Part II, The Commandments: The Second and Third Commandments of God

The Second Commandment is this : " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; " that is to say, thou shalt not utter it without reverence. By the name of God is not meant the mere word alone, but the majesty appertaining to the Most High.

We owe reverence to almighty God because He is a Lord of infinite majesty, and of infinite bounty.

Reverence is a mixture of fear, love, and esteem. If it was said of a monarch that he had many millions of subjects, that he had an army of a hundred thousand warriors who could take the field at his command, that by a word from his lips he could make the happiness or misery of multitudes, you would fear that monarch. But if you were told of his goodness, his endeavors to promote the welfare of his subjects, you would love and esteem him. So will you feel towards God, if you contemplate His infinite perfections and His great love towards man. Consider the perfections of God! There are upon earth some fifteen hundred millions of human beings; each one of these God knows, preserves, guides. He hears their prayers, He helps them in their necessities ; He rewards or punishes them for the most part here below. How vast is the knowledge of this supreme Being! Millions of orbs revolve in space; God has created them all, He maintains them all, He gives them all motion. How boundless is His power! Think of the unseen world alone, peopled by millions of celestial spirits ; He knows each one, He preserves each one in existence, He guides and directs each one, and by each and all He is adored. How great is His majesty ! " Who is like to Thee among the strong, O Lord ? Who is like to Thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders?" (Exod. xv. 11.) On account of the great majesty of God we should fear Him, and should love Him by reason of His infinite goodness. Fear and love are the component parts of reverence.

1. In the Second Commandment God commands us in the first place to show due respect to His divine majesty. This we must do in the following manner:

We should frequently call upon the name of God with true and heartfelt devotion, especially at the commencement of all we do and in time of trouble.

Newton, the great astronomer, had the deepest respect for the name of God ; he uncovered his head and bowed low whenever it was uttered in his presence. Many devout Christians bow their head when they pronounce the name of Jesus in prayer ; the priest does so in celebrating Mass. St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who when a child is said to have been he whom Our Lord set in the midst of the disciples, at the time that He said " Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt, xviii. 4), loved to repeat the name of Jesus; shortly before his death he said : " This name shall never leave my lips or be effaced from my heart." And, in fact, after his martyrdom, the holy name

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was found inscribed on his heart. In the Litany of the Holy Name we invoke the name of Jesus again and again, because it is the most powerful of all names, and through it we can obtain all we need. " If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you" (John xvi. 23). By the name of Jesus the apostles and saints worked miracles ; St. Peter said to the lame man at the gate of the Temple : "In the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk" (Acts iii. 6). Christ promised that in His name devils should be cast out (Mark xvi. 17). The devils tremble at the name of Jesus ; they take flight when they hear it, even when it is uttered by evil men, so great is its potency. The name of Jesus is also all-powerful to fill the heart with joy; it is compared to^oil (Cant. i. 2) ; as oil gives light, alleviates pain, and affords nourishment, so does the name of Jesus, when we call upon it. St. Vincent Ferrer declares it to be a defence in all dangers spiritual and temporal, and the means of healing bodily infirmities. All graces are combined in this holy name : " There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved " (Acts iv. 12). " At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" (Phil. ii. 10). An indulgence of twenty-five days is granted for each invocation of this holy name, and a plenary at the hour of death for those who have frequently invoked it during life (Clement XIII., Sept. 5, 1759). To pronounce this name is indispensable for obtaining the indulgence at the hour of death. Would that every Christian could say with St. Bernard : " The name of Jesus is honey to the taste, melody to the ear, joy to the heart." No one who clings to mortal sin can devoutly call on this name : " No man can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. xii. 3). In beginning every wish, before every action however insignificant, we should call on the name of God, or make the sign of the cross, with the usual words : " All whatsoever you do, in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus 'Christ" (Col. iii. 17). Thus we shall merit the divine blessing, and earn a reward for every action ; Our Lord promises that any one who gives to another a cup of cold water in His name shall not be unrewarded (Mark ix. 40). We should also call upon the name of God in the time of trouble ; He has said : " Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me" (Ps. xlix. 15). In the year 1683 the Christians obtained a brilliant victory over the Turks ; their battle-cry was the names of Jesus and Mary. In the hour of death above all we should breathe the name of Jesus; like St. Stephen whose last words were: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts vii. 58.)

2. We ought to show respect for all that appertains to divine worship ; more especially for the servants of God, for holy places, sacred things, and religious ceremonies.

We ought to show respect for the ministers of God. In this Count Rudolph of Hapsburg set an excellent example. One day when outhunting he met a priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. Instantly he dismounted, and offered his horse to the priest. And when the latter on his return, gave back the horse to the count, he would not take it, saying it must thenceforth be devoted to the service of the sanctuary. The priest predicted that good fortune and

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happiness would attend his career, and so it did; nine years later Rudolph was elected emperor. Our Lord bids us reverence His priests; He says: "He that despiseth you, despiseth Me" (Luke x. 16). " Touch not My anointed " (1 Par. xvi. 22). St. John Chrysostom says that the honor shown to the priest is shown to God Himself. God also requires us to show respect to holy places and things. When He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and Moses approached somewhat near, He said to Him: "Come not nigh hither; put off the shoes from thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exod. iii. 5). Under the Old Dispensation the people were strictly forbidden to touch the Ark of the Covenant (Numb. iv. 15). "Reverence My sanctuary" (Lev. xxvi. 2). Enter into the house of God as if you were entering into heaven, and leave behind you all that savors of earth. "Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord ! " (Ps. xcii. 5.) We should also manifest respect for all religious services. St. Elizabeth of Hungary removed her crown from her head whenever she heard Mass. Out of respect for the Gospel we stand up when it is read, and we preserve a grave demeanor when we approach the sacraments.

