Hunolt Sermons/Volume 1/Sermon 20
TWENTIETH SERMON
ON THE PROFIT WE CAN DERIVE FROM THE CONSIDERATION OF THE TRIALS OF THE JUST AND THE PROSPERITY OFT HE WICKED, AS FAR AS THE RESURRECTION IS CONCERNED.
Subject.
First: that the pious in this world live in afflictions, while the wicked live in prosperity, should strengthen our faith in a resurrection to heaven. Secondly: it should strengthen our hope in a resurrection to heaven. Thirdly: it should inflame our love and desire for a resurrection to heaven. Preached on the second Sunday after Easter.
Text.
"I am the Good Shepherd: and I know Mine, and Mine know Me." (John x. 14.)
Introduction.
Where the shepherd is there are the sheep also; where the shepherd leads the sheep follow, whether he leads them into a green, pleasant meadow, or to the top of a barren mountain. My dear brethren, Jesus Christ is our Shepherd, and as He says Himself, He is our good Shepherd, who gives His life for His flock. Now if we wish to be good sheep we must follow this Shepherd, no matter where He leads us, through thistles and thorns as well as through flowers and roses. This Shepherd has gone before us suffering and sorrowing; we must be ready to fol low Him, as the Apostle warns us in today's Epistle: "Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should fol low His steps." But let us be comforted! The same Shepherd has also gone before us in His glorious resurrection to eternal joys; if we follow Him in the path of suffering we shall also fol low Him in the glory of His resurrection to heaven, and that is the end our well-meaning Lord has in view when, as is generally the case, He sends the good and pious many trials and crosses, while He allows sinners and the wicked, who, as the Apostle says, have no hope of a glorious resurrection, to abound in temporal prosperity. No, that very decree of divine Providence should confirm our faith and hope in the future resurrection to the joys of heaven, as I shall now show; and I take as the basis of my discourse the two contraries, namely, the trials of the just and the seeming happiness of the wicked, as follows:
Plan of Discourse
That the good in this world live in suffering, while the wicked abound in prosperity, strengthens our faith in the future resurrection to heaven: the -first point. It confirms our hope in the resurrection to heaven second point. It inflames our love and desire for the resurrection to heaven: third point. Be comforted then, pious and suffering Christians!
I rely, in what I have to say, on the light of the Holy Ghost, which I implore through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels.
It will perhaps at first seem strange to you that I should bring forward as a proof of our faith what appears, humanly speaking, utterly subversive of that faith. For the fact that pious servants of God generally had sorrow and tribulation to suffer while the wicked servants of the world lived in peace and plenty was the very circumstance that in former times led heathens and infidels, who followed the light of reason alone, to this conclusion: either Christians had not the true God, or else their God was blind and forgetful of them. The sufferings of the good and the prosperity of the wicked seemed even to St. Augustine difficult to harmonize with faith; and even King David and other Prophets seemed to have experienced the same difficulty almost to the point of wavering in their belief as to whether such an arrangement could really come from divine Providence. But, my dear brethren, you will soon be of my opinion when we have duly examined the matter. Give me your attention now. How comes it that we find so many, even amongst Catholics, who are at least half atheists? I allude to those who live according to the senses, who trouble themselves least of all about how they stand with God, who put in an appearance at church through worldly motives and for fashion's sake, while they remain in the state of sin from year's end to year's end. How does that occur? I ask. Why are these people found in such numbers? My idea is that they have no faith, or at all events a very weak and cold faith, in a future life, in which the just shall have eternal joys in heaven while the wicked shall be tormented forever in hell. They know by daily experience that we must all die; but they imagine that death is the end of all things, and hence they say with the wicked in the prophecy of Isaias: " Let us eat, and drink, for to-morrow we shall die;" let us enjoy the good things of this world as long as we can, for we may soon die, and then we shall have nothing more to expect. They often indeed read, or hear in sermons, when they come to listen to them, of a happy or unhappy eternity after death; but they imagine those things to be an empty dream, or idle threat, or a baseless fiction. They have gone so far in sin and the blindness it causes that they are like the wicked of whom David speaks: " God is not before his eyes: his ways are filthy at all times." a What is the result of that? " Your judgments are removed from his sight." If they had a lively faith in an eternal heaven and an eternal hell,, how could they thus possibly squander away their short lives in sin, and pay for a fleeting pleasure by an eternity of pain? No; you may say what you please; it is clear that in those people there is a want of lively faith.
