Below are some books for Lenten reading if you wish to read them.
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| LENT AND HOLY WEEK IN ROME |
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THE GOODNESS OF GOD
He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? — Romans viii. 32. 1. Since the Apostle makes mention of many sons when he says (ibid. v. 15), You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, he now separates this Son from all these by saying his own Son, that is to say, not an adoptive son, but a son of his own nature, co-eternal with him, that son of whom the Father says, in St. Matthew (iii. 17), This is my beloved Son. The words he spared not mean only that God did not exempt Him from the penalty, for there was not in Him any fault to be matter for sparing. God the Father did not withhold from his Son an exemption from the penalty as a way of adding anything to himself. God is perfect. But he so acted, subjecting his Son to the Passion, because this was useful for us. This is why St. Paul adds, but delivered him up for us ally meaning that God exposed Christ to the Passion for the expiation of all our sins. He was delivered for our sins, says Isaias, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all (liii. 5,6). God the Father delivered him over to death, decreeing him to take flesh and to suffer, inspiring his human will with a burning love by which, eagerly, he would undergo his Passion. He delivered himself for us, St. Paul says of Our Lord (Eph. v. 2). Judas, too, and the Jews delivered him, but by an activity external to His. There is something else to notice in the words, He that spared not his own Son. It is as though it said : Not only has God given other saints over to suffering for the benefit of mankind, but even his own, proper Son. 2. God's own Son, then, being made over for us, all things have been given us, for St. Paul adds, How hath he not also with him, that is, in giving Him to us, given us all things. In other words, all things thereby are turned to our profit. We are given the highest things of all, namely the Divine Persons, for our ultimate joy. We are given reasoning minds in order to live together with them now. We are given the lower things of creation for our use, not only the things which appeal to us but the things which are hostile. All things are yours, says St. Paul to us, and you are Christ's and Christ is God's (i Cor. iii.22, 23) Whence we may see how evidently true are the words of the Psalm (Ps. xxxiii. 10). There is no want to them that fear him. (In Rom. viii) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 THE SEED
The Sower went out to sow his seed. — Luke viii. 4. 1. The keenness of the sower. It is Christ who goes forth, and in three ways. He goes from the bosom of the Father, and yet without a change of place; from Jewry to the Gentiles ; from the private depths of wisdom to the public life of teaching. It is Christ who sows. Now the seed is the source of fruit. Whence every good action is clue to God. What is it that He sows ? His own seed, says the gospel. That seed is the Word of God. And what does it produce ? It produces others, like unto Him from whom itself proceeds, for it makes them sons of God. 2. The obstacle in the way of the seed. The obstacle is threefold, because for the growth of the seed three conditions are necessary, namely it must be remembered, it must take root in love, it must have loving care. The growth is therefore hindered if in place of the first condition there is flightiness of mind, instead of the second there is hardness of heart, and if, in place of the loving care, there is a development of vices. (i) Some fell by the wayside. As the way is free for all who care to walk, so does the heart lie open to every chance thought. So it is that when the word of God falls upon a heart that is careless and vain, it falls by the wayside and is doubly imperilled. St. Matthew speaks of one danger only, that the birds of the air came and ate it up. St. Luke speaks of two, for the seed is trampled into the ground as well as carried off by the birds. So when the careless receive the word of God it is crushed by their worthless thoughts or their evil company. Whence great joy for the devil if only he can steal away this seed and trample upon it. (ii) Hardness of heart. This is contrary to charity, for it is in the nature of love to melt things. Hardness means "locked up in itself" or "narrowed within its own limits," and love, since it causes the lover to be moved to what he loves, is a thing that liberates, widens, pours itself out. St. Matthew says therefore, some fell upon stony ground, and Ezechiel, I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I IP ill give you a heart of flesh (Ezech. xxxvi. 