John Henry Newman's homiletic genius. 'Sincere and Insincere'

  http://www.newmanchaplets.com/about-us/john-henry-newman-a-chaplet-of-conversion/  

Blessed JH Newman

 

Night Office Vigils 

At the Second Reading, the first line from J. H. Newman gave the theme, 'sincere and insincere'.

The antithesis gave an illuminating insight but then left me adrift with Newman's not too clear the alternatives. Then also the Reading left gaps.

It is still all the more demanding for the whole Sermon, to make up from brief  505 words to the Sermon of 4,275 words.

It will be the best occasion to learn the real sense of John Henry Newman's homiletic genius.

A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours VIAugustinian Press 1995
http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon16.html

Newman P&P Vol 5 Sermon 16. Serm 16. Sincerity and Hypocrisy 

"If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." 2 Cor. viii. 12. 

Great, then, is the difference between sincere and insincere Christians, however like their words may be to each other; and it is needless to say, that what I have shown in a few examples, might be instanced again and again from every part of Scripture, particularly from the history of the Jews, as contained in the Prophets. All men, even after the gift of God's grace, sin: God's true servants profess and sin,—sin, and are sorry; and hypocrites profess and sin,—sin and are sorry. 
Thus the two parties look like each other. 
But the word of God discriminates one from the other by this test,
—that Christ dwells in the conscience of one not of the other; 
that the one opens his heart to God, the other does not; 
the one views Almighty God only as an accidental guest, the other as Lord and owner of all that he is; 
the one admits Him as if for a night, or some stated season, the other gives himself over to God, and considers himself God's servant and instrument now and for ever. 
Not more different is the intimacy of friends from mere acquaintance; not more different is it to know a person in society, to be courteous and obliging to him, to interchange civilities, from opening one's heart to another, admitting him into it, seeing into his, loving him, and living in him;
—than the external worship of the hypocrite, from the inward devotion of true faith; approaching God with the lips, from believing on Him with the heart; so opening to the Spirit that He opens to us, from so living to self as to exclude the light of heaven. {235} 

Now, as to applying what I have been showing from Scripture to ourselves, this shall here be left, my brethren, to the consciences of each of us, and a few words will suffice to do this. Do you, then, habitually thus unlock your hearts and subject your thoughts to Almighty God? Are you living in this conviction of His Presence, and have you this special witness that that Presence is really set up within you unto your salvation, viz. that you live in the sense of it? Do you believe, and act on the belief, that His light penetrates and shines through your heart, as the sun's beams through a room? You know how things look when the sun's beams are on it,—the very air then appears full of impurities, which, before it came out, were not seen. So is it with our souls. 

We are full of stains and corruptions, we see them not, they are like the air before the sun shines; but though we see them not, God sees them: He pervades us as the sunbeam. Our souls, in His view, are full of things which offend, things which must be repented of, forgiven, and put away. He, in the words of the Psalmist, "has set our misdeeds before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance." [Ps. xc. 8.] This is most true, though it be not at all welcome doctrine to many. We cannot hide ourselves from Him; and our wisdom, as our duty, lies in embracing this truth, acquiescing in it, and acting upon it. Let us then beg Him to teach us the Mystery of His Presence in us, that, by acknowledging it, we may thereby possess it fruitfully. Let us confess it in faith, that we may possess it unto justification. 
Let us so {236} own it, as to set Him before us in everything. "I have set God always before me," says the Psalmist, "for He is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fail." [Ps. xvi. 8.] Let us, in all circumstances, thus regard Him. Whether we have sinned, let us not dare keep from Him, but with the prodigal son, rise and go to Him. Or, if we are conscious of nothing, still let us not boast in ourselves or justify ourselves, but feel that "He who judgeth us is the Lord." In all circumstances, of joy or sorrow, hope or fear, let us aim at having Him in our inmost heart; let us have no secret apart from Him. Let us acknowledge Him as enthroned within us at the very springs of thought and affection. Let us submit ourselves to His guidance and sovereign direction; let us come to Him that He may forgive us, cleanse us, change us, guide us, and save us.

