Epistle.
Galatians iii. 16-22.
Brethren:
To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. He saith not, "And to his seeds," as of many: but as of one, "And to thy seed," who is Christ. Now this I say, that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years, doth not disannul, to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come, to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now, a mediator is not of one: but God is one. Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gospel.
St. Luke xvii. 11-19.
At that time:
As Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria in Galilee. And as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off: and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said: Go, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was cleansed, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God; and he fell on his face, before his feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said: Were there not ten made clean? and where are the nine? There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger. And he said to him: Arise, go thy way, for thy faith hath made thee whole.

Sermon CXVII.
Thanksgiving.

Where are the nine?
—St. Luke xvii. 11.
[USCCB: St. Luke xvii. 17.]

Of the ten lepers whose cure is related in this day's Gospel, only one returned to give thanks, and he was a Samaritan; the others went their way; they were cured indeed of their dreadful disease, but disgraced by our Lord's sad question, Where are the nine?

Thanksgiving, brethren, should follow after God's mercies to us, not only as a matter of justice, but in order to secure the effect of those mercies themselves. Just as, in our bodily life, in order to get the benefit of fresh air, breathing in must be followed by breathing out, so the giving of thanks must follow the reception of all divine favors. The grace of God is to the soul what the breath is to the body; and the body, to live, must not only draw the air in, but give it forth again to make room for new and fresher air. So in the life of our souls we breathe in God's grace and we breathe out thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is furthermore a matter of justice. The holiest debt we owe to God or man is the debt of thanks. Every honest man gives thanks for favors received from other men, and every upright soul gives thanks to God. It is the most indispensable of all our obligations, because it is the least that we can do. In all our traffic with heaven, gratitude is the only coin we can mint ourselves. Thanksgiving is that part of our sanctification necessarily our own. Well, brethren, if this be really true and who can deny it?—then a great many of us are insolvent debtors of the worst kind. Now you hear it said sometimes that the man who does not pay his debts is as bad as a thief, and in many cases this is perfectly true. So the difference between an open sinner and a thankless Christian is that between a thief and a man who by his own fault does not pay his debts. Indeed, we sometimes feel as if God ought to thank us for the favor we do him by condescending to serve him. Confession and Communion and daily prayer, forgiveness of in juries and resisting temptations so puff us up with conceit that we are apt to blame God because in view of our holiness he does not exempt us from the ordinary ills of life!

As a matter of fact it is with God and us as with a storekeeper and his customer. You know why a man cannot get trust at a store; it is because he was trusted before and didn't pay his debts. Now pretty nearly all the pay that God asks for his favors is that we shall give him thanks, and if we will not do that much he can hardly think us worthy of his further bounty. If we do give thanks he multiplies his favors; for he is determined to keep us in his debt, and as fast as we return thanks so much the faster does he lavish his love upon us.

So when we ask why we suffer this miserable stagnation in our spiritual career, perhaps the true answer would be that we are members of a big multiple of that original thankless nine.

Oh! let us thank God that we have the blessings of the true religion, that he is our Father, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, and the Blessed Virgin Mary our Mother. Let us thank him for his gracious promise of the everlasting joys of Paradise. For these unspeakable favors our thanks should be ceaseless.

Let us give thanks, too, in our fervent morning prayers that we have escaped the dangers of the night, and in our night prayers that we have been saved from the noon-day demon. When we rise from our meals let us offer a word of thanks, making at least the sign of the cross, blessing God for the health he gives us and our family. Let us thank him for our afflictions—yes, even for temptations; for the pains we suffer thereby are the growing-pains of the soul. Especially after receiving Holy Communion let us give long and heartfelt thanks for all God's dealing with us; for we have then received the greatest of all his gifts, his only-begotten Son.

Sermon CXVIII.
Shamelessness In Sinners.

There met him three men that were lepers,
who stood afar off and lifted tip their voice,
saying: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
—The Gospel of the Sunday.

Leprosy, my brethren, is often spoken of in Holy Writ, and is considered a type of sin. It is a loathsome and contagious disease, and when a man was so unhappy as to contract it, besides being driven away by the Mosaic law, he fled in very shame from the company of others. So it is with the common run of sinners; one of their direst sufferings is shame, from which comes such remorse, such self-detestation, such reasonable envy of the happy state of the innocent, that, standing afar off, the poor sinner at last lifts up his voice and cries to our Lord for mercy. So there is always some chance for a poor sinner while he is ashamed of himself; where there is shame there is hope.

But, brethren, it happens in our times that there are many sinners without shame. Many great sins are done almost as a matter of course, and some even made matter of jest, perhaps of boast. Need I mention them? Time was that if a man wished to see a vulgar play he was forced to creep up some dark alley; now he may go to a filthy opera in a coach and four, and with the lords of the land, ay, even the ladies of the land. When you and I were boys there was but one commonly known illustrated paper with immoral pictures and bad reading matter; the news dealers now hang their stands all over with them, and young men, and even young women, buy and read them without a blush. You and I can remember when it was a disgrace for a man to idle behind a bar-room counter and get his living from the drunkard and spendthrift. These men make our laws now. It used to be the pride of a young man to get to work as soon as possible to help the old folks along; we hear now too often of hearty young men shamelessly dependent on their parents. And we know of too many parents who are not ashamed of habits of intoxication nor of cursing in the hearing of their little ones. And how many mothers of families are there whose harsh voices are heard all over the neighborhood, quarrelling with their husbands and scolding their children! Time was when a drunken woman was what Scripture says she is, "a great wrath, and her shame shall not be hid." Now they publicly send their little boys and girls to the saloon for beer.

