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THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ THE CENTURION

(Read Matt. viii, 1-13.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY how Jesus showed Himself astonished at the virtue of this centurion, not because it was unknown to Him till then, but the more to confound the Jews by the example of this soldier, and that the chosen people so highly favoured by heaven should realise that surpassed in faith by a Gentile.

APPLICATION: You as a member of the Church belong to a chosen people most dear to God, and it should not be without confusion that you see so many others more detached from earthly goods, more enamoured by heavenly things, and greater lovers of the Cross of Christ than you are. If you feel not now ashamed, you will be covered with confusion at the last day at seeing so many others far less favoured than you, so superior to yourself in the virtues you should now practise.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: He brought forth His people with joy and His chosen with gladness; that they might observe His precepts and seek after His law. (Ps. civ, 43 and 45.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY the centurion’s faith. He had not the light of the Holy Scriptures not the teaching of the prophets, yet he recognised Jesus as the true Son of God present everywhere by His immensity, and able by His omnipotence and by a single word to restore health to the palsied servant. Yet the Jews would not acknowledge Him, nay even plotted His death after He had so manifestly shown Himself to them as the Son of God.

APPLICATION: Nor indeed should this surprise you, for the light of faith does not shine in minds obscured by passion and sullied by vice. If you wish the light of faith which you received in Holy Baptism to remain burning, you must feed it with works of virtue, otherwise it will be a faith that is dead. Faith without works is dead.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Deal bountifully with thy servant; quicken thou me and I shall keep thy words. (Ps. cxviii, 17.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY The great humility of the centurion, who at the very thought of Jesus coming into his house to heal his servant he exclaimed: Domine non sum dingus ut intres sub tectum meum.

APPLICATION: Holy Church puts these words upon your lips every time you receive Holy Communion. Have them also deeply engraved on your heart, and reflect seriously on your own abject nothingness, on the gravity and number of your sins, on your own ingratitude, and the little correspondence with the immense benefits you have received from the divine liberality. Know too that it is only through the virtue of humility that you can ever make satisfaction for this your great debt, and become acceptable in the eyes of God Who gives grace to the humble.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: He hath regard to the prayer of the lowly and hath not despised their petition. (Ps. ci, 8.)

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MONDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ SELF-KNOWLEDGE

When you shall have done all those things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants. (Luke xvii, 10.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that if you could once for all take home to yourself these words of our Divine Lord, you would no longer be so much troubled with vainglory. How is it that every day finds you more proud? Because you grow more blind in the knowledge of yourself, thinking that you of yourself are something, whereas in fact you are a mere nothing.

APPLICATION: If any man thinks himself to be something whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. (Gal. vi, 3.) If then you would acquire true humility begin by convincing yourself that you are absolutely nothing, and that everything you possess,  sin excepted, all comes to you from God.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I am brought to nothing and I knew it not. (Ps. lxxii, 22.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that even naturally if you think yourself to be something you deceive yourself. As regards your very existence you are by yourself nothing, and as regards whatever you may do you are nothing. What were you centuries ago before you were born? Such as of yourself you are today, for it was God Who gave you your being and it is He Who preserves it to you. Moreover all the acts that are a consequence of your being are from Him Who gave you that being and Who maintains it.

APPLICATION: Even you very will comes from God, Who has given you this free faculty and Who preserves it by continuing with each one of your voluntary acts. If this be so, where is your glory? Why so vainglorious over your genius, your cleverness, your talents, when all are simply gifts from God?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. (Ps. cxiii, 9.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that vocation as a Christian be very high, yet if you are in sin, you are reduced to a state of worse than nothingness in God’s sight. But, granted that you be in the state of grace, nevertheless in that state you are nothing in yourself and you have infinite reason for thanksgiving but none for vainglory. In order to perform a single meritorious act you need habitual grace which justifies and gives you the power to act aright, and each time you need the help of actual grace to do the act, just as in order to see, your eyes alone suffice not, but you need the aid of light.

