The young man's guide/Part 1: The Helmet of Hope
The Helmet of Hope
XVI. The Protection of the Christian
1. THERE is a pious and pleasing legend which runs thus: When our first parents were expelled from the fair garden of Paradise, they wandered sadly up and down. Before them lay the land of toil, overgrown with thorns and thistles. Sighing, they exclaimed: "Alas! Would that the flaming sword of the angel had put an end to our existence!"
Then there breathed forth all at once a gentle breeze from Paradise; trees and shrubs swayed to and fro, and a little cloud, tinged with the roseate hues of dawn, floated down from the hills. A voice came out of this beauteous cloud and spoke as follows: "Your eyes will not be able to behold me, but although invisible, I will be your guide through life. I will dwell in your hearts, and smooth your path. When thou, O man, shalt till the earth in the sweat of thy brow, I will show thee in the distant horizon fields of golden corn and flowery gardens, so that thou shalt imagine thyself to be once more in Paradise."
"But," sighed our first parents, "wilt thou forsake us when we come to die?" "No," said the voice from the cloud, "but in death's dark night I will be to you a light. When your last hour is approaching, my cheering light shall surround you, and you shall behold Paradise open before you."
Our first parents asked: "Who art thou, celestial messenger, who dost bring us consolation?" "I am Hope," was the reply, "the daughter of Faith and Charity." The beauteous cloud melted away, and encompassed the persons addressed, hiding the celestial child from view. But their souls were refreshed and comforted.
2. My youthful reader, this heavenly child, the virtue of hope, must accompany you on your way through life. Like a helmet of steel, this virtue must guard your head against the blows of fate, which are often so hard. It must be your protection.
You must keep a firm hold on Christian hope; you must cling to it, and never let it go, for such is the will of God. He commands us to hope in Him, and this command is even implied in these words: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart." Hope therefore in the Lord! Why should we do this? What is the foundation of our hope?
3. Hope and confidence in God should be your protection and your support throughout your life, because, in the first place, God is almighty, He is infinitely merciful, faithful, and true; therefore He can and will fulfil the promises He has made to us. It is certain that He is able to fulfil His promises. For how could God be almighty if He were not able to do all things, if He could not pardon us, grant us graces, and receive us into heaven? Certainly God has only to will, and His grace penetrates our hearts, filling them with sincere penitence, washing away our sins, abolishing our debt. God wills indeed our sanctification, our salvation, and our happiness, for He is infinitely good. He truly loves all men, and desires to have them all with Himself in heaven. In the most touching manner has He made . this clear and plain, since He delivered up His only begotten Son to suffer a most agonizing death. The words of St. John will be true for evermore : " God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John iii. 16).
4. Trust in the Lord, for He sealed His promises with the blood of His own Son. Of ourselves we could indeed not deserve eternal happiness, nor the graces needed for its attaintments, nor could we ever merit them. But what we could of ourselves not merit, Jesus Christ has merited for us, by means of His bitter passion and death. On this account we have, as the Apostle says: "Such confidence through Christ toward God."
For the same reason Sr. Ambrose writes, in order to allay our fears: "Behold, whom hast thou for thy judge! God has committed ail judgment to His Son. Can He therefore condemn thee, who has ransomed thee from death?"
5. Contemplate therefore the merits of Jesus Christ, and when you meditate upon them never let go your hope. If you have already fallen into mortal sin, or if you should ever be grievously wounded by the shafts of sin, hope on; never despair of the mercy and saving grace of the Lord. For if priests and levites, namely, your fellow-creatures in general, pass you by and abandon you, never will your Redeemer act in this way, never will He give you up for lost. No; your sad plight, your pitiable weakness, and the wounds of your soul will draw Him from afar to your aid, and will touch His sacred heart with compassion. He will act the part of a good Samaritan toward you. He has only oil and wine to bestow upon you, only mercy and loving kindness, if you go to Him with a contrite and humble heart — and a piece of gold, that is to say, Himself in the Most Blessed Sacrament, in order to pay all your debts. Hope in the Lord; He is your protection, your salvation.
Himself to man our God doth give, Our hope, the Lord most High; In this hope must the Christian live, In this hope he must die.
Apropos of these considerations, some reflections on the number of the saved and lost are not out of order.
