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diff --git a/old/12624.txt b/old/12624.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3496e4d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12624.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11668 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Our Lady Saint Mary, by J. G. H. Barry + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Our Lady Saint Mary + +Author: J. G. H. Barry + +Release Date: June 15, 2004 [eBook #12624] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR LADY SAINT MARY*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenbereg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +OUR LADY SAINT MARY + +BY + +J. G. H. BARRY, D.D. + +1922 + + + + + + + + Would that it might happen to me that I should be called a + fool by the unbelieving, in that I have believed such + things as these. + + --Origen. + + + + +TO THE MEMBERS + +OF THE + +LEAGUE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN + +THIS VOLUME IS HOPEFULLY + +DEDICATED + + + + +PREFACE + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I. + +CHAPTER I. OF LOYALTY. II. THE MEANING OF WORSHIP. + +PART II. + +I. MARY OF NAZARETH. II. THE ANNUNCIATION I. III. THE ANNUNCIATION II. +IV. THE VISITATION I. V. THE VISITATION II. VI. S. JOSEPH. VII. THE +NATIVITY. VIII. THE MAGI. IX. THE PRESENTATION. X. EGYPT. XI. NAZARETH. +XII. THE TEMPLE. XIII. CANA I. XIV. CANA II. XV. WHO IS MY MOTHER? XVI. +HOLY WEEK I. XVII. HOLY WEEK II. XVIII. THE CRUCIFIXION. XIX. THE +DESCENT AND BURIAL. XX. THE RESURRECTION. XXI. THE FORTY DAYS. XXII. THE +ASCENSION. XXIII. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. XXIV. THE HOME OF S. +JOHN. XXV. THE ASSUMPTION. XXVI. THE CORONATION. + + + +PART ONE + +CHAPTER I + +OF LOYALTY + +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. + +SARUM MISSAL. + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +Haeretico Comburendo" of 1401, as it is also in "the Remonstrance against +the Legatine Powers of Cardinal Beaufort" of 1428[1]. + +[Footnote 1: Documents in Gee & Hardy.] + +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[2]." + +[Footnote 2: Gee & Hardy.] + +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[3]." + +[Footnote 3: Formularies of Faith in the Reign of Henry VIII.] + +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[4]." + +[Footnote 4: Documents in Gee & Hardy.] + +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. + +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) + +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?" + +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. + +This the attitude of the Anglican Church of the past is its attitude +to-day. The Lambeth Conference of 1920 gave voice to it: + + "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." + +Commenting upon this utterance of the Lambeth Conference the three +bishops who are the joint authors of "Lambeth and Reunion" say: + + 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[5]." + +[Footnote 5: Lambeth and Rennion. By the bishops of Peterborough, +Zanzibar and Hereford.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _primitive_: its authority results not from its being +primitive but from its being _Church_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 +_provenance_. + +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. + +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. + + Wherefore in praise, the worthiest that I may, + Jesu! of thee, and the white Lily-flower + Which did thee bear, and is a Maid for aye, + To tell a story I will use my power; + Not that I may increase her honour's dower, + For she herself is honour, and the root + Of goodness, next her Son, our soul's best boot. + + O Mother Maid! O Maid and Mother free! + O bush unburnt; burning in Moses' sight! + That down didst ravish from the Deity, + Through humbleness, the spirit that did alight + Upon thy heart, whence, through that glory's might, + Conceived was the Father's sapience, + Help me to tell it in thy reverence. + + Lady! thy goodness, thy magnificance, + Thy virtue, and thy great humility, + Surpass all science and all utterance; + For sometimes, Lady, ere men pray to thee + Thou goest before in thy benignity, + The light to us vouchsafing of thy prayer, + To be our guide unto thy Son so dear. + + My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen! + To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness, + That I the weight of it may not sustain; + But as a child of twelve months old or less, + Even so fare I; and therefore, I thee pray, + Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say. + + Chaucer. The Prioress' Tale. Version by Wordsworth. + + + +PART ONE + +CHAPTER II + +THE MEANING OF WORSHIP + +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. + +SARUM MISSAL. + +There 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. + +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. + +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?" + +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 _worth_-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." + +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, _Cultus_, for we understand that the meaning is the same. + +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. + +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 _latria_ and which is the worship due to God +alone. If we ask what essentially it is that differentiates _latria_ +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, _contain him_: 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. + +And when we actually worship God, worship Him with the worship of +_latria_, 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. + +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. + +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 _latria_ 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. + +Such adjuncts therefore are not foreign to those subordinate acts of +worship or honour which are technically known as _dulia. Dulia_--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 +_that_ degree of worship that we have in mind when we speak of the +worship of the saints. That _dulia_ 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 _dead_, 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 _is_ 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 _(dulia)_ 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. + +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 _are_ exaggerated; +but it is well to remember when thinking of this that the exaggeration +is the exaggeration of love. The tendency of love _is_ 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. + +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 _hyperdulia_--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. + +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. + + O Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son, + Lowly, and