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diff --git a/12624-h/12624-h.htm b/12624-h/12624-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..749fbcd --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/12624-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11780 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Our Lady Saint Mary, by J. G. H. Barry</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + .loc { TEXT-ALIGN: right; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .rgt { float: right; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: -5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .lft { float: left; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: -9%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12624 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Our Lady Saint Mary, by J. G. H. Barry</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>Our Lady Saint Mary</h1> +<br> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>J.G.H. BARRY, D.D.</h3> +<center>Would that it might happen to me that I should<br> +be called a fool by the unbelieving, in that I<br> +have believed such things as these.<br> +<br> +--<i>Origen</i>.</center> +<br> +<br> +<h5>1922</h5> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<center>TO THE MEMBERS<br> +OF THE<br> +LEAGUE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN<br> +THIS VOLUME IS HOPEFULLY<br> +DEDICATED</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> +<p>The two papers in Part I have been published in the American +Church Magazine. Of Part II Chapter 1 has been published +separately; Chapters 2, 4, 7, 9 and 12 have been published in the +Holy Cross Magazine. The rest of the volume is here published for +the first time.</p> +<p>I would emphasise the fact that the contents of Part II is a +series of sermons which were prepared as such, and were preached in +the Church of S. Mary the Virgin, New York City, for the most part +in the Winter of 1921-22. In preparing them for publication in this +volume no attempt has been made to alter their sermon character. It +is not a theological treatise on the Blessed Virgin that I have +attempted, but a devotional presentation of her life.</p> +<p>I have added to the text as originally prepared certain prayers +and poems. The object of the selection of the prayers, almost +exclusively from the Liturgies of the Catholic Church, is to +illustrate the prevalence of the address of devotion to our Lady +throughout Christendom. The poems are selected with much the same +thought, and have been mostly gathered from mediaeval sources, and +so far as possible, from British. I have no special knowledge of +devotional poetry, but have selected such poems as I have from time +to time copied into my note books. This fact has made it impossible +for me to give credit for them to the extent that I should have +liked. I trust that any one who is entitled to credit will accept +this apology.</p> +<p>Much of the difficulty felt by Anglicans at expressions commonly +found in prayers and hymns addressed to our Lady is due to +prevalent unfamiliarity with the devotional language of the +Catholic Church throughout the ages. Those whose background of +thought is the theology of the Catholic Church, not in any one +period, but in the whole extent of its life, will have no +difficulty in such language because the limitations which are +implied in it will be clear to them. To others, I can only say that +it is fair to assume that the great saints of the Church of God in +all times and in all places did not habitually use language which +was idolatrous, and our limitations are much more likely to be at +fault than their meaning. It is not true in any degree that the +teaching of Catholics as to the place of the Virgin intrudes on the +prerogative of our Lord. It is, as matter of fact Catholics, and +not those who oppose the Catholic Religion who are upholding that +prerogative. This has been excellently expressed by a modern French +theologian. "We are established in the friendship of God, in the +divine adoption, in the heavenly inheritance, solely in virtue of +the covenent by which our souls are bound to the Son of God, and by +which the goods, the merits, and the rights of the Son of God are +communicated to our souls, as in the natural order, the property of +the husband becomes the property of the wife. Surely, one can say +nothing more than we say here, and assuredly the sects opposed to +the Church have never said more: indeed, they are far to-day from +saying so much to maintain intact this truth, that Jesus Christ is +our sole Redeemer, and to give that truth the entire extent that +belongs to it."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<br> +<h3><a href="#PART_ONE">PART I.</a></h3> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I_1">I. OF LOYALTY.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II_1">II. THE MEANING OF WORSHIP.</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<h3><a href="#PART_TWO">PART II.</a></h3> +<center><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I. MARY OF NAZARETH.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II. THE ANNUNCIATION I.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III. THE ANNUNCIATION II.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV. THE VISITATION I.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V. THE VISITATION II.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI. S. JOSEPH.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII. THE NATIVITY.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. THE MAGI.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX. THE PRESENTATION.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X. EGYPT.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI. NAZARETH.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII. THE TEMPLE.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. CANA I.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. CANA II.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV. WHO IS MY MOTHER?</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. HOLY WEEK I.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. HOLY WEEK II.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. THE CRUCIFIXION.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. THE DESCENT AND BURIAL.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX. THE RESURRECTION.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. THE FORTY DAYS.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. THE ASCENSION.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY +SPIRIT.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. THE HOME OF S. JOHN.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. THE ASSUMPTION.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. THE CORONATION.</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="PART_ONE"></a>PART ONE</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I_1"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<br> +<h3>OF LOYALTY</h3> +<blockquote>O God, who causes us to rejoice in recalling the joys +of the conception, the nativity, the annunciation, the visitation, +the purification, and the assumption of the blessed and glorious +virgin Mary; grant to us so worthily to devote ourselves to her +praise and service, that we may be conscious of her presence and +assistance in all our necessities and straits, and especially in +the hour of death, and that after death we may be found worthy, +through her and in her, to rejoice in heaven with thee. Through +&c.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">SARUM MISSAL.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he dream of the Middle Ages was of one Christian society of +which the Church should be the embodiment of the spiritual, and the +State of the temporal interests. As there is one humanity united to +God in Incarnate God, all its interests should be capable of +unification in institutions which should be based on that which is +essential in humanity, and not on that which is accidental: men +should be united because they are human and Christian, and not +divided because of diversity of blood or color or language. The +dream proved impossible of realization, and the struggle for human +unity went to pieces on the rocks of the rapidly developing +nationalism of the later Middle Ages.</p> +<p>The Reformation was the triumph of nationalism and the defeat of +Catholic idealism. It resulted in a shattered Christendom in which +the interests of local and homogeneous groups became supreme over +the purely human interests. In state and Church alike patriotism +has tended more and more to become dominant over the interests that +are supralocal and universal. The last few years have seen an +intensification of localism. We have seen bitter scorn heaped on +the few who have labored for internationalism in thought and +feeling. We have seen the attempt of labor at internationalism +utterly break down under the pressure of patriotic motive. We are +finding that the same concentration on immediate and local +interests is an insuperable bar to the realization of an ideal of +internationalism which would effectively deal with questions +arising between nations and put an end to war. The Church failed to +establish a spiritual internationalism; the indications are that it +will be long before humanitarian idealists will be able to effect a +union among nations still infected with patriotic motive, such as +shall bring about a subordination of local and immediate interests +to the interests of humanity as such. That the general interests +are also in the end the local interests is still far from the +vision of the patriot.</p> +<p>What the growth of nationalities with its consequent rise of +international jealousies and hostilities has effected in civil +society, has been brought about in matters spiritual by the +divisions of Christendom. The various bodies into which Christendom +has been split up are infected with the same sort of localism as +infects the state. They dwell with pride upon their own +peculiarities, and treat with suspicion if not with contempt the +peculiarities of other bodies. The effort to induce the members of +any body of Christians to appreciate what belongs to others, or to +try to construe Christianity in terms of a true Catholicity, is +almost hopeless. All attempts at the restoration of the visible +unity of the Church have been wrecked, and seem destined for long +to be wrecked, on the rocks of local pride and local interests. The +motives which in secular affairs lead a man to put, not only his +body and his goods, as he ought, at the disposal of his country; +but also induce him to surrender his mind to the prevailing party +and shout, "My country, right or wrong," in matters ecclesiastical +lead him to cry, "My Church, right or wrong." It is only by +transcending this localism that we can hope for progress in Church +or State--can hope to conquer the wars and fightings among our +members that make peace impossible.</p> +<p>This infection of localism is not peculiar to any body of +Christians. The Oriental Churches have been largely state-bound for +centuries, and, in addition, have been mentally immobile. The Roman +Church with its claims to exclusive ownership of the Christian +Religion has lost the vision it once had and subordinated the +Catholic interests of the Church to the local interests of the +Papacy. The fragments of Protestantism are too small any longer to +claim the universalism claimed by the East and West, and perforce +acknowledge their partial character; but it is only to indulge in a +more acute patriotism, and assertion of rights of division, and the +supremacy of the local over the general. The Churches of the +Anglican Rite are less bound, perhaps, than others. They are +restless under the limitations of localism and are haunted by a +vision of an unrealized Catholicity; but they are torn by internal +divisions and find their attempts at movement in any direction +thwarted by the pull of opposing parties.</p> +<p>One result of the mental attitude generated by the conditions +indicated above is that any attempt to deal with subjects other +than those which are authorized because they are customary, or +tolerated because they are familiar, is liable to be greeted with +cries of reproach and accusations of disloyalty. Such and such +teachings we are told, without much effort at proof, are contrary +to the teachings of the Anglican Church, or are not in harmony with +that teaching, or are illegitimate attempts to bring in doctrines +or practices which were definitely rejected by our fathers at the +Reformation. Those who are implicated in such attempts are told +that they are disturbers of the peace of the Church and are invited +to go elsewhere.</p> +<p>As one who is not guiltless of such attempts, and as one who is +becoming accustomed to be charged with novelty in teaching, and +disloyalty in practice to that which is undoubtedly and +historically Anglican, I have been compelled to ask myself, "What +is loyalty to the Anglican Church? Is there, in fact, some peculiar +and limited form of Christianity to which I owe allegiance?" I had +got accustomed to think of myself as a Catholic Christian whose lot +was cast in a certain province of the Catholic Church which was +administratively separated from other parts of that Church. This I +felt--this separation--to be unfortunate; but I was not responsible +for it, and would be glad to do anything that I could to end it. I +had not thought that this administrative separation from other +provinces of the Catholic Church meant that I was pledged to a +different religion; I had not thought of there being an Anglican +Religion. I have all my life, in intention and as far as I know, +accepted the whole Catholic Faith of which it is said in a Creed +accepted by the Anglican Church that "except a man believe +faithfully he cannot be saved." I do not intend to believe any +other Faith than that, and I intend to believe all of that; and I +have not thought of myself as other than a loyal Anglican in so +doing.</p> +<p>But criticism has led me to go back over the whole question and +ask whether there is any indication anywhere in the approved +documents of the Anglican Communion of an intention at all to +depart from the Faith of Christendom as it was held by the whole +Catholic Church, East and West, at the time when an administrative +separation from Rome was effected. Was a new faith at any time +introduced? Has there at any time been any official action of the +Anglican Church to limit my acceptance of the historic Faith? That +many Anglican writers have denied many articles of the Catholic +Faith I of course knew to be true. That some Anglican writer could +be found who had denied every article of the Catholic Faith I +thought quite possible. But I was not interested in the beliefs or +practices of individuals. I am not at all interested in what +opinions may or may not have been held by Cranmer at various stages +of his career, or what opinions may be unearthed from the writings +of Bale by experts in immoral literature; I am interested solely in +the official utterances of the Anglican Communion.</p> +<p>In following out this line of investigation I have spent many +weeks in the reading of many dreary documents: but fortunately +documents are not important in proportion to the element of +excitement they contain. I have read the documents contained in the +collection of Gee and Hardy entitled "Documents Illustrative of +English Church History." I have read the "Formularies of Faith Put +Forth by Authority during the Reign of Henry VIII." I have read +Cardwell's "Synodalia." And I have also read "Certain Sermons or +Homilies Appointed to be read in Churches at the time of Queen +Elizabeth of Famous Memory." I doubt whether any other extant human +being has read them.</p> +<p>And the upshot of the whole matter is that in none of these +documents have I found any expressed intention to depart from the +Faith of the Catholic Church of the past as that Faith had been set +forth by authority. No doubt in the Homilies there are things said +which cannot be reconciled with the Faith of Catholic Christendom. +But the Homilies are of no binding authority, and I have included +them in my investigation only because I wanted their point of view. +That is harmonious with the rest of the authoritative +documents--the intention is to hold the Faith: unfortunately the +knowledge of some of the writers was not as pure as their +intention.</p> +<p>The point that I am concerned with is this: there is no +intention anywhere shown in the authoritative documents of the +Anglican Church to effect a change in religion, or to break with +the religion which had been from the beginning taught and practised +in England. The Reformation did not mean the introduction of a new +religion, but was simply a declaration of governmental +independence. I will quote somewhat at length from the documents +for the purpose of showing that there is no indication of an +intention to set up a new Church.</p> +<p>One or two quotations from pre-reformation documents will make +clear the customary phraseology in England during the Middle Ages. +King John's Ecclesiastical Charter of 1214 uses the terms "Church +of England" and "English Church." The Magna Charta of 1215 grants +that the "Church of England shall be free and have her rights +intact, and her liberties uninjured." The Articuli Cleri of 1316 +speak of the "English Church." The Second Statute of Provisors of +1390 uses the title "The Holy Church of England." "The English +Church" is the form used in the Act "De Hæretico Comburendo" +of 1401, as it is also in "the Remonstrance against the Legatine +Powers of Cardinal Beaufort" of 1428<a name= +"FNanchor1"></a><a href="#_1">[1]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> Documents +in Gee & Hardy.</blockquote> +<p>These quotations will suffice to show the customary way of +speaking of the Church in England. If this customary way of +speaking went on during and after the Reformation the inference is +that there had no change taken place in the way of men's thinking +about the Church; that they were unconscious of having created a +new or a different Church. We know that the Protestant bodies on +the Continent and the later Protestant bodies in England did change +their way of thinking about the Church from that of their fathers +and consequently their way of speaking of it. But the formal +documents of the Church of England show no change. "The Answer of +the Ordinaries" of 1532 appeals as authoritative to the +"determination of Scripture and Holy Church," and to the +determination of "Christ's Catholic Church." The "Conditional +Restraint of Annates" of 1532 protests that the English "as well +spiritual as temporal, be as obedient, devout, catholic, and humble +children of God and Holy Church, as any people be within any realm +christened." In the Act for "The Restraint of Appeals" of 1533, +which is the act embodying the legal principle of the English +Reformation, it is the "English Church" which acts. The statement +in the "Act Forbidding Papal Dispensations and the Payment of +Peter's Pence" of 1534 is entirely explicit as to the intention of +the English authorities. It declares that nothing in this Act +"shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your grace, your +nobles and subjects intend, by the same, to decline or vary from +the congregation of Christ's Church in any things concerning the +very articles of the Catholic Faith of Christendom<a name= +"FNanchor2"></a><a href="#_2">[2]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> Gee & +Hardy.</blockquote> +<p>These documents date from the reign of Henry VIII. In the same +reign another series of authoritative documents was put forth which +contains the same teaching as to the Church. "The Institution of a +Christian Man" set forth in 1536, in the article on the Church has +this: "I believe assuredly--that there is and hath been from the +beginning of the world, and so shall endure and continue forever, +one certain number, society, communion, or company of the elect and +faithful people of God.... And I believe assuredly that this +congregation ... is, in very deed the city of heavenly Jerusalem +... the holy catholic church, the temple or habitacle of God, the +pure and undefiled espouse of Christ, the very mystical body of +Christ," "The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian +Man" of 1543 in treating of the faith declares that "all those +things which were taught by the apostles, and have been by an whole +universal consent of the church of Christ ever sith that time +taught continually, ought to be received, accepted, and kept, as a +perfect doctrine apostolic." It is further taught in the same +document in the eighth article, that on "The Holy Catholic Church," +that the Church is "catholic, that is to say, not limited to any +one place or region of the world, but is in every place universally +through the world where it pleaseth God to call people to him in +the profession of Christ's name and faith, be it in Europe, Africa, +or Asia. And all these churches in divers countries severally +called, although for the knowledge of the one from the other among +them they have divers additions of names, and for their most +necessary government, as they be distinct in places, so they have +distinct ministers and divers heads in earth, governors and rulers, +yet be all these holy churches but one holy church catholic, +invited and called by one God the Father to enjoy the benefit of +redemption wrought by our Lord and Saviour Jesu Christ, and +governed by one Holy Spirit, which teacheth this foresaid one truth +of God's holy word in one faith and baptism<a name= +"FNanchor3"></a><a href="#_3">[3]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> +Formularies of Faith in the Reign of Henry VIII.</blockquote> +<p>With the accession of Edward VI. the Protestant element in the +Reformation gained increased influence. Our question is, Did it +succeed in imprinting a new theory of the nature and authority of +the Church on the formal and authoritative utterances of the Church +in England? The first "Act of Uniformity" of 1549 contains the now +familiar appeal to Scripture and to the primitive Church, and the +Book set forth is called "The Book of Common Prayer and +Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of +the Church, after the Use of the Church of England." The "Second +Act of Uniformity," 1552, uses the same language about the Church +of England and the primitive Church. Passing on to the reign of +Elizabeth, in the "Injunctions" of 1559 there is set forth "a form +of bidding the prayers," which begins: "Ye shall pray for Christ's +Holy Catholic Church, that is for the whole congregation of +Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world, and +especially for the Church of England and Ireland." In the "Act of +Supremacy" of the same year it is provided that an opinion shall +"be ordered, or adjudged to be heresy, by the authority of the +canonical Scriptures, or by the first four general Councils, or any +of them, or by any other general Council wherein the same was +declared heresy by the express and plain words of the said +canonical Scriptures." This test of doctrine is repeated in Canon +VI of the Canons of 1571. "Preachers shall ... see to it that they +teach nothing in the way of a sermon ... save what is agreeable to +the teaching of the Old or New Testament, and what the Catholic +fathers and ancient bishops have collected from this self-same +doctrine<a name="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#_4">[4]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> Documents +in Gee & Hardy.</blockquote> +<p>It is hardly worth while to spend much time on the Homilies. I +will simply note that they continue the appeal to the primitive +Church which is asserted to have been holy, godly, pure and +uncorrupt; and to the "old holy fathers and most ancient learned +doctors" which are quoted as authoritative against later +innovations. They still speak of the Church of England as +continuous with the past. I do not find that they treat the +contemporary reformers as of authority or quote them as against the +traditional teaching of the Church.</p> +<p>We will go on to one more stage, that is, to the Canons of 1604 +which represent the mind of the Church of England at the time of +the accession of James I. They declare that "whosoever shall +hereafter affirm, That the Church of England, by law established +under the King's majesty, is not a true and an apostolical church, +teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the apostles; let him be +excommunicated." (III) They appeal to the "Ancient fathers of the +Church, led by the example of the apostles." (XXXI) In treating of +the use of the sign of the Cross in baptism they assert that its +use follows the "rules of Scripture and the practice of the +primitive Church." And further, "This use of the sign of the Cross +in baptism was held in the primitive Church, as well by the Greeks +as the Latins, with one consent and great applause." And replying +to the argument from abuse the canon goes on: "But the abuse of a +thing doth not take away the lawful use of it. Nay, so far was it +from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the +Churches of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, or any such like +Churches, in all things that they held and practised, that, as the +Apology of the Church of England confesseth, it doth with reverence +retain those ceremonies, which do neither endanger the Church of +God, nor offend the minds of sober men." (XXX)</p> +<p>It appears clear from a study of the passages quoted and of many +others of kindred nature that the Anglican Church did not start out +upon its separate career with any intention of becoming a sect; it +did not complain of the corruption of the existing religion and +declare its purpose to show to the world what true and pure +religion is. It did not put forward as the basis of its action the +existing corruption of doctrine, but the corruption of +administration. Its claim was a claim to manage its own local +affairs, and was put into execution when the Convocation of +Canterbury voted in the negative on the question submitted to it, +viz., "Whether the Roman pontiff has any greater jurisdiction +bestowed on him by God in Holy Scripture in this realm of England, +than any other foreign bishop?"</p> +<p>The attitude indicated is one that has been characteristic of +the Anglican Church ever since. It has always been restless in the +presence of a divided Christendom; the sin of the broken unity has +always haunted it. It never has taken the smug attitude of +sectarianism, a placid self-satisfaction with its own perfection. +It has felt the constant pull of the Catholic ideal and has been +inspired by it to make effort after effort for the union of +Christendom. It has never lost the sense that it was in itself not +complete but a part of a greater whole. It has never seen in the +existing shattered state of the Christian Church anything but the +evidences of sin. Its appeal has constantly been, not to its own +sufficiency for the determination of all questions, but to the +Scriptures as interpreted by the undivided Church. If it has at +times been prone to overstress the authority of some ideal and +undefined primitive Church, it was because it thought that there +and there only could the Catholic Church be found speaking in its +ideal unity.</p> +<p>This the attitude of the Anglican Church of the past is its +attitude to-day. The Lambeth Conference of 1920 gave voice to +it:</p> +<blockquote>"The Conference urges on every branch of the Anglican +Communion that it should prepare its members for taking their part +in the universal fellowship of the re-united Church, by setting +before them the loyalty which they owe to the universal Church, and +the charity and understanding which are required of the members of +so inclusive a society."</blockquote> +<p>Commenting upon this utterance of the Lambeth Conference the +three bishops who are the joint authors of "Lambeth and Reunion" +say:</p> +<blockquote>The bishops at Lambeth "beg for loyalty to the +universal Church. The doctrinal standards of the undivided Church +must not be ignored. Nor must modern developments, consistent with +the past, be ruled out merely because they are modern. Men must +hold strongly what they have received; but they must forsake the +policy of denying one another's positive presentment of truth. That +only must be forbidden which the universal fellowship cannot +conceivably accept within any one of its groups<a name= +"FNanchor5"></a><a href="#_5">[5]</a>."</blockquote> +<blockquote><a name="_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> Lambeth +and Rennion. By the bishops of Peterborough, Zanzibar and +Hereford.</blockquote> +<p>The bishops just quoted add: "We rejoice indeed at this new mind +of the Lambeth Conference." Whether it is a new mind in Lambeth +Conferences we need not consider; it is certainly no new mind in +the Anglican Church, but is precisely its characteristic attitude +of not claiming perfection or finality for itself, but of looking +beyond itself to Catholic Christendom, and longing for the time +when reunion of the churches which now make up its "broken unity" +will enable it to speak with the same voice of authority with which +it did in its primitive and undivided state.</p> +<p>In attempting to decide what as a priest of the Anglican +Communion one may or may not teach or practice, one is bound to +have regard, not to what is asserted by anyone, even by any bishop, +to be "disloyal" or "unanglican," but to the principles expressed +or implied in the utterances of the Church itself. From those +utterances as I have reviewed them, it appears to me that a number +of general principles may be deduced for the guidance of +conduct.</p> +<p>I. The Churches of the Anglican Communion are bound by the +entire body of Catholic dogma formulated and accepted universally +in the pre-Reformation Church.</p> +<p>The Anglican documents, to be sure, speak constantly of the +"Primitive Church," but they do not anywhere define what they mean +by that; and frequently, by their appeal to the "undivided Church," +and to "general Councils," they seem to include in their undefined +term much more than is commonly understood. In any case, the Church +has no special authority because it is <i>primitive</i>: its +authority results not from its being primitive but from its being +<i>Church</i>. The only point of the Anglican appeal would be the +universal acceptance of a given doctrine. Such universal acceptance +must be taken as proof of its primitiveness, that is, of its being +contained, explicitly or implicitly, in the original deposit of +faith. The Anglican Church was content with the summing up of this +Faith in the Three Creeds, and attempted to formulate no new Greed +of her own--the XXXIX Articles are not strictly a Creed: they are +not articles of Faith but of Religion. But the very history of the +Creeds implies that they are not final, that is, complete, but that +they are a summing up of the Catholic Religion to date. There are +truths which the circumstances of the Church in the Conciliar +period had not brought into prominence which later events compelled +the Church to express its mind upon. Such a truth is that of the +Real Presence of our Lord in the Sacrament of the Altar. This truth +had attained explicit acceptance throughout the Church before the +Reformation, sufficiently witnessed by the liturgies in use. It is +also embodied in the Anglican liturgy. If anyone thinks the +language of the Anglican Church doubtful on this point, the +principles enunciated by the Church compel interpretation in accord +with the mind of the universal Church. There are other truths which +are binding on us on the same basis of universal consent, but I am +not seeking to apply the principle in every case but only to +illustrate it.</p> +<p>II. There is another class of truths or doctrines widely held in +Christendom, which yet cannot be classed as dogmas of the faith. +Such a doctrine is that of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed +Virgin Mary. This doctrine has been made of faith in the Roman +communion, but has not yet ecumenical acceptance, and therefore may +be doubted without sin by members of the Greek or Anglican +Churches. What we need to avoid, as the Lambeth Conference has +reminded us, is a purely insular and provincial attitude in +relation to doctrines which have not been formally set forth by +Anglican authority. The Anglican Church has tried its best to +impress upon us that there is no such thing as an Anglican +Religion; there is but one Religion--the Religion of God's Catholic +Church. What we are to seek to know is not the mind "of the +Anglican reformers," or the mind "of the Caroline divines," but the +mind of the Catholic Church. Wherever we shall find that mind +expressed, though in terms unfamiliar to us, we are bound to treat +it with respect. We are to seek to know the truth that the truth +may make us free--from all pride and prejudice, as well as from +heresy and blasphemy. And we shall best come at this mind in its +widest meaning by the study of the writings of the saints of all +ages and of all parts of the Church. It may fairly be inferred that +those who have attained great perfection in the Catholic life have +achieved it by the application of Catholic truth to every day +living.</p> +<p>III. The members of the Anglican Church have the same freedom as +other Catholics in the matter of theological speculation. What was +done at the Reformation was not final in the sense that we are +never to believe or to teach anything that is not found in Anglican +formularies. The fact that a certain doctrine like that of the +Invocation of Saints was omitted from the Anglican formularies is +not fatal to its practice. The grounds of its omission in practice +may or may not have been well judged. But the theory of it was +never denied, it is indeed contained in the Creeds themselves, and +change in circumstances may justify its revival in practice.</p> +<p>Moreover, the theology of the Christian Church is not a body of +static doctrine, but is the expression of the ceaseless meditation +of the saints upon the truths revealed to us by God. To suppose +that any age whatever has exhausted the meaning of the Revealed +Truth would be absurd. It is inexhaustible. So long as the mind of +the Church is pondering it, it brings out from it things old and +new. Among ourselves it is perhaps at present more desirable that +we should bring out the old things than seek to find the new. The +historic circumstances of the Anglican Church have been such as to +lead to the practical disuse of much that is of great spiritual +value in the treasury of the Church. It is largely in the attempt +to bring into use the riches that have been abandoned that some are +to-day incurring the charge of disloyalty--a charge that they are +not careful to answer, if they may be permitted to minister to a +larger spiritual life in the Church they love.</p> +<p>At the same time the development of doctrine is a real mode of +enrichment of the theology of the Church. The devout mind pondering +divine truth will ever penetrate deeper into its meaning. Thus it +was that in the course of centuries the Church arrived at a +complete statement of the doctrine of our Lord's person. And what +it could rightly do in the supreme case, it surely can rightly do +in cases of lesser moment. We need not be afraid of this movement +of thought, for the mind of the united Church may be trusted not to +sanction any error. Our Lord has promised that the gates of hell +shall not prevail against the Church. We can trust Him to fulfil +His promise. He has also promised us that the Holy Spirit shall +lead us into all the truth. Can He trust us not to thwart the work +of the Spirit by a provincial attitude as of those who already in +the utterances of the Anglican formularies claim to possess all +truth?</p> +<p>IV. There is one other inference to be drawn from what I +conceive to be the Anglican position, and that is one that relates, +not primarily to doctrine but to practice. For many years now the +Anglican Churches have been greatly disturbed by varieties of +practice, though it is difficult to see why varieties of practice +should be in themselves disturbing. But without going into that +matter, which would carry us far afield, I would simply state that +the principle already laid down in regard to doctrine seems to +apply here in the matter of practice: that is, the Anglican has the +right to use any practice which has not been explicitly forbidden +by the authorities of the local Church. The Churches of the +Anglican Communion have never set forth any competent guide for the +conduct of worship, and by refraining from so doing have left the +matter in the hands of those who have to conduct services and +provide for the spiritual needs of those over whom they have been +given cure of souls. There is nothing more absurd than to assume +that nothing rightly can be done in these matters except what has +been directed by authority; that no services can be held but such +as have formal authorization; that no ceremonies can be introduced +but such as the custom of the time since the Reformation has made +familiar to many.</p> +<p>In such matters authority naturally and necessarily goes along +with the cure of souls; the priest of the parish must perforce +provide for the spiritual needs of his parish. If he finds those +needs satisfied with the rendering of Morning and Evening +Prayer--well and good; but those who do not find the needs of their +parish so satisfied must seek to satisfy them by the providing of +other spiritual means. And in seeking thus to provide for the +spiritual growth of souls committed to his care, the priest, on the +principles of the Anglican formularies, is justified and entitled +to make use of the means in use throughout Catholic Christendom. He +is quite justified in calling his people together for a prayer +meeting, if in his judgment that will be for their spiritual good; +or if his judgment is different, he is equally justified in +inviting them to join him in saying the rosary. He may incite to +greater devotion by a shortened form of Evening Prayer or by +popular Vespers. I do not think that there is anything in the +Christian Religion or in the formularies of the Anglican Church +that forbids him to have moving pictures or special musical +services. Nor is there any reason why, if it be in his judgment +promotive of holiness, he should not provide for his parish such +services as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. There can be no +legitimate criticism of a service on the ground of its +<i>provenance</i>.</p> +<p>It is a common reproach against the Anglican Communion that is +"does not know its own mind." It would be much truer to say that +there are many members of it who have been at no pains to ascertain +whether it have a mind or what that mind is: who have been content +to confound the mind of the Church with the mind of the party to +which they are attached by the accident of birth or of preference. +I do not for a moment contend that the party (to use an ugly but +necessary word) to which I am attached stands, in all things, in +perfect alignment with the Anglican Formularies. There are +circumstances in which it appears to me to be necessary to appeal +from Anglican action to the mind of that larger Body, the whole +Church of Christ throughout the world, to which the Anglican Church +points me as its own final authority. In so doing I do not feel +that I am disloyal, but that I am actually doing what authority +tells me to do. These are cases in point. I do not believe that a +local Church can suppress and permanently disuse sacraments of the +universal Church. The Anglican Church by its suppression of the +sacraments of Unction and by its almost universal disuse for +centuries of the sacrament of Penance, compelled those who would be +loyal to the Catholic Church to which it appealed to act on their +own initiative in the revival of the use of those sacraments. I do +not believe that the local Church has the right or the power to +forbid or permanently disuse customs which are of universal +currency in the Catholic Church. I do not believe that it has the +right to neglect and fail to enforce the Catholic custom of +fasting, and especially of fasting before communion. I do not +believe that any Christian who is informed on these things has the +right to neglect them on the ground that the Anglican Church has +not enforced them. On the basis of its own declarations the +ecumenical overrides the local; and if it be said, "What is a +priest, that he should undertake to set the practice of his Church +right?" the answer is that he is a man having cure of souls for +whose progress in holiness he is responsible before God, and if +those who claim authority in such matters will not act, he must +act, though it be at the risk of his immortal soul.</p> +<p>These things seem to be true with the truth of self-evidence. +And because they seem to be true, I have not hesitated to preach, +and now to print, the sermons on the life and words of our Lady +contained in this volume. I am told by many that such teaching is +dangerous, but I am not told by any of any danger that is +intelligible to me. That such devotions to our Lady as are here +commended trench on the prerogative of God, and exalt our Lady +above the place of a creature is sufficiently answered by the fact +that the very act of asking the prayers of Blessed Mary is an +assertion of her creaturehood--one does not ask the prayers of God. +And when it is said that devotion to her takes away from devotion +to her Son, one has only to ask in reply, who as a matter of fact +have maintained and do maintain unflinchingly the divinity of our +Lord? Certainly the denials of the divinity of our Lord are found +where there is also a denial that any honor is due or may rightly +be given to His Blessed Mother; and where that Mother receives the +highest honor, there we never for a moment doubt that the full +Godhead of Jesus will be unflinchingly and unhesitatingly +maintained.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Wherefore in praise, the worthiest that I may,<br> +Jesu! of thee, and the white Lily-flower<br> +Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye,<br> +To tell a story I will use my power;<br> +Not that I may increase her honour's dower,<br> +For she herself is honour, and the root<br> +Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot.<br> +<br> +O Mother Maid! O Maid and Mother free!<br> +O bush unburnt; burning in Moses' sight!<br> +That down didst ravish from the Deity,<br> +Through humbleness, the spirit that did alight<br> +Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory's might,<br> +Conceived was the Father's sapience,<br> +Help me to tell it in thy reverence.<br> +<br> +Lady! thy goodness, thy magnificance,<br> +Thy virtue, and thy great humility,<br> +Surpass all science and all utterance;<br> +For sometimes, Lady, ere men pray to thee<br> +Thou goest before in thy benignity,<br> +The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer,<br> +To be our guide unto thy Son so dear.<br> +<br> +My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen!<br> +To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness,<br> +That I the weight of it may not sustain;<br> +But as a child of twelve months old or less,<br> +Even so fare I; and therefore, I thee pray,<br> +Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say.<br> +<br> +Chaucer. The Prioress' Tale.<br> +Version by Wordsworth.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART ONE</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_1"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE MEANING OF WORSHIP</h3> +<blockquote>O Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all holy thoughts do +come; who hast taught thy servants to honour thy glorious mother; +mercifully grant us so to celebrate her on earth with the solemn +sacrifice of praise and with due devotion, that by her intercession +we may be found worthy to reign in joy in heaven. Who livest +&c.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">SARUM MISSAL.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>here are thoughts and actions which so enter the daily conduct +of our lives that we take them for granted and never pause to +analyse them. If perchance something occurs to make us ask what +these thoughts and actions truly and deeply mean we are surprised +to find that we have, in fact, no adequate understanding of them. +We have a feeling about them and we are quite sure that this +feeling is a good and right one. We have ends that we are seeking +and we are satisfied that the ends are in all ways desirable. But +suddenly confronted with the question why, unexpectedly asked to +explain, to justify ourselves, we find ourselves dumb. We cannot +find adequate exposition for what we nevertheless know that we are +justified in. It is so with much that we admire; we have never +tried to justify our admiration, have never thought that it needed +an explanation; and then, unexpectedly, we find ourselves +challenged, we find our taste criticised, and in our efforts at +self-defence we blunder and stumble and hesitate about what we +still feel that we are quite right in holding fast.</p> +<p>It is common things that we thus take for granted; it is daily +activities that we thus assume need no explanation. For us who +habitually gather to the services of the Church there is no more +taken-for-granted act than worship. Worship is a part of our daily +experience. At certain times each day we offer to God stated and +formal acts of worship. Many times a day most likely we pause and +for a moment lift our thought to our blessed Lord for a brief +communion with Him. It is a part of our settled experience thus to +draw strength from the inexhaustible source which at all times is +at our disposal. We know how the tasks of the day are lightened and +our strength to meet them renewed by these momentary invasions of +the supernatural. There are also special times in each week when we +meet with other members of the One Body of Christ in the offering +of the unbloody Sacrifice. We know that in that act heaven and +earth join, and that not only our brethren who are kneeling beside +us are uniting with us in the offering of the Sacrifice, not only +are we one with all those other members of the Body who on this +same morning are kneeling at the numberless altars of Christendom, +but that all those who are in Christ are with us partakers of the +same Sacrifice, and that in its offering we are joined with all the +holy dead, and by our partaking of Christ are brought close to one +another. We therefore lovingly take their names upon our lips, and +enkindle their memory in our hearts; and find that death, which we +had thought of as a separation, has but broken the barriers to the +deepest and most blessed communion, and that we are now, as never +before, united to those whom we find in Christ Jesus our Lord.</p> +<p>And then comes the unexpected challenge: "what does all this +mean: these repeated and diverse acts that you are accustomed to +speak of and to think of as acts of worship? What, ultimately, do +you mean by worship, and can there possibly be found any common +feature in these so diverse acts which can justify you in regarding +them as essentially one? This act which is in truth presenting +yourself before the majesty of God in humble adoration, in the +guise of a suppliant child depending upon the love of the Father +for the supply of the daily needs; or this other act which is of +such deepest mystery that we approach any attempted statement of it +with awe, which is in fact the representation of the sacrifice of +Calvary; and then these invocations by which we ask the loving +co-operation of our fellow members of Christ that they may +associate themselves with us in the work of prayer and mutual +intercession--how can all these acts be brought together under a +common rubric, how can they all be designated as worship? What in +fact is it that you mean by worship?"</p> +<p>So are we challenged. So are we thrown back, and in the end +thrown back most beneficially, to the analysis of our acts. +Worship, we tell ourselves, is <i>worth</i>-ship; it is the +attribution of worth or honor to whom these are properly due. +"Honour to whom honour is due," we hear the Apostle saying. Worship +is therefore not an absolute value but a varying value, the content +of any act of which will be determined by the nature of the object +toward which it is directed. It is greatly like love in this +respect; its nature is always the same, but its present value is +determined by the object to which it is directed. We are to love +the Lord our God, and we are also to love our neighbour; the nature +of the love is in each case the same; and yet we are not to love +our neighbour with the limitless self-surrender with which we love +God. The love of God is the passionate giving of ourselves to Him +with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and +with all our strength. The love of the neighbour is measured and +restrained, having in view his good that we are seeking, the +promotion of his salvation as our fellow member in the Body of +Christ. In the same way worship will take its colour, its +significance, its tone, its intensity, not from some abstract +conception, but from the end it seeks. This is made plain, too, +when we look at our Bibles and Prayer Books for the actual use of +the word. There we find much of the worship of God: but we also +find a limited use of the word. "Then shalt thou have worship in +the presence of them that sit at meat with thee." (S. Luke, XIV, +10.) And in the marriage service of the English Prayer Book we +read: "With this ring I thee wed, and with my body I thee worship." +The same limited content of the word is found in the old title of +respect--"Your Worship."</p> +<p>But so thoroughly has the word worship become associated with +our approach to God, that we still, many of us, no doubt, feel the +shock of the unaccustomed when we hear the worship of the Blessed +Virgin or of the saints spoken of. It does not help us much to fall +back on the Latin word, <i>Cultus</i>, for we understand that the +meaning is the same.</p> +<p>We are helped, I think, if we substitute the parallel word +honour for worship in the places of its use. We meet in the Church +to honour God, and we offer the Blessed Sacrifice as the act of +supreme honour which is due to Him alone; but in connection with +the supreme honour offered to God we also honour the saints of God +by the observance of their anniversaries with special services +including the Holy Sacrifice. The word honour does not sound so ill +to ears unaccustomed to a certain type of Catholic expression as +the word worship: but the meaning is untouched.</p> +<p>Let us go on then to the analysis of the notion of worship. In +the writings of theologians we find an analysis of the notion of +worship into three degrees. There is, first of all, that supreme +degree of worship which is called <i>latria</i> and which is the +worship due to God alone. If we ask what essentially it is that +differentiates <i>latria</i> from all other degrees of worship or +honour we find that it is the element of sacrifice that it +contains. Sacrifice is the supreme act of self-surrender to +another, of utter self-immolation, and it can have no other +legitimate object than God Himself. The central notion of sacrifice +is the surrender of self. The sacrifices of the Old Covenant were +of value because they were the representatives of the nation and of +the individuals who offered them; because of the +self-identification of nation or individual with the thing offered, +which must therefore be in some sense the offerer's, must, so to +say, <i>contain him</i>: must be that in which he merges himself. +So the one Sacrifice of the New Covenant gets its essential value +in that it is the surrender of the Son to the will of the Father. +"I am come to do Thy will, O God." Christ's sacrifice is +self-sacrifice: the voluntary surrender of the whole life to the +divine purpose.</p> +<p>And when we actually worship God, worship Him with the worship +of <i>latria</i>, our act must be of the same essential nature; it +must be an act of sacrifice, of self-giving; the offering of +ourselves to the will of the Father. So it is in our participation +in the offering of the Blessed Sacrifice. The full meaning of our +joining in that act is that we are uniting ourselves with our +Lord's offering of Himself, and as members of His Body share in the +sacrifice of the Body which is the supreme act of worship. And our +other acts of worship lay hold on and proceed from this which is +the ground of their efficacy. All our subordinate acts of worship, +so to call them, have their character and vitality as Christian +acts of the worship of God because of the relation of the +worshipper to God as a member of the Body of His Son. They are +offered through the Son and derive their potency from their +association with Him and His sacrifice. They reach God through the +sacrifice of the One Mediator.</p> +<p>Worship, then, in this complete sense, is due to God alone; and +it is separated by a whole heaven from any worship, that is, +honour, which can be offered to any creature, however exalted. No +instructed person would for a moment imagine that the prayers which +we address to the saints are in any degree such worship as is +offered to God; but in as much as those who are unfamiliar with the +forms of the Catholic Religion in its devotional expression may +easily be led astray, it seems needful to stress this fact of the +difference between simple petition and such acts and prayers as +involve the highest degree of worship.</p> +<p>One of the chief sources of confusion in this matter is the +failure to distinguish between the nature of the act of worship, +which is determined by the person to whom it is directed, and the +mere adjuncts of the act. But an act of <i>latria</i> is not +constituted such by the fact that it is aided in its expression by +such circumstances as banners, lights, incense and so on. These are +quite appropriate to any act of honour, and have been customarily +so used in relation to human beings. There was a certain hesitation +in the Church for some time in the matter of incense which under +the older Covenant had been especially appropriated to God, because +in the experience of the early Church it was demanded, and +necessarily refused, as an acknowledgment of the divinity of the +Emperor. But with the passing of the pagan empire incense as the +universal symbol of prayer came into use in all manner of services +wherein intercession was a part.</p> +<p>Such adjuncts therefore are not foreign to those subordinate +acts of worship or honour which are technically known as <i>dulia. +Dulia</i>--this word means service--is such honour as may be +rightly rendered to creatures without at all encroaching upon the +majesty of God. It is <i>that</i> degree of worship that we have in +mind when we speak of the worship of the saints. That <i>dulia</i> +of the saints is expressed when we ask for the intercession of this +or that saint, and is not essentially different from the asking for +the prayers of any other human beings. We commonly ask for one +another's prayers and feel that in doing so we are exercising our +brotherhood in the Body of Christ in calling into action its mutual +love and sympathy. We should be beyond measure astonished if we +were told that such requests for the prayers of our brethren were +encroachments upon the honour of God and the sin of idolatry! But +if in this case our surprise is justified, it is difficult to see +how the case is at all altered by the fact that the fellow members +of the Body whose prayers we are asking happen to be <i>dead</i>, +that is, as we believe and imply in our request for their +intercession, have passed into a new and closer relation to our +Blessed Lord. Nor, again, does the case seem to be at all altered, +if the brother whose prayers we ask has been dead a long time, and +has, by the common consent of Catholic Christendom, been received +into the number of the saints. The ways in which the human mind +works under the influence of prejudice are always interesting. +There are many devout persons who feel that it is a valuable +element in their religion to have the privilege of following the +Kalendar of the Church and to keep the saints' days therein +indicated by attendance at divine service; who yet would be +horrified if it were suggested that a prayer should be offered to +the saint whose day is being observed, and that the saint should be +made the object of an act of worship. But what essentially +<i>is</i> the keeping of a saint's day, with a celebration of the +Holy Communion with special collect, epistle and gospel, but an act +of worship <i>(dulia)</i> of the saint? The nature of the act would +be in no way changed if in addition to our accustomed collects +there were added one which plainly asked for the prayers of the +saint in whose honour we are keeping the feast.</p> +<p>In the worship of the Church of God a place apart is assigned to +the honour to be paid to the blessed Mother of our Lord. As the +highest of all creatures, as highly favoured above all, as she whom +God chose to be the Mother of His Son, the devout thought of +generations of Christians has felt that their recognition of her +relation to God in the Incarnation called for a special degree of +honour rightly to express it. The thought of the faithful lingers +about all that was in any degree associated with the coming of God +in the flesh: so great was the deliverance thereby wrought for man +that man's gratitude ever seeks new means of expression and ever +finds the means inadequate to his love. Many of the expressions +that are found in devotional writers associated with the cultus of +the Blessed Virgin Mary are an outcome of this attitude of mind. To +those who are unused to them they seem exaggerated; in the vast +mass of the devotional writings of Catholic Christendom there is no +difficulty in finding expressions which <i>are</i> exaggerated; but +it is well to remember when thinking of this that the exaggeration +is the exaggeration of love. The tendency of love <i>is</i> to +exaggerate the forms of its expression. It is, however, we feel on +reflection, an error to judge by the exaggeration rather than by +the love. It is perhaps well to ask ourselves whether we are saved +from exaggeration by greater sanity or by lesser love.</p> +<p>But exaggeration apart, this feeling of the unique position of +the blessed Mother in relation to the Incarnate Son, as calling +forth a special honour for her is embodied in the designation of +the honour to be rendered her as <i>hyperdulia</i>--a specially +devoted service. It is hardly necessary after what has been said to +point out that even here in the highest honour rendered to any +saint there is no passing of the infinite gulf which separates +Creator from creature, any infringement upon the honour of God. No +Catholic could dream that blessed Mary would be in any wise +honoured by the attribution to her of what belongs to her Son. +These are no doubt commonplaces, but it is better to be commonplace +than to be misunderstood. The intercession that is asked of the +blessed Mother is the intercession of one who by God's election is +more closely associated with God than any other human being is or +can be. Her power of prayer is felt to proceed from the depth of +her sanctity; from, in other words, the perfection of her relation +to her blessed Son Who is the only Mediator and the Saviour of us +all.</p> +<p>Let me say in conclusion that this giving of honour to our Lord, +and to all His saints as united to Him, and the celebration of +their days according to the Church's year, and the asking of the +help of their intercession in all the needs of our lives, is not +simply a thing to be tolerated in those who are inclined to it, is +not simply a privilege which we are entitled to if we care for it, +but is a duty which all Christians ought to fulfil because +otherwise they are failing to make real to them a very important +article of the Christian Creed. The Communion of Saints, like all +other articles of the Creed, needs to be put into active use, and +will be when we believe it as distinguished from assent to it. When +we believe that all who live unto God in the Body of His dear Son +are inspired with active love one toward another, we shall +ourselves feel the impulse of that love, and be compelled both to +seek an outlet for it toward all other members of the Body, and +also will equally feel compelled to seek our own share in the +action of that love by asking for the prayers of the saints for +ourselves and for all in whom we are interested. Then will we find +in the "worship of the saints" one great means whereby we can +worship the God of the saints by the devout recognition of the +greatness of His work in them, May God be praised and glorified in +all His saints.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>O Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,<br> + Lowly, and higher than all creatures raised,<br> + Term by eternal council fixed upon,<br> +Thou art she who didst ennoble man,<br> + That even He who had created him<br> + To be Himself His creature disdained not.<br> +Within thy womb rekindled was the love,<br> + By virtue of whose heat this flower thus<br> + Is blossoming in the eternal peace.<br> +Here thou art unto us a noon-day torch<br> + Of charity, and among mortal men<br> + Below, thou art a living fount of hope.<br> +Lady, thou art so great and so prevailest,<br> + That who seeks grace without recourse to thee,<br> + Would have his wish fly upward without wings.<br> +Thy loving-kindness succors not alone<br> + Him who is seeking it, but many times<br> + Freely anticipates the very prayer.<br> +In thee is mercy, pity is in thee,<br> + In thee magnificence, whatever good<br> + Is in created being joins in thee.<br> +<br> +Dante, Par. XXXIII, 1-21. (Trans. H. Johnson.)</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="PART_TWO"></a>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<br> +<h3>MARY OF NAZARETH</h3> +<center>Mary, of whom was born Jesus.</center> +<center>S. Matt. I. 16.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>My Maker and Redeemer, Christ the Lord, O Immaculate, +coming forth from thy womb, having taken my nature upon him, hath +delivered Adam from the primal curse; wherefore, to thee, +Immaculate, the Mother of God and Virgin in very sooth, we cry +aloud unceasingly the Ave of the Angel, "Hail, O Lady, protection +and shelter and salvation of our souls!"</blockquote> +<p class="loc">BYZANTINE.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he silences of the Holy Scriptures have always provoked +speculation as to what is left untold. The devout imagination has +played about the hints we receive and woven them into stories which +far outrun any true implication of the facts. Thus has much +legendary matter gathered about the childhood of our Lord, +containing the stories, not always very edifying according to our +taste, which are set down in the Apocryphal Gospels. The same +eagerness to know more than we are told has produced the developed +legend of the childhood of our Lady. We can of course place no +reliance on most of the statements that are there made; perhaps the +most that we can lay hold of is the fact that S. Mary's father was +Joachim and her mother Anna. The rest may be left to silence.</p> +<p>But if the facts of the external life of Mary of Nazareth cannot +be hoped for, certain general truths evidently follow from God's +plan for her and from her relation to our Blessed Lord. There are +certain inferences from her vocation which are irresistible and +which the theologians of the Church did not fail to make as they +thought of her function in relation to the Incarnation. We know +that the work of Redemption by which it was God's purpose to lead +back a sinful world to Himself was a purpose that worked from the +very beginning of man's fatal separation from the source of his +life and happiness. The essential meaning of Holy Scripture is that +it is a history of the origin of God's purpose and of His bringing +it to a successful issue in the mission of our Lord. In the +Scriptures we are permitted to see the unfolding of the divine +purpose and the preparation of the instruments by which the purpose +is to be effected. We see the divine will struggling with the human +will, and in appearance baffled again and again by the selfishness +and the stupidity of man. We see too that the divine will is in the +long run successful in securing a point of action in humanity, in +winning the allegiance of men of good will to co-operation with the +purpose of God. We see spiritual ideals assimilated, and sympathy +with the work of God generated, until we feel that that work has +gained a firm and enduring ground in humanity from which it can +act. God is able to consummate His purpose, and men begin to +understand in some measure the nature of the future deliverance and +to look forward to the coming of One Who should be the embodiment +of the divine action and the Representative of God Himself with a +completeness which no previous messenger of God had ever +attained.</p> +<p>It we would understand the Old Testament we must find that its +intimate note is preparation, just as the intimate note of the New +Testament is accomplishment. God is working to a foreseen end, and +is working as fast as men will consent to co-operate and become the +instruments of His purpose. The purpose is not one that can be +achieved by the exercise of power; it is a purpose of love and can +be effected only through co-operating love. And as we watch the +final unfolding of that purpose in the Incarnation of God, we more +and more become conscious of the preparation of all the instruments +of the purpose which are working in harmony for the revelation of +the meaning of God.</p> +<p>Of all the instruments of this divine purpose, one figure has +preeminently fascinated the devout imagination because of her +unique beauty, and has been the object of profound speculation +because of the intimacy of her relation to God,--Mary of Nazareth. +The vocabulary of love and reverence has exhausted itself in the +attempt to express our estimate of her. The literature of Mariology +is immense. And no one who has at all entered into the meaning of +the Incarnation, of what is involved in eternal God taking human +flesh, can wonder at this. Here at the crisis of the divine +redeeming action, when the crowning mystery which angels desire to +look into is being accomplished, we find the figure of a village +maiden of Israel as the surprising instrument of the advent of God. +We wonder: and we instinctively feel, that as all the other steps +and instruments in God's redemption of man had from the beginning +been carefully prepared, so shall we find preparation here. We +understand that as God could not come in the flesh at any time, but +only when the "fulness of time" had come; so He could not come of +any woman, but only of such an one as He had prepared to be the +instrument of His Incarnation.</p> +<p>It is involved in the very intimacy of the relation which exists +between our Lord and His blessed Mother that she should be unique +in the human race. We feel that we are right in saying that the +Incarnation which waited for the preparation of the world socially +and spiritually, must also be thought of as waiting for the coming +of the woman who would so completely surrender herself to the +divine will that in her obedience could be founded the antidote to +the disobedience which was founded in Eve. The race waited for the +coming of the new mother who should be the instrument in the +abolishing of the evil of which the first mother was the +instrument. And from the very beginning of the thought of the +Church about blessed Mary there was no doubt that it was implied in +her office in bearing the God-Man that she should be without +sin--sinless in the sense of never having in any least degree +consented to evil the thought of the Church has ever held her to +be. It was held incredible that she who by God's election bore in +the sanctuary of her womb during the months of her child-bearing +Him who was Lord and Creator and was come to save the world from +all the stain and penalty of sin should herself be a sinner. +Without actual sin, therefore, was Mary held to be from the time +that the thought of the Church was turned upon her relation to our +Blessed Lord<a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#_6">[6]</a>.</p> +<blockquote><a name="_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> It is +true that a few writers among the Fathers see in blessed Mary +traces of venial sin; who think of her intervention at Cana as +presumptuous &c. But such notices are not of sufficient +frequency or importance to break the general +tradition.</blockquote> +<p>For some time this seemed enough. It was not felt that any +further thought about her sinlessness was needed. But as the +uniqueness of Mary forced itself more and more upon the brooding +thought of theologians and saints they were compelled to face the +fact that her freedom from actual sin was not a full appreciation +of her purity, was not an exhaustive treatment of her relation to +our Lord. The doctrine of the nature of sin itself had been +becoming clearer to the minds of Christian thinkers. All men are +conceived and born in sin, it was seen. After S. Paul's teaching, +the problem of <i>sin</i> was not the problem of sins but the +problem of sinfulness. The matter could not be left with the +statement that all men do sin; the reason of their sinning must be +traced out. And it was traced out, under S. Paul's guidance, to a +ground of sin in nature itself, to a defect in man as he is born +into the world. He does not become a sinner when he commits his +first sin: he is born a sinner. In other words, the problem of +man's sinfulness is the problem of original sin.</p> +<p>What then do we mean by original sin? Briefly, we mean this. At +his creation man was not only created innocent, but he was created +in union with God, a union which conferred on him many supernatural +gifts, gifts, that is, which were not a part of his nature, but +were in the way of an addition to his nature. "By created nature +man is endowed with moral sense, and is thus made responsible for +righteousness; but he is unequal to its fulfilment. The +all-righteous Creator could be trusted to complete His work. He +endowed primitive man with superadded gifts of grace, especially +the supernatural gift, <i>donum supernaturale</i>, of the Holy +Spirit<a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#_7">[7]</a>."</p> +<blockquote><a name="_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> Hall, +Dogmatic Theology, V, 263.</blockquote> +<p>Our purpose does not require us further to particularize these +gifts and our time does not permit it. We are concerned with this: +the effect of man's sin was, what the effect of sin always is, to +separate man from God. To sin, man has to put his will in +opposition to the will of God. This our first parents did; and the +result of their act was the destruction of their union with God and +the loss of their supernatural endowments. They lapsed into a state +of nature, only it was a state in which they had forfeited what had +been conferred upon them at their creation. This state of man, with +only his natural endowments, is the state into which all men, the +descendants of Adam, have been born. This is the state of original +sin. "Original sin means in Catholic theology a state inherited +from our first human parents in which we are deprived of the +supernatural grace and original righteousness with which they were +endowed before they sinned, and are naturally prone to sin." (Hall, +Dogmatic Theology, Vol. V, p. 281.) We can state the same fact +otherwise, and more simply for our present purposes, by saying that +by sin was forfeited the grace of union or sanctifying grace; and +when we say that a child is born in sin we mean that it is born out +of union with God, or without the supernatural gift of sanctifying +grace. You will note here no implication of original sin as an +active poison handed on from generation to generation. It will be +important to remember this presently.</p> +<p>When, therefore, the thought of the Church began to follow out +what was involved in its belief in the actual sinlessness of +blessed Mary, in its holding to the fact that her relation to God +was of such a close and indeed unique character that her actual +sinfulness would be incomprehensible; it was at length compelled to +ask, What, in that case are we to think of original sin? If the +first Eve was created in innocence and endowed with supernatural +gifts, are we to think that she whom the Fathers of the Church from +the earliest times have constantly called the second Eve, she whom +God chose to be the Mother of His Son, should be less endowed? Is +it a fact any more conceivable that the virgin Mother of God should +be born in original sin than that she should be the victim of +actual sin? If by the special grace of God she was kept from sin +from the time that she was able to know good and evil, is it not +probable that the freedom from sin goes further back than that, and +is a freedom from original as well as from actual sin? What is the +meaning of the Angelic Salutation, "Hail, thou that art <i>full of +grace</i>," unless it refer to a superadded grace, to such <i>donum +supernaturale</i> as the first Eve received? There is indeed no +precedent to guide in the case: the prophet Jeremiah and S. John +Baptist had been preserved from sin from the womb, but this did not +involve freedom from original sin. Still the fact that there was no +precedent was not in anywise fatal; the point of the situation was +just that there was no precedent for the relation to God into which +Blessed Mary had been called. It was precisely this uniqueness of +vocation which was leading theological thought to the conclusion of +the uniqueness of her privilege: and this uniqueness of privilege +seemed to call for nothing less than an exemption from sin in any +and all forms. So a belief in the Immaculate Conception grew up +despite a good deal of opposition while its implications were being +thought out, but was found more and more congenial to the mind of +the Church. She whose wonderful title for centuries had been Mother +of God could never at any moment of her existence have been +separate from God. She must, so it was felt, have been united to +God from the very first moment of her existence.</p> +<p>But what does this exemption from the common lot of men actually +mean? I think that the simplest way of getting at it is to ask +ourselves what it is that happens to a child at baptism. Every +human child that is born into the world is born in original sin, +that is, is born out of union with God, without sanctifying grace. +It is then brought to the font and by baptism regenerated, born +again, put in a relation to God that we describe as union, made a +partaker of the divine nature. This varying description of the +effect of baptism means that the soul of the child has become a +partaker of sanctifying grace, the grace of union with God. +Original sin, we say, is forgiven: that is, the soul is placed in +the relation to God that it would have had had sin not come into +existence, save that there remains a certain weakness of nature due +to its sinful heredity. This that happens to children when they are +baptised is what is held to have happened to Blessed Mary at her +creation. Her soul instead of being restored to God by grace after +her birth, was by God's special grace or favour created in union +with Him, and in that union always continued. The uniqueness of S. +Mary's privilege was that she never had to be restored to union +with God because from the moment of her existence she had been one +with Him. This would have been the common lot of all men if sin had +not come into the world.</p> +<p>In view of much criticism of this belief it is perhaps necessary +to emphasize the fact that a belief in Mary's exemption from +original sin does not imply a belief that she was exempt from the +need of redemption. She is a creature of God, only the highest of +His creatures: and like all human beings she needed to be redeemed +by the Blood of Christ. The privileges which are our Lord's +Mother's, are her's through the foreseen merits of her Son--she, as +all others, is redeemed by the sacrifice and death of Christ. There +is in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception no shadow of +encroachment on the doctrine of universal redemption in Christ; +there is simply the belief that for the merits of the Son the +Mother was spared any moment of separation from the Father.</p> +<p>It will, of course, be said that this doctrine is but the +relatively late and newly formulated doctrine of the Latin Church +and is of no obligation elsewhere; that we are in no wise bound to +receive it. In regard to which there are one or two things to be +said. That we are not formally bound to believe a doctrine is not +at all the same thing as to say that we are formally bound not to +believe it. I am afraid that the latter is a not uncommon attitude. +There is no obligation upon us to disbelieve the Immaculate +Conception of blessed Mary; there is an obligation upon us to +understand it and to appreciate its meaning and value. We must +remember that a doctrine that is not embodied in our Creed may +nevertheless have the authority of the Church back of it. The +doctrine of the Real Presence is not stated in the Creed; yet it is +and always has been the teaching of the Church everywhere in all +its liturgies. Though any particular statement of the Real Presence +is not binding, the fact itself is binding on all Christians, and +may not be doubted.</p> +<p>In much the same way it will be found that theological doctrines +of relatively late creedal formulation yet have behind the +formulation a long history of actual acceptance in the teaching of +the Church. They are theologically certain long before they are +embodied in authoritative formulae. What the individual Christian +has to do is to try to assimilate the meaning of theological +teaching and to find a place for it in his devotional practice and +experience. His best attitude is not one of doubt and scepticism, +but of meditation and experiment. It is through this latter +attitude that each one is helping to form the mind of the Church, +and aiding its progressive appreciation of revealed truth.</p> +<p>I do not see how any one who has entered into the meaning of the +Incarnation can feel otherwise than that the uniqueness of the +event carries with it the uniqueness of the instrument. It can of +course be said that truth is not a matter of feeling but of +revelation. But is it not true that God reveals Himself in many +ways, and that our feelings as well as our intellects are involved +in our perception of the truth revealed? Do we not often feel that +something must be true far in advance of our ability to prove it +so? And in truths of a certain order is there not an intuitive +perception, a perception growing out of a sense of fitness, of +congruity, which outruns the slow advance of the intellect? Love +and sympathy often far outrun intellectual process. This is not to +say that feeling is all; that a sense of fitness and conformity is +a sufficient basis of doctrine. There is always need of the +verification of the conclusions of the affections by the intellect; +and the intellect in the last resort will have to be the +determining factor.</p> +<p>And I think it can be said without hesitation that the +intellectual work of theological students has quite justified the +course that the affections of Christendom have taken in their +spontaneous appreciation of Mary, the Ever-Virgin Mother of Our +Lord. What the heart of Christendom has discovered, the mind of +Christendom has justified. But here more than in any other +doctrinal development it is love that has led the way, often with +an eagerness, an <i>élan</i>, with which theology has found +it difficult to keep up.</p> +<p>And as we to-day try to appreciate the place of Blessed Mary in +the life of the Church of God must we not feel it to be our +misfortune that our past has been so wrapped in clouds of +controversy that we have been unable to see her meaning at all +clearly? Must we not feel deep sadness at the thought that the very +mention of Mary's name, so often stirs, not love and gratitude, but +the spirit of suspicion and dislike? We no doubt have passed beyond +such feelings, but the traces of their evil work through the +centuries still persist. They persist in certain feelings of +reserve and hesitation when we find that our convictions are +leading us to the adoption of the attitude toward her which is the +common attitude of all Catholicity, both East and West. When we +feel that the time has actually come to abandon the narrowness and +barrenness of devotional practice which is a part of our tradition, +we nevertheless feel as though we were launching out on strange +seas and that our next sight of land might be of strange regions +where we should not feel at home. If such be our instinctive +attitude, it is well to remember that progress, spiritual as well +as other, is conquest of the (to us) new; but that the acquisition +of the new does not necessarily mean the abandonment of the old. We +shall in fact lose nothing of our hold on the unique work of our +Lord because we recognise that His Blessed Mother's association +with it implies a certain preparation on her part, a certain +uniqueness of privilege. There is one God, and one Mediator between +God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; and all who come to God, come +through Him. But they come also in the unity of the Body of many +members and of many offices. And the office of her who in God's +providence was called to be the Mother of the Incarnate is surely +as unique as is her vocation. She surely is entitled to receive +from us the deep affection of our hearts and the highest honour +that may be given to any creature.</p> +<br> +<p>THE GARLAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARIE.</p> +<blockquote>Here are five letters in this blessed name,<br> +Which, changed, a five-fold mystery design,<br> +The M the Myrtle, A the Almonds claim,<br> +R Rose, I Ivy, E sweet Eglantine.<br> +<br> +These form thy garland, when of Myrtle green<br> +The gladdest ground to all the numbered five,<br> +Is so implexéd fine and laid in, between,<br> +As love here studied to keep grace alive.<br> +<br> +Thy second string is the sweet Almond bloom<br> +Mounted high upon Selines' crest:<br> +As it alone (and only it) had room,<br> +To knit thy crown, and glorify the rest.<br> +<br> +The third is from the garden culled, the Rose,<br> +The eye of flowers, worthy for her scent,<br> +To top the fairest lily now, that grows<br> +With wonder on the thorny regiment.<br> +<br> +The fourth is the humble Ivy intersert<br> +But lowly laid, as on the earth asleep,<br> +Preserved in her antique bed of vert,<br> +No faiths more firm or flat, then, where't doth creep.<br> +<br> +But that, which sums all, is the Eglantine,<br> +Which of the field is cleped the sweetest briar,<br> +Inflamed with ardour to that mystic shine,<br> +In Moses' bush unwasted in the fire.<br> +<br> +Thus love, and hope, and burning charity,<br> +(Divinest graces) are so intermixt<br> +With odorous sweets and soft humility,<br> +As if they adored the head, whereon they are fixed.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE ANNUNCIATION I</h3> +<center>And the angel came in unto her, and said,<br> +Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is<br> +with thee; blessed art thou among women.<br> +S. Luke, I. 28</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Oh God, whose will it was that thy Word should take +flesh, at the message of the Angel, in the womb of the blessed +Virgin Mary, grant to us thy suppliants that, we who believe her to +be truly the Mother of God, may be assisted by her intercession +with thee. Through &c.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">ROMAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hen we attempt to reconstruct imaginatively any scene of Holy +Scripture it is almost inevitable that we see it through the eyes +of some great artist of the past. The Crucifixion comes to us as +Dürer or Guido Reni saw it; the Presentation or the Visitation +presents itself to us in terms of the imagination of Raphael; we +see the Nativity as a composition of Corregio. So the Annunciation +rises before us when we close our eyes and attempt to make "the +composition of place" in a familiar grouping of the actors: a +startled maiden who has arisen hurriedly from work or prayer, +looking with wonder at the apparition of an angel who has all the +eagerness of one who has come hastily upon an urgent mission. The +surroundings differ, but artists of the Renaissance like to think +of a sumptuous background as a worthy setting for so great an +event.