Sermon 29 - Trinity Sunday

The Love of the Three Divine Persons for Man.

“Euntes ergo, docete omnes gentes, baptizantes cos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spirilus Sancti.”

“Going therefore, lead ye all nations, baptizing them in the of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Ghost.” -- Matth. xxviii. 19.

St. Leo has said that the nature of God is, by essence, goodness itself.¹ Now goodness naturally diffuses itself.² And by experience we know that men of a good heart are full of love for all, and desire to share with all the goods which they enjoy. God being infinite goodness, is all love towards us his creatures. Hence St. John calls him pure love--pure charity. God is charity.³ And therefore he ardently desires to make us partakers of his own happiness Faith teaches us how much the Three Divine Persons have done through love to man, and to enrich him with heavenly gifts. In saying to his apostles, Teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,⁴ Jesus Christ wished that they should not only instruct the Gentiles in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, but that they should also teach them the love which the adorable Trinity bears to man.

I intend to propose this day for your consideration the love shown to us by the Father in our creation; secondly, the love of the Son in our redemption; and thirdly, the love of the Holy Ghost in our sanctification.

1. THE LOVE SHOWN TO US BY THE FATHER IN OUR CREATION.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.⁵ My son, says the Lord, I have loved you for eternity, and, through love for you, I have shown mercy to you by drawing you out of nothing. Hence, beloved Christians, of all those who love you, God has been your first lover. Your parents have been the first to love you on this earth; but they have loved you only after they had known you. But, before you had a being, God loved you. Before your father or mother was born, God loved you; yes, even before the creation of the world, he loved you. And how long before creation has God loved you? Perhaps for a thousand years, or for a thousand ages. It is needless to count years or ages; God loved you from eternity. I hare loved thee with an everlasting love.⁶ As long as he has been God, he has loved you: as long as he has loved himself, he has loved you. The thought of this love made St. Agnes the Virgin exclaim: “I am prevented by another lover.”⁷ When creatures asked her heart, she answered: No: I cannot prefer you to my God. He has been the first to love me; it is then but just that he should hold the first place in my affections.

Thus, brethren, God has loved you from eternity, and through pure love he has selected you from among so many men whom he could have created in place of you; but he has left them in their nothingness, and has brought you into existence, and placed you in the world. For the love of you he has made so many other beautiful creatures that they might serve you, and that they might remind you of the love which he has borne to you, and of the gratitude which you owe to him. “Heaven and earth,” says St. Augustine, “and all things tell me to love thee.”⁸ When the saint beheld the sun, the stars, the mountains, the sea, the rains, they all appeared to him to speak, and to say: Augustine, love God; for he has created us that you might love him. When the Abbé de Rancé, the founder of La Trappe, looked at the hills, the fountains, or flowers, he said that all these creatures reminded him of the love which God had borne him. St. Teresa used to say that these creatures reproached her with her ingratitude to God. Whilst she held a flower or fruit in her hand, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to feel her heart, wounded with divine love, and would say within herself: Then my God has thought from eternity of creating this flower and this fruit that I might love him.

Moreover, seeing us condemned to hell, in punishment of our sins, the Eternal Father, through love for us, has sent his Son on the earth to die on the cross, in order to redeem us from hell, and to bring us with himself into paradise. God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son,⁹ love, which the Apostle calls an excess of love. For His exceeding charity wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, has quickened us together in Christ.¹⁰

See also the special love which God has shown you in bringing you into life in a Christian country, and in the bosom of the Catholic or true Church. ... Only a few--not even the tenth part of the human race--have the happiness of being born in a country where the true faith reigns; and, among that small number, he has chosen you. Oh, what an invaluable benefit is the gift of faith! How many millions of souls, among infidels and heretics, are deprived of the sacraments, of sermons, of good example, and of the other helps to salvation which we possess in the true Church. And the Lord resolved to bestow on us all these great graces, without any merit on our part, and even with the foreknowledge of our demerits. For when he thought of creating us and of conferring these favors upon us, he foresaw our sins. and the injuries we would commit against him.

2. THE LOVE WHICH THE SON OF GOD HAS SHOWN TO US IN OUR REDEMPTION

Adam, our first father, sins by eating the forbidden apple, and is condemned to eternal death, along with all his posterity. Seeing the whole human race doomed to perdition, God resolved to send a redeemer to save mankind. Who shall come to accomplish their redemption? Perhaps an angel or a seraph. No; the Son of God, the supreme and true God, equal to the Father, offers himself to come on earth, and there to take human flesh, and to die for the salvation of men. O prodigy of divine love! Man, says St. Fulgentius, despises God, and separates himself from God, and through love for him, God comes on earth to seek after rebellious man.¹¹ Since, says St. Augustine, we could not go to the Redeemer, he has deigned to come to us.¹² And why has Jesus Christ resolved to come to us? According to the same holy Doctor, it is to convince us of his great love for us. “Christ came, that man might know how much God loves him.”¹³

Hence the Apostle writes: The goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared.¹⁴ In the Greek text the words are: “The singular love of God towards men appeared.” In explaining this passage, St. Bernard says, that before God appeared on earth in human flesh, men could not arrive at a knowledge of the divine goodness; therefore the Eternal Word took human nature, that, appearing in the form of man, men might know the goodness of God.¹⁵ And what greater love and goodness could the Son of God show to us, than to become man and to become a worm like us, in order to save us from perdition? What astonishment would we not feel, if we saw a prince become a worm to save the worms of his kingdom! And what shall we say at the sight of a God made man like us, to deliver us from eternal death? The word was made flesh.¹⁶ A God made flesh! if faith did not assure us of it, who could ever believe it? Behold then, as St. Paul says, a God as it were annihilated. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant . . . and in habit found as a man.¹⁷ By these words the Apostle gives us to understand, that the Son of God, who was filled with the divine majesty and power, humbled himself so as to assume the lowly and impotent condition of human nature, taking the form or nature of a servant, and becoming like men in his external appearance, although, as St. John Chrysostom observes, he was not a mere man, but man and God. Hearing a deacon singing the words of St. John, and the Word was made flesh,¹⁸ St. Peter of Alcantara fell into ecstasy, and flew through the air to the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament.

