Bishop Bonomelli’s Homily on Luke 15:1-10

AT THAT time: The publicans and sinners drew near unto Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And He spoke to them this parable, saying: What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders rejoicing and coming home call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them Rejoice with me, because have found my sheep that was lost? say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance. Or what woman having ten groats (coins), if she lose one groat (coin), doth not light candle and sweep the house and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because have found the groat (coin)which had lost. So say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.

THE Gospel of this Sunday contains two par , or, if you wish, two similitudes, the par able of the shepherd who goes in search of the sheep that went astray, and that of the woman who turns the house topsy-turvy seeking the piece of money she has lost. The two parables are distinct one from the other, but the purpose of both is identical, namely, to show forth clearly the ardent love of Jesus Christ for poor sinners, His desire for their conversion, and the lively joy He experiences once they return to Him.

My friends, no subject can be dearer to us or give us more pleasure than this; first, because of all the divine perfections, that of the goodness of God is the chief, and this goodness is set forth in to-day’s Gospel with singular clearness and beauty; and, next, because we, being sinners, should earnestly strive to appreciate and bring home to ourselves in what the goodness of God consists, for in it all our hope is centered.

“At that time the publicans and sinners drew nigh to Jesus to hear Him.” The discourse of Jesus, immediately preceding these words, was undoubtedly intended to inspire confidence in sinners. There is no mention of it in the Gospel of St. Luke, but in the parallel passage of St. Matthew His beautiful words are recorded, as is also the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus, we are told by St. Matthew, stated that He had come to save all that had been lost: “The Son of man is come to save that which was lost,” and He developed this truth in words of incomparable tenderness, such as only His love could inspire. And what was the result? Publicans, or tax-gatherers, class of ill repute and violently hated by the Hebrews, and every sort of public sinners, attracted and subdued by the charity of Jesus, and carried away by His gentleness and fatherly sympathy, drew near Him and listened to Him with filial trust and love.

We learn from the Gospel that there were two classes of persons who went to hear Jesus, but the motive of each in going was entirely different. First, there were the Scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees, the doctors of the Law and the priests and next there were the plain people, and among these were notable those known as publicans and sinners. The purpose of the former in going to hear Jesus was not to be instructed, but to ask Him questions and to take Him in His words, and then to put Him to shame before the multitude and accuse Him to the authorities; the latter, on the contrary, went to Jesus with humble hearts and simple minds to hear and to learn the former were, it may be, learned; they were certainly proud and malignant; the latter were ignorant, but they were honest and humble; the former, though learned, did not acknowledge the truth or accept it, rather they haughtily spurned it while the latter, though ignorant, both acknowledged and embraced it.

My friends, precisely the same thing that took place about the very person of Christ is constantly repeated in our own day, as all who have eyes can see. Now, as then, the poor and simple-hearted accept the truths of faith, while many of the learned and wealthy heed them not, spurn them, and at times make open war upon them. And why? The cause is ever the same; the same that cast the angels out of heaven, that led to the fall of our first parents, the cause that darkens the mind, hardens the heart, and deeply offends God namely, pride.

But what frequently deeply pains and surprises us is to see men, apparently religious men and churchmen at that, who allow themselves to be carried away by an arrogant and critical spirit, thus imitating the Scribes and Pharisees. While the plain people and poor sinners listen eagerly to the word of God and receive it with simple and docile hearts, certain ecclesiastics find fault with the style of the preacher or with the preacher himself, and with certain refinement of art set them selves to discredit him and his efforts, because he is not of their set, or because he is favorite with the public, or because they themselves, like the Pharisees of old or like false brethren whom St. Paul often impales in his incomparable Letters, are eaten up with envy. If we trust their words, they are actuated by zeal for the truth, for the integrity of faith, and for love of souls, whereas in reality they are carried away by pride and envy, by party spirit and frantic passion to rule. No, no, such as these do not love souls, they love them selves; they seek not God’s glory, but their own; they have not the spirit of Jesus Christ, but that of the Pharisees they do not build up, they pull down; flee from them.

