In the ninth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, we read of two patients; the one sick both in body and soul; the other only in his soul; the one was lying on his bed, the other sitting in the custom-house. Of the one the Gospel says: "They brought to Jesus a man sick of the palsy;" and the other gives testimony of himself in these words: Jesus saw a man sitting in the custom-house, named Matthew. Two kinds of sick persons, and a twofold manner of healing. Our Lord not only imparts health to the body of the palsied man, but also relieves him from the sickness of his soul, saying: "Son, be of good heart; thy sins are forgiven thee." He acted differently with Matthew; he does not instantly announce to him the remission of his sins, but says to him: "Follow me." Why did he not also say to him: "Thy sins are forgiven thee?" Was he, perhaps, no sinner? Indeed, he was; he was 'what the Scripture calls a publican, one of the tax-gatherers, a dishonest class in those days. What difference then is there between the man sick of the palsy, and the publican, that both being sick in their souls he imparts health to the soul of the one instantly, and not to the other. St. Chrysostom answers this question, saying: "Both were infected with a disease of the soul, but the one was also sick in his body; the health of the body of the publican was an obstacle to the soul, but the unhealthy body of the man sick of the palsy was the cause of the health of the soul."

The judgment of the world differs greatly from this. The world knows no greater evil than sickness; for the children of the world think of nothing but the enjoyment of every pleasure and the gratification of every desire; and because they know that it will be of no benefit and satisfaction to them to possess the whole world and to be sick at the same time, and therefore prevented from making use of and enjoying it, they look upon sickness as the greatest evil in the world. But if we form a right judgment of it, we will find that it is frequently the best thing that can befall man, for it opens his eyes and discovers to him the danger to which his salvation is exposed. In many cases sickness is more beneficial than health. This is no idle saying, but is clearly laid down in the Sacred Scriptures. Thus we read in the Fourth Book of Kings, chapter 5th, that Naaman was a leper. A little maid who had been led away captive out of the land of Israel, waited upon Naaman's wife, and one day she said to her mistress: "I wish that my master had been with the prophet that lives in Samaria; he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy." Naaman took her advice and went to Eliseus, and having, at his command, washed himself seven times in the Jordan, his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. Naaman, full of joy, returned to the man of God, and said: "In truth I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel." Naaman, up to this time had been a heathen, adoring idols, but having been healed he professed his belief in the one true God, saying: "In truth I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel." It was his sickness, his leprosy that brought him to the knowledge of the true God; had he not been afflicted with sickness, he would have died without this saving knowledge.

What happened to Naaman, who by reason of his leprosy came to the knowledge of God, also happened to another, who, in consequence of sickness, returned from the state of sin to the state of grace. We read in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke that men brought in a bed a man who had the palsy, and they sought means to bring him in, and lay him before Christ. And when they could not find by what way they might do so, because of the multitude, they went upon the roof, and let him down through the tiles, with his bed, into the midst, before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." Whence this happy deliverance from sin? In consequence of the palsy that afflicted the body. Perhaps his soul would never have been healed, had his body not been sick. In the seventeenth chapter of the same Evangelist, we read that ten lepers, who stood afar off, prayed Jesus to free them from their leprosy, saying: "Jesus, master, have mercy on us." Jesus commanded them: "Go, show yourselves to the priests;" and obeying the order, they were made clean, and freed, not only from the leprosy of the body, but also from that of the soul. Thus the sickness of the body was the occasion of the health of the soul. In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St. John we read that Jesus healed a certain man that had been under his infirmity for thirty-eight years, and our Lord afterwards meeting him in the temple, said to him: "Behold, thou art now made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee," as if Christ intended to say. "I have healed not only thy body but also thy soul; thou hast deserved this punishment and brought it upon thyself by thy sins; but now go and sin no more, lest perhaps some worse evil befall thee."

There is another instance mentioned in the Bible, which I cannot pass by in silence. Christ was one day journeying near the confines of Tyre and Sidon, when a woman of Chanaan came out of those parts, and crying out said to him: "Have mercy on me, O Lord; my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil." But Jesus answered her not a word. His disciples having compassion upon her, said to him: "Send her away, for she crieth after us." But even the disciples' prayer was not heard. The poor woman, actuated both by fear and hope, threw herself on her knees, saying: "Lord, help me." He merely said: "It is not good to take the bread of children, and to cast it to the dogs." Our Lord wished first to try her faith and humility; he likewise perceived from her prayer, that she considered her daughter's sickness to be a very great evil, and had not God afflicted her with sickness, she and her mother would never have had recourse to Christ, and consequently would never have been converted. Thus it is evident from Holy Writ, that God frequently sends us crosses and afflictions to serve as an occasion to return to him.

