyes of men ; but because it is displeasing to God. It is so hateful to Jesus Christ, that He will not acknowledge as His child anyone who does not deny and trample upon self. Take advantage, therefore, of every opportunity for performing any acts that will help you to break down the love of self, and make you take thought for the convenience, the comfort, and the ease of others. For this purpose, love yourself last, and always put your- self below your neighbour. Be considerate towards those boys who are weak, or young, or in delicate health, and take care that they get the best of everything, rather than that you yourself should have it. Frequently examine your con- duct, to see whether you are not a source of pain to others, and if you discover that you are, do your utmost to correct yourself. Be willing to let others, from time to time, have their way. Think a great deal more than you do about their feelings, their wishes, their likes and their dislikes, and try to accommodate yourself to them. By doing this, you will find many an occasion for thwarting yourself, and for breaking down that excessive love of your own ease which is the fruitful source of much selfishness. By acting in this way, you will find your heart becoming day by day less selfish, till at last it will be conformed in all respects to that most unselfish of hearts, the sacred heart of Our dearest Lord. JOY OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Whenever we have a sure hope of acquiring some good, or when we are actually in possession of it, our hearts are filled with a gentle emotion which we call joy. Therefore, since Our Lord had many good things, both in prospect and in actual fruition, it is certain that His sacred heart must oftentimes have been stirred to its lowest depths by the ecstasy of great joy. JOY OF THE SACRED HEART 475 He could look forwards to the time when all His labours should be finished ; to that glorious day, when from the summit of the Mount He should gaze upon the earth, where He had suffered so much, and after blessing it and the disciples, whom He should there for a time leave behind Him, should be caught up into Paradise, to be for ever flooded with the joys of the beatific vision. He could peer into the ages which were yet to come, and behold the great and glorious Church filling the world and peopling the Courts of heaven with her children. He could think of the countless Saints who should love and serve Him, and glorify His Name among the nations; of the Martyrs who should con- fess Him before men, and give Him their hearts' best blood ; of the Virgins, the Confessors, the great Popes, the Doctors, the wise men, the warriors, the leaders and guides of the world who should devote their whole lives and all their energies to His love and service. The hope of all this would, and really did fill His heart with joy. But besides the joy of hope, He had the still more thrilling pleasure which only actual fruition can give. There were around Him those who were, so to speak, the first-fruits of that harvest of souls which had yet to be gathered into His heavenly garners. There was the spotless sanctity of His immaculate Mother. There were, as long as he lived, the sweet gentleness and humility of the lowly St. Joseph. There were the strong loving hearts of the Apostles, the innocence of the little children, the mature virtue of those who were waiting in patient hope for the dawning of the day-star of justice, and the newly-acquired purity of con- verted sinners, whose souls were sparkling with the diamond tears of their repentant sorrow. All these were His; they pressed round Him, they were gathered in, and held close to His sacred heart, which thrilled with so much joy, that all the Angels in heaven who beheld it, were moved to rejoice with Him over the spoils which His heart had won. II. Dear children ! you think it a privilege to be able to give joy to your parents, to your masters, and to those whom you respect and love ; what happiness then may be 476 LECTURES FOR BOYS yours, if you can give joy to the heart of Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God ! You can do this, and He expects that you will do it. Let me point out to you the way. Should any of you be so unfortunate and so wretched as to be living in a state of sin, and loaded with the crushing weight of evil habits, you can give great joy to the heart of Jesus, and to the whole Court of heaven, if you cast off your allegiance to the devil, return to God, and determine never more to leave His holy service. But as for those who are free from grievous sin, they may at every moment of the day give to Jesus very great joy. It is a pleasure for Him to look at their pure hearts, and to see that from them are carefully excluded all thoughts which would stain their spot- less whiteness ; to see their desires conformed to the rule of God's law, and their words honest and upright. As He sits upon His sacramental throne in the tabernacle, it gives Him great joy to see boys coming to kneel before Him, as they go to play, or to study, or when they come at the close of day to offer Him their labour. As they bow before Him, He blesses them ; and while they pray, His sacred heart is quite close to them, eager to grant what they ask. When, on Sundays and on Festivals, they kneel at His table to receive Him into their souls, who shall be able to describe the trans- ports of joy which flood His loving heart ? It is the joy of a father that bends over His children and kisses them on their return from a long journey. Such as these go away taking Jesus with them. They fill His heart with joy by their regard and respect for duty, which they accomplish to please Him. They study for His sake ; they are kind, and charitable, and obedient, because they know that it will please Him. Let it, then, be the aim of every boy in the College, by visiting Jesus in the Holy Sacrament, by receiving Him, by keeping free from sin, and by manfully doing his duty, to procure this exquisite joy for the heart of Our Lord. It will be some slight compensation for the anguish which in the past he may have caused it by grievous sin. III. Having learnt in what way you may give joy to the JOY OF THE SACRED HEART 477 sacred heart, resolve to adopt, and to put in practice, what- ever will conduce to fill it with gladness. For this purpose, be determined, in the first place, not to become the slave of the devil, by consenting to mortal sin. He promises you happiness unalloyed, if you will but give yourself up to him. But happiness neither will nor can be yours, so long as you are subject to his thraldom, unless, indeed, it be that delirium which worldlings call happiness, but which, as you know very well, is not worthy of the name. It is the result of a deadly poison which obscures the light of reason, and leaves behind in the soul the germs of everlasting death. In the next place, let no day pass without kneeling for a few moments before the altar to offer up your studies to Jesus, and to beg His blessing upon your labours. If you could see the smile of pleasure which plays like sunshine upon His face when you come before Him to salute Him and to offer Him your love, you would never begrudge the few moments so spent, but would wait with holy impatience for the time when you might again kneel in His presence, to receive the blessing of His upraised hand, and to feel the thrill of joy which His gracious smile flashes through your heart. Be diligent in your preparation to receive Him in Holy' Communion, and miss no opportunity of approach- ing to that banquet of divine love. It is the source of life, of strength, of purity ; now, you need all these, and there- fore do not be so foolish as to allow mere trifles to keep you away from the fount whence they may so easily be drawn. Finally, in order to prove to Our Lord that you really wish to give Him joy, strive to do something which will show Him that your wish is no mere sentiment, which will evaporate into thin air on meeting with the slightest difficulty. If you ask what this something is to be, we would suggest that it be the faithful accomplishment of the ordinary duties of your college-life. You can give to God no better proof of your sincerity than this. Therefore, if in consequence of these resolutions you apply diligently to your books during all study hours, and perform 478 LECTURES FOR BOYS your appointed task, you will give joy to the sacred heart. If you be obedient to your masters, and observe your Rule, though no eye be there to watch you, you will give joy to the sacred heart. If you be kind and charitable to your companions, and in all your relations with them try to forget self, and to remember only their convenience, profit, and pleasure, you will give joy to the sacred heart. Happy the boy who thus endeavours, in the days of his school-life, to be pleasing to Our dearest Lord. His grateful heart, which never forgets a favour done, nor a kind word spoken, nor even a cup of cold water given in His name, will reward him by giving him in this world the peace of a good conscience, and in the world to come that inestimable treasure of never- ending bliss, the magnitude of which human intelligence is inadequate to grasp, and human speech unable to express in words. SORROW OF THE SACRED HEART. I. A presentiment of impending evil, or the consciousness of evil which has already laid hold of us, begets in the heart that feeling of uneasiness and disquiet which we call sorrow. Like other men, Our divine Lord felt this weakness of human nature. By a decree of His own will, He allowed the in- ferior part of His soul to experience all the crushing weight with which grief presses upon the sensitive hearts of men. As if to encourage them by His own example to the prac- tice of a patience under this infirmity, He suffered so great an accumulation of sorrow to crush Him down beneath its heavy burthen, that the prophet called Him, ' The Man of Sorrows, the Man acquainted with infirmity.' How great, then, must have been the sorrow which throughout the whole of His mortal life flooded His soul, in consequence of His perfect knowledge of the fearful death awaiting Him ! Only by an exercise of divine power could joy enter that heart, upon which there ever rested the gloom of Calvary and the shadow of the Cross. But independently of the grief begotten of presentiment, SORROW OF THE SACRED HEART 479 there were around Him on every side causes sufficient to steep His soul in bitterness. He came to save men ; to spend Himself for them ; yet in the vast majority He beheld nothing but indifference. Some treated Him with contempt ; others opposed Him with obstinate and fanatical fury. Those whom He had benefited were at times un- grateful to Him. Also sin, which is so hateful to Him, so opposed to His infinite purity, held dominion in not a few of their hearts. To add fresh fuel to the devouring grief which already consumed Him, His eyes beheld their countless miseries — the consequences and the punishments of that primeval fall, which from the days of Adam, even unto our own times, has filled the world with sighs and tears. No wonder, then, that He often sighed and groaned in spirit, that He suffered the tears of sorrow to burst from His eyes, and to stream down His cheeks. At the grave of Lazarus they flowed so unrestrainedly, that the Jews said : ' Behold how He loved him.' When He looked down upon the guilty city, and saw in the future the terrible destruction which awaited it because of its rejection of Him, His tears flowed afresh. Finally, when, in the Garden, He took upon Himself the loathsome burthen of the world's iniquity, His grief not only forced tears from His eyes, but made His blood burst through the pores of His body in a crimson sweat, which trickled down in great drops upon the dewy grass on which He knelt. II. If that same sacred heart, which shared so largely in the woes of human nature, could now feel any sorrow, would it find no cause for grief in the conduct of some college-boys ? Uunfortunately we must confess that it would ! For there are not a few who inflict many a stab upon that sacred heart. If you reflect for a moment upon all that He has done for you, and then consider the return which you make to Him, you will not fail to understand the grief with which you flood His soul when you sin. For you are His dearest, most favoured children. He has done for you what He has not done except for a few privileged 480 LECTURES FOR BOYS souls. He has put you, so to speak, in an inclosed garden, from which every occasion of scandal and of sin is carefully shut out. He has given you wise teachers, and good com- panions. He has set before your eyes nothing but the best examples of every virtue. The Sacraments are within your reach ; God abides among you in the tabernacle ; and yet, even here, in this holy place, sin is committed. The eyes of Jesus see and mark the evil that is done. He knows those who do it. He knew, and thought of, and prayed for them, while He travelled about the dusty roads of Judea, hungry and athirst with His labour. He thought of them and saw their sin, as He knelt in the Garden, and prayed that the bitter chalice might pass away from Him. Will you dare, then, to sin, and thus renew the grief which weighed so heavily upon Him, that He declared it to be enough of itself to bring about His death ? Oh ! be not so cruel ! Do not trample upon the blood which He so lavishly poured forth to save you. Do not, as St. Paul says, 'crucify unto yourself again the Lord of glory.' Circle not His brow with that wreath of woe ; smite Him not with your hands ; glare not fiercely upon Him with your eyes ; speak not against Him words of reviling and of scorn ; open not your ears to the speeches of His enemies. If you sin, you do all this. Nay, you do even more ; you drive the nails through His quivering flesh; you make Him drink the vinegar and the gall ; you pierce through and through that sacred heart which love of you rent in twain, and drenched with woe unutterable. III. If you be wise, you will make a strong resolution never to sin again — never to wring the heart of Jesus with another pang of sorrow. For, if no other reason save that of self-interest should induce you to come to this determi- nation, yet that alone, unworthy as it is, ought to urge you to follow this course. For, as sin, and the consequences of sin, brought sorrow and affliction of spirit upon Our Lord, so also do they plunge the hearts of men into a very sea of anguish. Look back upon your own experience. If you have ever SORROW OF THE SACRED HEART 481 had the misfortune to sin, you will know this. A boy's heart is a very paradise of pleasure, so long as the wily tempter is not listened to, and his poisoned fruit rejected with scorn. But no sooner has the devil prevailed upon him to stretch forth his hand and pluck the forbidden fruit, than there is let loose upon his heart a very tempest of raging passions. The barrier is broken down, and every beast may range at will through that which was once the garden of God. There is then no peace for the wretched boy. For as soon as the first delirium of passion is over, his eyes are opened to see his degradation. A small voice makes itself heard in the midst of his heart, bitterly reproaching him, and saying, in accents which no amount of dissipation can drown : ' What hast thou done ? Thou hast sold, for a mess of pottage, thy right to the enjoyment of God. Thou hast sacrificed the liberty of the sons of God for the slavery of the devil. Thou art now a child of hell. Let God but snap asunder the frail thread of life, and thou wouldst fall like lead into the depths of hell's fiery prison.' If, then, you wish to have a joyous, happy life, avoid sin ; be not of the number of the wicked, ' for there is no peace for the wicked, saith the Lord.' It is to be hoped, however, that higher and more unselfish motives will stir your heart to make this noble resolve. Let the memory of that tide of woe which, like the tumultuous billows of an angry sea, swept over the breast of Our Lord, soften your heart, and make it swell with those grateful feelings which the recollec- tion of so much suffering endured for your sake will not fail to produce. Then be determined that no enticement of the devil, that no gilded bait of pleasure, shall ever again lure your heart into the commission of a grievous sin. Say to all that would tempt you from your allegiance : ' I serve a Master Who has suffered and bled for me, Whose heart has been pained and agonised for me. I will not, therefore, be so vile as to betray Him for the wretched garbage which the devil can offer me. This is my resolve ; may God help me to keep it to the end of my days.' 31 482 LECTURES FOR BOYS FRIENDSHIP OF THE SACRED HEART. I. As we meditate upon the admirable virtues of Our blessed Lord's sacred heart, we discover among them that beautiful species of love which is called the love of friendship. Those who were so highly favoured as to be the objects of it, felt that Jesus loved them in a special manner, in return for their love of Him. They were conscious that He vouch- safed to admit them to a share in His most inward thoughts, His sorrows, and His joys. This emboldened them, on their side, to confide to His loving heart all the various and conflicting emotions which either depressed their souls with sorrow, or transported them with delight. As we read the Gospel narrative, we cannot fail to notice that Martha and Mary, Lazarus and Magdalene, were of the number of these privileged ones. The Apostles, too, were His bosom friends, and this is the title by which He addressed them, after He had given them the Holy Eucharist, as the greatest pledge of His love. But among all these, and above all these, there was one to whom the heart of Jesus linked itself in the closest bonds of friendship. This was the virginal St. John. Our Lord always treated him as a favourite, and so little did He dis- guise His affection for him, that His other followers were wont to call the youthful Apostle ' the disciple whom Jesus loved.' Well did he deserve that highest epithet of honour; for to him, more than to any other, the Redeemer showed the most special marks of His favour. Two others shared with John the wondrous vision upon Thabor ; two others beheld with him the fearful agony in the Garden ; but of no other is it recorded, that he leaned his head upon the bosom of Jesus Christ. Even St. Peter, usually so fearless in ask- ing questions of Our Lord, did not dare to ask Him who should betray Him. But knowing His love