By Henry Aloysius Barry
In private practice even the common faithful may be offensive in their devotional partisanship. One may have his drawing toward this saint or that saint, this or that branch of church ministration, but in all these things one ought to question occasionally and purify his motives, and, whilst one is sincerely drawn in a particular direction or toward a particular institute, one ought, at the same time, not fail in realizing that the axis of all is Jesus Christ, the motive in all is God; and, hence, one should be well-balanced, temperate, well-ordered in his profession and never offensive to other holy ministers and men called by Almighty God to work in their own way along their own God-appointed lines, and in their own vocations, which are recognized and blessed, all of them, by Holy Mother Church. If social snobbery is odious in the eyes of the well-bred, the same offense translated into things religious becomes only a deeper subject of blame. The true and humble religious man is Catholic-minded, generous, and preeminently fraternal; his sympathies are earnest and world-wide. Moses was not hurt when the Lord said to him of the seventy men of the ancients, "I will take of thy spirit and give to them." (Num. xi, 17.) Joshua was an offensive partisan, a "little christian" so to speak. When others beside his Master showed the gift of prophecy, he said, "Mighty Lord Moses, forbid them." Moses replied, "O that all the people might prophecy, and that the Lord would give them His spirit." (v. 29.) Presumption is the next sin against the Holy Ghost. They are guilty of it, first of all, who lay the corner-stone of their strength in themselves, vainly relying on their own efforts to work out their salvation. Our Lord says distinctly, "Without Me you can do nothing." (John, xv, 5.) Sampson with his extensive range of mental endowments and Peter with his devoted attachment to the Lord should read a lesson to all such as are self-reliant. If in the past we have stood and not fallen, like so many others, the grace of the Holy Ghost is to be thanked. If we are to persevere in our vocations —and no man living knows what may be in store for him on the morrow—that same grace shall, nay, must, accomplish it. In the next place, they sin by presumption, who go on in their evil ways, audaciously figuring out that they can take their own time in the matter and that God will never refuse them pardon. The poisonous element of such a disposition is clear. It insults God for the very reason that He is good and merciful. The Holy Ghost says, "Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin, and say not, the mercies of the Lord are great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.
For mercy and wrath come from Him, and His wrath looketh on sinners." (Eccl. v, 5, 6, 7.) It is heresy to doubt that God pardons any repentant man; at the same time, when one makes so light of this indulgence on the part of God, and abuses it right along, there is a serious danger lest one will be flecked off the scene without the opportunity of fixing up one's conscience or, again, the quality of one's repentance may constitute a subject of misgiving— "Be not without fear about sin forgiven." The soundest hope of the future is the promise of the life we shall have lived—" He that soweth in the spirit of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." (Gal. v, 8.) "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." (v, 7.) Let us listen to what St. Fulgentius so interestingly says on this point: "At whatever stage of life a man shall have been repentant, truly, of his sins and under the rays of Godly luminance shall have corrected his life, he will not be denied the boon of forgiveness, because God, as the prophets assure us, has no wish for the death of the sinner, even the dying sinner; on the contrary, He desires that he shall renounce his wicked ways and that his soul shall live. (Ezech. xx, 11.) At the same time, no man ought to remain any longer in his sins prompted sheerly out of hope in the mercy of God, for even in the body itself no man prolongeth his illness in the hope of getting cured by and by"—such delay induces a chronic condition and complications. "Such as neglect to renounce their evil ways and guarantee themselves indulgence on the part of God are sometimes so brought up by a sudden squall of divine fury that they find no time for conversion or the boon of absolution. Hence the Holy Scripture, in charity, warns each one of us beforehand when it says, "Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on the sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.' (Eccl. v, 8, 9.) The blessed David also says, (Ps. xciv, 8.) "To-day, if you shall hear, harden not your hearts." With whose words those of the blessed Paul chime in— (Heb. iii, 12, 13): 'Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God. But exhort one another every day, whilst it is called to-day, that none of you be hardened, through the deceit of sin!'
