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Though it may happen that a mother should be so hardened as to forget her own child, yet God promises He will never forget us.
- Venerable J. Tauler - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 It matters little whether we are rich or poor, prosperous or unfortunate in the world, providing we are minting money for Heaven, by the practice of patience, resignation, honesty and the love of God.
- Cardinal Vaughan - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 Think of the crosses with which Jesus has laden you, for they are treasures which He has drawn from the depths of His riches and you must look upon them as wonderful proofs of His love. - Fenelon - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 THE Church has had two principal reasons in instituting the holy time of Lent: to make us . . . fulfil the duty of penance, and to make us meditate on the sufferings of Christ.
First Point.—The first motive which seems to have influenced the Church in the institution of Lent has been to afford us an opportunity of fulfilling the law of penance. We cannot forget that there is a law which obliges all the children of Adam to do penance. This law has been proclaimed at the moment of the fall, and was again proclaimed by the Gospel, and at the time of our regeneration. This law is binding on us as men; since we are heirs to the sin of Adam, we are also heirs to the sentence which has condemned him to suffer. This law is binding on us, also, as Christians, since it is only by fulfilling it we become like to our Model and Master. A great expiation has been consummated on Golgotha! Christians, children of the cross, fruits conceived amidst the heart rendings and agonies of Calvary; disciples of a God dead on the cross; sons of the King—but of a King crowned by sorrow; born to the purple—but the purple of His blood,—our life should not belie our origin! The sacrifice of the Saviour has been complete in all that regards the person and the merits of the Victim; but this sacrifice should continue in His members, who with Him form but one and the same mystical body. His cross remains forever planted in the midst of His Church, to recall to us the obligation of attaching ourselves to it and of dying on it with Him; and there shall be something wanting to His passion, as St. Paul has understood it, if it is not accomplished, also, in our own body; if the blood of Jesus does not continue, in some way, to flow in the veins of His apostles and martyrs and confessors, and in all those who believe in Him, until the time when the whole Church shall have passed from the state of suffering and of combat to the possession of glory. The law of penance is binding on us especially as sinners. Let us recall to mind all the transgressions which make us debtors to Divine Justice—and insolvent debtors, too, without any doubt, if God had not deigned to accept our feeble satisfactions in consideration of the superabundant merits of His Son. At this remembrance, does not your conscience tell you the necessity of chastising a rebellious flesh which has been so often the occasion and the instrument of your falls? Now, this penance, whose indispensable necessity you cannot forget, whether to make you " conformable to the image of the Son" or to expiate your countless prevarications,—do you do it? Alas!—you must admit it—your time is always ready, as the Saviour reproached the Jews: I mean the time for your business, your pleasures, the time for sin; but the time of Jesus, the time of penance, is never ready or at hand. You put it off, and defer it, and expect every day that the time shall come; but the time never comes. Now, the Church comes to assist us in our weakness and in our cowardice. She strongly reminds you of this precept of penance, which your indifference neglects. From all the pulpits which are erected in the innumerable churches of the Catholic world the resounding voice is heard in unmistakable terms: "Unless you do penance you shall perish" And, not content with reminding you of this great precept, the Church anticipates your indecision by determining the time when this duty will bind with greater rigor, and by indicating the most suitable manner of penance; thus, by a happy violence, she forces you, so to speak, to enter the way of penance by adding to the authority of God her own authority. In fine, that you may not escape the pursuit of Divine Justice, she, in a way, encloses you in a circle of forty days, and she will not allow you to depart until you shall have given these sacred duties a just satisfaction. Do you love your soul enough to understand and second the merciful intentions of the Church in your regard? Second Point. —By instituting the Lenten time the Church wishes to make us meditate on the sufferings of Our Saviour. The mortification of the senses is not sufficient for salvation—it must be accompanied by compunction of heart. Now, what is more capable of exciting compunction in us than the meditation of a mystery as tender as it is terrible—-the mystery of our redemption? Unquestionably we can obtain this compunction of heart by other considerations, drawn from the grandeur of God, or His justice, or the heinousness of sin ; but the true source of tears—tears which flow from the heart as well as from the