Do My Christian
readers clearly understand what it truly is to be a Christian? It
certainly is not, as some people with slightly confused ideas appear
to imagine, merely to abstain from murdering or plundering your
neighbor. To do this is just to escape being a villain, that is
all.
To be a Christian is not merely to be a good father, a good
husband, a good son, a good workman, and industrious and honorable
man, a good comrade, etc.; that is only to be an honest man, and a
Christian is something more than an honest man.
To be a Christian is
not merely to respect religion, to consider it good and useful, to
acknowledge that Christianity has inspired noble deeds; that is imply
to judge fairly, and to possess the good sense of an intelligent man:
in order to hold such opinions as these nothing is needed but to rise
above vulgar prejudices, and to despise the pointless sneers of a
shallow philosophy.
Lastly, to be a Christian is not merely to
observe certain exterior practices, such as to hear Mass regularly,
to abstain, or even to go to confession. These practices, although
very excellent, are nevertheless only means by which to become and to
remain a true Christian. Then what is the Christian life? And what is
a true Christian?
A Christian
is a baptized man, who believes with his whole heart all that is
taught, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the Pope and the Bishops, who
have been entrusted by the Saviour to spread the Christian religion
throughout the world; a man, moreover, who observes, as far as human
weakness will allow, all the commandments of God and the laws of the
Church; and who earnestly strives to the best of his power to imitate
Jesus Christ, his God, his Saviour, and his great example.
A Christian is a man
who loves God before all things, who would choose to suffer anything
rather than to offend Him, who detests sin in others, and still more
in himself; he is a man who loves and practices the right, who battle
constantly and perseveringly with all his evil passions, and who, in
spite of the evil inclinations which will sometimes rage powerfully
within him, is still pure and humble, patient and merciful, indulgent
to the faults of others, patient and resigned in misfortune.
A Christian is a man
who is constant in prayer, and who follows in the footsteps of his
Lord and Master, and thus, ever looking to Jesus, learns from Him the
daily lessons of virtue that he needs. He pardons his enemies, even
as Jesus Christ pardoned His. Like Him he goes about doing good. He
loves all men, but especially the poor, the forsaken and the
insignificant. In prosperity his heart is ever detached from earth,
and lifted up to that heavenly home where the only true good is to be
found. In poverty and suffering he is calm and full of hope,
remembering that to the sorrows of Calvary succeeds the joy of the
resurrection and that, it is only through the cross that we can gain
the crown.
A Christian, then,
is a living copy of Jesus Christ; a man who loves what Jesus Christ
loves, condemns what He condemns, and judges in all things as He
judges; and in this man, His faithful servant, Jesus Christ Himself
does, in a manner, still live and walk with men. Such is the
true Christian, such we all ought to be, such we should all become or
remain!
There is no position
in life in which it is impossible to be a Christian. In poverty or
wealth, in health or sickness, in youth or age, it is all one; and we
should each, without exception, be holy, and should model our lives
by that perfect pattern which we have just sketched out. Are we true
Christians? Do we possess that humility, that singleness of heart,
that disinterestedness and the purity of life, which constitute the
Christian character? Let the conscience of each of us answer this
question! Alas! Mine does not respond to it very readily – and
reader, what of yours?
Let us, then, take
courage, and turn to the Lord our God. Pagans, perhaps, until now,
let us make haste to become Christians. If our own weakness causes us
to shrink from such great and serious duties, let us have recourse to
that powerful aid which the mercy of God has placed in the bosom of
the Church. Let us pray, let us frequent the sacraments; let us seek
in the confession of our sins a remedy for the past, and in frequent
communion strength fro the future. Let us make a vigorous effort, not
shrink from any trouble that is required of us by God; does He not
deserve it from us? Life passes quickly! Let us work while it is day:
blesses is that servant whom He shall find watching; a few hours of
weariness, a few hours of brave and patient fighting, and then, to
the passing trials of this earthly probation succeeds the eternal
rest, the unutterable gladness promised by the Saviour.
