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14th Sunday after Pentecost - God and Mammon

8/29/2021

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My dear Children: Our Lord tells us in the Gospel of this Sunday that we cannot serve two masters. God and Mammon are two masters always at war with each other. Mammon means nothing else than riches or avarice, the inordinate desire after the goods of this world, and a sinful desire to obtain them.

The avaricious man does not seek first the kingdom of God and His justice; what he seeks and desires is money and goods; he thinks only of them. He violates Christian charity and justice; he oppresses the poor, widows and orphans when there is a question of gratifying his avarice.

Children, understand me, to be rich and to be avaricious are not one and the same thing. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job and David were rich, but not avaricious. They were holy men. There are rich people who are not avaricious, and there are poor people who are very avaricious. Only those who inordinately seek and love money and other worldly goods are avaricious.

A merchant named William made a long journey into a distant country, acquired a large fortune by his industry and skill, and after many years returned to his native country. Just as the ship arrived, he heard that all his relations were assembled at a merry supper party in a near-by country house. He immediately hurried to it, and, in the joy of his heart, did not even take time to exchange for a better coat his traveling dress, which had grown rather shabby in the course of the voyage. The consequence was that, as he came into the brilliantly-lighted room, his fine cousins showed but little pleasure at seeing him back again, imagining from his shabby apparel that he had returned home poor. A young servant whom he had brought with him was indignant at the conduct of these relations. "What a heartless set!" said he, "who do not even give their friend a hearty welcome after so long an absence/' "Just wait a moment," said the merchant to him, in a low voice; "they will soon show a different countenance."

He then put a precious ring, which he carried with him, on his finger; and, lo! all their countenances brightened up, and each pressed towards "dear Cousin William." One took him by the hand, another embraced him, and all contended for the honor of receiving and entertaining him at their houses. "Can it then be," said the astonished servant, "that the ring has some hidden power to bewitch the people?" "Oh, no," said William, "it is only that they see by the sparkling ring, which is worth some thousand dollars, that I am rich; and riches rank above everything else in their eyes." "Oh! you blinded men!" cried the boy; "it is not, then, the ring, but your own avarice, that has bewitched you! Can it, indeed, be that men should prize a bit of yellow ore and a brilliant stone more highly than a man so noble as my master?" How many a silly fool worships wealth and is blind to virtue!

We must always be on our guard, dear children, against the hateful and contemptible vice of avarice, which is the fruitful source of so many evils, and we should be the more watchful because it is apt to grow upon people without their perceiving it, especially as they acquire wealth and advance in years. Your parents, dear children, should take every opportunity of promoting liberality in you, teaching you to be generous to your companions, and to love above all things Christ's poor ; otherwise your parents will see you grow up mean, selfish and miserly. You should always remember the words of our divine Lord that He has promised on His own divine word, that even a cup of water given in His name shall not lose its reward.

We have a terrible example of the fatal consequences of 'avarice in the traitor Judas, who, for the few paltry pieces of silver, betrayed His divine Master. On the other hand, it was the charity of Tobias which obtained for him the visit of the archangel Raphael and many blessings, both spiritual and temporal.

Again, it was the hospitality which the woman of Sunam showed to the prophet Eliseus that merited the restoration of her son to life.
 
A rich miser, who had never given a penny to a poor man, kept a monkey for his amusement; but this monkey he even hoped to sell again for more than he had cost. One day this hardhearted man had gone out. The ape got his paws upon the well-filled money chests, and threw whole handfuls of gold and silver out of the window into the street. The people who saw this ran to pick the money up; they scrambled and fought for it and gathered up as much as they could. At length, when the chests were almost empty, the miser came up the street and saw with horror what was going on. "Oh! you hideous, stupid brute!" he cried out, threatening the ape with his clenched fist. A neighbor, however, said to him in the midst of his fury : "Keep your temper. It is certainly stupid to throw money out of the window like this monkey; but, pray, is the man more reasonable who locks it up in chests and makes no use whatever of it ? See how God punished the avaricious man by the means of a stupid animal!

