CAPG's Blog 

"There are many Christians who do not even know why they are in the world.

"Oh my God, why hast Thou sent me into the world?" "To save your soul. " "And why dost Thou wish me to be saved?" "Because I love you. "

The good God has created us and sent us into the world because He loves us; He wishes to save us because He loves us.

To be saved, we must know, love and serve God. Oh, what a beautiful life! How good, how great a thing it is to know, to love and serve God! We have nothing else to do in this world. All that we do besides is lost time. We must act only for God, and put our works into His hands. We should say, on awaking, "I desire to do everything today for Thee, O my God! I will submit to all that Thou shalt send me, as coming from Thee. I offer myself as a sacrifice to Thee But, O God, I can do nothing without Thee. Do Thou help me!"

Oh, how bitterly shall we regret at the hour of death the time we have given to pleasures, to useless conversations, to repose, instead of having employed it in mortification, in prayer, in good works, in thinking of our poor misery, in weeping over our poor sins; then we shall see that we have done nothing for Heaven. Oh, my children, how sad it is! Three-quarters of those who are Christians labor for nothing but to satisfy this body, which will soon be buried and corrupted, while they do not give a thought to their poor soul, which must be happy or miserable for all eternity. They have neither sense nor reason: it makes one tremble.

Look at that man, who is so active and restless, who makes a noise in the world, who wants to govern everybody, who thinks himself of consequence, who seems as if he would like to say to the sun, "Go away, and let me enlighten the world instead of you." Some day this proud man will be reduced at the utmost to a little handful of dust, which will be swept away from river to river, from Saone* to Saone, and at last into the sea.(*French river)

See my children, I often think that we are like those little heaps of sand that the wind raises on the road, which whirl round for a moment, and are scattered directly. . . . We have brothers and sisters who are dead. Well, they are reduced to that little handful of dust of which I was speaking. Worldly people say, it is too difficult to save one's soul. Yet nothing is easier. To observe the Commandments of God and the Church, and to avoid the seven capital sins; or if you like to put it so, to do good and avoid evil: that is all. Good Christians, who labor to save their souls and to work out their salvation, are always happy and contented; they enjoy beforehand the happiness of Heaven: they will be happy for all eternity. While bad Christians, who lose their souls, are always to be pitied; they murmur, they are sad, they are as miserable as stones; and they will be so for all eternity. See what a difference!

This is a good rule of conduct, to do nothing but what we can offer to the good God. Now, we cannot offer to Him slanders, calumnies, injustice, anger, blasphemy, impurity, theaters, dancing; yet that is all that people do in the world. Speaking of dances, St. Francis of Sales used to say that "they were like mushrooms, the best were good for nothing. " Mothers are apt to say indeed, "Oh, I watch over my daughters." They watch over their attire, but they cannot watch over their hearts. Those who have dances in their houses load themselves with a terrible responsibility before God; they are answerable for all the evil that is done - for the bad thoughts, the slanders, the jealousies, the hatred, the revenge. . . . Ah, if they well understood this responsibility they would never have any dances. Just like those who make bad pictures and statues, or write bad books, they will have to answer for all the harm that these things will do during all the time they last. . . . Oh that makes one tremble!

See, my children, we must reflect that we have a soul to save, and an eternity that awaits us. The world, its riches, pleasures, and honors will pass away. Let us take care, then. The saints did not all begin well; but they all ended well. We have begun badly; let us end well, and we shall go one day and meet them in Heaven"

Source: The Blessed Curé of Ars in His Catechetical Instructions  (1951) 

He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” — Apostles’ Creed.

The only Son of God was made man, and became like unto us in all things, sin alone excepted. He died on the cross for the salvation of the world. His body was placed in a tomb; His soul descended into Limbo to deliver the holy souls who were waiting there until the blood of our Savior should wash away and blot out the sins of the world; which was necessary before they could enter into glory. The third day after the painful and cruel torments of the cross, Christ came forth gloriously from the grave, as He had foretold. Behold, my Brethren, what I explained to you in my last instruction.

Now, let us turn our attention to the sixth article of our creed, an article which will make the subject of this day’s instruction. Christ rises from the dead, ascends into heaven, and seats himself at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. Listen, my Brethren, , to the account which the Evangelist St. Luke furnishes us, concerning the wonderful Ascension of our Savior, Jesus Christ, into heaven. After His resurrection, our divine Redeemer remained during forty days on earth, showing himself frequently to His Apostles and disciples, instructing them in many very important things; such as the establishment of His Church, the propagation of the Gospel, all that regarded the reign of God in the hearts of men, and every thing calculated to bring souls to the happiness of heaven. At last, when all the Apostles and disciples were assembled at Jerusalem, Jesus appears to them for the last time. He takes a seat at their table, eats and drinks with them. During the repast, He reproaches them, but with great benignity, for their want of faith in His resurrection, of which He had now come to give them still another evident and palpable proof; He imposes upon them the mission of preaching His word to every creature, and commands them to travel the whole world, propagating His religion and spreading His divine doctrine among all nations. To inspire them with courage and penetrate their hearts with a generous confidence, He bestows upon them the divine power of working miracles, thus to give greater force to the truths which they were to announce, and which the world, converted at the sight of these prodigies of the omnipotence of God, might embrace and practice.

Our divine Lord then rises, and, followed by His Apostles and disciples, goes out from the city, and proceeds to the mount of Olives. There His agony had commenced; thence too, will He take His flight into glory. He gives His Apostles and disciples the most consoling assurance that He would never cease to protect them; recommends them to remain at Jerusalem, until they should receive the Holy Ghost, the Comforter whom He had promised to send them; He speaks to them with all the tenderness of a father addressing his children, whom he is about to leave; raises His hand, blesses them, recommends them to the favor and protection of His heavenly Father; and then, full of glory and majesty, elevates himself in the air, and mounts gradually toward heaven. For some time the Apostles gaze on the form of their departing Master; but at length, the clouds of heaven conceal Him from their view. Jesus continues His ascent into heaven, seats himself at the right of hand of the Almighty Father, to whom He is perfectly equal, and is from whom He receives, as man, the first place in heaven, above every creature.

