Jesus of Nazareth; the story of His life written for children

Front matter

Class _B~T3&2^ OopightN

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

THE CHRIST CHILD.

Foreword

FROM

CARDINAL GIBBONS.

We all realize that the children form the most precious portion of the flock committed to our care. The little ones were very dear to the heart of our Blessed Lord : " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10. 14). Hence we are all willing with St. Paul " to spend ourselves, and be spent" in a special manner for the sake of the dear children. In their turn the children are destined to be the people ; and we know that impressions are the more abiding when made in the time of youth : "A young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22. 6). Whoever contributes toward implanting the seeds of piety and virtue in the minds of children, has a special claim to the promise of the Holy Ghost : " They that instruct many to justice, shall shine as stars for all eternity." (Dan. 12. 3). The most efficient way of forming the youthful heart to virtue and piety is to cause the love of God to predominate over the fear of God : " Be ye followers of God, as most dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness." (Eph. 5. 1.) Again the Beloved Disciple tells us:

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JQ1 FOREWORD.

" Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is charity. Fear is not in charity; but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth is not perfected in charity. Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us." (I. John 4).

The beautiful life-story of Our Blessed Lord, when well told, is a most powerful means of inflaming the hearts of youth with love for God. This love, in turn, will help the children to keep God's commandments: "And this is charity, that we walk according to His commandments." (II. John. 1. 6.)

My heart was delighted on reading the proof-sheets of " Jesus of Nazareth : The Story of His Life, Written for Children/' by Mother Mary Loyola. The book is eminently practical, simple, unctuous, and interesting. It will make a powerful impression on the minds of the children. In fact no one can read it without loving God more, and therefore becoming better. The Author evidently realizes the wants of the child-mind, and, at the same .time, comforts every soul in its longing for something higher and better.

This gifted Eeligious has contributed much toward the salvation of souls in the many beautiful and useful works that she has written. These books are silently, yet surely, doing their work in the family circle, in the schools, and in the work shops. The remarkable success of the Author of these works is evidently to be attributed to her genuine piety, her life of prayer and union with God, and her knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers. The learned Father Thurston, S. J., carefully supervises her works. Her attractive suggestions, and her enlightening doctrines are put so simply, and applied so well, that a person would almost

FOREWORD, Xlll

wonder why he did not think of expressing his thoughts in that way himself.

Parents, teachers and instructors will find Mother Loyola's works very useful in the difficult task of forming the minds of children to a life of virtue. We would be glad to see a copy of " Jesus of Nazareth, Written for Children," in every household in the land. We wish it God-speed in going out on its great mission.

J. CARD. GIBBONS.

Baltimore, March 25, 1906.

Contents

PAGE.

Prefatory Note 9

I. " Who art Thou, Lord ? " 17

I. " Who Art Thott, Lord % " *

Nineteen hundred years ago there came into this world a Man whose Life of thirty-three years is the chief event in the world's history, and — whether we think of it or not — the chief event in the history here and hereafter of every one of us.

He was promised four thousand years before He came. The race, the tribe, the family, the time of His coming, the chief events of His Life were known. So that in the reign of the Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar, when the time foretold by the prophets had come, there was a widespread expectation of a great Deliverer, and many eyes were turned to the little country of Palestine where He was to appear. And there, in Bethlehem, in a stable, on a winter's night, He came. Angels sang in the heavens and sent shepherds to His crib. A star shining out in the eastern sky brought wise men to His feet. Then the marvels around Him ceased, and whilst men were still expecting, and wondering why the promised One delayed so long, He was growing up from youth to manhood, and working at a carpenter's trade in the despised village of Nazareth.

At the age of thirty He left His cottage home and began to show Himself to men. The majesty and grace of His Person, His winning ways, the power and the sweetness of His words, and His marvellous works,

* Acts ix. 5.

