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Trinity Sunday - Baptismal Vows

5/29/2021

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  My dear Children:  There is no spot in church more dear to you than the one to which you were brought during the first days of your existence and that place is the baptismal font.  The gospel of this sublime feast of the Blessed Trinity today reminds you most forcibly of that great day on which by the waters of Baptism you were regenerated and born again by the Holy Ghost, and were numbered among the children of God and made heirs of heaven. 

Another great grace bestowed upon you in Baptism is that you were made Christians, or followers, nay, even members of Jesus Christ.  For by Baptism you are united to our Blessed Lord in a most close and intimate union.  In other words you are united with Him by Baptism as closely as the branches of a tree are united with the parent stem.  In the same way as it is from the parent trunk that they derive that sap and nourishment which enables them to produce leaves, and flowers, and fruit, so it is in virtue of this union with Jesus Christ  that you are able, as long as you remain abiding in Him by faith and charity, to produce that abundant fruit of virtuous actions which will merit you the rewards of a blessed eternity.  O happy union, which makes us all one with Jesus Christ, and renders even our most ordinary actions pleasing and meritorious before God.  Yes, my dear boys and girls, to be a Christian is a far higher dignity and a greater happiness than any which the world can bestow.

The venerable Peter Ou,  who suffered death for the faith in China in the year 1814, being arrested and brought before the pagan judge, the latter sought by every means to induce him to trample on the cross in token of his apostasy.  “What harm,” demanded the mandarin, “can there be in this? When you leave the court you can be a Christian, if you choose, as you were before.” Great mandarin,” replied the martyr, “you have spoken the truth, though you know it not.  The character of a Christian is Indelible, he may violate his law, he may deny his God, but the seal of Baptism remains on him forever. To be a Christian is the greatest honor any mortal can bear. My life is in your hands, dispose of it as you please, but it is useless to tempt me any longer to deny my faith, or to renounce a worship which I love from the bottom of my heart".

This noble profession of faith was soon followed by a sentence of death, the generous confessor being condemned to be strangled. With eyes filled with tears, he cried out, "Heaven is opened to me; there is my country, I see its glory. Yes, my Saviour, I now see Thee in reality. Executioner, hasten to procure me this happiness."

With these words on his lips the fatal cord was drawn, and his soul flew to heaven to receive its crown. Children, when you and I and your parents were in front of the font we took the oath of faith in the most solemn hour of our life. Before God, the priest, and the invisibly present angels, we vowed to believe constantly and without doubt in the triune God, and in His holy infallible Church. Oh, let us bear in mind, therefore, all the days of our life this solemn promise and remain faithful to it until death.

In Baptism we promise to God, in return for so many precious graces which He bestows upon us, that we on our part will give up all that may lead us to be unfaithful to our duties as Christians; in other words we engage to renounce the devil with all his works and pomps. By the works of the devil we mean sin, because it is his daily and constant work to lead us to offend God. By his pomps we mean the empty vanities and deceitful pleasures of the world, which are the means which he makes use of to draw us into sin. All these we solemnly promise to renounce and shun; and as we are not then able, on account of our tender age, to speak or act for ourselves, our godfather and our godmother answer for us, undertaking in our name those obligations which are necessary to enable us to receive the precious grace of Baptism. When we are old enough to understand the engagements which our sponsors have undertaken in our name, we should ourselves confirm and may violate his law, he may deny his God, but the seal of Baptism remains on him forever. To be a Christian is the greatest honor any mortal can bear. My life is in your hands, dispose of it as you please, but it is useless to tempt me any longer to deny my faith, or to renounce a worship which I love from the bottom of my heart"

This noble profession of faith was soon followed by a sentence of death, the generous confessor being condemned to be strangled. With eyes filled with tears, he cried out, "Heaven is opened to me; there is my country, I see its glory. Yes, my Saviour, I now see Thee in reality. Executioner, hasten to procure me this happiness." With these words on his lips the fatal cord was drawn, and his soul flew to heaven to receive its crown.

