@ @ © © © CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan, D.D., LLJD., Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, P a . Eight addresses delivered in the Catholic Hour, spon- sored by the National Council of Catholic Men with t h e co-operation of the National Broad- casting Company and its Associated Stations I. The Incarnate Word. II. The Motive and the Mystery. III. Christ, in Type and Prophecy. IV. The Divinity of Christ. V. Christ, the Founder, Prophet, Priest and King. VI. The Juridic Foundations of the Church. VII. The Church: Christ's Mystified Body. VIII. One Fold and One Shep- herd. # W 9 $ NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC MEN Sponsor of the Catholic Hour 1314 Massachusetts Avenue Washington, D. C. CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan, D.D., LL.D., Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, P a . Eight addresses delivered in the Catholic Hour, spon- sored by the National Council of Catholic Men with the co-operation of the National Broad- casting Company and its Associated Stations I. The Incarnate Word. II. The Motive and the Mystery. III. Christ, in Type and Prophecy. IV. The Divinity of Christ. V. Christ, the Founder, Prophet, Priest and King. VI. The Juridic Foundations of the Church. VII. The Church: Christ's Mystified Body. VIIL One Fold and One Shep- herd. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC MEN Sponsor of the Catholic Hour 1314 Massachusetts Avenue Washington, D. C. Printed and distributed by Our Sunday Visitor Imprimatur: * JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D. D. Bishop of F o r t Wayne Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1931 DeacWTfled AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION Very great and precious has been the privilege of uttering the words which carried across this great country, on the wings of the newest vehicle of evangelization, the sublime story of the union of the divine nature and of our human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. The speaker has hesitated however to become the writer,! and does so only in a most willing spirit of submission of his thought-expression, even to its slightest word, to the correc- tion of the Masters of Theology, whom he is aware he has at best but poorly interpreted.- DEDICATION To the Men of Malvern, and to all the pioneers of the Lay- men's Retreat Movement in these United States who, inspired by the ardent words of our Holy Fat her, Pope Pius XI, are earnestly striving to spread the kingship of Christ among their fellows. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan. THE INCARNATE WORD (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, January 4,- 1931.) In t h e course of sermons upon wiiich we a r e about to enter, we shall meet with a series of sub- jects of a high s u p e r n a t u r a l order, all ultimately founded in the n a t u r e and action of God. We a r e to deal with t h e mystery of the I n c a r n a t i o n ; with the person a n d n a t u r e s of Christ, God and m a n ; with His life on e a r t h in the flesh, and continuing even now in His mystical body, the Church. At the v e r y outset we feel justified in asking of you, our hearers, an earnest response, worthy of t h e theme itself, despite any halting f a i l u r e in our presentation. Even the commonest conversation demands intelli- gent co-operation, and in any lofty theme such as ours, t h e r e is required your sympathetic and ap- preciative attention. God's message to man, even in its highest terms, is f o r t h e many, not merely f o r the f e w . No one who wishes to see God's sovereign will done on e a r t h as it is in heaven, no one who has the highest good of his fellowmen a t h e a r t , can f a i l to feel deeply gratified a t the rapidly growing spirit of in- telligent inquiry evident on every side today con- cerning the higher things of religion. I t is, there- fore, in the earnest hope of a common spiritual purpose uniting us here tonight t h a t we shall seek to do whatever, with the help of God, may lie in our power in t h e direction of f a n n i n g t h e flame of t h a t fire of f a i t h working t h r o u g h love, which Christ the Lord and Master came to cast upon t h e e a r t h and which, as He Himself confesses, He is so eager t o have enkindled ( L U K E xii, 49). 6 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH I t is in t h i s spirit t h a t we accept t h i s pulpit of t h e radio which science, achieving t h u s h e r own highest possible purpose, h a s placed at t h e service of religion. F r o m t h i s pulpit, in t h i s vast mystic cathedral of land and sea, whose invisible spires pierce the ether, whose dome is the arching sky, and whose walls t h e f a r confines of earthly space, we must seek to send f o r t h t h e glorious message of the supreme exaltation of our fallen h u m a n n a t u r e ; an exaltation reaching even to personal union with t h e divine. The vast physical mysteries of throbbing waves and forces all around us h e r e might well tremble even more deeply in wondering awe as they bear f o r t h these incomparably higher spiritual mysteries of God, and t h e i r message of t r i u m p h to the last limits of t h e universe; messages which will pass indeed, though unheeded, t h r o u g h vast waving f o r e s t s and amongst f a r surging bil- lows; b u t not unheeded, in God's design, as they fall here and t h e r e upon eager and attentive ears— this one r e w a r d sufficient, if these waves shall flash a single r a y of light divine to some anxious inquiring mind, or speak s o f t accents of divine peace and love to any silently striving h e a r t . May t h e invisible b u t loving Lord of t h i s g r e a t cathedral of His uni- verse make f r u i t f u l this message in earnest h e a r t s until i t s last f a r - v i b r a t i n g echoes shall have f o r e v e r died away. The Mystery of the I n c a r n a t i o n ! The real eternal consubstantial Son of God, infinite in H i s own per- fections, beloved by His heavenly F a t h e r with an infinite love, t a k i n g to Himself a h u m a n body and soul, and t h u s assuming a human n a t u r e unto His 7 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH divine personality, becoming Jesus Christ, t h e Man- God. Needless to say, t h i s Incarnation itself and all i t s consequent marvels, came only a f t e r thousands and thousands of years. Many other p r e p a r a t o r y actions a r e t h e r e f o r e presupposed on t h e p a r t of God, f o r t h e Incarnation is not only a f u r t h e r exalt- ation of our race, it is also a restoration. Our investigations, therefore, m u s t include a t least a brief sketch of t h e earliest beginnings in themselves, t h e i r motives and t h e i r effects; f o r t h u s only can we duly pass on to t h e stupendous angel-heralded marvels of Bethlehem. Our t h o u g h t m u s t t h e n follow t h e l o f t y personality and life of C h r i s t on e a r t h , as He stood f o r t h in Himself both God and man, amongst t h e people. We must follow H i m as H e went about "doing good", in His heavenly mis- sion. We must see H i s careful plan f o r t h e vicarious continuance of his personal mission. T h u s we come t o His Church and its life, and its g r a n i t i c j u r i d i c foundations. Most of all, we must come to know and t o love t h a t Church with its last and incomparably highest prerogative, divine grace, like t h e rich a r t e r i a l blood of Christ, coursing t h r o u g h all its being, p e n e t r a t i n g its very fibre, and ever vivifying anew and incessantly i t s high s u p e r n a t u r a l existence, l i f e and power. F o r t h i s is t h a t wondrous mystical body of Christ which the Scriptures so often and so profoundly place before our view; it is t h a t Church b e f o r e which t h e divine oracles say all hostile forces m u s t inexorably yield, until t h e r e be only one fold and one shepherd. Even a f t e r we have t h u s prefaced t h e Incarnation, and followed t h e f u r t h e r course of our explicit sub- 8 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH jects to t h e i r f u r t h e s t limits, we must still go on in our thought very much f a r t h e r . J u s t as we could never fully understand t h e Incarnation without t h e creation which preceded i t and founded it, so we shall never understand i t s f u l l significance, (indeed we shall fall most lamentably short of so doing) unless we look beyond all t h e limits of e a r t h t o t h a t final eternal glorification of angels and of men in heaven which is its only real object and aim. Since, moreover, in the a f f a i r s of God, t h e ultimate end which He h a s in view not only infallibly determines the very beginnings, but also pervades and controls every step in the progress of His work, we m u s t bear t h i s final purpose of r e s t and peace everywhere with us as a divine talisman guiding not only our earliest, b u t also our later, and latest, thoughts. Men, when they first raised t h e i r a l t a r s to God in t h e open, could not foresee the vast dome of St, P e t e r ' s ; but God, even in His very first f o r m a t i o n of intellectual natures, f o r e s a w not only t h e Incar- nation and all. t h e f u t u r e vast splendors of e a r t h based upon i t ; but also, and even more directly, He f o r e s a w and prepared all t h e last glories of eternal life, t h e Incarnation's ultimate, eternal t e r m . I f , therefore, we stand, as i t were, behind t h e g r e a t infinite Artist, and watch His first bold strokes on t h e void of t h e ages, we shall ever a f t e r w a r d s more fully understand all His f u r t h e r completing and completed works—precisely t h e t a s k before u s today. Our real thesis is t h a t t h e most sacred I n - carnation and all t h e I n c a r n a t e God's own acts and ordinations, were only a heavier accent and empha- sis placed by God on His own initial creative p l a n ; a plan of union with His intellectual creatures, t h e C H R I S T AND HIS CHURCH 9 realization of an intimate society of men and angels with their God, a divine f r i e n d s h i p inspired by a common purpose of life and happiness in t h e bonds of a reasoned knowledge a n d a reasoned reciprocal love. F i r s t of all we must note t h a t t h i s is not to be a question of dualism in any of its f o r m s . Too often evil is f a r too highly honored by being placed in di- rect antithesis with good. Nor a r e we to occupy ourselves with any history of the perpetual a n t a g - onism between t h e two. We a r e weary of sin and misery, of darkness and d e f o r m i t y . F o r t h e time, let God alone and His actions be our sufficient theme, as it shall be forever in eternity. F o r t h e moment, a t least, let us here use our r i g h t of thinking only of Him. He is positive light and beauty, and these a r e w h a t men most need today. More t h a n anything else, they need to use their native r i g h t and privi- lege of living in His stainless splendor, undisturbed and unmoved by whatever of good or of evil created wills have finally done with t h e glorious liberty so so grandly given. Created defections must be brushed aside, as specks of dust f r o m a telescope's lens, if we a r e ever to study t h e f a r heavens of God's m a j e s t y aright. He never willed t h e misera- ble f a i l u r e s which we call evil. They formed and they f o r m no p a r t of Himself. They formed no p a r t of His plan. Nor were they in any way indispensa- ble to Him, or to us, f o r t h e full revelation and realization of Himself or any of His mighty a t t r i - butes. They are, and they were, and they always will be, only obstacles. So f a r f r o m acting on ac- count of them, God acted in spite of t h e m ; and we m u s t do t h e same. He attended t o evil indeed, b u t 10 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH only in a m a n n e r t h a t was extremely minor and passing. His deep eternal anxiety and action con- cerned His own vast realities of t r u t h and of love a s destined f o r man. Christ bled f r o m His very pores when H e thought of s i n ; and we should cast f a r f r o m us whatever we really abhor. We a r e temples of t h e Holy Ghost, not receptacles of r e f u s e . " F o r the temple of God is holy, which you a r e , " ( 1 COR. iii, 17) says St. Paul. "Know ye not," he again cries, " t h a t your members a r e t h e temple of t h e Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have f r o m God; and you a r e not your own?" ( 1 COR. vi, 17). We do not allow the idle and t h e evil to use o u r homes f o r t h e i r crimes and t h e i r debaucheries. Much less need we tolerate t h e continual t h o u g h t of sin and defilement in t h e divinely chosen and sacredly dedicated living sanctuaries of our own minds and hearts. Secondly, our purpose here is by no means polemi- cal. Enough t h a t we a r e simply to present a state- ment as lucid as may be of positive t r u t h s f o r t h e same men of good will of whom the angels sang a t Bethlehem, when Christ—our real subject—was born. We a r e seeking to be t h e f a i t h f u l messengers of a divine revelation, of which we ourselves a r e not t h e author, and of which we could give no adequate merely rational explanation; and it is clear t h a t in t h i s high realm ordinary human attestation would be patently absurd. We accept these t r u t h s as re- vealed by God, and t h e r e f o r e demanding our as- sent. Once accepted on t h e authority of God, t h e t r u t h s which unaided human reason could never have ascertained a r e found of course in every w a y consonant with t h e postulates of r i g h t thinking. Di- 11 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH vine F a i t h is a g i f t of God. The Incarnation is a t r u t h we hold by F a i t h . Yet no man should be in- different here. When God h a s placed all t h e inef- fable t r e a s u r e s of eternal light and life openly be- f o r e a c r e a t u r e utterly insufficient f o r itself—before m a n — t h a t c r e a t u r e — m a n — m u s t a t once recognize a n inexorable obligation of seeking T r u t h , and, once convinced, of unreserved acceptance and assent, w i t h all t h e i r very g r a v e implications and consequences. To t h e m a n doing his best to know t r u t h God will not deny His grace. The persevering will to find T r u t h will b r i n g the divine light needed. I n t h e beginning, then, we find God saying "let U s make m a n to our image and likeness." ( G E N . i, 26). The subsequent p r o g r e s s of t h e sacred t e x t shows t h a t these were words of sacramental power, words t h a t a t once effected w h a t they signified; f o r we a t once f u r t h e r find, and w i t h emphatic repeti- tion, t h a t "God created m a n in His own image, t o t h e 'image of God he created h i m " ( G E N . i, 2 7 ) . "To t h e image of His own likeness He made him." (WISD. ii, 23). The Scriptures a r e very parsimon- ious of t h e i r words, and repetitions such as these f o r m a very strong insistence on t h e i r inner t r u t h and meaning. God did so make man. He made him to H i s own image and likeness. He did so, first of all, by making him an epitome of all t h i n g s ; by making him w h a t he h a s so often and so justly been called, a microcosmos, a contracted, concen- t r a t e d universe. Man possesses in himself a n "element of every g r a d e of created being, f r o m t h e highest angel down to dead, unconscious m a t t e r . I n t h i s all-embracing representation he m a y be said t o b e like God, t h e eternal and necessary archetype of 12 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH all created things. F u r t h e r , God made m a n t o His own image and likeness precisely because of t h e purely spiritual soul which He gave h i m ; f o r God Himself is also a spirit. F u r t h e r still, God made man like to Himself by His included g i f t of an intelleit and a wiil; a double g i f t which allowed man t o share in God's own lofty life as a s p i r i t ; a g i f t moreover whose real significance and worth will be appreciated only when we remember t h a t an intel- lectual n a t u r e is God's own highest prerogative. All this is the merely n a t u r a l order. God did not stop there. F o r a t once, in the very • first i n s t a n t of creation, He raised man to an incomparably higher order, to high supernatural realms, with the s u p r e m e vision of God as his end and aim. More still, in His wondrous unlimited goodness, God perfected m a n in his likeness to God by making divine sup- e r n a t u r a l grace a real participation in His own very n a t u r e . So f a r surpassing man's most d a r i n g as- pirations is this lavish goodness of God to us, t h a t we t r u l y need the definite statement of St. Peter, t h a t by the g i f t of God we a r e made " p a r t a k e r s of the divine n a t u r e . " Surely God's desire to m a k e man like to Himself was not in vain. He did not stop even here. F o r to man in this exalted and sanctified state, God then came, as it were, on a personal visit; and the Trinity made his privileged soul its home. Still, t h e r e was as yet no a t t e m p t a t intrinsic, personal union with man. This still remained in God's infinite treasure-house of re- sources. There still remained the one untried expedient of personality. God, impatient, as it were, drew it f o r t h , and p u t it into execution in t h e Incarnation, a supreme act of union. Christ a s 13 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH t h e eternal Word of God became m a n ; and in t e r m s of exactest equality. He possessed in His own single Being the' whole creation and all t h e t r e a s u r e s of infinity, and could offer t h e m all, w i t h a n infinite right, to t h e g r e a t P r i m a l P r i n - ciple f r o m which all had come. I n a m a n n e r it could be said t h a t t h e Incarnation and t h e Creation needed each other. Christ needed man t h a t He m i g h t pre- sent all t h i n g s in one to His eternal F a t h e r . All created things, already one in man, needed a divine personality to link them duly to God. In t h e new and g r e a t e r creation, in t h e Incarnation, t h i s w a s done. "Verily t r u t h is s p r u n g out of t h e earth, and justice h a t h looked down f r o m heaven" .Ps. lxxxiv, 12). This last marvel of marvels was consummated when man and all things were t h u s linked in ineffa- ble union with God. God h a t h done t h i s t h i n g ! W h a t unheard of sacrilegious violence i t would now be to wrench t h e Incarnation f r o m the keystone of loftiest created exaltation. Could such a t h i n g be, e a r t h must be made void anew, and heaven forever lose its crowning created splendor. We need have no f e a r . The works of God a r e without repentance. If Pilate could s a y : " W h a t I have written, I have w r i t t e n " of Christ in His shame, we surely can say of t h a t -same Christ in His glory, " w h a t God h a s done He h a s done." Such, in briefest outline, is the Incarnation in its eternal setting. I t is* our hope to commence t h e real development of t h i s glorious theme in our next meeting with you over the radio. 