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I. WHAT COMMANDMENTS (OR LAWS)
HAS GOD GIVEN US?
As God gave fixed laws to the heavenly bodies (Ps. 148:6), so He also gave commandments, or laws, unto men.
God has given us commandments in order to make us happy in time and in eternity.1
God never commands anything except for the greater good of those to whom He gives the command. He only imposes laws on us out of kindness, that He may have occasion to reward us. A heathen sage says: “Without laws the human race would be no better than wild beasts of prey, the stronger devouring and destroying the weaker.”
1. God has imprinted the natural law on the heart of every man; this forms the fundamental rule of human actions.2
A young child who has done something wrong—lied, perhaps, or committed a theft, feels uncomfortable, frightened, or ashamed; though it may never have heard of the Ten Commandments, it is conscious that it has done amiss. It is the same with the heathen who knows nothing about God’s commandments. Hence we may conclude that there is a law of nature in every human heart, a law not written upon it, but inborn in it; an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong. St. Paul declares that the Gentiles do by nature those things that are of the law (what the Ten Commandments enjoin), and consequently they will be judged by God according to the natural law (Rom. 2:14–16). The characters wherein this law is inscribed upon our hearts may be obscured but not obliterated; the Roman Catechism tells us no man can be unconscious of this law, divinely imprinted upon his understanding. This natural law teaches us the most important rules of morality, e.g., that homage is due to almighty God; that no man must willfully injure himself; that we must not do to others what we would not have others do to us; furthermore from this moral code certain inferences directly follow; these are the Ten Commandments of God (the observance of the Sabbath excepted). Thus the natural law does not consist of a series of truths founded on reason, but is a definite expression of the will of God, which it is binding upon us to obey, and of which in individual cases we are made acquainted by means of reason. This consciousness of God’s will is conscience. Hence it is erroneous to say reason is itself the law.3
2. In addition to this natural law, God gave to man solemn precepts, more especially the Ten Commandments and the two precepts of charity. These are known as the revealed law.4
To the revealed law appertain: (1). The pre-Mosaic law, given by God to Noah and Abraham; e.g., He forbade the former to eat flesh with blood (Gen. 9:4), upon the latter He imposed the law of circumcision (Gen. 17:11). (2). The Mosaic law, which was given to the Jews through Moses. To this belong: The Decalogue; the regulations of divine worship, the civil law of the Jews. The Ten Commandments were not annulled by Christ (Matt. 5:17), but fulfilled, as the outline of a picture is not effaced, but filled in by the painter. The regulations of public worship (relating to the sacrifices, the Temple, etc.), were abolished at the death of Christ, because the ceremonial observances of the Old Testament were merely typical of the Redeemer. The civil law (regulating the social relations of the Jews) was exclusively suited to the Hebrew people. (3). The Christian law, comprising the two precepts of charity. This chiefly requires the practice of works of mercy, and interior spiritual worship (John 4:24), whereas the Jewish law ordained the performance of exterior acts and ceremonies. The Mosaic law was written on tables of stone, but the commandments of charity are written within our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Heb. 8:10); that is to say, the Holy Spirit enlightens the understanding that we may perceive them, and influences the will that we may follow them. The former laws were imperfect (Heb. 7:19); the Christian law is perfect, for obedience to it brings man nearer to his ultimate goal, eternal felicity. The Old Law was given, on account of its imperfection, through the medium of an angel; the New Law was proclaimed by the Son of God Himself.
The revealed law is nothing more than a repetition, an exposition, and an amplification of the natural law.5
Because the mind of man being darkened by sin, was no longer capable of discerning between good and evil, the natural law was explained and completed for him by God. Let us thank God for thus making His will plain to our understanding.
3. Finally, God gives us commandments through His representatives upon earth, through the ecclesiastical and secular authorities. These laws are called ecclesiastical and civil laws.6
The Church lays her behests upon us in Christ’s name: “He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke 10:16). The secular authorities also derive their power from God, as St. Paul tells us (Rom. 13:1). The ecclesiastical and civil laws are distinguished from the divine laws (natural and revealed) in that the former govern our exterior actions and words alone, while the latter regulate our thoughts and desires as well.
The laws God gives us by His representatives are, however, only binding upon us provided they are not at variance with the revealed law.7
That is no law which is opposed to the law of God. Wherefore if we are commanded to do anything that God forbids, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Witness the conduct of the three children and of the seven Maccabees.
4. From the knowledge of the law comes conscience; the consciousness, that is, whether an act is permitted or prohibited by the law.8
Our understanding indicates to us, in individual cases in which we are called upon to act, how to shape our conduct in conformity to the known law. Thus by our understanding we attain to the knowledge of the law and of our duty. This knowledge is called conscience. Conscience is therefore a practical act of the intellect; it also impels our will powerfully towards what is good. Hence it is often called the voice of God within us.
Conscience makes itself heard in the following manner; Before an action it speaks either in encouragement or in warning; after the action it fills us either with peace or with disquiet, according as the action is good or evil.
Conscience filled Cain and Judas with unrest. Our conscience is either good or bad. A good conscience makes us bright and cheerful, it sweetens the bitterness of life; it brings rest and contentment. A bad conscience makes us morose and ill at ease; it is a worm, engendered by the corruption of sin, and this worm never dies (Mark 9:43). A bad conscience embitters all the joys of life; the man who has a bad conscience is like a condemned criminal, who, whatever the enjoyments offered him in his last hours, takes no real pleasure in anything.
A man’s conscience may be either tender or deadened.
A tender conscience shrinks from the least sin; a deadened conscience scarcely heeds great sins. The conscience of the saints was tender; they feared to offend God in the slightest degree; the conscience of men of the world is deadened; it glosses over sins that are unquestionably mortal. Yet such men will sometimes attach great importance to trifles; they strain out gnats and swallow camels (Matt. 23:24). Thus the Jews who crucified Our Lord would not go into the court of Pilate lest they should be defiled (John 18:28). A man who has a tender conscience is called conscientious, while one whose conscience is blunted is said to be without conscience.
A man’s conscience may be either lax (unscrupulous) or timid (over-scrupulous).
He whose conscience is lax persuades himself that the greatest sins are permissible: once in a while does not count, he will say, to err is human; in consequence of his dissolute life he no longer heeds the reproaches of conscience; in fact he scarcely hears them. But an over-scrupulous conscience, on the other hand, makes a man see sin where there is no sin. Like a timid horse that shies at a tree or a stone, thus exposing his rider to the risk of falling, so a scrupulous person imagines there is danger where there is none, and is liable to fall into disobedience and other sins. Over-scrupulosity does not arise from any misapprehension, but from an ill-regulated mind, which has the effect of obscuring the reason. St. Francis de Sales says that it has its source in pride. The over-scrupulous are timid; thus they can never attain a high degree of perfection. They ought not to dwell upon their doubts, for these are like glue or pitch. The more they are touched, the more they adhere to one. St. Alphonsus bids us condemn our scruples, and do that from which they would deter us. The scrupulous should mistrust their own judgment and view of things; they must in fact renounce them altogether if they are to get rid of their timidity. “He who would do great things for God,” says St. Ignatius, “must beware of being too cautious; had the apostles been so they would never have undertaken the evangelization of the world.”
A man commits a sin if he acts against the dictates of his conscience.9
Conscience is nothing more than the law, applied to particular cases. In acting against our conscience therefore, we disobey the law even if we are under a mistake. For instance, if a man eats meat on a Thursday in Lent, thinking it to be a Friday, he commits a sin.
5. God’s commandments do not deprive men in any way of true freedom.10
They rather serve to make him independent of creatures. It is the sinner who falls under the yoke of an ignominious servitude. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). Besides, liberty does not consist in the right to do whatever we will, but whatever is permitted. The word is much abused in the present day; many consider it to mean license, and they call the restraint which the laws impose on their evil work tyranny and despotism. Others think it signifies liberty for themselves and servitude for others. Hence we often find so-called liberals the most intolerant of mankind.
II. THE TWO COMMANDMENTS OF CHARITY
1. The most important commandments are the two commandments of charity, that is to say, the love of God and the love of one’s neighbor, for all the other commandments are comprised in them.11
When Christ was once asked by one of the Scribes which was the first of all the commandments, He answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart (i.e., with the will) and with thy whole soul (i.e., with the understanding) and with thy whole mind (i.e., with the affections) and with thy whole strength (i.e., in all thy actions). This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30–31). The same precepts were given to the Jews (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). These two commandments contain all the others, because they influence and direct all the powers of the soul of man; the understanding, the affections, the will, and all his actions besides. Thus he who fulfils these two commandments of charity keeps all the commandments; were they everywhere observed no other law would be necessary in the State or in the family. Hence Christ says: “On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:40). The other commandments do but inculcate in detail what the commandments of charity enjoin.
In the command to love God the first four of the commandments of God are comprised; the other commandments of God and the obligation to perform works of mercy are comprehended in the second.
The first four commandments contain our duty to God. As our supreme Ruler He requires of us in the First Commandment worship and fidelity; in the Second, respect; in the Third, service; in the Fourth, respect towards His representatives upon earth. The other six enjoin on us our duty to our neighbor, forbidding us to injure him as regards his life in the Fifth; his purity in the Sixth; his property in the Seventh; his honor in the Eighth; his family in the Ninth and Tenth. The precept of Our Lord enjoining on us the performing of works of mercy (Matt. 25:31 seq.) is an amplification of the second commandment of charity, for it requires us to help our neighbor in his need. That the last six commandments of the Decalogue are a connected whole we gather from Our Lord’s answer to the rich young man (Matt. 19:18). St. Paul also classes them together (Rom. 13:9).
2. Without the love of God and of our neighbor no man can be saved.12
St. John says: “He that loveth not, abideth in death” (1 John 3:14). St. Augustine says that as we require two feet to walk, so we must have the love of God and of our neighbor if we would reach heaven, and enter into the presence of God. As the bird cannot fly without two wings, so must we be borne aloft upon these two pinions if we would soar up to heaven. The blessed in heaven love God and one another; we must do the same here on earth if we are to join their blissful company. “What is man, O God,” asks St. Augustine, “that Thou dost command him to love Thee, and threaten him with terrible chastisements if he fails to do so?”
3. The capacity for loving God and our neighbor is bestowed upon us simultaneously with sanctifying grace.13
Of ourselves we are incapable of loving God above all things. Ever since the blight of original sin fell upon us, it is with our heart as with the date-palm, which transplanted to a colder clime does indeed bear fruit, but cannot produce the ripe and delicious dates of the land where it is indigenous. So our hearts would fain love God, but the power is lacking to them; they can only attain to true charity when informed by divine grace. “To will is present with me, but how to accomplish that which is good I know not” (Rom. 7:18). Not until the Holy Spirit takes possession of us by Baptism or penance is the love of God shed abroad in our heart. The love of our neighbor is implanted within us at the same time as the love of God; they are but one, the only difference is in the object towards which they are directed. The love of God and of our neighbor may be compared to two streams, issuing from one and the selfsame source. St. Augustine says that Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the apostles twice (when He breathed upon them and on the Day of Pentecost) because with the Holy Spirit a twofold charity is imparted to us.
4. The love of God is inseparably united to the love of our neighbor.14
As the plant is contained within the seed, so the love of our neighbor is comprised in the love of God. The two precepts are so constituted that the one cannot be observed without the other. This is why Holy Scripture speaks of one commandment of charity. “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). Our love of our neighbor is therefore the best test of our love of God. He who cherishes ill-will towards his fellow-man, who hates him, envies him, injures him in any way, or who grudges alms to the needy, is destitute of the love of God. The greater our love of God, the greater will be our love of our neighbor.
III. THE PRECEPT OF THE LOVE OF GOD
Man is so constituted by nature that he takes delight in what he recognizes as good and beautiful. This delight, and the desire to attain it, is called love. Thus we see love to be an act of the understanding, the affections, and the will.
1. We ought to love God (1), because Christ commands this; (2), because He is in Himself essentially the highest beauty and sovereign perfection; (3), because He loves us and continually bestows benefits upon us.15
Christ commands us to love God, for He says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength” (Mark 12:30). God is the most beautiful of all beings, for if earthly beings are so beautiful, how much greater must be the beauty of God, Who is the Creator of all these things! (Wisd. 13:3.) For one cannot give to another what one has not got one’s self, consequently God must possess in Himself all the perfections in their highest degree which we admire in His creatures. God has manifested His love towards us chiefly in this, that He sent His only-begotten Son to earth for our salvation. Christ Himself says: “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son” (John 3:16). He did not send Him to live on earth in regal state, but as a lowly servant; not to live and die as an ordinary man, but to live a life of privation and persecution, and to die the death of the cross. God gave His well-beloved Son. The fewer children parents have, the more fondly do they generally love them, and they dote upon an only child. How intense must have been the love of God for His only-begotten Son, yet He gave Him for our redemption! “Thou didst deliver up the Son, O Lord,” exclaims St. Augustine, “to save the servant!” Thus St. John admonishes us: “Let us love God, because God first hath loved us” (1 John 4:19). Moreover God continually bestows benefits upon us; all in which we take pleasure comes from Him. Life, health, our daily bread, the clothes we wear, the roof that shelters us, all are His gifts. “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). “What hast thou, O man, that thou hast not received?” (1 Cor. 4:17.) The uninterrupted possession of these blessings has unfortunately the effect of making us think light of them. It were well for us therefore to contemplate the lot of those who are deprived of them, e.g., the blind, the sick, the destitute; we should then see how favored we are in comparison with these afflicted ones, and our love of God would become greater. Children love those to whom they owe their being, and so in a certain measure do the brute beasts. He, therefore, who does not love his Creator is worse than the brutes. The very fact that we owe our existence to God lays us under the obligation of loving Him above all things.
2. Our love of God is chiefly manifested by thinking of Him constantly, by avoiding whatever might separate us from Him, by laboring to promote His glory, and willingly accepting all that comes from His hand.16
It is an error to imagine that the love of God is merely affective, a certain delight or joy we experience in God. It is rather an act of the understanding and of the will. Man recognizes God to be the supreme Good, and esteems Him above all creatures. This esteem causes him to strive to attain to the possession of this sovereign Good, by avoiding sin and leading a godly life. The love of God shows itself more in deeds than in feelings. The love of God is called a holy or supernatural love. It is to be distinguished from purely natural affection, such as that of a parent for his child, as well as from sensual affection, which chiefly regards the body.
a. He who loves God thinks of Him continually, delights in speaking of Him, and of hearing others talk of Him.
Love consists in striving after something, in order to be united to it. Hence it comes that one’s thoughts dwell incessantly with the object of our affections. “Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matt. 6:21). He who truly loves God performs all his actions with the good intention of giving Him glory. So the course of a ship may be directed towards different points of the compass, yet the magnetic needle always points to the North. He who loves God utters ejaculatory prayers amid all his occupations, such as these: “Jesus, my God, I love Thee above all things”; “All to the greater glory of God”; “My God and my all.” “The time,” says St. Bernard, “in which we do not think of God, is time lost.” He who loves God delights in talking of divine things. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34). He also loves to hear others speak of God: “He that is of God, heareth the words of God” (John 8:47).
b. He who loves God avoids sin, and does not allow his heart to cling to the possessions and joys of earth.17
He who loves God flies from sin because sin separates him from God. Our Lord says: “If any man love Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23). He who loves God is afraid of offending Him, rather than of His chastisements; for where love is, there is no chastisement to be dreaded. “Perfect charity casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). One who is inflamed with the love of God lays aside all desire for earthly possessions and enjoyments; the love of God and the love of the world cannot co-exist in the human heart.
c. He who loves God rejoices to labor for the glory of God.
The love of God excites in us the desire that He should be better known and loved by men, and thereby glorified. Zeal is the outcome of love: “Where there is no zeal there is no love,” says St. Augustine. One who loves God is grieved, nay, indignant, when God is offended; Moses in his anger threw the stone tables of the law to the ground when he saw the people worshipping the golden calf. On the other hand those who love God rejoice when He is honored; they spare no exertion to bring wanderers back to Him. Consider what hardships the apostles and missioners endured in evangelizing heathen lands; or what St. Monica did for her erring son, Augustine. The love of God is the motive which actuates the angels in their care of us; and which makes us pray: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
d. He who loves God gives God thanks for the benefits He confers, and bears willingly the sufferings He lays upon him.18
If we really love God, all that comes from His hand will be welcome, whether it be pleasant or painful. If we receive favors from Him, we must do as Noah did when he came out of the Ark (Gen. 8:20); as the three young men in the furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3:51 seq.); or the leper Our Lord healed (Luke 17:16), and not be forgetful of our Benefactor, by omitting night prayers, or grace before meals. One should be thankful for the smallest gifts, for ingratitude betokens an unfeeling heart. Moreover the sufferings God sends should also be cheerfully accepted. Witness Job and St. Paul, who abounded with joy in all tribulation (2 Cor. 7:4). The apostles and martyrs met death with gladness; St. Teresa said: “To suffer or to die.” The heart that loves God loves the cross also; the greater our desire to suffer and be humbled for the sake of God, the greater is our love for Him; so say the saints.
e. He who loves God loves his neighbor also.19
Every one that loves the Creator, loves the creatures that He has made. He loves his neighbor because he sees Our Lord in his person; this Christ Himself tells us (Matt. 25:40). He does not love the just only, he loves the sinner as well; for while we hate sin, because it is hateful in God’s sight, we should love the sinner. We should only hate the evil spirits and the reprobate, whom God hates with an eternal hatred.
3. We must love God with all our faculties, and above all things else in the whole world.20
We must love God with a special, a superexcellent love. Christ does not merely command us to love God, but to love Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. “The true measure of our love to God,” says St. Francis de Sales, “is to love Him without measure.”
We love God with all our strength if we refer all to Him; all our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Our first thought on rising in the morning should be of God, and of Him we should think in all we do during the day. All that is beautiful in creation should remind us of the glory of the Creator. To him who loves God all nature speaks in a voice inaudible to the world at large, but intelligible to his ear.
We love God more than anything else in the world, if we are ready to give up everything unhesitatingly, if such be His will.21
God is, in fact, our final end; creatures are only means to the attainment of this end. Hence it is incumbent upon us to sacrifice them all in order to possess Him. We must be prepared to give up our bodily life, like the three Babylonian youths; we must be prepared to leave our relatives, as Abraham did; nay more, a father must even sacrifice his only son, as Abraham sacrificed Isaac, if God require this of him. God may be compared to the pearl of great price, to buy which a man must sell all that he hath (Matt. 13:46). God tries the just man to see if he loves Him more than this passing world; yet He often contents Himself with our good will, and does not take from us the beloved object, if we are ready to give it up to Him. He who is unduly cast down by afflictions does not love God above all; nor he who omits any good work from motives of human respect, for he esteems the favor of men more than the favor of God.
One may love creatures, but only for God’s sake.22
We may only take pleasure in creatures in so far as they are conducive to the service of the Most High. The Creator ought to be loved in His creatures, not the creatures in themselves. God calls Himself a jealous God (Exod. 20:5), because He cannot tolerate our loving anything which interferes with our love for Him. He must reign supreme in our hearts, or hold no place in them at all (St. Francis de Sales). Because the patriarch Jacob was too fond of his youngest son, Joseph, He took him from him for a time, and He did the same with Benjamin.23 So He acts towards us now. Christ says: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37). St. Augustine says: “He loves God too little who loves anything besides God; unless indeed he loves it out of love to God.”
4. The love of God is of great advantage to us: Through it we are united to God here on earth, our minds are enlightened, our will is strengthened; we obtain pardon of sin, peace of soul, manifold proofs of God’s favor, and after death celestial joys.24
As avarice is the root of all evil, so the holy love of God is the root of all that is good. It is compared to oil, or to fire, for like these it rises upward, it gives light and warmth; it softens and purifies. He who loves God is the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit; thus he is united to God. Through love God becomes present in our hearts as He is in heaven; for Christ says: “If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Love of God and sanctifying grace cannot be dissevered; where one is, there is the other. He who loves God enjoys heaven upon earth. “Hence,” says St. Francis de Sales, “we should not be too anxious to discover whether we are pleasing to God, but rather whether God is pleasing to us.” The man who loves God obtains through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit enlightenment of the mind, strengthening of the will, pardon of sin, and true peace of soul. Our soul is like a mirror, which reflects the object towards which it is turned. If therefore we direct it towards God, the light of His divinity will shine into our soul, which will have a clear perception, that is, of divine things. “In the love of God is honorable wisdom” (Sir. 1:14). St. Francis de Sales calls love the compendium of theology; by it many unlearned men, monks and hermits, have attained proficiency in the divine science. As red-hot iron is easily shaped by the hammer of the blacksmith, so the soul which is inflamed by divine love is shaped by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Nothing gives courage and strength more than love does. The love of her offspring makes the timid hen so brave that she will fly at a man in their defense. And what will not a mother endure for the sake of her child? “Charity beareth all things, endureth all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). What we love to do is no trouble to us, for love makes labor light. If then natural affection is so potent, what cannot the love of God do? It enables us to accomplish the greatest undertakings. Through the love of God we obtain pardon of sin. Christ said of the Magdalen: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). “Charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Nothing clears a field of thistles and thorns as quickly as fire, and no less quickly does a spark of divine charity cleanse the heart from all sin. The Holy Spirit Who takes up His dwelling in the heart that loves God, brings peace to that heart. He is essentially the Comforter. Whosoever loves God feels within him the divine presence, and this affords him greater satisfaction than all the pleasures of the world. Without charity there is no true peace. He who loves God enjoys true peace, because his will is in entire conformity to the will of God. Charity procures for us many proofs of God’s favor. Many of the saints received revelations from God. Christ says: “He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21). To others Christ Himself appeared, or His blessed Mother, or the angels. Of this many instances occur in both the New and the Old Testament. Or they obtained speedy answers to prayer, marvelous enlightenment in divine things, interior consolations such as the world cannot give. To His friends, i.e., those who love Him, God communicates His mysteries, to increase in them charity and sanctifying grace. Christ says: “I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). St. Paul tells us: “To them that love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). Even trials and afflictions work for good to him who loves God, as was the case with Joseph, Jacob, and Tobias. Through the love of God we attain the joys of heaven. St. Paul says: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). This is because he is rich in good works who is inflamed with divine charity, for love stimulates us to action. Hence the Apostle says: “The charity of Christ presses us” (2 Cor. 5:14). To behold God, as we shall in heaven, and to love Him is one and the same thing. We needs must love the highest when we see it. “He who knows by experience,” says St. Alphonsus, “how sweet and delightful it is to love God, loses all taste for earthly things.”
5. The merit of our good works and the degree of our future felicity is in proportion to the magnitude of our love for God.25
“The greater is our love of God,” says St. Francis de Sales, “the more meritorious are our actions. God does not regard the greatness of the work, but the love wherewith it is performed.” The two mites of the poor widow had more value in the sight of God than the large contributions of the rich. St. Paul tells us that all gifts, however wonderful, all good works and austerities are utterly worthless without charity. Good works without the love of God are like lamps without oil. As food is tasteless and insipid without a condiment, so, if charity is lacking, our works are without savor before God. Moreover the measure of our eternal felicity depends upon the degree of charity we possess at our death. “He who has loved most shall receive the greatest glory,” says St. Francis de Sales. An earthly father often bequeaths the largest legacy to the child who has shown the most affection for him. Even on earth he who loves God best is the recipient of the greatest graces. To such a one many sins are forgiven. When Mary Magdalen fell at Our Lord’s feet in Simon’s house, He said of her: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). A greater love of God brings with it a greater knowledge of God: like a fire which, the larger it is, the more radiance it emits. If we love God we are rich, richer far than those who own unbounded wealth, but who do not love Him; they are poor whoever they may be, or whatever they may possess.
