Fourth Sermon On The Glories Of The

Fourth Sermon On The Glories Of The

FOURTH SERMON ON THE GLORIES OF THE

VIRGIN MOTHER

And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David fis father: and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for = ever, _ " dnd of His Kingdom there shall be no end.

"And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man ?

"And the Angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost shail _ come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall over_ Shadow thee.

And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

'And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren ; "Because no word shall be impossible with God.

'And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word"'—Luke i. 32-38.

'Tt is clear that the praise which we offer to the _ Mother redounds to the honour of the Son, and, conversely, when we glorify the Son we are at the same time honouring the Mother.

For if, according to Solomon, '' A wise son is the glory of his father," how much more glorious is it to be made the Mother of Him Who is Wisdom Itself!

But what shall I say in commendation of her whose glories have been foretold by the prophets, announced by the Angel, recorded by the Evangelist ? I shall not, therefore, because I dare not, attempt a eulogy of my own:

I shall only repeat with devout affection that which the Evangelist has already proclaimed under the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit.

Continuing, then, we read, "' And the Lord God shall give Him the throne of David His father."

These also are the words of the Angel to the Virgin concerning the promised Son, assuring her that He is

give Him the throne of eS father Davi seeing th He never reigned in Jerusalem, aye, and even wh the multitude on one occasion wished to make Him king, He would not consent?

Indeed, He distinctly affirmed before the face of Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world.

Besides, it is surely nothing great to predict of Him Who "sitteth Epon the Cheru-bims,'' Whom the Prophet Isaias saw "sitting upon a — throne, high and elevated," that He should sit upon — the throne of David, His father.

But we know of | another Jerusalem, typified by that earthly Jerusalem wherein David ruled, and far surpassing it in nobility and wealth.

I think, therefore, that it is of this there is here question, according to the figure of speech so 'often met with in the Sacred Writings, by which the type is put for the thing typified.

It was then, manifestly, that the Lord gave Him the throne of His father David, when, as the Psalmist tells us, He (Christ) was

"appointed King by Him over Sion, His holy mountain."

And this Prophet seems to explain clearly to what kingdom he is referring by the fact that he does not say 'in Sion" but "over (super) Sion.'

For the reason why he uses the expression '' over Sion "' instead of ''in Sion'' seems to be this, that whereas David reigned im Sion, over Sion is the kingdom of Him of Whom God said to David, " Of the fruit of thy womb

I will set over thy throne,' and of Whom it was predicted by another prophet, '' He shall sit over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.'"'

Do you not notice how the word "' over "' (super) is everywhere occurring ?

~~ od he ne w 7) a * ne Wee Ks / ve "over Sion," and " over thy throne," and s kingdom."* Therefore, "the Lord God shall / typical throne but the true, not the temporal t the eternal, not the earthly but the heavenly.

And this is said to be the throne of David, because, s I have already remarked, it was prefigured by that _ temporal throne on which David sat in Sion.

_ " And He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end."

Here _ again, if the Angel be understood as referring to the _ temporal house of Jacob, it may well be asked how shall He reign for ever in a house which is not eternal?

'We have consequently to seek for an eternal house __ of Jacob, in which He shall reign for ever, of Whose

"kingdom there shall be no end."

For was He not : impiously denied and foolishly rejected by that earthly and provoking house, before the face of Pilate, to whose question, '' Shall I crucify your King?" they all, with one accord, cried out in answer, " We have no king but Cesar "' ? Inquire, therefore, of the Apostle, and he will distinguish for thee between the Jew " that is so outwardly " and the Jew " that is one inwardly," between the circumcision " which is outward in the flesh " and the circumcision which is "in the Spirits between the spiritual Israel and the carnal, between the sons of Abraham's faith and the children of his flesh.

'' For," he declares, "' all are not Israelites that * "Super Sion, super sedem, super solium, super regnum."

In order to preserve the Saint's meaning, I have uniformly translated '' super" by "' over," even where the Douay Version, renders it "upon."

"For to St. Bernard's mind the words " De fructu ventris tui ponam super sedem tuam" are not a promise that the Messias should occupy the throne of David, but a throne above it in heaven —(Translator ),

me é — me are of Israel; neither are all they that are the ; _ of Abraham, children."

Continue, then, according ; this, and say, "similarly not all who are of Jacob ai

_ to be reputed of the house of Jacob.''

For Jacob an Israel are one and the same.

Therefore consider non to belong to the house of Jacob except such as are found to be perfect in the faith of Jacob; or rather recognise these as the spiritual and eternal house of e

Jacob, in which the Lord Jesus shall reign for ever. a Where is the man amongst us who, according to the — signification of the name Jacob, supplants the devil — in his heart and struggles against his vices and concupiscences, so that sin may not reign in his mortal body, but that, instead, Jesus may reign in him, here by grace and hereafter by glory?

Oh, how blessed is he in whom Jesus shall reign for ever, because he also shall reign with Jesus, "' and of his kingdom there shall be no end'"'!

Oh, how glorious is that kingdom in which " the kings of the earth shall assemble themselves and gather together"' in order to praise and magnify Him Who is above all, '"' King of kings and Lord of lords," from the contemplation of Whose divine splendour "the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father'!

Oh, if only the Lord Jesus would remember sinful me "in the favour of His people' when He comes into His kingdom!

Oh, if on that day when He is to " deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father,'' He would condescend to "visit (me) with His salvation, that (I) may see the good of His chosen, that (I) may rejoice in the joy of His nation, that He may be praised with His inheritance"' even by me!

Meantime, "come, Lord Jesus," and remove all scandals from Thy kingdom, which is

or soul, so that Thou Who art her rightful King, © t reign in her. For avarice hasentered and claims e for its own: vainglory desires to rule over me; pride shes to be my king ; sensuality says, "I will reign "' ; ambition, envy, jealousy, and anger contend in me concerning myself, as to which of them shall have the greatest power over me. I resist them as well as I can: I struggle against them according as I am assisted

_ by grace, I proclaim that the Lord Jesus is my only King. For Him I defend myself, because I acknowledge myself to be His subject.

I adhere to Him as my _ Lord and my God, and I declare that I have no king but the Lord Jesus. Come, then, O Lord, and " scatter

__ them by Thy power," that so Thou alone mayest reign In me, because " Thou art Thyself my King and my

God, Who commandest the saving of Jacob."

"And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

At first she prudently held her peace, whilst, still in doubt, she - "'thought with herself what manner of salutation _ this should be''; for, being humble, she chose rather to answer nothing at all than rashly to say what she knew not.

But now she has pondered the matter well and has been comforted, the Angel reassuring her exteriorly and God encouraging her interiorly—for He too is present to her, as the Angel has testified, saying, "'The Lord is with thee."

Therefore, being thus fortified, and having conquered fear by faith, and maidenly reserve by gladness, she asks the Angel,

"' How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

It is not that she doubts the fact : she only inquires concerning the means and the manner.

For she does not ask "whether shall this be done?" but, ' How shall this

Who i is "the Mines of my conscience, nee that handmaid has vowed to preserve her virginity, — what means and in what manner is He pleased th this be done?

Should it be necessary to set aside my — vow, in order to become the Mother of so great a Son

I shall rejoice indeed because of the Son, but I shal grieve at having to sacrifice my virginity : however, — may His will be done.

But if I am to conceive as a_ virgin and to bring forth as a virgin,—which, if He so please, is certainly within His aes to accomplish— then I shall know in truth that 'He hath a the humility of His handmaid.' " * " How shall this be done, because I know not man ?

And the Angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost — shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee."

Already she has been declared full of grace; and now it is said to her, "' The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.''

But how can she be full of grace without having the Holy Ghost, since He is the Giver of all graces?

And if the Holy Ghost is already within her, what means this promise of Him, as if He is to come upon heranew ?

Perhaps we have the explanation of this difficulty in the fact that the Angel does not simply say, "' the Holy Ghost shall come into thee'"' (venzet in te), but, "the Holy

Ghost shall 'supervene' upon thee '' (supervenret in te) ; because He has come to her before with an abundance of grace, and now it is announced that He shall "supervene,'' on account of the fulness and super- * Cf. A Lapide, Comment. in Lucam, c. i. 34 ; also St. Thomas,

Sum. Theol., Ill. q. xxx. a. 3.

ch He is prepared to pour v4 upon her.

But again, if she is already full of , how is she capable of receiving more?

And if > said to be already full?

Shall we suppose that e first fulness has filled her soul whilst the second is intended to fill her womb, so that the plenitude of the Divinity which even now dwells in her spiritually, as it has dwelt in many other holy persons, shall

_ begin to dwell in her corporally also, a privilege accorded to no other saint ?

The Angel therefore says, ''The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High

__ Shall overshadow thee.'"

What does he mean by the words, " And the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee'?

Let him who can, comprehend them.

_ But is there any creature—except perhaps her who alone merited to have in herself this most blessed experience—is there, I ask, any creature capable of comprehending with his intellect or of discerning by his reason how the inaccessible Splendour of the Godhead poured Itself into the Virgin's womb, and how of that small portion of her body which It animated and united hypostatically to Itself, It made a shadow, as it were, for her whole being, in order that she might be able to endure the approach and the presence of such intolerable brightness ? And possibly for this reason in particular it was said to her, '' The power of the Most

High shall overshadow thee," because, namely, the matter was thus shadowed in mystery, and because the knowledge of what the Blessed Trinity was pleased to accomplish, of Itself alone and directly, in and with the Virgin alone, was to be communicated to

none except her to whom alone was to be ae, foes In this sense, then, (as I Suppenel "and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee," that is, '' the manner in which thou shalt conceive by the Holy Ghost shall be so veiled and covered

__ and overshadowed in His most secret counsel by Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God, that none shall have knowledge of it save Him and thee."

It was as if Gabriel had answered the Virgin thus:

'' Wherefore askest thou me concerning that which thou art soon to experience in thyself?

Thou shalt know, thou shalt know, I say, and the knowledge shall fill thee with happiness: but none can instruct thee in this

| mystery except Him Who is its Author.

My mission is not to effect but only to announce to thee thy virginal conception.

And how this is to be accomplished, + as it cannot be made known except by Him Who shall accomplish it, so neither can it be learned except by her in whom it shall be accomplished.

And therefore also the Holy Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

That is to say, since it is not by man thou shalt conceive, but by the Holy Ghost, and since thou shalt conceive the Son of God, Who is the Power of the Most High, therefore also the Holy

Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

I mean by this, that not only He Who (as being the Power of God) shall come from the Father's Bosom into thy womb and overshadow thee, but also whatever He shall unite to Himself of thy substance shall be called the Son of God: just as, on the other hand, He Who is born of the Father before all ages shall

) enceforth thy Son also. But in such a : shall the Son Who is born of the Father be thy

Father, that nevertheless there shall not be two Sons but one. And although there is an infinite difference etween the Flesh Which this Son obtains from thee

| _ and the Divinity Which He derives from the Father, _ He shall not be only in part thy Son, and in part the Father's, but wholly and entirely the same Son of both thee and the Father." * _ "And therefore also the Holy Which shall be born

_ of thee shall be called the Son of God."

Notice with __ what reverence the Angel said, "' the Holy Which shall __ be born of thee."

For wherefore did he speak of "' the _ Holy" thus simply and without addition ? The reason

Re <5 as T believe, because he had no proper and suitable name for that most excellent, most magnificent, most venerable Something Which was to be taken from the Virgin's spotless flesh, and (with Its Soul) to be united to the Only-Begotten of the Father.

Had he called It "the holy Flesh," or "the Sacred Humanity," or | ~ the holy Infant," he would have seemed to himself

* That is to say, Christ is not merely the (natural) Son of God according to His Divinity and the Son of Mary according to His Humanity, but He is the Son of both His Father and His Mother according to His whole Self as the Word incarnate.

"She (Mary) is not merely the Mother of Our Lord's manhood, or of Our Lord's Body, but she is also to be considered the Mother of the Word Himself, the Word incarnate.

God in the Person of the Word, the Second Person of the All-glorious Trinity, humbled Himself to become her Son.

'Non horruisti Virginis uterum,' as the Church sings, ' Thou didst not shrink from the Virgin's womb.'

He took the substance of His Human Flesh from her, and clothed in It lay within her, and He bore

_ That might be which was to be born of the Virgi It was certainly Something holy and singularly holy, : by the sanctification of the Spirit and by Its personal union with the Word.

