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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
- caelidomum
- Sep 27, 2025
- 5 min read
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Intercourse with the World.
The Gospel according to St. Luke, xiv. 1-11.
“At that time, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees on the Sabbath-day to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy: and Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day ? But they held their peace. But He taking him, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the Sabbath-day ? And they could not answer Him to these things. And He spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him, and he that invited thee and him come and say to thee: Give this man place, and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place, that when he that invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee: because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation.
We will meditate to-morrow upon the gospel for the day, and we shall learn from it: 1st, the reasons we adduce for mixing with the world; 3d, the manner in which we ought to conduct ourselves when we enter into it. We will then make the resolution: 1st, not to frequent the world without having some solid reason based upon utility or propriety for doing so; 2d, to take with us when we go into society a spirit of reserve and of modesty, of discretion and of charity. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. John: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world” (I. John ii. 15).
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us adore Jesus Christ in the house of a prince of the Pharisees. Two motives lead Him there — charity and zeal: charity, that He may cure a poor man afflicted with the dropsy; zeal, in order that He may give a lesson of humility to all who are in the house. Let us admire His holy motives for this visit, and let us ask of Him grace to have none but holy motives for our visits.
Reasons which we Adduce for Entering into the World.
Four motives may attract us into the world: pleasure, necessity, charity, zeal. To go into the world from pleasure is an imprudence; it is throwing ourselves wantonly into peril; for intercourse with the world is full of danger, it is nothing but dissipation, luxury, vanity, calumny, maxims opposed to the gospel, corruption of the morals, seduction of the senses, complete forgetfulness of salvation and of eternity. Now the Holy Ghost says: “He that loveth danger shall perish in it” (Ecclus. iii. 27). To go into the world because our affairs oblige us to do so, or else because our position or motives of propriety render it necessary to do so, is a thing that is permitted, provided we do not go too much beyond the bounds of this necessity, by confounding them with our tastes or our love of pleasure, and provided we mistrust ourselves and practise reserve and modesty, the spirit of charity and discretion; then God will help us not to offend Him. To go into the world from charity, to oblige, assist, console, give pleasure, is a praiseworthy thing; and if men blame us-, God will recompense us. Lastly, to go into the world from zeal for a good work, to gain to religion a man who is far removed from it, to reconcile enemies, is still better, provided we are armed with the precautions of prudence, of modesty, and of up rightness of intention, which ought always to accompany works of zeal. Let us examine if we frequent the world solely under these conditions.
How we ought to Behave in the World.
1st. We must carry with us thither a great deal of reserve and of modesty, for Jesus Christ Himself was blamed for entering into it by the Pharisees, who wanted to make it appear that He was a man who was fond of good cheer and a friend of sinners (Matt. xi. 19). Every one observed, says the gospel, His way of conducting Himself, of eating and of speaking (Luke xiv. 1), and this is what happens every day in the world; all observe each other. The good observe, because simplicity, which is the virtue of innocent souls, leads them to observe and to imitate those whom they imagine to be good people; whence it follows that we ought always to be upon our guard, so as to do nothing and say nothing which may do the very least harm. A nothing, an appearance only of something, oftentimes has great consequences following upon it. The wicked also observe; they seek for matter to criticise, to authorize themselves in their sins by our example, to excuse their greatest vices by our smallest defects, and their most criminal omissions by our slightest ones; whence results for us the obligation to conduct ourselves always in such a manner that they shall be reduced, as the enemies of Jesus Christ were, to invent evil against us, or to see it where it does not exist. 2d. We must take with us into the world a great spirit of charity. The world is ignorant of this virtue; to amuse itself at the expense of the reputations of others, this is the charm of worldly conversations. It is for us Christians never to let a single word of calumny enter into what we say, and to turn the conversation as much as possible from such sub jects. 3d. We must carry with us into it the spirit of discretion, which avoids everything that may wound others, all advice good in itself but which would not be appreciated, all positive approbation of what is evil or contrary to the gospel; to do and say all that may be of use, to make religion amiable, to lead others to the practice of virtue and of good works, to console the afflicted, to sustain the weak, to encourage tried souls.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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