Chapter IV: Part 4

This is the Holy Roman Church, considered in its Catholic extension as the mother and mistress of churches in all parts of the world, which are bound together in one Holy Catholic Church by their obedience to the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff. The Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church includes the whole vast number of the faithful in her fold in fact, and all mankind in right. No walls--that is, no bounds short of the limits of the earth--can be set to her rightful jurisdiction. And beyond this, the prophet teaches us that her strength does not consist in fortifications and bulwarks of stone, or, in other words, is not derived from any material resources, whereas it is spiritual in its origin and nature. God is a wall of fire round about her, and her glory in the midst of her. The Roman Church is made glorious by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, by spiritual might and force, by truth, grace, and sanctity. These same divine gifts and powers pervade the whole Catholic Church by virtue of communion with the See of the Vicar of Christ. The burning light of faith, the burning fire of charity, are concentrated within, and diffused all around the Catholic Church, constituting all her glory and all her power, and by these she illumines and inflames the whole world. {125} The Church is really and truly a kingdom, that is, a stable and perfect society, established upon a permanent constitution, with a hierarchy having power to make laws and exercise jurisdiction, and bound together in unity by a monarchical regimen. This kingdom is spiritual, because it is established for the spiritual and eternal welfare of men, and because it is founded on ideas and principles which belong to the supernatural order. That is, it is founded on faith in Divine revelation, in truths and doctrines made known by Divine inspiration, and on a right and authority conferred immediately by Jesus Christ, acting in his quality of Redeemer and Regenerator of mankind. Moreover, it is by supernatural and Divine grace, by Divine, life-giving sacraments, that men are constituted members of the Church and of the hierarchy. The Church overcomes the minds and hearts of men by truth and grace, by inward conviction and conversion, and thus, through both mind and heart, subdues them entirely to herself. She makes individuals and nations her subjects, by making them parts of the Church, and thus amenable to her laws. They are subject to her jurisdiction, as the spiritual kingdom of God, in everything which relates to doctrine, sacraments, and morals; and, therefore, in everything, even of the natural and temporal order, so far as it relates to religion and morality.

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It is, therefore, necessary that the Church should be completely independent of all human authority, and supreme in her own sphere. Her rights, her property, and the persons of her hierarchy must be sacred and inviolable. She must have full and unrestricted liberty to exercise the powers and fulfil the mission committed to her by her Divine founder, without any interference of kings, rulers, or the people; of lawless individuals, or any usurping, tyrannical state. It is most necessary of all that the Supreme See and Sovereign Ruler of the Church--that is, the Roman Church and Pontiff--should possess this perfect liberty and independence. The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, the supreme judge of all questions of doctrine and morals. So far as the rights of religion are concerned, he is the judge of all sovereigns and states, and they owe him obedience. He is the judge, also, of the justice and morality of laws, whether national or international, and of all practical cases in which conscience and the divine or ecclesiastical law are concerned. For this reason, he ought not to be the subject of any temporal prince or state. And, in point of fact, Jesus Christ has given him the rights and privileges of a sovereign. {127} When tribute was exacted of our Lord, before paying it, He stated distinctly to his disciples that He Himself was above all human jurisdiction and law, and insinuated, in an equally unmistakable manner, that He designed to communicate this privilege to St. Peter. "And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas came to Peter, and said to him: Doth not your Master pay the didrachma? He said: Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take tribute or custom? of their children or of strangers? And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the children are free. But, that we may not scandalize them, go thou to the sea, and cast in a hook; and that fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a stater: take that, and give it to them for me and thee." [Footnote 39]

[Footnote 39: St. Matt. xvii. 23-26.]
[USCCB: St. Matt. xvii. 24-27.]

The argument used by our Lord is very plain. The son of a king is exempt from tribute. "I am the Son of the King of kings, and, therefore, owe no tribute to the servants of My Father." But, if our Lord owed no tribute to any temporal ruler, He owed no kind of obedience or subjection. And as He paid tribute as a free act of condescension, in order to uphold the authority of kings, so, for the same reason, He respected that authority in other things. {128} His emblematic action in providing, miraculously, a coin for the tribute-money, which He ordered St. Peter to pay in the name of Christ and for himself also, insinuates in the most significant manner that St. Peter was to obtain from Him a like privilege with that which He possessed by natural right as the Son of God. Christ is a sovereign in His own native right. The Vicar of Christ is a sovereign by a delegated privilege. The obedience of Christ to temporal rulers and laws was not due by the obligation of a subject, but a mere voluntary conformity for the sake of the common good. So, also, the Vicars of Christ, independent of all temporal rulers and laws, should be bound to God alone, and not before men, to subject themselves to the authority of an earthly sovereign, only so far as times and circumstances might require them to do so for the well-being of the Church. For several centuries it was, in fact, necessary for the Popes to submit to the sovereignty of the Roman emperors, pagan and Christian. During this period they maintained their spiritual independence and supremacy chiefly by an incessant conflict with the imperial power--frequently ended only by their martyrdom. It was partially secured by the voluntary respect and obedience of the Christian emperors to the spiritual authority of the Vicar of Christ. But this was an imperfect state, suited only to the beginnings of the Church; and therefore the providence of God gave to the Popes the temporal sovereignty over Rome. {129} The personal sovereignty and independence of the Pope was given him by a divine right, and conferred on him immediately by Jesus Christ. This divine right did not, however, convey an immediate title to the possession of any temporal kingdom of subjects. It only gave the right to acquire such a kingdom by human right, and made this human right, once acquired, sacred and inviolable. The title of the Popes to the sovereignty of Rome is, therefore, in its origin human, and based on principles of human law and justice; but in regard to its inalienable, inviolable sacredness, it is of divine right. It is not essentially contained in that sovereignty which Christ gave to St. Peter and his successors, but it is its natural and necessary consequence. It is annexed to it for its maintenance and protection. Ever since the civilized nations became Christian, this sovereignty has been necessary, and it still continues, and must remain in future, necessary for the due exercise of the spiritual supremacy of the Roman Church and Pontiff. The sacredness and inviolability of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope over the Roman kingdom, and the necessity, under the present condition of things, of this sovereignty to the well-being of the Church, have been repeatedly and solemnly declared by the sovereign pontiffs and by the Catholic episcopate. {130} It is impossible for any true and loyal Catholic to think otherwise; and the events which have occurred and are now occurring make it clearly and plainly manifest that this judgment is just. God has given to the Roman Pontiff a temporal throne and kingdom, a country and a capital, that it might be a Christian Sion and Jerusalem, a holy and inviolable sanctuary, in which the Vicar of Christ can possess and exercise in sovereign freedom and independence all the rights of his spiritual supremacy over the universal Church.