Have you ever been sick? How did you behave? Have you not been impatient? Alas! there are only too many who lose their patience in their sickness, and repine, murmur, and complain at the dispensation of Providence. To such I say, your sickness, however painful and lingering, is either unto death or not; it is either your last sickness or not. If your sickness is not unto death, what makes you so impatient? Why should I not be impatient, you say, when I am confined to my bed for so long a time, and am obliged to suffer almost unendurable pain? But I say, you lose your patience because you do not distinguish between the value of the soul and the body, and because you banish the sins of your former days, especially of your youth, from your memory. Have you never grievously offended God? If you have, receive the sickness as a just punishment for your sins. What are the pains you suffer compared to what you have deserved by your sins? Next to nothing. But, perhaps, it will be your last sickness, a sickness unto death. If so, what is your disposition? You do not wish to be reminded of the danger; you do not like to hear that you must die; the name of death perhaps alone is sufficient to terrify and alarm you. O death, how bitter is thy remembrance to the wicked!

We must do penance for every sin we commit; and as you cannot find time for doing penance while you are well, God, in his mercy, gives you time by sending you sickness. As you would not do penance voluntarily, he compels you to do it, yet at the same time he leaves it to your own free choice whether you will make good use of your sickness or not. It is you yourself that must bear your sickness, no one else can suffer it for you; you may just as well bear it patiently and make a virtue of necessity. How many has God called to His tribunal without a moment's warning, without giving them time to prepare for all this all-important event! Why has He not called you when you were buried in the grave of sin? He sends you sickness, offering you a favorable opportunity of atoning for the sins of your youthful days. Far from murmuring against God, you ought to be thankful to Him for thus dealing with you in His mercy. Hence, whether your sickness be unto death or not, it is always a grace and a blessing, and thus it is true that the sickness of the body is the health of the soul. What I have said, is said for the consolation of sinners; from this they may learn what they must do when they become sick, and how they are to console themselves. If there should be any sick among you, of whom could be said what the messengers of the sisters of Lazarus said to Christ: "Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick," then I must say, that this sickness is for the glory of God. I do not deny that there are people afflicted with sickness without having deserved it by their sins. What words of consolation shall I speak to them?

I can say nothing else than that their sickness is for the glory of God. To prove this, my assertion, I quote the words of Christ Himself. In the ninth chapter of St. John's Gospel we read that "Jesus saw a man that was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him: Rabbi, who hath sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered: "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents. This man has not been born blind in punishment either of his own sins or those of his parents; but that by his being healed, God's power and glory may be made manifest." Christ does not here deny the existence either of original, or of actual sins, of the blind man, or of his parents; he only denies that they were the cause of his blindness. Original sin was indeed the cause in so far as all evil has its source in it; but that the evil of original sin, in this man, took the form of blindness, did not happen on account either of the original or the actual sins of the blind man, or of his parents. God permitted it, that Christ's mission might become manifest. But could not Christ's mission and the glory of God be made manifest without this blindness; it could, indeed; but it would also be made manifest by this means. But you may say, a wrong has been done to this man, just for the sake of the glory of God. What wrong, what injustice? I assert a great blessing was conferred upon that man and his parents, for the Lord opened the eyes of their souls. What did their healthy eyes avail the Jews? With eyes open they saw not, and were punished accordingly. "They have eyes and see not."--Ps. n3.

Thus it is with you if you suffer innocently. Consider that in proportion as the honor of God is increased by you, as being instruments in His hands, your glory shall also become greater, according to the words of the Apostle: "Our present tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."--II. Cor. 4: 17. The sinner, as well as the just man, has herein a consolation, and each ought to change his lamentations into canticles of joy and exultation, imitating St. Paul, who says: "For myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities. Gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."-- II. Cor. 12: 5-9. The same Apostle says in his Epistle to the Hebrews: "Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not, but a body Thou hast fitted to me."--10: 35. He does not desire the sacrifice of irrational beings; we must make a sacrifice of our own free will. Let us then bear patiently all the infirmities of our body, that thereby we may be brought either to the knowledge of our guilt, to the working of penance, or to the increase of God's glory. Let us frequently cry out with St. Augustine: "Here burn, here cut, and spare me not here, but spare me hereafter."

