The Irish standard., 1901-05-18
A Five Minute Sermon.

Be We doors of the word and not
hearers only.-St. James.
This admonition of st. James to the
Christians of the apostolic times, to be
doors and not only hearers of the
word, applies with still greater force
to the Christians of the present day.
In the first century the Christians were
full of zeal and fervor and heard the
word, that is the Gospel, preached by
men who had lived and talked with
the Lord land yet some of these Chris
tians were not living up to the Cos
pel's teachings, and so the Apostle
warns them that they must not only
hear the word preached, but also keep
the commandments. And the church
today gives the same warning to pres
eDt day Christians and she uses the
Apostles very words, "Be We doors
and not hearers only of the word"
AS the Apostle insists mainly on
the necessity of being "docrs of the
word" we may infer that most of the
Christians then, at least, were hearers,
whereas nowadays the church admon-
ishes the people to hear the word Of
God and keep it for we Know that
there arc many Catholics who seldom
or never hear the word, let alone keep
it. We know that there are men who
call themselves Catholics who never
enter a church door from one years
q funeral OF an evening marriage cerc-
mony. Those so-callcd Catholics new
or hear the word and of course do
rot keep it. Again. there are some
who attend Mass now and then when
fancy strikes them or when there Is
a special musical program advertised.
service, but they don't think it worth
While to listen and so they neither
hear nor keep the word of God.
Again there are somc and their
Lumber is legion, who come to church
every Sunday, except when 1t rains.
True they could, il they tried hard,
arrive in time, but they don't mind be-
ing late, and so they stand at the end
of the church during the whole SER
mon and mako for the door as soon as
the sermon is over The sermon falls
on barren soil as far as these heroic
Christians are concerned, and after
they get outside they can't recall n
single word the preacher said. All
these the church cXllorts to hear the
word first and then keep It,
And yet again. there is Il vast army
of faithful Christians who are seen at
Mass every Sunday. No matter what
the weather he, windy, or rainy, or
snowy, they go to church to hear the
listen attcnivcly to the sermon and
the words of the Gospel fall OH good
soil. These tried and true Christians
hear the word rightly, and we may be
sure they will strive to keep it. And
So in order to keep the word, we must
first hear 1t.
by hearing The Gospel every Sun
day we soon learn the story Of the life
of Christ from the lips of the Apostles
themselves. We hear His doctrines
preached and His law cXpoundcd; we
hear words of comfort ana strength
and courage, and after Il time the Cos
pei becomes familiar to lis and we do
our best to follow in the footsteps OF
Christ. 'frllc there are some who do
hear the word of God and do not lead
good lives, and these the Church urges
to be doors of the word, and not only
hearers. But most of those who lead
wicked lives do not hear the Gospel
preached. IF we try our best to hear
Il sermon every Sunday we will find
that our faith will become stronger
our hope will be increased, and we will
have Il greater love for God and our
neighbor. If in the past we have not
been hearers Of the word now is the
time to change. If we have been hear
crs, and not doors, let us resolve now
to hear the word of God and keep it,
for now is the acceptable time, now
is the day of salvation.