Septuagesima with Aquinas

"DOCTOR" THOMAS versus THE DISEASE OF SIN

St. Thomas Aquinas was born near Naples, Italy, in 1225. He was educated in the Dominican Order in Paris and Cologne, and devoted his life to the knowledge of God. He taught at the great medieval University of Paris and at Naples, was engaged in all the major theological controversies of his day, and wrote works on every part of philosophy and theology. He died in 1274, was canonized in 1323, and in 1567 was proclaimed a Doctor of the Universal Church.

In him is the consummate union of sanctity and intellect. His achievements in philosophy and theology were so profound and permanent that he has long been recognized as the patron of all Catholic education. The Church has conferred upon him the title of Angelic Doctor, not only because of his astounding purity, but because his wisdom surpasses, so to speak, that of mere men. St. Thomas was, in the words of his teacher St. Albert the Great, “the flower and glory of the world.”

“So heartily do we approve the great praises accorded this most divine of geniuses,” wrote Pope Pius XI in Studiorum Ducem, “that we think Thomas should be called not merely the Angelic Doctor but the Common or Universal Doctor of the Church, for the Church has made his doctrine her own.” No other mind in Christendom has been given such distinction.

We will follow St. Thomas throughout this Septuagesima and Lenten season, drawing upon his common sense wisdom from the many works he has left us, and trying to apply them to our spiritual life in order to help this Lenten season be as productive and fruitful as possible. The majority of the text will be that of St. Thomas, except for a some commentaries or explanations on how his teachings apply to our spiritual life today.

SAINT THOMAS, THE MAN

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church, patron of all universities and of students. His feast day is January 28th. He was born toward the end of the year 1226., in Roccasecca, Italy, near Aquino, in what was then the Kingdom of Sicily. Thomas had eight siblings, and was the youngest child. His mother, Theodora, was countess of Teano. Though Thomas's family members were descendants of Emperors Frederick I and Henry VI, they were considered to be of lower nobility.

The town of Rossecca, in Italy, with the castle overlooking the town from the hill above it.

The remains of the castle as seen today.

Before St. Thomas Aquinas was born, a holy hermit shared a prediction with his mother, foretelling that her son would enter the Order of Friars Preachers, become a great learner and achieve unequaled sanctity.

Thomas in Monte Cassino
Following the tradition of the period, at the age of five, St. Thomas Aquinas was sent by his father to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, which was only six miles to the south of Rossecca, to train among Benedictine monks. St. Thomas Aquinas is described as "a witty child" who "had received a good soul."

The Abbey of Monte Cassino.

St. Thomas Aquinas remained at the monastery until he was 13 years old. Thomas was diligent in his studies and devoted to prayer and would often ask “What is God?” Landulf Sennebald was his uncle and fifth Abbot of the monastery. He appreciated the intellectual and spiritual talents of Thomas and so wrote to his father telling him Thomas talents should not be wasted. It was decided to Thomas should be sent to the University of Naples..

Thomas in Naples
So, around 1239, after 8 years of education at Monte Cassino, St. Thomas Aquinas spent the next 5 years completing his primary education at another Benedictine monastery in Naples. During those years, he studied the classical Greek philosopher Aristotle's work, which would later become a major launching point for St. Thomas Aquinas's own theology and philosophy.

At the Benedictine house, which was closely affiliated with the University of Naples, Thomas also developed an interest in more contemporary monastic orders. He was particularly drawn to those that emphasized a life of spiritual service, in contrast with the purely contemplative lifestyle he had observed at the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

St. Thomas Aquinas began attending the University of Naples. Here he learned grammar, logic, rhetoric, music, geometry and astronomy by very able teachers. Thomas had a retentive memory and a sense of logic which which enabled him to explain each lesson more deeply and clearly than his professors. However, there was a laxity of morals at the university or a source of temptation for Thomas. He avoided women and absorbed himself in his studies and prayer in churches he visited.

We discern the influence of St. Dominic in the life of Thomas. At the age of nine while at Monte Cassino he witnessed the canonization Mass of St. Dominic on August 5, 1234. Dominic was known as the "Doctor of the Church and Preacher of Grace."

From Benedictines to Dominicans
While at Naples he met a holy Dominican who spoke to him about God with zeal. "In the Dominican church at Naples, Thomas was often seen absorbed in prayer, while spreading rays of light shone from his head. The friars were well aware of it, so that, after witnessing the marvel for the third time, Fr. John of St. Julien said to him: "Our Lord has given you to our Order".

When he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family.

In 1243, at the age of 17, he secretly joined the Dominican monks of Naples. receiving the habit in August of 1244.

Thomas' Family Kidnaps Him
When his parents heard of it a storm of indignation broke out. They were not against him becoming a religious but to join a Mendicant Order (Mendicant Orders would live in poverty and beg for a living) could not be accepted a son of a noble family.

His mother, Teodara, decided to travel to Naples to see her son and dissuade him from becoming a Dominican. When Thomas heard this he took the road to Rome and stayed at the Convent of Santa Clara, a Dominican former home. His mother pursued him to Rome but Thomas refused to see her. To get further way he decided to go to Paris.

So Teodora decided to capture him by using her other two sons, Landulf and Raynald, who commanded Emperor Frederick's forces in Tuscany. They came upon Thomas near the little town of Aquapendente while he was resting by a spring with two Friers. The brothers tried to tear off his habit but he resisted so they led him to Roccasecca. Since his family could not convince him to him to give up the Dominican way of life, they took him to the village of San Giovanni, two miles away, and there kept him prisoner in their Castle Tower for eighteen months.

The tower of the castle at San Giovanni, where St. Thomas was imprisoned by his family for over eighteen months.

18 Months of Imprisonment
During the time of his imprisonment, his family tried all kinds of ways to change his mind. His brothers tried to tempt him with a prostitute, but Thomas praying to God drove her out striking her with a firebrand. "Then falling into a slumber, ... he was visited by two angels, who seemed to gird him round the waist with a cord so tight that it awakened him, and made him to cry out. His guards ran in, but he kept his secret to himself It was only a little before his death that he disclosed this incident to Fr. Reynold, his confessor, adding that he had received this favor about thirty years before, from which time he had never been annoyed with temptations of the flesh." While in prison his sisters supplied him with the books of Aristotle's "Metaphysics", the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard and portion of Scripture. Thomas not only read them but memorized them.

