HOW TO PRAY
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 28, 2024 at 12:00AM in Sermons
“O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”—LUKE Xviii. 13.
1. One prayed and offended God; the other prayed and was justified. Why?
2. Not that we are as bad as the Pharisee; but it would be better for us to be more like the Publican.
3. Perhaps we resent being classed with him, a sinner. 4. How did the saints pray?
How many of us at times have wondered why our Blessed Lord spoke only of two kinds of prayer, the Pharisee's and the Publican's. Where do we come in —we ordinary, everyday kind of Catholics? Surely we are scarcely as proud and presumptuous as the Pharisee, whose very prayer was turned into sin and offended God; and, on the other hand, perhaps in our own hearts, we almost resent being classed with the Publican. And yet our Lord, divine truth and wisdom, made no reference to such as we think we are --not so bad as either.
Let us not be too complacent. Our Lord describes a man who was well instructed, outwardly irreproachable, a model man as he thought himself, and yet he knew not how to pray. He mistook vainglory, boastfulness, attitudinizing, as prayer; he disdains his neighbour, he praised himself instead of the Almighty! Whereas the other, humble in the consciousness of his sinfulness and frailty, besought the mercy of God. Short was his prayer, but it was from the heart. He found mercy and was justified. It was mercy that he needed; mercy that he longed for and prayed for; and mercy that was granted him.
The Pharisee knew not how to pray, because he did not realize his need of God's mercy, but trusted in his own self-righteousness. The Publican knew his need of God's mercy, prayed for it and obtained it. According, then, to our realizing our need of mercy, our prayer will be acceptable and blessed. If we resent in our hearts being classed with sinners, needy and weak and prone to evil, we are not in the state of humility, which longs for and receives the mercy of our Father from heaven. Without prayer we cannot be saved, and there can be no genuine prayer unless we realize our need of grace and mercy. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity" (1 John i. 8, 9). They need not be glaring sins, that the world looks askance at; but whose heart has not been defiled in thought, word, or deed ? Have we never disobeyed a commandment through self-seeking, self-indulgence, or wilful negligence? Then do we not need to pray that such sins should be forgiven, and for grace lest again we relapse and forfeit God's friendship?
Our need of grace and mercy is evident, and the means to obtain every blessing is humble prayer. "By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times,” says St. Paul (Eph. vi. 18). And David teaches us to pray: "Help me, O Lord my God, save me according to Thy mercy" (Ps. cix. 26). Thou art plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee" (Ps. xxxv. 5). And God's mercy is not only to forgive, but to keep us safe and strengthen us to be faithful. In answer to prayer there is God's constant watchfulness and the care of a loving Father. Prayer makes us mindful of God's mercy and anxious to correspond to His graces, and be faithful in observance. It makes us grateful for our Father's care and solicitude. And gratitude merits a continuation of God's favours. The kindness of God is revealed to us in prayer. How does the Scripture describe the goodness of God? "Thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful: patient, and of much mercy" (Ps. lxxxv. 15). The Lord is gracious, merciful, patient, and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all; and His tender mercies are above all His works" (Ps. cxliv. 9).
It is prayer that creates this peace and trustfulness in God; that made the austerities of the saints a foretaste of the joys of heaven. They were wisely humble enough to know that they could not do without the mercy of God, and yet trustful that they could obtain it and every grace if they prayed for it. How different our prayers would be if we realized our need of the mercy of God, and how prayer would always obtain it for us, if we humbly sought it. The saints did, and constant was their earnest, humble prayer. Who are we to dare to be self-sufficient, and imagine we need not pray for forgiveness of the past? Pray to make a good beginning once again; pray to persevere, for without it we cannot hope to persevere, a day or an hour, in doing good.
Let us recall a prayer of St. Gertrude. It reads as if a poor sinner, like the Publican, had composed it; and not a great saint, who was favoured with the gift of miracles, had frequent visions of our Blessed Lord, and who was the first to introduce devotion to the Sacred Heart. This is the prayer: "O sweet mercy of God, full of tenderness and clemency, behold, in the sorrow and pressing need of my heart, I seek safety in Thy loving Will, for Thou art my whole hope and trust. Thou hast never despised one sad and sorrowful. Thou hast never rejected the vilest sinner. Thou hast never abandoned one seeking help. Thou hast never passed by one in grievous trouble without a look of mercy. The needy and poor Thou dost always assist, as a mother her child. To all invoking Thy most holy name Thy loving assistance is given. And even unworthy me, Thou wilt not cast from Thee on account of my sins and my unworthy life" (Exer. c. vii.). Let us implore our Lord to grant us the spirit of such prayer as this. We shall not then be ashamed to use the prayer of the Gospel, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." Frequently and from our heart let us say it, and we shall be justified in the sight of God." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (10th Sunday after Pentecost)
The Retribution of Sin
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 21, 2024 at 12:00AM in Sermons
