Hunolt Sermons/Volume 1/Sermon 8

First; never is the reception of Jesus Christ in the holy Communion more useful and necessary than in sickness, and never has Christ Himself a greater desire to visit us therein; what great condescension and goodness on Our Lord's part! Second; yet there are men who must be almost compelled and forced to take this step and to receive their Lord with becoming respect; what folly and madness on the part of us mortals! Preached on the second Sunday after Pentecost.

"Compel them to come in." (Luke 14:23)

How well-meaning this good lord was! He had prepared a magnificent supper for the refreshment of his friends; and yet not one of the guests he had invited came. They all sent excuses; so that he was forced to compel the poor and hungry to sit down at his table. Who ever heard of such a thing? Far more wonderful, my dear brethren, are the goodness and love of our God and Saviour, who is represented to us in the person of the lord in the Gospel. What an infinitely precious food He has prepared for us in giving us His own flesh and blood as our meat and drink! He invites all to partake of it: " Come, eat My bread and drink the wine which I have mingled for you." " Come to me, all you, and I will refresh you;" eat and drink for nothing! And yet how astonishing the stupidity of us mortals! He has the utmost difficulty in inducing us to come to this supper, which is so advantageous, no, so necessary for us! And in fact there are Christians who must be compelled almost by force and violence to approach the holy Table, so seldom are they seen at it, so that the Catholic Church has been obliged to make a law rendering the reception of holy Communion at least once a year necessary under pain of excommunication. There is one circumstance in this matter that excites my astonishment, and that is, that if we are ever careless and dilatory in receiving holy Communion it is at the time when we are most in need of it and when Our Lord is most anxious to come to us I mean the time of illness. today I will speak of these two points: the loving condescension of our dear Redeemer, and our own stupid negligence, to the end that we may correct our faults in this respect and treat the hidden God with due respect.

Never is the reception of Jesus Christ in the holy Communion more useful and necessary for us mortals than in sickness, and never has Christ Himself a greater desire to visit us than at that time; what great condescension and goodness in Him! The first and longer part. Yet there are men who must be compelled and forced by extreme necessity before they either receive the visit of Our Lord or treat Him with becoming respect; what folly and madness in us! The second part.

O merciful Saviour who meanest so well with us! "compel them to come in; " (ah, that I must ask You to do this! ) soften by Your powerful grace the stony hearts of men, that they may come to Your supper, and that they may come to it in good time, and receive You with due respect. This I am forced to beg of You through the merits of Your dearest Mother Mary and of our holy guardian angels. I repeat my prayer " Compel them to come in."

It is when we are sick that we learn rightly to appreciate the value of good health, without which all other earthly goods are worthless. Personal beauty, mental gifts, the esteem of men, great treasures and riches, splendid garments and exquisite food and drink, of what use are all those things to me if I have lost my health and am sick and suffering? For I cannot enjoy any of them and am just as badly off as if I had them not. In the whole world there is nothing I can use but my bed, and even in that I cannot find as much rest and pleasure as the poor plough man does, when he lays down on his hard bed, worn out with toil and fatigue. His repose is far sweeter and more refreshing than that of a sick man who lies on a bed of down. If there is anything that can bring consolation in sickness it is a visit from a good, sincere friend, who can comfort the sick man and help him to pass the time by agreeable or consoling conversation. By agree able conversation, I say; for it is not every visit that is pleasing to the sick man; there are some visits that only annoy him and make him wish that the person who came to trouble him with silly talk would go away. Job, patient as he was, sitting on the dung-hill and writhing in pain, complained of the friends who visited him with the intention of offering him consolation; for they began to speak to him of a host of things of which they knew nothing, and tried to fathom the designs of God in punishing him so severely. Ah, said he at last, after having listened to them for a long time in silence: " You are all troublesome comforters. Shall windy words have no end? " Will you not put a stop to that vain, silly talk? If I were not sick it would be enough to make me so. But on the other hand a loving, sympathetic, cheerful, modest friend, who as the Apostle says, " shows mercy with cheerfulness, " encourages one by his conversation and makes his visit welcome. Such a friend as that cheers up the sick man and often helps him to forget his pains. And it is in time of sickness and trouble that true friendship is proved and the steadfastness of an affection that is not changed by outward circumstances.