As we read in the Gospel of St. Luke (xiii. 23), a certain man said to our blessed Saviour :
"Lord, are they few that are saved?" Jesus simply replied: "Strive to enter by the narrow gate."
"It is a question," says Father Walsh, S.J., in his admirable and consoling study, "The Comparative Number of the Saved and Lost," "about which there is no authoritative decision of the Church, nor unanimous opinion of her Fathers or theologians.
"Many, notably Suarez, hold — as Father Faber does — that the great majority of adult Catholics will be saved. Some, amongst whom we are glad to count the illustrious Dominican, Father Lacordaire, hold or incline to the opinion that the majority of mankind, including heathens and heretics, will be saved.
"Pere Monsabre, O.P., Father Castelein, S.J.. and Rev. Joseph Rickaby, S.J., advocate this mildest opinion. Father Rickaby says in his Conference, 'The Extension of Salvation': 'As to what proportion of men die in sanctifying grace, and what proportion in mortal sin, nothing is revealed, nothing is of faith, and nothing is really known to theologians. If ever you find a theologian confidently consigning the mass of human souls to eternal flames, be sure he is venturing beyond the bounds of Christian faith and of theological science. You are quite free to disbelieve his word. I do not believe it myself.
"'The rigor of the older theologians culminated in Jansenism. To the Jansenist the elect were the few grapes left upon the vine after a careful vintage (Is. xxiv. 13). Since the extirpation of Jansenism, the pendulum of theological speculation has swung the other way, and theologians generally hope more of the mercy of God, or, at least, speak with less assurance of the range of His rigorous justice,' "The reasons," continues Father Walsh, "which have induced me to think the mildest opinion, namely, that the majority — and I scarcely fear to add, the gnat majority — of mankind will be saved, are: First, because the study of God's character urges, if not forces, me to do so. Second, because this opinion appears to make most for His greater honor and glory, and for the merits of Christ. Third, because the belief in it is better calculated to make is love God, and to serve Him the more from love.
" Cardinal Bellarmine, in one of his expositions of the Psalms, writes: 'David records God's providence in regard of the beasts and the birds in order to let man see that he will never be forsaken by God in His providence. God, who so bounteously feeds beasts and ravens, will never desert those who are made to His own image and likeness.' Is not such Our Lord's reasoning and conclusions as we have them in His Sermon on the Mount : "Behold the birds of the air; for they neither sow nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not of much more value than they?' The most learned theologians lay down and prove the following proposition : That God really and sincerely wishes the salvation of all men, because He is the Creator of all men. In the words of St. Ambrose: 'God wishes all whom He creates to be saved; would to God, O men, that you would not fly and hide yourselves from Him; but even if you do He seeks you, and does not wish you to perish.' It is more probable that though many can and will fight God to the end and be lost, they will be fewer far than those whom He will tenderly, and in His own way, bring home to Himself. God is not only the Creator but the Father of all men without any exception. He has commanded us to address Him by this title : ' Our Father, who art in heaven.' All Christians do so; and a preacher, in his opening instructions, would teach and exhort the untutored savage to believe in and speak to Him as such.
" God is the Father of all men and eminently a perfect Father. We could not imagine such a father casting out, expelling from his home forever a child, until he had tried the proper means to keep him with himself — until the child deserts him, or, by wilful, obstinate, persistent disobedience to his father's will, necessitates his own expulsion. Such a father will do all he well can for the Welfare of his children do everything short of violence to enable his children to succeed in all that is for their good. The dominant desire — wish — will of such a father must be to make his children happy; his dominant dread and horror, that one of them should be unhappy.
"Our Lord tells us how easy and swift true repentance can be in the case of the publican — the notorious and typical sinner — who by making an act of sorrow for his sins, in seven words, went home to his house justified. God is far more ready and generous in forgiving the worst than men — even good men — are in forgiving each other, and bad would it be for the best of us if He were not.
"By way of showing the effect which can be produced by the very thought of God Our Father, and belief in Him as such, I may give a fact told to me by the person concerned — now dead for some years. He fell into a state akin to despair about his salvation. A confessor, to whom he opened his mind, told him to go, take his Bible, and write out all the texts in which God calls Himself his Father. He did so, and was blessed with calm and peace before he had written twenty."
The following extracts from the Sacred Scriptures reveal the goodness and mercy of God. Like the psalms of David, which you ought to read and meditate upon, they confirm us in our hope.
"Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live" (Ezech xxxiii. n).
"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke xix. 10).
"Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons of God" (i John iii. i).
"But I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you; that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh the sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and unjust. ... Be you perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect." — Words of our blessed Saviour (Matt. v. 44, 45, 48).
"Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee" (Jer. xxxi. 3).
u The Lord is gracious and merciful; patient and plenteous in mercy."
"The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." "Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name forever" (Ps. cxliv. 8, 9, 2).
Let us give the good God, our Father in heaven, a service of Love, in the spirit of St. Francis Xavier, who said: "O God! I love Thee, not for the sake of winning heaven, or of escaping hell, not for the hope of gaining aught, but solely because Thou art my God."
"Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.
E'en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing:
Solely because Thou art my God
And my eternal King."
XVII. Providence Watches Over us.
1. MANY years ago my path led me by the side of a river, where laborers were engaged in erecting water-works. It was a sultry summer's day, and I pitied the workmen who were obliged to pursue their daily toil in the fierce rays of the sun. I said to myself: "How these poor creatures have to suffer, exposed as they are the livelong day to this blazing heat; and in spite of all their wearisome toil, they perhaps scarcely earn wherewithal to buy clothing and to appease their hunger and thirst!" My sympathy for these laborers caused me to devote my attention to them for a short space of time and to listen to them at their work.
a. Two middle-aged workmen, whose countenances showed that the cares of a family were weighing upon them, met as they were engaged in wheeling their barrows. "Give me a pinch of tobacco to fill my pipe!" one man said to his comrade; " it's about the only solace a poor man has in these days of want and scarcity. These are hard times indeed; I can scarcely believe that there is a God in heaven!"
But the other replied: "Hold your tongue! Your complaints will not mend matters! You just look at me! I have a sick wife and seven children, and they have all to be supported by the labor of my hands! The bread doesn't go very far in filling their mouths, and my heart is often heavy when I look round on them all. But do you know what sustains and supports me? I have been married for seventeen years, and God has never forsaken me; His hand will not be shortened in years to come, and He will never cease to help me; for Providence watches over us!"
3. "O what an excellent lesson is this in simplicity and pious trust in God," I reflected; "how suitable, and practical a subject has been chosen!" Providence watches over us! Frequently have I heard these consoling words, but never did they seem so impressive as upon this occasion, when I heard them uttered by a father who had an invalid wife and seven children, and in these hard times had only his scanty earnings, wherewith to furnish them with daily bread, and whose confidence in God never wavered for an instant in spite of everything.
4. Providence watches over us ! How does this thought bring comfort to the heart of him who is overtaken by misfortune. But where is confidence in God to be found in this unbelieving age? I make bold to say that neither the poverty of the lower orders, nor the heartlessness of the wealthy classes, but the want of faith and confidence in God, is the principal cause of the evils of the present day; nay, more, amid the evils which surround us, it is itself the most terrible evil of all.
Yet Providence ceases not to watch over us; a thousand examples both in daily life and in history prove this in an incontrovertible manner. But one of the most beautiful and forcible examples to be found in all time is related in the Book of books, in the pages of Holy Scripture.
5. Let us call to mind the fate of Joseph, when he was in Egypt. Who could appear more unfortunate than he was, when, though perfectly innocent, he was sold by his own brothers, dragged away from home, falsely accused of a most disgraceful crime, and on this account cast into prison! But Providence watched over him! He left the dungeon in order to ascend a throne, than which only a regal throne could rank higher. Thus his misfortune brought about his good fortune, and not his alone, but that of his country, his beloved father, and his brethren. Certainly the providence of God manifested itself in this instance in no ordinary manner, and caused all things to work together for good. In order that he might be governor of Egypt, it was necessary that Joseph should be a slave, be loaded with fetters, and thrown into the prison where criminals condemned to death were confined.
6. Wherefore St. Jerome says: "What we consider to be misfortune, is in reality a blessing." And St. Chrysostom is right when he thus exhorts us: "When any event transcends our power of understanding, we ought not to conclude that it is not well done, but rather, since we recognize on the one hand the action of Divine Providence in governing the universe, so ought we in cases which exceed the limits of our comprehension, to adore His unsearchable wisdom." Wonderful truly are the ways of God, who is able to search them out?