</p> +<p>We keep close to the meaning of Scripture if we set the +Annunciation in a room in a cottage of a Palestinian working man. +And I like to think of S. Mary at her accustomed work when Gabriel +appeared, not with a rush of wings, but as a silent and hardly felt +presence standing before her whom the Lord has chosen to be the +instrument of His coming. Wonder there would have been, the kind of +awe-struck wonder with which the supernatural always fills men; and +yet only for a moment, for how could she who was daily living so +close to God fear the messenger of God? The thought of angels and +divine messengers would be wholly familiar to her. They had been +the frequent agents of God in many a crisis of her people's +history, and appeared again and again in the story of her ancestors +on whose details she had often meditated. Yet in her humility she +could but think it strange that an angel should have any message to +bear to her.</p> +<p>It is a striking enough scene, as the artists have felt when +they tried to put it before us. But no artist has ever been able to +go below the surface and by any hint lead us to an appreciation of +the vast implications of the moment. This moment of the +Annunciation is in fact the central moment of the world's history. +No moment before or since has equalled it in its unspeakable +wonder, in its revelation of the meaning of God. Not the moment of +the creation when all the Sons of God sang together at the vision +of the unfolding purpose of God; not the morning of the +Resurrection when the empty tomb told of the accomplished overthrow +of death and hell. This is the moment toward which all preceding +time had moved, and to which all succeeding ages will look +back--the moment of the Incarnation of God.</p> +<p>It is well to ask ourselves at this point what the Incarnation +means, because our estimate of Blessed Mary as the chosen +instrument of God's grace will be influenced by our estimate of +that which she was chosen to do. One feels the failure to grasp her +position in the work of our redemption often displays a weak hold +upon that which is the very heart of God's work--the fact of God +made man. The moment of the Annunciation is the moment of the +Incarnation: God in His infinite love for mankind is sending forth +His Son to be born of a woman in the likeness of our flesh. God the +Son, the second Person of the ever adorable Trinity, is entering +the womb of this maiden, there to wrap Himself in her flesh and to +pass through the common course of a human child's development till +He shall reach the hour of the Nativity. When we try to grasp the +reach of the divine Love, its depth, its self-forgetfulness, we +must stand in the cottage in Nazareth and hear the angelic +salutation. And then surely our own hearts cannot fail to respond +to the revelation of the divine love; and something of our love +that goes out to our hidden Lord, goes out too to the maiden-mother +who so willingly became God's instrument in His work for our +redemption. In imagination I see S. Gabriel kneeling before her who +has become a living Tabernacle of God Most High, and repeating his +"Hail, thou that art highly favoured," with the deepest +reverence.</p> +<p>"Hail, thou that art full of grace." We linger over this Ave of +S. Gabriel, and often it rises to our lips. Perhaps it is with S. +Luke's narrative, almost naked in its simplicity, in our hands as +we try once more to push our thought deep into the meaning of the +scene, that we may understand a little better what has resulted in +our experience from the Incarnation of God, and our thought turns +to S. Mary whom God chose and brought so near to Himself. Perhaps +it is when, with chaplet in hand, we try to imagine S. Mary's +feelings at this first of the Joyful Mysteries when the meaning of +her vocation comes clearly before her. Hail! thou that art full of +grace, of the Living Grace, the very Presence of the divinity +itself. The plummet of our thought fails always to reach the depth +of that mystery of Mary's Child. It was indeed centuries before the +Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit thought out and fully +stated the meaning of this Child; it was centuries before it fully +grasped the meaning of Mary herself in her relation to her divine +Son: and after all the centuries of Spirit-guided statement and +saintly meditation it still remains that many fail to understand +and to make energetic in life the fact of the Incarnation of God in +the womb of the Virgin Mary.</p> +<p>And what was S. Mary's own attitude toward the announcement of +the Angel? Her first instinctive word--the word called out by her +imperfect grasp of the meaning of the message of S. Gabriel, is: +How can this be seeing I know not a man? Are we to infer from these +words, as many have inferred, that in her secret thoughts S. Mary +had resolved always to remain a virgin, that she had so offered +herself to God in the virgin state? Possibly when we remember that +such was God's will for her it is not going too far to assume that +she had been prompted thus to meet and offer herself to the divine +will. Be that as it may there is an obvious and instantaneous +assumption that the child-bearing which is predicted to her lies +outside the normal and accustomed way of marriage. She clearly does +not think that the archangel's words look to her approaching union +with S. Joseph, even if the nominal nature of that marriage were +not agreed upon. It is clear that her instantaneous feeling is that +as the message is supernatural in character, so will its fulfilment +be, and the wondering <i>how</i> arises to her lips.</p> +<p>The answer to the how is that what is worked in her is by the +power of the Holy Spirit: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and +the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that +holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of +God."</p> +<p>As so often in the dealing of God with us, that which is put +forward as an explanation actually deepens the mystery. It was no +abatement of Mary's wonder, nor did it really put away her +<i>how</i> when she was told that the Holy Ghost should come upon +her and that the child should be the Son of the Highest. And yet +this was the only answer to such a question that was possible. Our +questions may be met in two ways: either by a detailed explanation, +or by the answer that the only explanation is God--that what we are +concerned with is a direct working of God outside the accustomed +order of nature and therefore outside the reach of our +understanding. Such acts have no doubt their laws, but they are not +the laws in terms of which we are wont to think.</p> +<p>The question of S. Mary was not a question which implied doubt. +It is therefore the proper question with which to approach all +God's works. There is a stress with which such questions may be +asked which implies on our part unbelief or at least hesitation in +belief. It is a not uncommon accent to hear to-day in questions as +to divine mysteries. Our recitation of the creed is not rarely +invaded by restlessness, shadows of doubt, which perhaps we brush +aside, or perhaps let linger in our minds with the feeling that it +is safer for our religion not to follow these out. I am afraid that +there are not a few who still adhere to the Church who do so with +the feeling that it is better for them to go on repeating words +that they have become used to rather than to raise questions as to +their actual truth; who feel that the faith of the Church rests on +foundations which in the course of the centuries have been badly +shaken, but that it is safer not to disturb them lest they +incontinently fall to pieces.</p> +<p>In other words there is a wide-spread feeling that such stories +as this of the Annunciation and of the Virgin birth of our Lord are +fables. When we ask, why is there such a feeling? the only answer +is that the modern man has become suspicious of the supernatural. +Has there anything been found in the way of evidence, we ask, which +reflects upon the truth of the story in S. Luke? No, we are told; +the story stands where it always did, its evidence is what it +always was. What has changed is not the story or the evidence for +it but the human attitude toward that and all such stories. The +modern mind does not attempt to disprove them, it just disapproves +of them, and therefore declines to believe them. It sets them aside +as belonging to an order of ideas with which it no longer has any +sympathy.</p> +<p>It is no doubt true that we reach many of our conclusions, +especially those which govern our practical attitude towards life, +from the ground of certain hardly recognised presuppositions, +rather than from the basis of thought out principles. The thought +of to-day is pervaded by the denial of the supernatural. It insists +that all that we know or can know is the natural world about us. It +rules out the possibility of any invasions of the natural order and +declines to accept such on any evidence whatsoever. All that one +has time to say now of such an attitude is that it makes all +religion impossible, and sets aside as untrustworthy all the +deepest experiences of the human soul. If I were going to argue +against this attitude (as I am not able to now) I should simply +oppose to it the past experience of the race as embodied in its +best religious thought. I should stress the fact that what is +noblest and best in the past of humanity is wholly meaningless +unless humanity's supposition of a life beyond this life, and of +the existence of spiritual powers and beings to whom we are +related, holds good. No nation has ever conducted its life on the +basis of pure materialism, save in those last stages of its +decadence which preluded its downfall.</p> +<p>But without going so far as to reject the supernatural and +reject the truth of the immediate intervention of God in life, +there are multitudes of men and women whose whole life never moves +beyond the natural order. They have no materialistic theory; if you +ask them, they think that they are, in some sense not very well +defined, Christians. But they have no Christian interests, no +spiritual activities of any sort. For all practical purposes God +and the spiritual order do not exist for them. They are not for the +most part what any one would call bad people; though there seems no +intelligible meaning of the word in which they can be called +<i>good</i>. The best that one can say of them is that they have a +certain usefulness in the present social order though they are not +missed when they fall out of it. They can be replaced in the social +machine much as a lost or broken part can in an engine. And just as +the part of an engine which has become useless where it is, can +have no possible usefulness elsewhere, so we are unable to imagine +them as capable of adaptation to any other place than that which +they have filled here. Perhaps that is what we mean by +hell--incapacity to adapt oneself to the life of the future.</p> +<p>All this implies a temper of mind and soul that has rendered +itself incapable of vision. For just as our ordinary vision of the +beauty of this world depends not only on the existence of the world +but on a certain capacity in us to see it, so that the beauty of +the world does not at all exist for the man whose optic nerve is +paralysed; so the meaning and beauty, nay, the very existence of +the supernatural order depends for us upon a capacity in us which +we may call the capacity of vision. The sceptic waves aside our +stories of supernatural happenings with the brusque statement, +"Nobody to-day sees angels. They only appear in an atmosphere of +primitive or mediæval superstition, not in the broad +intellectual light of the twentieth century." But it may be that +the fact (if it be a fact) that nobody sees angels in the twentieth +century is due to some other cause than the non-existence of the +angels. After all, in any century you see what you are prepared to +see, what in other words, you are looking for. It is a common +enough phenomenon that the man who lives in the country misses most +of the beauty of it. In his search for the potato bug he misses the +sunset, and disposes of the primrose on the river's brim as a +common weed. It is true that in order to see we need something +beside eyes, and to hear we need something beside ears. When on an +occasion the Father spoke from heaven to the Son many heard the +sound, and some said, "It thundered"; others got so far as to say, +"An Angel spake to him."</p> +<p>Let us then in the presence of narratives of supernatural +happenings ask our <i>how</i> with a good deal of reverence and a +good deal of modesty, not as implying a sceptical doubt on our +part, but as a wish that we may be admitted deeper into the meaning +of the event. Scepticism simply closes the door through which we +might pass to fuller knowledge. The questioning of faith holds the +door open. To those who have not closed the door upon the +supernatural it is evident that it is permeated with forces and +influences which are not material in their origin or their effects; +that God acts upon the world now as He has ever acted upon it. If +we cannot believe this I do not see that we can believe in God at +all in any intelligible sense. There is to me one attitude toward +the supernatural that is even more hopeless than the attitude of +materialistic scepticism which says, "Miracles do not happen"; and +that is the attitude which says, "Miracles happened in Bible times, +but have never happened since." As the one attitude seems to imply +that God made the world, but after He had made it left it to go on +by itself and no more expresses any interest in it; so the other +implies that after God put the Christian religion in the world He +left that to go on by itself and no longer pays any attention to +it. Either to me is wholly unintelligible and inconceivable.</p> +<p>And what is worse, is wholly out of touch with the revelation of +God made in Holy Scripture. That displays God working in and +through the material universe, and it displays God working in and +through the spirit of man; and it in no place implies that either +the material world or the human order is so perfect as to need no +further divine action. Revelation implies the constant presence and +action of God in nature and in the Church; it implies that both +have a forward look and are not ends in themselves but are moving +on toward some ultimate perfection. "The whole creation groaneth +and travaileth ... waiting for the adoption, that is, the +redemption of our body." We look for a new heaven and a new earth; +and human society looks to a perfect consummation in the fellowship +of the saints in light.</p> +<p>Looking out on life from the spiritual point of vantage, we may +hopefully ask our <i>how</i>, and there will be an answer. To +blessed Mary S. Gabriel replied: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon +thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore +also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called +the Son of God."--An answer that was full of light and of deepest +mystery. The immediate question--the mode of her conception--was +cleared up; it would be through the direct action of God the Holy +Spirit: but the nature of the Child to be born is filled with +mystery. We can imagine S. Mary in the days to come finding her +child-bearing quite intelligible in comparison with the mystery +that brooded over His nature.</p> +<p>This is the common fact in our dealing with God. We express it +when we say that we never get beyond the need of faith. We pray +that one thing may be made clear, and the result of the clearing is +the deepened sense of the mystery of the things beyond, just as any +increase in the power of the telescope clears up certain questions +which had been puzzling the astronomers only to carry their vision +into vaster depths of space, opening new questions to tantalize the +imagination. We find it so always. The solution of any question of +our spiritual lives does not lead as perhaps we thought it would +lead to there being no longer any questions to perplex us and to +draw on our time and our energy; rather such solution puts us in +the presence of new and, it may well be, deeper and more perplexing +questions. "Are there no limits to the demands of God upon us," we +sometimes despairingly ask? And the answer is, "No: there are no +limits because the end of the road that we are travelling is in +infinity." The limit that is set to our perfecting is the +perfection of God, and if we grow through all the years of eternity +we shall still have attained only a relative perfection.</p> +<p>So the successful passing of one test cannot be expected to +relieve us from all tests in the future. It is the dream of the +child that manhood will set it free; and he reaches manhood only to +find that it imposes obligations which are so pressing that he +reverses his dream and speaks of his childhood as the time of his +true freedom. The meeting of spiritual tests is but the proving of +spiritual capacity to meet other tests. To our Lady it might well +seem that the acceptance of the conditions of the Incarnation was +the severest test that God could assign her; that in the light of +the promise she could look on to joy. But the future concealed a +sword which should pierce her very heart. The promise contained no +doubt wonderful things--this wonder of God's blessing that she was +now experiencing in the coming of the Holy Ghost, in the very +embrace of God Himself: this is but the first of the Joyful +Mysteries which were God's great gifts to her. But her life was not +to be a succession of Joyful Mysteries, ultimately crowned with the +Mysteries of Glory. There were the Sorrowful Mysteries as well. +They were as true, and shall we not say, as necessary, as valuable, +a part of her spiritual training as the others. She, our Mother, +was now near God, with a nearness that was possible for no other +human being, and it is one of the traditional sayings of our Lord: +"He that is near Me is near fire." And fire burns as well as warms +and lights. She is wonderful, the Virgin of Nazareth, in this +moment when she becomes Mother of God: and we share in the rapture +of the moment when in the fulness of her joy she hardly notices S. +Gabriel's departure: but we feel, too, a great pity for her as we +think of the coming days. So we kneel to her who is our Mother, as +well as Mother of God, and say our <i>Ave</i>, and ask her +priceless intercession.</p> +<blockquote>Gabriel, that angel bright,<br> +Brighter than the sun is light,<br> +From heaven to earth he took his flight,<br> + Letare.<br> +<br> +In Nazareth, that great city,<br> +Before a maiden he kneeled on knee,<br> +And said, "Mary, God is with thee,<br> + Letare."<br> +<br> +"Hail Mary, full of grace,<br> +God is with thee, and ever was;<br> +He hath in thee chosen a place.<br> + Letare."<br> +<br> +Mary was afraid of that sight,<br> +That came to her with so great light,<br> +Then said the angel that was so bright,<br> + "Letare."<br> +<br> +"Be not aghast of least nor most,<br> +In thee is conceived of the Holy Ghost,<br> +To save the souls that were for-lost.<br> + Letare."<br> +<br> +Fifteenth Century.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE ANNUNCIATION II</h3> +<center>And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto +me according to thy word.<br> +<br> +S. Luke I. 38</center> +<blockquote>O God, who through the fruitful virginity of blessed +Mary didst bestow on mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: +grant, we beseech thee, that we may experience her intercession for +us through whom we were made worthy to receive the author of life, +even Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">Roman.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-s.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>Mary's momentary hesitation had been due to the surprise that +she felt at the nature of the angelic message and the difficulty +that there was in relating it to her state of life. That she, a +virgin, should bear a son was vastly perplexing; but the answer of +S. Gabriel speedily cleared away the difficulty: "The Holy Ghost +shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow +thee."</p> +<p>Blessed Mary had no difficulty about the supernatural; she was +not afflicted with the modern disease that there are no things in +heaven and earth save such as are contained in our philosophy. She +was not of those who "cannot believe what they do not understand," +It was enough for her that a message had come from God: and no +matter how little she was able to understand the mode of God's +proposed action within her, she was willing to offer herself to be +the instrument of the will of God. No doubt that was an habitual +attitude and not one taken up on the spur of the moment. It is +indeed very rarely that what seem spontaneous actions are really +such; and S. Mary's first word was nearer spontaneity than the +second. Her exclamation in answer to the angelic <i>Ave</i> was the +natural expression of her surprise at so unexpected a message: its +variance from all her thought about her life was the thing that +struck her; and therefore her instinctive, "How can this be?"</p> +<p>In this second word we have a quite different attitude. Here is +revealed to us the profound and perfect humility of the Blessed +Virgin. This answer comes from the experience of her whole life. It +is of such utterances that we say that they are revealing. What we +at any time say, does in fact reveal what we are--what we have come +to be through the experience of our past life. And no doubt it is +these instinctive utterances which are called out by some +unexpected occurrence that reveal more of us than our weighed and +guarded words. Back of every word we utter is a life we have lived. +We have been spending years in preparing for that word. Perhaps +when the time comes to speak it, it is not the word we thought we +were going to speak, it was not the prelude to the action we +thought that we were going to perform; it reveals a character other +than the character that we thought we had. How often the Gospel +brings that before us! We see the young Ruler come running with his +brave and perfectly sincere words about inheriting eternal life; +and then we see him going away when the testing of our Lord +demonstrated that he only partly meant what he said. It was not S. +Peter's brave words, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not +deny thee," that revealed the truth about the Apostle; but the +words that were called out by the accusation that he was of the +company of Jesus: "Then began he to curse and swear, saying, I know +not the man." We have no doubt that he knows himself better when he +catches the eye of the Master turned upon him and goes and weeps +bitterly. And it is true, is it not, that it is through words +called out and thoughts stirred by the unexpected that we often get +new insight into our real state. A sudden temptation reveals a +hidden weakness, and we go away shamed and crushed, saying, "I did +not suppose that I was capable of that."</p> +<p>But, thank God, the revelation is sometimes the other way; the +testing uncovers unexpected strength. Of many a man, after some +strong trial, we say, "I did not know that he had so much courage, +or so much patience." The quiet unassuming exterior was the mask of +an heroic will of which very likely not even the possessor +suspected the true quality. The annals of martyrdom are full of +these revelations of unsuspected strength. Here in the case of +Blessed Mary the quality revealed is that of humility so perfect +that it dreams not of revolt from the most searching trial. It +reveals the character of our Mother better than pages of +description can do. What we see in response to the bewildering +messages brought by S. Gabriel is the instinctive movement of the +soul toward God. There is utter absence of any thought of self or +of how she may be affected by the purpose of God; it is enough that +that purpose is made plain.</p> +<p>It seems well to insist on this instinctive movement of the soul +in Blessed Mary because it is one item of the evidence that the +Catholic Church has to offer for its belief in her sinlesssness. +Any momentary rebellion, no matter how soon recovered from, or how +sincerely regretted, against the will of God, would be evidence of +the existence of sin. But where sin is not, where there is an +unstained soul, there the knowledge of the will of God will send +one running to its acceptance; there will be active acceptance and +not just submission to God's will. Submission implies a certain +effort to place ourselves in line with the will of God; it often +seems to imply that we are accepting it because we cannot do +anything else. But with Blessed Mary there is a glad going forth to +meet God; the word "Behold" springs out to meet the will of God +half-way. It is as though she had been holding herself ready, +expectant, in the certainty of the coming of some message, and now +she offers herself without the shadow of hesitation, as to a +purpose which was a welcome vocation: "Behold the Handmaid of the +Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." How wonderful is the +humility of obedience!</p> +<p>And humility--we must stress this--is not a virtue of youth; it +is not one of the virtues which ripen quickly, but is of slow +development and delayed maturity. Modesty we should expect in a +maiden, and lack of self-assertion; and perhaps obedience of a +sort. But those do not constitute the virtue of humility. We are +humble when we have lost self; and Mary's wondering answer reveals +the fact that she is not thinking of herself at all, but only of +the nature of the divine purpose. That that purpose being known she +should at all resist it would seem to her a thing incredible, for +all her life she had had no other motive of action. Her will had +never been separated from the will of God.</p> +<p>This state of union which was hers by divine election and +privilege, we achieve, if we achieve it at all, by virtue of great +spiritual discipline. We are, to be sure, brought into union with +God through the sacraments, but the union so achieved is, if one +may so express it, an unstable union; it is union that we have to +maintain by daily spiritual action and which suffers many a +weakening through our infidelity, even if it escape the disaster of +mortal sin. We sway to and fro in our struggle to attain the +equilibrium of perfection which belonged to Blessed Mary by virtue +of the first embrace of God which had freed her from sin. Our +tragedy is that we have almost universally lost the first +engagements of the Spiritual Combat before we have at all +understood that there is any combat. The circumstances of life of +child and youth are such that we become familiar with sin before we +have the intelligence to understand the need of resisting, even if +we are fortunate enough to have such an education as to awaken a +sense of sin as opposition to God. There is nothing more appalling +than the tragedy of life thus defiled and broken and put at a +disadvantage before it even understands the ideals that should +govern its course. When the vision of perfection comes and we face +life as the field where we are to acquire eternal values, we face +it with a poisoned imagination and a depleted strength. Our battle +is not only to maintain what we have, but to win back what we have +lost.</p> +<p>Under such conditions there is much consolation in learning that +we do not fight alone but have the constant help and sympathy of +those who are endued with the strength of perfect purity. Their +likeness to us in that they have lived the life of the flesh +assures us of their understanding, and it assures us too of their +active co-operation. We cannot understand the saints standing +outside human life and from the vantage point of their achievement +looking on as indolent spectators. The spectacle offorded by the +Church Militant must call out the active intercession of all the +saints; but especially do we look for helpful sympathy from her who +is our all-pure Mother, whose very purity gives her intercession +unmeasured power. She is not removed from us through her +spotlessness, but by virtue of her clearer understanding of the +meaning of sin and of separation from God that it brings her, she +is ready to fly to the help of all sinners by her ceaseless +intercession.</p> +<p>The difficulty of our spiritual lives rises chiefly out of the +clash of wills. A disordered nature, a tainted inheritance, a +corrupt environment conspire to make the life of grace tremendously +difficult. It is only in a very limited sense that we can be said +to be free, and there is no possibility at all of overcoming the +handicap of sin, except firm and careful reliance on the grace of +God. That grace, no doubt, is always at our disposal as far as we +will use it. Grace moves us, but it does not compel us; and we are +free always to reject the offer of God. We have only to open our +eyes upon the world about us to see how rarely is the grace of God +accepted in any effective way. Even in convinced Christians the +attempt to live the divided life is the commonest thing possible. +It sometimes seems as though the prevalent conception of the +Christian life were that it is sufficient to offer God a certain +limited allegiance and that the remainder of the life will be +thereby ransomed and placed at our disposal to use as we will. We +find the theory well worked out in the current attitude of +Christians toward the observance of the Lord's Day. It appears to +be held that an attendance at Mass or Matins is a sufficient +recognition of the interests of religion and that the rest of the +day may be regarded, not as the Lord's Day, but as man's--as a day +of unlimited amusement and self-indulgence. The notion of +consecration is abandoned. The only possible outcome of such +theories of life is what we already experience, spiritual +lawlessness and moral degradation. I suppose that it will only be +through social disaster that society will come (as usual, too late) +to any comprehension that the will of God is what it is because it +is only by following the road that it indicates that human life can +reach a successful development. God's laws are not arbitrary +inflictions; they are the expression of the highest wisdom in the +guidance of human life.</p> +<p>Our elementary duty therefore as sane persons is to find what is +the will of God in any given circumstances; there should be no +action until there has been an effort to ascertain that will. It +were as sensible to set about building a house without ascertaining +what strength of foundation would be needful, or without knowing +the sort of material we were going to use. One has heard of a house +being built in which it turned out that there was a room with no +doorway, or floor to which no stair led up; but we do not commend +such exploits as the last word in architecture, nor would we +commend a farmer who planted his crops without attention to the +nature of the soil. There are certain elementary principles of +common sense which we pretty uniformly hold to in every matter with +the exception of religion; that seems to be held to be a separate +department of human activity with laws of its own, and in which the +principles which govern life elsewhere do not hold. We do not +profess this theory, of course, but we commonly act upon it, while +we still profess to respect the will of God. It is strange too that +after having habitually neglected that will, we are greatly +disappointed, not to say indignant, when after a life of +disobedience and scorn of God's thought for us we do not find +ourselves in possession of the fruits of righteousness. If it were +not so tragic it would be amusing to hear men declaim against the +justice of a God whose existence they have habitually +disregarded.</p> +<p>But, it is often said, it is not by any means easy to find out +God's will. You talk about it as though it were as easy to know +God's will as it is to know the multiplication table. Well, at +least it can be said that one does not get to know the +multiplication table without effort! What objections as to the +obscurity of the will of God will seem to mean is that it does take +effort to ascertain it. I do not know of any reason for regarding +that as unjust. If the will of God is what religion maintains that +it is, of primary importance to our lives, we might well be glad +that it is ascertainable at all, at the expense of whatever +effort.</p> +<p>An Almighty God has implanted within every human heart the +knowledge that His will exists and is important; that is, He has +endowed every man with a conscience which is the certainty of the +difference between right and wrong, and the conviction that we are +responsible for our conduct to some power outside ourselves; that +we are not at liberty to conduct life on any lines we will. Having +so much certainty, it surely becomes us to set about ascertaining +the nature of the power and the details of the will. The very +nature of conscience, as a sense of obligation, rather than a +source of information, should create a desire for a knowledge of +what God's will is in detail, that is, what is the content of the +notion of right and wrong.</p> +<p>And while it is true that such content can only be ascertained +by work, it is not true that the work is a specially difficult one. +The Revelation of God's mind made through Holy Scripture and +through the life of His Incarnate Son is an open book that any one +can study; and to any objection that such study has led chiefly to +difference of opinion and darkness rather than light, the answer is +that such disaster follows for the most part only when the guidance +of the Catholic Church is repudiated; when, that is, we pursue a +course in this study which we should not pursue in relation to any +other. If we were studying geology we should not regard it as the +best course to scorn all that preceding students have done, and +betake our unprepared selves to field work! But that is the "Bible +and the Bible only" theory of spiritual knowledge. If we want to +know the meaning of the Biblical teaching, we must make use of the +helps which the experience of the Church has richly provided.</p> +<p>But the nature of the divine will and the particulars of our +obligation are not merely, perhaps one ought to say, not chiefly, +to be assimilated through our brains. The best preparation for the +doing of the will of God and the progressive entering into His +mind, is an obedient life. Purity of character will carry us +farther on this path than cleverness of brains. Our Lord's own rule +is: <i>He that doeth the will shall know of the doctrine.</i> In +other words, we understand the mind of God and attain to the +illumination of the conscience, through sympathetic response to the +will so far as we have seen it. And each new response, in its turn, +carries us to a deeper and clearer understanding of the will. That +is to say, our conscience, by habitual response to God's will, so +far as it knows it, is so illumined as to be able to make +trustworthy judgments on new material submitted to it.</p> +<p>This is, of course, to be otherwise described as the working of +God the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit that dwelleth in us and +directs us to right judgments if we will listen. Our danger is that +self-will constantly crops up and complicates the case by +representing that the line suggested by the Holy Spirit is not in +reality in accord with our interests. This opposition between the +seeming interests suggested by self-will, which indeed often +contribute to our immediate gratification, and our true interests +as indicated by the monitions of the Holy Spirit, constitutes the +real struggle of the life during the period of probation. The will +of God in every circumstance is usually plain enough; but it is +silenced by the clamour of the passions and desires demanding +immediate gratification: and we are all more or less children in +our insistence on the immediate and our incapacity to wait. But I +must insist again that it is not knowledge that is wanting but +sympathy with the course that knowledge directs. We pursuade +ourselves that we do not know, when the real trouble is that we +know only too well. One feels that much that is put forward as +inability to understand religion is at bottom merely disinclination +to obey it.</p> +<p>Not that there is not room for genuine perplexity. Often it +happens that we are not at all certain in this or that detail of +conduct. In that case it is well to consider whether it is +necessary to act before we can attain certainty through study or +advice. But if act we must, we can at least act with honesty, not +making our will the accomplice of our passions or interests.</p> +<p>I do not believe that there are many cases in which we shall go +wrong if we make use of all the means at our disposal. A diligent +doing of the will of God does undoubtedly bring light on unknown +problems and unexpected situations in which we from time to time +find ourselves. If our constant attitude has been one of free and +glad obedience we need not fear to go astray. "Behold the handmaid +of the Lord," Blessed Mary said; and such an attitude has never +failed to meet the divine approval and call out the help of God. +Just to put ourselves utterly at God's disposal is the clearing of +all life. "Into Thy hands," is the solution of all +difficulties.</p> +<blockquote>I sing a maiden<br> + That is matchless;<br> +King of all kings<br> + To her Son she ches.<br> +<br> +He came all so still<br> + To His Mother's bower,<br> +As dew in April<br> + That falleth on the flower.<br> +<br> +Mother and maiden<br> + Was never none but she;<br> +Well might such a lady<br> + God's Mother be.<br> +<br> +English, Fifteenth Century.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>THE VISITATION I</h3> +<br> +<center>And Mary arose in those days, and went into<br> +the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah;<br> +and entered into the house of Zacharias, and<br> +saluted Elizabeth.<br> +<br> +S. Luke I. 39, 40.</center> +<blockquote>Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord God, to us thy servants, +that we may evermore enjoy health of mind and body, and by the +glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever a virgin, be delivered +from present sorrows and enjoy everlasting gladness. +Through.</blockquote> +<br> +<p class="loc">ROMAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hose who were faithful in Israel and were looking forward to the +fulfilment of God's promises would be drawn together by close bonds +of sympathy. It oftentimes proves that the bonds of a common ideal +are stronger than the bonds of blood. It was to prove so many times +in the history of Christianity when in accordance with our Lord's +words the closest blood relation would be broken through fidelity +to Him, and a man's foes be found to be those of his own household. +But also it is true that the possession of common ideals becomes +the basis of relations which are stronger than race or family. We +may be sure that the members of that little group of which we catch +glimpses now and then in the progress of the Gospel story found in +their expectation of the Lord's deliverance of Israel such a bond. +We feel that S. Mary and S. Joseph must have been members of this +group and that they were filled with the hope of God's +manifestation. Another family which shared the same hope was that +of the priest Zacharias whose wife Elizabeth was the cousin of Mary +of Nazareth. It is to their house in the hill country of Judah we +now turn our thoughts.</p> +<p>It was a part of the angelic message to S. Mary that her cousin +Elizabeth had "conceived a son in her old age; and this is the +sixth month with her who was called barren." Overwhelmed as S. Mary +was by the vocation which had come to her, perplexed as to what +should be her next step, she may well have seized upon the words of +the angel as a hint as to her present course. She must confide in +some one, and that some one, we instantly feel, must be a woman. In +her own great joy she would need some one with whom to share it. In +her unprecedented case she would need a counselor, and who better +could afford aid than her cousin whose case was in so many respects +like her own, who was already cherishing a child whose conception +was due to the intervention of God? We understand therefore, why it +is that without waiting for the further development of events, Mary +arises, and goes "with haste" to the home of her cousin.</p> +<p>It is just now a house full of joy. For many years there had +been happiness there, but a happiness over which a cloud rested. +The affliction of barrenness was their sorrow. To the Hebrew there +was no true family until the love of the father and the mother was +incarnated in the child; and through many weary days Zacharias and +Elizabeth had waited until hope quite failed as they found +themselves beyond the possibility of bearing a child to cheer them +and to hand on their name. We may be sure that they were reconciled +to the will of God, for it is written of them that they were +righteous, and the central feature of righteousness is the +acceptance of the divine will. But though one cheerfully accepts +the divine will there may still remain a consciousness of a vacancy +in life; and therefore we can understand the joy that came to +Zacharias when the angel appeared to him in the temple when he was +exercising the priest's office and offering the incense of the +daily sacrifice with the message that he should have a son. It was +a joy that would be unclouded by the God-sent dumbness which was at +once a punishment for his lack of immediate faith and a sign of the +faithfulness of God. It was a joy that would hasten his steps +homeward with the glad tidings, a joy that would fill the heart of +Elizabeth when she heard the message of God. Soon the consciousness +of the babe in her womb would be a growing wonder and a growing +happiness. There would be a new brightness in the house where the +aged mother waits through the months and the dumb father with his +writing tablet at his side meditates upon the meaning of the +providence of God and upon the prophecies of the angel as to his +child's future. But what that future would be he could hardly +expect to witness; he was too old to live to the day of his child's +showing unto Israel.</p> +<p>It is to this house that we see S. Mary hastening, sure of +finding there a heart in which she can confide. She "entered into +the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth." We are not told what +the words of her salutation were, but no doubt it was the customary +Jewish salutation of peace. There could have been no more +appropriate salutation exchanged between these two in whose souls +was abiding the peace of a perfect possession of God. The will of +God to which they had been accustomed to offer themselves all their +lives was being accomplished through them in unexpected ways; but +it found them as ready of acceptance as they had been in any of the +ordinary duties of life wherein they had been accustomed to wait +upon God. We may seem sometimes to go beyond Holy Scripture in our +interpretations of feelings and thoughts which we are sure must +have been those of the actors in the drama of salvation unfolded to +us in the Scriptures; but are we not entitled to infer from God's +actions a good deal of the nature of the instruments He uses? Are +we not quite safe in the case of S. Mary in the deduction from the +nature of her vocation of the spiritual perfection to attribute to +her? Does not God's use of a person imply qualities in the person +used? It is on this ground that I feel that we are quite safe in +inferring the spiritual attitude of S. Mary and of S. Elizabeth +from the choice God made of them to be the instruments of His +purpose of redemption.</p> +<p>But we are not inferring, we have the record with us, when we +think of the joy of the mothers transcended in the joy of the +children. The unborn Forerunner becomes conscious of the approach +of Him of whom he is to say later: "Behold the Lamb of God that +taketh away the sin of the world"; and there is an instantaneous +movement that can only be that of recognition and worship. The +movement of the child is at once understood and translated by S. +Elizabeth: "And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed +art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And +whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? +For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine +ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy."</p> +<p>In the presence of such joy and such sanctity we feel that our +proper attitude is the attitude of adoring wonder that S. Elizabeth +expresses. We worship our hidden Lord as the unborn prophet +worships Him. We have no question to ask, nor curiosity at the mode +of God's action. We are quite content to accept His action as it is +revealed to us in Scripture; a revelation of the divine presense in +humanity which has been abundantly verified in all the history of +the Church. That verification in experience--a verification that we +ourselves can repeat--is worth infinitely more than all the +argument that the centuries have seen.</p> +<p>"Blessed art thou among women," S. Elizabeth cries; and in doing +so she is but repeating the words of the angel of the Annunciation. +This word, too, we presently hear S. Mary taking up, and under the +inspiration of the Holy Ghost saying: "From henceforth all +generations shall call me blessed."</p> +<p>And so they have. All generations, that is, that have been +faithful to the Gospel teaching and have assimilated in any degree +the consequences of S. Mary's nearness to God. When we speak of +"Blessed" Mary we are but doing what angels and holy women have +done, and it is great pity if in doing so we have to make a +conscious effort, if the words do not spring spontaneously from our +lips. Surely, we have not gone far toward the mastery of God's +coming in the Incarnation if we have not felt the purity of the +instrument through whom God enters our nature. The outward and +visible sign of our understanding is found in our ability to +complete the <i>Ave</i> as the Holy Spirit has taught the Church to +complete it: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and +in the hour of our death."</p> +<p>This reiterated attribution of blessedness to Mary our Mother +calls us to pause and ask just what blessedness means. It is of +course the characteristic Scripture locution for those who in some +way enjoy the special favour of God. Blessedness is the state of +those who have received special divine gifts of favour. A +characteristic scriptural description of the blessedness of the +righteous in contrast with the disaster of the unrighteous may be +studied in the first Psalm. In the New Testament we naturally turn +to the Sermon on the Mount where the Beatitudes give us our Lord's +thought about blessedness. I think that we can describe the notion +of blessedness there presented as being the state of those who have +taken God at His word and chosen Him, and by that act of choice, +while they have forfeited the world and the world's favour, have +attained to the spiritual riches of the Kingdom of God. They are +those to whom God is the Supreme Good, in whose possession they +gladly count all things but loss. These are they who here in the +pilgrim state have already attained to the enjoyment of God because +they want nothing other or beside Him.</p> +<p>Supremely blessed, therefore, is Mary our Mother, who never for +a moment even in thought was separate from God. From the earliest +moment of her existence she could say, "My beloved is mine and I am +His." We try to think out what such a fact may mean when translated +into terms of spiritual energy, and it seems to mean more than +anything else boundless power of intercession such as the Church +has attributed to S. Mary from the earliest times. We see no other +way of estimating spiritual power save as the power of prayer. It +is through prayer that we approach God--for we remember that +sacrifice is but the highest form of prayer. The blessedness of S. +Mary, that peculiar degree of blessedness which seems signalized by +the reiterated attribution of the quality to her, must for our +purposes to be understood as "power with God," power of +intercession. It means that our Lord has chosen her to be a special +medium of approval to Him, and that through her prayers He wills to +bestow upon men many of His choicest gifts. Naturally, her prayers, +like our prayers, are mediated by the merits of her divine Son; +nevertheless they have a peculiar power which is related to her +peculiar blessedness in that she is the mother of Incarnate God, +and by special privilege is herself without sin. Of all those to +whom we are privileged to turn in the joys and tragedies of our +lives for the sympathy which helps through enlightened, loving +prayer, we most naturally resort to her who is all love and all +sympathy, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, blessed among women +forever.</p> +<p>Although we are told nothing of these days that S. Mary spent +with her cousin Elizabeth, we do gather that she remained with her +until her child was born and that she saw S. John in his mother's +arms, and was a partaker in the joy of the aged parents. She was +present when Zacharias, his speech restored, uttered the +<i>Benedictus</i> in thanksgiving for the birth of his son. It was +then, having seen her own Son's Forerunner that S. Mary went back +to Nazareth filled more than ever with the sense that God's hand +was in the events that were taking place, and of the approach of +some crisis in her nation's history. It must have been that she +talked intimately with Zacharias and Elizabeth and with them tried +to imagine what was the future in which these two children were so +closely concerned. When we consider the <i>Magnificat</i> and the +<i>Benedictus</i> not as the "Gospel Canticles" to be sung in +Church but as the utterances of pious Israelites under the +inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we feel how very vivid must have +been their expectation of God's action in the immediate future, and +with what intense love and interest they thought of the parts to be +taken by their children in the deliverance God was preparing. How +often they must have pondered the God-inspired saying: "He shall be +great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God +shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall +reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there +shall be no end." "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of +the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to +prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by +the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; +whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light +to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to +guide our feet into the way of peace."</p> +<p>We think too of a more intimate sympathy that there would have +been between these two women, drawn now so close together, not only +by the blood bond, but by the bond of a common experience. What +wonderful hours of communing during these three months! The peace +of the hills of Judah is all about them and the peace of God is in +their souls. What ecstatic joy, what ineffable love was theirs in +these moments as they thought of the children who were God's +precious gift to them. I fancy that there were many hours when they +ceased to think of the mystery that hung over these children's +destiny, and became just mothers lost in love of the coming +sons.</p> +<p>As we try to think out their relation to each other it presents +itself to us as a relation of sympathy. Sympathy is community of +feeling; it is maimed and thwarted when there is feeling only on +one side. We speak of our sympathy in their affliction for others +whom we do not know and who do not know us, but that is a very +imperfect rendering of the perfect thing. No more than love does +sympathy reach its perfection in solitude. But here in this village +of Judah we know that we have the perfect thing--sympathy in its +most exquisite form.</p> +<p>This capacity for sympathy is one of the greatest of human +endowments, and, one is glad to think, not like many human +endowments, rare in its manifestation. In its ordinary +manifestation it is instinctive, is roused by the spectacle of need +calling us to its aid. There come to our knowledge from time to +time instances of what seem to us very grievous failures in +sympathy, but investigation shows that ignorance is very commonly +at the bottom of them. When human beings are convinced of a need +they are quite ready to respond. Indeed this readiness to respond +makes them the easy victims of all sorts of impostures, of baseless +appeals which play upon sentiment rather than convince the +understanding. And just there lies the weakness of sympathy in that +it is so easily turned to sentimentality. But the sentimentalist +who gushes over ills, real or imaginary, can commonly be brought to +book easily enough. For one thing the sentimentalist is devoted to +publicity. He loves to conduct campaigns and drives, to "get up" a +demonstration or an entertainment. I do not mean that he is a +hypocrite but only that he loves the lime-light. When any tragedy +befalls man his impulse is to organise a dance in aid of it. It is +extraordinary how many people there are who will aid a charity by +dancing to whom one would feel it quite hopeless to appeal for the +amount of the dance tickets. And yet they are not wholly selfish +people; there does lie back of the dance a certain sympathetic +impulse. We easily deceive ourselves about ourselves, and it is +well to be sure that we have true sympathy and not just sentiment. +It is not so difficult to find out. We can test ourselves quickly +enough by examining our giving. Do we give only when we are asked? +Do we yield to spectacular appeals or only to those that we have +examined and found good? Do we put the spiritual interests of +humanity first? Is there any appreciable amount of quiet +spontaneous giving which is known to no one? Do we prefer to be +anonymous? Such tests soon reveal what we are like. One who never +gives spontaneously, without being asked, we may be sure is lacking +in sympathy.</p> +<p>But of course one does not mean that sympathy is so closely +related to what we call charity as what I have just said, if left +by itself, would seem to imply. That is indeed the common form +assumed by sympathy which has to be called out. But the best type +of sympathy is the expression of our knowledge of one another; it +is based on our knowledge of human nature and our interest in human +beings. Because it is based on knowledge it is not subject to be +swept away by the sweet breezes of sentimentalism. To its perfect +exercise it is needful to know individuals not merely to know about +them. The ordinary limitations of sympathy come from this, that we +do not want to take time and pains to know one another. That, for +example, is where the Church falls short in its mission to +constitute a real brotherhood among its members--they have no time +nor inclination really to know one another, or they find the +artificial walls that society has erected impassable. It is, in +fact, not very easy to know one another, and it is impossible to +develop the complete type of sympathy with a crowd. For one must +insist that this highest type of sympathy requires, what the word +actually does mean, mutual sharing in life, the participation in +the lives of our fellows and their partaking in our lives.</p> +<p>So we understand why perfect sympathy is conditioned on +spirituality. Unless we are spiritually developed and spiritually +at one we cannot share in one another's lives fully. Where there +are lives separated by a gulf of spiritual differences the +completest sympathy is impossible. And we understand why Incarnate +seems so much nearer to us than God unincarnate. It is true that +"the Father Himself loveth you"; it is true that it is the love of +the Blessed Trinity that is expressed in the Incarnation. The +Incarnation did not create God's love and sympathy, it only reveals +it. Yet it is precisely the Incarnation that enables us to lay hold +on God's sympathy with a certainty and sureness of grasp that we +would not otherwise have. The sight of "God in Christ reconciling +the world unto Himself" is more to us in the way of proof than any +amount of declaration can be. To be told of the sympathy of God is +one thing, to see how it works is another.</p> +<p>Our personal need in this matter is to find the sympathy that +will help us in something outside ourselves, outside the +limitations of human nature. Much as we value human sympathy, +precious as we find its expression, yet we do find that it has for +the higher purposes of life serious limitations. It has very little +power to execute what it finds needs to be done. A man may +understand another's weakness and may utterly sympathise with it; +he may advise and console, but in the end he finds that he cannot +adequately help. The case is hopeless unless he can point the +sufferer to some source outside himself on which he can draw, +unless he can lead him to the sympathy of God. God can offer not +only consolation, not only the spectacle of another life which has +triumphed under analogous circumstances, but He can give the power +to this present weak and discouraged life to triumph in the place +where it is. He can "make a way of escape."</p> +<p>But there is another form of sympathy which we crave and need +which is just the communion of soul with soul. We are not asking +anything more or other than to show ourselves. We are overwhelmed +with the loneliness of life. It comes upon us in the most crowded +places, this sense of separation from all about us. Oh, that I +might flee away and be at rest, is our feeling. It is here that we +specially need our Lord. Blessed are we if we have learned to find +in Him the rest we need for our souls, if we have learned to open +the door that leads always to Him; or, perhaps to knock appealingly +at that door which He will never fail to open. It is then that we +find the joy of the invitation "Come unto me all ye that are weary +and heavy laden and I will give you rest."</p> +<p>But Christ, the perfect Sympathiser, has associated others with +Himself. If we can go to him, so can others; the Way is open to +all. And those who go and are associated with Him are gathered into +a family. Here among those who have followed the interests which +are ours, and have pursued the ends that we are pursuing, and +cultivated the qualities which we value, we feel sure of that +sympathetic understanding of life which we seek. And especially +among those members of the Body who have gone on to the end in +fidelity to the ideals of the life which is hid with Christ in God +shall we look for understanding and help. It is from this point of +view that the Communion of Saints will mean so much to us. We value +the strength of mutual support which inevitably grows out of +associated life. We cannot think of the saints of God as having +passed beyond us into some place of rest where they are content to +forget the problems of earth: rather we are compelled to think of +them as still actively sharing in those interests which are still +the interests of their divine Head. Until, Jesus Himself cease to +think of us who are still in the Pilgrim Way, and cease to offer +Himself on our behalf, we cannot think of any who are in Him as +other than intensely interested in us of the earthly Church, or as +doing other than helping by prayer for us that we with them may +attain our end. And especially shall we feel sure that at any +moment of our lives we may turn to the Mother in confident +expectancy of finding most helpful sympathy and most ready aid. Her +life to-day is a life of intercession, of intercession which has +all the power of perfect understanding and perfect sympathy. Let us +learn to go to her; let us learn that as God is praised and +honoured in His saints, as our Lord choses to work through those +who are united to Him, so it is His will that great power of prayer +shall be hers of whom He assumed our nature, that nature through +which He still distributes the riches of His grace.</p> +<blockquote>As I lay upon a night,<br> +My thought was on a Lady bright<br> +That men callen Mary of might,<br> +Redemptoris Mater.<br> +<br> +To her came Gabriel so bright<br> +And said, "Hail, Mary, full of might,<br> +To be called thou art adight;"<br> +Redemptoris Mater.<br> +<br> +Right as the sun shineth in glass,<br> +So Jesus in His Mother was,<br> +And thereby wit men that she was<br> +Redemptoris Mater.<br> +<br> +Now is born that Babe of bliss,<br> +And Queen of Heaven His Mother is,<br> +And therefore think me that she is<br> +Redemptoris Mater.<br> +<br> +After to heaven He took His flight,<br> +And there He sits with His Father of might,<br> +With Him is crowned that Lady bright,<br> +Redemptoris Mater.<br> +<br> +English, Fifteenth Century.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE VISITATION II</h3> +<center>And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit +hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.<br> +<br> +S. Luke I. 46, 47.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Forasmuch as we have no excuse, because of the +multitude of our sins, we plead through thee, O Virgin Mother of +God, with Him whom thou didst bear.<br> +<br> +Lo, great is thine intercession, strong and acceptable with our +Saviour.<br> +<br> +O Stainless Mother, reject not us sinners in thine intercession +with Him Whom thou didst bear.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">COPTIC.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>onderful was this day in the little town of Judah where these +two women, each in her way an instrument of God in the upbuilding +of His Kingdom, met and rejoiced together. There is revealed to us +something of the possibilities of our religion when we try to +follow the thought of these two women. They are so utterly devoted +to God that God can speak to them. I think that it is well for us +to dwell on this fact for a moment. We are apt to look upon +inspiration, what is described as being filled with the Holy Ghost, +as somewhat of a mechanical mode of God's operation. Our mistaken +view is that God takes control of the faculties of a human being +and uses them for His own purposes.</p> +<p>But that is quite to misunderstand God's method. God uses the +faculties of a man in proportion as the man yields himself to Him; +and one who is living a sincere religion becomes in a degree the +medium of God's self-expression. This possibility of expressing God +increases as we increase in sanctity. Those who have completely +yielded themselves to God in a life of sanctity become in a deep +sense the representatives of God: they have, in S. Paul's +phraseology, His mind. To be capable of so becoming the divine +instrument it is necessary, not only to offer no opposition to +God's purposes, but to make ourselves the active executants of +them. Our Christian vocation is thus to be the instrument of God, +to be the visible demonstrations of His power and presence. There +is a true inspiration, a true speaking for God to-day, no doubt, as +true as at any time in the Church's history, wherever there is +sanctity. What is lacking to present day utterances of sanctity is +not the action of the Holy Spirit, but authentication by the +Church: that is given only under certain special circumstances and +for special purposes. But there is no need to limit the inspiring +action of the Holy Spirit to such utterances as for special reasons +have received official recognition.</p> +<p>What we need to feel is the constant action of the Holy +Spirit--that He wants to speak through every man. And it helps to +clear our minds if we go to our Bibles with the expectation of +finding here, not exceptions to all rules which obtain in common +life, but types of the divine action. The isolation of Bible +history has done much to create a feeling of its unreality. What +has happened only in the Bible can, we are apt to feel, safely be +disregarded in daily life in the twentieth century. But if what we +find there is customary modes of divine action in life, exceptional +in detail rather than in principle, the attitude we shall take will +be wholly different. We shall then study them with the feeling +expressed in S. Paul's saying, "These things are written for our +learning," and we shall expect to find in us and about us the same +order of divine action, we shall learn to look on our lives as +having their chief meaning in the fact that they are possible +instruments of God; we shall learn to regard failure as failure to +show forth God to the world.</p> +<p>In a way we can read our facts backward: the fact that +"Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost," and the fact that Mary +under the same divine impulse gave utterance to the words of the +Magnificat, is a revelation of the character of these two women +which would satisfy us of their sanctity had we no other evidence +of it. The choice of them by God to be His instruments is evidence +of the divine approval; and that approval can never be false to the +facts; what God treats as holy must be holy.</p> +<p>So we come to holy Mary's Song with the feeling that in studying +it we shall find in it a revelation of S. Mary herself. She is not +an instrument on which the Holy Spirit plays, but an intelligent +being through whom He acts. She, like S. Elizabeth, is filled with +the Holy Spirit--she had never been in the slightest degree out of +union with God--but still the Magnificat is her utterance; it +represents her thought; it is the measure, if one may so put it, in +modern terminology, of her degree of spiritual culture. Much that +we say about S. Mary, her simplicity, her social place, and so on, +seems to carry with it the implication of the ignorance and +spiritual dullness that we associate with the type of poverty we +are accustomed to to-day. But the poor folk whom we meet in +association with our Lord are neither ignorant nor spiritually +dull; and it would be a vast mistake to think of Blessed Mary as +other than of great intelligence and spiritual receptivity, or as +deficient in understanding of the details of her ancestral +religion. We have no reason to be surprised that she should sing +Magnificat, or to think that the Holy Spirit was speaking through +her thoughts which were quite beyond her comprehension. Inspired +she was, but inspired, no doubt, to utter thoughts that had many +times filled her mind.</p> +<p>Her spiritual attitude as revealed in the Magnificat is but the +attitude which must have been hers habitually--the attitude that +exalts God and not self. "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my +spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." That is the starting-place +of all holy souls--the adoration of God. True humility is never +self-conscious because self is lost in the vision of God. S. Mary +was bearing in her pure body the very Son of God. Admit, if you +will, that as yet she did not understand the full reach of her +vocation; but she did know that she had been chosen by God in a +most signal manner to be the instrument of His purpose. That which +S. Elizabeth spoke under divine impulse,--"Whence is this that the +mother of my Lord should come to me?"--must have had clear meaning +for her. But the wonder of all that God is accomplishing through +her only brings her to God's feet. That "He that is mighty hath +done me great things," is but the evidence of His sanctity, not of +her greatness.</p> +<p>One never gets through wondering at the beauty of humility; and +it is one of the marks of how far we are from spiritual +apprehension when we find this splendid virtue unattractive. It +does indeed cut across many of the instinctive impulses of our +nature; it can hardly be said to have dawned on humanity as a +virtue until the Incarnation of God. Therein it has revealed to us +God's attitude in His work and, by consequence, the natural +attitude of all such as would associate themselves with God. It is +not so much a self-denying as a self-forgetting virtue. It is +ruined by the very consciousness of it. Such phrases as "practicing +humility" seem self-contradictory--when one begins to practice +humility it becomes something else. We do not conceive of our Lady +as setting out to be humble, of thinking of what a humble person +would do under such and such circumstances. She does not, as I was +saying, think of herself at all, but thinks of God. The "great +things" she has are His gift. That He has looked upon her low +estate, and that in consequence of His visitation "all generations +shall call her blessed," is a manifestation of the divine glory and +goodness, not an occasion of pride to the recipient of God's +gifts.</p> +<p>We who are so self-seeking, who are so greedy of praise, who are +constantly wanting what we feel is our due, who hunger to be +"appreciated," who are full of proud boasting about our +accomplishment, will do well to meditate upon this point of view. +We acknowledge the supremacy of God with our lips, but in our acts +we are quite prone to assume that we are independent actors in the +universe where whatever we have is due to our own creative powers. +We claim a certain lordship over life, a certain independent use of +it. We resent the pressure of religious principle as setting up a +sort of counter-claim to control that which it is ours to dispose +of as we will. Most of our difficulties come from this godless +attitude which claims independence of life. It results in a +religion which is willing to pay God tribute, but is not willing to +belong to God. But the humble person has nothing of his own and +moreover wants nothing; he wants simply that God shall use him, +that he shall be found a ready instrument in God's hands.</p> +<p>It is this readiness that we find in Blessed Mary when she +answered the astonishing announcement of the angel with her, +"Behold the Handmaid of the Lord." It is that quality which we find +in her here when she construes God's purpose in terms which go out +far beyond her individual life and sees in her experience but one +item in God's dealing with humanity in His age-long work of +"bringing His wanderers home." We should have far less difficulty +and find our lives far more significant if we could get rid of our +wretched egotism and find it possible to lose ourselves in the work +of God. We should then find the work important because it is God's +work and not because we are associated with it. We should also find +it less easy to be discouraged because we should not understand our +failure to be the failure of God. Discouragement is but one of the +aspects of egotism, and not the most attractive.</p> +<p>We cannot rise to anything like a passion of holiness unless we +have found God to be all in all. Only so can we lose ourselves in +God. And I must, at whatever risk of over-dwelling, stress the fact +that we can only attain this point of view by dwelling on God and +not on self. Let God be the foreground of our thought. Let our +souls magnify the Lord. Let us dwell upon the "great things" God +has done for us. In every life there is such a wonderful +manifestation of the divine goodness--only we do not take time to +look for it. It is well to take the time: to write out, if need be, +our spiritual history. We shall then find abundant evidence of the +goodness of God. It may be that it is a goodness that is seen +chiefly in offers, in opportunities to be something which we have +declined or have only imperfectly realized. Be that as it may, +there is no life, I am quite convinced, that has not a spiritual +history which is a marvellous history of what God at least wanted +to do for it. It is also a history of what He actually has done: a +history of graces, of rich gifts, of deliverances. It matters not +that we have been so heedless as to miss most of what God has done. +The facts stand and are discoverable whenever we care to pay enough +attention to them to ascertain their true meaning. When we do that, +then surely we shall be compelled to do, what blessed Mary never +needed to do, fall at God's feet in an act of penitence, seeing +ourselves, perhaps for the first time, in the light of God's +mind.</p> +<p>The Magnificat, if we consider it as a personal expression, is a +wonderful expression of selfless devotion, where the perception of +the glory and majesty of God excludes all other thoughts. It is, +too, a thanksgiving for the personal gift which is her vocation to +be the Mother of the Saviour. Out of her lowliness she has been +exalted--how highly she herself cannot at the time have dreamed. We +can see what was necessarily involved in God's choice of her, and +to-day we think of her as in her perfect purity exalted in heaven +far above all other creatures. Mother of God most holy we call her, +and in the words of her canticle ever repeat her thanksgiving as +our thanksgiving, too, for the vocation that God sent her and for +the gift which through her has come to us.</p> +<p>But there is a more universal aspect of the Magnificat. +Essentially it is the presentation of the constant antithesis which +runs through all revelation between the flesh and the spirit, +between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world. It +embodies the conception of God striving to save a world which has +revolted from Him, and now at last entering upon that stage of His +work which is the beginning of a triumph over all the powers of the +adversary. In Mary's song the contrasted powers are still presented +under the Old Testament terminology which was the natural form of +her thought. The adversaries of God are the proud, the mighty, the +rich; while those who are on God's side are the humble, the +god-fearers, the hungry. The form of the thought and its essential +meaning remain the same through the centuries, though our +terminology changes somewhat. Presently in the pages of the New +Testament we shall get the presentation as the contrast between the +children of this world and the sons of God. We shall find the +briefest expression of the latter to be the saints.</p> +<p>We no longer feel that rich and poor express a spiritual +contrast. Nor do we, who are quite accustomed to the action of +labour leaders, regard social position as being the exclusive seat +of arrogancy. But we know that the spiritual values which are +expressed in the varying terminology are constant; we know that the +warfare between God and not-God is still the most important +phenomenon in the universe. And it happens as we look out on the +battlefield where the forces of good and evil contend, where before +our eyes they seem to sway back and forth on the field of human +life with every varying fortunes, that we not seldom feel that the +battle is not obviously falling to the side of righteousness. There +come moments when we are oppressed by what seems to us the lack of +power in the ideals of righteousness. The appeal of the proud and +of the rich is so dazzling; the splendour of the visible kingdom of +the world is so intoxicating, the contagion of the crowd which +follows the uplifted banner of Satan is so penetrating, that we +hardly wonder to see the new generations carried away in the sweep +of popular enthusiasm. Here is excitement, exhilarating enjoyment, +the throb and sting of the flesh, the breathless whirl of gaiety, +the physical quiet of satisfied desires. What is there to appeal on +the other side? As the crowds troop past to the sound of music and +dancing they for a moment raise their eyes, and above them rises a +hill whereon is a Cross and on the Cross an emaciated Victim is +nailed, and at the foot of the Cross a small group of discouraged +folk--S. John, The blessed Mother, the other Mary--stunned by the +grief born of the death of Son and Friend.</p> +<p>These two utterances stand in eternal contrast: "All these +things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me": +and, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." As yet the +appeal made from an "exceeding high mountain" visibly seems to +prevail against that made from "the place which is called +Calvary."</p> +<p>And what have we to counteract the depression which is the +natural reaction from the spectacle of the world-rejection of +Christ? We have the truth which is embodied in Mary's Magnificat, +we have the fact of Mary's vocation to be the Mother of God. The +revelation of God's meaning and purpose is a basis of optimism +which no promise of Satan can overthrow. When all is said, the view +from the exceeding high mountain is a view of the Kingdom of this +world only; from the place called Calvary you can see the Kingdom +of God as well. From this point of vantage alone the permanent +values of life are visible; and to the taunt flung at us, the taunt +so terrifying to the young, "You are losing life," the enigmatic +reply from the Cross is that you have to lose life to gain it; that +permanent and eternal values are acquired by those who have the +self-restraint and the foresight not to sacrifice the substance to +the shadow, nor to mistake the toys of childhood for the riches of +manhood. "In the meantime life is passing and the shadows draw in +and you have not attained" so they say. True: we count not +ourselves to have yet attained; but we press on toward the mark of +our high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are not in a hurry, +because the crown we are seeking is amaranthine, unfading. We are +not compelled to compress our enjoyment within a given time; we do +not awake each morning with the thought that we may not outlast the +daylight; we are not hurried and fevered with the sense of our +fragility. The kingdoms of the world and the glory of them must be +seized now: Satan cannot afford to wait because his kingdom has an +end. But God can afford to wait because of His Kingdom there is no +end.</p> +<p>We are content then with <i>promises</i> and with such partial +fulfilment as we find on our pilgrim-way. We are content because we +see the end in the beginning. To those who in the first days of the +Church objected that though the promises were wonderful and +abundant the fulfilment was small; to those who said we do not yet +see the perfection of the kingdom; the answer of inspiration was: +True, we do not yet see the accomplishment of all of God's +promises, but we do see Jesus. And there is where we stand to-day. +The work that God has to do in the spiritualising of the human race +is tremendous; but we actually see its beginning in Jesus, and we +are content to wait with God for the perfect accomplishment.</p> +<p>And we must remember when we think of the work of God in terms +of time, that the length of time that is required to accomplish the +spiritualisation of the human race is not to be estimated in terms +of the divine will but in terms of the human will. It is not divine +power but human resistance which is the determining factor, for God +will not compel us to obey Him, nor would compelled obedience have +any spiritual value. And we can estimate something of the human +resistance that has to be overcome by concentrating attention upon +one unit of that resistance. That is, we can learn from the study +of our own life what is the resistance of one human being to the +triumph of the will of God; and, taking oneself as a fair sample of +the race can multiply our resistance to God's will by the numbers +of the race. We are perfectly certain of the will of God: God wills +that all men shall come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. +"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." So far as we +are thwarting that will we are playing into the hands of the power +of evil. But that power is of limited existence; it draws to its +end. Its death knell was struck when the noon-day darkness lifted +from Calvary.</p> +<p>Therefore the rejoicing of blessed Mary, whose Song reads the +necessary end in the beginning, is well considered; and we rejoice +with her and in her. It is our privilege--and it is a vast +privilege--to rejoice in blessed Mary as the instrument of God in +bringing the triumph of His Kingdom one stage nearer its +accomplishment. And in especial we rejoice because we see in her +one more, and the most marked, illustration of the divine method. +"He hath regarded the low estate of His Handmaiden." "He hath +exalted them of low degree." "He hath filled the hungry." The +method of God is to work to His results through those who are +spiritually receptive. The less of self there is in us the more +room there is for God. "The Kingdom of God is within you," that is, +the starting-point of God's work in the building of the Kingdom is +within the soul of man. He must master the inner man, must win the +allegiance of our souls, before His work can make any progress at +all. The Kingdom of God cometh not "with observation," that is, +from the outside in an exhibition of power; it must of necessity +come from the inside in demonstration of the Spirit. "As many as +are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."</p> +<p>In blessed Mary we see the new starting-point in this last stage +of the work of God. For the foreseen merits of her Son she is +brought into union with God and spared the taint of sin, and +becomes the second Eve, the Mother of the new race. Acting upon her +pure humanity, the Holy Spirit produces that humanity which joined +to the divinity in the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity becomes +the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In Mary's rejoicing in this +so great fact, the bringing of human redemption, we rightly share. +It is with a right understanding of her Song that the Church +throughout the ages has embodied it in its worship and through it +constantly rejoices in God its Saviour. The actual detailed +accomplishment of God's work in man's redemption is going on under +our eyes. It is regrettable that human stupidity seems to prefer +dwelling upon what seem God's failures, and are actually our own, +rather than upon the constant triumphs of grace. But God reigns; +and we can always find grounds of optimism if we can find that He +is day by day reigning more perfectly in us. When we pray "Thy +Kingdom Come," the field to examine for the fulfilment of our +prayers is the field of our own souls.</p> +<blockquote>Our Lady took the road<br> +To Zachary's abode;<br> +O'er mountain, vale and lea,<br> +Full many a league sped she<br> +Toward Hebron's holy hill,<br> +By God's command and will.<br> +<br> +Full light did Mary, make<br> +Of trouble for his sake.<br> +God's Very Son of yore<br> +Within her breast she bore;<br> +And angels bright and fair,<br> +Unseen, her fellows were.<br> +<br> +She, ere she took her way,<br> +An orison would say,<br> +That God her steps might tend<br> +Safe to their journey's end;<br> +And there, in manner meet,<br> +Her cousin she 'gan greet.<br> +<br> +Elizabeth full fain<br> +Eft bowed her head again;<br> +She wist 'twas God's own Bride,<br> +As, worshipful she cried:<br> +'O Lady, Full of Grace,<br> +Whence do I see thy face?'<br> +<br> +O House and Home of bliss,<br> +O earthly Paradis--<br> +Nay, Heaven itself on ground<br> +Wherein the Lord is found,<br> +The Lord of Glory bright,<br> +In goodness great and might--<br> +<br> +Clean Maiden thou that art,<br> +Come, visit this my heart;<br> +And bring me chief my Good,<br> +God's Son in Flesh and Blood;<br> +Bless body, soul; and bide<br> +For ever by my side.<br> +<br> +From the Köln Gesang-Buch. XVI Cent.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<br> +<h3>S. JOSEPH</h3> +<center>Joseph, her husband, being a just man--<br> +<br> +S. Matt. I. 19.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>O God, our refuge and our strength, look down in mercy +upon thy people who cry to thee; and by the intercession of the +glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, mother of God, of St. Joseph +her spouse, and of thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of all +saints, in mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion +of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of our holy mother +the church. Through.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">ROMAN.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hen we read the Gospels, not simply as a record of events but as +revelation of the method of God, we are constantly impressed with +what we cannot otherwise describe than as the care of God for +detail. There is a curious type of mind which finds it possible to +think of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe, but impossible +to conceive Him as interested in or concerning Himself with the +minutiae of human life; who can conceive God as caring for a solar +system or a planet, but not as caring for a baby. Surely it is a +strange notion of God that thinks of Him as estimating values in +terms of weight and measure: surely much more intelligible is the +Gospel presentation of Him as concerned with spritual values and +exercising that minute care over human life which is best expressed +by the word <i>Father</i>. It is very significant that as the +volume of revelation unrolls, the earlier notions of God as Ruler, +Governor, King, give way to the notion of Father, until in our +Lord's presentation of the character of God it is His Fatherhood +which stands in the forefront. What our Lord emphasises in the +character of God are precisely the qualities of love and care and +sympathy which the word Father connotes.