But this God of love, the Incarnate Word, was not content with becoming flesh for the love of man; but, according to Isaias, he wished to live among us, as the last and lowest, and most afflicted of men. There is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him . . . despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows.¹⁹ He was a man of sorrows. Yes; for the life of Jesus Christ was full of sorrows. He was a man made on purpose to be tormented with sorrows. From his birth till his death, the life of our Redeemer was all full of sorrows.

And because he came on earth to gain our love, as he declared when he said--I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I but that it be kindled?²⁰ he wished at the close of his life to give us the strongest marks and proofs of the love which he bears to us. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.²¹ Hence he not only humbled himself to death for us, but he also chose to die the most painful and opprobrious of all deaths. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even unto the death of the cross.²² They who were crucified among the Jews were objects of malediction and reproach to all. He is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree.²³ Our Redeemer wished to die the shameful death of the cross, in the midst of a tempest of ignominies and sorrows. I am come into the depths of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed Me.²⁴

In this, says St. John, we have known the charity of God, because He hath laid down His life for us.²⁵ And how could God give us a greater proof of his love than by laying down his life for us? Or, how is it possible for us to behold a God dead on the cross for our sake, and not love him? For the charity of Christ presseth us.²⁶ By these words St. Paul tells us, that it is not so much what Jesus Christ has done and suffered for our salvation, as the love which he has shown in suffering and dying for us, that obliges and compels us to love him. He has, as the same Apostle adds, died for all, that each of us may live no longer for himself, but only for that God who has given his life for the love of us. Christ died for all, that they also who live, may not live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again.²⁷ And, to captivate our love, he has, after having given his life for us, left himself for the food of our souls. Take ye and eat: this is My body.²⁸ Had not faith taught that he left himself for our food, who could ever believe it? But of the prodigy of divine love manifested in the holy sacrament, I shall speak on the second Sunday after Pentecost. Let us pass to a brief consideration of the third point.

3. THE LOVE SHOWN TO US BY THE HOLY GHOST IN OUR SANCTIFICATION.

The Eternal Father was not content with giving us his Son Jesus Christ, that he might save us by his death; he has also given us the Holv Ghost, that he may dwell in our souls, and that he may keep them always inflamed with holy love. In spite of all the injuries which he received on earth from men, Jesus Christ, forgetful of their ingratitude, after having ascended into heaven, sent us the Holy Ghost, that, by his holy flames, this divine Spirit might kindle in our hearts the fire of divine charity, and sanctify our souls. Hence, when he descended on the apostles, he appeared in the form of tongues of fire. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire.²⁹ Hence the Church prescribes the following prayer: “We beseech Thee, O Lord, that the Spirit may inflame us with that fire which the Lord Jesus Christ sent on the earth, and vehemently wished to be enkindled.”³⁰ This is the holy fire which inflamed the saints with the desire of doing great, things for God, which enabled them to love their most cruel enemies, to seek after contempt, to renounce all the riches and honors of the world, and even to embrace with joy torments and death.

The Holy Ghost is that divine bond which unites the Father with the Son: it is he that unites our souls, through love, with God. For, as St. Augustine says, an union with God is the effect of love. “Charity is a virtue which unites us with God.”³¹ The chains of the world are chains of death, but the bonds of the Holy Ghost are bonds of eternal life, because they bind us to God, who is our true and only life.

Let us also remember that all the lights, inspirations, divine calls, all the good acts which we have performed during our life, all our acts of contrition, of confidence in the divine mercy, of love, of resignation, have been the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.³² Thus, it is the Holy Ghost that prays for us; for we know not what we ought to ask, but the Holy Spirit teaches us what we should pray for.

In a word, the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity have endeavored to show the love which God has borne us, that we may love him through gratitude. “When,” says St. Bernard, “God loves, he wishes only to be loved.”³³ It is, then, but just that we love that God who has been the first to love us, and to put us under so many obligations by so many proofs of tender love. Let us, therefore love God, because God first hath loved us.³⁴ Oh, what a treasure is charity! it is an infinite treasure, because it makes us partakers of the friendship of God. She is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God.³⁵ But, to acquire this treasure, it is necessary to detach the heart from earthly things. “Detach the heart from creatures,” says St. Teresa, “and you shall find God.” In a heart filled with earthly affections, there is no room for divine love. Let us therefore continually implore the Lord in our prayers, communions, and visits to the blessed sacrament, to give us his holy love; for this love will expel from our souls all affections for the things of this earth. “When,” says St. Francis de Sales, “a house is on fire, all that is within is thrown out through the windows.” By these words the saint meant, that when a soul is inflamed with divine love, she easily detaches herself from creatures: and Father Paul Segneri, the younger, used to say, that divine love is a thief that robs us of all earthly affections, and makes us exclaim: “What, O my Lord, but thee alone, do I desire?”

Love is strong as death.³⁶ As no creature can resist death when the hour of dissolution arrives, so there is no difficulty which love, in a soul that loves God, does not overcome. When there is question of pleasing her beloved, love conquers all things: it conquers pains, losses, ignominies.³⁷ This love made the martyrs, in the midst of torments, racks, and burning gridirons, rejoice, and thank God tor enabling them to suffer for him; it made the other saints, when there was no tyrant to torment them, become, as it were, their own executioners, by fasts, disciplines, and penitential austerities. St. Augustine says, that in doing what one loves there is no labor, and if there be, the labor itself is loved.³⁸

1“Deus, cujus natura bonitas.” -- De Nat. D. s. 2.

2“Bonum est sui diffusivum.”

