Take Heed!
INTRODUCTION. St. Paul addressed these words to the faithful of Corinth, from Ephesus, around Easter time toward the end of his third missionary journey. He is referring to the Jewish custom of excluding all leaven from their houses before celebrating the Pasch, and he tells his Christian readers to celebrate the coming feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, by excluding from their souls the leaven of sin and wickedness, and by feasting with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In other words, the Apostle is reminding the faithful of Corinth that the way to celebrate the new Pasch, the Feast of Easter, is to have their souls free from sin and adorned with the grace of Christ. As Christ, from the state of natural death, rose glorious and immortal on Easter Sunday, so the Christian, who wishes to be associated with his risen Lord and worthily to keep the great feast of the Resurrection, should rise from the state of sin and moral death to that of grace and life.
I. The death of the soul is caused by mortal sin. 1. This sin is called mortal, because it brings to man a two-fold death-- spiritual death in this world, and, if not repented of, eternal death in the world to come. 2. The life of the soul is God, just as the life of the body is the soul (St. Aug.). Mortal sin separates the soul from God, and hence it causes death. This spiritual death is not visible to our eyes, but it is more terrible than the death of the body since it causes so much greater loss. 3. Mortal sin deprives the soul of sanctifying grace, the gift of God, its most precious adornment. A soul in mortal sin is more disgusting in the sight of God than the rotten corpse of a dead dog is to us (St. Bernard). 4. With the loss of sanctifying grace the soul also loses the divine friendship, the sonship of God, and the right to heaven. 5. Mortal sin strips a person of all his past merits (Ezech. xviii. 24), and makes one incapable, while in that state, of doing anything deserving of heaven. 6. By reason of mortal sin the soul becomes subject to hell, the second death (Apoc. xx. 14, 15).
II. The resurrection of the soul to life is caused by grace. l. Grace operates in the soul to restore all the lost wonders of supernatural life. Not only does it wash away the stain and guilt of sin, and cancel the debt of eternal punishment due to sin, but it brings back to the soul all its lost treasures and privileges. 2. With the forgiveness of mortal sin the soul becomes once more the temple of the Holy Ghost 3. With the presence of God restored the soul recovers anew its life and most beautiful ornament sanctifying grace, and all those wondrous powers and gifts of the Spirit which enable it to lead its supernatural existence here on earth. Grace gives to the soul the same charm that youth and life and beauty give to the body. 4. Grace brings back to the soul revived all the past merits that were destroyed by mortal sin, the ability of acquiring new merits, the divine favor and re-established sonship and right to life eternal.
EXHORTATION, 1. Gratitude to our risen Lord who, by His death and Resurrection, has made it possible for us to rise from the grave of sin to the life of grace. 2. As Christ rose from the darkness of the tomb, freed from the winding sheet of death, and all the fetters of the grave, so the soul risen from sin to the state of grace should cast aside those evil habits, those bad companionships, those sinful and worldly attach merits which have before enslaved it and bound it down to earth. 3. The body of the risen Saviour was endowed with glorious qualities--it was bright, immortal, swift of movement incapable of being impeded in its actions by any obstacles. Likewise the soul risen from deadly sin takes on the brilliancy of sanctifying grace and the glow of heaven; it should be swift to heed God's impulses and fulfill His commands; it should be undeterred in the service of its glorified Master by any temptations, allurements, or other obstacles to its salvation; finally like Christ it should rise to die no more.
I. The death of the soul is caused by mortal sin. 1. This sin is called mortal, because it brings to man a two-fold death-- spiritual death in this world, and, if not repented of, eternal death in the world to come. 2. The life of the soul is God, just as the life of the body is the soul (St. Aug.). Mortal sin separates the soul from God, and hence it causes death. This spiritual death is not visible to our eyes, but it is more terrible than the death of the body since it causes so much greater loss. 3. Mortal sin deprives the soul of sanctifying grace, the gift of God, its most precious adornment. A soul in mortal sin is more disgusting in the sight of God than the rotten corpse of a dead dog is to us (St. Bernard). 4. With the loss of sanctifying grace the soul also loses the divine friendship, the sonship of God, and the right to heaven. 5. Mortal sin strips a person of all his past merits (Ezech. xviii. 24), and makes one incapable, while in that state, of doing anything deserving of heaven. 6. By reason of mortal sin the soul becomes subject to hell, the second death (Apoc. xx. 14, 15).
II. The resurrection of the soul to life is caused by grace. l. Grace operates in the soul to restore all the lost wonders of supernatural life. Not only does it wash away the stain and guilt of sin, and cancel the debt of eternal punishment due to sin, but it brings back to the soul all its lost treasures and privileges. 2. With the forgiveness of mortal sin the soul becomes once more the temple of the Holy Ghost 3. With the presence of God restored the soul recovers anew its life and most beautiful ornament sanctifying grace, and all those wondrous powers and gifts of the Spirit which enable it to lead its supernatural existence here on earth. Grace gives to the soul the same charm that youth and life and beauty give to the body. 4. Grace brings back to the soul revived all the past merits that were destroyed by mortal sin, the ability of acquiring new merits, the divine favor and re-established sonship and right to life eternal.
EXHORTATION, 1. Gratitude to our risen Lord who, by His death and Resurrection, has made it possible for us to rise from the grave of sin to the life of grace. 2. As Christ rose from the darkness of the tomb, freed from the winding sheet of death, and all the fetters of the grave, so the soul risen from sin to the state of grace should cast aside those evil habits, those bad companionships, those sinful and worldly attach merits which have before enslaved it and bound it down to earth. 3. The body of the risen Saviour was endowed with glorious qualities--it was bright, immortal, swift of movement incapable of being impeded in its actions by any obstacles. Likewise the soul risen from deadly sin takes on the brilliancy of sanctifying grace and the glow of heaven; it should be swift to heed God's impulses and fulfill His commands; it should be undeterred in the service of its glorified Master by any temptations, allurements, or other obstacles to its salvation; finally like Christ it should rise to die no more.
