SERMON LXXVIII.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.

"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose you shall retain, they are retained."-Sr. JOHN, Xx: 23.

We have been regenerated in the holy waters of Baptism, strengthened and made perfect Christians by the Sacrament of Confirmation, our souls are nourished with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, in the adorable Eucharist, the Lord has aided us with His graces and enlightened us with His light but, alas! we have despised all, we have repeatedly trampled under foot the holy will of God, we have violated His law and lost His grace and His friendship; we have grievously sinned, so great is our weakness! so deep is the corruption of our nature! The Eternal Truth has said that "nothing defiled shall ever enter the kingdom of heaven." Shall the gates of heaven then be forever closed against us? No. God wills not the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted and live, and the mercy of our heavenly Father offers us a plank of salvation; for in the Church of His divine Son, there is remission of sins, there is the precious Sacrament of Penance. I proceed to-day to treat of this most important matter, and therefore rely upon your kind attention.

The word Penance, in general, signifies to repent, and expresses both a virtue and a sacrament. As a virtue, it makes us detest our sins and repair the injury offered to God when we committed them. This virtue has been always indispensably necessary for obtaining from the mercy of God the pardon of sins. God, who is sanctity itself, and whose justice is infinite, grants the grace of forgiveness and gives His friendship to none but repenting sinners and those sincerely resolved to change their lives and to do penance. It is only when there is true contrition in the humbled heart of the sinner, that it can approach near enough to God to receive from Him the

kiss of peace and reconciliation. So, in the Holy Scriptures, we see no example of pardon granted to the unrepentant; on the contrary, the word of God emphatically tells us, that without repentance there is no hope of eternal salvation.

Under the law of grace, Penance has assumed a new character; Jesus Christ elevated it to the dignity of a sacrament,-made it a sacred rite, the exercise of which He has intrusted solely to His priests. What then is the Sacrament of Penance? It is a sacrament, instituted by Christ, to remit for those who are well-disposed, all the sins which they have committed after Baptism. In it, my Brethren, we find the means which the Saviour has established among us, to apply to us the all-powerful virtue of His blood, and to heal the wounds inflicted upon our souls by sin. And, since the divine Mercy has opened in His Church this precious source of grace, if the sinner does not have recourse to it when it is in his power, his salvation is hopeless, and no matter how apparent may be his repentance, there is no possibility of his being reinstated in the favor and friendship of God. Such is the will of God,-such is the order which He has established.

The Sacrament of Penance is therefore absolutely necessary, as a means of salvation and by right divine, for all those who have lost their baptismal innocence by becoming guilty of mortal sin. "It is necessary for salvation," as the Council of Trent tells us. "for those who have fallen into sin after Baptism, as Baptism is for those who are not yet regenerated." However, the Sacrament of Penance may be supplied in case of necessity. Thus, a sinner who, at the point of death, can not get a priest, may, nevertheless, obtain the grace of reconciliation, if he is truly and sincerely sorry from the bottom of His heart for having offended God, because He is infinitely good in himself; and if he join to repentance the ardent wish of receiving the sacrament, that is to say, a longing desire to confess his sins and to receive absolution, were it in his power.

When was it that our divine Saviour established, in His Church, the power of remitting and of retaining sins? He first made this promise when He said to His Apostles: "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.” It was a few days before His ascension, that He made this promise.

He appeared in the midst of His disciples,-breathed on them, and said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose you shall retain, they are retained." Then it was that the Sacrament of Penance was instituted; it was then that the Son of God, to whom all power was given in heaven and on earth, granted, not to angels nor to archangels, but to His Apostles and their lawful successors in the ministry, an authority over souls, which opens or shuts the gates of heaven, since God ratifies there the judgments which they pronounce on earth; it was then that He appointed them the judges of conscience, with power to decide what sinners are worthy, and who are unworthy of receiving the pardon of their sins; it was then, in fine, that He bestowed upon them the divine power of truly and efficaciously remitting or retaining the sins of men, according as they imparted or refused the benefits of absolution. And this power our divine Saviour gave to His Apostles and successors in the most extensive and ample measure; that is, without restriction, without exception, without limits; in other words, there is no sin, no crime, no offense, no matter how black, enormous or awful, which may not be entirely and forever blotted out by the grace of the Sacrament of Penance, when the sinner receives it from the hands of a priest legitimately ordained and invested with the necessary jurisdiction.