"And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age.'"' Why was it necessary © to announce to the Virgin that her hitherto sterile — cousin had also conceived?

Is it that she was still — perhaps doubtful, still hesitating to assent to the heavenly oracle, and therefore the Angel desired to — = convince her by the evidence of this other wonder?

— God forbid!

We read of how Zachary's incredulity © was punished by this same Angel, but nowhere do we

= find him reproving Mary for anything: rather we hear Elizabeth in the spirit of prophecy commending her faith and saying, '' Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord."

No, the true reason why her cousin's pregnancy was announced to the Virgin was in order that her joy might be multiplied by hearing of such a succession of prodigies.

For it was necessary that she, who was destined soon in the joy — of the Holy Ghost to conceive the Son of the Father's charity, should be prevented and flooded with an unprecedented inundation of gladness and love ; because it was only the most loving and the most joyous of hearts that could contain Him Who is the infinite

Treasure of divine love and sweetness.

Or perhaps for this reason was Elizabeth's pregnancy made known to Mary, because it was manifestly fitting that the Virgin should hear from the Angel before learning

n 'men a fact which was soon to be everywhere — published.

Otherwise it would have been thought that _ the Mother of God was excluded from the counsels of her Son, if she were kept in ignorance of what was

_ taking place so near her on the earth.

Or again, _ Mary may have been informed of her cousin's condi_ tion, to the end that, being notified now of the Saviour's, and now of the Precursor's coming, she might the _ better remember the time and order of the events,

_ and so be better able to make known the truth afterwards to the apostles and evangelists, as one who had been fully and supernaturally enlightened concerning all these mysteries from the beginning.

Or, finally, the purpose of telling the Virgin that Elizabeth had conceived may have been this: that the news of the elder cousin's condition might remind the younger of the claims of charity; so that the Virgin's hasty journey to the hill country to visit her kinswoman might afford the unborn Prophet an opportunity of rendering the first-fruits of his service to His still younger Lord ; and that, whilst the meeting of mothers and infants excited the joyous devotion of all, wonders should be followed by wonders more astonishing.

But, O-Virgin, do not entertain the hope that these magnificent promises which thou hast heard from the Angel are to be fulfilled by him.

And if thou wouldst know by whom, then, they shall be accomplished, attend to what the Angel adds, "' Because no word shall be impossible with God."'

As if he should say, '' For the fulfilment of the promises which I have faithfully made to thee, I presume not on my own strength, but on the power of Him Who has sent me; because no word shall be impossible with God."

For what word can be

ech 4 MOTH 5 ER 6

: = to ie Who hasmade all things by His Wo rd _ Nevertheless I should like to know why the Angel dic % not say, "' because no deed'' shall be impossible with God, instead of, " because no word."

But perhaps he preferred the latter expression, because as easily as men can say what they will, even when they lack the power of accomplishment, with the same ease, nay, with incomparably greater ease, God is able to fulfil in act whatever can be expressed in speech.

Let me put it more plainly.

If it were as easy for men to accomplish as to say what they will, then for us also in the same way no deed would 'be impossible.

As the case is, however, the familiar adage holds true, namely, that there is a wide difference between doing and saying, yet only for men, and not also for God.

For God alone it is the same thing to do as to say, and the same thing to say as to will.

Consequently, "no word shall be impossible with God."

To take an example.

The prophets were able to foresee and to foretell that the Virgin and her barren cousin would conceive and bring forth: yet surely they had not the power to bring to pass what they were capable of announcing.

But God Who gave His prophets the gift of foresight, with the same ease with which He could predict what He pleased through them, could afterwards, when He chose, accomplish by Himself whatever He had promised.

For with God there can be no discord between intention and promise, because He is Truth ; nor between promise and accomplishment, because He is Power ; nor between accomplishment and mode, because He is Wisdom.

And consequently, " no word shall be impossible with God."

O happy Virgin!

Thou hast heard what is to be

plishment.

Each is a matter for wonder, yet also — equally an occasion of joy. Therefore, " rejoice reatly, shout for joy, O Daughter of Jerusalem."

And ince "to thy hearing has been given j oy and gladness,"' let us also hear from thee the reply of gladness which we so eagerly long for; and then "' the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice."

Thou hast heard, I say, | what is to be accomplished in thee, and thou hast believed ; believe also what has been explained to thee concerning the mode of accomplishment.

Thou hast _ been told that thou shalt conceive and bear a Son: thou hast heard that this shall be not by man but. by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Behold the Angel now awaits thy answer: "it is time that he should return to the Lord Who sent him."

We also, O Lady, await from thy lips the sentence of mercy and compassion, we who are so miserably groaning under the sentence of condemnation.

For lo! the price of our Salvation is now offered to thee: if thou wilt only consent, we shall at once be set at liberty.

We have been created by the eternal Word of God, and behold we die: by thy momentary word we must be renewed and restored to life.

O Virgin most loving, Adam, now exiled from Paradise with all his miserable offspring, implores this favour of thee.

For this does Abraham entreat thee, for this David, for this all the other holy fathers, thine own ancestors, who are now dwelling in the region of the shadow of death.

See, the whole world, prostrate at thy feet, awaits thy answer.

And not without cause.

For on thy word depend the consolation of the miserable, the redemption of the captives, the pardon of the condemned, the

panies race.

OQ Virgin, ee not to answer.

Spe the word, O Lady, speak the word which all on e and all in limbo, yea, and even all in Paradise are waiting to hear.

Christ Himself, the King and Lo of all, longs for thy answer with a longing equal the ardour wherewith He "hath desired thy beauty because it is by means of thy consent that He has decreed to save the world.

Hitherto thou hast pleased Him by thy silence, but now thy speech shall give — Him more pleasure.

For behold He calls to thee from heaven, saying, "'O fairest among women, let thy voice sound in My ears."

Therefore if thou wilt give Him to hear thy voice, He will give thee to see our | salvation.

And is it not for this thou hast been supplicating, and sighing, and pouring out prayers with tears by day and by night ? What then? Art thou she

| 'to whom this hath been promised "or look we for another? ''

Nay, thou thyself art she, and there is none other.

Thou, I say, art she who has been promised, who has been expected, who has been yearned for, through whom the holy Patriarch Jacob hoped to receive eternal life, when, being now about to die, he exclaimed, "'I will look for Thy salvation, O Lord."

Thou art she in whom and by whom "God our King before the ages hath decreed to work salvation in the midst of the earth.'"'

Wherefore dost thou expect from another what is now offered to thyself?

Why hopest thou to receive through another that which through thee shall be soon given to the world, provided only thou wilt consent and say the word?

Make haste, therefore, to answer the Angel, or rather to answer the Lord through the Angel.

Say the word

al See the Word.

Utter thy human ceive the Divine Word.

Pronounce the transitory word _ and embrace the Word everlasting.

Why dost thou . hesitate ? Wherefore dost thou fear ? Believe, consent, and receive into thy womb the Word of the Father.

Let thy humility take courage, let thy modesty be confident.

It is in nowise expedient now that thy _ virginal simplicity should be forgetful of prudence.

O _ Virgin most prudent, in this matter alone thou mayest put aside all fear of presumption, because although modesty pleases by its silence, yet more necessary for us now is the charity of speech.

O happy Virgin, open _ thy heart to faith, open thy lips to consent, open thy bosom to thy Creator.

Behold the Desired of all _ nations is standing outside and knocking at thy door.

Oh, if He should pass on whilst thou delayest to open, and thou shouldst have to begin once more to seek with sorrow ' Him Whom thy soul loveth"!

Arise, therefore, and make haste to open to Him.

Arise by faith, make haste by devotion, open by consent.

"And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." Divine grace is always found in intimate union with the virtue of humility, because "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble."

The Virgin therefore replies with humility, in order that the seat of grace may be prepared in her.

" Behold," she says, ''the handmaid of the Lord,"

Oh, how sublime is the humility here manifested, which knows not how to yield to honour or to be elated with glory!

She is chosen to be the Mother of God, and she calls herself His handmaid ! Assuredly it is a sign of a more than common humility not to forget humility in the presence

we = eee ' r as S, = of such glory.

To be humble in abjection is 'not very great ; but it is great virtue indeed, and as r: as great, to be humble in the midst of honours.

Fo instance, were the Church, deceived by my hypocrisy} to advance such a miserable wretch as I to some pos of honour, even though not very exalted, God permitting this either on account of my own sins or because of the sins of those under me: should I not immediately forget what I really am and begin to suppose myself such as I am reputed by men, who. cannot see the heart?

Undoubtedly: I should give credit to public opinion, and turn a deaf ear to the | voice of conscience.

And estimating virtue by honour, not honour by virtue, I should account myself the more holy in proportion as I should find myself elevated above others.

You may see very many now in the Church, who, after being raised from a mean 'condition to honourable rank, and from penury to hry, = affluence, have become suddenly inflated with pride and forgetful of their former abjection, so much so indeed that they are ashamed of their kindred, yea, even disdain to acknowledge theif humble parents.

You may also see some wealthy persons aspiring to all kinds of ecclesiastical honours ; and then, having changed their dress without changing their morals, they congratulate themselves on their sanctity.

They deem themselves worthy of the positions which they have obtained by intrigue, and attribute to merit the honours which (if I may venture to affirm it) they have purchased for money.

However, I will say nothing more about such as these, who are blinded by ambition, and to whom honourable positions furnish occasions for pride.

But here are others to be seen, who (I grieve to say _ after despising the glory of earthly pomp, appear ekest and humblest of masters, to have become more rrogant and impatient than ever they were in the : world. And what carries perversity further still, many are unable to put up with the least contempt in religion, who, whilst living in the world, could make themselves appear nothing better than contemptible.

Their 'motive for entering the cloister would seem to be this, _ that since there was no chance of honours for them

- where honours were sought for by others, there at least _ they might hope for some honours where such things

_ were avoided by all but themselves.

Yet others I see— and the sight is an afflicting one—who, after entering the army of Christ, entangle themselves again in worldly affairs, again give themselves up to earthly solicitudes.

You may behold them displaying much zeal in the building of houses, whilst they neglect the care of their conscience.

Under the pretext of the common good, they sell their words to the wealthy and their greetings to matrons; aye, and contrary to the edict of their Divine Emperor, they covet the goods of others, and contentiously strive to recover their own, not attending to the Apostle, who announces in the name of his Sovereign; " Already indeed there is plainly a fault among you, that you have lawsuits one

_ with another. Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?"

Is it thus they have crucified the world to themselves and themselves to the world, who, whereas they were once scarcely known in their own hamlet or village, now passing from province to

the acquaintance of kings and the familiars of princes?

What shall I say of the religious habit itself, w. they no longer esteem for its worth even as a < fortable covering, but only for its value as a graceful — ornament?

And they pay more attention to t material habit which clothes their bodies than to t moral habits of their minds.

It is a shocking thing to say: the vain woman is now outdone in her own special art by the religious who looks more to costliness — in matters of dress than to use or necessity.

Even the outward form of religion is discarded by these eet soldiers of Christ, who value its livery not as a pro- | tection for their souls but as a becoming decoration for their bodies,—who, when they ought to prepare _ themselves for battle and to advance against the "powers of the air'' beneath the banner of poverty

(which the adversary so greatly fears) prefer in their : soft garments to exhibit the sign of peace, and thus

© voluntarily, and without striking a blow, place themselves helpless in the hands of their enemies.

The cause of such dreadful evils is to be found in the fact that the humility through which we abandoned the world has itself been abandoned by us, with the consequence that we are compelled once more to pursue the vain objects of worldly ambition, becoming as dogs that go back to the vomit.

Let us, therefore —I mean all who recognise themselves as belonging to this class—let us listen, I say, to the answer of her who, even when she was chosen to be the Mother of God, did not lose sight of humility.

'' Behold the handmaid of the Lord," she replied, 'be it done to me according to thy word."'

The words

> A ae ote it done to me "' are an expression not of doubt but of desire.

Hence, when she says, "' be it done to me - according to thy word," we must understand her as Nevertheless, it is also possible to regard these words as a prayer, since no one ever prays for anything

_ unless because he has faith and hopes to receive it.

_ And God wills that we should pray to Him even for _ what He has promised.

Perhaps the reason why He _ first promises what He designs to bestow is in order that the promise may excite our devotion, and that thus

_ what should otherwise be given gratuitously, may now be rendered as the reward of devout supplication.

