St. Helen is a mother of Christianity in general, and especially of the Christians of Treves: 1. In the Christian training of her spiritual children; 2. Inasmuch as she has left a rich spiritual inheritance to her children. Preached on the feast of St. Helen.
" Behold thy mother." (John 19:27)
Great Queen of heaven, Mary! these words are, properly speaking, for thee, for in them thy dying Son, Jesus Christ, addressed St. John, and in his person all Christians, and gave thee to them, after His death, as their Mother. " Behold thy mother." Yes, most blessed Virgin! we acknowledge and honor thee with the deepest reverence as the dearest spiritual mother of us all; for thou didst bring forth into the world our elder Brother who, by His merits, brought us forth again to heaven, and made us adopted children of His Father. We acknowledge thee with joy as our most loving Mother, who in heaven hast a motherly care of us, thy children, entrusted to thee; and it is by thy hand that all graces flow down on us from thy Son. Meanwhile, allow me to-day to apply the same words in a spiritual sense to another whose anniversary as foundress we now celebrate with a festival of joy and thanksgiving: I mean the holy Empress Helen. " Be hold thy mother." City and land of Treves, behold thy spiritual mother, who can be justly called so in the sense in which St. Paul calls himself the father of the Galatians: " My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you." l This St. Helen might with reason say to us, as I mean to show in this panegyric.
St. Helen is a mother of Christians in general, and especially
of the Christians of Treves. Such is the whole subject. A careful mother in the Christian training of her spiritual children; the first part. A kind mother in the rich spiritual legacy she has left her children; the second part. Let us act as true children of such a mother; the conclusion.
Give us Thy grace, Lord, to do this latter, through the intercession of Thy Mother, Mary, and of the holy angels.
The first and chief care of a mother is the training of her
children, for she must feed, clothe, and teach them to walk and
speak. And this duty devolves more on the mother than on the
father, for the latter, being obliged to attend to his daily business, has no time for his children's education. But this duty is common to all mothers, even among Turks and heathens. What h am I saying? Even unreasoning wild beasts do not yield a whit to human beings in this respect, for they use the greatest care, according to their natures, to bring up their young properly. Far more is required from a Christian mother, in which, too, the father is obliged to help; for the parents must bring up their children for their last end, for God and heaven, and therefore must teach them the true fear of God, and how to lead a really Christian life. Where this training is wanting or deficient the parents are not true Christians, or, as St. Bernard says, " they are robbers and seducers of their children." Yet, alas! there are many Christian households in which this training is reckoned of the least importance. St. Chrysostom says: " Some bring up their sons to be soldiers, others provide them with riches, others with honors; none provide their children with God." They are taught how to dress, how to adorn themselves, how to salute others and pay compliments, how to behave in company, and to act towards others; they are taught gambling, dancing, fencing, and all sorts of languages and sciences; but no one provides them with God, no one thinks much of the things that concern God and their souls, and sometimes those things are neglected altogether.