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We have uploaded an updated file for our Study Guide on the Mass. When I printed it for my children I found that the file was not printing right. I hope that I have fixed the problem. You can find the file here.
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Grant me, O God, thy grace that in these evil days of false doctrines I may remain steadfast to Thy holy gospel which in the holy Catholic Church remains pure and unchanged; never let me be deterred from obeying its precepts, neither by the charms of the world nor by the mockery and reproaches of the wicked.
Source: Goffine's Devout Instruction, Imprimatur 1896 30. Q. What did the pagan world do in order to check the rapid spread of Christianity?
R. The Roman emperors, who governed the world, decreed ten great and bloody persecutions. 31. Q. Name these persecutions. R. First persecution, under Nero, about the year 64. He had set Rome on fire, but cast the blame on the Christians. They were killed by thousands in the streets; many were sewed in sacks, besmeared with pitch and burned alive at the nightly garden feasts of Nero. St. Peter and St. Paul died in this persecution. Second persecution, under Domitian, about the year 95. During this persecution St. John was cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but was miraculously preserved. He was then banished to the isle of Patmos, where he received divine revelations about the future of the Church and the glory of Heaven, and wrote the Apocalypse. Third persecution, under Trajan, about the year 107. Pope St. Clement was one of the first victims; Simeon, second bishop of Jerusalem, was crucified; St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was cast before the lions in the amphitheatre at Rome. The Christians of Rome gathered the bones of St. Ignatius and sent them to Antioch with the message: "We have made known to you the day of his death, so that we may unite on his anniversary to celebrate his memory, hoping to share his victory." (A. D. no.) This proves the veneration of martyrs and relics in the ancient Church. Pliny, governor of Bithynia, sent to Emperor Trajan a remarkable report about the Christians, in which he said: "They assemble on certain days before sunrise to sing hymns of praise in honor of Christ, their God, they take an oath to abstain from certain crimes and partake of a common, but blameless meal" (i. e, holy communion). This persecution was continued under Hadrian, who condemned St. Symphorosa and her seven sons to death. He profaned the holy places in Jerusalem and erected statues of false gods on Calvary and over the holy Sepulchre of our Lord. Fourth persecution, under Marcus Aurelius, about the year 167. St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John and bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom at the stake in the 86th year of his life. The persecution was terrible in Lyons and Vienne, France, where St. Pothi- nus, first bishop of Lyons, and Blandina, a heroic young slave, were martyred. Although the famous Christian legion called "Fulminatrix" saved the army in a miraculous manner by its prayers, the emperor remained unrelenting towards the Christians. The influence of St. Polycarp was so great, that his pagan and Jewish accusers stated: "He is the teacher of Asia, father of the Christians and destroyer of our Gods." When asked to deny Christ, he answered: "I have served Christ for six and eighty years, and never has he done me evil. How, then, can I blaspheme my King and Saviour." His ashes were gathered by the Christians and placed in a tomb, where they annually celebrated the day of his martyrdom. Fifth persecution, under Septimius Severus, about the year 202. This emperor had been cured by a Christian; nevertheless he turned against them. St. Clement of Alexandria said of this persecution: "We see daily many martyrs burned and crucified before our eyes." St. Irenaeus suffered at Lyons, St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas at Carthage. Perpetua's father, a pagan and senator of Carthage, begged her on his knees to abjure Christ for the sake of his gray hair and her own little babe, but with heroic fortitude the noble Christian lady refused. She was led with St. Felicitas into the arena, where they suffered a glorious martyrdom by the horns of a maddened bull and the sword of the executioner. Sixth persecution, under Maximinus Thrax, about the year 236. On account of repeated earthquakes, which the heathens ascribed to the neglect of their gods, they demanded another persecution of the Christians with the cry: "The Christians to the lions." The two popes, Pontianus and Antherus, and many others suffered martyrdom. Seventh persecution, under Decius, about the year 250. This most bloody and systematic persecution which was directed especialy against the bishops and the clergy, was decreed by Decius on the plea that Christianity and the Roman Empire could never be reconciled. Among the holy victims were the virgins St. Agatha and St. Apollonia. St Cyprian wrote at that time : " Emperor Decius had become so jealous of papal authority that he said: I will rather have a rival in my empire, than hear of the election of the priest of God (Pope Cornelius) in Rome." Eighth persecution, under Valerian, about 258. In Rome, Pope Sixtus II. and his deacon St. Lawrence were martyred. When the treasures of the Church were demanded from him, St. Lawrence assembled the poor and showed them to his persecutor with the words: "Behold the treasures of the Church." He suffered death with serene fortitude, being roasted alive on a gridiron. At Utica, Africa, 153 Christians were cast alive into pits and covered with quick-lime. Ninth persecution was ordered by Emperor Aurelian, but soon came to an end on account of his violent death. Tenth persecution, under Diocletian, about the year 303. It surpassed all others in violence and cruelty. St. Sebastian, tribune of the imperial guard, suffered a lingering death, being shot with arrows. St. Anastasia, the youthful St. Agnes of Rome, St Lucia of Syracuse, and many other consecrated virgins obtained the martyr's palm. St. Catherine, a noble and learned virgin of Alexandria, who had fearlessly reproached Caesar Maxentius for his cruelty against the Christians and refuted the pagan philosophers of his court, died by the sword. When Bishop Felix, who had refused to deliver the sacred books, was led to execution, he said: "It is better that I be cast into the fire, than the sacred volumes. I thank Thee, O Lord, for fifty-six years of my life were spent in Thy service. I have preserved sacerdotal chastity, have guarded the holy gospels, and preached Thy truth. For Thee, O Jesus, God of Heaven and earth, I offer myself as victim." So great and general was the bloodshed, that Diocletian had a coin struck: "Diocletian, emperor, who destroyed the Christian name." A vain boast. His favorite, Caesar Galerius, was attacked by a loathsome disease, and, fearing the vengeance of God, he repealed the edict of persecution. 32. Q. How did the popes rule the Church during these persecutions? R. The popes stood at their post and died for the faith as true shepherds of Christ's suffering flock. Although persecution rendered the ruling of Holy Church extremely difficult, the records of the time bear witness to the authority and watchfulness of these martyr pontiffs. See list of popes, Sts. Clement, Anicetus, Victor, Cornelius, Stephen. 33. Q. What torments did the Martyrs suffer? R. They were scourged, put to the rack, cast before wild beasts, burnt at the stake, crucified and tortured in many other ways, according to the cruel custom of pagan times. The acts of the martyrs furnish reliable accounts of the glorious confession and death of these Christian heroes. They were either copied from the records of the imperial law courts or written down according to the testimony of eye-witnesses. Pope Clement had divided Rome into seven districts, with notaries appointed to keep these sacred records. A large number perished during the persecution of Diocletian, but many have been preserved to the present time and are of great value as proofs that the faith of the early martyrs was that of the Church of today. 34. Q. What did these persecutions prove? R. These persecutions proved that a religion, which for three hundred years passed safely through such trials and victoriously withstood the bloody onslaught of the world's greatest empire, must be from God. 35. Q. How did Almighty God avenge the persecutions of His Church? R. 1. Nearly all of these persecutors died a miserable death. 2. Barbarian nations laid waste the frontiers and the distant provinces of the Roman empire. 3. Earthquakes, floods, droughts, famines, and dreadful diseases visited the nation. Nero had to fly before the open revolt of the people and stabbed himself in despair. Domitian was assassinated. Hadrian became insane from despair. Marcus Aurelius, heart- broken over the ingratitude of his profligate and only son Commodus, starved himself to death. Septimius Severus, whose life had been attempted by his own son, died in despair. Decius ended miserably in a swamp during an unlucky battle with the Goths. Valerian was taken prisoner by Sapor, king of Persia, and flayed alive. Maxentius was drowned in the Tiber, and Diocletian starved himself to death. 36. Q. What was the attitude of the first Christians during these persecutions? R. While thousands of martyrs bore torture and death with heroic fortitude, the Christians worshipped in hidden places (catacombs) with unflagging zeal, and their learned men defended the faith in numerous writings. Catacombs are underground passages and rooms, carved into the soft rocks, outside the gates of ancient Rome. They were used by the early Christians for burial and for the celebration of the holy mysteries. Pictures, medals, and inscriptions which were found there, prove the identity of the faith in that age with ours; f. i. prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the Real Presence. Remarkable is the emblem of the fish, used during that perilous time to designate our Lord; for the Greek word "ichthys" means fish, and its composing letters are the initials of the words : Jesus Christ, God's (theou) Son (yios), Saviour (soter). To "receive the fish" meant, for the initiated, Holy Communion. 37. Q. Name some of the early writers, or apologists. R. St. Justin, a philosopher and afterwards martyr, wrote two excellent apologies and presented them to the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. (A. D. 150.) St. Clement of Alexandria and his great disciple Origen, refuted* in profound works the teachings of Celsus and other philosophers, who had assailed Christianity. Tertullian, formerly a Roman lawyer and later a Christian, and St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage and martyr, showed in learned works the emptiness of paganism and the just claims of the Christian religion to philosophical and political recognition. St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons and disciple of Bishop Polycarp, (who was a disciple of St. John, the Apostle), wrote a famous work against the heresies of his time. (A. D. 180.) In order to show the importance of St. Irenaeus as a witness of divine tradition, we quote from his letter to Florinus, an imperial courtier, written about the year 177 : "I saw thee in thy youth with Polycarp in Asia Minor, and I remember so well, that I can describe the place in which he sat and preached, and his walk and face, and how he related his fa- miliar intercourse with St. John and others who had seen the Lord, how he recalled what he had heard about the Lord, his miracles and teaching from those who had beheld the Word of Life with their own eyes,— all in accordance with Holy Scripture." From the first apology, delivered by St. Justin (A. D. 147) before the Roman Emperor, we quote the following description of holy Mass, as celebrated at that early age: "After the reading of the writings of the prophets and the apostles, followed by the bishop's address and prayers, bread and a chalice, containing wine mixed with water, are handed to the bishop. He, taking it after praise and thanksgiving to God, the Father, through the Son and the Holy Ghost, continues the sacrifice for some time. "Then the deacons give to the faithful of this food which we call Eucharist; and nobody is admitted to partake, unless he believes our teaching and has been baptized to the forgiveness of sins and to regeneration. "For we do not receive these things as common- bread and drink, but as Jesus Christ, our Saviour was made flesh by the word of God, even so we have been taught, that this food, blessed by prayer, is the flesh and blood of the same incarnate Jesus; for the Apostles have recorded in their memoirs, which we call Gospels, that the Lord said over this food and drink: 'This is my body; this is my blood' and commanded us: 'Do this for a commemoration of Me.' " 38. Q. What heresies afflicted the Church in those times? R. 1. Gnosticism, which claimed to possess the secret of a higher knowledge and taught the eternity of matter, its formation into the world by an evil spirit, and the sinfulness of material things. 2. Manicheism, which assumed two eternal principles, light and darkness, or good and evil, and taught that all material things come from the evil principle. NOTE.— Persecutions and martyrdom are distinguishing traits in the history of the Church and will continue as long as time will last, because Christ has said: "The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you." (St. John XV, 20.) But from every persecution the Church has risen in new, divinely infused vigor and sanctity; and the blood of the martyrs became, as Tertullian has written, "the seed of Christians. CHAPTER I
BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH 16. Q. How did the Church begin her divine mission to the world? R. On Pentecost day, after the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost St. Peter and the other Apostles began to preach the gospel in Jerusalem and converted 3000 Jews. The number of believers grew daily, and the Church spread steadily over Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and into the surrounding countries. At Antioch, the capital of Syria, the faithful were first called Christians. 17. Q. Did the Apostles confine their labors to the Jews? R. No; they taught the gentiles also; for 1. Christ had commanded them to go into the whole world and teach all nations; and the Holy Ghost bestowed upon them the gift of preaching in divers tongues. 2. St. Peter was instructed by a heavenly vision to baptize the gentile captain Cornelius. 3. The council of the Apostles, held at Jerusalem about the year 51, decreed that converted gentiles should be dispensed from observing the mosaic rites. Thus the Church showed from her very beginning the mark of Catholicity, so that St Paul could truly say: "There is neither Jew nor gentile, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all." (Col. 3.) 18. Q. Describe briefly the career of the Apostles? R. St. Peter labored in Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. As head of the Church, he presided over the election of Matthias to the apostleship left vacant by Judas, and over the first council held at Jerusalem. He established his see at Antioch; but removed it about the year 42 to Rome, the capital of the world, which became the seat of the papacy and the center of Christendom. There he died the death of a martyr, being nailed to the cross, as he had humbly requested, head downward. (June 29, A. D. 67.) St. Paul, formerly called Saul, and a persecutor of the Church, was converted near Damascus by the voice of Jesus speaking to him from heaven. Having become a zealous apostle, he made four great voyages and brought the gospel to Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and Spain. After a life of labor and trials, he obtained the crown of martyrdom, dying by the sword at Rome on the same day on which St. Peter was crucified. St. John, the beloved friend of our Lord, took under his care the Blessed Virgin, entrusted to him under the cross. He became bishop of Ephesus and directed the churches of Asia Minor, until his holy death about the year 100. A burning love for God and man filled his great, innocent soul, and he constantly repeated the sublime admonition: "My little children, love one another." St. James, the brother of St. John, labored in Judaea, and as tradition states, also in Spain. He was beheaded under King Herod Agrippa (A. D. 43). St. James, the Less, became bishop of Jerusalem and was called the Just on account of his Holiness. For professing that " Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," he was cast from the wall of the temple and slain with a fuller's club in the year 63. St. Andrew preached in Southern Russia and on the coast of the Black Sea. He was crucified at Patras in Greece. When he beheld the cross, he greeted it with the beautiful words: "O dearest cross, honored by the body of my Master, long desired by me, take me hence from men and give me to my Lord !" St. Philip died at Hierapolis in Phrygia, Asia Minor. St. Bartholomew went to Armenia, where he received the crown of martyrdom, being flayed alive. St. Thomas is said to have gone to India; St. Jude Thaddeus to Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia; St. Simon to Egypt, Northern Africa, and Babylon. St. Matthias is said to have come into the countries south of the Caucasus, and St. Matthew to the countries south of the Caspian Sea. 19. Q. How was the preaching of the Apostles confirmed? R. The preaching of the Apostles was confirmed by numerous miracles, by the sublime holiness of their lives, their heroic sacrifice of all earthly things, and especially by the shedding of their blood in testimony of the truth. 20. Q. What was the success of the Apostles among the Jews? R. Although many were converted, the majority and the leaders of the nation not only remained obstinate, but even persecuted the Christians. Therefore they were rejected by God and delivered into the hands of their enemies. In the year 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by a Roman army under Titus. A million of Jews perished in the war, forty thousand were crucified, many were sold as slaves, and the rest were scattered throughout the world. With the destruction of Jehovah's temple, the divinely ordained worship of the Old Law ceased for ever, to make room for that of the New Law of which it had been the type. Since that time Israel, exiled from the land of promise, its priesthood extinguished, and its sacrifices at an end (as Malachy prophesied), has lived dispersed among the nations. But Divine Providence keeps it in existence, an unwilling witness to the revelations, prophecies, and judgments of God, until shortly before the end of the world, He will lead back in mercy His repentant people to the faith. 21. Q. What was the success of the Apostles among the heathens? R. The Apostles converted great numbers of heathens in many lands. In the prominent cities of the Roman empire congregations were formed over which they placed their disciples as bishops and priests, and from these the Christian religion spread in ever-widening circles. For instance, St Paul appointed his disciple Titus as bishop of the island of Crete, and instructed him to ordain and send bishops to the different districts. St. Peter sent his disciple St. Mark to Alexandria, whence Christianity spread over all Egypt. St. John ordained Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. Maris, a disciple of St. Jude, established the Church in Seleucia and among the Chaldeans. From Rome disciples of the Apostles spread the faith to the cities of Italy, Sicily, Northern Africa, Gaul, Spain, and even to parts of Germany and Britain. St Justin wrote about the year 150: "There is no people, neither among the barbarians, nor the Greeks, nor any known tribe, where prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to God in the name of Christ Crucified." 22. Q. From whom came this wonderful success? R. Such wonderful success could come from God alone; for to the proud and immoral heathen the doctrine of Christ Crucified seemed folly, and the practice of humility and Christian virtue, a moral impossibility. Acts 24. St Paul was invited to preach the faith before Felix, pagan governor of Syria, but "as he treated of justice and chastity and the judgment to come," Felix, being terrified, answered: "For this time go thy way." 23. Q. How was divine worship practiced by the first Christians? R. We learn from Holy Scripture, and Tradition, that Holy Mass with Communion and instruction was regularly celebrated: "They were persevering in the doctrines of the Apostles and in the communication of the breaking of bread and in prayers " (Acts 2. 42). After Baptism the sacrament of Confirmation was conferred by imposing hands and invoking the Holy Ghost as St. Peter and St. John did in Samaria and St. Paul in Ephesus (Acts 8. 17 and 19. 6). The sacrament of Penance included Confession of sins. "Many of them that believed came confessing and declaring their deeds " (Acts 19. 18.) The sacrament of Holy Orders was conferred, as in the case of Saul and Barnabas, by " fasting and praying and imposing their hands upon them" (Acts 13. 3). St Paul called Matrimony " a great sacrament in Christ and in his Church," and admonished such as married to "marry in the Lord" (Eph. 5. 32, I. Cor. 7. 39). St. James describes the sacrament of Extreme Unction (St James 5. 14). Fasting was practiced at certain times, so that St. Augustine traced the Lenten fast back to apostolic institution. St. Ignatius (fA. D. 107) wrote about the hierarchy of the apostolic age : " Let all be obedient to the bishop as Jesus to the Father, to the priests as to the Apostles, and to the deacons as God's law." He calls the Church of Rome the head of the great union of Charity (i. e. the head of the whole Church). 24. Q. Which of the Apostles have left sacred writings? R. St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, St. Matthew, St James, St. Jude Thaddeus, and two disciples of the Apostles, St. Luke and St. Mark. Their writings form the New Testament, and have been placed by the Church on her list of inspired books, called the " Canon." Four gospels by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John. The acts of the Apostles by St. Luke. Fourteen epistles of St. Paul: To Romans (1), Corinthians (2), Galatians (1), Ephesians (1), Philippians (1), Colossians (1), Thessalonians (2), Timothy (2), Titus (1), Philemon (1), Hebrews (1). I epistle of St. James, 2 of St. Peter, 3 of St John, I of St Jude. Apocalypse of St John. 25. Q. About what time were they written? R. The Church had been evangelizing the world for about 17 years, St. James and St. Stephen had been martyred, and the persecution by the Jews had passed, when the Apostles began to write. The gospel of St. Matthew was compiled about the year 50, and that of St. John about the year 96. The other books of the New Testament were written during the intervening time. 26. Q. How were the books of the Old Testament received into the canon of the Church? R. The books of the Old Testament were received into the canon of the Church as they had been handed down by ancient Jewish tradition, recognized by Christ and his Apostles, and sanctioned by the councils. The canon of the Old and New Testament such as it is today, was defined in a council held at Rome under Pope Damasus (A. D. 374) and also in the African councils of Hippo (A.D. 393) and Carthage (A.D. 397). 27. Q. Did the Church have published translations of the Bible for the people? R. Translations of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek text were made under supervision of the Church even during the first centuries. The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Old Testament, made about 200 years before Christ, was used by the Apostles and first Christians. For the Roman Empire a Latin translation of the entire Bible, called Itala, and for Egypt an Egyptian or Coptic translation appeared as early as the second century, and an Ethiopian and Armenian in the fourth and fifth centuries. Translations either total or partial followed for the barbarian nations of Europe, after they had been converted, f. i. A Gothic translation was made by bishop Ulfila, who invented the letters of the Gothic alphabet. (A. D. 360.) Sts. Methodius and Cyril, apostles of the Slavs, translated the Bible into Slavic, for which they also invented the characters of the alphabet. Venerable Bede, a learned Benedictine monk in England, finished on his deathbed an Anglo-Saxon translation of the gospel of St. John (A. D. 735). St Bridget of Sweden had a Swedish translation of the whole Bible in her library (A.D. 1373). 28. Q. Did the disciples of the Apostles leave us any writings? R. Several disciples of the Apostles, called also Apostolic Fathers, left important writings; for instance, St. Clement of Rome, third successor of St. Peter, wrote a letter to the Corinthians ; St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch and disciple of St. John, left us seven letters, and St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and also a disciple of St. John, one letter. There is also a letter of St. Barnabas, the early companion of St. Paul. These writings are the earliest witnesses of Tradition. In regard to the celebration of Sunday, St. Barnabas gives the reason, why Christians discard the Sabbath, and then continues: "But we celebrate with festive joy the eighth day on which Jesus rose from the dead;" St. Ignatius also writes: "They (Christians) have the new hope and do not keep the Sabbath, but regulate their lives according to the Lord's day." Magnesians C. 9.) In the letter of St. Ignatius to the Philaelphians (C. 4) we find the words: "Partake of the one Eucharist; for one is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and one is the chalice of his blood, one altar and one bishop with the priests and the deacons." 29. Q. Did any heresies arise in the apostolic age? R. Yes; for St Paul warned against false teachers, and St John wrote his gospel against Cerinth and others who attacked the divinity of Christ. St. Peter refuted Simon Magus, who is called the father of heresy. Simon offered money to St. Peter, in order to obtain the power of imparting the wonderful gifts of the Holy Ghost; but he was rebuked with the words: " Keep thy money to thyself to perish with thee." Hence the name " Simony " for the sin of selling and buying spiritual and holy things. NOTE.— The apostolic age has left upon the Church the distinguishing mark of apostolicity. Her popes hold the legitimate and unbroken succession in the apostolic see, which St Peter, as head of the Church, established in Rome; the lines of her bishops can be traced with undeniable certainty to apostolic origin; she received and guarded the writings of the Apostles and thus formed the canon of the New Testament; the bodies and relics of the Apostles rest under her altars. Of her, therefore, St Paul says: "Built upon the founda- tion of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being Himself the cornerstone," (Eph. II, 20.) I have added a great number of Catholic books to the site. Many more catechisms, sermons and history. I will be adding many more on Sunday. Most of them have the imprimatur near the turn of the century. ENJOY!! You can find them here.