eyes; those tears which are sweet in their bitterness; which have the power to purify the soul, to strengthen it, to transform it, to create in it the new man,—the true source of such tears is in the cross; in the cross which illumines all the divine perfections, but in a manner so well arranged that His goodness dominates and absorbs all the other perfections, and all the rays of this grand glory melt away and are effaced in the single ray of love. The cross is by excellence the Christian's book. Every one may read it. There, in characters visible to every eye and accessible to every intelligence, you may learn what is most important for every Christian to know. Behold why the Church unfolds its blood-stained pages during the holy exercises of Lent! Not only does she wish that we should recall the grand mystery of our redemption, but she also renders it in a way present and sensible by the vivacity and truth of her pictures, as an action which had passed under our very eyes. She sprinkles her children with ashes, she exchanges her vestments of joy which were worn on festival occasions, and assumes others of a sombre hue; she sings, it is true, but her chants are from a voice broken with sobs and tears ; she seems to fear the solitude, for her children are in such great sorrow; She invites them frequently to assemble in community for prayer, for the sacrifice of the Mass, and for pious reunions. We could say of her children that they are like a family bowed by sorrow, whose members have united to "weep for the loss of an only and well-beloved son." As the end approaches, the representation becomes more striking, and the impression of the death of the Man-God is more vividly felt. The very silence of His tomb seems to reign in the temple during the last days of the great and Holy Week. The stripped altars and the open and empty tabernacles leave nothing to behold except the cross unveiled—the cross which the Church only adores and only salutes in plaintive chants as our one, last, and only hope. Allow your heart to go out to, and be touched by, these holy impressions if you wish to respond to the intentions of the Church. Let your faith lead you to assist at each of these terrible scenes of which the drama of redemption is composed; gather with love the drops of bloody sweat falling from Jesus in the Garden of Olives; place your lips on each imprint of that precious blood which has reddened the road to Calvary; also to each of those sacred wounds from which spring the running waters of life eternal. Accompany by your sighs and tears, and with the daughters of Jerusalem, this new Isaac up to the hill-top of Calvary, and do not descend from the holy mountain where the greatest of sacrifices has been accomplished until you have struck your breast with the centurion; or, rather, do not quit the holy mountain, but remain there, crucified with Jesus; nail to the cross, not your feet and hands, but your sins and defects and desires, for which the Saviour has died; it shall be in vain that He died for your sins if you also do not die to them, to arise with Him to a new life. Source: Short Instructions on the Feasts of the Year, Imprimatur 1897 Be assured that you have entered into God's service only to be chiseled, polished and perfected each day by the hands of those with whom you live. Look upon them as so many individuals sent to you by God to sanctify you by training you, each one in his own way.
- St. John of the Cross - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 Let this dear Jesus be your nearest and dearest friend. Confide your trials to Him. Take everything as coming from His fatherly hand.
- Mother Aloysia Hardy - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 Each suffering is a new flower added to the crown which is prepared for us in eternity.
St. Alphonsus Liguori Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 Trust and you will learn. Learn and you will love. Trust! with the conflict will come the courage. With the difficulty will come the help. With the trial will come the strength. With the temptation will come the grace.
- Father Kane, S.J.- Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 ONCE more the solemn season calls
A holy fast to keep, And now within the temple walls Both priest and people meet. But vain all outward sign of grief, And vain the form of prayer, Unless the heart implore relief And penitence be there. We smite the breast, we weep in pain, In vain in ashes mourn, Unless with penitential pain The smitten soul be torn. In sorrow true, then, let us pray- To our offended God From us to turn His wrath away, And stay the uplifted rod. O God ! our Judge and Father, deign To spare the bruised reed ; We pray for time to turn again, For grace to turn indeed. Blest Three in One, to thee we bow; Vouchsafe us in Thy love To gather from these fasts below Immortal fruit above. Amen. - Hymns and Songs for Catholic Children - The sufferings of this life bear no proportion to the greatness of the glory to come.
- Imitation of Christ - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 THE blind man of Jericho, whose healing is recounted in the Gospel of this day, is the image ... of a soul which has fallen into spiritual blindness. Consider well the characters and the remedies of this moral blindness, which is the saddest of all.