The Scribes and the Pharisees, seeing wellknown publicans and sinners gathered about Jesus, listening to Him and hanging reverently upon His words, far from rejoicing in the hope of their conversion, gave evident signs of being of fended; they looked at one another, contemptuously tossed their heads, and said complainingly “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” There were two accusations, first, that of receiving sinners; next, that of eating with them.

The sect of the Pharisees was scrupulously ob servant of all the ceremonies of the Law and of the usages of their fathers they were zealous for the external practices of worship and cared nothing for the interior spirit; they were proud and treated the poor with haughty disdain; regarding themselves as holy, they despised sinners and cast them out from their midst. These proud men are portrayed to life in these words: “They said: Touch me not, for am clean.” They regarded it as fault to go near sinners, to speak to them, to deal with them familiarly. Such excessive and blind pride in men seems incredible. Jesus came to save all, but especially those who had more need of being saved. Therefore He not only permitted sinners, customs officers, publicans, and all that class, reputed the most abandoned, to approach Him, but He Himself visited them, sat at table with them, and treated them kindly and with all charity. This conduct, it is needless to say, irritated the Pharisees; it was their own condemnation; they were furious and complained of it as of an enormous scandal: “They murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” There is nothing more beautiful and touching than the behavior of Jesus toward sinners. He went among them, He taught them, He accepted their invitations to dine, and He, the personification of sanctity, seemed oblivious of their wretchedness and their crimes. There was no accent of sternness or se verity in His voice and He uttered no stinging rebuke. Behold here the model for us priests; let Scribes and Pharisees frown darkly upon sinners, treat them harshly and arrogantly, but let us imitate the charity and tender compassion of Jesus when dealing with them,1 and never for get the blessed words that on certain occasion fell from His lips: “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”

Still Jesus could utter terrible words, and many of them are recorded in the Gospel, but for whom? Never once for sinners, or publicans, or harlots, or customs officers, but for the Scribes and Pharisees, for those proud men, who were heartless toward sinners; these and these alone He scourged and uttered against them words that stung like scorpions, and litany of woes, the very reading of which makes the blood run cold.

This murmuring of the Scribes and Pharisees, because Jesus treated sinners kindly and familiarly, was heard by Him or at least known to Him, and from it He took occasion to show the character of the new teaching and to let them know and feel what the true spirit of God is like. As usual He spoke in similitude. “What man of you,” He said, “that hath hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which is lost until he find it?” This parable was drawn from very ordinary fact, and one familiar to all His hearers, since pastoral life among all Oriental peoples, and also among the Jews, was quite common and an honorable occupation. Say, for example, said Christ to the Scribes and Pharisees and to the multitude, that one of you were shepherd and had flock of hundred sheep that you led them up mountains and through valleys and into remote and desert places in search of pasture; that one of the sheep, which, as you know, are gentle and mild, placid and docile, but stupid, had while browsing among the bushes and grass, strayed away from its companions and got lost in the heart of forest, what would you do? Would you not leave the ninety-nine in safe keeping and go at once to look for the one that was lost; would you not search for it through hills and valleys, through woods and ravines?

Would you not listen attentively if possible to hear its bleating? Would you not call it with your whistle and would you spare yourself any fatigue to find it? And having found it you would hasten to it and seize it, but you would not beat it, nor would you drag it behind you on the road, or mistreat it, as it might deserve; you would on the contrary caress it, lift it upon your shoulders and, happy and joyful, carry it back to the flock. And arriving at the sheepfold what would you do? You would call in the neighboring shepherds, your friends and acquaintances, and forgetting the fatigue you endured and all your vexation, you would say to them: “Rejoice with me, because have found my sheep that was lost.” Nothing could be simpler, more ingenuous and more graceful than this pastoral scene which Jesus Christ sketched in three short verses. There is in it naturalness, an artlessness, freshness of imagery, simplicity of language, which not only equal but surpass anything similar in the classics of Greece or Rome.

