Part 2

_1st. Prelude._ The Foot of the Cross where my sins have all been laid.

_2nd. Prelude._ The grace of contrition and firm resolution.

It is clear from the words which she has chosen for her "Epistle" for the First Sunday of Advent that the Church intends us during this solemn season to think about sin,--the darkness of the past night and the light of the day that is coming and our duty with regard to both. It is not sin in the abstract, but our own personal sins that we are to consider. "Let _us_ cast off the works of darkness." If the Apostle Paul included himself in that "_us_," we need not fear to do the same. It is meet, when we are thinking on the one hand of Him Who is coming to save us from our sins and on the other of His coming to judge us "according to our works," that we should give some thought to those sins. Nothing will better help us to understand the mercy of the Saviour and the justice of the Judge than a meditation upon our own sins. God _forgets_ the sins He has forgiven, but it is better for us, more wholesome and more humiliating, to remember them sometimes. David says: "My sin is always before me" (Ps. L. 5). The object of this meditation, then, is not to cause trouble in the soul--trouble about sins that are _forgiven_ can only come from the devil--but to excite in us a deeper contrition, more gratitude and a greater watchfulness.

POINT I. A TRIPTYCH--MY SINS.

Am I to consider all the sins of my life? The subject seems so vast, it is difficult to know how to condense it so that I may be able to bring it within my grasp. All sin may be summed up in one word--disobedience--_non serviam_. It was the sin of the Angels, it was the sin of our first parents and it is at the root of every sin that has ever been committed. God says: Thou shalt not, the sinner says: I will. God says: Do this and thou shalt live; the sinner says: I will not, I would rather die. Sin is man's will in opposition to God's Will. This thought simplifies the subject and makes it easier for me to call up the sins of my life and look at them. Let me make a picture of them--a triptych, a picture, that is, with three panels side by side, the middle one shall be called _Places_, that on the right hand _Persons_ and that on the left _Work_.

1. _Places._ As I look at the middle picture I see it consists of numbers and numbers of small ones, each representing some place that is familiar to me--there is the house where I was born, there the school I attended, houses I have visited, hotels where I have stayed, gardens, playgrounds, lonely roads, walks on cliffs, villages, towns, churches, the sea-side, trams, omnibuses, trains, boats, bicycles, carriages, stations.... I am fascinated and cannot help looking still, though the variety and number are almost bewildering. Each picture is so familiar; some awaken sweet and precious memories, from some I quickly turn away my eyes. All can witness to my presence, how many can witness also to my sins? "Indeed the Lord is in this place, and _I knew it not_." (Gen. XXVIII. 16). That may to some extent be true and if so there is One who is always ready to say: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." _I_ know how much I knew, and the best thing, the only thing for me to do is to make an Act of Contrition.

2. _Persons._ I turn to the right hand panel and there are crowds and crowds of _faces_, each one familiar--father, mother, brothers, sisters, relations, servants, teachers, scholars, friends, enemies, priests, confessors, acquaintances ... what impression have I left upon each of these? If they could be called up and asked: "What did you think of so and so?" what would they have to say? They would have something, for I left _some_ impression--and yet _none_ of them know me as I really am. The three Persons of the Blessed Trinity have been near me _always_ and always observant. They really know me. What have _They_ to say? "If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it?" (Ps. CXXIX. 3).

This picture makes me sad! That is just what Our Lord wants from this meditation. Let me offer once more my heartfelt contrition and He will be glad that I had the courage to open the triptych.

3. _Work._ As I turn to the panel on the left I feel that I can breathe more freely--my work will certainly give satisfaction! It is something to be proud of; I have always got on well; I have never been idle and I have had a certain measure of success, and I feel that in that respect at any rate my life will bear inspection. But this picture too, as I look at it, seems to be divided up. Yes, I can see quite clearly all the different works upon which I have been engaged. All are very familiar and bring back for the most part happy memories, but some of them seem to be labelled.--What is it that is written across them? "_You did it to Me._" And all the rest that have no labels? They do not count--so evidently considered the One Who put on the labels. He left them, passed them over, there was nothing there _for Him_. But that hospital that was founded is not labelled, nor that legacy promised for a charitable purpose! Surely some of these without labels are "good works!" And these that are labelled are such insignificant things, things I should never have remembered at all if they were not in the picture--a kind word, a smile, a hasty word kept back because I knew it would pain _Him_, suffering cheerfully borne because I wanted to be like Him who suffered for me. Why these and not those? Because He prefers _little_ things? No, but because of the motive. Had the hospital been built out of love for Him and His sick, had it been built for the glory of God and not for the glory of self, it too would have been labelled. Had the hasty word been kept back that others might notice my self-control, it would _not_ have been labelled. What counts with God is the intention with which a thing is done. If it is done out of love for Him, no matter how insignificant it is, yea, no matter how badly done, it will surely be labelled "_You did it to Me_," and it will last when the mighty works that men have so much praised are crumbling in the dust, labelled with another label _You did it not unto Me_. Have I not need to make another Act of Contrition as I think of my works, my love of gain, my ambition, love of praise and success, of the motives of my so-called works of charity, of the times in which I have allowed my work to take the first place in my life, while my soul had to take the second?

