Chapter 10

"A Rock in Mid-Ocean


I.   How small and insignificant was the Church in its origin! Twelve poor fishermen and a handful of disciples, how should they convert the world? But protected and strengthened by their divine Master, the Christian community continually increased, in spite of the bloody persecutions, in the course of which the all-powerful rulers of the mighty Roman Empire caused hundreds and thousands of the Church's children to be slain. After the lapse of a few brief centuries the Roman Empire was shattered to pieces, but the Church had conquered the world.
   Fresh enemies arose; heresiarchs appeared and strove to rob the Church of the true faith, or at least to falsify it. They were often most learned and talented men, protected by princes, kings, and emperors. At first they counted a great number of adherents, they endeavored to found churches of their own; but the protection and blessing of the Saviour was not with them but with His own Church; hence their work came to nothing.
   Thus has it ever been, down to the present day, and thus will it continue to be until time shall be no more; all who repudiate or attack the faith of the Church, cast themselves headlong into the raging billows of a stormy ocean, and cause their own destruction upon the rock of the Church. Yes, verily, the Church is a rock in mid-ocean, and this rock is indestructible. because the Catholic Church is the sole possessor of the true faith, and is infallible in proclaiming it.
II.   For the infallibility of the Church as a teacher the word of Christ Himself is pledged. He has made to her a threefold promise.
   In the first place, He promised that He would remain with the Church "even to the consummation of the world." Shortly before His ascension, He said to the apostles: "Going, therefore, teach all nations . . . and behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." These words are not addressed to the apostles as private individuals, for otherwise they would be meaningless, since before the close of the first century all the apostles had died, not excepting John. If, therefore, Christ promised to remain with His apostles even to the consummation of the world, it follows that the college of the apostles, that is the Church in her office as teacher, must continue to exist through all centuries. And if Christ, who is eternal truth, remains with the Church, her teaching must necessarily be infallible. For He does not remain with her in order to teach her error. Rather does He intend to signify, by making use of the words we have quoted above, that He will protect her from all error.
III.   Christ promised, in the second place, that the Spirit of truth should ever abide with the Church. "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth. . . . He will teach you all things."
   In these words Jesus promises that the Holy Ghost should so assist the apostles and their successors in their office as teachers that they should only proclaim the true doctrines of Christ. How can those be right who assert that the Church can err, and has already erred; for in that case the Spirit of truth would have departed from her, the promise of Christ would not be fulfilled, and His divinity would be at an end! Let him who can overthrow this argument!
IV.   In the third place, Jesus promised: "The gates (the power) of hell shall not prevail against it (the Church)." This power of hell, namely, the devil, would certainly overcome, i.e., prevail against the Church, if she would act in accordance with his will and desire. Before all else, however, he wills and desires that the Church should lose the true doctrines of Christ, whereby men are to be saved, and should teach what is false. As soon as he could succeed in bringing this about, he would prevail against the Church. But he can not conquer her, because of the promise of the Saviour; hence it follows that the Church can never err in matters of faith and morals; she must necessarily be infallible.
V.   But as far as you, my dear young friend, are concerned, what follows from the fact of the Church's infallibility? This especially: make it your constant endeavor to became better acquainted with the true doctrine of the Catholic Church. How much mischief has resulted in the case of individuals, as well as in that of whole families, communities, and states, from the fact that they were in ignorance, either willful or otherwise, of the true doctrine of the Church. Seek, therefore, a thorough explanation, a clear understanding of all that is taught by the infallible Church. This is more especially necessary in the days in which our lot is cast.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come,

From Thy bright, heavenly throne;

Come, take possession of our souls,

And make them all Thy own.

O! quite our minds with Thy blest light,

With love our hearts inflame;

And with Thy strength, which ne'er decays,

Confirm our mortal frame.

Far from us drive our hellish foe,

True peace unto us bring;

And through all perils lead us safe,

Beneath Thy sacred wing."

