The Parable of the Sower

Monday, 8 February 2010 at 22:56 · Filed under Sermons ·Tagged ,

"A sower went to sow his seed." - St. Luke 8:5

“When a very great multitude was gathered together and hastened out of the cities unto Him, He spoke by a similitude.” Very many people assembled to hear Jesus, brought no doubt by various motives. Some came out of mere curiosity, so as to be able to say: “I have heard Him” probably there were few whose hearts were eager to receive His teaching, and the parable that He uttered shows this to have been the case.

Jesus looked at all the crowd, but an outward glance did not have much effect; then He looked into them all, and all their hearts lay bare and open before Him as He began to speak, to teach them how these hearts should appear and how they should not appear, when the word of God was preached to them.

Your hearts, too, lie open in our Lord’s sight. You may be able to hide from men how much or how little you care for the salvation of your souls, but you can conceal nothing from Jesus. You may impress men with an idea that you are deeply interested in the things of God, but you cannot deceive God. You may mislead men by a merely respectable, orderly way of life, devoid of all inward love and fervour, but your appearance, looks and manners are nothing to our Lord, who cares only for your hearts, and not the outward husk, as it were, of your hearts, but their inmost centre. We may describe as the outward husk our feelings, which appear to be good, gentle and pious, but, like the apples of Sodom, often contain nothing but repulsive dust and ashes. The centre of the heart is the will, which should be firm and steadfast, ready for any conflict and any suffering for the sake of what is right. This is what our Lord sees, and He found it in very few of the multitude that followed Him.

We are but few; would that He could find such a good will in every one of us, few as we are! May the seed of the word of God, sown by the Divine Sower, not remain without fruit in our hearts! “The sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.” Our Lord Himself explained this parable: “The seed is the word of God, and they by the wayside are they that hear, then the devil cometh and taketh the word out of their heart, lest, believing, they should be saved.”

Our Divine Master speaks of the word of God as seed, it is not yet fruit. The seed requires labour on the part of men and God’s blessing before it can grow, blossom and bear fruit. Much toil and exertion are necessary before God’s word can produce in us true piety, and practical, living Christianity. It is not enough merely to hear and know God’s word. The misleading argument : “I have learned my religion” is worthless ; we must be able to say also: “I have practised it, practised it by self-denial and wholesome severity towards myself.”

Why do so many people learn our holy religion, and yet possess so little real religion? At school they sit and listen, they go to church and hear sermons, and in the confessional they receive good advice. They talk about pious subjects, they read good books; they romance about supernatural things, but their way of life remains unaffected by all this. They take no pains to practise their religion, nor to make the seed of God’s word bear fruit. Our Lord referred to those who hear, but do not practise what they hear, in the third part of the parable, where He compares their hearts with a much trodden path, where the seed is trampled down and carried away by the birds.

I teach and preach, and scatter the seed of God’s word in the name of Christ; but what is the use of my speaking to you, if your hearts are set only on earthly desires and fancies, and if you do not try to control your perverse inclinations, your whims and fancies, your temper and passions? What I say makes no impression upon you, for you are hard as a well-trodden path. The word is uttered; it is a tiny seed and yet how powerful! The sound of the word soon dies away, but your sentence of everlasting misery or eternal happiness depends upon your reception of it with a hard or a docile heart. Your hearts should be docile, not soft and yielding to sweet, romantic feelings, but ready to accept what is good. Some day we shall meet again, face to face, before our Judge, who will ask: “Where is the fruit of the seed that I entrusted to you to scatter?” — “Lord, I scattered it with a good and honest purpose.” “But where is the fruit?” — “Lord, it was my task only to sow the seed; it did not depend upon me whether it fell on good soil or on bad.” And then the Judge will turn to you and ask again: “Where is the fruit?” Well will it be for you if you can produce some; but if you cannot, excuses will avail you nothing.