I shut up my triptych and leave it at Thy Feet O my JESUS, where the Blood from Thy Wounds may ever drip upon it, while I with Magdalen stoop and bathe Thy Feet with my tears.

POINT II. THE TRIPTYCH.--GOD'S MERCIES.

As I look up, I see my triptych opened again and all the thousands of little pictures seem to be transformed. Each one is speaking to me of God's goodness and tenderness and love. How good it is to turn away from my own misery to His infinite mercy; yea, more--to recognize that the one is the cause of the other! And this is what He wants. If the sight of self does not lead me instinctively to look at Christ, it is a very dangerous thing, for it can only lead to despondency and discouragement. The object of looking at self and its deeds is so to look that everything good or evil may shrivel up and disappear, till self is there no longer, but Christ only and all _He_ has done either for or through me. As I gaze now at the picture, I no longer see the places on earth which have known me for short periods of time, but my place in Heaven which by His mercy, if I persevere to the end, is to know me through all eternity; not my dear ones as I saw them on earth, but as they are now in my heavenly country waiting for me; not my innumerable sins of omission, nor my "good works" done to please self, but the work of Him who always pleased His Father, work which has made up for all my omissions, and which shines through every thing that I have done for Him, making it, too, acceptable to His Father. It seems to me now that I want to linger over the picture, for His mercies are indeed infinite, and I shall never be able to thank Him enough for them.

But does He, the God of infinite mercy and plenteous redemption, never look at my pictures? He says: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. XXXI. 34); and it is true. He will never open my triptych for the sake of looking at my sins, but may He not open it for the joy of seeing each of those thousands of pictures shining with pearls--the tears of contrition? Do not let me disappoint Him. This is the chalice of consolation which I can offer to the Sacred Heart in reparation.

_Colloquy_ with JESUS thanking Him for making me look at my triptych and for all that He has taught me in it.

_Resolution._ Never to look at my sins without at once seeing _Christ_--a sight which will necessarily produce humility, gratitude and contrition.

_Spiritual Bouquet._ "My sin is always before me" but "Thou shalt give joy and gladness.... and my mouth shall declare Thy praise" (Ps. L. 5, 10, 17).

THE LAST JUDGMENT.

"The powers of Heaven shall be moved; and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty."

(The "Gospel" for the 1st. Sunday of Advent.)

_1st. Prelude._ The Last Day.

_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to meditate upon it.

The Church invites us during Advent to turn our thoughts towards the Second Coming of Christ--His Coming in judgment at the end of the world. The subject of the Last Judgment is perhaps one which we are rather inclined to avoid in our Meditations; but it is one about which Our Blessed Lord said a great deal; it is continually mentioned, too, in the Epistles and in the Apocalypse, and as we shall most certainly take a part in that last great scene of the world's drama, it is surely well for us to have a rehearsal from time to time.

POINT I. THE COMING OF THE JUDGE.

_When will He come?_ God "hath _appointed_ a day wherein He will judge the world in equity by the Man whom He hath appointed." (Acts XVII. 31). The day then is _fixed_, "but of that day and hour no one knoweth, no not the Angels of Heaven, but the Father alone." (St. Matt. XXIV. 36).

_How will He come?_ He "shall so come as you have seen Him going into Heaven" (Acts I. 11), the Angel told the Apostles who had just watched His Ascension. He will come, that is, in His beautiful Resurrection Body, dazzling with brightness and glory, with the wounds in Hands and Feet and Side. He will come "with much power and majesty" (St. Matt. XXIV. 30) for He will come to judge, not to preach penance nor atone for sin; He will come unexpectedly "as a thief in the night" (1 Thess. V. 2) "at what hour you think not" (St. Luke XII. 40); He will come "with thousands of His Saints" (Jude 14) for all those "who have slept through JESUS will God bring with Him" (1 Thess. IV. 13); He will bring, too, "all the Angels with Him" (St. Matt. XXV. 31); He will come "with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thess. IV. 15); He will come "with the clouds" (Apoc. I. 7); He will come "in the glory of His Father with His Angels" (St. Matt. XVI. 27); He will come "as lightning" (XXIV. 27) and before Him will come His Cross--"the sign of the Son of man" in the heavens (verse 30), every eye shall see it. What different emotions that sign will excite!

