64. Patience with Men and Patience with God — First Sermon for the Fourth Trinity

Synopsis — Our inborn frailty and our evilful pride reveal the need of humility — Look inward, look outward, and we behold only our sins and our tendency to sin — Difference between humility and despondency — Loving God: how natural it seems, and yet how easily hindered — From humanity and love springs the divine virtue of hope — An exhortation to earnestness and courage, springing from love and hope — Detachment, inwardly practiced, is entire obedience — Many reasons for praising this high virtue — Detachment also shown by patience.

FIRST SERMON FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY,

Be ye humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation. Casting all your care upon Him, for He hath a' care of you. Be sober and watch ; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith : knowing that the same afflliction befalls your brethren who are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will Himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you. To Him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen. — I Pet. v, 6-11.

Dear children, this is the teaching of St. Peter's very instructive epistle, giving us a perfect doctrine, by means of which we can complete all that holy Church has done for us the entire year past, with which, if we take it seriously, we shall find it to coincide perfectly.

"Be humbled," he says, "under the mighty hand of God," in which we see the essence, life and work that a man must have in all his devout practices. It consists in three things, all most essential, so that if any one of them be lacking, the essence, life and work of our piety comes to naught. The first is that we must be humble. Humility is the solid foundation on which the whole structure is to be built, if it is going to be worth anything in the sight of God. Whatever a man builds without this foundation falls down. The second thing is true and divine love for God and our neighbor. The third is genuine detachment from all things. With these three things a man reaches the perfection of a true and godlike life.

Dear children, God has by His grace implanted in us the beautiful virtue of humility, knowing how greatly we stand in need of it. In this he does us a great favor, for He thereby places in our souls a divine spark much closer to our nature than we may imagine. If humility seems an alien thing to us that is to be blamed on pride. If human nature be rightly ordered, we find matter for humility within us without fail. We cannot expel it from its place there, for as we look into ourselves we find two great causes for it. One is our natural frailty. Every man can see how miserably needy he is, how many tilings he lacks, and how all that he gets fails to satisfy him. Nothing is better known than the inborn deficiencies of the natural man, and that just as every man comes from nothing, so all ends in nothingness— all of which furnishes material for humility. The other reason for humility is our sinful frailty, something perfectly plain to anyone who searches his interior. He finds in himself a bottomless depth of natural depravity. Unless God guarded him constantly by his merciful graces, how unspeakably ready would he not be to commit sin, even to fall into mortal sin, and to be condemned therefor to eternally suffer in hell among all the devils. Tell me, dear children, is not this a great cause for true humility? Thus our own nature inclines us to the practice of this holy virtue. Looking inward, looking outward, we find there is nothing good in us, nor of ourselves can we do any good.

The second virtue is true love of God, and this has God rooted in our nature; for by a law of our nature every man must love. Even humility is not an interior growth, but comes from without, whereas love is inborn, as Venerable Bede teaches : "As it is impossible to live without a soul, so it is impossible to live without love." If a man, therefore, is naturally rightly ordered he must love God more than himself or all creatures. It is a pitiful thing that man should pervert so noble a trait, turning deliberately away from God, his creator and the creator of all things, and inclining towards creatures.

The third virtue is prudence or discretion, which belongs to reason itself. Mark well, children, that every act of man that is not guided by discretion comes to naught, and is not pleasing to God. Therefore does St. Peter say in this epistle : "Be sober and watch." This means that discretion should soberly guide our whole life, our words and works, eating and sleeping and watching — let discretion direct all men in all states of life in all their conduct.