This is the true life of saints. This is to have the Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are sons of God. Such a faith alone will sustain the terrors of the Last Day; such a faith alone will be proof against those fierce flames which are to surround the Judge, when He comes with His holy Angels to separate between "those who serve God, and those who serve Him not." [Mal. iii. 18.]

The colour purple text does not appear  from the Sermon above.

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Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 5John Henry Newman

Newman Sermons; Hebrews 10:11-25

Night Office.

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. x. 22.

The Second Reading is from the newer Lectionary;

A WORD IN SEASON Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours New Edition  AUGUSTINIAN PRESS 2001  

A closer Reading finds the abbreviations from Newman’s original text. * Vol. I pp. 83-94

For interest it is worth insert the breaks from the edited version.

Fourth Week of Lent   Year I   Saturday 16 March 2013

First Reading               Hebrews 10:11-25

Responsory                               Heb 9:15; 10:20.19; 1 Pt 3:22

Christ is the mediator of the new covenant; + through his humanity he has opened up for us a new path into the sanctuary.

V. He is seated at God's right hand; he died to make us heirs of everlasting life. + Through his humanity ...

Second Reading From a sermon by Cardinal John Henry Newman (Parochial and Plain Sermons I 83-94*)

God has chosen you out of the world unto salvation

Among the reasons which may be assigned for the observance of prayer at stated times, there is one which is very obvious, and yet perhaps is not so carefully remembered and acted upon as it should be. I mean the necessity of sinners cleansing themselves from time to time of the ever-accumulating guilt which loads their consciences. We are ever sinning; and though Christ has died once for all to release us from our penalty, yet we are not pardoned once for all, but according as, and whenever, each of us supplicates for the gift. By the prayer of faith we appropriate it; but only for the time, not for ever. Guilt is again contracted, and must be again repented of and washed away. We cannot by one act of faith establish ourselves for ever after in the favour of God. ...

We cannot profit by the work of a Saviour, though he be the Blessed Son of God, so as to be saved thereby without our own working; for we are moral agents, we have a will of our own, and Christ must be formed in us, and turn us from darkness to light, if God's gracious purpose, fulfilled upon the cross, is to be in our case more than a name, an abused, wasted privilege. ...

(2) ...Who will dare go on day after day in neglect of earnest prayer, and the holy communion, while each day brings its own fearful burden, coming as if spontaneously, springing from our very nature, but not got rid of without deliberate and direct acts of faith in the great sacrifice which has been set forth for its removal? ...

3. ...The body and blood of Christ give power and efficacy to our daily faith and repentance. Take this view of the Lord's Supper, as the appointed means of obtaining the great blessings you need. The daily prayers of the Christian do but spring from, and are referred back to, his attendance on it. Christ died once, long since: by communicating in his sacraments, you renew the Lord's death; you bring into the midst of you that sacrifice which took away the sins of the world; you appropriate the benefit of it, while you eat it under the elements of bread and wine. These outward signs are simply the means of a hidden grace. You do not expect to sustain your animal life without food; be but as rational in spiritual concerns as you are in temporal. Look upon the consecrated elements as necessary, under God's blessing, to your continual sanctification; approach them as the salvation of your souls. ...

... [Rather] Thank God, that whereas you are sinners, instead of his leaving you the mere general promise of life through his Son, which is addressed to all, he has allowed you to take that promise to yourselves one by one, and thus gives you a humble hope that he has chosen you out of the world unto salvation.

Responsory

Let us approach the throne of grace with perfect confidence; + there we shall receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

V. We do not have a high priest who is incapable of understanding our weakness. + There we shall ...

+ + +  

A sermon by Cardinal John Henry Newman (Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol. I pp. 83-94*)

http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume1/sermon7.html 

Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol I. 

Sermon 7. Sins of Ignorance and Weakness

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. x. 22.