The love of God may be increased in the soul by meditation upon the perfections of God and the benefits He confers on us; by practicing detachment from earthly things and by frequently making acts of the love of God.26
Just as a fire is kept up and increased in size by heaping on fuel, so the love of God within us is fed by meditation on the truths of religion. Meditation on Our Lord’s Passion is specially calculated to increase in us the love of God. Even in the realms of celestial glory the Redeemer’s death will form the strongest incentive to the blessed spirits to love God. Detachment from earthly things also contributes to augment our love. For as a stone gravitates towards the centre of the earth as soon as the obstacles in its way are removed, so our soul mounts upward with accelerated motion to God, the centre of our being and its final aim, if we free ourselves from the bonds that hold us captive upon earth. It is also useful to make frequent acts of the love of God. As in everything practice makes perfect, so by awakening within ourselves the love of God, we shall attain to a high degree of love. St. Francis of Assisi would repeat for whole days and nights the words: “My God and my all!” It is all the more important to make acts of love because the command to love God imposes it upon us as an obligation. St. Alphonsus declares that he who for a whole month neglects this practice can scarcely be exempt from mortal sin. Our love should be without limit or measure, as is God Himself.
The love of God is lost by mortal sin.27
As water extinguishes fire, so the love of God is quenched in our hearts by mortal sin. He who has thus lost the love of God has turned his mind away from God, and directed it wholly to creatures. Except sin, nothing has power to deprive us of the love of God. Thus St. Paul exclaims: “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38).
IV. THE LOVE OF THE WORLD IS
OPPOSED TO THE LOVE OF GOD
However cruel or depraved a man may be, his heart clings to some person or thing, his nature impels him to love some object. If he does not love God above all, he needs must love a creature above all.
1. The love of the world consists in loving, above all, money, or the gratification of one’s appetite, or earthly honors or anything else in the world, instead of giving the first place to God.28
The love of creatures is not in itself sinful, only when the creature is more loved than the Creator. All who love creatures more than God are idolaters, because they give to creatures the honor due to God. One loves money, like Judas; another eating and drinking, like Dives; and many others whose god is their belly; a third sacrifices all to ambition, like Absalom; others have an inordinate love of amusements, gambling and the like. All these resemble the Jews who danced round the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. The maxim of the man of the world is: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The love of the world is worse than high treason; it makes a man a traitor to the King of kings.
2. Through love of the world we incur the loss of sanctifying grace, and eternal felicity.29
The lover of the world does not possess sanctifying grace. As the dove does not rest upon anything that is unclean or corrupt, so the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the soul of the carnally-minded and evil (St. Ambrose). The Holy of Holies cannot dwell in the soul that is stained with sin. “If thy heart be full of vinegar, how can it be filled with honey? It must first be emptied, and undergo a toilsome process of cleansing,” says St. Augustine. He who is destitute of the presence of the Holy Spirit, that is, of sanctifying grace (the wedding-garment), shall be cast into exterior darkness (Matt. 22:12). Hence Christ threatens the votary of the world with eternal damnation: “He that loveth his life (who endeavors to get out of it all possible enjoyment) shall lose it” (John 12:25). Again, “Woe to you that are filled, for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). No more than a ship lying fast at anchor can sail into harbor, can a man who loves the world reach the haven of eternal felicity. “Which dost thou prefer?” asks St. Augustine, “to love the world and go to perdition, or to love Christ and enter into life everlasting?” He is a fool who for the sake of this passing world plays away eternal life.
a. The love of the world blinds the soul of man, and leads him away from God.
The love of the world blinds the soul of man. When earthly things intervene between God and the soul, the soul becomes dark, just as does the moon when the earth is between it and the sun. As Tobias the elder was blinded by the dung of a swallow, so earthly cares destroy the sight of the soul. Hence worldlings cannot comprehend the teaching of the Gospel; it is foolishness to them (1 Cor. 2:14). As the sun’s rays cannot penetrate muddy water, so the lover of the world cannot be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The earth is like a limed twig; the bird that rests upon it cannot soar upwards. The cares of this world stifle the word of God in the heart of man, as thorns choke the sprouting seed. The votaries of the world resemble the men in the Gospel who were invited to the heavenly banquet, but who did not go because of their wife, their farm, their oxen (Luke xiv. 16).
b. The love of the world destroys interior peace, and makes men fear death greatly.
The worldling is a stranger to interior peace. It has been well said: A man must choose between indulgence of the senses and tranquillity of soul. The two are not compatible. One might as well try to fill a vessel that has holes in it, as to satisfy the heart that only strives after the pleasures of time and sense. And since the votaries of the world can never attain interior peace, they want a constant change of amusement, as one who cannot sleep turns restlessly from side to side in the hope of finding rest. Christ alone can give us true content. He said to His apostles: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth do I give unto you” (John 16:27). St. Augustine exclaims: “Our heart has no rest until it rest in Thee, O Lord!” The lover of the world fears death so much, because he will be parted from his idol, and because death will put an end to the happiness he makes it his object to attain. He has, besides, an inward presentiment of what will follow after death. On account of this all who love the world are filled with apprehension and even despair in the hour of death. The prisoner fears nothing so much as the summons to appear before the judge; and the sinner, though he is never free from alarm, dreads the moment above all when his soul will leave the body and enter the presence of her divine Judge (St. John Chrysostom). The fish that is caught on the hook scarcely feels pain until it is drawn out of the water; so those who are entangled in the meshes of the world first feel real anguish when their last hour comes. Think, O worldling, if the joys which the devil offers you are thus mixed with bitterness, what will the torments be which he prepares for you hereafter?
c. The love of the world gives rise to hatred of God and of His servants.30
A man who loves the world cannot possibly have the love of God within him. Just as a ring which encircles one finger cannot at the same time encircle another, so the human heart cannot love God if love binds it to some earthly object. St. John says: “If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). We cannot look with the same eye both at heaven and earth at the same time. The lover of the world even goes so far as to hate God and divine things. Thus Christ says: “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24). What are we to conclude if we hear any one rail at priests and at religion? The lover of the world is therefore the enemy of God. “If thou wouldst not be the enemy of God,” says St. Augustine, “be an enemy of the world.”
d. The love of the world ceases at death.31
There are many things which thou canst only love for a time; then love comes to an end; for either thou wilt be taken from the object of thy affections or it from thee. Hence we should not love that which we may lose, or from which we may be parted; we should only love those things that are eternal (St. Augustine). Wherefore let not thy heart cleave to earthly things. The true servant of God clings no more to his possessions than to his clothes, which he puts on and off at will; whereas the indifferent Christian makes them a part of his very being, like the skin of an animal (St. Francis de Sales). The true Christian should resemble the eagle, which inhabits the heights, only descending to earth in search of food. Or he should be like a tree, whose roots alone are in the ground, while it spreads its branches towards heaven. The soul of man is immortal, and it should only strive after what is immortal. “Seek those things that are above” (Col. 3:1). “Therefore choose Him for thy friend,” says Thomas a Kempis, “Who, when all others forsake thee, will not abandon thee.”
V. THE COMMANDMENT OF CHARITY
TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR
Every human being is our neighbor, without distinction of religion, of race, of age, of sex, or of occupation.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan Christ teaches us that those who are strangers to us and even our enemies, are to be regarded as our neighbor. In the present day some people are so foolish as to consider none but their fellow-countrymen as their neighbors. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one (Gal. 3:28).
1. We ought to love our neighbor because this is Christ’s command; furthermore because he is a child of God, made after His image, and also because we are all descended from the same parents and we are all called to attain eternal felicity.32
Christ’s precept is this: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:31). He who loves the father will assuredly love his children (1 John 5:1). How God is our common father, for He created us (Matt. 2:10), we are all His children, and for that reason we ought to love one another. Those who are the offspring of one and the same parent are blood-relations; consequently since we all received our being from the self-same God, we stand in the relation of brethren one to another, and on this account ought to love one another. A man who loves his father shows respect for his portrait. Now, our fellow-man is an image of God; he was made to His image (Gen. 1:27); consequently we ought to love him. As the moon derives its light from the sun, so the love of our neighbor flows from the love of God. We are, moreover, all children of Adam, and thus members of one great family, and should love one another as such. Finally, we are called to the attainment of everlasting felicity; we shall all live together, we shall behold the face of God and sing His praises together. St. John says in Revelation: “I saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9). How we find that on earth persons who follow the same calling, such as priests, teachers, etc., always hold together. So we, who share the same vocation to heaven with our fellow-men, ought to be united to them in the bond of charity.
2. The love of our neighbor shows itself in desiring the good of our neighbor from our heart; in abstaining from injuring him, and in doing him good.33
The love of our neighbor does not consist merely in affectionate sentiments, in benevolent wishes; these would profit him little. St. James says: “If a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food; and one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled, yet give them not these things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit?” (Jas. 2:15–16). The love of our neighbor must be practical, it must display itself in doing good. “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
The desire for our neighbor’s good consists in this, that we rejoice with him in his prosperity, and grieve with him when he is in adversity.
St. Paul exhorts us to “rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15). Consider how Elizabeth rejoiced on hearing that Mary was the Mother of God (Luke 1:42); how the friends of Zechariah congratulated him when they witnessed the recovery of his speech at the birth of the Baptist (Luke 1:64). Consider how desirous Abraham was to have no strife between himself and Lot, how willingly he gave up to him the best tract of country. Consider how Moses desired the good of the Hebrews: “O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them His spirit!” (Numb. 11:29.) The congratulations exchanged on birthdays, festivals, and other occasions, the greetings usual in society are signs of good will. The Redeemer greeted His apostles with the words: “Peace be with you;” the archangel Gabriel saluted Mary. In some Catholic countries the custom still lingers of using the words: “Praised be Jesus Christ” as a greeting. Banish mutual good will and you take the sun out of the heavens; you make social intercourse impossible (St. Gregory the Great). “See,” says St. Augustine, “how the different members of the body participate in each other’s misfortune. If a thorn runs into the foot the eyes look for it, the tongue asks about it, the back bends towards it, the hand endeavors to extract it. We should conduct ourselves in like manner towards our neighbor.” It is wrong, then, to rejoice when calamities befall our neighbor and to grieve over his good fortune. Malice and envy are the sentiments of the devil and the surest sign that a man is lacking in love for his neighbor.
We ought not to injure our neighbor; either as regards his life, his innocence, his property, his honor, or his household.
All this God has forbidden in the six last commandments of the Decalogue. He who violates one of them to any serious extent, shows himself to have no love of his neighbor.34
We ought to do good to our neighbor, especially when he is in need.35
Christ, our future Judge, requires from us works of mercy, for He makes our eternal salvation depend on having performed them (Matt. 25:35). In a building one stone supports another, otherwise the structure would fall to pieces; so in the spiritual building, the Church, one member must help and sustain another. Charity is a chain that links us to our neighbor, and makes us treat him with kindness.
Our Lord says: “Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them” (Matt. 7:12). Holy Tobias says: “See that thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee” (Tob. 4:16). Put yourself in your neighbor’s place and you will certainly treat him differently. Charity to one’s neighbor has its limits, however. No one is bound to deprive himself of what is necessary, to relieve his neighbor’s wants. In such cases to render assistance is heroic charity. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friend” (John 15:13). This Our Saviour did; and hundreds of missioners continually expose themselves to the risk of death to save souls. All the saints have incurred personal dangers for the sake of aiding others.
4. All that we do to our neighbor, whether it be good or evil, we do to Christ Himself; for He has said: “What you did to one of these My least brethren, ye did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).36
To Saul, when he was on the way to Damascus, Our Lord said: “Why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4.) Yet we know that it was only the Christians that he was persecuting. When St. Martin had given half his cloak to a half-naked beggar at the gate of Amiens, Christ appeared to him in a dream wearing the half-cloak and accompanied by angels. “Martin,” He said, “clothed Me to-day with this cloak.” Thus God protects our neighbor; we cannot injure him without first injuring God.
St. John the Evangelist exhorted the Christians continually with the words: “Little children, love one another.” When asked why he always said the same, he replied: “If you love one another, you fulfil the whole law.” St. Paul says the same (Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5:14). Our Lord promises eternal life to those who observe that portion of the Ten Commandments which has reference to one’s neighbor; to those in fact, who perform works of mercy (Matt. 19:21). Why does He do this? Because a man who never injures his neighbor, or who gives alms, cannot possibly be a bad man. We do not find the vicious and irreligious, who do not believe in a future recompense, giving alms. He who performs acts of charity possesses other virtues besides that of liberality to the poor. Beneficence is never unaccompanied by other virtues; it cannot exist without them any more than the heart can exist without the other organs of the body. Hence St. John Chrysostom says almsgiving may be called the mainspring of virtue.
6. The love of one’s neighbor is the distinctive mark of the true Christian.
Our Lord says: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:35). Christ loved us while we were yet unworthy of His love; and if we love and do good to those from whom we have never received any benefit, our love is like that of Christ, and we are really His disciples, easily to be distinguished from the mass of mankind, who usually only love their friends and benefactors. Our Lord calls this a new commandment (John 13:34), because the precept of charity to one’s neighbor was not understood earlier in the sense He gives to it. Well indeed were it for the world if charity prevailed everywhere! No laws would be needed, no courts of justice, no punishments. Then no man would wrong his neighbor; the very name of murders, brawls, rebellion, robbery and the like, would be unknown. There would be no destitution, for every one would have the necessaries of life (St. John Chrysostom).
VI. LACK OF CHARITY TO ONE’S NEIGHBOR
1. He who does not desire the good of his neighbor, but is envious of him, does not possess the love of his neighbor.37
a. We call a man envious who merely through ill-will is vexed at the prosperity of another, or rejoices when misfortune overtakes him.
The envious man cannot bear to see the good fortune of another, and consequently he seeks by word and work to do him harm. He is like a certain kind of snake, which is said to gnaw away the root of trees which bear sweet-smelling blossoms, because it cannot endure the perfume; like the moth, that frets away the purple robe, or like rust that corrodes iron. The envious man who rejoices at the misfortune of his neighbor is like the raven that gloats over corrupt and stinking carrion. But our vexation or pleasure may arise from the love of God or of our neighbor, in which case it is not blameworthy; e.g., if a man is grieved because one who is an enemy to the Church is raised to a position of influence, or because great prosperity attends a sinner who will employ his good fortune to sin the more. Satan envied our first parents in paradise; Cain envied his brother Abel, because his offering was acceptable to God (Gen. 4:5); the sons of Jacob were envious of Joseph because he was their father’s favorite (Gen. 37:8); King Saul envied David on account of his having slain the giant and being honored by the people (1 Sam. 18:8). Many a man grudges another a post more lucrative than his own. The height of envy is to grudge another the gifts of divine grace, and progress in virtue. This is one of the sins against the Holy Spirit. The high priests were jealous of Christ when they saw that He worked many miracles; they therefore determined to compass His death (John 11:47). The devils feel this kind of envy; they are furious when they see the elect advancing towards perfection and at once assail them with persecutions.
b. No sin renders man so much like the devil as envy, for envy is peculiarly the devil’s sin.
The envious man is an imitator of the devil, for by the envy of the devil death came into the world (Wisd. 2:24). Just as Christ says: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you have love one for another” (John 13:35), so on the other hand the devil can say: “By this shall all men know that you are my followers, if you envy one another as I have envied you” (St. Vincent Ferrer). The jealous man wishes to see nothing but misery around him. There is more malice in this sin than in any other. For all other sins and vices there is some pretext which a man may plead in his excuse; the excuse for intemperance is hunger; for revenge, the wrong one has received; for theft, extreme poverty, etc., but for envy no plea can be alleged. It is worse than open war. There is always a cause for war, but none for envy; besides when the war is over all animosity is at an end, but with envy it is unending (St. John Chrysostom). Moreover envy is the only evil quality which charity cannot overcome. One who is an enemy to you, or enraged against you, may be appeased by kindness, but the envious never. Among all sins, envy is the only one which affords no gratification to those who indulge it; the intemperate, the avaricious, the choleric, seem to gain something by yielding to their passions, but envy is sterile. It may be compared to the moth, which fluttering about the lamp, singes its own wings, but does not extinguish the flame or even cause it to burn less brightly.
c. Envy is most hurtful to a man; it robs him of inward content and bodily health; it leads to many cruel actions and finally to eternal perdition.
As the worm gnaws away the wood to which it owes its origin, so envy eats out the heart to which it gains admission; it harasses the mind, destroys peace of conscience, banishes gladness from the soul and fills it with despondency and sadness. When once it is firmly rooted within the soul, its presence becomes apparent outwardly; the pallid cheek, the hollow eyes, testify to the suffering it occasions. Thus we are told that Cain’s countenance fell (Gen. 4:5). When envy fixes its malevolent talons in the heart, and tears at a man’s entrails, his food becomes distasteful to him, his drink no longer refreshes him (St. Cyprian). Envy shortens a man’s days (Sir. 30:26). The envious man is his own executioner. As rust corrodes iron, so envy eats into the soul that harbors it. It brings its own punishment, for it frets away and destroys the individual who cherishes it. Envy leads to many acts of cruelty. Through envy the earth was first stained with a brother’s blood, and through envy the Jewish leaders delivered Christ up to death. Envy causes us to murmur against the arrangements of divine providence. The laborers who had worked all day long in the vineyard murmured against the master of the house through envy, when those who had worked only one hour also received a penny (Matt. 20:11). The envious man hates to see the benefits God bestows on others. Envy excludes from heaven; it is a sure pledge of eternal damnation. Through envy the angels fell from heaven, and man was driven out of paradise. If we are bound even to love our enemies, how great will be our punishment if we pursue with our envy those who could never have wronged us! (St. John Chrysostom.)
d. The best means of overcoming feelings of envy is to do all the good we possibly can to our fellow-men.
In order to thrust the monster of envy out of the heart, no sword, no breastplate, no helmet is needed, only the panoply of love. Do all the good you can to the person whom you envy; at least pray for him, that his happiness may be increased. Thus you will banish the demon from your heart; you will thereby deserve a twofold crown; the one for your victory over envy, the other for the charitable deed you have performed (St. John Chrysostom). Consider also how short-lived is all here below. In a little while we must leave all. It will not then matter what have been your possessions, what high offices you have filled; your future happiness will entirely depend upon your good works. If you will be great hereafter humble yourself now; love to be unknown and despised, for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11).
2. He does not love his neighbor who injures him, whether in regard to his life, his innocence, his property, his honor, or his household.38
3. Nor does he love his neighbor, who performs no works of mercy.39
“If thou dost not give thy neighbor, who is in want, sufficient to support life,” says St. John Chrysostom, “thou dost not love him.” To give alms is a strict duty for those who have the means of giving them. St. Ambrose severely censures the miserly rich men of his day. “The walls of your dwellings are hung with splendid tapestries, while you take the clothes off the poor man’s back. A beggar at your door asks for the most trifling alms; you do not so much as vouchsafe him a glance as you pass by, debating within your mind what kind of marble will look best for the pavement of your palaces. A starving mendicant asks for a crust of bread in vain, while your horses are champing their golden bits. How terrible are the judgments, O rich man, which you prepare for yourself, who might give assistance to so many who are in want. The diamond you wear on your finger would alone suffice to feed a multitude.” St. John Chrysostom speaks in like manner to the wealthy who are hardhearted. “What makes thy miserliness most reprehensible is that neither poverty nor hunger compels thee to it. Thy wife, thy house, the very dogs beside thy hearth glitter with gold, whereas the man made after God’s image, redeemed by the blood of Christ, is left to perish through thy inhumanity. How many streams of fire will be the portion of such a soul!”
1. We call those men friends whose principles are the same as ours, and who cherish mutual good will, mutually support one another, and hold confidential intercourse one with another.40
Those whose principles are the same soon become friends. We like what is like. Friends cherish more kindly feelings towards one another than they do towards the world at large. They are one heart and one soul. St. Jerome compares friendship to a mirror, which presents a faithful image of the object before it. If one who stands before a mirror laughs, or moves his head, the image in the mirror does the same. His very wishes and dislikes seem to be shared by the image in the mirror. So it is with friendship. Trifling differences do not dissever it, they rather clench it more firmly. The smith sprinkles water upon the fire to fan the flame, and a town that has been re-conquered is garrisoned more strongly than one which has never been lost to the crown. Friends support one another. Pythias and Damon were intimate friends. One of them was sentenced to death by Dionysius the tyrant. He asked permission to go home to set his affairs in order, his friend meanwhile acting as a hostage for him, prepared to die in his stead, did he not reappear at the appointed time. The hour for the execution struck, but the condemned man was not there. Yet his friend persisted that he would come, and so he did. The tyrant admired their mutual devotion and pardoned the one under sentence of death. David, the son of an ordinary citizen of Bethlehem, and Jonathan, the king’s son, made each other’s acquaintance in the camp, and finding in each other kindred souls, they formed a close friendship. When Jonathan heard that David’s life was sought after, he could not eat for anxiety on his behalf, and when he had to part from him, he wept bitterly (1 Sam. 20:24; 28:1). Friends hold confidential intercourse with one another, they conceal nothing one from the other. When the door of a room is opened, you see all that is in it. So friends disclose to one another their inmost soul, and reveal the secrets of their heart. Christ communicated many mysteries to His disciples. Friends are consequently candid and open-hearted to one another; they tell one another of their failings. Thus Christ warned His apostles of their faults; for instance, He exhorted them to cultivate a more childlike spirit (Matt. 18:3). St. Gregory the Great used to say: “I only count those as my friends who have the generosity to point out my faults to me.”
2. Those only are true friends whose friendship is based upon principles of religion.41
Friendship, like a building, must rest upon a solid foundation; and only when this foundation is the fear of God and the love of God, will the structure of friendship stand firm. If it is based on wrong or selfish motives, it is founded upon sand. One who is the enemy of God cannot be a true friend to his neighbor; he only loves his friend aright who loves God in him (St. Augustine). When seen in the bed of the ocean, coral appears to be a bush of greenish hue, without any special beauty, but when taken out of the water it becomes bright, red and hard. So friendship acquires its brilliancy, its beauty, its solidity, when it is elevated into the atmosphere of divine love (St. Francis de Sales).
False friendships are those which are formed merely for the sake of pleasure or gain, or some bad purpose; or between men who need one another’s assistance in perpetrating some dark deed. Thus Judas made an agreement with the high priests against Our Lord; and Pilate and Herod were made friends on the occasion of His condemnation. False friends are only steadfast as long as they need each other (Sir. 6:7 seq.). When Judas in desperation took the money back to the chief priests with self-accusations, they spoke as if they knew nothing about him: “What is that to us? Look thou to it” (Matt. 27:4). False friends act like the swallows; as long as it is warm here, they stay happily in this country with us; but as soon as they feel the inclement winter approaching, they take flight to a sunnier clime. Or they may be compared to bees, which fly away from a flower when they have sucked all the honey out of its cup (Segneri). They are like a reed, which breaks when one leans on it. The Romans used to say: “As long as thou art happy thou wilt have many friends, but as soon as adversity overtakes thee thou wilt find thyself alone.” Misfortune is the test of true friendship.
