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Sermons

for

Lent

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR LIBRARY

HUNTINGTON





SERMONS FOR LENT

(Priests will develop these and other related thoughts)

I.

ASH WEDNESDAY

The Parish Church

“I shall fill this house with glory.”—Aggeus 11, 8.

In every Catholic church we have at all times the

Bethlehem Christmas scene of 1934 years ago. Bethle-

hem means “House of Bread”. The parish church is the

house in which Jesus lives permanently in order to con-

fer “peace on men of good will” and to give “glory to His

Father in the highest”. There He fulfills the Apostle’s

prophecy to be “Jesus Christ yesterday, today and the

same forever”. There He has the daily worship of the

Shepherds in the persons of the poor ; there Sunday after

Sunday many people, like the Magi, come from afar to

bring Him their gifts of devotion, prayer and sacrifice;

there angels are ever present in adoration, and sing their

Christmas song.

There is not now and never was on earth a place

(1) so holy; (2) so profitable to you, as your parish

church; (3) Protestant temples bear no comparison to it.

(1) The temple of Jerusalem, built of the choicest

marble, with its inner walls overlaid with the purest

silver, its altars and other furnishings made of virgin

gold, with its “Holy of Holies”, which even the High

priest was allowed to enter but once a year, was truly

“filled with glory” only when the Incarnate God deigned

to visit it in person, to teach and pray therein. But

even with the glory which the temple acquired by the

visits of Jesus it could bear no comparison to the humb-

lest Catholic parish church in which Jesus dwells person-

ally and continuously in His glorified state, and where



2 SERMONS FOR LENT

He immolates Himself daily in sacrifice for the parish-

ioners.

Have you ever contemplated in earnest this wonder-

ful boon of our Catholic people, whether they live in

city, town or hamlet? No, you have never fully grasped

its significance, or there would be no place in all the

world so dear to you as your pew in church; there

would be no cause towards which you would be so willing

to contribute some of your earnings as that calculated to

embellish Jesus’ house, or promote parish interests.

You would frequently exclaim with David: “For what

have I in Heaven and besides Thee, what do I desire upon

earth?” (Ps. LXXII, 25). “I have loved, O Lord, the

beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory

dwelleth” Your parish church is indeed “filled with

glory”.

(2) There is little difference between your privi-

lege and that of the blessed in Heaven
;
they worship the

glorified human nature of Jesus, united to His sacred

divinity; and in your parish church, you may adore His

divine Person inseparably united to our humanity.

There is no difference in the actuality of God’s presence,

no difference in the honor of being near Him. The only

real difference is that the blessed in Heaven see Jesus,

while His divine beauty is hidden from you as it was hid-

den from the Apostles themselves with whom He walked

on earth. Three of these were favored with a moment-

ary glimpse of His divine beauty on Thabor, but they

could not endure it; much less could we endure to see

Christ as He now is in His glorified state. Jesus’ Divin-

ity was hidden even from Mary and Joseph, who dwelt

with Him in Nazareth; from Magdalene, who bathed

His feet in sorrow for her sins. Only when we are like

Him in Heaven shall we be able to see Him “as He is.”

(3) How different because of this personal pres-



SERMONS FOR LENT 3

ence of Jesus in the flesh, is the parish church of Catho-

lics from the temples where our non-Catholic friends

pray ! Their churches may be the scene of public reli-

gious devotions where men and women gather to praise

and thank God and pray to Him, but God seems no nearer

to them than when they are in their own homes—and
this explains why their temples are so empty.

But you, when you kneel in your parish church, feel

as near to Christ as were the Magi and Shepherds in

Bethlehem’s stable, as were the Apostles at the Last

Supper, and as were the Marys when their Lord hung

above them on the cross. Although so many of our

people fail to realize all this, the Church itself realizes

the Savior’s actual presence, and because of her per-

petual sacrifice offered “from the rising to the setting

of the sun” has worshippers before Him every moment of

the day and night. In her fold are religious associations

of men and women, who are consecrated body and soul to

Him for life. It is for Him that the orders of Sister-

hoods exist, whose members—numbering hundreds of
thousands—have left all else to be brides of Jesus, “to
serve Him in the temple night and day”. How true are

the words of Christ when applied to Catholics : “Behold I

am with you”
;
“I shall not leave you orphans”. If you

are not with Him, it is your fault, and shame on you be-

cause of your neglect to visit Him oftener—-to express

your love, your sorrow, your gratitude; because of your

neglect to answer His invitation to dine with Him

oftener; because of your neglect to be present when He

renews His offering of sacrifice for you in your parish

church: “Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O

foolish and senseless people?” (Deut. XXXII, 6). “Be-

hold He standeth behind our wall looking through the

windows, looking through the lattices” (Cant. II, 6).

—

waiting for your visits, your worship.



4 SERMONS FOR LENT

CONCLUSION : While Almighty God can be wor-

shipped publicily in the open spaces, His sacramental

presence can be enshrined only within a building. That

presence makes any edifice sacred and holy, but should

that edifice not be as beautiful interiorly as money and

art can make it? Christ made His first appearance in a

stable, but His children should certainly not consign Him

to a stable. On the site of Bethlehem’s stable there

stands and has stood for 1,600 years a beautiful church.

Regard it as a privilege and honor to contribute to

the embellishment and maintenance of your parish

church.



II.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

The Supernatural

“To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
Eternal life”—John VI, 69.

Despite the long course of religious instructions

which most Catholic children receive, they seem never to

become saturated with the idea that their religion is

unique in relation to all others. They fully comprehend

that the Catholic religion is the parent Christian religion,

or the oldest Christian organization. They may even

know that there are in the world 100,000,000 more Cath-

olics than there are Protestants of all denominations tak-

en together. They must be aware that there are radical

differences in teaching and practice. For instance we

have the Mass, the real presence of Jesus in the Holy

Eucharist, the Confessional, which Protestant organiza-

tions have not.

Other faiths cannot, therefore, be quite like the Cath-

olic. But let it never be overlooked that to have the prop-

er relation to the end to which it is expected to lead peo-

ple the true religion must be supernatural. It must be

supernatural (1) in its origin; (2) in its teaching; and

(3) in its grace-producing ordinances.

(1) The majority of our countrymen regard relig-

ious practice's purely an affair between themselves per-

sonally and God. They may hold that it is good to belong

to a religious organization, but are convinced that it is

not necessary
;
they maintain that they are quite as good,

or could be just as good as those who profess themselves

Christians, affiliated to a Christian body. Their religious

opinions may be as good as those of numerous people be-

longing to the churches, who are in woeful disagreement

V



6 SERMONS FOR LENT

and openly acknowledge that they are not sure of them-

selves.

But all this is actually beside the question. The opin-

ions of people count for nothing, no matter how sincere,

if Almighty God has actually made a very definite revela-

tion. It should be easy even for the uncultured mind to

comprehend that the Creator has a right to demand that

He be known as far as He chose to reveal Himself
;
that

He has a right to demand definite service for an eternal

.prize; that if He has destined His children on earth to

supernatural beatitude in eternity, supernatural means

for its attainment must be placed within everyone’s reach.

Now the Son of God Incarnate did institute a relig-

ion, one religion, to be introduced throughout the world

and to endure for all time. If God Himself did not insti-

tute a second or a third or a one-hundredth religion, then

only that which he actually did institute is of any conse-

quence for salvation; only it can be divine; only it can

offer to its members helps which conduce to supernatural

glory.

All this seems so simple that one must wonder

why it is not patent to everybody. The answer is that

during the past four hundred years there has been such a

conspiracy against the original Church that the minds of

the English and German people in Europe and their des-

cendants in this country have become too beclouded by

prejudice to see. •

(2) We might arrive at many conclusions, mathe-

matical, scientific, economic, by our own serious study,

but we cannot learn what Almighty God actually wants

of us unless He Himself tell us. We could not, for in-

stance, know that there are three persons in one God, that

it was the second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who be-

came man, that the souls of our first parents were en-



SERMONS FOR LENT 7

dowed with supernatural as well as natural life, that a

special ordinance in the Church is capable of conferring

this supernatural life on every soul, that there are other

ordinances calculated to promote this life—we could not
know these and many other things apart from revelation.

Moreover we could not reasonably expect that the revela-

tion, as it was originally made, would be safeguarded

through the centuries in its original accuracy without

divine protection for the institution to which it was com-

mitted, and without divine guidance for its correct in-

terpretation.

Every land is filled with numerous courts and hun-

dreds of men versed in the law, yet how often within any

man’s lifetime is not the highest court of the land asked

to give an official interpretation of a law or the constitu-

tionality of some measure for which legal sanction is re-

quested. The true Church of Christ must have received

its teaching direct from Christ, and that is receiving it in

a supernatural way; it must continue to be Christ’s

Church, and this means that, throughout the centuries, it

must ever teach the same and be competent to give utter-

ance to official decisions relating to matters revealed or

presumably revealed, and to matters which deal with

morals. In other words, the Church must know both

what has been revealed by the Almighty, and what is

necessary in the matter of conduct for our salvation.

Then if salvation itself be of the supernatural order,

the Church must be in possession of divinely-instituted

helps which make such a salvation attainable.

