First Sunday in Lent: Help in Temptation
by VP
Posted on Sunday February 22, 2026 at 03:00AM in Sunday Sermons
Christ in the Desert Served by the Angels (1631–1681) by Jean Baptiste de Champaigne
"Behold angels came and ministered to Him.”—MATT. iv. 16.
1. We are sure to be tempted.
2. We forget to cry for help.
3. Our Lord suffered Himself to be tempted for our instruction and encouragement.
4. Angels ready and faithful to assist us.
5. Let us imitate St. Antony's defense.
"THE Gospel tells us today how our divine Lord suffered Himself to be
tempted by the devil. It was for our sake that He did so. Each one of
us, that we may be worthy to win heaven, must be tried, and assaulted,
and pass through the conflict. We must face this fact: we shall be tempted by the devil. It is not within anyone's power
to escape temptation. The misery of it may wellnigh overwhelm us. Our
self-love will be crushed, for we did not think that we were so vile as
the specters of temptations around us would make us think. We find
oftentimes that, when we have resolved to do our best, temptations are
the most importunate. Yes, it is true, we are tempted by the devil.
In our misery, when thus tempted and tried, how often do we make a great
mistake. We have not the sense of children. In fear and danger,
children cry for help: we forget! There is One near us, with His angels,
ready to minister to us; only waiting to be invoked, "Lord, save us, or
we perish." "Wherefore it behoved Him in all things to be made like
unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful
high-priest before God, that He might be a propitiation for the sins of
the people. For in that, wherein He Himself hath suffered and been
tempted, He is able to succor them also that are tempted " (Heb. ii. 17,
18). "For we have not a high-priest Who cannot have compassion on our
infirmities; but One tempted in all things as we are, without sin" (Heb.
iv. 15).
Our Blessed Lord accepted the ministration of angels after His
temptation to teach us that we are not alone in our misery and our
danger. To be tempted is not a sin; but to trust to ourselves to be able
to resist and overcome is presumptuous. Pride goeth before a fall. To
come out of the conflict unscathed needs help, and help is at hand if we
humbly invoke it. The angels are our guardians to assist us in our
struggle with their fallen brethren. If the fallen angels hate us
because we are Christ's, the good angels are anxious to shield us from
evil and ruin for that very same reason. A prayer can summon them to the
rescue. To forget their assistance, to venture to stand alone and
defend ourselves single-handed from evil, is to imperil our souls. We
are bound to pray for help in grave temptation. To fall into sin is our
own fault; always our own fault. We could have been saved from the sin,
if we had prayed for assistance. The angels are with us wherever we go
through life; in every occurrence, in every danger they are at hand. Our
passage through the temptations of life is not a forlorn hope; we have
our leaders, our friends, our guardians around us. But alas! how often
are they forgotten and ignored. Temptations seduce us. Careless souls
even love the danger; foolishly disregarding the imminent and eternal
consequences.
With what an occupation have the ministering angels been entrusted by
God! They first have to arouse us to be afraid of evil; to wish to
escape it. Instead of fearing sin, we turn a deaf ear to the
remonstrances which the angels prompt our consciences to urge upon us.
We are reluctant to turn from the evil suggestion; the wicked companion;
the occasions that we know will be our ruin. It is not that the angels
are remiss in their endeavors; it is all our own fault yielding to our
sinful desires, clinging to bad habits that will be our eternal ruin.
Pray that the angels may not grow weary of us, and that their divine
Master may not recall them from their rejected ministrations. How
faithful they have been to us! They are interested in us and devoted to
us, because we are destined to be their brethren for all eternity. They
rejoice over every soul they can save, for each one is another soul
redeemed by the precious Blood of our Lord, and rescued from eternal
loss.
This life is a time of trial and temptation; but to be forewarned is to
be forearmed. We must not cowardly give way, though we have to face the
combat, for we are not alone. Remember we can instantly summon
assistance. Imitate the great St. Antony, the model of those who are
tempted. He tells us that his weapons were the sign of the holy Cross
and the most holy name of Jesus. That sacred name, that blessed sign,
would bring us instant help. "God is faithful, Who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that which you are able" (I Cor. x. 13). He will
send His angels to defend you, to drive away the enemies of your soul.