3. We ought frequently to praise and magnify almighty God on account of His infinite perfections and goodness, especially when He reveals His perfections in a special manner, or confers a benefit upon us.

The three children in the fiery furnace sang a canticle of praise when God preserved them from being hurt by the flames (Dan. iii.). When Tobias recovered his sight, he immediately blessed the Lord (Tob. xi. 17). Remember the Magnificat, the song of praise uttered by the Mother of God, and the Benedictus, the canticle of thanks giving pronounced by Zacharias on his cure (Luke i.). Whenever you receive any favor from God, say: Deo gratias, "Thanks be to God," or Glory be to the Father, etc., and frequently repeat the salutation : " Let Jesus Christ be praised ! " In some parts of Germany and Switzerland, this pious greeting takes the place of the good morning, or good day, in use among us. And if you are prevented by infirmi ties from praising God with your lips, at any rate praise Him in your heart; for God, Who hears not as we hear, requires not audible sound ; He reads the heart, and is content with our good will. " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all Pie hath done for thee" (Ps. cii. 1). "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be always in my mouth " (Ps. xxxiii. 2). " Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and forever. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise" (Ps. cxii. 2, 3). In praising God, we do the best for ourselves, for thereby we draw down upon ourselves the divine blessings in great abundance.

4, Furthermore, God prohibits everything which is a violation of the reverence due to His divine majesty; and in particular:

Taking the name of God in vain.

Many people have the habit of thoughtlessly exclaiming at every trifle that surprises them : " Good Lord ! My' God ! " and the like.

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It is a bad habit; correct yourselves of it, and endeavor to correct others also, as it shows a want of due reverence for the name of God. Those who truly love God cannot stand by unmoved and hear His holy name profaned. This careless, flippant use of the name of God or of any other sacred name is at least a venial sin. " Let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, for thou shalt not escape free from sin" (Ecclus. xxiii. 10). "The Lord will not hold him guilt less that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain " (Exod. xx. 7). "We take good care," says St. John Chrysostom, "not to wear out our best clothes by putting them on every day; so we must beware lest we thoughtlessly utter the name of God, which is worthy of our profoundest reverence." The Jews did not venture to pronounce the word Jehovah ; they always spoke of " The Lord."

5. Swearing. By this is meant the use of holy names in a moment of anger as an imprecation against certain persons or things.

For instance parents, when angry, wish ill to their children, using the name of God or of heaven; workmen call down evil on the tools they employ. Out of the mouth of a Christian none but blessings should proceed (1 Pet. iii. 9). Should the same mouth wherewith we pray, wherewith we receive the sacred body of the Lord, be employed to curse our neighbor and offend against God ?

Almighty God often punishes those who curse others by allowing the curse to be fulfilled.

St. Augustine speaks of a certain mother who cursed her refractory sons, they having gone so far as to strike her. Immediately they were seized with a convulsive movement of the limbs, from which, after wandering through many lands, they were at length cured at Hippo, by touching the relics of St. Stephen. St. Ignatius of Loyola once asked an alms of a Spanish nobleman; the latter flew into a rage, and said : " May I be burned alive if you are not a rogue deserving the hangman's rope." Shortly after, on the occasion of festivities to celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, a barrel of gunpowder exploded in the nobleman's house, and he was so severely burned that he expired in agony a few days later. Working-people who curse and swear over their work, or call down imprecations upon the horses they are driving, cannot expect their Iflbor to prosper. Thus God rewards those who use bad language : " He loved cursing, and it shall come upon him" (Ps. cviii. 18).

A man who indulges the bad habit of swearing commits many sins, and is in danger of eternal perdition.

As one tells from the language a stranger speaks of what country he is a native, so when oaths flow freely from a man's lips, one may conclude he belongs to hell; there is reason to fear that he does not belong to the kingdom of God, for he talks the language of hell. The Fathers used to consider swearing as a sign of perdition. Those who curse shall perish (Ps. xxxvi. 22) ; they shall not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. vi. 10). Ordinary swearing is a venial sin, provided no serious evil is worked to one's neighbor, yet it is a greater s;n than

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taking God's name in vain, because not only is it a disrespect towards God, but an offence against charity.

6. Indecorous behavior towards persons who are consecrated to the service of God, holy places, sacred objects or actions.

As we treat a priest, in his priestly capacity, so we treat God Himself, for Christ said : " He that despiseth you, despiseth Me " (Luke x. 16). He who abuses or despises a priest is guilty of dishonoring God, and deserves the same chastisement as the Jews who abused and. despised the Son of God. St. John Chrysostom says the want of respect for eccleciastical superiors is the source of all evil. How severely the little boys were punished who mocked the prophet Eliseus (4 Kings ii. 24). We also offend God by unseemly behavior in church, laughing, whispering, staring about, lolling, etc. St. Ambrose says of people who behave badly in church that they come with small sins and go away with great ones. Insults offered to God in His house are more offensive to Him than those offered elsewhere; we ourselves resent most of all rudeness shown to us in our own house. This is why the meek and gentle Saviour drove those who bought and sold out of the Temple, saying : " My house shall becalled the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" (Matt. xxi. 13). "If any man violate the Temple of God, him shall God destroy" (1 Cor. iii. 17). The same respect is due to holy things as to holy places. When David was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, an Israelite named Oza ventured to lay hold of it. God struck him and he died (2 Kings vi. 7). King Ozias was punished with leprosy, because he entered the sanctuary and wanted to burn in cense (2 Par. xxvi. 21). To disturb religious services or show contempt for them is also sinful. Of this sin the sons of Heli were guilty when they interfered with the Jewish sacrifices (1 Kings ii.). In the present day sometimes evil disposed persons interrupt sermons, processions, or other services, or insult priests who are taking the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. These offenders are punishable by law as disturbers of divine worship.