So _ does our loving Lord, Who desires that all men should be saved, endeavour to extort merits for us from ourselves ; and He prevents us by bestowing upon us gratuitously what He may reward, because otherwise the reward itself should be given gratuitously.

The prudent Virgin was not ignorant of this when to the prevenient grace of gratuitous promise she joined the merit of fervent petition, praying, '' Be it done to me according to thy word."

As if she should say, ' Concerning the Word of the Father be it done to me according to thy word.

According to thy word, let the Word Who was in the beginning with God be made flesh of my flesh.

Let the Word, I pray, become to me not as a spoken word which passes away, but a Word conceived and abiding; a Word enclosed in a body of flesh, not a word expressed by the sound of the voice.

Let Him become to me not an audible word which sounds in the ear, but a visible Word that my eyes may see Him, a tangible Word that

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cs as ze eet ie Cte ge , my hands may hold Him, a portable Word that I carry Him in my arms.

And let Him not become me a written and silent word, but a Word incarn and living: that is to say, not a word inscribed dumb characters upon dead parchment, but the Wor of God in human form impressed upon the living page of my chaste bosom, impressed, I say, not by the agency of mortal hand, but by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Let Him become to me what He has become to none before and shall become to none after _ me.

God 'at sundry times and in divers manners _ spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets,' and the Word of the Lord is said to have come to the mouth of some, to the ear of some others, and even to the hand of other some: but my prayer is that,

according to thy word, He would vouchsafe tocome into my womb.

I do not ask that He should be orally pro- : claimed to me, or that He should be symbolically represented, but that He be silently infused, personally incarnated, corporally enclosed. Therefore let the Word of God, Who in Himself has neither the need nor the power to be made, let Him, I pray, condescend to be made flesh in me and for me, according to thy word.

According to thy word, let Him be made flesh for the whole world, but in a more particular manner for m7e,-* * The Saint is here taking the words '"' fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum "' to mean; Let him (the Word) be made (flesh) for me according to thy word.

It is the teaching of holy and enlightened men that the Incarnation was more for Mary's sake than for all the world beside —(Translator),

SSAQGY LZ ee

(ISSSSSSASSS

| | { I nial Z eX <u : x bil il WGEE: l LL i | ll

- #

SERMON PORTE PEASE OPT HE NATIVI

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

(SEPTEMBER 8 )

"My Beloved to me and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilie till the day break and the shadows retire ''—Cant. ii. 16, by Bes

Heaven rejoices to-day in the presence of the oe Mother and her memory is revered upon earth. So it is, my brethren, because to the blessed above belongs — the actual possession of all good, whilst we have to — be content with the memorials thereof; their portion | is the fulness of bliss, ours but a taste of the first- — fruits; they exult in the vision of the glory of God, we in His name.

'' Thy name, O Lord, is for ever," sings the Psalmist, "' Thy memorial, O Lord, from generation to generation''

(Ps. cxxxiv.

13).

Mark the expression, "'from generation to generation."

This evidently applies not to the holy angels but to men.

Do you wish to know for certain that we have here | on earth only the name and the memorial of God and that His presence is exhibited above? "Thus, therefore, shall you pray," said Christ,

"' Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name"' (Matt. vi. 9).

This is in truth the " prayer of faith,' (James. v. 15), the opening words of which remind us of our adoption

=~ — as the children of God and admonish us that the earth is but the place of our pilgrimage ; so that "' knowing that while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 6), we may begin to " groan within Go

Sic ane thes same sou teance therefore, the Paeint YS, ee even of pecs vA spirit before our live among the Gentiles" 'Jer. Lam. iv. 20, juxta LXX).

Re " Among the gentiles," yes, but not among the blessed panels: for there we shall live no longer under His

_ shadow, but in the full splendour of His divine glory.

_ "Tn the splendours of the saints, from the womb before the day-star I begot Thee"' (Ps. cix. 3): but these, as you know, are the words of the Heavenly Father _ addressed to His only begotten Son. se es It was under the shadow, not in the splendour,

3 _ that the same Son was brought forth by His Mother, yet under no other shadow than that wherewith the Most High Himself overshadowed her (Luke i. 35).

Rightly, therefore, does the Church sing—not the Church of the saints triumphant, which is above, amid the splendours of the saints, but that which is as yet in banishment here below—''I sat down under His shadow Whom I desired, and His fruit was sweet to my palate''

(Cant. ii. 3).

She had requested of the Bridegroom that He would show her the meridian brightness wherein He feedeth (Cant. i. 6), but her petition was refused, and instead of the fulness of light she obtained only the shadow: instead of the satiety she longed for she was given a foretaste.

Notice how she does not say, "I sat down under His shadow which I desired," but, "' under His shadow Whom I desired.'

For it was not the shadow she had so eagerly asked for, but the meridian splendour, the perfect light of the Perfect

"And His fruit," she adds, De my palate," that is, "to my taste."

'' How long w Thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow do my spittle?'

(Job vii. 19). How long must I be satisfied with what Thou offerest in the words, "' Taste and see that the Lord is sweet'"' (Ps. xxxiii. 9) ? Thr fruit, nevertheless, is sweet to the palate and delightfu to the taste, so that even for this much the Spouse had good reason to break forth into the voice of thanksgiving and praise (Is. li. 3). a But when shall it be said to us, '' Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved"

; (Cant. v. 1)?

'"' Let the just feast,'' sings the Psalmist, Ss but above "in the sight of God" (Ps. Ixvii. 4), and — a not here below under the shadow.

And the same :

Prophet says of himself, 'I shall be satisfied when | Thy glory shall appear''

(Ps. xvi.

15)...

The Lord ae 'Jesus also thus addressed His apostles:

"' You are = they who have continued with Me in My temptations; and I dispose to you, as My Father hath disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table.'

But where, O Lord?

"In My kingdom"

(Luke xxii. 28-30).

Truly "blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God" (Luke xiv. 15).

" Hallowed,' therefore, "be Thy name" by which "Thou, O Lord, art among us'' even now whilst we abide upon earth, " dwelling by faith in our hearts "'

(Ephes. iii. 17), for even now "' Thy name is called upon by us"' (Jer. xiv. 9). And may " Thy kingdom come'"' (Matt. vi. 10).

Yea, let that kingdom " which is perfect' come, and let '' that which is in part be

Gonemaway.'

-{1<Gor. xilic.

10).

'' Now," says the Apostle, 'you have your fruit unto sanctification,

e end life everlasting" (Rom. vi.

22). Life sting! A never-failing fountain which irrigates the whole extent of the paradise of God!

And not nerely does it irrigate: it floods, that " fountain of gardens, the well of living waters which run with a strc ng stream from Libanus'' (Cant. iv. 15); it is the iver the stream whereof "maketh the city of God joyful" (Ps. xlv. 5).

Now what is this fountain of life if it be not Christ the rd?

'' When Christ shall appear Who is your life," says the Apostle, 'then you also shall appear with Him in glory" (Col. iii. 4). Truly He Who is the fulness of all good emptied Himself (Phil. ii. 7) in order

_ to be '"' made unto us justice and sanctification and re- -demption "' (1 Cor. i. 30), although not yet appearing as our life, our glory, or our beatitude. For the '' Fountain is conveyed abroad"' in a stream even to us 7 ts

= waters flow "in the streets," although " the stranger _ partake not of them" (Prov. v. 16, 17).

This stream from the heavenly source descends to us through an . Aqueduct : it does not indeed exhibit all the fulness

_ of the Fountain, but it serves to moisten our dry and withered hearts with some few drops of the waters of grace, .giving more to one, less to another.

The Aqueduct itself is always full, so that all may receive of its fulness (John i. 16), yet not the fulness itself,

You have already divined, dearest brethren, unless I mistake, to whom I allude under the image of an Aqueduct which, receiving the fulness of the Fountain from the Father's heart, has transmitted the same to us, if not as it is in itself, at least in so far as we could contain it.

Yea, for you know to whom it was said, " Hail, full of grace" (Luke ii. 28).

But shall

Which Thos saw in vision (Gen. xxviii. eae. reach to heaven, nay, to be lifted higher than heavens, and to touch that Living Fountain of "t waters that are above the heavens"

(Ps. cxlviii. 4) 1 Even Solomon wondered at — and, as if despairing _ vu ¥ of the possibility, cried out, "' who shall find a valiant — woman" (Prov. xxxi. 10)?

In fact the reason why the streams of heavenly grace did not begin to flow down upon the human race for so long a time was this: that the precious Conduit whereof I speak did not as yet mediate between God and man.

Nor shall we be surprised that it was awaited for so many ages if we but remember how many years the just man was employed in building an ark '' wherein a few, — that is eight souls, were saved by water''

(1 Peter ili. 20), and that only for a very short time.

== But how did this Conduit of ours, this '' valiant Woman," attain to the loftiness of the Fountain ?

How indeed, save by the ardour of her desires, by the fervour of her devotion, by the purity of her prayer

?For it is written, '' The prayer of a just man pierceth the clouds'' (Ecclus. xxxv. 21). And who is just if not Mary, from whom the very Sun of justice has arisen upon us?

How, then, did she reach up even to the inaccessible Majesty but by knocking, by asking, by seeking ? (Matt. vii. 7). Yea, and she found what she was seeking, since to her it was said, '' Thou hast found grace with God" (Luke i. 30). What?

She was already '' full of grace'? and has she found yet more grace?

Oh, she indeed deserved to find what she sought who was not satisfied with her own plenitude

= i o

nig ba ontent with her own abundance, but, according — that which is written, '' They that drink Me shall thirst"'

(Ecclus. xxiv.

29)—solicited a superbundance that might suffice for the salvation of all. ence the Archangel reassured her, saying, '' The Holy host shall come upon thee "' (ibid. 35) and shall infuse into thy heart the precious balsam of His grace with such overflowing prodigality that it shall stream out on every side.

So in truth it is, my brethren, such has been our own experience.

For now at last are our "faces made cheerful with oil" (Ps. iii.

15).

_Now we have begun to exclaim, " Thy name is as oil poured out"' (Cant. i. 2) and '' Thy memorial, O Lord, from generation to generation."

Neither has this _ overflow been in vain: the oil poured out has not

been wasted, since therefore even " young maidens,"

_ that is, souls young in virtue, have learned to love the Bridegroom "' exceedingly" (Cant. i. 2), and the precious ointment, running down from the Head, has been communicated not alone to the beard, but even to the skirts of the garment (Ps. cxxxii. 3) Behold, O man, the counsel of God ; acknowledge the counsel of His wisdom, the counsel of His love.

Designing to irrigate the floor with the dew of heaven, the Lord first poured down upon the fleece all the precious liquid (Judges vi. 37): designing to redeem the human race He placed the whole ransom in the hands of Mary.

Wherefore this ? Possibly in order that Mother Eve might be excused by her Daughter, and that the complaint of the man against the woman might be hushed for evermore, Never again, O Adam, never again shalt thou say to God, '' The woman whom

Thou gavest me to be my companion gave me of the

Ais _ forbidden fruit"?

(Gen. iii. 12); but rather let thy words be henceforth:

''The woman whom Thou gavest me fed me with the fruit of benediction Here indeed we have a counsel full of love.

But pe chance we have not yet seen it all, perchance something remains still to be discovered.

That which I have told you is true undoubtedly, yet—unless I am deceived—it is not enough to satisfy your desires.

You have enjoyed the sweetness of the milk: perhaps if we labour the subject a little more we shall succeed | in extracting therefrom the fatness of the butter.

Let us, therefore, look more deeply into this matter, — and let us see with what sentiments of tender devotion the Lord would have us honour Mary, in whom He has placed the plenitude of all good; so that if there is anything of hope in us, if anything of grace, if anything of salvation, we may feel assured it has ~ overflowed unto us from her who "went up from : the desert flowing with delights"? (Cant. viii. 5). Oh, ee: ruly may we call her a garden of delights, which the ed Divine '' South Wind"' not merely "' comes and blows upon'' (Cant. iv. 16), but comes down into and blows through, causing its aromatical spices, that is, the precious gifts of heavenly grace, to flow out and to be diffused abroad on every side.