14 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH THE MOTIVE AND THE MYSTERY (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, J a n u a r y 11, .1931) On last Sunday, in our first outlining thought, we sought to consider the Incarnation in its general setting, in the place, t h a t is, which it holds in God's entire vast scale of being. We found t h a t both by r i g h t and by actual possession, it occupies t h e cul- m i n a t i n g point in m a n ' s s u p e r n a t u r a l exaltation and assimilation to God. We recognized then in t h a t ineffable hypostatic, t h a t is personal, union, our own common h u m a n i t y ' s supreme and complete r e t u r n to t h e infinite Source f r o m which it came; the Source to which it ever owes its entire continued existence, and to which it must ever tend, as t o its own last perfection. We found t h e b r i g h t glories of the Incarnation foreshadowed in the first anticipat- ing splendors of E d e n ; and we knew it to be the last created glory of heaven. Truly, a most beautiful background and a most beautiful scene f o r our f u t u r e labors. A word of explanation may be helpful concerning certain words and phrases which have come t o have a precise, well-defined and scientific m e a n i n g in Catholic thought. They f o r m p a r t of the .termin- ology which has come down to us f r o m the F a t h e r s and Doctors of the Church, as f o r m u l a e of our f a i t h , accepted throughout the ages, and by all united Christendom. They a r e the crystalized ex- pressions of definite doctrine and belief. They a r e understood in the same exact sense by Catholics in every country where t h e Church is organized. They a r e not subject to change of meaning, and t h u s make up, as it were, a technical language as proper to 15 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH Theology as is, and must be,' t h e terminology of our Schools of Medicine and of Law to those respective professions. These t e r m s a r e naturally, f o r t h e most p a r t , Latin derivatives, with occasionally a Greek usage, as in the case of the expression "hypostatic union," t o indicate the single personality of Christ in His two complete natures. This tech- nical language of the Church is one of the surest s a f e g u a r d s of t h e soundness and authenticity of h e r doctrine. We cherish it as a sacred heritage f r o m our f o r e f a t h e r s in t h e F a i t h . I t h a s resulted in certain words and phrases expressing to us today exact t r u t h s to which these expressions were conse- crated in the very earliest periods of t h e Church. On the one hand, therefore, we a r e very justly proud of the ancient lineage of our doctrinal t e r m s , ' e v e n as we also rest content, on t h e other hand, in t h e i r s a f e g u a r d i n g of our ancient beliefs. Where it may seem necessary in these sermons, we shall be glad to enter fully into t h e significance of the t e r m s we use, and in this sermon we shall so explain t h e Cath- olic meaning of the hypostatic union in the Incar- nation. E n t e r i n g upon the field of motive in r e g a r d to the Incarnation, our answer is—love. Our thesis h e r e tonight, in so f a r as it concerns t h e motive, is t h a t the Incarnation is God's greatest earthly acf of love f o r man. We assert here as the motive of t h e In- carnation, a divine love, single in its altitude and intensity, a love to which all others were leading, and in which all found their ultimate earthly mean- ing, t h e i r supreme exalted earthly expression. The Scriptures sustain us in t h i s more definite and specific contention. "Yea, I have loved thee with an 16 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH everlasting love, t h e r e f o r e have I d r a w n thee, t a k i n g pity on thee," says God Himself ( J E R . xxxi, 3 ) . Our Lord Himself s a y s : " I am come t h a t they may have life, and may have it more abundantly." ( J O H N x, 10). Again, in t h e course of the t r i a l which de- termined His death, when surely H e set f o r t h t h e purpose of His coming, He s a i d : " F o r t h i s was I born, and f o r this I came into the world, t h a t I should give testimony to the t r u t h " ( J O H N xviii, 37). Thus a more a b u n d a n t life and a clearer t r u t h a r e the f r u i t s attainable by man f r o m t h e Incarnation. They a r e the f r u i t s prompted by love, and in keeping with our assertion here tonight, t h a t a very special love was t h e deep incentive to t h e I n c a r n a t i o n ; t h a t t h e Incarnation first took f o r m in its own beauty in the eternal fire of infinite love in t h e T r i n i t y ; and there- f o r e it needs no other justification. I t is in keeping with God's creative plan t h a t , having formed m a n in His own image and likeness, t h e r e was found no obstacle t h a t could make God's union with m a n unworthy of God. God would never have t h r o w n the bridge of divine personality over t h e chasm between infinity and humanity if either of the abut- ments was insecure ; if both were not eternally able to bear t h e s t r a i n with absolute firmness and honor. There was no impediment to t h e fulfillment of love's desire f o r union. The divine n a t u r e and t h e human n a t u r e met in the person of God, and t h e I n c a r n a - tion became a f a c t , because an infinite love used its absolute right. Out of t h a t love, f r u i t f u l in t h e Incarnation, comes peace to men of good will. Long ago t h e midnight shepherds on the Judean hills said one to a n o t h e r : "Let us go over to Bethlehem, and see t h i s word." 17 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH ( L U K E ii, 15) Like the shepherds of Judea, we hasten to explore t h e high angelic message, "which the Lord h a t h showed to u s " much more fully t h a n to t h e m ; and each of us individually and personally can repeat and modify Elizabeth's inspired question, and reach to God's own desire by asking a n e w : "Whence is t h i s to me t h a t my Lord should come to me?" There is, and t h e r e can be, one only answer f o r so supreme a thing. The answer of a love t h a t is supreme. Usually it is in the center of a question t h a t we expect to find its greatest difficulty. Yet not always is this so, and not in t h e Incarnation. Arriving, as we now have done, a t our most intrinsic inquiry a s to t h e Incarnation in its own nature, we find our- selves, a s it were, in an oasis of easiness; in t h e most open and facile of all our investigations. T h e Incarnation in itself is easy in the sense t h a t a i r and light a r e easy; in t h e sense t h a t we feel them and know them without any conscious effort. We breathe, and life surges within us. We gaze, and God's glories flash all around. We may know much or little about life or air, b u t we know t h a t we b r e a t h e and see. The Incarnation is t h u s easy, because we have its t e r m s . To understand Christ's humanity, we have only to look within ourselves. To understand His divinity, we have all t h e count- less messages of the ages, divine, angelic and human, t h a t tell us of His power, His wisdom, and His love. U n d e r s t a n d i n g these two—understanding human-> ity and divinity—we understand a t least t h e t e r - minals of t h e Incarnation, f o r t h e t e r m s of t h e Incarnation a r e God and man. There a r e no others. The Incarnation is not angelic. I t is exclusively 18 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH human and divine. If Christ is consubstantial with the F a t h e r , He is also consubstantial with us, and we with Him. T r u l y did Paul s a y : "although he be not f a r f r o m every one of u s " (ACTS xvii, 27). Even naturally, we know the beating of a h u m a n h e a r t ; and supernaturally we know t h e beating of a h e a r t t h a t is divine. By our own equal elements, we know t h e body and the soul of C h r i s t ; and by and in His grace, we share t h e very n a t u r e t h a t • gives Him omnipotence. This is to know the living, pulsing Incarnation in its highest life. We m a y know much or little concerning its scientific theo- logical explanation; b u t we know and we feel the all-precious f a c t ; and we know it in the best of all w a y s : in its interior life and expression within ourselves. Even with r e g a r d to the wondrous bond between these two—between divinity and humanity in t h e Incarnation—we a r e not wholly without f a - miliar light. F o r we ourselves have a purely spiritual soul, united in a substantial m a n n e r with a material body; and t h e God-man is a spirit united substantially with our entire humanity, body and soul. While t h e r e is much t h a t is wholly dissimilar in these two unions, t h e r e is also much t h a t is alike, and the very discernment of t h e discrepancies illustrates both. I t may well seem t h a t t h i s assertion with r e g a r d to the Incarnation is s t r a n g e ; but an assertion t h a t God had openly failed in any of His designs would be s t r a n g e r still. Yet if God h a s not utterly failed in t h i s g r e a t work, the Incarnation must be easy and clear. His aim in the Incarnation was to make divinity plain to humanity. As stated by t h e Church itself in t h e P r e f a c e of the Nativity, God's design 19 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH here was t h a t " t h r o u g h t h i s mystery of t h e Incar- n a t e Word a new light of Thy splendor shone f o r t h before the eyes of our mind, in order t h a t while we know God in a visible f o r m , we may be r a p t to t h e love of invisible things." This-new light of t h a t old splendor, this God in visible f o r m , were a f a i l u r e if t h e old difficulty should remain in any- t h i n g like its old exclusiveness. God's principal design in the Incarnation was to rend the veil of divine inaccessability f r o m top to bottom. Failing in this, He would have failed in all. Any mode of union enmeshed with difficulties would only have given our weary minds another exacting task. The penitent thief on t h e cross was the first theologian to g r a s p t h e full import of the Incarnation. Had he been crucified amid t h e t h u n d e r s of Sinai, i t is probable t h a t he would have lost his reason, instead of gaining the courage t h a t gave him an eternity. As it was, he had only to look f r o m one cross to an- other, and speak gently to a poor Fellow-sufferer. It is doubtful whether we could find anywhere else an example as fully expressing the whole purpose and method of the Incarnation. We a r e more like t h a t poor thief than we know; and we should hasten to be more like him still. We do not by any means say t h a t t h e r e a r e no mysteries in the Incarnation. We ourselves have already elsewhere asserted t h e intimate association of t h e Incarnation with t h e first and t h e last of God's Works; and a s a m a t t e r of f a c t it is deeply connected with all of God's other mysteries, and t h u s shares in all t h e i r heights and t h e i r depths. W h a t we do intend to say is t h a t very much indeed t h a t was hidden h a s become known to ua 20 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH t h r o u g h the Man-God. T h a t which is t h u s known is t h e p a r t most i m p o r t a n t f o r us, and t h a t which remains—like the inner, physical f a c t o r s of light or of air,—is not necessary f o r its principal f r u i t s . We can be at peace, leaving our highest knowledge f o r heaven. T h e r e a r e countless mysteries still remaining in a single blade of g r a s s ; yet we p a s s t h e green fields without stopping, and in t h i s very m a t t e r of the Incarnation, St. Augustine points out our usual human inconsistency. "Men seek t h e essence of t h i s mystery, which was effected b u t once," he says, "when they can by no means give an explanation of w h a t is always t a k i n g place; t h a t is, how, in order t h a t a human being may exist, t h e soul is blended with the body. But j u s t as corporeal and incorporeal things a r e united, t h a t m a n m a y be made, so man was united to God, and Christ came into existence." Coming a little closer to the technical h e a r t of things, we may note t h a t the Council of Chalcedon h a s become a classical guide in t h e m a t t e r of Christ's union with His humanity. And it s a y s : "We teach t h a t all men must confess one and t h e same C h r i s t the Son and Lord only begotten (existing) in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, undividedly and inseparably, t h e difference in t h e n a t u r e s never being taken away t h r o u g h t h i s union, b u t r a t h e r with the specific character of each n a t u r e preserved, and entering into t h e one person and subsistence; not being sundered or divided into two persons, b u t one and the same Son only-begotten God t h e Word, the Lord Jesus C h r i s t " (Apud H u r t e r , Comp. 2-n, 488, p. 394, Ed. 1900). The union of God, therefore, w i t h man in t h e 21 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH Incarnation, is a union whose sole bond is person- ality ; and t h a t personality is single, individual, and unshared by any other personality. T h a t personality is divine. I t is eternal. I t is immutable. I t always was, and it always will be. The Incarnation h a s brought it no new wealth. I t is t h e Word of God Himself, the Second Person of t h e Most Blessed Trinity. T h e r e is no human personality in t h e In- carnation. There never was any human personality associated with t h e h u m a n n a t u r e of Christ. T h e humanity of Christ was formed personless in t h e very first i n s t a n t of t h i s union with a personality t h a t was divine. In t h e very first i n s t a n t of t h e i r existence, the body and soul of Christ found them- selves supported in being by something which sup- plied to a superlative excess all t h e need of a created personality. We can say, and we must say, t h a t f r o m t h i s unparalleled union t h e r e resulted only one being, not two. Yet t h e r e w a s no blending, no f u s i o n of humanity and divinity. The one being h e r e existing could be called complex, b u t only in t h e sense t h a t t h e r e a r e now two n a t u r e s : two n a t u r e s wholly unblended and unconfused, and in themselves, a s i t were, standing side by side under t h e same divine personality, and supported in being by its power. We can say, and we must say, t h a t t h e personality of Christ a f t e r t h e Incarnation is t r u l y composite. Here a s elsewhere in these high mysteries, we m u s t be equally on our guard against defect and excess. In our zeal to protect the divine personality of Christ f r o m any m i x t u r e or change, we a r e exposed to t h e equally f a t a l mistake of making t h e hypostatic union merely a name, without any corresponding 22 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH reality. The human n a t u r e of C h r i s t is really united in a union whose intimate bond is t h e closest of which a created t h i n g is capable. I t is, there- fore, very real indeed. T h a t bond, in so f a r a s created language can describe it, is t h e bond of actual existence supplied to the human n a t u r e of Christ by Christ's ever-infinite personal existence. This infinite and eternal personality of Christ, therefore, altogether simple before the Incarnation, became a t t h a t time composite, in t h e sense t h a t subsisting at first with only one nature, and acting t h r o u g h only one channel of energy, it subsisted a f t e r t h e Incarnation with two natures, and there- f o r e with two modes of action. The personality of Christ itself remains forever and eternally, now as well as then, wholly unblended and unmixed with a n y t h i n g else, though giving subsistence to both t h e divine and human n a t u r e . These expressions a r e not easily formed, since we a r e dealing with a kind of union of which we have no other example. F r o m this unparalleled union; f r o m t h i s duality of n a t u r e s and singleness of person, t h e r e arises t h e possibility of many s t r a n g e statements. These ex- pressions owe nothing whatever to any mere figured language or poetical liberty. They a r e simple state- ments of f a c t . They have g r e a t value f o r us here tonight, since they a r e short and accurate avenues to a t r u e and scientific knowledge of t h e mystery of which we a r e t r e a t i n g . Christ Himself, with His own mortal lips of flesh and blood, with lips received only with t i m e and a f e w years before, s a i d : "Before A b r a h a m was, I a m " ( J O H N viii, 58). And H e could j u s t as well have said "Before A d a m " or "before Lucifer," f o r it is w r i t t e n "before t h e 23 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH day-star I begot thee" (Ps. cix, 3 ) . This, it is clear, w a s said by Christ of Himself, not inasmuch as He w a s a man, not inasmuch as He possessed t h e lips t h a t spoke, b u t inasmuch a s He was and ever is t h e E t e r n a l God. In like manner, He t r u l y s a i d : " T h e F a t h e r is g r e a t e r t h a n I." ( J O H N xiv, 28) and yet, not less truly, " I and t h e F a t h e r a r e one." ( J O H N x, 30). The reason is always the s a m e : two n a t u r e s and one personality. Christ in the God-head is one with t h e F a t h e r . As m a n He shares the finite limitations of men. Thus, we ourselves can say with p e r f e c t t r u t h : "Immortality died on the cross." " I m m o r t a l L i f e was p u t to death £y mortal m a n . " Immortality is predicated of the person. We can say t h a t Christ is h u m a n ; we can say t h a t Christ is divine. We can always say t h a t Christ is His own divinity; we can never say t h a t Christ is His own humanity. We can say t h a t m a n is God; we can say t h a t God is man. Pilate said t r u l y : "Behold t h e m a n ; " he could have t r u l y s a i d : "Behold God," and had he added this, he would have unconsciously given t h e whole formula of the Incarnation. Because of this same oneness of person, possess- ing a s it does in Christ two natures, with either of which it can act a t will, it is clear t h a t t h e same diversity found in Christ's composite being must also be looked f o r in Christ's double activity. As to actions, however, it must be noted t h a t what- ever He did in either n a t u r e had always an infinite dignity and power and merit, because everything was t h e act of a God. Actions belong t o persons, but a r e according t o nature^ His humanity enabled Him to suffer. His divinity made those sufferings 24 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH divine, and of infinite price. Yet not only in sorrow was He infinite. The Transfiguration was His t r u e s t earthly appearance. Yet while t r u e to Himself on Tabor, He was also t r u e to Himself on Calvary. Speaking here the revealed t r u t h t h a t Jesus w a s both God and man, one person in two natures, we have told t h e mystery of t h e Incarnation a s t h e man of F a i t h accepts it. Next Sunday evening we shall consider the proof of Christ's divinity a s offered by the Messianic prophecies and t h e i r f u l - fillment in the person of the God-man. 25 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH CHRIST, IN