RE- INI -HEAVEN -ANP-COME-FOU.OVV- ME M "TlO’vAJ g' t - Abu 4606 OfME-THING • IS- STILL- LACKIJMU IUM HOW RICH ARE THE YOUNCP HOW RICH ARE THE VOUNG By Edward F. Murphy, S.S.J., Ph.D. Author of “The Scarlet Lily,” “The Tenth Man,” “New Psychology and Old Religions,” etc . D speaks to souls in many ways. To Moses, He spoke through a burning bush; to Elias, in a whirlwind; to the Magi, through a star; to Mary, by an angel; and to fishermen of Gali- lee, from the very lips of His Son. To you, also, He speaks: in the flaming leaves of autumn, the majesty of a storm, or the calm beauty of the night; through the angel guardian at your side; and from the lips of “another Christ,” who is your priest and confessor. God is everywhere. Therefore, everything that is not evil is a kind of tongue to His good- ness or an index to His glory. Everything. Deadened Copyright, 1945, by Catholic Students’ Mission Crusade, U.S.A. Perhaps He is whispering a special message to you at this moment. It could be that this little book is His means. Heed with your heart as you read with your eyes. And your life may awaken, as did that of the boy Samuel in the Temple, to something fairer than a dream. To Live for God Is Eternal Life . . . There still stands in Rome a house that, eighteen hundred years ago, was a school; and on a wall of it one can read an inscription, as old as the building itself: Alexminos worships Christ. Kingdoms have risen and fallen since that sentence, scrawled with a piece of charcoal, first appeared. Millions and millions of men have lived and died. The proud Roman Forum lies 3 in dust. But the faith of a boy who found and followed his Lord has outlasted, in this brief but striking record, the ravages of time. Is your devotion to Christ such that, cen- turies hence, it will in some way be seen on the wall of this life and, far better, on that of the next? No life, given to God, is ever forgotten by Him or Heaven. It is written in the annals be- yond the skies, and here below it leaves shining effects which are a part, however small, of the history of the Church. You are a Catholic today because of the love and faithfulness of those who, like Alexminos, worshipped Christ so long ago. It was they who, living the sacred truths, passed them on as the most precious of legacies to you. Some of them sealed their beliefs with their blood, and all manifested them to men with their deeds. A Paul, an Augustine, a Patrick, a Boni- face, a Xavier, a Claver, a Mary Magdalene, an Agnes, a Cecilia, a Teresa — these and such were your brothers and sisters, without whom the fullness of the Gospel would not have been ex- emplified and spread. Ought you not try to give unto others as others have given unto you? To serve the God of Eternity is to survive time, to shed blessings around you, and to ren- der the world better and brighter for your hav- ing lived and labored in it. 4 SAINT PAUL ST.FPJkNClS STTERESA APOSTLE XAVI EK cftht ChildJeSUS On the other hand, to serve the world is to be either forgotten or little remembered by it in time and to achieve nothing for Eternity. At present, you have youth and opportunity. What will you do with them? On what you choose here and now may de- pend what will be lastingly written of you here- after. To Lead Men to God Is to be Led by Him . . . Life is all you have, and it will soon be spent. Hence you should make the most and the best of it while you may. But how? There are many courses. Which is the finest of all? The last command that Christ gave on earth was of the first importance. It may be that He kept it till last in order that it be remembered best. Readily you recall it. ‘‘Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” It was spoken not only to the Apostles but 5 also, through them, to other generous souls who were to follow after in every generation. Does it find an echo in your heart today? Listen. . . . To be like Him who lived for all men is many glorious vocations in one. On a bridge in Austria there are twelve v parapets, and in each of them stands a statue of the Son of God: the carpenter, the shepherd, the teacher, and so on. If you lend yourself to His need, and model your life on His, yours can be the richest kind of fulfillment, for He was “all things to all men. M Christ’s Works Can Be Reproduced • • . Wondrous were the works of Our Lord. And yet, if you accept His grace and adopt His life, you will be able to continue His works. The Lord Christ changed water into wine. Do not His servants turn the watery religion of men into the wine of fervent worship? He opened the eyes of the blind to the light of day. Do not His zealous ones help souls to see the light of Heavenly truth? He loosed the strings of tongues. Do not His leaders inspire the spiritually dumb to speak and to sing His praises? He cured leprosy. His anointed absolve from sin. 6 He cast out devils. His lovers bring peace to troubled souls. He raised the dead. His elect lift the fallen to newness of life. He forgave His enemies. His chosen ones increase the number of His friends and followers. He rose from the tomb. Cannot you, dying to self, rise to a happy and holy level of exist- ence? To know God is to be drawn to Him like a child to a parent. As we are drawn to Him, we cannot help serving Him and trying to make our service as perfect as possible. It is easy to 7 know God, for He has given you and all man- kind three great revelations of Himself and, in