2 17

18 JESUS OF NAZAHETH.

soon carried His fame far beyond the limits of His own land. His feet trod the stormy waves. His voice stilled the tempests, cast out devils, and brought peace to the souls of men. The touch of His hand gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, life to the dead.

Multitudes followed wherever He went, through the crowded streets, up the hillsides, into the desert. When He preached on the seashore, the people so thronged Him that He had to step into a boat and push off from the land, His eager hearers pressing down to the water's edge to catch His every word. No man had ever spoken like this Man. His words not only fell upon their ears, but sank into their souls, stirring them to higher thoughts and desires, to a sorrow for their sins which brought them peace, to a love of Him which drew them near to God. Wounds of body and of soul too sore for other handling His light touch healed. The poor, the ignorant, those of whom the world makes little account, went after Him in thousands, heedless of food and shelter, of everything — save the Face and the Voice of Jesus of Nazareth.

Multitudes flocked after Him. But there was no multitude to Him. Each soul stood out before Him clear and distinct, with its needs, its troubles, its sins, its desires for better things. The little child, the widow, the eager youth, the trembling sinner, felt that He read them through and through, understood them, loved them, cared for their love, wanted to help them, to make them happy — and could do it.

Gradually there gathered round Him a band of disciples. From among these He chose twelve men to be His intimate companions and friends. He kept them constantly with Him, He carefully taught and trained

JESUS OP NAZARETH. 19

them, He let them into His secrets, He shared with them His miraculous powers, so that like Him they cast out devils, and cured the sick. He called them Apostles, that is, messengers sent, because they were to take His place and carry on His work when He should leave the earth. They were fishermen, most of them, rough and ignorant, but with simple, devoted hearts. Father, mother, home, everything they had in this world, they left for their Master's sake, ready to follow Him everywhere, even to prison and to death.

For not all men revered Him for His holiness and wonderful works, and loved Him for His goodness. He had fierce enemies, men who were jealous of Him and hated Him for His teaching, His warnings, His miracles. During three years they slandered and persecuted Him. And at last they laid hands on Him, scourged Him as a slave, crowned Him with thorns as a mock king, nailed Him to a cross between thieves, and watched Him die in lingering agony. He was buried. His grave was sealed, and guards were set to watch.

Then His enemies thought the world was rid of Him, and that they would hear His Name no more. But three days after His Crucifixion He rose from the tomb as He had foretold, and showed Himself to His friends. For forty days He went in and out among them, eating with them, letting them touch His wounded hands and feet, giving them His last instructions. On the fortieth day after His Resurrection, He led His disciples to the top of Mount Olivet, and having blessed them, slowly rose above their heads into the heavens till a cloud received Him out of their sight. As they remained looking up into the sky, two Angels in white garments stood by them and said : " Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to Heaven ? This Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come as you have seen Him going into Heaven."

" This Jesus." Who was this wonderful Man ? Was He a true Man, and if so, was He more than Man? Pilate, the Roman Governor who condemned Him to death, was so struck by His calm majesty, His silence, and His patience in the midst of cruel injustice and pain, that he asked Him: " Whence art Thou? " He wanted to know if He was a mere man, or if there was any truth in the belief of many, that He was more than Man, that He was the Son of God.

Pilate's Prisoner made him no answer, because none was needed. He had been three and thirty years in the world, and the question : " Whence art Thou ? " had been answered so plainly by the wonderful works He had done, that those only who were wilfully blind could help knowing who He was and whence He came.

About five years after the Ascension of Christ into Heaven, a young man was hastening to Damascus to seize and punish all he could find, men and women who believed in Jesus of Nazareth. Suddenly, a light from Heaven shone round about him, and, falling on the ground, he heard a Voice saying to him : " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ? " And he said : " Who art Thou, Lord ? " And the Voice made answer : " I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."*

That question and its answer changed the persecutor Saul into the great St. Paul. He came to know and love our Blessed Lord so well, that neither tribulation, nor danger, nor the sword, nor death, nor any creature, he said, could separate him from Him.