Jesus ascends into heaven; He goes to take possession of the glory which was due to Him. He had come down from the bosom of His Father, to take, on earth, the form of a slave, to live in poverty and disgrace,— to die in torments, to pour out His blood on the cross for the redemption of the human race. All has been consummated, the mission of the Man-God has been accomplished, and behold, “from the height of the cross, He shall draw all unto Him. The Son of man has crushed the serpents head; sin has been blotted out; the empire of the devil annihilated; error cheeked and light diffused; and the God of heaven and earth shall be adored in spirit and in truth. Yes, Jesus hath glorified His Father among men, it was just that He should receive from His Father infinite glory in the eternal mansions. But before quitting the earth, He said to us: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.” (St John, xiv : 1, 2, 3.)

Christ ascended into heaven, to prepare a place for us there; He himself has said: “Where I am, you also may be.” A day will come, when it will he permitted us to participate in the glory of our divine Savior. It will be so if we place ourselves among the number of the true servants of Jesus Christ; if we preserve in our hearts and manifest in our conduct, the holy commandments which He has given us; if, in fine, we endeavor to render ourselves like to Jesus Christ, our Savior and our model, “A faithful saying,” says St. Paul to Timothy; “if we be dead with Christ, we shall live also with Him. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us.” (2 Timothy, ii : 1, 2.) Where Christ is, there also must His servants be.

O! divine Jesus, let me dwell with Thee in eternity, in the tabernacles of Thy Father! But, O my Savior, I am so weak, and I fall into so many sins! Must not the splendor of Thy glory over- whelm the unhappy sinner, who would dare aspire to the happiness of heaven? This fear would fill my soul with desolation, did I not know that Thou hast ascended into heaven to be our advocate and mediator with Thy Father. “My little children,” writes St. John to the first Christians; “these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just. And He is the propitiation for our sins.”(Epistle of St. John, ii : 1, 9.) Yes, my Brethren, Jesus Christ is our advocate in heaven; He who destroyed sin, is our Mediator with God; He is there under the eyes of His Father, as a constant victim and perpetual sacrifice for our sins. Should not this saving truth fill our souls with sweet and consoling hope! Jesus intercedes for us! God the Father did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him up for us, and how, after having bestowed upon us this gift, can He refuse us any thing which this divine Savior asks for us? Oh! we have an advocate whose influence over the heart of God is infinite, we can, therefore, reach heaven.

My Brethren, heaven is our country, and it is there only we can find happiness. We are only passengers on earth, and we see here only empty baubles, vanities, deceptions and sufferings. Let us not allow our hearts to be foolishly attached to the things of this world; let us remember that we live not for time, but for eternity. Let us seek the things that are in heaven, where Jesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; let us taste the things that are of heaven, and not the things of earth. When Jesus Christ shall appear. He who is our life, we too shall appear with Him in glory, if we walk in His footsteps, follow the example He has given us, obey the roles and precepts which He has imposed upon us, and love God and our neighbor as He has commanded. We shall reap in eternity what we have sown in time. Let us, therefore, keep our hearts raised up to heaven; let us have God always before our eyes, let us glorify Him, by advancing in the practice of good works, and then as vigilant and faithful servants, we shall deserve to ascend to the mansions of our divine Master. — Amen.

Source:  One hundred short sermons, The Most Rev. Martin John Spalding Archbishop of Baltimore

"Our catechism teaches us that avarice is an inordinate love of the goods of this world.
 
Yes, my children, it is an ill-regulated love, a fatal love, which makes us forget the good God, prayer, the Sacraments, that we may love the goods of this world - gold and silver and lands. The avaricious man is like a pig, which seeks its food in the mud, without caring where it comes from. Stooping towards the earth, he thinks of nothing but the earth; he no longer looks towards heaven, his happiness is no longer there. The avaricious man does no good til after his death. See how greedily he gathers up wealth, how anxiously he keeps it, how afflicted he is if he loses it. In the midst of lying on a heap of corn, he is dying of hunger; he has everything, my children, and dares not touch anything; his gold is a sacred thing to him, he makes it his divinity, he adores it...

O my children! how many there are in theses days who are idolaters! How many there are who think more of making a fortune than of serving the good God! They steal, they defraud, they go to law with their neighbor; they do not even respect the laws of God. They work on Sundays and Holy Days: nothing comes amiss to their greedy and rapacious hands...

Good Christians, my children, do not think of their body, which must end in corruption; they think only of their soul, which is immortal. While they are on the earth, they occupy themselves with their soul alone. So you see how assiduous they are at the Offices of the Church, with what fervor they pray before the good God, how they sanctify the Sunday, how collected they are at holy Mass, how happy they are! The days, the months, the years are nothing to them; they pass them in loving the good God, with their eyes fixed on their eternity....

Seeing us so indifferent to our salvation, and so occupied in gathering up a little mud, would not any one say that we were never to die?

Indeed, my children, we are like people who, during the summer, should make an ample provision of gourds, of melons, for a long journey; after the winter, what would remain of it? - nothing.

In the same way, my children, what remains to the avaricious man of all his wealth when death comes upon him unawares? A poor covering, a few planks, and the despair of not being able to carry his gold always with him. Misers generally die in this sort of despair, and pay eternally to the devil for their insatiable thirst of riches.

Misers, my children, are sometimes punished even in this world.

Once St. Hilarion, followed by a great number of his disciples, going to visit the monasteries under his rule, came to the abode of an avaricious solitary. On their approach, they found watchers in all parts of the vineyard, who threw stones and clods of earth at them to prevent their touching the grapes. This miser was well punished, for he gathered that year much fewer grapes than usual, and his wine turned into vinegar.

Another solitary, named Sabbas, begged him, on the contrary, to come into his vineyard and eat the fruit. St. Hilarion blessed it, and sent into it his religious, to the number of three thousand, who all satisfied their hunger; and twenty days after, the vineyard yielded there hundred measures of wine, instead of the usual quantity of ten.

Let us follow the example of Sabbas, and be disinterested; the good God will bless us, and after having blessed us in this world, He will also reward us in the other.

Source: The Spirit of the Cure d'Ars by Abbe Monnin, p 236, 1865

"Pride is that accursed sin which drove the angels out of paradise, and hurled them into hell. This sin began with the world.