7. Blasphemy. Of this sin those are guilty who revile God, His saints, or speak contemptuously of objects connected with His worship.

The Emperor Julian the Apostate always spoke of the Son of God as the Galilean (at that time a word of insult) ; even at his death, which was occasioned by the thrust of a lance, he is said to have exclaimed : " Thou hast conquered, O Galilean ! " Ungodly persons are often heard to utter bitter revilings against God, especially in time of suffering and affliction, as if they did not deserve the trials He sends them. It is blasphemy to speak scornfully of God, or of His actions; or to attribute to a creature what is the prerogative of the Creator. The people sinned thus who when King Herod made an oration to them, cried : " It is the voice of a god and not of a man " (Acts xii. 22). The Jews committed this sin. God says by the mouth of the prophet : " My name is continually blasphemed all the daylong "^ (Is. Iii. 5). To speak contemptuously of holy places and things is a kind of blasphemy, as a reflection upon God, Whom we are told to praise in His holy places (Ps. cl. 1).

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Sacrilege is another kind of blasphemy. This consists in putting to an improper and degrading use what pertains to the service of God.

The King of Babylon, Baltassar, committed sacrilege when, in a state of inebriation, he commanded the sacred vessels that had been taken from the Temple at Jerusalem, where they were used in the worship of the true God, to be brought to serve as drinking cups at the feast. The mutilation of statues or defacing of crucifixes is a sacrilege. Would it not be considered a treasonable act to treat the crown or the portrait of an earthly monarch with contumely? Again, those who receive the sacraments unworthily, who appropriate to themselves Church property, or who commit a theft in church, come under the same condemnation. It is said that Jews and Freemasons have sometimes obtained consecrated Hosts, which they subjected to horrible profanation. Such conduct is simply satanic.

Blasphemy is essentially a diabolical sin, and one of the gravest transgressions.

Blasphemy may be called a sin peculiar to devils and reprobates, for as the Holy Spirit speaks by the mouth of the good, so the devil speaks by the mouth of the blasphemer (St. Bernardin). The blasphemer is worse than a dog; for a dog does not bite the master who is kind to him when he chastises him, whereas the blasphemer reviles God, from Whom he has received so many benefits, oblivious of the fact that God only afflicts him for his own good. When the saintly Bishop Polycarp was offered his life if he would blaspheme Christ, he answered : " For eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me nothing but good; how could I speak evil of my King and Master ? " St. Jerome says that all sins are slight in comparison with this, for by all others one offends against God indirectly, but by this sin one offends against the Most High Himself, not against His image. " Whom hast thou blasphemed, against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? Against the holy One of Israel" (4 Kings xix. 22). All other sins arise from human frailty or ignorance, but blasphemy comes from the malice of the human heart (St. Bernard). Other sins bring some advantage to the sinner; pride desires to gain importance, avarice money, intemperance the pleasures of the table, but this sin brings a man no profit, no pleasure. The Jews punished the blasphemer with death. St. Thomas Aquinas declares blasphemy to be a mortal sin, unless it is committed in a hasty moment without deliberation. " Oughtest thou not to fear that fire will fall from heaven upon thee and consume thee, if thou dost venture to asperse the name of the Almighty ? Will not the earth open and swallow thee up? Deceive not thyself, O man, thou canst not escape the hand of an omnipotent God! " (St. Ephrem.)

God punishes blasphemy with severe chastisements in time, and with everlasting damnation hereafter; it is also punishable by human law.

"God is not mocked" (GaL vi. 7). When King Baltassar pro-

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faned the vessels of the sanctuary, judgment fell upon him immediately: an unseen hand wrote his fate upon the wall. That same night the enemy entered the city; he was slain and his kingdom be came part of the Persian empire (Dan. v.). Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, blasphemed God; shortly after he lost two hundred thousand men in the war against the Hebrews, and was assassinated by his own sons. Michael III., Emperor of Constantinople, made public mockery of the sacraments on the feast of the Ascension; at night there was a tremendous earthquake, and some time later the emperor was murdered. An Israelite cursed God in the wilderness; he was put into prison till Moses had ascertained what was God's will; and the Lord said: " Let all the people stone him " (Lev. xxiv. 14). As a man who throws a stone up to the sky, cannot touch, much less injure any of the heavenly bodies, but may break his own head if the stone falls back upon it, so blasphemous words do no harm to the Being against Whom they are directed ; they only fall back upon the head of him who utters them, to his own perdition. Thus the blasphemer whets the sword to pierce his own heart (St. John Chrysostom). Our Lord says that whosoever reviles his neighbor shall be in danger of hell fire (Matt. v. 22) ; how much more he who reviles God! Under the Old Law, when God was not so well known, it was said: " He that curseth father or mother shall die the death " (Exod. xxi. 17). How much more shall judgment overtake those who in this age of knowledge and enlightenment, curse, not their parents, but the Lord, their God ! " They shall be cursed that shall despise Thee " (Tob. xiii. 16). "He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die" (Lev. xxiv. 16). Blasphemy is also punished by the secular authority. St. Louis of France made it a law that any one who blasphemed God should be seared on the lips with a red-hot iron. This was done to a wealthy citizen of Paris, with the result that before long no blasphemous word was heard in the kingdom. St. Jerome on one occasion rebuked an ungodly man for his impious words ; when asked why he presumed to do so, he said : " A dog may bark in his master's defence, and am I to stand by silent when God's holy name is blasphemed ? I would sooner die than forbear to speak."