Now if I had not the express and infallible word of God to assure me that there is another life after this, that the soul shall not die with the body; if I had not the divine promises of a reward hereafter for the good works of the just, nor the divine threats of a punishment for the sins of the wicked; if all men were to rise up against me, and cry me down, I would still brave them all and maintain the same truth, and an all-sufficient reason for my doing that would be that I see the good suffer and the wicked rejoice in this life. I have no wish to dispute with infidels, idolaters, or atheists; I believe and am infallibly certain from what heaven and earth place before my eyes, that there is one God, and since He is one, I am certain that He is a just Lord. Hear now how I am convinced of the truth in question from the unequal lot of the just and the wicked.
First: it is certain that the wicked man commits many sins and that the just man does many good actions in his life. Good works merit a reward, and bad ones punishment even in worldly justice, as we know by experience. God could not be God if He were not just; He could not be just if He allowed sin always to go unpunished, if He allowed supernatural good works to go always unrewarded. Now many sinners live in prosperity and joys, in riches and abundance, a fact of which we complain, so that they are evidently not punished here below for their sins. On the other hand, a fact which we deplore., many good people live in sorrow and suffering, in poverty and distress, so that they are not rewarded for their good works here below; therefore there must necessarily be after this life another life in which the former shall be punished and the latter rewarded.
Again, it is certain that no sinner is so utterly reprobate as not to do some good act now and then. If his wickedness consists in brutal lust, he is at least careful not to violate justice; if it consists in injustice, he lives soberly and chastely; if in cursing, swearing, or drunkenness, he is not ambitious or self-conceited, Whatever maybe his vice, he says an Our Father now and then, he sometimes hears Mass, he observes the fasts of the Church, gives alms, and so on. Mark now the designs of God. Although after the first mortal sin all the sinner's former good works, no matter what they were, are mortified, and all those he performs in the state of sin are and remain dead, and therefore God is not bound to give any reward for the former merits, unless the sinner does penance, nor for the latter good works; yet He is such a liberal, generous God, that He will not allow even such works as these to be unrewarded, but repays them in abundance, and as He cannot do that in the next life, where hell awaits the unrepentant sinner, He does it in this life, by granting the sinner prosperity, riches, the joys and pleasures of the world, so that no one may ever reproach Him with receiving a service for nothing. On the other hand, there is no just man who has not either sinned formerly in his youth or does not now and then commit some daily venial sin; I am afraid that none of us will be able to boast to the contrary; now divine justice requires full satisfaction for these sins, and since the just man pays this by patiently bearing trials and by other good works, and so gets rid of a great part of the punishment he deserves, I am again led to the conclusion that after death there must be a joyful life for him, in which the reward he has not received here for his good works awaits him.
It is not I alone, my dear brethren, who have found out this argument; it has been used already by the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church against those heretics who denied the immortality of the soul. Hear what William of Paris says against an error of this kind. You acknowledge that there is an Author of things by whom the world was made; you acknowledge that there is one God; now I ask: has this God any pleasure in those who faithfully serve Him, who for His sake abstain from forbidden delights, who love Him above all things, and always try to do His holy will? If He has no pleasure in them, where is His goodness and holiness? But if He has, where does He show it? Not in this life; for, as you object to me, He leaves His servants to suffer here below; nor, according to you, shall He show it after this life, for you maintain that the soul dies with the body. Say what you will to this, you shall not solve the difficulty until you confess that the soul is immortal, and that after death there is another life in which a just God rewards every one according to his works. If this be not true, then, contrary to the generally received belief of all men and to the express word of God, all holy and enlightened men must be looked on as the greatest fools; while the wicked, who wallow in filth like swine, must be esteemed as truly wise. Why so? Be cause the latter look for and enjoy temporal pleasures and goods, and profit by them as long as they live; while the just mortify themselves, suffer many trials and discomforts, and voluntarily undertake most laborious tasks, and all this in the hope of an imaginary reward they expect hereafter. There you have an argument that convinced even heretics, and reduced them to silence.
