Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

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INSTRUCTION ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Taken from Fr. Goffine's Explanation of Sundays and Holydays throughout the Ecclesiastical Year

THE lntroit of this day's Mass is the prayer of a soul that trusts in God's powerful and merciful protection: The Lord is the strength of his people, the protector of the salvation of his Anointed: save, O Lord, thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, and rule them for ever. Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not Thou silent to me; lest if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. (Ps. xxvii.) Glory, &c.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. O God of hosts, to whom belongeth all that is perfect: implant in our hearts the love of Thy name, and grant within us an increase of religion, that Thou mayst nourish in us what is good, and by the fervor of our devotion may preserve in us what Thou hast nourished. Through.

EPISTLE. (Rom.vi, 3 — 11.) Brethren, All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death. For we are buried together with him by baptism unto death: that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ. Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. So do you also reckon that you are dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

EXPLANATION. The apostle here teaches that in consequence of our baptism we are made members of Christ's body, and must, therefore, die to sin; as Christ by His death died to physical life, but has risen again, so must we bury sin, by constant renewal of baptismal vows, and by self-mortification rise to a Christian life. As members of Christ's body we should in a spiritual manner imitate Him. As He permitted His body to be nailed to the cross to atone for our sins, so should we crucify our corrupt nature by self-denial, and as He after His Resurrection lives always, because having risen He dieth no more, so we, risen from the death of sin, should lead a pious life conformable to that of Christ.

ASPIRATION. I trust, O Lord Jesus, that by the merits of Thy passion I have risen from the death of sin: grant me Thy grace, that as Thou diest no more by sin, but live for God, according to Thy law.

GOSPEL. (Mark. viii. 1 — 9.) At that time, When there was a great multitude with Jesus, and had nothing to eat, calling his disciples together, he saith to them: I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I shall send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way: for some of them came from afar off. And his disciples answered him: From whence can any one fill them here with bread in the wilderness? And he asked them: How many loaves have ye? Who said: Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, he broke, and gave to his disciples to set before them : and they set them before the people. And they had a few little fishes, and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did eat, and were filled, and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets: and they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.


Why did Christ say: I have compassion on the multitude?

Because of His mercy and goodness to man, as well as to prove that which He taught on another occasion, (Matt. vi. 33.) that to those who seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, all other things will be added without asking; for none of the multitude asked Christ for food, and yet He provided for all.

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INSTRUCTION ON BLESSING
And He blessed them. (Mark viii. 7.)

SEDUCED by Satan, the first man violated the holy command of God, and by his sin brought upon himself and his habitation the curse of divine wrath. (Gen. iii. 17.) Man was made by God, and therefore subject to Him, but was himself master of all created things. After the sin of disobedience however, all creation revolted against him: the animals fled from him, the fields yielded only thorns and thistles, the herbs became poisonous to him, or refused him their former wholesome power. Innumerable evils followed, all men and even the whole earth suffered from them; the devil drew both into his sphere and made them his servants, and this evil spirit now made use of created things to divert man altogether from God and to cause his eternal ruin. But God decreed that man and earth should not remain in this condition. Christ, the Son of God, came upon earth, redeemed it from the bonds of Satan, and gave all men the power to become once more God's children.

The devil was conquered by the cross, but not slain; man and the earth were indeed taken from his dominion, but not from his influence; for he even now, as the apostle writes, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, (i Peter v. 8.); and as he used the forbidden fruit in paradise to seduce man, he now uses the created things of the earth to tempt man, and make him his servant.

Man and all creation had to be drawn from this pernicious influence, to be liberated from the bondage of corruption and be brought to the freedom of the children of God. (Rom. viii. 19.) This is done in the Church, to which Christ entrusted the power of binding and loosing, and gave the work of sanctifying through the Holy Ghost, by means of blessing and consecrating. By virtue of the merits of Christ, and with the assistance of the Holy Ghost, the Church, or the priest in her name, therefore blesses and consecrates persons as well as other created things which they are to use, or which she is to apply to the service of God. In this the Church follows the example of Christ and the Apostles. Jesus embraced children and laid His hands upon them, blessing them; (Mark x. 16.) He blessed bread and fishes, the food of thousands; blessed bread and wine at the last supper; (Matt. xxvi. 26.) was recognized by the disciples in the blessing of bread; (Luke xxiv. 30.) blessing the disciples He ascended into heaven; (Luke xxiv. 51.) by His command the apostles wished peace to every house into which they stepped; (Matt. x. 12, 13.) and St. Paul expressly says, that every living thing is sanctified by prayer and the word of God. (i Tim. iv. 5.) Following the example and command of Christ the Church also introduced blessings and benedictions which were prefigured in the Old Law. God commanded the priests to sanctify and to consecrate whatever was to belong to His service, (Levit. viii.) and the Old Law is full of blessings and consecrations which had to be used by the priests; (Exod. xxix. 36.; xxx. 25.; xl. 9.) and if persons and things used for God's service were to be blessed, how much more so in the New Law which in place of the type, contains the reality and truth! The testimony of Scripture is confirmed by all the holy Fathers, and by the constant practice of the Church which has received from Christ, the power to bless and to consecrate.

The blessing or benediction of the Church is nothing more than a prayer of intercession which the priest makes in the name of the Church , that for the sake of Christ (therefore the sign of the cross) and the prayers of the saints, God may give His blessings to a person or thing, and sanctify it. Through consecration , in which besides prayer and the sign of the cross , the anointing with holy oil is used, things required for divine service are separated from all other things and especially sanctified. Thus persons, fruits, bread, wine, houses, ships and fields, are blessed; churches, altars, bells, &c, are consecrated.



What virtue have these blessings?

The chief effects of the blessing of persons are: Preservation or liberation from the influence of Satan; preservation of the soul from his temptations and evil suggestions; preservation of the body and of the property from his pernicious malice; forgiveness of venial sins, and strength to suppress concupiscence ; curing of sickness and physical evils, whether natural or supernatural; a blessing upon the person and his surroundings; the imparting of the grace of conversion; the advantage of the prayer of the Church and further grace for the remission of temporal and eternal punishment. — The blessing of things withdraws them from the influence of the devil, so that he can no longer use them as a means of bringing us into sin, but that they rather serve us as a protection against the evil spirit, and as a means for our salvation.


Whence do the blessings derive their force?

From the merits of Christ who by His death on the cross vanquished Satan. The Church asks God that He will through these merits and through the intercession of the saints bless a person or thing, and make that which is blessed profitable to us for both body and soul. Whether or not the effects manifest themselves in the person who receives the blessing, or makes use of the object blessed, depends on his faith and moral condition, as also on the usefulness or profit of the blessing to him. We should not, then, place obstacles in its way by diffidence in God and the prayers of the Church or by a sinful life, but should always be convinced that these benedictions will serve for our benefit, if according to God's will they are used as the Church intends, as a means to overcome evil, to sanctify ourselves, and to honor God.


Why are salt and water blessed?

This is plainly shown in the prayer the priest says in blessing them; for he asks, in the name of the Church, that God may pour the virtue of His blessing over the water that it may conquer devils, prevent sickness, and that every-thing which is sprinkled with it, may be preserved from every injury, and that He may bless the salt, so that it may be salutary for the body and soul of all who use it. The salt which Eliseus sprinkled into the unwholesome waters of Jericho, healed them, (iv King, ii. 20. 21.) and is a type of blessed salt.



Why are the people sprinkled with holy water on Sundays?

To remind the people of the interior purity with which they should come to divine service, and fulfil the duties of their calling; and to exhort them to purify themselves from the stains of sin by tears of sorrow, and repentance. Hence the priest in sprinkling the faithful recites the words of the fiftieth psalm: Asperges me hyssopo &c. Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; to remind them to preserve the purity and innocence procured by the blood of the Lamb of God, and communicated to them in baptism. Finally the people are sprinkled that the temptations of the devil may depart from them, enabling them to attend with great fervor and with more recollection to the holy service.


What else is to be remembered concerning the use of blessed things?

That they are to be used with faithful confidence for the purpose for which the Church blessed them, and are to be treated with great reverence, because they are blessed by the Church in the name of Jesus, a custom almost as old as Christianity itself. The Christian must not believe that blessed things which he possesses, carries, or uses, will make him holy, for he should always remember that blessed things are only a means of sanctification, and are only effectual when the faithful have the earnest will to die rather than sin, to fight with all fervor against the enemies of their salvation, to follow Christ, and be thereby received into the freedom of the children of God, and into heaven.

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Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger  (1841-1875)

The Office for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, which began yesterday evening, reminded us, in its Magnificat Antiphon, of a repentence which has never had an equal. David, the royal prophet, the conqueror of Goliath, himself conquered by sensuality, and from adulterer become a murderer, at last felt the crushing weight of his double crime, and exclaimed: I do beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly! “I have acted as a fool!”

