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First Sunday of Advent - The Last Judgment

12/1/2019

They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty. ST. LUKE xxi. 27.

I. As fear is the beginning of wisdom, the Church upon this day opens her ecclesiastical year, by recalling to the minds of her children the terrors of the great accounting-day, upon which neither saint nor sinner can reflect without a thrill of shuddering horror. It is no wonder that they fill us with dread; for the very shadows which that day of wrath shall cast before it, will be enough to make the strong man wither away with fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the earth. The great globe beneath his feet shall rock to its very centre; the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall not give their light; the sea shall pile up its tumultuous billows to rush in over the land; and the fires hidden in the bowels of the earth shall break forth to consume and to destroy. It is, of course, uncertain whether you will be living when these things shall come to pass. Yet, though it is uncertain whether you will live to see the signs which shall precede the coming of the Almighty Judge, of this one thing you may be perfectly certain that you, together with all the men who have ever breathed the breath of life, will be standing in the valley of judgment when the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the clouds of heaven.

Your eyes will look upon Jesus Christ, coming with great power and majesty to judge the living and the dead. You will stand there, surrounded by those who have sat by your side in the study and in the classroom. You will be seen by the professors who taught you, and whom you loved so well. Your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your relatives, will all be there with you. You will be there, not as an indifferent spectator, but as a prisoner at the bar, to answer to Almighty God for all the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good or evil.

II. You may perhaps ask the reason why God, Who at the moment of death has already decided the eternal doom of each of us, shall once again cite the human race collectively before His dread tribunal. Many and grave reasons are given by theologians; but let this one suffice, for it is sound, and calculated, moreover, to inspire us with salutary fear: God shall summon the whole human race to a general judgment, because each of us owes to his fellow-men a debt of truth.* His life ought to have been so blameless as to have enabled him to throw open the secret recesses of his soul to the gaze of all around him, and to bear their scrutiny without a blush. Has this debt of truth been paid by us to our brethren?

With sorrow we must confess that it has not. For nearly everyone bears about with him two personalities: one which is known to God and to himself, the other which is known to men. The man, as he stands before the eyes of God, is most studiously concealed from view, and little more than a mask is presented to the gaze of his neighbour. Hence it often happens that a scoundrel goes down to his grave with the reputation of an honest man; a libertine wears the garb of unspotted virtue; and pride the most detestable lies concealed beneath the cloak of humility. As a matter of fact, there is oftentimes as great a difference between the man as he really is, and the man as he appears to be, as there is between a smoothly-polished marble monument, and the rottenness and corruption which lie festering beneath it. God, therefore, has decreed that there shall be a great accounting-day, on which this debt of truth must be paid to humanity. He will then tear down the lying epitaph, and overturn the marble monument, and lay bare before the eyes of the whole world the rottenness and corruption of the soul.

The deeds which have been done in darkness shall be dragged forth into the light; the words which have been whispered in the ear shall be thundered forth by the Archangel's voice; the thoughts and the desires of the heart, springing into existence quick as the lightning-flash, multitudinous as the sands of the sea, shall all be made manifest and brought to judgment.

III. You are going this day to approach the Holy Altar, to partake of the victim which is there offered up for the sins of the world. You are going to receive into the tabernacle of your heart Him, before Whom you will one day stand in fear and trembling, to hear the sentence of your eternal doom. Therefore, look well into yourself, and see whether your soul is able to bear the searching glance of His all-seeing and all-holy eyes.

Is your life so pure that you could stand up fearlessly in the presence of your companions and professors, and let their eyes see you as you appear to the eyes of your God? Just examine into the nature of the thoughts which pass through your mind as you sit poring over your books. See
whether your words are so blameless that you would not fear to utter them before your masters. Are your desires always lawful? Are your actions always so innocent that they might be done in the light of day? If, after a careful scrutiny, you find that you have not harboured evil thoughts and desires, nor spoken wicked words, nor done anything that you would be ashamed of, you need not fear to approach the banquet in which Christ is received. For before God you are that which outwardly you appear to be before men, and therefore there is no debt of truth due from you unto them. But if you cannot do this if you are conscious to yourself of not being what you seem to be if you feel that you are like the whited sepulchre, fair without and foul within stand back! Go, first, and pay your debt of truth. Reveal yourself before man, and let him see you just as you are before God.

