Ortus Christi: Meditations for Advent. St. Paul Mother

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СКАЧАТЬ to be judged according to his works.

      "Lord, Thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above."

      "Lord, Thou deliveredst two talents to me, behold I have gained other two." The Lord gives exactly the same answer, the same reward to each, showing clearly that what counts in the reckoning is not the number of good works but the spirit and intention and motive with which they are done, be they many or few.

      "Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things." The reward is not given to the most capable, nor to those who have the most or the greatest talents, but to those who have been faithful over the few things entrusted to them. They have traded with their talents for God's glory and for the salvation of their own souls. They have realized that each thing entrusted to them was a "good," whether it was sickness or health, poverty or riches, prosperity or adversity, and they have said about each: This belongs to the Master, how can I best use it for Him? Now they find that the merit of each action done, each suffering borne for Him, has been carefully stored up.

      "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." It is His joy, His interest, His glory that the faithful servant has studied on earth, now he shall share them for ever.

      "He that had received the one talent came and said: Lord, I know that Thou art a hard man" expecting the impossible, "and being afraid I went and hid Thy talent in the earth; behold here Thou hast that which is Thine." He could have traded and made cent per cent as the others had done and earned the "Euge" ("Well done!") He not only did not do this, but he put all the blame on his Master Who with such care had given him just the talent that was suited to his ability. He was afraid, he said, afraid of what? Of his Master because He was hard and unjust? No, this was only an excuse, he knew his Master and he knew it was not true. What he was afraid of was hard work, effort, ceaseless watching against temptation. It was far less irksome to bury the talent and live a life of ease, letting things just take their course, and hoping all would come out right in the end; but at the end things were not right, for he had nothing to give to his Master, the one talent was the Master's, he knew that quite well: "Behold here Thou hast that which is Thine."

      "Wicked and slothful servant" – wicked, because he had robbed God of His rights; slothful, because he would not raise a finger to serve his Master.

      "Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it him that hath ten." It is a solemn thought that a grace refused by one may be handed on to another who is more faithful.

      "To everyone that hath shall be given" is a principle of the Kingdom. He ever giveth "grace for grace" (St. John i. 16). For every grace used He gives "more grace" – "he shall abound."

      "From him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away." There is such a thing as a last grace, a last opportunity. God has nowhere pledged Himself to give the grace of repentance; grace is ever a free gift and He is not unjust if He withholds it. I can never say: I will sin and repent after! To sin is in my power, but to repent is not. Our Lord speaks of sinners filling up the measure of their iniquity (St. Matt. xxiii. 32). Had Herod reached the limit, filled up the measure? Is that why Our Lord refused to speak to him? We do not know, but we do know that it is possible for a sinner to sin to such an extent – not necessarily by gross sin, but by steadily refusing God's grace and the opportunities offered to him – that what he has, that is, his opportunities, will be taken from him.

      "The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness." He ever shunned the light and now it will never be his. He was unprofitable, that was his sin, he did nothing for his Master. All sins, however terrible, will be forgiven if the sinner turns to God and repents, because his repentance shows that he is "trading," though he may often fail in his business; but the unprofitable servant carries on no trade with God at all, he leaves Him out altogether. There is nothing for God to do but to leave him out in the "exterior darkness" which he has deliberately chosen.

      Colloquy with the Master, Who though He is a "long time" coming, is never far from those who are trading for Him.

      Resolution. Never to leave the Master out of anything I do.

      Spiritual Bouquet. "Well done good and faithful servant!"

      STIR UP!

      "I think it meet … to stir you up by putting you in remembrance."

(2 Pet. i. 13).

      1st. Prelude. Paul writing to Timothy: "Stir up the grace of God which is in thee" (2 Tim. i. 6).

      2nd. Prelude. Grace to stir myself up this Advent.

      On the Sunday before Advent and nine times during the Advent Masses, the Church puts on the lips of her children this prayer: Stir up, O Lord. Let us try in this Meditation to catch her spirit which runs all through the Advent season and see what it is that she wants God to stir up.

Point I. His own Might

      We ask Him during Advent to stir up His might for four different reasons.

      (1) To protect and deliver us. "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O Lord and come: that by Thy protection we may deserve to be delivered from the threatening dangers of our sins and by Thy deliverance be saved." (The "Collect" for Advent Sunday.)

      We ask Him to show His might by protecting us from dangers and by delivering us from sin. We want to spend a good Advent, we want to prepare well for His Coming, then there rise up before us the "threatening dangers of our sins" – those old temptations that are sure to come back again as soon as we begin to put forth fresh effort. Are we to be discouraged, to dread them, to say we are sure to fall again, and thus give the enemy a hold over us? No, but to believe that our God Who is coming will protect us in the day of battle, that though to humiliate and to strengthen us, He may still permit the temptations, yet He will Himself be our shield and buckler, and will deliver us if we trust in His strength and not in our own – "Stir up Thy might, O Lord, and come to protect and deliver."

      (2) To free us from adversity. "Stir up Thy power, we beseech Thee O Lord and come, that they who confide in Thy mercy may be more speedily freed from all adversity" (The "Collect" for Friday in Ember week).

      The adversity from which the Church prays to be freed here is probably the same as she continually teaches us to pray for deliverance from in her Litanies: war, pestilence, famine, floods, earthquakes – all things which damage the peace of nations and the produce of the earth, great national disasters. From all such the world will never be free till the Advent of her Lord, till God stirs up His power and comes to save it. Meanwhile for our consolation we can remember that it is when God's judgments are in the earth that the nations learn justice (Isaias xxvi. 9). Adversity is a great teacher and trainer for Heaven, and as we advance in the spiritual life we see more and more that many things which are adversity to the body are prosperity to the soul. We should naturally like to be freed from the adversity of sickness, poverty, failure, loss of friends, of health and strength, but all these adversities have their work to do. "These are they who came out of great tribulation," and it is probable that but for the tribulation many would never "have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Apoc. vii. 14). Let us strive to be amongst those who trust Him, who confide in His mercy, who believe that He knows what is best for them, and who gladly let Him arrange all for them. He will stir up His power and speedily free them one day, but it will not be till the flail of adversity has done its work and the corn is ready to be garnered in the heavenly barns.

      (3) To save us. "Stir up Thy might O Lord and come to save us."

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