God made peace with the world, and he has deposited with us this treaty of peace. Ours is the duty of publishing, and of exhorting all nations to fulfil its conditions. "He has placed in us the word of reconciliation.' (Ib. 19.) Hence came the magnificent expressions, the bold figures used by the Doctors of the Church to extol the office of preacher. Their preaching, according to St. Gregory, is like unto the army of our great King going through the whole world to conquer souls. Dum catenis vinctus Romam peteret Paulus mundum occupaturus, latens in ejus pectore, quasi sub tentorio ibat Deus. (Mor. 1, 27.) They are the heralds and precursors of Jesus Christ, the voice which cries out, Prepare the way of the Lord." St. Bernard calls them, Patres Christi generando, matres Christi pariendo. If through faith they beget Jesus Christ in the souls, they also beget souls to Jesus Christ by introducing them into the mystical body, which is the Church. "Through the Gospel I have begot you." Oh, how much worthy of respect is this sublime function! Have I always honored it by my conduct, by the elevation of sentiments and the eminent sanctity which it supposes? Have I always made the ambassador speak worthily of the great King? Second Point. The ministry of the preacher is purely divine in its object. As God is its origin, God is also its object. To unite ourselves through love and obedience to Him who is our first principle and last end is our essential duty and our great honor. In this present life God seeks only to draw us back to Him, if we have strayed away by sin, or to unite us more closely to Him, if we are already in His friendship. With this end in view, He uses principally His word, which He announces to men through His ambassadors. When He looks upon the world, He sees some friends who are sincere, others who are unreliable and indifferent, and finds many open enemies. In other words, there are in the world the just, the lukewarm, the sinners. They are all in need of the divine embassy. None are excluded from its mission. The word of God is necessary to the just that they may advance and persevere in righteousness. Progress in sanctity is necessary. Man gains strength in Christian life from the same vivifying source which gave existence to this very life. The heart of the faithful man is replete with good desires, his mind is busied with good works. These are flowers which charm the eyes of God. These are most happy and excellent results. But they are like flowers that would soon wither and die if the plentiful dew, which is the word of God, would not fall on and refresh them. The word of God is yet more necessary to the lukewarm than to the sinners. To the former it makes tender appeals, but also frightful threats. "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful, therefore, from whence thou art fallen.... Because thou art lukewarm I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth." (Apoc.) It wakes up those torpid souls from their slumber, prevents an entire separation from God, and restores them to His friendship. It is certainly a matter of surprise to see almighty God sending ambassadors to His declared enemies. Contemplate who is the offender and who the person offended. The Almighty has nothing to fear from these worms of earth who revolt against Him. He stretches His mercy to excess waiting for men. He humbles Himself so much as to offer them peace; and consider the conditions: they could not possibly be more advantageous to mankind. He prays, He urges them not to abuse His patience, and to accept a home in heaven in which to enjoy His friendship. Thus the preaching of the word of God in every way recalls and unites men to God. Its object is consequently entirely divine. By the aid of preaching, priests calm the passions of people, stir up remorse in guilty consciences, teach truth, banish error, labor to destroy vice, to exalt virtue, and enable the God of peace and the peace of God to dwell in human hearts. Consider how admirable is our ministry. "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace, of them who bring glad tidings of good things." (Rom. x. 15.) Consider how much it merits our esteem and our loyalty. Third Point. The ministry of the preacher is entirely divine in its efficacy. Miracles of grace have ever manifested the supernatural agency of God in the preaching of His word. In the mouth of Nathan an allegory of great simplicity becomes a flash of fire which pierces the heart of David, and makes him the model of penitents. Niniveh is saved by a warning from the prophet Jonas. Esdras had not yet commenced the interpretation of the law of God, he had merely read a few words out of the book, when the people fell on their knees, adored God, and shed tears of repentance. Wailings and lamentations are heard on all sides, and the Levites have to moderate these outbursts of feeling which drown the voice of the holy priest. "All the people wept when they heard the words of the law . . . and the Levites stilled all the people, saying: Hold your peace,... and be not sorrowful." (2 Esd. viii. 9, 11.) Through the preaching of the apostles, the Holy Ghost has created the world anew. "He has renewed the face of the earth." What power did those illiterate men require to subject the world to the dominion of the cross, to induce men to submit to humiliations, sacrifices; in a word, to submit to the austere law of the Gospel? They had need of no weapons except the word of God. Later on, it was also impossible not to recognize the power of God's word in the preaching of the Vincent Ferrers, Anthonies of Padua, the Xaviers, the Clavers, St. Francis de Sales. We see on all sides men who loved and pampered themselves, conquering themselves through the power of the word of God, becoming masters of themselves by mortification, rulers of their passions by strong efforts, laying aside and even despising the advantages of this world for the interests of God and eternity. The doctrine which we announce is ever the same, ever such as St. Paul describes it: "The word of God is living and effectual, and more precious than any two-edged sword, and reaching into the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) How far does it not penetrate? Who will tell of the chains it breaks asunder, of the happy divisions and the holy unions