Short Catechism of Church History for the Higher Grades of Catholic Schools - Imprimatur 19048/16/2024 I will be sharing over the next several weeks Church History from the above titled book. Author: Rt. REV. MGR. J. H. Oechtering, V. G. Preface The Catechism of Church History which is herewith presented to the public, will receive a cordial welcome from our Catholic teachers. The educational value of history is universally conceded, and no history has such lessons of wisdom and conduct to teach as that of the Church, which is the continuation of the life and work of Our Divine Lord. It is His permanent, visible presence in the world. It is the continuous verification of His words that the gates of hell shall not prevail. It is all-important, therefore, that the young be made acquainted with the leading facts of Church History, and a Catechism of Church History offers the simplest and most effective means of imparting to them this knowledge. The author of the present volume has had long experience as a pastor and teacher, and it is confidently believed that in publishing this work, he renders a genuine service to our schools. J. L. Spalding, Bishop of Peoria. Peoria, March 10, 1899. INTRODUCTION
CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 1. Q. What is the central and greatest event in the history of God's dealings with man? R. The central and greatest event in the history of God's dealings with man is the Redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2. Q. Was this event foretold in ancient times? R. The coming of the Redeemer was promised by God to our first parents after their fall, and this promise was renewed to the patriarchs of old. 3. Q. Did the hope of the Redeemer to come remain alive in the ancient world? R. The heathen nations, who had apostatized from God and fallen into idolatry, retained only an obscure and distorted tradition of the future Incarnation of God and the Redemption. Their ancient belief, that their gods had appeared in human form among men, was such a distorted tradition of the mystery of the Incarnation. The Greeks, for instance, preserved in their legend of Prometheus (their name for Adam) an old prophecy that the son of their highest god would become man and be born of a virgin-mother in order to redeem our fallen race. We read that in the year 64 after Christ Mingdi, emperor of China, sent ambassadors westward to search for the divine teacher, foretold in ancient Chinese books. Having come to India they found there the religion of Buddha, which they embraced, mistaking it for the true. The coming of the wise men from the East proves most clearly that the tradition of a Saviour to come lived among the gentiles. Suetonius and Tacitus, writers of ancient pagan Rome, have left it on record that, at the time of the birth of Christ, the world was full of rumors about a mysterious power, which, according to old traditions, was to rise in Palestine and rule the whole world. 4. Q. Which people was chosen by God in this general apostasy to preserve fully the hope of the coming Redeemer? R. The people of Israel was chosen by God to preserve fully the hope of the Redeemer to come, and to prepare and foreshadow the future kingdom of God on earth. Israel was brought by God to Palestine into the middle of the great historical nations of antiquity. The Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian kingdoms east and north, Egypt south, the Macedonian and Roman empires west, all made Israel share in their world-moving history. Hence Ezekiel, the prophet, called Jerusalem " gate of the nations." Palestine lay on the great thoroughfare, leading from Africa into Asia, while the Red and the Mediterranean seas gave it a waterway to India and the great nations of the west. Thus Israel's children, bearing the Messianic hope, eventually spread into all lands, thereby preparing the way for the apostles, who set forth from Jerusalem to evangelize the world. 5. Q. How did God sustain Israel in this mission? R. God sustained Israel in this sacred mission by frequent prophecies and by His miraculous protection and guidance of the nation. 6. Q. When did God fulfill His promise concerning the Redeemer to come? R. God fulfilled His promise and prophecies about the Reedemer to come, when He sent His only begotten Son, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. 7. Q. How did Christ redeem the world? R. Christ redeemed the world by His passion and death on the Cross. 8. Q. What did Christ do in order to insure for all time to the world the fruits of His Redemption? R. In order to insure for all time to the world the fruits of His Redemption, He established His Church. The fruits of the Redemption are two-fold: 1. Divine grace (sanctifying and actual), which is dispensed mainly through the sacraments of the Church. 2. Divine truth, entrusted by Christ and his apostles to the Church and called the deposit of faith. It is contained in the Bible or written word of God, and in Tradition or the unwritten word of God, which is handed down in the uninterrupted teaching and practice of the Church. The witnesses of Tradition are the ordinary teaching of the Church, the decrees of the councils and of the popes, the writings of the Fathers and Doctors, the liturgy, the administration of the sacraments, the feasts of the Church, the acts of martyrs, the documents and relics of the past. From these can be gathered what has been believed in the Church always, everywhere and by all. (Vincent of Lerins.) 9. Q. How did Christ establish His Church? R. Christ established His Church by choosing and appointing His apostles as bishops over His flock, making one of their number, St. Peter, the supreme head. "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." (Matt. 16, 18.) 10. Q. Which powers did Christ give to His Church, in order to bring the fruits of the Redemption to mankind? R. Christ gave to His Church a three-fold power: 1. To teach all nations His divine truth. (Matt. 28, 19-20.) 2. To dispense His grace through the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and the Sacraments. (St. Luke, 22, 19; St. Matt. 28, 19; St. John, 20, 23.) 3. To guide and rule the lambs and sheep of His flock. (St. Jolin, 21, 17.) 11. Q. How did Christ enable His Church to fulfill this divine commission? R. 1. He promised that He would be with His Church even unto the consummation of the world. (Matt. 28, 13.) 2. He sent the Holy Ghost to abide with His Church forever. (St. John, 14, 16.) 12. Q. What, therefore, is the character of the Church? R. The Church is a divine institution consisting of men, but possessing the abiding presence of Jesus Christ and the continual assistance and guidance of the Holy Ghost. The divine element of the Church appears in her indestructible existence through all ages, in her unchanging and infallible teaching of divine truth, in her uninterrupted dispensation of God's grace, by which innumerable souls obtain holiness, and in the miracles marking her career through history. The human element of the Church appears in the weaknesses and shortcomings of many of her children, especially in the scandals and sins committed by her unworthy members. Christ Himself tolerated Judas for three years amongst His disciples in order to warn us, that scandals will occur in the history of His Church. In spite of sin and scandal and in spite of the law of decay overruling all things human, the Church continues for ever in her constitution and in her sacred ministry of grace and truth; this is another proof of the divine element within her. 13. Q. By what titles has the Church been called in Holy Scriptures? R. 1. In the old testament the prophet calls her the kingdom of the Messias, which is to be without end. (Is. 9, 7.) 2. Jesus Christ calls her His Church, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail (Matt. 16, 18) ; the one fold under one shepherd (John, 10, 16); the light of the world, the city seated on a mountain that cannot be hid (Matt. 5, 14) ; the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16, 19). 3. St. Paul calls her the ground and pillar of truth (1. Tim. 3, 15) ; the flock of Christ, over which the Holy Ghost hath placed the bishops to rule (Act. 20, 28). In his letter to the Ephesians (Chap. 5) he describes her as the immaculate spouse of Christ, and in 1. Cor. 12 as " the visible body of Christ, of which the faithful are the members." 14. Q. What was the condition of the world, when the Church commenced her mission? R. All nations, except the Jews, adored false gods, idols and beasts. They worshipped them by committing foul crimes and offering even human sacrifices. Immorality prevailed and the rights of God and man were spurned. Even ancient Greece and Rome, the ruling and most cultured of pagan nations, had gods whom they worshipped by impurity (Venus), drunkenness (Bacchus) and bloody revenge (Mars). Family life was totally demoralized by divorceand the degradation of woman. War was merciless according to the rule: "Woe to the vanquished." Slavery held over two-thirds of the population of the ancient world in such misery, that the question was seriously asked : "Is the slave a human being? In the public games of the circus thousands of gladiators and captives were forced to kill one another for the amusement of the people. 15. Q. What was the attitude of the Jews? R. They retained the belief in the one true God, but rejected and crucified the Son of God, the Messias, who had been promised to them by God and announced by their prophets. Note.— The history of the Church is the record of her career through time and of the fulfillment of her divine mission on earth. According to His promise Christ is with her, teaches, gives grace and rules through her; and she shares with Him the hatred of hell and the opposition of the world, but she is also destined to share His eternal glory in heaven. .This sermon is very relevant in our day. There is so much that we need to guard not only our eyes but all our senses from.
“And now you shall not see me.” John 16: 16. Humanly speaking, these are strange words. Who could ever imagine that the sacred presence of our Lord Jesus Christ could ever be injurious to his disciples? And yet he says expressly, I am going away from you, and you will not see me any more; “but I tell you the truth; it is expedient to you that I go;” it is better for you not to see me any more. “If I go not,” added our Lord, “the Paraclete will not come to you.” The consolation you have in my presence is only a sensible one; this must be taken away from you, if you wish to receive the consolation and grace of the Holy Ghost. Now, if the consoling presence of our Lord on earth was incompatible with the presence by grace of the Holy Ghost, how, then, can that grace abide with willful, carnal glances at vanities, earthly beauties, or dangerous objects? Oh, certainly, a necessary means of guarding the heart and keeping it in the grace of God is watchfulness over our outward senses, especially the eyes. Hence, I. He who allows his eyes to wander about curiously on all sides will not long remain free from sin; and II. In order to persevere in grace, we must all keep custody over our eyes, I. Amongst all the outward senses there is none from which we can better judge the state of the soul, as to whether it is healthy or not, than from the eyes. “The fornication of a woman shall be known by the haughtiness of her eyes, and by her eye-lids;” (and the same is to be understood of men); therefore, “take heed of the impudence of her eyes” (Ecclus. 26: 12, 54). It is a rare and unusual occurrence for the fire of lust not to be ignited, when the eyes are allowed to rest needlessly and with satisfaction, on a person of the other sex. Bad thoughts are so many treacherous letters which the enemy of our souls sends to our hearts, to stir up impure images therein, and to persuade us to give up our souls to him. The spies who bring those letters are generally the eyes. “Death is come up through our windows” (Jerem. 9: 21). The look is followed by the thought, the thought by pleasure, and pleasure by consent. It is an undoubted truth, discovered even by besotted heathens, that the eyes first lead to impure love; therefore Seleucus, a pagan legislator, commanded that, as a first punishment for adulterers, their eyes should be plucked out, because, as he said, that part should first suffer which was the first cause of the crime. The Holy Scripture often alludes to and condemns the eyes alone, as the chief cause of sin. Thus God, by the prophet Ezechiel, speaking of idolaters, declares: “I have broken their heart, that was faithless and revolted from me, and their eyes, that went a whoring after their idols” (Ezech. 6: 7). In the same way he reproaches, not the envious themselves, but their eyes: “The eye of the envious is wicked” (Ecclus. 14: 8). He calls, not the avaricious, but their eyes, insatiable: “The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of iniquity he will not be satisfied till he consume his own soul, drying it up” (Ibid. 9). In a word, in order that we may avoid all transgressions of the law, God warns us to mortify our eyes: “Let every man cast away the scandals of his eyes” (Ezech. 20:7). Do you intend to avoid sin, and to keep on the right road to heaven? If so, what about your eyes? Do you allow them to wander about unhindered? Do you give them full liberty to gaze on everything that presents itself to them? Do you permit them to look with deliberate curiosity persons of the opposite sex, and to take pleasure in such looks? Do you wish to see and to be seen? Alas! if so, I venture to prophesy, no matter how innocent, pious, and firm may be your present good resolutions, your piety will not last long. You will not have a chaste heart, if your eyes are not modest. In a short time, you will be forced to sigh forth, with the prophet Jeremias: “My eye hath wasted my soul!” (Lament. 5: 51.) My soul was once rich in the treasures of divine grace which it had arduously collected. Alas! one curious look has robbed me of all those riches, “I saw and was lost,” you will have to acknowledge with the poet. In the morning, I confessed my sins with the firm resolution rather to die a thousand times than again offend my God. Yet, on the very same day, I looked on a dangerous object, and stained my conscience by a new sin: “I saw and was lost.” After hearing that sermon on the eternal truths, I thought heaven and earth would perish before I would consent to offend my God again; but, alas one imprudent glance has made me forget my resolution: “I saw, and was lost.” I went into the church in a state of innocence, to hear holy Mass, and to beg many graces from God, but I came away laden with mortal sin, the result of a single lustful glance at another’s beauty. “I saw, and was lost.” “Lust,” says St, Thomas of Aquin, “can hardly be avoided, unless its beginning, namely looking at a woman’s beauty, be avoided.” Therefore, the Holy Ghost warns us: “Look not upon a woman, lest thou fall into her snares: gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumbling block to thee; look not round about thee in the ways of the city, nor wander up and down in the streets thereof: turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not upon another’s beauty” (Ecclus. 9: 3, 5, 7, 8). “What?” Some will say: “must we, then, go about like blind men? Why has my Creator given me eyes, if not that I may use them? And what harm, is it for me to look at what pleases me? I answer: Your Creator has given you ears to hear; are you, therefore, allowed to hear anything you please? He has given you a tongue to speak; can you therefore say whatever you like? He has given you hands to stretch forth, but not to take everything you please. And yet you are not obliged to go about deaf, dumb, or lame. Truly, you have eyes to see with, but not to look at everything you please. Otherwise, the Holy Ghost would not warn you so often to keep from gazing at another’s beauty; yet you are not forced on that account to go about like a blind man. “What harm is therein it?” you ask. And I ask you: What harm is it for a little child to take a sharp knife in its hand? And yet you do not allow him to keep it. Why? He has not yet cut himself with it. “That may be,” you reply; “but it is very dangerous, and he might hurt himself with it.” Seeing in itself is not sinful; but take care lest it be the beginning of sin. What harm was it for Eve to look at the forbidden fruit in paradise? And yet, that one look brought death to her and to us all. Ah! Said Eve, let me look at it! Do not be afraid I will only admire the fruit. I will not stretch forth my hand to pluck it. I am not forbidden to look, but only to eat. Alas, if Eve had not looked, she would not have eaten, and she and all of us would not have lost paradise! Eating followed seeing, and the sin was consummated. What harm was it for the wife of Putiphar to look at her servant Joseph? Yet when she did so, shame, honor, and conjugal fidelity were cast to the winds. What harm was it for David that holy king, to look out through the windows of his palace at Bethsabee? And yet, if he had not done so, he would not have become an adulterer and a murderer. What harm was it for Ammon to look at his own sister? And yet those looks of his led him into incest. But what need is there of further proof? Often enough in our own days, we hear converted sinners giving expression to this heartfelt wish: “Ah! Would that I had never seen that person; I would not have fallen into sin!” Therefore, keep the windows closed, if you do not wish to be robbed of your greatest treasure! Guard your eyes carefully, if you really wish to persevere in the friendship of God! If an angel had foretold to our first mother in paradise what would follow if she looked at the forbidden fruit, would she have been so incautious as not to have mortified her eyes? If the prophet Nathan had said to David when the latter opened the window of his palace, and was about to look out into his garden: “O David, what are you about to do? It would be better for you to fall down and break your neck than give that one unguarded look! You will forget your God, you will become a murderer and an adulterer, your favorite child will die ; dishonor will come upon your house, your son Absalom will drive you from your throne and persecute you until he dies on a tree in the state of sin and is lost forever; you will be made a laughing-stock to your own subjects, who will vilify and throw stones at you like a hunted dog, and all this will be as a punishment for your sin!” If such a dreadful announcement had been made to that then pious king, would he have been so foolish as still to have gratified his curiosity? That is not likely. And yet, one incautious glance, without his foreseeing any harm, or having the least bad intention, brought all that evil on him. Dissolute young man! Vain girl! Weak mortals! I am neither a prophet, nor an angel; yet, I warn you that if you do not learn to keep your eyes always in check; if you give them full liberty to gaze at everything that offers itself to them; if you cast them freely on persons of the opposite sex; if you mix unrestrainedly in all kinds of company, you may be assured that it will soon be all up with your purity of heart. You will be guilty of murder and incest, if not in reality, at least in inclination and desire. Some of you will be tormented, day and night, by the spirit of impure love, which will give you no rest; some will seek opportunities, and consume the best years of their lives in impurity; some will be addicted to that vice till their old age, nay, till their death some will perhaps indulge in it publicly, before the whole town, And then, hear what follows: “Thus saith the Lord: If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are.” II. If curiosity of the eyes is to be avoided with regard to dangerous objects, or persons, it is even more necessary with regard to dangerous reading. Just as there is nothing more useful for us if we wish to persevere in good, and to become more devout, than the reading of spiritual books, so also there is nothing more injurious, especially to holy purity, than the reading of books that treat of unchaste subjects and impure love. This is an accursed invention of the devil, with which he endeavors to infect hearts, as with a pestilence. His attacks in this way are directed chiefly against the young, whom he tries to bewitch, and to lead a-stray; nor is he hardly ever disappointed. If he can but induce a person to read a bad book through curiosity, he is tolerably sure of his soul. Alas, he scatters those abominable books abroad in all places, at all times, by wicked agents. Are not we poor mortals already versed enough, by our own corruption in this filthy knowledge, without being taught it by these agents of the devil? The crafty tempter well knows that with the ordinary run of good Christians be can do little by openly immoral books. Such books would rather disgust than attract them. In order then to ensnare their souls, he places before their eyes amusing comedies, well-written romances, sensational love-stories, full of passion, which are in reality more dangerous to soul, the more cunningly they conceal the filth they contain the more they are able to amuse, and the more eager they make the reader to know the end of the story; for they fill the heart and mind with violent and unruly desires and softly fan the flames of impure passion, feeding it and keeping it alive. Eternal truths, which should and ought to lead us to heaven, are often explained in sermons, and are sometimes listened to with pleasure! But, alas, how soon are they lost sight of! Hardly is the sermon over, when they are forgotten! But these love stories and romances generally so captivate the imagination and the memory of young people, that sometimes they are never forgotten. But, one may say: There is nothing wrong in those books, Father I read them only for the sake of the style,—for the skill shown in developing the plot. A fine excuse, indeed! You must be a great admirer of elegant language! There are enough Lives of the Saints and like spiritual books published (good specimens even of a better style, and filled with still more wonderful and true incidents), which elevate the mind and heart to heaven and heavenly things, and teach us how to a-mend our lives. Why do you not read those books with the same pleasure and eagerness? They are not mere fictions, which betray your understanding; they are true, and can instruct you not only in the beauties of style, but also in the duties of a Christian life. Ah I tell the truth, do you not slight those good books because their contents do not gratify your sensuality? And even if those romances and love tales were better written, should you not be more anxious about the purity of your soul than about the elegance of your style? More careful to live well, than to speak well? To be learned in the school of Christ, than in that of the demon of impurity? Do you wish to act as a good Christian? Then pitch those filthy books at once into the fire, as an agreeable burnt-offering to God. Better for you to do that, than for one soul to be cast by them into the fire of hell. “Woe to the man by whom the scandal cometh!” I must cry out here, in the threatening words of God to all those who give to others occasion of sin, by placing bad books in their way, or by allowing them to look at indecent statues or bad pictures, or by not observing the rules of modesty in their own dress; for all those things are so many snares to catch souls and to betray them into the clutches of the devil. Theologians teach that a woman (and the same is to be understood of a man) who knows for certain that she is the object of an impure affection commits a mortal sin if, without necessity or reasonable cause, she puts herself deliberately in the way of being seen by that person, although she has no intention or wish to excite an impure passion in him. Now, if the law of Christian charity binds every one, to avoid giving others such an occasion of sin, even when clad with a due regard to modesty, how shall they answer to God for their actions, who deliberately place in the way of others objects that, of their nature, are apt to incite them to sinful thoughts and desires ? All the sins others commit through his instrumentality will be recorded against him, although he may not have had the deliberate wish or intention to lead others into sin. I might here give vent to a bitter complaint against those careless parents, who allow their innocent little children to see things that would be unlawful amongst unmarried people. Let no one tell me that the children are too young, and that they do not understand. Granted that they do not understand it now, are not the impressions of such things imprinted on their imaginations and memories, so that they will never be eradicated? If you have not another room in your house for your children, it were better to let them go and stay in the pig-sty, than see what could be an occasion of scandal to them, and ruin their precious souls. There are parents who toil and moil from morning till night, while their daughters do nothing but deck themselves out in the latest fashions, and let themselves be seen. Parents, watch over your children more carefully! Fish are never safe, unless when in water. If they leave their own element, they die in a short time. Never are your daughters safer that at home, under your own eyes, and occupied with some work befitting their condition. The goods exposed constantly in the shop windows are either damaged, or are in a fair way to become so. No matter how pious, devout, and innocent your daughters may be, if they are fond of seeing and being seen, although they may not do anything wrong outwardly, yet they will have wickedness enough in their hearts. When young maidens begin to go about too freely, they soon lose their virtue, as their hearts become sullied with sinful thoughts and desires. Christian parents, I beseech of you, listen to the warning of holy Writ: “On a daughter that turneth not away herself, set a strict watch; lest, finding an opportunity, she abuse herself” (Ecclus. 