EPISTLE (I Cor. 10. 6-13.) Brethren, Let us not covet evil things,
as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them: as it is
written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in
one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them
tempted, and perished by the serpents. Neither do you murmur, as some of them
murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to
them in figure, and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of
the world are come. Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take
heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human:
and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you
are able but will make also with temptation issue that you may be able to bear
it.
Can
we sin by thought and desire?
Yes,
if we desire evil and forbidden things, or voluntarily think of them with
pleasure, for God prohibits not only evil deeds, but evil thoughts and desires
in regard to our neighbor's wife or goods. (Exod. 10. 17.) Christ says, (Matt. 5.
28.) that he who looks upon a woman with evil desire, has already committed
adultery. But wicked thoughts and imagination are sinful only when a person
consents to, or entertains them deliberately. They become, however, an occasion
of gaining merit, if we earnestly strive against them. For this reason God
sometimes permits even the just to be tempted by them.
What
is meant by tempting God?
Demanding
presumptuously a mark or sign of divine omnipotence, goodness or justice. This
sin is committed when without cause we desire that articles of faith should be
demonstrated and confirmed by a new miracle; when we throw ourselves needlessly
into danger of body or soul expecting God to deliver us; when in dangerous
illness the ordinary and, natural remedies are rejected, and God's immediate
assistance expected.
Is
it a great sin to murmur against God?
That
it is such may be learned from the punishment which God inflicted on the murmuring
Israelites; for besides Kore, Dathan, and Abiron whom the earth devoured, many
thousands of them were consumed by fire; and yet these had not murmured against
God directly, but only against Moses and Aaron whom God had placed over them as
their leaders. From this it is seen that God looks upon murmuring against
spiritual and civil authority, instituted by Him, as murmuring against Himself.
Hence Moses said to the Israelites: Your murmuring is not against us, but
against the Lord. (Exod. 16. 8.)
GOSPEL (Luke XIX. 41-47.) At that time, when Jesus drew near
Jerusalem, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known,
and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are
hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall
cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every
side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and
they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hast not known
the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple, he began to cast out
them that sold therein, and them that bought, saying to them: It is written, My
house is the house of, prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And he
was teaching daily in the temple.
Why
did our Saviour weep over the city of Jerusalem?
Because
of the ingratitude and obduracy of its inhabitants who would not receive Him as
their Redeemer, and who through impenitence were hastening to destruction.
When
was the time of visitation?
The
period in which God sent them one prophet after another who urged them to
penance, and whom they persecuted, stoned, and killed. (Matt. 23. 34.) It was
especially the time of Christ's ministry, when He so often announced His
salutary doctrine in the temple of Jersualem, confirmed it by miracles, proving
Himself to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, but was despised and
rejected by this hardened and impenitent city.
Who
are prefigured by this hardened and impenitent city?
The
hard-hearted, unrepenting sinners who will not recognize the time of God's
visitation, in which He urges them by the mouth of His preachers, confessors,
and superiors, and by inward inspiration to reform their lives and seek the
salvation of their soul, but who give no ear to these admonitions, and defer
conversion to the end of their lives. Their end will be like to that of this
impious city; then the enemy, that is, the evil spirit, will surround their
soul, tempt, terrify, and drag it into the abyss of ruin. Oh, how foolish it is
to squander so lightly, the time of grace, the days of salvation! Oh, how would
the damned do penance, could they but return to earth! Oh, how industriously
would they employ the time to save their soul! Use, then, my dear Christian,
the time of grace which God designs for you, and which, when it is run out or
carelessly thrown away, will not be lengthened for a moment.
Will
God conceal from the wicked that which serves for their salvation?
No;
but while they are running after the pleasures of this life, as St. Gregory
says, they see not the misfortunes treading in their footsteps, and as
consideration of the future makes them uncomfortable in the midst of their
worldly pleasures, they remove the terrible thought far from them, and thus run
with eyes blindfolded in the midst of their pleasure into eternal flames. Not
God, but they themselves hide the knowledge of all that is for their peace, and
thus they perish.
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