Vol 14 Issue 47 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
November 20, 2021 ~ Saint Felix of Valois, opn!

1.      Sacrament of Penance
2.      Last Sunday after Pentecost
3.      Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
4.      Family and Marriage
5.      Articles and notices
Dear Reader:

Supporting, last week, the belief through Scripture that those who died only died physically but their spirit continues to live and which is confirmed by Jesus Christ who stresses this when addressing the Sadducees, saying God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (cf. Matt. 22:32 et al.) and His words later, when speaking to Martha at the death of her brother, Lazarus, telling her that even though he be dead, yet shall he live was not some consoling platitude but a reality that He proves by raising Lazarus back to life, I now want to return to the topic of praying for those who have departed this life. If they are in heaven, the souls would not need our prayers and rather would intercede for us is testimony that there are those who have died and do need our prayers for which reason the Church proposes the doctrine on Purgatory.

Purgatory is the word used to denote the place where souls who have departed this life but have not fully completed justice for sin committed complete the process of purification. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ proclaimed: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5: 8). Scripture makes it clear as the following passages declare: As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, “Be holy because I (am) holy.” (1 Pet. 1:15-16.) The Psalms state: Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall rest in thy holy hill? He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice: He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours (Ps. 14:1-3); Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. (Ps. 23:3-4); and, If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. (Ps. 66:18) Saint Paul, knowing Scripture, tells the Hebrews: Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (12:14)

If Scripture is without error, the words of Christ, Unless you do penance you shall all likewise perish (Luke 13: 3, 5) would be meaningless as also the preaching of John the Baptist. Why, if Christ atones for all sin, would someone need to do penance under fear of losing salvation if it is already given? And what does penance do? Paul informs the Colossians: I Paul am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church. (1:23, 24) What is wanting, but that the Church suffer for the sins of its body—not Christ, Who is sinless, but its members. We have a call to make up for personal sin and for the sins of others as members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Now, if there is no retribution for sin in the next life, why would there be an obligation in this life? Only if there is, and this is also seen in several Scriptural passages: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. (Matt. 12:32.) Christ had already warned: Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing. (5:25-27) One could not apply this in a terrestrial sense, as Christ presented everything as a spiritual instruction.

The purity God demands to stand in His Presence is expressed by Malachy,

And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller’s herb: And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. (Mal. 3:2-3)

And preached by John the Baptist:

For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doth not yield good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3: 10-12)

Is continued by Saint Paul:

For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man’s work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. (I Corinthians 3:11-15)

Saint Paul is speaking of those who are building a life of grace, therefore, where are they to be saved by fire after their life on earth except in the fires of purgatory? This intermediate place is insinuated by these words of Saint Peter: In which also coming he [Christ] preached to those spirits that were in prison (I Peter 3:19.). For Christ certainly did not preach to those in Gehenna. Nor is Abraham’s bosom considered a prison, but a place of refreshment (cf. Ps. 22) and paradise, as Christ promised the Good Thief in the words, This day that shalt be with me in paradise (cf. Luke 23:43).

Peter also expresses the same sentiments as Saint Paul: The genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7) This faith, then is why the Church takes the words of Tobias,

If thou have much give abundantly: if thou have a little, take care even so to bestow willingly a little. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward for the day of necessity. For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it. (Tobias 4:9-12)

And from the Book of Macchabees,

And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection, (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Mach. 12:42-46)

As referencing the constant belief she has held concerning Purgatory and the assistance the faithful are able to provide for these souls languishing in the fires of purgation which they must pass before being admitted into the eternal joys of the Beatific Vision.

And he [Moses] said: shew me thy glory. He [God] answered: I will shew thee all good, and I will proclaim in the name of the Lord before thee: and I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me. And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live. (Ex. 33:18-20)

There shall not enter into it [The City of God—Church Triumphant] any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb. (Apoc. 21:27)

As always, enjoy the readings provided for your benefit.—The Editor

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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

What is the Sacrament of Penance?

An Outward Sign, Instituted by Christ, to Give Grace

Besides Orders, the priest must be authorized, that is, possess jurisdiction. Pohle sets it forth in this way:

The power of jurisdiction differs from the power of order in this, that while the latter can be given only in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the former may be conferred by a mere act of the will.

