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JMJ
U.I.O.G.D.
Ave Maria!
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, we love You, save souls
O God come to our assistance. Jesus, Mary, Joseph please make haste to help us!
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Volume two = The Penitent Christian
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
God Refuses His Help to Those Who Voluntarily Rush into Danger
“Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Matt. 8: 2
Great was the confidence shown by this leper in the power and goodness of Jesus Christ. He did not complain, as other beggars are wont to do, of his misery; he did not assail our Lord with importunate cries: “Lord, heal me of my sickness!” but he indirectly declared his firm belief in the almighty power of Christ: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” He has not a single doubt of our Lord’s good will. And moved by the lepers’ faith and trust, Christ said to him: “I will; be thou made clean.” With like confidence and faith, my dear brethren, we should make known to God in prayer the necessities of our souls. He is omnipotence itself, and can help us; he is wisdom itself, and knows our wants; he is goodness and mercy itself, and he will help us, if we only do our part. I add this last condition, because the trust of many in the divine assistance is not a supernatural confidence, but rather a sinful presumption. Yes, dear Christians, I declare to you without hesitation
I. That the man who exposes himself without necessity to dangerous occasions, has no right to expect the divine assistance; for,
II. God will deprive him of his help in punishment of his presumption.
I. It is true that even the weakest man is strong enough with the help of God’s
grace to resist the attacks of all the powers of hell, and to come off victorious
in the greatest dangers. And it is also true, that the good God never abandons a
man, unless the latter first abandons him; that he never refuses his help and grace
to those who are disposed to receive it, and that he has promised not to forsake
us in temptations, according to the words of St. Paul: “God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with
temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it” (I Cor. 10: 13). But mark what
the same Apostle says in the same verse: “Let no temptation take hold of you but
such as is human” (Ibid.). For you must know that there are two kinds of temptation,
one which assails us involuntarily by surprise or chance, and which is called human
temptation, and the other, into which one goes willingly and without necessity,
and which is called diabolical temptation. To rush, open-
God owes nothing to any one; otherwise the helps he gives would not be graces, which
he does not bestow on us according to our will, but according to the decrees of his
infinite wisdom, and he gives them when, how, and to whom he pleases. No. where do
we read that he has promised the special helps of his grace to one who loves and
seeks danger. On the contrary, he has declared: “He that loveth danger, shall perish
in it” (Ecclus. 3: 27). And justly so. If a respectable man is overtaken by a misfortune
which he could not foresee, there is no one, unless it be his sworn enemy, but would
pity him. But if you see a man, in spite of oft-
True, David said of God: “He hath given his angels charge over thee to keep thee
in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up; lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone” (Ps. 90: 11, 12). But that protection will be given “in thy ways,”
not in your headlong rushing into danger. In your ordinary ways; that is, in the
occasions that you cannot avoid, and that you must frequent in order to fulfill the
duties of your state, although there may be temptations and dangers of evil in them.
In those, the Angels will perform their office, and endeavor to protect you from
sin; but not in those occasions into which you rush without necessity, for the purpose
of gratifying your inordinate appetites, your sensuality, or your impure inclinations.
Do you know the answer that Christ gave the tempter, when the latter brought him
up to the pinnacle of the Temple, asking him to throw himself down, to prove the
truth of the divine promise, “He hath given his angels charge over thee, etc.”? Our
Lord replied to him: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God” (Matt. 4: 7)From this,
you may conclude that to expect the special help of grace in dangerous company that
one seeks deliberately, or frequents for the sake of amusement, is not confidence
in God, but rather presumption, and a tempting of God. “Vain is the hope,” says St.
Augustine, “that expects to be safe in the midst of allurements to sin.” Have you
ever heard of any one venturing out to sea in a ship, after the sailors had told
him that she was not seaworthy? Have you ever heard of any one going into a pest-
II. But that unhappy soul cares nothing for it all. It trusts in the help of God, and hopes that he will keep it free from sin. Let it have its own way. It will soon see how it will end. God will permit it to be cruelly wounded; nay, perhaps, lose its spiritual life forever. Once for all, “vain is the hope that expects to be safe in the midst of allurements to sin.”
If, says St. Bernard, God were prepared to help us with his powerful graces in those
dangers which we seek of our own accord, then those holy people whose example we
are exhorted to follow have acted imprudently and have given themselves unnecessary
trouble in separating themselves from the society of men, and living in gloomy solitudes,
continually mortifying their senses, in order to avoid the danger of sin. The innocent
Job, whose holiness was attested by God himself, made a compact with his eyes, so
as not to admit even a thought of a person of the opposite sex : “I made a covenant
with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin” (Job 31: 1). St. John
Chrysostom cannot sufficiently express his astonishment at this; it seems a strange
thing, he says, for such a heroic man, who fought so bravely against the devil, and
gained so many victories over him, to fear an innocent maiden and turn his eyes away
from her, as if she were more to be dreaded than the evil spirit himself. When he
saw the latter approach, he did not fly, but remained, boldly holding his ground
and confident that he would be able to overcome him; but he did not dare to remain
in the presence of a virgin, and as soon as he saw one approach, he turned his eyes
in another direction. “For he thought that in a contest against the demons he should
give proof of a manly courage and constancy, but when fighting in the cause of holy
purity, that the victory was to be gained, not by seeking, but by avoiding the company
of persons of the other sex,” St. John the Baptist, who came into the world endowed
with sanctifying grace, and who, according to the testimony of our Lord, was the
greatest of all born of woman, went into the wilderness in his very childhood. St.
