{"ok":true,"date":"2028-08-13","dateKey":"08-13","liturgicalDay":"10th Sunday after Pentecost","rank":"Semi-Double Sunday","color":"green","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"My son, the more thou canst go out of thyself, so much the more wilt thou be able to enter into Me.","author":"Thomas à Kempis","source":"Of the Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapter 56, §1, p. 214","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#go-out-of-thyself-and-enter-into-christ","category":"Confidence and Daily Self-Denial"},"season":"Time after Pentecost","novenas":[{"title":"Novena for the Assumption","feast":"Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary","day":8,"totalDays":9,"startIsoDate":"2028-08-06","feastIsoDate":"2028-08-15","intention":"Ask Our Lady to detach the soul from earth and order hope toward Heaven.","prayer":"O Lord, we beseech Thee, forgive the transgressions of Thy servants, and, forasmuch as by our own deeds we cannot please Thee, may we find safety through the prayers of the Mother of Thy Son and our Lord. Through the Same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.","practice":"Renounce every earthly attachment that weakens prayer or purity, beginning with the attachment that most often draws the heart from God.","sources":["The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. III, Summer, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Prayer throughout the Office, printed p. 827."]}],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: 10th Sunday after Pentecost - 2028-08-13","previewText":"10th Sunday after Pentecost. Outside the Church There Is No Salvation. Resist indifferentism, which treats contradictory religions as though they were equally pleasing to God.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\n10th Sunday after Pentecost\n2028-08-13 - Time after Pentecost - Semi-Double Sunday - green\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\n10th Sunday after Pentecost is the principal observance today. The calendar also preserves Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs on this date. The secondary observance remains part of the calendar context for the date. That material adds another traditional lesson for the date; it does not replace the principal observance.\nCompunction: sorrow for sin that pierces the heart and moves a person toward repentance rather than despair.\nMartyr: a Christian who was killed rather than deny Christ or abandon the Faith.\nIdolatry: giving to a creature, power, pleasure, or false god the worship and absolute allegiance owed to God alone.\nThe full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nAt Pentecost the Holy Ghost strengthened the apostles to preach Christ publicly and carry the Gospel to the nations. His work is not private excitement separated from doctrine, worship, and the authority Christ established. The faithful should ask Him for zeal that makes them more obedient to revealed truth, more constant in charity, and more courageous in Catholic witness. Ask for disinterested devotion that seeks God alone in His holy Mother and serves her at Calvary as faithfully as at Cana. Offer the day for God's glory through Our Lady, surrendering every demand for reward, recognition, consolation, success, or ease.\n\n\"Lastly, true devotion to our Blessed Lady is disinterested; that is to say, it inspires the soul not to seek itself but God only, [...] A true client of Mary does not serve that august Queen from a spirit of lucre and interest, nor for its own good, whether temporal, corporal, or spiritual; but exclusively because she merits to be served, and God alone in her.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 110\n\nDisinterested love does not forbid petitions for temporal or spiritual goods. It purifies the ruling motive. The soul does not reduce Mary to a means of comfort, success, protection, reputation, sensible fervor, or even private spiritual advantage; it loves and serves her because of her God-given excellence and God in her.\n\nCalvary and Cana reveal the test. Give thanks when relief comes, yet remain faithful amid disgust, dryness, sorrow, delay, and apparent failure. Seek God's glory, Mary's honor, obedience to Jesus, salvation of souls, and fulfillment of duty regardless of visible reward. Such fidelity frees devotion from bargaining and self-seeking.\n\nPRACTICE\nExercise and receive rightful authority today with humility, clarity, and obedience to God.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"My son, the more thou canst go out of thyself, so much the more wilt thou be able to enter into Me.\"\nThomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapter 56, §1, p. 214\n\nNOVENA IN PROGRESS\nNovena for the Assumption - Day 8 of 9\nPreparing for Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2028-08-15.\nAsk Our Lady to detach the soul from earth and order hope toward Heaven.\nO Lord, we beseech Thee, forgive the transgressions of Thy servants, and, forasmuch as by our own deeds we cannot please Thee, may we find safety through the prayers of the Mother of Thy Son and our Lord. Through the Same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.\nRenounce every earthly attachment that weakens prayer or purity, beginning with the attachment that most often draws the heart from God.