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diff --git a/30579.txt b/30579.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b31d70f --- /dev/null +++ b/30579.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3696 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Shepherd Of My Soul by Rev. Charles J. +Callan + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Shepherd Of My Soul + +Author: Rev. Charles J. Callan + +Release Date: December 2, 2009 [Ebook #30579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHEPHERD OF MY SOUL*** + + + + + + The Shepherd Of My Soul + + By Rev. Charles J. Callan + + Of the Order of Preachers + + John Murphy Company, Publishers + + 100 W. Lombard St. + + Baltimore, MD. + + Printers to the Holy See + + 1915 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Psalm of the Good Shepherd +Introduction. +I. Christ the Good Shepherd. +II. Shepherd Life in the Orient. +III. The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want. +IV. He Maketh Me to Lie Down in Pastures of Tender Grass; He Leadeth Me +Beside the Waters of Quietness. +V. He Restoreth My Soul. +VI. He Leadeth Me in the Paths of Justice for His Name's Sake. +VII. Yea, Though I Walk in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Will Fear +no Evil, for Thou Art With Me. +VIII. Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me. +IX. Thou Spreadest Before Me a Table in the Presence of Mine Enemies. +X. Thou Anointest My Head With Oil; My Cup Runneth Over. +XI. Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me All the Days of My Life; and +I Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord Unto Length of Days. +Footnotes + + + + + + +Nihil Obstat: + +M. A. WALDRON, O. P. S. T. M. + +J. A. McHUGH, O. P. S. T. Lr. + +Imprimi Potest: + +J. R. MEAGHER, O. P. S. T. Lr. + +Imprimatur: + +++ J. CARD. GIBBONS. + + + + + +PSALM OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD + + +The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. + +He maketh me to lie down in pastures of tender grass. + +He restoreth my soul. + +He leadeth me in the paths of justice for his name's sake. + +Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no +evil, for thou art with me. + +Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. + +Thou spreadest before me a table in the presence of mine enemies. + +Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. + +Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I +shall dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days. + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +No types more beautiful could have been chosen under which to picture the +character of our Lord and the souls He came to redeem than those of a +shepherd and his flock. As nothing on earth could more fitly illustrate +the infinite love and sacrifice of the Saviour than the enduring labors +and tenderness of a shepherd, so nothing here below could better portray +the multiple wants of our spirits than the needful dependent nature of +sheep. After the knowledge we possess of our Redeemer, only a slight +acquaintance with the characteristics of pastoral life, as it exists in +oriental countries, is needed to discern the charming fitness of these +comparisons. The similarity is at once striking and most easily +understood. Hence it is that our Lord, as well as those who described Him +before He came, so often appealed to shepherd life when speaking of the +Messiah's mission; hence, also, it is that He was so fond of calling +Himself the Good Shepherd, and of alluding to the souls He loved as His +sheep. + +It is the purpose of the pages that follow to trace some of these +beautiful and touching resemblances of the shepherd and his flock, on the +one side, roaming over the hills and plains of Palestine, and the Saviour +of the World with the souls of men, on the other, pursuing together the +journey of life. We have taken as our guide, in noting these charming +likenesses, the Twenty-second Psalm, or the Psalm of the Good Shepherd, +every verse of which recalls some feature or features of pastoral life, +and sings of the offices, tender and varied, which the shepherd discharges +towards his flock. + +As this shepherd song was composed and written in the Hebrew tongue, the +language of ancient Palestine, we have employed here a literal translation +from the original language, simply because it expresses much more +beautifully and more exactly than does any rendering from the Latin or +Greek the various marks and characteristics of the shepherd's life and +duties. The oriental languages, like the people who speak them, are +exceedingly figurative and poetic in their modes of expression; and hence, +for our present purpose, it is only by getting back as closely as we can +to the original that we are able adequately to appreciate the beauty and +poetry of that simple but charming life about which the Psalmist is +singing. + +Although the Shepherd Psalm refers, in its literal sense, to the human +shepherd attending and providing for his sheep, it has also another higher +meaning, which its author gave it, and this has reference to Christ in His +relations with the souls He has made and redeemed. It is by reflecting on +this sense of the psalm, and on all His gracious dealings with us, that we +are enabled to realize how rightly and justly our Saviour is called the +Shepherd of Our Souls, and how beautifully the Psalmist, in the shepherd +song, has depicted His relations with us. And how important this is! how +much it means for our spiritual welfare and spiritual advancement to +reflect on the many mercies of Christ and on the love He bears each one of +us! If the considerations that follow assist their readers to appreciate +more fully and love more ardently the Divine Shepherd of Souls, who daily +and constantly throughout our lives is ministering to our spiritual needs +and trying to further our eternal interests, the desire and aim which +prompted their writing will be fully and perfectly realized. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + +I. CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD. + + +It was announced by the prophets of old that the Messiah, who was to come, +should bear the character of a good shepherd. He was to be a shepherd, and +His followers, the faithful souls that should believe in Him and accept +His teaching, were to be His sheep. It was foretold that He would select +and purchase His flock; that He would choose them from out the vast +multitudes of their kind and gather them into His fold, that He would +provide for them and guard them against every evil; that He would lead +them out to green pastures and refresh them with the waters of rest. "He +shall feed his flock like a shepherd," sang the Prophet Isaias; "he shall +gather together the lambs with his arms, and shall take them up in his +bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young."(1) In like +manner did Jeremias, referring to the comforting advent of Christ, liken +the offices which the Saviour would perform towards His people to those of +shepherds towards their flocks. "I will set up pastors over them," said +the Prophet, speaking in the name of Jehovah, "and they shall feed them; +they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed; and none shall be +wanting of their number.... Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I +will raise up to David a just branch; and a king shall reign, and shall be +wise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth."(2) The Prophet +Ezechiel also prophetically portrayed the Saviour's character when he +pictured Him in the capacity of a shepherd visiting and feeding his sheep: +"For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and I +will visit them. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he +shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my +sheep, and I will deliver them out of all the places where they have been +scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will set up one shepherd over +them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, +and he shall be their shepherd."(3) + +And when at length the Saviour did appear in the world, He declared, not +only by His life and example, but in explicit terms, that He was the +fulfilment of these prophecies--that He was, in truth, the Good Shepherd, +and that His followers were the sheep of His fold. In the tenth chapter of +the Gospel according to Saint John we have His own words to this effect. +There He tells us plainly that He has not come as a thief and a robber, to +steal, to kill, and to destroy; that He is not a stranger, at the sound of +whose voice the sheep are terrified and flee away; that He is not a +hireling, who cares not for the sheep, and who, beholding the approach of +the wolf and the enemy, fleeth and leaveth the sheep to be snatched and +scattered and torn. The Saviour is not any of these, nor like unto them. +He is the Good Shepherd who enters the sheepfold by the door, and not as +the thief and robber who climb up some other way. To Him the porter +openeth, and He calleth His sheep, and they know His voice and follow Him, +and He leadeth them out to pasture, to rest, and to abundant life. Nor is +this all, for He protects and guards His sheep. By day and by night He is +ever near them: when circling the green plains, or beside the still +waters, or when asleep beneath the silent stars, the sheep are protected +by their Shepherd. Faithfully He watches His dependent flock; and at the +end, as a proof of His love and fidelity, He generously lays down His life +for His sheep. + + + + + +II. SHEPHERD LIFE IN THE ORIENT. + + +We cannot appreciate the beauty of this picture of our Saviour under the +symbol of a shepherd, nor can we later understand the detailed description +which is given of Him through the spiritual meaning of the Good Shepherd +Psalm without first taking into account some of the features of pastoral +life as it prevails in eastern countries. For us of the western world it +is difficult, and at times next to impossible, to represent to ourselves +the life and customs of the Orient; and in particular do we find it hard +to picture to our minds and to understand the simple poetry of that +shepherd life for which Palestine has always been known. Time has little +changed the scene of the Saviour's earthly labors. The people, their +manners and customs, their life and occupations, remain much the same now +as when the land was graced by His sacred presence. Thus today, as in +those olden times, all the level country east of the river Jordan, as well +as the mountains of Palestine and Syria, serves as vast pasture lands for +innumerable flocks and herds. The country throughout is essentially +pastoral in its character, and the care and raising of sheep constitute +the chief industry of the people. From sheep the people are furnished with +nearly all the necessaries of life--with meat, clothing, milk, butter, and +cheese. + +The care of sheep is a delicate and, in many ways, a difficult task. Not +that they are froward or hard to manage, for of all animals they are the +most tender and gentle; nor again, that they need abundant nourishment in +the way of food and drink, since they require water but once a day, and +can maintain life and strength on a plain which, to the naked eye, seems +little more than a barren waste of sand. But because, in other respects, +they are exceedingly timid and helpless creatures, especially in times and +places of danger, the burdens which their welfare and safety impose upon +the shepherd, while paternal and winning, are, nevertheless, arduous and +manifold. There are the changes and hardships of the climate--the cold and +frost in winter, and the heat and drought of summer; there are the long +rough walks, the steep and dangerous passes which they must climb and +descend; there are perils from robbers, from wolves and wild beasts, which +not infrequently demand the shepherd's utmost watchfulness and care. The +oriental climate is such that they can graze nearly the whole year +through; and whether they be grazing on the wide open plains, or huddled +snugly within the sheepfold, it pertains to the shepherd to provide for +their varied needs. His vigilance can never cease. He must lead them out +to pasture and to water, he must guide and protect them, he must gather +them into the fold at night or into caves and enclosures, at times, during +the day, to shield them from great danger, whether from enemies or violent +weather; and upon all occasions he must be prepared to defend them, even +at the risk of his own life. + +The folds or sheep pens, it must be observed, into which the sheep are +gathered for rest or protection are not roofed over or walled in like a +house. They are enclosures left open to the sky, and consisting simply of +a high wall of rough stone, to protect the sheep from the attacks of wild +beasts, and from prowling marauders who threaten their safety by night. It +often happens that several flocks, belonging to different shepherds, will +graze on the same pastures during the day, and will be penned in the same +sheepfold at night. While the sheep are sleeping, and the shepherds near +by are taking their needed rest, the door of the fold is carefully locked, +and another shepherd or porter is left on guard, lest perchance a hungry +bear or wolf might scale the wall and destroy some member or members of +the sleeping herds. Early in the morning the shepherds come in turn and +rap at the door, and to each the porter opens. Then each shepherd calls +his flock by name; and they, knowing his voice, follow him, and he leads +them out to their pastures. There is never any confusion, for each flock +knows its own shepherd and obeys him alone. Other shepherds they will not +heed; and from the voice of strangers they flee. + +It is a beautiful scene to see a shepherd with his flock. First, we must +remember that he never drives them, but leads them; and they follow him +with instinctive love and trust whithersoever he goes. He usually carries +a rod and a staff: the latter he uses, when need be, to assist the sheep +along dangerous paths and narrow passages; the former, to protect and +defend them, if assailed by enemies or beasts of prey. Another evidence of +their implicit love of their shepherd and trust in his goodness, as also +of their obedience to his voice and commands, is beautifully manifest when +several flocks are led to drink at the same stream or well. Although the +sheep need to drink but once a day, the shepherds never forget, throughout +the day's roaming, that they must lead their flock to water. And as the +drinking places in Palestine are comparatively few, it often happens that +several herds, whether from the same or neighboring pastures, will arrive +simultaneously at the same spring. But here again, there is neither +trouble nor confusion. When they have drawn near to the place of water +each shepherd gives a sign to his flock, and obedient to his voice, the +respective flocks lie down and patiently wait their turn to drink. The +troughs are then filled with the refreshing water, and when all is ready a +shepherd calls and his flock at once rises and comes forward to drink. The +sheep being satisfied, the shepherd gives another sign, and they promptly +return to their previous place of rest, or move quietly away to their +pasture, as the shepherd may direct. Another flock is then called up, +watered and led away, and so on, in like manner, till all have been duly +satisfied. + +With this passing glance at shepherd life, we can better understand and +better appreciate the likeness between the character of the Saviour and +that of the good shepherd. We can see how apt it was that our Redeemer +should choose a shepherd, with his multiple and tender cares and duties, +to illustrate His own watchfulness and loving kindness towards the many +wants and needs of our souls. For we are, indeed, His sheep. He has called +us, we have heard and understood His voice, and He has gathered us into +His flock and fold. He has literally vindicated for Himself in our regard +all the attributes and qualities of the good shepherd, so far as +described, and as still further depicted in every verse of the +Twenty-second Psalm. This is called the Psalm of the Good Shepherd, +because in it the Psalmist, under the symbol of a shepherd, prophetically +foretold the character of the Messiah, our Saviour. The psalm has, +therefore, a twofold meaning: in its literal sense it deals with the +faithful shepherd, ranging with his flock over mountains and plains, and +providing for their every want; and in its spiritual and prophetic meaning +it relates to our Creator and Saviour, caring for our spiritual +necessities. Let us see how this is; and that we may better perceive the +application in detail, let us take this shepherd song, part by part, and +see how beautifully it describes the whole person of Christ as God, and in +His capacity as Redeemer--in all His tender relations with us, and towards +the various needs of our souls. + + + + + +III. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT. + + +How full of meaning and how comprehensive are these simple yet beautiful +words which introduce the Good Shepherd Psalm! They at once sum up the +whole round of the shepherd's life--his duties, his solicitude, his +ceaseless care of his sheep. But here, be it noted, in this opening verse, +the reference, so direct and unmistakable, is not to an earthly shepherd; +it is to the benign and constant Providence of Jehovah towards His +children, to the untiring love of God, our Father and Saviour, for the +souls He has created and redeemed. The Psalmist is looking back, in +grateful remembrance, upon the history of his race, and upon his own life +in particular, and he traces there at every step the goodness and +watchfulness of his Creator. He sees there has never been any want. Dark +days at times have come upon his nation, sufferings and trials there have +been; and in these, as in other respects, his own individual experience +has mirrored the history of his people; but throughout it all there has +never been any lasting want. As the shepherd is ever near his sheep, +whether at peace or in trouble, to provide for their needs, so, sings the +Psalmist in gratitude, has God been near him and his people. And his +confidence is unshaken; that which has been in the past will be in the +future; as sheep put their trust in their shepherd, so will he put his +trust in his Lord and God. Nor is this gratitude for past favors and this +unshaken trust for the future to be restricted to the Psalmist alone; his +words had meaning not only for himself; he knows the same Providence +provides for us all, and therefore he would have his words find an echo in +the hearts and sentiments of all. + +The Lord is my shepherd; He ruleth me with the rod of gentleness. I am His +creation, He has bought me with a great price, He has set me a divine +example and taught me the way to life. There may be times of distress for +me, brief periods of temporal need; but surely, since I am the possession +of my God, and He is providing for me, nothing can long be wanting to +me--permanent want there can never be. + +The Lord ruleth me, and all my kind, as a shepherd ruleth his flock. What +a consoling thought to each one of us, if only we be faithful souls! How +unspeakable the thought, how surpassing the privilege to know and to be +assured that we belong to God! that out of countless millions of +creatures, far nobler than we, to whom He might have given the joy of +life, He has chosen to select us; to think that He has allotted to us a +short period of existence here below, during which it is our privilege to +be able to merit and draw near to Him for eternity; and that after this, +our little time of trial, we are to reign with Him in everlasting glory! +Of a certainty we are a favored people and a royal race, for we belong to +God. He has purchased our souls by creating us, He has come down from +Heaven to redeem and buy us back from the enemy to whom our race in folly +had surrendered itself, He has borne our sorrows and our sufferings to +make amends for us and to teach us the way to life, and finally He has +given His own life for our salvation. + +Since, then, God has created us, it follows that He must have had us in +His mind from everlasting, because nothing that is, or can be, is +unforeseen by Him. From the remotest dawn of eternity, therefore; from the +very beginning of the eternal years, He saw us as He sees us now, clearly, +distinctly, lovingly. We did not exist from eternity as we do now, but we +were present to God before we were to ourselves, He saw us mirrored in +Himself. And when, in time, He called our race into being and endowed it +with life, we know what happened. This human nature of ours which He had +loved from eternity, and favored in time with existence, turned its back +upon its God and strayed away to sin and death. This was the disobedience +of our first parents, and in their sin we all have shared, for the very +reason that they were our parents and responsible for us as well as for +themselves. We became a ruined race, deserving punishment, fit for +perdition; and yet God did not give us up. He followed after us, as it +were; He pursued us, as a shepherd pursues his chosen flock, until finally +He led us back to His fold, and to pastures of rest and plenty. + +It was not enough for God's goodness to give us the gift of life, and to +endow us with understanding, will, and freedom; it did not satisfy His +bountifulness to make our life fair here on earth, and to enable us to +reap much of the joys and pleasures with which even this world abounds--no, +far more than all this has He wished and prepared for His elect, for the +souls who belong to His flock. It was nothing less than Himself, Heaven +and its rewards, that the eternal Father had in store for us when He +called us into being. In order, therefore, that we should not lose our +destined crowns through the guilt and wounds of original sin, He provided +for us a remedy, He sent us a Saviour, who was His only son, our Lord +Jesus Christ. + +Now since it is to Christ, the Saviour, that the spiritual meaning of the +Shepherd Psalm refers in a particular manner, it is in Him especially, and +in His earthly life, that we discern and find fulfilled the chiefest +qualities of the good shepherd. As God, we see, He has, indeed, been our +shepherd from the beginning, creating and endowing our nature, and +providing for us unnumbered benefits, temporal and eternal. But it is in +His human nature, in His character as God and man, that He draws nearest +to us and proves unto us in ways most gracious that He is, in truth, our +loving Master and the Shepherd of our souls. Marvelous, assuredly, has +been the goodness of God to create us at all; and still more marvelous +that He should have destined us for a participation in His own eternal +blessedness; but in no way has the heavenly Father so stooped to us, in no +way has He so manifested His utter condescension towards us, as in the +abasement of His Only-begotten Son, "who, being in the form of God, +emptied himself, taking the form of a servant."