+++AMDG+++

THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ THE WICKED SERVANT

(Read Matt. xviii, 23-35.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that you yourself are this wicked servant who owes God ten thousand talents, for having transgressed so many times, and in so many ways, the precepts of His law. Your debt for your sin and for the punishment due to it is greater than you can understand, Indeed the debt you contract for the very least sin is so great that all the saints could not pay it with all their prayers and good works, for God hates the least venial sin more than He loves the homage of all His creatures. The debt of punishment also is so great that no one can ever understand it, except those who are actually paying it, and that even to the last farthing, either in purgatory or in hell.

APPLICATION: Though you are so great a debtor to God yet you do not humble yourself in His presence, and implore His pardon, as did the servant in the gospel before his master who falling down besought Him saying: Have patience with me.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: My iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head. (Ps. xxxix, 13.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY how ready and prompt God is to pardon these great debts of sin and of punishment, and that on such easy conditions. Repent then with your whole heart of the ill you have done; sincerely confess it in the sacrament of penance, and perform the penance the priest enjoins upon you. For in this sacrament Jesus Christ Himself comes to satisfy the divine justice for you, with the merits of His sufferings which are in fact of infinite value.

APPLICATION: On your part thank Jesus also Who has gained for you such complete remission, and though it has cost you comparatively little, oh! Think often how much it has cost your divine Redeemer!

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins. (Ps. lxxxiv, 3.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that just as God is ready to forgive you all your sins, so He desires you to be equally ready to forgive the offences which your neighbour may commit against you. He has declared that he will never forgive your exceeding great debt, if you do not from your heart pardon the offences you have received from your brother: So shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one of his brother from your heart. (Matt. xviii, 35.)

APPLICATION: God the Father loves all of us exceedingly. He desires nothing so greatly as to see us living lovingly in peace with our brethren. Therefore it is not to be wondered at that he, who pardons the offences which he meets with, is specially dear to God. On the contrary God hates him exceedingly who cherishes rancour in his heart and who foments discord. Hence it is that an act of generous pardon has of itself sufficed to make more than one become a great saint, as, for instance, St. John Gualbert.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean heart who hath not taken his soul in vain, not sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. (Ps. xxiii, 3, 4.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

MONDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ LOVE ONE ANOTHER

This is my commandment, that you love one another. (John xv, 12.)

   Rectitude means morally correct behavior or thinking; righteousness.

CONSIDER FIRSTLY with what joy you should obey this precept of fraternal love. For among all the precepts our Blessed Lord calls this one in particularly His own. But in order that this love be the right love, three conditions are necessary. You must love your neighbour rightly, efficaciously and for the sake of God alone. First rightly, that is by loving the good of his soul more than that of his body, by loving the nature received from God and made in the likeness of God; at the same time hating the evil of sin which he has of himself. Love each and every one from this higher and supernatural motive, which should be what moves you to love them.

APPLICATION: How far do you observe this rule of rectitude? Do you love your neighbour more for the sake of the good of his soul or of that of his body? Do you love him for the true and the real reason that should make you love him? Or do you love him simply because he is to your liking, or on account only of relationship, or for some gift or talent which he possesses?

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

CONSIDER SECONDLY that you should love your neighbour efficaciously, and should show that you do so by word and action. Christ could have obtained our salvation by a sign sigh or a sob, and yet He chose to buy it with a life of labour and with His blood. 

APPLICATION: Can you pride yourself upon loving your neighbour thus efficaciously? Where are the labours you have to show for the benefit of souls? Far be it from you that you should be either one of those who, by their words make a show of loving their neighbour, but do not really love him at all, or of those who make a show of loving him, whilst in fact they hate him. The one is a bad form of deceit; the other is worse than treason. True love of our neighbour is to love him without dissimulation as the Apostle has it (Rom. xii, 9.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy. (Ps. cxviii, 124.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY the third and most noble condition which crowns the love of our neighbour. It is to love him for the sake of God alone, that is, not for any benefit that you could hope to obtain, nor because of any benefit you have already received, but in order to do something that is exceedingly pleasing to god, and to obey the precept of your Lord, Who has so highly commended this love to you.

