The poor miserable sinner is represented in these lepers. The leper's body is not more horrid than is the condition of the sinner's soul. Leprosy is a very loathsome disease; it attacks different parts of the body, until they fall off from rottenness. It is an incurable disease and is propagated by contact. All nations, even uncivilized ones, have made laws against lepers. They are not allowed to mingle with the rest of humanity, they are excluded from cities and villages, and have to keep to themselves, in unfrequented places; they are allowed to come close to villages only to obtain food from the kindness of relatives, but they cannot live with them in their houses; in short, they have to live like the beasts of the field and shelter themselves as best they can.

Sin is like leprosy, that deforms the soul and deprives her of the grace and friendship of God. A soul adorned with the favors of God is one of the most beautiful of God's creations, little inferior to the angels. Such a beautiful soul is dear to God, to the Blessed Virgin, to the angels and to all the saints; this soul possesses such excellence that the inhabitants of heaven desire her company for their enjoyment and the glory of God. No tongue can describe the greatness of the love of Jesus for a soul that is in grace. But when the soul is in a state of sin she becomes an object of the greatest abhorrence to almighty God. If we could only see the spiritual life as it really is, and realize what a horrible being the soul is which is covered with the rottenness of sin, we should fear to remain in that state.

God revealed to St. Catherine of Genoa the filthiness of sin, and she was so struck by it that she was at the point of death from the shock. Paul the Simple was accustomed to sit at the gates of a church to invite in the passers-by, good and bad. One day he saw a sinner in an abject condition coming along, accompanied by two devils; behind him followed his guardian angel full of shame and looking more like a vanquished prisoner than an angel of God. We all have pity when we see a convict going along, handcuffed, the guard standing over him with a loaded gun, and treating him with harshness. But we have more pity for such a one when we know that he is well educated, of good family, and that his condition forces him to lead such a life. Sin reduces us to the same condition of slavery, and binds us hands and feet to the devil, who is our attendant, who gives his commands in such a manner as to frighten us into obedience. 0, if Christians would think what a great evil sin is, they would not commit it so easily.

The saints, the great friends of God, had a just appreciation of what sin is; they trembled at the mention of sin; they would allow themselves to be cut into pieces rather than commit one. St. Frances of Rome when passing near a house where she knew sins were committed fainted, and afterwards said, "That is a house of ingratitude to God." St. Stanislaus, on hearing bad words at a dinner, fainted because he was so horrified. St. Anselm says, "If on the one side hell was open before me, and sin came from the opposite
direction, I would rather throw myself into the flames of hell than go to meet sin." My dear young people, should you ever be in sin, go at once and show yourself to the priest, and get rid of that leprosy by tears of compunction.

Why did Our Lord send the ten lepers to the priest uncured, while He could have cured them at once? Evidently Our Lord had a hidden meaning in His action. He sent them to the priest to be inspected and to be declared free from leprosy, according to the law of Moses. It signified to the lepers that the authority of the Church must be maintained, and to us that self-accusation to the priests appointed by authority is necessary. You, also, my young friends, when you find yourselves in sin, show yourselves to the priest at the tribunal of penance, for the priest has authority from Jesus to loose and to bind the sins of the penitent. Do not delay a long time, for if, through negligence, you hesitate to confess, you will little by little lose the horror you have felt at the seriousness of your condition, and you will put aff your confession longer and longer, until you would be content to wait for years, as it often happens; for while you see that you prosper, that you enjoy health, that you continue to have friends and good companions, and that God shows no signs of present anger, you will think that the matter of sin has been much exaggerated, and you will continue to indulge in it.

"To sin is human," said a holy Father, "but to remain in sin, and to persevere in it, is diabolical."
Leprosy is a malady that goes on increasing from day to day; it attacks the different members of the body successively, until the extremities are eaten away, then it strikes a vital point and the patient dies. Sin acts in the same way, especially the sin of impurity. We find many young people who are sunk so deeply in the meshes of this vice that it looks almost impossible to cure their poor souls of the wounds already inflicted; so these poor sinners excuse themselves to the confessor, maintaining that they cannot overcome their vice. According to human means, without the grace of God it would be impossible. The blind demands of our passions on us are very imperative. If you have a bodily sickness. what do you not try in order to find a cure? You remain at home, stay in bed, call a doctor, take disagreeable medicines, and do not hesitate to spend any amount of money. What should we not do for the soul? We think little of the soul that has to live for all eternity; of that soul which, when once lost, is lost forever, and for which the Son of God has shed His precious blood. In the words of the Sacred Scriptures, I beg of you, "take care of your soul," and never let the leprosy of sin infect it. I read of a youth in the olden time who would rather lose all his possessions than renounce his faith; he said that his salvation was most precious to him. A worldling said to him, "Ah, what do you know of your soul? you are too young to entertain such thoughts," but the child answered, "Small as I am, I know that my soul is as precious as that of a wise philosopher; my soul can go to heaven or hell, and I am determined to lose all rather than lose my soul."

