Vol 14 Issue 51 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
December 18, 2021 ~ Ember Saturday in Advent
1. Sacrament of Penance
2. Fourth Sunday in Advent
3. St. Nemesius and other Martyrs
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and noticesDear Reader:
This week we will be preparing for the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The semantics of the phrase preparing for the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ express that even though Our Lord was born physically once in an historical context, He is still given birth in our lives in the various advents thought of in the weeks preceding the Feast of the Nativity. He is born by grace in our lives through the forgiveness of sin through the Sacrament of Baptism and He comes to us anew in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In reference to baptism and grace, He is constantly being given birth through the acceptance of grace and baptism. Yet, even though it is an anniversary, the Church also looks at the Feast of the Nativity as reliving the life of Christ in the Liturgical year—being the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. The Church relives the Birth of Christ.
The external preparation always reflects the internal preparation as the outward indicates what the inward is acting upon. Those who have a great display of material wealth through gifts and display show where their thoughts are. Those who have Santa Claus all over tell everyone Christmas is about the world’s influence in their lives—such that they replaced Christ with an imaginary secular Kris Kringle—please don’t make Santa Claus a parody of Saint Nicholas! Those who have decorations up before the birth of Christ and down the day after subscribe to aborting Christ’s Birth because He is no longer to be celebrated but the time is just a date within the state party system (i.e., government declared holiday=money for not working). Those who see Christmas Eve as welcoming the Birth of Christ, assist at His Mass so He can be born anew in their hearts in the reception of Holy Communion, rejoice in the giving of gifts, and continue to return to the scene of the birth of Christ by having a creche in their home for the forty days of Christmas with the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1, the Epiphany or Three Kings on January 6 and the Presentation on February 2—Candlemas or the Feast of the Purification. As it doesn’t matter what the world thinks, but what Christ desires as we follow the Church, there should be no fear of human respect that our home is devoid of Christmas decorations before Christmas and after Christmas we still have our Nativity Scene on display. The devil places the temptation of fear of other’s opinions in our minds to stop us from obtaining our salvation which Christmas is all about.
The social instinct disposes us not to think at all but simply to accept blindly the prevailing ideas and fashions. Ideas which are taken for granted by our neighbours easily come to be taken for granted by us, for we imbibe them unconsciously and acquiesce in them indeliberately.
Fear to be thought odd, narrow-minded, old-fashioned, out-of-date or ignorant, has a powerful influence on our opinions, our sentiments and our conduct and is one of the major causes of the spiritual blindness and inefficiency of the Catholic body. In a world which is organized on God-less principles, it is inevitable that a Catholic who has the courage of his convictions should often seem odd and unreasonable. To be true to his principles in the modern world, a Catholic must be mentally alert and vigilant and full of moral courage. Because of insufficient spiritual reading, thought and prayer, many Catholics accept without challenge the world’s standards and values and become infected with its spirit. As a result, they are indistinguishable from others of their class except on Sunday mornings, and as Christians exercise no influence on society. (Wilson, Pardon and Peace, 90 [1954])
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?
How to Make a Good Confession
(Cont.)
Make up my mind not to sin again.
