Lenten Reflection: Sloth, the Seventh Capital Sin

"Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." Proverbs, 19:15.

At Long Beach, California, tnere is a section called Signal Hill. Some years ago two lots and a house were for sale on that hill. A man and his wife were looking for a place to live. Here was an ideal location. Here they could look down over the picturesque city of Long Beach stretching along the Pacific. And the price was most reasonable - only $1500. They were on the point of purchasing the place, when his wife objected: "I don't want to climb that hill every day."

As a result they did not purchase the property. Imagine their regret when they heard a short time later that oil had been discovered on Signal Hill. They had lost a golden opportunity; they had passed up a chance to be millionaires.

Their regret only grew as the fame and productiveness of the spot in­creased. Everyone of its 1350 acres yielded 322,000 barrels of oil. Since 1921 Signal Hill has produced upwards of 435 million barrels of crude oil, which would be valued at about the same number of dollars. The black gold gushes in streams from over 890 producing wells.

The man who had failed to buy the house and two lots at the paltry price of $1500, later estimated that at the lowest figure he had lost at least two million dollars.

And the wife who had refused to walk up that hill? Who can describe her feelings of remorse at her unwillingness to make that little effort to climb the hill? How miserable she must have felt ,when she saw that "black gold" gushing so profusely from the spot which might have been hers. Too late she realized that she would not have had to climb that hill very often. They could have leased the lots and lived in luxury elsewhere. But that chance was gone - through her refusal to climb a hill, through her selfish sloth.

Many another treasure has been missed through this sin of sloth, the seventh of the capital sins. Many a blessing of soul and body has been lost through spiritual and physical laziness. Many will never get to heaven because they are unwilling to climb the hill that leads to our home above.

This story is particularly fitting during Lent when we walk the way of the cross with Christ and follow Him as He climbs a hill, the cross on His bruised and burning back. Our Savior gave His all to climb that hill, so that we might all share the unlimited riches that gush forth from the gashes in His hands and feet and side. Sloth has kept many from climbing that hill, just as sloth kept the couple of our story from climbing a hill to material riches.

1. What is sloth? The sin of sloth means an excessive love of ease and idleness, an unwillingness to exert the body or the soul. Sloth means a laziness that leads to neglecting either our physical or spiritual duties.

Sloth, the seventh capital sin, is a distress of soul at the thought of what one has to do in order to secure or to keep the friendship of God.

2. Since we intend to emphasize spiritual sloth, rather than physical lazi­ness, as the former is more important, we should point out at the very begin­ning the difference between sloth and lukewarmness. Lukewarmness or tepidity, as it is sometimes called, is a decided distaste for religious and spiritual things in general. This dislike causes a person to perform his reli­gious duties in a careless, indifferent, lazy manner.

Sloth, on the other hand, is a disgust for spiritual practices, so strong that it makes a person disregard and even despise the friendship of God. We must not confuse either of these sins with what is usually called dry­ness, that is, a certain difficulty or drag in performing our spiritual duties. Sloth and lukewarmness are voluntary, and hence sinful; dryness is invol­untary, and hence not sinful.

3. How serious a sin is sloth? Sloth is seriously sinful for two main rea­sons:

A. It makes a man neglect the principal purpose of his life, the one thing necessary, namely, the salvation of his soul. Accordingly, it is a sin against the charity he owes himself, the love he should have for his own soul and salvation.

B. Sloth is directly opposed to the commandment that we love God with our whole heart, and our whole mind, and our whole strength, and our whole soul. In other words, sloth is opposed to the first and principal commandment, that of loving God.

C. Accordingly, sloth is a mortal sin, when it is fully voluntary, fully willed, and when it makes a person regret or neglect serious duties and obligations or even less important ones. It is a venial sin when it is not entirely voluntary.

D. Tepidity or lukewarmness, which means a careless, lazy performance of our religious duties, is not in itself seriously sinful, but it is extremely dangerous. It often leads to sloth. Our Lord used some strong language about tepidity or carelessness.

"I would that thou were cold or hot. But because thou are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth." Apocalypse, 3:16.

4. Sloth betrays itself in many ways:

A. In avoiding as much as possible all manual labor or physical effort. The wife in our story, by refusing to climb that hill, showed her physical sloth and laziness. Of course, in a day when people aro heart-trouble conscious, the wife might have feared that the climb would be harmful to her heart. She may even have had heart trouble. But the story does not say anything about that. However, we must be careful in judging people who are physically slow and even apparently lazy.

B. In seeking bodily ease and comfort. Look at the Catholic who slouches and lounges at Mass, and you are looking at a slothful person. To be at ease at times is good for the body and the mind, but constantly to seek the easiest position and the softest chair is definitely harmful to both body and soul.

C. In a dislike for concentrating the mind in some mental effort, or the soul in some spiritual act. Physical laziness is more or less evident, and is more or less ugly and repulsive. But mental laziness is not always so evident, yet it is even more common. You have all met the man and the woman who cannot be aroused to take in a new idea. They regulate their lives and their thinking by some out-worn formula, by some rule or fad that was in vogue in the distant past. Such people might even be energetic, hardworking as far as their bodies are concerned, but their minds are inactive, sluggish, lazy. They will never change their viewpoint. They will never fit in their thinking with changed conditions, with newly discovered facts, and with a new approach to old problems.

Among such, I class those Catholics who never read a good Catholic paper, magazine or pamphlet, and least of all a good Catholic book. Their religious ideas are those of mere beginners. They do not know, for example, that there is a Christian, Catholic, and thoroughly scientific explanation of evolution. They are too lazy to learn what the Catholic Church teaches on questions like labor and management, the Pope's points for world peace, and similar questions of the day. They are mentally lazy. According to your time and ability you should continue studying your religion.

D. In putting off things that must be done. Such procrastination has been called "the thief of time," and rightly so. Those who live in "Put-off Town" are the sons and daughters of sloth. They will put off answering a letter. They will put off paying a bill. They wil1 put off visiting a sick person. Yes, they will put off doing the dishes and finishing the washing, wasting precious minutes and even hours.

The worst citizen of "Put-off Town" is the Catholic who puts off going to the sacraments, who puts off saying his prayers until he is too sleepy to center his mind on them, who puts off changing his ways for the better in religious matters. His eldest children are called, "Plenty of Time," "No Hurry," and "Wait a While."

E. In giving up before a task is completed. How many lack this sterling stick-to-it-iveness. They start mowing the lawn, but quit when they are half finished. They paint one side of the garage and stop before they even see the other side.

But the worst quitters, for such we must call them, are the spiritual quitters, men and women who start out Lent, for example with the determination to attend Mass every day, or to perform some special penance. How long do they last? The least lazy excuse makes them give up their resolution. During Lent pareticularly slothful souls must watch our Lord closely see Him persevering for forty long days in the desert, must watch him as He perseveres through the bitter tortures of His passion, must watch and follow Him as He sticks to His task of saving us, stays with it to the bitter end-on a cross.

F. In habitual tardiness, starting late and coming late to every kind of activity. They are late in rising, late for work, late for appoint­ments, late with meals, late with assignments whether in the office or at school, and late with almost everyone of their daily duties.

Chief among these are late-comers to Mass. Coming late to the Holy Sacrifice is a positive sign of laziness, a capital sin. They are too lazy to get up a few minutes earlier; too lazy to get things ready the night before; too lazy to make an extra effort, or even an ordinary effort, to be on time for the greatest Action, the Holy Sacrifice. Such sloth is a sin, don't forget.

G. In excusing oneself for neglecting duties. You have met the type. He forever has an excuse for failing to do little tasks about the home. The wife, in turn, is forever explaining why she did not sew on that button. Appoint them to some parish society work. They fail to come through. But will they admit any fault in this? Not on your life. They have always an apparently excellent excuse to offer. Such sloth is sinful and sickening.

H. In wasting effort on useless activities. There is the ironing wait­ing to be done, but mother listens to a radio program, reads a bit in the paper, talks on the telephone - anything except get down to the task at hand. Wea re almost all guilty in some way or other of this "dawdling" and "doodling." It springs from sloth.

Another form of useless effort is staying up too late at night, making it difficult or impossible to rise at the proper time, and making a person unfit for his work when he does get up. From childhood on human beings want to stay up late - listening to the radio, watching television, and listlessly lolling over the pictures in magazines. A certain amount of social life is necessary for health of body and soul; some need more recreation than others. Nevertheless it is a sign of sloth when we give all our time and energy, or most of it, to useless pastimes.

I. In too much chatter. Here, again, conversation is an important ele­ment of normal life, but long telephone conversations, endless and aimless talk about things of no moment, "jawing" needlessly with workers while on the job, are signs of sloth or dodging duty.

J. In neglecting the particular duties of our state in life. The doctor who is slow and indifferent in answering a call; the nurse who neglects any care of her patient; the worker who is slipshod; thu mother who gives as little time as possible to her children and home: tho head of the house who fails to be a father as well as a bread-winner - all are slaves of sloth.

5. Sloth has many evil effects:

A. It brings on poverty, physical as well as spiritual. It drives out all desire for spiritual things. Sloth explains the dislike many have for religious practices, which they either neglect entirely or hurry through as quickly as possible. One example of this is the Catholic who comes late to Mass and who hurries away before, or as soon as, Mass is over.