26: 53). Father, look after your son! Mother, watch over your daughter, and keep her constantly at work at home: “Take heed of the impudence of her eyes, and wonder not if she slight thee” (Ibid. 14). If you let her have too much of her own way, you must not be surprised to find her dead to all shame in the end. And know, that the Lord will require her soul at your hands. Christians, of whatever condition, sex, or age you may be, guard your eyes from all curious and vain glances, if you wish to persevere in the grace and service of God. Alas! In what fragile vases we carry about the precious treasure of sanctifying grace! Our own carnal desires of themselves are always dragging us down into sin, and we are often forced to complain of our weakness and evil inclinations. Why, then, should we open the doors and windows to further temptations? Say to yourselves, each one of you: Have a little patience, O my eyes! Restrain yourselves for a short time! The beauty of creatures is not worth your consideration! In a little while, I will give you pleasure enough in heaven, where you may gaze forever on the infinite loveliness of God, on Jesus Christ, the most beautiful of the children of men, on Mary, the beautiful Spouse of the Holy Ghost, and on all the glories of the elect of God ! Reserve your curiosity till then I beg of you. Amen. Source: The Penitent Christian, Imprimatur 1889 The Student planners for the school year 2024 - 2025 are ready. They are a free PDF for you to print yourself. I am sorry but I am no longer able to offer printed copies. Please look over the file before printing and if you find errors please let me know and I will make the corrections. God bless all of you in your homeschool ventures! Julie
We have added a few new book titles to our Catholic Reading section. The Catechism in Examples all five volumes. Holy Communion, Catholic Life and Dangers of the Day. You can find them all here.
 CHAPTER XV
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION "If any man shall hear My voice, and open to Me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."—Apoc. iii, 20. THESE talks on communion would not be complete if nothing were said of spiritual communion. Now, the catechism of the Council of Trent, called also the Roman Catechism, because it is the official formulary of the Roman doctrine, uses the following words: " The shepherds of souls should teach their flock that there is not one manner only of receiving the admirable fruits of the sacrament of the Eucharist, but that there are two: sacramental communion and spiritual communion." Spiritual communion is little known, and still less practiced; and yet it is a special and incomparable source of graces. " It is, by itself," says Father Faber, " one of the greatest powers of the world." By it," writes St. Leonard of Port-Maurice, "many souls have attained a high perfection." To derive from this inestimable treasury all the wealth which it contains it must be under- stood: (i) in what spiritual communion consists; (2) what graces it confers; and (3) in what manner it may be practiced. In what does spiritual communion consist ? It is, in the first place, a communion; the Council of Trent states this expressly. It is therefore an actual participation in the graces of the Eucharist, although distinct from the sacramental participation properly so called. We have already seen what graces flow into souls from the Eucharist; so that it is enough, in order to estimate the value of spiritual communion, to know that it does truly confer upon us a considerable proportion of those graces. We shall presently see in what measure and to what extent. This communion is effected not externally, as in sacramental communion, but spiritually; that is, internally and mentally, without any material and corporal action; spiritually, that is, again, supernaturally or divinely. It is also called " interior communion," communion of the heart, invisible or mystical com-munion, because it unites us with Jesus in a secret and mysterious manner, without a visible sign as in sacramental communion. It is also called " virtual communion," because it has the power of making us participate in the fruits of the Eucharist. What must one do in order to communicate spiritually ? Is it enough to make acts of faith and love toward Jesus present in the Eucharist ? No. We must expressly formulate the desire to communicate; and in order that this desire may be sincere we must be so disposed that we could communicate sacramentally, if it were possible. On the other hand, a simple desire, if deep and sincere, no matter how brief and rapid, is sufficient to constitute spiritual communion. Obviously, the longer the desire is prolonged the more fruitful is the communion. But by a simple impulse of the heart toward Jesus present in the Eucharist we communicate spiritually, we participate in the graces of sacramental communion. How can this be ? I will explain. Our Lord is in the Eucharist for us; and His desire to come into us, to be wholly ours, to possess us, to live in us, is a supreme desire that asks only that it may satisfy itself. "I am consumed with the desire to give Myself to thee," said our Lord to the venerable Jeanne Marie of the Cross; " and the more I give Myself the more I desire to give Myself anew. After each of thy communions I am like the pilgrim devoured with thirst, to whom a drop of water is given, and who is thereby made to thirst yet more. It is thus that I aspire continually to give Myself to thee." Jesus addresses these very words to each of you. Jesus wishes to enter your heart every day by sacramental communion; yet even that does not suffice Him; He would come again and again, without ceasing. This divine desire is realised by spiritual communion. "Every time thou desirest Me," He said to St. Mechtilde, "thou dost draw Me to thee. A desire, a sigh, is enough to make thee possess Me." Our Lord has often revealed to saintly souls, and in different ways. His ardent desire to unite Himself with us. To the blessed Margaret Mary He said: "Thy desire to receive Me has so sweetly touched My heart, that if I had not already instituted this sacrament I should have done so at this moment, in order to give Myself to thee." Our Lord charged St. Margaret of Cortona to remind a monk of the word of St. Augustine: "Believe, and thou wilt have eaten;" that is to say, make an act of faith and desire towards the Eucharist, and you will be nourished by that divine food. To the blessed Ida of Louvain, during a mass at which she could not communicate, Jesus said: " Call Me, and I will come !" "Come, O Jesus!" she cried at once, and felt herself filled with happiness as though she had really communicated. And after a spiritual communion of which she tasted the full delight, St. Catherine of Siena heard our Lord say to her: " In such manner and place as may please Me I can, I will, I am able marvellously to satisfy the holy ardours of a soul that desires Me." This desire of Jesus to unite Himself to us is infinite and all-powerful; it knows no other obstacle than our liberty. Jesus has multiplied miracles in order to enclose Himself in the host that He may give Himself to us. What does it cost Him to work one miracle the more, to give Himself to us directly without the intervention of the sacrament ? Is He not master of Himself, of all His graces, of His divinity ? And if, being called by a few words, He descends from heaven into the host between the hands and at the will of the priest, will He not descend directly from heaven into our hearts if He is called by the ardour of our desire? O marvellous power of the human soul ! O power of a sincere desire, inspired by love ! Power which allows each one of you to realise for herself, in a certain manner, what the priest accomplishes for all the faithful ! Hagar, flying to the desert and seeing that her child was dying of thirst, sent up a despairing cry to heaven, and a spring of pure water welled forth immediately to save mother and child. Cry, therefore, to God, telling Him your desire, and God will reply to you in causing a spring of eternal life to well forth from His heart to sanctify your soul! A poor savage has no priest to baptize him, but he sends the voice of his desire up to God: behold him baptized ! A poor sinner turns to God. In the midst of her confusion she lifts her eyes towards the infinite Goodness; she thirsts for love and forgiveness: behold, she is forgiven ! You cannot approach the holy table; either you have already communicated or some obstacle prevents you. Gaze upon the host in the tabernacle with eyes of longing; declare your hunger and thirst to Jesus. Say to Him : "Jesus, come; I die without Thee!" Jesus will hasten: you will have communicated. During mass the priest takes the host between his hands; he recollects himself, he bows himself, and he speaks a few words. Immediately the heavens open; Jesus hastens, at the voice of His friend who calls Him: behold Him between the hands of the priest ! And you, pious soul ! Meditate profoundly; shape an ardent wish within your heart. Touched and urged by this desire, Jesus will hasten to His well-beloved : behold Him in your heart ! O ineffable Goodness, O infinite generosity, O unbounded munificence, O bewildering love ! It is no longer God who is sovereign Master; and the creature is no longer servant. The creature becomes the sovereign mistress of God; and God makes Himself the eager and obedient servant of the creature. "I come not among you," said Jesus, " to be served, but to serve." Spiritual communion is truly an infinite power given to the creature over the Creator, to the pious soul over Jesus! Father Faber is right: "Spiritual communion is one of the mightiest powers in the world!" How express the innumerable fruits which spiritual communion brings us ? All is summed up when we say that it is a communion; that is, a participation in the Eucharist and the graces of sacramental communion. The Council of Trent, speaking of the usage of the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist, distinctly states that "some receive it spiritually: these are those who, partaking in desire of the celestial bread which is set before them, taste the fruits and the benefit of the sacra- ment." Thus, according to the Council of Trent, and according to all theology, spiritual communion is a spiritual manducation of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore all that we have said of the fruits of sacramental communion. The first effect of spiritual communion is therefore to increase our union with the human-ity and the divinity of the Word made flesh. This is its principal effect, its essential advan- tage; all other graces received proceed from this. Briefly they are as follows: Fervour is revived. " Spiritual communion," says the Cure d'Ars, "revives the soul as a bellows does the fire which is covered with ashes and about to die. When we feel the love of God growing cold, let us make hastily a spiritual communion!" Poor heart ! it so easily loses its heat, so soon becomes covered with ashes ! Spiritual communion revives the fire and makes the flames of fervour break forth anew. In the midst of our trials during this pilgrimage here below sadness is forever taking possession of us; and our hearts become filled with heavy mists. Spiritual communion dissipates this mist like the morning sun; it brings joy back to the heart and sets the soul at peace. It also keeps us in a state of recollection; it is the best means we have to preserve us from the dissipation of our thoughts, from frivolity and all the wanderings of the spirit and imagination. It accustoms us to keep our regard fixed upon Jesus, to preserve a sweet and constant intimacy with Him, to live always heart to heart with Him. Our Lord one day showed the pious Paula Maresca a golden ciborium containing her sacramental communions and a silver ciborium containing her spiritual communions; He thus marked their relative value. It detaches us from all that is merely sensible and earthly; it makes us disdain passing vanities, the pleasures of this world, which are only for a time. " It is the bread of the heart!" said St. Augustine. " It is the healing of the heart !" It keeps the heart from all that is impure and imperfect, it transforms it and unites it closely to the heart of Jesus. It renders our relations with Jesus more tender and familiar. It makes our devotion to Him warmer and deeper. It enables us to taste more fully the charm and sweetness of His presence. " When I make the sign of the cross," writes St. Angela of Foligno, " and place my hand on my heart, in saying "The Son '. . . I experience a rush of love and a great tenderness, because I feel that Jesus is there." Spiritual communion places Jesus there, in the very centre of our heart; His presence is permanent and brings us infinite happiness. Spiritual communion has also a wonderful efficacy in effacing venial faults and remitting the penalties of sin. Pious souls who communicate spiritually often and well will be exempt from the flames of purgatory. Jesus will bear them straight from earth to heaven, as He did the soul of Joan of Arc, which was seen at the moment of her death to mount directly to paradise in the form of a pure white dove. Spiritual communion will give to those souls which have communicated well a surprising glory in heaven. Our Lord told St. Gertrude that every time we regard the sacred host with devotion we augment our eternal happiness, preparing for ourselves blessings above in proportion as we have multiplied our desires full of love and longing for the Holy Eucharist here on earth. Souls that have often communicated in spirit will shine in heaven with peculiar splendour, and will taste especial joys, sweeter and more holy than those known to others. Spiritual communions, day by day increasing our desire to receive Jesus, urge us to sacramental communion, prevent us from missing it by our own fault or negligence, send us to com-munion more frequently, and dispose us to communicate better and to receive more abun- dant fruits therefrom. Spiritual communion is, according to the testimony of all the saints, the best preparation for sacramental communion. Remember, too, that spiritual communion may be offered for the sake of our neighbour; either on behalf of the living or the dead. St. Margaret Mary recommended spiritual communion on behalf of the souls in purgatory. " You will greatly comfort these poor afflicted souls," said she, "by offering spiritual communions on their behalf, in order to redeem the bad use they have made of sacramental communions." Finally, you must understand that you receive all these benefits and graces which flow from spiritual communion according to your dispositions; that is, according to the value of your desires. The more intense your desire to communicate, the purer, the more prolonged, the more fully will you participate in the fruits of the Eucharist and all the favours which we have enumerated; and this without other limits than the ardour, extent, and keenness of your desires. The saints are unanimous in exalting the marvels of spiritual communion. They go so far as to say, with the venerable Jeanne Marie of the Cross, " that God by this means often fills us with the same graces as in sacramental communion"and with St. Gertrude and Father Rodriguez, that " sometimes the graces are still greater, for," says the latter, "although sacramental communion is in itself of a greater efficacy, yet the fervour of desire may compensate for this inequality." What more precious encouragement to spiritual communion could be given ? How can one urge you further to make such communions frequently .'' When will you make them ? You will do so always during mass, when you attend without being able to communicate sacramentally. " You must," says Rodriguez, " devour the divine food with the eyes of the spirit. You must open the mouth of the soul, with an ardent desire to receive the celestial manna, and to savour its sweetness slowly in the heart." You will make a spiritual communion, according to the advice of St. Alphonsus Liguori, at the beginning and the end of your visits to the blessed sacrament. What a wonderful manner of employing this precious time ! Jesus is really there, a few paces distant, filled with the desire to come to you. Long for Him with the same ardent desire, and He will come and unite Himself to you in a consoling intimacy. You will leave the church inflamed with love. You will make a spiritual communion in the morning, as soon as you have awakened from sleep. "At your awakening," said our Lord to St. Mechtilde, "long for Me with all your heart. Draw Me to you by a sigh of love, and I will come, I will perform in you all your works, and I will suffer in you all your pains." You will communicate in spirit after your prayer, or at the end of your meditation, on finishing your spiritual reading, before or after reciting the rosary, and at night as you fall asleep. You may communicate spiritually ten times, twenty times a day, as often as you will; for a few short moments suffice, a few words of prayer directed to Jesus present in the Eucharist imploring Him to come to you. It is not the time that signifies; it is the ardour, the vehemence of the desire, the hunger and thirst of the soul, the eagerness of the heart. As for the formula, the best will be that which comes most spontaneously, most sincerely from the inmost recesses of your being. That in which you put the most love, and above all the most tender, pure, generous, and disinterested love; that in which you feel most sure of making Jesus feel that you love Him for Himself. You will say to Him : "O Jesus, come; oh, come ! I have need of Thee; my soul sighs and languishes apart from Thee; I hunger and thirst after Thee; all is dreary when Thou art not here ! " O Jesus, I cannot live far from Thee; I die without Thee. O Father, Friend, O Well- beloved, come, I beg Thee, come ! O Love, Love, instil into my heart all the ardour of the seraphim and all the most radiant feelings of Thy divine Mother !" "O infinite Love, come Thou Thyself and love in me; come, and kindle in my heart all the most ardent desires that have consumed Thine own !" " Above all, O Love, may I love Thee for Thyself ! May I forget myself, lose sight of myself, lose myself in Thee ! Enter into me, that I may live no longer, that Thou alone mayst live in me ! As Thy Father is glorified in Thee, so be Thou glorified in me ! Take all that is in me to make it Thine forever !" " Enter into me to continue Thy works. Thy prayers, Thy virtues, Thy sufferings. Thine expiations. Thy merits ! " O Jesus, O Well-beloved, nothing for me, but all for Thee, and forever ! Enter into me, live in me, that we may be consummated in one" Thus you will make your spiritual communions, or in other terms still warmer, with expressions yet more ardent. Often even you will say nothing, you will remain silent, for the lips become incapable of formulating the desires of the heart when the heart is carried away and ravished by divine love ! Then it is unspeakable suffering not to be able to express what one feels. But Jesus sees this inner suffering, and to Him it is perfect homage; it fills Him with joy, for it reveals more love than all the words and cries of the most impassioned heart. And all these desires, all these impulses, all these feelings that Jesus Himself awakens within you, and which He feels more than you—I leave you to think whether He will not reward them. By the ardour of their desires for spiritual communion, the saints have often obtained miracles. Hosts have left the hands of the priest and given themselves spontaneously to them. Angels, sometimes the Blessed Virgin, or St. John, or our Lord Himself, have appeared to them and given them the sacrament. You will not be granted such miracles. No matter, if you do really, though invisibly, obtain the same graces. And these graces you will receive, if you consider, on the one hand, the worth and value, the excellence and the nature of spiritual communion; and if, on the other hand, you will remember with what ease you can effect it, at any hour of the day or night. How ungrateful then you would be, how culpable and inexcusable, if, understanding spiritual communion and the incalculable riches which it contains, you were not to resort to it, at least once a day, and much oftener still ! For of all the means of sanctification is there one which is more within your reach, more efficacious, and more marvellous! *However, spiritual communion must not be confounded with sacramental communion ; still less must the latter be dispensed with on the pretext that the former will take its place communion is also true of this, although in a different manner and in a less degree.* Source: Holy Communion by MONSEIGNEUR DE GIBERGUES Bishop of Valence, Imprimatur 1923  Just wanted to remind anyone who may be interested that Friday after Ascension Thursday is the day to start a novena to the Holy Ghost that will finish on the eve of Pentecost. The novena in honor of the Holy Ghost is the oldest of all novenas since it was first made at the direction of Our Lord Himself when He sent His apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Ghost on the first Pentecost. It is still the only novena officially prescribed by the Church. Addressed to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and strength and love so sorely needed by every Christian. To encourage devotion to the Holy Spirit, the Church has enriched this novena with the following indulgences: Those who make a private novena in honor of the Holy Ghost, either before Pentecost or at any other time in the year, may gain: An indulgence of 7 years once on any day of their novena. Source: Novena to the Holy Ghost, Imprimatur 1948 A file with the Novena is below. 
