Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-06-11
THE CATHEDRAL.
Father M. siebunn's First scrmun
Yesterday.

NthatH Atar AfttOHANFs BAVkh
Yesterday.
Father M. Liebana preached his first
sermon at the Cathedral yesterday, TAX
ing his text from ST. Luke XIV, 9Th
verse;
The Gospel OF to-day is of paramount
importance to us, for in no other place
does the mercy of God shine with more
splendor. 1t is this infinite mercy that
made the Royal Prophet exclaim: "The
Lord is sweet to ell, and His tender mer-
cies are above all His works" There
are three different classes OF men, viz :
The sinner, the peuitent, and the just
and towards them the Almighty exercises
His mercy. Bat as the parable of to-day
principally regards those who are in the
state of moral Sin, hence in the
few words / am about to
address to you, shall dwell
on the mercy Of God towards
sinners. By the mercy OF God We under
stand His firm and serious viii to aid us
in all our necessities; and the ways in
which he exercises it towards us are
numberless. Man can of himself 60
astray from the path Of salvation, and
once he has lost grace he can not recover
it without the Divine assistance. And
whilst the sinner is struggling to free
himself from the chains OF sin, behold I!
the offended Majesty comes to deliver
him; and notwithstanding that God
Almighty comes to rescue him,
he still continues committing sin.
Such perfidious conduct, however, does
not overcome the infinite mercy of God,
who still continues to lavish graces upon
him. Bnt this is not all the love and
mercy Of God were also shown to us by
the death OF His only Son. Our first par
ents broke the commandments given
to them, and they are compelled to un-
dergo the terrible punishment with which
God had threatened them did they prove
faithless. And at this moment let US
represent to ourselves how the only Son
OF the King and Sovereign of all things,
comes forward, and casting himself on
His knees before His Father exclaiming !:
Pardon, pardon them if victim is re-
| quired for thy justice, behold me, my
Father, offer thee my life. The Father
accepts the mediation of His Son, whom
he condemns TO death instead OF the
guilty ones, and thus our salvation was
accomplished, it is true, but by the
shedding of the blood OF a man God, ,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us then avail
ourselves of this great mercy Of God, and
approach the sac.aments, which are the
channels through which are conveyed
to us the merits of that precious
blood shed for our redemption.
Fear not the number or quality of your
sins; for the same God who made Of st.
Paul a vessel of election and pardoned
the sins OF Mary Magdalen, OF ST. Angus
tine and OF many others, will likewise
forgive you yours, provided you repent
and do penarce. Ii hitherto we have
been led sstray by the illusions of our
passions, let us turn to the right path
and open our eyes to their seductions. II
we have misspent our time on trihes I'M
becoming our condition, let us strive
henceforth to redeem it by fervent
application to the duties of religion; and
ii such be our practice invariably pur-
sued 10 the close OF our days, we may
still hope to be admitted, through the
merits of Jesus Christ, to the possession
of our sovereign good in the Kingdom of
Heaven.