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TKc Catholic Hour
YOU
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2016
https://archive.org/details/youOOshee
YOU Eighteen addresses delivered
in
the nationwide Catholic
Hour, produced by
Men, in cooperation with the National Broadcasting Company, from December 3, 1944 through April 1, 1945.
the National Council of Catholic
BY RT. REV.
MSGR. FULTON
J.
SHEEN
of the
Catholic University of America
OUR SUNDAY
LiDSARY
HUNTINGTON, INDIANA
Third Edition April
1,
1947
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC MEN 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington 5, D. C.
Printed and diatribnted fey Onr Snndny Viaitor Pnntinffton, Indiana
Nihii Obstat;
REV. T. E
DILLON Censor Librorum
imDrimatur; 4-
JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, Bishop of Fort
Wayne
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Are You Happy?
What
Is
7
God Like?
12
What Are You Like? How You Got That Way Who Can Re-make You? Is
17 21
26
Religion Purely Individual?
31
How You Are Re-made
86
Faith
41
Hope
46
1
Charity
51
The Hell There
66
Is
The Value Of Ignorance
61
The Secret of Sanctity
66
The Fellowship of Religion Confidence In Victory Religion Is
A
Quest
72 !.
76 81
The Purpose Of Life
86
Easter
91
ARE YOU HAPPY? Address Delivered
Are you perfectly happy? Or are you
still
looking for happi-
On December
1944
3,
thought which would bring you perfect happiness. Even though did bring a measure of hap-
ness ? There can be no doubt that
it
at one time or another in your
piness,
which you believed would make you happy. When you got what you wanted, were you happy? Do you remember when you were a child, how ardently you looked forward to Christmas? How happy you thought you would be, with your fill of cakes, your hands glutted with toys, and your eyes dancing with the lights on the tree!
take your companion’s love for
Christmas came, and after you bad eaten your fill, blown out the last Christmas light, and play-
starts rolling,
your toys no longer amused, you climbed into your bed and said, in your own little
perfectly happy, but you are not.
heart of hearts, that somehow or
disillusionments.
life
ed
you
attained
that
till
other
it
did not quite
come up
you admit that you now
granted.
One
never thirsty at
is
the border of the well.
Perhaps
it
You
wanted.
was wealth you got it, and now it. “A make the Maybe it was a
you are afraid of losing golden bit does not better horse.”
desire to be well-known that you
You
craved.
known tion
it
become
did
well-
only to find that reputa-
a ball; as soon as
is like
men begin
it
to kick
around.
The Your
fact is: you
life
want
to be
has been a series of shocks,
disappointments,
and
How
have you your disappointments?
reacted to
And have
Either you became cynical or else
you not lived that experience over a thousand times since? You looked forward to the joys of travel, but when your weary feet carried you home you admitted that the two happiest days were the day you left home and the day you got back. Perhaps it was marriage you
you beyou blamed things, If you rather than yourself. were married you said: “If I had another husband, or another
to
your expectations.
you became
came
wife,
you job
religious. If
cynical,
would be happy.” Or “If I had another
I
said: .
.
.
”; or, “If I visited an-
other night-club
.
.
.
”; or, “If
!
YOU
8 I
were
another
in
happy.”
be
every
In
would
to
instance,
it
city, I
happiness, not only because
makes you take pleasures
you made happiness extrinsic to yourself. No wonder you are never happy. You are chasing
cessively,
mirages
of time!
until
death
overtakes
But cynicism did not work, because
seeking
in
missed
Pleasure of the
the
pleasures
joys
of
life.
of the body; joy
is
mind and
Newburg tain
is
The more you
You can
look at
it
even
made them
joyful.
it
it
may
your happiness has with the eternal
sonable.
rea-
begins by asking:
It
“Why am I “How
disappointed”; and
can
then,
Why are you
I
avoid it?”
disappointed? Be-
cause of the tremendous dispro-
even begin
portion between your desires and your realizations. Your soul has
beyond
for
example,
a certain infinity about
But the
cause
;
disap-
to
much more
is
drinking.
point
or
“Time
ceases to be
to be a pain if carried
certain
say,
to do
pointment
pleasure can be increas-
a pleasure;
You
The other reaction
the
quickly become tired of
ed to a point where
tickling
passing of time.
passed like everything.” Maybe, therefore,
but not
yourself, the
you are of the
conscious
something
pleasures, but you never tire of
A
The more you enjoy less
heart. Lobster
people,
say that
a
are unconscious of the passing
gives pleasure to cer-
most avid lobster fans would ever
joys.
are never really happy until you
the clock, the less happy you are
you.
you
suc-
but also because you
it
is
spiritual.
it,
be-
But your
joy of a good conscience, or the
body, like the world about you,
joy of a First Communion, or
is
the discovery of a truth, never
cribbed,
turns to pain.
imagine a mountain of gold, but you will never see one. In like manner, you look forward to
Furthermore, have you noticed that as your desire for pleasure increased, the satisfaction
the pleasure decreased?
think
a
philosophy
right that
is
of
from
Do you life
is
based on the law
of diminishing returns?
You think you are having good time greatest
;
but time really
obstacle
in
is
a
the
the world
material,
limited,
confined.”
“cabined,
You
can
some earthly pleasure, or posiand once you
tion, or state of life,
attain it you begin to feel the tremendous disproportion between the ideal you imagined and the reality you possess. DisEvery follows. appointment earthly ideal is lost by being
ARE YOU HAPPY?
9
The more material
feet of trampling throngs, be-
your ideal, the greater the disappointment; the more spiritual
darkness. If you are to find the
possessed.
it is,
the less the disillusionment.
Having discovered why you are disappointed, you take the
next step of trying to avoid dis-
You ask
appointments entirely. yourself
above
“What do
:
things?”
all
know
all
miore
truths, not the
You
also
All the
a cry, a moan,
lifted
is
it
more
above
the
laments.
it
manner,
like
if
and Love, you must
and a weeping. The more pure it is, the more it pleads; the earth, the
In
sun.
a
love without end. is
the
go
truths of economics alone, to the
poetry of love
something that has no admixture of darkness or shadow, namely, to pure light, which is
Life, Truth,
exclusion of history.
want
source of light you must go out to
You want
life,
to
mingled with
3^u are to
;
want
is
desire
I
and perfect truth, and perfect love. Nothing short of the Infinite satisfies you, and to ask you to be satisfied with less would be to destroy your nature. You want life, not for two more years, but always you perfect
cause their light
out
to
find
the source of
life
that
is
not
mingled with its shadow, death; to a Truth not mingled with its shadow, error; and to a Love not
mingled with
shadow, something that is Pure Life, Pure Truth, Pure Love, and that is the defihate.
You go out
its
to
And
nition of God.
the reason
you have been disappointed is because you have not yet found
Him! It is God you are looking for. Your unhappiness is not due to your want of a fortune, or high
or fame, or sufficient
position,
With your feet on earth, you dream of heaven creature of
vitamins
time, you despise
but to a want of something in-
;
it;
flower of a
day, you seek to eternalize yourself.
Why
Truth,
do you want Life,
Love,
unless
made for them? How
you were could you
enjoy the fractions unless there
were
a
whole?
they? Where
is
Whence come the source of
light in the city street at
Not under
noon?
autos, buses, nor the
want
;
it
is
due not to a
of something outside you,
side you.
You cannot
soul with husks
I
If the
satisfy a
sun could
speak, it would say that it was happy when shining; if a pencil could speak it would say that it was happy when writing ^for these were the purposes for which they were made. You were made for perfect happiness. That
—
!
YOU
10
your purpose. No wonder everything short of God disap-
when
points you.
to their
But have you noticed that when you realize you were made
perfect
is
for Perfect Happiness,
how much
less disappointing the pleasures
become? You cease ex-
of earth
and forget the Giver; and
gift,
the gifts,
Maker,
out of loyalty
fail to give
and disillusioned. Change your entire point of view!
Life
is
not
Disappointments
sows’ ears. Once you realize that
markers
on
God
saying:
“Perfect
your end, you are not
you put no more hope in things than they disappointed,
can bear.
for
You
first^ate joys
of
find
to see that friend-
possession, the sunset
After enjoying the good things
were
human
to say: If the
love is so bright
then what must be the Flame Unfortunately, so
may have
many become
enamored of the
gifts
the
satisfaction
cities
around
the
in
Start
this
world,
with
contour, like a Valentine Heart.
There seems
to be a small piece
missing out of the side of every
human
That may be
heart.
to
symbolize a piece that was torn
out of the Heart of Christ which embraced all humanity on the Cross. But I think the real meaning is that when God made your human heart. He found it so good and so lovable that He heaven.
that they
be-
insufficiency
kept
their
satisfied,
satisfied,
your and begin a search for perfection. Begin with your own emptiness and seek Him who can fill it. Look at your heart! It tells the story of why you were made. It is not perfect in shape and
own
on the roadway of
life
never
you cannot.
great Giver of Life has dropped build
been
is
pas-
cause while your passions can
!
spark of
life,
happiness
where there are
and the evening star, masterpieces of art and music, the gold and silver of earth, the industries and the comforts of life, are all He dropped them gifts of God. on the roadway of life, to remind you that if these are so beautiful, then what must be Beauty He intended them to be bridges to cross over to Him. of life you
merely of
Though your
here.”
sions
road
you were
ship, the joys of marriage, the thrill
not
the
mockery.
a
are
cease looking for
only tenth-rate pleasures.
You begin
rebel
against God and become cynical
pecting to get silk purses out of
is
them
they
happiness,
a
small
He
sample of
it
sent the rest of
into this world to enjoy
His
in it
gifts.
!
ARE YOU HAPPY? and
to
use
them as stepping
11
anyone with your whole heart,
stones back to Him, but to be
in order to be really peaceful, in
ever mindful that you can never
order to be really whole-heart-
love anything in this world with
ed,
your whole heart because you have not a whole heart with which to Love. In order to love
God
you must go back again to to recover the piece
He has
been keeping for you from eternity
all
WHAT How
GOD
IS
Address Delivered
do you think of God?
Do you
who
sulks and
pouts and becomes angry
you
if
do not worship and glorify Him and who is happy and grateful to you when you go to Church and pray to Him?
Or do you think
of
God as a
benevolent
grandfather v/ho
indifferent
to
'mg If
as
is
you
nine times out of ten yourself.
will
it
then you are a god; and are a god and your
be
no God
is
you
if
own law and
your own creator, then
I
am
an
The basic reason there little worship of God today
atheist. is
so
because
is
man
denies he
is
a
creature.
But we have not yet
you enjoy yourselves?
answered
the
two views of God, you cannot understand either why you should worship God, or
can be good
if
He
Why
how God
does not
you do as you please. Let us start with the
let
first dif-
a con-
traction of “worth-ship.”
It is
a manifestation of the worth in
which we hold another person. When you applaud an actor on
because
You
if
be
imperfect
you do not, but imperfect
you are a father, do you
If
him.
Every time a man takes off his hat to a lady, he is “worshipworship God
acknowledge in some
way His Worth, His Power, His Goodness, and His Truth.
little
such as a penny chocolate
gift,
from your boy? Why do it more than a box of Corona Coronas from your cigar,
you value
insurance agent?
find
“worshipping”
to
will
because you will be
you
Now
He
and unhappy
!mother,
to
“Why
have a duty to worship God, not
the stage, or a returning hero,
ping” her.
:
not like to receive a tiny
is
are
question
should you worship God?”
and unhappy.
worship God?
The word “worship”
means
there
If
what you do so
you hold either of these
ficulty:
10, 1944
you do not worship God, worship something, and
If
think of God as Some-
one on a throne
LIKE?
On December
ful
a of
your
does
not
If
you are a
your
heart
greater joy in a handyellow
little
dandelions
from
daughter, than in a
bouquet of roses from a dinner
Do these trivialities make you richer? Do you need them? Would you be imperfect guest?
WHAT without
them?
They
solutely
of
no
utility
are
IS ab-
GOD LIKE?
13
The more he
loves,
the poorer
to
you!
he thinks his gifts are.
And yet you love them. why? Because by these
And
gave
gifts
your children are “worshipping” acknowledging they are you; your
your goodness, and
love,
by doing so they are perfecting that
themselves,
along the lines
is,
of
her
a
million,
If he
he
think he had fallen short.
still
If he
gave everything, even that
would not be enough.
One of the
reasons he takes price tags his
gifts
ashamed, but because he does
rather
not wish to establish a propor-
love
between his gift and his
tion love.
becoming more perfect children and more happy children. As you do not need dandelions and chocolate cigars, neither does God need your worship.
her
But
our perfection, not God’s.
your worth
in
a sign of
is
your children’s
eyes, then is not prayer, adoration,
and worship a sign of God’s
worth
our eyes?
in
And
if
you
do not need your children’s worship,
why
do you think God needs
But
yours?
your children tion,
if
the worship of
is
for their perfec-
not yours, then
may
not
His
love,
and
yourself
not
give
in
doing that you make
happy. gifts
because she
is
A to
lover
the
poor;
does
beloved
he gives
gifts because she is already in
his eyes possessed of all gifts.
they
is
The
gift
hers.
inadequate.
By
no longer nothing. his perfection, not
is
Worship
in like
manner
is
God would still be perfectly happy if you never existed. God has no need of your love, for there is nothing in you, of and by yourself, which makes you lovable to God. Most of us are fortunate to have even a spark of affection from our fellow
God does not love us same reason that we love
creatures.
others.
press devotion, dependence, and
make
giving, he
His perfection, but yours? Woryour opportunity to ex-
not
but
gifts
less
for the
is
do
precious,
more make him
your worship of God be not for ship
is
developing
than ingratitude, and therefore
giving
off
not because he
is
than hate, thankfulness rather
if their
would
We
of need
love others because
and incompleteness. But
God does not needs us.
love us because
He
He
loves us because
He
put some of His love in us. God does not love us because we
are valuable;
because
God
He
we
are
valuable
loves us.
thirsts for
your
love, not
YOU
14
because you are His waters of everlasting
life,
are the thirst,
He
way
the
He
wants.
the waters.
needs you only because you
need Him.
judged his father's goodness by
but because you
Him
Without
you
the father satisfied his
But when he returned much wiser young man, he
a
merely asked for what he needed
:
are imperfect; but without you,
a restoration of a father’s love;
He
and hence he said: “Make me.”
is
Perfect.
still
It
is
the
echo that needs the Voice, and not
the
Voice
that
needs
the
power
echo.
Now we come
to
misunderstanding
God which
his cross; ed.
interprets His Good-
Him
ing father
than as a
grandfather
who
a lov-
less as
doting
likes to see
His
amuse themselves even
when they are breaking
things,
commandments. Too many assume that God is good only when He gives us what including
His
we want. We are like children who think our parents do not love us because they do not give
to
or
revolvers,
make us go
because
to school.
understand goodness,
make
they
left
said,
the
His power to take him into Par-
what he needed. The Goodness of God means that God gives us what we need for our perfection, not what we want for our pleasure and sometimes for. our destruction. As adise; that is
a sculptor,
He sometimes
applies
the chisel to the marble of our
imperfect selves and knocks off huge chunks of selfishness that His image may better stand re-
Like a musician, when-
vealed.
He
we must
loose on the violin of our per-
a distinction between get-
son
thief on the right judg-
ever
what we want and getting what we need. Is God good only when He gives us what we want, or is He good when He gives us what we need even though we do not want it? When the prodigal
The
ed the goodness of Our Lord by
In order
ting
house he
Our Lord by His him down from that is what he wanttake
to
concerning
and regards
children
thief on the left judged
that other
ness as indifference to justice,
us
The
the goodness of
Father's
“Give me.”
He
sonality,
though
finds
He it
the
strings
tightens
hurts,
too
them even
that
we may
better reveal our hidden harmonies.
soul
As
the Supreme Lover of our
He
does care
how we
act
and think and speak. What father does not want to be proud of his son? If the father speaks with authority now and then to
WHAT
IS
hi« son, it is not because he is
OOD LIKE? That
15
one of the
is
many
reasons
a dictator, but because he wants
why
him
ular institutions have no relig-
to be a
as there
worthy
is love,
So long
son.
there
is
neces-
sarily a desire for the perfect-
ing of the beloved.
And
that
is
precisely the
way
God’s goodness manifests itself
God
to us.
because
He
really loves us,
loves us
disinterested.
He
so
They know about God, but know God. And because they do not love what they ion.
they do not
already know, because they do not act on their belief, even the
and
little
not
They
is
He no more wants
they have rattle
the
God
to be satisfied with
most of us as we to
really are is
ask that God cease to love.
Think of the thousands you whom you could never love. You may even wonder how their mothers could love them. But God loves them! He even loves them more than He loves us who look down on them with disdain and scorn. If you want to know about have met
God, there
is
only one
way
to
do it: get down on your knees. You can make His acquaintance
by investigation, but you can win His love only by loving.
Arguments
will tell
you God ex-
ists, for God’s existence can be proved by reason; but only by surrender will you come to know
Him
intimately.
is
taken away.
milk
cans
of
Atheism is born from of a bad conscience. Disbelief comes from sin, not from reason. the milk.
own parents want you to be unhappy. God made you not for His happiness, but for yours, and
the
theology but they never drink
you to be unhappy than your
to ask
professors in sec-
womb
This God,
it
is
is
not a broadcast about a plea to love God.
Worship Him because He is your perfection, more than knowledge is the perfection of the mind. Love Him because you cannot be happy without Love. Love Him quite apart from all you are, for you have the right to love Him in your heart, even though you do not always succeed in loving
Him
in
Think a little less about whether you deserve to be loved by Him; He loves you even though you are not deserving it is His love alone that will make you deserving. It is love that confers value. “Nobody loves me” is the equivalent your
acts.
—
Hence the more important the person who of being valueless.
—
:
YOU
16
loves you, the
your value.
more precious
You
is
precious because you are loved
by God. Most of you are unhappy because you never give
God a chance
to love you.
You
are in love only with yourself. In
the
magnificent
lines
Thompson, God may well you “
.
.
.
Of
meriting: How has thou m.erited man’s clotted clay the din-
all
giest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not worthy of any love
How
little
thou art! Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee.
of
ask
Wherefore should any set thee love apart? Seeing none but I makes much of naught' (He said). ‘
‘And human love needs human
are infinitely
Save Me, save only Me?’ ”
Say
to yourself over
and over
again regardless of what hap-
pens
:
“God
“And Him!” add
:
loves I
me I” And
then
try
love
will
to
WHAT ARE YOU
LIKE?
Address Delivered On December
Thus far we have answered two questions Why were you made, and what is God like? Now :
we
What
ask:
are you like?
out of
inmost nature.
it its
What do you
find it to
ture
is
your human na-
You
disorganized.
feel
frustrated; your realizations are anti-climaxes; they turn out to
Take your heart into your hand as a kind of crucible and distill
1944
17,
“kink”;
a
is
be? Are
be the opposite of what you ex-
You
pected.
not
yourself,
more obvious
are a problem to
because
of
your
faults, but because
you not really a bundle of con-
the better part of you so often
tradictions? Is there not a dis-
goes wrong.
parity between what you ought
and what you actually do? not sometimes feel like a radio tuned in to two distinct stations, heaven and hell, getting neither, but only static and confusion worse confounded. The old Latin poet Ovid probably expressed your sentiments perfectly when he said: “I see and ap-
Your
soul is the battlefield of
to do,
Do you
low.”
your
expressed
inmost
is
name
is
“legion”
— you
unifying purpose in
have no
life;
there
only a succession of choices,
but there to
of
Your
law of your mind.
the
is
The law
fighting against
is
no one over-all goal
which everything
You are
is
subordi-
split into
many
life,
worlds: eyes, ears, heart, body, I
fol-
Paul too very likely
St.
war.
civil
your members
nated.
prove the better things of the worse things of life
a great
and
soul.
How
moods
explain
this
basic con-
“For the good
tradiction within you? There are
which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do”
four false explanations: psycho-
(Romans 7:19).
economic.
when he
cried out:
divided
cause
you
is
do, it.
biological,
intellectual,
The psychological
ex-
choose
within you to something peculiar
rather than what
you as an individual, your As a child you were probably frightened by a mouse in a dark closet during
best for you.
you always
logical,
planation attributes this tension
more
like,
feel dual,
be-
against
what you
You
yourself,
often
And when you
feel the
worse for
Somehow within you
there
to
erotic impulses:
YOU
18
thunderstorm while reading a book on sex. This hardly fits the facts because you are not the only one who is “that way”; everyone is. There is nothing queer about But there is something you. a
human
queer about
nature.
Do
you think that basically you are any different from anyone else
you have a
in the world, or that
monopoly on temptations, or that you alone find it hard to be good, or that you alone suffer remorse when you do evil. It is human nature that
queer, not you.
is
The second
false
that
is
biological:
in
your nature
is
explanation is,
the kink
due to a
fall
mal
!
Evil
in you.
when you
be a nut.” But
man
acting
is
not due to the ani-
Your human nature
very different from the animal’s. There is a great disconti-
see a
unreasonably,
you
say: “Don’t be a monkey.”
Man
alone can be sub-human; he can
sink to the level of a beast.
that though he like
may
The
man
peculiar thing about a
is
cease to act
a man, he never loses the
imprint of
human
dignity.
divine image with which he
The was
stamped is never destroyed; it is merely defaced. Such is the essence of man’s tragedy. We did not evolve from the beast;
we
We
did
we why
fall
devolved to the beast. not rise from the animal; to the animal.
That
is
saved.
what
un-
nothing
less the soul is saved,
in evolution.
No
throwing banana peels at
zoo,
spectators, you never say: “Don’t
is
Evil in us presupposes it
defaces.
As we
never,
is
never
nuity between a beast and a hu-
God, so we could never be inhuman without being human.
man.
As Chesterton says: “You
never have to dig very deep to find the record of a
man drawing
a picture of a monkey, but no
one has yet dug deep enough to find the record of a monkey
drawing the picture of a man.”
An it
animal cannot
sin,
cannot rebel against
its
monkey acting
be
The third
godless
without
false explanation at-
tributes the evil in you to of education;
want
you are perverse
because you are ignorant. Once you are educated, you will be good.
No! You do not have
this in-
because
ner
nature.
lack knowledge, for the educated
He must Mlow it. But we can sin, because we merely ought to When you follow our nature. see a
can
crazily in a
contradiction
are not
all
make you
you
saints and the igno-
rant are not
enment
because
all devils.
does
not
better.
Enlight-
necessarily
Never before
WHAT ARE YOU LIKE? in the history of the
there
much
so
world was
never before was there so
coming
to the
truth.
Much
and
education,
little
knowledge of the of
of evil.
It
makes
clever devils
stupid
The
instead
of
world
not in a muddle because
is
treasury of faith and morality.
devils.
not the world’s arithmetic
It is
that
incorrect
is
;
it is
our morals
that are bad.
modern educa-
tion is merely a rationalization
19
Since this perversion of hu-
man
nature
since
is
universal, that
your personality ex-
(not just
or mine)
clusively
is,
human nature
affects
it
it
must be
of stupidity of the intellect, but
due to something that happened
because of perversity of the
to
We know
enough:
It
is
will.
our
choices that are wrong.
human nature animal
not
Finally, the socialist explana-
itself
at
very origin; secondly, since has
in
its
its it is
but
origin,
the earmarks of being de-
all
and the result of a free must not be a part of
tion of this tension does not ex-
liberate
plain the facts; namely, people
choice,
are wicked because they are poor.