See, my children, we sin by pride in many ways. A person may be proud in his clothes, in his language, in his gestures, even in his manner of walking. Some persons, when they are in the streets, walk along proudly, and seem to say to the people they meet, "Look how tall, how upright I am, how well I walk!" ... Others, when they have done any good action, are never tired of talking of it; and if they fail in any thing, they are miserable, because they think people will have a bad opinion of them; ... Others are sorry to be seen with the poor, if they meet with anybody of consequence; they are always seeking the company of the rich;... if, by chance, they are noticed by the great people of the world, they boast and are vain of it. Others take pride in speaking. If they got to see rich people, they consider what they are going to say, they study fine language; and if they make a mistake of a word, they are very much vexed, because they are afraid of being laughed at. But, my children, with a humble person it is not so ... whether he is laughed at or esteemed, or praised or blamed, whether he is honored or despised, whether people pay attention to him or pass him by, it is all the same to him.
My children, there are again people who give great alms, that they may be well thought of - that will not do! These people will reap no fruit from their good works. On the contrary, their alms will turn into sins.

We put pride into every thing, like salt. We like to see that our good works are known. If our virtues are seen, we are pleased; if our faults are perceived, we are sad. I remark that in a great many people; if one says any thing to them, it disturbs them, it annoys them. The saints were not like that - they were vexed if their virtues were known, and pleased that their imperfections should be seen.

A proud person thinks everything he does is well done; he wants to domineer over all those who have to do with him; he is always right, he always thinks his own opinion better than that of others; ... that will not do! A humble and well-taught person, if he is asked his opinion, gives it at once, and then lets others speak. Whether they are right or whether they are wrong, he says nothing more.

When St. Aloysius Gonzaga was a student, he never sought to excuse himself when he was reproached with anything; he said what the thought, and troubled himself no further about what others might think: if he was wrong; he was wrong; if he was right, he said to himself, "I have certainly been wrong some other time."

My children, the saints were so completely dead to themselves, that they cared very little whether others agreed with them. People in the world say, "Oh, the saints were simpletons!" Yes, they were simpletons in worldly things; but in the things of God they were very wise. They understood nothing about worldly matters, to be sure, because they thought them of so little importance that they paid no attention to them."

Source: The Spirit of the Cure d'Ars, by Abbe Monnin. p. 98, 1865

The Holy Eucharist, inasmuch as it is a Sacrifice, is called the Mass.
The Mass was instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, simultaneously with the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The table of the Supper-room was the fist altar on which the Saviour celebrated the first Mass and distributed the first Communion: it was there that He elevated His Apostles to the dignity of priests of the new Law, saying to them: Do this for a commemoration of me; that is to say, celebrate as I have done the holy sacrifice of the Mass in memory of my Passion. The Mass has three principal parts: the Offertory, the Consecration and the Communion.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is substantially the same as that of Calvary, but differs from it as regards the manner of its immolation
1. It is the same in substance, since there is the same Victim and same principal Priest: Jesus Christ, the priest visible on Calvary, invisible and hidden in the minister at the altar; Jesus Christ, the victim visible on Calvary, invisible and veiled under the Sacrament of the Altar.
2. It differs from it as regards the manner of immolation: for (1) on Calvary Jesus Christ was immolated in a bloody manner; on the altar in an unbloody and mystical manner by the separation of the two species which, being consecrated separately, represent the blood of Jesus shed and separated from His body.  In the Mass, Jesus Christ is in the eyes of His Father what He was on the Cross; His wounds and His blood cry for mercy. (2) On the Cross Jesus Christ offered Himself without the ministry of any other priest; on the altar He offers Himself as the principal Priest, but by the ministry of a secondary priest. (3) On the Cross He immolated Himself visibly; on the altar invisibly under the appearances of bread and wine. (4) The Sacrifice of the Cross was offered as the price of our redemption; that of the altar as the means of applying to us that redemption. (5) The Sacrifice of the Cross was offered but once; the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered every day, and shall continue even to the consummation, to the end of time.

What would not have been our happiness, my brethren, if, knowing Jesus Christ as we now know Him, we should have been with the Blessed Virgin, when the Saviour immolated Himself on the cross for the salvation of the world! And this is our happiness every time we devoutly assist at the Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us, therefore, redouble our fervor and devotion at its principal parts, especially at the Elevation; then, with the eyes of faith, let us behold Jesus Christ raised on the cross and spilling His blood in love for us.

Short sermons for the low masses of Sunday, compromising in four series : a methodical exposition of Christian doctrine, Fr. Francois Xavier Schouppe

And some seed fell upon a rock. St. Luke VIII. 6

"The sentence which forms the test is sometimes translated "and some fell upon stony ground" that is to say, the good seed scattered by the sower fell in a place that was hard and rocky. The sower in the parable is Jesus Christ, the seed is the word of God. The great Chief Sower, dear friends, as gone away but the good seed, the word of God, the doctrines of holy Church, her precepts, her laws, the rules of morality the standard by which we can tell good deeds from sin - all this good seed is still sown by God's priests, by the divinely appointed and ordained ministers of the word of God. Chiefly this sowing is done in the confessional and in the pulpit. In the confessional the sower scatters the good seed into each heart individually; in the pulpit the seed is scattered over the multitude gathered together. It seems a hard thing to say, but alas! in these days the word of God, the good seed, falls for the most part upon stony ground. The priest exhorts, entreats, persuades, threatens, tells of God's justice, speaks of his mercy, holds up the joys of heaven as a reward, points to the abyss of hell as a punishment; and it all falls upon stony ground. It falls upon the high crags of inaccessible rocks, upon the heard of the hardened sinner, upon the stony, adamantine hearts of those who have given up even the thought of repentance. It falls upon you, wretched man, who come to Mass for the sake of appearances every Sunday; upon you who drag a dead, corpse-like, blackened, devil-marked soul here before the altar of God every Sunday morning, without ever thinking of taking that soul to one of those confessionals which stare you in the face. Yes, the good seed falls upon you, and it falls upon a rock waiting to be calcined by the fires of hell.

The word of God falls upon the pavement, hard and stony as it is. It falls upon the hearts of frivolous, giddy, conceited girls. It falls upon the hearts of blaspheming, drinking, impure young men. It falls upon the hearts of men of business whose only aim is wealth, and of the women who are votaries of fashion; for what are their hearts of all such but a pavement, a thoroughfare, along which pass every evil beast, every low, degrading passion, and every unholy desire? O you girls and young men of this city and this day! You men and women of the world! You who come and hear the sermon, and afterwards go away with a simper on your powdered faces and a sneer upon your lips! You young ladies and young gentlemen " of the period" - to you I say, your hearts are stony ground. The good seed can never grow upon it. Nothing can flourish there but thorns and briers, whose end is to be burnt. O dear brethren, young and old, rich and poor! Tear up the paving-stones, shiver to atoms your pride, your love of the world and its vanities; and when you hear the word of God, when the good seed is scattered, let your heart be not stony, but soft and moist to receive it.

