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Moreover, to seal us unto the Faith, and to strengthen us to act up to it, we are taught in the holy Gospel that Christ instituted the Seven Sacraments, by which grace is given to our souls. This power they have from their divine institution by Christ, the merits of Whose precious Blood is applied by them to the souls of men. The first is Baptism, which cleanses us from original sin, makes us Christians, children of God, and members of His Church. We receive the Holy Ghost in Confirmation to make us strong and perfect Christians. In the Holy Eucharist, which is not only a Sacrament in which we receive the true Body and Blood of Christ, but a Sacrifice also, the Holy Mass, which is one and the same Sacrifice with that of the Cross.

The holy Gospel also hands down those blessed words of the Saviour: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them" (John xx. 22). How faith makes poor sinners cling in hope to this Sacrament of Penance. The sick and the dying are not forgotten in the list of Sacraments. The continuation of priests and bishops for the ministry is safeguarded by the Sacrament of Holy Orders; and family life is blessed and ennobled by the Sacrament of Matrimony.

Faith does not leave us lonely and unprotected in our daily life. How we should wander and lose our way, and be seduced by vain pleasures and pursuits on all sides, if our Faith let us forget God! But in the Gospel we are taught the duty of prayer-to raise up our minds and hearts to God. Our Blessed Lord Himself taught us how to pray! To lift up our souls to our Father in heaven; to do Him honour by our good lives; to long for His Kingdom to come; to know that perfection is in doing His holy Will; to turn to Him for strength for soul and body; to be forgiving to others, as we pray Him to be forgiving to us. Oh ! blessed prayer that thus directs our hearts and souls to God each day of life. Pray always," says the Gospel; and our Blessed Lord gave us the example, praying for us on the mountain side the long night through. And we need not fear that our poor prayers will be of no avail, for we pray "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Remember His promises," If you shall ask Me anything in My name, that I will do" (John xiv. 14). "If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him" (Matt. vii. II). Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you" (ibid. 7). The Gospel repeatedly assures us of blessed answers to our prayers.

And most glorious too in the Gospel is that blessed assurance of eternal reward, if we keep steadfast to the Church, led on by our holy Faith. After the Last Supper, our Lord prayed thus: "Father, I will that where I am, they also, whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me: that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me" (John xvii. 24). But speaking as the Judge our divine Lord and King speaks thus: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the Kingdom prepared for you" (Matt. xxv. 34). Oh! how often have we prayed "Thy Kingdom come!" And thus our faith will be crowned in that eternal Kingdom of God.

Thus is our faith taught by the holy Gospel. Can it be that men, who once have been thus blessed with the sacred gift of faith, should fall away? It is, alas! too true. And for what have they abandoned their faith? That will be the remorse of it all throughout eternity. For what have they bartered their soul, their immortal soul, the soul that by faith was the child of God - the soul that had been redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ ?

But many amongst us think but far too little of this gift of faith. There is something else that they prize still more. What can it be but something perishable, for this world passeth away, but faith leads to immortal glory. We then must treasure our faith, the blessed gift of God. We must know it thoroughly, follow its guidance, be loyal to it, and profess it openly. The Gospel and the Faith "you have received, wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you hold fast." Remember, eternal life depends on that "if you hold fast."

Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr.  Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (11th Sunday after Pentecost)

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)

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.

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)

Others, again, from afar off, are children of bad parents, who have not been taught the practice of their religion; who have had no good example at home shown them: the leakage of the Church, who are swept along in the torrent of godlessness, sinfulness, and riotousness of the wicked world.

Others, again, who have fallen away. Once they were innocent children of God, but neglect and carelessness crept in; they wearied of the restriction of a good life; and at last they left their Father's house, and they were seen no more at Mass or the Sacraments. Many, thank God, have not wandered thus far from God; but how few of us have not fallen away to some degree! How few of us can say that we are as good and earnest as once we were as good as we should be!