3“Deus charitas est.” -- 1 John, iv. 8.

4“Docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.”

5“In charitate perpetua dilexi te: ideo attraxi te, miserans.” -- Jer. xxxi. 3.

6“In charitate perpetua dilexi te.”

7“Ab alio amatore præventa sum.”

8“Cœlum et terra et omnia mihi dicunt ut te amem.” -- Conf. l. 10, c. 6.

9“Sic enim Deus dilexit mundum, ut filium suum unigenitum daret.” -- John, iii. 16.

10“Propter nimiam charitatem suam, qua dilexit nos, et eum essemus mortui peccatis, convivificavit nos in Christo.” -- Ephes. ii. 4.

11“Homo, Deum contemnens, a Deo discessit: Deus, hominem diligens, ad homines venit.” -- S. de Dupl. Nat. Chr.

12“Quia ad Medicum venire non poteramus, ipse ad nos venire dignatus est.” -- Serm. SS. E. B.

13“Propterea Christus advenit, ut cognosceret homo quantum eum diligat Deus.” -- De catech. rud. c. 4.

14“Benignitas et humanitas apparuit Salvatoris nostri Dei.” -- Tit. iii. 4.

15“Priusquam appareret humanitas, latebat benignitas; sed unde tanta agnosci poterat? Venit in carne, ut, apparente humanitate, benignitas agnosceretur.” -- In Epiph. s. 1.

16“Verbum caro factum.” -- John, i, 14.

17“Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, in similitudinem hominum factus, et habitu inventus ut homo.” -- Phil. ii. 7.

18“Et verbum caro factum est.” -- John, i. 14.

19“Non est ei species, neque decor; et vidimus eum . . . despectum, et novissimum virorum, virum dolosum.” -- Is. liii. 2.

20“Ignem veni mittere in terram; et quid volo, nisi ut accendatur?” -- Luke, xii. 49.

21“Cum dilexisset suos qui erant in mundo, in finem dilexit eos.” -- John. xxxi. 1.

22“Humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem outem crucis.” -- Phil. ii. 8.

23“Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno.” -- Gal. iii. 13.

24“Veni in altitudinem maris, et tempestas demersit me.” -- Ps. lxviii. 3.

25“In hoc cognovimus charitatem Dei, quoniam ille animam suam pro nobis posuit.” -- 1 John, iii. 16.

26“Charitas enim Christi urget nos.” -- 2 Cor. v. 14.

27“Pro nobis omnibus mortuus est Christus, ut et qui vivunt, jam non sibi vivant, sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est.”

28“Accipite et comedite; hoc est corpus meum.” -- Matth. xxvi. 26.

29“Et apparuerunt illis dispertitæ linguæ tamquam ignis.” -- Acts, ii. 3.

30“Illo nos igne, quæsumus, Domine, Spiritus Sanctus inflammet, quem dominus Noster Jesus Christus misit in terram, et voluit vehementer accendi.” -- In Sabb. Pent.

31“Charitas est virtus conjuugens nos Deo.”

32“Similiter autem et Spiritus adjuvat infirmitatem nostram; nam, quid oremus, sicut oportet, nescimus; sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus.” -- Rom. viii. 26.

33“Cum amat Deus, non aliud vult, quam amari.” -- In Cant. s. 83.

34“Nos ergo diligamus Deum, quoniam Deus prior dilexit nos.” -- 1 John, iv. 19.

35“Infinitus enim thesaurus est hominibus, quo qui usi sunt, participes facti sunt amicitæ Dei.” -- Wisd. vii. 14.

36“Fortis est ut mors dilectio.” -- Cant. viii. 6.

37“Nihil tam durum, quod amoris igne non vincatur.” -- De Mor. Eccl. Cath. c. 22.

38“In eo quod amatur, aut non laboratur, aut et labor amatur.” -- De Bono vid. c. 21.

Read more...

Sermon 28 - Pentecost Sunday

Conformity to the Will of God.

“Sicut mandatum dedit mihi Pater, sic facio.”

“As the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I.” -- John, xiv. 31.

Jesus Christ was given to us, by God, as a saviour and as a master. Hence he came on earth principally to teach us, not only by his words, but also by his own example, how we are to love God--our supreme good: hence, as we read in this day’s Gospel, he said to his disciples: That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I.¹ To show the world the love I bear to the Father, I will execute all his commands. In another place he said: I came down from heaven not to do My own will, hut the will of Him that sent Me.² Devout souls, if you love God and desire to become saints, you must seek his will, and wish what he wishes. St. Paul tells us, that the divine love is poured into our souls by means of the Holy Ghost. The charity of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.³ If, then, we wish for the gift of divine love, we must constantly beseech the Holy Ghost to make us know and do the will of God. Let us continually implore his light to know, and his strength to fulfil, the divine will. Many wish to love God, but they, at the same time, wish to follow their own and not his will.

Hence I shall show to-day, in the first point, that our sanctification consists entirely in conformity to the will of God; and in the second, I shall show how, and in what, we should in practice conform ourselves to the divine will.

1. OUR SANCTIFICATION CONSISTS ENTIRELY IN CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.

It is certain that our salvation consists in loving God. A soul that does not love God is not living, but dead. He that loveth not, abideth in death.⁴ The perfection of love consists in conforming our will to the will of God. And life in His good will.⁵ Have charity, which is the bond of perfection.⁶ According to St. Denis the Areopagite, the principal effect of love is to unite the wills of lovers, so that they may have but one heart and one will. Hence all our works, Communions, prayers, penances, and alms, please God in proportion to their conformity to the divine will; and if they be contrary to the will of God, they are no longer acts of virtue, but defects deserving chastisement.

Whilst preaching one day, Jesus Christ was told that his mother and brethren were waiting for him; in answer he said: Whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.⁷ By these words he gave us to understand that he acknowledged as friends and relatives those only who fulfil the will of his Father.