</p> +<p>And nowhere do we see this loving care of God which we call His +Providence better set out for our study than in the detailed +preparation which preceded and attended the birth of His Son into +this world. There was that preparation of the Mother who was to be +the source of the humanity of the Child Jesus which we have been +dwelling upon; there was also the preparation for the proper +guardianship of both Mother and Child during the years of Jesus' +immaturity. There are certain things which are self-evident when +once we turn our minds to them; and it is thus self-evident that +the care of our Lord and of His Blessed Mother would require the +preparation of the man to whom they should be committed. In the +state of society into which our Lord was born, He and His Mother +would need active guardianship of a peculiar nature. The man who +should provide for our Lord's infancy must be a man, in the nature +of the case, who was receptive of spiritual monitions and devoted +to the will of God. It was a delicate matter to live before the +world as the husband of Mary of Nazareth, and to live before God as +the guardian of her virginity and as the foster-father of her +divine Son. Only a very choice nature could respond to the demands +thus made upon it, a nature which had been habitually responsive to +the will of God and long nurtured by the richness of His grace.</p> +<p>We know very little of St. Joseph; but God's choice of him for +the office he was to fulfil near the blessed Virgin Mary and her +Son reveals the nature of the man. He is described to us as "a just +man," one whose judgment would not be swayed by prejudices, but who +would be open to the consideration of any case upon its merits: a +man who would not view events in the light of their effect upon +himself and his plans, but who can calmly consider what in given +circumstances is due to others. Such men are rare at any time for +their production is a matter of slow discipline.</p> +<p>We gather that both S. Joseph and S. Mary were of the same +lineage, were descended from the same ancestor, David. We gather +also that S. Joseph was much older than his bethrothed wife, for he +had been already married and had a family. All the notices of these +brothers and sisters of the Lord imply that they were considerably +older than the Child of Mary, and that they felt that they had the +sort of authority over Him which commonly belongs to the elder +children of a family; the sort of doubt and criticism of His course +which would be the instinctive attitudes of elders toward the +unprecedented course of a younger. We have, I think, a right to +infer from the terms of the narrative, that S. Joseph would have +been well acquainted with S. Mary and was not taking a wife who was +a stranger to him. Indeed, considering the actual development of +the situation, I myself feel quite certain that those are right who +maintain that the proposed marriage was intended to be merely a +nominal union, the ultimate design of which was the protection of +the virginity of Mary. I find it impossible to think of that +virginity as other than of deliberate purpose from the beginning, +and prompted by the Spirit of God for the purposes of God for which +it served. There is, to be sure, no revelation of this in Holy +Scripture, but there are facts which suggest themselves to the +devout meditations of saints which we feel that we may safely take +on the authority of their spiritual intuitions. Such a fact is this +of Mary's purposed virginity which I am content to accept on the +basis of its congruity with S. Mary's life and vocation. Of the +fact of her perpetual virginity there can be no dispute among +Catholic Christians.</p> +<p>To S. Joseph thus preparing himself to be the guardian of the +blessed Virgin it could only come as a tremendous shock that she +should be found with a child. Our character comes out at such times +of trial as when something that we had taken quite for granted +fails us, and we are left breathless and bewildered in in the face +of what would have seemed impossible even had we thought of it. +What was S. Joseph's attitude? The beauty and sanity of his +character at once shows itself. Grieved and disheartened as he must +have been, disappointed as he could not but be, he yet thinks at +once of his bethrothed, not of himself. How far could he save +her?--that was his first thought. He would at least avoid +publicity. "Being a just man, and not willing to make her a public +example, he was minded to put her away privily." It is the quality +that we express by the word benevolence--the quality of mature and +deliberate wisdom. We feel that such a man could be trusted under +any circumstances of life.</p> +<p>We feel, too, that God would not leave S. Joseph in doubt as to +the course he was to pursue, or as to the character of Mary +herself. There could no shade of suspicion be permitted to rest +upon her. Hence "while he thought on these things, behold, the +angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, +thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for +that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall +bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall +save his people from their sins."</p> +<p>It is not difficult to imagine the joy of S. Joseph at this +angelic message. We all know the sense of relief which comes when, +after facing a most trying situation, and being forced to make up +our minds to act when action either way is almost equally painful, +we find that we are delivered from the necessity of acting at all, +that the whole state of things has been utterly misunderstood. It +was so with S. Joseph; and in his case there was the added joy +which springs from the nature of the coming Child as the angel +explains it to him. He who had accepted the charge of Mary was now +to add to that charge the charge of her Child: and the Child is the +very Saviour whom his soul and the souls of all pious Israelites +had longed for. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save +his people from their sins." We cannot expect that S. Joseph would +have taken in the full meaning of this message, but he would have +understood that he was called to a wondrous co-operation with God +in the work of the redemption of Israel.</p> +<p>As we think of S. Joseph it is this co-operation which is the +significant thing in his life. As we study human life in the only +way in which it is much worth while to study it, in the light of +revelation, it becomes clear to us that there is purpose in all +human life. Often we observe a purpose that we are not able to +grasp, but in the light of what we know from revelation we do not +doubt of its presence. Even lives that seem obscure and +insignificant we feel sure must have a divine meaning; and the +pathetic thing about most human life is that it never dreams of its +own significance. We are consumed with the notion that God's +instruments must be great, while it is on the face of revelation +that they are commonly humble and of seeming insignificance. It is +the work that is important, and the instrument becomes important +through its relation to the work. We all at least have the common +vocation of the Christian, and it would be difficult to exaggerate +the spiritual significance of that. S. Joseph seems to us at once +set apart by his vocation to be the guardian of the divine Child, +to protect and to nurture the years of His human immaturity. This +is no doubt a unique vocation, but is it quite so far separated +from ordinary Christian experience as we assume? You and I are also +constituted guardians of the divine Presence. This very morning, it +may be, we have received within the Tabernacle of our breast the +same Presence that S. Joseph guarded--the Presence of Incarnate +God. In that Presence of His humanity our Lord abode with us but a +few minutes and then the Presence withdrew: but He left behind Him +a real gift, the gift of an increase in sacramental grace.</p> +<p>Was that a light thing: Was it indeed so much less than the +vocation of S. Joseph? And how have we guarded this Presence? Those +few moments after the reception of our Incarnate Lord at the +altar--how do we habitually spend them? Do we spend them in +guarding the Presence? There is much to be learned about the +meaning and the value of guarding the Eucharistic Gift. Our +thanksgiving after Communion is fully as important as our +preparation for receiving it. I am more and more inclined to think +that much of the fruitlessness of communions which is so sad a side +of the life of the Church is due to careless reception and +inadequate thanksgiving. It is the adoration of our Lord within the +Tabernacle of our body and thanksgiving to Him for having come to +us that is the <i>appropriation</i> of the Gift of the Sacrament. +He comes to us and offers Himself to us with all the benefits of +His life and death; and then having offered Himself "He makes as +though he would go farther," and he does actually go, unless we are +awake to our spiritual opportunity, and constrain Him, saying, +"abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far +spent."</p> +<p>We think of S. Joseph then, as with a relieved and rejoicing +heart he enters upon his new realised vocation as the head of the +Holy Family. The marriage which he had been upon the point of +abandoning he now enters that he may give S. Mary and her coming +Child his full protection.</p> +<p>So S. Joseph "took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she +had brought forth her first-born Son." These words have been so +misunderstood as to imply that the marriage of S. Joseph and S. +Mary was consummated after the birth of our Lord. Grammatically +they convey no such implication; the mode of expression is +perfectly simple and well known by which a fact is affirmed to +exist up to a certain time without any implication as to what +happens after. And the meaning of the passage which is not at all +necessitated by its grammatical construction is utterly intolerable +in Catholic teaching. The constant teaching of the Church is the +perpetual virginity of Mary--that she was a virgin "before and in +and after her child-bearing." There was to be sure an heretic named +Helvidius who taught otherwise, but he was promptly repudiated by +all Catholic teachers and but served to emphasize the depth and +clearness of the Catholic tradition. Upon this point there has +never been any wavering in the mind of the Church, and to hold +otherwise shows a lamentable lack of a Catholic perception of +values and but a superficial grasp upon what is involved in the +Incarnation.</p> +<p>The impression we get of S. Joseph is that of a man of great +simplicity and gentleness of character--that childlikeness which +was later praised by his foster Son. Such qualities do not produce +much impression on the superficial observer, but they are of great +spiritual value. They are the concomitants of a special type of +open-mindedness. Open-mindedness is a quality much praised and +little practiced. But the open-mindedness which is commonly praised +is not the open-mindedness which is praiseworthy. What is at +present meant by open-mindedness is in reality failure to have any +mind at all upon a given subject. It is the attitude of doubt which +never proceeds so far as to arrive at a solution. To have an open +mind means to the contemporary man to hold all conclusions loosely, +to consider all things open to question, to be ready to abandon +what now appears to be true in favour of something which to-morrow +may appear to be more true. In other words, we are invited to base +life on pure scepticism.</p> +<p>Now no life can be so conducted. We live by a faith of some +sort, whether it be a faith in God or no. The most sceptical mind +has to believe something to act at all. It cannot even doubt +without affirming a belief in its own intellectual processes. The +open mind that never reaches any certainty to fill it is a very +poor possession indeed. And it is not at all what we mean when we +say of S. Joseph that he was open-minded. We mean that he was +receptive of new spiritual impressions and capable of further +spiritual development. There are minds, and they are not unusual +among people of a certain degree of spiritual development, which we +can best describe as having reached a given stage of growth and +then shut up. Or, to vary the figure, they impress one as having a +certain capacity, and when that has been reached, being able to +contain nothing further. They come to a stop. From that point they +try to maintain the position they have acquired. But that is +impossible: they inevitably fall away unless they are going +forward. When the power of spiritual assimilation is dead, we are +spiritually in a dying condition.</p> +<p>What we mean by having an open and childlike mind, then, is that +one has this power of spiritual assimilation and, consequently, a +power of growth. The sceptic is afflicted with spiritual +indigestion; he is an invalid who is quite certain that any food +that is offered him is indigestible. His soul withers away through +its incapacity to believe. The open-minded saint has a healthy +spiritual digestion. This does not mean that, in vulgar parlance, +he can, "swallow anything"; it does mean a power of discrimination +between food offered him,--that he assimilates what is wholesome +and rejects the rest. The sceptic is pessimistic as to the +existence of any wholesome food at all; he starves his soul for +fear that he should believe something that is not true. The saint, +with the test of faith, sorts the food proposed to him, and grows +in grace, and consequently in the knowledge and the love of +God.</p> +<p>Open-mindedness is sensitiveness to spiritual impressions, +readiness for spiritual advance, even when such impressions cut +across much that has seemed to us well settled, and such advance +involves the upset of his established ways of thought. What +distinguishes the evolution in the thought of the sceptic from that +in the thought of the saint is that in the one case the result is +destructive and in the other constructive. The sceptic is like a +man who starts to build a house, and then periodically tears down +what he has so far built and begins again on a new plan; the saint +is like the house builder who broadens his plan in the course of +construction, and who finds that within the limits of his general +scheme there is room for indefinite improvement. The one never gets +any building at all; the other gets a palace of which the last +stages are of a more highly decorated school of architecture than +he had conceived, or indeed, could conceive, when he began his +work.</p> +<p>In S. Joseph's case nothing could be more revolutionary in +appearance than the truth he was asked to accept. He was asked to +believe in the virgin-motherhood of his bethrothed, and in the fact +that the Child soon to be born was He Who was to save Israel from +his sins. He was asked to accept these incredible statements and to +act upon them by taking Mary to wife as he had proposed. And he did +not hesitate to accept the evidence of a dream and act in +accordance with it. How could he do this? Because the required +action which seemed so revolutionary of all his previous notions +was, in fact, quite in accordance with his knowledge of God and of +the promises of God. Though a simple man, perhaps because he was a +simple man, he would know something of the teaching of the +prophets. That teaching would have given him thoughts about God +which would have, unconsciously, prepared him for these new acts of +God. Though we cannot see before how a prophecy is to be fulfiled, +after the event we can see that this is what is intended by it. We +were actually being prepared by the prophecy for what was to take +place. And thus, no doubt, S. Joseph's mind, being filled with the +teaching of the Scriptures which he had heard read in the Synagogue +every Sabbath day, would find that this new act of God on which he +was asked to rely was, in fact, but a new step in the unfolding of +that Providence which had for centuries been shaping the history of +his nation.</p> +<p>It is a quality to cultivate, this simple open-mindedness which +is ready to respond to new spiritual impulses. It is precisely what +prevents that deadly attitude of soul which proceeds as though +religion were for us exhausted: as though we had reached the limit +of expectancy. But to expect nothing is to receive nothing, because +it is only expectancy that perceives what is offered. We move in a +world which is thronged with spirtual impulses and energetic with +spiritual powers. God is trying to lead us on to new spiritual +experiences by which we may attain to a better understanding of +Him. There is no assignable limit to our possible growth. But we +fix a limit when we close our souls to further experiences by the +practical denial that they exist. If we are childlike, we are +always expecting new things of our Father; if we are open-minded we +are alive to the activities of the spiritual world. We are +conscious of possessing a growing religion, a religion truly +evolutionary, constantly bringing to our knowledge unsuspected +riches stored in the very principles whose meaning we had assumed +that we had exhausted.</p> +<p>Perhaps one of the treasures of our religion of which we have +not achieved full consciousness is God's choice of us to be the +guardians of His revelation. It is our charge "to keep the faith." +I suppose that this responsibility is commonly regarded as +belonging to some vaguely imagined Church which hands it on from +generation to generation, to us among others, but without imposing +on us an obligation of any active sort. But we are the +Church--members in particular of the Body of Christ. And in the +dissemination of the faith the last appeal is to us, not to some +outside tribunal. When the Church wishes to discover its faith and +make it articulate, its place of search is in the minds and hearts +of the faithful. Our responsibility is to testify to the Catholic +Faith, not so much by positively asserting it as by making it +active and vivid in our lives so that its presence and power can by +no means be mistaken. You, for instance, in common with the rest of +the faithful, are the custodians of this truth of the perpetual +virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It may seem a small matter, +but it is not. That it is not is readily seen from this fact, that +when the perpetual virginity of our Blessed Mother is denied then +also the Incarnation of her Son is denied or is held only in a +half-hearted way. The Church stresses such facts, not only because +they are facts, but because by their character they form a hedge +about the truth of the Incarnation of our Lord. And we who are +Catholic Christians must feel an obligation to hold fast this fact. +We ought actively to show our firm adherence to it. How? Chiefly by +our attitude towards Blessed Mary herself, by the devotion that we +show her. If we are quite indifferent to devotion to Blessed Mary, +if we show her no honour, if we likewise fail in honour to her +guardian, S. Joseph, is it not to be expected that our grasp upon +the truths which are enshrined in such devotion will be feeble, and +that we shall hold them as of small moment? The whole system of +Catholic thought is so nicely articulated, so consistently held +together, that failure to hold even the smallest constituent +indicates a faulty conception of the whole. Catholics are +constantly accused of over-stressing devotion to blessed Mary and +the saints and thereby encroaching upon the honour due to our Lord. +The answer to the reproach is to be found in the question: Who +to-day are defending to the very death the truth of our Lord's +Incarnation and the truths that hang upon it? Are they those who +deny the legitimacy of invocation, or those in whose religious +practise it holds an important and vital place?</p> +<br> +<p>A PANEGYRICK ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.</p> +<blockquote>I do not tremble, when I write<br> +A Mistress' praise, but with delight<br> +Can dive for pearls into the flood,<br> +Fly through every garden, wood,<br> +Stealing the choice of flow'rs and wind,<br> +To dress her body or her mind;<br> +Nay the Saints and Angels are<br> +Nor safe in Heaven, till she be fair,<br> +And rich as they; nor will this do,<br> +Until she be my idol too.<br> +With this sacrilege I dispense,<br> +No fright is in my conscience,<br> +My hand starts not, nor do I then<br> +Find any quakings in my pen;<br> +Whose every drop of ink within<br> +Dwells, as in me my parent's sin,<br> +And praises on the paper wrot<br> +Have but conspired to make a blot:<br> +Why should such fears invade me now<br> +That writes on her? to whom do bow<br> +The souls of all the just, whose place<br> +Is next to God's, and in his face<br> +All creatures and delights doth see<br> +As darling of the Trinity;<br> +To whom the Hierarchy doth throng,<br> +And for whom Heaven is all one song.<br> +Joys should possess my spirit here,<br> +But pious joys are mixed with fear:<br> +Put off thy shoe, 'tis holy ground,<br> +For here the flaming Bush is found,<br> +The mystic rose, the Ivory Tower,<br> +The morning Star and David's bower,<br> +The rod of Moses and of Jesse,<br> +The fountain sealèd, Gideon's fleece,<br> +A woman clothèd with the Sun,<br> +The beauteous throne of Salomon,<br> +The garden shut, the living spring,<br> +The Tabernacle of the King,<br> +The Altar breathing sacred fume,<br> +The Heaven distilling honeycomb,<br> +The untouched lily, full of dew,<br> +A Mother, yet a Virgin too,<br> +Before and after she brought forth<br> +(Our ransom of eternal worth)<br> +Both God and man. What voice can sing<br> +This mystery, or Cherub's wing<br> +Lend from his golden stock a pen<br> +To write, how Heaven came down to men?<br> +Here fear and wonder so advance<br> +My soul, it must obey a trance.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE NATIVITY</h3> +<center>She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped<br> +him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger;<br> +because there was no room for them in the inn.<br> +<br> +S. Luke II. 7.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>It is very meet to bless thee who bore the Christ, O +ever Blessed and Immaculate Mother of God. More wondrous than the +Cherubim and of greater glory than the Seraphim art thou who +remaining Virgin didst give birth to God the Word. Verily, do we +magnify thee, O Mother of God. In thee, O full of grace, all +creation exults, the hierarchy of angels and the race of men. In +thee sanctified temple, spiritual paradise, glory of virgins, of +whom God took flesh, through whom our God Who was before the world +became a Child. Of thy womb He made a throne, and its dominion is +more extensive than the heavens. In thee, O full of grace, all +creation exults: glory to thee.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">RUSSIAN.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>e see a man and a woman on the road to Bethlehem where they are +going to be taxed according to the decree of Augustus. Bethlehem +would be known to them as the home of their ancestors, for they +were both of the lineage of David. It was a painful journey for +them for Mary was near the time of her delivery. We follow them +along the road and into the village, as the twilight fades, and see +them seeking shelter for the night. Bethlehem is a small place and +the inn is crowded with those who have come on the errand with +them, and the only place where they can find refuge for the night +is a stable. But they are not used to luxury, and the stable serves +their purpose.</p> +<p>It also serves God's purpose. One understands as one reads this +narrative of the Nativity what is meant by the Providential +government of the world. We see how various lines of action, each +free and independent, yet converge to the production of a given +event. The different characters in the drama are all pursuing their +own courses and yet the result is a true drama, not an unrelated +series of events. Caesar's action, Joseph's lineage, our Lord's +conception, all working together, bring about the fulfilment of +prophecy by the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem. There is in the +universe an over-ruling will which works to its ends by +co-operating with human freedom, and not destroying it. We are not +the sport of chance, not the slaves of fate, but free men; and yet +through our freedom, through our blunders and rebellions and sins +as well as through our obedience, the work of God is moving to its +conclusion. Man did all that he could to defeat the ends of God and +to thwart God's purpose of redemption. Yet on a certain night in +Bethlehem of Judea the light of God overcame the human darkness, +and the voices of God's angels pierced the human tumult, and Jesus +Christ was born. "God of the substance of his Father begotten +before all worlds, man of the substance of his mother, born in the +world; perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human +flesh subsisting."</p> +<p>The manifestation came to certain shepherds watching their +flocks in the fields about Bethlehem; simple men, quite unable to +take in the meaning of what they see and hear. One cannot help +thinking of what it would have meant in the way of an intellectual +revolution if to some Greek or Roman philosopher, speculating on +the destiny of humanity, the truth could have come that the future +of the world was not in the court of Augustus, that it was not +dependent on the Roman armies or Greek learning, but that it was +bound up in the career and teaching of a Baby that night born in a +stable in an obscure village in Judea. As we imagine such a case we +see in the concrete the meaning of the revolution set in motion by +this single event; and we are led to adore the ways of God in that +He has chosen for the final approach to man for the purpose of +redemption, this way of simplicity and humbleness. Man would not +have thought of this as the best path for God to follow in this +purpose of rescue, but we can be wise after the event and see that +this Child born in poverty and obscurity would have fewer +entanglements to break through, fewer obstacles to overcome.</p> +<p>But these thoughts are far away from the night in Bethlehem. In +the stable there where a Baby is lying in Mary's arms and Joseph +stands looking on, there is no speculation about the +world-consequences of the event. There is rather the splendour of +love: the love of the mother in the new found mystery of this her +Child; the love of God who has given her the Child. And all is a +part of the great mystery of love, of the love wherewith God loves +the world. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten +Son." Here is the Son, lying in Mary's arms, wrapped in swaddling +clothes, and Mary looks into His face as any human mother looks +into the face of her child. But through the eyes that smile up into +Mary's face, God is looking out on a world of sorrow and pain and +sin that He has come to redeem, and for which, in redeeming it, to +die. Presently, the shepherds come in and complete the group, the +representatives of universal humanity at the birth of their King, +We have the whole world-problem in small, but here there is no +consciousness of it. No echo of world-politics or of movements of +thought break in here. But we know that here is the beginning of +that which will set at naught world-politics and revolutionise +movements of thought, that here is the centre about which humanity +will move in the coming time. Here is that which is fundamental and +abiding because here is the one invincible power of the +universe--love. All else will fail: prophecies, systems of +philosophy, religions, political and social structures; each in the +time of its flourishing, proclaiming itself the last word of human +wisdom,--these in bewildering succession have arisen and passed +away. But love has survived them all. Love never faileth; through +the slow succession of the centuries it is winning the world to +God.</p> +<p>It were well if we could learn to look on the happenings of this +world as the miracles of divine love. We think of the power, the +justice, the judgment of God as visible in this world's history; +but these are but the instruments of love, and all that He does has +its foundation in love and receives its impulse from love. This +Nativity is the divine love coming into the world on its last +adventure, determined to win man, all other means failing, by the +extremity of sacrifice. The final word about this Child will be +that having loved his own He loved them unto the uttermost, he +loved them without stinting, with the uttermost capacity of love. +Understanding this meaning of the love of God, we are prepared for +the further fact that God uses all sorts of instruments as the +instruments of His love. He shares Himself. He pours Himself into +human life. He takes men into partnership in the work of +redemption. Whenever a soul is mastered by love, it becomes a tool +in God's hands. The progress of the Church--of God's Kingdom--might +be described as the accumulation of these tools wherewith God +works--souls who are so devoted to Him as to be the medium of +bringing His power, the power of love, to bear on the souls of +their brethren.</p> +<p>To be the highest, the most perfect, of all the instruments of +redemption God chose Mary of Nazareth to be the Mother of His Son. +She is the most complete human embodiment of God's love. She, in +her perfect purity, can transmit that love as power with the least +loss of energy in the process of transmission. When we think of the +saints as the means of God's action, we think of blessed Mary as +the highest of the saints and the means most perfectly adapted to +God's ends. Here at Bethlehem she holds God in her arms and looks +into the human face that He has taken for this present work and all +her being is absorbed in love. Oblivious, we think her, of her mean +surroundings, of the animals that share with her their stable, of +the shepherds who come in and look on in wonder, of S. Joseph +standing by in sympathy. Love is all. Love is a passion consuming +her being--what can the attendant circumstances matter? And to-day, +after all these centuries: to-day the Child is the Ascended and +Enthroned Redeemer, His risen and glorified humanity, transmitting +something of the divine glory, seated at the right hand of the +Majesty of God. And Mary, the Mother? Can we have any other thought +than that she who on the first Christmas morning looks into the +face of her Baby, still, to-day, looks up into the face of her +divine Son, and the look is the same look of love? And can we think +of the look that comes back to her from eyes that are human, taken +from her body, though they be in very truth the eyes of God--can we +think, I say, of the eyes of her Child and her God bringing +anything else than the message of love? Can we think that when in +answer to our invocation she presents our prayers in union with her +own, that love will fail?</p> +<p>But let us come back to earth--to Bethlehem--on that first +Christmas eve and listen to the songs of the angels as they sing +over the star-lit fields. How near heaven seems! How real is God! +How joyful is this season of peace to men of good will! The message +is of peace, but that peace will need to have its nature explained +in the coming years if men's hearts are not to fail them and their +faith wither away. It is not a general peace to the world that is +being proclaimed. Later on our Lord will say: "My peace I give unto +you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." It is such a gift +as can be enjoyed only by men of good will; converted men, that is +to say, men whose will is close set with the will of God. For how +should there be peace in any world on any other terms? How can +there be peace for those who are in rebellion against God? Our Lord +can promise peace, and can fulfil His promise because He is +bringing a new potency into human life. He is a new way of approach +to God, a new way into the Holiest of all. Through His humanity God +is united to man, and through it man, any man, can be united to +God. And one of the results of that union is this gift of peace, +and the fact that it arises from the union explains its new +character, why our Lord calls it His peace.</p> +<p>This peace is the Christmas gift of the divine child to us. This +is the method of God's work, from the inside out; from the +spiritual fact to its external result. We do not begin by finding +peace with this world: "in the world ye shall have tribulation." +And most of the failure to attain peace, and much of men's loss of +faith is due to repudiation of the divine method. We live in a +disordered and pain-stricken world where human life is uniformly a +life of trial and struggle, and our easy yielding to temptation is +an attempt at some sort of an adjustment with the world such as we +think will produce peace and quiet. We constantly demand of +religion that it should effect this for us. So far as one can see +much of the revolt against religion to-day has its ground in the +failure of religion to meet the demands made upon it for a better +world. Men look out on a world seething with unrest and filled with +injustice, and they turn upon the Church and ask, "Why have you not +changed all this? Are you not, in fact, neglecting your duty in not +changing it? Or if you are not neglecting your duty, you must at +least confess to your impotence. Your self-confessed business is to +make a better world."</p> +<p>True; but only on the conditions which love imposes. Religion +does not propose to improve the world by a more skilful application +of the principles of worldliness. It does not propose to turn +stones into bread at the demand of any devils whatsoever. It does +not say, "If you will support me and give me a certain superficial +honour, I will bless your efforts and increase the success of your +undertakings." Religion proposes to improve the world on the +condition that the principles of religion shall be accepted as the +working principles of life; on condition, that is, that love shall +be made the ground of human association. Religion can make a better +world, it can make the kingdoms of God and of His Christ; but it +can only do so on the condition that it is whole-heartedly accepted +and thoroughly applied. The proof that it can do this is in the +fact that it can and does make better individuals. Wherever men and +women have lived by the principles of the Gospel they have brought +forth the fruits of the Gospel. It has done this, not under some +specially favourable circumstances, but it has done it under all +circumstances of life and in all nations of men. What has been done +in unnumbered individual cases, can be done in whole communities +when the communities want it done. It is quite pointless in times +of great social distress to ask passionately, "why does not God +make a better world?" The only question which is at all to the +point is, "why has God not made <i>me</i> better?" The problem of +God's dealing with the world is, in essence, the problem of God's +dealing with me. If He has not reformed me, if I do not, in my +self-examination, find that I am responding to the ideals of God, +as far as I know them, there is small point in declamations about +the state of society. Society that is godless, is just a mass of +godless individuals; and I can understand why God does not reform +the world perfectly well from the study of my own case. What in me +prevents the full control of God is the same that prevents that +control over the whole of society: and I know that that is not lack +of knowledge, but lack of love. Men ignore the primary obligation +of life: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ... and thy neighbour as +thyself." As long as they ignore that, there can be no reformed +world, no world reflecting the divine purpose, no +society,--whatever may be its widely multiplied +legislation,--securing to men conditions of life which are sane and +satisfactory.</p> +<p>Therefore the Child who is born of Mary in Bethlehem while the +angels are singing their carols over the fields where the shepherds +watch, the Child Who brings peace to men of good will, still, after +nearly two thousand years, finds His gift ignored and His longing +to lift men to God unsatisfied. "He came unto His own and His own +received Him not"--and the conditions are not vitally changed +to-day. When we think of a world of fifteen hundred million human +beings, the number of those who profess and call themselves +Christians is comparatively small; the number of actually +practicing Christians, of men and women who do live by the Gospel, +without reserve and without compromise, is vastly smaller. The +resistance of the principles of the Gospel is to-day intense; the +demand for compromise is insistent. We are asked to throw over a +system which has obviously failed, and to accept as the equivalent +and to permit to pass under the same name a system which is +fundamentally different; a system whose end is man and not God, +whose means are natural and not supernatural, which seek to produce +an adjustment with this world that means comfort, rather than an +adjustment with the spiritual world which means sanctity.</p> +<p>The ideal achievement of peace is here in Bethlehem where the +mother holds the Holy Child to her breast, while her spirit is +utterly in union with Him Who is both man and God. There is never +any break in the pure peace of S. Mary because there is never any +moment when her will is separated from the will of God, when her +union with Him fails. This peace of perfect union has, through the +merits of her Son, been hers always; she has never known the wrench +of the will that separates itself from God. She has always been +poor; she has been perplexed with life; she has suffered and will +suffer intensely, suffer most where she loves most; but peace she +has never lost, because her will has never wavered in its +allegiance. What visibly she is doing in these moments of her great +joy, holding God to her breast in a passion of love, she in fact is +doing always--always is she one with God.</p> +<p>That undisturbed peace of a never broken union is never possible +for us. We have known what it is to reject the will of God and go +our own way and indulge the appetites of our nature in violation of +our recognised standards of life. If we are to come to peace it +must be along the rough road of repentance. And it is wholly just +that it should be so; that we should win back to God at the expense +of shame and suffering; that we should retrace the road that we +have travelled, with weary feet and bleeding heart. This after all +does not much matter: what does matter immensely is that there is a +road back to God and that we find it. What matters is that we +discover that repentance and reformation are the only road to +peace. We are offered many other roads alleged to lead to the same +place; but not even a child should be deceived by the modern +substitutes for repentance, by the shallow teaching whereby it is +attempted to persuade men of the innocence of sin. They are never +worth discussing, these modern substitutes for repentance. Men +accept them, not because they are rational or convincing, but +because they offer a justification for going the way that they have +already made up their minds to go. But it is plain that whatever +else they do they do not afford a basis for peace. They are no rock +foundation for eternity. Other foundation for peace can no man lay +or has laid than the acceptance of the salvation offered in Jesus +Christ. He is our peace; and when we discover that, He makes peace +in us by the application to our souls of the Blood of His Cross. +This is the peace He came to bring. This the peace that the angels +announced as they sang over Bethlehem. This is the peace which is +ceaselessly proclaimed from the altars of the Christian Church, the +peace of God which passeth understanding, the peace which is +offered to all men of good will.</p> +<p>How shall we attain it? By being men of good will, plainly. But +what constitutes good will in a man? That which I have already +discussed, perhaps abundantly, simplicity and childlike obedience +of character. S. Joseph, the guardian of Mary and her Child here in +Bethlehem, is the best example we can have of a man of good will, a +man who under the most difficult circumstances responded with +perfect readiness and complete obedience to the heavenly message +that came to him. This is to be his course through the few years +that he will live, to give himself to the will of God in the care +of Jesus. We are men of good will if we do whatsoever our Lord says +to us, if we are seeking first of all the Kingdom of God and its +righteousness, if our estimate of values corresponds to our +Lord's.</p> +<p>There is our trouble--that old trouble of feebly trying to live +the life of the Kingdom when what we actually want is the offer of +this world. There is, there can be, no peace in a divided life. +There is a certain spiritual sloth which has the exterior look of +peace, as a corpse looks peaceful, but it has no relation to the +peace which God gives. It is in fact the wages of sin, wages easily +earned and long enjoyed. But so long as we are spiritually alive, +so long we cannot enjoy whole-heartedly even the most fascinating +of sins because there is lurking in the background the sense of the +transitoriness of our sin and of the imminence of death and +judgment. There is the skeleton in every man's closet until he +finally makes choice on one side or the other. For we are not +ignorant of the spiritual obligations of life. We always know more +than we have achieved. When we talk about our ignorance and +perplexity, we are not meaning ignorance and perplexity about the +obligation to live in a certain way, and to perform certain duties, +on this particular day: rather we are making this alleged ignorance +of the future an excuse for not taking action in the present, +action which we know to be obligatory.</p> +<p>And peace is so wonderful a gift! To feel oneself in harmony +with God, to know that one is carefully seeking His will and making +it one's first and highest duty to perform it. To have found the +peace of the forgiven soul as the result of absolution, at the +expense of much shame and repugnance, it may be, but with what +marvellous compensations when we go away with a sense of restored +purity and the friendship of God--life looks so different when we +look at it through purified eyes! The old life has held us so +tightly, the old sins have clung so close; and then there was a day +when we gave up self and turned to God and the Gift of God in Jesus +Christ; and then we saw how miserable and vile and naked we had +been all through the time of our boasted freedom; and we came as +children to Mary's Child and offered ourselves to Him for +cleansing. We kneel and offer to Him our wills and ask that they +may be made good, and kept good in union with His most holy will. +Then we find how true this word is: "In Me ye shall have peace: in +the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have +overcome the world." It is true, is it not? not only as we commonly +interpret, that the disciples of Christ shall have tribulation in +this world; but that much that we, giving ourselves to the world, +counted joy, was in reality tribulation, and we are glad to be rid +of it.</p> +<blockquote>A babe is born to bliss us bring.<br> +I heard a maid lulley and sing.<br> +She said: "Dear Son, leave Thy weeping:<br> +Thy, Father is the King of bliss."<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"Lulley," she said and sung also,<br> +"My own dear Son, why are Thou wo?<br> +Have I not done as I should do?<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"Nay, dear mother, for thee weep I nought,<br> +But for the woe that shall be wrought<br> +To Me ere I mankind have bought.<br> +Was never sorrow like it i-wis."<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"Peace, dear Son! Thou grievest me sore:<br> +Thou art my child, I have no more.<br> +Should I see men mine own Son slay?<br> +Alas, my dear Son, what means all this?"<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"My hands, Mother, that ye now see,<br> +Shall be nailed to a tree;<br> +My feet also fast shall be,<br> +Men shall weep that shall see this."<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"Ah, dear Son, hard is my happe<br> +To see my child that lay in my lap,--<br> +His hands, His feet that I did wrappe,--<br> +Be so nailed; they never did amisse."<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.<br> +<br> +"Ah, dear Mother, yet shall a spear<br> +My heart asunder all but tear:<br> +No wonder if I care-ful were<br> +And wept full sore to think on this."<br> + Now sing we with Angelis:<br> + Gloria in excelsis.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE MAGI</h3> +<center>Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days +of Herod the king, Behold,<br> +there came Magi from the East to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he +that is born king of the Jews?<br> +<br> +S. Matt. II, i.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Hail to thee, Mary, the fair dove, which hath borne for +us God the Word. We give thee salutation with the Angel Gabriel, +saying, Hail, thou that art full of grace; the Lord is with +thee.<br> +<br> +Hail to thee, O Virgin, the very and true Queen; hail, glory of our +race. Thou hast borne for us Emmanuel.<br> +<br> +We pray thee, remember us, O thou our faithful advocate with our +Lord Jesus Christ, that He may forgive us our sins.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">COPTIC.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-o.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>ut of the East, over the desert, we see coming to Bethlehem the +train of the star-led Magi. The devout imagination of the Church, +dwelling upon the <i>significance</i> rather than the bare +historical statements of the Gospel, have seen them as the +representatives of the whole Gentile world. We often think of the +treatment of the sacred story by the teachers and preachers of the +Church as embroidering the original narratives with legendary +material. We can look at it in that way; and by so doing, I think, +miss the meaning of the facts. What we call ecclesiastical legend +will often turn out on examination to be but the unfolding of the +meaning of an event in terms of the creative imagination. The +object is to present vividly what the event actually means when the +meaning is of such widely reaching significance as far to overpass +the simple facts. It is thus, I take it, that we must understand +the story of the Magi as it takes shape in pious story. That the +Magi were kings, and that they were three in number, emphasises the +felt importance of their coming to the cradle of our Lord. +Actually, they were understood to represent the Gentile world +offering its allegiance to our blessed Lord, and therefore they +would naturally represent the three branches of the Gentile world +as it was understood at the time. The importance of their mission +was reflected in the presentation of them as kings--no less persons +were required to fill the dignity of the part. There was, too, a +whole mass of prophecy to be reckoned with and interpreted in its +relation to the event, the most obvious of which was that of +Isaiah: "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the +brightness of thy rising."</p> +<p>The Church story is essentially true, is but a dramatic +rendering of the Gospel story. We may however content ourselves +with the more simple rendering. We can hardly think of the stable +as the setting of the reception of the Eastern Sages. Just when +they came we cannot tell; but we seem compelled to put the Epiphany +where the Church puts it in her year, somewhere between the +Nativity and the Presentation, and the scene of it will still be, +the Gospel implies, Bethlehem. "Now when Jesus was born in +Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Behold, there +came Magi from the East to Jerusalem." And at the direction of +Herod, and guided by the Star they came to Bethlehem and offered +their gifts and their worship. "They saw the young child with Mary +his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had +opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and +frankincense, and myrrh."</p> +<p>We try to get before us what would have been the mind of S. Mary +through all these happenings which attended the birth of her Child. +What is written of her here is no doubt characteristic: "Mary kept +all these and pondered them in her heart." Wonder at the ways of +God had been hers for so many months now--wonder, with devout +meditation upon their meaning. Where there is no resistance to +God's will but only the desire to know it more fully there is +always the gradual assimilation of the truth. S. Mary moves in a +realm of mystery from the moment of the Annunciation to the very +end of her life. It is so difficult to understand what is the +meaning of God in this unspeakable gift of a Son conceived by the +power of the Holy Spirit, and in the constant accompaniment of pain +and disaster and disappointment which is the unfolding experience +of her life in relation to Him. But we feel in her no speculation, +no rebellion, no insistence on knowing more; but we feel that there +must have been a growing appreciation of the work of God, +unhesitating acceptance of His will. Just to keep things in one's +heart is so often the best way of arriving at an understanding of +them; is the best way, at least, of arriving at the conviction that +what we in fact need to understand is not so much what God does as +that it is God Who does it. Our true aim in life is to understand +God, and through that understanding we shall sufficiently +understand life. Failure in human life is commonly due to an +attempt to understand life without any attempt to understand it in +relation to God. It is like an attempt to understand a work of art +without an attempt to understand the artist, to estimate in terms +of mechanical effort, rather than in terms of mind. A work of art +means what the artist means when he creates it: life means what God +means in His creation and government of it, and it is hopeless to +expect to understand it without reference to the mind of God.</p> +<p>Therefore Mary's way is the right way--the way of acceptance and +meditation. So she sought to follow the mind of God. We are told +little of her, but we are told quite enough to understand this. We +know well her method, that she kept things in her heart. And we +have one splendid example of the result of the method in the +Magnificat. There the results of her communion with God break forth +in that Canticle which ever since has been one of the priceless +treasures of the Church. The Gospels never tell us very much; but +if we will follow Mary's method they tell us enough to let us see +the very hand of God in the working out of our salvation; they give +us sample events from which we easily infer God's meaning +otherwhere.</p> +<p>And we may be sure that the months that followed the +Annunciation would have been months of ever-deepening spiritual +communion, resulting in a rapidly advancing spiritual maturity. One +necessary result would have been to prepare the blessed Mother to +receive new manifestations of God's Providence, and to fit them +into the whole body of her experience. She would not at any time be +lost in helpless surprise before a new development of the purpose +of God. Surprised as she must have been when the Eastern Sages came +to kneel before the Child she carried at her breast, and hail Him +as born King of the Jews, she would have set to work to fit this +new experience into what her acquired knowledge of the divine +meaning had become. And one can have no doubt that these visitors +from afar would have told her enough of the grounds of their action +to illumine for her the prophecies concerning her Son.</p> +<p>The special incidents that the Gospel select for record leave us +always conscious that they <i>are</i> a selection and therefore +must have special significance. That we are told that the Magi +offered certain gifts, rather than told the words of homage +wherewith they presented them turns our attention to the nature of +the gifts as presumably having a significance in themselves rather +than because of any actual value. In the gifts of these Gentiles +come from afar to kneel before Him Whom they recognise as King of +the Jews, we are compelled to see a certain attitude of humanity +toward Him Who is revealed to be not only the King of the Jews, but +Lord of Heaven and earth; they give what humanity needs must always +give--the gold of a perfect oblation, the incense of perpetual +intercession, the myrrh of a humble self-abandonment.</p> +<p>These which are offered as the ideal tribute of humanity by the +star-led Magi are found in their highest human perfection +exemplified in the Mother of the Child to Whom the tribute is made. +Perfect are they in our Lord; and she who is nearest Him in nature +is nearest Him in the perfection of nature. We turn from God's +ideal as set out in our blessed Lord to see it reflected as in a +glass in the life of her whose perfection is the perfect rendering +of His grace. Mary is so perfect because, by God's election, she is +"full of grace."</p> +<p>We, alas! limp after the ideal at a long distance. One pictures +the life of sanctity under the familiar symbol of the race course, +where many start in the race, and many, one by one, fall out by the +wayside. Those who go on the race's end, go on because of certain +qualities of endurance that we discover in them. In those who run +the spiritual race for the amaranthine crown these qualities of +endurance are not natural, but supernatural: they come not of birth +but of rebirth. They are qualities which we draw from God. "It is +not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that +showeth mercy." The hand that sets the race confers the gifts that +enable one to win it. "So run that ye may obtain."</p> +<p>And perhaps the chiefest of all those gifts is that which makes +us, the children of God, capable of the adoration of our Father. +Worship is no other than the utter giving of ourselves, giving as +Christ gave, "Who being originally in the form of God, thought it +not a thing to be grasped at to be equal with God, but emptied +Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in +the likeness of men"; giving as the blessed Virgin gave when she +gave, as she must have thought and have been willing to give, her +whole reputation among men in response to the call of God; giving +complete, in which there is no withholding. That is worship, +sacrifice, the pure gold of self-oblation.</p> +<p>But it is possible to think of the power of worship from another +point of view. God never takes but He gives. What He appears to +take He gives back with His blessing, and we find the restored gift +multiplied manifold. So in the very act of our worship God confers +on us power.</p> +<p>For it is true, is it not, that in the very act of worship we +experience, not exhaustion but exhilaration. In the very act of +giving ourselves to God, God gives Himself to us, and in +overflowing abundance. That is what we find to be true in our +highest act of worship, the blessed Eucharist. Here God and man +meet in a perfect communion. Here we offer ourselves in +sacrifice--ourselves, our souls and bodies--in union with the +sacrifice of our Lord; and here our Lord, Who is the sacrifice +itself, not only offers Himself, but also He imparts Himself to +those who are united with Him. And out of this sacrifice, thus +issuing in an act of union, there flows the perpetual renewing of +the vitality of the spiritual life. We are sustained from day to +day by this sacrificial feeding; our strength which is continually +being drawn upon by the demands of life, by the temptations we have +to resist, by the exertion that is called for in all spiritual +exercise, is renewed by our participation in the Body and Blood of +our Lord. I am sure that all those who are accustomed to frequent +communion feel the drain upon their strength when at any time they +are deprived of their great privilege. I am also sure that many who +feel that their spiritual life is but languid, or those other many +who seem only dimly to feel that there are spiritual problems to be +met, and spiritual strength needed for the meeting of them, would +find themselves immensely helped, would find their minds illumined +and their strength sustained in more frequent participation in the +sacrificial worship and feasting of the Church. The attitude of +vast numbers of those who are regarded as quite sincere Christians +is wholly incomprehensible. The life of God is day by day poured +out at the altars of the Church, and they go their way in seeming +unconsciousness of its presence, of its appeal, of its virtue, or +of their own sore need of it. The Magi come from a far distance on +a hazardous journey into an unknown country that they may offer the +gold of their adoration to an infant King; and the Christian feebly +considers whether he is not too tired to get up of a morning and go +a short distance to receive the Body and Blood of the Redeemer of +his soul!</p> +<p>The Magi came also bringing the incense of their intercession. +Their privilege was that they were admitted to the very Presence +Chamber of the great King. That the Infant in Mary's arms did not +show any sign of kingship, the humble room where they were received +bore no resemblance to the presence chamber of such kings as they +were accustomed to wait upon, was to them of no consequence. They +were endowed with the gift of faith, and believed the supernatural +guiding rather than the outward seeming. The faith that had +followed the star from so great a distance was not likely to be +quenched by the antithesis of what must have been their imagination +of the reality, of all the pictures that had been filling their +minds as they pushed on across the desert. It was no more +incredible that the King Whom they were seeking should be found in +humble guise in a peasant's cottage than that they should have been +guided to Him by a heavenly star. The gift of God to them was that +they should be permitted to enter the presence of the King.</p> +<p>This right of admission to the divine Presence is the precious +gift of God to us. Since the heavens received the ascending Lord +the Kingdom of heaven has been open to all believers. Prayer is a +very simple and common thing in our experience; and yet when we try +to think out its implications we are overwhelmed with the wonder of +it. It implies a God Who waits upon our pleasure: it reveals to us +a Father Who is ever ready to listen to the voice of His children. +No broken hearted sinner, overwhelmed with the conviction of his +vileness, cries out in the agony of his repentance but God is ready +to hear. "He is more ready to hear than we to pray." No man pours +out his thanksgivings for the abundant blessings he discovers in +his life but the heart of God is glad in his gladness. No child +kneels at night to repeat his simple prayer but God bends over him +and blesses him. The wonder of it is summed up in our Lord's words: +"The Father Himself loveth you," which are as an open door into the +inner sanctuary, an invitation to enter to those who are hesitating +on the threshold of the Holy of Holies.</p> +<p>And there is no danger of tiring God: we come ceaselessly, +endlessly. The cries of earth go up to Him, pitiful, ignorant, +foolish cries; but they find God ready to hear and answer, +fortunately not according to our ignorance but according to His +great mercy. We think of the clouds of prayer in all ages, from all +nations, in all tongues, and the very vastness of them gives us an +index of the divine love.</p> +<p>And it is not simply for ourselves that we pray, nor do we pray +by ourselves; it is of God's love that in the work of prayer we are +associated with one another. There is nothing further from the +divine plan of life than our present individualism. Our temptation +is to be egotistic and self-centred; to want to approach God alone +with our private needs and wishes. We incline to travel the +spiritual way by ourselves; we want no company; we want no one +between our souls and God. But that precisely is not the divine +method. We come to God through Christ; we come in association with +the members of the Body. Our standing as Christians before Him is +dependent upon our corporate relation to one another in His +Son.</p> +<p>Important issues are involved. We attain through this associated +life of the Christian the power of mutual intercession. We find +that it is our privilege to share our prayers with others, and to +be interested in one another's lives. We have common interests and +we work them out in common. Therefore when we try to put before us +an ideal picture of the power of prayer, it will not be the +solitary individual offering his personal supplications to the +Father, but it will be the community of the faithful assembled for +the offering of the divine Sacrifice. It is the praying Body that +best satisfies our ideal of prayer, where we are conscious of +helping one another in the work of intercession. We remember, too, +when we think of prayer as prayer of the Body of Christ, that it is +not just the visible congregation that is participating in it, but +that all the Body share in the intercessions, wherever they may +individually be. Our thoughts go up from the little assembly in the +humble church and lose themselves in the splendour of the heavenly +intercession where we are associated with prophets and apostles and +martyrs, and with Mary the Mother of God.</p> +<p>There was a third gift that the Magi brought to Him Whom they +hailed King, a gift that is more perplexing as a gift to royalty +than the other two. That gold and incense should be offered a King +is clearly His royal right; but what has he to do with the +bitterness of myrrh? But to this King myrrh is a peculiarly +appropriate gift, for it is the symbol of complete +self-abandonment. He who came to do not His own will but the will +of Him that sent Him; Who laid aside the robes of His glory, +issuing from the uncreated light that He might clothe Himself with +the humility of the flesh, is properly honoured with the gift of +myrrh.</p> +<p>And as it was the symbol of His humility, so is it the symbol of +our humanity in relation to Him. It suggests to us that uttermost +of Christian virtues, the virtue of entire abandonment to the will +of God. This is a most difficult virtue to acquire. We cling to +self. We are devoted to our own wills. We rely on our own judgment +and wisdom. We are impatient of all that gets in the way of our +self-determination. We have in these last days made a veritable +religion out of devotion to self, a cult of the ego.</p> +<p>But he who will enter into the sanctuary of the divine life, he +who will seek union with God, he who will be one with the Father in +the Son, must abandon self. He must lose his life in order to save +it. He must let go the world to cling to the Lord of life. This +will of the man which is so insistent, so persistent, so assertive, +so tenacious, must be laid aside and the Will of Another adopted in +its place. Often this is bitter. Very true of us it is that when we +were young we girded ourselves and walked whither we would; but it +must be in the end, if we make life a spiritual success, that when +we are old another shall gird us and carry us whither we would +not.</p> +<p>The secret of life is found when the bitterness of myrrh is +turned to sweetness in the discovery that the outcome of the +sacrificial life is not that it be narrowed but enlarged; and that +for the life which we have entrusted to Him God will do more than +we ask or think. When our will becomes one with the will of God we +are surprised to find that we have ceased to think of what we once +called our sacrifices, because life in Christ reveals itself to us +as of infinite joy and richness, so that we forget the things that +are behind and gladly press on.</p> +<blockquote>Queen of heaven, blessed may thou be<br> +For Godes Son born He was of thee,<br> +For to make us free.<br> + Gloria Tibi, Domine.<br> +<br> +Jesu, Godes Son, born He was<br> +In a crib with hay and grass,<br> +And died for us upon the cross.<br> + Gloria Tibi, Dominie.<br> +<br> +To our Lady make we our moan,<br> +That she may pray to her dear Son,<br> +That we may to His bliss come.<br> + Gloria Tibi, Dominie.<br> +<br> +Sixteenth Century.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE PRESENTATION</h3> +<center>And when the days of her purification according to the law +of Moses were accomplished, they<br> +brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.<br> +<br> +S. Luke II. 22.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>O come let us worship the Holy Trinity, the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost,--we the Christian nations, for He is our +true God.<br> +<br> +And we hope in Holy Mary, that God will have mercy upon us through +her prayers.<br> +<br> +Hail to thee, Mary, the fair dove, who hath borne for us God the +Word.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">COPTIC</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he reading of a story in the Gospels is often like looking +through a window down some long arcade; there is in the foreground +the group of actors in whom we are presently interested, and beyond +them is the whole background of contemporary life to which they +belong, of which they are a part. If we have time to think out the +meaning of this surrounding life we gain added insight into the +meaning of our principal characters. It is so now as we watch this +group of humble peasant folk coming up to the temple to fulfil the +demands of the law of Moses. In the precincts of the temple they +are merged in a larger group whose interests are clearly identical +with their own, and whom we easily see to be the local +representatives of a party--the name, no doubt, suggests an +organisation which they had not--scattered throughout Judea. Their +interest was the redemption of Israel. They were the true heirs of +the prophets, and among them the prophecies which concerned the +Lord's Christ were the subject of constant study and meditation. +Amid the movements and intrigues of political and religious +parties, they abode quietly in the temple, as Simeon and Anna, or +in their homes, as Zacharias and Elizabeth, <i>waiting</i>. Their +power was the silent power of sanctity, the power that flows from +lives steeped in meditation and prayer. They constitute that +remnant which is the depository of the hopes of Israel and the +saving salt which prevents the utter putrefaction of the body of +the nation.</p> +<p>We cannot for a moment doubt that Mary and Joseph were of this +remnant, and that they were in complete sympathy with those whom +they found here in the temple when the Child Jesus was brought in +"to do for him after the custom of the law." The actual ceremony of +the purification was soon over, the demands of the law satisfied. +Neither Jesus nor Mary had any inner need of these observances; +their value in their case was that by submission to them they +associated themselves closely with their brethren, our Lord thus +continuing that divine self-emptying which he had begun at the +Incarnation. We are impressed with the completeness of this +stooping of God when we see the offering that Mary brings, "A pair +of turtle doves," the offering of the very poor. Our Lord has +accepted life on its lowest economic terms in order that nothing in +His mission shall flow from adventitious aids. He must owe all in +the accomplishment of His work to the Father Who gave it Him to do. +It will be the essence of the temptation that He must soon undergo +that He shall consent to call to His aid earthly and material +supports and base His hopes of success on something other than +God.</p> +<p>Accidentally, there is this further demonstration contained in +the poverty of the Holy Family, that, namely, the completest +spiritual privilege, the fullest spiritual development, is +independent of "possessions." It is no doubt true that "great +possessions" do not of necessity create a bar in all cases to +spiritual accomplishment; but to many of us it is a consolation to +know that the completest sanctity humanity has known has been +wrought out in utter poverty of life. We shall have occasion to +speak more of this later; we now only note the fact that those whom +we meet in the pages of the New Testament as waiting hopefully for +the redemption of Israel are waiting in poverty and hard work.</p> +<p>What we find in S. Mary as she passes through the ceremony of +her purification from a child-bearing which had in no circumstance +of it anything impure, is the spirit of sacrifice which submission +to the law implies. She has caught the spirit of her Son, the +spirit of selfless offering to the will of God. It is the central +accomplishment of the life of sanctity. The life of sanctity must +be wrought out from the centre, from our contact with God. No one +becomes holy by works, whatever may be the nature of the works. +Works, the external life, are the expression of what we are, they +are the externalization of our character. If they be not the +expression of a life hid with Christ in God they can have no +spiritual value, whatever may be their social value. The kind of +works which "are done to be seen of men" "have their reward," that +is, the sort of reward they seek, human approval; they have no +value in the realm of the spirit.</p> +<p>But the life that is lived as sacrifice, as a thing perfectly +offered to God, is a life growing up in God day by day. It is our +Lord's life, summed up from this point of view in the "I come to do +thy will, O God." Its most perfect reflection is caught by blessed +Mary with her acceptance of God's will: "Behold, the handmaid of +the Lord." But it is the life expression of all sanctity; for the +saint is such chiefly by virtue of his sacrificial attitude. It is +the completest account of the life of sanctity that it "leaves all" +to follow a divine call. It is the response of the Apostles who, as +James and John, leave their father Zebedee and the boats and the +nets and the hired servants, to follow Jesus. It is the answer of +Matthew who rises from the receipt of custom at the Master's word. +It is the answer of all saints in all times. Sanctity means the +abandonment of all for Christ: it means the embracing of the +poverty of Jesus and Mary.</p> +<p>Is sanctity then, or the possibility of it, shut within the +narrow limits of a poor life? Well, even if it were, the limits +would not be so very narrow. By far the greater part of the human +race at any time has been poor, as poor as the Holy Family. +Unfortunately, Christianity is forgetting its vocation of poverty +and becoming a matter of well-to-do-ness. But we need not forget +that the poor are the majority. However, the fact is not that +economical poverty is automatically productive of spirituality, but +that accepted and offered poverty is the road to the heart of God. +It is not denied that the rich man may consecrate and offer his +goods to God and make them instruments of God's service; but in the +process he runs great risk of deceiving himself and of attempting +to deceive God--the risk of quietly substituting for the spirit of +sacrifice the spirit of commercial bargaining, and attempting to +buy the favour of God, and of ransoming his great possessions by a +well-calculated tribute. It is not so much our possessions as the +way we hold them that is in question; it is a question whether the +inner motive of our life is the will to sacrifice or the will to be +rich. "They that desire to be rich fall into temptation and a +snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in +destruction and perdition,"</p> +<p>These dangers S. Paul noted as the besetting dangers of riches +are counteracted by the possession of the spirit of sacrifice which +holds all things at the disposal of God, and views life as +opportunity for the service of God. And in so estimating life, we +must remember that money is not the only thing that human beings +possess. As I pointed out the vast majority of the human race have +no money: it by no means follows that they have no capacity or +field for the exercise of the spirit of sacrifice. There is, for +instance, an abundant opportunity for the exercise of that spirit +in the glad acceptance of the narrow lot that may be ours. Probably +many, indeed most, poor are only economically poor; they fall under +S. Paul's criticism in that "they desire to be rich," and are +therefore devoid of the spirit of sacrifice that would transform +their actual poverty into a spiritual value. But all the powers and +energies of life do in fact constitute life's capital. A poor boy +has great possessions in the gifts of nature that God has granted +him. He may use this capital as he will. He may be governed by "the +desire to be rich," or by the desire to consecrate himself to the +will and service of God--and the working out of life will be +accordingly. He may become very rich economically, or he may devote +his life to the service of his fellows as physician, teacher, +missionary, or in numberless other paths. Once more, the meaning of +life is in its voluntary direction, and whatever may be his +economic state, he may, if he will, be "rich toward God."</p> +<p>If what we are seeking is to follow the Gospel-life, if we are +seeking to express toward man the spirit of the Master, we find +abundant field for the exercise of this spirit of sacrifice in our +daily relations with others. S. Paul's rule of life: "Look not +every man to his own things, but every man also to the things of +others," is the practical rule of the sacrificed will. It seeks to +fulfil the service of the Master by taking the spirit of the +Master--His helpfulness, His consideration, His sympathy--with one +into the detail of the day's work. It is one of the peculiarities +of human nature that it finds it quite possible to work itself up +to an occasional accomplishment, especially in a spectacular +setting, of spiritual works, which it finds itself quite impotent +to do under the commonplace routine of life. The race experience is +accurately enough summed up in the cynical proverb: "No man is a +hero to his valet." It expresses the fact that in ordinary +circumstances, and under commonplace temptations, we do not succeed +in holding life to the accomplishment which is ours when we are, as +it were, on dress parade. In other words, we respond to the +opinions we desire to create in others; and the spirit of sanctity +is a response not to public opinion, but to the mind and thought of +God. When we seek the mind of Christ, and seek to reproduce that +mind in our own lives, seek to be possessed by it, then we shall +gladly render back to God all life's riches which we have received +from Him, and acknowledge in the true spirit of poverty that "all +things come of Thee, O Lord, and of Thine own have we given +Thee."</p> +<p>The world has got into a very ill way of thinking of God as +<i>force</i>. Force seems in the popular mind to be the synonym of +<i>power</i>. The only power that we understand is the power that +<i>compels</i>, that secures the execution of its will by physical +or moral constraint. With this conception of power in mind men are +continually asking: "Why does not God do this or that? If he be God +and wills goodness, why does He not execute goodness, use power to +accomplish it?"</p> +<p>It ought to be unnecessary to point out that such a conception +of power is quite foreign to the Christian conception of God. +Goodness that is compulsory is not goodness. Human legislation, in +its enforcement of law, looks not to the production of goodness but +to the production of order, a quite different thing. But God's +heart is set upon the sanctification of His children and is +satisfied with nothing less than that. "This is the will of God, +even your sanctification." But sanctification cannot be compelled. +The divine method is, that "when the fulness of time was come, God +sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem +them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of +sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son +into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Through this method we +"were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." The result is not +that we are compelled to obey, but that "the love of Christ +constraineth us." The account of the apostolic authority is not +that it is a commission to rule the universal Church, but "now then +we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; +we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."</p> +<p>The study of this divine method should put us on the right track +in the attempt to estimate the nature of sanctity and the results +we may expect from it. We shall expect nothing of spiritual value +from force. We shall be quite prepared to turn away from the +governing parties in Jerusalem as from those who have repudiated +the divine method and are therefore useless for the divine ends. We +shall turn rather to those who gather about the temple and there, +in a life of prayer and meditation, wait for the redemption. It is +to these, who are the real temple of the Lord, that the Lord "shall +come suddenly," that the manifestation of God will be made. And +their hearts will overflow with joy as they behold the fulfilment +of the promises of God.</p> +<p>The power of God is the power of love; and it is that love, and +that love alone, that has won the victories of God. It is a very +slow method, men say. No doubt. But it is the only method that has +any success. The method of force seems effective; but its triumphs +are illusory. Force cannot make men love, it can only make them +hate. The world is being won to God by the love of God manifested +in Christ Jesus our Lord. And it is as well to remember, when we +are tempted to complain of the slowness of the process, that the +slowness is ours, not God's. The process is slow because men will +not consent to become the instruments of God's love for the world, +will not transmit the crucified love of God's Son to their fellows. +They continually, in their impatience, revert to force of some +sort, for the attainment of spiritual ends. They become the tools +of all sorts of secular ambitions which promise support in return +for their co-operation. And the result may be read by any one not +blinded by prejudice in the futility and incompetence of modern +religions of all sorts. It is seen perhaps most of all in the pride +of opinion which keeps the Christian world in a fragmentary +condition, and which approaches the undoing of the sin of a divided +Christendom with the preliminary announcement that no separated +body must be required to admit that it has been in the wrong. Human +disregard of the divine method of love and humility can hardly go +farther; and the only practical result that can be expected to +follow is such as followed from the negotiations of Herod and +Pontius Pilate--a new Crucifixion of the Ever-sacrificed +Christ.</p> +<p>We have risen to the divine method when we have learned to rely +for spiritual results upon God alone. Then is revealed to us the +power of sanctity. We turn over the pages of the lives of the +saints, of those who have been great in the Kingdom of God, and we +are struck by the growing influence of these men and women. They +are simple men and women whose life's energy is concentrated on +some special work; they are confessors or directors; they work +among the very poor; they lead lives of retirement in Religious +Houses; they are preachers of the Gospel; they are missionaries. +The one thing that they appear to have in common is utter +consecration to the work in hand. And we see, it may be with some +wonder, that as they become more and more absorbed in their special +work, they become more and more centres of influence. Without at +all willing it they draw people about them, become centres of +influences, arouse interest, become widely known. In short, they +are, without willing it, centres of energy. Of what energy? +Obviously, of the energy of love: the love of God manifested in +them draws men to God. The man at whose disposal is unlimited force +compels men to do his will; but he draws no one to him except the +hypocrite and the sycophant who expect to gain something by their +servility. The saint draws men, not to himself, but to God; for +obviously it is not his power but God's power that is being +manifested through him.</p> +<p>Unless we are very unfortunate we all know people whose +attractiveness is the attractiveness of simple goodness. They are +not learned nor influential nor witty nor clever, but we like to be +with them. When we are asked why, we can only explain it by the +attractiveness of their Christlikeness. What we gain from +intercourse with them is spiritual insight and power. Their +influence might be described as sacramental: they are means our +Blessed Lord uses to impart Himself. They are so filled with the +mind of Christ that they easily show Him to the world; and withal, +quite unconsciously. For great love is possible only where there is +great humility.</p> +<p>And this power of sanctity which is the outcome of union with +God is a permanent acquisition to the Kingdom of God. God's Kingdom +is ultimately a Kingdom of saints. The sphere of God's +self-manifestation in human life increases ever as the saints +increase; and the power of sanctity necessarily remains while the +saint remains, that is, forever. The saint remains a permanent +organ of the Body of Christ, a perdurable instrument of the divine +love. To speak humanly, the more saints there are, the more the +love of God can manifest itself; the wider its influence on +humanity. And the greater the Saint, that is, the nearer the Saint +approaches the perfection of God, to which he is called--Be ye +therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect--the more +influential he must be; that is the more perfectly he will show the +divine likeness and transmit the divine influence. When we think of +the power of the saints as intercessors that is what actually we +are thinking of,--the perfection of their understanding of the mind +of Christ.</p> +<p>But to return to this world and to the gathering in the temple +on the day of the Purification. These are they in whom the hope of +Israel rests. Israel is not a failure because it has brought forth +these. God's work through the centuries has not come to naught +because in these there is the possibility of a new beginning. The +consummate flower of Israel's life is the Blessed Mother through +whom God becomes man; and these who meet her in the temple are the +representatives of those hidden ones in Israel who will be the +field wherein the seed of the Word can be sown and where it will +bring forth fruit an hundredfold. Jesus, this Child, is God made +man; and these around Him to-day, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, +are those who will receive His love and will show its power in the +universe forever.</p> +<p>And so it will remain always; the good ground wherein the seed +may be sown and bring forth unto eternal life is the spiritual +nature of man, made ready by humility and love,--"In quietness and +confidence shall be your strength." In the quietness that waits for +God to act, the confidence that knows that He will act when the +time comes. It is well if our aspiration is to be of the number of +those who live lives hid with Christ in God; who are seeking +nothing but that the love of God may be shed abroad in their +hearts; who are "constrained" by nothing but the love of Jesus. It +is true that this simplicity of motive and aim will bring it about +that our lives will be hidden lives, lives of which the world will +take no note. We may be quite sure that none of the rulers of +Israel thought much about old Simeon who passed his time praying in +the temple. And if we want to be known of rulers it is doubtless a +mistake to take the road that Simeon followed. But the reward of +that way was that he saw "the Lord's Christ," that it was permitted +him to take in his arms Incarnate God, and then, in his rapture, to +sing <i>Nunc Dimittis</i>. We cannot travel two roads at once. When +the Holy Family goes out from the temple it can go, if it will, to +the palace of Herod, or it can go back to Bethlehem. It cannot go +both ways and we know the way that it took. And we in our +self-examination to-night can see two roads stretching out before +us. We can go the way of the world, the way that seeks (whether it +finds or no) popularity and prominence, or we can join the Holy +Family and in company with Jesus and Mary and Joseph go back to the +quietness and hiddenness of the House of Bread where the saints +dwell. With them, sheltered by the Sacrifice of Jesus and the +prayers of Mary and Joseph we can wait for the Redemption in the +full manifestation of the life of God in us, and for the time when +the love of God shall be fully "shed abroad in our hearts by the +Holy Ghost which is given us."</p> +<blockquote>O Sion, ope thy temple-gates;<br> +See, Christ, the Priest and Victim, waits--<br> + Let lifeless shadows flee:<br> +No more to heaven shall vainly rise<br> +The ancient rites--a sacrifice<br> + All pure and perfect, see.<br> +<br> +Behold, the Maiden knowing well<br> +The hidden Godhead that doth dwell<br> + In him her infant Son:<br> +And with her Infant, see her bring<br> +The doves, the humble offering<br> + For Christ, the Holy One.