Children, there is a great difference between a proper and an inordinate love of money. He who properly loves money has not the money itself in mind, but the proper use of it; he would be quite indifferent to it if he could not make use of it. Money is to him what medicine is to a sick man. He loves medicine because thereby he hopes to gain a benefit. On the contrary, he who loves money for money's sake, has only the money and not the use of it in view; the possession of money gives him great pleasure.

Thus the rich merchant, of whom Caesarius relates that his friends were obliged to promise him that they would bind a purse of gold upon his heart and put it into the grave with him, certainly loved money. Thus the Emperor Caligula loved money; he often rolled himself on it with great satisfaction. Many Catholics have indeed no purse bound upon their heart, nor do they roll themselves upon their money, but their hearts and souls cling to it; their most pleasant hours are spent in counting their money. The rich man may lose all his wealth by misfortune, and be reduced to beggary during his lifetime; but death tears from man all he possesses. Suppose a man has boxes full of gold, death will not leave him a cent; suppose he owns houses and lands, nothing remains for him but the coffin, in which his body is laid, and a few feet of clay in which he moulders.

The Emperor Constantine one day demonstrated this truth to one of his officers, to cure him of his inordinate love of money. He marked out with his sword on the surface of the ground a space six feet long and two feet wide, and then said to him: "This is all that finally remains for us, my friend ; why should we labor so much to gather riches ?"

Children, often think of this story when you have a desire for the riches and pleasures of the world. 'That is all that will remain to me in death." Remember, man is made for heaven, his eyes look towards heaven. Give a horse a bundle of hay, and a dog a piece of meat, and they are satisfied and wish for no more. The heart of man is made for love and union with God and will never find rest in sensual enjoyments. In spite of his millions the heart of the avaricious man feels disquieted.

A miser had hidden with care a large sum of money in the hollow of a rock. A father of a family, in despair at the want of his children, betook himself to that spot, with the intention of hanging himself with a rope he carried for that purpose. Of a sudden he felt the ground yielding beneath him, and he fell into the hollow which the miser had dug out. After recovering from his fall, he found the treasure hidden there, and took it off as a present from heaven. Later on the miser came to contemplate his gold; finding it gone, he hanged himself with the rope the other had left behind him.

My dear boys and girls, as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ, we must consider that when He came down from heaven upon earth that He would not possess any riches, which you so greedily desire; nay, He loved poverty so much that He chose to be born of a poor and lowly virgin, and not of a rich princess of the earth. When He came into the world He would not live in a magnificent palace, but in a miserable manger where rough straw touched His tender body. Moderate your desires for earthly goods which are vain and frail. Your divine Judge will ask you what you have done for heaven, not what you possessed of the goods of this world. Endeavor to be rich in virtues and good works; these are true treasures, far more precious than all the gold and silver of the world.

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


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13th Sunday after Pentecost - A Healing of Sinful Man

8/21/2021

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 My dear Children: If you see among your companions a boy or a girl afflicted with a bad eruption on the skin, you try to avoid them. The Gospel story we have just read, tells of lepers who were looked upon as unclean. The disease they had was called leprosy. Leprosy is a symbol of sin, for as this disease defiles the body, so sin contaminates the soul, deprives it of the life of grace, and plunges it into eternal death. If we wish to be freed of the leprosy of the soul, we must show ourselves to the priests, i. e., we must sincerely confess our sins to them, for they have the power, not only of pronouncing us clean, but of really cleansing us from sins.

We should confess frequently, because we often sin. If there were a man who never in his life committed even a venial sin, he could not and should not confess, for confession is only ordained for sinners. But there is no man or woman who does not some time or other commit sin during the course of life; even the greatest saints were not without some sin, and although they did not sin grievously, yet they were not free from lesser faults. As every man is a sinner, every man must confess, because Christ has ordained it so. Whether we commit mortal or venial sins, we should frequently go to confession.

A hermit having fallen through human frailty into several faults, went to Siloe, one of the great Fathers of the desert, to ask him what he should do. "My son," he answered, "you must rise again from your fall." "But, my Father, I have already done so, and I have fallen again." "Well, just rise again once more." "And how often must I thus rise again?" "As often as you fall," replied the Father. "Rise again always as long as you live, and when the hour of your death comes, it will find you either standing or lying down, and it will carry you in that position before the sovereign tribunal of God."