Many people on that day will probably plead as an excuse that the birds of the air devoured the seed, i. e., that the devil took the word away from my heart. Adam and Eve put the blame of their transgression upon Satan, and human beings have always followed their example But would he be able to take away the seed from a heart in which it was planted deep in the love of God? Such an excuse is worthless. If your heart had not been hardened by the footsteps of worldly thoughts and by the constant hurrying to and fro of evil thoughts and desires, Satan could not have carried away the seed of the Word of God, for he has power only over such as are superficial and frivolous, not over those who love God. The excuse is worthless and the punishment eternal.

Adam and Eve blamed Satan for their sin.

You ought to have soft hearts when you come to hear the word of God — soft, not in the sense of being effeminate or emotional, but in that of being ready to receive what is good. Our hearts are softened to emotion at times of prayer as well as in temptation; in prayer, they are inclined towards what is good, in temptation towards what is evil. Emotion makes us shed tears when our sins are laid bare before our eyes, and tears, too, of self pity, when we have to carry out our good resolutions. Emotion leads us to listen patiently both to the teaching of religion and also to words and suggestions against it. Emotion makes us enthusiastic admirers of morality and yet is easily led away by the false doctrines of immorality. It exists simultaneously with the hardness of heart that arises from the constant action of a worldly disposition.

But softness of heart is compatible with firmness and strength of character, the want of which often causes the sower to sow in vain, and the birds of the air, that is to say, bad companions, bad books and bad examples, to destroy the seed, so that many hear the word of God, but have no faith and therefore are not saved.

Think often of this first part of to-day’s gospel! Consider how necessary it is for strength of character to be united with readiness to accept all that is good. May God preserve your hearts from the two fatal extremes, which have plunged so many into destruction, namely, weak emotion and the hardness of a worldly disposition. Amen.

(from the sermons of Rev. F. Peppert)

Bulletin for Sexagesima Sunday, 7 February 2010.

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Saint Blaise

Saturday, 30 January 2010 at 16:16 · Filed under Stories ·Tagged , , , ,

Here followeth the life of Saint Blaise, and first of his name.

St Blaise

Blaise comes from blandus, sweet; or it comes from bela, robe, and sior, small. For he was sweet in his speech, clothed with the robe of virtue, and small through the humility of his actions.

Blaise had won such fame by his gentleness and holiness that the Christians of Cappadocia elected him their bishop: and when the persecutions of Diocletian compelled him to quit his bishopric, he took refuge in a cave, and there led the life of a hermit. The birds brought his food to him, and came to him in flocks, not flying away until he had blessed them. And when any of them was ailing, it came to him, and was restored to health.

One day the governor’s men had hunted over the countryside without finding any game; and coming to the place where Saint Blaise had set up his dwelling, they saw a great gathering of birds and other animals crowding about the hermit as if to seek his protection. And as it turned out, the huntsmen could not lay a hand on any of them. Overcome with surprise, they made this known to their master, who ordered the hermit to be brought to him. That very night, Saint Blaise thrice saw Christ in a dream, saying to him: “Arise, and offer sacrifice to Me!” Whereupon the soldiers came up and said: “Come, the governor summons thee!” And Saint Blaise answered: “Welcome, my children! I see now that God has not forgotten me!”

Throughout the journey he preached incessantly and performed many miracles in the sight of his warders.

A woman brought to him her son, who had a fishbone caught in his throat; and setting him down at the hermit’s feet, tearfully besought him to heal the child. And Saint Blaise, extending his hands over him, prayed God to cure him; and instantly the child was made well.

St Blaise blesses and cures the boy who had a fishbone stuck to his throat.

Another woman, who was very poor, came and asked the saint to obtain the return of her only pig, which had been carried off by a wolf. And the saint, smiling, said to her: “Good woman, be not troubled! Thy pig will be returned to thee!” And at that very moment the wolf was seen running toward them, bringing back to the widow the pig which he had stolen.

