• Wednesday after the Second Sunday in Lent

  The Passion of Christ brought about our salvation because it was an act of satisfaction He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world.–I John ii. 2.

  Satisfaction for offences committed is truly made when there is offered to the person offended a thing which he loves as much as, or more than, he hates the offences committed. Christ, however, by suffering out of love and out of obedience, offered to God something greater by far than the satisfaction called for by all the sins of all mankind, and this for three reasons. In the first place, there was the greatness of the love which moved Him to suffer. Then there was the worth of the life which He laid down in satisfaction, the life of God and man. Finally, on account of the way in which His Passion involved every part of His being, and of the greatness of the suffering he undertook. So it is that the Passion of Christ was not merely sufficient but superabundant as a satisfaction for men’s sins. It would seem indeed to be the case that satisfaction should be made by the person who committed the offence. But head and members are as it were one mystical person, and therefore the satisfaction made by Christ avails all the faithful as they are the members of Christ. One man can always make satisfaction for another, so long as the two are one in charity. 2. Although Christ, by His death, made sufficient satisfaction for original sin, it is not unfitting that the penal consequences of original sin should still remain even in those who are made sharers in Christ’s redemption. This has been done fittingly and usefully, so that the penalties remain even though the guilt has been removed. (i) It has been done so that there might be conformity between the faithful and Christ, as there is conformity between members and head. Just as Christ first of all suffered many pains and came in this way to His glory, so it is only right that His faithful should also first be subjected to sufferings and thence enter into immortality, themselves bearing as it were the livery of the Passion of Christ so as to enjoy a glory somewhat like to His. (ii) A second reason is that if men coming to Christ were straightway freed from suffering and the necessity of death, only too many would come to Him attracted rather by these temporal advantages than by spiritual things. And this would be altogether contrary to the intention of Christ, who came into this world that He might convert men from a love of temporal advantages and win them to spiritual things. (iii) Finally, if those who came to Christ were straightway rendered immortal and impassible, this would in a kind of way compel men to receive the faith of Christ, and so the merit of believing would be lessened.

Saint for the Day

• March 4 – St. Casimir

  March 4

  St. Casimir, King

  Casimir, the second son of Casimir III, King of Poland, was born A.D. 1458. From the custody of a most virtuous mother, Elizabeth of Austria, he passed to the guardianship of a devoted master, the learned and pious John Dugloss. Thus animated from his earliest years by precept and example, his innocence and piety soon ripened onto the practice of heroic virtue. At the age of twenty-five, sick of a lingering illness, he foretold the hour of death, and chose to die a virgin rather than take the life and health which the doctors held out to him in the married state. In an atmosphere of luxury and magnificence the young prince had fasted, worn a hair-shirt, slept upon the bare earth, prayed by night, and watched for the opening of the church doors at dawn. He had become so tenderly devoted to the Passion of Our Lord that at Mass he seemed quite rapt out of himself, and his charity to the poor and afflicted knew no bounds. His love for our blessed Lady he expressed in a long and beautiful hymn, familiar to us in our own tongue. The miracles wrought by his body after death fill a volume. The blind saw, the lame walked, the sick were healed, a dead girl was raised to life. And once the Saint in glory led his countrymen to battle, and delivered them by glorious victory from the schismatic Russian hosts.

  One hundred and twenty-two years after his death the Saint’s tomb in the cathedral of Vienna was opened, that the holy body might be transferred to the rich marble chapel where it now lies. The place was damp, and the very vault crumbled away in the hands of the workmen; yet the Saint’s body, wrapped in robes of silk, was found whole and incorrupt and emitted a sweet fragrance, which filled the church and refreshed all who were present. Under his head was found his hymn to Our Lady, which he had had buried with him. The following night three young men saw a brilliant light issuing from the open tomb and streaming through the windows of the chapel.

  Reflection- Let the study of St. Casimir’s life make us increase in devotion to the most pure Mother of God- a sure means of preserving holy purity.

  Saint Casimir coloring page

  Taken from the “Pictorial Lives of the Saints: with Reflections for Every Day in the Year”

Sunday Sermon

• Second Sunday in Lent ~Our Two Enemies

  “Arise, and fear not.” — St. Matt. xvii. 7

  My dear Brethren : The two great obstacles to the service of God, which come from ourselves, are sluggishness and cowardice. We are beset with temptations, harassed by passions, and subject to sin; but, more than these, love of ease and cowardice take possession of our hearts. We are tempted to doubt whether we can free ourselves from our difficulties; we forget the words of the Apostle : “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” Since, then, my dear brethren, God wills our sanctification, we too should will it, for God is ready to bestow upon us the means to attain it. So that far from being discouraged by the evils that surround us, and the spiritual difficulties under which we labor, we ought rather turn to God full of courage, having confidence in His promise that He will not deny us the grace necessary for us to obtain eternal life.

  And so our Lord addresses to each one of us the words of this day’s Gospel : “Arise, and fear not,” words which show what ought to be our part, our attitude in the work of salvation. To each one of us He says : “Arise !” Arise from the dominion of your passions! Cast off the works of darkness! Throw off your self-imposed shackles of cowardice and fear! Be vigilant! Be free! Be what your baptism demands of you — children of God, co-operating with His grace in the work of your salvation. Do you not remember the days of your innocence? Were they not happy days? Have you found in the pursuit of sin and the gratification of your passions the peace which you enjoyed in the days in which you served God? No! There is no peace for the wicked; there is no peace for the sin-burdened conscience; peace is only through the Holy Spirit. Peace is His fruit — peace with ourselves and peace with God.

  All the things of earth are as nothing compared with the peace of a good conscience. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls is a foretaste of the life of glory hereafter. We may lose riches, we may suffer dishonor, men may deprive us of our possessions and our good name, but they cannot rob us of God’s holy Spirit. Him we may possess without fear of loss unless we ourselves are guilty of infidelity to His voice. Courage, then, for God is with us! And if God be with us, why should we fear? For who is God? Who is there like to God? Is there any in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, that can stand against His almighty power? Whom do we fear? Is it Satan? Long ages ago God’s holy angel overcame him. Is it the world? Our Lord tells us : “I have overcome the world.” Is it ourselves? Are we then such slaves to our passions that we can no longer exercise our reason, no longer make use of God’s grace? Surely, things are not so bad with us as this! We can overcome our passions, we must overcome them. God’s grace will not be denied us. We should ” arise, and fear not,” we should have courage, we should trust God. And conquer we shall if we but use the means that God in His mercy has put at our disposal. We shall conquer if we turn to the fountain of grace and drink deeply of its waters. If, in other words,, we are constant in prayer and the use of the sacraments.

  These are the arms with which God designs that we should fight! These are the arms which He has blessed! These are the arms on which He has impressed the sign of His almighty power. Armed with these and confident in Him who gave them to us, victory shall be ours. Arise, then, my dear brethren, and cast off fear! Put on the armor of light and follow after the banner of our Lord. He has gone before showing the way; we have but to follow. He fought the fight. He overcame the world, the flesh, the devil. So, too, may we if we are faithful followers in the way of the Cross. If we earnestly study the life of our Lord and are watchful for the breathing of the Holy Spirit, “Who breatheth where He will,” we shall find the yoke sweet and the burden light. “Arise, and fear not.”

  

  Five Minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year  Volume 2

  Imprimatur 1886