May God grant, my children, that, when that terrible messenger comes to you, he will find you standing, that is, in the grace of God, so that your sentence then may be that of the just. Though he who lives in the state of grievous sin may perform all kinds of good works, pray, fast, and give alms, yet he cannot expect the least reward for it hereafter. What an injury do not sinners inflict upon themselves who for a long time, often for years, neglect to confess! Even venial sins are a great evil; and if we view them as an offense against God we must look upon them as the greatest of temporal evils. Venial sins prevent our entrance into heaven, and unless forgiven here, they must be atoned for in purgatory. The greater the number of venial sins, the longer will be the punishment in purgatory. Should we not, then, confess frequently in order to free ourselves more and more from venial sins, and not be compelled to suffer long in purgatory? Those who disregard venial sins commit them without fear or scruple. He who does not confess often, easily falls into a state of lukewarmness, and runs the risk of finally falling into mortal sins, and of being ultimately rejected.

A young boy, who had made his First Communion only a few months previously, was sent by his parents as an apprentice to a trade they had chosen for him. On the day of his First Communion he had taken one great resolution, which at all hazards he was resolved to keep. It was this: "If by some great misfortune I should happen to fall into mortal sin, I will go to Confession before I retire to rest on that very same day." This misfortune did occur. It was on a Saturday, and the weather was exceedingly stormy; moreover, the priest lived at a considerable distance from the place where the boy dwelt. The tempter, who had been the occasion of his fall, suggested to him that he might easily delay his visit to the priest for a few days, considering he dwelt at such a distance and the weather was so bad. But suddenly recalling to mind his promise, the boy seemed to hear deep down in his soul a voice—perhaps it might have been that of his guardian angel—which urged him to go immediately: "Go to Confession at once; do as you promised."
 
For a moment he hesitated. Falling down on his knees, he said a "Hail Mary," to obtain the grace of knowing the will of God, and of following it. He rose from his knees and set out for the church. On his return he met his godmother, who inquired of him where he had been. He told her all, with joy on his countenance. "I could not go to sleep," he said, "until I had become reconciled to God." His mother was accustomed on Sunday mornings to allow her children a longer time for sleep than on other days. When it became rather late on this Sunday, she went to the door of the little room in which he slept to awake him. She knocked, but received no answer. She then opened the door, and found him still in bed, asleep, as she thought. "Rise quickly, you lazy boy," she said, as she approached the bed. Seeing that he heeded not, she took his hands; they were cold. With terror she looked more closely at him. This look told her all. The child was dead and his body cold. How fortunate for him that he had not delayed going to Confession. Children, learn from this example never to delay even for one instant the return to God when by misfortune a mortal sin has separated you from Him. Make immediately an act of contrition, and go to Confession as soon as possible.

Most persons immediately after Confession have an earnest desire to sin no more, to avoid all evil occasions, and to lead a new life. For some time everything goes well; they carefully
avoid everything that might cause them to fall, and diligently employ the means prescribed by the confessor. But their fervor gradually lessens; they cease to pray fervently, to not renew their resolutions so frequently; they incline again more to the world. Thus it goes on for some time. Gradually the impressions of grace begin to wane and the fear of God grows weaker and gradually they commit the old sins again. Why this relapse? Because they deferred confession too long; temptation got the upper hand of them.

Children, if you wish to be a good Catholic, and you want to be sure of heaven, you must confess not only once a year, but often. In general, I advise young people to go to Confession once a month. I am convinced that if you confess and communicate often you will preserve yourself from sin, make progress in virtue, and attain salvation.

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


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17th Sunday after Pentecost - Loving God Above all Things

8/15/2021

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My dear Children: We must love God. What does this mean?
It means that we must love God not only exteriorly, but also interiorly. It not only the mere tribute of our words or external appearance in our prayer that He demands, but our words come must from the very bottom of our hearts. Who are those who love God only with their lips ? Those boys or girls who pray without thinking of what they say. Their heart is with their playmates or their toys. Such children offer an insult to God, and consequently cannot expect any result from their prayer.   Those who do not give their heart to God do not love Him. All those who are in mortal sin do not love God; they love their evil passions; they tell a direct he to God as often as they say: "My God I love Thee." God is not satisfied with a divided heart; we must not divide our love between Him and His creatures. To love God with the whole heart means to love God alone, and everything besides God for God's sake and in such a manner as He wills.
St. Francs de Sales loved God with his whole heart, for he savs of himself: "If I knew that there was in my heart a single fibre not for God, I would tear it out at once." If you have any inordinate love for any person or thing expel it from your heart, for the heart man is a tabernacle in which God alone should dwell.