Our merciful Lord does not require you to do this before all men, but only before one who holds His place. Before him you must manifest yourself as you are. At his feet weep over your sins, and your kind, merciful God will blot them all out for you. Then you need fear nothing; for on the dreadful Judgment-day the sins of the just shall not be made a spectacle to Angels and to men, because, having been washed away by repentant tears, they are, before God, as if they had never been. Do not fail, while Jesus dwells within you, to ask for grace to lead so pure and holy a life, that you will never be ashamed to let the whole world look into the most secret recesses of your heart. If you can do this, the day of wrath will not have any terrors for you.

You will fear no evil, because you know no sin.
*Nicolas, Etudes Philosophiques, torn, iii., chap. xvi.

Source: Lectures for Boys, Volume I, Imprimatur 1896

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1st Sunday of Advent - The Day of Judgment

12/1/2019

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The day will surely come when there will be an end to all the wickedness that exists in the world, and no more insults will be offered to God. On this day almighty God will appear in all His glory and terrible majesty as the just Judge of the living and the dead. It will be a day of terror; the sun will be obscured, covered with a thick black veil; the moon will not give light, she will shine blood red; the stars will fall from the heavens, the whole universe will be shaken to its very foundations. On that day it will rain fire from the skies; burning coals will descend and destroy all that is on this earth. That day has been called by the prophets a cruel day, the day of wrath, the day of darkness, of tribulation and of no mercy. On that day God will pour out His wrath, and sinners will have to drink this chalice of bitterness to the dregs. Of this terrible day the Gospel of this Sunday speaks. It ought to be enough for Christians to hear the announcement of these dreadful occurrences once to make them sin no more, but, on the contrary, they hear these threats repeated several times during the year, and still they do not repent of their sins nor amend their lives.

I hope, my dear young people, that you are not of this number, but reflecting today on these solemn words, you will make a firm resolution not to commit a single mortal sin; and thus that dreadful day, so terrible for the sinner, will be for you a day of joy, of glory, of triumph, and the beginning of your eternal reward. When the hour of the great judgment shall arrive, St. Michael, accompanied by many other angels, will give a blast from his trumpet which shall be heard in all parts of the earth; because the sound shall be winged forth by the power of God's omnipotence. "And they shall hear the voice of the Son of God:" Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment." Great and small, kings and princes, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, all shall obey that summons. At the first sound of this blast, the bodies which for centuries have been reduced to dust will return to their former shapes, and will be reanimated by the voice of the Son of God. All shall come forth from their graves, but there will be a great difference among them. The elect will rise with bodies more brilliant than the stars and like to the angels; as St. Matthew says, "Then the just shall shine like the sun." The wicked shall be there in their former bodies too, but so loathsome that it will be to them as well as to their companions a day of horror. No wonder, for the just have risen to a new life but the wicked to eternal death.

Dear children, what would be your feelings if you should see yourselves in such an abominable body? And yet how many there are among the young who, through an inordinate love of their body, never go contrary to their passions, because they wish to indulge in unlawful pleasures. Then the angels will separate the good from the bad. Oh, what a dreadful separation! the wicked to the left, the good to the right; the good father to the right, the wicked son to the left, the good brother to the right, the wicked one to the left; now is the time to separate the wheat from the cockle. Now is the time to bind the cockle into bundles to burn. That young man who looked so deceptively innocent in his life, who appeared so good to his parents, is now the cockle because he was wicked, he and his companions; another seemed so devout, but he, too, is the cockle because his heart was full of sin. All the most hidden sins will then be manifest; those sins which were committed in the dark and in secret places, those sins which through shame were withheld from the knowledge of the confessor, and those sins, mark it well, which were confessed, but without sorrow and without the resolution to do better. Yes, father, mother, sisters, brothers and friends shall know all our secrets. Nahum the prophet says: "I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will show thy [wickedness] to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms."

