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THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ CHRIST WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM

(Read Luke xix, 41-47.)  

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the ruin of unhappy Jerusalem, so bitterly wept over by our Blessed Lord, was to come upon her because she has not profited by His coming in order to save and sanctify her. The same condemnation is renewed in those souls, who refuse the visits which God secretly makes to them to enrich them with His gifts. These visits are the voices and inspirations in the heart, the lights and the impulses by which He stimulates souls to forsake evil and embrace virtue. Behold I stand at the door and knock. (Apoc. Iii, 20.) How blessed is the soul that receives Him! Equally unhappy is that soul which refuses the visit and will not answer to the knock.

APPLICATION: And you, n matter what your state in life, who have been so often favoured by God’s visits to you to make you less worldly and more holy, how have you received them?     

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: O that my ways may be directed to keep your justifications. (Ps. cxviii, 5.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY the injury you incur if you neglect to receive these visits. The first is that God will not favour you anymore with His strong inspirations, but will visit you more rarely or less perceptibly. If then you do not profit by His loving visits, what good can you expect when you find yourself deprives of these great helps? For, when they cease entirely, you will be unable to conceive even as much as a good thought in your mind. The other injury you incur is, that despoiled of this assistance you may be left to the mercy of your ill-regulated appetites, and in the power of the enemies of your soul.

APPLICATION: Consider seriously how these same enemies, seeing you despoiled of the most powerful help of heaven, will surround you with ever stronger and more incessant temptations. They shall cast you down to the ground by even the most shameful falls, making you go from bad to worse and pass from voluntary venial sins to the gravest mortal ones.  How many of these most grievous fall are seen, even among those who were formerly pious and even holy!

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me. (Ps. lv, 3.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY on the other hand the profit that he receives who accepts God’s visits and promptly respond to His inspirations, placing himself in His hands and conforming himself to the divine will. He is like the spouse in the Canticle, who said: My soul melted when he spoke. (Cant. V, 6.) He lets himself be guided entirely by the voice of God without retaining in himself anything of his own will.

APPLICATION: If you but do the same you will be able to keep God within your heart. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him. (Apoc. Iii, 20.) and by His presence He will protect you from temptations, and from all the assaults of the enemy. He will feed you with spiritual consolations. He will encourage you by the illumination of your mind. He will feed you with spiritual consolations. He will make you prepare for Him a table of choice and virtuous works: I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Apoc. Iii, 20.) Oh what immense benefits are enjoyed by him who hears the call of God, and promptly accepts His visits! And how many there are who, by responding to the voice of God which invited them to some heroic act of virtue, have risen to a sublime degree of sanctity, like St. John Gualbert and many others.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thy comforts have given joy to my soul. (Ps. xciii, 19.)

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MONDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ GENERAL JUDGMENT

They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. (Matt. xxiv, 30.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the universal judgment is ordained, among other reasons, in order that each man may know the good or the evil there has been amongst men. Consequently, all must appear before that great tribunal, and all must be manifested that now lies hidden within us of thought, of word, or of actions. At such a revelation how the world will be confounded at the mistakes it has made, despising those who should have been exalted and exalting those who should have been despised!

APPLICATION: Why therefore do you now fear the judgment of the world so much? What does it matter that all the world blame you if you be praised by God, or that all the world praises you if you be blamed by God? Reflect now as to what you will appear in reality before the tribunal of Christ.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man can do unto me. (Ps. cxvii, 6.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY that this complete manifestation of ourselves will be so made, that every most intimate recess of our  interior shall be laid open and made clear, like crystal in the sun from which cannot be hidden the slightest flaw. Untruth will then be seen placed against truth, iniquity against the divine goodness, ingratitude against the divine beneficence.

APPLICATION: What confusion will then be yours, seeing yourself before the eyes of all, very different from that which men now think you to be? You now form an estimate of your own sins from the common estimate formed from all men, who, the more widespread the evil is, regard it the less. But in that day you will judge of sin as it is in very truth. Before the tribunal of Christ, and in the confusion of others, you will more clearly come to perceive and know the evil of your own sins.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: All the day long my sin is before me: and the confusion of my face hath covered me. (Ps. xliii, 16.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that at the universal judgment man will receive not only in his soul, but also in his body, the punishment or the reward that he has deserved: That he may receive the proper things of the body whether it be good or evil. (2 Cor. v, 10.) It will be either goo without any admixture of evil. Or evil without any good.