(4) For let us reflect that +to raise our race from its fallen state and restore it to the divine +good-pleasure, it was not necessary that the Second Person of the Most +Holy Trinity should have come down to earth. Such extraordinary means were +not of necessity to bring us back to Heaven's smile and favor. As by a +simple act of His omnipotent will God had called the world and us and all +that is out of nothingness in the beginning, so again by a single wish of +the same divine will He could have restored us, from a condition of +bondage and sin, to the realms of grace and peace. And even when the Son +of God did condescend, in accordance with the will of His Father, to +clothe Himself with our nature and visit our blighted sphere, how simple, +really, He could have made our redemption! How easily could He have +blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and presented our tearful +world, all smiling and glad, to the arms of His eternal Father! Yes, +Christ could have made our redemption easy. He could have paid our debt to +God in a thousand different, simple ways, had He wished it so. One drop of +His precious blood, one tear of His eye, one sigh of the Sacred Heart +would have sufficed to redeem innumerable worlds like ours. + +But the Saviour wished it otherwise. He was our Shepherd and He loved us, +His deceived and wounded sheep. He was with the Father when we were +planned and made. He it was, in truth, who made us, for He and the Father +are one.(5) He, therefore, knew our nature, since He designed and gave it +to us. He foresaw our yearnings and aspirations; He knew the sublime, +transcendent possibilities of which, with His help and divine example, we +are capable; He understood the heights of love and worship to which the +human heart can ascend, when assisted from on high, and hence to awaken +and kindle on earth these all-consuming fires;(6) to stir the very depths +of our souls, and elevate and perfect our gifted nature; to afford us the +utmost inspiration to climb with Him the heights of Heaven. He stooped to +our own estate, in all things made like unto us, except, indeed, our +proneness and ability to sin. Since He loved us, He longed to be like us, +in as far as that was possible, and not even our sin-stained, wounded +nature could stay the force of His love. + +There is another reason for the mysterious manner of our redemption, a +further explanation of the extreme condescension on the part of our Lord +towards the frail creatures whom He came to save. Had he come to us in a +foreign attire, with a nature unlike our own, would it not have been +difficult for us to approach Him, and to put our confidence and trust in +Him? If He had appeared like an angel, all bright and dazzling with glory, +if He had come as an earthly king and ruler, crowned and clad in regal +splendor, would it not have been hard for the poor ones of earth? would it +not have been a trial for those who were in need of a shepherd's love and +care? Already sorely oppressed and trodden down by worldly pomp and power, +they could only have tried to shun His notice and draw back from Him with +feelings of fear and awe. But our Redeemer came not only to save, but also +to teach and to lead the way to life. As a shepherd He was not to drive, +but to lead His sheep; He does not point the direction, but goes before +His flock, and they follow Him, and He leads them out to living pastures +and to bright, sparkling, far-off waters. + +Because He was God, as well as man, Christ knew that, as a result of our +sinful state, we should have to pass our earthly sojourn forever beneath +the shadow of the cross. When sin entered into the world by the +disobedience of the first man, the handiwork of the Creator was despoiled. +That which before had been a paradise of pleasure, replete with all +delights, was wrecked and ruined, and became a place of sorrow, suffering +and death. Thenceforth, pursuant to the divine decree, the lot of man was +to labor, to suffer, and to die.(7) Knowing, therefore, that this was to +be our portion, the Shepherd-Saviour of our souls must also teach us the +secret of pain and toil, and help us to bear our cross. + +According, then, to our present state, suffering and sorrow are +inseparable from us, because we are born into the world with sin upon our +souls, and in the wake of sin follow all the evils to which the world is +heir. And, moreover, under existing conditions, it is necessary for our +future happiness that our earthly life be largely spent amidst toil and +pain and tears. It is only through these that we shall be able to atone +for the injuries sin has done, and hold in check the disorders of our +nature. The cross is before us and we cannot escape it. It is ready for us +when we enter the world, it follows us throughout the length of our days, +and finally bears us down in death to our graves. This does not mean that +life on earth is entirely made up of pain and sorrow, for the divine mercy +has mitigated even the stroke of sin, and has caused the world, in spite +of all its wounds, to bloom with many delights. Nevertheless, our sojourn +here below shall always be fraught with diverse ills, and we at last must +yield to death. In spite of all the world can afford us, in spite of its +pleasures and joys, its sunshine and pleasing pastimes, real, though +fitful and fast-flying as they are; in spite of health and wealth and fame +and honor; in spite of all the goods that life contains, it still is ever +true that we live in a region of tears, and that death and sorrow are sure +to follow upon the footsteps of joy and mirth. It must be so, for the +stains of sin are indelibly upon the world; and not until the final +renovation comes can life on earth be made entirely happy. + +All this our Saviour knew when He chose our human nature and embraced a +life of labor and sorrow. His divine foreknowledge took in our lives, and +the lives of all our kind, until the end of all shall be. Our infant +tears, our trials and pains of body, the ceaseless pangs of mind and heart +that pursue us throughout life, were all before Him as in a mirror, and He +must needs instruct and assist us to fight this battle and walk this way +of earth, lest all should perish before the journey's end. Since we were +to suffer, then He would suffer also; since our lives were to be amidst +labors and trials, then He would labor and travail also; since we were to +feel the sting of pain, be subject to heat and cold, be in want, in +poverty, and in distress, be misunderstood, be thwarted, be cast down from +our highest hopes, and broken, at times, in every cheerful prospect--since +these and other countless ills were to be woven in our web of earthly +life, He, the divine Master, who came to save, to teach a lesson, to +suffer and die, would assume a body so sacred, so delicate, so pure and +sensitive that, when exposed to the rough and ruthless ways of life, He +could truly cry out from the depths of His anguish: "O all ye that pass by +the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow!"(8) + +How comforting, then, it is for us to feel that we are not alone in +suffering, and to know that, while all we suffer is but just and due to +our sinful state, we can nevertheless make use of all our ills to attain +to joys unending in Heaven! If we must toil and struggle while on earth, +it is because these things are a result of our state; if we must be +subject to sickness, to weakness and fatigue, to cold and hunger, to +weariness and pain, it is not because God is pleased at the misery of His +creatures; neither does He rejoice on account of our misfortune. We are +simply reaping the harvest of sin and transgression, and sin is the work +of our own free choice and that of our ancestors. And even though it be +objected that we are born into this inevitable condition, and are made the +unconsulted heirs of a heritage we loathe but cannot escape, the solution +of our difficulty is not far to seek. We need but hearken to the +promptings of reason, and lift our sorrowing eyes to the realms of faith +to be convinced that God's mercy and goodness are above all His works,(9) +and that for reasons not less benevolent than holy He has called us into +life and permitted all our woes. God could not have created us for +suffering and punishment, because He is infinite goodness; He cannot be +pleased at our misfortunes, since He Himself has borne our sorrows and +carried all our pains.(10) If He Himself had not come into the world in +visible human form; if He had not explained our purpose and destiny, and +led the way to Heaven; if He had not, by His words and divine example, +provided us with the solution for all life's difficulties, then, in truth, +we might object, and sit and grieve and wonder. But in the light of the +life of Christ all this is altered; the picture takes on a different +coloring. Who now can rail at the crosses of life and think of the +sufferings of Christ? Who can murmur at the injustice of pain, and +remember the passion of Jesus? Who can say that God is deaf to our +pleading and unmoved at our tears, and look upon the Saviour dying? Who +can believe that our lives are of little worth, or of no account with the +Almighty, and recall the price that was paid for our souls and ponder the +death of our God? + +Thus it is with a bountiful goodness that the Saviour has purchased His +sheep. By His own free choice, by a life of suffering entirely voluntary, +endured for our salvation and instruction, through a bitter, but willing +agony and death, He has provided the means to free us from sin, and has +bequeathed to us every blessing. Now we can truly say: the Lord is my +shepherd, and I shall not want. If only we can look into that divine life +which has been given as our model, if only we can ponder it, and read in +it the lessons, the hopes, the inspirations it contains for us, we shall +not be weary of our burdens and cares, we shall not falter in any of +life's battles. Rather, rejoicing at our opportunities, eternal as they +are, and with feelings of exultant gratitude over our condition, as heirs +with Christ to the kingdom of Heaven,(11) we shall bravely welcome all the +conflicts of life, being assured with St. Paul that "that which is at +present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above +measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."(12) + + + + + +IV. HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN PASTURES OF TENDER GRASS; HE LEADETH ME +BESIDE THE WATERS OF QUIETNESS. + + +Our attention is now directed to a particular phase of the shepherd's +life, and here we see some of the ways in which he actually provides for +his sheep day by day. For it is not enough that the shepherd has purchased +his flock, by means however difficult and labors however loving; it is not +sufficient that he have procured for them, in a general manner, all that +they need for their life and safety, he must also arrange for their daily +care and provide for their separate wants. Sheep, as we know, are delicate +creatures, and they must be directed in their roamings, and sustained by +sufficient nourishment. Accordingly, we have said that it belongs to the +duties of a good shepherd to lead them out to pasture, and to provide for +them every day adequate food and drink. + +Here again we behold the infinite kindness of the Shepherd of our souls. +Not alone has He deigned to stoop to our fallen state and restore us from +death to life, not only did He take upon Himself our infirmities and bear +our woes, but tenderly also has He provided for our constant direction, +and for the daily needs of our lives. + +The level to which the Saviour raised our lives and the dignity to which +He invites us are far, indeed, above our natural powers. Left to +ourselves, we could never attain the heavenly heights to which, in His +goodness, He has called us. Through the infinite merits of His life and +sacrifice we have been redeemed and reclaimed from the enemy of our souls; +the gates of Heaven, closed against us before, have been opened wide; and +our wayward race is again restored to the road that leads to our immortal +home. But just because our celestial destiny is of so high and sublime a +character, it is impossible, if left to our own abilities, that we should +be able long to pursue it, and vastly beyond our sublimest hopes that we +should ever finally attain it. We have, it is true, ever before us, the +life and example of Him who has saved us; we know that His cross and death +have delivered us from the wrath that frowned upon us. But we are weak and +fragile mortals. With respect to things of the higher life--of the +supernatural world--we, of ourselves, shall always remain as helpless and +frail as infants. Not less unable is the babe of yesterday to traverse +unaided and explore the material world, than the wisest of men would be to +know and grasp by his natural powers the unrevealed good of the immortal +human spirit. And as, in our natural state, we could not know the true end +of our existence, without a divine revelation, so likewise, we could not +pursue and attain our spiritual destiny without special assistance from on +high. + +How well all this was known to our kind and kingly Shepherd! How keenly +did He appreciate our frailty and inability to walk alone the paths which +He had trodden! Not unmindful, therefore, was He constantly to teach and +direct the way which leads to unending life. When going before his flock +and teaching them by force of example, He did not omit to give them that +saving doctrine which, when He had disappeared, would be their guide, and +the guide to their future shepherds in the direction of safety and truth. +Hence He propounded a teaching which should be to its obedient followers a +realization at once of all He had promised them, and of all their heart's +desires. Not that it would make them rich or great in the eyes of the +world and according to human standards, but that it would confer a truer +and a higher greatness by lifting them above their weak and natural level +and preparing them for eternal blessedness. + +Men had the Law before the coming of Christ; they knew the ten +commandments. But the state to which the God-man called them, and the +eminence to which they were raised, were quite beyond anything the world +till then had ever been able to conceive. Human nature, under the New +Covenant, was invited to attain to perfection. Things which before were +thought impossible, were now to be the objects of our daily strivings. It +was no longer an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; now not only was +good to be done to those who were good to us, but to those also who did us +evil; not only were we to love our friends, but to love and assist our +enemies also; not only should evil deeds be avoided, but evil thoughts +were likewise forbidden--yea, we were asked to be, in all our thoughts and +deeds, imitators of the Shepherd who leads us.(13) + +Poor human nature, when raised so high above its natural powers, stood in +perilous need of a shepherd's tender care. The new demands of every day +made indispensible new and special daily helps. While our spirits can see +and know the way, under the light of heavenly teaching, yet how weak and +faltering is our flesh! We have the will to do; but to accomplish, we +alone are not able. Therefore our Saviour said, "Of yourselves, you can do +nothing, but in me all things are possible to you. The branches are +nothing unless they abide in the vine; I am the vine, you the +branches."(14) Thus He is our Leader, our divine Teacher and our source of +strength. Without Him we can do nothing, but in Him we are strong. And +daily and constantly He is near us, though we see Him not. It is He who +sustains our very life and moves us to all that is good. Like an +ever-present friend, He offers us constant assistance: He instructs and +guides and helps us, and this is the strength and food of our souls. God's +grace it is, always ready for our use, which makes possible all the high +demands put upon our nature. Without it we should faint and starve on our +journey, and hence He who has planned our high perfection, has provided +the help to attain it. What are those seven wonderful sacraments which He +has left us, but perennial channels of grace, constant fountains from +which stream the life-giving waters that nourish our weary souls and make +them strong for life eternal! Through these sacred means we are brought +into contact with the life and merits of our Shepherd-Redeemer. They +prolong His life and labors among us, they continue in our midst the +strength of His sacred presence. + +In a manner altogether special is this true of the Holy Sacrament of the +altar. By the Holy Eucharist, Christ still is with us, and will so remain +till the end of time, as really and as truly as He dwelt on earth in the +days of His mortal life. Bound down as we are by the things of sense, we +may, at times, be tempted to complain that Christ in this sacrament is all +invisible to us. We can not see Him directly and immediately. His voice is +silent and we do not hear Him; we do not feel the caress of His hand. But +nevertheless we know He is present, for He has said it, and His word must +remain, though heaven and earth should pass away. Even were we privileged +to see the sacred humanity as it was seen of old in Palestine, we should +not then, more than now in this sacrament, directly see the divinity +concealed by the human frame. Faith then was required as well as now--faith +in His sacred words, made evident by His sacred deeds. This is not +strange; it is not too much to ask. The same demand of faith is daily made +upon us in much of our intercourse with our fellow mortals. Much that we +do not clearly see we must perforce believe, else life would be +impossible. The same, in a measure, is also true in all our human +friendships. That which is most precious in our friends, that which is the +source of life and beauty, of holy words and loving actions, of all we +love and cherish in them, is the soul, the spirit that quickens and moves; +and this we do not see. + +Thus Christ in the Eucharist is truly present, though faith alone can +apprehend Him. He requires of us this faith--this humble subjection of our +sensible faculties to the power and truth of His words. It is all for our +good that now He is hidden from our sight. He is not the less truly +present, not less truly kind, not less loving, not less merciful and +forbearing; but He wishes to exercise our faith, to prove our fidelity and +trust in His teaching and promises, and hence He is hidden from the powers +of our senses. + +In the sacrament of the Eucharist the gracious Shepherd of our souls +performs in particular three offices for us: He is our sacrifice, our +silent patient friend, and in communion He becomes the actual spiritual +food of our souls. As a victim He is daily and constantly, from the rising +to the setting of the sun, lifted up for us in the holy sacrifice of the +mass. The mass is the perpetuation of the sacrifice He offered long ago +for our redemption. All the altars throughout the world, on which He is +ever born and dies again in mystic repetition, are but an extension of the +one great altar of Calvary, where first He gave His life for our +salvation. And in this real and awful sacrifice, forever repeated in our +midst, He pleads again our cause with God, the eternal Father. Again in a +mystic manner He suffers for us, again He bleeds, again He is nailed to +the cross and raised on high, and in that same abandoned, pitiable state, +to which His love for His flock has reduced Him, ever and anon in our +behalf He pleads: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they +do!(15) Holy Father, Powerful God, stay Thy avenging hand! and save the +souls which Thou hast created for Thyself, and for which till the end of +time I die!" He lifts, as it were, before the great white throne, His +bruised and blood-stained hands, He shows those wounded feet, the scar of +the spear in His sacred side; He points again to the agony in the garden, +to the scourging at the pillar, to the cruel crown of thorns, to the weary +way of the cross, and exclaims to Him who sits upon the throne, "Behold, +my Father, and see the price of my sheep, the tears and sorrow and blood +they have cost me! and spare them and save them for the sake of Thy Son!" + +Through the holy sacrifice of the mass, identical as it is with the +sacrifice of Calvary, all the merits of Christ's life and death are +applied to our souls. By His physical and bloody immolation on Calvary, +Christ purchased for us infinite treasures of grace, and it is His will +that these graces shall be dispensed to us, even till the end of the +world, through the august sacrament of the altar. Moreover, except for the +mass, we should not be blessed with the abiding actual presence of our +divine Shepherd among us--that is, we should not possess Him in that +special, intimate manner in which we now have Him in the Eucharist. For it +is only in the mass that the sacred species are consecrated; and +consequently it is through the mass alone that He takes up His sacramental +presence in our midst and becomes our food in holy communion. He could, +indeed, have ordained it otherwise, but such has been His blessed will, +and such the condition in which we are placed by the direction of His holy +Church. + +Besides being our daily sacrifice, then, under the appearance of bread and +wine, besides ever prolonging in our midst that wondrous act of Calvary by +which at once He liberated our race and reopened to us the gates of +Heaven, the bounteous Shepherd of our souls enters into the tabernacles of +our churches, and there in silent patient waiting He craves the love of +our hearts and longs for our intimate friendship. He is not content alone +to plead for us with God, His Father; He is not content continually to +renew in our presence the tragic mystery by which at the end of His +earthly labors, He procured us every blessing--no, over and above these +sovereign acts of kindest benediction, He wishes to remain among us, and +to converse with us, each and all, as a friend would converse with his +friend. This is what He meant when He said by the mouth of His inspired +writer, "my delights are to be with the children of men."(16) As a +Shepherd, His chiefest pleasure, as well as His supremest care, is to be +with the flock He has purchased and loves. Yet it is a lonely life for our +Shepherd-King, this abode in the silent tabernacle; but it is all for love +of us. He wishes to be there where we can find Him, where we can come to +Him at any hour and speak to Him, to praise and thank Him for all His dear +and endless gifts, to tell Him our needs and our sorrows, to open our +breaking hearts to Him and reveal the secrets of our souls. This it is +that He desires from us--the outpouring of our hearts and souls in His +presence. This it is which renders unto Him that homage of faith and love +and devotion that He came into the world to inspire. It will not do to say +that, being God, He is acquainted with all our thoughts and aware of all +our wants, for it is intimacy and confidence that He desires, the intimacy +and confidence which alone can create a true and noble friendship. "I will +call you no longer servants," He said to His disciples, "but I have called +you friends; the servant knoweth not what his Master doth, but a friend is +admitted to confidence."(17) Christ in the tabernacle is our friend; He +has loved us unto the end, and He yearns for our love in return. Why is +this? Why are we so precious in His eyes? What are we that the great +Creator should at all be mindful of us?(18) We must remember and ever bear +in mind the lofty purpose which the Creator had in view when first He +called us into being--the same purpose it was which prompted our redemption +and all the gracious dispensations that have followed thereupon--namely, +that God, while achieving His own eternal honor and glory, might +communicate to us a portion of His own ineffable blessedness. We were made +for God, and not for the world, or for creatures, or for ourselves. And +precisely because we are the possession and property of God, He wants us, +soul and body, for Himself; and in this blessed sacrament He calls to us +individually, "Son, give Me thy heart;"(19) "come to Me, all you who are +burdened, and I will refresh you."