{83} AMONG the reasons which may be assigned for the observance of prayer at stated times, there is one which is very obvious, and yet perhaps is not so carefully remembered and acted upon as it should be. I mean the necessity of sinners cleansing themselves from time to time of the ever-accumulating guilt which loads their consciences.

Three Offices of Christ (Newman) perceptive Newman Reader

Dear William,

Thank you.   

The best Reader and invites me into learn more form John Henry N.

Before that I browsed our library and found the Volume of Subjects of the Day. Not surprising some of the pages relevant had not yet been cut. And the great asset now is to find the Online available Newman Reader. 

At the moment we have family guest at the Retreat House, and later have the lectio divina on JHN to my heart's content! 

www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

COMMENT:   

----- Forwarded Message -----

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2010/09/
blessed-john-henry-newman-on-conversion/

From: William W ....
To: Fr Donald ...  
Sent: Thursday, 10 January 2013, 14:03
Subject: Re: [Blog] Three Offices of Christ (Newman) 

Dear Father Donald,

 

I always draw something special from Newman's words! In the sermon you have placed on the Blog, the words that fascinated me are those that illustrate so brilliantly Christ's sacrifice on the cross, through the analogy of a soldier. At first I frowned at such an analogy, that is until I read these words: 

 

"2. Take another instance. How much is there to admire and revere in the profession of a soldier.... He not only is strong, but he is weak. He does and he suffers. He succeeds through a risk. Half his time is on the field of battle, and half of it on the bed of pain. And he does this for the sake of others; he defends us by it; we are indebted to him; we gain by his loss; we are at peace by his warfare."

 

Thank you for this gem which I will always remember.

 

With my love in Our Lord,

William

 

PS. Newman's clarity of thought and his writing are so very fine! I would share with you a passage I quoted at the RCIA's introduction to the meaning of life and the existence of God:

 

“I am far of course from denying that every article of the Christian Creed is beset with intellectual difficulties; and it is simple fact, that, for myself, I cannot answer those difficulties. Many persons are very sensitive of the difficulties of Religion; I am as sensitive of them as any one; but I have never been able to see a connexion between apprehending those difficulties, however keenly, and multiplying them to any extent, and on the other hand doubting the doctrines to which they are attached. Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate. Of all points of faith, the being of a God is, to my own apprehension, encompassed with most difficulty, and yet borne in upon our minds with most power."

From: Fr Donald <domdonald@sacmus.org>
To: williamwardle2bp@btinternet.com
Sent: Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 21:34

Subject: [Dom Donald's Blog] Christmas Season Day 17 The Three Offices of Christ (Newman) Night Office from the Monastic Lectionary.

Second Reading: From a sermon by Cardinal John Henry Newman
 (Sermons bearing  on the Subject of the Day, Sermon V. “pp.52-62)

Sermon 5. The Three Offices of Christ    

"Full of grace are Thy lips, because God hath blessed Thee for ever. Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou most mighty, according to Thy worship and renown." Ps. xlv. 3, 4.

[Note] {52} OUR Lord is here spoken of in two distinct characters. As a teacher,—"Full of grace are Thy lips;" and as a conqueror,—"Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh;" or, in other words, as a Prophet and as a King. His third special office, which is brought before us prominently at this season, is that of a Priest, in that He offered Himself up to God the Father as a propitiation for our sins. These are the three chief views which are vouchsafed to us of His Mediatorial office; and it is often observed that none before Him has, even in type or resemblance, borne all three characters. Melchizedek, for instance, was a priest and a king, but not a prophet. David was prophet and king, but not a priest. Jeremiah was priest and prophet, but not a king. Christ was Prophet, Priest, and King.

He is spoken of as a prophet by Moses, as a prophet {53} like, but superior, to himself.—"A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear." And Jacob had already described Him as a king, when he said, "Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." Balaam, too, speaks of Him as a conqueror and great sovereign.—"There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel ... Out of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion." And David speaks of Him as a priest, but not a priest like Aaron.—"Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek;" that is, a royal priest, which Aaron was not. And again, the very first prophecy of all ran, "He shall bruise thy head (that is, the serpent's), and thou shalt bruise His heel." [Acts vii. 37. Gen. xlix. 10. Numb. xxiv. 17, 19. Ps. cx. 4. Gen. iii. 15.] He was to conquer through suffering.

