Saint for the Day

• May 17 – St. Paschal Baylon
  From a child Paschal seems to have been marked out for the service of God; and amidst his daily labors he found time to instruct and evangelize the rude herdsmen who kept their flocks on the hills of Aragon.  At the age of twenty-four he entered the Franciscan Order, in which, however, he remained, from humility, a simple lay-brother, and occupied himself, by preference, with the roughest and most servile tasks.  He was distinguished by an ardent love and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.  He would spend hours on his knees before the tabernacle—often he was raised from the ground in the fervor of his prayer—and there, from the very and eternal Truth, he drew such stores of wisdom that, unlettered as he was, he was counted by all a master in theology and spiritual science.  Shortly after his profession, he was called to Paris on business connected with his Order.  The journey was full of peril, owing to the hostility of the Huguenots, who were numerous at the time in the south of France; and on four separate occasions Paschal was in imminent danger of death at the hands of the heretics.  But it was not God’s will that His servant should obtain the crown of martyrdom which, though judging himself all unworthy of it, he so earnestly desired, and he returned in safety to his convent, where he died in the odor of sanctity, May 15, 1592.  As Paschal was watching his sheep on the mountain-side, he heard the consecration bell ring out from a church in the valley below, where the villagers were assembled of Mass.  The Saint fell on his knees, when suddenly there stood before him an angel of God, bearing in his hands the Sacred Host, and offering it for his adoration.  Learn from this how pleasing to Jesus Christ are those who honor Him in this great mystery of His love; and how to them especially this promise is fulfilled: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come unto you.” John xiv. 18. Reflection—St. Paschal teaches us, never to suffer a day to pass without visiting Jesus in the narrow chamber where He, whom the heaven itself cannot contain, abides day and night for our sake.

  Taken from the “Pictorial Lives of the Saints: with Reflections for Everyday in the year

  

Sunday Sermon

• Octave of the Ascension~The Constant Struggle

  “Be prudent, therefore, and watch in prayers.”–St. Peter iv. 7.

   

  What a happiness many Christians have at the Easter-time through Confession and Communion, and how desirable it is that this happiness should continue! I will tell you how to be always thus happy. Wage a constant warfare against your evil passions; for sin is the only thing that can deprive you of the joy which you now have. But you will say, ” It is hard to be always striving.” I answer, that the victorious in any contest do not notice the labor which their triumph costs. Defeat is what makes warfare painful. For your consolation, remember that you have only to be resolute and arm yourself with God’s grace, which is given most abundantly, and defeat is impossible. God has provided help for you in all possible difficulties. He will not abandon you unless you throw down your arms. You have already gained much in obtaining God’s friendship. Your hardest fight was when you were doing penance to get this friendship. What a pity it would be to throw away what has cost you so much labor! “Be prudent, therefore,” and do not let yourselves be ensnared again by evil. Consider the great happiness which you now have, and compare it with your great misery when you were in danger of being lost for ever. Experience is a great teacher, and it is folly not to profit by it. See how it has been with you. When you consented to sin you were cheated by a pleasure that you found to be unreal, you had to suffer an hour of pain for every moment of gratification, and your soul was agitated, depressed, and sorrowful. Besides, in this unhappy state you deserved only everlasting pains. Now that you have the happiness of being in God’s favor, how you ought to strive not to lose it! Show your prudence by “watching in prayers.” Since the Paschal Communion have you watched yourself? or have the old habits of neglect once more begun to appear? Have those morning and evening prayers been omitted? Watch. These are the beginnings which prepare the way for a fall into sin. Your prayers are your chief defence. God’s assistance is continually necessary for all, and it is granted through prayer. The assistance of God continues while the habit of prayer lasts, but no longer. Pray, and all will be well with you. If you do not pray, nothing can save you. Watch for your failings in the duty of prayer, and continually repair and correct them. No temptation can move one who is faithful to prayer. Such a one’s salvation is infallibly certain. If you do not pray, you are without excuse, because all, even the greatest sinners, can pray. It is a maxim of the spiritual life that one who is faithful in prayer is faithful in all things. Prayer cures all the disorders of the soul, diminishes one’s daily faults, takes away the temporal punishment due to sin, increases one’s merits, and finally conducts to Paradise.

  Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year By the Priests of the Congregation of St. Paul, 1893

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