for St. John, and the childlike affection of that disciple for Jesus, he bade him ask for the information which he so much desired to obtain. Leaning thus on the bosom of Jesus, John put the question to Him, and Our Lord at once answered it. FRIENDSHIP OF THE SACRED HEART 483 Furthermore, while hanging upon the Cross, Jesus turned His dying eyes towards him ; He bade His beloved Mother take John as her son ; and then, in order to give His dis- ciple the most touching mark of His personal affection, He intrusted her whom He loved more than any other creature, to the care of a heart whose tenderness He knew full well. Such was the friendship of Our Lord's sacred heart, of which the beloved disciple never wearied to speak unto men. II. In the tabernacle, before which you so often kneel, that same sacred heart is now beating, and is filled with the same inexhaustible treasure of friendliness towards men. Each boy in the College may, if it so please him, become a bosom friend of that loving Master. Nay, Jesus is waiting there for no other purpose than to receive his love, and in return, to lavish upon him the treasures of His own undying affection. If you have the least doubt about this, reflect for a moment upon His love for the young. His very look of kindliness must have drawn them to Him, and made them press through the crowds, to be near One in Whose eyes they could see the reflection of the fire of love which burned in His heart. How did He receive them when they came to Him ? He called them to Him with every sign of the most tender love, and of the most condescending friend- liness. His blessed hands were laid upon their heads ; His arms enfolded them in a fatherly embrace ; and He caught them to His heart, saying : ' Suffer them to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' Each of you, therefore, both great and small may, and ought to aspire to be the friend of Jesus, and like St. John, 3 T ou will be privileged to lay your head upon His bosom, where it will rest, quite close to that sacred heart which is beating with love for you. At your age you need a true friend, for without one you cannot well live. You need the kindly word, the cheering voice, the helping hand of some one who loves you, to uphold you in life's slippery way. You need some one to aid your inexperience by his wisdom, and to sustain your weakness by his strength. Such a one you will find in Jesus Christ. He will teach 484 LECTURES FOR BOYS you how to subdue that spirit of revolt which is already stirring within you. He will assist you to curb the power of the devil. He will not allow him to tempt you beyond your strength. If you slip, He will catch you before you fall ; and should you unhappily refuse His aid, and prefer to plunge yourself into the mire, one look from 3'ou will make Him draw you thence, and cleanse you in the bath of His most precious blood. He will admit you frequently to lay your head upon His sacred heart ; nay, rather, He will give Himself to you, and rest His all-holy head upon your heart. His holy Mother will then gladly acknowledge you for her son, and the Angels of God will cluster round you, because their Lord and Master is now your friend. III. Privileges so great, so astounding, are not given un- conditionally. God has laid down His own terms, and it is only when these have been complied with that you can enter upon the enjoyment of His heavenly favours. What, then, are these terms ? Summarily, they may be said to be the possession, at least in a certain degree, of those qualities which Jesus found in St. John, and in the children whom He made for ever memorable by calling them to His sacred arms. If examined in detail, the most important will be, in the first place, simplicity, which ever attracts, and charms, and wins the hearts of all. We find it chiefly in little children, and in those childlike characters which are always so lovable. When injured, they bear no malice, but forget and forgive. In what they do, there is no self-seeking, no aiming at effect. When they want anything, they ask for it without either disguise or circumlocution. They know not how to scheme or to intrigue. If refused, they revenge not themselves ; their pride is not wounded ; they do not show haughtiness, nor disdain, nor scorn. Aim at their simplicity of heart, and you, too, will become very dear to the heart of Our Lord. In the next place, you must possess that most beautiful virtue, the peerless jewel of chastity or purity. Jesus Christ will not enter a heart in which it is not to be found. If a FRIENDSHIP OF THE SACRED HEART 485 boy has that virtue, it circles his brow with a halo of heavenly beauty and glory, which makes him very dear to God and to His holy Angels and Saints. Our Lord is drawn to him, as steel is drawn to the loadstone. He will go to him, and will take up His abode in his heart. But if that boy have foolishly cast away that bright jewel — if he have sullied the dazzling brilliancy of his baptismal robes, Jesus will avert His face; He will flee from him as from the loath- some rottenness of a putrid carcase, and naught will bring Him back but the bitter tears of true repentance. Fight, then, bravely and manfully against the inclinations of your corrupt nature. Withstand the devil, and each repulse, each victory, will increase your strength, until at last you will be able to put him to flight with as much ease as you now. either open or shut your hand. Lastly, have great confidence in the mercy and the good- ness of God. Do not look upon Him as a hard task-master, a severe judge; but rather as the most kind, the most in- dulgent, the most loving of fathers. Imprint this notion of Our Lord deeply in your mind and heart, and in all your necessities, act towards Him as you would act towards your own father. When you feel the need of anything, ask for it with simplicity. Tell God, in prayer, that you feel this particular want ; that He can relieve it, if He chooses to do so ; and that you humbly hope that He will grant your request, if, in His infinite wisdom, He should see that it will be good for you. In the same way, when you are tempted to be proud or vain, angry or revengeful, disobedient or haughty, run to Him and ask Him to scatter the storm- clouds which are lowering over your heart. Should you feel the revolt of your sensual nature, flee to Him at once, as a child flees to its father when danger threatens; for worse than lion, or bear, or poisonous asp, is the demon of uncleanness. Thus, by simplicity, by chastity, and by confidence in God, you will attract to yourself the friendship of the sacred heart. Oh ! strive, dear children of Jesus Christ, to win it for yourselves, for happy both here and hereafter will that 486 LECTURES FOR BOYS boy be who can say in his heart : ' I feel that I am the friend of Jesus Christ ! His sacred heart loves me, and I love Him.' DEVOTEDNESS OF THE SACRED HEART. I. A mother's love is strong as death, and burns with an ardour so intense that many waters cannot extinguish its flame. To this love Jesus compares His own love for us, and promises that it will be even more intense and more lasting. ' Can a woman,' He asks, ' forget her child ?' Yet if that were possible, still will I not forget thee.' Now, what is it that distinguishes a mother's love from all other species of human affection ? It is its devotedness. She gives herself up entirely to the child of her bosom. She immolates herself upon the altar of her love. Her son will spring up before her eyes, and grow daily in his strength till he reaches manhood ; yet if she should live to see him a gray-headed man, her love will still remain fresh and green. Amid the turmoil of life he may be separated from her, and long years may roll by, and a thousand different objects enter to occupy his heart, to cool his affections, and to blot from his mind everything but the faintest memory of home. Yet it is not so with the mother. No distance can separate her heart from her child ; no length of years can slacken the fire of her love ; for her heart is a treasury, stored with an inexhaustible wealth of it for the child which she has borne in sorrow and in pain. If he should prove ungrateful, her heart will still pardon and love him, because it is devoted ; it forgets self and thinks only of the object beloved. Such, also, are the sentiments of the sacred heart of Jesus towards us. That heart has loved and thought of and occupied itself with our welfare, during the long centuries which elapsed before we came into existence. When at last we were ushered in upon this busy stage of life, it yearned for our poor, cold, feeble love. We, alas ! have been indifferent to it, and withheld our love from it for many DEVOTEDNESS OF THE SACRED HI-: ART 487 a long year ; but He has waited patiently and has not ceased to say : ' My son, give Me thy heart.' We have kept at a distance from Him ; in our sins, in our worldly occupa- tions and pursuits, we have not thought of Him. Yet He has persevered all the same in loving us and in asking us for our love. We have been ungrateful. We have received a thousand favours, benefits, and kindnesses, without return- ing Him thanks ; nay, we have repaid them even with insults, offences, and injuries ; still He has not turned away. He has continued to love us, and to hope for our conversion. Why is this? Because His heart has loved us with a devotedness which is well-nigh incomprehensible. II. The contemplation of love so astounding, will surely stir up in your hearts a resolution to make the sacred heart a return of undying love. If Jesus is devotedly attached to you, try to be devotedly attached to Him. The hearts of boys are, as a rule, too full of generosity to remain cold and indifferent to such burning love ; and they will, therefore, be incited to make this noble resolution. But, remember, devotedness is no easy thing. It means self-sacrifice, and a great deal of it. For, no one can pretend to love Jesus Christ without giving up much that is pleasant to the carnal man. No boy, therefore, can say that he is devoted to the sacred heart, unless he most carefully excludes from his own whatever is displeasing to God. Hence he must be ready, daily and hourly, to offer up this sacrifice. If by the aid of divine grace he be thus happily disposed, he will banish from his heart all self-esteem, all contemplation of his own excellence whether real or imaginary, and so deprive himself of that refined luxury in which proud souls delight to revel. He will abhor whatever may sully the purity of his thoughts or of his desires, and will, therefore, be careful to close the avenues of his senses against every object which might endanger the safety of that chastity which it is to be hoped he guards with unwearied vigilance. He will humbly submit to the orders of Superiors, and to the requirements of the college rules. Sacrifices like these, though difficult enough to make, are 488 LECTURES FOR BOYS nevertheless easy, as long as we feel that Jesus is with us, and is watching our combat. The real test of true, devoted love, is when it is able to endure the strain which apparent separation from God puts upon it. Hence, it is no easy matter to go on loving and serving Him when all the novelty of the divine service has worn off, and all the sweetness which rewards our first efforts is withdrawn. Then we feel that God has departed from us ; for we no longer experience the delight caused by His presence. The heart grows sick and faint ; the love which burned so bright grows dim, and there is fear lest its smouldering embers may become utterly extinct. It is when the clouds gather over us, and there seems no hope, that the time has come to show our devoted love. If we then persevere in God's service, we may comfort ourselves with the assurance, that our love for Jesus bears at least some faint resemblance to His love for us. It is devoted; and when we seem to be abandoned by God, and left to sit in darkness and in sorrow upon the earth, it will cause us to exclaim : ' Even though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him, love Him, and serve Him.' III. Having seen in what devotedness to the sacred heart consists, examine in the next place how you may best put it in practice. Everything in your life that entails any kind of self-denial, and that you undertake and go on faith- fully performing for the love of God, is an exercise of devotedness. Hence, the best proof that you can give to God of your heart's devotedness to Him, is in the first place strictly to observe His holy law. That law is a bridle with which you may hold in check your fallen nature. Even now in your early youth that fallen nature begins to make its existence known to you, by craving for what is gratifying to the carnal man. But there is also within you a voice, which protests loudly against the acceptance by your soul of any gratification that is not in strict accordance with the law of God. This is the voice of your spiritual nature, which pleads earnestly with you for the interests of God, and of your immortal soul. DEVOTEDNESS OE THE SACRED Hi: ART 489 To which of these two shall you listen ? to which of them shall you give up the dominion of your heart ? Shall it be to your carnal nature, or shall it be to your spiritual nature? If you be devoted to God, you will hearken to the voice of your conscience ; you will take the bridle of the divine law into your hands, and with it will rein in your unruly passions. You will not suffer them to run away with you, nor to make you swerve from the line of duty, either to the right hand or to the left. This will put beyond all doubt your devoted- ness to Jesus Christ. It will make Him King, Lord, and Master of your heart. A still further proof of your devotedness to the sacred heart will be your perseverance in God's holy service. It is much to serve Him for even a single day ; but it is not those that begin, but those that persevere, who are crowned. Therefore, by your perseverance, prove to God and to the world that you are no mere carpet-knight, who at the first reverse sits down and gives up in despair ; but rather one of God's devoted soldiers, who in the midst of hardship and rough usage, will be faithful even unto death. Finally, show your devotedness to God, by fidelity in small things as well as in great ; and therefore work hard at your books ; obey the injunctions of disciplinary rules ; be patient with others ; always adhere to those who are in the right, and never blush to do what your conscience tells you is just, no matter who may be opposed to you, no matter what offence you may give to friends, no matter what loss and inconvenience you may bring upon yourself. PURITY OF THE SACRED HEART. I. God is holiness itself. His purity is so great that the Sacred Scripture represents the highest of the heavenly spirits as humbly veiling their faces before the dazzling splendour of its intolerable brightness. Compared with Him, they find themselves full of stains and blemishes, and therefore acknowledge by this attitude of reverential awe, 4go LECTURES FOR BOYS their unworthiness to stand before Him. It will, then, give us some idea of the purity of the sacred heart, if we reflect that this unapproachable sanctity of God, became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, and that His heart is conse- quently the throne upon which it has taken its seat, the tabernacle in which it delights to dwell. If a vessel which has held some precious ointment long retains the sweetness of its odour, how completely must the sacred heart be impregnated with the sanctity of the God- head, which dwells personally within it ? With good reason, therefore, does the Church in her Liturgy say to Our Lord : ' Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.' For though a special privilege of God preserved that resting-place im- maculate, yet His purity is so inexpressibly great, that she deems it wonderful that He did not turn away from it in horror. Reflecting upon this, we can well understand the lowly reverence of the saintly Baptist, when He spoke of Jesus as One, the latchet of Whose shoes he deemed himself unworthy to loose. Also, it gives us a reason why Jesus during His lifetime, though submitting to the scorn and the contumely of men, and exposing Himself to the vilest accusations which their malignant hatred could bring against Him, yet would never suffer the slightest aspersion to be cast upon this His darling attribute of purity. His very look, and gait, and person, circled Him with so bright a halo of sanctity, that His bitterest enemies, though challenged by Him to point out one speck or stain upon His character, yet dared not breathe a word which could tarnish His fair fame. O most pure heart of Jesus ! we cast ourselves down in humblest adoration before Thee, and with the deepest con- trition bewail our sins, and ask Thee to wash us yet more and more from our iniquities. II. This virtue, which Jesus prizes so highly, He recom- mends in a most special manner to you boys. Now is the spring-time of your days, the period during which you plant the seeds of those virtues which are afterwards to be the ornaments of your life, and the fruit upon which you are to PURITY OF THE SACRED HEART 491 live in your maturer years. At present, the soil of your heart, in which these must be cast, is soft and easily culti- vated ; but unless care be taken now to keep it clear, it will grow hard, and be productive of naught but noxious weeds and stinging nettles. It is for this reason, therefore, that Jesus Christ expects young boys to love and cherish this virtue. He wishes them to cultivate and tend it with the most jealous care ; for its cultivation in later years is a matter of the greatest difficulty. Looking upon you with His loving, fatherly eyes, and with that winning smile which drew children nigh unto Him, He says to each of you : ' Be ye imitators of Me, as most dear children. Imitate My sanctity, My spotless purity, and let it be your chief care to defend that priceless treasure from the grasp of infernal robbers, who ever prowl about, seeking to snatch it from you, when you are least upon your guard.' God is anxious that you should be pure, because, unless you be pure, you will never see His face : ' Holiness, without which no one can see God.' Moreover, without it you cannot pretend to be virtuous ; for it is useless to try to root out other vices and defects, if the vice most opposed to holiness is left behind. It is as useless and as hopeless a task as trying to heal the gaping wounds, and dry up the running sores of a man