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The grass of the field which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into the oven (Matt. vi. 30). Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening withers, and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire! All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.
I.
Behold, the goods of the earth are like the grass of the field, which to-day is blooming and beautiful, but by the evening it withers and its flowers fade, and the next day it is cast into the fire. This is what God commanded the Prophet Isaias to preach: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field (Is. xl. 6). Hence St. James compares the rich ones of this world to the flower of the grass: at the end of their journey through life they rot, and all their riches and grandeurs with them. The flower of the grass shall he pass away. For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (James i. 10, 11). They fade away and are cast into the fire, like the rich glutton, who made a splendid appearance in this life but afterwards was buried in hell.
Let us, then, dearly beloved Christian, attend to the salvation of our souls, and to the acquisition of riches for eternity, which never ends; for everything in this world ends, and ends very soon.
When some great one of this world is in the full enjoyment of the riches and honours he has acquired, death shall come, and he shall be told: Take order with thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live (Is. xxxviii. 1). Oh, what doleful tidings! The unhappy man must then say: Farewell, O world! Farewell, O my villa! Farewell, O my beautiful gardens! Farewell, relatives and friends! Farewell sports and balls! Farewell, festivities and banquets! Farewell, honours! All is over for me! There is no remedy: whether he will or not he must leave all. For when he shall die, he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him (Ps. xlviii. 18). St. Bernard says that death produces a horrible separation of the soul from the body, and from all the things of this earth. Opus mortis, horrendum divortium. To the great of this world, whom worldlings regard as the most fortunate of mortals, the bare mention of death is so full of bitterness that they are unwilling even to hear it mentioned; for their entire concern is to find peace in their earthly goods. O death! says Ecclesiasticus, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions (Ecclus. xli. 1).
O my Jesus I give Thee thanks for having waited for me and for not having called me out of this world in my sins. During the remainder of my life I will weep over my iniquities. I will love Thee with all my strength. I know I must die, and by Thy grace I will prepare to die a happy death.
II.
If the bare mention of death is full of bitterness, how much greater bitterness shall death itself cause when it actually comes. Miserable the man who is attached to the goods of this world! Every separation produces pain. Hence, when the soul shall be separated by the stroke of death from the goods on which it had fixed all its affections, the pain must be excruciating. It was this that made king Agag exclaim, when the news of approaching death was announced to him: Doth bitter death separate in this manner? (1 Kings xv. 32). The great misfortune of worldlings is that when they are on the point of being summoned to Judgment, instead of endeavouring to adjust the account of their souls, they direct all their attention to earthly things. But, says St. John Chrysostom, the punishment which awaits the sinner on account of having forgotten God during life is that at the hour of death he forgets himself.
But how great soever a man's attachment to the things of this world may be, he must take leave of them at death. Naked he has entered into this world, and naked he shall depart from it. Naked, says Job, I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither (Job i. 21.). In a word, they who have spent their whole life sacrificing sleep, health, and their very soul in accumulating riches and possessions, shall take nothing with them at the hour of death. Their eyes shall then be opened, and of all they had so dearly acquired, they shall find nothing in their hands. Hence, on that night of confusion, they shall be overwhelmed in a tempest of pains and sadness. The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take away nothing with him. He shall open his eyes and find nothing; ... a tempest shall oppress him in the night (Job xxvii. 19-20).
St. Antoninus relates that Saladin, king of the Saracens, gave orders at the hour of death that the winding-sheet in which he was to be buried should be carried before him to the grave, and that a person should cry out: "Of all his possessions, only this shall Saladin bring with him." The Saint also relates that a certain philosopher, speaking of Alexander the Great after his death, said: "Behold the man that made the earth tremble!" The earth, as the Scripture says, was quiet before him. He is now under the earth. Behold the man whom the dominion of the whole world could not satisfy: now six feet of earth is sufficient for him. An ancient writer says that having gone to see the tomb of Caesar, he exclaimed: "Princes feared thee; cities worshipped thee; all trembled before thee; whither has thy magnificence gone?" Listen to what David says: I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by, and lo! he was not (Ps. xxxvi. 35-36). Oh, how many such spectacles are seen every day in the world! A sinner who had been born in lowliness and poverty afterwards acquires wealth and honours, so as to excite the envy of all. When he dies, men say: He made a fortune in the world; but now he is dead, and with death all is over for him!
Spiritual Reading
DANGERS TO SALVATION
A boat on the waves of the sea represents man in this world. As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers -- to pirates, to quicksands, to hidden rocks, and to tempests, so man in this life is encompassed with perils arising from the temptations of hell -- from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all, from the bad passions of corrupt nature, represented by the winds that agitate the sea and expose the vessel to great danger of being lost.
St. Leo says our life is full of dangers, of snares, and of enemies. The first enemy of the salvation of every Christian is his own corruption. But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured (James i. 14).
Along with the corrupt inclinations within us that drag us to evil, we have many enemies from without that fight against us. We have the devils, with whom the contest is very difficult, because they are stronger than we are. Hence, because we have to contend with powerful enemies, St. Paul exhorts us to arm ourselves with the Divine aid: Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places (Ephes. vi. 11-12). The devil, according to St. Peter, is a lion continually going about roaring with rage and hunger for our souls. Your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8). St. Cyprian says that Satan is continually lying in wait for us in order to make us his slaves.
Even the men with whom we must converse endanger our salvation. They persecute or betray us, or they deceive us by their flattery and wicked counsels. St. Augustine says that among the faithful there are in every profession insincere and deceitful men. Now if a fortress were full of rebels within, and encompassed by enemies without, who would not regard it as lost? Such is the condition of each of us as long as we live in this world. Who shall be able to deliver us from so many powerful enemies? Only God: Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it (Ps. cxxvi. 1).
What, then, is the means by which we can save our souls in the midst of so many dangers? It is to imitate the holy disciples -- to have recourse to our Divine Master, and to say to Him: Lord, save us; we perish -- Domine, salva nos; perimus. Save us, O Lord; if Thou dost not, we are lost. When the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to the port. In like manner we should keep our eyes always turned to God Who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed. It was thus David acted when he found himself assailed by the dangers of sin. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me (Ps. cxx. 1). To teach us to recommend ourselves continually to Him who alone can save us by His grace, the Lord has ordained that, as long as we remain on this earth we shall have to live in the midst of a continual tempest and be surrounded by enemies. The temptations of the devil, the persecutions of men, the adversity which we suffer in this world, are not evils; they are, on the contrary, advantages, if we know how to use them as God wishes, Who sends or permits them for our welfare. They detach our affections from this earth, and inspire a disgust for this world, by making us feel bitterness and thorns even in its honours, its riches, its delights, and amusements. The Lord permits all these apparent evils, that we may take away our affections from fading goods, in which we meet with so many dangers of perdition, and that we may seek to unite ourselves with Him Who alone can make us happy.
The error and mistake is that when we find ourselves harassed by infirmities, poverty, persecutions, and all such tribulations, instead of having recourse to the Lord, we turn to creatures and place our confidence in their assistance, and thus draw upon ourselves the maledictions of God, Who says: Cursed be the man who trusteth in man (Jer. xvii. 5). The Lord does not forbid us in our afflictions and dangers to have recourse to human means; but He curses those who place their whole trust in them. He wishes us to have recourse to Himself before all others and to place our only hope in Him, so that we may also centre in Him all our love.