Our Lord loved all men, but He loved His disciples best; He called them His friends, His children, and treated them with familiarity and confidence. Among His disciples John was His special favorite; next to him He loved Peter and James; these three were with Him on the most memorable occasions of His life on earth, on Thabor and on Olivet. We are told also that Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters (John 11:5). We know that God shows special predilection for, and confers most graces on those who are most like Him, and who love Him most; we therefore are warranted in doing the same, in loving and trusting those most in whom we find similarity of tastes and affection for ourselves. The need of friendship is implanted by the Creator in every human breast.
Blessed is he that findeth a true friend (Sir. 25:12). A friend makes our life much pleasanter; his sympathy increases our happiness and makes our afflictions easier to bear. St. Augustine says there is no more salutary balm for our wounds than the consolations of a friend. Just as a stick is not broken as readily if it is bound up with others, so we are not as soon cast down by calamity, if faithful friends are at hand to succor us. A true friend is like another guardian angel; no defense is so efficacious as that which he affords us. “Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend; no weight of gold and silver is equal to his fidelity. They that fear the Lord shall find him” (Sir. 6:15). Alexander the Great, on being asked where his treasures were, pointed to his friends and said: “Those are my treasures.” True friendship does not cease at our death, for charity never falleth away (1 Cor. 13:8). Those who have been real friends on earth will see and love one another in heaven; Christ promises His apostles that they shall be with Him hereafter (John 17:24). False friends will curse one another after death, for having been a cause of sin and unhappiness to one another.
6. One must not be rash in forming friendships, nor must one do wrong to please a friend.
David complains: “The man in whom I trusted, who eat my bread, hath greatly supplanted me” (Ps. 40[41]:10). Holy Scripture also warns us to try a friend before taking him, and not to trust him too readily (Sir. 6:7). Do not judge of him as much by his words as by his deeds. And if he asks you to do evil for his sake, answer him as the Greek answered the friend who wanted him to swear falsely in his interest: “I am only thy friend in so far as I do not lose the friendship of God.” The friendship of God is indeed worth more than any human friendship.
VIII. THE COMMANDMENT TO LOVE OUR ENEMY
We call him our enemy who hates us and seeks to do us harm.
Saul, for instance, was an enemy of the Christians. Those alone can be said to have the love of their neighbor who love their enemies too. A big fire is not extinguished but increased by the wind; so the love of one’s neighbor, if it be real, is not destroyed, but deepened, by affronts and offences on the part of others. If we only love those who love us, we cannot look for any great reward (Matt. 5:46). We love our friends for our own sake, but we love our enemies for God’s sake.
1. We ought to love our enemies because Christ commands it; He says: “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you; pray for them that persecute and calumniate you” (Matt. 5:44).42
Christ has given us the most striking example of the love of our enemies, for on the cross He prayed for His enemies, and in the Garden of Olives He healed the servant whose ear Peter had cut off. Our heavenly Father Himself sets us an example, for He makes His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. He who loves his enemy therefore is like to God; he is a true child of his Father in heaven (Matt. 5:45).
Another reason why we ought to love our enemy is because he also is made after God’s image, and is an instrument in His hand.43
Our enemy is made after God’s likeness. The king’s effigy stamped upon the coin, is equally deserving of respect whether the coin be of copper or gold; so we are bound to love and honor the image of God, whether the man who bears it be vicious or virtuous. It is not the sin we love, but the sinner. Man is God’s work, sin is man’s work; “therefore,” says St. Augustine, “love what God has made, not what man has done.” We ought also to love our enemy because God uses him as His instrument. Evil men, unwittingly to themselves, are instruments in God’s hands. As the physician employs the leech to draw the bad blood from the veins of the sick man, and effect his cure, so God employs our enemies to remove our imperfections (St. Gregory the Great). The evil shape the good, as file and hammer shape iron: they are to them as the plough to the fallow ground (St. John Chrysostom). They are, moreover, of service to us, by acquainting us with our faults and giving us an opportunity of practicing virtue. Enemies are like bees; they sting, but they produce honey. When calumny assails you, console yourself with the thought that it is not the worst fruits that the wasps devour. Finally remember that no enemy can really injure one who loves God; for God makes all hostile designs work good to His own people (Rom. 3:28). This is exemplified in Joseph’s life. The truth will teach you to bear up against persecution.
2. The love of our enemy is shown in this: That we do not revenge ourselves on him, that we return good for evil, that we pray for him and forgive him willingly.44
We ought not to revenge ourselves on our enemy. David gives us a beautiful example, for he twice had the opportunity of putting his persecutor King Saul, to death, and on neither occasion did he do him any harm. Our Lord, when He was reviled, did not revile again (1 Pet. 2:23). Once when Christ was not received in a Samaritan village because He was a Jew, the apostles were so desirous of revenge that they wanted to call down fire from heaven. But Our Lord rebuked them, saying: “You know not of what spirit you are” (Luke 9:55). Vengeance belongs to God, not to us (Rom. 12:19). We ought to suffer wrong rather than take revenge; we are told, to him that striketh thee on the one cheek offer the other (Luke 6:29). Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good (Rom. 12:21). Avenge yourself, as the saints did, by returning benefits for the evil done you; such vengeance is divine. St. Stephen prayed for his murderers; he was more grieved for the harm they did to themselves than for the injury they did to him. When the Apostle James, Bishop of Jerusalem, was thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple, he raised himself on his fractured knees to pray for his murderers. We should also be ready to forgive our enemies. King David forgave Semei, when he threw stones at him and cursed him (2 Sam. 16:10). To do good to one’s enemy is a proof of great magnanimity.
3. He who does not revenge himself on his enemy, or who even confers benefits upon him, puts his foe to shame and pacifies him, and will be rewarded by God; whereas he who hates his enemy and revenges himself on him commits a sin.45
David by sparing Saul on two several occasions mollified and touched him to such a degree that he shed tears (1 Sam. 24:17). Blessed Clement Hofbauer being abused by a woman in the streets of Vienna, went up to her, picked up a handkerchief she had dropped, and spoke kindly to her. She was covered with confusion, and hastily withdrew. Just as the bore-worm, soft as it is, works its way through the hardest wood, so a conciliatory spirit overcomes the bitterest enemy and coarsest calumniator. By conferring benefits on your enemy, you will heap coals of fire upon his head (Rom. 12:20), that is to say, he can no more resist your kindness than he could burning coals. Thus we are taught to be gentle and peaceable. He who does not revenge himself will be rewarded by God. David bore Semei’s curses patiently, saying, “Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction, and may render me good for the cursing of this day” (2 Sam. 16:12). Shortly after he won a signal victory. It is difficult to you to pray for your enemy; but the greater your self-conquest, the greater will be your recompense (St. Augustine). To revenge one’s self is a sin; he who does this is like the bee, which revenges itself by stinging, but in doing so, dies. Besides, it is a foolish thing to revenge one’s self; it is like the dog who bites the stick with which he is beaten, for we forget that our enemy is but an instrument in God’s hand.
4. He who forgives his enemy will obtain forgiveness of his sins from God; but he who will not forgive his enemy God will not forgive.46
To forgive one’s enemy is a work of mercy and the greatest of all almsgiving (St. Augustine). If we forgive others, we can ask pardon for ourselves, as is expressed in the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. God shows mercy to him who willingly forgives his brother. He who does not forgive his brother brings down on himself no blessing when he repeats the Our Father. Christ says: “If you will not forgive men, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your offences” (Matt. 6:15). Remember the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:23–35). We are not merely to forgive seven times, but seventy times seven times (Matt. 18:22).
Among all classes of men each one is his own nearest neighbor. Consequently every man ought to love himself.
We ought to love ourselves because God wills it; furthermore because we are made after God’s image, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and called to eternal felicity in heaven.47
It is God’s will that we should love ourselves, for Our Lord says: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” In these words He declares the love of ourselves to be the rule and measure of our love of our neighbor. “Learn first to love God,” says St. Augustine, “then to love thyself; then thy neighbor as thyself.” God has not given us a special command to love ourselves, because every man does this in virtue of the natural law, and it is contained in the commandment to love one’s neighbor. We ought besides to love ourselves because we are made after God’s image. If we are to respect God’s image in our neighbor, nay more, in our enemy, we must respect it in ourselves. Since, then, we love ourselves for the sake of God, it stands to reason that the right love of one’s self increases in the same proportion as we advance in the love of God. We must also remember that we are bought with a great price. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18). We also have a high calling, we are destined for eternal felicity. St. Gregory the Great thus beautifully expresses it: “Recognize thy dignity, O Christian! Thou art made a participator in the divine nature, a member of Christ’s body! Remember that thou hast been wrested from the powers of darkness, and destined to share in the glory of the kingdom of heaven!” Consider also that the Son of God was made man for us and became our Brother, that thus we have been made the children of God (1 John 3:1); that the Holy Spirit dwells in us (1 Cor. 6:19); that the angels minister to us (Heb. 1:14). These are all motives impelling us to love ourselves. Wherefore as the love of one’s self is in reality only the love of one’s neighbor applied to one’s self personally, to love one’s self is equivalent to esteeming one’s self at one’s true value (a matter of reason) desiring one’s own good (a matter of the affections)—not injuring, but doing good to one’s self (in will and in action). This is the right self-love, in contradistinction to the false love which manifests itself in arrogance, conceit, discourtesy, license, etc.
The true love of one’s self shows itself herein, that we strive to attain that which will procure our real happiness; first and foremost our eternal felicity, and then such earthly things as are conducive to the attainment of eternal felicity.48
The true lover of himself acts according to Christ’s admonition: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). He will provide for his health, his clothing, etc., but without undue solicitude.
He is wanting in love of himself who only strives after earthly possessions and heeds not his eternal happiness; likewise he who despises the things that are helpful to the attainment of eternal happiness.49
A great number of mankind regard self, not God, as their final end; and earthly riches not as means towards attaining eternal happiness, but as means for the gratification of the senses. Therefore they take delight in earthly things: honors, riches, dignities, etc., and are not willing to give them up for God’s sake. Such love of one’s self is a spurious love; it is selfishness, self-seeking. He who prefers what is temporal to what is eternal is his own enemy; for he will only enjoy a certain measure of happiness for a short period, then he will be unhappy forevermore. “They that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul” (Tob. 12:10). How many resemble the miser in the Gospel, who said to himself: “Thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer”; to whom God said: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:19–20.) “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26.) “Learn,” says St. Augustine, “to love thyself by not loving thyself.” On the other hand those do wrong who despise those earthly things which promote their spiritual good, for by so doing they show contempt for their eternal salvation. What must one think of a man who does not provide for his own maintenance, who rashly endangers his life or even puts an end to it by his own act?
X. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
1. The Ten Commandments were given by God to the Jews on Mount Sinai.50
The proclamation of the commandments took place on the fiftieth day after the exit of the Israelites from Egypt. When giving them, God prefaced them with the solemn announcement: “I am the Lord thy God, etc.” (Exod. 20:2), acting as a monarch, who places his name and titles at the head of the decree he issues, to inspire his subjects with respect. The Ten Commandments were written by God on two tables of stone, to indicate that they were only an amplification of the two commandments of charity. They are called the commandments of God, because He is their Author; they are also known as the Decalogue, i.e., ten words. We must here remark that the Catholic Church, acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has slightly altered the Decalogue in a Christian sense. The Jewish Decalogue, given on Mount Sinai, consists of these precepts: (1). The command to worship no God but the true God. (2). The prohibition against the worship of images. (3). The prohibition against taking God’s name in vain. (4). The command to keep holy the Sabbath. (5). The command to honor one’s parents. (6). The prohibition against murder. (7). Adultery. (8). Theft. (9). False witness. (10). Coveting other men’s goods (Exod. 20:1–17). The Catholic Church has joined the Second Commandment, forbidding the worship of images, to the first, and divided the tenth into two separate commands, in order that the Christian wife may be duly respected (vide Ninth Commandment). The command to keep holy the Sabbath is changed into the precept to sanctify Sundays and holydays. The idea of the Jews that upon each table five laws were inscribed is probably correct, since the first five commandments of the Jewish Decalogue contained their duty towards God and His representatives, and the latter five their duty towards their neighbor. Moreover, Our Lord, when answering the rich young man, began with the precept against murder, and St. Paul classed together the last five commands of the Jewish Decalogue (which correspond to the last six of the Christian).
2. We Christians are bound to observe the Ten Commandments of God, both because God has imprinted them upon the human heart, and because Christ laid them upon us anew in a more full and perfect form.51
The Ten Commandments are binding on us who are Christians; they were imprinted on the heart of every man. It was only because the divine light in man had been obscured by evil ways and corrupt manners that the law was given upon Sinai. Thus what man would no longer read in his own heart, was inscribed on tables of stone. Christ reiterated the Ten Commandments when speaking to the rich youth (Matt. 19:18), and in the Sermon on the Mount He amplified several of them, e.g., the Second, by declaring unnecessary oaths to be sinful; or the Fifth and Eighth, when He proscribed hatred and calumny, and even enjoined the love of our enemies; the Sixth by condemning the indulgence of evil desires (Matt. 5).
3. The Ten Commandments of God are arranged in order.52
The first three comprise our duty to God as our supreme Ruler.
In the First Commandment He requires from us worship and fidelity; in the Second, reverence; in the Third, service.
The Fourth contains our duty towards those who are God’s representatives upon earth, and who are at the same time of all men our greatest benefactors.
The remaining six commandments contain our duties to ourselves and to our fellow-men. The Fifth is for the protection of life, the Sixth of purity, the Seventh of property, the Eighth of honor, the Ninth and Tenth of the domestic life of one’s neighbor.
4. He who keeps all these commandments receives a great reward from God on earth, and after death he may look forward to eternal felicity as his portion.53
God has ordained that what is to us the means of attaining everlasting happiness should also promote our welfare on earth. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (1 Tim. 4:8). He who observes God’s commandments obtains interior content, health, honor, riches, and a more intimate knowledge of God. David says to God: “Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling-block” (Ps. 118[119]:165). “By Thy commandments I have had understanding” (Ps. 118[119]:104). He who keeps God’s commandments triumphs over sufferings and persecutions. His house is built upon a rock, and the force of the elements is impotent to overthrow it (Matt. 7:25). Only by the bridge of obedience can we enter into heaven; it is a bridge with ten arches (St. Vincent Ferrer). If our reward on earth is but trifling, our reward in heaven will be all the greater; it will be a recompense surpassing all our hopes and expectations, without limit and without end. He fulfils his promise who gives more and better than was expected of him (St. Jerome).
5. Temporal and eternal chastisements await the man who grievously violates a single one of these commandments.54
He who transgresses the commandments will have both temporal and eternal punishment. The temporal punishments of sin are in general, discontent, sickness, the loss of honor or of property, hunger and other miseries. He who does not keep God’s commandments will have no help from God in the time of affliction. Our Lord says the house of such a one is built on the sand, and will be destroyed (Matt. 7:27). The lightnings and smoke on Mount Sinai are typical of the fire which will be the penalty of those who transgress God’s law. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law but offend in one point, is become guilty of all” (Jas. 2:10). The reason of this is because all the commandments form one whole; they are so closely bound up together, that one cannot be maintained without the others. He who violates one commandment transgresses the law of charity, on which all the commandments depend (St. Augustine). In this they are like a stringed instrument; one broken string will ruin the melody. Or like the human body; if one member be diseased, it is enough to cause death. If the whole city is guarded and one part left unwatched the enemy will effect an entrance. The lost in hell kept a great many of the commandments; they are damned because they did not keep all.
6. It is not a difficult matter to keep these commandments as long as God helps us with His grace; hence Christ says to His followers: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30).55
St. John says to the Christians: “His commandments are not heavy” (1 John 5:3). The burden is heavy in itself, but God assists us with His grace to bear it if we ask Him. St. Augustine says: “When God lays a command upon thee, He requires thee to do all thou canst, and in what thou canst not do to implore His help, and He will enable thee to do it.” “I can do all things in Christ that strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). Moreover the example of the saints who went before us serves to encourage us.
On Sinai God said: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me” (Exod. 20:2–7). That is to say, “Thou shalt worship the true God only; thou shalt worship no false gods.” In the First Commandment interior and exterior worship is required of us. To this commandment Our Lord referred when He said to Satan: “It is written the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10).
In the First Commandment God enjoins upon us to worship Him, and forbids idolatry and every false form of worship.56
1. THE ADORATION OR WORSHIP OF GOD
We are accustomed to show respect to any one who is superior to ourselves in any point, in power, in experience, in knowledge, etc. We also reverence kings, aged men, men eminent for learning or science, and the like. The greater a man’s superiority to ourselves, the greater is our esteem, our reverence for him. Now as God is infinitely superior to us, we owe Him the utmost respect, worship and veneration of which we are capable. This highest worship we call adoration.
We ought to adore God because He is infinitely exalted above us, and because we are entirely dependent upon Him as our Creator.
Let us meditate a while upon the infinite sublimity of God. Consider first His omnipotence; this is displayed in the beauty of the star-spangled firmament. “The heavens show forth the glory of God” (Ps. 18[19]:2). Consider also the eternity of God. “One day with the Lord is as a thousand years” (2 Pet. iii. 8). Think of the wisdom of God, the arrangements of Whose providence are so wonderful in creation, and Who can turn even what is evil to good. “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments!” (Rom. 11:33.) Think of His fatherly care even for the most insignificant of His creatures. At the time of Our Lord’s birth, He showed grace to poor shepherds and heathens; He chose for His Mother a lowly Virgin, unlearned fishermen for His apostles, to the poor He had the Gospel preached, etc. “Who is as the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, and looketh down on the low things?” (Ps. 112[113]:5.) How infinite is the distance between God and man! We love God, because we know Him; we adore Him because we cannot comprehend Him (St. Gregory of Nazianzen). We are entirely dependent upon God; we belong wholly and solely to Him. The members of our body, the powers of our soul are His gift; to Him we owe our being, and by Him we have been redeemed. Since He has given us all that we have, it is just that we should serve Him and worship Him alone. The consideration of the divine benefits bestowed upon us teaches us to adore Him. We must, moreover, consider that we cannot exist without God’s continual help. If He deprives us of food, we cannot live; if He takes away our life, we die; if He takes from us the light of the Holy Spirit, we become spiritually blind; if He were to permit the devil to have too much power over us, we should fall into mortal sin. What is true of man, is true of all other creatures; they also are entirely dependent upon their Creator. “Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power; because Thou hast created all things” (Rev. iv. 11). “Come, let us adore and fall down before the Lord that made us. For He is the Lord our God; we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand” (Ps. 94[95]7).
1. The adoration we pay to God consists in this: That we acknowledge both in our hearts and by our actions that He is Our Lord and we are His creatures and His servants.57
To worship God is to acknowledge our own misery and His greatness. He who worships God says with David “My substance is as nothing before Thee!” (Ps. 38[39]:6.) Our adoration of God manifests itself first by interior reverence, then by external signs. We call those persons pious who worship God in truth.
2. We worship God interiorly by acts of faith, hope, and charity.58
By faith we give our assent to all the utterances of the most high and the true God, we adore God as the perfect truth. By hope we expect all good things from the almighty and most bountiful God, we adore Him as the source of all good. By charity we occupy ourselves exclusively with God, we adore Him as our final end. St. Augustine says that the worship of God necessarily commences with a correct knowledge of God, for it is impossible to know Him without venerating Him. And who that knows the omnipotence of God and His beneficence towards mankind, can do otherwise than place his hopes in Him? Who that is conscious of the many benefits God lavishes upon him, can fail to love Him? “Is it possible,” asks St. Thomas of Villanova, “for a creature to know God without loving Him?” Reverence for God, the worship of God, are inseparable from the love of God, for we adore what we love. “Love and adoration are as closely connected as fire and flame” (St. Francis de Sales). Thus the worship of God consists of these three things: faith, hope, and charity; by acts of these virtues we are to manifest our reverence for Him. Exterior worship is nothing more or less than the expression of faith, hope, and charity.
3. We adore God exteriorly by vocal prayer, sacrifice, genuflections, prostrations, folding of hands, striking the breast, etc.59
Sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of some visible gift of God, in order thereby to honor Him as our sovereign Lord. By sacrifice we attest our belief that God is the Author of all being, the supreme Lord of all, to Whom accordingly we owe allegiance. The oblation of visible objects is a sign of the interior, spiritual sacrifice, whereby the soul surrenders herself to God as her final and blissful end. By kneeling down or prostrating one’s self, as Christ did in the Garden of Olives, we acknowledge our own insignificance before God; clasping the hands signifies that we are fettered, i.e., helpless; striking the heart, like the publican in the Temple, that we are deserving of chastisement.
a. We ought to pay God exterior worship, because we are bound to render Him the homage of our bodies, and because it serves to increase our interior devotion; furthermore, external worship answers to a need inherent in our human nature.60
Body and soul are both God’s work, consequently both are under the obligation of manifesting their subjection to Him. An omniscient God does not indeed need outward signs of reverence, because He sees the intention of the worshipper, yet these outward tokens are useful to us, because they inflame the interior affections and augment the fervor of interior worship. And since these external ceremonies during prayer are only means to an end (that of intensifying interior devotion) they can be dispensed with if they prove a hindrance to interior worship. For instance, if one is greatly fatigued, one may sit to say one’s prayers. Nay more, one may pray while walking about or standing, if one finds that thus one can pray more devoutly. Do not weary yourself with protracted kneeling, or it will occasion distraction. It is enough if the posture of the soul before God is one of lowly adoration. Man is so constituted that he must needs give outward expression to his inward feelings. When a house is on fire within, the flames burst out externally; so when a man adores God in spirit, he manifests his devotion by outward signs; otherwise he would belie the impulse of his nature, were he to suppress all demonstration of the adoration he pays in thought and heart.
b. We ought never to render external adoration to God without having awakened within us the corresponding sentiments of devotion.61
He who kneels down, clasps his hands, strikes his breast, without thinking of what he is doing, is little better than a hypocrite. How many people go through the usual ceremonies in the house of God merely from habit, without thinking of what they are doing! We must not act in this like acquaintances who, meeting casually, repeat a formula of greeting without meaning a word of what they say. The ceremonies we observe when we worship God ought faithfully to express the feelings of our heart. Christ said to the Samaritan woman that God must be adored in spirit and in truth (John iv. 24), that is, exterior worship ought to be the expression of our spiritual worship, and correspond faithfully to the feelings of our heart. Those individuals who make a greater demonstration of devotion than their interior sentiments warrant, are like people who dress above their station, and give themselves out for richer than they really are. Vicious people sometimes make an outward profession of piety, by which they seek to conceal their evil life. In this they resemble those who seek to disguise some unpleasant odor by the use of a powerful perfume, or those who having a bad complexion by nature, employ cosmetics to give it a fictitious beauty and attractive brilliancy. The ancient Egyptians used to embalm dead bodies to preserve them from decomposition. So Satan imbues those who are spiritually dead with the aroma of a spurious piety, that their moral corruption may not be apparent. Persons who make a pretense of piety may be detected by their ostentatious display of devotion and their utter lack of charity. They court observation of their religious practices, accompany their prayers with extravagant gestures, affect a downcast mien, take a prominent part in all Catholic confraternities, and count it a crime not to go to confession on particular days. Meanwhile they do not scruple to conceal a grievous sin in the tribunal of penance, they live in enmity, they slander their neighbor, give no alms and indulge envy. Thus these would-be saints betray their real character as surely as a man betrays his nationality the moment he opens his lips. Piety that is simply external does not last, because it is not the outcome of interior devotion. “Planets and comets,” says St. Francis de Sales, “are both luminous, heavenly bodies, and closely resemble each other, but the comets soon disappear, whereas the planets shine on to all time.” So it is with real and unreal devotion. Those who make a pretense of piety render religion contemptible, and deter many right-minded persons from devotional practices, for no one likes to be classed with hypocrites.
c. We ought to avoid all exaggeration in devotion, and never omit the duties of our state in life.62
We ought to avoid every kind of exaggeration in the worship of God. True piety does not consist in a gloomy demeanor, downcast looks, a melancholy manner. True piety is cheerful. The soul that rejoices in the possession of God, that is rich in virtue, produces a pleasant impression on others. It is also a mistake to load one’s self with a great variety of religious practices. We should aim at simplicity in our devotions. A short prayer, repeated a hundred times over, is often worth more than a hundred different formulas. The duties of our station ought never to be neglected for the sake of prayer, for nothing is more pleasing to God than their right fulfilment. “He who performs the duties of his calling,” says St. Francis de Sales, “with diligent care for the love of God, is truly pious and a man after God’s heart.” That piety which is incompatible with the duties of our station is false piety. True piety adapts itself to the duties of every state and calling, as a fluid takes the form of the vessel into which it is poured.