I heard a story the other day about a little boy who surely had the love of God in his heart. There is one thing he never forgot namely, to take his offering with him every Sunday to church. He had his envelope for his weekly offering just as his father had and he never would go to church unless he had it with him I happened one day that he had to go to church alone on a Sunday when his father and mother were absent. However, he did Z without his offering. He had it in his little white envelope which he carried in his pocket.  That morning a strange lady sat at the head of the seat m the same pew, and when the time came for the offering to be given she looked in her bag and found that she had no money with her. She didn't seem to be troubled about it, but the little boy was greatly troubled and wondered what she would do when the men would come with the plates to receive the offering and she had none to give. You see he had formed the habit of giving and he enjoyed it, and wondered how anybody could go to church without a gift. Well, he got more troubled and anxious the nearer the ushers came with the collection-plates, and
when they came to the seat in front of the one where he was sitting he held out his little white envelope to the strange lady, and said to her: "Here, please, take this and put it in the plate, and I'll get under the seat. I'm small and they won't see me." That boy has formed a habit of giving, and when he grows to be a man it will be part of his life and part of his religion to offer his gifts unto the Lord. I think that every boy, no matter how small, ought to give some of his money—however little it may be—to God.

Charity requires that we always will what God wills, that we make a sacrifice of our will to God, and therefore accept cheerfully all crosses and afflictions from His hand. In this way all pious souls manifest their love of God. When St. Gertrude said the "Our Father," she used to repeat three times the words "Thy will be done." While praying thus one day, our blessed Lord appeared to her, having health in one hand and sickness in the other, and said to her: "Choose, daughter, between health and sickness." Which do you suppose the saint chose? Health, of course. No. Well, then sickness ? No. As she did not know what our Lord thought good to give her, she said : "Lord, not my will but Thine be done." Let us be satisfied with whatever God is pleased to send us, firmly convinced that He will send us what is good for us.

In the year 1623, at the beginning of Lent, the Venerable Agnes of Jesus became very ill. She was at that time only twenty-one years old. The physicians did not seem to understand the nature of the malady, and gave her medicine which, instead of making her better, only made her suffer the more. But Agnes never uttered one word of complaint, the only words she said were the following, which she repeated often every day: "O my God, mayest Thou be blessed a thousand times." When Easter Sunday came, God was pleased to reward the patience with which she had suffered the heavy crosses He had been pleased to send her, by permitting her guardian angel to appear to her. "My child," said the angel, "are you happy in your sufferings?" "Yes," she answered, "because it is the holy Will of God, whom I love with all my heart. My heart and my will are entirely united to Him: let Him dispose of me according to His divine Will." The angel answered: "Continue to love Jesus in this way, and be assured that He will never forsake you."

When we love some one sincerely we often think of him, for where our treasure is there also is our heart. If, therefore, we truly love God, we shall frequently think of Him and raise our heart to Him. St. Aloysius was always occupied with the thought of God and divine things, and, whether alone or in company, whether he worked or rested, he had no room in his heart for anything but God.

To spare his weakened health, his superiors ordered him to turn his thoughts sometimes from God and to divert himself. But it was impossible for him to do so. Hence it is not a good sign that so many of us have our thoughts everywhere except with God; that we rise in the morning and lie down in the evening without thinking of God, that we occupy ourselves the whole day entirely with temporal affairs, without even a passing thought of God, that even when in church we give way to distractions, and that in general we care as little about God as about a stranger. If we feel ourselves guilty we must admit that our love of God resembles a weak spark which is liable every moment to be extinguished.