As long as we live on this earth, we must, according to St. Paul, work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the midst of the dangers by which we are beset. Whilst a certain vessel was in the open sea a great tempest arose which made the captain tremble. In the hold of the vessel there was an animal eating with as much tranquillity as if the sea were perfectly calm. The captain being asked why he was so much afraid, replied: "If I had a soul like the soul of that brute, I too would be tranquil and without fear; but because I have a rational and an immortal soul, I am afraid of death, after which I must appear before the Judgment-seat of God; and therefore I tremble through fear." Let us tremble. The salvation of our immortal souls is at stake. They who do not tremble, are, as St. Paul says, in great danger of being lost; because they who fear not, seldom recommend themselves to God, and labour but little to adopt the means of salvation. Let us beware, for we are, says St. Cyprian, still in the front of the fight, and combating for eternal salvation.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
The Divine Priest, Jesus Christ, Who was both Priest and Victim, by the sacrifice of His life for the salvation of men completed the Sacrifice of the Cross and accomplished the work of the world's Redemption. By His death Jesus Christ stripped our death of its terrors. Until then it was but the punishment of rebels; but by grace and the merits of our Saviour it becomes a sacrifice so dear to God that when we unite it to the death of Jesus, it makes us worthy to enjoy the same glory that God enjoys, and to hear Him one day say to us, as we hope: Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! (Matt. xxv.21).
Thus death, which was an object of pain and dread, was changed by the death of Jesus into a passage from a state of peril and danger of hell, into one of security and of eternal blessedness, and from the miseries of this life to the boundless delights of Paradise.
Therefore the Saints have ever regarded death with joy and desire, and no longer with fear. St. Augustine says that they who love the Crucified One "live with patience and die with joy." And common experience shows that they who in life have been most troubled with persecutions, temptations, scruples, or other painful events are in death most comforted by Jesus Crucified, conquering with great peace of mind all the terrors and pains of death. And if it has sometimes happened that some of the Saints, as we read in their Lives, died in great fear of death, the Lord God permitted this in order to increase their merits; because the more painful the sacrifice, the more acceptable it was to God, and the more profitable to them for eternity.
Oh, how much more bitter was death of old, before the time of the death of Jesus Christ! The Saviour was not yet come, and men sighed for His coming: they waited for His promise, but they knew not when it would be fulfilled. The devil had great power upon earth; Heaven was closed to men. But after the death of the Redeemer, hell was conquered. Divine grace was given to souls, God was reconciled to men, and the Kingdom of Heaven was opened to all those who die innocent, or have expiated their sins by repentance. And if some who die in grace do not immediately enter Heaven, this only results from the faults of which they are not yet cleansed; and death merely bursts their bonds, in order that they may be free to unite themselves perfectly to God, from Whom they are far away in this land of exile.
II.
Let us, then, take heed, O Christian souls, while we are in this exile, not to look at death as a misfortune, but as the end of our pilgrimage, which is full of difficulties and dangers, and as the beginning of our eternal happiness, which we hope one day to attain through the merits of Jesus Christ. And with this thought of Heaven, let us detach ourselves as much as possible from earthly things, which may cause us to lose Heaven and give us over to eternal pains. Let us offer ourselves to God declaring that we wish to die when it pleases Him, and to accept death in the manner and at the time which He has appointed; ever praying Him that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, He will cause us to depart from this life in His grace.
O my Jesus and my Saviour, Who, to obtain for me a happy death, hast chosen for Thyself a death so painful and desolate. I abandon myself into the arms of Thy mercy. For many years past I have deserved to be in hell, for the sins I have committed against Thee, and to be separated from Thee forever. But Thou, instead of punishing me as I deserved, hast called me to repentance, and I hope that now Thou hast pardoned me; but if Thou hast not already pardoned me through my fault, pardon me now that in sorrow I ask for mercy at Thy feet. O my Jesus, I could die of grief when I think of the injuries I have offered Thee! "O Blood of the Innocent, wash away the sins of the penitent!" pardon me, and give me grace to love Thee with all my strength till death; and when I shall reach the end of my life, make me to die burning with love for Thee, that I may continue to love Thee forever. Jesus, henceforth I unite my death to Thy holy death, through which I hope to be saved. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Ps. xxx. 2).
O thou great Mother of God, next to Jesus thou art my hope. "In thee, O Lady, have I hoped; I shall not be confounded forever."
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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"No security is too great where Eternity is at stake," says St. Bernard. We should, therefore, resolve: "I will save my soul, cost what it may!" Perish all things else -- property, friends, even life itself, if I can but only save my soul!
I.
To be saved it is not sufficient to profess to do merely what is absolutely necessary. If, for example, a person wishes to avoid only mortal sins, without taking any account of those which are venial, he will easily fall into mortal sins and lose his soul. He who desires to avoid only such dangers as are absolutely the immediate occasions of sin will most probably one day discover that he has fallen into grievous crimes and is lost. O my God, with what attention are the princes of this world served! Everything is avoided that can possibly give them the least offence for fear of losing their favour; but with what carelessness Thou art served! Everything that can endanger the life of the body is shunned with the greatest caution, while the dangers which threaten the life of the soul are not feared!
O my God, how negligently have I hitherto served Thee. Henceforth I will serve Thee with the greatest attention; be Thou my helper and assist me.
O my brother, if God should act as sparingly with you as you do with Him, what would become of you? If He should grant you only the grace barely sufficient -- would you be saved? You would be able to obtain salvation, but you would not obtain it; because in this life temptations frequently occur so violent that it is morally impossible not to yield to them without a special assistance from God. But God does not afford His special assistance to those who deal sparingly with Him: He who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly (2 Cor. ix. 6).
But, O God, Thou hast not dealt sparingly with me: while I have been so ungrateful towards Thee as to repay Thy many favours with offences, Thou, instead of chastising me, hast redoubled Thy graces towards me. No, my God, I will never more be ungrateful to Thee, as I have hitherto been.
II.
To save our immortal souls is not an easy task, but a difficult, and indeed a very difficult one. We carry about us the rebellious flesh, which allures to the gratification of sense; and we have, moreover, numberless enemies to contend with in the world, in hell, and even within our own selves, who are ever tempting us to evil. It is true, the grace of God is never wanting to us; but still this grace demands of us a hard struggle to overcome temptations, and fervent prayer in order to obtain more powerful assistance as the danger becomes greater.
O Jesus, I desire never more to be separated from Thee or deprived of Thy love. Hitherto I have been ungrateful to Thee and have turned my back upon Thee, but I will now love Thee with my whole soul, and fear nothing so much as to cease to love Thee. Thou knowest my weakness; assist me, therefore, Thou Who art my only hope and confidence. And thou, O ever-blessed Virgin Mary, cease not to intercede for me.
Spiritual Reading
DANGERS TO SALVATION
A General Confession is a powerful help to a change of life. When the tempest is violent the burden of the vessel is diminished, and each person on board throws his goods into the sea in order to save the ship and save his life. O folly of sinners, who, in the midst of so great dangers of eternal perdition, instead of diminishing the burden of the vessel -- that is, instead of unburdening the soul of her sins -- load her with a greater weight. Instead of flying from the dangers of sin, they fearlessly continue to put themselves voluntarily into dangerous occasions; and, instead of having recourse to God's mercy for the pardon of their offences, they offend Him still more, and compel Him to abandon them.
Another means is to labour strenuously to prevent ourselves becoming the slaves of irregular passions. Give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind (Ecclus. xxiii. 6). Do not, O Lord, deliver me up to a mind blinded by passion. He who is blind sees not what he is doing, and therefore he is in danger of falling into every crime. Thus so many are lost by submitting to the tyranny of their passions. Some are slaves to the passion of avarice. A person who is now in the other world said: Alas! I perceive that a desire of riches is beginning to tyrannize over me. So said the unhappy man; but he applied no remedy. He did not resist the passion in the beginning, but nurtured it till death, and thus at his last moments left but little reason to hope for his salvation. Others are slaves to sensual pleasures. They are not content with lawful gratifications, and therefore they pass to the indulgence of those that are forbidden. Others are subject to anger; and because they are not careful to check the fire at its commencement, when it is small, it increases and grows into a spirit of revenge.