(20) "come to Me and find rest for your +souls, I will lead you beside the waters of quietness." + +But the excesses of our Shepherd's love and care do not stop with the +altar and with the tabernacle. He is not satisfied with being our daily +sacrifice and our abiding friend, not satisfied until He enters into our +very bosom and unites us to Himself. Union with the beloved object and +delight in its presence are characteristic of all true friendship, whether +human or divine. That which we really love we desire to have, to possess, +to be united with; and hence it is that Christ, the lover of our souls, +has not only given His life to purchase us for Himself and Heaven, but has +so extended His loving-kindness as to become Himself our actual food. + +It is incomprehensible, in a human way, that the love of a shepherd for +his flock, the love of God for His creatures, should be so extraordinary +as to provide the wondrous benefits which Christ in the Eucharist has +wrought for us. We simply cannot grasp with our feeble minds the +prodigality of such enduring love. But the Saviour knew His purpose with +us, and He knew the needs of our souls. As guests destined for an eternal +banquet, and as heirs to celestial thrones, it is needful for us, amid the +rough ways and perils of life, to be constantly reminded of our royal +destiny and strengthened against our daily foes. This world of ours is an +arena in which each one must contend for his eternal prize; and it is not +possible, considering our natural frailty and the enemies that oppose our +forward march, that we alone, without an added strength, should ever be +able to win the battle of life. + +Hence, as the body, to maintain its vigor and perform its work, needs its +material and earthly food, so the soul, to live and be strong, must be +nourished with the bread of Heaven. "The bread that I will give," said our +Lord, "is my flesh for the life of the world ... unless you eat of this +bread you cannot have life in you ... and he that eateth my flesh and +drinketh my blood hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up on the +last day."(21) + +In order, then, to sustain our spiritual life on earth and to make us +strong for our daily conflicts, our heavenly Shepherd has left us a food +which is none other than His own body and blood. What a prodigy of love! +What could He do for us that He has not done? But, besides giving us +strength, He had another purpose in becoming our food. Since He has chosen +us for Himself, and has provided, in another world, eternal mansions for +our souls,(22) He wishes to make certain, not only the happy issue of our +lives, but our ever-increasing resemblance to Himself. He is therefore +preparing us, He is fitting us, through communion in the Holy Eucharist, +for our celestial home, and for visible companionship with Himself. +Intercourse, communion, intimate relationship produce likeness, even here +on earth, and it is a singular effect of Holy Communion that, unlike +earthly food, it changes into itself all those who partake of it. +Material, natural food becomes the substance of our flesh and blood, but +frequent participation in the heavenly nourishment of Christ in the +Eucharist transmutes our whole being--our lives and thoughts and +actions--into its own supernatural character. + +Thus by living much with Christ on earth, by intimate converse with Him, +by allowing Him to enter into our lives and thoughts, and shape our +conduct and actions; and above all, by frequent and fervent communion with +Him in the sacrament of His love, we become like unto Him, even here in +our state of exile. And this likeness to Christ, which His faithful +servants assume here below, is a forestate of future blessedness; it is a +preparation for the great reunion and the eternal banquet which await us +in Heaven. Already we are led beside the waters of rest; we are directed +to pastures of sweetest nourishment; and through the calm and vigor that +reign in the soul we experience even now a taste of joys unseen. + + + + + +V. HE RESTORETH MY SOUL. + + +Throughout the pastoral country of the Orient there are numerous places of +great peril for sheep. There are also, here and there, private fields and +vineyards and gardens into which, if a member of a flock should stray and +be caught, it is forfeited to the owner of the land. Strange as it may +seem, the sheep never learn to avoid these dangerous spots and forbidden +places, and it behooves the shepherd to be ever on his guard for them, and +to rescue them when wandering. + +Here we cannot fail to observe the striking resemblance between this +wayward tendency of the shepherd's flock and our own inclination and +propensity to wander from God and things eternal. The world is full of +occasions to evil; at every turn of the road on our journey through life +there are fierce and crouching enemies who are waiting the chance to +capture and bear us away. We know this; we have often been warned of the +danger; too many sad experiences and breathless escapes have convinced us +of the sundry perils to soul and body that lie along the way of life. But +we, like senseless, erring sheep, if bereft of the Shepherd's guiding +care, do not learn, in life's sad school, the way to keep free from harm. +Though wounded repeatedly, and scarred and worn, and left, perhaps, +without human aid, to waste and bleed our life away, we do not see the +lurking evils; we do not discern beneath the mask the enemy whose purpose +is ruin and death. + +The creatures of the world, the things of sense take vicious hold of us, +and often drag us to the very verge of perdition before we are aware. They +come to us unprepared, and seek entrance into our lives and thoughts, and +allure us by deception. They tell us that the world is fair and beautiful +and full of promise; that God, for the moment, is not concerned; that the +soul is secure and safe, and the body and its needs the only object of +present solicitude. The process is gradual. The turning away and the loss +are not at once and from the beginning of seductive influences, but slowly +and unobtrusively in the guise of hope and high expectation. There is +Ambition, with its glittering prospects, with its proffered rewards and +castles of air. To the young man and young woman, just entering the arena +of life, Ambition says, "Come and follow me, and I will crown you with +glory and honor. I will lift you above the common, beaten paths of men and +seat you on a gilded throne. I will introduce you to my sister Pride, and +we two will make you happy. Pride will teach you your true dignity, your +place and position in the universe; she will remind you of your gifts and +faculties, and enable you to battle with the weak and the strong; she will +give you the secret of knowledge and train you to soar above your +fellow-creatures and probe the mysteries of God and Heaven." Then +Pleasure, with dimpled cheeks and laughing eyes, and words that sound like +music to the ears, hurries out to greet the passers-by, and charms them by +her shining gifts. "Make me your object and your end," she says, "and I +will make you blessed. Forget your troubles and your cares, your fears of +present and future ills; rejoice and be glad, eat, drink and be merry; +indulge and drain to dregs the cups of sense, for this is all there is." +Philosophy comes with another hope. "Drink deeply," she counsels, "at the +spring of wisdom, and fear not God nor man; believe and trust in me, and I +will steal away the sting of sorrow and pain; I will restore you to man's +primeval state and land you safe on the shores of rest." + +And when these deceivers--Ambition, Pride, Pleasure, and the like--have +plundered and sacked their victim's goods, when these painted idols of a +passing world have led away their worshippers as slaves, and stripped them +of all they possessed, they give them over to evil habits and to masters +that scourge and tear them. Like other prodigals, these pursuers of +earthly phantoms take leave of their Father's house of comfort and plenty, +they give up virtue, innocence, honesty, purity; they go into a far +country to waste their substance living riotously, only to awake, soon at +latest, to a land of famine, and to find themselves alone and in want. +Instead of the honor and fame and high estate they sought to gain, instead +of the escape from evil and pain and labor they hoped to find, they are +sent into fields to minister to swine--the swine of their own degradation. + +So, to a degree, it is with us, each and all, who listen to other voices +and heed other calls than the voice and the call of God. If we prefer to +stray to other fields and desert the pasture of our Shepherd, if we prefer +a far country to our Father's home, if the world and its fleeting +pleasures are more to us than God and His paternal rewards, then we must +of necessity find ourselves at length in utter want and penury. It is this +possibility of deserting God, of seeking happiness outside of Him, of +overturning the plans which He has made for our salvation, that gives us a +vision of the awful failure of human life. The gifts of this world are by +nature fleeting and fast-flying, and if we allow them to take the place of +Him who made them, no matter how great our present boons, in spite of +wealth and friends and all success, we have missed our chance and our +purpose in the world, and can only have at last a desolate and a ruined +life. + +But how is it, then, one may ask, that man can be so deceived? How is it +that we do not learn from others' disasters to avoid, every one of us, +those deceiving, ruinous masters, those false gods that can lead us away +from the one true Shepherd of our souls? It is, indeed, a curious fact +that our deception is so easy. Surely a rational, intelligent being, who +stops to consider, ought easily to distinguish between the great God of +Heaven and the creatures of His hands. It ought not to be difficult for us +to see the transient vanity of human things when compared with the eternal +mansions. But the truth of the matter is, that we _are_ deceived, we do +not at all times see the objects of our choice as they really are +objectively. Our vision is defective and blurred. If God stood out in our +lives as He really ought to stand, if He occupied that place in our +thoughts and plans which belongs to Him by right, it would not be possible +that we should ever be led astray. And that God does not always hold in +our lives the place which is His due is partly the result of our fallen +nature; partly, therefore, in a way, excusable; but more frequently and +chiefly from our own perversity--from wilful neglect of our highest duties. + +The blindness and perversity of our nature, which have come from the +wounds of original sin, make it easy for us, if we are neglectful and +careless of our higher spiritual obligations, to mistake the false for the +true, evil for good, the creature for the Creator. In the midst of the +world and its allurements, it behooves us to be ever watching, if we are +never to stumble and to fall. Had our nature never been corrupted by +original unfaithfulness, had our first parents never turned away from God +and transgressed His sacred precept, all our present ills would never have +existed. But now it is different. We are born into the world a weakened +people; each one of us has had an implicit part in the first +transgression; we all, like erring sheep, have gone astray. And while this +tendency to evil is part of our natural condition, and therefore less +imputable to us, it nevertheless is true that our actual sins and +evil-doing are the work of our deliberate choice. If, at any time, we +really turn away from God and break His law, it is because we have freely +chosen so to act. The native perversity of nature in a normal man can +never explain and excuse the grievous sins which he deliberately commits. +It is only true that a weak and wounded nature leaves one less able to +choose what is right, and more disposed to wrong. And since we know the +state of things, since we know that the fault is really ours when we dare +to stray to forbidden deeds and places, how constant and unrelenting, if +we are truly wise, should be our efforts to keep our vision unobscured and +our ears attuned to the voice and call of our heavenly Shepherd! We know +that by following Him our way will be certain and clear. Howsoever +enormous the evils of life, and notwithstanding all our weakness, we know +that in Him we are safe and strong. But we must hear Him to follow Him, we +must be guided and directed by His gracious commands. + +This failure to hear and obey the voice of God it is which more explains +the falls and sins of men than all their inherited frailty. So long as His +words are heard and directions heeded, mistake and error are impossible. +We see, therefore, why it is that so many actually do desert Him and are +led by evil voices. The cause chiefly lies in the wilfulness of human +nature and in the abuse of human liberty. We cannot stand unless God +support us, and we shall surely fall if He withdraws His supporting hand. +But the choice of evil, the beginning of unfaithfulness comes from +ourselves; for Almighty God will never forsake us unless we first forsake +Him. + +If, ever, then, we find our lives to be at variance with God, whether in +lesser or in greater matters, if it should ever be our unhappy fortune to +wander from Him, like another prodigal, and waste our lives with the +enemies of our souls, we can be assured that the desertion is all our own. +We forget God, we deliberately wander from His sight and care, and then we +fall. Engrossed in worldly affairs, taken up with present vanities, with +ourselves, our ease, our temporal advancement, we begin to neglect prayer +and communion with God, we begin to rely on ourselves and to forge ahead +of our own accord, only to encounter complete defeat and be shorn of all +our strength. The secret of our power and success is to keep close to Him, +to speak to Him lovingly and often, to seek guidance and protection from +Him, and habitually to live in His comforting presence. + +But such is the boundless kindness of our heavenly Shepherd that, no +matter how often we may have wandered from Him, or how seriously we may +have grieved Him, He is ever ready to pursue our wanderings, and to seek +until He finds us. He does not stop to consider the enormity of our guilt, +or our unreasonableness, or our ingratitude, but He seeks us. He does not +pause to take an account of all He has done for us, of the many graces He +has given us, of the tears and blood He has shed in our behalf; but He +goes after our straying souls, and He will not be appeased until He +restore us. God does not will the death of the sinner, but that he be +converted and live.(23) He knows all our frailties and our diverse +temptations; He knows how alluring are the things of sense to a nature +perverted like ours; He knows how easy it is for us, blind and ignorant as +we are, to forget Him and our dearest interests, and to obey the call of +other voices; all this He understands, and He has pity on us. "He knoweth +our frame, He remembereth that we are dust."(24) + +To bring us back, therefore, when wandering, and to restore us to the +circle of His chosen flock, our Saviour has made ample provision. Through +those divine mediums of grace--the sacraments of His Church--He has arranged +to succor all our wants and to cure our various infirmities. The +sacraments of Baptism and Penance, in particular, were instituted to raise +our souls from death to life, and to heal our spiritual wounds. Baptism +may be aptly compared to the door of the sheepfold. It is the gate through +which men must enter into the fold of Christ, it is the entrance to His +Church. It clears away the guilt and stain of original sin, and restores +the soul from a state of enmity to the friendship and grace of God. None +can really belong to Christ, none can be of His true fold who have not +entered by way of the door, who have not been baptized. Many there are who +pretend to belong to Him and think themselves of the number of His flock; +they speak of Him as their Master and Shepherd; they pretend to be doing +His work; they call Him Lord and preach in His name; but they have not +entered by the door of the sheepfold, and He knows them not. Like thieves +and robbers, they have climbed up some other way, and they neither know +Him, nor does He know them, neither can they understand His voice. Baptism +is the entrance, it is the door, to the fold of Christ. + +And as it is through Baptism that our bountiful Lord first recalls us from +the ways of sin and makes us members of his flock, so in the sacrament of +Penance He has provided a means by which we may at all times be recalled +from our wanderings and restored to His friendship. Penance is an +inexhaustible means of reconciliation between the erring soul and God. It +lasts throughout our lives, it stretches even to the end of time. If only +we are men of goodwill and have at heart our eternal interests, we need +not be disturbed at our frailty, or at repeated lapses into sin. There is +no sin which cannot be forgiven by the sacrament of Penance. Not that +anyone, knowing that he can be forgiven, should presume to abuse God's +gracious sacrament, and yield freely and without restraint to the voice of +sin; nor that we are not to be truly sorry to the end of our days for +having even once offended our benign Maker and Redeemer; but we must be +confident that, whatever may have been our faults and failings, however +prolonged and extraordinary our transgressions, if we approach the +sacrament of Penance with sincere sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment, +God will always lovingly receive us back to Himself, and remember no more +our unfaithfulness. God hates sin, because it is opposed to Himself and is +the only evil in the world, but He loves the wounded sinner who is made in +His own image and likeness. Precious in the sight of God is the penitent +sinner. Does He not tell us Himself that, like a good shepherd, He leaves +ninety-nine just to go in search of one lost sheep? Yea, He assures us +that there is rejoicing among the angels of Heaven over one sinner who +does penance.(25) + +To make worthy use of the sacrament of Penance we must be truly sorry for +having offended God, and be resolved, at the time of confession, to do +what lies in our power never again to turn away from Him. To these +dispositions must also be joined the intention of doing something to +repair the injury which sin has done to God. Given such conditions, and we +need only speak the word to God's duly appointed minister and our sins are +no more. The dark veil which hung around the soul like a cloud is lifted, +and we again rejoice in the smile of our heavenly Father. How simple, yet +how potent are the means provided for our salvation! None but God could +have thought of them, nothing but the love of God could have arranged +them! + +But even before the sinner is brought to penance, even while he is +wandering and reveling afar off in the vile delights of sin, God is +pursuing him, God is seeking after him, calling him by name, whispering to +his heart, disposing him for repentance. We cannot return to God, once we +have deserted Him, without His help. It is our awful power to be able to +leave Him, but to return alone we are not able. Wherefore He comes after +us when we have wandered into the wilds of sin; He pleads as it were, with +our souls, and offers us the grace to repent. Oh privileged are our souls +to be thus appraised by God, and happy those who hear and heed the +appealing voice of His grace! + + + + + +VI. HE LEADETH ME IN THE PATHS OF JUSTICE FOR HIS NAME'S SAKE. + + +The shepherd country of the East is full of walks and pathways, some +leading this way, some that. Some lead to dangerous precipices over which +the sheep might fall and be lost, others would expose them to the attack +of wild beasts, while still others would lead them so far astray that they +could not find their way back. It is, therefore, always needful that the +shepherd go ahead of his flock and lead them in the right path. The +Psalmist, in the title of the present chapter, is applying this +carefulness of the shepherd for his sheep to our Lord, in His regard for +our spiritual welfare. The Saviour goes before us with the blessings of +His goodness to help and lead us aright, lest perchance we become lost and +perish in our journey. + +This solicitude of our Redeemer in providing for the various needs of our +souls is characteristic of Him as Saviour. It is implied in the meaning of +his name. Before He was born, before He was conceived in His Mother's +womb, it was foretold of Him that He should be called Jesus, which means +Saviour, for He would save His people from their sins.(26) He exercised, +as we know, this mission of saviour throughout His earthly career. It was +for this that He came into the world, for this that He was born in +Bethlehem with a manger as His cradle, for this that, at the age of +twelve, He was found teaching in the Temple, for this that He retired to +Nazareth and was subject to Mary and Joseph, for this that He labored and +suffered and bled and died. And with His passing from this visible scene +to the bosom of His Father, He did not cease to be that for which He had +been eternally anointed--the great High Priest, the Mediator between God +and man, the Saviour of the world. His work is everlasting; and now that +He has gone up on high, He pleads for us ever more with the Father. We +belong to Him, He has purchased us with His blood, and He must needs care +for our safety to the end. + +Inasmuch as we are heirs, according to divine decree, to thrones beyond +the skies, it was necessary, as we have seen, that He who is our Saviour +and Shepherd should have left behind Him in this world of ours a doctrine, +a code, or system of instructions and laws, which should safely direct and +guide us to our royal destiny. Those who lived with Him on earth, those +who heard His assuring, life-giving words, and felt the inspiration of His +example and visible presence needed not to fear for the direction or +safety of their course. The divine, living voice and sacred presence of +their Lord and Master they enjoyed, and care and anxiety fled from their +souls. But not for these alone had the Redeemer come, but for all mankind, +for all who in future were to breathe the breath of human life. He came to +save all, He died for all; and thus the teaching which He gave to the +world, and which He committed to His chosen followers, was for every human +being, even to the end of the world, that through it all might live and +attain to life everlasting. + +The doctrine which the Saviour left us, and the laws which He prescribed +were vastly different from the teachings of men. Guiding, saving words of +a Shepherd to his flock, they engendered safety, comfort, peace. Free from +error or mistake, sealed with the seal of Heaven, holding out a promise of +future glory, they exhaled the perfumes of the eternal city, they told of +mansions not built with hands. And since this immaculate doctrine, given +for the souls of men, was to last till the end of time, there was need +that it should be shielded against the assaults of the world and protected +from the influence of our changing human teachings. It could not be +corrected, because it contained no mistakes; it could not be changed or +altered, because it came from the changeless God; it could have no +substitute from the part of men or creatures of any kind, because it was +given by Him who alone was the way, the truth, and the life. Consequently +the truths which the Saviour declared to the world as the only means by +which we can be saved, were at once infallible in themselves, and so +provided for that no human agency, no lapse of years or revolutions of +time and place should ever be able to infringe on their eternal, +changeless character. It was to preserve these truths in their integrity +and freshness that He founded His unerring Church and committed to it the +office of custodian and expounder, under the guidance of His Holy Spirit, +of all He had revealed for the salvation of human kind. Hence to hear our +Shepherd's voice, to understand what He says to us, to know what we must +do to obey His laws and save our souls, we need but listen to the voice of +His Church. Before it was established He declared that He should build His +Church upon a rock, and that no enemy, or group of enemies, not even the +gates of hell should ever prevail against it.