Frederick William Faber became a Roman Catholic on 17 November 1845, aged 31, and received communion and confirmation on the following day, taking the name Wilfrid. He was ordained Priest at Oscott, Birmingham, by Bishop (later Cardinal) Wiseman on 3 April 1847, and said his first mass and preached his first sermon on the following morning in the church of St Wilfrid, Cotton, Staffordshire, the home of his Wilfridian Community. In December 1847, one week before his community were to have taken vows to stay together as a group, he decided to give up the Wilfridian venture, and take his community to join the Oratory established at Birmingham by John Henry Newman (1801-1890).Footnote 1 Faber then founded the London Oratory and was its first Provost from its foundation on 29 April 1849 until his death on 26 September 1863. The first temporary parish of the London Oratory was in what had originally been the Lowther Rooms. This was situated in central London, in King William Street, now William IV Street, next door to Charing Cross Hospital.Footnote 2 Faber preached there from the beginning, to the last mass celebrated there on 11 September 1853. The Oratory then moved to Brompton Road, South Kensington, from where it acquired its colloquial title of Brompton Oratory. Faber preached there until his final sermon on Passion Sunday, 22 March 1863. Although he witnessed the building of the Oratory house, his homilies were presented in the pulpit of the temporary church, an architecturally nondescript oblong building which stood on the site of the present church. The Italianate church was not completed until 1884, after fundraising and choosing of an appropriate design in a competition won by architect Herbert Gribble (1847-1894). Brompton was away from the centre of London at this time. Between 1853, when the Oratory house and temporary church were built, until the building of the South Kensington (later the Victoria and Albert) Museum next door in 1857, the view from Faber’s west facing window was one of fields and allotments.
Faber preached during Mass for Sundays and Holy days, for Benediction, Confraternities and Conferences for novices and priests of the Oratory. He delivered several series of lectures for Lent and Advent, and preached sermons for national events, including a sermon after the Crimean War battle of Inkerman (1854).Footnote 3 They show the preoccupations of an individual priest writing for Roman Catholics in three different locations: St Wilfrid’s, a Pugin churchFootnote 4 in the small village of Cotton, Staffordshire; the London Oratory in the centre of London, and the Oratory in Brompton, then a village near London. Faber was also invited to give sermons elsewhere, including the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street (1849), Roehampton (1851), St John’s Church Islington (1851), the Synod of Oscott (1855) and Arundel Cathedral (1861).
Faber’s sermons were published posthumously in 1865 in two volumes entitled Notes on Doctrinal and Spiritual Subjects.Footnote 5 These were assembled and given an introduction by John Bowden (1829-1874), Faber’s friend, convert from the Church of England, fellow Oratorian and first biographer.Footnote 6 Sermons were widely published by members of the Church of England, Roman Catholic Church and Nonconformists during the nineteenth century. This made the ideas within them available to a broader readership than those to whom they were preached. By placing Faber’s sermons in the public domain, Bowden was conforming to this tradition. However, he writes that he was making Faber’s sermons available for emotional and spiritual reasons, for ‘those who found in his [Faber’s] former works a source of spiritual profit’, rather than because of a straightforward desire to publish.Footnote 7 Notably, there are few examples of fully completed sermons in the collection: the majority consist of numbered short lines sandwiched between complete first and concluding paragraphs. Bowden’s reason for not completing them was practical. He wrote that they ‘have been left for the most part in the unfinished state in which they were found: as it has been thought better to let them appear incomplete than to give them another form by alterations which might expose the Author’s (sic.) meaning to misinterpretation.’Footnote 8
This article focuses on questions surrounding Faber’s sermons of Spiritual Direction. Bowden published fifty of these, which occupy Part 5 of Book 2 of Notes on Doctrinal and Spiritual Subjects.Footnote 9 The majority were written between 1850 and 1863, so in order to examine this subject across a broader time span, sermons from other sections of the book which mention the spiritual life will also be considered. Recurring themes in these sermons will be studied. The most important was Faber’s wish to encourage individuals to take their relationship with God seriously, and what is necessary for this: prayer, study, devotion to saints and angels, membership of the Roman Catholic Church, sacraments, such as confession, and attendance at mass. He also preached about the relationship which the individual Roman Catholic has with other people and with society in general. Also important are factors that hinder the spiritual life, such as illness, or obliterate the relationship with God, such as worldliness, sin, moral torpor and lack of interest in spiritual things. In exploring themes which recur in Faber’s sermons, this article will take a broadly chronological approach, to allow for the consideration of common themes whilst acknowledging the importance of immediate context. It is divided into three sections comprising sermons preached at St Wilfrid’s Cotton (1840-1849), King William Street (1849-1853), and Brompton (1853-1863). Before adopting this chronological approach, a few key themes will be highlighted: the relationship between Faber’s past membership of the Church of England and Catholic present, influences on his sermons, and accessibility, style and tone.
Firstly, Faber was a member of the Church of England for the first thirty-one years of his life, seven of these as a clergyman, and a Roman Catholic for eighteen years. The sermons written during these two periods share common subject-matter; however, those which Faber wrote as a member of the Church of England were more intellectually curious and energetic in their sense of faith than those written as a Roman Catholic. Indeed, one of his contemporaries, Lord John Manners (1818-1906), wrote that Faber’s sermons written within the Church of England were ‘eloquent, earnest and gorgeous beyond what I had anticipated.’Footnote 10 They are the work of a youthful mind that has been influenced by evangelicalism and Tractarianism and which enjoyed the intellectual process of writing and giving sermons which are stylistically reminiscent of academic essays. The Roman Catholic sermons highlight that Faber’s youthful brightness was dimmed by the chronic illness which affected him increasingly as his life as a Roman Catholic progressed and made him gradually more interior and contemplative.Footnote 11 His imagination may also have been affected by laudanum, blue pills containing mercury, and other medication which he took to try to alleviate its symptoms. This tone is also attributable to the highly structured worldview that he chose to inhabit, an outlook in which there was less room for individuality.
At the same time, the contrast between the emotional religious observance of Roman Catholics, both in private and in public, and the coldness of other denominations, was deeply ingrained within Faber’s thought and personality after his conversion. He did, however, report that some of the converts in his congregation objected to such a characterisation. In a letter to John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Faber described his sermon On Protestantism thus: ‘I compared an Anglican clergyman doing the afternoon service in a well-appointed London Church with a knot of poor Irish hugging the feet of our big crucifix; the old Catholics were very grave, and so was I; but the converts behaved shockingly.’Footnote 12 It is not reported whether they made noises such as coughing during the sermon or told Faber afterwards that they disagreed with him; however they clearly voiced their displeasure publicly. Faber did not have any professional experience of ministering in London while in the Church of England, and study of his early life shows no sign that he was aware of any form of coldness until he decided to convert. This raises the possibility that as a convert he reinvented his former life.