But now heaven opens, and the holy cross appears, carried by angels; the cross, the sign of redemption and of life; the wicked shall fall on their faces as if struck by lightning. What cries and shrieks will they utter! But the good will rejoice when they see the cross, and falling on their knees they will cry out: ''holy cross, we hail thee, our only hope! cross, our comfort in life and now our glory and triumph, we adore thee! '' But behold, in this tumult of voices, amid all this thunder and lightning, in the midst of these fiery clouds, appears the dread Judge, clothed in garments of revenge. The terrible Majesty, with eyes burning like coals of fire. What anger, what menacing looks! His anger shall burn like a fire (Ps. Ixxxviii. 47). A red mantle on His shoulders; from His mouth proceeds a two-edged sword. The sinner shall tremble at the sight; the eyes of Christ, the Judge, shall meet the terrified looks of the sinner. The guilty shall also see, but not for his consolation, the sweet face of Mary, the Mother of sinners, and he will exclaim: "Mary, help me! Mother, have pity on me, throw a glance of mercy toward me! Cover me, Mary, with thy mantle! '' But Mary shall turn from him and say: "No longer call me Mother; you are no son of mine: there is no longer time for mercy, but for justice and divine vengeance; I feel no pity for you; when in your life I wished you to be my son, you refused to come to me; now it is too late."

The angels, too, and all the saints of heaven will reaffirm God's dreadful damnation, and turn from you in disgust: ''He will speak to them in His anger." The great Judge will then speak in His wrath to the sinner, and call him to a rigorous account for all his sinfulness, even for the most secret deeds. 'Up to the present I have been silent and patient; now is My time to render you punishment for all your iniquities; give back what thou owest.' If I were your father where was the honor due Me as such? Hardly did you come to the use of reason when you began to insult Me. You arose in the morning and went to bed at night like an animal, without remembering your Creator; you did not know your prayers, but learned early to curse My holy name. Look at your youthful waywardness, your disobedience to your superiors. From your earliest childhood you took a pride in being unruly; you know your thefts, your quarrels, your lies, your filthy practices, by which you rent and soiled the white garment of your Baptism. You went to church only to dishonor Me; at Mass you laughed, talked, and did not pray, but disturbed others in their devotions. Give an account of all this; not only of this, but give an account, too, of the sins which you made others commit. Your companion was innocent, but you corrupted him, and you are guilty of the sins which he afterwards committed. How many souls redeemed by My precious blood you have destroyed! "Give back what thou owest, rise and give an excuse for all this, if you can. Tell Me if thou hast anything to justify thyself. "(Isaias xliii. 26). Will you plead ignorance? Were you not born in a Christian family, where you received holy teachings, and saw many examples of virtue? What advice did your parents, your teachers, and also your confessor give you? You knew the malice of sin, still you persisted in committing it; you knew there would be a judgment, when you would have to give an account of even an idle word; you knew that in your surroundings in the school and on the street that there was cockle sown among the wheat, but you would not be edified by good example. Will you give as an excuse, weakness: that your passions were too strong for you? You could, if you had wished, have made yourself strong, for you had at hand prayer and the sacraments; I gave you My Body as food and My Blood as drink, but they became a poison to you because you received them unworthily. You had the help of the saints, of the angels and of Blessed Mary. How many youths with less strength than you, weaker than you, more tempted than you, and more exposed to dangers, have preserved themselves from the contamination of vice. There is a young man who at home saw nothing but bad example, whose parents had no love for God, still he remained good. After your first communion you were pious for a while. Why did you cease to be pious? Why did not your piety last for life, as it should? Ah, wretch! you shall feel the effects of My anger; the blood which I shed for you will condemn you." The trembling sinner, convicted by the all-wise Judge, will not be able to open his mouth in his defence; he will call upon the mountains to cover him, the flames to destroy him; yes, he will even call upon hell itself to hide him in its bosom.