Now the question of Pilate and of Saul was of im-

* Acts ix. 5.

mense importance, not to themselves alone, but to every one of us. A more important question has never been asked; for, to know the truth about Jesus Christ, and to guide our lives by what we know, is the end for which we were sent into this world.

We did not see what the people of His own land saw every day; but we have the story of His Life written by those who knew Him intimately, and it ought to be familiar to us all. Every man and woman, every boy and girl should know it well. It is of more importance to us by far than anything else we have to learn. It was written, not for mankind in general, but for each of us, one by one, that we might study it and copy its lessons into our own lives.

These are days in which our belief in Jesus Christ must be firmly rooted if it is to be unshaken by the unbelief and indifference around us. We should try, then, to bring home to ourselves in every possible way the truth about Him — Who He is; what He came into this world to do; what we must do that He may not have come for us in vain. Let us ask, then, humbly and earnestly with St. Paul:

" Who art Thou, Lord?"

II. On Trial

To find the answer to this question, we must go back a long way — before that time, nearly six thousand years ago, when human history began — right back to the Eternal Years.

From all eternity God had lived alone; alone, but not lonely; One God in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. ISTo sound broke the stillness of His Life; no events came, and went, and brought a change. He was infinitely happy; for in Himself He had all things. If there was to be life, beauty, joy, outside of Him, from Him it must come.

And God willed these things should be. He would not keep always to Himself the happiness He could share with others, but would pour it out upon creatures able to know and love and enjoy Him.

He created the Angels, noble and beautiful spirits, not made to be united to bodies.

He created man, a being in some respects more wonderful than the Angels, because of the union of an immortal spirit with a body formed of the dust of the earth. And because God saw it was not good for man to be alone, He gave him a companion worthy of him. We are now so spoilt by sin that we can form no idea of those beautiful creatures of God in their state of innocence. We have never seen anything so noble and so lovely as Adam and Eve ; and what was hidden within was nobler and lovelier still. There was no darkness, nor ignorance, nor weakness. They understood the laws by which this world is governed, the secrets of Mature which men are puzzling out now bit by bit. They had no evil passions, no liking for what is wrong. Their hearts were pure and loving; their wills were strong and right.

They were perfect, then, in their human nature ; but God was not yet satisfied. He loved them so much that He enriched them with a gift altogether above their nature, with a supernatural gift called sanctifying grace, which made their souls beautiful in another and far higher way, and gave them a right to see Him face to face one day. They were to pass from a fair home on earth to the one prepared for them in Heaven, not by sickness and through the gate of death, but gently and painlessly as a child is carried in its father's arms from one room to another.

Meantime He placed them in " the paradise of pleasure," a garden stored with everything that could serve them for use or enjoyment. No plants or flowers, no birds or beasts that we have ever seen can compare with those of that garden of theirs. The animals great and small reverenced and obeyed them, came at their call, gambolled about them, ate from their hand. All was in order there. The irrational creatures were subject to Adam and Eve, and they themselves were subject with joy and gratitude to the God who had given them all.

Here, then, in " the paradise of pleasure," the father and mother of us all were placed on trial.

Yes, on trial. For it was the Will of God that both Angels and men should have the happiness which was prepared for them increased by meriting or deserving it. Therefore He gave them free will, or the power to choose good or evil. He loves a cheerful, loving service, and He determined that by an act of obedience His reasonable creatures should win their everlasting reward. What the trial of the Angels was we do not know. All we know is that one-third of them were unfaithful to God, and, with full knowledge of the wickedness of their act, rebelled against Him and were lost forever.

Like Adam and Eve, the Angels were created in a state of sanctifying grace. They were very dear and precious in the sight of God. But sin is so hateful to Him, that for that one deliberate act of rebellion against Him He took from them that priceless gift of grace, and drove them from the brightness of His Presence into everlasting darkness.