whose blood is corrupted, for with such a one the cure must begin at the source of the evil. In like manner, every attempt to lead a holy life will be futile, unless the heart be first thoroughly cleansed from all defilement. Consequently, each boy who would be the friend of Jesus must have the virtue of purity in his heart. God gave it to him in Baptism, and told him to wear it as a garment of honour, resplendently white. The Sacrament of Confirmation furthermore adorned it with the seal of the Holy Ghost ; and in the Blessed Eucharist, Jesus Himself comes into the heart, and makes it the temple of the Most High God. Remember, therefore, the honour with which you are clothed, the glory with which you are crowned, and never do, 492 LECTURES FOR BOYS or say, or think, or desire anything that would tarnish your fair fame. Cultivate purity by defending it from the attacks of the devil, and by resisting the corrupt influ- ence of the world. Then Jesus will look upon you as His most dear children, because He will see in you a likeness of Himself. III. But you will ask, ' How are we to regain our purity if we should unhappily have lost it ? or having once more regained it, how are we so faithfully to guard it as never to lose it again ?' If you have lost that treasure, or sullied that white robe, or cast away that crown of glory, you must, in the first place, grieve from your heart for having thereby offended Almighty God. Then you must humbly, and with all sincerity, make unto God's minister a full confession of your sins, and resolve, with God's help, never to offend again. By these acts of repentance, the most precious blood of Our Lord will be applied to your souls. That saving stream will wash them clean from all their filth ; the treasure will be restored to the centre of your hearts ; the robe will again be made resplendently white ; and the crown of glory be once more set upon your heads. Lastly, if you wish to remain pure, you must pray very earnestly to God for the grace of chastity ; for our nature is so weak and so prone to evil, that without the continual help of grace, obtained through prayer, no one can keep him- self free from stain. Hence, each boy ought every day of his life, and frequently during the course of each day, to lift up his heart and mind to God by short and fervent prayer, saying with the Prophet : ' Create a clean heart in me, O God ! and renew a right spirit within my bowels.' In addition to prayer, there are three other most efficacious and most necessary means for preserving purity, and the boy who makes use of them will walk through the fiery furnace of this world, unscorched by its devouring flames. In the first place he must never look at dangerous objects, nor listen to wicked words, nor allow free ingress to the filthy suggestions of the devil. He must guard his eyes, which are the windows of his soul, lest through them FERVOUR OF THE SACRED HEART IN PRAYER 493 the enemy should climb into his heart, and steal away his treasure. In the next place, he must frequently go to the tribunal of penance, for there he will meet with a wise, experienced, and kind father to warn him of danger, to cheer him in difficulties, and to encourage him in the heat of battle. Lastly, he must very often approach to receive the Blessed Sacrament. In that pledge of God's love for us, he will receive the sacred heart of Jesus Christ ; he will receive Christ Himself, God and man, the source of all purity. His divine flesh will feed him, His blood will either quench the fierce flames of concupiscence, or so slacken them as to enable him to check their growth, and prevent them from destroying him. Therefore, let each boy who wishes to be pure, employ these means — not once or twice but continually. He will most certainly keep himself free from mortal sin ; he will be clothed with honour ; and purity, like a bright dia- dem, will circle his brow with a glory which will never fade. FERVOUR OF THE SACRED HEART IN PRAYER. I. Our Lord inculcated nothing more strongly, both by precept and by example, than the duty of prayer. He impressed this so deeply upon the minds of the Apostles, and made them so clearly see its utility and its necessity, that they asked Him to become their master in this science of sciences, and to teach them how to pray. He did so, and the ' Our Father,' which is the Christian's daily petition to heaven for all good things, both temporal and spiritual, is the legacy which He left to them and to us. We all know, from our reading of the Sacred Text, how He used to go up into the solitude of the mountains, after His long and wearisome labours, to refresh His soul in sweet communion with that God Whom He taught us to regard as Our Father. There, His human heart poured forth the grief and the anguish which oppressed it. There, it felt the ecstasy of close and intimate union with the Godhead. 494 LECTURES FOR BOYS There, it gave an outlet to the devouring fire of love which consumed it. His was no languid, listless lip-service of God. If you would catch a glimpse of the fervour with which His heart burned in prayer, look at that awe-inspiring scene which is presented to our view in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is kneeling — nay, He is prostrate — in deep humility upon the damp earth. His whole soul has gone forth in a loud cry unto heaven for conformity of His human will to the divine decree, which dooms Him to unutterable woe. His words are few and broken with the intensity of His ardour. His confidence is unbounded in the infinite compassion and fatherly tenderness of God. He is not dis- heartened by dryness of spirit, nor by the withdrawal from His soul of the sensible presence of the Divinity. Like a brave, undaunted champion, who meets his enemies with calm courage, He looks upon all that He has to endure, and does not quail before it. He asks with persevering energy only that the will of heaven may be done. His feeble human nature, indeed, looked at the tide of woe which rose around Him, and shrank from it aghast ; but His undaunted will never for a moment flinched : ' Father,' He cried, with redoubled fervour, ' not My will, but Thine be done.' II. Here is an example of fervent prayer which Jesus puts before you, that you may copy it and try to act as He did whenever you come before the throne of mercy, to offer up your petitions to God. You must have already felt the necessity for prayer. If you look around you at the dangers which threaten you, and consider the weakness which makes you powerless to avert them, you ought to be earnest and eager in your prayer for' all that you stand in need of. Yet, what indifference and carelessness do most boys manifest about prayer ! Many of them sicken at the bare thought of it. They go to it with unwillingness ; they perform it with listlessness ; and they rejoice when it is over. Now, what are the reasons for this ? They may be reduced to two. The first is, that you do not remember, nor try to realise the presence of God. God is around you on every side: 'In Him,' says St. Paul, 'you live, and FERVOUR OF THE SACRED HEART IN PRAYER 495 move, and exist.' But this is specially true when you pray, for then you direct to Him the powers of your soul and pretend to converse with Him. If you could bring this fact home to yourself, and say to your heart every time that you kneel to pray : ' God is here before me ; He sees me ; He is listening to me ;' you would not dare to stare about you, nor to play with your fingers, nor to think of your games, of your studies, of your companions, nor in fact of anything but of that which should occupy your mind in the presence of so awful a majesty, as that before which you ought to prostrate yourself in lowliest adoration. The next cause of your dislike for prayer is your ignorance of its necessity. You are weak, and you need strength. You are cowardly, and you need courage. You easily break down in presence of difficulty, and you need perseverance. All these necessities can be relieved only by earnest prayer. There is within you a cunning enemy who aims at enslaving your will, and making you a mere tool to do his behests. He must be crushed, and kept in subjection ; but you can obtain strength to do this only by means of prayer. On all sides you are beset with other enemies, more cunning and far more cruel, who wish to compass your destruction. You cannot gain wisdom to outwit them and to frustrate their plots, except by prayer. The warfare which you have to wage against them and the vigilance which you have to exercise, in order to escape their snares, are so wearisome that unaided human nature cannot bear up against the drain which they make upon its energies. Only prayer can procure you aid from God. Therefore, study first to realise the presence of God ; and as you would not act in the presence of one of your masters with so much indifference as is that with which you some- times act in the presence of God, let the thought that He is looking at you rouse up all your energy and force your weak human will to speak to Him in a reverent and becoming manner. Next, be convinced of your own neces- sities. Tremble at the terrible risk which you run of being enslaved by the devil, and then of being dragged down by 496 LECTURES FOR BOYS him into hell. Once impress these two ideas upon your mind, and you will soon remove most of the obstacles which prevent you from praying well. III. When you have advanced thus far in the science of prayer, you must next throw into it those qualities which render it all-powerful with God. These are humility, confi- dence, and perseverance. The thought of God's infinite greatness and majesty, of your own nothingness, and of the innumerable and grievous offences which you have com- mitted against Him, will serve to inspire your heart with profound sentiments of humility. These will make you present yourself before Him with a firm conviction that you deserve nothing but punishment. Hence, your demeanour will be full of reverential fear. You will hold yourself in an attitude becoming a suppliant. All your senses will be guarded, and all your faculties absorbed in the concentrated earnestness of your appeal. From prayer of this kind God will never turn away His face. It is humble, and therefore it will pierce the very clouds and reach the throne of God. In the next place, your prayer must be full of confidence. Though you have so grievously and so wantonly offended God, yet you must never distrust Him, nor think that your sins are too great to be pardoned. Thoughts like these, and distrust of this nature are most injurious and insulting to His divine Majesty, for they imply that you regard Him as a cruel tyrant, and not as the most loving of fathers, Who ceases not to weep over the wanderings of His child, and ardently to long for his return. Therefore, when you kneel before Him in prayer, look upon Him as One full of love and compassion for you ; as waiting for the first sign of repen- tance ; as eager to bestow His favours upon you. Then faith, or trust like this, will make Him look with pity upon your weakness, and He will open the treasures of His mercy to recompense your confiding love. Lastly, your prayer must be persevering. You must be neither downcast nor discouraged when you do not straight- way obtain what you ask. If you suffer this miserable weakness to take hold of you, you are undone, for you will COMPASSION OF THE SACRED HEART 497 leave off asking, and, consequently, will never obtain any- thing from God. Knowing, therefore, that God wishes to be entreated, that He does not accede at once to your re- quests, in order to test your faith, and make you appreciate the favours which He bestows, go on quietly and persever- ingly with your petition. In the end you will obtain what you ask, for you have His word for it that whatever you ask with faith like this, you will obtain. Even if you do not obtain precisely what you ask, you will receive at least what is better adapted to your necessities. Have courage, there- fore, and let your prayer to God be ever made with humility, with confidence, and with perseverance. COMPASSION OF THE SACRED HEART. I. During the course of His mortal life, Our Lord felt all the miseries of our nature, sin alone excepted, and the con- sequences flowing immediately from it — consequences which would have been incompatible with His divine mission upon earth. From this experimental knowledge ' He is able,' says St. Paul, ' to feel compassion for all our infirmities.' He can weep with those that weep, and pity the blindness of those that sin and err from the path of justice. Even a casual perusal of the Sacred Text will have brought out this fact in a very prominent way before us. Whenever He meets with sin, He is gentle and kind towards the wretched creature who groans under its burthen. He never allows the withering flash of His indignant anger to break forth, unless the heart of the sinner has been turned into stone, and his face has become shameless as a face of brass. When His eyes rest upon the withered limbs of the cripple, or the sightless orbs of the blind ; when His ear has caught the tremulous cry of the loathsome leper, or the agonising prayer of some bereaved and wailing mother, His heart ever feels a thrill of compassion for the poor afflicted children of men ; and His hand is at once stretched forth to pour in the oil and the wine of health and of joy. Look at Him as He stands aside to allow the funeral 32 498 LECTURES FOR BOYS cortege to pass from the gates of Nairn ! There is a poor mother, weeping over the death of her only child. Her drooping form and streaming eyes, as she follows that shrouded figure on the bier, touch His merciful heart with pity. With that gentle voice, the very sound of which sent a thrill of joy through desolate souls, He says to her : ' Weep not.' Then, to assuage her sorrow and to show His power over death and the grave, He speaks again : ' Young man, I say to thee, Arise !' and at the word, death fled amazed ; the young man sat up; and Jesus restored him to his mother. Again ; look at Him, as He sits teaching in the Temple courts. The Scribes and the Pharisees will put that merciful heart to the test. They thrust into the midst a woman taken in the act of a shameful crime, for which the law of Moses decreed the penalty of death. ' But what,' they cry, ' sayest Thou ?' The poor, wretched woman stood cowering with shame and confusion before Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger in the dust. He would not look at her, lest He should increase her confusion. When at last they urged Him to give His sentence, it was one of merciful compassion : ' Let him that is without spot,' said He, ' cast the first stone.' Among those present, only Jesus could say, ' I am free from stain,' and He would not raise His hand against her. Having heard these startling words, the woman's enemies, covered with shame, departed one by one; and when Our Lord found Himself alone with the poor sinner, He spoke to her with all gentleness and said, ' Hath no man condemned thee?' And she said, 'None, Lord.' Then said He, ' Neither will I condemn thee. Go in peace, and sin no more.' Well may we say with St. Paul : ' We have not a High Priest who cannot have compassion upon our infirmities.' II. The sacred heart of Jesus is still filled with the same sentiments of compassion for the miseries of men, for that heart has not ceased to beat. It is living in our midst ; for in the most Holy Sacrament it abides and loves us still. Thence He looks forth upon you, and wishes to succour you in your necessities. What a source of joy and consolation COMPASSION OF THE SACRED HEART 499 must this be to the boy who really desires to love the sacred heart ! No matter how young he may be, he will not have escaped the touch of sorrow which reigns well-nigh supreme in this vale of tears ; and hence he will be able to understand the joy which the presence of a consoler like Jesus never fails to bring. To be morally weak, is to be wretched ; and where is the boy who has not felt what a puny creature he is in the presence of his spiritual enemies? When they attack him he cannot, without a grievous struggle, put them to flight ; but that struggle is so far beyond his native strength, and must be maintained against foes so numerous, so powerful, and so subtle, that he is harassed beyond the limits of human endurance. But there is nigh at hand One Who is more tender than his own mother, more affectionate and considerate than his father ; and that One sees, and knows, and compassionates his weakness. Therefore, let that boy go with confidence to the bosom of Jesus Christ, and there pour forth all his sorrows. If he is very weak, and has not borne himself manfully before his enemies, let him with tears confess it unto Him Who never yet turned away His face from an erring child. If he is troubled and worried by temptations, let him tell them to Him, Whom the wicked spirit dared to tempt. Especially in the day of trial, let him run to Him as to a refuge, and he will gain so great strength and so great courage that the very devils will fear to encounter him. But these are not the only trials and miseries for which the heart of Our Lord feels compassion. There are a thousand other wretchednesses and causes of misery to a college-boy, which he can tell to no one but to Our Lord. There are, for instance, on the part of his companions, acts of unkindness which cut him to the quick. At one time it is a severe and unfeeling criticism. At another it is a sneering or a contemptuous remark, or a misrepresentation of some innocent action, or some deed of petty jealousy. These things, small though they be, are nevertheless the great miseries which wring with sorrow the hearts of school- boys. Our Lord sees them all. He feels for those who 5 oo LECTURES FOR BOYS writhe under them, and is ready to heal their smart by the balm of His consolation and compassion. Therefore, remember this, and in all your sorrows, present yourself before the tabernacle in which Jesus awaits your coming. Tell Him all that afflicts you, and ask for grace to bear yourself like a brave boy in the midst of your trials. If you do this, you will know experimentally that He is not One Who cannot have compassion on your infirmities. III. The example of Jesus Christ ought to teach you to feel for the miseries of those around you ; and your own experience of the wretchedness which the absence of sym- pathy has caused in your own breast, ought to make you strive to lessen the weight of woe which presses so heavily upon the