(27) He established the +Church as His mouthpiece, and He said to the little band that constituted +it in the beginning, "he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that heareth +me, heareth Him that sent me;"(28) and, as if to emphasize this +declaration, He added that any one who would not hear and obey the Church +should be considered as a heathen and a publican--types of all that was +bad.(29) The Church, therefore, is the oracle of God, it is His +mouthpiece; it possesses and guards the only revelation which God has made +to His rational creatures; it alone has the words of eternal life. + +Thus it is that our divine Shepherd goes before us, leading us in the +paths of truth and justice, preserving us from danger and error with +respect to our spiritual destiny. We cannot go astray if we listen to Him +speaking to us through His church. In all our perplexities and +uncertainties, when confronted by any doubt, or confused and distracted by +the wrangling voices and conflicting opinions of men, we can be calm and +at peace, assured in our inmost souls that the voice which guides us +cannot err, that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for +one word of His to fail.(30) + +He leadeth me in ways of justice, in the ways of holiness, in the ways +which the saints have walked. How exceeding great, indeed, is our +privilege, and how certain and individual our election! All that remains +to us is to listen to His words and to follow Him, and present peace will +attend our labors, while future glory waits upon our end. + +But in the midst of abundant blessings and spiritual favors which have +surrounded and sheltered us from infancy, we are apt to be unmindful of +our state of plenty and forgetful of the duty of gratitude. We are apt to +venture out like thoughtless children, trusting in our own strength to +battle with the foe; or else, on the contrary, we sluggishly presume that +a bountiful Providence will provide for us regardless of our own +co-operation. We have never known what it is to want for spiritual food +and spiritual direction, except when indolence, careless indifference, and +our own folly have led us astray. These are evils which continually assail +us, and we often make friends with them, not knowing what we are doing for +the most part, until the blood of life has almost ebbed away. We are not, +indeed, removed from a world where sin abounds and where deceiving voices +may allure us this way and that. Like the pastoral country of the Orient, +the walks of life are fraught with perils: false teachers, false +doctrines, false prophets, pseudo-christs;(31) "perils from our own +nation, and perils from abroad, perils in the city and perils in the +wilderness, perils in the sea and perils from false brethren"(32)--all +trying to attract and lead us away from the paths of justice and deliver +us to the enemy of our souls. + +It is necessary that we should know that wolves are abroad in sheep's +clothing; "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into +the apostles of Christ."(33) They come to us with winning words and easy +teachings, with new creeds, new forms of belief, new ways to the promised +land. + +The doctrine and truths which Christ taught and which He entrusted to His +Church are set aside or explained away by these modern teachers, and the +novel and the strange are made to assume the role of the old, the familiar +and the true. The harm done is incalculable. How many innocent and unwary +sheep have been lost to the fold of Christ by following the call of these +unworthy preachers and false shepherds! What multitudes of precious souls +have been deceived by their polished words and led away into paths of +error, into deadly ways of thinking, believing, and acting, never to +return to the path that leads to life! + +This poisoning of the soul and the heart by erroneous doctrines is +effected in many and diverse ways; the victims of falsehood are variously +captured. There are the wisdom and sagacity of men, there are the +conquests of science and the learning of the philosophers, the discoveries +of our day, the strides of history, the breakdown and overthrow of many +things held sacred by our forefathers--and all these changes and ruptures +in the order of a former generation are now used to beguile the flock of +Christ and sway them from the paths of truth and righteousness. But amid +all this din and uproar of conflicting voices, amid the wrangling tumult +and confusion of converging opinions, those who will may hear and discern +the loving voice of the true Shepherd speaking to the world through His +Church with the same calm, assuring words which He uttered to living +witnesses two thousand years ago. He has not changed, neither has His +teaching; He has not deserted His chosen flock, but is with it all days, +even to the end of the world.(34) His love for us, His watchfulness for +our needs, His enduring care for our interests, in spite of our enemies, +can never fail. + +And while assured of this, it behooves us also, as appealing to our sense +of gratitude, and as inducing to greater love of Him, to reflect that this +abiding faithfulness of our Saviour in caring for our wants is not from +any worthiness of ours, or because of our merits, but only for His Name's +sake, because He is Saviour. It was His love for us that prompted our +creation, His love that provoked His passion and redeemed us, His love +that made Him suffer for us, His love that teaches and shall guide us to +life everlasting, for His love endureth forever. + + + + + +VII. YEA, THOUGH I WALK IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR +NO EVIL, FOR THOU ART WITH ME. + + +Besides the paths and dangerous walks in the shepherd country that would +lead the sheep to destruction and death, there are other paths all +encompassed with evils through which, nevertheless, they are at times +obliged to make their way. Safety from all harm there cannot be for the +shepherd's flock. They must in their journeys encounter many perils, even +while pursuing the proper paths. There are deep and darksome valleys, +walled round on all sides by towering rocky hills, which at times the +shepherd cannot easily escape. And within these shadowy valleys and somber +ravines there dwell not infrequently wild and ferocious animals that will, +if aroused, attack and kill the tender sheep. The utmost care and caution +of the shepherd are called into service safely to conduct his dependent +flock through these places of deepest peril. But in spite of all his +watchfulness it sometimes happens that a wolf will get into the very midst +of the sheep. The timid, terrified animals become wild with fright, and +are scattered, running this way and that, until the shepherd calls and +bids them collect together. No sooner do they hear his voice, than they +all rush swiftly together in a solid mass, and either drive the enemy from +their midst or cripple and crush him to death. + +Thus in times of greatest peril the shepherd protects his sheep, and +wrests them from the jaws of harm. The sheep know this, and they fear no +evils; they know that their master is with them. Yea, though they walk in +the shadow of perils and dwell in the midst of the valley of death, they +faint not, neither do they fear, for they know that the shepherd is near. + +The case of the sheep in the valley of perils is not unlike our own in the +midst of the evils of the world; and the peace and safety which we enjoy +should be similar also to theirs. We are assured, first of all, by an +unflinching faith in God and our Redeemer that, if we trust our Master and +obey Him, we shall be led aright throughout our lives, even to the kingdom +of Heaven. We shall be led in the paths of justice and love, and crowned +at length with the crown of glory, if we but follow the voice of our +Shepherd-King, and avoid the walks of disaster and ruin. And to hear His +voice and to know it we have but to listen to the teachings of His Church, +which will hush to silence our troubled hearts, and direct our wayward +feet into the paths of heavenly peace. + +But, like the shepherd's flock, we have to avoid in our journey through +life, as perils to our safety and spiritual welfare, not only the false +shepherds and teachers and doctrines that surround us on all sides; but we +must also, to pass to our reward, actually encounter inevitable evils and +fight many necessary battles. Many of the paths of life through which we +must of necessity pass are hard and difficult, and full of deadly perils. +We must remember that sin has ruined the primeval beauty of our earthly +habitation and made our life here below a labor and a toil to the end. + +We not only come into the world with sin on our souls, and are thereby +exiles from the city of God, but even when our sin is forgiven us the +remains of the malady continue as wounds in our nature as long as we live +on earth. The deadly guilt is wiped away, but the effects of the evil +remain. And it is chiefly these wounds of our nature, in ourselves and in +others, that render life's journey, even when pursued in accordance with +the law of God, at times truly difficult and perilous. Fidelity to God and +to His law is not always a safeguard against the wickedness of the world +and of men; at times, in fact, it is just the contrary. Indeed, is it not +a truth that many, perhaps the majority, of those who endeavor sincerely +to please and to serve God must often suffer severely for their very +goodness and faithfulness? Are they not misunderstood, and criticised, and +censured? Are they not frequently accused of all manner of wrong, their +work disparaged, and their motives impugned? Are not persecution, and even +martyrdom, often their portion? Now all this is the result of sin. Those +who call into question the deeds and motives of God's saints; those who +upbraid, and criticise, and impute evil to the sincere, faithful servants +of God, inflicting upon them dire evils, are but showing the effects of +sin in themselves, are but giving exercise to the evil that rules within +them. Their particular acts and words may be without present malice, they +may be inwardly persuaded that in reviling and condemning their neighbor +and doing him harm, they are rendering a service to God Himself; but in so +doing they but manifest the effects of earlier sin, personal, perhaps, and +original, which has darkened their understanding and made perverse their +moral vision, so that, having eyes, they see not, having ears, they hear +not, neither do they understand.(35) Following the corruption of their own +nature, bleeding from the wounds of original sin, they are prone to +blaspheme whatsoever they fail to comprehend;(36) and thus it is that they +often make life and the world for the servant of God a truly perilous +sojourn, a veritable valley of death. + +This failure to be understood, this misjudgment of actions, motives, +deeds, are doubtless common evils from which, in a measure, we all must +suffer. But it is also true that the more elevated the life, the higher +its aims, the loftier the spiritual level on which it proceeds, the +greater the difficulty of its being understood and appreciated by the +majority, who always tread the common paths of mediocrity. A saint is +nearly always a disturbance to his immediate surroundings, he is +frequently an annoyance and an irritation to the little circle in which +his external life is cast, simply because he really lives and moves in a +sphere which the ordinary life cannot grasp. Like a brilliant, dazzling +light that obscures the lesser luminaries, and is therefore odious to +them, the man of God is frequently a disturber to the worldly peace of +common men, his life and works are a living reproach to their life and +works; and hence, without willing it, he becomes a menace to their society +and is not welcome in their company. Worldly, plotting minds cannot +understand the spiritual and the holy; sinful souls are out of harmony +with the virtuous; the children of darkness cannot find peace with the +children of light. And not only is there a lack of sympathy in the +worldly-minded for the men and women who are led of God, but there is +often positive hatred for them--a hatred which spends itself in actual, +persistent persecution. To be devout, to refrain from sinful words and +sinful deeds, to shun the vain and dangerous amusements of worldlings, to +attend much to prayer and recollection, to love the house and worship of +God, to be seen often approaching the sacraments and partaking of the +bread of life at the communion rail--even these holy acts are sufficient +frequently to draw down on the servants of God the curse and persecution +of a world which knows not what it does. + +And that which happens individually to the faithful children of God takes +place on a larger scale with respect to God's Church. The children of this +world, those who have set their heart on temporal things, or who, through +wilful error have deviated from the right path to things eternal, never +cease from pursuing and persecuting the Church of God. They hate the +Church and attack it unceasingly. Like the perverse and blinded Jews of +old who reviled the Saviour and His words and deeds, who pursued Him and +put Him to death, these ever-living and ever-active enemies of light and +truth never abate in their fury against the chosen friends of Christ, and +against His holy Church. But need we be surprised at this? Was it not +foretold? Did not our blessed Shepherd, speaking in the beginning to His +little flock, warn them that men would deliver them up in councils and +scourge them? Did He not say to them plainly, "And you shall be hated by +all men for my name's sake; but he that shall persevere unto the end, he +shall be saved. And when they persecute you in this city, flee into +another.... The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above +his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the +servant as his lord. If they have called the good man of the house +Beelzebub, how much more them of his household."(37) + +It happens, therefore, that fidelity to God, and careful adherence to the +paths of justice and holiness, can frequently be the occasion of perils +and sufferings for us individually, as they also are the excuse for a +vaster persecution of the Church in general. All holy persons and holy +things are signs of contradiction. They are not of the world, they do not +fit in with it; and between them and the world there will be strife and +contention until the renovation comes. + +But the enemies that lie along the ways of life, that beset and threaten +even the most righteous paths of our pilgrimage, are not all from +without--the most numerous and menacing are perhaps from within. "The +enemies of a man," says the inspired writer, "are those of his own +household."(38) That is to say, the most potent evils which we suffer, the +chiefest foes to our present and future welfare are from ourselves--our own +waywardness, our tendencies to evil, our wilfulness, our self-love and +self-seeking, our own sins. It is from these and like causes that we +suffer most. Hard and trying it surely is to bear persecutions and +contradictions from others; severe is the strain to nature when, in the +face of our noblest efforts, proceeding from noblest motives, we meet with +misunderstanding and even condemnation; but to the upright, religious +heart that is sincerely and truly seeking God amid the shadows and +pitfalls of life, the sorest of all trials and the fiercest of all enemies +are one's own temptations and passions and inclinations to evil. Easier it +were to conquer the whole external world of foes, than to reign supreme +over the little world within. Of Alexander the Great it is said, that +while he actually subdued the whole known world of his time, he +nevertheless yielded in defeat before his own passions. He could overcome +his external enemies, but surrendered miserably in the battle with self. + +This, then, is our greatest warfare, the struggle with ourselves; and this +our greatest victory, a triumph over self. "If each year," says the +Imitation, "we could uproot but one evil inclination, how soon we should +be perfect men!"(39) But it is not for us to be free from enemies and +perils, both from without and from within, during our earthly sojourn. +They are a part of our lot here below, they are necessarily bound up with +the darkened regions through which the Shepherd must lead his flock; and +hence, entire safety there shall never be before the journey's end, until +we say farewell to present woes, and hail "the happy fields, where joy +forever dwells." + +In our present state, therefore, it is important for us to realize our +dangers and to be prepared for conflict. There is no way of escape from +crosses, and perils, and dreadful battles for all those who wish to win +the crown of victory. They must follow the Shepherd as he leads the way, +and hence our Lord has said, "if any man will come after me, let him take +up his cross daily and follow me."(40) Yes, it is the following of the +Shepherd, it is his leadership, his constant presence, that give comfort +to the sheep, and dispel the dread and fear of perils. And though we pass +through the valley and shadow of death, we need fear no evil, for He is +with us. At times, frequently perhaps, as we sail the sea of life, the +waves roll over and deluge us so completely that we are all but smothered. +The clouds gather, thick and black, and overcast the sky of our souls; the +sorrows of death surround us, and the pains of the pit encompass us;(41) +we are overwhelmed with sadness and plunged in darkness. We think of God, +we remember Him, but He seems afar off. The evil which weighs us down--the +pain of body, the agony of soul, the sadness and dejection of heart and +mind, "the madness that worketh in the brain," muffle the voice and all +but still the trembling pulse, and we are not able so much as to lift our +drooping heads and tear-dimmed eyes to see the gentle Shepherd standing +faithfully at our side. It is our failure to discern and apprehend Him +that causes extreme agony. If at these times of utter desolation, when the +soul is swept by the winds of sorrow, we could only raise our eyes and +thoughts to Him, with faith and hope and child-like trust, the spell would +be broken; and we should see the clouds lift and part and float away on +the wind, only to let in God's cheerful sun to raise the drooping spirit, +and warm and soothe the troubled soul. + +But it is difficult, when oppressed by sorrow and affliction, to lift the +heart and mind to things above. Nature of itself tends downward, and +unless it has learned to discipline itself and to engage with the enemy in +sturdy battle, it is not yet prepared for life. For the world is a +battlefield and life a warfare, even from a natural point of view, and +only they can hope to win in life's hard contest who have learned to brave +the battle, who have prepared themselves for conflict. But who is ready +for the struggle, and how shall we be able to encounter our foes? Left to +ourselves and to our own resources, we shall surely go down in defeat. The +opposing forces are too gigantic, too numerous. They throng from near and +from afar. They swarm from within and from without; from our own nature +and from others, from the world around, and from our own household; from +those at home, and from them that are abroad. Frequently during life we +are, of a certainty, encompassed round with perils; we hardly know where +to turn or what to do, we are breathless with fright; but even then, if we +have proper faith, we shall grow calm, like the shepherd's flock in the +midst of devouring animals and beasts of prey, for our Saviour and +Shepherd is with us, and no evil can befall us. Even when we think Him +farthest, He is often nearest; when we think Him sleeping, His heart is +watching. He loves us, His weak and timid sheep; we are the objects of His +heart's affection and ever active solicitude; He will not let perish, if +we trust Him, the price of His precious Blood. + +And the training we are to receive, and the preparation we are to make, in +order worthily and victoriously to engage in the battle of life are +nothing, therefore, but lessons of love and trust in the constant goodness +and faithfulness of our divine Saviour. Unless we viciously drive Him away +by deliberate, grievous sin, He is really never absent from us, and least +of all when we need Him most. It is our fault, if we do not by faith +discern Him, if we do not feel His ever-gracious presence. We need to +discipline ourselves in acts and deeds of faith and love, and then we +shall realize that He is always near us, even in the darkness of the +shadow of death. + +We must try to know our Shepherd, first of all; we must endeavor +intimately to understand Him. For to have faith in Him, to trust Him, to +believe in His power and goodness, in His overruling care for us and our +interests, presuppose a knowledge of Him, just as faith and confidence in +an earthly friend follow upon an intimate acquaintance with that friend. +But this close knowledge of our Master, so necessary to our present peace +and future happiness, will never be ours unless we make Him our confidant, +unless we accustom ourselves to live in His presence, to look to Him, to +speak to Him often, to listen to His gracious direction. And this intimate +relationship with our Saviour, this habitual communion with Him, will +enkindle in our souls the fire of love. Once we know Him, we will trust +Him, and having faith and confidence in Him, we will link our poor lives +to His divine life by the strong cords of heavenly charity. Fear and +uncertainty will then be impossible, even in the darkest hours. + +It is love, above all, that directs our life--love, indeed, which is born +of knowledge. We do not, it is true, love anything before we have some +knowledge of it; this would be an impossibility; but once the soul has +caught the vision, it is love that drives the life and stimulates and +enriches the knowledge. The objects of our affections are the interpreters +of our life and actions. If we love the world, we are led by the world; if +we love God, it is God that leads and directs us. Where the treasure is, +there will the heart be also;(42) and where the heart is, thither will the +life make its way. But if God is the object of our love, we shall fear no +evil; for "God is charity," says St. John, "and he that abideth in +charity, abideth in God, and God in him ... Fear is not in charity; but +perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain."(43) + +It is only the love of God, therefore, that will steady our lives, and +bear us up in the thick of tribulations. It is the confident assurance +that we, although so unworthy, are the objects of divine complacency that +awakens in our hearts a return of burning charity, and enables us to say, +with the Psalmist, when the day is darkest "The Lord is my light and +salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of +whom shall I be afraid?"