The saints in heaven love God perfectly In what, I ask, does the perfection of their love consist? It consists in an entire conformity to the divine will. Hence Jesus Christ has taught us to pray for grace to do the will of God on earth, as the saints do it; in heaven. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.⁸ Hence St. Teresa says, that “they who practise prayer, should seek in all things to conform their will to the will of God.” In this, she adds, consists the highest perfection. He that practises it in the most perfect manner, shall receive from God the greatest gifts, and shall make the greatest progress in interior life.⁹ The accomplishment of the divine will has been the sole end of the saints in the practice of all virtues. Blessed Henry Suso used to say: “I would rather be the vilest man on earth with the will of God, than be a seraph with my own will.”

A perfect act of conformity is sufficient to make a person a saint. Behold, Jesus Christ appeared to St. Paul while he was persecuting the Church, and converted him. What did the saint do? He did nothing more than offer to God his will, that he might dispose of it as he pleased. Lord, he exclaimed, what wilt Thou have me to do?¹⁰ And instantly the Lord declared to Ananias, that Saul was a vessel of election, and apostle of the Gentiles. This man is a vessel of election to carry My name before the Gentiles.¹¹ He that gives his will to God, gives him all he has. He that mortifies himself by fasts and penitential austerities, or that gives alms to the poor for God’s sake, gives to God a part of himself and of his goods; but he that gives his will to God, gives all, and can say: Lord, having given Thee my will, I have nothing more to give Thee--I have given Thee all. It is our heart--that is, our will--that God asks of us. My son, give Me thy heart.¹² Since, then, says the holy Abbot Nilus,¹³ our will is so acceptable to God, we ought, in our prayers, to ask of him the grace, not that we may do what he will, but that we may do all that he wishes us to do. Every one knows this truth, that our sanctification consists in doing the will of God: but there is some difficulty in reducing it to practice. Let us, then, come to the second point, in which I have to say many things of great practical utility.

2. HOW, AND IN WHAT, WE OUGHT TO PRACTISE CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.

That we may feel a facility of doing on all occasions the divine will, we must beforehand offer ourselves continually to embrace in peace whatever God ordains or wills. Such was the practice of holy David. My heart, he used to say, is ready; O God! my heart is ready.¹⁴ And he continually besought the Lord to teach him to do his divine will. Teach me to do Thy will.¹⁵ He thus deserved to be called a man according to God s own heart. I have found David the son of Jesse, a man according to My own heart, who shall do all My wills.¹⁶ And why? Because the holy king was always ready to do whatever God wished him to do.

St. Teresa offered herself to God fifty times in the day, that he might dispose of her as he pleased, and declared her readiness to embrace either prosperity or adversity. The perfection, of our oblation consists in our offering ourselves to God without reserve. All are prepared to unite themselves to the divine will in prosperity; but perfection consists in conforming to it, even in adversity. To thank God in all things that are agreeable to us, is acceptable to him; but to accept with cheerfulness what is repugnant to our inclinations, is still more pleasing to him. Father M. Avila used to say, that “a single blessed be God, in adversity, is better than six thousand thanksgivings in prosperity.”

We should conform to the divine will, not only in misfortunes which come directly from God--such as sickness, loss of property, privation of friends and relatives--but also in crosses which come to us from men, but indirectly from God--such as acts of injustice, defamations, calumnies, injuries, and all other sorts of persecutions. But, you may ask, does God will that others commit sin, by injuring us in our property or in our reputation? No; God wills not their sin; but he wishes us to bear with such a loss and with such a humiliation; and he wishes us to conform, on all such occasions, to his divine will.

Good things and evil . . . are from God.¹⁷ All blessings--such as riches and honours--and all misfortunes--such as sickness and persecutions--come from God. But mark that the Scripture calls them evils, only because we, through the want of conformity to the will of God, regard them as evils and misfortunes. But, in reality, if we accepted them from the hands of God with Christian resignation, they should be blessings and not evils. The jewels which give the greatest splendour to the crown of the saints in heaven are the tribulations which they bore with patience, as coming from the hands of the Lord. On hearing that the Sabeans had taken away all his oxen and asses, holy Job said: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.¹⁸ He did not say that the Lord gave, and that the Sabeans had taken away; but that the Lord gave, and that the Lord had taken away: and therefore he blessed the Lord, believing that all had happened through the divine will. As it has pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord.¹⁹ Being tormented with iron hooks and burning torches, the holy martyrs Epictetus and Atone said: “Lord, Thy will be done in us.” And their last words were: “Be blessed, O eternal God, for having given us the grace to accomplish Thy will.”

Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad.²⁰ A soul that loves God is not disturbed by any misfortune that may happen to her. Cesarius relates²¹ that a certain monk who did not perform greater austerities than his companions, wrought many miracles. Being astonished at this, the abbot asked him one day what were the works of piety which he practised. He answered, that he was more imperfect than the other monks; but that his sole concern was to conform himself to the divine will. Were you displeased, said the abbot, with the person who injured us so grievously a few days ago? No, Father, replied the monk: I, on the contrary, thanked God for it; because I know that he does or permits all things for our good. From this answer the abbot perceived the sanctity of the good religious. We should act in a similar manner under all the crosses that come upon us. Let us always say: Yea, Father: for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight.²² Lord, this is pleasing to Thee, let it be done.