hearts of those with whom you live. Bear in mind that as you have suffered from the callous indifference of others, so others may have had to carry no light burthen of grief on account of your harsh and unfeeling behaviour towards them. Strive, therefore, to have within your bosom a compassionate heart, as closely resembling that of Our Lord as it is possible for a human heart to resemble the boundless charity of the Godhead. Be not harsh in your judgment of others, but try to re- member that acts which seem to you hostile and malicious may not necessarily be so. Those who cause you annoy- ance are very probably not aware of it ; for if they were, they would never do what arouses your ire. Try, then, to excuse their acts, by persuading yourself that their inten- tions are good. In your dealings with those around you, avoid all that is rude, or rough, or offensive to them. They are keenly alive to whatever touches their honour, and look with reason for that civility with which gentlemanly boys ought to treat one another. Be considerate, and before you act reflect whether what you are about to do may not in some way either hurt the feelings, or wound the susceptibilities of your com- panions. All this will make you gentle and kind. It will dispose you to think more of others than you do of yourself. It will make you ready to sympathise with them, and to feel ZEAL OF THE SACRED HEART 501 for their sorrows. You will not deride their weakness, nor scorn them, nor add to their burthens. You will rather be to them a source of happiness, a source to which in time of sorrow they will turn, that they may draw thence refresh- ment and courage to bear up against the trials and the miseries of life. ZEAL OF THE SACRED HEART. I. Zeal is the natural outcome of great and intense love. It is an eager, earnest striving to make known unto others the object which we love, and to inspire their hearts with sentiments towards it similar to those which animate our own. If that object is ignored, we are filled with grief; if it is slighted, we are roused to indignation ; if it is attacked, we are up in arms to defend it. Zeal like this filled the heart of Our Lord for the honour of His Eternal Father and the salvation of the souls of men. He loved God with an infinite love, and He loved men with all the tender fondness of a Father, who is at the same time God, the Creator and Redeemer of the creatures whom His hands have made. Hence, the honour of God held the first place in His heart. He wished to make Him known, loved, and served with that willing homage and service which, on so many titles, are due to Him from us. Man is the image of God, capable of knowing, of loving, and of serving Him, and Jesus wished man to devote his whole being to that sweetest of tasks for which God destined him. Zeal urged Him to bring about this desire of His heart ; and in all the actions of His life it shines forth most conspicuously. Zeal inspired Him, even in His childhood, to remain behind in Jerusalem, and to show His readiness to sacrifice the sweets of home, in order ' to be about His Father's business.' Zeal made Him travel about from place to place, teaching and preach- ing the way of salvation, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, and calling back the soul to the temple of the flesh, whence the Angel of death had summoned it away. Zeal caused Him to flash forth the fire of His indignant 5 o2 LECTURES FOR BOYS scorn against the stony hearts and the canting hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees. Look at Him as He enters the Temple courts, and beholds cattle tethered there, as in a market-place ; the booths of the traffickers, and the tables of the money-changers! Could this be the House of God ? Greed had changed it into a den of thieves. The sight filled His soul with a holy indignation. The zeal of the Lord fired His heart, and snatching up some cords which lay close at hand, He scourged the unholy crowd from the sacred precincts. Again; look at Him as He sits, weary, footsore, and travel- stained, at the well of Samaria. His Apostles had gone to procure food, but His soul hungered after a food of which they yet knew but very little. He had come there to speak to and convert one poor soul — the soul of a woman living in the state of sin. He patiently instructed her, and finally won her back to God. Truly may we say of that sacred heart, 'the zeal of the Lord hath eaten it up.' II. A like zeal for God's honour, and for your neighbour's salvation, ought to burn brightly in your heart. Shall only priests and religious be left to follow in the footsteps of Our Lord, in this work which is so dear to Him ? No ; there is much that laymen may do to promote the honour of God, and further the salvation of souls. Even boys will find that they are able to help in this work, and what is more, that they must of necessity do so, if they wish to lay claim to that proud title, ' children of God.' For, if God is your Father, you are bound by that gratitude, loyalty, and love, which you owe to Him, to be eager that all should give to Him honour, love, and obedience. Lift up your eyes and look upon the world which is around you, and you will find motives in abundance to stir up in your heart all the zeal of which it is capable. Are there not millions of men who know not God, and bow their knees before senseless idols ? Are there not countless multitudes who insult Him by their sinful lives, and vainly strive to ignore His very existence, saying in their proud hearts, ' There is no God ' ? Even among those who believe ZEAL OF THE SACRED HEART 503 in Him, who profess to love Him, and to follow in His foot- steps, are there not very many who, by their abominable sensuality, profane the temple of the living God ? who blaspheme His holy name? who trample upon His image and do their utmost to blot it out of their souls ? Yet for each of them Jesus poured forth His precious blood. By His ignominious death and bitter Passion, He paid for them a costly ransom. Shall they be lost ? Shall they never be brought to repose in that sacred heart, which has loved them so much ? God forbid ! Each of you may help to save them. You cannot, it is true, go forth to enlighten those who sit in darkness. You cannot solve the difficulties of those who are hopelessly struggling in the meshes of error. You cannot reclaim the wicked from their dark and slippery way. Works like these are for older heads and for abler hands. Nevertheless, there is a work which you can do. You can pray. You can beg courage and strength for some poor missioner in China or in India, who is sinking under the burthen of his labours, and desponding because of apparent failure. You can ask for light and peace for those who are tossed about upon the sea of doubt, and bewildered by the wretched philosophism of the day. You can implore the grace of repentance for those who are in sin ; victory for those who are tempted ; and perseverance for those who are wavering, who are inclined to look back, and to give up their chance of the kingdom of heaven. All this you can do, and only God can tell the amount of good which your zeal may effect. Therefore, be not idle, but whatsoever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly, that is to say, do it with zeal. III. This zeal, like well-ordered charity, must begin at home. It is upon yourself, upon your own heart, that you must first bring it to bear. In that little kingdom you will find ample work to keep you well employed. There are enemies hateful to God, and most hostile to yourself — enemies who must be conquered and thrust out of its borders. There are defects in its internal economy to be 5 o4 LECTURES FOR BOYS corrected ; there are virtues to be won and firmly estab- lished ; there are habits of vigilance and of prayer to be acquired. Therefore, turn your attention first upon your- self, and stir up all the energy of your nature to aid you in this work of zeal. Look upon yourself as the temple of God, hallowed by His sacred presence, and adorned with His most precious gifts. Remember that the devil, with all his filthy followers, is ever prowling about, seeking to enter and spoil the beauty of that dwelling-place. Hence, be on your guard against his approach. Reject his first overtures. Have nothing what- ever to do with him ; for contact with him will only defile and burn. If, like a strong man armed, you can hold your ground, and keep him out, your task will not be difficult ; for all your minor enemies will easily be kept in subjection. Nevertheless, be not careless even about these ; for, if you be careless, they will master you little by little, and before you are aware of it, will bind you hand and foot, and make you a scorn unto your bitterest foe. Therefore, let the fire of your zeal for God blaze forth against those movements of vanity and of pride, which boys occasionally feel in the day of their success and triumph at School. Let it check those outbursts of anger to which you sometimes give way. Let it arouse your indignation and scorn for deceit, and lying, and selfishness. Cease not your earnest efforts to be pure, humble, meek, truthful, and unselfish. Be mindful, also, of the counsel of Our Lord to all who do not wish to be surprised by the devil : 'Watch and pray.' Always be on the alert. Be ready, like soldiers who are in the front — your arms in your hands, your senses on the watch, your courage unfaltering. Above all things, pray: for prayer is the fuel which keeps the fire of zeal ever burning. Due attention to these counsels will supply you with sufficient matter upon which to exercise your zeal, and when God sees you eager to establish His kingdom in your own heart, He will fill you with zeal to extend its sway to the hearts of others, and will give you work to do which will promote the honour and the glory of His sacred heart. GRATITUDE OF THE SACRED HEART 505 GRATITUDE OF THE SACRED HEART. I. When we say that we are grateful to anyone, we imply that we look upon ourselves as debtors to him for the benefits which we have received, and that we wish to repay him by acknowledging the gift, or by thanksgiving, or by some other benefit which we shall do him in return. From this it will be seen that we cannot affirm of Jesus Christ as God that He is grateful. For gratitud-e would imply that He acknowledged a benefactor and superior. But God has no superior, and no one can give Him anything that is not His by right. Hence, it is only as man that Jesus may be regarded as grateful. His human heart can acknowledge God as His benefactor and superior. Therefore it is as man that he said : ' My Father is greater than I.' Consequently, we may say of Him : ' The sacred heart of Jesus is most grate- ful for benefits received.' His life and actions made this manifest, for on all occasions they proclaimed that He regarded all that He had, and all that He did, as the work of God. Whatever gifts God had bestowed upon His human nature, He employed for the promotion of God's honour and glory, and in token of His gratitude, gave thanks to Him for them. Therefore, as man, and speaking with a grateful heart, Our Lord could say to the Jews, who were amazed at His learning, knowing that He had never been taught : ' My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.' Hence, also, before He performed any great and signal miracle, He lifted up to His heavenly Father a heart over- flowing with feelings of gratitude, and gave thanks for the power bestowed upon His human nature. Before He multi- plied the five barley loaves and the two fishes, which a boy chanced to have with him, He gave thanks. While standing at the grave of Lazarus, and about to astound the world by raising from the tomb one who had already been dead for the space of four days, He lifted up His eyes to His Father, and gave thanks. Also, on the night before He suffered, when about to work a miracle, compared with which all His 506 LECTURES FOR BOYS other works pale into insignificance — when about to change the mean elements of bread and wine into His own adorable body and blood, and to leave the same astounding power in the hands of His Apostles, and of those who should succeed them in the ministry, He again lifted up His eyes and gave thanks. All these are indications of that inexhaustible source of gratitude which ever welled up from His sacred heart. II. That heart is still among us, and can still feel the same sweet emotion of gratitude for what He is pleased to regard as a favour done to Himself. Therefore, poor and wretched as we are, we may yet console ourselves with the thought that Jesus has made us rich enough to confer benefits upon Him, and has stooped low enough to make us, in a certain sense, His benefactors. What a consolation must this be to each of you! The most obscure, the most insignificant boy in the College, can become the benefactor of Jesus Christ, and make His heart thrill with grateful emotion. If, when the devil comes to tempt him, he turn away at once, and call upon the sacred heart for help, he will fill that abyss of love with an indescribable joy, for which Jesus will be most grateful, and will bestow upon him some fresh benefit, some further token of His love and gratitude. So, also, whenever anyone by his actions acknowledges God to be his Master, he causes the fountain of God's gratitude to well up, and to overflow in priceless gifts of grace. Let this thought, therefore, animate you with an eager desire to give the joy of gratitude to the heart of Jesus. Bear it in mind when obedience becomes heavy, and you feel inclined to resist, or to follow your own will in preference to the will of your Superiors. Let it nerve you with that courage which will make you scorn to screen yourself from blame or from punishment, by a disgraceful lie. Let it make you generously forego the miserable gratification of pride at your success in School, and cause you to give all the glory to God. Stifle your angry feelings when you think yourself either wronged or insulted ; force yourself to sacrifice your own ease in order to serve your neighbour ; do not revenge GRATITUDE OF THE SACRED HEART 507 yourself when you might ; and by all these things you will be giving to the heart of Jesus what it desires. You will make it feel grateful to you, and that gratitude will be the fruitful source of many inestimable graces, which will help you in your career, and will build up in your soul that Christ-like spirit, which all must possess before they can enter the king- dom of eternal life. III. Do not, however, rest satisfied with giving to Jesus the pleasure of gratitude. Try also to make your own heart like His — full of gratitude for the benefits and the favours which, every day and every hour of your life, God confers upon you. Can you say, on looking back at your past con- duct, that you have been grateful, and that you have been careful to return thanks for what you have received ? Alas! there are few boys who have not much to reproach them- selves with on the score of ingratitude to God. They are profuse in their thanks to any schoolfellow, or to any master, who does them some trifling service ; but not so to God. From Him they receive everything — life, health, social posi- tion, strength, and the rest — yet they never dream of thank- ing Him for these. They take them as matters of course, and forget that to be fed, and clothed, and housed luxuriously are particular favours from God — for there are thousands and millions to whom these things are not granted, who have not whereon to lay their heads, nor clothes to shelter them from the winter blast, nor food to sustain their wretched existence. O miserable forgetfulness and hardness of the human heart! Jesus remains among us, waiting to receive our thanks, and to bestow fresh favours upon us, and we actually will not sacrifice a few moments of our recreation to go to Him, and to say to Him : ' O sacred heart, so full of love for me, so bountiful to me, I thank Thee for all that Thou hast this day done for me !' Even after boys have had the happiness of receiving God into their hearts, in Holy Communion, do they not grow weary, and look about, and allow vain thoughts to enter their minds ? How is this ? It is because gratitude for what they have received does not warm their hearts, and 508 LECTURES FOR BOYS make them eloquent and profuse in the outpouring of their thanks. What, then, ought the example of the gratitude of Jesus Christ make you do ? It ought to inspire you with a resolution to let no day pass without thanking God for His innumerable blessings. You should resolve to thank Him for your food, for your instruction, for your health, for your recreation, for your life. You should go every day to the tabernacle in which He reposes, and kneeling before Him, acknowledge Him for your God, thank Him for His gifts, and tell Him that you will use them for His glory. But it is especially after your Communion that you should pour forth your most grateful thanks for what you have received. In those golden moments, let no weariness creep over you ; let no thought of books, or of studies, or of games, or of friends enter to rob you of the advantages and the joys of that sweet union with God. Be not like some giddy boys, who long for the end of the brief period which is allotted to the duty of thanksgiving. Frequently also, during the day, lift up your heart and let a fervent ' Thanks be to Thee, O sacred heart !' rise from your soul. Conduct like this will give pleasure to Our dearest Lord, and His grateful heart will open wide its treasures to enrich your poverty, and to satisfy all your wants. OBEDIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART. I. In the tenth chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews that great Apostle puts into the mouth of Our blessed Lord these prophetical words which David spoke of Him in the thirty-ninth Psalm : ' In the head of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Thy will, O God !' The end or purpose of His mission upon earth was the accomplishment of that will, very much of which the human agents chosen by God to take part in the work of our redemption made manifest to Him. For this reason Jesus gave to them an obedience as ready, as willing, and as complete as that which He gave to His Eternal Father ; for they were the OBEDIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART 509 instruments by which God shaped the events that brought about the consummation of the great sacrifice which Jesus so ardently desired to offer. This fact Our Lord made evident upon that