Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/558



Ex. : I.  History  of  religion. II. Mercy and  justice. III. Infidelity, faith, charity.

I. Marriage:  i.  Proposal. i. Betrothment. 3. Ends  in view.

II. Invitation : 1. Patriarchs and  prophets. 2. Apostles. 3. Dives  and  Lazarus.

III. Call rejected :  1. Jews. 2. Gentiles. 3. Faith  and charity.

Per. : Parable  a  lesson  in  faith,  hope,  and  charity.

Brethren, the  parable  of  to-day's  Gospel,  brief as it  is,  sums  up  the  entire  history  of  religion. It is a  story  of  divine  mercy  and  justice  on  the  one  hand, and of  human  ingratitude  and  its  consequent  punishment on  the  other. It deals  with  the  one  event, the incarnation,  around  which  cluster  all  the  other facts of  sacred  history. With that  mystery  as  a standpoint,  glancing  into  the  past  and  again  into  the future, it  divides  the  whole  human  race  into  unbelievers and  believers,  and  the  latter  it  subdivides  into those who  believe  only  in  word  and  in  tongue,  and those who  believe  in  deed  and  in  truth. Believers and doers  of  God's  will  are  admitted,  but  unbelievers and  mere  believers  are  either  admitted  only  to  be ignominiously  expelled,  or  utterly  excluded  from  the celestial banquet  prepared  for  the  blessed  in  the kingdom of  the  Father.