8. Simony. This consists in selling spiritualities for money, or the equivalent of money.

In the Middle Ages simony was a common sin ; bishop's sees and benefices were sometimes sold to the highest bidder. It is simony to offer a priest money for absolution, to sell relics, to charge a higher price for objects, such as crosses and rosaries, because they have been blessed. This sin takes its name from Simon the magician, who offered the apostles money when he saw that by the imposition of hands the Holy Ghost was given, saying : " Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 19). He who is guilty of the sin of simony is excommunicated ; to him the words of St. Paul apply : " Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money" (Acts viii. 20). To give money for Masses is, however, not simony; it is much the same as giving someone an alms and asking for his prayers. Nor is the payment of fees to the parish priest for the exercise of his ministerial functions to

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be reckoned as simony, because these fees are not a price paid for the discharge of spiritual duties, but a contribution towards the maintenance of the priest. Otherwise St. Paul would not have written these words : " They who work in the holy place eat the things that are of the holy place, and they that serve the altar partake with the altar ; so also the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel " (1 Cor. ix. 13, 14).

The object of the Confraternity of the Holy Face is to make reparation for blasphemies and irreverences committed against God.

It is well known that Our Lord miraculously imprinted His sacred countenance upon the cloth handed to Him by Veronica on the way to Calvary. The Emperor Tiberius, when sick, had this cloth brought to Rome, and the mere sight of it sufficed to cure him. Veronica is said to have given it to St. Clement, the fellowworker with St. Peter, and his successors in the see of Rome. Thus it came to St. Peter's, where it is yet preserved. In 1849, at Christmas, it was exposed, and for three hours it was surrounded by a halo of brilliant light. This cloth still bears the impression of Our Lord's features ; they are distinctly discernible, and show how He was maltreated by the barbarous soldiery. In fact, this image affords striking evidence of the irreverence of man towards God. The sight of it inspires us with pious horror and heartfelt contrition. For a long time no copy was permitted to be made of it ; this is no longer the case, and the prints of it are now venerated, God making known by miracles and speedy answers to prayer, how highly He approves of this devotion. At Alicante, in Spain, after a long period of drought, a picture of the Holy Face was carried in procession; a tear was seen to roll from the eyes of the picture, and in a few days rain fell abundantly. In Tours a large number of cures were effected in presence of a picture of the Holy Face, and it was there, by means of the exertions of the pious M. Dupont, that the Confraternity of the Holy Face was instituted, its object being to make atonement for sins of blasphemy. In the revelations of St. Gertrude we read that Our Lord said to her : " Those who venerate the image of My humanity (My human countenance) shall be interiorly enlightened by the radiance of My Godhead." And to Sister Saint Pierre, in 1845, He said : " As one can purchase whatever one will with a coin of the realm, stamped with the king's head, so those who adore My countenance will obtain all they desire." Again : " The more you seek to efface from My countenance the marks of disfigurement caused by blasphemers, the more I will restore your soul, defaced by sin, to its original beauty, so that it may appear as if it just came from the waters of Baptism."

.the Third Commandment of God

On Mount Sinai almighty God spoke, and said : " Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work" (Exod. xx. 8, 9). The Third Commandment thus contains

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two injunctions, the command to sanctify the Sunday, and the command to work.

In the Third Commandment of the Decalogue God commands us to sanctify the Sunday and to work six days in the week.

1. The Precept to Sanctify Sundays and Holydays

In order that amid the many cares and anxieties of life man may not forget God, his final end and high calling, God has enjoined upon him to keep one day in the week holy. As we have certain times set apart for the satisfaction of our bodily necessities, sleeping, eating and drinking, so we have appointed times for meditation upon the eternal truths whereby we may obtain fresh strength for our souls. On holydays we have the opportunity of expiating by prayer what we have done amiss, and of rendering to God the thanks due to Him for the benefits He has conferred on us during the week.

1. God commands us to sanctify the seventh day, because on the seventh day He rested from the work of creation.

In his account of the creation Moses says : " God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work " (Gen. ii. 3). Man, who is made after the image of God, ought to follow the example of the Lord his God; as God ceased from work on the seventh day, so man ought to rest after six days' labor. Man needs this rest after working for six days. Just as one is obliged to sleep for six or seven hours after the work of the day is done, in order to recruit one's bodily powers, so one needs a longer period of rest after six days of labor. At the time of the French revolution, the observance of the seventh day was done away with and the tenth day appointed for the day of rest; but it was soon found indispensable to return to the old order of things. The number seven belongs to the natural order. God, Who set the lights in the firmament of heaven for signs and for seasons and for days and for years (Gen. i. 14), intended the changes of the moon, which occur every seven days, to point out to us the division of time into periods of seven days, of which one was to be a day of rest. Bishop Theophilus of Antioch, writing about the year 150 A.D., mentions the observance of the seventh day as a universal custom. We who are Christians keep the Sunday, the Jews keep Saturday, the Mohammedans keep Friday, the Mongols keep Thursday, the black population of Guinea and Goa keep Tuesday and Monday respectively. The cessation from labor every seventh day foreshadows our eternal rest in heaven (Heb. iv. 9). By solemnizing the day of the Lord we renew and quicken our longing for the unending festival of joy above. The very fact that we wear our best apparel on that day serves to remind us of the celestial happiness that we hope will one day be our portion.