Secondly, Faber’s sermons illustrate the diversity and breadth of his reading. They contain ideas from literature, scripture, theology, church history, devotional literature and hagiography and use themes taken from, or related to, the Epistle or Gospel of the particular Sunday or feast. Faber used illustrations and observations gleaned from his parochial work, influences from contemporary sources and events taking place in the world around him, such as the Great Exhibition held in Paxton’s Crystal Palace at Hyde Park in 1850. Occasionally, his sermons asked for money for causes such as schools for poor children.Footnote 13 Like much of Faber’s work, the homilies contain moments of profundity which can catch the reader unawares. Although they may not measure up to Newman’s profound and well-crafted sermons, they do stand the test of time if only to show us another, lesser known, facet of Faber’s personality.Footnote 14 They demonstrate his discernment, and his ability to assimilate, explain and interpret the nuances of what he has read, an ability that is present throughout his writing. It is, however, unfortunate that he does not provide references to his sources, although he does occasionally mention individuals by name.
Thirdly, the accessibility of Faber’s preaching needs to be addressed. Although the surviving documents are fairly static and inward-looking, they expect internal and external action on the part of those who hear them. They can be read and listened to on a number of different levels and are accessible to those of varying intellectual capabilities. Faber was concerned that parishioners should study and engage with the doctrines, theology and practices of the Roman Catholic Church to the extent that they are able in order to attain and develop their knowledge, not only of devotion but also of their faith as a whole. The texts express concepts that vary from a simple emotional piety to one that is intellectually and spiritually challenging and demanding, although the two are not mutually exclusive. Faber considered that ‘devotion is the soul on earth rehearsing for heaven – living in heaven before its time’, an idea which becomes increasingly important to him personally as his life progresses.Footnote 15 Therefore, study of devotional literature, theology and private reading are aspects of the spiritual life recommended to parishioners in these documents.Footnote 16 A lending library was established at the London Oratory in order that they could borrow books; this library still exists.Footnote 17
The tone of these sermons is always personal. It varies between a popular, positive, brightly coloured style in which Faber observes that ‘the world we live in is such an unthought-of world of gifts’, to one which is challenging, pessimistic and austere.Footnote 18 Thus, although the spirituality of Faber’s Roman Catholic sermons is practical and attainable, they contain acceptance of the necessity of moral gravity and discipline. They are frequently pessimistic of the individual’s ability to achieve anything of note within the spiritual life. Many of the concerns expressed in these sermons formed a longstanding part of Faber’s private spirituality, particularly his austerity and sense of the reality of hell, and the ever-present possibility of eternal damnation and loss of the vision of God. Faber quoted St Philip Neri (1515-1595), who stated ‘he who does not go down into hell while he is alive, runs a great risk of going there after he is dead.’Footnote 19 Austerity is something which is not immediately associated with Faber by those who are only familiar with his hymns. It is, however, an ever-present strand of his thought and personal faith which may be attributable to the Calvinistic influences on his formative years.Footnote 20 It may also be attributed to his reading of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), which he purchased in Rome in 1843.Footnote 21 Faber gave the Exercises to his parishioners whilst a member of the Church of England in his parish at Elton, Huntingdonshire and took part in them with his Wilfridian community after his conversion to Catholicism. Alongside the austerity, his characteristic emotional warmth, creativeness, sense of drama and deep sense of emotion and empathy, are present within the sermons to the same extent as his hymns and books. His intensely visual creativity was clearly fed by the emphasis on the imagination and thinking about scenes from scripture encouraged by the Spiritual Exercises.Footnote 22
Sermons given at St Wilfrid’s, Cotton, between September 1846 and April 1849 are shorter and more formal than Faber’s later preaching. The most important difference is an increased awareness of the unseen spiritual world in the undulating countryside around Cotton. The realm in which God, angels, Mary, saints and devils interact with and influence individuals in everyday life seems closer, more intense and tangible here; in London the unseen world is more abstract and interior, although no less real. The Cotton sermons are concerned with the spiritual and eternal consequences of the spiritual life and they admonish, encourage and cajole his parishioners to develop their personal relationship with God and the Roman Catholic Church. They use ideas that were already fully formed in Faber’s mind and recurred for the remainder of his life. Indeed, he did not change very much, either in his choice of sermon topic or his form of expression. He also re-used sermons or re-wrote parts of them as time passed.