Children, when you and I and your parents were in front of the font we took the oath of faith in the most solemn hour of our life. Before God, the priest, and the invisibly present angels, we vowed to believe constantly and without doubt in the triune God, and in His holy infallible Church. Oh, let us bear in mind, therefore, all the days of our life this solemn promise and remain faithful to it until death.

In Baptism we promise to God, in return for so many precious graces which He bestows upon us, that we on our part will give up all that may lead us to be unfaithful to our duties as Christians; in other words we engage to renounce the devil with all his works and pomps. By the works of the devil we mean sin, because it is his daily and constant work to lead us to offend God. By his pomps we mean the empty vanities and deceitful pleasures of the world, which are the means which he makes use of to draw us into sin. All these we solemnly promise to renounce and shun; and as we are not then able, on account of our tender age, to speak or act for ourselves, our godfather and our godmother answer for us, undertaking in our name those obligations which are necessary tonenable us to receive the precious grace of Baptism. When we are old enough to understand the engagements which our sponsors have undertaken in our name, we should ourselves confirm and ratify them,  but above all we should be ever careful to make them the guiding rule of our lives.

An American captain, with his three children, lived in a Catholic family.  The children attended the nuns school, and after an instruction on the necessity of Baptism, William, the eldest, speaking to one of the children of the Catholic family, said, “Have you been baptized?” “Yes,” replied the other, “in my infancy.”   “Then baptize me,” said William, “for I might die tonight, and I want to go to Heaven.” And it was done; then he in turn baptized his two younger sisters.  When at length the father returned home, all three rushed up to him to tell him what they had done, and to beg him also to be baptized.  To please them he consented, and was baptized.  Would to God it may have been serious and formal, for three days later he had a sudden death, and appeared before his Maker.

When King Clovis, who was a pagan and had a Christian wife by the name of Clotildis, after being successful in battle, was baptized by St. Remigius, archbishop of Rheims, he was addressed thus: “Henceforth adore what you have burned, and burn what you have hitherto adored.” Before Baptism we were by original sin slaves of the devil, and enemies of Jesus Christ.  Henceforth we must renounce the devil and be true Christians, faithful servants of our Lord.  Oh, how happy we should be, if we could carry the white robe of Baptismal innocence unspotted before the judgment seat of God, like a St. Aloysius, a St. Stanislaus, a St. Agnes, and many other saints.

St. Francis de Sales, when yet a child, was distinguished alike for his lively and cheerful disposition and for his sincere piety.  At one time he would join with all the ardor of youth in the games of his playmates; at another he would gather them about thim, and with a sweet and engaging air tell them some pious story.  Sometimes he would lead them to the parish church, and arrange them in a circle around the sacred font where they had in infancy received the Sacrament of Baptism.  “See, my dear companions,” he would then say, “this is a spot which ought to be dearer to us than any other in the whole world, for here it was that we were made children of God. Come let us sing together the Glory be to the Father!" The little band would then join in singing this verse of thanksgiving, and would afterwards on bended knees respectfully kiss the font.

Children, with the holy martyrs, let us be willing to suffer everything, even to die, rather than by infidelity separate ourselves from God and become traitors to the baptismal vows. If seducers, in sheep's clothing, wish to approach you flee from them as from serpents. For they are murderers of the soul, robbers, who wish to snatch from you that which is highest and most precious, your holy faith, and with it your happiness in life, your bliss in eternity. And should you be insulted, slandered, yes, even deprived of your occupation by which you earn your daily bread, tremble not nor grow faint. Remember, it is not as much as the holy martyrs suffered. Prize above all the treasure of faith, promised in Baptism to God and the Church, and before friend and foe profess it as your greatest glory; esteem it your greatest happiness to be children of the Catholic Church.
 
Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921
 

 




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Pentecost Sunday - The Seven Gifts

5/22/2021

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My dear Children:—The holy feast of Pentecost which we celebrate today as the third principal festival of the Ecclesiastical year is dedicated to the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. I am very much afraid that we do not think often enough of the Holy Ghost, and how much we owe to this Divine Spirit who is the author of all the good that takes place in our souls. There are many things which you ought to know about the Holy Ghost; for example, you do not know, perhaps, of all His goodness to you, or thank or love Him as He deserves. First of all, you would no doubt, like to know why it is that we call the third Person of the Trinity by the name of the Holy Ghost. You know why He is called Holy, for He is God and God is holiness itself. But why is He called Holy Ghost? What is the meaning of the word Ghost? It is an old English word, meaning a spirit; so when you speak of a ghost story, you mean the story of some one whose spirit has appeared after death, as that of the prophet Samuel did to the witch of Endor. Thus you see, that the words Holy Ghost only mean Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit makes our souls or spirits holy by His grace. It is true that He does not do this separately or apart from the Father and the Son, for God is one, and all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity do conjointly what each one is said to do. The many graces which Jesus Christ has merited for us by His Passion and Death are given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Today is the anniversary of the day when the same Holy Spirit, in tongues of fire, descended upon the apostles. From ignorant and dull of understanding they became suddenly enlightened with Divine Light, and filled with heavenly knowledge; from being weak and timid, so that they all fled away from our Lord when He was taken prisoner in the garden, they became in a moment heroic confessors of the Faith, ready to endure any torment, and death itself, for the Name of Jesus.

The seven precious gifts of the Holy Ghost are bestowed upon all who worthily receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, in the same way as the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity are implanted in the soul by Baptism; their effects, however, are only visible according as circumstances require their special exercise. So that, for example, we should not be afraid if we were called upon, as our forefathers often were, to confess our Faith before persecutors, or even to suffer torments and death for Jesus Christ; since the Holy Spirit will always be ready to assist us to do and suffer what God requires of us.

Saint Arsenius, having become acquainted with an old man of obscure birth and no learning, chose him to be his counsellor. "What," said one of his brethren, "you, well versed in the learning of Athens and Rome, seeking the advice of that ignorant man!" "It may be," replied Arsenius, "that I know something of literature, but I do not yet possess the alphabet of the knowledge of that old man." And, indeed, void as he was of human learning, this old man had a more sublime learning, the knowledge of salvation which comes from the Holy Spirit. He had the art of following the road to heaven and of being able to show it to others; it was this knowledge, Arsenius wished to acquire.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit enlighten the understanding and strengthen the will of fallen man, thus repairing the injury inflicted by the sin of our first parents and our own manifold sins with those two great powers of the soul. The four gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel and Knowledge, all tend to remove from the soul that black cloud of ignorance with which sin has darkened our understanding, while the other three, Fortitude, Piety and the Fear of the Lord, serve to heal the wounds inflicted by sin in the human will, to extinguish the fire of concupiscence, and to enable us to walk with courage and fidelity in the way of the Divine Commandments. The lives of the saints, my dear boys and girls, furnish us with abundant examples of the admirable effects which the gifts of the Holy Ghost produce in the hearts and minds of God's faithful servants. Their heroic virtues, their charming and amiable qualities, all spring from the same source, and are the fruits of the abundant grace with which the Holy Ghost enriched their souls.

A Vendean, named Repoche, who during the French Revolution served in the royal army, having been taken prisoner by the revolutionary party was conducted by them to a place where a cross had been erected, and there he was thus accosted: "You have been taken with arms in your hands, and so your life is forfeited. There yonder is the cottage in which you were born; your father is still living there; now your life will be spared to you if you will do one thing. Take up that ax and at once cut down that cross." Repoche took up the ax; his fellow prisoners turned aside their heads and trembled, for they thought that Repoche was about abjuring his God. Repoche brandishing the ax over his head, sprung upon the pedestal of the cross, and uplifting his arm, cried out in tones loud enough to be heard by even those who were at a distance: "Death to him who shall insult the cross of Jesus Christ! I shall defend it from ignominy to my last breath." For some minutes he succeeded in warding off the sacrilegious soldiers, but soon he was overwhelmed by numbers, and though transfixed in every part of his body, he still clung fast to the cross, and in this position was put to death.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Paraclete. This word means Advocate, that is to say, one who speaks or pleads for another. This the Holy Ghost does by assisting us in our prayers, for we can make no prayer that is good for anything to please God without the grace of the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost helps us to pray, then our prayers cannot fail to be heard.