St. Augustine used a similar proof to console and encourage a distressed soul who complained to him of having so much to suffer that faith was in danger and despair at hand. You are quite wrong, said the Saint, and have made a great mistake in allowing yourself to be disturbed because virtue is ill-treated and vice rewarded in this world; for you only consider what your eyes can see; you regard only this short life, and the few days that make it up, and you wish God to fulfil all your desires in that fleeting moment. Is it not your desire that God should bless with prosperity in this world all His faithful servants, and chastise the wicked, and that He should thus pronounce His final sentence in this short time? Truly that is the meaning of your words! But God will not take much notice of them! Wait a little; everything shall come in due time. God will see to every thing; when? In His own time. And what is God's time? Eternity. Therefore if you wish to strengthen and comfort yourself in your faith, direct your thoughts to God's eternity, and when you see the apparent injustice with which He acts towards men on this earth, by being so liberal to His enemies and so stingy and harsh to His friends, conclude that He has an eternity for the former as well as for the latter in which He will give both what belongs to them by right, since He does not do so in this life. Such is the argument used by St. Augustine.
St. John Chrysostom speaks in the same sense: " Where are they who do good here to enjoy their reward, and where are the wicked to receive punishment? " " Son, remember," shall God say to the sinner as Abraham said to the rich glutton in hell, "that you didst receive good things in your lifetime," therefore you have no further claims now; and if you have done any good on earth thou art already rewarded for it. You have received wealth, health, pleasures, honors. I owe you nothing further; you have received what you didst seek. But now do you know how many sins thou art guilty of, for which you have not been paid during life? Now therefore it is your turn to be in My debt; therefore thou art now tormented, and shalt remain so during My time, that is, for all eternity. But, you say, why does Lazarus sit in Your lap and rejoice? Has he not also sinned? Yes, he has; but remember how things went with him during life. While you were enjoying prosperity, Lazarus sat before your door a poor beggar amongst the dogs, suffering hunger and thirst, full of wounds and sores; thus he atoned for his sins, while he had not as yet received anything for his patience in bearing poverty and affliction, and for the other good works he performed for My sake; therefore " now he is comforted," a therefore now during My time he shall enjoy consolation and an exceeding great reward. Try to understand this, you vain children of the world, who live in wealth, honor, and prosperity on earth, and yet do not serve God zealously in your good fortune, as you ought, but commit many sins; conclude from this that after this life an eternity of pain awaits you. So far, Chrysostom. See, my dear brethren, how the mystery of the unequal fate of the just and the wicked, which seems so hard to explain, actually helps to strengthen the basis of our faith in the resurrection to heaven. But besides that, it strengthens our hope in the resurrection to heaven, as we shall see in the
Second Part.
Already in the Old Law just and holy people used to build their hopes on the trials of this life, and to strengthen them by suffering I hear Job speaking of the happiness of the future life as if he were already assured of it and had the title to it in his hand, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth; and in my flesh I shall see my God." Where? when? in what circumstances did he use those words? When he was the richest and greatest of the land? No, although he then served God in his first innocence, but when he was deprived of house and home, abandoned by all, lying on a dung hill, covered with putrid sores, and bitterly complaining of his lot. The hand of the Lord has touched me; He has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head. He has destroyed me on every side." He has slain my children, taken my goods from me, and reduced me to extreme want. " His wrath is kindled against me, and He has counted me as His enemy. He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me. My kinsmen have forsaken me, and they that knew me have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house and my maid-servants have counted me as a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer, I entreated him with my own mouth; " and he did not even deign to take notice. "My wife has abhorred my breath; " she laughs at and mocks me. " The flesh being consumed, my bone has cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth." Yet after enumerating all those evils, he adds: " Who will grant me that my words may be written? who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book with an iron pen, and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint-stone? " For I know that my Redeemer liveth; I do not only believe it; I know and am sure of it; I know that I shall come to Him, arid that I shall see God in this flesh. "Whence had he that certainty? " asks St. Gregory. "He found it in his great misery, in the harshness with which God treated him here."
When did Tobias count himself amongst the chosen children of God? "We are the children of saints, and look for that life which God will give to them that never change their faith from Him." Was it not when, after a holy life filled with works of mercy, he lay down to rest wearied with burying the dead, and the swallow's dung fell into his eyes and blinded him, while his friends- came and mocked and ridiculed him? When did David receive such a clear knowledge and, as it were, a foretaste of heavenly goods that he cried out as if he could behold them with his eves: "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. This was the time when he was still innocent and had to fly from the fury of Saul, and was even forced to beg his bread; but he consoled himself with the thought that he should see the good things of the Lord. But, holy Prophet, how is it that you seest those things already? Persecution, misery, hunger, and want surround you on all sides, and you pretendest to see the goods and joys of the Lord? Truly, answers St. Chrysostom, it was those very trials that made him certain of possessing the good things of God in the next life. For he knew well that the persecution of his innocence was contrary to justice; and therefore he came to the conclusion, and it was a certain one, that divine Providence had appointed another place in the next life, where his innocence would be brought to light and his patience crowned.
