Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
CALL upon God for help and assistance against all temptations of your enemies, both visible and invisible, and say with the priest, in the Introit of the Mass, "Behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul ; turn back the evils upon my enemies, and cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord, my protector. Save me, O God, by Thy name, and deliver me in Thy strength"(Ps. liii.). Glory be to the Father, etc.
Prayer.
Let the ears of Thy mercy, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy suppliants, and that Thou mayest grant what Thy petitioners desire, make them ask those things which are pleasing to Thee. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. x. 6-13.
Brethren: We should not covet evil things, as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them : as it is written : The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ : as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur: as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure : and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human : and God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.
Can we sin by thought and desire alone?
Certainly, if we desire evil and unlawful things, or of our own free will dwell upon them with pleasure.
What is it to tempt God?
It is presumptuously to expect signs of God s omnipotence, benignity, providence, and justice. Such a sin it would be, 1, to desire that matters of faith should be made known and confirmed by new miracles ; 2, to expose ourselves unnecessarily to danger of body or soul, expecting God to deliver us ; 3, to reject the ordinary and natural means of deliverance in sickness or other peril, trusting in God s immediate assistance.
GOSPEL. Luke xix. 41-47.
At that time, when Jesus drew near Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace, but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee : and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round : and straiten thee on every side : and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone : because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them : It is written : My house is the house of prayer ; but you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple. x Why did the Saviour weep over the city of Jerusalem? Because it had not known and profited by its time of visitation, and through impenitence was hastening to destruction.
What was the time of its visitation?
The period in which God sent to the Jews one prophet after another, whom they derided and calumniated, stoned and put to death (Matt, xxiii. 34). But especially was it the time of the ministry of Christ, Who so often proclaimed His life-giving doctrine ; pointed out and demonstrated, by the greatest miracles, that He was the Messias and the Saviour of the world, and yet was despised by this hardened and impenitent city, and even put to death on the cross.
Does God hide from the wicked the truths of salvation?
No ; but sinners so blind themselves by their sins that the divine inspirations fail to move them to penance.
What do we learn by Jesus casting out of the temple those who sold and bought?
We learn how severely He will punish those who in church forget where they are ; forget that Jesus Christ is present in the tabernacle; who laugh, talk, amuse themselves, cherish sinful thoughts, and give scandal by their improper dress and unbecoming behavior.
Prayer.
O Jesus, Who didst weep over the city of Jerusalem because it knew not the time of its visitation, I beseech Thee enlighten my heart, that I may know and profit by the season of grace ; and grant that I may always behave with reverence in Thy church, and never turn it into a resort for evil thoughts and de sires or for worldly cares.
LESSONS UPON DEATH-BED REPENTANCE.
Can the sinner rely upon being converted at the end of his life?
By no means : for this would be to sin against the mercy of God, which is much the same as the sin against the Holy Ghost. “God,"says St. Augustine,”usually punishes such sinners by allowing them at the last to forget themselves, who in the days of their health and strength have allowed themselves to forget Him.”God Himself also says:They have turned their back to Me and not their face, and in the time of their affliction they will say, Arise and deliver us. Where are thy gods whom thou hast made thee? Let them arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction” (Jer. ii. 27, 28). It is true we have a consoling example of conversion at the moment of death in the penitent thief, but, as St. Augustine further says, while this one example is given so that no sinner may despair, it is the only one, so that no sinner may defer repentance through presumption.
What may we hope of those who are converted at the close of life?
Everything that is good, if they be really converted ; but this is a most rare thing. “ Of the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been wicked,” writes St. Jerome, “ hardly one will be converted at the hour of death, and obtain forgiveness of his sins.” And St. Vincent Ferrer says it would be a greater miracle for a person who has lived wickedly to die well than for one who is dead to be restored to life. And no wonder ; for repentance at the hour of death is generally but an extorted repentance. It is not so much that the sinner forsakes his sins as that his sins forsake him ; and the resolution of amendment is one which he would hardly make, were he not driven to it by the agonies of death. What is there to expect from such a repentance?
When, therefore, ought we to do penance?
While we are in possession of our reason and strength ; for, as St. Augustine says, the repentance of the sick is a sickly repentance. In time of sickness, as experience teaches, the pains of disease, the hope of recovery, the fear of death, the torments of conscience, the temptations of the devil, and the care of all depending on him, so continually distract a man that he can hardly collect his thoughts at all, much less bestow them upon a work of a true repentance. If to many it is so difficult to do penance while they are yet in health, and hindered by nothing from raising their thoughts to God, how much more difficult will it be when the body has already become weak ! We have heard a number of persons who had been sick admit after their recovery that they had no knowledge of what happened to them during their illness, and even had no recollection of having received the holy sacraments. Accordingly, Isaias admonishes us :“ Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaias Iv. 6). And Christ says : “You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and you shall die in your sin” (John vii. 34 ; viii. 21). If, therefore, you have committed mortal sin, delay not to return to God, by perfect contrition and a good confession. Put it not off from one day to another ; for repentance thereby becomes more and more difficult ; for, as St. Gregory says, one unrepented sin by its own weight impels a man to still further sins, and all the while makes him the weaker, and his adversary, the devil, the stronger ; so that at last he cannot be converted without the extraordinary grace of God. But how can the presumptuous sinner expect such grace? God will laugh in his destruction, in like manner as he has despised His instruction, counsel, and reproof (Prov. i. 26-28). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good” (Gal. vi. 10), for who knows whether we may not be suddenly prevented, by severe sickness, from working out our salvation !
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Next: Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15
