This offer, my dear brethren, which the devil made to our Divine Lord, he repeats, in its measure, to each one of us. He is obliged to promise good wages to those whom he wishes to be his servants; he could get few, certainly, if any, who would serve him on his own account.

Does the devil, then, ask us to adore or worship him? Yes, he does. He does not ask us to build churches in his honor, or to say prayers to him, it is true; he knows that he cannot expect that. But he does ask us to be his servants, and to obey his commands; he wants us to take him for our master, though he does not care much whether we acknowledge him to be so. He asks for the substantial part of worship, our money, our labor, our time, and our life; if he gets that, may he not well be content?

But does he offer us all the kingdoms of the world? Oh, no! He is not so foolish as to offer his whole stock in trade for what can be got for a trifle. He named this price to our Saviour because, though he did not know fully what He was, still he valued His services highly, and thought them worth any sacrifice to obtain; but for us very little out of his treasury suffices. Despising us, he only promises us what he has good reason to think will be enough; a little sensual pleasure, a passing fame or notoriety, or even a few dollars, is the price which he generally names for our allegiance. Thirty pieces of silver he found to be all that was needed for one of the Apostles; what wonder that he is not disposed to bid very high for us! Once the newspapers told us of a young man who shot an innocent passer-by simply to get reputation as a desperado. Fortunately, he did not live to shoot another one; he met the fate he deserved on the scaffold. Perhaps he thought that a grand thing, too; but I question much whether, in his secret heart, it seemed to him at that moment worth while to be sent out of the world by an ignominious and painful death, and to go before God with murder on his soul, even for the sake of being considered an humble imitator of the lawless men of whom he had read. And yet there are others following in his steps, many perhaps here in this city of ours; Christians, so-called at least, bought with the blood of Christ, and even having some knowledge of religion and its precepts, who would sell their immortal souls, and despise the crown of eternal life, to be distinguished as a burglar or a ruffian, or as the hero of a dime novel!

Now, this is absurd, foolish, and contemptible enough certainly, to throw away salvation and the kingdom of heaven, not for a kingdom on earth, but for such inglorious things as these. We think, no doubt, that they would be no temptation to us; and, indeed, it is to be hoped that there are few, on the whole, to whom they would be. But, after all, what is the great difference, when we come to look at it fairly, between such things and those which do lead us to sin? Is the fame of a clever infidel much better worth the loss of the kingdom of heaven, than that of an abandoned outlaw? Or is any fame worth having, if we must sin to obtain it?

Or are riches worth possessing, if acquired by dishonesty, or if they take our hearts from the desire of true riches? Or is pleasure worth enjoying, if it takes away the happiness of the soul and the peace of God? Is the miserable pittance which the devil offers us, laughing at us for our folly as he does so, or is even all that he has to offer, worth the heavy price we must pay for it? Is anything worth loving and serving which puts out the love of God from our hearts, and takes us away from His service? I need not answer, for those hearts tell us that it is not; for it is plainly written in them, as well as in God’s law, that the only thing to make us happy is to love God and serve Him alone.

Think of these things, then, my brethren, in this holy season of Lent. Think well, and make your decision which master you will choose. Some time you must decide forever; why not now?

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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