26). For there are some men whose hearts are so deprived of love of any kind that they are scarcely flesh and blood at all. There are others who have indeed a natural affection but it is slight and has no deepness. To have deepness is to have a power of loving deeply. The man may be said to love deeply who loves all things and whatever he loves for the love of God, and who puts the love of God before all else. There is another type of man that does indeed delight in God, but delights more in things. Men of this sort do not pour themselves out, nor have they much deepness of earth. The gospel continues, And they spring up immediately for they who think deeply, think long, but they whose thought is shallow plunge into action at once, and inevitably pass away quickly. So these men hear quickly, but take no root in what they hear, for they have no deepness of earth, that is in the earth of loving charity. (iii) Destruction of the fruit. The fruit is lost because when there ariseth tribulation each man snatches for what he most loves, and the man who loves wealth looks only to his riches. And when the sun was up they were scorched, that is, because they lacked strength. And because they had not root, they withered away, for God was not their root. Others fell among thorns, anxieties, quarrels and such like things. And the thorns grew up and choked them. (In Matt, xiii.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 ON REFORMING OURSELVES
Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. -- Romans xii. 2. 1. What is forbidden is the forming of oneself after the pattern of the world. Be not conformed to this world, that is, to the things which pass away with time. For this present world is a kind of measure of those things which pass away with time. A man forms himself after the pattern of things transitory when, willingly and lovingly, he gives himself to serve them. Those also form themselves after that pattern who imitate the lives of the worldly, This then I say and testify in the Lord : That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind (Eph.iv. 17). 2. We are bidden to undertake a reformation of the interior man when it is said, But be reformed in the newness of your mind. By mind is here meant the reason, considered as the faculty by which man makes judgments about what he ought to do. In man, as God first created him, this faculty existed in all the completeness and vigour it could need. Holy Scripture tells us of our first parents that God filled their hearts with wisdom and shewed them both good and evil (Ecclus. xvii. 6). But through sin this faculty declined in power and, as it were, grew old, losing its beauty and its brilliance. The Apostle warns us to form ourselves again, that is, to recover that completeness and distinction of mind that once was ours. This can indeed be regained by the grace of the Holy Ghost, and we should therefore use every endeavour to share in that grace — those who lack that grace that they may obtain it, and those who already have gained it faithfully to progress and persevere. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, says St. Paul (Eph. iv. 23). Or again, in another sense, be renewed in your external actions, that is to say, in the newness of your mind i.e., according to the new thing, grace, which you have internally received. 3. The reason for this warning is that you may prove what is the will of God. We know what befalls a man whose sense of taste suffers in an illness, how he ceases to have a true judgment of flavours and begins to loathe pleasantly-tasting things and to crave for what is loathsome. So it is with the man whose inclinations are corrupted from his conforming himself to the things of this world. He has no longer a true judgment where what is good for him is concerned. It is only the man whose inclinations are healthy and well directed, whose mind is made new again by grace, who can truly judge what is good and what is not. Therefore on this account is it written, Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of our mind that you may prove, that is, that you may know by experience. As again it says in the psalm, "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. xxxiii. 9) What is the will of God: that is, to say the will by which he wills is to be saved. This is the will of God, our sanctification (i Thess. iv. 3) The will of God is good, because God wills that we should will to do what is good, and He leads us to this through His commandments. I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what and what the Lord requireth of thee. (Micheas vi. 8) The will of God is agreeable in as much as to him who is rightly ordered it is a pleasure to do what God wills us to do. Nor is the will of God merely useful as a means to achiever our destiny, it is a link joining us with our destiny and in that respect it is perfect. Such then is the will of God as those experience it who are not formed after the pattern of this world, but are formed over again in the newness of their minds. As to those who remain in the old staleness, fashioned after the world, they judge the will of God not to be a good but a burden and useless. (In Rom. xii.) Meditations for Lent - Saint Thomas Aquinas, Imprimatur 1937 THE NEED FOR CAUTION
Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. — i Cor. x. 12. 1. The case of the Jews who, in punishment, were overthrown in the desert (ibid. v. 5 ) is a warning for us. These words of the Scripture contain four things which should attract the wise man's attention, namely the multitude of those who fell, for it says Wherefore; then the uncertainty of those who still stand, for it adds he that thinketh himself to stand, thirdly, the need for caution, for it adds let him take heed and finally the ease with which disaster comes, for it says lest he fall. St. Paul says wherefore as if to say these men, for all that they have had the advantage of God's gifts, nevertheless, because of their sins, perished, wherefore, bearing this in mind, he that thinketh himself, by whatever kind of subtle reasoning, to stand, that is, to be in a state of grace and charity, let him take heed, diligently attending to it, lest he fall, whether by sinning himself or by inducing others to sin. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer says Isaias (xiv. 12), and the Psalmist, A thousand shall fall at thy side (Ps. xc. 7), and St. Paul himself, in another place, says therefore, See how you walk, circumspectly (Eph. v. 15). 2. We must note that the things which drive us to a fall are numerous. (i) Weakness, lack of strength ; as children, the aged and the sick fall in the natural life. As Isaias says, They shall fall through infirmity (Isa. xl. 30). This happens to us through lukewarmness in well doing and through too frequent changing. (ii) We fall under the weight of our sins, as asses fall under a load that is too heavy. The workers of iniquity have fallen (Ps. xxxv. 13). And this happens through our neglect to repent. (iii) Through a multitude of things drawing us, as a tree or a house falls over on the crowd that tugs at it. We fall in this way by the onrush of enemies. (iv) The slipperiness of the road, and so we fall as travellers fall into the mud. Take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue and fall (Ecclus. xxviii. 30). We fall thus through carelessness in guarding our senses. (v) A variety of traps and we fall like the bird taken in the nets. A just man shall fall seven times Prov. xxiv. 1 6). And this happens through the corruption of created things. (vi) Ignorance of what one ought to do, and we fall easily as do the blind. If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit (Matt. xv. 14). This comes about through our not learning things necessary to us. (vii) The example of others who fall, as the angels fell by the example of Lucifer. A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled by the foot, a spring that has suffered defilement (Prov. xxv. 26). And this happens when we imitate the wicked. (viii) The heaviness of the flesh: for the body when corrupted weighs down the soul, as does a stone that hangs at the neck of a swimmer. A mountain in falling cometh to naught (Job xiv. 18). And this is what comes of pampering the body. (In i Cor. x.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 A lovely little book on the traditions of Faith as it used to be ........ days that we as faithful Catholics dearly long for! 
GOOD WORKS
If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stoves, wood, hay, stubble, every man 's work shall be manifest. — i Cor. iii. 12, 13. 1. The works that man relies on in matters spiritual and divine are compared to gold, silver and precious stones, things substantial, brilliant and precious, yet they are compared in such a way that gold symbolizes those things by which man tends to God Himself by contemplation and love. " I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried " (Apoc. iii. 1 8), that is, wisdom with charity. By silver are meant those acts by which man clings to the spiritual realities he must believe, love and contemplate. Whence in the Glossa silver is interpreted as referring to love of one's neighbour. By precious stones is to be understood the work of the different virtues with which man's soul is decked. Those human activities, on the other hand, by means of which man acquires material goods, are compared to stubble, or chaft, worthless rubbish, glittering and easily burnt. There are however grades in this rubbish, some things being more stable than others, some things more easily consumed than the rest. Men themselves, for example, are more worthy than other carnal things, and, by succession, humanity escapes destruction. Men are hence compared to wood. Man's flesh however is easily corrupted, by sickness and by death, whence it is compared to hay. All things which make for the glory of such a being speedily come to naught, whence they are compared to chaff or stubble. To build with gold, silver and precious stones is therefore to build, upon the foundation of faith, something related to the contemplation of the wisdom of divine things, to true love of God, to a following of the saints, to the service of one's neighbour and to the exercise of virtues. To build with wood, hay and chaff is to build according to plans that are no more than human, for the convenience of the body, and for outward show. 2. That men occupy themselves with purely human things may come about in three ways : (i) They may place the whole ultimate purpose of their life in the satisfaction of bodily needs. Now to do this is a mortal sin, and therefore in this way a man does not so much build as destroy the foundation, and lay another of a different kind. For the end or ultimate purpose is the foundation in all that relates to desires. (ii) They