Papal Intervention
The Dominicans complained to Pope Innocent IV and the Emperor Frederick about this unjust treatment of Thomas. Despite orders from them that he should be released, his brothers were not inclined to do so immediately. So the Dominicans plotted his escaped by having someone lower him down in a basket from a window into arms of some waiting Dominicans below.

Finally Pope Innocent IV was called upon to annul Thomas' profession. Thomas presented himself before the Pope who examined his intentions and decided that Thomas should be left alone to pursue his vocation.

Thomas in Cologne, Germany
The general of the Dominican Order, John of Wildeshausen, decided that Thomas should study under Albertus Magnus in Cologne, Germany. So John and Thomas set out out on foot from Rome in October 1245 carrying only satchel and a breviary. In the Middle Ages this journey of 1,500 miles was not an easy one especially for John who was on in years. Along the way they begged for food and lodging. At times they had to sleep on hay in a loft or stable. While walking they passed the time in conversation, silent meditation and recitation of the Breviary. They reached the ancient city of Cologne on the Rhine, in January 1246.

St. Albert the Great
Albertus Magnus also known as "Albert the Great", had studied at the university of Padua, Italy, from 1223-1228, rapidly gaining a reputation as "the Philosopher", which, in those days, meant a scientist, a naturalist and theologian. In 1240 he went to the University of Paris and obtained a Doctorate of Theology and was given the Chair of Theology.

St. Albert the Great, one of the chief teachers of St. Thomas Aquinas, was one of the most learned men of his day. His knowledge encompassed all the chief disciplines: theology, philosophy and the sciences.

St. Albert was a man of great learning, eloquence and sanctity, who attributed his knowledge to the Mother of God, Seat of Wisdom. During his lifetime he wrote 40 volumes on many subjects, his knowledge was encyclopedic. This is the friar who St. Thomas faced each day at the Dominican House of Studies in Cologne.

The Dumb Ox
Thomas was attentive but in his humility avoided disputation and display of knowledge, even though he was really a brilliant student. His silent ways and huge size, led up to the common verdict that Thomas was stupid, so a name was speedily found for him: it was "the dumb Sicilian ox". With them learning meant wrangling: with St. Thomas it was all thought. When asked later on in life why he had been silent so long at Cologne, he replied: "It was because I had not yet yet learned to speak before such a mind as Albert."

St. Thomas was called the "Dumb Ox" because of his overweight appearance and his silent demeanor. Being overweight was a medical condition and not the result of overeating!

Master Mind
One day a novice offered to help Thomas with the next day lesson which he accepted. When the novice got tangled up in a argument, Thomas easily clarified it by his explanation. A short time after Albert invited the scholars to explain an obscure passage in the "Book of Divine Names". The same brother who had tried to help Thomas asked him to write down his explanation. The paper was delivered into Albert's hands, who at once recognized the imprint of a master mind, so straightway he set him up at the lector's desk to defend certain knotty questions which were subjects of discussion at the time.

Thomas explained the matter with such surprising clearness and force that his auditory was amazed. Nor did he handle with less skill the intricate objections raised, as he cut his way through with keen distinctions. The objector then interrupted sharply: "You seem to forget that you are not a master, to decide, but a disciple to learn how to answer arguments raised." Then came the simple reply: "I don't see any other way of answering the difficulty."

St. Albert now interjected: "Very well then, continue according to your method, but remember that I have my objections to make."

World Renowned Dumb Ox!
Albert realizing the intellectual brilliance of Thomas declared, "You call him 'a dumb ox,' but I declare before you that he will yet bellow so loud in doctrine that his voice will bellow through the whole world."

Albert obtained a cell for Thomas next to his own, allowed him to make use of the results of Albert's own laborious researches, and made him the companion of his walks.

It was while he was at Cologne that he was ordained a priest in 1250 at the age twenty-four.

After four years he was sent to Paris. The saint was then a priest. At the age of thirty-one, in 1257, he received his doctorate.

At Paris he was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined. In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined to accept any ecclesiastical dignity.

St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings filled twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and with greatest fruit. Clement IV offered him the archbishopric of Naples, which he also refused.

He left the great monument of his learning, the “Summa Theologica”, unfinished, for on his way to the second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274.

St. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He was canonized in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V.

MEDITATIONS & READINGS FOR SEPTUAGESIMA
from St. Thomas Aquinas

SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE WORK OF THE VINEYARD"

"Going out about the third hour, be saw others standing in the market-place idle. And he said to them : 'Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just'" (Matthew 20:3).

In these words we may notice four things:

1. The goodness of the Lord, going out, that is, for his people's salvation. For that Christ should go out to lead men into the vineyard of justice was indeed an act of infinite goodness.

Our Lord is five times said to have gone out. He went out in the beginning of the world, as a sower, to sow his creatures, The sower went out to sow his seed. Then in his nativity to enlighten the world, "Until her just one come forth as brightness"(Isaias 62:1). In His Passion to save His own from the power of the devil and from all evil, "My just one is near at hand, my savior is gone forth" (Isaias 51:5). He goes out like the father of a family, caring for his children and his goods. "The kingdom of Heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard (Matthew 20:1)

Finally he goes out to judgment, to make most strict enquiry after the wicked, like some overseer, to beat down rebels, like some mighty fighter, and, like a judge, to punish as they merit, criminals and malefactors.

2. The foolishness of men. For nothing is more foolish than that in this present life, where men ought so to work that they may live eternally, men should live in idleness. He found them in the market-place idle. That market-place is this our present life. For it is in the market-place ("forum" in the Latin text) that men quarrel and buy and sell and so the market-place stands for our life of every day, full of affairs, of buying and selling and in which also the prospects of grace and heavenly glory are sold in exchange for good works.

These laborers were called idle because they had already let slip a part of their life. And not evil-doers alone are called idle, but also those who do not do good. And as the idle never attain their end, so will it be with these. The end of man is life eternal. He, therefore, who works in the proper way, will possess that life if he is not an idler.

It is great folly to live in idleness in this life; because from idleness, as from an evil teacher, we learn evil knowledge; because, through idleness, we come to lose the good that lasts for ever; because, through the short idleness of this life, we incur a labor that is eternal.

3. The necessity of working in the vineyard of the Lord. "Go you also into my vineyard."
The vineyard into which the men are sent to work is the life of goodness, in which there are as many trees as there are virtues. We are to work in this vineyard in five ways: (1) Planting in it good works and virtues; (2) rooting up and destroying the thorns, that is, our vices; (3) cutting down the superfluous branches, "Every branch in me, that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2); (4) keeping off the little foxes, that is, the devils ; and (5) guarding it from the thieves, that is, keeping ourselves indifferent to the praise and the blame of mankind.