A father and mother were living with their two children on a desert island in the ocean, on which they had been shipwrecked. Roots and vegetables served them for food; a spring was their drink; and a cavern in the rock their dwelling. Storms and tempests often raged fearfully on the island. The children knew nothing of the vast continent; bread, milk, fruit, and whatever other luxury is obtainable there, were things unknown to them. There landed one day upon the island four Moors in a small boat. The parents were greatly delighted, and hoped now to be rescued from their sufferings. But the boat was too small to take them all over together to the adjoining land, so the father determined to risk the passage first. The mother and children wept, when he embarked in the frail wooden boat, and the four black men were to take him away. But he said : "Weep not, it is a better land : and you will all follow soon." When the little boat returned, and took away the mother, the children wept still more. But she also said: "Weep not! In the better land we shall all meet again." At last came the boat to take away the two children. It was with fear and trembling that they drew near the land. But how delighted were they when their parents appeared on the shore, offered them their hands, led them into the shade of lofty palm trees, and regaled them with milk and honey. "My dear children," said the father, "our voyage from the desert island to this beautiful country has a higher meaning. We are all destined to make a much longer journey, to a much more beautiful country. The whole earth upon which we dwell resembles an island ; this glorious land is an image for us, although only a faint one, of heaven ; the voyage hither over the stormy sea is death; that little boat resembles the bier, upon which men in black apparel shall sooner or later carry us forth. But when the hour strikes for us, for myself, your mother, or you! to leave this world, be not afraid. Death is for pious people, who have loved God, and have done His will, nothing else but a voyage to the Better Land."

Children, whatever you do, do all for the love of God, that you may become richer and richer in merits in this world, and hereafter receive in heaven the reward of all that love God.

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


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The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

8/15/2021

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The Church  keeps no festival in honor of any event in the life of the Queen after the Purification, unless we consider that of the Seven Dolors as such.  The Sorrows of Mary are commemorated on two days - the Friday in Passion Week and the third Sunday of September.  I will tell you of both together when we come to the Queen's Sundays.

Now we will speak of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, which is kept, as you know, on the 15th of August, and is a Holy Day of Obligation that is, it is one of those days which the Church commands us to keep holy as we keep the Sundays, by hearing Mass and doing no unnecessary servile work. 

You know that the Gospels tell us very little about Our Lady during the public life of her Divine Son, and nothing at all of what she did or where she lived after His ascension into heaven.
Even St. Luke, who loved to write about the holy Child and His Mother, and who also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, tells us nothing at all of what we should so much like to know.  We can only suppose that the Queen in her humility desired both St. John and St. Luke to be silent as to all that concerned her.  She knew that "henceforth all generations should call her blessed," because "He that is mighty had done great things to her," and that was enough.

But the Apostles and the early Christians treasured many memories of what happened to their Mother  and ours; and these memories were handed down in the Church by tradition, even if they were not found in the written word of God.   We know that Out Lord when dying left His Blessed Mother to the care of St. John  and "That disciple took her to his own."

We learn from tradition that Mary went with her adopted son to Ephesus, and that after spending some years there she returned to Jerusalem in order to visit again the scenes of Our Lord's Passion and death before she herself went to rejoin Him in heaven.

About twelve years after He had ascended from the top of Mt. Olivet her call came, and Mary gave her soul into the hands of God.  Her body was buried by the Apostles, but it was not allowed to remain in the tomb.  As Our Lord had preserved her soul from the taint of Original Sin, so He preserved her most pure body from the corruption which is a part of sin's punishment.  On the third day Mary's soul and body were reunited by the power of God, and borne by angels triumphantly to heaven.  This is what is meant by the Assumption.

"Then it is just the same as the Ascension?"

No; it is not at all the same. To ascend is to go up by your own will and your own power; to take yourself up, in fact.  To be assumed is to be taken up by the will and power of another. Our Lord ascended went up entirely by His own power; the Queen was assumed or carried up by the will and power of God.

Two other persons have been assumed into heaven by the power of God: Enoch and Elias.  But they were not taken into the beatific vision, and they must return to earth some day to die.  The Blessed Mother's body, on the other hand, was reunited to her soul and passed into the presence of God, where she will be happy for all eternity.

