CHRIST, THE GUEST OF YOUR SOUL.

"Let the king come to the banquet I have prepared; tomorrow I will open my mind to the king." (Esth. 5:8)

I.

We read in the Gospel of the present Sunday that Christ entered into the house of a certain Pharisee on the Sabbath to eat bread. (Luke 14) He is also the Guest of your soul, and He will enter it today, in order to be entertained by you. "If any man shall hear My voice and open to Me the gate, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." (Apoc. 3:20) Consider, therefore, attentively the greatness and dignity of your Guest, and conceive those words of the Evangelist addressed to you: "Make ready My supper, and gird thyself." (Luke 17:1)

II.

This Divine Guest, in the language of St. Ambrose, "feeds upon our virtues." He is particularly pleased with the virtue of humility; therefore, while He was at table today with the Pharisee, He taught us always to choose the lowest places. "While the king was at his repose, my spikenard," says the spouse in the Canticle, "sent forth the odor thereof." (Cant. 1:11) "The spikenard," says St. Bernard, "is a low plant, and an emblem of humility. Be, therefore, ready to prepare such food for your Guest as you know He will gladly feed on." Seek, therefore, the virtue of humility in every action of your life.

III.

This Guest of our souls is so generous that He brings gifts and presents with Him for those who receive His visits worthily. In this spirit of liberality, He in a Pharisee's house cured a person laboring under the dropsy. If you examine yourself accurately, you will more than probably discover that you labor under some spiritual complaint which requires immediate relief. Discover your spiritual ailment, and then humbly and fervently implore the Giver of all good things to grant you His assistance to effect a lasting cure.

THE SICK MAN AT THE PROBATIC POND. I.

I.

God bestowed a great benefit on the Jews in making the "probatic" pond a cure for all diseases. It was situated near the temple, and the sheep that were to be offered in sacrifice were washed in it. The water in this pond was stirred by an Angel, and hence it received the virtue of curing all diseases in the person who first entered it, after the waters were moved. This probatic pond was a type of the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance, in which those who wish to follow Christ, are washed for "the sacrifice of justice." (Ps. 5:21) These Sacraments possess a heavenly virtue, which is given to them by "the Angel of the Testament," that is, in the language of the Prophet, by Christ Himself. It purifies us from all sin, its effects are not confined to those who approach the Sacraments first, but it is communicated to all, without exception, who approach them with worthy dispositions. Meditate on the benefits resulting from their institution.

II.

Around this pond "lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered, waiting for the moving of the water." (John 5:3) God wishes us to wait with patience for His favors; hence David says: "With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and He was attentive to me." (Ps. 39:2) Among other persons who were afflicted, "there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity." (John 5:5) His complaint was the palsy. The spiritual palsy of the soul is a relaxation of its nerves and faculties, a want of spiritual vigor and life, and a decay of energy. Examine how long you have labored under this infirmity, and seek a remedy for it in the Holy Sacraments of the Church.

III.

Jesus proposed His cure to the sick man, and said to him: "Wilt thou be made whole?" God can render us just in His sight by His own power alone, if He please, but He does not do it without our consent. "He who made thee without thy own concurrence," writes St. Augustine, "will not save thee without it." Examine whether you have the will to take advantage of God's concurrence. Your salvation depends upon it.

THE SICK MAN AT THE PROBATIC POND. II.

I.

This sick man confessed his want of power, for he could neither move himself nor cause the waters of the probatic pond to move. "I have no man," he said, "when the water is troubled." (John 5:7) In consequence of his humble confession, he immediately received a cure from Christ, for a humble acknowledgement of our own weakness is the best disposition to receive God's assistance. Perhaps you have reason to say, "I have no man," that is, I have not the heart, nor the courage of a man to overcome myself. Christ our Lord is ready to raise you with His grace from the state of lethargy and spiritual languor into which you have fallen, if you be willing on your part. You have also preachers, superiors and directors, to admonish and help you.

II.

The efficacy of Christ's words cured the sick man. "Arise," said He, "take up thy bed and walk." Speak, O Lord, in the same manner to me: "Say to my soul, I am thy salvation." (Ps. 34:3) Reflect on the obedience of this man. He immediately rose, and, though it was the Sabbath day, he took his bed upon his shoulders and walked. This is a perfect example of blind obedience. Do you therefore, on your part, take up this yoke of obedience and walk in the paths of justice. Walk before God and be perfect.

III.

After Christ had performed this miracle, "He went aside from the multitude" (John 5:13), to give us an example of shunning the applause of men. "Afterward Jesus, finding him in the temple, said to him, behold thou art made whole, sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee." Imagine the same words to be spoken to you when you approach the sacrament of penance: "Go and sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee."

CURE OF THE PARALYTIC. I.

I.

A great multitude was gathered together in and around the house in which Jesus was, "so that there was no room, not even at the door, and He spoke to them the word." (Mark 2:2) Observe our Lord's indefatigable zeal in laboring for the salvation of mankind; at no time and in no place does He spare His exertions in this great cause, but freely admits and instructs all. Imitate His example and embrace the sentiment of St. Paul, who followed it so well: "I most gladly will spend, and be spent myself, for your souls, although loving you more, I be loved less." (2 Cor. 12:15)

II.