Disorderly affections, if they are not beaten down in the beginning, become our greatest tyrants. Many, says St. Ambrose, after having victoriously resisted the persecutions of the enemies of the Faith, were afterwards lost because they did not resist the first assaults of some earthly passion. Of this, Origen was a miserable example. He fought for, and was prepared to give his life in defence of the Faith; but afterwards, yielding to human respect, he was led to deny the Faith, as we are told by Natalis Alexander. We have still a more miserable example in Solomon, who, after having received so many gifts from God, and after being inspired by the Holy Ghost, was, by indulging a passion for certain pagan women, induced to offer incense to idols. The unhappy man who submits to the slavery of his wicked passions resembles the miserable ox that is sent to the slaughter after a life of constant labour. During their whole lives worldlings groan under the weight of their sins, and, at the end of their days they fall into hell.
When the winds are strong and violent the pilot lowers the sails and casts anchor. So when we find ourselves assailed by any bad passion, we should lower the sails; that is, we should avoid all the occasions which may increase the passion, and should cast anchor by uniting ourselves to God, and by begging of Him to give us strength not to offend Him.
But some of you will say: What am I to do? I live in the midst of the world where my passions continually assail me even against my will. I will answer in the words of Origen: "The man who lives in the darkness of the world and in the midst of secular business, can with difficulty serve God." Whoever, then, wishes to insure his eternal salvation, let him retire from the world and take refuge in one of those exact Religious Communities which are the secure harbours in the sea of this world. If he cannot actually leave the world, let him leave it at least in affection by detaching his heart from the things of this world, and from his own evil inclinations: Go not after thy lusts, says the Holy Ghost, but turn away from thy own will (Ecclus. xviii. 30). Follow not your own concupiscence; and when your will would impel you to evil, you must not indulge, but must resist its inclinations.
The time is short ... the fashion of this world passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 29-31). The time of life is short; we should then prepare for death which is rapidly approaching; and to prepare for that awful moment let us reflect that everything in this world shall soon end.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
The soldiers came, and broke the legs of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, but when they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, and abstained from doing the same to Him. One of them, however, with a spear pierced His side, from which immediately came forth Blood and water (Jo. xix. 34).
St. Cyprian says that the spear pierced straight into the Heart of Jesus Christ, and the same was revealed to St. Bridget. From which we understand that, as both Blood and water flowed forth, the spear, in order to strike the heart, must first have pierced the pericardium.
St. Augustine says that St. John used the words opened the side, because in the Heart of the Lord the way of life was opened, whence came forth the Sacraments by means of which we enter upon eternal life. Further, it is said that the Blood and water which came from the side of Jesus were figures of the Sacraments; the water, of Baptism, which is the first of the Sacraments; and the Blood, of the Eucharist, which is the greatest.
St. Bernard further says that, by receiving this visible stroke, Jesus Christ wished to signify the invisible stroke of love by which His Heart was pierced for us.
St. Augustine, speaking of the Eucharist, says that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today is not less efficacious before God than the Blood and water which flowed that day from the side of Jesus Christ.
II.
Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross (Colos. ii. 14). The sentence was already recorded against us that was to condemn us to eternal death, as rebels against the offended Majesty of God. And what has Jesus Christ done? With His Blood He has cancelled the writing of the condemnation, and, to deliver us from all fear, He has fastened it to His own Cross, on which He died to satisfy for us to the Divine justice. My soul, behold the obligation thou art under to thy Redeemer; and hear how the Holy Spirit now reminds thee: Forget not the kindness of thy surety (Ecclus. xxix. 19). Forget not the kindness of thy Surety, Who, taking upon Himself thy debts, has paid them for thee, and behold, the pledge of the payment has been already fixed to the Cross. When, therefore, thou dost remember thy sins, look upon the Cross, and have confidence; look on that sacred wood stained with the Blood of the Lamb of God sacrificed for thy love, and hope in and love a God Who has loved thee so much.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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God desires all men to be saved, and He gives His graces to all, but many will not use these means of salvation and are lost, for “Heaven is not for the slothful.”
I.
With fear and trembling work out your salvation, wrote St. Paul to the Philippians (Phil. ii. 12). In order to be saved we should tremble lest we be lost, for there is no middle course. We must be either saved or lost forever. He who trembles not is in great danger of being lost, because he takes but little care to employ the means of obtaining salvation. God desires that all should be saved, and He gives to all His grace; but He requires that all should co-operate for this end. All desire to be saved, yet multitudes, because they will not employ the means of salvation, are lost. St. Philip Neri used to say: Heaven is not made for the slothful.
Enlighten me, O Lord, that I may know what I ought to do, and what to avoid, for I desire to do all Thou requirest of me. I am determined, by Thy grace, to save my soul.
St. Teresa said to her Religious: One soul! my daughters, one Eternity! She meant that in this world we ought not to attend to anything but the salvation of our souls; because if the soul be lost, all is lost; and if once lost, it is lost forever! Benedict XII, being asked by a prince for a favour that he could not grant without committing sin, answered the ambassador: “Tell your prince that if I had two souls I would give him one; but as I have only one I cannot consent to lose it for his sake.” Thus should we answer the devil or the world when they offer us forbidden fruit.
O God, how often have I lost my soul by forfeiting Thy grace! But since Thou offerest me pardon, I detest all the offences I have committed against Thee, and will love Thee above all things.
II.
Would that we were fully impressed with the meaning of that great maxim of St. Francis Xavier: There is but one evil, and there is but one good in the world! The only evil is damnation; the only good, salvation. Poverty, infirmity, ignominies are not evils. No; for these when embraced with resignation will increase our glory in Heaven. On the other hand, health, riches, and honours are not really goods for too many Christians, because they become to them greater occasion of losing their souls.
Save me, then, O my God, and do with me what Thou pleasest. Thou knowest and willest what is best for me. I abandon myself to Thy mercy: Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit (Ps. xxx. 6). I am sorry for having been hitherto opposed to Thy will, and am ready to die in order to expiate my offences; but now I love Thee, and wish for nothing but what Thou willest. Grant me Thy love, that I may be faithful to Thee. And Mary, give me thy powerful assistance.
Spiritual Reading
THE EVIL EFFECTS OF A BAD HABIT
I.-IT BLINDS THE UNDERSTANDING.
Speaking of those who live in the habit of sin, St. Augustine says: “The very habit itself does not allow them to see the evil they do.” The habit of sin blinds sinners, so that they no longer see the evil which they do, nor the ruin which they bring upon themselves; hence they live in blindness as if there was neither God, nor Heaven, nor hell, nor eternity. “Sins,” adds the Saint, “however enormous, when habitual, appear to be small, or not to be sins at all.” How, then, can the soul guard against them when she is no longer sensible of their deformity, or the evil which they bring upon her?
St. Jerome says that habitual sinners “are not even ashamed of their crimes.” Bad actions naturally produce a certain shame; but this feeling is destroyed by the habit of sin. St. Peter compares habitual sinners to swine wallowing in mire. The sow that was washed is returned to her wallowing in the mire (2 Pet. ii. 22). The very mire of sin blinds them; and, therefore, instead of feeling sorrow and shame at their uncleanness, they revel and exult in it. A fool worketh mischief as it were for sport (Prov. x. 23). They are glad when they have done evil (Prov. ii. 14). Hence the Saints continually seek light from God; for they know that, should He withdraw His light, they may become the greatest of sinners. How, then, do so many Christians, who know by Faith that there is a hell, and a just God Who cannot but chastise the wicked, how, I say, do they continue to live in sin till death, and thus bring themselves to perdition? Their own malice blinded them (Wis. 21). Sin blinds them, and thus they are lost.
Job says that habitual sinners are full of iniquities. His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth (Job xx. 11). Every sin produces darkness in the understanding. Hence the more sins are multiplied by a bad habit, the greater the blindness they cause. The light of the sun cannot enter a vessel filled with clay; and a heart full of vices cannot admit the light of God, which would make visible to the soul the abyss into which she is running. Bereft of light, the habitual sinner goes on from sin to sin, without ever thinking of repentance. The wicked walk round about (Ps. xi. 9). Fallen into the dark pit of evil habits, he thinks only of sinning, he speaks only of sins, and no longer sees the evil of sin. In fine, he becomes like a brute beast, devoid of reason, and seeks and desires only what pleases the senses. And man, when he was in honour, did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them (Ps. xlviii. 13). Hence the words of the Wise Man are fufilled with regard to habitual sinners. The wicked man when he comes into the depth of sins, contemneth (Prov. xviii. 3). This passage St. John Chrysostom applies to habitual sinners, who, shut up in a pit of darkness, despise sermons, calls of God, admonitions, censures, hell, and God, and become like the vulture that waits to be killed by the fowler, rather than abandon the corrupt carcass on which it feeds.
