CHRIST, THE TRANSFIGURATION OF YOUR SOUL.

"The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be changed into another man." (1 Kings 10:6)

I.

Christ took three of His Apostles to a high mountain, "and was transfigured before them." (Matt. 17:2) The same will be produced in due proportion in your soul, by your reception of the Eucharist, if you oppose no impediment to His holy grace. The Eucharist, as the Angelical Doctor observes, in a certain manner makes us the same with Christ. And St. Augustine introduces Christ addressing the faithful in these words: "I am the food of the advanced; grow, and you shall feed on Me; but in such a manner that you shall not change Me into yourself, but you shall be changed into Me."

II.

What an inestimable dignity it is, and what a superior benefit for man, to be transformed into God, and to be "made conformable to the image of His Son"! (Rom. 8:29) Satan tempted Eve with this idea: "You shall be as gods." (Gen. 3:5) But our first parents were deluded. By the Eucharist, and the grace attached to it, we become united to God, and in some respect partakers of the divine nature, "and even incorporated and of the same blood with Christ," as St. Cyprian energetically remarks. Humble yourself, therefore, and say with the Prophet: "Who am I, or what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law of the King" (1 Kings 18:18), or rather the adopted son of God? "As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be made the sons of God." (John 1:12)

III.

It is recorded of Moses in the sacred volume, that "he knew not that his face was horned" (i.e., resplendent with glory) "from the conversation of the Lord." (Exod. 34:29) If you converse frequently with the Lord in prayer, you will in like manner be transfigured. You must make Him the exclusive and ultimate object of your love, and detest whatever displeases Him. St. Augustine writes: "Everyone is such as is his love: if you love earth, you will be earth; if you love God, you will be as God."

CHRIST ACCUSED BEFORE CAIPHAS.

I.

As soon as our Redeemer was brought before Caiphas, "the chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus, that they might put Him to death." (Matt. 26:59) Oh unheard-of injustice! Judges, whose duty is to protect accused innocence, seek false witnesses against it. They patronize private and unjust envy, and cloak their evil designs under the pretense of public justice. See the Son of God standing at the bar, before His sworn enemies, surrounded by perjured witnesses, and malicious accusers. The innocent Lamb of God, "who did no sin, and in whose mouth no guile was found" (1 Pet. 2:22), opposes profound silence to all the accusations brought against Him. "I as a deaf man," He says by the mouth of the Prophet, "heard not, and was as a dumb man not opening His mouth." (Ps. 37:14) Learn hence how to demean yourself on such occasions, and to commit your cause to God's providence.

II.

So irreprehensible had been the life and actions of Christ, that these enemies of His could not fabricate even the semblance of a crime against Him. Wherefore the high-priest at last conjured Him by the living God, to say if He were the Christ, in order that he might condemn Him of blasphemy, if He affirmed that He was, Christ, who had hitherto preserved the most perfect silence, in reverence to the sacred name of His Father, immediately answered, "Thou hast said it." At the same time, He alluded to the general judgment to deter Him, if possible, from his evil design, and to wake him from the sleep of death. But alas! "the perverse are hard to be corrected." (Eccles. 1:15) Entreat our Lord, that you may never be of this character.

III.

Consider the false zeal of the malicious and the wicked. "Then the high-priest rent his garments, saying, He hath blasphemed." (Matt. 26:65) The devout follower of Christ ought to rend his heart with sincere contrition for his sins, which have cost the Son of God so many pains. "Rend your hearts and not your garments," says the Prophet. (Joel 2:13) This mock court of judicature immediately cries out with one voice: "He is guilty of death." (Matt. 26:66) O most unjust sentence! O divine Jesus! Will you suffer yourself to be deemed a blasphemer, and declared guilty of death; and shall I continually attempt to gain the approbation of men, and to rise above my deserts? I cannot be a true disciple of Thine if I act in this manner.

INJURIES IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS. I.

I.