God’s original work, but must have come into being through some subsequent fault; thirdly,
Never
before
were
standards so high.
living
All the poor
are not wicked, and
all
the rich
you had all the money in the world, you would still have that bias toward evil. If poverty were the are not virtuous.
cause of venile
evil,
why
If
that ju-
is it
delinquency increases in
periods of prosperity and
does religion prosper in the of poverty? If poverty
cause of
evil,
why vow
were the
then riches should
be the source of virtue?
If that
why are not the wealthy paragons of virtue? The world has not just made a few is
so,
the
mistakes in bookkeeping which
any expert accountant or economic adviser can correct; rather, the world has swindled the
it
since evil is not merely a byproduct of bad environment but is endemic in the heart of man, it
cannot be explained except on
the basis of a universal fracture of some great moral law to which
we
are
all
bound.
Some
acts of
disobedience can be remedied. If I
throw a stone through a win-
dow,
I
can put in a
new
one.
But there are other kinds
of
disobedience that are irremediable,
for
example,
drinking
poison. Since evil is so universal
must be due to a disobedience of the second kind,
in the world, it
which has affected us most nature.
An
in
our in-
unequivocal voice in your
:
YOU
20
moral
consciousness
tells
you
Finally,
do not believe
that
that your acts of wrong-doing
religion consists only in moral
are abnormal facts in your na-
platitudes and pious exhortations
They ought not to be. There is something wrong inGod made us one side of us. way; in virtue of our freedom, we made ourselves another way. He wrote the drama we changed
which cheer you up on the road-
ture.
;
the plot.
You
are not an ani-
mal that failed to evolve into a human you are a human who re;
of
life
regardless
the
of
road you take. In their place, start rebuilding
your life with these three truths which alone do justice to your
human
nature.
Though you are not
indefinite-
ly progressive, neither are
you a
If
depraved criminal. You are not
are a riddle to ourselves, the
a saint, neither are you a devil.
belled
we
way
against the
Divine.
blame is not to be put on God, but on us. This being so, before you can be happy, you must throw overboard these three false notions which the nineteenth century put into your mind The first is the idea that you are naturally good and progresthanks to evolution, sive, and science, and inevitable progress you are destined to become better and better until you become a kind of god. Two world wars in twenty-one years and the prospect of a third world war very soon knocks that false optimism
The tendency toward
into a cocked hat.
cause of sin you feel like a fish on top of the Empire State Build-
—
—
Discard also the idea that in order to come to God and religion,
you must be good.
is
you
evil in
not an irremediable flaw, but
an accident that can be repaired. It is due to a bad choice and can be remedied by a right choice. To come to religion, you need not be good. Rather you come to
God because you are not good.
you were perfectly good, you would not need God. As our Lord said: “They that are well have no need of a physician If
.
{Mark 2:17). You are right
in not
.
wanting
a religion of moral platitudes.
What you want
is
a religion of
deliverance and redemption. Be-
ing;
somehow
or other you are
outside of your environment.
HOW YOU GOT THAT WAY Address Delivered On December
Anyone who gives freedom assumes
another whethe;r
it
great
to
risks,
be a parent to a child
or a Creator to a creature. In
a certain sense, even God took a great risk
when He made man
free, for the
very freedom to be-
come a
child of
becoming a
possibility of
Since
God implied the rebel.
is
right,
we
mobile,
the
We
at the close
buy an auto-
manufacturer
will
give you a set of instructions.
He
you the pressure to which you ought to inflate your tires, the kind of oil you ought will tell
to use in the crankcase,
and the
proper fuel to put in the gas tank.
Really,
he has nothing
against you because he gives you these instructions, as
God had
nothing against you in giving
you commandments.
The manu-
facturer wants to be helpful: he is
anxious that you get the max-
imum
utility out of the car.
God
is
the
maximum
Now
5. it
you
there
is
no doubt that
nicer for your nostrils
is
fill
if
the tank with perfume
rather than with gasoline. But
the right to break God’s com-
When
You
ought to use gasoline in the tank, but you can put in Chanel No.
the car simply will not run on
too often interpret freedom as
of this war, you
free.
to
free to choose the wrong.
mandments.
But of course you are as you please.
You can do
are also
God made us free
choose what
24, 1944
That is why He gives you commandments. life.
And
more anxious that you get happiness out of
Smell No.
5.
were made
In like
manner we
run on the fuel of God’s love and commandments, and we simply will not run on anything else. We just bog down. And that is what happened to to
human nature
in the Fall.
God did not give man the frightening
responsibilities
of
freedom without at the same time offering him incentives to choose right rather than wrong.
God would not force His happiness on anyone.
many
In almost so
words, God said to
Adam
and Eve at the very beginning of history: As an inducement to choose what is best, I shall give you certain gifts. If you use your freedom in the direction of what is best for you, that is, for your perfection, I shall give you
:
!
YOU
22
permanently the supernatural g’ift of sharing in my Divine Nature, that is, of being a child of
God and an heir
To
this I
of heaven.
add permanently some You will never die, your passions will never rebel against your reason, and your lesser gifts:
mind will be free from error. But to preserve these gifts for and posterity, one condition was imposed on Adam and Eve by God, and it was very easy. They merely had to love
themselves
God who is their perfection. We must not think that this condition was equivalent to saying to “If
you eat a woolly
I will
give 5^u a dollar,”
a child:
worm,
because a woolly
worm
was
like
“No” that there is so much charm in the “Yes.” Hence the choice presented to our first parents was between a fruit
and a garden, the part and
the whole. eat of
of
all
God
said they could
the fruits in the garden
Paradise,
save
the
tree
of
knowledge of good and evil. Was there anything unreasonable about the trial? Is not life filled with abundant instances of receiving rewards on the condition of love? Imagine a wealthy man going away for the summer and telling the chauffeur and his wife that they
may
live
in his
drink his
wine, use his cars, and ride his horses, but on one condition That they must not eat the ar-
and oat food is
As
oibeying
the perfec-
tion of the child, so too obey-
ing the will of God
is
our perfec-
tion.
said that the one condi-
was that they love But how could man prove love of God? How do you
tion imposed
his
only be-
is
it
Rather,
will be healthy.”
God.
free;
saying to the child:
the laws of health
We
is
house,
“If you drink milk
you
it
not the
is
perfection of a child. it
unless
cause of the possibility of saying
know anyone
loves
you? Because
tells you ? Most certainly not Love is proved only one way by an act of choice, by choosing the one we love to something or somebody else. Love is not love
he
:
tificial
eat his food,
apple he has on the dining
room table. The owner well knows the artificial apple will give them indigestion. He does not tell them that. They ought to trust him in the light of ail he has done for them. Now if the wife persuades her husband
would not he eats it, he would not be a gentleman. By doing the one thing forbidden they would lose all the good to eat the apple, she
be a lady; and
if
things provided and have indigestion besides
—and
they even
:
HOW YOU GOT THAT WAY lose the opportunity of passing
on to their chih
things
these
God than a razor has a right
To make
light of the fruit in
the story of the Fall
to miss
is
has the right
to bloom, or a rose
a dog has the right to
to bark, or
dren.
23
What Adam
quote Dante.
was
gifts,
lost
not a right.
test of
On Christmas Day when you
hands with a passerby on the street is of no importance, but not to shake hands as a sign of contempt is very serious. Eating of the for-
distribute gifts to your friends,
bidden fruit was a sign of con-
because
tempt; the symbol of rebellion.
not even obliged to give these
the point that
Not
love.
it
was the
to shake
Like Pandora,
man opened
forbidden box and lost
all
Adam do with
I
What have Adam? Why should Roosevelt
de-
war on December 8, 1941, you declared war without any clared
explicit declaration
on your part.
What the Chief of the Nation did, we did. Now Adam is the head of the human race. What he did, we did. “Through one man,
sin
entered
the
world”
(Romans 5:12). But you say: “It was very unjust of God to deprive me of friendship with Him, and these other gifts, simply because
Adam
sinned.” There would have been injustice
if
of your due.
more
God deprived you But you are no
entitled to be
a
me
a gift?” You would answer: “I
am
not doing you an injustice, I
owe you nothing.
my
I
And
am
gifts to
sinned!
President
say to
to
do you not give
had not given them gifts, I would not have deprived them of anything I owed them.” So neither did God owe us anything beyond our nature as a creature of His handiwork. But the loss of the supernat-
be punished because of him?
When
have a right
I
“Why
his
But you ask: Well! Granted I to
you:
the
treasures.
that
would
child of
friends.
ural gift of being a child of
weakened our our
intellect
our nature. ized our
if
I
God
and darkened
will
without corrupting
The
Fall disorgan-
normal human
faculties,
we
are now,
making us
just as
with a bias toward
with a
evil,
will reluctant to do good,
tendency to rationalize each of us
is still
with a
evil.
human
But
—not a
depraved human, totally corrupt, as those
who
ridicule the
trine of the Fall say, but
doc-
a person capable of becoming what each once was. The disorder in us
wc
getting dirt in our eye have the eye as an organ
is like still
still
!
YOU
24
of
but
sight,
sees
it
through
It
right here that Chris-
is
In aH other re-
tianity begins.
you have to be good to
ligions
come to God. In Christianity you do not. Because there is
we need God.
evil in the world,
Christianity begins with the rec-
something in your life aind in the world that ought not to be, that need not be, and that could be otherwise were ognition that there
it
is
not for evil choices.
If
you
are ever to be good, you must believe you are bad.
first
you know that you could be than you are; if you feel like the master painting of a great artist that has become somewhat defaced and stained; if you know that though you If
beitter
are
good for the rubbish
too
heap, you are nevertheless too spoiled
to
hang
politan Gallery
;
if
the Metroyou know that
that no one could restore
you better than the Divine Artist who made you then you have already taken the first step toward peace. The Divine Artist did come to restore the original and He came on Christmas Day.
—
Such mas.
that
man might become
the
meaning of ChristThe Son of God became is
the
This
Kind
Christmas Eve.
is
of sad, isn’t it?
Fathers! Are not your sons away because there is something wrong with the world? Then maybe God is out of His Heaven because
there
is
wrong with man.
something That star
blazing in Bethlehem’s sky
is
the
Heavenly Father’s service flag. His Son too has gone to war. Mothers You shrink in terror and fear from what might happen to your boy amidst whistling steel and whining shell. Then understand how another Mother drew a Babe to her breast in fear of the thundering hoofs and drawn swords of those who would take away His life before He had scarcely begun to live. Sons and daughters in the service! To conquer, you must I
in
you cannot restore yourself to your pristine beauty; if you
know
man
adopted son of God.
tears.
make a landing in enemy That was Bethlehem
first
territory.
—God’s
beachhead in a land of
And how we must
sin.
fight
to keep it!
Ye dead on tlefields
the far-thrown bat-
of the war!
that others might the
human
Babe
is
Ye died You were
expendables.
This
the Divine Expendable
who came not that we might to love
live.
to live but to die,
die to sin
and
live
WAY
HOiW YOU GOT THAT But you ask: how mas peace in a world at war? You cannot find peace on the
find Christ-
outside but you can find peace
on the inside, by letting God do to
your soul what Mary
do to her body, namely, be formed in you.
let
let
Him
Christ
As she cooked
the meals in her Nazarene home, as she nursed her aged cousin, as she
drew water
at the well, as
25
He spoke through your lips, then your speech, like Peter’s, would betray that you had been with the Galilean. If you knew that He wants to use your mind, your will, your fingers, and your heart, how different you would be. If half the world did this there would be no war!
Why
not resolve this year to
spend an hour a day in His pres-
she prepared the meals of the
ence?
village carpenter, as she knitted
you are wicked. Remember that Babe did not come to earth because you are good, but because you are not. He did not come because there was Peace, but be-
seamless garment, as she kneaded the dough and swept the
the
floor,
she
Christ
was
was conscious that was
in her; that she
a living ciborium, a monstrance
Heaven through which a Creator would peer upon creation, a Tower of Ivory up whose chaste body He was to climb “to kiss upon her lips a mystic rose.” As He was physically formed in her, so ly
He
formed
He was eyes,
wills to
in you.
seeing
be spiritual-
If you knew through your
you would see in every
fel-
lowman a child of God. If you knew that He worked through your hands, they would bless all the day through. If you knew
stay
away because
cause there was none.
of the Divine Eucharist, a Gate of
Do not
Children are so unsuspecting.
Taking candy away from a baby is
—
easy
^but
not as easy as tak-
ing happiness from that Child!
Let
not
your
keep you back. is blind,
unworthiness
Remember,
and no love
is
love
as blind
as this Child’s; otherwise,
how
and me? He does love us and that is enough
could
to
He
make
love you
us very happy.
That is what I mean when from a devoted heart I say, “Merry Christmas, Friends.”
WHO CAN
RE
MAKE YOU?
Address Delivered On December
A year
good way to start the new is to
how you can be
ask
ferent than you are now.
member we like
dif-
Re-
we were
said that
a clock whose mainspring
was
We
broken.
have
the
“works” but we do not “go.” In order to put the clock in order, two conditions must be fulfilled: 1) The mainspring must be supplied from the outside, and 2) it must be placed inside the clock. Man cannot redeem himself any more than the clock can fix itself. If man is ever to be redeemed, redemption must: 1) Gome from without human nature, and 2) be done from within.
Why must your salvation come from without ? For the same reason that you cannot
lift
by your own bootstraps.
yourself
Human
nature has contracted a bigger debt than
it
against God finite
debt,
can pay. In sinning
we
piled up an inand we have not
enough balance of merits in our bank to meet the burden. Furthermore, while you can destroy life you cannot create it you can blind your vision but you cannot restore it; you can destroy your communion with finite
;
God ,
by
revive
it.
seated
1944
31,
but
sin
in
Evil
cannot
tod
world
the
righted by a
you is
deepto
be
little
kindness or
reason or tolerance.
You might
just as well
a
tell
from gout that was to play six
Man
man
suffering
he needed
all
sets of tennis.
has radically
failed.
He
cannot save himself.
But though salvation must come from without, it neverthe-less must be done from within humanity. to
It
would do no good
the clock to put the main-
spring inside a radio.
If salva-
were not done inside humanity, it would have no relation to humanity. If I were arrested for speeding, you could not go into the courtroom and say “Try me instead of Father Sheen.” The judge would say: “What have you to do with the case?” There is no substitution in the eyes of the law. Furthermore, any man who is conscious of his tion
:
guilt does not off.”
fellowman
want
want
to be “let
In our relations with our
to
we
make up
often
say:
“I
for
There
is
it.”
no reason why, in our relation to God, we should act any differently. Hence human nature in some
:
WHO CAN RE-MAKE YOU? way must be
involved in its
own
redemption.
To
re-create
man
fallen
in
and mercy, Redemption must come from without and be accomplished within. Put both conditions together and the Redeemer was both God and man. If he were only man, He too would need Redemption; if He were only God He would have no justice
man who
relation to fallen
need-
But if He were both God and man, then, as man He could act in our name; then, as God His redemption would ed redemption.
have an infinite value. This is what happened when God appeared in Bethlehem and took
upon Himself our manhood as Jesus Christ. From that mo-
ment
on, every word, every sigh,
every breath, every tear, every heartache, and every pain of His
human nature was
the breath,
the tear, the heartache, and the
pain of the Person of God and therefore had infinite value.
you want religion, keep in mind these three fundamental If
truths First, Jesus Christ is not just
a good man. lies,
but
if
A
He
claimed to be
God
—then
He
man
good
Christ
is
liar of all times.
never deceives, but
never
not what
is
—the
Son of
the
greatest
A if
good
man
Christ can-
not give what
27
He promised
—
^that
is, peace and pardon to our hungry tired souls then He is
—
the
arch-deceiver
Either Christ
He
or
is
of
history.
the Son of
is
anti-Christ
—
God
He
^but
is
not just a good man. Jesus Christ
both God and man. He was God before He was man. He is a God who became man, not a man who became God. He did is
not begin to be a Person at Bethlehem.
From
eternity
all
He
is
the Person of God. “In the be-
Word and the Word was with God, and the And the Word Word was God ginning was the
.
.
.
was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” {John 1:14). Second, Christ is the new Adam. The human race has two
heads:
neath
Adam and all
Christ.
races, classes,
tions there are
Be-
and na-
two humanities:
the old, unregenerate humanity
Adam, comprised
of
of
all
who
are born of the flesh; and the
new regenerated humanity of the new Adam, Christ, comprised of all who are born of the baptismal waters of the Holy
The
old
Spirit.
human nature
des-
cended from Adam, was infected
by
original sin.
God would not
take that upon Himself, because
He would
not put a patch of
holiness on an old garment.
The
YOU problem was how to be a man like us, without being contami-
cence confront brute force and sin,
a crucifixion follows. Suffer-
we were by sin! He could be a man like us, by being bom of woman. He could be a sinless man, or the new Adam, by being born of a Virgin. By
ing
is
nated as
dispensing with an act of generation by which original sin
He
propagated.
That
fection.
escaped
its
was in-
why He was
is
born of a Virgin. The Virgin Birth broke the heritage of sin, as
now
Adam
for the first time since
there walked on earth a
human nature
as God meant it Thus the three instru-
to be.
ments which cooperated in the fall were reversed in redemption. For the disobedient Adam, there the
is
new
obedient
Adam,
For the proud woman is the humble Virgin
Christ.
Eve, there
Mary. And for the tree of Eden, there
is
the
new
tree
of
the
mother who had an erring son, and every wife who ever had a drunken husband, knows that. How else could Divine Love meet sin, except by a cross? Evil breaks some human hearts. Sin broke the heart of God.
How
did this Redemption take
By
the
made
sin.
place?
being
Our Lord
is
not pri-
Christ
sinless
As
doctors
who
are free from disease will some-
times permit themselves to be innoculated with a disease that they
may
though
a cure,
find
sinless,
freely
so
He,
accepted
human He might
the cumulative weight of
transgression
that
atone for the very punishment which our sins deserved. That is why His life is inseparable from the Cross. There are those
who say
Cross on Calvary. Third,
always the form that love
takes in an evil situation. Every
went
the only reason Christ
to the Cross
was
to
show
marily a teacher of humanitarian
us that
but essentially and primarily a Redeemer and a Savior.
cause
He loved us, but not bewe needed His Redemp-
tion.
If
ethics
Everyone
you were sitting safely
came into this world to live He came into it to die. Death was a stumbling block to Socrates to Christ it was
on a pier fishing and a good neighbor came up behind you, threw himself into the river, and as he went
down
the goal of His
time
“This
else ;
:
gold
He was
life,
seeking.
the very
Death
in a
was inevitable to Him, for once Love and Inno-
certain sense
much
said, I
love
for the third
you,”
shows the
how whole
ceremony would be ridiculous if But if you it were not so tragic.
WHO CAN RE-MAKE YOU?
29
had actually fallen into the river,
the dross of sin iriignt oe burned
and the good neighbor lost his saving you, then you could say of him truly: “Greater love man hath, that a
away. Then on Easter Sunday, by rising from the dead. He reversed the Fall and appeared as the New Man, remoulded and
man
glorified,
life
than this no
down
lay
his life for his
{John
friends”
15:13);
It
is
through the Cross that Christ reconciles the world to God and restores to us those gifts which
Adam It
the
lost in
creation of like
beaten down to a cigarette case. it is
recovered.
Before
the gold of that chalice can be restored
to
the altar,
it
must
be subjected to purg-
first of all
burn away the dross. must be remoulded by repeated blows of a hammer, ing
fires to
Finally
may
reconsecration
it
be readied for
and restored
battered
and
like
desecrated
no longer serving the high purpose for which it was chalice,
make
to
consists
in
your human
nature something like unto that
which He did
human
na-
ture taken from His Mother.
He
is
to the
new
the beginning of a
coin-
age to take the place of the
He
counterfeit.
new
is
the original,
and milworthy coins can be stamped from that die. Whether we do it and thus become regenthe
lions
die;
millions
of
The itself.
chalice could not re-
Neither could
man
redeem himself. So Christ took upon Himself our human nature and plunged it into the flaming furnace of Calvary’s
depends on Those of us who do erated
be mere creatures; be,
Our human nature was
made.
God do
re-
His own per-
Christianity
son.
letting
to
dignity and honor.
that
in
it
then only
its
achieved the
man
this.
Imagine a golden chalice which has been consecrated for divine worship and used on the altar at Suppose this chalice is Mass. stolen, mingled with alloys, and Later on
Christ has
fall.
something
is
God’s service
for
fit
and restored to God’s friendship. But the Cross does not save us without our cooperation.
fires
that
in
our it
will.
cease to
we begin
to
the awful literalness of
the phrase, an adopted son of
God! I beg you then to clean from your mind the contemporary rubbish that you came from the
beast.
You
did not
come from
the dogs, but you can go to the dogs. You are less a risen monkey than you are a fallen angel. You were once not lower thar
YOU
30
you are now, but you were once higher. You are more of a disinheriited king than you are an enthroned beast. 'The
what
much they to
:
How
you
do
Him?
how
They are livwhen they ought
have seen painted on the rocks on the highways, signs reading;
life
suffer,
is
but
not
miss.
ing like animals
arises
enter into relation with
What has He, who lived almost twenty centuries ago, to do with you? And what have you to do with Him? You probably often
tragedy of people
problem
be living like children of God.
“Jesus
Saves.”
If
you are willing to commit
saves, but
your
life to Christ, this practical
I shall
how?
answer
Certainly
He
That question
in the next talk.
;
:
RELIGION PURELY INDIVIDUAL?
IS
Address Delivered On January
Have you ever heard anyone say: “I do not want a Church standing between me and God”? This
‘T do not
saying:
is like
want the United States Government standing between me and America.” To say I want no one between God and me is antiChristian because
your
brother
is
implies that
it
a
barrier
to
God's grace and not a means to it.
of
Did not our Lord make love God inseparable from love of
And
neighbor?
He
did
not
own
then, do you
You cannot
And
if
God
is
a Fa-
ther, then the others united to
Him
alone, or generous alone,
name
erosity
implies
patriotism
Constitution
of
the
the
United
A
in
fellow
as
citi-
zens, so religion Implies fellow-
men
How
of
a neighbor,
implies
tant question
interpretation
how
God do you expect be religious alone? As genof
vidual
brothers,
religion
not be kind alone, or sacrificing
and therefore our religion must be social. You are not allowed an indiare
practice
any more than you can love alone. What would happen to your patriotism if you said, “Patriotism is an individual affair”? If you were the only person in a town, could you be charitable? If, then, you can-
to
bread”?
Why, want your own in-
alone
“Our Father,” not “My Father” daily
astronomy and
dividual religion?
the
“my
1945
individual mathematics ?
teach us to pray in the context of
“our daily bread” not
7,
individual
in
relation to God.
That
brings us, then, to this impor-
we asked
last
week
do you contact Christ the
Redeemer?
How
do you come
know His Truth and His Will? Do you contact Him as
Supreme Court does that for you. Why, then, should
to
you
an individual by reading about Him, by singing hymns to Him, or do you contact Him in fellowship and in community, the way
States.
on an individual in-
insist
terpretation of religion and be-
gin
religious
all
with:
“7 feel this
God.”