4. The usefulness of labor. The wage of those who labor in the vineyard is a penny that outvalues thousands of silver crowns. And this is what we are told in Holy Scripture, "The peaceable had a vineyard, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver" (Canticles 8:11). The thousand crowns are the thousand joys of eternity, and these are signified by the penny.

(Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday.)

MONDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"ON DOING GOOD"

“In doing good let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing” (Galatians 11:9).

In these words St. Paul does three things:

1. He warns us that we must do good. For to do good is a duty seeing that all things, by their nature, teach us to do good. They so teach us because they are themselves good. “And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good” (Genesis 1:31). Sinners have ample cause to make them blush in the multitude of created things all of them good, while sinners themselves are evil.

Because all things, by their nature, do good. For every creature gives itself, and this is a sign of their own goodness and of the goodness of their Creator. Denis says: “God is goodness, something which must diffuse itself.” St. Augustine says,“It is a great sign of the divine goodness, that every creature is compelled to give itself.”

Because all things by their nature desire what is good and tend to the good. The good is, in fact, that for which everything longs.

2. St. Paul warns us, that in doing good we fail not. There are three things which most of all cause a man to persevere in doing good:

(i) Assiduous and wholehearted prayer for help from God lest we yield when we are tempted, “Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation” (Mathew. 26:41).

(ii) Unceasing fearfulness. As soon as a man feels confident he is safe, he begins to fail in doing good,“Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown” (Ecclesisticus 27:4). Fear of the Lord is the guardian of Life; without it speedily indeed and suddenly is the house thrown down, that is to say, a dwelling place that is of this world.

(iii) Avoidance of venial sins, for venial sins are the occasion of mortal sin and often undermine the achievement of good works. St. Augustine says, “Thou hast avoided dangers that are great, beware lest thou fall victim to the sand.”

3. St. Paul offers a reward that is fitting, is generous and is everlasting. “For in due time we shall reap not failing.”

Fitting: in due time, that is, at a fitting time, at the Day of Judgment when each shall receive what he has accomplished. So the farmer receives the fruit of his sowing, not immediately but in due time, “The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth ; patiently bearing till be receive the early and the latter rain” (James 5:7).

Generous: We shall reap; here it is the copiousness of the reward that is indicated. With the harvest and reaping we associate abundance, “He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (2 Corinthians 9:6). “Your reward is very great in Heaven” (Matthew 5:12).

Everlasting: We shall reap, not failing. We ought then to do good not for an hour merely, but always and continually. In doing good let us not fail, that is to say, let us not fail in working, for we shall not fail in reaping. “Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). And right it is not to fail in working, for the reward to which we are looking is everlasting and unfailing.

Whence St. Augustine says: “If man will set no limit to his labor, God will set no limit to the reward” (Commentary on Galatians 6:9).

TUESDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"GOOD WORKS"

"If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be manifest" (1 Corinthians 3:12.)

1. The works by which man becomes initiated into spiritual and Divine things are compared to gold, silver and precious stones which are solid, brilliant and precious; so that at least by gold is meant those things by which man tends toward His God through contemplation and love. "I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich" (Apocalypse 3:18), that is, wisdom with charity. By silver is meant the actions through which man clings to the spiritual things which he must believe, love, and contemplate. Hence, silver represents the love of our neighbor, but by precious stones are designated the works of the different virtues by which the human soul is adorned.

On the other hand, the human works by which man tends to procure temporal things are compared to "stubble" which is worthless, for stubble is light and easily burned. But there are certain grades of stubble and according as they are more substantial are the less easily burned. So men themselves, among carnal creatures are also more worthy and are preserved through succession and hence they are compared to "wood." But the flesh of man is more easily corrupted than stubble, by sickness and death, wherefore, it is compared to "hay". Moreover those things which pertain to the glory of earthly honors are compared to stubble, because they very easily pass away.

So therefore, to build upon this foundation of gold, silver, and stones is to build upon the foundation of faith; upon those things which pertain to the contemplation of Divine wisdom, the love of God and of our neighbor, the devotion of the saints and the cultivation of the virtues. On the other hand, to build upon "wood, hay or stubble" is to build upon those things which pertain to the plan and fancy of human affairs, care of the flesh and vain glory.

2. Moreover, it happens that man craves for temporal things in three ways.

Firstly, in so far as he fixes his heart on them and makes them his end, and because of this he sins mortally. In this way, man does not build, but with the foundation reversed, he places the wrong foundation. For the end is the foundation in things desired.

Secondly, anyone who strives to use temporal things for the glory of God does not build upon wood, hay, and stubble but upon gold, silver and precious stones.

Thirdly, anyone, even though he does not set his heart on temporal things nor wish because of them to act contrary to God but still loves temporal things more than he should, so that by them he is drawn away from the things of God, sins venially. This means building upon wood, hay and stubble because the works pertaining to the care of earthly things have little aids to venial sins, because of the more vehement love for temporal things—which affection according as it inheres more or less in us is compared to wood, hay and stubble. (Commentary on 1 Corinthians chapter 2)

WEDNESDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE REWARD"

"Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor" (1 Corinthians 3:8).

1. This reward is at once common to all men and particular to each.

(i) It is common to all because that which all shall see and all enjoy is the same, that is to say they shall see God. "Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty" (Job 22:26) "In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of His people" (Isaias 28:5). And therefore St. Matthew says (20:9) that to every laborer in the vineyard there is given one penny.

(ii)  The reward is yet special for each individual. One man shall see more clearly than another, and shall enjoy more fully, according to the measure allotted him. Hence the words in St. John (14:2), "In My Father's house there are many mansions,"  for which reason, too, it was said, "Everyone shall receive his own reward."

St. Paul shows how the extent of each one's reward will he measured when he says, according to his own labor. Not that by this is meant an equality as between the amount of labor and the amount of the reward, for as it is said in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." The equality promised is the equality of proportion, an equality such that, where there has been greater labor, there will be greater reward.

2.  The labor can be considered as greater in three ways:

(i)   According to the degree of love that inspires it. It is to this indeed that the essence of the reward—the vision and enjoyment of God—makes a return. St. John (4:21) says, "He that loveth me, shall be loved of My Father : and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him." Whence it follows that he who labors with greater love, even though the labor entailed is less, will receive more of the essential reward.

