made man for our salvation. The greater portion of the Angels gladly embraced this opportunity of showing their love and fidelity to that Good God who had lavished so many favours upon them, and in reward for their obedience, God confirmed them in possession of all the graces he had given them, and bestowed upon them an eternity of happiness. But very many of them unhappily, led by the proud spirit Lucifer, one of the brightest and most glorious of the heavenly host, refused to obey the command of God. So far from adoring the God who made them, clothed in our human nature, they sought themselves to become as gods, and raised aloft the standard of revolt. In an instant the vengeance of the Almighty fell heavily upon their guilty heads. At the command of God, the good Angels, headed by the Archangel St. Michael, hurled down Lucifer with all his followers from their bright thrones in heaven into the bottomless pit of hell, which God created for their eternal punishment. Our B. Lord, in warning his Apostles not to be proud and presumptuous, reminds them of this dreadful fall, when he says, "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven" (Luke x. 18).

See, my dear children, the dreadful evil of sin, since one single mortal sin turned millions of beautiful Angels into ugly devils, and buried them for ever in the flames of hell.

Q. What is venial sin?

A. Venial sin is an offence which does not kill the soul, yet displeases God, and often leads to mortal sin.

We now come to speak of the other kind of sin which we ourselves commit, namely, venial sin. Venial sin, as the catechism says, is an offence which does not actually kill the soul, as mortal sin does, but which, nevertheless, displeases God. Hence it follows that venial sin is, after mortal sin, the greatest evil that is to be found in the world, since God is offended thereby, a God infinitely Great and Good and Amiable, and worthy of all our love and homage. No evil can for a moment compare with the evil of an offence against Almighty God; it were better that the whole world should be destroyed, than that God should be offended in the smallest point.

But even if we look at ourselves only, we shall easily see how dreadful an evil venial sin is, and that it would be better that any misfortune should befall us, rather than that we should give way to the smallest venial sin. In the first place, it robs us, though not entirely, at least in

part, of the grace and friendship of God. Now there is nothing more precious in the world than the grace of God; therefore, whatever deprives us of this should justly be considered a lamentable evil. It is true that venial sin does not separate us entirely from God; it does not drive him altogether from our souls, but it grieves him, puts an obstacle to his grace, and renders him less likely to assist and protect us. Hence it is that persons, who go on committing venial sin wilfully and deliberately, soon fall away into mortal sin. For, not being strengthened and supported by the same powerful grace which God formerly gave them, and which they have gradually lost by their own fault, they easily fall away when a strong temptation comes, and thus lose altogether the friendship of God. Hence you may be sure, when a person falls into some great mortal sin, that it is because he has taken little pains to avoid venial faults.

Another reason which should make us very much afraid of committing venial sin, is the severe punishment which Almighty God inflicts on those who commit it, both in this world and the world to come. Very many of the afflictions which fall upon us in this life, such as pain, sickness, and want, are sent by God as a punishment for our venial as well as for our mortal sins; and as to the sufferings of purgatory, where venial sin is punished after death, they are, as many of the Fathers tell us, far greater than any of the torments and sufferings of this life. Now, supposing that one of you were tempted to steal a penny, and you knew that, if you stole it, you would be thrown into prison or burnt on a slow fire, do you think that you I would take it? Most assuredly you would not. And yet we do know that, if we die in the guilt of venial sin, we shall be cast into the prison and burnt in the fire of purgatory. Let us always remember, therefore, when we are tempted to commit venial sin, that God will be sure to punish it either in this life or in the next. Certainly, I would have you to avoid venial sin for a better motive than this, namely, because it offends your Good and Loving God. But as this motive is not always sufficient to touch our hard and stony hearts, it is useful sometimes

to think of his just punishments. For "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. cx. 10).

Q. Why is it called venial sin?

A. It is called venial sin because it is more ea mortal sin.

y paruoned than

Venial sin is so called, as the catechism says, because it is more easily pardoned than mortal sin. For the word venial means 66 pardonable," being taken from a Latin word which signifies "pardon." It is true that mortal sin is pardonable, too; but it is, as you may suppose, far more easy to obtain pardon for a sin which only displeases God, than for one which makes us his direct enemies, and separates us entirely from him, as mortal sin does. For the forgiveness of mortal sin, God has, in his Goodness, given us the Sacrament of Penance, in which, by a good confession, joined with a hearty sorrow and the priest's absolution, we may have our sins, however heinous they may be, washed away in the Blood of his Divine Son; but for the forgiveness of venial sin he has given us many other means besides this Sacrament. Sincere acts of sorrow, acts of the love of God, and works of penance, done with proper dispositions, are some of these means, and help to purify our souls from the lesser faults into which we daily fall.

