The Business of Life
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
" What is the real business of this life? The answer to this question is found in the words of our text: "Did you not know that I must be about the things of my Father?" What is meant by the things of my Father? It means to carry out the commands of God, who is the Father. It means to do the will of God, who is the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect man as well as true God, points out to us that the chief end of our existence here, and our chief and only real business in life, is to fulfil the commandments of God and carry out His will. As it was His business as man to do this in the greatest perfection, so it is our business just as much as it was His, and the more we appreciate this great truth the better it will be for us, both here and hereafter, and the happier we shall be now as well as in the other world.
To fulfil the commands of God, or do the things of the Father, is not always pleasant to human nature. It was no doubt painful to our Saviour to leave St. Joseph and His Blessed Mother in ignorance of where He was, and to make them search for Him everywhere for three long days without finding Him. But it was the will of His Father, who wished to teach us all, and for all ages, a lesson of patience and conformity, and our Lord did not hesitate; he was willing to suffer Himself, and that His Mother and St. Joseph should suffer, in order that the great good wished for by His Father should be accomplished.
He knew that His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph would derive great profit and merit out of this painful abandonment, because they would willingly accept the pain of it, and present it over and over again as an offering to their heavenly Father, who does everything right and for the best.
The example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph should always be before us and make us accept the things of our Father in heaven, no matter how painful they may be, with resignation, and constant prayers for it if we do not feel it, and for help not to give way to murmuring and dissatisfaction because God does not treat us in some other way than He in His divine wisdom and love actually sees fit to treat us.
If we would only say constantly, and on all occasions, "What is the business of my Father? I must make it my business to do it," it would save us many an evil and many a sorrow, and fill our lives with a true joy and a constantly accumulating merit. O my brethren! what fools we are, and how short-sighted, not seeing what is perfectly plain, and what no reasonable being can think of denying.
Everything we do should be one of the things of our Father in heaven. We should consider His will about rising from sleep in the morning, not indulging too much in a sensual and idle slothfulness; and should do the same about going to rest at night, giving ourselves sufficient repose and not spending the hours of rest in dissipation and luxury. All the business of the day should be done, first and above all, as a thing of the heavenly Father, acting with honesty, with fraternal charity, and with sobriety, serving our Lord Jesus Christ, and not men or our own selfishness.
Our conversation should be something which is of God, not being in a hurry to speak of our neighbor's faults or to attribute a bad motive to him or to revile him, but in all things seeing in him the image and likeness of God. Let us remember that he as well as ourselves is an heir of immortal glory, and that Christ has loved him so much as to die for him. Bright and innocent conversation, from which all spite and malice and all badness is excluded, is a thing of the Father and a joy to men and to angels.
And all that happens: bad weather, sickness, failure to carry out our desires, want, death of friends; all come from the permission of the Father, and are handed out to us. In all these things lie concealed the most glorious opportunities of pleasing God and securing our salvation.
Let us often say to ourselves what Jesus said to His blessed Mother: "Do you not know that I must be about the things that are my Father's?" Do you not know that everything else is of no account? Do you not know that here lies the whole business of your life? Do you not know that your whole happiness lies here? Rise up, then, O my soul! and go on courageously; let no obstacle stop you; look on all things with the eye of faith, and not according to the ways of the world. Then shortly you can say with St. Paul: "I have run my course. I have kept the faith. I have fought the good fight. And now there is laid up for me the crown of glory which God will give not only to me but to all who love His coming." Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year, Volume 1 by the Paulist Congregation Priests, 1893
Their Gifts: (1) Gold.
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 12:00AM in Meditations
"1. Why did the Magi offer gold to the Babe in Mary's arms? It was in recognition of Him as their King. It was the tribute by which they declared themselves His vassals, professed their loyal submission to His sway. This is the very foundation of all supernatural virtue, not only to acknowledge Christ as our King, but to pay Him the homage which is His due as the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.
2. The Magi also by their offering of gold gave to Him the most precious gift they had to give. They were the first Christian almsgivers, and their almsgiving was a pattern to all who should follow them. They gave liberally; they gave royally; they gave gifts which cost them something. Is this the character of my almsgiving, or do I give sparingly and grudgingly? I must not forget that Christ sees and remembers not only the amount of the gifts I give to Him, but the spirit in which they are given.
3. The gold of the Magi also signifies the virtue of charity, without which we can do nothing to please God. Charity is the gold fire- tried which He counsels the tepid to buy of Him. It is the virtue which is the standard by which the value of all other virtues is tested. It is the virtue which caused Jesus Christ to come and dwell upon earth. Oh, that I had more self-denying charity to others, more of the gold wherewith heaven is bought! "
Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
Saint Arcadius of Mauretania, abt 302
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.-At the time of Valerian's persecution, about the year 257, a Christian of Cæsarea, named Arcadius, illustrious for his birth and riches, had betaken himself to flight, so as to avoid the risk of suffering; but on learning that one of his relatives had offered himself in his stead, he was deeply touched by such unwonted generosity, reproached himself as a coward, and returned to surrender himself to the judge who was to consign him to death. Unable to induce him by the most enticing promises or the most terrible threats to apostatize from the Christian religion, the judge condemned him to have his limbs amputated one after the other until death should put a term to his sufferings. Arcadius endured this protracted martyrdom with a constancy so marvellous, that the judge, tired out at last, ordered the executioners to end their cruelty by disembowelling the victim. Arcadius continued to pray for his tormentors: "My God, forgive them, they know not what they do!"
MORAL REFLECTION. -This is the example given by Jesus Christ upon the cross, and by St. Stephen while he was being stoned. Let us not lose sight of this injunction of the Divine Master: "Pray for those that hate you and persecute you." "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."-(Matt. v. 44. Luke vi. 37.)
