A Soldier of the Emperor and a Soldier of Christ
                                                                  Confirmation
Confirmation is a Sacrament through which we receive the Holy Ghost, to make us strong and perfect Christians and  soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Here is a story of a man who was made a strong and perfect Christian through the sacrament of Confirmation. This man was born in the year 286 at the time when the Church was being persecuted by the Roman Emperors. He was a soldier of the Emperor of Rome, but more than that, he was a member of the Emperor's personal bodyguard. He was one of those who fought closest to the Emperor in battle and kept danger from him. His name was Sebastian, a brave soldier of the Emperor, The name Sebastian itself means "noble." Through Confirmation, Sebastian had also become a soldier of Christ. He was discovered performing acts of charity in the name of Jesus Christ and accused to the emperor of being a Christian. The Emperor tried to force him to sacrifice to idols but Sebastian would not. Then he was handed over to the archers of Rome who tortured him by shooting arrows at him. Finally they killed him. St. Sebastian is shown to us in art as a young man in the uniform of the Roman army, lying dead, pierced with arrows. A soldier of the Emperor and also a brave soldier of Jesus Christ.

Here is a question you may often have asked yourselves. Could I suffer the things which the martyrs did? They suffered so much for Christ would I be able to do the same? Perhaps you have answered the question to yourself, "No, I could not." That is wrong. You could. If that time should come that you would be called upon to suffer for your faith, the Holy Ghost will give you strength to endure. To give strength means to confirm. The Holy Ghost confirms us in Confirmation. He gives us strength. With the Holy Ghost dwelling within us we will be able to bear suffering if the time should come because Confirmation makes us strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ. The prayer which the Bishop says after Confirmation is a very beautiful one. He prays for those whom he has just confirmed in these words, "O God, grant that the hearts of these whose foreheads we have annointed with Thy sacred chrism and signed with the sign of the Holy Cross, may, by the same Holy Spirit coming down into them, and by His dwelling in them be made the temple of His glory, who with the Father and the same Holy Spirit livest and reignest God world without end. Amen."

               " Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no deceit."

THERE is a story about an Indian hunter who wanted to shoot an eagle. None of the arrows in his quiver would shoot far enough or straight enough to hit an eagle in flight. But the huntsman was clever. He went to the cliff where the eagle lived and shouted, "Come down, Eagle, I want to talk to you." "Oh, no," said the eagle. "You want to shoot an arrow into me." "But I have no arrows with me," answered the hunter. "All I want is that you come down and give me one of your feathers so that I can admire its beauty. Everyone knows that the eagle's feather is the most beautiful on earth." The eagle was so pleased to hear this that he said, " I will not come down, but I will let one of my wing feathers float down to you and you can admire it." The huntsman took the feather home with him and fitted it to his arrow.

The next day he went back and shot the eagle. The arrow went straight to the eagle's heart. He fell down at the huntsman's feet and just before he died, he saw that the arrow had been feathered with the feather from his own wing.

That is the way it is with a lie. It may be just some little thing that we let fall but it can come back and harm us. Once a lie is told it goes wafting out through the world and then we forget about it until it comes back, to us. The trouble with lies is that we seldom are able to tell just one and get away with it. We have to tell more and more to cover up the first one. Before we know it we have done serious harm to our souls.

The Devil is like the wily huntsman. He knows that if he can get us to tell a little lie it will not be long before we will be telling bigger and bigger ones. When we grow up it has become a habit. Then he can laugh at us and call us that horrible name "Liar." Watch out for the first lie. Then the others will not happen. Do not be like the foolish eagle and let fall a feather from your wing, which will come back to you on the shaft of an arrow. "Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no deceit."

