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THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ A LITTLE LABOUR AND A GREAT REWARD

(Read John xvi, 16-22.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Jesus now being on the point of beginning His scared Passion, said to the Apostles: A little while and ye shall not see me. Our Blessed Lord thus calls all that period of His suffering short, and little all that immense amount of torments which has been compared by the prophets at one time a sea, at another to an abyss, or to an overwhelming deluge of suffering: Waters have flowed over my head. (Lamen. Iii, 54.) and The deep hath closed me round about. (Jonas ii, 6.) and why did He speak thus? Doubtless to denote that such great suffering for you seemed but little to the excessive love He had for you. Hence He several times spoke of His passion as a chalice, as if it were nothing more than the smallest draught.

APPLICATION:  To you, on the contrary, every little trouble you endure for the sake of Jesus seems to be too great, every little drop appears to you as an ocean, because you have not a true love for our Lord in your heart. True love for Jesus does not consist in tender affections but in sharing His cross and in embracing sufferings with joy ~ to love and suffer for the beloved being one and the same thing.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I am come into the depths of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me. (Ps. lxviii, 3.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  That Jesus in saying to His Apostles: A little while and ye shall not see Me, intended to signify not only that brief time of His passion after which the should see Him in His risen life. He moreover meant to denote the short space of the years of their lives in this world, after which in the happiness of the kingdom of heaven they would see and enjoy Him for ever. It is as if He had said: Do not fear the labours and persecutions that will come upon you after my departure, for the labours will be brief but the repose and the crown eternal.

APPLICATION:  How greatly ought you also to take courage from the thought that your labours for God in this world will be brief and momentary, but the reward will be eternal! Mark how quickly the years that your have already passed are flown. Much more quickly however will the few years that remain to you slip by, and at the end of your life you will perceive how short and momentary it has all been.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Man is like to vanity: his days pass away as a shadow. (Ps. cxliii, 4.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that if you would fully realise how short and momentary are your labours and suffering for God in this life, you should compare them with the immense and eternal reward by which you will be recompensed by God in the life to come, and say with the Apostle: That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. (2 Cor. iv, 17.)  The labours of the worldling are long and grievous, the reward uncertain and momentary. Yet how many for such a transitory reward labour long, some at court, others on the battlefield, others again at sea?

APPLICATION:   Does then the toil of some few years which you endure in the observances of a true Christian life appear too much to you, although it gain for you a blessed eternity? They indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. (1 Cor. ix, 25.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  I thought upon the days of old and I had in my mind the eternal years; and I meditated in the night with mine own heart. (Ps. lxxvi, 6-7.)

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MONDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ PREPARATION FOR DEATH

Be you then also ready, for at what hour you think not, the son of man will come. (Luke xii, 40.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Christ does not tell you to prepare yourself for death at the last moment. He bids you to be always prepared: Be you also ready, The greatest folly then that you can be guilty of is to lose the precious time that God has given you wherein to make this preparation, and to postpone it to the last moment of your life. The only true and real preparation for death consists in leading a good life. That which is made only at the last is little indeed in proportion to an act so important as that of dying well.

APPLICATION:  There are two preparations then which you should make, the one remote the other proximate. The remote consists in never doing anything in which you would be sorry to find yourself occupied at the approach of death. The proximate is to keep your conscience in good order that you remain like the ship laden in the harbour, which awaits only a favourable wind, without any further refurnishing or repairs.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever. (Ps. cxx, 7-8.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that you make neither of these preparations because you are always promising yourself further time, and will not listen to Jesus Christ Who tells you plainly that at what hour you think not the Son of man will come, that is to say, when you least expect it. He says, at what hour, because you cannot be certain of one day, not even one hour. Do not deceive yourself by imagining that with you at least He will deal differently, because when thus speaking He spoke to all men.

APPLICATION: Be sure therefore that in these words Christ also speaks to you. Say with holy Job: I know not how long I shall continue and whether after a while my maker may take me away. (Job xxxii, 22.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God. When shall I come and appear before the face of God? (Ps. xli, 3.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that whilst our Lord warns you that He will some suddenly , He yet shows you at the same time that He does not wish to take you unawares. If you are in such a manner surprised it will be entirely your own fault, because you have not taken the warning to heart, by living in this world in such a manner as if each day were to be your last.

