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Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Recourse to God in Troubles.
The Gospel according to St. Matthew, ix. 1-8.
“At that time Jesus entered into a boat, and passed over the water, and came into His own city. And behold they brought to Him one sick of the palsy lying in a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man sick of the palsy Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. And behold some of the scribes said within themselves : He blasphemeth. And Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said : Why do you think evil in your hearts ? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee : or to say, Arise and walk ? But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith He to the man sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose, and went into his house. And the multitude seeing it, feared, and glorified God, that gave such power to men.”
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation.
We will meditate to-morrow upon the gospel of the day, and we shall learn from it ; 1st, to have recourse to God in all troubles of life ; 2nd, to occupy ourselves more with the eternal destiny of our souls than with any temporal evils. We will thence deduce the resolution : 1st, to make Our Lord the confidant of our trials, and to cast them all into His bosom ; ad, to place our eternal interests before everything that belongs to this present life. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the gospel: ''Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life" (John vi. 69)
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us adore Our Lord Jesus Christ graciously receiving the man sick of the palsy and those who present him to Him. When we go to Him with confidence we are sure of always being graciously received. How good He is, how worthy of all our homage ! He alone is the true friend of souls ! Let us prostrate ourselves at His feet and pour into His heart all our feelings of gratitude.
We must have Recourse to God in all the Troubles of Life.
This is the lesson given us in our gospel. As soon as Our Saviour had arrived in His city, that is to say, at Capharnaum, where He habitually resided, a man sick of the palsy was brought to Him. The house within and all around was encumbered by a crowd of people, and, in order to present the sick man to Him, no other means were available except to uncover the roof and to let down through the opening the bed on which the poor palsied man was laid. The example of such great faith therein set us teaches us to have recourse to God in all the troubles of life. It is, indeed, He alone who decrees the trials which afflict us, He alone consoles us, He alone recompenses us. He decrees them ; for nothing hap pens in this world except by the express will or permission of Providence, and not even a hair of our head falls to the ground except by its intervention ; and this Providence is always full of loving kindness. If it wounds, it gives the remedy which softens the wound ; if its hand strikes, it also heals (Job v. 18). Wherefore, then, instead of having recourse to men, who can do nothing, why not have recourse to God, who can do all ? Besides, He consoles us in all trials. Men, as Job says (Job xvi. 2), are only trouble- 56 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost. some consolers ; we tell them our troubles and the majority of them either do not compassionate us or do not know how to speak the words of faith which alone can console us. Let us tell our troubles to God in a fervent prayer at the foot of a crucifix or in a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and we shall return from it feeling better, strengthened and consoled. Lastly, God alone recompenses us for trials borne in a Christian manner. If we speak of our trials to creatures we often lose the merit of them ; our self-love seeks to make itself pitied and admired ; if we speak of them to ourselves, our nature murmurs, lays the blame on God and on man, and we derive nothing from it but a greater degree of sadness, of discontent with ourselves, and of sin. If, on the contrary, we cast our troubles into the heart of God, we sanctify them by resignation, by prayer, by the hope of eternal possessions, and the assurance that our hope will not be confounded. Let us here recognize, in the presence of God, how much harm we do ourselves by all these stories of our sufferings and our troubles which we recount to creatures.
The Eternal Destiny of our Soul ought to Occupy us more than all Temporal Evils.
This is the lesson the Saviour gives us in the Recourse to God in Troubles. The Jews present to Him the man sick of the palsy and beg of Him to cure the poor suffering body. Our Lord replies to them by curing his soul, which is still more sick. He enlightens it, He touches it, He penetrates it with sincere contrition and a true love of God, and He says to the sick man, "My son, have confidence, your sins are remitted you. " The cure of the body will come, but it will be only in the second place. The essential must precede that which is accessory, heaven must come before earth ; the interests of eternity before those of time ; the soul before the body. Is it thus that we appreciate all things ? The holy Curd of Ars once lighted his lamp by mistake with a bank-bill. His servant uttered a cry and was greatly distressed. " How little faith you have," the holy priest said to her. " If you had seen me commit a venial sin, you would have said nothing, but for a little money thus lost you cry out loudly." How many Christians are there in the world who attach less interest to their salvation than to their money ; who have less fear of a sin than they have of the loss of their for tune, of their honor, and their reputation ? Let us examine ourselves as to whether we are not of the number.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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