Note: When the XXIV. Sunday after Pentecost comes before November, take the Meditation of the III. Sunday after Epiphany.

THE LOST SHEEP.

I.

"What man among you that hath a hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after that which was lost?" (Luke 15:4) This Man is Christ, the sheep are the faithful. Christ performs to the full extent all the offices of a good shepherd. He came down from heaven to feed them; He marks them for His own, with a divine and indelible character; He leads them by His example to all virtue; He cures their infirmities; He defends them from the wolves of hell; He provides them with the rich pastures of His doctrine and sacraments; and, finally, He gives them His own Body and Blood for their food and nourishment. The faithful hear His voice, obey His commands, and follow Him wherever He leads the way; they delight in His pastures and surrender themselves entirely to Him. Living and dying, they are His.

II.

The strayed sheep is a sinner who, leaving the society of the just, and disobeying the commands of the Shepherd, wanders wherever he pleases. He is a most foolish and wretched man; he does not understand the happiness which he enjoyed under the Good Pastor; he is indifferent to the spiritual food which he once received; he prefers such as is pleasing to flesh and blood; he neither hears nor follows the call of the Shepherd; he considers the ways of mortification and the cross too hard and difficult, and prefers to wander through devious and dangerous paths of his own will, amidst rocks and precipices. "All we, like sheep," says the Prophet, "have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way." (Isa. 53:6) Reflect how often you have done so.

III.

The goodness of the Shepherd induces Him to seek for His strayed sheep. He sought them Himself in the first place, by His exemplary life and doctrine, during the thirty-three years, in which "He conversed with men." He now continually seeks them by holy inspirations, directors, pious books, and by the whole economy of His infallible Church. When He has found His lost sheep, He kindly and affectionately conducts it back again to His fold. O Lord, thus receive me, and conduct me into Thy sacred fold. "I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost, seek Thy servant because I have not forgotten Thy commandments." (Ps. 118:179)

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

I.

"Two men went up into the Temple to pray," (Luke 18:10) Ponder the pride of the Pharisee. Because he conceived himself perfect, he prays for no favor from God, neither for the forgiveness of his sins, nor an increase of grace. Under the pretense of giving thanks to God, he commends himself for his own good works, and arrogantly prefers himself to others. Not content with this, he contemns the publican, whom he rashly judges a sinner. Thus all proud men are blind and say to themselves: "I am rich and made wealthy." But, alas! Thou knowest not, proud soul, "that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Apoc. 3:19)

II.

The publican, on the other hand, expresses the greatest degree of humility. He stands at a distance, and does not deem himself worthy of appearing in the sight of God, or even of the Pharisee. He does not dare to lift up his eyes to Heaven, from confusion for his sins. He strikes his breast with a contrite and humble heart, and wishes to make satisfaction for his transgressions. He begs pardon for his sins and humbly prays: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." Such ought to be your prayers; humble, contrite, and accompanied with a firm purpose of amendment.

III.

Consider the sentence, which Christ pronounced on these two men: "This man [the publican] went down to his house justified rather than the other." If pride destroyed all the good works of the Pharisee, so on the other side, did humility, accompanied with penance, blot out the sins of the publican: "Because everyone, that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18:14) This is frequently the case here, but it is always so in the next life. Choose, then, whether you would rather be humbled in this short and uncertain world, or in the eternal world to come.

THE FAITHFUL AND WISE STEWARD.

I.

"Who, thinkest thou, is the faithful and wise steward?" (Luke 12:42) Christ finds few of this character, and therefore He speaks in the style of wonder. He requires of His servants that they be faithful, prudent, charitable to others, and persevering in good works, in order that, when the hour of death comes, He may find them "so doing." Examine how you conduct yourself as His steward, and whether you engage yourself in the cause of God with fidelity and perseverance, or whether you seek in it your own interest and satisfaction rather than the glory of God; whether you perform your actions with proper deliberation and circumspection; whether you attempt to render your means and talents conducive to the benefit of others; and finally, whether you persevere in doing good.

II.

The wicked servant says to himself: "My Lord is long a coming." And therefore he imagines that he has a long time to live; he acts like the unwise man in the Gospel, who said: "I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much good laid up for many years." (Luke 12:19) He injures and insults his fellow servants, "he shall begin to strike the men-servants and the maidservants." He surrenders himself to sensuality, for he begins "to eat and to drink and be drunk." Resolve to avoid all these vices, and recollect that they draw their existence from the persuasion of enjoying a long life and a forgetfulness of our last end.

III.