The Gospel gives us also a lesson in gratitude in the history of the ten lepers; only one of these came back to Our Lord, and he was a Samaritan, one who was supposed to belong to a false religion; he returned and gave thanks to God for his cure; the other nine went home. A great many of us Christians never feel the sentiment of gratitude. When God has freed us from the burden of our sins, and has healed our souls, we fall back into our old ways; hardly have we come out of the confessional, having hurriedly said our prayers, having perhaps received communion, before we are off to our sports and plays without an after-thought of thanksgiving to almighty God. When we have received a gift from God we ought at least to have the politeness to say, "I thank you."

Hence, after confession and communion we ought to stay a while on our knees and prolong the sentiment of gratitude that these sacred moments should produce in our heart. This, then, you ought to do: when God has pardoned your sins in confession, thank Him for that great act of kindness, and understand fully that He loves you and wants to bring you to heaven. Remember that you ought, at least, to show your gratitude for His goodness to you, and should never fail to do so.

   A file with the picture that is used in conjunction with this sermon can be found at the end of this post.  It can be printed and and given to the children  while reading this sermon.
                                                                 
                                   HOLY EUCHARIST

Now we come to the next of the sacraments — Holy
Eucharist. Who can give me the catechism answer? What is Holy Eucharist? The Holy Eucharist is the sacrament which contains the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine.

(This is a famous picture of Christ. Can anyone tell me the name of it? It is called, "Christ the Light of the
World." You were given pictures as you came in this
morning, so follow me as we go along.)

There is a well-known story about this picture. It was
painted by an artist named Holman Hunt. You can see
his name at the foot of the picture. I t shows our Lord
holding a lantern — The Light of the World. He is knocking on an old vine-covered door with very rusty hinges.

His words are, "Behold I stand at the gate and knock." The artist spent a long time at this painting and was very careful, as you can see, with the details. Notice how carefully Christ's garments are painted. He must have been a patient artist. The picture now hangs in the chapel of Kebel College in Oxford. Before it was shown to the public, however, Hunt followed the custom of artists, and called in his fellow artists to look at the picture. They looked at it from this side and that and all agreed that it was a wonderful painting.

"Just a minute," said one of them, "you made a mistake on the door." (Look very closely at the picture and see if you can find out what the artist meant. Have you got it yet?)         
"Well," went on the critic, "there's no lock on the door." The artist, Holman Hunt, replied,

"That is not a mistake. The door represents the human heart and the lock is on the inside." Do you think that Holman Hunt did the right thing? Yes, he did. All Christ can do is knock at the door of your heart, but you must open the door yourselves. Before Communion time Christ knocks at the door of your hearts, but He will not force His way in. You must open the door yourselves because the lock is on the inside. You have a choice when Christ knocks at your heart. You can treat Him as you would a process server or a man with a summons, and leave Him standing outside, or you may welcome Him as you would welcome your grandfather when he knocks on the door and has a gaily wrapped present under his arm.

Your little task for this week: Wouldn't it be pleasing to God if every child in this church went to Communion once during the week, say on Wednesday or Thursday, as well as Sunday. Some go to Communion every day and God is very pleased with them. But not enough go. He will be pleased if He sees you, too, coming during the week. Behold He stands at the gate and knocks.
                                                                            Source: Heavenwords, Imprimatur 1941

                                                                        "God is one."

WHEN God was giving all the flowers their names, so goes the story, He called them all before Him and told them what names they were to be known by. The rose and the lily and all the other flowers quickly memorized their names and never forgot them. Then off they went to make God's world beautiful. But then in the words of the poet:

                                                   When to the flowers so beautiful
                                                              The Father gave a name,
                                                    Back came a little blue-eyed one
                                                                ( All timidly it came);
                                                      And standing at its Father's feet
                                                               And gazing in His face,
                                                    It said in low and trembling tone,
                                               "Dear God, the name Thou gavest me.
                                                                  Alas I have forgot!"
                                                Kindly the Father looked Him down
                                                          And said, "Forget-me-not."
                                                                                               — Emily Roelofson

That is how the blue forget-me-not got its name. God says the same to us. "Forget Me not."
Someone once asked the Emperor Napoleon whether or not he believed in God. They said to him, " How can you believe in God when you have never seen him?" Napoleon answered, "My victories make you believe in me. But which of my victories can be compared to any of the wonders of creation? What military movement can compare with the movement of the heavenly bodies? My victories made you believe in me. The universe and all its glories make me believe in God." St. Paul tells us that "God is one." That means that He should be the only ruler of our hearts. He should be the only one we worship. When we are dishonest and steal, we are making a god out of money and are worshiping a false god. When we insist on having our own way all the time, then we are making a god out of ourselves and are worshiping a false god. There is no room in our lives for two gods, for God is one. We must worship only the one God. Our Lord said, "He that is not with Me is against Me. . . . No man can serve two masters."

When God sent us into the world He said the same words to us that He said to the little blue-eyed flower in the story. He knew that there would be times when we would be tempted to worship other gods beside Him. He knew that we would be weak at times, and thoughtless and careless. He knew that He would never forget us, and does not want us to forget Him so He whispered to us, "Forget Me not."
                                                                            Source: Heirs of the Kingdom, Imprimatur 1949