B. Sloth causes cowardice in meeting problems and difficulties. In smaller or larger form, setbacks and trials come to all. The lazy man folds his hands, twiddles his thumbs, and groans about his bad luck.

C. Sloth suffocates the soul. It chokes off essential grace, the life of the soul, by neglecting prayer, the sacraments, and other spiritual duties.

D. Sloth causes a person to waste talents, opportunities, time and effort, the very things that will help him to climb the hill to heaven.

E. The slothful person is abnormally curious about the doings and sayings of others. He is tempted to idle gossip and unkind talk.

F. The slothful man turns to dangerous diversions, like bad company, drinking, gambling. How true the saying: "An idle mind is the devil's workshop."

6. Any Catholic who can see will readily realize the remedies for sloth. May I suggest a few of them:

A. Learn the duties of your calling or state in life. Actually write them down, putting the principal obligations first, listing them in the order of their importance. Then try to take care of them in that order. Whatever your main work is, do that well.

The story is told of Ethel Barrymore, of the famous family of actors. She was once playing in Kansas City. In the audience was Sinclair Lewis, who remarked after the performance: "Ethel, I don't believe you did as well as you could this afternoon. You let us down."

The grand old lady of the stage bristled: "No Drew or Barrymore," she retorted, "ever goes on the stage, no matter how he feels, or how large or small the crowd is; no matter whether it is New York City or some small town; that he does not give the best that he has to an audience. For we have learned through four generations that we get back just about what we give."

What a stirring principle, not only for the actor, but for those who play on the real stage of life!

B. To overcome sloth, stop and think. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Here one of the best incentives is the daily good inten­tion, the offering up first thing in the morning of all the thoughts nnd words and actions of that day. Nothing puts meaning into daily duties, nothing gives more zest to humdrum tasks and labor, like the offering of the entire day to Almighty God. The more frequently and fervently one repeats that good intention, the more interesting and profitable life becomes, the more you will develop the virtue opposite the vice of sloth, namely, zeal.

C. Make a daily or weekly list of duties that must be performed, even of such simple tasks as patching clothes or answering letters. A popular magazine some years ago carried an article by a housewife who always seemed swamped by the tiny tasks and big jobs of her home. Finally she hit upon the plan of writing down what she had to do, what she wanted to do. Then she worked down the list, item by item, checking off each as it was accomplished. She came out from under her pile of duties with surprising ease and speed. Try it.

D. Have some sort of daily schedule. In our complex, modern life this is difficult, but necessary. It gives peace and balance. The Catholic, for example, who has a regular time for saying his prayers, for doing some religious reading, for receiving the Sacraments, will get them done faithfully and fervently.

One could scarcely find in all history a busier man than Leonardo Da Vinci, who was not only one the three greatest painters the world has known, but who was also a remarkable success in five other fields of activity. It was he who declared:
"O God, thou givest everything for the price of an effort."

Yes, and that everything includes heaven. God gives heaven for the price of an effort.

E. Fan the love of God in your heart. If you really love God, you will make the best use of your time, your talents, your energies, accord­ing to His plan. You need not wait for this fervor. The Christian who waits for feeling before he does something is like the woodsman on a frosty morning standing with his axe leaning against his knee.

"Good morning, my friend," asks a traveler, "what are you going to do?"

"I am going to cut down this tree," he replies.

"Why don't you get at it?" inquires the traveler.

"I'm waiting until I begin to sweat," declares the woodsman.

If he started chopping he would start to sweat. If you start doing things for God, you too will begin to feel the fervor of God's love in your heart.

F. Recall the labors of Christ for you - His long, laborious years as a carpenter, His preaching and teaching, and above all the taxing, fatiguing labor of His passion and death. All of it was done for you.

7. There is no better time than Lent to root out the vice of sloth and plant the virtue of zeal and diligence. May Christ, the Worker, inspire and help you to work for the welfare of your body, but above all for the good of your soul. Amen.
__________________
Adapted from Lent and the Capital Sins
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1952)

Lenten Reflection: Envy, the Sixth Capital Sin

"Let us not become desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another." Galatians, 5:26.

In Greek history we read of a youth who so distinguished himself in the public games that his fellow citizens raised a statue in his honor in order to keep fresh' the memory of his victories. This statue so excited the spirit of envy in the heart of another young man who had been defeated in the contests, that he stole out one night under cover of darkness to destroy the sculptured figure. After hours of effort he succeeded in moving the statue from its base, but it slipped and fell, crushing the envious one to death.

Envy always has the same effect. It harms and: even destroys the one who is guilty of it. It hurts the heart and the character of the one who gives way to the feeling of spite. We hope by our ill-will to injure others. We may wound them slightly, but in doing so we kill ourselves, as did the Athenian youth.

It was a pagan, a man unenlightened by the teachings of Christ, Socrates, who taught that no evil man can harm a good man, and that all the fatal wounds to character are self-inflicted. Even the innocent may suffer from the spite of others, but the suffering will not affect their souls unless they allow the poison of envy and discontent to corrupt them.

1. Envy, the sixth capital sin, means a sadness and annoyance at another’s temporal or spiritual good, as seeming to lessen our own good. Envy means a sorrow or sadness over some blessing of body or soul which another has, with the thought that his success seems to be harmful to our own interests or excellence. It means discontent at the good fortune of another.

2. When voluntary and deliberate envy is a serious sin. 'We see the grievousness of this vice when we consider:

A. That it is directly opposed to the all-important virtue of charity, charity that weeps with them who weep, and rejoices with them who rejoice, as St. Paul commands us:

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep." Romans, 12:15.

Envy does the very opposite: it is glad when others are sad, and sad when others are glad. Charity turns enemies into friends; envy turns friends into enemies.

B. That envy is opposed to reason in that it grieves over something that is good, namely, the good fortune of our neighbor. It is furthermore unreasonable because it brings nothing to the person guilty of it, except misery, annoyance, and discontent.

C. That it is a sin against the Holy Ghost, an offense against the goodness of God, in so far as it draws evil out of good, while the Good God always draws good out of evil. It is a twisting and perversion of the divine plan, as we see in the very beginning of the human race:
"For God created man incorruptible and to the image of likeness He made him.
"But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
"And they follow him that are of his side." Wisdom, 2:23-24.

D. That it is so subtle, so crafty, so active and yet so quiet that it hides its presence even from the person guilty of it. Envy is so low and so mean that it makes its possessor unwilling to admit its presence even to himself.

3. From its effects we can see that envy is one of the most dangerous of all sins:

A. From envy proceed blindness of mind, errors in judgment, and hardness of heart. We see proofs of this in both the Old and the New Testaments:

i. We see it in the story of Joseph who, through the envy of his brothers, was sold by them and carried off into Egypt. Their father, Jacob, loved Joseph above all his sons. This they could not stand, and as the Bible tells us:

"His brethren seeing that he was loved by his father, more than all his sons, hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him." Genesis, 37:4.

ii. We see envy in all its evil ill-will in the story of Jesus before Pilate, an incident which comes forcibly to mind during this Lenten season. When the crowd asked Pilate to condemn Christ to death, he asked them:

"Do you wish that I release to you the king of the Jews?"

"For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up out of envy.

"But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead." St. Mark, 15 :9-11.

Envy so blinded their thinking and twisted their judgment that they preferred a robber and cut-throat to the redeeming Christ.

B. From envy come sarcasm, backbiting, slander, calumny, and all the many-headed damages and injuries which arise from these sins.

i. Sarcasm is a mean and bitter taunt, a keen and cutting .remark. It tears the heart of its victim, as a vicious dog would tear the flesh of one he bites. Although every right-thinking person despises sarcasm, and rightly, we find too much of it especially in circles where we should expect to never find it - in the home, in our fellow workers, even in parish societies and affairs. Sarcasm springs from an envious heart. It betrays the sarcastic person as one guilty of this capital vice.

ii. Back-biting is just as common, and possibly more criminal. You know the type. Let's call her Mrs. A. When she talks to Mrs. B. she will always talk unkindly about Mrs. C., "bite" Mrs. C. in the back when she is not present. When Mrs. A. is with Mrs. C. she will talk about Mrs. B., "bite" her in the back. And you can wager your bottom dollar that she will talk about you when your back is turned. In this back-biting Mrs. A., reveals one symptom of an envious heart.

C. Envy causes devilish plots, cold-blooded murders, mean-minded treacheries, and public and private calamities of all kinds.

i. It was envy of God that made the evil one take form of a serpent and lead our parents into the first sin. Re-read that story:

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. . .

"No," said the serpent to Eve, "you shall not die the death.

"For God knowa that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis, 3:1-5.

ii. It was envy that provoked the first murder. Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, both made offerings to the Lord. The Lord "had respect" to the offerings of Abel, but not to those of Cain. In the heart of the latter sprang up a feeling of envy and anger. Cain invited Abel out into a field and there he slew him. (Genesis, 4:1-14).

iii. It was envy, blind unreasoning envy, that prompted a member of the Athenian assembly to vote for the banishment of Aristides the Just. According to the story, Aristides himself was present when the vote was taken. One illiterate member, who could neither read nor write. went up to Aristides, not knowing who he was, and asked him to write the name of Aristides on his shell to show that he wanted him banished. As Aristides wrote his own name on the ballot that was meant to send him into banishment, he asked the fellow If ho knew Aristides, or if he had anything against him.