<br> +<br> +Here, all who for his coming sighed<br> +Behold him, and are satisfied--<br> + Their faith the prize hath won:<br> +While Mary, in her breast conceals<br> +The holy joys her Lord reveals,<br> + And ponders them alone.<br> +<br> +Come, let us tune our hearts to sing<br> +The glory of our God and King,<br> + The blessed One and Three:<br> +Be everlasting praise and love<br> +To him who reigns in heaven above,<br> + Through all eternity.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<br> +<h3>EGYPT</h3> +<center>The angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, +saying,<br> +Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into +Egypt.<br> +<br> +S. Matt. II, 13.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils +past, present, and to come: and at the intercession for us of +Blessed Mary who brought forth God and our Lord, Jesus Christ; and +of the holy apostles Peter, and Paul, and Andrew; and of blessed +Ambrose Thy confessor, and bishop, together with all Thy saints, +favorably give peace in our days, that, assisted by the help of Thy +mercy, we may ever be both delivered from sin, and safe from all +turmoil. Fulfil this, by Him, with Whom Thou livest blessed, and +reignest God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and +ever.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">AMBROSIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hose who live in intimate union with God, the peace of whose +lives is untroubled by the constant irruption of sin, are +peculiarly sensitive to that mode of the divine action that we call +supernatural. I suppose that it is not that God wishes to reveal +Himself to souls only at crises of their experience or under +exceptional conditions, but that only souls of an exceptional +spiritual sensitivity are capable of this sort of approach. +Communications of the divine will through dream or vision of inner +voice are the accompaniment of sanctity; one may almost say that +they are the normal means in the case of advanced sanctity. Most of +us are too much immersed in the world, are too much the slaves of +material things, to be open to this still, small voice of +revelation. Our eyes are dimned by the garish light of the world, +and our ears dulled by its clamour, so that our powers of spiritual +perception are of the slightest. This is quite intelligible; and we +ought not to fall into the mistake of assuming that our undeveloped +spirituality is normal, and that what does not happen to us is +inconceivable as having happened at all. If we want to know the +truth about spiritual phenomena we shall put ourselves to school to +those whose spiritual natures have attained the highest development +and in whose experience spiritual phenomena are of almost daily +happening.</p> +<p>To the man "whose talk is of oxen," whose whole life is absorbed +in the study of material things, a purely spiritual manifestation +comes as a surprise. His instinctive impulse is to deny its reality +as a thing obviously impertinent to his understanding of life. But +one whose life is based on spiritual postulates, who is, however +feebly, attempting to shape life in accordance with spiritual +principles, though he may never have attained anything that can be +interpreted as a distinct revelation from God by vision or voice or +otherwise, yet must he by the very basic assumptions of his life be +ready to regard such manifestations of God as intelligible, and +indeed to be expected. So far from regarding divine interventions +in life as impossible, we shall regard the Christian life which has +no experience of them as abnormal, as not having realised its +inheritance. The degree and kind of such intervention in life will +vary; but it is the fact of the intervention that is important: the +mode in a special case will be determined by the needs of that +case. As we think along these lines we reach the conclusion that +what we call the supernatural is not the unnatural or the abnormal, +but is a higher mode of the natural.</p> +<p>We are not surprised therefore to find that those whose +spiritual development was such as to make it possible for God to +choose them to fulfil special offices in relation to the +Incarnation; who could be chosen to be, in the one case, the Mother +of God-incarnate, and in the other, to be the guardian of the +divine Child and His Blessed Mother, have the divine will in regard +to the details of the trust committed to them, imparted to them in +vision and in dream. So far from such vision and dream suggesting +to us "a mythical element" in the Gospel narratives, they rather +confirm our faith in that they harmonize with our instinctive +conclusions as to what would be natural under the circumstances. We +are prepared to be told that at this crisis in the Holy Child's +life "the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, +Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into +Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will +seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the +young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt."</p> +<p>Thus early in our Lord's life is the element of tragedy +introduced. The Incarnation of God stirs the diabolic powers, the +rulers of "this darkness" to excited activity. The companion +picture of the Nativity, of the Holy Child lying in Mary's arms, of +the wondering shepherds, of the Magi from a far country,--the +shadow of all this idyllic beauty is the massacre of the Innocents, +the wailing of Rachel for her children. It is, as it were, the +opening of a new stage in the world-old conflict where the powers +of evil appear to have the advantage and can show the bodies of +murdered infants as the trophies of their victory.</p> +<p>But are we to think of the death of a child as a disaster? Has +any actual victory redounded to the Prince of Power of the Air? One +understands of course the grief and sense of loss that attends the +death of any child, the breaking of the dreams which had gathered +about its future. What the father and the mother dreamed over the +cradle and planned for the future does not come to pass--all that +is true. But in a consideration of the broader interests involved, +does not the death of a baby have a meaning far deeper than a +disappointment of hopes and dreams? It is true, is it not? that the +coming of the child brought enrichment into the life of its +parents? There was a new love born for this one child which is not +the common property of all the children of the family, but is the +peculiar possession of this child and its parents. Life--the life +of the parents--is better and nobler by virtue of this love. They +understand this, because when they stand by the side of the child's +coffin they never feel that it had been better that this child had +not come into existence. And more than that: as they commit this +fragile body to the grave they know that there is no real sense in +which they can say that they have lost this child. Rather, the +child is a perpetual treasure, for the moment contemplated through +tears, but presently to be thought of with unclouded joy. It is so +wonderful a thing to think of this pure soul caught back to God; to +think of it growing to spiritual maturity in God's very presence; +to think of it following the Lamb withersoever He goeth. Yes: to +think of it also as our child still, with our love in its heart, +knowing that it has a father and a mother on earth, and, that, just +because of its early death, it can be to them, what otherwise they +would have been to it--the guard and helper of their Jives. In +God's presence are the souls of children as perpetual intercessors +for those whom they have left on earth; and they may well rejoice +before God in that what appeared the tragedy of their death was in +fact a recall from the field of battle before the testing of their +life was made. We wept as over an irreparable loss,</p> +<blockquote>While into nothingness crept back a host<br> +Of shadows unexplored, of sins unsinned.</blockquote> +<p>The artists have imagined the souls of those who first died for +Jesus attending Him on the way to Egypt as a celestial guard. In +any case we are certain that the angels who watched about Him so +closely all His life were with the Holy Family as they set out upon +the way of exile. It would have been a wearisome march but that +Jesus was there. His presence lightened all the toils of the desert +way. Egypt, their place of refuge, would not have seemed to them +what it seems to us, a land of wonder, of marvellous creations of +human skill and intelligence, but a place of banishment from all +that was dear, from the ties of home and religion. The religion +which lay wrapped in the Holy Child was to break down barriers and +hindrances to the worship of God; but the time was not yet. For +them still the Holy Land, Jerusalem, the Temple, were the place of +God's manifestation, and all else the dwelling place of idols. They +must have shuddered in abhorrence at those strange forms of gods +which rose about them on every hand. We cannot ourselves fail to +draw the contrast between the statues which filled the Egyptian +sanctuaries and before which all Egypt, rich and poor, mighty and +humble, prostrated themselves, and this Child sleeping on Mary's +breast. The imagination of the Christian community later caught +this contrast and embodied it in the legend that when Jesus crossed +the border of Egypt, all the idols of the land of Egypt fell +down.</p> +<p>We cannot follow the thought of the Blessed Mother through these +strange scenes and the experiences of these days. No doubt in the +Jewish communities already flourishing in Egypt there would be +welcome and the means of livelihood. But there would be perplexing +questions to one whose habit it was to keep all things which +concerned her strange Child hidden in her heart, the subject of +constant meditation. Why, after the divine action which had been so +constant from His conception to His birth, and in the circumstances +which attended His birth, this reversal, this defeat and flight? +Why after Bethlehem, Egypt? Why after Gabriel, Herod?</p> +<p>It brings us back again to the primary fact that the Incarnation +is essentially a stage in a battle, and that the nature of God's +battles is such that He constantly appears to lose them. He "goes +forth as a giant to run His course"; but the eyes of man cannot see +the giant--they see only a Babe laid in a manger. We are tricked by +our notion of what is powerful.</p> +<blockquote>"They all were looking for a king<br> +To slay their foes and lift them high;<br> +Thou cam'st, a little baby thing<br> +That made a woman cry."</blockquote> +<p>The battle presents itself to us as a demand that we choose, +that we take sides. The demand of Christ is that we associate +ourselves with Him, or that we define our position as on the other +side. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God" is a saying +that is true when reversed: The friendship of God is enmity with +the world. An open disclosure of the friendship of God sets all the +powers of the world against us. This may be uncomfortable; but +there does not appear to be any way of avoiding the opposition.</p> +<p>Our Lord, in His Incarnation, not only stripped Himself of His +glory, took the servant form, and in doing so deliberately deprived +Himself of certain means which would have been vastly influential +in dealing with men, but He also declined, in assuming human +nature, to assume it under conditions which would have conferred +upon Him any adventitious advantage in the prosecution of His work. +He would display to men neither divine nor human glory: He would +have no aid from power or position, from wealth or learning. He +undertook His work in the strength of a pure humanity united with +God. He declined all else. And He found that almost the first event +of His life was to be driven into exile.</p> +<p>And they who are associated with Him necessarily share His +fortunes. Unless they will abandon the Child, Mary and Joseph must +set out on the desert way. They had no doubt much to learn; but +what is important is not the size or amount of what we learn, but +the learning of it. When we are called, as they were, to leave all +for Christ, it often turns out as hard, oftentimes harder, to leave +property as riches; and the reason is that what we ultimately are +leaving is neither poverty nor riches, but self: and self to us is +always a "great possession."</p> +<p>Therein, I suppose, lies the solution of the problem of the +relation of property and Christianity in the common life. Idleness +is sin; every one is bound to some useful labour, no matter what +his material resources may be. And if we work for our living, if +our labour is to be such as will support us, then there at once +arises the problem of possessions. Useful, steady labour will +ordinarily produce more than "food and raiment." Under present +social arrangments accumulated property is handed on to heirs. A +man naturally wants to make some provision for his family. Or he +finds himself in possession of considerable wealth and the impulse +is to spend in luxuries of one sort or another,--modern invention +has put endless means of ministering to physical or aesthetic +comfort within his reach. He can have a motor car, a country house, +an expensive library; he can have beautiful works of art. And then +he is confronted with the picture of the Holy Family which can +never have lived much beyond the poverty line. He realises the +nature of our Lord's life of poverty and ministry. And though the +plain man may not feel that he can go very far in imitating this +life, he does feel that there is a splendour of achievement in +those who take our Lord at His word and sell all to follow Him.</p> +<p>But the literal abandonment of life to the ideal of poverty is +clearly not what our Lord contemplated for the universal practice +of His followers. He nowhere indicates that all gainful labour is +to be abandoned, or that having gained enough for food and raiment +we are to idle thereafter, or even give ourselves to some ungainful +work. The Kingdom of heaven does not appear to be society organised +on the lines of socialism or otherwise. Our Lord contemplated life +going on as it is, only governed by a new set of motives. It has as +the result of the acceptance of the Gospel a new Orientation; and +as a result of that it will view "possessions" in a new way. The +acceptance of the Gospel means the self surrendered utterly to the +will of God, and all that self possesses held at the disposal of +that will. We may expect that God's will for us will be manifested +in the events of life and its opportunities, and we shall hold +ourselves alert and ready to embrace that will. It may be that the +call will come to sell all, and we need to beware lest the +thoroughness of the demand terrify us into the repudiation of our +Lord's service; lest the thought of the sacrificed possessions send +us away sorrowing. Ordinarily the call is less searching than that; +or perhaps the mercy of God spares us from demands that would be +beyond our strength. In any case, the truly consecrated self will +regard luxury as a dangerous thing, replete with entanglements of +all kinds, that it were well to avoid at the expense of any +sacrifice. One does well to hold "possessions" in a very loose +grip, lest the hold be reversed, and we become their servants +rather than they ours. And it is well to emphasise again that the +mere size of possessions is of small importance. There is a not +very rational tendency to think of this as being a matter of +millions, for the man of moderate income to think that there is no +problem for him. The problem is as pressing for him as for any man. +His minimum of comfort may be as tightly grasped as the other man's +maximum. The only solution of the problem will be found in the +converted self. Those who have really given themselves to God hold +all things at His disposal. They are not thinking how they can +indulge self but how they can glorify God.</p> +<p>Egypt to many will stand for another sort of abandonment which +much perplexes the immature Christian: that is, the sort of +isolation in which the new Christian is quite likely to find +himself when first he attempts to put Christian principles into +practice. We imagine one brought up in the ordinary mixed circles +of society, where there are unbelievers and lax Christians mingled +together, and where there are no principles firmly enough held to +interfere with any sort of enjoyment of life which offers. Such an +one--a young woman, let us suppose--in the Providence of God +becomes converted to our Lord, and comes to see that the lax and +indifferent Christian life she had been leading was a mere mockery +of Christian living. Speedily does she find when she attempts to +put into action the principles of living which she now understands +to be the meaning of the Gospel that a breach of sympathy has been +opened between her and her accustomed companions; that many things +which she was accustomed to do in their society and which made for +their common fund of amusement are no longer possible to her. The +careless talk, the shameless dress, the gambling, the drinking, the +Sunday amusements--such things as these she has thrown over; and +she finds that with them she has thrown over the basis of intimacy +with her usual companions. It is not that they are antagonistic but +simply that their points of contact have ceased to exist. Her own +inhibitions exclude her automatically from most of the activities +of her social circle. She finds herself much alone. Her friends are +sorry for her and think her foolish and try to win her back, but it +is clear to her that she can only go back by going back from +Christ.</p> +<p>This is the common case of the young whether boy or girl to-day, +and the practical question is, Can they endure the isolation? It is +easy to say: Let them make Christian friends; but that is not +always practical, especially in the present state of the Church +when there is no cohesion among its members, no true sense of +constituting a Brotherhood, of being members of the same Body. We +have to admit that the attempt to hold a high standard usually ends +in failure, at least the practical failure of a weak compromise. +But there are characters that are strong enough to face the +isolation and to readjust life on the basis of the new principles +and to mould it in accord with the new ideals. The period of this +readjustment is one of severe testing of one's grasp on principles +and one's strength of purpose. But the battle once fought out we +attain a new kind of freedom and expansion of life. We look back +with some amusement at the old life and the things that fascinated +us in the days of our spiritual unconsciousness much as we look +back at the games that amused us in our childish hours. The desert +of Egypt that we entered with trepidation and fearful hearts turns +out not to be so dreadful as we imagined, and indeed the flowers +spring up under our feet as we resolutely tread the desert way.</p> +<p>These trials must be the daily experience of those who attempt +to put their religion into practice, and these perplexities must +assail them so long as the Christian community continues to show +its present social incompetence; so long, that is, as we attempt to +make the basis of our social action something other than the +principles of the spiritual life. A Christian society, one would +naturally think, would spring out of the possession of Christian +ideals; and doubtless it would if these ideals were really dominant +in life, and not a sort of ornament applied to it. Any social +circle contains men and women of various degrees of intellectual +development and of varying degrees of experience of life; what +holds them together is the pursuit of common objects, the objects +that we sum up as amusement. Now the Christians in a community +certainly have a common object, the cultivation of the spiritual +life through the supernatural means offered by the Church of God. +One would think that this object would have a more constraining +power than the attractions of motoring or golf; but in fact we know +that this is not so save in individual cases. There is not, that is +to say, anywhere visible a Christian community which is wrought +into a unity by the solidifying forces of its professed ideals. +Those very people whose paths converge week by week until they meet +at this altar, as they leave the altar, follow diverging paths and +live in isolation for the rest of their time.</p> +<p>One of the constant problems of the Church is that of the loss +of those who have for a time been associated with it--of those who +have for a time seemed to recognise their duty to God, and their +privileges as members of His Son. They drift away into the world. +We pray and meditate and worry over this and try to invent some +machinery which will overcome it. But it cannot be overcome by +machinery, especially by the sort of machinery which consists in +transferring the amusements that people find in the world bodily +into the Church itself. It cannot and will not be overcome until a +Christian society has been created which is bound together by the +interests of the Kingdom of God, and in which those interests are +so predominant as to throw into the shade and practically +annihilate other interests. And especially must such spiritual +interests be strong enough to break down all social barriers so +that the cultured and refined can find a common ground with the +uneducated and socially untrained in the spiritual privileges that +they share in common. When the banker can talk with his chauffeur +of their common experience in prayer, and the banker's wife and her +cook can confer on their mutual difficulties in making a +meditation, then we shall have got within sight of a Christian +society; but at present, while these have no spiritual contact, it +is not within sight. The primitive Christian community in Jerusalem +made the attempt at having all things in common. Their mistake +seems to have been that they, like other and more modern people, by +"all things" understood money. You cannot build any society which +is worth the name on money, a Church least of all. It is +unimportant whether a man is rich or poor; what is important is his +spiritual accomplishment: and it is common spiritual aims and +accomplishments which should make up the "all things" which +possessed in common will form the basis of an enduring unity. But +not until accomplishment becomes the supreme interest of life can +we expect to get out of the impasse in which we at present find +ourselves; in which, that is, the person can be converted to +Christianity and enter into union with God in Christ and become a +citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and wake to find himself isolated +from his old circle by his profession of new principles; but not, +by his new principles, truly united to his fellow citizens in the +Kingdom of God! One is tempted to write, What a comedy; but before +one can do so, realises that it is in fact a tragedy!</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Mother of God--oh, rare prerogative;<br> +Oh, glorious title--what more special grace<br> +Could unto thee thy dear Son, dread God, give<br> +To show how far thou dost all creatures pass?<br> +That mighty power within the narrow fold<br> +Did of thy ne'er polluted womb remain,<br> +Whom, whiles he doth th' all-ruling Sceptre hold,<br> +Not earth, nor yet the heavens can contain;<br> +Thou in the springtide of thy age brought'st forth<br> +Him who before all matter, time and place,<br> +Begotten of th' Eternal Father was.<br> +Oh, be thou then, while we admire thy worth<br> +A means unto that Son not to proceed<br> +In rigour with us for each sinful deed.<br> +<br> +John Brereley, Priest<br> +(Vere Lawrence Anderton, S.J.)<br> +1575-1643</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<br> +<h3>NAZARETH</h3> +<center>And he went down with them, and came to<br> +Nazareth, and was subject unto them.<br> +<br> +S. Luke II, 51.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>The Holy Church acknowledges and confesses the pure +Virgin Mary as Mother of God through whom has been given unto us +the bread of immortality and the wine of consolation. Give +blessings then in spiritual song.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">ARMENIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-a.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>fter the rapid succession of fascinating pictures which are +etched for us in the opening chapters of the Gospel there follows a +space of about twelve years of which we are told nothing. The +fables which fill the pages of the Apocryphal Gospels serve chiefly +to emphasise the difference between an inspired and an uninspired +narrative. The human imagination trying to develop the situation +suggested by the Gospel and to fill in the unwritten chapters of +our Lord's life betrays its incompetence to create a story of God +Incarnate which shall have the slightest convincing power. These +Apocryphal stories are immensely valuable to us as, by contrast, +creating confidence in the story of Jesus as told by the +Evangelists, but for nothing more.</p> +<p>We are left to use our own imagination in filling in these years +of silence in our Lord's training; and we shall best use it, not by +trying to imagine what may have occurred, but by trying to +understand what is necessarily involved in the facts as we know +them. We know that the home in Nazareth whither Mary and Joseph +brought Jesus after the death of Herod permitted them to return +from Egypt was the simple home of a carpenter. It would appear to +have been shared by the children of Joseph, and our Lady would have +been the house-mother, busy with many cares. We know, too, that +under this commonplace exterior of a poor household there was a +life of the spirit of far reaching significance. Mary was +ceaselessly pondering many things--the significance of all those +happenings which, as the years flowed on without any further +supernatural intervention, must at times have seemed as though they +were quite purposeless. Of course this could not have been a +settled feeling, for the insight of her pure soul would have held +her to the certainty that such actions of God as she had +experienced would some day reveal the meaning which as yet lay +hidden.</p> +<p>In the meantime other things did not matter much, seeing she had +Jesus, the object of endless love. Every mother dreams over the +baby she cares for and looks out into the future with trembling +hope; so S. Mary's thoughts would go out following the hints of +prophecy and angelic utterances, unable to understand how the light +and shadow which were mingled there could find fulfilment in her +Child. But like any other mother the thought would come back to her +present possession, the satisfaction of her heart that she had in +Jesus. With the growth of Jesus there would come the unfolding of +the answering love, which was but another mode in which the love of +God she had experienced all her life was manifesting itself. Jesus +grew in wisdom and stature and we are able to enter a little into +the over-flowing love of Mary as she watched the advance, this +unfolding from day to day. The wonder that was hers in guiding this +mind and will, in teaching our Lord His first prayers, in telling +Him the story of the people of whom He had assumed our nature! +There was here no self-will, no resistance to guidance, no +perversity to wound a mother's heart. In the training of an +ordinary child there are from time to time hints of characteristics +or tendencies which may develop later into spiritual or moral +disaster. There are growls of the sleeping beast which make us +tremble for the future: there are hours of agony when we think of +the inevitable temptations which must be met, and suggestions of +weakness which colour our imagination of the meeting of them with +the lurid light of defeat. But as Mary watched the unfolding +character of Jesus she saw nothing there that carried with it the +least suggestion of evil growth in the future, no outcropping of +hereditary sin or disordered appetite. A constantly unfolding +intelligence, and growing interest in the things that most +interested her, an eagerness to hear and to know of the will and +love of the eternal Father, these are her joy. That would have been +the centre--would it not?--of the unfolding consciousness of Jesus: +the knowledge of the Father.</p> +<p>Training by love, so we might describe the life in the Home at +Nazareth. And we must not forget the grave ageing figure who is the +head of the household. <i>The Holy Family</i>--that was the perfect +unity that their love created. There is a wonderful picture of +these three by Sassaferato which catches, as no other Holy Family +that I know of does, the meaning of their association. S. Mary whom +the artistic imagination is so apt, after the Nativity, to +transform into a stately matron, here still retains the note of +virginity which in fact she never lost. It is the maiden-mother who +stands by the side of the grave, elderly S. Joseph, the ideal +workman, who is also the ideal guardian of his maiden-wife. And +Jesus binds these two together and with them makes a unity, +interpreting to us the perfection of family life.</p> +<p>Family life is a tremendous test, it brings out the best and the +worst of those who are associated in it. The ordinary restraints of +social intercourse are of less force in the intimacy of family +life: there is less need felt to watch conduct, or to mask what we +know are our disagreeable traits. It is quite easy for character to +deteriorate in the freedom of such intercourse. It is pretty sure +to do so unless there is the constant pressure of principle in the +other direction. The great safeguard is the sort of love that is +based on mutual respect,--respect both for ourselves and for +others. We talk a good deal as though love were always alike; as +though the fact that a man and a woman love each other were always +the same sort of fact. It does not require much knowledge of human +nature or much reflection to convince us that that is not the case. +Love is not a purely physical fact; and outside its physical +implications there are many factors which may enter, whose +existence constitute the <i>differentia</i> from case to case. It +is upon these varying elements that the happiness of the family +life depends. One of the most important is that character on either +side shall be such as to inspire respect. Many a marriage goes to +pieces on this rock; it is found that the person who exercised a +certain kind of fascination shows in the intimacy of married life a +character and qualities which are repulsive; a shallowness which +inspires contempt, an egotism which is intolerable, a laxity in the +treatment of obligations which destroys any sense of the stability +of life. A marriage which does not grow into a relation of mutual +honour and respect must always be in a state of unstable +equilibrium, constantly subject to storms of passion, to suspicion +and distrust.</p> +<p>And therefore such a marriage will afford no safe basis on which +to build a family life. But without a stable family life a stable +social and religious life is impossible. It is therefore no +surprise to those who believe that the powers of evil are active in +the world to find that the family is the very centre of their +attack at the present time. The crass egotism lying back of so much +modern teaching is nowhere more clearly visible than in the +assertion of the right of self-determination so blatantly made in +popular writings. By self-determination is ultimately meant the +right of the individual to seek his own happiness in his own way, +and to make pleasure the rule of his life. "The right to happiness" +is claimed in utter disregard of the fact that the claim often +involves the unhappiness of others. "The supremacy of love," +meaning the supremacy of animalism, is the excuse for undermining +the very foundations of family life. No obligation, it appears, can +have a binding force longer than the parties to it find +gratification in it. Personal inclination and gratification is held +sufficient ground for action whose consequences are far from being +personal, which, in fact, affect the sane and healthy state of +society as a whole.</p> +<p>The decline of a civilisation has always shown itself more +markedly in the decline of the family life than elsewhere. The +family, not the individual, is the basis of the social state, and +no amount of theorising can make the fact different. Whatever +assails the integrity of the family assails the life of the state, +and no single family can be destroyed without society as a whole +feeling the effect. "What," it is asked, "is to be done? If two +people find that they have blundered, are they to go on +indefinitely suffering from the result of their blunder? If an +immature boy or girl in a moment of passion make a mistake as to +their suitability to live together, are they to be compelled to do +so at the expense of constant unhappiness?"</p> +<p>It would seem obvious to say that justice requires that those +who make blunders should take the consequences of them; that those +who create a situation involving suffering should do the suffering +themselves and not attempt to pass it on to others. It is not as +though the consequences of the act can be avoided; they cannot. +What happens is that the incidence of them is shifted. It is a part +of the brutal egotism of divorce that it is quite willing to shift +the incidence of the suffering that it has created on to the lives +of wholly innocent people; in many cases upon children, in all +cases upon society at large. For it is necessary to emphasize the +fact that society is a closely compact body: so interwoven is life +with life that if one member suffer the other members suffer with +it. Breaches of moral order are not individual matters but social. +This truth is implied in society's constantly asserted right to +regulate family relations in the general interest even after it has +ceased to think of such relations as having any spiritual +significance. We need to-day a more vivid sense of the +<i>community</i> lest we shall see all sense of a common life +engulfed in the rising tide of individual anarchism. We need the +assertion in energetic form of the right of the community as +supreme over the right of the individual. We must deny the right of +the individual to pursue his own way and his own pleasure at the +expense of the rights of others. And to his insolent question, "Why +should I suffer in an intolerable situation?" we must plainly +answer: "Because you are responsible for the situation, and it is +intolerable that you should be permitted to throw off the results +of your wickedness or your stupidity upon other and innocent +people."</p> +<p>And it is quite clear that should society assert its pre-eminent +right in unmistakable form and make it evident that it does not +propose to tolerate the results of the egotistic nonsense of +self-determination and the right of every one to live his own life, +the evils of divorce and of shattered families would presently +shrink to relatively small proportions. The present facility of +divorce encourages thoughtless and unsuitable marriages in the +first place; and in the second place, encourages the resort to +divorce in circumstances of family disturbance which would speedily +right themselves in the present as they have done in the past if +those concerned knew that their happiness and comfort for years +compelled an adjustment of life. When as at present any one who +loses his temper can rush off to a court and get a marriage +dissolved for some quite trivial reason, there is small +encouragement to practice self-control. If a man and woman know +that the consequences of conduct must be faced by them, and cannot +be avoided by thrusting them upon others, they will no doubt in the +course of time learn to exercise a little self-control.</p> +<p>The family is the foundation of the state because, among other +things, it is the natural training place of citizens: no public +training in schools and camps can for a moment safely be looked to +as a substitute or an equivalent of wholesome family influence. If +the family does not make good citizens we cannot have good +citizens. The family too is at the basis of organised religious +life; if the family does not make good Christians we shall not have +good Christians. The Sunday School and the Church societies are +poor substitutes for the religious influence of the family, as the +school and the camp are for its social interests.</p> +<p>One is inclined to stress the obvious failure of the family to +fulfil its alloted functions in the teaching of religion as the +root difficulty that the Christian religion has to encounter and +the most comprehensive cause of its relative failure in modern +life. The responsibility for the religious and moral training of +children rests squarely upon those who have assumed the +responsibility of bringing them into the world, and it cannot be +rightly pushed off on to some one else. To the protest of parents +that they are incompetent to conduct such training, the only +possible reply is a blunt, "Whose fault is that?" If you have been +so careless of the fundamental responsibilities of life, you are +incompetent to assume a relation which of necessity carries such +responsibility with it. It is no light matter to have committed to +you the care of an immortal soul whose eternal future may quite +well be conditioned on the way in which you fulfil your trust. It +would be well as a preliminary to marriage to take a little of the +time ordinarily given to its frivolous accompaniments and seriously +meditate upon the words of our Lord which seem wholly appropriate +to the circumstance: "Whoso shall cause to stumble one of these +little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a +millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in +the depths of the sea." It is the careless and incompetent training +of children which in fact "causes them to stumble" when the +presence of word and example would have held them straight. It has +been (to speak personally) the greatest trial of my priesthood that +out of the thousands of children I have dealt with, in only rare +cases have I had the entire support of the family; and I have +always considered that I was fortunate when I met with no +interference and was given an indifferent tolerance. It is +heart-breaking to see years of careful work brought to naught (so +far as the human eye can see: the divine eye can see deeper) by the +brutal materialism of a father and the silly worldliness of a +mother.</p> +<p>The interplay of lives in a family should be consciously +directed by those who control them to the cultivation, to the +bringing out of the best that is in them. Education means the +drawing out of the innate powers of the personality and the +training of them for the highest purposes. It is the deliberate +direction of personal powers to the highest ends, the discipline of +them for the performance of those ends. The life of a child should +be shaped with reference to its final destiny from the moment of +its birth. It should be surrounded with an atmosphere of prayer and +charity which would be the natural atmosphere in which it would +expand as it grows, and in terms of which it would learn to express +itself as soon as it reaches sufficient maturity to express itself +at all. It should become familiar with spiritual language and modes +of action, and meet nothing that is inharmonious with these. But we +know that the education of the Christian child is commonly the +opposite of all this. It learns little that is spiritual. When it +comes to learn religion it is obviously a matter of small +importance in the family life; if there is any expression of it at +all, it is one that is crowded into corners and constantly swamped +by other interests which are obviously felt to be of more +importance. Too often the spiritual state of the family may be +summed up in the words of the small boy who condensed his +observation of life into the axiom: "Men and dogs do not go to +Church." In such an atmosphere the child finds religion and morals +reduced to a system of repression. God becomes a man with a club +constantly saying, Don't! He grows to think that he is a fairly +virtuous person so long as he skilfully avoids the system of taboos +wherewith he feels that life is surrounded, and fulfils the one +positive family law of a religious nature, that he shall go to +Sunday School until he is judged sufficiently mature to join the +vast company of men and dogs.</p> +<p>Nothing very much can come of negatives. Religion calls for +positive expression; and it is not enough that the child shall find +positive expression once a week in the church; he must find it +every day in the week in the intimacy of the family. He must find +that the principles of life which are inculcated in the church are +practiced by his father and his mother, his brother and his sister, +or he will not take them seriously. If he is conscious of virtue +and religious practice as repression, a sort of tyranny practiced +on a child by his elders, his notion of the liberty of adult life +will quite naturally be freedom to break away from what is now +forced upon him into the life of self-determination and +indifference to things spiritual that characterises the adult +circle with which he is familiar.</p> +<p>But consider, by contrast, those rare families where the +opposite of all this is true; where there is the peace of a +recollected life of which the foundations are laid in constant +devotion to our Lord. There you will find the nearest possible +reproduction of the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Because +the life of the family is a life of prayer, there will you find +Jesus in the midst of it. There you will find Mary and Joseph +associated with its life of intercession. In such a family the +expression of a religious thought will never be felt as a discord. +The talk may quite naturally at any moment turn on spiritual +things. There are families in which one feels that one must make a +careful preparation for the introduction of a spiritual allusion: +one does it with a sense of danger, much as one might sail through +a channel strewn with mines. There are other families in which one +has no hesitation in speaking of prayer, of sacraments, of +spiritual actions, as things with which all are familiar in +practice, and are as natural as food and drink. In this atmosphere +it produces no smile to say, "I am going to slip into the Church +and make my meditation"; or, "I shall be a little late to-night as +I am making my confession on my way home." Religion in such a +circle has not incurred contempt through familiarity: it still +remains a great adventure, the very greatest of all indeed; but it +is an adventure in the open, full of joy and gladness.</p> +<p>The Holy Family was a family that worked hard. It is no doubt +true that our Lord learned his foster-father's trade, so that those +who knew him later on, or heard His preaching, asked, "Is not this +the carpenter?" But the Holy Family was a radiant centre of joy and +peace because Jesus was in the midst of it. Where Jesus dwells +there is the effect of his indwelling in the spiritual gladness +that results. Mary was never too busy for her religious duties nor +Joseph too tired with his week's work to get up on the Sabbath for +whatever services in honour of God the Synagogue offered. They were +perhaps conscious as the Child "increased in wisdom and stature, +and in favour with God and man" of a spiritual influence that +flowed from Him, and sweetened and lightened the life of the home. +They were not conscious that in His Person God was in the midst of +them; but that is what we can (if we will) be conscious of. We are +heirs of the Incarnation, and God is in the midst of us; and +especially does Jesus wish to dwell, as He dwelt in Nazareth, in +the midst of the family. He wishes to make every household a Holy +Family. He is in the midst of it in uninterrupted communion with +the soul of the baptised child; and the father and mother, +understanding that their highest duty and greatest privilege is to +watch and foster the spiritual unfolding of the child's life in +such wise that Jesus may never depart from union with it, become as +Joseph and Mary in their ministry to it. There is nothing more +heavenly than such a charge; there is nothing more beautiful than +such a family life.</p> +<p>There is often a pause in God's work between times of great +activity--a time of retreat, as it seems, which is a rest from what +has preceded and a preparation for what is to come. Such a pause +were these years at Nazareth in the life of Blessed Mary. The time +from the Annunciation to the return from Egypt was a time of deep +emotion, of spirit-shaking events. Later on there were the trials +of the years of the ministry, culminating in Calvary. But these +years while Jesus was growing to manhood in the quietness of the +home were years of unspeakable privilege and peace. The daily +association with the perfect Child, the privilege of watching and +guarding and ministering to Him, these days of deepening spiritual +union with Him, although much that was happening to the mother was +happening unconsciously,--were strengthening her grasp on ultimate +reality, so that she issued with perfect strength to meet the +supreme tragedy of her life. How wonderful God must have seemed to +her in those thirty years of peace! To all of us God is thus +wonderful in quiet hours; and the quiet hours are much the more +numerous in most of our lives. But have we all learned to use these +hours so that we may be ready to meet the hours of testing which +shall surely come? No matter how quiet the valley of our life, some +day the pleasant path will lift, and we must climb the hilltop +where rises the Cross. It will not be intolerable, if the quiet +years have been spent in Nazareth with Jesus and Mary and +Joseph.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Most holy, and pure Virgin, Blessed Mayd,<br> + Sweet Tree of Life, King David's Strength and +Tower,<br> + The House of Gold, the Gate of Heaven's power,<br> +The Morning-Star whose light our fall hath stay'd.<br> +<br> +Great Queen of Queens, most mild, most meek, most wise,<br> + Most venerable, Cause of all our joy,<br> + Whose cheerful look our sadnesse doth destroy,<br> +And art the spotlesse Mirror to man's eyes.<br> +<br> +The Seat of Sapience, the most lovely Mother,<br> + And most to be admired of thy sexe,<br> + Who mad'st us happy all, in thy reflexe,<br> +By bringing forth God's Onely Son, no other.<br> +<br> +Thou Throne of Glory, beauteous as the moone,<br> + The rosie morning, or the rising sun,<br> + Who like a giant hastes his course to run,<br> +Till he hath reached his two-fold point of noone.<br> +<br> +How are thy gifts and graces blazed abro'd,<br> + Through all the lines of this circumference,<br> + T'imprint in all purged hearts this Virgin sence<br> +Of being Daughter, Mother, Spouse of God?<br> +<br> +Ben Jonson,<br> +1573-1637.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE TEMPLE</h3> +<center>And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought<br> +me? Know ye not that I must be in my Father's house?<br> +<br> +S. Luke II, 49.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>We give thanks unto thee, O Lord, who lovest mankind, +Thou benefactor of our souls and bodies, for that Thou hast this +day vouchsafed to feed us with Thy Heavenly Mysteries; guide our +path aright, establish us all in Thy fear, guard our lives, make +sure our steps through the prayers and supplications of the +glorious Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary and of all Thy +saints.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">RUSSIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he time was come when by the law of His people the Boy Jesus +must assume the duties of an adult in the exercise of His religion. +Therefore His parents took Him with them to Jerusalem that He might +participate in the celebration of the Passover. It would be a +wonderful moment in the life of any intelligent Hebrew boy when for +the first time he came in contact with the places and scenes which +were so familiar to him in the story of his nation's past; and we +can imagine what would have been the special interest of the Child +Jesus who would have been so thoroughly taught in the Old Testament +Scriptures, and who would have felt an added interest in the places +He was now seeing because of their association with His great +ancestor, David. Still His chief interest was in the religion of +His people, and it was the temple where the sacrificial worship of +God was centred that would have for Him the greatest attraction. +This was His "Father's House," and here He Himself felt utterly at +home. We are not surprised to be told that He lingered in these +courts.</p> +<p>"And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the +child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother +knew it not." They had perfect confidence in Jesus; and yet it +seems strange that they should have assumed that He was somewhere +about and would appear at the proper time. When the night drew on +and the camp was set up there was no Child to be found. Then we +imagine the distress, the trouble of heart, with which Mary and +Joseph hurry back to Jerusalem and spend the ensuing days in +seeking through its streets. We share something of our Lord's +surprise when we learn that the temple was the last place that they +thought of in their search. Did they think that Jesus would be +caught by the life of the Passover crowds that filled the streets +of Jerusalem? Did they think that it would be a child's curiosity +which would hold him fascinated with the glittering toys of the +bazaars? Did they think that He had mistaken the caravan and been +carried off in some other direction and was lost to them forever? +We only know that it was not till three days had passed that they +thought of the temple and there found Him. "And when they saw Him, +they were amazed: and his mother said unto Him, Son, why has thou +thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee +sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Know +ye not that I must be in my Father's house?"</p> +<p>S. Mary and S. Joseph were proceeding on certain assumptions as +to what Jesus would do which turned out to be untenable. It is one +of the dangers of our religion--our personal religion--that we are +apt to assume too much which in the testing turns out to be +unfounded. We reach a certain stage of religious attainment, and +then we assume that all is going well with us. When one asks a +child how he is getting on he invariably answers: "I am all right." +And the adult often has the same childish confidence in an untested +and unverified state of soul. We are "all right"; which practically +means that we do not care to be bothered with looking into our +spiritual state at all. We have been going on for years now +following the rules that we laid down when we first realised that +the being a Christian was a more or less serious matter. Nothing +has happened in these years to break the placidity of our routine. +There has never been any relapse into grievous sin; we have never +felt any real temptation to abandon the practice o£ our +religion. We run along as easily and smoothly as a car on well-laid +rails. We are "all right."</p> +<p>But in fact we are all wrong. We have lapsed into a state of +which the ideal is purely static: an ideal of spiritual comfort as +the goal of our spiritual experience here on earth. We have +acquired what appears to be a state of equilibrium into which we +wish nothing to intrude that would endanger the balance. We are, no +doubt, quite unconsciously, excluding from life every emotion, +every ambition, as well as every temptation, which appears to +involve spiritual disturbance. But we need to be disturbed.</p> +<p>For the spiritual life is dynamic and not static; its ideal is +motion and not rest. Rest is the quality of dead things, and +particularly of dead souls. The weariness of the way, which is so +obvious a phenomenon in the Christian life, is the infallible sign +of lukewarmness. What we need therefore is to break with the +assumption that we know all that it is necessary to know, and that +we have done or are doing all that it is necessary to do. It is +indeed the mark of an ineffective religion that the notion of +necessity is adopted as its stimulus, rather than the notion of +aspiration. The question, "Must I do this?" is a revelation of +spiritual poverty and ineptitude. "I press on," is the motto of a +living religion.</p> +<p>Personal religion, therefore, needs constantly to be submitted +to new tests, lest it lapse into an attitude of finality. +Fortunately for us, God does not leave the matter wholly in our +hands, but Himself, through His Providence, applies a wide variety +of tests to us. It is often a bitter and disturbing experience to +have our comfortable routine broken up and to find that we have +quite miserably failed under very simple temptations. And the sort +of failure I am thinking of is not so much the failure of sin as +the failure of ideal. It is the case of those who think that they +have satisfactorily worked out the problems of the spiritual life, +and have reached a satisfactory adjustment of duty and practice, +and then find that if the adjustment changes their practice falls +off. The outer circumstances of life change and the change is +followed by a readjustment of the inner life on a distinctly lower +plane. It is revealed to us that the outer circumstances were +controlling the spiritual practice, and not the practice dominating +the circumstances. The ruling ideal was that of comfort, and under +the new circumstances the spiritual ideal is lowered until it fits +in with a new possibility of comfort in the altered circumstances. +It is well to examine ourselves on these matters and to find what +is the actual ruling motive in our religious practice.</p> +<p>We may have assumed that we have Jesus, when all the assumption +meant was that we thought that He was somewhere about. After all, +it will not aid us very much if He is "in the company," if we go on +our day's journey without Him. It is a poor assumption to build +life upon, that Jesus exists, or that He is in the Church, or that +He is the Saviour. It is nothing to us unless He is <i>our</i> +Saviour, unless He is personally present in us and with us. And it +is not wise or safe to let this be a matter of assumption, even +though the assumption rest on a perfectly valid experience in the +past; we cannot live on history, not even on our own history. That +Jesus is with us must be verified day by day, and we ought to go no +day's journey without the certainty of His presence. We can best do +that, when the circumstances of life permit, by a daily communion. +There at the altar we meet Jesus and know that He is with us. When +the circumstances of life do not permit, (and often they do, when +we lazily think they do not) there are other modes of arriving at +spiritual certainty.</p> +<p>It is quite easy to lose Jesus. He does not force His +companionship upon us, but rather when we meet Him. "He makes as +though he would go farther." He offers Himself to us; He never +compels us to receive Him as a guest. And when we have in fact +received Him, and asked Him to abide with us, He does not stay any +longer than we want Him. We have to constrain Him. In other words, +we lose Jesus, we lose the vitality of our spiritual life (though +we may retain the routine practice of our religion), if we are not +from day to day making it the most vital issue of our lives. That +does not necessarily mean that we are spending more time on it than +on anything else, but that we are putting it first in the order of +importance in our lives and are sacrificing, if occasion arise, +other things to it, rather than it to them. That a man loves his +wife and child does not necessarily mean that he actually spends +more time on them than he does on his business, but it does mean +that they are more important in his life than his business, and if +need arise it will be the business that is sacrificed to them and +not they to the business. Spirituality is much less a matter of +time than of energy. A wise director can guide a man to sanctity +who will probably consecrate his Sunday, and give the director one +half hour on week days to dispose of.</p> +<p>To lose Jesus does not require the commission of great sin, as +we count sin. The quite easiest way to lose Him is to forget Him +and go about our business as though He did not exist. That is a +frequent happening. For vast numbers Jesus does not exist except +for an hour or so on Sunday. They give Him the formal homage of +attendance at church on Sunday morning and then they go out and +forget Him, not only for the rest of the week but for the rest of +the day. The religion which thus reduces itself to a minimum of +attendance at Mass on Sunday morning is surely not a religion from +which much can be expected in the way of spiritual accomplishment. +If it be true that there is a minimum of religious requirement +which will ensure that we "go to heaven," then that sort of +religion may be useful; but I do not know that anywhere such a +minimum <i>is</i> required. The statement that I find is "Thou +shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy +soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." The +outstanding characteristic of love is surely not niggardliness, but +passionate self-giving. All things are forgiven, not to those who +are careful to keep within the limits required, but to those who +"love much."</p> +<p>The study of many cases, the experience of over thirty years in +the confessional, convinces me that the chief cause of spiritual +failure among Christians is not the irresistible impact of +temptation but the lack of spiritual vision. The average man or +woman is not consciously going anywhere; but they are just keeping +a rule which is the arbitrary exactment of God. It might just as +well be some other rule. That is, in their minds, the practice of +the spiritual life has no immediate ends; it is not productive of +spiritual expansion; it is not a ladder set up on earth to reach +heaven on which they are climbing ever nearer God, and on the way +are catching ever broader visions of spiritual reality as they +ascend. The knowledge and the love of God are to them phrases, not +practical goals, invitations to paths of spiritual adventure. +Hence, having no immediate ends to accomplish, they find the whole +spiritual routine dull and unattractive and naturally tend to +reduce it to a minimum. It is not at all surprising that in the end +they drop religion altogether, as why should one keep on travelling +a road that leads nowhere? How can one love and serve a Jesus whom +one has lost?</p> +<p>The problem of personal religion is the problem of finding +Jesus, of bringing life into a right relation to Him. The plain +path is to follow the example of His parents who sought Him +"sorrowing." Sorrow for having lost Jesus is the true repentance. +Repentance which springs from fear of consequences, or from disgust +with our own incompetence and stupidity when we realise that we +have made a spiritual failure of life, is an imperfect thing. True +repentance has its origin in love and is therefore directed toward +a person. It is the conviction that we have violated the love of +our Father, our Saviour, our Sanctifier. Sorrow springing from love +is sorrow "after a godly sort." It is easy for us to drift into +ways of carelessness and indifference which seem not to involve +sin, to be no more than a decline from some preceding standard of +practice which we conclude to have been unnecessarily strict; but +the result is an increasing disregard of spiritual values, a +growing obscuration of the divine presence in life. Then the day +comes when some quite marked and positive spiritual failure, a +failure of which we cannot imagine ourselves to have been guilty, +when we were living in constant communion with our Lord, arouses us +to the fact that for months our spiritual vitality has been +declining and that we have ended in losing Jesus. It is a +tremendous shock to find how fast and how far we have been +travelling when we thought that we were only slightly relaxing an +unnecessarily strict routine: that when we thought that we were but +acting "in a common sense way," we were in reality effecting a +compromise with the world. Well is it then if the surprise of our +disaster shocks us back to the recovery of what we have lost, if it +send us into the streets of the city, sorrowing and seeking for +Jesus.</p> +<p>Mere spiritual laziness is at the bottom of much failure in +religion. There is no success anywhere in life save through the +constant pressure of the will driving a reluctant and protesting +set of nerves and muscles to their daily tasks. The day labourer +comes home from his work with his muscular strength exhausted, but +he has to go back to the same monotonous task on the morrow: his +family has to be fed and clothed and he cannot permit himself to +say, "I am tired and will stay away from work to-day." The business +or professional man comes back from his office with a wearied brain +that makes any thought an effort, but he must take up the routine +to-morrow; the pressure of competitive business does not permit him +to work when and as much as he chooses. But the Christian who is +engaged in the most important work that is carried on in this +world, the work of preparing an immortal soul for an unending +future, is constantly under the temptation "to take a day off"--to +let down the standard of accomplishment till it ceases to interfere +with the business or the pleasure of life; is constantly too tired +or too busy to do this or that. In short, religion is apt to be +treated in a manner that would ensure the bankruptcy of any +material occupation in life. Why then should it not ensure +spiritual bankruptcy?</p> +<p>Surely, to retain Jesus with us, to live in the intimacy of God, +is the most pressingly important of our duties; it is worth any +sort of expenditure of energy to accomplish it. And it cannot be +accomplished without expenditure of energy. The view of religion +which conceives it as a facile assent to certain propositions, the +occasional and formal participation in certain actions, the more or +less strict observance of certain rules of conduct, is so far from +the fact that it is not worth discussing. Religion is the realised +friendship of God; it is a personal relation of the deepest and +purest sort; and, like all personal relations, is kept alive by the +mutual activities of those concerned. The action of one party will +not suffice to keep the relation in healthy state. The love of God +itself will not suffice to maintain a being in holiness and carry +him on to happiness who is himself quite indifferent to the entire +spiritual transaction--whose attitude is that of one willing to be +saved if he be not asked to take much trouble about it. That +lackadaisical attitude can never produce any result in the +spiritual order; it can only ensure the spiritual decline and death +of one who has not thought it worth while to make an effort to +live.</p> +<p>Jesus can be found; but the finding depends upon the method of +the seeking. There are many men who claim, and quite honestly, to +be in pursuit of truth: to find the truth is the end of all their +efforts. Yet they do not succeed in finding it. Why is this? I +think that the principal reason is that they are constituting +themselves the judges of the truth; they first of all lay down +certain rules which God must obey if He wishes them to believe in +Him! They insist on having, before they will believe, a kind of +evidence that is impossible of attainment. They assert that this or +that is impossible, and the other thing incredible. They partially +ascertain the laws that govern the material universe, and they deny +to the Maker of the universe the power to act otherwise than in +accord with so much of the order of nature as they have discovered! +They deny to God the sort of personal action in this world that +they themselves constantly exercise.</p> +<p>The method is not a method that can be hopeful of success. And +it is worth noting that it is not a method that these same men +followed in their investigations of the natural world. They have +not accumulated information about natural law by first laying down +rules as to how natural law must act, and refusing to listen to any +evidence which does not fall in with these rules: rather, they have +set themselves to observe how nature does act, and then deduced +rules from their observation. Why not pursue the same method in +religion? Why not in an humble spirit observe how God does act? Why +start by saying, "Miracles do not happen?" Why reject as incredible +the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection? Why not get a bigger notion +of God than that of a mechanician running a machine, and think of +Him as a Person dealing with persons? The relation of persons +cannot be mechanical or predetermined; they are and must be free +and spontaneous: they have their origin, not in the pressure of +invariable law but in the impulse of love.</p> +<p>Nor is the search for Jesus that is inspired by mere curiosity +likely to be a success. There are many people who are curious about +religion, and they want to know why we believe thus and so; and +particularly why we act as we do. Why do you keep this day? What do +you mean by this ceremony? Do you think that it is wrong to do this +or that? Such people wander about observing; but their observation +we understand is the observation of an idler who does not expect to +be influenced by what he observes, but only to be amused. These are +they who run after the latest thing in heresy, the newest thing in +thought. What is observable about them is that they never seriously +contemplate doing anything themselves. They are like those +multitudes who followed our Lord about for awhile but were +dispersed by the test of hard sayings.</p> +<p>But Jesus can be found. He is found of all those who seek Him +humbly and sincerely, putting away self and desiring simply to be +led: who do not challenge Him with Pilate's scornful, "What is +truth?" but rather say, "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief." +He is easily found of those who know where to look for Him. There +is no mystery about that,--He will certainly be in His Father's +House. The surprise of Joseph and Mary that He had thus dealt with +them is answered by Jesus' surprise that they did not certainly +know where He would be: "Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's +House?"</p> +<p>In the House of God, the Church of God, is the ready approach to +Jesus. It is in the last degree foolish to waive aside the Church +in which are stored the treasures of more than nineteen centuries +of Christian experience as though it did and could have nothing to +say in the matter. A seeker after information as to the meaning of +the constitution of the United States would be considered a madman +if he impatiently turned from those of whom he made enquiry when +they suggested the decrees of the Supreme Court as the proper place +to seek information. Surely, from any point of view, the Church +will know more about Jesus than any one else: if in all the +centuries it has not discovered the meaning of Him Whom it +ceaselessly worships there is small likelihood that that meaning +will be discovered by an unbeliever studying an ancient book! If +the Church cannot lead us to Jesus, and if it cannot interpret to +us His will, there is small likelihood that any one else will be +able to do so. And if during all these centuries His will has been +unknown it can hardly be of much importance to discover it now. If +His Church has failed, then His Mission is discredited.</p> +<p>For us who have accepted His revelation as made to the Church +and by it unfailingly preserved, who have learned to find Him there +where He has promised to be until the end of time, there is another +sense in which we think of His words as words of encouragement and +consolation. There are hours in life which press hard upon us; +there are other hours when the sense of God's love and goodness +fills us with thankfulness and joy. In such hours we crave the +intimacy of personal communion: we want to tell our grief or our +joy. And then we take our way to the temple, and know that we shall +find Him there in His Incarnate Presence in His Father's House. We +go in and kneel before the Tabernacle and know that Jesus is here. +Here in the silence He waits for us. Here in the long hours He +watches; here is the ever-open door leading to the Father where any +man at any time may enter. He who humbled Himself to the hidden +life of Nazareth now humbles Himself to the hidden life of the +Tabernacle: and we who believe His Word, have no need to envy +Joseph and Mary the intimacy of their life with Jesus, because here +for us, if we will, is a greater intimacy--the intimacy of those of +whom it can be said: They evermore dwell in Him and He in them.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Lady of Heaven, Regent of the Earth,<br> + Empress of all the infernal marshes fell,<br> +Receive me, thy poor Christian, 'spite my, dearth,<br> + In the fair midst of thine elect to dwell:<br> + Albeit my lack of grace I know full well;<br> +For that thy grace, my Lady and my Queen,<br> +Aboundeth more than all my misdemean,<br> + Withouten which no soul of all that sigh<br> +May merit heaven. 'Tis sooth I say, for e'en<br> + In this belief I will to live and die.<br> +<br> +Say to thy Son, I am his--that by his birth<br> + And death my sins be all redeemable--<br> +As Mary of Egypt's dole he changed to mirth,<br> + And eke Theophilus', to whom befell<br> + Quittance of thee, albeit (so men tell)<br> +To the foul fiend he had contracted been.<br> +Assoilzie me, that I may have no teen,<br> + Maid, that without breach of virginity<br> +Didst bear our Lord that in the Host is seen:<br> + In this belief I will to live and die.<br> +<br> +A poor old wife I am, and little worth:<br> + Nothing I know, nor letter aye could spell:<br> +Where in the church to worship I fare forth,<br> + I see heaven limned with harps and lutes, and hell<br> + Where damned folk seethe in fire unquenchable:<br> +One doth me fear, the other joy serene;<br> +Grant I may have the joy, O Virgin clean,<br> + To whom all sinners lift their hands on high,<br> +Made whole in faith through thee, their go-between:<br> + In this belief I will to live and die.</blockquote> +<br> +<blockquote>ENVOY<br> +<br> +Thou didst conceive, Princess most bright of sheen,<br> +Jesus the Lord, that hath no end nor mean,<br> +Almighty that, departing heaven's demesne<br> + To succour us, put on our frailty,<br> +Offering to death his sweet of youth and green:<br> +Such as he is, our Lord he is, I ween:<br> + In this belief I will to live and die.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<br> +<h3>CANA I</h3> +<center>And the third day there was a marriage in Cana<br> +of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there; and<br> +both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.<br> +<br> +S. John II, 1.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we thy servants +may enjoy constant health of body and mind, and by the glorious +intercession of blessed Mary, ever a virgin, be delivered from all +temporal afflictions, and come to those joys that are eternal. +Through.<br> +<br> +Having received, O Lord, what is to advance our salvation; grant we +may always be protected by the patronage of blessed Mary, ever a +virgin, in whose honor we have offered this sacrifice to thy +majesty. Through.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">Old Catholic.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/quote-t.png" width="23%" alt= +""></p> +<p>here was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus +was there." To S. John Blessed Mary is ever the "mother of Jesus." +He never calls her by her name in any mention of her. Jesus who +loved him and whom he loved and loves always with consuming +passion, held the foreground of his consciousness; all other +persons are known through their relation to Him. As he is writing +his Gospel-story toward the end of his life, the Blessed Virgin has +long been gone to join her Son in the place of perfect love. We +cannot conceive of her living long on earth after His Ascension. +Her "conversation" would in a special way be "in heaven." Whatever +the time she remained here awaiting the will of God for her, we may +be sure that the days she spent under the protection of S. John +were wonderful days for him, wherein their communing would have +been the continual lifting of their hearts and souls to Him, Child +and Friend, who is also God enthroned at the Right Hand of the +Father. It is not unlikely that the marvellous spiritual maturity +of which we are conscious in the writings of S. John was aided in +its unfolding by the intimacy of his relations with S. Mary. But +always she remained to him what she was because of what Jesus was; +she remained to the end "the mother of Jesus."</p> +<p>Here at the marriage of Cana the way in which she is mentioned +suggests that she was staying in the house where the marriage was +celebrated: she was simply there; Jesus and the disciples were +called, invited, to the wedding. Some relationship, it has been +suggested, between S. Mary and the bride or groom led to her +presence in the house. That however is mere conjecture. The +marriage in any case was a wonderful one, for both Jesus and Mary +were there. It was therefore the ideal of all weddings which seem +to lack the true note of the new matrimony which springs from the +Incarnation if they take place without such guests. As in +imagination we follow Mary as she goes quietly about the house, +which like her own was a home of the poor, helping in the +arrangements of the wedding, one cannot help recalling many +weddings with which one has had something to do, and in the +arrangements of which we cannot think of Mary as having any part. +They were the arrangements of the weddings of Christians, and the +weddings took place in a Christian church; but neither is Mary +there nor Jesus called. We are unable to think of Mary as present +amid the tumult of worldiness and frivolity, the endless chatter +over dress and decoration, which so commonly precedes the +celebration of a sacrament which is the symbol of "the mystical +union that there is betwixt Christ and His Church." That deep piety +which puts God and God's will before all else would strike a +jarring note here, where the dominant note is still the pagan note +of the decking of the slave for her new master. It is perhaps not +without significance of the direction of the movement of the modern +mind that the protests of the emancipated woman are against the +Christian, not the pagan elements in matrimony: she tends to regard +marriage as a state of temporary luxury rather than the perfect +union of two souls in Christ. Clearly in marriages which are +regarded as purely temporary engagements, dependent on the will of +the parties for their continuance, there is no place for the mother +of Jesus. The purity that emanates from her will be a silent but +keenly felt criticism on the whole conception underlying a vast +number of modern marriages. Even as I write I read that in a +certain great city in the United States the number of divorces +granted was one fourth of the number of the marriages +celebrated.</p> +<p>Clearly at marriages which are surrounded with this atmosphere +of paganism, be they celebrated where they may, there is no place +for the Blessed Mother; and neither is Jesus called. His priest, +unfortunately, is often called, and dares celebrate a sacrament +which in the circumstances he can hardly help feeling is a +sacrilege. There are many cases in which what purports to be +Christian marriage is between those who are not Christians, or of +whom only one is a Christian in any complete sense. One hears +frequently of the sacrament of matrimony being celebrated when only +one of the parties is baptised. It is of course possible for any +priest to act on the authority conferred upon him by the state and +in his capacity as a state official perform marriages between those +whom the state authorises to be married: but why do it under the +character of a priest? or why throw about the ceremony the +suggestions of a sacrament?</p> +<p>If Jesus is really to be called to a marriage, it means that the +preparations for the marriage will be largely spiritual. The +parties to the marriage will approach the marriage through other +sacraments. They will both be members of the Church of God by +baptism; and they will be, or look forward to becoming, +communicants. They will prepare for the sacrament of matrimony by +receiving the sacrament of penance, and receiving the communion. +What better preparation for starting a new life, for setting out to +create a new family in the Kingdom of God, a family in which the +ideals of the life at Nazareth are to be the ruling ideals, than +that cleansing of soul that fits them for the beginning of a new +life? A priest has great joy when he knows that those who are +kneeling before him to receive the nuptial blessing are souls pure +in God's sight, dwellings ready and adorned for the coming of +Christ.</p> +<p>For it is the normal and fitting crown of the ceremonies of +marriage that Jesus be there, that the Holy Mass be celebrated and +that those who have just been indissolubly united may as their +first act partake of the Bread of Heaven which giveth life to the +world. I myself would rather not be asked to celebrate a wedding +unless it is to be approached with the purity of Mary, and sealed +by the partaking of Jesus. It is so great and wonderful a thing, +this sacrament of matrimony. Here are two human beings setting out +to fulfil the vocation of man to build up the Kingdom of God, to +set up a new hearth where the love of God may be manifest and where +children may be trained in the knowledge and love of God; where the +life of Christ may find contact with human life and through it +manifest God to the world--how wonderful and beautiful and holy all +that is! And then to remember what commonly takes place is to be +overcome with a sense of what must be the pain of God's heart.</p> +<p>We go back to look into the home where Mary seems to be +directing the arrangements of the wedding feast. It was a poor home +and not much could be provided; the wine, so essential to the +feast, failed. What was to be done? To whom would Mary look? She +could have no money to buy wine. One feels that after Joseph's +death she had come more and more to look to Jesus for help of all +sorts. The deepening of their mutual love, the completeness of +their understanding, would make this the natural thing. S. Mary +feels that if there is any help in these embarrassing +circumstances, any way of sparing the feelings of the bridegroom, +Jesus will know it and help. There is no doubt in her mind; but the +certainty that He can help. So she turns to Him with her "they have +no wine." The words as we read them contain at once an appeal and a +suggestion: an appeal for help, advice, guidance, with the hint +that Jesus can effectually help if He will. It is not as some have +rather crudely thought a suggestion that He perform a miracle, but +the appeal of one who has learned to have unlimited trust in +Him.</p> +<p>The reply of our Lord cannot fail to shock the English reader; +and the very nature of the shock ought to indicate that there is +something wrong with the translation. The words sound brusque and +ill-mannered; and our Lord was never that nor could be, least of +all to His blessed Mother. The dictionaries all tell us that the +word translated woman is quite as well translated lady, in the +sense of mistress or house mother. There is really a shade of +meaning that we have no word for. Perhaps we best understand what +it is that is missed if we recall the fact that when our Lord +addressed S. Mary from the Cross He used the same word: "Woman, +behold thy son." In such circumstances we understand that the word +on our Lord's lips is a word of infinite tenderness. I do not +believe that we could do better than to translate it mother. We +might paraphrase our Lord's saying thus: "Mother, we are both +concerned with the trouble of these friends; but do not be anxious; +I will act when the time comes." His words are perfectly simple and +courteous, though they do, no doubt, suggest that her anxiety is +unnecessary and that He will act in due time. If we are to +understand that our Lady was suggesting that He perform a miracle, +then He certainly yielded to her intercession.</p> +<p>Indeed, this short aside in the rejoicing of the marriage +celebration is suggestive of wide reaches of thought. It suggests, +which concerns us most here, something of the mode of prayer. +Prayer is not a force exercised upon God, it is an aspiration that +He answers or not as He sees fit, according as He sees our needs to +be: and if He answers, He answers in His own way and at His own +time--when His hour is come. The intercession of the saints, and of +the highest saint of all, the holy Mother, must thus be conceived +as aspiration not as force. We hardly need to remind ourselves that +Blessed Mary though the highest of creatures is still a creature +and infinitely removed from the uncreated God. When we think of her +prayers or the prayers of the saints as having "influence" or +"power" with God, we must remember the limitations of human +language. It is quite possible through inaccurate use of language +to create the impression that we believe the prayers of the saints +to be prevailing with God because of some peculiar spiritual energy +that belongs to them, or, still worse, because we regard them as a +sort of court favourites who have special influence and can get +things done that ordinary people cannot. We need only to state the +supposition to see that we do not mean it. When we think what we +mean by the influence of the prayers of the saints, of their +prevailingness with God, we know that we mean that the superior +value of the prayers of the saints is due to the superior nature of +their spiritual insight, to their better understanding of the mind +and purpose of God. Blessed Mary is our most powerful intercessor +because by her perfect sanctity she understands God better than any +one else. No educated Christian believes that she can persuade God +to change His mind or alter His judgment, or that she or any saint +would for a moment want to do so. Nor do we who cry for aid in the +end want any other aid than aid to see God's will and power to do +it: we have no wish or hope to impose our will on God. Prayer is +aspiration, the seeking for understanding, the submitting our +desires to the love of God; and the prayer of the saints helps us +because they are our brothers and sisters, of the same household, +and join with us in the offering of ourselves to God that we may +know and do His holy will. And we can see here in this incident at +Cana the whole mode of prayer. There is the just implied suggestion +of the need, the hint of her own thought about the matter, in the +way in which S. Mary presents the case to Jesus. There is the +divine method which approves the end sought but reserves the time +and method of fulfilling it to the "hour" which the divine wisdom +approves. There is the ideal Christian attitude which accepts the +divine will perfectly, and says to the servants: "Whatsoever he +saith unto you, do it."</p> +<p>"They have no wine": S. Mary's word expresses the present +weakness of humanity, Man is born in sin, that is, out of union +with God. That hoary statement of dogmatic theology seems to stir +the wrath of the modern mind more than any other dogma of the +Christian Faith, except it be the dogma of eternal punishment. It +is rather an amusing phenomenon that those who have no visible +basis for pride are likely to be the most consumed with it. The +pride of Diogenes was visible through the holes in his carpet; the +pride of liberalism is visible in its irritability whenever the +subject of sin, especially original sin, is mentioned. Yet the very +complacency of liberalism about the perfection of man, is but +another evidence (if we needed another) of his inherent sinfulness, +his weakness in the face of moral ideals. If we confess our sins we +are on the way to forgiveness; but if we say that we have no sin +the truth is not in us.</p> +<p>This boasting of capacity to be pure and strong without God, +theologically the Pelagian heresy, is sufficiently answered by a +cursory view of what humanity has done and does do. Even where the +Christian religion has been accepted the accomplishment is hardly +ground for boasting. The plain fact is (and you may account for it +how you like, it remains in any case a fact) that human beings are +terribly weak in the face of moral and spiritual ideals. They are +not sufficiently drawn by them to overcome the tendency of their +nature toward a quite opposite set of ideals. We do run easily and +spontaneously after ideals which the calm and enlightened judgment +of the race, whether Christian or non-Christian, has continuously +disapproved. We know that Buddha and Mahomet and Confucius would +repudiate Paris and Berlin and New York and London with the same +certainty if not with the same energy as Christ. We live in a time +when a decisive public opinion gets its way; and therefore we are +quite safe in saying that the misery and sin which go unchecked in +the very centres of modern civilisation exist and continue because +there is no decided public opinion against them.