Temptations would be robbed of their terror, they would be vanquished,
if we only remembered to invoke and trust. We must learn this lesson in
life: the lesson to remember and pray; for as death approaches,
temptations may be more powerful and deadly. The good habit of prayer
will then spring to our rescue. The angels will redouble their
vigilance. Not only our own prayers, but the prayers of the Church for
the dying will be our safeguard. The priest before he anoints us bids
the evil spirits to be banished, and the angel of peace to stand by us;
and he prays the Almighty Father to send His holy angel from heaven to
guard and protect and defend. Happy indeed will be the death of one who
has trusted in the angels in the days of his warfare. He will have
endured temptation bravely; his fidelity will have been proved, and his
consolation then will be that the angels will come forth to meet him,
and bear his soul to receive the crown of life." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey 1922 (First Sunday in Lent)
Repentance (Quinquagessima)
by VP
Posted on Saturday February 14, 2026 at 11:00PM in Sunday Sermons
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."-LUKE Xviii. 38.
1. To repent, God's mercy is needed.
2. Sin, in regard of ourselves; of God; of our eternal welfare.
3. God willing and ready to forgive.
4. Our gratitude for forgiveness.
"THE holy time of Lent, upon which we enter this week, is given us once again by the mercy of God, in which to repent and put our souls in order. No one can afford, can dare to despise this fresh opportunity of having their sins forgiven. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John i. 8).
Then in what does repentance of sin consist? A thorough change of heart, by which we turn from our sins and break with them: confess them with true contrition of heart for having committed them. But can we ourselves do this? Can we shake ourselves free from the bonds of sin? Can we, the slaves of sin, gain liberty for our souls of our own power? No, we need the grace of God; hence our earnest prayer should be," Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."
If the blind, the lepers, all the poor sufferers were so earnest in seeking a cure, a freedom from their afflictions, and were mercifully healed by our Blessed Lord, how much more earnest should we be in seeking forgiveness of our sins! For sin is the leprosy of the soul; sin blinds us and leads us astray from the path to heaven; sin is the palsy that paralyses all our powers. Mortal sin, alas! is the death of our soul, the forfeiture of eternal life, the condemnation to eternal misery. All this is sin; for we are the slaves of that in which we have sinned.
And what is sin as regards Almighty God? A defiance, a rebellion, an insult and ingratitude of the vilest kind. By sin we dare to disobey the Almighty Master; by sin we insult the all-holy God, by preferring vile things to Him, by choosing the indulgence of our passions to doing His holy Will. By sin we ignore and despise all that an infinitely loving Father has done for us.
He has given us an immortal soul, destined to be happy with Him for ever, and we sell this soul for a paltry or shameful pleasure. He has pardoned us so many times, and we have added iniquity to iniquity by returning to our evil ways. And that pardon, that our heavenly Father has granted so often-what was the price of it? What was the ransom that was paid to rescue us from the thraldom of the devil? The precious Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who died on the Cross for us.
Alas! in the past when we have sinned we thought little of the dreadful evil of our sins. Yet, without exaggeration sin is this appalling evil, the calamity with eternal consequences for our poor soul. How the tempter has fooled us and ruined us time after time! When we gave way to our passions-jealousy, pride, avarice, impurity-he skilfully hid the malice from us. When we disobeyed the commandments of God and the Church, we did not realize the cruel contempt and ingratitude towards our divine Lord.
Then let us treasure this opportunity of repentance during the sacred time of Lent; let the prayer of our heart-earnest and constant-be, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." But can it be that God will hear our prayer and grant us forgiveness after all our falls, our relapses, perhaps our long continuance in sin? So many times have we made half-repentances and fallen again with scarce a struggle against temptation. Is not the patience of God worn out? Will He trust us and try us once again? In this anxiety and doubt, how consoling for us to recall the words of ScriptureGod's own inspired words--" Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind," says the Psalmist, "look upon me, O Lord, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies" (Ps. lxviii. 17). "Thus saith the Lord: Be converted to Me with all your heart . . . turn to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy" (Joel ii. 12).
Surely, then, with all confidence we may trust in the mercy of our heavenly Father! It is He Who turns our hearts to wish to repent. It is He Who prompts the prayer to our Saviour, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." And that mercy will be poured down upon us to enlighten us to see our sins; to have the good will and the courage to break with them; to confess them; to have loving and sincere sorrow and compunction of heart for having committed them.
Finally, what gratitude should fill our hearts that we have so forgiving, so tender a Father: "Who forgiveth all thy iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases, Who redeemeth thy life from destruction, Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion" (Ps. cii. 3, 4). "For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all who call upon Thee. Thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy and true" (Ps. lxxxv. 5, 15). This is the Father, rejoicing when He hears our prayer for mercy, blessing the poor sinful heart resolving to come and ask for pardon.