As soon as he was come to the city, Saint Blaise was thrown into prison. On the morrow the governor arraigned him, and sought at first to beguile him with soft words, saying: “Greetings, Blaise, friend of the gods!” and Blaise returned: “Greetings to thee likewise, excellent governor! But give not the name of gods to the demons who are burning in Hell with those who honour them!” Infuriated, the governor had him beaten with rods and led back to prison. And Blaise said to him: “Fool! Thinkest thou that thy punishments will rob me of the love of a God Who is within me, and Who gives me the strength to bear any pain whatsoever?” And when the widow to whom he had restored the pig learned that he was in prison, she killed the pig and sent the head and feet to the saint, together with a loaf and a tallow candle. And Saint Blaise, after he had appeased his hunger, sent word to the widow: “Offer a candle every year in the church which shall bear my name, and it will be well with thee, and with all who shall do in like manner! This the widow did each year, and lived prosperously thenceforth.

Meanwhile the governor, seeing that he could not force the saint to worship the idols, had him bound to a stake, and commanded that his flesh be torn with iron spikes; after which he was again led back to gaol. Seven women, however, followed the saint, and gathered up the drops of his blood. The governor ordered them to be seized, and tried to force them to sacrifice to the gods. But they said: “If it be thy wish that we adore thy gods, have them brought to the bank of the pond; and when they have been washed, we shall adore them!” To this the governor gladly consented. And the seven women laid hands on the idols, and threw them into the middle of the pond, saying: “Now we shall see if these be gods. And when the governor, angered beyond measure, laboured his officers with reproaches for allowing such a sacrilege, the seven women said to him: “If these idols had been gods, they would surely have foreseen what we had in mind to do to them!” Then the prefect made ready molten lead, iron rakes, and seven iron helmets reddened in the fire, and, beside these, seven linen robes. And he told the women to choose between the robes and the most frightful torments. Then one of the women, who was the mother of two small children, laid hold of the robes and threw them into the fire. And her babes said to her: “Dearest mother, do not leave us behind, but as thou hast plenished us with the sweetness of thy milk, so now fill us with the sweetness of the Kingdom of Heaven!” Then the governor had them lashed to the stake, and the executioners laid open their flesh with iron points. But their flesh remained as white as snow, and from it milk spurted forth instead of blood. And while they were undergoing these tortures, an angel appeared to them, and comforted them with the words: “Be without fear, for the good workman, who has well commenced his task and finishes it as well, shall have his reward!” Then the governor had them thrown into a burning furnace; but the fire was quenched forthwith, and they emerged unharmed. And the governor said to them: “Have done now with your sorceries, and adore our gods! But they answered: “Finish what thou hast begun, for already the gates of Heaven stand open for us!” The governor therefore commanded that their heads be cut off. And when the headsman drew near, they fell to their knees and prayed as follows: “O God, Who hast delivered us from the powers of darkness and hast led us toward the light, receive our souls into eternal life!” Whereupon their heads were severed, and they departed to Heaven.

Next the governor summoned Saint Blaise anew, and said to him: “For the last time, wilt thou or wilt thou not adore the gods?” And Blaise responded: “Blasphemer, I fear not thy threats! Here is my body, do with it as thou seest fit!” The governor gave the order to cast him into the pond. But Saint Blaise made the sign of the cross over the waters of the pond, and at once they became as firm as the dry earth. And the saint said: “If your gods are true gods, give proof of their power by walking upon this water!” And sixty-five men walked into the water and were drowned. An angel then came down to Saint Blaise and said to him: “Blaise, come out of the pond, and go to receive the crown which God has prepared for thee!” And when he came out of the water, the governor said to him: Dost thou still refuse to adore the gods?” To which Blaise answered: “Know, wretch, that I am a servant of Christ, and cannot adore demons!” The governor sentenced him to be beheaded. And the saint, before offering his neck to the headsman, prayed to God that all who should be suffering from a malady of the throat, and should implore his aid, might be heard and healed. And a voice from Heaven said to him that his prayer was granted. Then the saint was beheaded, and the two children with him. This martyrdom took place about the year of the Lord 287.

(translated from The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine)

Bulletin for the Septuagesima Sunday, 31 January 2010.

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The Goal of Prayer

Saturday, 23 January 2010 at 13:44 · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

St Bernard of Clairvaux

St. Bernard — whose memory is dear to those who have to speak on prayer — in writing to a bishop, advised him that all that was necessary for him was to speak well (meaning to instruct, to discourse); then to do well in giving good example; and finally, to devote himself to prayer. And we, addressing this to all Christians, shall dwell upon the third point, which is prayer.