\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - August 13\nAt Rome, blessed Hippolytus, martyr, who glorious- -\" ly confessed the faith, under the emperor Valerian After enduring other torments, he was tied by the feet to the necks of wild horses, and being cruelly dragged through briars and brambles, and having all his body lacerated, he yielded up his spirit. On the same day, suffered also blessed Concordia, his nurse, who being scourged in his presence with leaded whips, went to our Lord; and nineteen others of his house, who were beheaded beyond the Tiburtine gate, and buried with him in the Veran field. — At Imola, the birthday of St. Cassian, martyr. As he refused to worship idols, the persecutor called the boys whom the saint taught and who hated him, giving them leave to kill him. The torment suffered by the martyr was the more grievous, as the hand which inflicted it, by reason of its weakness, rendered death more tardy. — At Todi, St. Cassian, bishop and martyr, under the emperor Diocletian. — At Burgos, in Spain, the Saints Centolla and Helena, martyrs. — At Constantinople, St. Maximus, a monk, distinguished for learning and for zeal for Catholic truth. Combating valiantly the Monothelites, he had his hands and tongue torn from him by the heretical emperor Constans, and was banished to Chersonesus, where he breathed his last. At this time, two of his disciples, both called Anastasius, and many others endured diverse torments and the hardships of exile. — In Germany, St. Wigbert, priest and confessor. — At Rome, St. John Berchinans, a scholastic of the Society of Jesus, illustrious for his innocence and for his fidelity to the rules of the religious life. He was canonized by Leo XIII. — At Poitiers, St. Radegundes, queen, whose life was renowned for miracles and virtues.\n\nGOSPEL OF THE DAY\nO God, be merciful to me a sinner.\n10th Sunday after Pentecost - Luke 18:9-14\n\"Every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.\"\nStand with the publican today. A short honest prayer from the back of the temple may do more than many polished words.\n\nTHE CHURCH'S READING OF THE GOSPEL\nWhat This Gospel Teaches\nThe Pharisee's religious pride ruins prayer, while the publican's humility opens the way to mercy.\nThe publican goes home justified: forgiven and restored to God's friendship by grace. This gift is received by the humble, not earned by self-admiration.\nError corrected: The self-congratulation that uses religion to look down on others.\n- Where does this error tempt me in practice?\n- What act does this Gospel require of me today?\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSs. Hippolytus and Cassian\nMartyrs who teach public fidelity and faithful instruction.\nSt. Hippolytus gloriously confessed the Faith under the emperor Valerian. After other torments, he was tied to wild horses and dragged to death; St. Concordia and nineteen members of his household also suffered martyrdom.\nSt. Cassian was a teacher at Imola who refused to worship idols. His persecutor delivered him to the pupils he had taught, and their weak hands prolonged the torment by which he died for Christ. His witness gives a grave lesson to every instructor: teaching is never neutral when souls are being formed.\nAsk these martyrs for courage in the places where others learn from you. A father, mother, teacher, employer, or older child teaches by word, silence, permission, and example. Let Christ rule there too.\nFROM MATINS\nDo not mistake divine threats for empty words.\nMatins - Second Nocturn - 10th Sunday after Pentecost\nSt. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople\n\"If thou wilt not believe for things to come, at least believe for things past.\"\n- The Breviary warns that causing another soul to sin adds guilt rather than lessening it.\n- St. John Chrysostom rebukes the presumption that God's judgments are mere threats without consequence.\n- Past chastisements teach the faithful to fear future judgment soberly and to flee from complicity in another's ruin.\nNever comfort yourself with company in sin. If your words, counsel, example, or silence help another fall, repent quickly and repair what you can.\nFULL BREVIARY LESSONS\nFourth Lesson - St. John Chrysostom on Complicity in Sin\nThe Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St John Chrysostom, Patriarch [of Constantinople.] (Hom. 25 on the Epistle to the Romans.) Let us not dream that we are ourselves to be held less guilty, when we find that we have not been alone in sin. On the contrary, such fellowship addeth to our punishment. The serpent was more heavily punished than Eve, and Eve than Adam, and Jezebel suffered more than Ahab, who took the vineyard of Naboth. She it had been that planned the whole matter, and opened the way for her husband's crime. Even so thou also, who shalt have caused another's perdition, shalt suffer more grievously than shall they, whom thou hast ruined. Since, for a man to commit sin himself is less wicked than to lead others into sin.