APPLICATION: Think of this now whilst it means so much for you. At the tribunal of Christ nothing is weighed except our actions, not nobility, nor learning, nor riches. He who has done evil will receive evil for all eternity. Give them according to their works. (Ps. xxvii, 4.) Why then do you not attend in earnest to that which alone matters?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou art just, O Lord: and thy judgment is right. (Ps. cxviii, 137.)

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TUESDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ REST IN CHRIST

Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. (Matt. xi, 28.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY who those are that labour and reap no reward, but merely feel the weight of their labours. They are all those who seek consolations on the pleasures and goods of this world. They labour to gain riches and to gratify their own inclinations, and yet they are never satisfied. What is worse, after so great labours they never attain to what they desire and long for: they labour and are burdened.

APPLICATION: Not few is the number of such unhappy souls. They labour to gain a name and glory, or to acquire greater ease, or to gratify their own inclinations: and they find themselves burdened by unrest, by contradictions, by remorse of conscience and ever entangled in a multitude of sins. Unhappy you if ever you become such a one as these.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Behold the man that strengthened himself in his vanity. (Ps. li, 9.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY that Jesus Christ invites you to come to Him in order to escape from these distresses, and to be relieved and refreshed. Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Oh words that should make your heart expand with joy and tenderness! If Jesus invites you and promises to console you what do you fear? Perhaps you fear that He does not really mean what He says, when He thus so lovingly calls you. Or you fear that He, Who is the fount and source of all consolation and of comfort, is unable to keep His promise.

APPLICATION: Leave off once and for all seeking after the consolations of the world, and have recourse quickly to Jesus Christ, and by thus acting you will be speedily delivered from the burden. The burden shall be taken from off the shoulder. (Isa. x, 27.) Observe who those are who live most peacefully and most contentedly. Are they those who seek anxiously after worldly consolations, or not rather those who wish not or seek not any consolations except those to be found at the feet of Jesus, their crucified Saviour.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it. (Ps. cxxxi, 14.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the refreshment and rest which Jesus Christ will give you is of two kinds, the one negative and the other positive. The negative consists in delivering you from the burden of labours and afflictions, and from the search of consolations which are not to be found in the good things of this world but in God alone. The positive consists in causing you to feel the effects quite contrary top those which led you to pursue the consolations of this world. For in seeking earthly consolations you became restless and embittered, and your conscience was burdened and you were in danger of being eternally lost.

APPLICATION: Seek consolations then only at the feet of Jesus. He will give you the quiet of a good conscience: He will re-invigorate you with the strength of grace; and He will crown you with joy in the hope held out ot you of the reward of perfect rest in paradise. Is not all this enough to make you accept His invitation and promptly go to Jesus Christ? 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The most high hath sanctified his own tabernacle. God is in the midst therefof, it shall not be moved. (Ps. xlv, 5, 6.)

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WEDNESDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ VAIN MIRTH

Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep.  (Luke vi, 25.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that they, who give themselves up entirely to pleasure and seek thus to secure happiness for themselves, are justly reproved by our Blessed Lord. For they laugh in a valley of tears, which this world really is, where there is nothing but misfortune, sin, and misery, for which they should in all reason weep. This is not the time to laugh and rejoice: the future life is meant for that, and not the present one. A time to weep and a time to laugh. (Eccles. Iii, 4.) Moreover so many laugh and rejoice precisely over those things for which they should most bitterly weep: Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things. (Prov. ii, 14.)

APPLICATION: At lease learn to pity such unhappy beings, and thank God for having freed you in great measure from this worldly folly. At the same time, however, reflect seriously and be watchful lest a too great liberty and the too great satisfaction that perchance you seek, may not also in the end bring forth for you weeping and mourning.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Ps. cxxv, 5.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY the punishment with which Christ threatens such unhappy souls. Woe to you, for you shall mourn and weep. (Luke vi, 25.) Grief indeed belongs to the soul, weeping to the body: but they will carry both one and the other down to hell with them. Think of the intense grief that the soul will experience amid the sufferings of the damned. So many in this life are inconsolable at the loss of a child, of some possession, of a position in life. What then will be the grief of those who realise that they have lost for ever an infinite good, which is God, and that they lost Him for a vile little pleasure which vanished in a moment? How their vivid realisation of the intense happiness enjoyed in heaven, greater far than all the evils of hell, will increase their agony, their torments, and their despair.