And in conclusion, I say that the greatest health sometimes consists in not being healthy, that is to say, the best health of the soul sometimes consists in the sickness of the body. A state of continual good health has cast many into hell, whom a little sickness would have conducted to life everlasting; and many whom good health would have ruined forever, have, through sickness, been admitted into the mansions of bliss, and thus it is true as I said in the beginning: "That the sickness of the body is a blessing to the soul."

" Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him."--John, 4: 52. The sickness with which the son of the ruler was afflicted was a fever. This is evident from the answer which the servant gave to the question of the ruler, in what hour he grew better: "Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him." Fever is a sickness of frequent occurrence, and there are but few men who have not at some time or another been fever-stricken. But there is a fever which is more widely spread than any bodily.disease, and this is the fever of the soul, or sin. Hence St. Ambrose says: "Our fever is our pride and ambition; our fever is our concupiscence and unchastity; our fever is our avarice; our fever is our desire of revenge; we are infected with as many spiritual fevers as we are with sins and vices." As a physician of souls, it is my province to speak of these spiritual fevers and to tell you something about them that may be of advantage to you; I therefore say: Fever is a picture of sin,

Intermittent fever, which has a certain or uncertain time for returning and which lingers, and exhausts us very much. You certainly know examples of people who had fever for half a year and longer; and could not get rid of it in spite of all they did. Intermittent fever is, however, rare. Would to God that it were so with sin, that spiritual fever! But it is not the case. How many may there be among us who again and again commit, I will not say, venial faults, but mortal ones! They frequently relapse into the vice of impurity; they get drunk again; they do not give up their cursing, swearing, blaspheming, their immodest discourses and obscene witticisms, their lies, slander and detraction; they continue their enmities, their injustices and cheating. They commit today the sins which they committed ten or twenty years ago, and there is no prospect that they will ever be converted. If the fever always returns and cannot be controlled, the sick man runs the risk of dying. No less great is the danger for a man who continues his sinful life for years and never amends; he falls deeper and deeper into blindness and obduracy; the grace of God departs from him more and more, and it is to be feared that he will live and die in sin and be lost. Oh, that all relapsing and habituul sinners would make a note of this!

One, three, eight, or fourteen days' fever, that is such as return daily, or every third, eighth, or fourteenth day. Such sick people feel quite well on days on which they are free from fever; but whenever it returns, they are full of pains. There are sins also which are daily committed, or every three, eight, or fourteen days, or very often. For how many does scarcely a day pass, on which they do not become angry, break out into invectives and calumnies, lie, speak unchaste words, consent to impure thoughts and desires! Good God! we ought to advance every day, and yet we do evil daily—nay, many of us daily commit mortal sins! How great will the number of our sins finally become! And what a severe judgment awaits us!

Fever chills, which attack the sick man with cold and shake him till his teeth chatter. Let him bury himself in a warm bed, or use furs in the hot summer time, he cannot get warm. It is also peculiar to sin under certain circumstances to spread an icy coldness over man, so that he can be warmed by nothing. Man frequently falls into this state of tepidity when he commits a certain sin very frequently or continues long in a life of sin. When he is yet a tyro in sin, his conscience is aroused, presents vividly before his eyes the grievousness and the consequence of sin and fills him with anxiety, fear, and sorrow, but these salutary motions of conscience decrease by little and little and finally cease altogether. In this sad state nothing makes an impression upon the sinner. Entreaties, warnings, threats, and punishments are fruitless; his heart, quite icy, cannot be thawed and warmed. Examples: Pharaoh in Egypt. The Scribes and Pharisees. The inhabitants of Jerusalem. To such obdurate sinners the words of the Apostle apply: "According to thy hardness, and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God."—Rom. 2: 5.