TYPE AND PROPHECY (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, J a n u a r y 18, 1931) D u r i n g t h e long centuries of the old dispensation believers strained f o r w a r d in time, in search of t h e Redeemer t h a t was to come. The ancients f o r g o t t h a t Christ as their Mediator, and His spiritual kingdom in their regard were already established facts. Not a s any mere poetic abstraction, b u t in all reality as a j u r i d i c f a c t , the religion of Christ was established by the w o r d s : " I will p u t enmities between thee and the woman, and t h y seed and h e r seed; she shall crush t h y head." ( G E N . iii, 15) (Cf. Billot, inc. ed. 1900, p. 45). By these words, a new order came into existence: the order of Christ as t h e new and t h e only remaining hope of men. The Christian religion commenced with A d a m ; and w i t h it, His high s u p e r n a t u r a l grace became a real human heritage. C h r i s t ' s first temple was built on t h e r u i n s of Eden and f r o m its stones. F r o m t h e very first, the later words of St. Peter, "There is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved," (ACTS iv, 12) w e r e fully and formally t r u e . When, therefore, we consider Christ—as we a r e considering Him here tonight—as t h e Messiah of t h e old dispensation, we can r e f e r properly only to His later corporeal existence, and to a fuller develop- ment of t h e reality already present even in those early days. The bases of t h e spiritual kingdom of Christ were founded before t h e blush of shame had faded f r o m Adam's cheek. The vision of God as man's only real end, and divine grace a s his means to t h a t end were still f a c t s ; and t h e infinite m e r i t s 26 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH shining f r o m t h e cross of Christ were already- active then. In this very t r u e sense Adam and E v e were t h e real first Christians, not those of Antioch or t h e catacombs. I t is a serious e r r o r and a very misleading mis- take to consider all the early thousands of years as wholly outside of God's infinite care and deprived of the t r e a s u r e s of grace. The ordinary concepts of God's supposed early a n g r y neglect of man a r e extremely untrue. Men desert God. He never deserts them. God's g r e a t h e a r t was then, all through those centuries, as it is now, ever open to His wandering and wayward children. As a m a t t e r of f a c t many who lived before Christ was made man reached a sanctity f a r surpassing t h a t of g r e a t mul- titudes who have lived since He came. All even of the earliest whisperings of God's love f o r man were cast in the tones of Christ. There is always a vast continuity in God's works. Thus we trace the ever more and more definite image of t h e Messiah through type and prophecy, and t h e words and works of Christ Himself when He came. Our principal thesis here is the divinity of Christ. Our assertion is t h a t Christ our Lord is God as well as man. We a r e walking by t h e light of revelation; we a r e dealing with positive acts of God; we can learn of these only t h r o u g h His own chosen channels of information. The entire olden order w a s only a preparation f o r the n e w ; and its very best service was precisely t h i s of leaving indisputable proofs t h a t the Author of t h e new was to be divine." This office is fulfilled by securing and preserving the types and the prophecies r e g a r d i n g Him who was to come; and it must be our t a s k here to adduce 27 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH and consider some of these testimonies to t h e t r u t h of our position, the divinity of Christ. I t is impor- t a n t to remember t h a t we shall use the Scriptures here without appealing to t h e i r inspired character, and only inasmuch as they f o r m a reliable human document. Leaving proof to its own proper place, we here simply recall the f a c t t h a t even t h e human authority t h a t invests the Old Testiment Scrip- t u r e s as historical documents is higher t h a n t h a t of a n y other document of equal antiquity t h a t we possess. God allowed no long delay in filling out the out- lines of His first vague promise of a Redeemer. T h a t promise t h a t the seed of the^woman should crush t h e head of evil was contained in t h e first chapter of Genesis, and in the f o u r t h chapter we have the first all-fair type of Christ, Abel, struck down by his brother Cain. Anyone standing long enough, and t h i n k i n g deeply enough, before Guido Reni's "Death of Abel," or any other proper t r e a t - ment of t h a t subject, will easily vision another bleeding figure t a k i n g mystic f o r m above i t ; will recognize other pitiless h a n d s as t h e a u t h o r of the f a t a l blow; and will see the first vivid, unmistaka- ble type of Christ. Each w a s innocent, and each fell, under the intensity of guilt's f r a t r a c i d a l hate. Later, yet twenty-two centuries before his g r e a t Principal, the tender and innocent Isaac, carrying the wood f o r his sacrifice up the mountain and lying bound on the a l t a r of sacrifice, and looking up to the cruel dagger clutched in his f a t h e r ' s inexorable hand, and about to be plunged into his own t r e m - bling bosom, is another appalling type of w h a t men w e r e to do to t h e Holy One of Israel when He had 28 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH carried His cross and stretched Himself upon i t on Calvary's h e i g h t ; only on Calvary t h e r e w a s no angel hand to a v e r t the blow of death, and death really came. Moses delivered a troublesome and recalcitrant people f r o m the galling bondage of Egypt, and the blood of the Paschal Lamb was the sign of their salvation. Christ had to complain on the cross m a r k - ed with His saving blood t h a t , " I have spread f o r t h my hands all the day to an unbelieving people." (ISA. ix, 2 ) . Both t a r r i e d on t h e toilsome w a y ; both sank down defeated though knowing t h e i r p u r - pose to be accomplished. Samson, as the Scriptures say, "killed many more a t his death t h a n he had killed before in his life," ( J U D G E S xvi, 30) and Christ once said, "And I, if I be lifted up f r o m the earth, will d r a w all things to myself" ( J O H N xii, 32), and the- Evangelist says t h a t He here spoke of His death. Samson could sin, but he could also r e p e n t ; and God gave him back his strength,—even made him a type of himself. F o r him as f o r his f u t u r e Redeemer alike, t h e mo- ment of defeat was also t h e moment of t r i u m p h . Samson shook down t h e crowded house of his enemies. Christ t h r e w t h e f a r - s p r e a d i n g f a n e s of Satan to the ground, and destroyed t h e temple of a faithless people. Each conquered most signally, each in his own way, when he finally sank down in death. David, by his kingship, and by his sufferings patiently borne, was another outstanding type of the Redeemer to come of his own family and race. Solomon, by his wisdom and glory, held the same office, but rather for the final magnificence of 29 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH Christ's ultimate kingdom on earth, and His final glory in heaven. T u r n i n g now to t h e w r i t t e n proofs, to t h e pro- phecies—the force of t h e demonstration must lie in t h e f a c t t h a t none but an eternal mind could have provided such proofs. Only a n eternal mind could see and provide f o r the numberless complexi- ties of human conditions in which these predictions, a f t e r thousands and thousands of years, would finally find their ultimate and exact fulfillment. More- over, an unnumbered multitude of these complexi- ties would be t h e result of actions on the p a r t of wills t h a t were wholly and t r u l y f r e e ; and t h a t could have, therefore, under t h e same circumstances, placed exactly c o n t r a r y actions. E t e r n i t y is an a t t r i b u t e exclusively divine. Therefore, the will was divine and the agent was God. The desire of God t h u s recorded was t h a t the promised Redeemer should be God, as well as man. God is omnipotent a s well as eternal. T h e r e f o r e the Redeemer t h a t came was God as well as man. Such our thesis concerning^ the progressive Messianic prediction made in the older order before Christ came. The first promise of a Redeemer to come was very vague and negative, merely as i t »were, non-pun- ishment. We find i t in the t h i r d chapter of Genesis, the fifteenth v e r s e : " I will p u t enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush t h y head, and thou shalt lie in wait f o r her heel." Even by t h e time of A b r a h a m ( G E N . xxii, 16) and Isaac ( GEN. xxvi, 4) it had already risen to the fullest and most magnificent positive t e r m s of blessings, of universal homage and p o w e r : " I n thy seed shall all the nations of the e a r t h be 8 0 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH blessed;" t e r m s repeated to Jacob in his earlier vision. Then, in Jacob's blessing of Juda, ( G E N . xlix, 10) prophecy was made all but complete by the words "The Scepter shall not be taken away f r o m Juda, nor a ruler f r o m his thigh, till He come t h a t is to be sent, and He shall be t h e expectation of the nations." In these prophecies we have the race and the family of the Redeemer. We have also t h e time of His coming d u r i n g the crumbling yet still endur- ing political existence of Judea. Finally, t h e vast changes a r e indicated in t h e entire Gentile world t h a t would result f r o m His coming. We have not yet l e f t the first book of the S c r i p t u r e s ; we a r e still t u r n i n g the f e w early pages of Genesis. Yet divinity, splendor and power have already become the theme. With the later Psalms of David, and in the divinely plaintive periods of Isaias, a new note is heard, a note of desolation and most anguished suffering. The written word verges into the crimson blood of t h e types. The mode of the redemption is shown. The Redeemer becomes "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmities." The passion of Christ takes the place of His divinity and power. With every last little detail included, we a r e told—a thousand y e a r s 4 b e f o r e t h e e v e n t — j u s t how Christ was to die. The" pitiful lacerations which He bore, the .derision of His executioners, the gall given Him to drink, the casting of lots f o r His garments,— all a r e here. We had already been told also—seven hundred years before C h r i s t — t h a t " a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." (ISA. vii, 14). Then Daniel gives the exact time (DAN. ix, 21) and Malachy first points out the precursor and then closes a 31 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH series of prophecies of t h e older law by most sol- emnly announcing the final and complete reprobation of t h e old cult, and t h e universal substitution of a new and clean oblation to be offered everywhere f r o m the rising of the sun to its setting. Then t h r e e hundred years of silence and of wait- ing until "While all t h i n g s were in quiet silence, and the night was in t h e midst of h e r course, t h y almighty Word leaped down f r o m heaven f r o m t h y royal throne," and the m a n who was also God, t h e God Who was also man, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, so long and so exactly prefigured and foretold, became f o r e v e r a reality. The expected of t h e nations means, however, t h e expected of t h e world and t h e r e f o r e of t h e Gentiles. God is t h e i r God as truly as He is our God, as He w a s and is t h e God of t h e Jews. Very o f t e n w e . a r e prone to be selfish Jansenists, none t h e less cruel and selfish because we a r e not avowedly such. We admit with our lips t h a t Christ died f o r all, yet we speak very coolly of the untold pagan millions t h a t we so easily presume to be lost. The pagan world of the time of Christ, and all mankind f r o m t h e very beginning, had at times very serious thoughts of God, and of t h e i r responsibilities. The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon. Nineveh did penance in sackcloth and ashes, when t h e chosen people of God were sinking to t h e very last dregs of t h e i r final degradation. The Gentile world knew of these long and unbroken t r a d i t i o n s of salvation among t h e Jews. St. Augustine makes t h i s clear in his "City of God"—that unapproached classic on t h e times in question. Such knowledge, however, was almost wholly inoperative a s t h e same work sets f o r t h . T h e 32 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH "Expectation of Nations," therefore, mentioned by the P a t r i a r c h Jacob, showed r a t h e r t h e duty of t h e nations t h a n w h a t they actually did look f o r or desire. As our overshadowing aim is t o establish t h e divinity of Christ the series of prophecies to which we have alluded f r o m the unquestioned historical sources of t h e Old Testament is amply sufficient. These prophecies indeed have a very special value as proofs; The miracles of C h r i s t ' s actual life were r a t h e r f o r those who saw them. While they, too, even taken alone, a r e amply able to prove t h a t Christ acted as no mere man ever acted or could act, they still stand subject now to the sneering and carping criticism of the man of no faith-or of b a d f a i t h . These age-old records of prophetic predictions, however, a r e written on the skies. They a r e as present now as • they ever were. Their force h a s a kind of eternity. No one can question t h a t long series of foreshadowings coupled a t last w i t h t h e i r exact fulfillment in ever most minute detail. The old dis- pensation gives us eternally* Christ as divine,—"our unpayable debt to the p a s t . " 33 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST (Address delivered by Right Rev Msgr. Josephi M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, J a n u a r y 25, 1931) About two thousand t h r e e hundred years b e f o r e C h r i s t — f o u r thousand t h r e e hundred f r o m us—a weary pilgrim walked along the dusty roads of cen- t r a l Samaria, directing his steps into a vast unknown t h a t God Himself had directed him to enter. This pilgrim of serious mien was Abraham, the g r e a t chosen f a t h e r of a g r e a t chosen people, and t h e spiritual head of all f a i t h f u l souls in every land, until time shall be no more. He paused tired, it would seem, near Sichem, a t t h e place of t h e "noble vale," as t h e Scriptures call it. Here God's general promise made to him a t H a r a n first became detailed to t h e effect t h a t t h i s was t h e land t h a t w a s to be his. H e r e accordingly A b r a h a m raised t h e first a l t a r to t h e t r u e God in t h a t p a g a n land. - Later, yet still two thousand y e a r s before Christ f o u r thousand years f r o m us—Jacob, a f t e r h i s deadly peril f r o m E s a u and his reconciliation w i t h him, came exulting to this same Sichem, dug a deep well t h e r e f o r his family and his flocks, and " r a i s i n g an a l t a r there, he invoked upon it t h e most mighty God of Israel." This n a m e of Israel was his own new name given to him by God and replacing t h a t of Jacob. Here too, a t this same Sichem, twelve hundred years before C h r i s t - t h r e e thousand two hundred years ago—Josue buried the ashes of J o s e p h ; who, dying hundreds of years before, and f a r away in a s t r a n g e land, had wished to find his final rest in the holy ground of his f a t h e r s . Then t h r o u g h a real silence of twelve hundred 34 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH years, years of human struggle, treason, and decay, t h e very name of S a m a r i a and S a m a r i t a n became a synonym of reproach, and the children of A b r a - ham, Jacob and Joseph here became the least worthy of t h e promises made in t h e i r r e g a r d on t h i s very ground. Yet a t last—two thousand years ago—the glory of God once more came to t h a t "noble vale." " I t was about t h e sixth h o u r , " a single figure, a poor woman emerged f r o m t h e neighboring town, and approached the well t h a t Jacob had dug two thousand years before, "a woman of S a m a r i a , " coming to d r a w w a t e r . She w a s a product of h e r times, more sinned against by false leaders t h a n sinning. All a t once she saw on t h e well c u r b a s t r a n g e r , not only to h e r b u t to all t h a t land. Clear- ly he was of a hostile people, a Judean—and t h e J e w s were t h e sworn enemies of h e r countrymen. The s t r a n g e r "being wearied with His journey sat t h u s on the well," wearied like A b r a h a m and Jacob f r o m the same dusty road so long before. He had come—names change with the years—"to a city of Samaria which is called Sichar, n e a r t h e land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph." "Now Jacob's well was t h e r e . " Thus it had come t h a t J e s u s — f o r t h e wearied figure was t h a t of no other—sat on t h a t well curb t h i s day, on t h e very spot where A b r a h a m received his first definite knowledge of a promised land, where Jacob had heard s t r a n g e voices of f u r t h e r magnificence, and where both had offered solemn sacrifice of acknowledgement and of g r a t i - tude to the E t e r n a l F a t h e r of t h i s late tired pilgrim. I t will doubtless be asked why, in these pressing circumstances of limited time, we have made so 35 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH much of t h i s S a m a r i t a n scene. The answer is t h a t it was here, f o r t h e first and only time, t h a t Jesus Christ flatly said t h a t He w a s God; surely a suffi- cient w a r r a n t to immortalize t h e event itself, and to visualize its all-significant setting. How beauti- fully in keeping with t h e simple yet sublime purpose of t h e Incarnation was t h i s utterance made by C h r i s t Who was Himself t h e divine seed promised to Adam and to Abraham, Who was t h e actual f u l - fillment of t h e promises made on t h i s very spot. This poor woman—with h e r shame now all discov- ered—had s a i d : " I know t h a t t h e Messias cometh, (Who is called C h r i s t ) ; therefore, when He is come He will tell us all things." The words of Christ in answer are, " I am He, Who am speaking w i t h thee." Christ used no reticence h e r e and He l e f t no place f o r subtleties by anyone else. The scene is one t h a t well could stand forever alone. I t is is a lesson to the proud rationalist demanding t h a t f a i t h be sup- planted by demonstration. Such a man demanding proofs proudly feels t h a t he is reasonable. He is, and t h a t is precisely his complete and hopeless undoing. He insists on confining himself within the n a r r o w i n g walls of his own demonstration. This is equally t r u e of all who r e j e c t revelation because t h e t r u t h s revealed s u r p a s s t h e power of m a n ' s groping un- aided reason. H u m a n intelligence is t h u s limited, whether i t is considered in t h e men who stand on the street in f r o n t of the university, or who occupy positions of t h e highest t r u s t and responsibility within its stately halls. In