APPLICATION: If then all this be the free gift of God, where then is your glory? Would you perhaps attribute to yourself your co-operation with the grace of God? But see you not that this co-operation itself is only the result of the grace of God working in you? Jesus Christ said: Without me you can do nothing, so that you might understand that you have need of that grace not only at the beginning of the spiritual life, but for each successive act even unto your last breath, for without it you can do nothing. Therefore deceive not yourself, for the error is too apparent.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou, O Lord, art my protector and my glory. (Ps. iii, 4.)

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TUESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ PARTICULAR JUDGMENT

I say unto you that very idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it, at the day of judgment. (Matt. xii, 36.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY how a man at the hour of death finds himself immediately in the presence of Christ the Judge, This appearance is compared in the Gospels to lightening, like lightening, because just as it contains in itself the flash of light, so Christ the Judge will in a flash lay bare to the soul all the evil it has done since the first dawn of reason, all the good it has neglected to do or has done badly. Nor will there be the least thought, an idle look, not even an idle word, that will not be shown up in that flash of light. How different in that moment will be the soul’s estimate of its faults and failings from that which it had in life!

APPLICATION: If you would be wise, provide in time for your turn by more exactness in your examens of conscience, by never despising the smallest fault, that thus may you not receive that rigorous judgment at the tribunal of Christ, of which even the greatest saints had so much fear.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: O Lord, thou knowest my foolishness and my offenses are not hid from thee. (Ps. xlviii, 6.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that under this searching light the soul will hear the immutable and just sentence, which will come from the mouth of the Judge Himself. And will remain for ever indelibly graven in the mind of the soul that is judged. If that soul be in mortal sin it will be condemned to the company of the demons and eternal fire. If it be stained only with lesser sins, its angel guardian will conduct it to expiate its debts in purgatory. If in this life it was purified from all stain of guilt and punishment by penance and by mortification, it will pass forward in company with Christ to take possession of the kingdom of the blessed.

APPLICATION: In a short time one or the other of these issues will be yours. Choose now which you prefer: Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death. (Jer. xxi, 8.)

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

CONSIDER THIRDLY the confusion and despair of that soul which for a pass breath of glory, for some sensual pleasure, or for some momentary advantage, shall find itself for ever imprisoned in that abyss of everlasting fire. Consider too the remorse of those souls, who because they so little loved mortification and regular observance, will find themselves condemned for years perhaps to Purgatory, in sufferings greater than any in this life,  which they could have atoned for in this life, by some slight penance, by which too they would have gained merit and glory.

APPLICATION: And yet how many there are who wait for the next life to make satisfaction to the Divine Justice for their sins. The future condition of very many souls was revealed to St, Teresa, and of these three only did she see going straight to heaven, without passing through Purgatory; one that of St. Peter Alcantara, another of a Carmelite lay brother, the third of a Dominican Father. Reflect now whether it be not better to be cleansed, as St. Pacianus says, rather by water than by fire.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Hear, O Lord, my prayer and supplication: give ear unto my tears. (Ps. xxxix, 13.)

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WEDNESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ WORLDLINESS

What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world? (Matt. xvi, 26.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the satisfaction of the worldling consists in the honour, applause, dignity, wealth with which he is surrounded. In the pride of his heart he deems himself superior to other men, immortal like unto the cedars of Lebanon, as if he were never to die. So too he loves his wealth and grandeur as if he were never to lose them, and pampers his body as though it were never to become the food of worms.

APPLICATION: Let us bring this reflection home to ourselves. Wait but for a while and you will see what will become of all that vaunted wealth and grandeur. See what attachment perhaps have wound themselves round your heart also.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: If riches increase, set not your heart on them. (Ps. lxi, 11.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that one does not have to wait long before he beholds a change of scene. I passed by and he was no longer there, says holy David (Ps. xxxvi, 36.); for in a moment of time as it were in a flash – all had gone, all had disappeared.

APPLICATION: Pause and think a little, what has become of the glory of those rich men, who have lived surrounded by applause and grandeur, whom you even during your lifetime might have known. Say to yourself that theirs was not true glory but only vain and empty show, like unto that of a man who dreams and exults that he is raised to a throne. Could you possibly prize and desire glory such as that! Love and value only the glory of virtue, for there is none other that is lasting: For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience. (2 Cor. i, 12.)