Christ exercised His prophetical office in teaching, and in foretelling the future;—in His sermon on the Mount, in His parables, in His prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. He performed the priest's service when He died on the Cross, as a sacrifice; and when He consecrated the bread and the cup to be a feast upon that sacrifice; and now that He intercedes for us at the right hand of God. And He showed Himself as a conqueror, and a king, in rising from the dead, in ascending into heaven, in sending down the Spirit of grace, in converting the nations, and in forming His Church to receive and to rule them. ...................

Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
Copyright © 2007 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. All rights reserve  

-- Posted By Fr Donald to Dom Donald's Blog on 1/09/2013 09:34:00 PM

Newman St Bartholomew

John Henry Newman’s thoughts about Saint Bartholomew for this Feast remind of the role, “the history of St. Bartholomew … recall us to ourselves … (not to) go out of his line of life! … when a man begins to feel he has a soul, and a work to do, … and he says, "What must I do to please God?"   Newman’s words here  echo to often quoted prayer:  God created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission - I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next ... Therefore, I will trust him ... If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him ... He does nothing in vain; he may prolong my life, he may shorten it, he knows what he is about. John Henry Cardinal Newman Official website for Cardinal Newman's Cause for Canonisation www.newmancause.co.uk

24 August

Saint Bartholomew Feast

Gospel according to John 1: 45-31

From a sermon by John Henry Newman
(Parochial and Plain Sermons, volume 2, pages 335-337)

• When Philip told him that he had found the long-expected Messiah of whom Moses wrote, Nathanael (that is, Bartholomew) at first doubted. He was well read in the scriptures, and knew the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem; whereas Jesus dwelt at Nazareth, which Nathanael supposed in consequence to be the place of his birth, - and he knew of no particular promises attached to that city, which was a place of evil report, and he thought no good could come out of it. Philip told him to come and see; and he went to see, as a humble single  minded man, sincerely desirous to get at the truth. In consequence, he was vouchsafed an interview with our Saviour, and was converted.
• Now from what occurred in this interview, we gain some insight into St. Bartholomew's character. Our Lord said of   him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! and it appears, moreover, as if, before Philip called him to come to Christ, he was engaged in meditation or prayer, in the privacy which a fig-tree's shade afforded him. And this, it seems, was the life of one who was destined to act the busy part of an apostle; quietness without, guilelessness within. This was the tranquil preparation for great dangers and sufferings! We see who make the most heroic Christians, and are the most honoured by Christ!     
• An even, unvaried life is the lot of most men, in spite of occasional troubles or other accidents; and we are apt to despise it, and to get tired of it, and to long to see the world - or, at all' events, we think such a life affords no great opportunity for religious obedience. To rise up, and go through the same duties, and then to rest again, day after day, to pass week after week. beginning with God's service on Sunday, and then to our worldly tasks! so to continue till year follows year! and we gradually get old - an unvaried life like this is apt to seem unprofitable to us when we dwell upon the thought of it. Many indeed there are, who do not think at all; but live in their round of employments, without care about God and religion! driven on by the natural course of things in a dull irrational way like the beasts that perish.   
• But when a man begins to feel he has a soul, and a work to do, and a reward to be gained, greater or less, according as he improves the talents committed to him, then he is naturally tempted to be anxious from his very wish to be saved! and he says, "What must I do to please God?" And sometimes he is led to think he ought to be useful on a large scale! and goes out of his line of life! that he may be doing something worth doing, as he considers it.
• Here we have the history of St. Bartholomew and the other apostles to recall us to ourselves, and to assure us that we need not give up our usual manner of life, in order to serve God; that the most humble and quietest station is acceptable to him! if improved duly - nay, affords means for maturing the highest Christian character, even that of an apostle. Bartholomew read the scriptures and prayed to God; and thus was trained at length to give up his life for Christ! when he demanded it.