2. God commanded the Jews to keep holy the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath was a joyous festival for the Jewish people, because on that day they were delivered from Egyptian bondage. In addition to this, when God gave the law from Mount Sinai, He enjoined upon

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them to sanctify the day by cessation from work : " The seventh day is the Sabbath; thou shalt do no work on it" (Exod. xx. 10). The Sabbath was specially suited to be set apart for the public worship of God, because more than any other day it recalled God's benefits to His people (Ezech. xx. 12). It was, moreover, typical of the rest in the sepulchre of the future Messias. The Jews were extremely strict in their observance of the Sabbath ; any profanation of the day was punished with death, no work of any kind might be done on it. A man found gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day was stoned (Numb. xv. 36). The Pharisees would not allow that it was lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath (Matt. xii. 12). No manna fell in the desert on that day.

3. Sunday was appointed by the apostles as the day of rest Instead of the Sabbath, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday.

Sunday is a festival of the Holy Trinity; for on the first day of the week God the Father began the work of creation, God the Son rose from the dead, and God the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles. The apostles were authorized to transfer the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, because it was not so much the observance of the Sabbath, as the observance of a fixed day in each week upon which God insisted in the commandment. They were all the more at liberty to change the day, as the Old Law was but a shadow of the New. Sunday is called the Lord's Day, because it ought to be devoted to His service, because on it He rose from the dead. St. Justin (139 A.D.) is the first to make use of the word Sunday : it is a name befit ting the day whereon the Lord, like the rising sun, rose from the grave in the brilliance of His glorified humanity. On this day also God made the light; the Holy Ghost came down in tongues of fire, and on this day we receive spiritual enlightenment. The Emperor Constantine the Great enjoined the observance of Sunday as a day of rest throughout the .Roman empire ; and Charlemagne caused those who violated it to be fined.

4. We are bound on Sunday to abstain from servile work and to assist at the public Mass; we ought, moreover, to employ this day in providing for the salvation of our soul, that is to say by approaching the sacraments, by prayer, hearing sermons, reading spiritual books, and performing works of mercy.

Servile work is that which entails severe physical exertion, and is exhausting to the bodily strength. It is the work generally done by servants, menials, artisans, and laborers; in a word the work belong ing to the class that serves, hence the name. Markets and all commercial transactions are included in the prohibition ; yet in deference to local customs, the rule is relaxed in some countries. However, buying and selling must not be carried on during the hours of divine worship. As God rested on the seventh day, so we ought to rest. As Christ on Easter Sunday left the grave-clothes in the sepulchre and rose triumphant, so we ought to lay aside our earthly business, and on the pinions of prayer soar aloft to God. Physical repose is necessary, because it is impossible for one who is greatly fatigued to pray

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well. Public worship is the holy sacrifice of the Mass, generally ac companied by a sermon. In the first centuries of Christianity the Christians were accustomed to assemble on Sundays to hear Mass, and a short exhortation was delivered after the Gospel, as is usual in the present day. There is no act of Christian worship that can compare in dignity and value with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. On Sunday we ought to provide for the interests of our soul ; physical rest is ordained in order that we may labor more diligently for our spiritual welfare; and we must not content ourselves with putting on better clothes, but must cleanse and adorn our hearts. The cessation from the work of the week gives an opportunity to the faithful, in compliance with the mind of the Church, to approach the sacraments. They are encouraged to receive holy communion on Sundays and holydays, and to give themselves to prayer ; for this reason afternoon services are held, and the churches stand open for private devotions. Our forefathers used to read spiritual books, homilies on the Gospel for the day, and the lives of the saints. Many of Our Lord's miracles of healing were wrought on the Sabbath day — witness the man whose hand was withered (Matt. xii. 10) ; the man born blind (John ix.) ; the man that had dropsy (Luke xiv. 2) — although by doing so He gave great offence to the Jews. He intended to teach us to do good work on Sundays.

The work permitted on holydays of obligation is (1), Servile work which is absolutely necessary, especially works of mercy; (2), Light and trifling work; (3), Occupations of an intellectual nature; (4), Reasonable recreation.

We are not forbidden to do work that is absolutely necessary. Our Lord dees not desire man to suffer on account of the Sunday rest, for He says : " The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath " (Mark ii. 27). All work may be done which is required for the support of life; we may have our food prepared, and are allowed to gather in our crops if the weather threatens their destruction. All work that is indispensable for the public service may be carried on : e.g., the postal service, the railroad, telegraph, and police service. Ecclesiastical authorities have the power to grant special permission for servile work to be done on Sunday, if there is sufficient reason. Christ says : " The Son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath also," and the Church, His representative, can say the same. And as the chief and primary object for which Sunday is instituted is to promote the spiritual welfare and eternal salvation of mankind, all works tending to this end are enjoined upon us. Our Lord says : " The priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and are without blame" (Matt. xii. 5). Works of mercy are also enjoined; nothing is more profitable to salvation than these, for on them our eternal fate depends (Matt. xxv. 35). We have Christ's example and precept also for the performance of charitable works on Sunday : " It is lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath day " (Luke xii. 12). Some of the saints used to visit the hospitals after Mass, and spend the remainder of Sunday in serving the sick. Yet it must be^ remembered that only such servile work as is absolutely necessary is permitted, although its object be a charitable one. For if it is lawful to do all

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servile work without distinction which was for the benefit of the poor, all artisans and laborers might go on with their work, and that would be by no means permissible (Suarez). Necessary works of mercy exempt from the obligation of attendance at public worship ; they are in themselves an act of worship (Jas. i. 27). Our Lord says: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. ix. 13). But if it is in any way possible public worship should not be omitted. " These things you ought to have done, and not leave those undone" (Matt, xxiii. 23). What is it right to do if a conflagration breaks out just before the time of Mass, or if there is an inundation? Occupations of an unimportant kind may be engaged in, God does not require us to sit idle on Sundays; besides writing, music, and all mental employ ments are lawful. Sunday is also instituted as a day of rest; on it we may freely enjoy innocent diversions.