What is the benefit, and what are the advantages which the Sacrament of Penance procures for us? My Brethren, to know the great importance and inestimable value of the benefits which the Saviour of the world granted to mankind when He instituted this Sacrament, it is necessary to tell you what mortal sin is, and the immense injury which it inflicts upon the soul. Mortal sin, committed by man, who is but a worm of the earth, directly attacks the Supreme Ruler of the universe,-the Omnipotent God, who could annihilate His enemies the very moment they offend Him. Man, by committing mortal sin, outrages God in His very presence, under His eyes, at the very instant too, when this God of goodness is heaping His favors upon man. Mortal sin deprives the soul of the grace and friendship of the Lord, the best and the kindest of

* St. John, xx: 22, 23.

Fathers; it takes from the soul all the merits of the good works which it had performed; it deprives it of all right to heaven, and renders it worthy of hell. How sad is the lot of him who commits mortal sin! Behold, the gates of heaven are closed against him, and hell is open to receive him! But must he abandon his soul to despair, this poor soul already so sadly torn by the pangs of remorse? Oh! no; let him rather listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, recalling His wandering sheep. Do penance, He says to him, come to me all you who are loaded with the weight of sin, -all you who have wearied yourselves in the ways of iniquity, and I will refresh you. Let my grace touch your hearts,-repent sincerely, take the firm resolution of never more falling into sin; go and cast yourselves at the feet of my minister, make to him an humble confession of your faults, and he will say to you, in my name: "I absolve you of your sins; go in peace, your sins are forgiven."

How good, how merciful is the Lord! What gratitude do we not owe Him for having established, in His Church, the Sacrament of Penance? This Sacrament opens heaven and it shuts hell, it restores to us the grace and friendship of the Lord; it causes all our merits and good works to revive,—it reïnstates us in our right to the kingdom of heaven; it once more inscribes our names in the book of life, from which they had been blotted out; it gives us new strength to walk along the way of salvation! The Sacrament of Penance remits all the eternal pains due to our sins, and sometimes, also the temporal pains which we must needs suffer in this world, or in the world to come; it gives a sweet repose to our conscience, -abates, or extinguishes the fire of our passions,-curbs the desires of concupiscence, and fortifies our will for good.

"I absolve thee from thy sins," says the minister of Jesus Christ; O sweet and powerful words, which impart peace, tranquillity and happiness! "There is no peace for the wicked,"-his conscience pursues him everywhere. St. Augustine says of himself: I plunged into pleasures, and I found only sorrows. Blessed are they that mourn, were the words of our divine Lord, not only because they will be consoled in eternity, but because, that even on earth, the tears of repentance have their joy,—their delights, and are already sweeter than all the false and fleeting joys of sin.

How great are the benefits,-how precious the advantages which the Sacrament of Penance procures for sinners! We ought to resort frequently to this source of grace and pardon; we should hasten to approach this sacred tribunal, every time we have had the misfortune to fall into a single mortal sin. Delay not,-defer not, -believe me, there is too much danger in delay of conversion. Divine Mercy is infinite, no doubt, but then it has its fixed time, and the Holy Ghost says that the anger of God follows close on His mercy. To persevere in sin, says St. Chrysostom, is to possess the malice of the devil; and St Bernard adds, that it is to render ourselves worthy of the sad fate of that dark spirit. He who, during his life, shall have neglected the Sacrament of Penance, and put off from day to day his conversion, can have but little hope, says St. Jerome, of obtaining from God the forgiveness of his sins, at the hour of death. Be ever grateful to Almighty God for having left in His Church the merciful tribunal of penance, and never permit soul-killing sin to abide in your hearts; but hasten to purify your souls from its defilement in the tears of penance, that you may be reinstated in the sweet peace of the children of God, and that, pure and spotless, you may deserve to be made partakers of the happiness of the elect in heaven.-AMEN.

SERMON LXXIX.

ON THE EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE.

"Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord."-LAM., iii: 40.

We know now in what the Sacrament of Penance consists, and what are the precious and inestimable advantages which it procures for those who receive it with the proper dispositions. But to receive. the holy and salutary effects of this sacrament, there are five conditions to be fulfilled, namely: "Examination of Conscience, contrition, a firm purpose of amendment, confession and satisfaction."