Remove from the heavens the material sun which enlightens the world, and what becomes of the day ? Remove Mary, remove this Star of the sea, of life's '' great and spacious sea "'

(Ps. ciii. 25), and what is left us but a cloud of involving gloom, and "the shadow of death"

(Job x. 22), and a darkness exceeding dense ?* * This paragraph with a portion of the following is used for the lessons of the Votive Office of the Blessed Virgin in the Cistercian Breviary —(Translator ),

efore, my dearest brethren, with every fibre, ; feeling of our hearts, with all the affections our minds, and with all the ardour of our souls,

-us honour Mary, because such is the will of God, Who would have us to obtain everything through the ands of Mary.

Such, I say, is the will of God, but intending our advantage.

For exercising a provident care for us, her poor children, in all things and through all things, the Virgin Mother calms our trembling fear, enlivens our faith, strengthens our hope, drives away our distrust, raises up our pusillanimity. Thou wast afraid,

_O man, to approach the Father; thou wast terrified at the mere sound of His voice, and soughtest to con_ ceal thyself amongst the foliage (Gen. iii. 8). Therefore

He gave thee Jesus as thy Mediator.

What shall not _ such a Son be able to obtain for thee from such a Father?

Doubtless He shall be '(heard for His reverence '' (Heb. v. 7): for '' the Father loveth the Son"' (John iii. 35).

Surely thou art not afraid of approaching Him also?

''He is thy Brother and : thy flesh'' (Gen. xxxvii. 27), " tempted in all things

_ like as thou art, but without sin"' (Heb. iv. 15); that He might become merciful" (Heb. ii. 17). Him Mary has given thee for thy Brother.

But perhaps thou standest in awe of the Divine Majesty of Jesus?

For although He has become man He has not ceased to be God. Perhaps thou desirest to have an advocate even with Him?

If so, have recourse to Mary.

In Mary human nature is found entirely pure, not alone pure from all defilement, but pure also from composition with another nature.

Nor do I deem it doubtful _ that she likewise shall be heard for her reverence, Assuredly the Son will listen to the Mother and the

; r will listen to » ittle behold the sinner's ladder, behold the main s of my confidence, the principal ground of my h

What ? Can the Son refuse aught to His own M or be refused aught by His Father?

Can the Son deny a hearing to her or be denied a hearing b'

Him?

Both suppositions are plainly impossible "Thou hast found grace with God," said the Archangel to Mary. Happy Virgin! Yes, dearest brethren

Mary shall always find grace with God, and_ grace alone is what we have need of.

Prudent Virgin! she does not ask either wisdom, as did Solomon (3 Kings ili. 9), or riches, or honours, or power, but only erace. :

For it is by grace alone we shall be saved.

= Wherefore then should we desire anything else 2 My brethren, let us seek grace and let us seek it — through Mary.

Through Mary, I say, because she — always finds what she seeks and can never suffer a disappointment.

Yes, let us seek grace, but " grace — with God," for with men " grace is deceitful'' (Prov.

XXX. 31).

Others may seek after merit, but let it be — our endeavour to find grace.

Why should it not be ~ so?

Is it not grace that has brought us hither?

Undoubtedly, it is '' the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed"

(Jer. Lam. iii. 22).

For what are a we?

What but so many sinners, so many perjurers, murderers, robbers: what but '' the refuse of this world and the offscouring of all? ''

(x Cor. iv. 13).* * This, of course, must not be taken literally, but in a spiritual sense : as in Sermon III. for the Epiphany we are told that to resist the inspirations of grace is to join with Herod and Pharao in slaughtering the Hebrew innocents.

In the same way, any slight infidelity or feeling of vanity may be viewed as participating im the malice of perjury or theft.

Or perhaps the holy Preacher had in mind the words Of St.

ae a Sa Pe a ee ee ee eh a : isa) ray 4 J into your own consciences, my price and . see that '' where sin abounded grace hath abounded mo (Rom. v. 20). Mary did not presume on her erit but solicited grace.

Indeed she depended so uch upon grace and was so far from being "' highinded" (Rom. xi. 20) that the Angel's salutation armed her.

'She was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be" (Luke i. 29).

For she considered herself _ unworthy of this angelic greeting, and we may fancy her asking herself in the words of Elizabeth, "" Whence is this to me that the Angel of my Lord should come to me?"

(ibid. 43).

But "fear not, Mary"

(ibid. 30), and be not surprised at the coming of the Angel, for One greater than even Gabriel has come

_ to thee.

Wonder not at the presence of the Angel _ of the Lord, for the Lord of the Angel is also with thee.

And, after all, what wonder is it that the Angel should show himself to thee who art already living an angelic life?

What wonder is it that the Angel should visit one whose life is as heavenly as his own?

What wonder, I say, that the Angel should salute " the fellow-citizens with the saints and the domestics of God"' (Ephes. ii. 19)?

For undoubtedly to live as a virgin is to lead an angelic life ; and they who neither marry nor are given in marriage ''shall be as the angels of God" (Matt. xxii. 30).

You perceive now, my brethren, that in this manner likewise our Aqueduct reached up to the Fountain of grace ; that it was not by her prayer alone that Mary

Augustine:

'"' There is no sin committed by any man which another would not also commit unless restrained by the grace of God" (Hom. 23) —(Translator ),

which, according to the Wise Man, " bringeth ne:

God"

(Wisdom vi. 20).

For she certainly w "virgin holy in body and in spirit" (x Cor. vii. say, "Our conversation is in heaven" (Phil. iii. 20)

Yes, " holy in body and in spirit,' so that there migh be no room for suspicion with regard to our Aqueduct.

Exceedingly high though it is, it has preserved its" integrity inviolate.

This Virgin is in truth ''a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up" (Cant. iv. 12), the living temple of the Lord, the sanctuary of the Holy

| Spirit.

No foolish virgin is Mary, for not alone is — she possessed of oil, but she has all the fulness of the

oil stored up in her vessel (Matt. xxv. 3). "In her ~ heart she hath disposed to ascend by steps"'

(Ps.

Ixxxill. 6), mounting up not merely by her prayer, — but also, as I have said, by the holiness of her cona versation.

Moreover, she '' went into the hill country = with haste and saluted Elizabeth'? and remained ministering to her "about three months"

(Luke 1.

39, 40, 56); so that the Mother could have said then what the Son shall say long after:

'' Suffer it to be so now, for so it becometh us to fulfil all justice' (Matt. iil.

15).

Here indeed we behold her ascending the hill country, ascending the mystical mountains, for her 'justice is as the mountains of God'"' (Ps. xxxv. 7).

And so we have here the Virgin's third mode of ascent, — the third strand of the "' threefold cord"' which "is not easily broken'

(Eccles. iv. 12).

Charity burned brightly in her seeking after grace, virginity shone resplendent in the immaculate purity of her flesh, whilst humility appeared sublime in her ministrations

Bs ared Ss é ae ¥ ae that Srecbiete himself ehalk be ex-_ "'? (Matt. xxiii. 12), what can there be more me than the humility of Mary?

Elizabeth was surprised to see her coming and exclaimed, '"' Whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?"

But let her be more surprised now when she learns that the Mother, like her Son,

'"' has come not to be ministered unto but to minister'"' (Matt. xx.

28).

Good reason therefore had the inspired singer, prophesying of Mary, to cry out in admiration, '' who is she that ascendeth * as the morning rising, fair as _ the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set

= in array ?"' (Cant. vi. 9). She ascended indeed above the whole human race, she ascended even to the angelic choirs, yea, even these she left beneath her and soared high aloft above the whole celestial creation.

For she must needs mount beyond the heavenly host in order to draw that living water which it is her destined office to pour down upon men.

" How shall this be done," she inquired of the Angel, " because I know not man?" (Luke i. 34).

Oh, in truth she was "holy in body and in spirit," since, as her words imply, she was then a virgin inviolate with the purpose of always preserving her virginity intact.

But the Angel in answer said to her, '' The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most

High shall overshadow thee" (ibid. 35). Which may be paraphrased thus: '' Do not ask me, O Virgin, how

* " Ascendit ''—a reading I have been able to find nowhere else.

The Vulgate pas ss Progreditur, " whilst in the Greek we find "'éxkumrovea,''

" peeping forth,'' more appropriate to the dawn—(Translator ie

e purpose shall oe Aes and I cannot reach it' (Ps. cxxxviii. ge "t Ghost, not any created spirit, 'shall come upon th for the thirsting earth hopes to receive through t hands a more excellent draught than it could ever expect from angelic ministrations.

When thou hast passed a little beyond them, thou shalt find Him Whom thy soul loveth (Cant. ili. 4).

I say '"'a little beyond them,'"' not as forgetting that the Lord is exalted infinitely above His angelic creatures, but to signify the fact that between Him and them is found no inter-. mediary.

Ascend, therefore, O Virgin, above the Virtues and the Dominations, above the Cherubim also

_ and the Seraphim; ascend to the very presence of = Him of Whom they sing with mighty voice from choir to choir, '' Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts"

(Is. vi. 3).

'' And therefore also the Holy Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke i. 35).

The Fountain of wisdom is the Word of the Father Who dwelleth on high.

This Divine Word — will become man, O Virgin, through thy co-operation, so that He Who can say, '"'I am in the Father and the Father is in Me" (John xiv. 10) may be able to say also, '' From God I have proceeded and come"'

(John viii. 42).

'In the beginning was the Word"

(John i. 1). Even then Wisdom's Well was full, but as yet only unto Itself.

Hence the Evangelist immediately adds, "and the Word was with God"

(ibid.), dwelling doubtless in ''light inaccessible"

(x Tim. vi. 16). The Lord, too, even in the beginning,

was ' 'thinking towards us Himes of peace and not of affliction "

(jer "xxix. Ti), * But. O=Derd, «tuesc SS thoughts of Thine are hidden in Thy mind and we know not what sentiments Thou entertainest towards us.

"For who hath known the mind of the Lord?

Or _ who hath been His counsellor ? '"' (Rom. xi. 34).

Therefore did Thy thoughts of peace materialise at last in works of peace: therefore was the Word made flesh and dwelleth among us (John i. 14) even now.

Yes, _ He dwelleth ''even now by faith in our hearts." (Ephes. iii. 17), He dwelleth in our memory, He dwelleth in our os thought ; He even descends so far as to dwell in our imagination. ae:

Before the incarnation, how could man conceive any image at all of his Maker, unless perchance he re__ presented Him in his heart under the image of an idol ?

For God was then unimaginable and inaccessible. He was altogether beyond the reach of sight and sensible conception.

But now He would be better known, He would make Himself an object as well to our eyes as to our intellects. How so, do you ask? By showing Himself to us lying in the manger, reposing on His Virgin

Mother's lap, preaching on the mountain, passing the night in prayer, suspended on the cross, pallid in death,

~ free among the dead" (Ps. Ixxxvii. 6), ruling over hell, rising on the third day, exhibiting to His apostles the places of the nails as the memorials of His triumph, and lastly mounting up to the highest heavens in the sight of a multitude of the faithful.

Now, which of these wonders cannot be made the subject of solid, loving, and sanctifying meditation?

And whiehsoaver of them I reflect upon, I am thinking of my God, and I know that in them all He is my God.

Dearest brethren,

EK é a Gy: rUTTY

eQ!

PFE LNO cae V cN es) we I TA a= ee } oo ew in ° + Fede 4 T have called it wisdom to " meditate on these things" .

(x Tim. iv.

15), and I have judged it prudence "eructate the memory of the abundant sweetness

} J (Ps. cxliv. 7) which in these beautiful berries th priestly Rod (Num. xvii.) has produced: which Mar

_ gathered on high and poured down abundantly upon us.

On high, I say, she gathered this honey and © above the sphere of the holy angels, for she received the Word from the Father's very heart, according to that which is written, '' Day to Day uttereth the Word" (Ps. xviii. 3). Now the Father undoubtedly can

> be called by the name Day, since His Salvation, that is, — Jesus the Son of God, is designated "' Day from Day"'

(Ps. xcv. 2). Perhaps the name of Day can be given to the Virgin also?

Most certainly; sheisin fact a most beautiful Day, a Day of dazzling light " that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright

__ as the sun.'"'

Consider, therefore, how Mary was ex-

alted as high as the holy angels by the fulness of her grace, and even higher than the angels by the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon her. There is charity in the angels ; they have purity also and humility : which of these virtues did not shine forth resplendent in Mary? But this point has been already discussed and established as well as was possible tome.

Let me now endeavour to show how she surpasses the angels.