spiritual realms, in the t h i n g s which exist f a r above all t h e measures of sense, God's t r u t h finds readiest acceptance in hum- ble and patient h e a r t s . " B u t my f a i t h , " all will 36 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH say, " m u s t be reasonable;" and i t is t r u e t h a t we must all make use of our mental powers. How much? We do not know, and cannot know, in any single case. God's proportions between His grace and the use of our n a t u r a l powers a r e ' p r o b a b l y different in each individual case. Certainly, how- ever, we cannot expect t h a t Christ Himself will personally t h r o w us all down f r o m our own conceit into t h e dust of the road like St. Paul t h a t we may all rise seraphs of divine love. The p a t h w a y of the poor woman a t t h e well is more secure. W h a t we do know is t h a t God will never be lacking; t h a t when we do our little p a r t , He will supply all our .de- ficiencies; and t h i s is knowledge enough. It is, on the other hand, equally certain t h a t He will never make philosophy out of theology by any com- plete subjugation of revelation to reason, f o r so f a i t h would be lost. Could we answer all questions by reason, our moment of t r i u m p h would also be our moment of u t t e r defeat. To the exact extent of all complete demonstrations, divine f a i t h would necessarily die. We must f o r e v e r r e f u s e the ration- alist's demand t h a t we make a block of common every-day concrete the cornerstone now formed by Christ f o r our whole spiritual edifice. I t may help t h i s confident man of reason to read- j u s t himself to his real surroundings to know t h a t he is nothing n e w ; t h a t he is in f a c t as old a s more humble and less humble men. In t h i s very m a t t e r of t h e divinity of Christ, a proof-seeker impatiently cried o u t : "How long dost thou hold our souls in suspense? If Thou be t h e Christ, tell us plainly." Christ did not tell t h a t man plainly, nor does He speak plainly now to t h a t type of listener. W h a t 37 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH He did say on t h a t occasion was, " I speak to you, and you believe n o t ; the works t h a t I do in the n a m e of my F a t h e r , they give testimony of me." A little later here He says " I and t h e F a t h e r a r e one," sure- ly a plain enough a n s w e r ; but, " T h e J e w s took up stones to stone H i m , " because they declared He had blasphemed. I t is h a r d to absolve an obstinate attitude f r o m intellectual pride. The poor degraded woman a t Jacob's well h a s the immortal honor of being the first and only person who ever heard f r o m the lips of Christ a distinct and direct avowal of His own divinity. Commentators, contrasting h e r with the impertinent Jewish interlocutors of Christ, feel t h a t she owed the priceless f a v o r to her humble willingness to learn. In any case she had no idea of t a k i n g up stones, like the cultured Jews, to stone Christ f o r His kindness in telling her who He was. H e r actual r e t u r n f o r His priceless confidence was t h a t of a t once becoming His apostle and going among her own, s a y i n g : "Come, and see a m a n who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is He not the C h r i s t ? " I t is only r i g h t to add here t h a t on a later occa- sion Christ once said " I am He." The question then, however, was not of t h e Messias or of t h e Christ a s such. The only concern of the soldiers who had come was a certain Jesus of Nazareth, Whom it was their duty to a r r e s t , and t h e i r thoughts went no f u r t h e r t h a n t h a t . Therefore, Christ's direct acknowledgement of identity was entirely outside of our present question. I t must be remembered: t h a t t h e proof-seeker already mentioned had an official representative in this m a t t e r of Christ's divinity even in the mortal 38 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH days of Christ Himself. "The High P r i e s t rising up said to H i m : Answerest Thou nothing to the things which these witness against Thee? I a d j u r e Thee by t h e living God, t h a t Thou tell us if Thou be t h e Christ, t h e Son of God. Jesus saith to h i m : Thou h a s t said it." H e r e because t h e question was official and because Christ honored every require- ment of the old law as long as it was in existence, He gave a much clearer and more direct answer t h a n He had given to the insincere questioners in t h e s t r e e t ; yet one falling f a r short of t h e response He had given to t h e poor sinner a t Jacob's well. I t was all-sufficient f o r the t r u t h and it offers an occa- sion now f o r us to understand t h a t Our Lord called Himself the Son of God not in t h e wide sense in which all good Jews m i g h t call themselves sons of God but in the strictest sense of s h a r i n g t h e n a t u r e of God and t h e r e f o r e being t h e equal of God. This is proven by the words and actions of t h e High P r i e s t on h e a r i n g Our Lord's answer. We a r e told t h a t the High Priest r e n t his garments, s a y i n g : " W h a t f u r t h e r need have we of witnesses? Behold now you have heard the blasphemy: W h a t think you? But they answering, s a i d : He is guilty of death." E v e r y good J e w must t e a r his g a r m e n t open a t the t h r o a t on hearing blasphemy and in the streets the blasphemer was to be stoned. There would be no question of blasphemy if Our Lord were understood to be using the title Son of God in the wider sense of adopted sonship. T h e r e f o r e the High P r i e s t rending his g a r m e n t s and t h e crowds on t h e streets t a k i n g up stones to stone Him a r e both convincing proofs t h a t H i s indirect yet clearly implied assertion t h a t He was God was well under- 39 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH stood. All t h a t we know of t h e divine witness to the t r u t h of Our Lord's mission puts t h e i m p r i n t of God's confirmation on every claim t h a t Christ may make. When, therefore, t h e whole n a t u r e of His revealing Himself is t h e revelation of a divine per- son, t h e Son of God, t h e conclusion is peremptory t h a t Jesus Christ, born in time of t h e Virgin Mary, and t h e r e f o r e t r u e man, was t r u e God, consubstantial with the F a t h e r and the Holy Ghost. The argument, if a r g u m e n t need be formulated, can be explicitly stated in t h i s wise: Jesus of N a z a r e t h was either deceived, or a deceiver, or God, as He claimed t o be. I t is unthinkable blasphemy t h a t the Messias so long and so exactly foretold, Who came fulfilling those ancient prophecies and citing in support of t h e t r u t h of His divinity t h e miracles which He performed in His own name and by His own authority, and crowning these miracles by His resurrection f r o m the dead as He Himself had foretold—that He w a s a deceiver or could be deceived. It would mean t h a t this tremendous power of divine testimony h a d been borne to a lie. We have only, therefore, to substantiate the f a c t t h a t He did proclaim His own divinity, t h a t He declared, in the most absolute, unequivocal manner t h a t He is God, the Son of God, equal in all things like to His F a t h e r Who sent Him. We t u r n inevitably to t h e Gospel account of His life and works and resurrection. We use, it must again be noted, these writings a s h u m a n documents and f o r t h e i r proven historical value. John the Baptist, himself foretold five hundred years before by Malachi, the last link of Christ's glorious prophets in t h e older law, pointing to 40 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH Christ s a i d : "Behold the lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away t h e sin of the world." Jesus Himself claims t h a t which men have always with reason considered as belonging to God alone. "I a m t h e way, and t h e t r u t h , and t h e l i f e " (JOHN xiv, 6). " I am the light of the w o r l d ; he t h a t fol- loweth me, walketh not in darkness, b u t shall have the light of life." ( J O H N viii, 12) " I am the resur- rection and the life : he t h a t believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live." ( J O H N xi, 25). Equally clear is t h e claim of divinity when Jesus forgives sin, and so the Jews understood i t : "Who shall forgive sins but God;" when He declares t h a t He will send" the Holy Spirit, as the F a t h e r hath sent Him ; when He announces t h a t He will come a t the end of the world to judge the living and t h e dead, and to render to each one according to his works. Jesus proclaims Himself e t e r n a l : "Before Abra- h a m was made I am." He shows t h a t He knows all things, even t h e most secret recesses of t h e human h e a r t (MATT, ix, 4 ) . He is omnipotent, f o r it is by His own power t h a t He will rise f r o m t h e dead. ( J O H N x, 18). The miracles which He works and which suppose a divine power a r e performed in His own name and by His own p o w e r ; it was as sovereign master t h a t Jésus commanded nature, men, angels and demons: "Young man, I say to thee, arise" ( L U K E vii, 14). " I will be thou made clean" (MATT, viii, 3. "Lazarus, come f o r t h " f r o m the tomb ( J O H N xi, 43). He does not only exercise at will t h i s power which belongs to Him by right, but He delegates it to whom He pleases ; He promises His Apostles t h a t they shall 41 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH work in His name miracles more marvelous t h a n His own. Jesus clearly affirms His identity with the n a t u r e of His F a t h e r , as well as t h e distinction of persons, and consequently claims t h e worship and honors due to God alone, " I and the F a t h e r a r e one" ( J O H N x, 30). While He proclaims t h e divine p r e c e p t : "The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve," H e p e r m i t s Himself t o be adored by t h e m a n born blind, by t h e holy women and by His disciples (MATT, xxviii, 9 ) . When St. Thomas, finally convinced of t h e resurrection of His Master, said to Him "My Lord and my God," f a r f r o m cen- suring these words as blasphemous, Jesus publicly approved the f a i t h of His disciple, and blessed those who in f u t u r e would imitate his example. On solemn occasions in the presence of His dis- ciples, of His enemies, of His very judges, of t h e g r e a t Council of His nation, Jesus proclaimed His divinity in the most positive and f o r m a l manner. We shall see t h a t even those who pursued Him with implacable h a t r e d never misapprehended the mean- ing of His words. He questioned His disciples one day about Him- self: "Whom do you say t h a t I a m ? " Simon Peter answered and s a i d : "Thou a r t Christ the Son of the living God." Again, t h a t , here t r u e and equal Son- ship is meant is clear f r o m the words of Our Lord declaring t h a t St. P e t e r has been inspired by a revelation f r o m the F a t h e r in heaven. On another occasion when Jesus said, " I and the F a t h e r a r e one," the J e w s took up stones t o stone Him as a blasphemer. Jesus said "Many good works I have showed you f r o m my F a t h e r ; f o r which of 42 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH those works do you stone m e ? " The J e w s answered H i m " F o r a good work we stone Thee not, but f o r blasphemy; and because t h a t Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God." We have already recounted t h e outcry of t h e High P r i e s t and t h e Sanhedrin when Jesus said t h a t He was the Christ the Son of God. F r o m t h i s t r i b u n a l Jesus is led to the Roman Governor, who, convinced of His innocence, is about to release Him, b u t the princes of t h e people c r y : "We have a l a w ; and according to t h e law He ought t o die, because He made Himself the Son of God" ( J O H N xix, 7 ) . On Calvary we hear t h i s significant i n s u l t : "If Thou be the Son of God, come down f r o m t h e cross" (MATT, xxvii, 40). This briefest outline, alone possible in t h i s sermon, can be found fully expounded in any t r e a t i s e of Catholic doctrine or of t r u e Christian apologetics. In the centuries t h a t have elapsed t h e glorious con- tinued mission of Christ a s prophet, priest and king of mankind has set before t h e whole world t h e splendor of these t r u t h s as we shall see in t h e f u r - t h e r sermons of this course. W h a t h a s been said here has been f o r nineteen hundred years t h e inspir- ation to holiness f o r countless souls. Surely t h e recital is sufficient to make any t h i n k i n g mind, any earnest seeker a f t e r t r u t h , exclaim with the woman a t the well of S a m a r i a : "Is not t h i s the C h r i s t ? " even as it is sufficient to fill the h e a r t s of all rejoicing in the beautiful g i f t of divine f a i t h and p r o m p t them f r o m g r a t e f u l h e a r t s to echo t h e cry of Thomas, "My Lord and my God." 43 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH CHRIST, THE FOUNDER, PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, February 1, 1931) In the first of these addresses, we f e l t justified in saying t h a t t h e Incarnation placed our humanity as the keystone of created perfection. Seaching f o r its motive, we f e l t t h a t t h a t motive was a very especial and vehement love. Looking a t t h e mystery in itself, we were surprised a t its ease, since we had both its t e r m s : humanity, by looking into our own, and Deity, t h r o u g h the numberless revelations of Himself made by God in all t h e ages of a world no longer young. Regarding Christ more closely, as the Expected of the Nations, a s the Messias of t h e Old Dispensation, we seemed to find in t h e first half of the title r a t h e r a duty t h a n a f a c t ; b u t in t h e second, an eternal and infallible certainty of Christ's divinity w r i t t e n in prcphecies all divine t h r o u g h thousands and thous&nds of v«ars, and exactly f u l - filled at His b i r t h . This evening, we wish to consider Him a s H e s t a n d s ci-ect and fully credited among m e n : a divine Founder of a new and divine dispensation; a Prophet, a P r i e s t and a King. The first and eternal base of Christ's power is the f a c t already established, t h a t He is divine. Coming a little n e a r e r to us, and using t h e only f o r m s of expressions, finite and imperfect though they be, a t our disposal, we can say t h a t His r i g h t t o f o u n d a new order on e a r t h lies in the f a c t t h a t t h e Christ- Man is a representative and legate of t h e entire T r i n i t y ; with Whom, it need not be said, rests all conceivable power and right. Christ, t h e God-man, 44 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH represents Himself, as we may say, inasmuch as He is the eternal Word of God, the Second Person of the most holy T r i n i t y ; and t o His infinite wisdom the F a t h e r has entrusted all p o w e r ; to it, t h e Holy Ghost has entrusted all t h e t r e a s u r e s of His infinite Love. Christ, surely, has a r i g h t to act f o r Himself, and any supreme source has a r i g h t to delegate its own powers. The F a t h e r and t h e Holy Ghost have used this r i g h t of delegation in f a v o r of Christ, in f a v o r of Him Who is man, as well a s God. -Any delegation by a supreme source, moreover, can be partial and complete. And whether i t is partial or complete can be found only by an inspection of the actual i n s t r u m e n t of. delegation. In t h e case of Christ, the I n c a r n a t e God, we can find the t e r m s sufficiently in the inspired, infallible Scriptures. By this test, Christ's powers a r e complete, not partial or qualified. Certainly, a s already noted, He had no need of delegation f r o m Himself to Him- self. He is His own all-sufficient reason. And of Him, the F a t h e r s a i d : "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul h a t h been well pleased . . . In His name, the Gentiles shall hope" (MATT xii, 18; ISA. xiii, 1) words which the J o r d a n and Tabor had heard before Christ uttered them Himself. " H e a r ye Him," t h a t voice f r o m heaven had said on T a b o r ; and long before t h e reason had been given, " F o r my hand shall help Him, and my a r m shall strengthen H i m " (PS. lxxxviii, 22). Nor was the Holy Ghost want- ing. In a way, He could not be, f o r He proceeded f r o m the Son, as t r u l y as f r o m t h e F a t h e r . "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, w h e r e f o r e He hath anointed Me; ( L U K E iv, 18) " t h a t vision and 45 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Saint of saints may be anointed" (DAN. ix, 24). "Jesus of N a z a r - e t h : how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with power" (ACTS x, 38). I t was, therefore, no illegal assumption when Christ declared: "All power is given t o me in heaven and in e a r t h ; " nor any usurpation when He directed His apostles to baptize, "in the name of the F a t h e r , and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt, xxviii, 19). The prophecies of t h e ages have already shown t h a t Christ w a s divine; and both the Old Testament and t h e New openly show His r i g h t to speak f o r t h e entire most holy Trinity. There can, therefore, be no question of injustice when He did so. With r e g a r d to man, t h e r e was a f u r t h e r duty. God made man f r e e , and n a t u r a l equity demands t h a t before any obligation restricting or directing n a t u r - al liberty be imposed, the r i g h t to impose it be ade- quately established. Christ never failed in any duty to man. He repeatedly b r o u g h t the sacred prophecies t o t h e minds of His hearers, and He supplemented them with acts so portentous as to leave no room f o r . a n y sincerely remaining doubt. He was not brief or difficult. Even a f t e r t h e Resur- rection, and all t h a t had openly preceded it, He permitted and directed the still doubting Thomas to " b r i n g hither t h y hand, and p u t it into Mv side;" ( J O H N xx, 27) t h a t all-sacred side t h a t the lance of t h e soldier had pierced ( J O H N xix, 34). Many of our divine Lord's actions, besides being wholly miraculous in themselves, w e r e actual and exact fulfillments of t h e ancient and accurately converging prophecies in His r e g a r d ; and we ourselves, like those of other ages, have witnessed the no less exact 46 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH fulfillment of prophecies made by Christ Himself of the ages to come. Even t h e demons cried o u t : " W h a t have we to do with Thee, Jesus of N a z a r e t h ? I know Who Thou a r t , the Holy One of God" (MARK i, 24). And t h a t was two thousand y e a r s ago, and with much less light t h a n we possess. F o r we have, first of all, since then, t h e r e f u l g e n t testi- mony of Christ's glorious resurrection, and in addition, all these centuries of His life in His Church, explaining and defining much t h a t was b u t obscurely known, both in the Old Dispensation, and in the earlier p a r t of t h e New. The testimony of thousands of years h a s established t h e divinity of Christ beyond any reasonable doubt, and we shall, therefore, rest His case here,' f o r , as St. Augustine has pointed out, any man who demands still more proof, when evidence amply sufficient has already been given, deserves no f u r t h e r consideration. We shall, accordingly, here consider Christ's actions as Prophet, P r i e s t and King, r a t h e r as an example of His power, t h a n as proofs of its r i g h t . The one g r e a t differentiating note of the New Dispensation when compared with the Old, is t h e f a c t t h a t it is a rule of love ancl attraction, not of f e a r and repulsion. I t is t h e change f r o m t h e con- dition of a servant to t h a t of a son. This is no mere poetic fancy. God Himself says, "You have not received the spirit of bondage again in f e a r ; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons" (ROM. viii, 15). I t was a son t h a t became incarnate. The poor prodigal wished to become a slave, ( L U K E xv, 19) but his f a t h e r , instead of chains to his feet, put a r i n g on his finger. And again God declares, " F o r God h a s not given us t h e spirit of f e a r , b u t of 47 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH power and of love" ( I I TIM. i, 7 ) . The Good S a m a r i t a n did not p u t manacles on t h e p o o r . wound- ed traveler, or make him his slave, when he grew strong I n even tenderer t e r m s Christ Himself recalls! adopts, and makes H i s own t h e gentle words of I s a i a s : "The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench" (ISA. x m , 3 ; MATT xii, 20). Anyone reading Cicero—a typical cultured representative of ancient p a g a n society— cannot but be struck by t h e orator's accumulated adjectives heaping still f u r t h e r and f u r t h e r con- t e m p t and abuse on t h e lower classes of men, and on some particular individuals; t h e very evident purpose being nothing else t h a n a very carefully studied preparation f o r t h e final b r u t a l destruction of those already destitute of all f a r t h e r h u m a n hope; a cruel, heartless prelude t o t h e final snapping of the reed, and t h e placing of a coarse, unfeeling foot upon the b u t weakly smouldering flax. More t h a n once captive kings, walking on foot chained to a Roman conqueror's t r i u m p h a l car, covered w i t h dust and ready to drop f r o m sheer exhaustion, f o u n d their only release in the dungeon strangulation t h a t ended t h e horrible spectacle. And Cicero, t h e cul- tured he who stood more fof his class t h a n f o r himself—rejoiced and exulted in their hopeless, despairing misery. The gentle Nazarene w a s t h e very opposite and antithesis of t h e self-brutalized Roman. He knew t h a t even t h e most guilty and most degraded of men were still His brothers. H e remembered t h a t precisely because they were so unworthy, and so f a r below all honorable h u m a n standards, they needed His help more t h a n anyone else; and He said, " I came not to call t h e just, b u t 48 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH sinners" ( L U K E v, 32). He came—He founded t h e New Dispensation—that the reed might be bound up, and again grow tall and s t r a i g h t in verdant beauty; t h a t the now but feebly flickering last embers of a love t h a t had been divine might again mount strong and impetuous even to the flaming heights of heaven. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," He said, " w h e r e f o r e He h a t h anointed me . . . to preach deliverance to the captives, to set a t liberty them t h a t a r e bruised," ( L U K E iv, 18) "to comfort all t h a t m o u r n " (ISA lxi, 2 ) . Even more t h a n the scathing words of Malachy, the all-tender, all-exul- t a n t "Benedictus" of Zachary f o r m s a complete and eternal rejection and abrogation of Sinai's t e r r o r and of daily f e a r . "Blessed be t h e Lord God of I s r a e l : because He h a t h visited and wrought the redemption of His people . . . to enlighten them t h a t sit m darkness, and in the shadow of d e a t h : to direct our f e e t into the way of peace" ( L U K E i 68 and 79). Nor should this now be wonderful to us. We have seen t h a t the deepest motive of the wondrous Incarnation itself was love. We know t h a t t h e Incarnation is the closest of all possible unions of God with m a n ; and we know t h a t union and its intimacy is a proof and an infallible measure of love. We know t h a t the Incarnation is a sonship, a filiation, and t h a t filiation is a . deathless founda- tion of love. We have already heard so many lofty inspired texts expressly assigning love as t h e reason why God sent His Son into t h i s world. The Incar- nation itself, merely as a fact, hopelessly betrays its own tender character. Christ, therefore, the found- er of the New Dispensation, stands between the two 49 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH T e s t a m e n t s , — f o r g i v i n g t h e Old, elevating t h e N e w . P r o p h e t , P r i e s t and K i n g ! C h r i s t w a s all t h e s e and incomparably t h e g r e a t e s t of all. A n y glance a t t h e now h o a r y p r o p h e t i c sages of t h e Old L a w will show t h a t these Seers announced a n d i n t e r - p r e t e d t h e will of God, and acted in g e n e r a l a s H i s messengers t o H i s people, quite as o f t e n , p e r h a p s , a s t h e y predicted f u t u r e t h i n g s : our o r d i n a r y con- cept of a p r o p h e t ' s w o r k . When, t h e n w e call C h r i s t a p r o p h e t , we intend to include both these b r a n c h e s of t h e p r o p h e t i c office. H e f o r e t o l d t h e dread destruction of Jesusalem, and t h e splendors of H i s own l a s t coming. H e promised heaven t o t h e p e n i t e n t t h i e f . To every e a r n e s t soul, as l a t e r to St. Stephen, H e opened t h e p o r t a l s of P a r a d i s e in H i s own way, and gave t h e vision of its splendid ulti- m a t e realities. I t is, however, especially a s a T e a c h e r , — t h e a l t e r - n a t e and g r e a t e r office—that we wish to t h i n k h e r e of His p r o p h e t i c action in H i s own m o r t a l l i f e in t h i s world. F o r , a s such, H e v e r y g r e a t l y ennobled t h e objects of our f a i t h . B e f o r e H i m , t h e T r i n i t y w a s scarcely k n o w n ; b u t H e m a d e it e v i d e n t ; H i s v e r y presence on e a r t h added t h e I n c a r n a t i o n . H e not only w a s t h e I n c a r n a t i o n , H e explained it. H e said, " I and t h e F a t h e r a r e one" ( J O H N x, 3 0 ) . H e said, " T h e F a t h e r is g r e a t e r t h a n I " ( J O H N xiv, 2 8 ) . H e said, " T h e F a t h e r is in me, and I a m in t h e F a t h e r " ( J O H N x, 3 8 ) . H e said, "All t h i n g s whatsoever t h e F a t h e r h a t h , a r e m i n e " ( J O H N xvi, 15) . H e said, " A s t h e F a t h e r h a t h sent me, I also send y o u " ( J O H N xx, 2 1 ) . And t h i s is all w e really need t o know about t h e I n c a r n a t i o n . C h r i s t added still o t h e r magnificent t h i n g s t o t h e f o r m e r t r e a s u r y 60 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH of earnest souls on earth. He gave us t h e Sacra- ments of the New Law. He changed and exalted the laws of discipline in many particulars. He gave us the Sermon on the Mount, and by His own daily divine example, He illuminated and illustrated the entire moral law with a new light and a new splen- dor f r o m the f u r t h e r heights of heaven. As in t h e Incarnation, so also in His Priesthood Christ's relation is a relation of identity. F r o m the very beginning of recorded history sacrifice h a s been the f o r m of worship most acceptable to God. We see t h i s emphasized in t h e history of the Jewish people; and quite a p a r t f r o m the many ceremonies with which the Temple sacrifices came to be sur- rounded we have a very clear idea of t h e essential elements. A slab of stone was set up t o represent God. The worshipper came before t h i s a l t a r to adore and acknowledge his Creator a s the Lord of life and death holding supreme dominion over man, His creature. To indicate this, the worshipper brought with him something over which he had dominion, the power of life and death. Wishing to acknowledge f u r t h e r t h a t , as a sinner, he deserved t h a t the Lord of life and death should strike him f o r his sins, he struck t h e t h i n g over which he had the power of life and death. Then t h e real sacri- ficial a c t was f o r t h e priest to t a k e the blood of t h e victim and t h r o w it on t h e altar, asking God t o accept the blood of the victim in place of the blood of the sinner, which should have been shed f o r his sins. I t is clear t h a t such a sacrifice in the Old Law could only be a gesture, a plea f o r mercy. The substitution was utterly inadequate; the victim was too f a r beneath the man in dignity to make adequate r e p a r - 51 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH ation f o r m a n ' s offense against God. On t h e other hand even if t h e Victim h a d been one of m a n ' s own race who offered himself f o r his fellow-man, t h e sacrifice would still have been inadequate because o f t h e i n f i n i t e l y greater dignity of the offended God. I n other words, t h e r e was TIO hope of adequate r e p a r a t i o n f o r m a n ' s sin involving his r i g h t to re- storation to his s u p e r n a t u r a l destiny unless t h e r e be f o u n d a victim t h e equal of m a n and at t h e same time the equal of t h e offended God. So, again we come to t h e mystery of God's love f o r t h e children of men. H e m i g h t have dismissed man, f o r g i v i n g him his transgression;, but t h e r e was n o t h i n g | f a man t h a t could ever win back his place m t h e f r i e n d s h i p of t h e God Who made him. He would have been a t best a pardoned criminal, with no claim on t h e companionship of God. God's love f o r His created image would not brook this, b u t found a way to hide t h e m a j e s t y of God in t h e flesh of a helpless baby and be born of a woman s body, t h a t so He might be blood b r o t h e r to t h e children of men. So came Jesus Christ, t h e Redeemer of mankind. When t h e hour came f o r H i m to make t h e sacrifice t h a t would not only t a k e away t h e sins of t h e world b u t make such adequate r e p a r a t i o n a s would restore man in fullest justice to his place in the adopted sonship of God, He alone m u s t be both priest and victim. H e alone could offer Himself. Anyone could slay t h e victim. The priestly office was to offer t h e blood on t h e a l t a r of God. His enemies could slay the Christ, b u t only when He willingly let the red blood of God flow on t h e white body of Christ, t h e t r u e altar—no longer a slab of stone rep- resenting God—then was t h e g r e a t sacrifice complete 52 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH and Jesus Christ, t r u e God and t r u e man, priest and victim of a clean oblation t h a t H i s F a t h e r m u s t ' accept. Such a victim once slain, being an infinite victim, need never be slain again, b u t could always be offered as long as men had need to call upon t h a t saving sacrifice. T h e r e f o r e was His priesthood a f t e r the order of Melchisedech, who had offered bread and wine in type long centuries before. Therefore, a t the Last Supper did He give to those first priests- their ordination to t h e priesthood of Christ according to t h e order of Melchisedech. Of His power t h e r e can be no question. He was God. J u s t as He had been able to hide the m a j e s t y of God in the flesh of a helpless baby, so was He j u s t as able to hide t h e m a j e s t y of God in t h a t piece of bread which He picked up f r o m t h a t table, broke into pieces, making of it an outward sign, saying ' t h a t this was His body which should be broken f o r men t h e next d a y ; j u s t as able to t a k e t h a t cup of wine and bid them all drink of it, as it was His blood which should be scattered f o r the remission of sms. Of His commission to those first priests t h e r e can be no question: "Do this in commemora- tion of me, and as often as you do it you will show f o r t h the death of the Lord until He come again " T h a t commission was, therefore, to remain in the priesthood of His Church. I t was God speaking. So t h e prophecy of Malachy came to fulfillment; and down t h r o u g h t h e centuries His priesthood has ° f 3 d ™ d e r t h e f 0 ™ He chose the clean oblation of the body and the blood of the Victim of Calvary Thus He not only offered the "clean oblation" of Malachy (i, 1 1 ) ; He Himself was t h a t clean oblation. F o r m the incomparable sacrifice of t h e New Dis- 53 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH pensation, He is both Victim and P r i e s t ; and He t h u s gives to both sacrifice and priesthood an in- finite dignity and value. He exercised His priest- hood on e a r t h a t the Last Supper and on t h e Cross; and He still exercises it daily and forever in its intercessory character in heaven; "made higher t h a n the heavens;" ( H E B . vii, 26) and "always living to make intercession f o r u s " ( H E B . vii, 25). Adoration, thanksgiving, atonement and impetration a r e always t h e f o u r g r e a t ends of any rational sacrifice offered by man to God; and all a r e met with an infinitely superlative sufficiency, where t h e E t e r n a l Word made flesh is both P r i e s t and Victim. "If any man shall eat His flesh and drink His blood, he shall not see death f o r e v e r . " In His incompre- hensible goodness He has deigned to share t h i s priestly power w i t h poor, weak mortals. The priests of the New Law a r e t r u l y such. They act indeed in the power of Christ, b u t not so exclusively. F o r the g r e a t High P r i e s t h a s given them a real power over His real Body. Christ w a s also a King. Anyone wishing an ex- tended and classic exposition of t h i s title—really most lofty in t h e case of Christ—can find it in t h e g r e a t Encyclical, "Quas p r i m a s " of t h e present Supreme Pontiff Pius XI, issued in December, 1925. In t h i s g r e a t pronouncement the Pope first of all makes it clear t h a t he is speaking of Christ as In- carnate, when he calls Him king, f o r he carefully and explicitly explains t h a t he is speaking of Christus Homo. We shall only say here t h a t kingship is supreme dominion, and t h a t , therefore, anyone f o r whom kingship is claimed must possess some title to t h i s 54 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH most p e r f e c t f o r m of all domination. Evidently, first of all, titles belong to him who is the first maker of the m a t t e r and the f o r m and t h e union of both, as well as t h e g i f t of actual existence which places the t h i n g in question outside of its causes, and gives it a definite r a n k in the vast scale of being. God is the first Maker and Author of every entity and existence, substantial or accidental, in the whole r a n g e of created being. Christ is God. Christ, therefore, h a s the first of all titles to dominion over all created t h i n g s ; and having t h i s title, has supreme dominion; and having t h i s supreme dominion, He is t h e i r k i n g ; f o r these, a s h a s been noted, a r e con- vertible t e r m s . Angels and men, t h e r e f o r e , the earth, the ocean and t h e sky, and all t h a t a r e in them of created n a t u r a l or s u p e r n a t u r a l realities, a r e His by every possible r i g h t and title. The briefest glance a t His life shows this kingship acknowledged. We find the good angels ministering to Him in Gethsemane, and the demons fleeing f r o m Him into t h e swine t h a t were drowned in t h e sea. The winds and t h e waves fell silent a t His com- mand, and the fig-tree withered a t t h e touch of His word. Anyone reading the question p u t by God to Job can find where Christ was when the world was made. Or he can ask Christ Himself, and find the answers of E t e r n a l Wisdom—the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity—in the book of P r o v e r b s (viii, 22). When asked by Pilate if He was a King Christ answered t h a t He was. And Pilate himself wrote the inscription placed on the cross: J E S U S O F N A Z A R E T H , T H E K I N G O F T H E J E W S , and stubbornly said against all remonstrance, " W h a t I have written, I have w r i t t e n , " ( J O H N xix, 19-22) 55 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH and the t h r e e world languages in which i t was couched showed t h a t Christ was king also of some- t h i n g more t h a n t h e J e w s ; t h a t He was t h e world's universal Monarch. Christ is " T H E K I N G O P KINGS, A N D LORD O F LORDS" (APOC xix, 16). Of His Kingdom t h e r e shall be no end. F o r t h e Apocalypse is t h e Book of t h e Ultimate. 