Dear children, let us return to the first virtue, humility: "Be ye humbled, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation." Ah, dear children, when the time of visitation comes and God does not find us humble, it will be an evil thing for us without doubt; for "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" (James iv: 6). Therefore, the greater our humility, the greater the grace of God. If He finds us proud, He will crush us down ; if He finds us lowly minded, He will undoubtedly raise us up. The mighty hand of God is wise and good, aye, it is kindly and loving: "Casting all your care upon God, for He careth for you." If this loving watch of God over us were his only favor, His daily care for all our spiritual and bodily needs the only gift he were to give us; if His loving intervention against our heartache and all misery were His single benefit to us, it alone ought to be enough in our eyes to inspire a return of love. It should cause us ceaselessly to adore His Providence, to direct all our longings towards Him alone, and to enkindle in our hearts a deep love of His holy will in ordering our life.

Again, dear children, does St. Peter speak : "Be sober and watch, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith." Now when the lion roars, all the beasts of the forest fall to the ground with terror, and he comes and tears them to pieces. And in like manner, when the evil spirit comes roaring upon poor, weak men, they instantly fall down helpless, and he comes and tears them to pieces. But St. Peter bids us be bold and vigilant, and bravely to withstand the assaults of the demon with the weapons of holy faith. One should act like the garrison of a beleaguered city which knows that the enemy's army is superior in number. On whatever side the ramparts are weakest, there is concentrated the strongest defense — or the city and its defenders and treasures are lost. So must each one of us carefully mark the weakest side of his character, for there without doubt the evil one will deliver his fiercest attack — that is to say, where he finds the greatest tendency to vice.

Sometimes the devil's readiest temptation is to despondency. He shows a man his native frailty and his sinfulness, and tries to make him heavy-hearted on that account. And then he, as it were, roare in his ear: Art thou so foolish as to spend thy life in anguish and in penance? No! No! Live in joy. Enjoy thy carnal pleasures. Almighty God will give thee time for penance at the end of life. Have thy own will, enjoy creatures whilst thou art young and strong; when old age comes, then shalt thou become pious and serve God. Ah, dear children, what treacherous counsel is this. Be on your guard. Diligently watch while it is day, for soon eternal darkness will enshroud you. Kegulate your life by no such false confidence, but rather by a wise understanding of what is a really God-guided life. And let there be no turning back. See to it that God alone shall rule you. For it is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who says: ''Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Matt, xv: 13)

Look into this matter, dear children, very carefully, for the evil one lays many a snare for you. One will say in time of temptation : O God, would that I had a father confessor in this my great distress; I wish I knew how I now stand with our dear Lord. Now, children, I know about this case, and I say to you, do not annoy your father confessor. Keep up good courage. Evil thoughts have come? Then let them come and let them go. Be at peace; think no more about it, but turn thy heart straight to God. Make no parley with thy temptation, but just let it alone. By debating about it in thy mind, thou shalt suffer more misery than the demon himself has caused thee. All this trouble comes from excessive despondency, which may end by his suggesting despair, and saying : Everything thou dost is vain and useless — thou art lost forever.

The thing to do im such a case is to cast "all care upon God" and rest in Him. Turn to the eternal God with unshaken trust in His goodness and mercy. Do as mariners do when threatened with shipwreck— cast thy anchor deep down to the bottom of God's love and grace. Place thy confidence firmly in God our Lord. If it comes even to the end of life, and a man in deep distress shall but anchor all his hopes in God and die in that mind, it is truly a happy and a holy death.

Children, be well assured that a really godly man must dwell in the practice of divine hope just as much as in any other of the divine virtues ; and that is a great help to him when at last he comes to meet death. But this must not be a false and deceitful confidence in God, trusting in which a man presumes to lead a sinful life; for whosoever trusts in God and on the strength of that lives wickedly, sins against the Holy Ghost. The confidence in God that I mean springs from the depths of true humility and love. It is based on consciousness of one's helplessness; it is a most reasonable recognition of the need of God's help; it is part of a true and full and joyful conversion to God; for whosoever gives himself up to God loves and trusts God sincerely. Shalt thou not trust Him who has already done thee so many favors? Before thou wast created God foresaw thy weakness; knew that thou wouldst sin, foresaw in His divine wisdom how it was that he would redeem all mankind from sin, namely, by the bitter death of our beloved, innocent Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, dear children, turn away from sin with all earnestness. I say to you that any man under temptation, who does not courageously resist, but stands halting and hesitating, not turning from sin with his whole heart for the sake of God, such a man the evil one pursues with the object of dragging him down into everlasting damnation. Dost thou really wish to overcome the demon? Then do thy part manfully, fly from sin, and say in thy inmost soul : O Eternal God, come to my help with Thy divine grace, for I am firmly resolved never to commit mortal sin. Thus by thy good will and by thy resolute purpose, thou shalt overcome the evil spirit and put him shamefully to flight.