The danger of wandering far off, or a little way off, from keeping close to our Lord, and listening to Him, and obeying Him, is this. Whatever the distance may be, it is far enough, and too far, for us to find our way back of ourselves. Many think that they can return to the good life of their early days when they choose, and so put God off. But this is a sad mistake. They cannot of themselves, but only if God in His mercy draws them.

What gratitude should be ours to remember that Christ's mercy and compassion are always seeking to attract us. Patiently and in many most varied ways He is seeking us out and drawing us to Himself. But it is all His merciful doing, and not our own doing. You will say, The prodigal son found his way back to his father, so why cannot I when I make up my mind?

Yes, the prodigal, happily for himself, did return, and was lovingly received by his father. But what prompted him? What gave him the impulse and the resolution "to arise and go to his father"? What sustained him on the long, hungry journey, and enabled him to face the shame of it, to be "a hired. servant" as he expected, where once he was a son? It was the memory, the sweet memory, of his loving, patient father! The poor boy never dreamed that his father, with yearning eyes, was looking for him time after time; he never dreamed of such an affectionate welcome; he only expected to be fed, to be under a roof, to be safe.

When our Blessed Lord was describing that loving father He was portraying Himself. For how many souls from afar off is the Redeemer looking this day! For some He has been waiting for years. The danger is, the longer we are away, the greater chance of forgetting the memory of our Father, of forgetting the compassion of the Sacred Heart of our Lord. If we forget His mercy, where is the power that can draw us back? If we are only beginning to slip away from fervour, let us be afraid; and pray that a loving memory of that compassion may ever live in our hearts.

Realize that kindness of Christ, and we should trust in Him more and more. See what He did, as recorded in the Gospel. He worked a miracle for those who had come from afar off, lest they should faint on the way. They had followed and listened to Him, and in return, in compassion, He worked the miracle. And for us as well, if we only come humbly back, He works the miracle of miracles, and nourishes us with the Bread from heaven, lest we should faint on the journey through life. How sad when our Blessed Lord is thus longing for us, and is prepared to receive us and strengthen us, that so many are kept back from entering again into His holy service, from attendance at Mass, from frequenting Holy Communion, by false shame and through human respect, for fear of what some carping neighbour may say! Oh, may the good God so strengthen us with the memory of His compassion, the confidence in His mercy, that we may arise, determined never to be far from Him again; but rather to cling to Him, cherishing His words, doing His holy Will, faithful to the end!" Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr.  Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (6th Sunday after Pentecost)

"Teach all nations" was the command of Christ, and therefore His Church was endowed with divinely revealed doctrine. And in this regard St. Paul speaks to us with no uncertain voice. "For I give you to understand, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor did I learn it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. i. II, 12). Your memory instantly recalls the great truths of religion, with the express testimony of the Apostle regarding them, and how one after the other have been impugned, explained away, or denied, not only by the godless world --the enemy of God—but by those who profess to be Christians, and to believe in the Holy Scriptures.

Take the doctrine of the Resurrection. "For I delivered to you first of all, which I also received, how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day" (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4). Doubting, denying this is common in these days; and disbelief in it is so condoned that it does not disqualify from the highest positions in the Church in the land! Should not such men remember and fear these words of St. Paul: "If Christ be not risen from the dead, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins" (ibid. 17)?

And that sweet and blessed doctrine of our Faiththe divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Alas, how often denied and blasphemed by various sects in the face of such evidence as this! "I speak as to wise men; judge ye yourselves what I say. The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? And the Bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the Body of the Lord ?" (1 Cor. x. 15, 16).

These words, which you know so well, let them not weary you, but glory in them as the great doctrines of our Faith. We hear on all sides that religion is old-fashioned and out of date. Doctrines must be changed, so as to embrace all the variations of modern thought. And do such people think they are something new, something original ? Be not led away with various and strange doctrines," says St. Paul (Heb. xiii. 9). And St. Peter says (2 Peter iii. 3): "In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers." Can the eternal truth be out of date? "From eternity to eternity Thou art God . . . for a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday which is past" (Ps. lxxxix. 2, 4).