"No," answered the ignorant and envious fellow, "I don't know him and I don't know anything about him, but I get tired of hearing him spoken of as Aristides the Great."
Behold the blindness and the bias and the bile of the envious.

D. Envy causes miserable repining at another's success. This we find in every walk of life, especially among those who are more or less equal, among those in the same class at school, in the same trade, in the same club, in the same profession, and in the same parish society. The good fortune of another, the election of another to some society office, the attainment of fame or fortune by someone who would he otherwise equal, causes the envious heart to feel and even to express dejection and discontent, makes him complain and grumble and even criticize.

E. Envy leads its victim to belittle the merits and accomplishment of others, again particularly of those in the same group.

"Yes," they will admit, "she is a good home-maker, but-." Inevitably there is a "but," in other words, some drawback, some point to belittle.

4. To fool and express sorrow over another's temporal or spiritual good not because we feel it harms our own interests, but for some other good reason, is not the sin of envy. Thus a person might feel sorry about another's prosperity or success entirely because he knew that this success would be harmful to the welfare of others or to the public at large. This would really be charity rather than envy. If one, for example, felt sorry when he saw a business man without principles, or a professional person who stooped to immoral practices, or a scheming politician, achieving goals beyond his deserts, it would not be envy to grieve about that success.

Furthermore, if a person is sad only because he himself does not have as much as another, and he seeks his own lawful advancement and not the harm of another, he does not commit the sin of envy. We might rather call it emulation, a striving to equal or excel another by just and lawful means. It is expressed in the spirit of big-hearted competition, which is good in every walk of life. In fact, this rightful rivalry is the spur to much of the progress in all fields of human endeavor. It is essential in the spiritual life, where we see before us almost constantly the inspiring example of the saints. Their example should inspire in us a desire to imitate, a desire to follow their cooperation with grace, their charity, their chastity, their zeal for the service of God.

5. To what ridiculous lengths envy can lead is shown in the fairy story of the shoemaker. He was not the ordinary run of cobbler. He was extra special, so much so that the fairies hired him to make their shoes. The only leather he used was cut from the skin of a snake killed the previous year. They were soft and comfortable and the fairies would wear no other kind. Wherever the fairies went they drew admiration and praise for their fine footwear.

Into the cobbler's heart came the thought that these fairy folk were getting all the attention, while he was doing the work. Envy led him into this trend of thought:

"Here I am slaving away at my last, bending over until my back is all out of shape, seldom seeing the sun, and never getting the glory for my work. It isn't fair. I know what I will do. I'll make myself a pair of the softest, shiniest shoes anyone ever wore, and then I'll strut out among the flowers and get some attention."

He put all the other pairs of shoes aside and worked day and night on his own. The fairies, from the king and queen on down, came for their shoes, but they were not ready. Gradually he lost his trade, but he cared not a bit. He was going to create a commotion. At last the shoes were finished. He put them on and started out.
"Land of mercy," cried his wife, "you are not going out in those gorgeous shoes with your leather apron on. Buy yourself a dress coat."
He bought a fine coat and was again about to start out when his wife screamed: "Land sakes, now you need a cane."

He bought a cane and was strutting out the door when his wife burst into laughter:
"You silly man," she cried, "your top hat and new coat and cane and beautiful shoes do not hide your bent back. You are nothing but a dressed up shoemaker. Everybody will laugh at you, as I must laugh."

He took a look in the mirror and almost had to laugh at himself, as he admitted: "What my wife says is true. I was a good shoemaker, but I make a poor fairy gentleman."

He had sense enough to admit his foolishness. He went home to his shoemaker's last, and left the bright shoes for more nimble feet.

Would that we all had sense enough to recognize envy when it shows its treacherous head. And would that we all might use the remedies to overcome this capital vice. If the Scribes and Pharisees, the principal enemies of Christ, had been honest enough with themselves they would have admitted their envy as the principal cause of their opposition to the Savior of the world. If all the envious hearts were revealed to the world what a disgusting display that would be. And if all envy were removed, how happy humanity would be.

6. What are the cures for this capital crime of the heart?

A. Ask God to give you a true spirit of love for everyone, a true, heart felt charity, especially toward those whom you envy. Try praying for those whose success makes you sad. Honestly ask God to help you see that various people have various gifts and blessings.

B. Consider the evils brought on by envy. They are all opposed to the fundamental law of Christ: Love one another. How can we love our neighbor if our minds are blinded with bias and our hearts are saddened at his success? How can we love our neighbor if we stoop to sarcasm, slander, back-biting and rash criticism? How can we love our neighbor when our hearts hatch plots to bring him harm? How can we love our neighbor with a heart that is sad when that neighbor succeeds? How can we love our neighbor when we belittle his work and efforts?

C. Consider, on the other hand, the happiness of a heart that is free of this hideous hatred. The heart free of envy is a heart at peace with itself and at peace with everyone else. It is a heart that is willing to do things for others, willing to live the law of love, even at the cost of sacrifice. It is a heart that is satisfied with its own lot in life, and never permits the good fortune of others to make it unhappy.

Consider the unhappiness of our shoemaker when his heart was envious, and his contented happiness after he had rooted envy out of his heart. Every human being can have that same blessed experience.

D. Share your joys and share your sorrows with others. Enter into the joys and sorrows of those with whom you live. Express your sympathy when they have difficulties; and express genuine congratulations, when they have success. This is something we can all develop, no matter how small the circle in which we move.

Oh, how Christ­like the person who can pay a compliment to one who has earned some merit or reward.

E. Realize that envy and pride are co-workers in evil, twin devils who destroy peace of the individual and peace of the community. Then try to develop a true sense of humility, the foundation of all true love of neighbor, the foundation of all true appreciation of the tal­ents, accomplishments, and good fortune of others.

F. Bring home to yourself with absolute conviction that money and success and fame are not everything. They are not the completely satisfying articles they appear to be at a distance. Much more valuable than these tinsel satisfactions are genuine love, true-blue friend­ship and inner contentment. The man who is satisfied with his own place in life, the man who can, at the same time, view with a smile the success of others, is a happy, yes, a successful man.

7. On November 11, 1950, a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer asked three people this question:

"What do you think is the best way to overcome jealousy?"

A. One young lady answered that the jealous and envious person must develop self-confidence, improve himself.

B. A young man said the best way is to analyze the situation, .delve down into the facts, and don't let emotions take control. He pointed out that the jealous and envious person lets his imagination and emotions run away with him.

C. A third gave this solution: Grow up; become mature, mentally and spiritually.

Our newspapers and magazines have a great deal about jealousy and envy, proving the importance of the subject.

8. Most important is this subject in the Church. Racial, social, and economic envy hamper and even halt many projects of the Church. One member of the choir envies another because she was chosen to sing a solo. Our society officers are often the object of green-eyed envy. Good work already done is torn apart, and good work to be done is never attempted, through fear of envy and its train of miserable evils.

9. Search your soul tonight. Be not blind to this hidden monster of envy. Think of the sufferings and death of our Lord, brought on by the envy of the Scribes and Pharisees. Look at the stations of the cross. See the torture to which envious hearts put the sweet and loving Savior of the world.

Then look into His loving Heart, opened to us on the cross, that Sacred Heart hrobbing with love for even His enemies, that Heart which was ever understanding and appreciative, that Divine Heart which was always glad at the good-fortune of others, that Heart which must be our Model if we ever hope to overcome the capital sin of envy, if we ever hope to be in very truth - like our Lord. Amen.
__________________
Adapted from Lent and the Capital Sins
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1952)

Lenten Reflection: Gluttony, the Fifth Capital Sin

"Whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do all for the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31)

During World War I the Battle of the Marne was fought on Sep­tember 9, 1914. The Prussian Guard of the German Army crashed through the right flank of Marshal Foch, leader of the Allied forces. The victors were wild with joy; they had pierced the French line. When Foch heard that the enemy was celebrating, he telegraphed to headquarters: "My center gives way, my right recedes; the situation is excellent. I shall attack."

These were the famous fighting words of that thoroughly Catholic and heroic leader, Foch, who had often declared before: "A battle won is a battle in which one is not able to believe oneself van­quished."

He gave orders to prepare for the attack. The fate of France and the Allied countries was at stake. Either he would save everything or lose everything. About six o'clock that evening the startled Germans, till now certain of success, saw themselves faced by a revived French Army, filling in the gap which the Germans had made in the French line, the opening they hoped would be their road to Paris. Foch had not only blocked the road to Paris, he had also cracked the morale of the best troops of Von Buelow.

At nine the next morning, September 10, 1914, the Forty-second Divi­sion swarmed into the little town of La Frere-Champenoise, where the previous day's victors were celebrating. There on the floors of the bar­racks, surrounded by countless bottles of stolen champagne, they found the officers of the Prussian Guard, dead drunk.

What Sacred Scripture says to the drunkard, could have been said to these intoxicated German officers:

"Thou shalt be one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the rudder is lost." Proverbs, 23:34.

The capital sin of gluttony had conquered the invading army, had opened the way for their opponents to enter unopposed, had turned a cer­tain victory into a rout and complete defeat. How often this is the case on the battlefield of the human heart. Gluttony opens the way to all the enemies of the soul of man. Gluttony puts the pilot of the soul to sleep, and permits the soul's enemies to take over.