Then Christ, the Judge, with a sweet smile upon His face, will turn to the elect and say to them: "My beloved and faithful ones, now is the time come when I will reward you for the services which you have so faithfully rendered Me. Yes, I remember the good examples you have shown, the good advice given to your companions, the crust of bread and the glass of water given to the poor in My name. I remember that from your tenderest years you offered Me your innocent hearts. I remember your many acts of love, and while others have forgotten and offended Me, you have always honored, loved, and visited Me. Now has the time come for the great feast in paradise. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Come now to eternal rest, come away from poverty to wealth, from tears to joy, from the cross to the crown.'' What joy there will be! Indeed you are the glory of God, for He will acknowledge you before the whole world as His faithful children; worthy of the delights and glory of heaven. Can you imagine a greater honor? "Thou art My servant Israel, for in thee will I glory" (Isaias xlix. 3). You are very happy, my dear young people, when a compliment is paid you by some great personage, and you never forget it. How great then will be your happiness to receive praise from God Himself !

Then again the eternal Judge will change His demeanor,and turning to the wicked will say: "Ah! you miserable beings, what have you to expect from Me? You did not love nor reverence Me in your life; I will not now acknowledge you. I know you not. You did not wish to have part with Me, and now you shall not. Go from my presence; you are objects of my hatred; go, ye damned, into eternal fire. "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. XXV. 41). Cursed by My divine Father, cursed by Me, cursed by the Holy Ghost, cursed by Mary, by the angels and all the saints." What dreadful cries will these wretches send forth on hearing these maledictions! The saints will repeat the curses of God: "Away from here, ye accursed, away from here, ye accursed! "Then the saints will praise God for His justice. These wretches would throw themselves into hell if they could, but God wants them to be witnesses of the triumph of the good; and they must stand there to see it to their own great punishment. These good people whom they ridiculed during life: "They were those whom you held in derision formerly." They will burst with envy, "The sinner shall witness this and gnash his teeth." Ah! indeed we were fools, we were wrong! See that youth whom we laughed at so often because he was pious, and called him scrupulous or a bigot, because he never took part in our wicked talks, plays, and pastimes. There he is now, covered with glory and in triumph, while we are bound in chains, captives of the devil, and prisoners of hell. How foolish were we who considered their life absurd and their end without honor, but now we see them counted among the children of God and among the saints is their lot. The wicked will say, "Yes, we have enjoyed the world and all its vanities, but what has it given us in return? Not happiness, not contentment; what a life of restlessness was ours! There is no peace for the wicked; we surfeited our souls and bodies with sin. Oh! had we done half as much to save our souls as we did to enjoy the illusive joys of our life on earth, we would be saints. "We have grown tired in the way of iniquity and perdition, we have walked in difficult paths."

Then the saints, all robed in white, with palm branches in their hands in sign of triumph, will go joyfully to heaven, there to begin the eternal chant of paradise. The wicked, howling, blaspheming, and despairing, are caught in a terrible whirlpool that starts beneath their feet, sucking them down into eternal perdition: "And these shall go to eternal perdition but the just into life eternal." In this way the great judgment will be accomplished; we shall all see one another in the valley of Jehosophat. I shall see you and you shall see me. Shall we be on the right united with the saints, or shall we be found among the wicked, on the left? Alas, what a misfortune it would be if one of us were to be found among the ranks of the wicked! Shall I, your preacher, be found on the left, arrayed in sacerdotal garments, with the mark of the character of the priesthood impressed on my forehead? St. Jerome so feared this possibility that he retired into a cave and there meditated on the terrible sound of the trumpet which was to call him to judgment, and beat his breast with a rock till it became all livid with blows. "That dreadful voice rings still in my ears, I tremble with my whole body." Should not I, who am not a saint, but a humble priest, fear much more? Jesus, trembling in every limb in fear of that day, I throw myself at Thy feet to implore mercy for myself and for my young hearers. Now Thou art the Father of mercy; then Thou shalt be the inexorable Judge; then it will be too late to ask for mercy. What am I, miserable wretch, going to say; whom will I engage as my patron, when even the just will tremble? Look upon us now, humble and contrite, asking for the pardon of our sins. Never again will we commit a sin, never again will we utter bad words or blasphemies or curses, nor go with bad companions.