Now who is this shepherd? Whom do the sheep represent who remained with the shepherd in the desert? Whom does the sheep that was lost and carried back to the sheepfold typify? Whom do the friends and neighbors called in to rejoice with the shepherd represent? The similitude is so luminous and simple that it explains itself, and the veil is so transparent that it need not be lifted to see what it conceals. Still few remarks may not be amiss.

It is needless to say that the shepherd is Jesus Christ the ninety-nine sheep that remained about the shepherd and did not go astray, according to some, signify the faithful angels, whom Christ left in heaven, to come on earth later and assist erring men in working out their salvation; but it seems more fitting that these ninety-nine should typify the good, whether angels or men, and that the number ninety-nine is given solely to bring out more strikingly the benevolence of the Shepherd, who leaves them all and goes in search of the hundredth. The lost sheep typifies the sinner; the friends represent the good, both angels and men, and are likely introduced into the similitude to complete and embellish it.

If this were the only parable or similitude in all the Gospels it would be more than sufficient to reveal to us the benevolence of the divine Shepherd, His love of sinners and His yearning for their conversion. This parable of the Shep herd, the Man-God, who temporarily leaves the good to go in search of single sinner; who is heedless of the difficulties of the way, of pain, fatigue, and danger; who has no peace until He finds the sheep and who having found it does not chide or reprimand it, but calls in his friends to rejoice with him that it is found and brought back, gives us more vivid and lifelike image of Our Lord’s love than could possibly be conveyed in long and eloquent discourse. My friends and sinners, if such there are among those who hear me, look upon Jesus Christ, the kindest, the most loving of shepherds. You have strayed, it may be, far away from the fold; you have wandered alone into the woods and desert places, in danger at any moment of being set upon by wild beasts and devoured by the wolf of hell; you have stupidly followed where your passions led, and you have been enslaved by the witcheries and the seductions of the world. And all the while Jesus has been pursuing you, calling out to you, begging you to come back to Him. Listen to his voice, stop, turn around, go forward to meet Him, throw yourselves into His arms; He will welcome you, take you to His Heart, and He will not chide you, and you will be once more His affectionate children and again experience all the sweetness of His love.

The striking contrast in this parable between the ninety-nine sheep and the one that was lost, and the conduct of the shepherd who leaves the former and goes to seek the latter, may seem strange to some. Does Jesus Christ value one sinner more than ninety-nine just? Was there ever shepherd so thoughtless as wholly to abandon ninety-nine sheep and go in search of one that was lost? And can God love sinner more than He loves the righteous? Such is not the case, and can not be, as you well know. The purpose of the contrast used in the parable is to bring out, ac cording to our way of thinking, as clearly as possible the contentment and joy that the conversion of one single sinner brings to Jesus Christ and to His angels in heaven, and it does not mean or imply that sinners are dearer to God than are the just. Here is mother, for instance, who has many sons, all of whom she tenderly loves. One of them, who it may be, has at times saddened her heart, falls sick, is despaired of, but he takes turn for the better and recovers. Is it not true that the mother rejoices more in the restoration to health of this son than in the fact that the others have never fallen ill! And will any one say that on that account she loves the one restored to health better than she does the others.

Jesus passes on to second similitude, still illustrating the same idea. “What woman having ten groats (coins), if she lose one groat (coin), doth not light candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And, when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because have found the groat (coin) which had lost?” Here this question will likely arise in the minds of all If in the preceding similitude Jesus represents Himself in the shepherd, whom does the woman represent in this? And, if the lost sheep is figure of the sinner, of what is the lost groat (coin) a figure?

Fancy poor woman who has only ten groats, or ten pieces of money, in the house. The groat or coin, of which the Evangelist speaks in this place, is equal to about eighty cents of our money. Now fancy that poor woman has lost but one of these coins, which for her is quite sum, what does she do She takes lamp, lights it, searches every corner of the house; she sweeps the floor, turns over the sweepings, looking anxiously for the coin, and, if she has the good fortune to find it, she seizes it, holds it up in her fingers, and in her joy calls in her friends and neighbors and showing it to them bids them share in her happiness, saving: “I have found the groat which had lost.”