1. Gluttony, the fifth capital sin, means an excessive desire for food and drink. It is a desire to eat and drink just for the sake of eating and drink­ing. It is the sin of those "whose god is their belly." Phil. 3:19. It is not gluttonous to find pleasure in eating and drinking, because God has planted in food and drink the power to please the palate. But it is gluttony to eat and drink solely for the sensible and physical pleasure gained from it.

2. The sin of gluttony is committed in various ways:

A. By eating and drinking just for the pleasure of it; finding all or most of one's happiness in the delights of the dish and the cup.

You have met people with an over-interest in nourishment, whether solid or liquid, or both. Their supreme joy is to put their feet under a table or one foot on the rail of a bar. They will converse continually about some tasty meal or cocktail mixture, about recipes for delicious dishes, about restaurants where the food is out of this world, about sauces and salads, meats and pastries. Taste is not just one of their five senses; it dominates the other four, as well as the reasoning power that should govern them.

B. Gluttony is committed by daintiness and sqeamishness in the choice of food. We find grown-ups as well as children who continually com­plain that certain foods are not to their taste. They complain of their dislike into the ears of the cook, usually some weary mother, who has half a dozen different tastes to satisfy at each meal. Such peo­ple often rate their relatives and friends by the amount and the quality of the drinks and dinners they serve.

C. It is gluttonous to eat more than is necessary for our health or our work. To take a second and third helping just because something tastes good, when we know it is too much for us, is to be guilty of this sin. This also applies to the extra glasses of intoxicating liquor.

D. The gluttonous are over-anxious about their meals. Their principal plans refer to when and where they will get their next meal, when and where they will get their next drink or round of drinks.

E. By eating and drinking ravenously, like mere animals, without any consideration for the feelings and sensitiveness of others, with the selfish ambition of proving that he who eats the fastest gets the most.

F. Gluttony shows itself in grumbling and grouching about the laws of fast and abstinence, and by keeping carelessly or totally neglecting those regulations. For the greedy, Friday is a fearful day. They let everyone know how unhappy they are, they even sell their souls for a steak by deliberately defying the direction of Mother Church, which is in line with Christ's direction that we do penance. Such so­called Catholics are totally unmindful of the spiritual motive and rea­son for the laws of fast and abstinence. And Lent? How they hate it! Again they do not and will not remember that we fast and abstain these forty days just because our Lord ate no food for forty days, and because we want to prepare worthily for, and share more fully in, the passion and death of our Savior. Lent is a perfect time for the gluttonous to take stock and overcome their capital sin.

G. The most common form of gluttony is taking more liquor than one can stand, more drink than is good for that individual. There are different types of the greedy drinker, but with most of them drink comes before everything else.

3. Gluttony is a mortal sin in the following cases:

A. When a person makes a god of his belly to such an extent that he finds practically all his pleasure when he has a fork or glass in his hand.

B. When a person seriously injures his health by stuffing himself with food or drink. Naturally the capacity of individuals will vary, but to harm one's health in a serious maimer by what you eat or drink, how you partake of it, and by the amount, is a serious sin. It is against the Fifth Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill."

C. When a person breaks the laws of fast and abstinence for the sake of satisfying the sense of taste. If a Catholic is lawfully excused from either or both of these regulations, he need not worry. But he should do some other penance. Many violations of Lenten regu­lations are caused by gluttony.

D. When a person wastes money and even property to buy unnecessary food and drink. Usually the drunkard sins in this way. He puts over the bar money that should go over the grocer's counter. Almost as bad, he spends twenty dollars on liquor, and the next morning drops a dollar in the collection basket. Should there be here any man, par­ticularly the head of a family, who is using for drink money that should go for his family or his Church, let him realize how unjust, how selfish, how miserably mean he is to his loved ones.

E. When a man overloads his stomach, either with food or drink, to such an extent that he makes himself unfit for his work or his duties. Many a person could do more efficient and satisfactory work if he did Not eat so much and drink so much.

4. With regard to intoxicating liquor the question is often asked: "When is a person drunk?" It might be put this way also: "How can a person know when he is guilty of a serious sin through drinking?"

In answer to this important and often-asked question we point out that the two most direct and certain ways of knowing whether or not one has committed a serious sin of drinking are these:

A. Look back, and examine your state of mind and your actions while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

B. Ask sober witnesses, frank friends, what they thought of your speech and your actions.

Excessive drinking is a sin because its immediate effect is the impairment, that is, the lessening, and in many cases the loss of reason. If the reasoning power is lessened only slightly, then the sin is venial. In this matter you cannot judge the seriousness of the sin merely by the amount of liquor consumed. It depends upon the effect which the drink has on the senses and reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is definitely a mortal sin. What do we mean by the loss of reason? You can presume and "even be sure that a drinker has temporarily lost the use of reason when he can no longer distinguish good from bad, when he cannot carry on a sensible conversation, and cannot remember recent, simple facts, especially when he cannot remember, after the drunkenness has passed, just what he said or what he did "under the influence."

With regard to this physical angle of intoxication we recall the half ­humorous story from the moonshine era of the fellow who was lying one Sunday afternoon in the boiling sun in the middle of the dusty road, with an empty bottle by his side.

"He's drunk; lock him up," ordered the sheriff, as he leaned down over the prostrate figure.

"No, he ain't drunk," interposed a woman. "I jes' seen his fingers move."

Seriously, intoxication is to be judged not only and merely from the physical angle. One is guilty of serious sin if he does things when he is drunk which he would not have done when sober. The sin grows in serious­ness according to the injury the drunkard does to his own health, the injury he causes others, the neglect of duty or responsibility, and the scandal which may result. The drunkard thus becomes guilty of the impurity, the cursing, the quarreling, the destruction of property, the hurting of friends and loved ones, which he causes during his drunken stupor. Today we need to emphasize the guilt of drunken driving. If you mix alcohol and gasoline you are endangering your own life and health and the life and health of others. That is definitely against the Fifth Commandment.

The second and better way to judge the extent of one's drunkenness is to ask the prudent advice and counsel of sober and reliable witnesses. Too often the person who drinks to the point of impairing his reason and cloud­ing his senses is not in a position to judge the degree of his drunkenness.

In this matter you can be sure that the fellow who drinks to excess, and the fellow who has only in mind the idea of keeping from mortal sin in this business, will sooner or later fall surely into the mortal sin of excessive drinking. Accordingly, the safest policy, both from the standpoint of morality, and from the standpoint of health, is to stop long before you even begin to get stupid. The terrific toll that the excessive tippler pays we will try to consider when we point out the evils of gluttony in general.

5. What are the remedies for this excessive desire for the pleasures of the plate and the glass? We have many helps:

A. By prayer expressing our own weakness and trust in the powerful help of God, we can win the grace to overcome gluttony in any form. Silently, if not vocally, beg Almighty God to, help you be temperate. Do this whenever you are going to a party, or about to spend an eve­ning with friends who drink. Do it sincerely and honestly. God will help you.

B. Receive the sacraments more frequently. Go to Confession and re­ceive Holy Communion more often. At the sweet moment of Communion the drinker should tell our Lord that he will not imbibe to excess before his next Communion. Work from one Holy Communion to the next.

C. Practice self-denial in other and perhaps smaller matters. Control­ling the other senses will strengthen the will to control the sense of taste. Is it not lack of will power that permits the drunkard to fall again and again? Develop that power of will by exercise.

D. Avoid the occasions of your intemperance. The man who gets drunk every time he visits a certain tavern, cannot expect to stay temperate unless he stays away from that tavern. Certain persons, certain places, certain conditions of the mind, were the occasions of exces­sive drinking in the past. Steer clear of those occasions.

E. Think of the forty days' fast of our Lord, out there in that comfort­less desert without food and drink, denying Himself the tastes of the table in order to make good for your sins. And then behold Jesus on the cross, Hi. body dripping blood. Imagine the terrible thirst. And then listen, listen, O drunkard, to His agonizing cry from the cross: "I thirst." Loss of blood causes an almost intolerable dryness. Jesus suffered it for your sins of drunkenness.

F. Open your eyes and your mind to the horrible results of excess to soul and body:

i. Excess brings on poor health and an untimely death. Too much food and too much drink shorten life. Admiral George Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay, was once complimented on his superb and rugged health at the age of seventy-five. He smiled and explained: "I at­tribute my good condition to plenty of exercise and no banquets. We eat too much. One-third of what a man eats is all he needs in order to live."

When a reporter present asked the Admiral what becomes of the other two-thirds, Dewey replied wryly: "Oh, that enables the doctor to live."

What he said about food is all the more true about drink, especially intoxicating drink. Our hospitals and asylums number by the thou­sands the moral and physical wrecks they take in, people who have ruined their health and their lives by imbibing too much.

ii. Excess in the matter of food and drink clogs the mind and dulls the intellect. After a heavy meal one does not feel like thinking even if one could. As for taking too much drink, the halting speech, the un­certain movements, and slow reactions of the drunk are proof suf­ficient that liquor has lulled his thinking faculties to sleep.

Why, it might even make a man so dull of wit that a Mason would turn Catholic. They tell the story of a Catholic chaplain making his rounds in a large hospital when they brought in on a stretcher a man who was unconscious. He had been seriously injured in an auto accident. The Sisters and nurses did not know who he was. There was nothing about his person to identify the injured man. Taking a chance, Father baptized the man conditionally and gave him the Last Sacraments.