But He did not take from them their natural gifts, their clear intellect, their strong will. And these they now determined to use against Him by leading into their own rebellion those favoured children of His in Paradise. Thus it was more hatred of God than envy of these heirs of Heaven that led Satan to plan the destruction of Adam and Eve. It would never do to tempt them openly, for sin had made him so ugly that they would have been frightened of him. So he disguised himself, and fitly took the form of a serpent.

See Eve in her beauty and innocence walking alone through the garden. She is supremely happy. She is the dear child of God ; she has all she can desire. Suddenly she comes upon the serpent coiled round the foot of a tree, " the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It is a mysterious name and reminds the owners of this fair garden that God who has given it to them is Master still. For He has said:

" Of every tree of Paradise thou shalt eat. But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. Eor in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death."

A simple command, but a very solemn one. Disobedience to it would make them lose the grace and favour of God, and deserve His most dreadful punishments in this world and in the next. They know, then, all that depends on that tree, and never pass it without a feeling of awe.

Eve is surprised to see the serpent there and stops to look at him. The serpent begins to talk and she listens :

" Why do you not eat of the fruit of this tree ? " he

Notice how he begins his first temptation as he has begun so many since, by trying to make God appear hard.

A little Spanish girl who heard this story for the first time said : " Eve should not have listened ; she should have made the sign of the Cross and gone down another walk." But Eve did listen. She looked up shyly and wistfully at the tree and said:

" God hath commanded us that we should not eat, lest perhaps we die."

" Die ! " answered the tempter, " no, you shall not die."

And then he makes a show of trusting her with a secret. There is always something fascinating about a secret. Eve is curious and draws nearer.

" God doth know," he goes on, " that in what day soever you shall eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods."

This was what enticed her. It was not gluttony, but curiosity and ambition that were her ruin To see what would happen; to be as Gods, this was what she wanted; as to the punishment she would risk it. She stretched out her hand, plucked the fruit, and ate it. Oh, what a change came over her in that moment ! When Adam saw her a minute later, the blush of guilt was on her face, her peace and happiness were gone.

She told him what she had done, and at first he was shocked and terrified. At first — and then came his temptation, but in a different form from hers. She was his tempter. She used her influence with him, and his love for her to make him fall. She tempted him even with the appearance of good. " God has given us to each other ; we have been so happy together ; we must go together now. We must perish — if it is a case of perishing — together."

And she gave him the fruit, and he ate it. In that instant Adam fell from grace and the whole human race fell with him. Had he remained faithful, we should all have come into the world with souls beautiful and pleasing in the sight of God. We should have had our trial, but had we fallen no one would have been ruined but ourselves. Had Eve alone fallen, her sin would not have harmed us. It is because Adam is the father and the origin or head of the race that his fall has hurt us, that we are all born into this world without grace, in disgrace until by Baptism this original sin is taken away.

This is soon said, but it would need Adam and Eve themselves to tell us what it means, to make us understand how miserably unhappy they were after their sin. God used to come and walk with them in Paradise in the cool afternoon air, and they rushed forward to meet Him. Now they trembled when they heard His voice calling them. When people agree together

JESUS OF NAZAKETH.

to do wrong, they turn upon one another when the wrong is found out and they are called to account. Adam laid the blame upon Eve, Eve upon the serpent. Then came God's terrible words of punishment:

" In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return."

Innocence, happiness, freedom from pain and death, the possession of the paradise of pleasure — all lost and lost forever: suffering and death, and all the evils of this life let in upon the earth through them; the gates of Heaven closed, and those of Hell opened by their hands — this was what came of that one sin. For the punishment they deserved was not only the death of the body but the everlasting death of the soul. They had shared the rebellion of the bad angels ; it was just they should share their condemnation.

But God had pity on them and on us. Their sin, though great and inexcusable, was less than that of the angels. They had indeed risen up in rebellion against the Infinite God, yet not with such clear knowledge ; and they had been tempted. Moreover, each of the fallen angels had himself done the evil for which he was justly punished. But Adam's unhappy children had lost all by an act that was not their own.