“I
feel.”
discussions
way about Never were
the sublime and beautiful realities
put so much at the mercy of
a stomach.
Do you have your
God Himself has ordained? The way to answer that question is to inquire how mankind contacted God before the comthat
YOU
32
ing of
was
ChriSfC.
purely individual affair or was it
corporate?
Did God deal with
individuals directly, or indirectly,
that
through a
is,
society, or a
Whenever God
religion a
race,
a
community?
new
He
community.
changed the That He did the case of Abraham, and in
name in
willed to give a
or special privilege to this
of its head.
the case of Jacob.
Search your Scriptures. And you will find that God always dealt with mankind through hu-
the most important word in the
man
this corporation, or body, or con-
or
corporations
races
or
moral bodies, presided over by a The divinely appointed head.
Book
And
so
it
came
to pass that
Old Testament was the word for
And
that
kahal.
Now
gregation, or society.
word
in
Hebrew was
of Genesis reveals that the
about 200 years before Christ,
mankind would be a
the Jews translated their Scrip-
history of
That was be-
warfare not between individuals,
tures into Greek.
but between two seeds, two races,
cause so
two corporate wholes: the power of darkness and the power of
away from
light.
lators
Each corporation had a head. The head of the evil corporation was Satan; the invisible head of the corporation of good was God ^but God always chose a visible head of that community to act in His name. First it was Noah
it by the which Greek work, ecclesia means, “that which is called out,” signifying that its members had been called out by God from the
—
whom
through
come
to
salvation would
humanity.
Very
likely,
at the time of the flood, every
individual
might have
liked to
have had his own personal row boat, but God saved them in an ark in His own way and under His own divinely appointed capLater there came new tain.
many Jews were
civilization.
came
living
Israel in a Grecian
When to the
the
trans-
Jewish word
kahal, they translated
—
secular nations.
When
finally
God came to this Our Lord,
earth in the person of it
was only natural
that
He
would
to
expect
continue
to
mankind in the same way that He had dealt with it deal with
before, namely, through a cor-
poration presided over by a head
whom He
heads of this new spiritual cor-
Himself would choose. And, as once before He had named Abraham, Moses, and
Abraham, and others.
David as its head, so now He would name someone else as its
poration,
such
as
Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
RELIGION PURELY INDIVII>UAL?
IS
And because new powers and privileges were tp be given to the individual whom He would head.
appoint as
head, as
its visible
He
changed Abram’s name to Abraham, Jacob’s name to Israel, so now He changed the name of
who
the individual
new head Simon
name
to Rock. is
Peter.
flavor of
be the
is to
of His ecclesia from
In English, his Buit
we
lose the
in English because
it
and Rock are different
Peter
words, but they are not different words in the language
Lord spoke, nor are they
Our
differ-
ent words, in the original Greek
And Our Lord man “Thy name is
of the Gospel.
said to this
Simon:
:
Henceforth thou shalt
And on that day at Caeserea-Philippi, when the Rock confessed that Christ was the Son of the Living God, the Divine Master said to him: “Thou art the Rock and upon be called the Rock.”
Rock,
this
clesia,
I
will build
and the gates of
not prevail against
my
ec-
hell shall
it.”
From
teaches
own
His
human
nature.
lible
taught
once
through the
33
He
as
individual
Therefore,
must be from error.
ecclesia
or free
infalIt
can-
not be otherwise, for Christ
is
still
teaching through His body:
“He
that heareth you,”
He
said,
“heareth me.”
Through Christ
this ecclesia or body,
still
Therefore
governs.
disobedience
His
to
ecclesia
would be a disobedience to Him, just as an insult to your body is an insult to your person.
Through
this
forgives
sins.
He
still
Therefore
the
ecclesia
publicans and the
woman
taken
in sin have no advantage over you and me who live in this very
hour.
And though
Truth and
this
Power and Holiness are communicated through poor weak
human natures that Truth and
in
His
ecclesia,
Power and
Holi-
ness cannot be spoiled any more
than sunshine
is
polluted
when
it
shines through a dirty window.
now on God’s
Human
built
only the instrument of the for-
be
ecclesia would be upon the Rock and it would to the whole world God’s
chosen community for the comnunication of His Divine Life, as Israel before
had been the com-
munity for the giving of that promise. And through his new ecclesia or body Christ still
nature in the ecclesia
giveness and the truth.
It is
is
not
the cause.
Are you surprised
to hear that
Christ acts through His ecclesia today?
Then
Body or
recall the
story of St. Paul who persecuted the ecclesia in the City of Dam-
— YOU
34
Remember
ascus.
were opened, the
now
the heavens
glorified Christ
hand of the
at the right
Father roused that persecutor with the question: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me’' (Acts 22:7). Christ and the ecc^esm Precisely. are they the same'? If someone steps on your foot, Well, complains. head your <
Paul was striking the Body of Christ
:
the
therefore
invisible
head complained from Heaven. And would it not be terrible if
Christ could not prolong
Him-
through space and time? If He could not, how would He differ from Lincoln or Napoleon or Caesar? Do you think that God self
intended that the only ones
who
would know His Truth would be those who lived in His time? Was that Truth caught up by a Galilean breeze and wafted away, never to be known again? Shall
we who
live in the
confusion of
this twentieth century be with-
not do these things, then Christianity
Let
not worth preserving.
is
Christ
away with
do
us
it.
If
not the Eternal Con-
is
temporary, then
He
not God.
is
You did not wait until you were twenty-one and then read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and decide to become an American. You were born out of the womb of America. And as you were born
womb
out of the ciety
,
of political so-
so as a Christian
born out of the
womb
you were
of Christ’s
society. You lived by it, before you knew it. It creates you spiritually by birth of the spirit, as your country created you by the
birth of the flesh. is prior,
The
ecclesia
both logically and chron-
ologically, to its individual
mem-
Though very few ever advert to it, this ecclesia was bers.
spread throughout the entire Ro-
man Empire of the
out that Divine Light? Is forten. It
New
before a single book Testament was writ-
was the Bible that grew
Magdalens and to penitent thieves? Do you want His forgiveness now? I tell you that if Christianity is only the memory of someone who lived 1900 years ago, and who cannot communicate His Truth to you in this warring world of 1945, and who cannot absolve your
once taught and governed and
sins this very night
sanctified
giveness
limited
to
—
if it
can-
out of the ecclesia, not the ecclesia that
Oh,
I
grew out
wish that
of the Bible. I
could
tell
you some of the joy of knowing that Christ lives and teaches and pardons and sanctifies in His ecclesia today; that just as
He
through a human na-
IS
RELIGION PURELY INDIVIDUAL?
taken from Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, so now He teaches, governs, and sanctifies through human natures in His ecclesia, overshadowed by the Pentecostal Spirit.
If ever
ture
When
I
kneel therefore before a confession,
in
priest
Christ’s absolving
I
see
hand and hear
the Voice that bid the sinner go
and sin no more. When I see the Host and the chalice lifted up in
Mass,
I
believe that Christ’s
“Do is fulfilled: commemoration of {Luke 22:19), and I see
commandment for
this
me”
a
Calvary projected through space and time to the very altar at which I kneel. When I see the ecclesia persecuted and mocked, I
Christ once more pelted
see
mud and spurned and spat upon and ridiculed, as I remember His words: “If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you” {John 15: And as I hear that ec18). clesia articulate for me in an uncharted world the teachings
with
of
Christ,
what
I
am
consoled,
for
want is a truth that when the world
ity,
35
you have an opportun-
when
war
this
is
over, to go
Rome, I want you to visit the tomb of that Rock, the fisherman. And when you have said your prayers there, lift up your eyes to that great dome ^the greatest dome that was ever thrown against the vault of heaven’s blue and you will see inscribed upon it, in letters of gold, these words: “Tu es Petrus et supra hanc petram, to
—
—
ecclesiam
aedificabo
meam”
—
“Thou art the Rock and upon this Rock I will build my ecclesia.”
Ecclesia !
—the
very word the
inspired Old Testament used to Israel as God’s community; the very word the Son of God Himself used at Caesarea-
describe
And
Philippi. built
that ecclesia
on Peter.
who has
lived
was
Peter the Rock,
through these 1900
years and in 252 distinct personages, and the
Rock
today
is
name the
of that
gloriously
reigning Holy Father, Pius XII, the greatest moral authority in
the world.
is
I’m sorry. I should have told you long before this
right, but a truth that is right
the meaning of the Greek word
when
ecclesia.
right
I
not
the world
is
wrong.
is
It
means “the Church.”
HOW YOU
ARE RE-MADE
Address Delivered
Have you ever thought that possibly there might be a higher life
than the natural
now?
mean
do not
I
life
you
live
in the next
On January
er life is a free gift of God,
lost to
for crises, temptations, and sor-
He
row over and above those you
Our
now
Christ.
could
and that your soul
enjoy
even
peace
in
is
right
no higher
physical life you
life
now
say
to
than the live,
any
no
life
You must remember
above
it.
that above
you by the
and this
Fall,
does through the merits of
If
Lord
and
you thought about religion you probably asked: But
Life
contact that Divine
I
who
Christ
of
The answer
Christ would
is:
have to infuse His
But how would
soul.
your
life into it
be done?
Look
at
as a creature of God, there
lower
life is elevated to
is
over
died
1900 years ago?
the natural life which you live .
Jesus
Savior
all,
how can
more than the rose has a right to say there is
you the gifts and which were
to restore to
privileges of that life
at
You have no there
it
His
in
goodness God has freely willed
a
world at war ?
Now
grace.
called
is
world, but in this. Did you ever wish that you could know truths beyond your reason, that you could have reserves of power
possess,
1945
14,
Nature and an heir of the Kingdom of God. Because that high-
nature to see
how
a
a high-
How, for example, do
such a thing as a supernatural
er
life,
which God gives to make you His adopted son. You have
the moisture, the carbons, and
no strict right to this Divine
live
would be “super naturak’ or above the nature and powers of a rainbow
plant life
Life.
Just as
it
to write poetry, or of a
quote
Shakespeare,
so
cow in
to
the
would be supernatural for you who are merely a creature of God’s handiwork to strict sense it
be
made a partaker
of the Divine
life.
the phosphates in the earth ever in
the
plant?
take them up into
while
branches,
themselves
crude speak, icals:
selves,
If
its
the
the
to them,
roots and
chemicals
must abandon the
lifeless state
nature.
First,
must descend
the
they have in plant
could
would say to the chem“Unless you die to youryou cannot live in my it
HOW YOU kingdom/'
Actually,
AJS.E
sun-
the
RE-MADE
37
taken into the beast.
But oth-
and moisture now begin to thrill with life and vitality in the plant. They have been, in the broad sense of the
erwise the law holds good. The
term, “super naturalized."
Incarnation:
chemicals,
shine,
If the
animal could speak,
it
would say to the plants: “Unless you die to your lower life
higher must come down to the lower; the Divine must descend
human. Such was the God came down to man. But on the other hand, man must die to his sinful nainto the
ture, his old
Adam,
his heritage
yourselves by submitting to sac-
and this he can do only by sacrifice, by taking up “his cross daily" and following Him. This is what Our Lord meant when He said “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" {John 12:24). The law of transformation holds sway: chemicals are lifted into
death, you cannot live in
plants, plants into animals, ani-
mere vegetation and submit yourselves momentarily to the of
jaws of death, you cannot live in kingdom. But once you live
my
you
in me,
will share a life that
not merely vegetates, but feels
and moves and tastes and sees." Man in bis turn, going down
which
to that
is
lower, says to
the animals: “Unless you die to
rificial
my
But
kingdom.
if
you die to
yourselves, you will share a life
that
not merely sensible, but
is
one that thinks and loves, has ideals,
This
laughs and is
what Christ
says to you: “Unless you die to yourself, you cannot live in
kingdom"
—
ference:
Since
^but
with
we
this
My dif-
spiritual.
We
Graciousness of God, to be
lift-
He now not I; but Christ liveth in me" {Galatians 2:20). God came down to the level of man that He might in some way lift man to the level ed up into Christ, so that live,
of God.
sacrifice
en-
joined on us is not physical, but
personality
mals into man, and since man is free, he can will, through the
are persons,
which chemicals, plants and animals are not, the
:
can say: ‘L
is artistic."
precisely
of the Fall,
do not have our
destroyed,
plant’s nature is destroyed
as
a
when
Now let
us consider the normal which that Life is communicated to us. Remember we said last week that the individual derives His life from the ecclesia or the Church; but the
ways
in
YOU
38
Church does not derive from the individual, as
its
life
is
the
case with a club, a school, or a
As no
corporation.
cell
can
live
back again into the divine order.
How many
Sacraments
are
there? There are seven and
it is
becoming that there should be
normally apart from your body,
seven
though your body can live without any individual cell, so you
ditions jf
as a Christian cannot live a nor-
individual life of man, and two
mal
spiritual
apart
life
from
Body of the Church, but the Church can live without you.
itual.
it
from the Church Body that Christ’s
is
or
Christ’s
life
pours out into your
in
order
the
that
soul.
And
outpouring
from that great Reservoir of merits on Calvary should not be
haphazard. Our Lord instituted
life,
physical and spir-
Five of these refer to the
refer to his social
Christ’s
Hence
for there are seven con-
1) life
life.
As you cannot unless
you
live
are
a natural born,
so
neither can you live the Christunless you are born to it. That is why the Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for salva-
life
tion.
2)
grow
As your natural to
life
must
maturity and assume
seven channels or Sacraments to
responsibilities,
convey that Life into your souls.
lead a perfect supernatural life
Knowing that you have a body
unless you mature in the Spirit and grow into the full responsibilities of being a Christian soldier. This is the Sacrament
well as a soul.
He
as
chose not to
communicate His Divine Life to you invisibly. But since men are physical as well as spiritual. willed normally to give
supernatural
life
He
or grace un-
sign. Thus by seeing water you would know something was being washed away, and by seeing bread you would know something
was being nourished. Furthermore, by using these sensible signs for communicating His Spiritual Life, God restores the of
a
of Confirmation.
you His
der the symbol of some material
materials
you cannot
so
chaotic
world
3)
As you cannot
live
a nat-
ural life unless you nourish yourself, so
you cannot lead a super-
natural life unless you nourish
the Divine Life which
within you.
This
is
is
already
the Holy
Eucharist. 4)
When you wound
your nat-
you must be healed; when you wound your supernatural life by sin you must be abural
life
HOW YOU ARE RE-MADE and that is the Sacrament of Penance, or Confession. solved,
your natural
5) If
life suifers
of ethics;
39
a
it is
good advice,
it
not
It is
life.
is
Divine adop-
Being a Christian does
tion.
from a
disease, the traces of that
not consist in being kind to the
disease
must be banished. Since
poor, generous to relief agencies,
no
disease
comparable
ever
disease
the
to
traces
leaves
of
that before meet-
sin, it follovrs
ing your God the remains of sin must be blotted out. That is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.
But you are not mere viduals
members
Body
of the
indi-
You
religion.
in
are
of Christ,
In order that this spiritual cor-
poration
may
perfect
itself,
and
grow, two more conditions must
be
fulfilled.
6)
As the natural
life is pre-
served
by propagation
human
species, so the supernat-
Kingdom
ural life of the is
of
of
the
God
perfected by raising children
of God.
That
the Sacrament
is
of Matrimony.
your natural
7) Finally, as
must be
life
under law and
lived
government, so your supernatural
life
spiritual
must be
lived
under
government, and this
is the Sacrament of Holy Orders by which Christ’s priesthood is
prolonged to apply the fruits of
law and order to
all
the
is
though
it
includes
all
of
and foremost a love relationship, and as you can never become a member of a family by doing generous deeds but only by being bom into it out of love, so you can never become a Christian by doing these. It is first
good things but only by being born to it through Divine Love.
Doing good things
to a
man
does
make you his son, but being a son does make you do good
not
things. Christianity begins with
being, not with doing, with life and not with action. If you have the life of a plant, you will bloom like a plant; if you have the life of a monkey, you will act like a monkey; if you have the life of a man, you will do the things a man does; but if you have the Life of Christ in you, you will act like a Christian. You are like your parents because you partake of their nature; you are like God if you partake of His
Nature.
What
a
man
exteraalization of
does
what he
is
the
is.
members
of His Mystical Body.
Christianity
just to employees, gentle to cripples,
not a system
Let ence
:
me show you the differMost people have their
;
:
YOU
4t)
governed by their back-
tions
ground; for example, you think a certain way in order to defend
You then who are Christians, who know that the Divine Life your
is in
be conscious that
soul,
your class or your wealt-h or
your every word, thought, and
your want of
deed
you do certain
it;
things because they are profitable or pleasant to you
;
you hate
meal
a reproach to your conscience or
visit
because they, challenge your ego-
your
Your
psychonphysical
make-up is the center of your life and therefore of your ac-
You
tions.
are, in a word, self*
Now
determined.
to be a Chris-
means to discard self as the supreme determinant of actions; it means to put on the mind of Christ so as to be governed by
tian
will to
Him, not your
determined
How tian
men
make a ear.”
Christ-determined.
is
often
nothing
In other words,
instead of being self-
we hear non-Chris-
say: “Oh, you can do
with silk
him.
You
can’t
purse out of a sow’s
But the Christian answers
*'You can! If God’s grace ever gets will
into
that
man’s
soul,
become a new creature.”
he
your
Father
;
every
every
in
of Every Gift
the Listener in your conversa-
your Companion in every
tion;
your
walk;
Visitor
every
at
knock; your Neighbor in every street
Owner
your
;
treasure
;
and
your
every
of
Lover
in
every love.
Do
to you.
life
your
task;
home your Giver
fear,
things that are pleasing to
all
at
your Captain in every war Fellow-Worker in every
;
surrender
to
Let the Christ be the
Guest
your Divine Host in every
;
His Will, and to do
Truths,
Christ’s
your
enacted before a Divine
Unseen
certain people because they are
tism.
is
Audience.
not fear God with a servile for
perfect
Be
out such fear.
love
casteth
bold enough
then to believe that God
your
side,
Live your
to be on His.
by law, but by gustine put
is
on
when you forget
even
life
not
As St. Au“Love God and
love.
it:
then do whatever you please.”
For
you love God, 3^u
will
never do anything to hurt
Him
if
or break off relationship with
Him—^and
be happy.
then you will always
FAITH Address Delivered On January
Have you ever noticed the tremendous disparity of points of view between those who possess Divine Faith and those who have it not? Have you ever observed when discussing important subjects,
such as pain, sorrow,
sin,
death, marriage, children, education,
faith
that the point of view of is
now
poles apart
from
what is called the modem view? It was not so many years ago
who
that those
rejected
many
Christian truths were considered the reservation; for example,
off
the divorced
who remarried,
atheists, the
enemies of the fam-
ily,
is
the
But today
and so forth.
those with faith
who
sidered off the reservation. It the others
Why
who
are on
the faith, and those it
is
not?
It is
who have who have
due to the fact that
a soul in the state of grace has its intellect
ables
it
illumined,
to perceive
which en-
new
truths
beyond reason.
You have
sees bread, the other sees Christ
—
not, of course,
faith. Let them both look on death: one sees the end of a
of
entity, the other an immortal creature being judged
biological
by God on how it used its freedom. The reason for the difference is: One has a light which the other lacks, namely, the light of faith.
What
same eyes
then
is
Faith? Faith
is
not believing that something will
happen, nor
what
nor
is it
is
is it
the acceptance
contrary to reason,
an intellectual recogni-
man might give to something he does not understand or which his reason cannot
tion which a
prove,
for
example,
Rather, Faith
is
relativity.
the acceptance
of a truth on the authority of
God
exactly the
with the eyes
of the flesh, but with the eyes
of
it.
this difference in point
of view between those
So too, let two minds with identically the same education and the same mental capacities look on a Host enthroned on an altar. The one
it
are con-
1946
21,
light of the sun.
revealing. Assisted
grace of God,
we
by the
believe as true
He
at night as you have in the day,
those things which
but you cannot see at night, be-
not because the truth of these
cause
you
lack
the
additional
things
is
clearly
revealed,
evident from
YOU
42
reason alone, but because of the authority of God,
who cannot
de-
ceive nor be deceived.
You
of
the arguments; they were only a necessary preliminary. lieve because
torch
God said
now burns by
its
You
be-
it.
The
own
bril-
liance.
by looking at his paint-
artist ing,
because
not
believe
the power, the technique of an
inmost thoughts unless he
his
revealed
them
like to
know four
things which faith will do for
you? 1.
It vnll perfect
your reason.
In like
to you.
manner, you can know something
Power and Wisdom of God by looking at His universe, but you could never know His of the
Thoughts unless He
Would you
know
but you could never
And
told
you.
the telling of the inner life
which we know Without faith many
Revelation,
is
by faith. minds are
like flattened
Japanese
your reason What a
lanterns, a riot of color without
telescope is to your eye. It opens
pattern or purpose, a conglom-
Faith
is to
new
eration of bits of information,
worlds, which before were hid-
but with no unifying philosophy
vaster fields of vision and
den and unknown.
As reason
is
the perfection of the senses, so faith
is
the perfection of reason.
reason alone will
(Incidentally,
of
life.
What
a candle on the
inside of the lantern will do to its
pattern, that faith will do for
your reason, that
is,
converge
all
we
your different pieces of knowl-
are in today, because reason un-
edge into one absorbing philos-
not get us out of the mess aided
cannot
enough
to
function
well
handle the problems
created by sin, by loss of faith,
and by misuse of reason.) Faith
is
not a
dam which
pre-
vents the flow of the river of
thought;
it is
a levee which pre-
vents unreason from overflowing the countryside of sanity. Faith will enlarge
your knowledge, be-
cause there are so
many
truths
beyond the power of reason. You can tell something of the skill,
ophy of life which leads to God. That incidentally is why faith does not necessarily require an education. Faith is an education. God is our Teacher. That is
why
a
little
child
in
the
first
grade who knows God made him
and that he
is
made
for
God
is
far wiser than a university professor
who can explain an atom, know why he is here
but does not
or where he
is
going.
Unless you know
why you
are
FAITH living, there is not
much purpose
Faith will perfect your free-
dom. Our Divine Lord said the truth shall make you free”
.
:
{John 8:32).
If
you know the
truth about an airplane, you are free to
fly
if
it;
you know the
truth about a triangle, that
it
has three sides, you are free to
draw
Try
it.
to be
“broadmind-
ed” and give a square
five sides
instead of four, as they did in
the
answered him thus: “In the was an island on which children played and danced I
center of a sea
in living. 2.
43
Dark Ages, and
see where Turning the words of
you end.
Our Lord around, they mean you dq not know the
that if
and sang. Around that island were great high walls w*hich had One day stood for centuries. some strange men came to the island in individual
to play, afraid to sing, afraid to
dance
is
why, as the world denies Absolute Truth and Righteousness,
sea.”
becomes enslaved. Socialism, for example, is nothing but the compulsory organlization of a
It
free.
chaos created by the repudiation
all
of Truth
and Morality. Never,
therefore, believe that you lose
your freedom by accepting the Faith.
few years ago, letter from a radio
—afraid of
falling into the
Oh! how right was Our Lord. is the truth that makes us
3.