 Cardinal Pie of Poitiers (1815-1880) CARDINAL PIE: A VOICE FOR OUR APOSTATE TIMES ”People can talk all they like of the Rights of Man: there are two of them that must never be forgotten. Every man is born with the right to death and the right to hell.” Cardinal Pie [Rights of Man: Masonic slogan in frequent use during the masonic French Revolution.] Louis-Edouard Cardinal Pie, Bishop of Poitiers, is certainly one of the greatest figures of the Church of France in the XIX century. He was the champion of orthodoxy against the error of liberalism and rationalism and a great leader in the battle against the Revolution. He wrote two synodal instructions against “the errors of the present days and of philosophy” that would become a basis for the Encyclical Letter Quanta cura and the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX. He was also a great artisan of the proclamation of the dogma of Pontifical Infallibility. In France, he contributed in a large measure to the restoration of religious life. “He created many parishes, established in his seminary a canonical faculty of theology, founded for the missions of the diocese the Oblates of Saint Hilary, and brought the Jesuits to Poitiers and the Benedictines to Solesmes and Ligugé.” (Catholic Encyclopedia by Herbemann) In 1879, Leo XIII created him Cardinal, just one year before he passed away. Pope Saint Pius X was a fervent admirer of Cardinal Pie and paid a tribute to him when he gratified the Cathedral of Poitiers with the title of minor basilica in 1912. Referring to “Saint Hilary, the intrepid champion of the divinity of Christ against the Arians,” the Pope added: “but alongside of him it is sweet to remember Louis-Edouard Pie, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, who, like a second Hilary-alter Hilarius-avenged the integrity of the Faith against the modern Arians by his victorious eloquence.” We know that the writings of Cardinal Pie were among the favorites readings of Saint Pius X. Here are some excerpts of the Cardinals works that are very relevant today. "Hear this maxim, O you, Catholics full of temerity, who so quickly adopt the ideas and the language of your time, you who speak of reconciling the faith and of reconciling the Church with the modern spirit and with the new law. And you who accept with so much confidence the most dangerous pursuits of what our age so pridefully labels ‘Science,’ see to what extent you are straying from the program set out by the great Apostle, ‘O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so-called’ (I Tim. 6:20). But take heed. With such temerities, one is soon led farther than he first had thought. And in placing themselves on the slope of profane novelties—in obeying the currents of so-called science—many have lost the Faith. Have you not often been saddened, and taken fright, my venerable brothers, on hearing the language of certain men, who believe themselves still to be sons of the Church, men who still practice occasionally as Catholics and who often approach the Lord's Table? Do you still believe them to be sons, do you still believe them to be members of the Church, those who, wrapping themselves in such vague phrases as modern aspirations and the force of progress and civilization, proclaim the existence of a ‘consciousness of the laity,’ of a secular and political conscience opposed to the ‘conscience of the Church,’ against which they assume the right to react, for its correction and renewal? Ah! So many passengers, and even pilots, who, believing themselves to be yet in the barque, and playing with profane novelties and the lying science of their time, have already sunk and are in the abyss. (Homily , Nov 25th 1864) "Is not ours an age of miss lived lives, of unmanned men? Why?...Because Jesus Christ has disappeared. Wherever the people are true Christians, there are men to be found in large numbers, but everywhere and always, if Christianity wilts, the men wilt. Look closely, they are no longer men but shadows of men. Thus what do you hear on all sides today. The world is dwindling away, for lack of men; the nations are perishing for scarcity of men, for the rareness of men...I do believe: there are no men where there is no character; there is no character where there are no principles, doctrines, stands taken; there are no stands taken, no doctrines, no principles, where there is no religious faith and consequently no religion of society. Do what you will: only from God you will get men." (Homily for Christmas 1871) "My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progress; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." "Do you know why during the past half century we have seen perish among us every form of government, including even that to which we are returning today? I am going to tell you. All these forms in which society has dressed itself have perished because, beneath the forms, a soul was lacking. Now, it may be wonderfully provided with joints and a network of muscles, but a body without a soul is a cadaver, and it is the lot of a cadaver eventually to fall apart. The soul of every human society is belief, doctrine, religion, God. Our modern societies have been too long divorced from God.” (1848) "Neither in His Person, nor in the exercise of His rights, can Jesus Christ be divided, dissolved, split up; in Him the distinction of natures and operations can never be separated or opposed; the divine cannot be incompatible to the human, nor the human to the divine. On the contrary, it is the peace, the drawing together, the reconciliation; it is the very character of union which has made the two things one: 'He is our peace, Who has made both one. . .' (Eph. 2:14). This is why St. John told us: 'every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is not of God. And this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh: and is now already in the world' (1 John 4:3; cf. also 1 John 2:18, 22; 2 John: 7). When I hear certain talk being spread around, certain pithy statements [i.e., 'Separation of Church and State,' for one, and the enigmatic axiom 'A free Church in a free State,' for another- both masonic mouthings!] prevailing from day to day, and which are being introduced into the heart of societies, the dissolvent by which the world must perish, I utter this cry of alarm: Beware the Antichrist !" [underline added] "France will be Christian, or she will not be!" [Sadly she chose not to be!] "When The Lord taught His Apostles the Our Father, He made it clear that none of His followers could accomplish the first act of religion, which is prayer, without putting himself in relation with all that can advance or retard, favor or hinder, the reign of God on earth and he must do this in proportion to his intellectual attainments and to the extent of the Horizon open before him." The Kingship of Christ - Cardinal Pie of Poitiers "Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith."—I Tim. vi, 20.
Our Divine Saviour frequently compares His Church to a field and Himself to the sower who went out to sow good seed. He has indeed cultivated this field in the bloody sweat of His brow and sown the seed of His divine doctrine and of His grace. His labors were well repaid by the splendid harvest which He reaped in the faith of the first Christians, and in the holiness of the martyrs, confessors and virgins. But "his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way" (St. Matth. xiii, 25). The cockle is not only sin, but also error. This cockle will remain in the field of God, the Church, until the end of time. It is, therefore, the height of injustice to doubt the truth and sanctity of the Catholic Church because, forsooth, a few of her children, and even some of her priests and bishops, have been guilty of heresy or of crime. For the very reason that the Catholic Church is God's field, the wheat and the tares must grow side by side, until the time of the harvest, the day of general judgment comes. But in spite of the fact that the cockle and the wheat grow in the same field, the Church retains her truth and holiness. Her doctrines and sacraments sow only wheat; the enemy sows the cockle. Our Divine Saviour Himself tells us that the cockle is spared until the time of the harvest only because of the wheat. Because of the good Christian, God spares the sinner; because of the true believer, He spares the infidel and the heretic. God waits patiently until they be converted, or until they die, when He will reward them according to their deeds. The wheat is, therefore, the greatest benefactor of the cockle. It is on account of His faithful followers that God tolerates scoffers, sinners, heretics and infidels. The godless should, therefore, thank God on their knees that there are still so many faithful on earth. However, still another truth makes itself manifest in this parable of the wheat and the tares in the field of God. Just as the sower cannot tolerate the cockle in his field, so the Church cannot tolerate the cockle, namely sin and falsehood. Her zeal for the truth and for the salvation of souls compels her to be intolerant of error under what guise soever it may appear, but for the sinner and the erring she is merciful and compassionate, and she prays for them. We must never forget that weeds will always be weeds and wheat always wheat. Weeds can never become wheat, unbelief can never be placed on the same footing with faith, sin and crime can never claim equal rights with Christian virtue, and for all of them the day of the harvest will come, when the cockle will be cast into the fire and the wheat will be gathered into the granary of heaven. I will endeavor to show you today what is really meant by religious intolerance. O Jesus, assist us with Thy grace! 1. We frequently hear in our day the mass of unthinking men, especially her enemies, accuse the Catholic Church of intolerance against all those who profess a belief different from her own. What do we mean by intolerance? We can have a true and a false conception of its meaning. Our enemies give it the false interpretation; we will try to explain its true meaning. In its true conception, my dearly beloved, religious intolerance is the solemn avowal that God alone can give mankind the true religion and reveal those heavenly truths which are absolutely necessary for eternal salvation. Every child can understand this. Hence religious intolerance condemns every religion and doctrine that does not come from God, that has its origin in the vagaries of the human mind, and must by that very fact be false and detrimental to the salvation of souls. In this meaning God Himself must be intolerant, if we may so express ourselves. He cannot tolerate that man change the eternal truths and precepts to suit his fancy, or that he adore strange gods. God in His infinite love and mercy can never reward eternally those men who willfully transgress His divine law, who mutilate His divine truths, or who completely throw off the allegiance they owe Him. On the contrary His infinite justice demands that He inflict everlasting punishment on them. If God did not do so, He would thereby admit that He is not the only true God, that His commandments are not necessary and that His truths are not required to obtain eternal life. Who will dare utter such blasphemy? Therefore, even on the part of God, there must be a necessary and essential intolerance. But even man is intolerant, and he cannot be otherwise without surrendering the rights that belong to him by nature or condition. No ruler can allow his subjects to alter or abrogate his laws at pleasure, nor can he permit them to decide for themselves whether they will obey the laws of the land or not. Whither would such a state of affairs lead us? To the ultimate overthrow of every duly constituted authority, and to boundless license. Public order and the security of life and property demand that all those responsible for the enforcement of the law be intolerant, that is, punish all law-breakers and disturbers of the peace. No father can allow his children to gainsay his commands, ridicule his admonitions, or repudiate their obligations. He must be intolerant in all these matters. No teacher can permit his pupils to maintain the opposite of what he has taught them, or to uphold their personal opinions as the only correct ones. No good could result from such a method, and so the teacher also is obliged to be intolerant. The same condition prevails between master and apprentice, between employer and servant, between superior and inferior. Human society could not exist if all these were not intolerant, for in that case order, peace, obedience and duty would be things of the past. Even the individual must be intolerant once he has recognized where truth and duty lie, that is, he cannot allow falsehood and wrong to be represented to him as truth and right. 2. There is, therefore, an intolerance which is absolutely necessary. This, Holy Writ, as well as human reason, declares. The intolerance of God is made manifest through the whole Bible. Whenever men fell away from God and gave themselves over to a life of unbelief, of idolatry and vice, we see that God sent heavy visitations upon them, not to destroy them, but to save them from a greater evil, eternal damnation. Adam bears eloquent testimony to this fact, for he was driven out of Paradise because of his fall into sin. The deluge which swept away the ancient race of men is another powerful proof. The history of the Jewish people is an unbroken record of visitations and chastisements for their desertion of God and their relapse into idolatry. Reward and punishment are in turn meted out to this people, which God wished to keep for Himself until the coming of the Redeemer, according as they were true or false to their God. Nothing better shows how God hates and punishes sin, falsehood, and unbelief, than the cross of Christ on Calvary. The cross on which Our Divine Saviour bled for the impiety of man is the strongest protest which God raises before the world against religious indifference and infidelity. The cross tells us that God abhors every religion which He has not revealed to man, and that the infinite justice of God will punish all those who refuse to accept the grace and the doctrine of the divine Redeemer, or who falsify them according to the caprices and the desires of their hearts. God is obliged to hate and punish sin and religious error, because He is infinite holiness and eternal truth. If God were indifferent to them He would thereby deny His own essence and being. If it be true that it is a matter of little consequence whether we possess the true faith and the true religion or not, why then did God not spare His only begotten Son, but give Him up to the ignominious death of the cross? Again, who can doubt the infinite love, and mercy of Jesus toward all men, but especially sinners andnthe erring? And yet how intolerant Our Divine Saviour was of every deliberate error and contradiction in matters of revealed truth. How often and emphatically He pronounced judgment against all those who will not believe. "He who does not believe is already judged." "If he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican." St. John, the disciple of love, writes: "Whosoever revolteth and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. . . .If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, nor say to him, God speed you" (1 St. John i, 9). But he also gives the reason for this. "He that believeth not the Son, maketh him a liar, because he believeth not in the testimony which God hath testified of His Son" (1 St. John v, 10). 3. And in fact, my dearly beloved, what other purpose did the Saviour have in view when He came into the world, than that of raising the human race out of the pit of infidelity and idolatry into which it had fallen, by means of the truths which He brought from heaven, and leading it back to God and salvation? If it were a matter of such complete indif- ference to what religion or religious error we give allegiance, is it not true that the Incarnation of Christ and His public ministry would be entirely superfluous? But who will dare to make so blasphemous an assertion? Since without Jesus there can be no truth, no eternal life, it follows that Our Divine Saviour was obliged to condemn openly every teach- ing that did not proceed from Him and, was for that very reason dangerous to the salvation of souls. Today, as always, He must be intolerant of every false religion that can only lead to perdition. For this alone "is eternal life," says Our Divine Saviour, "that they know Thee the only true God and Him thou hast sent, Jesus Christ." To be indifferent to religious error and to be tolerant of every false doctrine is equivalent to a denial of the veracity of God and of His revelation. The Church then, cannot permit false teachings to arise; she must be intolerant. Just as God hates and punishes falsehood, so must the Church combat and condemn heresy, because she is the kingdom of truth. If she did not do so, or was lax in the accomplish-ment of this plain duty, she could no longer be the kingdom of God and of redemption on earth. She would be untrue to her vocation and fail to attain the purpose for which she was instituted, that is, to be the teacher of the human race, and she would thus accomplish her own annihilation. Indeed, if she also were indifferent, if she also asserted the equality of truth and falsehood, of revelation and heresy, if she also maintained that it mattered little whether one were Catholic or Protestant, Turk or Jew, she would be the first to deny the necessity of Redemption and of the true faith and likewise of the true Church. Can anyone imagine for a moment that the Church could ever subscribe to a doctrine so monstrous and at the same time so suicidal to herself ? She is, therefore, obliged by the very nature of things, and in justice to the Redeemer and to herself, to be intolerant of error. 4. There are two further reasons why God Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, and, consequently, the Church must necessarily exercise this true intolerance, namely, the salvation of souls and the removal of temporal disturbance and evils. As a matter of fact, what would become of mankind if proud or unbelieving individuals might with impunity transform the religion of Christ, curtail His doctrines or abolish His commandments? The Church cannot tolerate so rep rehensible a course without betraying the sacred trust reposed in her by Jesus Christ, Grace and eternal life depend on the integrity of the faith, and therefore she could not tolerate any tampering with it without committing the most frightful treason against humanity and the salvation of souls. What would become of the unity of Catholic faith, of the sacraments, of divine worship, whither would Christianity have drifted if the Church had not constantly combated and condemned heresy? Hundreds of heresiarchs have sprung up in the course of nineteen centuries. Each one attacked a different dogma of the Church, each one asserted that his position was the correct one, each one arrogated to himself the right to teach the Church, the pillar and the ground of truth. Is, then, the Church to yield and be tolerant of heresy and thus betray Jesus Christ and the souls she was instituted to save? Any child can see that such a thing is radically impossible. The Church is obliged to be intolerant of error. Teachers of heresy, at the expense of their fellowmen, seek only to satisfy their pride, ambition, and passions, and to sow divisions, discord and hatred. I do not speak here of those who have been led into error, of those who without any fault of theirs have been born and reared in heresy. They are deserving of our compassion, our love and our prayers. But I speak of those who knowingly and deliberately disseminate false doctrines. Such as these know perfectly well where they obtain the seed that they sow in the field of the Church. They know well that the doctrine which they try to spread by craft and violence is naught else than but the fabric of their own brain. They know that they are in conflict with the faith of the Catholic Church. They know that they are assailing Our Divine Saviour in His commandment and in His person—in His command to hear the Church, and in His person that has promised to abide forever in His Church. Do you think, my dearly beloved, that it is proper for the Church to say nothing about these presumptuous practices of the teachers of error? Should she quietly abandon the Catholic faithful to temptation and thereby expose them to the danger of eternal perdition? Who will expect the Church to be so recreant to her duty? In such a case she would cease to be the true Church of Christ, she would no longer be the mother of the faithful, she would degrade herself to the level of her betrayers. In goodsooth, the Church can never do this! Hence, as a warning to her children, she must exclude all heretical and godless men from her pale, she must condemn heresy. A father must exclude from the bosom of his family every person, every book that threatens to corrupt the morals of those who are entrusted to his care; the teacher must eradicate every evil influence from the midst of his pupils; a prince, a ruler must banish from among his people every element of disorder. This must be done lest misfortune and ruin overtake the family, the school, or the nation. So must the Church drive out heretics from among her children. She owes it to the Saviour, she owes it to herself, and, most of all, she owes it to the faithful, so that on the one hand they may recognize the false doctrine and, on the other, they may not lose their souls. 5. There is a still more cogent reason why the Church should excommunicate heretics. The experience of centuries teaches us that heretics have always and everywhere been the cause of terrible discord, of revolt, of persecutions against Catholics and of bloody wars. It has been thus from the time of Arius in the third century down to the days of Luther, who sowed the seeds of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, with all its attendant horror and ruin. No country where heresy has gained a foothold has ever remained at peace; it has either been rent asunder or has gone completely to ruin. Poland, Germany, France, Austria are sad examples of this. Protestant countries in our day furnish an apt illustration of the bitterness with which the Church is hated and of how little justice and fair play a Catholic may expect when his religious convictions come into conflict with the prejudices of his fellow citizens. Is then, my dearly beloved, the Catholic Church, that has lived through nineteen centuries with all their happenings and knows the heart of man only too well, is she to look quietly on while heresies arise, and extend to them the tolerant hand of welcome? She cannot and must not do so, because of the salvation, the tranquillity, the welfare of the nations. She must be as uncompromising towards error as the father is towards the seducers of his children, or the ruler towards the rebels who incite his people to revolution. Let the enemies of the Catholic Church accuse her of intolerance as much as they please. This uncompromising attitude of the Church toward the seducers of her children shows a large measure of wisdom, justice and mercy. She thus proves her right to the title of true kingdom of Jesus Christ, for her divine Founder can tolerate no revolt against His teaching and His commandments. The Church cannot give up the most precious heritage of Jesus Christ for the sake of a few proud or vicious men. Love as well as truth, obliges her to proclaim to all that the Catholic faith is the only true faith, and that he who lays a sacrilegious hand upon it attacks eternal truth itself, and that for him there is no hope of salvation unless he do penance and return to the faith. She is the Church of the martyrs, the Church of the holy Fathers, of the confessors and virgins and of all the saints. She has never to the present day hesitated to suffer and to shed her blood for the sake of her faith. She cannot, therefore, hesitate to defend the faith against the teachers of error, and declare them the enemies of her children, yea, even of the human race, and cast them out of her midst. And we who are anxious to obtain everlasting life must be intolerant of ourselves, of our sins and shortcomings, we must cast them off, weep over them and flee from them. The deposit of faith has been kept intact in the Church until the present day because she has never entered into compromise with error. We too can maintain ourselves in grace, and in the faith by waging a relentless war against sin and falsehood, and thus we shall live to see the happy day when God Himself will forever separate the cockle from the wheat, and in recompense for our sturdy resistance against error and sin, will receive us into the realms of everlasting bliss. Amen. Source: The Beauty and Truth of the Catholic Church, Vol I, Imprimatur 1911 HOW OLD IS YOUR CHURCH?