You see, my dear boys and girls, how much reason we have to love the Holy Ghost, to thank Him for His graces, and to seek His blessing and guidance in all our undertakings. We should often pray to the Holy Ghost, for which purpose we might repeat one of the beautiful hymns in His honor, to beg His grace to overcome temptation, keep the commandments, and know and accomplish the Divine Will in all things.
 
Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921

 
 


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Sunday Within the Octave of the Ascension -      The Devil's Best Weapon

5/15/2021

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 My dear Children:—The Holy Ghost whom our dear Lord promised to His apostles in the gospel of this day must be a Spirit of Truth to us; we must love truth and hold firmly to it, and hate and shun nothing so much as untruth and lies. Do you not know that your hearts are the temple of the Holy Ghost and that an untruth or a lie should never proceed from the mouth of a Christian.

And yet lying is a widely spread vice even among Christians. Parents and children tell lies, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, all tell lies; and without fear of contradiction, I may say that there is hardly one amongst us who would not lie if he said that he had never lied. The reason is because people make no account of lying, and look upon it as an excusable fault.


The devil has played the lying game all the time and he who tells lies is a confederate of the devil. Our Lord Himself calls liars children of Satan. St. Ambrose says: "All who love lies are children of the devil, not by nature but by imitation."


A little child of nine years of age was one day weeping bitterly. He had committed a fault by taking something which his father had told him not to touch, and he was afraid that his father would come to know about it, and punish him. The servants of the house who saw him weeping, and who knew the reason of his tears, said to him: "If your father asks you if you took it, you have only to deny it, and you shall not be punished." But the good child, looking at them with much indignation, answered: "What is that you tell me to do? Tell a lie about it? No, never! I would rather be punished a thousand times over than think of doing such a thing.
I will never commit such a sin. I do not claim the devil as my father, for he is the father of lies." This should be the answer of every Christian child to anyone who asks him to tell a lie.

You must not tell the smallest He even to save the whole world, for it is better that the world should be destroyed than that God should be offended. Much less, then, should you tell a lie to save yourself from a scolding or beating, which are intended for your good. If you have done wrong, be sorry for it, then you are soon forgiven both by God and your parents; whereas if you try to hide it by a lie, you are guilty of a fresh sin, and one often much greater than the one you first committed.

To tell a lie, is to say a thing that we know to be untrue. If we believe that we are speaking the truth, and happen to be mistaken, it is not a lie; on the other hand, if we say what we believe to be false, and it turns out to be true, it is really a lie in the sight of God. All lies are sinful, because they are directly opposed to the Divine Truth, which is one of the most admirable perfections of the Almighty. Moreover they are an abuse of that most excellent gift of speech, which God has given us to enable us to make our thoughts known to our fellow men; whereas the liar uses his speech to conceal his thoughts and deceive his neighbor.

St. James, the Bishop of Nisibis, travelling one day through the country, was accosted by a beggar to give him an alms to bury a companion who he said had just died by the wayside. The Bishop gave him an alms and went on, praying for the poor man's soul. The beggar, laughing at his success in imposing on the saint, ran back to his companion, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead. On coming to the spot, he called to him to get up, as the trick had been successful, but he received no answer. He approached nearer, and took his companion by the hand in order to arouse him, but what was his horror at finding that he was really dead. Immediately, with loud cries and lamentations, he ran after the saint, and, throwing himself on his knees before him, acknowledged the deceit which they had practiced, and implored his pardon and intercession.

The servant of God having first reproved him for his sin, betook himself to prayer, and the unhappy man, who had provoked God to deprive him of life, was restored to life at the prayers of the saint.