He that acts in this manner enjoys that peace which the angels announced at the birth of Jesus Christ to men of good will--that is, to those whose wills are united to the will of God. These, as the Apostle says, enjoy that peace which exceeds all sensual delights. The peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding.²³ A great and solid peace, which is not liable to change. A holy man continueth in wisdom like the sun; but a fool is changing like the moon.²⁴ Fools--that is, sinners--are changed like the moon, which increases to-day, and grows less on to-morrow; to-day they are seen to laugh through folly, and to-morrow, to weep. through despair; to-day they are humble and meek, to-morrow, proud and furious. In a word, sinners change with prosperity and adversity; but the just are like the sun, always the same, always serene in whatever happens to them. In the inferior part of the soul they cannot but feel some pain at the misfortunes which befall them; but, as long as the will remains united to the will of God, nothing can deprive them of that spiritual joy which is not subject to the vicissitudes of this life. Your joy no man shall take from you.²⁵

He that reposes in the divine will, is like a man placed above the clouds: he sees the lightning, and hears the claps of thunder, and the raging of the tempest below, but he is not injured or disturbed by them. And how can he be ever disturbed, when whatever he desires always happens? He that desires only what pleases God, always obtains whatsoever he wishes, because all that happens to him, happens through the will of God. Salvian says, that Christians who are resigned, if they be in a low condition of life, wish to be in that state; if they be poor, they desire poverty; because they wish whatever God wills, and therefore they are always content.²⁶ If cold, or heat, or rain, or wind come on, he that is united to the will of God says: I wish for this cold, this heat, this rain, and this wind, because God wills them. If loss of property, persecution, sickness, or even death come upon him, he says: I wish for this loss, this persecution, this sickness; I even wish for death, when it comes, because God wills it. And how can a person who seeks to please God enjoy greater happiness than that which arises from cheerfully embracing the cross which God sends him, and from the conviction that, in embracing it, he pleases God in the highest degree? So great was the joy which St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to feel at the bare mention of the will of God, that she would fall into an ecstasy.

But how great is the folly of those who resist the divine will, and, instead of receiving tribulations with patience, get into a rage, and accuse God of treating them with injustice and cruelty! Perhaps they expect that, in consequence of their opposition, what God wills shall not happen. Who resisteth His will.²⁷ Miserable men! instead of lightening the cross which God sends them, they make it more heavy and painful. Who hath resisted Him, and hath peace?²⁸

Let us be resigned to the divine will, and we shall thus render our crosses light, and shall gain great treasures of merits for eternal life. In sending us tribulations, God intends to make us saints. This is the will of God, your sanctification.²⁹ He sends us crosses, not because he wishes evil to us, but because he desires our welfare, and because he knows that they are conducive to our salvation. All things work together unto good.³⁰ Even the chastisements which come from the Lord are not for our destruction, but for our good and for the correction of our faults. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord . . . have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction.³¹ God loves us so tenderly that he not only desires, but is solicitous about our welfare. The Lord, says David, is careful for me.³²

Let us, then, always throw ourselves into the hands of God who so ardently desires and so anxiously watches over our eternal salvation. Casting all your care upon Him; for He hath care of you.³³ He who, during life, casts himself into the hands of God, shall lead a happy life and shall die a holy death. He who dies resigned to the divine will, dies a saint; but they who shall not have been united to the divine will during life, shall not conform to it at death, and shall not be saved. The accomplishment of the divine will should be the sole object of all our thoughts during the remainder of our days. To this end we should direct all our devotions, our meditations, communions, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and all our prayers. We should constantly beg of God to teach and help us to do his will. Teach me to do Thy will.³⁴ Let us, at the same time, offer ourselves to accept without reserve whatever he ordains, saying, with the Apostle: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?³⁵ Lord, tell me what thou dost wish me to do; I desire to do thy will. And in all things, whether they be pleasing or painful, let us always have in our mouths that petition of the Our Father--“Thy will be done.” Let us frequently repeat it in the day with all the affection of our hearts. Happy we if we live and die saying: Thy will be done! Thy will be done!³⁶

1“Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem, et sicut mandatum dedit mihi Pater, sic facio.”

2“Descendi de cœlo, non ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed voluntatem ejus qui misit me.” -- John, vi. 38.

3“Charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris, per Spiritum Sanctum, qui datus est nobis.” -- Rom. v. 5.

4“Qui non diligit, manet in morte.” -- 1 John, iii. 14.

5“Et vita in voluntate ejus.” -- Ps. xxix. 6.

6“Charitatem habete, quod est vinculum perfectionis.” -- Col. iii. 14.

7“Quicumque enim fecerit voluntatem Patris mei qui in cœlis est, ipse meus frater et soror et mater est.” -- Matth. xii. 50.

8“Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in cœlo, et in terra.” -- Matth. vi. 16.

9Interior Castle, d. 2. ch. 1.

10“Domine, quid me vis facere?” -- Acts, ix. 6.

11“Vas electionis est mihi iste, ut portet nomen meum coram gentibus.” -- Acts, ix. 15.

12“Præbe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi.” -- Prov. xxiii. 26.

13De Orat. c. 29.

14“Paratum cor meum, Deus, paratum cor meum.” -- Ps. lxvi. 8; cvii. 2.

15“Doce me facere voluntatem tuam.” -- Ps. cxlii. 10.

16“Inveni David, filium Jesse, virum secundum cor meum. Qui facit omnes voluntates meas.” -- Acts, xiii. 22.

17“Bona et mala . . . a Deo sunt.” -- Ecclus. xi. 11.

18“Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit.”

19“Sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est; sit nomen Domini benedictum.” -- Job, i. 21.

20“Non contristabit justum, quidquid ei acciderit.” -- Prov. xii. 21.

21Dial. l. 10, c. 6.

22“Ita, Pater! quoniam sic fuit placitum ante te.” -- Matth. xi. 26.

23“Pax Dei, quæ exsuperat omnem sensum.” -- Phil. iv. 7.

24“Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol; nam stultus sicut luna mutatur.” -- Ecclus. xxvii. 12.

25“Gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis.” -- John, xvi. 22.

26“Humiles sunt, hoc volunt; pauperes sunt pauperie delectantur; itaque beati dicendi sunt.” -- De Gub. D. l. 1, n. 2.

27“Voluntate enim ejus quis resistit?” -- Rom. ix. 19.