First Point.—The characters of spiritual blindness. As Jesus approached Jericho He met a blind man seated on the wayside and asking alms To understand this species of blindness which falls upon sinners you have only to look about you. Have you not been sometimes terrified at the insensibility of certain men for their eternal interests? Religion, which has converted the world by the sublimity of its teachings, is for them only a mass of gross reveries. Morality, which has brought on earth the reign of virtue, is in their eyes only fanaticism or superstition. The most heroic examples of virtue, instead of exciting in them a sentiment of admiration, only provoke pity and contempt. The most touching exhortations awaken their curiosity without appealing to their mind or heart They commit crime after crime, violate the most sacred engagements, revel in blasphemy, and remain perfectly tranquil. Duties which every reasonable being owes to his Creator are put aside; laws of the Church, to which every Christian should be submissive, are trampled underfoot; they publish scandals and what is baneful to religion, and still believe themselves irreproachable, and ask what evil have they done. They live without remorse, and die undisturbed and fall into the avenging hands of God, whom they have despised. Can there be a state more fearful than this in the eyes of reason and in the eyes of faith ? The blind man of Jericho, to sustain his sad existence, asked of those who passed by an alms, which was often refused him. The Gospel says he was begging - mendicans. This is the second character of spiritual blindness. In the bosom of the Catholic Church, the depository of eternal truths, in the midst of that light with which Christianity has inundated the world, in the midst of so many means to find repose of mind and peace of heart, they who are stricken become mendicants. They ask of reason light which they have not; they ask of human wisdom the truth which she cannot give; they ask of pleasure joys of which she is ignorant. In their need of joys, their famished souls extend their hands to the passions and to pleasures. Each passion and each pleasure deposits an alms, but it is only an alms; it may suffice to solace, or rather to distract, the heart for a moment, but it is powerless to satisfy the need which devours it; it remains hungry and is always begging—mendicans. The blind man of Jericho was seated on the wayside. This is the last trait which characterizes those who are spiritually blind. They are near the way which conducts to truth, to virtue, to life, and still they do not wish to enter there. Reflect on this expression, which contains a truth at once profound and true—"He was sitting. " It is not said that he was standing and ready to walk, but he was seated; he remained there in stupid repose, unmindful of what was passing around him. This expression is sufficient to make us understand that he was satisfied in his unfortunate carelessness, preferring an unworthy repose to generous effort which would place him in the right way. This is only a too true picture of those sinners of whom we are speaking. They are outside the way which conducts to salvation, and are not striving to re-enter it. To do this they should be most active, and instructed in their duties, and resist their passions, or at least make some efforts; but they love their ease beyond anything else, and nothing can determine them to abandon their tranquillity. And thus the privation of all truth, the want of all good works, and complete carelessness of salvation are the characters of this terrible malady which is called spiritual blindness. We shall now see how it may be healed. Second Point.—For a complete cure of spiritual blindness, the first thing which must be done by him who is afflicted is to be instructed in his religion and to make known his uncertainties and doubts to those who can resolve them. At the sound of the voices which were about him and the noise made by the multitude which had followed Jesus, the blind man informed himself of air that passed. He asked "what it was." Well, Christianity passes near us, is about us on every side, with its laws, its dogmas, its blessings, its threats, and its promises. We should inform ourselves what it is, we should study the claims and proofs on which it rests, the duties it imposes, and labor earnestly to merit the blessings which it promises. We should avoid the evils with which it threatens us, since eternity is well worth the trouble which all this requires. Indifference in this matter is wholly unjustifiable. The second thing to do in a case of spiritual blindness is to pray. Faith is a gift of God, and this gift we all receive in Baptism. This explains the facility with which we believe the highest mysteries, even in tenderest infancy, and as long as we preserve purity of heart. But when, by bad books, sinful conversations, voluntary doubts, and by indulgence of our passions we have driven the spirit of faith from our intelligence, we cannot again recall it, except by most fervent prayer. But you say, "I wish I could have faith!" Have you prayed to obtain it? Reflect on the prayer of the blind man imploring his healing, and strive to imitate his fervor. "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!" See how he feels his malady, how he desires a return of health. And what perseverance in his prayer! They who are near to him endeavor to impose silence on him, but he seems unmindful of them and is not at all influenced by their words; he even cries louder still. From the moment you wish to belong to God the world will blame you. Prejudices, habits, passions shall strive to turn you away from prayer. However, still remain faithful to it, since your healing and your salvation will be due to your perseverance. O my God, I address Thee with the prayer which the poor blind man employed—" Son of David, have pity on me!" Have pity, because of the sad state to which sin has reduced me. Make known to me my misfortune in its fullest extent; I do not know it sufficiently. Place in my heart a lively and profound sorrow for my sins, which should be there and which I do not find there. Inspire me with those strong, courageous, and efficacious resolutions which I strive in vain to form. Break these criminal attachments and these vicious habits which I have not the strength to break. Reform my sad inclinations which drag me down in spite of my feeble efforts. Have pity on me, Lord ! Have pity on my weakness! Source: Short Instructions on the Feasts of the Year, Imprimatur 1897 Do not fear the Cross. . . . Without it you cannot find Christ. With it you will find the help and consolation of His open Heart. Without Christ the cross is hard, dead, crushing wood. With Christ the Cross is strong as God, sweet as love, tender as a tear.
- Father Kane, S.J.- Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 Our latest edition of the Gazette is now available. You can view it below and download and print it here. Then He saith to them: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you here and watch with me." And going a little farther He fell upon His face, praying, and saying: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
- Matt. 26: 38, 39 - Source: Whom the Lord Loveth, Imprimatur 1919 |
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