Chapter 9
Section 9 of Guide for Catholic Young Women, Especially for Those Who Earn Their Own Living by Rev. George Duchon. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapters 25-27. Chapter 25. On the Nature of the Sacraments. Of all the means of leading a devout life, the most important remain yet to be spoken of.
These are the holy sacraments of penance and the Eucharist, or, as they are commonly called, of confession and communion. There are, as you know, other sacraments besides these, but I only wish to speak here of these two because they are to be received frequently
and are adapted to the everyday wants of the soul. These may be called the very means of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, since he established them to remain until the end of the world in order to impart to us the graces necessary to bring us to everlasting life. You know our Lord is represented in the gospel as the good shepherd
who watches over his flock to keep all harm away from it and to provide it with the best and most agreeable nourishment. I have seen most affecting pictures in which he is represented carrying the poor stray sheep on his shoulders, safe home to the fold.
Now it is especially through the holy sacraments that our Lord fulfills this office of shepherd of our souls. Through them he guards us from the enemies who are on the lookout to surprise and destroy us. Through them he gives us food for the soul
that makes us strong and healthful and full of courage. And through them he gives the sweetest consolation in all our distress and downheartedness. These sacraments are not merely something within us that passes between our soul and God,
but they are outward signs, something that we see or hear or do, as, for example, when we wish to receive the sacrament of penance, we not only prepare ourselves in our hearts, but we go to the priest of God,
we declare to him our sins, and he raises his hand and pronounces the absolution over us. To these outward and visible signs, our blessed Savior has joined wonderful, though hidden, graces, which produce silently and quietly the greatest effect on our souls.
What a consolation this is, to know by the sure words of the Savior, that when with true, sincere hearts we receive these sacraments, we receive those precious graces which are attached to them. Our very eyes and ears in this way become witnesses to our happiness. For they tell us that the actions have been performed, or the words spoken,
to which our faith assures us that the Lord has given a divine grace and power. Perhaps you can understand this better by a comparison. Suppose a generous-hearted rich man to have made the acquaintance of a poor family. He likes them, and seeing that they are well-meaning, honest people, determines to give them a house to live in, and a little garden around it.
So he brings out pen and ink and paper, and writes out a deed, then signs and seals it, and the property becomes theirs. What joy and gratitude fill their hearts when they see this deed with the good man's name and seal upon it, assuring them that the property is really theirs.
So the things that are done or said in confession and communion, like the signing of the deed, assure us that a great property, a glorious possession for the soul, has become ours.
The Lord has promised it, and these outward ceremonies are the signing and sealing which convey the title to us. Blessings and praises, then, be to our Lord for these glorious sacraments
which he has left behind him in his holy church. Chapter 26 Confession, a Remedy for Sin The sacrament of confession was instituted by our Lord for the forgiveness of sin.
Nothing can be more important for us than this sacrament if we have fallen into sin. It is sin that bars the gates of heaven. With mortal or grievous sin on the conscience, we are, as Scripture says, already condemned, and the sentence is only removed when the sin is forgiven.
Sin is the thing to be feared above all else. Great or grievous sins kill the soul outright. If they are not destroyed by penance and forgiven, we must suffer the pains of hell for them. Every kind of sin, whether small or great, is exceedingly to be feared. A venial sin, particularly such as is deliberately committed,
that is, committed with the knowledge and consciousness that it is a sin, helps to destroy the soul. It may seem to be a small matter, but it weakens the love of God in the soul, and if persevered in, paves the way for greater ones until, little by little, one falls entirely. I wish I could impress this upon your minds so that you might never forget it.
Our blessed Savior was always urging this point, always declaring that sin must be abandoned if we expect to please God or be saved. Fear not those that kill the body, he says, and cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is that for which God will destroy the soul?
It is sin, and sin alone can. The Pharisees are described as making long prayers and going through all the observances of the law with the utmost exactness, expecting in this way to satisfy God, though they kept on committing sin.
Just see how our Lord denounces them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like to whited sippuchers, which outwardly appear to mend beautiful, but within are full of dead man's bones,
and all filthiness. So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you devour the houses of widows, making long prayers. Therefore you shall receive the greatest judgment. You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of hell? St. Matthew 23, 14, 27, 28, 33
I am afraid this description will apply to some Catholics. I am afraid there are some girls who have an idea that if they have some outward devotion, if they go to church and pray there, and go to the sacraments now and then, they need not be so particular to avoid sin. Sometimes you hear the mistress of a house say,
There's my girl, she's on her knees praying a great deal, but in five minutes after flies into such a rage that you would think her possessed of the devil. Our Bridget, says another, goes to her confession, but the next day you will hear words out of her mouth that would disgrace a heathen. Another says, Mary attends church and says her prayers,
but she pilfers and takes things that do not belong to her. She wastes a great deal of time and does her work in the most careless and slovenly manner. She does not seem to understand that the first principle of religion requires her to be honest and fulfill her duty to her employers Now what kind of religion is that? Such girls grossly deceive themselves, but they do not and cannot deceive the Almighty
If ye love me, keep my commandments That is, do not sin Do not think that anything else can be put in the place of really and truly keeping the commandments of God Remember the words of the Holy Ghost, Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent.
Ecclesiasticus 21.2 Flee from sin, hate sin, have a horror and dread of sin, and make it the study of your life to avoid every sin and every appearance of sin. Chapter 27. Continuation Now, the sacrament of penance, or confession, is the grand remedy for sin.
It is the medicine of the Savior, established to heal the wounds of the soul, the great cure for all its sicknesses. When we make a good confession and the priest pronounces over us the absolution or sentence of our forgiveness, our sins are forgiven. Nor is this all. Confession cleanses the heart and inspires us with a hatred of sin. All that we do to prepare for it has a tendency to make us see the hateful nature of sin, and in the sacrament itself, the grace of God confirms this hatred in us in a remarkable way.
The power of this sacrament comes from the words of Christ himself. He gave to his priests, in the most solemn way, the commission to forgive sins, saying, As my Father hath sent me, so I send you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they shall be remitted unto them.
And whosoever sins you retain, they shall be retained. St. John 20, 23 Someone may say to you, God alone can forgive sins. Why do you go to a priest or to any man and not directly to God?
I answer, True, God alone has the power to forgive sins, But it is by God's power that the priest forgives sins, and not by any power of his own. Why do I not go to God directly for forgiveness rather than to the priest? Because he has committed his power to the priest, and has told me to go to him.
It is not for me to set up my own notion in place of God's ordinance. When God said to the priest, Whose sins ye forgive, they are forgiven. That is enough for me. When I know the road he has told me to travel,
it is not for me to turn off from it, no matter how flattering or pleasant any other way may appear. It will be very bitter at the day of judgment, after having gone astray from following our own notions, to hear our Lord's reproach.
Why were you not satisfied with my way, the way that in my infinite wisdom I saw best for you? And why did you, in your short-sighted wisdom, set up another in place of it? The priest is a man, it is true, but he is the agent of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All his acts, within the limits of the commission or agency committed to him, will be held good by his Lord. If he steps out of that, he is no longer an agent, and his Lord will not hold such acts good. It is like any other agency, and the same principles govern it.
Therefore, when the priest exercises his ministry of mercy and reconciliation, he applies the blood and merits of the Savior to the penitent for the washing away of sins. When he absolves, it is the Holy Ghost that absolves through his means, washes us clean with Christ's most precious blood, and confirms us in God's holy love.
Hence, after confession, sin seems to have lost its hold on our affections, and the devil is afraid to bring forward his temptations for some time, lest he be driven back in disgrace. End of section 9
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