Enrique Simonet
1. Our Lord's lament over Jerusalem.
2. That city the type of the fate of sinners.
3. The mistake: sinfulness not liberty but slavery.
4. This remembrance helps us to be watchful and to pray.
"It was as our Blessed Lord was riding towards Jerusalem, during His brief triumph on Palm Sunday, that He uttered these words. For the last time before His Passion He looked down upon that city which had been blessed in so many ways-the chosen city; the home of the Temple; the city that had heard so many of His divine words and warnings; that had witnessed so many of His miracles. But all to no purpose; for during the next few days that city would resound to the cries," Away with Him, crucify Him !" Our Lord wept over it as He realized that all His mercies had been of no avail, and foretold the dreadful judgment and punishment that would befall it for its rejection of its Saviour. It was all its own fault, its impenitence and hardness of heart. Alas! Jerusalem is the type of so many of God's creatures of ourselves, perchance. God gives a sinner many chances, graces innumerable; visitations of mercy; warnings to urge him to give up his evil ways. But there is an end of God's mercies, for this life is short, and remorseless death is hastening to overtake us.The last grace offered and disdained, then the allmerciful God has to abandon us, because we "have not known the time of our visitation." Words that verify this flash across our memory. And Jesus hid Himself" (John vii. 59). "You shall seek Me, and you shall not find Me " (ibid. 43). You shall seek Me, and you shall die in your sin " (ibid. 21).
It seems almost impossible that man could prove himself thus obdurate, in spite of all that the loving Saviour has done for him. But always and everywhere there have been men and women, who really and through their own fault have made themselves so guilty and impenitent as to be abandoned by their Saviour and their God. This hard and impenitent heart is the result of the power of the habit of sin, which enslaves them. When a man begins to sin and to turn from God, he thinks he will be his own master and independent. He will not brook the commandments, "Thou shalt " and" Thou shalt not." His own will is to be master. There is the fatal mistake! Free, independent, one's own master; yes, such is the lying suggestion of the devil. Whereas the truth, the inspired Word of God, teaches us most emphatically the very opposite.
Amen, amen, I say to you, that whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin " (John viii. 34), are the solemn words of our Blessed Lord Himself. And St. Peter, who, alas ! knew what sin was, says, "They themselves are the slaves of corruption, for by whom a man is overcome, of the same he is a slave " (2 Pet. ii. 19). If by sinning we become the servants, the slaves of sin, to what a state of abject slavery, indeed, must a habit of sin enthral us! Of his own power such a man is utterly unable to free himself. He has bound himself beyond release. A bad habit is like a rope. A child can snap a few slight hempen meshes of which a rope is made. But when countless strains have been twined and formed into a stout rope, the man that is bound with it is powerless. And so with our souls. Habits slight at first, that a good will and a sorrowful heart could break, by degrees form themselves into bonds that defy our efforts, and will become everlasting bonds, unless God's gracious mercy intervenes.
But why all this? We are not as bad as this; no, thank God; but we should be humble and thankful that we are not. For how many graces have the best of us disregarded! How many sins have we not committed! How many habits have begun to twine themselves round our souls, but, by God's mercy, they have been snapped by our repentances and confessions. A good man, therefore yea, a very good and devout man-should fear and watch any starting of a careless, sinful habit. He should break it at first, lest it grow too strong and enslave him. This holy fear and watchfulness will make us careful to use God's graces and the means of our salvation, and to obey the admonitions of the Church. And there is one practice that will ensure this carefulness and piety, and it is this: to pray for others. Pray for others, who are in the sad state of habitual sin, and who do not see and understand their peril. It is likely that we know someone who needs prayers. What an act of charity to rescue their soul! Let us give them of our best.