APPLICATION. Think often of this, that so you may rejoice to have no part in their vain and empty laughter. Thus you will not come to be a partaker also of their folly and of their misery.  

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The sorrows of death surround me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me. The sorrows of hell encompass me. (Ps. xvii, 5, 6.) 

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY  how the tears of the body reveal the suffering of the mind. What tears does not an intense internal pain draw from the eyes of a sick man who is convulsed by it? And yet who in this life can suffer in his body the torments all the damned  suffer in hell, in a fire that will make them feel at the same time all the horrors of all evils, however contrary one to each other, such as freezing cold and flames of fire. In one fire they will feel all kinds of torments, says St. Jerome. Thus will they have to pay for their short time of laughing by never-ending tears.

APPLICATION: How much better it is for you to forgo in this present life these sinful diversions, and to weep for you own sins and for those of your neighbour. Thus you will not have to weep hopelessly in the future life, where according to the measure of your sinful pleasures here there will be grief and torment there! As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her. (Apoc. Xviii, 7.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The unjust shall be punished: and the seed of the wicked shall perish. But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore. (Ps. xxxvi, 28.)

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THURSDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ HEARING THE DIVINE SPIRIT

The Spirit breatheth where he will; and thou hearest his voice; but thou knowest not whence he cometh and whither he goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John iii, 8.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that he, who is born according to the flesh, resembles those who gave him birth although not quiet perfectly. He also who is born supernaturally of the Spirit is like unto the Spirit of the Lord, Who gave him this new birth although far from equal to Him, and remaining far inferior even in heaven when in his most perfect state. The actions therefore of a really spiritual man have somewhat of the divine in them, having some of the qualities which Christ here says that the divine inspirations have. The first property is that the Spirit of the Lord breatheth where He will with an absolute freedom of action, subject top no laws and to no rules.

APPLICATION: Similar to this are the actions of all truly spiritual persons; so is everyone that is born of the spirit. It is enough for them to know the divine will. They then at once do it, conquering interiorly all the opposition of their judgment and all human respect. Are you in like manner straight-forward iin spiritual matters and in the divine service, or have you a thousand reserves that hold you back?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. My soul hath coveted to long for thy justifications at all times. (Ps. cxviii, 20.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY another property of the Spirit of the Lord, which is that He speaks in such a manner that it is impossible not to hear Him. And thou hearest his voice. You may resist and may not accept His divine inspirations, but you cannot help hearing them, even though you close your ears.  So it is with every really spiritual man. By the perfection of his actions, by calmness, by modesty, by humility, and by obedience, with a mute language he invites others also to good. They may decline to imitate him, yet they cannot avoid hearing him.

APPLICATION: Have you in your life and in your actions such a voice, which speaks to all and which invites all to good? Happy indeed if you have. But beware that you act not in a way that rather incites to evil.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I will hear what the Lord God will speak to me; for he will speak peace unto his people. (Ps. lxxxiv, 9.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that you cannot tell whence comes the voice of God which speaks to you, nor whither it goes: thou knowest not whence he cometh and whither he goeth. You cannot tell whence it comes. It sometimes comes from beholding a corpse, from hearing a sermon, from reading a holy book, or conversing with a spiritual person. Neither can you tell whither He goeth. Which of us can foretell what God intends to do with us when He calls us to serve Him more fervently? Is it to be an apostle, a martyr, or a model of patience? Who can think what the will of God is? (Wis. Ix, 13.)

APPLICATION: A truly spiritual man is content to have only God as witness to the end for which he works. He cares nothing for what people may say, and although he does not conceal his virtuous actions, he hides his intentions and his ways, which he holds secret from everyone, except from him whom on earth he has in the place of God. Neither will your spirit be the true one, if you make known your intentions and ways without reason to every one.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man can do unto me. (Ps. cxvii, 6.)

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FRIDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ JESUS OUR HELPER IN COMBAT

Have confidence, I have overcome the world. (John xvi, 33.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the combat which we have to sustain is against those three well-known enemies, an immoderate love of possessions, of pleasures, and of praise or reputation. You should prepare yourself for this combat buy a courageous determination to suffer, and to accept with patience, the privations, the sorrows, the slights which are to be met with every day.