Two weeks later the priest met the injured man going down the hallway in a wheel-chair, and told him:

"Vou were really in bad shape last week. I thought you would surely die. Are you a Catholic?"

"No," replied the patient, "I am a Mason - thirty-second degree."

"Well," said Father, "you are a Catholic now."

"How so?" asked the Mason.

"I took a chance;" explained the chaplain, "while you were uncon­scious, I baptized you."

"Father, don't tell me! exclaimed the fellow, "So I am a Catholic. Serves me right for getting so drunk and then trying to drive."

iii. Excess in eating and drinking brings on lazy habits of mind and body. Tests have proven that too much food and too much liquor lessen the powers of concentration, even make a person unwilling and un­able to think, and also lessens physical energy and efficiency.

iv. Intemperance leads to excesses of the other lower appetites. Drunk­enness particularly is a companion and cause of several other capital sins:

a. Many a person, especially the young, have committed their first sin of impurity while under the influence. Don't touch liquor until you are twenty-five - if ever.

b. Some drunks get stupidly sullen and silent, expressing their anger in that way. Most of them talk a great deal, indulging in filthy lan­guage, unkind remarks, and especially in cursing and swearing. Anger is a direct result.

c. How the recording angel must weep as he marks down the sins of avarice - stealing, cheating, neglecting to pay just bil1 ~ ommitted by the man addicted to drink. He wants more money to buy more drink.

d. The capital sin of sloth is also a direct descendant of drunken­ness, making the drinker neglect the duties of his state in life.

Indeed, excess in food and drink opens the door to the enemies of the soul, even more treacherously than the drinking of the victorious Germans made it possible for their opponents to walk in and take possession.

Look to our Leader Christ during this Lent. Think of His suffering for your sins of the palate. Think of Him on the cross and His dying words: "I thirst." Without Christ you cannot conquer intemperance; with Christ you can become temperate. Amen.
__________________
Adapted from Lent and the Capital Sins
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1952)

Reflections for the 4th Week of Lent

Lost and Found
A Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Lent
Adapted from Plain Sermons by Practical Preachers, Vol. II(©1916)
Homily by Rev H. T. Henry, Litt. D.
Nihil Obstat: Remegius Lafort, S.T.D
Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

The Way of the Cross
"There followed him a great crowd." St. John, 6:2
"He suffered under Pontius Pilate." Creed.
Adapted from Talks on the Creed
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1946

Temporal Duties Toward Children
"Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?" St. John, 6:5
Adapted from Talks on the Commandments, (1948)
by Fr. Arthur Tonne

Holy Mary
"This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world." St. John, 6:14.
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1949

Reflections for the 3rd Week of Lent

Meditation for the Third Sunday of Lent, Walk in Love
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)

Lenten Reflection: The Love of Christ
"Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends." St. John, 15:13.
Adapted from With Christ Through Lent
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1951)

The Scourging and Crowning
"He who is not with me is against me." St. Luke, 11:23
"He suffered under Pontius Pilate." Creed.
Adapted from Talks on the Creed
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1946

Ave, Maria!
"Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts that nursed thee." St.Luke, 11:27.
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1949

Justice
"The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." St. John, 10 :11.
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)

Reflections for the 2nd Week of Lent

The Transfiguration
Adapted from Plain Sermons by Practical Preachers, Vol. II(©1916)
Homily by Rev J. J. Hurst
Nihil Obstat: Remegius Lafort, S.T.D
Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

The Little Flower and the Linnet
Adapted from Talks for Children
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1948)

Temporal Duties to Parents
"This is My Son, My Chosen; listen to Him!" St. Luke, 9:35.
Adapted from Talks on the Commandments
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1948)

Trials before Pilate and Herod
"Master, it is good that we are here..." St. Luke, 9:33
Adapted from Talks on the Creed
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1946)

2nd Sunday of Lent - Evil
"...a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened..." St. Luke 9:34.
Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)

Alter Christus-Devotion to the Passion of Our Lord
Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests
by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 27.

Gospel for Thursday, 4th Week of Advent

From: Luke 1:67-79

The Benedictus
[67] And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, [68] "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, [69] and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, [70] as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, [71] that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; [72] to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, [73] the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, [74] to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, [75] in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. [76] And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, [77] to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, [78] through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high [79] to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
____________________
Commentary:
67. Zechariah, who was a righteous man (cf. v. 6), received the special grace of prophecy when his son was born--a gift which led him to pronounce his canticle, called the "Benedictus", a prayer so full of faith, reverence and piety that the Church has laid it down to be said daily in the Liturgy of the Hours. Prophecy has not only to do with foretelling future events; it also means being moved by the Holy Spirit to praise God. Both aspects of prophecy are to be found in the "Benedictus".

68- 79. Two parts can be discerned in the "Benedictus": in the first (vv. 68-75) Zechariah thanks God for sending the Messiah, the Savior, as he promised the patriarchs and prophets of Israel.

In the second (vv. 76-79) he prophesies that his son will have the mission of being herald of the Most High and precursor of the Messiah, proclaiming God's mercy which reveals itself in the coming of Christ.

72-75. Again and again God promised the patriarchs of the Old Testament that he would take special care of Israel, giving them a land which they would enjoy undisturbed and many descendants in whom all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. This promise he ratified by means of a covenant or alliance, of the kind commonly made between kings and their vassals in the Near East. God, as Lord, would protect the patriarchs and their descendants, and these would prove their attachment to him by offering him certain sacrifices and by doing him service. See, for example, Genesis 12:13; 17:1-8; 22:16-18 (God's promise, covenant and pledge to Abraham); and Genesis 5:11-12 (where he repeats these promises to Jacob). Zechariah realizes that the events resulting from the birth of John his son, the Precursor of the Messiah; constitute complete fulfillment of these divine purposes.

78-79. The "dawning", the "dayspring", is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, coming down from heaven to shed his light upon us: "the son of righteousness shall rise, with healing on its wings" (Mal 4:2). Already in the Old Testament we were told about the glory of the Lord, the reflection of his presence--something intimately connected with light. For example, when Moses returned to the encampment after talking with God, his face so shone that the Israelites "were afraid to come near him" (Ex 34:30). St John is making the same reference when he says that "God is light and in him there is no darkness" (1 Jn 1:5) and that there will be no light in heaven "for the glory of God is its light" (cf. Rev 21:23; 22:5).

The angels (cf. Rev 1:11) and the saints (cf. Wis 3:7; Dan 2:3) partake of this divine splendor; our Lady does so in a special way. As a symbol of the Church she is revealed to us in the Apocalypse as "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feel, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (12:1).

Even when we live in this world, this divine light reaches us through Jesus Christ who, because he is God, is "the true light that enlightens every man" (Jn 1:9), as Christ himself tells us: "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness" (Jn 8:12).

Such is Christians' share in this light of God that Jesus tells us: "You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:14). Therefore, we must live as children of the light (cf. Lk 16:8), whose fruit takes the form of "all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:9); our lives should shine oul, thereby helping people to know God and give him glory (cf. Mt 5:16).
___________________________
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

Lenten Reflection-The Presence of Christ

"This is my body...this is my blood." St. Matthew, 26:27,28.

In the not so distant days of persecution in old Mexico, it was against the law to meet and conduct any kind of religious service without permission. Despite this devilish regulation, many groups of Catholics met se­cretly to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. A spy betrayed one of these groups to the police. An officer with several soldiers surprised them one night at their place of prayer. The officer was angry; he was deter­mined to punish everyone present. He ordered a soldier to count all present and write down their names.

THERE IS ONE MORE HERE
"Thirty men and women, sir," reported the officer.

At that an old man held up his hand and declared:
"Officer, there is One whom you have missed. There is One more here."

"What do you mean?" shouted the officer. "We counted all carefully. There are only thirty."

"No," insisted the old man, "there is One you have missed."

"Very well," growled the officer, "we will count them again."

Again the count was made and again the count was thirty. The officer sneered at the old gentleman: "There you are. Just as I told you. Thirty-thirty miserable breakers of the law."

"Yes," the venerable old fellow said slowly, "but there is One more here, One whom you missed - and that is our Lord Jesus Christ on the altar."

PRESENT BUT UNSEEN
What that old man stated about this secret meeting, that there was Another present whom they could not see, can be stated of the Eucharistic presence of Christ in the Catholic Church. Our Lord is ever present with those who love Him. He is present in the Eucharist - body and blood, soul and divinity - just as really and truly present in every Catholic tabernacle as He was when He walked about His native Palestine. Christ wanted to be with us - everywhere and at all times. He is with us in the Blessed Sacrament.

MOST PRECIOUS FRUIT
The passion and death of our Lord have brought to us many fruits and blessings. The sweetest and greatest and most precious fruit of His suffering is His presence in the Eucharist, a legacy He left us on the night He was betrayed.

At the very moment when wicked men were reaching out to seize and crush Christ's innocent body in the winepress of suffering, our Lord was generously planning how He would stay with men forever. At the very moment when their hate was getting rid of His presence, Christ's love was finding a way to be present for all time to come. He saw the sadness of His mother and His apostles and His followers of all time, at the thought of His departure. In merciful sympathy He would give them Himself for all time. The same generous love that prompted Christ to undergo the bitter tor­ments and degrading humiliations of His passion and death, prompted Him also to give us Himself in the Eucharist forever.