Dear Jesus, in Thy goodness make us faithful to Thee and let us not be separated from Thee. Remember, sweet Jesus, that for our salvation Thou didst come down from heaven. By the many sufferings Thou didst endure we pray Thee to have mercy on us and save us; we have cost Thee too much to be abandoned by Thy mercy. Yes; save us, save us, good God, God of mercy, of infinite goodness, save us! Remember, dear Jesus, that Thou didst come to save me: do not then destroy me on that day: Fountain of all goodness,
save me!

Sermons for Children's Masses, Imprimatur 1900

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1st Sunday of Advent - The Two Advents

12/2/2018

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First Point. - We are naturally led to consider the two comings of our blessed Saviour. The first, when He comes to save men; and the second, when He shall come to judge them. These two comings are attended by very different circumstances. In the first, it is a hidden God, who seems to fear manifesting Himself, and He veils His majesty under the charms of infancy. In the second, it shall be a terrible God, who will appear in splendor. His voice will resound as thunder, and will cause the powers of heaven to tremble. In the first coming the prophets represent Him to us as a gracious King, who comes in all kindness; but in the other coming, they show Him to us with thunderbolts in His hands and indignation in His face. At the first coming, the shepherds and wise men kiss His feet and contemplate Him with love, while the angels invite men to rejoice. ''Behold, I announce to you tidings of great joy." Angels also will come to announce Him at the end of time, but they will announce Him by a terrifying trumpet-sound, which shall awaken the dead in their tombs. At Bethlehem, everything calls for love and confidence, but at the end of the world everything will inspire fear and terror. At His first coming, the poor swaddling-clothes shall be the sign by which He will be recognized, but at His second coming, the sun eclipsed and the moon stained by blood shall be the signs of His advent. The first coming takes place in the silence of the night; the other, amid thunder and lightning. At Bethlehem, He is in a manger, in the stable; but then, He will be on a throne and will come in a brilliant cloud. What relations can these two comings have, so widely different in their circumstances and in their objects, that the Church, which does nothing except in profound wisdom, begins the holy season, when she prepares her children for the coming of Christ the Saviour, by the spectacle of Jesus as our Judge? She wishes that the remembrance of the one should serve as a preparation for the other. By fear of the judgments which Jesus shall render as sovereign Judge of the universe, she wishes to determine our rebellious hearts to profit by the mysteries of love which Jesus our Liberator will teach us. Fear smooths the way to love, and we shall understand better the benefit of redemption in all its extent when we shall be vividly impressed by the rigor of those judgments from which this benefit will preserve us. Let us, therefore, enter into the spirit of the Church, our mother, and by contemplating Jesus in the clouds which will serve as a tribunal, we shall dispose ourselves to adore Him in the manger which serves Him as a cradle.

Second Point. — Let us consider the signs which shall announce the second coming of the Son of God, and the principal circumstances which will accompany His coming. The sun will refuse its light to terrified men; the moon will appear as if stained by blood; the sea in frightful convulsions, threatening to overflow its barriers; densest darkness will cover the earth as with a thick veil of mourning; angels will come to announce that the end of time has arrived — the human race awaiting, in consternation, in frightful anxiety, the end which these sad signs foretell. However, the destruction of the universe is not the most appalling in the last scenes which will terminate all the scenes of the world. For what is it, after all, that the world should be effaced, when we know that it must perish? But on the ruins of the world, the Son of man, announced by so many prodigies, preceded by justice, surrounded by majesty, comes from heaven in all the pomp of His power, in the midst of the acclamations of the heavenly court, who attend Him! What a contrast between glory and destruction, between life and death! Behold the picture which the Prophet Daniel has made of it: "I beheld attentively, until the thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days was seated. His throne was like flames of fire and its wheels of burning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before Him. A million of angels ministered to Him and a thousand million stood before Him. The Judge is seated and the books were opened. I beheld one like the Son of man advance towards the Ancient of days; and they presented them before Him. And they gave Him honor, power, and kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him. His power is an everlasting power which shall not be taken away from Him, and His Kingdom shall not be destroyed. My spirit trembled. I, Daniel, was affrighted at these things.'' And who shall not be terrified? O my God, behold me at Thy feet, seized with terror at the remembrance of Thy judgments! Have pity on me before the day of Thy vengeance arrives, for on that day there shall be no longer pity or pardon.