We are talking about the seven sacraments. Today we will try to learn something about Penance. Who can tell me what Penance is? It is the sacrament in which the sins committed after Baptism are forgiven.
Here is our story about Penance. Arathiel was the name of a little angel. He was sent from heaven one day and told to bring back the most beautiful teardrop that he could find. He wandered through the streets of earth eager to finish his work and get back to heaven. Along the street came a little boy crying because his pet dog had been run over and killed. Arathiel put one of the tears into his little bottle and flew back to heaven with it.
"No," he was told, "that is beautiful but not beautiful enough." Back to earth he came again and went this time to a saint's deathbed. Here, thought the little angel, he should be able to find the most beautiful teardrop on earth. As the saint died he scooped the last tear of joy into his little phial and hurried back to heaven with it. He was told, "Now you are getting the idea. That is almost the most beautiful teardrop on earth, but there is still one more fair than that." Arathiel was puzzled. A saint's tear should have been just the thing he thought. By this time it was Saturday night and he went to see what he could find in church. In the back of the aisle he heard a man sobbing. He looked, and there he saw a man weeping for his sins. With one of these tears he flew back to heaven and his quest was over. He had found the most beautiful teardrop on earth.
That is just another way of saying something that would be hard to understand unless our Lord had said it for us Himself. "There is more joy in heaven upon one sinner doing penance than on ninety-nine just who need not penance." If we are unfortunate enough to sin, the first thing we must do is to repent. It is a safe rule to make—and you should all make it this morning—never neglect to go to confession. It is one of the easiest things in the world to let confession slide, to put it off for a long time. We hardly notice the time slipping by. Confession  is the means which Christ has given us to have our sins forgiven. We should use it.
Arathiel will come on his quest next Saturday. He will be looking for people who are sorry for their sins. Rumor has it that he is coming to (St. Patrick's). Be ready for him.
Source: "Heavenwords," Imprimatur 1941

                                 "Into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God."
Geraldine was a goldfish who lived in a fine, big, shiny bowl. She was a beautiful fish. Sometimes when you looked at her she shone bright and gold like a new penny. At other times when the light was dim she seemed to be wearing a purple gown. As she swam her long fins waved like fans and her lacy tail followed her like a bride's train.
Geraldine lived a very easy life. All she had to do was swim around and around in the fish bowl and show how pretty she was. That was Geraldine's day's work. Around and around in the same old circles. Around and around the fish bowl. One day her owner felt sorry for her and said, "What a pity she has to swim in such small circles. She belongs in a lake where she will be free to swim wherever she wants to." He took Geraldine and put her in a lake and waited to see how happy she would be with her new freedom. "Now she can swim in big circles," he said. But not Geraldine. She kept swimming in small circles just as she had done in the fish bowl. She was in a rut. Her owner said, "If she does not want to be free, I might just as well put her back in the fish bowl again." Back into the bowl went Geraldine. She swam around in the same small circles and was very, very contented.
Sometimes God says, "There is a soul that could swim in larger circles. I'll send her the grace to set her free." And He does. But the poor soul, just like the goldfish, around and around. God says, "If the soul does not wish to swim in wider circles, I will take away the grace and give it to someone else." The soul keeps right on the way it was and is very, very contented. Contented? But so is a cow. The whole trouble is she never knows how free she might have been. How friendly. How busy. How kind. How gentle. How brave. That soul never learned that "Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." "The freedom of the glory of the sons of God."
Do not let yourselves get into a rut like Geraldine. Keep looking for the larger circles —more grace, more prayer, more kindness, more learning, more strength—so that your soul may spread itself, like the ripples on a lake when a stone is thrown into it. Let your soul spread wider and wider till it touches the opposite shore where God is waiting for you.
Source: "Heirs of the Kingdom," Imprimatur 1949

        TOOLS WITH WHICH WE MAKE OUR IMAGE
  This Is the Image of the Man Who Is to Be Your King

A very easy question, who can name the seven sacraments for me? Try to get them in the right order.

Once upon a time the people of a country called Orania had no leader. They wanted someone to be their king. There was a wise old man named Stephen who lived off in the woods by himself. To him the people went for help. "Whom shall we make our king?" they asked him. Stephen told them to come back again the next day and he would decide for them. That night Stephen drew a picture of the noblest and kindest and bravest man in the country. In the morning when the people returned, he gave them the picture and said, "This is the image of the man whom you must make your king." The people were pleased with his choice and went away rejoicing.