Jurisdiction may be either ordinary or delegated. It is ordinary (iurisdictio ordinaria) when acquired by reason of a benefice or office; delegated (iurisdictio delegata) when granted by the direct commission or concession of an ecclesiastical superior. (Sacraments III, 125)

The Pope, as the Successor of Saint Peter, possesses universal jurisdiction and may and does limit jurisdiction within the Church both by reservation of cases and restricting the jurisdiction of ordinaries to their respective dioceses. Bishops, as ordinaries, have jurisdiction within their dioceses and those subject to them. The priest receives the authorization to forgive sins from the bishop; but it cannot be exercised in another’s diocese or parish without delegation, that is, a priest may not just go into a confessional and hear confessions in a Church that he is not assigned—or even outside. The only exception would be in an emergency (someone dying) or he is approached and requested by one to hear a confession in extrema. These are the words in the Roman Catechism: that no bishop or priest, except in case of necessity, presume to exercise any function in the parish of another without the authority of the ordinary.

The Council of Trent holds this as faith: If anyone says that bishops do not have the right of reserving cases to themselves, except those of external administration, and that on this account the reservation of cases does not prohibit a priest from truly absolving from reserved cases: let him be anathema (Session XIV, canon 21; cf. DB 921)

One should therefore take this instruction from the Catechism of the Council of Trent seriously:

Besides the power of orders and of jurisdiction, which are of absolute necessity, the minister of this sacrament, holding as he does, the place at once of judge and physician, should also be gifted with knowledge and prudence. As judge, his knowledge, it is evident, should be more than ordinary, for by it he is to examine into the nature of sins, and, amongst the various sorts of sins, to judge which are grievous and which are not, keeping in view the rank and condition of the person. As physician, he has also occasion for consummate prudence, for to him it belongs to administer to the distempered soul those sanative medicines, which will not only effect the cure of her present malady, but prove preservatives against its future contagion. [Ex Basil, in reg. brevibus, q. li. 29.] The faithful, therefore, will perceive the great importance to be attached to the choice of a confessor, and will use their best endeavours to choose one who is recommended by integrity of life, by learning and prudence, who is deeply impressed with the awful weight and responsibility of the station which he holds, who understands well the punishment due to every sin, and can also discern who are to be loosed and who to be bound. (II, 5)

The Recipient of the Sacrament

The recipient of the Sacrament of Penance must have been baptized, for only sins committed after Baptism are forgiven by this Sacrament and no Sacrament can be received unless one has first received the Sacrament of Baptism (Redemption). This sacrament cannot be received unless one has committed personal sin, therefore, those without reason cannot receive this Sacrament, and if one has no sin to confess, they do not receive the Sacrament. One may confess a past sin to stir up contrition, but a sin must be confessed.

As a judge in the place of Christ, the confessor authoritatively grants or refuses absolution. To exercise this tremendous function reasonably he must make two essential judgments: namely, whether there is sufficient matter for absolution, and whether the penitent is properly disposed. I call these judgments essential because an error in either of them can affect the validity of the absolution. (Kelly, 55)

This means also, the recipient must have contrition which includes examining one’s conscience for sins to be sorry for and a proposed amendment for the sin or sins (all mortal sins must be confessed). The recipient must have confessed their sin and expressed sorrow so the priest can judge both the sin and the sorrow. The recipient, prior to receiving absolution, must be willing to perform the imposed penance—this makes the recipient worthy of absolution and disposed to receive it. These conditions are the qualities of the virtue of penance outlined above and discussed in greater detail in the section How to Make a Good Confession.

Instituted by Christ

Since especially the days of the Protestant Reformation there has been a constant denial of Christ’s instituting the Sacrament of Confession. The Protestant Reformers’ claim is that Christ redeemed man from his sins “once and for all”. He is their only Mediator; they need only have faith in Him; and, Penance is to be understood, like Baptism, as the fiducial faith in Christ’s redeeming act which has covered all our sins (cf. Apol. Conf. Aug., art. 13).

Their attack upon Catholic’s usage of auricular Confession parallels that of the Scribes, who, when Our Lord told the Paralytic, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee,” thought within themselves: “Why does this man speak thus? He blasphemes. Who can forgive sins but God only? (Mark 2:5,7). For they will tell us: I confess my sins directly to God. Only God can forgive sins. I don’t need to tell them to a priest. Yet, the answer to them is: As Christ forgave sins as the Son of God sent by His Father, so the Apostles—and those who succeeded them—forgive sins having been sent by Christ: All power in heaven and on earth has been given me. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . . . . (Matt. 28:18-19).

As one searches through Scripture (cf. John 5:39) to seek the confirmation of the institution of the Sacrament of Confession, one will discover:

First: The Promise of the Keys

The keys represent the authority to include or exclude from the kingdom: I have the keys of death and of hell (Apoc. 1:18). One reads the prophecy of the keys in Isaias (22:22): And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ: Thus says the holy one, the true one, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and who shuts and no one opens (Apoc. 3:7).

Christ promised to give the keys to St. Peter: I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:19).

What excludes one from heaven? Sin! For know this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one (for that is idolatry) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph. 5:5). Therefore, sin is understood in these words: I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19).