(ii)  According to the kind of work it is. As in human enterprises the greater rewards go to those whose labor is itself of a more noble character (for example, the architect, though he labors less with his body, receives more than the manual worker), so it is in spiritual matters. He who is engaged in a work itself more noble, even though it be that he has labored less with his body, will receive a greater reward—at any rate as far as some accidental privilege of glory. Thus there is a special splendor reserved for those who teach, for the virgins and for the martyrs.

(iii)  According to the amount of work done, and this can be understood in two ways. Sometimes it is the actual larger amount of work which merits the larger reward. This is especially true in what concerns remission of punishment ; the longer one fasts, for example, or the more distant the place of one's pilgrimage, the greater the remission merited. So too, there is a greater joy from the greater amount of work done.

Sometimes however, the labor is greater from lack of will to do the work, for the things we do willingly are less laborious in the doing. And in such cases the amount of the labor does not increase the reward. Rather does it reduce the reward. As Isaias says (40:31), "They shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint," and in the preceding verse warning us, "Youths shall faint, and labor, and young men shall fall by infirmity." (In 1 Corinthians, chapter 3)

THURSDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE NEED FOR CAUTION"

"Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).

1. The case of the Jews who, in punishment, were overthrown in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:5) is a warning for us. These words of the Scripture contain four things which should attract the wise man's attention, namely:

(i)   the multitude of those who fell, for it says "Wherefore"; then
(ii)  the uncertainty of those who still stand, for it adds "he that thinketh himself to stand";
(iii)  thirdly, the need for caution, for it adds "let him take heed"; and finally
(iv)  the ease with which disaster comes, for it says "lest he fall."

St. Paul says wherefore as if to say these men, for all that they have had the advantage of God's gifts, nevertheless, because of their sins, perished, "wherefore", bearing this in mind, "he that thinketh himself", by whatever kind of subtle reasoning, "to stand", that is, to be in a state of grace and charity, "let him take heed", diligently attending to it, "lest he fall", whether by sinning himself or by inducing others to sin. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!" says Isaias (14:12), and the Psalmist says, "A thousand shall fall at thy side" (Psalm 90:7), and St. Paul himself, in another place, says therefore, "See how you walk, circumspectly" (Ephesians 5:15).

2. We must note that the things which drive us to a fall are numerous.

(i)  Weakness, lack of strength; as children, the aged and the sick fall in the natural life. As Isaias says, "They shall fall through infirmity" (Isaias 40:30). This happens to us through lukewarmness in well doing and through too frequent changing.

(ii)  We fall under the weight of our sins, as asses fall under a load that is too heavy. "The workers of iniquity have fallen" (Psalm 35:13). And this happens through our neglect to repent.

(iii)  Through a multitude of things drawing us, as a tree or a house falls over on the crowd that tugs at it. We fall in this way by the onrush of enemies.

(iv)  The slipperiness of the road, and so we fall as travelers fall into the mud. "Take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue and fall" (Ecclesiasticus 28:30). We fall thus through carelessness in guarding our senses.

(v)  A variety of traps and we fall like the bird taken in the nets. "A just man shall fall seven times" (Proverbs 24:16). And this happens through the corruption of created things.

(vi)  Ignorance of what one ought to do, and we fall easily as do the blind. "If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit" (Matthew 15:14). This comes about through our not learning things necessary to us.

(vii) The example of others who fall, as the angels fell by the example of Lucifer. "A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled by the foot, a spring that has suffered defilement" (Proverbs 25:26). And this happens when we imitate the wicked.

(viii)  The heaviness of the flesh: for the body when corrupted weighs down the soul, as does a stone that hangs at the neck of a swimmer. "A mountain in falling cometh to naught" (Job 14:18).

And this is what comes of pampering the body. (Commentary on 1 Corinthians, chapter 10).

FRIDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"REFORMING OURSELVES"

"Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

1. What is forbidden is the forming of oneself after the pattern of the world. "Be not conformed to this world," that is, to the things which pass away with time. For this present world is a kind of measure of those things which pass away with time. A man forms himself after the pattern of things transitory when, willingly and lovingly, he gives himself to serve them. Those also form themselves after that pattern who imitate the lives of the worldly, "This then I say and testify in the Lord: That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind" (Ephesians 4:17).

2. We are bidden to undertake a reformation of the interior man when it is said, "But be reformed in the newness of your mind. By mind is here meant the reason, considered as the faculty by which man makes judgments about what he ought to do. In man, as God first created him, this faculty existed in all the completeness and vigor it could need. Holy Scripture tells us of our first parents that God "filled their hearts with wisdom, and showed them both good and evil" (Ecclesiasticus 17:6). But through sin this faculty declined in power and, as it were, grew old, losing its beauty and its brilliance.

The Apostle warns us to form ourselves again, that is, to recover that completeness and distinction of mind that once was ours. This can indeed be regained by the grace of the Holy Ghost, and we should therefore use every endeavor to share in that grace—those who lack that grace that they may obtain it, and those who already have gained it faithfully to progress and persevere. "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind," says St. Paul (Ephesians 4:23). Or again, in another sense, be renewed in your external actions, that is to say, in the newness of your mind, i.e., according to the new thing, grace, which you have internally received.

3. The reason for this warning is "that you may prove what is the will of God."
We know what befalls a man whose sense of taste suffers in an illness, how he ceases to have a true judgment of flavors and begins to loathe pleasantly-tasting things and to crave for what is loathsome.

So it is with the man whose inclinations are corrupted from his conforming himself to the things of this world. He has no longer a true judgment where what is good for him is concerned. It is only the man whose inclinations are healthy and well directed, whose mind is made new again by grace, who can truly judge what is good and what is not. Therefore on this account is it written, "Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind that you may prove," that is, that you may know by experience. As again it says in the psalm, "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet" (Psalm 33:9).

What is the will of God: that is, to say the will by which he wills us to be saved. "This is the will of God: your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

The will of God is good, because God wills that we should will to do what is good, and He leads us to this through His commandments. "I will show thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee" (Micheas 6:8).

The will of God is "agreeable" in as much as to him who is rightly ordered it is a pleasure to do what God wills us to do.

Nor is the will of God merely useful as a means to achieve our destiny, it is a link joining us with our destiny and in that respect it is perfect.

