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THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ THE FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND

(Read Mark viii, 1-10.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY the devotedness of this multitude of people. They gave themselves up to following Christ for three consecutive days, without taking any thought of providing themselves with necessary food, nor with any fear of perishing with hunger. Yet our Lord had not promised them food, nor could they see that He had made any preparation for their needs.

APPLICATION:  You have heard over and over again the promises made by God in Holy Scripture, and confirmed by many examples. He will take care of all who follow Him, and will provide for the needs of those who serve Him. Nevertheless in your life you remain so full of solicitude and have so little trust in divine providence! Oh how greatly you wrong God! Begin now to leave all the solicitude of yourself, and to trust in the loving care of God for you, as St. Peter exhorts you to do: Casting all your cares upon him, for he has care of you. (1. Peter v, 7.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Cast your cares upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever. (Ps. liv, 23.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY what attention and what tenderness of affection Jesus showed in providing for the needs of the faithful multitude: I have compassion on the multitude. He felt for them with the compassion of a father’s heart. He would not that they should return to their homes fasting, lest they should faint by the way, but by the miraculous multiplication of the loaves He fed them, and that most liberally, in the desert.

APPLICATION: So likewise god will do for you, if forgetting yourself you attend only to serve and follow Him faithfully. Jesus said to St. Catherine of Siena: Think of me and I will think of you. Hence the Saint laying aside every care of her own interests, her health, her reputation, her life, gave herself only to serve and please Him, greatly to her own advantage, as she lived thenceforth under the special protection of God. Is this not sufficient for you also?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  My eyes are ever towards the Lord. (Ps. xxiv, 15.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that by the bread alone, which was so miraculously multiplied, they were filled and satisfied: They were filled. They were spiritually refreshed by the heavenly doctrine and the marvel of the miracle. At the same time they were refreshed in body by the bread, which gave them relish and renewed their strength, for it was the work of omnipotence. He who, placing all his trust in God, attends only to serve Him without giving any thought to himself, depending solely on divine Providence, will experience a similar blessing and enjoy a like consolation.

APPLICATION:  Strive therefore to live according as God directs you by means of Holy Church and her pastors. By so doing, nothing will be wanting to make you live contentedly.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. (Ps. xxii, 1.)

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MONDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. (Luke xii, 37.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the law of death for men is said to be decreed for mankind, because death is not a natural law man as it is for animal creation, but a positive one. For man was made by God immortal in virtue of original justice. But as he lost this gift for himself and for all his posterity, the decree is now universal and embraces all men.

APPLICATION: Do what you will in order to continue in life, in the end you must die. Have you not heard of Lamech who lived six hundred years and then he died! Of Maleleel who lived eight hundred years and then he died? Of Methuselah who lived nine hundred years, and then he died? So it will be with you. You know that you also must die after a few years. Why then do you live so attached to this earth? Think of your departure from it and think of it often.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Who is the man that shall live, and not see death? (Ps. lxxxviii, 49.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that it is appointed unto men once to die. If you were once to perform the act of death badly, there would be no repairing it. You can never correct the error of dying in sin.

APPLICATION: What then are you doing, that as yet you have not given all your care to making well a passage which can be made only once? Remember whither it conducts you. It leads you to a house wherein you are to live forever, either one of eternal yoy or one of eternal sorrow.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   Great is thy mercy towards me, and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell. (Ps. lxxxv, 13.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that this passage of death is more supremely important because of what succeeds it, than because of what it terminates: After this the judgment. In the same moment, and at the same place where you die, you will see before you that dread tribunal. There alone, without companion, with out help, without even your own body, you will appear in the presence of your omnipotent Judge, Who without partiality will judge you according to your merits.

APPLICATION: How then will you stand? There will be no longer time to appease Him, nor to supplicate Him. For in that moment of your death all the process will have been completed, and the decree pronounced either of eternal reward or of eternal punishment. But each one survives, as it were, his own death in many ways. He lives in the memory of men who perhaps esteem that good who in reality was bad, and contrariwise think him bad who was good. Therefore completeness will be given to the particular judgment by the universal judgment, in which the truth will be made manifest to all, and each one will receive his reward according to his merit, and this also in the body. Bear this great truth in mind; you will fear death and judgment the less.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   God is a just judge, strong and patient: Is he angry every day? Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword: he hath bent his bow. (Ps. vii, 12. 13.)