"And behold men brought in a bed a man who had the palsy, and when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the roof and let him down through the tiles, with his bed, into the midst before Jesus." (Luke 5:18) Admire the faith of these men, for they undoubtedly believed that Christ would cure him, and hence, they took every pains to bring the sick man to Him. Observe, also, their courage and patience in overcoming the difficulties that prevented their free access to the house. They forced their way through everything until they had accomplished their desire. "A true belief," writes St. Bonaventure, "is not destroyed, nor cooled by impatience, but rather inflamed." Examine your conduct on similar occasions, and see how easily you desist from a good work, through fear.

III.

Consider the wonderful mercy of Christ: "Son, be of good heart, thy sins are forgiven thee." (Matt. 9:2.) "O wonderful humility!" says St. Jerome, writing on this text: "A decrepit and despicable poor man is called son, when the Scribes and Pharisees would not deign to touch him." Remark how He forgives him his sins, for they were the cause of his infirmity, to teach you that diseases are often inflicted for hidden sins, and, that when you are sick, you must first seek the health of your soul, and then your corporal health.

CURE OF THE PARALYTIC. II.

I.

The Scribes and Pharisees immediately began to murmur: "Who is this, who speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke 5:21) Condole with your Lord for being considered a blasphemer, and be not troubled if at any time you be treated below your deserts. Observe His mildness: He is not moved to indignation, He does not revenge Himself, as He could so easily have done, but sweetly and mildly endeavors to lead them out of their error. "Why," He says to them, "do you think evil in your hearts." (Matt. 9:4)

II.

In proof of His divinity and His power of forgiving sin, Christ immediately cured the man, and said to him: "Rise up, take thy bed and go into thy house." Your house and your home is heaven; on earth you are only a stranger and a passenger. Hasten, therefore, home, and fix your thoughts, your cares and desires there, where you are to dwell forever. "Man shall go," says the Wise Man, "into the house of his eternity." (Eccles. 12:5) "A house is taken, as it were, forever," writes the pious St. Augustine, "but a nest is built only for a season." Do not pay more attention to your temporary residence in this world than to your place of permanent abode.

III.

When the man was cured, "he went away into his own house, magnifying God." It is one of the proper effects of spiritual health to praise God, and to give Him thanks for benefits received. Take care that you always magnify God when you retire from the Sacrament of Penance freed from the deadly palsy of sin, and say with royal David: "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be always in my mouth." (Ps. 33:2)

CURE OF THE WITHERED HAND.

I.

"And it came to pass also on another Sabbath that He entered into the Synagogue, and taught, and there was a man whose right hand was withered." (Luke 6:6) Christ took advantage of every occasion to bring souls to His Father; hence, on the Sabbath-days He frequented the Synagogue in order that he might instruct the multitude, which on those occasions was collected together. He found in the Synagogue a man whose right hand was withered. "There are many," says an eminent spiritual writer, "who in the Church of God, have their left hands ready for any evil action, whilst their right hands are withered and incapable of performing any good action." "Their right hand is the right hand of iniquity." (Ps. 143:8) Examine your conscience on this subject.

II.

"Then He saith to the man, stretch forth thy hand; and he stretched it forth, and it was restored to health, like as the other." (Matt. 12:13) Christ could easily have produced the miraculous effect without making the man stretch out his hand, but He wished to teach us, that every spiritual effect is generally produced with the concurrence of His creatures. "Turn to Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you." (Zach. 1:3) Extend, therefore, your right hand to good works, to the assistance of your brethren, and to your God in prayer, and you will without doubt obtain perfect spiritual health. "Whatever thy hand is able to do," says the Wise Man, "do it earnestly." (Eccles. 9:10)

III.

The Scribes and Pharisees, always ready to find fault with Christ, instead of taking advantage of His miracles for their own salvation, make use of every one of His actions as a motive to destroy Him. "But He that dwelleth in the heavens, shall laugh at them." (Ps. 2:4) Christ, however, although He might have annihilated them in a moment, chose to bear with their insolent audacity in order to teach His followers to be like Himself, "meek and humble of heart." (Matt. 11:12)

THE WOMAN WHO WAS BENT DOWN.

I.

Christ, being again in the Synagogue according to His custom, "behold, there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent down, and could not look upward at all." (Luke 13:11) This infirmity was caused in her by the devil, as Christ Himself tells us, either in punishment of her sins, as was the case with Giezi the leper, or by God's permission to try her virtue, as was the case with holy Job. In a mystical sense, our infernal enemy induces all those to labor under the same infirmity, who stoop to worldly things, and keep their minds and hearts continually fixed on them, in such a manner, that they cannot raise their thoughts to heaven. Of this numerous class of Christians, it may be said, "they turned away their eyes, that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments. " (Dan. 13:9)

II.

Christ's merciful disposition prompted Him to call the woman to Him and cure her. "Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity." (Luke 13:12) The effect immediately followed His omnipotent word; for, having placed His hands on her, "she was immediately made straight, and glorified God." Observe and imitate the gratitude of this woman; for as soon as she saw herself cured, she began "to glorify God." How much greater reason have you to glorify God, "Who healeth all thy diseases." (Ps. 102:3) Say with the enraptured Prophet: "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and He is become salvation to me, He is my God and I will glorify Him." (Exod. 15:2)

III.

Consider the perverse zeal of the ruler of the synagogue. "He was angry that Jesus had cured on the Sabbath," as if it were not lawful to do a good action, which was not servile, on the Sabbath day. Passions, and a desire of gratifying them, are frequently mistaken for zeal. Do all your actions with a pure and sincere intention to please God, and you need not fear the judgments which men may pass on them. "Fear not the reproach of men and be not afraid of their blasphemies. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment, and the moth shall consume them as wool." (Isa. 51:7)