 Although all lies are sinful, they are not all equally sinful; some are much more grievous than others. The worst lie of all is that which is told in confession by him who conceals a sin, for such a lie is a sacrilegious lie, a lie told to God Himself, and is a profanation of a holy sacrament. The lie next in guilt is that which is told to injure our neighbor's character; for example, when a person gives false testimony in a court of justice, or when he spreads abroad calumnies against his neighbor, accusing him of crimes which he never committed. Such lies are called malicious lies, because they are told through malice on purpose to injure others, and they are very grievous sins. But there are other lies which are much less in guilt, namely lies of excuse and lies of jest. These are sometimes called by foolish people white lies. It is true that they might not cause our neighbor any injury, but still they are displeasing to God and hurtful to the soul. By these jocose lies a habit of lying is formed, which is the foundation, of many vices. If the child is a habitual liar, depend on it that, if not cured of this vice in time, he will grow up both a hypocrite and a thief, for truth is the twin sister of candor and honesty. Children, to tell a lie to excuse yourself is an act of cowardice, and shows a weakness of character and principle, which may well cause us to fear that such a soul will soon fall a prey to the devil. Be always, then, my dear children, most exact in speaking the truth, and pray to God to give you a great love of this excellent virtue which is so pleasing to Him. Remember that if you love and always speak the truth, you are in a special manner the children of God, who is the divine Truth. St. Paul tells the Ephesians to put on the girdle of Truth.

That is the first thing that a man wants to know about a boy. Is he truthful? It is the one thing that we want to know about every girl. Does she always speak the truth? A great educator once said that it did not make any difference how ignorant a child was. He could be taught. It made no difference if he was ill-mannered. He could learn to be a gentleman. But the child that cannot tell the truth is hopeless. There isn't anything to build on. It is like laying the foundations of a house on the sand. It will not stand.

 So, boys and girls, when you go out to fight the battle of life, be sure, first of all, that you have on the Girdle of Truth. Yes, dare to be true. Be brave enough to speak the truth, for it is an act of true courage. Your parents or teachers may punish you, but they will respect and trust you, the saints and angels will look down on you with approval, God will hear and will reward you. Nothing can need a lie because nothing can excuse it—"truth will always out." In conclusion what is more contemptible than the character of a liar, whose word is never taken, whose denials are never believed, whose promises are never trusted ? On the contrary, what is more noble, what more amiable, than the character of a child who is always candid, truthful, and sincere? Such a one wherever he goes, carries with him the esteem, the confidence, the respect of everyone.
 
Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921

 


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Fifth Sunday after Easter - The Greatest Power on Earth

5/8/2021

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My dear Children:—In your Bible History you will find one thing repeated very often, of which our divine Lord tells us in today's gospel—it is prayer. You have learned in your catechism that the two chiefs means of obtaining God's grace are prayer and the sacraments. Prayer is spoken of first, because it is suited to all times, to all persons, and to all places; whereas we cannot always have an opportunity of hearing Mass or going to the sacraments.

Our good Lord has provided us with an unfailing resource in all our wants, that is, prayer; promising, moreover, on His divine word, that He will always grant us what we ask, provided that we pray with proper dispositions.

Prayer, my dear children, is the first duty of every Christian. It is a special command of God; but besides that, it is a great privilege, a high honor, and an immense advantage to us to be allowed to speak freely to the divine majesty. The kings of this earth, as St. Teresa beautifully observes, do not allow their subjects to make known their petitions to them, except through their nobles and officers of state; but we may at all times approach to the king of heaven, adore Him, thank Him for His goodness, and lay open to Him all our wants, both for soul and body. And what is the most consoling is, that He is always glad to receive us, ready to hear us, and willing and able to help us; whereas earthly kings sometimes receive the petitions of their subjects with a very bad grace, and very often refuse them.

Your catechism tells you that prayer is the raising of our heart and mind to God. It is the mind which thinks, it is the heart which hopes and loves. Prayer, therefore, consists in thinking of God, in hoping in Him, and loving Him. You see from this that it is not strictly necessary to say any words when we pray. If we only think of God in our minds and love Him with our hearts, we make a good prayer, though we may not say a single word.
 
Father Vianney, the Cure of Ars, speaks of a man who was a simple peasant, poor in the goods of this world and ignorant of its learning, but rich in piety and virtue. He was particularly remarkable for his ardent devotion to our Blessed Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament. Whether going to his work or returning from it, never did that good man pass the church without entering it to adore his Lord. The priest who watched him with delight, could never perceive the slightest movement of the lips. Being surprised at this circumstance, he said to him one day: "My good man, what do you say to our Lord in those long visits you pay Him every day?" "I say nothing to Him," was the reply; "I look at Him and He looks at me."