Our Lord said to the devil, when he tempted Him: “It is written, the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10). If I am in the presence of a personage of distinction, it would be showing contempt for him were I to turn away from him, and devote my attention to someone greatly his inferior; so it would not be right to allow any object but God to engross our mind and thoughts. It is however no sin to reverence creatures in whom the perfections of God are reflected. We do not worship them with supreme worship; we only honor and venerate them for God’s sake. Thus it is permissible to venerate the saints.
2. IDOLATRY OR THE WORSHIP
OF FALSE GODS
Every human creature feels himself to be dependent upon one supreme Being, and therefore is conscious of an inward impulse to adore that supreme Being. He who does not adore the true God will adore a creature. This is idolatry. He who does not worship God in the manner which He has revealed and which the Church prescribes, will ere long come to worship Him after a debased and foolish fashion. This is the false worship of God.
1. Idolatry is the worship of a creature which is regarded as a deity; e.g., the sun, fire, animals, images, etc.63
Idolatry is frequently met with in the history of the Jews: witness the worship of the golden calf (Exod. 32), on the adoration of the statue Nebuchadnezzar set up (Dan. 3). Remember the soldiers who fought under Judas Maccabeus, and who fell in battle because they had idols concealed under their coats. Judas had prayers and sacrifices offered for the men who were thus punished. In the time of persecution some of the early Christians were guilty of idolatry, because from fear of the torture awaiting them, they offered incense upon the altars of the pagan gods. And at the French revolution the people of France fell into the sin of idolatry when a woman, personating the Goddess of Reason, was adored in the house of God.
To this day the heathen worship idols.
The heathen changed the glory of the Creator into the glory of creatures (Rom. 1:23). In Asia, where the heavenly bodies shine with greater brilliance than in northern lands, the people looked upon the sun, the moon, the circle of stars as gods, and also fire, the source of light, the wind and the great waters (Wisd. 13:2). The Egyptians mostly worshipped animals which were either useful or hurtful, such as the cat, the hawk, the crocodile, and especially Apis, a black bull with a white scar on its forehead and other peculiar marks, which was kept in their temple. The Romans and Greeks again worshipped statues and images of the pagan gods. And as the heathen had fallen away from the true God, as a punishment He permitted them, through the practice of idolatry, to degrade themselves by the most hideous vices (Rom. 1:28). They represented their divinities as vicious themselves, and the patrons of vice in others; by indulging in the vice of which any particular god was the protector, they thought to do him honor. This worship of false gods was nothing less than the service of devils (1 Cor. 10:20), for the devil was the animating spirit of idolatry; he dwelt in the idols and oftentimes spoke through them. David says: “The gods of the Gentiles are devils” (Ps. 95[96]5). How thankful we ought to be to almighty God for the blessings of the Gospel. It is to show our gratitude for this benefit that we stand while the Gospel is read during Mass. Three-quarters of the human race are still plunged in pagan darkness, that is to say about eight hundred millions are heathens. They are to be found principally in Africa, India, China and Japan. Every year the Holy Father sends out more missioners to these souls. Catholics ought to support these missioners by their prayers and their alms. The Association for the Propagation of the Faith, and of the Holy Childhood of Jesus, have been instituted for this object.
2. Another form of idolatry is when a human being gives up his whole self to a creature.64
It would be absurd to call a man an idolater because he offers to a false god a few grains of incense which he ought to offer to the true God, and not to apply the same term to one who devotes his whole life to the world instead of to God. The avaricious are pre-eminently idolaters (Eph. 5:5), for they consecrate their every thought, their every exertion, they sacrifice their health, their life to Mammon, to the pursuit of this world’s goods. “Covetousness is the service of idols” (Col. 3:5).
All who are engrossed in material interests are guilty of idolatry, especially the avaricious, the proud, the intemperate, the unchaste.
Whatever a man desires and adores, that is his god. The god of the avaricious is gold (Hos. 8:4); the god of the proud is honor, the god of the glutton is his belly (Phil. 3:19); the god of the unchaste his own lusts (1 Cor. 6:15). The greed of gain, the pride of life, sensual pleasures, are worshipped by the worldling. Parents are also guilty of idolatry, if they cherish an inordinate affection for their children (Wisd. 14:15).
3. The service of idols is high treason against the majesty of God, and the most heinous of sins.
St. Thomas Aquinas declares the worship of idols to be the greatest of all sins. Among the Jews it was punishable by death (Exod. 22:20). On one occasion no less than twenty-three thousand were put to death by God’s command for this transgression (Exod. 32:28). He who worships idols incurs the curse of God (Deut. 27:15). Think of the lamentable condition of the heathen; some of them have become so degraded through idolatry that they have sunk into the vice of cannibalism. The Apostle says idolaters, adulterers, the covetous, drunkards, and others, shall not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10).
3. FOOLISH OR PERVERTED WORSHIP
1. Superstition, fortune-telling, spiritualism, and magic, are foolish and irrational forms of worship.65
a. Superstition consists in ascribing to created things powers which they do not possess, either by nature or in virtue of the prayers of the Church.66
Superstition is of pagan origin. Among the Romans the will of the gods was divined by the Haruspices from the entrails of animals. The Greeks consulted the oracle of Delphi: a priestess was seated upon a tripod above a fissure in the earth whence a stupefying vapor arose, and to her incoherent utterances when in a state of unconsciousness through this exhalation, a mystic meaning was attached. Many popular and local customs that linger among us in the present day are relics of heathen times. These superstitions are generally found among people who do not care for religion; superstition and unbelief go hand in hand. Children born on a Sunday are said to be fortune’s favorites; Friday is considered an unlucky day for the commencement of an enterprise, or for starting on a journey; to sit down thirteen to table is regarded as a fatal omen. Some people wear charms, such as four-leaved clover, about them to ensure good fortune. What folly this is! These we call natural superstitions, because they refer to natural objects. On the other hand, those people are not to be called superstitious who make use of, or carry on their person things that the Church has consecrated or blessed, and which consequently are endued with supernatural efficacy. To wear a cross which has been blessed, or a rosary, or a relic, to take holy water, hoping thereby to be preserved by God from evil, is not superstitious. But if a greater efficacy than they possess is ascribed to these things, for instance, if it is thought that the fact of lighting a blessed candle during a storm will avert the thunderbolt, that the mere wearing of, or recital of certain prayers will preserve from drowning or death by fire, then we have an instance of superstition. This kind of superstition is called religious, because it has reference to sacred objects.67
b. Fortune-telling or soothsaying is the attempt to discover hidden or future events by means of things that are not in themselves calculated to reveal them.68
The heathens of old made use of astrology for this purpose; from the course or conjunction of the planets they forecast the destiny of individuals. Even nowadays many people regard the appearance of a comet as presaging war or famine. The Roman augurs predicted what was about to happen by watching the flight of birds, listening to the cries they uttered, or observing the manner in which the sacred fowls devoured their food. What a strange delusion! In the present day, however, Christians sometimes use cards as a means of divination; if the public papers are to be believed, there are in Paris eight hundred women who tell fortunes by cards, and they are invited to the houses of the great to exercise their art. There are also many who believe in the portents of dreams, or in palmistry, or who think to foretell the future by the combinations of numbers and figures, and the like contemptible devices. They attach superstitious meaning to the howling of a dog at night, which is said to predict the death of its owner; the hour at which a watch happens to stop, etc. Those who play lottery connect certain numbers with certain events, either real or the phantoms of dreams. On the occasion of an earthquake in Rome in 1895, a million of francs was put into the lottery on the number eleven, this being the date of the earthquake, other tickets for large sums being taken for the hour and minute at which it occurred. All these numbers were drawn blanks. And that in this nineteenth century, the age of enlightenment! On the other hand, the forecasts of meteorologists, or the prediction of what weather may be expected from the observation of natural phenomena, is of course perfectly legitimate.
c. Spiritualism is the invocation of spirits in view of learning what is hidden from human ken.69
Spiritualists offer themselves to act as instruments or mediums to the spirits, their design being that some unknown spirit (that is a devil) should communicate with mankind by means of their hand or voice, or by some other manifestation, such as rapping. St. Thomas Aquinas says it is sinful to seek instruction from the devil, since the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, are placed within our reach. “Let there not be found any one that consulteth spirits, for the Lord abhorreth all these things” (Deut. 18:11). Spiritualists are often excused on the plea that they are Christians, and call upon the name of God; but for that very reason they are to be condemned, because they profane God’s holy name, and while professing to be Christians, they act as do the heathen.
d. Magic or sorcery is the invocation of spirits in order to produce miraculous effects.70
It is an undeniable fact that among the heathen there were individuals who worked wonders by the devil’s aid. There were magicians in Egypt in the time of Moses, who by their enchantments imitated his miracles (Exod. 7:11). In the days of the apostles a magician named Simon Magus lived in Samaria and deluded many by his sorceries (Acts 8:10). We are also told that Antichrist will perform many lying wonders with the assistance of the evil one (2 Thess. 2:9). The name of magician is not to be given to jugglers, who by skill and sleight of hand perform astonishing feats.
2. This perverted form of worship is a grievous sin.
God says: “The soul that shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers I will destroy out of the midst of its people” (Lev. 20:6). David says: “Thou hast hated them that regard vanities to no purpose” (Ps. 30[31]:7). He who trusts to vain things or to evil spirits, ascribes more power to them than to God; he tacitly denies the divine attributes of sanctity, omnipotence, wisdom, etc. “How canst thou hope for grace from God,” asks St. John Chrysostom, “if thou dost abandon Him and have recourse to the evil enemy?” This sin brings down severe chastisements from God. Ahaziah, one of the kings of Israel, sent to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether he should recover of his sickness. The prophet Elijah met the messengers, and said to them: “Go and return to the king that sent you, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord, Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendeth to Beelzebub? Therefore thou shalt not come down from thy bed but thou shalt surely die” (2 Kings 1). Ahaziah expired shortly after. Superstitious people have no peace; they are timid and apprehensive; every trifle alarms them; they are dismayed and afraid to act when they perceive what they consider as portents. Other sins follow in the train of this perversion of the reverence due to God; such as abuse of holy things, for instance, relics and images; or injustice and want of charity towards one’s neighbor. Superstitious people are easily misled by their omens into rash judgments and hasty condemnations of others; or they refuse to do them a service lest it should bring ill-luck, etc.
Sins against the First Commandment
The First Commandment of God is transgressed:
1. By neglecting prayer.71
The heathen had their household gods; they were to be seen in the halls of palaces as well as above the threshold of the lowliest dwellings. Yet Catholics, who worship the true God, too often deny Him the daily homage due to Him. The followers of Mohammed never omit, when the muezzin calls to prayer, to kneel down and perform their orisons, even in public places, while Christians, who hold the true faith, do not scruple to dispense with prayer almost entirely. Unhappy is the household where family prayer is an unknown thing!
2. By opposing religion, either by speaking against the faith, or by the publication or dissemination of books and periodicals hostile to the faith, or by joining associations of an anti-Christian character.72
3. By worshipping idols or being engrossed in material interests.
4. By superstitions.
5. By telling fortunes or having one’s fortune told.
6. By invoking spirits, either for the purpose of searching out what is hidden, or of doing what cannot be done in the ordinary course of nature.
We call those saints who died in the grace of God, and who are already in heaven, more especially those whom the Church has canonized.73
Canonization does not admit any one into heaven; it is only a solemn declaration on the part of the Pope that the man or woman in question has led a holy life (this having been proved by the examination of his or her life), and that (as the miracles proved to have been wrought by the individual testify) he or she is already in heaven, and is therefore to be venerated by the Church. Canonization is preceded by beatification; by this latter the individual is proposed for the veneration of a portion of the faithful only, whereas by canonization he is declared worthy to receive the cultus of the whole Church. The scrutiny to which the life and miracles are subjected is extremely rigorous; they are laid before a special congregation composed of cardinals, priests, physicians, scientists, who are appointed to examine them by the Supreme Pontiff himself. This examination does not take place as a rule until fifty years after the death of the servant of God. On account of the great number of the saints, their different degree of glory, and the fact that their life was more in heaven than on earth, they are compared to the stars; or again to precious stones, rarely found upon earth and valuable in God’s sight; to the cypress, whose wood never decays, because they were not contaminated by the corruption of serious sin; to the majestic cedars of Lebanon, by reason of the height of perfection they attained; to the fragrant lily, because by their good works they shed a sweet odor around them; to an anvil, unbroken by the blows of the hammer, for they stood steadfast beneath the strokes of misfortune. They are also said to be the pillars of the Church, for they sustain her by their prayers, and like the towers that crown a city, they add to her outward majesty and dignity.
The Church ordains that those saints alone whom she has canonized should be publicly venerated by the faithful.74
The Church knows that the veneration of the saints is good and useful for us. Consequently she omits no opportunity of inciting us to it; at Baptism the name of a saint is given to the child who is made one of the members of the Church, and the same is done at Confirmation. Every day in the year some one or more saints are commemorated; statues and pictures of saints are placed in the churches, their names are mentioned in the Mass and invoked in litanies and public prayers.
1. We honor the saints because they are the friends of God, princes of the heavenly court, and benefactors to ourselves; also because we obtain great graces from God through venerating them.75
We venerate the saints because they are the friends and servants of God. He who reverences the emperor will not fail to honor his servants, the ministers, or viceroy, etc., for the reverence paid to them is indirectly paid to the emperor himself. For this reason we venerate the friends and servants of God. Every man of good feeling likes his friends to be respected, and feels it to be a slight to himself if they are treated with contempt; how much more is this so with God. He desires that those who loved Him above all things on earth should receive special honor. While the saints lived here below, they fled from honors; nay, more, they were despised, calumniated, persecuted by evil men. Therefore God now wills that their innocence and virtue should be made clear, and they should be venerated by all Christendom. God Himself gives honor to the saints; He works miracles through their intercession, and oftentimes inflicts condign punishment on those who show them disrespect. Christ Himself says: “If any man minister to Me, him will My Father honor” (John 12:26). We venerate the saints on account of their exalted rank in heaven. If we show so much honor to kings by whom God rules the world, how much the more is it incumbent upon us to honor the celestial spirits whom God makes His instruments for the government of the Church, and of whole races of men, and also for the salvation of mankind; and whose dignity therefore far exceeds that of earthly princes. Most of the saints moreover have a claim on us for the services they have rendered to mankind; heathen countries have been evangelized by them (witness St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany); others have maintained and defended the faith, as St. Ignatius of Loyola by forming the Society of Jesus; or again they have enriched the Church by their writings, as did St. Augustine. Many a time the saints have prevailed upon God on behalf of their fellow-men. He would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten just men (Gen. 18:32); for Joseph’s sake He blessed the house of Putiphar (Gen. 39:5); for the sake of the elect the days of judgment shall be shortened (Matt. 24:22). After their death the saints offer supplications before the throne of God for their kinsfolk and their people. The prophet Jeremiah did not cease after death to pray for the Jewish people and for all the holy city (2 Macc. 15:14). The saints in heaven and Christians upon earth are all members of one body. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and they mutually succor one another. Thus the saints help us by their prayers. How much honor is paid to men who have deserved well of their contemporaries; their services are lauded and magnified, statues are erected to their memory, institutions, towns, streets are named after them; ought we not then to venerate our best benefactors? If the man who rescues me from drowning has a claim on my gratitude, how much more those who have spent their strength in endeavoring to save me from eternal perdition! Furthermore, the Council of Trent tells us that the veneration of the saints is of practical utility to ourselves; through them we obtain favors from God, besides a speedy answer to our prayers. Our petitions are much more favorably received by an earthly monarch if they are presented by one of his courtiers; so it is with God, and the more intercessors we have the better for us. What God might not grant to a single saint, He will not deny to several, just as an abbot cannot refuse to grant a request preferred by the whole of his community. Wherefore, as beggars go from house to house asking an alms, let us go through the streets of the heavenly city, appealing to the apostles, the martyrs, the virgins, and the confessors, imploring them to intercede on our behalf.
2. We venerate the saints if we entreat their intercession with God, if we celebrate their feasts, reverence their images and their relics; if we bear their name, claim their protection in matters of importance, and praise them in word and song. The best manner in which to venerate them is to imitate their virtues.76
One day we are to be the companions of the saints in heaven, and this prospect unites us to them in a mutual love. Both they and we belong to the same great family whose father is God. This is the meaning of the communion of saints. Hence they espouse our cause, when we invoke their aid and their intercession with God. The fact of invoking them testifies to the esteem in which we hold them, and the value we attach to their prayers. We celebrate the feasts of the saints. In the earliest ages of the Church the day whereon the martyrs suffered was carefully noted down, to be commemorated annually. In the world great events are celebrated by a jubilee; why should not the same be done in the Church? The anniversaries of the saints are not holydays of obligation, excepting the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul in England, and the festival of All Saints here. And as we like to preserve in memory of the departed, little objects that have belonged to them, whether they be our own relatives and friends, or men of great renown, so the relics of the saints and their images are to be held in veneration. The names of heroes and great men are given to public institutions or buildings, so we receive the name of some saint or great servant of God at our Baptism and Confirmation, or on entering a religious Order, taking him or her for our patron. We also dedicate churches, towns, and countries to some saint, placing them under his protection. Heroes and illustrious men of past times often furnish a theme to the orator and the poet; so panegyrics are pronounced, and hymns sung in honor of the saints. But the most important thing is to imitate the saints. “To venerate the saints without following in their steps,” says St. Augustine, “is merely offering them the incense of empty flattery.” To read the lives of the saints is also a means of honoring them, for we read the record of their deeds in order to take them for patterns in our own actions.
3. The veneration we pay to the saints does not in the least detract from the honor due to God, for we only reverence the saints for God’s sake, and by no means do we reverence them in the way that we reverence God, but only because they are the servants of God.77
The veneration of the saints does not detract from the honor due to God. Who would think of saying that it showed want of respect to the emperor to honor his mother, his children, his friends, and faithful servants? On the contrary, it would rather evince our respect for him (St. Jerome). By venerating the saints of God we no more detract from the honor due to Him than we do by charity towards our neighbor, and we know that the love of God increases with the love of one’s neighbor. We honor the saints because in them the divine image is reflected. We reverence a portrait of the king as being a faithful representation of the monarch to whom we owe allegiance; so we reverence the saints because we see the image of God in them. We love them as we love our fellow-men; they are made after God’s image, and are His children. We also venerate the saints because they were instruments employed by God to perform new and signal deeds. We do not honor them for what they were in and by themselves; their works do not redound to their own glory, so much as to the glory of God, Who worked by their agency. Thus the credit of a beautiful picture does not belong to the brush, or a clever book to the pen, or an eloquent discourse to the lips that merely repeated it. God alone is wonderful in His saints. The Blessed Mother of God did not say: “I have done great things;” but, “He that is mighty hath done great things to me” (Luke 1:49). And as by venerating the saints we honor God, so by despising the saints we dishonor God. Our Lord declared that to despise His apostles was tantamount to despising Himself (Luke 10:16), and that He regarded every act of unkindness towards one’s neighbor as an act of unkindness to Himself (Matt. 25:40). And since God loves the saints in heaven far more than men on earth, He must be deeply affronted by disrespect shown to them. An additional reason why veneration of the saints in no wise diminishes our reverence for God, is because we do not honor them as we honor God. We adore God, but we do not adore the saints, so we do not pay to them the supreme homage that we pay to God, for we know that the distance between Him and them is infinite. However superior the saints are to us, they are only creatures like ourselves. The esteem and veneration in which we hold them is the same in kind as that in which we hold the servants of God on earth, only it is greater in degree, because the saints have already passed as victors into the Church Triumphant. The saints do not desire the adoration of men. When Tobias and his family prostrated themselves before the angel, he said: “Bless ye God, sing praises to Him” (Tob. 12:18). When St. John the Divine fell down before the feet of the angel, he said to him: “See thou do it not, adore God” (Rev. 19:10). And if we kneel beside the tomb or before the image of a saint, we no more adore him than a servant adores his master if he goes on his knees to ask a favor of him. If the holy sacrifice is offered in honor of a saint, if churches and altars are dedicated to him, it is only in the hope that he will unite his prayers to the sacrifices we offer, the prayers we say at his shrine; and we praise God, Who led the saint in so marvelous a way to the attainment of sanctity. Thus veneration of the saints is not idolatry, nor does it betray want of confidence in Christ, our great Mediator. It rather betokens mistrust of ourselves, a humble spirit. Conscious of our own unworthiness to present our petitions to Christ, we have recourse to a mediator whose prayers will have greater weight with Him than our own.
4. It is advisable under different circumstances of life to invoke certain saints.
Experience has proved how much is gained by invoking the saints in times of special need. We invoke St. Joseph as the patron of a happy death, because he expired in the arms of Jesus and Mary; also in seasons of temporal distress, for on him the Child Jesus was dependent for His maintenance. For diseases of the throat St. Blase is to be invoked, who miraculously cured a boy thus afflicted; for diseases of the eye we call on St. Ottilia for aid, because she, when blind, recovered her sight at her Baptism. Those who suffer through calumny find a protector in St. John Nepomucene, who was a martyr to the seal of confession; and when anything is lost, we have recourse to St. Anthony, through whose prayers the thief who had stolen from him a valuable manuscript, had no peace until he restored it. It appears that God has given to individual saints special powers to help us in special needs. Many wonderful answers to prayer lead to the belief that the saints take particular interest in persons whose circumstances are the same as theirs were on earth, and whose calling or state of life is the same as was their own, as well as for the place where they lived and labored.