(3) I have already intimated that the means of sal-

vation must be of the same order as salvation itself. Now

evidently such means could not be invented by men. Only

a God can give divine things, can give supernatural

things. We are taught that God enlightens and strength-



8 SERMONS FOR LENT

ens the soul supernaturally by actual grace in order that

it may be able to discern good from evil, and be enabled

to do the good and to avoid the evil. With the help of

this actual grace many a pagan, many a good non-Cath-

olic, to whom the definite things of revelation have never

been brought home, is enabled to elicit an act of perfect

love and perfect contrition, through which sanctifying

grace is introduced into his soul without the help of any

special religious ordinance or sacrament. But this is

not the ordinary way in which people are to be saved.

They are expected to become citizens in Christ’s King-

dom; are expected to be instructed in the teachings and

laws of that Kingdom. They are expected to participate

in the divinely instituted form of worship in that King-

dom
;
they are expected to promote their soul’s sanctifica-

tion through the reception of the ordinances known as

Sacraments, committed to that Kingdom.

Isn’t it clear that only by using the supernatural we

can hope to grow supernaturally and to reach a super-

natural destiny? But isn’t it equally clear that only a

Church of actual divine origin, divinely protected against

the gates of hell, divinely commissioned to teach and to

dispense the mysteries of God, of which it alone can be in

possession, can be adequate for the purpose?

The good things of churches other than the Catholic

have been taken from ours ; many other good things, yes,

even the best things we have, have been rejected by them,

not because Protestant people would not like to have them,

but because they cannot have them. In other words, a re-

ligious organization which cannot trace its origin back to

Christ, which can claim no Apostolic succession for its

clergymen, evidently cannot have the Mass, cannot have

the Eucharist, cannot have the Sacrament of Penance.

Protestant religions are consistent in disowning these



SERMONS FOR LENT 9

things, because they are dependent on a Sacrament insti-

tuted by Christ, namely, Holy Orders, which Protestant

clergymen never received.

CONCLUSION
;

Try to be thoroughly convinced of

the fundamentals which I have brought home to you ; they

are at the bottom of everything, and withal so clear, so

appealing, so convincing. Being impressed with the idea

of the supernatural character of your Church and of its

means of salvation, you can readily perceive that the best

possible human institution must fall infinitely short of

the one divine institution. It should be equally clear to

you and to everybody that only a divine institution could

lead to the supernatural glory of Heaven, because no hu-

man being, no matter how good and perfect and holy, can

provide supernatural things of his own invention. He

may claim a commission to teach, but Christ finished His

work when, after having taught the Apostles quite well,

He commissioned them to teach all things whatsoever He

had taught them. St. John, His Apostle, warns against

adding to or subtracting from anything which Jesus

taught; and the Apostle Paul pronounced an anathema

even against an angel from Heaven, who would presume

to teach anything which was not in harmony with the

gospel preached by the Apostles.



III.

SECOND MIDWEEK SERMON

The Parish Church

“This' is verily the house of God and gate of Heaven.”

—Gen. XXVIII, 17.

It would never occur to any of us to question the

historical fact that 1900 years ago the God-man, Jesus

Christ, established in this world a religion which was to

offer to the people of all nations until the end of time,

what He Himself offered to the people of Judea in per-

son. But how were the teachings, the powers, the divi-

nely appointed helps of this institution, called “The

Church” to be brought to each individual? Just as the

General Government of the United States sells me stamps

through a local post-office, and furnishes me money

through a National Bank in my town, so the Church of
Christ must have in nearly every town one or more

places where she dispenses her heavenly goods. There

she receives people into her membership, teaches them,

forgives their sins, feeds their souls, buries their dead.

The parish church, in which all this takes place, is

(1) the House of God; (2) the Gate of Heaven, and (3)

the Forum of truth.

(1) Your parish church is more truly the “House

of God” than your home is your house, since Jesus Christ

never leaves it from the day on which it is dedi-

cated and deeded over to Him. There He is present

in a veiled way for your worship as truly as He is present

unveiled for the worship of the angels in Heaven. There

he repeats His unbloody sacrifice day after day. There

He feeds your souls on His precious flesh and blood. To

His altar throne He invites you to come for quiet pray-

er, for consolation in your afflictions and troubles.



SERMONS FOR LENT 11

We can say with far greater truth than God’s

people in the Old Law that our God is near us, localized,

as it were, to dispense His precious gifts and graces. The

little red light, which is extinguished only on Good Fri-

day, reminds you of the all-time sacramental presence

of Jesus in your church.

You have the pictures of your friends in your house.

For a similar reason we have figures and images of the

friends of Jesus in His house—of Mary, Joseph, the
apostles, the church’s patron. Only the clergy who serve

Jesus directly, and the acolytes, who serve the priest,

may enter the enclosed sanctuary of the house of God.

(Speak of the dignity of altar boy and of choir mem-

ber.)

(2) If it will ever be your happy lot to see God

face to face in Heaven, to partake of His own unbounded

happiness for ever and ever, you will owe it principally

to the helps and ministrations you receive in your parish

church.

Let us examine some of these divine helps

:

(a) Even as innocent babes Almighty God saw in

you nothing attractive, until after you were brought to

the parish church and were born to a new, a higher life,

through baptism. Through this sacrament God adopted

you as His children, stamped on your souls His own

image, clothed them with His own beauty, and started

you on the way that leads straight to Heaven.

(b) The supernatural life received in baptism can

be lost, and with it the friendship of God and the right

to Heaven. But is its loss irrevocable or can it be regain-

ed? Thanks to the goodness and mercy and love of God,

there is a sacrament which can remove the blackest sin

and restore the beauty of divine grace to souls. You

would go thousands of miles, you would risk your life

to secure the benefit of the same. Whither must you go?



12 SERMONS FOR LENT

Only to the confessional in your parish church, where

souls are raised from spiritual death, cleansed, and

strengthened for new conflicts

:

(c) Think of the benefits of Holy Communion re-

ceived here; think of the strength and the gifts of the

Holy Spirit received in Confirmation; think of the mar-

riage you contracted before the altar, when the priest

prayed for God’s special graces in your behalf in the

very presence of His divine Son, the Author of the Sac-

rament of Matrimony. Think of the consolations

brought to your sick from the parish church, the inestim-

able help to the dying, and their remembrance at the

altar long after you will have forgotten them.

(3) Having become children of God, you must

be taught about God. And though this is pre-eminently

an age of boasted culture, though there were never so

many schools, colleges, universities, libraries, magazines

and books, there is only one forum in your locality where

knowledge of God and of His will can be had, and

guaranteed as reliable, as definite, as accurate as that im-

parted by Jesus Christ to His Apostles with His own

lips. And that forum is the pulpit in your parish church.

From that rostrum you are served not opinions,

but unadulterated truth; not politics, but genuine reli-

gious facts. The preaching is not done to please the

ears, but to touch the hearts. The priest preaches not

himself, but Christ crucified, risen, glorified ; Christ

divine, Christ the Mediator, Christ with us all days,

Christ dispensing Himself to souls for their super-

natural nourishment.

From that rostrum Christ’s moral law, immutable

and ever binding is expounded
;
sin is denounced and vir-

tue inculcated. Death, Judgment, Hell are given as fair

treatment as Heaven.



SERMONS FOR LENT 13

CONCLUSION:

Think of your parish church as God’s local service

station purely for your benefit, where no limitation is

placed on the good things needed by the soul
;
where spir-

itual riches are dealt out to you from the Church’s inex-

haustible treasury.

The oftener you come for these goods, the better

Christ’s agent likes it; the greater your capacity for re-

ceiving the more pleasure you afford the dispenser.



IV.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

The Supernatural

There are some fundamental truths of faith, of

which we should never lose sight. They are these
:
(a) we

are destined to supernatural bliss in another world; (b)

our souls must therefore be endowed with supernatural

life here below, and must be supernaturally assisted for

the realization of our sublime end; (c) we are not born

into this world possessed of supernatural life, and must,

therefore, have it imparted through some divine ordin-

ance; (d) once placed in the supernatural order all our

good works have a supernatural value, and, therefore,

earn merit for the life to come.

That special gift of God, which confers supernatural

life and aids us in acquiring heavenly merit, is called

Grace. Let us briefly contemplate grace (1) as embel-

lishing the soul; (2) as aiding us in the performance of

works having eternal value; and (3) let us consider the

sad state of those unpossessed of grace.

(1) You might be enabled to form some concept

of the beauty of the soul clothed with divine grace by the

feeble comparison between a new incandescent bulb into

which the electric current has not been turned, and the

same bulb all aglow with brilliancy after it is touched by

electric power.

The newly born, but unbaptized babe, might be lik-

ened to this newly made incandescent bulb, disposed for,

but not yet the recipient of illumination. This soul, per-

fect in the natural order, is disposed for and has an in-

alienable right to receive the higher stage of grace. The

incandescent bulb was made to be lighted, and unless it



15SERMONS FOR LENT

be so used it serves no purpose. Similarly the soul of

everyone was made for God, and, therefore, to be united

to God by the contact of grace. Without such illumina-

tion it does not serve the end for which it was made.

Our Divine Savior Himself furnishes even a more

apt illustration when He says : “Abide in Me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide

in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I

am the vine, you the branches ; he that abideth in Me and

I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me

you can do nothing.”