Third Point. — Let us consider the rigor with which Jesus shall deal towards impenitent sinners on the day of His justice. He will command His angels to separate the wicked from the elect, as if they were unclean animals. He will place before their eyes the iniquities which have stained their miserable lives; and when He shall have confounded them before the eyes of the whole world, He will turn on them the eyes of His majesty. But who could endure the weight of His avenging looks? How true it is to say that sinners shall implore the mountains to crush them and death to annihilate them! But no, this will not happen; they must endure the agony of His terrible gaze, they must live to render by their sufferings eternal homage to that justice which they have so shamefully outraged. To understand to what extent sinners are hideous in the eyes of God, it will suffice to meditate on the first word He will address them. It is a word of indignation and disgust: "Depart from Me," and His voice, like to thunder-sound, shall resound to the extremities of the earth. At this anathema hell rejoices at the victims which are given and the demons rush forth to receive their prey. A saint thought he heard a voice issue from the throne of God to plead the cause of the sinner, and the following dialogue ensued: "Lord, dost Thou not recognize the work of Thy hands, and Thy privileged creature? O my God, suspend Thy sentence and Thy vengeance. These whom Thou rejectest are the very ones for whom Thou didst die; they are Thy children, the heirs to Thy Kingdom." But He answers: "I do not know them! They have blasphemed My name, they have despised My love, they are ingrates. They have employed My very gifts against Me, and now I have cursed them. Depart from Me forever.'' " But, O my God, behold their tears, hear their lamentations. They form a large part of Thy children! Do not allow them to perish forever." But He answers: " Have they not outraged Me? Indeed they weep, but it is with rage, not in love. How often have I spoken to their hearts, how often have I tried to lead them back to Me, and they have closed their ears to My voice. Now I curse them, let them go far from My presence. Depart, ye cursed!"

O my God, I am not astonished, if the remembrance of Thy judgments has converted so many sinners, peopled the deserts with holy anchorites, and wrung tears from so many holy penitents. Is it possible to weep too bitterly for the faults which must be expiated in hell, unless they are expiated here on earth? My God, what shall be my misfortune, if, after having reflected on the terrors and the regrets which will follow Thy second coming, I shall not profit by the means of salvation which the first coming affords me ! Do not permit it, O my God, and grant that I may never abuse Thy love and Thy mercy.

Source: Short Instructions for Every Sunday of the Year and the Principal Feasts, Imprimatur 1897

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The First Sunday of Advent - The Last Judgment

12/1/2013

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They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty. ST. LUKE xxi. 27.

I. As fear is the beginning of wisdom, the Church upon this day opens her ecclesiastical year, by recalling to the minds of her children the terrors of the great accounting-day, upon which neither saint nor sinner can reflect without a thrill of shuddering horror. It is no wonder that they fill us with dread; for the very shadows which that day of wrath shall cast before it, will be enough to make the strong man wither away with fear, and expectation of what shall come upon the earth. The great globe beneath his feet shall rock to its very centre; the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall not give their light; the sea shall pile up its tumultuous billows to rush in over the land; and the fires hidden in the bowels of the earth shall break forth to consume and to destroy.

It is, of course, uncertain whether you will be living when these things shall come to pass. The probability is, that centuries upon centuries will have rolled by, and that your ashes will have been scattered to the winds of heaven, before the coming of that day of darkness and of storm. Yet, though it is uncertain whether you will live to see the signs which shall precede the coming of the Almighty Judge, of this one thing you may be perfectly certain that you, together with all the men who have ever breathed the breath of life, will be standing in the valley of judgment when the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the clouds of heaven.