ever- memorable day of His boyhood, when, unknown to His parents, He remained in Jerusalem although they had set out upon their homeward journey. As soon as they dis- covered His absence from them, they returned in grief to the Holy City, and after a weary search, found Him in the Temple, amazing the Doctors by the searching questions which He put to them, and by the wisdom of His own lucid answers to the questions which they addressed to Him. When our Lady, half in joyous surprise, half in loving remonstrance, said to Him : ' Why hast Thou done so to us ?' He told her that He ' must be about His Father's business,' and then at once submitting Himself to her and to St. Joseph, retired with them to the obscurity of Nazareth, and for the next eighteen years lived in the practice of the most profound obedience. This virtue of His hidden life came out prominently also in His actions during those three brilliant years, when He shone in all the splendour of the long-looked-for Messias. To the requirements of the Mosaic Law, He gave the most willing obedience ; and the civil power found in Him One Who acknowledged its claims upon the obedience of its subjects within the due limits of its jurisdiction ; for He Himself, through St. Peter, paid the tribute money which it required. When the time of His sacrifice had come, He obeyed, although His whole human nature shrank from the fearful suffering which that submission cost Him. He obeyed the unjust sentence of His judge; He obeyed the soldiers, and the executioners who carried out that sentence ; He stretched forth His hands to the nails; He bared His side for the lance ; He bowed His head and died, in obedience to the eternal decree. He obeyed unto death, even to the death of the Cross. II. Contrast this love of Jesus for the virtue of obedience 5io LECTURES FOR BOYS with your own dislike of it. He came to do the will of His Father, not His own will. In your case it would seem as if you had come into the world for no other purpose than to do your own will. As long as the commands of your parents and of your Superiors are agreeable to you, no one is either more docile or more ready to obey. But as soon as their views and their wishes run counter to your own, at once there is an end of your docility and of your obedience. This unwillingness to obey shows itself even in matters in which God's eternal law speaks out plainly and says : ' Thou shalt do this ; thou shalt not do that.' But with these we have nothing to do at present. We are concerned now with that phase of disobedience which manifests itself by non-compliance with laws of minor importance. Your masters and your Superiors, who hold God's place in your regard, and to whom He has said : ' He that heareth you, heareth Me ' make laws for your guidance and improve- ment ; they tell you also by word of mouth to do this, and to avoid that ; and you set yourself against them and do not obey. For instance, you are ordered to study, and you idle away your time ; you are told not to go beyond certain limits, and you pass beyond them ; you are commanded to keep silence during study-time, that both you and your companions may be able to apply to your books ; and yet you speak without the slightest necessity. So is it, also, of many other little things, which need not be mentioned here. So long as you can transgress these minor points with im- punity, you do not scruple to do so, and when you cannot, you obey, indeed, but with a very bad grace. You murmur, and when you dare, you become even insolent. You obey slowly, reluctantly, and with words which plainly manifest the rebellion of your heart. How different is conduct like this from that of the boy Jesus ! If He were with you in School, how, think you, would He act ? He would be industrious when the time for work arrived. He would be docile and respectful to His masters. He would never transgress the limits marked out for OBEDIENCE OF THE SACRED HEART 51 1 Him by Rule. He would obey at once, without murmuring, without showing unwillingness. Fix your eyes, therefore, upon an example so bright and so worthy of imitation, and try to copy it as far as you are able. III. In order that you may the more easily do this, always try to keep this principle before your eyes : ' The Superiors hold the place of God in your regard, and in obeying them, you obey God.' This will help you to give to your obedi- ence those qualities which make it perfect. First, it will make it prompt. What the Superior orders may at times be very displeasing to you, and may cause you to rebel against his wishes, to question the justice of his commands, and the correctness of his views. Hence, if you look at him from a merely human stand-point, you will be inclined to perform only what you cannot help doing, but you will perform it slowly, without any good-will, with much internal murmuring, and even with words which show your reluctance to comply with his commands. But if you keep this principle before you, it will be as a spur to your sluggish will, to urge it on, and compel it to do what is right. You will say to yourself: ' Though this thing which is now com- manded seems to me very hard, unjust, and even tyrannical, yet it is the will of God, made known to me by my Superior. God has said : " He that heareth him, heareth Me." There- fore I will obey at once, for what He commands cannot be either unjust or tyrannical' Secondly, it will make you obey not only promptly, but with your whole heart, for you will say : ' What God wills is sure to be for my good, though I do not now see that it is for my benefit.' Thirdly, it will cause you to submit your intelligence, as well as your heart and will, for you will not dare to call into question, or to judge what God has deemed to be fitting and just. Thus you will submit your whole being to God, by obeying promptly, willingly, and with all your heart. Do not imagine that by acting thus, you in any way degrade yourself. On the contrary, it is degrading for a rational being to call in question the duty of subordination of power 512 LECTURES FOR BOYS to power; to will to overturn the order which God has established in this world ; and to invert it, so that, instead of being led by those whom He has appointed to be your shepherds, you should wish them to be led by you. Therefore, never hesitate for a single moment to do what you are ordered. If it should happen to gall you, do not show temper, nor set about the accomplishment of it with a bad grace ; but, above all things, do not dare to manifest your unwillingness by impertinent or by insolent words. Meekly bow down your neck under the yoke of obedience, and say : ' Thy will be done, O God ! Make my heart submissive, like Thine. Let me always remember that I came into the world, not to be ministered unto, but to minister ; not to do my own will, but the will of those whom Thou hast appointed to guide me.' THE SACRED HEART, CONSOLER OF THE AFFLICTED. I. While amid the din of battle some devoted column sweeps onwards to the assault, undismayed by the death- bolts which are dealing destruction around, it leaves behind upon the torn and trampled turf many a still and many a writhing form. Filled with the rage of battle, the soldiers heed them not, but march proudly on to victory or to death. Only a few remain behind to search them out, and tend them when the fight is done. So is it also in the battle of life. Many a brave heart is stricken down by pain and sorrow before it can effectually grapple with the difficulties of the world, and falls helplessly to the earth, while the unthinking crowd rushes madly onwards, too much occupied with its own affairs and prospects to give a moment's atten- tion to the griefs of others. What a joy and consolation it must be to the poor sufferer when some kind and gentle Samaritan stoops over him, and pours the balm of sympathy into the wounds of his aching heart ! Such a one is Jesus Christ to those who are weighed down with sorrow, and heavily burthened with the cares of THE SACRED HEART, CONSOLER OF THE AFFLICTED 513 life. He has a heart which can feel for all our miseries, for it has been pierced through and through with the sorrows which rack and torture the hearts of men. He has felt how like a serpent's tooth is the stinging bite of ingratitude. He knows what it is to have loved and cherished others, and then to have met with no return save coldness and indifference. He has writhed under contempt, and been indignant at slander and calumny. He has felt the hatred of malignant men, the supercilious disdain of the self- righteous, and the fanatical rage of the vulgar crowd. He is, therefore, well qualified to console the afflicted. He can skilfully draw the poisoned shaft from the quivering flesh, and pour into the wound a healing balm which takes away its smart. He calls the poor, the weary, and the afflicted to come to Him, that He may refresh them. He sees and knows their grief, and is with them in the midst of their tribulation. If they seek consolation from Him, He will give it to them. He will scatter the dark clouds which overshadow them and shut out from them the bright sun- shine of life. He will cause the light of joy to break in upon them. He will console them by His presence. He will make their burthen easy to bear, and give to their souls courage not to shrink from suffering, but even to desire it, that they may give unto Him a proof of their love. II. Boys as well as men sometimes have their load of grief to carry, and therefore have need of a consoler to soothe them in their sorrow. Those who see them only when they are bright, joyous, and radiant with health upon the cricket- field, or in the play-ground, think that their lives are without trouble, and their hearts free from grief; but a smiling face does not always betoken a joyous heart, and a merry laugh does not always break from a soul that is free from care. There are in the far-off home troubles and cares which cast their shadows over the boy at school. They fill him with sorrow and alarm. He tells them to no one, and in secret they gnaw his heart. Or, he may be the uncomplaining victim of some petty tyrant who makes his life a burthen to him. Masters oftentimes misunderstand a boy, and see in 33 514 LECTURES FOR BOYS his most innocent actions and straightforward dealing reasons for taking offence, and for inflicting punishment. Hence, they begin to dislike, to mistrust, and to treat him with great severity. Who can tell the weight of woe which these small cares fasten upon the shoulders of young boys, who are apparently so free from every cause of disquiet ? Who can tell the torture which they inflict upon a high-spirited, sensitive boy ? If to these cares which press upon them from without, there are added the trials which disturb them from within, we must admit that boys need comfort and consolation as well as their elders. If a boy has come to that critical period of his life when he begins to feel the rebellion of his fallen nature, there are causes of trouble without end to harass and annoy him. Again, if he be bravely fighting against his defects, and against the evil habits which he may have contracted before coming to School, this contest will be enough to cloud his heart with anxious care. He has, perhaps, a bad temper, which makes him fly into a passion ; or he has a habit of lying, and is making great and praise- worthy efforts to break through it ; or he is vain, or proud, or envious of his companions. These defects bring with them their own punishment, and flood the soul of the boy with pain and sorrow. Who then shall be his comforter ? Catholic boys have a spiritual friend and guide in their Confessor, and they know the sweetness, and the peace which they carry away with them from his feet. But there is another friend to whom we recommend them. This is Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. The priest, in the tribunal of penance, is only His representative, His minister; but in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar they have God Himself, really and truly present, saying from behind the Eucharistic veils : ' Come unto Me all ye that labour, and I will refresh you.' III. We counsel you, therefore, to seek consolation from the sacred heart of Jesus. This will not prevent you from being quite open and childlike in your confidence with your spiritual father. If there are troubles and trials which are THE SA CRED HEART, CONSOLER OF THE A FFLICTED 5 1 3 too insignificant to recount to him, but which nevertheless cause you real pain, these and others may be put before the compassionate heart of Our Lord. When you go into the quiet Chapel, where the lamp burns so unilickeringly, and says to you : ' The heart of Jesus is here,' cast yourself upon your knees and tell Him all that either pains or causes you grief and anguish of heart. Tell Him of the evils which are pending over your family circle, should these be the cause of your sorrow. If your companions are malicious, and take a pleasure in teasing and bullying you, offer up to God, in union with the sufferings of Our Lord, this trivial annoyance. But, while we give you this advice, we would at the same time have you so to bear yourself, that those at least of your own age may fear to play the tyrant with you. If you are misunderstood, be patient, and remember that Our Lord's enemies maliciously misrepresented Him. Be obedient and submissive to those who mistrust you, and after doing what lies in your power to give them a right notion of your motives, trouble yourself no more about them. Submit the matter to Our Lord, and He will pour the balm of His consolation into your heart. As for your internal trials, which bring with them disquiet, heaviness, and grief, frequently treat of them with the sacred heart. Ask Jesus to sustain you in the never-ceasing conflict which we have all to wage with our fallen nature. Beg for meekness to subdue the impetuosity of your angry heart. Ask for courage to be truthful, and be severe with yourself in order to break through the detestable and disgraceful habit of lying. Crave from the sacred heart some of its humility, and one drop of its charity. Act thus in all your troubles and trials, and you will find in that heart a well-spring of never-failing comfort and consolation. Do not seek for consolation from your earthly friends only. They have their own burthens to bear, and ordinarily are able to give but scant comfort. Go rather to the true Physician of souls. He can pluck out that which causes you pain and uneasi- ness. He is able to heal the most desperate wound. 516 LECTURES FOR BOYS THE SACRED HEART, REFUGE OF THE TEMPTED. I. The greatest adversary with whom the devil ever ventured to measure his strength was Our divine Lord. For in Him he found One Who turned a deaf ear to all his sug- gestions, and bade him begone with the authoritative voice of a master whom he did not dare to disobey. Jesus, the humble, the submissive, the obedient, came into the world to teach men how to conquer that malignant spirit, who fell from his high estate through obdurate pride and fierce rebellion against the decrees of God. Hence it followed as a natural consequence that, during His sojourn among us, He should be assaulted by His and by our adversary, with all the unwearying activity, and all the undying hate, of a nature at once so powerful and so perverse. The Man-God suffered it to be so for a time, and did not disdain, as man, 'to be tried in all things like ourselves, onty without sin.' Therefore, by the agency of this wicked spirit, the fanatical priest, the hypocritical Pharisee, and the self-sufficient doctors and rulers of Israel, were stirred up against Him, and united in a confederacy of wickedness to do Him what- ever mischief they were able. In public, they interrupted His discourses and insulted Him. In their own hearts, they envied Him, because of His wisdom, His miraculous power, and the unmistakable hold which He had upon the hearts of the people. Hence they left undone nothing that could undermine His influence and throw discredit upon His motives and His aims. But, when all these efforts of the devil's agents had proved of no avail to overcome the un- alterable patience and meekness of the Son of God, the great adversary of good made in person one last assault upon Him. He held up before Him those three baits with which he best succeeds in capturing and enslaving the souls of men. First, he put before Him the lust of the flesh : ' If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread/ Then, having failed to entrap Him by that, he tried Him with the lust of the eyes. He showed Him all the kingdoms THE SACRED HEART, REFUGE OF THE TEMPTED 517 of the earth, and the glory of them, and said : ' All these will I give Thee, if falling down, Thou wilt adore me.' Lastly, he tempted Him by the pride of life, for, having set Him upon a pinnacle of the Temple, he said, ' Cast Thyself down, for it is written : He hath given His Angels charge over Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest per- haps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.' Jesus foiled him on all points, and then drove him away, covered with the confusion of a total defeat. II. If you keep these facts well before your mind, you will be neither surprised nor alarmed when you are tempted by the devil, or by those whom his malice stirs up to do his work. For it is vain to hope that you will pass through life without undergoing the ordeal of temptation. Nay, it is even cowardly to shrink from it, because it is the test by which your loyalty to and your love of Jesus Christ are proved. Therefore nerve yourself to meet and to endure it like a brave boy. Be not astonished, then, if at College you meet with some among your schoolfellows who will envy you the graces and the talents which God has bestowed upon you — for example, your virtuous character and the esteem in which you are held by your masters and companions. To certain natures, these advantages are motives for deep-seated hatred. They will plot against, malign, and thwart you in every possible way. These are the trials which will come to you from with- out. The devil will not fail to attack you also from within. He will stir up that fund of pride which lies deep down in the heart of every child of Adam. He will strive to fire your soul with anger, and to make you pine away with envy at the good fortune of others ; he wall endeavour to make you false and deceitful ; he will fan into a flame the corrupt nature which is smouldering within you ; he will fill your thoughts with wicked images, your heart with unlawful desires, your flesh with the rebellion of the senses. All the powers of that little kingdom, which ought to be subject to the sway of your reason, will be up in arms against you, and you will be forced to fight them, and to reduce them to subjection. 