Let us tremble, as David did when he said: Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me (Ps. lxviii. 16). Should a person fall into a pit there is hope of deliverance as long as the mouth of the pit is not closed; but as soon as it is shut, he is lost. When a sinner falls into a bad habit, the mouth of the pit is gradually closed as his sins are multiplied; the moment the mouth of the pit is shut he is abandoned by God. If you have contracted a habit of any sin, endeavour instantly to go out of that pit before God deprives you entirely of His light, and abandons you; for, as soon as He abandons you by the total withdrawal of His light, all is over and you are lost.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
Jesus came into the world, not only to redeem us, but by His own example to teach us all virtues, and especially humility, and holy poverty which is inseparably united with humility. On this account He chose to be born in a cave; to live a poor Man in a workshop for thirty years; and finally to die, poor and naked, upon a Cross, and seeing His garments divided among the soldiers before He breathed His last. While after His death He had to receive His winding-sheet for burial as an alms from others. Let the poor be consoled, on seeing Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven and earth, thus living and dying in poverty in order to enrich us with His merits and gifts, as the Apostle says: Being rich he became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich (2 Cor. viii. 9). For this cause, the Saints, to become like Jesus in His poverty, have despised all earthly riches and honours, that they might go one day to enjoy with Jesus Christ the riches and honours prepared by God in Heaven for them that love Him; of which blessings the Apostle says that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man to conceive what God has prepared for them that love Him. (1 Cor. ii. 9).
II.
Jesus Christ, then, rose with the glory of possessing all power in Heaven and earth, not as God alone, but as man; wherefore all Angels and men are subject to Him. Let us rejoice in thus seeing in glory our Saviour, our Father, and the best Friend we possess. And let us rejoice for ourselves, because the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is for us a sure pledge of our own resurrection and of the glory we hope one day to have in Heaven, both in soul and in body. This hope gave courage to the holy Martyrs to suffer with gladness all the evils of this life, and the most cruel torments of tyrants. We must rest assured, however, that none will rejoice with Jesus Christ but they who are willing to suffer with Him; nor will he obtain the crown who does not fight as he ought to fight. He that striveth for the mastery is not crowned unless he strive lawfully (2 Tim. ii. 5). At the same time let us remember what the same Apostle says, that all the sufferings of this life are short and light in comparison with the boundless and eternal joys we shall enjoy in Paradise (2 Cor. iv. 17). Let us labour the more to continue in the grace of God, and to pray continually for perseverance in His grace and favour; for without prayer, and persevering prayer, we shall not obtain this perseverance; and without perseverance we shall not obtain salvation.
O sweet Jesus, worthy of all love, Thou hast so loved men that, in order to show Thy love, Thou hast not refused to die wounded and dishonoured upon an infamous tree! O my God, how is it that there are so few among men who love Thee with all their heart? My dear Redeemer, of these few I will be one! Miserable that I am, for in my past life I have forgotten Thy love, and given up Thy grace for miserable pleasures. I know the evil I have done; I grieve for it with all my heart; I would die of grief. Now, O my beloved Redeemer, I love Thee more than myself; and I am ready to die a thousand times rather than lose Thy friendship. I thank Thee for the light Thou hast given me. O my Jesus, my Hope, leave me not in my own hands; help me until my death.
O Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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Delay not to be converted to the Lord. The measure of grace is not the same for all: for some greater, for others less. But any one grace may be the last we shall receive from God, and by despising that grace, that light, that call, we may lose our souls.
I.
Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day; for his wrath shall come on a sudden and in the time of vengeance he will destroy thee (Ecclus. v. 8-9). The Lord admonishes us to be speedily converted, if we would be saved, because if we go on putting off our conversion from day to day, the time of vengeance will come, when God will neither call nor wait for us any longer; death will overtake us in sin, and there will be no means of escaping eternal damnation. God admonishes us in this manner, because He loves us and does not wish to see us perish.
I am convinced, O God, that Thou desirest my salvation; I know that Thou desirest to deal with me in Thy mercy; and it is my desire never more to despise Thee.
Alas! to how many the admonitions given by God during life, become the most cruel swords that pierce their souls in hell! In proportion as the mercies which God showed them were greater, so were their crimes more enormous.
Hadst Thou, O Jesus, condemned me to hell, as I deserved, how great would have been my punishment, since Thy graces and favours have been so abundant towards me! No, I will no longer be ungrateful to Thee. Say to me what Thou pleasest and I will obey Thee in all things. I am sorry for having so often offended Thee; henceforward I will not seek to please myself, but to please Thee alone, my God and only Good.
II.
How careful men are in their temporal affairs, and yet how negligent in the affairs of eternity! If a man has to receive a sum of money from another, he uses every expedient to obtain it as quickly as possible, saying: "Who knows what may happen?" And yet, why do so many live months and years in sin? When the soul is at stake they do not think of saying: "Who knows what may happen?" If money be lost, however much it may be, all is not lost; but if the soul be lost, all is lost, and lost forever, without hope of recovery.
My beloved Redeemer, Thou hast given me life that I may become worthy of Thy grace; and yet I have often renounced Thy grace for something worse than nothing. Pardon me, O infinite Goodness, for I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for having done so. O Jesus, Thou hast done too much to oblige me to love Thee, and I desire to love Thee to the utmost of my power. I love Thee, my sovereign Good, I love Thee more than myself. Permit me not, O God, ever to cease to love Thee. O Mary, holy Queen, protect me.
Spiritual Reading
THE EVIL EFFECTS OF A BAD HABIT
2. IT HARDENS THE HEART.
The habit of sin not only blinds the mind, but it also hardens the heart of the sinner. His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil (Job xli. 15). By the habit of sin the heart becomes like a stone; and, as the anvil is hardened by repeated strokes of the hammer, so, instead of being softened by Divine inspirations or by instructions, the soul of the habitual sinner is rendered more obdurate by sermons on the Judgment of God, on the torments of the damned, or on the Passion of Jesus Christ: his heart shall be firm as a smith's anvil. "The heart," says St. Augustine, "is hardened against the dew of grace, so as to produce no fruit." Divine calls, remorses of conscience, the terrors of Divine justice, are showers of Divine grace; but when, instead of drawing fruit from these Divine blessings, the habitual sinner continues to commit sin, he hardens his heart, and thus, according to St. Thomas of Villanova, he gives a sign of certain damnation, for, from the loss of God's light, and the hardness of his heart, the sinner will, according to the terrible threat of the Holy Ghost, remain obstinate till death. A hard heart shall fare evil at the last (Ecclus. iii. 27).
Of what use are Confessions, when, in a short time after them, the sinner returns to the same vices? "He who strikes his breast," says St. Augustine, "and does not amend, makes firm rather than takes away his sins." When you strike your breast in the tribunal of penance, but do not amend and remove the occasions of sin, you then, according to the Saint, do not take away your sins, but you make them more firm and permanent; that is, you render yourself more obstinate in sin. The wicked walk round about. Such is the unhappy life of habitual sinners. They go round about from sin to sin; and if they abstain for a little, they immediately, in the first occasion of temptation, return to their former iniquities. St. Bernard regards as certain the damnation of such sinners.
But some young persons may say: I will hereafter amend, and sincerely give myself to God. But, if a habit of sin takes possession of you, when will you amend? The Holy Ghost declares that a young man who contracts an evil habit will not relinquish it even in his old age. A young man, according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. xxii. 6). Habitual sinners have been known to yield, even at the hour of death, to the sins they have been in the habit of committing. Father Recupito relates that a person condemned to death, even while on his way to the place of execution, raised his eyes, saw a young woman, and consented to a bad thought. We read in a work of Father Gisolfo that a certain blasphemer, who had been likewise condemned to death, when thrown off the scaffold, broke out into a blasphemy, and died in that miserable state.
He hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth (Rom. ix. 18). God shows mercy for a certain time, and then He hardens the heart of the sinner. How does God harden the heart of sinners? St. Augustine answers: "God hardens hearts by not having mercy." The Lord does not directly harden the hearts of habitual sinners; but, in punishment of their ingratitude for His benefits, He withdraws from them His graces, and thus their hearts are hardened and become like a stone. "God does not harden the heart by imparting malice, but by withholding mercy." God does not render sinners obdurate by infusing the malice of obstinacy, but by not giving them the efficacious graces by which they would be converted. By the withdrawal of the sun's heat from the earth, water is hardened into ice.
St. Bernard teaches that hardness or obstinacy of heart does not take place suddenly; but by degrees the soul becomes insensible to the Divine threats and more obstinate by Divine chastisements. In habitual sinners are verified the words of David: At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have slumbered (Ps. lxxv. 7). Even earthquakes, thunders, and sudden deaths do not terrify an habitual sinner. Instead of awakening him to a sense of his miserable state, they rather bring on that deadly sleep in which he slumbers and is lost.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
St. Francis de Sales called Mount Calvary "the Mountain of lovers," and says that the love which springs not from the Passion is weak; meaning that the Passion of Jesus Christ is the most powerful incentive to inflame us with love of our Saviour. To be able to comprehend even a part, for to comprehend the whole is impossible, of the great love which God has shown us in the Passion of Jesus Christ, it is sufficient to glance at what is said of it in the Divine Scriptures, of which I shall here set forth some of the principal passages. Nor let any one complain that I thus repeat the texts which I have already repeated several times in my other works when speaking of the Passion. Many writers of mischievous books constantly repeat their immodest jests, in order the more to excite the passions of their thoughtless readers; and shall it not be permitted to me to repeat those holy texts which most inflame souls with Divine love?
Speaking of this love, Jesus Himself said: God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16). The word so expresses much. It teaches us that when God gave His only-begotten Son, He displayed a love for us we can never comprehend. Through sin we were all dead, having lost the life of grace; but the Eternal Father, in order to make known His goodness to the world, and to show us how much He loved us, chose to send on earth His Son, that by His death He might restore us to the life we had lost. In this appeared the love of God to us, in that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live by him (1 Jo. iv. 9). Thus, in order to pardon us, God refused that pardon to His own Son, desiring that He should take upon Himself to satisfy the Divine justice for all our sins: He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all (Rom. viii. 82). The words delivered up are used because God gave Him into the hands of the executioners that they might load Him with insults and pains, until He expired in agony on a shameful tree. Thus He first loaded Him with all our sins. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And then He chose to see His Son consumed with the most bitter inward and outward pangs and afflictions: For the wickedness of my people have I stricken him. The Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity (Is. liii. 6-8).
II.
St. Paul, considering the great love of God for us, says: But God (who is rich in mercy) for his exceeding charity wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ (Eph. ii. 4-5). The Apostle calls it exceeding charity. Could there be anything, indeed, of excess in God? Yes; by this he gives us to understand that God has done such things for us, that if Faith had not assured us, none could have believed it. And therefore the Church cries out in astonishment: "How wonderful the condescension of Thy mercy towards us! How incomparable the predilection of Thy love! That Thou mightest ransom Thy slave Thou gavest up Thine own Son!" Remark here the words: the predilection of Thy love; for the love of God to us is more than He has shown to any other creatures. God being Love itself, as St. John says, He loves all His creatures: Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made (Wis. xi. 25). But the love He bears to man seems to be that which is the dearest to Him and most beloved, for it appears as though, in love, He had preferred man to the Angels, since He has been willing to die for men and not for the fallen angels.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And so God has from all eternity loved every human soul. It was for us and for our salvation He sent His only Son into the world to die upon the Cross. Alas, how often have I withdrawn myself from God and sold myself for a nothing to Satan, God's enemy and my own!
I.
It is, indeed, amazing that man, a worm of the earth, should dare to offend His Creator and turn his back upon Him, by despising His graces after God has so favoured and loved him as to lay down His life to save him. But it is still more surprising that God, after having been thus despised by man, should seek after him, invite him to repentance and offer him pardon, as though God stood in need of us and not we of God.
O Jesus, Thou seekest me, and I seek after Thee. Thou desirest me, and I desire only Thee.
For Christ, says the Apostle, we beseech you, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. v. 20). "And does God," exclaims St. Chrysostom, "call thus upon sinners? And what does He ask of them? That they be reconciled, and in peace with Him."
My Redeemer, Jesus Christ, how couldst Thou have had so much love for me, who have so often offended Thee? I detest all my offences against Thee; give me still greater grief, still greater love, that I may deplore my sins, not so much on account of the punishments I have deserved by them, as for the injury I have offered to Thee, my God, Who art infinitely good and amiable.
II.
What is man, exclaims holy Job, that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? (Job vii. 17).
What good, O Lord, hast Thou ever derived from me? And what canst Thou expect from me, that Thou lovest me so much, and comest so near to me? Hast Thou, then, forgotten all the injuries and treasons I have committed against Thee? But since Thou hast so much loved me, I, a miserable worm, must also love Thee, my Creator and my Redeemer. Yes, I do love Thee, my God; I love Thee with my whole heart; I love Thee more than myself, and because I love Thee I will do everything to please Thee. Thou knowest that nothing is so grievous to me as the remembrance of my having so often despised Thy love. I hope for the future to be able to compensate by my love for the frequent displeasure which I have given Thee. Help me for the sake of that Precious Blood Thou hast shed for me. Help me also, O holy Mary, for the love of thy Son Who died for me.
Spiritual Reading
THE EVIL EFFECTS OF A BAD HABIT
3. IT DIMINISHES SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.
He hath torn me with wound upon wound; he hath rushed in upon me like a giant (Job. xvi. 15). On this text St. Gregory reasons thus: A person assailed by an enemy is rendered unable to defend himself by the first wound which he receives; but, should he receive a second and a third, his strength will be so much exhausted, that death will be the consequence. It is so with sin: after the first and second wound which it inflicts on the soul, she will still have some strength, but only through the Divine grace. But, if she continue to indulge in vice, sin, becoming habitual, rushes upon her like a giant and leaves her without any power to resist it. St. Bernard compares the habitual sinner to a person who has fallen under a large rock, which he is unable to remove. A person in such a case will rise only with difficulty. "The man on whom the weight of a bad habit presses, rises with difficulty."
St. Thomas of Villanova teaches that a soul which is deprived of the grace of God cannot long abstain from new sins. In expounding the words of David: O my God, make them like a wheel, and as a stubble before the wind (Ps. lxxxii. 14), St. Gregory says that the man who contracts the habit of sin yields and yields again to every temptation with as much facility as a straw is moved by the slightest blast of wind. Habitual sinners, according to St. John Chrysostom, become so weak in resisting the attacks of the devil, that, dragged to sin by their evil habit, they are sometimes driven to sin against their will. Yes; because, as St. Augustine says, "a bad habit in the course of time brings on a certain necessity of falling into sin."
St. Bernardine of Sienna says that evil habits become part of one's very nature. Hence, as it is necessary for men to breathe, so it appears it becomes necessary for habitual sinners to commit sins. They are thus made the slaves of sin. I say the slaves. In society there are servants, who serve for wages, and there are slaves, who serve by force, and without remuneration. Having sold themselves as slaves to the devil, habitual sinners are reduced to such a degree of slavery that they sometimes sin without pleasure, and sometimes even without being in the occasion of sin. St. Bernardine compares them to the wings of a wind-mill, which continue to turn the mill even when there is no corn to grind; that is, they continue to commit sin, at least by indulging bad thoughts, even when there is no occasion of sin presented to them. The unhappy beings, as St. John Chrysostom says, having lost the Divine aid, no longer do what they wish themselves, but what the devil wishes.