The illumination of the soul by grace, or the union

of the soul with God through the possession of sanctify-

ing grace elevates the soul to a divine degree, to a status

“a little less than the angels”. The soul is therefore

made not only beautiful beyond all description, but dear

to God in the extreme. It lives a life, which leads to

Heaven; and its every prayer and good work and pious

sentiment are recorded in Heaven for merit eternal.

Since the soul is a spirit the spiritual life should be

normal to it. Since its destiny is supernatural it should

never, for a moment, be without the supernatural life.

The grace, which confers supernatural life and thus ele-

vates the soul to this higher plane is called Sanctifying

Grace

,

because it naturally tends to make the soul holy.

It is often called habitual grace, because its possession

should be permanent.

(2) The soul in sanctifying grace still needs what

is known as Actual grace, or that divine assistance which

Almighty God offers to everyone as an aid in the perform-

ance of good acts or in the avoidance of evil acts. Every

soul in Heaven is an example of fidelity to actual grace;

every soul in hell is an example of failure to cooperate

with actual grace, often called the grace of assistance.

Just as the conferring of our natural life does not in-



16 SERMONS FOR LENT

sure its permanency without the help of air and water

and food, so also the conferring of supernatural life does

not guarantee its permanency. Even the soul so consti-

tuted needs food and nourishment, needs daily light and

strength.

The spiritual life of the soul must be sustained sup-

ernatural^, just as much as the life of the body must be

sustained by natural helps. So true is this that our Di-

vine Savior reminded us that without Him, i.e., without

His grace, we can do nothing towards eternal merit. We
are told by the Apostle that we cannot even pronounce

the name of Jesus with merit without God’s grace.

Of course, actual grace is denied to no one whether

he be Catholic or Protestant, Jew or pagan. According

to the teaching of faith everyone receives at least suffici-

ent actual grace from God for conversion and for sal-

vation. But just as today the vast majority of the people

will not even hearken to the claims of the Church of

Christ, so they reject the grace of God, calculated to move

them to perfect sorrow for their sins and to acquire the

state of sanctifying grace independently of Baptism.

Nothing is more lamentable than the fruitlessness of the

efforts of the majority of the people of the world because

they pass their whole lives outside the supernatural

order.

(3) “Master, we have labored all the night and

have taken nothing” expresses what is the actual truth

about the efforts of the larger portion of mankind. They

not only consume a great deal of valuable time without

gain like the patient fishermen, but even if they, to use

words of St. Paul, “distributed all their goods to the poor,

and delivered up their bodies to be burned” they would

fail to achieve that reward for which they are destined,

simply because, lacking charity, or that true love of God



SERMONS FOR LENT 17

which presupposes the state of grace, they are not in

position to merit supernaturally.

While the contemplation of such a situation might

stun us, it must be clear to you that one who is not in

the state of grace is dead in the supernatural sense, and,

therefore, can no more act supernaturally than one who

is physically dead can act naturally. This situation

would appear to be cruel in the extreme if Almighty God

did not make it possible for the souls of all men to receive

supernatural life through participation in the plentiful

redemption of His Divine Son.

Understand that the Son of God made the acquisi-

tion of the supernatural life possible, but not actual. He

• left the means for imparting it to His Church, and to that

Church people must apply for those means of grace.

We experience pity for the farmer who plows his
soil, sows his grain, uses every human effort to produce

a crop, without the crop materializing. Those not in the

state of grace have no better success from year to year

in growing a crop to be harvested in Heaven. But the

possession of the state of grace, together with the inten-

tion of serving God in everything, guarantees an im-

mense' harvest. This intention should always accom-

pany our good works according to St. Paul, who says:

“Whatsoever you do in word or in work, all things do ye

in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ”, and again

“whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all

to the glory of God”.

CONCLUSION : We Catholics should never cease

thanking Almighty God for selecting us, without any

merit on our part, for union with Himself through sanc-

tifying grace, with all which that union implies. We

should thank Him also for the opportunity we have had

to know Him better than other people, and to know more



18 SERMONS FOR LENT

about the spiritual and supernatural life than they, and,

therefore, to be in position to cultivate it for our ever-,

lasting benefit.

Since, as we have already learned, most people

have shut their eyes to the supernatural life, we should

implore God to give them not only sufficient grace to en-

able them to see and to follow, but such powerful graces

as will actually arouse them, first to conversion, and

then “to taste how sweet the Lord is”, how comforting it

is to feel that every day one may progress supernaturally

and, in the same proportion, acquire glory supernatural

and everlasting.



y.

THIRD MIDWEEK SERMON

The Parish Church

“Behold I am with you all days even unto the consume

mation of the world.” (Matt. XXVIII, 20.)

In this discourse, not the real presence of Jesus in

our churches, but the plausibility and, therefore, the

easy credibility of an arrangement by which Almighty

God would be personally near us, will be considered. If

we can believe in the Incarnation, as all Catholics do, and

as most Protestants do; if we can believe in the crucifi-

xion of a God as practically all Christians claim they do,

then certainly it should not be difficult to believe in the

Holy Eucharist, the Mass or any other truth of faith

whatsoever. The value of the human soul and, there-

fore, the infinite love which God must entertain for it,

and the anxiety of God that it be made safe for all eter-

nity at any cost, are the keys to the solution of practi-

cally every momentous truth of faith.

Now let us consider (1) that the Eucharist is in per-

fect harmony with the infinite love of God; (2) that the

New Law must certainly boast of more than the Old
;
and

(3) the natural longing of the soul for union with God.

( 1 ) God is infinite in His every perfection ; there-

fore His love is infinite
;
therefore we could not even con-

ceive of His love going too far
;
therefore it did not go too

far when He instituted the Eucharist. Of His love God

Himself says : “I have loved thee with an everlasting

love” (Jer. XXXI, 3). “God so loved the world that He

gave His only begotten Son” (John III, 16). And this

Son of God expresses the infinity of His love in these

strong words : “As the Father hath loved Me, so I have



20 SERMONS FOR LENT

loved you” (John XV, 9). God the Father certainly

loved the Son with an infinite love, and Christ says that

His love for us is just as limitless. And St. John, speak-

ing of Christ’s love, says: “Having loved His own who

were in the world, He loved them unto the end”, i. e., to

the last limit love could go.

Not only is God’s love infinite; it is also a personal

love. “I have loved ‘thee’ with an everlasting love; I

have redeemed ‘thee’ and called ‘thee’ by name; ‘thou’

art mine.” “Christ loved ‘me’ and delivered Himself up

for ‘me’ ”. So many of Christ’s parables, notably those

of the “Good Shepherd”, “Good Samaritan” and “Prodi-

gal Son”, lay stress on the personal nature of God’s love

for us. Human love is personal, and Christ compares

His love to human love: “Can a mother forget her

child?. . . Even so I shall not forget thee”. The soul

of every Christian who is free from grievous sin is most

attractive to God
;
it becomes His “delight to be with the

children of men.” Now perfect and personal love must

tend to union with the object loved.

(2) Though the Jewish religion was very imperfect

as compared to the perfect religion of Christ; yet mem-

bers of the former had closer union with God than ad-

herents of the latter, if Christ is not personally present

among Christians. See the constant nearness of God’s

presence with the Jews in the “cloud” and in the. “pillar

of fire”, which were always with them on their journey to

the Promised Land. In their communion service they

had a living reality, whose flesh they ate, viz. : the spot-

less lamb. And their daily prayer was that the Emman-

uel—God with us—might come in person.
God came, but God (Jesus) gone from us again would

not satisfy the heart of man. Why should the Christians

•of all times not have “God with them” on their way to

the real Promised Land—Heaven? Jesus looked back-



SERMONS FOR LENT 21

ward to by Christians would mean no more than Jesus

looked forward to by the Jews. As far as faith is con-

cerned it would not mean as much, for it would be eas-

ier for us to believe that God had come to earth after

having palpable proof of it, than for people who lived be-

fore His coming to believe that He would thus condescend

to unite Himself to human nature.

Jesus was for all—for all time; “Jesus Christ yes-
terday, today and the same forever.” “Behold, I am

with you all days, even unto the consummation of the

world” (Matt. XXII, 20.)

(3) And on man’s part there is an irresistible long-

ing for union with God. Pious people would rather die a

thousand times than be separated from God by grievous

sin; and should such separation occur they are unhappy

until peace and union with God are established again.

Even the errors of paganism testify to the naturalness

of man’s longing for union with God. What else did

their temples to the “unknown” God, their sacrifices to

appease the deity, mean?

God, having constituted Himself man’s last end,

placed within man’s breast a craving for union with

Himself, and hence He must needs grant man what He

made it natural for him to crave for.

To believe this is so natural that at Protestant re-

vivals, “union with Jesus” is the cry; “come to Jesus”,

“put on Jesus” is the invitation. The “Salvation Army”

preacher on the street corner has the same message.

Ardent love cannot bear separation, and it wants

the conscious presence of the object loved.

The natural relationship of Christ to the Church

(the Church is called His spouse) demands his real

presence where the Church is. Christ is the “Head of the

Body,—the Church”. Therefore He should be actually
present with the Church.