Chapter 9

"Christ Reins


I.   No doubt, dear reader, the name of Voltaire, the infidel, the enemy of God, is not unknown to you. He lived in France, towards the close of the eighteenth century, and made it the chief aim of his life to carry into effect his well-known saying: Ecrasez Y infame, "extirpate the infamous thing!" Thus did he designate the holy Church of God. And surprising, indeed, it is to see what efforts this man made, and how persistently he endeavored by speech, writings, and actions, to give effect to his favorite saying, to extirpate this holy Church, to uproot it from the face of the earth.
   But what did he gain by his proceedings? The outbreak of the most horrible, the most sanguinary revolution the world has ever seen, the slaughter of hundreds and thousands, the dissolution of all order and propriety, --- but never the destruction of Holy Church.
  And Voltaire does not stand alone in this respect; in all ages there have been enemies of the Church and of God, who with similar fury and persistence, and with the like weapons, persecuted the Church of God, but never, never could they succeed in uprooting it. And why not? Because the Church is the work of God, because Christ founded it, because Christ reigns in the Church and through the Church.
II.   Christ reigns; for (a) He founded a living, infallible authority (Church) commissioning and empowering her to propagate His religion pure and undefiled throughout the whole world; and (b) the Roman Catholic Church now represents this living authority in a legitimate manner.
III.   Christ founded a living, infallible authority. At the very outset He gathered together twelve disciples, designated apostles. To them He said, shortly before His death: "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you." Thus we see that Christ entrusted to the apostles His own mission; but Christ was sent by the Father as teacher, priest, and king.
   As a teacher He taught everywhere, first of all in the Temple, then in the synagogues, in towns and villages, on mountains, on the Lake of Genesareth, in the desert, and so on. And since Christ knew quite well that the apostles were but human, and as such might err and make mistakes, He expressly added to the words we quoted above: "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
   Now everything was provided for. And with the consciousness of a mission that was directly divine, the apostles proceeded for the future. They did not ask permission of the emperor Tiberius, for they were sent by Christ.
IV.   Furthermore, Christ was a priest; He officiated as such, He absolved souls and healed them, He offered up Himself on Mount Calvary.  In like manner were the apostles also sent as priests. They had partaken of the Sacrifice at the last supper, and by Christ's command they were to offer it up in future: "Do this in commemoration of Me!" He gave them power to forgiven sins: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them"; Also to baptize: "Going, therefore, baptize all nations."
V.   In a similar way was Christ sent as a shepherd, as a king: Ego sum rex, "I am a King." But He is not a king like other monarchs; "My kingdom is not of this world." Earthly kings care for the natural, temporal, civil welfare of their subject, Christ for the supernatural, spiritual, and eternal.
   The apostles were likewise, shepherds and kings, and as such possessed a threefold power: to give laws, to pass judgment, and to inflict punishment. Of the possession of these peers the apostles were conscious from the very first, since they thus expressed themselves: "It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," to lay such and such commands upon you.
VI.   Thus we see that Christ founded in very deed a living, infallible authority, with the commission and command to transmit His religion in its entirety to all future generations; this authority is the college of the apostles. Equally certain is it that the Roman Catholic Church, as it exists in the present day, is the legitimate continuation of the college of the apostles. Such a continuation must indeed exist in all centuries after Christ as an infallible teaching authority; for Christ has said: "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." Now among all religious systems there is only one which lays claim to the possession of an infallible body of teachers, and this is the Roman Catholic Church alone. When we assert that the Catholic Church is infallible, we mean that she can not err in matters of faith and morals." [The Church is infallible when speaking Ex Cathedra (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05677a.htm) on matters of faith and morals but the individual is capable of sin or error otherwise.]
   "If this claim were unfounded, if it were a mere pretension, it would follow that the Church of Christ would to-day have vanished from the face of the earth. But this is not possible, for were it otherwise what would become of the promise of Christ: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it"? What would become of the divinity of Jesus Christ Himself?
   Thus we see that in one Church alone, in the Roman Catholic Church, does Christ still reign as teacher, priest, and king. Our joy and pride it is that we are children of this Holy Catholic Church.

Calm when fiercest storms prevail,

See the Ship of Peter sail;

Still unarmed from age to age

Though wild winds and storms may rage.

Fashioned by a hand all-wise,

Hell's worst onslaught she defies."

(In blue are my own words.)