Your eyes will look upon Jesus Christ, coming with great power and majesty to judge the living and the dead. You will stand there, surrounded by those who have sat by your side in the study and in the class-room. You will be seen by the professors who taught you, and whom you loved so well. Your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your relatives, will all be there with you. You will be there, not as
an indifferent spectator, but as a prisoner at the bar, to answer to Almighty God for all the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good or evil.

II. You may perhaps ask the reason why God, Who at the moment of death has already decided the eternal doom of each of us, shall once again cite the human race collectively before His dread tribunal. Many and grave reasons are given by theologians; but let this one suffice, for it is sound, and calculated, moreover, to inspire us with salutary fear: God shall summon the whole human race to a general judgment, because each of us owes to his fellow-men a debt of truth. His life ought to have been so blameless as to have enabled him to throw open the secret recesses of his soul to the gaze of all around him, and to bear their scrutiny without a blush. Has this debt of truth been paid by us to our brethren?

With sorrow we must confess that it has not. For nearly everyone bears about with him two personalities: one which is known to God and to himself, the other which is known to men. The man, as he stands before the eyes of God, is most studiously concealed from view, and little more than a mask is presented to the gaze of his neighbour. Hence it often happens that a scoundrel goes down to his grave with the reputation of an honest man; a libertine wears the garb of unspotted virtue; and pride the most detestable lies concealed beneath the cloak of humility. As a matter of fact, there is oftentimes as great a difference between the man as he really is, and the man as he appears to be, as there is between a smoothly-polished marble monument, and the rottenness and corruption which lie festering beneath it. God, therefore, has decreed that there shall be a great accounting-day, on which this debt of truth must be paid to humanity. He will then tear down the lying epitaph, and overturn the marble monument, and lay bare before the eyes of the whole world the rottenness and corruption of the soul.

The deeds which have been done in darkness shall be dragged forth into the light; the words which have been whispered in the ear shall be thundered forth by the Archangel s voice; the thoughts and the desires of the heart, springing into existence quick as the lightning-flash, multitudinous as the sands of the sea, shall all be made manifest and brought to judgment.

III. You are going this day to approach the Holy Altar, to partake of the victim which is there offered up for the sins of the world. You are going to receive into the tabernacle of your heart Him, before Whom you will one day stand in fear and trembling, to hear the sentence of your eternal doom. Therefore, look well into yourself, and see whether your soul is able to bear the searching glance of His allseeing and all-holy eyes.

Is your life so pure that you could stand up fearlessly in the presence of your companions and professors, and let their eyes see you as you appear to the eyes of your God? Just examine into the nature of the thoughts which pass through your mind as you sit poring over your books. See whether your words are so blameless that you would not fear to utter them before your masters. Are your desires always lawful? Are your actions always so innocent that they might be done in the light of day?

If, after a careful scrutiny, you find that you have not harboured evil thoughts and desires, nor spoken wicked words, nor done anything that you would be ashamed of, you need not fear to approach the banquet in which Christ is received. For before God you are that which outwardly you appear to be before men, and therefore there is no debt of truth due from you unto them. But if you cannot do this if you are conscious to yourself of not being what you seem to be if you feel that you are like the whited sepulcher, fair without and foul within stand back! Go, first, and pay your debt of truth. Reveal yourself before man, and let him see you just as you are before God.

Our merciful Lord does not require you to do this before all men, but only before one who holds His place. Before him you must manifest yourself as you are. At his feet weep over your sins, and your kind, merciful God will blot them all out for you. Then you need fear nothing; for on the dreadful Judgment-day the sins of the just shall not be made a spectacle to Angels and to men, because, having been washed away by repentant tears, they are, before God, as if they had never been. Do not fail, while Jesus dwells within you, to ask for grace to lead so pure and holy a life, that you will never be ashamed to let the whole world look into the most secret recesses of your heart. If you can do this, the day of wrath will not have any terrors for you. You will fear no evil, because you know no sin.
Source: Lectures for Boys, Volume I, Imprimatur 1896

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