I ask then: '' To which of the angels hath it been said at any time'' (Heb. i. 5), '' The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.

And therefore also the Holy That shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God?"

"Truth is sprung out of the earth" (Ps. lxxxiv. 12), not from the angelic creation; and '"' nowhere doth

eS eS eee eee He take hold of the angels, but of "the "seed of" @ _ Abrahom He taketh hold" (Heb. ii. 16). It is

. honour for the angels to be the ministers has Mary merited—to be the Lord's Mother.

Her divine maternity, therefore, is the Virgin's gative she is ""made so much better than the angels as she hath obtained a more excellent name already full of grace: that to her fervent charity, her

-unspotted virginity and her devout humility shoold _ be united the privilege of conceiving her Lord without human co-operation and bringing Him forth without pain. But there is something still more: not only did she conceive as a virgin and bring forth without experiencing the ordinary pains of parturition, but the Holy That was born of her is called and is in truth the Son of God.

For the rest, most dearly beloved, let us strive with all diligence, that the Word Who came forth unto us from the mouth of the Father and through the Virgin's womb shall not return to Him void (Is. lv. 11), but through the same holy Virgin let us render

Him back "grace for grace" (John i. 16).

Let us "eructate the memory of the abundance of His sweetness '' (Ps. cxliv. 7) until it shall be given us to enjoy His presence, and let the rivers of grace return to their origin so that they may flow down upon us again in greater abundance (Eccles i. 7). For unless they revert to their fountain-head they shall be dried up; if we are found unfaithful in that which is little

we shall not deserve to receive "that Stas is ee _ (Matt. xxv. 21).

Little, doubtless, is the remembran of God when compared to the delight of His presen little in comparison with the object of our desir although very great in comparison with our meri it is far less than what we long for but far more than we deserve. Wisely, therefore, does the Spouse in the Canticle return no little thanks even for this little.

For after saying to the Bridegroom, '' Shew me, go Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, z where Thou liest in the mid-day" (Cant. i. 6), and receiving but a comparatively slight consolation instead of the immense boon she had solicited; a taste = of '' the evening sacrifice'"' (Ps. cxl. 2) in lieu of the — mid-day feast: far from murmuring and losing heart

(as is commonly the case) she rather expresses her gratitude and shows herself in all things more fervent than ever.

For well she knows that if she gives Him proof of fidelity under the shadow of remembrance ie she shall infallibly attain to the meridian light of His presence.

Therefore '' you that are mindful of the = Lord, hold not your peace and give Him no silence "' a (Is. lxii. 6, 7). As for those who enjoy not the memory

__ but the presence of the Lord: they do not need to be exhorted; and the words addressed to them by another Prophet:

'' Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ; praise thy God, O Sion" (Ps. cxlvii. 1) : belong rather to congratulation than to exhortation.

But such as still "' walk by faith'' (2 Cor. v. 7) do require to be admonished not to "hold their peace'"' or to " give

Him—their God—silence.''

For He, '' the Lord God, will speak, He will speak peace unto His people, and unto His saints, and unto them that are converted 2

~ a ta aah NA Se ees ny i heart" (Ps. Ixxxiv.

9). Yea, as " with the holy Thou wilt be holy, O Lord, and with the innocent man

_ Thou wilt be innocent"' (Ps. xvii. 26): so wilt Thou listen to him that listens to Thee and wilt speak to L im that speaks to Thee.

For, my brethren, if you hold your peace'"' you thereby " give Him silence." ut hold your peace from what?

From the divine praises.

Attend to the Prophet: ''Hold not your peace and give Him no silence till He establish and till He put the praise of Jerusalem * upon the earth."

_ " Joyful and decorous praise'' (Ps. cxlvi. 1) is the _ praise of Jerusalem.

Unless, forsooth, we are to suppose that the angelic citizens of Jerusalem delight in mutual compliments and, as men, deceive one another with foolish flattery (Ps. Ixi. 10).

Almighty Father, may "' Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. vi. 10), so that "' the praise

= of Jerusalem' may be established upon the earth.

What is the case with us now?

The blessed angels E in the holy city above seek not glory from their brotherangels, whereas men here below desire to be praised by their fellow-men!

What intolerable perversity !

But let it belong only to such as "' have not the knowledge of God"' (x Cor. xv. 34), to them that "' have forgotten the Lord their God" (x Kings xii. 9). As for "' you that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace," desist not from His praise until it has been established and made perfect on the earth.

There is, indeed, a * So the Saint interprets the phrase " laudem Jerusalem," taking the indeclinable noun " Jerusalem " to be in the genitive case.

Butit is more probably in apposition with " laudem,"' and thus it was understood by the Douay Translators who have rendered:

'' Give Him no silence till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

The Greek is as ambiguous as the Latin —(Translator S

Peters! that es gts Fired. nay, Anat ae Beammendation just as there is speech also tha not good.

Otherwise the Prophet would not said, 'It is good to wait with silence for the salvati of God"' (Jer. Lam. iii. 26).

It is laudable to restrain _ the tongue from boasting, from blasphemy, from mu muring and detraction.

There is one that murmurs -in his heart on account of the oppressiveness of his — toil and "'the burden of the day and the heats"

(Matt. xx. 12) and finds fault with his superiors who — "watch as being to render an account of his soul"

(Heb. xiii. 17).

Such murmuring is a loud clamour _ in the ears of God; but this clamour of an obdurate soul is more certain than any silence to hush the voice of the Word, which it suffers not to be heard. There is another who, through " pusillanimity of spirit "'

(Ps. liv. 9) fails in hope : such failure is the most wicked word of blasphemy which " shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come" (Matt. xii.

32).

There is yet another who loves to "walk in great matters and in wonderful things above him"

(Ps. cxxx. I), saying to himself, "Our mighty hand hath done all these things"' (Deut. xxxii. 27), " thinking himself to be something whereas he is nothing

(Gal. vi. 3). What can He Who " speaketh peace unto His people" (Ps. lxxxiv. 9) have to say to such a one?

For this soul has no need of Him: "I am rich," she says, ''and made wealthy and have need of nothing"?

(Apoc. iii. 17). Now Truth Itself has said, '' Woe to you that are rich, for you have your consolation"?

(Luke vi. 24); and also, " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"' (Matt. y. 5). Therefore let us have peace within our souls

-censorious tongue, from the blasp lemous — and from the boastful tongue, because '' it is

1 to wait with this threefold silence for the salva1 of God."

Yes, for then one can say, '' Speak, d, for Thy servant heareth " (x Kings iii. 10) Thee e tongues just mentioned speak not ¢o but against the Lord.

Hence Moses could say to the malcontents, " Your murmuring is not against us but against the Lord" (Exod. xvi. 8).

_ But, dearest brethren, although you must be silent from murmuring, from diffidence, and from boasting, be sure not to hold your peace altogether "' and give as S Him no silence."

Instead of boasting, speak to the 'Lord in self-accusation, that you may obtain for_giveness for the past.

Instead of murmuring, speak to Him in thanksgiving, that you may receive more - abundant grace in the present.

And instead of losing _ heart, speak to Him in prayer, that you may obtain the gift of glory in the future.

Confess, I say, your _ Offences in the past, return thanks for present benefits,

_and then pray with all earnestness for the gifts of the future, so that He may not keep silent with regard to the forgiveness of your sins, the infusion of grace, and the promise of eternal glory in the life to come.

" Hold not your peace and give Him no silence."

Speak to Him so that He in turn may speak to you and each of you may be able to say with the Spouse in the Canticle, ''My Beloved to me and I to Him"

(Cant. ii. 16). A sweet voice this and a pleasant word.

It certainly is not the voice of a murmurer, it is rather the voice of a turtle-dove.

Ask me no longer, '' how shall we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land ?"

(Ps. cxxxvi.

4). For that land has ceased to be

says, ® land" fea: M12) The Bride had he ein ea "Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines'

(ibid. 15); and perhaps it was this that caused he to break out into the cry of exultation: '' My Beloved

_tomeandIto Him."

This voice is in truth the voice of a turtle, which, being singularly chaste in its habits, perseveres in fidelity to its mate, whether living or dead : just as " neither death nor life' can separate His

Spouse from the love of Christ (Rom. viii. 38). And — see whether anything has been able to alienate this beloved Bridegroom from the Bride so dear to His

Heart and cause Him to abandon her even when she sinned and forsook Him. A great gathering of clouds strove to intercept the light of heaven—for our iniquities made a division between us and our God

(Is. lix. 2)—but the Sun of justice put forth His ardent influence and melted them all.

For when wouldst thou, O religious soul, have come back to Him had He not remained constant in His love of thee, had

— He not cried after thee, '' Return, return, O Sulamitess : return, return that We may behold thee" (Cant. vi.

12)?

Therefore, do thou likewise continue faithful to Him, so faithful that no affliction or labours shall evermore have power to frighten thee away.

My brother, thou must, like Jacob, wrestle with the Angel and not allow thyself to be overcome, because

'the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away" (Matt. xi. 12).

'' My Beloved to me and I to Him''—what is this but wrestling ?

He has given proof of His love for thee ; let Him now have proof of thine.

The Lord thy God puts thee to

aq <4 it is no sign of reprobation.

Thy Beloved has been _ patient with thee; do thou in thy turn be patient with Him: ''Do manfully and wait for the Lord"

(ibid. 9). Thy sins were not able to conquer His patience.

Therefore let not His chastisements conquer _ thine and so shalt thou obtain a blessing.

But when?

_ At the dawn, when " the day breaks and the shadows tetire"' (Cant. ii. 17), when He has '"' established the _ praise of Jerusalem on the earth"

" Behold," so we read, "a man wrestled with him (Jacob) till morning "'

(Gen. xxxil. 24).

O Lord, '' cause me to hear Thy a mercy in the morning, for in Thee have I hoped"

(Ps. exlii. 8).

I will not hold my peace nor will I give Thee any silence until the break of dawn.

Would I might also say that I will give Thee no fast!

For Thou dost condescend even so far as to feed, but only "among the lilies." ''My Beloved to me," says the Spouse, " and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies "

= (Cant. ii. 16). This fits in very well with what we find earlier in the same Canticle, where, if you remember, the first appearance of the flowers is said to synchronise with the first sound of the turtle's voice (ibid. 12).

Yet notice that the Spouse does not inform us what her Beloved feeds on, but only indicates the place of His feeding ; she tells us where He eats His food without explaining what the food is.

Perhaps we are to suppose that He finds His refreshment not so much in the actual eating of the lilies as in being amongst them : that He loves to be surrounded with lilies, even though

He does not make them His food.

For lilies please

fas rather by 'their Cdn fon by their taste Tae th are more capable of satisfying the eye than appetite. 'i The Beloved, therefore, '' feedeth among the lilie till the day break," and to the loveliness of the flower: there succeeds the richness of the fruits. For the present life is the season for flowers rather than for fruits, since we have to be satisfied with hope without — e: possession ; and whilst ''we walk by faith and not by sight' (2 Cor. v. 7) our joy comes more from the expectation than from the actualfruition of good.

Consider, I pray you, the fragility of these flowers, — and recollect the Apostle's admonition : '' We have this

_ treasure in earthen vessels'"' (2 Cor. iv. 7). Oh, how many dangers do we not see threatening the flowers of virtue!

How easily they can be punctured by the points of the thorns that surround them!

Not without cause, therefore, does the Beloved sing: "'As the lily among the thorns, so is My love among the daughters "'

(Cant. ii. 2). Surely a "lily among the thorns" was the soul that said, '"' With them that hated peace I © was peaceful'' (Ps. cxix. 7). But '' although the just man springeth forth as the lily" (Ps. xci. 13; Osee xiv. 6), not where there is but one lily will the Bridegroom deign to feed, for He takes no delight in © singularity.

Listen to what He says Himself, He Who makes His home among the lilies : '' Where' there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. xviii. 20).

Mark:

"in the midst.''

Jesus always loves the middle place ;

the Son of man, the '' Mediator of God and men"

(x Tim. ii. 5) shows a constant dislike for holes and» * Cf. Sermons LXX.-LXXI. on the Canticle of Canticles.

Bc letadis

s.* 'My Beloved to me and I to E re aN among the lilies."

- Dearest breth Who | then the Beloved will sometime show Himself so - condescending as to come to feed even in us.

Needless to say, He was wont to feed in Mary, _ and that the more abundantly in proportion to the multitude of lilies He found in her.