There are others whose hearts are like the pebbly beach. The seed falls there, and then the sea of their pride comes and washes it all away. They know what is said from the pulpit is true, they know the advice in the confessional is good, but they are too proud to change their lives, too proud to own that the priest knows better than they do. They say: why should the church interfere between my wife and me, or between my children and myself? Why should the head of the family be ruled by the clergy and the like? On such as these the word falls, but it falls on stony ground. To all of you, then, the Gospel says this morning, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Open your ears and soften your hearts. Sermons are not for you to criticize; they are for you to profit by, for you to form your lives upon. The words of the priest are the words of God. The seed that he sows is the good seed. Woe to you if your hearts are stony ground! There is a rank growth which is called stone-crop, which clings to walls and stones; there is a week -like, yellow grass that sprouts upon neglected house-tops. What do men do with such plants? They cast them forth into the smouldering weed-fire. And so will God cast into the fire that is never quenched those who receive the word of God on stony ground."

Source: Five minute sermons for Low Mass of the year by the Paulist Fathers, 1886

St. Luke, ii. 21.

“ His name was called Jesus, which was called by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb.”

It is not uncommon, nor I think unwise, my brethren, for those who undertake what seems beyond their strength, to shelter themselves under the protection of some great name, by the authority of which they may ensure success. It was thus that, a few centuries ago, in times of turbulence and oppression, the feeble would put on the cognizance of some powerful lord, as whose vassal they would not fear to repel the attempts of an unjust and stronger aggressor. It is thus that, even at the present day, the obscure scholar hopes to win some more partial favor, if he can prefix to his labors the name of any one, whose reputation and acknowledged merit may give consideration to his humble efforts. Now, by the blessing of God, as I think, it has this day befallen me to open our annual course of instructions, in the full consciousness of inability and unworthiness, but under the sanction of that Name, besides which there is none other on earth given to men whereby they may be saved. For you are not ignorant, brethren, that on this day the Holy Catholic Church commemorates the blessed and adorable Name of Jesus. Amidst the joyful festivals of our Lord’s Nativity, the mysteries of this holy Name could not be forgotten. But so many and so various have been our motives for joy, that we scarcely have had time, during their celebration, to pause upon this. Even on the first day of the year, on occasion of our Lord’s Circumcision, there were too many other mysteries of faith and love, to allow the mind’s dwelling as it should upon the tender glories of the Name then given. Worthily, then, has there been allotted to it its own proper festival ; for it is a Name to us full of delightful suggestions, — one that will amply repay the devout meditations of our hearts.

But on this occasion it presents itself in connection with the circumstances under which you are addressed. It is impossible to overlook the consideration that we are here assembled in the Name of this our Lord : and that for a purpose which can have no virtue if performed not in His Name. In this Name I summon you to hear the word of God ; under this I mean to seek protection and virtue for my feeble efforts. Of old, when this city (Rome) was the abode of every evil passion, they who called themselves clients of patrons, wicked as themselves, would, under the sanction of their name, run into every excess of violence and injustice, and foul the name, which they affected to honor, with reproach and public infamy. But we, blessed be God, have chosen for the name to be invoked upon us, one which can only be the symbol of peace, and charity, and joy. They who reverence that Name must reverence His laws who bore it ; they who love it, must love the boundless treasures of benevolence, mercy, and charity, which it records.

Let us, then, prepare our hearts this day for the receiving of His law when declared to us, and for the practice of His commandments ; by considering the force they must derive from the holy Name that sanctions them, — a name of mighty power with Him who proclaims it, a name of boundless sweetness to those that learn it. When God had decreed to achieve the wonderful deliverance of His people from the Egyptian yoke, the first step which He chose towards its accomplishment, was revealing to them a name, whereby they should know Him, and worship Him as their deliverer. Moses, in fact, asked Him by what name he should declare Him to the people of Israel, when he communicated to them his commission. Then, “ God said to Moses, I am who am. . . . This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Exod. iii. 14.) And afterwards He reappeared to the holy law-giver, and said to him, “ I am the Lord, that appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty ; and my name Adonai” (or Jehovah) “ I did not show them.” (vi. 3.)

God then began His first work of deliverance by the assumption of a new name, unknown to those who had not witnessed His salvation. And that Name was a name of power. It is a name of terrible power. Not by it were the blind made to see, but darkness such as might be felt with the hand, was brought over the entire land of Egypt. Not by it were the lepers cleansed, but foul ulcers and sores were brought to defile and disfigure the bodies of its inhabitants. Not by it were the sons of widows and the friends of the poor restored to life, but all the first- born of Egypt, from the heir of Pharaoh who sat with his father on his throne, to the eldest son of his meanest subject, were struck in one night with death. Such was the power of this delivering Name, — a power to make the proud and obstinate quail, to scourge kingdoms, and to destroy their princes, — a power of angry might and avenging sway.

And such it ever continued, even to those in whose favor its power was exerted. It resembled, in fact, the protection of the cloud that guided them through the desert, which, whether by day with its overhanging shadow, or by night with the red glare of its fiery pillar, must have excited feelings of awe and terror, rather than of love. So great, in fact, was the fearful reverence paid this dread Name of God, that it ceased to be ever uttered until its true pronunciation was completely lost. And, moreover, such is the measure of power attributed by the Jewish teachers to this now ineffable Name of God, that they scruple not to assert, that whosoever should discover its true sound, and according to this utter it, would thereby perform any work however wonderful, and find no miracle too great.

But leaving aside these opinions, which, as of later growth, deserve not as much notice, it is sufficiently obvious how through the sacred Scriptures the Name of God becomes the symbol of Himself, so that to it all power is attributed which to Him belongs. It is the Name of the Lord which men are invited to bless ; it is by calling on His Name that we shall be saved from our enemies ; it is in His Name that we put our trust, when others confide in chariots and in horses; His Name is holy and terrible, or glorious and pleasant. In the Name of God victories are gained, and prophecies spoken, and the evil threatened, and the perverse punished, and the good encouraged, and the perfect rewarded. It receives the homage due to God, for it is the representative of God : it is as God Himself ; spoken by the lips, it is to our hearing what were to the eye the angels that appeared to Lot or Abraham, or the burning bush of Horeb to Moses, or the dove to John, — a sensible image of Him, whose invisible nature can only be manifested through such imperfect symbols.