22 SERMONS FOR LENT

CONCLUSION—

Should non-Catholics tell you that you believe too

much when you believe in the actual presence of the

Glorified Christ in the Holy Eucharist, remind them that

this Teaching is quite easy to believe in the light of the

many other truths which they very readily accept, such as

the Incarnation and Redemption by a God-man. If God

thought enough of us to die for us, His love does not be-

come more infinite by inventing a means of remaining

with us and of uniting Himself to us for our more certain

salvation.



VI.

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

The Supernatural

Every city has a water-works and an electric lighting

system for all the people. But the building of the huge

reservoir and the filling of it with water will be of no

special banefit to the individual unless the water be

brought into his house by pipes connected with the great

supply. The generation of ever so much electric power

and light at a central plant will be of little benefit to the

individual unless the current be actually carried to his

home by connecting wires.

In a similar manner the merits of Christ’s plentiful

Redemption, sufficient to serve the whole human race,

must be brought to individual souls by what theologians

term the “channels of grace” or the Sacraments. We
often speak of the Sacramental system, just as we speak

of a lighting system, because the Sacraments are convey-

ors of supernatural light, power and help to souls.

Although all the Sacraments (1) confer sanctifying

grace, they (2) are intended each for a different purpose,

and (3) they have a value too little understood and appre-

ciated.

(1) In our last instruction we saw what grace is

—

the most precious gift that God could bestow on a crea-

ture—because it is a participation of His own divine na-
ture, beautifying the soul beyond all description, making

it deserving of a place among the angels in Heaven.

Now all Sacraments, and there are seven of them, are

conveyors of sanctifying grace. Two of them, namely

Baptism and Penance, convey grace to a soul that has



24 SERMONS FOR LENT

been without it, the other five amplify and increase the

grace already adorning the soul.

You have been told that if the Catholic religion ex-

celled all other religions only because it had the great

official sacrifice of the New Law instituted by Christ on

the night before He died, it would be incomparably more

attractive than any other. It may be said with equal

truth that if the Catholic Church alone had the seven

grace-producing Sacraments it would be vastly superior

to any other religion. Because Protestantism lacks that

particular Sacrament which empowers the priest to con-

fer others, Protestants cannot have the Sacraments of

Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unc-

tion and Holy Orders. Most of them do not recognize

marriage as a Sacrament and claim only two, namely,

Baptism and what they denominate the Lord’s Supper.

The latter does not and, of course, cannot mean what

we call the Holy Eucharist, which presupposes the Sacra-

ment of Holy Orders and the Mass.

Baptism, conferring Christian citizenship on the in-

dividual, can be conferred only once. Even an American

citizen cannot get rid of his citizenship, and cannot be

enrolled as a citizen more than once
;
only the benefits of

American citizenship can be restored when lost. Sim-

ilarly, Confirmation registers forever in Heaven as a

soldier of Christ the one who receives it. In the same

manner he who receives Holy Orders is a priest forever.

The other four Sacraments may be administered more

than once, and the two Sacraments of Penance and Holy

Eucharist may, and should be, received frequently.

(2) From what I have already said it is clear that

each of the seven Sacraments is designed to accomplish a

certain very definite spiritual and supernatural effect.

Baptism, bringing grace to the soul the first time, ele-



SERMONS FOR LENT 25

vates it to the supernatural order, and makes it an heir of

Heaven. Hence the Catholic Church teaches that the

newly baptized infant or adult would, if death intervened

immediately, take flight to God and become a sharer of

His indescribable glory. Placed on the road which leads

to Heaven every good work performed with the assist-

ance of actual grace advances the person along the road

and is credited to his account in the book of life.

But the supernatural state of soul, conferred by Bap-

tism in the first instance, can unfortunately be lost by

grievous sin. But it need not be permanently lost, be-

cause the Sacrament of Penance was instituted to restore

the grace, and to retrieve the merit earned previously to

the loss of grace.

Confirmation, bringing the Holy Ghost into the soul,

must needs augment grace wonderfully. The Holy

Eucharist, bringing the soul’s Savior and Redeemer, must

evidently further nourish it with supernatural or divine

life. This Sacrament is intended to be for the soul what

food is for the body, namely, a source of nourishment

and strength.

Extreme Unction is a Sacrament which is admin-

istered to the follower of Christ who is in danger of

death, and is designed, while it increases grace, to re-

move the remains of sin and prepare it for the favorable

judgment prior to its admission into the Heavenly

country.

The Sacrament of Matrimony gives a supernatural

character to the marriage contract, and supplies special

graces calculated to promote the sanctification of the mar-

ried couple and to assist them in fulfilling the duties of

the married state.

Holy Orders, as has already been stated, is basic for

the production and administration of other Sacraments,



26 SERMONS FOR LENT

and is conferred only on those who are chosen by God

to guide and direct His people and to dispense His super-

natural ordinances to them.

(3) Nothing is more deplorable than the little ap-

preciation Catholics manifest for the divine things which

we call the Sacraments. Their lack of appreciation is

evidently due to the lack of realization of the value of

grace, and this must be due principally to their thought-

lessness, to their worldly-mindedness, which diverts their

attention altogether from their soul and its salvation.

Surely no one, who knows what it means to live in God’s

favor and to live actually united to Him, would ever re-

main separated from Him for a single day. He would be

extremely cautious not only to avoid sin, but to struggle

hard for the acquisition of virtue. He would be more

intent upon promoting his spiritual interests than the

most miserly man would be intent on promoting his

worldly business. After knowing that he had a bank

account with God through the reception of sanctifying

grace, he would be alert to every opportunity to earn

more, and would be happy in the satisfaction that from

day to day his fortune, as recorded in the books of Heav-

en, is continuously growing for his perpetual enjoyment.

One who realized his intimacy with his God through

the possession of grace, would be in frequent silent com-

munication with Him, and many times during the day

whisper to Him words of sorrow and regret for unfaith-

fulness, and words of love and loyalty. He would be a

daily attendant at Mass, if it were at all possible, and a

daily recipient of Holy Communion. He would seldom

need the Sacrament of Penance, but would still receive it

often for its grace-increasing benefits.

Let it ever be remembered that if grace be the most

precious thing in all creation the Sacraments which con-



SERMONS FOR LENT 27

vey it must be invaluable, and that since they are the

principal source of our sanctification, we should need no

urging to receive those which we may receive often.

CONCLUSION : Since Baptism makes even of the

little infant a child of God and embellishes its soul with

the beauty of an angel, you can readily understand why

the Church would have parents apply for Baptism for

the newly born babe as soon as it would be safe to take

it to the church. Since we can increase the grace of

Baptism by the reception of other Sacraments more than

by any good works of our own, they should have a great

appeal to us even for that benefit. Since numerous people

in our country have never been baptized and, therefore,

live on a plane purely natural, we should pray that

they may be enlightened from Heaven to enroll them-

selves through Baptism as citizens in Christ’s Kingdom

on earth where all the other great helps towards salva-

tion would be within their reach.



VII.

FOURTH MIDWEEK SERMON

The Parish Church

“We have an altar”—Hebrews
Since man is expected to live first for the greater

glory of God, it seems plain that next in importance to

divine revelation (by which we receive accurate and

definite knowledge of God and of His will) is the need

of a divinely instituted form of worship, whereby the

Creator may be truly and even infinitely honored. It is

equally important that there should be one grand sacri-

fice, by means of which all could worship Him alike.

If the Old Law had only shadows, types and figures

of great realities which the New Dispensation would

have, it must be clear that the Christian religion would

have (1) a perfect form of worship; (2) a divinely in-

stituted priesthood; and (3) an altar of sacrifice in every

church.

(1) When we read in the Old Testament of the

careful and detailed directions which Jehovah Himself

gave concerning the mode of worship, we cannot think

otherwise than that His divine Son upon earth, Who
sought only His Father’s glory, would institute a perfect

form of worship for the perfect religion He founded

—

even a form of worship worthy of that Heavenly Father.

In the Old Law, the divinely appointed form of public

worship had. the character of sacrifice. Therefore, in the

New Dispensation, it would certainly be sacrifice, but
possessing a value infinitely superior.

Only that is true worship of God which of itself ex-

presses man’s complete dependence on God and God’s

absolute rulership over him. Of such character were



SERMONS FOR LENT 29

the bloody and unbloody sacrifices recorded in the Old

Testament, from Abel down to Christ. Such was the

character of Christ’s bloody sacrifice on Calvary, and

of His unbloody sacrifice at the Last Supper, when He be-

gan His priesthood “according to the order of Melchise-

dech” (Ps. 109), and which He would perpetuate through

His representatives (I Cor. XI, 26).

(2) The prophet Malachy (I., 10, 11) distinctly

states that the Gentiles (the rest of the world as dis-

tinguished from the Jews) would one day have a great

sacrifice, a clean oblation. And when David, peering

through ten centuries of the future, saw Christ in the

act of offering Himself to the Heavenly Father under the

form of bread and wine, he called Him “a priest”:

“Thou art a priest” (Ps. 109) ; called Him a priest “for-

ever” (Ibid), because He was instituting the grand,

solemn infinite form of sacrifice for the Church, with

which He would be “all days” (Matt. XXVII, 20).