5 i8 LECTURES FOR BOYS This war will weary and harass you. The turmoil of the strife will daze and stun you, till your very life will become a burthen to you. You will sigh in vain for the return of those peaceful days when you basked in the sunshine of God's countenance. But be not disheartened ; for, so long as all these vile images and filthy suggestions are displeasing to you, and inspire you with disgust, they are not sinful, even though they may excite some incipient pleasure in inferior nature. Let your heart, therefore, take courage and be com- forted, for you have proved yourself to be a faithful follower and valiant soldier of Our Lord. III. It is to the sacred heart of Our divine Lord that every boy ought to flee for refuge, whenever he is assaulted by the devil. For the heart of Jesus can feel for and compassionate one who is fascinated by the magical charm which evil seems to exercise upon our human nature. In Him you will find a loving friend, a sweet consoler, and a powerful defender, who will break the spell which has woven its meshes around you. He will give you courage to endure, and strength to resist. He will fill you with so noble a generosity of soul, that you will count it a gain to be able to suffer something for His sake. But, in order to secure so happy a result, you must in moments of peril accustom yourself to turn for protection to His sacred heart You must be as a child who runs to his mother whenever danger threatens ; and, like a child, you will be ever shielded from harm. Therefore, when the devil tries to conquer you by pride, and you feel your heart swell- ing with elation at success, turn to Jesus, and remember that all power comes from Him, and to Him, therefore, is due the glory which accrues to you from the possession of it. On the other hand, if failure makes you envious of others who have outstripped you in the race, turn to the sacred heart, and bear in mind that God does not reward success only. He looks to your labour, and crowns that, even though its results have not been so great as you desired and expected them to be. SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE WORLD 519 If your companions are unkind, or spiteful, or malicious — if they speak ill of you, and spread reports which are detri- mental to your character, look to the heart of Jesus for aid to bear these trials, and reflect upon its unalterable meek- ness and patience in the midst of injuries the like of which no man ever suffered before. Above all, when a storm of evil thoughts rises up around you, and seems about to over- whelm you, flee for refuge to the sacred heart. The thought of its sanctity will give to your will the immobility of a rock, against which the angry billows may dash, and rage, and foam in vain. THE SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE WORLD. I. The sacred heart of Our Lord, besides being a refuge from the assaults of the devil, is also a great source of pro- tection against the devil's trusty ally, the world. By the world, you must not, of course, understand the material creation which surrounds you ; but rather the spirit of those who have no taste, no love, no aspiration for anything either higher, or more noble, than are the perishable things of earth. This is called worldliness, and may be defined to be —a forgetfulness of God and of eternity, and a concentra- tion of all the affections of the heart upon temporal interests and pleasures. To have this spirit, is to be of the earth, earthy, for it makes men cleave only to those goods which the earth can give, without a thought of or a desire for that glorious destiny which is the true end of their existence here below. They who are animated by this spirit, cease to look to God and to His holy law for the rule of their lives. When called upon to decide between two lines of action, one of which is good, the other bad, they do not say to themselves : ' Which of these two will be most pleasing to God ?' for God has ceased to be their guide. Their first thought is rather : ' What will the world say of me ? What will it think of me? How will it treat me ?' It is, therefore, no 520 LECTURES FOR BOYS wonder that Jesus, Who came to turn heavenwards the thoughts of men, set His face so decidedly against the spirit of the world. He defied it. He embraced what the world hates and flees from, but He trampled under foot — as more worthless than the very mire of the streets — what it esteems and pursues with so untiring a zeal. The world flees from poverty ; it avoids self-humiliation ; it shrinks from labour and obedience ; it loves to be where there is joy ; it falls down and worships wealth ; it flatters the great. Jesus lived in poverty ; He humbled Himself and sought after self-abasement ; he loved labour and obedi- ence ; He pronounced those blessed who mourn, promising them comfort which shall never end ; He cared not for wealth ; and never stooped to flatter the great ones of the earth. Their wealth and their high estate were worthless in' His eyes, for He looked only at the heart. Never did any one so completely set at naught all those things which the worldly-minded esteem and pursue, as if they were their last end. Therefore, He can say with truth unto those who are brought into collision with worldliness, and who shrink from encountering so formidable an enemy: 'Have con- fidence ! I have conquered the world.' II. There is danger of this spirit of worldliness invading the minds of even boys at College, from the simple fact that there is a tendency in the heart of every one, to fasten his affections upon the things which he sees, and to make no account of the things which he does not see. We are apt to forget that there is an invisible world around us, and an invisible destiny awaiting us, when the figure of this world shall have passed away. Hence it is, that being predis- posed to catch the spirit of the world, we drink it in almost imperceptibly, when we live in an atmosphere in which it- prevails, and which is, so to speak, impregnated with it. Therefore, unless a boy keep alive within him the light of faith, and endeavour to fasten the eyes of his soul upon the great truths which it teaches him — as upon so many land- marks to guide him into the haven of rest — he will very speedily come to the same pass as that at which those SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE WORLD 521 worldly-minded men have arrived who have practically ceased to believe in God, and whose Gospel maybe summed up in the words of the heathens of old : ' Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die.' For, like the worldling, he will fear the society in which he is cast more than he fears God. He will make its maxims the rule which guides his life, and they will become for him the measure of right and of wrong. Whatsoever a few worthless boys, among whom his lot is cast, shall judge to be right — that he will cling to ; and what they shall declare to be wrong — from that will he flee. If they are wicked enough to ridicule prayer, he will lay aside this most necessary duty. If they scoff at piety, he will fear to be thought pious. If they call him a fool, for incurring punishment rather than tell a lie, he will begin to blush at the truth. He will fear to protest, and to set his face against what his conscience tells him is wrong, lest they should deem him scrupulous and weak-minded. In one word, whenever there is a question of taking either the side of God, or the side of the world, he will first ask himself: ' If I act thus, what will my companions do, or say, or think ?' He will meet the cry of his conscience, and his Angel's warning voice, both which say to him : ' Non licet ' : it is not lawful — with the foolish excuse : ' I shall be laughed at, and slighted by society, if I do not act like the rest of men.' III. What, then, is a boy to do, who wishes to exclude from his heart the spirit of worldliness. He must cultivate a deep and tender devotion to that heart of Jesus which so effectually contemned and conquered the world. For he cannot be devoted to it without at the same time being filled with its sentiments and its affections. Like his Divine Master he will be in the world, but not of the world ; that is to say, not animated by the spirit of the world. In conse- quence of his union with the sacred heart, he will come to feel as Jesus felt towards the objects after which the world strives. He will learn to esteem only those things which He deemed worthy of love. Upon these he will fix his heart, and will regard all things else as vain and worthless. 522 LECTURES FOR BOYS Hence, the law'of God will be his guide in the affairs of life. If he sees^hathe must either lose his dearest friends, or keep their love by breaking that law, he will not hesitate one single moment. God will be more precious to Him than are all things created. If these friends were either as dear to him as is the apple of his eye, or as necessary to him as is his right hand, he would sacrifice them rather than offend God. He will not care for the ridicule of the wicked. Their words of scorn will pass him by, harmless as the summer air. He will meet their displeasure as a man meets the irrational anger of a spoiled child. This conduct not only will win for him the love and the esteem of God, and of all upright men, but will force even the wicked and worldly-minded to admire and respect him. The world respects courage ; and to be virtuously-minded in the very teeth of an opposition as fierce as is that which the worldly-minded make, requires courage of no ordinary character. Their flippant remarks, their ridicule, their scorn, will soon cease, when they see him, conscientiously and with perseverance living up to his convictions ; and they will at last pay him the homage of silent respect, and very probably regret that they dare not do what he has done. Therefore, go to the sacred heart for strength against the spirit of the world. Very frequently ask Jesus to give you that courageous spirit by which He set the world at naught. He will gladly grant your request. He will say : ' Fear not with their fear, and be not afraid, but sanctify the Lord in your heart.' THE SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE FLESH. I. The devil and the world, though combined against the soul of man, are comparatively powerless, unless their efforts are seconded and their forces augmented by the flesh. Their union then has the strength of a triple cord, which is not easily broken. The chief aim, therefore, of that spirit of evil is to bring about the junction of these powers ; and SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE FLESH 523 this junction is rendered easy, both from the inborn hostility of the flesh to the spirit, and from its natural love of the baits which the devil displays before it. Very soon, there- fore, is the boy made to feel within his heart the existence of this domestic enemy. It bestirs itself and confronts the rational soul with that aggressive boldness which the con- sciousness of strength, and the support of powerful allies, are wont to inspire. It claims for itself absolute sovereignty over the whole man ; and when its demands are refused, it rebels and rages furiously against the control which the will exercises over it. All- important, therefore, is the decision at which the boy will arrive when he first begins to feel the rebellion of his flesh, and discovers within himself the existence of a power hostile to the power of his mind. If he should weakly yield to the imperious demands of his fallen nature, he will become the plaything of the devil ; he will accomplish his behests ; and by so doing, will sink himself deeply in the mire of the vilest excesses. But if he resists, and bravely grappling with this insolent rebel, forces him to obey the law of his mind, there is before him a glorious and laborious warfare. In it he has to deal with a bold and indefatigable enemy, who, at all times and in all places, will persistently attack him. Though he smite him down a thousand times, a thousand times will he rise again. He is a hydra-headed monster who never dies ; and though we may contemn the devil, and laugh at the world, we must always be on our guard against the flesh, and fight out the battle against it to the bitter end. The sword must ever be in our hands, and our harness ever on our backs. We must always be on the alert, and never suffer any fancied security to lull us into forgetfulness. Hence, we shall find that life is, in very truth, • a warfare ' in which there may be periods of truce, but no lasting peace. II. Therefore, it is of the most vital importance that the boy's spiritual strength, or power of resistance, should be constantly renewed, and his soul made proof against the insidious attacks of this most wily and relentless enemy. This desirable end will be secured, if he go frequently to the 524 LECTURES FOR BOYS sacred heart of Jesus, in the Most Holy Sacrament. There he will receive Our Lord, the source of strength, into the sanctuary of his heart, and will be endowed by Him with might, which will make him formidable to the enemies of his soul. For this very purpose God, by an astounding miracle of wisdom and of power, instituted the Holy Eucharist. He wished to be our food, that He might unite Himself to our hearts ; and He gave Himself to us under the symbols of bread and wine, that He might indicate to us the wondrous effects which He intended that divine mystery to produce in our souls. For, as meat and drink preserve the spark of life, and keep up our natural strength, so do that heavenly bread and that heavenly drink sustain our spiritual life. They do not give us spiritual life, for we must be spiritually alive in order to partake worthily of the Sacrament ; but they feed and sustain the life which we already possess, and they are to our souls what fuel is to a fire. But they do more than simply feed ; they preserve us from the poison of sin. For in that Holy Sacrament we receive Jesus Himself, true God and true Man. We receive that same Jesus Whose touch cleansed the leper and opened the eyes of the blind ; Whose very words banished disease from the bodies of men, and called back life into their inanimate clay. If mere con- tact with even His garments could heal incurable disease, if the touch of His hand, or the indication of His will, could work wondrous miracles, what will not the actual possession of His sacred Person be able to effect for the souls of those who, with due dispositions, receive Him into their hearts? It will supply them with strength to resist all their foes, and be a most powerful antidote against the poison of sin. III. If, then, you wish to be free, with that freedom wherewith Christ has made us free ; if you desire to live a noble, upright, spotless life ; if you do not wish to be the slave of your own body, but aspire rather to be king in your own heart, and to rule over it with absolute sway, do not neglect to go very often to unite yourself to Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. He is the strong man armed, Who SACRED HEART, A PROTECTION AGAINST THE FLESH 525 keepeth His court, and hath all His possessions in peace. He is the conqueror of the devil and of the world. Unite yourself to Him, and you will feel that He is the conqueror of the flesh also. For, when joined to Him, you no longer contend single-handed, and with your own native strength, against your powerful enemies. You have on your side the might of God, and conscious of this, you go from the Holy Table like a lion, says St. John Chrysostom, breathing fire against your enemies. Yes, for you go forth from the house of God, bearing away in your bosom Jesus Christ, the Strong One. Your lips are empurpled with the blood of the Lamb ; your flesh is purified and made proof against the poison of sin ; and, as the destroying Angel turned aside his avenging sword from the dwellings which were sprinkled with the blood of the Paschal Lamb, so will the evil spirits turn away from you. If they dare to assault you, they will make their attack with fear and trembling. There- fore, you will be able easily to rout them ; for feeble is the onslaught of an adversary whose heart is full of fear ; he turns and flees when the slightest resistance is offered. But in order that you may reap to the full all the advan- tages of Holy Communion, you must frequently approach to the altar of God. The Sacred Body and Blood, which you there receive, is the food of your soul ; and, as only those are strong who eat regularly and every day, so is it also with those who partake of Holy Communion. Furthermore, you must prepare yourself for the worthy reception of so great a guest. Dispose your heart thereunto by most fervent acts of sorrow for past sins, by humble confession of your daily defects, and by devout and earnest prayer immediately before you draw nigh to your Lord. Then with a lively faith go to receive Him, and when He is actually in your breast, speak lovingly to Him, as a child would speak to its father. Ask Him for all that you stand in need of; for strength, for perseverance, and for grace never to be overcome by the devil, or by the world, or by your own flesh. 