FAREWELL, BUT I'LL STAY WITH YOU
Read again the Gospel story of the Last Supper and the touching, tender farewell of our Lord. Doesn't your heart throb deeply at its notes of over­flowing love? Christ was about to give Himself to His apostles, as He had promised. But love could not be content with that. Not just once would He work this miracle of changing bread and wine into His very own Body and Blood. Christ saw not only those in the supper room; He also saw the millions through the centuries who would want to have Him present.

EVERYWHERE ALWAYS
Close on the heels of the one miracle of giving His Body and His Blood to His apostles, Christ worked another wonder which would continue that loving sacrament to the end of time. To the apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, Christ gave the power of multiplying His presence throughout the earth and throughout all time, when He commanded them:

"Do this in remembrance of me." St. Luke, 22:19.

Love was not satisfied with giving Himself once long ago in faroff Pal­estine. Love wanted to give Himself everywhere for all time to all men. He wanted us always to remember that Thursday and that Friday. He wanted the merits of His death to be shared by all. Dying for one we love is the greatest proof of love. The sacrament of the altar, instituted the night before He died, is not merely a remembrance of His sacrifice, it is the bring­ing to us of the fruits of that sacrifice.

LIVING AS IF DEAD
The Holy Eucharist is the most fitting memorial of the passion of Christ. In and through the Sacrifice of the Mass especially, Christ recalls for all men of all times His sufferings and death for them. On this altar, by the wonder-working words of consecration the priest calls down from the heights of heaven the true and living Christ, calls Him down to live in the apparently lifeless form of the sacred species of bread and wine. Though alive, Christ is present as if He were dead - as if without the power to move, as if without the power to speak.

Our faith tells us that since the resur­rection our Lord can die no more, yet here in the Eucharist Jesus chooses to live a hidden and helpless life. To have life and not to use it, not to per­form any visible act, not to give any proof of life - is not such a life very much like death? In this way the Eucharist is a constant reminder of the death of Christ.

THE EUCHARIST REMINDS US OF HIS SUFFERINGS
Living under the veils of the Blessed Sacrament Christ gives no sign of life. He allows Himself no freedom to move from place to place, no power to flee from His enemies, no speech to talk with His friends, or to call for help when He is insulted or attacked. He even takes a form that in no way reminds us of a human being. How like His passion is this life on our altar!

Christ could have wiped out His enemies with a word; He chose to suffer in silence. The same takes place on the altar. He could do away with everyone who insults or attacks Him, but He chooses to live a silent life, that we might be constantly reminded of His sufferings and death.

THE LENGTHS OF LOVE
In recalling the pains of Christ's passion, the Holy Eucharist also re­minds us of the limitless love that led Him to undergo such sufferings for us. It recalls the heroic patience with which He bore those pains, and the divine pardon He granted to those who crucified Him, the priceless pardon He grants to all sinners of all time.

The love that drove Christ to submit to suffering for us stands out more beautifully when we realize that He could have chosen anyone of a thousand other ways of satisfying the justice of His Father. That love shines out in the Eucharist.

Christ did not have to give Himself to us, but in the generosity of His love He gave us Himself completely, forever, and everywhere. Day and night His sacramental presence reminds us of His love, reminds us how He healed hearts and inspired minds. In the Eucharist Christ again pardons those who betray Him. Judas and Peter and Pilate and the heartless soldiers and the crowd, all live today in the persons of Catholics who betray and neglect and deny their Eucharistic Savior. But Christ still forgives, Christ still speaks:

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

VICTOR STILL A VICTIM
In the Blessed Sacrament Christ suffers the same treacherous betrayals, the same cruel violence, the same bitter humiliations as He endured during His passion. On the first Good Friday He wanted to win the compassion­ating love of men. Today in the Eucharist He is looking for the same love, the same sympathy. We scorn the traitor Judas. Yet, how much worse than Judas is the Catholic who receives his Eucharistic Master into a soul stained with mortal sin?

The cowardly denial of St. Peter strikes us as very sinful. Yet, Catholics deny their Savior by putting off Holy Communion, by misbehavior in church, by coming late to Mass, by passing a church without a thought or greeting for the loved One who lives there.

SUFFERING SAVIOR PRESENT STILL
Think of the insults inflicted by those who know and love Him not. Tabernacles are torn down, Hosts are stepped on and fed to animals, Hosts are pierced and cut and covered with filth, by those who in their devilish hatred give unwitting testimony that they think this Host might really be Christ.

Christ was humiliated during Holy Week. He is humiliated today by the sneers of the godless, the blameworthy ignorance and unpardonable negligence of so many of His followers. Carelessness and discourtesy are shown Him constantly, perfect imitations of Caiphas, Herod and Pilate. Every one of Christ's sufferings is repeated in the Eucharist. The suffering Savior is present with us today.

LOVE FOR LOVE
But the picture is not entirely dark. There were bright spots even in the black story of the passion. There are bright spots in our Lord's life in the Eucharist. Pious women wept for the suffering Savior; you and I can weep in reparation for the insults and neglect shown Him on the altar. Veronica offered her veil to wipe His bloody face; we can offer words of worship. Simon of Cyrene helped Him carry His cross; you and I can promote devo­tion to Him in the Eucharist. Like St. John we will stand faithfully at the foot of the altar. With the heart of our Blessed Mother, our hearts will go out to Jesus hidden here in the Host.

Thoughtful - and punctual - attendance at Mass, devout and frequent receiving of Holy Communion, loving visits to Him here in His home, support and service of His Church are means we have of showing our love for Him. Are you doing these things during Lent?

PRESENT EVERYWHERE
Before the Last Supper Christ, as Man, was but in one place in all the earth. After that Supper Jesus began to dwell in the Eucharist in every town and city and hamlet. The tabernacles of Christ dot the globe. Whereever men will have Him, He is present. Christ is present right here upon the altar of our church. He wants to be here for your sake. He is here. He is keeping His promise:

"I will not leave you orphans." St. John, 14:18.

"Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consum­mation of the world." St. Matthew, 28:20.

HOW CHRIST IS PRESENT
For months before the grand Eucharistic Congress held in New Orleans in 1938 the faithful prayed for the success of this gathering in. honor of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. In that prayer were the words:

"O Jesus, Thou art truly, really, and substantially present."

That is official language taken from the Council of Trent. Even though the three words seem to mean practically the same thing, each word has some definite meaning, and was chosen to answer and correct some mistake regarding the Eucharist.

TRULY PRESENT
The word "truly" is directed against the heretic Zwingli who falsely maintained that our Lord did not mean to actually give us His Body at the Last Supper. Zwingli said Christ meant something like this:

"When the father of a family is about to leave on a long journey, he gives to his wife, the mother of the family, his most precious ring. On the ring the father's face has been painted. As he gives the ring to his wife he says: "Behold, your husband, whom you can love though he is absent, and who loves you though he is far away."

"Our Lord, Jesus Christ is like that father. As Christ was about to leave the earth, He gave to His bride, the Church, His image painted on the sacrament of the altar."

This false idea of the Eucharist would not be worthy of our attention, were it not the idea of many mistaken people today. The Catholic Church, divinely guided, teaches that when we say Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, He is not present as a father in the picture on the ring he leaves to his family. Christ is present here on our altar just as truly as the father is present when he hands the ring to his wife.

REALLY PRESENT
When we say that Christ is "really" present we are answering a fellow named Oecolampadius, whose false idea is as strange as his name. He said Christ was present in the Eucharist in a figure or comparison. The Blessed Sacrament is not really Christ but something like Christ. For example, the paschal lamb of the Old Testament was a figure of the true Lamb of God, namely, Christ. This heretic mistakenly insisted that the Eucharist is still just the Old Testament paschal lamb, it is still just a figure of Christ. The Catholic Church, God's Church, teaches that the presence of Christ is real. It is not a mere figure.

SUBSTANTIALLY PRESENT
Another heretic, John Calvin, thought the Body and Blood of Christ are present on the altar, just as the sun is present on the earth by its power or by its heat. He said that Christ is present only by His virtue or power, but not as He is in Himself.

But we Catholics know that Christ is present Himself, that it is not only the rays of His love which we have here on the altar, that it is not only the warmth of His love we have here, while He Himself, like the sun, is millions of miles away. No, here we have the Sun Himself, Christ in His very substance, just as substantially as if we had the sun itself locked up in our tabernacle.

JESUS SAID SO
A nun one day explained to her fifth grade class the reason for our belief in the Eucharist. She mentioned the words of Jesus - His promise, His last Supper - carrying out of that promise, and the belief of the Catholic Church through all the centuries since. She emphasized the words of Christ, "This is my body." Hoping that one of her charges would give a reason or two of those she had mentioned, she asked the class:

"And now-how do we know that Jesus is present on the altar?"

One little fellow put up his hand. When called, he gave this answer: "We know that Jesus is present, because Jesus said so."

No answer could be more simple and more to the point. It was the belief of all Christians for fifteen hundred years, until Luther decided that we can explain and understand the Bible as each man wishes. What was the result? About seventy years after Luther's revolt a book, was published with the title: TWO HUNDRED INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WORDS: THIS IS MY BODY. It was written in 1577 by a fellow named Rasberger. Since his time there are about two hundred more attempts to explain away the simple, clear and definite words of Jesus, "This is my body." We Catholics take Christ at His word. We believe in the Blessed Sacrament because Jesus said so.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
That Jesus said so is clear from the Bible which tells us three things about the Holy Eucharist:

1. Christ promised to give us His flesh and blood.
2. Christ kept that promise at the Last Supper.
3. St. Paul and the early Christians understood Christ to mean that He would actually give Himself.