What but a lily was the splendour of her virginity?

What but _ lilies the glory of her humility and the supereminence of her charity?

Yet we also, my brethren, can possess lilies, although of a far inferior kind.

But even amongst these the Bridegroom will not disdain to feed: if yet the cheerfulness of our devotion beautifies those acts of thanksgiving whereof I have already spoken, if purity of intention brightens our prayer, if our con- * It is interesting to note how often and how variously Jesus is assigned the middle place.

As the Second Person of the .

Divinity, He occupies the middle place between the Father _ and the Holy Ghost ; as the Logos, the uncreated Image of God

(Col. i. 15), He can be said to mediate between God and the visible creation; and He is the one appointed Mediator between God and man.

He was born at midnight, He was laid in the manger in the midst of the animals—" expavi in medio duorum

-animalium "' as the Church sings in her Christmas office—He was found 'sitting in the midst of the doctors" (Luke ii. 46), He

'' wrought salvation in the midst of the earth " (Ps. bextii-12}, He promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name He will be in the midst of them (Matt. xviii. 20), He

Stood in the midst of the people that knew Him not (John 1.26), He passed through the midst of his enemies (Luke iv. 30),

"They crucified Him and with Him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the midst " (John xix. 18), after the resurrection He is often described as appearing in the midst of the disciples (Luke xxiv. 36 ; John xx. 19, 26), St. Paul represents

Him as being in the midst of the church (Heb. ii. 12), and John saw Him in the midst of the golden candlesticks (Apocs i 75, ii. 1) and of the throne (v. 6, vii. 17) —(Translator ),

forgiveness ; fore to that which is written : your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as as snow, and if they be red as crimson ee sha ae white as wool" (Is. i. 18). a But, my brother, whatsoever thou hast a min offer to the Lord be sure to entrust it to Mary, so thy gift shall return to the Giver of all grace throu the same channel by which thou didst obtain it. G of course had the power, if He so pleased, to communicate His grace without the interposition of this

Aqueduct.

But he wanted to provide us with a needful © intermediary.

For perhaps "thy hands are full of © blood" (Is. i. 15) or dirtied with bribes: perhaps thou hast not like the Prophet "shaken them free from all gifts'"' (Is. xxxiii. 15).

Consequently, unless thou wouldst have thy gift rejected, be careful to commit — a2 to Mary the little thou desirest to offer, that the Lord may receive it through her hands, so dear to Him : : and most ° 'worthy of all acceptation"' (x Tim. i. 15).

For Mary's hands are the very whitest of lilies; and assuredly the Divine Lover of lilies will never complain of anything presented by His Mother's hands that is not found among the lilies.

Amen.

Hail, Mary, Full of Grace!

Grant me Thy grace most merciful Jesus, that it may be with me and may labor with me and continue with me to the end.

ON THE FAITH AND VIRTUES OF THE

BLESSED VIRGIN

é " Wisdom hath built ee @ house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars Prov, ix. I.

"Wisdom hath built herself a house."

First of all, my brethren, it is necessary to enquire what is the — wisdom spoken of here.

For there is more than one 5 kind of wisdom.

We have heard of the wisdom of the ~ flesh which is "the enemy of God" (Rom. viii. 7). ee have heard also of the wisdom of this world which "foolishness before God" (x Cor. iii. 19).

Both of Rss are, in the words of the Apostle James, "' earthly, sensual, devilish '' (James iii. 15). According to wisdom in either of these senses a man is called wise when he is skilled to do evil and knows not how to do good

(Jer. iv. 22). And in this his wisdom, he merits reproof and meets destruction, as it is written:

"I will catch the wise in their own craftiness"' (x Cor. iii. 19), "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject " (x Cor. i. 19).

It seems to me that we may, without untruth or impropriety, apply to those endowed with this kind of wisdom the words of King Solomon:

'' There is an evil that I have seen under the sun: a man who is wise in his own conceit."

Now all such wisdom, whether of the flesh or of the world, is obviously quite incapable of building anything solid, nay, it will rather destroy every house where it is permitted to dwell.

There ei is, however, another kind of wisdom " that is from 4g O35

acai ate.

Sie Seon ae om ove," and " first indeed is chaste, then peaceable"

9S iii. 17). This, my brethren, is none other than ist Himself, "' the Power of God and the Wisdom God" (zr Cor. i. 24), Who, as the Apostle further testifies, "is made for us of God wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption "' (ibid. 30).

_ This Divine Wisdom, then, Who was with God and _ was Himself God (John i. 1), coming down to us from the - bosom of the Father, '"' hath built Himself a house," that is, hath fashioned for Himself a Mother, the - glorious Virgin Mary, and in that most holy house He

"hath hewn out seven pillars."

Now, what means the expression, '' He hath hewn out in His house seven pillars," except that He hath prepared His Mother

_ by faith and good works to be a dwelling-place worthy of His Majesty ? For three added to four make seven.

_ Now, the number three belongs to faith because of the Blessed Trinity, the principal object and mystery of

faith ; whilst the number four is consecrated to good works on account of the four-fold cardinal virtues.

I say, then, that the Three Persons of the august Trinity dwelt in the holy Virgin by the presence of Their undivided Majesty, although the Son alone was in her by the assumption of human nature.

So much is clear from the words of the heavenly envoy, who, in revealing to Mary the profound depths of this mystery, said to her, '' Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee "

(Luke i. 28).

And a little further on: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Most

High shall overshadow thee"' (ibid. 35). Behold now O most happy Virgin, thou hast the Lord, thou hast the Power of the Most High, thou hast the Holy Ghost.

Thou hast consequently the Three Divine

F or 'thie Bother cence be raat the Son, or. the without the Father, or without Both the Holy Spi

Who proceeds from Both.

Hence the Son once sai His disciples, ''Do you not believe that I am in Father and the Father in Me?" (John xiv. 10). "And again, '' The Father Who abideth in Me, He doth the works " (ibid.).

It is manifest, therefore, that faith in the Trinity was found in the Virgin's heart, since it is by faith that God dwelleth in the hearts of the ue

(ph. 2ili.* 17); Was she also endowed with the four cardinal virtues ?

This is a question that seems well worthy of our consideration.

In the first place, then, let us see if she — possessed fortitude.

But how could that virtue have — been wanting to one who, renouncing the pomps of the —s_— world and the pleasures of the flesh, was determined to = live to God alone in the holy state of virginity?

Unless I mistake, it is of this admirable Virgin King Solomon speaks when he says, "' Who shall find the valiant woman?

Far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her'' (Prov. xxxi. Io).

So great indeed was her fortitude that she crushed the head of the " old serpent' (Apoc. xii, 9), as the Lord had predicted: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed : she shall crush thy head " (Gen. iil.

15). That she was temperate, prudent, and just is as clear as the daylight from the words addressed to her by the Archangel, and from her own words in reply. For when

— Gabriel saluted her with such extraordinary marks of respect, saying, '' Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee," far from exulting at the thought that she was

* Christ is called the Power of God (1 Cor. i, 24).

- A Cer at and privileges, she — erself what manner of salutation this might be"

(Luke i. 29).

Does she not appear in all this a most beautiful model of temperance ? And does she not give

_ being informed by the Angel of the heavenly mysteries about to be accomplished in her, she made careful enquiries as to the manner of her conception and parturition, because, as she said, she knew not man

(Luke i. 34)?

She practised justice * in the highest degree when she acknowledged that she was but the handmaid of the Lord (ibid. 38).

For such confession is characteristic of the just, as the Prophet testifies where he says, speaking to the Lord, '"' But as for the just, they shall confess to Thy name, and the upright shall dwell with Thy countenance." (Ps. cxxxix. 4).

And in another place we find this instruction for the just : '' You shall say in your confession: all the works of the Lord are exceeding good " (Eccles. xxxix. 20 21).

Accordingly, my brethren, the Virgin Mary is a model of fortitude in her purpose to remain unmarried, of temperance in her silence under praise, of prudence in her inquiries, of justice in her confession.

And it was with these four pillars of the moral virtues, added to the three others of faith—of which I have already spoken—that the Divine Wisdom built for Himself a * According to St. Bernard, humility is a part of justice, whereby we give God what is due to Him and attribute to ourselves that which alone is ours—sin and nothingness: just as pride may be viewed as opposed to justice, since it consists in the appropriation by the creature of what belongs to God.

Moralists, however, look upon humility as a subordinate part of the virtue of temperance.

Cf, Hickey, Ethica, p. 117 — (Translator).

and He so filled her mind th _ the fulness thereof her very flesh was fertilised, an brought forth, clothed in flesh, the same Wisdom | had first conceived in her spotlessly pure spirit. for ourselves, dearest brethren, if we also desire a0) become the house of uncreated Wisdom, it is necessary that we should be propped up with these same seven pillars, that is, we must be prepared to receive Him with faith and good works.

With regard to the moral virtues, I am of opinion that justice alone will suffice — us, on condition, however, that it embraces in itself the other three.* Therefore, lest it be deceived by a ignorance or error, it must have prudence for guide =a and let temperance walk at its right hand and fortitude — at its left, for otherwise it will be liable to slip and fall by bending unduly to one side or the other.

* How the perfection of Justice includes the other three cardinal virtues is explained in the Treatise on Consideration, ch. viii. a

ST SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE.

ANNUNCIATION

Mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have ee _ kissed."'—Ps. Ixxxiv. 11.

"That glory may dwell in our land, mercy and th have met each other, justice and peace have kissed."

"' Our glory," says the great Apostle, "' is this, the testimony of our conscience" (2 Cor. ii. 12). Not such testimony as the proud Pharisee obtained, for although his deceived and deceiving conscience gave testimony to him, we know that testimony was not strue (Luke. xviii.

I1,.12, John xix. 35): but the testimony which " the Spirit Himself giveth to our spirit" (Rom. viii. 16)—it is in this testimony we place our glory.

Now it seems to me that this _ divine testimony consists in three convictions.

For we ought to believe, in the first place, that we cannot obtain the pardon of our sins otherwise than through the mercy of God; secondly, that we are powerless to do any good work whatever except by His grace; thirdly, that by no works of ours can we merit eternal life, unless it is His good pleasure to bestow upon us this also as a free gift.* 'Who can make him clean that is conceived

* But how can we be said to merit what is bestowed upon us as a free gift?

In Chapter xiii of the Saint's classic work on Grace and Free Will, we find the explanation: That which is a gift as the fruit of God's free grace is merited by our cooperation with grace; eternal life is truly given as a reward, because it crowns our merits; nevertheless, it is also a gratuitous gift because the merits which it crowns are themselves the fruits of God's antecedent grace:

'' Merita tua si bona sunt Dei dona sunt,"' says St. Augustine —(Translator ) .

of unclean seed"' save only Him Who alone is clear _ (Job xiv. 4). Undoubtedly, that which has been do

_ can never be undone: yet if God wills not to imp it, it shall be as if it had not been.

The Prophet h this in mind when he exclaimed, '' Blessed is the m to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin"' (Ps. xxxi. 2).

With regard to good works, it is absolutely certa that no one can perform them of himself. For if human nature was unable to stand, even whilst still in its integrity, how much less shall it be able, corrupted as it now is, to rise from its fall?

It is manifest that all things tend of themselves to return to their origin, — E and are always more easily moved in that direction. —

So it is even with us.

From nothingness we have. been created, and you know, my brethren, that ifleft to ourselves we are constantly tending to sin, that is to say, to nothingness.* Now, as to eternal life, we know " that the sufferings

| of this time are not worthy to be compared with the — glory to come"' (Rom. viii. 18), no, not even if one man were to endure them all.

For human merits are -* That is to say, the radical reason of our proneness to sin

~ — is found in our origin from nothingness.

Compare this with the following from Father Rickaby: ''I suggest that a world

clear of all evil is an intrinsic impossibility and that the reason es why God never made such a world is that it is not makable.... is I am led to conjecture the intrinsic necessity of evil ' patrolling,' as Plato says, 'all mortal nature and this region of earth' not from any speculation on the nature and attributes of God but from the consideration of the abyss of nothingness out of which every creature is drawn.

This kinship with nothingness clings to all creatures.

The creature cannot put off the traces of its origin, and it is twofold.

Inasmuch as it comes of God it has whatever of goodness and positive being there is in it.