If the child is sorry for causing her mother’s tears, she will begin to wash the dishes. She will be careful not to cause those tears again since she dearly loves her mother. Our Lord once told this parable: A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not. Which of the two did the father’s will? They say to him: The first. (Matt. 21:28-31) And so one now does the Father’s will not willing to cause Christ any grief from one’s sins. This means one must spend some time reflecting on the cause of the sin and what steps to take to not sin again, be it avoiding the occasion, increasing prayer, taking action opposed to the sin. If one sees that being with a certain person or in a certain place is the occasion, one must resolve never more to be with that person is it is possible, or to never go to the place if possible. The world is full of places that offer an occasion of sin and somehow one excuses oneself that it is alright to be there when it is sinful because it leads to sin. The same with being with a certain person or persons who, because of human weakness one finds oneself unable to resist temptation. If one must be with the person or persons, then one must ask oneself what safeguards are necessary so the temptation is averted—such as never being alone with the person, being engaged in other activities while with other persons, or excusing oneself once the person or persons begin to be an occasion of sin. In moments of surprise or pain the words one says must be guarded and appropriate—not taking God’s name in vain or using curse or obscene words—therefore if one offends with a sinful choice of words then one takes the time to find a an expression that is not offensive to the goodness of God to replace the sinful words. Today the internet, smart phone and television have become a source not only of productive work and education, communication and wholesome entertainment as first intended, but also a broadcast of immorality and seduction, distraction and control. If one finds oneself caught in the web of pornography and vanity, if one becomes dependent upon the input of friends and computer generated likes and dislikes and omitting one’s obligations then one must consider if these media devices are necessary and either remove them from one’s life or realize they must be used in a supervised setting. If restitution needs to be made, how one is going to restore the goods or value as seen in the example of Zacheus: But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold. (Luke 19:8) One can take the advice of Saint Paul explaining the change of life needed:
To put off, according to former conversation, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desire of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: And put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour; for we are members one of another.
Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need. Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of faith, that it may administer grace to the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ. (Eph. 4:22-32)
Having resolved to avoid sin in the future one is now ready to confess the sins committed.
Tell my sins to a priest.
Some people say that they can simply tell their sins to God. It is as if a child, after refusing to obey, simply said in its mind: I am sorry—and this is sufficient! No, one knows the child must go to the mother and tell her face to face that it is sorry for not doing the dishes. The child hears the words of the mother: I forgive you. One knows one must now do the dishes. How does one know God forgave one? Because one wants Him to? or because He forgives one? Nowhere in Scripture does one read that one need only tell God one’s sin. In fact, one reads that even in the Old Testament Moses told the people to tell their sins to the priest: And the priest shall pray for him and for his sin (Leviticus 5:6). It was necessary, as Our Lord told the ten lepers: Go, show yourselves to the priests (Luke 17:14; cf. Leviticus 13.) Leprosy has always symbolized sin, and it was the priest to declare if leprosy remained or was taken away. The declaration by the priest that sin is taken away is the assurance of forgiveness. Protestants may say that it was the Lateran Council that commanded Confession. No, it was only this Council that confirmed the obligation to Confess once a year. The early Christian communities never complained, being that most were comprised of Israelites who knew the obligation to confess. Despite the clear injunction to forgive and retain, Protestants simply do not believe in the Word of God. 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). One must also answer them: As Christ forgave sins as the Son of Man 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).
Beyond this, Scripture is sometimes not understood in the manner that it should be. Many look at Scripture on a par with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey or Aesop’s Fables and maybe a little higher than The Brothers Grimm Fairytales. They are mere stories with a moral overture. This is especially elucidated with those who want to stress the difference of authorship and content of the various books and the Old Testament with the New Testament. Scripture must be accepted as the Word of God, God’s Eternal Word revealed to mankind. In the Old Testament He is revealed in promise. In the New Testament He is revealed as the promise fulfilled, Incarnate. A comparison might be to look at it as if a father promised his young son a car, describing what that car will look like and how it works according to the young boy’s understanding. Then, years later, on the son’s 18th birthday, he gives the son the car. Now the son knows exactly what the car promised really looks like and how it works. The father is the same of both the promise and the fulfillment. The car is still the same, once as a description, another as reality. So is Sacred Scripture the same—and, being the inspired Word of God, Truth revealed.