In private practice even the common faithful may be offensive in their devotional partisanship. One may have his drawing toward this saint or that saint, this or that branch of church ministration, but in all these things one ought to question occasionally and purify his motives, and, whilst one is sincerely drawn in a particular direction or toward a particular institute, one ought, at the same time, not fail in realizing that the axis of all is Jesus Christ, the motive in all is God; and, hence, one should be well-balanced, temperate, well-ordered in his profession and never offensive to other holy ministers and men called by Almighty God to work in their own way along their own God-appointed lines, and in their own vocations, which are recognized and blessed, all of them, by Holy Mother Church. If social snobbery is odious in the eyes of the well-bred, the same offense translated into things religious becomes only a deeper subject of blame. The true and humble religious man is Catholic-minded, generous, and preeminently fraternal; his sympathies are earnest and world-wide. Moses was not hurt when the Lord said to him of the seventy men of the ancients, "I will take of thy spirit and give to them." (Num. xi, 17.) Joshua was an offensive partisan, a "little christian" so to speak. When others beside his Master showed the gift of prophecy, he said, "Mighty Lord Moses, forbid them." Moses replied, "O that all the people might prophecy, and that the Lord would give them His spirit." (v. 29.) Presumption is the next sin against the Holy Ghost. They are guilty of it, first of all, who lay the corner-stone of their strength in themselves, vainly relying on their own efforts to work out their salvation. Our Lord says distinctly, "Without Me you can do nothing." (John, xv, 5.) Sampson with his extensive range of mental endowments and Peter with his devoted attachment to the Lord should read a lesson to all such as are self-reliant. If in the past we have stood and not fallen, like so many others, the grace of the Holy Ghost is to be thanked. If we are to persevere in our vocations —and no man living knows what may be in store for him on the morrow—that same grace shall, nay, must, accomplish it. In the next place, they sin by presumption, who go on in their evil ways, audaciously figuring out that they can take their own time in the matter and that God will never refuse them pardon. The poisonous element of such a disposition is clear. It insults God for the very reason that He is good and merciful. The Holy Ghost says, "Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin, and say not, the mercies of the Lord are great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.
For mercy and wrath come from Him, and His wrath looketh on sinners." (Eccl. v, 5, 6, 7.) It is heresy to doubt that God pardons any repentant man; at the same time, when one makes so light of this indulgence on the part of God, and abuses it right along, there is a serious danger lest one will be flecked off the scene without the opportunity of fixing up one's conscience or, again, the quality of one's repentance may constitute a subject of misgiving— "Be not without fear about sin forgiven." The soundest hope of the future is the promise of the life we shall have lived—" He that soweth in the spirit of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." (Gal. v, 8.) "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." (v, 7.) Let us listen to what St. Fulgentius so interestingly says on this point: "At whatever stage of life a man shall have been repentant, truly, of his sins and under the rays of Godly luminance shall have corrected his life, he will not be denied the boon of forgiveness, because God, as the prophets assure us, has no wish for the death of the sinner, even the dying sinner; on the contrary, He desires that he shall renounce his wicked ways and that his soul shall live. (Ezech. xx, 11.) At the same time, no man ought to remain any longer in his sins prompted sheerly out of hope in the mercy of God, for even in the body itself no man prolongeth his illness in the hope of getting cured by and by"—such delay induces a chronic condition and complications. "Such as neglect to renounce their evil ways and guarantee themselves indulgence on the part of God are sometimes so brought up by a sudden squall of divine fury that they find no time for conversion or the boon of absolution. Hence the Holy Scripture, in charity, warns each one of us beforehand when it says, "Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on the sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.' (Eccl. v, 8, 9.) The blessed David also says, (Ps. xciv, 8.) "To-day, if you shall hear, harden not your hearts." With whose words those of the blessed Paul chime in— (Heb. iii, 12, 13): 'Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God. But exhort one another every day, whilst it is called to-day, that none of you be hardened, through the deceit of sin!'