Sin is always a folly, and a weakness, no matter what kind it may be, or who he be that commits it. The rebel angel, or fallen man may, in their pride, make efforts to persuade themselves that, when they sinned, they did not act as fools, and were not weak; but all their efforts are vain; sin must ever have this disgrace upon it, that it is folly and weakness, for it is a revolt against God, a contempt for his law, a mad act of the creature who, being made by his Creator to attain infinite happiness and glory, prefers to debase himself by turning towards nothingness, and then falls even lower than the nothingness from which he was taken. It is, however, a folly that is voluntary, and a weakness that has no excuse; for although the creature has nothing of his own but darkness and misery, yet his infinitely merciful Creator, by means of his grace, which is never wanting, puts within that creature’s reach divine strength and light.

It is so with even the sinner that has been the least liberally gifted—he has no reason that can justify his offenses: but when he that sins is a creature who has been laden with God’s gifts and, by his divine generosity, raised higher than others in the order of grace—oh! then, the offense he commits against his benefactor is an injury that has no name. Let this be remembered by those who, like David, could say that their God has multiplied his magnificence over them. They may, perhaps, have been led by him into high paths which are reserved for the favored few, and may, perhaps, have reached the heights of divine union: yet must they be on their guard; no one who has still to carry with him the burden of a mortal body of flesh is safe, unless by exercising a ceaseless vigilance. On the mountains, as on the plains and the valleys, at all times and in all places, a fall is possible; but when it is on those lofty peaks which, in this land of exile, seem bordering on heaven, and but one step from the entrance into the powers of the Lord,—what a terrific fall, when the foot slips there! The yawning precipices, which that soul had avoided on her ascent now are all open to engulf her; abyss after abyss of crime, she rushes into them, and with a violence of passion that terries even them that have long been nothing but wickedness.

Poor fallen soul! pride, like that of Satan, will now try to keep her obstinately fixed in her crimes: but from the depths into which she has fallen, let her lament her abominations; let her not be afraid to look up, through her tears, at those glorious heights which were once her abode,—an anticipated heaven. Without further delay, let her imitate the royal penitent, and say with him: I have sinned against the Lord! and she will hear the same answer that he did: The Lord hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die; and as with David, so also with her, God may still do grand things in her. David, when innocent, was a faithful image of Christ, who was the object of the love of both heaven and earth; David, sinner but penitent, was still the figure of the Man-God, as laden with the sins of the whole world, and bearing on his single self the merciful and just vengeance of his offended Father.

It is difficult to see what connection there is between the Mass and the Office of this Sunday, at least as we now have them. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Honorius of Autun and Durandus applied the Introit and the other sung portion to the inauguration of Solomon’s reign. At the time when these two writers lived, the Scripture Lessons for this Sunday were taken fron the first pages of the second book of Paralipomenon, where we have the account of the glorious early days of David’s son. But since then, it has been the Church’s practice to continue the reading of the four books of Kings (again, first and second books of Samuel; and first and second books of Kings in Bibles other than Douay) up to the month of August, omitting altogether the two books of Paralipomenon, which were but a practical repetition of the events already related in previous Lessons. So that the connection suggested by the two writers just mentioned has no foundation in the actual arrangement of today’s liturgy. We must, therefore, be satisfied with taking from the Introit the teaching of what it is that constitutes the Christian’s courage—his faith in God’s power which is always ready to help him, and the conviction of his own nothingness, which keeps him from all presumption.


MASS

Introit
Dominus fortitudo plebis suæ, et protector salutarium Christi sui est: salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hæreditati tuæ, et rege eos usque in sæculum.
The Lord is the strength of his people, and the protector of the salvation of his Christ: save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thine inheritance, and govern them for ever.

Ps. Ad te, Domine, clamabo; Deus meus, ne sileas a me, nequando taceas a me, et assimilabor descendentibus in lacum. Gloria Patri. Dominus.
Ps. To thee, O Lord, will I cry out: O my God, be not silent, refuse not to answer me, lest I become like those who descend into the pit. Glory, &amp.c. The Lord.


The Collect gives us an admirable summing up of the strong yet sweet action of grace upon the whole course of Christian life. It has evidently been suggested by those words of St. James: Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

Collect
Deus virtutum, cujus est totum quod est optimum: insere pectoribus nostris amorem tui nominis, et præsta in nobis religionis augmentum: ut quæ sunt bona, nutrias, ac pietatis studio, quæ sunt nutrita, custodias. Per Dominum.
O God of all power, to whom belongs whatsoever is best: implant in our hearts the love of thy name, and grant us an increase of religion: that thou mayst nourish what is good in us, and, whilst we make endeavors after virtue, mayst guard the things thus nourished. Through, &amp.

The other Collects as in the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.


Epistle
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans. Ch. vi.

Brethren: all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death. For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God: So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Masses of the Sundays after Pentecost have, so far, given us but once a passage from St. Paul’s Epistles. It has been to Sts. Peter and John that the preference has been hitherto given of addressing the Faithful at the commencement of the sacred Mysteries. It may be that the Church, during these weeks, which represent the early days of the apostolic preaching, has intended by this to show us the disciple of faith and the disciple of love as being the two most prominent in the first promulgation of the new Covenant, which was committed, at the onset, to the Jewish people. At that time, Paul was but Saul the persecutor, and was putting himself forward as the most rabid opponent of that Gospel, which later on he would so zealously carry to the furthest parts of the earth. If his subsequent conversion made him become an ardent and enlightened apostle even to the Jews, it soon became evident that the house of Jacob was not the mission that was to be specially the one of his apostolate. After publicly announcing his faith in Jesus the Son of God; after confounding the synagogue by the weight of his testimony, he waited in silence for the termination of the period accorded to Juda for the acceptance of the covenant; he withdrew into privacy, waiting for the Vicar of the Man-God, the Head of the apostolic college, to give the signal for the vocation of the Gentiles, and open, in person, the door of the Church to these new children of Abraham.

But Israel has too long abused God’s patience; the day of the ungrateful Jerusalem’s repudiation is approaching, and the divine Spouse, after all this long forbearance with his once chosen, but now faithless Bride, the Synagogue—has gone to the Gentile nations. Now is the time for the Doctor of the Gentiles to speak; he will go on speaking and preaching to them, to his dying day; he will not cease proclaiming the word to them, until he has brought them back, and lifted them up to God, and consolidated them in faith and love. He will not rest until he has led this once poor despised gentile world to the nuptial union with Christ, yes, to the full fecundity of that divine union, of which, on the 24th and last Sunday after Pentecost, we shall hear him thus speaking: We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing him; being fruitful in every good work. … Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the Saints in light, … and hath translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

It is to the Romans that are addressed today’s inspired instructions of the great Apostle. For the reading of these admirable Epistles of St. Paul, the Church, during the Sundays after Pentecost, will follow the order in which they stand in the canon of Scripture: the epistle to the Romans, the two to the Corinthians, then those to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, will be read to us in their turns. They make up the sublimest correspondence that was ever written—a correspondence where we find Paul’s whole soul, giving us both precept and example how best we may love our Lord: I beseech you, so he speaks to his Corinthians, be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.

Indeed, the Gospel, the kingdom of God, the Christian life, is not an affair of mere words. Nothing is less speculative than the science of salvation. Nothing makes it penetrate so deep in the souls of men as the holy life of him that teaches it. It is for this reason that the Christian world counts him alone as Apostle or Teacher, who in his one person holds the double teaching of doctrine and works. Thus, Jesus, the Prince of Pastors, manifested eternal truth to men, not alone by the words uttered by his divine lips, but likewise by the works he did during his life on earth. So too the Apostle, having become a pattern of the flock, shows us all, in his own person, what marvelous progress a faithful soul may make under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of sanctification.

Let us, then, be attentive to every word that comes from this mouth, ever open to speak to the whole earth; but at the same time, let us fix the eyes of our soul on the works achieved by our Apostle, and let us walk in his footsteps. He lives in his Epistles; he abides and continues with us all, as he himself assures us, for the furtherance and joy of our faith.

Nor is this all. If we value, as we ought, the example and the teaching of this father of the gentiles, we must not forget his labors and sufferings and solicitudes, and the intense love he bore towards all those who never had seen, or were to see, his face in the flesh. Let us make him the return of dilating our hearts with affectionate admiration of him. Let us love not only the light, but also him who brings it to us—and all them who, like him, have been getting for us the exquisite brightness from the treasures of God the Father and his Christ. It is the recommendation made so feelingly by St. Paul himself; it is the intention willed by God Himself, by the fact of his confiding to men like ourselves the charge of sharing with Him the imparting this heavenly light to us. Eternal Wisdom does not show herself directly here below; she is hidden, with all her treasures, in the Man-God; she reveals herself by Him; and by the Church, which is the mystical body of that Man-God, and by the chosen members of that Church, the Apostles. We cannot either love or know our Lord Jesus Christ, save by and in Him; but we cannot love or understand Jesus unless we love and understand his Church. Now, in this Church—the glorious aggregate of the elect both of heaven and earth—we should especially love and venerate those who are, in a special manner, associated with our Lord’s sacred humanity in making the divine Word manifest—that Word who is the one center of our thoughts, both in this world and in the world to come.