526 LECTURES FOR BOYS THE SACRED HEART, HELP OF THE DYING. I. We all hope that the happiness of heaven shall one day be ours, and that we shall for evermore gaze, with joy unutterable, upon the vision of God. But before our eyes can drink in the ravishing beauty of that countenance, the charms of which will never tire, we have first to pass through the grim portals of death ; we have to take that step into the darksome land, that step from which all men recoil with natural horror, even though everlasting joy, and the possession of God, lie beyond. As far as it is possible, men try to forget the inevitable destiny which awaits them. They do not like to face and calmly view it in its various bearings. Hence, when the summons comes, and the hand of the great leveller is laid upon their shoulders, and his voice whispers in their ears : ' Come away,' the poor heart is terror-stricken, and flutters, and tries in vain to escape. We need not wonder at this ; for an eternity depends upon that moment of death, upon that step which must be taken in the dark. The issue of it is all-important for us ; the risk tremendous ; for we know not whether we are worthy of love or of hatred ! If we look into the past, there is unfolded before our view a long list of transgressions ; years of lukewarmness and indifference in the service of God ; means of grace neglected ; opportunities lost ; the work of life done in a way which will call forth the stern rebuke of the great Master. If we examine the present, it is full of fear and confusion. All things are slipping away from us — our friends, our property, our bodily frame. The future, if we give it a thought, and do not rather try to exclude it from our mind, is terrible to contemplate. We know that eternity is before us; that judgment and a sentence await us. We feel that we are gradually being thrust nearer and nearer the border line, where life ends and eternity begins. We must step across it, whether we will or not. Earth seems to be sinking from beneath us. Darkness has gathered round us. Slower and slower beats our poor THE SACRED HEART, HELP OF THE DYING 527 fluttering, terrified heart. Now the shadow of the great throne of God is upon us ! One sigh, one faint, feeble effort, and the step has been taken ! We have passed out of the shadows and the mists of time, into the never-fading day of eternity. We look upon the face of God ! II. Surely this is a moment when we shall need a kind and compassionate heart to soothe our anxiety, to calm our fears, and to sustain our failing courage. In that dread hour of man's direst need, happy will it be for him who has put his trust in the sacred heart of Our Lord ; for Jesus will stand by him to be his helper. His own most holy heart has felt all the terror of death. To Him also there came a moment, when this ingredient of human sorrow entered into His chalice of suffering. He tasted all its bitterness when the Roman governor showed Him to the people and said : ' Behold the Man,' and they, with one accord, sent up a loud, ferocious cry for His blood, saying : ' Away with Him ! Crucify Him ! His blood be upon us and upon our children.' Then Pilate handed Him over to their fury, and told Him that He must die. Like the rest of men, the moment of terror had come for Him. He stood face to face with death, and His human nature shrank in horror from the embrace of that king of terrors. Fearful must have been the anguish which it caused Him ; for the foreknowledge of this moment felled Him to the earth in the Garden, and forced through His panting frame a miraculous sweat of blood. For though He had no dark past to rise up before His eyes and accuse Him — no future with its dread uncertainties — yet the natural fear of death, and of such a death, caused Him to pray with all the energy of His soul, ' that the chalice might pass away.' He did not, like other men, breathe forth His soul in the midst of sorrowing friends. His was a death of ignominy, and of unutterable pain. He died amid the shouts and the blasphemies of a rabble which hated Him, and gloated over His sufferings, and triumphed in His destruction. Jesus, therefore, has had personal experience of the anguish which settles down upon the soul at the approach 528 LECTURES FOR BOYS of death. He bears it in mind when those who have loved Him, and served Him well, are made to feel the sorrows of death. When they cry to Him He is at hand, like a gentle mother, to fold them in His protecting arms, to lay their heads against His loving heart, and thus to hush them to sleep, that they may, without fear, pass through the dark portals, and awake joyously in His sacred presence. III. If we desire to have so great a privilege, we must try to make ourselves worthy of it, by leading a good life. If our life have been a life of lukewarmness, death will probably find us in that state ; if our life have been good, so also will be our death. Therefore, try to lead a holy life, and death will be shorn of half his terrors. Fight hard and well against your enemies, now that you are in health, and when the summons comes to call you hence, you will look back upon a way on which you have left behind no enemies to close in upon you, and attack you when you are least able to repel their assault. If, upon looking back now, you discover that there is any place from which you have reason to think that they have not been ejected, and in which they may be lurking in ambush to destroy you, examine it carefully, and leave nothing undone to make your position perfectly secure. Having satisfied yourself upon this point, you must, in the next place, entirely submit yourself to the divine will. Offer up the life which God has given you, as a sacrifice which you will gladly immolate to Him, in the manner which He wills, in the place which He shall appoint, and at the time when He may think fit. Have no anxiety whatever about those whom you leave behind. Ask yourself: ' What advantage will my grief about them bring either to myself or to them ?' None whatever. Therefore cast it aside, as an obstacle thrown in your way by the devil, for the purpose of making you employ the few remaining moments of life in useless sorrows and regrets. With these dispositions, go on serving God to the best of your power, and He will not desert you when the supreme moment shall arrive. You will, no doubt, experience for a DUTY OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART 529 short time, some little of that natural dread and shrinking from death, which weak human nature cannot avoid ; but Jesus, Our good, kind Master, will quickly reassure you. He will give you so great strength that you will smile at your terrors, as a child does when it clasps the hand of its father; and, under the shadow of God's protecting wings, you will step without fear over the threshold of death, into a bright and glorious immortality. DUTY OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART. I. When a parent or a dear friend has been either injured or affronted, we do our utmost to soothe his wounded feelings, and to calm his ruffled temper. We express our sorrow at what has occurred, and we endeavour, by greater respect and by more devoted love, to atone for the insult which has been offered. Should we ourselves, by some mischance, have been the occasion of his sorrow, we try by a more ready obedience, a more tender love, and a more filial devotion, to remove the bad impression which our misconduct has left upon his mind. Such, also, should our behaviour be towards the sacred heart of Jesus, both on account of the injuries which we ourselves have done to it, and of the numberless outrages which it has suffered from the hands of our fellow men. To act thus, is to make reparation for our own transgressions, and to atone, in some slight degree, for the sins of others. We cannot, of course, pretend adequately to do this, for no one but God can atone for the least sin : but we may, in a certain sense, do so through the gracious condescension of Our Lord, Who out of regard for His own infinite merits, will accept our good intention, and impart to our worthless actions some of the merits purchased for us by His bitter Passion and death. If we take the trouble to look around us, we shall discover reasons without end for devoting ourselves, heart and soul, to the work of reparation. Jesus, Our God, Our Father, is 34 53 o LECTURES FOR BOYS ignored by many men. He is blasphemed and treated with contumely, worse than was even that which He suffered from the Jews. His love is set at naught ; His living temples are changed into the abodes of devils, and devoted to the vilest uses. In the Holy Sacrament, in which He dwells corporally, in which that heart which the Jews pierced for us lives and loves us still, He is most horribly profaned. We speak not of the impiety of heretics, who trample upon the sacred species ; like the rabble on Calvary, they know not what they do. But we speak of those so-called Christians, who, after telling in the tribunal of penance a lie to the Holy Ghost, presume to approach with sinful hearts to the Holy Table, where Judas-like, they give Our Lord the traitor's kiss, and deliver Him up to His enemies. They unite Him to their foul hearts which the devil has already entered ; and as far as in them lies, they make Him the sport of His bitterest foe. He is derided ; He is mocked ; He is spit upon ; He is scourged, trampled under foot, and as St. Paul expresses it, ' crucified again ' by those whom He has redeemed by His precious blood. II. If you love the sacred heart, the thought of these outrages will lire your breast with zeal, to do something that will atone for these horrible profanations. First, it will bring back to your mind the memory of what you yourself have done, to injure that much-enduring and ever patient heart. Looking back into the past, you will perhaps re- member a time when you gave to God a lukewarm service. You were negligent, dissipated, and giddy at prayer. You were irreverent in the presence of God. You suffered weeks and months to pass by with scarce one uplifting of your heart to Him. You were haughty and disdainful towards the poor. You were deceitful, disobedient, and untruthful to your parents and your Superiors. You did not always respect, in yourself, the temple of the living God, but forgot that His all-holy eyes were looking at you. Then, with regard to the holy Sacraments ? Have you been sincere in your confessions ? Have your Communions been worthily DUTY OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART 53 r made ? On all these points, or at least, on some of them, you may, perhaps, have much with which to reproach yourself. Yet God, Whom you insulted and outraged, has favoured you far more than He has favoured the vast majority of other boys. Therefore, now that you understand how evil all these things are, try to repair your past lukewarmness by fervour, and by diligence in the service of God. Be reverent in His holy temple, and by frequent aspirations of love lift up your heart to Him. Be kind and considerate to your inferiors and to the poor. Love truth in all your dealings with others. Obey your parents and masters as God's repre- sentatives, and always bearing in mind that you live, move, and exist in the presence of God, never suffer any thought to enter your mind, nor desire to take posession of your heart, nor word to pass your lips, nor act to be done by you, which you would be ashamed of if it came to the knowledge of your parents, or masters, or companions. To act thus will be the best kind of reparation that you can possibly make to the sacred heart for any insult which you may have offered to it, or for any grief which you may have caused it in the past. III. Besides making reparation for your own sins, you should endeavour to make amends to the sacred heart, also for the grievous sins of the world at large. For, just con- sider how it forgets and ignores God. Vast multitudes of men are so blinded by pride of intellect, that they rise up insolently to question God's very existence. Others, bolder still, stop not at merely doubting this fundamental truth ; they go farther, and deny it altogether. Having rid them- selves of God, they next cast aside His moral law, which puts a check upon their evil passions ; or rather, it would, perhaps, be more correct to say that, having first thrown off the trammels of conscience, and of the moral law, they are stricken with blindness of intellect, as a punishment for their corruption of heart. Consequently, being unable to see either the sophisms of their false logic, or the turpitude of their wicked lives, they fall under the dominion of their flesh and are condemned by that pitiless task-master to 532 LECTURES FOR BOYS feed its animal passions with all the filthy garbage for which these latter crave. Others, again, rage with, diabolical fury against the Church of God, against her ministers, and against her children. Others profane the Sacraments, and turn those sources of spiritual health and life into the most deadly poison. What shall we say of the pride, the falsehood, the hatred, the injustice, and the cruelty of the human heart? What shall we say of its forgetfulness of God and its pursuit of earthly things ? Alas ! all these crimes and sins are so many cruel stabs to the sacred heart of Jesus ! For all the souls which flout and scorn Him, He has poured forth His heart's best blood, has loved them with an infinite, everlast- ing love, and when He beholds them thus madly rejecting His salvation, stubbornly refusing to submit to Him, and thereby exposing themselves to eternal torments, He would, if it were possible, grieve with a mighty sorrow, and be straitened with the intensity of His anguish. You must, therefore, try to make amends to the loving heart of Our Lord for the negligence, the indifference, and the sins of men. For this purpose go frequently into His presence, and kneel before the altar on which for love of you He remains by night and by day. There pour forth your heart in prayer to Him. Pass in review all the evil that is done in the world, and make acts of sorrow for it. Tell Him how it grieves you to see Him forgotten and ignored by men. Say with what horror the contemplation of their frightful sins inspires your soul. Make up by your love, for their hatred ; by your frequent and devout reception of the Sacraments, for the sacrileges which they commit ; by your Christian life, your humility, your gentleness, your obedience, your truthfulness, and your purity of heart, for all the lust, the deceit, the rebellion, the fierce anger, and the diabolical pride of the human heart. Set aside certain days on which, approaching the most Holy Sacrament, you will try to satisfy for these various sins ; and let there not pass a single day upon which you will not frequently lift up your heart, and offer it to Jesus for these various intentions. UNION WITH THE SACRED HEART 533 If you do this you will fill the sacred heart with gladness ; you will make the Angels rejoice ; you will do the work of an Apostle ; and the day may come when, in the courts of heaven, God will point out to you many whom your acts of reparation have saved from eternal perdition. UNION WITH THE SACRED HEART. I. To fill the hearts of boys with a tender love of Jesus Christ, is one of the chief motives for so strongly recom- mending to them the practice of devotion to the sacred heart. For, if that love be enkindled in their souls, they will run the way of God's commandments without either stumbling or turning aside. The reason of this is manifest ; love tends to union ; therefore, if he who follows Christ walketh not in darkness but. hath the light of life, with how much greater reason may we say this of all who are closely united to Him ? Hence it must be one of Our Lord's most ardent desires that your hearts should be united to Him. He wishes them to be one with His own — one in aim, one in desire, one in will. So intense is this desire on His part, that He has not left us to deduce it either from His words or from His acts, but has given expression to it by the mouth of the Wise Man: ' My delights are to be with the children of men.' He proved this to be no inefficacious wish, but a settled determination, which had its effect in act. For He came among us, not in the form of God — for that would not, perhaps, have attracted our love — but in the form of man, that we might be able to love Him and to unite ourselves to Him. When, after accomplishing His mission, He returned to the Father, He did not leave us orphans ; but by a most stupendous miracle of wisdom and of power, contrived a means by which He might still be with us, and enter into the closest of unions with us. This is the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar, by which there is established between ourselves and Jesus Christ a union so close, so 534 LECTURES FOR BOYS intimate, that St. Cyril does not hesitate to compare it to the fusion of two pieces of molten wax. When we think of this, we are struck with amazement, and ask ourselves : ' Why does Jesus show unto us such gracious condescension ? Why should He wish to be united to us ? We are unknown to the world. We have never done anything great, anything heroic. Yet He knows us, loves us, and wishes to be united even unto us!' As we revolve these things in our minds, we are constrained to cry out in joyous humility : ' What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou shouldst visit him ? Thou hast made him a little less than the Angels. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour, and hast set him over the works of Thy hands.' II. Since, then, the sacred heart of Jesus, so earnestly desires to be united to your heart, endeavour to appreciate the greatness of the honour which He confers upon you, that you may show, on your part, a corresponding eagerness to comply with His wishes. For this end, try to impress upon your mind a notion of the great advantages which must of necessity flow from this union. You unite yourself to the heart of a most loving Father, compared with Whose love, the intense, never-dying love of your earthly mother, is cold and inactive. He holds in His hands the power which rules and guides the universe, and therefore, when united to Him, you may rest secure, like one who sleeps in an impregnable fortress, upon the granite walls of which the prowling robber and the marauding thief can make no impression. True, you will, to a certain extent, feel the attacks of your enemies, but they will never be able to harm you, for God will keep you as the apple of His eye. Whatever you see that is noble, or grand, or heroic, in the men with whom you come in contact, is to be found in its plenitude in Him; and from that ever -flowing fountain, you may drink your fill of lofty aims, of noble resolves, and of power to do glorious deeds. You will find in that sacred heart all that is good, and generous, and lovable. From it has flowed out upon the world all that UNION WITH THE SACRED HEART 535 makes men happy, all that makes them admirable, all that makes them virtuous. The Sacraments, which lift up poor weak mortals from the mire of earth into the glorious courts of heaven, issued from that inexhaustible treasure-house, and chief among them all, that Sacrament of love, in which God, though infinite, eternal, omnipotent, ' empties Himself,' and takes upon Himself even less than the form of a servant. To that heart you unite yourself ! Into that sanctuary of the Divinity you are admitted, for in that heart ' there dvvelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally.' There, you will find humility, to cast out of your heart the wretched vanity and pride which rob you of your merit, and make you hateful to God. There you will be brought in contact with the fire of charity which inflames and softens the heart with love, and takes away from it the multi- tudinous defects which make it displeasing to God. There you will imbibe that spotless purity which crowns the soul with glory and honour. Therefore, be eager to unite your- self to Jesus, that you may draw all these inestimable virtues and favours from the fountains of your Saviour. III. But, you will ask, how is this union to be brought about ? First, by removing those obstacles which stand between you and God. These are your defects and your grievous sins. The latter will exclude you altogether from the loving embraces of your Father; for they rise up between you and Him as a wall of brass ; the former will draw between you and Him a veil, which will hinder you from beholding the beauty of His face. Therefore, if you wish to be united to Jesus, you must cleanse your heart from all grievous sin and from all affection to it, and having once and for ever broken with it — having cast aside its yoke, and escaped from its slavery, let not the deceptive baits of the devil ever again lure you back. Then go with confidence to Our Lord, and you will be received into the closest union with His heart. That union will become daily more intimate in proportion as you divest yourself of all affection to sin. As for your defects, endeavour to rid your heart of them, 536 LECTURES FOR BOYS for they cool the love of Our Lord, just as selfishness, or conceit, or meanness would estrange from you the affection of a friend. Hence, you cannot expect Our Lord to admit you to a close union with His heart, if you are sharp- tempered with your companions, if you speak ill of them, if you are proud, or vain, or disobedient, or idle. He cannot take to His bosom a boy who is false and deceitful ; nor can He smile upon one who keeps enmity in his heart, and shows by sulky looks and childish anger that he resents correction. Therefore, try to overcome these faults. In the next place, have a great love and esteem for purity. Put modesty as a guard before that treasure of your youthful heart. Be watchful. Shun danger. Show God that you esteem, respect, love, and are ready even to die for it ; then, because by these means you become a faint image of Him Who is sanctity itself, He will acknowledge you as His child, and love you with all the ardour of His sacred heart. Lastly, be assiduous in approaching to the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar ; for by partaking of it, the union between your heart and the heart of Jesus is consummated. There Jesus admits you to His fond embrace. There, you rest your head upon His bosom, and nestle close to His sacred heart. As you recline there, always ask to grow daily more and more pure ; so that you may never offend God, and never be separated from Him, either here or hereafter. HOW WE OUGHT TO ENTERTAIN OURSELVES WITH THE SACRED HEART AFTER COM- MUNION. I. If you wish to triumph over the three great enemies who are continually plotting your destruction, your victory will depend in great measure upon the manner in which you behave yourself after Holy Communion. For then the heart of Jesus is with you, and is most closely united to you. That treasury of virtues and of strength is thrown wide open, and you are told to ask for what you please. But if, THE SACRED HEART AFTER COMMUNION 537 instead of exposing your necessities to Our Lord, and beseeching Him to relieve them, you begin to look about you, to fill your mind with thoughts of games, or of studies, or of other things still more frivolous, Jesus will give you nothing, and you will go away from Communion well-nigh empty-handed. In order, then, that this may not happen, learn what you ought to do whenever you receive the Holy Eucharist. After approaching with the greatest reverence to the altar, and receiving the adorable Sacrament from the hands of the priest, return with great modesty and recollection to your place. There, casting yourself upon your knees, and closing your eyes to all external objects, reflect for an instant upon the majesty of the Guest Whom you have received. You have Jesus Christ, Who always treated children with gentle- ness and condescension, now present within you. His arms are twined around you. He holds you close to that burning heart which has loved you so much. What will you say to Him ? Pour forth your most grate- ful thanks to Him for having come to visit you. Tell Him how unworthy you are of so much love, and how unable you are adequately to express in words the deep gratitude of your heart. Then, turning to the Blessed Virgin, and to her holy spouse St. Joseph, ask them to join their voices with the voice of your guardian Angel, in praising and thanking Our dear Lord for His unutterable love. Unite your own poor, weak, human heart with theirs, and then with all the heavenly hosts, with all the righteous men upon earth, with all the imprisoned just in Purgatory, adore, praise, and thank Him for all His mercies, and for all His exceeding great kindness to you. II. In the next place, looking into the wants of your soul, expose them all to the compassionate eyes of your Saviour, and ask Him to relieve them. You may, perchance, have a hot temper, which causes you frequently to break forth into fits of anger, and to be guilty of many imperfections. Or you may have contracted the wicked and detestable habit of 53 8 LECTURES FOR BOYS not telling the truth. Also, your heart may very often swell with pride, and your mind be full of vain thoughts. Know- ing, then, your many shortcomings, do not let these precious moments pass by while you have with you Him Who is the Truth itself, Who is the meekest among the children of men, and the most humble of heart. He will help you to keep your temper within due bounds ; to repress the up- risings of foolish pride and vanity ; and, to have so great a love for truth, that you will prefer any punishment rather than disgrace yourself by a cowardly lie. Never forget to ask Him for a still greater love of that beautiful virtue of purity, which He values so highly, and so earnestly wishes boys to cultivate. If you find the powers of evil pressing upon you, and threatening to pluck it from your heart, ask him for courage to resist, and for strength to prevail over them. Then offer to Him your whole heart, and your whole self — your memory, that it may be filled with His image ; your understanding, that it may ever reflect upon Him ; your will, that it may be constantly turned to do His holy bid- ding. In return for the little offering which you make to Him, ask Him to aid you in your studies, by making your memory and your intelligence quick, far - reaching, and tenacious of grasp. Also, beseech Him to support your moral nature, by endowing your will with so great pertinacity of purpose, that nothing may be able to move it from its fixed resolve. He will not turn a deaf ear to these requests, but will bestow upon you an abundance of graces and favours, which will be useful to your own soul, and beneficial to the souls of those who may afterwards be brought within the reach of your influence. III. Lastly, after thus observing the due order of charity, which always begins at home, do not forget, in your prayers, the necessities of those who are near and dear to you. Beg the blessing of the sacred heart for each and all the members of your family, but most particularly for your parents, because of the good that they have done to you. THE SACRED HEART AFTER COMMUNION SV) Then, remembering that your College is your ' Alma Mater,' or loving mother, recommend to the sacred heart those who are living with you under her protecting care — the masters, who labour so earnestly, and watch with so much solicitude over you welfare ; and the boys, who to- gether with you, are being trained in the paths of knowledge and of virtue. Ask Jesus to bestow His grace upon them, and to banish from among them even the faintest shadow of vice. Let not your charity stay here. Pour it forth unsparingly upon all the faithful at large. There are, stretched upon their beds of pain, thousands of the sick poor, for whom you must ask patience and resignation to the holy will of God. There are passing away from this world of sense to the world of spirits souls who will need a helping hand to bear them safely through their last agony, a friendly arm to sustain them as they enter within the shadow of the awful throne, and a compassionate heart to plead for them when they stand in the dread presence of the Almighty Judge. There are numberless souls struggling bravely against temptations, and courageously wrestling with their evil habits. Pray very earnestly for all these, and it may be that through the efficacy of your prayer, Our dear Lord will be kind and gentle to the dying. He will calm their fears, and receive them with a serene and smiling countenance when they have crossed the threshold of eternity ; He will stand by the soul that is harassed by temptation ; He will strike off the fetters of evil habits from the limbs of those who by long years of licence have forged them for them- selves, and will snatch from the brink of destruction those who are wavering between good and evil. He will do all this because of your timely prayer. Lastly, before you quit the Chapel, offer up a fervent sup- plication to the sacred heart of Jesus for the poor prisoners who are detained in the penal tires of Purgatory, and who wait so patiently for God to remember them. Not one word that you utter either in their behalf, or in behalf of any soul that is in need, will be lost upon those ears which catch the 54 o LECTURES FOR BOYS faintest sigh of the human heart. Our Lord will graciously accede to your request, and many a bright soul will enter heaven on the days when you communicate ; many a mortal sin will be prevented ; many a temptation overcome ; many a good habit strengthened, and the kingdom of God estab- lished in the hearts of men. Therefore, be diligent during those precious moments which follow communion. God's treasure-house is thrown open, and you are bidden to take thence precious jewels, with which to adorn your own soul, and to ransom the souls of others from danger and destruction. CONCLUSION OF THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART. I. As one who has minutely examined the several beauties of some splendid work of art steps back to view them as a whole, so must we also pause awhile to consider the united excellences of the sacred heart, upon which our thoughts have been centred during the month, which is now fast drawing to a close. One by one the attributes which grace that masterpiece of God's creative hand have been the objects of our study, and are stored up in the faithful memory, as in a treasure-house, whence they may be drawn for our support in time of need. We can, therefore, now sum up the knowledge which we have gained about the sacred heart, and view it as a whole. That knowledge may be briefly formulated thus : ' The heart of Jesus is the source of all our good, and the model upon which our own hearts must be fashioned to every virtue.' In the first place, it is the source of all our good, because it is the well-spring whence the waters of life flow in copious streams into the hearts of men. For, as theo- logians tell us, and as the Church distinctly teaches, the heart of Our Lord is hypostatically united to the Divine Nature ; that is to say, it is the heart of a Divine Person, namely, God the Son, the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. Consequently, it possesses— if we may use such an CONCLUSION OF THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART 541 expression — what is divine, what is infinite ; and therefore, there is poured forth from it upon the souls of men, what- ever good they either desire or can hope for. The lukewarm, and those who have long grown cold must thence expect the grace which will infuse into their torpid veins a new element of life, to quicken their hearts, and set them on fire with love. The habitual sinner, whose wicked life has filled him with fear and shame, must thence expect that true contrition, which will blot out all his misdeeds, and inspire him with a loving trust in God. Thence, too, the fervent few derive their zealous spirit, which upholds them amid the difficulties of this weary life, and enables them to labour on perseveringly till the cool eventide, when the good Master will come to give them their exceeding great reward. In times of doubt the heart of Jesus is their prudent counsellor ; in fear, their courage- ous helper ; in despondency, their soothing comforter, whose genial smile pours sunshine into their darkened souls, giving them courage to advance with firm and manly stride in the ways which lead to God. II. Besides being an inexhaustible treasury, whence you may draw supplies to satisfy all your needs, the sacred heart is, in the second place, a glorious model, the many beauties of which you must try to imprint upon your own soul. What do you behold in the Man-God, Christ Jesus ? You see one who perfectly fulfilled the law which He came on earth to teach unto men. A single glance at His all-holy life will convince you of this. When men injured and affronted Him, He bore their insults and injustice with imperturbable patience, showing kindness and gentleness to all, without exception. Though Lord and Master of the world, His humility resembled that of a child. No injurious treatment roused Him to anger or to resentment. He thought not of self and of self-interest, but always showed Himself careful about the interests of others. He obeyed the very creatures whom His hands had made. His purity shone so brightly that He could challenge His bitterest 542 LECTURES FOR BOYS enemies to peint out one single stain in His character. His fervour and zeal in the service of God surpassed the fervour and zeal of all others. His gratitude for the slightest favour, not only to His Eternal Father, but to even the lowliest of men, far outstripped the gratitude of the holiest of His creatures. These are but a few of the good deeds commanded by the law of God, and we have specially selected them, because they are suited to your state, and may easily be performed by you. You will find them all in Jesus. He stands before you as a model. Therefore mark Him well, and endeavour to transfer to your own heart the virtues which you see in His. You will soon do so, if you begin at once to practise them. Try, for instance, to bear patiently with your companions, and not to resent that thoughtlessness which sometimes makes them do things which are displeasing to you. Always treat them with unvarying kindness and gentleness. Be neither overbearing nor haughty in your conduct towards them. Endeavour to put their interest and convenience before your own, in order to gain an unselfish spirit. Towards all Superiors be very submissive and obedient. Remember the Child Jesus at Nazareth, and how He loved that lowly virtue, even to the death of the Cross. Try always to serve God with a fervent, devoted spirit, and the sum of these virtues will be purity of heart, of soul, of mind and of body — a purity which will make you an exact counterpart of Jesus Christ. III. Therefore, the fruit which you are to gather from all that has been said about the sacred heart of Jesus is a fixed determination, in the first place, always to have recourse to that source of grace and virtue. You have not to incur any great risk, nor to put yourself to any great inconvenience in order to seek it. It is literally at your very door — oftentimes under the same roof that covers you. Be diligent^ therefore, in paying frequent visits to the Tabernacle in which the sacred heart of Jesus rests, and from which He watches over and protects you. There He slumbers not, nor sleeps, but waits your coming, and is CONCLUSION OF THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART 543 glad to accept at the beginning of the day the offering which you make to Him of your labours and your trials. He longs for the moment of your next visit when, in the early afternoon, you return to consecrate the rest of the day to His service ; and He lifts up His hands and blesses you as a father blesses his children before they retire to rest, when you kneel before Him in the evening to offer Him your work, and humbly beseech Him to pardon the defects which have crept into it. On these occasions bear in mind that the treasury of God is thrown open to you, and that He will give you whatever you ask, if the petition be made with a humble heart and a fervent spirit. Especially remember this when you go to Holy Communion, and receive Him into your heart. Do not fail when that privilege is granted you to ask for all that you need. In the next place, resolve to behave towards your com- panions as Jesus would behave if He were living and study- ing at College. What would He do if He were teased, or contradicted, or injured ? He would endure it patiently, and in silence. How would He act towards His com- panions ? He would be kind and considerate to them ; He would be humble in the midst of success and praise ; un- selfish in His dealings with others, and obedient to all the commands and the wishes of His masters. He would be modest in all His looks and actions ; pure in thought, in desire, in act and in word ; an example to which all eyes would be turned, and a centre whence the sweet aroma of sanctity would be diffused around. Aim at making yourself like unto Jesus Christ. Pray fervently to Him for this great grace, and then your study of the sacred heart, and your pious practices during this holy month will be productive of results which will be beneficial to yourself, and to all with whom you may be brought in contact. JZ. IVashbourne, iS Paternoster J\o;t\ .' BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Price 3s. 6d. LIFE OF GREGORY LOPEZ, THE HERMIT. Price 10s. 6d. PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. Price 7s. 6d. THE GATES OF THE SANCTUARY. Price 5s. 6d. THE TEACHING OF ST. BENEDICT. Price 6s. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF RHETORIC. VOL. II. LECTURES FOR BOYS Will be ready in 1897. LONDON : R. WASHBOURNE, 18 PATERNOSTER ROW. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLY—TEL. NO. 642-3405 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall LOAN re ?» LD 21A-38m-5,'68 (J401slO)476B General Library University of California Berkeley a*