When the covenant of new and perfect redemption was made, a new name was requisite to inaugurate it ; and it needed to be, even more than the former, a name of power. For it was not any longer a bondage under man that was to be destroyed, but slavery to the powers of darkness and of wicked might. They were not chains of iron or bolts of brass which were to be broken in sunder, but the snare of death and the bonds of hell, which had encompassed and straitened us on every side. We were not merely condemned by an earthly tyrant, to make bricks without straw, but we were deeply fixed in “ the mire of dregs,” as the Psalmist expresses it (xxxix. 3, and Ixviii. 15) ; that is, in the filthy corruption of vicious desires ; or, as Ezekiel describes the foolish devices of the wicked, we were as “ a people that buildeth up a wall, and daubs it with clay in which there is no straw.” (xiii. 10.) So much as spiritual wretchedness is deep beyond the bodily, so much stronger was the power required to drag us from the abyss.

Now, to do this was the great work of our salvation, and He who came to accomplish it was to bear, as in the former deliverance, a name of power. And that name, as brought down from heaven by an archangel to Mary, as communicated by an angel to Joseph, and as solemnly given eight days after His birth, by a priest, was the Name of Jesus. If, during His life, He concealed the glorious might of His Name ; if He bore it meekly as another might have done, and as though it but formed a name to distinguish Him among the children of His people, who shall thereat wonder, seeing how He shrouded from the eyes of men the fullness of the Godhead that resided in Him, and reserved, for a later period, the completer manifestation of His true character ? For no sooner had His prerogatives as the Savior of man been finally asserted, by His triumph over death, and His return to the right hand of His Father, than the “ Name which is above all names ” became, in the hands of His apostles, the great instrument of all their power.

There are few incidents in the apostolic annals more beautiful and interesting to a loving Christian, than the first public miracle after the Paraclete’s descent. It was wrought, as you well know, upon the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the Temple, by Peter and John, when they entered it to pray. I know not whether, humanly speaking, we can fully realize their feelings, I mean apart from the consciousness of power which they had just received. During their divine Master’s life, they had occasionally failed in their attempts to work miracles. Now they are alone, the entire cause is in their hands; any ill success on their parts will be ruinous to it, for they cannot now fall back upon the certain might of Him who sent them. We might have supposed some slight fluttering of the heart, some creeping anxiety coming over the mind, as they decided upon putting the power of their Savior’s Name to a great public test. But no; mark the calm decision, the unwavering confidence with which they proceed. The cripple asked them, as he did every passer-by, for an alms. “ But Peter, with John, fastening his eyes upon him, said : Look upon us. But he looked earnestly upon them, hoping that he should receive something of them. But Peter said : Silver and gold I have not, but what I have I give thee. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk. And taking him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and forthwith his feet and soles received strength. And he leaping up, stood and walked.” (Acts, iii. 4-8.) It was in virtue of no personal power, that the holy apostles expected or claimed this dominion over Nature, as spoilt by the fall of man ; it was the virtue of His Name who had conquered sin, and plucked out the sting of death, that wrought through their hands.

So necessary did some such sanction appear to the very priests, that when they had apprehended the two apostles and placed them in the midst of them, they asked them “ by what power, or by what name , have you done this ?” Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, replies, that “ by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” whom they had crucified, even by Him that man stood there before them whole. Then they “ charged them not to speak at all, nor to teach in the Name of Jesus.” But when they had been let go, and returned to the assembly of the faithful, they lifted up their voices in one unanimous magnificent prayer, concluding with these words — “ And now, Lord, behold their threatening, and grant unto Thy servants that, with all confidence, they may speak Thy word, by stretching forth Thy hand to cures, and signs, and wonders, to be done by the Name of Thy holy Son Jesus.” (Acts, iv.)

And what was this first public triumph of that glorious Name, but only the first of a long series of victories over earth and hell ? Tet, terrible as it was to those leagued powers of evil, it was ever wielded for the benefit of men. It was as a healing balm for the sick and the halt ; they were anointed in this Name, and were raised up from their infirmity. “ The Lord Jesus Christ healeth thee,” said Peter to Eneas; “ and immediately he arose ” from his eight years’ illness. (Acts, ix. 34.) It was a savior of life to the dead in Christ, whom it raised, when expedient for them, from the grave. It was, moreover, a bright and burning light to them that sat in darkness. It overthrew the dominion of Satan ; it destroyed the empire of sin ; it brought forth fruits of holiness, and diffused over earth the blessings of heaven. Soon did it become “ great among the Gentiles, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.” (Mai. i. 11.) As the first discoverers of unknown lands, as the conquerors of hostile countries solemnly pronounce that they take possession thereof in the name of the sovereign who commissioned them ; so did the twelve, whether explorers of the distant seats of barbarism, beyond the flight of the Roman eagles, or as valiant warriors against the active resistance of worldly principalities, register their discoveries and settle their conquests in no other name than that of the Lord Jesus.

Often was the world distracted by the rival claims of pretenders to the empire ; often was province in arms against province, through the wide extent of Roman domination ; often was the empire itself engaged in cruel war with the nations without its pale : still there was one empire, vast, interminable, and indivisible, ruled in peace over all the world, Greek and barbarian. The dominion of Jesus was undisturbed by rivalry and undistracted by conflict. It could allow no competition, it could fear no jealousy among its subjects. One Name was called upon by them all ; and it was a name that drew from all an undivided homage. So secure were the early Christians of its power, that they hesitated not to attribute to it an efficacy, so to speak, sacramental — that is, a virtue independent of all peculiar privilege in the individual who employed it. They were not afraid of incurring the guilt of superstition, by believing its very sound to possess a resistless influence over the powers of darkness. Saint Justin, in his Apology, only fifty years after the death of Christ, appeals for a testimony of the truth of His religion to the acknowledged fact, that any Christian, by pronouncing the Name of Jesus, could expel the evil spirit from any one possessed by him. And Tertullian goes even as far as to challenge the heathens to the experiment, with the condition that if any Christian failed in it, they might instantly put him to death.