This is the holy work of Lent. This blessed work of repentance has peopled heaven! Pray to that multitude of redeemed and glorious souls who have prayed the same prayer for mercy; who have received the same grace of contrition and absolution; who can look back to some Lent when they turned to God with all their hearts. They persevered faithfully, and may we do the same in the service of that good God “ Who is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy."
Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey
Placing Scandals (Sexagessima)
by VP
Posted on Saturday February 07, 2026 at 11:00PM in Sunday Sermons
The Sower of good seed, 1180.
“And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it choked it."-St. Luke viii. 7.
We,
my dear brethren, have received the seed of the Divine word, and we
have kept it: we have never fallen away from the true faith as it is in
Christ and His Church, and with God's help we never shall. Our
steadfastness in the faith is our greatest glory in the sight of heaven
and of earth, and whatever our shortcomings may be, we are at least free
from the awful crime of apostasy, and this worst of all reproaches can
never be laid to our charge. The good soil that produces a hundred fold
is ours; but alas! the thorny soil is ours also, and our faith though
firmly rooted is often choked by the pernicious jungle growing up around
us, in which we suffer ourselves to become entangled.
How many a
glorious promise of supernatural faith and virtue in those around us
becomes utterly blighted by the thorns of the world's ways and
temptations, because no proper care is taken to resist them and stamp
them out! The thorny growths that stifle our faith and render it
worthless in the sight of God are many indeed, but there is one in
particular that is more destructive than all the rest beside. I need
hardly name it to you, for you know it but too well—the deadly Upas-tree
of intemperance- that casts its withering shade over our hearts and
homes and altars! Is there a single person here this morning that does
not know of more than one generous soul in whom every fruitful germ of
faith and hope and charity, and every sentiment of true Christian
manhood and womanhood, have not been blighted by this prevalent passion ?
Call the roll of your nearest friends and acquaintances, and how many
will you not find absent from the ranks of Christian life, duty, and
fidelity through this one vice? There is a skeleton in every closet, and
the saloon-keepers have taken the flesh off its bones. This more than
anything else chokes the divine seed of the word amongst us; this
nullifies the power of our faith; this neutralizes the effects of the
Sacraments; this scandalizes our holy religion and makes our consecrated
ministry vain; for this is the evil root from whence springs the foul
crop of lusts and blasphemies, and crimes and contentions, that stifle
every virtue of the Christian life and weigh down the Church of the
living God.
Could we but cast out this baneful blight of
intemperance from amongst us, our glorious faith would appear in all its
strength and beauty, and yield its hundred fold. If it were not for the
gross and scandalous lives that so many so-called Catholics lead,
nothing could stop the onward march of our faith. This is the one
objection raised against us that we cannot satisfactorily meet.
We
know very well that ours is the only true religion, and that it
supplies every help that we need to enable us to overcome our passions
and to lead upright lives. But the world at large knows little or
nothing of our faith; it only looks at the dark side of our every-day
conduct, and scornfully asks: "Where is the influence of the Catholic
religion on the venal politician, the low liquor-seller, the drunken
reveler, the meretricious streetwalker, the abominable fathers and
mothers who make their homes a hell upon earth, and drive their
unfortunate children to destruction ? And what reply can we make? We
cannot deny that many who claim to profess our faith are an utter
disgrace to it, and a rock of scandal to the world. They, of course,
have shaken off all sense of obligation to their religion and its
teachings, and have no more conception of religious duty than the cow or
the horse. Theirs is a purely animal existence, they live only for the
gratification of their lower nature, and we disclaim all responsibility
for them. What responsibility has the Catholic Church for those who
seldom or ever darken its doors, who never approach its Sacraments, who
spend their Saturday nights in the saloons, and their Sunday mornings in
drunken slumber? What responsibility has the Church for the recreant
rowdies who hang around the corner grog-shops, and the fallen flirts who
frequent the sidewalks? They may have Catholic names, but that is the
only evidence of their Catholicity. The thorns of dissipation and
sensuality and sin of every kind have choked the seed of truth in their
hearts, and they are outside the soul of the Church, though they may
still claim to belong to its visible pale. But take our consistent
Catholics, men and women who are in touch with the spirit of their faith
and honestly endeavor to live up to its teachings. Are they not in very
truth the salt of the earth? and does not the divine seed planted in
their souls produce a hundred fold?"
Source: Five minutes sermons for Low Masses for every Sundays of the Year by the Priests of the Congregation of Saint Paul 1893