The sermon On the influence of Catholic priests over their congregations (1848) is significant because many individuals at Cotton had converted to Roman Catholicism on the arrival of Faber’s community, and may not have been aware of what was expected of them as parishioners. Faber suggested that when the priesthood has not been respected ‘punishment and curse have mostly followed.’Footnote 23 He describes the role of the priest as ‘a kind of perpetual miracle, showing men which is the true Church and attracting them into that true Church in a most heavenly way.’Footnote 24 The sermon explains the spiritual and temporal importance of priests. It admits that ‘bad priests’ exist, but warns of the ‘awfulness of people striving with [a] priest’ whose office within the community is ‘father, teacher, physician, judge.’Footnote 25 It ends with the confession that Faber’s priesthood has brought him not pride but a sense of humility and ‘unworthiness’.Footnote 26
Faith and study
Faith and study are recommended in a sermon on conversion, preached at St Wilfrid’s on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, on January 28th 1848. He recommends that individuals should be ‘diligent in reading and making themselves good scholars.’Footnote 27 They should study the doctrines of Roman Catholicism alongside devotions such as the Rosary and Stations of the Cross, for their own spiritual good and that of the whole church. Holy Communion is the subject of the short sermon Fruits of a Good Communion, preached at St Wilfrid’s in 1848.Footnote 28 Faber discussed the Real Presence and the importance of making a ‘good communion’ in order to avoid sin and temptation and to create ‘spiritual sweetness, which infallibly comes if we do not hinder it.’Footnote 29 The unknown time of death and the fragility of the individual’s eternal destiny is a constant presence. The short sermon Extreme Unction begins with the idea that ‘life is a vale of tears… which the Church is beautifully occupied in soothing.’Footnote 30 This is a meditation on the importance of Roman Catholic rites and ceremonies throughout life, but most importantly at death. The sermon ends with a recommendation that parishioners recognise the ‘duty of frequent prayer for a good death.’Footnote 31 Faber was also concerned that his hearers should not be attached to the world around them or to what he considers to be worldly interests. His sermon for the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1848 highlighted this. Faber used as his text Jesus’ words ‘I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world.’Footnote 32 This sermon concludes, ‘O false and miserable and cruel world – this day we break faith with thee, solemnly and for ever.’Footnote 33
Confession and contrition
In How to Confess Well Faber is concerned with confession.Footnote 34 He puts forward five points that he considers particularly important. Firstly, ‘to have set times’ for confession; secondly, to make ‘frequent’ confession; thirdly, to make ‘careful examination of conscience’; fourthly, to ‘see if all uncharitable thoughts are cleared out’; and fifthly, to make a ‘Good act of contrition, and prayer for contrition before approaching the sacrament.’Footnote 35 He also advises individuals not to commit what he describes as common faults while in the confessional, such as ‘excusing oneself… mentioning the faults of others… [or] telling your own good works or pious practices.’Footnote 36 The profundity of Faber’s view of confession is emphasised in his conclusion in which he writes, ‘eternity is too short to thank Jesus for all that is done to our souls in one confession.’Footnote 37 The short sermon Purpose of Amendment in Confession, (1847) illustrates the importance of discipline, effort and moral seriousness with regard to confession, particularly the resolution to avoid both the recurrence of sins already confessed and future sin.Footnote 38 He also stresses the importance of individual effort and encouragement, writing ‘Cheer those who are making a fight: Oh the price God sets on a right good will.’Footnote 39 Faber was scrupulous as a confessor, spending twelve hours sitting in his confessional on a Saturday because of the vast numbers of people who came to him for confession. It is indicative of the seriousness with which Faber viewed this sacrament that if he was forced to abandon his confessional early, because of a headache or illness, he was anxious lest those he turned away might die in mortal sin during the following week, and that it would be his fault.
Social teaching in the sermons
Many sermons include social teaching usable in the context of the family and wider society as well as in the context of church worship. Faber is concerned with the attitudes that individuals have towards other people. The behaviour of the individual Christian is highlighted in relation to sins which are committed within society, but which have an effect on the individual’s relationship with God. These highlight the social mores of mid-nineteenth century society, as seen in The Obligation of Restitution. Preached during 1848 at St Wilfrid’s, this is also the most severe example of an admonition in Faber’s sermon writing. The sermon is aimed at ‘thieves, cheats, retainers of stolen goods, accomplices, those who use unfair weights and measures, ask unjust prices, tell lies about nature of article, &c.’Footnote 40 It was calculated to instil fear in any amongst his congregation who had been guilty of stealing, or individuals such as shopkeepers who may have defrauded their customers and who failed to make adequate restitution for such sins. Faber writes, ‘To die without the sacraments is a great evil, but to die without restitution is a greater [evil].’Footnote 41 He then reminds his congregation of the uncertainty of the hour of death and consequently the vagueness of the amount of time remaining for restitution.Footnote 42 Later he preached, ‘Curse of ill-gotten things in a house, like possession of devils; it works for generations – in weak health – madness – bad deaths – horrid accidents.’Footnote 43 This sermon raises the question as to whether Faber believed that illness was caused, not by bacteria or a medical condition, but by something that an individual or their ancestors had done. This raises the question of whether he believed that his own illness was caused by an action of his own.
The structure of Faber’s sermons on the spiritual life is simple, often progressing from that which is known to his congregation to that which is unknown, from an everyday, conversational style to discussion of a significant point of theology or doctrine. For example, The View which the Saints take of the world as a howling wilderness compared with the view ordinary good men take of it, preached on New Year’s Eve 1849.Footnote 44 This sermon moves from the known, familiar world of an individual’s home, family and immediate circle of friends, to discussion of the untruthfulness and innate superficiality of popular society in general. Finally, Faber discussed the position of Jesus and Mary within the Feast of the Circumcision, on 1 January, and wrote, ‘our home is in the Bosom of God, amid the assemblage of his attributes.’Footnote 45 In viewing the world as unsatisfactory and second-best Faber highlighted an idea that was constant in his mature thought; however, despite its neatness of structure and argument this sermon feels contrived and pensive. Throughout his life in the Church of England and the Catholic Church, Faber never fully fitted in with the groups of which he was part. We can hypothesise that this sermon highlights the alienation which was a lifelong and unresolved part of his character.
