Sunday Afternoon Readings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 7, 25 February 1925, Page 51

Sunday Afternoon Readings

(By Bight Rev. Mgr. Power for the N.Z. Tablet.)

XVI— PASSION.

tedfeßy mutating the life of Christ our live r ' become enlightened, ennobled, perfected- i is the mission of the Church, therefore,’ t ; i . stamp His figure upon the Tiearts of he children. There is a terrible passage in th first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans I which stands as a warning to parents, head ot States, and educational systems tha would keep this Model of life and conduc from the eyes of youth. Thanks to our gooc , Catholic parents, to our Catholic schools, and to the ministrations of Holy Church! we have been saved from this fatal form of "X- ignorance. In ns have been fulfilled the words of St. P**r to Titus: “The grace of -f:\ God, our Saviour, hath appeared to all men, instructing Us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and the coming of the glory ; of ?, 6 „ great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. To live soberly and justly and godly, is to walk in the footsteps of Christ Who is our Model. Having followed Him in our last two meditations through the Hidden Life of Nazareth and through the Public Life lb the Lake, let us now follow Him through His Passion and learn the lessons it would teach us. Why does He suffer, for whom does He suffer. Many saints and learned men have ' tried to solve the. mystery of pain. WhatIlV§s they individually hold, all are agreed vWhat acts done under the stress of pain are more intense for good or evil. A service that costs us little i s not of much consequence, but if to do it we undergo much - suffering, then it is highly prized. To His much _ suffering for us Christ appeals: Greater love than this no man hath, that r a man should lay down his life for his nend And in regard to this suffering St Peter writes: “You have been bought S*. ***** price • - • with the precious - Wood of the Immaculate Lamb.” Again the suffering of a good man softens his heart / JJ. brings it more easily to the feet of ? n f*. N 2 man has been really great who has not suffered, and many have just failed to attain greatness only because the ennobling touch of the sword of suffering was , wanting to them: ' - i ■ “Sorrow gives the accolade I With the sharp edge of the blade, ■; By which noblest knights are made.” . Let us return to Jesus. See how the anticipation of His crucifixion bows Him down in , agony. A great temptation comes to assail Him, and under its assault blood flows . from His sacred body : Why go" through with . the crucifixion, since many will refuse to by it. Moreover, one prayer from Me >—vfill be enough to redeem mankind: “My ./. Father, all things are possible to Thee, let this chalice pass!” Three terrible hours tins temptation with its agony lasts, but He finally overcomes it: “0 MY Father, if I,• v 'iilLlL - ... I - , ‘ i.

1 this cup may not pass from Me, except I - drink , it, Thy will be done.” He arises ► refreshed, and rouses His sleeping disciples: Rise up, let us go, behold he i s at hand • + ho betrayeth Me.” Do you groan under the pressure of temptation? Now you know how to do battle with it-how to pray, how to struggle bravely, and come off with a victor’s crown. Judas has come, the traitor kiss is given and Jesus is dragged into Jerusalem. He uses no force, nor will He permit His friends o use it; He is a willing Victim, freely offering Himself. His disciples cannot understand this, but they will understand it ater And if we keep our gaze upon Him, we shall understand it too, and will in our urn go out to die, if necessary, for Him leaving in His . hands our justification and our reward. He is on His trial before Pilate. This weak character knows that Jesus is innocent, but consents to deliver Him to death, lest he lose his own chance of political advancement. Pilate has many imitators to-day men not radically bad, but weak; wishing well, anxious to do good provided it cost them nothing in the way of personal sacrifice, or kept back from right by an unwholesome fear of human respect. Friends of Caesar they do more harm in the long run than the radically bad. Their efforts at cowardly compromise create situations of difficulty that would be guarded against did they come from the manifestly wicked Beware of human respect! When for sake of it wo forego principle, we are led on to rum. A desire to make a creditable figure m society, to gain prestige, to be held respectable as the world understands the word what a mean ambition for * a Catholic, and “T? /’f* terrible penalty weighted! Thanks be to God,” said an American judge a short time ago, “we have at last a Governor of New York who is not ashamed to make the sign of the cross in public.” Jesus is scourged. The saints tell us that sensuality damns more souls than any other sm. It is a great sin against Him Who created the human body to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. Early in His passion, Christ would make atonement for our sins of the flesh by His awful sufferings under the lash If we would only think of this, how much a sweeter fragrance would go up to Heaven from our poor bodies! But sensuality does not stand alone: it has a companion sin, as every virtue has its companion virtue. You never meet sensuality without intellectual pride accompanying it. Father Thomas • Gerard has noted this: “The companion sin of sensuality is intellectual pride. Although on the surface they appear to be so different in their nature, yet there is an organic connection between them. And the mutual bond is selfishness. The sensual man is selfish even unto cruelty. The intellectually proud

man is not the man with a delicate conscience who follows the truth for truth’s sake and for life’s sake. He is not the man with a wide outlook and brilliant talents. He is the man with mediocre talents and all these, such as they are centered on himself. Because, therefore,’ pride, and sensuality have their common root m - the vice of selfishness they may naturally be expected to flourish together.” But Christ would atone for intellectual pride, and so His head, the seat of the intellect, is crowned: with thorns. Beware, o pride, learn to discipline the intellect crown it with thorns if necessary to keep it m due subjection. “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” And now He takes the cross and walks along the Via Dolorosa, falling but rising again,, to teach us that though we fall we must not lose confidence. He is nailed to the ‘ cross and our sins are nailed with Him: He took the handwriting of sin that was against us and nailed it to the cross.” For hree hours He hangs in agony, lifted tin n ii XI. “I, if Ibe lifted" up, will draw dwT-*° MrySelf ’” A shou ‘ of trimpliant derision goes up from His enemies e“* ' hat of that? Millions upon-millions in to Him Sgat i? 6r r °" n<l the cross and cry ns Wt! f ha ? SS UP ° n it: “Jesus, teach ns how to die, Jesus receive our souls.” .s, then, i s Jesus our Model, in the privacy .of the home, in the midst if public duties and affairs, on the bed of death Keep your gaze ever fixed upon Him and make your lives according toffis pattern; let the cross occupy a large share in them, for This sign of the cross will /be in heaven when the Lord shall come to judge. Then all the servants of they, cross, who in their ifetime have conformed themselves to Him hat w as ,r W > shall come to Ch rist their Judge with great confidence.” Let us live m Christ that we may die in Christ; if life ■: dL S tb Slb . llities ' and Probabilities, so has death. We know not when, where, or in what circumstances we shall die, but if we hve as animals we shall probably die as animals, if as worldlings we shall probably die a^ W °m! d ingS ’ Let US repeat daily: ‘father, into Thy hands I commend .my spirit The force of a daily good habit will put these same words on our dying li ps and open to us the gates of Paradise.