St. Gregory explains this parable very beautifully. He says that we should see in this woman an image of the eternal Wisdom, who created man in His own likeness; that in the coin we should see an image of man, who bears in himself the likeness of God, as the coin bears upon it the effigy of the king by whose authority it was coined. Man, by sinning, marred the image of God in him self; and so marred, he is figure of the lost coin. Then God, divine Wisdom, lights lamp, or He becomes incarnate, and in this lamp or lantern of flesh conceals His light. He lights up the house or the world; He illuminates the conscience, He cleanses it and restores in it the image which has been so horribly disfigured and mutilated; and here we have figure of the finding of the groat, or the saving of sinful soul. It is needless to repeat that in substance the two parables have the same scope, namely, to show forth the love and joy of Jesus Christ and of all who are loyal to Him upon the return of one sinner doing penance.

Our divine Saviour seems to say: “You Scribes and Pharisees complain of Me, aye, you are scandalized, because permit sinners to come to Me, because receive them affectionately and eat at table with them; this is the very purpose of My mission am come for their sakes, because the sick, and not the sound, need physician, and willingly will remain in their midst to complete My work among them. Nay, will go farther it is not great deal to receive sinners and eat with them will go after them will search them out, as good shepherd searches out lost sheep, as poor woman searches for lost coin; and not only will sit with them at their table, but will Myself prepare banquet for them and entertain them sumptuously. Bear in mind, this work is dear to Me, dear to My Father and to His angels, and even you should rejoice in it and aid Me in accomplishing it.”

These two parables are sublime lesson for us priests and ministers of Jesus Christ, and teach us that we should always and upon all occasions love sinners, seek them out, treat them affectionately, and thus lead them on to know the truth, to enter the Church, and to save their souls. They teach men, who are the heirs to the harshness and spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees, that their method of dealing with sinners is wrong and that theirs is false zeal. Even in our day, in spite of the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, there are those who find fault when poor sinners are dealt with kindly and gently, who can not bear their presence in Church, who at times drive them out of the Church by asperity of language, by rudeness of manner, by vituperation and invective, and who are surprised when others go among them, converse with them and treat them as charity dictates. Let all such keep before their minds the example of Jesus Christ; let them meditate upon the two parables which He spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees of which I have just explained. He and He alone is our infallible guide and rule.

Bishop Bonomelli’s Homily on 1 Peter 5:6-11

NOTE: in the old Lectionary this was the first reading for the Third Sunday After Pentecost (Dominica III Post Pentecosten).

Dearly Beloved: Be you humbled under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation: Casting all your care upon Him, for He hath care of you. Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith: knowing that the same affliction befalleth your brethren who are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you. To Him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

These words of the First Letter of Saint Peter have been selected by the Church to be read in the Mass of this Sunday. They are few, but as you will have observed, they contain moral truths of the greatest importance, which shall endeavor to explain and which you, hope, will try to make your own.

St. Peter on closing his Epistle, which consists of five short chapters, addresses pastors of souls, exhorting them to be zealous, disinterested, and modest, and to encourage them he reminds them of the unfading crown which they shall receive from Jesus Christ, the Prince of pastors. Then addressing young men, he exhorts them to be docile, respectful to the aged, and humble toward one another, because humility is pleasing to God, who gives grace to the humble. Then speaking to all, he says “Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God.” Humility, as you know, is the result of self-knowledge,1 and, will add, of the knowledge of God, since the latter is the completion and perfection of the former, just as the shadows of picture require light to throw them into strong relief.