addition, a faultless interpreter of them. First, He has authored an amazing book which men call “Nature/’ Other volumes tell about people and things, but this volume actu- ally contains what the others tell about. Its pages are numberless, and God’s powerful hand keeps turning them. They blaze with the sun; they beam with the moon and the stars; they sing and talk and thunder with all the sounds of the universe. They are living leaves. And the more closely they are studied, the more aston- ishing they become. Every page in the great book of Nature — and every sentence of every page — bespeaks the Author. So the Psalmist, long ago, exclaimed that only the fool has said, in his heart, there is no God. And a modern poet, overcome with emotion at the sight of even one of the very least details of this book of books, exclaimed, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.’’ Not to find the Master in and through what He has made is to be wholly lacking in insight and the power of reflection. Secondly, God has sent you, through His inspired writers, a letter which is known as the Bible. It tells you about His providence and care; it warns you against sin, which separates 8 you from Him; it urges you to service that unites you to Him; it points out the path from here to Heaven and the pitfalls on the way; it accounts for everything, from the beginning to the end. 9 Thirdly, in the fullness of time, God per- mitted His Son personally to dwell among us and to teach us “the way without which there is no going, the truth without which there is no knowing, and the life without which there is no living.” And, even better still, this Son, per- fectly expressing the Father in the language of our common humanity and revealing that He is Love, lives on in our churches by means of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Sacri- fice of the Mass. In Holy Communion you have been in closer union with your God than you have ever been with your mother, your father, or your friends. Your soul and your Savior have often been, for precious moments, as two pieces of wax melted into one. Do you not wish so to live that you will be united with Him inseparably in the ceaseless Communion of Eternal Life? We can save our souls by obeying the com- mandments of God, but there are degrees of perfection beyond — as Our Lord made known to the rich young man. To those who follow Him more closely, the promise is made that they will have “treasure in Heaven.” And none follow Christ more closely than those who help others to save their souls — the bishops, the priests, the Sisters, and the Brothers of the Catholic Church, who are the apostles of Christ in our day. 10 I AM THE DOOR_ no man can come in exceptthroughMe The priest and the religious are taught to see the proof of God in all the things of Nature, to read His Scriptures aright, and to preserve a harmony with Him here that is a pledge of Heaven with Him hereafter. For the life of the priest and of the religious enables one to enter fully into the plan and purpose of the Church which the Son of God founded as the great guide of men and the interpreter of His work and will. There are more ways of going to Heaven than one. You can, in the tardy manner of most people, climb the ladder of daily existence, or you can use a moving stairway. Does this seem fantastic? It is simple fact. Man too often tries to carry himself along by his own efforts when he lives his life in the world; and his yoke is 11 heavy. But when he enters the life of God, his burden seems relatively light, and he is up-borne by special graces. Divine assistance is more than a hand that helps him to safety and happiness: it is a moving stairway to the stars. To Lore God Is to Lire in Him . . . On one of the gateways to the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, which is used at present as a mosque, there remains a significant inscription: “The Lord said, I am the door; if anyone enter by Me, he shall be safe.” And what is the religious life but entering into God? When Christ is with you and you are with Him, nothing can be against you; for He healed sickness, overcame Satan, conquered death, rose to glory, and reigns forever. To enter this door, living and divine, is to find the “peace that the world cannot give.” Think you that the young man in the Gos- pel, who turned away from the Prince of Peace, ever found satisfaction apart from Him who made the human heart and alone can fill it? If you are honored with an invitation to be His special friend, accept the call in life's early morn- ing. That friendship will grow to a love unutter- able before the brief day is ended and the shad- ows fall. The terrible events of the Second World War are evidence of a sickness afflicting the 12 whole world. Indeed, the world has been very sick. Would it not be the greatest and the happiest of privileges to assist in curing the misery that is eating away the soundness and wholesomeness of the race like a cancer? There is no true health in the souls of men without holiness. By following the vocation to the priesthood or the religious life, we are able to bring Christ, the Supreme Physician, to a dying world. He alone has the remedy and the healing that man- kind most deeply needs. He alone can effective- ly proclaim, ‘‘I say unto thee, ‘Arise/ ” And it is He who acts through those that live for Him. Better even than a soldier on the field of battle — and quite as vividly and