In the rabbinical language of the Old Testament this is understood in the sense of interpreting the Law, judging the permissibility of an action or its unlawfulness; also, the exclusion from the community by a ban, or the lifting of the ban by one excluded. As it is, again, sin that is forbidden, sin that excludes, sin would be the object of binding or loosing. Nor, as we read in Leviticus (chapters 4-7), was it uncommon for the people to confess their sins to the priests in the Old Law to present the required sacrifice for the transgression in order to obtain forgiveness, or be loosed from sin. Our Lord sent the ten lepers to the priests as the Law required (cf. Luke 17:10).

Now, this power was not promised to Peter alone, but also to the other apostles as we read further in Matthew (18:18). Here Our Lord speaks to the apostles of admonishing sinners:

But if thy brother sin against thee, go and show him his fault, between and him alone. If he listens to thee, thou hast won thy brother. But if he does not listen to thee, take with thee one or two more so that on the word of two or three witnesses every word may be confirmed. And if he refuses to hear them, appeal to the Church; but if he refuses to hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican. Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:15-18)

Second: The Forgiveness of Sins

Christ specifically gave the power to forgive sins when He said: Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained (John 20:22-23). That this power was meant for the forgiving of sins we observe when Jesus forgave sins. To the paralytic, Jesus said: Take courage, son; thy sins are forgiven thee. And then He turned to the Scribes, saying: That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins . . . Arise, take up thy pallet and go to thy house (Matt. 9:2,6; cf. Mark 2:5).

To the sinful woman, He said: Thy sins are forgiven (Luke 7:49) Here we must recognize the Greek use of remission of sins as a taking away, not a mere covering over. John the Baptist pointed out Christ with these words: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). As Our Saviour Himself came to forgive sins, He gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins as one sees them forgiving sins: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity (1 John 1:9). And again, Confess, therefore, your sins to one another (James 5:16). And Saint John once more: I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

That this is a confession to priests may be seen in the opening words:

Is any one among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess, therefore, your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be saved. (James 5:14-16).

Accounts of Confession being practiced in the early Church may be read in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. The following are a few quotes.

St. Augustine (+430) warns us: Let us not listen to those who deny that the Church of God has the power to forgive all sins (De agon. Christ., iii).

St. Ambrose (+397) rebukes Novationists who, professed to show reverence for the Lord by reserving to Him alone the power to forgive sins. Greater wrong could not be done than what they do in seeking to rescind His commands and fling back the office He bestowed . . . the Church obeys Him in both respects, by binding sin and loosing it; for the Lord willed that for both the power should be equal (De Poenit. I, ii. 6).

And again to those who denied this power to forgive sins resides in the office of priests Saint Ambrose continues: It seemed impossible that sins should be forgiven through penance; Christ granted this [power] to the Apostles and from the Apostles it has been transmitted to the office of priests (op. cit. II, ii.2).

St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona (+390) has already answered those who say, Only God can forgive sins: This (forgiving of sins), you say, only God can do. Quite true: but what He does through His priests is the doing of His own power (Ep. I ad Symphronianum, 6 in P. L., XIII, 1057).

St. Cyril of Alexandria (+447) shows the distinction of the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance: Men filled with the spirit of God [i.e., priests] forgive sins in two ways, either by admitting to baptism those who are worthy or by pardoning the penitent children of the Church (Un Joan., 1,12 in P.G., LXXIV, 722).

St. John Chrysostom (+407) after declaring that neither angels nor the archangels have received such power, and after showing that earthly rulers can bind only the bodies of men, declares that the priest’s power of forgiving sins, penetrates to the soul and reaches up to heaven. Wherefore, he concludes:             it were manifest folly to condemn so great a power without which we can neither obtain   heaven nor come to the fulfillment of the promises . . . . Not only when they (the priest) regenerate us (baptism), but also after our new birth, they can forgive us our sins (De sacred., III, 5sq.)

St. Athanasius (+373) indisputably tells us: As the man whom the priest baptizes is enlightened by the grace of the Holy Ghost, so does he who in penance confesses his sins, receive through the priest forgiveness in virtue of the graces of Christ (Frag. contra Novat. in P.G., XXVI, 1315).

And, finally, St.Cyprian (cir 251) admonishes: Let each confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confessions can be received, while satisfaction and forgiveness granted by the priest is acceptable to God (De lapsi, c. xxix).