But now, alas ! my brethren, the first fervor of faith has long waxed cold, and with it have been withdrawn the wonderful prerogatives it had obtained and secured. We, the servants of Christ, may speak His word with all confidence in His Name, but the cures, and signs, and wonders, which may ensue by the stretching forth of His hand, will be in the inward soul, not upon the outward flesh. And in whose name else can I, or any other that shall fill this place, address you ? In what other name were we admitted into His ministry, in what other name have we received commission to the flock of Christ, if not in His, the shepherd's ? In His Name alone are the sacraments of life administered to you ; in His Name alone is the adorable Sacrifice of His Body and Blood offered by us ; in His Name alone we can admonish you and threaten you, upbraid and encourage you, forgive you or retain you in your bonds. When the prophets spoke of old, they contented themselves with the simple preface, “thus saith the Lord of Hosts.” Seldom was it a prologue to words of peace or comfort, but rather to menaces and warnings, and woes. And yet they that heard them looked not on the meanness of the speakers, but considered the majesty of the God who sent them, and they rent their garments before them, and humbled their souls with fasting, and covered their bodies with sackcloth and ashes, and did penance.

And when the minister of the New Law stands before you saying : “ Thus saith the Lord Jesus,” shall there be less heed taken of his words, because he speaketh in the name of One who is gracious and full of mercy, and comes to communicate “ thoughts of peace and not of affliction”? No. Did we come before you in our own names, and speak to you “of justice and chastity, and of the judgment to come,” you might, like Felix, send us back and say, “ For this time go thy way.” (Acts, xxiv. 24.) Did we, as of ourselves, preach to you the resurrection of the dead, ye might, as they of Athens, mock us to scorn, (xvii. 32.) If, in fine, we presumed to command you to be continent and chaste, meek and forgiving, penitent and humble, to distribute your goods to the poor, or to afflict your bodies by fasting, you might, perhaps, resent our interference with the concerns of your lives, and chide us, not unreasonably, for exacting duties hard and disagreeable. But when we speak unto you these things by the power and in the Name of Him who is King of your souls and Master of your being, — when we claim from you docility and obedience for Him whose livery we bear and whose heralds we are, refuse ye at your peril to receive our words, and honor our commission. But, good God, what do I say ? Shall I misdoubt me of the power and virtue of the Name of Thy beloved Son, — of that Name, at the sound whereof “ every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth ” ? Shall I fear that the neck of man redeemed, will be more inflexible than the knees of Thy vanquished enemies, and refuse to take up Thy gentle yoke? Shall I apprehend that the soul of the captive, who hath been ransomed by the power of this Name, will adore and love it less than the angels, to whom it brought no tidings of salvation ?

No, my brethren, from you we hope for better things. For know you not that we are engaged together in a holy warfare, for which we have no other strength than that of this holy Name ? In “ a wrestling, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places ” ? (Ephes. vi. 12.) And if you fight not under the Name of the God of Jacob, how shall you prevail ? Anciently when armies rushed to battle, a name was put into the mouth of each, as a watchword and cheering symbol of the cause in which they struggled. Glad was the heart of the commander, and flushed with confidence of victory, when one unanimous shout of the name of their king or their patron rung clear and joyous from his men, as they rushed to the onslaught, and drowned the feeble response of the rival host. And so, in the Name of Jesus, will we strike boldly at our spiritual foes ; and bravely will we sound it forth together, to the terror and discomfiture of hell, and the overthrow of its might.

It is the Name of ten thousand battles, and of countless victories. It echoed of old through the vaulted prisons of this city, and filled the heart of the confessor with courageous joy. It broke from the martyr’s lips, when Nature could no longer brook silence, and was as “oil poured out” upon his wounds. It was the music of the anchorite, when in the depths of the desert the powers of darkness broke loose upon him : and it dissipated his temptation. And so it shall be the signal of our combat, the watchword of our ranks. See, it is written in broad letters upon the standard we have followed, “ Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Shame and confusion to the dastard who deserts his banner, or refuses to follow where that Name leads ! Victory and glory to the chosen ones, who shall confide in its power, and combat in its cause ! “ Out of the strong,” said Samson, in proposing his riddle to the Philistines, “out of the strong came forth sweetness.” “ What,” they replied, in solving it, “ is stronger than the lion, and what is sweeter than honey ?” (Jud. xiv. 14, 18.) Surely, we may reply, “ His Name, who, as the lion of the tribe of Judah, hath prevailed over death and hell, and hath been found worthy to open the book and loosen its seals : and who yet in proposing to us its precepts, makes them to us sweeter than honey and the honey-comb.”

It would seem to have been a special privilege of patriarchal foresight, to understand when a child was born what character it should bear through life, and to name it accordingly. Thus was Noah so named by Lamech, because he said : “ This same shall comfort us from the works and labors of our hands, on the earth which God hath cursed.” (Gen. v. 29.) When the Savior of man-kind received from God himself a name, it could not fail to be one descriptive of His high and gracious office; and the Name of Jesus doth, in truth, signify a savior. In this its meaning is treasured up its sweetness. It is a name as pregnant with merciful recollections, with motives of gratitude, with assurances of hope, with heavenly comfort, and with causes of joy, as to be the abridgment, as it were, and essence of whatever religion has brought of blessing down from heaven. Who does not know what choicest delicacies of feeling may be condensed within the small compass of a little name ? How the name of home will bring to the exile’s heart more ideas than a volume of eloquent description ? How the title of child or parent, wife or sister, will stir the affections of a bereaved survivor? And in this Name of Jesus, we shall find it to be so, if we duly meditate upon it. It is the name more especially of His infancy, and the name of His passion. During the important, but to us less dear, interval of His life, while engaged in the task of preaching His doctrines, men addressed Him as Rabbi, or Master; He was saluted with titles of well- deserved respect.

But while yet a child, and when abandoned by human favor to the ignominy of the cross, we know Him by no name, we read of Him in the Gospel by no name, but that of Jesus. And those surely are the two portions of His life wherein principally he proposes Himself as the object of our love. No ; think of Him by that Name, and you cannot present Him to your imagination as an object of awe or dread, as just or terrible. He smiles upon you as an infant in the arms of His maiden mother; He seems to stretch forth to you His little hands from the manger of Bethlehem ; you see Him reposing, on the way to Egypt, amidst His blessed family ; or you think of Him lost to His parents, and found again by them in the Temple. Through all these scenes, what can you do less than love Him, — the God-like child that bears the grievances of unnecessary infancy for love of you. During all this time He answered to no other name than that of Jesus, — a Name rendered to us doubly sweet by the lips of her who first addressed it to Him.

