The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-12-28

| ate whatever they set before Him, sea-
soning it with instructive and edifying
! discourseS. When they treated Him in
a manner becoming His dignity He re-
buked them, as when Martha troubled
! herself about many things. whilst
Mary, her sister, sat at His feet. drink
! ing in the heavenly doctrine that fell
from His lips. He may also imagine
how many hardships He endured in
His rounds of well-doing. Who knows
how often He suffered from hunger
and thirst; how often, fatigued by His
labors and Journeys He had no rest
ing place but the bare ground, no shell
! ter but the canopy of heaven? The
strongest proof of His poverty is that
at His death on the cross the soldiers
found nothing to divide among them
selves but His clothes, as it had been
| foretold by the royal prophet: '"They
parted my garments amongst them,
and upon my vesture they cast lots"
|, Cps. q, 19)
But Christ sanctified poverty by word
as we'll as by example. He preached
| the gospel first to the poor, who al
ways stand most in need of consola-
ton; and who receive it thankfully, but
not to the rich, who revel in pleasures
and cherish pride. He said to His dis
ciples: Go and relate to John what
you have seen and heard the
poor have the gospel preached to
them" 1t is the poor He calls blessed;
it is to the poor He promised heaven:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom" Blessed are
We that hunger now; for you shall be
filed And, again, He says: Come
to me, all of you that labor and are
heavy burdened, and l will refresh
you" This is chiefly said to the poor
for in recOmpense for the goods of
this world, of which they are destitute
He sends them peace and consolation
that surpass all understanding. And
hence the annual recurrence of this
day brings with it into the homes of
the poor of every land a peace, con-
ISOLATION and holy joy which would be
inexplicable without the poverty of it's
mystery. Their mutual greetings of
Merry Christmas" come forth from
their hearts today with more genuine
sincerity than those which fall from
cause in their poverty of means they
have caught wealth of spirit which
the rich have missed.
Did Christ ever call the rich blessed?
No. What did He say to them? You
remember when a rich young man once
came and asked: Good Master, what
shall l do that l may have life ever
lasting?" He replied: IF thou wilt
enter into life, keep the command
ments." And when he urged that he
had kept the commandments from his
youth Jesus said to him: IF thou
wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast
and give to the poor; and thou Shall
have treasure in heaven and come,
me he inI,
resolve to do this, but went away sad
and returned no more; wherefore
Christ said to His disciples: Amen.
1 say to you that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of 7hea-
ven." And again: 1T is easier for a
camel to pass through the eye of
needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven
Now, for a camel to pass through the
eye of needle is an impossibility.
Shall no rich man, therefore, be saved?
Christ does not say so. He only says
it is hard for rich man to be saved
not because of his riches, but because,
with his riches, generally speaking, he
possesses a richness, a pride of spirit;
because he sets his heart and affec-
lions entirely upon his riches because
he thinks more of gold than of God,
and is greedy and hard-hearted toward
GODS poor. 1t is to this class of rich
men that Christ applied the parable
of Dives and Lazarus. The rich man
was clothed in purple and Toasted
sumptuously every day, and Lazarus
full of sores, lay at his gate, DESTROYS
of being fed on the crumbs which fell
from the rich mans table, and no one
gave him them; only the dogs, more
merciful than man, came and licked
his sores. But Lazarus died and was
carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom; the rich man also died and
was buried in hell. Men of Dives de-
scription are farthest from God and
from salvation, because they have
not the spirit of Christ. They close UP
the bowels of their substance against
the poor and have no ears for their
piteous cries. and to them the words