Consider the reward and punishment of these different servants. Of the former it is said: "Blessed is that servant; he will place him over all that he possesseth." But the fate of the latter will be far different: "The Lord of that servant will come in a day he expecteth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not, and shall separate him, and shall appoint him his portion with unbelievers." Imitate, therefore, the good and faithful steward in order that you may not be punished with the wicked servant.

THE GIRDING OF THE LOINS.

I.

"Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands, and you yourselves like to men who wait for their Lord when He shall return from the wedding!" (Luke 12:35) Diligent and attentive servants carefully watch for the arrival of their masters. Such diligence and attention Christ requires from us. "We gird our loins," says St. Gregory, "when we restrain luxury by continence, and we hold burning lamps in our hands when by good works we show our neighbors the light of our example." Examine how you perform this double duty.

II.

The good servants are thus attentive in order that, "when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him immediately." (Luke 12:36) "Our Lord comes to us," says St. Gregory, "when He hastens to judge us at our death; He knocks when He sends us sickness, the forerunner of dissolution." On this occasion, the good with joy "open to Him, having a desire," as the Apostle says, "to be dissolved and to be with Christ." (Phil 1:23) On the contrary, with what an unwilling heart do the wicked let Him in when He knocks! Hence, the author of Ecclesiasticus exclaims: "O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions." (Ecclus. 41:1)

III.

"If a master of a family did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open." (Luke 12:39) Death will certainly come as a thief and break open the soul's habitation, which is the body; but the day and hour are uncertain. Hence, God wishes us to be on our guard every day of our lives, in order that we may not be surprised at the moment when our eternal doom is to be fixed.

THE VINE AND ITS BRANCHES.

I.

"I am the vine and you are the branches." (John 15:5) Christ is a true Vine, both in regard to the most precious Wine which He poured forth on the Cross, and in as much as His Blood is daily presented to His Father for us, in the chalice of salvation. Every one may be a branch of this Vine; hence, He invites all. Of this Vine, it is said by the Psalmist: "It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river." (Ps.79:12) Every branch and every bough that belong to this Vine are kept alive by the influence of grace derived from the parent Stock, which is Christ, and these branches bear fruit because they are thus connected with it. How happy are you if you be a branch of this sacred Vine.

II.

Fruitfulness is an evident sign that you are connected with this Tree. "He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit." (John 15:5) Hence you may discover, by the fruit which you bear, whether or not you belong to this Vine. Besides, "every branch which beareth fruit He will purge that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:2) The husbandman improves or purges the vine by pruning and incision; so does God act in regard to His friends by sending them afflictions and by suffering them to be tempted. Learn, hence, to receive these trials willingly from the hands of God, as so many helps to your advancement in virtue.

III.

The branches which bear no fruit "shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire." (John 15: 6) " The branch," says St. Augustine, "must either bear fruit or be cast into the fire." Take care, therefore, to bring forth fruit in due season; let the grapes be genuine and not sour grapes, lest, like a dry withered bough, you be cut off and cast into the fire which will burn forever.

THE BARREN FIG-TREE.

I.

"A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none." (Luke 13:6) This fig-tree represents every Christian planted by God's own hand in the Vineyard of His Church to bring forth the fruit of good works. God wishes this tree to grow and produce fruit, and to gain this object He leaves nothing undone on His part; He warms it with the sun of faith, and waters it with the streams of His divine grace. He even forces it in some manner to produce fruit by every attention on His part. But if, after all His exertions, it will not produce fruit, He orders it to be cut down, for "every tree that yieldeth not good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire." (Matt. 3:10)

II.

Apply this parable to yourself and to your own soul. The Heavenly Husbandman has planted you as a choice vine in the Vineyard of His Church. He has exposed you to the sun of divine enlightenment, and watered you with the stream of His grace. He has provided you, in fine, with everything necessary to produce plenty of excellent fruit. He may perhaps, however, justly say of you: "These three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none;" that is, I find no fruit corresponding to my anxious exertions for the tree. What then must be done?

III.

"Let it alone this year, also." Who knows whether God has determined that this shall be the last year of your mortal life, or that, if you do not during this year yield the fruit which He wishes, He will withdraw His more abundant graces from you, and not afford you so many helps as He has done of working out your salvation. "I gave her time to do penance," He says in the Apocalypse (2:21), but we abuse that time. He resents our carelessness and closes His hand; then "time shall be no more." (Apoc. 10:6) The same helps which we formerly enjoyed will no longer be in our possession; and though we can, we shall not secure our last end. Make, therefore, good use of the present time, for the night of death cometh, during which "no man can work." (John 9:4)