Ortus Christi: Meditations for Advent. St. Paul Mother
in the end; but at the end things were not right, for he had nothing to give to his Master, the one talent was the Master's, he knew that quite well: "Behold here Thou hast that which is Thine."
"Wicked and slothful servant" – wicked, because he had robbed God of His rights; slothful, because he would not raise a finger to serve his Master.
"Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it him that hath ten." It is a solemn thought that a grace refused by one may be handed on to another who is more faithful.
"To everyone that hath shall be given" is a principle of the Kingdom. He ever giveth "grace for grace" (St. John i. 16). For every grace used He gives "more grace" – "he shall abound."
"From him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away." There is such a thing as a last grace, a last opportunity. God has nowhere pledged Himself to give the grace of repentance; grace is ever a free gift and He is not unjust if He withholds it. I can never say: I will sin and repent after! To sin is in my power, but to repent is not. Our Lord speaks of sinners filling up the measure of their iniquity (St. Matt. xxiii. 32). Had Herod reached the limit, filled up the measure? Is that why Our Lord refused to speak to him? We do not know, but we do know that it is possible for a sinner to sin to such an extent – not necessarily by gross sin, but by steadily refusing God's grace and the opportunities offered to him – that what he has, that is, his opportunities, will be taken from him.
"The unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness." He ever shunned the light and now it will never be his. He was unprofitable, that was his sin, he did nothing for his Master. All sins, however terrible, will be forgiven if the sinner turns to God and repents, because his repentance shows that he is "trading," though he may often fail in his business; but the unprofitable servant carries on no trade with God at all, he leaves Him out altogether. There is nothing for God to do but to leave him out in the "exterior darkness" which he has deliberately chosen.
Colloquy with the Master, Who though He is a "long time" coming, is never far from those who are trading for Him.
Resolution. Never to leave the Master out of anything I do.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Well done good and faithful servant!"
STIR UP!
"I think it meet … to stir you up by putting you in remembrance."
1st. Prelude. Paul writing to Timothy: "Stir up the grace of God which is in thee" (2 Tim. i. 6).
2nd. Prelude. Grace to stir myself up this Advent.
On the Sunday before Advent and nine times during the Advent Masses, the Church puts on the lips of her children this prayer: Stir up, O Lord. Let us try in this Meditation to catch her spirit which runs all through the Advent season and see what it is that she wants God to stir up.
We ask Him during Advent to stir up His might for four different reasons.
(1) To protect and deliver us. "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O Lord and come: that by Thy protection we may deserve to be delivered from the threatening dangers of our sins and by Thy deliverance be saved." (The "Collect" for Advent Sunday.)
We ask Him to show His might by protecting us from dangers and by delivering us from sin. We want to spend a good Advent, we want to prepare well for His Coming, then there rise up before us the "threatening dangers of our sins" – those old temptations that are sure to come back again as soon as we begin to put forth fresh effort. Are we to be discouraged, to dread them, to say we are sure to fall again, and thus give the enemy a hold over us? No, but to believe that our God Who is coming will protect us in the day of battle, that though to humiliate and to strengthen us, He may still permit the temptations, yet He will Himself be our shield and buckler, and will deliver us if we trust in His strength and not in our own – "Stir up Thy might, O Lord, and come to protect and deliver."
(2) To free us from adversity. "Stir up Thy power, we beseech Thee O Lord and come, that they who confide in Thy mercy may be more speedily freed from all adversity" (The "Collect" for Friday in Ember week).
The adversity from which the Church prays to be freed here is probably the same as she continually teaches us to pray for deliverance from in her Litanies: war, pestilence, famine, floods, earthquakes – all things which damage the peace of nations and the produce of the earth, great national disasters. From all such the world will never be free till the Advent of her Lord, till God stirs up His power and comes to save it. Meanwhile for our consolation we can remember that it is when God's judgments are in the earth that the nations learn justice (Isaias xxvi. 9). Adversity is a great teacher and trainer for Heaven, and as we advance in the spiritual life we see more and more that many things which are adversity to the body are prosperity to the soul. We should naturally like to be freed from the adversity of sickness, poverty, failure, loss of friends, of health and strength, but all these adversities have their work to do. "These are they who came out of great tribulation," and it is probable that but for the tribulation many would never "have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Apoc. vii. 14). Let us strive to be amongst those who trust Him, who confide in His mercy, who believe that He knows what is best for them, and who gladly let Him arrange all for them. He will stir up His power and speedily free them one day, but it will not be till the flail of adversity has done its work and the corn is ready to be garnered in the heavenly barns.
(3) To save us. "Stir up Thy might O Lord and come to save us."
In the Masses for the third week, that is Ember week, the prayer occurs five times, twice in the Mass for the third Sunday and three times in that for Ember Saturday. The time of the birth of the Saviour is drawing nearer, and the Church is beginning to be importunate. Stir up Thy might; for though He is coming as a little helpless infant, He is God "mighty to save."
(4) To accelerate His Coming. "Stir up Thy might, we beseech Thee O Lord and come; and succour us with great power, that by the help of Thy grace, the indulgence of Thy mercy may accelerate what our sins impede." (The "Collect" for the 4th. Sunday of Advent).
We ask Him to stir up His might in coming. His Advents show His Omnipotence. Only a God could come to this world to save it, only a God could come to a soul and raise it to the supernatural state. These are miracles and we ask Him to stir up His might to come and work them. It is our sins that hold Him back and hinder His work both in our own souls and in the world. We want them to do so no more and so we ask for His succour and indulgence.
"Stir up the wills of Thy faithful, O Lord, we beseech Thee; that earnestly seeking after the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundant helps from Thy mercy." (The "Collect" for the Sunday before Advent).
Here we pray for something which it is far more difficult to "stir up" – our own wills. We are not sufficiently in earnest; the might and the mercy of God are there waiting to help us, but we have not the energy nor the desire to receive them. We weaken our wills by yielding to temptation, by deliberately going into occasions of sin, by allowing ourselves to be careless about rules and resolutions, by letting things drift and contenting ourselves with a low standard. Advent is a time to rectify all this, to pull ourselves up and make a fresh start, and if we are in earnest, we shall gladly join in the prayer: "Stir up the wills of Thy faithful, O Lord," stir up my will. It is not a prayer to be said lightly for it means much – a will stirred up to "seek after the fruit of good works" means constant and continued effort; it means mortification, suffering, death to self; it means a determination to do or suffer anything rather than run the least risk of committing the least sin; it means constant unremitting attention to little things – to the smallest duties, the least prickings of conscience; it means hard work. Dare I say this prayer? If I am really anxious for "the fruit of good works," I shall dare anything. Fruit is impossible without hard work either in the natural or the spiritual world.
"Who is sufficient for these things?" Certainly I am not, but the consolation is that the work is co-operative. As soon as I pray: Stir up my