5. THE VENERATION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD
Many are the types of our blessed Lady to be found in the Old Testament; e.g., Eve, the mother of all mankind; Noah’s ark, wherein the human race was preserved from extinction; the Ark of the Covenant containing the manna; Judith who slew Holofernes, the archenemy of her people; Esther, who was exempted from the universal law (as Mary was from original sin), and by her mediation rescued her people from death; the mother in the story of the Maccabees, who witnessed the death of her seven sons, and whose heart, like Mary’s, was pierced with seven swords, etc. The Gospels gave little information respecting the life of Our Lady; more concerning it may be learned from the revelations of the saints.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, is usually called the Mother of God or the Most Blessed Virgin.78
Elizabeth was the first to call Mary Mother of God (Luke 1:43). The Council of Ephesus, in 431, confirmed this title, Dei Genitrix, and condemned the contrary doctrine asserted by the heretic Nestorius. Mary gave birth to Him Who is God and man in one person. A child does not receive its soul from its mother, but from God, yet she of whom it is born is called its mother; in like manner Mary is justly termed the “Mother of God,” although Christ did not derive from her His divine nature. Mary is also rightly called “the Blessed Virgin.” The words she spoke to the angel announced her determination to preserve her virginity inviolate (Luke 1:34). Many ages before the prophet Isaiah foretold that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son (Is. 7:14). In her conception, in child-bearing, and after the birth of Jesus, Mary remained a virgin. As the bush burned with fire and was not consumed, so Mary’s virginity was not impaired by the birth of Christ; as Our Lord appeared in the midst of the apostles although the doors of the room where they were assembled were shut, so He came into the world, and her chastity remained intact. So the sun shines through glass without in any wise changing it. Mary is the window of heaven, through which the true Light came into the world. Those who are spoken of in the Gospels as the brethren of Christ (Matt. 13:55) are His blood relations; it was customary among the Jews to term near relatives brethren. Abraham called his nephew Lot by this name (Gen. 13:8). “Had Mary had other children who could have taken care of her, Our Lord upon the cross would not have commended her,” as St. John Chrysostom remarks, “to the beloved disciple.” Christ was called the “first-born,” to indicate the fact that He was, according to Jewish law, sanctified to the Lord (Exod. 13:2). Christ was, in fact, the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29), that is, all Christian people, who are besides the children of Mary. Mary was espoused to Joseph by God’s command, in order that she might not be stoned after the birth of Christ, and also in order to provide a guardian for her and the divine Child. The name Mary is a Hebrew word, meaning lady, or mistress.
We pay greater honor to Mary, the Mother of Christ, than to any other saint.79
Even in her lifetime, Mary had great honor paid to her; at the Annunciation the angel addressed her as “full of grace,” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28). It is a great honor if an angel appears to mortal men and affords them an opportunity of showing him reverence; yet at the Annunciation it was not man who reverenced the angel, but the angel who reverenced man. “Hence,” St. Thomas Aquinas says, “we conclude that Mary excels the angels in dignity.” How respectfully Elizabeth treated Mary; she called her blessed, and gave her the title of Mother of her Lord (Luke 1:42–43). Mary herself foresaw that she would be praised by posterity, for she said: “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). The Church invites us to honor the Mother of God with special devotion. The Hail Mary is almost invariably added to the Our Father; three times a day the Angelus bell reminds us of the mystery of the Incarnation, and bids us invoke the name of Mary; many festivals have been instituted in her honor, the Litany of Loretto is recited at the public services of the Church; the month of May, the fairest month in the year, is dedicated to her, and during October the Rosary is daily recited. Moreover, numerous churches are erected in all lands in honor of the Mother of God, not a few of these being renowned places of pilgrimage, where signal graces and favors are obtained; and the most glorious titles are given to her, such as: Channel of grace, Mother of mercy, Refuge of sinners, Help of Christians, Queen of heaven, etc. Yet the veneration we pay to Mary is distinct from the adoration due to God. Exalted honor is due to Mary, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit alone, do we adore.
1. We hold Mary in such great veneration because she is the Mother of God and our Mother.80
Whoever truly loves God must assuredly honor the Mother of God, and honor her, too, far above all the saints, the friends of God. The honor paid to the Queen-Mother is reflected upon the King, her Son. One may judge of the measure in which a man loves God by his devotion to Mary. In fact, the greater the saint, the more intensely does he love Mary. She is actually our Mother, for Our Lord gave her to us upon the cross when He said to St. John: “Behold thy Mother” (John 19:27), John representing on Calvary all the followers of Christ. Mary is the second Eve, the Mother of all mankind; as the disobedience of Eve brought misery upon the human race, so the obedience of Mary restores it to a state of grace. Through one woman death came into the world, through another, life. And since Mary is our Mother, our salvation is more a matter of concern to her than to any of the saints. After Christ no one cares for us as she does. St. Bernard declares that the love of all the mothers in the world does not equal the love Mary bears to each one of her children. And the reason she cares so much for us is because of her love for God, and consequently her charity towards her neighbor exceeds that of any other saint. As the glory of the moon surpasses that of the stars, so the love of Mary for us exceeds that of the angels; it is a boundless ocean of love. Mary knows all our circumstances; this even the angels do (Luke 15:7), and it cannot be supposed that they know more than does their Queen. A dutiful child delights to be with its mother, and the devout Christian rejoices to address to Mary, the Mother of God, his loving supplications.
2. Another reason why Mary is so highly honored throughout Christendom, is because God has exalted her above all men and angels.81
Monarchs grant privileges to the towns where they were born, or where they were crowned; so the King of heaven has conferred special privileges and prerogatives on the Mother who bore Him.
Mary was, in fact, chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son, preserved from the stain of original sin, raised gloriously from the tomb, and crowned Queen of heaven.
No angel, not even the most perfect and greatest of the heavenly host, can say to God as Mary can: “Thou art my Son.” O what a marvelous privilege is this! Mary is indeed the Mater admirabilis, and that not alone because she is at one and the same time Virgin and Mother, nor because she is Mother both of the creature and of the Creator, but pre-eminently because she gave birth to Him Who was the Author of her being. Mary is the wonder of wonders, and nothing in the universe, God only excepted, is more glorious than she is. Mary’s spotless purity, her sinlessness, was first proclaimed by God in paradise (Gen. 3:15), and afterwards by the archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28). God said to the serpent, “She shall crush thy head.” Had Mary been brought under the dominion of the devil by sin, she could not possibly have been his conqueror. Gabriel saluted Mary as “full of grace.” The dignity of Christ alone demanded that His Mother should be entirely free from sin. When God raises any one to a high post, He fits him for it; and the Son of God, in choosing Mary to be His Mother, rendered her by the gifts of grace fit for this exalted dignity (St. Thomas Aquinas). Now we know that no one who built a house for his own use, would first put his greatest enemy in possession of it; much less would the Holy Spirit, Whose temple Mary was to be, allow the evil one to make her his own. The Fathers of the Church and the children of the Church in all ages, have given to Mary the title of immaculate both in their writings and in their prayers; and in 1854 the Holy Father declared her Immaculate Conception to be a dogma of the faith. Mary was therefore free from original and actual sin (Council of Trent, 6, 23); she is compared to a lily among thorns (Cant. 2:2), a mirror without a flaw (Wisd. vii. 26). She advanced in perfection rapidly and continuously, like the vine (Sir. 24:23) that grows higher and higher, till it attains the height of the tree to which it clings. She advanced all the more rapidly, because she was so near to the source of all grace, and was the recipient of greater and more abundant graces than other men. Mary was the most holy and perfect of all creatures; and her sanctity surpassed that of all other saints as much as the light of the moon exceeds in brilliance that of the planets. Even in the first moments of her existence, Mary’s sanctity was greater than that of the most eminent saints at the close of their life. On account of her exalted sanctity she is compared to the tower of David (Cant. 4:4), which rose in majestic stateliness on the highest summit of the mountains about Jerusalem. She is also called the mirror of justice. Of all created beings none ever loved God so intensely as Mary did, or cared so little for the things of earth. As the action of fire causes iron to glow with heat, so the Holy Spirit inflamed the heart of Mary with charity. On account of her great love she is called the house of gold. Mary was adorned with every virtue. She is the mystical rose, for as the rose surpasses all other flowers in the beauty of its coloring and the fragrance of its perfume, so Mary exceeds all the saints in the magnitude of her love for God, and the sweet odor of her virtues. She is the Queen of whom the Psalmist speaks (Ps. 44[45]11), clad in the golden garments of charity, surrounded by a variety of virtues. “Thus,” Suarez declares, “she was dearer to God than all the other saints together.” The body of the Blessed Virgin was assumed gloriously into heaven. It is said that the apostle Thomas, having arrived in Jerusalem too late to assist at her interment, was desirous to see her remains in the sepulcher; but when it was opened nothing was found there but the grave-clothes in which her body had been wrapped. Catherine Emmerich in her visions asserts that Our Blessed Lady died forty-eight years after the birth of Christ, at the age of sixty-four. Having gone from Ephesus to Jerusalem to follow again the footsteps of her Son in the way of the cross, she fell mortally sick and died of grief; hence her tomb was in Jerusalem. The feast of her Assumption is kept throughout the whole Church on the fifteenth of August. No one has ever claimed to possess a relic of her body. Mary shines in heaven with unrivalled splendor. The sun, moon, and stars of our solar system are symbols of Christ, His Mother and the saints. Mary is the Queen of angels, the Queen of all saints. In her more than in any other creature we gain a knowledge of the divine attributes. Most especially we see displayed in her glorious exaltation the infinite goodness of God, Who raises the poor man from the dunghill, that He may set him with princes and elevate him above the choirs of celestial spirits (Ps. 112[113]:7–8).
3. Finally, we entertain this great veneration for Mary, because her intercession is more powerful with God than that of any other saint.82
Mary’s intercession has immense power with God. On earth her petitions were all-prevailing with Christ, as at the marriage-feast at Cana. And if Christ granted all His Mother’s prayers on earth, how much the more will He do so in heaven. When the General Coriolanus could not be prevailed upon by the Senate and priests of Rome to withdraw his army from before the city, he yielded to the entreaties of his mother Veturia, although he knew that to do so would cost him his life. How much the more will Christ, the great Lawgiver, listen to the supplications of His Mother! If the prayers of the saints, His servants, have so much power with God, what must those of His Mother have! Being the prayers of a mother, they are less like a petition than a command. St. Bernard declares Mary to be omnipotent by means of her intercession; there is nothing that she cannot obtain for us. As at the court of an earthly monarch he is sure to succeed for whom the queen interests herself, so at the court of the King of kings those for whom Mary, the Queen of heaven, pleads, will not be disappointed of their desires. Thus Mary is our hope; because through her intercession we hope to procure the blessings which our poor prayers cannot obtain. Hence the saints speak of her as the dispenser of graces, for all the favors we receive from heaven come to us through her hands. “God,” St. Peter Damian says, “would not become man until Mary had given her consent, in order that we might see that the salvation of mankind rested in her hands.” She stood beneath the cross that we might know that without her mediation no one could be made partaker of the merits of the blood of Christ. God the Father sanctions, Christ grants, and Mary distributes the gifts of heaven to mankind. Thus Mary is the Mother of divine grace. No prayer she proffers is unanswered. “Who can doubt,” exclaims St. Bernard, “that the Son will listen to His Mother—such a Son to such a Mother!” Remember how the same saint declares in the Memorare that it is a thing unheard of for anyone to implore Mary’s aid, and implore in vain. Even the least and shortest prayer to Mary does not go unrecompensed; she rewards the slightest intentions with the richest graces. Every time we salute her she does not fail to return our greeting. She is the Virgin most clement. There is not a trace of sternness about her; she is all clemency, loving kindness and gentleness. He would be wrong indeed who approached her with trembling.
From time immemorial Christians have been accustomed to have recourse to Mary in times of affliction and distress.83
In the year 1683, when the Turks besieged Vienna, both in the beleaguered city and throughout Christendom the Rosary was recited to implore the aid of the Mother of God, and a signal victory was the result. Individual Christians also appeal to Mary for aid when private troubles press heavily upon them. She is called the Help of Christians, the Comforter of the afflicted, the Health of the sick. Christians call upon her in seasons of severe sickness. It is recorded of St. John Damascene, that when the caliph, enraged with him for having written in defense of the veneration of images, caused his right hand to be struck off, the saint prostrated himself before a statue of Our Lady, and was immediately healed. In the present day how numerous are the miraculous cures effected at Lourdes! To Mary also is due the conversion of many sinners who desire to amend their lives, for upon those who invoke her the light of the Holy Spirit is shed. Mary is the morning star; as that planet heralds the sunrise, so devotion to Mary is the forerunner of divine grace, the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. She is compared to the dawn (Cant. 6:9), because as the shades of night vanish before the rising sun, so sin departs from the soul that is devoted to Mary. The month of May is dedicated to her, because nature then awakens to a new life, and devotion to Mary brings fresh life to the soul dead in sin. Witness the miraculous conversion of the public sinner, Mary of Egypt, before an image of Our Lady in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Mary is ever desirous to effect our reconciliation with God, far more so than any earthly mother could be to establish peace between two members of her family who were at enmity with each other. Through her intercession Our Lord’s anger is easily appeased. Alexander the Great once said: “A single tear from my mother’s eyes will blot out many death-warrants.” If a man, and a heathen to boot, will speak thus of his mother, what may we not expect from the divine Son of Mary? She is the Refuge of sinners; the Mother of mercy; from her as from an olive tree to which she is likened (Eccles. 24:19), the softening oil of mercy flows. She is our mediatrix; to her we fly in temptation; as the Jews on their entrance into the Promised Land (Numb. 10:35), and in their wars with the Philistines (1 Sam. 14) carried with them the ark of the Lord to insure victory, so through Mary, the Ark of the Covenant of the New Testament, are we enabled to conquer our spiritual foes. As the star guides the mariner, tossing on the stormy sea, to a safe haven, so Mary guides us over the tempestuous ocean of life to the celestial port. She is compared in Holy Scripture to a planetree in the streets (Eccles. 24:19), because as the tree protects the wayfarer from sun and rain, so Mary defends those who place themselves under her care from the assaults of the devil. To the enemy of mankind she is “terrible as an army set in array” (Cant. 6:3). Various titles are given to Mary to indicate the circumstances in which we may invoke her aid and trust in her succor, such as: Mother of perpetual succor, Mother of good counsel, Mother of dolors, etc.
Devotion to the Mother of God is an excellent means of attaining sanctity here below and eternal happiness hereafter.84
No one can fail to observe the filial affection and devotion which all the saints have displayed towards the Mother of God, and the signal success with which God has rewarded this devotion on their part. Among the most prominent of these was St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and in later times St. Alphonsus Liguori, the author of the “Glories of Mary.” Mary is the gate of heaven; a ladder connecting heaven and earth, by which the Lord of heaven came down to us, and by which we may ascend up to God. St. Alphonsus declares it to be his persuasion that hell cannot boast of containing one single soul who ever had a true and heartfelt devotion to Mary. St. Bernard asserts that those who honor her daily will assuredly be saved. St. Francis Borgia always feared for the salvation of that soul which had little or no devotion for the Mother of God.
6. THE VENERATION OF IMAGES OF THE SAINTS
The veneration of sacred pictures and images is as old as Christianity itself. In the Catacombs representations are found of Christ, of the Mother of God with the divine Child, and of biblical scenes from the Old or New Testament, calculated to strengthen the Christians in times of persecution, by reminding them of God’s omnipotence and of a future resurrection. With the spread of Christianity the veneration paid to images increased. Pictures, statues, and crosses, were seen not in the churches alone, but on the market-place and highways. In the eighth century the Emperor of the East prohibited the veneration of images; the figures of the saints were broken to pieces or burned, the paintings on the walls of the churches were whitewashed over, and any persons who persisted in venerating images were punished (this was called the iconoclastic movement). The veneration of images answers to a need of our human nature; we respect the portraits of those whom we love or esteem; moreover it is the will of God that man, who lost true happiness for the sake of material things, should regain it by means of material things. The Jews were strictly forbidden to make images or bow down to them (Exod. 20:4), because they had a strong propensity towards idolatry, and the Son of God had not then become man. In spite of this prohibition there were two golden cherubim, one on each side of the propitiatory in the Holy of holies (Exod. 25:18), and we also read of a brazen serpent in the wilderness, whereon the Israelites were commanded to look that they might be healed (Numb. 21:8).85
By sacred pictures or statues are meant representations of Christ, of the saints, or of the truths of religion.86
The manner in which Our Lord is ordinarily depicted is familiar to all of us; the expression of His countenance is grave and benign, His eyes are blue, His hair is of a ruddy brown, curling and parted in the middle, His beard is short, and a burning heart is often placed upon His breast. The Mother of God is represented in various ways: as Help of Christians she holds the divine Child in her arms; as Mother of dolors, the dead Christ is laid across her knees; as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception she is as she appeared at Lourdes, in a white robe, without her Infant Son; as Queen of heaven (Rev. xii. 1) with her head encircled with twelve stars and the moon beneath her feet. The most celebrated and well-known pictures of the Mother of God are: (1) The painting in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, supposed to be the work of St. Luke; (2) The Madonna di San Sisto, painted by Rafael; (3) The miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, painted upon wood, and dating from the thirteenth century, in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. The representations of the saints are easily recognized; they have a nimbus round their head, and are accompanied by emblems either of their office, of the special virtue that distinguished them, or by the instruments wherewith they suffered martyrdom. The four Evangelists are known by their symbols: St. Matthew has an angel in human shape beside him, because his gospel begins with the genealogy of Our Lord; St. Mark has a lion, because he speaks in the opening chapter of a voice crying in the wilderness; St. Luke is accompanied by an ox, because he begins with Zechariah’s sacrifice; St. John by an eagle, because his gospel begins with sublime and lofty truths. We also call those sacred pictures which portray some great truth, such as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, or purgatory; or some event recorded in Holy Scripture. The three divine persons are represented under the form they have assumed when appearing to men. But all delineations of the Godhead do no more than give an idea of certain attributes or actions of the Deity, for it is not within the power of man to make an image of God.
Pictures or statues of saints, by means of which or before which miracles have been worked, are called miraculous images.87
There are a great many places of pilgrimage on the continent of Europe where an image of Our Lady is to be seen, by means of which extraordinary favors and graces have been and are obtained. Among these Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Altötting in Bavaria, Kevelaer in the Rhineland may be mentioned. It is also well known that many cures have been effected through devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague (a wax statue in the church of the Carmelites in that city), especially at the time of the pestilence in 1713. The Empress Maria Teresa had a great veneration for that image; she worked a robe for it with her own hands, richly embroidered with gold. Many of these miraculous images have been preserved from destruction in a marvelous manner; they have, for instance, been in the fire without being burned. Many signal cures have been wrought in a moment, in answer to prayers offered before them. Such miracles are permitted by God as an attestation to the truth of the Catholic Church, and it would be a sin on the part of any Catholic to deny their authenticity. A strict investigation is made of these miracles by the Holy See, and then the statue of the saint is crowned.
Above all representations of the saints or of holy things, we venerate the cross of Our Redeemer.88
There ought not to be a single church, or altar, or cemetery, without a crucifix. Such is the honor in which the Church holds the cross of Christ, that she allows no sacrament to be administered, no Mass to be celebrated, no act of divine worship to be performed unless in presence of the crucifix. The cross is seen on the crown of the monarch, on the breast of the bishop, and it is awarded as a decoration to men of merit. The cross is in the hand of the dying Christian when he draws his last breath, and it accompanies him to the grave. This sacred symbol ought to be found in every Christian household; it does not speak well for the inhabitants of a house if none but secular pictures adorn its walls.
1. We honor the images of the saints by giving them a place in our dwellings; we say our prayers before them, we salute them respectfully, we adorn them with offerings, we make pilgrimages to their shrines.89
The reverence we pay to the image of a saint is not paid to the picture or image itself, but to the individual it represents; that is, to Christ, or some one of the saints. When we adore the cross we adore Him Who died thereon. By showing respect to the portrait of a king, we testify our respect for the monarch, and disrespect manifested to his portrait is a personal affront to himself. When the book of the Gospels is kissed, it is the Word of God therein contained that is venerated. Thus when we kiss our parents or our children, we express the love and fondness of our hearts, and in venerating images, we express our love for the persons they represent. And when incense is burned, or tapers lighted before the images, it is as a symbol of the light of the Holy Spirit and the virtues wherewith the saints were endowed. It is not from the images themselves that we ask help, it is from God, through the intercession of the saints. None but the heathen imagine that there is any virtue or supernatural power in the image itself. Moses did not think that his staff worked miracles, but God Who powerfully assisted him.
2. Through venerating the images of the saints, efficacious and oftentimes supernatural graces are obtained; they are also useful as a means of avoiding distractions in prayer, and affording us a silent admonition.90
St. John Damascene says that the Holy Spirit surrounds the images of the saints with a certain halo of grace. Wherever the cross is erected, the malicious designs of the evil one are defeated. How often a soul sunk in sin has been touched and converted by the sight of an image; how often have pictures comforted and encouraged devout persons, especially at the moment of death! While gazing upon an image we pray with greater recollection; images are steps whereby we ascend more easily in spirit to heaven. And as one’s prayers, when offered at the shrine of some saint are more fervent, so they are more readily granted; the ex-votos hung beside the image testify to the efficacy of the saint’s intercession—they are also a constant admonition to us; either by placing vividly before us one of the truths of religion, or exhorting us to imitate the example of the saint. The work of the artist does indeed often prove more influential than the words of the preacher, for the impressions we receive through the ear have less effect upon the mind than those which we receive through the eye. St. Gregory the Great calls pictures the books of the unlearned. In the Middle Ages, before there were any printed books, pictures were widely disseminated among the people. From those times we date the crib, the sepulcher, the stations of the cross, etc.91
The name of relic is given to the remains of the saints, as well as to objects that have been closely connected with Christ or the saints.92
The body of a saint is a relic, or any portion of it, even the most minute particle of bone. These relics are placed beneath or upon our altars; they also pass into the possession of private persons. Those only are authentic to which the name of the saint and the episcopal seal is attached. The relics themselves must not be sold, but this prohibition does not apply to the case containing them. From time immemorial those objects also which are closely connected with Our Lord or the saints have been held in high veneration; for instance, the cross of Christ, His tunic, His winding-sheet, the manger wherein the Infant Jesus was laid, Veronica’s veil, etc. The holy cross was discovered by the Empress Helena in the year 325, and a portion of it is in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem. A part of the manger is in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The seamless coat of Our Lord is in the Cathedral of Treves. (In 1891 it was exposed for six weeks, and two thousand of the faithful came to adore it. During that period eleven authentic cases of miraculous cure took place.) At Argenteuil, near Paris, another garment worn by Our Lord when a child is preserved; it was presented by Charlemagne to the church. The holy winding-sheet is in Turin; Veronica’s veil is in St. Peter’s at Rome. Several other important relics are preserved in the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The whole of Palestine is to the Christian a sacred and precious relic; the seven crusades undertaken to recover it from the Saracens prove how much it was valued in the Middle Ages. The principal holy places are: The place of crucifixion and the sepulcher on Mount Calvary; the scene of Our Lord’s agony and the spot whence He ascended on Mount Olivet; the cenacle on Mount Sion, His birthplace at Bethlehem and the holy house of Nazareth, now at Loretto. At all these places churches were erected, mostly by the Emperor Constantine, or his mother, St. Helena. The garments worn by martyrs and the instruments of their execution, the spots where eminent saints were born or are buried, have always been held in veneration. It was formerly the custom to erect churches and altars for the celebration of divine worship over places thus hallowed, especially where the saints are interred.