</p> +<p>All attempts at reform which are merely attempts to reform +machinery are futile, they can produce only passing and superficial +results. There is only one medicine for the disease of the world, +and that medicine is the Blood of Christ. Ultimately, one believes, +that will be applied; but evidently it will not be applied in any +broad way as a social treatment till all the quack remedies have +demonstrated their uselessness. The last two centuries have been +the flowering time of quacks. The mere history of their theories +fills volumes. Our own time shows no decline in productiveness, nor +decline in hopefulness in the efficacy of the last remedy to bid +for support. But the time of disillusionment must some time +come.</p> +<p>When that time comes all men will lift their eyes, as individual +men have always lifted them, up to the hills whence cometh their +help. Except they had kept their eyes so resolutely fastened on the +earth at their feet they would have seen, what has always been +visible to those who lift up their eyes, a crucified Figure on the +one supreme hill of earth,--the hill called Calvary. There "one +Figure stands, with outstretched hands" saying, with +inextinguishable optimism, the indestructible optimism of God, "and +I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."</p> +<p>What in the end will prevail with them, what will make them turn +to the Tree which is for the healing of the nations, is the +perception that in it is the remedy for the weakness that they have +either sought to heal by other means, or have resolutely denied to +exist at all. There are men whose wills are so strong that even in +the grip of some serious disease they will long go on about their +business asserting that there is nothing the matter with them and +overcoming bodily pain and weakness by sheer will power; but the +end comes finally with a collapse that is perhaps beyond remedy. We +live in a society which has the same characteristics, but it may be +that it will see its state and turn to healing. For God cannot heal +except with our co-operation. Christ pleads from the Cross, but he +can do no more. He will not submit to our tests; He will not come +down that we may believe in Him. We must come to Him, laying aside +all our pride and self-will, and kneel by the Cross to ask His +help.</p> +<p>We know, do we not? that that is the law for the individual; +that we found the meaning of Christ, and what He can do in life, +when we laid aside pride and self-will and humbly asked help and +pardon. It may be that we resisted a long while, struggling against +the pull of the divine magnet; but if we have attained to spiritual +peace it is because the Cross won, because we found ourselves +kneeling at the feet of Jesus. Perhaps we have not got there yet, +but are only on the way. Perhaps our religion as yet is a formality +and not a devotion. Perhaps our pride still struggles against the +Catholic practice of religion. Then why not give way now, to-night? +Let Mary take you and lead you to Jesus. She will bring you to him +with her half-suggestion, half-prayer: "He has no wine." He has got +to the end of his strength, and he has found the weariness of self, +he is ready for healing. O my divine Son, is not this your +opportunity, your "hour"?</p> +<p>Jesus loves to have us bring one another to Him. It is so +obviously the response to His Spirit, that carrying out of His +teaching, so to love the brother that we may bring him to the +healing of the Cross. To care for the spiritual needs of the +brother is a real ministry: it is an extension of Christ in us that +clothes us with the power to aid other souls in work or prayer. +What a beautiful picture of this work there is in the Gospel of St. +John. "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to +worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was +of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see +Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and +Philip tell Jesus." And this work of presenting souls to Jesus +which is so clearly one of our chief privileges, how should not +that be also the privilege of all the saints, and especially of the +Holy Mother? Blessed Mary, we may be sure, delights in leading +souls who so hesitatingly come to her, to the presence of her +Son,--just presenting them in their need and with her prayer, which +is all the plea that is needed to attract the love and mercy of +Jesus. "Why not," ask certain people who have not thought out the +meaning of Catholic dogma, "why not go at once to our Lord; why go +in this roundabout way?" Why not? Because of our human qualities. +Because we need company and sympathy. For the same reason precisely +that makes us ask one another's prayers here. "The Father Himself +loveth you." Why in this roundabout way ask me to pray? You do not +come to me because you lack faith in God or in God's love; you come +to me because you feel, if only implicitly, that in the Body of +Christ association in love and sympathy and work is a high +privilege, and that it is God's will that we should work together +and "bear one another's burdens." And the frontiers of the Kingdom +of God are not the frontiers of the Church Militant, and its +citizens are not only the citizens of the Church here below, +but--we believe in the Communion of saints.</p> +<p>The hour of God strikes for any soul when that soul yields to +prevenient grace and places itself utterly at the disposal of God, +confiding wholly in His divine wisdom. When our Lord had answered +His Blessed Mother she turned away satisfied. She did not have to +concern herself any further; it was now in Jesus' hands to provide +as He would. It remained but to see that His will should be carried +out when He made it known.</p> +<p>Submission is a difficult attitude to acquire; but it is such a +happy attitude when once one has acquired it. The critics of it +wholly mistake it and confound it with fatalism. It is not +fatalism, or passive acquiescence in another's will--a will that we +have no part in forming and cannot reject. Submission is the +acceptance of God's will as the expression of the highest wisdom +for us. It is not true that we have no part in forming it; it is at +any time an expression of God's will for us which is determined by +the way in which we hitherto have corresponded to that will. +Submission means that we have put ourselves in a position of active +co-operation with that will, that we have made it ours: because it +is the expression of a divine wisdom and love we make it wholly +ours. And we have found in the acceptance of it not bondage but +liberty. It is wonderful how our preconceived notion of God and +religion vanishes before the first gleams of experience. To the +unregenerate the service of God is utter bondage; to the regenerate +it is perfect freedom. And the difference seems to be accounted for +by the reversal of ideals, by a new direction of affections. "I +will run the way of thy commandments, when thou hast set my heart +at liberty,"</p> +<p>A true conversion is, perhaps, signified, more than in any other +way, by the liberty of the heart,--by this change in the object of +our love. That has been the constant exhortation to us, to love +that which is worthy of love. "Set your affection on things above." +"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." And +we, loving the world and the things that are in the world, listen +impatiently. But there is no possibility of a sincere conversion +without a change of love. "A change of heart" conversion is often +called, and so inevitably it is. And as we go through our +self-examination one of the most profitable questions we can ask +is, "What do I love?" That will commonly tell the whole story of +the life, for "where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be +also."</p> +<p>Richard Rolle said: "Truly he who is stirred with busy love, and +is continually with Jesu in thought, full soon perceives his own +faults, the which correcting, henceforward he is ware of them; and +so he brings righteousness busily to birth, until he is led to God +and may sit with heavenly citizens in everlasting seats. Therefore +he stands clear in conscience and is steadfast in all good ways the +which is never noyed with worldly heaviness nor gladdened with +vainglory."</p> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>CANA I<br> +<br> +O Glorious Lady, throned in light,<br> +Sublime above the starry height,<br> +Whose arms thine own creator pressed,<br> +A Suckling at thy sacred breast.<br> +Through the dear Blossom of thy womb,<br> +Thou changest hapless Eva's doom;<br> +Through thee to contrite souls is given<br> +An opening to their home in heaven.<br> +Thou art the great King's Portal bright,<br> +The shining Gate of living light;<br> +Come then, ye ransomed nations, sing<br> +The Life Divine 'twas hers to bring.<br> +Mother of Love and Mercy mild,<br> +Mother of graces undefiled.<br> +Drive back the foe, and to thy Son<br> +Lead thou our souls when life is done.<br> +All glory be to thee, O Lord,<br> +A Virgin's Son, by all adored,<br> +With Sire and Spirit, Three in One,<br> +While everlasting ages run.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<br> +<h3>CANA II</h3> +<center>And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus<br> +saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith<br> +unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?<br> +mine hour is not yet come.<br> +<br> +S. John II, 3, 4.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>We, the faithful, bless thee, O Virgin Mother of God, +and glorify thee as is thy due, the city unshaken, the wall +unbroken, the unbreakable defence and refuge of our +souls.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">BYZANTINE.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/quote-w.png" width="23%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hatsoever He saith unto you, do it." These words have often been +called the Gospel according to S. Mary. They certainly sum up her +whole attitude in life. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it +unto me according to thy word," she had said in reply to the +message S. Gabriel brought her: and that is the meaning of her +whole life-story, that she is at all times ready to accept the will +of God, to give herself to the fulfilment of the divine purpose. +There is no more perfect attitude, for it is the attitude of her +divine Son whose meat it was to do the will of the Father and to +finish His work, whose whole life's attitude was compressed into +the words of His self-oblation in Gethsemane, "Not my will, but +thine be done."</p> +<p>And this is the virtue that Jesus Christ inculcates upon us. +"When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven ... thy will be +done." There is no true religion possible without that attitude. +And therefore one is deeply concerned about the immediate future +inasmuch as the spirit of obedience, the spirit of Jesus, the +spirit of Mary, is so rare. As one looks into the social +development of the Christian era, one feels that the life and +example of S. Mary has been of immense influence in the development +of the ideal of womanhood. The rise of woman from a wholly +subordinate and inferior condition to a condition of complete +equality with man has owed more to S. Mary than to any other +factor. I am not concerned with political equality; that under our +present conditions of social development women should have that +equality if they want it seems to me just, but I am by no means +satisfied that in the long run it will prove a boon either to them +or to society at large. But I am at present thinking of their +spiritual equality, which after all is the basis of their other +claims; and this comes to them through the Gospel, and was shown to +the mind of the Church largely through S. Mary. In the earliest +records of the Church woman stands on the same level of privilege +as man, and the same sort of spiritual accomplishment is expected +of her.</p> +<p>There are many members of the Body of Christ and there is a +certain spiritual equality among them; but "all members have not +the same office." In the Holy Spirit's distribution of functions +within the Body there is a difference. Some functions, by the +allotment of God, women are not called to exercise: these are +sacramental and ruling functions. Others, as prophecy (the +daughters of S. Philip), and ministry (the deaconess), are given +them. For centuries she recognised this allotment and gave her best +energies to her appointed works. She showed herself a true daughter +of Mary in her loyal acceptance of the divine will and her zeal in +its accomplishment. And what was the result? The Calendar of +Saints, filled with the names of women, is the answer. There are no +more wonderful works of God than the women whose names are +commemorated at the altars of the Church and whose intercession is +constantly asked throughout Catholic Christendom. There can be no +thought of narrowness of opportunity or limitations in life as we +study that wonderful series of women who have illumined the history +of the Church from the day of S. Gabriel's message to this very +moment when there are many many women who are faithfully following +their vocation and doing God's will, and who will one day be our +intercessors about the throne of God and of the Lamb, as they are +our intercessors in the Church on earth to-day. Why any woman +should complain of lack of opportunity and of the narrowness of the +Church--the Church that has nourished S. Mary and S. Monica, S. +Catherine of Genoa and S. Theresa; the foundresses of so many and +so varied Religious Orders, so many who have devoted their lives to +teaching, nursing, conducting works of charity, I am at a loss to +understand. To-day we are witnessing all over the world a revolt of +women against the Church; we hear not infrequent threats of what is +to be done to the Church by those revolted members. I am afraid +that woman is on the edge of another tragedy. She is once more +looking fascinated at the fruit which "is good for food, and +pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise," and +listening to a voice that whispers: "Thou shalt be as God."</p> +<p>The question which is becoming more urgent everywhere is, What +are the women of the future to be,--the daughters of Eve, or the +daughters of Mary? It is not a question for declamation, but a +question that calls for immediate action: and the action must be +the action of women. If women clamour for work in the Church of +God, here it is, and here it is abundantly; and to accomplish it +there is no need that they "seek the priesthood also." The work in +the Church of God is in the first place a work that God has given +mothers to do; it is the primary duty of a mother to bring up her +children, and especially her daughters, in fear of the Lord. That +she can always succeed I do not for a moment claim; there are many +adverse factors in the situation that she has to deal with. But she +is inexcusable if she does not give her effort to the work as the +most important work of her life. She is utterly inexcusable and +must answer to God for the result if she turn her children over to +the care of maids and teachers while she occupies herself with +society or any exterior work.</p> +<p>In the second place the work of the Church of God is a work that +ought to appeal to all women and a work that any woman can help in. +All women can help the spiritual progress of the Church by +meditating upon the life of Blessed Mary and fashioning their lives +upon her example. We are all tremendously affected by example, and +that is especially true of young girls. Their supreme terror seems +to be that they should be caught doing or saying something +different from what all other girls say or do or wear. Their +opinions are as imitative as their clothes. Hence the need of the +pressure of a strong Christian example, which would result most +readily in the union of Christian women in a single ideal. Our +present difficulty is that so many of our women who are devout +members of the Church in their private capacity, so far succumb to +the group-mind in their social relations that they are possessed by +the same terror as the young girl in the face of the possibility of +being different. Therefore are they careful to hide their real +feeling for religion and their devotion to spiritual things under +the mask of worldly conformity which evacuates their example of +much of the power that it might have. I am quite convinced that +fear of the world is about as strong an impulse toward evil as love +of the world.</p> +<p>We need that women should clear their ideals and realise their +public responsibility for the presentation of them. We need +terribly at this moment insistence on the purity and simplicity of +the Holy Mother of God. One is stunned at the abandonment of the +ideal of reserve and modesty that the last few years have seen. +Women seem to take it quite gaily: men, one notes, take it much +more seriously. I have been consulted by more than one father +during the past year as to the possibility of sending a boy to a +school where he would be kept out of the society of half-naked +girls. Have mothers no longer any sense of the value of purity? Or +have they simply abandoned all responsibility that normally goes +with being a mother? One recognises how helpless a man is under the +circumstances, that his intervention in such matters simply casts +him for the part of family tyrant; but why should a mother abandon +her duty simply because her daughter says: "You don't understand. +Girls are not as they were when you were young. All the girls do +this. No other mother takes the line that you do. You are not +modern."</p> +<p>One knows, of course, that the whole matter of decline in +manners and morals is but a part of the world-wide revolt against +the morality of Jesus Christ that we are witnessing everywhere. +Social and religious teachers, students of history and social +movements have seen the approach of this revolt for a long time, +have been watching its rise and growth. When they have pointed out +the end of the path that we have been travelling, they have been +disposed of by calling them pessimists. These "pessimists" pointed +out long ago that the denial of the obligation to believe would be +followed by an abandonment of all moral standards. They pointed out +to the devotees of "liberal religion" that they are in reality the +leaders of a moral revolt, that if it does not make any difference +what you believe it will soon come to make no difference what you +do. It is a rather silly performance to blow up the dam which holds +back the mass of water of an irrigation system and imagine that no +more water will flow out than you want to flow out. When the +Protestant revolt blew up the restraining dams of the Catholic +Religion they had no right to expect that only so much denial of +Catholic truth as it suited them to dispense with would be the +result. Through the broken dams the whole religion of Christ has +been flowing out and it is mere empty pretence to claim that all +that is of any value is left. It is impossible to maintain anything +of the sort now that all the moral content of the Christian system +is openly thrown overboard by vast numbers of the population of the +world, in every country that claims to be civilised. It is useless +to say that there has always been evil in the world and that the +maintenance of the Catholic religion has never anywhere abolished +sin. That is true, but it is not to the present point. The social +situation is one where there are definite religious and moral +ideals strongly maintained and universally recognised, though there +are many men and women who violate them; it is quite another +situation when the ideals themselves are repudiated and set aside +as superstitions. That is our case to-day. The Christian theory is +confronted with a theory of naturalism in morals, and those who +follow that theory do not do so with a feeling that they are +violating accepted ideals, but with the assumption that they are +missionaries setting forth a new faith. Those who have revolted +from the Kingdom of God have now set up another kingdom and +proclaimed openly, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." +The revolt which began with a breach in the dogmatic system of the +Church and denial of the authority of the Catholic Church in favour +of the right of private judgment, has ended, as it could not help +but end, in open abandonment of the life-ideal of the Gospels. We +now have the application of the right of private judgment in the +theory that one's morals are one's own concern. Such things have +happened before. "In those days there was no king in Israel, but +every one did what was right in his own eyes." The social state +depicted in the Book of Judges reflects this revolt. The result of +the same repudiation of authority is seen in modern society where +what is right in one's own eyes is the whole Law and Gospel. Are we +to remain quiescent, or are we to make the attempt to generate +moral force?</p> +<p>But how can Christendom generate any more moral force? The +teaching of the Gospel which it proclaims is perfectly plain. True, +but is the adherence of the Church to its statements perfectly +plain? Is there no falling away, no compromise, there?</p> +<p>When one speaks thus of the Church one is conscious of a +confusion of thought in the use of the word. The teaching of the +formal documents of the Church is not here in question; what we +necessarily mean is the effect that the existing membership of the +Church is having upon contemporary life. What we have especially in +mind is the attitude of the clergy and the action of the +congregation in the way of moral force. What sort of a front is the +church presenting to the world, what sort of moral influence is it +exercising?</p> +<p>It seems to me perfectly evident that all along the line the +conventions of contemporary society have been accepted in the place +of the life-ideals of the Gospel of Jesus. We have accepted plain +departures from or compromises with Christian teaching as the +recognised law of action. This is due largely to the natural sloth +of the human being and his disinclination to struggle for superior +standards. He feels safe and comfortable if he can succeed in +losing himself in a crowd: thus he escapes both trouble and +criticism. A violation of law may become so common that there is no +public spirit to oppose it. The same thing may happen in +morals,--violations of the Christian standard, if sufficiently +widespread, command almost universal acquiesence. What is actually +uncovered in the process is the fact that the plain man has no +morals of his own, but imitates the prevailing morality; and if +fashion sets against some particular ruling of the Christian +Religion he feels quite secure in following the fashion. The <i>vox +dei</i> in Holy Scripture and in Holy Church affect him not at all +if he be conscious that he is on the side of the <i>vox +populi</i>.</p> +<p>It is easy to illustrate this. The non-Catholic Christian world +has the Bible, and boasts of its adherence to it as the sole guide +of life; but in the matter of divorced persons it utterly +disregards its teachings. By this acceptance of an unchristian +attitude it has vastly weakened the fight for purity in the family +relation which the Catholic Church, at least in the West, has +always waged. It deliberately divides the Christian forces of the +community and to a large extent thereby nullifies their action. The +divisions of Christendom are terrible from every point of view; but +there are certain questions on which a united mind might well be +presented, and in relation to which an united mind would go far to +control the attitude of society. An united Christian sentiment +against divorce would go far to reduce the evil.</p> +<p>On the other hand the progress of the movement to abolish the +evils growing out of the use of alcohol has had its strength in the +Protestant bodies. On the whole (there were no doubt individual +exceptions) the Churches of the Catholic tradition have been +lukewarm in the matter. It is quite evident that the reform could +never have been carried through if left to them, and especially if +left to the bishops and clergy of the Roman and Anglican +Communions. It is a plain case of failure to support a vast moral +reform because of the pressure of opinion in the social circles in +which they move, combined with a purely individualistic attitude +toward a grave social question.</p> +<p>Another instance is ready at hand in the practical abandonment +of the religious observance of Sunday. To Christians Sunday is the +Lord's day, and is to be observed as such. It is not true that an +hour in the morning is the Lord's day, and is to be given to +worship, and that the rest of the day is given to us to do what we +will with. But in our own Communion do we get any strong protest in +favour of the sanctity of the day? Or are not the clergy +compromising in the hope that if they surrender the greater part of +the day to the world they will be able to save an hour or two for +God? But is anything actually saved by this sort of compromise? Do +we not know that the encroachments of worldliness that have +narrowed down Sunday observance to an hour a day will ultimately +demand that hour, that is, will deny any obligation other than the +obligation of inclination? Are we not bound to stand by the Lord's +day? Are we to be made lax by silly talk about puritanism? Those +who talk about the "Puritan Sunday" would do well to read a little +of the Medieval legislation of the Church. Are we to keep silent in +the pulpit because wealthy and influential members of the +congregation want to play golf and tennis on Sunday afternoons, or +children want to play ball or go to the movies? Are we to be taken +in by talk of hard work during the week and consequent need of +rest? It is no doubt well that a man should arrange his work with a +view to an adequate amount of rest; but it is also well that he +should rest in his own time and not in God's. The Lord's day is not +a day of rest. It ought to be, and is intended to be, a very +strenuous day indeed.</p> +<p>One could easily spend hours in pointing out where and how the +Gospel standard of life has been abandoned or compromised, and the +life of the Christian in consequence conformed to the world. The +result would only strengthen the position that has been already +sufficiently indicated that a wholly different standard of living +has been quietly substituted throughout the Western world for the +standard that is contained in Holy Scripture. Now we are either +bound to be Christians or we are not; and we are not Christians +solely by virtue of certain beliefs more or less loosely held. Our +Lord's word is: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command +you." And the Gospel view of life is a perfectly plain one, and is +as far removed from the common life of Christians to-day as it +possibly can be. The Gospel conception of the Christian life is +contained first of all in our Lord's life. That is the perfect +human life; and the New Testament optimism is well illustrated by +its conviction that that life in its essential features can, with +the grace of God, be imitated by man. And by those who have +approached it in this spirit of optimism it has been found +imitable. Innumerable men and women have lived the Christian life +in the past and are living it in the present. To-day the +possibility of living the Christian life, of bringing life +approximately to the standard of the Gospel, is declared to be an +impracticable piece of optimism, and our Lord's teaching hopelessly +out of touch with reality. When people talk of the difficulty of +living the Christ-life under modern conditions, the plain answer is +that there is in fact only one difficulty in the matter, and that +is the difficulty of wanting to do it. It is a confession of utter +spiritual incompetence to say that we cannot follow the Gospel +standards under modern conditions because of the isolation in which +we at once find ourselves if we attempt it. If the attempt to be a +Christian isolates us, it tells a pretty plain tale about our +chosen companionship. It is asserting that it is hard for us to be +Christians because we are devoted to the society of those who are +not Christians, of those who ignore it and habitually insult the +teachings of our Saviour. That is surely an extraordinary +confession for a Christian to make! Can we imagine a Christian of +the first period of the Church excusing himself for offering +incense to the divinity of Augustus on the ground that if he did +not do so certain court festivities would be closed to him, and +that his friends would think him odd!</p> +<p>"Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you," "The +friendship of this world is enmity with God." We have to choose. It +is not that we may choose. It is not that it is possible to have a +little of both. As Christians it is quite impossible in any real +sense to have the friendship of the world, though many Christians +think that they can. What really is open to us is the enmity of the +world if we are sincere and strict in our profession, and the +contempt of the world if we are not. You have not to read very deep +in contemporary literature to learn what the world thinks about the +Christian who ignores or compromises his standards. The world knows +perfectly well what constitutes a Christian life, and it shows a +well merited scorn of those who, not having the courage openly to +abandon it, yet show by their lives that they do not value it. We +may not show the same sort of contempt for the "weak brother" as S. +Paul calls him, but we ought to make it plain that we have no sort +of approval of the brother who pleads weakness as an excuse for +laxity.</p> +<p>There is one law of life and only one; and that is summed up in +our Lady's direction to the servants at Cana in Galilee: +"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." There is no ground for +pleading that our Lord's will is an obscure will, or that +circumstances have so changed that much that He set forth in word +and example has no application to-day in the America of the +twentieth century. Perhaps if any one feels that there is some +truth in the last statement, he would do well to examine the case +and to find out just what and how much of the Gospel teaching is +obsolete, and how much has contemporary application, and to ask +himself whether he is constantly putting in action that part which +he thinks still holds good. It will, I think, on examination be +found that none of our Lord's teaching is obsolete, though in some +cases changed circumstances may have changed its mode of +application. Certainly there is nothing obsolete in His teaching in +the matter of purity. The virtues that He dwells upon--humility, +meekness and the rest--are universal qualities on which time and +social change have no effect.</p> +<p>What Christian conduct needs on our part is interest. We have to +make clear to ourselves that a certain kind of life is like the +life of God, and therefore is the medium for understanding God, and +ultimately for enjoying God. The Christian life is not an arbitrary +thing; it is the highest expression of humanity. Any other life is +a distortion of the human ideal. People talk as though they thought +that by the arbitrary will of God they were obliged to be good--a +thing wholly contrary to our nature and to our present interests. +But goodness is the natural unfolding of our nature as God made it: +we find our true expression in the likeness of God. Perfection is +what nature aspires to. Religion is not a curb on nature; religion +is a help to enable nature to express itself. Nature reaches its +perfect expression when by the grace of God it becomes godlike.</p> +<p>And the words of Christ are our guide to the perfect expression +of our best. Therefore the earnest Christian is willing to give +time to the careful study of them, and of the whole ideal of life +that is contained in them. He is not concerned with what they will +cut him off from; he is concerned with that to which they will +admit him. He is concerned to find the meaning of Christ's +teaching. This that S. Paul says is fundamental is his rule of +life: "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the +renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and +acceptable, and perfect, will of God."</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Of one that is so fayr and bright<br> + <i>Velut maris stella</i>,<br> +Brighter than the day is light,<br> + <i>Parens et puella</i>;<br> +I crie to thee, thou see to me,<br> +Levedy, preye thi Sone for me,<br> + <i>Tam pia</i>,<br> +That I mote come to thee<br> + <i>Maria</i>.<br> +<br> +Al this world was for-lore<br> + <i>Eva peccatrice</i>,<br> +Tyl our Lord was y-bore<br> + <i>De te genetrice</i>.<br> +With <i>Ave</i> it went away<br> +Thuster nyth and comz the day<br> + <i>Salutis</i>;<br> +The welle springeth ut of the,<br> + <i>Virtutis</i>.<br> +<br> +Levedy, flour of alle thing,<br> + <i>Rosa sine spina</i>,<br> +Thu here Jhesu, hevene king,<br> + <i>Gratia divina</i>;<br> +Of alle thu ber'st the pris,<br> +Levedy, quene of paradys<br> + <i>Electa</i>:<br> +Mayde milde, moder <i>es<br> + Effecta</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<br> +<h3>WHO IS MY MOTHER?</h3> +<center>Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in +heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,<br> +<br> +S. Matt. XII, 50.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that we may keep +with an immaculate heart the sacrament which we have received in +honour of the blessed virgin mother Mary; so that we who celebrate +her feast now, may be found worthy when we have left this life to +pass into her company. Through &c.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">SARUM MISSAL.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-o.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>Our Blessed Lord had begun his ministry of preaching. The mark +of the early days of that preaching was success. Crowds came about +Him wherever He taught. The fact that there were frequent miracles +of healing no doubt added to the popularity that He achieved. It +was largely the popularity of a new and strange movement, of a +preaching cutting across the normal roads of instruction to which +the Jewish people were accustomed. There was a fascination about +its form, its picturesque way of conveying its meaning, its use of +the parable drawn from the everyday circumstances of life. There +was nothing of hesitation in the words of the new Preacher, but the +ring of a dogmatic certainty. "He taught as one having authority, +and not as the scribes." He pushed aside the rulings of the +traditional teaching with His, "Ye have heard it said ... but I +say." "Verily, verily, I say unto you." And yet there are people +who tell us that there was nothing dogmatic about our Lord and His +teaching! One would infer from much that is written upon the +subject of our Lord's teaching that He was a very mild giver of +good advice but evidently the Scribes and Pharisees did not think +so. They saw in Him a man who was setting himself to undermine +their whole authority.</p> +<p>This popularity was at a high point when an interesting event +happened of which we have an account in the first of the Gospels. +"His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak with +Him." One gathers from the whole tone of the narrative that they +were anxious about Him, that they looked with doubt upon this +career of popular teacher that He was launched upon and felt that +He was going too far. He needed advice and restraint, perhaps; it +may be that there were already reports of possible interference by +the national authorities. The fact that His "brethren" were present +suggests the well meant interference of the older members of the +family, who must always have thought Jesus rather strange. That +they had induced His mother to come with them makes us think that +they were counting on the influence naturally hers, an influence +which must always have been apparent in their family relations. So +we reconstruct the incident.</p> +<p>No doubt S. Mary herself was anxious. She must always have been +anxious as to what would be the next step in the development of her +mysterious Child. And while there was one side of her relation to +Jesus which would always have run out into mystery, the mystery of +the as yet unrevealed will of God; on the other side she was no +doubt a very real normal human mother, with all a mother's anxiety +and need of constant intervention in the life of her Child. I do +not suppose that S. Mary, any more than any other mother, ever +understood that her Son had grown up and could be trusted to +conduct the ordinary affairs of the day without her help. She was +no doubt as much concerned as any mother with the fact that His +feet might be wet, or that He might not have had any lunch, or that +he might have got run over by a passing chariot, or have been taken +mysteriously ill. It was, we may think, this mother-attitude which +brought her along with the brethren to give some advice as to how +to carry on the preaching mission and avoid getting into trouble +with the religious authorities. "One said unto him, Behold, thy +mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. +But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? +and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his +disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For +whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the +same is my mother, and my sister, and my brother."</p> +<p>Our Lord had a way of turning the passing incidents of the +moment to account in His preaching, making them the texts of moral +and spiritual teaching. One gathers that more than one of the +parables and parabolic sayings was suggested by something that was +before the eyes of His hearers. He was quick to seize any spoken +word, any question, any exclamation, and to turn it to immediate +account. It was so now. The report that His mother and His brethren +were seeking Him, He made the occasion of a statement of vast +import. When we try to think it out, it was not in the least, as it +has been perversely understood, an impatient rebuff of an untimely +interference, an indication that He did not care for their +intervention in a work that they did not understand. There is +really nothing of all that, but a seizing of a passing incident as +the medium of an universal truth. It is the skill of one who knows +that the human attention is caught by a matter, however trifling, +which is vividly present. The scene is sharply defined for us: our +Lord interrupted in His talk; the report of the mother and the +brethren seeking Him; the obvious interest of the people as to how +He will take their intervention; and then the rapid seizing of this +interest to make His declaration: "Whosoever shall do the will of +my Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother, and my sister, +and my brother."</p> +<p>And what are we to understand Him to mean? Surely He is +declaring that through the revelation of God that He is, there is a +new stage in God's work for man being entered upon, and that this +new stage will be characterised by the emergence of a new set of +relations, relations so important that they throw into the +background the ordinary relations of life. He is proclaiming to +them the advent of the Kingdom of God; and in that Kingdom, the +service of God will be put first, before all human relations. It +will not be antagonistic to human relations; indeed, it will hallow +them and raise them to a higher level; but in case they, as not +infrequently they will, decline to adjust themselves to the work of +the Kingdom, or set themselves in opposition to it, then will they +be brushed aside, no matter what they be. If we can consecrate our +human relations and bring them into God, then will they be ours +still with a vast enrichment and a rare spiritual beauty; but if +they remain selfish, insist on absorbing all attention and energy, +then they must be broken. The love of father and mother and +children is an holy thing wherever we find it, but it is capable of +becoming a selfish and perverse thing, insistent upon its own ends +and declining wider responsibilities. In that case it must be +regarded from the standpoint of a higher good: if it stand in the +path of the Kingdom it must be swept aside. So our Lord declared in +one of the most searching of His utterances; one of the utterances +which we feel could come only from the lips of God: "Think not that +I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a +sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, +and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law +against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be those of his +own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not +worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is +not worthy of me."</p> +<p>That is the teaching of the incident before us. Our Lord's +primary mission is to declare the will of God, and to make known +the mind of the Father to all who will heed. Their acceptance of +this will of the Father will bring them into a new relation to Him +more important than, and transcending, all relations of flesh and +blood. But--and this is important to mark--it does not exclude +relations of flesh and blood; but it demands that they shall be put +on a new basis and be assimilated to the higher relation. In our +Lord's case they were in fact so assimilated. The blessed Mother +and the brethren did not resist God's will when they came to +understand it. They were, we know, glad of the higher relation, the +new privilege. There is no ground at all for the suggestion of any +breach between them. They are of the inner circle always in the +Kingdom of the regenerate.</p> +<p>This fundamental truth of Christ's teaching, that through Him a +new and closer relation to the Father becomes possible, and that +the Kingdom is its embodiment, is one of the truths which have +received constant lip-service, but have never been really +assimilated in the working life of the Church. That the Church is +the Body of Christ and we His members, and that by virtue of this +membership in Him we are also members one of another; that we are, +at our entrance into the Kingdom, made, as the Catechism puts it, +members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of +Heaven are truths of most marvellous reach and of splendid social +implications. But can we say that they have very wide or real +acknowledgment?</p> +<p>In face of a divided Christendom it seems almost farcical to +talk of a Christian Brotherhood. The baptismal membership of the +Church of God has fallen into group organisations whose mutual +antagonism is of the bitterest kind. The so-called "religious +press" is perhaps the saddest picture of modern Christian life. One +could name a half dozen journals off hand, organs of this or that +group, every one a sufficient refutation of the claim of the +Christian Religion to be a Brotherhood of the Redeemed. There is no +possible excuse for the tone of such publications.</p> +<p>No doubt it is an inevitable result of the state of a divided +Christendom that there should be disputes and controversies. We +shall never reach any expression of the Brotherhood that is the +Church by saying, Peace, Peace, where there is no Peace. The unity +we look to must be reached through painful sacrifice and through +conflict; and we know that the wisdom that is from above is "first +pure, and then peaceable," But it is quite possible while holding +with all firmness to the truth, to hold it in the fear and love of +God.</p> +<p>So long as Christendom is thus divided into hostile camps the +ideal of brotherhood is impossible of realisation. I do not want +however to discuss this matter from the point of view of Church +unity. I want to point out that within the groups themselves there +is small vision of the meaning of the oneness of Christ. For +brotherhood is the expression of a spiritual reality. It looked for +a moment in the early days of the Church as though the ideal would +be realised. The description of the Church was that "all that +believed were together, and had all things in common: and sold +their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every +man had need." That was, no doubt, a passing phase of the life of +the Church in Jerusalem, but we have evidence that elsewhere all +distinctions based upon social considerations were for the moment +swept away. There is "neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond +nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in +Christ Jesus." Our glimpses of the congregations of the early +Church are of men and women of all classes held together by the +bond of a common membership in Christ, so strongly felt as to +enable them to forget all worldly distinctions. Their sense of +redemption was strong. They thrilled with the joy of deliverance +from the old life "after the flesh." They knew that they were +regenerate, new creations, and that this was the distinction of the +brother who knelt beside them at their communions. It mattered not +at all what he was in the world, whether he were Greek or +Barbarian, whether he were patrician or freedman, whether he were +of the slaves of Rome or of Caesar's household. The man who knelt +to receive his communion might be a great nobleman, the priest who +communicated him might be a slave: that did not matter; the +significant thing was that they were both one in Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>That did not last. I suppose that it could not be expected to +last in an unconverted or half converted world. It could only last +on condition of the fairly complete isolation of the Christian +group from the rest of society, pending the conversion of society +as a whole. But it proved impossible to secure the isolation. The +only real isolation was in monastic groups which naturally could +contain only such men and women as God called to a special sort of +life: the whole of society could not be so organised. As the Church +grew and took in the various social constituents included in the +Empire, it took them in differentiated as they were. There seems to +have been no real effort to break down race distinctions or class +distinctions. There were no doubt protests, but the protests were +as ineffective then as now. "You cannot change human nature," men +say; but that in fact is precisely what Christianity claims to do. +Unless it can change human nature it is a failure.</p> +<p>The ideal of Christianity is not the abolition of inequality +(only a certain sort of social theorists are insane enough to +expect that). All men are born unequal in a variety of ways, +physical, intellectual, moral; and under any form of society that +so far has been invented they are born in social classes which +remain very hard realities in spite of our theories. What +Christianity aims at accomplishing is to transcend these +inequalities, natural and artificial, by raising men to a state of +spiritual equality, a state which ensures true and full enjoyment +of all the privileges of the child of God. In this state there is +open to all the gift of sanctifying grace which is the possession +of God now, and in the future will unfold into the capacity of the +complete participation of the life of heaven. This belongs to, is +within the grasp of, any child, any ignorant peasant, any toiler, +as much as it is within the grasp of bishop or priest or Religious. +And this much--and how much it is!--the Church has succeeded in +accomplishing. It may be slow in offering the riches of the Gospel +to the unconverted world, but where it has presented the Gospel, it +presents it to all men as a Gospel of salvation and sanctification. +When tempted to discouragement let us remember that whatever the +shortcoming of the Church, it is yet true that every man, woman and +child in these United States of America can through its +instrumentality, become a saint whenever he desires. But, +naturally, to become a saint, effort is necessary.</p> +<p>Where the Church has failed is not in the offer of salvation and +sanctity, but in removing some of of the obvious obstacles to its +attainment by many to whom it appeals, to whom its divine mission +is. It has not succeeded in convincing us that we are members one +of another, that is, it has not succeeded in persuading us to act +upon what we profess in any broad way. The Church is not a +fellowship in any comprehensive sense. The divisions which run +through secular society and divide group from group run through it +also. The parish which should be the exemplification of the +Christian brotherhood in action is not so. Too often a parish is +known as the parish of a certain social group. There are parishes +to which people go to get "into society." Very likely they do not +succeed, but that is the sort of impression that the parish +membership has made upon them. Then there are parishes to which +people "in society" would not be transferred. There are churches in +which no poor person would set foot, not that they would be +unwelcome, but that they would feel out of place. So long as such +things are true, our practice of brotherhood has not much to +commend of it.</p> +<p>And when we go about setting things right I am not sure that we +do not mostly make them worse. I do not believe that it is the +business of the Church to set about the abolition of inequalities +and the getting rid of the distinctions between man and man. Apart +from the waste of time due to attempting the impossible, what would +be gained? Pending the arrival of the social millenium we need to +do something; and that something, it seems to me a mistake to +assume must be social. "We must bring people together": but what is +gained by bringing people together when they do not want to be +together, and will not actually get together when you force them +into proximity. There is nothing more expressive of the failure of +well-meant activity than a church gathering where people at once +group themselves along the familiar lines and decline to mix, +notwithstanding the utmost endeavours of clergy and zealous ladies +to bring them together. The thing is an object lesson of wrong +method.</p> +<p>Is there a right method? There must be, though no one seems to +have found it yet. There is in any case a right point of departure +in our common membership in Jesus Christ. Suppose we drop the +supposition that we make, I presume because we think it pious, that +if they are both Christians a dock labourer ought to be quite at +home at a millionaire's dinner party, or a scrub-woman in a box at +the Metropolitan opera house. Suppose we drop the attempt to force +people together on lines which will be impossible till after the +social revolution has buried us all in a common grave, and fasten +attention on the one fact that, from our present point of view, +counts, the fact that we are Christians. Suppose one learns to meet +all men and all women simply on the basis of their religion; when +that forms the bond that unites us when we come together, we have +at once common grounds of interest in the life and activities of +the Body of Christ. Suppose the millionaire going down town in his +motor sees his clerk walking and stops and picks him up, and +instead of talking constrainedly about the weather or about +business, he begins naturally to talk to him about spiritual +matters. Why could they not talk about the Mission that has just +been held, or the Quiet Day that is in prospect? One great trouble, +is it not? is that we fight shy of talking to our fellow-Christians +of the interests that we really have in common and try to put +intercourse on some other ground where we have little or nothing in +common. The things that should, and probably do, vitally interest +us, we decline to talk about at all. We are so stiff and formal and +restrained in all matter of personal religious experience that we +are unable to express the fact of Christian Brotherhood. The fact +that you smile at the presentment of the case, that you cannot even +imagine yourself talking about your spiritual experience with your +clerk or your employer, shows how far you are from a truly +Christian conception of Brotherhood.</p> +<p>Our Lord's words that we are making our subject indicate the +paramount importance that He laid upon the acceptance of God's will +as the ultimate rule of life. "Whosoever shall do the will of My +Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother, and my sister, +and my brother." "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command +you." That is the common ground on which we are all invited to +stand, the ground of a common loyalty to God, of intense zeal for +the cause of God. Our Lord gave His whole life to that cause. As +His disciples watched Him on an occasion, they remembered that it +was written: "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Zeal is +not a very popular quality because it is always disturbing the +equanimity and self-complacency of lukewarm people. And then, we +dislike to be thought fanatics. But I fancy that there will always +be a touch of the fanatic about any very zealous Christian, and it +is not worth while to suppress our zeal for fear of the world's +judgment upon it. What we have to avoid is the misdirection of +zeal. There is, no doubt, a zeal which is "not according to +knowledge." We need to be sure, in other words, that our zeal is a +zeal for God, and not a zeal for party or person or cause. It is no +doubt quite easy to imagine that we are seeking to do God's will +when we are merely seeking to impose on our own will. Self-seeking +is quite destructive of the friendship and service of God. The +Kingdom whose interests we are attempting to forward may turn out +to be a Kingdom in which we expect to sit on the right hand or the +left of the throne because of the brilliance of the service +rendered.</p> +<p>Life is simplified very much when the will of God thus becomes +its guiding principle, and all other relations of life are +subordinated to our relation to our heavenly Father. Then have we +brought life to that complete simplicity which is near akin to +peace. When we have learned in deciding any line of action not to +think what our neighbours and friends will feel, or what the world +will think, but only what God will think, we have little difficulty +in making up our minds. Suppose that a boy has to make up his mind +whether he will study for the priesthood, the vital thing on which +to concentrate his thought and prayer is whether God is calling him +to that life, and if he is convinced that he is being called the +whole question should be settled. In fact in most cases it is far +from being settled because this simplicity has not been attained. +There is a whole social circle to be dealt with, who urge the +hardness of the life, the scant reward, the greater advantages of a +business career, and so on; all of which have absolutely nothing to +do with the question to be decided. It is so all through life. In +most questions of life's decisions, no doubt, there is no sense of +any vocation at all, of a determining will of God; but is not that +because we assume that God has no will in such matters, and leaves +us free to follow our own devices? Such an assumption is hardly +justified in the case of One to Whom the fall of a sparrow is a +matter of interest. It is our weakness, or the sign of our +spiritual incompetence, that we have unconsciously removed the +greater part of life from the jurisdiction of the divine will. We +do not habitually think of God as interested in the facts of daily +experience; we do not take Him with us into offices and factories. +Perhaps we think that they are hardly fit places for God, and I +have no doubt that He has many things to suffer there. But He is +there, and will suffer, until we recognise His right there, and +insist upon His there being supreme.</p> +<p>Let us go back for a moment to Our Lady standing outside the +place where Jesus was preaching, perplexed and worried at the +course He was taking. I suppose that it is always easier to +surrender ourselves unreservedly into God's hands than it is to so +surrender some one we love. I suppose that S. Mary so trusted in +God that she never thought with anxiety of what His providence was +preparing for her; but she would not quite take that attitude about +her Son; or rather, while she did intellectually, no doubt, take +that attitude, her feelings never went the whole distance that her +mind went. But surrender to the will of God means complete +surrender of ourself and ours. It means absolute confidence in God, +it means lying quiet in his arms, as the child lies still in the +arms of his mother. It means that we trust God.</p> +<br> +<blockquote> Rose-Mary, Sum of virtue virginal,<br> + Fresh Flower on whom the dew of heaven downfell;<br> +O Gem, conjoined in joy angelical,<br> + In whom rejoiced the Saviour was to dwell:<br> + Of refuge Ark, of mercy Spring and Well,<br> +Of Ladies first, as is of letters A,<br> + Empress of heaven, of paradise and hell--<br> +Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway.<br> +<br> +O Star, that blindest Phoebus' beams so bright,<br> + With course above the empyrean crystalline;<br> +Above the sphere of Saturn's highest height,<br> + Surmounting all the angelic orders nine;<br> + O Lamp, that shin'st before the throne divine,<br> +Where sounds hosanna in cherubic lay,<br> + With drum and organ, harp and cymbeline--<br> +Mother, of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway,<br> +<br> +O Cloister chaste of pure virginity,<br> + That Christ hath closed 'gainst crime for evermo';<br> +Triumphant Temple of the Trinity,<br> + That didst the eternal Tartarus o'erthrow;<br> + Princess of peace, imperial Palm, I trow,<br> +From thee our Samson sprang invict in fray;<br> + Who, with one buffet, Belial hath laid low--<br> +Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway,<br> +<br> +Thy blessed sides the mighty Champion bore,<br> + Who hath, with many a bleeding wound in fight,<br> +Victoriously o'erthrown the dragon hoar<br> + That ready was his flock to slay and smite;<br> + Nor all the gates of hell him succour might,<br> +Since he that robber's rampart brake away,<br> + While all the demons trembled at the sight--<br> +Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway,<br> +<br> +O Maiden meek, chief Mediatrix for man,<br> +And Mother mild, full of humility,<br> +Pray to thy Son, with wounds that sanguine ran,<br> + Whereby for all our trespass slain was he.<br> + And since he bled his blood upon a tree,<br> +'Gainst Lucifer, our foe, to be our stay,<br> + That we in heaven may sing upon our knee--<br> +Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway,<br> +<br> +Hail, Pearl made pure; hail, Port of paradise;<br> + Hail, Ruby, redolent of rays to us;<br> +Hail, Crystal clear, Empress and Queen, hail thrice;<br> + Mother of God, hail, Maid exalted thus;<br> + O Gratia plena, tecum Dominus;<br> +With Gabriel that we may sing and say,<br> + Benedicta tu in mulieribus--<br> +Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway.<br> +<br> +William Dunbar,<br> +<br> +XV-XVI. Cents.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<br> +<h3>HOLY WEEK I</h3> +<center>Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.<br> +<br> +S. Matt. XXVI, 56.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God, +accept, O Lord, our prayers and save us.<br> +<br> +May the Holy Mother of God and all the saints be our intercessors +with the Heavenly Father, that He may deign to be merciful to us, +and in pity save His creatures. Lord God all-powerful! save us and +have mercy upon us.<br> +<br> +Through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God, the Immaculate +Mother of Thine only Son, and through the prayers of all the +saints, receive, O Lord, our supplications; hear us, O Lord, and +have mercy upon us; pardon us, bear with us, and blot out our sins, +and make us worthy to glorify Thee, together with Thy Son and the +Holy Ghost, now and ever, world without end. Amen.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">Armenian.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>e try to see our Lord's passion through the eyes of His Blessed +Mother. We feel that all through Holy Week she must have been in +direct touch with the experiences of our Lord. Her outlook would +have been that of the Apostolic circle the record of which we get +in the Gospels. Our Lord's ministry had showed a period of +popularity during which it must have seemed to those closest to Him +that they were moving rapidly to success; and then, after the day +at Caeserea Phillipi, when His Messianic claims had been +acknowledged, they would have been filled with enthusiasm for the +mission the meaning of which was now defined. Then came a period of +disappointment. Our Lord declined to become a popular leader, and +by the nature of His preaching, the demands that He made upon those +who were inclined to support Him lost popularity till it was a +question to be considered whether the very Apostles would not +desert Him. Then came the flash of renewed enthusiasm which is +evidenced by the Palm Sunday entry, bringing, no doubt, renewed +hopes to those nearest our Lord who seem to have been utterly +unable to accept the view of His failure and death that He kept +before them. But the hope vanished as quickly as it was roused. In +less than a week the rejoicing group of Sunday followed Him from +the Upper Chamber to the shades of Gethsemane. The betrayal, the +trial, the end, come quickly on.</p> +<p>This to S. Mary was the piercing of the sword through the very +heart. These were the days when the meaning of close association +with Incarnate God, with God Who was pursuing a mission of rescue, +came out. The mission of the Son for the Redemption of man meant +submitting to the extremity of insult and torture, and it meant +that those who were closest associated with Him should be caught +into the circle of His pain. As our Lord was displaying the best of +which humanity is capable, so was He calling out the worst of which +it is capable. These last days of the life of Jesus show where man +can be led when he surrenders himself to the dominion of the Power +of Evil and becomes the servant of sin. The triumph of demoniac +malice through its instruments, the Roman governor, the Jewish +authorities, of necessity swept over all who were related to our +Lord. The storm scattered the Apostolic group and left the Christ +to face His trial alone. Yet not alone: He himself tells us the +truth. "Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be +scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet +I am not alone, because the Father is with me." It was what the +Prophet had foreseen: "All ye shall be offended because of me this +night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep +shall be scattered."</p> +<p>We do not know where S. Mary was during these days, but we are +sure that she was as near our Lord as it was possible for her to +be. We know that her own thought would be of the possibility of +ministering to Him. We know that she would not have fled with the +Apostles in their momentary panic. She was at the Cross, and she +was at the grave, and she would have been as near Him in the agony +and the trial as it was possible for her to be. And she too was in +agony. Every pang of our Lord found echo in her. Every blow that +fell upon His bleeding back, she too felt. Every insult that the +soldiers inflicted, hurt her. Our Lord in the consciousness of His +mission is constantly sustained by the thought that His Passion and +Death is an offering to the will of the Father,--an offering even +for these miserable men who are brutally treating a man whom they +know to be innocent. Her sorrow is the utter desolation of seeing +the One Whom she loves above all else suffer, while she can bear +Him no alleviation in His suffering, cannot so much as wipe the +blood from off His wounded brow, cannot even touch His hand, and +look her love into His eyes. She follows from place to place while +our Lord is being hustled from Caiaphas to Pilate and from Pilate +to Herod and back again; from time to time hearing from some one +who has succeeded in getting nearer, how the trial is going on, +what the accusation is, how Jesus is bearing Himself, what answers +He has made, what the authorities have said. Once and again, it may +be, catching a distant glimpse of Him as He is led about by the +guards, seeing Him always more worn and weary, always nearer the +point of collapse. Herself, too, nearer collapse; yet going on +still with that strength that love gives to mothers, determined at +the cost of any suffering to be near Him, as near as she can be, +till the very end. So we see her on that day in the streets of +Jerusalem, and think of the distance travelled since the morning +when Gabriel said to her, wondering: "Hail thou that art highly +favoured.... Blessed art thou among women."</p> +<p>We, too, follow. We have so often followed, with the Gospel in +our hands, and wondered at the method of God. We have tried hour +after hour to penetrate the meaning of the Passion, to find what +personal message it brings, to discover what light it throws on our +own lives. We have gone out into Gethsemane and placed ourselves +with the three chosen Apostles while our Lord went on to pray by +Himself; and we have discovered in ourselves the same weariness, +the same tendency to sleep, in the presence of what we tell +ourselves is the most important of all interests. We call up the +scene under the olives, and find that we wander and are inattentive +and idle when we most want to be attentive and alert. We place +ourselves in the group that surrounds our Lord when the soldiers, +led by Judas, come, and ask ourselves shall I too run away? And our +memory flashes the answer: You have run away again and again: you +have in the face, not of grave dangers, but of insignificant +trifles--how insignificant they look now--for fear of criticism, +for fear of being thought odd, for fear of the opinion of worldly +companions, for fear of being pitied or laughed at, over and over +again you have run away. The things that seemed important when they +were present seem pitifully insignificant in the retrospect.</p> +<p>We follow out of the garden to the meeting-place of the +Sanhedrin, to the Judgment seat of Pilate, to the palace of Herod. +Any impulse to criticise S. Peter is speedily suppressed: we have +denied so often under such trifling provocation. S. Peter was +frightened from participation in the act of our Lord's sacrifice +through mortal fear of his life. We have stayed away from the +offering of the Holy Sacrifice, how often! from mere sloth, from +disinclination to effort, from the fact that our participation +would prevent us from joining in some act of worldly amusement. S. +Peter, following to the high Priest's palace to see the end, looks +heroic beside our frivolity. We follow through the details of the +trial, we go to Herod's palace and see the brutal treatment of our +Lord, and we remember of these men that their conduct was founded +in ignorance. We do not for a moment believe that they would have +spit upon our Lord and buffeted Him, and crowned Him with a crown +of thorns, if they had believed that He was God. But we believe +that He is God. Our desertion of Him when we sin, our contempt of +His expressed ideals when we compromise with the world, our +departure from His example when we excuse ourselves on the ground +of very minor inconveniences from keeping some holy day or fasting +day, are not founded in ignorance at all. They can hardly be said +to be founded in weakness, so slight is the temptation that we do +not resist. As we meditate on the Passion, as we keep Good Friday, +very pitiful all our idleness and subterfuges appear to us. But we +so easily shake off the effect! We emerge from our meditation +almost convinced that the stinging sense of the truth of our +conduct which we are experiencing is the equivalent of having +reformed it. We go out with a glow of virtue and by night realise +that we have sinned again!</p> +<p>It is no doubt well that we should not be permanently depressed +about our spiritual state, but only because we have taken all the +pains we can to heal the wounds of sin. There is no need that any +one should abide in a state of sin because there has been in the +Precious Blood a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, and +by washing therein, though our souls were as scarlet, they shall +become white as snow. We have the right to a certain optimism about +ourselves if it be founded on actual spiritual activity which +ceaselessly tries to reproduce the Christ-experience in us, even +the experience of the Passion by the voluntary self-discipline to +which we subject ourselves. A brilliant writer has spoken of those +whose view of their lives is drawn from "that fountain of all +optimism--sloth." That is a true saying: our optimism is often no +more than an idle refusal to face facts; a quaint and good-natured +assumption that nothing very much matters and that everything will +be all right in the end!</p> +<p>This easy going optimism is commonly as far as possible from +representing any spiritual fact. If we are seeking any serious and +fruitful relation to the Passion of our Lord, we must seek it along +the Way of the Cross. To follow His example means to follow His +experience, to treat life as He treated it. The content of our +lives is quite different, but the treatment of the given fact must +be essentially the same. We need the same repulse of temptation, +the same quiet disregard of the appeals of the world, whether it +offer the alleviation of difficulty or the bestowal of pleasure as +the reward of our allegiance. And we, sinners in so manifold ways, +need what our Lord did not need, repulsion from our sins as the +necessary preliminary to forgiveness.</p> +<p>My experience makes me feel very strongly that we are apt to be +deficient in the first step in repentance--contrition. As we follow +the Way of Sorrows we know that our Lord is suffering <i>for +us</i>; and we feel that the starting point of our repentance must +lie in our success in making that a personal matter. In our self +examination, in our approach to the sacrament of penance, we are +compelled to ask ourselves, Am I in fact sorry for my sins? It +surely is not enough that we fear the results of sin, or that we +are ashamed at our failure. This really is not repentance but a +sort of pride. There must, I feel, be sorrow after a godly sort. +That is, true contrition, true sorrow for sin, is the sort of +sorrow which is born of the Vision of God; it has its origin in +love. I have found in our Lord love giving itself to me, and I must +find in myself love giving itself to Him. To my forgiveness it is +not enough that God loves me. I know that He loves me and will love +me to the end, whether I repent or not; but the possibility of +forgiveness lies in my love of Him, whether it takes such hold on +me as actually to stimulate me to forsake sin. I shall never really +forsake sin through shame or fear; one gets used to those emotions +after a little and disregards them. But one does not get used to +love; it grows to be an increasing force in life, and so masters us +as to draw us away from sin.</p> +<p>Contrition then will be the offspring of love. It will be born +when we follow Christ Jesus out on the Sorrowful Way and understand +that He is going out for us. Then we want to get as near Him as +possible: we want to take His Hand and go by His side. We want to +stand by Him in His trial and share His condemnation. We want +constantly to tell Him how sorry we are that we have brought Him +here. We shall not be content that He feel all the pain. We are +convinced that we ought to share in the pain as we share in the +results of the Passion. When we have achieved this point of view we +shall feel that our approach to Him to ask His forgiveness needs, +it may be, much more care than we have hitherto bestowed upon it. +We have thought of penance as forgiveness; now we begin to see how +much the attitude which precedes our entrance to the confessional +counts, and that we must value the gift of God enough to have made +sure that we are ready to receive it. We kneel down, therefore, and +look at our crucifix, and say: "This hast Thou done for me," and +make our act of love in which we join ourselves to the Cross of +Jesus. We tell ourselves that love is the beginning and end of our +relation to Him.</p> +<p>It is to be urged that every Christian should be utterly +familiar with the life of our Lord, and should spend time regularly +in meditation upon His life, and especially upon His Passion. Love +is the constant counteractive of familiarity; and it is kept fresh +in our souls by the contemplation of what our Lord has actually +done for us. A general recalling of what He has done has not the +same stimulating force as the vivid placing before us of the actual +details of His work. To most of us visible aids to the realisation +of our Lord's action for us are most helpful. A crucifix on the +wall of one's room before which one can say one's prayers, and +before which also we stop for a moment time and again in the course +of the day, just to say a few words, to make an act of love, of +contrition, or of union, keeps the thought of the Passion fresh. We +gain in freshness and variety of prayer by the use of such +devotions as the litany of the Passion or the Way of the Cross. A +set of cards of the Stations help us to say them in our homes. It +is much to be desired that we accustom ourselves to devotional +helps of all sorts. We are quite too much inclined to think that +there is something of spiritual superiority in the attempt to +conduct our devotional life without any of the helps which +centuries of Christian experience have provided. It is the same +sort of feeling that makes other Christians assume that there is a +superiority in spiritual attainment evidenced by their dispensing +with "forms," especially with printed prayers. It is just as well +to remember that we did not originate the Christian Religion, but +inherited it; and that the practices of devotion that have been +found helpful by generations of saints, and after full trial have +retained the approval of the greater part of Christendom, can +hardly be treated as valueless, much less as superstitious. The +fact that saints have found them valuable and one has not, may +possibly not be a criticism of the saints.</p> +<p>The meditation upon the Way of the Cross, the vision of Jesus +scourged, spitted upon, crowned with thorns, may well give us some +searchings of heart in regard to our own easy-going, luxurious +life. Nothing seems to disturb the modern person so much as the +suggestion that the chief business of the Christian Religion is not +to look after their comfort. They hold, it would appear, to the +pre-Christian notion that prosperity is an obvious mark of God's +favour, and that by the accumulation of wealth they are giving +indisputable evidence of piety. It is well to recall that there is +no such dangerous path as that of continual success. I do not in +the least mean to imply that success is sinful or indicates the +existence of sin, but I do mean to insist very strongly that the +successful man needs to be a very spiritually watchful man. He is +quite apt to think that he may take all sorts of liberties with the +laws of God. There are, no doubt, evident dangers to the +unsuccessful man, but the Holy Scriptures have not thought it worth +while to spend much time in denouncing him. It has a good deal to +say of the danger, not so much of wealth, as of prosperity in +general: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, +fullness of bread, and prosperous ease were in her." When we find +ourselves in a satisfied and comfortable home life, so comfortable +that we find it difficult to get up to a week-day Mass, and +disinclined to go out to a service after dinner, we need +watching.</p> +<p>And the best watchman is oneself; and the best method of +self-examination is by the Cross. Is there any sense in which we +can be said to be following our Lord on the Sorrowful Way? Have we +taken up the Cross to go after Him, or are we assuming that we can +just as well drift along with the crowd of those who only look on? +We all need from time to time to consider the Catholic teaching as +to mortification and self-discipline. I am quite aware that to +insist on this is not the way of popularity, but nevertheless I +learned a long time ago that about the only way that a priest can +take if he wishes to be saved is the way of unpopularity. And +therefore I am going to insist that the practice of rigorous +self-discipline is essential to any healthy Christian life. We +cannot dispense ourselves from this, for the mere fact that we are +dispensing ourselves is the proof that we need that upon which we +are turning our back. Briefly, what I mean is that the assumption +of the Cross by a Christian means that he is taking into his life, +voluntarily, personal acts of self-sacrifice which he offers to our +Lord as the evidence and the means of his own Cross-bearing.</p> +<p>The unruliness of our nature can only be kept in order by +continual acts of self-discipline. We, no doubt, recognise the need +of the discipline of the passions, but our theory, so far as we can +be said to have one, would seem to be that the discipline of the +passions means resistence to special temptations as they arise. We +may no doubt sin through the passions, and therefore we need a +minimum of watchfulness to meet temptations which come our way. I +submit that such a way of conducting life is quite sufficient to +account for the vast amount of failure we witness or, perhaps, +experience. When from time to time the country gets alarmed about +its health, when it is threatened with some epidemic such as +influenza, the papers are full of medical advice the sum of which +is you cannot dodge all the disease germs that are in the air, but +you can by a vigorous course of exercise and by careful diet, keep +yourself in a state of such physical soundness that the chances are +altogether favourable for your withstanding the assaults of +disease. No doubt the vast majority of people prefer not to follow +this advice. A considerable number of them resort to various magic +cults, such as letting sudden drafts of cold air in upon the +inoffensive bystander with a view to exorcising the germs. But it +remains that the medical advice is sound: it amounts to saying, +"Keep yourself in the best physical condition possible and you will +run the minimum chance of being ill."</p> +<p>The Catholic treatment of life and its recommendation of +discipline and mortification has precisely the same basis as the +physical advice--an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of +cure. We are exposed to temptation constantly, and we need to +recognise the fact and prepare ourselves to meet it; and the best +preparation is the preparation of self-discipline for the purpose +of keeping rebellious nature under control. Good farming does not +consist in pulling up weeds; it consists in the choice and +preparation of the ground in which the seed is to be sown; it looks +primarily to the growth of the seed and not to the elimination of +the weeds. Our nature is a field in which the Word of God is sown; +its preparation and care is what we need to focus attention on, not +the weeds.</p> +<p>Self-discipline is the preparation of nature, the discipline of +the powers of the spiritual life with a view to what they have to +do. And one of the important phases of our preparation is to teach +our passions obedience, to subject them to the control of the +enlightened will. If they are accustomed to obey they are not very +likely to get out of hand in some time of crisis. If they are +broken in to the dominion of spiritual motive, they will +instinctively seek that motive whenever they are incited to act. +Hence the immense spiritual value of the habitual denial to +ourselves of indulgence in various innocent kinds of activity. I do +not at all mean that we are never to have innocent indulgences: I +do mean that the declining of them occasionally for the purpose of +self-discipline is a most wholesome practice. How frequently it is +desirable must be determined by the individual circumstances. It is +utterly disastrous to permit a child to have everything it wants +because there is sufficient money to spend, to permit it to run to +soda fountains or go to the picture houses as it desires. Any sane +person recognises that; but does the same person recognise the sane +principle as applying in his own life? Does he feel the value of +going without something for a day or two, or staying from places of +amusement for a time, or of abandoning for a while this or that +luxury?</p> +<p>The principle is of course the ascetic principle of +self-mastery. It is best brought before us by the familiar practice +of fasting, which is very mildly recommended to us in its lowest +terms in the table in the Book of Common Prayer. Naturally, its +value is not the value of going without this or that, but the value +of self-mastery. The very fact that our appetites rebel at the +notion shows their undisciplined character. The child at the table +begins to ask, not for a sensible meal founded on sound reasons of +hygiene, but for various things that are an immediate temptation to +the appetite. The adult is not markedly different save that he +preserves a certain order in indulgence. The principle of fasting +is that he should from time to cut across the inclination of +appetite, and either go without a meal altogether, or select such +food as will maintain health without delighting appetite. So man +gains the mastery over the animal side of his nature and shows +himself the child of God.</p> +<p>The actual practice of the ascetic life really carries us much +farther than these surface matters of a physical nature that have +been cited. It applies in particular to the disposition of time and +the ruling of daily actions. The introduction of a definite order +into the day actually seems to increase the time at one's disposal. +I know, I can hear you saying: "If you were the head of a family, +and had children to look after, you would not talk that way. You +would know something of the practical difficulties of life." But +indeed I am quite familiar with the situation. And if I were so +situated I am certain that I should feel all the more need of +order. Families are disorderly because we let them be; because we +do not face the initial trouble of making them orderly. A school or +a factory would be still more disorderly than a family if it were +permitted to be. Any piece of human mechanism will get out of order +if you will let it. That is precisely the reason for the insistence +on the ascetic principle--this tendency of life to get out of +order; that is the meaning of all that I have been saying, of the +whole Catholic insistence on discipline. Time can be controlled; +and, notwithstanding American experience, children can be +controlled; and control means the rescuing of the life from +disorder and sin, and the lifting it to a level of order and sanity +and possible sanctity.</p> +<p>We cannot hope to meet successfully the common temptations of +life except we be prepared to meet them, except there be in our +life an element of foresight. An undisciplined and untried strength +is an unknown quantity. The man who expects to meet temptation when +it occurs without any preparation is in fact preparing for failure. +I do not believe that there is any other so great a source of +spiritual weakness and disaster as the going out to meet life +without preceding discipline, thus subjecting the powers of our +nature to trials for which we have not fitted them. Self-control, +self-discipline, ascetic practice, are indispensible to a +successful Christian life.</p> +<blockquote>O STAR of starrès, with thy streamès +clear,<br> +Star of the Sea, to shipman Light or Guide,<br> +O lusty Living, most pleasant t'appear,<br> +Whose brightè beames the cloudès may not hide:<br> +O Way of Life to them that go or ride,<br> +Haven from tempest, surest up t'arrive,<br> +O me have mercy for thy Joyès five.<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +O goodly Gladded, when that Gabriel<br> +With joy thee gret that may not be numb'rèd,<br> +Or half the bliss who couldè write or tell,<br> +When th' Holy Ghost to thee was obumbrèd,<br> +Wherethrough the fiendès were utterly encombrèd?<br> +O wemless Maid, embellished in his birth,<br> +That man and angel thereof hadden mirth.<br> +<br> +John Lydgate of Bury,<br> +XV Cent.<br> +From Chaucerian and Other<br> +Poems, edited by W. W. Skeat,<br> +1894.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<br> +<h3>HOLY WEEK II</h3> +<center>And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from +him,<br> +and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify +him.<br> +<br> +S. Matt. XXVII, 31.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Forgive, O Lord, we beseech thee, the sins of thy +people: that we, who are not able to do anything of ourselves, that +can be pleasing to thee, may be assisted in the way of salvation by +the prayers of the Mother of thy Son. Who.