Listen to what happened in a city in Italy. A certain young man, who had contracted a vicious habit, though frequently called by God, and admonished by friends to amend his life, continued to live in sin. One day he saw his sister suddenly struck dead. He was terrified for a short time; but she was scarcely buried when he forgot her death and returned to his abominations. In two months after he was confined to bed by a slow fever. He then sent for a confessor and made his Confession. But after all this, on a certain day, he exclaimed: Alas! how late have I known the rigour of Divine justice! And turning to his physician, he said: Do not torment me any longer with your medicines, for my disease is incurable. I know for certain that it will bring me to the grave. And to his friends, who stood around, he said: As for the life of this body of mine there is no remedy, so, for the life of my poor soul there is no hope of salvation. I expect eternal death. God has abandoned me; this I see in the hardness of my heart. Friends and Religious came to encourage him to hope in the mercy of God; but his answer to all their exhortations was: God has abandoned me. The writer who relates this fact says that, being alone with the young man, he said to him: Have courage; unite yourself to God and receive the Viaticum. Friend, replied the young man, speak to a stone! The Confession I have made has been null for want of sorrow. I do not wish for a confessor, nor for the Sacraments. Do not bring me the Viaticum; for, should you bring it, I will do that which must excite your horror. The friend then went away quite disconsolate; and returning next day to see the young man he learned from his relatives that he expired during the night without the aid of a priest, and that near his room frightful howlings were heard.
Behold the end of habitual sinners! If you have had the misfortune to contract a habit of sin make a General Confession as soon as possible; for your past Confessions can scarcely have been valid. Abandon instantly the slavery of the devil. Attend to the advice of the Holy Ghost. Give not ... thy years to the cruel (Prov. v. 9). Why will you serve the devil, your enemy, who is so cruel a master -- who makes you lead a life of misery here, to bring you to a life of still greater misery in hell for all eternity? Lazarus, come forth (Jo. xi. 43). Go out of the pit of sin! Give yourself immediately to God Who calls you, and is ready to receive you if you turn to Him. Tremble! this may be for you the last call, to which, if you do not correspond, you shall be lost!
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
When considering the love of the Son of God for men, we should ever bear in mind that when He saw, on the one hand all men condemned because of sin, and on the other Divine Justice requiring a full and perfect satisfaction, He voluntarily offered Himself to make satisfaction for the offences committed by man, who was himself unable to offer such a satisfaction: He was offered, because it was his own will (Is. liii. 7). And this humble Lamb gave Himself to the torturers, suffering them to lacerate His flesh, and to lead Him to death, without lamenting or opening His mouth, as it was foretold: He shall be brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, he shall not open his mouth (Is. liii. 7). St. Paul writes that Jesus Christ accepted the death of the Cross to obey His Father. But let us not imagine that the Redeemer was crucified solely to obey His Father, and not with His own full will; He freely offered Himself to this death, and of His own will chose to die for man, moved by the love He bore him, as He Himself declares by St. John: I lay down my life; no man taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself (Jo. x. 17-18). And He said that it was the work of the Good Shepherd to give His life for His sheep. And why was this? What obligation was there on the Shepherd to give His life for the sheep? Christ also hath loved us, and delivered himself for us (Eph. v. 2).
This, indeed, our loving Redeemer Himself declared, when He said: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself (Jo. xii. 32), thereby showing the kind of death that He would die upon the Cross, as the Evangelist himself explains it: Now this he said, signifying what death he should die (Jo. xii. 33). On these words St. John Chrysostom remarks that He draws souls as it were from the hands of a tyrant. By His death He draws us from the hands of Lucifer, who, as a tyrant, keeps us enchained as slaves, to torment us after our death forever in hell.
II.
Miserable should we be if Jesus Christ had not died for us. We should all have been imprisoned in hell. For us who have deserved hell, it is a great motive for us to love Jesus Christ, to think, that by His death, He delivered us from this hell by pouring forth His Blood.
Let us, then, in passing, glance at the pains of hell, where at this hour are so many wretched souls. Oh, miserable beings! There they are sunk in a sea of fire, where they endure ceaseless agony, since in this fire they experience all kinds of pains. There they are given into the hands of devils, who, full of fury, are busied only in tormenting these miserable condemned ones. There, still more than by the fire and the other tortures, are they tormented by remorse of conscience in recalling the sins of their life, which were the cause of their damnation. They see the way of escape from this abyss of torments for ever closed, and find themselves for ever excluded from the company of the Saints, and from their country, Heaven, for which they were created. But what most afflicts them, and constitutes their hell, is to see themselves abandoned by God, and condemned nevermore to be able to love Him, and to look upon themselves with hatred and madness.
Now from this hell Jesus Christ has delivered us, redeeming us not with gold or any earthly treasure, but by giving His own life and Blood upon the Cross. The kings of the earth send their subjects to die in war to preserve their own security; Jesus Christ chose Himself to die, in order to give safety to His creatures.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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What do you say? If you are lost, and are damned you will not be alone! But what consolation will the company of the wicked be to you in hell? O accursed sin, how it can blind men gifted with reason!
I.
What do you say? If you are lost, and are damned, you will not be alone! But what consolation will the company of the wicked be to you in hell? Every condemned soul in hell weeps and laments, saying: Although I am condemned to suffer forever, oh, would that I might suffer alone! The wretched company which you will meet with there will increase your torments by their despairing groans and moanings. What a torment to hear even a dog howling all night long, or a child crying for hours, and not to be able to sleep! And what will it be to hear the yells and howlings of so many wretched souls in despair, who will continually torment one another with their dismal noises, and this, not for one night, nor for many nights only, but for all Eternity!
Again, your companions will but increase the torments of hell by the stench of their burning carcasses. Out of their carcases says the Prophet Isaias, shall a stench arise (Is. xxxiv. 3). They are called carcasses, not because they are dead, for they are alive to pain, but because of the stench they will give forth. Your companions will also increase the torments of hell by their numbers; they will be in that pit as grapes in the winepress of the anger of God: He treadeth, said St. John, the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty (Apoc. xix. 15). They will be straitened on every side, so as to be unable to move hand or foot so long as God shall be God.
II.
O accursed sin, how it can blind men who are gifted with reason! Sinners who affect to despise damnation, are yet very careful to preserve their goods, their situations, and their health; they do not say: "If I lose my property, my place, my health, I shall not be the only one who will lose such things." Yet when the soul is at stake, they say, "If I be lost, I shall not be lost alone!" He who loses the good things of this world and saves his soul will find a recompense for all he has lost; but he who loses his soul, what indemnity will he find? What exchange shall a man give for his soul? (Matt. xvi. 26).
O my God, enlighten me and do not forsake me. How often have I sold my soul to the devil, and exchanged Thy grace and favour for a wretched transitory indulgence of sense! I am sorry, O God, for having thus dishonoured Thy infinite majesty. My God, I love Thee! Suffer me not to lose Thee any more. O Mary, Mother of God, deliver me from hell, and from the guilt of sin, by thy holy intercession.
Spiritual Reading
THE MISERY OF RELAPSING INTO SIN
St. Jerome says that many begin well but few persevere. The Holy Ghost declares that he who perseveres in holiness to death, and not he who begins a good life, shall be saved. But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved (Matt. xxiv. 13). The crown of Paradise, says St. Bernard, is promised to those who commence, but it is given only to those who persevere.
Since, then, you have resolved to give yourselves to God, listen to the admonition of the Holy Ghost: Son, when thou earnest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation (Ecclus. ii. 1). Do not imagine that you will have no more temptations, but rather prepare yourself for the combat, and guard against a relapse into the sins you have confessed; for, if you lose the grace of God again, you shall find it difficult to recover it.