\nFifth Lesson - St. John Chrysostom on the Judgment of God\nIf, therefore, we should see others sinning, let us not only not help them, but let us do what in us lieth to draw them out of the bottomless pit of destruction, lest we should suffer as accomplices in their trespass. Let our memory never forget that right awful judgment-seat, the river of fire, the chains that can never be unlocked, the darkness that cannot be pierced, the sound of teeth gnashing, the deadly worm. But thou sayest: God is good. Are then all these things but idle words? Is there no punishment for the rich man which giveth no heed to Lazarus? (Luke xvi. 20-26.) Doth the bridegroom open to the foolish virgins the door of the marriage-chamber? (Matth. xxv. 1-12.) They that have denied to Christ the necessaries of life, are they not to depart from Him into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels? (Matth. xxv. 41-46.) The man that cometh in to the marriage-supper, not having a wedding garment, shall he, or shall he not, be bound hand and foot, and taken away, and cast into outer darkness? (Matth. xxii. 11-13.) The servant that hath no compassion on his fellow-servant, which oweth him an hundred pence, shall he, or shall he not, be delivered to the tormentors? (Matth. xviii. 23-35.) It is said, concerning such as commit adultery, that their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched? (Mark ix. 44.) Is that not true?\nSixth Lesson - Conclusion of St. John Chrysostom's Sermon\nBut these are perhaps only threats on God's part? No doubt, quoth thou. I ask thee: How darest thou say such a thing out loud, and deliver this judgment from thine own imagining? For sooth, I can prove to thee, from the things which God hath done, that thou art wrong. If thou wilt not believe for things to come, at least believe for things past. Of them at least it cannot be said that they are nought but threats and mere words, for they have happened, and actually been realised in fact. Who was He which brought in a great flood, until the whole land was standing water, and our whole race perished, save eight persons? Who was He which rained upon Sodom brimstone and fire out of heaven? (Gen. xix. 24.) Who was He which overthrew all the host of Egypt in the Red Sea? (Ex. xiv. 27.) Who was He which sent out a fire and consumed them that were of the faction of Abiram? (Num. xvi. 35.) Who was He which sent a pestilence upon Israel, because David had sinned, and, from the morning even to the time appointed, there died of the people seventy thousand men? (2 Kings xxiv.) Was it not God, and none other, Which brought upon them all these things, and more also.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nOutside the Church There Is No Salvation\nThe Church places this truth before you today: All salvation comes through Christ and His Church; no soul is saved by false religion, indifferentism, or separation loved as separation. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The doctrine does not deny God's mercy. It denies that error, schism, or religious indifference can be treated as paths equal to the Church founded by Christ.\nThe grace to be practiced is Faithful instruction unto witness, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice purity of intention by serving Jesus and Mary for their honor and God's will rather than personal advantage.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist indifferentism, which treats contradictory religions as though they were equally pleasing to God. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing faithful instruction unto witness when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Remain as faithful at Calvary as at Cana, loving and serving through dryness, disappointment, suffering, and unanswered expectation. Purify every prayer, sacrifice, duty, and work of charity from bargaining, reputation-seeking, possessiveness, and hidden self-interest.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of one; the witness placed beside it is Pope Pius IX.\nYour resolution before God: Exercise and receive rightful authority today with humility, clarity, and obedience to God.\nCarry this word: Authority is healed only when it submits to God.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"Learn now to die to the world, that thou mayest then live with Christ.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 23, p. 41\nChristian death to self is not despair but preparation for life with Christ. Refuse the command of every attachment that draws you from God's will, beginning with the strongest.\n\nThe world tells you to preserve every comfort and construct an identity from passing things. Christ teaches you to travel lightly toward eternity. You need not despise God's gifts; receive them gratefully, but practice being able to surrender them when His will, charity, or duty requires it.\nToday's Practice: Accept unnoticed sacrifices without seeking relief or recognition.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nExamine what reward you secretly demanded, surrender it, and renew disinterested love of God in His holy Mother.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, teach fathers, mothers, pastors, rulers, and children to receive authority as service beneath Thee, not as power against Thee.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nWhy Sincerity Cannot Replace the One True Church: https://cityofgodinexile.com/how-the-true-church-is-known/why-sincerity-cannot-replace-the-one-true-church?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2028-08-13&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2028-08-13&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: 10th Sunday after Pentecost - 2028-08-13\n \n \n
\n 10th Sunday after Pentecost. Outside the Church There Is No Salvation. Resist indifferentism, which treats contradictory religions as though they were equally pleasing to God.\n
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City of God in Exile