Thus, for one to accuse the Catholic Church, which Christ founded, as having invented Confession during the Fourth Lateran Council in the year 1215 (as Calvin attests), would have to ignore both the Sacred Scripture (which all “Christians” claim to believe), the Fathers of the Church, and the historical facts. The former are significantly present in those Churches of the Oriental Rite who, unfortunately, even though now are separated from the Church by Schism. These Churches, some of which have parted from the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church early as the fifth and sixth centuries, still retain auricular Confession—an undeniable proof of the constant Tradition of the Church that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Confession.

Yes, when the priest, as God’s minister and in God’s name, speaks these solemn words: “I absolve thee from thy sins,” Christ Himself blots out all sins and makes the sinner a friend of God. That is what we Catholics believe, because Jesus has said so and His Church has always taught that. What miraculous power is there not in the absolution of the priest! In the Catechism we read: The Sacrament of Penance remits sins and restores the friendship of God by means of the absolution of the priest. (Baierl, 117)

(To be continued)

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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

M. F. Toal

MATTHEW xxiv. 15-35

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place; he that readeth let him understand; Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains; and he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take anything out of his house; and he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. And woe to them that are with child and give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath; for there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless these days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened.

Then, if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there; do not believe him. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you, beforehand. If therefore they shall say to you: Behold, he is in the desert; go ye not out. Behold, he is in the closets; believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even into the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.

And, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.

And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them.

And from the fig-tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. Amen, I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass; but my words shall not pass.

EXPOSITION FROM THE CATENA AUREA

CHRYSOSTOM, In Matthew, Homily 77: Because they have learned about the Cross, that they might not think something shameful is again to come, He adds: And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.

AUGUSTINE, as above, par. 41: The more obvious meaning of this passage, on hearing or reading it, is that it refers to that Coming when He shall come to judge the living and the dead in His own Body; in which He sits at the right hand of the Father, in which also He died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; and as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: a cloud received him out of their sight (i. 9); and since, following this, at the same place, an Angel said: He shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven (i. 11), we must then believe He will come in the same Body, and also in a cloud.

ORIGEN, as above, 50: Therefore, with their bodily eyes men shall see the Son of man coming in human form, in the clouds of heaven; that is, from heaven. And as at His Transfiguration, a voice came out of the cloud; so when He comes again, He shall be transformed in glory, seated, not upon one cloud, but upon many, and they shall be His chariot. And if they who loved Him spread their garments in the way, that the Son of God might not tread upon the earth as He went up to Jerusalem, desiring that not even the ass that bore him should touch the earth (Mt. xxi. 8), what wonder that the Father and God of all should spread the clouds of heaven beneath the Body of His Son as He descends to the work of Consummation?

One may say that as in the making of man, God took the slime of the earth and of it made man; so, to manifest the glory of Christ, the Lord, taking from the heavens and from the heavenly substance, He gave it first, at the Transfiguration, the body of a bright cloud, and then, at the Consummation, formed it into bright clouds. Because of this they are called the clouds of heaven; as in the other case the slime of earth is spoken of. And it is fitting the Father should give such wondrous things to His Son, Who humbled himself, and because of this God exalted Him (Phil. ii. 7); not only in spirit, but also in Body, so that He comes seated upon such clouds. And perhaps upon rational clouds, so that not even the chariot of the glorified Son of man should be without reason and soul.

And at first, Jesus came with power, by means of which He wrought signs and wonders among the people. Yet all that power was little compared with the great power and majesty in which He will come at the end: for the first was the power of One emptying Himself. It is fitting therefore, that He shall be transformed into a yet greater glory than when transfigured on the Mount. For then He was transfigured for the sake of three only. At the end of the whole world He shall appear with much glory, that all men may see Him in glory.

AUGUSTINE, as above: But since we are to search the Scriptures, and not be content with a superficial knowledge of them, let us consider carefully what follows. For a few sentences later, He says: When you shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors (Mk. xiii. 29). We shall know that it is nigh when we see, not some of the promised signs, but all of them, including this; that the Son of man shall be seen coming. And He shall send His angels from the four parts of the world; that is, He will gather together His elect from the whole earth. All this He does at that last hour (1 Jn. ii. 18), coming in His members as in the clouds, or in the whole Church as in a great cloud; as He now comes without ceasing. But then He shall come with great power and majesty; because greater power and majesty shall be seen by the saints, to whom He shall give great virtue, that they may not be overcome by such persecution.

ORIGEN: Or, He comes with much power each day to the soul of the man who believes in the prophetic clouds; that is, in the Scriptures of the prophets and Apostles, who declare the Word of God, and with understanding above human nature. To those also do we say He appears in much glory who understand Him (in the prophets and Apostles). And this is seen in the Second Coming of the Word; which is for the gathering together of the perfect. And in this way it may be that all that has been said by the three Evangelists about the Coming of Christ, carefully examined and compared one with another, will be found to relate to this, that He comes daily in His Body, which is the Church; and of this Coming He said elsewhere:

Hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God and coming in the clouds of heaven (Mt. xxvi. 64); excepting those places where He promises that His last Coming shall be in His own person.