As you will think on His Name in hours of deeper meditation and repentance ; and straightways you shall see Him transformed into the man of sorrows, the bearer of our griefs. You shall see Him cast upon the ground in the prayer of agony, swallowed up in mortal anguish; you shall follow Him through steps too painful to be here rehearsed, to the great sacrifice of Calvary. When you behold Him there stretched upon His cross, and expiring in cruel torment, you will ask of any who stand gazing upon Him, by what name they know Him, and all will answer, “ by the Name written above His head, ‘ Jesus of Nazareth.’ ” No other name will suit Him in these passages of His life but this. We cannot bring ourselves to call Him here our Lord, our Messiah, the Christ, our Teacher. They are but cold and formal titles of honor, when given to Him at Bethlehem or on Calvary. One name alone, the adorable Name of Jesus, satisfies the desires of our heart, and utters in a breath its accumulated feelings. Hence, the Seraph of Assisium, as St. Francis has been called, than whom no other on earth ever more closely imitated or resembled, as far as man may, the Son of God, ever cherished with peculiar devotion the early infancy and the passion of Jesus, and by a natural consequence, never, as St. Bonaventure tells us, heard that sacred Name pronounced, but a bright glow of gratitude and delight diffused itself over his countenance.

St. Bernard, too, the warmth of whose devout outbreaks the coldness of our age would almost deem extravagant, overflows with the most affectionate enthusiasm when he comments on this blessed Name. It was, as he says, to him, “ honey in the mouth, music to the ear, and jubilee in the heart.” “ If thou writest, I find no relish in it unless I read there Jesus. If thou discoursest, it hath no savor for me unless the Name of Jesus be heard.” (Serm. xv. in Cant.) Yet even we, with all our lukewarmness, will not occasionally help feeling some small portion of this holy ardor. Never will our secret prayer warm into fervent and loving supplication, without this Name frequently escaping from our lips. We shall dwell upon it with a tenderer emotion than on any other whereby we address God, our salvation. It will, when often pronounced, unlock the more recondite stores of our affections, too seldom opened in the presence of God; it will be as wings, to the soul, of aspiration and love soaring towards the possession of our true country.

And now, applying this quality of His ever-blessed Name to this preaching of His word, — what more can we require to recommend it, than its being proclaimed in that His Name ? Who shall be able to resist a summons addressed to him under this most winning sanction? Who will refuse his heart, when claimed by One who bears such a title to his love ? When we shall address the sinner, immersed in his vices or enslaved to his passions, what shall we need to say, beyond the eloquent appeal of this most blessed Name? We will place before him all that his Savior has done to raise him from sin, and gain his love. On His behalf, and in His Name, we will conjure him to answer with a generous heart the call upon his affections. We will paint as best we can the dark ingratitude and enormous guilt of making this Name, as far as he can, an empty sound, without character or meaning as regards him. Or we will show him how that Jesus who ascended to heaven, will one day return bearing the same Name, but as an outraged title that pleads for vengeance, to punish his unfeeling conduct.

When we shall see the slothful, faint-hearted Christian, whose desires are good, while his efforts are weak, staggering along the right path, but scarce standing upright thereon, how better can we address him, to arouse and strengthen him, than by recounting to him the earnestness of purpose which the very Name of Jesus imports in Him that bore it, to save and win his soul. It described an office of painful and arduous discharge, through suffering and death ; He who undertook it, would fain keep the thought of it ever before His eyes, by bearing, even in the apparent thoughtlessness of infancy, the name which must ever have recalled it. And at the sight of such steadiness in love, such earnestness of perseverance in care of him, will he refuse an earnestness of gratitude and a steadiness of requital ? Will he refuse anything which in that Name is required ? If ever it be necessary to offer consolation to the virtuous, in affliction and distress of mind, in temptation or desolation of spirit, what will be required but to repeat to him this dear Name, so often a source of refreshment to his soul, so often his shield in time of conflict, so often his reward in heavenly contemplation. It will be to him as manna in the desert, or as dew to Hermon — a quickening food, a fertilizing influence, by whose vigor he shall be restored to comfort and inward joy.

Such shall be, with God’s blessing, “ our speech and our teaching, not in the persuasive words of human wisdom,” but in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor. ii. 4.) Nothing else shall we judge ourselves to know. But if we address ourselves to you in His Name, in this Name do ye also hear. Remember, that this Name was given Him for you, that is, for each amongst us. It was one which without us He could not have borne ; for it expresses His relation to us. To each of us ought it to be dear, by each of us ought it to be cherished, and lovingly pronounced. Speak it in trouble, and it shall bring you comfort ; speak it in temptation, and it shall give you victory ; speak it in times of relaxing fervor, and it shall throw fire into your hearts ; speak it in devotion, and it shall perfect you. There is no time, no place, where it is out of season, if to the lips at least to the thought; there is no action so lessed which it will not improve; there is no forgetfulness so deep from which it will not arouse you.

But, my brethren, there are two periods when its sweetness seems doubly sweet. For as we have seen that this is peculiarly the name of Our blessed Savior in His infancy and in His passion, so are they two corresponding periods of our lives, when it best appears to become us. It is a sweet Name when lisped by babes and sucklings, joined, through early suggestion, with those first names dear to parental affection, which form so firm a root for filial love. It is good to teach your little ones to utter it as they do your own, that He who became an infant for their sake may grow up in their hearts as the first companion of their dawning attachment, and have His love implanted as deeply at least as any earthly affection. But oh ! it is sweeter still to the tongue of the dying who in life have loved it and Him who chose it. Insipid to the ears of such a one will be the catalogue of his titles, his honors, or his possessions. Without power to help will their names be, whom the bonds of the flesh have knit to him, to be separated from them at that hour. He will search his soul for some affection which can stretch across the grave, for some link between the heart of flesh and the disembodied spirit. He will earnestly desire some token to show that he was fore-chosen here below, some pass-word which angels shall recognize, some charm which evil spirits shall dread. He will want some name written upon his garment and upon his forehead, which at first glance may establish his claim to the mansions of bliss. And all this he will find in this holy Name of Jesus, the God of his salvation. If through life he have received it and loved it, as the summary of what under it was wrought for his salvation ; if he have often fed his heart upon its sweet nourishment, he will find in it an object of his affections, imperishable and unchangeable, enduring beyond his dissolution, and even more powerful in the next world than in this. It shall seem written in letters of light over the gate of eternity; it shall seem graven with a pencil of fire on his heart ; and even from very habit and strengthened practice, his lips will struggle to arrest his last parting breath, and form it into that sacred Name, inaudible save to angels, whispered now only to Him that bore it.