Relics are deserving of veneration for this reason, because the bodies of the saints were temples of the Holy Spirit, and instruments whereby He worked; and they will rise glorious from the grave.93
The Jews regarded a dead body as an unclean thing, but the Christian looks upon it with respect, as having been the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, and as being the seed whence the immortal, glorified body will spring at the resurrection. Moreover, as St. Jerome remarks, by honoring the saints, we adore Him for Whom they died. God Himself shows them honor, for by their medium He works miracles. Many bodies, or portions of the bodies of saints still remain incorrupt and supple, as that of St. Teresa, or St. Francis Xavier; some emit a delicious fragrance; from others an oil distils possessed of healing properties. “God,” says St. John Chrysostom, “has divided the possession of the saints between Himself and us; He has taken their souls to Himself, and has left their bodies for us.”
1. We honor the relics of the saints by preserving them with reverence, and visiting the spot where they are deposited.94
Even among the Jews relics were regarded with reverence. At the exit from Egypt Moses took Joseph’s bones with him (Exod. 13:19). The early Christians also had great respect for relics. When St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, was torn to pieces by lions, two of his companions came by night and gathered up his bones, carrying them to Antioch. When St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was burned alive, the Christians collected his ashes, valuing them more than jewels. At an early date it was customary to erect chapels or altars above the tombs of martyrs, and offer the holy sacrifice over their remains. Relics are usually enclosed in costly reliquaries, richly decorated. It is out of respect for the dead that we lay wreaths on their coffins, and deck their graves with flowers. Relics of great value, such as the portions of the true cross, or of the manger at Bethlehem, are encased in gold or silver; likewise some of the bodies of the saints. From time immemorial pilgrimages have been made to the sepulchers of the saints. For nineteen centuries the faithful have been wont to visit the tombs of the apostles in Rome or the holy places in Palestine. The early Christians flocked in such numbers to the Holy Land that the places in Jerusalem were thronged with devout worshippers. Anyone who had not been thither esteemed himself a worse Christian than his neighbors. “We visit the sepulchers of the saints,” says St. John Chrysostom, “and prostrate ourselves there in order to obtain some grace which we need.”
2. We obtain many blessings from God by venerating relics.95
Relics arc a source whence spiritual benefits come to us from God. St. John Damascene says: “As water gushed from the rock in the wilderness at God’s command, so by His will blessings flow from the relics of the saints.” Where the remains of saints or martyrs are interred the snares of the devil lose their potency and obstinate maladies are healed. St. Augustine relates numerous cures effected by the relics of St. Stephen in Africa, besides the raising from the dead of two children. In the Old Testament we read of a dead man restored to life on coming in contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 13:21). Even in their lifetime the bodies of the saints were instrumental in working miracles. By the shadow of St. Peter (Acts 5:15), and by the handkerchiefs or girdles worn by St. Paul (Acts 19:12), the sick were delivered from their infirmities. But it must be remembered it is not by the relics themselves that these miracles are wrought, but by God. Hence it is not a superstitious act on the part of pious persons when they visit places of pilgrimage, where God is pleased to work wonders by means of relics or images of the saints.
8. THE EXTRAORDINARY WORSHIP OF GOD
We can, moreover, honor God by taking an oath or by making a vow.
To take an oath or make a vow is not an ordinary occurrence of our lives; it is only done in peculiar, i.e., extraordinary cases. An oath is taken when human witness or asseveration is not sufficient; a vow is made when we voluntarily pledge ourselves to do something for God. We honor God by an oath, because we thereby acknowledge His omnipotence, His justice, His holiness. And by a vow we offer Him a sacrifice, because we bind ourselves by a solemn promise to perform a work pleasing to God.
Cases sometimes occur in which a man will not believe the word of another. But if a witness comes forward and affirms: “That is so, I myself saw it,” then the speaker is more readily believed, and all the more if the witness in question is known to be a man of honor. Now it may occur that a man calls God to witness, that is to say, he appeals to the omniscient God to make known the truth of what is said by His almighty power. In this case his word will be regarded as the word of God. As an official seal gives force to a decree, so the oath is the seal God gives us to corroborate a statement. It is a coin of high value, stamped with the name of the living God. Our Lord took an oath when Caiphas adjured Him by the living God to speak the truth. So did Esau, when he confirmed by an oath the promise he made to relinquish his birthright for the pottage of lentils.
1. To swear or take an oath is to call God to witness that one is speaking the truth, or that one will keep a promise.96
In swearing, a man calls either upon God or upon something he holds sacred. If a man swears by God, he makes use of words such as these: As the Lord liveth (Jer. 4:2); as surely as there is a God in heaven, God is my witness (Rom. 1:9); may God punish me, etc. Or we swear by holy things, such as the holy Gospel, the cross of Christ, the Blessed Sacrament. But as these things are incapable of attesting anything themselves, or of punishing a deceiver, it is in fact equivalent to calling God to witness. Our Lord Himself speaks of swearing by the Temple, by heaven, or by the throne of God (Matt. 23:21–22). But to use such expressions as: Upon my word, by my honor, as surely as I stand here, etc., is merely emphasizing an assertion, not swearing. An oath may be simple or solemn. A simple oath is between man and man in ordinary intercourse; a solemn oath is taken in a court of law or in presence of official personages. (An oath is administered to soldiers and officers of state.) In taking a solemn oath one is required to kiss the Holy Scriptures, or a crucifix, and to say: So help me God, to intimate that if he departs from the truth, he renounces the divine assistance and the blessings promised in the Gospels. Jews and Mohammedans have their own peculiar ceremonial; the latter raise one finger to show their belief in one God.
2. Christians are not obliged to refuse to take an oath, for it is permitted by God, and pleasing in His sight.97
If swearing were forbidden Christ would not have made use of an oath (Matt. 26:64), nor would God have sworn to Abraham on Mount Moriah that He would multiply his seed as the stars in heaven and as the sand by the seashore (Gen. 22:16); nor would St. Paul 80 frequently have taken God to witness in his epistles (Rom. 1:9; 2 Cor. 1:23). The oath has besides a good object; it serves to put an end to disputes (Heb. 6:16). It is pleasing to God, because by it we make public profession of faith in His omnipotence, His justice, His omniscience, and thus we honor Him. On this account atheists and social democrats cannot be induced to take an oath. It is God’s will that we confirm our word with an oath, when necessary (Exod. 22:11). When Our Lord said: “Let your speech be yea, yea, no, no, and that which is over and above these is of evil” (Matt. 5:37), He meant to warn the Pharisees against the habit to which they were addicted of using idle, unnecessary oaths. Catholics need not refuse to take an oath, as some sectaries do; however, no one ought to be compelled to do so. Anyone who forces a man to swear when he knows he will swear falsely, is in some way worse than a murderer; for the murderer only kills the body, whereas he who makes another swear falsely, causes the death of a soul, nay, of two souls, his neighbor’s soul and his own also, for he is responsible for the other’s death.
3. We ought therefore to make use of an oath only when it is absolutely necessary, with deliberation, and in the interests of truth and justice.98
When Christ says the oath is of evil (Matt. 5:37), He intends to signify that it is occasioned by man’s evil tendencies, and that rash oaths are sinful. Had mankind not fallen from its original state of integrity and justice, there would have been no need for the oath; but since faith and fidelity have vanished, recourse has been had to it. Not until evil prevailed everywhere did swearing become an ordinary practice; when by reason of the general perfidy and corruption no man’s word could be relied on, then God was called to witness. St. Augustine compares the oath to a medicine, which must not be taken without good reason; it is to a man’s words what the crutch is to the cripple. Consequently it is wrong to swear heedlessly, about trifling matters, as salesmen often do about their wares. Frequent swearing is apt to lead to false swearing. “A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house” (Sir. 23:12). Wherefore we must make use of an oath as seldom as possible, unless it is required of us by the Government or in a court of law. Our oath must always be true; that is to say, when on our oath, we must always say what we really believe to be true, and we must have the intention of keeping our word. The Roman general Regulus (250 B.C.) affords a fine instance of this. He was taken prisoner in war by the Carthaginians, and after being kept six years in captivity, he was sent to Rome to sue for peace. Before leaving the Carthaginian camp, a solemn oath was administered to him to return thither, provided the Romans would not conclude peace. On arriving in Rome he informed the Senate of the enemy’s weakness, and urged them to pursue the war. Then he returned to prison, although everyone in Rome, even the pagan high priest, spared no effort to detain him. St. Peter, on the contrary, swore falsely in the outer court of the high priest’s palace (Matt. 26:72). Blessed Thomas More, the High Chancellor of England, was thrown into prison by Henry VIII, because he would not concur in the hostile attitude that monarch assumed towards the Catholic Church. He might have purchased his release merely by swearing to conform to what his sovereign decreed. He was advised to do this, mentally applying the words to God, his supreme Sovereign and Lord. But he would not consent, saying he dared not swear falsely. It is possible, however, that one may swear under a misapprehension, or one may be prevented by illness or misadventure, or some other sufficient cause, from fulfilling a promise made under an oath; in that case no guilt is incurred. Our oath must be premeditated; that is, we must consider well beforehand whether our statement is strictly true, or whether we shall be able to accomplish what we promise. King Herod at the feast swore rashly, for he promised with an oath to give the damsel who danced before him whatever she should ask. At her mother’s instigation she asked the head of John the Baptist (Mark 6:23). We read that forty Jews, in their enmity to St. Paul, swore neither to eat nor drink until they had killed him (Acts 23:12). In the present day Freemasons bind themselves by oath not to express any desire to receive the last sacraments on their death-bed. Such oaths are sinful, and highly displeasing to God.
4. He who swears falsely, commits a grave act of blasphemy, and draws down upon himself the curse of God and the penalty of eternal perdition.99
False swearing is also called perjury. He who swears falsely, who confirms by oath a statement he knows to be untrue, or who swears to do something, although he is conscious that he cannot fulfil his promise, is like a man who stamps a forged document with an official seal, an act which cannot escape punishment. Swearing falsely is a mortal sin, whatever be the subject of the oath. The curse of God rests upon the house of him who swears falsely (Zech. 5:3). God often punishes false swearers by a speedy and sudden death. Sedecias, the King of Judah, swore fealty to Nebuchadnezzar and broke his covenant. Forthwith God announced to him by the lips of the prophet Ezekiel that he should meet with severe chastisement and die in Babylon (Ezek. 17), and in fact Nebuchadnezzar took the king captive, put out his eyes, and brought him to Babylon, where he died (2 Kings 25:7). Wladislas, King of Hungary, concluded peace with the Turkish Sultan Murad II., and confirmed the treaty with an oath, yet he resumed hostilities against him. He fell in the battle of Warna (1444) with all the flower of his nobility. Perjury is punishable by the law with imprisonment. The Emperor Charlemagne made it a law that all who were convicted of swearing falsely should have their right hand cut off; later on three fingers only of the right hand, wherewith they took the oath, were struck off. Rash swearing is at the least a venial sin; it is a bad habit, and he who is always ready to confirm every statement, whether true or false, by an oath, lives, if he knows the value of his words, in a state of mortal sin. If a man has sworn wrongfully, he must not keep his oath, but deplore it. That is what Herod ought to have done. With regard to breaking an oath, that is to say, the non-fulfilment of a promise made under oath, it may be either a venial or a mortal sin, according as the matter concerned is weighty or not. The same is true of a vow (Suarez).
1. A vow is a promise voluntarily made to God, to perform some good action.100
The vow is a promise made to God. We call upon God implicitly, if not explicitly when we say: My God, I promise that I will do this or that. A simple intention is not a vow; no one, not even God Himself, can require anything of us because of it. A vow is a promise made of our own free will: no one is bound to make it (Deut. 23:22), and no one can be compelled to make it. A vow made under compulsion is invalid; not so one made under apprehension of danger, or stress of want, for then the act is voluntary. We must only promise what will be pleasing to God; not anything wrong, as did Jephte who, before going to battle, vowed to the Lord that if he was victorious, he would offer as a holocaust whosoever should first come out of the doors of his house. His only daughter came to meet him, and she was sacrificed (Judges 11). Such a vow is foolish and displeasing to God (Eccles. 5:3), and ought not to be accomplished. Usually something is promised which is not of obligation, a pilgrimage, for instance; but one may also promise something which one is otherwise obliged to do, e.g., to observe the fasts of the Church, to keep the holydays, to be temperate in eating and drinking. In this case failure to keep one’s promise is a twofold sin. The owner of a factory, whose only child was dangerously ill, promised before God if she recovered, that he would never have work done on Sundays and holydays. She got well and he kept his word. He was then doubly bound to observe the holydays.
Vows are sometimes accompanied by a condition.
A kind of bargain is made with God. Jacob promised to give tithes of his possessions to God provided He brought him back prosperously to his father’s house (Gen. 28:20–22). The processions on the Rogation days originated through a vow made about the year 500 by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna, in time of famine; and about a century later the procession on St. Mark’s Day was instituted in consequence of a vow made by Pope Gregory the Great while the plague was raging. The inhabitants of Ober-Ammergau pledged themselves to perform the Passion play every ten years in 1633, at the time of an epidemic. St. Louis of France promised, if he recovered from a severe illness, to undertake a crusade (1248). In the present day many persons promise, in illness or affliction, to visit some place of pilgrimage, to make an offering to some church, to give a statue, to fast on certain days, etc. The celebrated sanctuary of Maria-Zell, which attracts so many pilgrims, is due to a vow made before a battle with the Turks by King Louis I of Hungary, (1363).
2. The most important vows are the religious vows, that is to say the solemn promise made voluntarily by persons entering a religious Order, to follow the evangelical counsels.101
Poverty, chastity, and obedience, are the three vows taken by Religious. They are very useful, for by them a man entirely gives up the world, in order to serve God better. These vows are most pleasing to God, for those who take them consecrate not only all they do, but their ownselves to God. As St. Anselm says, he who gives the tree gives more than he who only gives the fruit of the tree. Many persons offer oblations to God; a vestment, for instance, candles or flowers; but a better, more perfect oblation is to give one’s self to God. The vows of religion are either solemn (so called because the obligations incurred are greater), or simple vows. Solemn vows are those in which there is an irrevocable consecration of one’s self accepted by the Church, on the part of one who takes them. What is consecrated to God can never again be employed for secular purposes; with that which is simply dedicated it is otherwise. Thus anyone who takes the solemn vows is irrevocably consecrated to the service of God. The Pope alone can release from solemn vows, and that only for weighty reasons. Before taking the solemn vows, i.e., being professed, it is necessary to have spent a year in the novitiate, and have been under the simple vows for at least three years (Pius IX, March 19, 1857). Bishops, or the superior-general of an Order can generally release from the simple vows, and for a less grave cause.
3. A vow renders the good action which we pledge ourselves to perform more acceptable to God. Consequently by means of a vow we obtain a more speedy answer to prayer, and make more rapid progress in the way of perfection.
By a vow we prove our fidelity to God. We also make an offering to God because we thereby bind ourselves to the performance of a good work. Thus, for instance, one who fasts in fulfilment of a vow performs a more perfect action than he who fasts without a vow. Hence it is that the prayers of those who make vows are more speedily granted. After the inhabitants of Ober-Ammergau had made the promise already mentioned, not one more fell a victim to the pestilence. The pious Anna made a vow to the Lord, when she prayed that a son might be granted to her, and she became the mother of the great prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1:11). Why do we see so many ex-votos in places of pilgrimage, so many votive offerings in churches? Vows enable us to attain more quickly to perfection (St. Francis de Sales). We thereby gain strength in the practice of virtue, because our will is fortified by the vow. The thought: I have promised my God to do this, is a powerful incentive to the performance of good actions. Many persons of great sanctity have taken vows, as a useful restraint to keep themselves in the fear of God. We may obtain special graces from God by pledging ourselves to make novenas in honor of the saints, to be particularly devout to the Mother of God during the month of May or of October, to perform certain mortifications or good works.
4. He who does not keep a solemn promise, offends against God; and so does he who needlessly postpones the fulfilment of his promise (Exod. 23:21).102
If we are bound to keep our word to our fellow-creatures, how much the more ought we to fulfil the promise made to God. “It is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised” (Eccles. 5:4). The debtor is compelled by the law of the land to pay his debts, and can it be supposed that he will go scot free who withholds from God what is His due? The non-fulfilment of a vow may be either a venial or a mortal sin, according to the importance of the matter in question. The guilt is doubled, if at the same time we transgress a command and show disrespect to God, as for instance by violating a vow of chastity. If we are unable to fulfil a promise we are exempt from blame, provided we do our utmost to perform the thing promised.
5. Therefore anyone who is desirous of taking a vow, ought to consider well beforehand whether he will be able to keep his word.
A man who wishes to build, first makes an estimate of the cost, to see whether his means will allow him to complete the structure (Luke 14:28). No one ought to make a promise for his whole life, without first testing his ability to keep it. St. Francis de Sales made a vow to say the Rosary every day of his life; he often regretted having been so hasty in that promise. In any serious matter it is advisable to consult an experienced priest. For this reason the Church has made the rule that everyone who wishes to take the vows of religion, should have a twelve months’ noviceship. During that time he can make up his mind as to whether he has a real vocation to the religious life. If he takes the vows without feeling certain about his vocation he has only himself to blame.
6. A Religious who finds himself unable to keep his vows must apply to his Superior to be released from them or have them commuted.103
Our Lord said to His apostles: “Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). Hence the bishop or other superior is authorized to absolve from vows. The vow is usually commuted for some good work more conducive to the spiritual weal of the individual. There are five vows from which the Holy Father alone can dispense: The vow to enter a religious Order; the vow of lifelong chastity; the vow to visit the tombs of the apostles in Rome; and the vows to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (the holy places) or to Compostella (the tomb of St. James). Under certain circumstances the bishop also has power to dispense from these vows: If they have been made conditionally; under some measure of compulsion; without mature deliberation, or in ignorance of what they involved. In a time of jubilee every confessor has power to commute vows for some good work of another nature. One may always do more than one has promised: God will not be displeased, any more than an ordinary creditor, if He is paid more than what is due to Him.
The Second Commandment is this: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;” that is to say, thou shalt not utter it without reverence. By the name of God is not meant the mere word alone, but the majesty appertaining to the Most High.
We owe reverence to almighty God because He is a Lord of infinite majesty, and of infinite bounty.104
Reverence is a mixture of fear, love, and esteem. If it was said of a monarch that he had many millions of subjects, that he had an army of a hundred thousand warriors who could take the field at his command, that by a word from his lips he could make the happiness or misery of multitudes, you would fear that monarch. But if you were told of his goodness, his endeavors to promote the welfare of his subjects, you would love and esteem him. So will you feel towards God, if you contemplate His infinite perfections and His great love towards man. Consider the perfections of God! There are upon earth some fifteen hundred millions of human beings; each one of these God knows, preserves, guides. He hears their prayers, He helps them in their necessities; He rewards or punishes them for the most part here below. How vast is the knowledge of this supreme Being! Millions of orbs revolve in space; God has created them all, He maintains them all, He gives them all motion. How boundless is His power! Think of the unseen world alone, peopled by millions of celestial spirits; He knows each one, He preserves each one in existence, He guides and directs each one, and by each and all He is adored. How great is His majesty! “Who is like to Thee among the strong, O Lord? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders?” (Exod. 15:11.) On account of the great majesty of God we should fear Him, and should love Him by reason of His infinite goodness. Fear and love are the component parts of reverence.
1. In the Second Commandment God commands us in the first place to show due respect to His divine majesty. This we must do in the following manner:
We should frequently call upon the name of God with true and heartfelt devotion, especially at the commencement of all we do and in time of trouble.105
Newton, the great astronomer, had the deepest respect for the name of God; he uncovered his head and bowed low whenever it was uttered in his presence. Many devout Christians bow their head when they pronounce the name of Jesus in prayer; the priest does so in celebrating Mass. St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who when a child is said to have been he whom Our Lord set in the midst of the disciples, at the time that He said “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4), loved to repeat the name of Jesus; shortly before his death he said: “This name shall never leave my lips or be effaced from my heart.” And, in fact, after his martyrdom, the holy name was found inscribed on his heart. In the Litany of the Holy Name we invoke the name of Jesus again and again, because it is the most powerful of all names, and through it we can obtain all we need. “If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you” (John 16:23). By the name of Jesus the apostles and saints worked miracles; St. Peter said to the lame man at the gate of the Temple: “In the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk” (Acts 3:6). Christ promised that in His name devils should be cast out (Mark 16:17). The devils tremble at the name of Jesus; they take flight when they hear it, even when it is uttered by evil men, so great is its potency. The name of Jesus is also all-powerful to fill the heart with joy; it is compared to oil (Cant. 1:2); as oil gives light, alleviates pain, and affords nourishment, so does the name of Jesus, when we call upon it. St. Vincent Ferrer declares it to be a defense in all dangers spiritual and temporal, and the means of healing bodily infirmities. All graces are combined in this holy name: “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). An indulgence of twenty-five days is granted for each invocation of this holy name, and a plenary at the hour of death for those who have frequently invoked it during life (Clement XIII, Sept. 5, 1759). To pronounce this name is indispensable for obtaining the indulgence at the hour of death. Would that every Christian could say with St. Bernard: “The name of Jesus is honey to the taste, melody to the ear, joy to the heart.” No one who clings to mortal sin can devoutly call on this name: “No man can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). In beginning every wish, before every action however insignificant, we should call on the name of God, or make the sign of the cross, with the usual words: “All whatsoever you do, in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Col. 3:17). Thus we shall merit the divine blessing, and earn a reward for every action; Our Lord promises that anyone who gives to another a cup of cold water in His name shall not be unrewarded (Mark 9:40). We should also call upon the name of God in the time of trouble; He has said: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me” (Ps. 49[50]:15). In the year 1683 the Christians obtained a brilliant victory over the Turks; their battle-cry was the names of Jesus and Mary. In the hour of death above all we should breathe the name of Jesus; like St. Stephen whose last words were: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:58).
2. We ought to show respect for all that appertains to divine worship; more especially for the servants of God, for holy places, sacred things, and religious ceremonies.106
We ought to show respect for the ministers of God. In this Count Rudolph of Hapsburg set an excellent example. One day when out hunting he met a priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. Instantly he dismounted, and offered his horse to the priest. And when the latter on his return, gave back the horse to the count, he would not take it, saying it must thenceforth be devoted to the service of the sanctuary. The priest predicted that good fortune and happiness would attend his career, and so it did; nine years later Rudolph was elected emperor. Our Lord bids us reverence His priests; He says: “He that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke 10:16). “Touch not My anointed” (1 Chron. 16:22). St. John Chrysostom says that the honor shown to the priest is shown to God Himself. God also requires us to show respect to holy places and things. When He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and Moses approached somewhat near, He said to Him: “Come not nigh hither; put off the shoes from thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exod. 3:5). Under the Old Dispensation the people were strictly forbidden to touch the Ark of the Covenant (Numb. 4:15). “Reverence My sanctuary” (Lev. 26:2). Enter into the house of God as if you were entering into heaven, and leave behind you all that savors of earth. “Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord!” (Ps. 92[93]:5.) We should also manifest respect for all religious services. St. Elizabeth of Hungary removed her crown from her head whenever she heard Mass. Out of respect for the Gospel we stand up when it is read, and we preserve a grave demeanor when we approach the sacraments.