28“Quis resistit ei, et pacem habuit?” -- Job, ix. 4.

29“Hæc est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra.” -- 1 Thess. iv. 3.

30“Omnia coöperantur in bonum.” -- Rom. viii. 28.

31“Ad emendationem, non ad perditionem nostram, evenisse credamus.” -- Judith, viii. 27.

32“Dominus sollicitus est mei.” -- Ps. xxxix. 18.

33“Omnem sollicitudinem vestram projicientes in eum, quoniam ipsi cura est de vobis.” -- 1 Pet. v. 7.

34“Doce me facere voluntatem tuam.” -- Ps. cxlii. 10.

35“Domine, quid me vis facere?” -- Acts, ix. 6.

36“Fiat, fiat voluntas tua!”

Read more...

Sermon 27 - Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension

Human Respect.

“Venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos, arbitretur obsequium se præstare Deo.”

“Yea the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God.” -- John, xvi. 2.

In exhorting his disciples to be faithful to him under the persecution which they were to endure, the Saviour said: Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God. Thus, the enemies of the faith believed that in putting Christians to death they did a service to God. It is thus that many Christians of the present clay act. They kill their own souls by losing the grace of God through human respect and to please worldly friends. Oh, how many souls has human respect--that great enemy of our salvation--sent to hell! I shall speak on this subject to-day, that, if you wish to serve God and save your souls, you may guard as much as possible against human respect. In the first point, I will show the importance of not being influenced by human respect; and in the second, I will point out the means by which this vice may be overcome.

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT BEING INFLUENCED BY HUMAN RESPECT.

Woe to the world because of scandals.¹ Jesus Christ has said, that through the scandals of the wicked, many souls fall into hell. But how is it possible to live in the midst of the world, and not to take scandal? This is impossible. To avoid taking scandal, St. Paul says, we should leave this world. Otherwise you must needs go out of this world.² But it is in our power to avoid familiarity with scandalous sinners. Hence the Apostle adds: But now I have written to you not to keep company . . . with such an one, not as much as to eat.³ We should be aware of contracting intimacy with such sinners; for, should we be united with them in the bonds of friendship, we shall feel an unwillingness to oppose their bad practices and bad counsels. Thus, through human respect and the fear of contradicting them, we will imitate their example , and lose the friendship of God.

Such lovers of the world not only glory in their own iniquities (They rejoice in most wicked things);⁴ but what is worse, they wish to have companions, and ridicule all who endeavour to live like true Christians and to avoid the dangers of offending God. This is a sin which is very displeasing to God, and which he forbids in a particular manner. Despise not a man that turneth away from sin, nor reproach him therewith.⁵ Despise not those who keep at a distance from sin, and seek not to draw them to evil by your reproaches and irregularities. The Lord declares, that, for those who throw ridicule on the virtuous, chastisements are prepared in this and in the next life. Judgements are prepared for scorners, and striking hammers for the bodies of fools.⁶ They mock the servants of God, and he shall mock them for all eternity. But the Lord shall laugh them to scorn. And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead forever.⁷ They endeavour to make the saints contemptible in the eyes of the world, and God shall make them die without honour, and shall send them to hell to suffer eternal ignominy among the damned.

Not only to offend God. but also to endeavour to make others offend him, is truly an enormous excess of wickedness. This execrable intention arises from a conviction that there are many weak and pusillanimous souls, who, to escape derision and contempt, abandon the practice of virtue, and give themselves up to a life of sin. After his conversion to God, St. Augustine wept for having associated with those ministers of Lucifer, and confessed that he felt ashamed not to be as wicked and as shame less as they were, says the saint.⁸ How many, to avoid the scoffs of wicked friends, have been induced to imitate their wickedness. “Behold the saint,” these impious scoffers will say; “get me a piece of his garment; I will preserve it as a relic. Why does he not become a monk?” How many also when they receive an insult resolve to take revenge, not so much through passion, as to escape the reputation of being cowards! How many are there who, after having inadvertently given expression to a scandalous maxim, neglect to retract it (as they are bound to do), through fear of losing the esteem of others! How many, because they are afraid of forfeiting the favour of a friend, sell their souls to the devil! They imitate the conduct of Pilate, who, through the apprehension of losing the friendship of Caesar, condemned Jesus Christ to death.

Be attentive. Brethren, if we wish to save our souls, we must overcome; human respect, and bear the little confusion which may arise from the scoffs of the enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and grace.⁹ If we do not suffer this confusion with patience, it will lead us into the pit of sin; but if we submit to it for God’s sake, it will obtain for us the divine grace here, and great glory hereafter. “As,” says St. Gregory, “bashfulness is laudable in evil, so it is reprehensible in good.”¹⁰

But some of you will say: I attend to my own affairs; I wish to save my soul; why then should I be persecuted? But there is no remedy; it is impossible to serve God, and not be persecuted. The wicked loathe them that are in the right way.¹¹ Sinners cannot bear the sight of the man who lives according to the Gospel, because his life is a continual censure on their disorderly conduct; and therefore they say: Let us lie in wait for the just; because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law.¹² The proud man, who seeks revenge for every insult which he receives, would wish that all should avenge the offences that may be offered to him. The avaricious, who grow rich by injustice, wish that all should imitate their fraudulent practices. The drunkard wishes to see others indulge like himself in intoxication. The immoral, who boast of their impurities, and can scarcely utter a word which does not savour of obscenity, desire that all should act and speak as they do; and those who do not imitate their conduct, they regard as mean, clownish, and intractable as men without honour and education. They are of the world, therefore of the world they speak.¹³ Worldlings can speak no other language than that of the world. Oh, how great is their poverty and blindness! She has blinded them, and therefore they speak so profanely. These things they thought, and were deceived; for their own malice blinded them.¹⁴

But I say again that there is no remedy. All, as St. Paul says, who wish to live in union with Jesus Christ must be persecuted by the world. And all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.¹⁵ All the saints have been persecuted. You say: I do not injure any one; why then am I not left in peace? What evil have the saints, and particularly the martyrs, done? They were full of charity; they loved all, and laboured to do good to all; and how have they been treated by the world? They have been flayed alive; they have been tortured with red-hot plates of iron; and have been put to death in the most cruel manner. And whom has Jesus Christ--the Saint of saints--injured? lie consoled all; he healed all. Virtue went out from Him, and healed all.¹⁶ And how has the world treated him? It has persecuted him, so as to make him die through pain on the infamous gibbet of the cross.

