No man, says our Lord, can serve two masters; and these two Masters are,-God, and Mammon; Mammon means riches.1 Riches are not, of their own nature, bad. When lawfully acquired, and used agreeably to the designs of God, Riches help the possessor to gain true goods for his soul; he stores up for himself, in the kingdom of his eternal home, treasures, which neither thieves nor rust can reach." Ever since the Incarnation, wherein the divine Word espoused Poverty to himself, it is the Poor that are heaven's nobility; and yet, the mission of the rich man is a grand one. He is permitted to be rich, in order that he may be God's minister to make all the several portions of material creation turn to their Creator's glory. He graciously vouchsafes to intrust into his hands the feeding and supporting the dearest of his children, that is, the Poor, that is, the indigent and suffering members of his Christ. He calls him to uphold the interests of his Church, and be the promoter of works connected with the salvation of men. He confides to him the keeping up the beauty of his temples. Happy that man, and worthy of all praise, who thus directly brings back to the glory of their maker the fruits of the earth, and the precious metals she yields from her bosom! Let not such a man fear: it is not of him that Jesus speaks those anathemas uttered so frequently by him against the rich ones of this world. He has but one Master, the Father who is in heaven, whose steward he humbly and gladly acknowledges himself to be. Mammon does not domineer over him; on the contrary he makes her his servant, and obliges her to minister to his zeal in all good works. The solicitude he takes in spending his wealth in acts of justice and charity, is not that which our Gospel here blames ; for, in all such solicitude, he is but following our 1 Homil. diei. 2 St. Matth. vi. 19, 20. Lord's precept,-of seeking first the kingdom of God; and the riches, which pass through his hands in the furtherance of good works, do not distract his thoughts from that heaven where his heart is, because his true treasure is there.1 It is quite otherwise, when riches, instead of being regarded as a simple means, become the very end of a man's existence, and that to such an extent, as to make him neglect, yea, and sometimes forget, his last end. The ways of every covetous man, says the Scripture, destroy the souls of the possessors.2 The Apostle explains this, by saying, that the love of money drives a man into temptation and the snares of the devil, by the countless unprofitable and hurtful desires it excites within him; it drowns men in destruction and perdition, making them even barter away their faith. And yet, the more an avaricious man gets, the less he spends. To nurse his treasure, to gaze upon it, to be thinking of it all day and night long, when obliged to go from home,—that is what he lives for; and his money becomes, at last, his idol. Yes, Mammon is not merely his master, whose commands are obeyed before all others,-but it is his god, before which he sacrifices friends, relatives, country, and himself, for he devotes, and, as it is said in Ecclesiasticus, throws his whole soul and body away to his idol.6 Let us not be astonished at our Gospel declaring, that God and Mammon are irreconcilable enemies; for, who was it but Mammon, that had our Lord Jesus sacrificed on its hateful altar, for thirty pieces of silver? Of all the devils in hell, is there one whose hideous guilt is deeper, than the fallen angel who prompted Judas to sell the Son of God to his executioners ? It is the avaricious, who alone can boast of deicide! The 'St. Matth. vi. 21. 2 Prov. i. 19. 3 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. Eph. v. 5; Coloss. vile love of money, which the Apostle defines as the root of all evils,' can lay claim to having produced the greatest crime that was ever perpetrated! covetous man But, without going into such crimes as made the authors of the inspired books of even the Old Testament say, that nothing is more wicked than the there is not a more wicked thing, than to love money,—it is easy to allow oneself to be led, as regards this world's goods, into an excessive solicitude, that is, into one which prudence condemns. What ineffable truth and clearness are there not in the reasoning of our Jesus, as put before us in to-day's Gospel! To attempt to add any human words to these of His, would be an insult offered to both their charm and their energy. The exquisitely beautiful comparisons of the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, by which our divine Master shows how such solicitude is the very opposite of the confidence we should have in our heavenly Father, are beyond all comment. We may just add, that solicitude of this sort would prove the existence of an attachment to earthly things, which is incompatible with anything approaching to christian perfection, or to the desire of making progress in the paths of divine Union. The Unitive Way is possible in every state of life; only, there must be one condition observed, and that is, the soul must be detached from every tie that could keep her from going to God. The Religious breaks these ties by his three vows, which are in direct opposition to the triple concupiscence of fallen nature; the layman, who, though he is living in the world, desires to be what his Creator would have him be, must, without the aid of the real separation which the Religious makes, be quite as completely detached from his own will, and sensuality, and riches, in order that 2 Ecclus. x. 9, 10. 1 1 Tim. vi. 10. all his intentions and aspirations may be fixed on the eternal home, where his one infinite loved Treasure is. If he does not bring himself, even in the midst of his riches, to be as poor in spirit as the Religious is in deed, his progress will be checked at the very first step he takes in the contemplative life; and, if he allow the obstacle to block up the way, he must give up all idea of rising, in light and love, above the lowly paths of the majority of Christians. Like the other portions of to-day's Liturgy, the Offertory is all confidence and joy. The Prince of the heavenly hosts,-the Archangel, St. Michael,whose Feast is at hand, and whom the Church always invokes in the blessing of the incense at this part of the Mass, is he not ever ready to protect and watch over those who fear the Lord? OFFERTORY Immittet Angelus Domini in circuitu timentium eum et eripiet eos: gustate et videte, quoniam [suavis est Dominus. The Angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: taste and see, that the Lord is sweet. Let us, in the Secret, pray that the saving host, offered on the Altar, may, by its virtue, purify our soul, and draw the divine power to our assistance. Concede nobis, Domine, quæsumus: ut hæc hostia salutaris et nostrorum fiat purgatio delictorum, et tuæ propitiatio potestatis. Per Dominum. SECRET. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that this saving host may both cleanse us from our sins, and render thy majesty propitious to us. Through, etc. The other Secrets, as in page 135. The Communion-Anthem, taken from the Gospel, which now is assigned to this Sunday, was not the one primitively used; the ancient liturgists make no mention of it in its present position, nor is it to be found there in any of the manuscripts consulted by Blessed Thomasi, when he was preparing the publication of his Antiphonary. The composition of this and some other Masses shows some few variations of this kind; but these are details, which, whatever may be their interest in other respects, savour too much of erudition, and the nature of this Work necessarily excludes them. COMMUNION. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you, saith the Lord. Primum quærite regnum Dei, et omnia adjicientur vobis, dicit Dominus. An ever growing love of purity, heaven's protection, and final perseverance, these are the precious fruits of our frequent assistance at these sacred Mysteries. Let us secure them, by joining our Mother in her Postcommunion prayer. POSTCOMMUNION. May these thy mysteries, O God, continually purify and strengthen us, and procure us eternalsalvation. Through, etc. Purificent semper et muniant tua sacramenta nos, Deus: et ad perpetuæ ducant salvationis effectum. Per Dominum. The other Postcommunions, as in page 137. VESPERS. The Psalms, Capitulum, Hymn, and Versicle, as above, pages 74-84. VOL. XI. 2 A |