THE PROMISE
On the occasion when our Lord miraculously fed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, He gave the promise of His flesh and blood in these certain words:

"I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

When the Jews wondered how a man could give his flesh to eat, Jesus emphasized His statement:

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you." St. John, 6:52-55.

THE FULFILLMENT
Then the night before He died, when men do not ordinarily use double­ meaning words or speak in jest, our Lord took bread and said, "This is my body." He took the chalice of wine and said: "This is my blood."

ST. PAUL KNEW WHAT CHRIST MEANT
We would expect St. Paul to know what Christ really meant. St. Paul tells us:

"For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." I Cor., 11 :26-27.

THE EARLY CHURCH
What does the early Christian Church say about Christ's words at the Last Supper? For fifteen hundred years those words were taken literally, that is, for what they actually said. The early Christian writers, the pic­tures and inscriptions in the catacombs, the discipline of the early Church, all make it unmistakably clear that Christ meant exactly what He said.

We Catholics believe that Christ is here present. We believe He is pres­ent in every tabernacle of the world. Just how that can be, we do not know, just as there are many things we cannot understand. But that He is here we know - on His own words. Yes, Christ is with us. Only the goodness and love of a God could have thought of that, and could have arranged to be with us right here in our church. Amen.
__________________
Adapted from With Christ Through Lent
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1951)

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, The Wedding Garment

By The Rev. H. G. Hughes
________________

"Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" - Matt. xxii, 12.

Dear Brethren in Jesus Christ. - The parable which we have just heard read in the Holy Gospel for today, and from which my text is taken, is one of those which our divine Saviour spoke on the closing day of His public teaching.

Early in the morning of that day, which was the Tuesday in Holy Week, He had gone forth to preach for the last time in the Temple at Jerusalem. He went there to offer to the hard hearts' of the priests and rulers, the Scribes and Pharisees, one more opportunity of repentance and conversion. He went there to utter His last words of warning against the terrible act of Apostasy they were soon about to commit in rejecting Him, their King and their Lord, who was ready, if they willed it, to be their Saviour also.

This "parable" of the wedding of the king's son is one of those warning words which Divine love drew from our blessed Lord that day; and though it was spoken so long ago to the Scribes and Pharisees, and the people of the Jews, it has, nevertheless, like every word that fell from those sacred lips, lessons of the highest import for us today, and for the men of all times. Some of these lessons, with the help of God, we will briefly consider.

"The Kingdom of Heaven," our Lord said, "is likened to a king, who made a marriage," that is to say a marriage, a feast, for his son. That kingdom which is here likened to a marriage feast, is Christ's holy Catholic Church, which He came on earth to found, and of which He said, " My Kingdom is not of this world"; for though the Church of God is in the world, it is not of the world.

The king who made the marriage feast for his son is the Eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, King and Lord of heaven and earth. The marriage, as St. Gregory the Great tells us, is that union of the Only-begotten Son of God with His immaculate bride, the holy Church, which He entered into by means of the Incarnation. To the marriage feast of the good things plentifully set out in His Church, God first invited His own chosen people, the Jews; sending to them His servants, the prophets of old. But "they refused" and "would not come." Afterwards, when the King's Son Himself had come, had lived and died, had set up His Kingdom the Church, and made ready therein the feast of the Gospel blessings, the invitation was repeated to them by the Apostles and Apostolic men; and these are those other servants of whom we read "and again He sent other servants, saying, 'All things are now ready; come ye to the marriage.'" "Twice," says St. Gregory, "did the King send His servants to invite by the prophets the Incarnation of His Son, and announcing it by the Apostles after it had come to pass."

How, then, did the subjects of the King receive His royal invitation? With nothing else than ungrateful and rebellious contempt. Ungrateful because of the benefits He wished to bestow upon them; rebellious, because an invitation from the King was nothing less than a command. As the holy Gospel describes it, "They went their ways; one to his farm, another to his merchandise." Others even carried their rebellion so far as to ill-use and put to death the servants of the royal household who came to bid them to the marriage. By this figure our blessed Lord describes the death which some of the prophets had undergone at the hands of the perfidious children of Israel~ meriting His sad rebuke, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not." By this also He foretold the martyrs' death that so many of His Apostles and disciples were afterwards to meet with at the hands of the same unfaithful and unbelieving generation. "But when the King heard of it, He was angry; and sending his armies, He destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city.'" Even so Jerusalem, that fair and favored city of God, whose beauty had moved the Son of Man to tears, not many years after was utterly overthrown by the Roman armies; and thus was fulfilled the warning of our Lord, and the curse which its inhabitants had called down on their own heads: "His Blood be upon us and upon our children."

Coming back to the parable, we read that the King next sent His servants into the highways to call to the marriage as many as they should find; and they gathered together all they found, and in this way the marriage was filled with guests. The goodness and generosity of God are not foiled; though the chosen people have rejected His word, and, as St. Paul and St. Barnabas declared to the Jews of Antioch, judging themselves unworthy of eternal life, have been cast .out, the servants of the King have gone out into the highways of the world, and have preached the Gospel to every nation, and the Gentiles have been gathered into God's holy Church. The invitation of the King has come to us, and, thank God, we have accepted it. We have entered, by God's mercy we have been brought, into His Church, to take part in the marriage feast of God's Son; to participate in the good things there only to be found-the Holy Mass, the Seven Sacraments, the Word of Salvation,. the intercession and patronage of the holy Mother of God and of the Blessed with whom we are united in the Communion of Saints, and all the other means of grace and of blessing so abundantly poured out upon us in the holy Catholic Church.

There are still, alas, many who will not come to this marriage feast, although the invitation is constantly repeated to them by the Gospel messengers, the ministers of God's Church, not once or twice, but many times, "Come, for all things are now ready; come ye to the marriage." But "they neglect, and go their ways, to their merchandise, or to their farm"; they will not even listen, but remain outside the church in the exterior darkness of heresy, indifference, or unbelief. It seems strange to us, who know the force of the claims of the Catholic Church, that men can refuse their assent to her authority and her teaching. It is all so plain to us. Sometimes we get discouraged and wonder whether it is any good going on, with our efforts to bring the Church before our countrymen; whether it were not better to concentrate our endeavors upon the perfection of our own organization and the increased effectiveness of our work among Catholics. But the Church of Christ is and must be a missionary Church. Christ has said to lIer: "Go, teach all nations; preach the Gospel to every creature."

If we neglect this work, our own interior organization and the effectiveness of our work among our own people must suffer. Yet at times we are apt to be discouraged at the poor reception which our missionary efforts meet with. And the worst, most chilling element in that reception comes from the utter indifference to all religious truth and sentiment which is so widespread in the modem world, and especially in countries like our own where the great Protestant tradition gained a footing, and has logically led to religious indifference and free thought, so that the "farm" and the "merchandise," worldly things and worldly objects of ambition, wealth, position, enjoyment, success in business, occupy entirely" the thoughts and the hopes of so many. But we must not despair, and we must not slacken our efforts. Still the King sends out His messengers, and in the highways and byways, in the most unexpected places, souls are touched by God's grace, and hear the invitation, and accept, and come in to the marriage feast of the Church. It is for us, by our own faithful Catholic lives, by example at all times, by a word in season where opportunity offers, by showing to the world and forcing the world to realize the high value of Christian Catholic ideals and principles in citizenship, to work towards the breaking down of that fatal indifference and so-called liberality in questions of morality and religion which is so great a bar to the acceptance of the Catholic faith of Jesus Christ. Then, in God's good time, our efforts, our prayers, our sacrifices "and our good example shall be crowned with success, and "the marriage shall be full of guests."

But have we Catholics nothing to learn from this parable concerning ourselves; is there no warning for us who by God's great mercy have been brought in to the marriage feast of God's Son? Indeed, it is not so. There is a warning in this parable, and a terrible warning for us; and should we fail to heed it, we shall find ourselves in a worse plight even than those who have refused to enter in to the feast.

For we read, at the end of the parable, how the King went in to see the guests, and He found there a man who had not on a wedding garment. Giving him an opportunity to explain his negligence, the King said to him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" But he was silent.
It is a well-known custom in Eastern countries, even at the present day, for the giver of a banquet, especially if he be a prince, or a man of high rank, to send to the invited guests rich and splendid robes, which they are expected to wear at the feast. Not to wear them would be a serious insult to the host. It is related by a modem traveler that a courtier invited to a banquet by the Sultan of one of those Eastern lands, having in some way offended the steward who had the distribution of the robes of state, that officer sent him only a plain black garment which the guest refused to wear, fearing that it would be taken by the others as a sign that he was in disgrace at court. The Sultan, coming in and seeing him without the customary garb, took it as a personal insult, and not giving any opportunity of explanation as did the king in the parable, condemned the unhappy guest to death. The sentence was, in fact, carried out. This incident explains what we read in the parable: The King said to the waiters, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Brethren, it is not enough that we have been invited; it is not enough that we have accepted the invitation. We must have on the wedding garment, the garment which consists of sanctifying grace and the Christian virtues. For the King is coming to see the guests, and this word "see" means in the original language more than a passing glance; it signifies an inspection, a close and searching examination. Each of us must undergo that examination; indeed, it is going on now; for by trials and temptations we are constantly being proved, and the all-searching eye of God is ever fixed upon us to see how we carry ourselves-whether we resist or whether we give way, whether we show ourselves to be clothed with the garment of supernatural grace and virtue which He Himself has provided, or only in the poor threadbare garments of our fallen nature; whether, in a word, we have on the wedding garment of true, solid, Christian virtue, which is none else than the very character of our Lord and Saviour Himself-that character which the holy Apostle St. Paul speaks of when he says to us: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh and its concupiscences" (Rom. xiii, 3).