When you rise from sin by a sincere Confession, Jesus Christ says to you what He said to the paralytic: Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee (John v. 14). By the Confessions you have made your soul is healed, but not yet saved; for, if you return to sin, you will be again condemned to hell, and the injury caused by the relapse will be far greater, says St. Bernard, than that which you sustained from your former sins. If a man recovers from a mortal disease, and afterwards falls back into it, he will have lost so much of his natural strength that his recovery from the relapse will be impossible. This is precisely what will happen to relapsing sinners; returning to the vomit -- that is, taking back into the soul the sins vomited forth in Confesson -- they shall be so weak that they will become objects of derision to the devil. St. Anselm says that the devil acquires a certain dominion over them, so that he makes them fall, and fall again as he pleases. Hence the miserable beings become like birds with which a child amuses himself. He allows them, from time to time, to fly to a certain height, and then draws them back again when he pleases, by means of a cord that binds them. Such, says the Saint, is the manner in which the devil treats relapsing sinners.
St. Paul tells us that we have to contend not with men like ourselves, made of flesh and blood, but with the princes of hell. Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (Ephes. vi. 12). By these words he wishes to admonish us that we have not strength to resist the powers of hell, and that, to resist them, the Divine aid is absolutely necessary: without it, we shall always be defeated; but, with the assistance of God's grace, we shall, according to the same Apostle, be able to do all things, and shall conquer all enemies. I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me (Phil. iv. 13). But this assistance God gives only to those who pray for it. Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find (Matt. vii. 7). They who neglect to ask do not receive. Let us, then, be careful not to trust in our resolutions: if we place our confidence in them, we shall be lost. When we are tempted to relapse into sin, we must put our whole trust in the assistance of God, Who infallibly hears all who invoke His aid.
He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall (1 Cor x. 12). They who are in the state of grace should, according to St. Paul, be careful not to fall into sin, particularly if they have been ever guilty of mortal sin; for a relapse into sin brings greater evil than ever on the soul. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first (Luke xi. 26).
We are told in the holy Scriptures that the enemy will offer victims to his drag, and will sacrifice to his net; because through them ... his meat is made dainty (Habac. i. 16). In explaining this passage St. Jerome says that the devil seeks to catch in his nets all men, in order to sacrifice them to the Divine justice by their damnation. Sinners who are already in the net he endeavours to bind with new chains; but the friends of God are his dainty meats. To make them his slaves, and to rob them of all they have acquired, he prepares stronger snares. "The more fervently," says Denis the Carthusian, "a soul endeavours to serve God, the more fiercely does the adversary rage against it." The closer the union of a Christian with God, and the greater his efforts to serve God, the more the enemy is armed with rage, and the more strenuously he labours to enter into the soul from which he has been expelled. When, says the Redeemer, the unclean spirit is gone out of a man .. seeking rest, and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house, whence I came out (Luke xi. 24). Should he succeed in re-entering, he will not enter alone, but will bring with him associates to fortify himself in the soul of which he has again got possession. Thus, the second fall of that miserable soul shall be greater than the first. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first (Luke xi. 26).
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
Behold Jesus, then, presented by the Scribes and priests to Pilate as a malefactor, that he might judge Him and condemn Him to the death of the Cross; and see how they follow Him, in order to see Him condemned and crucified. Oh, marvellous thing, cries St. Augustine, to see the Judge judged! To see Justice condemned! To see life dying! And by what were these marvels accomplished except by the love which Jesus Christ bore to men? Christ hath loved us and delivered himself for us. Oh, that these words of St. Paul were ever before our eyes! Truly then would every affection for earthly things depart from our heart, and we should think only of loving our Redeemer, reflecting that it was love which brought Him to pour forth all His Blood, to make for us a bath of salvation. He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Apoc. i. 5). St. Bernardine of Sienna says that Jesus Christ from the Cross looked at every single sin of every one of us, and offered His Blood for every one of them. In a word, love brought the Lord of all to appear the vilest and lowest of all things upon earth.
"O power of love!" cries out St. Bernard; "The Supreme God of all is made the lowest of all! Who hath done this? Love, forgetful of its dignity, powerful in its affections! Love triumphs over God!" Love has done this, because, in order to make itself known to the beloved, it has brought the loving One to lay aside His dignity, and to do that alone which is to the advantage and pleasure of the beloved. Therefore, St. Bernard says that God, Who can be conquered by none, allows Himself to be conquered by the love He bore to men.
We must, moreover, bear in mind that whatever Jesus Christ suffered in His Passion, He suffered for each one of us individually. On which account St. Paul says: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me (Gal. ii. 20). And what the Apostle said every one of us may say. Wherefore St. Augustine writes that each man was redeemed at such a price that each seems to be of equal value with God. The Saint also goes on to say: "Thou hast loved me, not as Thyself, but more than Thyself, since, to deliver me from death, Thou hast been willing to die for me."
II.
Since Jesus could have saved us by a single drop of His Blood, why did He pour it all forth in torments, even so as to die of pure agony on the Cross? "Yes," says St. Bernard, "what a drop might have done, He chose to do with a flood, in order to show us the excessive love He bore us." He calls it excessive, as Moses and Elias on Mount Thabor called the Passion of the Redeemer an excess -- an excess of mercy and love: They spoke of his excess, which he should accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke ix. 31). St. Augustine, speaking of the Passion of our Lord, says that "His mercy exceeded the debt of our sins." Thus the value of the death of Jesus Christ being infinite, infinitely exceeded the satisfaction due by us for our sins to the Divine justice. Truly had the Apostle cause to say: God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. vi. 14). And what St. Paul says we may all say; what greater glory can we have, or hope for in the world, than to see a God dying for love of us?
O Eternal God, I have dishonoured Thee by my sins; but Jesus, by making satisfaction for me by His death, has more than abundantly restored the honour due to Thee; for the love of Jesus, then, have mercy upon me. And Thou, my Redeemer, Who hast died for me, in order to oblige me to love Thee, grant that I may love Thee. For, having despised Thy grace and Thy love, I have deserved to be condemned to be able to love Thee no more. But, O my Jesus, inflict on me any punishment but this. And therefore, I pray Thee, consign me not to hell, for in hell I could not love Thee. Cause me to love Thee, and then chastise me as Thou wilt. Deprive me of everything, but not of Thyself. I accept every infirmity, every ignominy, every pain Thou willest me to suffer; it is enough that I love Thee. Now, I know, by the light Thou hast given me, that Thou art most worthy of love, and hast so much loved me: I trust to live no longer without loving Thee. For the time past I have loved creatures, and have turned my back upon Thee, the infinite Good; but now I say to Thee that I will love Thee alone and nothing else. O my beloved Saviour, if Thou seest that at any future time I should cease to love Thee, I pray Thee to cause me to die, and I shall be content to die before I am separated from Thee.
O holy Virgin Mary and Mother of God, help me with thy prayers; obtain for me that I may never cease to love my Jesus Who died for me and for thee, my Queen, who hast already obtained for me so many mercies.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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Jesus Christ said: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart. As holy Mary was the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus Christ in the practice of all virtues, she was the first also in Humility, and merited to be exalted above all creatures.
I.
"Humility," says St. Bernard, "is the foundation and guardian of virtues," for without humility no other virtue can exist in the soul. Should the soul possess all virtues, all will depart when humility goes. But, on the other hand, as St. Francis de Sales wrote to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, "God so loves humility that whenever He sees it He is immediately drawn thither." This beautiful and so necessary virtue was unknown in the world; but the Son of God Himself came on earth to teach it by His own example, and willed that in this virtue in particular we should endeavour to imitate Him: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. xi. 29). Mary, being the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus Christ in the practice of all virtues, was the first also in that of humility, and by it merited to be exalted above all creatures. It was revealed to St. Matilda that the first virtue in which the Blessed Mother particularly exercised herself from her very childhood was that of humility.