First, let us remark in passing that, although we condemn certain heretics of our time who hold that prayer is useless, we nevertheless do not hold with other heretics that it alone suffices for our justification. We say simply that it is so useful and necessary that without it we could not come to any good, seeing that by means of prayer we are shown how to perform all our actions well. I have therefore consented to the desire which urges me to speak of prayer, even though it is not my intention to explain every aspect of it because we learn it more by experience than by being taught. Moreover, it matters little to know the kind of prayer. Actually, I would prefer that you never ask the name or the kind of prayer you are experiencing because, as St. Anthony says, that prayer is imperfect in which one is aware that one is praying. Also, prayer which one makes without knowing how one is doing it, and without reflecting on what one is asking for, shows clearly that such a soul is very much occupied with God and that, consequently, this prayer is excellent.

We shall treat, then, on the following four Sundays, of the final cause of prayer; of its efficient cause; of that which properly should not be called the “material cause,” but rather the “object” of prayer; and of the effective cause of prayer itself. For now, I shall speak only of its final cause. But before entering upon the subject of prayer, I must say three or four little things that it is well to know.

Four operations pertain to our understanding: simple thought, study, meditation, and contemplation. Simple thought occurs when we go running over a great number of things, without any aim, as do flies that rest upon flowers, not seeking to extract any juice from them, but resting there only because they happen upon them. So it is with our understanding, passing from one thought to another. Even if these thoughts be of God, if they have no aim, far from being profitable, they are useless and detrimental and are a great obstacle to prayer.

Another operation of our understanding is study, and this takes place when we consider things only to know them, to understand them thoroughly or to be able to speak correctly of them, without having any other object than to fill our memory. In this we resemble beetles which settle upon the roses for no other end than to fill their stomachs and satiate themselves. Now, of these two operations of our understanding we shall speak no more, because they are not to our purpose.

Let us come to meditation. To know what meditation is, it is necessary to understand the words of King Hezekiah when the sentence of death was pronounced upon him, which was afterward revoked on account of his repentance. “I utter shrill cries,” he said, “like a swallow,” and “I moan like a dove,”’ in the height of my sorrow. [Cf. Is. 38:14]. He meant to say: When the young swallow is all alone and its mother has gone in search of the herb called “celandine” in order to help it recover its sight, it cries, it pips, since it does not feel its mother near and because it does not see at all. So I, having lost my mother, which is grace, and seeing no one come to my aid, “I utter shrill cries.” But he adds, “I moan like a dove.” We must know that all birds are accustomed to open their beaks when they sing or chirp, except the dove, who makes her little song or cooing sound whilst holding her breath and it is through the movement up and down which she makes of it, without letting it escape, that she produces her song. In like manner, meditation is made when we fix our understanding on a mystery from which we mean to draw good affections, for if we did not have this intention it would no longer be meditation, but study. Meditation is made, then, to move the affections, and particularly that of love. Indeed, meditation is the mother of the love of God and contemplation is the daughter of the love of God.

But between meditation and contemplation there is the petition which is made when, after having considered the goodness of Our Lord, His infinite love, His omnipotence, we become confident enough to ask for and entreat Him to give us what we desire. Now there are three kinds of petition, each of which is made differently: The first is made by justice, the second is made by authority, and the third is made by grace.

The petition which is made by justice cannot be called “prayer,” although we use this word, because in a petition of justice we ask for a thing which is due to us. A petition which is made by authority ought not be called “prayer” either; for as soon as someone who has great authority over us — such as a parent, a lord or a master — uses the word “please,” we say immediately to him, “You can command,” or “Your ‘please’ serves as my command.” But true prayer is that which is made by grace, i.e., when we ask for something which is not due to us at all, and when we ask it of someone who is far superior to us, as God is.

The fourth operation of our understanding is contemplation, which is nothing other than taking delight in the goodness of Him whom we have learned to know in meditation and whom we have learned to love by means of this knowledge. This delight will be our happiness in Heaven above.