Nowhere can the suffering Christian find a more faithful, well-meaning, kind-hearted, generous, and loving friend than Jesus Christ; and from whom can he expect greater consolation, refreshment, and help, than when his Saviour comes to visit him in person in the Blessed Sacrament as the food and drink of his the sick in soul? A more loving friend is not to be found in heaven or on to earth than He who, with unheard-of devotion, came down from heaven on earth for the sake of us men, and shut Himself up in such a wonderful manner in the accidents of bread and wine, that He might be always with us and be united to us in the most agreeable manner in the form of food and drink. In the whole world there is not a greater or better comforter or consoler. When brothers, sisters, parents, friends visit you in your sickness, what can they do for you besides giving you the miserable consolation of the outward expression of their sympathy, making known their good wishes in your regard, and expressing their hopes that you may soon get better? When they have done that they can go home, and what better are you? That is all you have gained by their visit; they cannot take from you the bodily pains or mental depression which the natural sensitiveness to illness causes you. Nor can they give you the strength of grace to support the torments of your sickness and thus make them easier for you; nor can they lengthen your natural bodily life or assure you of eternal life; and therefore you can say to them like Job: " You are troublesome comforters," from whom no help is to be expected.

But when Jesus visits you in the Blessed Sacrament your faith tells you that He is the Son of God, who holds in His hands the keys of life and death, to whom, while He was still on earth, the sick and dying were brought, and as St. Luke says: " virtue went out from him and healed all. " a He is the same the touch of whose garments was enough to cure disease; whose visit to a house filled it with joy and gladness: " This day is salvation come to this house; " at whose word, although from a distance, the dying were restored to health, as we learn from the prayer of the centurion, " Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof;" such a great favor I do not expect; "but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed." In a word, it is Jesus Christ who visits you, and He can at once relieve you from pain and sickness, or alleviate your sufferings, or lengthen your life, or give you patience, or assure you of eternal life; or else, if He does not help you in that way, He can let you understand what His reason is, that He wills you to suffer longer for the good of your soul; therefore He consoles you in the best way of all, giving you the grace of resignation to His holy will and decrees, so that you can say with the patient Job: "Thou have granted me life and mercy, and Your visitation has preserved my spirit. "

We feel a sort of holy envy sometimes when we read of holy servants of God being favored with a visible apparition of their angel guardian, as was the case with St. Frances of Rome, who enjoyed this privilege almost daily; or with visits from the Bless ed Virgin, as happened to St. Dominic and others; or from the Child Jesus; and St. Antony of Padua, St. Stanislaus Kostka, and St. Herman Joseph had the honor of holding Him in their arms. Oh, we think, what a happiness, what an extraordinary grace for a poor mortal ! If I could only enjoy that privilege even once! But what are we saying? Is not an equal, no, I might say, a greater honor shown us when the great Son of God Him self, with His body and soul, divinity and humanity, in His own living person, visits us when we receive holy Communion, and allows us, not merely to take Him in our arms, but to receive Him into our mouths and into our bodies? Can we not then say with truth what Solomon said of wisdom: "All good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands." All good things come to me when the Supreme Good visits me. What a great longing should we not then have for Him! What comfort and consolation should we not experience when He comes, and that too, as often as we approach the sacred Table with a pure conscience, especially in a dangerous illness, when we are most in need of comfort, help, and strength! That is the time in which we must be ready for our journey to the house of our long eternity. Who would dare to undertake it without some provision for the way? That is the time of which the Prophet David says: " The sorrows of death His have compassed me, and the perils of hell have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow." That is the time in which, besides the bodily pains and mental depression that make the sick man disinclined to and almost incapable of good works, the con science drives to despair and doubt by representing past sins, although they may have been confessed and repented of. That is the time, according to the teaching of the Council of Trent, when the demons do their worst by all kinds of violent temptations to keep the soul from heaven and drag it down with them to hell. Many even of those who have led holy lives have seen those hellish spirits standing by their sick-bed in countless numbers. The devils then act like soldiers when plundering a conquered city. If they are allowed to work their will only for half a day woe then to the poor citizens! For the victors, knowing they have but a short time at their disposal, set no bounds to their cruelty, so as to carry off as much as possible. Such, according to St. John in the Apocalypse, is the manner in which the devils act with a dying man: "Woe to the earth, and to the sea, be cause the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time." Oh ! woe to the poor soul if it has no one to help it then ! For who would dare to oppose alone such a formidable enemy?

Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, is then, in the Blessed Sacrament, the best and surest Protector. Who would be afraid when He is present? For if the mere name of Jesus is enough to make the devils tremble and to put them to flight, what will He not do when He is united to the soul in His own adorable person? If, according to St. Bernard, the mere recollection of Jesus is a source of joy to the heart, what an immense consolation and heavenly sweetness will not be caused to the heart of the just man in his sickness by the real presence of Our Lord? Oh, yes, continues St. Bernard, "sweeter than honey and all things is His sweet presence."

St. Lidwina, that martyr of charity and patience, can give us testimony of this. This poor virgin was tortured by sickness and pain of mind and body, so that at last she became quite despondent and almost despairing. Her confessor stood by her bed side holding a crucifix, and explained to her, one by one, the mysteries of the Passion. This was some comfort to her, but it was of short duration; for when the priest ceased speaking and the crucifix was withdrawn from her sight her former sufferings returned. Then her confessor thought of a better and more lasting remedy. He advised her to go frequently to holy Communion. "Hitherto," he said, "the wooden crucifix spoke to you as you held it in your hand; now the living, crucified Jesus shall speak to your heart in His own person." This remedy was so effective that she was quite changed and strengthened, and in the midst of the most violent pains she experienced such joy and consolation that her only wish was to suffer more. "More suffering, Lord! " she would exclaim, "send me more suffering! Ah, how sweet are the pains that come from Your loving hand!" So full of comfort and sweetness in sickness is the sacramental presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not long since I had a similar experience in the case of a prisoner who was sentenced to die. The poor man had already accepted his doom with resignation, and had made his peace with God by a good confession; yet when the time came for him to receive his last Communion he began to shake and tremble with fear of death, so that I could hardly get him to say a word of prayer by way of preparation, and had almost to drag him to receive holy Communion. But hardly had the sacred Host entered his mouth when he was completely changed and was no longer the same man; for he now became as full of joy and com fort as he was before of fear and anguish. " Now," he said, "I am quite ready and willing to die! Father, let us pray!" " See," said I to him, " that is the work of Our Lord whom you have received." " It must be so," he answered, " for I am quite satisfied." The same testimony could be given by many who have been grievously ill if I asked them if they did not experience a special consolation of heart and more resignation to the will of God in their sufferings after they had received holy Communion.

Nor can it be otherwise. When the God of all comfort and sweetness visits us in person He must leave comfort and sweetness behind, unless we put some obstacle in His way. So advantageous then, no, so necessary is it to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in the time of illness. " Sweeter than honey and all things is His sweet presence." Oh, how I pity those poor souls who in different parts of the world have to live amongst infidels and heretics, where they have hardly once in the year a chance of going to holy Communion, whether they are in sickness or health! God of goodness! what a great favor You have conferred on us in allowing us in this country to enjoy Your presence as often as we please!

And truly, my dear brethren, this good and most necessary Friend of ours desires nothing more eagerly than to pay such visits in His own person, even to the poorest of the poor, if we are only desirous to receive Him. Day and night He is ready on the altar waiting for some one to ask for Him, or to bring Him to a sick person. He has often shown, even by miracles, how intense is this desire of His, for He came to more than one of His faithful servants, during their illness, in a miraculous manner in the sacred Host. St. Honoratus was awakened one night three times by an angel and told to go at once and bring holy Communion to the holy Bishop Ambrose, who was grievously ill. God Himself commanded the priest Rudolph to bring the Viaticum to the dying St. Deodatus. He raised from the dead St. Eligius, and kept him alive as long as was necessary for him to bring the Viaticum to a person infected with the plague, because there were no other priests to be found on account of the danger of infection. It is well known of our St. Stanislaus that, as he was lying ill in the house of a heretic, and could not have a Catholic priest, St. Barbara appeared to him, accompanied by two angels, and gave him holy Communion. Some holy virgins were not allowed by their confessors to go to holy Communion as often as they wished; the sacred Host came to them of itself, because they were desirous of being visited by Our Lord. Remarkable is the fact I read in the Life of St. Juliana de Falconieris. She bore with cheerfulness the pains of her last illness; but she was bitterly disappointed that, on account of a weakness of the stomach she could not receive the holy Viaticum. In this sad state she begged of the priest at least to lay the sacred Host on her breast, since she could not receive it in the usual manner.