higher than all creatures raised, + Term by eternal council fixed upon, + Thou art she who didst ennoble man, + That even He who had created him + To be Himself His creature disdained not. + Within thy womb rekindled was the love, + By virtue of whose heat this flower thus + Is blossoming in the eternal peace. + Here thou art unto us a noon-day torch + Of charity, and among mortal men + Below, thou art a living fount of hope. + Lady, thou art so great and so prevailest, + That who seeks grace without recourse to thee, + Would have his wish fly upward without wings. + Thy loving-kindness succors not alone + Him who is seeking it, but many times + Freely anticipates the very prayer. + In thee is mercy, pity is in thee, + In thee magnificence, whatever good + Is in created being joins in thee. + +Dante, Par. XXXIII, 1-21. (Trans. H. Johnson.) + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER I + +MARY OF NAZARETH + + Mary, of whom was born Jesus. + + S. Matt. I. 16. + +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!" + +BYZANTINE. + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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[6]. + +[Footnote 6: 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.] + +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 _sin_ 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. + +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, _donum supernaturale_, of the +Holy Spirit[7]." + +[Footnote 7: Hall, Dogmatic Theology, V, 263.] + +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. + +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 _full of +grace_," unless it refer to a superadded grace, to such _donum +supernaturale_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _elan_, with which theology has +found it difficult to keep up. + +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. + + + THE GARLAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARIE. + + Here are five letters in this blessed name, + Which, changed, a five-fold mystery design, + The M the Myrtle, A the Almonds claim, + R Rose, I Ivy, E sweet Eglantine. + + These form thy garland, when of Myrtle green + The gladdest ground to all the numbered five, + Is so implexed fine and laid in, between, + As love here studied to keep grace alive. + + Thy second string is the sweet Almond bloom + Mounted high upon Selines' crest: + As it alone (and only it) had room, + To knit thy crown, and glorify the rest. + + The third is from the garden culled, the Rose, + The eye of flowers, worthy for her scent, + To top the fairest lily now, that grows + With wonder on the thorny regiment. + + The fourth is the humble Ivy intersert + But lowly laid, as on the earth asleep, + Preserved in her antique bed of vert, + No faiths more firm or flat, then, where't doth creep. + + But that, which sums all, is the Eglantine, + Which of the field is cleped the sweetest briar, + Inflamed with ardour to that mystic shine, + In Moses' bush unwasted in the fire. + + Thus love, and hope, and burning charity, + (Divinest graces) are so intermixt + With odorous sweets and soft humility, + As if they adored the head, whereon they are fixed. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER II + +THE ANNUNCIATION I + + And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art + highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou + among women. + + S. Luke, I. 28 + +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. + +ROMAN. + +When 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 Duerer 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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 _how_ arises to her lips. + +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." + +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 _how_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _good_. 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. + +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 mediaeval 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." + +Let us then in the presence of narratives of supernatural happenings ask +our _how_ 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. + +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. + +Looking out on life from the spiritual point of vantage, we may +hopefully ask our _how_, 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. + +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. + +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 _Ave_, and ask her +priceless intercession. + + Gabriel, that angel bright, + Brighter than the sun is light, + From heaven to earth he took his flight, + Letare. + + In Nazareth, that great city, + Before a maiden he kneeled on knee, + And said, "Mary, God is with thee, + Letare." + + "Hail Mary, full of grace, + God is with thee, and ever was; + He hath in thee chosen a place. + Letare." + + Mary was afraid of that sight, + That came to her with so great light, + Then said the angel that was so bright, + "Letare." + + "Be not aghast of least nor most, + In thee is conceived of the Holy Ghost, + To save the souls that were for-lost. + Letare." + + Fifteenth Century. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER III + +THE ANNUNCIATION II + +And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according +to thy word. + +S. Luke I. 38 + +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. + +Roman. + +S. 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." + +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 _Ave_ 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?" + +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." + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: _He that doeth the will shall know of +the doctrine._ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + I sing a maiden + That is matchless; + King of all kings + To her Son she ches. + + He came all so still + To His Mother's bower, + As dew in April + That falleth on the flower. + + Mother and maiden + Was never none but she; + Well might such a lady + God's Mother be. + English, Fifteenth Century. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER IV + + + THE VISITATION I + + And Mary arose in those days, and went into + the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah; + and entered into the house of Zacharias, and + saluted Elizabeth. + + S. Luke I. 39, 40. + + 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. + + ROMAN. + +Those 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +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 _Ave_ 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." + +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. + +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. + +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 _Benedictus_ 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 _Magnificat_ and the _Benedictus_ 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + + As I lay upon a night, + My thought was on a Lady bright + That men callen Mary of might, + Redemptoris Mater. + + To her came Gabriel so bright + And said, "Hail, Mary, full of might, + To be called thou art adight;" + Redemptoris Mater. + + Right as the sun shineth in glass, + So Jesus in His Mother was, + And thereby wit men that she was + Redemptoris Mater. + + Now is born that Babe of bliss, + And Queen of Heaven His Mother is, + And therefore think me that she is + Redemptoris Mater. + + After to heaven He took His flight, + And there He sits with His Father of might, + With Him is crowned that Lady bright, + Redemptoris Mater. + + English, Fifteenth Century. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER V + +THE VISITATION II + +And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath +rejoiced in God my Saviour. + +S. Luke I. 46, 47. + +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. + +Lo, great is thine intercession, strong and acceptable with our Saviour. + +O Stainless Mother, reject not us sinners in thine intercession with Him +Whom thou didst bear. + +COPTIC. + +Wonderful 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +We are content then with _promises_ 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + + Our Lady took the road + To Zachary's abode; + O'er mountain, vale and lea, + Full many a league sped she + Toward Hebron's holy hill, + By God's command and will. + + Full light did Mary, make + Of trouble for his sake. + God's Very Son of yore + Within her breast she bore; + And angels bright and fair, + Unseen, her fellows were. + + She, ere she took her way, + An orison would say, + That God her steps might tend + Safe to their journey's end; + And there, in manner meet, + Her cousin she 'gan greet. + + Elizabeth full fain + Eft bowed her head again; + She wist 'twas God's own Bride, + As, worshipful she cried: + 'O Lady, Full of Grace, + Whence do I see thy face?' + + O House and Home of bliss, + O earthly Paradis-- + Nay, Heaven itself on ground + Wherein the Lord is found, + The Lord of Glory bright, + In goodness great and might-- + + Clean Maiden thou that art, + Come, visit this my heart; + And bring me chief my Good, + God's Son in Flesh and Blood; + Bless body, soul; and bide + For ever by my side. + + From the Koeln Gesang-Buch. XVI Cent. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER VI + +S. JOSEPH + + Joseph, her husband, being a just man-- + + S. Matt. I. 19. + + 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. + + ROMAN. + +When 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 _Father_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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 _appropriation_ 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + + A PANEGYRICK ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. + + I do not tremble, when I write + A Mistress' praise, but with delight + Can dive for pearls into the flood, + Fly through every garden, wood, + Stealing the choice of flow'rs and wind, + To dress her body or her mind; + Nay the Saints and Angels are + Nor safe in Heaven, till she be fair, + And rich as they; nor will this do, + Until she be my idol too. + With this sacrilege I dispense, + No fright is in my conscience, + My hand starts not, nor do I then + Find any quakings in my pen; + Whose every drop of ink within + Dwells, as in me my parent's sin, + And praises on the paper wrot + Have but conspired to make a blot: + Why should such fears invade me now + That writes on her? to whom do bow + The souls of all the just, whose place + Is next to God's, and in his face + All creatures and delights doth see + As darling of the Trinity; + To whom the Hierarchy doth throng, + And for whom Heaven is all one song. + Joys should possess my spirit here, + But pious joys are mixed with fear: + Put off thy shoe, 'tis holy ground, + For here the flaming Bush is found, + The mystic rose, the Ivory Tower, + The morning Star and David's bower, + The rod of Moses and of Jesse, + The fountain sealed, Gideon's fleece, + A woman clothed with the Sun, + The beauteous throne of Salomon, + The garden shut, the living spring, + The Tabernacle of the King, + The Altar breathing sacred fume, + The Heaven distilling honeycomb, + The untouched lily, full of dew, + A Mother, yet a Virgin too, + Before and after she brought forth + (Our ransom of eternal worth) + Both God and man. What voice can sing + This mystery, or Cherub's wing + Lend from his golden stock a pen + To write, how Heaven came down to men? + Here fear and wonder so advance + My soul, it must obey a trance. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NATIVITY + + She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in + swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there + was no room for them in the inn. + + S. Luke II. 7. + + 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. + + RUSSIAN. + +We 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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." + +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 +_me_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + A babe is born to bliss us bring. + I heard a maid lulley and sing. + She said: "Dear Son, leave Thy weeping: + Thy, Father is the King of bliss." + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "Lulley," she said and sung also, + "My own dear Son, why are Thou wo? + Have I not done as I should do? + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "Nay, dear mother, for thee weep I nought, + But for the woe that shall be wrought + To Me ere I mankind have bought. + Was never sorrow like it i-wis." + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "Peace, dear Son! Thou grievest me sore: + Thou art my child, I have no more. + Should I see men mine own Son slay? + Alas, my dear Son, what means all this?" + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "My hands, Mother, that ye now see, + Shall be nailed to a tree; + My feet also fast shall be, + Men shall weep that shall see this." + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "Ah, dear Son, hard is my happe + To see my child that lay in my lap,-- + His hands, His feet that I did wrappe,-- + Be so nailed; they never did amisse." + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + "Ah, dear Mother, yet shall a spear + My heart asunder all but tear: + No wonder if I care-ful were + And wept full sore to think on this." + Now sing we with Angelis: + Gloria in excelsis. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MAGI + +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, Saying, Where +is he that is born king of the Jews? + +S. Matt. II, i. + +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. + +Hail to thee, O Virgin, the very and true Queen; hail, glory of our +race. Thou hast borne for us Emmanuel. + +We pray thee, remember us, O thou our faithful advocate with our Lord +Jesus Christ, that He may forgive us our sins. + +COPTIC. + +Out 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 _significance_ 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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The special incidents that the Gospel select for record leave us always +conscious that they _are_ 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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + Queen of heaven, blessed may thou be + For Godes Son born He was of thee, + For to make us free. + Gloria Tibi, Domine. + + Jesu, Godes Son, born He was + In a crib with hay and grass, + And died for us upon the cross. + Gloria Tibi, Dominie. + + To our Lady make we our moan, + That she may pray to her dear Son, + That we may to His bliss come. + Gloria Tibi, Dominie. + + Sixteenth Century. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PRESENTATION + +And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were +accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. + +S. Luke II. 22. + +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. + +And we hope in Holy Mary, that God will have mercy upon us through her +prayers. + +Hail to thee, Mary, the fair dove, who hath borne for us God the Word. + + COPTIC + +The 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, _waiting_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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," + +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." + +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." + +The world has got into a very ill way of thinking of God as _force_. +Force seems in the popular mind to be the synonym of _power_. The only +power that we understand is the power that _compels_, 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?" + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Nunc +Dimittis_. 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." + + O Sion, ope thy temple-gates; + See, Christ, the Priest and Victim, waits-- + Let lifeless shadows flee: + No more to heaven shall vainly rise + The ancient rites--a sacrifice + All pure and perfect, see. + + Behold, the Maiden knowing well + The hidden Godhead that doth dwell + In him her infant Son: + And with her Infant, see her bring + The doves, the humble offering + For Christ, the Holy One. + + Here, all who for his coming sighed + Behold him, and are satisfied-- + Their faith the prize hath won: + While Mary, in her breast conceals + The holy joys her Lord reveals, + And ponders them alone. + + Come, let us tune our hearts to sing + The glory of our God and King, + The blessed One and Three: + Be everlasting praise and love + To him who reigns in heaven above, + Through all eternity. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER X + +EGYPT + +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. + +S. Matt. II, 13. + +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. + +AMBROSIAN. + +Those 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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, + + While into nothingness crept back a host + Of shadows unexplored, of sins unsinned. + +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. + +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? + +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. + + "They all were looking for a king + To slay their foes and lift them high; + Thou cam'st, a little baby thing + That made a woman cry." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + Mother of God--oh, rare prerogative; + Oh, glorious title--what more special grace + Could unto thee thy dear Son, dread God, give + To show how far thou dost all creatures pass? + That mighty power within the narrow fold + Did of thy ne'er polluted womb remain, + Whom, whiles he doth th' all-ruling Sceptre hold, + Not earth, nor yet the heavens can contain; + Thou in the springtide of thy age brought'st forth + Him who before all matter, time and place, + Begotten of th' Eternal Father was. + Oh, be thou then, while we admire thy worth + A means unto that Son not to proceed + In rigour with us for each sinful deed. + + John Brereley, Priest (Vere Lawrence Anderton, S.J.) 1575-1643 + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XI + +NAZARETH + + And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was + subject unto them. + + S. Luke II, 51. + + 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. + + ARMENIAN. + +After 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. _The Holy Family_--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. + +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 _differentia_ 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. + +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. + +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?" + +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 _community_ 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + Most holy, and pure Virgin, Blessed Mayd, + Sweet Tree of Life, King David's Strength and Tower, + The House of Gold, the Gate of Heaven's power, + The Morning-Star whose light our fall hath stay'd. + + Great Queen of Queens, most mild, most meek, most wise, + Most venerable, Cause of all our joy, + Whose cheerful look our sadnesse doth destroy, + And art the spotlesse Mirror to man's eyes. + + The Seat of Sapience, the most lovely Mother, + And most to be admired of thy sexe, + Who mad'st us happy all, in thy reflexe, + By bringing forth God's Onely Son, no other. + + Thou Throne of Glory, beauteous as the moone, + The rosie morning, or the rising sun, + Who like a giant hastes his course to run, + Till he hath reached his two-fold point of noone. + + How are thy gifts and graces blazed abro'd, + Through all the lines of this circumference, + T'imprint in all purged hearts this Virgin sence + Of being Daughter, Mother, Spouse of God? + + Ben Jonson, 1573-1637. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TEMPLE + + And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Know ye + not that I must be in my Father's house? + + S. Luke II, 49. + + 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. + + RUSSIAN. + +The 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. + +"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?" + +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 oL our religion. We run along as +easily and smoothly as a car on well-laid rails. We are "all right." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _our_ 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. + +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. + +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 +_is_ 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." + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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. + + Lady of Heaven, Regent of the Earth, + Empress of all the infernal marshes fell, + Receive me, thy poor Christian, 'spite my, dearth, + In the fair midst of thine elect to dwell: + Albeit my lack of grace I know full well; + For that thy grace, my Lady and my Queen, + Aboundeth more than all my misdemean, + Withouten which no soul of all that sigh + May merit heaven. 'Tis sooth I say, for e'en + In this belief I will to live and die. + + Say to thy Son, I am his--that by his birth + And death my sins be all redeemable-- + As Mary of Egypt's dole he changed to mirth, + And eke Theophilus', to whom befell + Quittance of thee, albeit (so men tell) + To the foul fiend he had contracted been. + Assoilzie me, that I may have no teen, + Maid, that without breach of virginity + Didst bear our Lord that in the Host is seen: + In this belief I will to live and die. + + A poor old wife I am, and little worth: + Nothing I know, nor letter aye could spell: + Where in the church to worship I fare forth, + I see heaven limned with harps and lutes, and hell + Where damned folk seethe in fire unquenchable: + One doth me fear, the other joy serene; + Grant I may have the joy, O Virgin clean, + To whom all sinners lift their hands on high, + Made whole in faith through thee, their go-between: + In this belief I will to live and die. + + + + + ENVOY + + + Thou didst conceive, Princess most bright of sheen, + Jesus the Lord, that hath no end nor mean, + Almighty that, departing heaven's demesne + To succour us, put on our frailty, + Offering to death his sweet of youth and green: + Such as he is, our Lord he is, I ween: + In this belief I will to live and die. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XIII + +CANA I + + And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; + and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus was called, + and his disciples, to the marriage. + + S. John II, 1. + + 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. + + 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. + + Old Catholic. + +"There 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." + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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"? + +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. + +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. + +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," + +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." + +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." + + + CANA I + + + O Glorious Lady, throned in light, + Sublime above the starry height, + Whose arms thine own creator pressed, + A Suckling at thy sacred breast. + Through the dear Blossom of thy womb, + Thou changest hapless Eva's doom; + Through thee to contrite souls is given + An opening to their home in heaven. + Thou art the great King's Portal bright, + The shining Gate of living light; + Come then, ye ransomed nations, sing + The Life Divine 'twas hers to bring. + Mother of Love and Mercy mild, + Mother of graces undefiled. + Drive back the foe, and to thy Son + Lead thou our souls when life is done. + All glory be to thee, O Lord, + A Virgin's Son, by all adored, + With Sire and Spirit, Three in One, + While everlasting ages run. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XIV + +CANA II + + And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, + They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I + to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. + + S. John II, 3, 4. + + 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. + + BYZANTINE. + +"Whatsoever 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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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 _vox dei_ in Holy Scripture and in +Holy Church affect him not at all if he be conscious that he is on the +side of the _vox populi_. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + + Of one that is so fayr and bright + _Velut maris stella_, + Brighter than the day is light, + _Parens et puella_; + I crie to thee, thou see to me, + Levedy, preye thi Sone for me, + _Tam pia_, + That I mote come to thee + _Maria_. + + Al this world was for-lore + _Eva peccatrice_, + Tyl our Lord was y-bore + _De te genetrice_. + With _Ave_ it went away + Thuster nyth and comz the day + _Salutis_; + The welle springeth ut of the, + _Virtutis_. + + Levedy, flour of alle thing, + _Rosa sine spina_, + Thu here Jhesu, hevene king, + _Gratia divina_; + Of alle thu ber'st the pris, + Levedy, quene of paradys + _Electa_: + Mayde milde, moder _es + Effecta_. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XV + +WHO IS MY MOTHER? + +Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is +my brother, and sister, and mother, + +S. Matt. XII, 50. + +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. + +SARUM MISSAL. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + Rose-Mary, Sum of virtue virginal, + Fresh Flower on whom the dew of heaven downfell; + O Gem, conjoined in joy angelical, + In whom rejoiced the Saviour was to dwell: + Of refuge Ark, of mercy Spring and Well, + Of Ladies first, as is of letters A, + Empress of heaven, of paradise and hell-- + Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway. + + O Star, that blindest Phoebus' beams so bright, + With course above the empyrean crystalline; + Above the sphere of Saturn's highest height, + Surmounting all the angelic orders nine; + O Lamp, that shin'st before the throne divine, + Where sounds hosanna in cherubic lay, + With drum and organ, harp and cymbeline-- + Mother, of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway, + + O Cloister chaste of pure virginity, + That Christ hath closed 'gainst crime for evermo'; + Triumphant Temple of the Trinity, + That didst the eternal Tartarus o'erthrow; + Princess of peace, imperial Palm, I trow, + From thee our Samson sprang invict in fray; + Who, with one buffet, Belial hath laid low-- + Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway, + + Thy blessed sides the mighty Champion bore, + Who hath, with many a bleeding wound in fight, + Victoriously o'erthrown the dragon hoar + That ready was his flock to slay and smite; + Nor all the gates of hell him succour might, + Since he that robber's rampart brake away, + While all the demons trembled at the sight-- + Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway, + + O Maiden meek, chief Mediatrix for man, + And Mother mild, full of humility, + Pray to thy Son, with wounds that sanguine ran, + Whereby for all our trespass slain was he. + And since he bled his blood upon a tree, + 'Gainst Lucifer, our foe, to be our stay, + That we in heaven may sing upon our knee-- + Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway, + + Hail, Pearl made pure; hail, Port of paradise; + Hail, Ruby, redolent of rays to us; + Hail, Crystal clear, Empress and Queen, hail thrice; + Mother of God, hail, Maid exalted thus; + O Gratia plena, tecum Dominus; + With Gabriel that we may sing and say, + Benedicta tu in mulieribus-- + Mother of Christ, O Mary, hail, alway. + + William Dunbar, + + XV-XVI. Cents. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XVI + +HOLY WEEK I + +Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. + +S. Matt. XXVI, 56. + +Through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God, accept, O Lord, our +prayers and save us. + +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. + +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. + +Armenian. + +We 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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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 _for us_; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + + O STAR of starres, with thy streames clear, + Star of the Sea, to shipman Light or Guide, + O lusty Living, most pleasant t'appear, + Whose brighte beames the cloudes may not hide: + O Way of Life to them that go or ride, + Haven from tempest, surest up t'arrive, + O me have mercy for thy Joyes five. + + * * * * * + + O goodly Gladded, when that Gabriel + With joy thee gret that may not be numb'red, + Or half the bliss who coulde write or tell, + When th' Holy Ghost to thee was obumbred, + Wherethrough the fiendes were utterly encombred? + O wemless Maid, embellished in his birth, + That man and angel thereof hadden mirth. + + John Lydgate of Bury, + XV Cent. + From Chaucerian and Other + Poems, edited by W. W. Skeat, + 1894. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XVII + +HOLY WEEK II + +And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put +his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. + +S. Matt. XXVII, 31. + + 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. + + 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. + +OLD CATHOLIC. + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was thus that contact with our Lord _revealed_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + + MARY: Ever I cried full piteously: + "Lordings, what have ye i-brought? + It is my Son I love so much: + For God's sake bury Him nought." + They would not stop though that I swooned, + Till that He in the grave were brought. + Rich clothes they around him wound: + And ever mercy I them besought. + + * * * * * + + They said there was no better way + But take and bury him full snel. + They looked on my cousin John + For sorrow both a-down we fell-- + + * * * * * + + By Him we fell that was My Child. + His sweet mouth well full oft I kissed. + John saw I was in point to spill, + That nigh mine heart did come to break. + He held his sorrow in his heart still + And mildly then to me did speak: + "Mary, if it be thy will + Go we hence; the Maudeleyn eke." + He led me to a chamber then + Where my Son was used to be,-- + John and the Maudeleyn also; + For nothing would they from me flee. + I looked about me everywhere: + I could nowhere my Sone see. + We sat us down in sorrow and woe + And 'gan to weep all three. + + From St. Bernard's Lamentation on Christ's Passion. Engl. version, + probably 13th Cent, by Richard Maydestone. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XVIII + + + THE CRUCIFIXION + + And they crucified him. + + S. Matt. XXVII, 35. + + 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. + + BYZANTINE. + +We 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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:-- + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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? + +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. + +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. + + MARY: I cried: "Maudeleyn, help now! + My Son hath loved full well thee; + Pray Him that I may die, + That I not forgotten be! + Seest thou, Maudeleyn, now + My Son is hanged on a tree, + Yet alive am I and thou,-- + And thou, thou prayest not for me!" + + MAUDELEYN said: "I know no red, + Care hath smitten my heart sore. + I stand, I see my Lord nigh dead; + And thy weeping grieveth me more. + Come with me; I will thee lead + Into the Temple here before + For thou hast now i-wept full yore." + + MARY: "I ask thee, Maudeleyn, where is that place,-- + In plain or valley or in hill? + Where I may hide in any case + That no sorrow come me till. + For He that all my joy was, + Now death with Him will do its will; + For me no better solace is + Than just to weep, to weep my fill." + The Maudeleyn comforted me tho. + To lead me hence, she said, was best: + But care had smitten my heart so + That I might never have no rest. + + "Sister, wherever that I go + The woe of Him is in my breast, + While my Sone hangeth so + His pains are in mine own heart fast. + Should I let Him hangen there + Let my Son alone then be? + Maudeleyn, think, unkind I were + If He should hang and I should flee." + + * * * * * + + I bade them go where was their will, + This Maudeleyn and everyone, + And by myself remain I will + For I will flee for no man. + + From St. Bernard's "Lamentation On Christ's Passion." + + Engl. version, 13th Cent., by Richard Maydestone. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE DESCENT AND BURIAL + + And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean + linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had + hewn out in the rock. + + S. Matt. XXVII, 59, 60. + + 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. + + BYZANTINE. + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + "His body is wrapped all in woe, + Hand and foot He may not go. + Thy Son, Lady, that thou lovest so + Naked is nailed upon a tree. + + "The Blessed Body that thou hast born, + To save mankind that was forlorn, + His body, Lady, the Jews have torn, + And hurt His Head, as ye may see." + + When John his tale began to tell + Mary would not longer dwell + But hied her fast unto that hill + Where she might her own Son see. + + "My sweete Son, Thou art me dear, + Oh why have men hanged thee here? + Thy head is closed with a brier, + O why have men so done to Thee?" + + "John, this woman I thee betake; + Keep My Mother for My sake. + On Rood I hang for mannes sake + For sinful men as thou may see. + + "This game alone I have to play, + For sinful souls that are to die. + Not one man goeth by the way + That on my pains will look and see. + + "Father, my soul I thee betake, + My body dieth for mannes sake; + To hell I go withouten wake, + Mannes soul to maken free." + + Pray we all that Blessed Son + That He help us when may no man + And bring to bliss each everyone + Amen, amen, amen for Charity. + +Early English Lyrics, p. 146. From an MS. in the Sloane collection. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XX + +THE RESURRECTION + +And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, +which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here. + +S. Mark XVI, 6. + + 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. + + 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. + + OLD CATHOLIC. + +Whatever 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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 _we_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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." + + Hail, thou brightest Star of Ocean; + Hail, thou Mother of our God; + Hail, thou Ever-sinless Virgin, + Gateway of the blest abode. + Ave; 'tis an angel's greeting-- + Thou didst hear his music sound, + Changing thus the name of Eva-- + Shed the gifts of peace around. + Burst the sinner's bonds in sunder; + Pour the day on darkling eyes; + Chase our ills; invoke upon us + All the blessings of the skies. + Show thyself a watchful Mother; + And may He our pleadings hear, + Who for us a helpless Infant + Owned thee for His mother dear. + Maid, above all maids excelling, + Maid, above all maidens mild, + Freed from sin, oh, make our bosoms + Sweetly meek and undefiled. + Keep our lives all pure and stainless, + Guide us on our heavenly way, + 'Till we see the face of Jesus, + And exult in endless day. + Glory to the Eternal Father; + Glory to the Eternal Son; + Glory to the Eternal Spirit: + Blest for ever, Three in One. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FORTY DAYS + + To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by + many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and + speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. + +Acts I, 3. + + 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. + + 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. + +RUSSIAN. + +These 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _lacunae_ in our beliefs and practice. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + + Proclaimed Queen and Mother of a God, + The Light of earth, the Sovereign of saints, + With pilgrim foot up tiring hills she trod, + And heavenly stile with handmaids' toil acquaints; + Her youth to age, her health to sick she lends; + Her heart to God, to neighbor hand she bends. + + A Prince she is, and mightier Prince doth bear, + Yet pomp of princely train she would not have; + But doubtless, heavenly choirs attendant were, + Her Child from harm, herself from fall to save: + Word to the voice, song to the tune she brings, + The voice her word, the tune her ditty sings. + + Eternal lights enclosed in her breast + Shot out such piercing beams of burning love, + That when her voice her cousin's ears possessed + The force thereof did force her babe to move: + With secret signs the children greet each other; + But, open praise each leaveth to his mother. + + Robert Southwell, S.J. 1560-1595. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ASCENSION + + + And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted + from them, and carried up into heaven. + + S. Luke XXIV, 51. + + O Mother of God, since we have obtained confidence in thee, + we shall not be put to shame, but we shall be saved. + + And since we have obtained thy help and thy meditation, O, + thou holy, pure, and perfect one! + + We fear not but that we shall put our enemies to flight and + scatter them. + + We have taken unto us the shelter of thy mighty help in all + things like a shield. + + And we pray, and beseech thee that we may call upon thee, O + Mother of God, so that thou deliver us through thy prayers. + + 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. + + COPTIC. + + +There 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + Mary, Maiden, mild and free, + Chamber of the Trinity, + A little while now list to me, + As greeting I thee give; + What though my heart unclean may be, + My offering yet receive. + + Thou art the Queen of Paradise, + Of heaven, of earth, of all that is; + Thou bore in thee the King of Bliss + Without or spot or stain; + Thou didst put right what was amiss, + What man had lost, re-gain. + + The gentle Dove of Noe thou art + The Branch of Olive-tree that brought, + In token that a peace was wrought, + And man to God was dear: + Sweet Ladye, be my Fort, + When the last fight draws near. + + Thou art the Sling, thy Son the Stone + That David at Goliath flung; + Eke Aaron's rod, whence blossom sprung + Though bare it was, and dry: + 'Tis known to all, who've looked upon + Thy childbirth wondrous high. + + In thee has God become a Child, + The wretched foe in thee is foiled; + That Unicorn that was so wild + Is thrown by woman chaste; + Him hast thou tamed, and forced to yield, + With milk from Virgin breast. + + Like as the sun full clear doth pass, + Without a break, through shining glass, + Thy Maidenhood unblemished was + For bearing of the Lord: + Now, sweetest Comfort of our race, + To sinners be thou good. + + Take, Ladye dear, this little Song + That out of sinful heart has come; + Against the fiend now make me strong, + Guide well my wandering soul: + And though I once have done thee wrong, + Forgive, and make me whole. + Wm. De Shoreham's translation + from the Latin, or French of + Robt. Grosseteste; C. 1325. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, + and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with + the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the + Spirit gave them utterance. + +Acts II, 3. + + 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. + +MS. Book of Cerne, belonging to Ethelwald, BP. of Sherbourne, 760. + +"When 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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _extensive_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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 "mediaeval +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? + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + +I + +others do of grace bereave, When, in their mother's womb, they life +receive, God, as his sole-borne Daughter, loved thee: To match thee like +thy birth's nobility, He thee his Spirit for thy Spouse did leave, Of +whom thou didst his only Son conceive; And so was linked to all the +Trinity. Cease, then, O queens, who earthly crowns do wear, To glory in +the pomp of worldly, things: If men such respect unto you bear Which +daughters, wives and mothers are of kings; What honour should unto that +Queen be done Who had your God for Father, Spouse and Son? + +II + +Sovereign of Queens, if vain ambition move My heart to seek an earthly +prince's grace, Show me thy Son in his imperial place, Whose servants +reign our kings and queens above: And, if alluring passions I do prove +By pleasing sighs--show me thy lovely face, Whose beams the angels' +beauty do deface, And even inflame the seraphins with love. So by +ambition I shall humble be, When, in the presence of the highest King, I +serve all his, that he may honour me; And love, my heart to chaste +desires shall bring, When fairest