7. What ought therefore to be your resolution? This above all else; never, in any moment of life to murmur and complain, as if God were unjust, as it His providence had ceased to watch over you. But habituate yourself, however severe may be the afflictions which overtake you, to say with patient Job: "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
God it is who makes the soil
Grateful to the laborer's toil;
He whom sun and stars obey
Holds the whole world in His sway;
Yet from His bright throne above
Looks upon mankind with love.
In that bounteous Lord confide,
For your wants He will provide.
"Two principles," says Father Ramiere, S.J., "form the unalterable basis of the virtue of abandonment or absolute surrender to Divine Providence.
"First Principle: Nothing is done, nothing happens, either in the material or in the moral world, which God has not foreseen from all eternity, and which He has not willed, or at least permitted. "Second Principle: God can will nothing, He can permit nothing, but in view of the end He proposed to Himself in creating the world; i.e., in view of His glory and the glory of the Man-God, Jesus Christ, His only Son.
"To these two principles we shall add a third, which will complete the elucidation of this whole subject, viz. : As long as man lives upon earth, God desires to be glorified through the happiness of this privileged creature; and consequently in God's designs the interest of man's sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory.
"If we do not lose sight of these principles, which no Christian can question, we shall understand that our confidence in the providence of Our Father in heaven can not be too great, too absolute, too childlike. If nothing but what He permits happens, and if He can permit nothing but what is for our happiness, then we have nothing to fear, except not being sufficiently submissive to God. As long as we keep ourselves united with Him and we walk after His designs, were all creatures to turn against us they could not harm us. He who relies upon God becomes by this very reliance as powerful and as invincible as God, and created powers can no more prevail against him than against God Himself. This confidence in the fatherly providence of God can not, evidently, dispense us from doing all that is in our power to accomplish His designs; but, after having done all that depends upon our efforts, we will abandon ourselves completely to God for the rest."
"When we will what God wills," says St. Alphonsus, "it is our own greatest good that we will; for God desires what is for our greatest advantage. Let your constant practice be to offer yourself to God, that He may do with you what He pleases." God can not be deceived and we may rest assured that what He determines will be best for us. Can there be a better prayer than this?
"All that is bitter," says St. Ignatius Loyola, 'as well as all that is sweet in this life, comes from the love of God for us.'"
XVIII. Resurrection and Recognition
I. WHEN a socialistic pamphlet is intended for distribution among the working classes, the author frequently depicts their misery in harrowing terms. It Is true that the lot of the laboring man is a hard one, and the modern, impious socialist tells him this over and over again, but hear what sort of comfort he offers him.
Your Church points you, as a Catholic, to a better life than this, to a life where you will find rest after your toil, if you, while on earth, have served God with a clean heart, and have applied yourself to your daily tasks with a pure intention. But the writer of a pamphlet such as I allude to, leaves the unfortunate laborer, whose lot upon earth is so full of hardship, in doubt whether there is any resurrection and recognition, any "Wiedersehen" of our loved ones, any better life. Who is right, you with your blissful hope, or this newspaper writer with his cold and miserable comfort — despair? The question has been settled long since; Christ rose again, therefore for us also there will be a resurrection and recognition!
2. Will this hope perhaps deceive us? Never! An unhappy mother knelt by the grave of her darling, a boy about ten years old. She remained kneeling there for hours; she wept until her eyes were red; she sighed and prayed until her voice failed her; yet, as the poet tells us:
When for the loved one lost our tears o'erflow
The mourning heart is bowed with bitter woe,
This thought into the heart with solace steals :
He is not dead whom now the grave conceals.
Assuredly, "he is not dead whom now the grave conceals"! An inner voice tells us this, and the same voice is heard by all those nations who honor the last resting-places of the dead. Everywhere, even among the most uncivilized nations, we find the hope that the sleep of the grave will not last forever, but that the day of awakening will dawn.
But we, as Christians, have no mere vague presentiments concerning this resurrection and recognition, but the most complete assurance. For Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Eternal Truth, says, in clear and solemn accents: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live."
3. And there must of necessity be a resurrection an eternal recompense; it is imperatively demanded by the justice and holiness of God. His eye sees how frequently upon earth licentiousness, crime, injustice, stalk openly abroad or flourish in secret. Where is the penalty, the punishment? Religion has its champions, virtue its heroes, faith its martyrs. Where is the reward?