adventurously — you can serve your country as a soldier of the 13 spirit and as a living example of the faith and love without which human life will languish into moral death. Only in the Savior can the individual or the race, bereft of happiness, find healing of spirit and safety. But those who minister to the spirits of men must be close followers of Christ. To serve with Christ, the Divine Physician, is to serve humanity in the most wonderful of ways. This privilege may be yours. Can the Soul Refuse to Live for God? . . . Do you love God sufficiently to offer every- thing to Him, without whom you would not be and to whom you owe all that you have? Maybe your answer, in the beginning, could be a reluctant and shame-faced “No.” But if you keep meditating on the simple yet sublime fact that He loved you — you ! — even to the agony of Gethsemane and the sacrifice of Cal- vary, a change can take place in your heart, and the cold “No” may presently be a warm “Yes!” Do you love your parents and friends so much that the thought of ever leaving them is like the stab of a knife? Then, if they are so lovable, how much more so is He who gave them to you! For the giver always exceeds the gift, except when he gives himself, as Christ gave Himself to mankind in Bethlehem and on Cal- vary, and as He has given Himself so often to 14 you in Holy Communion. Our dearest ones on earth can give only part of themselves to us; but Our Savior, coming down from Heaven, gives To leave your loved ones for God is to find them in Him and to gain favor for them from Him. Even if you remained in the world, you would most probably have to leave them, at least largely, in your pursuit of a career. Why not let your career be the kind that would best include them? Why not let it be with Him in whom all true lovers are united? Is Man’s Gift of Himself Worthy of God? . . . You may think your life too little and in- significant to offer to the great work of God's Church. But the thought of Bethlehem should set you clear on that. What could have been lowlier than the manger? Yet it served the Divine plan well and was glorified in this service beyond the palace of any earthly king. Saint John Chrysostom writes of it: “O blessed lodg- ing, after Heaven the throne of the Lord, lighted not by a lamp, but by a star!" And who could have been humbler than the twelve who, kind- ling their souls at the Sacred Heart, became the apostolic lamps of Israel and the world? Our God, who made everything out of nothing, can assuredly make much out of some- thing — however small. Your humility ceases to be humility when it admits a doubt about God’s power to use you, if He so wills, for His purpose. Peter was so weak as to deny his Master; but, with true 16 PUTONTHE ^.AF^MOROFqOD: 1 , f I . f humility, he offered himself — just as he was — and found himself not only accepted but made the chief of the Apostles. Mary Magdalene's soul was a wilted flower; yet she tendered it to the Lord, and He not only received it but nurtured it to rarest sanctity. All His disciples save one were so afraid that they absented themselves from Calvary; nevertheless He so confirmed them with the Holy Spirit that they became able to defy not only the lure of the world but also the legions of hell. David was only a youth with a slingshot; yet, strong in devotion, he slew a giant in armor. The poorest human instrument, in God’s hands, can be powerful beyond words. The Sacrament of Confirmation has in- 17 ducted you into the Army of the Lord. You are already a soldier. You must be that, if you would remain a Christian; but, like every good soldier, you should be ready to accept responsibility and, if the Divine Captain wills it, render more than ordinary service. We Are All Soldiers . . . Must not Some Be More? . • . There is so much fighting to be done for the Kingdom of Christ. When our country needs defenders, she simply takes them; but our Mas- ter, requiring champions of the spirit, stands at the door and knocks. He wants us to come freely, but how fervently He wants us to come! His battle is as continuous as the assaults of the Evil One. Yet it is bloodless; it causes no wounds, but heals them. It does not deal out death, but promotes life. It attacks the common enemies of the race and conquers them in a calm and blessed way: ignorance, it attacks with truth; suffering, with charity; the powers of darkness, with the light of faith. To be called to more than the usual Christian duty in this glorious campaign is to be honored far beyond the high- est distinctions that the world can ever offer. And do not Our Lord's wistful words, uttered two thousand years ago, appeal to your heart today? . . . “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few." 18 When a missionary in China recently told a little native girl of Christ’s great command that His apostles go forth and teach all nations and save souls, she innocently asked, “When did He say that — a year or two ago?” “No,” smiled the priest, “two thousand years ago.” “Two thousand years!” marveled the child. “How, then, has it taken all that time for them to reach us?” The missionary sadly bowed his head, real- izing that, for twenty centuries, the Savior has been whispering to souls to come and be shep- herds to “the other sheep that are not of His fold” and that, in the din and clangor of the world, His word has been all too little heard and heeded. Patiently He waits, as He has long 19 