The priest, overcome by her importunity, consented, and wonderful to relate! the Blessed Sacrament no sooner touched her than it disappeared, and Juliana with joyful countenance gave up the ghost. After her death the form of a host was found stamped on her left side near her heart a proof that Our Lord had of Himself entered into her bosom. my God! thou art not wont to work miracles, or to go beyond the established laws of nature, unless in special, extraordinary occasions where Your honor and glory are concerned; it must then be most necessary for those who are dangerously ill to receive holy Communion, since You workest miracles to procure that favor for. them, and that, too, in the case of holy souls, who in their last illness seemed to have no reason to fear on account of past sins! And You must also have a special earnest wish and desire thus to visit Your sick servants.

Oh, what love and condescension! What an emptying of Himself speak, on the part of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! The world wonders when it reads in ecclesiastical and profane history of emperors, kings, and princes visiting and comforting the sick poor. Plutarch cannot give sufficient praise to Mark Antony because he felt the pulse of a wounded soldier and bound up his sores. Courtiers still wonder at the emperor Trajan, who used to visit his sick soldiers in the hospitals, and on one occasion, seeing that they had no linen, he pulled off his own imperial mantle and gave it to them to bind their wounds with. The humility and charity of Pope Paul II. are still held in great honor; he used to spend a great part of each day in visiting and consoling the sick poor. In the present gloriously reigning family of Austria it is still regarded as a sort of heirloom to observe the pious practice of accompanying the Blessed Sacrament if met with in the street; and emperors, kings, and queens of that family then go with it on foot, often even to the house of the sick person. But popes, kings, emperors of earth, what are you compared to the supreme Monarch Jesus, whose vassals you are, and before whom you must humbly bend the knee? Yet He deigns to come in His own adorable person, as often as He is desired to do so, and to visit the sick and give them His own flesh and blood as their food and drink. Even the cabins of the poorest peasants, or the most wretched hovels, or even the stables in which the sick poor sometimes have to seek shelter, are not too lowly and abject for this great Monarch to enter, that He may visit and console the sick; no, He goes there willingly, and often far more willingly than to the superb palaces of the great. Nor is He disgusted at the filth and stench of dis ease; for He does not refuse to enter into a mouth that is already half decayed.

O dearest Saviour! what thanks and love we owe You for such condescension and for the favor You showest us when we are most in need of Your visit and consolation! But what am I speaking of? folly and stupidity of us mortals! often we have no desire for this most loving, and to us most necessary, visit! So it is, my dear brethren. There are men, Christians, Catholics, who if they ever object to be visited by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament do so especially during the time of sickness, so that they have then to be almost forced to receive holy Communion by extreme necessity. They must be begged and prayed before they will admit Our Lord. What incomprehensible folly! We shall consider it briefly in the

In a certain play there was once represented a grand palace, before the door of which all kinds of men were standing waiting for an opportunity to enter and hand in their petitions; but no one was admitted unless he was a friend of the attendant who had to present such petitions, or knew how to flatter him, or was dressed in costly style, or had bribed the porter. Among the crowd there was an honest, upright man, who had been waiting several days for admission, but in vain. " blind and unjust gates," he cried out at last, whoso little know whom you should admit first of all! Unjust gates, by which virtue is shut out! I might say the same, my dear brethren, to many a door behind which some one lies dangerously sick. " unjust door, that so little knowest whom you shouldst admit! " The doctors come, and the door is thrown wide open; they are sent for in all haste when the sickness first declares itself; and quite right, too. Friends and acquaintances come to see how the sick man is; the door is thrown wide open; nor can we find fault with that. But where is the most skilful Doctor of all? Where is the best, truest and most necessary Friend, Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament? He, too, stands before the door, ready to enter at any moment. He earnestly desires to be admitted to pay a visit to the sick man; but no one thinks of Him, or at best He is remembered when the patient is at the last gasp; meanwhile the door remains closed. blind and unjust door!