This happens because the maxims of the world are diametrically opposed to the maxims of Jesus Christ. What the world esteems, Jesus Christ regards as folly. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.¹⁷ And what is foolish in the eyes of the world--that is, crosses, sickness, contempt, and ignominies--Jesus Christ holds in great estimation. For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness.¹⁸ How, says St. Cyprian, can a man think himself to be a Christian, when he is afraid to be a Christian?¹⁹ If we are Christians, let us show that we are Christians in name and in truth; for, if we are ashamed of Jesus Christ, he will be ashamed of us, and cannot give us a place on his right hand on the last day. For he that shall be ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of man shall he ashamed when He shall come in His majesty.²⁰ On the day of judgment he shall say: You have been ashamed of me on earth: I am now ashamed to see you with me in paradise. Begone, accursed souls; go into hell to meet your companions who have been ashamed of me. But mark the words: he that shall be ashamed of Me and of My words.²¹ St. Augustine says that some are ashamed to deny Jesus Christ, but do not blush to deny the maxims of Jesus Christ.²² But you may tell me that, if you say you cannot do such an act, because it is contrary to the Gospel, your friends will turn you into ridicule, and will call you a hypocrite. Then, says St. John Chrysostom, you will not suffer to be treated with derision by a companion and you are content to be hated by God!²³

The Apostle, who gloried in being a follower of Christ, said: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.²⁴ As I am a person crucified to the world--an object of its scoffs and injustice, so the world is to me an object of contempt and abomination. It is necessary to be convinced that if we do not trample on the world, the world will trample on our souls. But what is the world and all its goods? All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.²⁵ To what are all the goods of this earth reduced? To riches, which are but dung; to honours, which are only smoke; and to carnal pleasures. But what shall all these profit us if we lose our souls? What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole, world, and suffer the loss of his soul?²⁶

He that loves God and wishes to save his soul must despise the world and all human respect; and to do this every one must offer violence to himself. St. Mary Magdalene had to do great violence to herself in order to overcome human respect and the murmurings and scoffs of the world, when, in the presence of so many persons, she cast herself at the feet of Jesus Christ to wash them with her tears and dry them with her hair. But she thus became a saint, and merited from Jesus Christ pardon of her sins, and praise for her great love. Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much.²⁷ One day, as St. Francis Borgia carried to certain prisoners a vessel of broth under his cloak, he met his son mounted on a fine horse, and accompanied by certain noblemen. The saint felt ashamed to show what he carried under his cloak. But what did he do in order to conquer human respect? He took the vessel of broth, placed it on his head, and thus showed his contempt for the world. Jesus Christ, our head and master, when nailed to the cross, was mocked by the soldiers. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.²⁸ He was mocked by the priests, saying: He saved others; Himself He cannot save.²⁹ But he remained firm on the cross; he cheerfully died upon it, and thus conquered the world.

“I give thanks to God,” says St. Jerome, “that I am worthy to be hated by the world.”³⁰ The saint returns thanks to God for having made him worthy of the hatred of the world. Jesus Christ pronounced his disciples blessed when they should be hated by men. Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you.³¹ Christians, let us rejoice; for, if worldlings curse and upbraid us, God at the same time praises and blesses us. They will curse, and Thou wilt bless.³² Is it not enough for us to be praised by God, to be praised by the queen of heaven, by all the angels, by all the saints, and by all just men? Let worldlings say what they wish; but let us continue to please God, who will give us, in the next life, a reward proportioned to the violence we shall have done to ourselves in despising the contradictions of men. Each of you should figure to himself that there is no one in the world but himself and God. When the wicked treat us with contempt, let us recommend to God these blind and miserable men who run in the road to perdition; and let us thank the Lord for giving to us the light which he refuses to them. Let us continue in our own way: to obtain all, it is necessary to conquer all.

2. THE MEANS OF OVERCOMING HUMAN RESPECT.

To overcome human respect, it is necessary to fix in our hearts the holy resolution of preferring the grace of God to all the goods and favours of this world, and to say with St. Paul: Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, . . . nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.³³ Jesus Christ exhorts us not to be afraid of those who can take away the life of the body; but to fear him only who can condemn the soul and body to hell. And fear you not them that kill the body; but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body into hell.³⁴ We wish either to follow God or the world: if we wish to follow God we must give up the world. How long do you halt between two sides? said Elias to the people. If the Lord be God, follow Him.³⁵ You cannot serve God and the world. He that seeks to please men cannot please God. If, says the Apostle, I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.³⁶

The true servants of God rejoice to see themselves despised and maltreated for the sake of Jesus Christ. The holy apostles went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.³⁷ Moses could have prevented the anger of Pharaoh by not contradicting the current report that he was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But he denied that he: was her son, preferring, as St. Paul says, the opprobrium of Christ to all the riches of the world. Choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God; . . . esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians.³⁸

Wicked friends come to you and say: What extravagances are those in which you indulge? Why do you not act like others? Say to them in answer: My conduct is not opposed to that of all men; there are others who lead a holy life. They are indeed few; but I will follow their example: for the Gospel says: Many are called, but few are chosen.³⁹ “ If,” says St. John Climacus, “you wish to be saved with the few, live like the few.”⁴⁰ But, they will add, do you not see that all murmur against you, and condemn your manner of living? Let your answer be: It is enough for me that God does not censure my conduct. Is it not better to obey God than to obey men? Such was the answer of St. Peter and St. John to the Jewish priests: If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye.⁴¹ If they ask you how can you bear an insult? or how, after submitting to it, can you appear among your equals? answer them by saying that you are a Christian, and that it is enough for you to appear well in the eyes of God. Such should be your answer to all those satellites of Satan: you must despise all their maxims and reproaches. And when it is necessary to reprove those who make little of God’s law, you must take courage and correct them publicly.

