CHRIST, THE LOVE OF YOUR SOUL.

"Behold my love speaketh to me, arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and come." (Cant. 2:10)

I.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. 22:37) God wishes us to make Him the object of our souls' love, and hence He calls us His beloved, His spouses, and His sisters. "Open to Me, My sister, My love." (Cant. 5:2) Love is gained and supported by love, and hence the disciple of love, St. John, writes: "Let us love God, because God first loved us." (1 John 4:19) This God "hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Apoc. 1:5) Never did a mother love her infant, nor a spouse his beloved, so affectionately as God loves man. He makes Himself man's companion, his food, his ransom, and his everlasting reward. Surely a Being so loving deserves to be loved "with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind."

II.

Today your Beloved will enter your heart in the Holy Eucharist, in order that you may enjoy His conversation and affectionate entertainment with more leisure. "If any one loves Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." (John 14:23) Reflect what an immensity of heavenly graces will be bestowed on your soul by His remaining with you, if your mind be properly disposed to receive Him. God says of Himself: "With Me are riches and glory; glorious riches and justice, that I may enrich them that love Me, and may fill their treasures." (Prov. 8:18, 21)

III.

Your disposition must be to return love for love, and your love must be as extensive as you can render it. Love consists in action and not in words; hence Christ says: "If any man love Me he will keep My word," that is, My commands and counsels, and observe My admonitions. Blush for your past want of observance of these, and be particular in your observance of them for the future, in order that you may be able to say: "My Beloved to me and I to Him" (Cant. 2:16) in willing or not willing the same thing that He loves or dislikes. There is a perfect union of wills between two persons that love each other.

CURE OF THE LEPER. I.

I.

A certain leper came to Christ to be healed. He entreated Christ to cure him with the most profound reverence, for "kneeling and falling on his face, he besought Him." (Mark 1:40) He addressed Him with great faith in his power: "Lord, if Thou wilt," he says, "Thou canst make me clean." (Luke 5:12) His resignation was exemplary; he does not present an absolute, but a conditional petition: "if Thou wilt," he says, if it be pleasing to Thy will, Thou canst cure me. Such ought to be the character of your prayers, humble, full of faith and resignation to the divine will. "To whom shall I have respect," says God by the mouth of His Prophet, "but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My words." (Isa. 66:2)

II.

Christ did not disdain the sight and presence of this loathsome spectacle, nor did He defer His cure to another day, and although He might have cured him with a single word, in order to correct our vicious delicacy on similar occasions, He condescended to touch him. "Wherefore, stretching out His hands, He touched him, saying, I will, be thou made clean." (Matt. 8:3) Ponder the words: "I will." They import it is both My wish and desire, for God "will have all men to be saved." (1 Tim. 2:4) Examine, therefore, if it be not your own fault that you are not purified from your spiritual leprosy of sin.

III.

This leprosy of the soul is like that of the body; both defile the subject in which they exist and make it odious, the latter in the sight of man, the former in the sight of God. The leprosy of the soul, however, is more detestable in the same proportion as it is more dangerous, and disposes its subjects not to temporal but to eternal death. Hence, the virtuous St. Louis, with good reason, said that he would rather incur the leprosy of the body than the leprosy of the soul by sin, and severely reprehended one of his nobles for making a contrary choice.

CURE OF THE LEPER. II.

I.

After having cured the leper, "Jesus said to him, see thou tell no man." (Matt. 8:4) Christ knew that he would publish his miraculous cure, from a feeling of gratitude, and there was no danger of vain-glory in Christ. Why, then, did He forbid him to divulge his cure? He did it for our instruction, and to teach us to avoid vain-glory, as one of our most dangerous enemies. "Vain-glory," writes St. Basil, "is a robber of our spiritual riches, a flattering enemy of our souls, and the bane of virtue." Examine yourself on the subject of this vice, and beware lest it may be said of you with truth: "You have received your reward." (Matt. 6:5)

II.

"Go show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony to them." (Matt. 8:4) The law of Moses reserved to the priests both the judgment of the leprosy itself in case of doubt and its cure. Remark how observant Christ was of the Law, and how He honored and respected the priests, however malicious they might be toward Him. He has granted much greater prerogatives to the Priests of the New Law, who have the power of healing every kind of spiritual leprosy. Therefore, as often as you feel yourself infected with this spiritual disorder, "go and show yourself to the priests."

III.

According to the ancient Law, the leper had to make an offering. He was commanded, after having cut off his hair and washed his clothes and himself, to offer in sacrifice a lamb without spot. Let your offering be a sacrifice of praise; as often as you return from the Sacrament of Penance, "offer to God a sacrifice of praise." (Ps. 49:14) You can offer the spotless Lamb of God, by hearing Mass.

CURE OF THE TEN LEPERS. I.

I.

As Christ was passing through Samaria, He entered town where "there met Him ten lepers, who stood afar off, and they lifted up their voice saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." (Luke 17:12) Their prayer was accompanied with three conditions, which are requisite to every good prayer: 1. They were humble, for "they stood afar off." 2. They prayed with unanimity and fervor, "they lifted up their voice." Earnest and fervent prayer is pleasing to God; hence holy David says: "when I cried to Him, He heard me." (Ps. 21:18) 3. They did not pray that He would restore them to health, but that "He would have mercy on them," thus with resignation leaving the whole affair in the hands of God. Imitate them in your prayers.

II.

"When He saw them, He said, Go show yourselves to the priests." Christ might have cured them in an instant, but He wished to try their obedience and to impress on His followers a respect for the priesthood, and the observances of the Law. He wished moreover to teach us that we ought to repair to the Priests, and unfold ourselves to them, as often as we are struck with the leprosy of sin. Do not dare to pass a night in this state of spiritual leprosy, for what would be the consequence if, during that night, God called your soul to appear before Him? Your leprosy would attach to you for all eternity.