(44) We are not to fear men, said our Lord, who, +when they have destroyed the body, can do no more;(45) neither shall we be +in dread of our Master, if armed with the gift of His love, "for fear hath +pain, but love casteth out fear." Rather shall we, like the martyrs of +old, mindful of the gift of God, go bravely forth to the battle of life, +or to the slaughter, calmly, hopefully, cheerfully. While humbly, but +steadfastly trustful of the Shepherd that leads us, we shall not be +disturbed or troubled; the present shall be shorn of its terrors, the +future of its forebodings. This truly is the triumph of life, when love, +not fear, has come to rule us. This is the broader, larger life--the +forerunner of life eternal in which our days are passed in calm +serenity--in which we press on with undaunted tread, alike under frowning +clouds, or under a star-lit sky; alike with the joys of friendship around +us, or alone amidst the graves of the dead. + +We must not infer from this that the love of God which is our strength, +the source of our courage, will blunt our feelings or harden our lives. It +does not seal up the fountain of tears, or make us insensible to the pains +and sorrows of life, which belong to the lot of all. In a certain sense it +is likely true that those suffer most in life who are most united to God; +for they feel most the coldness of the world and its desolation, its want +of love and sympathy, its degradation and its misery. Hence it would be a +mistake to think that the friends of God in this life are either exempted +from pain and sorrow, or made insensible to them, either in themselves or +in others. Of these and other evils they are truly more keenly aware than +worldly men, if for no other reason than because of the superior +refinement of their nature and the spiritual outlook of their vision. It +is sin, after all, that hardens while it weakens. Sin closes the heart to +love, it renders its victims cold, unsympathetic and selfish; whereas the +gifts of grace and holiness are tenderness, mercy, strength. But though +all have to suffer, both the holy and the unholy, the difference between +them is this, that the ungodly are borne down and overcome by their +sorrows and crosses, while the spiritual are always triumphing even in the +midst of apparent defeat. To the foolish they seem to be vanquished, yet +they conquer; often they seem on the verge of surrender, when they emerge +in victory; they seem to die, when behold they live!(46) + +The spiritual man, then, does suffer; he suffers in the cause of God; he +suffers for others and for himself. More than this, it is doubtless true +that he feels his crosses more keenly, he grieves more profoundly, than do +the children of the world; but through it all he remembers his Saviour and +is comforted. He knows that the tribulations of the just are many, and +that from all these the Lord will soon deliver him,(47) and he shall not +be confounded forever. + + + + + +VIII. THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME. + + +It is already plain to us that the sorrows and sufferings of the present +life are, without doubt, the result and consequence of sin. That we should +pass our mortal days so full of pain and tears, that our fellow-man, that +the beasts of the field and the elements, which we need and use as helpers +and servants, and most of all that our own nature, with its passions and +evil tendencies, should rise up against us and oppose us, was assuredly +not a part of the original plan. As a wise and all-powerful Designer and +Creator, God founded the world after a masterful fashion--devoid of evil, +free from defect, perfect according to the plans framed in Heaven. The +hills and mountains He founded and set on their bases; the streams and +rivers and valleys He formed, all rich and lovely, intended for the +comfort and happiness of man; the blue deep He constructed and beautified +with its millions of shining wonders; and in all these stupendous +creations, in all the diverse works of His mighty, omnipotent hands there +was in the beginning no trace of fault, of defect, of error or sin. The +upheaval came when man disobeyed and wrought the commencement of all our +woe. And hence it is to man's first disobedience and the fruit of that +forbidden tree, that we owe all the evils from which our nature suffers +and to which our flesh is heir. + +But although we know the source of our sorrows and feel the guilt of our +sins, this does not make our burden lighter or shorten the path of our +pilgrimage. We are confronted by the problem of labor and suffering as +soon as we enter the world. No one is entirely exempted; and, strange as +it is, we see that it frequently happens, that those are most afflicted +who are farthest removed from the wickedness of the world and purest in +the sight of God. "Many are the tribulations of the just;" and how true is +it that the very fidelity of the servants of God is often an occasion of +their sufferings! It is not wonderful that sorrow and fear should be the +portion of sinners throughout the length of their days, for "contrition +and unhappiness are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not +known;"(48) but that all, even the saints of God, should suffer alike and +be oppressed with miseries is, at first sight, a problem and a baffling +mystery. + +It is something, indeed, to feel in our suffering that we are paying the +debt of our sins, whether personal, or original, or both; it is much to +know that our crosses, severe and inevitable as they are, are a curb to +our wayward nature, and a restraint against further sins; it is assuredly +a great privilege and a high honor that we, unworthy and unfaithful +servants of our Master, should, through our tears and sorrows and +sufferings, be enabled to conform our poor lives to the tearful and +sorrowful life of our Saviour; it is a comfort that words cannot tell to +be assured by our faith that in the midst of pains and perils the Shepherd +of our souls is ever near to shield, to guard, and to save--all this is +surely much--enough to encourage and strengthen us daily to take up our +cross and joyfully follow our Redeemer, even to the hill of Calvary, even +to the death of the cross. But this is not all. A deeper meaning lies +hidden behind the veil of tears, beneath the cloak of pain and sorrow. The +miseries of life are not a mere inheritance, neither is their value of a +purely negative character. We instinctively feel that somehow, somewhere +beyond the scope of mortal ken, there is a higher explanation and a more +valid justification for all the failures and pains and sorrows of life, +than that which appears on the surface of things, or issues in results +that are only negative. Suffering for its own sake was never intended; and +we were not made to suffer. We were not created for misery, but for +happiness; not for failure, but for victory; not for death, but for life; +not for time, but for eternity. And hence there is a deeper meaning, a +higher explanation for all the failures and miseries of the present life +than those that are apparent to the casual observer. + +In the title of this chapter the Psalmist, referring to the shepherd's +care for his sheep, says: "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." The +staff the shepherd uses, as already explained, is to assist the sheep +along their perilous journeys, and the rod to protect them in case of +attack. The rod and the staff are necessary for the welfare of the flock, +necessary to guide and shield them in their wanderings, and to bring them +safely home. So too, it is with us, the children of God. To be properly +protected and guided to our happy end we have need of the rod of +affliction and adversity, and likewise of the staff of mercy. + +Although human miseries--pain, poverty, suffering and death--are, as we +know, the consequences, just and equitable, of original sin, it is a +shortsighted faith and a defective vision that find in these crosses only +chastisement for sin. Truly, they should not have been, had we never +sinned; but as God, in His mercy, draws good out of evil, so has He made +these inevitable results of our transgression serve a higher purpose and +minister to noble ends. The Saviour came that we might have life, that we +might progress and advance to ever fuller and more abundant life.(49) His +aim, and the aim and purpose of His heavenly Father, since the very dawn +of our creation, has been to lead us to happiness--to perfect, abundant, +eternal happiness. It would be of little account to be happy here, unless +we are also to rejoice eternally. It would be a poor exchange and a paltry +satisfaction, to be present at the feasts of men, only to forfeit our +place at the banquet of angels. But our heavenly reward and our celestial +crown are to be merited and won here below; they are to follow upon our +earthly labors. "Only he shall be crowned," says St. Paul, "who has +legitimately engaged in the battle."(50) And did not the Master say +Himself, "Let him who wishes to come after me deny himself and take up his +cross and follow me?"(51) Did He not declare that we must die to live? +that we must surrender our life here, if we would keep it eternally? +"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the +ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die it bringeth forth much +fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life +in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal."(52) We cannot serve two +masters, we cannot serve God and mammon. If we would seek to avoid all +pain and sorrow, and spend our lives in the pleasures of sense, we must be +prepared to forego the future joys of the soul; if we would pass our days +indulging the flesh and chasing the phantoms of time, we must needs make +ready for the death of the spirit and the forfeit of all that is lasting. + +We have no choice, then; if we would succeed eternally, we must follow the +way of the cross. This is the only way to life--to that abundant, celestial +life which our Creator has wished us to live. And it is the bearing of our +cross, patiently and resignedly to the will of God, together with our +other good works, that enables us to merit, in so far as we can, the joys +of the kingdom of Heaven. But the sufferings and labors, so inevitable and +necessary to our earthly state, which serve as a means to supernal +rewards, have still another, deeper meaning, and serve another purpose. We +cannot evade them, we must encounter them. They are not only unavoidable, +but necessary to our dearest interests, as we see, since they are strewn +as thorns and brambles all along the narrow way that leads to eternal +life. We cannot choose them or lay them aside at will. We may, indeed, if +we be foolish and impious enough, refuse to walk the narrow way of the +just and choose the broad road that leadeth to destruction; but we shall +not even thus escape the pains and perils inseparable from this mortal +life. Or again, we may, in our folly, rebel against the crosses and labors +that confront and pursue us; but whether we go this way or that, whether +we will it or not, we can no more eschew all the evils of life than escape +from the air that we breathe. The pressure, it is true, is not always upon +us; we are not, without ceasing, weighed down by our labors and groaning +to be delivered from the body of this death. There is interruption, there +is passing pleasure, a rift in the clouds and a smile of the sunshine even +for the darkest and poorest life. And yet withal, we know and we are +conscious that we are ever under the sentence of death, that life is a +fleeting shadow, that like + + + "A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, + Man passes from life to his rest in the grave." + + +There is no evading the conclusion, therefore, that the days of man in +this world are few and full of miseries. "The life of man upon earth is a +warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. He cometh forth +like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow."(53) "For all +flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The +grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away."(54) To the +natural man all this is appalling, and how frequently it finds its +solution in unbridled self-indulgence, in mental unbalance, and +self-destruction! But the saints, and all the truly wise, have viewed the +problem of human suffering in a vastly different light. They have +discerned it, first of all, as really distinctive of the road to Heaven, +and as essentially pertaining to the royal way of the cross. They have +understood that it extinguishes the wrath of the heavenly Father, that it +atones for sin and makes the soul conformable to our suffering Saviour, +and therefore have they loved it. And more than this, those who have been +led by the wisdom of God have found, not only that the crosses of life are +essentially connected with the way of salvation, but that by them and +through them alone we are often _positively driven_ to God. We may try to +avoid them, and at times, perhaps, succeed; we may flee from them or +endeavor to still the voice of their pain; or, when unable to escape them, +we may, in our wrath and desperation, rise up against them and rebuke +them: but they persistently remain, they continue to haunt, as if to woo +and to win us to penetrate their deeper meaning, and discover the treasure +that in them lies concealed. The very breakdown of human things, the +severing of human ties and relationships, the loss of health and wealth, +of treasures and friends, and of all that life holds dear, are really +meant, in the deepest sense, to drive us to the divine. This is the +meaning of those tears and sorrows, those pains and sufferings, that +loneliness, that grief, that agony of heart and soul which belong to this +world of tears. All these are intended to teach us that here below, on +this crumbling shore of time, we have no abiding city, or home, or life, +or love; but seek a city, a home, a life, a love that hath foundations, +whose builder and maker is God.(55) + +We need God, we were made for God, and our nature, with all its longings +and powers, cries out for Him. And therefore has God so arranged the +world, in spite of all its evils, and in spite of all our sinfulness, +that, if we do not prevent it, it will lead us out to happiness--lead us +out to Himself. It was our sin that despoiled the face of the world; but +God, in His mercy, has drawn good out of evil, He has made the effects of +sin minister to our advantage, if we will but have it so. We may, +forsooth, refuse, because we are free; we may object, and rebel, and +oppose our lot; we may take our destiny out of the hands of our Creator +and attempt to shape it for ourselves; we may deride and despise the +humble, the lowly of heart, the patient, the mortified and the suffering; +we may upbraid the Providence of God and its workings, and refuse to +submit to the rule of the Creator; we may hold in derision and contempt +the little band that is sweetly marching the way of the cross, preferring +for ourselves the company of the multitude that knows not God--all this can +we do, because we are free; but if such be our choice, and if we persevere +in it, our portion is fixed, and we shall have at last only to say with +the wicked: "Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light +of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not +risen upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and +destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we +have not known. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the +boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a +shadow, and like a post that runneth on."(56) + +Sufferings, therefore, are common to all, to the good and the bad, to the +wise and the foolish, to the children of light and to the children of +darkness. But only those who are directed by grace and light from above +are able to pierce the deeper meaning of the cross. All have to bear it, +but not all understand it; all feel the weight of it, but all do not know +the power of it. Like fortune, it knocks at every door, into every heart +it endeavors to enter and make known its deeper significance, its hidden +secrets, lest any of us should suffer in vain, and our lives be altogether +a failure. To be able to suffer patiently and gladly for God's sake, is +thus a great wisdom; it is a sign of future blessedness. It is the wisdom +of God, which is foolishness to men. "If thou hadst the science of all the +astronomers," says Eternal Wisdom; "if thou couldst speak and discourse +about God as fully and well as all angels and men; if thou alone were as +learned as the whole body of doctors; all this would not bestow on thee so +much holiness of life as if, in the afflictions that come upon thee, thou +art able to be resigned to Me and to abandon thyself to Me. The former is +common to good and bad, but the latter belongs to My elect alone." + +We know that our Saviour took upon Himself the cross of sorrow and +suffering, not alone that He might satisfy for our transgressions and be +our ransom from bondage, but also that He might be unto us an example and +a leader. And knowing that our unfaithfulness had incurred severest +maladies from which none could escape, He bore our infirmities and carried +our sorrows for us, in order that we, in our time, might bear our +inevitable afflictions for His sake, for love of Him, and thereby attain +to unending glory with Him. "For the spirit himself giveth testimony to +our spirit, that we are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also; heirs, +indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with him, +that we may be also glorified with him."(57) "If you partake of the +sufferings of Christ," says St. Peter, "rejoice that when his glory shall +be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."(58) The chains of +sorrow which bind us here below, our Shepherd thus would turn to golden +cords of love, which draw and hold us to Himself. We cannot, as we see, +ascend to Heaven, rise to blessedness, except by the way of the cross. And +our degree of glory in Heaven, the eternal happiness which we shall enjoy, +will be in proportion to the degree of charity or love of God which our +souls possess at death; and this divine charity, which is to measure our +future beatitude, is acquired and augmented by faithfully doing the will +of God--by patiently and lovingly bearing the cross of life. Sacrifice is +the test of love. And hence the more we do and suffer for Christ's sake, +the more we prove our love for Him and the greater shall be our happiness +in the kingdom of His Father. All holy writers, all the masters of the +spiritual life agree in teaching that God particularly chastises those +whom He loves with a special love. He proves the elect to find if they are +worthy of Himself.(59) He does not spare them now, that He may spare them +hereafter; He tries them for a time, that He may reward them forever; He +seems harsh with them here, during the time of probation, only that He may +draw them closer to Himself everlastingly. + +The devoted friends of God and the ardent lovers of things spiritual have +deeply pondered these momentous truths. They have realized that our days +here, though few and fast-flying, are really to determine our lot and +condition throughout the eternal years. They have known that the passing +present is the price of the lasting future; that this is the seeding time, +and hereafter the harvest. And because our future happiness is to be in +accord with our merits here acquired, jealously have they sought and +embraced every present occasion to increase their merits and their +worthiness for the glory that is to come. This is why they have loved the +cross, the symbol of salvation, the emblem of victory; this, too, is why +they have felt disturbed and full of fear when the cross was absent from +them. Unlike the unenlightened sufferer, who sees only punishment in his +pains, the saints of God have ever accepted their crosses as a sign of +special love, a divine visitation, a preparation for the great communion. + +We see now how it is that the rod of chastisement and the staff of mercy +are able to give joy and comfort to God's chosen friends; and thus are +they designed to console and comfort everyone who is truly led by faith +and love. Sufferings are really a blessing, but the eye of faith alone +discerns it. They keep us from present pleasures, from hurtful occasions, +from alluring vanities; they direct us into the way of salvation, they +drive us to God, they increase the glory of our eternal blessedness. What +are the trials of earth when compared with the joys of Heaven? Rather, how +precious are they! since, if we use them aright, they lead us out into a +higher life, to a closer friendship with God. And if, through the mercy of +our heavenly Father, we permit the cross to lead us to His knees and +enrich our lives with His love, who can speak its infinite value? What +treasure can be likened to it? Surely nothing that we know can surpass it +in worth. We might, indeed, enjoy all that life can give; we might possess +all riches, all health, all success; we might have honor, fame, glory, +power; the praise and love of men, the treasures of earthly friendship and +earthly affection--the whole world we might gain and enjoy; but if through +all these, or in spite of all, we should not be led to the love and +friendship of God, we should know only vanity, and life for us would in +its issue be nothing but a dismal failure. + +But if, on the contrary, through the sufferings and losses, the +deficiencies and limitations of life, we have been led to make God our +dearest friend, if we have been taught, by the coldness and harshness of +men, to take refuge in His love, how blessed are we! how cheaply the +purchase has been made, even though it has meant the loss of every passing +good, of all that the world can give, even the pouring out of our own +life's blood! + +Teach me, O my Master, in the day of sorrow and tribulation, to understand +the meaning of the cross, to know the value of my sufferings, to grasp the +power and the secret of Thy rod and Thy staff. Assist me to see Thee +through the darkness that surrounds me; and give me to feel, in the midst +of loneliness and perils, amid pain and desolation, the nearness to my +soul of Thy loving-kindness, and the strength of Thy merciful presence. + + + + + +IX. THOU SPREADEST BEFORE ME A TABLE IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES. + + +In the preceding verses of the Shepherd Psalm the Psalmist has described +the constant care of the shepherd for his sheep--the rest and refreshment, +the protection and comfort he provides for them. And now, in the present +verse, he speaks of a feast he has prepared for them, which is to be +likened to a bountiful banquet--a banquet which they are to enjoy, a feast +which they are to consume, in the sight of their enemies, in the presence +of the evils that afflict them. He refers, at first, to the manner of +preparing or spreading a table in the Orient. Often the custom of olden +times was not much different from that which prevails among the Arabs even +today. To prepare a table means with them simply to spread a skin or a +cloth or a mat on the ground. + +And it is to this kind of table that the Psalmist refers when he sings of +the feast of the sheep. He means nothing more than that he has provided +for his flock in the face of their enemies a rich pasture, a spreading +slope, where they shall feed with contentment and peace, in spite of the +evils that surround them. + +But the quiet and peace which the sheep enjoy, while partaking of their +spread-out banquet, are entirely owing to the protecting presence of the +shepherd. And it frequently happens that here again the utmost skill and +diligence of the shepherd are called into play in thus securing the peace +and safety of his flock. The most abundant pastures are many times +interspersed with noxious weeds and plants, which, if eaten, would sicken +and poison the herd; while around the feeding places and grazing grounds +very often lie hid, in thickets and holes and caves in the hillsides, wild +animals, such as jackals, wolves and panthers, ready to