56 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH THE JURIDIC FOUNDATIONS OF THE CHURCH (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, February 8, 1931) Last Sunday evening we considered Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as Prophet, P r i e s t and King and t h e r e f o r e by r i g h t t h e Founder of a new and universal dispensation whereby t h r o u g h Him all men must be saved. This saving power f o r -all men, even those who never h e a r His holy name, is in His merits as our g r e a t High P r i e s t offering Himself a Victim on Calvary, and continuing t h a t same sacri- fice in the clean oblation of t h e New Law under t h e appearance of bread and wine. As Prophet-Teacher He keeps in t h a t religion t h e stainless p u r i t y of t r u t h . Could it fail in t r u t h , t h a t religion would cease to be His and t h i s He h a s promised will never happen. Finally, in t h a t religion He is King of mankind, asking of all who come to know Him, honor and loyalty. This Kingship of Christ, as t h e Holy F a t h e r beautifully portrayed in his Encyclical r e f e r r e d to last Sunday night, belongs to Our Lord by r i g h t of His humanity, which the Holy F a t h e r calls a b i r t h r i g h t " J u r e n a t i v o ; " but He is also King by t h e acquired r i g h t of having redeemed us by His precious blood. We a r e to speak of the Church of Christ tonight in a m a n n e r which clearly implies a sincere un- reserved belief in the divinity of Christ. We a r e not, therefore, here concerned with those who deny or question t h a t divinity. As a consequence, we can use t h e Scriptures here now in a double capacity: first, t h a t of an undeniable historical document of 57 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH unquestionable human a u t h o r i t y ; secondly, t h a t of a work inspired by t h e Holy, Ghost. F o r any real Christian, t h e Scriptures a r e inspired, they a r e t h e word of God. Christ cited them as such. On the other hand, t h e r e is no reason whatever why the Christian should not prize t h e other and independent value of the Scriptures as a reliable h u m a n document. We can always have both in m i n d ; although either alone would be amply sufficient f o r our purpose here. Once t h e divinity of Christ is conceded, His plen- a r y r i g h t to a r r a n g e all t h e t h i n g s of religion in accordance with His own infinite wisdom a t once emerges as a necessary consequence. T h i s r i g h t once conceded, our duty of unreserved obedience a t once becomes equally absolute. This leaves only one t a s k here, and t h a t is to find out w h a t a r r a n g e - m e n t Christ did actually m a k e in t h i s m a t t e r of due religious service t o God. God by no means sets aside all our n a t u r a l methods and means in any h u m a n m a t t e r . Our n a t u r a l method of finding Christ's wish in r e g a r d to a church is to examine His words and His works in t h i s connection. T h a t H e did something of t h i s kind is, by t h e consent of all, beyond question* Evi- dently, therefore, we a r e in t h e domain of f a c t , not of general speculation. We a r e not to tell Christ, or anyone else, w h a t H e should have done, as t h e tendency seems to be today. We a r e to find out w h a t He did and, as t h e legal axiom h a s it, f a c t s a r e to be proved not presumed. Our p a t h w a y to t h i s knowledge will be found in t h e secure clear n a r r a t i v e of the Scriptures relating t h e words and works of Christ in regard to His Church. F i r s t of all, Christ did not by any means leave 58 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH t h i s m a t t e r of due religious service of God to t h e f r e e choice or option of "men; but very clearly and specifically directed t h a t all should place themselves in the r a n k s of a clearly specified and definite, or- ganized religious society. The evidences which we offer in support of t h i s assertion a r e the words of Christ Himself. We learn f r o m the Gospels: first, Christ solemnly promised to institute a church when choosing among H i s twelve Apostles already selected to c a r r y on His work, one to whom He gave t h e symbolic name of P e t e r . He said to h i m : "Thou a r t Peter, and upon t h i s rock I will build My c h u r c h ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against i t . " This promise already f u r n i s h e s incontestable proof, f o r Christ could not f a i l in His words. Second, He executed His promise and founded His Church. He gave t o His apostles the power and the mission t o preach the Gospel to every c r e a t u r e ; to administer the s a c r a m e n t s ; to govern t h e F a i t h f u l ; He prom- ised to be with them until the end of time. A t t h e head of the Apostles He placed Simon, now called Peter, to whom He gave universal jurisdiction over the whole organization. This certainly was found- ing a religious society, a church. In founding t h i s church, Christ did not make t h i s society racial or national or of a n y multiplied f o r m , but made it one and exclusive. In proof of t h i s assertion we offer His own words w r i t t e n by St. Luke (xi, 2 3 ) : "He t h a t g a t h e r e t h not with me," s c a t t e r e t h ; " and by St. Mark (xvi, 15) : "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every c r e a t u r e . " Christ was too good an executive to found overlapping or conflicting jurisdictions. Con- sequently, He f u r t h e r says of a n y o u t s i d e r : "If he 59 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH will not hear t h e church, let h i m be t o t h e e a s t h e heathen and publican" (MATT, xviii, 17). Christ made t h e r i g h t and t h e duty of t h i s relig- ious society universal in place. H e s a i d : Go ye into t h e whole world," "preach to every creature, "teach ye all nations." A f t e r words such as these, t h i s p a r t of our thesis will hardly appear presump- tuous. He made t h i s Society universal in time. H e Him- self s a i d : "Behold I a m with you all days, even to the consummation of t h e world" (MATT, xxviii, 20). Moreover, all t h e age-old prophecies, all fully en- dorsed either directly or indirectly by Christ Him- self as well as many of the direct prophecies made by Christ Himself alone, show the "kingdom of h e a v e n ; " t h e "kingdom of God," where these phrases must mean His Church on earth, to be eter- nal in t h e diminished yet f r e q u e n t sense of spanning all subsequent time. This society w a s to be efficient in all t h a t per- tains to its strict specific domain of f a i t h and morals. In proof of t h i s assertion we adduce anew t h e words of Christ j u s t given: " A n d " — t h e conjunction is very i m p o r t a n t here—"behold I am w i t h you all days even to t h e consummation of t h e world." "All days," t h e r e f o r e with no intermediate lapses at any time. "Even to the consummation of t h e world," t h e r e f o r e no f u r t h e r lapses of any kind. Now Christ did not promise His own presence merely f o r t h e doing of some u n i m p o r t a n t work. His only conceivable purpose in t h i s steady, uninterrupted presence and vigilance is to guide His Church in its specific teach- ing capacity. This means infallibility, unless we wish to assert t h a t Christ could make essential 60 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH blunders or permit them r i g h t in His own presence on the p a r t of the organization entrusted by Him- self with t h e earthly care of men's eternal salvation. Referring, moreover, to t h e Holy Ghost, Christ f u r t h e r s a i d : "When He, the Spirit of T r u t h , is come He will teach you all t r u t h . . . and the things t h a t a r e to come, He will show you" ( J O H N xvi, 13). " B u t t h e Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom t h e F a t h e r will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and b r i n g all t h i n g s to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you" ( J O H N xiv, 26). Now t h i s to a corporate body of men, a f t e r the Last Supper when He Himself in His own visible presence was leaving the world f o r e v e r ; t h a t is, when He was giving His last supreme act of commission to those who were to continue His work amongst men. He here promised most solemnly, and most solemnly repeated the assurance, t h a t the Holy Ghost would teach them all t h i n g s ; and t h e very first t h i n g He would need to teach was how to keep out of e r r o r . If this means anything a t all, it means infallibility. Christ also equipped t h i s society with all needed power both of order and of jurisdiction; with t h e power of order f o r its sacrificial and sacramental m i n i s t r a t i o n ; and with the power of jurisdiction in all its complete legislative, judicial and sanctioning aspects f o r the necessary and effective administra- tion of its right, mission and duty. In proof of this assertion where it touches t h e power of order in the sacrificial act included in the institution of t h e E u c h a r i s t a t the Last Supper we adduce the words of Christ t h e r e spoken: "Do t h i s f o r a commemora- tion of m e " ( L U K E xxii, 19). Where the power CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH 61 of order touches the judicial and sanctioning f u n c - tions of His priests we quote t h e words of t h e Gos- pel ( J O H N xx, 2 3 ) : A f t e r the resurrection H e "breathed on them and He said to t h e m : Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they a r e forgiven t h e m ; and whose sins you shall retain, they a r e retained." As r e g a r d s jurisdiction f o r t h e legislative authority of His church, as well a s f o r its judicial power, we have these words of C h r i s t : "All power i s given to Me in heaven and m e a r t h y " A s t h e F a t h e r h a t h sent Me I also send y o u ; "Going t h e r e f o r e , teach ye all nations . . • Teaching t h e m to observe all t h i n g s whatsoever I have commanded you." To H i s Church in t h e p e r - son of P e t e r H e s a i d : "Thou a r t P e t e r ; and upon t h i s rock I will build My church, . . . I will give to thee t h e keys of t h e kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, i t shall be bound also in h e a v e n : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, i t shall be loosed also in heaven." H e renews t h i s tremendous commission: "Simon, Simon, behold Satan h a t h desired to have you, t h a t he may s i f t you as w h e a t : b u t I have prayed f o r thee, t h a t t h y f a i t h f a i l n o t : and thou being once converted, confirm t h y b r e t h r e n " (Luke x x n 3 1 and 32). Through t h i s p r a y e r confirming P e t e r s commission Christ promises t h a t t h e f a i t h of P e t e r , t h e f u t u r e head of the Church, and consequently t h e f a i t h also of his successors, shall r e m a i n invulnera- ble, and t h a t t h r o u g h them the other members of the Church shall be preserved firm in t h e f a i t h despite t h e t r i a l s to which they may be subjected. To Peter, moreover, is given t h e universal t a s k : "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." These words ad- 62 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH dressed to Peter alone confer upon him t h e mission of feeding the lambs and the sheep; t h a t is, the f a i t h f u l and those who a r e their spiritual f a t h e r s ; hence, all the members of t h e Church in general. Now the food of souls is t r u t h . If P e t e r could fail in his dispensing of Christ's t r u t h , then would fol- low t h e unthinkable absurdity t h a t Christ would let His flock be poisoned by the one chosen to repre- sent Him as chief shepherd. These assertions a r e clear historical facts. F o r the believer t h a t Christ is God these f a c t s a r e con- clusive of the organization, power and jurisdiction of one established corporate body to continue t h e mission of Christ f o r t h e salvation of m e n . Such f a c t s a r e established, a s we have already noted, f r o m the Scriptures as historical documents. As data, however, undoubtedly contained in the canon- ical inspired Scriptures, considered a s the word of God, these f a c t s add weight to the demonstration though not really necessary. If we have used single passages of Scriptures or only a f e w words to estab- lish each fact, we by no means imply t h a t t h e r e a r e no others to the same effect, a s any intelligent stu- dent knows. Our whole intention is to be as brief as a real sufficiency of proof will permit. We have progressed in t h e purpose of t h i s series to a point where a resumé should be helpful. Let us place ourselves, therefore, a t the side of Adam, when once the first bitter t r u t h of his ban- ishment had rankled less deep in his h e a r t . Let us be with him, a s he looks to t h e East, and sees some- t h i n g more beautiful t h a n t h e dawn now flashing a f a r over the Armenian s u m m i t s ; sees t h e first alluring outlines of t h e gentle Redeemer, and now 63 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH would not ask t h a t aught be changed. His thoughts had perchance begun to mold themselves into t h e first f a i n t foreshadowings of t h a t "Felix culpa " H a p p y f a u l t " of which t h e Church now so confi- dently sings. We, standing there, already see a universal church of Christ glowing f a i n t l y over t h e nascent world; f a i t h in Christ to come, i t s heavenly l i g h t ; and His already anticipated merits, its heav- enly life. Were we to stand t h e r e thousands of years we should see it still shining, with t h e all b u t inspired p a t r i a r c h s moving about in the white incense of t h e dewy morn as its only priests and pontiffs. At last, more t h a n two thousands years, however before the f u l l light came, we could notice, a s we did in a previous discourse, a lonely pilgrim setting out at a divine command, f r o m U r of the Chaldees, paus- ing a t H a r a n and then resuming his w e a r y foot- steps to Sichem and Bethel, to become t h e f a t h e r of a chosen portion of t h e now f a r - f l u n g multitudes of m a n k i n d — t h a t is, we see A b r a h a m and we h e a r the promise made to Adam repeated and growing more distinct and splendid. Yet we m u s t remember t h a t the outer Church of Christ among the nations did not cease t h r o u g h this special adoption of t h e 'Jews. Nor was t h a t outer Church of C h r i s t abrogated or its power diminished when, a thousand years later still, Moses gave the w r i t t e n law to a rescued people. Everywhere in the outer world and to t h e very core of the Jewish people Christ was ever the Alpha and the Omega of every legitimate hope. Since t h e fall, t h e r e h a s never been any other name under heaven by which men could be saved; and t h e r e never h a s been a time or a place where t h a t n a m e was. n o t 64 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH sufficient. Then in the fullness of time, vagueness gave way to splendor, Christ came in all reality and His glorious, indefectible Church became t h e reality of which we a r e speaking here t h i s evening. Up to t h e time of A b r a h a m t h e law of n a t u r e was man's only guide, wherever he might b e ; with the p a t r i a r c h s again a p p e a r i n g a s i t s sole i n t e r p r e t e r s . The pact made with A b r a h a m was so brief and so simple, despite its all-significant value, as to leave the n a t u r a l law almost undisturbed. T h a t n a t u r a l law w r i t t e n in m a n ' s own h e a r t declared his duty of adoration, thanksgiving, atonement, and petition, in r e g a r d to t h e g r e a t infinite Creator f r o m whom he came. With Moses, a new order commenced in man's j u r i d i c relations w i t h God. F o r Moses set up a formulated law, and new obligations a t once came into being. The Mosaic law became a t once opera- tive f o r all the Jews, t h e outer world still remaining, as before, belonging to Christ indeed, but only in the f o r m which the n a t u r a l law suggested and en- forced. F o r the Jewish people, t h e synagogue now became a full j u r i d i c reality, and remained such up to its abrogation by Christ in f a v o r of the Church as we now know it. Then t h e synagogue fell. Christ had come. His r i g h t and H i s sway in t h e new f o r m determined by Him became universal; universal in all t h e i r j u r i d i c force f o r all to whom i t was inti- m a t e d ; yet still bearing b u t lightly on those who had no due knowledge of its supreme all-including powers. No man is excluded f r o m participation in t h e f r u i t s of the Redemption save t h r o u g h his own f a u l t , through resistance to grace, and each one will be judged according to t h a t which he h a s received. I t 65 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH is a theological axiom "to him who does w h a t de- pends upon himself God will not r e f u s e H i s grace. He who shall have followed t h e light of reason and lived in conformity w i t h t h a t which h e believes is . t r u e cannot be lost. "One may," says t h e learned Cardinal Dechamps, "belong in h e a r t t h o u g h not in body to the Church. Is it not very clear t h a t every man in good f a i t h belongs in h e a r t to the Church, since he would enter it if he recognized it a s teaching t r u t h 9 Are not all who have a sincere and general desire to cling to t r u t h , to do God's will m t h i s disposition?" Thus many who have never h e a r d t h e name of Christ and many others so invincibly deceived t h a t they do not recognize t h e visible society which is the body of the Church of Christ, may still, t h r o u g h sanctifying grace, belong to t h e soul of t h e one exclusive divinely founded society of Christ s f a i t h f u l . This Church stands alone today, juridically speaking. ' Where, therefore, a r e found t h e unfailing because infallible teachings of Christ, where His priesthood continues His sacrifice under t h e f o r m of bread and wine, where h e a r t s hold f a i t h f u l l y to Him as t h e i r King—there surely is the Church of Christ of t h e New Dispensation, t h e r e t r u l y is Christ recognized and accepted as Prophet, P r i e s t and King. There shall never be any other, divine or human, to succeed it. I t is of t h i s one, last, universal, exclusive Church of Christ t h a t we have been seeking to speak in some poor way tonight. 66 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH THE CHURCH: CHRIST'S MYSTICAL BODY (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in the Catholic Hour, February 15, 1931) Last Sunday we considered the Church a s founded by Jesus Christ to continue His divine work here below. The Church is not only the guardian of the doctrine and law of Christ, b u t a s well distributor of His graces among men. This Church is a visible society, founded by Christ to continue His sanctify- ing mission here below; she appears t h u s as a living organism. The Church, however, m u s t also be regarded a s the holy and invisible society of all the souls t h a t share by grace in Christ's divine sonship. These f o r m the kingdom He won by H i s blood. This is what St. Paul calls t h e Body of Christ, not of course, His physical Body, but Hiß mystical Body. Now it is t r u e t h a t t h e invisible Church or t h e soul of the Church is more i m p o r t a n t t h a n t h e visible Church, but in the normal economy of Christianity, it is only by union with t h e visible society t h a t souls have participation in the possessions and privileges of the invisible kingdom of Christ. In such w o r d s does the Abbot Marmion set f o r t h t h i s i m p o r t a n t distinction. Likewise a recent w r i t e r in the "Civilta Cattolica" calls St. P a u l ' s exposition of t h i s doctrine of an interior companionship with Christ, " t h e theology of the relations of the soul with Christ t h e Saviour." We can see t h a t instead of speaking of Christ's mystical body, the Church, we can more accurately speak, since t h e Church has unjustified members, of Christ's mystical life in t h e j u s t . H e is indeed the Good Shepherd. He seeks t h e repro- 67 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH bate and the lost; but He does not live in them. He seeks them, however, precisely in order to do so. I t is in St. Paul's inspired formulae t h a t w e p o s - sess, indeed, the highest expression T h r i f t in the soulsvof the f a i t h f u l . I live, t h e great Apostle cries, "now not I ; but Christ liveth in ^ ( g I l A T . ii, 20). "And t h a t I flesh: I live in the f a i t h of the Son of God. To me t o live is Christ" (PHILIP, L 21). "Know you not your own selves, t h a t Christ Jesus is in you? (2 Cor. xiii, 5). Wondrous words, indeed; yet words, too, t h a t can seem almost natural, and even necessary, when we recall the words of our divine Lord declaring t h a t "He t h a t eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him" ( J O H N vi, 57). "As the Hvlng F a t h e r hath sent Me, and I live by the F a t h e r ; so h e - t h a t eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me" ( J O H N vi, 58). Slight marvel t h a t overwhelming effects could flow f r o m so overwhelm- ing a cause. Slight marvel t h a t such a life, shall not taste death forever" ( J O H N vni 52) Slight marvel t h a t Paul is ecstatic, if his life m Christ is even the faintest of copies of Christ's own life in the bosom of His F a t h e r . The copy, however, is not f a i n t . I t is a copy divinely desired, designed, in- tended, and executed through Christ, by t h a t F a t h e r Himself. His power is not partial or hesitant. The