A beautiful and sublime answer. He said nothing, he opened no book, he could not read, but he had eyes—eyes of the body and eyes of the soul, and he opened them, the eyes of the soul especially, and fixed them on our Lord. He fastened upon Him his whole mind, his whole heart, his memory, his understanding, all his senses, all his affections. This is the secret of becoming saints. God expressly promises protection and deliverance to those who call upon Him in any necessity.

You remember the three young men in the fiery furnace, they prayed and were saved. Daniel in the lions' den subdued the fury of the beasts by prayer. In the year 350 the city of Nisibis was besieged by the Persian king, Sapor II. St. James, bishop of that city, mounted the walls of that city and prayed to the Lord against the unbelievers; God heard his prayer in a miraculous way. Suddenly there came swarms of flies, which attacked the trunks of the enemy's elephants, and the ears and nostrils of the horses, rendering them untractable and causing so great a disorder in the camp that Sapor was reluctantly obliged to give up the siege.

Prayer closes the door of our heart against all the enemies of our soul, that they cannot enter and rob us of the treasure of grace. A young man, named Pacho, retired into the desert, there to do penance for his sins. After several years he suffered such violent temptations that he conceived the idea of taking his own life. With this intention he laid himself before a cave in which were two hyenas, wishing to be devoured by them. But they did not injure him. Then he took a poisonous serpent, bared his breast and irritated the serpent, that its bite might be more deadly; but it had no poison for him. The youth now turned his wrath against heaven and accused God, because He would not let him die. But behold ! on a sudden he hears an interior voice which says to him: "Wretch! what do you mean? Do you think you can overcome temptations by your own strength? Pray, pray, and you will conquer."

The youth followed this advice; he began to pray, and as often as temptation assailed him, he prayed with great fervor, and came off victorious after each conflict.

As long as a Christian prays with fervor and devotion he leads a good life. Temptations may be numerous; he stands firm, for as the stake supports the little tree, so prayer supports him. But if he becomes careless in prayer, and neglects it altogether, or performs it only hastily, he totters and falls. St. Peter denied his Master three different times. Why? Because he neglected prayer. Our Lord had commanded him and the other apostles to watch and pray, but they slept. Therefore, pray without ceasing, for prayer is the most necessary means for the preservation of grace and of perseverance in virtue.

A little boy, whose name was Johnny, asked his mother some very hard and troublesome questions. His parents were not Christians. They did not go to church and they did not pray, but they wanted Johnny to go to Sunday school and to Mass, and taught him to say his prayers. And at the end he would add some words of his own. "God bless papa, God bless mama, God bless Johnny, and make him a good boy." One night after he had said his prayers and kissed his mother good night, he looked up into her face, and said:
"Mama, do you pray?" "No, darling," she said. "Does papa pray?" "I never heard him pray," said his mother. "Then why do you make me pray?" he said. "So that you may be a good boy." "Don't you want to be good, mama ?" he said. "Oh, yes, I want to be good." "Don't papa want to be good ?" he asked. "Oh, I think so." "Then why don't you and papa both pray, too?" he asked. She was not quite ready to answer that hard question, and the little lad went on talking. "Well, mama," said he, "I guess God will hear the prayer of a little boy like me, but don't you think you and papa expect too much of such a little boy ? Do you think that God wants me to do all the praying for this whole family ? It seems to me that you and papa might help me a little." But he was growing sleepy, and he was soon far off in dreamland.

He did not think of it any more, perhaps, and he never asked those hard questions again. Indeed, he didn't need to ask them again, for the father and mother that night, after he was sound asleep, talked it all over and came and knelt by his bed and gave their hearts to God like little children, and prayed that God would answer their little boy's prayer. God does not want little children to be the only ones to pray. He wants fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and grandfathers and grandmothers all to pray to Him, for He is our Father and Friend and He loves to have us speak to Him,
 
Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921


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Fourth Sunday after Easter - Ambassadors of God

5/1/2021

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My dear Children:—God our Lord and Creator sent us into the world, that we may serve Him and after our death go to Him in heaven. If by perseverance we live up to our destiny and do the will of God in all things, we shall be admitted into the heavenly court.