According to this standard, who was there that had a stronger claim than paul to the veneration, gratitude, and love of the Faithful? Who of the Prophets and holy Apostles went deeper into the mystery of Christ? Who was there like him, in revealing to the world the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus? Was there ever a more perfect teacher, or a more eloquent interpreter, of the life of union—that marvelous union which brings regenerated humanity into the embrace of God, union which continues and repeats the life of the Word Incarnate in each Christian? To him, the last and least of the saints (as he humbly calls himself), was given the grace of proclaiming to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; to him was confided the mission of teaching to all nations the mystery of creation—mystery hidden so long in God, as the secret to be, at some distant day, revealed to men, and would show them what was the one only meaning of the world’s history—the mystery, that is, of the manifestation, through the Church, of the infinite Wisdom which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For, as the Church is neither more nor less than the body and mystical complement of the Man-God,—so, in St. Paul’s mind, the formation and growth of the Church are but the sequel of the Incarnation; they are but the continued development of the mystery shown to the angelic hosts, when this Word Incarnate made himself visible to them in the Crib at Bethlehem. After the Incarnation, God was the better known of his Angels; though ever the self-same in his own unchanging essence, yet to them he appeared grander and more magnificent in the brilliant reflection of his infinite perfections, as seen in the Flesh of his Word. So, too, although no increase in them was possible, and their plenitude was their fixed measure; yet the created perfection and holiness of the Man-God have their fuller and clearer revelation in proportion as the marvels of perfection and holiness which dwell in Him, as in their source, are multiplied in the world.

Starting from Him, flowing ever from His fulness, the stream of grace and truth ceaselessly laves each member of the body of the Church. Principle of spiritual growth, mysterious sap, it has its divinely appointed channels: and these unite the Church more closely to her Head than the nerves and vessels, which convey movement and life to the extremities of our body, unite its several parts to the head which directs and governs the whole frame. But just as in the human body, the life and the head and of the members is one, giving to each of them the proportion and harmony which go to make up the perfect man, so in the Church, there is but one life: the life of the Man-God, of Christ the head, forming his mystical Body, and perfecting, in the Holy Ghost, its several members. The time will come when this perfection will have attained its full development; then will human nature, united with its divine Head in the measure and beauty of the perfect age due to Christ, appear on the throne of the Word, an object of admiration to the Angels, and of delight to the most holy Trinity. Meanwhile, Christ is being completed in all things and in all men; as heretofore at Nazareth, Jesus is still growing; and these his advancings are gradual fresh manifestations of the beauty of infinite Wisdom.

The holiness, the sufferings, and then, the glory of the Lord Jesus—in a word, his life continued in his members, this is St. Paul’s notion of the Christian life: a notion most simple and sublime which, in the Apostle’s mind, resumes the whole commencement, progress and consummation of the work of the Spirit of love in every soul that is sanctified. We shall find him, later on, developing this practical truth, of which the Epistle read to us today merely gives the leading principle. After all, what is Baptism, that first step made on the road which leads to heaven—what else is it but the neophyte’s incorporation with the Man-God, who died once unto sin that he might forever live in God his Father? On Holy Saturday, after having assisted at the blessing of the font, we had read to us a similar passage from another Epistle of St. Paul, which put before us the divine realities achieved beneath the mysterious waters. Holy Church returns to the same teaching today, in order that she may recall to our minds this great principle of the commencement of the Christian life, and make it the basis of the instructions she is here going to give us. If the very first effect of the sanctification of one who, by Baptism, is buried together with Christ, is making him a new man, the creating of him anew in this Man-God, the ingrafting his new life upon the life of Jesus whereby to bring forth new fruits—we cannot wonder at the Apostle’s unwillingness to give us any other rule for our contemplation or our practice, than the study and imitation of this divine model. There, and there only, is man’s perfection, there is his happiness: as then ye have received the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in him; for as many of you as have been baptised in Christ, have put on Christ. Our Apostle emphatically tells us that he knoweth nothing, and will preach nothing but Jesus. If we are to be of St. Paul’s school, adopting the sentiments of our Lord Jesus Christ and making them our own, we shall become other Christs, or, rather, one only Christ with the Man-God, by the sameness of thoughts and virtues, under the impulse of the same sanctifying Spirit.

Between the two lessons of Epistle and Gospel, the Gradual and Alleluia-Verse come urging us to make that humble and confiding prayer, which should ever be ascending to God from the Christian soul.

Gradual
Convertere, Domine, aliquantulum, et deprecare super servos tuos.
Turn to us a little, O Lord, and be appeased with thy servants.

℣. Domine, refugium factus es nobis, a generatione et progenie.
℣. O Lord, thou hast been our refuge, from generation to generation.

Alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia.

℣. In te, Domine, speravi, non confudar in æternum: in justitia tua libera me et eripe me: inclina ad me aurem tuam: accelera, ut eripias me. Alleluia.
℣. In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust, let me never be confounded: save me by thy justice, and rescue me: bend thine ear unto me: make haste to save me. Alleluia.


Gospel
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Mark. Ch. viii.

At that time: When there was a great multitude, and had nothing to eat; calling his disciples together, he saith to them: I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat. And if I shall send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way; for some of them came from afar off. And his disciples answered him: From whence can any one fill them here with bread in the wilderness? And he asked them: How many loaves have ye? Who said: Seven. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, he broke, and gave to his disciples for to set before them; and they set them before the people. And they had a few little fishes; and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did eat and were filled; and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand; and he sent them away.

The interpretation of the sacred text is given to us by St. Ambrose, in his Homily which has been chosen for this Sunday. We shall there find the same vein of thought as is suggested by the whole tenor of the Liturgy assigned for this portion of the Year. The holy Doctor thus begins: “After the woman, who is the type of the Church, has been cured of the flow of blood,—and after the Apostles have received their commission to preach the Gospel,—the nourishment of heavenly grace is imparted.” He had just been asking, a few lines previous, what this signified; and his answer was: “The Old Law had been insufficient to feed the hungry hearts of the nations; so, the Gospel food was given to them.”

We were observing this day week, that the Law of Sinaï, because of its weakness, had made way for the Testament of the universal covenant. And yet, it is from Sion itself that the Law of Grace has issued; here again, it is Jerusalem that is the first to whom the word of the Lord is spoken. But the bearers of the Good Tidings have been rejected by the obdurate and jealous Jews; they, therefore, turn to the Gentiles, and shake of Jerusalem’s dust from their feet. That dust, however, is to be an accusing testimony; it is soon to be turned into a rain showering down on the proud city a more terrible vengeance than was that of fire, which once fell on Sodom and Gomorrha. The superiority of Juda over the rest of the human race, had lasted for ages; but now, all that ancient privilege of Israel, and all his rights of primogeniture, are gone; the prinacy has followed Simon Peter to the west; and the crown of Sion, which is fallen from off her guilty head, now glitters, and will so forever, on the consecrated brow of the queen of nations.

Like the poor woman of the Gospel who had spent all her substance over useless remedies, the Gentile world had grown weaker and weaker by the effects of original and subsequent sins; she had put herself under the treatment of false teachers, who gradually reduced her to the loss of that law and gifts of nature, which, as St. Ambrose expresses it, had been her “vital patrimony.” At length the day came for her hearing of the arrival of the heavenly Physician: she, at once, roused herself; the consciousness of her miserable condition urged her on; her faith got the upper hand of her human respect, and brought her to the presence of the Incarnate Word; her humble confidence, which so strongly contrasted with the insulting arrogance of the Synagogue, lead her into contact with Christ, and she touched him; virtue went forth from him, cured from her original wound, and, at once, restored to her all the strength she had lost by her long period of languor.

Having thus cured human nature, our Lord bids her cease her fast which had lasted for ages; he gives her the excellent nourishment she required. St. Ambrose, whose comment we are following, compares the miraculous repast mentioned in today’s Gospel with the other multiplication of loaves brought before us on the fourth Sunday of Lent; and he remarks, how, both in spiritual nourishment, and in that which refreshes the body, there are various degrees of excellence. The Bridegroom does not ordinarily serve up the choicest wine, he does not produce the daintiest dishes, at the beginning of the banquet he has prepared for his dear ones. Besides, there are many souls here below who are incapable of rising, beyond a certain limit, towards the divine and substantial Light which is the nourishment of the spirit. To these, therefore, and they are the majority, and are represented by the five thousand men who were present at the first miraculous multiplication, the five loaves of inferior quality (Hordeaceos, barley) are an appropriate food, and one that, by its very number, is in keeping with the five senses, which, more or less, have dominion over the multitude. But, as for the privileged favorites of grace,—as for those men who are not distracted by the cares of this present life, who scorn to use its permitted pleasures, and who, even while in the flesh, make God the only king of their soul,—for these, and for these only, the Bridegroom reserves the pure wheat of the seven loaves, which, by their number express the plenitude of the Holy Spirit, and mysteries in abundance.

