Reflection: The Catechism Explained By Stories and Examples
by Fr. Francis Spirago
Tenth Lesson: On The Effects of the Redemption
Question: Can we resist the grace of God?
Answer: We can, and unfortunately often do, resist the grace of God.
The Foolhardy Stag: It is perilous to withstand the operation of divine grace. A stag was feeding beside a spring when the report of a gun was heard. The stag was startled, and raised his head, looking around as if to see whether the shot was intended for him. Then he went on browsing until a second shot resounded through the forest. The stag leaped aside, for a ball whizzed close to his head; but instead of flying, as one would have expected, he returned to graze on the lush herbage by the spring, just as if there was nothing to fear. The unseen sportsman took aim once more; a third shot, and the stag fell, mortally wounded. So it is with many a man. God calls to him by the medium of some calamity, or by the mouth of a preacher, or some other means, warning him to abandon his sinful life. Let such a one take heed, and obey the call of grace while there is yet time, for who can tell whether the next call may not be the last, and the hand of death be raised to strike him down.
Question: What is the grace of perseverance?
Answer: The grace of perseverance is a particular gift of God which enables us to continue in the state of grace till death.
The devil on the City Wall: Temptations are a good sign. Dogs do not bark at the people of the house, but at strangers. The devil does the same; he concerns himself little about the sinners, he knows he is secure of getting them. It is otherwise with good people, he besets them sorely. St. Ephrem relates an instructive area which he had on this subject. He fancied himself walking in the streets of a great and wicked city. As he passed the gate he saw a devil sitting on the upper part, half asleep; only now and again he raised his head and looked around him. Ephrem left the city and went into the desert, where he found a hermit molested by a swarm of devils. The saint was astonished at this, and cried out: “Are you not ashamed of yourselves, you filthy creatures? Here you are so many against one, and there in that great town there is only one of you, and he is half asleep all the time.” They answered him: “True, we need not give ourselves any trouble in that large town; there the presence of one devil is almost superfluous. But here there are not enough for us, for this pious man does us a great deal of harm.” He is in evil case who either has no temptations or is unconscious of having any.
What a Boy did to get a Situation: With what earnestness men ought to exert themselves for the attainment of their highest end! A poor boy once went to a rich merchant and begged him to take him into his employ. The merchant looked at the applicant from head to foot and said: “Why! You have no boots; you must have a pair of boots before I can take you.” The boy went away and by running errands and doing little jobs, he got together enough money to buy a pair of boots. Then he presented himself again at the merchant’s office, and said: “Please, sir, I have got boots now. Will you be so kind as to take me into your house of business?” But the merchant told him he could not take him into his service while he was so ragged; he must get himself a better suit of clothes. The boy took his departure without a word. A few months later, he made his appearance again, this time much more respectably dressed. He had earned a little in the meantime and managed to buy some new clothes. Still the merchant was not satisfied; he examined the lad, and found that he was not proficient in reading and writing. So he dismissed him a third time, saying: “You must learn to read and write better.” The boy departed with downcast looks, yet he was not completely discouraged; he took the greatest pains to improve himself in reading and writing. Again at the end of several months he presented himself before the merchant. “Now,” he said, “I can read and write a great deal better! When the merchant had tested the truth of this assertion, he at once took the boy into his service, for he thought: “If this mere child can strive to attain his end with such determination, he will make an excellent man of business.” Nor was he deceived, for in a few years’ time the youth had risen to the highest post in the mercantile house. Now, if men exert themselves so much in order to get a good situation on earth, what trouble ought they not to take for the sake of attaining the one thing of all others most desirable, eternal felicity?
Croesus and Solon: Solon, one of the sages of antiquity, once paid a visit to King Croesus, the wealthy Asiatic monarch, who exhibited all his treasures to him, and afterwards asked him: “Am I not the richest and most fortunate man in the whole world?” Solon, replied: “Call no man happy before he is dead.” By this he intended to signify that the king might lose all his immense possessions before his death. And so it came to pass. Soon after the visit of the sage, Croesus entered upon a war with Cyrus, the king of Persia. First of all he sent to the oracle at Delphi, to inquire whether he would conquer. The answer of the oracle was, as usual, ambivalent. “If Croesus crosses the river Halys, he will overthrow a vast kingdom.” Croesus interpreted this saying in his own favor, and boldly crossed the river in question. He was defeated by Cyrus and taken prisoner. The conqueror condemned him to be burned upon a funeral pile (549 B.C.). When Croesus was bound to the stake, he exclaimed: “Solon, Solon, Solon!” Cyrus heard this, and wondering what the exclamation signified, he caused his captive to be unbound and brought to him. He asked him why he called on the name of Solon, and Croesus related the conversation he had with the sage. King Cyrus thought in his heart that the same might happen in his own case, and thereupon spared Croesus’ life and let him go free. Let no one pride himself on the amount of his wealth and the extent of his possessions, for he may at any moment lose them.