FEAR OF HUMAN OPINION
“I would
willingly fulfill my religious duties, but I am afraid of ridicule.”
– Then you are afraid to go to heaven, and not afraid to go to
hell? You must have a very singular courage and a remarkable
determination! O man, feeble and faithless! You are indeed
faint-hearted, and should blush for your own weakness and dishonor;
for what, I ask, is a greater dishonor than cowardice?
Respect
for human opinion in matters of religion is the greatest cowardice of
all. It is a voluntary renunciation of that which is holiest and most
sacred in man – his conscience. It is a weak abandonment of our
most essential rights and of our most important duties! That of
leading holy Christian lives, of accomplishing our destiny here, and
of saving our soul hereafter! Such cowardice is something worse than
weakness; it is a folly and a sin.
You are afraid to
say your prayers, to avoid evil company and places of temptation, to
go to church, to serve God. And what could be more deserving of honor
than a conscientious fulfillment of such duties as these? Prayer, the
service of God, and obedience to His law are the marks which most
perfectly distinguish us from creatures without reason. For the
animal destitute of reason has no eternal destiny, and fulfills all
the laws of its being when conscious only of the passing moments of
its limited existence. But you yourself are here on earth only that
you may hereafter go to heaven; and time for you is nothing but a
prelude to eternity. HEAVEN AND ETERNITY! Behold the end and aim of
life, the end which should reign supreme above all others, and
without which everything is lost. Therefore by not daring to serve
God during your life, you willfully renounce both heaven and
eternity; you sacrifice God, your own salvation, your own soul, and
your own happiness, even as you sacrifice your duty and your
conscience to a miserable fear of man, which is a thousand times
unworthy of a Christian, and is despicable in a man.
“I should be
ridiculed,” you say! What a grievous affliction! What effect would
it have upon you? You can surely afford to despise what is so utterly
beneath your notice. Supposing men laughed at you because you ate
when you were hungry, and drank when you were thirsty, and warmed
yourself when you were cold, because you loved your mother, because
you were not a scoundrel. I am speaking seriously – would you
change, do you think, and try to act in some manner which would give
greater satisfaction to those who thus criticized you? You will not
trouble yourself to answer such a question? There is that which is
more reasonable, more natural, more lawful, and more necessary still;
obedience to God your Creator, the practice of religion, and the
keeping of His commandments. To fear to be a Christian is to fear to
be a reasonable being, it is to fear to be a good, conscientious, and
honorable man.
Go, therefore, to
confession, coward that you are! And fear God rather than man!
NEGLIGENCE
For many years the world has been
devastated by a fatal and terrible sickness, which has made dreadful
ravages, in all places at one and the same time: in France, England,
Italy, Europe, whether the air be bad or good, the people civilized
or barbarous, the whole world suffers from its fatal and deathly
influence; and for centuries victims have succumbed to it. You
doubtless imagine that I am referring to some one of those scourges
which we call pestilence, cholera, typhus fever, etc.: but no; the
evil that I would point out to you is still more terrible, and causes
the death of a still greater number of men; it not only affects the
body, but it also poisons the soul, and its fatal effects endure
beyond the portals of the grave.
This deplorable evil
is negligence. This it is which causes the ruin of whole families and
plunges them into the frightful miseries to which they sooner or
later succumb. This epidemic is so much the more to be dreaded
because there are no signs which give warning of its terrible
approach, and it seizes a man before he suspects it is near; it draws
him little by little from his duties to God, and soon after from his
duties to his family and toward his fellow-men. This scourge is one
of the fatal fruits of original sin.
The first symptoms
show themselves, then, on being confronted by some difficulty, you
stop, hesitate, and address such words to yourself as these: I
cannot! It is too difficult! I have no time! I will do it on some
other occasion, but not now! It is not worth the trouble of
beginning, because I shall never be able to go on! It is beyond my
capabilities! Oh! then, while there is yet time, ask yourself quickly
these two questions, and answer them by the light of your own
conscience.