As Jesus would teach, baptize, forgive sins through

His Apostles and their successors, so through their

agency would He continue His priesthood “according to

the order of Melchisedech”. “Do ye this in commemor-

ation of Me” (Luke XXII, 19), well conveys the dele-

gation, since to honor, worship and glorify God must be

the first consideration of the Church, so must it be the

principal function of those who are to carry on Christ’s

work. St. Paul makes this plain, when he says: “Every

high priest, taken from among men, is ordained for men

in the things which appertain to God, that he may offer

up gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebr. V, 1) ; he refers to

it as a sign of the divine character of the Church, of

which he was a minister, both in Hebr. XIII, 10, and in

I Cor. X, 16-22.

Priest, altar, sacrifice, are inseparable from true re-

ligion
;
they are essential for the proper worship of God,



30 SERMONS FOR LENT

hence “they ordained priests in every city” (Tit. I, 5),

By such ordination we have priests today who “do in

commemoration of Him” what Christ Himself did at the

Last Supper, who like the Apostles are “dispensers of

the mysteries of God” (I Cor. IV, 1).

(3) The repetition of the sacrifice of the Last Sup-

per is called the “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”, for which

“we have an altar” like St. Paul did, and on which every

day Jesus, through the priest, exercises His own eternal

priesthood. In this act especially does the priest repre-

sent Jesus Christ. The very garments with which he is

robed indicate how his personality is lost for the moment,

and Jesus represented.

Oh, how can people fail to see that it was necessary

for the religion of Christ to have a form of worship of

God, alike perfect and divinely instituted! And how

can they fail to see that the Mass must be this, since it

is the historical form of Christianity’s worship ! The

catacombs, in which the first Christians worshipped,

bear every trace of the early Christian altar and

Mass. Carlyle (rf. Thomas Carlyle, Froude) says:

“The Mass is the most genuine relic of religious belief

now left to us.” And Marius, another Protestant, writes

:

“The Mass would seem to have been said continuously

from the time of the Apostles. Its details, as one by one

they become visible in later history, have already the

character of what is ancient and venerable. ‘We are very

old and ye are young’, they seem to protest to those who

fail to understand them.” The non-Catholic, present at

Mass in a Catholic church, sees only the ceremonies, or

the dress in which the form of worship is clothed. You

are acquainted with the reality behind those accidents;

but is your conduct in keeping with your belief ?



SERMONS FOR LENT 31

conclusion—

Singing of hymns, and listening to a preacher do not

constitute worship in its true sense. Such a service does

not differ from many a public hall celebration in honor

of a man. True worship implies an acknowledgment of

dependence on the part of the worshippers. Worship

worthy of God requires a God as both priest and victim.

Infinite, and therefore wholly adequate, worship of

God takes place daily in your parish church; and what

accusation does your conscience make against you who

never attend the-same unless you must?



VIII.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

The Supernatural

“I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me”—Gal. 11-20
These words are true not only after Holy Commun-

ion, but during whatever long period we live in the state

of sanctifying grace. St. Paul identifies grace with char-

ity or the love of God, which consists of union between

the soul and God.

As the highest form of created love unites husband

and wife so that they “become two in one flesh”, so the

mutual love between the soul and God unites them inti-

mately: “If any man will love Me, My Father will love

him and We shall come to him and take up our abode

with him.”

To preserve this union and to augment it, I must

(1) love God above all things; (2) cultivate personal de-

votion to Jesus “Who liveth in me”, and (3) love my

neighbor as myself.

(1) We love God above all things when we prefer

Him to any person or thing in the material or natural

order, such as parents, friends, wealth, health, comfort,

position, pleasure. We love God above all things when

we are obedient to His laws and to the law of His Church,

through which He speaks. We love God above all things

when we are willing to endure any privation and to suffer

death for His sake
;
when we surrender our wills

;

when we go out of our way to please Him, as people are

wont to do who ardently love one another.

Evidently we do not love God above all things, and

we can hardly be said to love Him at all, if we are not

concerned about union with Him through sanctifying



SERMONS FOR LENT 33

grace, because the alternative of sanctifying grace in an

adult is mortal sin, which means union with the devil.

One who, after falling into grievous sin, delays repent-

ance, has no love for God. Therefore the Catholic who

goes to Confession and Holy Communion only at stated

intervals, without any special reference to the need of

approaching the Sacraments in order to recover sanctify-

ing grace, does not truly love God.

Union with God is the greatest possible dignity to

which the creature can be raised, and since it is within

the power of everyone to enjoy such union and, by such

union, to merit for Heaven every hour of the day, every

Catholic should strive for it and retain it. If we live in

the state of grace we are veritable temples of the Holy

Ghost, the Sanctifier, and will become steadily more sanc-

tified.

(2) If nature has implanted in the human breast

love and respect for parents, who are the authors of our

being, the protectors of our helpless infancy, the pro-

viders during our youth, how much more weighty must

be our obligation to love our God, Who bears towards us

in an infinite degree practically all the relations which

our parents bear towards us. But to win our love God

stooped from Heaven to unite Himself to our nature, who

became our Brother. He demonstrated His love for us

by the greatest possible proof : “greater love than this

no man hath that He lay down His life for His friend.”

When He instituted the Holy Eucharist whereby He

might be united to us in the most intimate personal man-

ner, God the Son did it entirely for our sake, and not for

His own. Towards us He has filled all the roles of Lover,

of Good Shepherd, of Good Samaritan. He has done for

us what He did for the Prodigal, for Magdalen, for Peter,

for the repentant thief. Although we have betrayed



34 SERMONS FOR LENT

Him and scourged Him, and crowned Him with thorns and

spat in His face and crucified Him, He has pardoned us

repeatedly.

Christ loves us with a tender human heart, and

asks that we so love Him in return. From youth we have

been taught of the love of His Sacred Heart for us and

for all mankind, of the reparation which He would like

to have us offer to Him for the coldness and indifference

of millions of ungrateful ones.

St. Paul says: “All things are yours and you are

Christ’s” By this he means to say that everything in the

natural order was created by Almighty God for us, but

that we were created for Christ, to Whom we owe every-
thing in the supernatural order, including the personal

union which we may enjoy with God.

(3) Every human creature is a member of the

great human family, of which God is the author. Every

baptized Catholic is a member of the great spiritual king-

dom, of which Christ is the head. As the members of our

body are all united, one to the other, so the members of

the great mystical body of Christ are united one to the

other, and should be united by mutual love.

All those who live in the state of grace are equally

“adopted sons of God,” equally objects of His love, equal-

ly destined to spend a happy eternity with Him in Heav-

en. Evidently there should be mutual love as between

one member of the great human family and the other,

and more mutual love as between one member of God’s

Church and another. St. Paul bids us do good to all, but

“especially to those who are of the household of the

faith.”

Seven among the ten Commandments are based on

the Commandment of the love of neighbor, and any ser-

ious violation of these Commandments not only affects



SERMONS FOR LENT 35

the one who violates them, but many others. You know

how anger, hatred, revenge, murder, may affect a multi-

tude of others; how stealing and cheating may violate

the rights of many; how lying and detraction may injure

another before numerous persons. These violations of

God’s Commandments affecting our neighbors, are cer-

tainly not consistent with love of God
;
and the violation

of a Commandment, which implies scandal and spiritual

murder, often affects a large part of the body of Christ

—

and must incur the very enmity of God Himself.

We have been reading much about the kidnaping

and murder of the Lindbergh baby, but one who weans

an innocent youth from God, his Father and from Mary,

his Mother, is a far worse kidnaper and murderer. One

who leads another into mortal sin is worse than the

gangster murderer. Did not Christ Himself declare:

“Fear not him who killeth the body, but rather fear him

who destroys both body and soul in hell?”

As the violation of God’s Commandments brings in-

jury to or inflicts injustice on others, and equally robs

us of His grace, so the observance of His Commandments

helps others, edifies others, brings others closer to God

and strengthens the union of the individual with his God.

CONCLUSION : No other law than the law of

Christ should be our guide; and for our own sakes, for

the sake of bringing His law to the notice of others and of

winning new recruits for Him we Catholics should strict-

ly observe that law. With St. Paul we should ever be

prompted to declare, and to prove our actions that, “noth-

ing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in

Christ Jesus our Lord.”



IX.

FIFTH MIDWEEK SERMON

The Parish Church

“Do ye this in commemoration of Me”—Luke XXII, 19
If the Catholic religion enjoyed no other advantage

over other religions than the possession of the Mass, it

would be infinitely above all of them. If the Catholic

people enjoyed no other privilege than to assist at Mass

and to benefit by its power, they would be infinitely bet-

ter off than all other people.

This truth cannot be too much emphasized and it

should occupy more of the thought and attention of Cath-

olics in order that they may the better realize the extent

to which they are blessed.

Let us by a brief religious survey of the past and

present convince ourselves (1) that for fifteen centuries

the Mass was the official form of Christian worship; (2)

that it has been taken away from Protestants; and (3)

that it goes on uninterruptedly for God’s glory and man-

kind’s benefit.

(1) The Church still preserves the wooden altar

at which St. Peter and his successors during the era of

martyrs said Mass. The Catacombs, in which the early

Christians worshipped, are filled with reminders of the

Eucharistic sacrifice of which they were the scene.

The Mass was so widely offered at the beginning of

the second century that St. Irenaeus, writing in the year

202, says : “The oblation of the New Covenant is the

Lord’s Supper
;
Christ instituted it as both a sacrifice and

a Sacrament, and throughout all the world the Church

offers this Sacrifice.”