In telling one’s sins to the priest the confession must have the following qualities: it must be humble, sincere and entire. (Cf. Baltimore Cat., Q. 412)
Humble
One must be like the Prodigal Son, who says: I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee: I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. (Luke 15:18-19)
Humbled in spirit, the sincere penitent casts himself down at the feet of the priest, to testify, by this his humble demeanour, that he acknowledges the necessity of eradicating pride, the root of all those enormities which he now deplores. In the minister of God, who sits in the tribunal of penance as his legitimate judge, he venerates the power and person of our Lord Jesus Christ; for in the administration of this, as in that of the other sacraments, the priest represents the character and discharges the functions of Jesus Christ. Acknowledging himself deserving of the severest chastisements, and imploring the pardon of his guilt, the penitent next proceeds to the confession of his sins. (Rom. Cat., II, 5)
Sincere
In one’s examination of conscience one goes through the Ten Commandments and the precepts of the Church. Though one may say I sinned against a particular Commandment, it is understood that you committed a mortal sin of that particular Commandment, that is, if you say you broke the Third Commandment, it means you did not keep Sunday Holy because you worked without necessity. But if you mean that you broke the First Precept of the Church, it means that you missed Mass on Sunday without necessity. Therefore, one wants to be sincere—because somehow obscuring the sin is not being sincere and one is not being honest. Just as one does not want to say one broke every Commandment in the book and upon inquiry it is a matter of breaking the first three Commandments because one was not practicing their religion but they never stole or killed anyone. Others will try to say their sins in such a low voice that they hope the priest actually does not hear and will permits them to mumble as to be ignorant of their sin. One must sincerely confess their sins as a sign of repentance: I cursed, I got drunk, I touched myself impurely, etc. Or, I broke the Third Commandment by working more then three hours unnecessarily, the Fourth Commandment by disobeying my parents and leaving the house. The examinations of conscience found in one’s prayer book or sometimes on the card by the confessional will help one in expressing sincerely what it is they should say clearly in a voice to be heard by the priest but not others.
Entire
The Confession is only entire when one has confessed all mortal sins committed since the last good Confession in kind and number.
Do not conceal anything; but neither excuse yourselves! Just listen to what St. Augustine once said: “If you accuse yourselves, God will excuse you; if you excuse yourselves, God will accuse you!” Do you understand what he means?—If you confess sincerely, without exaggerating or excusing anything, God will say: You are free from all guilt! But if you try to excuse your guilt, God will say: You are still in your guilt! Which do you want? Be sensible and tell everything openly and sincerely, otherwise your poor soul will not have any peace. Either confess now or burn some day! (Baierl, 240)
Kind of Sin and Number Committed
When one tells one’s sins to the priest, one must be specific as to the sin. It also is part of human nature. It is what God requires, who is the Creator of nature. God knows human nature better than anyone because He designed it. He knows that humans need to pronounce the sin to know what one must also amend. A mere pronouncement that one sinned or that one is bad does nothing to delineate what one has done that was sinful. The word bad can signify that one is bad at a sport, or in writing or math or singing. It is so encompassing that there is nothing one can focus on with the word—so to say, in saying all it also says nothing. On must realize that when one says one took God’s Name in vain, one knows exactly what is his or her sin and what he or she must now correct. One knows, because it is now pronounced and one’s word binds one to honor the obligation to amend his or her transgression.
One also must tell how many times or how often one committed this sin (mortal sin, that is, as absolutely required). This places in one’s mind how serious is his or her fault and the effort one must make to overcome the deviance. It also allows the priest to forgive the sin as a totality rather than a part of the sins. If they are mortal or grievous sins, a part does not suffice for receiving absolution. Therefore, one must make the effort to place all one’s grievous sins in kind and number before the priest.
If one does not confess all mortal sins committed since their last Confession the confession is invalid. The one confessing must fulfill the conditions of the Sacrament. A priest may pour water and say the words of Baptism—but if the person does not want to be redeemed but is only doing the ceremony as a sham, the person is not baptized—even though the person received a baptismal certificate. Here, too, the outward form may be present, but the intention is absent and invalidates the Sacrament. So, even though the priest may pronounce the words of absolution, the person without the intention of confessing all mortal sins, is not forgiven but has made the Confession a sham and commits a sacrilege. Just as in Baptism the person must repent and admit their sacrilege and receive baptism validly, so the person here in Confession must return and admit they committed a sacrilegious act and re-confess all their mortal sins since their last good Confession. This does not mean that if one unintentionally forgot a mortal sin the Confession was invalid—for here there is no intention of not being humble, sincere and entire but only one of the effects of human imperfection: forgetfulness. One should confess that sin, though, the next time one confesses indicating it was not willful and so the evil one (the devil) not being able to use it as a prop to despair.
