“Others do the same thing." Sinners often speak thus in excuse for themselves. But the Deluge teaches us that such words avail nothing with God. Sin remains sin, and mortal sin remains mortal sin, whether committed by few or many. When everybody was wicked, as in the days of Noe, everybody was punished. At the Last Day we shall not be judged according to the opinions and easy-going principles of the world, but according to the holy Commandments of God and of His Church.
The fortitude of Noe. Among all his other virtues we must admire this the most. He remained virtuous in the midst of a corrupt world, and did only that which was pleasing to God. The wicked people around him did all in their power to lead him astray. They mocked him, because he did not do as they did; but he did not let himself be moved to do evil. He firmly resisted the attractions of the wicked world, and remained true to what was right.
Noe's love of his neighbour. For a hundred and twenty years he laboured for the salvation of the souls of his fellow-creatures, who were walking on the road to ruin. His love of his neighbour was real, practical, and entire.
The Ark a type of the Catholic Church. All those who were in the ark, were saved from death: whosoever is a true child of the Catholic Church, will be saved from everlasting death. There was only one ark of safety: so is there only one true Church in which there is salvation. The ark was designed and built according to God’s directions; so was the Church founded by our Lord. The ark did not sink amid the storms of the Deluge, being protected and guided by God; even so the Catholic Church does not sink amid the storms of persecution, being invisibly protected and governed by God the Holy Ghost.
The Last Judgment. The terrors of the Deluge are a type of the Last Day, for our Lord has said (Mat. 24, 37): “As in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (i. e. when He comes again to judge the world). Great were the fear and lamentation when the Deluge broke forth, but greater far will be the terror felt at the approach of the Last Day. “There shall be then great tribulation such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now” (Mat. 24, 21). And yet many men behave about the Last Judgment precisely as those of Noe’s time behaved about the Deluge, passing their lives in frivolity, and fearing nothing. The very same thing which happened to these last will happen to them. The men of Noe’s time would not listen to his warnings: they scoffed at him and refused to believe in the judgment that was to overtake them. But when the Flood came, and certain destruction lay before them, they cursed their folly and frivolity, and bitterly envied Noe’s safety in the ark. So will it be with men when the Last Day comes. “Then will they say within themselves, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are