Being the ambassadors of God we must carefully shun whatever is incompatible with our dignity. Remember well, my dear children, that you act contemptibly, if, unmindful of your dignity, you give way to your passions: when you are self-willed or quarrelsome, when you are jealous, and when you act in other ungodly ways. You dishonor God, whose ambassadors you are, and compel Him, on account of the insult which you offer Him, to deprive you of your dignity. Let us never forget who we are, and in every temptation say to ourselves: I must not, I will not, do this; it would disgrace me, an ambassador of God.

As ambassadors we must defend the honor of our Lord and Master. If any remarks be made in public injurious to His honor, we must defend Him. We must honor God in our heart, and rejoice over the honor and homage given to Him in heaven and on earth, wishing that He may be known, loved and praised by all men. We must honor Him with the mouth, by public and private prayer; by assisting at public worship, by bowing our head when at public worship pronouncing the name of Jesus. We must honor Him in actions by doing all things for His honor and by giving good example to our fellow playmates. St. Francis of Assisi, whenever he found a piece of paper on which the name of God was written, carefully preserved it in his cell with great veneration.

Way off in an out-of-the-way corner of India a missionary had gone to baptize some men and women, and received them into the true Church of God. During the course of the service the missionary noticed a boy about twelve years of age, sitting away Back in the corner of the little church, looking very much interested and listening with all his might. After he had baptized and received into the Church the grown-up converts, the missionary was surprised to see the boy come forward and stand at the railing. The missionary said to him: "What, my lad, do you want; do you also want to be baptized and go to Holy Communion ?" The boy said, "Yes, Father." The missionary looked at him lovingly, and said, "But you are very young, and I know nothing about you, and no one has taught you about the Christian Faith, and after a while you might grow careless and indifferent. Perhaps it will be better for you to wait." The boy said nothing, but turned away to his seat with a sad heart, and the missionary saw that he was very much disappointed. After a while a man stood up and spoke: "Why, Reverend Father, this boy has taught us all we know about Jesus."

And what he said proved to be the truth. That boy had learned the story of the Gospel and his catechism at a mission school in a distant village, and had returned to his heathen home to tell the story of Jesus to his own people. He read to them out of the New Testament until they gave their hearts to God and were consecrated to Jesus. So you see this little lad was a real ambassador of God and a young missionary. I am sure if boys love Jesus and live as He would like to have them live, kind and obedient and true, that they will be able to do more for Him than they could do even if they were able to preach great, eloquent sermons. Many a father and mother were; led back to God by their own little boy or girl.

As ambassadors of God we must have the good of our Holy Mother, the Church, at heart. It is she who made us children of God and heirs of heaven. She constantly instructs us in the divine law, entreats, rebukes, reproves and punishes us, in order to save our soul. She administers to us the sacraments, through which we are justified. She offers up for us daily the glorious sacrifice of the Mass, and petitions God for every good we need for time and eternity.
 
There was in the house of a certain Spanish lady called Gratia a poor slave girl who had been brought up in the religion of Mahomet. There sprang up between the lady and her slave a great friendship. Gratia loved her, and the poor girl showed that she loved her mistress in return by attending to her wants with great diligence. One thing only saddened the affectionate soul of Gratia: she could not look upon the maid without shedding tears, for she knew that her soul was still in the power of the devil.

"O my God give me that soul” she prayed; "let not the soul perish for whose salvation Thy beloved Son died on Calvary."

The pious lady wept and prayed, till at length God granted her request The slave became a fervent child of God's one true Church, and a faithful imitator of the piety of her mistress.
Be mindful, therefore, of the high dignity which you possess as ambassadors of God, and fulfill your duties conscientiously. Well for you, if, as ambassadors of God, you fulfill your duties faithfully; when the time of your departure shall come, you will be able to say with Jesus: I go to Him that sent me.

Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921
 


 


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