spring out, at the +critical moment, and devour the innocent sheep. The shepherd is aware of +all these evils and enemies of his tender flock; and he goes ahead and +prepares the way, avoiding the poisonous grasses, and driving away, or +slaying, if need be, the beasts that menace the peace and security of the +pasture. The evils are not entirely dispelled, but only sufficiently +removed or held in check so as not to imperil the flock. + +Such is the table prepared for the sheep by their provident and watchful +shepherd; and such is the feast of which they partake with quiet joy in +the sight and presence of their enemies. But, as just said, the tranquil +joy which is theirs comes not from the fact that danger has been all +removed, nor from the fact that they have become hardened and used to its +presence. They know it is always near; and they are conscious, as far as +animals can be, of their own utter helplessness, if left to themselves, to +survive an attack of their powerful enemies. But they do not fear, they +are not disturbed or anxious, solely for the reason that they feel their +shepherd is present, and they know he will guard and protect them. Hence +the Psalmist is speaking for the sheep when he says to the shepherd with a +tone of confident joy, "Thou spreadest before me a table in the presence +of mine enemies." + +The spiritual meaning of this, like the other verses of the Shepherd +Psalm, is peculiarly descriptive of our Lord, the Good Shepherd of human +souls. He, in a manner altogether divine, precedes His elect, and prepares +them the way of salvation. He does not deliver them from enemies and +dangers, which would be unnatural in the present state, but He makes use +of evils, as said before, to increase the perfection of His chosen souls. +Gradually, step by step, from a natural He leads them to a higher +state--from diffidence to trust, from fear to love, from sorrow and anguish +to peace and joy. + +The change in the soul is rarely at once and immediate; it does not come +of a sudden. At first it is difficult and repugnant to nature to find joy +in sorrow and pleasure in pain, to see gladness in tears and rest in +disturbance, to find peace in the midst of our enemies; but God, in His +omnipotent goodness, so disposes and provides for the souls of His elect +that sooner or later they penetrate to the meaning of things, and find +there their hidden treasure. When the fabric of life itself has crumbled +to its native dust, when friends have gone and charms departed, when the +very earth we tread seems trembling beneath our feet, and every dream of +earthly bliss is fled, when enemies sit where loved ones sat, and the +heart has all but ceased to beat, then is the acceptable time and +propitious moment, for the devout and faithful soul, that has washed its +garments in the blood of the Lamb, to look up to Heaven with expectant +joy. The thrilling vision of eternal love so much desired, so long perhaps +delayed, is then, indeed, about to dawn. + +The sweetness of God and the peace of His spirit are not to be found in +the market place, nor in the noise and clamor of the busy street. It is +not at the banquets of earthly kings that we taste of the joys of the +Saviour's feast. It is not amid honors and riches and the pleasures of +sense that the calm dews of Heaven refresh the soul. We were made for a +higher friendship, for a more intimate union, for a sweeter companionship +than any that earth can provide. And it is only when the door has been +shut to the outer world, when the vanities of time have ceased to be +sought, that the soul is ready for the wedding garment, and able to +prepare for the marriage feast. It is in the inner sanctuary and alone, +divested of fleshy trammels and freed from the bondage of earthly +attachments, that the soul is able to meet its God and hold intimate +converse with Him. + +There are few, comparatively, out of the multitude of souls that are +called to the feast which is spread for them, that ever sit down at the +Master's table. Many are invited, and the servant is sent out at the hour +of supper to say to them that were called, that all things are ready, and +that they should come; but they tarry, they are not ready, they begin to +make excuses and wish to be held excused. Some are entangled in perishable +riches and cannot leave their possessions; others are preoccupied with +worldly affairs and must not neglect their business; still others are +pursuing the pleasures of earth, and have no time for the things of +Heaven. But the feast is not for these, after all. The Master invites +them, He calls them, He sends His ministers in search of them, He reproves +and chides them, He thunders against them to make them hear and obey; but +they will not come, they shall never taste of His banquet. He has not +spread a table for the proud, the haughty, the arrogant; He cannot meet in +loving communion the worldly, the sensuous, the lovers of ease and hurtful +pleasures. Such as these are not prepared to meet Him; they would be out +of place and ill at ease in His company, they do not like His society.(60) + +To be able to come to the Master and to sit at His feast there is need of +preparation. The garments of the world must be changed for the garments of +Heaven, the ways of men must be made to yield to the ways of God. For what +is wisdom with men is foolishness with God,(61) the weak things of earth +are the strong things of Heaven, the outcast of the world are the chosen +of the Father Almighty. And hence our Saviour under the figure of the +master in the parable who prepared a great supper, says of all those who +will not hear Him, who neglect His divine inspirations and despise the +call of His ministers, that they shall never taste of His feast. But who, +then, shall sit down at His table? for whom has He prepared the banquet? +He tells us Himself, that those who shall partake of His supper are the +lowly, the humble, the poor, the lame, and the blind; the despised of men +and the outcast of the people; those who have known sorrow and suffering +and penance, who have found the way of the cross and embraced it; who, for +the kingdom of Heaven and the love of Christ crucified, have given up +father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters; yea, +and their own life also, that they might inherit everlasting crowns that +fade not away.(62) + +St. Paul was one of these masterful spirits, who surrendered all that he +had, all that he prized most dearly for love of Christ and His service. +"The things that were gain to me," he says, "the same have I counted loss +for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the +excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the +loss of all things, and count them but as waste, that I may gain +Christ."(63) What a struggle, too, was that which St. Augustine describes, +speaking of his own conversion! The parting with those sinful delights +which had hitherto held him in chains was like the forfeiture of all he +possessed, and it seemed to him that life thereafter would not be worth +living; yet he generously and vigorously gave them up that Christ might +become his possession. He has also described for us the change. "How +sweet," he says, "did it at once become to me to want the sweetness of +those trifles, which to lose had been my fear, but which to have lost was +now a joy! Thou didst cast them forth from me, oh Thou true and highest +sweetness! Thou didst cast them forth, and in their stead didst enter in +Thyself, sweeter than all pleasure!"(64) + +It is such as these, heroic souls, who for the sake of God and His +kingdom, have made the world their enemy, that compose the company of the +elect. And for these alone it is that the Shepherd of souls has spread a +table of rest and peace, even in this life, of which they partake in the +sight of their enemies, in the presence of those who think evil of them, +who despise and deride them, in the sight of the world which hates them. +These holy souls, the elect of God, whom the Father has chosen for +Himself, have learned, through the trials and losses of life, the lessons +of peace and detachment which crosses are intended to teach. They have +learned, by exclusion and retirement from worldly festivities and +pernicious delights, to draw near to God, out of love for His beauty and +mercy, or if only to ease their breaking hearts and dispel the loneliness +of their forsaken lives. In the words of the Psalmist, they have tasted +and seen that the Lord is sweet, and that there is no one like unto +God.(65) With the image of the Crucified before their eyes and conscious +of the presence of their loving Shepherd, they greet with delight the +sufferings that oppress them, and they feast in peace in the presence of +their enemies. They know that all is arranged or permitted by the hand +that guards them, and by the One that loves them; and, though He slay +them, yet will they trust Him.(66) For what can happen to those that love +God? what evil can befall them? Angels have charge over them to keep them +in all their ways.(67) + +It is confidence, therefore, in their Saviour and God that gives peace and +tranquillity to the souls of the just. To know Him, to love Him, to trust +Him, to dwell in His presence and to please Him, throughout all the +vicissitudes and evils of life, are the objects of their constant actions +and the highest aspirations of their fervid souls. Confident of the favor +and protection of God, and rooted in His love, they despise all pain and +the threats of men; and in the midst of the battle of life they rejoice in +a peace of mind and soul of which the worldling cannot dream. The pasture +in which they feed, the banquet of which they partake are nothing else +than the love and friendship of God which nourishes and refreshes their +spirits when to every mortal eye they seem destitute, abandoned and alone. +And this peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding,(68) develops in +souls truly spiritual a habit of mind and a character of life that even +here below partake of the stability and calm sense of victory which, in +their perfection, belong only to the state of the blessed in Heaven. They +feel that all things are possible to them through Him that strengtheneth +them,(69) and that no temporal affliction, no power of man or any creature +shall wrest from them the feast which they enjoy. And hence they are able +to ask, in the confident words of the Apostle, "Who shall separate us from +the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or +nakedness; or danger, or persecution, or the sword ... In all these things +we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. Therefore we are 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, +which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."(70) + + + + + +X. THOU ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL; MY CUP RUNNETH OVER. + + +In these words the Psalmist alludes to one of the most touching offices +performed by the good shepherd towards his sheep. The day is drawing to a +close, the golden orb of light has sunk to rest, and the shadows are +creeping up the hills. The hush of night is falling round, and the +shepherd must gather his flock into the fold. The labors, the journeys, +the trials, the wanderings of the day are over, and now comes the time for +rest. It is a scene full of peace, and the sheep greet its approach with +feelings of restful anticipation. Many of them are foot-sore and lame; +many have received bruises and scratches during the journeyings of the +day; some have gaping and bleeding wounds from the attacks of wild beasts; +while others are simply tired out and exhausted from the long walks and +steep climbing of hills. The shepherd knows all this, and before leading +them into rest he takes care to see that the wounds of all are dressed and +soothed, so that nothing shall disturb the sweet repose of their sleep. +For this purpose he stands at the door of the fold as the sheep pass in. +He has olive oil and cedar-tar to use as healing ointments for their +wounds, and he has cool, refreshing water for those that are worn and +weary. Lovingly and tenderly he regards each member, as one by one they +enter into rest; and they that are wounded or over-weary he holds back +with his rod, till their scars and sores are duly cared for and made ready +for the night's repose. + +How closely these offices performed for the sheep by the shepherd resemble +the care of our Father and Saviour providing at the end for the souls that +He loves! He has been with them all through life, leading, guiding, +guarding, shepherding them at all times, going before them with the +blessings of goodness. And when at length the end approaches, they feel +the need of His loving-kindness perhaps more than ever before. Like the +shepherd's flock, their needs are many and various. Some souls there are +who, through the special grace of God, are able to pass their lives in +innocence and holiness, living in the world, yet not of it, dwelling in +the midst of men and in the sight of their wickedness and sin, yet +undefiled withal, beautiful witnesses of the power and love of Him that +strengthens and preserves them. + +But the majority are not thus favored. Notwithstanding all their graces, +they have been subject to falls--perhaps to many grievous falls; they have +suffered many wounds and bruises, they have had many tears to shed. +Multitudes there are, in fact, who come down to the verge of life, to the +very gate of death, sin-stained, racked and wounded, their life blood +ebbing out through sores and wounds which they themselves have made by +wilful open friendship with sin and vice, the deadly foes of their souls. +We have many varying examples of these straying souls. There is the type +of Mary Magdalen, of St. Peter, of St. Paul, of St. Augustine, who passed +a portion, brief or prolonged, of their mortal days far from the Father's +home, feeding on the husks of swine; but who, while yet in the vigor of +life, felt the touch of the merciful hand and heard the sound of the +loving voice, leading them, calling them back to God, back to the "beauty +ever ancient and ever new." Such souls as these, it is true, constitute +one class of erring, but repenting sinners; but there is another class +whose plight is far more pitiable. They are those long-delayed, but +finally repentant sinners, men and women who have lived their lives away +from the Church and its sacraments, who have grown old and gray in the +sins of their youth, and now, at the last, when death is coming, are +moved, by a special grace from Heaven, to weep for their sins and wasted +years before they enter their eternal abode. + +For each and all of these how important it is that the Shepherd should +stand at the door of the fold and bind up their wounds with His tender +grace before they pass through the portals of death! Scarred and wayward +children, victims of evil circumstances, creatures of vanity and of folly, +they realize at the end how impotent they are, how helpless in the +presence of the coldness of death to redeem or make sure the years that +are fled, unless He draw near and assist them who has sustained them in +life, and who is at once the author and the master of both life and death! + +But for all, without exception, the need of the Shepherd is imperative at +the end. The victory, the happy issue of life's struggle, "is not of him +that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."(71) +All may run, all may strive, indeed, for the prize of eternal life, but +none can be sure, short of the mercy of God, that he will be saved; none +can merit this crowning glory of life. Whether young or old, whether +favored or neglected, whether innocent or guilty, whether the life has +been dowered with special blessings and never known the stain of grievous +sin, or whether it has been eked out amidst deepest misery and defiled +with hateful crimes, the same uncertainty for all remains as to the manner +in which the end shall come. Men may reason and conjecture, from what they +see and know, that this one or that is in God's favor, and shall so +persevere to the end; that the members of a certain family, or class, or +station in life, are sure to be saved, and shall never fall short; but +that those of another class or condition shall, on the contrary, die as +they have lived, in the filth of their sins, to be forever in torment. But +these are the reasonings of men, which are of no avail in the sight of +God. It is only the Father in Heaven who knows the elect. He alone is able +to tell who shall remain to be crowned, and who is to be condemned. +Perseverance is a gratuitous gift of God, we cannot merit it. All our good +actions and holy deeds, which are performed in the state of grace and out +of a motive of charity, do, it is true, merit a reward in Heaven, they +tend to increase our blessedness hereafter; but just as it is not in our +power to merit the first grace, by which we are raised from a state of +sin, so are we utterly unable to do anything which shall secure for a +certainty the final grace, by which alone we can be saved. Wherefore the +Preacher said: "All these things have I considered in my heart, that I +might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and +their works are in the hand of God; and yet man knoweth not whether he be +worthy of love or hatred. But all things are kept uncertain for the time +to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, +to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that +offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so +also is the sinner; as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth."(72) + +This uncertainty as to the end of life, and of the gift of final +perseverance, all holy souls have felt. To die in the friendship of God, +and thence to enjoy His presence forever, is a gift of so transcendent a +nature, so far above our natural powers and utmost deserts that no +creature, which can at all conceive it, would dare claim it as a right. It +was this conviction that made the saints tremble to think of it. This it +was that prompted St. Paul to admonish the Philippians to work out their +salvation with fear and trembling,(73) and that also evoked from the same +Apostle those candid words concerning himself: "I chastise my body, and +bring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I +myself should become a castaway."(74) + +And have we not sometimes witnessed instances which, so far as man can +judge, give ground for this fear as to perseverance, and emphasize the +great truth that to die in God's favor is, indeed, a singular and a +gratuitous gift? How many have we not known who started well, but +terminated ill! How many are innocent and holy in youth and give every +promise of splendid manhood, but fade and drop, like poisoned flowers, ere +the age of maturity has dawned! How many are able to pass through the most +critical period of their lives, unshaken and undefiled, full of faith, +hope, love, purity; but who, when the age of security is thought to have +come, lose the grip which seemed so firm, turn to evil, yield to vicious +habits, and die reprobates of God! Look at King Solomon! Who was ever more +promising than he in his youth? Who ever gave fairer prospects of +continued holiness and of a beautiful end? He was so lovely, so amiable, +so favored of God in the morning of life; graced with such high +perfections, not knowing evil, a stranger to vice, a lover of sanctity, of +wisdom, and of grace. It would seem that he could never fall--he who was +the object of such unwonted favors, who dwelt so supremely in the smile of +Heaven. But lo, and behold the end of him who had received so many graces, +who chose wisdom as his handmaid that he might be guided aright! Behold +that youthful figure, so full of promise and goodly hope, praying to God +that he might never deviate from the ways of grace; and then see the +gray-haired apostate tottering to the grave, borne down by the weight of +his sins and of his years! And how many more there have been, like King +Saul, like Renan and Voltaire, and numerous others that we ourselves +perhaps have known, who were great and good in youth, and for a term of +years, but whose end was a miserable failure! + +Our perseverance, then, or the favor to die in the state of grace, is not +of ourselves, not the reward of our efforts, or of our good works, "but of +God that sheweth mercy." We must do all in our power to merit eternal +life; we must press on to the mark, waging ceaseless battle in behalf of +God and of our souls, even to the last moment; but for the happy end of it +all we must perforce rely on the tender mercy of God. This is why our +Lord, before He departed from earth, prayed to His heavenly Father for His +disciples: "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given me; +... I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world; but that +thou shouldst keep them from evil."(75) This same truth the Psalmist also +had in mind when he prayed: "Perfect thou my goings in thy paths, that my +footsteps be not moved."(76) + +It is this appalling uncertainty about the end and outcome of life, +together with our own inability to make them secure, that makes death so +terrible to the minds and thoughts of multitudes, even of Christians and +well-living persons. They fear to fall into the hands of the living God. +For them the present life may be not so attractive; on the contrary, it is +likely replete with pain and toil; but somehow they wish to linger here, +preferring that which is certain, although so miserable, to that which is +doubtful, perhaps awful and irreparable. So long as they continue in this +present world there is chance for change, there is hope of improvement. +But when death intervenes, and the soul is removed to the other life, all +hopes of change are swept away, and the lot of the soul is fixed for +eternity. There is, of course, a fear of death which is altogether +natural. Many dread death who pretend not to believe in a future life, or +even in the existence of God. And many there are whose lives are holy, and +who have not whereof they ought to fear, but for whom, nevertheless, the +very thought of death is fraught with all manner of terrors. As some are +naturally afraid in the absence of light, and tremble with fear at being +alone in a dark and lonely dwelling, or spot, or place, so there are many +who, without assignable reason, other than a native tendency, are appalled +at the thought of death. + +But when all due allowances have been made for the uncertainty of final +perseverance, and for the anxiety arising from natural temperament, it +seems not too much to say that, for the most part, the fear and dread of +death which haunts so many Christians can be reduced to two causes: a +defect of faith or a love of the world. It is one of these causes, or both +of them together, which alone can explain, in the majority of cases, why +such numbers of Christians and Catholics are unwilling to surrender the +present life, and are disturbed at the very thought of dying. Either they +do not realize by faith the surpassing glories of the life beyond--doubting +its reality, questioning its nature, misunderstanding the goodness and +mercy of God; or else they are so attached to the present existence that +all serious thought and desire for a better life are excluded from their +minds and hearts. Fenelon says that the condition of our spiritual life is +indicated by the answers we give to the following questions: "Do I love to +think of God? Am I willing to suffer for God? Does my desire to be with +Him destroy my fear of death?" We do not fear to meet or to be with one +whom we really love, for "love casteth out fear." There is no dread at the +coming of the parent or friend whom we truly love, unless, perchance, we +have offended him, and lack full faith that we have been forgiven and +reinstated in his favor and friendship. + +So it is with God. If we are unwilling to meet Him, or filled with fear at +the approach of His coming, it seems of a certainty that our faith is at +fault. Why should we not wish to meet Him who has made us, who loves us, +who has washed away our sins with His own blood, who alone can comfort our +trembling souls and fill us with every good? Perhaps we have sinned and +betrayed our Maker many times and grievously in our lives, and the voices +of those sins are haunting us, and bidding us beware of the hour of death +and of the judgment that follows. Perhaps there is a lurking suspicion +that we have not been forgiven, a temptation that we are not sincere, a +feeling that our sins are too grave to be pardoned, a conviction that we +do not belong to the company of the elect. We may have notions, moreover, +altogether severe, of the nature of God and of His justice; we feel His +immensity and sanctity, we have heard so much of His ineffable beauty, +that, weighed down with a sense of our nothingness, of our poverty and +misery and sinfulness, we cannot but shudder at the thought of appearing +in His presence. These and similar terrors may take hold of us and fill us +with a dread of death; but is it not clear that, whatever their cause, +these fears are born of a lack of faith? We do not trust, as we ought, the +Shepherd that loves us, we are not convinced of His mercy and kindness, if +we do not believe with child-like confidence that He stands ready ever to +forgive and bless the least of His children that humbly and sincerely seek +Him, asking for the help they need. The severity of God toward sinners +endures only so long as they refuse to acknowledge their guilt. His +harshness with them, like that of Joseph with his brethren, is but love in +disguise; and as soon as they are brought to own their guilt, that which +before was the anger of God is swiftly turned into His love and mercy. +Christ did not come to destroy, but to save. He will not crush the broken +reed, nor extinguish the smoking flax.