ages tell us that there are but two ways to attain heaven, namely: the way of innocence and the way of penance. Alas! how few there are who preserve the precious treasure of innocence, wherewith they were enriched at their baptism! It was to us then that our divine Saviour addressed himself when he said: "Unless you do penance, you shall all perish." But will it be sufficient to satisfy God, if we confine ourselves to the avowal of our guilt and cease to live in sin? "No," says St. Gregory, "the mouth that has vomited forth blasphemies does not repair them by silence. No man pays his debts by merely ceasing to contract new ones." Thus, sins are not expiated, are not repaired by simply ceasing to commit them anew. What! has not our divine Saviour satisfied for mankind by dying on the cross? Yes, my Brethren; but to profit us, the merits of the Man-God must be applied to us, and they are so only in so far as it pleases God, and in the manner and on the conditions which He has a right to demand. In Baptism the application of the merits of the cross is complete; every thing is done there, in some manner at the expense of the Saviour, and our sin is entirely and immediately blotted out. But it is not so with the Sacrament of Penance. God desires exceedingly to snatch you from the jaws of hell; but, because you have broken the first alliance, you must be punished; your sin is forgiven and the eternal torments due to it remitted, but there still remains a temporal punishment which you must suffer, either in this life, or in purgatory; there still remains the obligation of satisfying the justice of God.

To satisfy God and discharge the debt contracted by sin, we must take up our cross, walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and follow Him along the road of sufferings; we must, in a word, do penance by fasting, alms and prayer. Nevertheless, let this not alarm our weakness I can assure you that penance is practicable in every state of life; that we can very easily make atonement for our sins, and at a very small cost.-But do you not say that penance must be made by fasting, alms-deeds and prayer? I do, my Brethren, but it is a kind of fasting which the most delicate, nay, even sick persons can easily practice; it is a kind of prayer which every one can adopt, and a species of alms which comes within the reach of the poorest man.

You can not fast,-your feeble and delicate health forbids it,

the toilsome life you lead will not permit it. Do we fast only when we abstain from eating meat and lessen the quantity of our meals? No, my Brethren, you also fast when you deprive yourselves of those things which flatter your self-love, your sensuality, your passions and your evil inclinations. You practice a fast most agreeable to God, when, through a spirit of penance and mortification, you deprive yourselves of any thing which, without being prohibited or bad in itself, still would afford you some pleasure. For instance, a young man delights in the society of some friends. If he deny himself this pleasure through a motive of love for God; if, instead of visiting those friends on Sunday, he goes to the church and assists at High Mass and Vespers, oh, he practices a fast most precious in the sight of the Lord,-a most meritorious fast. A new fashion springs up, and this young girl wishes to adopt it; her parents permit her, and even furnish her with means to gratify her wish; but through a motive of mortification she denies herself this gratification: oh, this privation is also a fast most pleasing to God and most meritorions. A man does you an injury: it is in your power to revenge the wrong, to render evil for evil; but you forgive, you refuse to seek satisfaction for the wrong which has been done you; here again is an acceptable and most meritorious fast. You, poor laborers,-who toil so hard from year's end to year's end, if through the spirit of mortification and love of God, you bear your trials and toils; if you offer to God the sweat of your brow, your privations and sufferings; if you unite them to the sufferings and sorrows of your Saviour, you practice a fast most pleasing to God and most meritorious! You desire to increase your wealth and leave your children a fortuue, but all your enterprises are unsuccessful; beside, sickness and adversity come upon you; the desire springs up in your heart to see this cross removed, and your sufferings ended; repress this desire, struggle against your impatience, accept the penance which the Lord, in His goodness imposes, and this shall be a most salutary and most meritorious fast! "For our present tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."* You understand now, my Brethren, that there is a way of fasting

* 2 Corinthians, iv: 17.

which all of us can adopt and put in practice. Let us see if it be more difficult for us to pray. Do we pray only when by words we praise the Lord, implore His assistance or thank Him for His mercies? No, my Brethren; prayer is simply the elevation of the soul to God: we pray then when we refer to God whatever happens us;—we pray when we humble ourselves in submission to His holy will, when we receive with patience and resignation our crosses, because they are sent by Him; we pray when we perform our daily labor for his honor, following the advice of St. Paul: "and whatever we eat or drink or whatever else we do, we do all for the glory of God." And where is the man who can not pray thus, many times in the day, even in the midst of the most toilsome work? Where is the man who can not discharge the duties of his state in submission to the will of God, and resting on the merits of Jesus Christ, offer them to God from the bottom of his heart? Where is the mother, who, without neglecting her household duties, may not often, during the day, elevate her soul and heart to her heavenly Father, and consecrate to Him the work of her hands? Where is the servant or working man, who can not perform the duties of his station through love of God, and bear, by offering it to God in the spirit of penance, the heat and burden of the day? Ah! if he did, he would pray, and pray well. Adopt then the beautiful custom of elevating your souls to God every morning; consecrate to Him, from the first moment you rise, your work, your duties and your trials; sometimes, during the day, renew in your hearts this good intention, and, be assured, you will have prayed well, and performed a most salutary penance.