If you look at a picture or a stained-glass window of the Assumption, you will probably see the Apostles represented as kneeling or standing around an open tomb which is filled with flowers - generally roses and lilies.  The story is this:

When the Queen was about to die, the Apostles, who had known and loved her, were scattered abroad, "teaching all nations and baptizing them," but they learned by revelation that Mary was leaving the earth, and they were carried by the power of God to Jerusalem that they might see her once more and say farewell.  Only poor Thomas did not reach the Holy City until after the burial of the Queen.  He was so sorry, and the others were sorry for him, that they determined to open the sepulcher so that Thomas might look upon the beautiful face once more.  But he was really too late this time.  "The stone was rolled back from the sepulcher," and they found nothing within but lilies and roses.  The body of the Blessed Mother had been taken to heaven.

The Assumption of Our Lady has never been declared and Article of Faith, but has always been believed by the faithful.  The Church has testified her  approval of the belief by establishing a festival in honor of this great privilege of Mary, and by making this festival a Holy Day of Obligation.  It is a Double with an Octave and has its own most beautiful Mass. 

The priest wears white vestments on the feast of the Assumption, as on all the festivals of the Queen.  Its eve or Vigil is a fasting day.

The feast of the Assumption has been kept from very early days, but before the invention of printing and telegraphy and such aids to quick learning, knowledge spread slowly.  In the fifth century after Our Lord, the Empress Pulcheria, who was learned lady and a saint besides, sent to the Patriarch of Jerusalem for relics of the Queen, wherewith to enrich a church built in her honor.  What the good Patriarch told Pulcheria about the Assumption was the first she had heart of it.  However, she took care to let the other people know, and very soon the festival of the Assumption was kept throughout the Church.

If ever you go to the Holy Land, you may visit the empty tomb of the Blessed Mother in the Garden of Gethsemane.


Source: The Queen's Festivals, Imprimatur 1907


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12th Sunday after Pentecost - Heroic Love

8/15/2021

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My dear Children: In His public life Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies. He is surrounded on all sides by enemies who envy, hate and persecute Him. They call His miracles the works of the devil, they misrepresent His doctrine, and say that He seduces the people; they pursue Him and strive to take His life. How does He conduct Himself towards them? Does He return evil for evil? No; He suffers and forgives.

In His Passion again Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies. He is apprehended and bound as a malefactor deserving death; He is dragged with contumely and abuse from judge to judge; He is scourged; the soldiers put a crown of thorns on His head and spit in His face; He is crucified between two thieves and is mocked and blasphemed even in the agony of death. He silently and patiently endures it all, and when dying opens His mouth, not to complain, but to pray for His enemies and murderers. After knowing this can we refuse to forgive our enemies ?

During the persecution of Maximinian, St. Sabinus, Bishop of Aris, was tortured at the command of the governor Venustianus. His two hand had been cut off, when the cruel governor was seized with a terrible pain in his eyes and suffered horribly. The holy martyr went over to him and began to pray over him. He had scarcely finished his prayer when the governor was released of his pain. Count Francis of Guise, who waged war against the Protestants, was told that one of them was in the camp seeking to kill him. He had him arrested. The Protestant admitted his purpose. The Count asked him: "Have I done you any harm?" "No," he replied, "but I intended to kill you because you are the greatest enemy of my faith." The Count said: "If you wish to kill me on account of your faith I will forgive you on account of mine," and he dismissed him without punishment, permitting him to pass unmolested out of the camp. To bear wrongs patiently and to forgive injuries, are part of the duty of every Christian. Indeed, it is the very spirit of the Christian religion to suffer patiently the injuries we receive from others, and to forgive our enemies from our hearts. "I say to you," said our Lord, "not to resist evil, but if a man strike thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." My dear boys and girls, by bearing patiently the evil which others do us, we prevent their further sin, inasmuch as we soothe their angry feeling, nay, often our very meekness will bring them to repentance; whereas, if we fly into a passion and reproach them, we increase their anger and are the cause of their offending God still more. "A mild word breaketh wrath," says the Wise Man, "but a harsh word stirreth up fury."