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10th Sunday after Pentecost

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2028-08-13 - Time after Pentecost - Semi-Double Sunday - green

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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10th Sunday after Pentecost is the principal observance today. The calendar also preserves Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs on this date. The secondary observance remains part of the calendar context for the date. That material adds another traditional lesson for the date; it does not replace the principal observance.

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Compunction
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sorrow for sin that pierces the heart and moves a person toward repentance rather than despair.
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Martyr
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a Christian who was killed rather than deny Christ or abandon the Faith.
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Idolatry
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giving to a creature, power, pleasure, or false god the worship and absolute allegiance owed to God alone.

The full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.

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Today in the Roman Year

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At Pentecost the Holy Ghost strengthened the apostles to preach Christ publicly and carry the Gospel to the nations. His work is not private excitement separated from doctrine, worship, and the authority Christ established. The faithful should ask Him for zeal that makes them more obedient to revealed truth, more constant in charity, and more courageous in Catholic witness.

Ask for disinterested devotion that seeks God alone in His holy Mother and serves her at Calvary as faithfully as at Cana.

Offer the day for God's glory through Our Lady, surrendering every demand for reward, recognition, consolation, success, or ease.

“Lastly, true devotion to our Blessed Lady is disinterested; that is to say, it inspires the soul not to seek itself but God only, [...] A true client of Mary does not serve that august Queen from a spirit of lucre and interest, nor for its own good, whether temporal, corporal, or spiritual; but exclusively because she merits to be served, and God alone in her.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 110

Disinterested love does not forbid petitions for temporal or spiritual goods. It purifies the ruling motive. The soul does not reduce Mary to a means of comfort, success, protection, reputation, sensible fervor, or even private spiritual advantage; it loves and serves her because of her God-given excellence and God in her.

Calvary and Cana reveal the test. Give thanks when relief comes, yet remain faithful amid disgust, dryness, sorrow, delay, and apparent failure. Seek God's glory, Mary's honor, obedience to Jesus, salvation of souls, and fulfillment of duty regardless of visible reward. Such fidelity frees devotion from bargaining and self-seeking.

Exercise and receive rightful authority today with humility, clarity, and obedience to God.

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Quote of the Day

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“My son, the more thou canst go out of thyself, so much the more wilt thou be able to enter into Me.”
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Thomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapter 56, §1, p. 214

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Novena in Progress

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Novena for the Assumption - Day 8 of 9

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Preparing for Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2028-08-15.

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Ask Our Lady to detach the soul from earth and order hope toward Heaven.

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Novena Prayer

O Lord, we beseech Thee, forgive the transgressions of Thy servants, and, forasmuch as by our own deeds we cannot please Thee, may we find safety through the prayers of the Mother of Thy Son and our Lord. Through the Same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

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Renounce every earthly attachment that weakens prayer or purity, beginning with the attachment that most often draws the heart from God.

