The Introit of the Mass is an humble prayer, by which we acknowledge, that we are punished for our disobedience: Whatever Thou hast done to us, O Lord, Thou hast done by a just judgment: for we have sinned and disobeyed Thy commandments: but glorify Thy name, and deal with us according to Thy great mercy. (Dan. iii. 28) Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Glory, &c.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH.Favourably grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy servants both pardon and peace; that, being cleansed from the guilt of all their offences, they may serve Thee with secure minds. Through our Lord &c.

EPISTLE, (Eph.v. 15 -21.) Brethren: See therefore how you walk circumspectly not as unwise, but as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury, but be ye filled with the holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord: giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father. Being subject one to another in the fear of Christ.

By employing, as St. Augustine says, every moment, even with the loss of all temporal advantages, to gain the eternal goods, by letting no opportunity pass to do good, to labor and suffer through love for God, to improve our lives and increase in virtue.

"Do you wish to know," says the pious Cornelius a Lapide, "how precious time is: Ask the damned, for these know it from experience. Come, rich man, from the abyss of hell, tell us what you would give for one year, one day, one hour of this time! I would, he says, give the whole world, all pleasures, all treasures, and bear all torments. O, if only one moment were granted me to have contrition for my sins, for the forgiveness of my crimes, I would purchase this moment with every labor, with any penance, with all punishments, torments, and tortures, which men ever suffered in purgatory or in hell, even if they lasted hundred, yes a thousand million of years! O precious moment upon which whole eternity depends! O, how many moments did you, my dear Christian, neglect, in which you could have served God, could have done good for love of Him, and gained eternal happiness for them, and you lost these precious moments. Remember: with one moment of time, if you employ it well, you can purchase eternal happiness, but with whole eternity not one moment of precious time!

ASPIRATION. Most bountiful God and Lord! I am heartily sorry, that I have so badly employed the time, which Thou hast given me for my salvation. In order to supply what I have neglected, as far as I am able, I offer up to Thee all that I have done or suffered from the first use of my reason, as if I had really to do and suffer it still; and, indeed, I offer it up in union with all the works and sufferings of our Saviour, and beg fervently, that Thou wilt supply, through His infinite merits, my defects, and wilt be pleased with all my actions and sufferings.


Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury!

Here we shall only speak of those who make others drunk by intemperately drinking toasts, or by urgent encouragement. The Persian King Assuerus expressly forbade, that any one should be urged to drink at his great banquet. (Esth. i. 8.) This heathen who knew from the light of reason, that it is immoral to lead others to intemperance, will one day rise in judgment against those Christians who, enlightened by the light of faith, would not recognise and avoid this vice. Therefore the Prophet Isaias (v. 22.) pronounces, woe over those who are heroes in drinking and know how to intoxicate others; and St. Augustine admonishes us, by no means to consider those as friends, who wish to make us enemies of God by pledging us.



GOSPEL. (John iv. 46 - 53.) At That Time: There was a certain ruler whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to him, and prayed him to come down and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. The ruler saith to him: Lord, come down before that my son die. Jesus saith to him: Go thy way, thy son liveth. The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. The father therefore knew that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him: Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house.

I. God permitted the son of the ruler to become sick, perhaps, only for this reason, that he might ask Christ for the health of his son, and thus obtain the true faith and eternal happiness. In this manner God generally seeks to lead sinners to Himself, in as much as He brings all sorts of evils and misfortunes either upon the sinner himself, or his children, property, cattle, &c. Therefore said David: It is good for me, that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy justifications (Ps. cxviii. 71.), and therefore he also asked God to fill their faces (of sinners) with shame, that they should seek His name. (Ps. lxxxii. 17.) This happened in the case of those of whom David says: Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they hastened to God. (Ps. xv. 4.) O, would we only do the same! When God sends us failure of crops, inundations, hailstorms, death, war, &c, He wishes nothing else than that we turn away from our sins and come to Him. But what do we do? Instead of hastening to God, we take refuge in superstition, or we murmur against God, yes, find fault with or even blaspheme His sacred regulations; instead of removing our sins by sincere penance, we continually commit new sins, by murmuring and impatience, by rash judgments, as if injustice and malice of others were the cause of our misfortune, by hatred and enmity, &c. "What, therefore, must God still do if He cannot better us, either by benefits or by punishments?