Faith assures equality
men
as children of God.
to
Have
you not noticed, if you have worked for or with a person of deep faith in Ohrdst, that you have always been treated with
j
A
boats,
the center of the island, afraid
truth you will be endaved. That
it
row
and said to the children: ‘Who put up those walls? Can you not see that they are destroying your freedom? Tear them down!’ The children tore them down! Now if you go there, you will find all the children huddled together in
I
received a
listener
who
gentleness, equality, and charity?
fou can not point
to
a single
rounded by priests and nuns who
who truly loves God who is mean to his fellowman. A man who does not believe in God
never permitted you to think for
will soon cease to believe in
said: “I imagine that you
from
your earliest youth were sur-
yourself.
yoke of free.”
Why
not throw off the
Rome and
begin to be
person
man.
In vain will the world seek for equality until
it
has seen
through the eyes of
men
faith. Faith
— YOU teaches that
men, however
all
or ignorant, or crippled,
poor,
however maimed, degraded they may
ugly,
or
be, all
bear
But we have
superior to others.
given the wrong reason for that superiority.
are
We
We
assume that we
because
superior
we
are
We
are
within themselves the image of
white.
God, and have been bought by
we are Christian. The moment we cease to be Christian we will revert to the barbarism from which we came.
the
precious
Christ.
As
gotten,
men
blood
Jesus
of
this truth
is
for-
are valued only be-
cause of what they can do, not
because of whlat they are. since
men cannot
ly well
—
And
do things equal-
example, play vio-
^for
lins, fly planes,
teach phiiosophy,
—
an engine they are and must remain forever unor
stoke
equal.
From
of view,
ail
same right
the Christian point
may
not have the
to do certain jobs,
are
not.
superior because
In like manner,
if
the black and
brown and yellow races become
world
of the
converted
to
Christ, they will produce a civilization
and culture which
will
we
Him
surpass ours
who
truly
if
forget
made us great. It is if we could project
conceivable,
ourselves
a thousand years
in
the future, and then look back
because they lack the capacity
in
for example, Toscanini has not
sand years, that we might see
a right to pitch for the New York Yankees 'but all men hav» the right to a decent, purposeful, and comfortable life in the structure of the community for which God has fitted them, and first and foremost of all, because of what
China the record of a Christian civilization which would make us forget Notre Dame and Char-
—
they are: persons made to the
image and likeness of God.
The
false idea of the superi-
ority of certain races is
and
classes
due to the forgetfulness of the
spiritual
foundations of equal-
We
of the Western world have been rightly proud of the ity.
fact that
we have a
civilization
over those thou-
retrospect
in
tres. 4.
Finally, faith will give
peace of
soul.
dinous duties pf modern will do
you
In the multitulife
you
nothing which you cannot
offer to
God
as
i
prayer; your
sense of values will change; you
what you cai. and more about what you can take with you when you die; your rebellious moods will give way to resignation; your will think less of
store away,
tendency
to
discouragement.
;
FAITH which
due to pride,
is
-will
be-
come an additional reason for throwing yourself, like a wounded child, into the Father's lov-
ing arms
;
you
will think of God's
an unalterable dedication to goodness, to which you love
as
submit even when If
Christ's
pierced hand
laid
see
upon
your own sins and the sins of the world. If
your heart has been broken
infidelity,
you
your Master who
will unite
loneliness with the
was deserted by His
you
lost
your boy in war,
who spared
not a son
from tyranny, will be solaced by the Heavenly Father who spared not Hiis Son to redeem a world from sin. What a joy it was to one mothto save a world
personal effects of her boy v/ill
you, and offer your ^sickness for
by
If
then you
er last week, who, receiving the
hurts.
it
you are sick you
45
disciples
was
killed in battle,
who
discovered
was a copy of The Shield of Faith, which we gave away last year on the air and in that book there was underlined by the boy just one sentence which seemed so pro-
that in his pocket
phetic,
of
“I
am
in the eyes
still
God a person with an im-
who walked with Him no more.
mortal destiny."
you are the victim of another's sin, then like the young
these tragedies happen, for
woman who wrote
did where would be room for the
If
me, the trag-
edy will be suffered through
life
for the redemption of the one
who caused her If
you
j^ur son
is
away
in service,
by letby prayer, as you
will follow him, not
ter alone, but
both find a God.
ruin.
common
center in
Faith
will
not
explain
merit of faith? But
it
why if it
does give
you the insight and strength to Anything in life bear them. can be borne if there is someThe reason we one you love. are at war
is
because there are
not enough people in love
God.
—with
HOPE Address Delivered On January It is
not so
pens in your
much what hapthat matters;
life
1)
28,
1945
Remember
that everything
that happens has been foreseen
rather how you react to it. You can always tell the character
nity,
of a person by the size of the
or at least permitted.
it is
make him mad. A man can work joyfoilly at a pic-
things that
ture puzzle, so long as he believes
the puzzle can be put together into
composite
a
But
whole.
and known by God from all eter and is either willed by Him,
God’s knowledge does not grow as ours does, from ignorance to
The Fall did not catch God napping. God is science, but He is not a scientist God knows all, but He learns nothing from
wisdom.
:
if
the puzzle
is
a hoax, or
was not made by a
rational
mind, then one would go trying to work
it
mad
It is this
out.
absence of purpose in
if it
life,
along
and which has sometimes produced the neuroses and psychoses of the modern mind. with
its
consequent
fear
frustration,
How
do you react to the vicis-
situdes of life?
Do you
rebel be-
cause God does not answer your
prayers to become rich?
Do you
deny God because He called away your husband, your wife, your child? In the midst of a war do you summon God to judgment as the criminal
and ask,
who
“Why
started
does
He
it
all
not stop
it?”
May
He
experience.
does not look on
you from heaven as you look down on an ant-hill, seeing you going in and out of your house, walking to work, and then telling an angel-secretary to note
down the unkind word you to the grocery-boy.
we always
think
Why of
God
you three consider-
it
as
watching the bad things we do and never the good deeds? God does
not keep a record of your
You do your own bookYour conscience takes your own dictation. God knows deeds.
keeping.
all
things not by looking at you,
but by looking into Himself as the Cause of
all
things.
He
reads over your shoulder. I olfer
said is
architect can
never
An
you how many your house, and
tell
ations to help you build a firm
rooms
hope in God?
the exact size of each, before the
will
be in
HOPE house
because he
is built,
is
the
cause of the becoming of that house.
God
being of
is
all
the cause of the
He knows
things.
before they happen.
all
tion
picture
As a mothe
contains
reel
thrown upon the screen, so God knows
whole story before before
all
it
is
it
acted
is
on
the
stage of history.
47
stock will
His knowledge that you act
in
a particular
shall
manner
is
for 50 points in
sell
In three months
three months. it
does reach 50 points.
cause
Did you
to reach 50 points, or
it
you
did
merely
You may be
foreknow
in a tower
it?
where
you can see a man advancing in the distance who has never been over that terrain before. You
know But do not think that because God knows all, therefore He has predetermined you to heaven or heH independently of your merits and irrespective of your freedom.
such and such a
that
foretell
that before he reaches the
tower he must cross that ditch,
wade that pond, tramp those bushes, and climb that hill. You foresee
all
the possibilities, but
you do not cause him to cross those obstacles.
The following story the
fallacy
illustrates
predestination
of
not the immediate cause of your
without freedom.
any more than your knowledge that you are sitting down caused you to sit down or prevents you from getting up if you willed to do it. Our Blessed Mother could have refused the dignity of becoming the Mother of God, as Judas could have re-
days of our country there was a wife who believed in a peculiar
sisted the temptation to betray.
forgot his gun.
acting,
The
fact that
God knew what make them
each would do did not act the
way they
Because there
is
God, fore-knowing causing.
did.
no future in is
not fore-
You may know
the
kind
of
In the colonial
predestination,
which
human freedom. Her husband, who did not share
left
no room for
her eccentricities, one day after a
left
He came back
for the market.
few minutes sa3dng he She said: “You
are either predestined to be shot
by an Indian, or you are not predestined to be shot. If you are predestined to be shot, the gun will do you no good. If 5^u are not predestined to be shot, you
stock market very well and, in
will not
virtue of your superior wisdom.
not
need
it.
take your
Therefore do
gun.”
But h#
YOU
48
answered:
“Suppose
am
I
pre-
destined to be shc^ by an Indian
on condition
do
I
And
gun?’'
my
have
no-t
was
that
sound
human own crea-
allows for
religion.
It
freedom.
We
are our
To those who ask: “If God knew I would lose my soul, why did He make me?” the answer is “God did not make you as a lost soul: You make yourself.” The universe is moral and
tors.
:
therefore I
conditional
“Behold
:
stand at the door and knock.”
God knocks! He breaks down no doors. The latch is on our side
—not God’s. God
2)
allows or permits evil
but always for the reason of a greater good related to His love
and the salvation of our
souls.
never permit
evil unless
draw some good from
Lord
“This
told Judas:
hour” {Luke 22:53). have
its
hour.
Our
evil.
is
All that
do within that hour
your
Evil does
is
it
God can draw good out
the world
is
day.
evil
is
ours, the effects of our
evil
deeds are outside of our con-
trol
and therefore in the hands The brethren of Joseph
of God.
were free to toss him into a well, but from that point on Joseph
was
in God’s hands.
evil
be
of
thought
freedom.
wants
God turned
it
to
into good
but
:
...”
{Genesis 50:20).
The evil which God permits must not be judged by its immediate effects, but rather by its
When you go you do not walk out because you see a good man suf-
ultimate effects. to a theatre
first act.
You
give
the dramatist credit for a plot.
Why
can you not do that much
with God? piano
The mouse
cannot
the
in
understand
why
ing at the keys by making weird sounds. Much less can our puny minds grasp the plan of God. The slaughter of the Innocents probably saved many boys from growing up into men who on Good Friday would have shouted, “Crucify.” The physician would
the
destroying the world’s
war would of
human
Certainly none of us
pay that high a price, since God would
particularly
“You
me
evil of
inseparable from
destruction
against
evil
anyone should disturb his gnaw-
The
or stopping this
the
Rightly did
he say to his brethren:
But
human freedom, and hence cost
of evil
to put out
the lights of the world.
God has His
can
could
because while the power of doing
fering in the
God does permit
He
it.
not permit an operation could not
if
he
draw health from
it,
HOPE and God would not permit evil unless He could draw good from
49
much
wisdom
who
preacher
colored
the
in
“You run
said:
up against a brick wall every
it.
We must
3)
everything
do
within our yower to
fulfill
God's
will as it is made known to us hy His Mystical Body, the commandments, and our lawfully constituted superiors, and we must also fulfill our duties flowing from our state of life. But
now and then during God wants you that wall,
it is
to
If
life.
go through
up to God
to
make
the hole.”
But we are here concerned with those things outside your poiver,
example,
for
accidents,
bumps
sickness,
on
buses,
outside our
trampled toes in subways, the
power, we must abandon and sur-
barbed word of a fellow-worker,
render to His Holy
rain on picnic days, the death of
everything that
is
will.
Notice the distinction between
within our power, and outside
There
our power. fiataliem.
the
to be no
Some things are under
our control. like
is
We
are not to be
man who
perilously
walked the railing of a ship in a storm at sea saying: “I am a fatalist
!
I
believe
that
when
your time comes, there is nothing you can do about it.” What is
wrong
in fatalism is its failure
to recognize that, within certain limits,
our will can affect the
would be wrong then, not to do our very
events of for us,
best to
life. It
make
that
course one
which does good to our neighbor and renders glory to God. It is
God’s will that
have a free
men
should
which they can use in subordination to His and thereby be happy. There was will
Aunt Ellen on your wedding colds
on vacation, the
day,
loiss
of
your purse, and moth holes in your suit. God could have prevented any of these things.
He
could have stopped your headache,
a bullet from
prevented
hitting
your
boy,
forestalled
cramps during a swim, and killed the germ that laid you low. But if He did not, it was for a superior reason.
Therefore say:
“God’s will be done.” If you tell an Irishman it is a bad day, nine times out of ten he will answer: “It’s a good
day to save your It is
soul.”
one of the paradoxes of
creation that you gain control by
submission.
Does not the
scientist
control over nature sitting
gain
by humbly
down before the
facts of
you
60
nature and being docile to
its
In like manner, sur-
teachings?
render yourself to God, and is
of
Even the
yours. life
all
irritations
can be made stepping
An
stones to salvation.
oyster
develops a pearl because a grain of sand irritates
Cease com-
it.
plaining about your pains and aches.
When anyone remember
are you?” question,
it
is
will
Him
call
“Father” and
He
what is Think not that you could do more good wills
best for His children?
if you were well, or if you had another position. What
for souls
matters in God’s
not where
life is
are but whether
we
we
are doing
will.
‘‘How
Trust not in God because you
is
not a
He is good and you are not. Often during the day say: “God loves me, and He is on my side, by my
it
An
when things means more
than a thousand acts of thanksgiving
we
not believe
asks,
a greeting.
act of thanksgiving
go against our
Shall still
are good, but because
side.”
when things go according In wartime, do not ask:
to our will.
Every person in the world is possessed some are possessed by the devil, some are possessed by self, others are possessed by
“If
the Japanese and the English,
the Germans and the Americans,
:
question
God.
This broadcast
is
give your heart to
an appeal to
God as
if it
were yours no longer, for your will is
pray to God; on whose side is God?” For the answer to this
yours only to make
it
His.
Pray not to change God’s will; pray rather to change your own. Measure not God’s Goodness by His readiness to do your will.
as
we
“If we all prayed we would all be on
is:
ought,
the same side
on earth as
‘Thy will be done
:
it is
Neither ask
in heaven/
“Why
:
tions which love
God
another?” The answer don’t.”
You
is the love of
see
fight is:
”
do na-
one
“They
how important
God.
:
CHARITY Address Delivered On February
America’s greatest enemy
is
not from without, but from with-
and
in,
enemy
that
hate
is
hatred of races, peoples, classes,
and
religions.
America ever
If
be through con-
dies, it will not
1945
4,
feelings or emotions;
in the will.
help
A
disliking
little
loving
is
boy cannot
spinach,
as per-
haps you cannot help disliking sauerkraut,
and
cannot help
I
The same
disliking chicken.
is
true of your reactions to certain
quest, but suicide.
Tolerance pleas will not reme-
dy this hate, for why should any creature on God’s earth be merely tolerated ? There is more tragedy than we suspect in the fact that we have become most united as a nation at a
people.
an
You cannot
emotional
help feeling
reaction
against
the egotistical, the sophisticated,
and the for
loud, or those
first
seats,
or
who run who
those
snore in their sleep.
moment
But though you cannot
like
when we have developed a hate
everyone because you have no
against certain foreign countries.
control over your physiological
Hate can be eradicated only by creating a new focus, and that is By possible only by charity.
reactions,
charity
we
mean
do not
kindness, or
generosity,
philanthropy,
big-heartedness, but a supernatural gift of
God by which we
are enabled to love
things
all
alone,
that
and
He
The
Him
His
above
is
quality of charity to
that
it
resides in the
not in the emotions or pas-
sions or senses.
charity does not
but to
love.
In other words,
mean
Liking
is
to
in
like,
the
sense,
for
love,
can be com-
will,
As Our Lord said: “A new commandment I give unto manded. you as
:
I
That you love one another, have loved you” {John 13:
34).
Outwardly, your neighbor be very unlikeable
he
loves.
you can love everyone
divine
being in the
own sake
in that love, to love all
first
be noted will,
for
the
in
is
one in
may
;
but inwardly
whom
the image of
God can be recreated by the kiss of charity. You can like only those who like you, but you can love those who dislike you. You can go through
who
like
life liking
those
you without the love of
YOU
52
Humanism
God.
those of our
who
like to
make
for
or for those
set,
go slumming from
ivory towers, but to
is sufficient
it is
not enough
us love those
who
ap-
parently are not worth loving. will
to
be kind when
emotion
is
unkind,
To
the
requires
a
stronger dynamic than “love of
To
humanity.”
we
love them,
must recall that we who are not worth loving are loved by Love. “For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you
Do not even the publicans And if you salute your
have ? this?
brethren this?
what
only,
Do Be
more?
you
do
not also the heathens therefore perfect
as also your heavenly Father
is
perfect” {Matthew 5:46-48).
A that
it
is
amount
is
a habit, not a single
a
is
tremendous
of sentimental romanti-
cism associated with much hu-
man
kindness.
Remember
are not to be reproved but com-
the
great glow you got from giving
your overcoat to the beggar on
But what we wish
mended. emphasize
is
to
that nothing has
done so much harm to healthy friendliness as the belief that
ought
Why
What about
one good act?
Charity
the other acts?
all
we
one good act a day.
to do
is
a
A
not an isolated act.
habit,
husband and wife are out drivThey see a young blonde ing. along the roadside changing a tire. The husband gets out to Would he have done help her. He it if the blonde were fifty? changes
the
tire,
but
overflowing
politeness,
exuding
his
dirties
clothes, cuts his finger,
ness,
second feature of charity
There
act.
you did inwardly say: “Gee! I’m swell.” These good deeds
charm.
is all
sweet-
When
he gets back into his own car, his heart aglow with the good “I wish you deed, his wife says would talk that nice to me. Yesterday when I asked you to bring in the milk you said: ‘Are :
” you a cripple?’
See the difference between one
and a habit?
Charity
a
the street, for assisting a blind
act
man up the stairs, for escorting an old woman through traffic, or
habit,
ment
for contributing a ten dollar
ephemeral thing of moods and
to
The
relieve
an
warmth
widow.
indigent of
bill
self -approval
surged through your body, and
though you never said
it
aloud.
is
it
;
impulses; soul,
is
not a gush, or a senti-
it
a virtue,
is
not
an
a quality of the
rather than an individual
good deed.
How
do
you judge a good
CHAIRITY
By an
piano player?
occasional
63
Translating charity’s command-
right note or by the habit or
ment
virtue of striking right notes?
that you
An
habitually
man
evil
now and then may do deed.
every a
good
Gangsters endowed soup
kitchens and the movies glorified
them. But in Christian eyes,
were
they
Occasionally, an habitu-
man may
good
ally
prove
not
did
this
good.
fall,
is
the exception in his
it
is
but
life,
evil
while
the rule in the life of the
Whether we know
gangster.
it
or not, the actions of our daily life
are fixing our character for
good or for
you
do, the
The things
evil.
thoughts you think,
neighbor soul
If love of
becomes you
a
a
are
God and habit
of
developing
heaven within you. But
if
hatred
become the habit of then you are developing hell within you. Heaven is a place where charity is eternalized. In heaven there will be no faith, for
then
we
heaven there
for then
we
will see
will
will
God;
be no hope,
possess God;
but in heaven there will be charity,
love Hitler
as you love yourself, or Koiso, or
the thief
who
your
stole
tires,
woman who said you had many wrinkles that you had to
or the so
It means But how can you love that kind of an enemy as you
screw on your hat? just that.
love yourself?
self?
how do you love yourDo you like the way you
look?
If
Well,
you
did,
try to improve
it
you would not out of a box.
moody?
or
saint
right or the left side of the Di-
in
must
soul,
a
into
be placed at either the
vine Judge.
and your
that you
means enemy
Does that
as you love yourself.
mean
it
love your
evil
either
devil, to
your
must
Did you ever wish to be anyone else ? Why do you lie about your age and say you just turned thirty when you mean you returned thirty? Do you like yourself when you develop a sense of rumor, or when you spread gossip and run down your neighbor’s reputation, or when you are irritable and
the words you say, are turning
you
into the concrete,
for “love endureth forever.”
Finally,
love
is
universal.
You do not these moments.
like
But
yourself
in
same time, you do love yourself, and you know you do! When you come into a room you invariably at the
pick out the softest chair; you
buy yourself good
clothes, treat
yourself to nice presents;
anyone says you are
when
intelligent
’
:
YOU
54
or
always
you
beautiful,
that such a person
is
feel
of very
But when judgment. anyone says you are “catty” or selfish, you feel they have not understood your good nature, or
we
maybe they are
jmu,
sound
Thus you
“Fascists.”
love
yourself,
and
“There
say:
except for
go,
I
the grace of God.” In this spirit, are to understand the words
Our
of
“Love
Lord:
your
enemies, do good to them that
hate you.
Bless
them that curse
and pray for them that
calumniate
And
you.
him
to
on the one
thee
you do not love yourself. What you love ^bout yourself is the person that God made; what
that
you hate about yourself
thy cloak) forbid not to take thy
yet
God-made spoiled.
You
is
that
whom
person like
the
you
sinner,
striketh
And
cheek offer also the other.
him that taketh away from thee coat also” (Luke 6:27-29). It
Christian
to
hate
the
evil
is
of
is
anti-Christians, but not without
why, when you do wrong, you
praying for these enemies that
ask to be given another chance,
they might be saved for God loved us when as yet we were
but you hate the
sin.
That
or you promise to do better, or
you find excuses, or you say “It was not my true self.” But you never deny there
is
hope.
That is just the way Our Lord intended that you should love your enemies: love
them as
you love yourself, hating their sin,
loving
them as sinners;
liking that
vine
image,
which blurs the loving
the
disdi-
divine
—
sinners. If, then, you bear a hatred toward anyone, overcome it by
doing that person a favor. You
music and you can make friends out of your enemies only by practicing charThe reason you love someity.
can begin to
like classical
only by listening to
one else
is
it,
because that person
up your
image beneath the blur; never
supplies your lack or
arrogating to yourself a greater
void.
right to God’s love than they,
something
you
own heart you
kindliness,
beauty, wealth, vir-
since deep in your
know
that no one could be less
deserving of His love than you.
And when you
see
them
receiv-
ing the just due of their crimes,
you do not gloat over them, but
You
find
in
do
fills
the
not
other
have
tue, etc.
But God does not love you because you supply His lack.
He
you lovable not because, of and by yourself, you are lovable.
finds
CHARFTY but because love in you.
He
puts some of His
As
a mother loves
her child because her nature
is
in the child, as the artist loves
ple
55
and
make
them
Where you do not it
Love
there.
things, and
all
lovable.
find love,
put
therefore
all
persons in God.
the canvas because his idea and his colored pattern is in
So long as there are poor, it,
sc
God loves you because His Power or His Nature or His Love is in some way in you. If,
then,
God’s love for you
makes you lovable, why not put some of your love in other peo-
I
am
poor: So long as there are prisons, I am a prisoner: So long as there are sick, I am weak: So long as there
rance, I
must
is ignolearn: is hate, I
So long as there
must
love.
THE HELL THERE
IS
Address Delivered On February
This
is
going to be a very
unpopular broadcast. a subject the
It is
modern mind does
not want to hear, namely,
Why
about
hell.
do our modern minds deny
1945
11,
ishment of hell? because
It
two-fold
is
corresponds
it
double character of
the
to
Every
sin.
mortal sin consists in a) a turning
away from God and
b)
Very simply because they deny sin. If you deny human guilt, then you must deny the
we turn away from God, we
right of a state to judge a crim-
Beauty, His Truth
hell?
inal,
or to sentence
him
to prison.
Once you deny the sovereignty of God, you must deny hell. The existence of hell
is
God’s eternal
guarantee of the inviolability of
human freedom.