We must now speak of the final cause [that is, the goal] of prayer. We ought to know in the first place that all things have been created for prayer, and that when God created angels and men, He did so that they might praise Him eternally in Heaven above, even though this is the last thing that we shall do — if that can be called “last” which is eternal. To understand this better we will say this: When we wish to make something we always look first to the end [or purpose], rather than to the work itself. For example, if we are to build a church and we are asked why we are building it, we will respond that it is so that we can retire there and sing the praises of God; nevertheless, this will be the last thing that we shall do. Another example: If you enter the apartment of a prince, you will see there an aviary of several little birds which are in a brightly colored and highly embellished cage. And if you want to know the end for which they have been placed there, it is to give pleasure to their master. If you look into another place, you will see there sparrow hawks, falcons and such birds of prey which have been hooded; these latter are for catching the partridge and other birds to delicately nourish the prince. But God, who is in no way carnivorous, does not keep birds of prey, but only the little birds which are enclosed in the aviary and destined to please Him. These little birds represent monks and nuns who have voluntarily enclosed themselves in monasteries that they may chant the praises of their God. So their principal exercise ought to be prayer and obedience to that saying which Our Lord gives in the Gospel: “Pray always.” [Lk. 18:1].

The early Christians who had been trained by St. Mark the Evangelist were so assiduous in prayer that many of the ancient Fathers called them “suppliants,” and others named them “physicians,” because by means of prayer they found the remedy for all their ills. They also named them “monks,” because they were so united; indeed, the name “monk” means “single.” Pagan philosophers said that man is an uprooted tree, from which we can conclude how necessary prayer is for man, since if a tree does not have sufficient earth to cover its roots it cannot live; neither can a man live who does not give special attention to heavenly things. Now prayer, according to most of the Fathers, is nothing other than a raising of the mind to heavenly things; others say that it is a petition; but the two opinions are not at all opposed, for while raising our mind to God, we can ask Him for what seems necessary.

The principal petition which we ought to make to God is that of union of our wills with His, and the final cause of prayer lies in desiring only God. Accordingly, all perfection is contained therein, as Brother Giles, the companion of St. Francis [of Assisi], said when a certain person asked him what he could do in order to be perfect very soon. “Give,” he replied, “one to One.” That is to say, you have only one soul, and there is only one God; give your soul to Him and He will give Himself to you. The final cause of prayer, then, ought not to be to desire those tendernesses and consolations which Our Lord sometimes gives, since union does not consist in that, but rather in conforming to the will of God.

St Francis de Sales

(from the sermons of St Francis de Sales)

Bulletin for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, 24 January 2010.

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“They have no wine.”

Saturday, 16 January 2010 at 23:16 · Filed under Sermons ·Tagged , ,

The mother of Jesus saith to Him: "They have no wine." - St John 2:3

Life is a marriage-feast at which people seem to sit comfortably side by side; every one appears to wish to contribute as much as possible to his neighbor’s pleasure and happiness, and yet nothing fails so often as the wine of charity. Hence the Church to-day reminds us of the Holy Name of Jesus, to tell us that we, too, ought to invite Him to share our feast, so that if the wine of Divine love tends to fail, He may give it to us again. Jesus is the name of everlasting love, let us glorify it, and beg our Lord to come and take up His abode with us, and work in us spiritually the miracle that He wrought long ago in Cana. What was that miracle? He changed water—the less noble liquid — into wine — the more noble. To change what was worse into what was better, to transform a sinful human heart into one pleasing to God, was the task of His infinite love, and we, too, ought to strive to transform what is base within us into something honorable, and what is good into something better. Such is our task here on earth ; in the midst of our mean, temporal exertions, cares and struggles, we have to earn the noblest of all treasures, heaven, eternal bliss. O happy indeed shall we be at the hour of death, when Jesus will turn our last tears, forced from us by the bitter deceptions of life, into the wine of everlasting joy!

The name of Jesus encourages us to co-operate with our Lord in the important business of transforming what is base within as into what is noble, in zealously working with Him at the task of our sanctification.