Do I exaggerate? Am I not, on the contrary, forced for decency's sake to pass over other shameless sins, which all but the blind and deaf know of among us? Indeed, dear brethren, the word of God is true now as of yore that sinners "preach their shame like Sodom." The lepers laugh at their leprosy. They run in among us to blight us. Their disease, that blight which withers the soul with eternal decay, they rub off upon us. They do it by bad example, by laughing at the simple virtue of good Christians, by jesting and mockery, by bullying, by ill-gotten riches and ill-gotten power.

But we must remember that they are all this time really sinners, and worse than ordinary sinners, because without shame. Here, then, is our first duty; not to permit human respect, worldly position, or a bullying tongue to silence our love of God's honor, our detestation of what does it harm and our pity for the sinner himself. A good remedy against shamelessness in sinning is just a little plain talk. If sometimes, instead of laughing at a vile jest, we should say, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself," we should please God and save souls. In the family, especially, parents should create a sound family opinion about places and persons and reading and amusements and all things else that lead to sin: bad theatres, moonlight excursions, public balls, liquor stores, and beer-gardens. A little plain talk, accompanied by good example and much prayer on the part of good Christians, will do a great deal, if not to cure the leprosy of sin in those who have it, at any rate to keep the lepers standing afar off from the uncontaminated and innocent.

Sermon CXIX.
Dangers Of Venial Sin.

I know thy works,
that thou art neither hot nor cold.
—Apocalypse iii. 15.

It is plain that these words of Holy Writ describe a person in the state of venial sin; or rather one who is in that state wilfully and quite careless about it. Now, my brethren, I do not wish to make you scrupulous, but there is no mistake about this; all experience shows that persons careless of venial sins are pretty sure to slip down into mortal sins. Indeed (on the other hand), about the only ones who manage to keep clear of mortal sins are those who are fearful of falling into venial sins. Save the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves; or, waste the pennies and the dollars will waste themselves. Scripture applies this as follows: "He that despiseth small things shall fall little by little." If one keeps the dogs and goats out of the garden the cows will have small chance to get in. Keep a watch on the venial sins and the mortal sins will keep out of sight.

And does it not stand to reason that, if one is habituated to look keenly after little sins, it is morally impossible for him to be carried away by great sins? If you are anxious and distressed because your soul seems less pure, less holy, less beautiful than it ought to be, with what horror will you be filled at the bare thought of becoming a regular slave of the evil spirit! And how much easier is it, brethren, to keep a sharp lookout for a few little trifles, rather than to be always running the risk of eternal woe!

And now I will tell you of some of those who are full of venial sins, and pretty sure to be sooner or later in a state of mortal sin. Those who are content with their Easter duty—a soul content with a spiritual meal once in twelve months cannot have very vigorous spiritual health or a very strong appetite for divine things. Those who are often late for Mass—once in a while they will miss it altogether, and for no particular reason, except that they feel it a great bore to have to do anything for the love of God. Those who continually neglect their morning prayers: even though they make an effort to say their night prayers, they have omitted deliberately the most necessary religious act of the day. Those who are addicted to idleness; for that is one of the worst occasions of sin, both mortal and venial. Those who are stingy, especially to their near relatives and the poor; to love money is to love something our Lord has a great contempt for. Those who are touchy and resentful; for they cannot live in peace with anybody, and peace is necessary for our spiritual welfare. Those who tell improper stories, and are fond of hearing others do it; but as to this class, I am not sure but that they are in mortal sin already: "Can a man put fire in his bosom and not be burned?" Those who are fond of gossip; for God will not permit us to trifle with our neighbor's good name, and gossipers and tale-bearers are often not in mortal sin, only because, malicious as they are, they are just as stupid. Those who, though they don't get drunk, yet hang around saloons, and those who are fond of drinking and treating; and this is a case, my brethren, where only judgment-day will tell where venial sin ends and mortal sin begins.

Dear brethren, the only really safe way of dealing with God is the generous way. Arouse yourself with high and noble motives to be a real friend of God, faithful and true in things little as well as great, and religion will seem something new and ever so much pleasanter to you. Otherwise you will not have the comfort of being sure of God's friendship at all. You may be like an old lady who once told me very sorrowfully about how her daughter died. "I was watching at her bedside," she said, "and, after a long spell of suffering, she dropped off at last into a gentle slumber. I turned down the lamp and stepped softly into the next room, waiting to hear her call me when she woke up. An hour passed, another hour, a third, and still she slept on. Finally the doctor came, and so we had to wake her up. But oh! when we came to the bedside we found her dead, cold and dead, while I thought her asleep." So your soul may seem to you only sleeping, only lukewarm in God's service, only careless about your religious duties; whereas it may be all the time, if not in the very state of spiritual death—mortal sin—at least in the torpor which goes before it.