Scandal and good example
Devils appear in a series of sermons preached on four Sunday evenings at St Wilfrid’s in April 1849 which are concerned with Scandal.Footnote 46 Faber writes in response to an unidentified event, ‘we know who the devils are, and what their office is; we cannot think of it without shuddering.’Footnote 47 He does however, note its source: ‘Giddiness of young women. Shamelessness of young men. Indifference of parents about their families. Carelessness about setting good example.’Footnote 48 Although Faber emphasises that Roman Catholics should not take part in anything scandalous, there are overtones that anything that is not Catholic is potentially suspect.Footnote 49 We can imagine parishioners walking home on dark Sunday evenings along the narrow lanes of Cotton with Faber’s words in their ears: ‘Horror if we knew that one was now in hell, whose damnation we had caused – how his groans would fight against us with God – day and night, summer and winter, Sunday and weekday – the opposite of the intercession of saints.’Footnote 50
Faber preached at the London Oratory at King William Street between April 1849 and September 1853. A series given in Lent 1850 are meditations on the Four Last Things: death, judgement, heaven and hell.Footnote 51 These are austere, leaving his parishioners in no doubt as to the seriousness and fragility of their present and future position. Faber highlights the need for a good spiritual life in order to be ready for the transition to eternity, which can happen at any time. A similar atmosphere is created in the sermon The Awfulness of Sin.Footnote 52 This meditation, which begins with Jesus’ agony in the garden and horror at viewing the sins of humanity in their entirety, may have been given on Passion Sunday or sometime during Holy Week 1850. Faber presented his parishioners with the notion that all sin, whether original, mortal or venial, is abhorrent to God. Humanity is, therefore, in desperate need of God’s forgiveness: ‘For all the mysteries included in the confessional, the forgiven sinner leaves it owing a terrific debt to God.’Footnote 53 The nature and consequences of sin, whether purgatory, or damnation leading to hell and eternal separation from God are also discussed. Faber concludes, ‘and we – how often have we sinned – how gravely? Are we prepared to sin again?’Footnote 54
Devotion and action in the spiritual life
A contrasting mood is created in a series of three homilies preached in the summer of 1850. These also encourage action in the spiritual life. In the first, Tenderness in Religion, tenderness leads to sensitivity to the Gospel and person of Jesus as well as ‘love of humiliations [and] love of suffering.’Footnote 55 Through this, individuals gain ‘Christlike instincts.’Footnote 56 The second The Tenderness of Jesus, is a discussion of the Incarnation, whose ‘whole mystery ... is one of tenderness.’Footnote 57 The third, How to Gain it, ends with a plea for devotion to the Sacred Heart: it is, Faber writes ‘the wish of Jesus that these latter ages should be marked by tenderness.’Footnote 58 This is achieved by frequenting the sacraments, reading spiritual works and scripture, active and personal devotion to saints and Mary, almsgiving and prayer.Footnote 59 Faber is also concerned to show that ‘The spirit of the Oratory [is] at once reverence and familiarity with Jesus.’Footnote 60 It is not documented where Faber’s parishioners worshipped after the King William Street Oratory closed or the extent to which he and his fellow Oratorians were missed. However, in the final sermon preached there, Faber highlights the ultimate goal for himself and his parishioners: ‘a day will come when we shall be in heaven... safe for ever.’Footnote 61
Faber preached at the temporary London Oratory Church in Brompton between 1853 and 1863. The sermon Opening of the Oratory at Brompton begins with discussion of the Primitive Church and ends with discussion of Roman Catholicism in England, which Faber describes as having ‘so much talent and so little of it for God.’Footnote 62 Parishioners, whether Catholics or converts, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, would have possessed a wide range of talents and seriousness about religious matters, aptitude and capacity for devotion and spiritual attainment within their ranks. Sermons on the spiritual life are fundamentally concerned with the relationship between an individual Christian and God. This is, for Faber, the only relationship that matters, because as well as being a reality of the present it is also in the temporal future and within the wider context of an eternal dimension. In order to stimulate their own inner life, Faber teaches individuals to value and cultivate their private spiritual world by highlighting the importance of private and public prayer. Here there is a balance between two worlds, visible and invisible, which are linked by the individual’s relationship with God, the angels, particularly their guardian angel, and the saints.
Devotion and sympathy for God
Sermons constantly return to the idea that large numbers of people in London society have little or no sense of God, and that even those who do, lack sufficient sympathy and love for God.Footnote 63 This lack of seriousness is expressed in the sermon How is it that Life is Short? preached at Brompton in 1853.Footnote 64 Faber writes of life that individuals ‘seem ever beginning to try to live holy lives.’Footnote 65 However, he concedes that the majority are ‘too timid for great changes’ in their spiritual life.Footnote 66 The idea that individuals are unable to be really religious and/or serious about God, is part of the tremendous sense of austerity, almost scepticism, which runs through Faber’s writings as a whole, but particularly his sermons.Footnote 67 The sermon God so Little Loved (n.d.) is a meditation on the individual parishioner’s relationship to God.Footnote 68 It is filled with a sense of anguish at present ineptitude, and a doubtful eternal destiny of the majority of most souls. Faber observes: ‘all the miseries of this life because of God not being loved.’Footnote 69 In an Ignatian passage, he asks the individual parishioner to meditate on and consider the reality of ‘Hell… filling hourly’ with individuals who do not love God.Footnote 70 He suggests that his listeners try to ‘pray down the sins of London.’Footnote 71 Later, he asks to what extent they can remedy the ‘awful sense of dead and dying souls’ around them.Footnote 72 Faber enquires, ‘Is your piety to go to sleep while the world is perishing?’Footnote 73 He writes, ‘Is religion a private luxury – a simple sofa of sweet soft thoughts for conscience to lie down upon and take its ease?’Footnote 74 Underlining the importance of faith and good works he observes, ‘Can you not send a child to school or bring a sinner to the sacraments?’Footnote 75 Furthermore, he suggests that parishioners adopt a policy of ‘more abundant alms and good works.’Footnote 76
A sermon entitled A Taste for God, also preached at Brompton in 1859, is a meditation on heaven, ‘a life of prayer, praise, vision and contemplation’ that the irreligious mind, ‘evil spirit or impenitent soul’ would characterise as ‘keenest monotonous misery.’Footnote 77 In this sermon, Faber sought to inculcate the desire for God into his congregation in order to ensure that they belonged to the first and not to the second category. He preached that this trait can, and indeed must, be acquired whilst on earth via prayer, hearing sermons and attending devotions.Footnote 78 The undated sermon, God so little loved, is characterised by a sense of anguish at the position of the majority of souls in London who are filling up hell by refusing to love God.Footnote 79 The sermon Devotion to the Omnipotence of God, preached at Brompton in 1860, recommended a devotion that is characterised as being contrary to the irreligious spirit of the age.Footnote 80 It is also an example of Faber’s use of a more profound, theologically complex idea of God, one that is contiguous to the more positive side of his private spirituality and his own, lifelong, devotion to the attributes of God. The spirit of the age is a recurring phrase in Faber’s later sermons and writing. It has connotations that are both religious, in that it is used to describe Faber’s views regarding the immoral and amoral nature of society and the world in a theological sense. It is also personal, in that it includes his very real remembrance of the slights and hurts of his own personal life, past and present, and his spiritual journey.Footnote 81
The love of God
The undated sermon, The Strangeness of God’s Love for Us, is a meditation on the relationship between the individual and God in which Faber asks the individual to consider the love of God, asking: ‘How do we know God loves us? Why does God love us? What kind of a love does he love us with?’Footnote 82 In particular, this sermon aims to encourage his listeners by discussing ‘His [God’s] love for us as our Creator [and] Redeemer.’Footnote 83 This was important for Faber, because he observed that ‘many persons go about the world without in the least seeming to see anything strange or supernatural in life.’Footnote 84 He preached of the necessity of having ‘a bold trust in God’s love for us’ as ‘a sign of predestination – to feel as if we could not be lost, for all we are the miserable perverse sinners that we are.’Footnote 85 This is also highlighted in an undated sermon, The horrible condition of a man who leads no inward life, between whom and his God there is no Privacy.Footnote 86 In this, Faber focuses on the reality of the future judgement of God and states that ‘God is only bearable when he becomes unable to surprise us.’Footnote 87 He notes that the irreligious individual ‘has not even the initial grace of suspicion, or self-distrust.’Footnote 88 For Faber, the antidote for such a state is spiritual discipline. He highlights those disciplines that should be practised: ‘daily examen of conscience... particular examen ... carefulness about each single confession... mental prayer... [and] much (at first good) spiritual reading.’Footnote 89 Other sermons such as Lent: A Call to Penance, preached at Brompton in 1859, progress from a general argument to consideration of an individual’s private motives.Footnote 90 It also moves between an earthly perspective and a scriptural and eternal perspective and back again. This sermon leads the listener from consideration of John the Baptist’s preaching of repentance, to the need for repentance during the mid-nineteenth century, to the same need in the life of the individual parishioner. Faber warns, ‘To several among us it will be our last Lent! And how many deathbeds all through the year depend on last Lents!!!’Footnote 91 The sermon then returns to the Old Testament, to the words of Jeremiah, ‘Give ye glory to ye Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before it be dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains.’Footnote 92 Faber’s concern is brought about by his conviction, also part of his private meditation, that the spiritual is the most important facet of life and that life is wasted or used well in proportion to the individual’s rejection or acceptance of their spiritual responsibilities.