Jerome, a man of consummate wisdom, took up his dwelling amongst the wild beasts,
beating his breast with a stone, and becoming so emaciated by constant fasts and
austerities, that he almost lost the semblance of a human being. This he did, in
order to preserve his soul from danger; yet he complains most piteously that, although
the sound of the last trumpet was always ringing in his ears, pictures of the dancing-
And if what you urge were true, my brethren, then, indeed, might we all leave our convents and roam about the world at will. Why? Because, whether alone or in company, whether seeking the danger or avoiding it, we should be always invincible, trusting that the almighty God would always give us his grace, in any case. “I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4: 13), I might say with St. Paul But I know, too, that the same God abandons all those who go into dangerous company without necessity.
The innocent Dina, daughter of the patriarch Jacob, went out to see the women of the strange land into which she had come
“And Dina, the daughter of Lia, went out to see the women of that country” (Gen.
34: 1). And her curiosity cost her her maidenly purity. But how is that? Did not
Judith venture into far greater danger, when, decked out in all her beauty, she went
into the enemy’s camp and spent a whole evening eating, drinking, and feasting with
the lustful Holofernes? Why did God protect her from all danger, and abandon Dina?
He protected Judith because she went into the danger in obedience to a divine inspiration,
while Dina was influenced only by a vain curiosity. And what kind of a woman was
Judith, in comparison with Dina? She was a God-
We have a still more striking example of this in the New Testament, in the persons
of the Apostles, Peter and Paul. Both were, although at different times, in Jerusalem
in the same occasion and temptation: Peter, in the court of the high-
But, you will, perhaps, exclaim: “What are you saying to us about company? It is not unlawful for men and women to meet together, to speak, laugh with, and amuse one another! Common courtesy amongst friends and relations requires that. I was often in company of that kind, but I cannot say that I was anything the worse for it. And you are actually trying to make it sinful!” You are mistaken. I do not say that such meetings are unlawful, nor such associations evidently sinful. I only maintain that, when such company is sought too often and without necessity, there is danger of being led away and of committing sin; for the infallible word of God assures us, that he who loves the danger shall perish in it. They who wish to do everything that is lawful, will easily be brought so far as to do what is unlawful. “If thy right hand scandalize thee,” says our Lord, “cut it off and cast it from thee.” We must not only cut off the left hand, he says, that is, shun all that is unlawful and sinful; but also the right hand, that is, we must avoid things that are lawful and seem to be harmless, if they can be an occasion of sin to us.
“I have often,” you maintain, “been in company of the kind, but I cannot say that it has done me any harm! “Presumption is an unfortunate and a dangerous thing; for it makes many think they have conquered, when in reality they are conquered. I quite believe that the company you speak of did not lead you into the commission of any sinful outward action, but did you do no evil in your heart? And even if that remained pure for the first two or three times, still I tell you to be on your guard against the deceits of the devil. That crafty enemy sometimes acts towards us as the leopard does with the ape. The leopard is most eager in pursuit of the ape, because he likes its flesh better than that of any other animal. The ape, however, when it sees its enemy coming, climbs up a tree, where it is in safety. The leopard then has recourse to artifice; he lies down at the foot of the tree, restrains his breathing as much as possible, and pretends to be dead. When the ape has seen its enemy lie thus apparently lifeless for some hours, it descends and begins to leap and play about him, not suspecting any danger; but that is the leopard’s opportunity, who at once, seizing hold of the ape, devours it. So, I fear it will be with you and the dangerous company into which you are so fond of going. For some time, the devil pretends to be dead. He leaves you in peace, and does not attack you with the least temptation; so that, you really come away without committing sin. But why does he act like that? Simply to induce you to believe that you are in no danger, so that you may frequent such company again and again, and thus give him an opportunity of assailing you with grievous temptations, and leading you into sin. Therefore I warn you in these words of the Holy Ghost “Never trust thy enemy: for as a brass pot his wickedness rusteth: though he humbleth himself and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him” (Ecclus. 12: 1O, 11).
You urge further, perhaps: It is only with respectable people, in fact, with your own friends and relatives, that you associate? Ah, pretext of respectability! ah, friendship and relationship! how many souls you have brought to destruction! Those very things (good as they may seem in themselves), only add to the danger, since they put one off one’s guard, encourage greater familiarity, and thus inflame the heart more strongly with the fire of unlawful love. Must we, then (you ask), avoid all friendship and society? No, I do not say that; but you must not seek such company too often, nor make too free in it, especially, if you have your passions excited in it. St. Louis, the son of Charles of Naples, once went to visit his mother, the queen, who had not seen him for a long time, and who, therefore, wished to embrace him, “Stop,” said St, Louis, “that will not do!” “But I am your mother,” said the queen. “True,” he replied, “you are my mother, but you are a woman, and therefore a servant of God must not be too free with you.” St. Augustine says that, no matter who they are, persons of the other sex should not be treated with too much freedom: “They who think they can be familiar with women, and yet be victorious, do not know that they are guilty of a twofold sin in the sight of God, inasmuch as they run into danger themselves, and also give a bad example to others of a dangerous familiarity.”
By way of conclusion, my dear brethren, I again repeat the words of the Holy Ghost, “Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent” (Ecclus.21: 2). He who wishes to keep from all sin must imitate the penitent David: “I have hated all wicked ways” (Ps. 118: 128). Mark how he says that he hates not merely all sin, but all the ways that lead to it even remotely. God withdraws his grace from the presumptuous, and he who loves danger shall perish in it. Amen.
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