It is the death of the Eternal Word of God made flesh, which
is our great lesson how to think and how to speak of this world. His Cross has
put its due value upon every thing which we see, upon all fortunes, all
advantages, all ranks, all dignities, all pleasures; upon the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It has set a price upon
the excitements, the rivalries, the hopes, the fears, the desires, the efforts,
the {85} triumphs of mortal man. It has given a meaning to the various,
shifting course, the trials, the temptations, the sufferings, of his earthly
state. It has brought together and made consistent all that seemed discordant
and aimless. It has taught us how to live, how to use this world, what to
expect, what to desire, what to hope. It is the tone into which all the strains
of this world's music are ultimately to be resolved.
Look around, and see what the world presents of high and
low. Go to the court of princes. See the treasure and skill of all nations
brought together to honour a child of man. Observe the prostration of the many
before the few. Consider the form and ceremonial, the pomp, the state, the
circumstance; and the vainglory. Do you wish to know the worth of it all? look
at the Cross of Christ.
Go to the political world: see nation jealous of nation,
trade rivalling trade, armies and fleets matched against each other. Survey the
various ranks of the community, its parties and their contests, the strivings
of the ambitious, the intrigues of the crafty. What is the end of all this
turmoil? the grave. What is the measure? the Cross.
Go, again, to the world of intellect and science: consider
the wonderful discoveries which the human mind is making, the variety of arts
to which its discoveries give rise, the all but miracles by which it shows its
power; and next, the pride and confidence of reason, and the absorbing devotion
of thought to transitory objects, which is the consequence. Would you form a
right judgment of all this? look at the Cross. {86}
Again: look at misery, look at poverty and destitution, look
at oppression and captivity; go where food is scanty, and lodging unhealthy.
Consider pain and suffering, diseases long or violent, all that is frightful
and revolting. Would you know how to rate all these? gaze upon the Cross.
Thus in the Cross, and Him who hung upon it, all things
meet; all things subserve it, all things need it. It is their centre and their
interpretation. For He was lifted up upon it, that He might draw all men and
all things unto Him.
Full Sermon here: Newman Reader - Sermon 7
*We continue also today our Novena (6th Day) to Bl. John Henry Newman for An Irish Ordinariate. Prayer above on sidebar.
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