Religious observance
Following on from Faber’s view that the individual’s responsibility towards, and response to, God is fundamentally important, he continually preaches that prayer and meditation are indispensable to the spiritual life of an individual. He is sceptical, however, of people’s ability to be disciplined or sufficiently earnest about religious observance, frequently noting the propensity of a majority to waste time, to limit or omit prayer, or not to take it seriously enough. In the homily To-day, based on a reading from Hebrews 3:13, Faber writes of the importance of use of time, preaching that individuals frequently procrastinate and become lazy and fearful in their spiritual lives.Footnote 93 This leads to a ’General feeling of unwellness and unwashedness and dustiness in life.’Footnote 94 Faber frequently uses a physical image, such as dirt or washing, to describe a spiritual reality. In The Horrible Condition of a man who leads no inward life, he characterises the individual who does not acknowledge the necessity of prayer as one who ‘does not know where he is – like a man at sea, or in the wilderness, or rather in the forest where he cannot see the sun.’Footnote 95 In writing of prayer, Faber does not treat the individual as a faceless or mindless member of the wider church community, but as a unique personality who has, or should have, a private, solitary and intimately personal relationship with God. He notes that anyone who does not possess this is ‘deluded [and] excommunicated’ from God.Footnote 96 He preaches of such an individual that ‘he is open to all manner of delusions – nay, all things turn to delusions to him.’Footnote 97 The result of this is that such an individual is unaware, either wilfully or through ignorance, of the certainty of God’s judgement. A consequence of this is that ‘death - eternity - God - will all be surprises to him,’ a prospect that Faber describes as one of ‘horror.’Footnote 98 This state of spiritual indiscipline and moral torpor, is remedied by the discipline of prayer and devotions that complement the practice of private prayer, such as examination of conscience, confession and spiritual reading.Footnote 99
The sermon The Knowledge of our Grace, is one of a series of five sermons entitled The management of our Grace, preached at Brompton during Lent 1858.Footnote 100 This focuses on ‘the Pelagianism of worldliness.’Footnote 101 Pelagianism was a Christian heresy which taught that individuals are able to save themselves without the need for God.Footnote 102 Faber is concerned that the majority of individuals wish to live without acknowledging God. Many, he reflects, live with a moral relativism which does not admit that there exist fundamental, unchangeable, eternal truths, an attitude that ‘makes us indifferent and callous to our eternal interests.’Footnote 103 Such an attitude is countered by a lifelong covenant with God in the form of long-term commitment to prayer. Because God is ‘only availably present in the present’, prayer represents reality, ‘an atmosphere of light [which] has the power to detain God.’Footnote 104 This is therefore, an ‘amulet against delusion.’Footnote 105 It creates a habit of ‘sensitiveness to supernatural things,’ as the individual is able to freely move from prayer into everyday life and back.Footnote 106 This sense is also underlined in a short, rather characterless sermon for the Quarant ‘Ore or Forty Hours devotion to the Blessed Sacrament held during Lent 1855.Footnote 107 In The Business of our Sanctification, Faber preaches that the Quarant ‘Ore is an ideal opportunity for acquiring holiness by giving time to God in prayer, and he writes, ‘Whether mental or vocal, with book or without... let us pour out our whole souls in prayer.’Footnote 108
Faber is concerned that it is necessary for the individual to have solitude in order to pray. The logical and straightforward sermon The eye of God, preached at Brompton in 1853, begins in a conversational style by describing the ‘desire all have for privacy and solitude’, and noting the ‘constraining effect of a witness on all we do and say.’Footnote 109 He then moves forward to describe the presence of God as a witness to life, ‘sleepless, omnipresent, omnipotent [that] sees us and knows us better than we do ourselves.’Footnote 110 This at first somewhat oppressive reality becomes a source of consolation: it is characterised as ‘the honour of always being looked at by God.’Footnote 111
The sermon Holiness is an Inward Silence, preached at Brompton on mid Lent Sunday 1859, is a meditation on silence and prayer which begins, ‘We ought now to be feeling the effects of Lent in our souls, when God has drawn us so far into the wilderness.’Footnote 112 The ‘inward silence’ of the title is characterised by a cultivated all-pervasive awareness of, and openness to, God. This is one of Faber’s most successful sermons because of its creation of atmosphere and the completeness of his exploration of the notion of silence. It also suggests something of the workings of Faber’s inner life and personal relationship with God. For his readers and hearers it provides a sense that Faber inhabits a completely spiritual milieu that Roman Catholicism has created for him, and which he now applies to the temporal circumstances of his parishioners. Faber states that the two pivotal moments of the church’s year, the Nativity and the Resurrection, take place during the silence of the night.Footnote 113 For Faber, God is ‘silent as the grave [and] eternity is more silent than any grave’, as is the ‘Silence round the Throne’ at the end of time.Footnote 114 He applies this notion to private prayer, writing ‘Scripture represents it [prayer] as a solitude; God’s chosen time and place and chance so to call it, as if He was too bashful to speak in public, or as if it was below His dignity, or as though what he had to say was meant only for ourselves.’Footnote 115 Later in the same document he writes, ‘Prayer: a speaking to God in silence – a hearing of God in silence – it grows to be a speaking to God by silence: silence is the height of worship: what is ecstasy but the silence of the soul struck dumb with the beautifulness of God?’Footnote 116
Faber also preached of attitudes and attributes of the individual which either damage the balance of the subtle relationship with God or obliterate it entirely. In the sermon The Jealousy of Grace (Brompton, 1858), he observes that ‘certain kinds of prayer and other gifts when forfeited seem forfeited finally’ and later, ‘withdrawn graces seldom come again.’Footnote 117 Faber’s aim here was to encourage individuals not only to move away from lax observance of the spiritual life towards something more profound, personal and meaningful, but also not to waver in their spiritual observance. He writes of character traits which are detrimental to sensitivity to God’s presence within the individual, warning, ‘an effusion of talk or a loud laugh is enough to make us insensible to it. A long talk, however innocent, is uncongenial to the Holy Ghost; a loud laugh frightens him away like a startled antelope flying to its coverts.’Footnote 118