Remember, that while confessing you should keep your hands folded . . . but not before your mouth. The penitent may not speak to one side, but he ought to speak directly before himself to the priest through the screen, so that the confessor may be able to understand all. Therefore the penitent ought not to speak too slowly and not too fast, not carelessly and not timidly, not too loudly and not too quietly. If the penitent should happen to forget a sin, he should continue his Confession quietly; he ought not to get excited. He may tell that sin at the end of the Confession; or if he forgets it entirely, he may tell that in the next Confession.—When the penitent has finished telling his sins, what should he do? He should accuse himself again of all the sins of his past life in a general way, and then he may add one or several sins, for which he is especially sorry, but which he has already confessed. You know that if some one has insulted you, you may forgive that insult once, twice, three, or a hundred times, if you like. In like manner you may accuse yourself again and again of your past sins, which have already been forgiven, and you may beg God to forgive them again and again. We should end our Confession by saying: I also accuse myself of all the sins of my past life, telling if we choose one or several of our past sins. (Baierl, 242)
(To be continued)
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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers
M. F. Toal
LUKE iii. 1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip being tetrarch of Iturea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina; under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins; as it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the prophet: a voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled: and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
II. ST LEO, POPE AND DOCTOR
On the Fast of the Tenth and on Offerings2
Synopis:
I. Man is so created that he imitates His Author; and this is a gift of God.
II. The wideness of Christian love requires of us, that our charity embraces, not alone God and our neighbour, but also our enemies.
III. That we be submissive to every judgment of God, and render thanks, no less for scarcity than for abundance.
IV. All the virtues are comprised in prayer, fast, and almsdeeds.
Chapter I. If we, most dearly Beloved, judiciously and with reliance on God, seek to understand the beginnings of our own creation, we shall find that man was made to the image of God, in order that he might be an imitator of his own Creator; that it is but the natural dignity of our origin, if there should shine forth in us, as in a kind of mirror, the beauty of the divine goodness. To which dignity the grace of the Saviour does indeed daily restore us, in that what was overthrown in the first Adam, is raised up in the Second.
The reason of our restoration is none other than the mercy of God, we would not love Him unless He first loved us, and scattered the darkness of our ignorance, with the Light of His Own Truth; as the Lord, speaking through the holy Isaias, says: I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them (Is. xiii. 16). And again: They have found me, He says, that sought me not, and I have appeared openly to those who did not call upon me (Is. lxv. 1). of His will.
And in what manner this was fulfilled, the Apostle John teaches, saying: We know that the son of God is come: and he has given us understanding that we may know the true God, and may be in His True Son (I Jn. v. 20; iv. 19). And again: Let us therefore love God, because God hath first loved us. Accordingly, by loving us He restores us to His own Image: and that He may find in us the likeness of His own Goodness He gives to us that whereby we also may do that which He worketh in us; lighting the lanterns of our minds, and kindling in us the fire of His own love, so that we may not alone love Him, but whatsoever He loveth.
For if among men that and that alone is true friendship which rests on resemblance of character, yet since equality of will at times tends towards unsound affections, how much must we strive and desire that we may not in any least way be in disagreement with those things which are pleasing to God! Concerning which the prophet says: For wrath is in His indignation, and life in His good will (Ps. xxix. 6); because in no other way does the dignity of the divine majesty appear in us, except in the imitation of His will.
Chapter II. Accordingly, the Lord says to us: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. Let the christian soul receive within it the unfading love of its Maker and its Guide, and let it submit its entire self to His Will, in Whose works and in Whose judgments nothing is wanting of the perfection of justice, nothing of the tenderness of mercy. Even though a man should suffer, in toils and in manifold afflictions, he has a good motive to sustain him who understands that he is being either proved, or corrected, by these misfortunes.