The first effect of humility of heart is a lowly opinion of ourselves: "Mary had always so humble an opinion of herself, that, as it was revealed to the same St. Matilda, although she saw herself enriched with greater graces than all other creatures, she never preferred herself to any one." Not indeed that Mary considered herself a sinner: for "humility is truth," as St. Teresa remarks: and Mary knew that she had never offended God: nor was it that she did not acknowledge that she had received greater graces from God than all other creatures; for an humble heart always acknowledges the special favours of the Lord, to humble itself the more: but the Divine Mother, by the greater light wherewith she knew the infinite greatness and goodness of God, also knew her own nothingness, and therefore more than all others she humbled herself. "The most Blessed Virgin had always the majesty of God, and her own nothingness, present to her mind," says St. Bernardine. As a beggar, when clothed with a rich garment, which has been bestowed upon her, does not pride herself on it in the presence of the giver, but is rather humbled, being reminded thereby of her own poverty; so also, the more Mary saw herself enriched, the more did she humble herself, remembering that all was God's gift; whence she herself told St. Elizabeth of Hungary that "she might rest assured that she looked upon herself as most vile and unworthy of God's grace." Therefore St. Bernardine says that "after the Son of God, no creature in the world was so exalted as Mary, because no creature in the world ever humbled herself so much as she did."
II.
It is an act of Humility to conceal heavenly gifts. Mary wished to conceal from St. Joseph the great favour whereby she had become the Mother of God, although it seemed necessary to make it known to him, if only to remove from the mind of her poor spouse any suspicions as to her virtue, which he might have entertained on seeing her pregnant: or, at least, the perplexity into which it indeed threw him: for St. Joseph, on the one hand unwilling to doubt Mary's chastity, and on the other ignorant of the mystery, was minded to put her away privately (Matt. i. 19). This he would have done had not the Angel revealed to him that his spouse was pregnant by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
Again, a soul that is truly humble refuses her own praise; and should praises be bestowed on her, she refers them all to God. Behold, Mary is disturbed at hearing herself praised by St. Gabriel; and when St. Elizabeth said: Blessed art thou amongst women...and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ... Blessed art thou that hast believed (Luke i. 42-45), Mary referred all to God, and answered in that humble Canticle: My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke i. 46-55), as if she had said: Thou dost praise me, Elizabeth; but I praise the Lord, to Whom alone honour is due; thou wonderest that I should come to thee, and I wonder at the Divine goodness in which alone my spirit exults: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Thou praisest me because I have believed; I praise my God because He hath been pleased to exalt my nothingness: because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid. Hence Mary said to St. Bridget: "I humbled myself so much, and thereby merited so great a grace, because I thought, and knew, that of myself I possessed nothing. For this same reason I did not desire to be praised; I only desired that praises should be given to the Creator and Giver of all." Wherefore an ancient author, speaking of the humility of Mary, says: "O truly blessed humility, which hath given God to men, opened Heaven, and delivered souls from hell."
It is also a part of humility to serve others. Mary did not refuse to go and serve Elizabeth for three months. Hence St. Bernard says, "Elizabeth wondered that Mary should have come to visit her; but that which is still more admirable is that she came not to be ministered to but to minister."
Spiritual Reading
THE HUMILITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
Those who are humble are retiring, and choose the last place; and therefore it was, as remarks St. Bernard, that Mary, when her Son was preaching in a house, as is related by St. Matthew, and she wished to speak to Him, would not of her own accord enter, but remained outside, and did not avail herself of her maternal authority to interrupt Him. For the same reason also when she was with the Apostles awaiting the coming of the Holy Ghost, she took the lowest place, as St. Luke relates, All these were persevering with one mind in prayer, with the women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus (Acts i. 14). Not that St. Luke was ignorant of the Divine Mother's merits, on account of which he should have named her in the first place, but because she had taken the last place amongst the Apostles and women; and therefore he described them all, as an author remarks, in the order in which they were. Hence St. Bernard says: "Justly has the last become the first, who being the first of all became the last."
In fine, those who are humble, love to be contemned; therefore, we do not read that Mary showed herself in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when her Son was received by the people with so much honour: but on the other hand, at the death of her Son she did not shrink from appearing on Calvary, through fear of the dishonour which would accrue to her when it was known that she was the Mother of Him Who was condemned to die an infamous death as a criminal. Therefore she said to St. Bridget: "What is more humbling than to be called a fool, to be in want of all things, and to believe one's self the most unworthy of all? Such, O daughter, was my humility; this was my joy; this was all my desire with which I thought how to please my Son alone."
The Venerable Sister Paula of Foligno was given to understand in an ecstasy how great was the humility of our Blessed Lady; and giving an account of it to her confessor, she was so filled with astonishment at its greatness that she could only exclaim: "Oh, the humility of the Blessed Virgin! O Father, the humility of the Blessed Virgin! How great was the humility of the Blessed Virgin! In the world there is no such thing as humility, not even in its lowest degree, when you see the humility of Mary." On another occasion our Lord showed St. Bridget two ladies. The one was all pomp and vanity. "She," He said, "is pride; but the other one whom thou seest with her head bent down, courteous towards all, having God alone in her mind, and considering herself as no one, is Humility, and her name is Mary." Hereby God was pleased to make known to us that the humility of His Blessed Mother was such that she was humility itself.
Evening Meditation
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST
I.
St. Augustine says that Jesus Christ, having first given His life for us, has bound us to give our life for Him; and, further, that when we go to the Eucharistic table to communicate, as we go to feed there upon the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we ought also, in gratitude, to prepare for Him the offering of our blood and of our life, if there is need for us to give them for His glory.
Full of tenderness are the words of St. Francis de Sales on this text of St. Paul: The charity of Christ presseth us (2 Cor. v. 14). To what does it press us? To love Him. But let us hear what St. Francis de Sales says: "When we know that Jesus has loved us even to death, and that the death of the Cross, is not this to feel our hearts constrained by a violence as great as it is full of delight?" And then he adds: "My Jesus gives Himself wholly to me, and I give myself wholly to Him; I will live and die upon His breast, and neither death nor life shall ever separate me from Him."
St. Peter, in order that we might remember to be ever grateful to our Saviour reminds us that we were not redeemed from the slavery of hell with gold or silver, but with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, which He, the innocent Lamb, sacrificed for us upon the altar of the Cross. Great, therefore will be the punishment of those who are thankless for such a blessing. It is true that Jesus came to save all men who were lost; but what was said by the Venerable Simeon, when Mary presented the Child Jesus in the Temple is also true: Behold, this child is set for the fall and the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted (Luke ii. 34). By the words for the resurrection he expresses the salvation which all believers should receive from Jesus Christ, who by Faith should rise from death to the life of grace. But first, by the words he is set for the fall, he foretells that many shall fall into a greater ruin by their ingratitude to the Son of God, Who came into the world to become a contradiction to His enemies, as the following words imply: This child is for a sign which shall be contradicted; Jesus Christ was set up as a sign, against which were hurled all the calumnies, the injuries, and the insults the Jews devised against Him. And this sign is contradicted not only by the Jews of the present day, who deny Him to be the Messias, but by those Christians who ungratefully return His love with offences, and neglect His commands.
II.
Our Redeemer, says St. Paul, went so far as to give His life for us, in order to make Himself the Lord of all our hearts, by the manifestation of His love in dying for us. For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living (Rom. xiv. 9). No, we are no longer our own, writes the Apostle, since we have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's (Rom. xiv. 8). If, then, we do not love Him and obey His precepts, of which the first is that we love Him, we are not only ungrateful, but unjust, and deserve a double punishment. The obligation of a slave rescued by Jesus Christ from the hands of the devil is to devote himself wholly to love and serve Him, whether he live or whether he die.
St. John Chrysostom makes an excellent reflection upon the above-quoted text of St. Paul, saying that God has more care for us than we have for ourselves; and therefore regards our life as His own gain, and our death as His own loss; so that if we die, we die not to ourselves, but also to God. Oh, how great is our glory while we live in this valley of tears, in the midst of so many dangers of perishing, that we should be able to say: We are the Lord's! We are His possession; He will take care to preserve us in His grace in this life, and keep us with Himself throughout eternity in the life that is to come!
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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