Such then is the will of God as those experience it who are not formed after the pattern of this world, but are formed over again in the newness of their minds. As to those who remain in the old staleness, fashioned after the world, they judge the will of God not to be a good but a burden and useless. (In Romans, chapter 12)

SATURDAY AFTER SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"LEARNING TO PRAY BETTER"

"And going a little further, He fell upon his face, praying, and saying: My Father" (Matthew 26:39).

1. Our Lord here recommends to us three conditions that we
must observe when we pray.

(i) Solitude: because going a little further he separated himself even from those whom he had chosen. "When thou shalt pray enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret" (Matthew 6:6). But notice He went not far away but a little, that He might show that He is not far from those who call upon Him, and also that they might see Him praying and learn to pray in like fashion.

(ii) Humility: He fell upon his face, giving thereby an example of humility. This because humility is necessary for prayer and because Peter had said: "Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee" (Matthew 26:33). Therefore did Our Lord fall, to show us we should not trust in our own strength.

(iii) Devotion, when He said "My Father". It is essential that when we pray we pray from devotion. He says, "My Father" because He is uniquely God's Son; we are God's children by adoption only (In Matthew 26).

2. "If it be possible let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39). Here we consider the tenor of prayer. Christ was praying according to the prompting of His sense nature, in so far, that is, as His prayer, as advocate for His senses, was expressing the inclinations of His senses, proposing to God, by prayer, what the desire of His senses suggested. And He did this that He might teach us three things:

(i) That He had taken a true human nature with all its natural inclinations.

(ii) That it is lawful for man to will, according to his natural inclination, a thing which God does not will.

(iii) That man ought to subject his own inclination to the divine will. Whence St. Augustine says: "Christ, living as a man, showed a certain private human willingness when He said, 'Let this chalice pass from Me!' This was human willingness, a man's own will and, so to say, his private desire. But Christ, since He wills to be a man of right heart, a man directed to God, adds, "Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt" (Summa Part 3; Q.12; art.11).

And in this He teaches by example how we should arrange our inclinations so that they do not come into conflict with the divine rule. Whence we learn that there is nothing wrong in our shrinking from what is naturally grievous, so long as we bring our emotion into line with the divine will.

Christ had two wills, one from His Father in so far as He was God and the other in so far as He was man. This human will He submitted in all things to His Father, giving us in this an example to do likewise, "I came down from Heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 6:38). (Commentary on the the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 26).

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE SOWER AND THE SEED"

"The Sower went out to sow his seed" (Luke 8:4).

1. The keenness of the sower.  It is Christ who goes forth, and in three ways. He goes from the bosom of the Father, and yet without a change of place; from Jews to the Gentiles; from the private depths of wisdom to the public life of teaching. It is Christ who sows. Now the seed is the source of fruit. Whence every good action is due to God. What is it that He sows? "His own seed", says the Gospel. That seed is the Word of God. And what does it produce? It produces others, like unto Him from whom itself proceeds, for it makes them sons of God.

2. The obstacle in the way of the seed.  The obstacle is threefold, because for the growth of the seed three conditions are necessary, namely it must be remembered, it must take root in love, it must have loving care. The growth is therefore hindered if in place of the first condition there is flightiness of mind, instead of the second there is hardness of heart, and if, in place of the loving care, there is a development of vices.

(i) "Some fell by the wayside."  As the way is free for all who care to walk, so does the heart lie open to every chance thought. So it is that when the word of God falls upon a heart that is careless and vain, it falls by the wayside and is doubly imperiled. St. Matthew speaks of one danger only, that "the birds of the air came and ate it up."  St. Luke speaks of two, for the seed is trampled into the ground as well as carried off by the birds. So when the careless receive the word of God it is crushed by their worthless thoughts or their evil company. Whence great joy for the devil if only he can steal away this seed and trample upon it.

(ii) Hardness of Heart.  This is contrary to charity, for it is in the nature of love to melt things. Hardness means"locked up in itself " or "narrowed within its own limits," and love, since it causes the lover to be moved to what he loves, is a thing that liberates, widens, pours itself out. St. Matthew says therefore, "some fell upon stony ground", and Ezechiel, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh" (Ezechiel 36:26). For there are some men whose hearts are so deprived of love of any kind that they are scarcely flesh and blood at all.

(iii) Superificial Hearts versus Deep Hearts.  There are others who have indeed a natural affection but it is slight and "has no deepness." To have deepness is to have a power of loving deeply. The man may be said to love deeply who loves all things and whatever he loves for the love of God, and who puts the love of God before all else. There is another type of man that does indeed delight in God, but delights more in things. Men of this sort do not pour themselves out, nor have they "much deepness of earth."

The Gospel continues, "And they spring up immediately", for they who think deeply, think long, but they whose thought is shallow plunge into action at once, and inevitably pass away quickly. So these men hear quickly, but take no root in what they hear, for they have no deepness of earth, that is in the earth of loving charity.

(iv) Destruction of the Fruit. The fruit is lost because, when "there ariseth tribulation", each man snatches for what he most loves, and the man who loves wealth, looks only to his riches. "And, when the sun was up, they were scorched," that is, because they lacked strength. And "because they had not root, "they withered away", for God was not their root. "Others fell among thorns", anxieties, quarrels and such like things. "And the thorns grew up and choked them."
(In Matthew, chapter 13)

MONDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE GOODNESS OF GOD"

"He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

1. Since the Apostle makes mention of many sons when he says (Romans 8:5), "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons," he now separates this Son from all these, by saying "His own Son", that is to say, not an adoptive son, but a son of His own nature, co-eternal with Him, that Son of Whom the Father says, in St. Matthew (3:17), "This is My beloved Son."

The words, "He spared not", mean only that God did not exempt Him from the penalty, for there was not in Him any fault to be matter for sparing. God the Father did not withhold from His Son an exemption from the penalty as a way of adding anything to Himself. God is perfect. But He so acted, subjecting His Son to the Passion, because this was useful for us.

This is why St. Paul adds, "but delivered him up for us all", meaning that God exposed Christ to the Passion for the expiation of all our sins. "He was delivered for our sins", says Isaias, "and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaias 53:5-6). God the Father delivered Him over to death, decreeing Him to take flesh and to suffer, inspiring His human will with a burning love, by which, eagerly, He would undergo His Passion. "He delivered Himself for us," St. Paul says of Our Lord (Ephesians 5:2). Judas, too, and the Jews delivered Him, but by an activity external to His.