But the filial devotion of this love cannot be perfect, unless our neighbour is likewise loved. By which name not they alone are to be understood who are joined to us by friendship or by relationship, but all men whatsoever with whom we share our common nature, whether they be enemies or friends, freemen or slaves. For One Sole Maker has formed us, One Sole Creator has given us life; we all alike enjoy the same sky, the same air, the same days and nights; although some are good, some are evil; some are righteous, some unrighteous; yet to all God is the Provider, His bounty is for every man, as was said by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas to the people of Lycaonia, concerning the Providence of God: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons.filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts xiv. 15-16). But we have greater reasons for the love of our neighbour, given to us in the widespread diffusion of Christian grace, which now, extending itself over every portion of the earth, teaches us, that while no one is to be despised, neither is any one to be neglected. And rightly does He bid us love our enemies, and pray for them that persecute us, Who daily from among all peoples, by inserting in the wild olive a graft from the holy branches of His own Tree, makes friends out of enemies, adopted children of strangers, and righteous men from evil-doers; so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Philip ii. 10).
Chapter III. Since God, because He is Good, wishes us to be good, nothing in His judgment should displease us. And not to give thanks to Him for all things, what is this other than to reproach Him for some part of them? And at times human folly presumes to murmur against the Creator, not alone because of want, but even because of abundance; so that when something is not supplied in abundance, it is querulous; and when certain other things abound, it is thankless. The owner of that bountiful harvest who was annoyed at the overflowingness of his barns (Lk. xii. 16), and aggrieved at the richness of the yield, gave no thanks for the abundance of his crop, but complained at its cheapness. If the yield of the earth from the seed received is poor, and if the wine and the olives have failed because the crop was damaged, the years are blamed, the elements reproached, nor is the air itself spared, nor the sky; while on the other hand, nothing more sustains and strengthens Christian souls, the devout disciples of peace and truth, than persevering and unwearied praise of God, saying with the Apostle: Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, In all things give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all (I Thess. v. 16-18). But how can we be partakers of this spirit of submission, unless that the very inconstancy of things exercises us in steadfastness of mind, so that the love that leads us to God does not grow into pride in prosperity, nor fall away in adversity? May what is pleasing to God, be pleasing also to us! Let us rejoice in their measure in every gift of God. He that has used great things well, let him use well the simple things also. Let him take equal care of scarcity as of abundance. If the fruitfulness of our own souls does not displease us, neither should we be grieved over the poverty of the fruits in the spiritual harvest. Let that which the earth fails to bring forth, rise up in the field of our own heart.
He to whom a generous will is not wanting, shall ever have that which he may bestow. Towards all the works of piety, the quality of the years will help us; nor does temporal difficulty ever stand in the way of Christian benevolence. The Lord knew how to fill up the vessels of the hospitable widow, made empty by her own works of mercy (4 Kgs. iv. 5); He knew when to change water into wine (Jn. ii. 9); He knew how, from a few loaves, to feed a multitude of five thousand hungry people (Jn. vi. 9). He Who in that with which He fed His poor, could increase by giving, can also multiply by taking away.
Chapter IV. There are three things that especially pertain to the practise of religion, namely: prayer, fast, and almsgiving, in the practise of which every moment is an acceptable time; but that time should be more devoutly observed which we have received as consecrated by apostolic traditions; as also does this tenth month record for us a custom of ancient institution: that we should now more fervently observe these three practises I have mentioned. For by prayer we obtain the divine favour, by fasting we extinguish the concupiscences of the flesh, by almsgiving sins are redeemed (Dan. iv. 24); and by all three together, the image of God is renewed in us, provided that we are ever ready in His praise, eager without ceasing for our own purification, and disposed at all times to assist our neighbour.
This threefold observance, most dearly Beloved, embraces the ends of all the virtues. It leads us to the image and likeness of God, and makes of us inseparable companions of the Holy Spirit, because faith endures steadfast by prayer, purity of life by fasting, and the heart ever merciful through almsdeeds.