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Roman Martyrology - August 13

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At Rome, blessed Hippolytus, martyr, who glorious- -" ly confessed the faith, under the emperor Valerian After enduring other torments, he was tied by the feet to the necks of wild horses, and being cruelly dragged through briars and brambles, and having all his body lacerated, he yielded up his spirit. On the same day, suffered also blessed Concordia, his nurse, who being scourged in his presence with leaded whips, went to our Lord; and nineteen others of his house, who were beheaded beyond the Tiburtine gate, and buried with him in the Veran field. — At Imola, the birthday of St. Cassian, martyr. As he refused to worship idols, the persecutor called the boys whom the saint taught and who hated him, giving them leave to kill him. The torment suffered by the martyr was the more grievous, as the hand which inflicted it, by reason of its weakness, rendered death more tardy. — At Todi, St. Cassian, bishop and martyr, under the emperor Diocletian. — At Burgos, in Spain, the Saints Centolla and Helena, martyrs. — At Constantinople, St. Maximus, a monk, distinguished for learning and for zeal for Catholic truth. Combating valiantly the Monothelites, he had his hands and tongue torn from him by the heretical emperor Constans, and was banished to Chersonesus, where he breathed his last. At this time, two of his disciples, both called Anastasius, and many others endured diverse torments and the hardships of exile. — In Germany, St. Wigbert, priest and confessor. — At Rome, St. John Berchinans, a scholastic of the Society of Jesus, illustrious for his innocence and for his fidelity to the rules of the religious life. He was canonized by Leo XIII. — At Poitiers, St. Radegundes, queen, whose life was renowned for miracles and virtues.

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Gospel of the Day

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O God, be merciful to me a sinner.

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10th Sunday after Pentecost - Luke 18:9-14

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“Every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted.”
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Stand with the publican today. A short honest prayer from the back of the temple may do more than many polished words.

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The Church's Reading of the Gospel

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What This Gospel Teaches

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The Pharisee's religious pride ruins prayer, while the publican's humility opens the way to mercy.

The publican goes home justified: forgiven and restored to God's friendship by grace. This gift is received by the humble, not earned by self-admiration.

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Error corrected: The self-congratulation that uses religion to look down on others.

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  • Where does this error tempt me in practice?
  • What act does this Gospel require of me today?
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Highlighted Saint

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Ss. Hippolytus and Cassian

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Martyrs who teach public fidelity and faithful instruction.

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St. Hippolytus gloriously confessed the Faith under the emperor Valerian. After other torments, he was tied to wild horses and dragged to death; St. Concordia and nineteen members of his household also suffered martyrdom.

St. Cassian was a teacher at Imola who refused to worship idols. His persecutor delivered him to the pupils he had taught, and their weak hands prolonged the torment by which he died for Christ. His witness gives a grave lesson to every instructor: teaching is never neutral when souls are being formed.

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Ask these martyrs for courage in the places where others learn from you. A father, mother, teacher, employer, or older child teaches by word, silence, permission, and example. Let Christ rule there too.

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From Matins

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Do not mistake divine threats for empty words.

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Matins - Second Nocturn - 10th Sunday after Pentecost

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St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople, Homily 25 on the Epistle to the Romans

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“If thou wilt not believe for things to come, at least believe for things past.”
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  • The Breviary warns that causing another soul to sin adds guilt rather than lessening it.
  • St. John Chrysostom rebukes the presumption that God's judgments are mere threats without consequence.
  • Past chastisements teach the faithful to fear future judgment soberly and to flee from complicity in another's ruin.
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Never comfort yourself with company in sin. If your words, counsel, example, or silence help another fall, repent quickly and repair what you can.

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Full Breviary Lessons

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Fourth Lesson - St. John Chrysostom on Complicity in Sin

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The Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St John Chrysostom, Patriarch [of Constantinople.] (Hom. 25 on the Epistle to the Romans.) Let us not dream that we are ourselves to be held less guilty, when we find that we have not been alone in sin. On the contrary, such fellowship addeth to our punishment. The serpent was more heavily punished than Eve, and Eve than Adam, and Jezebel suffered more than Ahab, who took the vineyard of Naboth. She it had been that planned the whole matter, and opened the way for her husband's crime. Even so thou also, who shalt have caused another's perdition, shalt suffer more grievously than shall they, whom thou hast ruined. Since, for a man to commit sin himself is less wicked than to lead others into sin.