But inasmuch as it is drawn out of nothingness there attaches to it from the first a certain defectibility, a proneness to decay and failure—in fact, to evil''

(Oxford and Cambridge Conferences, p. 139) —(Translator ).

are themselves only the gifts of God, so that even on their account man is more indebted to God than God to man: what, I ask, is all that man can merit in com_ parison with the glory of paradise, immense and eternal ?

Where shall we find a holier man than the Royal se Prophet, to whom the Lord Himself rendered such excellent testimony, when He said, "' I havefound David, a man according to My own heart" (Acts xiii. 22) ?

Nevertheless, even he was obliged to say to God, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant"

(Ps. cxlii. 2).

Therefore, '' Let no man deceive himself "

(x Cor. iii. 18), for if one only takes the trouble to = examine the matter as he ought he shall certainly

. find that not even "' with ten thousand will he be able * This seems at first sight to clash with the definition of the Council of Trent, Sess. 6, c. 16, can. 32: '' If anyone says that the good works of a justified man are the gifts of God in such a sense that they are not also the merits of the justified man himself ; or that the justified man, by the good works he performs through the grace of God and the merits of Jesus Christ of Whom he is a living member, does not truly merit an increase of grace, life eternal, and the actual attainment of life eternal

—provided he dies in the grace of God—and even an increase of glory, let him be anathema.''

But the contradiction is only apparent.

The Saint is speaking of our merits, viz., our good works, considered apart from God's free acceptance and promise of reward.

Now, in the view of perhaps the majority of theologians such acceptance and promise are essential for the condign meritoriousness of even our supernatural good works proceeding from grace ''God is made our debtor," writes St.

Augustine, "not by receiving anything from us, but by His own promise.

We say to a man: thou art in my debt because thou hast obtained of me; but to God: Thou art in my debt because Thou hast given me a promise.

Thus, therefore, we can demand our due from Him, saying:

' Render what Thou hast promised, for we have done what Thou hast enjoined ' "'

(Sermon 158) —(Translator ),

Mito meet 'Him 'That AG twenty nee come against him" (Luke xiv. 31).

But, my brethren, these truths of which I fave ust been speaking are by no means sufficient : they oug! ts rather to be considered as the beginning and, as i were, the foundation of faith.

If, then, thou believes: that thy sins can be blotted out by Him alone agains Whom alone thou hast offended (Ps. 1. 6) and to Whom alone sin has no access, '' thou dost well" z (James ii. 19) : but advance a step further and believe © this likewise, that He has in effect forgiven thee thy transgressions.

Such is the testimony which the Holy Spirit renders in thy heart, saying, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee "' (Matt. ix. 5). Andso St. Paul "' accounts" a man to be justified freely by faith'' (Rom. iii. 28).

With respect to merits also, it is not enough to believe that they cannot be acquired except through the grace of God, unless the Spirit of truth testifies to thee that thou hast thus actually acquired them.

Similarly, as regards eternal life, thou must have the testimony of the Spirit that thou shalt certainly attain to it by the divine assistance.

For it is the Spirit Himself Who pardons our sins, it is He Who gives us our merits, and it is He also Who renders to us the reward of our merits.

My brethren, these "testimonies are become exceedingly credible"

(Ps. xcii. 5).

In the first place, I have in the Lord's passion the most conclusive evidence as to the pardon of my sins.

For the voice of His Blood, Which has far greater force than that of the blood of Abel (Heb. xii. 24), proclaims aloud in the hearts of the elect the remission of all their offences.

'He was delivered up for our sins,' says the Apostle

been minlore Sere ne oficacious unto good for than our sins have been unto evil. Next, as to good rks, I possess an equally strong proof in the fact of he Lord's resurrection, for '' He rose again for our istification''

(ibid.).

And concerning the hope of reward, I have the testimony of His ascension, because moe He ascended for our glorification (John xiv. 2). We

~ find reference in the psalms to this threefold effect of divine mercy.

In one place the Prophet sings, '' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin"

(Ps. xxxi. 2), in another, '' Blessed is the man whose help is from Thee'

(Ps. Ixxxiii. 6), and elsewhere, _ " Blessed is the man whom Thou hast chosen and taken to Thee: he shall dwell in Thy courts" (Ps.

Ixiv. 5). Here, my brethren, you have true glory, a glory that dwells within us, because it is a glory given by Him Who " dwelleth by faith in our hearts'

(Ephes. iii. 17). But the children of Adam, " seeking glory one from another," had no desire for '"' the glory which is from God alone" (John v. 44).

And thus, 'pursuing the glory which comes from without, they possessed glory indeed, yet not so much in themselves as in the mouths of others.

Do you desire me to tell you, brethren, whence man has this indwelling glory? I will endeavour to satisfy you in a few words, because I am anxious to proceed without further delay to a discussion of the mystical sense of my text.

For it was this alone I purposed to investigate carefully in the words of the Prophet ; but that apostolic utterance regarding internal glory and the testimony of conscience suggested itself at once to my mind and turned my thoughts to the con-

mee a _ sideration of the moral sense.* I say, then, that tl indwelling glory is found even here on this earth o ours wherever "' mercy and truth have met each other, and justice and peace have kissed."

For it is necessary — that the preventing mercy of God be met by the truth of our confession and that thenceforth we should "follow peace and holiness, that is, justice, without which no man shall see God" (Heb. xii. 14). Whena man begins to feel compunction for his sins, that is — an effect of the divine mercy by which he is already — prevented.

But it does not enter his heart until it is met by the truth of his confession.

'' I have sinned against the Lord," said David to the Prophet Nathan, when rebuked by the latter for his double crime of | adultery and homicide.

And the Prophet replied, "The Lord also hath taken away thy sin"' (2 Kings Xli. 13). Yes, because "' mercy and truth had now met each other.'"'

So much is necessary that we may "decline from evil"

(Ps. xxxvi.

27), but to " do good"' (ibid.) we must " praise the Lord in timbrel and in choir" (Ps. cl. 4), that is to say, we must have

* With St. Bernard, the moral sense of a Scriptural text ' signifies the practical rules of conduct derivable therefrom, ee whilst the mystical sense has reference to hidden truths of the speculative order.

The more common way is to distinguish first between the literal sense which belongs immediately to the inspired words, and the mystical sense which is derived mediately from the words, immediately from the actions or objects signified by the words.

The latter is then subdivided into the allegorical sense, which deals with what we must believe, the analogical, which concerns the objects of our hope, and the tropological or moral, which reveals to us our duties, and so has reference to charity, since " charity is the fulfilling of the law' (Rom. xiii. 10).

All this is found neatly expressed in the distich :

"Litera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, | Moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.

—(Translator.)

reas "aag oa te . ee ; :

' gs 3. =" & 's :

M :

. ea

oe "eee , ; and and concord in bodily mortifica in the o the right hand or to the left.

For there are some hose "right hand is the right hand of iniquity"

(Ps. cxliii. 8). Such was that proud Pharisee of whom I _ asthe rest of men: but, as before remarked, " he gave

: testimony of himself, so his testimony is not true"'

(John viii. 13).

But securely may he glory in whom__-soever "mercy and truth have met each other and — _ justice and peace have kissed': only let him glory not in himself but in the " Spirit of truth" (John

____-Xiv. 17) Who renders testimony to him (2 Cor. x. 17).

= "That glory may dwell in our land, mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed."

My brethren, if " a wise son is the glory of his father "

(Prov. x. I), since no one can be wiser than the Son of God, Who is Wisdom Itself, it evidently follows that the glory of the Eternal Father is Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God"? (z Cor. i. 24).

Therefore, inasmuch as "at sundry times and in divers manners" (Heb. i. I) it was predicted of Him by the prophets that He would be seen upon earth and would converse with men (Bar. iii. 38) : the Psalmist indicates in these words how that has been fulfilled, and how, all things being accomplished which were foretold of Him in the Scriptures, '' Glory has dwelt in our land."

It is as if he said in clear terms: " In order that the Word might be made flesh and dwell among us (John i. 14) mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed."

We have come, my

ae :

. brethren, to a most profound mystery, a mys worthy to be investigated with all diligence ; alas ! we have neither minds powerful enough to fathom it, nor, given a true understanding thereof, have we words capable of communicating our thought.

How.

~ ever, I will offer you my own humble sentiments, such : as they are, in the hope that they may at least " give an occasion to a wise man"' (Prov. ix. 9).

It seems to me, then, most dearly beloved, that I behold the = first man, fresh from the hand of his Creator, adorned in particular with four virtues and, in the words of the Prophet, "clothed with the garments of salvation"

(Is. Ixi. 10).

For in these four the whole of salvation consists nor can it be had without the united presence of them all: especially as they cease to be virtues if they are separated from each other.

The first man, therefore, received from God the virtue of mercy as a guardian and attendant which should at once go before and follow after him, watch over and protect him everywhere.

You perceive what kind of foster-parent the Lord found for His little one, what a valet He provided for newly-created man.

But man, as being a noble and rational creature, had also need of a tutor, to the end that he might not be cared simply as a brute beast, but brought up as a well-beloved child, Now for this office no better master could be found than truth itself, which would sometime lead its pupil to a knowledge of the Supreme Truth.

But, in the meantime, lest he should be found '' wise to do evils"

(Jer. iv. 22) and as " knowing to do good and not doing it, it should be sin to him" (James iv. 17), he was given justice to guide his steps.

Furthermore, he received from the hand of his most beneficent Creator the addi-

uld any external creature inspire him with alarm.

For we are told that it was Adam who as their lord imposed what names he pleased upon all the animals

_ Gen. ii. 19), and even the serpent itself did not dare to attack him with violence, but had recourse to cunning instead.

What, then, was wanting to him who had mercy to guard him, truth to instruct him,

_ justice to guide him, peace to console him ?

_ But, alas! this creature so highly favoured '' went | down from Jerusalem to Jericho" (Luke x. 30), "' unto his folly" (Ps. xxi. 3) and utter ruin.

For he " fell among robbers" (ibid.) by whom, as we are told, he ___was first of all stripped of his clothes.

Is it not manifest that he had been stripped indeed who at the coming of the Lord complained of his nakedness (Gen. iii. 10) ?

Neither could he be reclothed nor recover the garments of which he had been despoiled except on condition that Christ lost His own garments. For just as he was not able to regain the spiritual life of his soul save through the corporal death of Christ, in the same way he could not recover the garments taken from him until Christ was stripped of His own.

And consider if it be not on account of these four virtues which made up, as its four parts, the mystical vesture lost by the first and old Adam, that the vesture of the second and new Adam was also divided into four parts

(John xix. 23). Perhaps you desire me to tell you now *« Intus pugnae, foris timores " : whereas the Apostle writes;

""foris pugnae, intus timores.'

oat i abid:y of the New, which was not divide b disposed of by lot?

I am of opinion that it was t divine image: for this is nothing sewed on, bu rather implanted and impressed on our very nature, and is incapable of being either parted or rent. M was made to God's image and likeness (Gen. i.

26), to the image of God in his powers of understanding — and free-choice, to the likeness of God in his endowment of virtues.

The likeness was lost by sin, '' nevertheless man continueth as an image'' (Ps. xxxviii. 7).

For not even the fire of hell shall be able to consume, _ although it shall certainly cauterise this image ; it shall x burn yet not efface it.

The image, therefore, is not divided but has its destiny decided by lot. And wher- | Ee ever the lot of the soul may be cast, there shall the — image be too.

The same is not true of the likeness: this abides in the good, but when the soul becomes guilty of sin, she at once undergoes a miserable change, losing her resemblance to her Creator and " made like = to the senseless beasts'' (Ps. xlvi. 13).*

But as I have stated that man was despoiled of all his four virtues, it will be well to explain in what

— manner he was despoiled of each.

Justice was lost ~ to him when Eve hearkened to the serpent's voice and — Adam to Eve's rather than to the voice of God. There was still, however, one resource left to them which they might have availed of ; and the Lord Himself suggested it to them by the examination He put them through.

~ But they refused to take advantage of it, rather " inz clining their hearts to evil words, to make excuses in * On this subject, cf. Sermons LXXX., LXXXL, LYST on the Canticle of Canticles.

e that we should abstain from sin, and the second t we should atone for sin committed by adequate enance.