may in using purely corporal things have nothing else in view but the glory of God. In this case they are not building with wood, hay and chaff, but with gold, silver and precious stones. (iii) Although they do not place in purely corporal things the ultimate purpose of life, nor because of them will to act against God, they are more influenced by these things than they ought to be. The result is that they are thereby held back somewhat from a care for the things that are God's, and thus they sin venially. And it is this which is really meant by the phrase about building with wood, hay, and chaff, because activities that relate merely to the care of earthly goods have about them something of a venial fault, since they provoke a love of earthly things that is greater than it should be. It is in fact this love which, according to the degree of its tenacity, is compared to wood, to hay and to chaff. (In i Cor. iii.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD IN THE GARDEN
And going a little further He fell upon his face, praying and saying: My Father. (Matt. xxvi. 39.) Our Lord here recommends to us three conditions to be observed when we pray. (i) Solitude : because going a little further he separated himself even from those whom he had chosen. When thou shalt pray enter into thy chamber and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret (Matt. vi. 6). But notice he went not far away but a little, that He might show that he is not far from those who call upon Him, and also that they might see him praying and learn to pray in like fashion. (ii) Humility : He fell upon his face, giving there by an example of humility. This because humility is necessary for prayer and because Peter had said : Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee (Matt. xxvi. 35). Therefore did Our Lord fall, to show us we should not trust in our own strength. (iii) Devotion, when He said My Father. It is essential that when we pray we pray from devotion. He says My Father because He is uniquely God's Son; we are God's children by adoption only. (In Matt, xxvi.) 2. If it be possible let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt (Matt. xxvi. 39). Here we consider the tenor of prayer. Christ was praying according to the prompting of his sense nature, in so far, that is, as his prayer, as advocate for his senses, was expressing the inclinations of his senses, proposing to God, by prayer, what the desire of his senses suggested. And He did this that He might teach us three things : (i) That he had taken a true human nature with all its natural inclinations. (ii) That it is lawful for man to will, according to his natural inclination, a thing which God does not will. (iii) That man ought to subject his own inclination to the divine will. Whence St. Augustine says: Christ, living as a man, showed a certain private human willingness when he said, Let this chalice pass from me. This was human willingness, a man's own will and, so to say, his private desire. But Christ, since He wills to be a man of right heart, a man directed to God, adds, nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt (3-12-11). And in this he teaches by example how we should arrange our inclinations so that they do not come into conflict with the divine rule. Whence we learn that there is nothing wrong in our shrinking from what is naturally grievous, so long as we bring our emotion into line with the divine will. Christ had two wills, one from his Father in so far as he was God and the other in so far as he was man. This human will he submitted in all things to his Father, giving us in this an example to do likewise, " I came down from heaven, not to do my will, fort the mil of him that sent me " (John vi. 38). (In Matt, xxvi.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 ON DOING GOOD
In doing good let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. — Gal. xi. 9. In these words .St. Paul does three things : 1. He warns us that we must do good. For to do good is a duty seeing that all things, by their nature, teach us to do good. (i) They so teach us because they are themselves good. And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good (Gen. i. 31). Sinners have ample cause to make them blush in the multitude of created things all of them good, while sinners themselves are evil. (ii) Because all things, by their nature, do good. For every creature gives itself, and this is a sign of their own goodness and of the goodness of their Creator. Denis says "God is goodness, something which must diffuse itself." St. Augustine says, " It is a great sign of the divine goodness, that every creature is compelled to give itself." (iii) Because all things by their nature desire what is good and tend to the good. The good is, in fact, that for which everything longs. 2. St. Paul warns us, that in doing good we fail not. There are three things which most of all cause a man to persevere in doing good : (i) Assiduous and wholehearted prayer for help from God lest we yield when we are tempted, Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation (Matt, xx vi. 41). (ii) Unceasing fearfulness. As soon as a man feels confident he is safe, he begins to fail in doing good, Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown (Ecclus. xxvii. 