words t h a t I have spoken to you, are spirit and life" (JOHN vi, 64). A f t e r all, we were made to the image and- likeness of God in the very begin- n i n g ; and in t h a t beginning, the Incarnation was already present in archetypal f o r m in the mind of God. Paul's ecstasy, therefore, is caused only by 68 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH the wondrous perfection to which Christ has now brought that initial resemblance. Let us note, first of all, t h a t Paul does not a s s e r t t h i s privileged state as a special condition of his own high personal sanctity b u t proclaims i t a s a necessary consequence of t h e state of grace. "Know you not," he asks, "your own selves, t h a t Christ Jesus is in you, unless perhaps you be r e p r o b a t e s ? " (2 COR. xiii, 5 ) . Paul was not a herald of his own glory b u t the long pre-ordained and fully authorized teacher of world-wide t r u t h , f o r i t is of h i m t h a t Christ s a i d : "This man is to Me a vessel of election, to c a r r y My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of I s r a e l " (ACTS ix, 15). Secondly, let us remember t h a t t h e r e is n o real sacrifice of personality here. Despite all t h e em- phasis of Paul's inspired words, we m u s t remember t h a t t h e Saviour came to make perfect, not to de- stroy. E v e r y act of Christ in t h e human h e a r t , every act of even t h e highest grace, must still be an act of our own. In every case i t is t h e person who acts. Paul himself t r u l y lived on, despite all his strongly negating p h r a s e s ; and he himself lived and acted all t h e more deeply and t r u l y t h e more he partook of Christ's eternal imperishable life. Even under t h e highest impellings of grace and of Christ, our independent, personal, human life must r e m a i n specifically such. I t must be lived principally in t h e intellect and in the will. Christ's life in P a u l — f o r Paul is still in Christ's mystic body—and Christ's life in us must find its principal expression in t h e mind and in the h e a r t . In t h e present "body of t h i s d e a t h " (ROM. vii, 24) our conversation m u s t be in t h e heaven of Christ's mind and h e a r t . We must 69 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH t h i n k His thoughts and love His loves. His life, too, both as m a n and a s God, in Himself and in Paul and in us, is specifically t h a t of intellection and volition. The Most Blessed E u c h a r i s t proves t h a t Christ by no means ignores His Body or ours. Both we and He have t r u e human bodies w i t h which to participate in the mutual expression of love, b u t t h e supreme interchange must be in t h e faculties which make us like to God. With these distinctions clearly in mind we may hope to understand in some small measure t h e glor ious mystery in the Christian soul of the f a i t h t h a t works through love; the mystery of our participa- tion in t h e very n a t u r e and the life of Christ our Saviour. F i r s t and most deeply, H e lives in us by an in- terior, intrinsic communication of the divine n a t u r e i t s e l f ; an assertion altogether too d a r m g , if St. Peter, under divine inspiration, had not said rt be- f o r e us. St. Peter, however, did so speak. "By Whom" (by C h r i s t ) , h e says, " H e h a t h given us most g r e a t and precious promises: t h a t by these you may be made p a r t a k e r s of t h e divine n a t u r e ( I I P E T E R i, 4 ) . Theologians have taken these words as t h e n e a r e s t attainable approach t o a defini- tion of grace in its most f u n d a m e n t a l aspects. The Church itself h a s taken t h e m in t h e i r plain open sense, and has used them in h e r most sacred liturgy of t h e Mass. A t t h e blending of t h e wine and w a t e r in t h e chalice t h i s b e a u t i f u l p r a y e r is u s e d : "O God, Who in creating human n a t u r e has wonder- fully dignified it, and still more wonderfully re- formed i t ; g r a n t t h a t by the mystery of t h i s w a t e r and wine we may be made p a r t a k e r s of His divine 70 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH nature, Who didst vouchsafe t o become p a r t a k e r of our human nature, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Thy Son." In our own human way, searching f o r a reason w h y this should be so, t h e connection is plain. If we a r e to live the life of God—and t h a t is a t r u e description of t h e s u p e r n a t u r a l life —we must have some share in the n a t u r e of God. E v e r y w h e r e n a t u r e is the base and measure of action. St. P e t e r has shown us t h a t we have t h i s internal principle. T h a t principle we call grace, divine, s u p e r n a t u r a l grace. We can reach to some measure of understanding of the n a t u r e of sanctifying grace by recogniz- ing it as t h e quality in our soul which makes u s lov- able in the sight of God. T r u e love will not stoop below its own nature. Where love exists between two human beings the attraction of t h e will is to Some good already existing in t h e beloved. The desire of the lover to possess t h i s a t t r a c t i v e good in t h e beloved constitutes the essential a c t of loving. H e r e between equals the quality which calls f o r t h t h e love has been already existing. When God deigns to love with an especial love the c r e a t u r e He has made, He must give to t h a t creature the quality which will elevate him to the plane of the divine and a t t h e same time make him lovable in the sight of his Creator. T h a t quality granted to t h e human soul is in the n a t u r e of a habit and inheres in t h e essence of the soul. This quality is a participation of the sonship of Christ and renders the human soul already created in the likeness of God w o r t h y of the love accorded to sonship by adoption. T h i s adoption by grace, however, is not an external fiction of law but an act of God which, without changing CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH 71 w h a t is essential to t h e order of our nature, raises i t by this g i f t to t h e point of making us t r u l y chil- dren of God. I t is t h u s t h a t we become p a r t a k e r s of t h e divine n a t u r e . Such participation constitutes our holiness, and t h u s this grace is called sancti- f y i n g . Thus grace elevates our nature, without disrupting it. Our nature, however, needs faculties as well as a soul. God, therefore, having enriched our soul by s u p e r n a t u r a l grace, also gives us supernatural facul- ties w i t h which we can fitly b r i n g into action t h e energies of grace. These supernatural faculties a r e principally F a i t h f o r t h e intellect, and Charity, with its handmaid Hope, f o r the will. Then also a r e infused Prudence, and Justice, and Fortitude, and Temperance; considered standards of action. These together span the vast heaven of our super- n a t u r a l l i f e ; f a d i n g like t h e colors of t h e rainbow, insensibly one into t h e other, and f o r m i n g a bow of promise of things yet higher still t o come beyond their earthly extension. To t h i s habitual sanctification, God's love is always adding numberless passing suggestions of His light and power to ever g r e a t e r achievement. These a r e the actual graces. Using these f a i t h f u l l y we can say with Paul, " F o r g e t t i n g t h e things t h a t a r e behind, and stretching f o r t h myself t o those t h a t a r e before, I press t o w a r d s t h e mark, to t h e prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ J e s u s " ( P H I L , iii, 13-14). Both t h e t r a n s i e n t and t h e habitual phases of Christ's life within u s a r e united in t h e Most Blessed E u c h a r i s t — m a d e effective by His repeated reception in Holy Communion. Indeed, on His own 72 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH authority, without His intimate companionship t h r o u g h this Sacrament, we must die. "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and d r i n g H i s blood, you shall not have life in you" ( J O H N vi, 54). The receiving of Christ in t h e E u c h a r i s t is an act of union. Since one of t h e persons here united is divine, and since an infinite love is really the bond of union, Christ, with our consent and desire, assumes a dominion over our entire being, r e g a r d s it as His own and shares with it in some measure t h e love t h a t He gives to His own ever sacred humanity. Thus we a r e strengthened in supernat- ural things beyond any s t r e n g t h of our own. W h a t is weak, blended with w h a t is strong, does not be- come the victor, but the vanquished. The w a t e r blended with t h e wine in t h e chalice does not t u r n t h a t wine into water, but is itself t u r n e d first into wine, then into t h e very Blood of Christ. So, as the priest prays in the prayer already quoted, we, united with Christ in Holy Communion, do not depress His divinity but are ourselves ele- vated to a share in His divine nature. We have the happiness of, belonging to Christ. We are called to live the life of Christ, but it is from Him that we must all receive it. He has the supreme power of giving this grace to "every man that cometh into this world." He has a primacy of divine influence by being, for every soul in a different degree, the one source of the grace by which they live. "Christ," says St. Thomas, "has received the fullness of grace not only for Himself, but in His capacity as head of the Church." It is because we are united so closely to Christ, forming with Him a single body that Christ has willed that all His works should be 73 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH ours. St. Thomas tells us t h a t t h e f a c t t h a t Christ h a s suffered voluntarily in our place and in our name, constitutes so g r e a t a good t h a t , f o r having found t h i s good in h u m a n nature, God, being ap- peased, f o r g e t s all offences in those who unite themselves to Christ. St. Thomas says f u r t h e r t h a t ' the head and members are, as it were, one mystical person and, therefore, t h e satisfaction of Christ p e r t a i n s to all t h e f a i t h f u l a s to H i s members. Should these t h i n g s seem t o any h e a r e r tremen- dous issues f a r removed f r o m t h e concrete and t h e obvious which men so love today, t h e reason is to be sought precisely in t h e loss of those f u n d a m e n t a l s of f a i t h f r o m which these conclusions a r e easily and logically deduced. The universality of participa- tion in t h e life of Christ by men and women of good will is t h e doctrine, a s we have seen, openly pro- claimed by t h e Apostle St. Paul f o r all who, like himself, "love His coming" (the coming of C h r i s t ) . I t is t r u e t h a t t h e life of t h e Christian as we have portrayed i t deals with high, ceaseless activity in the s u p e r n a t u r a l order. T h a t order, however, does actually exist all round about us in t h e world today. T h a n k s be t o His Holy Name, t h e men and women a r e numbered by millions who in Christ live, move, and have t h e i r being. On one occasion, it is t r u e , our Lord said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of t h i s world," ( J O H N xviii, 36) b u t we m u s t always remember t h a t t h e r e a r e two very real worlds. There is a world fully represented by Pilate, t h e world of reckless, unprincipled, self-seeking; t h e world of material, external splendor, t h e world of t h e coward and t h e craven, the world of f o r c e and coercion—the world of which even Christ w a s forced 74 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH to say, "I pray not for the world," (JOHN xvii, 9) and it was of this world that Christ said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." There is also another very real world, a world more true and more lasting than the first; for even here there is a world of justice, and love, a world of the heart a world of gentle, patient, brave, forbearing people' a world of kindly thought for others, the world of all true kings, and here Christ is supreme. His kingdom is precisely this glorious realm in which heaven and earth have met, where He has reconciled the lowest and the highest. Yet despite all the splendor of this wondrous kingdom of God in the individual human soul, there is another and greater beyond the stars: a kingdom that is essentially needed to explain and complete the present kingdom. Christ is not only the arch that spans the abyss between, He is not only the way and the truth and the life, He is also the splen- dor of that other kingdom, the bright star of eternity's fadeless morning. He is Omega as well as Alpha. He is the last as well as the first. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," said St. John; and we can say: "In the end will be the Word and the Word will be with God, and the Word will be God " In the vast final harmony of that divine eternal Word, m the eternal conclusiveness of that great Omega closing the alphabet of all earthly affairs there will be fulfilled for all of us the words of that same great St. Paul, "The Spirit Himself giveth tes- timony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. VIII, i 6 and 17) Always Christ. L ' > ' 77 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD (Address delivered by Right Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan in t h e Catholic Hour, February 22, 1931) I We considered last Sunday t h e mission of Christ living in the souls of the f a i t h f u l . We reflected on t h e loye underlying the action of God elevating m a n to a share in the divine n a t u r e . This elevation, we found, can be merited by no mere human effort. I t is t h e work of God alone. God gives Himself with t h e most gratuitous mercy and love. I t is t h e Church doctrine t h a t every movement of m a n t o w a r d God is initiated and supported by God's grace. Such a grace we call an " a c t u a l " grace, and such is every holy thought, every good resolution, and every p u r e affection. The state of direct communion of life and love with God, the condition and quality of t h e soul which we call " s a n c t i f y i n g " grace is effected in the soul likewise by God alone. We a r e made sons of God solely by the eternal love of God. F o r thé individual t h i s is t h e central f a c t of the glad tidings of C h r i s t i a n i t y : "As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made t h e sons of God" ( J O H N i, 12). The child of God, t h e f a i t h f u l soul, is, therefore, according to the Church's view, essentially a creation of grace, a child of the eternal Love. Since it is the function of Christ and of Christianity—the continu- ing mission of Christ—to b r i n g the love and grace of God to sense-bound man under the veil of visible and evident signs, it is clear t h a t t h e Church is to serve thé f a i t h f u l t h r o u g h t h e sacramental mediation of the grace of Christ. T h e seven Sacraments a r e God's appointed means whereby m a n shall ordinarily experience the action of t h e grace of Christ, the 76 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH elevation of his being into the stream of God's life and love. We say t h a t t h i s is t h e ordinary medium of God's grace and, consequently, e x t r a o r d i n a r y ways and activities of God's grace in souls not attached to t h e visible society which dispenses the Sacraments a r e not excluded. God gives His grace in all the infinite freedom of His omnipotence. We speak here of t h a t which we have found m a d e mani- f e s t as His intended plan of salvation, historically set f o r t h in t h e inspired n a r r a t i o n of His life and actions. On the other hand, m a n is not purely passive under t h e action of grace. As t h e Church conceives original sin, m a n ' s religious and moral faculties a r e not impaired in t h e i r n a t u r a l substance, b u t weak- ened in t h e i r operation inasmuch as original sin deflects them f r o m t h e i r s u p e r n a t u r a l course and gives them, therefore, a f a l s e direction.. The effect of grace, as the upsurging of eternal love within him, is to b r i n g a m a n ' s faculties back again into t h e i r original course, and so set them f r e e . The Church conceives of grace a s a vital f o r c e which awakens and summons t h e powers of m a n ' s soul, inspires them with a new love. When grace t h u s works on t h e sinner it produces in man those spir- itual acts of f a i t h and t r u s t and -of f e a r of God's judgments, which a r e the preparation, on t h e h u m a n side, f o r justification. The justification itself which follows those acts is the sole work of God. Adam in the "Spirit of Catholicism," which we have j u s t been quoting, completes t h i s idea with these w o r d s : " I n t h e Sacrament of Baptism or Penance God answers the appeal of t h e penitent with His kiss of f o r g i v i n g love: ' I baptize thee, I absolve t h e e . ' " CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH This b e a u t i f u l relationship w a s set f o r t h by Our L o r d in many striking parables. One on which He •dwelt w i t h tender insistence places before us a pic- t u r e of His care f o r t h e souls of men as He would h a v e His Church understand H e r mission. In the eighteenth chapter o f ' S t . Matthew Our divine Lord a s k s : "If a m a n have a hundred sheep, and one of t h e m should go a s t r a y : doth he not leave t h e ninety- n i n e in the mountains, and goeth to seek t h a t which is gone a s t r a y ? " There can be no doubt a s to who -that shepherd is. He is Christ, the f a i r e s t of all t h e sons of men, and the eternal Son of God. We see Him as He finds w h a t He sought. He l i f t s it up, places it upon His shoulder and retraces His p a t h w a y . We have all heard of scenes in which •some thoughtless child has mounted one step a f t e r .another into a place of peril, and stands f r i g h t e n e d .at last and helpless, too, perhaps without human a i d a t hand. We have all done things like t h a t a t -times; like t h a t s t r a y i n g sheep or t h a t little child, w e seek forbidden pleasures and forbidden heights, f o r reasons we could scarcely define, and yet which possess a strangely potent efficiency. P e r h a p s we d o not study or notice our actions until a t a late i n s t a n t we recognize t h a t t h e very p a t h w a y of our p r o g r e s s has become a pitiless peril. Ill were it t h e n f o r us, were t h e r e not some gentle yet power- f u l hand to d r a w us back to safety, some shepherd t h a t came as Christ comes before us today. This -evening we wish to use t h i s divinely drawn picture in yet another divinely suggested scene. Christ .once spoke of a time when t h e r e would be one 'fold a n d one shepherd—again t h e r e is no doubt a s to ^the shepherd, nor is t h e r e any uncertainty r e g a r d i n g 78 CHRIST AND H I S •CHURCH t h e fold. F o r t h e shepherd is Christ and t h e fold is H i s C h u r c h ; and t h e g a t h e r i n g of all f a i t h f u l ¡.J3 f r o m the uttermost confines of t h e e a r t h Into t h e one fold of Christ claims our t h o u g h t f o r a f e w minutes tonight. Clearly, we should search in vain f o r any