You can disyou must also freedom; you can Sing Sing, but you
turning to creatures. the
absence of His Love,
called the
—and
Pain of Loss.
we turned
to creatures
Pain of Sense, one of
disbelieve in respon-
You can no more make
sibility.
a free nation without judges and
make a free Judgment and
prisons than you can
world
without
Because and per-
we are punished in some way by the very creatures which we abused. This is called the being the
also
His
this is
pose,
disbelieve in disbelieve in
feel
verted them to our sinful pur-
believe in hell, but
must
a
Because
The Pain of Sense the
principle
ment should
aspects
its
of hell.
fire
fit
that
is
the
based on punish-
the crime. If you
disobey one of nature’s laws, you suffer
a corresponding retribu-
State constitution could
you become intoxicated some night and put yourself in
months on the basis of a Liberal Christianity which denies that Christ meant what He said: “Depart from me, you
you do not necessarily wake up
Hell.
No
exist for six
cursed,
into
everlasting
fire
which was prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25: 41).
What
tion.
a state of amiable incandescence,
the next morning with an over-
drawn bank account.
the nature of the pun-
But you
do feel the effects of abusing the
God-given thirst by something vaguely described as a “hangover.”
is
If
In almost so
many
words,
the alcohol says to you: “I
was
;
M lHiK
made by God
to be
IHiBi'Iilj
used by you
as a reasonable creature.
me from
perverted
God
Now
intended.
on God’s
You
the purpose since I
am
side, not yours, I shall
abuse you, because you abused
me.” In
hell, in like
manner, we
from the very creatures we perverted. Hence there shall suffer
will
67
XS
TIHiEiiRS
The
of his reason. is
now more
even thirsty
result
when he
filled.
He
he
at the
same time he
the most
is
hates water as poison
the thirst for
is
mad with
In like manner,
it.
was made
the soul
is,
thirsty than before,
to live on the
love of God, but if
perverts
it
that love by salting
with
it
sin,
be different kinds of punish-
then as the sailor hates the very
The fiercer the grip had on a soul in the more fiercely will
water he drinks, so the soul hates
ment
in hell.
sinful pleasures
the very thing
this life,
ly,
the fires torment
it
in eternity.
As the insane
hate most the very persons
As the Scriptures tell us: “By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented” (Wisdom 11:17). And do not try
they were really
to escape this logic or blind your-
above
self to
name-
desires,
it
the love of God.
in
really
Divine Authority by argu-
most,
the
love
damned
whom
moments they
saner
their
so
the
God whom meant to love
in hell hate
all
things.
The wicked do not want
hell
ing that hell could not be as you
because they enjoy
have heard some preachers pic-
they want hell because they do
ture
I
it.
am
only saying, do not
reject the truth of the
book be-
cause the pictures are bad.
shall describe
Hell
you
is
love.
we
it.
the hatred of the things
A
sailor lost
at sea loves water.
on a raft
He was made
and water was made for him. He knows that he ought not drink the water from the sea, but he violates the dictates for
it,
torments;
They need God,
but they do not want Him. Hell is
Now, what is the Pain of Loss? That is best understood as the loss of Divine Love, and from three distinct points of view,
not want God.
its
eternal suicide for hating love.
Hell
is
the hatred of the
God you
love.
mind eternally mad wounding Love. How often during life you have said: Hell
is
the
at itself for
“I hate myself.”
No
one
who
condemned you could add
consciousness of your guilt.
knew
it
ever
to the
You
a thousand times better
than they. yourself
when you
When
most?
did you hate
Certainly
not
failed to act on a tip
YOU
58
You hated
on the stock market.
most when you hurt someone you loved. You even
yourself
doing that.” The souls
self for
themselves most for
in hell hate
wounding
Perfect
never
can
Hence their
forgive
It is
will
themselves.
unforgiveness.
God would not
not that
give them.
They
Love.
hell is eternal: eter-
self-imposed
nal
my-
“I can never forgive
said:
It is
for-
rather that they
not forgive themselves.
How
sight of moral goodness arouses
The
person
evil
in-
why
earth,
possible
Love
the essence of
is
They reject the one remedy that could have helped them, the love of Someone besides themselves, and for that reason hell
is
the house of in-
who hate themselves
for
hating Love. Hell
is
submission
der Justice.
world
its
These
eternity?
their souls.
to love
in
such things
will still hate
because hate
Put one good boy a gang of boys which spends values.
if
should they not be
in
wicked souls
cessantly wants a recasting of all
Now
are possible to corrupt souls on
curables
often in this ^orld the
indignation.
persecution and mockery of religion today.
;
We
to
Love un-
are free in this
we can no more be forced God than we can be forced
to love classical music, antiques,
chances are the gang will turn
swing bands, olives, or Bach. Force and love are contraries. Love and freedom are correla-
against that good boy, ridicule
tives.
time in petty thievery or breaking
school
his moral principles, is
and
windows,
tell
the
him he
a coward or old-fashioned. Ex-
same mentality is presWhenever a ent in adult life. professor attacks morality and makes fun of religion before his
actly that
pupils,
you can be sure nine times
out of ten that his life
Goodness
is
professors: they CO
is
rotten.
a reproach to such
want everyone
be like themselves, so no one
can
reproach
their
conscience.
This revolt against goodness and truth
:*
the basic cause of the
When you came God
into this world,
said: ‘T ask jou to love
freely, that
me
you may be perfect.”
Suppose we freely say: “I
re-
fuse to love Truth and Justice
and Beauty or
my
neighbor.
I
and graft, and ugliness.” Later on you die in that state. But you do not escape that Divine Love which you shall love error,
abused, any more than the traitor escapes the country whose love
he despised. love,
Either you possess
or love possesses you.
In
THE marriage a
meant
HECLiL
man and woman were But that
to possess love.
love can be perverted so that in
the
end,
How
them.
possesses
love
often a husband, for ex-
is
Often, too,
is
tied to a
husband
do them part.
many
drunkard or death
until
They do not
free-
they are
one another;
in
but
it
logarithms,
Space-Time
about
differentials,
every broadcast you heard was
you mad.
Now
the souls in hell
hate Perfect Life, Perfect Truth
and Perfect Love
—and
if
—^which
is
God
they had to live with
part.
as mathematics would be yours.
them
to be forced to love
a
anyone
their contracts to love one an-
other until death do
After
pointer-readings.
of
while mathematics would drive
more than you hate mathematics, then God would be their great punishment
forced in virtue of the justice of
And
nothing
everyone you met talked to you
on the theory of relativity, every
worthless
love
pose your morning paper had
book you read was on the subject
her jealousies.
ly
59
woman by mar-
her wants, her selfishness, and a wife
IS
possessed by her, by
ample, tied to a riage,
THERE
that which they hated
Heaven would be
is hell.
hell.
The lost souls could have loved God freely. But they chose to rebel against that love and in doing so came under Divine Justice, as the criminal falls from
forgive?
the love of a country to
never forgive? Error, for error
tice.
The
its jus-
souls in hell do not
possess love, love possesses them. Justice forces
that
is,
them
to love God,
to submit to the Divine
Order, but to be forced to love is
the very negation of love. It
is
hdl!
Think not that
hell
ever ends,
will
go to heaven.
hell
went
If
a soul in
to heaven, heaven to
would be a
Suppose you hated higher mathematics; suphell.
must be
eternal.
the one thing that
is
Death,
the
one
is its
What
is
can never
life
because death
the negation of
life.
thing that
contradiction.
What
truth
What
is
is
can the
one thing that love can never forgive? It is the refusal to love; that
is
why
Hell
is
Eternal.
Everything does not come out right in the end, for
one
or that some day souls in hell
it
Hell
moment
we cannot at we are
believe that
saved by doing God’s the next
moment
will,
and
believe that
has no significance.
Hell
it
means
that the consequences of your
good and bad acts are not 4iffeiC^ut.
It
in-
makes a tremen^
!
YOU
60
amount of difference to your body if you drink tea or TNT, and it makes a greater difdous
ference
your soul drinks
if
tue or vice.
there
Where
the tree
vir-
falls,
You ask: “How can a good God be so wrathful as to sentence souls to hell?” Remember that God does not sentence us to hell, as much as we sentence our-
When
selves.
it
flies
loved;
the cage
is
opened
out to the air which
when our body
good soul
flies
out to
its
dies, the
eternity
of love of God. But a soul in the state of sin at the
death casts
itself
moment
of
into hell just
as naturally as a stone released
from
my hand
falls
to
the
ground.
that upon which there
is
of love
it
dif-
So
shines.
when He judges
whom He
those
is in
Hell
the wick-
is
different
mood
who go to hell, and for who go to heaven. The dif-
down
to
head bent to to love. to
the sun which shines on
mud
first
where there
and heart open it hard
kiss,
do not find
I
understand God preparing a
hell for
those
who want
to hate
themselves eternally for having
hated Him. to
But
understand die
save unworthy
Hell
sun which shines on wax softens
hill
is a God-man enthroned with arms outstretched to embrace,
which
not in Him. The
without
hell
passing over the
for those
is in us,
judges.
at the foot of the hill of
Calvary, and no one of us can
go
those
it;
no
is
no difference in the God
God should
God has not a
ference
There
it.
ference in the sun, but only in
ed and the just; the difference
it lies.
the bird
hardens
do find
it
that
hard
same
upon a Cross to me from a hell
sins so rightly deserve.
a place where there
is
That there may be no
love.
in
my
is
I
why
our
final
word God :
no
hell
destinies, one final
love
you
THE VALUE OF IGNORANCE Address Delivered
One thousand years before Our Blessed Lord was born, there
Homer
the glorious
:
Greeks.
Two
great
ascribed to him:
the other the Odyssey. of the Ilaid
was not
are
the mysterious challenge of glori-
The hero
Achilles,
Hector, the leader of the
Trojans
whom
but
enemy
Achilles defeated
an^ killed. The poem ends not with a tribute to Achilles, but with a glorification of the de-
The other poem,
feated Hector.
the Odyssey, had as
its
1945
Iliad,
of the
epics
one the
18,
For a thousand years before the birth of Our Blessed Lord, pagan antiquity resounded with these two stories of the poet who threw into the teeth of history
lived one of the greatest of all
poets
On February
hero, not
man and
fying a defeated a sorrowful
woman.
hailing
The subse-
how
quent centuries asked,
could
anyone be victorious in defeat and glorious in sorrow? And the
answer was never given until that day when there came One
who was
glorious in defeat:
Christ on His Cross;
the
and one
Odysseus, but Penelope, his wife,
who was magnificent
who was
His Blessed Mother beneath the
him during travels. As the
faithful to
the years of his
suitors pressed for her affections,
she told them that
when she
fin-
in
sorrow:
Cross. It is interesting that
Our Lord
spoke seven times on Calvary and
ished weaving the garment they saw before them, she would listen to their courtship. But each night she unraveled what she had woven in the day, and thus
that His Mother
remained faithful until her husband returned. “Of all women,”
Son began His Public life. No^ that the sun was out, there was no longer need of the moon to
she said, “I ful.”
am
the most sorrow-
Well might be applied to
her the words of Shakespeare:
“Sorrow throne.
lown to
sits in my soul as on a Bid kings come and bow it.”
is
recorded as
having spoken seven Sacred Scripture.
times
Her
in
last re
corded word was at the Marriage
Feast of Cana, when her Divine
shine.
Now
spoken, there
that the
Word had
was no longer need
of words.
One wonders,
as
Our Blessed
Lord spoke each of His Seven
YOU
62
Words, the
if
Our Blessed Mother
at
Cross did not
foot of the
think of each of her correspond-
Words?
Such will be the subject of our Lenten meditations: Our Lord’s Seven Words on the Cross and the Seven Words of Mary’s life. ing
when
Generally,
men
suffer at the
pious
judges,
are either,
innocent
hands of im-
words
their last
am
“I
innocent” or
“The courts are rotten.” here for the
first
But
time in the
hearing of the world
is
one who
asked neither for the forgiveness of His
own
sins, for
nor proclaimed His cence, for
men
is
own
God, inno-
are not judges of
God.
Rather does
those
who
kill
He
He
plead for
Him:
“Father,
what they do” {Luke 23:34). Mary, beneath the Cross, heard
Her Divine Son speak that First Word. I wonder, when she heard Him say “know not,” if she did not recall her own First Word.
It
too,
contained
those
words, “know not.” The occasion
was the annunciation, the first good news to reach the earth in centuries. The angel announced to her that she was to become the Mother of God: “Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth
And Mary
How
a son and thou ;
Jesus
.
.
shall this be done, because I
These
words
Mary seem knowing.
of
1 :31-34).
Jesus
and
to suggest that there
wisdom
sometimes
is
.
Angel:
said to the
know not man?” {Luke
Ignorance
is
in
not
here rep-
resented not as a curse, but as a
This rather shocks our
blessing.
modern
sensibilities
education
we
—
^but
to
fail
that
concerning is
because
distinguish between
wisdom and
true
false
wisdom.
Paul called the wisdom of
St.
world
the
“foolishness
with
and Our Blessed Lord thanked His Heavenly Father that He had not revealed HeavenGod,”
ly
know not
forgive them, for they
name
shalt call his
Wisdom
to the worldly wise.
The ignorance which
is
here
extolled is not ignorance of the
truth,
but
Notice
it first
of ers
ignorance
Our Savior :
He
of to
all
of
evil.
in the
word
His execution-
implied that they could
be forgiven only because they
were ignorant of their terrible crime. It was not their wisdom that would save them, but their ignorance. In like manner if we knew what we were doing when we smote the Hands of Everlast-
ing Mercy, dug the Feet of the
Good
Head
Shepherd, of
Wisdom
crowned
the
Incarnate, and
THE VALUE OF IGNORANCE it,
we would
never be saved.
We
would be
damned
our ignorance
went on doing
still
It is only
!
which brings us within the pale of redemption and forgiveness.
As
St.
cost:
Peter told them on Pente-
know
“I
that you did
it
63
months the Guest who Host of the world.
You
live in
the
a world in which
“You do
the worldly wise say:
know life; you have never lived.” They assume that you can know nothing except by not
—experience
through ignorance, as did also
experience
your rulers” (Acts 3:17).
of good but of evil.
The First Word our Blessed Mother spoke at the Annunciation revealed the same lesson. She said: “I know not man.” Why was there a value in not knowing man? Because she had
is
not only
Examine your own life. If evil by experience, are
you know
you wiser because of
it?
Do
you not now despise that very
and are you not the more
evil,
tragic for having experienced it?
consecrated her virginity to God.
You may even have become mas-
At a moment when every woman
tered by the evil you experienced.
sought the privilege of being the
How
Mother of the Messias, Mary gave up the hope and received the privilege. She refuses to discuss with an angel any kind of compromise with her high re-
“I
—
If the
solve.
condition of be-
coming the Mother of God was the surrender of her vow, she
would not make that surrender, knowing man would have been evil for
her
have been stances.
—though
it
would not
evil in other
circum-
Not knowing man
is
kind of ignorance, but here
a it
proves to be such a blessing that in
an instant the Holy Spirit
overshadows her, making her a living
bear
ciborium within
privileged
herself
for
to
nine
often the disillusioned say:
wish
I
had
never
liquor,” or “I regret the stole
my
first dollar,”
tasted
day
I
or “I wish
had never known that person.” wiser you would have been had you been ignorant! Think not, then, that in order to “know life” you must “experiI
How much
ence evil.”
cause he ease?
Is a doctor is
wiser be-
prostrate with dis-
Do we know cleanliness by Do you besewers?
living in
come a better pianist by striking wrong keys? Do not excuse yourself by say-
the
ing “temptations are too strong,” or
“good people do not know
what temptation is.” The good know more about the strength of
YOU
64
who
the strength of a
an empty chalice, you might spend your life filling it with the wisdom of His Love? Honestly, if you had the choice now either of learning more
temptation unless you overcome
about the world or of unlearning
Our Blessed Lord really understands the power of temp-
the
temptations than those
How
do you
enemy
is
in
know how strong the battle? By being cap-
How
tured or by conquering?
can you
fall.
know
it?
than anyone, be-
better
tation
cause
He overcame
the tempta-
that, like
you know, would you
evil
not rather unlearn than learn?
does
what absolution is makes you wise by igno-
that
Well,
it
;
You will not be given a when you walk out of
tions of Satan.
rance.
much evil in the world today, so many lies propagated, so many ideas known that
sheepskin
There
is
so
are untrue, that
great blessing soul
if
would be a some generous it
the Confessional Box, that great
University
you
Unlearning,
of
feel
will
like
Christ will be your Shepherd.
would endow a University
A
2)
second
way
evil
is
would be to do with error and evil exactly what doctors do with
day
in meditation.
unlearning.
Well, such an institu-
disease!
tion does exist
and here are two
practical courses
learning 1) If
Its
it
offers for un-
evil.
you are a Catholic, go
confession and have your blotted out, for here
is
to
sins
an act as
In making God made something
great as creation. the world,
out
of
nothing;
in
God put something namely your
forgiving,
into nothing,
Would you
sins.
not like to be right
now
just as
to unlearn
spend a Holy Hour a
to
purpose,
for
but
a lamb, for
This can be
done by everyone, whether you be Jew, Protestant, or Catholic. If
you are a Catholic, spend that
hour
in
the
of
presence
Our
Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, making your morning Mass the first
half
of
that
hour.
ignorant of propaganda,
Be
politics,
and gossip for an hour a day and become truly wise economics,
being instructed by the Spirit of God.
You need to get away from now and then to know
the world
what you
ought
to
be.
God
you were when you came from
writes better on a blank page
God
than on one covered with your
the hands of
at the baptis-
with no false wisdom
mal
font,
yet
gathered to your mind so
scribblings.
People living in dirt hardly
THE VALUE OF IGNORANCE how
ever realize
Those who
live
dirty dirt in
is.
hardly
sin
understand the horror of
sin.
The one peculiar and terrifying thing about sin is, the more experience you have with
it,
the
you know about
You
be-
less
come
it.
so identified with it that
you know neither the depths to
which you have sunk, nor the heights from which you have
You
know
you
65
its
shadow there
its
highest,
was
it
Innocence at
follows that there
the
also
is
greatest
sorrow.
Since there was no sin, there was the greatest understanding of
its
was their innocence which made the agonies of Calevil.
It
vary so tragic. St.
Thomas Aquinas
that the
love
least
of
tells
us
God
is
worth more than the knowledge
were asleep until you wake up;
of all created things, because by knowing the world we identify
and you never know the horror of sin until you get out of sin.
but by loving God
Hence,
assimilated
fallen.
never
only
know what
the
sin
is.
sinless
really
One hour a
day spent with God in meditation will help
you unlearn your
sin.
Since there on the Cross and in
ourselves
with the corruptible,
we become
Eternal
to
Perfec-
tion.
We
all
ter than
know enough to be betwe are our unhappiness ;
comes from our want of
love.
THE SECRET OF SANCTITY Address Delivered On February
There
is
one
thing
the
in
and absolutely your own, and that is your will. Health, power, life, and honor can all be snatched from you, but your will is irrevocably your own, even in hell. Hence, world that
is definitely
nothing really matters in
life,
ex-
what you do with your will. the drama of will which makes the story of the two cept It
is
thieves crucified on either side of our
Lord one of the absorbing
1945
25,
ready so
full of
surrender to His
Savior,
there
came
this
plea,
“Remember me when thou come
shalt
Im-
thy kingdom.”
into
mediately there came the answer of the Lord,
“Amen
I
say to thee,
day thou shalt be with me Paradise” {Luke 23:40-43). this
We
“Thou.”
are
als in the sight of
all
God.
individu-
He
eth His sheep by name.
Word was
the
call-
This
foundation
democracy.
Christian
in
of
Every
incidents of history.
soul is precious in God’s sight,
Both thieves at first blasphemThere was no such thing as ed. the good thief at the beginning of the Crucifixion. But when the
even those
thief on the right heard that
Man
on the Central Cross forgive His
out and
whom
the State casts
kills.
At the
foot of the Cross,
good
thief,
and her soul rejoiced
that he bad accepted the will of
Her Divine Son’s Second
executioners, he had a change of
God.
He began to sorrows. He took up
Word promising Paradise
soul.
accept his his cross as
a yoke rather than as a gibbet,
abandoned himself to God’s will, and turning to the rebellious thief on the left said: “Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the
same condemna-
And we
indeed justly, for
tion?
we
receive the due reward of our
deeds: but this
no
evil.”
man hath done
Then frpm
his heart al-
Mary
witnessed the conversion of the
as a
reward for that surrender, reminded her of her own Second
Word some
thirty years before,
when the angel had appeared to her and told her that she was to be the Mother of Him who was now dying on the Cross. In her First Word she asked how this would be accomplished since she knew not man. But when the angel said she would conceive of
TOffiE
Mary immedi-
the Holy Spirit,
“Be
ately answered:
me
SECRET OF SANOTITY
it
done to
according to thy word.” Fiat
secundum verhum tuum.
mihi
{Luke 1:38). This was
67
Paradise but Paradise was to be ;
received into Mary.
Each of us, too, has a cross. Our Lord said “If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, :
cross,
and
fol-
The first was at Creation when God said: Fiat lux: “Let there be light.” Another was in Gethsemane when
low me” {Mark 8:34).
He
did
the Savior, pressing the chalice
as
of redemption to His lips, cried:
world
Fiat voluntas tua: “Thy will be
built,
(Matthew 26:42). The third was Mary’s, pronounced in a Nazarene cottage, which prov-
and no one
one
of
the
great
Fiats of the world.
done”
and take up his
My
not say: “Take up
His cross
not the same as
is
yours, and yours
is
patterned to
bearer
fit its
else.
why we
We
hard.”
the
in
custom
made,
is' tailor
is
not the same
Every cross
mine.
That is
Cross.”
say
:
“My
cross
assume that other
war
people’s crosses are lighter, for-
against the empire of evil: Fiat
getful that the only reason our
ed to be a declaration of
secundum verhum tuum,
mihi
“Be
me
done to
it
according to
thy word” (Luke 1:38).
is
hard
is
simply because
our own.
circumstances of your
Nazareth teach the same lesson Everyone in the
by your routine
world has a cross, hut the cross
not
same for any two of was not the cross of Mary. The difference was due to God’s will toward each. The thief was to
of
of
in
:
the
is riot
The
us.
give
his
life.
The
cross of the thief
thief
missal
The
The
;
to
to to
accept
hang on
remain be-
thief received a dis-
Mary
thief
was
Mary
his cross;
hind.
Mary
life;
was
received a mission. to
it
Our Lord did not make His cross it was made for Him. So yours is made by the is
;
The Second Word of Jesus on Golgotha and the Second Word
Mary
cross
be received into
why
it fits
duties.
so tight.
and That is
life,
Crosses are
made by machines. Our Lord deals separately with each of your souls. The crown gold
want
you
underneath
it
the
thorns, but the heroes
may
have
crown
who
of
choose
the crown of thorns often find it is the crown Even those that seem to
that underneath of gold.
be without a cross actually have one.
No
ed that
one would have suspect-
when Mary resigned
her-
YOU He may
by accepting becoming the Mother of God she would ever have to bear a cross. It would seem too, that one who was pre-
the lower regions, the shepherd
from original sin should be dispensed from the
will
self
the
to God’s will
honor
served
free
penalties pain.
of
of
And
that sin,
such as
yet this honor brought
to her seven crosses and ended by making her the Queen of
you, as
war.