<br> +<br> +Having partaken of thy heavenly table, we humbly beseech thy +clemency, O Lord, our God, that we who honour the Assumption of the +Mother of God, may, by her intercession, be delivered from all +evils. Through.</blockquote> +<br> +<p class="loc">OLD CATHOLIC.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he way of the Cross is indeed a Sorrowful Way. We have meditated +upon it so often that we are familiar with all the details of our +Lord's action as He follows it from the Judgment Seat of Pilate to +the Place of a Skull. I wonder if we enough pause to look with our +Lord at the crowds that line the way, or at those who follow Him +out of the city. It is not a mere matter of curiosity that we +should do so, or an exercise of the devout imagination; the reason +why we should examine carefully the faces of those men who attend +our Lord on the way to His death is that somewhere in that crowd we +shall see our own faces: it is a mirror of sinful humanity that we +look into there. All the seven deadly sins are there incarnate.</p> +<p>It is extremely important that we should get this sort of +personal reaction from the Passion because we are so prone to be +satisfied with generalities, to confess that we are miserable +sinners, and let it go at that! But to stop there is to stop short +of any possibility of improvement, because we can only hope to +improve when we understand our lives in detail, when we face them +as concrete examples of certain sins.</p> +<p>There was pride there. It was expressed by both Roman and Jewish +officialism which looked with scorn on this obscure fanatic who +claimed to be a king! Pilate had satisfied himself of His +harmlessness by a very cursory examination. This Galilean Prophet +with His handful of followers, peasants and women, who had deserted +Him at the first sign of danger, was hardly worth troubling about. +The only ground for any action at all was the fear that the Jewish +leaders might be disagreeable. Those Jewish leaders took a rather +more serious view of the situation because they knew that through +the purity of His teaching and His obvious power to perform +miracles, a power but just now once more strikingly demonstrated in +the raising of Lazarus, He had a powerful hold on the people. They, +these Jewish leaders, declined a serious examination of the claims +of such a man in their pride of place and knowledge of the +Scriptures. They were concerned to sweep Him aside as a possible +leader in a popular outbreak, not as one whose claim to the +Messiahship needed a moment's examination.</p> +<p>This intellectual pride is one of the very greatest sins to +which humanity is tempted. It goes very deep in its destructive +force because it is a sin, preeminently, of the spiritual nature, +of that in us which is akin to God, His very image. It is, you will +remember, the sin on which our Lord centres His chief denunciation. +And common as it has always been, it has never been so common as it +is to-day. Pilate and the chief priests are duplicated in every +community in the thousands who reject Christianity without any +adequate examination as incredible in view of what they actually +hold, or as inconvenient in view of what they desire to practice. +We have only to read very superficially in the current literature +of the day, we have only to examine the teaching in colleges, to be +completely convinced of the vast extent of the revolt against the +Christian Religion. This revolt is for the most part a revolt +without adequate examination. It assumes that the Christian +Religion is contrary to science, or to something else that is +established as true. It looks at Christianity superficially through +the eyes of those who reject it and are ignorant of it. The fact is +that Christianity cannot be understood in any complete sense of the +word by those who do not practice it. Its "evidence" is no doubt of +great force; of sufficient force to lead men to experiment; but the +actual comprehension of Christ as the Saviour of man is an +experience. The operation of the Holy Spirit in life is necessarily +proved, and only completely proved, by the action of the Spirit +Himself.</p> +<p>Another demonstration of the same pride is seen in the refusal, +without adequate examination, to accept the Catholic Religion, and +the picking and choosing among articles of belief and sacraments +and practices as to what we will use or observe. Men do not like +this or that, and they therefore decline it. The whole attitude is +one of self-will and pride. Whatsoever comes to us with a great +weight of Christian experience back of it certainly deserves +careful consideration; it demands of us that we treat it as other +than a matter of taste. Pride is the commonest of sins and the most +dangerous for it attacks the very heart of the spiritual life. It +runs, to be sure, through a broad range of experience and not all +manifestations of pride are mortal sin; but all manifestations of +it are subtle and insidious and capable of expansion to an +indefinite degree. For there is no difference in nature between the +spiritual attitude of the person who says, "I do not see any sense +in that and will not do it," when the matter in question may be the +Church's rule of fasting, and that of the man who before Pilate's +Judgment Seat cried out, "We have no king but Caesar."</p> +<p>It was in fact because they found their own power and place +threatened that the Jewish authorities were so determined on our +Lord's death. Their sin from this point of view was the sin of +covetousness. This sin reaches its highest point when it is greed +for power over other men's lives and destinies, when it is ready to +sacrifice the lives of others in order to gain or maintain its +ends. In this broad sense it is the most socially destructive of +sins. The wars of the world for these many years have been wars for +commercial supremacy. The world is being continually exploited by +commercial enterprises which will stop at nothing to gain their +ends. Some day a history of the last two hundred years will be +written which will tell the story of the commercial expansion of +the world we call civilised, and it will be the most horrible book +that has ever been written. It will contain the story of the +Spanish colonisation of America. It will contain the history of the +slave trade. It will contain the history of the Belgian Congo, and +of the rubber industry in South America. It will contain the +history of the American Indian and of the opium trade of India--and +of many like things.</p> +<p>But while we shudder at the world-torturing ways of the pursuit +of wealth, of the world-wide seeking of money and power, we need +not forget that the sin of covetousness is as common as any sin can +be. It is so common and so subtle that it is almost impossible to +know how far one is a victim of it. It is deliberately taught to us +as children under the guise of thrift, which if it be a virtue is +certainly one that the saints have overlooked. We are constantly +called on to strike a balance between what are the proper needs of +life and what is an improper concentration of attention upon +ourselves. Waste of money, like waste of any other energy, is a +sin; but it is a very nice question as to what is waste. I think it +a pretty safe rule to give expenditure the benefit of the doubt +when it is for others, and to deny it when it is for self.</p> +<p>However, I imagine that those who are conscientiously trying to +conduct their lives as the children of God will have little +difficulty in this matter. The real trouble is not in the matter of +expenditure but in the matter of gain. The ethics of business are +very far from being the ethics of the Gospel, and we are often +frankly told by those engaged in business that it cannot be +successfully conducted on the basis of the ethics of the Gospel, +That it is not so conducted is sufficiently obvious from a cursory +scanning of the advertising columns of any newspaper or magazine. +The ideal of the business world is success. Naturally, one cannot +carry on an unsuccessful business, but need it be success by all +means and to all extents? Are there no limits to the methods by +which business is to be pushed, except legal limits? If there is no +room for Christian ethics in the business world there can be but +one end; competitive business will lead the civilisation that it +controls to inevitable disaster. Our Lord said: "Take heed and +beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the +abundance of the things that he possesseth." And He went on to +speak a parable which has come to be known as the Parable of the +Rich Fool. The "practical man" may be as angered as he likes by +this teaching, but in his soul he knows that our Lord was right. +When such things are pointed out from the pulpit the "practical +man" says: "What would become of the Church were it not for the +rich and the successful?" I think that the answer is that in that +case the Church would no more represent the rich and would have a +fair chance of once more representing Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>It may seem at the first sight that of the mortal sins lust was +not represented here upon the Sorrowful Way; but that, I think is +but a superficial analysis of the nature of lust, thinking only of +some manifestations of it. There is however one sin that has its +roots deep in lust which psychologists tell us is one of its +commonest manifestations, and that is cruelty. Lust is not always, +but commonly, cruel; and the desire to inflict pain on others is a +very common form of its expression. There are sights we have seen +or incidents we have read of, it may be a boy torturing an animal +or another child, it may be a shouting mass of men about a +prize-ring, it may be soldiers sacking a town,--when the action +seems so senseless that we are at a loss to account for it; but the +account of it lies in the mystery of our sensual nature, in the +ultimate animal that we are. The savage joy that is being expressed +by the participants in such scenes is ultimately a sensual joy. +These men who delighted in the torture of our Lord were +sensualists; and there are few of us who if we will watch our +selves closely will not find traces of the animal showing itself +from time to time. Of this crowd about the Cross relatively few +could have known anything about the case of our Lord; but they were +fascinated by the spectacle of a man's torture. If the executions +of criminals were public to-day there would undoubtedly be huge +crowds to gaze upon them.</p> +<p>It is one of the lessons we learn from the study of sin that +what we had thought was the essence of the sin was in fact but one +of the manifestations of it, and that we have to carry our study +far before we arrive at the ideal, Know thyself. It is always +dangerous to assume that we know when we have not been at the pains +to look at a subject on all sides. Our sensual nature needs a very +careful discipline, and the mere freedom from certain forms of the +sin of lust is not the equivalent of that purity which is the +medium of the Vision of God.</p> +<p>It is the sin of gluttony which is the least obvious in the Way +of the Cross. There are no doubt plenty of gluttons there, but that +is not what we are trying to find; we are trying to see how each +sin contributed to this final act in the drama of our Lord's life, +how each sin contributed to put men in opposition to our Lord. It +is not the actual sin of gluttony that we shall find in operation +here but certain inevitable effects of it, What is the effect of +gluttony on the soul of man? Absorption in the pursuit of the +pleasures that spring from material things; the indulgence of the +appetite, and the natural result of such indulgence which is to +render the soul insensitive to the spiritual. The man whose motto +is, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," puts himself out +of touch with the spiritual realities of life. He is materialistic, +whatever may be his philosophy. He wants immediate results from +life. When he is confronted with our Lord, when he is told that our +Lord makes demands upon life for self-restraint and +self-discipline, that He demands that the appetites be curbed +rather than indulged, he declines allegiance. One can have no doubt +that in our Lord's time as to-day indifference to His teaching and +failure even to take in what the Gospel means or how it can be a +possible rule of life is largely due to the dull spiritual state, +outcome of the indulgence of the appetite for meat and drink. Men +whose brains are clogged by over eating, and whose faculties are in +a deadened state through the use of alcohol, cannot well understand +the Gospel of God.</p> +<p>There is abundant evidence of anger all along the Way of the +Cross. The constant thwarting of the purpose of the Jewish +authorities by our Lord, His unsparing criticism of them before the +people, had stirred them to fury. If our Lord had seemed to them to +threaten their "place and nation" we can understand that they would +show toward Him intense hostility. Their attitude toward the people +whose religious interests they were supposed to have in charge was +one of utter contempt: "This people which knoweth not the Law is +cursed." Our Lord's attitude was the opposite of all this. It was +not, to be sure, as to-day it is represented to be an appeal to the +people. He was not bidding for popular support, but he showed +unbounded sympathy with the people; He cast His teaching in a form +that would appeal to them and draw them to him. He made a popular +appeal in that He showed Himself understanding of the popular mind +and without social prejudice of any sort. This setting aside of the +arrogant authorities of Israel roused them to implacable wrath. +They felt that our Lord was setting Himself to undermine their +authority, and as they felt that their authority was "of God" their +indignation translated itself into terms of zeal for God.</p> +<p>This anger that manages to wear a cloak of virtue is peculiarly +dangerous to the soul. When we are just ordinarily mad over some +offence committed against us it is no doubt a sin; but it is not a +sin of the same malignity as when we feel that we can go any +lengths because we are not angry on our own behalf, then our anger +almost becomes an act of religion in our eyes. We have become the +defenders of a cause. No doubt there is such a thing as "righteous +indignation," but it is not a virtue that we are compelled to +practice, and we would do well to leave it alone as much as +possible lest our indignation exceed our righteousness, and we +indentify our personal interests with the cause of God.</p> +<p>The worst feature of tempermental flare-ups is the testimony +they bear to our lack of discipline. When we excuse ourselves or +others on the ground that action is "temperamental" we are in fact +no more than restating the fact that there is sore need of +discipline; and there is no more ground for excusing one variety of +temperament for its lack of discipline than an other. In fact, the +more inclined a temperament is to certain sins, the more necessity +there is for the appropriate sort of training. People without +self-control, who are constantly losing their temper, are public +nuisances and ought to be suppressed. There is the worst kind of +arrogance in the assumption that I do not have to control myself +and can speak and act as I like. No one, whatever his position, has +the right to ignore the feelings of others; and the more the +position is one of authority, exempting him from a certain kind of +criticism, the more is he bound to criticise himself and examine +himself as to this particular sin.</p> +<p>There are sins under this caption which do not contain much +malice but are disturbing to life, and they are especially +disturbing to one's spiritual life. There are peevish, complaining +people, who do not seem to mean much harm, but keep themselves in a +state of dissatisfaction which renders their spiritual growth +impossible. They grow old without any of the grace and beauty of +character which should mark a Christian old age. One knows old +people who have been in intimate contact with the Church and the +sacraments for many years but do not show any signs of having +reached our Lord through them. They are dissatisfied and +complaining and critical and generally disagreeable so that the +task of those who take care of them is rendered very disheartening. +What is the trouble? Has there never been any true spiritual +discipline, but only a certain superficial conformity to a +spiritual rule? When old age comes the will is weakened and the +sense of self-respect undermined, with the result that what the +person has all along been in reality, now comes to the surface and +is, perhaps for the first time, visible to every one.</p> +<p>Envy is closely related to pride on the one hand and to +covetousness on the other. It begins in the perception of another's +superiority, and carries its victim through the feeling of hurt +pride at the contrast with himself to desire for that which is not +his own. The envious person covets the qualities of possessions of +another, while vividly denying that they are in fact superior to +his own, except, it may be, in certain apparent and not very +valuable aspects. The contrast between the superior and the +inferior has one of two results: either the inferior is stirred to +admiration, or he is stirred to a greater or less degree of +envy.</p> +<p>It was thus that contact with our Lord <i>revealed</i> the +reality of men. It was a very true judgment to associate with him. +His apostles were simple men who never thought of putting +themselves in comparison with Him: the more they knew Him the more +wonderful He seemed to them. We feel all through the Gospel story +what an overwhelming impression His personality made upon men. +There is no criticism raised on His character from any point of +view. His enemies fell back on the accusation of blasphemy growing +out of His claims, an accusation that would be true, if the claims +were not true. What we really discover in those who oppose Him is +envy, envy of the influence He exercises over others, envy stirred +by His obvious superiority to themselves.</p> +<p>Envy is one of the sins of which we are least conscious. When +people affirm that they envy others this or that: their leisure, +their beauty, or what not, they clearly do not envy them at all, +but are mildly covetous of the things that they see others possess. +Where envy does show its presence and where we do not recognise its +nature, is in that horrible inclination to depreciate others which +is visible in certain characters. They seem never to hear another +mentioned but they try to think of something which limits the +praise bestowed upon him, or altogether counteracts it. It seems to +be an instinctive hostility to superiority as involving an implied +criticism of one's own inferiority. It is that curious love of the +worst that lies at the root of gossip.</p> +<p>And what about the last of the deadly sins, the sin of sloth? +One is almost tempted to say that it is at once the least obvious +and the most destructive of all the deadly sins. That would no +doubt be somewhat of an exaggeration, but it would not be very far +off the truth. It is spiritual sloth that prevents us from +considering as we should the spiritual problems that are presented +to us, and therefore prevents us from gaining their promise. It is +the quality in humanity that blocks the consideration of the new on +the ground that we already know and can gain nothing by further +exertion. The Jewish religious leaders declined the intellectual +and spiritual effort of considering our Lord's claims; they just +set them aside unconsidered. And is not that just what we are +constantly doing, and what constitutes the most pressing danger of +the spiritual life? We will not consider the future as the field of +constantly new opportunity and therefore new stages of growth. We +do not want to make the effort that is implied in that +attitude.</p> +<p>Our sloth binds us hand and foot and delivers us to the enemy. +There are no doubt some who cry out: "But I am not at all slothful; +I am busy from morning to night; of whatever else I may be guilty, +it is not of sloth!" My friend, busy people are quite often the +most slothful people that there are. They are busy dodging their +rightful duties and the opportunities that God offers them, all day +long. Have you never discovered that when you had something that +you ought to do and do not want to do, that the easiest method by +which you can still your conscience is to make yourself terribly +busy about something else, and then to tell yourself that the +reason why you have not done what you know that you ought to have +done is that really you have not had time? Do you not know that +being busy is one of the most effective screens that you can put +between your conscience and your obligation? Do you not know that +tens of thousands of men and women to-day are putting the screens +of good works, of social service of some sort, between their souls +and the worship of God and the practice of the sacraments? Beware +lest while you wear yourself out with activity your besetting sin +be found to be sloth!</p> +<p>And shall we find there on the Way of Sorrow the virtues that +are the opposite of the Seven Sins? Perhaps, if we had time to +look, or had sufficient knowledge of the crowd that lines the way. +There are certain women over there wailing and lamenting; perhaps +they could help us. In any case we know that there is one woman who +has succeeded in keeping near whose love of Jesus is so intense +that it will enable her to overcome all obstacles and be near Him +to the very last. Jesus as He staggers along the way and falls at +length under the intolerable weight of the Cross is the embodiment +of all virtues and of all spiritual accomplishment, and his blessed +Mother through His grace has been kept pure from all sin. She will +show the perfection of purely human accomplishment. She is the best +that humanity in union with the Incarnate Son has brought forth. We +have seen--we have caught glimpses of her life through what the +Scriptures tell us of her--how completely she has responded to +grace in all the actions of her life. Not much do the Scriptures +say, but what they do say is like the opening of windows through +which we catch passing aspects of her life which we feel are +perfectly characteristic and revealing.</p> +<p>And we have seen there, or we may see, may we not? the virtues +which are the work of the Holy Spirit enabling us to overcome the +deadly sins. We have seen the humility with which, without thought +of self, she answered God's call to be the Mother of His Son. We +have seen the liberality with which she places her whole life at +God's disposal, withholding nothing from the divine service. Purity +undefiled had been God's gift to her from the first moment of her +existence. Hers too was that meekness which willingly accepted all +that the appointment of God brought her, showing in her acceptance +no withholding of the will, no trace of self-assertion. Hers was +the great virtue of temperance, the power of self-restraint and +self-discipline, which suppressed all movements of nature that +would be contrary to God's will. There too was the love of the +brother and of the neighbour which is the contrary of envy; and +there was the eagerness in fulfilling the will of God which is the +opposite of sloth.</p> +<p>We have then two spotless examples,--how shall we not be stirred +to follow them! There is Jesus manifesting the qualities of His +sinless life, of the life of God's election, of humanity as God +wills it to be, and as it ultimately will be when it gives itself +to His will; and Mary in whom we see the work of God's grace +perfectly accomplished by virtue of her perfect response to the +love of her Sen. We look at these two lives and we see what is +possible for us. We do not say, we cannot say, these things are too +wonderful and great for me. We can only say, through the grace of +God which is given me, "I can do all things." It is not my +inevitable destiny that I should abide a sinner. I have the choice +of being a sinner or a saint.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>MARY: Ever I cried full piteously:<br> +"Lordings, what have ye i-brought?<br> +It is my Son I love so much:<br> +For God's sake bury Him nought."<br> +They would not stop though that I swooned,<br> +Till that He in the grave were brought.<br> +Rich clothes they around him wound:<br> +And ever mercy I them besought.<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +They said there was no better way<br> +But take and bury him full snel.<br> +They looked on my cousin John<br> +For sorrow both a-down we fell--<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +By Him we fell that was My Child.<br> +His sweet mouth well full oft I kissed.<br> +John saw I was in point to spill,<br> +That nigh mine heart did come to break.<br> +He held his sorrow in his heart still<br> +And mildly then to me did speak:<br> +"Mary, if it be thy will<br> +Go we hence; the Maudeleyn eke."<br> +He led me to a chamber then<br> +Where my Son was used to be,--<br> +John and the Maudeleyn also;<br> +For nothing would they from me flee.<br> +I looked about me everywhere:<br> +I could nowhere my Sonè see.<br> +We sat us down in sorrow and woe<br> +And 'gan to weep all three.<br> +<br> +From St. Bernard's Lamentation on Christ's Passion.<br> +Engl. version, probably 13th Cent, by Richard +Maydestone.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<h3>THE CRUCIFIXION</h3> +<br> +<center>And they crucified him.<br> +<br> +S. Matt. XXVII, 35.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>In as much as we have no confidence because of our many +sins, do thou, O Virgin Mother of God, beseech him who was born of +thee; for a Mother's supplication availeth much to gain the +benignity of the Master. Despise not the prayers of sinners, O +all-august, for merciful and mighty to save is he, who vouchsafed +to suffer for us.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">BYZANTINE.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>e have followed the Way of Sorrows to the very end and now stand +on Calvary watching by the Cross, waiting for the death of the Son +of God. The mystery of iniquity is consummated here where man in +open rebellion against his God crucifies the Incarnate Son. Here is +fulfilled the saying: "He came unto His own and His own received +Him not." All that man can do to prove his own degredation he has +done. In the person of Pilate he has condemned to death a man whom +he knows to be innocent. The representative of human justice has +denied justice for the sake of his own personal ends. In the person +of Herod he has permitted the insult and abuse of One of whom he +knows no ill, and has displayed toward Him wanton and brutal +cruelty. In the person of the Jewish authorities he has rejected +the Messenger of the God whom he recognises as his God, and will +not listen to the voice of prophecy because he finds his personal +ends countered by the fulfilment of the promises of the religion +whose subject he professes to be. In the person of the disciples he +shows himself too cowardly and self-regarding to stand by his +innocent Master and to throw in his lot with Him. In the person of +the people he shows himself cruel, hardened, indifferent to +suffering and to justice, ready to be made the tool of unscrupulous +politicians, unstable and ignorant. As we look on, we succeed in +retaining any shred of respect for humanity only through the +contemplation of the exceptions--of S. John and the little group of +women who are faithful to the end: above all in the sight of +blessed Mary standing by the Cross of her Son.</p> +<p>It is the will of God that our Lord should follow the human lot +to the very depth of its possible sufferings. There are no doubt +many sufferings of humanity that our Lord does not share, they are +those which spring out of personal sin. He in Whom was no sin could +not suffer those things which spring from one's own wrong doing. +That is one broad distinction between the burdens of the crosses on +Calvary, a distinction which the penitent thief caught easily when +he said to his reviling fellow-criminal, "Dost thou not fear God, +seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for +we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done +nothing amiss." And in as much as a great part of what we suffer is +plainly just, the pain we bear is intensified by the knowledge that +what we are is the outcome of what we have been. But our Lord, +while He does not suffer as the result of His own sin, does suffer +as the result of sin in that He wills to bear the result of men's +sin by putting Himself at their mercy. He bears the burden of sin +to the uttermost, looking down from the Cross at the faces of these +men whose salvation He is making possible if in the days to come +they will associate themselves with Him. One wonders how many of +those who saw Him crucified came, before they died, to accept Him +as the Saviour and their God. There must have been many wonderful +first Communions in the early Church when those who had rejected +Jesus in His humility came to receive Him glorified.</p> +<p>But as we look at this scene of the dying we feel that the +powers of evil are working their uttermost, they are driving their +slaves to incredible sins. One feels the tremendous power that evil +is as one looks at these human beings who are body and soul wholly +under its dominion. The Power of Darkness appears utterly in +control of the world of humanity; but we know that this moment in +which its triumph seems most complete is in fact the moment in +which its defeat is at hand. The victory that is being won is the +victory of the Vanquished: and the moment when the victory of evil +seems assured by the dying of Jesus, is in fact the moment when the +chains of the slaves of sin are broken, and men who will to be free +are henceforth free indeed. From that moment a new freedom is +within the reach of men, the freedom which comes to them through +their participation in the redemption wrought for them by God. +Presently S. John will announce the great message of freedom to the +Church, a message that he will tell in his own wonderful +simplicity, a simplicity which almost deceives us as to its +unfathomable depth of love and mystery: "For whatsoever is born of +God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh +the world, even our faith.... We know that whosoever is born of God +sinneth not: but He that was begotten of God keepeth him, and the +evil one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the +whole world lieth in the evil one. And we know that the Son of God +is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him +that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus +Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."</p> +<p>This is what the dying of Jesus achieved for us, that we should +be free as men had never been free, and that we should be strong as +men had never been strong.</p> +<p>On their crosses the thieves agonise in the realisation of the +sin that has brought them there; but our Lord, Who is free from +sin, looks out on the scene before Him in a wonderful detachment +from His personal suffering. Being without sin our Lord is without +egotism, and never treats life from that purely personal standpoint +that we are constantly tempted to adopt. Our own needs, our own +interests, occupy the foreground and determine the judgment; and we +are rarely able to see in dealing with the concrete case that our +own interests are ultimately indentical with the interests of the +whole Body. The lesson that if one member suffer, all the members +suffer with it, that we are partners in joy and sorrow alike, is +almost impossible of assimilation by the radical individualists +that we are. Our theories break down before the test of actuality. +But our Lord was not an individualist. He, in His relations with +men, is the Head of the Body; and He admits no division of +interests between His members. He therefore can think of the needs +of others while He Himself is undergoing the last torture of death. +He can impartially judge the separate cases of His members; He can +attend to the spiritual welfare of a needy soul; He can think of +His own death as an act of sacrifice willed by God, and not as a +matter concerning Himself alone; and in doing these things He +teaches us a much-needed lesson of the handling of life.</p> +<p>No lesson is to-day more needed because we are more and more +being influenced to treat life as a private matter. I have spoken +of this before and need not elaborate it now; but I do want to +insist, at whatever risk of repetition, that a Christian must, if +his religion mean anything at all, look on the interests of the +Body, not as a separate group of interests to which he is +privileged or obligated to contribute such help as seems to him +from time to time appropriate, but as in fact his own primary +interests because his true significance in the world is gained +through his membership in the Body. His life is hid with Christ in +God and his conversation is in heaven. The life that he now lives +in the flesh he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him +and gave Himself for him. To assert separate interests is to break +the essential relation of his life. He is nothing apart from the +Body but a dry and withered branch fit for the burning. No doubt +our egotism rebels against this view of life, but it is certain +that it is the view of the Christian Religion. If we would realise +the ideals of the Religion we must act as those who are in constant +relations with the other members of the Body and whose life gets +its significance through those relations.</p> +<p>There is no more outstanding lesson of our Lord's life than +this. It is true from whichever angle you look at it. If you think +of our Lord as a divine Person it is at once evident how much of +His meaning is included in His relations to the other Persons of +the Blessed Trinity. He claims no independent will; it is the will +of the Father that He has come to do. He claims no original work: +it is the work that the Father has given Him to do that He is +straightened until He accomplish. He has no individual possession, +but all things that the Father has are His. Considered as God, our +Lord is One Person in the one divine nature, no Unitarian +interpretation of Him is possible. On the other hand, if you look +at Him as Incarnate, as having identified Himself with humanity, He +is in that respect made one with His brethren. He has made their +interests His, and as their new Head is opening for them the gate +of the future. He is inviting them into union with Himself, that in +the status of His "brethren" and "friends" they may be also the +true children of the heavenly Father. There is no hint anywhere +that these things may be accomplished apart from Him, in individual +isolation: indeed, if they could be so accomplished the Incarnation +would be meaningless. He is the Way and no one cometh to the Father +but by Him. He is the Truth, and no one knows the Father but he to +whom the Son reveals Him. He is the Life, and no one spiritually +lives except through His self-impartation. "He that eateth my flesh +and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. He that eateth me, even he +shall live by me." In this outlook from the Cross which we +recognise in our Blessed Lord when, forgetting His own sufferings +in His appreciation of the needs of others, we see Him still +fulfilling His ministry of mercy and of sympathy, we are certain +that His eyes would rest upon one group which could not fail to +pierce His heart with its pathos and tragedy. Our Lord's love is +not a general, impersonal love of humanity; it is always love of a +person. He no doubt felt a special love for this thief who appealed +to Him from the cross by His side. In the whole course of His life +our Lord had shown His oneness with us in that He loved special +people in a special way. He loved Lazarus and his sisters, He loved +S. John. Above all others He loved His Blessed Mother. And now +looking down from the Cross He sees that the disciple whom He loved +was succeeded in leading His mother into the very shadow of the +Cross. How S. Mary had made her way there we do not know: only love +knows how it triumphs over its obstacles and comes forth +victorious. There is Blessed Mary, looking up into the face so +scarred and bleeding, and there is the Son, looking down through +the blinding blood into the face of the mother. This is the supreme +human tragedy of Calvary. We can only stand and watch the exchange +of love.</p> +<p>And then comes the word--the word, by the way, which when it was +spoken years ago in Cana of Galilee, men have interpreted as a +harsh and rebuking word, with how much truth this scene tells--then +comes the word: "Woman, behold thy son." In His love He gives her +that which He had so much loved, the friendship of S. John. He +brings together those who had so supremely loved Him in an +association which would support them both in the trial of their +loss. "Woman, behold thy son; behold thy mother." Bitter as was +their sorrow in this hour, we know that they were marvellously +comforted by this power of love which is able to transcend +suffering and death. We know, because we know how utterly our Lord +is one with us, that it was much to Him to look on the face that +bent over Him in the Manger in Bethlehem. We know, because we know +the perfect woman that was Mary, that there was deep joy as well as +deep agony in being able to stand there at the last beneath the +Cross.</p> +<p>Do you think that we are going too far when we see in S. Mary +not simply the mother of our Lord, but when we also see in her a +certain representative character? Does she not represent us in one +way and S. John represent us in another, in this supreme exchange +of love? Do we not feel that in S. John we have been recommended to +the love and care of Mary who is our mother? Do we not feel that in +S. John the mother has been committed to our love and care? Surely, +because we are members of her Son we have a special relation to S. +Mary, and a special claim upon her, if it be permitted to express +it in that way. It is no empty form of words when we call her +mother, no exaltation of sentimentalism. The title represents a +very real relation of love. It brings home to us that the love of +Mary is as near infinite as the love of a creature can be, and that +like the love of her Son it is an unselfish love. She is +necessarily interested in all the members of the Body, and their +cares and joys and sorrows she is glad to make her own. She is very +close to us in her love and sympathy; she is very ready to help us +with her prayers. We never go to her for succour but she hears us. +"Behold thy son," her divine Son said to her on the Cross in His +agony, and all who are members of that Son are her sons too. Her +place in heaven above all creatures, most highly favoured as she +is, is a place to which our prayers penetrate, and never penetrate +unheard. For that other Son, through whose merits she is what she +is, whose Face she ever beholds as the Face alike of her Redeemer +and her Child, is ever ready to hear her intercessions for us +because they come to Him with the power and the insight that +perfect purity and perfect sympathy alone can give. So for us there +is intense personal consolation in this word: "Behold thy +mother."</p> +<p>But there is another side to this committal. It is mutual: +"Behold thy son." If we can see ourselves in S. John, committed to +the Blessed Mother, we can also see ourselves in S. John to whom +the blessed mother is committed. "Behold thy mother." There is a +sense in which the blessed mother is committed to us; to-day she is +our care. We see the fulfillment of this trust in the love and +reverence wherewith Christendom from the beginning has surrounded +S. Mary. It has accepted the charge with a passionate devotion. The +growth of devotion to her is recorded in the vast literature of +Mariology which comes to us from all parts and all eras of the +Catholic Church. The details of the expression of this devotion +have been wrought out through the centuries with loving care, and +the result is that wherever there is a Catholic conception of +religion, either in East or West, there is a grateful response to +our Lord's trust of His Blessed mother to His Church in the person +of S. John.</p> +<p>We feel, do we not? that it is one of the great privileges of +our spiritual life that we have found a personal part in this +trust, that it is permitted us to preserve and hand on this +reverence for Blessed Mary, and in so doing to gain personal +contact with her as a spiritual power in the Kingdom of God. It +means much to us that we can have the love and sympathy which are +blended with her intercession, that we can associate our prayers +with hers in the time of our need. Much as we value the sympathy +and prayers of our friends here, we cannot but feel that in Mary we +have a friend whose helpfulness is stimulated by a great love and +directed by deep spiritual insight into the reality of our needs. +We turn therefore to her with the certainty of her +co-operation.</p> +<p>Our Lord on the Cross had now fulfilled His mission in the care +of individual persons, had prayed for His tormentors, had forgiven +the penitent thief, and had commended those who were the special +objects of His love to one another, and could now turn His thoughts +away from earth to the love of the Father. His last words are +intimate words to Him. They express the agony that tears His soul +as the Face of the Father is for a moment hidden, and the peace of +an accomplished work as He surrenders Himself into the hands of the +Father that sent Him. He who had been our example all His life, +showing us how to meet life, is our example in death, showing us +how to meet death.</p> +<p>But just wherein does the dying of Christ become an example for +us? This final surrender to the Father of a will that had never +been separate from the Father,--what can we derive from all that? +There are many lines of approach and application. I can only touch +on one or two:--</p> +<p>"I have glorified Thee on the earth," our Lord said in the last +wonderful prayer, "I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to +do." And here on the Cross He repeats, "It is finished." When we +think of this we are impressed with the steadiness with which our +Lord pursued His purpose, with the way He concentrated His whole +life upon His work. He declined to be drawn aside by anything +irrelevant to it. People came to Him with all sorts of requests, +from the request that He will settle a disputed inheritance to the +request that He will become their king; and He puts them all aside +as having no pertinence to His mission. It is interesting to go +through the Gospel and note just what are the details of this +winnowing process; mark what our Lord accepts as relevant to His +mission and what not. He is never too occupied or tired to attend +to what belongs to His work. An ill old woman or idiot child is +important to Him and He attends to them; but He declines the sort +of work that will involve Him and His mission in controversy and +politics. He is not a reformer of society but a reformer of men. He +knows that only by the reformation of men can society be +reformed.</p> +<p>There is no doubt much to be learned from the study of our +Lord's method of the limits of the social and political activity of +His Church. It has constantly fallen a victim to the temptation to +undertake the reform of the world by some other means than the +conversion of it. It has shown itself quite willing to be made "a +judge and divider." It has not always declined the invitation it +has received to assume the purple. "Your business is to reform this +miserable world which so sadly and so obviously needs you," men say +to it; "You are not living up to your principles and you are +neglecting your duty by not supporting this great movement for the +betterment of the race," others say. Still others urge, "You are +losing great masses of men through your inexplicable failure to +adopt their cause." And the Church in the whole course of its +history has constantly yielded to this temptation, and has not seen +until too late that in so doing it was making itself the tool or +the cat's-paw of one interest or another whose sole interest in +religion was the possibility of exploiting the influence of the +Church. In the stupid hope of forwarding its spiritual interests +the Church has entangled itself with the responsibilities of +temporal power; it has made itself the backer of "the divine right +of kings"; and it has found itself bound hand and foot in the +character of a national or state Church; and with a curious +incapacity to learn anything from experience is now +enthusiastically cheering for democracy! Poor Church, whose leaders +are so constantly misleaders.</p> +<p>It is all due to the hoary temptation to try to get to one's end +by some sort of a short cut: "All these things will I give you if +you will fall down and worship me." Our Lord knew that Satan could +not really give Him the ends He was seeking; but His followers are +constantly confident that he can, and are therefore his constant +and ready tools for this or that party or interest. They sell +themselves to monarchy or democracy, to capital or labour, with the +same guileless innocence of what is happening to them, with the +same simple-minded incapacity to learn anything from the lessons of +the past. There are no short cuts to spiritual ends, and those ends +can never be accomplished by secular means. The interests of the +Kingdom of God can never be forwarded by alliance with the powers +of this world; the interests of particular persons or parties in +the Church may be--but that is quite another thing.</p> +<p>The lesson is one that is not without application to the +individual life. There again the tendency to mind something other +than one's own business is almost ineradicable. We have before us +the work of building our spiritual house, of finishing the work +that the Father has given us to do, of carrying to a successful +conclusion the work of our sanctification. In view of the +experience of nearly two thousand years of Christianity and of our +own personal experience, that would seem a sufficiently difficult +and obligatory work to occupy the undivided energies of a +life-time. But we are accustomed to treat this primary business of +life quite as though it were a parergon, a thing to play with in +our unoccupied hours, the fad of a collector rather than the +supreme interest of an immortal being. That spiritual results are +no oftener achieved than they are can occasion no surprise when one +understands the sort of spirit wherewith they are approached. If +the average man adopted toward his business the attitude he adopts +toward his religion he would be bankrupt within a week,--and he +knows it. You know that the attention you are paying to religion +and the sort of energy and sacrifice you are putting into it are +insufficient to secure any sort of a result worth having. +Spiritually speaking, your life is an example of misdirected and +dissipated energy. There is no spiritual result because there is no +continuous and energetic effort in a spiritual direction. You are +not like a master-builder planning and erecting a house. You are +like a child playing with a box of blocks who begins to build a +house with them and, when it is half built, is attracted by +something else and runs after that--not even waiting to put the +blocks back into the box!</p> +<p>Life, no doubt, this modern city life into which we are plunged, +is terribly distracting. Concentration upon a single aim is hard to +attain. So we plead in our excuse, but the excuse is a false one +and we know it. We know it because we know many people who have +achieved the sort of concentration and simplicity of aim that we +complain of as so difficult. They to be sure have other ends than +those we claim to be ours, but that would not seem to be important. +By far the greater part of the male population of this city is +intensely concentrated in money making. I do not believe that I +have overheard during the last year two men talking in a car or on +the street who were not talking about money. There is a good enough +example of the possibility of concentrating on a single end under +the conditions of our life. There are other people, you know some +of them, whose lives are devoted in the most thorough manner to the +pursuit of pleasure. They find no difficulty in such concentration, +and they afford an even better example of what we are discussing +than the money-makers. The money-maker says, "I have to live and my +family has to live, and we cannot live unless I devote myself to +business. It is all very well to talk about spiritual interests, +but those are the plain common sense facts. A man who spends all +his time on religion will find it pretty difficult to live in New +York." Very well, that seems unanswerable. But go back to the men +and women whose sole interest is amusement--how do they live? In +some way they seem to have so succeeded in subordinating business +to pleasure that they get what they want, and they somehow escape +starvation!</p> +<p>There, I fancy, is the explanation--they get what they want. In +a broad way we all get what we want. We accomplish in some degree +at least the ends which we make the supreme ends of life. We are +back therefore where we started: What are our supreme ends? Are +they in fact spiritual? Have we mastered the technique of the +Christian life sufficiently to be single-eyed and pure-hearted in +our pursuit of life's ends? Are we devoted to the aim of +manifesting the glory of God and finishing the work that He has +given us to do?</p> +<p>This, once more, was the secret of our Lord's life, and it is +the secret of all those who have at all succeeded in imitating Him. +They have followed Him with singleness of purpose. They have felt +life to be before all else a vocation to manifest the will of God +and to finish a given work. That was the attitude of our Blessed +Mother; she began on that note: "Behold the hand-maid of the Lord; +be it unto me according to thy word." It was the Gospel that she +preached: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Her whole life was +a response--the response of love to love.</p> +<p>That no doubt, goes to the heart of the spiritual problem. If we +are to accomplish anything at all in the way of spiritual +development, if we are to conduct life in simplicity toward +spiritual ends, it will only be when the source of life's energy is +found in love. He who does not love has no compelling motive toward +God and no abiding principle to control life. If we conceive the +Christian life as a task that is forced upon us, and which in some +way we are bound to fulfil, we may be sure that the way in which we +shall fulfil it will be weak and halting. We may be as +conscientious as you please, but we shall not be able to +concentrate on a work which is merely a work of duty and not the +embodiment of a great love. Our primary activity should be devout +meditation and study of our Lord's life, with prayer for guidance +and help, till something of the love of God is shed abroad in our +hearts, till we feel our hearts burn within us and our spirits glow +and we become able to offer ourselves, soul and body, a living +sacrifice unto Him.</p> +<br> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td>MARY:</td> +<td>I cried: "Maudeleyn, help now!</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>My Son hath loved full well thee;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Pray Him that I may die,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>That I not forgotten be!</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Seest thou, Maudeleyn, now</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>My Son is hanged on a tree,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Yet alive am I and thou,--</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>And thou, thou prayest not for me!"</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>MAUDELEYN</td> +<td>said: "I know no red,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Care hath smitten my heart sore.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>I stand, I see my Lord nigh dead;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>And thy weeping grieveth me more.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Come with me; I will thee lead</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Into the Temple here before</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>For thou hast now i-wept full yore."</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>MARY:</td> +<td>"I ask thee, Maudeleyn, where is that place,--</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>In plain or valley or in hill?</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Where I may hide in any case</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>That no sorrow come me till.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>For He that all my joy was,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Now death with Him will do its will;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>For me no better solace is</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Than just to weep, to weep my fill."</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> The Maudeleyn comforted me tho.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> To lead me hence, she said, was best:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> But care had smitten my heart so</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> That I might never have no rest.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>"Sister, wherever that I go</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>The woe of Him is in my breast,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>While my Sone hangeth so</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>His pains are in mine own heart fast.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Should I let Him hangen there</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Let my Son alone then be?</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Maudeleyn, think, unkind I were</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>If He should hang and I should flee."</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> +<hr style="width: 25%;"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> I bade them go where was their will,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> This Maudeleyn and everyone,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> And by myself remain I will</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td> For I will flee for no man.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<br> +From St. Bernard's "Lamentation On Christ's Passion."<br> +<br> +Engl. version, 13th Cent., by Richard Maydestone.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE DESCENT AND BURIAL</h3> +<center>And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped<br> +it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own<br> +new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock.<br> +<br> +S. Matt. XXVII, 59, 60.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>It is meet in very truth to bless thee the Theotokos, +the ever-blessed and all-immaculate and Mother of our God. Honoured +above the Cherubim, incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, +thou who without stain gavest birth to God the Word, and art truly +Mother of God, we magnify thee.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">BYZANTINE.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he end had come--so it must have seemed to those who had loved +and followed our Lord. As they came back from the burial, those of +them who had remained true to the end, as they came out of their +hiding places, those others who forsook Him and fled, they met in +that "Upper Room" which was already consecrated by so many +experiences. They came back from Joseph's Garden, S. John leading +the blessed Mother, the Magdalen and the other Mary following, S. +Peter came from whatever obscure corner he had found safety in. The +other Apostles came one by one, a frightened, disheartened group, +shame-faced and doubtful as to what might next befall them. The +thing that to us seems strangest of all is that no one seems to +have taken in the meaning of our Lord's words about His +resurrection. Not even S. Mary herself appears to have seen any +light through the surrounding darkness. I suppose that so much of +what our Lord taught them was unintelligible until after the coming +of the Holy Spirit that they rarely felt sure that they understood +His meaning; and when the meaning was so unprecedented as that +involved in His sayings about the resurrection we can understand +that they should have been so little influenced by them.</p> +<p>S. Mary's grief would have been so deep, so overwhelming, that +she would have been unable to think of the future at all save as a +dreary waste of pain. She could only think that her Son who was all +to her, was dead. She had stood by the Cross through all the agony +of His dying: she had heard His last words. That final word to her +had sunk very deep into her heart. She had once more felt His Body +in her arms as it was taken down from the Cross; and she had +followed to the place where was a Garden and a new tomb wherein man +had never yet lain, there she had seen the Body placed and hastily +cared for, as much as the shortness of the time on the Passover Eve +would permit. And then she had gone away, not caring at all where +she was taken, with but one thought monotonously beating in her +brain,--He is dead, He is dead.</p> +<p>It would not be possible in such moments calmly to recall what +He Himself had taught about death. Death for the moment would mean +what it had always meant to religious people of her time and +circle. What that was we have very clearly presented to us in the +talk with Martha that our Lord had near the place where Lazarus lay +dead. There is a fuller knowledge than we find explicit in the Old +Testament, showing a growth in the understanding of the Revelation +in the years that fall between the close of the Old Testament canon +and the coming of our Lord. There is a belief in survival to be +followed by resurrection at the last day. That would no doubt be +St. Mary's belief about death. That is still the belief of many +Christians to-day. "I know that he shall rise again in the +resurrection at the last day." There are still many who think that +they have accepted the full Revelation of God in Christ who have +not appreciated the vast difference that the triumph of Christ over +death has made for us here and now.</p> +<p>So we have no difficulty in understanding the gloom that fell on +the Apostolic circle, accentuated as it was by the very vivid fear +that at any moment they might hear the approaching feet of the +Jewish and Roman officials and the knock of armed hands upon the +door. What to do? How escape? Had they so utterly misunderstood and +misinterpreted Christ that this is the natural outcome of His +movement? Had they been the victims of foolish hopes and of a +baseless ambition when they saw in Him the Christ, the one who +should at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? They had +persistently clung to this nationalistic interpretation of His work +although He had never encouraged it; but it was the only meaning +that they were able to see in it. And now all their expectations +had collapsed, and they were left hopeless and leaderless to face +the consequences of a series of acts that had ended in the death of +their Master and would end, they knew not how, for them. Was it at +all likely that the Jewish authorities having disposed of the +leader in a dangerous movement would be content to let the +followers go free? Would they not rather seek to wipe out the last +traces of the movement in blood?</p> +<p>So they would have thought, gathered in that Upper Room, while +outside the Jewish authorities were keeping the Passover. What a +Passover it was to them with this nightmare of a rebellion which +threatened their whole place and power passed away. What mutual +congratulations were theirs on the clever way in which the whole +matter had been handled. There had been a moment when they were on +the very point of failure, when Pilate was ready to let Jesus go +free. That was their moment of greatest danger; and they took their +courage in both hands and threw the challenge squarely in the face +of the cowardly Governor: "If thou let this man go, thou art not +Caesar's friend!" The chief priests knew their man, and they +carried their plan against him with a determined hand, declining to +accept any compromise, anything less than the death of Jesus. Great +was the rejoicing; hearty were the mutual congratulations in the +official circles of Jerusalem. It had been long since they had +celebrated so wonderful a Passover as that!</p> +<p>So limited, so mistaken, is the human outlook on life. They had +but to await another night's passing and all would be changed. But +in the meantime the position of the disciples was pitiful. They +were in that state of dull, hopeless discouragement that is one of +the most painful of human states. It is a state to which we who are +Christians do from time to time fall victims with much less excuse. +We are hopeless, we say and feel. We look at the future, at the +problems with which we are fronted, and we see no ray of light, no +suggestion of a solution. We have been robbed of what we most +valued and life looks wholly blank to us. For those others there +was this of excuse,--they did not know Jesus risen, they did not +know the power of the resurrection life. For us there is no such +excuse because we have a sure basis of hope in our knowledge of the +meaning of the Lord.</p> +<p>Hope is one of the great trilogy of Christian Virtues, the gift +to Christians of God the Holy Ghost. As Christians we have the +virtue of hope, the question is whether we will excercise it or no. +It is one of the many fruits of our being in a state of grace. Many +blunder when they think of hope in that they confound it with an +optimistic feeling about the future. We hear of hopeful persons and +we know that by the description is meant persons who are confident +"that everything will be all right," when there seems no ground at +all for thinking so. They have a "buoyant temperament," by which I +suppose is meant a temperament which soars above facts. That not +very intelligent attitude has nothing to do with the Christian +virtue of hope. Hope is born of our relation to God. It is the +conviction: "God is on my side; I will not fear what man can do +unto me." It is the serene and untroubled trust of one who knows +that he is safe in the hands of God, and that his life is really +ordered by the will and Providence of God.</p> +<p>This virtue, had they possessed it, would have carried the +disciples through the crisis of our Lord's death. They had had +sufficient experience of Him to know that they might utterly rely +on Him in all the circumstances of their lives. He had always +sustained them and carried them through all crises. They had often +been puzzled by Him, no doubt; they had felt helpless to fathom +much of His teaching, but they had slowly arrived at certain +conclusions about Him which He Himself had confirmed. On that day +at Caesarea Phillipi they had reached the conclusion of His +Messiahship, a slumbering conviction had broken into flame and +light in the great confession of S. Peter. The meaning of +Messiahship was a part of their national religious tradition; and +although in some important respects mistaken, they yet, one would +think, have been led to perfect trust in our Lord when they +acknowledged His Messianic claims. But death? They could not get +over the apparent finality of death. But, again, perhaps we are not +very far beyond this in our understanding of it. To us still death +seems very final.</p> +<p>But it was just that sense of its finality--of its constituting +a hopeless break in the continuity of existence--that our Lord was +engaged in removing during these days which to them were days of +hopelessness and despair. When they came to know what in these days +was taking place; and when the Church guided by the Holy Spirit +came to meditate upon the meaning of our Lord's action it would see +death in a changed light. The sense of a cataclysmic disaster in +death would pass and be replaced by a sense of the continuity of +life. Hitherto attention had been concentrated on this world, and +death had been a disappearence from this world, the stopping of +worldly loves and interests. Presently death would be seen to be +the translation of the human being to a new sphere of activities, +but involving no cessation of consciousness or failure of personal +activities. Men had thought, naturally enough in their lack of +knowledge, of the effect of death on the survivors, of the break in +their relations with the dead. Now death would be viewed from the +point of view of the interests of the person who is dead; and it +would emerge that he continued under different conditions, and in +the end it would come to be seen that even in the relations of the +survivors with the dead there was no necessary and absolute break, +but that the new conditions of life made possible renewed +intercourse under altered circumstances.</p> +<p>Our Lord, the disciples learned not long after, during these +days went to preach to the spirits in prison, which the thought of +the Church has interpreted to mean that He carried the news of the +Redemption He had wrought through His dying, to the place of the +dead, to the region where the souls of the faithful were patiently +waiting the time of their perfecting. The doors of the heavenly +world could not be opened till the time when He by His Cross and +Passion, by His death and resurrection, opened them. The Heads of +the Gates could not be lifted till they were lifted for the +entrance of the King of Glory. But once lifted they were lifted +forever; and when He ascended up on high He led His troop of +captives redeemed from the bondage of death and hell.</p> +<p>It is through these lifted Gates that the companies of the +sanctified have been streaming ever since; and the difference that +has been made in our view of death has been immense. If we have the +faith of a Christian death has been transformed. There remains, of +course, the natural grief which is ours when we part from those +whom we love. This grief is natural and holy as it is in fact an +expression of our love. It is not rebellion against the will of +God, but is the expression of a feeling wherewith God has endowed +us. But there is no longer in it the sting of hopelessness that we +find, for instance, in the inscriptions on pagan tombs, nay, on +tombs still, though created by Christians and found in Christian +cemeteries. Rather it is the expression of a love which is learning +to exercise itself under new conditions. We do not find it possible +to reverse all our habits in a moment; and the new relation with +the dead is one to which we have to learn to accustom ourselves. I +remember a case where a mother and a son had never been separated +for more than a day at a time, though he was far on in manhood. +There came a time of indeterminate separation and the mother's +grief was intense notwithstanding that there was no thought of a +permanent separation. It took some time for her to accustom herself +to the new mode of communication by letter. It is not far otherwise +in death; it takes some time for us to accustom ourselves to the +new mode of intercourse through prayer, but we succeed, and the new +intercourse is very real and very precious. In a sense, too, it is +a nearer, more intimate intercourse. It lacks the homely, daily +touches, no doubt; but in compensation it reveals to us the +spiritual values in life. We speedily learn, we learn almost by a +spiritual instinct, what are the common grounds on which we can now +meet. By our intercourse with our dead we get a new grasp on the +truth of our common life in Christ: it is in and through Him that +all our converse is now mediated. We have little difficulty in +knowing what are the thoughts and interests which may be shared +under the new conditions in which we find ourselves. Our perception +of spiritual interests and spiritual values grows and deepens, and +our communion with our dead becomes an indication of the extent of +our own spiritual growth.</p> +<p>There come times in the spiritual experience of most of us when +we seem to have got to the end. There is a deepening sense of +failure which is not, when we analyse it, so much a failure in this +or that detail, as a general sense of the futility of the life of +the Church as expressed in our individual lives. It came to those +primitive congregations, you remember, to which S. Peter was +writing; "Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers +fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of +creation." It is the weariness of continuous effort from which we +conclude that we are getting quite insufficient results.</p> +<p>No doubt that is true. The results are never what we expect, +possibly because the effort is never what we imagine it to be. We +continually underestimate the opposing force of evil, the +difficulty of dealing with a humanity which falls so easily under +the slightest temptation. It is not that sinners decline to hear +the Word of God, but that those who profess themselves to be the +servants of God, and who in fact intend to be such, are so +lamentably weak and ineffective. We think of the effort of God in +the Incarnation; we have been following that effort in some detail +through the Passion. We are surprised, shocked, disheartened by the +spectacle of the hatred that innocence stirs up, at the lengths men +will go when they see their personal ends threatened. We are +horrified by Caiphas, Pilate, Herod. But is that the really +horrifying thing about the Passion of our Lord? To me the supreme +example of human incomprehension is that all the disciples forsook +Him and fled, that He was left to die almost alone. There we get +the most disheartening failure in the tragedy.</p> +<p>For we expect the antagonism of the world, especially that part +of the world that has seen and rejected Christ. There we find +Satanic activities. One of the outstanding features of the +literature of to-day in the Western world, the world that had known +from childhood the story of Jesus, is its utter hatred of +Christianity; its revolt from all that Christianity stands for. +This is markedly true in regard to the Christian teaching in the +matter of purity. The contemporary English novel is perhaps the +vilest thing that has yet appeared on this earth. There have been +plenty of unclean books written in the course of the world's +history--we have only to recall the literature of the +Renaissance--but for the most part they have been written in +careless or boastful disregard of moral sanctions which they still +regarded as existing; but the novel of the present is an immoral +propaganda--it is deliberately and of malice immoral, not out of +careless levity, but out of deliberate intention. You do not feel +that the modern author is just describing immoral actions which +grow out of his story, but that he is constructing his story for +the purpose of propagating immoral theory. He hates the whole +teaching of the Christian Religion in the matter of purity. He has +thrown it overboard on the ground that it is an "unnatural" +restraint. To those who have studied the development of thought +since the Renaissance there is nothing surprising in this.</p> +<p>But what does still surprise those who are as yet capable of +being surprised is the light way in which the mass of Christians +take their religion. Occasionally, in moments of frankness, they +admit that they are not getting anything out of it; but it is +harder to get them to admit that the reason is that they are not +putting anything into it. You do not expect to get returns from a +business into which you are putting no capital, and you have no +right to expect returns from a religion into which you are putting +no energy. What is meant by that is that those Christians who are +keeping the minimum routine of Christianity, who are going to High +Mass on Sunday (or perhaps only to low Mass) and then making the +rest of the day a time of self-indulgence and pleasure; who make +their communions but rarely; who do not go to confession, or go +only at Easter; who are giving no active support to the work of the +Gospel as represented in parish and diocese have no right to be +surprised if they find that they do not seem to get any results +from their religion; that it is often rather a bore to do even so +much as they do, and that they see no point in permitting it +further to interfere with their customary amusements and +avocations. I do not know what such persons expect from their +religion, but I am sure that they will be disappointed if they are +expecting any spiritual result. Naturally, they will be +disappointed if they look in themselves for any evidence of the +virtue of hope. The most that can be looked for under the +circumstances is that mockery of hope, presumption.</p> +<p>We are not to be discouraged in our estimate of the Christian +Religion by this which seems to be the failure of God. We are not +to echo the cry: "Since the fathers fell asleep, all things +continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." S. Peter +pointed out to those pessimists that all things do not continue the +same, that there are times of crisis which are the judgments of +God. Such a judgment was that of old which swept the wickedness of +the world away, "whereby the world that then was, being overflowed +with water, perished." He goes on to state that the present order +likewise will issue in judgment: "The heavens and the earth which +are now ... are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day +of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." What renders men +hopeless is the feeling of God's inactivity; but this declaration +of impending judgment certifies the active interest of God. God's +dealing with the world is a perpetual judgment of which we are apt +to decline the evidence until the cataclysm reveals the final +scene. But every society, every individual life, is being judged +through the whole course of its existence, and there is no need +that either society or individual should be blind to the fact that +such a judgment is taking place. There is no failure of God. There +is a failure on our part to understand the works of God.</p> +<p>We may very well consider the problem an individual one and ask +ourselves what ground of hope we have. On the basis of our present +effort can we, ought we, to have more than we have? The spiritual +life is not an accident that befalls certain people; it is an art +that is acquired by such persons as are interested in it. It is +attained through the careful training and exercise of the faculties +wherewith we have been endowed. The answer to our question is +itself a perfectly simple one, as simple as would be the answer to +the question: "Do you speak French?" We speak French if we have +taken the trouble to learn French; and we have gained results in +the way of spiritual development and culture if we have taken the +trouble to do so. I do not know why we should expect results on any +other ground than that.</p> +<p>But certain persons say: "I have tried, and have not attained +any results." Well, I should want to know what the trying means in +that case. It is well for a person who aspires to spiritual culture +to think of his past history. What sort of character-development +has so far been going on? Commonly it happens that there has been +no spiritual effort that is worth thinking about; but that does not +mean that nothing spiritual has been happening. It means on the +contrary that there has been going on a spiritual atrophy, the +spiritual powers have been without exercise and will be difficult +to arouse to activity. In such a case as that spiritual awakening +will be followed by a long period of spiritual struggle against +habits of thought and action which we have already formed, a period +in which unused and immature spiritual powers must be roused to +action and disciplined to use. The simplest illustration of this is +the difficulty experienced by the enthusiastic beginner in holding +the attention fixed on spiritual acts such as the various forms of +prayer. In all such attempts at spiritual activity there will be +the constant drag of old habits, the recurrence of states of mind +and imagination that had become habitual. These hindrances can be +overcome, but only by steady and rather tedious labour. They call +for the display of the virtue of patience which is not one of the +virtues characteristic of spiritual immaturity. Hence reaction and +the feeling that one is not getting on, the feeling that we have +quite possibly made a mistake about the whole matter.</p> +<p>This is the place for the exercise of hope; and hope will come +if we look away from our not very encouraging acquirement to the +ground that we have for expecting any acquirement at all. If we +ask: "Why hope?" we shall see that our basis of hope is not in +ourselves at all but in God. We hope because of the promises of +God, because of His will for us as revealed in His Son. "He loved +us and gave Himself for us"; and that giving will not be in vain. +"He gave Himself for me," I tell myself, "and therefore I am +justified in my expectation of spiritual success." So one tries to +learn from the present failure as it seems; so one repents and +pushes on; so one learns that it is through tenacity of purpose +that one attains results.</p> +<p>And again: I am sustained by hope because I see that the results +that I covet are not imaginary. They exist. I see them in operation +all about me. I learn of them as I study the lives of other +Christians past and present. They are reality not theory, fact not +dream. And what has been so richly and abundantly the outcome of +spiritual living in others must be within my own reach. The results +they attained were not miraculous gifts, but they were the working +of God the Holy Spirit in lives yielded to Him and co-operating +with Him.</p> +<p>Once more: is it not true that after a period of honest labour I +do find results? Perhaps not all that I would like but all that I +am justified in expecting from the energy I have spent? I do not +believe that any one can look back over a year's honest labour and +not see that the labour has born fruit.</p> +<p>In any case the fact that we do not see just what we are looking +for does not mean that no spiritual work is going on. It may seem +that our Lord is silent and that to our cries there is no voice nor +any that answers; but that may mean that we are looking in the +wrong place or listening for the wrong word. The disciples looked +that the outcome of our Lord's life should be that the Kingdom +should be restored to Israel; and when they turned away from the +tomb in Joseph's Garden they felt that what they had looked for and +prayed for was hopeless of accomplishment. But the important point +was not their vision of the Kingdom at all, but that they had +yielded themselves to our Lord and become His disciples and lovers. +This is not what they intended to do, but it is what actually had +happened: and when the grave yielded up the dead Whom they thought +that they had lost forever, Jesus came back with a mission for them +that was infinitely wider than their dream: the mission of founding +not the old Kingdom of David, but the Kingdom of David's Son. All +their aspirations and prayers were fulfilled by being transcended, +and they found themselves in a position vastly more important than +had been reached even in their dreams.</p> +<p>Something like that not infrequently happens in our experience. +We conceive a spiritual ambition and work for a spiritual end, and +seem always to miss it; and then the day comes when God reveals to +us what He has been doing, and we find that through the very +discipline of our failure we have been being prepared for a success +of which we had not thought: and when we raise our eyes from the +path we thought so toilsome and uninteresting, it is to find +ourselves at the very gate of the City of God. It will be with us +as with the Apostles who in the darkest hour of their imagined +failure, when they were gathered together in hiding from the Jews +were startled by the appearence among them of the risen Jesus, and +were filled with the unutterable joy of His message of peace.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>"His body is wrappèd all in woe,<br> +Hand and foot He may not go.<br> +Thy Son, Lady, that thou lovest so<br> +Naked is nailed upon a tree.<br> +<br> +"The Blessèd Body that thou hast born,<br> +To save mankind that was forlorn,<br> +His body, Lady, the Jews have torn,<br> +And hurt His Head, as ye may see."<br> +<br> +When John his tale began to tell<br> +Mary would not longer dwell<br> +But hied her fast unto that hill<br> +Where she might her own Son see.<br> +<br> +"My sweete Son, Thou art me dear,<br> +Oh why have men hanged thee here?<br> +Thy head is closed with a brier,<br> +O why have men so done to Thee?"<br> +<br> +"John, this woman I thee betake;<br> +Keep My Mother for My sake.<br> +On Rood I hang for mannes sake<br> +For sinful men as thou may see.<br> +<br> +"This game alone I have to play,<br> +For sinful souls that are to die.<br> +Not one man goeth by the way<br> +That on my pains will look and see.<br> +<br> +"Father, my soul I thee betake,<br> +My body dieth for mannes sake;<br> +To hell I go withouten wake,<br> +Mannes soul to maken free".<br> +<br> +Pray we all that Blessed Son<br> +That He help us when may no man<br> +And bring to bliss each everyone<br> +Amen, amen, amen for Charity.<br> +<br> +Early English Lyrics, p. 146.<br> +From an MS. in the Sloane collection.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<h3>THE RESURRECTION</h3> +<br> +<center>And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted; ye<br> +seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he<br> +is risen; he is not here.<br> +<br> +S. Mark XVI, 6.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>O God, who wast pleased that thy Word, when the angel +delivered his message, should take flesh in the womb of the blessed +Virgin Mary, give ear to our humble petitions, and grant that we +who believe her truly to be the Mother of God, may be helped by her +prayers. Through.<br> +<br> +O Almighty and merciful God, who hast wonderfully provided +perpetual succour for the defence of Christian people in the most +blessed Virgin Mary; mercifully grant that, contending during life +under the protection of such patronage, we may be enabled to gain +the victory, over the malignant enemy in death. +Through.</blockquote> +<br> +<p class="loc">OLD CATHOLIC.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-w.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hatever may be our grief, however life may seem to have been +emptied of all interest for us, nevertheless the routine of life +reasserts itself and forces us back to the daily tasks no matter +how savourless they may now seem. We speedily find that we are not +isolated but units in a social order which claims us and calls on +us to fulfil the duties of our place. Blessed Mary was led away +from the tomb of her Son in the prostration of grief; but her very +duty to Him would have forced her thought away from herself and led +her to join in the preparations which were being made for the +proper care of the Sacred Body. And in that sad duty she would find +solace of a kind; there is an expression of love in the care we +give our dead. This body now so helpless and unresponsive, has been +the medium through which the soul expressed itself to us; it has +been the instrument of love and the sacrament of our union. How +well we know it! How well the mother knows every feature of her +child, how she now lingers over the preparations for the burial +feeling that the separation is not quite accomplished so long as +her hands can touch and her eyes see the familiar features. In the +pause that the Sabbath forced on the friends of Jesus we may be +sure that they were making what preparations might be made under +the restrictions of their religion, and that they looked eagerly +for the passing of the Sabbath as giving them one more opportunity +of service to the Master. There was the group of women who had +followed Him and "ministered of their substance" who were faithful +still. The Mother had no "substance"; she shared the poverty of her +Son. Her support during the Sabbath would be the expectancy of +looking once more upon His Face.