inspiration g r e a t e r or t r u e r t h a n the p i c t u r e of Christ, descending t h e hills with t h e missing sheep upon His rescuing shoulders. His power is complete in providential repetitions to make His f o l d universal. Indeed, f o r a thousand reasons of t y p e and of promise and of prophecy, a n y other conclusion would be inconceivable. In t h e vast continuity of God's work f r o m Genesis t o t h e Apocalypse, we h a v e seen Christ ever more and more f u l l y revealed as; t h e head of a spiritual kingdom t h a t was ever i n - creasing f r o m glory to glory t o w a r d s t h e most mig- nificent final splendor, with no place l e f t even on e a r t h f o r final outstanding defeat. Christ h a s de- clared more t h a n once t h a t not even t h e slightest p a r t of any of His words can pass away without complete fulfillment. He h a s said t h a t t h e r e will be a time when all mankind will f o r m a single a n d harmonious religious body under a common head» If God's glorious promises w e r e t o prove a f o r m a l f a i l u r e a t the end even here, Christ's kingdom would be b u t a pitiable pretense, God's pact with A b r a h a m would be falsified. Liberation of Moses would be b u t a disastrous postponement of a still g r e a t e r ser- vitude. David and Solomon would be b u t mislead- ing types. Christ's own glorious resurrection f r o m t h e dead would be a f a n t a s t i c prelude to a deeper and more profound entombment of earthly f a i l u r e . The gates of hell would have prevailed against t h e 79 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH Church. I n any h e a r t , in any thousands of hearts, in any nation, Christ m u s t t r i u m p h here or He will not t r i u m p h h e r e a f t e r . E a r t h can be a f a i l u r e only inasmuch as heaven can be a f a i l u r e . E a r t h is t h e only stadium of probation. A t its f u r t h e r limit, "If t h e t r e e fall to t h e south, or t o t h e north, in w h a t place soever it shall fall, t h e r e shall i t be" (ECCL. xi, 3 ) . R e f e r r i n g t o His own death, Christ once s a i d : "And I, if I be lifted up f r o m t h e earth, will d r a w all things t o Myself" ( J O H N xii, 32), again a f a l s e prediction, if, even a f t e r t h e entire course of all earthly ages, rebellion still seethes around Him. F a r be it f r o m Our God to f a i l w h e r e He h a s claimed success and completion. God made man—all men every m a n — f o r H i m s e l f ; and He h a s made t h i s whole g r e a t world f o r H i m s e l f ; not f o r a stage on which evil was to deride Him. " C h r i s t loved t h e Church," t h e g r e a t Apostle St. Paul declared, "and delivered Himself up f o r i t ; . . . t h a t He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, b u t t h a t it should be . . . without blemish" ( E P H . v, 25, 26, 27). This were a n utterly fallacious design and fallacious hope, if t h a t Church is never to be f r e e f r o m s t r i f e ; if it, His mystical body, is f o r e v e r to be maimed. One may say his ideal-is f a r f r o m accomplishment. This g r a v e t r u t h saddens t h e earnest Christian everywhere t h r o u g h o u t t h e world b u t does not im- pinge upon his f a i t h and his hope, h i s knowledge t h a t t h e word of God will be fulfilled. " T h e Church," says Cardinal Newman, "is ever ailing and lingers on in weakness, 'always bearing about in t h e body, t h e dying of t h e Lord Jesus, t h a t the life also of 80 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH J e s u s might be m a d e manifest.' " I t is a n essential p r o p e r t y of t h e Church to be so, because of h e r vocation to save men. Nowhere else does evil be- come so visible because nowhere else is it so keenly f o u g h t . T h a t f a r day of t r i u m p h a w a i t s the fulfill- m e n t of God's designs; and if i t seems f a r distant i n an age which seems so bent on b a r t e r i n g Christ, n o t f o r t h i r t y pieces of silver, b u t f o r any profit t h a t t h e hour offers, in an age which seems loudly to choose the B a r a b b a s of a materialistic humanity and in t h e language of action to be crying "away w i t h C h r i s t , " the f a i t h f u l h e a r t will know t h a t God is not mocked and t h a t the s u p e r n a t u r a l life of grace is a glorious thing even now upon t h e earth, in the h e a r t s of millions accepting Our Lord's promises. The f a i t h f u l know t h a t the perfection of the Church i s yet to be, t h a t t h e Church of glory will not appear u n t i l the end of time, and t h a t , therefore, it is ac- cording to the economy of salvation t h a t t h e Church of the present should remain unfinished, incomplete, until the coming of the Son of Man. I t is enough t h a t we have His promise—the gates of hell will not prevail against h e r and His s p i r i t will abide w i t h h e r until the end of the world. Century by century men of good will find t h e grace of Christ a vital bond joining them to God. The g r e a t fold of His believers, the living members of His mystical body a r e using the shelter and nourishment to be found in His Church and Sacraments. The Good Shepherd r e a c h i n g out, going a f a r into t h e p a t h w a y s of h u m a n weakness and even among t h e brambles of wilful passions is finding every day t h e s t r a y i n g ones who will accept His loving offer of rescue. The fold in- creases as His love reaches t h r o u g h the years, and CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH we can leave to His loving decision t h e day of t r i u m p h as certain to come. E a r n e s t h e a r t s t h e world- over must make r e - doubled and sustained p r a y e r f o r t h a t unity of f a i t h and of religious practice which h a s been Christ's constant wish and design f r o m t h e first sunrise t h a t ever flashed over a broken world up t o the present moment here tonight. Never f o r even an i n s t a n t since t h e world w a s spoiled h a s man h a d peace in the realm of his highest interests. T h e innocent Abel was slain a t the very threshhold of P a r a d i s e on religious g r o u n d s : and t h e i n s a n e struggle is still unabated in destructive violence today. This is wholly m a n ' s work. There is n o t the slightest necessity f o r t h i s senseless internecine strife, no valid excuse f o r t h i s incessant f r a t r i c i d a l hostility. The i n s t a n t t h a t each man does his d u t y as he knows it t h i s rabid disorder will cease. Standing in t h e way of t h i s due religious h a r - mony, t h e r e is p e r h a p s no obstacle g r e a t e r t h a n t h e n a t u r a l personal wish to deal directly with God, and to spurn all h u m a n interposition. I t is t r u e t h a t t h i s feeling is n a t u r a l . I t is even instinctive. I t is also a dictate, however, of reason and of n a t u r e to obey our God and our Creator whenever and wherever He has spoken. He h a s made our sub- mission to authorities acting in His name obliga- t o r y in m a t t e r s of religion. Why He h a s done so, it is not ours to ask. Our task is simple obedience. If Christ had told us to spurn all a t t e m p t s on t h e p a r t of men t o influence, guide, or control our r e - ligious actions we should all be very happy to do so. The love of liberty is innate. All men feel it alike. As a m a t t e r of f a c t Christ h a s ordained t h e e x a c t 82 CHRIST AND H I S CHURCH opposite. H e h a s established human authorities in religious affairs, and He has classed us with the heathen and t h e publican if and when we disobey. H e Himself obeyed when He was here. St. Paul, a disciple, followed without question where so g r e a t a master had led. Like ourselves, St. Paul liked di- rect converse with God, and even before he arose " t r e m b l i n g and astonished" f r o m the dust of the Da- mascus road, he asked, in the very best of disposi- tions. "Lord, w h a t wilt thou have me do?" Despite, however, St. Paul's undoubted good f a i t h , God did not endorse t h a t directness, told him to seek human direction, told him to go into the city, "and t h e r e it shall be be told thee w h a t thou must do" (ACTS ix, 6, 7 ) . Like him, we too must go into the city, into t h e city of God, into t h e Church, to find w h a t we m u s t do. Where Christ and St. Paul could afford t o obey, we need not f e a r any undue servility. If t h e r e could be a n y unforgivable sin, i t would seem to be t h a t of still f o m e n t i n g religious s t r i f e today, when t h e dawn of a better s t a t e of feeling is undoubted. A f t e r two thousand years of open and necessarily exposed development, t h e r e is w r i t t e n l a r g e across t h e sky a record of unity, of rule and of belief, of pureness and exaltation of doctrine, of universality of existence, and of Apostolic continuity of religious life, t h a t even on n a t u r a l grounds im- poses an unescapable responsibility of investigation on all intelligent men. R E C A P I T U L A T I O N In t h e beginning of these discourses, we called attention to t h e need of earnest cooperation on t h e p a r t of the h e a r e r . Men a r e not mere automatons, n o r a r e t h e i r proper rules those of a log or a stone 83 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH or a thoughtless child. God exacts, as H e h a s a r i g h t to do, t h e due use of the intellectual powers H e has given us. E v e r y individual man is under a serious obligation of aiding t r u t h and justice in a d a r k e n e d and struggling world. As t h e measure of a m a n ' s influence widens, in precisely t h e same m e a s u r e increases his responsibility in t h i s impor- t a n t m a t t e r . E v e r y sensible m a n should forever p u t a s i d e the morbid feeling t h a t God or God's Church will gain a n y t h i n g by his own personal accession to t h e r a n k s of earnest, honest, active religious believ- ers. The sunlight gains nothing when we step into i t s w a r m t h . I t is we t h a t feel the g r a t e f u l change f r o m the chill of t h e shade. Whatever of gain t h e r e m a y be in our due and r i g h t action in religious a f - f a i r s is f o r ourselves alone, not f o r God or f o r t h e v a s t organization which places all His divine wealth a t our disposal. If t h i s serious attention due so serious a subject h a s been given, t h e Incarnation will have been recognized as a crowning act of God's creative power. I t will have been seen t h a t i t s motive w a s no other t h a n a vast overpowering love; t h a t in itself it w a s a union of divinity and humanity, to elevate t h e one and render the other more accessible; t h a t it was divinely foretold both in general and in exactest detail f o r thousands of years before it was a n actual f a c t ; t h a t it became f a m i l i a r and real to men t h r o u g h Christ's daily l i f e ; t h a t t h a t same C h r i s t founded a new and higher spiritual kingdom a n d realm w i t h Himself a s i t s Prophet, its Priest, a n d its K i n g ; t h a t He l e f t a Church with f u l l juridic w a r r a n t t o continue His heavenly w o r k ; t h a t He Himself nevertheless remains f o r e v e r with t h a t 84 CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH Church as its hidden mystic l i f e ; and, finally, t h a t f r o m both the ancient prophecies and f r o m C h r i s t ' s own words t h a t Church is one day to include all men and all nations in one peaceful fold—surely, a body of doctrine to which no reasonable man can r e f u s e the t r i b u t e of earnest and continued investi- gation and prolonged meditation. One word m o r e : Among t h e many who have s a graciously w r i t t e n to us during the course of these sermons, a very f e w have unhappily taken f r o m o u r words the idea t h a t we declared all persons n o t members of the visible body of Christ's Church, cut off f r o m salvation t h r o u g h Christ. We, of course, said no such thing. Indeed, our care has been t o emphasize t h e glorious knowledge t h a t Christ died f o r all men. We did indeed set f o r t h the clear his- torical f a c t t h a t Christ established His Church, a visible society, to c a r r y on His mission, and t h a t , consequently membership in t h a t Church was, ini the New Law, the ordinary means of salvation through Christ's grace in the Sacraments. Since, however, millions of men have never h e a r d of Christ in the course of long centuries, and m a n y others have been born and reared under circum- stances which have kept them, without a n y f a u l t of theirs, f r o m F a i t h in Christ, or f r o m t h e f u l l n e s s of t h a t Faith, we have pointed out t h a t , doing all t h a t lies in their power to be t r u e and good a n d f a i t h f u l according to the light granted them, such men and women may belong to the Soul of C h r i s t ' s Church, and the power of Christ's grace is unlimited f o r their salvation. I It is precisely in the desire t& see all such s h a r i n g in t h e intimacy of the household of the F a i t h t h a t we long f o r the t r i u m p h a n t f u l - CHRIST AND H I S CHtJRCfi 86 fillment of Our Lord's promise t h a t all men will one day in unity of F a i t h wear His Name, and be gladly and proudly His. A f a r greater than I has told you these very days the persistent hope and prayer of the Church f o r unity. Indeed, this sacred task entrusted to me, so dear to me even while so f a r beyond my halting powers ; this noble privilege of broadcasting f o r the first time across this nation the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, t r u e God and t r u e Man, Our Lord and our blood Brother, could have no happier close t h a n to re-echo the prayer of Our Holy F a t h e r , heard round the world so recently,, asking f o r all men the light and guidance which will lead them to The One Fold of the One Shepherd, Jequs Christ, Amen. CARDINAL HATES STATES AIMS OF THE CATHOLIC RADIO HOUR (Extract from his address at the inaugural program in the Studio of the National Broadcasting Company, New York City, March 2, 1930). Our congratulations and our gratitude are extended to the National Council of Catholic Men and its officials, and to all who, by their financial support, have made it possible to use this offer of the National Broadcasting Company. The heavy expense of managing and financing a weekly program, its musical numbers, its speakers, the subsequent answering of inquiries, must be met. That responsibility rests upon the National Council of Catholic Men . . . . This radio hour is f o r all the people of the United States. To our fellow-citizens, in this word of dedication, we wish to express a cordial greeting and, indeed, congratulations. For this radio hour is one of service to America, which certainly will listen in interestedly, and even sympathetically, I am sure, to the voice of the ancient Church with its historic background of all the centuries of the Christian era, and with its own notable contribution to the discovery, explora- tion, foundation and growth of our glorious Country. . . . Thus to voice before a vast public the Catholic Church is no light task. Our prayers will be with those who have that task in hand. We feel certain t h a t it will have both the good will and the good wishes of the great majority of our country-men. Surely, there is no true lover of our Country who does not eagerly hope f o r a less worldly, a less material, and a more spiritual standard among our people. With good will, with kindness and with Christ-like sympa- thy f o r all, this work is inaugurated. So may it continue. So may it be fulfilled. This word of dedication voices, there- fore, the hope t h a t this radio hour may serve to make known, to explain with the charity of Christ, our faith, which we love even as we love Christ Himself. May it serve to make better understood t h a t faith as it really is—a light revealing the pathway to heaven: a strength, and a power divine through Christ: pardoning our sins, elevating, consecrating our common every-day duties and joys, bringing not only justice but gladness and peace to our searching and ques- tioning hearts. OTHER RADIO TALKS PUBLISHED OUR SUNDAY VISITOR is the authorized publisher of all Catholic Hour Radio addresses in pamphlet form. The following is a list of these pamphlets published up to date: "The Divine Romance," t h e seven lectures delivered by the Rev. Fulton J . Sheen, Ph. D., D.D., LL. D., an 80-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 20c postpaid. In quantities, $9.00 per 100. "The Moral Order" and "Mary, the Mother of Jesus," the six addresses by the Rev. George Johnson, a 64-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 15c postpaid. In quantities, $6.00 per 100. "A Trilogy on P r a y e r , " the three addresses by the Rev. Thomas P. Burke, a 32-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 10c postpaid. In quantities, $5.00 per 100. "The Story of the Bible," the five addresses by the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Keenan, a 64-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 15c postpaid. In quantities, $6.00 per 100. "Four Religious Founders," a collection of the five addresses by Rev. Dr. Francis J . Connell, C. SS. R., Rev. Benedict Bradley, O. S. B., Rev. Thomas M. Schwertner, O. P., Rev. Sigmund Cratz, O. M. Cap., and Rev. M. J . Ahern, S. J., a 56-page pamph- let. Single copy, price 15c postpaid. In quantities, $6.00 per 100. "The Philosophy of Catholic Education," the three addresses by the Rev. Dr. Charles L. O'Donnell, a 32-page pamphlet. Sin- gle copy, price 10 postpaid. In quantities, $5.00 per 100. "Christianity and t h e Modern Mind," the six addresses by the Rev. John A. McClorey, S. J., a 64-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 15c postpaid. In quantities, $6.00 per 100. "The Moral Law," the eight addresses by. the Rev. James M. Gillis, C. S. P., editor of the Catholic World, an 88 page pamph- let. Single copy, price 25c postpaid. In quantities, $9.50 per 100. "Christ and His Church," the eight addresses by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph M. Corrigan, D.D., LL.D., an 88-page pamphlet. Single copy, price 25c postpaid. In quantities, $9.50 per 100. ßADlO STATIONS BROADCASTING THÈ "CATHOLIC HOUR" Sponsored by the National Council of Catholic Men (The National Broadcasting Company, through the coopera^ tion of its Associated Stations, furnishes, without charge, the facilities by which this nation-wide weekly broadcast is made possible). New York WEAF Boston WEEI Providence WJAR Worcester WTAG Portland, Me. WCSH Philadelphia* W F I Philadelphia* WLIT Washington WRC Schnectady WGY Buffalo WBEN Pittsburgh WCAE Detroit WWJ Akron WFJC Cincinnati WSAI St. Louis KSD Chicago WENR Davenport* w o e Des Moines* WHO Omaha WOW Kansas City WDAF Duluth-Superior WEBC Minneapolis-St. Paul KSTP New Orleans WSMB Jacksonville WJAX Miami WIOD Richmond, Va. WRVA Clearwater, Fla. WFLA St. Petersburg, Fla. WSUN Jackson, Miss. WJDX Memphis WMC Nashville WSM Fort Worth WBAP Houston K'PRC Oklahoma City WKY Tulsa KVOO San Antonio WOAI Phoenix, Ariz. KT AR Denver KOA Portland, Ore. KGW San Francisco KPO Oakland KGO Los Angeles KECA Seattle KOMO Spokane KHQ *These stations broadcast Catholic Hour alternate weeks