III.

"It came to pass, as they went, they were made clean." Ponder their prompt obedience and its fruit. So it often happens to those who are laboring under some temptation; while they are going to manifest themselves to their ghostly Father, they are freed and the enemy has fled. So, also, many who are preparing for confession are justified beforehand by Almighty God, who gives them perfect contrition. "I said," cries out the Prophet, "I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin." (Ps. 31:5)

CURE OF THE TEN LEPERS. II.

I.

"And one of them, when he saw that he was cleansed, went back with a loud voice glorifying God." (Luke 17:15) We ought always to be grateful to God for the benefits which we receive from Him. "In all things," says the Apostle, "give thanks, for this is the will of God." (1 Thes. 5:13) This thanksgiving is to be performed, in the first place, with a "loud voice," that is, with great energy and affection. We must "glorify God," and with holy David, "extol His name." (Ps. 33:4) We must, besides, accompany all this with great humility, fall prostrate at the feet of our Lord, and acknowledge ourselves unworthy of His mercies and favors. "There can be no offering more grateful to God," writes St. Augustine, "than that of thanksgiving."

II.

Of the ten lepers who were cured, only one returned. "There is no one found to return," said Christ on the occasion, "and give glory to God, but this stranger." (Luke 17:18) Reflect how many thousands there are whom God daily preserves and feeds, and who do not acknowledge the benefit. They eat their food, like irrational creatures, without raising their minds or hearts to heaven. "I have brought up children," says God by His Prophet, "and exalted them, but they have despised me." (Isa. 1:2) These consider themselves as inhabitants and sons of the earth, and believe that they possess here, "a settled habitation;" but do you on the contrary consider yourself a stranger and pilgrim in the world. Then you will easily acknowledge God's gifts, and all His favors bestowed on you.

III.

This stranger, by being grateful for his corporal health, received a still greater favor: the cure of his soul. He was converted to the Gospel which Christ preached; hence, Christ says, "Arise, go thy way, for thy faith has made thee whole." The other nine, as St. Augustine fears, were probably lost. "For the hope of the thankless shall melt away as the winter's ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water." (Wis. 14:29) Take care, then, to be always grateful to God for the benefits which you receive.

CURE OF THE DEAF AND DUMB MAN. I.

I.

Whilst Christ was passing through Galilee, "they brought to Him one that was deaf and dumb, and they besought Him lay His hand on him." (Mark 7:32) Ponder how meritorious an action it is to bring others to Jesus Christ, and endeavor by every means consistent with your state and calling to bring to Him those who are spiritually deaf and dumb. What is spiritual deafness? He is spiritually deaf who will not listen to the truths of faith, nor to the voice of God when He calls him to virtue and perfection. Examine whether you be not in some respect spiritually deaf, and do not shut your ears to the voice of God; fear lest the terrible words be addressed to you, "then shall they call upon Me, and I will not hear." (Prov. 1:28)

II.

What is spiritual dumbness? He is spiritually dumb who does not correct his brother when, by doing so, he can prevent him from sinning. He also is spiritually dumb who does not preach the Word of God when it is his duty, or make open profession of his faith when the honor of God, his own or his neighbor's good requires it. Lastly, he labors under this spiritual complaint whose tongue is not employed in the praises of God, in the exercises of devotion and pious conversations. "Woe is me," says the Prophet, "because I held my peace." (Isa. 6:6) And: "You that are mindful of the Lord hold not your peace." (Isa. 62:6)

III.

Christ did not reject this poor distressed man, but took him aside and cured him. You, also, must retire from the noise and bustle of the world if you wish to be cured. You must prepare yourself by prayer and spiritual exercises. Observe how He cured this man, not by His word or command, as He cured others, but "He put His fingers in his ears, and spitting, He touched his tongue." (Mark 7:33) Christ performs His cures in very different manners, and exercises His followers in a very different way. Submit yourself to His holy guidance and divine pleasure in all things, and by this means you will be cured of all your infirmities.

CURE OF THE DEAF AND DUMB MAN. II.

I.

After Christ had pronounced the words, "Be opened, immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right." (Mark 7:34) It is a sign that our ears are opened when we do not contradict, nor resist Divine inspirations, but with all humility obey them. "The Lord hath opened my ear," says the Prophet, "and I do not resist." (Isa. 50:5) Examine whether the ears of your heart be open to the voice of heavenly wisdom, or rather whether you be one of those, "who will not hear the voice of the charmers." (Ps. 57:5)

II.

It is recorded of this man, whose hearing and speech were restored to him, not that he simply spoke, but that "he spoke right." Hence, we are taught to place a particular guard on our tongues, which St. James pronounces to be "a world of iniquity." (Jas. 3:6) He speaks right who announces the praises of God, who speaks on things that regard salvation, and whose tongue is not employed in conversation on vain or idle affairs or in detractions or murmurs. Examine how you employ your tongue, and remember the assertion of the Psalmist: "A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth." (Ps. 139:12)

III.

Christ upon this occasion also, "charged them that they should tell no man," in order to teach His followers to shun the applause of men; "But so much the more, a great deal did they publish it, and so much the more did they wonder." (Mark 7:36) They were not in this instance disobedient to Christ, because Christ did not command with an intention of obliging them, but only did what humility required on His part, whilst they, by honoring and glorifying Him, performed on their part the duty of gratitude. On this occasion, it was said of Christ, "He hath done all things well," in order that you may learn to seek perfection in every thing, and not to do well some things only, and neglect others. "In all things," writes St. Paul to his Corinthian converts, "let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God." (2 Cor. 6:4)