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TUESDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ PATIENCE IN TRIALS

In your patience you shall possess your soul. (Luke xxi, 19.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that of the three kinds of people, who are spiritually sick, there are some who desire to be cured, but do not wish to submit to the bitter and painful treatment necessary. Others will only submit to treatment that pleases their whims. Finally there are those who offer themselves as ready for whatever treatment may be required, saying to our Lord: Burn, cut, dispose of me as Thou wilt, I am in Thy hands.

APPLICATION: This is the only way to be healed of your infirmities. Let God apply to you whatever remedy pleases Him, because He alone knows the one particular remedy which will be the most advantageous to you: Take all that shall be brought upon thee. (Ecclus. ii, 4.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  My lot is in thy hands. (Ps. xxx, 16.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that it is not so difficult for you to bear a painful remedy either for sickness of body or affliction of soul which comes to you direct from God. It is more difficult to bear patiently the burdens and humiliations which Go lays on you by means of your superiors, or of others who may entertain ill-will towards you. Remember however that not always does the physician apply the treatment with his own hands to the sick person, but more often by the hands of another or a mere servant. So it is with God. He wills that the adversity which is to serve as a remedy should not come to you immediately from Him, but that sometimes it should come to you even from one inferior to yourself.

APPLICATION: Consequently you must not regard who it is who applies the remedy, but must look rather to Him Who prescribes it, God; and this all the more because it is He, Who directs the hand of him who applies it, so that he may not exceed the limits of his duty. But why is it that you entirely forget your Divine Physician, Who orders the medicine, and regard only him who mortifies you and obliges you to remain in this certain place and in that office? No wonder then that you are agitated and even indignant

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Thy hands have made me and formed me: give me understanding, and I will learn thy commandments. (Ps. cxviii, 73.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY how excellent a remedy for you is each trial of sorrow or of humiliation that comes to you, either immediately from the hand of the Divine Physician or by means of your fellow-men. Until God begins to prove you by tribulations, how prone you are to take complacency in you own self!

APPLICATION:   You trust to those desires, those intentions, and those pious affections which you feel in prayer. Alas, when it comes to the proof, you know yourself what a sad lack of courage there is. You at once repine, are disquieted, and lose all submission to the divine will. We do not know how much alloy there is in gold or silver, until they are tried by fire. So in like manner with you, until you are tried in the way of humiliations. Therefore thank God if He often reduces you to this state, for the way of afflictions and of humiliations is the safest one to lead you to heaven; but at the same time beseech God to give you strength to fight manfully in the midst of these trials.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   It is good for me that thou hast humbled me: that I may learn thy justifications. (Ps. cxviii, 71.)

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WEDNESDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ UNION WITH ONE ANOTHER

A new commandment I give you that you love one another. (John xiii, 34.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that you are called like all Christians to be a perfect member of the Church. This perfection, observe carefully, is entirely founded in unity of spirit, for the Church should even as one body endowed with one and the same spirit: One body and one spirit. (Ephes. iv, 4. ) Therefore the distinctive mark of a true follower of Christ is not piety nor mortification nor modesty, but fraternal charity.

APPLICATION: Can it then be that you make more account of every other virtue than this, about which the Apostles went so far as to supplicate you? I beseech you. . . be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephes. iv, 1-3.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day. (Ps. xl, 2.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that to this unity, so natural and so necessary, the vices that are most contrary are pride, anger, impatience and indiscreet zeal. Pride, because among the proud there are always contentions. (Prov. xiii, 10.) Therefore in the first place, you are recommended by the Apostle (Ephes. ibid.) to practice internal and external humility: In all humility. Anger, because an angry man stirreth up strife. (Prov. xxvi, 21.) Then secondly you must needs practice meekness in act and in word. Impatience, which cannot overlook the least offence: therefore in the third place that patience which extinguishes all strife is taught you. In the fourth place, indiscreet zeal in criticising and blaming the actions of others: therefore you are warned to bear the defects of others as you would wish others to bear yours: Supporting one another in charity. (Ephes. ibid.)

APPLICATION:  Examine whether you have even any of the beginnings of these vices in your heart. Strive to correct them to the utmost, by means of the opposite four virtues spoken of above.

AAFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  The meek shall inherit the land: and shall delight in abundance of peace. (Ps. xxxvi, 11.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that this unity among us may be of different kinds. There is a form of unity, brought about by intrigue, which may be set down as a great and dangerous pest. Again there may be a kind of natural union, the result of nationality, of relationship, of duties or studies. Such is not in itself blame-worthy, provided it does not stand in the way of virtuous unity. These unions do not embrace all, neither are they stable in themselves. The only unity which is really holy and virtuous is that which unites persons from a divine motive, that is, because such is the will of God: This is my commandment, (John xv, 12.) although some of them may be undeserving of affection.

APPLICATION: Happy are you if you possess this holy bond of union! If you wish it to be a bond of peace, attend to your own duties and interfere not in that which does not concern you. Peace cannot be preserved where order is disturbed: because, as St Augustine says, peace is the tranquillity of order.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it. (Ps. xxxiii, 15.)

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THURSDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE

Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him. (Matt. v, 25.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the enemy here spoken of by our Blessed Lord is your own conscience. You must treat it as you would a powerful enemy and one who has just claim against you. Give him then due satisfaction and settle matters with him, before he conducts you to the tribunal of the judge.

APPLICATION:  You should so conduct yourself toward the dictates of your own conscience, as not to be condemned by the supreme Judge to pay your debts with all rigour. If you would but bear this truth in mind, you would not so easily despise the remorse of your conscience, which so often speaks only too truly.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The law of his God is in his heart: and his steps shall not be supplanted. (Ps. xxxvi, 31.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that the dictates of your conscience are here called your adversary, not indeed because they are really your enemy, but because regarding  only what is for your true good, they are opposed to your disorderly inclinations. Your real enemy is the allurement and incitement of your own passions and inclinations.

APPLICATION: Therefore be at agreement quickly with your adversary, make perfect peace with your conscience and strive to satisfy it quickly while thou art in the way. Do not lose time, because it may be that you shall unexpectedly find yourself at the end of your journey. For after the way, that is at death, your conscience will be your adversary and will accuse you severely before your Judge, Jesus Christ. He will have regard above all to the accusations of your own conscience, in judging and passing sentence upon you. Neither will your grief then at not having agreed in life with this your adversary be of any avail to you at this tribunal.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Remove from me reproach and contempt; because I have sought after thy testimonies. (Ps. cxviii, 22.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that some wish not to hear the reproaches and importunities of this their adversary. Hence instead of giving him prompt satisfaction, they seek rather to quieten him, to draw him to the views of their own ill-regulated desires by arguments and false pretexts, so that the remorse of their conscience may cease to trouble them.

APPLICATION: Woe to you if you act thus. The voice will notwithstanding make itself heard and will cry out at the tribunal of your Judge. He will condemn you to the prison, and to the prison of fire: thou shalt not go from thence till thou pay the last farthing. This prison must either hell, or at least purgatory: and the penalty will be eternal or temporary. How much more severe and bitter will be the suffering than that, which you would have suffered by having agreed with this adversary of your own conscience during life. 

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

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FRIDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ CONFIDENCE UNDER TRIALS

Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? (Matt. viii, 26.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that one of the greatest temptations of the spiritual life is the temptation of diffidence, because it seems to us that what we do or suffer for God is lost. Therefore against this it will be helpful to consider the words of St. Paul to his disciple Timothy. He says: I suffer but I am not ashamed. (2 Tim. 1, 12.) He confesses to suffering much, but if he suffers he is not thereby cast down. You think perhaps that the saints being inflamed with love for God did not feel their sufferings? It is not so. They felt them intensely, but they were not overcome by them because they knew well how good the Lord is, to Whom they had given themselves up. I know whom I have believed. (Ibid.)

APPLICATION: You feel the sufferings of soul and body and even, it may be, intensely. But wherefore should it not be so? If you did not feel them it would not be suffering for you. If you suffer, it suffices that you be not cast down, but preserve a lively faith and confidence in God.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Let me not be confounded, O Lord: for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell. (Ps. xx, 18.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  the further words of the Apostle: I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day. What was it that he had committed to God? It was many sufferings which he had borne for the love pf God. He had placed them all in the hands of his Lord. Therefore he was certain that God would most faithfully keep all for him and turn them to his greater profit.

APPLICATION: Spend yourself and be spent, labour and bear all for love of God. Tell Him that you desire to depend entirely on Him, and leave all thought of yourself to His care. In this way your life is more sure to bear and produce its fullest fruit.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   My lot is in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies, and from them that persecute me. (Ps. xxx, 16.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the Apostle says he has laid up the store of his sufferings, not so as to receive the reward of them in this life, but against that day, that is against the day of the particular and universal judgment. For a like day of reward and happiness for the good, and punishment for the bad, there cannot be in this life.

APPLICATION: This then is the day that you should always keep vividly before you to strengthen you. Remember that at the particular judgment He will give to the soul the reward of all that it has suffered for Him, and at the universal judgment He will give back to you the body in which you also suffered for Him. This is that most precious trust of which you can say with the Apostle: He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  The earth trembled and was still, when God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. (Ps. lxxv, 9, 10.)

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SATURDAY AFTER THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ PURITY

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. v, 8.)

 

CONSIDER FIRSTLY those words of Jeremias (iv, 14) : Wash thy heart that thou mayest be saved. How few indeed those are who thoroughly cleanse their hearts from all sinfulness. May in the sacrament of confession purify them from sins with which they have soiled them, but few wash their hearts in such a way that no attachment of affection for sin is left in their souls.

APPLICATION: May it not be that you confess, for example, having sought the empty praise of men. Yet you strive not at the same time to root out of your soul the attachment and love, which you retain all the time to that esteem. So to a certain extent you make your soul clean but you do not cleanse it thoroughly. So too as to dangerous friendships, honours, and amusements. Were it as easy to wash fully the heart, as it is to give it an appearance of cleanliness, it would not be said to Jerusalem, that is to the faithful soul, Wash thy heart . . .  that thou mayest be saved

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (Ps. I, 4.)

 

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that the sign of not having cleansed fully the heart from wickedness, is that hurtful thoughts abide too easily in you. If the thoughts that lodge therein were gravely sinful, your heart would not be even clean. But if you have not harboured evil thoughts you have harboured harmful and dangerous one, that is, those that are not matter of grave offense against God, but that may little by little lead on to such. For example, thoughts of vainglory, of worldly pomp, and of amusement, which at any rate show that your heart even if it be clean is not thoroughly so. Remember at the same time that evil thoughts often pass through the minds of all people, and are not always an argument of any attachment to evil. The sign of attachment to evil is their being allowed to abide there. How long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee? It is in this voluntary admission of them that lies all the mischief.

APPLICATION: Examine in how far you keep your mind free not only from thoughts that are bad, but from harmful and dangerous one too. Then will you learn how to cleanse yourself also from your predominating attachments.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   My eyes are ever towards the Lord. (Ps. xxiv, 15.)

 

CONSIDER THIRDLY what you have to do in order to cleanse your heart from all attachment to evil. Strive to conceive a vehement hatred of all that is sinful. A feeble hatred is not sufficient to prevent our turning back, to love that which has so great a force as to wrest to itself our corrupt nature. Therefore it is necessary to hate it intensely. So acted Queen Esther when she detested the diadem she wore on her head, that she might never become attached to it: Thou knowest that I abominate the sign of my pride and glory which is upon my head. (Esth. Xiv, 16.) For she knew that if she did not sincerely hate it, she would come little by little to love it more than she should, and would thus resemble the Israelites who by retaining affection for the onions of Egypt came at last to do what they had never done in Egypt, namely, worship idols.

APPLICATION: You, who have in holy baptism renounced the devil and all his works and pomps, musty beware of retaining any undue affection for the things of the world if you would not be drawn to worship them, that is to fall into mortal sin. 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  O Lord, my portion, I have said, I would keep thy law. (Ps. cxviii, 57.)

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