The altar of the New Testament sacrifice was given

the place of honor in the churches which Constantine



SERMONS FOR LENT 37

built in Rome immediately after his conversion in the

year 325, and in the many churches built by his mother,

Helena, in the Holy Land, at Bethlehem, Nazareth, and

Jerusalem.

The Mass has continued down to this day through

the Greek Church as through our own. The Eutychian

and Nestorian sects, which date back fifteen centuries,

still have the Mass.

There is no doubt about its continual use in the

Church from the day Christ immolated Himself mystical-

ly at the Last Supper and then commissioned the Apost-

les to do the identical thing which He had done. He had

just exercised the priesthood according to the order of

Melchisedech, and directed that His priesthood should be

continued through the Apostles and their successors “un-

til I come”, namely, at the end of the world. It was

through these human agents that He would be “a priest

forever” according to that order.

Paul was not one of the Apostles who received this

commission directly from Christ, but he refers to his

own exercise of that priesthood, calling the bread which

he broke the “partaking of the Body of the Lord”, and

the Chalice which he blessed “the communion of the

Blood of Christ.”

(2) It is only during the last four hundred years

that any who call themselves Christians have been de-

prived of the Mass, which was lost to Protestant Chris-

tians of this era when Apostolic succession was lost by

abolition of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, through

which candidates for the ministry are empowered and

commissioned to “do in commemoration of Him” what

Christ at the Last Supper deputed the Apostles and their

successors to do in His memory and in His name. They

lost the Holy Eucharist both as a Sacrifice and as a Sacra-

ment, and at whatsoever form of worship of God they



38 SERMONS FOR LENT

assist, their worship not only does not exceed their own

powers, but falls below that of the people of the Old Law,

who had at least divinely-instituted sacrifices, even if

they were only shadows of the great realities which were

to be enjoyed by those holding membership in the King-

dom of God in the New Law.

Not comprehending the Mass they do not understand

that Catholics have more th&n mere symbols, empty cere-

monies, and exterior pomp. They entertain the notion

that you are attracted to Mass on Sunday during all sorts

of weather by the ceremonial of the Church, which they

believe to consist in vestments and candles and incense

and orderly movements with whose meaning you are

none too familiar.

You, on the other hand, know that these things

would not attract you to divine services at all. You know

that the average Catholic comes out to the Mass which

has the least display of ceremony.

Of course, every vestment has its meaning; every

movement of the priest is significant; every prayer,

every word of the Mass was judiciously chosen. You

know that all essential parts of the first Mass offered by

Jesus Himself are incorporated in one Mass, associated

with official ecclesiastical prayers as replete with unc-

tion as with meaning and power.

The Mass is a sacrificial action rather than a com-

bination of prayers, and this explains why it is of little

importance whether the Mass be said in the old language,

or whether it be said for the most part in a low tone of

voice inaudible to the people. The priest acts as an of-

ficial ecclesiastical person, and therefore he doffs his

secular garb and robes himself in vestments by which

Christ is impersonated. The amice represents the cloth

by Which Christ was blindfolded ; the alb, the white gar-

ment with which Herod clothed Him; the cincture, the



SERMONS FOR LENT 39

cord by which He was tied to the pillar; the altar itself

points to His sacrifice. Its candles of beeswax represent

His virginal body, and their burning during the daytime

recalls the trying days of the first century when the

Mass was offered in the otherwise dark, underground

Catacombs, when the Mass was said over the tombs of

martyrs. This explains why the relics of martyrs must

be enclosed in the altarstone on which the host and chal-

ice rest.

(3) The words of the Prophet Malachy are literally

fulfilled in our day. The “clean Oblation” is “offered in

every place from the rising to the setting of the sun.”

There is not a minute of the day, not a minute of th<$

night, when the Holy Sacrifice is not being offered to Al-

mighty God somewhere.

While the people of our country are sound asleep,

the Holy Sacrifice is being offered in tens of thousands

of churches throughout Europe; and while Europe is

sleeping in the dead of night, thousands of priests in

other parts of the world are at the altar. Large congre-

gations are going home from Mass in New York when the

first congregations of Chicago convene; in the mountain

states the priest is at the altar two hours after all the

services are over in New York; and in California three

hours longer. As we travel round the world Mass-time

is an hour later every thousand miles, and since the earth

is 24,000 miles in circumference and the Catholic Church

is everywhere, it is always Mass time somewhere.

This is an astounding thing to contemplate, and

realizing that there is no interruption to the mystical

immolation o^ Christ, no interruption to His prayer:

“Father forgive them”, we can readily grasp why God

should tolerate mankind, so indifferent, so sinful, so crim-

inal.



40 SERMONS FOR LENT

CONCLUSION—

If the Mass is what you have been taught it is, theu

it is easy to understand that in this world, of all things,

“it is the Mass that matters”. Accumulate the merits of

the Immaculate Virgin Mary, of the Apostles, of all the

martyrs, of the seraphic saints through the centuries, and

their value falls short of that of a single Mass. They

were the offerings of creatures; the Mass is the offering

of the Incarnate Son of God.

If the Mass is what you believe it to be, then it is

clear why the Catholic Church obligates all her children

to attend Mass every Sunday and on feasts which honor

the great mysteries of faith, and which we call Holydays

of Obligation.

If the Mass is what Catholics believe it to be, isn’t

it surprising that all do not attend the Holy Sacrifice

every day?



X.

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

The Supernatural

“All whatsoever you do in word or in work, all things do

ye in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”—Col. Ill, 17.
We are accustomed to offer all our prayers to God

“through Jesus Christ His Son, Our Lord.” We should
also form the habit of offering all our work, our recrea-

tion, our sufferings to God through Jesus.

The Church dedicates the whole year, divided into

ecclesiastical seasons, to Jesus. Advent is her prepara-

tion for His coming, and ends with the feast of His Nativ-

ity. The pre-Lenten season is dedicated to His childhood

;

Lent to His sufferings and death; the Easter season to

His Resurrection; the long season between Pentecost and

Advent to His teachings and exhortations. The days of

the week are dedicated to Jesus and to His saints. Every

Sunday is the Lord’s day.

In a similar manner we should live for Jesus always

and be united to Him (1) in our work; (2) in our recrea-

tion; and (3) in our trials and sufferings.

(1) There is a universal tendency to divorce re-

ligion from the daily affairs of life, and this tendency

results in giving to the world and to the devil most of

man’s time, most of his thoughts, nearly all his energy

—

while every moment should be related to the eternity

which is so near for every one of us.

Catholics, influenced by the spirit of the world, act

as though religion has place only in the churches ; that it

has no place in business, in politics, in work, or in rec-

reation. Religious practice, outside a few minutes at

prayer morning and night, is relegated to Sundays. In



42 SERMONS FOR LENT

fact, Catholics are often accused by Protestants of going

to Mass on Sunday morning and of spending the bal-

ance even of that day in the most worldly manner.

Christ teaches the very opposite, namely, that we

cannot serve both God and Mammon. God will surely

not be satisfied if Mammon be worshipped six days and

He only one. We should consecrate our daily work to
God, perform it in the spirit of prayer in union with

Jesus, Who made the glory of God the object of all He

did. We should renew our good intention when the Ange-
lus Bell reminds of the great mystery of the Incarnation

at noon and in the evening.

(2) In the Middle Ages everywhere (and the cus-

tom still persists in some Catholic countries) people even

greeted one another on the street with some Christian

salutation. In monasteries and convents the Religious

rise at an early hour every morning after having kept

unbroken silence from the time of night prayer the prev-

ious evening. They betake themselves often before dawn

to the chapel to pass a whole hour in prayer and medita-

tion
;
they assist at Holy Mass and receive Holy Commun-

ion daily; their labor and recreation are consecrated to

God; they listen to spiritual reading while they eat; they

make several visits to the Blessed Sacrament between

work and study, between work and recreation.

Now, while the laity in the world cannot so apportion

their time, they can follow the religious in principle.

They can sign themselves with the sign of the cross

on awakening, fall down on their knees for a minute to

adore their God and to offer the new day to Him with

all that it brings. They will then at least avoid such rec-

reation, after work, as would be unworthy of one who

would honor God in all things. They can aim at being an

inspiration, a good example to others in speech and man-



SERMONS FOR LENT 43

ner, in avoiding sinful and scandalizing conversation or

pleasure or amusement.

They can read from a good book ten or fifteen min-

utes before or after saying their night prayers, and go to

sleep saying the Rosary or communing with their Guar-

dian Angel, who will be asked to keep vigil over them in

the presence of their God throughout the night.

(3) Why should one not convert sickness, suffering

and trials into profit? If these must be borne, why make

them harder by impatience, discouragement, and com-

plaint? Why not accept them in the same spirit God
sends them, in the spirit of love ? That is the way of con-

verting sorrow into joy, of making of an otherwise un-

happy life a real delight, as many saints did. While many

Catholics of little faith, who lost their all following the

recent industrial and bank collapse, were driven to des-

pair and even suicide, others of stronger faith, who were

led to God with great ardor and increased piety, have

found wonderful consolation.

