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In the old time there were three great ministries or offices by means of which God spoke to His chosen people, the Israelites, or , as they were afterwards called the Jews, viz. that of Priest, that of King, and that of Prophet.

Those who were chose by God for one or other of these offices were solemnly anointed with oil - oil signifying the grace of God, which was given to them for the due performance of their high duties. But our Lord was all three, a Priest, a Prophet, and a King - a Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins; a Prophet, because He revealed to us the Holy Law of God; and a King, because He rules over us. Thus He is the one true Christ.

source: Meditations and Devotions, by Cardinal John Henry Newman, 1893

"But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers and burned their city." Matt xxii, 7.

SYNOPSIS. The meaning of the parable. God's desire for the salvation of all men. Hence all are invited again and again to do penance and amend their lives. The testimony of Scripture on this point. The relation be tween justice and mercy. God s punishment of old of those who refused His call to penance, i. e., the ark and the Hood. This is just as true in our times. Therefore, let us look to it that we escape the just anger of God.

In the king spoken of in today's Gospel, we have an example of forbearance. When those whom he had invited to the feast failed to appear he did not at once become angry, but sent his servants out again with a more pressing invitation. When this kindness met with more evil results ending in the murder of the servants, the king became very angry and sent an army to set fire to the city.
This is a parable telling us of the forbearance of Almighty God, who invites men to do penance and patiently defers punishment even when the invitation is ignored. If a person, says St. Bernard, notices a defect in his house he will not immediately tear it down, but will seek to repair the defect. God sees the wrongdoing of man; He does not immediately visit punishment on the wrongdoer, but patiently waits and gives him many opportunities to amend. "But thou hast mercy upon all because thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance," says Solomon (Wisdom xi, 24). And the Lord calls to sinners through the prophet Ezekiel : "As I live, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live" (Ezekiel xxxiii, fi), and through Isaias: "If your sins be as scarlet they shall be made as white as snow, and if they be as red as crimson they shall be white as wool" (Isaias i, 18). It is in the power of God to punish sinners as soon as they fall, but He wishes them to repent and reform. God's goodness and forbearance are not limited, but when the measure of iniquity is full, justice steps in and deals out retribution. When the first sinful generation of mankind refused to do penance, God resolved to punish the evildoers, and He said to Noah: "The end of all flesh is come before me, the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of timber planks. Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth to destroy all flesh." Noah did as God commanded him, and it took him one hundred years to build the ark. Why such length of time to build an ark when the magnificent temple of Solomon was built and completed in seven years? St. Chrysostom explains this in the words : "God let so much time be spent in building the ark because He desired that for all this time the work of erecting the ark should be a constant warning and exhortation to the perverse people to acknowledge their guilt before the threatened punishment would descend upon them."

And this great forbearance of the Lord is witnessed in all ages, yea, also in our times, in ourselves. Why does the Lord show such great forbearance and love? For no other reason than that men should acknowledge and repent of their sins and seek forgiveness in His mercy. He wants not the death of the sinner, but that he repent and live. He not only has forbearance with the sinner, He also admonishes him in many ways to return to Him. If you will examine your conscience you must acknowledge that God has often brought to your mind the deplorable condition of your soul, and admonished you to do penance. God calls you to Him: "Return to me, and I will receive thee" (Jer. iii, i).

Do not forget, however, that the Lord will in the end punish severely those that fail to pay attention to His admonitions. Do not misuse His forbearance, for death may suddenly overtake you, and in death the justice of the Lord. I will close with the words of the Apostle: "Despiseth thou the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering? Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance ? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God" (Romans ii, ,4-5).

SERMON CXXVIII.

Why do you think evil in your hearts ? ST. MATT. ix. 4.

All those, dear brethren, who are trying to lead a holy life have a great horror of external sins. They will not lie, steal, murder, or be guilty of adultery or intemperance. Still, I am afraid a great many of us are awfully careless about internal sins. We forget that not only the sins which we openly commit, but those also which we secretly assent to in our own minds, are offenses against God.

You can see this in today's Gospel. When our Lord said to the sick man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee," the Scribes directly said "within themselves, He blasphemeth"; and although they did not shape this sentence in words, it was accounted to them for sin, as we can see from the reply of Jesus Christ contained in the text.

You see, then, brethren, if you want to keep your conscience clear, you must not only avoid external but even internal sins. Indeed, I think the sins which we commit internally are even more deadly than the external ones. First, because they always precede the open offense ; as our Lord says in another place, " From the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies." Now, you will see at once that "evil thoughts " come first on the list, by which I think our Lord wishes to intimate that they are the root of all the others.

Again, evil thoughts, whether they are against charity, or against chastity, or against faith - whether they are thoughts of pride, of hatred, or envy, or avaricious thoughts - insomuch as they are concealed from the sight of others, do not cause the same shame to the guilty person as an overt act would. Thus, being the more easily committed, they are the more frequent and the more deadly.

Lastly, dear friends, evil thoughts pollute the mind and heart, and in proportion as they and their darkness enter God and his brightness leave. To indulge in evil thoughts is to defile the stream at its fountain-head and poison all the river below.

Be on your guard, then, dear brethren, against this insidious enemy.

Perhaps evil thoughts against faith may assail you. Cast them out before they have time to enter fully into the mind. Many, better perhaps and holier than you, have in times past become heretics, apostates, enemies of God s church because they did not trample at once upon these beginnings of evil. You may be assaulted by imaginations against holy purity. Stifle them, I beseech you, at once, or they will grow in strength and gain in frequency till they have buried the grace of God, peace of mind, and strength
of intellect in one common and unhallowed grave. You have all doubtless heard of the avalanche which happens in regions where the mountains which rise from the great valley and tower above the nestling valleys are covered with perpetual snow. Perhaps it is a slight puff of air, or the light tread of the mountain goat, or it maybe nothing but the brushing of a bird swing that detaches the ball of snow ; but be that as it may, the particle, once started, rushes down the mountain-side, gathering strength as it hurries on, leaping from one precipice to another, till finally, having swept everything before it, the enormous heap falls upon the peaceful village and buries everything in "a chaos of indistinguishable death." Yet in the beginning that avalanche was but a ball of snow. So it is with evil thoughts against faith, chastity, charity, humility, and all the other virtues. Once let them start and you can never tell in what awful ruin they will end.

Nip evil thoughts, then, in the bud ; and as chief remedies I would say :

1. Fill your mind with good thoughts. A vessel cannot be full of two liquids at the same time. Think of heaven ; think of God, of Jesus, of Mary and her pure spouse, St. Joseph.

2. Remember the eye that sees the secrets of all hearts, and Him who saw the thoughts of the Scribes in the Gospel of today.

3. Remember that you can commit a mortal sin by thought as well as by deed.

Lastly, picture to yourself One ever standing by your side, with wounded hands and pierced heart, " whose name is faithful and true, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head many diadems ; who is clothed with a garment of blood," and who cries to you night
and day, " Why do ye think evil in your hearts ?"

Source: Five minutes sermons for Low Masses on all Sundays of the Year by the Paulist Fathers, 1886