CHRYSOSTOM: Because He had spoken of mourning, which refers to those who freely accuse themselves, and condemn themselves; lest they think that their evils shall end with this mourning. He adds: V. 31. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice. REMIGIUS: This is not to be understood as meaning a real material trumpet, but as the voice of an archangel. It shall be so loud that at its cry all the dead shall rise from the dust of earth. CHRYSOSTOM: The sound of a trumpet relates to the resurrection, to joy; and to represent the stupefaction there shall then be, the grief of those who are left, and who shall not be taken up in the clouds (to meet Christ).

ORIGEN: It is written in the Book of Numbers, that the priests shall, by the sound of a trumpet, summon from the four winds the people who are of the multitude of Israel (Num. x. 1-10). And it is in allusion to this that Christ here says of the Angels: And they shall gather together his elect from the four winds. REMIGIUS: That is from the four regions of the world; from east, west, north, south.

ORIGEN, as above, par. 51: There are those of simpler mind who are of opinion that only those who are then in the body are to be gathered together; but it is better to say that Christ’s Angels shall gather, not only the called and the elect from Christ’s Coming to the end of the world, but all men from the beginning of the world who, like Abraham, saw Christ’s day and rejoiced in it (Jn. viii. 56). That He says that not only those of Christ’s elect who will be in the body shall be gathered together, but also all who have gone from their bodies, is seen from His words, saying that the elect shall be gathered not only from the four winds, but also from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them; which I believe cannot be applied to anyone on earth.

Or, the heavens are the divine Scriptures, or their authors, in whom God dwells. The farthest parts of the Scriptures, are their beginning; their bounds, their ending. The saints therefore shall be gathered from the farthest parts of heaven, that is, from among those who live in the beginnings of the Scriptures, to those who live in the ends of them. They shall be gathered together with a trumpet, and with a great voice, that those who hear it and pay heed, may follow the path of perfection that leads to the Son of God.

REMIGIUS: Or again: That no one may think they are to be gathered together only from the four quarters of the world, and not from the middle regions and places, He adds: From the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. By the farthest part of heaven we understand we mean the centre of the globe, which lies beneath the highest point of the heavens. The utmost bounds mean the ends of the earth where the land seems to mingle with the circle of the horizons. CHRYSOSTOM: That the Lord calls His elect by means of Angels, is to honour them. And Paul also says: They shall be taken up in the clouds (I Thess. iv. 16); that is, the angels shall gather together those risen from the dead; and the clouds receive those gathered.

CHRYSOSTOM, in Matthew, Homily 78: Since He had said that what was foretold would happen immediately after the tribulation of those days, they might well ask, how long after? He therefore gives them a sign from the nature of the fig-tree, saying:

V.32. And from the fig-tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come forth, know you that the summer is nigh.

JEROME: As though to say: When the green shoots appear on the figtree, and the buds burst into flower and the tree brings forth its leaves, you know the summer is near, the unfolding of the spring time, the beginning of the west wind; so, when you shall see all these things which are written, let you not think that the end of the world has now come; but rather that certain signs, certain fore-runners are here, to show it is near, even at the door. Hence:

V.33. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.

CHRYSOSTOM: By this He implies that the interval of time shall not be great; but that the coming of Christ shall soon be. By this He foretells another thing; namely, the spiritual summer, the calm the just shall possess, after their present winter; while for sinners, winter shall follow their summer.

ORIGEN, On Matthew, as above, 53: As the fig-tree in winter keeps its vital powers within it, but as winter departs its vitality begins to show itself outwardly, and from its inward strength its branch becomes tender, and brings forth leaves; so the world and each single one of those who are saved before the coming of Christ, have vital power hidden within them, as the tree in winter. But Christ breathing on them, their branches grow tender, and not hard of heart; and that which was hidden within them, now comes forth in leaves and visible fruit. For such as these the summer is nigh, and nigh is the Coming of the glory of God’s Word.

CHRYSOSTOM: He put this parable before them for this reason, that in this way also He might lead them to believe that His words shall be wholly fulfilled. For whenever He says that something shall certainly come to pass, He brings forward examples from the unfailing course of nature.

AUGUSTINE, to Hesychius, Ep. 199, 22: Who can deny that from the Evangelical and prophetical signs, which we see fulfilled, we should expect the near approach of the Lord? It comes daily nearer; but of how near it was said: It is not for you to know the times or moments (Acts i. 7). Consider when it was the Apostle said: For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is passed and the day is at hand (Rom. xiii. II, 12); and see how many years have since passed: yet what He said was not false. How much more must we say the Lord’s coming is nigh; we who have come so much closer to the end?