POINT II. THE EFFECTS OF HIS COMING.

"Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of Him" (Apoc. I. 7).

"We shall all rise again." (1 Cor. XV. 51).

"The sea will give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell ... their dead that are in them." (Apoc. XX. 13).

"The dead who are in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thess. IV. 15).

"We shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." (1 Cor. XV. 52).

"He shall send His Angels with a trumpet, and a great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds." (St. Matt. XXIV. 31).

"Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them (those who died in Christ) in the clouds to meet Christ." (1 Thess. IV. 16).

"Then shall He sit upon the seat of His Majesty," (St. Matt. XXV. 31) and "render to every man according to his works." (chap. XVI. 27).

Then "the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up." (2 Pet. III. 10). And all these events are to take place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye!" (1 Cor. XV. 52).

With the vivid words of Scripture before us, it is not difficult to make a picture of the scene--the sign of the Cross where all can see it; the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God heralding the approach of the Judge; the Son of Man, coming in the clouds with all His Angels and thousands of His Saints (all those from Heaven and Purgatory); the cries of those to whom His coming is as that of "a thief in the night" (1 Thess. V. 2); the shouts of joy of "the children of light" (verse 5); the opening of the graves, the sea giving up its dead and the reunion of each soul, whether from Heaven, Purgatory or hell, with its body; the changing of the bodies of those who are living on the earth into Resurrection bodies; then the great multitude of the elect clothed in their bodies of immortality rising to meet their Lord in the air; then "the great white throne" set up and He who is "appointed by God to be Judge" (Acts X. 42) taking His seat upon it, "His garment ... white as snow ... His throne like flames of fire ... thousands of thousands" ministering to Him (Dan. VII. 9, 10); the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne (Apoc. XX. 12), "ten thousand times a hundred thousand" standing before Him. (Dan. VII. 10).

POINT III. THE JUDGMENT.

(1) _The Separation._ Quickly the Angels separate that vast multitude into two companies--those on His right Hand and those on His left, the sheep and the goats, those who are to enter into life everlasting and those who are to enter into everlasting punishment (St. Matt. XXV. 46); those who have been faithful over the few things entrusted to them and those who have hidden their Lord's talent; those whose lamps are burning and those whose lamps are going out. There is fixed a great chaos between the two companies, so that they who would pass from one side to the other _cannot_, it is too late. (St. Luke XVI. 26).

(2) _The books._ "And the books were opened ... and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works." "And another book was opened, which is the book of life," and only "they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb" shall enter Heaven. (Apoc. XX. 12, XXI. 27). "Every man's work shall be manifest" (1 Cor. III. 13); "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of Judgment" (St. Matt. XII. 36). Then will be seen, and _all_ will acknowledge it, the triumph of right over wrong, the triumph of the Kingdom, the triumph of Christ; then will be adjusted all that we have so often longed to adjust but could not, for "let both grow together till the harvest" was the King's order. Then will seeming injustices be explained and crimes that have called to Heaven for vengeance receive their just reward. Then will the unanimous cry be: "The Lord He is God," and all will be forced to add: "He doeth all things well."

(3) _The Sentences._ There are only two: (1) "Then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right Hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." He tells them why they are to have such a blessed reward--they have been faithful subjects of their King during their lives on earth, they have ministered to His needs, lived for Him and not for self. They seem surprised, they cannot remember doing acts of charity to their King and He explains: "As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me." (St. Matt. XXV. 40). The sentence "Come" is pronounced on those who lived their lives for their King, who did all they had to do, no matter what it was, for Him, thus uniting themselves with Him, and now He will unite Himself with them for all eternity--"_Come_!"

(2) "Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left Hand: Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." And again He gives His reasons for this terrible punishment--they would not acknowledge Him as their King, would not serve Him, lived for self instead of for Him and His brethren: "As long as you did it _not_ to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me" (verse 45). During their lives they separated themselves from the King and His interests: "We will not have this Man to reign over us;" now He will separate Himself from them for all eternity.--"_Depart from Me!_"

Then He "will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into My barn." (St. Matt. XIII. 30). "The Angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire" (verses 49, 50). "Then shall the just shine as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear let him hear" (verse 43).

_Colloquy._

Inter oves locum praesta, Et ab hoedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra. (Among the sheep grant me a place, separate me from the goats, placing me on Thy right Hand).