And we "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" by imitating His virtues, each in our own measure and degree-His humility, His obedience, His patience, His resignation to the will of His heavenly Father, His detachment from the world, His meek and kind behavior to others, and, above all, His charity, His love of God and Man, without which all else is nothing worth.

It is for us to look into our own hearts and to find out, by the light of Christ's law laid down in the holy Gospels, and with the aid of Christ's holy Spirit which He will give to those who ask, whether we are living up to our privileges as Catholics, invited to the wedding feast of the King's Son, and especially whether we are practicing those virtues which belong to our particular state and condition in life. For it would be a great mistake to seek about after something heroic to do, while our daily duties are badly and imperfectly performed. All so-called piety, as St. Francis of Sales remarks, which does not lead to the better performance of our ordinary duties, is a delusion. This, therefore, is the first thing to be looked into, for when the King comes for the last time to inspect the guests, this is the wedding garment He will expect to find-the robe of grace woven in with virtues and the good works which the duties of each day give us the opportunity of performing.

If we are wanting in this, we also, like the guest in the Gospel, shall be silent before Him, we shall have no excuse to make, shame and confusion will make us dumb. It will not avail merely to have come in to the feast-that will be only for our greater shame and condemnation, and we shall be cast out for ever into the exterior darkness.

Take to yourselves, brethren, the warning words of our blessed Lord. Lose no time. Single out at once that fault, that sin which conscience tells you is the one that would most displease the King, should He come to see you now; which makes you, in the words of St. Jude, "a spot upon the banquet," and set to work to root it out without delay. When you have done this, or at least lessened the power of that fault over you, go on to attack another in the same way, and then a third, putting off thus, according to St. Paul's exhortation, "the old man who is corrupted according to the desires of error" and "putting on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth" (Eph. iv, 22 ss.).

Then, at the last and great visit of the King, when, surrounded by the hosts of angels and saints, He shall come to judge the world, you will be translated to that heavenly Banquet of which the angel in the Apocalypse declared, "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb…"
__________________
Adapted from Plain Sermons by Practical Preachers, Vol. II(©1916)
Nihil Obstat: Remegius Lafort, S.T.D
Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (TLM), Our Individuality before God

By The Rev. T. J. Brennan, S.T.L.
____________________________

"And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts?” - Matt. ix, 4.

My dear friends, the Gospel I have just read for you contains several lessons, this among others: that both we and our actions stand out distinctly in the sight of God. Numbers, however great, do not confuse Him; distance, however remote, does not dim His vision. Whether in the crowded city or in the trackless desert, we are known and noted, with everything that individualizes both ourselves and our conduct. Let us dwell on this thought for a moment.

You know it is very confusing to think of many individuals. The more acquaintances we have the less distinct are they in our minds. We all know, perhaps, twenty or thirty people well, as well as one human being can know another. We know a few hundred to talk with them socially, when we meet them, about the interests of life. And perhaps we know a few thousand by sight. Outside of these there are hundreds of millions living with us on the earth. We may speak of them as a body, yet to us they have no individuality. They are as undistinguished as the trees in the forest, or as the heads of corn in the field. They are always changing, the old ones departing, the young ones arriving; but to us the great mass always remains the same. If you add to these the millions and millions that were, the millions and millions that are to be, the thought becomes positively bewildering, the imagination refuses to act.

And yet every single one of those has a character, a history, an individuality of his own. We may, indeed, divide them off into races or generations, but that does not destroy their individuality. When we think, for example, of the English or Germans or Chinese we take certain types and multiply them by the number in these countries, and that is all. But that is a delusion. The type simply exists in books or in the imagination. When you come down to individuals there is only the faintest likeness to the type; the faintest likeness one to another. You may go into London with its millions, or into China with its hundreds of mi11ions, and there are no two exactly, or even approximately, alike, either in body or in spirit; in disposition or endowments; in passions, temptations or difficulties.

We can realize this best by considering and comparing those we know. Is there anyone among our acquaintances whom we can not distinguish "from another without the slightest difficulty? Even in the same family, born of the same parents and raised in the same surroundings, how easy to tell them apart! Well, it is the same among the mi11ions that now people or have peopled the earth. They are so many mi11ions of individuals; it is only because of our limited powers of apprehension and attention that we think of them as nations or races.

Now this limited power of attention influences us to our injury. For unconsciously we transfer these limitations to God also. We all indeed feel that God looks down on and regards the human race that he has created; that He knows the wants of humankind and sends the rain and the sunshine in season. But then, latent within us is the idea that just as the individual character and doings of the multitude are obscure and vague in our minds; so also that to the mind of God the individual is lost in the teeming mass that moves hither and thither on the face of the earth. Each one of us has the idea that we do not stand out distinctly before God clothed in our individual joys and sorrows, needs and temptations.

When we pray we have the idea that we are disadvantaged by the fact that we are but one among millions that are besieging the throne of God; when we sin or neglect our duties we shelter ourselves under the thought that our sin or neglect is lost in the multitudinous sins and negligences of the race; that though the race may have its prayers granted or its sins punished, yet that my individual prayer is too weak, my individual sin is too insignificant to be noticed by God. Hence we become careless in prayer and good works; we become unscrupulous in doing evil. This, I say, comes from transferring to God our limited power of apprehension and attention.

Now, my dear friends, to correct that evil we have only to remember what God is in Himself, to remember what He has told us about Himself. In the second lesson of the Catechism it is asked: "Does God know all things?" And the answer is: "God knows all things, even our most secret thoughts and actions." That is the simple statement of a truth which we ought to keep constantly in our minds. God being infinite in all things must be infinite in knowledge; there can be no place, no being in creation beyond His vision. To him there is no such thing as near and far off, because He is in all places equally; there is no such thing as clear and obscure, because His light shines on every work of His hands; there can be no such thing as attending well at one time, and attending carelessly at another time, like a child at school, because in Him there is no change nor shadow of alteration.

And however little we may understand it, yet it needs must be that each one of us must stand out individually, distinctly, in all our relations and characteristics before God. Supposing that only one human being existed in the world, and that he had been told, as we have been that God sees and knows all things, how he would have that as a guiding thought before him; how it would serve as an incentive to good, as a check to evil. Well, each one of us is seen and known by God as if no other existed; to imagine it otherwise would be to misunderstand the infinite character of God's knowledge and vision. The single blade of corn in the field receives its plenitude of sun; but not the less fully does it come to the waving millions that grow by its side. So is it with us. God sees the race; but He sees you and me, as if you and I were alone in the world. Reason tells us that it must be so.

Has not our Divine Lord told us the same thing? Nay, He tells us that even the little birds of the air, which flit about so numerously and seemingly so undistinguished, that even these are noted and numbered by the all-seeing eye of God. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing; and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father" (Matt. x, 29). He even goes farther, and says: "The very hairs of your head are numbered" (Matt. x, 30). Does not the same appear from the recent Gospel: "There met Him ten men that were lepers." He took pity on their sad condition and He healed them. Only one returned to give thanks. Which of the Apostles, which of the bystanders, do you think, could have told how many more ought to have returned? I doubt if any could.

But there was one who could and did: "Were not ten," He said, "made clean and where are the nine?" Which of those standing by could have told what was the nationality of him who came back to give thanks? Only He who knows all things: "There is no one found to return and give glory to God but this stranger." Number did not confuse Him; nationality did not escape Him; each one of the ten stood before Him marked and noted as if there were but one instead of ten.

That is what we must all remember, and that is what those nine forgot. Of the ten that were cured these nine said, each to himself: "I have indeed received a great favor; but there are nine others, and I leave it to them to return fitting thanks to our kind benefactor." Only one of the ten remembered that there was a personal obligation on himself, which no one only he could fulfill. He remembered the days of aching and sorrow through which he had passed; he remembered the prompt and kind answer of the Nazarene; so "he went back with a loud voice glorifying God; and he fell on his face before His feet giving thanks." It mattered not to him what the others did; his duty was plain and he did it.

And that should be always our principle: To remember that God deals with us individually; to remember our individual rc1ations with God. Neither the good nor the evil that we do is lost before God because of the amount of good or evil in the world. We may be one of ten, or we may be one of a hundred, or we may be one of millions, but we are always individualized in the sight of God. It must have been a revelation to the grateful Samaritan after returning to thank his benefactor to find that to such wonderful power: he added an equally wonderful knowledge: "Were not ten made clean and where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God except this stranger."
__________________
Adapted from Plain Sermons by Practical Preachers, Vol. II(©1916)
Nihil Obstat: Remegius Lafort, S.T.D
Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York