APPLICATION: If you love your neighbour because of the benefit you hope to gain thereby, you do not love him but really rather yourself. If you love him because of the benefit you have received from him, you make indeed a praiseworthy act of gratitude but you do not entirely fulfil the divine precept, which teaches you to love not only your neighbour who does you good, but your enemy also. Behold Jesus Christ on the cross Who, without the least self-interest, prayed to the Father to bless even His murderers who nailed Him there! 

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

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

TUESDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ PRAY ALWAYS

We ought always to pray, and not to faint. (Luke xviii, 1.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY what it is that the Lord requires in saying: We ought always to pray, and not to faint. It means first, that you are never to neglect prayer at appointed times, just as you neglect not to give refreshment to your body at regular hours. Secondly, that you should be so given to prayer, as to pray as much as you can outside the fixed hours. Of one, who studies as much as he can, it is said that he is always studying because of his love for study. It ought to be possible to make, with truth, a similar statement with regard to your prayer. Thirdly, that you should not give up, or cease to pray, if you are not answered. Persevere faithfully!

APPLICATION: Examine yourself and see whether you pray at the proper times, whether you pray as much as you might outside the set hours, and whether you persevere in prayer, even when it seems to you that God takes no notice of what concerns you. If you do all this, rest assured that you pray always and will obtain salvation.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: To thee will I cry: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice. (Ps. v, 4.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY why God desires that we should always pray to Him. Being through His own very nature so bountiful and so liberal, it would seem unlikely that He should desire our incessant supplications. But no, He desires that we should always pray to Him, because He loves us so greatly. To pray to God is not like petitioning earthly princes. For if we do not obtain our petition with them we gain nothing, but with God our prayer in itself is a great gain. Thus, in supplicating Him, how many acts of virtue are exercised at one and the same time, such as acts of religion, of faith, of confidence, of humility, of patience, and so forth.

APPLICATION: No supplication made to God is ever made in vain. He who obtains his request receives the blessing he asks. He who does not obtain it, has the merit of having asked. For this reason our Lord says to you: We ought always to pray, and not to faint.  

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried to thee and in the night, before thee. Let my prayer come in before thee. (Ps. lxxxvii, 2-3.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY what a great harm it does you to neglect prayer. For in praying you are certain of a reward, although you may not receive that for which you ask, whilst in ceasing to pray you lose great merit. Yet prayer must not be a means but an end: Pray without ceasing.

APPLICATION: And what does it matter if you do not gain what you ask? In praying you gain what is far more desirable, which is to be admitted to audience and discourse with God. Look at the favoured ones at court, how they value being admitted into the presence of the prince and being able to speak with him even if the gain nothing. And do you so little esteem having discourse with God?  

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication: when I pray to thee, when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple. (Ps. xxvii, 2.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

WEDNESDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ LIVELY FAITH

If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove. (Matt. xvii, 19.)

Punery means extreme poverty; destitution.

CONSIDER FIRSTLY who these are whom God calls specially the just and His dear ones. My just man liveth by faith. (Heb. x, 38.) They are those who live by a lively faith, that is faith inflamed by charity; for if it is not such, it is a dead faith, which can never impart life. The just are said to live by faith, because the life of the soul is God, and faith is the first virtue that unites us to God. The life of the body is said to come from the heart, for the heart is that which keeps the soul united to the body. So it is with faith. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. (Heb. xi, 6.)

APPLICATION:   Consider then with what great care you should preserve this faith. You must indeed cultivate other virtues such as charity, patience and the like, but especially faith. For among all the virtues it is like the heart amid the members of the body. Consequently chase away most carefully even the least temptation against faith, by renewing the protestation of your faith to God. Bow your head in the service of faith without disquiet as to what your thoughts suggest to the contrary against your will: With all watchfulness keep your heart, because life issueth out from it. (Prov. iv, 32.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: In him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have trusted. (Ps. xxxii, 21.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that the just man lives by faith, not alone because faith gives life to his soul, but because it feeds and nourishes it likewise. All harm that comes to the soul results from weakness of faith. He who has solid faith and stands fast in the world of truth with his intellect, will stand equally fast with his will in the power of God. He will not be elated by prosperity nor will he give way in adversity, because he always remembers and is persuaded that he must value the things of eternity alone. A weak faith, in the same way as poor food, makes us languish.