Probably the happiest person in all America is a

woman in Washington, D. C., the founder of the Christ

Child Society, now functioning in many large cities in the

interest of the poor, the afflicted and the suffering. She

herself has been bedfast and in pain for more than forty

years, yet convinced that God has been particularly good

to her, inasmuch as she is privileged to work her way

to glory as Christ Himself did—by suffering.
God, Who is goodness and love itself, would nGt

afflict His children with pain and sorrow in this world if

these could not be turned into gladness and joy eternal,

by being accepted cheerfully and borne patiently in imi-

tation of His beloved Son, Who deliberately chose poverty

in place of riches, suffering in place of joy in this world,

as calculated to better win riches and joy everlasting.



44 SERMONS FOR LENT

CONCLUSION : Never forget the very important

lesson that our soul, which is the principal part of our

being, being a spirit, should possess spiritual life; that,

because our soul was made not for this world, but for

Heaven, which can be reached only by supernatural

means, it should never be without the supernatural life.

It, therefore, should always be free from mortal sin after

Baptism, and the supernatural life should be nourished

by prayer, by the Sacraments, by the performance of

good works.

We should try to form the habit of realizing the

presence of the Holy Ghost in our soul, our close relation-

ship to Jesus, and our greater obligation to be loyal to

Him, and to perform in His name whatever we do and to

endure, but of love for Him, whatever trials and afflic-

tions are sent to us.



XI.

SIXTH MIDWEEK SERMON

The Parish Church

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we adore Thee, we

glorify Thee .—From the Gloria.

If we are bound as creatures and sinners to ADORE,

ATONE, THANK, INTERCEDE, then the more

thoroughly we acquit ourselves of these obligations, the

more we become approved of God.

If our feeble efforts to meet these demands of the

Creator be united to the infinite intercessory power of

Christ, Who is actually the priest and the victim of the

Mass, then our prayers of ADORATION, ATONEMENT,

THANKSGIVING and PETITION have infinite value.

In assisting at Mass it is recommended that the Holy

Sacrifice be divided into four parts, the first to cover that

portion which precedes the Offertory; the second that

portion which runs from the Offertory to the Consecra-

tion
;
the third that solemn portion which begins with the

Consecration and ends with the Communion
;
the fourth

that portion embraced between the Communion and the

end of Mass.

(1) ADORE. In adoration we contrast our sinful-

ness with the holiness of God
;
our nothingness with His

majesty.

When the priest begins the prayers at the foot of

the altar he acknowledges his unworthiness to offer the

Holy Sacrifice
;
and the acolytes, in the name of the peo-

ple, make the same acknowledgment and ask for pardon

and absolution from all sins. This is done the while, in

the background, we see Jesus, prostrate in the Garden of

Gethsemane, adoring the Heavenly Father in our behalf.



46 SERMONS FOR LENT

As the priest mounts the steps he again asks pardon

through the merits of the martyrs, whose relics he bends

over to kiss. At the Kryie Eleison God the Father, God

the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are petitioned for

mercy and pardon. Then note the expressions of adora-

tion in the Gloria in Excelsis. Borrowing the words of

the host of angels who came down from Heaven to wor-

ship Jesus at Bethlehem, the priest repeats: “We praise

Thee, we bless Thee, we adore The, we glorify Thee.”

Humility and adoration are implied in the petitions

contained in the Collects, in which our prayers are offered

through the saint whose feast is commemorated. In the

spirit of humility, which is itself adoration, we seek to

draw lessons from the Epistle and Gospel.

The whole profession of faith, contained in the

Nicene Creed, is a surrender of the mind to the revelation

of God—which means adoration; and at the words “He
became Incarnate” we all bend the knee in actual adora-

tion.

All the while we follow this portion of the Mass we

strive to feel keenly the fact that the Almighty, being

worthy of infinite worship and adoration, must receive

homage greater than we are competent to bestow. But

if we are able to offer Him His own beloved Son, our

gift has infinite value and pays in full whatever debt of

worship we owe Him.

Therefore, during the five minutes consumed be-

tween the beginning of a low Mass and the Offertory

strive to fill your minds with thoughts of your complete

dependence on God for everything, with thoughts of His

rightful claim to your service and love. Ask Jesus, Who
offers the Holy Sacrifice, to supply, by His adoration and

obedience, what your past life has lacked. You will still

be absorbed in these reflections when it will be time to

(2) ATONE—The principal purpose of Calvary’s sacri-



SERMONS FOR LENT 47

flee, of which the Mass is the renewal, was to make in-

finite atonement for mankind’s sins. The great High

Priest of that day was promised as our “priest forever”

from the rising to the setting of the sun, fulfilling the

prophet’s promise that “everywhere is offered a clean

oblation” to the Blessed Trinity.

Since your sins are offences against God, Whose

dignity is infinite, their malice is infinite. That being

true, you could never adequately atone for them of your

own power. But through the Mass you are able to make

adequate satisfaction because Jesus places Calvary’s

merits in your hands that they may be offered in atone-

ment for your personal transgressions.

It is not his own gift or yours which the priest of-

fers in atonement, for note the words of the first Offer-

tory prayer

:

“Accept O Holy Father, Almighty, eternal God, this

Immaculate Host” (Victim)

—

Calvary’s Victim—for the
innumerable sins, offences and negligences of those pres-

ent at Mass, and for all the living and the dead.

The Holy Trinity is besought to accept the oblation

in memory of the passion of Jesus, of His resurrection

and ascension, and in honor of His Blessed Mother, of

His precursor, John the Baptist, of His chief apostles,

Peter and Paul, and of all the saints, whose powerful

prayers are besought in your behalf.

While some other sentiments enter into the prayers

immediately preceding the Consecration, their dominant

note is atonement, sorrow for sins, for which only an in-

finite Victim can compensate.

At the Memento of the Living you and your friends

are specially presented to the eternal Father, through

Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord “for the redemption of

their souls, for the hope of their salvation” and for their

welfare generally.



48 SERMONS FOR LENT

With his hands extended over the bread and wine

about to be consecrated the priest beseeches the Almighty

“to save us from eternal damnation and to number us

among the elect, through Christ our Lord”, into Whose

hands and feet we fancy we hear the driving of the cruc-

ifying nails, and “Who the night before He died, took

bread into His holy and venerable hands, and lifting His

eyes to Heaven to Thee His Omnipotent Father God,

giving Thee thanks, blessed, broke and gave to His dis-

ciples saying, receive and eat ye all of this for THIS IS

MY BODY.”

You know the words spoken by Jesus over the wine:

“This is the chalice of my blood, of the new and eternal

Testament, which shall be shed for you and for many

unto the remission of sins”

The essence of Calvary’s sacrifice has been renewed

according to Christ’s mandate “As often as you shall do

this, you shall do it in memory of Me.”

Therefore from the Offertory until after the Conse-

cration occupy yourselves with sentiments of reparation,

with acts of sorrow, with resolutions of amendment,

and, with the priest, offer Jesus, the altar’s Victim, to

the Holy Trinity in atonement of all. Then begin to ex-

press your heartfelt gratitude.

(3) THANK. While Thanksgiving is not the predom-

inant sentiment in the third part of the Holy Sacrifice

—

that which ends with the Communion of the priest

—

you need not be told that it is the most suitable time to

express your gratitude to your Creator and constant

Benefactor, your Father, Who is in Heaven. How could
you thank Him better than to offer Him, in the words of

the first post-Elevation prayer, “the pure Victim, the

holy Victim, the immaculate Victim, the holy bread of

life eternal, and the chalice of perpetual salvation” ?

How grateful you should be that the priest remem-



SERMONS FOR LENT 49

bers your beloved departed ones, and prays Jesus to

“grant them a place of refreshment, light and peace”

while you actually offer Him to His heavenly Father for

that purpose, reminding Him, at the same time, that you

too crave for “fellowship with His holy apostles and

martyrs and all His saints” ! “Through Him and with

Him and in Him alone” does the Father and Holy Ghost

receive true “honor and glory” upon this earth.

How grateful the congregation should be for the

priest’s sweet petition to Jesus, “May the peace of the

Lord be always with you”

!

Now the priest’s thoughts are centered on the Holy

Communion he is soon to receive, and so should yours be

—in a spirit of gratitude that you enjoy the wonderful
privilege not accorded even to His Mother or Magdalene

or John, who attended so devoutly the bloody sacrifice He

offered on Calvary. How touching are the words addres-

sed to Jesus about to complete His unbloody immolation

on the altar : “Deliver me by this, Thy most sacred body

and blood from all my iniquities, and from every evil

;

make me always cleave to Thy Commandments, and never

suffer me to be separated from Thee”

!

Over and over you should tell the Heavenly Father,

in your own way, that you wish to thank Him adequate-
ly and therefore infinitely, for all His goodness to you

and yours, especially for the gift of the true faith, and

that, therefore, you offer Him His own divine Son in
gratitude.

Thanksgiving, from the bottom of one’s heart,

should, of course, be offered immediately following the

reception of Holy Communion. It should be associated

with humility, adoration and love. But could there be a

more opportune and profitable occasion to approach the

Creator for blessings and assistance?

(4) INTERCEDE. “I shall take the chalice of salva-



50 SERMONS FOR LENT

tion and call upon the name of the Lord”—what power be-
hind such an offering presented to Heaven for assistance

!