This most reprehensible custom comes, in many cases, from a false idea that people have (and I know not whence they have it) that once they receive the holy Viatbum they must die. What incomprehensible ignorance amongst Catholics! If I receive holy Communion I must die! If I receive the Author of life I must die! If I allow Jesus Christ to visit me I must die! Mercy on us! To what ignorance do we owe an argument of that kind? To make out of a sacrament of the living, that restores health not only to the soul, but of ten, also, to the body to make out of that a sign of approaching death, as if lie who has the keys of life in His hands could only be a harbinger of death! And you, husbands and wives, parents, friends, and domestics, how cruelly you often act towards the members of your house holds, in preventing them from receiving holy Viaticum during their illness, or in putting off the reception of it from day to day, asking the doctors, nurses, and friends not to hint a word of danger, and least of all of the holy Viaticum, lest the sick person should be frightened ! Thus the patient is defrauded of the heavenly food, until he grows delirious or falls into a lethargy which deprives him of the use of reason, or begins to gasp for breath, or has the death-sweat already on his brow, so that his soul is on the point of departing: thus it is either too late to receive holy Communion and the other sacraments, or else the patient cannot prepare for them worthily, and so receives them without any profit. What am I to think or say of this? According to St. Laurence Justinian this divine Sacrament, worthily received, is a certain pledge of eternal life. Now, if one neglects to receive it through culpable negligence, or defers receiving it until he can no longer prepare for it properly, especially when he is about to undertake the dangerous journey into eternity, what a bad sign that is for him! God grant that I may never fall into the hands of such flattering, deceitful friends, who would hide my danger from me, and defraud me of the Food of my soul, if it were only for half an hour!

Others, when they are sick, are afraid to allow Jesus to visit them in the Blessed Sacrament because they are influenced by human respect. If I now settle my accounts with God, they think, what will people say? How the neighbors will talk, as if it were all up with me! They will think me half dead already! See, there is the bolt that shuts the door against Our Lord, and keeps Him off for months, until the near approach of death forces them to open the door. blind and unjust doors! What greater folly and madness could reasoning Christians be guilty of? What will people say! Well! what can they say? That I am dangerously ill. But if they do say that, are you any worse therefor? or will you die any sooner? And if the neighbors do not say that because you refuse to admit Our Lord, will you be any better on that account? or will you be in less danger of death? Are you afraid to send for the doctor, lest the people should think you very ill? But if you settle your accounts with God in good time, when you are still able to dis pose yourself properly for such a holy sacrament, do you know what people will think and say of you? They will say: that is a good, pious Christian, who does in time what all Christians ought to do; and they will be edified by the good example which you give them and are bound to give them at all times, whether sick or well. But if you put off receiving holy Communion, or do not receive it till the very last gasp, and till extreme necessity forces you, so that you die immediately after; what will people think then? They will be scandalized at your conduct, and will speak of you in no favorable terms, as of one who could not be induced to receive holy Viaticum until death was already in his face. That is a nice reputation to leave behind you in the neighborhood! A fine eulogy for a Christian! blind and unjust doors!

There is another unchristian abuse amongst those who would indeed willingly receive Our Lord in their illness, if, like Nicodemus, He would come to them secretly and by night; they are unwilling that the Blessed Sacrament should be brought through the streets by day with due honor and ecclesiastical ceremonies, and try, therefore, to have it brought in a hidden and secret manner, all for the sake of avoiding talk. My indignation almost deprives me of the power of speech. Christians! where are we living? Amongst Turks? Under the yoke of heretics or infidels? In a heretical town where public Catholic worship is for bidden? Where such a step could not be taken without running the risk of martyrdom? If that were the case, necessity must dispense from the law, and allow the secret visits of Our Lord.

But in a Catholic country, in a holy city, a glorious title that ours boasts of, where all should consider it the greatest honor to show all possible respect to the hidden God; here, I say, to admit Him secretly and without the public honor due to Him who could approve of or excuse such conduct?