IF YOU ARE a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517. IF YOU belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry. IF YOU ARE a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. IF YOU ARE* a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century. IF YOU ARE a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582. IF YOU ARE a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744. IF YOU ARE a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774. IF YOU ARE a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829. IF YOU ARE a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605. IF YOU ARE of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628. IF YOU worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865. IF YOU ARE a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder. IF YOU belong to one of the religious organizations known as "Church of the Nazarene," "Pentecostal Gospel", "Holiness Church", "Pilgrim Holiness Church", "Jehovah's Witnesses," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past seventy-five years. IF YOU ARE a Roman Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and it is still the same Faith that he promised would last until the end of the world.  Today is a day of great joy. We must have felt this as soon as we awoke. We saw it as soon as we came to church this morning. How different the church looks today from what it did the last time we were in it! Then all we saw made us think of sad and sorrowful things, now all is bright, and speaks of joy.
And all this joy is because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. On Good Friday afternoon we learned how Jesus died, and we sorrowed over the sins which caused His Death. After He was dead His friends came and took His poor bruised and wounded Body down from the cross. They took It down so tenderly and lovingly, and wrapped It up in fine linen, putting myrrh and spices with It to preserve It. Then they laid that Body they loved so much in a new tomb, in which no one had been buried before, and rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb. When they had done all that could be done they went home very sorrowful, and yet glad that they had been able to do a little for their dear Lord Jesus. So the Body of Jesus rested in the grave. But the Soul of Jesus was not there: that was gone. His Soul was gone to Paradise, that is, to the place of departed spirits. There, in that world of spirits, many were waiting and longing for Him. Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Joseph, David, and all the prophets who had spoken of His coming, all were there expecting. Oh, what joy when He came among them and told them that His work for them was done, that He had died to save them ! We do not know exactly what Jesus did in that place of spirits. We are told that " He went and preached to the spirits in prison." What a wonderful preaching that was ! How they gathered round to listen ! No one got tired there, no one went to sleep there, of that we may be quite sure. But this was not all He did. It had been said before He came that He should set free those that were bound. And this He did. He set those souls free! Satan, the prince of that world of spirits, had had them under his power so long, but he should have them no more ; Jesus came there to set them free. He set them free and gave them life. The joy of Easter began in Paradise. But Jesus did not stay long there. His Body lay in the grave just long enough to show that He was really dead. His Soul remained in the place of spirits long enough to do His Father's Will. When He could say there, as He said before He died on earth, "It is finished," He came back. His Soul came back to His Body, His Body came to life again, Jesus rose from the dead. Now we know indeed that He was God. We have believed it all the time, because God said so. And we have seen the miracles that He did. But this is the greatest miracle of all, so great that the Bible says, "He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." If you were asked, " How do you know that Jesus is God," you might say, " Because on the third day He rose again from the dead," and you could give no better answer. This is why for more than eighteen hundred years the Church has kept Easter Day. Easter Day tells us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He has risen from the dead. What a glorious sight His Resurrection must have been ! But no one saw it except the angels. This is why we have no picture today. None can tell what the Resurrection was like, for no man saw it. The soldiers who were watching the grave saw a glorious angel, so beautiful that they nearly died of terror. What, then, must the glory of Jesus have been! We cannot picture it, and indeed we do not need a picture today; our hearts are full of joy. Our dear Lord will never suffer any more. He will never be hungry nor tempted again. His enemies will not be able to scourge Him or crucify Him. He has borne all that once, but now He is out of their power. He is risen from the dead. "He Who on the cross a Victim For the world's salvation bled, Jesus Christ, the King of glory, Now is risen from the dead." The spirits of the departed rejoiced with Him, the blessed angels rejoiced when they saw Him come forth from the tomb, and we rejoice with them, and lift up our hearts and voices to worship Jesus risen from the dead -- "Accept, O glorious risen King, The homage that we pay ; Let it ascend the starry sphere This happy Easter Day." The angels saw Jesus rise ; and if you had been there, and God had let you see Him too, you would indeed have seen a wonderful sight. For Jesus did not rise alone. He went to Paradise to set free the saints who were bound, and when He came back He brought them with Him. We are not told who they were that rose with Him ; we are only told that " many bodies of the saints that slept arose, and came out of their graves, after His Resurrection." That must have been a glorious sight to see. Jesus going first, and all these rejoicing saints following Him, and all the blessed angels around. Think of the joy of those who rose with Jesus on that first Easter Day -- "Devouring depths of hell their prey At His command restore, His ransomed hosts pursue their way Where Jesus goes before." We are glad when we hear of this, because we know that what Jesus did for those saints He will do for us. We look forward to the day when we shall rise again. Jesus Christ is called the " Firstfruits from the dead." Where we get firstfruits we know that others are to follow. You know how when the cold of winter is passing away we begin to look out for the birds coming back again, and when we see one swallow how glad we are ! We know then that more will soon come; winter is gone, summer will soon be here. So, too, when the snow is beginning to melt perhaps we see one little flower beginning to show itself. How we wish the snow to be all gone that all the other beautiful flowers may come out and make the whole earth beautiful ! "The Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies." That is, God will bring our bodies to life again. We must be thinking about this and looking forward to it, because it will help us in our life now. We want to live like Jesus our Lord, and we want to be able to die like Him, commending our spirit into our Father's hands. We must remember what is beyond all this. We are to rise again. How glad we shall be then ! There will be no more pain, no more sorrow ; we shall not suffer any more persecution or trouble for the sake of Jesus Christ, but we shall be perfectly like Him and share in His joy. Will not that be beautiful? It ought to help you much to think of this. You can bear pain, for the time is coming when there will be no more pain. You can endure trouble for your Lord's sake, for it will not last for ever, and will end in joy. You will do your best to keep from sin, because you would not like anything to prevent you: being like Jesus Christ when you rise again from the dead. When any pain or trouble comes, or when you are tempted to sin, say, "I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD," and you will find your heart grow strong and brave to bear all and wait that you may be like Jesus Christ. There was once a little girl whose father went away into a distant country. Before he went he gave her clothes enough to last until his return, and he left her in the care of some distant relatives. He was gone a long, long time, much longer than she expected. Her relatives got tired of keeping her, and used to treat her very cruelly, because they said she cost them so much. They made her do all kinds of hard and dirty work. Her clothes got shabby and too small, and they would give her no more, but only laughed at her looks. When she talked of her father they laughed and said he would never come back. Altogether her life might have been very sad ; but it was not, for she was always bright and -cheerful. Whatever they said she answered cheerfully ; or if she could not do that, she said nothing. She did all her work well. She wore her shabby clothes as gladly as if they had been the most beautiful new silks. She did all this, and why? Because she knew her father would come, and then all would be different; he would change it all. At last he came, and oh, what a change it was ! They hardly knew her now. When she had proper clothes on they saw that she had grown almost to a woman, and was tall and beautiful Her face, which had so long been pleasant with smiles, was now sweeter than any her friends had ever seen before. All her toil had made her only the better able to help her father in the new home to which he took her. In after years she would look back, and sometimes she would say to her father, "Oh, how long you were away! I wondered when you would come, though I knew I could trust you. Now and then, when I had so much to bear, I was tempted to think whether it would not be better to be dead. But now I am glad. And oh, father, you have made such a difference in my life, I cannot tell you ! It has been like a resurrection, like life from the dead." Indeed, children, none of us know what the change and joy will be when Jesus comes to raise us from the dead and take us to our new home in the Kingdom of Heaven. Try and live always remembering the Resurrection. "Save us, Lord, from sinning, Watch us day by day, Help us now to love Thee, Take our sins away ; Then when Thou shalt call us To our heavenly home, We will gladly answer, Saviour, Lord, we come." Source: The Children's Saviour, 1886  My dear Children: Today all Christendom is filled with joy and gladness; and in every land is heard the oft-repeated Alleluia. In all tongues and climes hymns of praise and thanksgiving ascend to the throne of God.
Why this joy? It is on this day the voice of God is heard assuring us that the dead can and will rise again, to enter upon a new and never-dying life. Sometimes a little child dies. That only means that the beautiful angel-like spirit which is in each one of us has left this child's body and flown up to God in heaven. It is bitter for us to lose those we love, but they are happy to go to God. We know that this is true, because after Jesus had died on the cross, after His body had been laid in the grave, His spirit came back to His body, to show us that if we are God's children death is nothing to be afraid of. This is the day Jesus came back to tell His dear friends that they must not be sad because He died. You have just learned from the gospel how soldiers were placed near the grave to guard it, but the second night, towards morning, when it was beginning to get light, there was a noise and a shaking of the ground, and a beautiful angel came down from heaven and rolled the huge rock back from the cave. The soldiers trembled with fear and ran away. Among the friends who came to visit Jesus at the tomb was Mary Magdalen. She had loved Jesus with all her heart, for He had been very good to her, making her life, which had been sinful and bad, sweet and good. She came to find the grave empty, and leaving the spot with a heavy heart she turned back. On her way out she met a man in the garden. Her eyes were so full of tears that she could not see plainly, and she supposed that He was the gardener. He asked her: "Why weepest thou ?" She answered: "Sir, if thou hast borne Him away, tell me where thou hast laid Him?" Then the man said, in a voice she knew and loved more than any voice on earth, "Mary !" Who do you think it was ? It was Jesus, and when she heard His voice she turned, and knelt at His feet, crying with great joy, "Master!" So Jesus came to His disciples, to one by one, or two or three together. And at last they all knew that He was really risen from the dead—that He was alive. And they learned, too, what we must learn and never forget, that as Jesus rose from the dead, so we and all those we love rise also. Sometimes when we go to sleep at night it is dark and stormy and we feel tired and fearsome, but when we wake in the morning the sky is blue, the sun is shining and we are cheerful. Dying is very much like this; falling to sleep here, when our course is run, and we are tired after all our trials and tribulations, and waking in heaven with Jesus. That is why Jesus came back on that Easter morning after He had died on the cross; to show us that death is nothing to be afraid of, for it means going to be with Him. When the pagans were leading St. Pionius to the place of martydom, they were surprised to see the joy that lighted up his countenance, and how eagerly he ran towards the place of His death. "What makes you so happy?" they asked him, "and why do you run forward with so much eagerness to death?" "You are mistaken," answered the martyr, "I am not going to death; I am about to begin a life that will never end." This is how the saints spoke of what the world calls death. However long or sweet may be the pleasure of the draught of life, and health, and prosperity, all finally come to the one bitter drop at the bottom of the cup. And that is death. The Church, the divinely instituted Guardian of God's word, tells us that Christ has conquered death. All who die shall rise again from the dead, because our Saviour Jesus Christ, first of all, rose from the dead, and promised that the change of a similar resurrection should come upon all mankind. Bitter as death may be, the hope of the resurrection is a complete antidote. A "happy death" is a common saying among Catholics. It is a resurrection to eternal life. In the life of the holy martyr Pamphilius we read that many pagans who saw the great joy that filled the Christians, when they were condemned to die for Jesus Christ, wondered how they could be so happy. And when they were told that it was because they were so soon to see God in heaven and to enjoy the happiness God had prepared for them, they also wished to become Christians, that they might share in that happiness. They had not long to wait for the martyr's crown. For the Prefect of Cesarea, hearing of what had taken place, sent soldiers to bring them before him. One of the first questions he put to them was: "What country do you belong to ?" "Our country is heaven," was the answer; "it is there where our God and our Saviour dwells. After He had suffered and died, and rose again from the dead, He went up to heaven to prepare a place for us. So heaven is our home." The Prefect was very angry at the tone of confidence in which they said these words and commanded them to suffer the most inhuman tortures. Children, many Catholics think so much of the world that they seem to forget that the world is not their proper goal. Judging from the lives of some Christians, a person would not think that they ever think of death. Many years ago there was a certain lord who kept a fool in his palace, as many great men did for their amusement in those days. Now, this lord had given the fool a staff and charged him to keep it till he met with one that was a greater fool than himself, bidding him, if he met with such a one, to deliver the staff to him. Not many years after, the lord fell sick, and, indeed, was sick unto death. The fool came to see him, and the sick master told him that he and hast made no orders for thy comfort in a place from which thou wilt never return? Take my staff, for I am not guilty of any such folly as this." Children, we will ask ourselves, have I a right to participate in the Easter joy of to-day, or am I only making an outside show, while my conscience tells me I am a hypocrite? What kind of a life would I rise to on the day of resurrection if I died' tonight? What would Jesus Christ find in me that looks like Him, and therefore give me a share in His glorious resurrection ? Dear Children, that is what He wants to find in us all. Let us now rise from all that is deadly or corrupt in the life we are leading, and Jesus will be sure to find in us what will entitle us to a resurrection to eternal happiness. Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921  THE Resurrection of Jesus from the tomb is the model of that new life which every Christian. . . should live who has returned to grace. Let us study the sacred characters of the Saviour's Resurrection, and learn on what conditions we also can arise with Him.
First Point.—The Resurrection of Jesus presents three principal characters; viz., it is true, it is all for God, and it is forever. Such should be the qualities of our return to God. Our return to God should be sincere. The Resurrection of Jesus is not a fiction, but a reality. The proofs of it are: His absence from the tomb; His winding-sheet and garments are left behind; and His apparition to Simon. Behold by what marks we may recognize if our resurrection to grace is sincere. Virtuous men and true Christians must be able to say of us what the angels said of Jesus, "He is not here." You may seek for this person in his old habits, in parties of pleasure, at the plays, and among the worldly; but he is no longer there. " Why do you seek a living soul among the dead?" Behold the pledges of his conversion—the winding-sheet and the relics of his worldliness. Hitherto vanity was evident in his dress, but now modesty and decency are his most beautiful ornaments. This change should be apparent to every eye. Christians shall rejoice at this conversion, because it shall be their most beautiful eulogy. The worldly will laugh; so much the better—their railleries shall be our first atonement. The second character of the Resurrection of Jesus is that it is all for God. Before His death Jesus lived in the world, and He lived a human life. But once that He has arisen, He lives a life wholly celestial, He lives for God. His body even is spiritualized. It is on the heights of Galilee that His apostles must go to find Him. Behold our Model. "Even as Jesus has arisen" says the apostle, "we must also arise to a new life." He adds: " When I was a child, I thought as a child, I acted as a child; but having become a man, I have thought and acted as a man." Let us apply these words to ourselves. When we were sinners, worldlings, slaves to our passions, we thought and acted as sinners and as worldlings; if we have truly become Christians, we should act and love and think as Christians. According to the terms of the theology of St. Paul, there are in us two men—the old and the new. The old man is concupiscence, self, and pride. The new man is grace, Jesus, and faith. Now what is it to arise with Christ? It is to live His life. And what is it to live the life of Christ? To understand it well (for here is all the mystery and the foundation of Christian life), we must know that life consists especially in two functions of the soul, viz. , to think and to love. To live the life of Jesus, to live the life of faith, is to think of the world, of pleasures, of salvation, and of sufferings what Jesus thought of them; to live the life of Jesus is to love what He loved. But what has He loved? What has He thought of the pleasures of the world, of riches, and of sufferings? Think of His birth, His life and His death, think of His teachings, and then answer. The third character of the Resurrection is its duration. Jesus once arisen dies no more. Never again shall we see Him assume His earthly garb or re-enter the tomb from which He came; never shall He become a victim to death, even for an instant. Hence St. Paul says: "Death has no longer empire over Him. " And so our resurrection to grace should be constant. No one should behold us resuming' our old guilty habits, or falling again into sin. We have arisen from our tomb, be careful not to reenter it. St. Paul says : " Know that grace has crucified in us the old man, that the reign of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer." What a crime, if, after having returned to God, after having tasted the sweetness of His love, we should go, as the unclean animal, to our former sinfulness. Let us ask of our risen Saviour to keep us far from such a misfortune, and that He may bind us so strongly to Himself that we shall never be separated from Him. Second Point.—The conditions to arise with Jesus. The first condition is to die; in fact, only the dead can arise. Our soul cannot live at once the natural life which it has from the old Adam and the supernatural life which it must draw from the new Adam. These two lives are incompatible in their principles and in their effects. The principles of one are: nature, passions, pride, the senses; it has for its effects: pleasure, love of ease, and fear of sufferings. The principles of the supernatural life are: grace, faith, the promptings of the Holy Spirit its effects are: humility, a spirit of sacrifice, and a love of suffering. We must, therefore, necessarily choose. Hence the maxim in the language of the Christian, so common and so true: " We must die to live. " The vile insect which crawls under the grass does not become a beautiful butterfly except by leaving its first form and its first life. And so the Christian must arise from his ashes; he must cease to be a man and become a Christian. St. Paul says " I die every day." This saying is full of consolation; it teaches us that spiritual death comes slowly; it is a daily work to be accomplished. Let us labor without relaxation, but let us labor without discouragement. And here let us ask how this spiritual death happens. It comes only after the agony. There is no death without sorrow. Jesus replied to the disciples, who were frightened at the remembrance of His Passion: "It is necessary that Christ should suffer, and thus enter into His glory." It is the necessary condition.. And this transformation which is made in a Christian man is called mortification. "If any one wishes to come after Me"—that is to say, to live My life— "let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me." This is the daily "I die" of St. Paul. Mortification, then, is the path which leads to death, as death is the path which leads to resurrection. And then to suffer, or, rather, to wish to suffer. " If any one wishes to come after Me." Do you know why there are so few Christians truly worthy of the name? So few who live the life of faith? It is because there are so few who consent to suffer. What a strange thing! We wish to live the supernatural life, we wish to arise with Christ, but we do not wish mortification! We might just as well wish to die without suffering. Let us reform our erroneous ideas and walk after Jesus daily. He is laden with His cross, He ascends the hill of Calvary ; He is crucified and He dies. We must also ascend the Calvary of humiliation, and embrace the cross, and allow ourselves to be crucified with Jesus to merit to arise as He did, to live with Him always. Source: Short Instructions on the Feasts of the Year, Imprimatur 1897 Read St. John xix. 25-27.