“Although they are in the world,” says St. Ambrose, “yet these men, to whom is given the nourishment of mystical rest, are not of the world.” In the beginning, God was, for six days, giving to the universe he had created its perfection and beauty; he consecrated the seventh to the enjoyment of his works. Seven is the number of the divine rest; it was also to be that of the fruitful rest of the Son of God,—the perfecting souls in that peace which makes love secure, and is the source of the invincible power of the bride, as mentioned in the Canticle. It is for this reas, that the Man-God, when proclaiming on the mount the Beatitudes of the law of love, attributed the seventh to the peace-makers, or peaceable, as deserving to be called, by excellence, the Sons of God. It is in them alone, that is fully developed the germ of divine sonship, which is put into the soul at Baptism. Thanks to the silence to which the passions have been reduced, their spirit, now master of the flesh, and itself subject to God, is a stranger to those inward storms, those sudden changes, and even those inequalities of temperature, which are all unfavorable to the growth of the precious seed; warmed by the Sun of Justice in an atmosphere which is ever serene and unclouded, there is no obstacle to its coming up, there is no ill-shapen growth; absorbing all thehuman moisture of this earth wherein it is set, assimilating the very earth itself, it soon leaves nothing else to be seen in these men but the divine, for they have become, in the eyes of the Father who is in heaven, a most image of his first-born Son.

“Rightly then,” continues St. Ambrose, “the seventh Beatitude is that of the peaceful; to them belong the seven baskets of the crumbs that were over and above. This bread of the Sabbath, this sanctified bread, this bread of rest,—yes, it is something great; and I even venture to say, that if, after thou hast eaten also of the seven, thou hast no bread on earth that thou canst look forward to.”

But, take notice of the condition specified in our Gospel, as necessary for those who aspire to such nourishment as that. “It is not,” says the Saint, “to lazy people, nor to them that live in cities, nor to them that are great in worldly honors, but to them that seek Christ in the desert, that is given the heavenly nourishment: they only who hunger after it, are received by Christ into a participation of the World and of God’s kingdom.” The more intense their hunger, the more they long for their divine object and for no other, the more will the heavenly food strengthen them with light and love, the more will it satiate them with delight.

All the truth, all the goodness, all the beauty of created things, are incapable of satisfying any single soul; it must have God; and so long as man does not understand this, everything that his senses and his reason can provide him with of good or true, far from its being able to satiate him, is ordinarily nothing more than a something which distracts him from the one object that can make him the happy being he was created to be,—a mere something that becomes a hindrance to his living the true life which God willed him to attain. Observe how our Lord waits for all their human schemes to fail, and then he will be their helper, if they will but permit him. The men of our today’s Gospel are not afraid to abide with him in the desert, and put up with the consequent privations of meat and drink; their faith is greater than that of their brethren who have preferred to remain in their home in the cities, and has raised them so much the higher in the order of grace; for that very reason, our Lord would not allow them to admit anything of a nature to interfere with the divine food he prepares for their souls.

Such is the importance of this entire self-abnegation for souls that aim at the highest perfection of Christian life, such, too, the difficulty which even the bravest find of reaching that total self-abnegation by their own efforts, that we see our Lord himself acting directly upon the souls of his saints, in order to create in them that desert, that spiritual vacuum, whose very appearance makes poor nature tremble, and yet which is so indispensable for the reception of his gifts. Struggling, like another Jacob with God, under the effort of this unsparing purification, the creature feels herself to be undergoing a sort of indescribable martyrdom. She has become the favored object of Jesus’ research; and, as He intends to give himself unreservedly to her, so He insists on her becoming entirely His. It is with a view to this, that he, in the delicate dealings of his mercy, subdues and breaks her, in order that he may detach her from creatures and from herself. The piercing eye of the Word perceives every least crease or fold of her spiritual being; his grace carries its jealous work right down to the division of soul and spirit, and reaches to the very joints and marrow, scrutinizing and unmercifully probing the thoughts and intents of the heart As the Prophet describes the refiner of the silver and gold, which is to form the king’s crown and scepter, so our divine Lord: he shall sit, refining and cleansing, in the crucible, this soul so dear to him, that he wishes to wear her as one of the precious jewels of his everlasting diadem. Nothing could exceed his zeal in this work, which, in his eyes, is grander far than the creation of a thousand worlds. He watches, he fans, the flame of the furnace, and he himself is called a consuming fire. When the senses have no more vile vapors to emit; when the dross of the spirit, which is the last to yield, has got detached from the gold, then does the divine purifier show it, with complacency, to the gaze of men and angels; its luster is all he would have it be; so he may safely produce on it a faithful image of himself.

When the Jewish people were led forth by Moses from Egypt, they said: The Lord God hath called us; we will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord our God. In like manner, the disciples of Jesus have retired into the wilderness, as our today’s Gospel tells us; and, after three days, they have been fed with a miraculous bread, which foretold the victim of the great Sacrifice, of which the Hebrew one was a figure. In a few moments, both the bread and the figure are to make way, on the altar before which we are standing, for the highest possible realities. Let us, then, go forth from the land of bondage of our sins; and since our Lord’s merciful invitation comes to us so repeatedly, let our souls get the habit of keeping away from the frivolities of earth, and from worldly thoughts. And now as we sing the Offertory-anthem, let us beseech our Lord that he may graciously give us strength to advance further into that interior desert, where he is always the most inclined to hear us, and where he is most liberal with his graces.

Offertory
Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis, ut non moveantur vestigia mea: inclina aurem tuam, et exaudi verba mea: mirifica misericordias tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in te, Domine.
Perfect thou my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved: incline thine ear unto me, and graciously hear my words: show forth thy wonderful mercies, O thou that savest them, who trust in thee, O Lord.


The efficacy of our prayers depends on this,—that the object of those prayers be prompted and animated by faith. The Church has just been receiving her children’s offerings for the Sacrifice; she now asks, in the Secret, that we may all be endowed with faith.

Secret
Propitiare, Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et has populi tui oblationes benignus assume: et ut nullius sit irritum votum, nullius vacua postulatio, præsta; ut quod fideliter petimus, efficaciter consequamur. Per Dominum.
Be appeased, O Lord, by our humble prayers, and mercifully receive the offerings of thy people: and, that the vows and prayers of none may be in vain, grant, that we may effectually obtain, what we ask with faith.

The other Secrets as in the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.


We were just admiring the work of purification, achieved by the Angel of the Covenant in his chosen souls. The Prophet Malachy, who spoke to us about this mystery of refining the elect, tells us, in the next verse, why all this is done; his words give us an explanation of the Communion-anthem we are now going to chant: And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

Communion
Circuibo, et immolabo in tabernaculo ejus hostiam jubilationis: cantabo et psalmum dicam Domino.
I will go up, and sacrifice, in his temple, a victim of praise: I will sing, and repeat a psalm to the Lord.


The sacred Mysteries are the true fire that purifies: they entirely cleanse from the remnants of sin every Christian that allows their divine heat to tell upon him; they also strengthen him in the path of perfection. Let us, then, unite with the Church in this prayer:

Postcommunion
Repleti sumus, Domine, muneribus tuis: tribue quæsumus; ut eorum et mundemur effectu, et muniamur auxilio. Per Dominum.
We have been filled, O Lord, with thy gifts; grant, we beseech thee, that we may be cleansed by their efficacy, and strengthened by their aid. Through, &c.

The other Postcommunions, as in the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.

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SERMON XXXV. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. –  ON THE VANITY OF THE WORLD
by St. Alphonsus Liguori



“And have nothing to eat.” MARK viii. 2.

1. SUCH were the attractions of our Divine Saviour, and such the sweetness with which he received all, that he drew after him thousands of the people. Ho one day saw himself surrounded by a great multitude of men, who followed him and remained with him three days, without eating anything. Touched with pity for them, Jesus Christ said to his disciples: “I have compassion on the multitude; for behold they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat.” (Mark viii. 2.) He, on this occasion, wrought the miracle of the multiplication of the seven loaves and a few fishes, so as to satisfy the whole multitude. This is the literal sense; but the mystic sense is, that in this world there is no food which can fill the desire of our souls. All the goods of this earth riches, honours, and pleasures delight the sense of the body, but cannot satiate the soul, which has been created” for God, and which God alone can content.” I will, therefore speak Today on the vanity of the world, and will show how great is the illusion of the lovers of the world, who lead an unhappy life on this earth, and expose themselves to the imminent danger of a still more unhappy life in eternity.