In saying your night prayers, you are taught to pause for a few moments to make a little examination of conscience, that is to say, to think over the sins you have committed during the day against Almighty God. Then follows the act of sorrow or contrition. You now see that if you say this act with a real sorrow of heart, it will obtain you the pardon of your venial sins; but you should have, at the same time, a firm resolution of trying to avoid them for the future. This you should try to put in practice next day If, for example, you have told lies, you should try not to tell them any more; if you have been angry, you should try to be gentle and kind; if you have been sulky, to be pleasant and cheerful; if disobedient, to be willing and docile. But even if you fall the next day into some little fault, you should not lose courage, but try to obtain pardon from God by a good act

of contrition and a firm resolution to do better the day following. If you will persevere in this practice, your faults will gradually become less grievous and fewer in number; your passions will grow daily weaker and weaker; you will be preserved from the danger of falling into mortal sin, and will increase every day in the favour and love of God. Oh, my dear children, how happy will you be if you act in this way! You will then learn by experience how good God is to those who seek him, how sweet and bountiful to those who love him. Believe me, there is no true happiness to be found on earth except in the love and service of so good a God.

HISTORY OF JUDAS.

Among the Apostles called by our Lord to be the first Bishops and pillars of his infant Church, was the traitor Judas Iscariot. This unhappy man was entrusted with the care of the purse, in which was placed the money intended to supply the necessary wants of Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Judas, unhappily, had a besetting sin, a bad passion, which he kept carefully concealed within his own breast. He strove to hide it from our Lord himself, but he well knew all that passed in the heart of the wretched man, and would have taught him how to fight against and overcome the temptation had he been willing to own it. Thus it is that a false shame of mentioning our sins and temptations in confession is frequently the cause of the eternal ruin of the soul.

To return to Judas-the fatal passion which led him by degrees to his ruin was an ardent love for money. He kept the purse, and like a miser he gloated over the money that was in it, and began at first to hoard it as if it were his own. He next commenced to pilfer from it little sums to add to his own private store; by and by these sums became larger, and at last he became a confirmed thief. When the penitent Magdalen poured the precious ointment over the feet of our B. Redeemer, Judas took offence, and hypocritically said, "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?" But "he said this," the holy Scripture adds, "not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein " (John xii. 5, &c.).

Blinded by his passion for money, the wretched man next agreed to betray his Master, his Saviour and his God, into the hands of his blood-thirsty enemies, for the miserable bribe of thirty pieces of silver. Leading a band of ruffians into the Garden of Olives, where our B. Redeemer was weeping for the sins of men at the silent hour of night, Judas, with barefaced effrontery, went up to our Lord and saluted him with a kiss; having previously warned

the Jews, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, hold him fast" (Matt. xxvi. 48). Wounded to the heart by this base ingratitude, on the part of one whom he had so highly favoured, Jesus tenderly reproached him in these touching words, "Judas, dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke xxii. 48.) After his innocent victim had been condemned to death, the unhappy Judas, stung with remorse, and yielding to despair, put an end to his wicked life by hanging himself with a halter.

See, my dear children, the terrible consequences of venial sin, unchecked and unrepented. His love of money made Judas dishonest, first in little things, then in greater. He became a confirmed thief, a hypocrite, a dissembler. He next became a traitor and a murderer-the murderer of his Saviour and his God. Finally, he became his own murderer, and died in despair.

SIXTEENTH INSTRUCTION.

Eleventh Article-The Resurrection of the Body-Twelfth Article-Life Everlasting-The joys of Heaven-The torments of Hell.

We read in English History, that when the faith was first preached by St. Paulinus in Northumbria, King Edwin debated for a long time in his own mind whether he should embrace the new faith, or adhere to the idolatrous worship of his forefathers. In his perplexity he called a council of nobles, and after laying the matter before them, invited each to speak his mind. After many had spoken on both sides, there rose up a certain thane who addressed the king as follows:

"Often, O king, in the depth of the winter, while you are feasting with your thanes and the fire is blazing on the hearth in the midst of the hall, you have seen a bird, pelted by the storm, enter at one door and escape at the other. During its passage it was visible, but whence it came or whither it went, you knew not. Such to me appears the life of man. He walks the earth for a few years, but what precedes his birth or what is to follow his death, we cannot tell. Undoubtedly, if the new religion