Let us then fast on the fourth and sixth day of the week; and on the sabbath we shall celebrate the vigils together with the most blessed Apostle Peter; who will deign to assist our prayers, our fasts, and our almsdeeds, with his own prayers, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.
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19: SS. NEMESIUS AND OTHER MARTYRS (A.D. 250)
DURING the persecution of Decius, Nemesius, an Egyptian, was apprehended at Alexandria upon a charge of theft. He cleared himself of that, but was immediately accused of being a Christian. Thereupon he was sent to the prefect of Egypt and, confessing his faith, he was ordered to be scourged doubly more grievously than the thieves. Afterwards he was condemned to be burnt in company with robbers and other malefactors; whereby, as the Roman Martyrology says, he had the honour and happiness more perfectly to imitate the death of our divine Redeemer.
ARSENIUS, HERON and ISIDORE, with DIOSCORUS, a youth only fifteen years old, were committed at Alexandria in the same persecution. First of all the judge took the boy in hand and began to cajole him with fair speeches; then he assailed him with various tortures, but Dioscorus could be overcome in neither way. The rest, after enduring like torments, were burnt alive. But the judge discharged Dioscorus, on account of his years, saying he allowed him time to repent; and he departed free, ” for the consolation of the faithful”. In the Roman Martyrology St Nemesius is commemorated on December 19, the rest of these martyrs on the 14th. On the 8th is mentioned the finding of the relics at Rome of another ST NEMESIUS and other martyrs. They have two other entries in the Martyrology their martyrdom on August 25 and translation of relics on October 31—though they are known only from the passio of Pope St Stephen.
Alban Butler also mentions in this place SS. MEURIS and THEA, two women at Gaza in Palestine, who when persecution raged under the successors of Diocletian bore bravely the cruelty of men and malice of the devil, and triumphed over both. Meuris died at the hands of the persecutors; but Thea lived some time after she had passed through dreadful torments, as we learn from the Life of St Porphyrius of Gaza.
ST ANASTASIUS I, POPE (A.D. 401)
ST ANASTASIUS was a Roman and the successor of St Siricius in the year 399; among his friends and admirers were St Jerome, St Augustine and St Paulinus of Nola. The first named wrote of him that he was a distinguished man, of blameless life and apostolic solicitude, whom Rome did not deserve to possess long lest the world’s head be cut off while ruled by such a bishop (referring to the subsequent invasion by Alaric the Goth). St Jerome was as kind in speaking of his friends as he was merciless to his opponents, and Anastasius earned his gratitude by condemning certain writings of Origen (d. 254), about which Jerome was having a fierce controversy with Rufinus.
(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)
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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)
XXIII
INSPIRATION
TO arrive at understanding something of God’s love for His children one must begin by understanding the depths of a mother’s love.
THE pleasure of doing anything for a mother is half in the smallness of the thing that pleases her.
WHEN you stop thinking of your mother, you usually stop thinking of what is good.
My dear Jack:
In one way there is not so much difference between us as our ages indicate, for in one way we are both just boys: I with my forty-six years and you with your twenty. We are both boys to our mothers. Yours has still some justification for thinking of you as a boy, because you have not yet arrived at the age of manhood. Mine has not that justification; but what are years to a mother? I know my mother is always thinking of the old days when she looks at me. She always will; and that is just what I want her to do. I want to remain a boy as long as she lives. It keeps her young and it makes me feel young.
Mothers are wonderful, and become more wonderful to boys as the boys grow older and older. I never appreciated my mother as much as I do now; and it is a comfort for me to feel that I shall grow in appreciation of her. I can never be sufficiently grateful that God has let her stay so long where I can go sometimes to see her, and be a boy again. I know that where she is there is a haven of rest for me. Just to enter it for an hour is a relief; for nothing enters there with me but my forty-six years of continued boyhood. Mother has the magic wand that touches grey locks and makes them turn black again.