2. “O ye sons of men,” exclaims the Royal Prophet, against worldlings, ”how long will you be dull at heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?” (Ps. iv. 3.) O men, fools, how long will you fix the affections of your hearts on this earth? why do you love the goods of this world, which are all vanity and lies? Do you imagine that you shall find peace by the acquisition of these goods? But how can you expect to find peace, while you walk in the ways of affliction, and misery? Behold how David describes the condition of worldlings. ”Destruction and unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” (Ps. xiii. 3.) You hope to obtain peace from the world; but how can the world give you that peace which you seek, when St. John says, “that the whole world is seated in wickedness ?” (1 John v. 19.) The world is full of iniquities; hence worldlings live under the despotism of the wicked one that is, the Devil. The Lord has declared that there is no peace for the wicked who live without his grace. ”There is no peace to the wicked.” (Isa. xlviii. 22.)

3. The goods of the world are but apparent goods, which cannot satisfy the heart of man. “You have eaten,” says the Prophet Aggeus, “and have not had enough.” (Ag. i. 6) Instead of satisfying our hunger they increase it. ”These,” says St. Bernard, “provoke rather than extinguish hunger.” If the goods of this work! made men content, the rich and powerful should enjoy complete happiness; but experience shows the contrary. We see every day that they are the most unhappy of men; they appear always oppressed by fears, by jealousies and sadness. Listen to King Solomon, who abounded in these goods:  “And behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Eccl. i. 14.) He tells us, that all things in this world are vanity, lies, and illusion. They are not only vanity, but also affliction of spirit. They torture the poor soul, which finds in them a continual source, not of happiness, but of affliction and bitterness. This is a just punishment on those who instead of serving their God with joy, wish to serve their enemy the world which makes them endure the want of every good. ”Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart thou shaft serve thy enemy in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things.” (Deut. xxviii. 47, 48.) Man expects to content his heart with the goods of this earth; but, howsoever abundantly he may possess them, he is never satisfied. Hence, he always seeks after more of them, and is always unhappy. Oh! happy he who wishes for nothing but God; for God will satisfy all the desires of his heart. “Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.” (Ps. xxxvi. 4.) Hence St. Augustine asks: “What, miserable man, dost thou seek in seeking after goods? Seek one good, in which are all goods.” And, having dearly learned that the goods of this world do not content, but rather afflict the heart of man, the saint, turning to the Lord, said: “All things are hard, and thou alone repose.” Hence in saying, “My God and my all,” the seraphic St. Francis, though divested of all worldly goods, enjoyed greater riches and happiness than all the worldlings on this earth. Yes; for the peace which fills the soul that desires nothing but God, surpasses all the delights which creatures can give. They can only delight the senses, but cannot content the heart of man. “The peace of God which surpasseth all understanding.” (Phil. iv. 7.) According to St. Thomas, the difference between God, the sovereign good, and the goods of the earth, consists in this, that he more perfectly we possess God, the more ardently we love him, because the more perfectly we possess him, the better we comprehend his infinite greatness, and therefore the more we despise other things; but, when we possess temporal goods, we despise them, because we see their emptiness, and desire other things, which may make us content. “Summum bonum quanto perfectius possidetur, tanto magis amatur, et alia contemnuntur. Sed in appetitu temporalium bonorum, quando habentur, contemnentur, et alia appetuntur.” (S. Thom, i. 2, qu. 2, art. 1, ad. 3.)

4. The Prophet Osee tells us that the world holds in its hand a deceitful balance. ”He is like Chanaan” (that is the world); “there is a deceitful balance in his hand.” (Osee xii. 7.) We must, then, weigh things in the balance of God, and not in that of the world, which makes them appear different i rom what they are. What are the goods of this life?” My days, ”said Job, “have been swifter than a post: they have passed by as ships carrying fruits.” (Job ix. 25, 26.) The ships signify the lives of men, which soon pass away, and run speedily to death; and if men have laboured only to provide themselves with earthly goods, these fruits decay at the hour of death: we can bring none of them with us to the other world. We, says St. Ambrose, falsely call these things our property, which we cannot bring witli us to eternity, where we must live for ever, and where virtue alone will accompany us. “Non nostra sunt, quæ non possumus auferre nobiscum: sola virtus nos comitatur.” You, says St. Augustine, attend only to what a rich man possessed; but tell me, which of his possessions shall he, now that he is on the point of death, be able to take with him?”Quid hie habebat attendis, quid secum fert, atteudo?” (Serm. xiii. de Adv. Dom.) The rich bring with them a miserable garment, which shall rot with them in the grave. And should they, during life, have acquired a great name, they shall be soon forgotten. ”Their memory hath perished with a noise.” (Ps. ix. 7.)

5. Oh! that men would keep before their eyes that great maxim of Jesus Christ “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matt. xvi. 26.) If they did, they should certainly cease to love the world. What shall it profit them at the hour of death to have acquired all the goods of this world, if their souls must go into hell to be in torments for all eternity? How many has this maxim, sent into the cloister and into the desert? How many martyrs has it encouraged to embrace torments and death! In the history of England, we read of thirty kings and queens, who left the world and became religious, in order to secure a happy death. The consideration of the vanity of earthly goods made St. Francis Borgia retire from the world. At the sight of the Empress Isabella, who had died in the flower of youth, he came to the resolution of serving God alone. “Is such, then,” he said, “the end of all the grandeur and crowns of this world? Henceforth I will serve a master who can never die.” The day of death is called “the day of destruction” (“The day of destruction is at hand” (Deut. xxxii. 35), because on that day we shall lose and give up all the goods of the world all its riches, honours, and pleasures. The shade of death obscures all the treasures and grandeurs of this earth; it obscures even the purple and the crown. Sister Margaret of St. Anne, a Discalced Carmelite, and daughter of the Emperor Rodolph the Second, used to say: “What do kingdoms profit us at the hour of death?” “The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights.” (Eccl. xi. 29.) The melancholy hour of death puts an end to all the delights and pomps of this life. St. Gregory says, that all goods which cannot remain with us, or which are incapable of taking away our miseries, are deceitful. ”Fallaces sunt que nobiscum permanere non possunt: fallaces sunt que mentis nostræ inopiam non expellunt.” (Hom. xv. in Luc.) Behold a sinner whom the riches and honours which he had acquired made an object of envy to others. Death came upon him when he was at the summit of his glory, and he is no longer what he was. “I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus; and I passed by, and lo! he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found.” (Ps. xxxvi. 35, 38.)

6. These truths the unhappy damned fruitlessly confess in hell, where they exclaim with tears: “What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow.” (Wis. v. 8, 9.) What, they say, have our pomps and riches profited us, now that they are all passed away like a shadow, and for us nothing remains but eternal torments and despair? Dearly beloved Christians, let us open our eyes, and now that we have it in our power, let us attend to the salvation of our souls; for, if we lose them, we shall not be able to save them in the next life. Aristippus, the philosopher, was once shipwrecked, and lost all his goods; but such was the esteem which the people entertained for him on account of his learning, that, as soon as he reached the shore, they presented him with an equivalent for all that he had lost. He then wrote to his friends, and exhorted them to attend to the acquisition of goods which cannot be lost by shipwreck. Our relatives and friends who have passed into eternity exhort us, from the other world, to labour in this life for the attainment of goods which are not lost at death. If at that awful moment we shall be found to have attended only to the accumulation of earthly goods, we shall be called fools, and shall receive the reproach addressed to the rich man in the gospel, who, after having reaped an abundant crop from his fields, said to himself: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer. But, God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ?” (Luke xii. 19,20.) He said, ”they require thy soul of thee,” because to everyman his soul is given, not with full power to dispose of it as he pleases, but it is given to him in trust, that he may preserve and return it to God in a state of innocence, when it shall be presented at the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge. The Redeemer concludes this parable by saying: ”So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God” (v. 21). This is what happens to those who seek to enrich themselves with the goods of this life, and not with the love of God. Hence St. Augustine asks: ”What has the rich man if he has not charity? If the poor man has charity, what is there that he has not ?” He that possesses all the treasures of this world, and has not charity, is the poorest of men; but the poor who have God possess all things, though they should be bereft of all earthly goods.