</p> +<p>But when the first day of the week dawned it proved to be a day +of stupendous wonder. They, the Disciples and these faithful women, +seemed to themselves, no doubt, to have passed into a new world +where the presuppositions of the old world were upset and reversed. +There were visions of angels, reported appearances of Jesus, an +empty tomb. Through the incredible reports that came to them from +various sources the light gradually broke for them. It was true +then, that saying of Jesus, that He would rise again from the dead! +It was not some mysterious bit of teaching, the exact bearing of +which they did not catch, but a literal fact! And then while they +still hesitated and doubted, while they still hid behind the closed +doors, Jesus Himself came and stood in the midst with His message +of peace. It is often so, is it not? While we are in perplexity and +fear, while we think the next sound will be the knock of armed +hands on the door, it is not the Jews that come, but Jesus with a +message of peace. Our fears are so pathetic, so pitiful; we meet +life and death with so little of the understanding and the courage +that our Lord's promises ought to inspire in us! We stand so +shudderingly before the vision of death, are so much appalled by +the thought of the grave! We shudder and tremble as the hand of +death is stretched out toward us and ours. One is often tempted to +ask as one hears people talking of death: "Are these Christians? Do +they believe in immortality? Have they heard the message of the +first Easter morning, the angelic announcement of the resurrection +of Christ? Have they never found the peace of believing, the utter +quiet of the spirit in the confidence of a certain hope which +belongs to those who have grasped the meaning of the resurrection +of the dead?" Here in Jerusalem in a few days the whole point of +view is changed. The frightened group of disciples is transformed +by the resurrection experience into the group of glad and +triumphant missionaries who will be ready when they are endowed +with power from on high to go out and preach Jesus and the +resurrection to the ends of the earth.</p> +<p>What in these first days the resurrection meant to them was no +doubt just the return of Jesus. He was with them once more, and +they were going to take hope again in the old life, to resume the +old mission which had been interrupted by the disaster of Calvary. +All other feeling would have been swallowed up in the mere joy of +the recovery. But it could not be many hours before it would be +plain that if Jesus was restored to them He was restored with a +difference. A new element had entered their intercourse which was +due to some subtle change that had passed upon Him. We get the +first note of it in that wonderful scene in Joseph's Garden when +the Lord appears to the Magdalen. There is all the love and +sympathy there had ever been; but when in response to her name +uttered in the familiar voice the Magdalen throws herself at His +Feet, there is a new word that marks a new phase in their relation: +"Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended."</p> +<p>This new thing in our Lord which held them back with a new word +that they had never experienced before must have become plainer +each day. S. Mary feels no less love in her Son restored to her +from; the grave, but she does not find just the same freedom of +approach. S. John could no longer think of leaning on His Heart at +supper as before. Jesus was the same as before. There was the same +thoughtful sympathy; the same tender love; but it is now mediated +through a nature that has undergone some profound change in the +days between death and resurrection. The humanity has acquired new +powers, the spirit is obviously more in control of the body. Our +Lord appeared and disappeared abruptly. His control over matter was +absolute. And in His intercourse with the disciples there was a +difference. He did not linger with them but appeared briefly from +time to time as though He were but a passing visitor to the world. +There were no longer the confidential talks in the fading light +after the day's work and teaching was over. There was no longer the +common meal with its intimacy and friendliness. There was, and this +was a striking change, no longer any attempt to approach those +outside the apostolic circle, no demonstration of His resurrection +to the world that had, as it thought, safely disposed of Him. He +came for brief times and with brief messages, short, pregnant +instructions, filled with meaning for the future into which they +are soon to enter.</p> +<p>What did it mean, this resurrection of Jesus? It meant the +demonstration of the continuity of our nature in our Lord. The Son +of God took upon Him our nature and lived and died in that nature. +Our pressing question is, what difference has that made to us? How +are <i>we</i> affected? Has humanity been permanently affected by +the resumption of it by God in the resurrection? If the assumption +of humanity by our Lord was but a passing assumption; if He took +flesh for a certain purpose, and that purpose fulfilled, laid it +aside, and once more assumed His pre-incarnate state, we should +have difficulty in seeing that our humanity was deeply affected by +the Incarnation. There would have been exhibited a perfect human +life, but what would have been left at the end of that life would +have been just the story of it, a thing wholly of the past. It is +not much better if it is assumed that the meaning of the +resurrection is the revelation of the immortality of the human +spirit, that in fact the resurrection means that the soul of Jesus +is now in the world of the spirit, but that His Body returned to +the dust. We are not very much interested in the bare fact of +survival. What interests us is the mode of survival, the conditions +under which we survive. We are interested, that is to say, in our +survival as human beings and not in our survival as something +else--souls.</p> +<p>A soul is not a human being; a human being is a composite of +soul and body. It is interesting to note that people who do not +believe in the resurrection of our Lord, do not believe in our +survival as human beings, consequently do not believe in a heaven +that is of any human interest. But we feel, do we not? a certain +lack of interest in a future in which we shall be something quite +different in constitution from what we are now. We can think of a +time between death and the resurrection in which we shall be +incomplete, but that is tolerable because it is disciplinary and +temporary and looks on to our restitution to full humanity in the +resurrection at the Last Day. And we feel that the promise, the +certainty of this is sealed by our Lord's resurrection from the +dead. We are certain that that took place because it is needful to +the completion of His Work.</p> +<p>The Creed is one: and if one denies one article one speedily +finds that there is an effect on others. The denial of the +resurrection is part and parcel of the attempt to reduce +Christianity to a history of something that once took place which +is important to us to-day because it affords us a standard of life, +a pattern after which we are to shape ourselves. Else should we be +very much in the dark. We gain from the Christian Revelation a +conception of God as a kindly Father Who desires His children to +follow the example of His Son. That example, no doubt, must not be +pressed too literally, must be adapted to modern conditions; but we +can get some light and guidance from the study of it. Still, if you +do not care to follow it nothing will happen to you. It is merely a +pleasing occupation for those who are interested in such things. +The affirmation of the resurrection, on the other hand, is the +affirmation of the continuity of the work of God Incarnate; it is +an assertion that Christianity is a supernatural action of God +going on all the time, the essence of which is, not that it invites +the believer to imitation of the life of Christ, so far as seems +practical under modern conditions, but that it calls him to union +with Christ; it makes it his life's meaning to recreate the +Christ-experience, to be born and live and die through the +experience of Incarnate God. It fixes his attention not on what +Jesus did but on what Jesus is. It insists on a present vital +organic relation to God, mediated by the humanity of Jesus; and if +there be no humanity of Jesus, if at His death He ceased to be +completely human, then there is no possibility of such a relation +to God in Christ as the Catholic Religion has from the beginning +postulated; and unless we are to continue human there seems no +continuing basis for such a relation to one another in the future +as would make the future of any interest to us. For us, as for S. +Paul, all our hope hangs on the resurrection of Christ from the +dead; and if Christ be not risen from the dead then is our faith +vain.</p> +<p>For us then, as for the men who wrote the Gospel, and for the +men who planted the Church and watered it with their blood, the +resurrection of Jesus means the return of His Spirit from the place +whither it had gone to preach to the spirits in prison and its +reunion with the Body which had been laid in the tomb in Joseph's +Garden, and the issuing of perfect God and perfect man from that +tomb on the first Easter morning. That humanity had, no doubt, +undergone profound changes to fit it to be the perfect instrument +of the spirit of Christ Jesus henceforward. It is now the +resurrection body, the spiritual body of the new man. We understand +that it is now a body fitted for the new conditions of the +resurrection life, and we also understand that it is the exemplar +of what our risen bodies will be. They will be endowed with new +powers and capacities, but they will be human bodies, the medium of +the spirit's expression and a recognisable means of intercourse +with our friends. We lie down in the grave with a certainty of +preserving our identity and of maintaining the capacity of +intercourse with those we know and love. That is what really +interests us in the future which would be uninteresting on other +terms; and that is what our Lord's appearances after the +resurrection seem to guarantee. He resumed a human intercourse with +those whom He had gathered about Him. He continued His work of +instruction and preparation for the future. And when at length He +left them they were prepared to understand that His departure was +but the beginning of a new relation. But also they would feel much +less that there was an absolute break with the past than if He had +not appeared to them after the Crucifixion, and they had been left +with but a belief in His immortality. They would, too, now be able +to look on to the future as containing a renewal of the relations +now changed, to read a definite meaning into His promises that +where He is there shall His servants be.</p> +<p>It is much to know that we are immortal: it is much more to know +that this immortality is a human immortality. One feels in studying +the pre-Christian beliefs in immortality that they had very little +effectiveness, and that the reason was that there was no real link +connecting life in this world with life in the next. Death was a +fearful catastrophe that man in some sense survived, but in a sense +that separated his two modes of existence by a great gulf. Man +survived, but his interests did not survive, and therefore he +looked to the future with indifference or fear. This life seemed to +him much preferable to the life which was on the other side of the +grave. So far as the Old Testament writings touch on the future +world, they touch upon it without enthusiasm. There is an immense +difference between the attitude of the Old Testament saint toward +death and that, for instance, of the early Christian martyr. And +the difference is that the martyr does not feel that death will put +an end to all he knows and loves and set him, alive it may be, but +alive in a strange country. He feels that he is about to pass into +a state of being in which he will find his finer interests not lost +but intensified. At the center of his religious expression is a +personal love of Jesus and a martyr's death would mean immediate +admission to the presence and love of His Master. He would--of this +he had no shadow of doubt--he would see Jesus, not the spirit of +Jesus, but the Jesus Who is God Incarnate, whose earthly life he +had gone over so many times, Whom he felt that he should recognise +at once. Death was not the breaking off of all in which he was +interested but was rather the fulfilment of all that he had +dreamed. And this must be true always where our interests are truly +Christian interests. It is no doubt true that we find in Christian +congregations a large number of individuals whose attitude toward +death and the future is purely heathen. They believe in survival, +but they have no vital interest in it. I fancy that there are a +good many people who would experience relief to be persuaded that +death is the end of conscious existence, that they do not have to +look forward to a continuous life under other conditions. And this +not at all, as no doubt it would in some cases be, because it was +the lifting of the weighty burden of responsibility for the sort of +life one leads, because it was relief from the thought of a +judgment to be one day faced, but because the world to come, as +they have grasped its meaning, is a world in which they have no +sort of interest. Our Lord in His Presentation of the future does +actually point us to the natural human interest by which our +affection will follow that which we do in fact value. "Where your +treasure is, there will your heart be also." But the class of whom +I am thinking have no treasures. Notwithstanding some sort of +conformity to the Christian Religion, conceived most likely under +the aspect of a compulsory moral code, there is nothing in their +experience that one can call a love of our Lord, no actually felt +personal affection for Him that makes them long to see Him. There +were those with whom they had intimately lived and whom they had +loved and who have passed through the experience of death, but in +the years that have passed they have become used to living without +them and there is no passionate longing to be with them again. +There are no interests in their lives which when they think of them +they feel that they can carry with them to the world beyond. +Whatever they have succeeded in accumulating in life is hardly to +be regarded as heavenly treasure!</p> +<p>There then is the vital centre of the Christian doctrine of the +world to come,--that it is a life continuous with this life, not in +bare existence, but in the persistence of relations and interests +upon which we have entered here. At the center of that world as it +is revealed to us, is Jesus Christ, God in our nature, and about +Him ever the saints of His Kingdom, who are still human with human +interests, and who look on to the time when the fulness of humanity +will be restored to them by the resurrection of the body. The +interests that are vital here are also the interests that are vital +there, the interests of the Kingdom of God. As the Christian thinks +of the life of the world to come he thinks of it as the sphere in +which his ambitions can be and will be realised, where the ends of +which he has so long and so earnestly striven will be attained. His +life has been a life given to the service of our Lord and to his +Kingdom, and it had, no doubt, often seemed to small purpose; it +has often seemed that the Kingdom was not prospering and the work +of God coming to naught. And then he looks on to the future and +sees that the work that he knows is an insignificant fragment of +the whole work; and he thinks with longing of the time when he +shall see revealed all that has been accomplished. He feels like a +colonist who in some outlying province of an empire is striving to +promote the interests of his Homeland. His work is to build up +peace and order and to civilise barbarous tribes. And there are +days when the work seems very long and very hopeless; and then he +comforts himself with the thought that this is but a corner of the +empire and that one day he will be relieved and called home. There +at the centre he will be able to see the whole fact, will be able +to understand what this colony means, and will rejoice in the +slight contribution to its upbuilding that it has been his mission +to make. The heart of the Christian is really in the Homeland and +he feels acutely that here he is on the Pilgrim Way. But he feels +too that his present vocation is here and that he is here +contributing the part that God has appointed him for the upbuilding +of the Kingdom, and that the more he loves our Lord and the more he +longs for Him the more faithfully and exactly will he strive to +accomplish his appointed work.</p> +<p>They are right, those who are continually reproaching Christians +with having a centre of interest outside this world; but we do not +mind the reproach because we are quite sure that only those will +have an intelligent interest in this world who feel that it does +not stand by itself as a final and complete fact, but is a single +stage of the many stages of God's working. We no more think it a +disgrace to be thinking of a future world and to have our centre of +interest there than we think it a disgrace for the college lad to +be looking forward to the career that lies beyond the college +boundaries and for which his college is supposed to be preparing +him. We do not consider that boy ideal whose whole time and energy +is given to the present interests of a college, its athletics, its +societies, and in the end is found to have paid so little attention +to the intellectual work that he is sent there to perform that he +fails to pass his examinations. Christians are interested in this +world because it is a province of the Kingdom of God and that they +are set here to work out certain problems, and that they are quite +sure that the successful solution of these problems is the best and +highest contribution that they can make to the development of life +in this world. They do not believe that as a social contribution to +the betterment of human life a saint is less valuable than an +agnostic professor of sociology or an atheistic socialistic leader; +nor does the Christian believe that strict attention to the affairs +of the Kingdom of God renders him less valuable as a citizen than +strict attention to a brewery or a bank. A whole-hearted Christian +life which has in view all the relations of the Kingdom of God in +this or in any other world, which loves God and loves its neighbour +in God, is quite the best contribution that a human being can make +to the cause of social progress. If it were possible to put in +evidence anywhere a wholly Christian community I am quite convinced +that we should see that our social problems were there solved. I +think then we shall be right to insist that what is needed is not +less otherworldliness but more: that more otherworldliness would +work a social revolution of a beneficent character. The result +might be that we should spend less of our national income on +preparations for war and more in making the conditions of life +tolerable for the poor; that we should begin to pay something of +the same sort of care for the training of children that we now +bestow on the nurture of pigs and calves. We might possibly look on +those whom we curiously call the "inferior races" as less objects +of commercial exploitation and more as objects of moral and +spiritual interest.</p> +<p>We shall no doubt do this when we have more fully grasped what +the resurrection of Christ has done and made possible. It is no +account of that resurrection to think of it as a demonstration of +immortality. It only touches the fringes of its importance when we +think of it as setting the seal of divine approval upon the +teaching of Jesus. We get to the heart of the matter when we think +of the risen humanity of our Lord as having become for us a source +of energy. The truth of our Lord's life is not that He gave us an +example of how we ought to live, but that He provided the power +that enables us to live as He lived. Also He gave us the point of +view from which to estimate life. The writer of the Epistles to the +Hebrews uses a striking phrase when he speaks of "the power of an +endless life." Is not that an illuminating phrase when we think of +our relation to our Lord? His revelation of the meaning of human +life has brought to us the vision of what that life may become and +the power to attain that end. The fact of our endlessness at once +puts a certain order into life. Things, interests, occupations fall +into their right places. There are so many things which seem not +worth while because of the revelation of the importance of our +work. Other things there are which we should not have dared to +undertake if we had but this life in which to accomplish them. But +he who understands that he is building for eternity can build with +all the care and all the deliberation that is needed for so vast a +work. There is no haste if we select those things which have +eternal value. We can undertake the development of the Christian +qualities of character with entire hopefulness. The very conception +of the beauty and perfectness of the fruits of the Spirit might +discourage us if our time were limited. But if we feel that the +work we have done on them, however elementary and fragmentary, as +long as it is honest and heartfelt, will not be lost when death +comes, then we can go securely on. We can go on in any spiritual +work we have undertaken without that sense of feverish haste lest +death overtake us and put an end to our labour which so affects men +in purely secular things. To us death is not an interruption. Death +does not destroy our human personality, nor does it destroy our +interest in anything that like us is permanent. We feel perfectly +secure when we have identified ourselves with the business of the +Kingdom of God. Then we almost feel the throb of our immortality; +the power of an endless life is now ours. We have not to wait for +death and resurrection to endue us with that power because it is +the gift of God to us here, that gift of enternal life which our +Lord came to bestow upon us. Only the gift which we realise +imperfectly or not at all at its bestowal we come to understand in +something of its real power; and henceforth we live in the +possession and fruition of it, growing up "into Him in all things, +which is the Head, even Christ."</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Hail, thou brightest Star of Ocean;<br> +Hail, thou Mother of our God;<br> +Hail, thou Ever-sinless Virgin,<br> +Gateway of the blest abode.<br> +Ave; 'tis an angel's greeting--<br> +Thou didst hear his music sound,<br> +Changing thus the name of Eva--<br> +Shed the gifts of peace around.<br> +Burst the sinner's bonds in sunder;<br> +Pour the day on darkling eyes;<br> +Chase our ills; invoke upon us<br> +All the blessings of the skies.<br> +Show thyself a watchful Mother;<br> +And may He our pleadings hear,<br> +Who for us a helpless Infant<br> +Owned thee for His mother dear.<br> +Maid, above all maids excelling,<br> +Maid, above all maidens mild,<br> +Freed from sin, oh, make our bosoms<br> +Sweetly meek and undefiled.<br> +Keep our lives all pure and stainless,<br> +Guide us on our heavenly way,<br> +'Till we see the face of Jesus,<br> +And exult in endless day.<br> +Glory to the Eternal Father;<br> +Glory to the Eternal Son;<br> +Glory to the Eternal Spirit:<br> +Blest for ever, Three in One.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<br> +<h3>THE FORTY DAYS</h3> +<center>To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by +many infallible proofs,<br> +being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things +pertaining to the kingdom of God.<br> +<br> +Acts I, 3.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Open unto us the door of thy loving kindness, O blessed +Mother of God; we have set our hope on thee, may we not be +disappointed, but through thee may we be delivered from adversity, +for thou art the saving help of all Christian people.<br> +<br> +O Mother of God, thou who art a deep well of infinite mercy, bestow +upon us thy compassion; look upon thy people who have sinned, and +continue to make manifest thy power. For thee do we trust, and to +thee do we cry, Hail! even as of old did Gabriel, the chief of the +angelic hosts.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">RUSSIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hese Forty Days that intervened between our Lord's resurrection +and ascension must have been utterly bewildering in the experience +of the Apostles. Our Lord was once more with them; He had come back +from the grave; that would have been the central experience. But in +His intercourse with them He was so changed, the same and yet with +a vast difference. We think of the perplexed group of the disciples +gathered in the familiar place, going over the recent facts and +trying to adjust themselves to them. Just what is the difference +that death and resurrection have made, we hear them discussing. Is +it that He appears and disappears so strangely, not coming any +longer to be with them in the old way, with the old familiar +intercourse? There is obviously no failure in Himself, no decline +in love; but there is a decline in intimacy. They themselves feel a +strange awe in His presence such as they had not been accustomed to +feel in the past. They feel too that this restrained intercourse is +but temporary, that at any moment it may end. The instructions He +is giving them are so obviously final instructions, fitting them +for a future in which He will not be with them.</p> +<p>Amid all this perplexity we try to see Our Lady and to get at +her mind. She was no doubt in the small group eagerly waiting our +Lord's coming, dreading each time He left them that He would return +no more. One thinks of her as less bewildered than the others +because her interest was more concentrated. She had no problems to +work out, no perplexities to absorb her; she had simply to love. +Life to her was just love--love of the Son Whom she had brought +forth and Whom she had followed so far. She lived in His +appearings; and between them she lived in remembrance of them. One +does not think of her as dwelling very much on what He says, but as +dwelling upon Him. The thought of Him absorbs her. She has passed +into that relation to our Lord that in the years to come many souls +will strive to acquire--the state of absorbed contemplation, the +state in which all things else for the time recede and one is alone +with God. God so fills the soul that there is room there for +nothing else.</p> +<p>For the Apostles these were days of immense importance as days +in which they were compelled to reconstruct their whole view of the +meeting of our Lord's mission and of their relation to it. They +came to these days with their settled notion about the renewed +Kingdom of Israel and of our Lord's reign on earth which His +teaching hitherto had not been able to expel; but now they are +compelled to see that the Kingdom of God of which they are to be +the missionaries is a Kingdom in another sense than they had so far +conceived it. It differs vastly from their dream of an Israelite +empire. It is no doubt true that this mental revolution is of slow +operation, and that even when certain truths are grasped it will +still take time to grasp them in all their implications. For long +their Judaism will impede their full understanding of the meaning +of the Kingdom of God. It will be years before they can see that it +is a non-Jewish fact and that other nations will stand on an +equality with them. But they will by the end of the Forty Days have +grasped the fact that they are not engaged in a secular revolution +and are not entering on a career of worldly power. They will be +ready for their active ministry after Pentecost, a ministry of +spiritual initiation into the Kingdom of God. When in response to +their preaching men asked the question: "Men and brethren, what +shall we do?" They were ready with their answer: "Repent and be +baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the +remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy +Ghost."</p> +<p>So the Forty Days were filled with new meanings emerging from +the old teaching, of suddenly grasped significance in some saying +of our Lord that they had assumed that they understood but in +reality had attributed little meaning to. It is one of the striking +things about our relation to spiritual truth that we can go on for +long thinking that we are attaching a meaning to something which in +fact, it turns out, has meant almost nothing to us. Some day a +phrase which we have often read or repeated suddenly is lighted up +with a significance we had never dreamed of. We have long been +looking some truth in the face, but in fact it has never laid hold +of us; we have made no inferences from it, deduced no necessity of +action, till on a day the significance of it emerges and we are +overwhelmed by the revelation of our blunder, of our stupidity. The +fact is that we assume that our conduct is quite right, and we +interpret truth in the light of our conduct rather than interpret +conduct in the light of truth. It is the explanation, I suppose, of +the fact that so many people read their Bible regularly without, so +far as one can see, the reading having any effect upon their +conduct. The conduct is a settled affair and they are finding it +reflected in the pages of the Gospel. Their minds are already +definitely made up to the effect that they know what the Gospel +means, and that is the meaning that they put into the Bible. One +does not know otherwise how to account for the fact that it is +precisely those who think themselves "Bible Christians" who are +farthest from accepting the explicit teaching of the Bible. If +there is anything plain in the New Testament it is that the whole +teaching of our Lord is sacramental. If anything is taught there +one would think it was the nature and obligation of baptism, the +Presence of our Lord in the Sacrament of the Altar, the gift of +Confirmation, the meaning of absolution. Yet it is to "Bible +Christians" that sacraments appear to have no value, are things +which can be dispensed with as mere ornaments of the Christian +Religion.</p> +<p>I wonder if we have wholly got beyond that point of view? I +wonder if we have got a religious practice which is settled or one +that is continually expanding? I wonder if we force our meaning on +the Bible or if we are trying to find therein new stimulus to +action? That in truth is the reason for reading the Holy Scriptures +at all--to find therein stimulus, stimulus for life; that we may +see how little or how much our conduct conforms to the ideal set +out there. We do not read to learn a religion, but to learn to +practice the religion that we already have.</p> +<p>Now to take just one point in illustration. The commission of +our Lord to His Church in the person of the Apostles was a +commission to forgive sins. "He breathed on them, and saith unto +them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they +are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are +retained." As to how in detail, this commission is to be exercised +is a matter for the Church to order as the circumstances of its +life require. As I read my Bible certain facts emerge: I am a +sinner; Christ died for my sins; He left power in His Church for +the forgiveness of sin--of my sin. And then the question arises: +What is the bearing of all that on my personal practice? Have I +settled a practice for myself to which I am subjecting the teaching +of the Bible and the Church? Or am I alert to see a contrast or a +contradiction between my practice and the teaching of the Bible and +the Church, if such exist? Now there are many people in the Church +who make no use of the sacrament of penance, and there are many +others who make use of it very sparingly. It is clear that either +they must be right, or the Bible and the Church must be right. It +is clear that such persons, to press it no farther, are imposing +the interpretation of their own conduct on the teaching of the +Christian Religion and asserting by their constant practice that +that interpretation is quite inadequate, notwithstanding the +contrary practice of the entire Catholic world. That, to put it +mildly, is a very peculiar intellectual and spiritual attitude.</p> +<p>We can most of us, I have no doubt, find by searching somewhere +in our religious practice parallel attitudes toward truth. We have +settled many questions in a sense that is agreeable to us. We +cannot tell just how we got them settled, but settled they are. +Take a very familiar matter which greatly concerns us in this +parish dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the question of the +honour and reverence due to our Blessed Mother. We had got settled +in our practice that certain things were right and certain wrong. I +doubt if a very intelligent account of this--why they were right or +wrong--could, in many cases have been given. But the settled +opinion and practice was there.</p> +<p>And then came the demand for a review; that we look our practice +squarely in the face and ask, "What is the ground of this? Does it +correspond with the teaching of Scripture and of the Catholic +Church? And if it does not, what am I going to do about it? Have I +only a collection of prejudices there where I supposed that I had a +collection of settled truths? Do I see that it is quite possible +that I may be wholly wrong, and that I am hindered by pride from +reversing my attitude?" For there is a certain pride which operates +in these matters of belief and practice as well as elsewhere. We +are quite apt to pride ourselves on our consistency and think it an +unworthy thing to change our minds. That is rather a foolish +attitude; changing one's mind is commonly not a mark of fickleness +but of intellectual advance. It means oftentimes the abandonment of +prejudice or the giving up of an opinion which we have discovered +to have no foundation. This is rather a large universe in which we +live, and it is improbable that any man's thought of it at any time +should be adequate. Intellectual progress means the assimilation of +new truths. The Christian Religion is a large and complex +phenomenon, and any individual's thought of it at any time must be, +in the nature of things, an inadequate thought. Progress in +religion means the constant assimilation of new truths--new, that +is, to us. Surely it is a very peculiar attitude to be proud of +never learning anything, making it a virtue to have precisely the +same opinions this year as last! I should be very much ashamed of +myself if a year were to pass in which I had learned nothing, had +changed my mind about nothing. In religion, one knows that the +articles of the Faith are expressed in the dogmatic definitions of +the Church; but one will never know, seek as one will, all that +these mean in detail, all that they demand in practice. And our +only tolerable attitude is that of learners constantly seeking to +fill up the <i>lacunae</i> in our beliefs and practice.</p> +<p>In fact, any living Christian experience is always in process of +adjustment. Those who conceive a dogmatic religion as an immovable +religion, as a collection of cut and dried formulae which each +generation is expected to learn and repeat and to which it has no +other relation, are quite right in condemning that conception, only +that is not, in fact, what the Christian Religion is. The content +of the Christian dogmas is so full and so complex that there is +never any danger of intellectual sterility in those who are called +to deal with them; and their application to life is so rich and so +manifold that there is not the least danger that those who set out +to apply them to the problems of daily existence will become mere +formalists. The attempt to live a truly Christian life is a +never-ending, inexhaustible adventure. Only those can miss this +fact who have utterly misconceived Christianity as a barren set of +prohibitions, warning its devotees off the field of great sections +of human experience. There are those who appear to imagine that the +primary business of Christianity is to deal with sin, and that in +order to keep itself occupied it has to invent a large number of +unreal sins. Unfortunately sin, as the deliberate rejection of the +known will of God, exists; and, fortunately, the grace of our Lord +Jesus Christ Who came into the world to save sinners also exists. +We can be unendingly thankful for that. But it is also true that +the action of Christianity is not exhausted in the negative work of +dealing with sin. Christianity is primarily a positive action for +the bringing about and development of the relation of the soul with +God in the state of union. We may say that Christianity has to turn +aside from this its proper business of developing the spiritual +life to the preliminary work of dealing with sin which kills +spirituality and hinders its development. But it is not necessary +to make the blunder of assuming that this dealing with sin is the +essential work of Christianity because it has so continually to be +at it, any more than it is necessary to assume that the essential +work of a farmer is the digging up of weeds. Surely it would be no +adequate treatise on agriculture which would confine itself to +description of the nature of weeds and of methods of dealing with +them. There is a branch of theology which deals with sin, the +methods of its treatment and its cure; but there are also other +branches of theology: and the direction of the Holy Scripture is +not to get rid of sin and stop; but having done that, to go on to +perfection.</p> +<p>Christian experience is a constant process of adjustment, a +constantly growing experience. By the study of the Christian +revelation it is always finding new meanings in old truths, new +modes of application of familiar practices. This simply means that +the Christian is alive and not a fossil. It means that his relation +to our Lord is such that it opens to him inexhaustible depths of +experience. It is easy to see this in the concrete by taking up the +life of almost any saint. It is easy to trace the growth of S. John +from the young fisherman, fiery, impatient, who wished to call down +fire from heaven upon his adversaries as Elijah did, and gained the +rebuke: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of," to the +mature and supremely calm and simple experience which is reflected +in the Gospel and Epistles. It is easy to trace the development of +the impulsive, zealous Pharisee that Paul of Tarsus was, through +all the stages of spiritual growth that are reflected in his +Letters, till he is Paul the aged waiting to depart and be with +Christ "which is far better." You can study it in the confessions +of S. Augustine in its first stage and follow it through its later +stages in his letters and other writings, and in many another saint +beside. If you have any spiritual experience at all you can trace +it in your own case: you have grown, not through dealing with sin, +but through the pursuit of ideal perfection, that perfection which +is set before you by the Christian Religion. You may not feel that +you have gone very far: that is not the point at present; you know +that you have found a method by which you may go on indefinitely; +that there is no need that you should stop anywhere short of the +Beatific Vision. You do know that your religion is not the +deadening repetition of dogmas which the unbeliever conceives it to +be, but is the never ceasing attempt to master the inexhaustible +truth that is contained in your relation to our Lord. You do know +that however far you have gone you feel that you are still but on +the threshold and that the path before your feet runs out into +infinity. Let us go back again to our examination of the experience +of the Apostles. When we examine their training we find there, I +think, two quite distinct elements both of which must have had a +formative influence upon their ministry. In the first place there +was the element of dogmatic teaching. There is a class of persons +who are accustomed to tell us that there is no dogma in the New +Testament, by which they appear to mean that the particular +dogmatic affirmations of the Creed are not formulated in the pages +of the New Testament, but are of later production. That, no doubt, +is true; but nevertheless it would be difficult to find a more +dogmatic book than the New Testament, or a more dogmatic teacher +than was our Lord. And our Lord taught the Apostles in a most +definite way the expected acceptance of His teaching because He +taught it. "He taught as one having authority, and not as the +scribes," it was noted. The point about the teaching of the scribes +was that it was traditional, wholly an interpretation of the +meaning of the Old Testament. It made no claim to originality but +rather based its claim on the fact it was not original. Our Lord, +it was noticed, did not base His claim on tradition. In fact He +often noticed the Jewish tradition for the purpose of marking the +contrast between it and His own teaching. "Ye have heard that it +hath been said of old time ... but I say unto you." He commonly +refused to give an explanation of what He had said, but demanded +acceptance on His authority. He brought discipleship to the test of +hard sayings, and permitted the departure of those who could not +accept them. He cut across popular prejudices and took small +account of the "modern mind" as expressed by the Sadducees. He +expected the same unhesitating submission from the Apostles whom He +was training, though it was also a part of their training to be the +future heralds of the Kingdom that they should have the "mysteries +of the Kingdom" explained to them. But from the time when Jesus +began to preach, saying "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," He +preached and taught with the same unhesitating note of certainty, +and with the same demand for intellectual submission on the part of +those who heard Him.</p> +<p>And that continues to the end. During the Forty Days, the few +sayings that have come to us have the same ring of authority, of +dogmatic certainty. The result was that when the Apostles went out +to teach they were equipped with a body of truth which they +presented to the world in the same unhesitating way. Indeed, that +is the only way in which the central truths of the Christian Faith +can be presented. They are not the conclusions of argument, which +may be taken up and argued over again to the end of the +world,--they are the dicta of revelation. We either know them to be +true because they have been revealed, or we do not know them to be +true at all. They are mysteries, that is, truths beyond the +possibility of human finding which have been made known to man by +God Himself. They are the appropriate data of religion and what +distinguishes it from philosophy. The presence of mystery in +philosophy is annoying, and the aim is to get rid of it, but a +religion without mystery is absurd. Religion deals with the +fundamental relations between God and man and the light it brings +us must be a supernatural light. Such a religion in its +presentation naturally cut across the preconceptions of the +traditionalists in Jerusalem to whom nothing new could be true, as +across the preconceptions of the sophists of Athens, to whom +nothing that was not new was interesting.</p> +<p>This dogmatic equipment was but one side, however, of the +Apostolic training for their future work, a training to which the +finishing touches, so to say, were put during the Forty Days. The +other side of the training was the impression upon them of the +Personality of our Lord, the effect of their close association with +Him. This has an importance that dwarfs all other influences of the +time; and we feel all through the Gospel that it was what our Lord +himself counted upon in forming them for their mission. In the +beginning "He chose twelve to be with Him," and their day by day +association with Him was constantly changing their point of view +and reforming their character. It was not the teaching, the +explanation of parables, or the sight of the miracles; it was the +silent effect of a personality that was in contact with them +constantly and was constantly presenting to them an ideal of life, +an ideal of absolute submission to the will of the Father and of +utter consecration to the, mission that had been committed to +Him.</p> +<p>We all know this silent pressure of life upon life. We have most +of us, I suppose, experienced it either from our parents or from +friends in later life; and we can through that experience of ours +attempt the explanation of our Lord's influence on the Apostles. +There were not only the hours of formal teaching--they, in a way, +were perhaps the less important from our present point of view. We +have more in mind the informal talks that would go on as they went +from village to village in Galilee, or as they gathered about the +door of some cottage in the evening or sat in the shelter of some +grove during the noon-day heat. It was just talk arising naturally +out of the incidents of the day, but it was always talk guided by +Jesus--talk in which Jesus was constantly revealing Himself to +them, impressing upon them His point of view, making plain his own +judgment upon life. And when we turn to His formal teaching we +realise how revolutionary was His point of view in regard to life, +how He swept aside the customary conventions by which they were +accustomed to guide life, and substituted the radical principles +that they have left on record in the Sermon on the Mount for the +perplexity of a world yet far from understanding them. Evidently +the Apostles would find their accustomed values tossed aside and a +wholly new set of values presented to them.</p> +<p>I suppose we find it difficult to appreciate how utterly +revolutionary the Gospel teaching continually is, not because we +have become accustomed to follow it, but because we have got used +to hearing it and evacuating it of most of its meaning by clever +glossing. It was thus that the teaching classes in Jerusalem +avoided the pressure of Old Testament ideals by a facile system of +interpretation which made "void the Word of God by their +traditions." Human nature has not altered; and we succeed by the +same method in making the Gospel of none effect. We are so well +accustomed to do this that we lose the point and pungency of much +of our Lord's teaching. But we know that the apostles did not. We +know that they presented that teaching in all its sharpness to +would-be disciples. It could not be otherwise with those who for +three years had been in day by day intimacy with our Lord and had +assimilated His point of view and his judgment on life.</p> +<p>One effect of their contact with our Lord in the days following +the resurrection would be that whatever changes the passage to a +new level of existence had wrought in Him, it had not changed +either the tone of His teaching or the beauty and attractiveness of +His Personality. The concluding charges that were given them, the +great commission of proclaiming the Kingdom with which they were +now definitely endued, the powers which were committed to them in +the great words: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in +earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching +them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, +lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," would but +confirm and strengthen all that had gone before in their experience +of Him. The Jesus of the resurrection was no pale ghost returned +from the grave, intermittently to appear to them to assure them of +the fact of immortality. He was "the same Jesus" Whom they had +known for three years, and whose return from the dead triumphant +over the powers that had opposed Him, set quite plainly and +definitely the seal of indisputable authority upon all the teaching +and the example that had gone before. The period of their probation +was over: The commission was theirs: It remained that they should +abide in Jerusalem until they should be "endued with power from on +high."</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Proclaimed Queen and Mother of a God,<br> + The Light of earth, the Sovereign of saints,<br> +With pilgrim foot up tiring hills she trod,<br> + And heavenly stile with handmaids' toil acquaints;<br> + Her youth to age, her health to sick she +lends;<br> + Her heart to God, to neighbor hand she +bends.<br> +<br> +A Prince she is, and mightier Prince doth bear,<br> + Yet pomp of princely train she would not have;<br> +But doubtless, heavenly choirs attendant were,<br> + Her Child from harm, herself from fall to save:<br> + Word to the voice, song to the tune she +brings,<br> + The voice her word, the tune her ditty +sings.<br> +<br> +Eternal lights enclosèd in her breast<br> + Shot out such piercing beams of burning love,<br> +That when her voice her cousin's ears possessed<br> + The force thereof did force her babe to move:<br> + With secret signs the children greet each +other;<br> + But, open praise each leaveth to his mother.<br> +<br> +Robert Southwell, S.J.<br> +1560-1595.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<h3>THE ASCENSION</h3> +<center>And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he<br> +was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.<br> +<br> +S. Luke XXIV, 51.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>O Mother of God, since we have obtained confidence in +thee, we shall not be put to shame, but we shall be saved.<br> +<br> +And since we have obtained thy help and thy meditation, O, thou +holy, pure, and perfect one!<br> +<br> +We fear not but that we shall put our enemies to flight and scatter +them.<br> +<br> +We have taken unto us the shelter of thy mighty help in all things +like a shield.<br> +<br> +And we pray, and beseech thee that we may call upon thee, O Mother +of God, so that thou deliver us through thy prayers.<br> +<br> +And that thou mayest raise us up again from the sleep of darkness, +to offer praise through the might of God Who took flesh in +thee.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">COPTIC.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>here would be no doubt of the finality of our Lord's physical +withdrawal this time. As the group of disciples stood on the +hilltop in Galilee and watched the clouds close about Him, they +would feel that this was the end of the kind of intercourse to +which they had been accustomed. The past Forty Days would have done +much to prepare them for the separation. Their conception of our +Lord's work as issuing in the establishment of an earthly Kingdom +had been swept away; the changed terms of their intercourse with +Him in the resurrection state had emphasised the change that had +taken place; His teaching during these weeks which was centered on +the work of the future in which they were to carry on the mission +He had initiated; all these elements prepared them for the definite +withdrawal of the ascension. Nevertheless we can understand the +wrench that must have been involved in His actual withdrawal. We +face the dying of some one we love. We know that it is a matter of +weeks; the weeks shorten to days, and we are "prepared" for the +death; but what we mean is that the death will not take us by +surprise. However prepared we may be, the pain of parting will be a +quite definite pain; there is no way of avoiding that.</p> +<p>We know that there was no way for the disciples to avoid the +pain of the going of Jesus. It was not the same sort of pain that +they felt now, as they gazed up from the hill top to the cloud +drifting into the distance, as the pain that had been theirs as +they hurried trembling and affrighted through the streets of +Jerusalem on the afternoon of the Crucifixion. This pain had no +sting of remorse for a duty undone, or of fear for a danger to be +met. It was the calm pain of love in the realisation that the +parting is final.</p> +<p>We know that among the group that watched the receding cloud the +eyes that would linger longest and would find it hardest to turn +away would be those of the Blessed Mother. Her mission about our +Lord during all these past years had been a very characteristically +womanly mission, a mission of silence and help and sympathy. She +was with the women who ministered to Him, never obtrusive, never +self-assertive; but always ready when need was. It was the silent +service of a great love. That is the perfection of service. There +are types of service which claim reward or recognition. We are not +unfamiliar in the work of the Kingdom with people who have to be +cajoled and petted and made much of because of what they do. +Verily, they have their reward. But the type we are considering, of +which the Blessed Mother is the highest expression, is without +thought of self, being wholly lost in the wonder of being permitted +to serve God at all. To be permitted to give one's time and +personal ministry to our Lord in His Kingdom and in His members is +so splendid a grace of God that all thought of self is lost in the +joy of it. We know that S. Mary could have had no other thought +than the offering of her love in whatever way it was permitted to +express itself; and we know that the quality of that love was such +that the moment of the ascension would have left her desolate, +watching the cloud that veiled Him from her eyes.</p> +<p>All of which does not mean that we are wrong when we speak of +the ascension as one of the "Glorious Mysteries" of S. Mary. There +we are viewing it in its wide bearing as S. Mary would come to view +it in a short while. When the meaning of the ascension became +plain, when under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, S. Mary was able +to view her Son as "the One Mediator between God and man, the man +Christ Jesus," when she was able to think of the human nature that +God had taken from her as permanently enthroned in heaven,--then +would all this be to her creative of intense joy. We, seeing so +clearly what the ascension essentially meant, can think of it as a +mystery of intense joy, but as our Lord passed away from sight the +passing would for the moment be one last stab of the sword through +this so-often wounded heart.</p> +<p>There would be no lingering upon the hill top. The angel +messengers press the lesson that the life before them is a life of +eager contest, of energetic action. Jesus had indeed gone in the +clouds of heaven, but they were reminded that there would be a +reappearance, a coming-again in the clouds of heaven, and in the +meantime there was much to do, work that would require their +self-expenditure even unto death. Back must they go to Jerusalem +and there await the opening of the next act of the drama of the +Kingdom of God.</p> +<p>As we turn to the Epistles of the New Testament and to the +slowly shaping theology of the early Church, we find set out for us +the nature of our Lord's heavenly activity; we see the full meaning +of His Incarnation. The human nature which the Son of God assumed +from a pure Virgin, He assumed permanently. He took it from the +tomb on the resurrection morning, he bore it with Him from the +Galilean hill to the very presence of uncreated God. When the Gates +lift and admit the Conqueror to heaven, what enters heaven is our +nature, what is enthroned at the Right Hand of God is man, forever +united to God. And when we ask, "What is the purpose of this?" The +answer is that it is the continual purpose of the incarnation, the +purpose of mediatorship between the created and the uncreated, +between God and man. The constant purpose of the incarnation is +mediation--of the need of mediation there is no end. Our Lord's +work was not finished, though there are those who appear to believe +that it was finished, when, as a Galilean Preacher He had taught +men of the Father: nor was it finished when He bought redemption +for us on the Cross, and triumphing over death in the resurrection, +returned to heaven at the ascension. There is a very real sense in +which we can say that all those acts were the preliminaries of His +work, were what made the work possible. We then mean by His work +the age-long work of building the Kingdom of Heaven, and through it +bringing souls to the Father. To insist perhaps over-much: We are +not saved by the memory of what our Lord did, we are saved by what +He now does. We are saved by the present application to us of the +work that was wrought in the years of His earthly life.</p> +<p>We need to grasp this living and present character of our Lord's +work if we will understand the meaning of His mediation. There is a +gulf between the divine, the purely spiritual, and the human, which +needs some bridge to enable the human to cross it. That bridge was +thrown across in the incarnation when God and man became united in +the Person of the second Person of the ever blessed Trinity. When +God the Son became incarnate, God and man were forever united and +the door of heaven was about to swing open. Henceforth from the +demonstrated triumph of our Lord in the Ascension the Kingdom of +Heaven is open to all believers, and there is an ever-ready way of +approach to God the Blessed Trinity by the Incarnate Person of the +Son Who is the One Mediator between God and man. Whoever approaches +God, whoever would reach to the Divine, must approach by that path, +the path of Jesus Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.</p> +<p>He is the Way to God: and that Way is one that we follow by +participation in His nature, by being taken up into Him. We do not +reach God by thinking about our Lord, or by believing about our +Lord: thinking and believing are the preliminaries of action. There +are wonderful riches in the King's Treasury, but you do not get +them because you think of them or because you believe that they are +there. You get them when you go after them. And you get the ends of +the Christian Religion not because you believe them to exist, but +because you go after them in the way in which Christ directed. +Inasmuch as He is the Way to the Father, we reach the Father by +being made one with the Son, by being made a member of Him, by +being taken into Him in the life of union. "No man cometh unto the +Father but by me," He says. And the process of coming is by +believing all that He said and acting upon His Word to the +uttermost. Those who by partaking of the Sacraments are in Christ +have passed by His mediation to the knowledge of the Father.</p> +<p>For a road can be travelled in either direction. Christ is the +road by which we come to the Father, to participation in the life +of the Blessed Trinity; but also we can think of Him as the road by +which the Father comes to us. We can think of ourselves as drawing +near to God in His Beloved Son: I love to think the other way of +the road, of God drawing near to me, of God pouring of His riches +into human life and elevating that life to His very Self. I like to +think of the Christian life as a life to which God continually +communicates Himself, till we are filled "with all the fulness of +God." Can we imagine any more wonderful expression of the life of +holiness to which we are called than that? We "grow up into Him in +all things." That is the true account of the Christian life, not +some thin and dull routine of moral duty, but the spiritual +adventure of the road that travels out into the infinite pursuit of +spiritual accomplishment till it is lost in the very heart of +God.</p> +<p>This was the starting point of Blessed Mary. She was filled with +all the fulness of God from the moment of her conception, and was +never separated from the joy of the great possession. We are born +in sin and have to travel the road to the very end. Yet we, too, +begin in union, because we are born of our baptism into Christ soon +after our natural birth, and our problem is to achieve in +experience the content of our birthright. In other words: our feet +are set in the Way from the beginning, and our part is to keep to +the Way and not wander to the right hand or to the left; that this +may be possible for us Christ lived and died and to-day is at the +Right Hand of the Father where He ever liveth to make intercession +for us. We need never walk without Christ. The weariness of the +journey is sustained by His constant and ready help. The way is +lighted by the Truth which is Himself, and the life that we live is +His communicated life. "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in +me." There are those who find the road godward, the road of the +Christ-life, wearisome because they keep their eyes fixed on the +difficulties of the way and treat each step as though it were a +separate thing and not one step in a wonderful journey. The way to +avoid the weariness of the day's travel is to keep one's eye fixed +on the end, to raise the eyes to the heavens where Jesus sitteth +enthroned at the Right Hand of the Father. The day's song is the +Sursum Corda,--"Lift up your hearts unto the Lord!"</p> +<p>The mediatorial office of our Lord is exercised chiefly through +His Sacrifice. He ever liveth to make intercession for us; and this +intercession is the presentation of the Sacrifice that He Himself +offered once for all in Blood upon the Cross, and forever presents +to the Father in heaven "one unending sacrifice." This heavenly +oblation of our Lord which is the means wherethrough we approach +pure Divinity, is also the Sacrifice of the Church here on earth. +The heavenly Altar and the earthly Altar are but one in that there +is but one Priest and one Victim here and there. The Eucharistic +Sacrifice is the Church's presentation of her Head as her means of +approach to God, as the ground of all her prayers. These prayers +make their appeal through Jesus Who died and rose again for us and +is on the Right Hand of Power. We know of no other way of approach, +we plead no other merit as the hope of our acceptance. Let us be +very clear about this centrality of our Lord's mediation because I +shall presently have certain things to say which are often assumed +to be in conflict with his Mediatorial Office, but which in reality +do not so conflict, but exist at all because of the Office.</p> +<p>We approach Divinity, then, through our Lord's humanity; and we +at once see how that teaching, so common to-day, which denies the +Resurrection of our Lord's Body, and believes simply in the +survival of His human soul strikes at the very heart of the +Catholic Religion. If Revelation be true, our approach to God is +rendered possible because there is a Mediator between God and man, +the MAN Christ Jesus. All our prayers have explicitly, or +implicitly, this fact in view. All our Masses are a pleading of +this fact.</p> +<p>How great is our joy and confidence when we realise this! We +come together, let us say, on Sunday morning at the High Mass. We +are coming to offer the Blessed Sacrifice of our Lord's Body and +Blood. But who, precisely, is to make the offering? When we ask +what this congregation is, what is the answer? The congregation is +the congregation of Christ's Flock: it is the Body of Christ +gathered together for the worship of Almighty God. The act that is +to be performed is the act of a Body, not primarily of individuals. +Our participation in the act of worship in the full sense of +participation is conditioned upon our being members of the Body. If +we are not members of the Body we have no recognised status as +worshippers. No doubt we each one have our individual aspirations +and needs which we bring with us, but they are the needs and +aspirations of a member of the Body of Christ, and our ability to +unite them with the act that is to be performed grows out of our +status as members of the Body; as such, we join our own intention +to the sacrificial act and make our petitions through it. But we +are here as offerers of the Sacrifice, and may not neglect our +official significance, and attempt to turn the Mass into a private +act of worship.</p> +<p>We, then, the Body of Christ in this place, offer the Sacrifice +of Christ. What is the status of the priest? He is a differentiated +organ of the Body, not created by the Body, but created by God in +the creation of the Body. He is not separate from the Body, an +official imposed upon it from the outside, nor is he a creation of +the Body set apart to act upon its behalf. He is one mode of the +expression of the Body's life--the Body could not perfectly perform +its functions without him any more than a physical body can +perfectly function without a hand or an eye. But neither has the +priest any existence apart from the Body of which he is a function. +The Sacrifice that he offers is not his on behalf of the Body, but +the Body's own Sacrifice which is made through his agency.</p> +<p>But a complete body has a head; and of the Body which is the +Church the Head is Christ. We, the members, have our life from Him, +the Head; we are able at all to act spiritually because of our +union with Him. He is our life; and the acts of the Body are +ultimately the acts of the Head. The Sacrifice which the Body +offers as the means of its approach to Divinity is One Sacrifice of +the Head: and the priestly function of the Body has any vitality +because it is Christ Who is its life, Who functions through the +priest, Who is, in fact, the true Priest. He Himself is both +Sacrifice and Priest; and that which is offered here is indentical +with that which is offered there.</p> +<p>Our life flows from our Head, is the life of Christ in us. So +closely are we associated with Him that we are called His members, +the instrument through which His life expresses itself, through +which He acts. By virtue of the life of Christ of which all we are +partakers, we are not only members of Christ, but members one of +another. Our spiritual life is not our own affair, but we have +duties one to another, and all the members of the Body are +concerned in our exercise of our gifts, have, in fact, claims on +the exercise of them.</p> +<p>This mutual inherence of the members of the Body and these +obligations to one another are in strict subordination to the Head; +but they are very real duties and privileges which are ours to +exercise. What we are concerned with at present is that from, this +view of them that I have been presenting there results the +possibility and obligation of intercession; the love and care of +the members for one another is exercised in their prayers for one +another. This privilege of intercession is one of the privileges +most widely valued and most constantly exercised throughout the +Church. Days of intercession, litanies, the offering of the Blessed +Sacrifice with special intention, the constant requests for prayers +for objects in which people are interested, all testify to the +value we place on the privilege. Here is one action in regard to +which there is no doubting voice in Christendom.</p> +<p>But curiously, and for some reason to me wholly unintelligible, +there are a great many who think of this right and duty of +intercession between the members of the One Body as exclusively the +right and duty of those who are living here on earth; or at least +if it pertain to the "dead" it is in a way in which we can have no +part. One would think--and so the Catholic Church has always +thought--that those whom we call dead, but who are really "alive +unto God" with a life more intense, a life more spiritually +clear-visioned, than our own, would have a special power and +earnestness in prayer, and that a share in their intercessions is a +spiritual privilege much to be valued. They are members with us of +the same Body; death has not cut them off from their membership, +rather, if possible, it has intensified it, or at least their +perception of what is involved in it. They remain under all the +obligations of the life of the Body and consequently under the +obligation to care for other members of the Body. The intercession +of the saints for us is a fact that the Church has never doubted +and cannot doubt except under penalty of denying at the same time +the existence of the Body. That certain members of the Church have +of late years doubted our right to invoke the saints, to call upon +them for the aid of their prayers, is true; but there seems no +ground for rejecting the tradition of invocation except the rather +odd ground that we do not know the mode by which our requests reach +them! As there are a good many other spiritual facts of which we do +not know the mode, I do not think that we need be deterred from the +practice of invocation on that ground: certainly the Church has +never been so deterred.</p> +<p>It is strange how little people attempt to think out their +religion, and especially their obligation to religious practice. I +have so often heard people say, when the practice of invocation of +saints was urged: Why ask the saints? Why not go directly to God? +And these same people are constantly asking the prayers of their +fellow Christians here on earth! Suppose when some pious soul comes +to me and asks me if I will not pray for a sick child, or a friend +at sea, I were to reply: "Why come to me? Why not go directly to +God?" I should be rightly thought unfeeling and unchristian. But +that is precisely what the same person says when I suggest that the +saints or the Blessed Mother of God be invoked for some cause that +we have in hand! A person comes to me and asks my prayers, and I go +to a saint and ask his prayers on precisely the same basis and for +precisely the same reason, namely, that we are both members of the +Body of Christ and of one another. We have the right to expect the +interest and to count on the love of our fellow-members in Christ. +We go to the saints with the same directness and the same +simplicity with which we go to the living members of the Body, +living, I mean in the Church on earth. If it be not possible to do +that, then death has made a very disastrous break in the unity of +the Body of Christ.</p> +<p>And if we can count so without hesitation upon the love and +sympathy and interest of the saints, surely we can count upon +finding the same or greater love and sympathy in the greatest of +all the saints, our blessed Mother, who is also the Mother of God. +She in her spotless purity is the highest of creatures. She by her +special privilege has boundless power of intercession; not power as +I have explained before, because of any sort of favouritism, but +power because her spiritual perfection gives her unique insight +into the mind of God. Power in prayer really means that, through +spiritual insight we are enabled to ask according to His will "And +this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask +anything according to his will, he heareth us." That is why +righteousness is the ground of prevailing intercession, because +righteousness means sympathetic understanding of the mind of +God.</p> +<p>And in none is there such sympathetic understanding because in +none is there such nearness to God, as in Blessed Mary. To go to +her in our prayers and to beg her to intercede for us is, of +course, no more a trenching upon the unique mediatorship of our +Lord than it is to ask my human friend to pray for me. We tend, do +we not? to select from among the circle of our acquaintance those +whom for some reason we feel to have what we call a special power +in prayer when we seek for some one to pray for us in our need. Is +it not wholly natural then that we should go to our Blessed Mother +on whose sympathy we can unfailingly count and in whose spiritual +understanding we can implicitly trust, when we want to interest +those who are dear to our Lord in our special needs? We have every +claim upon their sympathy because they are fellow-members of the +same Body; and we know, too, that He Who has made us one in His +Body wills that we should receive His graces through our mutual +ministrations.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Mary, Maiden, mild and free,<br> +Chamber of the Trinity,<br> +A little while now list to me,<br> + As greeting I thee give;<br> +What though my heart unclean may be,<br> + My offering yet receive.<br> +<br> +Thou art the Queen of Paradise,<br> +Of heaven, of earth, of all that is;<br> +Thou bore in thee the King of Bliss<br> + Without or spot or stain;<br> +Thou didst put right what was amiss,<br> + What man had lost, re-gain.<br> +<br> +The gentle Dove of Noe thou art<br> +The Branch of Olive-tree that brought,<br> +In token that a peace was wrought,<br> + And man to God was dear:<br> +Sweet Ladye, be my Fort,<br> + When the last fight draws near.<br> +<br> +Thou art the Sling, thy Son the Stone<br> +That David at Goliath flung;<br> +Eke Aaron's rod, whence blossom sprung<br> + Though bare it was, and dry:<br> +'Tis known to all, who've looked upon<br> + Thy childbirth wondrous high.<br> +<br> +In thee has God become a Child,<br> +The wretched foe in thee is foiled;<br> +That Unicorn that was so wild<br> + Is thrown by woman chaste;<br> +Him hast thou tamed, and forced to yield,<br> + With milk from Virgin breast.<br> +<br> +Like as the sun full clear doth pass,<br> +Without a break, through shining glass,<br> +Thy Maidenhood unblemished was<br> + For bearing of the Lord:<br> +Now, sweetest Comfort of our race,<br> + To sinners be thou good.<br> +<br> +Take, Ladye dear, this little Song<br> +That out of sinful heart has come;<br> +Against the fiend now make me strong,<br> + Guide well my wandering soul:<br> +And though I once have done thee wrong,<br> + Forgive, and make me whole.<br> +<br> +Wm. De Shoreham's translation<br> +from the Latin, or French of<br> +Robt. Grosseteste; C. 1325.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<h3>THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</h3> +<br> +<center>And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of +fire, and it sat upon each of them.<br> +And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak +with other tongues,<br> +as the Spirit gave them utterance.<br> +<br> +Acts II, 3.</center> +<blockquote>Holy Mother of God, Virgin ever blessed, glorious and +noble, chaste and inviolate, O Mary Immaculate, chosen and beloved +of God, endowed win singular sanctity, worthy of all praise, thou +who art the Advocate for the sins of the whole world; O listen, +listen, listen to us, O holy Mary, Pray for us. Intercede for us. +Disdain not to help us. For we are confident and know for certain +that thou canst obtain all that thou wiliest from thy Son, our Lord +Jesus Christ, God Almighty, the King of ages, Who liveth with the +Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.<br> +<br> +MS. Book of Cerne, belonging<br> +to Ethelwald, BP. of Sherbourne,<br> +760.</blockquote> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/quote-w.png" width="23%" alt= +""></p> +<p>hen the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one +accord in one place"--I suppose the "all" will be not merely the +"twelve," but the "all" that were mentioned by S. Luke a few verses +before. He mentions the Apostles by name and then adds, "These all +continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the +women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."</p> +<p>We think of our Lady as sharing in the Pentecostal gift. This +was the first act of her ascended Son, this sending forth of the +Holy Spirit whom He had promised. It was the fulfilment of the +prophecy: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons +and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see +visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." I do not know of +anything in the teaching of the Church to lead us to suppose that +this gift was to the Apostles alone: rather the thought of the +Church is that to all Christians is there a gift of the Spirit. The +Holy Spirit is imparted to the Church as such, and within the +organisation He functions through appropriate organs. "There are +diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." Whatever the operations +of God through the Body of Christ, the same divine energy is making +them possible. "All these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, +dividing to every man severally as he will."</p> +<p>That the Holy Spirit should manifest Himself in her life was, of +course, no new experience for S. Mary. Her conscious vocation to be +the Mother of God had begun when the Holy Ghost had come upon her, +and she had conceived that "Holy Thing" which was called the Son of +God. And we cannot think that the Spirit Who is the Spirit of +sanctity had ever been absent from her from the moment of her +wonderful conception when by the creative act of the Spirit she was +conceived without sin, that is, in union with God. But as there are +diversities of gifts, so the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost +would have meant to her some new or increased gift of God.</p> +<p>For the Church as such this coming of the Spirit meant the +entrance of the work of the Incarnation upon a new phase of its +action. We may, I suppose, think of the work of our Lord during the +years of His Ministry as intensive. It was the work of preparing +the men to whom was to be committed the commission to preach the +Kingdom of God. They had been chosen to be with Him, and their +training had been essentially an experience of Him, an experience +which was to be the essence of their Gospel and which their mission +was to interpret to the world. "Who is this Jesus of Nazareth Whom +ye preach? What does He mean?" was to be the question that they +would have to answer in the coming years; and they would have to +answer it to all sorts of men; to Jews who would find this +conception of a suffering and rejected Messiah "a stumbling-block"; +to the Greeks who would find "Jesus and the resurrection" +"foolishness"; to all races of men who would have to be persuaded +to leave their ancestral religions and revolutionise their lives, +and before they would do so would wish to know what was the true +meaning of Christ in whose name their whole past was challenged. As +we watch the perplexity, the bewilderment, of these Apostles in the +face of the collapse of all their hopes on the first Good Friday, +as we see them struggling with the fact of the Resurrection, and +attempting to adjust their lives to that; and then listen to their +preaching and follow their action in the days succeeding Pentecost, +we have brought home to us the nature of the action of the Holy +Spirit when He came to them as the Spirit of Jesus to enable them +to carry on the work that Jesus had committed to them.</p> +<p>We understand that the work of the Spirit was first of all the +work of interpreting the experience of the last three years. During +these years they had been with Jesus, and the result was an +experience which, however wonderful, or rather, just because it was +wonderful, was in their consciousness at present little more than a +chaotic mass of impressions and memories. It was the work of the +Spirit to enkindle and illuminate their understanding so that they +could put the experiences of the last three years in order, if one +may put it in that way. He enabled them to draw out the meaning of +what they had gone through. We are at once impressed with the +reality of the work of the Spirit when we listen to the sermon of +S. Peter to those who have witnessed the miracle of Pentecost. Here +is another miracle of which we have, perhaps, missed something of +the wonder. This man who in answer to the mockeries of the +crowd--"these men are full of new wine"--stands forth to deliver +this exposition of Jesus is the same man who but a few days before +had denied his Lord through fear; he is the same man who even after +the Resurrection was filled with such discouragement that he could +think of nothing to do but to return to the old life of a +fisherman, who had said on a day, "I go a-fishing." If we wish to +understand the meaning of the coming of the Spirit, let us forget +for the moment the tongues of fire, which are the symbol, and read +over the words of S. Peter which are the true miracle of +Pentecost.</p> +<p>And this action of the Spirit is not sporadic or temporary. We +follow the annals of the Church and we find the constant evidence +of the Spirit's power and action in the Christian propaganda. The +courage with which the Christians meet the opposition of Jews and +Romans, in their resourcefulness in dealing with the utterly +unprecedented problems they are called on to face, in the +intellectual grip of the Apologists who have to meet the criticism +of very diverse sets of opponents, in their rapidly growing +comprehension of what the Incarnation means, and of all in the way +of action that our Lord's directions involve,--all these, when we +recall the antecedents of these men, lead us to a clearer +apprehension of the nature of the Spirit's work in the Church. As +our Lord had promised, He is bringing "all things to their +remembrance" and "leading them into all the truth." If we need +proof of the constant supernatural action of God in the Church, we +get all we can ask in the preaching of Jesus by His followers in +these opening years of their ministry.</p> +<p>I said that our Lord's work in the time of His ministry was +intensive, the preparing of instruments for the founding of the +Kingdom. With Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit it passes into +a new stage; it becomes <i>extensive</i> in that it now reaches out +to gather all men into the Kingdom. To this end there is now a vast +development of the machinery (so to call it) of the Gospel, a +calling into existence of the means whereby Christ is to continue +His action in men's souls. For there must continue a direct action +of Christ or the Gospel will sink to the condition of a twice-told +tale: it will be the constant repetition of the story of Jesus of +Nazareth Who went about doing good: and it will have less and less +power to be of any help to men as it receeds into the past. Without +the means which are called into existence to produce continual +contact between the Redeemer and the Redeemed we cannot conceive of +the Gospel continuing to exist as power.</p> +<p>This is not a matter of pure theory: it is a thing that we have +seen happen. We have seen the growth of a theory of Christianity +which dispenses wholly or nearly wholly with the means of grace, +and reduces the presentation of the Gospel to the presentation of +the ideal of a good life as an object of imitation. When one asks: +"Why should I imitate this life which, however good in an abstract +way, is not very harmonious with the ideals of society at present?" +one is told that it is the best life ever lived, the life that best +interprets God, our heavenly Father to us. If one asks: "What is +likely to happen if one does not imitate this life, but prefers +some more modern type of usefulness?" the answer seems to be: +"Nothing in particular will happen." In other words, the preaching +of the Gospel divorced from the means of grace tends more and more +to decline to the presentation of a humanitarian ideal of life +which has little, and constantly less, driving power.</p> +<p>We see then as we study the history of the early days of the +Church the constant presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the +mode and means by which the Gospel is presented. We see it +particularly in the development of the ministry and the growth of +the sacramental system. It seems to me not very important to find a +detailed justification of all the things that were done or +established in explicit words or acts in the New Testament. If we +are dealing, as we believe that we are, with an organism of which +the life is God the Holy Ghost Who is the Vicar of Christ in the +building and administration of His Kingdom, I do not see why we +should not find in the action of the Kingdom as much of inspiration +as we find in its writings. I do not see why we should accept +certain things on the authority of the action of the early +Christian community, as the baptism of infants and the communion of +women, and reject others, as the reservation of the Blessed +Sacraments and prayers for the dead. Nor do I see why we should +draw some sort of an artificial line through the history of the +Church and declare all the things on one side of it primitive and +desirable, and all on the other late and suspect! Especially as no +one seems to be able to explain why the line should be drawn in one +place rather than in another.</p> +<p>If the Holy Spirit was sent by our Lord as His Vicar to preside +in the Church, as I suppose we all believe, it was in fulfilment of +our Lord's promise to be with it till the end of the world and that +the gates of hell should not prevail against it. There is nothing +anywhere in Holy Scripture indicating that the Holy Spirit was to +be sent to the "primitive Church," even if any one could tell what +the primitive Church is, or rather when the Church ceased to be +primitive. The Holy Spirit is present as a guide to the Church +to-day quite as fully as He was in the first century. His presence +then was not a guarantee that all men should believe the truth or +do the right, nor is it now. The state of Christendom is a +sufficient evidence of the ability of men to defy the will of God, +the Holy Spirit; but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit has +withdrawn any more than the state of things at Corinth which called +out S. Paul's two Epistles to that Church is a proof that God the +Holy Ghost never came or did not stay with that primitive Christian +community. The power of the Spirit is not an irresistible power, +but a spiritual influence which will guide those who are willing to +be guided, who will to be submissive to His will. But the will of +God can always be resisted--and always is. Nevertheless the Holy +Spirit is in the Church. He shaped and is shaping its beliefs and +institutions: and to-day we trust that He is leading us back to His +obedience that we may at length realize the unity of the Spirit in +the bonds of peace.