Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Goffine's Devout Instructions On the Epistles and Gospels (1896 Edition, Benziger Brothers) by Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine.
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Goffine's Devout Instructions On the Epistles and Gospels (1896 Edition, Benziger Brothers) by Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine.
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In the Introit of the Mass, God says: I am the Saviour of my people, saith the Lord: in whatever distress they call on me, I will hear them: and will be their Lord for ever. Attend, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth. (Ps. lxxvii.) Glory, &c
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PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
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O Almighty and merciful God, favourably defend us from all adversity: that being free both in soul and body, we may with security of mind perform Thy service. Through our Lord &c
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EPISTLE, (Ephes. iv. 23 - 28.)
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Brethren: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, who, according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more: but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.
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EXPLANATION
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St. Paul admonishes the Ephesians and us, that we should lay aside the old man, like a worn out garment, and put on the new man, that is, renew our internal and external conduct. This renewal according to his teaching takes place, when we by a true repentance put away our usual vices, shun all lying, anger, injustice, &c, and, on the contrary, adorn our soul with holy virtues and zealously seek after Christian justice and perfection.-- We have, perhaps, already sought to change our manner of living, for which a jubilee or another particular solemnity of the Church gave us occasion, and at that time, perhaps, purified our soul by a general confession, and made the firm purpose, to live for God and our salvation, we appeared converted and to be other men: but how long did this conversion last? Ah, how soon did we fall back into the old, sinful way of living! And why? Certainly because we lived in too great, deceitful security. We thought everything accomplished by the general confession; we were satisfied and omitted to employ the means of keeping in the state of renewal. We did not thank God for the grace of conversion, we did not ask Him for the grace of perseverance. We frequented evil company as before, and did not avoid dangerous occasions, we indulged in idleness and pleasures as before. How can it appear strange, if such a conversion is useless? Ah, we should remain in wholesome fear even after the remission of our sins. (Eccl. v. 5.) For even if we could say, that we have done everything, nevertheless we cannot be certain, whether we be worthy of hatred or love. (Eccl. ix. 1.) We should, therefore, work out our salvation according to the advice of St. Paul (Philipp. ii. 12.) in fear and trembling, and thus not fall into the old life of sin by rash security, losing the hope of a new conversion.
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GOSPEL. (Matt. xxii. 1 - 14)
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At That Time: Jesus spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees in a parable, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage: and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited, were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the high-ways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests; and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment. And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding-garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
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EXPLANATIONS
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The king in the present parable is the Heavenly Father who betroths His only begotten Son to the Church as to a spouse, and on this occasion makes the finest marriage feast by giving the evangelical doctrine, the holy Sacraments, and the heavenly joys. To this marriage-feast, He first invited the Jews through His servants, the prophets; apostles, and disciples of Christ. But the Jews despised the honor and grace of the divine King, destined for them, abused and killed His servants, and were, therefore, cast aside and together with their city Jerusalem destroyed by the armies of their enemies, as a just punishment; but in their stead the heathens and all those nations were called, who were on the broad road to hell, and who now occupy the places of the unfortunate Jews at the marriage-feast of the Church, and shall also occupy them in heaven. In this manner is verified in the Jews, to whom Christ addressed this parable, that many of them, nay, all are called, but few chosen, because they would not heed the invitation.
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APPLICATION
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We have the fortune not only to be invited to this marriage-feast, but are in reality guests at it, because we are members of the Church of Christ by faith. "But the Christian," says St. Gregory, "who is a member of the Church by faith, but has not charity, is like to a man who comes to the marriage-feast without the wedding-garment." With this garment which is charity, Christ was vested, when He came to celebrate the nuptials with His spouse, the Church, and by the bond of charity the Son of God also unites Himself with His elect. He clearly lets us know, that charity is the wedding-garment which should vest us. Those, therefore, who believe and are in the communion of the Church, but who do not preserve the grace of charity, are, indeed, in the wedding-chamber, but they are not adorned with the wedding-garment. They are, therefore, dead members of the Church, and shall not be admitted without this garment into the celestial marriage-feast in the triumphant Church, but rather be cast with that unfortunate guest into exterior darkness. This one was silent, when he was asked by the king, why he had not the wedding-garment. By this we see, that no one can excuse himself to God for not having charity, because every one can have it, if he asks it from God, and, as St. Augustine says, our heart is the workshop of charity, and every one who has a heart, can practise it.
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PRAYER
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I thank Thee, O Jesus, that Thou didst call me to the marriage-feast in Thy Church, give me the wedding-garment of charity, that I may be present at the celestial marriage-feast, and not be cast into exterior darkness.
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INSTRUCTION CONCERNING HELL
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Cast him into the exterior darkness. (Matt. xxii. 13.)
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What is hell?
Hell is that awful place of the lower regions, where the damned must suffer eternal punishment.
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Is there a hell?
Yes, as shown by reason, holy Scripture, and the teaching of the Church. Reason tells us, that there is a God, that God is just, and if God is just, He cannot leave sin unpunished. It is evident, that all sins are not punished in this world; there is, therefore, after this world a place, where every sin, not washed out by sorrow and penance, will be punished, and this place is--hell. All nations from the beginning of the world, even those who had not the light of revelation, believed this.