Them that sin, reprove before all.⁴² And when there is question of the divine honour, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done. Let us imitate the Baptist, who reproved King Herod for living with his brother’s wife, and said to him: It is not lawful for thee to have her.⁴³ Men indeed shall regard us as fools, and turn us into derision: but on the day of judgment they shall acknowledge that they have been foolish, and we shall have the glory of being numbered among the saints. They shall say: These are they whom we had sometime in derision. . . . We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.⁴⁴

1“Væ mundo a scandalis.” Matth. xviii. 7.

2“Alioquin debueratis de hoc mundo exiisse.” -- 1 Cor. v. 10.

3“Nunc autem scripsi vobis non commisceri . . . cum ejusmodi, nec cibum sumere.”

4“Exsultant in rebus pessimis.” -- Prov. ii. 14.

5“Ne despicias hominem avertentem se a peccato, neque impro peres ei.” -- Ecclus. viii. 6.

6“Parata sunt derisoribus judicia, et mallei percutientes stultorum corporibus.” -- Prov. xix. 29.

7“Illos autem Dominus irridebit; et erunt post hæc decidentes sine honore, et in contumelia inter mortuos in perpetuum.” -- Wisd. iv. 18.

8Pudebat me non esse impudentem.” -- Conf. l. 2. c. 9.

9“Est enim confusio adducens peccatum, et est confusio adducens gloriam et gratiam.” -- Ecclus. iv. 25.

10“Sicut verecundia laudabilis est in malo, ita reprehenibilis est in bono.” -- In Ezech. hom. 10.

11“Abominantur impii eos qui in recta sunt via.” -- Prov. xxxix. 27.

12“Circumveniamus ergo justum, quoniam inutilis est nobis, et contrarius est operibus nostris, et improperat nobis peccata legis.” -- Wisd. ii. 12.

13“Ipsi de mundo sunt: ideo de mundo loquuntur.” -- 1 Jo. iv. 5.

14“Hæc cogitaverunt, et erraverunt: excæcavit enim illos malitia eorum.” -- Wisd. ii. 21.

15“Omnes qui pie volunt vivere in Christo Jesu, percutionem patientur.” -- 2 Tim. iii. 12.

16“Virtus de illo exibat, et sanabat omnes.” -- Luke, vi. 19.

17“Sapientia enim hujus mundi, stultitia est apud Deum.” -- 1 Cor. iii. 19.

18“Verbum enim crucis pereuntibus quidem stultitia est.” -- 1 Cor. i. 18.

19“Christianum se putat, qui christianus esse veretur?” -- De Lapsis.

20“Qui me erubuerit, et meos sermones, hunc Filius hominis erubescet, cum venerit in majestate sua.” -- Luke, ix. 26.

21“Qui me erubuerit: et sermones meos.”

22“Erubescunt negare Christum, et non erubescunt negare verba Christi.”

23“Non vis a conservo derideri, sed odio haberi a Deo tuo?” -- In Act. Apost. hom. 41.

24“Mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo.” -- Gal. vi. 14.

25“Omne quod est in mundo, concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum, et superbia vitæ.” -- 1 Jo. ii. 16.

26“Quid enim prodest homini, si mundum universum lucretur, animæ vero suæ detrimentum patiatur?” -- Matth. xvi. 26.

27“Remittuntur ei peccata multa, quoniam dilexit multum.” -- Luke, vii. 47.

28“Si FIlius Dei es, descende de cruce.”

29“Alios salvos fecit, seipsum non potest salvum facere.” -- Matth. xxvii. 40-42.

30“Gratias ago Deo meo, quod dignus sim, quem mundus oderit.” -- Ep. ad Asellam.

31“Beati eritis, cum vos oderint homines.” -- Luke, vi. 22.

32“Maledicent illi, et tu benedices.” -- Ps. cviii. 28.

33“Neque mors, neque vita, neque angeli, neque principatus, . . . neque creatura alia poterit nos separare a charitate Dei.” -- Rom. viii. 38.

34“Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus, . . . sed potius timete eum qui potest et animam et corpus perdere in gehennam.” -- Matth. x. 28.

35“Usquequo clandicatis in duas partes? Si Dominus est Deus, sequimini eum; si autem Baal, sequimini illum.” -- 3 Kings, xviii. 21.

36“Si adhuc hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem.” -- Gal. i. 16.

37“Ibant gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati.” -- Acts, v. 41.

38“Magis eligens affligi cum populo Dei, . . . majores divitias æstimans, thesauro Ægyptiorum, improperium Christi.” -- Heb. xi. 25.

39“Multi enim sunt vocati, pauci vero electi.” -- Matth. xx. 16.

40“Vive ut pauci, ut cum paucis inveniri merearis in regno Dei.” -- De Inst. l. 4. c. 38.

41“Si justum est in conspectu Dei, vos potius audire, quam Deum, judicate.” -- Acts, iv. 19.

42“Peccantes, coram omnibus argue.” -- 1 Tim. v. 20.

43“non licet tibi habere eam.” -- Matth. xiv. 4.

44“Hi sunt quos habuimus aliquando in derisum. . . . Nos insensati vitam illorum æstimabamus insaniam, et finem illorum sine honore; ecce quomodo computati sunt inter filios Dei, et inter Sanctos sors illorum est.” -- Wisd. v. 3.

Read more...