But the Holy Ghost says to us: Redeem your sins by alms." Can you do so, my Brethren? Yes, you who are rich can, and, if you fail in doing so, you are avaricious,-you are guilty of sin in the eyes of God, and your sins shall not be forgiven, for God pardons not the wicked Dives. But does this obligation of redeeming their sins by alms concern only the rich? No! It binds all, for all of us can fulfill it.

Alms-deeds consists not only in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and distributing money to the needy; it is also an act of charity, agreeable to God and most profitable to your soul, to render a kind service to your neighbor, to assist him either corpor

ally or spiritually, whenever he stands in need of your assistance. You bestow alms when you visit the sick, console the afflicted, instruct the ignorant, or when by your good example and charitable counsel, you seek to correct the vicious, and bring back to virtue those who are going astray. How many occasions present themselves for the exercise of these kind offices! God furnishes you with many such opportunities every day, and the truly charitable heart knows well how to make use of them. The father of a large, helpless family may not be able to give pecuniary aid to his poor neighbor, whom misfortune has reduced to want; but he can give him good advice, he can console him in his miseries, and perhaps be instrumental in procuring him assistance from other persons more favored with the good things of this world. All of us can sometimes do good to our neighbor. A laboring man may not be in a condition to give money to the suffering poor, but he can at least bestow upon them his care, he can assist them by working for them, by watching them when they are sick, and in many other ways lend them a helping hand: he can give good example to his companions and contribute to their edification and salvation; he can pray for the unfortunate and recommend them to others who have it in their power to aid and relieve them. Was I not right then in telling you, my Brethren, that penance is easy? We may perform it at every step we take. How blind then must be the sinner who does not profit by so favorable an opportunity of paying off the debts which he owes to the divine Justice! It is easy to fast, easy to pray, easy to give alms. If we wish, all our pains, all our toils, all our works, all our tribulations may serve us as penance and satisfaction to God. But you must observe, my dear Brethren, that, to expiate our sins by this means, we must suffer all and accept all with patience and resignation; we must offer all and unite all to the infinite merits of Jesus Christ; we must keep ourselves in the state of grace, or at least in a sincere desire of placing ourselves in that state as soon as possible by a good confession. Adopting this precaution, we can lead a life common indeed in appearance, but in reality a holy life, one which will satisfy God, expiate our sins, preserve us from the sufferings and pains of purgatory, unite us to the train of our divine Lord, and conduct us to the happiness of heaven.-AMEN.

SERMON LXXXV.

ON INDULGENCES.

"Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven."-Sr. MATTHEW, Xviii: 18.

THE Sacrament of Penance effaces the sins committed after baptism, and purifies the soul from its stains; it also remits the eternal punishment, but not always the temporal punishment due to sin, leaving to the sinner the obligation of expiating his crimes by proportionate satisfaction. Must we suffer this temporal punishment in all its rigor and in all its extent? No, my Brethren; the Church, in her truly maternal tenderness, comes to our assistance and delivers us from the burden of the punishment which we should otherwise have to undergo, either in this world or in purgatory; she furnishes us with means of paying off the debts we have contracted toward God, and this means she offers us in what are called Indulgences. A brief explanation of these will form the subject-matter of our instruction to-day.

What is an Indulgence? An Indulgence may be defined the remission of the whole or a part of the temporal punishment, which is due to the justice of God after the sin and eternal punishment have been remitted. This remission is granted out of the tribunal of penance, by the application of the sacred treasure of graces of which the Church is the depository and dispensatrix. An Indulgence does not remit sin, not even venial sin, nor the eternal punishment due to sin; it can only affect the punishment to be suffered in this world or in purgatory. Indulgences are of two kinds, partial and plenary. A partial Indulgence, as of forty days, of a hundred days, of seven years, is that which remits a part of the punishment due to sin. But you must not suppose that an indulgence of forty days or of seven years, obtains for him who gains it a liberation of forty days or of seven years from purgatory; it refers to the