1. Our Divine Saviour did not depart from those He loved without providing them with a Mother who should be their Consoler, their Protector, their Advocate with God. In the person of St. John, He entrusted them all to Mary's care. If He had simply been providing Mary with a home, He would first have addressed St. John and commended to him the pious task of sheltering the Mother of God. By speaking first to Mary, He showed that it was she who was to shelter all those who were desolate and in sorrow. St. John was the representative of all who love Jesus, when Jesus said to Mary respecting him, "Woman, behold thy son." 2. This was the occasion when Our Lady for a second time became a mother. The birth of her first-begotten Jesus cost her no pang of travail ; the birth of her spiritual children, the sinful sons of men, brought to her unspeakable anguish. The Queen of heaven became the Queen of Dolors before she could earn the right to exercise over each of us a mother's fostering care. How we ought to value the privilege of being her children, when it cost Mary such unspeakable suffering! 3. When Jesus said to Mary, "Woman, behold thy son," He asked Our Lady to regard us with a mother's love for His sake. Her love for Him was to be transferred to us, without, however, becoming one whit the less. She was to love us for Jesus' sake ; to show her love for Him by loving us. With what perfect confidence can we go to Mary, who sees in each of us, in spite of our sins, the image of her Divine Son! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 A SHORT time before the holy Father's death, he called together his Children and warned them of the coming troubles, saying : "Act bravely, my Brethren ; take courage, and trust in the Lord. The time is fast approaching in which there will be great trials and afflictions; perplexities and dissensions, both spiritual and temporal, will abound; the charity of many will grow cold, and the malice of the wicked will increase. The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it. There will be such diversity of opinions and schisms among the people, the religious and the clergy, that, except those days were shortened, according to the words of the Gospel, even the elect would be led into error, were they not specially guided, amid such great confusion, by the immense mercy of God. Then our Rule and manner of life will be violently opposed by some, and terrible trials will come upon us. Those who are found faithful will receive the crown of life ; but woe to those who, trusting solely in their Order, shall fall into tepidity, for they will not be able to support the temptations permitted for the proving of the elect. Those who preserve their fervour and adhere to virtue with love and zeal for the truth, will suffer injuries and persecutions as rebels and schismatics; for their persecutors, urged on by the evil spirits, will say they are rendering a great service to God by destroying such pestilent men from the face of the earth. But the Lord will be the refuge of the afflicted, and will save all who trust in Him. And in order to be like their Head, these, the elect, will act with confidence, and by their death will purchase for themselves eternal life ; choosing to obey God rather than man, they will fear nothing, and they will prefer to perish rather than consent to falsehood and perfidy. Some preachers will keep silence about the truth, and others will trample it under foot and deny it. Sanctity of life will be held in derision even by those who outwardly profess it, for in those days Our Lord Jesus Christ will send them not a true Pastor, but a destroyer.
Source: WORKS OF THE SERAPHIC FATHER ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Imprimatur 1882  "Hosanna to the Son of David," is the joyful acclamation with which the Jews greeted our Lord to-day as He made His entrance into the royal city. But how quickly that has changed, for within a few days after the same people begin to cry out: "Crucify Him." Who would imagine such inconstancy possible? Sad to say, children, this occurs every day. Just think what have you done, for as often as you commit a mortal sin you have rejected Jesus and crucified Him anew. The glorious Hosanna which arose in your heart at the reception of Holy Communion was by your sinful deeds exchanged for the fearful "Away with Him, crucify Him." You have, indeed, done this, and not like the Jews through blindness, but with the full knowledge that Jesus is your Saviour. You have been shamefully inconstant to Him, who has never injured you, who loved you and died for you. Should not the greatest sorrow penetrate your hearts? Should you not with your whole heart renew your resolution to remain loyal to your Saviour.
A pious mother who had brought up her son with great care, seeing him about to leave her to enter the world, desired to give him a lesson. For two days she gave him nothing to eat but sweet food. At first the young man was pleased with it, thinking that his mother was very kind to him before leaving home. But when the evening of the first day had come, he asked her to give him some solid food. But she told him that he must be content. The next day when he received the same kind of food, he became so disgusted with it that he could not even look at it, and he asked his mother to give him some plain bread. His mother said to him: "My dear child, I had a special object in placing before you all these dainty dishes. You are about to enter the world that is full of wickedness and ungodliness. It will put before your eyes many pleasing things— glory, honor, riches and pleasures. They simply dazzle the eye. They may be very pleasant for the moment, but they engender remorse. Do not allow yourself to be deceived by them. Yesterday I saw how you loved the sweets I placed before you. Today you are filled with disgust. So it is with those who allow themselves to be deceived by the world. Pleasures soon bring bitterness. Learn a lesson, as soon as you are tempted by these things, thrust them aside and be content with the plain food of the Christian—that is bearing patiently with all your crosses here on earth, that you may obtain an eternal reward in Heaven." What will it avail us to begin in the grace of God if we do not persevere in it? Not the beginning, but the end of life decides our fate. Judas began well, but how did he end? On the other hand, St. Mary Magdalen and the good thief on the cross persevered in good, that is why they ended as elect children of God. In a certain college there lived a boy by the name of Paul who was remarkable amongst all the other boys for his gentleness, his piety, and his good conduct; every one loved him. To look at him one would have thought that he had never committed any sin. But such was not the case. There had been a time when that boy, now so gentle, so mild and good, had been a slave to sin. The following is the story of his life and conversion; it was himself who told it to one of his masters: "I was once a good boy; so long as I was near my good mother, and until I was eleven years old, I did not know what mortal sin was. At that time it happened that one day when I was in the fields playing with my companion who was a little older than myself, he taught me to do what was a mortal sin. From that moment I became most unhappy; I could find no peace night nor day, because I knew that if I died in that state I should be sent to hell for all eternity. "What made my state more awful still was this, that I also went and made two other innocent companions commit a grievous sin. When I came to this college I was quite as bad. I was perfectly miserable, and when I saw others who were so pious and so good I wondered if it. were possible that I could be like them. "Some of my companions came and asked me to become a member of one of the sodalities of the children of Mary. I joined it just for appearance's sake. It was then for the first time I heard of that little prayer: “O my Queen and my Mother, protect me, help me, for I am thine.' I began to say it every day, and it was not long before I went to confession. I made a good confession; and oh, how happy I felt then. "But I began to think of the terrible things I did in making the two children commit sin, so I am going to become a brother of that religious community which has specially for its object the pious education of the young, that I may be the means of saving more souls than I may have caused to be lost. "Temptations often come back to me; but when they come I immediately remember the little aspiration: 'O my Queen and my Mother.' I at once say it, and then the temptation soon goes away." Take away perseverance and what remains ? All else is vain and useless ; to no purpose all your good works and piety, mortification and mercy, to no purpose so many sufferings endured. Perseverance is the crown of all good, for without it we cannot obtain that which alone is good and desirable. Perseverance is the narrow way through which we must force ourselves at any cost. Perseverance is the pearl of all graces, since those who have obtained it now dwell in the land of peace and happiness. There was once a rich count called Otho, who had a daughter whom he loved with great affection. One day the child was amusing herself with some beads of glass, with which she seemed to be much pleased. Her father was sitting by the fire watching her. My child," he said, "these are pretty beads you are playing with." Yes, papa, they are very beautiful, and I am delighted with them." Well, then," said the father, "take them up and throw them all into the fire." The child looked up into her father's face to see if he was in earnest. One glance told her he was. "Well, dear child, you may do as you please, but you know that when I ask you to do something, it is always because I, who love you so tenderly, see that it will be best for you." The girl at these words gathered up the beads and threw them into the fire. Her father said nothing, but he seemed much pleased at the ready obedience of his dear little girl. "Now, my child, you will soon see how your father can reward you for that heroic sacrifice you made to please him. He then drew forth from a little draw a little casket and drew out a beautiful necklace, made of glittering diamonds. "This, my child, is for you. I wanted to see if you loved me more than yourself. Take this then, my dearest little one, and when you wear it, it will remind you that your Father in Heaven will reward you with a reward surpassing all understanding in the world to come, if you obey Him in this life, and sacrifice everything rather than displease Him by breaking His commandments." The saints have persevered unto the end and what they have done we also with a good will can accomplish. Children, we must faithfully cooperate with the graces which our Lord will abundantly grant us for our salvation. We must fight the good fight, scrupulously avoid the dangers and occasions of sin, be diligent in prayer, in the reception of the sacraments and mindful of our last end. Source: Story Sermonettes for the Children's Mass, Imprimatur 1921 I have added the 5 volume set of The Beauty and Truth of the Catholic Church and the 7 volumes of The Works of Bishop Hay to the Catholic Reading section of the site under Books We Have Enjoyed.
The following is a condensation of the closing pages of Rev. George Hay’s “The Sincere Christian” in Five Volumes, 1871. Seven of the eight volumes can be read and or downloaded at archive.org. The books are wonderful!!
Every co-operation, in religious matters, with those who are separated from the Catholic Church, is criminal in the sight of God, because every such co-operation implies an approval of their false doctrine, and is, as Saint John expresses it, "a participation in their wicked works" (2 John 11). Whoever Acknowledges Me We are strictly obliged to confess our Holy Faith outwardly, acknowledging ourselves to be members of the one Church of Christ, whenever either the honour of God or the good of our neighbor's soul requires it. The Scripture makes this confession an express condition of salvation. Thus, "if thou confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). The internal faith of the heart suffices for our justification, that is, for being reconciled with God through repentance, but if occasion be given, we are also bound to confess outwardly, both by words and actions, without shame, or fear of the world, the faith which we believe in our hearts, in order to obtain salvation. It is with great reason that Saint Paul affirms this to be a truth of Divine revelation, for Our Lord Himself declaresit to His holy Apostles in these words: "Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I too will acknowledge him before My Father Who is in Heaven" (Matthew 10:32). And in another place He repeats it, " I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before men, him the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8). Now by acknowledging Jesus Christ is not only meant acknowledging our belief of His Person, but also of His doctrine, and consequently, of His Church, in which alone His true doctrine is preserved. For of Saint Paul before his conversion it is said that he "with every breath he drew threatened the disciples of the Lord with massacre" (Acts 9:1), that is against the Church, as he himself declares, "in my Jewish days I persecuted and ravaged the Church of God" (Galatians 1:13). And further,when Our Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus He said to him, " I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest" (Acts 9:5); from which it is clear that persecuting Christ and persecuting His Church is the same thing, and consequently that confessing Christ and confessing His Church is the same thing also, according to His own words to the pastors of His Church, "He who heareth you heareth Me" (Luke 10:16). Whoever Denies Me To deny Christ, or His Faith and Church, is of its very nature a most grievous sin of the deepest dye, for He Himself says "Whoever denies Me before men I too will deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven" (Matthew 10: 33); and again, "whoever denies Me before men shall be denied before the angels of God" (Luke 12:9). "If we deny Him, He will deny us," Saint Paul declares to Saint Timothy (2 Timothy 2:11), and commands him, and in him all the pastors of the Church, to preach the same truth, lest heeding it not we should hear that dreadful sentence, " I know you not, nor whence you have come. Begone from Me, all you doers of iniquity" (Luke 13:27). Our Lord says that "whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words before this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels will be ashamed of him" (Mark 8:38). It is evident from this that being ashamed not only of Him but also of His words, that is, of His doctrine, and therefore of His Church which is the depository of His doctrine, is of its very nature mortal sin; and if being ashamed of these is mortal sin, how much more denying them? The Example of the Martyrs It is never allowable, even in appearance, by any word or sign or act to deny the Faith, though to gain the whole world or to escape the greatest evils. This conviction led thousands upon thousands of the first Catholics to lay down their lives rather than do the smallest thing that could have the slightest appearance of denying their holy religion. It was not always required of these blessed martyrs openly to renounce their Faith; they were frequently asked but to be present at some heathen service, though their heart took no share in what was done there. Had they complied with this for once, they would seldom have been sought after again, but might follow what religion they pleased, and be left in secure possession of their goods and liberty and life. And yet they persevered resolute, choosing rather to forfeit all that was near and dear to them in this world, and to undergo the most terrible torments, than do the smallest action contrary to Jesus Christ. Convinced as they were that the slightest co-operation in false religion was unlawful, offensive to God, dishonourable to His Faith, scandalous to their brethren, they cheerfully embraced death in all its horrors rather than be guilty of so great a crime. When weak brethren, to avoid these tortures, procured for money an attestation from the magistrates that they had complied with what the persecuting laws required of them, though in reality they had not, they were looked upon by the Church as traitors, and as such they were dealt with, so as not to be admitted to participation in the sacred mysteries till, by long and public penance, they had endeavoured to expiate their crime and satisfy for the scandal they had given. Avoid Their Company The language of Holy Scripture is unmistakable: all religion other than that of Christ and His Church arises from false teachers, false teachers who are deceivers and antichrists, says Saint John (2 John 7 ) ; liars who organize their followers into sects of perdition, says Saint Peter; impostors who teach the doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1,2), ravening wolves and perverters (Acts 20:29, 30), enemies of the Cross of Christ, says Saint Paul (Philippians 3:18). Of Saint Paul's command in 2 Corinthians 6:14ff., "Do not be yokefellows with unbelievers. For what partnership have innocence and iniquity? What has light in common with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? How can a believer have part with an unbeliever?"; of this command, the fathers who prepared the Rheims New Testament say, in their note upon this passage: "Here is forbidden dealing with unbelievers in prayers, or meetings at their schismatical service, or other worship service whatsoever." "Give a heretic one warning, then a second," says Saint Paul, "and after that avoid his company; he is perverted, and in sin, and is self-condemned" (Titus 3:10, 11). In their note on this text the translators of the Rheims New Testament declare that "heretics must not marvel if we warn all Catholic men, by the word of the Apostle in this place, to take warning against them, and to shun their preaching, books and meeting-places." Saint Paul, writing to the Ephesians, elaborates upon Our Saviour's warning that we "must beware of false prophets" (Matthew 7:15). "Let no one deceive you with empty arguments," he says, "these are what brings down the wrath of God on unbelievers; do not associate with them" (Ephesians 5:6, 7). Here is an express command not to have any contact with those who teach false religion, to avoid their meetings and sermons, lest we be deceived by them, and incur the anger of Almighty God, provoking Him to withdraw His grace from us and leave us to ourselves, in punishment of our disobedience. The same Apostle renews this command in his Epistle to the Romans. "Brethren," he says to them, " I beg of you, watch out for those who are causing dissension and scandals, contrary to the doctrine you have learned, and avoid their company. Such men do not serve our Lord Christ but their own belly; by their pleasing speeches and flatteries they seduce the hearts of the innocent" (Romans 16:17, 18). See here whom we are to avoid: those who cause dissension to the traditional doctrine. And why we are to avoid them: because they are not servants of Christ but slaves to themselves whose appeal is not to faith and reason but to emotions and passions. "Now these avoid," Saint Paul commands his beloved disciple Saint Timothy, speaking of false teachers, even though Timothy was a bishop of the Church, and fully instructed by the Apostle himself in all the truths of the Faith; because, besides the danger of seduction, which none can escape who voluntarily expose themselves to it, all such communication is evil in itself, and therefore to be avoided by all, and especially by bishops and priests, whose bad example would be most poisonous to others. Saint John the Evangelist says of the doctrine of the Faith that "if any one comes to you who does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house; do not even greet him; to greet him is to share the guilt of his wicked works" (2 John 10, 11). If the holy Apostle declares that even greeting such people is a participation in their wickedness, what would he say of going to their meeting-places, hearing their sermons or joining in their prayers? It is a great and damnable sin in any one to do any of these things, but a much greater crime in those who are learned and powerful. The Church's Constant Practice The conduct of the Catholic Church in this matter has been uniformly the same in all ages with what the Holy Scripture teaches. She has always forbidden her children to have any communication, in religious matters, with those who are separated from her, and this she has sometimes done under the most severe penalties. In the Apostolic Canons, which are for the most part handed down from the apostolical age, it is thus decreed: "If any bishop or priest or deacon shall join in prayer with heretics, let him be suspended