O Christians! if the just in the Old Law found such a sure foundation for their hope in the trials they suffered, how strong should not be the hope of pious Christians, since their trials are stamped and sealed by Jesus Christ Himself, the King of the suffering, who by the testimony of His blood as well as by word of mouth assures us that crosses are title-deeds to the joys of heaven, and a sure pledge of eternal salvation? If our dear Lord had said in His Gospel that all who follow Him and serve Him zealously should escape discomfort and trouble, and be endowed with wealth, honor, and pleasure, while He should reserve His trials for the wicked alone, then if I saw sinners enjoying prosperity and the good groaning under the weight of affliction, I should begin to wonder, to lose courage, and to despair of salvation. Why, I should say, has the Son of God betrayed us? for I see the contrary happening to what He has led us to believe, and therefore I cannot trust in His promises about eternal life.
But when I read the Gospel and find that things are stated there quite differently; when I hear my Saviour saying clearly to His disciples: " You shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; " a when I hear Him enumerating all the persecutions, calumnies, scourgings, crosses, and torments in store for them, and at the same time exhorting them to remember His words that they may not be disturbed: " These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized; . . that when the hour shall come you may remember that I told you of them " when I remember all this, and at the same time see by experience that those words are literally fulfilled, for as a general rule I find that the just are afflicted, while the wicked live in prosperity, then indeed I fear nothing as long as I serve God zealously; and even if I should be overwhelmed with afflictions I should not therefore lose hope, but rather comfort myself all the more in the. thought of eternal life and a glorious resurrection. For I think to myself: the same Son of God who has said to the just, "You shall lament and weep," says immediately after: " But your sorrow shall be turned into joy. . . I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice: and your joy no man shall take from you." The same Son of God who has said to the just, "You shall weep," says also: "Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh." The same Son of God who says, " You shall be hated by all men for My name's sake," says also: "Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Be glad in that day and rejoice: for behold, your reward is great in heaven." Now the Son of God is in all cases infallible, and as His prophecy concerning the trials of the just is true, so also must be that regarding the eternal joys reserved for them. Therefore as experience tells us that what He said about the trials of His servants is fulfilled to the letter, we shall with equal certainty experience the truth of His words concerning the reward in the next life. Therefore in future I shall say in affliction with St. Paul: It is true that I suffer and groan and weep, yet I am not disturbed, nor do I complain or lose hope: " I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day." Not only do I hope, but I am assured and certain that the just Judge is able and willing to keep His promise regarding the reward in store for me on the day when I shall come to Him. And what reward is that? An eternal one in heaven, the desire, longing for, and love of which is inflamed in me by the difference of the lot of the just and the wicked on earth, as we shall briefly see in the
Third Part.
It is natural for one who is confined in a gloomy dungeon to long and sigh for his release all the more eagerly the greater the hardships and discomforts he has to endure. And it is also beyond a doubt that the trials and crosses of this life, in which suffer. we are confined as in a prison and vale of tears, excite a love and earnest desire for the joys of heaven, especially in those who groan most under the weight of affliction. Is it surprising that heaven should be so insipid and earth so agreeable to one who en joys all the delights of the world according to the wishes of his heart? But on the other hand, consider the poor, oppressed servant of God sighing and moaning under the weight of the cross like another Job; you will hear him saying: " My soul is weary of my life." The day and night seem to me as long as a year; when shall it all have an end? When shall I attain the repose I long for? The persecuted David cries out: " When shall I come and appear before the face of God? My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is your God?" St. Paul, overwhelmed with various trials, ex claims: "I am straitened: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ." And one of the reasons that God has for leaving His faithful servants in affliction and suffering is, that they may grow tired of and disgusted with earth and turn all their desires and aspirations to heaven. But I will dilate no longer on this.