Sins Against the Third Commandment.

The precept enjoining upoi? us to sanctify the Sunday is transgressed :

1. By doing or requiring others to perform servile work.

The Christian ought to allow his servants and even his cattle, to rest on the Sunday (Exod. xx. 10). Servants, apprentices, and all who are in a subordinate position, ought not to remain in a situation where they cannot fulfil their religious obligations. Servile work is a mortal sin, if it be done for more than two or three hours on Sunday without urgent necessity. Yet hard work, if done for a shorter time, or light work for the same time, is not mortal sin; nor is it so if a not very valid reason is counted on as an excuse, nor again if a servant does what his master, without cogent grounds, requires of him, through fear of evil consequences to himself. In the latter case the sin rests with the master. If scandal is given by doing servile work, even for a short time, it is a grievous sin. Our Lord says of one who gives scandal, " it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Matt, xviii. 6). God threatened the Jews most emphatically, saying that any one who profaned the Sabbath should be put to death : " He that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish out of the midst of his people" (Exod. xxxi. 14).

2. By carelessness about attendance at public worship.

Entertainments given on Saturday are often the cause why Catholics omit Mass on Sunday. " What folly," exclaims St. Francis of Sales, " to turn day into night and night into day, and neglect one's duties for frivolous amusements ! "

3. By indulging in diversions which are over-fatiguing, or which are of a sinful nature.

Games which involve much physical exertion, hunting, dancing, etc., ought to be avoided on Sunday; also those which lead to any thing unseemly; brawls, extravagant expenditure, disinclination for work. Worse still, if the amusements are sinful in themselves ; for whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin (John viii. 34), and

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thus servile work of the most degrading description is done. Woe to him who chooses the day which is consecrated to divine service to offend against God and injure his own soul most deeply. Some people take advantage of the day of rest to indulge more freely in vice. Not unfrequently the devil leaves people in peace all the week, and when Sunday comes he tempts them to all manner of sin, pride and ostentation in dress, gambling, dancing, excess in eating and drinking. In the present day men seem to think most of eating and drinking on the Lord's Day, women of adorning their person. How lamentable is the depravity of mankind, in thus abusing the most sacred institutions ! On Sunday the devil of avarice is cast out, but it is as if seven other and worse devils entered in its place; the love of the world and all it entails; the frequenting of convivial scenes, disseverance of the ties of family life, squandering of savings, and dislike of work. " It is far better," St. Augustine says, " that one should occupy one's self with needle-work or field-work on Sunday than indulge in vice." To spend the Lord's Day in worldly vanities amounts to a kind of sacrilege ; to desecrate it by sin is worse than plundering the sanctuary.

Motives for the Sanctification of Sunday.

1. God rewards with temporal blessings those who keep holy His day.

Consider the loving kindness of God; it is no toilsome service He requires of you, but that you should rest. There are one hundred and sixty-eight hours in the week. God only demands one day (twentyfour hours) for Himself ; must you use this for your worldly affairs ? Those who would prosper in their business must consecrate Sunday to the service of God. Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, when on his voyage always kept his vessels stationary 011 Sunday. God often protects in a special manner those who keep holy His day. One of the sailors on board a steamer on the Mississippi refused to shift the cargo — an unnecessary work — on Sunday; he was dismissed in consequence. Shortly after the boiler burst and several of the crew lost their lives ; thus the God-fearing sailor escaped. God often increases the gains of those who abstain from the pursuit of their calling on Sundays. A pious friend once persuaded an artisan to desist from working on Sunday, saying he would compensate for the loss thus occasioned. In six months' time he returned, and the artisan acknowledged that far from losing*, he had made more money than usual in the interval. Holy Scripture says " God blessed the seventh day" (Gen. ii. 3), that is to say, He made it productive of blessing for us It is a false argument to allege that the suspension of work on Sunday is prejudicial to the produce of manufactures, for it is an ascertained fact that factory hands do more and better work if they have one day of rest in the seven. A bow never unspanned loses its elasticity; so the workman loses his powers if they are ever on the stretch. Rousseau, no friend to religion, used to say that holidays were essential to the welfare of a nation. In England the observance of Sunday is a strict rule, and see how her commerce

352 The Commandments.

has prospered. Some Jews still rigorously keep the Sabbath, and no disadvantages ensue to them.

2. The profanation of the Lord's Day is frequently punished with temporal evils, sickness and poverty.

Because the Jews habitually violated the sanctity of the Sabbath God permitted Nabuchodonosor to destroy Jerusalem and take the people into captivity (2 Esd. xiii. 18). The usual punishment for profaning Sunday and not hearing Mass is to become the captive of vice. Those who work continuously ruin their health ; man can no more live without taking repose than without eating. Thus the day of rest is not only a religious duty, but a natural necessity. To those who work on Sundays God says as to the Jews of yore : " I will quickly visit you with poverty" (Lev. xxvi. 16). Those who through greed of gain desecrate Sunday, obtain the very opposite of their aim. The Chinese have no fixed day of rest, and to what a deplorable state of degradation and misery, both physically and morally, they have sunk as a nation !