Or are virtue and vice, innocence and guilt, of equal value in the eyes of God? In that case there would no longer be virtue or vice, guilt or merit; everything would be equal and there would no longer be a question of a Supreme Being, who is holy and just!
4. Come, let us draw near to a death-bed. We will suppose that we see stretched upon it a young man who is about to breathe his last. He is at an age when life holds out the brightest promise of enjoyment; he is in the bloom of youth, being scarcely more than twenty years of age. He has grown up good and pious, innocent of evil, a spectacle to men and angels. Now death is approaching; the bystanders are dissolved in tears, the dying man alone is calm; he even smiles, a ray of celestial brightness hovers around his wasted features, he exclaims with his final gasp: "Jesus, I am Thine in life and in death! Jesus, mercy!" Now tell me, can God answer the prayer of this angel in the flesh by dooming him to annihilation?
5. Let us approach another death-bed. Upon it there lies a young man who is about to draw his last breath, but who has been a grief to his family, a disgrace to his relatives. Ever since his boyhood he has been the slave of vice, and he has now become the deplorable victim of his evil passions. There he lies — there he dies — in despair. Now tell me again, can we inscribe upon the bier of the chaste young man, adorned as he was with virtue, words implying his life to have been a delusion? And can we eulogize the miserable victim of vice by affirming that he did nothing wrong? Could God consign these two beings, so radically different from one another, to an equal annihilation? Could they both become, as they lie in the grave, a mere mass of moldering corruption, dust, and ashes — this, and nothing more forever? Is not the mere idea of anything so monstrous abhorrent to the conscience of every man?
6. No, this can not be, that in death virtue and vice should become mere meaningless terms; rather must each of these two things meet its proportionate recompense.
Do you therefore, my dear young friend, practise virtue and flee from vice; there is a resurrection and a recompense; there is a Wiedersehen! "Take courage, and let not your hands be weakened; for there shall be a reward for your work " (2 Parol, xv. 7).
" I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth; and I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God; whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. This my hope is laid up in my bosom " (Job xix. 25-27).
"The just shall live forevermore; and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the Most High" (Wis. v. 16), "Who will render to every man according to his works" (Rom. ii. 6).
'Tis sweet, as year by year we lose
Friends out of sight, by faith to muse
How grows in Paradise our store.
— Keble.
XIX. Heaven on Earth
1. ONCE upon a time a grand banquet was prepared in the palatial residence of a millionaire. The appetizing odors of the viands pervaded the whole house; strains of musical instruments delighted the ear, the gorgeous furniture was a joy to the eye. In the courtyard of the residence stood a horse, calmly munching its hay; the music did not bewilder it, and the footmen who hastened hither and thither, carrying dishes filled with all the delicacies of the season, aroused no longing in the horse, who continued to eat the hay with keen relish. The servants thought they would like a little joke, and placed soup, Toast meat, and vegetables before the animal; however, it thrust them all aside, and went on eating the hay.
" No one can possibly wonder," I think I hear you say, "if the horse refuses to eat meat, and cares only for oats and hay, since it is its nature to do this." You are perfectly right, but mark this: there are human beings, and unfortunately they are very numerous, who, like this horse and other animals, maintain their position at the manger, and eat their hay and their oats, instead of cultivating an appetite for better food.
2. You will understand what I am driving at. There are people both young and old, who have no appetite for anything better than the miserable hay and oats of earthly delights; people to whom pleasure and gold seem to constitute a heaven upon earth. They long for animal enjoyments, not for celestial joys. Such persons would willingly learn how to pray, indeed they would go on praying until their voice failed, if only God would grant them just one request. And what, think you, would be this request? Do you imagine that these votaries of pleasure would pray for spiritual and eternal gifts? They can not bear the thought of death and eternity. I have already told you that their heaven is on earth. Their sole wish is that the Almighty would make a bargain with them, and promise that they should never grow old, and never die. You do not hear them say with St. Paul: "I desire to be dissolved." Oh, no! but "I desire to remain here, to live forever on earth."
3. And what would they promise if God would make this bargain with them? Th6 answer is plain enough; they would say: "Keep Thy heaven for Thyself as far as we are concerned, if only we may remain always young, and live forever upon earth in the gratification of all our senses and natural inclinations." Listen to this bit of wisdom from that smart journalist, to whom I referred in the preceding chapter. He writes: "The earth was assigned to us as our abode in order that we might enjoy it to our heart's content, seek for pleasure, and find our satisfaction in it. Those who in exchange for our tears and lamentations offer us nothing but the sight of a dim and distant heaven, only point to a future life, are either not the true friends of the poor man and of the human race in general, or they are the victims of a morbid self-delusion."
