preached penance and foretold the Last Judgment. Noe offered a sacrifice to God, which was so well-pleasing to Him that He made a covenant with him and his posterity: our Lord, by His death on the Cross, offered the most perfect sacrifice, and obtained for all men pardon, grace and everlasting peace. Noe saved the human race by the ark: Jesus Christ saves men by His Church.
Application. Say a hearty “Deo gratias” (thanks be to God) whenever you have escaped a danger or received a blessing or succeeded in some undertaking. As Noe’s first act on leaving the ark was one of thanksgiving, so let your first act, when you wake in the morning, be one of thanksgiving.
Noe was saved in the ark on account of his justice. What have you done to deserve being received into the one ark of salvation, the Church, almost as soon as you were bom? Thank God very often for having made you a member of the one true Church. There is, says St Augustine, no greater treasure than the Catholic faith.
Cham’s conduct was very wrong. Would it not be wrong of you to look at anything indecent? Be on your guard, therefore, against curious looks, and be modest in dressing and undressing.
Honour your father and your mother. Do not despise them even if they have faults. “The eye that mocketh at his father or that despiseth his mother, let the ravens of the brooks pick it out, and the young eagles eat it” (Prov. 30, 17).
Chapter VIII.
THE TOWER OF BABEL.
[Gen. xx, x— 9.]
THE descendants of Noe soon multiplied [1] and again became as wicked as men had been before the Deluge. Now they were unable[2] to live together any longer, and they said: “Come, let us make a city and a tower[3], the top whereof may reach to heaven; and let us make our name famous, before we be scattered abroad in all lands.” But God frustrated their foolish design. He
- ↑ Multiplied. They had left the mountains of Armenia, and dwelt in the large, fruitful plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris.
- ↑ Unable. To live together, because of their number.
- ↑ Tower. They wished to found an united kingdom, the centre and fortress of which should be this city with its high tower.
