Traditional Catholic Teaching - THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT (Luke 11:14-28)

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT (Luke 11:14-28)

Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation,
and house upon house shall fall.

Luke 11:17

Our Lord was proving that He did not drive out devils by aid of the devil, and pointed out that wherever strife, emulation and division prevail, desolation and destruction must inevitably follow. He took as His illustration a kingdom divided against itself, the people being engaged in civil war; and He argued that it was impossible for the devil to be helping Him to drive out devils.

These words may, however, teach us another excellent lesson, viz.: that if we suffer discord to reign within us, we must expect nothing but misery. Yet such discord is very common; it is a state of discontent due to absence of peace of mind, in spite of the enjoyment of temporal prosperity. We want to serve God without denying ourselves; we accuse ourselves again and again of our faults, repent of them and mourn over them, and then commit them afresh.

This discord entered into us with original sin, since which time, as St. Paul says, the flesh has been warring against the spirit; and we can overcome this inward disturbance only bythe grace of Him who has crushed the serpent's head. It ceases to torment us when what is good and noble in us has obtained permanent dominion over what is evil and base. If with our whole mind and strength we are in union with God, peace and harmony will that reign in our hearts and make us happy, for we shall be freed from teat inward discord that drags us this way and that, now to what is good, and now to what is evil, and is an incessant source of restlessness and spiritual misery.

If we wish to avoid this inward discord and discontent, this sense of unhappiness at heart, we must be resolute. First of all try to ascertain clearly what God wants of you; for where there is no real recognition of His will there will be constant uncertainty and questioning whether we ought to do this or that; and in such a state of doubt determined action is impossible. A man, wandering in the dark in an unknown locality, cannot take a decided step forward. We need, in the first place, a definite knowledge of our duties, and our reason will enable us to obtain this. It is, therefore, most essential to avail ourselves of every opportunity of developing our reason. The less training is bestowed upon our reason, the more apt is our imagination to run riot, and imagination is never a safe guide to tell us our duty. We may strive in vain to be pious if we allow our imagination to decide what is our duty; for it is easily influenced by sensuality and self-love, it is ready to take a false view of things and to regard what is absolutely wrong as permissible, or even as good and noble. No inconsiderable part of modern literature bears witness to this truth, for barefaced wickedness is often represented as harmless and justified, whilst the moral teaching is so distorted, and absurd eccentricities so highly praised as genuine virtue, that it is really no wonder if uncritical readers store up in their minds the most contradictory views regarding morality. The peculiar moral teaching in such books is no whit better or less injurious than downright immorality. Even if the teaching has a good tendency, making for virtue and piety, it is not on that account much less dangerous than if it diverges altogether from the right path; perhaps it discovers sins where there are no sins, and makes exaggerated demands upon its victim, plunging him into deep depression, because he is unable to comply with these demands, and, by robbing him of all courage, it leads him astray from what is good. A truly religious training of the intellect is most essential to give us clear and definite principles regarding our duty. When you have once recognized something as a duty, pleasing to God, "Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus" (2. Tim. 11:1).

When you have made a good resolution, be true to yourselves and to Christ; do not waver to and fro. Doubts may arise within you, and various opinions and temptations; hours may come when you are inclined to change your mind, since what appeared at first to be right may seem doubtful and uncertain. Do not yield to these temptations; renew your resolution that you formed after due deliberation and after earnest prayer.

To act in one way to-day, and in another to-morrow to sow today and to root up tomorrow, to build to-day and to pull down tomorrow all this leads to nothing, especially in striving after piety. If we go on in this way, one day will pass after another and the day of our death will find us as devoid of merit as the day of our birth. Be strong to resist all fickleness that is due to your own changes of mind.

Be strong, too, against fickleness due to outward influences. It is not much good to have a pious heart if it is not at the same time steadfast. If it were our lot to be always with friends like ourselves, anxious to lead good lives, then it would be easy enough to be good. If we always had a hand to guide us, or a voice to warn us, our own want of determinafiorn might be replaced by that of others. But a Christian has to go out into the world and stand his ground there. It is not difficult to be resolute in quiet retirement, but to abide by what has once for all been recognized as a right, although countless voices reject it as foolish, false and ridiculous that is a difficult task. The world has often been compared with a market, and the comparison is apt. Especially at the present time there is so much confusion of opposing theories, each man wishing to draw attention to his own, so that, unless we cling fast to Jesus Christ, we shall be hopelessly bewildered. One person extols as a virtue what another scorns as folly; and one calls noble what another denounces as mean. As a rule all the visitors to the market-place are of one mind only when they can abuse the Church and despise true virtue. If you do not accustom yourselves, when you are young, to hold fast what you know to be good, caring nothing for taunts and mockery, and not being credulous in contradiction, you are only too likely to adopt one perverse doctrine after another, and to become the plaything of all in turn. You will let yourselves be persuaded that black is white, and white is black, and finally you will not know what you ought to believe and do, and you will be aware in the depths of your hearts that you are not in union with God, and your souls will be distracted with that anxiety and discontent that are so common nowadays, because without Jesus there can be nothing but discord in our hearts.

How can we overcome want of resolution in ourselves and of weakness in face of temptations and false teaching from without? "If God be for us," says St. Paul, "who can be against us?" (Rom. 8: 31), and this thought is our comfort and strength. By means of earnest prayer, renewal of good resolutions, and constant efforts to increase our knowledge of our holy religion, we may steady ourselves, and God will give us strength and not allow any one to be at variance with His better self, but will help us to act as we think, and always to think in a way pleasing to Him. He will warn you when false principles are likely to mislead you; He will help you to unite true piety with steadfastness of purpose. "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall." Every soul that is really united with God, and determined to continue one with Him, will be a kingdom of God and an abode of His grace. No cunning, no deception and no malice will succeed in robbing such a soul of its faith and goodness; it will serve God with inward peace until He calls it to our everlasting home. Amen.

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