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A father had an only son.
They were rich and powerful, served by devoted retainers, and surrounded by all that makes for honour, comfort and pleasure in life, and nothing, neither person nor thing, was wanting to their good fortune. The son was all in all to the father, and the father to the son, and each found in the other perfect contentment, though not so as to exclude others, for such noble and generous hearts felt sympathy for anyone in distress, however slight it might be.
Now it came to pass that one of the servants of this good master fell ill, and as the danger increased, the only hope of saving his life lay in the application of powerful remedies and most careful nursing.
But this servant lay at his poor and lonley home. At which the master felt alarm, for if left deserted, the man would cetainly die.
What was to be done? True, a fellow servant could be sent to minister to him; but such service, done for gain rather than for love, gave no assurance against possible neglect.
So, moved with compassion, the master called his son, and told him of his anxiety. He explained how near death the poor man was, and that the most unremitting care alone could save him.
Like father, like son! The offer to go himself to succour the dying man is made at once. He will spare neither trouble, fatigue nor night watches until the servants health is fully re-established.
The father accepts his son’s offer, and willingly allows him to take on the likeness of a servant, that he may serve him who is his slave.
Many months go by, months of anxious waiting by the sickbed, till at length health is restored, for nothing has been spared that could not only cure his sickness, but also ensure his complete well-being.
and what of the servant? With a heart overflowing with gratitude, he asks what he can do in return for such marvelous charity.
‘go.’ said the son ‘ seek out my father and with restored health offer yourself to become his most faithful servant in return for his liberality.’
Overwhelmed by his obligations, the man stands in humble gratitude before his benefactor and proffers his services gratis, forever. What need he of renumeration from such a master, who has treated him not as a servant but as a son.”
This parable is but a pale image of the love I bear mankind, and of the loving return I look for from them. I will explain it so that all men will know my heart.
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God created man out of pure love. He placed him on the earth in circumstances that ensured his happiness until the day of eternal bliss should dawn for him. But to have a right to such felicity he is bound to keep the sweet and wise laws laid down for him by his Maker.
Man, unfaithful to this law, fell grievously sick: sin was comitted by our first parents, and all mankind, their descendants, contracted this guilt and lost their right to the perfect beatitude promised them by God; and pain, suffering and death became henceforth their lot.
Now God, in perfect bliss, had no need of man nor his services. He is sufficient unto himself. Infinite is his glory and nothing can diminish it.
Infinite in power, he is also infinite in goodness; hence he will not allow man, created out of love, to perish; instead, He met the grave evil of sin with a remedy infinite in price: one of the divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity, assuming human nature, will repair in a godlike manner the evil of the Fall.
The Father gives His Son, The Son sacrifices His glory. He comes to earth not as an all-powerful Lord and Master, but in poverty as a servant and as a child.
The life he led on earth is known to you all.
You know how from the first moment of the Incarnation I submitted to human afflictions. In my childhood I endured cold, hunger, poverty and persecution.
In my life of labour, how often humiliation and contempt were meted out to the carpenters son. How often after a hard days work we, my foster-father and I found that we had earned hardly sufficient to support us….and this I continued for thirty long years.
Then, foregoing the sweet company of My Mother, I devoted myself to the task of making my heavenly Father known. I went about teaching men that God is Love.
I went about doing good to bodies as well as souls: to the sick I gave back their health; the dead I raised to life; and to souls? … Ah! to souls I restored liberty …. that liberty which they had lost through sin, and I opened to them the gates of their everlasting home – Heaven.
Then came the hour when to win salvation for them the Son of God willed to surrender life itself.
And how did he die? …. Was he surrounded by friends? …. Acclaimed as a benefactor? …. Beloved ones, you know that the Son of God did not will to die thus.
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