The children of this parish need a king too. You found a picture at your place this morning. It is the picture of the noblest, kindest, and bravest man who ever lived. All this year we have been speaking to you about the image of Christ. Again I repeat — in the words of the wise man, Stephen, "This is the image of the Man whom you must make your king." Jesus Christ must be the king of your hearts. He is your king because He created you out of nothing. He is your king because He redeemed you by His blood. You are His by right of conquest in the war with Satan. Christ is your king and you must obey all his commands.

His kingdom is divided into seven towns. All His subjects dwell in one or other of these towns. As they go through life they move on from one to the other. They are his seven sacraments. Baptism is the first town. Penance is the second. And so on till you come to Extreme Unction which is the last of all. In the next few weeks we will see more about each sacrament. We will stop in one town a week for seven weeks. We will go on a conducted sightseeing tour of the kingdom of Christ.

Christ takes care of our souls just as carefully as our parents take care of our bodies. We need things for our bodies and Christ has given us these same things for our souls. For our bodies we need life. We are given that in birth. For the soul Baptism is birth. We need food for our bodies. The Eucharist is the food for our souls. We need strength. Confirmation strengthens our souls. If we are sick we need to be cured. Penance heals the sickness of our souls. We need people to rule over us. Christ has provided the Sacrament of Holy Orders, to give us those who will take care of our souls. Most people marry. Christ has made marriage a sacrament. We need someone to care for us when we are dying. To take care of our souls at death Christ has given us Extreme Unction. Christ takes care of our souls just as carefully as our parents take care of our bodies. That shows that He is the kindest man who ever lived. Not only the kindest but the bravest, the most noble man who ever lived. The Man whose picture was given to you this morning. This is the picture of the Man whom you must make your king.
Source:  Heavenwords, Imprimatur 1941

"My dear children, let us love not in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth."

You all know the saying: actions speak louder than words. This morning's text is just St. Paul's way of saying the same thing. I f we love God we will do more than talk about it. We will do something about it. We will love Him in deed and in action.

A man who was visiting a cancer hospital watched a nun as she moved from bed to bed taking care of the patients. She moved like an angel of mercy, treating the patients as if she loved them — and she did. The more ugly and repulsive the patients were, the kinder the nun was to them. The man said to her, " I would not do that for a million dollars." "Neither would I," answered the Sister. "I do it for the love of God." She was loving God in deed and in action.

Another man said to another nun as he watched her in another hospital performing the same tasks of mercy to other patients —he said to her,

"What unpleasant things you have to do." She replied,

"I do not have to do them. I am allowed to do them. I do them for the love of God."

She was loving God in deed and in action.

A young boy was given two dimes by his mother on a Sunday morning. One was for the collection in church and the other was for candy. On his way to church he dropped one of the dimes. It rolled and fell down the sewer. He said to himself, "I wonder which dime I lost? Was it God's dime or mine?" He came to the right conclusion, and proved that he could love God in deed and in action as well as in word.

People know that if we really love God as we should our actions will show it, and if we do not our actions will show that also. A priest once went to pay a man one of the parish bills. When the bill was paid the man went to make out a receipt. The priest said,

"God saw me pay you. I don't need a receipt." The man replied,

"I do not believe in God." "Then," said the priest,

"I think you had better give me a receipt.":

Take time out during this week and check up on yourselves. Is your love for God just something that means a lot of empty words or is it something that carries itself over into your actions? You say the Our Father every day, yet if you do not forgive others their trespasses, then it is just a lot of empty words for you. You say in the Hail Mary "Now and at the hour of our death." If you are not ready for death then they are just empty words without any meaning for you. Check up on yourselves and see whether your lives are guided by the text, "Let us love not in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth."
Source:  Heirs of the Kingdom, Imprimatur 1949