A self-delusion! Pray, where did this scribbler discover this? Certainly not in the pages of Holy Scripture, but in his own brain, and he himself is undoubtedly the victim of a delusion.
One who is certainly far above this newspaper editor has spoken in a very different strain, in that He said: "In my Father's house there are many mansions: I go to prepare a place for you" (John xiv. 2).
And the great apostle St. Paul tells us: "We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come" (Heb. xiii. 14).
"Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. iii. 1-3).
St. Peter admonishes us: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims (on earth) to refrain yourselves from carnal desires, which war against the soul" (1 Peter ii. 11).
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead — unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that cannot fade — reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter i. 3, 4).
4. Let us quit the polluted realms of the terrestrial heaven and raise our eyes to the true heaven. And why ought we to do this? Because the world and its pleasures pass away. The happiness which it offers us, in its honors and riches and pleasures will never satisfy our hearts, which are made for the enjoyment of higher and better things.
Hear the testimony of a man who had
enjoyed a very wide experience and had
drained the cup of earthly pleasures to its
very dregs — I mean Solomon. As he himself
plainly states, he had left nothing untried.
What was the result? Was he satisfied?
No, the refrain of his song is ever the same:
"Vanity of vanities, and all things are vanity."
5. Away, therefore, with this beggarly rubbish, with the “heaven” which the world promises you! You were born to something better, your inheritance is not here! The ueaven which is above should be the objecr of your soul’s desires. Thither ought you to direct your eyes, as the marksman directs his eyes to the target. Say with David: ‘How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. Lxxxiii. 2).
Should your lot be a prosperous one in this world, you ought to long far more for that blessed place where your joy will be com- plete and everlasting. Should afflictions be your portion, bear them with resignation, if only you can attain eternal happiness. Let earth give you what it will, it can not give you heaven; let earth take from you what it will, it can never deprive you of heaven. There- fore farewell, O vain and fleeting world! Draw near, O blissful heavenly dwelling- place! Would that we were already within thy gates, O Paradise! To such a prayer as this, who would not gladly say: Amen.
O Paradise! O Paradise!
Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not seek the happy land
Where they that loved are blest ?
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through
In God’s most holy sight ?
O Paradise! O Paradise!
'Tis weary waiting here;
I long to be where Jesus is,
To feel, to see Him near.
O Jesus! Thou the beauty art
Of angel worlds above;
Thy name is music to the heart,
Enchanting it with love.
O my sweet Jesus! hear the sighs
Which unto Thee I send;
To Thee my inmost spirit cries,
My being’s hope and end.
Jesus! our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize wilt be;
Jesus! be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.
XX. Trust in God: Be of Good Cheer!
I. WITH courage like that of the lion, the young man rushes forth into a hostile world. It appears as if nothing could prevent him from attaining his highest aims, from realizing his youthful ideals. But alas! no sooner do the first obstacles present themselves, no sooner does he perceive that he will have to struggle and fight, no sooner do a few words of mockery or contradiction sound in his ears, than his lion-like courage vanishes, he no longer feels the joy of battle; nerveless and inert, he drops his wings.
And if the force of temptation assails him and, weak and inexperienced as the young man is, he falls into sin, and falls very deeply and grievously, then, instead of rising up with court age and energy, he lies in the abyss of his first sin, and abandons himself to cowardice, or even to despair. Never do this, my friend! However hopeless the case may appear, whatever the circumstances may be, take courage, be of good cheer, trust in God!
2. Never think or say: " God will never forgive my sins; He will not grant me the grace which is necessary, if I am to attain heaven; whatever I do, I shall be damned, there is no help for it!" This would be to despair, and despair is a terrible sin, a blasphemy against God. On this subject St. Thomas tells us that there is scarcely a greater sin than despair, and St. Augustine assures us that Judas sinned yet more grievously through despair, than even by betraying his divine Master.
And how awful are the consequences of this sin! The unhappy man who despairs loses all courage, all joy ; he falls from sin to sin, because he thinks that nothing can be of any consequence, since he is already lost. Thus in his despair he lives a wretched life while on earth, till he exchanges his misery here below for the everlasting misery of hell.