There is something else to notice in the words, "He that spared not His own Son." It is as though it said : Not only has God given other saints over to suffering for the benefit of mankind, but even His own, proper Son.

2. God's own Son, then, being made over for us, all things have been given us, for St. Paul adds,"How hath He not also with Him", that is, in giving Him to us, "given us all things". In other words, all things thereby are turned to our profit. We are given the highest things of all, namely the Divine Persons, for our ultimate joy. We are given reasoning minds in order to live together with them now. We are given the lower things of creation for our use, not only the things which appeal to us, but the things which are hostile. "All things are yours," says St. Paul to us, "and you are Christ's and Christ is God's" (I Corinthians 3:22-23). Whence we may see how evidently true are the words of the Psalm (Psalm 33:10), "There is no want to them that fear Him." (Commentary on Romans chapter 8)

TUESDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"THE NEED TO BE WATCHFUL"

"Watch ye, therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come" (Matthew 24:42).

1.  Our Lord warns us to be watchful, placing before us our uncertainty as to when we shall die. He says to us, "The day is not certain. Of two that are working one shall be taken and the other left and no man can be certain which of the two shall be his lot. Therefore you should be careful and watchful. 'Watch ye therefore.'"

Then, too, as St. Jerome says, Our Lord left the moment of life's ending uncertain to help us ever to be watchful. For there are three ways in which man may sin; his senses are idle, or he ceases to move, or he sleeps.

(i)  Hence, "Watch ye," that your senses may be lifted up in contemplation. "I sleep," says Holy Scripture, "but my heart watcheth" (Canticles 5:2).

(ii)  Likewise, "Watch ye," lest you sleep in death. Whoever occupies himself with good works may be said to watch. "Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

(iii)  Again "watch", lest you carelessly fall asleep. "How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard" (Proverbs 6:9).

2. "Because you know not what hour your Lord will come."
St. Augustine says this is written for the Apostles, for those who lived before us, and for ourselves and it is necessary for all of us because Our Lord comes to all and comes in two ways.

(i)  He comes at the end of the world to all men generally,
(ii)  and he comes to each man at his own end, that is, at his death.

There is thus a double coming and in each case God has willed that its hour should be uncertain. Moreover these two comings answer each to the other, for the second will find us as we were found at the first. As St. Augustine says, "The World's last day finds unprepared all those whom their own last day found in like condition."

Our Lord's words, "Watch ye therefore" and the rest may also be understood with reference to the unseen coming of the Lord into our souls. "If he come to me," it is written in Sacred Scripture, "I shall not see him" (Job 9:11). And so it is that He comes to many and they do not see Him.

Therefore should we watch with much carefulness, so that when He knocks we may open to Him. "Behold I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me" (Apocalypse 3:20). (In Matthew, chapter 24).

WEDNESDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"WE MUST CEASELESSLY BE ON THE ALERT"

"But this know ye, that if the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and not suffer his house to be broken open" (Matthew 24:43.

1. Since we are uncertain which hour it will be, we must watch the whole night long. The house is the soul. Therein man should be at rest. "When I go into my house, that is, into my conscience, I shall repose myself with her" (Wisdom 8:16). The "good man" of the house is as that "king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, who scattereth away all evil with his look" (Proverbs 20:8).

2. Sometimes a thief breaks into the house. The thief is any plausible false theory, or indeed any temptation. It is said to be a thief in the sense of the Gospel, "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1). The door is an excellent name for natural knowledge or natural rights. Whoever enters through his reason, enters through the door. But whoever comes in through desires, or through wrath or the like, is a thief.

3. Thieves work by night. We have no fear of what comes to us in the day. So it is that temptations never come to the man whose mind is given to contemplation of divine things. Let him however slacken in that service and presently comes temptation. Hence the timely prayer of Holy Scripture, "When my strength shall fail, do not Thou forsake me" (Psalm 70:9).

4. We must then watch, since we know not when the Lord shall come, shall come that is, to judgment. Or perhaps we may refer it to the day we shall die. "For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night, for when they shall say peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them" (1 Thessalonians 5:23)."Wherefore," says Our Lord, "be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of Man shall come" (Matthew 24:44).

St. John Chrysostom notes that men attached to their property will sit up all the night to watch over it. If they can be so watchful for the things that pass away, how much more should they not be watchful over spiritual treasures.

We may notice also a parable of St. Augustine's. There are three servants and they look forward affectionately to the return of their master.
The first says, "My lord will come quickly, therefore I shall watch for him."
The second says, "My lord will be late, but I will watch none the less."
The third says, "At what hour my lord will come I know not, and for this reason I will take care to watch."

Which servant spoke best? St. Augustine says the third. The first risks a sad deception, for if he thinks the lord will soon arrive, and in fact the lord is delayed, the servant runs the danger of sleeping through weariness. The second, too, may find he has made a mistake, but he runs no danger. But it is the third who does well, for being uncertain he is continually on the alert. It is therefore a misfortune to fix in our minds any special time. (In Matthew, chapter 24).

THURSDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"DO YOU REALLY WORSHIP GOD?"

"Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3).

We are forbidden to worship any but the one God, and there are five things which show the prohibition to be reasonable.

1.  God's dignity. If this is disregarded we insult God. To all dignity is due proper reverence. And we call a man a traitor who refuses to do the King due reverence. This is what some men do with respect to God. "They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things," says St. Paul (Romans 1:23). And this is the most serious of all offences against God.

2. God's bountifulness. Every good thing we possess comes from God. It is in fact part of God's dignity that He is the maker and giver of all good things. "When Thou openest thy hand, all things shall be filled with good" (Psalm 103:28). You are therefore ungrateful beyond measure if you do not recognize that the good you have is his gift. Nay, you make to yourself another god as truly as the children of Israel, delivered from Egypt, made themselves an idol. This is to be like the harlot of whom the prophet writes, "I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink" (Osee 2:5).

This sin is also committed by those who place their hope in another than God, that is, when they seek help from another in preference to asking it from God. "Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 39:5), and St. Paul marvels at the Galatians, "But now, after that you have known God, or are rather known by God, how turn you again to the weak and needy elements, which you desire to serve again?" (Galatians 4:9).

3.  Our promises. We have renounced the devil and pledged our fidelity to God alone. This pledge we must keep unbroken. "A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy, under two or three witnesses. How much more do you think be deserveth worse punishment, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of Grace?" (Hebrews 10:28-29).