HILARY: Mystically the fig-tree is a figure of the synagogue; the branch thereof Antichrist, the son of the devil, the portion of sin, the assertor of the law; who when he begins to show life and to put forth leaves, with a sort of triumphant flowering of sin, then the summer, that is, the day of judgement is seen to be nigh. REMIGIUS: Or, when this fig-tree again puts forth; that is, when the synagogue accepts the word of the holy preaching, Enoch and Elias preaching, we must then understand that the day of the consummation is near.

AUGUSTINE, Gospel Questions, I, 39: For the fig-tree understand the human race; because of the itch of the flesh. When the branch thereof is now tender; that is, when the sons of men will through the faith of Christ have borne spiritual fruits, and the honour of their adoption as sons of God shines out in them. HILARY: That we may have certain faith in the things to come, He adds:

V.34. Amen, I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.

In saying, amen, He makes an attestation as to the truth of what He is saying. ORIGEN, as above, 54: The simple relate these words to the destruction of Jerusalem, and believe they were said of that generation which saw the Passion of Christ, and which would not pass away before the destruction of that city. I do not know how they can by this explain word by word what He says from: There shall not be left here a stone upon a stone (ib. 2) to where He says: it is even at the doors. In some places they perhaps could; in others this would be wholly impossible.

CHRYSOSTOM: All these things then were said about the end of Jerusalem; the things said of the false prophets and the false Christs and all the other things which we have said would take place until His coming. Why then does He say: This generation? He is not referring to the one then living, but to the generation of the believing: for Scripture is wont to designate a generation not only by time, but also by place, worship and manner of life; as for example: This the generation of them that seek the Lord (Ps. xxiii. 6). From this He reveals that Jerusalem will perish, and that the greater part of the Jews shall be destroyed; but that no trial shall overcome the generation of those who believe.

ORIGEN: Nevertheless the one generation of the Church shall survive this whole world, that it may inherit that which is to come; yet it shall not pass from this world till all these things be done. But when all have taken place, then not only the earth, but heaven also shall pass away. Hence follows:

V.35. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass.

That is, not only men whose life is of this earth, and are therefore spoken of as the earth; but those also whose conversation is in heaven, and who therefore are spoken of as heaven. They shall pass away to the things to come, that they may come to the higher and better things. But the words spoken by the Saviour shall not pass away; for the words that are truly His are efficacious, and shall ever be efficacious. But the perfect, and they who shall receive no further perfecting, passing from what they are, attain to what they are not. And this is the meaning of what follows: But my words shall not pass away. It may be that even the words of Moses and the Prophets have passed away; since that which they prophesied has been fulfilled; but the words of Christ are ever full, and daily fulfilled, and are still to be fulfilled, in the saints. It may be that we ought not to say the words of Moses and the prophets are wholly fulfilled; for in the true sense these words also are the words of the Son of God, and are ever being fulfilled.

JEROME: Or, by generation He here means the whole race of men, or the Jews in particular. Then the more to lead them to faith in His promises, He adds: Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass. As if to say: To destroy firm and immoveable things is easier than for one of My words to fail.

HILARY: For heaven and earth, from the fact of their creation, have within them no absolute necessity to be. But the words of Christ which were brought forth from eternity, have that within them that they must endure.

JEROME: Heaven and earth shall pass away through change, not by destruction. Otherwise how will the sun be darkened and the moon not give her light if the heavens, in which these things are, and earth shall not remain?

RABANUS: The heaven that shall pass away is not the sidereal heaven, but the upper air (aerium), which before disappeared in the flood (II Pet. iii. 5). CHRYSOSTOM: He brings forward the elements of the world, to show that the Church is more precious than heaven or earth; showing at the same time that He is also, from this, the Creator of all things.

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NOVEMBER 21

The Presentation of Our Lady

1. Mary was brought by her parents to the Temple. In one of the Lessons at Matins St. John of Damascus says: “Planted in the House of God and nourished by the Holy Spirit, she became like a fruitful olive tree, a dwelling-place of all the virtues. She turned away from all earthly desires of life and of the flesh, preserving virginity of spirit and body. This was fitting for one who had been called to conceive God in her body.”