Let us for moment confine our thoughts to ourselves and consider our own being. What is this body of ours? bit of clay that will soon return to mother earth; bit of cloud, glorified for moment by the rays of the sun, which the next moment puff of air will disperse flower, radiant with glowing color and rich with fragrance in the morning, and drooping, fading, and dying before sunset. This body, which seems so full of life and strength and beauty, is beset with thousand infirmities; it is young, it grows old, it is bent under the weight of years, it is let down into the grave, and is reduced to handful of dust. And the soul that animates it, what of it? Bound to the body, it painfully drags it about, as does the snail its dwelling; it is tormented by thousand passions it is helplessly buffeted to and fro between truth and error, between virtue and vice, very often the slave of the latter, rarely the disciple and friend of the former its life is continuous web of weaknesses and follies, that bring the blush of shame to the cheek; remorse haunts and torments it the horror of death and the terror of the judgment to come frighten and appal it. If we lift our eyes to God, what do we see What difference between Him and us? Everything we have is His gift; we can call nothing our own except sin; He is eternal, unchangeable, immense, allwise, goodness itself we are hedged about in little circle of time, in an imperceptible point of being, subject to incessant change, harassed with doubt, uncertainty, and error, and filled with guilty tendencies. What are we in God’s presence? Poor, miserable creatures, worthy only of contempt and punishment. Once conscious of what we are and of our extreme wretchedness, we shall realize that it is our duty to humble ourselves, nay, that we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, who knows all and disposes all for our good.

If we bow our heads and subdue our pride in the presence of the majesty and power of God, and be come little and despicable in our own eyes, this is the recompense that shall be ours: “God will exalt us in the day of visitation.” This is tho great law that is luminous from end to end of the Gospel and which has its complete fulfilment in our divine Head, Jesus Christ. Would you be great in God’s sight? Humble yourselves in your own eyes. Would you be first in the Kingdom of heaven? Be last here on earth, for the rule of Christ still holds: “He who humbles himself shall be exalted. God gives grace to the humble.” And when shall this exaltation be granted you in recompense for your humiliation? In the time of visitation, on the day when God will come to you, on the day of your death, when this life will close and the everlasting life begin.

To sustain our weakness amid the bitter struggles of this life, to strengthen us amid the trials and sufferings that are the inseparable accompaniments of those who tread the path of virtue, Holy Writ, as you see, my friends, keeps constantly be fore our minds the joys of the life to come: “That He may exalt you in the time of visitation.” Take away from man the hope of reward, shut the gates of heaven against him, tell him that the grave and the sepulcher are the end of all here below, and you will fill his heart with despair and desperation, you will drive him to curse his very existence and to execrate virtue as dream and torture. If there were not life beyond this, if there were not reward for the painful trials of virtue other than what the world gives, then would our existence here below be an insoluble mystery, manifest contradiction; we should be, in the words of the Apostle, the most miserable of beings.

There are some men of our day, men, too, of learning and ability, who think and teach that it is unworthy of man to do good and practice virtue with the hope of promised reward in the life to come. They affirm that this is to make traffic of virtue, to debase and disparage it; that virtue should be practiced for its own sake, that no future reward, no matter what, should be expected, and that believers who hope for such recompense are no better than bargainers and barterers.

That virtue can be exercised without hope of future reward, purely for its own intrinsic excellence and with view of pleasing God alone, no one doubts; this, we know, is exalted virtue; but to say that to practice virtue with the hope of re ward is something blameable and unworthy of man, is grave error, and is, moreover, an error condemned by Holy Writ, which, in order to en courage us in the battle of life, and in the exercise of the virtues, distinctly promises reward for our efforts. It is also contrary to human nature, for every man desires his own good and he must seek in the hope of recompense the strength necessary to conquer his passions and to success fully overcome the obstacles in his path. These men, it is clear, have no adequate knowledge of human nature, and they so exalt virtue that it becomes not only difficult, but impossible of attainment, at least for the great majority of men.