(77) "As a father hath compassion on +his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him; for he +knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust."(78) + +But there is also the love of the world, which enslaves so many. So +numerous and so bewitching are the attractions of the present life that +they are loath to leave them. It is a beautiful world, this universe of +ours, so deep, so wide, so vast! It is filled with pleasures and +allurements and graced with myriad charms; and he, indeed, seems cold of +heart who can easily turn from its enchanting beauties, and close his ear +to its manifold voices. Ponder for a moment the richness of nature, its +similarity and variety, its sameness and its diversity; consider the +abundance of the harvest--the glowing fruits, the green and golden crops, +the sweet-scented flowers and gift-bearing grasses; see the stars above +and the waters beneath--all the wonders of earth and sky; and then when you +have ranged over fields and waves and mountains, when you have climbed up +the steeps of the sky and gazed on the marvels of the heavens, descend +again to earth and consider the human form--the chiefest work of the +Almighty hand, and the crown of the natural world. What beauties are here +concealed! What a mingling of material and spiritual, of human and almost +divine! What words can express, what lines portray the beauty of the human +countenance? Who can describe or adequately define the loveliness that +streams from human eyes, or echoes from the human voice? And yet these are +but the outer fringes and dimmest glimpses of the beauties of the soul +that dwells within. + +How painful, then, it is for the worldly to forsake the beauties and +pleasures of this present life. Bound down to their beds of clay by the +things of sense, they are grieved to part with a life so full of diverse +attractions. How can they think undismayed of closing forever their eyes +and ears to these charms of color and sound! It is such a difficult thing, +and so hard to nature, to abandon these scenes of enticing pleasure, to +bid farewell to those that are dear and be hurried away alone and forlorn +to the chill and gloom of the grave. + +So reason the children of the world; but are not their reasonings and +feelings a proof of their little faith, and of their poor conceptions of +spiritual and eternal interests? They do not want to leave the world, +because they love it; and they love the world, because their faith is too +weak to raise them to a vision of higher things. The plain on which they +stand is too low clearly to see the things of Heaven. How poor and +trifling at best is the earth and all it contains to Him who beholds with +a vivid faith the world above that is to come! How gladly does he lay down +his life and give up the struggle with ceaseless battles, who sees by +faith, just beyond the portals of death, the great home of the blessed, +spread out like a city on the mountains, bathed in light inaccessible, +full of joy and unending gladness, where "death shall be no more, nor +mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more."(79) + +The man of faith, therefore, is in no wise straightened or disturbed by +the approach of death. He has learned to know and to trust the good Master +whom he serves. Like the Apostle, he is only concerned that Christ should +be glorified in him at all times and in all things, "whether it be by life +or by death;" for to him also, "to live is Christ, and to die is +gain."(80) He lives in the world, but is not of it; he treads the ways of +earth, but he really belongs to the kingdom above. Hence his cup of +interior peace is ever running over. Though surrounded by many evils, he +does not faint; though tempted exceedingly, he does not yield; but is +joyous and peaceful withal; because at all times and in all things he +feels himself to be the faithful servant of God, "in much patience, in +tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, in strifes, in prisons, in +seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in +knowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity +unfeigned; ... as dying, and yet living; as chastised, and not killed; as +sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having +nothing, yet possessing all things."(81) + +"Precious in the sight of God is the death of His Saints." As they have +lived for Christ, they gladly welcome the summons that calls them home to +rest. Calmly and fearlessly they go down to death; joyously and with +feelings of exultation they hail the coming of Him on whom their thoughts +have rested throughout life, of Him whom they have ever seen by faith, +whom they have loved, whom they have trusted, whom they have chosen for +their own. Confident of the power and goodness of their faithful Shepherd, +pain daunts them not, the enemy frets them not. The last hour for them is +not one of darkness, but of light; it is not a time for lamentations, but +for joyous and gladsome strains. The end may be sudden, or it may be +gradual in its approach; it may come early, or late in life; it may be at +home or abroad; it may be in the winter, or it may be in summer; on the +sea or on the land; but to the just and spiritual it can never be a +surprise, it can never be lonely, never sad. It is the time for which they +have always longed--a time of liberation, of emancipation from the trammels +of earth and flesh, the end of continuous dying and the beginning of +lasting life. What a supreme moment, what a joyous event is death for a +just and holy soul! What sweet emotions must thrill the spirit, as the +Saviour stoops over the bed of death to wipe away forever the last of +earthly tears! Mary is there to hush the voice of reproach and to whisper +words of peace; Jesus has come to claim the soul and take it to Himself, +and flights of angels are waiting to sing it to its rest. + + + + + +XI. SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY SHALL FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE; AND +I SHALL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD UNTO LENGTH OF DAYS. + + +If the tender lambs and timid sheep of the shepherd's flock could speak +the sentiments of their innocent hearts, each one would certainly voice +the words which here the Psalmist has uttered for them all. Throughout the +live-long day, throughout all the days of their lives, they experience the +shepherd's goodness, they are the objects of his constant mercy. He has +been caring for them since their birth; he has led them out each morning, +since first they were able to walk; he has provided them with food, and +led them to water; and he has ever been present to shield them from harm, +and to protect them from their enemies. After such repeated experiences +and trials of his loving-kindness, they have grown accustomed to his +faithfulness and are filled with love of his goodness and mercy. And while +they have not the power of speech, and cannot by words express their +feelings, they do by the louder voice of action--by their quiet trust in +his care, by their habitual mildness and gentleness and quick response to +his every word, by the absence of solicitude and fear in view of his +presence--by these and all the other actions that speak their simple hearts +they show their love for their shepherd. Though often wounded and bleeding +and exhausted from the roughness and length of their journeys, they have +no distrust about the future, no fear for the morrow. In the midst of +distress the shepherd, they know, will provide. The Psalmist, therefore, +in the closing words of the shepherd song, gives utterance to the feelings +of the sheep when he sings: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all +the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord unto +length of days." + +But here, as in the opening verse of the Shepherd Psalm, the words of the +sacred Singer, although truly expressive of the sentiments of the sheep, +are more directly the expression of his own inner feelings, and of the +feelings of all faithful souls towards the Lord who rules and guides them. +All those whose lives have been really and sincerely led by faith, have, +like the shepherd's flock, grown trustfully accustomed, in the course of +years, to the goodness and mercy, to the faithfulness and love of the hand +that provides for them. As they look into their lives, and retrace the +steps they have taken, they cannot fail to see how God has been always +with them, patiently enduring their faults, mercifully binding up their +wounds and hurts, and lovingly leading, drawing them to Himself. They can +see their advancement, slow perhaps as it has been; and they know it is +God who has given the increase. Looking now at their lives through the +perspective of the years that are gone, how many problems they are able to +solve! for how many apparent mysteries they have found an explanation! All +those crosses and trials, all those struggles and battles with the enemy, +all those attacks from within and assaults from without, all, in fact, +that they have ever endured, their sins alone excepted, they now can +trace, through the light of faith, back to the hand of their Father in +Heaven. Not everything, forsooth, has yet been explained, but enough, +indeed, is sufficiently clear to remove every doubt from the faithful soul +as to the goodness and Providence of God. And hence she exclaims with the +Psalmist, out of the abundance of her faith and confidence, "Surely +goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall +dwell in the house of the Lord forever." + +It is doubtless a lack of implicit trust in God and divine Providence +which, more than anything else, accounts for the unhappiness and spiritual +barrenness of so many Christian and religious lives. Poor and scanty is +the fruit they yield, simply because they have no depth of soil, they are +not deeply and firmly rooted in faith and confidence in God. Like reeds +shaken by the wind, like houses built on the sand, they tremble and shake +with every blast, they are all but overturned by every tempest that rises. + +Nor is it wonderful that this should be so. The higher gifts of the spirit +come from God, and hence the good fruit which the spirit yields is also +traceable back to Him. "We do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from +thistles; and as a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, so neither can +an evil tree bring forth good fruit."(82) And just because the abundance +of the harvest of the spiritual life is dependent upon God as its giver, +is it strange that any distrust of Him and His Providence should be a +great hindrance to the soul's advancement, and to the bestowal of the +constant help it needs? Can God be pleased with those who do not confide +in Him, and who do not trust Him? Our Lord's own chiding words to His +disciples are a proof of His displeasure at any distrust in His power and +goodness. How often did He rebuke them for their want of confidence in +Him! How often did He accuse them reproachfully of their "little +faith,"(83) of being "slow of heart,"(84) of being an "unbelieving and +perverse generation!"(85) He was constantly pointing to their lack of +faith, reminding them that it was the source of their weakness, the cause +of their ignorance in things spiritual, the reason of their powerlessness +in the face of difficulties and against the enemies of their souls. It is +clear that Almighty God, being a generous and loving Father, must be +offended at those of His children who do not trust Him; and their want of +faith in Him is consequently the reason for His denying to them the help +which is the life of their souls, and without which they are powerless to +be useful servants in His vineyard. + +And this failure to confide in the goodness of God betrays itself in other +ways. Besides sealing up the fountains of special graces and closing the +door on divine generosity, besides a general unfruitfulness in the +spiritual life, and the lack of all greater works for God and for souls, +which are its immediate consequences, it also penetrates into the interior +sanctuary of the spirit, and weakens at their source the springs of +spiritual action. The results are manifest. Not only is there no yielding +of fruit, but growth is likewise wanting. And if, under fairer conditions, +there has ever been any progress, it is soon perceived to wither and wane +in a soul devoid of living faith. All the exercises and practices of the +Christian life participate in the baneful effects. Prayer and the use of +the sacraments are either seriously neglected or gradually given up, and +the blighting influences of irreligion rapidly spread and overrun all the +departments of life. The view one takes of God, the faith or lack of faith +and trust one has in Providence, have their effect on the character and +give a direction to all one's ways of thinking, feeling, acting, in regard +to the world we live in, in regard to mankind in general, in regard to the +causes, purposes, and destinies of all things. + +Our conceptions of Providence are vital, therefore. They really determine +what our life is to be, and they are an index to the life that is +finished. It is impossible that we should be quite the same whether we try +to eliminate God from our lives, or allow His blessed influence to cheer +and lead us on; whether we look upon Him as a cold Master, waiting to +exact and to punish, or as a kind Father and Shepherd, seeking to spare +and to save; whether we regard Him as hid far in the heavens, caring +naught for the creatures and the world He has made, or whether we conceive +Him as intimately bound up with all the works of His hands, although +distinct from them, as guiding and regulating everything, as tenderly +loving and providing for all the needs of our souls. + +Another most harmful result of deficient faith and confidence in God is +that it leads us to trust in creatures. It causes us to reverse the proper +order of things. We are dependent beings, and we instinctively feel our +deficiencies and the need of some one, or something on which to lean, at +times, and to which we can look for assistance. We may not be entirely and +always conscious of this tendency in us, we may be too proud or too blind +to admit it, or we may wish we could overcome it and rid our lives of so +constant a need; but whether we see it and acknowledge it or not, whether +we encourage it or try to repress it, the need is always there, deeply +engraved in our nature as creatures, and we cannot but seek to satisfy it. +There is none of us, frail beings that we are, who is entirely sufficient +unto himself. Sometimes, of course, the voice of our needs is silent, and +we feel that we shall never want; "I said in my abundance," observes the +Psalmist, "I shall not be moved forever;"(86) but when the tide begins to +ebb and prosperity subsides, how soon do we remember that we are dust! How +frequently in times of trouble, in times of illness and poverty and +suffering, when face to face with our foes, or when death steps in and +slaughters, are we made aware of our insufficiency, and of our utter +helplessness to live our lives alone and meet single-handed the burdens +and misfortunes of earth! It takes but a little frost to nip the root of +all our greatness, and then when our high-blown pride breaks under us we +quickly realize how fragile and insecure are the personal foundations of +our lives. Naturally and reasonably, therefore, did the pagan philosophers +conclude that friendship and friends were necessary to man. + +Profoundly aware of this fundamental need of help and support which is a +result of our nature, we habitually stretch out our hands to others, not +only during the years of infancy and childhood, but to a greater or less +extent throughout the whole period of our earthly existence. At first, of +course, it is to creatures that we necessarily look--to parents, relatives, +guardians, teachers, and later on, to friends and acquaintances. Our needs +in the beginning and in early years, though many and imperative, are +comparatively simple; they can be satisfied by those around us. But as we +advance to maturity and take in more completely the meaning of our lives, +and consider not so much the needs of the body as the demands of the soul, +we find that the multiple requirements of infancy and youth, which were +able to be supplied by those that were near, have given way to the fewer, +but vast and unlimited, claims of age, which express the wants of the +spirit. It is when we appeal to creatures for the complete and permanent +satisfaction of these latter necessities of our being, that we seriously +err, and open the way to disappointment and sorrow. Not that we are to +have no cherished and chosen friends, or that we should despise the needs +and gifts, the privileges and blessings of friendship, which in truth our +nature requires; nor again that we are to regard with skeptical, +disdainful eyes the world and human nature; but we must not deceive +ourselves by trying to find in any created being that which it does not +possess. We must not endeavor to get from any creature that perfect +satisfaction which we need, and which the Creator alone can give. Neither +must we seek to fill the unlimited capacity of our souls with those gifts +only, poor and defective at best, which frail mortals like ourselves are +able to supply. It is folly in the highest degree to expect from anyone +less than God that which only God can afford. + +The mistake, therefore, is made when creatures of any kind are allowed to +take the place of God; when they are sought and reposed in as an end in +themselves, and as sufficient satisfaction for the needs of the human +spirit. Unwise, indeed, is this mode of action, and bitter are the sorrows +of soul to which it inevitably leads! One man trusts in riches, another in +glory, another in the esteem of men; one leans upon his friends and +companions, another upon his relatives--all forgetful of the frail and +unsubstantial nature of every earthly prop. Frequently they never awaken +to the peril of their state until they find themselves face to face with +their doom and the awful disillusionment. The crash may be delayed, but +the day must come sooner or later for all of us, who have advanced but a +little beyond maturity, when all the natural lights of life go out, when +every human prop is removed, and we find ourselves out alone and in the +dark, so far as depends on the world and creatures. How miserable then +shall we be if we have put our trust in men! if we have tried to make +creatures play the part in our lives which only God can play! When we need +them most they fail us, when we fain would find beneath their protection a +shield against the fiery darts of life, behold they wither like the ivy of +Jonas and leave us alone in our want!(87) How vain, therefore, and +groundless is that confidence which is put in men, and how wretched that +poor man that hangs on princes' favors! "Thou trustest in money," says St. +Augustine, "thou holdest to vanity; thou trustest in honor, and in some +eminence of human power, thou holdest to vanity; thou trustest in some +principal friend, thou holdest to vanity. When thou trustest in all these +things, either thou diest and leavest them here, or in thy lifetime they +all perish, and thou failest in thy trust."(88) + +It is no despisal, then, of the needs and helps of earthly friends and of +our fellow-creatures to say that we should not put entire trust in them +for all the wants and demands of our being. They are good, they were made +by God, they are oftentimes able to assist us--nay, we need them to a +certain extent; but they are utterly unable to satisfy us completely, they +cannot if they would, simply because of the extent of our wants. And even +if creatures could give us a partial contentment, as at times they seem to +do, we know that it cannot last, and in the midst of our joy and pleasure +we are haunted by the thought that some day, soon at latest, it all must +pass away. We are seeking for rest, for peace, for happiness, and that +unending; we want something to steady our lives and satisfy the yearnings +of our souls forever: but we must not look for these things in the world, +for the world at best is passing away. There is no stability to human +things; the cloud and the storm swiftly follow the sunshine; we have not +here below a lasting habitation. Today we are sitting at the banquet of +pleasure, tomorrow we are draining the cup of sorrow; today we receive the +applause of men, tomorrow we may be the objects of their scorn; today we +put forth the tender leaves of hope, tomorrow there comes a killing frost +that ruins all our prospects. + +Such, then, is the lot of man when considered in his relations to +creatures and to the world. It is a lot full of uncertainty, of +instability, of vicissitude; but this should not make us skeptical or +cynical; it affords no justification for pessimism. It is a condition +arising, on the one hand, from the very nature of limited beings, and on +the other, from the vast potentialities of our souls, which, while they +are limited in giving to others, cannot be appeased except by the God who +made them. There is a craving in the heart of man for something which the +world cannot give. He clutches for the things that are passing, he toils, +he labors, he struggles; he strives for money, for power, for place, for +honor, not that any of these things are in themselves what he desires, but +only because he conceives them as means and helps to the satisfaction, to +the stillness of mind, and peace of heart, and rest of soul and body for +which his nature longs. Peace and happiness and contentment of life are +the objects of all our dreams, of our persistent efforts, of our ambitions +and aims; but until we give up the hope of finding these things in the +world, in our fellow-mortals, in anything short of God, we shall never +know the blessedness for which we yearn. If we would ever attain to the +state which we covet, we must learn the lesson, even though it be through +tears and sorrow, that God alone, who made our souls with all their vast +desires, is able to comfort us and steady our lives amid the storms and +distresses of earth. + +It is futile to trust in men, or "in the children of men, in whom there is +no salvation."