2. “Mine to minister before him in his holy dwelling . . . I made Sion my stronghold, the holy city my resting-place, Jerusalem my throne. My roots spread out among the people that enjoys his favor; my God has granted me a share in his own domain; where his faithful servants are gathered I love to linger” (Lesson). Mary was consecrated to God in the Temple, a more pure and precious offering than the priests had ever offered there, and one with which the Holy Trinity was well pleased. She was an offering surpassed in worth only by the Victim on the Cross and on our altars. When the child Mary was enrolled among the virgins of the Temple she gave herself without reserve, with all the ardor of her great soul, to her Lord and God. For this reason, she ever after chose a life of seclusion, prayer, obedience to superiors, and charitable service to her companions. She was a perpetual, holy sacrifice before God; “Joyful are the thoughts that well up from my heart, a King’s honor for my theme” (Introit Psalm). On this day of her consecration to God, her “profession,” the liturgy admiringly greets her: “Ave Maria—Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Offertory).

“A King’s honor for my theme.” The liturgy looks upon Mary in her Presentation as a type of the Church. Like Mary, the Church has from her very infancy deliberately turned her back on worldliness and dedicated her life to God alone. When our Lord had ascended into heaven, the young Church, the apostles, “went back full of joy to Jerusalem, where they spent their time continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:53). The first Christians in Jerusalem “occupied themselves continually with the apostles’ teaching, their fellowship in the breaking of bread, and the fixed times of prayer.

. . . They persevered with one accord, day by day, in the temple worship . . .  and winning favor with all the people” (Acts 2:42 ff.). Many of the Church’s noblest and bravest children of all ages and nations, representing their Mother, have cheerfully withdrawn from the world’s affairs into the silent solitude of religious life, even into perpetual enclosure: Mary in the Temple! “(Listen, my daughter, and consider my words attentively; thou art to forget, henceforward, thy own nation, and the house of thy father; thy beauty, now, is all for the King’s delight; he is thy Lord and worship belongs to him). . . . All her splendor is the splendor of a princess through and through; so bedecked is she with embroidery and tassels of gold. Maidens will follow in her retinue into the King’s presence, all rejoicing, all triumphant, those companions of hers, as they enter the King’s palace!” (cf. Ps. 44:11-16.) Happy those who, with Mary and Holy Church have left all and gone to dwell in the house of the Lord! “I promise to live for my God and Savior, and for Him alone, in poverty, chastity, and obedience”: My whole life is for my Bridegroom.

3. Mary’s life in the Temple was a life of holy silence. When God wishes to do great things in a soul, He leads it away from the noisy unrest of life in the world, into solitude; in the restful silence of a life of prayer, God speaks to it, purifying and sanctifying it as a preparation for its future apostolic activity of saving souls with Him. Mary was soon to be given back to the world by the Temple in order to save the world.

The liturgy of today’s Mass sees in the child offered in the Temple the future Mother of God: “Blessed art thou, and worshipful, Mary, virgin; who without loss of maidenhood wast found to be the mother of our Savior. Virgin Mother of God, He whom the entire world cannot hold enclosed Himself within thy womb and was made man” (Gradual).

Collect: O God, by whose will the blessed, ever-virgin Mary, dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, was on this day presented in the temple, we pray Thee grant that through her pleading we may be found worthy to be presented in the temple of Thy glory. Amen.

(Benedict Baur)

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LETTERS TO JACK

WRITTEN BY A PRIEST TO HIS NEPHEW

By the

RIGHT REV. FRANCIS C. KELLEY, D.D., LL.D.

(1917)

XIX

SILENCE

AN appearance of gravity and wisdom easily deceives and easily fastens incompetence to high places.

THE Oracles of Apollo were wisest in their silence; and their race has not yet passed from the earth.

MOST of the really wise silent men have been taken for fools; and most of the silent fools have been taken for wise men.

My dear Jack:

You remember that a few evenings ago you met three gentlemen in my company. On the way home you remarked about one of them: “He must be a smart man, because he knows how to keep his mouth shut.” The remark was rather commonplace, for nine out of every ten would have made it, since the gentleman in question looked wise and said nothing for the greater part of the evening. You must have noticed, however, that, at one period of the conversation, he broke loose and talked on a subject that had very little to do with the general trend of interest. Perhaps you did not also notice that he was the one who dragged that subject in, literally by the heels. He was very brilliant while he held us to that topic, but when it was exhausted, he again relapsed into silence and resumed his appearance of deep thought.