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Fifth Lesson - St. John Chrysostom on the Judgment of God

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If, therefore, we should see others sinning, let us not only not help them, but let us do what in us lieth to draw them out of the bottomless pit of destruction, lest we should suffer as accomplices in their trespass. Let our memory never forget that right awful judgment-seat, the river of fire, the chains that can never be unlocked, the darkness that cannot be pierced, the sound of teeth gnashing, the deadly worm. But thou sayest: God is good. Are then all these things but idle words? Is there no punishment for the rich man which giveth no heed to Lazarus? (Luke xvi. 20-26.) Doth the bridegroom open to the foolish virgins the door of the marriage-chamber? (Matth. xxv. 1-12.) They that have denied to Christ the necessaries of life, are they not to depart from Him into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels? (Matth. xxv. 41-46.) The man that cometh in to the marriage-supper, not having a wedding garment, shall he, or shall he not, be bound hand and foot, and taken away, and cast into outer darkness? (Matth. xxii. 11-13.) The servant that hath no compassion on his fellow-servant, which oweth him an hundred pence, shall he, or shall he not, be delivered to the tormentors? (Matth. xviii. 23-35.) It is said, concerning such as commit adultery, that their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched? (Mark ix. 44.) Is that not true?

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Sixth Lesson - Conclusion of St. John Chrysostom's Sermon

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But these are perhaps only threats on God's part? No doubt, quoth thou. I ask thee: How darest thou say such a thing out loud, and deliver this judgment from thine own imagining? For sooth, I can prove to thee, from the things which God hath done, that thou art wrong. If thou wilt not believe for things to come, at least believe for things past. Of them at least it cannot be said that they are nought but threats and mere words, for they have happened, and actually been realised in fact. Who was He which brought in a great flood, until the whole land was standing water, and our whole race perished, save eight persons? Who was He which rained upon Sodom brimstone and fire out of heaven? (Gen. xix. 24.) Who was He which overthrew all the host of Egypt in the Red Sea? (Ex. xiv. 27.) Who was He which sent out a fire and consumed them that were of the faction of Abiram? (Num. xvi. 35.) Who was He which sent a pestilence upon Israel, because David had sinned, and, from the morning even to the time appointed, there died of the people seventy thousand men? (2 Kings xxiv.) Was it not God, and none other, Which brought upon them all these things, and more also.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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Outside the Church There Is No Salvation

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The Church places this truth before you today: All salvation comes through Christ and His Church; no soul is saved by false religion, indifferentism, or separation loved as separation. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The doctrine does not deny God's mercy. It denies that error, schism, or religious indifference can be treated as paths equal to the Church founded by Christ.

The grace to be practiced is Faithful instruction unto witness, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice purity of intention by serving Jesus and Mary for their honor and God's will rather than personal advantage.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist indifferentism, which treats contradictory religions as though they were equally pleasing to God. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing faithful instruction unto witness when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Remain as faithful at Calvary as at Cana, loving and serving through dryness, disappointment, suffering, and unanswered expectation. Purify every prayer, sacrifice, duty, and work of charity from bargaining, reputation-seeking, possessiveness, and hidden self-interest.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of one; the witness placed beside it is Pope Pius IX.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Exercise and receive rightful authority today with humility, clarity, and obedience to God.

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Authority is healed only when it submits to God.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“Learn now to die to the world, that thou mayest then live with Christ.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 23, p. 41

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Christian death to self is not despair but preparation for life with Christ. Refuse the command of every attachment that draws you from God's will, beginning with the strongest.

The world tells you to preserve every comfort and construct an identity from passing things. Christ teaches you to travel lightly toward eternity. You need not despise God's gifts; receive them gratefully, but practice being able to surrender them when His will, charity, or duty requires it.

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Today's Practice

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Accept unnoticed sacrifices without seeking relief or recognition.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Examine what reward you secretly demanded, surrender it, and renew disinterested love of God in His holy Mother.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
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Prayer

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O Lord, teach fathers, mothers, pastors, rulers, and children to receive authority as service beneath Thee, not as power against Thee.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n Why Sincerity Cannot Replace the One True Church\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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\n \"The\n
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