"The woman that hath a husband, whilst her husband liveth, she shall be called an adulteress if she be with another man"(Romans 7:3), and such deserves to be burned. Woe to the sinner, to whoever enters the land by a double way, to those who limp one foot on each side of the division.

4.  The weight of the devil's yoke. "You shall serve strange gods day and night,” says the Prophet, “which shall not give you any rest" (Jeremias 16:23). For the devil does not rest content with one sin, but, the first sin committed, strives all the more to induce us to another. Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Hence it is not an easy thing to find one's way out from sin. St. Gregory says, "The sin which is not lightened by penance, soon, by its very weight, drags us to further sin."

It is the very contrary that is characteristic of God's dominion over us. For God's commands are not burdensome. "My yoke is sweet and my burden is light" (Matthew 10:30). A man is accounted as doing enough if he does for God as much as he has done for sin. St. Paul, for example, says, "As you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification" (Romans 6:9). But of the slaves of the devil the Scripture says, "We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways" (Wisdom5:7), and also, "They have labored to commit iniquity" (Jeremias 9:5).

5.  The immensity of our reward. No law promises so great a recompense as that which we are promised in the law of Christ. To the Saracens are offered rivers of milk and honey, to the Jews the Promised Land. But to Christians angelic glory. "They shall be as the angels of God in Heaven" (Matthew 22:30). Thinking on this St. Peter says, in the Gospel, "Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life!" (John 6:69). (In Decalog. xii).

FRIDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"SERVING GOD CORRECTLY"

1. We must serve God both by external acts and by internal acts.
We are possessed of a double nature, we are intellectual beings and sentient beings also. We should therefore offer to God a double adoration—a spiritual adoration, consisting in the interior devotion of the mind, and a bodily adoration made up of the external humiliation of the body. And since in all acts done in acknowledgment that God is God the external act depends on the internal— for the internal act is the more important—so the external acts of adoration are done for the sake of the internal adoration. That is to say, that it is by our gestures of humility that we are moved to subject ourselves to God in our inclinations and our will. This is due to our nature being what it is, for it is natural to man to proceed to things that can only be known through the intelligence from the starting point of things seen, felt, heard and known by the senses.

So, just as prayer has its origin as something in the mind, and is only in the second place expressed in words, adoration also consists, primarily and in its origin, in an internal reverence of God and only secondarily in certain bodily signs that we are humbling ourselves : such bodily signs, for example, as genuflections to show our weakness by comparison with God, or prostration to show that we are nothing of ourselves. (Summa Theologica 2-2, q. 84 art. 11)

2. In doing external acts we must use a certain measure of discretion.
The attitude of a religious man towards the acts by which he acknowledges God to be God, is quite different according as those acts are internal or external. It is principally in the internal acts, the acts by which he believes, hopes and loves, that man's good consists and what makes man good in God's sight. Whence it is written, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Man's good and what makes man good in God's sight does not, principally, consist in external acts. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink," says St. Paul (Romans 15:17).

Whence the internal acts are as the end, the thing that is to say, which is sought for its own sake: the external acts, through which the body is shown as God's creature, are but as means, i.e., things directed to and existing for the sake of the end.Now when it is a question of seeking the end we do not measure our energy or resource, but the greater the end the better our endeavor.

When, on the other hand, it is a question of things we only seek because of the end, we measure our energy according to the relation of the things to the end. Thus a physician restores health as much as he possibly can. He does not give as much medicine as he possibly can, but only just so much as he sees to be necessary for the attainment of health.

In a similar way man puts no measure to his faith, his hope, and his charity, but the more he believes, hopes and loves, so much the better man he is. That is why it is said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5). But in the external actions we must use discretion and make charity the measure of our use of them. (Commentary on Romans, chapter 12)

SATURDAY AFTER SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY

"LOOKING AHEAD TO OUR LORD'S PASSION"

“Think diligently upon Him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3).

1. We are advised to “think diligently”, that is, to think upon Him over and over again. “In all thy ways, says Holy Scripture, think upon Him” (Proverbs 3:6). The reason for which is that no matter what anxiety may befall us, we have a remedy in the cross.

(i) For there we find obedience to God.
“He humbled Himself, becoming obedient,” says St. Paul (Philippians 2:8). Likewise, we find a loving forethought for those akin to Him, shown in the care He had, when upon the very cross, for His mother.

(ii) We find fraternal charity.
We find, too, charity for His fellows, for on the cross He prayed for sinners: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He showed, also, patience in suffering: “I was dumb and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed” (Psalm 38:3).

(iii) We find perseverance.
Finally he showed, in all things, a perseverance to the end, for he persevered until death itself. “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

So on the cross we find an example of all the virtues. As St. Augustine says, the cross was not only the gallows where Our Lord suffered in patience, it was a pulpit from which he taught mankind.

2. But what is it that we are “to think”, over and over again? Three things:

(i) The kind of Passion it was.
He endured opposition (The word in the Latin text which St. Thomas has before him is “contradictio”), that is, suffering from spoken words. For instance they said: “Vah, Thou that destroyest the temple of God” (Matthew 27:40). It is said in the Psalms (Psalm 17:44): “Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people,” and it was foretold that Our Lord should be: “A sign which shall be contradicted” (Luke 2:34). St. Paul, in the text, says such opposition, meaning so grievous and so humiliating an opposition. “O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow” (Lamentations 1:12).

(ii) From whom He suffered the Passion.
It was “from sinners”, from those for whom He was suffering. “Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust” (1 Peter 3:18)

(iii) Who it was that suffered.
Before the Passion, from the beginning of the world, He had suffered in His members, but in the Passion He suffered in His own person. Whence the words against himself. “Who His own self,” says St. Peter (1 Peter 2:24): “bore our sins in His body upon the tree.”

3. To “think” diligently upon Our Lord’s Passion is a very profitable employment, which is why St. Paul adds: “that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds.” The Passion of Christ keeps us from fainting. St. Gregory says: “If we recall the Passion of Christ, nothing seems so hard that it cannot be borne with equanimity.” You will not then fail, worn out in spirit, in loyalty to the true faith, nor in the pursuit of good works.

St. Paul again gives a reason for our courageous perseverance when he says, in the following verse: “You have not yet resisted unto blood” (Hebrews 12:4). As though he said: “You must not faint at these anxieties your own troubles cause you. You have not yet borne as much as Christ. For He indeed shed His blood for us.” (In Hebrews, chapter 12).