APPLICATION: In order to do this you must not only lay aside, as the Apostle says (Heb. xii, 1), the weight of the sins which you have committed, but also all the occasions of committing sin again. For how could you ever hope to abstain from vain pleasures of the world, to shun its glory and grandeur, while you remain amidst so many occasions that attract you?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Do manfully, let thy heart take courage, and wait thou on the Lord. (Ps. xxvi, 14.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY that after having laid aside all impediments, you need to strengthen yourself by the example of Christ. Having suffered so much for love of you, He will help you to acquire the desire and the patience to suffer for love of Him. In order to encourage yourself, look upon Jesus Who, to set before you an example, refused the glory due to His Sacred Body and chose rather poverty, and suffering, and contempt. Who having joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. (Heb. xii, 2.)

APPLICATION: Think often then how the life of Jesus was a continual and a heavy cross, to which He was nailed by those constant attendants upon Him, poverty, suffering and contempt. These were ever at His side, His companions at His birth, during His life, and at His death. Fix your gaze attentively on Him. It will give you strength against your weakness, as did the sight of the bronze serpent to the Jews in the wilderness.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: He is my God and Saviour. He is my protector: I shall be moved no more. (Ps. lxi, 3.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that Jesus is also called by the Apostle the author and finisher of faith. (Ibid) As author or beginner He encourages you by that which He now promises you; as finisher by that which He will afterwards give you. Jesus is author of the faith on earth, teaching it by His doctrines, manifesting it by holy examples, and confirming it by such abundant lights to the mind and impulses to the heart. He will hereafter be the finisher in heaven, rewarding the faith you have here professed in Him with the clear vision, into which faith will at last be resolved.

APPLICATION: This transcendent vision will be in proportion to the degree, in which you have now confirmed yourself to His example, in embracing poverty and despising riches; in embracing suffering and refusing pleasures; and in embracing contempt and flying from honours.  

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth through-out all generations. (Ps. cxliv, 13.)

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SATURDAY AFTER THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ GOD OUR TEACHER

You call me Master and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. (John xiii, 13.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that God Himself wishes to be your chiefest Master, to instruct and to teach you by means of prayer. When He speaks to you through the mouth of others, He gives you lessons as a public teacher, but when He speaks to you in prayer, He is your special and private Teacher. He intends to teach you in this school not high or subtle things, but those that are useful. I teach thee profitable things (Isaias xlviii, 17), He says by means of His prophet, things ordained for the extirpation of sins, for the acquisition of virtue and a closer union with God.

APPLICATION: Whether your prayer is profitable or not, is shown not by the lights, nor the tears therein, but by its leading to your living more mortified, strong, and fervent life. When you reap not any profit in your manner of life from prayer, you may rightly suspect it, for it is a school intended to lead to practice.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thy ear to my petition. (Ps. lxxxvii, 3.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY that this Master does not only teach you by word, but also by His example: I myself that spoke behold I am here. (Isa. lii, 6.) You have not to weary yourself inn searching far and wide for a workable rule for your actions. It is enough for you that you look at Jesus Christ, and see how He acted in whatever matter you have at hand. All other rules are apt to lead astray. The quickest and surest one is to look at the actions of your divine Master: And thine eyes shall see thy teacher. (Isa. xxx, 20.)

APPLICATION: Nothing can ever happen for which you have not an example at once ready for you in Him. Reflect on the life of Christ, and thus regulate your actions in any proof which God may put you to, either by means of prosperity, or by adversity, or by means of the devil. How have you tried thus far to profit by His divine example?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Behold, O God our protector, and look upon the face of thy Christ. (Ps. lxxxiii, 10.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY That this Divine Master does not only give you lessons profitable to you in the school of prayer, but also enables you to understand them and gives you the strength to put them into practice. Behold then with what zest you should go to so profitable a school, the school of prayer. How many simple folk by the purity of their lives have come to understand in prayer things unknown to the wise! How many souls in the time of prayer  have been strengthened to embrace the virtue of patience, of humility, of charity, which before had seemed to them impossible to hope to attain!

APPLICATION: How far do you appreciate and value such a Master, Who in the act of giving you His instruction gives you also the capacity and the strength to avail yourself of it? By his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many. (Isa. liii, 11.) 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains: from whence help shall come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Ps. cxx, 1-2.)

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