After Christ had been thus unjustly pronounced deserving of death, "then did they spit in His face, and buffeted Him, and others struck His face with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, O Christ! who is he that struck Thee." (Matt. 26:67) During that night of cruelty, Christ suffered five kinds of ignominy. First, they spat upon that beneficent being, who with His spittle had given sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, and hearing to the deaf; they spat upon that face which the Angels adore, and which just souls always desired ardently to behold. "Show us Thy face," said the Royal Prophet, "and we shall be saved." (Ps. 79:20) During this ignominy, Christ, like a meek lamb, verified the expression of the Prophet: "I have given My body to the strikers and My cheeks to those who plucked them; I have not turned away My face from those who rebuked Me and spat upon Me." (Isa. 50:6) Is not Christ treated in the same manner now by all sinners as He was then treated by His insolent tormentors? Have not you yourself some part in this ignominy?

II.

Consider the second kind of ignominious treatment which our Divine Savior underwent: "And they blindfolded Him." (Luke 22:64) In their frenzy, His enemies attempted to veil those sacred eyes, before which "all things are naked and open" (Heb. 4:13), and to cover that Divine Face, before which all nations will stand in awe and admiration. Every sinner attempts to do the same, in order to sin with more liberty and less remorse; he does all he can to hide God from himself, and his sins from God; he tries to adopt the expression in the book of Job: "What doth God know? The clouds are His covert, and He doth not consider our things." (Job 22:13) Take care that you never endeavor to stifle the remorse of conscience by means like these.

III.

Third: "They buffeted Him, and others struck His face with the palms of their hands." Represent to your imagination this cruel and ignominious scene, and contemplate every part of it. View these ruffians vying with each other in their outrageous insolence. Then was literally accomplished the prophecy of Jeremiah: "He shall give His cheek to him who striketh Him; He shall be filled with reproaches." (Lam. 3:30)

INJURIES IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS. II.

I.

The fourth insult which was offered to the Son of God in the house of Caiphas was the cruel act of His enemies, when they plucked His sacred hair and beard. By suffering this insult, He verified the prediction of Isaiah: "I have given My body to the strikers, and My cheeks to those who plucked them." (Isa. 50:6) Samson consented that his hair should be cut off, from a blind attachment to Delilah, which proved very injurious to him; but Christ, from a better love to mankind, suffered Himself to be despoiled of His. Learn from this example to reject and rid yourself of superfluities, and to follow Christ in naked simplicity and unadorned sincerity.

II.

The fifth species of ignominy which our Redeemer had to endure consisted in the reproachful language in which His enemies addressed Him. "Prophesy unto us, O Christ! who is he that struck thee. And many other things blaspheming, they said against Him." (Luke 22:65) On this occasion, they repeated their former slanders against Him, calling Him a glutton, a lover of wine, a seducer of the people from their allegiance, and a blasphemer possessed by the devil. What holy Job said of himself was then truly verified in the person of the Son of God: "They have opened their mouths upon Me, and reproaching Me, they have struck Me on the cheek; they are filled with My pains. (Job 16:11) Observe how patiently Christ suffers this severe treatment, and be confounded at your own impatience, when you are unable to bear a slight word of reproach or blame from others.

III.

This indignant treatment continued during the whole night. Those who formed the council retired home, to enjoy repose, and the comforts of domestic life; but Christ was delivered up to the guards, to be strictly watched, and to be treated at their pleasure or mercy. Meditate deeply on the forlorn situation of your suffering Jesus during that long, and tedious, and painful night. Be ashamed at your want of courage, in mortifying yourself so little for His sake, who has endured so much for you, from every description of people — from the priesthood as well as from the laity.

ST. PETER'S DENYING CHRIST. I.

I.

"But Peter sat without in the palace, and there came to Him a servant maid, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest." (Matt. 26:69) A few hours before Peter had said: "Though I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee;" but now, alas! at the first word of a woman, from shame and fear he denies that he ever knew Him. How many are there now in existence who, not from any humility, but from mere apprehension of what the world will say, are afraid to own any Christian or virtuous action and to profess themselves followers of Christ!

II.

Peter remained in the same company, in which he had first denied his Master, and being accused by others of being Christ's disciple, he persisted in his denial a second and a third time. "He began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man" (Matt. 26:74), unmindful of the first crowing of the cock. Observe the different effects of good and evil company. When Peter was with his Master and fellow Apostles, he was so fervent as to offer to die with Christ, but in the evil company in which he afterwards was, he protests and swears that he never knew the man. Learn from this melancholy example to avoid evil company and conversation; and always bear in mind the oracle of St. Paul: "Evil communications corrupt good manners." (1 Cor. 15:33)

III.