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"HOW SHOULD WE KEEP THE DAY OF THE LORD"

“Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day” (Exodus 20:8).

Man is bound to keep feast days holy. Now a thing is said to be holy in one of two ways, either because the thing is itself unspotted or because it is consecrated to God. We must say something then of the kind of works from which we should abstain on such days and also of the kind with which we should occupy ourselves.

1. Sacrifices. In Sacred Scripture (Numbers 28:3) it is related how God commanded that every day, in the morning and again in the evening, a lamb should be offered up, but that on the Sabbath this offering should be doubled. This teaches us that we too ought on the sabbath to offer a sacrifice, a sacrifice taken from all that we possess.

(i) We ought to make an offering of our soul, lamenting our sins and giving thanks for the benefits we have received. “Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight” (Psalm 140:2). Feast days are instituted to give us spiritual joy, and the means to this is prayer. Whence on such days we should multiply our prayers.

(ii) We should offer our body. “I beseech you therefore brethren”, says St. Paul: “by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God” (Romans 12:1). And we should give praise to God. The psalm says: “The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me” (Psalm 49:23). Wherefore on feast days hymns should be numerous.

(iii) We should offer our goods, and this by giving alms—by giving on feast days a double amount, for these are times of universal rejoicing.

2. Study of the word of God. This indeed was the practice of the Jews, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (13:27). “The voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath.” Christians therefore, whose spiritual state should be more perfect than that of the Jews, ought on such days to meet together for sermons and for the Church’s office. And likewise for profitable conversation. Here are two things truly profitable for the soul of the sinner, sure means to his amendment. For the word of God instructs the ignorant and stirs up those that are lukewarm.

3. Direct occupation with the things of God. This do those who are perfect. In the psalms (33:9) we read: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet,” and this because He gives rest to the soul. For just as the body worn out with toil craves for rest, so too does the soul. Now the soul’s place is God. “Be Thou unto me a God, a protector and a place of refuge,” is written in the Psalms (30:3). And St. Paul, too, says: “There remaineth therefore a day of rest for the people of God; for he that is entered into his rest, the same also hath rested from his works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10). Again in the book of Wisdom (8:16): “When I go into my house, that is, my conscience, I shall repose with her,” that is, with Wisdom.

But before the soul can attain to this peace, it must already have found peace in three other ways.
(i) It must have peace from the uneasiness of sin. “The heart of the wicked man is like a raging sea, which cannot rest” (lsaias 57:20).

(ii) It must have peace from the attractions of bodily desires. “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:7).

(iii) It must have peace from the cares of everyday life. “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and art troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41).

But after these are attained the soul shall truly rest in God. “If thou call the sabbath delightful ... then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord” (Isaias 58:14). It is for this that the saints have left all things, for this is that treasure “which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth” (Matthew 13:44). For this is the peace of eternal life and of the joy that shall last for ever: “This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it” (Psalm 131:4).
(In Decalog. 17.)

MONDAY AFTER QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"HOLINESS"

The Gospel says (Luke 1:75) “That we may serve him in holiness and justice.” But to serve God is an act of religion. Therefore religion is the same thing as holiness.

The word “holiness” seems to imply two things.

(i) Cleanness, and in this it accords with the Greek word “agios” which means “free of earth.”

(ii) Firmness, whence, of old, those things were called holy which were protected by the law and thereby rendered inviolable. Whence also things are said to be sanctioned, because they are defended by law. Things which belong to the worship of God may be said to be holy in both of the senses just described. Not only men, therefore, but the temple and the vessels and so forth are said to be made holy from the fact that they are used in the service of God.

Cleanness is essential if the human mind is to be applied to God, because what stains the human mind is its being joined to lower things: as all kinds of things are cheapened by mixture with things less valuable, for example, silver when it is mixed with lead. Now if the mind is to be united to the highest thing of all, i.e., to God, it must be altogether taken away from the things that are lower. And that is why a mind that is lacking in purity cannot be applied to God. “Follow peace with all men and holiness” (Sanctimoniam in the Latin text which St. Thomas is using): without which no man shall see God (Hebrews 12:14).

Firmness, too, is required in whoever would set his mind to God. The mind must be set to God as to one’s last end and first beginning. But ends and beginnings are the kinds of things which above all others need to be immovable. Whence St. Paul says: “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creatures, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, Our Lord” (Romans 13:38-39).

Holiness is then the quality whereby men apply themselves and their actions to God. Hence it does not differ from religion as though it had a different essence, but only according to the way these two things exist. For religion gives God the service due to him in what particularly concerns divine worship—in sacrifices, for example, in offerings and in other things of that kind. Holiness, however, gives to God not only these things but the acts of the other virtues too, or again, it ensures that by good works a man makes himself fit for the service of God in worship.
(Summa Theologica, 2a-2ae, q. 81, art. 8).

TUESDAY AFTER QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

"OUR LORD IS SCOURGED"

“Having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to them to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26).

Why did he scourge Him before he delivered Him to them? St. Jerome says because it was a Roman custom that prisoners condemned to death should be scourged before execution. So it was that the prophecy was fulfilled: “I was made ready by a scourging” (Psalm 37:18).

Some writers think that Pilate had Our Lord scourged that the Jews might be moved to pity and so, once He was scourged, they would let Him go.

“Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him” (John 19:1). He did not, that is, scourge Him with his own hands, but handed Him over to the soldiers. And this that the Jews—sated with His sufferings—might be softened somewhat, and cease to rage for His death. For it is the natural thing that a man’s anger dies down when he sees the cause of his anger humiliated and punished. This is true of anger, for anger seeks to inflict harm only to a certain degree. But it is not true of hatred, for hatred seeks utterly to destroy the thing hated. Hence the words of Sacred Scripture: “If an enemy findeth an opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood” (Ecclesiasticus12:16).

Now it was hatred that moved the Jews against Christ, and therefore it did not satisfy them to see Him scourged. I have been scourged all the day, says the Psalm (72:14), and in Isaias (50:6) we read: “I have given My body to the strikers.”

Did Pilate’s intention excuse him from the guilt of scourging Our Lord? By no means, for no action which is bad in itself can be made wholly good by the good intention with which it is done. But to inflict injury on one who is innocent, and especially on the Son of God, is of all things the one most evil in itself. No intention therefore could possibly excuse it.
(In John, chapter 19)