Devotional practices
Faber encouraged his parishioners to cultivate fervent and highly emotional devotional practices in order to create and sustain their own private spiritual lives. He recommended the use of medals, scapulars, images of saints and pictures of religious subjects, rosaries, crucifixes and statues as aids to achieving and sustaining this, whether used in private or on visits to the Church. A number are used as subjects for sermons. In Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, preached at Brompton during Lent 1856, Faber writes of the crucifix, ‘The crucifix is the meaning of everything to us. We must view all things in its light, and judge all things by its principles. It must be the object of our imitation. And to be so, it must be the subject of our daily meditations.’Footnote 119 The conclusion of an undated sermon God so Little Loved is worth quoting in full as an example of Faber’s oratorical style regarding the crucifix. We can imagine his parishioners being moved by such a passage, which also illustrates the importance of spiritual imaging and personal devotional items. He writes, ‘Driven by a holy despair by the awful sense of dead and dying souls around you, what sacrifices are we making for Him who sacrificed Himself upon the Cross for you. Look the crucifix in the face, and answer these questions, not to me, but to Him.’Footnote 120
Faber recommends that parishioners cultivate devotions to saints or angels, by joining a confraternity, such as one ‘in honour of the Holy Angels’ and practice devotions to the Guardian Angel each day in order to ‘keep his continual presence in a lively manner before our minds.’Footnote 121 Furthermore, he preaches that individuals should ‘preserve careful modesty of external demeanour, so as not to offend the purity of his eye [and] have ... in our room, a picture of him, and salute it when we go out or come in.’Footnote 122 Such devotions are also recommended to the family and friends of parishioners and Faber advises them ‘to get a habit, either in the house or walking out, of spending part of each day in company with our Guardian Angel alone.’Footnote 123
As well as mental prayer, Faber recommends vocal prayers such as the rosary, litanies and intercessory prayers, both in private and within the context of the Mass. He considers it important for an individual to have a definite structure for the spiritual life. A plan, devised by the individuals themselves or by their parish priest or spiritual director, is recommended in a sermon entitled The Church in Intercession (1851).Footnote 124 Faber encouraged parishioners and priests of the Oratory to dedicate each year to a particular saint. On this occasion, he also recommends devotion to Mary because she is ‘the head of intercessory prayer now, since the Ascension.’Footnote 125 He also advises that an individual practise an ‘act of virtue’ associated with ‘a saint [or] an object’ as a vehicle for intercessory prayer.Footnote 126
Cheerfulness and happiness are important within Faber’s sermons on the spiritual life. An undated sermon entitled Personal Holiness, which was probably preached in Ireland in 1851 begins: ‘What we want is power and light and love . . . in personal holiness.’Footnote 127 Faber speaks unpretentiously, in a way that is outwardly simple yet multi-layered. He presents a supernatural reality, an invisible world of God and angels which is approachable, emotional and warm, never remote or distant. He suggests that his listeners practice a spirituality that is ‘Cheerful and hopeful’ in order to create ‘peace.’Footnote 128 This trait illustrates the extent to which he empathised with the spirituality of St Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratory, who practiced such a spirituality. In the undated sermon The Sacraments a Fountain of Happiness, Faber contrasts youth and age. He preaches, ‘it is the business of youth to be happy’, before telling his parishioners ‘Religion must be your chief happiness… sin… your only real unhappiness’, and reminding them of ‘eternal happiness with God.’Footnote 129 The conclusion of a sermon entitled Little Discouragements, preached at Brompton during 1860, aimed to encourage his parishioners to persevere in the spiritual life despite problems and temptations.Footnote 130 There is no sense of apophatic theology in Faber.Footnote 131 His theology is always practical and positive, writing, ‘I am afraid you will think me most provokingly and perversely cheerful. But the fact is, I have no eye for darkness. I can never see anything but light anywhere.’Footnote 132
Health and illness in the spiritual life
During his life as a Roman Catholic, Faber became gradually more and more unwell.Footnote 133 He occasionally mentions illness in sermons, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally. The sermon Hints for Valetudinarians (n.d.), suggests a spiritual régime for those who are ill. These individuals are instructed to avoid ‘long meditations... [and] pray in postures which do not incommode the body.’Footnote 134 He suggests that they should ‘avoid long church functions [and] not… perform spiritual exercises shortly after meals.’Footnote 135 This sermon contains the notion that it is legitimate for individuals to ask ‘for the gift of the sensible presence of God.’Footnote 136 This is allowable particularly if the individual concerned has, like Faber himself, had long periods of illness which have made the practice of more stringent devotions impractical. Faber also preached that such an individual should be surrounded ‘with Holy Pictures and Images… think as seldom as possible of past sins… avoid solemnity of manner [and] devote yourself to ejaculatory prayer.’Footnote 137 The simplicity and emotion in this particular sermon is reminiscent of the spirituality of St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) who, like Faber, also possessed a deep sense of austerity. These notions also occur in Faber’s own private devotional milieu and it is notable that throughout his life he continually expected some sort of religious experience as a sign of the authenticity of a spiritual life.Footnote 138 As he did not keep a diary, however, we cannot know whether such experiences happened. Faber did not allow those to whom he was spiritual director to keep a journal, spiritual diary, notes or ‘note down spiritual sentiments on paper.’Footnote 139 He believed that it would encourage scrupulosity and give the individual a false, and possibly over optimistic, sense of their spiritual importance and level of attainment.Footnote 140 It illustrates a lifelong pessimism with regard to the spiritual development of both himself and others, a thought which is well developed in his spiritual writings as a whole.