Children, you should know what a disgraceful thing it is for a man endowed with reason to allow himself to be vanquished by the devil, to be led into greivious sin and to forfeit the grace of God. A man gifted with reason who gives up to the evil one, is like a well-armed soldier who runs away from a fly. Think of the powerful weapons with which we can withstand the devil — our holy faith, the blessed Sacrament, God's holy word, the glorious example of the saints and of all good men, the prayers of holy Church, and more besides — all strong weapons against the demon. He has no greater force against these arms than a fly has against a big bear. Let but a man bravely resist, and he never can be overcome. Therefore turn away from thy Bins and cheerfully and manfully fight thy battle. See to it carefully that thou goest not into the next world without having fought and conquered the devil, nor without having sincerely repented of thy sins; for then thou shalt be the scoff of all those evil spirits, who will eternally torment thee. It will be a deeper pain to thee then that thou hast followed the devil than any other misery connected with thy sins.

Futhermore, a man must examine his inmost soul, lest there should be aught there but just simply God and His eternal glory. For, alas, there are many men in all states of life who make a show of a good life, as if fancying that they can deceive the eternal God. No, not so; but in reality thou deceivest thyself, and thou losest the precious time of grace. Thou art so guilty before God that He permits the evil spirits to have power over thee, so that they will not let thee do any good work. Take heed, dear children, whilst it is day, lest the time of darkness overtake you, and the grace of God be withdrawn from you. Search deep into your hearts; have God there and only God, making him your only aim in life, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Such is not the way of men who follow not after God. Creatures are their object in life. And if they find sorrow for sin beginning to stir their hearts, they run away from it ; they go into another country or city, they start new ways of wickedness, and thus they leap into everlasting death. Or acting otherwise, such a one is caught in a panie and adopts a life of poverty, or enters a monastery. Others, again, obtain a securer refuge by entering an approved order, even one strictly enclosed.

Now it may happen that some have entered an order from motives not divine ; but finding themselves there they say : Dear Lord, I thank Thee eternally that I am here, and I will ever remain here, to love Thee and serve Thee. Blessed are all those who persevere in this holy state till death, for without doubt they will be saved. The least little work there done in holy obedience, is nobler in God's eyes and more worthy of reward than many great works performed by one's own will. I declare to you in all truth, that no lovelier offering can be made to the Almighty God than a truly humble and obedient heart. In a single instant a man can, by means of obedience and giving up of his own will to God, be made so humble that he will be led directly to God — more directly than if he spent ten years in practicing high devotions. Take an example: suppose a man so full of God's grace that God constantly dwelt with him, and was as personally present as He will be in heaven ; and suppose him now to be required to pay a real obedience to God by some external act of charity. Such a one would humbly say to God : O beloved God, let me go out of Thy presence and follow Thy holy will in obedience; and this would please God more than to see that man enter eternal life surrounded by all the angels of heaven.

Children, this example is straight against all the religious men who go by their own will, and who do not quickly respond to God's will manifested to them in obedience. There are such men in communities ; they lay out their devotions and other good works for themselves. When obedience would draw them out to the active labors of their order, then is shown how little liberty of spirit they have — self-conceited men, with a god to rule them who is a divinity of their own appointment. A man truly obedient is always obedient, cheerfully dropping everything, even prayers and meditations, at the voice of lawful authority. If God is really in his heart, then does he offer himself in all meekness to the disposal of his superiors. It is this that leads him to union with God; without this he will lack God's favor. Obedience is that very noble virtue which is more pleasing to God than any of the others, even when we obey in matters which are in themselves of little moment. The eternal Son of God was for our sakes made obedient to His heavenly Father, in His coming down from the Godhead to our poor human nature, and then in the embracing of His holy cross; finally in His cruel and bitter death. Therefore must we one and all be obedient men, in all divine things and human things, interiorly and exteriorly, without murmuring or contradiction — if God shall do His work of love unhindered and continuously within our souls.

Yet this doctrine is directly opposed to the practice of those pious men who obey unwillingly. These make interpretations and excuses in order to avoid this beloved virtue, and they cleave to their own customary opinions. They insist on having their own way. I declare to you that such conduct separates you from God, from Hia graces, from the sweetness of His love — all this you will lack as long as you persist in a self-willed course.

Therefore, child, when thou beginnest a good work, humbly approach the fountain of divine grace, and crave that thou mayst begin and end it wholly to the praise and honor of God, sinking deep within thy soul till thou art fully conscious of thy own nothingness when without God's grace. In the quiet of that interior life, search out very humbly what is God's all lovely will — rest upon that without further running about for motives. This is a better way than taking the whole world into thy counsel with a dissipated spirit. Any man who is conscious of having true humility of heart and real love of God, together with discretion, in such a man's soul God does a work greater than words can describe.

St Peter teaches us that we suffer the same as do our brethren in the world. And, children, I say to you that we must suffer, whether we turn this side to escape or that side — we must suffer. We must l>e willing to suffer or go straight against God. Now there are many young people who risk life and limb in the service of the world, and whose whole reward is to pamper their wretched bodies, food for worms as they are, and commit their souls to the devil. Such are the only wages the world pays to its hirelings. How different with you. You gladly serve God and suffer for His sake, and He will give you as your wages His own very self, together with the kingdom of heaven and everlasting life. O how gladly should you, His chosen friends, suffer for Him, since for your sake He suffered shame, poverty, and all misery. Since the head of the human race, God's eternal Son Jesus Christ, has thus suffered, surely we His members ought to blush for shame that we are not always glad to suffer. Who in this world has ever endured the blasphemy, disgrace and shame that befell Jesus Christ God's eternal Son? He, indeed, would continue thus to suffer for us were it now possible for Him to do so. Daily and often in the day is He crucified in spirit by men's curses; constantly is He rejected and cast out, His wounds opened again and His innocent and precious blood poured out by every mortal sin that is committed. Think of the sacrilege, the blasphemy that is done Him by unworthy Communions, foul sinners taking Him into their filthy souls, all full of deadly sensuality. Could such a wretch feel the wickedness of that profanation of God, his horror would be worse than that of Judas. For these men confess the Godhead of Jesus Christ, acknowledging Him to be their God and their creator, whereas this divinity of our Savior was not known to Judas. If God's true friends could feel a pain equal to the guilt of this sacrilege, a pain of a bodily kind as well as the spiritual grief of a loving heart, their very bones would be pierced to the marrow, and their souls would be wounded to their very depths. If they could turn away from God this foul indignity by offering up their own lives, then death would be to them far more joyous than life.

Such then, dear children, is St. Peter's teaching of the right and the sure way: humility must be the foundation within us and without. Upon that, again, we build the house of the love of God, and we adorn it with the virtue of discretion. And all this God brings abomt by His days of visitation. Hence I declare to you, children, that those who set out toward perfection by ways of high reasoning — not traveling by this humble road of St. Peter — every one of them will fall into the pit of hell : for the higher the mountain the deeper the valley. May God grant that we shall be found resting on the right foundation. May God grant us to go forward by the threefold virtues of humility, love of God and discretion. Amen.