I quite agree with your idea regarding some silent men, but I do not believe that silence always indicates learning or ability. If I had any right to judge the gentleman whom you admired, merely by what I saw and heard of him a few evenings ago, I would be inclined to say that he is one of a class smart enough to know the value of silence, and to assume it for effect or a lack of knowledge. An appearance of gravity and wisdom easily deceives and easily fastens incompetence to high places. There are today, as there have been in the past, many silent fools who govern wise men, but the wise men were not quite wise enough to hold their tongues. The cheapest and easiest way to unearned advancement and undeserved power is the way of silence, especially if it is made impressive by a show of sternness. In every country village you will find a physician whom the people think is the “greatest doctor of them all if he would only let rum alone”. I used to make it my business to get acquainted with these wonderful geniuses, and I always found that those who did not know enough “to let rum alone”, were excellent at leaving the materia medica alone. So, in every village I have found men who never speak until they can direct the conversation and monopolize it, and who never do that until they can get it into a channel familiar to them through a judicious selection of reading from an encyclopedia the day before. There was one wise-looking and silent old chap whom I knew very well, in a town in which I was pastor. He used to meet me daily on the street outside the Post Office; and he had a new subject for conversation at every meeting. He introduced it and talked on it. It was a topic nobody else would ever dream of taking up. I confess that I used to be impressed at the old man’s information about strange and outlandish things; until one day, in order to verify a statement he had made, I consulted the International Encyclopedia, and behold, I found my wise friend’s discourse almost word for word. After that I reduced him to silence by diplomatically refusing to discuss any subject he introduced. He dropped my acquaintance. An advantage this sort of silent man has is that, when obliged to retreat behind the barriers of his taciturnity, he looks wiser in his dignified silence than during his illuminating flashes of borrowed knowledge. Men do not always understand that such a person is like one of these little pocket electric-lights run on a small storage battery, with a tiny lamp set in a strong reflector. He gives out every ray that is in him for the instant that he dares to shine, but there is little current back of the light bulb.

It is true, nevertheless, that such a silent man is often unusually successful, probably because the rest of mankind is not in his class. The reason is, that most men are suspicious of themselves and mistrust their own judgment, though they do not like to own to the fact. Deep down in their hearts they wonder at their own success and their own progress. They are painfully aware of their shortcomings, and full of surprise that these shortcomings have not been noticed by their fellows. Consequently they are always ready to be impressed by others who are different—and the different man is the silent man. But he is admired too often for what he is not, for what his occasional flashes lead men to think him to be. These occasional flashes favor him as an unexpected sound intensifies the stillness of the desert. The higher the place such a man holds, the more other men think he is fitted for it, since he does not need to talk to show his wisdom or to conceal his ignorance. The Oracles of Apollo spoke rarely and then but few words. They were thought to possess divine wisdom; but the Oracles of Apollo were wisest in their silence, and their race has not yet passed from the earth.

I have come to mistrust the silent man. He is dangerous. It is in silence that plots are hatched and evil concocted. It is in silence that hates are nurtured and grudges wax fat. He who speaks little to his kind speaks a great deal to himself, and soon begins to admire the company he keeps. As admiration for himself ripens, disgust for others grows; and the result is a harmful selfishness. The distance between selfishness and hatred is only a difference of time—the time between the ripening of the seed and its taking root in the soil.

But a minority of silent men are truly great. They are those who enter into silence as the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies, as Moses entered on the sacred ground about the Burning Bush. It is out of their silence that great messages come, that noble inspirations to high and holy thoughts proceed. In the desert the cenobites lived in silence with all the hosts of heaven for company. In the silence some men dwell with a world of their own about them, happy in it, and never wanting to leave it; but snatching out of it every now and then some great or beautiful thing, to fling it into that other world in which the rest live, as a treasure from a land so many may never enter.

Not everybody can know the real beauty and meaning of that Song of the Mystic I already quoted; but, reading it, everybody can feel vaguely that it would be a desirable thing to be able to sing it oneself. There is a poetry that never measures a verse and never needs to; but it is all written in the Valley of Silence, on sheets that are stained with the tears of disappointment, because words can tell so little of the feelings that are in the heart. There are orations whose force comes not from their beauty and depth of thought and wonder of diction, but from the wealth they cannot express, yet always imply. There is a music that the old notes cannot render, but which seems to have back of it strange harmonies, which some hear and to which others are deaf; which are clear today but tomorrow we shall not be able to understand. The thinkers of the world have been silent men; but men who could not always keep silence, because the necessity of expression came to them. Such men never have to push themselves upon anyone’s attention. They get the ear of the world without trying. They never speak because they want others to hear. They speak because they must. There is something akin to inspiration in what they do or say. These are the silent men who are worth standing guard over, so as to catch every utterance that is forced from their lips.

In dealing with silent men it is well to be on your guard, for, as I said, the majority are silent for a purpose. But the minority of the silent ones are worth attention. How shall you know them? It is hard to say. Perhaps the best test is this: do they profit or do they lose by their silence? Most of the really wise silent men have been taken for fools; and most of the silent fools have been taken for wise men.

(To be continued.)

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Father Krier will be in Pahrump, NV, (Our Lady of the Snows) December 9. He will be in Eureka, Nevada (Saint Joseph, Patron of Families) on December 30.

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