The Eucharist
Hardening of Heart from Slovenly Communions, given at Brompton in 1861, is concerned with the role that the Eucharist should have within the spiritual life of the individual.Footnote 141 In this sermon, Faber summarizes the problems which arise when people lose fervour, become disinterested with their spiritual life and gradually cease to take devotion seriously. He preaches, ‘We get used to devotions, and feel less sensible sweetness . . . we get used to eternal truths, and so are less frightened by them... we get used to our own little sins, and so put up with them more contentedly.’Footnote 141 The latter part of this sermon suggests that ‘very few people should have very frequent communion’.Footnote 143 Faber, like others of the period, believed that there was a ‘danger of communion too frequent for the life we are living.’Footnote 144 He suggested that his parishioners should either live better lives or go to communion less often in order to avoid making ‘life one long broken promise.’Footnote 145 He preached ‘Is it best to lessen our communions or to lift our lives? Of course to lift our lives.’Footnote 146 For Faber, frequent communion should only be practised by those who lived in monasteries or who practiced ‘a life of singular mortification,’ those who had ‘pressure of sorrows’ or who possessed ‘a great gift of the fear of God and of profound reverence’, such as saints.Footnote 147
Public worship
In Faber’s sermons, public worship complements private devotion. He wrote, ‘Pleasure in Church services and devotions... shows a taste which may be a root of heaven.’Footnote 148 Because Faber is always concerned with personal discipline, he notes that attending church is more meritorious when it is ‘inconvenient’ for the individual, due to pressure from social activities or work.Footnote 149 He also preaches of the necessity of ‘valuing outward things of our religion, and outward profession of faith.’Footnote 150 In a sermon entitled Lay Piety, one of a series of undated short papers, Faber gives an insight into his priestly view of lay people, the majority of his parishioners. Writing of the importance of lay people hearing sermons, he notes ‘one great good of them is that they have to listen as inferiors, as to an oracle, and this is much to those whom nobody else dare thwart’.Footnote 151 Whether he thought of lay people as inferior is unclear; it may have been a figure of speech. Within this sermon, Faber recommends that lay people practice ‘almsgiving,’ ‘spiritual reading,’ attendance at the Eucharist on Sundays, weekdays and major feasts, and ‘carefulness to be in sympathy with the church.’Footnote 152
Other services mentioned by Faber in these sermons include Benediction, the Quarant ‘Ore (Forty Hours) and Stations of the Cross, all of which were part of the pastoral provision of the London Oratory during Lent. The Stations of the Cross are recommended to parishioners as a devotion that was important historically to Christians. It is part of Faber’s literary and oratorical style to refer to history in order to underline the orthodoxy of a recommendation given from the pulpit. In the sermon Setting up the Stations preached during 1854, Faber notes that this devotion applied particularly to those who were subsequently canonised and those who had a particularly profound devotion to Mary.Footnote 153 Attentiveness to remembrance of Jesus’ passion highlights the emotional involvement and immediacy that Faber always expects the individual to have with the object of their devotion, a practice that applies to all devotions but particularly those connected with Jesus and Mary. Faber writes of ‘Our Lord’s pain at want of devotion to the Passion’.Footnote 154 He concludes, ‘O my Saviour! O my Saviour! How I wish I could think He had had some consolation from knowing that I should be devoted to His Passion before I died!’Footnote 155
Confraternities, such as that of the Precious Blood, were popular elements of the Oratory apostolate.Footnote 156 A sermon preached by Faber in 1851 to the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at St John’s Church, Islington, whose parish priest was Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), contains the idea that confraternities ‘give unity to a parish, and are the strength of a pastor: they blend the parishes of a city.’Footnote 157 Faber observes that they allow parishioners an edifice within which to express their personality and individuality in devotion as well as their conformity to a group within the wider church which collectively helps others within the community.Footnote 158 This idea occurs throughout Faber’s mature thought. On this occasion it is associated with giving alms and personal mortification, thereby creating a climate of ‘joy... sweetness of manner... frequentation of the sacraments... [and] zeal to get rid of sin and self.’Footnote 159 Pilgrimage is another aspect of the devotional life recommended in these sermons and Faber notes the validity of undertaking pilgrimages to shrines and places where miracles and apparitions have been documented, both in this country and abroad, particularly where these are associated with Mary.Footnote 160
The saints
In sermons on the spiritual life, Faber suggests that his parishioners study the lives of saints and use the saints as ‘guides’ in their life as a whole.Footnote 161 Such piety is an important part of Faber’s private and public spiritual world, and he uses examples from saints as diverse as Augustine, Bernard, Catherine of Siena, Dominic, Francis de Sales, Mary Magdalen Pazzi, Ignatius Loyola and Teresa of Avila. He wrote, ‘the saints are the most supernatural and Christ-like part of the Church’s work.’Footnote 162 In a sermon entitled The Fear of the Saints Footnote 163 he contrasts the holiness of saints and their empathy with God with the lukewarmness of individual Catholics in general, noting that, in contrast to the saints, ‘weakness of prayer is one of the feeblenesses (Sic) of our lives.’Footnote 164 It is, he wrote, a ‘great sign of a man being supernatural when he fears to offend a saint.’Footnote 165 Mary is an integral part of Faber’s spiritual writing, and in this sermon, he writes that as devotion to Mary was an important part of the religious milieu of the saints, it should be central to the life of the individual parishioner. He stated, ‘Their lives show that devotion to her was inseparable from all their growth and career; so that it was not an accident, but a property of their holiness.’Footnote 166
Depth and practical action in the spiritual life