Typhus. With people who are sick of such fevers, the head and breast, and often the whole body, are very hot; the face is dark red; the lips, tongue, and throat are parched; they breathe heavily, and it frequently happens that they lose their senses and rave. Look at a man who permits himself to be controlled by the passion of anger; does he not resemble a man with a burning fever? Is not his face red and as it were burning with heat? Does he not breathe heavily and deeply? Does he not say and do things which are more proper to a maniac than to a rational being? Is not St. Basil right when he says of a man burning with anger: "He is not master of himself; he knows neither himself nor those who are present; but as in a nocturnal fight he tries everything, knocks down everything, he talks nonsense, he cannot control himself, he reviles, blasphemes, strikes, cuts, threatens, swears, curses, and screams." Henry II., of England, was intractable in his anger, and in his words and actions committed follies of which even a common man should have been ashamed. One day he endeavored to tear out the eyes of a man who had brought him a letter containing unpleasant news; he actually scratched his whole face. Another time he most shamefully abused a gentleman who in conversation appeared to take the part of the king of Scotland. He knocked his hat off, tore his clothes, and attacked him with his teeth as if he were beside himself. To break out into bitter complaints and reproaches, to use abusive execrations, and even to threaten death, were quite usual with him when things were not at once according to his will. Oh, that when you are in danger of falling into the passion of anger, you would look up to Jesus, who cries out to us: "Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart."—Matt. ii: 29.

Fever weakens the body and renders it unfit for work. Every fever, especially nervous fever, brings great weakness in its train: the sick are so weak and feeble that they can neither walk nor stand, and scarcely move a hand. They must be lifted, and moved. The effect of sin is still more deplorable, for it disables man entirely from doing anything meritorious for heaven. Infected with mortal sin, he is separated from Christ, and resembles a branch cut off from the vine; he can therefore yield no more fruit, i.e. can no more do anything that would be entitled to a reward hereafter. Thus Christ assures us: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; so neither can you, unless you abide in me."--John, 15: 4. He that is in the state of mortal sin, is destitute of charity; and he that has not charity is incapable of acquiring merits for heaven. St. Paul says this in plain words: "If I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."--1. Cor. 13: 3. He that is contaminated with a mortal sin has not sanctifying grace; and he who has not sanctifying grace is devoid of supernatural life; he is spiritually dead; and therefore can do nothing meritorious for eternity. Fever patients are to be pitied, because they cannot work, and consequently earn nothing. But are not Christians far more to be pitied when by their sins they render themselves incapable of meriting anything for heaven? Should you not, if you have the misfortune to fall into a grievous sin, without delay make a sincere confession, in order to recover sanctifying grace and to enable yourselves to acquire merit for heaven?

Fever takes away all appetite. The fever-sick have no desire to eat, and whatever they eat is repugnant to them, they have no taste; all food is insipid. You must always compel that he take even a little nourishment. Sin produces'the same effect; it deprives man of all desire after spiritual good. Sinners have no joy in prayer; they either neglect it altogether or perform it with dryess and without any devotion. They prefer to be anywhere rather than in the church; on Sundays and holydays they frequently neglect the public worship, or content themselves with a low mass; the word of God is distasteful to them, as the manna was to the Israelites; they are hardly ever seen at a sermon. They detest nothing so much as the reception of the Sacraments; months and even years pass without confession and Communion. How sad is the state of such careless Christians! God withdraws His grace from them more and more; they sink deeper and deeper into sins and vices, come more and more under the dominion of the devil, and are therefore in the greatest danger of going into eternity in their impenitence. How could a Christian who is solicitous for the salvation of his soul neglect the means of grace and salvation which his holy religion offers him?

Fever causes great thirst. The less appetite the fever-sick have, the more thirst they endure. They wish for nothing but drink; and no matter how much they drink, they can never quench their thirst; it is as if they poured water upon glowing iron, so quickly does their mouth become parched. Is it otherwise with sinners? Are they not tormented by a great thirst without being able to quench it? What do they not do in order to gratify their ambition, avarice, concupiscence of the flesh, desire of revenge? What energy do they not put forth for this purpose? What pains and labors do they not undergo, what sacrifices do they not make? And when they have obtained what they aspired to with such great desire, is their thirst quenched? Are they contented and happy? No; the desire of t he sinner is a bottomless vessel which cannot be filled, however much may be poured into it. Examples: King Saul, who permitted himself to be controlled by jealousy, pride and envy, and whose mind on that account was clouded with uneasiness and dejection. Aman, who, although his king Assuerus honored him very much and exalted him above all the other princes of the realm, was wholly discontented on account of his boundless pride. Examples from life: The drunkard, the voluptuous, and the avaricious. They are spurred on by their evil desires, and as often as they satisfy them, they clamor anew for gratification. This is the curse of sin, that it urges its slaves forward to wicked deeds and never stills their desire. Justly therefore has St. Augustine said: "The human heart which is not firmly grounded in the longing for eternity can never be constant, but more inconstant than all inconstancy it goes from one thing to another and seeks rest where there is no rest." O that we would consider what this great Doctor further says: "O soul, He only who created thee, can satisfy thee; if thou ask for anything else, it is thy misfortune, for He only who made thee according to his image, can satisfy thee."