</p> +<p>The work of the Holy Spirit in the individual Christian is a +constructive work; it has in view the growth of the child of God in +holiness. He makes the soul of the baptised His dwelling-place and +wishes to remain there as in His Temple, carrying on the work of +its sanctification. The state of guiltlessness that follows +absolution is not the equivalent of sanctity. Guiltlessness is a +negative, sanctity is a positive state, and is acquired as the +result of active correspondence with the will of God. In order that +there may be this correspondence the will of God must be known, not +merely as we know the things that we have learned by rote, but +known in the sense of understood and appreciated. The will of God +is knowable: that is, it has been revealed to man; but it needs to +be effectively made known to the individual man. He must be +convinced of the importance of divine truth to him. We know that +just there is the supremely vital point in the teaching of the +truth. Men assent to truth as true; but they are not thereby +necessarily moved to act upon it: it may remain unassimilated. The +vast majority of the people of this country, if they were +questioned, would assert a belief in God; but a surprising number +of them are unmoved by that belief, are led by it to no action. Or +take the membership of any parish; they would all profess a belief +in the efficacy of the sacraments: yet there is a surprisingly +large number who do not frequent the sacraments. How many of you, +for example, make your confessions and communions with the +frequency and regularity that your theory about the sacraments +implies?</p> +<p>Now it is the work of the Holy Spirit to effect the passage in +life from theory to practice, from profession to action. He +illuminates the mind that we may understand; He stirs the will that +we may act. He aids us to overcome the intellectual and physical +sloth which is the arch-enemy of Christian practice. He intercedes +for us, and He pleads with us that we may act as the children of +God that we believe ourselves to be. But all He can do is to entice +the will; if we remain unwilling, unmoved, He is ultimately grieved +and leaves us. We may hope that that despair of the Holy Spirit of +a soul rarely happens because it is a spiritual disaster awful to +contemplate. In most men and women we can see enough impulse toward +God, enough struggle with evil, to encourage us to think that the +Holy Spirit has not utterly abandoned them. And it is never safe +for us to judge definitely of another's spiritual case; but we do +see lives that are so given over to malignancy that our hope for +them is an optimism which has small basis on which to rest.</p> +<p>In most we may be certain that there is going on a very active +pleading of the Holy Spirit. He is interpreting the meaning of the +truth we accept. He is present in a careful reading of the Bible, +in meditation, in devotional study. He receives of Christ and shows +it unto us. I am sure we ought to think more of this interpretative +assistance of the Holy Spirit in the work of understanding the +Christian Religion, especially in its application to the daily +life. I am quite certain, and I have no doubt that the experience +of some of you, at least, will bear me out, that it makes a vast +difference in the results of our reading and study if we undertake +it under the direct invocation of the Holy Spirit and with the +conscious giving ourselves up to His guidance. We have to make a +meditation, for example, and we begin with prayer to God the Holy +Ghost for guidance and enlightenment. It is often well to let that +prayer run on as long as it will. It may be in the end that instead +of making the meditation we had planned we shall have spent the +time in a prayer of union with the Holy Spirit and will find +ourselves refreshed and enlightened as the result. There is need of +that sort of yielding of self to the promptings of the Spirit. I +think that it not infrequently happens that our rules get in the +way of His action by destroying or checking in us a certain +flexibility which is necessary if we are to respond quickly to the +voice of the Spirit. As in the case just mentioned where the Spirit +is leading us to communion with Him we are apt to think: "I must +get on with my meditation or the time will be up and I shall not +have made it," and we turn from the Spirit and stop the work that +He was accomplishing.</p> +<p>He has so much to do for us, so many things to show us, so many +grounds to urge for our more earnest seeking of sanctity. The true +point of our Bible reading is that it is the opportunity of the +Holy Spirit to exhibit truth to us so that in us it will become +energetic. We already are familiar with the incidents of our Lord's +Passion. If it be a matter of knowledge there is no need to-night +to take up the Gospel and read the chapters which tell of the +Crucifixion. There is not much point in reading through a chapter +as a matter of pious habit. It is extraordinary how many there are +who speak with contempt of "mediæval prayers" such as the +recitation of the Rosary, who yet "read a chapter" once a day in +the shortest possible time and with the minimum of attention. We +can think of all religious practices as opportunities that we offer +to God the Holy Ghost. The few verses of Holy Scripture we read may +well be the medium of His action upon us. He may give us new +insight into their meaning, He may stir our wills to correspondence +with their teaching, He may kindle our hearts by the evidence of +the divine love that He presses home. Who does not remember moments +when new meaning seemed to flash from the familiar pages, when we +felt ourselves convicted of inadequate response to the knowledge we +have, or when we felt our heart stir and send us to our knees in an +act of thanksgiving and love?</p> +<p>Our constant need is the clear knowledge of ourselves. We may, +we often do, see clearly God's will, and then we deceive ourselves +as to the nature of our response. We think we are seeking for God +when in reality we are seeking our own ends. We make our own plans +and then seek to impose them on the will of God. Self-seeking, +which we mistake for something else, is at the root of much +spiritual failure. We try to believe that God's will is our will, +and we succeed in a measure. We need therefore to be constantly +examining ourselves by the revealed standard of God's will, to let +in the light of the Spirit on our judgments and acts. For the +struggle of the Spirit for control is a struggle with a resisting +and sluggish will. We see, but we do not move; we know, but we do +not act. The horrible inertia of spiritual sloth paralyses us, and +the call of the Spirit is heard in vain. Like the man in our Lord's +parable we plead the lateness of the hour, and our unwillingness to +disturb others as our excuse for not rising at the Spirit's +summons. But the Spirit, like the Friend at midnight, still knocks +at the door, and the sound of the summons penetrates the quietness +of the house and breaks in upon our slumbers. Well is it for us if +in the end we rise and open to Him.</p> +<p>It is only as we thus become energetic by the yielding to God of +our wills that He can go on to His desired work. The aim of God in +dealing with our lives is creative. He wills that we bring forth +fruit, and the fruit that He wills that we bring forth is the Fruit +of the Spirit. The general notion of holiness analyses into these +qualities which are the evidence of God's indwelling, of His actual +possession of the soul. When the soul yields at last to the divine +will and begins to follow the divinely indicated course of action, +then it loses self and finds God, then the results begin to show in +the growth of the character-qualities that we call fruits or +virtues. The presence or the absence of these is infallible +evidence of the Spirit's success or failure in His work in us. If +we abide in Christ, then the natural results of such abiding must +be forthcoming. "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that +abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: +for without me ye can do nothing."</p> +<p>A vine bears fruit because it assimilates the natural elements +which are furnished it by the Providence of God through earth and +air and water, and works them into the fruit which is the end, the +meaning of its existence. Our Lord through the constant operation +within us of the Holy Spirit gives us the spiritual power to work +over the endowments of nature and the opportunities of life into +the spiritual product which is holiness. We can just as well, and +perhaps easier, work up the same natural elements into a quite +different product. The result of our life's action may be that we +can show the works of the flesh. But what is the will of the +Spirit, S. Paul sets before us in these words: "For when ye were +the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit +had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end +of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and +become the servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and +the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the +gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."</p> +<p>Any adequate self-examination, therefore, bears not only on our +sins, our failures, but on our accomplishment. A tree is known by +its fruits; and fruits are things which are evident to all men. If +indeed the work of the Spirit in us is love, joy, peace and the +rest of the fruits, these qualities cannot be hid. Certainly they +cannot be hid from ourselves. They are the evidence to us of +precisely where we stand in the way of spiritual accomplishment. +And we must remember that they are supernatural qualities, and not +be deceived by the existence in us of a set of human counterfeits. +Love is not good-natured tolerance; joy is not superficial gaiety, +peace is not clever dodging of difficulties. The fruits of the +Spirit are not of easy growth, but come only at the end of a long +period of cultivation, of energetic striving. But like all the +gifts of God they do come if we want them to come. "If ye abide in +me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it +shall be done unto you." But when we ask our Lord for gifts we must +remember that the giving is not a mechanical giving. What our Lord +gives is the Might of the Spirit to effect what we desire. If a man +ask of God a good harvest the prayer is answered if there be given +the conditions under which a good harvest can be produced; it will +not be produced without the appropriate human labour. And when we +ask of God the Fruits of the Spirit the prayer is granted if the +conditions are given under which this Fruit may be brought forth. +But neither here may we expect Fruit without appropriate action on +our part. God gives, but He gives to those who want.</p> +<br> +<blockquote> +<blockquote><b>I</b></blockquote> +In that, O Queen of queens, thy birth was free<br> +From guilt, which others do of grace bereave,<br> +When, in their mother's womb, they life receive,<br> +God, as his sole-borne Daughter, loved thee:<br> +To match thee like thy birth's nobility,<br> +He thee his Spirit for thy Spouse did leave,<br> +Of whom thou didst his only Son conceive;<br> +And so was linked to all the Trinity.<br> +Cease, then, O queens, who earthly crowns do wear,<br> +To glory in the pomp of worldly, things:<br> +If men such respect unto you bear<br> +Which daughters, wives and mothers are of kings;<br> +What honour should unto that Queen be done<br> +Who had your God for Father, Spouse and Son?<br> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote><b>II</b></blockquote> +Sovereign of Queens, if vain ambition move<br> +My heart to seek an earthly prince's grace,<br> +Show me thy Son in his imperial place,<br> +Whose servants reign our kings and queens above:<br> +And, if alluring passions I do prove<br> +By pleasing sighs--show me thy lovely face,<br> +Whose beams the angels' beauty do deface,<br> +And even inflame the seraphins with love.<br> +So by ambition I shall humble be,<br> +When, in the presence of the highest King,<br> +I serve all his, that he may honour me;<br> +And love, my heart to chaste desires shall bring,<br> +When fairest Queen looks on me from her throne,<br> +And jealous, bids me love but her alone.<br> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote><b>III</b></blockquote> +Why should I any love, O Queen, but thee,<br> +If favor past a thankful love should breed?<br> +Thy womb did bear, thy breast my Saviour feed,<br> +And thou didst never cease to succour me.<br> +If love do follow worth and dignity,<br> +Thou all in thy perfections dost exceed;<br> +If love be led by hope of future meed,<br> +What pleasure more than thee in heaven to see?<br> +An earthly sight doth only please the eye,<br> +And breeds desire, but doth not satisfy:<br> +Thy sight gives us possession of all joy;<br> +And with such full delights each sense shall fill,<br> +As heart shall wish but for to see thee still,<br> +And ever seeing, ever shall enjoy.<br> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote><b>IV</b></blockquote> +Sweet Queen, although thy beauty raise up me<br> +From sight of baser beauties here below,<br> +Yet, let me not rest there; but, higher go<br> +To him, who took his shape from God and thee.<br> +And if thy form in him more fair I see,<br> +What pleasure from his deity shall flow,<br> +By whose fair beams his beauty shineth so,<br> +When I shall it behold eternally?<br> +Then, shall my love of pleasure have his fill,<br> +When beauty's self, in whom all pleasure is,<br> +Shall my enamoured soul embrace and kiss,<br> +And shall new loves and new delights distill,<br> +Which from my soul shall gush into my heart,<br> +And through my body flow to every part.</blockquote> +<br> +<blockquote> +<blockquote>HENRY CONSTABLE: 1562-1613.</blockquote> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +<h3>THE HOME OF S. JOHN</h3> +<br> +<center>And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own +home.<br> +<br> +S. John XIX, 27.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>But now we unite to praise thee, O Pure and Immaculate +One, blessed Virgin and sinless Mother of thy great Son and the God +of all. O perfectly spotless and altogether holy, thou art the hope +of despairing sinners. We bless thee as most full of grace, who +didst give birth to Christ, God and Man. And we fall down before +thee. We all invoke thee and implore thy help. Deliver us, O +Virgin, holy and undefiled, from every pressing strait and from all +temptations of the Evil One. Be thou our peacemaker in the hour of +death and judgment. Do thou save us from the future unquenchable +fire and from the outer darkness. Do thou render us worthy of the +glory of thy Son, O Virgin and Mother, most sweet and +clement.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">A PRAYER OF S. EPHREM THE SYRIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>here is no scene in the whole range of Scripture narrative which +is more full of pathos than this scene of the Cross. Two agonies +meet: the agony of the nailing, the lifting, the dying; and the +agony that looks on in silent helplessness. But while our Lord's +physical agony was in some sort swallowed up in the intensity of +the love which was the motive for enduring it, overpassed in the +vision of the need of those for whom He was dying, S. Mary's agony +was the pain of a love concentrated upon the Sufferer Who hangs +dying before her eyes. If there be anything that can lighten the +pain of such love it is that it feels itself answered, that its +object is conscious of it and is helped by it. And S. Mary had that +consolation: the love poured to her from the Cross, and revealed +itself when the suffering Son turned His eyes upon her agony and, +understanding what her desolation would be, committed her to His +beloved disciple: "Behold thy Mother; behold thy son." These two +great loves which had been our Lord's human consolation were thus +committed to one another. And when the darkness fell, and death +relieved the agony, and the Sacred Body had been cared for, then +the mother found refuge with S. John: "and from that hour that +disciple took her unto his own home."</p> +<p>From the day of Pentecost on, S. Mary is no more heard of in the +history of the Church. As so often, the Scriptures are silent and +decline to answer our interested questions. They go on with the +essentails of their story, the founding of the Church of God, and +leave other things aside. So we do not know any of the last years +of the life of Blessed Mary. Where did she live? How long did she +live? The traditions, in any case of quite an untrustworthy nature, +are contradictory. Jerusalem and Ephesus contend for the honour of +our Lady's residence. Jerusalem must have been the site of that +"home" to which S. John took her after the crucifixion. Did she +remain there, or did she follow S. John, and at length come to live +with him in Ephesus? Ephesus puts forward the claim, and we feel +that it would be well founded in the nature of the relation between +these two, if S. Mary lived until the settlement of the last of the +apostles in the Asian city. Our Lord's committal of His Mother to +the beloved disciple implies their personal association as long as +S. Mary lived: if till S. John was settled in Ephesus, then we may +be sure that she was there. She would be with S. John as long as +she lived, but can we think of her as living long? Would not a +great love draw her to another world and the presence of her +triumphant Son?</p> +<p>Let us, however think, as one tradition bids us, of our Lady as +living some time with S. John at Ephesus. We can understand the +situation because it is so much like our own. These Asia Minor +cities of the imperial period were curiously like the great centers +of population in the Western world of to-day--London, Paris, New +York, Chicago. There was the same over-crowding of population, the +same intense commercial activity, the same almost insane thirst for +amusement and excitement, the same degeneracy of moral fibre. The +sins that sapped the life of Ephesus are the same that degrade +contemporary life. In some ways Ephesus was, possibly, more frankly +corrupt; but on the other hand it had no daily press to advertise +and promote sin and social corruption. There is more of +Christianity and of Christian influence in the modern city, but +even here there is a curious resemblance between the two. The +Christian Religion had but recently been introduced into Ephesus, +but already it had precisely that touch of ineffectiveness that +seems to us so modern. The message of the risen Lord to the angel +of the Church in Ephesus is: "Nevertheless I have this against +thee, that thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from +whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else +I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out +of his place, except thou repent."</p> +<p>The things that hearten us are sometimes strange; but I suppose +that there is a feeling of encouragement in our present day +distress and spiritual ineffectiveness in the thought that even +under S. John the Church in Ephesus was not wholly ideal. The +conditions which baffle us, baffled him. The converts who were so +promising and enthusiastic declined in zeal and fell back under the +spell of worldliness. Zeal is a quality which is maintained with +great difficulty, and the pull of the world, whether social or +business, is steadily exercised. Converts in Ephesus, like converts +in New York, felt that their friends were right who declared that +they were quite unnecessarily strict, and that in order to serve +Christ it was not necessary to turn their backs absolutely on +Diana.</p> +<p>As one tries to reconstruct the situation in Ephesus, one feels +that our Lady would have had no prominence in the Church in the way +of an actively exercised influence. One thinks of her as living in +retirement, as not even talking very much. If she lived long she +would be an object of increasing interest and even of awe to the +new converts, and an object of growing love to all those who were +admitted to any sort of fellowship with her. But one cannot imagine +a crowd about her, inquiring into her experiences and her memories +of her divine Son. Once she told of her experience, for it was +necessary that the Church should know of the circumstances of the +coming of the Son of God into the world, but beyond that necessary +communication of her experience we cannot think of her as speaking +of her sacred memories. Silence and meditation, longing and +waiting, would have filled the years till the hour of her +release.</p> +<p>But in the quiet hours spent with S. John it would be different. +Between the Blessed Virgin and S. John there was perfect +understanding and perfect sympathy, and we love to think of the +hours that they would have spent together in deep spiritual +intercourse. Those hours would not be hours of reminiscence merely; +they would rather be hours in which these two would attempt with +the aid of the Spirit Who ruled in them so fully to enter deeper +and ever deeper into the meaning of Incarnate God. Jesus would be +the continual object of their thought and their love, and +meditation upon His words and acts would lead them to an ever +increasing appreciation of their depth and meaning.</p> +<p>We have all felt, in reading the pages of S. John, how vast is +the difference both in attitude toward his subject and in his +understanding of it from that of the other Evangelists. The earlier +Evangelists seem deliberately to keep all feeling out of their +story, to tell the life of our Lord in the most meagre outline, +confining themselves to the essential facts. Anything like +interpretation they decline. In S. John all this is changed. The +Jesus whom he presents is the same Jesus, but seen through what +different eyes! The same life is presented, but with what changes +in selection of material! The Gospel of S. John seems almost a +series of mediations upon selected facts of an already familiar +life rather than an attempt to tell a life-story. And so indeed we +think of it. When S. John wrote, the life of our Lord as a series +of events was already before the Church. The Church had the +synoptic Gospels, and it had a still living tradition to inform it. +What it needed, and what the Holy Spirit led S. John to give it, +was some glimpse of the inner meaning of the Incarnation, some +unfolding of the spiritual depths of the teaching of Jesus.</p> +<p>We know how it is that different people listening to the same +words get different impressions and carry away with them quite +different meanings. We hear what we are able to hear. And S. John +was able to hear what the other disciples of our Lord seem not to +have heard. What dwelt in his memory and was worked up in his +meditations and was at length transmitted to us, was the meaning of +such incidents as the interview with Nicodemus, and the talk with +the woman of Samaria, the discourse on the Holy Eucharist and the +great High-priestly prayer. Men have felt the contrast between S. +John and the other Evangelists so intensely that they have said +that this is another Christ who is presented by S. John, and the +influences which have shaped the author of the Fourth Gospel are +quite other than those which shaped the men of the inner circle of +Jesus. But no: it is the instinctive, or rather the Spirit-guided, +selection of the material afforded by those years of association +with Jesus for the purpose of transmitting to the Church a +spiritual depth and beauty, a spiritual significance in our Lord's +teaching, that the earlier Gospel had hardly touched.</p> +<p>Which perhaps they could not touch because when they wrote there +was not yet in the Church the spiritual experience which could +fully interpret our Lord. Through the life of union with the risen +Jesus and all the spiritual experience, all the illumined +intelligence that that life brought, S. John was enabled to +understand and interpret as he did. Writing far on toward the end +of the first century he was writing out of the personal experience +of Christian living of many years, which brought with it year by +year an increased power of spiritual vision opening to him the +depth and wonder of the fact of God made man. It is to an +experience of our Lord that he appeals as the basis of his +teaching. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, +which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and +our hands have handled, of the Word of life: (for the life was +manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto +you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was +manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we +unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our +fellowship is with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ." And as we +read on in S. John's Epistles we cannot fail to see how deeply the +years of meditation have influenced his understanding of our Lord +and His teaching, and how much his past experience of our Lord has +been illumined by the experience of the risen Jesus which has +followed. At no time, we are certain, has S. John been out of touch +with his Master.</p> +<p>And can we for a moment think that the years of intercourse with +our Lady meant nothing in the spiritual development of S. John? On +the contrary, may we not think that much of the spiritual richness +which is the outstanding feature of his writings was the outcome of +his association with the blessed Mother? No one has ever shown the +sympathetic understanding of our Lord, has been so well able +convincingly to interpret Him, as the beloved disciple. I myself +have no doubt that much of his understanding came by way of S. +Mary. Her interpretative insight would have been deeper than any +one else's, not only because of her long association with Jesus, +but because of her sinlessness. No two lives ever touched so +closely; and there was not between them the bar that so blocks our +spiritual understanding and clouds our spiritual vision, the bar of +sin. I suppose it is almost impossible for us to appreciate the +effect of sin in clouding vision and dulling sympathy. Our every +day familiarity with venial sin, our easy tolerance of it, the +adjustment of our lives to habits that involve it, have resulted in +a lack of spiritual sensitiveness. Much of the meaning of our +Lord's life and words passes over us just because of this dimness +of vision, this insensitiveness to suggestion. And therefore we +find it difficult to imagine what would be the understanding, the +insight, the response to our Lord, of one between whom and Him +there was no shadow of sin. And such an one was the blessed Mother. +With unclouded vision she looked into the face of her Son. As His +life expanded she followed with perfect sympathy; indeed, +sometimes, as at Cana, her understanding of what He was made her +precipitate in concluding as to His necessary action. When He +became a public teacher and unfolded largely in parable His +doctrine, it was her sinless soul which would see clearest and +deepest, and with the most ready response. And therefore I am sure +that we cannot go astray in thinking that S. John's relation to S. +Mary was not simply that of a guardian of her from the pressure of +the world, but was indeed that of a son who listened and learned +from the experience of his Mother. No doubt S. John himself was of +a very subtle spiritual understanding; notwithstanding that, and +notwithstanding his exceptional opportunities of learning, we may +still believe that there are many touches in his Gospel which are +the result of his association with his Lord's Mother.</p> +<p>Is it not possible for us to have our share in that pure insight +of blessed Mary? When we try to think out the lines of our own +spiritual development and the influences that have contributed to +shape it, do we not find that the presence or absence of devotion +to our Lady has been a factor of considerable importance? Devotion +to her injected an element into our religion which is of vast +moment, an element of sympathy, of gentleness, of purity. You can +if you like, in condemnatory accents, call that element +sentimentalism, although it is not that but the exercise of those +gentler elements of our nature without whose exercise our nature +functions one-sidedly. You may call it the feminine element, if you +like; you will still be indicating the same order of activity. +Surely, an all around spiritual development will bring out the +feminine as well as the masculine qualities. And it seems to be +historically true that those systems of religion which represent a +revolt against the cultus of our Lady and carefully exclude all +traces of it from their worship, show as a consequence of this +exclusion a hardness and a barrenness which makes their human +appeal quite one-sided. And when those same systems have realised +their limitations and their lack of human appeal, and have tried to +supply what is lacking, they have again failed, because instead of +reverting to historical Christianity they have taken the road of +humanitarianism, basing themselves on our Lord's human life and +consequent brotherhood with us, rather than upon His supernatural +Personality as operative through His mystical Body. Stress is laid +upon charitable helpfulness rather than upon the power of grace. +The modern man tries to reform life rather than to regenerate +it.</p> +<p>And, I repeat, I cannot help associating with a repudiation of +the cultus of the saints, and especially of the Blessed Virgin +Mary, a consequent failure to understand the Christian life as a +supernatural creation. If one leaves out of account the greater +part of the Kingdom of Heaven, all the multitudes of the redeemed, +and their activities, and fastens one's attention exclusively upon +that small part of the Kingdom which is the Church on earth, one +can hardly fail to miss the significance of the earthly Church +itself. Religion understood in this limited way may well drift more +and more toward Deism and Humanitarianism, and further and further +from any supernatural implications. This is no theory; it is what +has happened. It was the course of Protestantism from the +Reformation to the eighteenth century; and, after a partial revival +of supernaturalism, is once more the rapid course of Protestantism +to-day. Protestantism has lost or is fast losing any grip on the +Trinity or the Incarnation: to it God is more and more a barren +unity, and Jesus a good man. And this largely because all interest +in the world of the Redeemed has been abandoned and all intercourse +with the inhabitants of that world denied.</p> +<p>It is therefore of the last importance that we, infected as we +are with Protestantism, should stress the revival of the cultus of +the saints, and should insist upon our right and privilege to pay +due honour to the Mother of God and ask our share in her prayers. +We must do all we can to make her known to our brethren. We need +her sympathy, her aid, her example.</p> +<p>Above all, the example of her spotless purity. It is notorious +that one of the most marked features of our time is the virulent +assault on purity. We had long emphasised a certain quality of +conduct which we called modesty; it was, perhaps, largely a +convention, but it was one of those protective conventions which +are valuable as preservative of qualities we prize. It was +protective of purity; and however artificial it was, in some +respects, it existed because we felt that purity was a thing too +precious to be exposed to unnecessary risk. Well, modesty is gone +now, whether in conduct or convention. One hears discussed at +dinner-tables and in the presence of young girls matters which our +mothers would have blushed to mention at all. The quality of +modesty is declared Puritanical and hypocritical. "Hypocritical +virtue" is a phrase one frequently meets; and we seem fast going on +to the time when all virtue will be regarded as hypocrisy. +Customary standards are falling all about us, overthrown in the +name of personal liberty.</p> +<p>And by liberty, one gathers, is meant freedom to do as one +pleases, and especially as one sexually pleases. The assault is +pushed hardest just now against the sanctity of the sacrament of +matrimony and the morals of that sacrament as they have been +developed by the Christian Church. Protestantism long ago assented +to the overthrow of Christian standards in the marriage relation +and has aided the sexual anarchy with which we are faced to-day. +To-day the chief attack is on the purity of marriage in the +interests, ostensibly, of humanity. A vigorous campaign in favour +of what is called birth-control is being carried on, and is being +supported in quarters which are professedly Christian. There are +many grounds for opposing the movement, social, humanitarian and +other. We are here concerned with it only as it is an attack on +purity. From the Christian point of view the marriage relation has +for its end the procreation of children for the upbuilding of the +Kingdom of God. If circumstances are such, through reasons of +health or economy, that children seem undesirable, the remedy is +plain, self control. The theory that human beings have no more +control over their appetites than beasts, while it has much to +support it in contemporary life, cannot be admitted from the point +of view of religion. Self-control is always possible, and is +constantly exercised by many men and women who choose to be guided +by principle rather than by passion. And in any case the Christian +Religion can become no partner, not even a silent one, in a +conspiracy to murder, or in the sort of compromise that turns +marriage into a licensed sodomy. If indeed the economic status of +the modern world is such that the average couple cannot support a +family, then the Christian Church may well aid in the bringing +about of an economic revolution; but it can hardly aid in the +destruction of its own ideals of purity.</p> +<p>What is ultimately at stake in the modern world is the whole +conception of purity as a quality that is desirable. This attitude +has become possible among us for one reason because we have +consented to the suppression of ideals of life which were +calculated to sustain it. To sustain any moral or spiritual +conception there must be maintained certain appropriate ideals +which, while out of the reach of the average man, create and +sustain in him an admiration and respect for the ideal standard. So +the standard of purity presented in Mary and protected by the +belief in her Immaculate Conception and her assumption, has the +effect, not only of commending the life of chastity in the sense of +the vows of religion, but also in the broad sense of the restraint +and discipline of appetite whether within or without the marriage +relation. It impresses upon us the truth that purity is not only a +human quality but a divinely created virtue, the result of the +infusion of sanctifying grace into the soul. Is it not largely +because the young are taught (when they are taught anything at all +in the premises) that purity is a matter of the <i>will</i>, that +they so often fail? If they were taught the nature of the +<i>virtue</i> and were led to rely more on the indwelling might of +the Holy Spirit would they not have better success? And if there +were held constantly before their eyes the example of the saints +and especially of Blessed Mary ever-virgin, would not they have an +increased sense of the value of purity?</p> +<p>The life and example of S. Mary are an inestimable treasure of +the Church of God, and her removal from the world has only enhanced +that value. To-day her meaning is clearer to us than ever. The +spirit-guided mind of the Church has through the centuries been +meditating on the meaning of her office as Mother of God. The words +in which she accepts her vocation, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, +implying, as they do, an active co-operation with the divine +purpose, a voluntary association of herself with it, imply, too, +the perpetual continuance of that association, and contain in germ +all Catholic teaching in regard to her office. She passed from this +world silently, and to the world unknown; but to the Church of God +she ever remains of all human beings the greatest spiritual force +in the Kingdom of God.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Weep, living things, of life the Mother dies;<br> + The world doth lose the sum of all her bliss,<br> +The Queen of earth, the Empress of the skies;<br> + By Mary's death mankind an orphan is.<br> + Let Nature weep, yea, let all graces moan,<br> + Their glory, grace and gifts die all in one.<br> +<br> +It was no death to her, but to her woe,<br> + By which her joys began, her griefs did end;<br> +Death was to her a friend, to us a foe,<br> + Life of whose lives did on her life depend:<br> + Not prey of death, but praise to death she +was.<br> + Whose ugly shape seemed glorious in her +face.<br> +<br> +Her face a heaven; two planets were her eyes,<br> + Whose gracious light did make our clearest day;<br> +But one such heaven there was, and lo, it dies,<br> + Death's dark eclipse hath dimmed every, ray:<br> + Sun, hide thy light, thy beams untimely +shine;<br> + True light since we have lost, we crave not +thine.<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Robert Southwell, 1560-1595</blockquote> +</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> +<h3>THE ASSUMPTION</h3> +<br> +<center>Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be +with me where I am;<br> +that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.<br> +<br> +S. John XVII, 24.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>Hail! Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail! Our life, +our<br> +sweetness, our hope, all hail. To thee we cry, poor exiled<br> +children of Eve. To thee we send up our cries, weeping and<br> +mourning in this vale of tears. Turn, then, Most gracious<br> +Advocate, thy merciful eyes upon us, and now, after this<br> +our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb,<br> +Jesus. O gracious, O merciful, O sweet Virgin Mary.<br> +Anthem from the breviary. Attributed to Hermann Contractus, +1013-54.</blockquote> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>here is nothing more wonderful or beautiful, nothing that brings +to us a more perfect revelation of our Lord's mind, than this +prayer which is recorded for us by S. John. There is in it a +complete unfolding of that sympathy and love which we feel to +underlie and explain our Lord's mission. As we come to know what +God is only when we see Him revealed in Jesus; when we enter into +our Lord's saying, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," so +in the revelation of Jesus we understand God's attitude toward us. +In Jesus the love of God shows itself, not as an abstract quality, +a philosophical conception, but as a burning, passionate eagerness +to rescue, an outgoing of God to individual souls. There is a deep +personal affection displayed in this final scene in the Upper +Chamber. This is our Lord's real parting from His disciples. He +will see them again, but under conditions of strain and tragedy, or +under such changed circumstances that they cannot well enter into +the old intimacy. But here there is no bar to the expression of +love. Here He gives them the final evidence of His utter union with +them in the humility of the foot-washing. Here He marvellously +imparts Himself in the Breaking of the Bread, wherein is +consummated His personal union with them. This is the +demonstration, if one were needed, that having loved His own, He +loved them unto the uttermost.</p> +<p>It is inconceivable that passionate love such as this should +ever end. It is a personal relation which must endure while +personality endures. It is really the demands of love which more +than anything else outside revelation are the evidence of +immortality. We are certain that the love of God which in its +fulness has been made known in Christ cannot be annihilated by +death. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with +loving kindness have I drawn thee." Love such as that must draw +men, not only in this world, but in all worlds. If it can draw men +out of sin to God, it must create an enduring bond. If it can draw +God to men, it must be the revelation of a permanent attitude of +God to man. It is a love that goes out beyond the world, that love +of which S. Paul says: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor +life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things +present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other +creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which +is in Christ Jesus our Lord."</p> +<p>Our instinctive thought of the Judgment seems to be of it as +condemnation, or, at best, as acquittal. But why not think of it as +consummation? Why not think of it as setting the seal of God's +approval upon our accomplishment of His will and purpose for us? +The final Judgment is surely that,--the entrance of those who are +saved into the full joy of their Lord. There once more will our +humanity be complete because it is the whole man, not the soul +only, but the soul clothed with the body of the resurrection, once +more clothed upon with its "house from heaven," which is filled +with the joy of the Beatific Vision. The thought of the particular +judgment may fill us with dread; but if we are able to look beyond +that to the general Judgment at the last day, we shall think only +of our perfect bliss in the enjoyment of God.</p> +<p>The belief in the Assumption of our Lady is a belief that in her +case that which is the inheritance of all the saints, that they +shall rise again with their bodies and be admitted to the Vision of +God, has been anticipated. In her, that which we all look forward +to and dream of for ourselves, has been attained. She to-day is in +God's presence in her entire humanity, clothed with her body of +glory.</p> +<p>This teaching, one finds, still causes some searching of hearts +among us, and is thought to raise many questions difficult to +answer. And it may be admitted at the outset that it is not a truth +taught in Holy Scripture but a truth arrived at by the mind of the +Church after centuries of thought. Unless we can think of the +Church as a divine organism with a continuous life from the day of +Pentecost until now, as being the home of the Holy Spirit, and as +being continuously guided by Him into all the truth; unless we can +accept in their full sense our Lord's promises that He will be with +the Church until the end of the world, we shall not find it +possible to accept the assumption as a fact, but shall decline to +believe that, and not only that but, if we are consistent, many +another belief of the Christian Church. But if we have an adequate +understanding of what is implied in the continuity of the Church as +the organ of the present action of the Holy Spirit, we shall not +find that the fact that a given doctrine is not explicitly +contained in Holy Scripture is any bar to its acceptance. We shall +have learned that the revelation of God in Christ, and our relation +to God in Christ, are facts of such tremendous import and +inexhaustible content that it would be absurd to suppose that all +their meaning had been understood and explicitly stated in the +first generation of the Christian Church.</p> +<p>We shall not, then, find it any bar to the acceptance of belief +in the assumption of our Lady that its formal statement came, as is +said, "late." We simply want to know that when it came it came as +the outcome of the mature thought of the Church, the Body of +Christ, the Fulness of Him that filleth all in all.</p> +<p>It is to be noted that the assumption is not a wholly isolated +fact. There are several cases of assumption in the Old Testament +though of a slightly different character in that they were +assumptions directly from life without any interval of death. Such +were the assumptions of Enoch and Elijah. Moses, too, it has been +constantly believed, was assumed into heaven,--in his case after +death and with his resurrection body. A case which is more +strangely like what is believed to have taken place in the +experience of blessed Mary is that closely connected with our +Lord's resurrection and recorded by S. Matthew. "And the graves +were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and +came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the +holy city, and appeared unto many." Although it is not asserted +that these were assumed into heaven, it seems impossible to avoid +the inference; and if "many saints which slept" were raised from +the dead and assumed into the heavenly world, there can be no <i>a +priori</i> difficulty in believing the same thing to have taken +place in the Blessed Mother of God. Nay if such a thing as an +assumption is at all possible for any human being one would +naturally conclude from the very relation of S. Mary to our Lord +that the possibility would be realised in her.</p> +<p>And there were elements in her case which were lacking in all +the other cases which suggest a certain fitness, if not +inevitability, in her assumption. She was conceived without +sin,--never had any breath of sin tainted her. Was it then possible +that she should be holden by death? Surely, in any case, it was +impossible that her holy body should see corruption: we cannot +think of the dissolution of that body which had no part in sin. If +ever an assumption were possible, here it was inevitable--so the +thought of the Church shaped itself. The compelling motives of the +belief were theological rather than historical. The germ out of +consideration of which was evolved the belief in the assumption was +the relation of Blessed Mary to her Son. That unique relation might +be expected to carry with it unique consequences, and among these +the consequence that the body which was bound by no sin should be +reunited to the soul which had needed no purgation, but had passed +at once to the presence of its God and its Redeemer who was +likewise Son. It is well to stress the fact that the assumption is +not only a fact but a doctrine. Fact, of course, it was or there +could be no doctrine; but the truth of the fact is certified by the +growing conviction in the mind of the Church of the inevitability +of the doctrine.</p> +<p>What is implied in the word assumption is that the body of the +Mother of our Lord was after her death and burial raised to heaven +by the power of God. It differed therefore essentially from the +ascension of our Lord which was accomplished by His Own inherent +power. When this assumption took place we have no means of knowing. +We do not certainly know where S. Mary lived, nor where and when +she died. Jerusalem and Ephesus contend in tradition for the +privilege of having sheltered her last days and reverently carried +her body to its burial. There is no way of deciding between these +two claims, although the fact that our Lord confided His Mother to +S. John throws some little weight into the scale of Ephesus. And +yet S. Mary may have died before S. John settled in Ephesus. We can +only say that history gives us no reliable information on the +matter.</p> +<p>In the silence of Scripture we naturally turn to the other +writings of the early Church for light and guidance on the matter; +but there, too, there is little help. There is, to be sure, a group +of Apocryphal writings which have a good deal to say about the life +of S. Mary, where the Scriptures and tradition are silent. Among +other things these Apocryphal writings have a good deal to say, and +some very beautiful stories to tell, of S. Mary's last days, of her +burial and assumption. Are we to think of these stories as +containing any grain of truth? If they do, it is now impossible to +sift it from the chaff. These stories are generally rejected as a +basis of knowledge. And there has been, and still is in some +quarters, a conviction that the belief of the Church in the +assumption rests on nothing better or more stable than these +Apocryphal stories; that the authors of these Apocrypha were +inventing their stories out of nothing, and that in an uncritical +age their legends came to be taken as history. Thus was a belief in +the assumption foisted upon the Church, having no slightest ground +in fact. The human tendency to fill in the silences of Scripture +has resulted in many legends, that of the assumption among +them.</p> +<p>There is a good deal to be said for this position, yet I do not +feel that it is convincing. That the incidents of the life of the +Blessed Virgin Mary as narrated in the Apocrypha are historical, of +course cannot be maintained. But neither is it at all probable that +such stories grew up out of nothing: indeed, their existence +implies that there were certain facts widely accepted in the +Christian community that served as their starting point. While the +Apocryphal stories of the life of our Lady cannot be accepted as +history, they do presuppose certain beliefs as universally, or at +least widely, held. Thus one may reject all the details of the +story of the death and burial and assumption of our Lady, and yet +feel that the story is evidence of a belief in the assumption among +those for whom the story was written. What was new to them was not +the fact of the assumption but the detailed incidents with which +the Apocrypha embroidered it. I feel no doubt that these Apocryphal +stories are not the source of belief in the assumption, but are our +earliest witness to the existence of the belief. They actually +presuppose its existence in the Church as the necessary condition +of their own existence.</p> +<p>Another fact that tells in the same direction is the absence of +any physical relics of our Lady. At a time when great stress was +laid upon relics, and there was little scruple in inventing them, +if the authentic ones were not forthcoming, there were no relics +produced which were alleged to be the physical relics of S. Mary. +Why was this? Surely, unless there were some inhibiting +circumstances, relics, real or forged, would have been produced. +The only probable explanation is that the inhibiting circumstance +was the established belief in the assumption. If the assumption +were a fact, there would be no physical relics; if it were an +established belief, there would be no fraud possible. Add to this +that various relics of our Lady were alleged to exist; but they +were not relics of her body.</p> +<p>Again: by the seventh century the celebration of the feast of +the assumption had spread throughout the whole church. This +universal establishment of the feast implies a preceding history of +considerable length, going well back into the past. The feast was +kept in many places, and under a variety of names which seem to +imply, not mere copying, but independent development. It is +alleged, to be sure, that the names by which the feast was called +do not imply belief in the assumption. The feast is called "the +Sleeping," "the Repose," "the Passage" of the Virgin, as well as by +the Western title, the assumption. But a study of the liturgies and +of the sermons preached in honour of the feast will convince any +one that the underlying tradition was that of our Lady's +assumption.</p> +<p>These quite separate and yet converging lines of evidence seem +to me to show convincingly what was the wide-spread belief of the +early Christian community as to the destiny of Blessed Mary. They +imply a tradition going well back into the past, so far back, that +in view of the theological expression of the mind of the Church +they may well be regarded as apostolic. Our personal belief in the +assumption will still rest primarily upon its theological +expression in the mind of the Church, but having attained certainty +as to the doctrine, which is of course at the same time certainty +as to the fact, we shall have no difficulty in finding in the above +sketched lines of historical development the evidence of the +primitive character of the belief.</p> +<p>It may not be amiss to give a few characteristic quotations as +indicating the mind of the Church in this matter.</p> +<p>S. Modestus, patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 614), preaching on the +Falling Asleep of the Mother of God, said:--</p> +<p>"The Lord of heaven and earth has to-day consecrated the human +tabernacle in which He Himself, according to the flesh, was +received, that it may enjoy with Him forever the gift of +incorruptibility. O blessed sleep of the glorious, ever-virgin +Mother of God, who has not known the corruption of the grave; for +Christ, our all-powerful Saviour, has kept intact that flesh which +gave Him His flesh.... Hail, most holy Mother of God: Jesus has +willed to have you in His Kingdom with your body clothed in +incorruptibility.... The most glorious Mother of Christ our Lord +and Saviour, Who gave life and immortality, is raised by her Son, +and forever possesses incorruptibility with Him Who called her from +the tomb."</p> +<p>S. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete (d. 676), also preaching on the +Falling Asleep of the Mother of God, says:--"It is a wholly new +sight, and one that surpasses the reason, that of a woman purer +than the heavens entering heaven with her body. As she was born +without corruption, so after death her flesh is restored to +life."</p> +<p>In one of his sermons at the same feast, S. Germanus of +Constantinople (d. 733), speaks thus:--"It was impossible that the +tomb should hold the body which had been the living temple of the +Son of God. How should your flesh be reduced to dust and ashes who, +by the Son born of you, have delivered the human race from the +corruption of death?"</p> +<p>Preaching on the same festival, S. John Damascene (d. 760) +said:--"Your flesh has known no corruption. Your immaculate body, +which knew no stain, was not left in the tomb. You remained virgin +in your child-bearing; and in your death your body was not reduced +to dust but has been placed in a better and celestial state."</p> +<p>There are one or two practical consequences of this doctrine +concerning which, perhaps, it may be well to say a few words. The +first is as the result of such devotions to our Lady as are implied +in, or have in fact followed, a belief in her assumption. It is +objected to them that even granting the truth of the fact of the +assumption, still the stress laid on the fact and the devotions to +our Lady which are held to be appropriate to it, are unhealthy in +their nature, and do, in fact, tend to obscure the worship of our +Lord: that where devotions to our Lady are fostered, there devotion +to our Lord declines. That therefore instead of trying to advance +the cultus of our Lady, we should do much better to hold to the +sanity and reserve which has characterised the Anglican Church +since the Reformation.</p> +<p>These and the like arguments seem to me to hang in the air and +to be quite divorced from facts. They imply a state of things which +does not exist. The assertion that where devotion to our Lady +prevails devotion to our Lord declines is as far as possible from +being true. Where to-day is the Deity of our Lord defended most +ardently and devotion to Him most wide spread? Is it in Churches +where devotion to our Lady is suppressed? On the contrary, do you +not know with absolute certainty, that in any church where you find +devotion to our Lady encouraged, there will you find the Deity of +our Lord maintained? Has the Anglican "sanity and reserve" in +regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary saved the Anglican Church from +the inroads of unitarianism and rationalism? Is it not precisely in +those circles where the very virginity of our Lady is denied that +the divinity of our Lord is denied also? No, devotion to Mary is +far indeed from detracting from the honour due to Mary's Son.</p> +<p>And we cannot insist too much or too often that the doctrines of +the Christian Church form a closely woven system such that none, +even the seemingly least important, can be denied without injuring +the whole. No article of Christian belief expresses an independent +truth, but always a truth depending upon other truths, and in its +turn lending others its support. To deny any truth that the mind of +the Church has expressed is equivalent to the removal of an organ +from a living body.</p> +<p>And to-day we feel more than ever the need of the doctrine of +the assumption. One of the bitterest attacks on the Christian Faith +which is being made to-day, emanating principally from within the +Christian community, and even from within the Christian ministry, +is that which is being made on the truth of the resurrection of the +body, whether the resurrection of our Lord, or our own +resurrection. In place of the Christian doctrine believed and +preached from the beginning, we are asked to lapse back into +heathenism and a doctrine of immortality. Not many seem to realise +the vastness of the difference that is made in our outlook to the +future by a belief in the resurrection of the body as distinguished +from immortality. But the character of the religions resulting from +these two contrary beliefs is absolutely different. It needs only +to study them as they actually exist to be convinced of this +fact.</p> +<p>And it is precisely the doctrine of the assumption of our Lady +which contributes strong support to the Christian doctrine of the +resurrection of the body. It teaches us that in her case the vision +and hope of mankind at large has been anticipated and accomplished. +The resurrection of our Lord is found, in fact, to extend (if one +may so express it) to the members of His mystical body; and the +promise which is fulfilled in Blessed Mary, is that hope of a +joyful resurrection which is thus confirmed to us all. In its +stress upon the assumption the mind of the Christian Church has not +been led astray, has not been betrayed into fostering +superstitions, but has been led by the Spirit of Christ which He +promised it to the development of a truth not only revealing the +present place of His glorious Mother in the Kingdom of her Son, but +encouraging and heartening us in our following of the heavenly +way.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>Whoe is shee that assends so high<br> + Next the heavenlye Kinge,<br> +Round about whome angells flie<br> + And her prayses singe?<br> +<br> +Who is shee that adorned with light,<br> + Makes the sunne her robe,<br> +At whose feete the queene of night<br> + Layes her changing globe?<br> +<br> +To that crowne direct thine eye,<br> + Which her heade attyres;<br> +There thou mayst her name discrie<br> + Wrytt in starry fires.<br> +<br> +This is shee, in whose pure wombe<br> + Heaven's Prince remained;<br> +Therefore, in noe earthly tombe<br> + Cann shee be contayned.<br> +<br> +Heaven shee was, which held that fire<br> + Whence the world tooke light,<br> +And to heaven doth now aspire,<br> + Fflames with fflames to unite.<br> +<br> +Shee that did so clearly shyne<br> + When our day begunne,<br> +See, howe bright her beames decline<br> + Nowe shee sytts with the sunne.<br> +<br> +Sir John Beaumont, 1582-1628.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>PART TWO</h2> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> +<h3>THE CORONATION</h3> +<center>And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;<br> +a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under<br> +her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.<br> +<br> +Rev. XII, I.</center> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote>To-day the Angel Gabriel brought the palm and the crown +to the triumphant Virgin. To-day he introduced to the Lord of all, +her, who was the Temple of the Most High, and the dwelling of the +Holy Spirit.</blockquote> +<p class="loc">FOR THE ASSUMPTION. ARMENIAN.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/letter-t.png" width="22%" alt= +""></p> +<p>he heaven which S. John the Evangelist shows us is the +continuation of the earthly Church. As we read his pages we feel +that entrance there would be a real home-coming for the earnest +Christian. We are familiar enough with presentations of heaven +which seem to us to be so detached from Christian reality as to +lack any human appeal. We think of philosophic presentations of the +future with entire indifference. It is possible, we say, that they +may be true; but they are utterly uninteresting. It is not so in +the visions of S. John. Here we have a heaven which is humanly +interesting because it is continous with the present life, and its +interests are the interests that it has been the object of our +religion to foster. The qualities of character which the Christian +religion has urged upon our attention are presented as finding +their clear field of development in the world to come. There, too, +are unveiled the objects of our adoration, the ever-blessed Three +who yet are but one. Love which has striven for development under +the conditions and limitations of our earthly life, which has tried +to see God and has gone out to seek Him in the dimness of +revelation, now sees and is satisfied. Whom now we see in a mirror, +enigmatically, we shall then see face to face.</p> +<p>And it is a heaven thronged with saints, with men and women who +have gone through the same experiences as those to which we are +subjected, and have come forth purified and triumphant. We +sometimes in discouragement think of life as continuous struggle. +It is perhaps natural and inevitable that we should thus +concentrate attention upon the present, but if we lift our eyes so +as to clear them from the mists of the present we see that it is +far from a hopeless struggle, but rather the necessary discipline +from which we emerge triumphant. Those saints whom we see rejoicing +about the throne of God, those who go out to follow the Lamb +whithersoever He goeth, passed through the struggle of persecution +to their triumphant attainment of the Vision. It is our eternal +temptation to expect to triumph here; but it is only in a very +limited sense that this can be true: our triumph is indeed here, +but the enjoyment of it and all that is implied in it is elsewhere. +Here even our most complete achievement is conditioned by the +limitations of earth: there the limitations are done away and life +expands in perfectness.</p> +<p>So we look eagerly through the door that is opened in heaven as +those who are looking into their future home. That is what we all +are striving for--presumably. We are consciously selecting out of +life precisely those elements, are centering on those interests, +which have eternal significance and are imperishable values. As we +travel along the Pilgrim Way it is with hearts uplifted and +stimulated by the Vision of the end. We advance as seeing Him Who +is invisible. We live by hope, knowing that we shall attain no +enduring satisfaction until we pass through the gates into the +City, and mingle with the throng of worshippers who sing the song +of Moses and of the Lamb. Therefore our life is always +forward-looking and optimistic: because we are sure of the end, we +wait for it with patience and endurance, thankful for all the +experience of the Way. As the years flow by we do not look back on +them with regret as the unrenewable experiences of a vanished +youth, but we think of them as the bearers of experiences by which +we have profited, and of goods which we have safely garnered, +waiting the time when their stored values can be fully +realised.</p> +<p>Over all the saints whom the Church has seen rejoicing in the +heavenly life, rises the form of Mary, Mother of God. S. John's +vision of the "great sign in heaven" in its primary meaning has, no +doubt, reference to the Church itself; but the form of its +symbolism would be impossible if there were not a secondary +reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the thought of her and +of her office as Mother of the Redeemer that has determined the +form of the vision. The details are too clear to permit of doubt, +and such has been the constant mind of Catholic interpreters.</p> +<p>And how else than as Queen of the heavenly host should we expect +her to be represented? What does the Church teaching as to sanctity +imply?</p> +<p>It implies the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision. The normal +Christian life begins in the sacramental act by which the +regenerate child is made one with God, being made a partaker of the +divine nature, and develops through sacramental experience and +constant response to the will of God to that spiritual capacity +which is the medium of the Beatific Vision and which we call +sanctity or purity. "The pure in heart shall see God."</p> +<p>But the teaching of the Church also implies that there is a +marvellous diversity in the sanctity of the members of the Body of +Christ. Each saint retains his personal characteristics, and his +sanctity is not the refashioning of his character in a common mould +but the perfecting of his character on its own lines. We sometimes +hear it said that the Christian conception of heaven is monotonous, +but that is very far from being the fact. It is only those +conceptions of heaven which have excluded the communion of saints, +and have thought of heaven as the solitary communion of the soul +with God; which have in other words, excluded the notion of human +society from heaven, which have appeared monotonous. As we read any +series of the lives of the saints, and realise that it is these men +and women and multitudes of others like them, that make up the +society of heaven, we get rid of any other notion than that of +endless diversity. And thus studying individual saints we come to +understand that not only is the sanctity of them diverse in +experience but different in degree. All men have not the same +capacity for sanctity, we infer; all cannot develop to the same +level of attainment. We may perhaps say that while all partake of +God, all do not reflect God in the same way or in the same +degree.</p> +<p>But if there be a hierachy of saints it is impossible that we +should think of any other at its head than Blessed Mary. Whatsoever +diversity there may be in the attainments of the saints, there is +one saint who is pre-eminent in all things, who,--because in her +case there has never been any moment in which she was separate from +God, when the bond of union was so much as strained,--is the +completest embodiment of the grace of God. That is, I think, +essentially what is meant by the Coronation of our Lady,--that her +supremacy in sanctity makes her the head of the heirarchy of +saints, that in her the possibilities of the life of union have +been developed to the highest degree through her unstained purity +and unfailing response to the divine will.</p> +<p>It is of the last importance, if the Catholic conceptions are to +be influential in our lives, that we should gain such a hold on the +life of heaven, the life that the saints, with Saint Mary at their +head, are leading to-day, as shall make it a present reality to us, +not a picture in some sort of dreamland. Our lives are shaped by +their ideals; and although we may never attain to our ideals here, +yet we shall never attain them anywhere unless we shape them here. +Heaven must be grasped as the issue of a certain sort of life, as +the necessary consequence of the application of Christian +principles to daily living. It is wholly bad to conceive it as a +vague future into which we shall be ushered at death, if only we +are "good"; it must be understood as a state we win to by the use +of the means placed at our disposal for the purpose. Those attain +to heaven in the future who are interested in heaven in the +present.</p> +<p>And a study of the means is wholly possible for us because we +have at hand in great detail the lives of those whom the Church, by +raising them to her altars, has guaranteed to us as having achieved +sanctity and been admitted to the Beatific Vision. They achieved +sanctity here--that is, in the past. They achieved it under an +infinite variety of circumstanies,--that is the encouragement. They +now enjoy the fruits of it in the world of heaven,--that is the +promise.</p> +<p>And nowhere can we better turn for the purpose of our study than +to the life of Blessed Mary. There is the consummate flower of +sainthood; and therefore it it best there that we can study its +meaning. And for two principal reasons can we best study it there. +In the first place because of its completeness: nowhere else are +all the elements of sanctity so well developed. And in the second +place because of the riches of the material for understanding +Blessed Mary that is placed at our disposal by the labour of many +generations of saints and doctors. All that devout meditation can +do to understand the sanctity of Blessed Mary has been done.</p> +<p>Our limit is necessarily reduced, our selection partial and our +accomplishment fragmentary. We cannot however miss our way if we +follow in the steps of Holy Revelation in making love the central +quality. S. Mary's greatness is ultimately the greatness of her +love. It began as a love of the will of God. She appears as utterly +selfless, as having devoted herself to the will of God as He shall +manifest that will. And therefore when the time comes she makes the +great sacrifice that is asked of her without hesitation and without +effort: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according +to thy word." And all her life henceforth is loving response to +what is unfolded as the content of the accepted revelation. That is +a noteworthy thing that I fancy is often missed. It is not uncommon +for one to accept a vocation as a whole, and then subsequently, as +it unfolds, shrink from this or that detail of it. But in the case +of S. Mary the acceptance of the vocation meant the acceptance of +<i>God</i>, and there was no holding back from the result of +that.</p> +<p>That must be our guide in the pursuit of the heavenly life: we +must understand that we are not called to accept this or that +belief or practice, but are called to accept God--God speaking to +us through the revelation He has entrusted to His Catholic Church. +We do not, when we make our act of acceptance, know all or very +much of what God is going to mean; but whatever God turns out to +mean in experience, there can be no holding back. The note of a +true acceptance of vocation is precisely this limitless surrender, +a surrender without reservation. S. Mary could by no means +understand what was to be asked of her: she only knew it was God +Who asked it. She could not foresee the years of the ministry when +her Son would not have where to lay His head, followed by the +anxiety of Holy Week and the watch by the Cross on Good Friday; but +as these things came she could understand them as involved in her +vocation, in her acceptance of God.</p> +<p>And cannot we get the same attitude toward life? In the +acceptance of the Christian Religion what we have accepted is God. +We have acknowledged the supremacy of a will outside ourselves. We +say, "we are not our own, we are bought with a price," the price of +the Precious Blood. But if our acceptance is a reality and not a +theory it will turn out to involve much more than we imagined at +the first. The frequent and pathetic failures of those who have +made profession of Christianity is largely accounted for by +this,--that the demands of the Christian Religion on life turn out +to be more searching and far-reaching than was supposed would be +the case. Religion turns out to be not one interest to be adjusted +to the other interests of life, but to be a demand that all life +and action shall be controlled by supernatural motive. Those who +would willingly give a part, find it impossible to surrender the +whole. The world is full of Young Rulers who are willing "to +contribute liberally to the support of religion," but shrink from +the demand that they "sell all." "I seek not yours, but you," S. +Paul writes to the Corinthians; and that is also the seeking of +God--"Not yours but you." And because the limit of our willingness +is reached in contribution and does not extend to sacrifice, we +fail.</p> +<p>But Blessed Mary did not fail because there was no limit to her +willingness to sacrifice. Her will to sacrifice had the same +limitless quality as her love; and because of the limitless quality +of her self-giving her growth in the life of union was unlimited, +or limited only by the limitations of creaturehood. When therefore +we think of her to-day as Queen of Saints we are not thinking of an +arbitrarily conferred position; we are thinking of a position which +comes to her because she is what she is. She through the unstinting +sacrifice of her love came into more intimate relations with God +than is possible for any other, and through that relation came to +know more of the mind of God than any other. The power of her +intercession is the power of her understanding, of her sympathy +with the thoughts of God. When we come to her with our request for +her intercession we feel that we are sure of her sympathy and her +understanding. Her experience of human life, we think, was not very +wide: can she whose life was passed under such narrow conditions +understand the complex needs of the modern man or woman? It is true +that her actual experience of human life was not very wide; but her +experience of God is very wide indeed, and she is able to +understand our experience better than we can understand it +ourselves because of her understanding of God's mind and will. It +is seeing life through God's eyes that reveals the truth about +it.</p> +<p>Hence the blunder and the tragedy of those who seek to know life +by experience, when they mean experience gained by participation in +life's evil as well as in its good. They succeed in soiling life +rather than in understanding it; for participation in evil +effectually prevents our understandings of good. It is on the face +of things that the farther a man goes into sin, the less is +righteousness intelligible to him. Our Lord's rule "He that doeth +the will shall know of the doctrine" is not an arbitrary maxim, but +embodies the deepest psychological truth. There is but one path to +full understanding, and that is the path of sympathy. And therefore +are we sure of our Lady's understanding and come to her +unhesitatingly for the help of her intercession. She understands +our case because she sees it revealed in the mind of her Son.</p> +<p>It cannot be questioned that much of the weakness of religion +to-day is due to the fact that Christian ideals make but faint +appeal. By many they are frankly repudiated as impossible of +attainment in a world such as this, and as weakening to human +character so far as they are attained. Christians, of course, are +unable to take this point of view, and, therefore, they treat the +ideals with respect, but continue to govern their lives by motives +which are not harmonious with them. It is tacitly assumed on all +sides that a consistent pursuit of Christians ideals will assure +failure in social or business life. This, of course, is tantamount +to a confession that social and business life are unchristian, and +raises the same sort of grave questions as to the duty of a +Christian as were raised in the early days of the Church under the +heathen empire. With that, however, we may not concern ourselves +now. We are merely concerned to note and to emphasise the fact +that, whatever may be true of society or business, our religion is +lamentably ineffective because of its failure to emphasise the +ideals of sanctity and to present those ideals as the ideals of +<i>all</i> Christian life, not as the ideals of a select few. While +religious teachers asquiesce in the present set of compromises as +an adequate expression of Christian character, we may expect a +decline in the Church as a spiritual force, whatever may be true of +it as a social force.</p> +<p>If Christian ideals are to resume their appeal to the membership +of the Church as a whole it is requisite that they be studied by +the clergy and intelligently presented. But little is to be hoped +in this direction so long as our theological training ignores +religion and concentrates its attention on something that it takes +for scholarship. The raw material that is sent by our parishes to +the seminaries to be educated for Holy Orders is commonly turned +out of the seminary with less religion that it entered. The outlook +for the presentation of Christian ideals is not hopeful. We seem +destined to drift on indefinitely in our habitual compromises.</p> +<p>All the more is it necessary that we should lift our eyes to the +heavens where humility and meekness, where sacrifice and obdience, +are, in the person of Blessed Mary, crowned as the most perfect +expression of sanctity, as the qualities that raise man nearest +God. And what consoles us in the present depressing circumstances +of the Church is that we are permitted to look through S. John's +eyes into the world of heaven, and there see "a great multitude, +which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and +peoples, and tongues, before the throne and before the Lamb, +clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands." Somehow, +we feel, under whatever distressing and discouraging circumstances, +the work of God in the regeneration of souls goes on. No doubt it +is a work that is largely hidden from our eyes, from those eyes +which are blinded to the reality of spiritual things. Humility and +meekness are the qualities of a hidden life; they do not flaunt +themselves before men's eyes. But in their silence and obscurity +great souls are growing up, growing to the spiritual status of the +saints of God. In our estimate of values we shall do well to lay to +heart the utterances of WISDOM: "Then shall the righteous man stand +in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, +and made no account of his labours. When they see it, they shall be +troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness +of his salvation, so far beyond all that they had looked for. And +they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say among +themselves, This is he, whom we had sometime in derision, and a +proverb of reproach: we fools accounted his life madness, and his +end without honour: how is he numbered among the children of God, +and his lot is among the saints! Verily we went astray from the way +of truth, and the light of righteousness shined not unto us, and +the sun of righteousness rose not upon us."</p> +<p>When we have attained to the point of view as to life's value +which is expressed in the ideal of sanctity then we shall know how +to estimate at their true worth the constant criticisms which are +directed against those ideals and those who seek them. The saints, +we are told, were no doubt estimable men and women, but they were +weak, and for the purpose of the world's work, useless. But is this +true, to keep to a specific example, of the Blessed Virgin Mary? +What is there about her life that suggests weakness? And what can +be the meaning of calling such a life useless to the world? Take +but one aspect of it. It has for centuries furnished an ideal of +womanhood. It is contended that the women who have taken Blessed +Mary for their ideal have shown themselves weak and useless?--that +those women are stronger in character and of more value to the +world who have thrown over the ideals of sanctity and built their +lives upon the social ideals prevalent at present? I no not care to +attempt any characterisation of the feminine ideal which is +commended to us at present; it is sufficient to say that it is +difficult to understand how it can be considered socially valuable; +still less how it can be considered an advance on the character +qualities which distinguish the Christian ideal of sanctity.</p> +<p>In the midst of the present confusion of values it is for us of +vast significance that we have in this matter the mind of Christ. +There need be no confusion in our minds. What Christ commended has +proved to be practical of accomplishment, the evidence of which is +the great multitude which no man can number who to-day sing about +the throne of God and of the Lamb. What God approves is evidenced +by the Coronation of the Blessed Mother over all the multitudes of +the saints of God. Blessed Mary is the embodied thought of God for +humanity, the realised ideal of a human life. He that is mighty +hath magnified her, till she shines resplendent in spiritual +qualities over all the hosts of the elect.</p> +<p>But though so highly exalted she is not thereby removed to an +inaccessible distance. She who is privileged to bear the incredible +title, MOTHER OF GOD is our Mother as well. Upon the Cross our Lord +said to us in the person of His beloved Disciple, "Behold thy +Mother"; and it is a mother's love that we find flowing to us from +the heart of Mary. Have we been cold to her, and inappreciative of +her love? Have we felt that we have no need of her in the conduct +of our lives? If so, what we have been doing is to isolate +ourselves from the divinely provided fount of human sympathy which +ever flows from our star-crowned Mother. Is life so rich in sources +of help and sympathy and love that we can afford to over-pass the +eagerness of God's saints to help us, the willingness of the very +Mother of God to intercede? Is not the life that shuts out from +itself the society of heaven pitifully impoverished?</p> +<p>Too many of us are like the man who owned the field wherein was +the buried treasure. Limitless aid is at our disposal, but on +condition that we want it and will seek it. Let us try to +understand what it is to have at our disposal the love and sympathy +of the saints of God,--that they are not remote inhabitants of a +distant sphere whose present interests have led to forgetfulness of +what they once were, whose present joy is so intense as to make +them self-centred, but that their very attainment of perfection +implies the perfection of their love and the completeness of their +sympathy. The perfection of God's saints and their attainment of +the end of their course in the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision, +has but made them more sensitive of our needs and more eager to +help.</p> +<p>The spiritual wisdom and power of the Mother of God is at our +disposal to-day. To the feebleness of our prayers may be added the +spiritual wisdom and strength of her intercession. He Whose will it +is that we should pray for one another, wills too that the prayers +of His Blessed Mother should be at the disposal of all who call +upon her. Let us take the fact of the intercession of the Queen of +Saints seriously as a source of power ever open to us.</p> +<p>Thou who art God's Mother and also ours, thou who lookst +constantly into the Face of the Son, thou who art the fullest +manifestation of the love of the Blessed Trinity, thou Mary, our +Mother, pray for us now and in the hour of our death.</p> +<br> +<blockquote>All hail, O Virgin crowned with stars<br> + and moon under thy feet,<br> +Obtain us pardon of our sins<br> + of Christ, our Saviour sweet;<br> +For though thou art Mother of any God,<br> + yet thy humility<br> +Disdaineth not this simple wretch<br> + that flies for help to thee.<br> +Thou knowest thou art more dear to me<br> + than any can express,<br> +And that I do congratulate<br> + With joy thy happiness.<br> +Thou who art the Queen of Heaven and Earth<br> + thy helping hand me lend,<br> +That I may love and praise my God<br> + and have a happy end.<br> +And though my sins me terrify,<br> + yet hoping still in thee,<br> +I find my soul refreshèd much<br> + when to thee I do flee;<br> +For thou most willingly to God<br> + petitions dost present,<br> +And dost obtain much grace for us<br> + in this our banishment.<br> +The honour and the glorious praise<br> + by all be given to thee,<br> +Which Jesus thy beloved Son,<br> + ordained eternally;<br> +For thee whom he exalts in heaven<br> + above the angels all,<br> +And whom we find a Patroness<br> + when unto thee we call.<br> +O Mater Dei, memento mei. Amen.<br> +<br> +Dame Gertrude More, O.S.B.<br> +Ob. 1633.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12624 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12624-h/images/letter-a.png b/12624-h/images/letter-a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2768028 --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/letter-a.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/letter-o.png b/12624-h/images/letter-o.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..754e6e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/letter-o.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/letter-s.png b/12624-h/images/letter-s.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed46e94 --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/letter-s.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/letter-t.png b/12624-h/images/letter-t.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f56a91 --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/letter-t.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/letter-w.png b/12624-h/images/letter-w.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c95a66e --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/letter-w.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/quote-t.png b/12624-h/images/quote-t.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33b012f --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/quote-t.png diff --git a/12624-h/images/quote-w.png b/12624-h/images/quote-w.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f15b0ac --- /dev/null +++ b/12624-h/images/quote-w.png |