How can we do this? Let us ask Him how He effected the change of the lower into the higher, and then we shall see what we have to do. It was at a wedding that He changed water into wine, and He did it because He is always ready to listen to any one, and His kind heart is always disposed to grant every prayer. In a higher sense He had already accomplished what in a lower sense He did at the marriage feast. He came down from heaven and was born into the world, uniting His divine nature with our frail human nature, which was thus infinitely exalted and ennobled. The Church reminds us of this fact at every Mass, for, when the priest pours the wine into the chalice, he mixes it with water. The wine signifies our Lord’s Divinity and the water His Humanity, as is stated in the prayer said by the priest: “O God, who didst wonderfully create and dignify the human race, and hast still more wonderfully reformed it; grant that by the mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His Godhead, who vouchsafed to become partaker of our manhood, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.” Yes, by assuming our human nature, Christ united it with the divine nature in the unity of His Divine Person, and thus to some extent made us, weak mortals as we are, participators in His Divine Nature. What an honour for us ! What a stimulus to do all in our power to become more worthy of this favour, to strive more and more to attain to the bliss that Jesus has obtained for us, and to become better, through growing in likeness to God. Why did our Lord do all this? Why did He unite His Humanity so closely with His Divinity? In order that humanity might be one with God. His incomprehensible love worked this miracle.

Yet this was not all. Man was to advance from one stage of perfection to another; and our Lord teaches us this lesson very beautifully. At the marriage feast He changed the water into wine, and at the Last Supper He changed wine again into His Sacred Blood, that He shed for the remission of the sins of many. Over and over again, whenever Mass is said He allows this miracle of the changing of wine into His Blood to take place, that we may unite with Him, and through this close union may be gradually transformed and raised to the dignity of true children of God: What caused Him to do this? It was again His love, His infinite, incomprehensible love.

"This is the chalice of my Blood..."

Now we can return to our former question : How can we co-operate with our Lord in the work of our sanctification? By entering into the infinite love of God; by letting ourselves, our hearts and minds be penetrated by that love, by letting every action in our whole life be in harmony with the words of Thomas A Kempis: “All is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.” If we love God, the muddy water of sin must be changed into the refreshing wine of forgiveness. Love God, and in this love begin to fight against your passions, hard as the struggle may seem. Have you not in your heart a guest able to change water into wine? Can it be more difficult to convert you than to work this miracle? Both are hard things, far beyond your human strength, but nothing is too difficult for Him Whom you love, therefore be not despondent. One drop of evil passion after another will be changed in your heart to virtues, if only you suffer Him to do His Will, and cooperate with Him as far as you are able.

However much we exert ourselves and look to see what amount of good wine we have ready, we shall always have to confess that it is very, very little. This is not because our Divine Guest, whom we have lovingly invited, has not used His grace, but because in our carelessness we are always adding fresh water, that is to say, fresh sins, or because we are not exact in our obedience to the orders that He gives, but imagine ourselves to know better than He does, and, therefore, the transformation of our poor weak hearts into strong and perfect ones is effected very slowly. We ought to acknowledge that even if we have toiled for a long time at our own improvement, we have not cast off all that is evil as much as we should have done. Do not let us be satisfied that in one or other respect the transformation of the water into wine has really taken place, but let us rather fix our attention upon the points where the change has not yet been effected. If you have improved, you have not yet improved as much as you might and ought to have done. Therefore, do not rest contented with the good wine that God’s grace has poured into your hearts, but strive every day to become better and more perfect. You ask, perhaps, how you are to do this; by loving Jesus more day by day; love Him more deeply and let that be the aim of your lives.

Love of our Lord can change the water of your deeds, and works into the good wine of actions pleasing to God. How hard a man works who does not love God! He toils, labours, suffers and struggles, but because there is no love of our Lord in his heart, all his efforts are in vain, or, at best, deserve only an earthly reward; for work done without love of Jesus has its reward only in this world. But as soon as he begins to labour for love of our Lord, to do what He wills and because He wills it, then all his works are transformed into merit, entitling him to heaven as his reward, and at last the bitter cup of labour, toil and trouble will be filled with the golden wine of eternal happiness. Love Jesus daily more and more, and your whole lives will be changed, a commonplace succession of little tiresome duties and trivial annoyances and sufferings will become a series of good deeds, meriting an eternal recompense.