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

CONSIDER THIRDLY what the Psalmist says (Ps. xxxvi, 35.), that when he chanced to behold the glory of the wicked, he stayed not but passed on. Were you willing to dwell on the prosperity of worldly people and to admire their pomp, you might expose yourself to many temptations. Say rather, when you also chance to see such things, earnestly to God, Turn away mine eyes that they may not see vanity (Ps. cxviii) and pass on thinking within yourself, how soon all will end. Picture to yourself the grave where the bodies of such will corrupt, while their souls may be suffering in the awful abyss of eternal woe. On the other hand, recall to your mind the glory of Paradise which these may easily never attain.

APPLICATION: Never will you so well understand the little value of passing things as when you fix your thoughts on eternity. In proportion as it is dangerous for you to let your mind contemplate worldly prosperity, as you see it before you, so much the more is it profitable for you to recall its emptiness when once it is passed. Go now and seek for the proud rich man when he is dead, seek him among his splendid surroundings and you not be able to find him. I sought for him and his place was not to be found.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou hast humbled the proud as one that is slain. (Ps. lxxxviii, 11.)

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THURSDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ SINS OF THE TONGUE

Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. (Matt. xii, 36.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that all Christian whatsoever who desire to serve God devoutly, must necessarily learn to curb their tongues. If your life be wholly or in part consecrated to contemplation you must needs restrain your tongue, so that silence may dispose you to obtain the gift of union with God. If you are engaged in an active life still more must you curb your tongue so as to learn to converse with your neighbour without fault and without scandal. In a word, you must learn to be both silent and how also to speak in due season. There is a time to be silent, and a time to speak. (Eccles. iii, 7.)

APPLICATION: Examine yourself and see what control you have hitherto attained over your tongue. If you have acquired none, your glory is in your name of religious, as St. James says (i, 26) is a vain one, for this man’s religion is vain.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips. (Ps. cxl, 3.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that no one can ever succeed in bridling his tongue so perfectly as never to make a slip: The tongue no man can tame. (James iii, 8.) Nevertheless you must strive to bridle it, and to bring it under control of reason, which, as it must govern the other members of the body, so too especially has to rule the tongue. All the other senses, such as the eyes, ears and taste, are exposed to only one kind of offence, but the tongue sins and fails in many ways, so as to be called a world of iniquity. (James ii, 6.) It even conspires with other sins that have nothing to do with it, by instigation, by counsel, by command.

APPLICATION: In order then to avoid the sins of the tongue you must needs to strive to overcome all your other faults. You cannot lay claim to be a true follower of Christ if you do not restrain your tongue, because that in itself is proof that you have not overcome the passions of anger, of pride, of envy, and so forth.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. (Ps. xxxviii, 1.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that often one gives himself liberty in speaking, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart. (James i, 26.) He will speak well of himself to gain the good opinion of others. He will criticise and condemn the actions of his superiors, and speak slightingly of his neighbours, in order not to appear to be a flatterer. He wastes his time in useless conversations, in mere trivialities, in order to gain the good will of his hearers.

APPLICATION: Be assured of this, that if your tongue is too free you are deceiving your own heart. Recollect yourself and examine the past. Remember the words of St. James: Who is the wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show by good conversation his worth in the meekness of wisdom. (iii, 13.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall declare thy praise. (Ps. l, 17.)

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FRIDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ LOVE OF THE POOR

The poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matt. xi, 5.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY who it is whom the Psalmist calls (Ps. xl, I) especially blessed. It is he who seeing Christ poor in His life and naked in death is not deterred by the sight of such abjection, but sees beyond this, understands that He is God Himself, and does not let himself be led by his senses but by faith. It is for this that he is called blessed: Blessed is he that considereth the needy and the poor. The Lord will deliver him in the evil day. (Ps. xl, 1.)