APPLICATION: Strive then to increase your faith by the exercise of frequent acts of faith, by the reading of books that will help to increase it, and above all by often asking it of God. Lord, increase my faith. (Luke xvii, 5.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: To thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul; Lord, in thee, O my God, I put my trust. (Ps. xxiv, 1, 2.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the just man lives by faith because this may be said to be his ordinary food. One does not say that a person lives on the food of which he makes a meal one day in a hundred, but on the food which he ordinarily eats. To the just, faith is sometimes his only food. When the help of God, His light and His consolations are perhaps all of them wanting, Then there is no way of living except by faith alone: I know whom I have believed. (2 Tim. I, 12.)

APPLICATION: See then what a large provision of faith you have to accumulate, so as to be able to live in such seasons of penury. If you have not faith then you will not be able to endure long: If you will not believe you shall not continue. (Isa. vii, 9.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths. Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art my Saviour. (Ps. xxiv, 4, 5.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

THURSDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ TRUE FEAR OF GOD

The other rebuked him saying: Neither dost thou fear God? (Luke xxiii, 40.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY one of the greatest fruits, which is the result of the holy fear of God, is to have much confidence at the hour of death. This is the universal law. You may have seen others die and may have noticed that those, who in this life had been the most lax and careless and the least exact in the fulfilment of their duty, show themselves at the hour of death full of fear. On the contrary, those who had led a good and exact life were in death full of confidence.

APPLICATION: Consider well to which of these classes you now belong. Thus you may surely predict what will be your state when you come to die.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: God shall show forth to his people the power of his works; holy and terrible is his name: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Ps. cx, 9, 10.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that in order to have this confidence at the time of death, an ordinary fear will not suffice you now. It must be great and extend to all things and to all times. It has to be a fear, not like to that of some who , sometimes and in some things, are more fearful than even the very best, but who in all the rest display a conscience altogether too easy. It must be a fear that, from morning till night, makes you guard against doing or saying anything, that could displease or give offence to your Lord; a fear in the fact that shall surround you as a sea, so that being immersed in it you cannot emerge from it.

APPLICATION: In the Book of Proverbs (Prov. xxiii, 17) it is written: Be thou in fear of the Lord all the day long. Blessed will you be, if you live in this fear not only frequently but continuously all the day long.

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

CONSIDER THIRDLY that to him, who has such a fear, it is promised that he shall have at death confidence of coming forth from the passage happily and with all hope of being safe: He shall have hope in the latter end. (Prov. xxiii, 18.) It does not certainty, but hope. Thus you may understand that no one, even by living all his days in the holy fear of God, can render himself absolutely secure. For the eternal salvation of each one, even the most holy, up to the last moment depends upon those special aids of actual grace, which God out of His pure bounty is desirous to give him.

APPLICATION: If even saints at that dread moment of death can have no more than hope without certainty, what will become of you, if you live in so little fear of God? Resolve now to live in fear of doing any kind of thing, however small it may be, that offends your God. Then at death you may indeed hope to have the divine assistance. 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. (Ps. cxxvii, 4.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

FRIDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John xiv, 6.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Christ is the way, and as such teaches us the only, the best, and the most perfect way to reach heaven. There are three obstacles which impede us on our way thither, viz., the love of the flesh, the love of riches, and the love of our own will. Now Christ, in teaching you by His example, has taught you the real way to heaven, and that not by laws of fear but by laws of love.