Love Jesus truly, and your hearts and minds will be changed! Our hearts and minds, even if not deeply stained with sin, are apt to be very poor and miserable. What can a heart feel that is void of love of God? Pleasure only in fleeting, childish and foolish things. And in the same way the thoughts of a mind without love of Jesus are never noble, but are prompted by wretched curiosity and interest in what is beneath our notice. Hearts and minds in which love of Jesus has no place, cling to foolish amusements and trivial gossip, to things that do not concern them and have no good results — truly a pitiable state of affairs. But the more fervent is our love of Jesus, the more will our hearts long for higher things and strive to attain them, and our minds will be inspired from above to know and desire what is holy, so that we shall become more accessible to all good influences and more kindly disposed towards our neighbours. What is hard in us will be softened, what is mean will be ennobled and what is stained and disfigured with sin will acquire a heavenly beauty. If you do your best to raise your hearts and minds, the improvement will be seen sooner or later in your outward life, which will be transformed, when true love of Jesus has penetrated, purified and transformed your hearts. You will be gentle and loving to your neighbors, doing much good and preventing much evil; you will do your duty cheerfully and willingly, and so benefit yourselves and others, and by your life, works and sufferings you will be sources of true holiness and happiness.

Love Jesus ever more and more, and your life that has hitherto perhaps been like water, rendering yourselves and others miserable, will be changed into the holy wine of love, gentleness and true piety.

Let us, therefore, invite our Lord to the marriage feast in our hearts, where our earthly life is united to heaven. Let Him be our welcome guest, whose love will transform what is bad in us, so that sin may give place to purity; passions to virtues, work on earth to eternal merit, and our struggles here to glorious results and heavenly dispositions. Amen.

(from the sermons of Rev. F. Peppert)

Bulletin for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, 17 January 2010.

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Humility and Obedience

Saturday, 9 January 2010 at 23:50 · Filed under Sermons ·Tagged ,

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them." - St Luke 2:51

Pride lies at the root of human misery, for it misleads men to their own disadvantage, and makes them set themselves up against God and their fellow men. Pride refuses to submit to any authority and leads only to destruction. Our Lord by His twofold obedience sets us a great example of humility, the virtue opposed to pride. He showed obedience to God by conforming to the Divine precept requiring Him to go to Jerusalem. But in order to show that obedience to human authority is always connected with obedience to God, He obeyed His holy Mother Mary and his foster-father, St. Joseph, and was subject to them. It is wonderful to think that the Son of God humbled Himself so far as to obey weak human beings. Nothing is better calculated to conquer the recklessness and pride that incline us to disobey those in authority over us, than the thought of the Child Jesus, listening to His parents’ words in the little house at Nazareth, ready to do whatever they bid Him and eager to carry out their wishes precisely and without delay. He teaches us most emphatically to be obedient to our superiors; obedience directed all His actions throughout His life. Just as when a child He obeyed His parents, so later on He obeyed the rulers of the state, for instance by paying tribute. By His example He taught us patience even in the greatest sufferings, as He allowed Himself to be taken prisoner by the servants of those in authority, rebuked Peter for drawing his sword and healed the man’s ear that had been cut off. “Be obedient to your superiors” is the lesson taught by the holy Child at twelve years of age — be attentive to His words; for disobedience is a wrong not only to your superiors, but also to Him, since it is His will that you should obey them. To all superiors applies the commandment: “Thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach according to His law, and thou shalt follow their sentence, neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand” (Deut. xvii, 10-11).

St. Peter tells us to “be subject to every human creature for God’s sake,” i. e., although your superiors are only human beings like yourselves, the power that they have over you is from God. They are given you by Him, to order you, in His place, to do what is expedient for the whole community; hence you must be subject to them as His representatives. We see from these passages that obedience to superiors is a necessary consequence of obedience to God. It would be useless to imagine that you were pious and good servants of God if you did not try to pay the obedience due to your superiors, because God has set them over you.