Queen looks on me from her throne, And +jealous, bids me love but her alone. + +III + +Why should I any love, O Queen, but thee, If favor past a thankful love +should breed? Thy womb did bear, thy breast my Saviour feed, And thou +didst never cease to succour me. If love do follow worth and dignity, +Thou all in thy perfections dost exceed; If love be led by hope of +future meed, What pleasure more than thee in heaven to see? An earthly +sight doth only please the eye, And breeds desire, but doth not satisfy: +Thy sight gives us possession of all joy; And with such full delights +each sense shall fill, As heart shall wish but for to see thee still, +And ever seeing, ever shall enjoy. + +IV + +Sweet Queen, although thy beauty raise up me From sight of baser +beauties here below, Yet, let me not rest there; but, higher go To him, +who took his shape from God and thee. And if thy form in him more fair I +see, What pleasure from his deity shall flow, By whose fair beams his +beauty shineth so, When I shall it behold eternally? Then, shall my love +of pleasure have his fill, When beauty's self, in whom all pleasure is, +Shall my enamoured soul embrace and kiss, And shall new loves and new +delights distill, Which from my soul shall gush into my heart, And +through my body flow to every part. + +HENRY CONSTABLE: 1562-1613. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE HOME OF S. JOHN + +And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. + +S. John XIX, 27. + +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. + +A PRAYER OF S. EPHREM THE SYRIAN. + +There 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." + +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? + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _will_, that they so often fail? If they were taught the +nature of the _virtue_ 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? + +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. + + Weep, living things, of life the Mother dies; + The world doth lose the sum of all her bliss, + The Queen of earth, the Empress of the skies; + By Mary's death mankind an orphan is. + Let Nature weep, yea, let all graces moan, + Their glory, grace and gifts die all in one. + + It was no death to her, but to her woe, + By which her joys began, her griefs did end; + Death was to her a friend, to us a foe, + Life of whose lives did on her life depend: + Not prey of death, but praise to death she was. + Whose ugly shape seemed glorious in her face. + + Her face a heaven; two planets were her eyes, + Whose gracious light did make our clearest day; + But one such heaven there was, and lo, it dies, + Death's dark eclipse hath dimmed every, ray: + Sun, hide thy light, thy beams untimely shine; + True light since we have lost, we crave not thine. + Robert Southwell, 1560-1595 + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXV + + THE ASSUMPTION + + Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with + me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast + given me. + + S. John XVII, 24. + + Hail! Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail! Our life, our + sweetness, our hope, all hail. To thee we cry, poor exiled + children of Eve. To thee we send up our cries, weeping and + mourning in this vale of tears. Turn, then, Most gracious + Advocate, thy merciful eyes upon us, and now, after this our + exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O + gracious, O merciful, O sweet Virgin Mary. + Anthem from the breviary. Attributed + to Hermann Contractus, 1013-54. + +There 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _a priori_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It may not be amiss to give a few characteristic quotations as +indicating the mind of the Church in this matter. + +S. Modestus, patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 614), preaching on the Falling +Asleep of the Mother of God, said:-- + +"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." + +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." + +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?" + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + Whoe is shee that assends so high + Next the heavenlye Kinge, + Round about whome angells flie + And her prayses singe? + + Who is shee that adorned with light, + Makes the sunne her robe, + At whose feete the queene of night + Layes her changing globe? + + To that crowne direct thine eye, + Which her heade attyres; + There thou mayst her name discrie + Wrytt in starry fires. + + This is shee, in whose pure wombe + Heaven's Prince remained; + Therefore, in noe earthly tombe + Cann shee be contayned. + + Heaven shee was, which held that fire + Whence the world tooke light, + And to heaven doth now aspire, + Fflames with fflames to unite. + + Shee that did so clearly shyne + When our day begunne, + See, howe bright her beames decline + Nowe shee sytts with the sunne. + + Sir John Beaumont, 1582-1628. + + + +PART TWO + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CORONATION + + + And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed + with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head + a crown of twelve stars. + + Rev. XII, I. + + 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. + + FOR THE ASSUMPTION. ARMENIAN. + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _God_, and there was no holding back from the +result of that. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _all_ 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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + + All hail, O Virgin crowned with stars + and moon under thy feet, + Obtain us pardon of our sins + of Christ, our Saviour sweet; + For though thou art Mother of any God, + yet thy humility + Disdaineth not this simple wretch + that flies for help to thee. + Thou knowest thou art more dear to me + than any can express, + And that I do congratulate + With joy thy happiness. + Thou who art the Queen of Heaven and Earth + thy helping hand me lend, + That I may love and praise my God + and have a happy end. + And though my sins me terrify, + yet hoping still in thee, + I find my soul refreshed much + when to thee I do flee; + For thou most willingly to God + petitions dost present, + And dost obtain much grace for us + in this our banishment. + The honour and the glorious praise + by all be given to thee, + Which Jesus thy beloved Son, + ordained eternally; + For thee whom he exalts in heaven + above the angels all, + And whom we find a Patroness + when unto thee we call. + O Mater Dei, memento mei. Amen. + + Dame Gertrude More, O.S.B. + Ob. 1633. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR LADY SAINT MARY*** + + +******* This file should be named 12624.txt or 12624.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/6/2/12624 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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