APPLICATION: Reflect how greatly you should thank God Who has made you know this happy way. Also how earnestly you should try to observe His divine directions, which are laws of love and not of constraint.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. (Ps. cxviii, 105.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that Christ is also the truth, Who came into the world to teach the eternal truths of God by His preaching: He hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. (Luke iv, 18.) He never ceases till now to teach them to those, who wish to be His followers and disciples. He teaches the eternal truths by the divine Scriptures which He has left to the Church. He teaches them especially by enlightening the mind, and by speaking to the heart of him, who is desirous of hearing them and who sit humbly at His feet like Magdalene (Luke x, 39), and listens to His divine word.

APPLICATION: Do you also earnestly desire to learn in this school and to listen to such a Master? He is the only one Who does teach you the truth. Do you love the divine Scriptures and holy books? Do you gladly sit at the feet of the crucified One to hear His voice? They that approach to his feet shall receive of his doctrine. (Deut. xxxiii, 3.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The truth of the Lord endureth for ever. (Ps. cxvi, 2.) 

CONSIDER THIRDLY  that Christ is not only the way and the truth, but that He is also the lfe. In Him is the life of grace now, and in Him is the future life of glory. As the life of glory is the blessedness of our heavenly country, so the life of grace is the blessedness of this exile of ours here. He who entirely fulfils the law of Jesus Christ and earnestly listens to His teaching, enjoys the life of grace, nor does he seek anything else in order to make life happy. But how few are those who are fully content with hearing God in their hearts and following His inspirations?

APPLICATION: If you do not know how to live in perfect contentment, it is because you do not perfectly observe the teaching of Jesus Christ. Instead of listening to it, you rather wander about listening to the news and reasonings of the world. Oh how miserable it is thus to lose true contentment by running after the delights of vanity!

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I set the Lord always in my sight, for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance. (Ps. xv, 8-10.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

SATURDAY AFTER THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ SPIRITUAL RICHES

Lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven. (Matt.vi, 20.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY the difference between worldly and spiritual riches. Worldly riches are the cause of spiritual ruin to those who love them over-much; spiritual riches are the source of salvation to those who love them truly. Worldly riches can only benefit us when we spend them well; Spiritual, when we possess and preserve them. Yet who is there who, in order to accumulate spiritual riches which concern the soul, devotes one-half of the labour and thought, that is usually bestowed upon accumulating the riches that belong to the body?

APPLICATION: Remember that worldly riches may not frequently be obtained by donation or by inheritance. Spiritual riches, however, can never be had without labour. Ponder this well and apply it to your life and daily actions.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I have been delighted in the way of thy testimonies, as in all riches. (Ps. cxviii, 14.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY  that spiritual riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge: wisdom, which regards our last end, namely, God; knowledge, which concerns the means that conduct us to that great end. Riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. (Isa. xxxiii, 6.) If then you wish to possess true wisdom and knowledge, learn to discern well what the means are for obtaining them. Search down in the depths of your heart, to see what is the end you set before you in your life and work, whether it be really God or not rather the vain idols of glory, of dignity, of ease.

APPLICATION: Beg of God without intermission that He would give you true wisdom to wish only to work for your true end, and true knowledge that you may know how to work most perfectly and most securely for that end.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart understanding. (Ps. xlviii, 4.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that it is not enough to have these riches if you have not wherein to preserve them. For as the miser keeps his treasure in a chest, where he safeguards his money under lock and key, so you also should have protection for your spiritual riches, and this is no other than the fear of God: The fear of the Lord is his treasure. (Isa., ibid.) This it is, that will preserve your riches of true wisdom and knowledge safe from all thieves that would rob you of them. It will keep them from mean, by making you fear more to offend God than them. It will preserve you from the devils, by making you fear the anger of God more than their rage, and will thus close your ears to their temptations. It will preserve you from domestic thieves, which are your own disorderly appetites, by making you fear more to lose God than to lose any good present good, and thus will keep you from yielding to their assaults upon you.

APPLICATION: Reflect often on this salutary fear of God. Let it be always your keeper, for without it you may easily be robbed of these riches of salvation by enemies who are ever on the alert. 

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Establish thy word to thy servant, in thy fear. (Ps. cxviii, 38.)

+ + + + + + + JMJ + + + + + + +

+++AMDG+++