APPLICATION:   Make you prayer, your confession and holy communion, celebrate or hear Mass, as if each duty were to be your last. Often recommend to God that last hour of your life. Beseech Him with all your heart that He will then assist you and will defend you from all its perils. If you do this you will live prepared for death, which may come at the hour in which you were not thinking of it, but never in the hour in which you did not expect it. Blessed are they that wait for him. (Isa. Xxx, 18.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling; that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living. (Ps. lv, 13.)

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TUESDAY AFTER EASTER AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ CARE OF THE BODY

It is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body go into hell. (Matt. v, 30.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the rule which you are to be guided in governing your body is to treat it as a servant; that is to say, to have a care for it but not too tender a one. He that nourisheth his servant delicately, says the Book of Proverbs (xxix, ,21.) afterwards will find him stubborn. If you nourish it not, it will languish: but if you nourish it delicately it will become perverse. That same care which you bestow upon it must be directed to this end, namely, that it acts as a servant in your regard, that it watch, labour and be employed for the benefit of your soul.

APPLICATION:  But how often is your care of your body given for no other reason than merely to gratify its every desire? This is not to make yourself master of it. Show that you are its master, by making your body understand when necessary that it is in fact your servant. If it have to suffer somewhat from hunger, or cold, or heat, let it have patience. Such is the consequence of its fallen state.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Be thou, o my soul, subject to God; for from him is my patience. (Ps. lxi, 6.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  how great the peril is if you treat this servant of yours too tenderly. It will be rebellious, obstinate, whimsical and disobedient to you. What a disgrace it would be for the head of a family, when he gave some command to his servant, to get from him the answer made openly that he would not obey! That same disgrace you may perhaps have to suffer from your body. It will not be rebellious while you actually pamper it. Nay, it will even make you great promises that it will be better able to endure labours for you, and be able to render you much more assistance in the time of prayer and in your long spells of study. Do not however hearken unto it, for afterwards you will find it stubborn: when you would have it toil and work, it will refuse you.

APPLICATION:   Consequently let not yourself be led by such deception to pamper it. The saints have acted in this manner. The more they toiled and laboured for God, so much the less care had they of their body, so that it might the better serve the spirit.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  My mouth shall speak the praises of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever, yea for ever and ever. (Ps. cxliv, 21.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that although a master is less exacting with a servant whom he has had many years in his service, yet between such a servant and our body there is still this difference. Towards our servant there is no fear of that irregulated self-love that there is towards our own body. With our servants we should certainly incline to be more rigorous than indulgent.

APPLICATION:  Consider a little how you have observed this rule in your own regard, and how imprudent it is to concede too much to self-love and you senses and so make them rebellious.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling. (Ps. ii, 11.) 

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WEDNESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink… Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive who believe in him. (John vii, 37-39.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Christ in speaking of His faithful followers who were then the Apostles and now are those who are united to Him by a lively faith, said that all of them should receive from heaven streams of living water, which should inundate their souls and flow forth for the benefit of their neighbour. This celestial water is the Holy Spirit, together with His gifts, which are called streams, to denote the abundance and the incessancy with which they flow, for, though widely diffused, they never in the least diminish. The Holy Spirit is like a fountain of water whose water shall not fail. (Isa. Lviii, 11.)

APPLICATION: Blessed then are you if you possess within you this fountain of living water springing up into life everlasting! Thus are you made one of Christ’s faithful ones. Thus will you be able to rise to the perfection of your state of life, and to become also an active instrument for the salvation of your neighbour.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture. (Ps. xxii, 1-2.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that these streams of living water are given to the true followers of Christ, not in order that they should serve for themselves alone, but that they may also be poured forth for the good of others. Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad and in the streets divide thy water. (Prov. v, 16.) It behoves you not to be satisfied with being good for yourself alone, but to strive also to be instrumental in the salvation of others as far as ever your state of life permits you, by good example, by edifying conversation and by fervent prayers. And if you are bound to all this in regard to those outside your own house, how much more so towards those in your own family and household.