Chapter 8

"Christ Conquers


I.   In Front of St. Peter's in Rome there stands a lofty obelisk which the ancient Romans brought over from Egypt. For centuries it remained buried deep under heaps of rubbish; Pope Sixtus V caused it to be set up one more, and this inscription to be engraved upon it: "Christus vincit, Christus regnal liberal." "Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ governs; Christ delivers us from every evil."
   Christ conquers: He does this by means of His glorious resurrection from actual death, for this is the most striking, the most incontrovertible proof of His divinity. The Resurrection of Christ stands forth as a prominent fact in the world's history, and enemies of Christianity are not less compelled to own its truth than were His adherents and believing disciples. All the attempts of unbelief to argue it away have until now been utterly put to shame, and will be confounded forever. The facts of the Gospel stand as firm as mountains; all storms pass over them without leaving any trace.
II.   Christ conquers; He had Himself foretold His resurrection, and regard it as a miracle that should prove Him to be the Son of God in the eyes of the whole world. When with a scourge He drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, and the Jews asked Him in virtue of what right He acted thus, He replied: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." "But," adds the evangelist, "He spoke of the temple of His body." In these words Our Lord referred to His future resurrection on the third day. Did this really take place? Yes, in the pages of the Gospel we find it proved to demonstration.
III.   In the first place, the Gospel proves with absolute certainty that the Saviour really expired upon the cross. In order to make certain of His death, a soldier pierced His side with a lance; blood and water flowed from the wound, this being the surest sign that the heart had been pierced and death had actually occurred. Indeed, the wound was so deep, that, at a subsequent period, the apostle Thomas was able to place his hand in it; thus it was a mortal wound. All those who witnessed the crucifixion were convinced of Our Lord's death, four evangelists are unanimous upon this point. And even the chief priests and scribes, the bitter enemies of Jesus, bore witness to His death, since they asked permission to place a guard at His grave. Moreover, His closest adherents doubted not the fact; they wrapped His body in linen cloths, laid it in a grave, and closed it with a slab of stone.
IV.   We now come to the most important point. In order that no deception might be practiced, and the body not be stolen, the sepulcher was sealed and guards were placed before it, in compliance with the request of the Pharisees. But it was these very quarts who bore the most incontrovertible witness to the resurrection, since they presented themselves on the third day and affirmed on oath they had seen Christ come forth from the sepulcher.
   The obdurate Jews, however, went so far in their blindness that after taking counsel, "they gave," as the evangelist tells us, "a great sum of money to the soldiers, saying: Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away when we were asleep." What incredible folly is this! Would any man in his senses accept the testimony of witnesses who were asleep? But God, in His wisdom, permitted things to happen in this manner, in order that our faith in the fundamental truth of Christianity, namely, the Resurrection, and therefore in the divinity of Jesus Christ, should be established in a more firm and convincing manner.
V.   Yet a further proof. The risen Lord appeared to His followers. The women who early on Easter morning repaired to the grave declared that they found it empty, as did also the apostles Peter and John. Soon after ward Jesus showed Himself to St. Peter. On the same day He appeared to the two disciples, as they were proceeding to Emmaus. In the following night He appeared to all the apostles when they were gathered together, with the exception of Thomas to whom He manifested Himself at a later period, when he was present with the others. Furthermore, the Saviour repeatedly appeared to the disciples in Galilee; He ate with them and made arrangements concerning the Church of the future. On one accession He appeared to five hundred disciples at once, and on the fortieth day after His resurrection He ascended into heaven in the sight of the apostles.
   These appearances could not have been the result of imagination on the part of the apostles; they could not have fancied that they saw what they so earnestly desired to behold; for from the conversation of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and conduct of St. Thomas, it is plain that they despaired of proving the truth of Our Lord's claims.
VI.   Thus once again let us repeat: Christ conquers! Rejoice therefore, O Christian, to know that our faith is firm as a rock! Yes, know that our faith is from as a rock! Yes, verily, firm as a rock! For no fact in the history of the world has been proved in so undeniable a manner as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wherefore bow down in a spirit of humility, confidence, and lively faith before this God and Saviour, exclaiming with St. Peter: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God!" Conquer, reign, and rule in my heart.

O death! where's now thy mortal sting?

Where's now thy victory?

To-day His glorious praise we sing,

Who triumphed over thee.

Not  triumphed for Himself alone;

But, by His mighty power,

Taught us to triumph in our turn,

Nor dread thy terrors more.

Fore lo! the dread of death is sin

And never-ending woe;

From thence our evils flow.

But now, from sin and hell set free,

No longer death we'll fear;

But longing for eternity

Rejoice when it draws near.

Ye angels, now, who watch around

The Conqueror's heavenly throne,

Aid us to make the skies resound

The victory for us won.

Aid us to sing His worthy praise

With one united heart;

Aid us to walk in all His ways,

Till we from life depart.

-Oratory Hymns."