II. Christ said to this ruler: If you do not see signs and wonders, you believe not. This was a reprimand for his imperfect faith; for if he had truly believed, he should not have asked Him to come to "the house, but should have, like the centurion, believed (Matt, viii.) that Christ, even being absent, could help his son. Many Christians deserve the same rebuke from Christ, because they lose nearly all faith and confidence in God, when He does not immediately help them in their troubles, as they wish. But how displeasing such a want of confidence is to God, He gives us to understand, when He pronounces a terrible woe (Eccl. ii. 1--5.) and denies all assistance to those who are so fickle and lose hope and patience.

II. How much may not the example of the father of a family accomplish! This ruler had hardly received the faith, than his whole household was converted and believed in Christ. O, how much good could fathers and mothers accomplish among their subjects and domestics by their good example, by their piety and zeal in prayer, by frequent reception of the holy Sacraments, by their meekness, temperance, modesty, and other virtues!



CONSOLATION IN SICKNESS
The son of a certain ruler was sick. (John iv. 16.)

To console yourself in sickness, you ought to consider that God sends you this sickness for the welfare of your soul, so that you may know your sins; or if you be innocent, practise yourself in patience, humility, charity, &c, and increase your merits. Therefore a holy father said to one of his companions, who complained, because he was sick: "My son! if you are gold, then you will be proved by sickness, but if you are mixed with dross, then you will be purified." "Many who are well, are vicious," writes St. Augustine, "who if they were sick, would be virtuous;" and St. Bernard says: "It is better to arrive at salvation through sickness, than to be well and be damned."

It is also a powerful means of consolation in sickness, to represent the suffering Redeemer to ourselves, who had no soundness from the top of His head to the sole of His foot, and contemplating whom St. Bonaventure used to cry out: "O Lord, I do not wish to live without sickness, since I see Thee wounded so much."

If we fall into sickness, we should carefully examine, whether we possess any illgotten goods, or have any other secret sin on our conscience; and if we are conscious of any, we should quickly free ourselves from it by a contrite, sincere confession, and by restoring the things belonging to others. Sins are very often the cause of disease, and no doctor can, perhaps, cure them, as long as we are stained by sins, because God does not give His blessing, if He is not first propitiated by penance. Still less can we expect help, but rather temporal and eternal misfortune, if we have recourse to superstition and spells, as King Ochozias experienced, who was punished with death, because he had had recourse to an idol, Beelzebub, in sickness, (iv. Kings i.)


PRAYER O Jesus, Thou true physician of our souls! Thou who dost wound us and heal us, yea, even permittest us often to grow sick in body, that our souls may get well; grant, that I may employ every bodily pain, according to Thy merciful purposes, to the furtherance of my salvation.



INSTRUCTION ON CARE OF THE SICK
Come down before that my son die. (John iv. 49.)

All those who have the charge of sick persons, should be like to this father, that is, they should before all endeavor to call in Jesus in the most holy Sacrament, before the sick person becomes unable to receive Him. The devil seeks to hinder nothing more than this. He excites the imagination in the sick person, making him believe that he can live longer, that he will certainly get well again, in order the easier to ruin him afterwards, because he puts off his conversion. To this end those contribute faithfully who through fear of frightening the sick person or of annoying him, fail to call the priest at the right time. But this is a cruel love, which deprives the sick person of the salvation of his soul and eternal happiness, and draws with it a terrible responsibility. Where there is question of eternity, no carefulness can be too great. We should, therefore, chose the safest side, because the sickness may easily grow greater and finally make the sick person unable to attend to the affair of saving his soul.

We should, therefore, not conceal from him the danger in which he is, and if the sick person has still the use of his reason, should call in the priest whom he himself asks for, that he may receive the Last Sacraments. He will not die any sooner on that account, but rather derive the greatest benefit from it, since his conscience will be cleansed from sin, which may be the cause of his sickness, and, perhaps, he may be freed from his illness, or, at least, he will be strengthened by the newly received grace of God, to bear his pains with greater patience and to die far easier, securer, and more consoled. We should also endeavor to encourage the sick person to resign himself to the will of God and to a filial confidence in God's help, say consoling prayers for him, preserve and strengthen him against melancholy thoughts and the temptations of the devil; we should present him the crucifix to kiss, pronounce or read slowly and not too loud from some prayerbook the sacred names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and other consoling aspirations, sign him with the sign of the cross, sprinkle him with holy water, and above all pray for a happy death for him; but not weep and wail, by which death is only made harder for him, nor should we hold useless, idle and worldly conversations with him, because he is prevented by them from thinking of God and the salvation of his soul, and from preparing himself for the last dangerous struggle. Finally, we should by no means suffer in his presence persons who have given him occasions of committing sin, because they would be obstacles to his sincere conversion.

There is truly no greater work of charity than to help our neighbor to a happy death.