3. For this reason I say to you: Trust in God, have confidence in His goodness and mercy. It is, of course, no bad sign that you should feel alarm and terror on account of your sins, that you should regret your past folly, that you should tremble at the thought of the peril incurred by a sinful life. When, after a long-winter, it begins to lighten, thunder, and rein, it is a sign that spring is near.
Therefore, when the storm agitates the heart of the sinner, that is, when his conscience torments him and exhorts him to repentance, it is a good sign, if he pays heed to the warning voice, and he is happier in his sadness than he was formerly in his sinful pleasures. This is not despair, but a salutary fear of God.
4. Despair consists rather in a voluntary and deliberate renunciation of ail hope of attaining everlasting happiness, and a refusal to have recourse to the means of salvation. But is it possible, O merciful God, that any one can have so little trust in Thee, so little confidence in Thy fatherly love, as to imagine Thee to be unwilling to pardon?
I only wish I could transport him who thus despairs to the far-off land where Jesus lived and suffered for our sake. Behold, I would say to him, here was your Redeemer born, here He lay in the manger for your sake, and yonder, on a mountain near to Jerusalem He shed His blood upon the tree of the cross. Now, then, tell me, are you a man ? If you are a man, this precious blood was shed for you. Tell me again whether you truly repent of your sins and are deter- mined to forsake them without delay, to forsake them, not at some distant day, but at once? If this be the case, then away with your doubts; go on your way rejoicing, and trust in God !
5. Dear reader, in whatever circumstance you may find yourself, trust in God ! If you find it difficult to curb your unruly passions, to fly from the dangers by which your soul is menaced, to avoid the occasions of sin, and resolutely to turn a deaf ear to the magical enchantments of the world, then, O young man, take courage, trust in God, pray — pray — pray to God with confidence! And if you have to serve an apprenticeship, and submit to the drudgery of learning your business, and if you are obliged to go far away from home and earn your bread in the sweat of your face, then, when you long to repair to some place of amusement, and there forget your weariness and toil by means of drinking, dancing, and gambling, do not give up, but pray to God and trust in Him ! Or, as a Religious once wrote in a young man's album :
Spread thy wings and boldly fly,
Courage raises to the sky.
Say with the Royal Psalmist: "I have put my trust in Thee, O Lord ; Thou art my God. My lots are in thy hands." — Ps. xxx. 15, 16.
"It is good to confide in the Lord." — Ps. cxvii. 8.
" He will overshadow thee with His shoulders and under His wings thou shalt trust.
" His truth shall compass thee with a shield thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.
" For He hath given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways." — Ps. xc 4, 5, 11
6. In conclusion I will quote the remarkable words which a German statesman addressed upon one occasion to the students at the University of Innsbruck: "We find in the words of St. John (Apoc. xxi. 8) that (among the reprobates) there come in the first place the fearful, the timidiy who lack courage to stand up for the cause of God and the Church; next come thieves and other immoral persons. Think what it would be to find yourself condemned to remain for all eternity in the company of these timidi, and with them to partake of the cup which eternal justice has prepared for their punishment in the pool burning with fire and brim- stone. Wherefore, my friends, do not flag in the fight.” ;
When afflictions fierce assail
Never let thy courage fail;
Hottest fire, refiners say,
Melts the gold and hardens clay
Father Claude de la Columbiere's Act of Hope and Confidence in God
MY GOD, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who hope in Thee, and that we can want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all things; therefore I am resolved for the future to have no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee. “In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and I will rest; for Thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.”
Men may deprive me of worldly goods and of honors; sickness may take from me my strength and the means of serving Thee; I may even lose Thy grace by sin; but my trust shall never leave me. I will preserve it to the last moment of my life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to wrest it from me. “In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and I will rest.”
Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in their talents: let them trust to the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the number of their good works, the fervor of their prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my hope. “For Thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.” This confidence can never be vain. “No one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded.” I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is in Thee. "In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded.”
I know, alas! I know but too well that I am frail and changeable; I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven, and pillars of the firmament totter; but these things alarm me not. While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this unfailing hope.
Finally, I know that my confidence can not exceed Thy bounty, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt sustain me against my evil inclinations; that Thou wilt protect me against the most furious assaults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee unceasingly. “In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded."