CHRIST, YOUR ADVOCATE.

"Behold, the Lord God is my helper; who is he that shall condemn me?" (Isa. 50:9)

I.

We are told in the Gospel of the present Sunday that Christ said to His Disciples: "I go to Him that sent Me, and it is expedient for you that I go." (John 16:5, 7) Our Lord went to His eternal Father to plead for us, in the supreme consistory of heaven, as our Patron, Advocate, and Intercessor. "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just," says St. John (1 John 2:1); and St. Paul writes: "There is one mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5) It is, therefore, truly expedient that He should go to the Father to intercede for us, for we have been guilty of many crimes.

II.

What an advantage it would be to a criminal to have in an earthly court the king's own and only son for his advocate, willing and desirous of promoting his pardon! Such a one in your regard is Jesus Christ, "who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Apoc. 1:5) He is infinitely powerful, and consequently well able to obtain for you every favor and grace of which you stand in need, for He says: "All things are delivered to Me by My Father." (Luke 10:22)

III.

You ought to wish for the happy hour in which your Advocate will enter your soul in the Holy Eucharist. Then you can unfold all your miseries, necessities, and distress, and induce Him to plead for your efficacious redress. Take care, then, that your soul be pure from sin and divested of every affection to it; "for wisdom," says the Wise Man, "will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sin." (Wis. 1:4) Remember that your Advocate is uncreated wisdom itself.

THE BENEFIT OF ADOPTION. I.

I.

"Behold, what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be named, and should be the sons of God!" (1 John3:1) This Father of mercy was not satisfied with sending His only Son to redeem us; He has also adopted us for His children. This favor is greater in proportion to the meanness of the person adopted, the dignity of God who adopts you, and the sublime condition to which He elevates you. What is more vile or base than man, and what more exalted than God? As to his body, man is nothing but a composition of the dust of the earth, subject to a thousand infirmities, and destined to become ultimately the food of loathsome worms. As to His soul, He is constantly subject to sin, an abyss of ignorance, and a model of inconstancy. Reflect how contracted are his intellectual faculties, how small is His portion of knowledge, and to what miseries He is subject. Hence Job exclaims: "What is man, that Thou shouldst magnify him, or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him?" (Job 7:17)

II.

On the other hand, God, who has adopted you, is infinitely great, good, and almighty. What a dignity it is to be the adoptive Son of such a being! If it were considered a wonderful elevation in the Patriarch Joseph to be taken out of prison and made Lord of Egypt (Gen. 41:40), in Saul to have been taken by the Prophet when seeking his father's asses, and anointed king (1 Kings 9), and in David from "following the ewes" (Ps. 77:70), to be raised to a throne, what ought we to think of the dignity of becoming the adoptive sons of God? Dust and ashes are associated to the sovereign Lord of all things, and the companion of worms is destined to become the companion of Angels.

III.

Under what obligations you are to God for having thus honored you, "raising the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor man out of the dung-hill, that He may place him with princes." (Ps. 112:7) O exalted honor! You who do not deserve, even to be the servant of God, are made His adoptive Son. "Acknowledge, therefore, O Christian, your dignity," writes the eloquent St. Leo, "and since you are become a partaker of the divine nature, do not by any unworthy behavior degenerate to your former baseness."

THE BENEFIT OF ADOPTION. II.

I.

Many advantageous consequences result to man, from the benefit of adoption. It places us under the special protection of God, who governs, maintains, and defends us, as an affectionate father does his children. Hence royal David exclaims: "As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear Him." (Ps. 102:13) By the prophet Isaiah he makes still greater promises: "Can a mother forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee." (Isa. 49:15) How great is our security when we are protected by such a Father! When He stands with us, we need not fear who stands against us.

II.

By this adoption we are made "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4) and, in an inferior sense, even gods, according to the expression of the Psalmist: "I said ye are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High." (Ps. 81:6) By this adoption, we partake in some degree of the divine perfections — such as wisdom, fortitude, justice, charity, and God's other attributes, which are His by His own nature, and communicated to us by grace. Learn, then, duly to appreciate a benefit, which assimilates you in some respect to God.

III.

The benefit of adoption makes us heirs to the kingdom of heaven, according to the expression of the Apostle: "You are heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ." (Rom. 8:17) Consider heaven, therefore, as your inheritance, and say with the philosopher whom the light of reason instructed in this truth: "I am born for greater things than to be the slave of my own flesh." Direct your thoughts and affections, therefore, to heaven, where your eternal treasure exists; contemn mortal things, and surrender your mind to such only as are great and everlasting, and "do not degenerate from the lofty thoughts of the sons of God."

THE BENEFIT OF ADOPTION. III.

I.

We have contracted many obligations, in consequence of our adoption by Almighty God. We are bound, in the first place, to love tenderly, and from our whole hearts, so affectionate a Parent. If earthly children naturally love their parents, from whom they have received only what is temporal, with how much greater ardor ought you to love your God, "who is your Father, that hath possessed you, and made you, and created you"? (Deut. 32:6)

II.

We are bound not only to love God, but also to honor him as our Father, and to show that respect and reverence which His service and our duty require. "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be long lived upon the land " (Exod. 20:12); and God Himself says, by the prophet Malachias: "If, then, I be a father, where is my honor?" (Mal. 1:6) We cannot show this respect and honor to our Father without imitating Him. Christ therefore says: "Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48) And St. Paul, who had deeply imbibed the spirit of his Master, tells his Ephesian converts: "Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children." (Eph. 5:1) You must imitate His sanctity and impeccability, His charity, mercy, and justice, together with His other perfections. "Ye shall be holy," He says, "because I am holy." (Lev. 11:45)

III.

We are bound, in consequence of the benefit of adoption, to fear our Father. "Let every one fear His Father." (Lev. 19:3) If children of this world are afraid of offending their parents, lest they should be disinherited by them, how much more reason have we to fear God? Beware, lest it may ever be said of you: "I have brought up children, and exalted them, but they have despised me." (Isa. 1:2) You will despise Him, if instead of His will, you follow your own, and prefer your own ideas to His counsels and commands.

BENEFITS FROM THE SACRAMENTS.

I.

Your Heavenly Father is not simply content to have adopted you for His son, but He has employed various means, in order to make you persevere in the grace of that adoption. The chief of these means are the seven Sacraments, through which, as through so many channels, He wishes His favorite graces to flow, and render your soul fertile in good works. In these you can find an antidote against every disease, and assistance in every distress. Hence, the Church may say to you with the Prophet: "You shall draw waters with joy, out of the Savior's fountain." (Isa. 12:3)

II.

The infinite wisdom of God has adapted the Sacraments to all our spiritual wants and necessities. By Baptism we are regenerated, freed from original sin, and admitted into the Church. This regenerated life is increased and strengthened by Confirmation. The Eucharist is its solid and substantial support. If it be attacked by any spiritual disease, or even if it be vitally injured, we have a remedy in Penance, and Extreme Unction arms it for the last and most dangerous combat. Holy Orders and Matrimony are instituted, in order to enable those who embrace them to perform their important duties consistently with the Spirit of God and religion. We may truly say with the Psalmist: "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord," (Ps. 83:5) that is, in the true Church of Jesus Christ.

III.

These fountains of grace are open to all; none are excluded from them, however poor they may be. Hence the Prophet exclaims: "All ye that thirst, come to the waters, and you that have no money, make haste; buy and eat." (Isa. 55:1) These fountains are continually flowing, like the widow's oil mentioned in the fourth book of Kings, as long as there are empty vessels (that is, humble souls,) to receive the life-giving waters. The efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend on the virtues or vices of their ministers; but they infallibly work their effect, by virtue of their divine institution, provided the receiver places no impediment. Be thankful to God for so great a benefit, and always approach them worthily.

BENEFITS FROM THE GUARDIANSHIP OF ANGELS.

I.

"He hath given His Angels charge over thee," says holy David, "to keep thee in all thy ways." (Ps. 90:11) Our Heavenly Father is not content to make us His sons; but, with unparalleled kindness, provides us with tutors and guardians. This charge He has committed to the Angels: they are the ministers of His graces — they guard and protect us. "Are they not all ministering spirits," asks the Apostle, "sent to minister for these, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. 1:14)

II.

To whom has He committed this charge of us? To the Angels, who are His most noble creatures, who are pure spirits, immortal by nature, "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." (Exod. 28:12) They are more powerful than the most numerous and best disciplined army; they are adorned with every kind of grace and glory, and they continually enjoy the beatific vision. To the care of these superior beings, weak, frail and imperfect man is committed. "In their hands they shall bear thee up, less thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Ps. 90:12) Learn to appreciate the favor which God does you in placing you under the protection of His angelic spirits.

III.

The conviction that you are under the special protection of the Angels ought to excite you, as St. Bernard remarks, "to reverence, devotion, and confidence in them: reverence, because they are present; devotion, for their benevolence; and confidence in their vigilant custody." "If I should give myself to be thy servant," said young Tobias to Raphael his guardian, "I should not make a worthy return for thy care." (Tob. 9:2) Reverence, therefore, your Angel Guardian with affection; and do not presume to do in his presence that which you would be ashamed of doing before men. "Take notice of him, and hear his voice," says the Lord, "and I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and I will afflict them that will afflict thee" (Exod. 23:21), "and my Angel shall go before thee." (Exod. 23.)

BENEFITS FROM THE PATRONAGE OF SAINTS.

I.

Our Heavenly Father has not only provided us with Angel Guardians, but also with patrons, advocates, and models, in the Saints, who reign with God in heaven. He is our Judge, and we have in the Saints interposers to plead in our behalf, and to move Him to mercy. "Go to my servant Job," He says, "and offer for yourself a holocaust, and my servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept, that folly may not be imputed to you." (Job. 42:8.)

II.

With what care and affection the Saints in heaven perform their office, and what benefits result to us from their intercession! It is said of holy Jeremiah, in the second book of Machabees: "This is a lover of his brethren and of the people of Israel, this is he that prayeth much for the people, and for all the holy city." (2. Mach. 15:14) What confidence may we not place in the protection of advocates so powerful? If it be an object of high importance to possess a powerful friend in the court of a worldly prince, of how much more consequence is it, to have numerous friends in the court of heaven?

III.

How diligent you ought to be in honoring and in invoking the Saints, and especially those of your name, and your particular patrons, in order that they may obtain for you the blessings and graces of heaven! Above all, reverence and pray to the Queen of Angels and Saints, who, as St. Epiphanius styles her, "is the mother of the living." She surpasses all the citizens of heaven, both in her affection for us, and in power with her Divine Son. Thank your Savior for having committed your cause to so potent an advocate, and recommend yourself with all earnestness to her care, "for she never denies help to those who petition for it, nor does she ever intercede in vain with her Son."