Why does God require us to be obedient? Because without obedience every individual would be ruined and the whole of human society be thrown into confusion. Disobedience involves ruin for the individual. A child cannot understand what is good for him; he knows very little about the world, himself or Almighty God. He regards as good many things that would be injurious to him, and the corruption of our human nature makes him think most unpleasant what is most beneficial. Supposing a child were always to do only what he chose, and were not forced to follow the right course by the affectionate, but if necessary stern compulsion of his superiors, what would be the result? He would be ruined both in body and soul. But is a mark of God’s love that He sets people over the child, who by their care and authority can supply what he still lacks in the way of experience and training. Grati­tude for such care ought to make children eager to obey, and where there is no obedience, there is only sinful ingratitude.

Not only children but grown-up persons also need guidance. Although a man may be able to form a correct opinion of himself and of the various circumstances of life, he may still not be able to consider all circumstances exactly, or to see everything in its true light; he may make mistakes and require some higher authority to keep him back from dangerous and harmful paths. Moreover, there are many passions apt to lead astray even intelligent and highly educated people. What a benefit it is for such, if they are subject to the authority of others, who can regard matters impartially, and how advantageous it is for them, if they do not cast good advice to the winds, but follow it! By doing so they are acting for their own welfare.

It follows from Holy Scripture that we ought to obey our superiors even if we do not know why they order us to do this or that, and do not see that the thing ordered is expedient for us.

True obedience consists in doing a thing simply because it is ordered. A man who obeys an order, merely because he sees that the thing ordered is advantageous to him, is obeying not so much his superior as his own understanding. Hence it is no excuse for disobedience if any one says: “I shall not do as I am told, because I do not see the good of it.” A remark of this kind proves that he knows nothing of the principles underlying Christian obedience. The temptation to disobedience is still greater when pride in our own hearts and wills makes us fancy that we know the reasons why a certain command is laid upon us, but regard them as trivial, and, as we understand the matter better than our superior, we need not obey him. What obedience would there ever be if every subordinate had first to criticize the reasons why lie was ordered to do anything, and then decide whether they seemed satisfactory or not, thinking that he was bound to obey only if the reasons agreed with his own views. He would certainly discover that the reasons for doing anything disagreeable were insufficient, and only what was pleasant would appear obligatory, and thus his own will would take the place of obedience.

Suppose that every member of a large community or family, every person in a town or country, before obeying, had to decide whether the reasons for the command were clear and agreeable to him — what would happen?

One would refuse to obey, another would obey only partially, and complete confusion would result, families, towns and countries would be ruined. Obedience is the bond uniting human beings, and without it men must perish. Hence Church and State alike require us to obey. If you intend to be faithful members of the Church and good citizens, — in other words, if you mean to be genuine Christians, you must early accustom yourselves to obedience, not what is often called obedience nowadays, which is just doing what is pleasant, but real obedience paid to a superior regardless of your own opinions, simply because it is God’s will that obedience be paid to superiors as His representatives. If you do not now accustom yourselves to obey them, you will never obey God Himself. Can we ever perceive what He has in view in the manifold circumstances of our life on earth? Are we not so shortsighted as often to be mistaken with regard to what God in His wisdom requires of us? Is not the life of a Christian an incessant submission to God in faith? Yes, unless we obey Him we shall never reach heaven, which our forefathers lost by their disobedience. You will never obey God properly unless you learn betimes to submit to those in authority over you, who speak to you in His name. He who when young criticises the orders of his superiors, and rejects all that do not please him, will afterwards treat God’s commandments in the same way. Experience shows us that atheists and unbelievers always begin by disobeying their parents and elders. Therefore, if you truly love God, and wish to be faithful to Him throughout your lives, regard obedience as a most sacred duty. Keep Jesus always before your eyes, and whenever a temptation to disobedience arises in your hearts, let the Divine Child look at you with love and say: “My child, I, too, was subject to Mary, My Mother, and to My holy Foster Father.” Amen.

(from the sermons of Rev. F. Peppert, published in 1914)

Bulletin for the Feast of the Holy Family, 10 January 2010.

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