Chapter 7

"Christ is Truly God

I.   The heir of a mighty monarch once traveling incognito and unattended, visited a lonely mountain valley which belonged to his father's dominions. In order that he might be suitably received, he told the inhabitants his name and his exalted rank. Since, however, no persons throughout the valley had ever seen the crown prince, or even a likeness of him, they refused to believe in his identity without further proof, but required him to show that he was the true and lawful crown prince. And the good people were certainly not to be blamed for requiring such a proof; since otherwise any one who took it into his head to do so, might claim to be the crown prince.
II.   Nineteen hundred years ago, far away in Palestine, a Man made His appearance; He claimed to be, not merely the heir of this or that mighty monarch, but the Son of the King of heaven and earth. Yes, when this Man stood arraigned as a criminal before the high priest, said to Him: "I adjure Thee the Christ, the Son of God," this Man replied, earnestly and solemnly, "Thou hast said it, I am He!"
   Thus publicly, earnestly, and solemnly, did Jesus Christ declare Himself to be the Son of God; thus did He announce Himself as true God. And He formerly required of His hearers, as He now in like manner requires of us, that His doctrines should be accepted, and His claims received. We, therefore, on our part, have a perfect right to demand that He should prove to us that we must believe in Him, that He should show His credentials, and prove Himself to be the Son of God, prove Himself to be true God. And indeed, there is not any lack of such proofs, of such credentials. Let us examine this matter somewhat more closely.
III.   He who asserts that He is the Son of God, that He is truly God, must in the first place lead a life absolutely free from sin. When Christ stood before His mortal foes and asked, "Which of you shall convince me of sin?" they were silent. Thus we see that Christ fulfilled the primary condition, that He should be without sin. In order to furnish a proof of His divinity it was necessary that He should do works which only God could accomplish. He must be Lord of the winds and waves, of the devil, of the powers of nature, of the living and the dead. Did Christ perform such essentially divine works, which could not possible be the result, either of natural causes or of the agency of the devil?
IV.   Unbelievers have objected that in order to judge whether we have before us a work which is a miracle, and essentially divine, we need to be thoroughly acquainted with the powers of nature, and also of the devil. To this we make reply that it is only necessary to know what the forces of nature are not able to accomplish. For example, if you, dear reader, are in a room, it is plain that you can not leave that room if every opening to it is closed. Equally true it is, that ordinary mud, if rubbed upon the eye, will not cure blindness; that the devil influences no soul for good, and so on. Therefore whatever exceeds the power, either of nature or of the devil, is an essentially divine action.
   If, without involving the aid of God, without first praying for help, Christ performed such actions, He performed them in virtue of His own divine omnipotence. Christ wrought miracles by His own power; the apostles and the saints performed wonders in the name of Jesus and through prayer. If Christ really did this, by so doing He showed Himself to be truly God.
V.   That Christ performed a great number of miracles, the evangelists, the Fathers of the Church, and heathen writers alike testify. I will only mention the occasions on which He raised the dead. At Naim He recalled a dead youth to life by merely uttering this word of command: "Young man, I say to thee; Arise."
   Christ knew that Lazarus was dead, without any announcement of the fact having reach Him, and He imparted the news to the apostles, and restored Lazarus to life, although he had been four days in the grave. Numerous persons witnessed this marvelous miracle, which caused the enemies of Our Lord to determine upon His death, because they consequences. But the Pharisees entertained no doubt as to the reality of His miracles.
VI.   Thus we see that the Saviour was a divine person. He Himself on several occasions asserted it openly, and this assertion was confirmed when He was baptized in the Jordan, by a voice from heaven which declared: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
   The adversaries of Christ affirms miracles to be impossible; therefore, say they, there were no miracle at all. Hence I might simply say to any one who had fallen from a ladder: "It is not possible to fall, therefore you have not fallen!" Thus it is utterly foolish to deny the possibility of any fact, the existence of which is self-evident. Therefore even Rousseau, who did not believe in Christ, declared that he who denies the possibility of miracles ought to be placed in a lunatic asylum.
VII.   Thus do we perceive that our faith rests upon the most solid basis; Christ is truly God, He has indisputably attested Himself to be such by means of His sinless life and His glorious miracles. Wherefore gaze upon your Saviour with the eye of faith, and say:

My Lord and God I Thee confess to be,

Though foes deride, and will know naught of Thee.

Thy wondrous works reveal to human sight

Thy love divine, Thy Glory, and Thy might."