_Resolution._ To remember "the doctrine ... of eternal judgment" (Heb. VI. 2) to-day.

_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He shall come again to judge the living and the dead."

TRADERS AND TALENTS.

"A man going into a far country called his servants and delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability; and immediately he took his journey."

(St. Matt. XXV. 14).

_1st. Prelude._ JESUS telling this parable to His disciples.

_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to learn the lessons from it which He intended.

POINT I. THE TALENTS.

It is Christ Himself Who is the Author of this parable and He told it to show us how we are to prepare for His Coming. Every word of it is of importance and bears some instruction or warning for Advent.

The "_man going into a far country_" is the Man-God, He Who came from Heaven to take our human nature and to redeem us to God by His Blood. His work of Redemption is finished and He is going back to His own country--"_A far country_"--implying that He will be gone a long time.

(He) "_called His servants_." They are His own servants, He has created them, He has bought them with His Blood, they belong to Him--their service, their time, their very lives are His, and this not because they are _slaves_ forced to labour, but because of their own free will and out of love and gratitude to Him who has bought them from the cruel slavery of sin, they have said: "I love my Master ... I will not go out free" (Ex. XXI. 5).

"_And (He) delivered to them His goods._" They are _His_ goods not the servants', they all belong to Him and He entrusts them to His servants to take care of them and to do the best they can with them while He is gone. What are these "goods?" All the good things which God has given to man--his life, his preservation, his Baptism, his christian education, intellect, faith, health, rank, wealth, talents, conscience, opportunities of doing good, position,--and all have to be traded with, for the Master to Whom they belong. His "goods" include too what the world would label "evils"--ill-health, difficulty, failure, poverty, incapability; these have to be traded with too, and there is often a higher profit to be made out of these than out of the others. They are all the Master's goods and He delivers them to His servants.

"_To one He gave five talents and to another two and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability._" He knows His servants, and He knows exactly the strength and capability of each. He measures each burden before imposing it and calculates each sum before giving it. This servant can manage five, this one two, this can only manage one. It is no disgrace to have only one talent, the ability of the servants is the Master's affair, not the servants'. They cannot turn to Him and say: "Why hast Thou made me thus?" (Rom. IX. 20). He makes each one according to His own Will and endows him according to His Will too. What the servant has to remember is that he is responsible for all that is entrusted to him, that he _can_ trade with it and that it is not too much for him, it is "according to his proper ability," and that though his Master will never try to reap where He has not sown, He _will_ expect to reap where He _has_ sown, He will expect a harvest from each talent.

POINT II. THE TRADERS.

"_He that had received the five talents went his way and traded with the same and gained other five._" He lost no time, he loved his Master and he loved the "goods" because they belonged to his Master and because they had been lent by Him. The whole of their value lay in the fact that they were the Master's; he felt responsible, he must not only take care of them but put them to the best account, and so he set to work at once to trade with them, and he did well, for he gained _cent per cent_!

"_And in like manner he that had received the two gained other two._" There was no jealousy, no thinking the Master partial or that He had underrated his powers in only giving him _two_ talents. He loved and trusted his Master; the two talents were very precious because they were His and because He had chosen them out with such love and care, giving the servant just what he could manage, no more and no less. He went and traded and did as well as the first, _cent per cent_.

Thus the good servants, that is those who love, who have said, I _will_ not go out free, are always trading for their Master. They say to themselves: This talent, this time, this opportunity, this health, this strength belongs to my Master not to me, I must use it for Him. They forget sometimes; the Master is so long away and they act as if the goods were their own, and even trade with them for their own profit, using their talents to attract people to themselves rather than to their Master! But as they really love Him and want to "trade" for Him only, they see the dishonesty of their trading and they do their best by acts of reparation to restore to Him His own. When He comes back, He will not expect perfection but _effort_. Some, He says, will gain "a hundred fold" but for our consolation and encouragement He adds: "some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold" (St. Matt. XIII. 8).

"_But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord's money._" He lost no time either, his mind was made up at once, he would take no trouble, make no effort, would hide his Master's talent and forget all about it; he wanted no responsibility, he could not be troubled with "trading." His Master could not expect much from him, he argued, because he had entrusted so little to him, he knew he was not capable of doing _much_, but he would do nothing at all. He did not waste or spoil his Master's goods, his sin was one of _omission_--you did it _not_ to Me. He dug in the earth instead of laying up treasure in Heaven.

POINT III. THE RECKONING.

"_After a long time the Lord of those servants came and reckoned with them._" Each servant must come up before Him to give an account and to be judged according to his works.

"_Lord, Thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above._"