Being now conscious of your own nothingness in the sight of God, and turning your thoughts to Him, “Cast all your care upon Him.” What beautiful and cheering words are these of the Prince of the apostles. He seems to say My children, you are borne down by the fears and anxieties that beset you and compass you on every side you are as wayfarers on journey to your fatherland your backs are bent under an enormous weight. How many harassing cares, how many trials of the spirit, very often more piercing than those that afflict the flesh Lay down all the cares that distress you, put aside all the pains of body and spirit, gather them all together and cast them at the feet of God. Cast all your cares upon Him. This is strong expression. St. Peter does not say “lay them down before God,” or “offer” them to God; or “resign yourself” to the will of God, or any such words, but he says: “Cast” all your care upon Him, that is, all trouble and anxiety, so that you will think no more of it and all fear will be dispelled.

Should we, then, go on living thoughtless, care less life? Does St. Peter in this passage forbid us to occupy ourselves with our business and does he bid us to stand idly by with our hands at our sides, trusting all to Providence? By no manner of means. By so doing we should commit an offense against the providence of God, who requires our co-operation; it would be to tempt God and to transform virtue into vice. St. Peter, in the words of the Epistle, wishes to teach us not to be over-anxious or over-solicitous, but at the same time to do what we can he condemns that excessive, restless anxiety, which trusts wholly to its own resources and forgets that above and beyond man there is God who governs all things and directs all things to His own wise purposes. saint tells us to act as if there were no Providence and then we shall live as if we were wholly guided by Providence.

And why should we commit ourselves wholly to the arms of Providence Because, says St. Peter, God has care of us “For He hath care of you.” God does not act as does an architect, who, having completed house, leaves it and thinks no more of it or as an artist, who, having finished portrait, turns to something else. He is our creator, but He is also our preserver and sustainer, and never for moment loses sight of the work of His hands; He thinks of each and He cares for each, as if he were His only work and there were no other.

How, then, should we tranquilly trust to His fatherly providence? By throwing ourselves generously upon His bosom, as the sons of loving Father we honor Him, we recognize His wisdom, power, and goodness, and, if it is permissible to say so, we constrain Him to compass us about with His loving care. son who confidently trusts himself to the affectionate care of his father, greatly honors him and is sure by his con duct to increase, if possible, his father’s love for him. So, my friends, let us cast all our solicitude upon God, for He has care of us.

St. Peter, in bidding us place all our trust in God, does not mean that we shall consider our selves absolved from all toil and exertion, for he adds: Be sober and watch.” In recommending sobriety and vigilance to us he couples them together, and in fact they can not be parted. Sobriety or temperance in all things is the mother of vigilance, the nurse of science and the guardian of chastity; as excess in eating and drinking induce somnolence and sloth and lead on to ignorance, to the gratification of sense and to the indulgence of the baser passions. “Be sober.” Let your food be neither over-abundant or overdelicate drink to extinguish thirst but not to gratify the palate; either in eating or in drinking never go to excess, never so indulge in either as to make the body torpid and obscure the mind satisfy the wants of nature, but do not set fire to the passions or supply food to vice. How can he watch, or keep guard, or pray, or weigh his words, or regulate his conduct, whose body is heavy with excessive eating or drinking and whose mind is darkened by the fumes of wine How can he, whose stomach is burdened with meat and drink, rise in thought and affection to God? How can he contemplate the pure light of truth and virtue whose mind is clouded by intemperance in eating and drinking? Be sober and you will be wakeful and watchful, and this is very necessary, because you are compassed about by great dangers and menaced by terrible foes.

Who are these enemies? St. Peter tells us: “Because your adversary, the devil, goeth about as roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Our enemy is the world with its seductions and its deceits; our enemy is the body, which we bear about with us and in which the passions lie concealed and take shelter as do venomous serpents beneath bush of blooming roses; our enemies are the wicked, who lay snares for our faith; but the great master enemy, he who gathers all our other enemies under his banner, who inspires them all, turns them loose against us to do us harm, is the devil; he is pre-eminently our adversary; he seduced our first parents and continues his deadly work against us, their children.

I well know, my friends, that there are some even, it may be, among believers, who, when they hear mention of the devil, shrug their shoulders, smile, and ask with an air of condescending superiority: “The devil Who now believes in him? Has any one seen him? It is belief that may be left to pious females of the lower class.”