7. “The children of this world,“ says Jesus Christ, ”are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” (Luke xvi. 8.) how wise in earthly affairs are worldlings, who live in the midst of the darkness of the world! “Behold,” says St. Augustine, ”how much men suffer for things for which they entertain a vicious love.” “What fatigue do they endure for the acquisition of property, or of a situation of emolument! With what care do they endeavour to preserve their bodily health! They consult the best physician, and procure the best medicine. And Christians, who are the children of light, will take no pains, will suffer nothing, to secure the salvation of their souls! God! at the light of the candle which lights them to death, at that hour, at that time, which is called the time of truth, worldlings shall see and confess their folly. Then each of them shall exclaim: that I had led the life of a saint! At the hour of death, Philip the Second, King of Spain, called in his son, and having shown him his breast devoured with worms, said to him: Son, behold how we die; behold the end of all worldly greatness. He then ordered a wooden cross to be fastened to his neck; and, having made arrangements for his death, he turned again to his son, and said: My son, I wished you to be present at this scene, that you might understand how the world in the end treats even monarchs. He died saying: Oh, that I had been a lay brother in some religious order, and that I had not been a king! Such is the language at the hour of death, even of the princes of the earth, whom worldlings regard as the most fortunate of men. But these desires and sights of regret serve only to increase the anguish and remorse of the lovers of the world at the hour of death, when the scene is about to close.

8. And what is the present life but a scene, which soon passes away for ever? It may end when we least expect it. Cassimir, King of Poland, while he sat at table with his grandees, died in the act of raising a cup to take a draught; thus the scene ended for him. The Emperor Celsus was put to death in seven days after his election; and the scene closed for him. Ladislaus, King of Bohemia, in his eighteenth year, while he was preparing for the reception of his spouse, the daughter of the King of France, was suddenly seized with a violent pain, which took away his life. Couriers were instantly despatched to announce to her that the scene was over for Ladislaus, that she might return to France. “The world,” says Cornelius à Lapide, in his comment upon this passage, “is like a stage. One generation passes away, and a new generation comes. The king does not take wiih him the purple. Tell me, villa, O house, how many masters had you?” In every age the inhabitants of this earth are changed. Cities and kingdoms are filled with new people. The first generation passes to the other world, a second comes on, and this is followed by another. He who, in the scene of this world, has acted the part of a king is no longer a king. The master of such a villa or palace is no longer its master. Hence the Apostle gives us the following advice: “The time is short; it remaineth that… they that use this world be as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.” (I Cor. vii. 29, 30.) Since the time of our dwelling on this earth is short, and since all must end with our death, let us make use of this world to despise it, as if it did not exist for us; and let us labour to acquire the eternal treasures of Paradise, where, as the Gospel says, there are no moths to consume, nor thieves to steal them. ”But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor the moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Matt. vi. 20.) St. Teresa used to say: ”We should not set value on what ends with life; the true life consists in living in such a manner as not to be afraid of death.” Death shall have no terror for him who, during life, is detached from the vanities of this world, and is careful to provide himself only with goods which shall accompany him to eternity, and make him happy for ever.

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Fr. Hewko's Sermons for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost



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Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
by Fr. Francis Xaveir Weninger, 1877



"I have compassion on the multitude."--Mark 8.

Christ sees the hungry multitude, and has pity on them. He feeds them by a miracle. What Christ at that time said, His heart had felt from its first pulsation; for it was the heart of the Redeemer of the world. This compassion was the cause of His coming upon the earth. He did not come to feed a few thousand hungry men, but to instruct all mankind, and to save them from eternal hunger. He came to feed us with the Manna of His divine Word, yes, with His own flesh and blood, in order to satiate us one day in heaven with the eternal fruition of His divine essence.

To this the words of David refer: "I shall be satiated when Thy glory shall appear;" and Christ Himself frequently makes use of the parable of a marriage feast when He speaks of heaven. But that we may enter heaven He requires our co-operation, and this co-operation depends on our confidence in His helping hand, and this confidence is, in its turn, awakened within us by meditation on the kindness and compassion of Christ, by which He so earnestly desires that His life, suffering, and death may not be lost upon us.

Let us consider today the compassion Jesus bears for every one of us. Mary, mother of mercy, thou who next to Jesus hast most pity on us fallen children of Eve, have compassion on us, that the merits of thy divine Son be not lost upon us! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater of God!

How comforting it is to think of the compassionate Heart of Jesus. "I have compassion on the multitude," said Jesus in regard to the four thousand men who had followed Him to hear His word. But He might have? said the same of the entire human race which He came to instruct and to save. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee," says the Lord to every human soul. The decree of Providence; ordaining our redemption was an act of infinite mercy, consequently the human Heart of Jesus was filled with unspeakable compassion for man. We recognize this fact best when we consider in what manner the feeling of pity is at times awakened and strengthened in our own hearts, and thence conclude that the same must hold true of the heart and mercy of Christ, since He was as much man as ourselves.

The first thing we have to consider, however, at present, is the nature of the human heart; for as experience teaches us there is a great difference in hearts. There are men who are naturally kind and compassionate, while others remain cold and insensible to the misery of their fellow-creatures. To understand how compassionate, how sympathetic God created the heart that beat in the breast of Christ, we need only think why the Son of God became man, and as such entered this world. Holy Writ assures us that all things were ordered wisely and mightily by God; and St. Bernardine of Sienna, as well as other theologians, maintains, that if God allots a certain vocation to any one, then He bestows upon him all the divine graces he needs for this vocation.

Now Christ was to suffer, to shed His blood for each human soul; hence, God the Father bestowed upon Him the most compassionate heart that ever beat upon earth. We are justified in saying that if all the loving hearts of all the mothers and fathers upon earth were melted into one for one child, this one heart would not contain the love that Jesus bears for each individual human soul, nor the pity that He feels for each one's wretchedness.

The second cause which heightens pity in our hearts, is the magnitude of the misfortune that has befallen another, and that we, perhaps, understand the consequences better than the sufferer himself. There is a great difference between knowing that some one is hungry, and seeing him die of starvation. There is a great difference between knowing that a house is on fire, and seeing an incendiary at his criminal work. There is a great difference between knowing that someone has wounded himself, and seeing him bleeding to death.

Now, Christ beholds the entire misfortune into which we were plunged by the fall of Adam, and He also sees at the same time the misfortune we have drawn upon ourselves by our own personal sins. He sees that our merits for heaven are lost, and that we are in danger of never entering its gates. He sees, further, the horrors of an eternal condemnation if we depart from the world in this state. How powerful a motive for His loving heart to have compassion on us! The present and the future lie like an open book before Him, says St. Paul.

The heart is still more moved to pity when the sufferer is some one united to us by the bonds of blood or friendship. This is the case of Christ in regard to us. We are his brothers and sisters, and what He feels for us, no earthly brother, sister, or friend feels, or can ever feel. The wish to help another is stronger than ever when we have already done a great deal for the person in need. Every artist takes the utmost care that the work which he has completed be not damaged or lost; and the more trouble it cost him to produce it, the greater is his solicitude. Now, let us consider what Christ, during His entire life upon earth, did and suffered for us at every step, and particularly during His passion and death upon the cross. How great, how inexpressibly great, is His desire, that His precious and dearly bought merits be not lost upon one of the children of men! Hence His cry upon the cross: "I thirst!" The fate of the soul upon whom Christ's merits are lost will be far more terrible than if Jesus had not suffered to redeem man.

How great a sorrow must this be for the compassionate heart of Jesus! Our pity is still more intense when he who suffers will not allow us to help him, although we are abundantly able to do so, and would feel the happier for it. This is exactly the case in regard to the compassion the heart of Jesus feels for us. He instituted His Church, and left her many and effective means of grace; and besides this He bestows many divine graces upon all in order to save them, yet without doing violence to their will; and when He succeeds His happiness in heaven as Saviour of mankind is increased; for there is more joy in heaven over one soul doing penance than over ninety-nine just. "For this," says David, "will every saint one day give thanks to Thee."

Let us therefore frequently consider this compassion of Christ, that our confidence in His assistance may awaken and become strong, and that one day may be fulfilled in us also the Word of the Lord: "Because He has hoped in me, I will deliver Him! . . . . I will deliver Him and will glorify Him!" Amen!

Jesus gave thanks. The actions of our Lord are intended by Him as an example for us. By Him alone, and by imitating His virtues, can we hope to besaved. We must tread the path He has traced out for us; we must follow in His footsteps, and daily fashion ourselves more and more to His image and likeness, if we would hope one day to arrive at His kingdom and His happiness. "For," says the Apostle, "Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son."

Hence the fact related in this day's Gospel is not without meaning for us. Jesus gave thanks. We also must give thanks, thanks to God. What a noble, comforting and meritorious duty! "Be thankful," says the Apostle to the faithful. Now, that we may be thankful to God in fact, and in a manner worthy of His divine Majesty, we should bear in mind the circumstances which, even among men, call for gratitude. With His standard before our minds, and remembering God's countless graces and favors towards us, we shall be forced to exclaim, with the royal Prophet: "What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that He has rendered unto me?" The first thing is thanks.