it brings about? Is there a pastor who has not witnessed with his own eyes the accomplishment of Our Saviour's promise: "Behold, I am with you. He who heareth you, heareth Me. You are not they who speak; but the spirit of the Father speaketh in you." O Priest of God, promulgator and interpreter of His law, understand the excellence of your ministry. How have you fulfilled your duty up to this day? What have been the results of your preaching? Have you not to confess that the sacred word on your lips has not been the dew which fertilizes, the fire which gives light and also imparts unblemished radiance? If you seek a cause for your lack of success, you can not find it resulting from the word of God itself. Perhaps when you reflect over the matter seriously, you may discover that it is simply one of those trials which God sends to His most faithful servants. In this case your sorrow will always have its solace. But if your conscience reminds you of good undone, and which your preaching could accomplish, then indeed you have reason to dread the account you will have to give for so precious a talent. The Saviour whom you are about to receive at the altar will, if you beg it of Him, teach you how to handle this spiritual implement, and become the evangelical laborer St. Paul wishes you to be: "A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Tim. ii. 15.) Résumé of the Meditation. First Point. The ministry of the preacher is purely divine in its principle. We have received it of God. "The Gospel of Christ I have preached to you." A glorious privilege of the Catholic preacher! That which he announces to men is not an invention of the human mind; it is the word of God. The Saviour has said to him, He that heareth you, heareth Me. He is therefore named the ambassador of God. He exercises his ministry in the name of God. God Himself exercises it in him and through him. Second Point. The ministry of the word is entirely divine in its end. As it comes from God, it leads unto God. The just, the lukewarm, the sinners are all in need of it. The word of God causes the just to persevere and advance in spirituality, it wakes up the lukewarm man, prevents an entire rupture between God and Himself, it reconciles to God His open enemies. Consider, O evangelical laborers, how admirable is your ministry! Third Point. The ministry of preaching is purely divine in its efficacy. Wonders of grace have ever manifested the action of God in His word. Nathan, Jonas, Esdras, in days of old, and later on, the apostles, the Vincent Ferrers, the Xaviers, St. Francis de Sales, demonstrated the power of this divine word. It has lost nothing of its efficacy. O Priest of God, promulgator of His law, have you understood the excellence of your ministry? Have you performed its duties? MEDITATION LXII. OBLIGATION OF PREACHING. 1. Have I Understood the Importance of this Obligation? First Point. The duty of preaching is the principal duty of the priest considered as pastor. St. Thomas calls this obligation, principalissimum officium. Whilst it is true to say that we are saved through faith and the invocation of the Lord's name it should be remembered that faith and prayer are the result of preaching, just as streams flow from their source, for, as St. Paul says: "How, then, shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe Him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?.... Faith, then, cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom. x. 14, 17.) I. This obligation is based upon divine right. In all past ages God sent His ambassadors to men. He speaks to them today through His priests, as He did formerly through His prophets. The obligation which was laid on the prophets is the same as that which is laid on the priests. And this obligation binds under the same penalties. "Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet." (Is. lxviii. 1.) "Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak." (Jer. i. 7.) "When I say to the wicked man, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I shall require his blood at thy hand." (Ezech. xxxiii. 8.) Jesus Christ gives to His ministers the mission He received from His Father, and declares that His mission is that of preaching the Gospel. "As the Father sent Me, I also send you." (Joan. xx. 21.) "He sent Me to preach the Gospel to the poor." (Luc. iv. 18.) "Let us go into the neighboring towns and cities, that I may preach there also, for to this purpose I am come." (Marc. i. 38.) Immediately before going up to heaven, He again promulgates this great law of preaching. Consider the circumstances with which He invests this command, with what pomp, with what majesty of language. It is the last word to those whom He has commissioned to continue His work. O Apostles, O Priests, can you ever forget this command? "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth." The universe is mine as my inheritance. I have already conquered heaven by My labors and My sufferings, but the earth I have yet to conquer, and on you I depend to subject it to My law. "Go, therefore, teach all nations, preach the Gospel to every creature." The apostles understand the obligation laid on them. "But they, going forth, preached everywhere." (Marc. xvi. 20.) They are forbidden to preach, they are threatened, but this they do not mind. "We must obey God rather than man.” (Acts, v. 29.) St. Paul will in no way accept the praise of man for his zeal in preaching the Gospel; He looks upon it as a matter of necessity to which He submits: "Necessity lieth upon me." He pronounces against himself a sort of anathema if he should ever come to neglect so sacred a duty. "Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel." What points does he chiefly insist upon in his letters to Timothy and Titus, which are, as it were, the manual of the apostolic and pastoral life? Preaching: He charges them, and in their persons all the pastors of souls, by all that is most holy and terrible, by the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming, His eternal kingdom, to preach the divine word in season and out of season, to use in preaching it all the means of persuasion which an ardent charity will suggest, such as discussions, prayers, reproofs, unalterable patience. "I charge thee before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the |