Chapter 6

"Produce Your Witnesses


I.   We KNOW that Jesus Christ lived upon this earth, not because we have seen Him with our eyes or heard Him with our ears, but because the holy Gospels relate the story of His life, because those who saw and heard Him tell us about Him.
   In the first place, it is of the utmost importance to perceive in a clear and convincing manner that everything we are told concerning the life of Our Lord is the truth, and nothing but the truth. This life of Christ, as contained in the Gospel, forms a portion of Holy Scripture, and is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God; it rests, therefore, upon divine authority, and is worthy of absolute belief. But even apart from its divine character, this history is as worthy of belief as the most trustworthy of the earliest records. And why is this? When do you, dear reader believe that any history which you read is true? Only when you are quite convinced as to its in particular, when you are able to persuade yourself that the writer knew the truth, and desired to tell it. Well, then, the four evangelists, who related the life of Christ, can come forward and bear witness to its truth.
II.   In the first place, there is no disputing the fact that the authorship of the Gospels has not only been ascribed to these four men, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but that they, and they alone, did write them in very deed. And to this fact the Fathers of the Church who lived and wrote in the time immediately succeeding the apostolic ages, and numerous Christian theologians who shed their blood for the Faith, bear unhesitating witness; heretics, moreover, do the same, inasmuch as they endeavor to prove their false religious opinions by quotations from the Gospel; the Talmud also, the modern legal code of the Jews, acknowledges the gospel miracles as facts; finally the heathen sages, Celsus and Porphyrius, and even the apostate emperor, Julian, who poured scorn and contempt upon the religion he had so basely abandoned, did not attempt to deny that the life of Christ was written by the four evangelists.
III.   Furthermore, these writers of the Gospel, these witnesses for the truth of it, are entirely trustworthy; their testimony is absolutely reliable. In the first place, they were in a position to tell the truth, since they were well acquainted with the facts. Who indeed could better know the truth than St. Matthew and St. John, who received their vocation as apostles from the divine Redeemer Himself, and who were privileged to be His constant companions, to hear His words and behold His wonderful works? And the two other evangelists, St. Mark and St. Luke, were fully acquainted with the life of Christ, because they wrote their gospels at the suggestion and under the direction of two apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul.
IV.   No reasonable man can doubt that the holy evangelists spoke the truth if he attentively considers the manner in which they wrote. Any one who wishes to deceive the reader, to misrepresent circumstances or facts, would certainly not write in so straightforward, frank, and honest a manner as we find that the sacred historians invariably do. He who desires to distort or conceal the truth would assuredly not relate his own faults and failings and those of his dearest friends as the evangelists do. For this reason Rousseau, one of the bitterest enemies of Christ, is fain to confess: "A history like that of the Gospel is not invented." The Gospel possesses such touching, such utterly inimitable marks of truthfulness, that if the author were an inventor and impostor, he would be more worthy of admiration than the one who is the subject of the gospel narrative. It would be, indeed, a shameless proceeding to reproach an apostle with deceit, unless some further proof were forthcoming. What reasonable motive could they have had to lie? Persecution, chains, imprisonment, death --- no one deceives for such gain as this; no one would get himself hung for a lie!
V.   And yet more! The evangelists wrote amid circumstances and in times which rendered it well-nigh impossible for them to deceive.
   In the days when Jesus lived and labored, people had sharp eyes and ears, just as in our day, and the enemies of Christianity were not less cunning and malicious than they are at present. Can you imagine that these people would have been good-natured enough to hold their tongues if the disciples of Jesus had related in the Gospel facts concerning Him which were either falsehoods, or, to say the least, gross misrepresentations? And when, about thirty years after Christ, St. Matthew wrote his gospel, there were still living a great number of those who had formerly been among the bitter enemies of Christ. How would they have attacked the apostle, had he taken upon himself to invent either facts or miracles concerning the life of Christ!
VI.   Thus the evangelists stand before us as absolutely reliable witnesses to the truth. And herein consists the secret of the beauty, simplicity, sanctity, and indestructible power of the holy Gospel. It is not the soul, the mind, the gifts of the writers that we find in them, but the soul, the mind, the thoughts, the maxims of Him who forms the subjects of their writings. Jesus lives in the gospels; He acts, He speaks, He touches the heart, He enlightens and sanctifies. Venerate, therefore, these wondrous pages! Read them in a spirit of faith and with a heart overflowing with the love of God; For

In Hole Scripture God His truth displays,
  And yet its pages, read in various ways,
Bring faith to some; cause doubt in other minds:
  That one sucks honey, this one poison finds."