But the great thing about mothers for boys, old and young, is the inspiration they seem to have, in infinite reserve, for all good efforts. When I was only a student, wavering and fearful about the future, and away from home, somehow my mother stayed with me, and kept me looking straight ahead. Once my wavering became very serious, and almost I had decided to give up the hard struggle of college days—and go back; but I thought of my mother. I could hear her unspoken regrets for my lack of courage and the wavering was at an end. Always does the thought come, when I am in danger of making a false step: “What will mother think?” I feared her displeasure once; but now I fear her pain. I simply could not inflict it knowingly. I had rather die: yes, Jack—I had rather die. Do you yet realize what a wealth of inspiration comes from the one you cherish enough to die rather than hurt?
I am no exception amongst sons. I am the rule. The exceptions are not entirely human. They are incapable of the highest and best. They are men to be avoided. I had rather counsel a girl to give up her dreams of a home and children, than counsel her to marry a bad son. He who does not love his mother will never love his wife.
To arrive at understanding something of God’s love for his children one must begin by understanding the depths of a mother’s love. To make a beginning of understanding God’s mercy, we need only study mothers. The one thing about God that a mother cannot teach you is an idea of His justice. Mothers are all essentially unjust in what concerns the relations of their children to others. They love too much to be just. The scales are always tipped on the side of their devotion. Even their harshness is only assumed. It is love in another form than the conventional.
If I stood in danger of a worldly dignity, the shallowness of which I had sounded, and consequently was far from wanting, I think it would be hard to refuse, because my mother might like it for me. She might only see her son’s apparent advancement. Then would I need an overpouring of the grace of God. I am always fearing that I am too selfish to be worthy of my mother; always asking if I am doing enough to show my gratitude and love for her. But the blessing of doing anything for a mother is half in the smallness of the thing that pleases her. But she,—she is always thinking that you do too much; while you are worried over the fact that your best is too little. Who else is there in the world with a love like that?
Do you think that I am going to all this trouble of writing these letters for your sake alone? Be undeceived, then. I am thinking more of the pleasure they will give my mother than the possible good they may do to you. Indeed, your chief claim on my affection is not that you are my sister’s son; but that you are my mother’s grandson.
Catholics have something in their religion that others sadly lack. It is the idea of a Divine Motherhood. In the litany of the Blessed Virgin there are many beautiful titles: “Mystical Rose,” “Tower of David,” “Tower of Ivory,” “Queen of Martyrs,” “Virgin Most Faithful;” but it is when we come to the Mother titles that our hearts expand: “Mother Most Pure,” “Mother Undefiled,” “Mother Most Amiable,” and then the all-embracing title of love; “Mother of our Creator.” That title gives me a near glimpse of God because I seem to almost touch His throne. Before my eyes it changes into a cradle; then into a seat on a Mother’s lap; then into a cross that has wide-stretched arms. On Calvary the title changes again and I whisper: “Mother of my Redeemer.” If I became unfaithful, the hardest thing to forget in my religion would be the touch of that sorrowful Mother leading me to the foot of the Redeeming Cross. It was my own mother who first introduced me to the Mother of Jesus Christ.
Jack, be a man; but to your mother never cease to be a boy. She is following you with the prayers that have no distractions because her whole soul is in them. A mother’s prayers for her children are the most fervent prayers in the world. Do not think that she ever leaves you alone. She would be with you in a desert. She has a soul in every child, and it constantly comes and goes between them. She always keeps her influence when the other influences count for nothing. She has an instinctive sense of what is right for you. I would trust that instinct very far. When you stop thinking of your mother, you usually stop thinking of what is good.
Mothers have faults, but not to you. Mothers err, but yours does not. Mothers become old and faded, but yours remains always as you knew her when you played and prayed at her knee. I know I could be happy in Heaven without my mother, because I know what Heaven is: but I do not yet quite understand how. My father was a good man. I honored, revered and loved him, as I honor, revere and love his memory; but when I think of the best in him, it is always that he knew the kind of a mother I had, and left me chiefly to her care. I had a feeling that when my father died I lost him; living or dead, I know I cannot lose my mother.
(To be continued.)
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Father Krier will be in Eureka, Nevada (Saint Joseph, Patron of Families) on December 30.
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