It
be doing in this
always for a good
is
When
reason.
the sheep have
grazed and thinned the grass in arms, carry
it
take a
up the mountain lamb in his
little
where the grass is green, lay it down, and soon the other sheep will follow. Every now and then
Our Blessed Lord,
too, takes a
kinds of crosses as there are per-
lamb from the parched pasture of a family up to those Heavenly Green Pastures, that the rest of
sons: crosses of grief and sor-
the family
row, crosses of want, crosses of
on their true home and follow
Martyrs.
There
are, therefore, as
abuse, crosses of
wounded
many
love,
and crosses of defeat! There is the cross of widows. How often Our Lord spoke of them; for example, in the parable of the judge and the widow {Luke 18:1-8) when He rebuked ;
the
Pharisees
who
“devoured
may
keep their eyes
through.
Then there
is
the cross of sick-
which always has a divine purpose. Our Blessed Lord said ness,
of
a
particular
sickness
for
is
the
11:4).
illness
:
“This
not unto death, but
glory
of
God”
(John
Resignation to this par-
widows’ houses” {Mark 12:40);
ticular kind of cross is one of
when He spoke
the very highest forms of prayer.
widow of Naim {Luke 7 :12) and when He praised the widow who threw to the ;
Unfortunately, the sick generally
want
to be doing
something
else
two mites into the temple treasury {Mark 12:42). Widowhood may have been particularly dear to Him because His own mother was a widow, for Joseph His foster-father was presumably al-
than being sick which God has
ready dead.
into the fire that it begins to
There
is
the cross of death
when God takes someone from
willed at least permissively.
tragedy of this world
much is
the pain in
it;
is
The
not so
the tragedy
much of pain is wasted. only when a log is thrown
that so
It is
It was only when the thief was thrown into the fire of a
sing.
THE .SECRET OR cross that he found God.
It is
only in pain that some discover Love.
soul
We
differ,
from soul
“This is your chauflE^ur’s home.” “Well,” said she, “if that Pointing to a tiny
like.”
“There
Peter said,
think too often that
yours.”
“I can’t live in that,”
Heaven there is going to be somewhat the same inequality in
we have
that
positions
that servants on earth will
;
be
cottage,
in
social
home, think what mine
his
will
in
differ
will
glory.
crosses
69
said,
is
our
Because
here
SuAH^CTITY
“I’m sorry, that
important people on earth will be
ahead some
is
into
account
God
not true.
our
will take
crosses.
He
seemed to suggest that in the parable of Dives and Lazarus:
Peter said, the best
good thief
fine material.
makes no
It
difference, then,
what you do here on earth what matters is the love with which you do it. The street cleaner ;
who
accepts
God’s
in
“Son, remember that thou didst
cross arising
receive good things in thy life-
life,
time, and likewise Lazarus evil
fellowmen; the mother
But now he
things: ed;
and
thou
{Luke 16:25).
I
Those who suffer as did, have sent
sent me.”
the
This
is
could do with the material you
be servants in heaven; that the the important people in heaven.
And
she answered.
is
from
name
a
his state in
such as the scorn of his
who
pro-
comfort-
nounces her Fiat to the Divine
art tormented” There will be a
Will as she raises a family for
is
the
Kingdom
of God; the afflict-
who say Fiat
bright jewel of merit for those
ed in hospitals
who
their cross of suffering, are the
suffer in this world.
we
cause
position
world where
live in a
determined economi-
is
we
cally,
Be-
forget that in God’s
world the royalty are those who do His
will.
Heaven
will be a
complete reversal of the values of earth.
The
the last
first shall
first,
for
be last and
God
is
no
re-
A
wealthy
important
woman
specter of persons.
and
socially
wgnt
to heaven.
St.
Peter point-
ed to a beautiful mansion and
uncanonized saints; for what
to
is
sanctity but fixation in goodness
by abandonment
to
God’s Holy
Will? It
is
feel that
typically
we
thing unless thing big.
American
to
are not doing any-
we
are doing some-
But from the Chris-
tian point of viev/, there is no
one thing that other thing.
is
bigger than any
The bigness comes
from the way our
wills
utilize
— YOU
70
Hence mopping an office for the love of God is “higger” -than running the office for the love of money. Each of us is to praise and love God in his own way. The bird praises God by singing, the flower by blooming, the clouds things.
with their rain, the sun with light, the
tion,
moon with
its
its
reflec-
and each of us by our pa-
we shrink from
We
Artist.
beside,”
else
are so “fearful lest
Him we may
having
we have
the
have naught
forgetful fire
that
of Love,
worry about the sparks, and
we have
the perfect round,
if
why
trouble ourselves with the arc.
We
always make the fatal misit is what when really what we let God
take of thinking that
we do
our state in
what matters is do to us. God sent the angel
life.
if
why
tient resignation to the trials of
If the gold in the bowels of
that matters,
to
the earth did not say Fiat to the
Mary, not to ask her to do some-
miner
thing, but to let something be
and
the
goldsmith,
it
would never become the chalice of the altar;
if
writer,
poem; Fiat
we would never have the Our Lady did not say
if
to
the
done.
Since God
the pencil did
not say Fiat to the hand of the
angel,
she
would
is
a better artisan
than you, the more you abandon yourself to Him, the happier
can make you.
He
It is well to
a self-made man, but
it is
be
better
never would have been the escort
God-made man. Try it you, whether you be Jew, Protestant, or Catholic by spending a Holy Hour a day in prayer and meditation. Cathoinclude morning lics should Mass in their Hour, thus taking
for the Master into Paradise.
advantage of Calvary’s
The reason most of us are what we are, mediocre Christians, ‘"up” one day. “down” the
in a
never have become the House of
God;
if
Fiat
to
Our Lord did not say the
Gethsemane,
Father’s
we
will
would
have been redeemed;
if
in
never
the thief
did not say Fiat in his heart, he
.
nished canvas,
the oils and tints of the Heavenly
to be a I
mean
—
sacrifice
world of lesser Calvaries.
God
will love you, of course,
to let
though you do not love Him; but remember, if you give Him only half your heart.
hand of the sculptor; as unvar-
py.
we refuse God work on us. As crude marble, we rebel against the next, is simply because
even
He can make you
only
50%
hap-
THE SEiCRET OF SANCTITY
71
You have freedom only to give To whom do you give it away. yours? You give it either to the
you
moods, the hour, to your egotism,
to choose ;
to creatures, or to God.
perfectly free, because you will
Do you know
that, if
you give
your freedom to God, in heaven
will
have no freedom
of
choice, because once
you possess
the Perfect, there
nothing
and
is
still
you
left
will be
Him whose heart Freedom and Love. be one with
is
THE FELLOWSHIP OF RELIGION Address Delivered On March
This war has proved that hu-
man
beings are morally closer
bomb
to one another in a
shelter
1945
4,
After having yielded up His
garment for
who gambled Cross now
to those
He
it.
on
the
up her who wove
or shell-hole than they are in a
yields
brokerage
Blessed Lord looks
table.
or at a bridge
office
Sorrow draws hearts
to-
gether. Given therefore the trag-
edy of Calvary, one should ex-
Our Lord and His
pect to find
Blessed Mother and
all
humanity
in the deepest fellowship of religion.
John prefaces the Word
St.
Our Lord spoke to His Mother from the Cross by the mention of the Lord’s seamless garment for which the soldiers were
shaking
now
dice.
Our
it.
down
to the
two most beloved creatures He has on earth: Mary and John. He speaks first to His Blessed
He
Mother.
does not
her
call
As
“Mother,” but “Woman.”
St.
Bernard so lovingly suggests, if He had called her “Mother,” she would have been just His Mother
and no one
is
ing the Mother of
He the
redeems. title
hood:
In order to
else’s.
indicate that she
now becommen whom
all
He endows
her with
universal
mother-
of
“Woman.” Then
indicat-
the details of
ing with a gesture of His head
the Passion, should he suddenly
the presence of His beloved dis-
Why, out
of
all
He added “Behold thy He does not call him John, if He did, John would have
begin thinking about a robe? Be-
ciple,
was woven by Mary’s It was such a beautiful
Son.”
cause
it
hands.
robe that these hardened crim-
refused to tear
inals
it
apart.
Custom gave them the right the
perquisites
they
crucified.
of
those
But
to
whom
here
the
criminals refused to divide the spoils.
so that
They shook
dice for
it,
the winner could have
the whole robe.
for
:
been only the son of Zebedee;
He
left
him unnamed that he
might stand for all humanity. Our Lord was equivalently saying to His Mother: “You already have one Son, and I am He.
You cannot have
another.
the other sons will be in the
branches
are
in
the
All
Me
as
vine.
m
THE PELLOWSHTP OP RELIGION Hence son
!’
I say not; ‘Behold another ” but ‘Behold thy son/
As she was the custodian
now she would be
the Vine so
custodian
of
branches
the
of
through time and eternity.
In
Bethlehem she had given birth to the King;
now on Calvary
she
was begetting the Kingdom. At the crib Mary was the Madonna of the Son of God. At the cross Mary became our Madonna. When Mary heard Our Blessed Lord speak His Third Word
the
lige,
an
fact
Wom-
that this
within
bears
the
herself
very Lord of the Universe, then creatures
Mary might
rightfully
claim
dispensation
from
bonds and duties to
of
all
social
Women
neighbor.
in that con-
dition are not to minister but to
But here
be ministered unto.
we have
the
greatest of
all
the
of
spectacle
women becoming
the servant of others.
Not stand-
ing on her dignity saying,
am
“I
Mother of God,” but
the
relation-
recognizing the need of her aged
remembered so well when it began. Her Third Word, as His, was about relationship. It was a long time ago. After
cousin, the pregnant Queen, in-
establishing ship,
this
new
she
the angel announced to her that
she was to be the Mother of God, which alone would have bound her to all humanity, the angel added that her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, was now six months
with
up
child.
“And Mary
in those days,
went
rising
into the
country with haste into a
hill
city of Juda.
And
she entered
into the house of Zachary,
saluted Elizabeth”
and
{Luke 1:39-
It is rightly
assumed that no
may more
justly claim im-
munity from service to others than a If
like other women, mounts a donkey, makes a five day journey over hill country^ and with such a consciousness of
isolation
spiritual fellowship that she does it,
the language
in
Sacred
of
Scripture, “with haste.”
Before
Mary sion
the
Savior
born,
is
recognizes that her misto bring the
is
humanity
;
impatience
is
begins
before
it
Savior to
and with such a holy she
filled,
that she
her
Son has
seen the light of day.
I
love
to think of her on this journey
40).
one
stead of awaiting her hour in
woman
one adds to
bearing a
child.
this, noblesse ob-
as the first Christian Nurse whose service to neighbor is inseparable from bringing Christ into the life of her patient.
There
is
no record of the ex-
!
YOU
74
words that Mary spoke.
act
Evangelist merely
tells
she saluted Elizabeth. tice that just as
were
ships
new
the
to
an unborn babe salutes
relation-
immediately estab-
She calls “The mother of my Lord’’ {Luke 1:43). But that was not
who
the Host
of the world.
human
finally at the
-
own
Elizabeth’s to
the
relationship.
who was by Our Lord,
child
be called later
“The greatest man ever born of woman,” now stirs in his mothAs Elizabeth said: er’s womb. “For behold as soon as the voice
my my womb
of thy salutation sounded in ears,
the
infant
{Luke 1:44).
leaped for joy”
We
in
might almost say John the
Baptist danced to his birth in
through her
Cana that He brings His Divine Power to supply a
of
as
Guest
at
her:
end
Him
to be the
is
It is
intercession
dressed her as cousin.
the
Communion
First
her cousin’s home, where
But no-
Elizabeth no longer ad-
lished.
ried
rail of
soon as she sa-
her cousin,
luted
The
us that
And
need.
it
gave Christ to the world,
Him
receives
who have
is
who now
Cross that she
back again in us
the high and undeserv-
ed honor to
call
ourselves Christ-
ians.
Because of this Divinely
wonder
tablished intimacy I is
esif it
not true that as the world veneration
loses
mother, ation
of
true
in
that,
as
for also
loses
it
Christ.
Is
earthly
a
Christ’s its
ador-
not
it
relationships
so-called
friend
ig-
swung open the portals of flesh. Every record we have of our Blessed Lady is one of bringing
mother when he comes to your home, sooner or later he will ignore you? Conversely, as the world begins knocking at Mary’s door, it will find that Our Lord Himself will
Christ into humanity.
First of
answer.
was through her as a Gate of Heaven that He walked into It was in her as a this earth.
clusion?
salutation to the
King
of Kings
Two unborn
children establish a
relationship
before
either
had
How
all, it
He
Mirror of Justice that
saw with human eyes the flection
made.
of
the
It is in
world
is
to
we
escape this con-
Himself
If Christ
will-
be physically formed in
her for nine months and then
re-
be spiritually formed by her for
He had
He
ed
shall
first
her as a kind of
living ciborium that
your
nores
car-
thirty years,
that to
is
we must go
it
not to her
to learn
how
have Christ formed in us?
— THE FELLOWSHIP OF RELIGION
76
Only she who raised Christ can
Mary
raise a Christian.
that she will betray you into the
That
why
is
broadcast
I
Our Lady,
give
every
hope that as
in the
the
sponsor of
she
may
single
dedicated to
is
treacherous in the sense
is
hands of her Divine Son.
As Francis Thompson bade her:
each broadcast
into your souls as she brought
The celestiai Temptress play, And all mankind to bliss betray; With sacrosanct cajoleries
Him
to Elizabeth, John,
And
the
young
bring her Divine Son
married
and
couple
to
at
starry treachery
of
your
eyes.
Tempt us back
to Paradise!
Cana.
So firmly convinced through
is
it
Mary
I
that
that
the
world will find Our Lord again, that
am
I
going to ask every
one of you of good will to say the
Rosary daily for this inten-
favors
may you
expect
from a daily recitation of the Rosary?
You
soul if
will
you say
never lose your daily
it
and
co-
operate with God’s grace.
Your family and war
in peace
will if
be blessed
you say the
Rosary every night in the family circle. 3.
If
you desire to bring a soul and
to the fullness of God’s faith
charity, teach that person to say
the
Rosary.
He
either
will
stop saying the Rosary or will receive the gift of Faith. Finally,
Rosary
is
the
purpose
to bring
of
you to God.
gave
His
we are her children, and as such we say to her in the language of Mary Dixon Thayer: Lovely Lady dressed in blue
me how
to Pray just your little Boy, I
me what to say! Did you lift Him up, sometimes,
Tell
Gently, on your knee? Did you sing to Him the way Mother does to me? Did you hold his hand at night? Did you ever try Telling stories of the world 0! And did He cry? Do you really think He cares If I tell Him things Little things that happen? And Do the Angels’ wings Make a noise? And can He hear
Me Tell
if
—speakyoulow?know.
I
me
^for
Lovely Lady dressed in blue Teach me how to pray!
God was
just your little the way.*
Boy
And you know
The poem To the
Lord
to us on the Cross, then
God was
What
2.
Mother
Teach
tion.
1.
Our
Since
am
Our Lady by Mary Dixon Thayer quoted with the perof the Macmillan Com-
mission pany.
CONFIDENCE IN VICTORY Address Delivered On March
Perhaps at no time
in
modern
was there ever such a from life as at the present
1945
11,
These words
were
the
Psalm
first
history
words
flight
written about a thousand years
prophetic
of
from
Also, there is the flight
through
consciousness
alcohol-
the Psalm begins with this cry of sadness, if
,
from decision
ism, or the flight
through religious indifference, or
from freedom by the
the flight
denial of responsibility. All these
are
Though
before this black day.
day.
symptoms
Many
of despair.
ished reciting
mentally,
emotionally,
morally.
But our problem
to diagnose the malady,
heal
is
not
well.
another
way
out, even
For an these dark days ? answer one must go back to the darkest day the world ever saw, in
day when the sun hid its face at noon, as if ashamed to shed its light on the crime men the
As dark-
committed at Calvary.
ness spread over the earth three
became
silhouetted
against a black horizon.
nothing; there silence,
by one
knew her
When
is
We
see
only an awful
a thick gloom, relieved cry, sent
up from a brok-
en heart of self-abasement:
God,
why
pae?”
(Mark 15:34).
hast
thou
“My
forsaken
scriptures
she heard Our Lord
begin Psalm 21
it
reminded her
of a song that she
Is there
fin-
He would have
Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross,
it.
crosses
it
sovereignty over the earth.
and
but to
Our Lord had
ended with words of joy, victory, and the promise to feed the hungry and to establish spiritual
people as a result are cracking up,
21,
once sang.
was her Fourth Word which she chanted in the home of ElizaIt
beth, the greatest song ever writ-
ten
— The
soul
doth
The end
Magnificat:
“My
magnify the
Lord.^’
of her song contains
very much the same sentiments as the end of
Psalm
21, namely,
that her Divine Son would feed the poor,
exalt her
among na-
and that His victory would endure forever. There is something common to
tions,
both
these
songs:
both were
spoken before there was any assurance of victory. In His
Fourth Word from the Cross,
CONFIDENCE IN VICTORY suffering
the
figure
looks
for-
ward through the darkness
to
the triumph of the Resurrection and His spiritual dominion over the earth. In her Fourth Word
woman, nine months before is born, looks down
the
catastrophe,
77
while
other souls
come out worse, is because the first had One in whom they could trust and the second had none but themselves. The atheist, therefore,
is
properly defined as
who has no
her child
the person
the long procession of the com-
means of support. Have you ever noticed,
ing
ages,
and
proclaims
that
when the world’s great women Livia,
like
Julia,
and Octavia
have been forgotten, the
shall
ordinary law of
human
oblivion
be suspended in her favor,
will
Mother of Holy, and who would make her remembered from generation unto generabecause
she
is
the
Him whose Name
is
tion because His Cross
is
the re-
demption of men. Both were really words of triumph, one of victory before the battle
was
over, one of Overlord-
ship before the Lord
was born.
talked to
invisible
as you
your fellow-men, the
different reactions of those
who
have faith in God and His pur-
and those who have not? The man without faith was gen-
poses,
erally
greatly surprised at the
dark turn of events with two world wars in 21 years, with the resurgence of barbarism,
and abandonment of moral principles. But the man with faith in God was not so surprised. The sum came out just as he had expected chaos was in the cards, though they had not yet been
the
;
To both Jesus and Mary, there
dealt, for
were
the Lord bufid the -house, they
treasures
in
darkness,
whether the darkness be on a black hill or in a dark womb. Are you in the valley of des-
vain that
build
it”
H. G.
Wells,
for
example,
whose optimism once hoped that
of Christ can be heard as
“man with his feet on earth, would one day have hands reach-
Good News even by those whose life has been shattered by Bad News, for only those who walk in
in
{Psalm 126:1).
Then learn that the Gos-
pair? pel
labor
he knew that “Unless
darkness ever see the stars.
The
reason
therefore
why
some souls emerge purified from
ing
among
the
stars,”
pessimistic as darkness
became fell
over
the earth in these last few years.
Now is
he says that “the universe
bored with man,
is
turning a
YOU
78
hard face to him, and
him
I see
being carried more and more rapidly
.
.
along the stream of fate
.
degradation,
to
and
suffering
death.”
Now
hear
who
faith
knew
man
a
St. Paul,
lived in
He had been
dark days
who
that the tyrant
held
draw
across his neck, yet in full
“Who
trust he says:
us
Christ?
Shall
distress?
or famine?
am
or
or naked-
or persecu-
or the sword?
tion?
nor
tribulation?
or danger?
ness,
then shall
from the love of
separate
I
of
too.
persecuted and he
the sword would one day it
—
:
.
.
.
.
For
sure that neither death,
life,
palities,
nor angels, nor princinor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor
nor
might,
height,
nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
of God, which
is
from the
love
in Christ Jesus
Our Lord” {Romans
8 :35, 38-39)
only one reason
:
you have refus-
respond to Love's plea:
ed to
“Come
to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you” {Matthew 11:29).
Everywhere liberation
else
but in Him, the
promised
either
is
armed or forced, and that can mean slavery. Only nailed love is
free.
Unnailed and crucified
love can compel.
But hands
pin-
beam cannot
ioned to a wooden
nor can a lifted Host and an elevated Chalice constrain
force,
but they can beckon and
That kind of
solicit.
love gives you
these three suggestions for
liv-
ing in troubled times
Never forget that there are
1)
only two
philosophies to
your
The one
life:
rule
of the Cross
which starts with the fast and ends with the feast; the other of Satan, which starts with the
feast ache.
and ends with the headUnless there
is
the Cross,
there will never be the empty
You
see the difference?
choose!
Will you slip
abysmal despair, or
down
into
will you, like
Christ in a blackness noon, and like
Now
Mary
at high
ere her Tree
of Life had seen the earth, trust in God,
His mercy, and His
vic-
tory? If
darkness,
there
is
will
faith, in
never
vision in light; unless there
Good Friday there
will
be is
a
never be
an Easter Sunday. 2)
When bereavement
when the
comes,
“slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune” strike, when
you are unhappy, or sad, or
despondent,
tomb; unless there
it
is
basically
for
like
Simon of Gyrene a cross
laid
on your reluctant shoulders.
is
CONFEDENOE IN VICTORY then
take
olics,
who
say to you
I
that
cross
daily
to
79
Though He may not grant
are Cath-
you
desire,
be sure that in a
Mass, as part of your daily Holy
certain
Hour and say to our Lord at the “As moment of consecration Thou my Savior in love for me
answered prayer.
:
dost say: ‘This
This :
This
Body!
My
Blood!’ so I say to
‘This
body Take it. blood! Take it. They
is
Thee
My
is
is
my
are yours.
my
is
I
!
care not
the ac-
if
my
sense
there
may
A
is
no un-
child asks
something that
father for
his
not be good for him
example,
all
a
The
gun.
—for
father,
while refusing, will pick up the child in his
arms
to console him,
giving the response of love, even
As
in the denial of a request.
life
the child forgets in that embrace
remain, such as my daily work, my routine duties, but all that I am substantially, take, conse-
that he ever asked a favor, so
cidents or “species” of
ennoble,
crate,
that
I
Thine,
spiritualize
am no longer mine, 0 Lord Divine.’ ”
so
but
in praying you forget what you wanted when you receive what you really need communion with :
Divine Love.
Do
not forget
ther, that there are not
ei-
two kinds
Holy Hour of
of answers to prayer, but three:
prayers and meditation, wheth-
Almighty
One is “Yes.” Another is “No.” The third is “Wait.” You will find that, as you pray,
as a kind of absentee land-
the nature of your requests will
3) In your daily
er
you be Jew, Protestant or
Catholic, think not of
God
lord with
whom
you hardly dare
Do
to be familiar.
not fear
Him
with a servile fear, for God
is
change. less
You
things
will
for
ask less and
and
yourself,
more and more for His
human
love.
Is
more patient with you than you are with yourself. Would you,
ships
for example, be as patient with
someone, the more you seek to
the wicked world today as
Would you even be with anyone
same
else
faults as
proach
Him
He
full
is?
patient
who had
you?
in
as
the
Rather apconfidence
and even with the boldness of a loving child
who has
a right to
ask a Father for favors.
it
not true in that
the
relation-
more you
love
give and the less you desire to receive.