from communion." Also: "If anyone, clergy or lay, shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed and deprived of communion." The Council of Carthage held in 398, at which the great Saint Augustine was present, enacted that: "No one must either pray or sing psalms with heretics; whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the communion of the Church, whether clergy or layman, let him be excommunicated." Pope Paul IV wrote thusly to the Catholics of England, at a time when the most severe persecutions were raised against them, unless they agreed to go from time to time to the Protestant church: "Great has been the grief of our mind for the calamities you have had to undergo for your adherence to the Catholic Faith; and as we understand that these trials are become more severe at present, our affliction is increased exceedingly. We are informed that you are compelled, under the most grievous penalties, to go to the churches of heretics, to frequent their meetings, and be present at their sermons. But we are fully persuaded that you who with so much fortitude and constancy have hitherto endured almost infinite miseries that you might walk without stain in the law of the Lord will never consent to be defiled by communicating with those who have forsaken the Divine law. Nevertheless, urged by the zeal of our duty, and by our paternal care for you, we admonish and command you that on no account you go to the churches of heretics, or hear their sermons, or join in their rites, lest you incur the wrath of God, for it is not lawful for you to do such things without dishonouring God, and hurting your own souls." The constant practice of the Church shows that any attempt to authorize or excuse communication in religion with those who are separated from her falls under the curse pronounced by Saint Paul on all novelty in religion, and is contrary to the gospel which has been preached from the beginning and handed down from the holy Apostles. The Law Unalterable No power on earth can make that allowable which the law of God forbids; and to say that because there are those who do go to heretical churches and hear heretical sermons and read heretical books,without being censured, it is therefore allowable, is the same as to say that because great numbers curse and lie and drink to excess it is therefore allowable to commit these sins. No, the law is by no means altered by the fact that it is widely disobeyed; it stands as a testimony against those who flaunt it, and though they here and now escape the censure of men, they will not escape the just punishment of their transgression at the tribunal of God. Sinful Curiosity Whatever is a sin to do, is a sin to appear to do; and it is evident that whoever goes to non-Catholic churches, even though his motive is mere curiosity and no more, appears to join with what is done there, whatever be in his own mind; and Our Lord not only condemns those who deny Him in their hearts, but also all those who deny Him before men, whatever be the inward disposition of their hearts. Do not the texts of Scripture we have cited forbid the very going to such places at all, do they not command us to avoid them? and how can one be said to avoid them who goes to them, whatever his intention? Does not the Scripture say that there is no fellowship, no participation, no concord, no part, no agreement between the faithful and the unbeliever? and how can this be said of one who goes to their religious meetings, is present at their service, and hears their preachings? Does not the Scripture expressly affirm that he who so much as greets them, communicates in their wicked works? how much more he who honours their meetings with his presence? As for the motive of curiosity, it is certainly a disgrace for a Christian to fly to such an excuse for doing a thing forbidden by any lawful authority, but much more for doing what is so frequently, so severely, and for such important reasons, forbidden by the law of God and of His Church. Whatever useful purposes curiosity may serve in the acquisition of knowledge, however blameless it may be when employed about innocent objects, yet curiosity is, without doubt, a very great sin in itself when to gratify it a person either does what is criminal, or prohibited by lawful authority, or exposes himself to the danger of doing so. The Learned No Less Obliged It is no argument to say that a person might go to see and hear what passes among heretics so long as he is well grounded in the true Faith, and so unlikely to be seduced from it. Even if we grant that such a person would run no risk of losing his faith, yet this is only avoiding one of those reasons for which going to heretical places is forbidden. It would still be, at least in the eyes of the world, a seeming approbation of the heresy, and a transgression of an express command of God and His Church, and a very grievous scandal to the faithful. In fact, the scandal arising from the from others, because every one of the faithful well knows that it is a sin to go to such places, and therefore all must be more offended to see a person who ought to know his duty better than others acting so contrary to it, and the weaker sort among them will be more influenced to do the same from the example of such a person, than if less learned and less instructed in his religion. But even the most learned cannot answer for themselves when, contrary to their duty, they culpably expose themselves to the danger. Saint Paul assures us that "it is by grace that you are saved, with faith for its instrument, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). Our faith, then, being God's gift, our perseverance in it is no less so. If therefore a person, though ever so learned, offends Almighty God by doing what is dishonorable to His holy Faith, is this not provoking God to withdraw that gift from him, of which by his disobedience he renders himself unworthy? In the primitive ages, Tertullian and Tatian were most learned men, and great champions of the Catholic Faith, having written many excellent things in defence of it, yet by exposing themselves to these very dangers they were miserably seduced, lost their faith, and fell into the most unreasonable heresies. It is impossible that there should be any solid reason in favour of falsehood capable of convincing the understanding of a person who is well instructed in the Faith of Jesus Christ, but the most learned and best instructed are not proof against their own passions, and the seductions of the heart, and therefore can have no security against these if they culpably expose themselves to the danger, by which they offend God, and provoke Him to withdraw His grace from them, and leave them a prey to their passions. On this account was the command to avoid all fellowship with false teachers given to all without exception, to the learned as well as to the unlearned, to priests as well as to people. Even Refutation a Poor Excuse But might a well instructed person go to such heretical meetings that he might be the better able to confute the heretics? This case is the same, as to the danger, as that of reading bad books with the design of confuting them. To read bad books is forbidden by the law of God, by the natural law, and by the law of the Church, precisely because of the danger of being seduced by them to evil. Even a person thoroughly learned and in no probable danger of being seduced by them cannot read them with a safe conscience, even with the design of confuting them, unless he has received permission from his spiritual superiors to do so. Should he read them without such leave, he runs the risk of being hurt by them, all his learning notwithstanding, in punishment of his disobedience to what the law of God requires of him. But if he has the required permission, and reads with the intention of confuting them, he may do it lawfully; and he has reason to hope that God will preserve him from danger. In like manner, if a learned person, by permission of his lawful superiors, should go to the meetings of those of a false religion, precisely to learn their ways and teachings that he may be able the better to confute them, this will take away the sin as to this one point of exposing himself to the danger; but this will not excuse the other evils of his doing so, namely, its being an apparent communication with a false religion, a seeming approbation of it, and a source of offense and scandal to the faithful, most of whom, hearing of his doing so, and not knowing either the permission he has got, or the intention with which he goes, cannot fail to be greatly offended and scandalized by it. So except in circumstances where all these evils could also be prevented, such permission could not be granted; and though granted, would not, I fear, give him full security before the tribunal of God—especially when it is considered that there seldom or ever can be a necessity for granting such permission, since the teachings of all false religions can easily be known from their books, or from the relation of others, without doing a thing so detrimental to the honour of the true religion, and so obnoxious in the eyes of all pious members of the Church of Christ. From: Chapter VII pgs. 180-181 Q. 9. What are we to think of any doctrine which is contrary to what the Church teaches ? A. As, by what we have seen above, we are undoubtedly assured that Jesus Christ will never permit His Church to fall into error or teach false doctrine, but will continue to preserve the sacred truths which He revealed to her, and put into her mouth, at the beginning, unchanged and uncorrupted to the end of the world; so it is evident that the doctrine which the Church teaches is infallibly true; consequently, any doctrine which is contrary to this must necessarily be a false doctrine; and, if false, it cannot be from God, for God is truth, and cannot deny Himself, by speaking contrary to the truth. Q. 10. From whom, then, does all false doctrine come ? A. Our blessed Saviour says to the Jews who opposed His doctrine, "You are of your father the devil. . . . He abode not in the truth, because truth is not in him; ... for he is a liar, and the father thereof," John, viii. 44. St Paul also assures us that " in the last times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy," I Tim. iv. I ; and St James says, " Be not liars against the truth; for this is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, sensual, devilish," James, iii. 14, 15  THERE is a whole school of thought that sniffs at the idea of encouraging Catholic customs in the home--or anywhere else, for that matter. Customs like the saying of the rosary together, the decorating of an altar in May seem to them too childish for consideration. For them the doctrines of the Church are sufficient, without these extras. And indeed the doctrines of the Church are enough for anyone. They are like straight, unwinding roads that lead into eternity; only on either side of these roads are hedges and ditches and meadows and all sorts of flowers. The ultra-catholic Catholic is not interested in these flowers or fields. Still, such things are to a road what Catholic customs are to the faith; they adorn it, enliven it, they help to keep one on the journey. It is not strange that all sorts of devotional practices have sprung up around Catholicism, sometimes practices that may seem rather trifling until one realizes that customs cannot be worthless that have evolved from the faith of the people through many hundreds of years, sometimes through well over a thousand years. What family is there that does not use certain sayings and phrases that have significance only for those belonging to the circle? What family exists that has no peculiar customs, nicknames, rites, birthday ceremonies that outsiders cannot be expected to appreciate? Can anyone account for the curious rites they observed as children. Those rites are not necessary for family life, but they adorn it and enliven it. And since the Church is not an institution but a family that ranges from God and God's mother and thence to the saints and thence to the souls in purgatory and from them to ourselves, is it not astonishing then that spiritual family rites and customs have sprung up? It is surprising how few people think of this. But the parents who do enter into these spiritual family customs can give their children treasures, whose value they may not realize until eternity. There is nothing forced in this idea: why does the church in her liturgy allot the various days to the honor of her saints, or to events in the lives of Christ and of Mary, if she does not wish us to celebrate them in some way? These feasts of the Church are fixed, but the way they can be celebrated can vary--and does vary tremendously from place to place. With the passing of time the festivities and the customs of the day have also changed, still the essence remains the same. At Christmas, for instance, Jesus is the center of the day, and everywhere in the world Christians will show their love to the new-born Child in their own way, whether this be with carol singing, erecting cribs, hanging Advent wreaths, placing lighted candles in the windows, leaving empty places at the table for the holy Family, or by making it a special festive day for children, their own or other people's. ~ adapted from: "A Candle is Lighted," Imprimatur 1945. ~ It is with these thoughts in mind I will share those traditions that we do to help bring our Faith to life. ADVENT - Holy Mother Church's way of teaching Her children to prepare for the coming of Christ, both on His birthday and on Judgment Day. To this family the Advent and Christmas season is the most wonderful time of the year. We have many traditions that help make the season penitential as well as joyous. My children as well as my husband and I are eagerly awaiting the first Sunday of Advent. It is on this day that we start our traditions. Besides the Advent Wreath with it's prayers and songs, we have another tradition called "Christkindl" (Christ Child). After our Mass prayers are said and our breakfast eaten I bring out a bowl which I pass around. In it are pieces of paper each containing a different name of one of our family members. The papers are neatly rolled up, because the drawing has to be done in great secrecy. Each person then draws a piece of paper from the bowl and looks at it in secret. (This tradition is a little hard when all the children are small because the burden of keeping track of each person's Christkindl falls on the mother) The person whose name one has drawn is now in one's special care. From this day until Christmas, one has to do as many little favors for him or her as one can. One has to provide at least one surprise every single day--but without ever being found out. This creates a wonderful atmosphere of joyful suspense, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Perhaps you will find that somebody has made your bed, done your chores or has informed you, in a disguised handwriting on a holy card, that "a rosary has been said for you today" or a number of sacrifices have been offered up. (Note: I will type up on paper prayers like, 3 Hail Mary's or a decade of the Rosary, etc. and place them in the center of the Advent wreath for the children to use for each other. When it has been found by the Christkindl it is then returned to the wreath to be used again.) The beautiful thing about this particular custom is that the relationship is a reciprocal one. The person whose name I have drawn and who is under my care becomes for me the helpless little Christ Child in the manger; and as I am performing these many little acts of love and consideration for someone in the family I am really doing them for the Infant of Bethlehem, according to the word, "And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me." That is why this particular person turns into "my Christkindl." At the same time I am the "Christkindl" also for the one I am caring for because I want to imitate the Holy Child and render all those little services in the same spirit as He did in that small house of Nazareth, when as a child He served His Mother and His foster father with a similar love and devotion. Many times throughout these weeks can be heard such exclamations as, "I have a wonderful Christkindl this year!" or, "Goodness, I forgot to do something for my Christkindl and it is already suppertime!" It is a delightful custom, which creates much of the true Christmas spirit and ought to be spread far and wide. We have a large manger (just the Infant's bed) that we set up on our domestic altar. It is empty and throughout the Advent season after our evening prayers are said, the children place pieces of hay into it for each good deed they have performed during the day. The more good they have done, the softer Baby Jesus' bed will be come Christmas morning. (Note: We use straw colored yarn cut into pieces instead of the hay that can be reused year after year.) There is still one very important thing to do for Advent. Each member of the family writes a letter to the Baby Jesus mentioning his resolutions for the weeks of Advent and listing the wish for a gift. This "Christkindl Brief" (letter to the Holy Child) is put under the manger on our domestic altar for the Guardian Angels to take to the Christ Child. (I have kept these over the years and love to read them over again.) It cannot be said often enough that during these weeks before Christmas, songs and hymns of Advent should be sung. No Christmas carols! Consciously we should work toward restoring the true character of waiting and longing to these precious weeks before Christmas. Just before Midnight Mass, on December 24th, is the moment to sing for the first time "Silent Night, Holy Night," for this is the song for this very night. It may be repeated afterwards as many times as we please, but it should not be sung before that holy night. This year we will be adding yet another tradition or actually changing the way that we do one. We used to at the beginning of the school year have each child pick a Saint that they have to research, make a costume for, and tell about come All Saints Day. This year we are going to do things a little differently. The following has been taken from: "Around the Year with the Trapp Family" and it is this tradition that we are going to adapt to our own. "One of the old customs is to choose a patron saint for the new year of the Church. The family meets on Saturday evening, and with the help of the missal and a book called "The Martyrology," which lists thousands of saints as they are celebrated throughout the year, they choose as many new saints as there are members of the household. We always choose them according to a special theme. One year, for instance, we had all the different Church Fathers; another year we chose only martyrs; then again, only saints of the new world....During the war we chose one saint of every country at war. The newly chosen names are handed over to the calligrapher of the family. She writes the names of the saints in gothic lettering on little cards. Then she writes the name of every member of the household on an individual card and hands the two sets over to the mother In the afternoon of the first Sunday of Advent, the whole family meets in the living room. The Advent wreath hangs suspended from the ceiling on four red ribbons; the Advent candle stands in the middle of the table or on a little stand on the side. Solemnly the father lights one candle on the Advent wreath, and, for the first time, the big Advent candle. Then he reads the Gospel of the first Sunday of Advent. After this the special song of Advent is intoned for the first time, the ancient "Ye heavens, dew drop from above, and rain ye clouds the Just One...." After our first gathering around the Advent light, and the singing of the first Advent hymn, an air of expectancy spreads over the family group; now comes the moment when the mother goes around with a bowl in which are the little cards with the names of the new saints. Everybody draws a card and puts it in his missal. This saint will be invoked every morning after morning prayer. Everyone is supposed to look up and study the life story of his new friend, and some time during the coming year he will tell the family all about it. As there are so many of us, we come to know about different saints every year. Sometimes this calls for considerable research on the part of the unfortunate one who has drawn St. Eustachius, for instance, or St. Bibiana. But the custom has become very dear to us, and every year it seems as if the family circle were enlarged by all those new brothers and sisters entering in and becoming known and loved by all. Start a tradition or two with your families this Advent season, your children will learn to love and cherish them and it will help bring your Faith to life. May you all have a very fruitful and blessed Advent! Below you will find a printable file with the Advent Wreath Prayers: 
 "Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, at least you my friends."— JOB 19, 21.