O Mary, teach us to comprehend the immensity of the gratitude we owe to God; teach us to fulfill this duty upon earth, that we may deserve to intone one day in heaven our "magnificat" of praise and thanksgiving with the raptures of thy grateful heart, before the throne of His infinite mercy! I speak in the name of Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

On all sides the voice of Nature proclaims aloud man's duty of gratitude. A little grain of corn is laid in the bosom of the earth, and it yields a hundred fold for man's use and benefit. "The earth that bringeth forth thorns and briars," says the Apostle, "is reprobate . . . whose end is to be burnt." Even the dumb brutes that surround us teach us the same lesson. Do not the wildest beasts put oft their ferocity and become tame under the gentle care of him who feeds them? The dog that, in his eager watchfulness around his master's homestead, bites the intruding wayfarer has, so to say, done; his duty; but should he turn upon his master and wound him, he is killed.

But what shall we say of man's opinion of gratitude? Ingratitude is cursed even by the ungrateful. Man, indeed, sometimes impiously and wantonly boasts of his deeds of guilt and shame, but who has ever vaunted of his ingratitude? Rather would one deny an act of kindness bestowed, than, owning it, proclaim his ingratitude.

Now, as Christians, how ardent should be the yearnings of our hearts to thank the Lord for all His gifts! For, if the duty of gratitude is to be commensurate to the dignity and greatness of our benefactor, the value and number of the benefits received; if the magnificence and unworthiness of the recipient should increase the measure of his thanks, what limits can man put to his gratitude towards God, whose exalted Majesty has deigned to shower down the torrents of His love and mercy upon the lowest and most helpless of His reasonable creatures? See what God has done for man, and learn what an imperative and just duty he has to exert his every power to make a suitable return to his generous and almighty Benefactor.

In the first place, then, I say our obligation of gratitude grows stricter in proportion to the rank of him who bestows the kindness and the lowliness of him who receives it. Now, who is it that heaps His favors and mercies upon us? Who, but the God of infinite majesty and glory, the Creator and Preserver of the world; Who, though He wants us not, deigns, nevertheless, to accept our services. Yet what are we, even the worthiest amongst us? Creatures in the lowest scale of rational beings, called from nothingness into life and existence by a mere act of God's all-powerful will. In body, formed out of the clay of the earth, destined to become dust and ashes, and a banquet for worms; by descent, members of a fallen race children of wrath robbed, by the fall of our first parents, of sanctifying grace; offspring of sin, from our very conception, and enemies of God! Add to this the deformity of our personal sins and ill-doings, many, perhaps, and grievous! Such is man!

Now, that God in His mercy should, notwithstanding all this, have made us children of His house, the Church, cleansed us in the sacred laver of baptism from the defilements of sin, and poured out upon us an unceasing stream of spiritual and temporal blessings, that God, I say, should have dealt thus mercifully towards us, is surely a strong motive for gratitude on our part.

I said before, that the duty of gratitude increases with the number of the benefits received. Well, then, let us consider these benefits in the order in which they have been lavished upon us by God, from the first moment of existence, both as to body and soul. See the benefits which accrue to man merely from those senses with which God has endowed and beautified his earthly frame. In order the more feelingly to understand and appreciate their value, consider what you would be without them!

You now see, hear, speak, feel, move and walk. If, at this moment, whilst I am addressing you, God were to destroy the powers of your senses, what would be your misfortune! Your eyes now see, and gaze exultingly upon the beauties of God's works upon the sun, moon and stars, streams and rivers, valleys and mountain-tops; but were God suddenly to spread the vail of blindness over those eyes, plunged in sad and melancholy darkness, how you would yearn after light! At present, you hear my words; but were God suddenly to take away your power of hearing, what anxiety would befall you! And should God suddenly deprive you of your speech, how would it be with you, dumb and unable to articulate an intelligible word, even like unto the beasts of the field? Or should He relax the nerves and muscles of your body, and leave you motionless and paralyzed upon a weary bed, how sad would be your plight! and how would you be a prey to melancholy, at seeing yourself, but a short time before active and vigorous, now unable to move hand or foot, and no better than a living corpse!

Do you now understand the use and benefit of those senses which God has so kindly and so wisely given to your body? Have you ever thought of all this? Have you ever thanked that almighty Architect who has thus wonderfully and wisely framed and embellished your earthly tabernacle? Perhaps never! But if our gratitude should be great from the consideration of the marvels of our bodily senses, what should it be when we consider the powers of our soul, the gifts of reason, memory and free-will? To what a sad condition would you be reduced, were you suddenly, here in this church, to lose your memory and your reason, be no longer conscious of who you are, where you are, and, consequently, all at once brought down to the level of unconscious brutes! Then, as man as a human being for how many benefits are you indebted to God! You are a being formed of a body and a soul; and, as to your soul, created to the image and likeness of God Himself.

Consider, moreover, what graces you have received in the order of nature. Every breath you draw, every pulsation of your heart, every drop of water, every mouthful of bread, the very garments with which you are clad, all are the gifts of God ! Considering all this, I ask you, with the Apostle: Man, "what hast thou that thou hast not received?"

But more urgent far will be our obligation to be grateful, if we reflect upon God's gifts in the order of grace. We were lost, irreparably lost, and banished from heaven; its gates were barred and bolted against us. But to repair our misfortune, the Son of God, clothed in our nature, came into this world, and won back the birthright we had forfeited; and, by His redeeming mercy and death, purchased for poor, forlorn mortals, the rich inheritance of which Adam had despoiled us. If we have been made the children of His Church, if we have been made the brothers of Jesus Christ, co-heirs to His kingdom, and partakers of His graces as our Redeemer, what share could we have had in all this without His bountiful mercy and generosity?

The Gentiles, who lived during those long and bleak four thousand years before the Redeemer came to perform His work, nay, millions who yet live and have lived since His coming, have not enjoyed these blessings. Again, how many in error, wandering shepherdless outside the fold of Christ's Church, and sitting in the shadow of irreligion, or of a faith that is not the faith of salvation and of God, how many, I say, are deprived of the graces and favors God has so bountifully conferred upon us!

Furthermore, let each one in particular weigh the many graces God has given him, through the Christian education he has received as a child of the Church; through the light-giving whisperings of God's Holy Spirit; through the counsel and advice of father, mother, and teacher, and, above all, through the participation of Christ's body and blood in the eucharistic banquet which he has been so often allowed to approach, despite the many sins of his former life!

Finally, reflect that Christ has gone to prepare an abode of rest and happiness for us not in some remote corner of the earth, but in the mansion of the God-head in heaven. Considering and pondering all these favors and blessings in our heart, is it possible not to cry out, with David: "What shall I render to the Lord? " Give yourself to Him, and thank Him to your latest breath. These are the acknowledgments He demands of you! Amen!

"And they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets."--Mark 8

Not only did Christ feed with the seven loaves of bread and the few fishes a multitude of people, but after they had eaten, more food remained than had been on hand before the distribution. They filled seven baskets with what was left. In all the events narrated by the Gospel, there is contained, according to the holy fathers, a moral and a spiritual lesson. The circumstance that seven baskets were filled with remnants, has, therefore, a moral application.

I shall, today, speak of the increase which seven virtues revive in us, if we place ourselves with confidence in the arms of divine Providence, and accustom ourselves to put our hope, in God, and to receive gratefully from His hands whatever He bestows upon us, for body and soul, for time and for eternity. These seven baskets of virtues are, namely, the practice of the theological virtues faith, hope, and charity; of those moral virtues that have a direct influence upon the sanctification of our lives as children of God, which are: humility, patience, fortitude, and zeal in the fulfillment of corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

I shall, today, consider with you these seven baskets of virtue, which are filled by our trust in Divine Providence. O Mary, mother, who, with all the love of thy motherly heart, takest care of us, bless us, and strengthen our trust in the providence of God! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

The first virtue which is exercised and strengthened by our trust in the Lord's providence is the virtue of holy faith. He that trusts in God's providence, makes by this trust an act of faith, since he recognizes God as the almighty, infinite, kind, and faithful God, who has assured us so solemnly, and especially, through Christ, that He would take care of us like a Father. Consider the lilies of the field, and the grass of the earth; the Father takes care of them, how much more of you! No sparrow falls to the ground without His will; how much more will He take care of you! Not a hair will fall from your head without His will. Faith shows itself strongest where there is but little hope of human help, and hence the virtue of Christian hope is strengthened by our trust in God's providence.

Whoever trusts in God, hopes, and this hope is the more glorious and victorious, as there is less prospect that men will or can stretch out their hand to help us. This hope grows and becomes strong when we learn, by experience, how unexpectedly and mightily God comes to our help in need and sorrow. This trust, this knowledge, nourishes and strengthens in us the virtue of love for God, by the gratitude we feel when the Almighty has heard our supplication, our prayer, and sent more than we asked for and expected. It is mostly gratitude for received benefits that keeps bright the fire of love in our hearts.