Faber constantly inculcates into his parishioners the sense that it is important to cultivate depth in their spiritual life.Footnote 167 The notion of being childish as opposed to being grown up or childlike, is a recurring theme in Faber’s thought.Footnote 168 A substantial sermon entitled Childishness is a meditation on human nature. Individuals seek earthly things which are undemanding, such as ‘dancing... eating... clothes... gossip... novels and wasting time’, instead of undertaking the effort required to serve God.Footnote 169 In this sermon, Faber encourages his congregation to shun the superficiality of society and the worldliness of popular culture, writing of ‘the fatigue we go through to be amused [and] an amusement seems no amusement unless it is undignified.’Footnote 170 These things are unproductive because they are infinitely less than the Beatific Vision, whereas Faber wants individuals to become saints by loving ‘Masses, sermons and all the outwards of religion.’Footnote 171 He writes, ‘our end is to see God.’Footnote 172 A related preoccupation in these sermons is the shortness of life and the notion that life ‘steals over us so swiftly and so treacherously.’Footnote 173 Remembrance of this fact is presented as being vital for Faber’s parishioners; firstly because the past is irrevocable, secondly because the eternal destiny of the individual is dependent on the use of time on earth, and thirdly, because each individual has limited time remaining in order to take responsibility to God seriously.Footnote 174 In a sermon entitled On Frittering, Faber is concerned that individuals fritter away time, energy, money, intellectual ability, periods of study, ‘thought and originality’ and, most importantly, waste God’s grace.Footnote 175 He writes that frittering ‘implies want of earnestness.’Footnote 176 It shows ‘too great an influence and repose in the present’ and is ‘the evil of the day’.Footnote 177 In the sermon The Jealousy of Grace, preached in 1858, Faber preaches, ‘There is a certain flightiness and flippancy, a certain deep-laid frivolity in the soul of man, which is to me the most inexplicable of its phenomena, and by far the most painful of its problems.’Footnote 178 In the sermon How is it that Life is Short? he ventures that ‘sleeping, eating, civility, pain and ill health’ are essentially a waste of time, and in the sermon The Jealousy of Grace censures individuals for their ‘love of bodily comforts.’Footnote 179 Faber cites as frivolous pastimes ‘useless occupations, and unnecessary amusement’ such as ‘dancing... crowded rooms... amusement... gossip... dreaming over novels.’Footnote 180 Elsewhere, he also cites excessive fondness for clothes, food and society, particularly that of ‘great people.’Footnote 181 The theme of childishness is also associated with the idea that indolence is fatal for the spiritual welfare of the religious individual.Footnote 182 Thus, a climate of ease and self-satisfaction is sinful, particularly when applied to people who should, and indeed could, easily have been more spiritual. Indeed, in a sermon for the Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi, 1860 Faber suggests that ‘one of the greatest surprises at our judgement will be the sight of what we might have done for God and have not done.’Footnote 183
For Faber, practical action is always necessary within the spiritual life.Footnote 184 Thoughts for Active Men suggests ‘Looking about to find good to do’ and ‘even making it for ourselves.’Footnote 185 Also highlighted is the notion that action is more meritorious when suggested by other individuals, such as the clergy or parish priest or by church traditions, such as almsgiving during Lent.Footnote 186 Sermons such as Self-Denial the Essence of Religion, and Lay Piety, both undated, as well as The Business of Our Sanctification (1855) emphasise action as a form of self-denial.Footnote 187 Action is needed in order to ‘prevent self-delusion... in prayer and devotional exercises.’Footnote 188 They also suggest the giving of alms and time to others as well as fasting and ‘interior mortification.’ Faber observes that the latter is an important substitute for fasting, in those who are unable to do so because of illness.Footnote 189
Faber advocates that individuals should ‘cultivate [a] sense of sin as an antidote against . . . human respect and worldliness.’Footnote 190 In sermons and other works, Faber has a high view of the contrasting virtue, that of spending life well, and it is characteristic of the working of Faber’s mind that this state is achieved by practising devotion and by frequenting the sacraments.Footnote 191 An undated sermon entitled Lay Piety recommends secret devotions, ‘annual retreats… bodily penance… profession of faith’, as well as attendance at the Eucharist, communion and confession, as contrary to the ever-present danger of wasting time.Footnote 192 Here, as throughout Faber’s sermons, duty to and love for God is of primary importance to the whole life of the individual. This is part of Faber’s profound, perhaps mystical, sense that ‘Our home is in the bosom of God’ and his awareness of the superficiality of the world which has ‘nothing to satisfy an interior want, whose hunger increases as the soul loves God more and more.’Footnote 193
Preaching and hearing sermons
In the undated sermon Hearing Sermons Faber stresses the importance of preaching the gospel, noting that despite the differing abilities of preachers, ‘the unction of the Holy Ghost goes out with the words.’Footnote 194 Attending sermons and homilies is therefore essential for parishioners as ‘it is coming to be told something about God from one who knows better than we do and then going to put this something into practice.’Footnote 195 Faber presents the tremendous, perhaps fanciful, idea that, ‘we have to give a separate account at the last day of every sermon we have heard, though long since forgotten.’Footnote 196 For this reason, he considers it important that individuals are not bored by listening to sermons or unduly impressed by their delivery. They should use the information given ‘humbly, wisely [and] reverently’, in order to grow in their spiritual lives by learning about God, scripture and doctrine.Footnote 197 In this context, ‘true love of hearing sermons… is one of the signs of predestination.’Footnote 198 It is symptomatic of Faber’s mindset that he also highlights negative attitudes to hearing sermons, including concern that individuals may be affected by ‘weariness’ in listening, be unduly critical of the sermon or preacher, or use it for the wrong reason: either to ‘seek mere consolation’ or to minimalize commitment to God.Footnote 199 For Faber, sermons should ‘make good people uncomfortable.’Footnote 200
Good people may well have been made uncomfortable if they were not prepared for the certainty of their future encounter with God, and aware of the everyday proximity of God’s eternal presence, revealed in a short undated sermon entitled Common things not realised sufficiently.Footnote 201 This encapsulates the whole of Faber’s teaching in sermons regarding the spiritual life, by bringing into sharp focus the fundamental reasons why the individual parishioner should conduct their spiritual and personal life as a whole with seriousness and devotion. Faber wrote,
There is a huge invisible world.
It is close to us.
It touches us already.
We have some day to be part of it.
We may fall through into it any moment.
The moment of this change is uncertain.
That all in it is fixed, doomed: it is a world of dooms.
That it embraces the extremes of weal and woe.
Any moment - and we are stopped by some one (Sic) –
and we look up: it is God.
Would any one seeing our lives dream we believed all this? Footnote 202
Conclusion
This study of Faber’s sermons on the spiritual life adds to knowledge of the mid-nineteenth century by highlighting a relatively unknown aspect of Faber’s literary output. Analysis of these sermons illustrates themes which recurred within Faber’s thought, and shows the extent to which these remained constant between 1847 and 1863. In displaying facets of the spiritual life that Faber considered important, these sermons also provide an entry into his private spiritual world and relationship with God. They are significant because they illustrate attitudes towards the spiritual life of an individual priest preaching to his congregation, thereby broadening our knowledge of individual ministries and lives of the period. In doing so, they highlight what was expected of parishioners in their relationship to God and the Roman Catholic Church, whilst also training them to combat the moral and spiritual challenges of living in the mid-nineteenth century.