Mercy, also was lost by both our first parents : by Eve, when she began to burn with so fierce a fire of concupiscence that she spared neither herself, nor her husband, nor her offspring to be, but doomed all alike

_ to the chastisement of a terrible curse and inevitable _ death; and by Adam, when he exposed to the divine anger the woman for whose sake he had sinned, as if _ hoping to escape the arrow of justice by hiding behind

_ her back.

"The woman saw that the tree was good _ to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold "

~— (Gen. iii. 6); besides, she was told by the serpent that ___ by eating they, to wit, she and her husband, should be as gods (ibid. 5). Here we have a threefold cord of curiosity, pleasure, and vanity : and "' a threefold cord is not easily broken" (Eccles. iv. 12). Such things alone the world has to offer:

" the concupiscence of the _ flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life" (xz John ii. 16).

It was by these our cruel mother was "' drawn away and allured"' (James i. 14) So as to renounce every instinct of mercy.

Thus also Adam, who had felt for the woman such a vicious compassion as to be willing to sin with her, refused her afterwards such a virtuous compassion as to be willing to endure the penalty for her.

The woman again was despoiled of truth, first by culpably distorting the divine words of warning, "' Thou shalt die the death " (Gen. ii. 17) to this, '' Lest perhaps we die"' (Gen. iii. 3) ; secondly by giving credit to the serpent, which flatly contradicted what she had been told by God, saying, " No, you shall not die the death "'

ee He was ashamed to confess it, and resorted to t shelter of sewed fig-leaves, that is, to the covert vain excuses.

For Truth has said, '"' He that shall | ashamed of Me before men, I will also be ashamed him before My Father Who is in heaven" (Luke ix. 26, 2

Matt. x. 33).

Peace, finally, was lost, because "' there is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord"' (Is. xlviii. 22).

— For is it not manifest that they who began now to — blush for their nakedness had found, like St. Paul, "an | opposing law in their members" (Rom. vii. 23)?

"I was afraid,' said Adam, " because I was naked" (Gen. iii. 10).

Thou hadst no such fear, O wretched one, thou hadst no such fear heretofore ; neither didst thou require any sewed fig-leaves, although thy body was as naked then as it is now.

_ It was then—to pursue the parable of the Propies am represents Mercy and Truth as meeting each other and Justice and Peace as embracing—it was then, I say, that there appears to have arisen a violent contention between these virtues. for whereas Justice and Truth began to punish miserable man, Peace and Mercy, not having so much zeal for the law as their sister virtues, judged that he ought rather to be spared : as you know, the latter two virtues are bound together in a specially intimate relation, as are also indeed the two former.

Hence it happened that, as the one pair continued to wreak vengeance and to scourge the unfortunate transgressor on every side, adding to present afflictions the threat of future chastisement ; the other withdrew into the heart of the Heavenly Father, " returning to God Who gave them"' (Eccles. xii. 7). For He alone was thinking "thoughts of peace'"'

(Jer.

ee ve a eA ) when all beside seemed to be full of affliction. . whispering, "Will God then cast off for ever?

Or ill He never be more favourable again ? Or will God forget to shew mercy?

Or will He in anger shut up His mercies?" (Ps. Ixxvi. 8-10).

And although the _ "Father of mercies"' (2 Cor. i. 3) seemed to dissemble _ forlong, in order to satisfy the zeal of Justice and Truth,

_ not in vain nevertheless was the importunity of the supplicants, for their prayer was heard " in a seasonable eee => (Ps. xxxi.. 6):

Perhaps we may suppose their petition to have _ received some such answer as follows:

'' How long will you continue to importune Me thus?

Know you not that 'I am a debtor' (Rom. i. 14) to your sisters also, whom you behold ready girded 'to execute venas geance upon the nations' (Ps. cxlix. 7)?

Let them be called, let Truth and Justice come, so that We may consult together about this matter.'

The heavenly envoys, accordingly, set out in haste; but when they saw the misery of men and the cruel affliction under which they groaned, as the Prophet says, " the angels of peace wept bitterly" (Is. xxxiii. 7). For who ever either sought or " prayed for the things that are for peace " (Ps. cxxi. 6) more faithfully than " the angels of peace''?

Well, let us suppose that after conferring with her sister Justice, Truth ascended on the appointed day, ascended even to the clouds, not yet with her native brightness fully restored, but looking still somewhat dimmed and darkened, the effect of her indignant zeal.

Then was fulfilled what we read in the Prophet :

20 ord, Thy ; mercy is in eawed and Thy | 'mounteth even to the clouds"' (Ps. xxxv. 6). Betw the litigantssat " the Father of lights"' (Jamesi. 17), « each proceeded to support her claim with the strongest arguments she could discover.

My brethren, do yo think there is anyone who deserved to witness thc debate and who would be willing to tell us all that. happened? Is there anyone who heard what words were spoken and will consent at our request to repeat them?

But perhaps they were ''unspeakable words" — (Ecclus. xxxvi. 16) '' which it is not granted to man — toutter'' (2 Cor. xii. 4).

I will suppose, however, that — the controversy, in effect, was something like this:

"Thy rational creature,' began Mercy, "'is in sore need of compassion, because he is overwhelmed with misery and his state very pitiful.

'It is time to have mercy on him, for the time is come'

(Ps. ci. 14), yea, the time is already past.""

To which Truth responded, "Rather is it necessary that Thou, O Lord, shouldst — fulfil the word Thou hast spoken.

It is necessary that the whole of Adam should die, with all those contained in him on the day when in his disobedience he tasted the forbidden fruit.''

'' But wherefore, then, O my Father," cried Mercy, "' wherefore hast Thou begotten me if I am destined to perish so soon?

For, as Truth herself knows well, Thy mercy has died and is no more if Thou refusest ever to show compassion."

" And who does not know," argued Truth in her turn, " that if this transgressor escapes the sentence of death pronounced against him, Thy truth, O Lord, will have perished, instead of enduring for ever (Ps. xvi. 2) 0?"

But hereupon one of the cherubim suggested that the

ot : ns YS te Ser Re P tants be referred to King Solomon,* "since," as _ "he said, " all judgment hath been given to the Son" aig (John v.22). Accordingly, '' Mercy and Truth met each other" in the sight of Solomon, with the same demands and arguments as I have just rehearsed for you.

"I (Rom. x. 2). For why does she judge now that a rebel ought to be spared rather than her own sister?"

'' But _ thou thyself wouldst spare neither the rebel nor thy _ sister," answered Mercy, "' for thou burnest with such indignation against him that thou wouldst involve me in his destruction.

What evil have I done to deserve this?

If thou hast any grievance against me, let me know what it is, but if thou hast not, wherefore am I So persecuted ? "'

A most momentous controversy this, my brethren, and one extremely difficult to decide.

Who, witnessing | it, would not have cried out, '"' It were better for us if this man had not been born" (Matt. xxvi. 24) ?

Yes, most dearly beloved, such was the impasse arrived at.

It seemed impossible to find any way of satisfying the clashing claims of Mercy and Truth with regard to man.

But when Truth added that any injury done to her own interests would redound upon the Judge

Himself, and that it was necessary at. all hazards to safeguard the honour of the Father's word, lest any circumstance should prevent the accomplishment of that word " living and effectual " (Heb. iv. 12) : "' Desist,

I pray thee," interposed Peace, "desist from such * Solomon, whose very name signifies '' the Peaceable One,"' is often taken as a type of Christ, the Prince of peace —

Translator ),

language: disputing like this is not becoming in there ought to be no discord amongst the virtues."

At this, the Judge, '' bowing Himself down, wr. with His finger on the earth" (John viii. 6). An the words of His writing—which Peace who sat next

_ _ Him read in the hearing of all—were these:

"' Th one says: I am undone if Adam does not die; the other: I am undone unless he obtains mercy.

Therefore, let him die a blissful death and each will have — her desire.'"'

All are filled with wonder at these words — of wisdom and at the manner in which the dispute has been composed and decided.

For it is manifest that there is no longer cause for complaint, since the demands of both litigants can now be fully satisfied. the one having an assurance that the sinner shall die, and the other that he shall obtain mercy.

"But how ~ shall this be done (Luke i. 34) ?"' they asked.

" Death a is most cruel and bitter, death is terrible: its very E name is enough to inspire one with horror.

How then S can there be such a thing as a blissful death?''

To which the Judge replied: " It is indeed true that ' the death of the wicked is very evil'-(Ps. xxxiil. 22), but = "the death of the saints' can become ' precious in the sight of the Lord' (Ps. cxv. 6). Will death not appear precious if it becomes the portal of life, the gate of glory?"

'' Yes, undoubtedly," they at once agreed, "but how shall this be done?"

" Only in one way is it possible,' He answered, "' and that is : if someone on whom death has no claim will consent to die, out of charity.

For death shall not have power to detain the innocent, but, as it is written, a hole shall be bored through the jaw of Leviathan (Job xl. 21), and the middle wall of partition shall be broken down'

(Ephes.

een life ane death Shall be ae over. I mean, _ 33 which is 'strong as death' (Cant. viii. 6),

' she shall ' bind' him and ' rob "aa a ee his goods' (Mark ili. 27), and not only that, but by her very passage she shall make a way through the depths of the sea by which the captives may pass forth to freedom."

_ This verdict seemed good and right " and worthy of all acceptation'"' (1 Tim. i. 15).

But where was to be found that innocent one who should be willing to suffer +3 death, not from any kind of necessity, but from choice,

~ not because he deserved to die, but because he chose to die?

Truth " went round about the earth" (Job i. 7), but her search was vain : for no man is free from 'stain, not even the infant that has lived one day upon the earth (Job xiv. 4, 5, juxta LXX).

Mercy in her turn searched through the whole of heaven, yet found even in the angels—I do not say wickedness (Job iv. 18)

—but not enough of charity.

For this triumph of charity was of right reserved to Him than Whom no one could have greater charity (John xv. 13): that He might lay down His life for His unworthy and " unprofitable servants'?

(Luke xvii. 10).

He does not indeed call us His servants now but His friends (John xv. 15); that, however, is because of His unspeakable love and amazing condescension.

As for ourselves, even though we had "done all the things that are commanded us," what else ought we to say but that '' we are unprofitable servants"?

But who would venture to ask of Him so great a sacrifice?

Accordingly, on the appointed day, Truth and Mercy returned, both

S . ceedingly anxious, Geena jee had tai what they had been seeking.

. it were apart, meets them with the words: know nothing, neither do you consider'

(John xi. ye : that 'there is none—amongst creatures—that can 'us this good turn, no, not one'

(Ps. xiii. 1). Let Him Who gave the counsel assist us now to carry it out The King understood what was insinuated and said:

"«It repenteth Me that I have made man.' That is, the penalty belongs to Me,* it is necesssary for Me to suffer © the penalty, to do penance for man because it is I Who | have created him."

Then He added:

'' Behold I~ come' (Ps. xxxix. 8), for 'this chalice cannot pass away but I must drink it' (Matt. xxvi. 42).

So, summoning Gabriel, He gave him the command: "Go, say to the | 'daughter of Sion: behold thy King cometh' (Zach.

_ ix. 9).

Away sped the Archangel, and, arriving on | earth, announced the glad tidings, saying, '' Adorn thy marriage-couch, O Sion, and prepare to receive thy

King"

Before the King came Truth and Mercy, according to what is written, '' Mercy and Truth shall go before Thy face" (Ps. Ixxxviii. 15).

It belonged | to Justice to make ready the throne, as is said in the Psalm, '' Justice and judgment are the preparation of :

Thy throne"' (ibid.).

As for Peace, she came down in company with the King, " that His prophets might be found faithful' (Ecclus. xxxvi. 18), who had predicted that there would be peace on our earth at His coming.

Hence, at the birth of the Lord the choir of angels sang, '' Peace on earth to men of good will" (Luke

* The Saint considers '' poenitet me'' as equivalent to poena tenet me ''—(Translator ).

done by " the justice which is of faith" (ibid. 6). For how was it that neither Abraham, nor Moses, nor the other just men of the Old Dispensation were able after death to attain to the peace of eternal beatitude,

_ or to enter the kingdom of peace, if not because Justice and Peace had not yet embraced?

For ourselves, _ dearest brethren, we ought henceforth to pursue justice - with more ardent zeal, since now " Justice and Peace have kissed'? and have formed an alliance of everlasting friendship; so that whoever bears with him from this life the testimony of Justic e shall be welcomed by Peace with smiling face and open arms, and "in the self-same shall sleep and rest" (Ps. iv. 9).

Amen.

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