But clearer still is the existence of hell shown by holy Scripture. Already the pious Job (x. 12.) speaks of a region of misery and darkness, where are the shadows of death and no order, but where eternal terror reigns. The Prophet Isaias (xxx. 33.) says, that hell is deep and wide, and that the fire burning in it, is like a stream of sulphur, ignited by the breath of the Lord. Our Saviour expressly says, that those who have done evil, shall go to everlasting torment (Matt. xxv. 46), that they shall be tortured with everlasting fire. (Matt. xxv. 41.) He makes mention of hell, and says that an inextinguishable fire burns there, and a worm which never dies, plagues the wicked. (Matt. ix. 42.; x. 28.) All the fathers of the Church teach and testify to the same doctrine. St. Augustine, among many others, says: "The infinite wisdom of God tells us, that there is a hell, and the illimitable power of God it is, that punishes the damned in a wonderful, but real manner."
Wherein do the pains of hell consist?
Sacred Scripture and the Church teach concerning the pains of the reprobate in hell, that they there burn in an eternally inextinguishable fire. (Matt. xxv. 30.) The holy doctors of the Church say, that this fire is never extinguished, and its smoke ascends and rises from century to century. "I see this fire," says St. Gregory, "as if it were gifted with reason; it makes a distinction between the guilty, and tortures the damned according to the nature of their sins. This fire burns, but never consumes its victims; it communicates, as Cassiodorus says, immortality to the reprobate and lets them suffer pain, which preserves them, like salt which penetrates the flesh and keeps it from corruption, as Jesus says: Every one shall be salted with fire. (Mark. ix. 48.) This fire does not shine, it leaves the reprobate in darkness (Matt. viii. 12.), and with this fire a worm is combined, as Christ says, which continually torments the damned, and never dies. This worm is not only the bad conscience, say the holy fathers, but particularly the privation of the Beatific Vision. Eternally will the thought torment the damned: I have lost God, the only, true and highest good, I have lost Him through my fault, I have lost Him for a brief pleasure, I have lost Him for ever. This is the gnawing worm which unremittingly torments and gnaws the reprobate, this is the most terrible torment, the most insupportable torture. And this torment and torture remain for ever, will never cease. In hell there is no more time, eternity has devoured all time; and if after millions and millions of years a damned one wailingly asks his companion in misery: What time is it? he receives the answer: It is eternity.
Who would not fear hell, when he reflects upon this, and not avoid sin which cast man down into it! And yet there are so many, upone whom the truth of the existence of a hell makes no impression, yes, who even deny that there is a hell, and say: "God is love, He can have no pleasure in the torments of His creatures, He cannot eternally punish a sin which was committed in so short a time as is the life of man." But those who speak thus, forget that God is just, that His love and mercy are indeed always ready to forgive the contrite and penitent, but that His justice must also be satisfied, when the sinner continually rejects the merciful love of God; they forget, that every grievous sin which man commits voluntarily and knowingly, is an infinite, eternal insult, offered to God, which can only be atoned for by an eternal punishment. For the perverted and malicious will of a man, who dies in mortal sin, remains perverted and malicious in eternity, therefore he must also be punished eternally.
O my dear Christian, do not listen to such talkers; for just on account of their sinful life, they ought to fear hell which condemns their lives, and therefore they endeavor to free themselves from this fear by denying the existence of hell; but cannot succeed; for Jesus, the mouth of truth, has told us, that there is a hell, and His word remains true for all eternity. Endeavor rather by a pious and godly life to escape hell descend in spirit; according to the advice of a saint, very often into hell, contemplate the torments of the damned, and let this contemplation urge you to imitate Christ, who has promised the joys of heaven to all His faithful followers.
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CONSOLING DOCTRINE ON THE JOYS OF HEAVEN
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The kingdom of heaven is like to a man, being a king, who made a marriage for his son. (Matt. xxii. 2.)
Heaven is also likened by Christ to a marriage-feast, because we can there enjoy all imaginable pleasures in the most perfect union with God. Wherein these pleasures consist, St. Paul could not describe, although he was rapt into the third heaven and tasted these pleasures; he only said: No eye hath seen, no ear heard, and it hath not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those that love Him. (Cor. ii. 9.) Holy Writ, indeed, gives us many descriptions of the celestial joys, it sometimes calls heaven a paradise of bliss, sometimes a precious pearl, sometimes a treasure which neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves dig up and steal; sometimes it shows heaven in the picture of a kingdom, a throne, a crown, whereby we are raised to the highest honor; sometimes in the picture of a city which is built up of gold, precious stones and pearls, lighted up by the splendor of God, filled with magnificence and glory, and with all this enjoying undisturbed peace and the greatest security.
But these are only images or similitudes, which are taken from the most beautiful, most precious, and most magnificent and most pleasant things of the earth, to teach us that heaven is as beautiful and pleasant a place, as we can wish and represent to ourselves, and that all possible beauty, agreeableness and joy may be found in heaven in the highest and most perfect manner, without any evil, without loathsomeness, disgust and fear of loss. In heaven we shall possess God Himself, the fountain of all joy and bliss, and enjoy His own happiness with Him for all eternity. More is not needed to give us the highest conception of heaven; for it follows from this: that we, like God Himself, far away from all evil and sorrow, shall partake of His joys and perfections. We shall be like to Him. (i. John iii. 2.) Who would not willingly despise the vain, short and imperfect pleasures of this earth, whilst contemplating this indescribable bliss? Who would not willingly bear all the misfortunes and misery of this world, when considering that we shall be the happier in the next world, the unhappier we have been in this life? What would it avail us to have enjoyed all the pleasures of this world, if deprived of the pleasures of heaven hereafter!
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ASPIRATION
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How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. (Ps. lxxxiii. 2, 3.) How do I loathe the world, when I contemplate heaven. (St. Ign. Loyola.)