3. The non-observance of Sunday undermines family life and social relations.

This sin causes the disintegration of the family. If the members of a family neglect public worship, they lose all sense of their duties and fall into evil ways. The father becomes dissolute, the mother indifferent, the children insubordinate. The father does not fulfil his duty to his children; occupied all the week he sees but little of them; on Sunday he has leisure to observe their individual charac ters, and give them useful instruction. The disintegration of society follows that of the family; the profanation of Sunday is -an open violation of God's law; the yoke of the secular law is next thrown off; no respect is shown to the authority of the king, the bishop, the legislator, the parent. Catholics who are careless in regard to the holydays of obligation, gradually lose all sense of their religious duties; they forget God, their final end, and become like heathen. Those who are not found on Sunday among the children of God on earth, will be excluded from His presence to all eternity. By sanctifying Sunday, we lay up for ourselves treasures which will last forever.

2. The Precept of Labor

"Work may be either bodily or mental.

It must not be thought that by those who work, only servants, artisans, operatives, and the like are intended; students, priests, schoolmasters, doctors, etc., are included under the term. The latter do not indeed work with their hands, but with their head; and mental work is far more difficult and fatiguing than physical exertion.

Work was formerly held to be degrading, until it was sanctified by Our Lord.

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Among the pagans there were two classes of people : the upper or governing class, and the slaves, the working class. In some states artisans were deprived of civil rights. As work was regarded as a degradation, men used either to join the army, or spend their days in idleness. At Our Lord's coming He gave dignity to labor by His example; He chose a carpenter for His foster-father, and from an early age He worked Himself. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard He gave His hearers to understand that work was necessary for salvation (Matt. xx.). Many eminent men have not disdained to engage in manual labor. St. Paul earned his own living by the work of his hands (Acts xx. 34), he was a tent-maker (Acts xviii. 3). The monks of old times occupied themselves with agriculture, and in transcribing manuscripts. Work is no humiliation ; on the contrary, it is greatly to a man's credit to maintain himself by his own exertions (Leo XIII.). Vice and pride alone really degrade a man. He who serves his fellow-man because it is the will of God, really serves God Who lays the obligation upon him. Christ Himself did not come to be served, but to serve. He who is the servant of another man is more to be respected than he who is the slave of his passions.

1. The obligation to work was laid upon mankind by God after the Fall as a penance.

Previous to the Fall of our first parents work was only a relaxation for man. But after the Fall God said to Adam : " In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, until thou return to the earth out of which thou wert taken " (Gen. iii. 19).

2. Every individual who can work is bound to work. St. Paul says : " If any man will not work, neither let him eat " (2 Thess. iii. 10).

No man is free from original sin, and on account of original sin we are obliged to do penance, thus all must work. In order to compel man to work, God has ordained that the earth shall not afford him nourishment unless it is cultivated. If no one labored all the people on the earth would die of hunger. The rich are not exempt from this obligation ; they can give the proceeds of their work in charity, or at least devote them to some good object. Eoyal personages have often worked costly vestments for the Church; queens and princesses used to spend a great part of their time in this manner. Upon a rich man being once asked why he was always working at something or other, though there was no need for him to do so, he replied : " Do you think almighty God has given me my hands for no purpose ? " St. Benedict, in making the rule for his monks, provided that they should be occupied alternately with prayer and work. Nothing but old age, bodily infirmities, and sickness exempt from this universal law. " Man is born to labor and the bird to fly" (Job v. 7). Even the lower animals teach us in this respect; witness the industrious ant (Prov. vi. 6). "We exhort you to work with your own hands, as we commanded you " (1 Thesa. iv. 11).

3. Every man is bound primarily to perform the work appertaining to his calling or station.

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There are various grades or states of life in human society; there are ecclesiastics, physicians, lawyers, soldiers, married people and unmarried ; human society is like a body, each member of which has its own individual functions (1 Cor. xii. 12), or like a clock, in which all the wheels, large and "small, work into one another. It is God Himself Who calls every man to his special state, hence we speak of it as his "vocation," and God gives every one the graces necessary to his calling. Thus if a man feels inwardly drawn to one particular state, he ought to obey this attraction, just as the migratory birds obey the motion that teaches them to seek a warmer clime in the autumn. Those who do not follow that interior impulse, but force themselves to embrace a calling for which they feel no inclination, too often share the fate of the birds who do not journey southwards ; like them they do not thrive. Parents ought not to compel their children to enter a profession for which they have no attraction. As our vocation comes from God, in fulfilling its obligations we serve Him; consequently the duties of our state ought to take precedence of all others. In some cases we have to leave God for God. The object for which Christ came into the world was to redeem it, and when the time came for Him to fulfil the duties of that vocation everything else was made subservient to it. Remember His words in the Temple Avhen He was twelve years of age (Luke ii. 49), and how He neglected to take food, while conversing with the Samaritan at Jacob's well (John, iv. 34). So Moses acted; when God told him on Mount Sinai that the people had sinned grievously, he immediately left converse with God, and returned to the camp (Exod. xxxii. 7).

Careful fulfilment of the duties of one's calling leads to perfection; the neglect of them entails fatal consequences both in time and in eternity.

Those who conscientiously accomplish the duties of their calling are conscientious in all things. Like the principal wheel in a machine, if this goes well, all else goes well ; but if it stops, the whole of the works are at a standstill. In the process for canonization, the first inquiry is how the candidate has fulfilled the duties of his calling. It is a mistake to imagine that time and trouble devoted to the duties of one's calling are wasted ; on the contrary, there is no speedier means of attaining perfection. Those who, deluded by the devil, neglect their duties for prayer and pious works commit sin. " If a man," says St. Francis of Sales, " does not perform the grave obligations of his state, though he raise the dead and practise all manner of austerities he is in mortal sin and will perish eternally." In vain those pray who will not work; all piety is false which is not subordinated to the claims of our calling, for no state of life, if lawful, is a hindrance to salvation.