Oh, be this Holy Name called down upon us all ! be it our protection through this our earthly pilgrimage; be it the assistance of this our ministry and of your patience and profit. Be it our comfort in death, and our joy in
eternity.

Source: Sermons on our Lord Jesus Christ : and on His blessed mother by Cardinal Wiseman 1864

"Heaven and earth shall pass always". St. Luke 21.33.

Ah! my friend, how are you? How do you do? Where are you going? These are everyday expressions, dear brethren. Probably some neighbor spoke to you thus as you were coming to Mass. This is the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday of Judgment, and I am going to put the same questions to you. I begin with the last one. Where are you going? young men, old men, women, girls, children, people, priests, rich and poor, where are you all going? are you going to church or for a walk? No, we have a trial at court and are summoned to appear. Whose trial? Our own. Yes, we are all going to judgment, the trial of eternity before the all-seeing Judge. We are all formed in a great procession. No matter whether we are good or bad, in a state of grace or of mortal sin, no matter if our cause be just or unjust, we are all going to judgment - all going to the great trial, in which every living soul, each man and woman and child, shall be the prisoners at the bar, and God, the judge of all, shall sit upon the great white Throne.

When will that trial day come? No one knows, not even the angels, our Lord says. Judgment will come suddenly. Times has been given you. You have been told "beforehand." The actual coming will be sudden. "Behold, I come as a thief in the night." "Behold, I come quickly." "Behold, I come as the lighting." Such are the terms in which our Lord speaks of His second advent. When men are eating and drinking, marrying, buying, and selling, burying the dead, laboring, prayer, waking or sleeping, then there will be a cry heard, "behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him." Go forth just as you are; just as the moment finds you; without a moment more to prepare, without an instant in which to say, "God help me!"

Where are you going, then? going to judgment. Going to a sudden judgment. Going to meet accusers who will rise out of the graves of earth and from the pit of hell to bear witness against sinners for all the commandments they have broken, all the duties they have neglected, all the scandal and bad example they have given. Woe to bad parents in that day! Woe to disobedient children in that day! Woe to the drunken, the impure, the thieves, the liars, the false witnesses, the apostates in that day! Ah! then, how do you do, Christian, Catholic! How are you baptized of God? How is your health, the health of your soul? Are you in the fever of sin? Do you see upon your souls great livid plague-spots of mortal offenses against the Almighty! Then tremble, for you have to face the God "whose eyes are brighter than the noonday sun"! He will ask: "How are you? What mean these stains upon your soul? Where is the white garment that I gave you? Where is my image and likeness?" Woe to every one who cannot answer these questions; for to be unable to answer means to be unable to go to heaven, it means that you will be found guilty by the Eternal Judge and condemned to everlasting death. Let, then, these two questions ring in your ears: Where are you going? How are you in God's sight? You are going to judgment. Are you in a fit state to appear there?

Brethren, it will be an awful day, that day of judgment, even for the just. "Where, then, shall the unjust and the sinner appear?" Look up to the heavens as you leave this church. The clouds are not yet riven. The sun is not yet darkened. Oh! then there is yet time. There is a moment's lull before the storm breaks; a second's pause before the trumpet sounds. But the day of judgment will come, for Jesus Christ has told us so, and, as he says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

Source: Five minute sermons for Low Masses on all Sundays of the year the Paulist Fathers

"9. Do not imitate those false preachers who are steeped in worldliness, who inject into preaching the spirit of the flesh and motives of avarice and vanity, who preach themselves and not Christ Crucified, using eloquence only for their glory and gratification, who fill the holy office of preaching simply as a means of livelihood and seek only flattery.

Never stoop to imitate those who preach not Christian virtues minimizing the dangers of hell. Do not imitate those who never use Scripture but depend upon profane authors, who refer to secular sciences rather than to the truth of the Gospel and utter honeyed words which contain no food for thought nor grace of conversion.

10. Finally, do not follow those whose sermons merely arouse expressions of opinion concerning the preacher himself, such as, "What a learned man! What an eloquent speaker!" If listeners who praise in these words were asked what the priest said, they would be at a loss to give the slightest idea of his sermon for it was empty and devoid of substance. Whosoever would work for the salvation of souls, and not be reproved for failing in his duty, should never fall into these faults of misguided preachers, who endanger their own and the faithful's salvation."

Source: The Priest his dignities and obligations, St. John Eudes

"That He might use the occasion to convert them by giving His doctrine as food for their souls.

Well would it be for us, if at our meals, instead of vain and often quarrelsome conversation, we were to speak of God and sacred things, thus gaining souls for God, and promoting His honor. St. Dionysius says, among all good things which are agreeable to God, the greatest and, so to say, most god-like, is to aid in the conversion of sinners.

Who are those in health, who the sick, who the physician?

Those in health are the just who live in the grace of God. O what a valuable life is this, and what great care is required to preserve it! The sick are the sinners, for every sin makes the soul unclean, wounds and even kills it, that is, robs it of  the grace and good will of God, in which consists the spiritual life of the soul. How detestable, then, is sin, which deprives us of our greatest good! The physician is Christ of whom it is said in Psalm cvi.20.: He sent this word, and healed them. If you have sinned, go to the Physician to be healed that you may regain the health of the soul.

Why does Christ say: I will have mercy and not sacrifice?

Because the Pharisees valued external sacrifice, and thought if they offered it frequently, that they were already pleasing to God, even though they showed no mercy and struggled not against their corrupt inclinations to anger, envy, malice, and pride. The sacrifice of our prayers, our good works and mortifications, will not please God, unless they proceed from pure love of Him.

What did Christ mean by saying: I am not come to call the just, but sinners:

Ss. Hilary, Jerome, and Venerable Bede understand the former to be the Pharisees, who pretended to be just in all things, and would not listen to the voice of Jesus, even if He had called them; Jesus knowing this, called those whom the Pharisees regarded as very great sinners who, however, humbly heard and followed His call.

Source: Explanation of the Epistles and Gospel by Rev. Leonard Goffine page 879 (Gospel St. Matthew ic. 9-13)