These exercises of the three theological virtues and their increase in our heart, are the first three baskets of virtue which trust in the providence of God fills. This trust in God's providence has, in addition, the most beneficial influence upon the moral disposition of our hearts, through the exercise of those virtues that most aid us in the sanctification of our lives, namely: humility, patience, fortitude, and zeal in the practice of corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

I say, first: humility. Pride is self-confident, and feels not its own weakness. A proud man trusts himself, his own talents, skill, intelligence, or he has confidence in his ability to procure the assistance of others; whereas a Christian, who has put his trust in God, practices humility, by not depending on his own power, but on the wise guidance of God. A Christian, habituated to trust in God's providence, exercises himself also in holy patience. He who depends solely upon himself or upon others, is easily roused to impatience when he encounters an obstacle, or is deceived; and hence the want of firmness, of stability, in all his undertakings. Quite different is he who trusts in God; he bears with patience all that is antagonistic to him, all that obstructs his endeavors, and perseveres until the end. He adores the Lord's decrees, knowing full well that God has, perhaps, not immediately answered his prayers, in order that patience might increase his merits, and to bestow still greater graces upon him in recompense for his perseverance, his obedience to Divine dispensations. He looks upon Abraham, the Father of the faithful, of whom Holy Writ says: "He hoped against hope," which is exactly that disposition which bears witness to the fortitude of our faith, hope, and charity.

Our trust in the providence of God is especially important, because it enables us to do all that the love of God, the desire to glorify Him, demands, and because it also urges us to be kind to our neighbor, and to take care of his body and soul, and in this manner it arouses and strengthens our zeal in the spreading of the kingdom of God upon earth. Proofs of this we can find in the lives of the saints. How many and how great their undertakings, especially for the dissemination of faith, and in the foundation of religious orders! Had they trusted in themselves, or in men alone, they would never have been inspired with the lofty thoughts of the children of God, as Holy Writ calls them; they would not have executed their plans so joyfully, and would not have overcome so courageously and successfully all the obstacles that barred their path.

Their trust was in God. They felt and confessed it before God and man, and this disposition of their heart was often visible in their outward manner. Thus we read, for example, of St. Francis Xavier, that if people who did not know him were asked how he looked, by what they could recognize him, they answered: "If you meet a priest who often raises his eyes to heaven you may know that it is Francis Xavier." This upward look of the saint tells in whom he trusted, from whence he expected help and blessing in order to execute successfully the grand work for which God sent him to Asia.

Similar facts are related to us of other saints. Their trust was: "The Lord!" Behold here the seven baskets of virtue, which trust in God's providence fills to overflowing! This disposition of the heart is especially important in carrying to a successful issue the work of salvation. Whoever during life is accustomed to repose trustingly in the arms of divine Providence, will do the same when he comes to die, and he can then, full of confidence, say with St. Francis Xavier: "In Thee, O God, have I trusted; I shall not be confounded!" Amen!

Prayer of Thanksgiving to Christ

O Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Salvation: we praise Thee and we give Thee thanks! And though we be unworthy of Thy gifts, and though we cannot offer unto Thee a fitting devotion, yet let Thy loving kindness supply for our weakness. Before Thee, O Lord our God, all our desires are known, and whatsoever our heart rightly wills is a result of Thy grace. Grant that we may attain a genuine love of Thee. Let not Thy grace be unfruitful in us, Lord! Perfect that which Thou hast begun! Give that which Thou hast made us to long for. Convert our tepidity to fervent love of Thee, for the glory of Thy holy Name. Amen.

- Saint Anselm of Canterbury

[Stone]

Taken from By Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen's Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Year:

231. THE COMPASSION OF JESUS
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Jesus, my Lord and Father, have pity on my poor soul and sustain it by Your grace.


MEDITATION

1. One thought emerges from today’s liturgy in a special way and dominates all: God is a merciful Father who takes pity on us and nourishes our souls. Our souls are always famished, we are always in need of nourishment to sustain our supernatural life.

God alone can give us the proper nourishment as the Church tells us in the beautiful prayer of the day: “O God of all power and might, the giver of all good things; implant in our hearts a deep love of Your name; increase in us true religion and sincere virtue; nourish us with all goodness and. . . keep us in Your loving care ” (Collect). The heavenly Father graciously hears our plea and answers by directing us to His divine, only-begotten Son whom He sent into the world that we might have life in Him. In the Epistle (Rom 6, 3-11), St. Paul reminds us that as “we are baptized in Christ Jesus...in His death...so we also may walk in newness of life,” that in Him we may “live unto God.” It is in Jesus and in His Redemption that we find everything we need for the nourishment and life of our souls; it is in Him that we shall find the grace, love, faith, and the encouragement to virtue which we have petitioned in the Collect. It is a great joy for us to hear again that we are reborn in Christ to “ newness of life”; it is a great comfort for our weakness. One point, however, remains obscure. How does it happen that we are always falling? Why are we always so miserable? A more attentive reading of the Epistle will reveal the reason : because we are not yet wholly “ dead ” with Christ, because the “old man” in us has not yet been “crucified” to the point of our no longer being “slaves of sin.” In a word, if we wish to live fully the life that Christ acquired for us by His death, we must first die with Him. As this does not mean material death of the body but spiritual death to our faults and passions, this death must be continually renewed: “Quotidie morior,” I die daily (I Cor 15,31). The weakness of our spiritual life is caused by the insufficiency of this death to self.


2. In the Gospel (Mk 8,1-9) we hear the words of Jesus, so full of kindness: “I have compassion on the multitude.” Jesus has compassion on us, our weakness, our cowardice, our unstable wills. He sees that our souls are weary, hungry, in need of help, and as He spoke to the crowds who gathered to hear Him, so He repeats to us: “I have compassion!” Jesus pities first of all our spiritual needs. Although His Passion and death have abundantly provided for them, He still continues to take care of us every day in the most direct and personal way—by offering Himself as food for our souls. The Gospel speaks to us about the second multiplication of the loaves. However, we are more fortunate than the people of Palestine; Jesus has reserved for us a bread infinitely more nourishing and precious: the Eucharist.

Fascinated by the words of Jesus, the crowd had followed Him, forgetting even their necessities; three days they remained with Him and had nothing to eat. What a lesson for us who are often much more solicitous for our material food than for our spiritual nourishment! And Jesus, after having provided abundantly for the needs of their souls, thought also of their bodily needs. His disciples, however, were astonished: “From whence can anyone fill them with bread here in the wilderness?” They had already assisted at the first multiplication of the loaves, but here they seemed to have no remembrance of it and remained distrustful. How many times have we too seen miracles of grace and the wonders of divine Providence! And yet, when we are placed in new, bewildering, or difficult circumstances, how often we remain hesitant; it seems as if we doubted God’s almighty power. Let us think, for example, of our spiritual life: there are still things to be overcome or surmounted...we have tried so many times, and perhaps we no longer have the courage to begin again. Oh! if our faith were only greater, if we would only cast ourselves upon God with more confidence! One good act of total abandonment might be all we need to win the victory! Jesus is looking at us and saying, “I have compassion on the multitude” and His compassion is not sterile, but is vital action, help, and actual grace for our soul: why, then, do we not have more confidence in Him?


COLLOQUY

“Ah! my Lord, Your help is absolutely necessary for me; without You I can do nothing. In Your mercy, O God, do not allow my soul to be deceived and to give up the work it has begun. Give me light to know that my whole welfare depends on perseverance.

“Make me understand that my faith in You must rise above my misery, and that I must never be alarmed if I feel weak and fearful. I must make allowance for the flesh, remembering what You said, O Jesus, in Your prayer in the garden: ‘The flesh is weak...’ If You said that Your divine and sinless flesh was weak, how can I expect mine to be so strong that it does not feel afraid? O Lord, I do not wish to be preoccupied with my fears nor to be discouraged at my weakness. On the contrary, I wish to trust in Your mercy, and to have no confidence whatever in my own strength, convinced that my weakness comes from depending on myself” (T.J. Int C I, 1 — Con, 3).

“In You, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded; deliver me in Your justice. Bow down Your ear to me; make haste to deliver me! Be unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge to save me. For You are my strength and my refuge; and for Your Name’s sake You will lead me and nourish me. Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth. I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy. For You have regarded my humility, You have saved my soul out of distress. And You have not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: You have set my feet in a spacious place. I have put my trust in You, O Lord, save me in Your mercy. Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon You. How great is the multitude of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden for them that fear You, which You have wrought for them that hope in You. Have courage, and let your heart be strengthened, all you that hope in the Lord ” (Ps 30).