And strange as it seems, even the prosperity and happiness of the wicked, when we consider the matter aright, can and should awaken in our minds a love and desire of heaven. How so? The greater the good one expects as a reward the greater his desire to get possession of it. That is a statement that requires no proof. goods and joys of the Lord! you that the faithful servant of God has to expect, how great will you be? You angels of heaven, I do not ask you to answer me this! Nor do I require one of you, saints, to be sent down to us to tell us what is to be found in that land of joys! Nor will I ask you, holy St. Paul, to make known to us what you saw in the third heaven! nor you, St. John, to explain what God revealed to you of the heavenly Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. Sinners! children of the world, who live here in abundance and delight! it is from you that I wish to learn this; tell me, what and how great is the reward that awaits the just man, whom you now hardly deign to look upon? But to no purpose should I expect an answer from you, for like brute beasts you are sunk in vice, and are blind to heavenly things. I take the matter then into my own hands, and look on for a time at your prosperity; I represent to my imagination the magnificent houses, the rooms hung with dam ask, in which you live; the gardens in which you spend your time in idleness during the pleasant spring weather; the down beds in which you repose so comfortably at night; the costly array in which you appear in public; the crowd of lackeys and servants that await your least nod; the number of people who hon or you on account of your prosperity, and almost pay you a sort of adoration; the costly viands on which you regale every day; the gold and silver from which you eat and drink; the musical voices and instruments that delight your ears; the theatres, dancing, and gaming houses in which you enjoy yourselves; the pleasant company you revel in; the round of pleasures that fol low each other from morning till night, in which there is always something new to tickle your fancy. (I do not even wish to allude to the impure delights of the flesh in which you place your heaven.)
When I have considered all this with wonder and without the least envy, I reason thus: if the just God is so liberal, so generous, no, so prodigal, so to speak, with His goods as to reward a few natural good works, stained as they are with sin and imperfection, in such a magnificent manner, what must the goods be, the joy, the glory that the same God will bestow in return for perfect supernatural good works, performed in the state of grace, that is, in union with the merits and blood of Jesus Christ? If He is so generous to His sworn enemies who daily ill-treat and insult Him, what sort of a crown will He prepare for those who truly love Him? What sort of an inheritance will He leave to His faithful servants, His intimate friends, His dear children? If He is so lavish with His goods to those who hardly deign to bestow a thought on Him during the day, what will He not give to those who for His sake have endured hunger and sorrow, trials and crosses with patience? If, in a word, He gives so many joys to sinners in this vale of tears, what will He not give to His elect on the eternal hills, in the very dwelling-place of joy, in the kingdom of heaven, where, as the prophet says, there are rivers., and fountains of joys that inundate the city of God? heavenly Jerusalem! holy city of God! wished-for fatherland! how shall I imagine what thou art like? For the only measure of your glory will be the infinite God Himself, and that alone must be an endless infinite joy of which I can form no idea, until I actually, as I hope, partake in it.
Sinners! vain children of the world! mark this, if you have reason to any common sense left: you have not the least title to this eternal joy, if you live as you have hitherto done; you have received your good things in this life. Oh, how poor you will be on that day! How confused you will be to see a poor peasant, or work man, or servant, a desolate widow, an orphan child whom you despised, no, perhaps oppressed and persecuted, to see them entering into the house of God and gaining possession of everlasting joys, while you shall not be allowed to stand even behind the door, but shall have to suffer in flames like the rich glutton, and to sigh when too late, like those of whom the Wise Man speaks: " These are they whom we had sometime in derision and for a parable of reproach;" whom we looked on as the dust under our feet, or as silly people who did not know how to live in the world: "Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints." Fools that we are! we must lie in the midst of flames covered with shame and confusion!
Pious, suffering Christians! to you I address my last words, Is there any of you who desires to receive from God the reward for his good acts in this life? Is there any one of you who would be willing to forfeit the future goods of eternity, if he might here share in the prosperity of the wicked? I can hardly think that any one in his right senses would be guilty of such folly. Is there any one of you, then, who would give away a part of his heavenly glory to be freed from the cross, and to enjoy a share in the goods of the world? Even that I should not expect any one to do who considers how short and momentary is the joy of the present life, how lasting that of the future. Have you then a great desire for heaven? Then do not complain; be satisfied with what the well-meaning Lord decrees for you; rejoice although sometimes your e t yes shed tears on account of your sorrow; rejoice with an undisturbed mind, and with a joy founded on faith and Christian hope, and say with me: now do I thank You, God, for that which formerly gave me occasion for impatience and murmuring because I did not then understand the fundamental rules of our faith and hope; now I resign myself willingly to the cross which You wilt lay on my shoulders, and I acknowledge that it is most useful to my soul; I do not desire my reward on earth, but according to Your will, I wish to have all my sorrow here and all my joy hereafter. Amen.