APPLICATION: In order then that others should derive profit from these waters, it is necessary that they should flow forth from your heart whence they have their source. Some are careful to exhort others and to give counsel in private, but their words have little result, and why? Because these waters are not living but without life. They gush forth from impulse, from boasting, self-interest or from some other human motive. Strive to acquire within yourself these living fountains, which will render you a true and faithful follower of Christ and one who is profitable to your neighbour.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  With my whole heart have I sought after thee. (Ps, cxviii, 10.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that if you would partake of these fountains you must dispose yourself to receive the. The Holy Spirit never forces Himself on any one. It is for you to desire Him. But how can you be thought to desire Him if you make not the use of the necessary dispositions to receive Him, as did the Apostles?

APPLICATION:  These dispositions consist in desiring Him ardently, in imploring Him frequently, and in separating yourself from all those creatures which so occupy your heart as to leave no room for the Holy Spirit to enter in Hid plenitude, to fill and inebriate you as He did the Apostles. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts ii, 2.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. (Ps ciii, 30.)

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THURSDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ THE HOLY EUCHARIST OUR FOOD

My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood id drink indeed. (John vi, 56.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that when Jesus comes into your soul in the most holy Eucharist, He is in very truth your guest. But how different from all other guest! These when they enter your house come that they may receive at your hands. Jesus, not content with coming to you who are a vile creature of earth, wills moreover to prepare the table Himself, and to give you Himself as food.

APPLICATION:  Reflect awhile and see what amazing love is this on the part of your Lord that should fill every soul with astonishment and wonder.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  He had made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord, he hath given food to them that fear him. (ps. cx, 4-5)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that it is not only said that He would give them to eat, but also to drink, so that you might understand that in the Holy Eucharist Jesus gives to you complete refection. Not indeed that to eat His flesh is not also to drink His blood, and to drink His blood not the same as to eat His flesh; but in giving you to partake of the two species of bread and wine He would have you remember all that He suffered  for you in that most cruel and bloody death of the cross.

APPLICATION: Remember then that in this sacred banquet you receive that most holy body, which for your sake was victim of a most bitter death, and that you partake of that blood which for love of you gushed in such great streams from His veins. With this thought, how fully will your soul be refreshed and rejoice, so that it cannot refrain from burning with love towards Him Who loved you to so great an extent.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   He fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock. (Ps. lxxx, 17.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY  that if it be a marvellous thing that our Lord should give Himself to His creatures in so perfect a manner, still more amazing is it that He should give Himself to the ungrateful. He shall feed and give drink to the unthankful. (Ecclus. xxix, 31.) And indeed how few are those who are truly grateful to our Lord for the ineffable benefit left us in the most holy Sacrament! How many there are who immediately after receiving Him into their breast drive Him away again by giving entrance to the devil into their hearts. Any kind of ingratitude seems hard to bear, but still harder is that of him who was daily fed at your table. And yet this is what Jesus continually subjected to by men, for after He has shown them such immense goodness in giving even Himself to them as food, ingratitude is the return they make.

APPLICATION:  Can you then doubt that He Who has given you Himself will not give you also every other good thing? Can you fear that He will not protect you with a special love, after having made you  a mystical member of Hid body in the most Blessed Sacrament?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   What  shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he hath rendered to Me? I will take the chalice of salvation and I will call upon the name of the Lord. (Ps. cxv, 12-13.)

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FRIDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ GOD’S LOVE FOR MAN

God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son. (John iii, 16.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY the difference that there is between our love and the divine love. We are moved to love one another because of some good in himself. God on the contrary is moved to love man, not because he is good but because He would make him good. The sculptor sees the tree in the forest and is pleased with it, not for what it is in itself, but because of what he designs to form from it with his chisel. So likewise does God act towards us, but in a much higher degree. He imparts the dispositions necessary for the succ3ssful issue of the work, a thing the sculptor cannot do.

APPLICATION: When you love anyone you are moved to do so by the good qualities you perceive in the person. But God’s love towards you is not for the good qualities He sees in you. It has no other motive nor beginning than His own love. Will you not then in return learn to love Him Who loves you so disinterestedly, and Who has in Himself sp many reasons for being loved?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. (Ps. xvii, 2.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that this love of God has been perpetual. He has loved you from all eternity, not in a general way with all of mankind but in a particular and individually. How is it then possible that you are not moved to love Him in return? You often feel yourself drawn towards one who has done you a favour, who has promoted your interests, and yet of whom you had no previous knowledge. What therefore should you not feel towards God Who has loved you before you were born into the world, and before even the world was formed? Yae, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. (Jer. Xxxi, 3.)

APPLICATION: Will you not then love Him Who has loved you from all eternity? Were you to abandon so true and tried a friend for others, new ones, you would learn your folly to your cost. Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him. (Ecclus. ix, 14.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord keepeth all them that love him. (Ps. cxliv, 20.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY  that God out of pure love chosen you from all eternity, ordained in like manner the best means suited to draw you to Himself. Therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee. (Jer., ibid.) Contemplate a little the facility and opportunities He has given you of doing good during your lifetime, so that He may say in very truth: I have drawn thee. God has used a loving violence in order to conquer the resistance of your rebellious will, and whereas He might well have abandoned you, He has continued to strengthen and show mercy towards you. I have drawn thee, taking pity on thee, notwithstanding your ignorance and weakness, your malice and perversity.

APPLICATION:  For so many and so great acts of goodness and of mercy, do you not feel yourself constrained to yield and give yourself up to Him once for all conquered?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  Let such as love thy salvation say always: the Lord be praised.  (Ps. xxxix, 17.)

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SATURDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER ~ VALUE OF TIME

The night cometh when no man can work. (John ix, 4.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY how quickly the years pass away. Think of the years of your own lifetime that have already gone by. How short they seem to you! And yet in the same fleeting manner will the few years or weeks or days of life that may still remain to you glide by. How is it then that you manifest so little solicitude to store up merit for heaven? And yet you devote so much time to sleep, to idleness, to mere vanities and useless diversions.

APPLICATION:  Be diligent therefore in prayer, the praise of God, study, and work for your neighbour, because you will reap reward in heaven in proportion as you have sowing during the brief days of life that remain to you.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  My days have declined like a shadow and I am withered like grass. (Ps. ci, 12.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that the time of life is not only short but once past is irrevocable. All that you now lose of it is gone for ever! Neither can it ever be recovered, even as the water that has once rushed through the bed of a river can never be gathered up again. And notwithstanding all this do you still make such small account of it? At the moment of death how you will grieve for having lost it all so uselessly! Oh how you will then long to have again not only those years which you now neglect to use well, but also those hours, those minutes and even moments of time which now you value so little.

APPLICATION:  You allow your time to flow on uselessly, whereas God on the contrary wills that you hold it in the same account as people are wont to value gold. Let not the part of the good gift overpass thee. (Ecclus. xiv, 14.) Do you not know that each moment of time well spent can gain for you far more than the greatest kingdom of the world?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:   I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth. (Ps. xxxiii, 2.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY what would be the life of a reprobate soul, if by an extraordinary favour of God it were permitted to rise from the dead and live its life over again. Think you that it would neglect to profit by the time thus given it by God? What anxiety would at once take possession of it in its eagerness not to lose one single moment in view of its eternal salvation! And you, who perhaps have deserved more than once to be casted into hell, exert yourself so little to spend the time well which God in Hid mercy grants you in order to expiate your past sins, and secure your eternal salvation.

APPLICATION: What will be your lot if then only you learn to value time, when time shall be no more for you? Repeat to yourself the words of holy Job: I am walking in the path which I shall not return. (Job xvi, 23.) Our human life is a road along which we can walk once only. Blessed therefore is he who knows how to seize his opportunity and make the most of it by laying up riches for eternal life! Most miserable on the other hand is he who neglects it. Never in eternity will he be able to turn back and to make good his error. 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS:  His will is in the law of the Lord and on his law he shall meditate day and night. (Ps. I, 2.)

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