It would make too much talk amongst the people, they say like the others. great God! art You then so low and abject that we must be ashamed to be publicly visited by Thee? Tell me this, whoever you are: if your prince were to send word to you that he intends going to see you; would you wish him to come in the night and incognito, lest people should talk? But the greater the pomp and ceremony with which he visits you the greater the honor and favor done you in the sight of the whole city. And see, the King of kings, the great God, wish es to come to you and honor you with His presence; but you want Him to do so in a secret, furtive manner, because you are ashamed on account of the people! What are you thinking of, poor mortals? You are not worthy to loose the shoe-latchet of that great Lord, no, not even to raise your eyes to Him; and you are ashamed to receive Him publicly when He desires to do you the greatest honor! What will people say! What will they say if you die after having thus secretly received holy Communion? Neighbor so-and-so is dead, they will say; but we did not see the Blessed Sacrament brought to him. Or else: that man is now so many months sick and has not been to Communion yet. Again a nice reputation to leave behind you! But when the Blessed Sacrament is brought publicly, so many people fol low it, and I do not like that. Well, let them follow; let the whole town go with them; it would be only right and just. A Monarch so worthy of honor and love certainly deserves that all, great and small, young and old, rich and poor, should go at the sound of the bell, and humbly accompany Him, to increase, as much as possible, the splendor of His escort, as I have explained on a former occasion. And woe to him who is ashamed thus publicly to accompany his Lord and Saviour! For that same Lord will, as He has threatened, one day be ashamed of him be fore His Father in heaven. The more people come together when Jesus visits you the better it is for the honor and glory of God, and the more there are to pray for you, that you may get health of soul and body. Alas! where is our faith? The paralytic man in the Gospel had the roof of the house removed, and himself let down by a rope as he lay in bed, that he might see Our Lord, from whom he was kept by the crowd. And we let that Lord in by the back door, so to speak, when we are sick, that no one may notice that He is visiting us! Faith, I say again, where art thou? I grow heart-sick when I think of this folly. Behold, dear Lord, how we treat You! How we are ashamed of You! This is the return we make for the unheard-of love that You showest us in the Adorable Sacrament! thou art so willing, especially in time of sickness, to be our Physician, Comforter, and Helper, for You knowest how necessary Your presence is to us then, and we do not wish to receive Your visit, unless compelled thereto by extreme necessity! Or else we admit You in a furtive manner, as if it were a disgrace for us to allow You into our houses!

Christians, either let us give up our faith or else show due honor and respect to the great God who has concealed Him-self under the appearance of bread. God of goodness! is it then true? Shall I really have that great honor and favor when I am lying sick? Wilt You show that mercy to me, poor, unworthy mortal that I am, and visit me and refresh me with Your sacred body and blood? Ah, grant me that grace, I beseech Thee, prostrate at Your feet, a grace that I will pray for heartily all the time of my life! I am indeed always in need of Your help and consolation; but never are they more necessary to me than when I am about to journey into eternity. Come, then, dearest Saviour, and do not forget me! I will open my door wide for Thee, and willingly allow all the people in the world to enter with Thee, if possible, as witnesses that Thou, the great Monarch of heaven and earth, deignest to show a poor mortal the favor of visiting him in Your own person! If in my illness I should be unable to prepare for You properly, on account of headache or weakness, or to receive Your precious body and blood with be coming fervor, I will now, while I am in good health (dear Christians! mark this well, and unite with me in this holy practice) I will now, as often as I approach Your holy Table, receive You as my Viaticum, as if I were about to die; and I will ex cite in myself the same desires and practise the same virtues that I would wish to have in my dying moments, when receiving this holy Sacrament. Thus I will now so accustom myself to these virtues that I will have no difficulty in practising them when the last hour comes. Or if thou art pleased, in Your inscrutable decrees, to call me from this world by a sudden and unforeseen death. O great God, may Your holy will be done! Here I am, Your poor creature, altogether in Your hands, ready to die when, how, and where You pleasest! I give myself up to Your fatherly providence, and throw myself, living and dead, into the lap of Your boundless mercy!), then I shall have the consolation of not dying without the holy Viaticum, since I shall have received it already in the holy Communion; and thus (as I trust with child-like confidence) You shalt be my food on my journey to Your joyful paradise. Amen.