A certain official attached to the Court of the Emperor of China became afflicted with a loathsome disease. He was driven from the palace, and, having no friends, was on the point of perishing from exposure and want. Two poor Christians took compassion on him and received him into their cottage, dressed his sores, and waited on him with the greatest tenderness. At the end of three months they ventured to speak to him about the affairs of his soul. To their grief and astonishment he flew into a passion, loaded them with reproaches, and threatened to denounce them to the persecutors. In fact, he left their house and did not return for some time, leaving them for a whole month in fear and trembling. At the end of that time he again had recourse to them for assistance. Forgetting the ingratitude and ill-treatment they had received from him, they welcomed him with the
same charity, and waited on him with the same care, redoubling, in the meanwhile, their prayers for his conversion; whereupon the heart of the pagan was softened. "A religion," said he, "which inspires such conduct cannot but come from God. Teach me to know and love the God whom you serve, and to prepare myself for death which cannot be far distant." The Christians instructed him and had him baptized. Not long after, he expired, glorifying God and blessing his charitable benefactors.
 
It is a universally acknowledged truth: The more difficult the work the greater the reward. The love of friends causes no inconvenience; it is in our nature; but to love an enemy we must do violence to ourselves and overcome ourselves ; it demands some effort on our part. But does not heaven demand efforts? and does it not deserve every effort to gain it? Now, because the love of enemies demands greater efforts, hard struggles, and great self-denial, it has a claim to a great reward.

The great war has brought to light some very striking examples of heroic love. We were told by the daily papers that the Germans hate the English, that the English hate the Turks, and the Turks hate the Italians, and the Italians hate the Austrians, and the Austrians hate the Russians. Everybody hated the other one, for war teaches men to hate their enemies. Jesus, however, taught us to love our enemies. Jesus loved Judas. He prayed for the men who crucified Him. If people would only practice the teaching of Christ there would be no more war.

One of the New York dailies told the story of an Englishman and a German, who had both been severely wounded in one of the battles in Northern France. They lay very near together in the trench. One of them had some water in his canteen, and the other had none, so the one who had the water crawled over and shared it with the suffering enemy. And then they began to love each other, and when they loved each other they could not be enemies any longer.

If you had a little garden, what would you do with it? You would plant flower or vegetable seeds there, and raise something that would be pretty and useful. You would not plant in that garden the seeds of weeds and poisonous plants that would be useless and hurtful. In the same way Jesus tells us that in the garden of the heart we must be sure to plant only good seeds, seeds of love and kindness. We must not allow a single plant of hate to grow there, even hate for our enemies.

Children, if you live in enmity with any of your companions, give it up this very moment, forgive your enemy from your heart, and at the first opportunity extend to him the hand of reconciliation. Be at peace with every one. Forgive one another, that God may forgive you your sins and receive you as His children into the mansions of everlasting peace.

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


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11th Sunday after Pentecost - Unprofitable Speech

8/7/2021

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. My dear Children : There was one saint once who said : "I wish I had buttons on my lips, which I should have to unfasten before I could speak, for I should then gain more time to reflect and to consider my speech." And that saint is called Francis. He surely did not have need for such buttons, for he was prudent in all things, but we need them in order that that, what is said of the deaf and dumb man in the gospel of this day, may be applied to us: he spoke right. Many sins are committed with the eyes, ears, feet and hands, and with the other senses and members of the body in general; but most sins are committed with the tongue. On the day of judgment we shall see how great is the number of people who on account of sins of the tongue are cast into hell.

Among the Japanese there are certain men called story-tellers. They stand on street corners and a group of children are listening to what he has to say. It happened that one day a Jesuit missionary was passing and he stood and listened, and this is what he heard.
Once upon a time a little boy went to heaven, and the first thing he saw was a long shelf with very strange articles upon it. "What is that," he asked, "is that something to make soup of?" The Japanese are very fond of soup, and the boy thought that the strange things he saw might be used for that purpose. "No," was the reply, "these are the ears of little boys and girls who didn't pay any attention to what they heard, and when they died their ears came to heaven, but the rest of their bodies did not." The little boy saw another shelf with things that were strange and queer to him, and asked what it was. "Those things are tongues," he was told, "they belonged to boys and girls who were always talking and telling other people how to be good, but they themselves never did as they told others to do, and when they died their tongues came to heaven, but the rest of their bodies did not."