Perhaps it was for these reasons that God determined to save the race of man. He could have done this by granting a free pardon to us. But to show the hatefulness of sin, and still more His exceeding love for us, He willed that we should be redeemed; that is, bought back; and that our Bedeemer should be no other than His own Eternal Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, equal to the Father in all things. It was decreed by the Three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that a full and perfect satisfaction or compensation for the evil done should be offered to God. Now, for this two things were necessary. He who was to make the satisfaction must be equal to God, or it would not be infinite and enough; and He must be man, too, because man who had sinned must satisfy for sin.

~No Angel, however high, nor all Angels and men together, could make this sufficient atonement. God himself must do it if it was to be done. And God was ready. Not counting the cost, thinking only of our misery and of His own love, the Second Person offered Himself to satisfy fully for our sins — for the first or original sin, which was not our own act, but his who was the origin and father of us all, and for those sins, too, which are our own free act.

All this load of sin which men have heaped up from the beginning against the Majesty of God, which we have each of us helped to increase, the Son of God took upon Himself, to suffer for in our stead, and thus reopen for us the gates of Heaven, which otherwise would have been closed against us forever. In place of Adam who had ruined us, another Head was given us in our dear Lord Jesus Christ. He was to put all right. He was to come and live amongst us a hard, suffering Life, and then to die upon the Cross for each of us one by one. Well may the Church cry out:

" O happy fault that has had such a Eedeemer ! "

III. The Promised One

Some people ask : " Why did God put our first parents to this trial when He knew they would fall under it, and knew the terrible consequence to themselves and to all their children % "

The first and chief reason is because He is Lord and Master. He can do what He wills, and all that He does is not only right and good, but the best, as we shall see some day.

Another reason is this : Though God can never will what is evil, He can and does continually bring good out of evil. The fall of Adam and Eve, and with them of the whole human family, was a frightful evil, but out of this harm God has brought the greatest good.

By coming amongst us and becoming one of us, in order to put right again what was so wrong, He has done more than put all right. He has given us much more than we had lost. And His best gift to us is — Himself. Since the Incarnation we no longer think of Him as far away in Heaven, where we can scarcely reach Him even by thought, but as one of ourselves — a Man who could be seen, and heard, and handled, a Man with a country and a family, with ancestors good and bad, with a Mother and a home; a Man with friends and enemies; a Man with a certain character and ways, with His likes and dislikes, with His sorrows and His joys. This Man is our God, the God whom we have to adore and love. Can we not do this easily now, when He has come so near to us that we may study Him and know Him almost as we know a neighbour of next door? Truly God knows how to draw good out of evil !

We must notice, for they are very important, the words in which the Redeemer was promised by God Himself.

As soon as Adam and Eve had sinned, they, for the first time, were afraid of God. "And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in Paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves amidst the trees of Paradise.

And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou ?

And he said: I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid, and I hid myself.

And He said to him: Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat.

And Adam said : The woman whom Thou gavest me to be my companion gave me of the tree and I did ©at.

And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this?

And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said to the serpent : Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all beasts of the earth. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."

Thus from the beginning, and in the words of God Himself, are the Redeemer and His Mother placed together, just as we see them in our pictures and statues. There is to be enmity, that is, hatred and warfare, between her and her Divine Child on one side, and all the brood of the serpent, the wicked angels, on the other. She through her Son is to crush the serpent's head, and the serpent in revenge will lie in wait for her other children, all those of whom her Son has made Himself the Brother.

As the Kedeemer has His types or figures all through the long years when the world was waiting for Him, so has His Mother hers. And when at last He came, the word of God again places together the Mother and her Child. Those who seek Him find " the Child with Mary His Mother." In sorrow and in joy they are side by side. " Take the Child and His Mother," is the order when the Babe has to fly for His life. At a marriage feast " the Mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus also was invited." She followed Him about during His preaching. And when at last He redeemed the world with His Blood, " there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother." We must never separate what God Himself has thus joined together.