4. We must not forget God in what we do ; before and during our work we should implore His aid and renew our intention.

God's blessing we need if our work should succeed. Witness the miraculous draught of fishes (Luke v.). Three men with God's blessing will do more work in a day than ten without it. To begin one's work without prayer is as if a soldier went to battle without weapons. St.

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Paul exhorts us to renew our good intention in the words : " Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. x. 31). In all our actions we must take aim, like one who shoots at a mark. However long a row of ciphers a child makes on a slate, they have no value whatsoever until a figure is placed before them. So it is with our works : in themselves they are worthless, but if they are performed in God's name, He makes them fruitful and meritorious. And as when writing one dips one's pen from time to time in the ink in order to write on, so we ought to look up to God to gain fresh strength for our work. We should do like the mariner, who looks up at the stars or consults the compass that he may steer his course aright. The angels, while ministering to man, do not cease to gaze upon the countenance of God. As the builder constantly uses square and plumb-line, so all our actions should be measured by the rule of the love of God. " Pray without ceasing " (1 Thess. v. 17). Accustom yourselves to utter ejaculatory prayers at your work and take for your motto the words: Ora et labora. Work and pray ; and while putting your hand to your work, raise your heart to God.

5. Labor obtains a temporal and an eternal recompense, because it is a kind of divine worship. The temporal recompense is contentment and earthly happiness.

As the law of work was laid upon Adam in paradise by God as an expiation of his fault, when he had acknowledged and confessed it, all who work do the will of God, and perform an act that is pleasing to Him. Work in its character of penance, is more excel lent than prayer. St. Francis of Sales, when obliged to curtail his prayers because of the press of business, excused himself by saying: " In this world we must pray by work and action." Work has a bitter root, but the fruit it bears is sweet. It has a temporal reward: the idler finds his time long and is a burden to himself, whereas the industrious is contented and cheerful. Pie experiences the truth of Our Lord's words : " My yoke is sweet and My burden is light " (Matt. xi. 30). The devil cannot molest the busy man with his temptations ; he has no leisure to listen to his enticements, any more than a man will leave some important transaction to go where music and dancing are going on. Work generally insures earthly prosperity. The bees who gather honey all day long in summer, lay up in their hives a store of nourishment for the winter. The industrious man's future is assured. A Roman who had accumulated a large fortune by hard work was accused of magic arts. Being brought before the Senate, he produced his tools and said : " Behold the charms I have made use of. The sweat of my brow I cannot show you." Finally labor, like all other acts of penance, merits an everlasting reward. Our Lord says : " The laborer is worthy of his hire " (Luke x. 7). And St. Paul : " Every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor'' (1 Cor. iii. 8). The anticipation of a reward sweetens labor, as we see is the case with all the working classes. They labor for a temporal reward, but we for an eternal. St. Bernard told a monk who was always busily employed, that if he continued to work so zealously he need not dread purgatory. Let us not in our work look so much to what we shall gain by it in time, as to our eternal reward.

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For if we only think of present profit we shall work less well, and we shall lose the eternal profit to which we show ourselves indifferent.

The precept of labor is transgressed:

1. By indulging in idleness.

2. By the non-fulfilment of the duties of our station and calling.

3. By omitting to offer to God the work that is done.

The Relaxations Permitted vo the Christian.

1. It is lawful for those who work to seek relaxation, for this is a means of renewing one's strength after one's work is done.

The bow never unspanned will break; and the man who works without cessation will become unfit for work. Social convivialities are productive of much good ; they promote charity and concord. It is God's will that we should enjoy recreation; He has provided us with pleasures in nature alone; the beauteous coloring, the delicious perfume of the flowers ; the song of birds, the various kinds of fruit, etc. Our Lord Himself was a guest at banquets, even at a marriage feast, and He speaks without disapproval of music, etc. (Luke xv. 25).

2. We must not, however, indulge too freely in amusements, and certainly we must eschew all those that are sinful; moreover in all our recreations the thought of God must be present to our mind.

We must not be too great votaries of pleasure, for diversions are not the object of life, they are only a means of renewing our strength after our work. Life is for work, not for play. Excess in everything is harmful; medicine taken in too large doses is injurious, and the best condiments, if too freely used, spoil a dish. So it is with amusements; they are only to be enjoyed when all our duties have been duly performed. The thought of death is a useful check upon indulgence in the pleasures of the senses ; if we remember that at any moment our soul may be required of us, we shall be moderate in our use of enjoyments. An exaggerated love of pleasure and craving for excitement prevails in the present day ; one festivity and dissipation follows another, and yet everywhere one hears complaints of the evil times. May not the thirst for enjoyment be the cause? Above all, dangerous or sinful pleasures are to be avoided, such as gambling for high stakes, games of chance which are prohibited, slandering the absent, sarcastic speeches, unseemly words, or contempt of holy things. Those who indulge in such pleasures are like thankless children who delight in offending their father. When enjoying innocent pleasures we should think of God, and our high destiny. The Psalmist says : " Be glad in the Lord " (Ps. xxxi. 11). St. Charles Borromeo is said once to have played a game of billiards; when asked what he would do if he was told the

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Last Judgment was at hand, he replied : " I should finish the game, for I am playing for the glory of God, and He is present to my thoughts."