3. We ought frequently to praise and magnify almighty God on account of His infinite perfections and goodness, especially when He reveals His perfections in a special manner, or confers a benefit upon us.107
The three children in the fiery furnace sang a canticle of praise when God preserved them from being hurt by the flames (Dan. 3). When Tobias recovered his sight, he immediately blessed the Lord (Tob. 11:17). Remember the Magnificat, the song of praise uttered by the Mother of God, and the Benedictus, the canticle of thanksgiving pronounced by Zechariah on his cure (Luke 1). Whenever you receive any favor from God, say: Deo gratias, “Thanks be to God,” or Glory be to the Father, etc., and frequently repeat the salutation: “Let Jesus Christ be praised!” In some parts of Germany and Switzerland, this pious greeting takes the place of the good morning, or good day, in use among us. And if you are prevented by infirmities from praising God with your lips, at any rate praise Him in your heart; for God, Who hears not as we hear, requires not audible sound; He reads the heart, and is content with our good will. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all He hath done for thee” (Ps. 102[103]:1). “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be always in my mouth” (Ps. 33[34]:2). “Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and forever. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise” (Ps. 112[113]:2–3). In praising God, we do the best for ourselves, for thereby we draw down upon ourselves the divine blessings in great abundance.
4. Furthermore, God prohibits everything which is a violation of the reverence due to His divine majesty; and in particular:
Taking the name of God in vain.108
Many people have the habit of thoughtlessly exclaiming at every trifle that surprises them: “Good Lord! My God!” and the like. It is a bad habit; correct yourselves of it, and endeavor to correct others also, as it shows a want of due reverence for the name of God. Those who truly love God cannot stand by unmoved and hear His holy name profaned. This careless, flippant use of the name of God or of any other sacred name is at least a venial sin. “Let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, for thou shalt not escape free from sin” (Sir. 23:10). “The Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain” (Exod. 20:7). “We take good care,” says St. John Chrysostom, “not to wear out our best clothes by putting them on every day; so we must beware lest we thoughtlessly utter the name of God, which is worthy of our profoundest reverence.” The Jews did not venture to pronounce the word Jehovah; they always spoke of “The Lord.”
5. Swearing. By this is meant the use of holy names in a moment of anger as an imprecation against certain persons or things.109
For instance parents, when angry, wish ill to their children, using the name of God or of heaven; workmen call down evil on the tools they employ. Out of the mouth of a Christian none but blessings should proceed (1 Pet. 3:9). Should the same mouth wherewith we pray, wherewith we receive the sacred body of the Lord, be employed to curse our neighbor and offend against God?
Almighty God often punishes those who curse others by allowing the curse to be fulfilled.
St. Augustine speaks of a certain mother who cursed her refractory sons, they having gone so far as to strike her. Immediately they were seized with a convulsive movement of the limbs, from which, after wandering through many lands, they were at length cured at Hippo, by touching the relics of St. Stephen. St. Ignatius of Loyola once asked an alms of a Spanish nobleman; the latter flew into a rage, and said: “May I be burned alive if you are not a rogue deserving the hangman’s rope.” Shortly after, on the occasion of festivities to celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, a barrel of gunpowder exploded in the nobleman’s house, and he was so severely burned that he expired in agony a few days later. Working-people who curse and swear over their work, or call down imprecations upon the horses they are driving, cannot expect their labor to prosper. Thus God rewards those who use bad language: “He loved cursing, and it shall come upon him” (Ps. 108[109]:18).
A man who indulges the bad habit of swearing commits many sins, and is in danger of eternal perdition.
As one tells from the language a stranger speaks of what country he is a native, so when oaths flow freely from a man’s lips, one may conclude he belongs to hell; there is reason to fear that he does not belong to the kingdom of God, for he talks the language of hell. The Fathers used to consider swearing as a sign of perdition. Ordinary swearing is a venial sin, provided no serious evil is worked to one’s neighbor, yet it is a greater sin than taking God’s name in vain, because not only is it a disrespect towards God, but an offence against charity.
6. Indecorous behavior towards persons who are consecrated to the service of God, holy places, sacred objects or actions.110
As we treat a priest, in his priestly capacity, so we treat God Himself, for Christ said: “He that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke 10:16). He who abuses or despises a priest is guilty of dishonoring God, and deserves the same chastisement as those among the Jewish leadership who abused and despised the Son of God. St. John Chrysostom says the want of respect for eccleciastical superiors is the source of all evil. How severely the little boys were punished who mocked the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 2:24). We also offend God by unseemly behavior in church, laughing, whispering, staring about, lolling, etc. St. Ambrose says of people who behave badly in church that they come with small sins and go away with great ones. Insults offered to God in His house are more offensive to Him than those offered elsewhere; we ourselves resent most of all rudeness shown to us in our own house. This is why the meek and gentle Saviour drove those who bought and sold out of the Temple, saying: “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matt. 21:13). “If any man violate the Temple of God, him shall God destroy” (1 Cor. 3:17).111 The same respect is due to holy things as to holy places. When David was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, an Israelite named Oza ventured to lay hold of it. God struck him and he died (2 Sam. 6:7). King Ozias was punished with leprosy, because he entered the sanctuary and wanted to burn incense (2 Chron. 26:21). To disturb religious services or show contempt for them is also sinful. Of this sin the sons of Heli were guilty when they interfered with the Jewish sacrifices (1 Sam. 2). In the present day sometimes evil disposed persons interrupt sermons, processions, or other services, or insult priests who are taking the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. These offenders are punishable by law as disturbers of divine worship.
7. Blasphemy. Of this sin those are guilty who revile God, His saints, or speak contemptuously of objects connected with His worship.112
The Emperor Julian the Apostate always spoke of the Son of God as the Galilean (at that time a word of insult); even at his death, which was occasioned by the thrust of a lance, he is said to have exclaimed: “Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!” Ungodly persons are often heard to utter bitter revilings against God, especially in time of suffering and affliction, as if they did not deserve the trials He sends them. It is blasphemy to speak scornfully of God, or of His actions; or to attribute to a creature what is the prerogative of the Creator. The people sinned thus who when King Herod made an oration to them, cried: “It is the voice of a god and not of a man” (Acts 12:22). The Jews committed this sin. God says by the mouth of the prophet: “My name is continually blasphemed all the day long” (Is. 52:5). To speak contemptuously of holy places and things is a kind of blasphemy, as a reflection upon God, Whom we are told to praise in His holy places (Ps. 150:1).
Sacrilege is another kind of blasphemy. This consists in putting to an improper and degrading use what pertains to the service of God.
The King of Babylon, Baltassar, committed sacrilege when, in a state of inebriation, he commanded the sacred vessels that had been taken from the Temple at Jerusalem, where they were used in the worship of the true God, to be brought to serve as drinking cups at the feast. The mutilation of statues or defacing of crucifixes is a sacrilege. Would it not be considered a treasonable act to treat the crown or the portrait of an earthly monarch with contumely? Again, those who receive the sacraments unworthily, who appropriate to themselves Church property, or who commit a theft in church, come under the same condemnation. It is said that Jews and Freemasons have sometimes obtained consecrated Hosts, which they subjected to horrible profanation. Such conduct is simply satanic.
Blasphemy is essentially a diabolical sin, and one of the gravest transgressions.
Blasphemy may be called a sin peculiar to devils and reprobates, for as the Holy Spirit speaks by the mouth of the good, so the devil speaks by the mouth of the blasphemer (St. Bernardin). The blasphemer is worse than a dog; for a dog does not bite the master who is kind to him when he chastises him, whereas the blasphemer reviles God, from Whom he has received so many benefits, oblivious of the fact that God only afflicts him for his own good. When the saintly Bishop Polycarp was offered his life if he would blaspheme Christ, he answered: “For eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me nothing but good; how could I speak evil of my King and Master?” St. Jerome says that all sins are slight in comparison with this, for by all others one offends against God indirectly, but by this sin one offends against the Most High Himself, not against His image. “Whom hast thou blasphemed, against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? Against the holy One of Israel” (2 Kings 19:22). All other sins arise from human frailty or ignorance, but blasphemy comes from the malice of the human heart (St. Bernard). Other sins bring some advantage to the sinner; pride desires to gain importance, avarice money, intemperance the pleasures of the table, but this sin brings a man no profit, no pleasure. The Jews punished the blasphemer with death. St. Thomas Aquinas declares blasphemy to be a mortal sin, unless it is committed in a hasty moment without deliberation. “Oughtest thou not to fear that fire will fall from heaven upon thee and consume thee, if thou dost venture to asperse the name of the Almighty? Will not the earth open and swallow thee up? Deceive not thyself, O man, thou canst not escape the hand of an omnipotent God!” (St. Ephrem.)
God punishes blasphemy with severe chastisements in time, and with everlasting damnation hereafter; it is also punishable by human law.
“God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7). When King Baltassar profaned the vessels of the sanctuary, judgment fell upon him immediately: an unseen hand wrote his fate upon the wall. That same night the enemy entered the city; he was slain and his kingdom became part of the Persian empire (Dan. 5). Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, blasphemed God; shortly after he lost two hundred thousand men in the war against the Hebrews, and was assassinated by his own sons. Michael III, Emperor of Constantinople, made public mockery of the sacraments on the feast of the Ascension; at night there was a tremendous earthquake, and some time later the emperor was murdered. An Israelite cursed God in the wilderness; he was put into prison till Moses had ascertained what was God’s will; and the Lord said: “Let all the people stone him” (Lev. 24:14). As a man who throws a stone up to the sky, cannot touch, much less injure any of the heavenly bodies, but may break his own head if the stone falls back upon it, so blasphemous words do no harm to the Being against Whom they are directed; they only fall back upon the head of him who utters them, to his own perdition. Thus the blasphemer whets the sword to pierce his own heart (St. John Chrysostom). Our Lord says that whosoever reviles his neighbor shall be in danger of hell fire (Matt. 5:22); how much more he who reviles God! Under the Old Law, when God was not so well known, it was said: “He that curseth father or mother shall die the death” (Exod. 21:17). How much more shall judgment overtake those who in this age of knowledge and enlightenment, curse, not their parents, but the Lord, their God! “They shall be cursed that shall despise Thee” (Tob. 13:16). “He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die” (Lev. 24:16). Blasphemy is also punished by the secular authority. St. Louis of France made it a law that anyone who blasphemed God should be seared on the lips with a red-hot iron. This was done to a wealthy citizen of Paris, with the result that before long no blasphemous word was heard in the kingdom. St. Jerome on one occasion rebuked an ungodly man for his impious words; when asked why he presumed to do so, he said: “A dog may bark in his master’s defense, and am I to stand by silent when God’s holy name is blasphemed? I would sooner die than forbear to speak.”
8. Simony. This consists in selling spiritualities for money, or the equivalent of money.113
In the Middle Ages simony was a common sin; bishop’s sees and benefices were sometimes sold to the highest bidder. It is simony to offer a priest money for absolution, to sell relics, to charge a higher price for objects, such as crosses and rosaries, because they have been blessed. This sin takes its name from Simon Magus the magician, who offered the apostles money when he saw that by the imposition of hands the Holy Spirit was given, saying: “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:19). He who is guilty of the sin of simony is excommunicated; to him the words of St. Paul apply: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20). To give money for Masses is, however, not simony; it is much the same as giving someone an alms and asking for his prayers. Nor is the payment of fees to the parish priest for the exercise of his ministerial functions to be reckoned as simony, because these fees are not a price paid for the discharge of spiritual duties, but a contribution towards the maintenance of the priest. Otherwise St. Paul would not have written these words: “They who work in the holy place eat the things that are of the holy place, and they that serve the altar partake with the altar; so also the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:13–14).
The object of the Confraternity of the Holy Face is to make reparation for blasphemies and irreverences committed against God.
It is well known that Our Lord miraculously imprinted His sacred countenance upon the cloth handed to Him by Veronica on the way to Calvary. The Emperor Tiberius, when sick, had this cloth brought to Rome, and the mere sight of it sufficed to cure him. Veronica is said to have given it to St. Clement, the fellow-worker with St. Peter, and his successors in the see of Rome. Thus it came to St. Peter’s, where it is yet preserved. In 1849, at Christmas, it was exposed, and for three hours it was surrounded by a halo of brilliant light. This cloth still bears the impression of Our Lord’s features; they are distinctly discernible, and show how He was maltreated by the barbarous soldiery. In fact, this image affords striking evidence of the irreverence of man towards God. The sight of it inspires us with pious horror and heartfelt contrition. For a long time no copy was permitted to be made of it; this is no longer the case, and the prints of it are now venerated, God making known by miracles and speedy answers to prayer, how highly He approves of this devotion. At Alicante, in Spain, after a long period of drought, a picture of the Holy Face was carried in procession; a tear was seen to roll from the eyes of the picture, and in a few days rain fell abundantly. In Tours a large number of cures were effected in presence of a picture of the Holy Face, and it was there, by means of the exertions of the pious M. Dupont, that the Confraternity of the Holy Face was instituted, its object being to make atonement for sins of blasphemy. In the revelations of St. Gertrude we read that Our Lord said to her: “Those, who venerate the image of My humanity (My human countenance) shall be interiorly enlightened by the radiance of My Godhead.” And to Sister Saint Pierre, in 1845, He said: “As one can purchase whatever one will with a coin of the realm, stamped with the king’s head, so those who adore My countenance will obtain all they desire.” Again: “The more you seek to efface from My countenance the marks of disfigurement caused by blasphemers, the more I will restore your soul, defaced by sin, to its original beauty, so that it may appear as if it just came from the waters of Baptism.”
On Mount Sinai almighty God spoke, and said: “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work” (Exod. 20:8–9). The Third Commandment thus contains two injunctions, the command to sanctify the Sunday, and the command to work.
In the Third Commandment of the Decalogue God commands us to sanctify the Sunday and to work six days in the week.114
1. THE PRECEPT TO SANCTIFY
SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS
In order that amid the many cares and anxieties of life man may not forget God, his final end and high calling, God has enjoined upon him to keep one day in the week holy. As we have certain times set apart for the satisfaction of our bodily necessities, sleeping, eating and drinking, so we have appointed times for meditation upon the eternal truths whereby we may obtain fresh strength for our souls. On holydays we have the opportunity of expiating by prayer what we have done amiss, and of rendering to God the thanks due to Him for the benefits He has conferred on us during the week.
1. God commands us to sanctify the seventh day, because on the seventh day He rested from the work of creation.115
In his account of the creation Moses says: “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work” (Gen. 2:3). Man, who is made after the image of God, ought to follow the example of the Lord his God; as God ceased from work on the seventh day, so man ought to rest after six days’ labor. Man needs this rest after working for six days. Just as one is obliged to sleep for six or seven hours after the work of the day is done, in order to recruit one’s bodily powers, so one needs a longer period of rest after six days of labor. At the time of the French revolution, the observance of the seventh day was done away with and the tenth day appointed for the day of rest; but it was soon found indispensable to return to the old order of things. The number seven belongs to the natural order. God, Who set the lights in the firmament of heaven for signs and for seasons and for days and for years (Gen. 1:14), intended the changes of the moon, which occur every seven days, to point out to us the division of time into periods of seven days, of which one was to be a day of rest. Bishop Theophilus of Antioch, writing about the year 150 A.D., mentions the observance of the seventh day as a universal custom. We who are Christians keep the Sunday, the Jews keep Saturday, the Mohammedans keep Friday, the Mongols keep Thursday, the populations of Guinea and Goa keep Tuesday and Monday respectively. The cessation from labor every seventh day foreshadows our eternal rest in heaven (Heb. 4:9). By solemnizing the day of the Lord we renew and quicken our longing for the unending festival of joy above. The very fact that we wear our best apparel on that day serves to remind us of the celestial happiness that we hope will one day be our portion.
2. God commanded the Jews to keep holy the Sabbath day.116
The Sabbath was a joyous festival for the Jewish people, because on that day they were delivered from Egyptian bondage. In addition to this, when God gave the law from Mount Sinai, He enjoined upon them to sanctify the day by cessation from work: “The seventh day is the Sabbath; thou shalt do no work on it” (Exod. 20:10). The Sabbath was specially suited to be set apart for the public worship of God, because more than any other day it recalled God’s benefits to His people (Ezek. 20:12). It was, moreover, typical of the rest in the sepulcher of the future Messiah. The Jews were extremely strict in their observance of the Sabbath; any profanation of the day was punished with death, no work of any kind might be done on it. A man found gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day was stoned (Numb. 15:36). The Pharisees would not allow that it was lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath (Matt. 15:12). No manna fell in the desert on that day.
3. Sunday was appointed by the apostles as the day of rest instead of the Sabbath, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday.117
Sunday is a festival of the Holy Trinity; for on the first day of the week God the Father began the work of creation, God the Son rose from the dead, and God the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles. The apostles were authorized to transfer the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, because it was not so much the observance of the Sabbath, as the observance of a fixed day in each week upon which God insisted in the commandment. They were all the more at liberty to change the day, as the Old Law was but a shadow of the New. Sunday is called the Lord’s Day, because it ought to be devoted to His service, because on it He rose from the dead. St. Justin (139 A.D.) is the first to make use of the word Sunday: it is a name befitting the day whereon the Lord, like the rising sun, rose from the grave in the brilliance of His glorified humanity. On this day also God made the light; the Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire, and on this day we receive spiritual enlightenment. The Emperor Constantine the Great enjoined the observance of Sunday as a day of rest throughout the Roman empire; and Charlemagne caused those who violated it to be fined.
4. We are bound on Sunday to abstain from servile work and to assist at the public Mass; we ought, moreover, to employ this day in providing for the salvation of our soul, that is to say by approaching the sacraments, by prayer, hearing sermons, reading spiritual books, and performing works of mercy.118
Servile work is that which entails severe physical exertion, and is exhausting to the bodily strength. It is the work generally done by servants, menials, artisans, and laborers; in a word the work belonging to the class that serves, hence the name. Markets and all commercial transactions are included in the prohibition; yet in deference to local customs, the rule is relaxed in some countries. However, buying and selling must not be carried on during the hours of divine worship. As God rested on the seventh day, so we ought to rest. As Christ on Easter Sunday left the grave-clothes in the sepulcher and rose triumphant, so we ought to lay aside our earthly business, and on the pinions of prayer soar aloft to God. Physical repose is necessary, because it is impossible for one who is greatly fatigued to pray well. Public worship is the holy sacrifice of the Mass, generally accompanied by a sermon. In the first centuries of Christianity the Christians were accustomed to assemble on Sundays to hear Mass, and a short exhortation was delivered after the Gospel, as is usual in the present day. There is no act of Christian worship that can compare in dignity and value with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. On Sunday we ought to provide for the interests of our soul; physical rest is ordained in order that we may labor more diligently for our spiritual welfare; and we must not content ourselves with putting on better clothes, but must cleanse and adorn our hearts. The cessation from the work of the week gives an opportunity to the faithful, in compliance with the mind of the Church, to approach the sacraments. They are encouraged to receive holy communion on Sundays and holydays, and to give themselves to prayer; for this reason afternoon services are held, and the churches stand open for private devotions. Our forefathers used to read spiritual books, homilies on the Gospel for the day, and the lives of the saints. Many of Our Lord’s miracles of healing were wrought on the Sabbath day—witness the man whose hand was withered (Matt. 12:10); the man born blind (John 9); the man that had dropsy (Luke 14:2)—although by doing so He gave great offence to the Jews. He intended to teach us to do good work on Sundays.
The work permitted on holy days of obligation is (1), Servile work which is absolutely necessary, especially works of mercy; (2), Light and trifling work; (3), Occupations of an intellectual nature; (4), Reasonable recreation.
We are not forbidden to do work that is absolutely necessary. Our Lord does not desire man to suffer on account of the Sunday rest, for He says: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). All work may be done which is required for the support of life; we may have our food prepared, and are allowed to gather in our crops if the weather threatens their destruction. All work that is indispensable for the public service may be carried on: e.g., the postal service, the railroad, telegraph, and police service. Ecclesiastical authorities have the power to grant special permission for servile work to be done on Sunday, if there is sufficient reason. Christ says: “The Son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath also,” and the Church, His representative, can say the same. And as the chief and primary object for which Sunday is instituted is to promote the spiritual welfare and eternal salvation of mankind, all works tending to this end are enjoined upon us. Our Lord says: “The priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and are without blame” (Matt. 12:5). Works of mercy are also enjoined; nothing is more profitable to salvation than these, for on them our eternal fate depends (Matt. 25:35). We have Christ’s example and precept also for the performance of charitable works on Sunday: “It is lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath day” (Luke 12:12). Some of the saints used to visit the hospitals after Mass, and spend the remainder of Sunday in serving the sick. Yet it must be remembered that only such servile work as is absolutely necessary is permitted, although its object be a charitable one. For if it is lawful to do all servile work without distinction which was for the benefit of the poor, all artisans and laborers might go on with their work, and that would be by no means permissible (Suarez). Necessary works of mercy exempt from the obligation of attendance at public worship; they are in themselves an act of worship (Jas. 1:27). Our Lord says: “I will have mercy and not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13). But if it is in any way possible public worship should not be omitted. “These things you ought to have done, and not leave those undone” (Matt. 23:23). What is it right to do if a conflagration breaks out just before the time of Mass, or if there is an inundation? Occupations of an unimportant kind may be engaged in, God does not require us to sit idle on Sundays; besides writing, music, and all mental employments are lawful. Sunday is also instituted as a day of rest; on it we may freely enjoy innocent diversions.
Sins against the Third Commandment
The precept enjoining upon us to sanctify the Sunday is transgressed:119
1. By doing or requiring others to perform servile work.
The Christian ought to allow his servants and even his cattle, to rest on the Sunday (Exod. 20:10). Servants, apprentices, and all who are in a subordinate position, ought not to remain in a situation where they cannot fulfil their religious obligations. Servile work is a mortal sin, if it be done for more than two or three hours on Sunday without urgent necessity.120 Yet hard work, if done for a shorter time, or light work for the same time, is not mortal sin; nor is it so if a not very valid reason is counted on as an excuse, nor again if a servant does what his master, without cogent grounds, requires of him, through fear of evil consequences to himself. In the latter case the sin rests with the master. If scandal is given by doing servile work, even for a short time, it is a grievous sin. Our Lord says of one who gives scandal, “it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). God threatened the Jews most emphatically, saying that anyone who profaned the Sabbath should be put to death: “He that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people” (Exod. 31:14).
2. By carelessness about attendance at public worship.
Entertainments given on Saturday are often the cause why Catholics omit Mass on Sunday. “What folly,” exclaims St. Francis de Sales, “to turn day into night and night into day, and neglect one’s duties for frivolous amusements!”