APPLICATION: If you could only succeed in understanding that under that humiliation lies hidden your every good, would you ever be ashamed of following Him in His abasement? Try to realise it to the very best of your power, so that it will help you at the day of your death, a day so dreadful an account of so many sins and such anxieties. No one at that hour will be so protected by Jesus as he, who can say with truth that he has been faithful to Him in life by following Him in all humiliations.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I am poor and in labours from my youth. (Ps. lxxxvii, 16.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY who again it is who is called blessed. It is he who seeing any poor man in extreme want, understands full well that beneath the worn-out rags of that poor man is hidden Christ Himself, Who having chosen to live on earth in extreme poverty wills to profess it still in the person of each poor man, declaring that, what you did to one of the least of these my brethren you did it to me. And hence he is moved to help the poor man if he can, or at least to respect him, to pity him and to console him, as he would do to the person of Christ Himself. He who does this is called blessed, because he has the full merit of that charity done to the poor from motives of faith and in honour of Jesus Christ. This merit is not acquired by one who helps the poor from mere instincts of human compassion, for pagans may act thus. For this compassion so beautifully practised towards the poor, there is promised you in reward a remission of penalties due to you at the hour of death. It will also win for you the inestimable grace of true contrition.

APPLICATION: O how highly you should esteem the exercise of compassion; you should practise it as much as ever your state of life allows you to do.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Do justice to the humble and the poor. Rescue the poor. (Ps. lxxxi, 3-4.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY who it is once more who is called blessed. It is he who does not wait for the poor to ask his charity, but who thinks of them himself, foresees and feels for their needs, goes to visit the prisoners in their prison, the sick in the hospital, provides for them and comforts them, becomes their advocate and protector, knowing well that he gains more for himself than he gives to the poor.

APPLICATION: If you act thus you will be most assuredly blessed. At your death our Lord will Himself come to your aid and defend you against the enemy of your soul. Indeed it is well that you should gain for yourself such a champion for that dread hour, by doing all you possibly can to help the poor.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: He hath given to the poor, his justice endureth for ever and ever; his horn shall be exalted in glory. (Ps. cxi, 9.)

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SATURDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY ~ FALLING AWAY FROM GOD

Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? (John vi, 68.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY who those are of whom the Apostle says (Heb. x, 26-27), that they sin wilfully after having a knowledge of the truth. They are particularly those who, after having by special light been called to serve God in His holy Church, and having embraced the yoke of Christ, little by little grow relaxed and abandon the religious life. They are of two classes – some, who throw up wholly the practice of religion, others, who retain the outward appearance but in reality give up its practices, and resume an utterly worldly way of living.

APPLICATION: What will it avail you not to have been one of the former class of apostates, if you are unhappy enough to enter into the number of the second, for both are threatened with chastisement threatened by the Apostle?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I will meditate on thy commandments, I will consider thy ways. (Ps. cxviii, 15.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that of those who fall away it is said that they sin voluntarily after having knowledge, while many others sin through passion, not really knowing the evil they are doing. Many, alas! Sin knowingly because they turn their back on the light of the Divine Sun which shone before their eyes. What wonder then is it if of them it is said, that their offering for sin is not received? Jesus cannot say to the Eternal Father: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke xxiii, 34), for they understand the enormous sin of a bad life, the scandal it gives their neighbours, the displeasure of God, and the imminent peril of damnation, which they have so often clearly realized by the sure light of their spiritual exercises, and which nevertheless they wilfully despise.

APPLICATION: Are you not horrified at the thought of such a condition? Do not then trust yourself, for little by little one may fall into it.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The unjust man would not understand that he might do well. (Ps. xxxv, 4.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that these unhappy persons have from time to time some remembrance of the judgment to come, which suffices to trouble and embitter all the liberty and all that false pleasure which they allow themselves, or makes this remembrance of that judgment most terrible to them. But how much more terrible will it be in reality at the moment of death, when they will have to appear before the tribunal of their Lord to Whom they have been so badly wanting in fidelity. These will be most severely reproached by Christ in their particular judgment, and in the universal judgment; these will be the most execrated, these the most accursed and sentenced to most terrible punishment, for of all the enemies of a prince, rebels are the most hatful to him.

APPLICATION: If you do not feel overcome by terror at the thought of these evils, tremble and fear lest soon you may be counted in the number of these rebels.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Enlighten my eyes, that I sleep not ever in death. (Ps. xii, 5.)

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