Medicine is necessary either for purging or as an emetic. Many if not all fevers originate from impurities in the blood and the stomach; these impurities must be removed from the body, that the fever-sick may be healed. Therefore physicians prescribe emetics as the first medicine to be used in case of fever. These remedies are not easy to take; they cause griping pains, sick headache, and other ills; but they are necessary, because by their use the causes from which the fevers originate are removed. Such remedies are also necessary for the sinner, that he may be cured of sin, the fever of his soul. He must remove the cause and occasion of sin. If he has lived unchastely with a person, he must give up all company with her; if he has sinned by drinking and gambling, he must shun the places and societies where it happened; if he has visited houses and places of amusement that caused him to fall, he must keep away from them as much as possible. This may indeed be difficult for him and perhaps more disagreeable than the emetics to the fever-sick; but, like the sick man, he must swallow it down, otherwise the cure of his soul would be impossible. St. Isidore says: "He who does not shun the occasion of sin does not lay off sin, for it belongs to true penance to shun the occasion of sin." Christ says that we must pluck out an eye, if it scandalize us, and cut off a hand or foot if it scandalize us, for it is better for us, maimed and lame, to enter into life, than, having two hands and two feet, to be cast into hell-fire.--Matt. 18: 8, 9. If therefore the avoiding or removal of what is to you a proximate occasion of sin, should be as hard and painful to you as the plucking out of an eye, or amputation of a hand or foot, you must nevertheless make the sacrifice, for otherwise you can neither get rid of sin nor escape the fire of hell. Consider also the words of Christ: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away."--Matt, n: 12.

Diet. This must be strictly observed by the fever-sick, otherwise medicine avails nothing. It often happens that the fever is allayed for some time, but a fault in diet brings it back with greater vehemence. Such as are sick with nervous fever must be very careful in eating and drinking at the beginning of their convalescence, because if they indulge themselves herein a little too much they may relapse and in consequence die. Sinners also must diet themselves; if their sick soul is to become well and remain so. They must deny themselves everything that entices to sin, and therefore mortify themselves interiorly and exteriorly. Interiorly, by fighting against and suppressing all inordinate inclinations and desires as soon as they become conscious of them. God wills this, therefore He said to Cain: "The lust thereof (of sin) shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it."--Gen. 4: 7. The Apostle also exhorts us to this, saying: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body so as to obey the lusts thereof."--Rom. 6: 12. Exteriorly, by taming our senses and preventing them from admitting any outward impression seducing us to sin. We must especially guard our eyes and allow them no sinful glances; our ears, by shutting them to evil discourses: our tongue, by refraining from immodest and sinful words. These interior and exterior mortifications are indispensably necessary for a true repentance and conversion. Therefore St. Basil says: "Mind well that Christ first says: Let him deny himself, and then: And follow me. For if you do not do the first, i.e., deny your own will, mortify evil inclinations and desires, you will find many impediments and obstacles which will withdraw you from following Christ. The road to virtue must first be levelled by mortification."

Strengthening remedies. When the fever is suppressed and health restored, strengthening remedies must be employed, that the fever may not return, and that the sick man, weakened by it, may gradually recover his strength. After the body has been properly purged, quinine is frequently prescribed. This medicine tones up and strengthens the whole physical organization, and when the fever has quite departed, a little good wine is added. The sinner too needs strengthening remedies in order to preserve himself from a relapse. Such remedies are,

In conclusion I exhort you to flee from sin as much and even more than from fever; if unfortunately you have fallen into sin, endeavor to free yourselves from it as quickly as possible. It is a raging fever; but we are not left without appropriate remedies against it. Sin, as you all know, is a worse evil than the most malignant fever, because it injures and destroys not only the body but also the soul. Hate, then, and detest it above all things, and shun it more than any sickness--nay, more than death. In order to preserve yourselves against relapse, avoid the proximate ocasion of sin, mortify yourselves interiorly and exteriorly, and deny yourselves manfully whatever is detrimental to your salvation. Pray fervently, especially in the time of temptation; hear and read the word of God, meditate on it, and go as often as possible to confession and Communion. If you employ these means with persevering zeal, you can hope to be preserved from sin, or, if you have sinned to bring forth fruits worthy of penance and rescue your souls from perdition. Amen.