3. By indulging in diversions which are over-fatiguing, or which are of a sinful nature.
Games which involve much physical exertion, hunting, dancing, etc., ought to be avoided on Sunday; also those which lead to anything unseemly; brawls, extravagant expenditure, disinclination for work. Worse still, if the amusements are sinful in themselves; for whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34), and thus servile work of the most degrading description is done. Woe to him who chooses the day which is consecrated to divine service to offend against God and injure his own soul most deeply. Some people take advantage of the day of rest to indulge more freely in vice. Not unfrequently the devil leaves people in peace all the week, and when Sunday comes he tempts them to all manner of sin, pride and ostentation in dress, gambling, dancing, excess in eating and drinking. In the present day men seem to think most of eating and drinking on the Lord’s Day, women of adorning their person. How lamentable is the depravity of mankind, in thus abusing the most sacred institutions! On Sunday the devil of avarice is cast out, but it is as if seven other and worse devils entered in its place; the love of the world and all it entails; the frequenting of convivial scenes, disseverance of the ties of family life, squandering of savings, and dislike of work. “It is far better,” St. Augustine says, “that one should occupy one’s self with needle-work or field-work on Sunday than indulge in vice.” To spend the Lord’s Day in worldly vanities amounts to a kind of sacrilege; to desecrate it by sin is worse than plundering the sanctuary.
Motives for the Sanctification of Sunday
1. God rewards with temporal blessings those who keep holy His day.
Consider the loving kindness of God; it is no toilsome service He requires of you, but that you should rest. There are one hundred and sixty-eight hours in the week. God only demands one day (twenty-four hours) for Himself; must you use this for your worldly affairs? Those who would prosper in their business must consecrate Sunday to the service of God. Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, when on his voyage always kept his vessels stationary on Sunday. God often protects in a special manner those who keep holy His day. One of the sailors on board a steamer on the Mississippi refused to shift the cargo—an unnecessary work—on Sunday; he was dismissed in consequence. Shortly after the boiler burst and several of the crew lost their lives; thus the God-fearing sailor escaped. God often increases the gains of those who abstain from the pursuit of their calling on Sundays. A pious friend once persuaded an artisan to desist from working on Sunday, saying he would compensate for the loss thus occasioned. In six months’ time he returned, and the artisan acknowledged that far from losing, he had made more money than usual in the interval. Holy Scripture says “God blessed the seventh day” (Gen. 2:3), that is to say, He made it productive of blessing for us It is a false argument to allege that the suspension of work on Sunday is prejudicial to the produce of manufactures, for it is an ascertained fact that factory hands do more and better work if they have one day of rest in the seven. A bow never unspanned loses its elasticity; so the workman loses his powers if they are ever on the stretch. Rousseau, no friend to religion, used to say that holidays were essential to the welfare of a nation. In England the observance of Sunday is a strict rule, and see how her commerce has prospered. Some Jews still rigorously keep the Sabbath, and no disadvantages ensue to them.
Because the Jews habitually violated the sanctity of the Sabbath God permitted Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and take the people into captivity (Neh. 13:18). The usual punishment for profaning Sunday and not hearing Mass is to become the captive of vice. Those who work continuously ruin their health; man can no more live without taking repose than without eating. Thus the day of rest is not only a religious duty, but a natural necessity. To those who work on Sundays God says as to the Jews of yore: “I will quickly visit you with poverty” (Lev. 26:16). Those who through greed of gain desecrate Sunday, obtain the very opposite of their aim. In China, there is no fixed day of rest, and to what a deplorable state of degradation and misery, both physically and morally, they have sunk as a nation!
3. The non-observance of Sunday undermines family life and social relations.121
This sin causes the disintegration of the family. If the members of a family neglect public worship, they lose all sense of their duties and fall into evil ways. The father becomes dissolute, the mother indifferent, the children insubordinate. The father does not fulfil his duty to his children; occupied all the week he sees but little of them; on Sunday he has leisure to observe their individual characters, and give them useful instruction. The disintegration of society follows that of the family; the profanation of Sunday is an open violation of God’s law; the yoke of the secular law is next thrown off; no respect is shown to the authority of the king, the bishop, the legislator, the parent. Catholics who are careless in regard to the holy days of obligation, gradually lose all sense of their religious duties; they forget God, their final end, and become like heathen. Those who are not found on Sunday among the children of God on earth, will be excluded from His presence to all eternity. By sanctifying Sunday, we lay up for ourselves treasures which will last forever.
Work may be either bodily or mental.
It must not be thought that by those who work, only servants, artisans, operatives, and the like are intended; students, priests, schoolmasters, doctors, etc., are included under the term. The latter do not indeed work with their hands, but with their head; and mental work is far more difficult and fatiguing than physical exertion.
Work was formerly held to be degrading, until it was sanctified by Our Lord.122
Among the pagans there were two classes of people: the upper or governing class, and the slaves, the working class. In some states artisans were deprived of civil rights. As work was regarded as a degradation, men used either to join the army, or spend their days in idleness. At Our Lord’s coming He gave dignity to labor by His example; He chose a carpenter for His foster-father, and from an early age He worked Himself. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard He gave His hearers to understand that work was necessary for salvation (Matt. 20). Many eminent men have not disdained to engage in manual labor. St. Paul earned his own living by the work of his hands (Acts 20:34), he was a tent-maker (Acts 18:3). The monks of old times occupied themselves with agriculture, and in transcribing manuscripts. Work is no humiliation; on the contrary, it is greatly to a man’s credit to maintain himself by his own exertions (Leo XIII). Vice and pride alone really degrade a man. He who serves his fellow-man because it is the will of God, really serves God Who lays the obligation upon him. Christ Himself did not come to be served, but to serve. He who is the servant of another man is more to be respected than he who is the slave of his passions.
1. The obligation to work was laid upon mankind by God after the Fall as a penance.
Previous to the Fall of our first parents work was only a relaxation for man.123 But after the Fall God said to Adam: “In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, until thou return to the earth out of which thou wert taken” (Gen. 3:19).
2. Every individual who can work is bound to work. St. Paul says: “If any man will not work, neither let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).124
No man is free from original sin, and on account of original sin we are obliged to do penance, thus all must work. In order to compel man to work, God has ordained that the earth shall not afford him nourishment unless it is cultivated. If no one labored all the people on the earth would die of hunger. The rich are not exempt from this obligation; they can give the proceeds of their work in charity, or at least devote them to some good object. Royal personages have often worked costly vestments for the Church; queens and princesses used to spend a great part of their time in this manner. Upon a rich man being once asked why he was always working at something or other, though there was no need for him to do so, he replied: “Do you think almighty God has given me my hands for no purpose?” St. Benedict, in making the rule for his monks, provided that they should be occupied alternately with prayer and work. Nothing but old age, bodily infirmities, and sickness exempt from this universal law. “Man is born to labor and the bird to fly” (Job 5:7). Even the lower animals teach us in this respect; witness the industrious ant (Prov. 6:6). “We exhort you to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thess. 4:11).
3. Every man is bound primarily to perform the work appertaining to his calling or station.125
There are various grades or states of life in human society; there are ecclesiastics, physicians, lawyers, soldiers, married people and unmarried; human society is like a body, each member of which has its own individual functions (1 Cor. 12:12), or like a clock, in which all the wheels, large and small, work into one another. It is God Himself Who calls every man to his special state, hence we speak of it as his “vocation,” and God gives everyone the graces necessary to his calling. Thus if a man feels inwardly drawn to one particular state, he ought to obey this attraction, just as the migratory birds obey the motion that teaches them to seek a warmer climate in the autumn. Those who do not follow that interior impulse, but force themselves to embrace a calling for which they feel no inclination, too often share the fate of the birds who do not journey southwards; like them they do not thrive. Parents ought not to compel their children to enter a profession for which they have no attraction. As our vocation comes from God, in fulfilling its obligations we serve Him; consequently the duties of our state ought to take precedence of all others. In some cases we have to leave God for God. The object for which Christ came into the world was to redeem it, and when the time came for Him to fulfil the duties of that vocation everything else was made subservient to it. Remember His words in the Temple when He was twelve years of age (Luke 2:49), and how He neglected to take food, while conversing with the Samaritan at Jacob’s well (John 4:34). So Moses acted; when God told him on Mount Sinai that the people had sinned grievously, he immediately left converse with God, and returned to the camp (Exod. 32:7).
Careful fulfilment of the duties of one’s calling leads to perfection; the neglect of them entails fatal consequences both in time and in eternity.
Those who conscientiously accomplish the duties of their calling are conscientious in all things. Like the principal wheel in a machine, if this goes well, all else goes well; but if it stops, the whole of the works are at a standstill. In the process for canonization, the first inquiry is how the candidate has fulfilled the duties of his calling. It is a mistake to imagine that time and trouble devoted to the duties of one’s calling are wasted; on the contrary, there is no speedier means of attaining perfection. Those who, deluded by the devil, neglect their duties for prayer and pious works commit sin. “If a man,” says St. Francis de Sales, “does not perform the grave obligations of his state, though he raise the dead and practice all manner of austerities he is in mortal sin and will perish eternally.” In vain those pray who will not work; all piety is false which is not subordinated to the claims of our calling, for no state of life, if lawful, is a hindrance to salvation.
4. We must not forget God in what we do; before and during our work we should implore His aid and renew our intention.126
God’s blessing we need if our work should succeed. Witness the miraculous draught of fishes (Luke 5). Three men with God’s blessing will do more work in a day than ten without it. To begin one’s work without prayer is as if a soldier went to battle without weapons. St. Paul exhorts us to renew our good intention in the words: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). In all our actions we must take aim, like one who shoots at a mark. However long a row of ciphers a child makes on a slate, they have no value whatsoever until a figure is placed before them. So it is with our works: in themselves they are worthless, but if they are performed in God’s name, He makes them fruitful and meritorious. And as when writing one dips one’s pen from time to time in the ink in order to write on, so we ought to look up to God to gain fresh strength for our work. We should do like the mariner, who looks up at the stars or consults the compass that he may steer his course aright. The angels, while ministering to man, do not cease to gaze upon the countenance of God. As the builder constantly uses square and plumb-line, so all our actions should be measured by the rule of the love of God. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Accustom yourselves to utter ejaculatory prayers at your work and take for your motto the words: Ora et labora. Work and pray; and while putting your hand to your work, raise your heart to God.
5. Labor obtains a temporal and an eternal recompense, because it is a kind of divine worship. The temporal recompense is contentment and earthly happiness.127
As the law of work was laid upon Adam in paradise by God as an expiation of his fault, when he had acknowledged and confessed it, all who work do the will of God, and perform an act that is pleasing to Him. Work in its character of penance, is more excellent than prayer. St. Francis de Sales, when obliged to curtail his prayers because of the press of business, excused himself by saying; “In this world we must pray by work and action.” Work has a bitter root, but the fruit it bears is sweet. It has a temporal reward: the idler finds his time long and is a burden to himself, whereas the industrious is contented and cheerful. He experiences the truth of Our Lord’s words: “My yoke is sweet and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). The devil cannot molest the busy man with his temptations; he has no leisure to listen to his enticements, any more than a man will leave some important transaction to go where music and dancing are going on. Work generally insures earthly prosperity. The bees who gather honey all day long in summer, lay up in their hives a store of nourishment for the winter. The industrious man’s future is assured. A Roman who had accumulated a large fortune by hard work was accused of magic arts. Being brought before the Senate, he produced his tools and said: “Behold the charms I have made use of. The sweat of my brow I cannot show you.” Finally labor, like all other acts of penance, merits an everlasting reward. Our Lord says: “The laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7). And St. Paul: “Every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor” (1 Cor. 3:8). The anticipation of a reward sweetens labor, as we see is the case with all the working classes. They labor for a temporal reward, but we for an eternal. St. Bernard told a monk who was always busily employed, that if he continued to work so zealously he need not dread purgatory. Let us not in our work look so much to what we shall gain by it in time, as to our eternal reward. For if we only think of present profit we shall work less well, and we shall lose the eternal profit to which we show ourselves indifferent.
The precept of labor is transgressed:
1. By indulging in idleness.
2. By the non-fulfilment of the duties of our station and calling.
3. By omitting to offer to God the work that is done.
The Relaxations Permitted to the Christian
1. It is lawful for those who work to seek relaxation, for this is a means of renewing one’s strength after one’s work is done.128
The bow never unspanned will break; and the man who works without cessation will become unfit for work. Social convivialities are productive of much good; they promote charity and concord. It is God’s will that we should enjoy recreation; He has provided us with pleasures in nature alone; the beauteous coloring, the delicious perfume of the flowers; the song of birds, the various kinds of fruit, etc. Our Lord Himself was a guest at banquets, even at a marriage feast, and He speaks without disapproval of music, etc. (Luke 15:25).
We must not be too great votaries of pleasure, for diversions are not the object of life, they are only a means of renewing our strength after our work. Life is for work, not for play. Excess in everything is harmful; medicine taken in too large doses is injurious, and the best condiments, if too freely used, spoil a dish. So it is with amusements; they are only to be enjoyed when all our duties have been duly performed. The thought of death is a useful check upon indulgence in the pleasures of the senses; if we remember that at any moment our soul may be required of us, we shall be moderate in our use of enjoyments. An exaggerated love of pleasure and craving for excitement prevails in the present day; one festivity and dissipation follows another, and yet everywhere one hears complaints of the evil times. May not the thirst for enjoyment be the cause? Above all, dangerous or sinful pleasures are to be avoided, such as gambling for high stakes, games of chance which are prohibited, slandering the absent, sarcastic speeches, unseemly words, or contempt of holy things. Those who indulge in such pleasures are like thankless children who delight in offending their father. When enjoying innocent pleasures we should think of God, and our high destiny. The Psalmist says: “Be glad in the Lord” (Ps. 31[32]:11). St. Charles Borromeo is said once to have played a game of billiards; when asked what he would do if he was told the Last Judgment was at hand, he replied: “I should finish the game, for I am playing for the glory of God, and He is present to my thoughts.”
THE SIX COMMANDMENTS OF THE CHURCH
1. The six precepts of the Church are an amplification of the Third Commandment of the Decalogue.129
The first precept of the Church enjoins upon the faithful to rest from work on certain days besides the Sunday, to give thanks to God for special graces.
The second precept of the Church ordains the manner in which the fasting-days and days of abstinence are to be observed.
The third and fourth precepts of the Church oblige us to confess and communicate at least once a year.
The fifth precept bids us support our pastors.
The sixth forbids us to marry non-Catholics, or to solemnize marriage at forbidden times.
2. We are under a rigorous obligation to keep the commandments of the Church, for disobedience to the Church is disobedience to Christ.130
Christ has conferred upon the Church the same powers which He Himself received from His Father; He said to His apostles: “As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). When the Church enjoins anything upon us, it is the same as if Christ enjoined it; for He said: “Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). In disobeying the Church we disobey Christ; as He told the apostles: “He that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke 10:16). Our Lord speaks of the Church as a kingdom; He also compares it to a fold, to teach us that the children of the Church must obey their ecclesiastical superiors. Every society is authorized to make laws which the members must observe; this the Church does; and by her mouth God makes His will known to us.
He therefore who wantonly violates one of the Church’s laws, commits a grievous sin.
Our Lord expressly says that he who will not hear the Church is to be regarded as a heathen (Matt. 18:17). Under the Old Dispensation death was the punishment of one who through pride should refuse to obey the commandment of the high priest (Deut. 17:12). Thus we see that from the first rebellion against the spiritual authority was a heinous sin.
Christ said to the apostles: “What you loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). Some bishops permit meat to be eaten on Friday when a festival falls on that day. The Pope has sanctioned the transference of certain holy days to the following Sunday in some countries.
1. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT OF THE CHURCH:
THE OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS
1. In the first commandment of the Church the solemn observance of the holy days is enjoined upon us. There are seven festivals of Our Lord, five of Our Lady, and three of the saints.131
The early Christians kept a great number of festivals in order to keep alive the memory of certain events or benefits received from God as the anniversaries came round. These feasts were instituted that the events they commemorate might be remembered to all time by the faithful, and praise and thanksgiving be rendered to God for them. Unhappily some persons only mark these festivals by providing a more liberal table, as if, St. Jerome remarks, by eating and drinking one could honor those who sought to please God by fasting and mortification.
The seven feasts of Our Lord are (1), Christmas (Dec. 25th); (2), The Circumcision (Jan. 1st); (3), The Epiphany (Jan. 6th); (4), Easter; (5), The Ascension; (6), Pentecost; (7), Corpus Christi (the third and the last are not holy days in the United States).132
As the nativity and the resurrection of Our Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit are events of primary importance, they are celebrated with peculiar solemnity. In European countries the 26th of December, the feast of St. Stephen, and the two days immediately following Easter Day and Pentecost, are kept as feasts of devotion.
The five feasts of the Mother of God are: (1), The Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8th); (2), The Nativity of Our Lady (Sept. 8th); (3), The Annunciation (March 25th); (4), The Purification (Feb. 2nd); (5), The Assumption (Aug. 15th). Of these festivals the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are the only ones now observed as holy days of obligation.133
The life of the Mother of God is so intimately connected with that of her divine Son that the Church commemorates its principal events. Unlike the other saints, who are commemorated on the day of their death, because it was their birth to a better life, the day of Mary’s birth is solemnized, because she was born without sin.
The three festivals of the saints are: (1) The feast of St. Stephen (Dec. 26th), no longer a holyday of obligation; (2), The feast of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29th), not a holy day in the United States; (3), The feast of All Saints (Nov. 1st). In some lands the feast of the patron saint of the country is kept as a general holiday. These festivals are either fixed or movable. The former are kept yearly on the same day, the latter vary as to the date of celebration.
The fixed festivals are: The Immaculate Conception, Christmas, the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Annunciation, St. Peter and St. Paul, the Assumption of and Nativity of Our Lady, the feast of All Saints. The movable feasts are: Easter, which is kept on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, consequently in the interval between the twenty-second of March and the twenty-fifth of April; the Ascension, forty days after Easter; Pentecost, fifty days after Easter; Corpus Christi, the Thursday of the second week after Whitsunday. The Church has instituted some of her festivals as substitutes for the feasts of the Old Testament, which were a foreshadowing of the Christian festivals. Others take the place of heathen festivities; the birth of Our Lord is commemorated in the season when the pagans consecrated the long winter nights to the worship of the sun; the processions in different countries on Candle-mas Day is a Christianized form of the torchlight processions held in the first days of February, when the days begin perceptibly to lengthen, in honor of the divinities of the ancients. This the Church did in order to render the evangelization of the heathen more easy, by changing, instead of abrogating, their ceremonies.
2. The holy days of obligation ought to be kept in the same manner as the Sundays; we must abstain from servile work and assist at holy Mass.134
The number of holy days of obligation varies in different countries. In some certain festivals have been transferred to the Sunday following, as it was found that holydays recurring too frequently produced the opposite effect to that for which they were instituted.
The Jews of old used to observe a number of feasts besides the Sabbath in commemoration of important events in their history; e.g., the festival of Passover in memory of the exit from Egypt; Pentecost, in memory of the giving of the law on Sinai; the feast of Tabernacles in memory of their journey through the desert. The Church does much the same; she annually recalls events in Our Lord’s life on earth, representing them as vividly as is possible after so long a lapse of time. This is especially the case in the ceremonies of Holy Week.
1. The ecclesiastical year is an annual commemoration and representation of the life of Christ, and of the time before and after His birth.135
The Church places these events before us in order that we may meditate upon them and imitate Our Lord’s life. In Advent we are called upon to anticipate with the patriarchs of the Old Testament, the coming of the long-expected Redeemer; at Christmas we rejoice with the shepherds at His birth; in Lent we fast forty days with Christ; at Easter we rise again with Him; at Pentecost we join, with the disciples in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. On almost every day of the year the Church commemorates one or more of the saints; they are like planets, revolving around the Sun of justice. She bids us consider their lives, how they imitated Christ, and thus became patterns of Christian perfection; and she desires to encourage us to imitate Him too. It is besides the intention of the Church that we should implore the intercession of the saints, that we may the more surely be made partakers of the merits of Christ. Finally by weaving these saints’ days into the cycle of the ecclesiastical year, she would teach us amid all our earthly occupations to keep our thoughts fixed upon God, doing all, as the Apostle exhorts us, to His glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
Thus the ecclesiastical year sets forth the glory of the Holy Trinity; it displays the charity of the Father, Who sent His Son into the world; the charity of the Son, Who died for our sakes, and the charity of the Holy Spirit, Who descended to abide with us. Therefore the first Sunday after Pentecost is dedicated to the Holy Trinity; this feast links all the other three together.
Each of these three great feasts has a season of preparation preceding it as well as a subsequent commemoration.
Advent is the season of preparation before Christmas. In the subsequent period we have the feast of the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Purification, and the Sundays after the Epiphany.136
The four weeks of Advent represent the four thousand years during which the coming of the Messiah was expected. The Immaculate Conception occurs most suitably in Advent, the eighth of December, for at the birth of Christ the Sun of justice rose upon the world, dispelling the darkness of sin and ignorance; Mary was like the aurora (Cant. 6:9), heralding the coming day. The period after Christmas is symbolical of the youth of Our Lord, and of the time which intervened before His entry upon His public ministry; His hidden life, that is, at Nazareth.
The forty days of Lent are the preparation for Easter; and the Paschal time lasts during the subsequent forty days before the ascension.137
The preparation for Lent includes the three Sundays called respectively Septuagesima (70), Sexagesima (60), and Quinquagesima (50). They were so named because in the early days of Christianity many communities began the fast fifty, sixty, or seventy days before Easter, in order not to have to fast every day of the forty. The Wednesday after Quinquagesima is called Ash Wednesday, because of the ceremony of sprinkling ashes upon the foreheads of the faithful. On Ash Wednesday the season of Lent commences; it is forty-six days before Easter; thus the number of days is completed without the six Sundays, on which we do not fast. During Lent the public life of Our Lord is set before us, His previous fast, His Passion and death. The forty days which intervene before the ascension represent the forty days He spent on earth after His resurrection. The three days before the ascension are the Rogation days; on these processions are held.
The ten days after the ascension are the period of preparation for Pentecost. The subsequent commemoration lasts for twenty-four weeks, sometimes even longer.
The ten days before Pentecost represent the ten days during which the apostles awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit; the weeks that follow represent the time that shall elapse before the Last Judgment. Consequently on the last Sunday after Pentecost the Gospel read in church is that which foretells Our Lord’s coming as our Judge. The feasts of All Saints and All Souls close the ecclesiastical year. This is to signify that we are in unbroken communion with the blessed in heaven and the holy souls in purgatory and that our separation from them is but temporary. All Souls’ Day occurs suitably when the face of nature presents an image of death.
3. The aspect of nature corresponds to the three principal festivals.
In Advent, at least for us who inhabit the northern hemisphere, the nights are longer than the days, and the life of vegetation is at a standstill; so it was in the spiritual order before the coming of Christ. After Christmas the days begin to lengthen; just so the birth of Christ brought light to the world. At Easter nature awakens to new life and decks herself with verdure; Christ rises glorious from the dead. At Pentecost trees and meadows are in their full beauty of leaf and blossom; with the coming of the Holy Spirit a fresh era commences for mankind, and fair flowers of holiness are brought forth.
The epistles and gospels, as well as the hymns and sequences of the Mass, are suited to the festivals and seasons of the ecclesiastical year.
The gospels are portions taken from the four gospels, and the epistles from other parts of Holy Scripture. They were originally compiled by St. Jerome.