Now you know what that story means. It is just a fairy story but like all fairy stories it has a lesson. God gives us ears and tongues and hands and feet and eyes and hearts, to help us if
used rightly, and if we don't use them as God wants us to use them, they do us no good, but evil. Jesus said it would be better for us to be blind than to see only bad things, and that it would be better for us to be deaf than for us to hear only wicked things.

Among your companions you will find boys and girls who always want to speak of their knowledge and cleverness, and when they have done something good they cannot rest until they have published it everywhere. Such discourses are objectionable for two reasons: First, they offend against humility; secondly, they deprive our good works of all merit before God. "Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth; a stranger, and not thy own lips," so says Holy Writ.

During the cruel persecution of the Chinese Emperor, Hien Fong, A.D. 1850, a Christian convert named Yin came to settle down at the pagan town Lo, where he began to work at his trade, which was that of a tile-maker. He had not received much instruction, and, though fervent and pious, was by no means clever; accordingly he made no attempt to announce the gospel to his new neighbors. Being, however, a man of simple manner, and of a pure, innocent, and upright life, he preached much by his example.

He heard those around him cursing and swearing, but he never cursed. He saw them quarreling and fighting, but he was never seen in a passion or in enmity with his neighbors.

A course of life so different from that of his neighbors excited the curiosity of some gardeners who lived near him. To satisfy themselves they came to visit him. "How is it," they said, "that you do not live as we do? You are not like us; what sort of a man are you?" "I am a Christian," he replied, "and I do nothing but follow the teaching of my religion." "Your religion!" said they; "what is your religion and what is its teaching?" Explanations followed, and his religion was thought to be good because he himself was good. In a short time eighteen pagans became Christians.
 
Unprofitable speech is found in whispering and tale-bearing, which consists in telling a person the evil things another has said about him and thus sowing the seeds of dissension and discord. A tale-bearer frequently causes those who have loved one another and lived in peace to become bitter enemies. The tale-bearer pretends to be well-disposed towards his fellow men; he does not let it appear that he means any harm; by a friendly manner he endeavors to gain confidence; in the meantime, he lies in wait, like the sneak he is, watching all their movements and words, and then reports them, exaggerated and distorted, to the person or the persons whom he wishes to prejudice against them.

Children, tale-bearing is an abominable vice in the eyes of God; therefore the Sacred Scripture says: "Six things there are which the Lord hateth, and the seventh His soul detesteth: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren." Boys and girls, guard against this vice, and be faithful to secrets entrusted to you.

One day an English nobleman came to see John Wedgwood, the famous potter. You know a potter is a man who makes beautiful things out of clay. One of the employees, a lad of fifteen years, was delegated to show the nobleman around the factory. Now this nobleman was a man who didn't believe in God, and who, while he was learned, yet was very rough in his speech and used bad words and made light of sacred things. The boy was at first greatly shocked at the nobleman's wicked words, but after a while laughed at his smart remarks. Mr. Wedgwood, who followed them, heard much of the conversation and was very indignant at the way in which the nobleman spoke before the boy. When they came back to the office, Mr. Wedgwood picked out a very beautiful vase of the choicest pattern, and holding it in his hands, told the nobleman the long and careful way in which it had been prepared. The nobleman was greatly pleased with the explanation and was much charmed with the beautiful shape and color and design of the vase, and reached out his hand to take it.

Just as he touched it, however, the owner let it fall to the ground, and his visitor, uttering an angry word, said : "I wanted that one for myself, and now it is ruined by your carelessness." "My lord," said the old potter, "there are things more precious than any vase—things which when ruined can never be restored. I can make another vase like this for you, but you can never give back to the boy who has just left us the simple faith and the pure heart which you have destroyed by making light of sacred things and by using impure words in his presence." I have heard men say that they would give their right arm if they could forget some of the things they heard when they were boys.

Children, be prudent in your speech, and always reflect, before you open your mouth, whether what you are going to say is right and according to the will of God. Be moderate in speaking; the less you speak the less you sin, and the more easily you can give an account of your words. If you observe this one rule, you will not contaminate your conscience with any sinful word.

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



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