Caussin in Lent: Jesus flies from scepters and runs towards the Cross

Fr. Nicolas Caussin, S.I., confessor to Louis XIII exiled by Cardinal Richelieu and heavily criticized by many Jansenists, is well-known as the author of "La Cour Sainte" ("The Holy Court"). In his "Entretiens" ("Entertainments") for Lent, some of his sermons for the Season are presented in a devotional format: an examination of the traditional scriptural readings for the day in the Roman Rite followed by the aspirations of the soul thirsty for Christ. He is our main inspiration for seasonal posts this Lent.

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"When, therefore, Jesus had lifted up His eyes and seen that a very great crowd had come to Him, He said to Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? But He said this to try him, for He Himself knew what He would do." (From the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, St. John vi)

What a happy thing it is to serve God, whose conversation is so worthy of all love! See how he carried himself toward this poor multitude which followed him with such zeal and constancy. It seems as if they were his children, that he carried them all upon his shoulders, that he had their names, their country, their qualities, and the conditions of their small fortunes graven in his heart. He is so tender over them, he so afflicts himself about them as a shepherd over his poor flock. He instructs them, he speaks to them of heavenly things, he heals their maladies, he comforts their sadness, he lifts his eyes up to heaven for them, and for them he opens his divine hands, the treasures of heaven, and nourishes them by a miracle, as they had wholly resigned themselves to him with such absolute confidence.

O, how are we cherished by heaven, since God binds himself to help us: and we would be unfaithful not to trust him who makes nature itself so faithful to us. There is here much to be observed, that God does no miracles for his own profit; he does not change stones into bread in the desert, to nourish himself after that long fast which he did there make, but for his faithful servants he alters the course of nature; and being austere to himself, he becomes indulgent to us, to teach us that we should despoil ourselves of self-love, which ties us to our own flesh, and makes us so negligent to our neighbor.

Caussin in Lent: Too much confidence is the mother of an approaching danger

The ribbon in the corner indicates that we are in the Ember Days in Lent - the first one being this Wednesday, whose Gospel is dedicated to the signs demanded from the Lord by Scribes and Pharisees.

Fr. Nicolas Caussin, S.I., confessor to Louis XIII exiled by Cardinal Richelieu and heavily criticized by many Jansenists, is well-known as the author of "La Cour Sainte" ("The Holy Court"). In his "Entretiens" ("Entertainments") for Lent, some of his sermons for the Season are presented in a devotional format: an examination of the traditional scriptural readings for the day in the Roman Rite followed by the aspirations of the soul thirsty for Christ. He will be our main inspiration for seasonal posts this year.

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"He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, and no sign shall be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Ninive will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.'" (From the Gospel for Ember Wednesday in Lent, St. Matthew, xii)

It is a very ill sign when we desire signs to make us believe in God. The signs which we demand to fortify our faith are often marks of our infidelity. There is not a more dangerous plague in the events of worldly affairs than to deal with the devils or to play with predictions. All these things fill men with more faults than knowledge. For divine oracles have more need to be reverenced than interpreted. He that will find God must seek him with simplicity and possess him with piety.

Caussin in Lent: The Judgment of God and a good death

"Then He will say to those on His left hand, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give Me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did not do it for one of these least ones, you did not do it for Me.’ And these will go into everlasting, punishment, but the just into everlasting life." (St. Matthew v, 41-46 - from the Gospel for Monday of the First Week in Lent)

Of the judgment day.

Moralities. Behold here a gospel of great terror, where our spirit, like the dove of Noah, is placed upon the deluge of God's wrath, and knows not where to find footing. Everything is most dreadful, but what can be more terrible than the certainty of God's judgment, joined with the great uncertainty of the hour of our death? It is an unchangeable decree, that we must all be presented before the high tribunal of the living God, to render a just account of all which our soul has done while it was joined with our body, as we are taught by St. Paul. We must make an account of our time spent, of our thoughts, words, actions: of what we have done, and what we have omitted; of life, death, and of the blood of Jesus Christ; and thereupon receive a judgment of everlasting life or death.