Even if you should not receive Holy Communion at

the Holy Sacrifice, the Mass offers the best opportunity

and the most powerful means of paying your debt of peti-

tion and of obtaining unmerited assistance, spiritual and

temporal. But the post-Communion prayers usually ap-

peal to the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus repos-

ing within the bosoms of the celebrant of the Mass and

of the attendants.

“If you ask the Father anything in My name”, de-
clared Jesus, “He will give it to you.” In the Mass we

not only ask in Jesus’ name, but we present Him to the

Heavenly Father as His well-beloved Son, and no matter

what we ask it is infinitely less than we offer to Him.

But in our petitions we must not disgust the Father

by subordinating spiritual to material interests. We
must not estimate the needs of our sick body above the

needs of our sick soul. We should pray for strength to

support our weak wills, for grace to overcome the temp-

tations to which we have so often succumbed, for the re-

turn of a friend to the practice of his religion, for the

conversion of a particular non-Catholic.

This done, we should recommend our temporal in-

terests to God, praying that, if it should please Him, we

might receive a favorable response in the name of Jesus.

If, at the Mass, nothing more were offered you than

the blessing, which the priest, impersonating Jesus, con-

fers, you should be eager to receive that. Think of the

daily attendant at Mass being solemnly blessed every

morning in the divinely instituted official sacrifice of the

Church

!

As the Mass draws to a close, you are reminded, in

the words of St. John that the “Word has once more been



51SERMONS FOR LENT

made flesh”, and that you “have seen His glory, the glory

of the only-begotten of the Father.”

Suffrages or petitions, in the order we have indicat-

ed, are contained in the prayers which the priest recites

at the foot of the altar, by which the Holy Sacrifice is

terminated.



XII.

Suggestion for Palm Sunday

[Owing to the length of the ceremony on this day,

there will be no time for a sermon. But immediately

after your announcements call attention to the follow-

ing:]

Every Catholic child knows that our new relation-

ship towards Almighty God, our new opportunity for the

attainment of Heaven, is due to the Atonement which

the Son of God made for mankind in person on Calvary.

During this week, known as Holy Week, the Church

occupies herself with the passion and death of Jesus, and

with what immediately preceded it—His triumphant en-
try into Jerusalem, the institution of the Mass and of the

Holy Eucharist, which were to be the principal means

of applying the fruits of His redemption to us individu-

ally.

Throughout Lent we have striven to acquaint our-

selves with the supernatural means of salvation pro-

cured for us during the first Holy Week, and let us, there-

fore, rededicate ourselvts to Jesus and make frequent

and earnest use of these means. Let us, never for a day,

be separated from Jesus, so that we can truly say with St.

Paul : “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.”



XIII.

SERMON FOR GOOD FRIDAY

The Parish Church

“We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee; be-

cause by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.”

In our previous meditations or reflections we have

considered the parish church as the House of God, Who

dwells personally within it; as the Gate of Heaven, be-

cause of the grace-producing ordinances dispensed with-

in it
; as the scene of the reenactment of the Sacrifice of

Calvary for the application of the merits of that sacrifice

to human souls; as the Forum of truth; as the Healing

Place of wounded souls; as a spiritual Service Station

generally.

On this anniversary of the passion and death of

Jesus, to Whose merits we owe so much, it would seem

fitting to say a word about the significance of the Stations

of the Cross, which constitute a part of the interior furn-

ishings of practically every Catholic church and chapel.

We shall consider (1) the origin and significance of
the way of the Cross; (2) its immediate benefits to our

souls or the souls in Purgatory; and (3) the lesson of our

costly Redemption, of which the Stations remind us.

(1) Practically from the time of our Savior’s death

and the spread of His religion through Palestine and

Greece, saintly people were wont to visit the scenes of

His passion and death, and to pray fervently at the places

where He underwent His agony, where He instituted the

Holy Eucharist, where He was tried before Pilate. They

trod the dolorous Way of the Cross marked by His bloody

footprints, and so on unto the place where He was nailed

to the cross, was crucified and where He was buried.



54 SERMONS FOR LENT

A pious tradition informs us that the Blessed Virgin
herself made this Way of the Cross many a time, and that
even though she lived for a number of years with St.

John at Ephesus, she returned to Jerusalem before her

death to be near the sacred places. She died in Jerusalem

and from her place of burial her Assumption into Heaven

took place.

St. Jerome, who lived early in the fifth century, and

who spent the last years of his life in a room adjacent

to the place of Christ’s nativity at Bethlehem, tells us

that during this time pilgrims came to Jerusalem in large

numbers to visit the places made sacred by the sufferings

of Jesus. However, in that age, there was no such offic-

ial devotion in the Church as the Way of the Cross. This

was established after the Turks took possession of the

Holy Land, and it became dangerous for pilgrims to visit

that country. Even today many of the places consecrated

by the presence and activities of Christ are in the hands

of the Turks.

But think of the solicitude of the Church in officially

sanctioning the erection of the Stations of the Cross on

the walls of churches in practically every community,

and granting to Catholics at home the same rich indulg-

ences as were formerly gained by those who could reap

these indulgences only at the great sacrifice of traveling

by foot from distant places to the Holy Land.

(2) Pope after Pope throughout many centuries

added to the indulgences previously granted to those who

practiced the devotion of the Way of the Cross until, be-

cause of the loss of many of the documents, it was no

longer known for a, certainty just how extensive these

indulgences were. Today we know what spiritual bene-

fits are attached to the devotion because the present Pope

Pius XI, in the year 1932, revoked all previous indulg-

ences and substituted the following

:



SERMONS FOR LENT 55

(a) A Plenary Indulgence may be gained as often

as the Way of the Cross is made

;

(b) . Another Plenary Indulgence may be gained by

those who make the Way of the Cross on a day on which

they receive Holy Communion, or by those who will have

made the Way of the Cross ten times and receive Holy

Communion within the month. This is interpreted to

mean that those who make the Way of the Cross and re-

ceive Holy Communion many times during the month

may gain two Plenary Indulgences each time, and for

the second Plenary Indulgence no prayers for the Holy

Father’s intentions are required.

(c) One who begins the Way of the Cross, but does

not complete it gains a partial indulgence of ten years

and ten quarantines for every Station made. One may

continue the Stations where they were interrupted and

gain the full Plenary Indulgence.

Catholics, therefore, should not confine the practice

of “saying the Stations” to public devotions. They should

follow the devotion privately and as often as possible even

outside of Lent.

It is not necessary for the person to first stand and

then kneel during private devotions; it is not necessary

to say the Our Father, and Hail Mary at each Station.

It is only necessary that they stop before each Station

and meditate briefly either on the scene before them, or

on the passion of Our Lord generally. At the end they

recite six times the Our Father and Hail Mary, one of

these being for the special intentions of the Holy Father.

The indulgence may be gained for the souls in Purg-

atory, as well as ourselves, and, therefore, outside the

Mass and Holy Communion no greater benefit could be

offered to the Poor Souls than the pious and devotional

offering of the Way of the Cross.



56 SERMONS FOR LENT

(3) The story of our redemption has become so

familiar to us, even the unprecedented agony and suffer-

ings of our Divine Savior, both physical and mental,

have been repeated to us so often, that they do not make

the impression on us which they should; and nothing

saddens the Sacred Heart more than this coldness and

indifference towards all that He did for us.

It must always be remembered that Jesus could have

escaped all suffering. His descent from Heaven to earth

and His “taking the form of man” even for one moment,

would have been ample to satisfy for the sins of all peo-

ple—because the infinite humiliation contained even in

that act would have had infinite value. His sufferings

were not confined to the strokes of the lash, or to the

thorns pressed into His head, or to the nails driven

through His hands and feet. The suffering occasioned

by those wounds themselves must have been excruciating.

But He suffered even more from the ingratitude of the

people among whom He did only good, from the insults

and curses which they hurled at Him when He was pray-

ing for them on the cross, from the treason of Judas, the

denial of Peter, from the sorrow He caused to His Blessed

Mother, from His abandonment by His Heavenly Father.

Incidentally, we should not lose sight of the fact that

a Mother is never known to attend the execution of her

son. Mary might have been spared this, but she wished

to suffer much for me and for you. That is why she was

brave enough to follow her dear son to Calvary and to

stand all alone with St. John amid the brutal crowd while

He, wholly innocent, died by inches before her eyes.

Devotion to the passion of our Lord should be natur-

al to everyone who truly loves Him; and the extent of

our love can well be gauged by the frequency with which

we meditate on His sorrows and sufferings, no matter



SERMONS FOR LENT 57

how much we may delude ourselves into believing that

we are quite good apart from such meditation.

CONCLUSION—
Let this Lent, which is coming to a close, not be the

end of your meditations on the sufferings of Jesus until

next Lent, nor end the practice of the Way of the Cross

until the devotion is held publicly in your church again.

There are numerous books dealing with the life and pas-

sion and death of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and you should

have at least one of them in your homes and read from it

a page every day.

Let us hope also that the series of instructions you

have had on the incalculable benefits derived from your

parish church, of the sacredness of the place, and the im-

portance of the mysteries enacted therein, will lead you

to appreciate your parish church more, to take a live in-

terest in every phase of its life, and to show your appre-

ciation by making even greater sacrifices for its main-

tenance than you have been wont to do in the past—and
to make them cheerfully because they are made for your

soul and for God.



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