Now this belief in malignant spirit, which we find at the very foundation of all the religions of the world, whether ancient or modern, is with us Catholics an article of faith; it is truth that fills every page of Holy Writ, and we truly say that all the revelation of God from Genesis to Apocalypse centers around the drama of that great conflict constantly going on between the malignant spirits and the sons of God. It commenced in the Garden of Eden, it was continued on Calvary, and it will not cease until time is no more and the prince of darkness shall be forever cast out from this earth. Listen not to them who class the existence of demons among legends and fables, for with us Catholics it is an article of faith.

The devil hates God; he rebelled against God and God punished him. He hates us, because we are God’s creatures and bear His image upon us; because God loves us and calls us to that blessed kingdom from which he was forever cast out. Look at him. says St. Peter, this implacable enemy of ours, he is like lion, the king of beasts.

It is proud, ferocious, full of rage and fury; it bristles up, lashes its sides with its tail sinister light leaps from its eyes; it roars and the desert trembles it leaps upon its prey, seizes it, rends it with its strong claws and crushes it with its teeth its instinct is to kill and to feed upon its victims. The devil, like hungry lion, roars, prowls about us in search of prey, and woe to him who comes within reach of his pitiless claws. Here St. Peter vividly describes in few words the strength, the ferocity, the craft, the cruelty which the devil uses against us, and he warns us how necessary it is to be watchful and not to fall into his power.

The first condition to escape being his victim is to watch, because, though he is terrible enemy and formidable by reason of his strength and ferocity, he is chained by Jesus Christ, and, like an animal shut up in cage, can seize and devour only those who come within his reach. Keep, then, far away from this savage beast beware of going into danger do not unnecessarily put your selves in the way of temptation; whosoever seeks danger and, without sufficient reason, exposes himself to temptation, is like one who imprudently goes too near lion’s cage and toys with the beast. He will be sure to feel the force of its claws and to furnish meal to sate its hunger.

Nor is it enough to stand afar off from temptation, to flee from it or even to watch so as not to be caught and devoured by the devil; we must also face him and fight him: “Whom resist ye, strong in faith.” Sometimes we can flee from temptation, but sometimes we can not we can not escape it and we must face it, especially if we live in the world. Then, my friends, we are like those who enter the cage of lion and challenge its fury. What do they do? They never once turn their back upon it; they look with steady, imperious gaze straight into the eye of the lion, and it sweeps around them and roars, but it never attempts to attack them; on the contrary, it is subdued by the light of their eyes. So also we, my friends, since we must struggle hand to hand with the evil one and the tempter, let us always keep our eyes, luminous with light of faith, steadily fixed upon him. ray of that divine flame with which faith has lighted up our eyes, will make him recognize the presence of Christ, who conquered him, who will subdue him again, and render him harmless, and then, as the Psalmist sings, we shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon. This is what St. Peter means to teach us when he says “Whom resist ye, strong in faith.”

I know, St. Peter goes on, that you will suffer and suffer severely in this conflict, but remember that others are suffering as well as you that your brethren scattered throughout the world are en during what you endure: “Knowing that the same affliction befalls your brethren who are in the world.” This letter was written by St. Peter in Rome about seven years before his death. The faithful, to whom he was writing, certainly could not have been ignorant of the sufferings and the persecution which the Prince of the apostles endured, and which together with him his brethren in the apostolate also suffered, and more or less all Christians scattered throughout the world. It is comfort, sorrowful one, if you will, but still comfort, to know that others suffer as we do, and suffer for the same cause and from the same motives for which we suffer. It is comfort, be cause if others suffer with us and from the same motives, why should not we, too, suffer? Their constancy, their fortitude and example encourage and strengthen us. To suffer and struggle alone is disheartening: “Woe to him who is alone,” says Holy Writ; companionship doubles our strength. It is comfort because it revives our faith and sustains our hope to know that others, buoyed up by the same faith and the same hope, suffer and endure with us. Soldiers, who know that their companions in arms are gallantly fighting on other battlefields, are stimulated to rival them and courageously throw themselves into the thick of the fight. It was riot, then, without purpose that St. Peter reminded the faithful of Asia, that, if they were suffering, so were their brethren scattered over the face of the earth also suffering. We learn from these words of the apostle that even in that early age all the faithful, no matter how far separated from one another, regarded themselves as brothers, forming but one family, to all of whom the joys and sorrows of each were common.