(89) The peace and blessedness which we seek are "not as the +world giveth;"(90) and unless we turn away from the world and cease to +torture our lives with its vanities, our portion can never be other than +heartaches, secret loathing, consuming thirst. "For many friends cannot +profit," says Thomas a'Kempis, "nor strong helpers assist, nor prudent +counsellors give a profitable answer, nor the books of the learned afford +comfort, nor any precious substance deliver, nor any place, however +retired and lovely, give shelter, unless thou thyself dost assist, help, +strengthen, console, instruct, and guard us."(91) Such has been the +history of the race, and such is the experience of every individual in the +race that has placed his hope and trust in anything created. + +We are confronted, therefore, on the one side by the inherent weakness of +our own nature and the constant needs that arise therefrom; and on the +other side, we are assured by the history of the race, if not by our own +experience, that so long as we strive to satisfy our wants by an appeal to +anything but God we are doomed to disappointment and sorrow. It is +unfortunate that most people must first be crushed by the world and +creatures which they serve before they grasp the fundamental truth that +creatures are not their God. Comparatively few of those who enjoy the +world are ever brought to realize the dignity and divine purpose of their +souls until the world and its allurements, like a false pageant on a false +stage, give way beneath them, and they fall helpless and alone. It is +commonly only after repeated awful experiences, when worn out and +exhausted by years of fruitless quest for peace and happiness and +contentment, that men wake up to the simple fact that the treasures which +they seek are not in the world, nor as the world giveth. + +But it is one thing to turn away from the world disappointed, disgusted +and betrayed; and it is quite another thing to turn to God and to +recognize Him as our good Father and Shepherd, patiently waiting to +receive us, ever able and ready to satisfy our wants. There are many +people who find the world a disappointment and a deception, and who turn +from it with loathing and hate, but who fail ever to lift their weary eyes +to the proper object of their trust. Like the Israelites of old, they +succeed at length in escaping from the hands of oppression and tyranny, +but only to wander in a desert land throughout the length of their days. +This is the region where dwell the pessimist, the skeptic and the +cynic--miserable mortals that have wasted on creatures the talents they +should have given to their Creator, or that have otherwise failed in their +conception of life, and have left unmultiplied the money of the +Master.(92) There is plainly no middle course for us, if we would not +encounter disaster; we are not negative as to the necessities of our +nature; it is not enough for us to turn from positive harm, from the +objects that deceive and disappoint us; we must further turn to positive +good, and to Him who alone can quiet and appease our yearning spirits. + +One of the most evident and convincing reasons, then, why we should put +our trust in God above all else is that He alone can satisfy and give us +rest. Only God is able adequately to respond to all the needs of our +being. The simplest process of reasoning should assure us of this, when +once we perceive the vastness of our wants and the impossibility of their +satisfaction through the medium of created things. We know our nature, +which has come from the source and essence of truth, cannot be false. +Neither can our unlimited capacities for knowledge, for joy, for happiness +be a deceiving mockery. There is a way to peace for us, and a source of +supreme contentment; there is a fountain of living waters from which, if +we drink, we shall never thirst again. Hence our Saviour said: "Come to me +all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you;"(93) and +again, "he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not +thirst forever: but the water that I will give him shall become in him a +fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting."(94) + +But we shall never be able to come to God, we shall never succeed even in +getting near the secret of interior peace and contentment until we are +able to grasp more or less comprehensively the great basic truths of our +existence: that God loves each one of us with the love of an infinite +Father, and that His Providence is so universal and omnipotent as to +extend to all things, even to the numbering of the hairs of our head. We +talk much about chance and fortune and accident, we speak every day of +things happening, as if by the sheerest contingence, without warning or +previous knowledge; and so it is with reference to ourselves, and to all +the world perhaps: but with reference to divine Providence it is not so; +there is nothing accidental, nothing unforeseen with respect to God. +"Without Thy counsel and Providence, and without cause, nothing cometh to +pass in the earth,"(95) says the Imitation. But what does this mean, "God +provides?" It means that the will of the omnipotent Father directs and +governs everything. "Providence," says St. John Damscene, "is the will of +God, by which all things are fitly and harmoniously governed,"(96) and +such is its power that nothing can elude or deceive it, neither can it be +hindered or baffled in any way. "For God will not except any man's person, +neither will He stand in awe of any man's greatness; for He made the +little and the great, and He hath equally care of all."(97) + +And just as divine Providence disposes and governs all the events of life, +directing each to its proper end, so the divine Will is the cause of +everything that exists. Just as it is impossible that anything should +escape God's knowledge and directing hand, so is it impossible that +anything should exist or come into being without the direct intervention +or permission of His will. There is nothing in the world which God has not +made, and nothing takes place which is not according to His good-pleasure, +except the malice and guilt of sin. Even all the other evils of life, such +as sickness, suffering, disease, poverty, cold, hunger, thirst, and the +like, God actually and positively wills. And precisely because these +things proceed from His will, they cannot be bad. God is the author of all +good, and evil He cannot do. So good, indeed, is He that, if He were not +sufficiently omnipotent to draw good out of evil, He would never have +permitted any evil to exist. "God has judged it better," says St. +Augustine, "to work good out of evil, than to allow no evil."(98) We must +not argue in our foolishness and try to understand all the doings of God, +for His ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts.(99) It is +often beyond our power even to understand our fellow-creatures, and how +foolish it is to complain because we cannot comprehend the great Creator! +Enough for us, if we be sincere and right of heart, to know, as we do, +that God is good, that He loves us individually, and that His protecting +hand guides and governs all the events of our lives, even to the smallest +detail. These are truths which we must take hold of and lay close to our +hearts, else we shall go the way of error and issue in ultimate disaster. + +And from these truths, so certain and unquestionable, it further follows +that everything existing in the world, so far as it affects us, everything +that falls to our lot, all that we encounter, all that we suffer, all that +we do, aside from sin, has been purposely arranged by Almighty God for our +greater spiritual good and eternal salvation. This must be so, since God +is the universal cause of all things, and since He sincerely loves us and +desires above all to save us. If it were otherwise, either He would not +have omnipotent control of everything, or He could not be said really to +desire our salvation. How sadly we misunderstand these great truths in our +daily lives, when we murmur and complain at the evils that afflict us! How +narrowly we conceive the all-powerful will of God, and the infinite abyss +of His goodness which would lead us to eternal delights! We would like to +escape all the evils of time, we love our lives, and we wish to save them +from final wreck; but when failing to trust to the will of God we forget +the words of Christ, that "he that loveth his life shall lose it; and he +that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal."(100) We +want to save our souls, and we are, perhaps, much disturbed about doing +many and great things in the cause of God and of Heaven, unmindful the +while of the Master's warning that, "not every one that saith to me, Lord, +Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of +my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of +heaven."(101) It is doubtless our aim to draw ever nearer and nearer to +our Saviour, and to deepen our relationship with Him; but do we remember +that He said, "whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and +my sister, and mother?"(102) + +"Yes," you will say, "This is all true; I know it is so; my faith is at +fault. If I only had that beautiful faith and trust in God which many have +it would be easy for me, and I should be happy! Faith is a gift and +favored are they that possess it." But, dear reader, can you not pray? Can +you not ask from God that heavenly gift which will move mountains and +translate them into the sea?(103) Can you not overcome your indolence and +your repugnance, and patiently and persistently implore from on high that +superior vision which pierces the clouds and sees in everything the hand +of God? Surely you can say, with the devout author of the Imitation of +Christ, "Behold, Oh beloved Father, I am in Thy hands, I bow myself under +the rod of Thy correction. Strike my back and my neck too, that my +crookedness may be conformed to Thy will."(104) Here again, remember the +words of your Saviour, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the +violent bear it away."(105) + +Perhaps the greatest trial to our faith in divine Providence is in bearing +what we call the wrongs of life. That we should have any crosses to suffer +at all; that there should be death and sickness and disease; that there +should be poverty and misery, distress and worry, labor and sorrow; that +there should exist any of these things, is to our infirmity, if we forget +our sins and the sins of our race that have caused these evils, a trial +and a test of fidelity. But still more is it difficult, except to minds +that are deeply religious, to meet with the gentleness and serenity of +faith the positive injuries--the injustice, the scorn, the ridicule, the +pain and persecution which others, needy creatures like ourselves, +actually inflict upon us. It is easier, we say, to bear poverty than +insult; it is easier to suffer the inclemency of the elements than to +endure the unkindness of our brethren; it is easier to put up with the +pain and weariness of bodily sickness than to come under the lash of the +tongues of men. There is here, however, no room for hesitation and +question; the rule is the same for all the crosses that come to us. God +often permits us to be afflicted by the sins of others for our greater +spiritual profit. Since, therefore, all alike proceed from God, either by +positive act or divine permission, and since we know that He is supremely +good and loves us, having given every proof of His desire to save us, even +to the delivering up of His only Son,(106) we can never reasonably or +sincerely doubt that every evil and cross of life, with the sole exception +of our personal sins, has been arranged for our good. My God, do Thou +teach us the wisdom of the cross! "For this is a favor to Thy friend, that +for love of Thee he may suffer and be afflicted in the world, how often +soever and by whom soever Thou permittest such trials to befall him."(107) + +It is helpful that here also, in learning to discern the source and +meaning of our afflictions, we have ever before us the examples of the +holiest souls. We know that in all trials they steadfastly look beyond the +cross that presses them to the hand of Him who has placed it there. Like +the shepherd's sheep, they are convinced of the power and goodness of +their Master, and nothing can shake their trust in Him. Without +distinction or question they accept all as coming from God by special act +or sovereign permission, to purify them, to detach them from the world and +creatures, to increase their nearness and likeness to Himself, to multiply +their merits for Heaven and bring them to everlasting crowns. They +discover the workings of Providence everywhere, in things that are +painful, as well as in things that are pleasant to nature. Thus behind +their pangs of body and mind, behind the whips and scorns of time, behind +the tongue that slanders and calumniates them, behind the oppressor's +wrong, the injustice and tyranny of princes and rulers, behind all the +evils of life they see the hand of Him who directs and governs all. But +here we must not conclude that the Saints and holy persons have never +resisted evil and evil-doers, and that consequently we must not. This +would be a serious mistake, as Church history and hagiography plainly +prove. Who was ever more vigorous and fearless in opposing wrong and the +doers of wrong than St. Paul, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome? Who was ever +more persistent in his efforts to prevail against the evils of sin in +others than St. Monica, St. Teresa, St. Dominic, and St. Catharine of +Siena? After their example, then, we may and we must struggle against +evils of all kinds, whether physical or spiritual, whether from ourselves +or from others, in so far as it is not certain that it is the will of God +that we should submit to them. But when we have exerted ourselves +reasonably and lawfully to rid our lives of that which afflicts us, and +still it persists, there can be no further doubt that it is the will of +God that we should patiently and submissively accept our condition and our +cross. Since, however, we do not know how long it is the wish of +Providence that we should be burdened and afflicted, we may continue +patiently to use every legitimate means to be delivered, provided it be +done with humble resignation to the will of our heavenly Father. + +The acceptance of injuries, therefore, on the part of holy souls is not a +weak yielding to inevitable circumstances, nor a willing consent to the +wrongs of others. Like St. Paul, they know whom they have believed,(108) +and they are certain that, in due time, divine justice will bring all +evil-doers to an evil end and will deliver the just from their troubles. +And further, when the vengeance of the persecutor is turned upon them, and +they are hunted down without reason by their kind, even by the members of +their own household, they remember the words of their Shepherd, "The +disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is +enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his +lord. If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much +more them of his household!"(109) + +And again, when the servants of God behold the wicked prospering and the +just oppressed; when they see the ambitious, the covetous, the +unscrupulous preferred and honored, and they themselves plotted against +and rejected, their heart is not disturbed, because they know first of all +that "to them that love God, all things work together unto good,"(110) and +secondly, they are persuaded that the efforts of sinners must finally +fail. "For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the +wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and as a smoke +that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of +one day that passeth by."(111) In a word, then, those who are really the +friends of God have faith and confidence in their heavenly Master; and all +the perils of earth, and all the powers of darkness cannot avail to daunt +them or turn them aside from their purpose. + +This steadfastness of religious trust we, in our turn, must strive to +acquire. It is the only way to peace and victory. If we would ever rise +above the evils of our lives we must learn to look to God for every thing. +And this looking to God must be, not only as to our bountiful benefactor, +but as to a kind master who knows how best to discipline his servants and +preserve them from irreparable harm. + +There is a substantially correct translation of the final verse of the +Shepherd Psalm, which may be rendered as follows: "And Thy goodness and +kindness pursue me all the days of my life, _that I may dwell_ in the +house of the Lord forever." It is the special wording of the second clause +of the stanza that expresses the real purpose of divine Providence in +regard to the elect. Everything in life has been ordained and arranged for +their eternal salvation, and for the increase of their heavenly rewards. +"Therefore," wrote St. Paul to Timothy, "I endure all things for the sake +of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ +Jesus, with heavenly glory."(112) It is this firm conviction that infinite +love is at the bottom of all the workings of Providence, doing everything +for the sake of the elect, that consoles and steadies the souls of the +just throughout all the trials and crosses of life. In the thick of the +battle they never lose sight of the faithful Shepherd that leads them, and +they ever behold by faith the unspeakable delights He has prepared for +them that love Him. + +What joys are there in our faith and hope! If by the mercy and goodness of +God we succeed in saving our souls, how cheap will seem the price we shall +have paid for Heaven, and how benign and ineffably loving will appear the +Providence of God which is leading us there! At times now in our fervor we +can faintly and feebly imagine what it will mean to throw off forever this +veil of faith and see distinctly and continually the Shepherd of our +souls. But our liveliest conceptions here are infinitely inferior to the +vision to come. "To see God face to face, as He is; to gaze undazzled on +the Three Divine Persons, cognizable and distinct in the burning fires of +their inaccessible splendors; to behold that long-coveted sight, the +endless Generation of the All-holy Son, and our hearts to hold the joy, +and not die; to watch with spirits all out-stretched in adoration the +ever-radiant and ineffably beautiful Procession of the Holy Ghost from the +Father and the Son, and to participate ourselves in that jubilee of +jubilees, and drink in with greedy minds the wonders of that Procession, +and the marvelous distinctness of its beauty from the Generation of the +Son; to feel ourselves with ecstatic awe, and yet with seraphic intimacy, +overshadowed by the Person of the Unbegotten Father, the Father to whom +and of whom we have said so much on earth, the Fountain of Godhead, who is +truly our Father, while He is also the Father of the Eternal Son; to +explore, with exulting license and with unutterably glad fear, attribute +after attribute, oceans opening into oceans of divinest beauty; to lie +astonished in unspeakable contentment before the vision of God's +surpassing Unity, so long the joyous mystery of our predilection, while +the Vision through all eternity seems to grow more fresh and bright and +new: O my poor soul! what canst thou know of this, or of these beautiful +necessities, of thy exceeding love, which shall only satisfy itself in +endless alternations, now of silence and now of song?"(113) + +If regret were possible for the blessed hereafter, they would never cease +to mourn over the loss of their opportunities on earth to increase their +eternal beatitude. It is only when the veil shall have been removed that +we shall fully realize how the goodness and mercy of God have always +pursued us in this life, that we might be saved and enjoy the rewards of +His house forever. May God give us all that child-like trust in our +heavenly Master which the sheep display toward their shepherd; may He +grant us that vivid constant faith of the Saints which will enable us to +see in every event of life, in adversity as well as in prosperity, in our +pains as well as in our joys, the designs of a loving Father who is ever +wishing and trying to lead His children to His home of eternal delights. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Isa. xl. 11. + + 2 Jer. xxiii. 4, 5. + + 3 Ezech. xxxiv. 11, 12, 23. + + 4 Phil. ii. 6, 7. + + 5 Jno. x. 30, 38; xii. 45. + + 6 Luke xii. 49. + + 7 Gen. iii. 19. + + 8 Lam. i. 12. + + 9 Ps. cxliv. 9. + + 10 Isa. liii. 4. + + 11 Rom. viii. 17. + + 12 2 Cor. iv. 17. + + 13 Matt. v. 48. + + 14 Jno. xv. 5. + + 15 Luke xxiii. 34. + + 16 Prov. viii. 31. + + 17 Jno. xv. 15. + + 18 Ps. viii. 5. + + 19 Prov. xxiii. 26. + + 20 Matt. xi. 28. + + 21 Jno. vi. 52, 55. + + 22 Jno. xvi. 2. + + 23 Ezech. xviii. 23; xxxiii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9. + + 24 Ps. 102. 14. + + 25 Luke xv. 4, 7. + + 26 Luke i. 31. + + 27 Matt. xvi. 18. + + 28 Luke x. 17. + + 29 Matt. xviii. 17. + + 30 Matt. xxiv. 35. + + 31 Matt. xxiv. 24. + + 32 2 Cor. xi. 26. + + 33 2 Cor. xi. 13. + + 34 Matt. xxviii. 20. + + 35 Ps. cxiii. 13, 14. + + 36 Jude 10. + + 37 Matt. x. 17, 22-26. + + 38 Mich. vii. 6; Matt. x. 36. + + 39 Bk. i. 11. 5. + + 40 Matt. xvi. 24. + + 41 Ps. xvii. 4, 5. + + 42 Luke xii. 34. + + 43 1 Jno. iv. 16, 18. + + 44 Ps. xxvi. 1, 2. + + 45 Matt. x. 28. + + 46 Wis. iii. 3. + + 47 Ps. xxxiii. 20. + + 48 Ps. xiii. 3. + + 49 Jno. x. 10. + + 50 2 Tim. ii. 5. + + 51 Luke ix. 23. + + 52 Jno. xii. 34. + + 53 Job vii. 1; Job xiv. 2. + + 54 Isa. xl. 6, 7. + + 55 Heb. xi. 10. + + 56 Wis. v. 6-9. + + 57 Rom. viii. 16, 17. + + 58 1 Peter iv. 13. + + 59 Wis. iii. 4, 6. + + 60 Luke xiv. + + 61 1 Cor. i. 25. + + 62 Luke xiv. 26. + + 63 Philip iii. 7, 8. + + 64 Confess. ix. 1. + + 65 Ps. xxxiii. 9; lxxxii. 2. + + 66 Job xiii. 15. + + 67 Ps. xc. 11. + + 68 Philip iv. 7. + + 69 Philip iv. 13. + + 70 Rom. viii. 33-39. + + 71 Rom. ix. 16. + + 72 Eccl. ix. 1, 2. + + 73 Philip, ii. 12. + + 74 1 Cor. ix. 27. + + 75 Jno. xvii. 11-15. + + 76 Ps. xvi. 5. + + 77 Isa. xlii. 3. + + 78 Ps. cii. 13, 14. + + 79 Apoc. xxi., iv. + + 80 Philip i. 20, 21. + + 81 2 Cor. vi. 4-11. + + 82 Matt. vii. 16-19. + + 83 Matt. vi. 30. + + 84 Luke xxiv. 25. + + 85 Matt. xvii. 16. + + 86 Ps. xxix. 7. + + 87 Jonas iv. + + 88 In Ps. xxx. Exp. 2. + + 89 Ps. cxlv. 2, 3. + + 90 Jno. xiv. 27. + + 91 Bk. iii.; ch. lix. 3. + + 92 Matt. xxv. 24-31. + + 93 Matt. xi. 28. + + 94 Jno. iv. 13, 14. + + 95 Bk. iii., ch. 1, 4. + + 96 De Fide orthod. ii. 29. + + 97 Wis. vi. 8. + + 98 Ench. tom. iii., ch. 27 and ii. + + 99 Isa. lv. 8; Rom. xi. 33. + + 100 Jno. xii. 25. + + 101 Matt. vii. 21. + + 102 Mk. iii. 35. + + 103 Mk. xi. 23. + + 104 Bk. III., ch. l. 6. + + 105 Matt. xi. 12. + + 106 Rom. viii. 32. + + 107 Imitation, Bk. III., ch. l. 4. + + 108 2 Tim. i. 12. + + 109 Matt. x. 24, 25. + + 110 Rom. viii. 28. + + 111 Wis. v. 15. + + 112 2 Tim. ii. 10. + + 113 Faber, Creator and Creature, Bk. II., ch. v. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHEPHERD OF MY SOUL*** + + + +CREDITS + + +December 2, 2009 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by David Clarke, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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