In indulgences the eternal mercy of God is mani- fested as a most consoling truth. God gave to His Church the power not only to forgive grievous sins with their eternal punishment in the Sacrament of Penance, but also outside of this Sacrament the power to remit in part or in whole temporal punishment due to sin. But besides this power of the Church, the doctrine of indulgences shows in a special manner the faith in the Communion of Saints in its most touching beauty. This is especially so in regard to the communion of the faithful on earth with the poor souls in purgatory. According to the expression of the Apostle St. Paul the Church is the body of Christ, but He is the head (Eph. 5,). As in the human body all the members are not only united with the head in the most intimate union, but also among themselves, so that the whole body feels what each member feels or suffers, so is it also in the Church of Christ. She is united with her divine Head in a most intimate manner, and so are all the faithful as members of the Church united with Jesus Christ and among them- selves most closely. Therefore, the graces and merits of our Saviour penetrate the whole Church, the triumphant Church in heaven, the militant on earth and the suffering in purgatory, and flow over all the faithful who are united with the Church, just as the blood in the human body flows through all its mem- bers. In like manner the prayers and sacrifices, the merits and good works of the just and the saints flow out in all directions and benefit the faithful on earth by indulgences, and the dead in purgatory by inter cession. Holy Scripture says : " It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead." (2 Macch. 12,46.) If we consequently pray for them and if the Church by her priests can offer the holy sacrifice to God for the poor souls, why should she not also have the power to apply through the intercession of the faithful indulgences to the poor souls? Whoever would deny this truth, would also be obliged to deny that we could not in general pray for the dead and consequently could not offer the holy sacrifice for them. Such a denial contradicts the experience and the practice of the centuries and offends Christian sentiment. Precisely by the doctrine of indulgences the Catholic Church shows herself in her true light, in her true greatness as the one kingdom of God in heaven, on earth and in purgatory. By indulgences the militant Church on earth grasps with one hand the triumphant Church in heaven, with the other the suffering Church in purgatory. From heaven she takes the abundance of the merits of the sufferings of Jesus Christ and the Saints, and applies them by indulgences to the faithful on earth and applies them by intercession through the faithful to the poor souls. Now if this truth is so firmly established that we, by intercession can apply indulgences to the poor souls on account of our communion with them, how great is our duty, my beloved, to do so as often as possible. Just as the Saints in heaven joyfully apply to us the abundance of their penitential works, in like manner we should compassionately come to the assistance of the poor souls, in order that God may lessen their sufferings, shorten or entirely remit them. Therefore I will speak to-day of the intercession for the poor souls and of our duty to assist them by indulgences in order that you may see indulgences in a new and touching light. O Jesus, assist me with Thy grace. 1. The real object of the holy Catholic Church is the intimate union of the faithful with God. Therefore all the faithful have a communion among themselves. They enter into this communion by baptism and as its indelible mark lasts for eternity, so this communion continues in eternity for all who obtain eternal life. We live, it is true, still in this visible world, which is the battlefield of the Church, but we are nevertheless inseparably united with the blessed in heaven and with the poor souls in purgatory. Year after year the trium- phant Church in heaven receives new armies of holy Christians from earth and from purgatory. And the number of its blessed adherents exceeds by far the number of the faithful on earth. And who knows how many of our friends, acquaintances, brothers and sisters, parents and ancestors are in the number of the Blessed with Jesus in His triumphant Church ? And in the same manner, my beloved, year after year the suffering Church in purgatory receives a great number of Christians who died in the state of grace, but still have much to atone for before they will be worthy to join the triumphant Church in heaven. And in fact the suffering Church also exceeds in extent and in the number of the poor souls by far the militant Church on earth with its millions of faithful. The suffering Church in purgatory is that holy kingdom of grief but also of sinlessness where the poor souls suffer, indeed, suffer severely, but in heavenly patience and with that marvelous silence which adores the Justice of God. They are holy souls in the state of grace who can sin no more ; they are the chosen of the Lord, the suffering sacrifice, who have submitted to the will of God, but will be tormented no more by the fear of sin nor doubt of their early coming bliss. Even the most bitter suffering of the poor souls is accompanied with the great est peace, which this world cannot conceive. No com plaints, no murmurings, no impatience overshadows this holy place, for they all persevere faithfully until their painful time of penance is past and the angel of God takes them and leads them into the land of their most ardent longing, into the kingdom of the blessed. Yes, my beloved in Christ, if the quiet meek suffer ing even on earth is something most estimable and touching what a sight must the suffering Church in purgatory offer, this marvelous likeness to the suffering Saviour on the cross and of the sorrowful Mother of God? Therefore you will clearly understand that the poor souls remain in the most intimate union with Jesus Christ, with the saints in heaven and with us Catholic faithful on earth. Jesus Christ is the Head of all in the militant, suffering and triumphant Church, which is only one holy Church in heaven, on earth and in purgatory. But yet let us not deceive ourselves ! The pains of the poor souls are great and terrible, and last long, according to the number of their sins and the great or little penance which they have performed on earth for them. No tongue can adequately describe this suffering, and no intellect can grasp it, for we know that they are almost equal to the pains in hell, but yet with this two fold difference that these pains are not eternal and that the poor souls are not tormented by despair. There fore their greatest pain is their separation from God and His bliss. The poor souls feel themselves power fully drawn to God and this power becomes the stronger the longer the separation lasts. But what makes the suffering souls, truly poor souls, is their boundless helplessness. Neither the angels nor the saints in heaven can help them or make intercession for them, much less can the poor souls help themselves or one another. They can acquire no merits, make no satisfaction, receive no sacraments, gain no indulgences; no consoler stands by them and no charitable Samaritan relieves their pains. They can only suffer and do penance. They are a thousand times more helpless than a helpless sick person, than a paralytic or the little child, and present in their helplessness a wonderful picture of our Divine Saviour in His Passion on the cross. Their helplessness becomes the more awful, the more these poor souls are ungratefully abandoned and forgotten by their own relatives, friends or children. 2. Yes, my beloved in Christ, I repeat again, the helplessness of the poor souls in their unspeakable pains becomes the more terrible the more they are abandoned and forgotten by their relatives. If the angels and saints cannot help them, God in His adorable mercy has nevertheless imposed upon us Catholic faithful on earth the duty to help the poor souls. Therefore God has given us such a glorious power over the dead that their lot almost seems to depend more on us than upon heaven. We can sweeten the sufferings of the poor souls; we can lessen and shorten them, if we pray for them, have the holy sacrifice offered up for them, and especially if we gain indulgences for them. We can consequently apply to them the abundance of the means of grace which are at our command on earth and we can offer for them the merits of Jesus and the Saints, for they are in communion with us. Just as the holy martyrs and confessors formerly interceded for penitent Christians who had been excluded from the communion of the Church and obtained for them the remission of their penance, so should we Catholic faithful intercede for the poor souls who are still excluded from the triumphant Church in heaven and shorten their time of penance. And this we can do in addition to praying for them and offering up the holy sacrifice and communion for them, especially by gaining indulgences for them. Hear how a mysterious whispering rises from grave to grave, and numberless voices cry out from purgatory: "Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, at least you my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me." These are the voices of the poor souls who cry to us for mercy, and our mercy is their one hope of help and a quick redemption from their pains. Redeem souls, my beloved in Christ, redeem souls from purgatory, which are precious in the eyes of God. Even if they are now victims to His Justice, nevertheless His love and His pleasure rests upon them. 3. Oh, what a thought, to be able to save souls, holy, precious souls, to redeem them from pain and before the end of the time allotted to their painful penance to lead them before the throne of God and into the circle of the Blessed! What a consoling thought for zealous Christians, thereby to glorify God and to rejoice the heart of our Divine Saviour by leading souls sooner to His Beatific Vision! Therefore the Catholic Church daily prays in holy Mass for the poor souls and grants to her faithful indulgences which can be applied to the Holy Souls. The Catholic Christian has nothing else to do than to faithfully fulfill the conditions of an indulgence, therefore to worthily receive the Sacraments and to perform the indulgenced prayers. If he has worthily done this he can offer to God the plenary or the partial indulgence for the poor souls. Why, are there not many, who once loved us on earth, nourished, instructed and suffered for or by us as we may hope now they are on the way to bliss, therefore in purgatory? Parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends, teachers, benefactors, priests? Oh, behold, how they in the midst of their sufferings raise their hands to you and beseechingly say: "Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, at least you my friends." Lay your hand on your heart, my beloved, and let each one ask of himself : Is there a single soul in purgatory on my account? Is there no father, no mother, no brother, no sister, no friend, is there no soul there who must suffer grievously for my sake? who sinned on my account, whom I enticed, scandalized or induced to sin ? Who can, who will have the courage to answer: Not a single soul suffers on my ac count? Therefore, Christian justice demands that we help them as much as possible, confidently gain indulgences for them. Oh, how beseechingly do many parents look to their children on earth, how many brothers, sisters, relatives or friends look to those who belong to them and cry out: "have mercy on us at least you our friends." And if they do not receive help from those who owe it most to them, oh, how bitter is this cold indifference and heartless injustice ! 4. In order that we may help the poor souls, God in His adorable mercy has given to us a power which even the angels and saints in heaven do not possess. We, and we alone can intercede for the poor souls, we can have the holy sacrifice offered for them, yes, we can gain indulgences for them. Therefore there are few devotions, which are so pleasing to God, as the devotion for the poor souls. There are few good works by which we can show such service and such honor to God as to redeem the poor souls from their pains and to help them on their way to eternal bliss. Behold here the grateful Christian who, as it were, repays the mercy which God grants to him day by day. Like our Divine Saviour, who applies to us daily in the holy sacrifice of the Mass His merits, His Passion and Blood, and like the saints who interceded for us and allowed us to share in their penitential works on earth, so also good Catholic faithful remember in love and mercy the poor souls and apply to them by indulgences the Church's treasure of grace. How such love pleases God our heavenly Father! He has, as it were, committed to us the care of the poor souls, in order that we may make satisfaction to His justice for them by gaining indulgences. We should make it possible for His mercy to admit them before their time to the Beatific Vision. Oh, how very much our Divine Saviour will be pleased, if we lead these souls to Him in His glory ! What a service of love we render the Holy Ghost as soon as we re deem the poor souls from their suffering and lead them, the brides of His grace, to the ardent embrace of His love! How happy does Mary the Mother of Mercy feel when we strive to requite her love and intercession for us by leading the poor souls to her motherly heart, in freeing them from suffering in purgatory! It brings joy to the Angels of God, and the saints in heaven rejoice as often as a poor soul is freed from purgatory and enters into the heavenly Jerusalem before the throne of the Most Holy Trinity and into the blessed number of the heavenly hosts. 5. Oh, how great is the Catholic Christian in this power over the poor souls and how like to our Divine Saviour he becomes in its exercise! Can you show, my friends, your love, your gratitude and your faith better than when you remember the poor souls and return the grace and the mercy of Jesus to you with mercy? Can you become more like the Angels and Saints in heaven who lovingly look down and share in your joys and sufferings than when you, like an angel full of compassion, look down into the silent, sinless kingdom of the poor souls and pour out upon them the merits of Jesus and His Saints! Our Divine Saviour says: "Make unto you friends that they may receive you into everlasting dwellings." (Luke 1 6, 9.) The poor souls whom we free from their suffering are these friends, who richly requite us before the throne of God by their intercession for what we have done to them. How glorious, therefore, is the Catholic doctrine of indulgences, how touching the love which it announces! It is love that animates the blessed souls towards us, and it is love that urges the Christians to help the poor souls. We should therefore never miss an opportunity when we can gain indulgences for our selves and for the dead, in order that we may as soon as possible after our Christian life on earth enter into the eternal Vision of God and into the blessed communion of the Saints. Amen. Source: The Beauty and Truth of the Catholic Church, Vol. III Imprimatur 1913  THE INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS
"In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want, that there may be an equality."— -2 COR. 8, 14. One of the most glorious articles of our faith is the Communion of Saints. The Catholic Christians remain truly united among themselves whether they are in heaven, on earth or in purgatory. This communion is not a communion of bodies but of souls, which confines their love, their desires and their compassion for their brethren to no place, and therefore they mutually remember each other throughout all space and time and continue their love and compassion towards each other forever. Every day Catholic Christians depart from this life, but yet in such a way that they are not completely and forever separated from us, in so far as they go into eternity in the grace of God. And as our Divine Saviour is the head of all Christians in heaven, on earth and in purgatory, so the Catholic Church always remains by the Communion of Saints in heaven as triumphant, in purgatory as suffering, and on earth as the militant Church. The more the blessed in heaven are united with Jesus, the greater is their love towards us, their brethren on earth, in order that we may share in the same happiness. The more the poor souls in purgatory suffer, the stronger is their desire for bliss, and the greater their wish that we Christians on earth may lessen their pains through our prayers and zealously make use of the means of grace of holy Church for ourselves and for them. And if the poor souls are unable to help themselves by prayer to God, they the more zealously pray God for us, the more we help them. Yes, marvelous is this Communion of Saints. The saints in heaven who behold God are holy; we all, my friends, have been sanctified in Baptism and should become still holier by the Sacraments; and the poor souls are holy, for although they still suffer and do penance, they are nevertheless on the way to their bliss. Hence St. Paul says so beautifully and truly speaking of the Communion of Saints, that the abundance of the saints in heaven supply our want that there may be an equality. And they do it, since the abundance of their merits and sufferings on earth and intercession in heaven come to our aid, while we again on earth effectively help the poor souls and can apply the abundance of our means of grace to them. This takes place especially by indulgences. Therefore I shall speak today on the intercession of the saints and show how their abundance of merits are applied to us through indulgences. O Jesus, assist me with Thy grace. I. The Apostle St. Paul imposed on a public sinner of the Christian congregation at Corinth which he the Apostle -- by his indefatigable zeal and preaching the Gospel had established, a severe and public penance. He dismissed him from the communion of the faithful " with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ," and excluded him from participation in divine service, in the holy sacrifice and the holy sacraments, "in order that he might be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ," as the holy Apostle expresses himself in his epistle to the faithful at Corinth. After the example of this great Apostle, and by virtue of the power confided to her by the Saviour, Holy Church has also imposed similar and long penances upon public sinners. And after the example of that sinful Christian of Corinth, and other Christians who had the misfortune to fall into public and grievous sins, have with the same willingness, yes, mostly of their free will, submitted to such penances in order that they also " would be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." St. Paul later remitted to this sinner the remainder of the penance and that, too, as he himself writes in his second epistle to the Corinthians : " For what I have pardoned I have done it for your sakes in the person of Christ." (2 Cor. 2, 10.) The holy Apostle therefore grants to this sinner an indulgence. But from his own words we learn two important truths in reference to indulgences: the first is that St. Paul, and consequently the other Apostles and in general the Church, has the power to grant indulgences in the person of Christ. Secondly, St. Paul made use of this power on account of the intercession, the prayers and merits of the faithful at Corinth, " for your sakes." Indulgences show forth in the most resplendent manner the Communion of Saints and intercession for fallen Christians. For, where one member of the body of Christ, namely of the Holy Church, rejoices, there rejoice also the other members, the other holy Christians ; but where one member suffers, there suffer also the other members with him. His misery of soul, his unhappiness to have fallen so low goes to their hearts. Therefore they offer for his welfare their prayers, the holy sacrifice, the reception of the sacra ments and their merits. And just as God for the sake of the faithful grants to many sinners the grace of conversion so also the Church for their sake grants to the contrite, but still penitential sinners, pardon of their penance, that is an indulgence. Just as Jesus Christ in the hour of His death besought God to have mercy on us poor sinners, and in order to be heard, applied his merits to us, so those holy Christians at Corinth turned their compassionate eyes towards their fallen brother and besought the Apostle to pardon him. This constantly takes place in the Church of God. The holy Martyrs who fearlessly professed the Christian faith before the courts of the heathens, amidst the greatest pains on the rack and were thrown into prison, joyfully beheld a bloody death — the Martyrs, who on account of their courageous profession, still living in prison, the objects of the joy of the Church, were the admiration and honor of the faithful, these holy Martyrs thought constantly of the suffering of their fallen brethren and made intercession for them. If in spite of their wounds they were still able to write, they wrote the names of the penitents whom they made intercession for, which are called libella or the books of the martyrs; if they could not write they simply gave the names of their proteges to the deacons, who visited the martyrs in prison, administered to them holy communion, bound up their wounds or brought them food, which privilege they bought from the heathen jailers. The deacons brought these written or verbal recommendations to the Bishop, and the Bishop, for the sake of the martyrs, shortened the penitent's time of penance. He granted therefore after the example of the Apostles an indulgence. The glorious doctrine of the Communion of Saints, and consequently of the faithful on earth consists especially in this that the merits and good works and prayers are of benefit to one another. Therefore we behold how whole congregations interceded for those who had fallen on account of the fear of martyrdom, or who had denied the faith, if they saw that they were really contrite. We see how saints in prison and on the rack, by the glory and the constancy of their faith, in the greatest sufferings encouraged the faithful and caused public sinners to return to the faith and like the dying Saviour in compassionate love besought the Church to forgive them. How should in that solemn moment, when by the last struggle of the martyrs our Divine Saviour was glorified before the world, the Church seals with a new glory her truths, when the martyrs are crowned with an eternal crown and the faithful celebrate with joy the victory of their brethren — how should in that solemn moment any member of our holy Church re main excluded from the common joy and continue in sadness? The very sight of the courageous confessors and martyrs was pain enough for the penitents that they had fallen so deeply by their sins. Therefore they should participate in this common joy, and for the sake of the martyrs and their intercession they were received again into the communion of the faithful and therefore granted an indulgence of the rest of their penance. Here the words of the Apostle are applicable: "That their abundance supply your wants that there may be an equality." An indulgence is consequently the forgiveness of ecclesiastical penance on account of the intercession and the merits of the saints and especially of Christ, and God pardons just as much of the temporal punishments in purgatory as we would have atoned for if we had really performed this penance. In indulgences we learn, my beloved, at the same time what a glorious consciousness once penetrated the Christians, how intimately they were united to the Christian community and were of one heart and one soul, Here we see that Christian morality and purity was the common spirit, the disapproval of vice and disobedience towards God and the Church was general, sorrow for sin was a common grief, love and intercession for the penitents in public prayer during divine service and the holy sacrifice of the Mass was performed by the common bond of charity. Yes, indulgence which the ignorant and unbelieving, puffed up with a miserable pride, despise and with vulgar stupidity ridicule — indulgence is one of the most beautiful and consoling doctrines of the Catholic Church. 3. Is intercession made no more for the sinner and the fallen? Most certainly, but in a different way. We have in the present day no martyrs and no public penances; ecclesiastical penances are supplemented by indulgences. Therefore, indulgence teaches us again that neither God nor Holy Church has joy in punishment, and that punishment is not inflicted in order to injure, but in order to make satisfaction to the divine Justice, in order — as the Apostle says — that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord. If therefore this satisfaction to the divine Justice can be made in an other and a milder way, then the temporal punishment is all taken away. This is done by indulgences. The Church, my beloved, wishes to lead us to God by indulgences for our justification as she formerly did by penance. She relies on the free and willing zeal of the faithful and admonishes them to works of charity. She announces to them who wish to sanctify them selves and fulfill the conditions of indulgences, forgiveness of ecclesiastical penance on earth and temporal punishment in purgatory. By sincere zeal to gain indulgences reverence for the justice of God, which punishes the least sin, is always manifested. Who therefore does not strive with his voluntary penance to obtain indulgences exposes himself on the day of the Lord and will more deeply feel the penance of purgatory, the less he strove to make satisfaction to divine justice on earth. Those Christians who are not satisfied with only contritely confessing their sins, but strive earnestly to do penance for them and as often as possible to obtain indulgences for them, obtain the intercession and the merits of the martyrs and confessors, the intercession and merits of the whole Church and of all holy people, the same as the penitents did in the first ages of the Church. Moreover, they share in the public prayers for sinners and penitents, the holy sacrifice, the good works, the suffering and persecution of the just. The catechism teaches us that the prayers, the merits and the good works of all the faithful are of benefit to all. This continually takes place on earth and will until the end of the world, but especially by indulgences. The Saints will also make intercession for us. They give to us, when we strive to attain an indulgence, the abundance of their satisfying merits in order that there may be an equality. But the Saints grant to us not only their superfluous merits in indulgences as a charitable rich man would give of his surplus fortune in alms to the poor, but they intercede also for us at the throne of mercy. Once the holy martyrs and the faithful in the early Church called upon the Church for compassion and mercy to the fallen and the penitent, in order that they would, after the forgiveness of their penance, the sooner be received into the communion of the faithful and allowed to attend divine service and share in all the rights of the worthy Christian. At present we see in spirit the same confessors, martyrs and all the saints imploring for us the divine mercy at the throne of God in order that with the help of indulgences and the merits of the saints we may the sooner be permitted to share with them the celebration of the eternal Sunday and to join in the hymn of praise of the heavenly hosts around the throne of the immaculate Lamb. The holy longing of the Blessed is that we may not be for long years excluded from the doors of heaven and obliged to go the hard way of penance and pain in the fires of purgatory. 4. Oh, that you would all learn to understand rightly the glorious doctrine of indulgence and earnestly and zealously strive whenever possible to gain an indulgence! Then the saints in heaven would look down upon you with greater love when they would see that their penance on earth, their suffering and abundant merits are applied by the Church to you by indulgence. Yes, this application is the reason that the saints in heaven love you with a twofold and a threefold love, and always continue to be your protectors in the hard struggle for life on earth against the devil and sin, and your zealous intercessors at the throne of God until you have happily, with their help, escaped the deluge of sin on earth and have arrived at the portals of heavenly bliss. How consoling and mysterious, my beloved, appears indulgence to us in the glory of its truth, and if considered in that love, which, as an out pouring of the divine love of our Saviour, also penetrated the saints. Oh, if you could behold the hearts of those great saints who were inflamed with divine love, who passed their holy angelic pure lives in continuous self-denial, penance and suffering, and freely, just as our Divine Saviour, offered themselves to the divine Justice for the sins of their Christian brethren, so that they gained not only for themselves celestial glory but atoned for the punishments of others. Yes, at this sight you would be seized with the desire to strive to become good children of our holy Mother, the Church, and to make use of her treasure of grace by gaining indulgences. You would even be inflamed with the fire of Christian charity to come to the help of your suffering brethren in Christ as much as possible by prayers and good works, in order to do for them what the saints in heaven have done for you. 5. There remains, my beloved, another glorious truth, a rich source of consolation in suffering in regard to indulgences which I will communicate to you. From what you have already heard, have you not experienced the amiable beauty of this doctrine? Yes, truly, enlightened by this article of faith we learn first to appreciate the innocence and the suffering, the prayers and the penances of the just Christians in their entire supernatural greatness. They are precious in the sight of God, so that they have obtained not only for the saints an eternal bliss but also have atoned for the temporal punishment of their neighbors. What a consolation for all who suffer innocently! What a joy for holy Christians who experience sufferings, trials and tribulations! Who will still accuse God of in justice, who will continue to blaspheme Him? You sinners, when you contemptuously speak of the divine Justice and say: "I sinned yesterday, and what happened to me? I will sin today, and nothing will happen to me." You sinners, who trample on the commandments of God and of the Church and go still unpunished and even joyfully and blessed with temporal prosperity continue to live — whom have you to thank for this? Indulgences, the good works, the prayers and sufferings of holy Christians. You purse-proud people, you frivolous Christians, who so often laugh and scoff at the piety of your servants ; whom you often torment on account of their faith and devotion — whom have you often to thank if the judgment of God has not overtaken you, whom else but the piety and suffering innocence of Christian souls? They pray for you. You parents, who at the sick-bed of your little innocent children accuse God of cruelty — indulgence places for you the sick-bed of your child as an altar of atonement, the suffering innocence as a sacrifice of atonement for your sakes and for your sins. This sacrifice not infrequently turns aside the punishment from the guilty head of the parents and obtains for them mercy and grace. May you all therefore be filled with reverence for this article of faith of the Catholic Church, which has a beauty and a truth which the miserable scoffers never dreamed of. May you strive by gaining indulgences to share in the merits of the saints in order that divine Justice may be appeased and that you may be spared in time and eternity. Amen. Source: The Beauty and Truth of the Catholic Church, Vol. III Imprimatur 1913 |
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