This spirit of unity, or rather, of mutual charity and brotherhood, is characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ; for when any of her members suffer for their faith or for justice’ sake, whether on the far-away shores of the Orient, or amid the arid sands of the desert, or in the depths of the wilds of Africa, or the forests of America, all her other members suffer with them, pray for them, and, if possible, succor them. This community of joys and sorrows, among the children of the Church, while it is the fruit of the same faith and the same hope, sustains and strengthens both.

St. Peter says in substance that we all suffer in this struggle with the prince of darkness and his allies, and then he adds that he can only express one wish, namely, that the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after we have suffered little, will Himself “perfect us, and confirm us, and establish us.” God, the inexhaustible fountain of all grace, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, will complete His work in us; He will perfect us in patience and charity He will sustain us in our conflict with the enemy; and when the slight sufferings and trials of this present life are over, He will establish us in the blessed glory to which He has called us.

This is the spirit which runs through all the teachings of faith and which radiates like mar velous light from all the pages of the New Testament. We are placed on this earth to know, love, and serve God; we are placed here not to enjoy the goods of earth, but by toiling and striving to gain blessed immortality. The whole Gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in this most simple truth, namely, to live holily on earth and thus to merit heaven, to suffer in this present life from love of God and to be happy with Him forever in the life to come. This, says Lactantius, is the sum total of all things, this is God’s secret, this is the mystery of the world.” Penetrated with this truth, the abridgment of all faith, St. Peter, seemingly carried out of himself, contemplating in the vision of faith the everlasting bliss that awaitHis will in exactly observing His law. True, we can give God nothing, ‘because He has no need of anything and all perfections are centered in Him yet we can rejoice in His infinite greatness and in His infinite perfections, we can desire that His name, shall be sanctified throughout all the •earth, that His will shall be everywhere carried out that is, we can desire that all men shall know Him and exalt and glorify Him, and that the cry of St. Peter may eternally go up to Him: “To Him be glory and empire forever and ever. Amen.”ed him, and contrasting with it the trifle that is required to gain it, with heart overflowing with joy and gratitude to God, like one who has come to the end of his pilgrimage and is bathed in an ocean of ineffable delights, breaks forth into this cry, this hymn of love: “To Him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.”

Poor miserable creatures that we are, we can give nothing to God, because we have nothing of our own, and He needs nothing and yet in sense we can give God something of our own; nay, we can offer Him most precious gift, one wholly ours, one that He expects us to give Him and by which He is highly honored. And what is it? It is our will, our liberty. It is indeed gift to us, gift which God has bestowed upon us but God has given it to us in such way that it is ours, wholly ours, and we can, if we will, restore it to Him, but it is also in our power not to restore it to Him, and to do with it as we will. There is no gift by which God is more highly honored or that is more agreeable to Him than that of our free will, precisely because it is free and may do Him homage or refuse it. Never forget, my dear friends, that God is more honored by one free act of the will than by the service of all the irrational creatures of heaven and earth. Let us offer to God our will and we shall do this best by doing His will in exactly observing His law. True, we can give God nothing, because He has no need of anything and all perfections are centered in Him
yet we can rejoice in His infinite greatness and in His infinite perfections, we can desire that His name, shall be sanctified throughout all the earth, that His will shall be everywhere carried out that is, we can desire that all men shall know Him and exalt and glorify Him, and that the cry of St. Peter may eternally go up to Him: “To Him be glory and empire forever and ever. Amen.”