1st, What should I
do if I were quite assured that directly I had accomplished that
which now appears to be impossible, I should receive five pounds as
the price of my efforts? 2nd, What should I also do if I were equally
certain that I should receive a hundred stripes directly I had
yielded to those insidious suggestions of negligence, which I believe
at this moment that I cannot resist?
These two questions,
with the answer which your conscience cannot fail to give, will prove
a sure and simple remedy against the evil I have pointed out to you.
I HAVE NO TIME
Out of ten persons who do not
fulfill their religious duties, there are at least six or seven who
will say to you when you speak to them about it, “I should be glad
enough to do so, but I have not time; every one must gain their
living. Religion is good for people with nothing else to do, who can
live without working.”
Nothing is more false than such
reasoning as this, nothing could be more opposed to the spirit of
Christianity; religion is made for all, even as God is the Father of
all; and if there were any distinction to be made among men, it
would, unquestionably, be the poor and the insignificant who would
take precedence in the sight of God.
This is a very
common error among the working classes, especially in large towns;
and we must say that it entirely results from ignorance. They have
and absurd idea of religion – they believe that it solely consists
of a very great number of outward observances; and the daily work
which is absolutely necessary to workmen in order to gain a living,
being evidently incompatible with such practices, they solve the
difficulty by the habitual words, which they lay down as an axiom,
but which are in truth an unconscious blasphemy: “I have no time.”
But tell me, my friend, how much time does it take to love God? How
much time do you need to think of Him sometimes during the course of
the day; to ask Him to bless you, to crown your efforts with success,
and to give you the rest of heaven after your sorrows and weariness
of earth? How much time does it take to keep from swearing, to honor
your father and mother and lawful superiors, to abstain from
drinking, to pardon your enemies, not to return evil for evil, to
bear with the faults of others? How much time does it take to be
chaste and pure, to turn from evil thoughts, to avoid sinful
conversation, to shun such and such a bad companion who would be sure
to lead you into wrong? Does it take much time to repent when we have
done some wicked foolish thing? Still more, does it take much time to
pray morning and evening? In five minutes, in ten minutes at the
most, this great duty can be perfectly fulfilled; and where is the
man who cannot, if he so will, spare some few minutes, at the
beginning and at the end of the day?
But then, you will
say, religion commands so many other things. You must hear mass on
Sundays and Holydays. You must go to confession, and go to communion,
and does not all that take time? That is what I mean when I say I
have no time. And what do those who are quite as busy as you are, and
often much more busy and still more in need of gaining a salary, and
who yet do all that, and more than that? I know some who never pass
one week without receiving the sacraments. How do they find time to
fulfill their duties? What they do, you can do. It is the will that
is wanting, and not the time. The reason that you do not find time,
just as they find time, is because you have not the deep conviction
that they have of the vital necessity of religion. You consider the
body before the soul; they consider the soul before the body. Not
that they neglect their families and their own bodily requirements,
no; only they know the value and the difference of things, and rule
their lives according to the truth.
What would you say
if your employer attempted to deprive you of the time to eat? You
would leave him, and you would say: First of all, we must live! I say
to you still more emphatically: first of all, even before the life of
your body, take thought for your soul, which is the noblest part of
your self; your soul, which makes of you a man, since through the
body we are only animals; it is the soul which makes the man, and
distinguishes him from the beast.
The eternal
salvation of your soul may not be taken away from you by any living
creature, and if any one should attempt to rob you of the most sacred
of your rights, then is the time to practice the great Christian
rule: To lose everything rather than to lose God.
But it is my
calling, you add, which prevents me from attending to my salvation.
Is that true? Answer me carefully; for if, after having well
reflected, you still answered “yes,” I would say to you: then you
must give it up, and find some other. What will it profit you to gain
the whole world and lose your own soul?
Therefore, say no
longer, I have no time to be a Christian, for you only deceive
yourself. Say, if you wish, I have not as much time, or as many
opportunities, as I should wish. That may be so, but, after all, it
is but the heart and the will to serve Him that God requires, and for
this there is no question of time. To him who will not give to God
his time, God will refuse His eternity.
From the book "The Faith that never dies"