For ourselves how grateful we should be to God for the Faith which He has bestowed upon us--its authority and its doctrines. Let us pray to those glorious Apostles - who typify this authority and doctrine - to strengthen our faith, that we may live up to it, peacefully yet manfully, humble yet glorifying God by our obedient and holy lives." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr.  Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (Saint Peter and Paul)

 First: "You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill . . . but I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment . . . be reconciled to thy brother " (Matt. v. 21). Alas! how often is this doctrine disobeyed and disregarded by the world.

 Secondly: "Of old it was said: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart" (ibid. 28). Not actions alone, but thoughts and desires denounced as guilty before the eyes of God.

 Thirdly: "But I say to you, that whosoever putteth away his wife and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery" (ibid. 32). With these words of the Son of God before them, how dare the iniquitous laws of divorce be passed, to make sin easy and to be thought of no account?

 Fourthly: not only perjury forbidden, "But I say to you not to swear at all . . . but let your speech be yea, yea; no, no; and that which is over and above these is evil" (ibid. 34, 37).

Fifthly: the law of retaliation is condemned--" an eye for an eye," and instead, this neighbourly spirit insisted on: "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away (ibid. 42).

And the last word: Instead of "love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy," the Son of God inculcates that doctrine of love and perfection: "But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to them that hate you; pray for them that persecute and calumniate you; that you may be the children of your Father Who is in heaven" (ibid. 43-45.)

How sad it is to look around us and behold the world ignoring these emphatic words of Christ; at variance with them; yea, acting in defiance of some of them. Christian states passing laws about divorce, utterly abrogating the law of Christ, as if the divine Lawgiver were a God of yesterday and not of today. What answer at the judgment day will be found for having gainsaid the words of Christ? Have they forgotten that He said, "My words shall not pass away" (Luke xxi. 33; Mark xiii. 31)?

And do Catholics, even those who think that they are fairly good Catholics, take all these words to heart and keep them as religiously as they should? Are they as careful about being angry and unforgiving as He commands? Lustful thoughts, swearing -are they avoided with that holy fear that they should be? Have they learned and do they practice, "Give to him that asketh" and "Love your enemies and pray for them that calumniate you"? And if not, are they Christ's disciples? for He says, "If you continue in My word, you shall be My disciples indeed" (John viii. 31). "And if any one love Me, he will keep My word " (John xiv. 23).

Do we "thrust out from the land" when we pray? And have we Jesus Christ in the vessel of our heart when we make the launch? Our prayers, to be good for anything, should have four characteristics: they should be recollected, detached, definite, and persevering.

1. Before we begin to pray, we must place ourselves in God's presence. We must collect all the powers of our minds and hearts, and set them on the one supreme object. The Memory must be called away from every-day affairs, and used to furnish food for our meditation; the Understanding summoned from its ordinary musings on worldly things, to reason and reflect on what we pray for, and Whom we pray to; the Will steadily fixed on God--striving to conform itself to the divine will, producing affections and forming resolutions suitable to our present needs.

2. Without detachment there can be no recollection. We must thrust out from the land." And how can we do this if the vessel of our soul is moored to the shore by a thousand and one little cords of earthly desire, and worry and care, and anxiety and passion? All these cords must be cut away, and we must "launch out into the deep," if we would pray aright and have God's blessing in ourselves.

3. Let us have a clear, definite idea of what we are going to pray for. Vague, meaningless generalities are out of place in such a serious business. Let us make up our minds beforehand about what we want, and then pray for that. It will not profit us much to ask for all the Cardinal Virtues and allthe Gifts of the Holy Ghost at one time. It will be quite sufficient, and decidedly more profitable, to single out some one virtue of which we stand in special need, and make that the particular burden of our prayers and thoughts and efforts for weeks, and months and years, if necessary, until we gain it.