And at this very hour it is certain that there is someone near to death. Remorse, despair, agonizing his soul that he has not known the day of the visitation of God's graces. He may doubt God's goodness and the tender mercy of the Sacred Heart. If our prayers, our Mass, our Holy Communion could whisper hope to that poor soul, and bring him, writhing in the bondage of his evil habits, humbly to plead for mercy once again, he would find it was not too late! What more precious offering could we make to our heavenly Father than that of a soul redeemed by the precious Blood, snatched from the evil one, even at his last hour? Such prayers will help to save others, and secure for ourselves a holy life now, and a welcome to heaven after a merciful judgment, because we have not stood idly by and let our brethren perish." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (9th Sunday after Pentecost)
Sons of God
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 14, 2024 at 12:00AM in Sermons
Le Pater, Jacques Tissot
"Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."-ROM. 8. 14.
1. This glorious title "sons of God" fails to touch so many hearts.
2. They prefer the world, which is the enemy of God.
3. They object to being "led": fatal mistake.
4. What follows from being sons? Heirs also.
"WHAT joy and enthusiasm should be enkindled in our souls by the announcement of this truth, that St. Paul declares to us, that we are destined to be "the sons of God; and if sons, heirs also; co-heirs with Christ." But, alas! this announcement awakens no echo in the souls of so many. They are in this world; they raise their eyes to nothing beyond, but find occupation, pleasure, contentment in the fleeting joys of the present. What a misfortune to disregard the glorious destiny to which they are called, and to content themselves with the world" which passeth away." They give no heed to the warnings of the Scripture: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world" (1 John ii. 15); and that other, “The friendship of this world is the enemy of God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world becometh an enemy of God' (Jas. ii. 4).
An enemy of God! and they are called to be the sons of God. It is all-important, then, that we watch ourselves, and do not make the fatal mistake of becoming an enemy, whereas we are called to be sons. And it is easy and natural to make this mistake, deluded and misguided by self-love and self-sufficiency. Witness those of whom our Blessed Lord speaks, as claiming heaven because they have prayed and done miracles in His name: but they had been ruled by self, and not led by the Spirit of God. Therefore the gospel continues, "And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you that work iniquity" (Matt. 8. 23).
How can we explain this? Alas! in all that they had done, it had not been the Will of God they had sought to do, but their own will. They had not been "led by the Spirit of God." This is the test by which we make sure of our calling. "Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." It is the word "led" that is the stumbling-block! A man has faculties and intelligence: he determines to go by them, imagining that they are all-sufficing. He forgets their limits; of how much he is ignorant; how prone he is to evil; the insidious enemies around him. He chooses his own way.
A fatal mistake, indeed, to imagine we can choose our own way and be independent. Our own way! Blind men choosing their own way, and refusing assistance and guidance. Our own way! Forgetting that we are prone to evil; that we have deceitful enemies around us, leading us to destruction-enemies, who craftily conceal the dangers and the evils under the guise of pleasure and freedom and independence. Our own way! And yet we cannot shake ourselves free from the thraldom, for we are slaves to our sins. Such a man forfeits the grace and help of the Spirit, and is powerless of himself. For instance, some Sunday he may hear some word of our Lord in the Gospel that is a rebuke to him; he knows that he should change and repent, but no, he clings to his own opinion or to the habit he has formed. He thinks he is free and independent, yet in reality he is a slave, enthralled in his evil ways. Warnings are given; even a bad conscience can be stricken by fear of some evil that seems impending. He is powerless to change, though he dreads the consequences. Aided by the tempter, he stifles the voice of conscience, and remains a miserable slave of sin. Thus, from the practices of a good Christian life, he is led astray and, sooner or later, the tempter leads him from the Faith... Good practices he has abandoned; next some doctrine or precept of the Church annoys him, persistently rebukes him. Will he be humble enough to obey, or rebel and choose his own way and cling to his own will? Alas! he thus falls from the Faith! For what is a heretic, but a chooser, as the meaning of the word implies; and one that clings obstinately to his own opinion in defiance of the Church? He becomes one of those of whom the prophet speaks: "They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart" (Jer. vii. 24).
But how different all is, thank God, for those who lovingly yield themselves to be "led by the Spirit of God." They are “partakers of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit dwells within them, as St. Paul tells us, and securely in His strength and under His guidance they tread the path of life. Their faith, received at Baptism, strengthened within them at Confirmation, beams down upon their path of life, enlightening them day by day to fulfil their duties to God and man. Walking in the light of this divine Faith, there is no hesitancy, no doubt, no difficulties in following the road that leads to eternal life. Faith points out the way; hope sustains them in the journey, both the gift of that divine Spirit by Whom they are led. The hope that they are thus the sons of God inspires them with courage to bear their cross, to dare and do whatever the Spirit bids them. This hope bids them also remember that, if they are the sons of God, they are "heirs also, heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Let us pray, then, for the Holy Spirit to endow us with wisdom and understanding to give ourselves to be led by Him, and not by the false maxims of the world, of self, of the evil one. Pray that He may teach us to set a right value on the means to salvation; to relish the things of God; to be ever ready to follow His leading and His guidance, for then we shall be "the sons of God."
Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (8th Sunday after Pentecost)
The Promise of Salvation
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 07, 2024 at 12:00AM in Sermons
Jacques Ignatius de Roore: English: Christ giving the keys to Saint Peter
"The grace of God, life everlasting."-Roм. vi. 23.
I. The value of a promise.
2. What is this promise?
3. It has been made to us by God.
4. Can we not promise in return to merit its fulfilment ?
"A promise made to us is an attraction that enkindles hope and leads us to make endeavour. But how often have we been promised and have been disappointed! Or again, promises have been made, but the conditions have not been fulfilled, and there is no result. So a promise on which we can build our hopes, and which may urge us on to do our utmost, must be made by one whom we can trust, by one who has power to fulfil it; and it must be a promise of something well worth gaining. The greater the good that is offered, the more the promise is to be prized. And finally, the condition or the conditions imposed must be within our -power of fulfilment.
Then what is the promise that the text alludes to ? Life everlasting! We have it plain and unequivocal in Holy Writ: "And this is the promise which God hath promised us--life everlasting" (1 John ii. 25). Test this promise, and see how wholeheartedly we can trust to it. First, it is the promise of one in whom we may confide--the God of Truth. Again, it is the promise of one who has the power to fulfil it -- the Almighty. And it is a promise of infinite value, that will last for all eternity, without fail or change-life everlasting, which is the blessed vision of God and the participation in His glory and beatitude.
And how is this promise to be fulfilled? By our divine Saviour, Jesus Christ. Witness the inspired words of God in the Scriptures: "According to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. i. 1); and again, "God according to His promise hath raised up to Israel a Saviour, Jesus" (Acts xiii. 23). "For all the promises of God are in Him" (2 Cor. i. 20).
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, became Man and lived amongst us, showed us by example and taught us the way of salvation; He redeemed us by His sacred Passion and Death; He instituted His Church to be our guide and our safeguard, and made it infallible and imperishable by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. He instituted the Sacraments, and specially the Holy Eucharist, through which we might receive grace and nourishment and strength. All this to prove to us that the promise was efficacious and alive with power. Moreover, that the promise might always be before our minds, illuminating, filling them with hope, inflaming our souls to venture all, to do their utmost, His divine Presence dwells amongst us. In every church He has made His abode to dwell amidst the children of men.
All this is held out to us, and given to us by the promise of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Can it be that this gracious and glorious promise has really been made to us? Look around: does mankind seem to believe it and understand it? That life everlasting is promised, is guaranteed to them? Is it their one thought, engrossing all their attention, inspiring their actions, their zeal ? If life everlasting is promised us, can it be possible that the desire of money, position, comfort, or anything in this fleeting world can occupy our attention, can preoccupy our thoughts so entirely that we utterly disregard and forget this promise of Almighty God?
Perhaps the condition to be fulfilled to gain the reward of the promise is entirely beyond our powers and our hopes. Can we believe for a moment that the just and faithful God would treat us so? No; according to His promise He has raised up a Saviour; so it is through Him, our Saviour Himself, that we can surely fulfil the conditions to make the promise effective. He is ready and longing to give us both the will and the power to do His blessed Will; for that is the condition--we must obey Him and do His holy Will, then there is eternal life for our reward. The Church prays: "O Almighty and eternal God, grant us an increase of faith, hope, and charity, and that we may deserve to obtain what Thou promisest, make us love what Thou commandest." It is because we have not the faith or hope in our hearts to cling to His promise that we have not the love to venture all in striving to gain "life everlasting."
God has promised us so much; cannot we find in our hearts to promise Him in return our obedience, our loyalty, our love? Let us not be smitten by the glamour of the vain promises of the world, so as to give our time, our activity, our souls to seek to gain them. Rather with the faith of St. Peter, let us cry out: "Lord, Thou hast the words of life - to whom shall we go?" Aye, indeed, to whom shall we go, when we feel that this short life is drawing to a close, when death is drawing nigh? What promises will avail us then, except the one divine promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord? Everything will slip from our grasp then; we shall have to leave and part from all. What consolation will it then be, that we have trusted in the promise of God -the faithful God - Who will give us life everlasting through His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!" Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (7th Sunday after Pentecost)