4). Fear of the Lord is the guardian of Life ; without it speedily indeed and suddenly is the house thrown down, that is to say, a dwelling place that is of this world. (iii) Avoidance of venial sins, for venial sins are the occasion of mortal sin and often undermine the achievement of good works. St. Augustine says, " Thou hast avoided dangers that are great, beware lest thou fall victim to the sand." 3. St. Paul offers a reward that is fitting, is generous and is everlasting. For in due time we shall reap not failing. Fitting : in due time, that is, at a fitting time, at the day of judgment when each shall receive what he has accomplished. So the farmer receives the fruit of his sowing, not immediately but in due time, The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth ; patiently bearing till he receive the early and the latter rain (James v. 7). Generous: We shall reap ; here it is the copiousness of the reward that is indicated. With the harvest and reaping we associate abundance, He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings (2 Cor. ix. 6). Your reward is very great in heaven (Matt, v. 12) (Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost). Everlasting : We shall reap, not failing. We ought then to do good not for an hour merely, but always and continually. In doing good let us not fail, that is to say, let us not fail in working, for we shall not fail in reaping. Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly (Eccles. ix. 10). And right it is not to fail in working, for the reward to which we are looking is everlasting and unfailing. Whence St. Augustine says : " If man will set no limit to his labour, God will set no limit to the reward." (In Galatians vi. 9.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 Septuagesima Sunday THE WORK OF THE VINEYARD Going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle. And he said to them : Go you also into my vineyard and I will give you what shall be just. — Matt. xx. 3. In these words we may notice four things : 1. The goodness of the Lord, going out, that is, for his people's salvation. For that Christ should go out to lead men into the vineyard of justice was indeed an act of infinite goodness. Our Lord is five times said to have gone out. He went out in the beginning of the world, as a sower, to sow his creatures, The sower went out to sow his seed. Then in his nativity to enlighten the world, Until her just one come forth as brightness (Isa. Ixii. i). In his Passion to save his own from the power of the devil and from all evil, My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth (Isa. li. 5). He goes out like the father of a family, caring for his children and his goods. The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard (Matt. xx. i.). Finally he goes out to judgment, to make most strict enquiry after the wicked, like some overseer, to beat down rebels, like some mighty fighter, and, like a judge, to punish as they merit, criminals and malefactors. 2. The foolishness of men. For nothing is more foolish than that in this present life, where men ought so to work that they may live eternally, men should live in idleness. He found them in the market place idle. That market-place is this our present life. For it is in the market-place1 that men quarrel and buy and sell and so the market-place stands for our life of every day, full of affairs, of buying and selling and in which also the prospects of grace and heavenly glory are sold in exchange for good works. These labourers were called idle because they had already let slip a part of their life. And not evil-doers alone are called idle but also those who do not do good. And as the idle never attain their end, so will it be with these. The end of man is life eternal. He therefore who works in the proper way will possess that life if he is not an idler. It is great folly to live in idleness in this life; because from idleness, as from an evil teacher, we learn evil knowledge; because through idleness we come to lose the good that lasts for ever; because through the short idleness of this life we incur a labour that is eternal. 3 . The necessity of working in the vineyard of the Lord. Go you also into my vineyard. The vineyard into which the men are sent to work is the life of goodness, in which there are as many trees as there are virtues. We are to work in this vineyard in five ways : Planting in it good works and virtues ; rooting up and destroying the thorns, that is, our vices; cutting down the superfluous branches, Every branch in me, that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring jorth more fruit (John xv. 2) ; keeping off the little foxes, that is, the devils ; and guarding it from the thieves, that is, keeping ourselves indifferent to the praise and the blame of mankind. 4. The usefulness of labour. The wage of those who labour in the vineyard is a penny that outvalues thousands of silver crowns. And this is what we are told in Holy Scripture, The peaceable had a vineyard, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver (Cant. viii. 1 1). The thousand crowns are the thousand joys of eternity, and these are signified by the penny. Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937  Gospel. Luke II. 22-32. At that time: After the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law; he also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace: because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Let us follow Mary, with the Child Jesus in her arms. When the time of purification had come, she went forth according to the law, to the Temple. For forty days the mother of a male child had to remain indoors, could associate with no one, and could touch nothing, because she was supposed to be impure. How is it possible that this lily of purity could be impure, when by God's interposition she still remained a virgin? But the humble virgin preferred to subject herself to the law, to appear impure in order that God's will should be respected. Humility is the great lesson we can learn from this conduct of Mary. The law obliged the woman, in the rite of purification, to offer a lamb and a pigeon, or if she were poor, she might offer two doves. Mary was poor, and therefore she offered the gift of the poor. She loved poverty and was not ashamed of it. We often consider poverty a disgrace; it makes us feel sad, and yet it makes us more like Mary, and also more like Jesus, who, though the Lord of heaven and earth, descended from heaven, and "being rich He became poor." St. Augustine calls poverty the gold with which heaven is purchased. The law also provided that the first-born male child was to be consecrated to the Lord. The priest did this. He took the Child in his arms, and held Him up before the holy of holies. Jesus was God for He was the Son of God; the law of the Temple did not bind His holy Mother, but in her humility and her obedience she did not omit the least ceremony. This, my dear young friends, is also the duty of parents to their children; they should offer them from their earliest days to God's service. Instead of that, they often give their children to the devil by the bad example they give them. Poor children, who are thus constrained to drink in wickedness with their mother's milk! But if your parents have failed in their duty, you are obliged to do for yourself. As every first-fruit had to be offered to God, so you also should dedicate the first days of your life to His service. Have you made this offering to Him? Perhaps you have never thought of this obligation; perhaps you have already made a sacrilegious sacrifice to the devil by committing sin. If this be the case repent of the sin, offer your heart to Jesus, and He will purify it and inflame it with His holy love. Pray to Mary that she may, like a high-priestess, make that offering for you. In those days there was in Jerusalem a holy man named Simeon, who had had a revelation from the Holy Ghost that he would not see death until he had seen with his own eyes the Redeemer and Messias. Led by divine inspiration he was going to the Temple, and there he met Mary with the Child. An interior voice told him that this was the Child whom he sought, this was the Redeemer. The holy old man seemed to regain his youth and strength. He asked that the Child be placed in his arms, and having kissed and embraced Him, Simeon raised his eyes to heaven, and broke out into this beautiful canticle of love: "Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, Lord, according to Thy word, in peace; because my eyes have seen Thy salvation. Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all the people. A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people, Israel." Happy indeed was Simeon to have seen the Child Jesus, and after that great favor he was glad and ready to die. My dear youthful friends, do we, who have Our Lord continually present on our altars, feel the joy of the possession of Christ? Do we feel it as a reality, and not merely as something that we are obliged to believe? With what difficulty are we induced to pay Him a visit at the altar, and when in church how distracted and careless we are! Then, too, that same Jesus comes into our heart in communion, a grace that Simeon did not have. That loving Jesus tells us to come to Him and He will comfort us; but we are very sparing of our visits, and some of us do not go near Him in months or even years. If the priest should distribute money or fruit at the altar what crowds would come for the gift, but because Christ's body is distributed, few come to receive it. You surely will not be ungrateful to so much love. Visit Him, adore Him, receive Him into your heart, and then when Jesus has been your comfort in life, He will be your consolation in death. He will come to visit you on your death-bed; He will bless you and be your Viaticum on the great journey to eternity. Then indeed will you break forth into those inspired words of old Simeon: Now I will die content and close my eyes in peace, since I have seen the Lord, who has comforted me. Soon these mortal eyes will be closed in death, but the eyes of my soul shall be opened, and I shall behold my beloved Jesus for all eternity. Source: Sermon's for the Children's Masses Imprimatur 1900 |
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