Some of the particular circumstances which attended the fall of St. Peter are recorded by all the Evangelists. 1. The occasional cause of his fall was his vain presumption and confidence in himself. "Though all men should be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandalized." 2. He neglected prayer, and fell asleep, after his Master had told him: "Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." 3. A woman was the instrument of his fall, as well as of the fall of Adam. Tremble, when you see the pillars of the Church overturned by the voice of a woman. "Tarry not among women." (Ecclus. 42:12) His sin increased by degrees, passing from a simple denial to execration and open perjury. Learn to resist the beginnings of evil, or fatal experience will soon convince you that "he who contemneth small things shall fall by little and little. (Ecclus. 19:1)

ST. PETER'S DENYING CHRIST. II.

I.

"And the Lord, turning, looked on Peter." (Luke 22:61) While this weak Apostle was denying his Master the third time, Jesus was led down from the upper room, where he was condemned, to the lower court, "where Peter had remained the whole time. He cast an eye of compassion on His sheep that was perishing, or, as some holy Fathers explain the passage, he looked on him from a distance with the interior eye of mercy, and by His grace moved him to repentance. Observe how, in the midst of His own afflictions, He remembers His ungrateful Disciple. With that same eye of mercy, O Lord! "look upon me, and have mercy on me." (Ps. 24:16)

II.

"And going forth, he wept bitterly" (Matt. 26:75), not from mere servile fear, but from a deep sense of his ingratitude to so loving a Master and so great a Benefactor. He felt the force of the Prophet's sentiment: "It is an evil and a bitter thing to have left the Lord thy God." (Jer. 2:19) Do you, on your part, appreciate the force of the expression, and you will prevent yourself from falling. Oh how often have you, not only in words, as St. Peter did, but in deeds also, denied your Lord, and offended Him, perhaps more than Peter did! Have you as yet duly lamented your fault, as he lamented his?

III.

Consider the long penance which St. Peter performed for his sin. He is said to have bewailed it during his whole life, and to have burst into tears as often as he heard the cock crow. It is written that his eyes became two perennial fountains of tears, and that his cheeks were furrowed by continual weeping. Be confounded at your own insensibility. Persevere, therefore, in the works of penance, and take advantage of the admonition of Ecclesiasticus: "Be not without fear of sin forgiven." (Ecclus. 5:5)

THE DESPAIR OF JUDAS.

I.

"Then Judas, who betrayed Him, seeing that He was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the ancients, saying, I have sinned, in betraying innocent blood." (Matt, 27:3, etc.) Observe how the consciousness of guilt tortured the mind of that treacherous and sacrilegious Apostle. He found no satisfaction in the money, for which he had sold his Lord; but, actuated by fruitless remorse, brought it back again. Learn hence that sinners reap no solid advantage from their sins; but, on the contrary, are pained, disquieted, and troubled. "Lord," says St. Augustine, "you have ordained that it should be so, and it is so, that every disordinate mind is its own punishment." Hence it is said of the impious man: "The sound of dread is always in his ears, and when there is peace, he always suspects treason." (Job 15:21)

II.

The wicked priests said to Judas, when he returned the money: "What is that to us? Look thou to it." (Matt, 27:4) They were unconcerned in regard to the salvation of their neighbor, and, like Cain, refused to be their brother's guardian. Virtuous men hold to an opposite conduct; they attempt to prevent their neighbor from sinning, or when he has sinned, to restore him to grace. They do not say: "What is that to us? Look thou to it," but charitably try to relieve and comfort him. They are tender and compassionate to all, and they can say of themselves with the Apostle: "I became all things to all men, that I might save all." (1 Cor. 9:22) These are objects of your imitation.

III.

Judas "departed, and went and hanged himself with a halter." (Matt. 27:5) Observe how one sin is the punishment of another, despair of treachery. God often permits a sinner to fall a second time, in punishment of his first offence, as a caution to avoid all sin. Mark, also, the subtlety of the devil, who first provokes to sin; and then, having succeeded in gaining his object, takes away all prospect of pardon. Observe, also, the mad and desperate resolutions of a troubled conscience. The Wise Man had reason to say: "A troubled conscience always forecasteth grievous things." (Wis. 17:10) From the ruin of an Apostle, learn not to trust your own virtue; "wherefore, let him who thinketh himself to stand, take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:12)