waited. How can one refuse such meekness, such persistence, such eagerness, such love? When a Soul Surrenders Earth for Heaven . . Why should it be difficult to give up the world for Him who made it? Here is an ex- change that amounts to the greatest of bargains. You surrender the inexpressibly less and receive the infinitely greater. And, strangely, you still have, though in a far better sense, what you have given; for, by serving the Master, you be- come a master of what He has made. To follow Christ is like ascending a mountain: a vision beautiful is ever above; and, below, a sweeping and mellow view of God's material and human creation, relieved of all the defects that are so painfully apparent when we keep our eyes focused on the transient things of life. Just as the sun can gild the meanest object on earth with glory, so does the light of Heaven illumine everything on earth for a soul that, absorbed in God, sees with His shining eye. To have the whole universe would be pov- erty in comparison with possessing, and being possessed by, the Lord of it. To seek God is to find all things serenely in Him. To be His faithful servant is to walk through life as a king. In an assay office, there is a weighing in- 20 strument which is so delicate that, if two iden- tical bits of paper are put in its tiny pans, with a single word written in lead pencil or ink on one of the scraps, a difference in weight is in- stantly indicated. God’s scale is likewise accu- rate. Consider two souls, equally good: one vir- tuous because of a simple love of goodness, and the other faultless because of a sincere love for God; one blank, and the other bearing His name. In Heaven’s scale, the difference would be promptly registered. The God-loving and de- voted soul, quite like the other in the eyes of the world, may be balanced by “a treasure in Heaven” in the scales of Almighty God. Hare a Right Sense of Values . . . Do not let yourself be led by a wrong sense of values, if you would find the right way of life and living. In the days of Napoleon Bonaparte, an Eng- lish boy, full of admiration for the Corsican’s many military successes, exclaimed to his father: “He is the greatest man that ever lived!” But the father, pointing to a picture of Jesus Christ on the wall, replied: “Bonaparte is probably the greatest militarist that ever lived, my son, but there is the greatest man. The one, living, has brought death to numberless men; the other, dying, has meant life to whole generations.” 21 Be sure, in selecting your vocation, that your idea of greatness is accurate and that your in- sight into spiritual advantages is clear. Feasting your eyes too much on the attrac- tions of the world, you may be dazzled by them and therefore be sightless to the better things beyond. But gazing through them to the Maker and Master of all created things, you will de- velop a vision that pierces eternity and beholds more and more of a loveliness that grows and grows. Now is the Acceptable Time . . . If you deliver yourself, at the call of grace, to the religious life, your career will be spon- sored and inspired by the highest of ideals, and develop in peace, and end in a glory that never ends. In a word, you will share in the Trans- figuration. To love God is to let the image of Him that is in you shine forth in some way to others. To serve Him is to reign with Him. Today He is saying “Come” to many, many young souls. You may well be one of these. His fields are whitening to the harvest. His laborers are few. Too long have the most de- voted efforts been given to the work of the world, and the issue is sorrow. Consider the massed misery of the race today. Too little has the purpose of the Kingdom been served. Con- 22 sider the rewards that such service would have brought to mankind! Come! Come and labor, while it is yet day, for swiftly the night falls, when man can labor for his Lord no more. Serve Him here, and share Him forever hereafter. He came down to earth to dwell among us. It is for all of us to rise up, by His assistance, to the Father's house, where there are many mansions. It is for some of us to live nearer to Him than the others. Are you among the elect? Offer yourself to Him, and see what hap- pens. 23 If, after reading this little book, you are in- clined to believe that you may have a vocation — that God is calling you to His special service — consult your confessor or go to your pastor and have a heart-to-heart talk with him. He will help you by his prayers and guide you by his advice. Begin today — and continue every day — to pray to the Holy Spirit for light to know God’s will and for strength to follow His call. Only the brave, the strong, the self-sacrificing are wanted in the ranks of the priests, the Brothers, and the Sisters. There is no room among them for selfish souls or for weaklings or sissies. The Lord Christ wants generous souls who, with His help, will conquer the world. There is no braver or nobler service than the service of those who battle under the standard of the Cross and whose motto is: “The Sacred Heart for the World; The World for the Sacred Heart I” Nihil obstat: William J. Gauche, S.T.D., Censor Librorum Imprimatur : t John T. McNicholas, Archbishop of Cincinnati December 13, 1944 Art Work by A. de Bethune Published by the Catholic Students’ Mission Crusade, U.S.A. National Center, Crusade Castle, Shattuc Ave., Cincinnati 26, O. Printed in the United States of America.