The deepest
says, “Give me,” but
“Take.” that
if
love never it
does say,
You probably think Our Lord came into your
room some night as you were praying, you would ask vors, or present
your
Him
fa-
difficulties.
YOU
^0
“When
say:
or
will
the
war
—even
in
darkness
—
^that
you
end?” or “Should I buy General Motors stock?” or “Give me a
would not even remember you
million.”
to
No! self
You would throw your-
on your knees and kiss the
hem of His garment. And the moment He laid His hands on your head you would a peace
and
ti;ust
feel
such
and confidence
had questions beg.
You
to ask, or favors
would
consider
them a kind of desecration. You would want only to look into His face, and you would be in a world which only lovers know. That would be the Heaven you wanted 1
:
RELIGtON
IS
Address Delivered
Every human
heart
world without exception
the
in
on the
is
Not everyone may
quest of God.
be conscious of
but
it,
is
it
as
God
natural for the soul to want
want food or was natural for the
It
It is
to live
18,
1945
cries not to
God but
“I thirst” (John 19:28).
man And yet to
that thirst could not have been
only physical, for the Gospel
us that
He
tells
spoke in order that
it
on husks.
the quest of souls, trusting that
prodigal son to be hungry;
was unnatural
now
might be fulwas spiritual as well as physical. God was or
as for the body to drink.
A QUEST
On March
natural to want God;
it
is
Scriptures
the
filled.
It
therefore
one of the trivial ministrations
unnatural to satisfy that want
of
with false gods.
His name, might bring the of-
Not only
is
the soul on the
quest of God, but
God
is
on the
quest of the soul, not because
life,
the offering of a cup in
ferer within the sweet radiance of His grace.
but because we need
Mary, standing in the shadow her Son’s hard death-bed, heard His Word and was remind-
This double quest of the Cre-
ed of the time she thirsted, too.
ator for the creature and the
It was when her little Son, who had reached the age of twelve, was lost during the pilgrimage she and Joseph made to the Holy City. If the trumpets of doom had sounded, their hearts would have been less heavy. For three days they flushed the hills and caravans, and on the third day they found Him. We know not where He was during those three
He
needs
us,
Him.
creature for the Creator
is
re-
Word of our Lord from the Cross, and the
vealed in the Fifth
Fifth
Word
of
our Lady, pro-
nounced when her son was only twelve years of age.
One day Our Blessed Lord
said
of
any man thirst, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). But on the Cross, He from whose finger tips toppled planets and worlds. He
haps
who
where
to the multitude:
filled
“If
the valleys with the
song of a thousand fountains,
We
days.
can only guess. Per-
He was His
visiting
Gethsemane
blood
twenty-one
years later would crimson the
;
YOU
S2
He
stood on
in his turn does not always find
and looked forward to this sad hour. In any case, on the third day they found
God because he gives up his search too quickly. God is found
Him
language of our Lord, that
perhaps
olive roots;
Calvary’s
hill
in the temple, teaching the
doctors of the law.
why
“Son,
Mary
said:
hast thou done so to
us ? Behold thy father and
sought thee sorrowing”
I
have
{Luke
women were reticent, where men were masters, it was not Joseph who spoke; it was Mary. Mary was 2:48). In a land where
the virgin mother, Joseph
was
on the third
for
in is
the the
day of perfection.
God is closer to us than we know: “The angels keep their ancient
places
Turn but a
stone,
and start a
wing! ’Tis ye, faces,
your estranged
’tis
That
miss the many-splendoured thing.”*
the foster father.
Here was a creature on the
day,
If,
then, you are interested in
As our Blessed
saving souls, always start with
Lord’s thirst on the Cross re-
the assumption that everyone wants God, and God loves every-
quest of God.
vealed the Creator in search of
man, Mary’s words revealed its complementary truth, that the creature
each
If
why
er,
in search of God.
is is
seeking for the oth-
do they not find? God
man beand like Adam
does not always find
cause
man
is free,
he can hide from God. Like a child who hides from his mother when he does something wrong, so does man turn from God when he sins. God then always seems
“so far away”; but the truth it
is
man who
is
is,
“far away.”
Sin creates a distance. Respecting
but is
human He does
freedom, God
calls
one.
How about bigots? Do they want Our Lord and His Church? Certainly! Sometimes their hatred
is
a vain attempt to ignore.
Never be too hard on bigots. They do not really hate the They hate only what Church. they
mistakenly
believe
to
be
had heard the same lies about the Church they have heard, and if I had been taught the same historical per-
the Church.
If I
versions, with
my own
peculiar
temperment I would hate the Church ten times character
and
not force. “I thirst”
the language of liberty.
Man
*From Kingdom cis
Thompson.
of God,
by Fran-
RELIGION more than they do. At least they have some zeal and some fire. It
may
be misdirected, but with
God’s grace into love.
can be channeled
it
A QUEST
IS
on the quest of God, and soul gives
These souls who peddle
publications are to be re-
garded in exactly the same light as
St.
sion.
Paul before his conver-
And
as he preached and
lectured against the Church, after assisting at the killing of the
most brilliant of the early churchmen, St. Stephen, there were many believers who de-
were multiplied to God: “Send someone to refute Paul.” And God heard their
spaired. Prayers
prayers.
God
sent Paul to
A
swer Paul.
bigot
made
In
my
God a chance, God
will
How
about those who lost the
faith? Here
refer in particular
I
His
to the fallen-away Catholic. fall
is
because
serious
height from which he
God ly,
thirsting for
of
the
fell.
Is
him? Obvious-
for the Good Shepherd never
gives up seeking His lost sheep.
On
the other hand, the fallen-
away,
thirsts
too,
reunion
for
with Our Lord and His Body, the Church, but in an oblique sort of
Having tasted the
way.
best,
he
the
ing eaten the Bread of Life
is
miserable without
it;
havall
radio audience a few
makes hungry where most it satisfies. Because wandering
woman
sheep are broken-hearted with-
else
years ago was a young
who used
the
an-
best Apostle.
is
if
win.
anti-religious tracts or anti-Catholic
83
School in that city. Everyone
to sit before the radio
and ridicule and scoff at every word. She is now enjoying the
out the Shepherd,
make
it
a rule
never to argue with a fallen-
away
Catholic.
If,
for example,
fullness of Faith
any such
raments.
longer believes in confession, do
a of
man who
and the SacIn another town was used to make records
these broadcasts,
them
to a
then take
nearby convent, and.
play them for the sisters
who
had no radio.
But he mitigated this act of kindness by making a running commentary of ridicule while the record played.
recently built the
new
He
Sisters’
tells
not believe
it.
you that he no Like the
who had
at the well,
woman
five
hus-
bands, he wants to keep religion in the
realm of the speculative.
What he needs
is to have it brought down to the realm of
Our Blessed Lord woman. He wants
the moral, as did for that
an argument to salve his con-
TOU
84
but he needs absolution
science,
to heal
be any such soul in
If there
my
audience, please go to con-
fession during Holy
Week and
recover the peace 'which only
can give. I
enamored of the walls, the darkand the monotony of his task, that when he was liberated
ness,
it.
God
anything
If there is
can do to help your return,
please call on me, for
assure
I
he built a
cell
at the center of
and on days were clear and birds
his English home,
when
skies
were singing, the taps of the cobbler in the dark could
So
heard.
men by
still
be
habitual resi-
you the greatest joy of a priest’s
dence in imprisoning moods ren-
heart comes from lifting sheep
der themselves incapable of
from the thorns and brambles into the embrace of the Shepherd
ing
sinners
want God
scious sinners do.
too ? Con-
That
one need hardly ever
is
tell
why
such a
the
liv-
wider horizons of
God’s grace.
Do
of Life.
Do
in
am
I
hear you object: “But
a sinner.
God
me.”
If
ner,
why
did
God
will not
will not
He
I
hear
hear a sin-
praise the pub-
He
lican in the rear of the temple,
a thousand times bet-
His conscience
who struck his breast saying: “0 God, be merciful to me a sin-
has pointed an accusing finger
ner” {Luke 18:13). There were
sinner
how wicked he
knows
it
than you.
ter
is.
anxieties,
two sinners on Calvary on either side of our Lord. One was saved because he asked to be saved.
and unhappiness have been like trumpets of his inner death. The Divine Savior wants sinners par-
Did not our Divine Savior say: “Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened”? (Matthew
at
him
in his sleep;
his fears
have emblazoned his sins on his
mind
his
;
ticularly,
came
neuroses,
for
He
said that
He
to save not the just but the
sinners.
His pardoning grace
will save
you do not lock it out. In that case you would be like the cobbler mentioned by Charles you,
if
Dickens.
For years he had been
a prisoner in the Bastille, where
he cobbled shoes.
He became
so
12:28).
And who
is
more heavily
burdened than a sinner? Do not stunt your spiritual life by looking always for your
Think of God’s love. Never despair! Not until God ceases to be infinitely good and
faults.
you begin
to
be infinitely wicked
have you a right to be hopeless.
:
RELIGION IS A QUEST If
you
still
insist
that you
never before prayed in your
and
therefore
life
God would not
86
you now, my answer is Pray anyway. A strange voice is one most quickly heard. listen to
:
THE PURPOSE OF
LIFE
Address Delivered On March
There
no word more often
is
25, 1945
are: “Father, into thy hands
my
used in our modern world and
commend
more often misunderstood than the word freedom. Almost everyone thinks of it as freedom from
23:46).
something, but rarely as freedom
say Our Father as
for something.
Some think they
are free only because they have
Father
—Note
word
the
Eternal Parenthood.
He we
same way. He is the NatSon of the Father; we are
ural
without ever adverting to
why
only the adopted sons.
they want to be free, and what the purpose of
is
The root of
all our trouble is freedom for God and in God has been interpreted as freedom from God. Before we ask what you do with your freedom,
that
us turn to the
let
life
of
Our
Lord and Our Lady, for the supreme example of how freedom is
The First Word Our Lord Scripture “I
as is at
speaking
His public
:
my
Father’s
{Luke 2:49). During life.
He
this dedication to will
is
the
the age of twelve
must be about
business”
in
were called
“good”; the hands that guided Israel to its historical fulfillment of God’s Providence; the
hands
that provided good things even for the birds of the air and the
grass of the /
field.
commend my
spirit
Consecration!
der!
—Surren-
Life
is
a
We
come from God and we go back again to God. Hence the purpose of living
is to
do God’s
will.
When Our Blessed Mother saw Him bow His head and deliver
re-affirmed
His
Spirit, she
last
Word
him” {John 8:29). Now on the Cross, when He goes oul to meet death by freely surrendering His Life, His last words
—These
prophet
the
His Father’s
“I do always the things that
please
thy hands
hands
cycle.
to be used.
recorded
Into
the
life.
for
do,
in the
feet,
ball
of
did not
was not His and ours
the Father
and chain on their
no
I
{Luke
spirit”
remembered the
that she
is
recorded to
have spoken in Scripture. to the
It
was
wine steward at the mar-
riage feast of Cana;
when,
in the
shaw,
“the
that day
language of Cra-
unconscious waters
THE PURPOSE OF their God and blushed.” “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye” {John 2:5).
saw
What
a beautiful valedictory!
They are the most magnificent words that ever came from the
At the Transthe Father spoke from
a woman.
lips of
figuration
the Heavens and said: “This .
8^
You can do one
freedom?
three things with
Keep
1)
it
of
it:
for your selfish de-
sires.
Break
2)
areas
of
it
up into tiny
trivial
little
allegiance
or
passing fancy.
Surrender
3)
it
to God.
is
my Beloved Son hear ye him” {Matthew 17:5). Now our Blessed Mother speaks and says, “Do His will.” The sweet relationship of three decades in Nazareth now draws to a close, as .
LI^^E
you keep freedom only for
If
.
yourself, then, because
it
is ar-
bitrary and without standards,
you
will find it deteriorating, in-
to a defiant self-affirmation. all
Once
things become allowable, sim-
Emmanuel
ply because you desire them, you
by pointus the one and only
secration to her Divine Son. No-
become the slave of your your self-will decides to drink as much as you please, you soon find not only that you
where
are no longer free not to drink,
Mary
is
to us
all.
about to give
She does
ing out to
way
of salvation: complete con-
in the Scripture is it ever
said that
Mary
loved her Son.
Words do not prove love is
such
it
True surrender of the will, and her
is
final
love.
injunction to
“Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye” {John 2:5). Both the last recorded words of Jesus and those of Mary were words about freedom a freedom for something. For Jesus it was us:
:
the will of the Father, for
Mary
the will of the Son.
will
choices. If
but that you belong to drink;
tyranny.
ever committeth sin,
do with your
the ser-
The second way to use freeis to become like a humming
dom
any.
do you
is
vant of sin” {John 8:34).
Christ
What
of freedom
dom. This is what Our Lord meant when He said: “Whoso-
bird,
God’s.
The abuse
ends in the destruction of free-
This is the law of the universe: Nature is for man, man is for Christ, and is
it
your master, you are its slave. Boundless liberty is boundless is
hovering
first
over
this
flower, then over that, but liv-
ing for none and dying without In
that
case,
you desire
nothing with your whole heart.
YOU
88
because your heart
is
broken into
You thus
a thousand pieces.
be-
come divided against yourself; a
war rages within you;
civil
you
are
striking
out
and
likes
but
dissatisfied,
much
very
like
and
asked
for
he found
essence this
is
the
to
you
never
was not fresh She
another.
was the same
it
broken
like
In
brought in an egg a minute later, but when he got to the bottom of it,
are
old
mirrors,
each reflecting a different image.
or
complained to the cook at breakfast that the egg
they
con-
in
You become the man who
change yourself.
er.”
You change desires when
tradictory directions.
your
must pull myself togethThus do they confess that
say: “I
inability
among many soul
“legion,”
in
the world;
they
from something, but
free
are
or
this is the sad state
millions
of
the
;
multiple,
Satan called him-
as
And
self.
choose one
attractions
diffused,
is
debauchery,
free for nothing, because they
have no purpose in Finally,
dom
life.
you can use your free-
Our Lord did on the
as
egg turned upside down. So it is with human nature what
surrendering
His
Spirit to the Father, and as
Mary
has changed
bade us at Cana, by doing His
;
is
the desire, not
the soul.
by
Cross,
This
will in all things.
is
per-
freedom: the displacement
your interest in
fect
honest
not real. In your more moments you discover that you deal with them on
tion
the basis
and actions in the words of Our Lord: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in
As a others
result,
is
of
self-interest;
you
them speak when they agree with you, but you silence them when they disagree. Your moments of love, if you look into let
your
soul, are
ren
exchange of egotism
nothing but a bar-
—you
of self as the center of motiva-
and
the
fixation
choices,
decisions,
heaven.”
We
that
can
are
live
all like
limpets
when they Our freedom
cling to a rock.
forces us to adhere to something.
Freedom
is
ours to surrender;
we
and your neighbor talks about himself five minutes, but if he takes longer you call him a
tudes.
“bore.”
to surrender to Perfect
such people often
our
only
talk about yourself five minutes,
No wonder
of
are free to choose our servi-
To give that freedom
anything
less
to
than the perfect
never brings ultimate peace. But
to
Love
is
surrender to happiness and
—
:
THE PURPOSE OP LIFE Thus
thereby be perfectly free. to “serve
God
is
ent choices, and you want the
to reign.”
But we are afraid to give away our will. Like St. Augustine in his
want
“I
a
little
early life
we
Perfect: the very void you thus create
makes
to
it.
fill
say:
you dear Lord, later on, but not now.”
possible for
it
am
you say, “I
God
would rather hear
I
a sinner,” than
to love
Fearful of One
to hear
you say, “I have no need
of religion.”
who comes
you admit you
If
to
and cypresscrowned, we ask “Must Thy harvest fields be dunged with purple-robed
us
89
are dissatisfied with your pres-
are a sinner, you acknowledge the need of a Redeemer; but
if
:
Must gold be Must hands that beckon bear the red livid marks of nails? Must I give up my candle, if I have the sun? Must I rotten
death?”
purified
by
give up knocking
if
not act re-
sents the affectionate embrace of his parents, because
it is
to love? Francis
not our
Thompson
so reflected when he heard these words from the mouth of a child
‘Why do you so clasp me. And draw me to your knee? Forsooth, you do but chafe me, I pray you let me be: I will be loved but now and then it
liketh me!'
I
Make
its
god, and
am
if
you are God,
If
you are empty, God can pour His waters of Life; if you
in
I
are
filled
with
self,
room for anything
an atheist.
there
is
no
else.
peevish cry.
To the tender God I turn; ‘Pardon, Love most High! For I think those arms were even Thine, that child even I.’ There is hope for you
No man who
And
if
you
has ever shed a
sincere tear before
way he abused
God for the
freedom was ever lost. Even in an earthly way, have you ever noticed how much more beautiful the hills
when
look
his
there
are
tears
in
You may even see rainbows of hope. Our Lord
your eyes.
took St. Augustine to Himself
even though Augustine lamented:
heard a young child, A thwart child, a young child Rebellious against love’s arms.
So
own
then you are your
the door of
Do we
toward God as a child who
When
religion,
fire?
love is opened?
mood
you have no need of
“Too
have
So
I
late,
0
ancient Beauty,
loved Thee.”
He
your freedom between good and evil and make it a freedom in perfection and goodness if you but surrender to that “love we fall will take
to choose
short of in
all
love” and to that
YOU
90
“Beauty that leaves
all
other
beauty pain.” This
is
the week Divine Love
died
for
final
appeal
When of
you. as
but
Love
heart? Your tears
crucified.
dictators
wills
to
a
When God wants
that
do
you
but your heart
our
wills,
He
Himself to be nailed,
He may never force and we may be uncaught cap-
tives in the
who
hands of Love.
know your own
day
in
may
fill
Him
be dried;
Never!
filled?
Only God can
you then give
cross.
permits
else
you enough to die for you? You know your own mind, yes;
He makes His
want the men, they nail them
that
Do you know anyone loves
that.
prayer and meditation
ways remembering that not require
much time
you a saint;
much
May
an hour
love.
it
it
to
requires
a al-
does
make only
EASTER Address Delivered On April
second World
If this
broken out,
not
found with
would have
I
hard to believe in God.
it
do not
I
War had
mean
the World
accidents
peculiar
its
War of
time and place and nations, but in
the
moral aspect of
larger
1945
1,
At no time has
it
modern history
in
been easier to believe in
God than now. It used to be that evil was considered a stumbling block to a belief in the Goodness
men
of God, but today
God because
of
judgment and retribution. If nature, for example, were indif-
of
erent to infractions of
such proportions that
if
its
laws,
health did not decline with the
refusal to eat,
blindness did
if
not follow the plucking out of
an eye, thistles, it
one gathered figs of and water ran up hill,
if
would be
that
to
difficult
Supreme
believe
Intelligence
had
imposed order and law on the visible universe in
In like manner,
which we live. if the moral
order were indifferent to our infractions,
if
the breakdown of
are com-
ing to a belief in the Goodness
mit that
evil
They ad-
evil.
today has taken on it
can be
explained only by the infraction a
of
universal moral law that
must have come from God. In a word, the modern man is coming to God by way of the devil.
And such
is
the lesson of this
We
come to Sunday a Good Fri-
Resurrection day: the
glory
of
Easter
through the evil of day; to a halo of dazzling light through the ignominy of a crown of thorns; to the
dawn
of a
new
the nations did not follow the col-
day through the darkness of a
lapse of family
high noon.
life,
man make men
if
the af-
firmation that
is
did not
act like ani-
mals,
if
an animal
the denial that
the Author of
Law
God
is
did not pro-
duce a lawless and therefore a
warring world, then difficult to believe
it
that
would be
God made
a moral universe in which
men
reaped where they sowed, and where the wages of sin are deatJbk
Calvary scandal.
is
only a
Goodness
momentary in
of evil must suffer, for
meets sin
it
the face
when
will be crucified.
love
A
God who bears His Sacred Heart upon His sleeve as Our Lord did in the Incarnation, must be prepared to have daws peck at it. But at the same time. Goodness ,
can use that suffering as the con-
Y
D-J
overcoming evil! It can take anger and wrath and hate and say “Forgive.” It can take life and offer it for another. Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day. When therefore at one moment I see a naked criminal on the gallows, forsaken by followers, rejected by the dominant spiritual forces of His time, condition
of
demned by the State whose name
when the cal,
battlefield is the physi-
as a Niagara Falls can sweep
a good
man
nevertheless,
to his destruction;
goodness
than
powerful issue
is spiritual,
of a
man
evil
is
more
when
for as the
the
mind
can harness the de-
structive forces of a Niagara, so
the Goodness of
do
its
God can
mightiest, which
cify Divine Life
and
let evil
is to
cru-
still
con-
angel say to a
quer it by rising not with wounds, but with glorious scars on hands and feet and side. From that day on, all the darkness in the world cannot put out
of a grave,
the light of a single candle.
All
the swords of earth cannot
kill
stands
in
all
history
as
the
law; for human synonym when three days later I hear an
woman in search “Why seek you the
living with the dead?” {Luke 24: 5)
;
when
I
hear
Him
as
the
the life of a single immortal soul.
Divine Stranger on a roadway
All the evil in the universe can-
His
not black out the fixed flash of
Easter
afternoon
say
to
companions: “Ought not Christ have suffered these things,
that instant and intolerant en-
to
lightenment
and so to enter into his glory?” {Luke 24:26); when I see Him who had been nailed, walking in the newness of life in the clouds of the morning then I begin to
made
—
understand that since
evil could
— the
Lightning
eternal as the Light.
No
one therefore shall take away our
hope for any person or nation regardless of the passing forces of
evil.
Would you point
to
Russia
never do anything worse than crucify Goodness, it could never
you, that this land and this peo-
Con-
ple (here I speak not of its ideo-
be truly victorious again.
armor and in the moment of its monumental momentum, evil might in the future win some battles, but it would always lose the war. Evil is more powerful than goodness quered in
its full
then on this Easter day?
logy nor
its
I tell
present hours nor
the immediate future) shall one day, not because of any present
human
tendencies in that direc-
tion but because of the Christ-
likeness of its great souls, hidden
BASTBR away from the eye
of
man, come
98
This love of participation in
has
to the glory of the Risen Christ.
the
Other lands have loved Christ
peopled Russia in the past and
the Teacher, others Christ the
even
Captain, others Christ the Truth,
sufferings
now with
others
of
the greatest spir-
a land whose dedica-
underground in the world, an underground dedicated not to
tion is to Christ on the Cross;
the destruction but the salvation
the emptied Christ, the humiliat-
of a nation,
namely the ‘yuro-
ed Christ, the suffering Christ.
divy,’ or the
“born fools.”
but here
is
Their long traditional concept of charity
is
not like ours of the
Western world. We look upon salvation and redemption vertically. We live on the second floor: down in the basement there is poverty, evil and pain.
We
go down to the basement,
bind up wounds, educate, sweep the floor and feed the hungry,
itual
is
but everybody’s brother. fool
of
spectacle to
demption horizontally. side
there
is
On
goodness,
one
abun-
dance, life; on the other side evil,
sorrow, pain.
is
Once their
great souls cross that
line,
the
sunny side of the gap, they never go back. They go to wretchedness and evil, not to alleviate but to share, not to ease to take
them
burdens but
on, not to do all
a
angels, in
evil, by forgiving, and praying, because the love of his fellowmen is stronger than his love of life. A Russian woman who lived in close contact with these suf-
the shocks of blessing,
divy’s whisper
the contrary, have looked at re-
true
the stark madness of absorbing
istence.
centuries, on
A
becomes
men and
fering
The Russians for
he
Christ,
and when we have done all we we go back again into the comforts of our second floor excan,
He
nobody’s son, nobody’s father,
unknown
souls
tells
us
the heroic Legend that the yuroin
this very minute.
tion
of
the old
Russia, even It is
a varia-
legend of
St.
George and the Dragon. It seems that one day St. George was about to slay the dragon, and as he drew his sword, Christ stepped in between the two, not to protect
St.
George,
dragon, bidding St.
but the George to
put up his sword.
There
is
some suggestion here where Christ so
of Gethsemane,
one can and then leave, not to alleviate but to partake and to
world, that
commune.
cup of iniquity was
participated in the sins of the
He waited
until the
full.
Not
!
YOU
»4
until the chalice of the world’s
sin
had been drained of
its last
evil, could it be smashed and shattered without fear of spilling the dregs either on man or mother earth. So the yurodivy awaits the hour until he has filled up in his body the sufferings that are wanting to the passion of Christ, and then shall be fulfilled the vocation of Rus-
drop of
sia
bring the treasures of
to
Christ to
all
May we
too learn that the bur-
that
too,
we
is
on us
are responsible to
some extent for the sins of all men. While earth wears wounds, we must say in Christ’s name:
“My Pain
My
!
Tears!
for
birds,
song Love the
their
Nature’s Vespers. tle children,
My Grief My Woe My Sin!” !
•
is lit-
for their angels see
the Face of the Father.
Love
families, for they are magnified trinities
—Lover,
the
Beloved,
and Love. Love the weak, for God has chosen them to confound the strong. Love the wounded, for they bear the vestigial scars of Calvary.
Love the
sick, for in
them God’s glory can be
the nations.
den of the world’s sin
the
Love the ignorant, for
know God they men.
Love
that love’s
revealed. if
they
are the wisest of
Thyself,
greatest
knowing victory
is
laying siege to selfishness.
Each night as the sun goes down in the “flaming monstrance of the west,” think of it as the
But why should we share the burden of others? Because we
bleeding Heart of the world, cry-
love others with the love with
never be peace in the world so
which
Christ
everyone. to love
way
to
him. tell
loved
Love man
man
us.
Love
in sin, for
in sin is the only
crush sin in
Love the
man and
lilies,
save
for they
us of the Father’s care. Love
ing to you to love, for there will
we understand VE-Day mean Victory over Europe, but only if it means Victory over
long as to
Evil
peace
through of
the
grace
and
our Risen Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
THE PURPOSE OF THE CATHOLIC HOUR (Extract from the address of the late Patrick Cardinal Hayes at the inaugural program of the Catholic Hour in the studio of the National Broadcasting Company, New York City, March 2, 1930.)
Our congratulations and our gratitude are extended to the National Council of Catholic Men and its officials, and to all who, by their financial support, have made it possible to use this offer of the National BroadThe heavy expense of managing and financing a casting Company. weekly program, its musical numbers, its speakers, the subsequent answering of inquiries, must be met. .
This radio hour
is
fellow-citizens, in this
for
all
word of
.
.
the people of the United States. dedication,
we wish
To our
to express a cordial
greeting and, indeed, congratulations. For this radio hour is one of service to America, which certainly will listen in interestedly, and even sympathetically, I am sure, to the voice of the ancient Church with its historic background of all the centuries of the Christian era, and with its own notable contribution to the discovery, exploration, foundation and growth of our glorious country. .
.
.
Thus to voice before a vast public the Catholic Church is no light task. Our prayers will be with those who have that task in hand. We feel certain that it will have both the good will and the good wishes of Surely, there is no true lover the great majority of our countrymen. of our Country who does not eagerly hope for a less worldly, a less material, and a more spiritual standard among our people.
With good will, with kindness and with Christ-like sympathy for work is inaugurated. So may it continue. So may it be fulThis word of dedication voices, therefore, the hope that this radio filled. hour may servp to make known, to explain with the charity of Christ, all.
this
we love even as we love Christ Himself. May it serve better understood that faith as it really is a light revealing
our faith, which to
make
—
to heaven: a strength, and a power divine through Christ; pardoning our sins, elevating, consecrating our common every-day duties and joys, bringing not only justice but gladness and peace to our searching and questioning hearts.
the
pathway
120 In
42
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CATHOLIC HOUR STATIONS States, the District of
Mississippi-
..Jackson
Missouri
-Kansas City
Columbia, and Hawaii ...WJDX* ...WDAF
-KGBX
Springfield Saint Louis
Montana.
..KSD*
.Billings
....KRBM ...KGIR
Butte Great Falls
...KXLK
..KPFA
Helena
Nebraska
...KODY
.North Platte
Omaha New Hampshire. New Mexico New York
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Reno
Nevada
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610 kc ..1260 kc ..
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550 kc
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kc kc kc kc
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.KOH
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630 kc
.Manchester -Albuquerque
...WBEN
-Buffalo
New York
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Schenectady North Carolina-
KGHL
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Bozeman
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.Asheville
Charlotte Raleigh
Winston-Salem North Dakota.
.Bismark Fargo
Ohio
.Cleveland
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Oklahoma
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930 kc 660 kc 810 kc
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..WISE ...WSOC ...WPTF ..WSJS
.1230 kc -.1240 kc -. 680 kc .. 600 kc
..WTAM
1100 kc 1240 kc 1340 kc
..WLOK ..WSPD*
Lima Toledo
Oklahoma
WNBC
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City.
Tulsa
Medford
Oregon
Portland
...WSAN ...WFBG
.Allentown
Williamsport
.WBRE ..WRAK
..1470 kc -1340 kc ..1230 kc ..1400 kc .1490 kc ..1060 kc . 1020 kc -.1340 kc . 1340 kc -.1400 kc
Rhode Island
Providence
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South Carolina.
Charleston
Pennsylvania...
Altoona
..WERC Johnstown Lewistown
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...WMRF
Philadelphia Pittsburgh
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Tennessee
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...WIS*
Greenville
...WFBC*
Amarillo El Paso Fort
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Worth
Houston San Antonio Weslaco
Virginia.
-Salt .
Lake
920 kc
-1250 kc 560 kc -1330 kc -
...KSOO-KELO -1140-1230 kc
...WKPT ...WMC* ...WSM*
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Nashville
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.WTMA
Columbia
Memphis
Utah
.KDKA
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Sioux Falls
Texas
.KYW
.WRAW
Reading Wilkes-Barre
South Dakota...
.WJAC
City...
.KGNC* -KTSM .WPAB* -KPRC* ..WOAI ..KRGV*
-.1400 kc .. 790 kc .. 650 kc
820 kc 950 kc 1200 kc
—-1 290
kc
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Harrisonburg ** Martinsville
Norfolk
Richmond
...WMVA .
.WTAR>1=
-WMBG
1450 kc 790 kc 1380 kc
120 In
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Washington
CATHOLIC HOUR STATIONS States, the District of
Columbia, and Hawaii
.KOMO
Seattle
Wisconsin
Hawaii
Spokane
KHQ
Eau Claire Lacrosse Marinette Honolulu
WEAU WKBH
WMAM* .KGU
* Delayed Broadcast
**
AM
(Revised as of April
and
FM
1,
1948)
950 kc 590 kc 790 1410 570 760
kc kc kc kc
CATHOLIC HOUR RADIO ADDRESSES IN PAMPHLET FORM Prices Subject to change without notice.
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR are listed below.
the authorized publisher of
is
The addresses published
dresses in pamphlet form.
Others
\yill
all
CATHOLIC HOUR
to date, all of
which are
adavailable,
be published as they are delivered.
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“The Divine Romance,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 80 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.75 per 100. “A Trilogy on Prayer,” by Rev. Thomas F. Burke, C.S.P., 32 pages and cover. 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. Single copy, 20c postpaid “Christ and His Church,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan, 88 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $13.00 per 100. “The Marks of the Church,” by Rev. Dr. John K. Cartwright, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Organization and Government of the Church,” by Rev. Dr, Francis J. Connell, Single copy, 20c postpaid ; 5 or more, 15c each. In C.SS.R., 48 pages and cover. quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Moral Factors in Economic Life,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Francis J. Haas and Rt. Rev. Msgr. John A. Ryan, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid ; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Divine Helps for Man,” by Rev. Dr. Edward J. Walsh, C.M., 104 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $15.00 per 100. “The Parables,” by Rev. John A. McClorey, S.J., 128 pages and cover. Single copy, In quantities, $18.00 per 100. 35c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. “Christianity’s Contribution to Civilization,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. “The Way of the Cross,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 32 pages and cover, (prayer book size). Single copy, 10c postpaid ; 5 or more, 6c each. In quantities, $4.00 per 100. “Christ Today,” by Very Rev. Dr. Ignatius Smith, O.P., 48 pages and cover. Single In quantities, $8.50 per 100. 5 or more, 15c each. copy, 20c postpaid “Rural Catholic Action,” by Rev. Dr. Edgar Schmiedeler, O.S.B., 24 pages and cover. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. “Religion and Human Nature,” by Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Daly, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Church and Some Outstanding Problems of the Day,” by Rev. Jones I. Corrigan, S.J., 72 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid ; 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, 10.50 per 100. “Conflicting Standards,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 80 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid; 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.75 per 100. “The Seven Last Words,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, (prayer book size) 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 10c postpaid ; 5 or more, 6c each. In quantities, $4.00 per 100. “The Church and the Child,” by Rev. Dr. Paul H. Furfey, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Love’s Veiled Victory and Love’s Laws,” by Rev. Dr. George F. Strohaver, S.J. 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities $8.00 per 100. “Religion and Liturgy,” by Rev. Dr. Francis A. Walsh, O.S.B., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “The Lord’s Prayer Today,” by Very Rev. Dr. Ignatius Smith, O.P., 64 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid “God, Man and Redemption,” by Rev. Dr. Ignatius W. Cox, S.J., 64 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “This Mysterious Human Nature,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 48 pages and cover. 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. Single copy, 20c postpaid “The Eternal Galilean,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 160 pages and cover. Single copy, 40c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $19.50 per 100. “The Queen of Seven Swords,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen (prayer book size) 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 10c postpaid 5 or more, 6c each. In quantities $4.00 per 100. “The Catholic Teaching on Our Industrial System,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. John A. Ryan, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “The Salvation of Human Society,” by Rev. Peter J. Bergen, C.S.P., 48 pages and cover. 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. Single copy, 20c postpaid “The Church and Her Missions,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. William Quinn, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid ; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Church and the Depression,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 80 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid; 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.75 per 100. “The Church and Modern Thought,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 80 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid; 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.75 per 100. “Misunderstood Truths,” by Most Rev. Duane Hunt, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Judgment of God and The Sense of Duty,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. William J. Kerby, ;
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16 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 6 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.00 per 100. “Christian Education,” by Rev. Dr. James A. Reeves, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “What Civilization Owes to the Church,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. William Quinn, 64 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “If Not Christianity: What?” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. “The Coin of Our Tribute,” by Very Rev. Thomas F. Conlon, O.P., 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Prodigal World,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Futon J. Sheen, 140 pages and cover. Single copy, 40c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $19.50 per 100. “Pope Pius XI,” by His Eminence Patrick Cardinal Hayes. An address in honor of the 79th birthday of His Holiness, 16 pages and 4 color cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid; 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Misunderstanding the Church,” by Most Rev. Duane G. Hunt, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Poetry of Duty,” by Rev. Alfred Duffy, C.P., 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. 20c postpaid “Characteristic Christian Ideals,” by Rev. Bonaventure McIntyre, O.F.M., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “The Catholic Church and Youth,” by Rev. John F. O’Hara, C.S.C., 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Spirit of the Missions,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Thomas J. McDonnell, 32 pages and 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid “The Life of the Soul,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. and the Social Encyclials America’s Road Out,” by Rev. R. A. McGowan, 32 “Society pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Pius XI, Father and Teacher of the Nations,” (On His Eightieth Birthday) by His Excellency, Most Rev. Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, 16 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c In quantities, $6.00 per 100. postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. “The Eastern Catholic Church,” by Rev. John Kallok, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The ‘Lost’ Radiance of the Religion of Jesus,” by Rev. Thomas A. Carney, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “God and Governments,” by Rev. Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Saints vs. Kings,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 96 pages and cover. Single 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. copy, 30c postpaid “The Appeal To Reason,” by Most Rev. Duane G. Hunt, D.D., LL.D., 72 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $10.50 per 100. “The Mission of Youth in Contemporary Society,” by Rev. Dr. George Johnson, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “The Holy Eucharist,” by Most Rev. Joseph F. Rummel, S.T.D., LL.D., 32 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. cover. Single copy,' 20c postpaid “The Rosary and the Rights of Man,” by Very Rev. J. J. McLarney, O.P., 56 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Human Life,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid; 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. “Freedom,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen. Part II “Personal Freedom,” 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid In quantities, $13.75 per 100. 5 or more, 25c each. “Toward the Reconstruction of a Christian Social Order,” by Rev. Dr. John P. Monoghan, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Marian Vignettes,” by Rev. J. R. Keane, O.S.M., 32 pages and cover. Single copy 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. 15c postpaid “The Peace of Christ,” by Very Rev. Martin J. O’Malley, C.M., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “God’s World of Tomorrow,” by Rev. Dr. John J. Russell, 40 pages and cover. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. 5 or more, 15c each. Single copy, 20c postpaid What Catholics Do At Mass,” by Rev. Dr. William H. Russell, 72 pages and cover, including study club questions and suggestions, and brief bibliography. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.50 per 100. “The Catholic Tradition in Literature,” by Brother Leo, F.S.C., 40 pages and cover. In quantities, $8.75 per 100. 5 or more, 15c each. Single copy, 20c postpaid “Prophets and Kings: Great Scenes, Great Lines,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P. 96 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or mor6, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. “Peace, the Fruit of Justice,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 64 pages and cover. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. 5 or more, 15c each. Single copy, 20c postpaid “1930 Memories 1940,” the addresses delivered in the Tenth Anniversary Broadcast of the Catholic Hour on March 3, 1940, together with congratulatory messages and editorials, 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, 80 pages and cover. Single copy; 30c postpaid $12.75 per 100. “What Kind of a World Do You Want,” by Rev. Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., 40 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. cover. 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"The Life and Personality of Christ," by Kev. Herbert F. Gallagher, O.h'.M., 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid: 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Law," by Rev. Dr. Howard W. Smith, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c In quantities, $8.00 per 100. postpaid 5 or more. 15c each. “In the Beginning," by Rev. Arthur J. Sawkins, 40 pages and cover. Single coi>y, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “America and the Catholic Church," by Rev. John J. Walde, 48 page.s and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Social Crisis and Christian Patriotism,” by Rev. Dr. John F. Cronin, S.S., 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Missionary Responsibility," by the Most Rev. Richard J. Cushing, D.D., LL.D., $2 page.s and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Crucial Questions,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 04 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “War and Guilt,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen of the Catholic University of AmeriSingle copy, 60c postpaid 5 or more, 50c each. In quantities, $22.75 ca, 196 pages and cover. :
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“The Purposes of Our Eucharistic Sacrifice," by Rev. Gerald T. Baskfield, S.T.D., o i pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Case for Conscience,” by Rev. Thomas Smith Sullivan, O.M.I., S.T.D., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “The Catholic Notion of Faith,” by Rev. Thomas N. O’Kane, 40 pages and cover. :
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Single copy, 20c postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Freedom Defended,” by Rev. John F. Cronin, S.S., Ph.D., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “The Rights of the Oppressed,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Martin J. O’Connor, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid ; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Practical Aspects of Patriotism,” by Rev. George Johnson, Ph.D., 40 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid “What Is Wrong and How to Set It Right,” by Rev. James M. Gillis, C.S.P., 80 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $10.75 per lOU. “Peace,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 160 pages and cover. Single copy 40c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $19.50 per 100. “Christian Heroism,” by Rev. Robert J. Slavin, O.P., 64 pages and cover. Single In quantities, $9.00 per 100. copy, 25c postpaid; 5 or more, 20c each. “A Report to Mothers and Fathers,” by Rev. William A. Maguire, Chaplain, U. S. Army, and Rev. Christopher E. O’Hara, Chaplain, U. S. Navy, 24 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Liturgy and the Laity,” by Rev. William J. Lallou, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Catholic Interpretation of Culture,” by Rev. Vincent Lloyd-Russell, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.50 per 100. “Conquering With Christ,” by Rev. John J. Walde, 48 pages and cover. Single 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. copy, 25c postpaid “The Victory of the Just,” by Rev. John F. Cronin, S.S., 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15e each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “Thoughts for a Troubled Time,” by Rev. John Carter Smyth, C.S.P., 32 pages and 5 or more, 10c each. In .quantities, $7.50 per 100. cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid “We Are the Children of God,” by Rev. Leonard Feeney, S.J., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 15c postpaid 5 or more, 10c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. Single copy 20c “Justice,” by Rev. Ignatius Smith, O.P., 32 pages and cover. postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Crisis in Christendom,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen. 112 pages and 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $17.50 per 100. cover. Single copy, 35c postpaid “The Christian Family,” by Rev. Dr. Edgar Schmiedeler, O.S.B., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Social Regeneration,” by Rev. Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., 24 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $7.50 per 100. “Second Report to the Mothers and Fathers,” by Catholic Chaplains of the Army and Navy. 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid ; 5 or more, 20c each. In ;
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“Sainthood, the Universal Vocation,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Ambrose J. Burke, 24 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Path of Duty,” by Rev. John F. Cronin, S.S., 40 pages and cover Single copy, ;
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“The Church in Action,” by Rev. Alphonse Schwitalla, S.J., Rev. Paul Tanner, Rev. William A. O’Connor, Rt. Rev. James T. O’Dowd, Very Rev. John J. McClafferty, Rev. Dr. Charles A. Hart, Very Rev. George J. Collins, C.S.Sp., Rev. John La Farge, S.J., and Rev. L. F. Schott 64 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c ;
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In quantities, $10.00 per 100. “The Foundation of Peace,” by Rev. T. L. Bouscaren, S.J., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. “Human Plans are Not Enough,” by Rev. John Carter Smyth, C.S.P., 32 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid “One Lord: One World,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 100 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or moi'e, 25c each. In quantities, $15.00 per 100. “The Catholic Layman and Modern Problems,” by O’Neill, Woodlock, Shuster, Mat-
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“The Catholic Layman and Modern Problems,” by O’Neill, Woodlock, Shuster, Matthews. Manion and Agar, 68 pages and cover. Single copy 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, S10.60 per 100. “God,” by Rev. Richard Ginder, 36 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more 15c each. In quantities, $8.75 per 100. “The Moral Law,” by Re\\ T. L. Bouscaren, S.J., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20 postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, i^8.00 per 100. “The Sacramental System,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Ambrose J. Burke, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, 89.50 per 100. “Concerning Prayer,” by Rev. John Carter Smyth, C.S.P., 36 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.75 per 100. “You,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 104 pages and cover. Single copy 30c postpaid 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $15.00 per 100. Problems of the Postwar World,” by George N. Shuster, Richard Pattee, Frank Sheed, Fulton Oursler, G. Howland Shaw, William Hard, Rev. Timothy J. Mulvey, O.M.I., 128 pages and cover. Single copy 40c postpaid; 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $19.50 per 100. “Saints For The Times,” by Rev. Thomas J. McCarthy, 48 pages and cover. Single copy 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities. $10.00 per 100. “Do Need Christ?” by Rev. Robert I. Gannon, S.J., 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.50 per 100. “Happiness and Order,” by Rev. Robert Slavin, O.P., 48 pages and cover-. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.00 per 100. “Love On Pilgrimage,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 96 pages and cover, .Single copy, 30c postpaid; 5 or more, 25c each. In quantities, $13.75 per 100. “Hail, Holy Queen,” by Rev. J. Hugh O’Donnell, C.S.C., 48 pages and cover. Single 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $10.00 per 100. copy, 25c postpaid “The Road Ahead,” by Fulton Oursler, G. Howland Shaw, Neil MacNeil, Dr. George F. Donovan and Thomas H, Mahony, 112 pages and cover. Single copy, 35c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $17.50 per 100. “Christ The King And The Social Encylicals,” by Rev. Benjamin L. Masse, S.J., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, 88.00 per 100. “The Catholic School In American Life,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. T. James McNamara, 40 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $10.00 per 100. “Advent: Souvenir or Promise,” by Rev. John -J. Dougherty, 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 25c postpaid; 5 or more, 20c each. In quantities, $9.75 per 100. “The Ea.stern Rites,” by Rev. Alexander Beaton, S.A., and Rev. Canisius Kiniry, S.A. 24 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities $8.00 per 100. “America, Morality, And The United Nations,” by Rev. John McCarthy, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Light Your Lamps,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 128 pages and cover. Single copy, 40c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $19.50 per 100. “The Family In Focus,” by Rev. Joseph Manton, C.S3.R., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “Our Faith and Our Public Problems,” by: Mr. Jerome Kerwin, 48 pages and cover. In quantities $9.'75 per 100. Single copy, 25c postpaid 5 or more, 20c each. “The American Way,” by Mr. Justice Matthew F. McGuire, 24 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid ; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. ;
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quantities, $8.00 per 100.
“The Church and Labor,” by Louis F. Buden»,' 48 pages and cover. Single copy, 25e postpaid 5 or more 20c each. In quantities, $10.€0 per 100. “The Missions,” by Rev. Joseph P. McGlinchey, Rt. Rev. Leo M. Byrnes, Archbishop M'tty and Bishop McDonnell. 24 pages and cover. Single copy 20c postapid 5 or more ;
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In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Church in Rural Life,” by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Leo J. Steck, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. Marriage and the Home,” by the Rev. Edmond D. Benard, 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or moi-e, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Defenses of Peace,” by Rev. W^ilfrid J. Parsons, S.J., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Stable And The Star,” by the Rev. Joseph Manton, C.SS.R., 32 pages and cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid; 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. “The Modern Soul in Search of God,” by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, 104 pages and cover. Single copy, 35c postpaid 5 or more, 30c each. In quantities, $17.50 per 100. 15c each.
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“Religion And Economic Life,” by the Rev. Benjamin L. Masse, S.J., 40 pages and Single copy, 20c postpaid 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $9.50 per 100. “The Church And Her Story Of Charity,” by Rev. James D. O’Shea, 32 pages and 5 or more, 15c each. In quantities, $8.00 per 100. cover. Single copy, 20c postpaid “Justice and Charity,” by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fhlton J. Sheen, Ph.D., LL.D., 104 pages and cover. Single copy, 30c postpaid 5 or more^ 26c each. In quantities, $15.00 per 100. cov-er.
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(Complete
pamphlets to one address In U. S , $22.25 postpaid. Canada and Foreign Coentries, $27.76 payable in U. 8. dollarsA list
of 134
Address:
OUR SUNDAY
VISITOR. Huntington, Indiana
Price to
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