From what I have thus far said, which is the expression not of my opinion merely as an individual, but of the common belief of the whole body of sincere and faithful Catholics throughout the world, I draw the following evident conclusion: In that combat which the Holy Father has been so long waging, he has defended only what God has given him for the spiritual and eternal welfare of the human race. This determined and glorious conflict with unprincipled governments and the detestable horde of revolutionists for the defence of the temporal princedom of the Roman Pontiff, is a combat between infidelity and faith, hell and heaven, Satan and Jesus Christ. {131} The real and final aim of those who have conspired together to overthrow the temporal sovereignty of the Pope has been and is the subversion of his spiritual supremacy, and of the freedom and independence of the Catholic Church; the abolition of the kingdom of Christ upon the earth; and the emancipation of human society, together with all the individuals who compose it, from the law of God. It is true that many of those who have taken part in this conspiracy have not clearly foreseen or intended this final and inevitable tendency of their movement toward communism and atheism. But these are merely the purblind followers and accomplices, the servants and tools of more clear sighted and desperate leaders, who make use of them, and who despise them. All together are but the instruments and agents of one who is far more clear-sighted and more desperate than any of them, the great enemy of Jesus Christ, the original author of all rebellion, the apostate archangel, Lucifer.

The Holy Father and his devoted adherents have been fighting for the principles of truth, justice, and morality, for the welfare of society, the laws of God, the cause of religion throughout the whole world. Rome is the sanctuary where these precious jewels are treasured. Those good, brave men who have died in defence of the Holy See have died as martyrs for the faith and law of Christ. All Catholics owe them reverence and gratitude, and ought to be stirred up by their glorious example to an equal zeal and loyalty in the sacred cause of God and the Pope. {132} All Christians have sworn allegiance to Jesus Christ as their King. The Pope is the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and, therefore, no Christian can pay allegiance to Jesus Christ without paying allegiance to the Pope. This allegiance is spiritual, but, by its very nature as a spiritual allegiance, it binds every Catholic to support and assist the Pope by all possible and lawful means to defend and preserve those temporal rights, which are necessary to him and to the Church, as the condition and the guarantee of the freedom and well-being of both.

It is also the interest of all Catholics, as well as their duty, to stand bravely and loyally by the Pope in his struggle against the enemies of the Church and of religion. What is there so precious to the Christian as the faith, the holy and divine religion into which he has been baptized; the Church, which is his ark of safety; the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, which is the link between heaven and earth; the Communion of Saints, through which he remains still united to the faithful departed whom he once loved on earth; the hope of future glory and blessedness in the kingdom of God? Health, wealth, pleasure, honor, science, art, home, country, the whole wide world itself, are of no value in comparison. But the treasure which each one possesses in his religion he holds only by virtue of that charity which binds him to all other members of the Catholic Church, and to its Head. {133} Our interests are in common, and if any member, but especially the Head, be wounded, the whole body and all the other members must suffer with it. Each one has an interest in the well-being of the whole Church. We have an interest in the preservation of the sacred deposit of faith and grace in all nations; in the salvation of our neighbor, in the spiritual good of our posterity; in the prosperity of Christendom; in the conversion of the world; in the triumph of Jesus Christ; in the glory of God. All these are bound up in the cause of the Holy See, the Roman Church, the Sovereign Pontiff. It is only by the Catholic Church that mankind can be saved and that God can be glorified. Peter is the Rock on which this Church is built. The successors of Peter hold the golden keys by which hell is shut and heaven opened. The See of Peter is the centre of unity, light, life, and strength, for the whole Church throughout the world. It is against the Rock of Peter that the forces, proceeding from the gates of hell to make war on religion, morality, society, the spiritual and temporal well-being of the human race, direct their most fierce and obstinate assaults. The downfall of this citadel would cause the destruction of the kingdom of God on earth, and give the victory to Satan in his warfare against Christ. {134} "The gates of hell shall never prevail against it." God will preserve the Roman Church until the end of the world. But He will not do it altogether by miraculous and supernatural means, or by His own immediate intervention in human affairs. God ordinarily works through secondary causes, and by means of human agencies. He has established the civil princedom of the Roman Pontiff as the bulwark of his spiritual supremacy, and this bulwark must be defended by the loyalty and valor of all true Catholics against the assaults of the gates of hell. If faithless sovereigns and wicked conspirators despoil the Sovereign Pontiff of his lawful patrimony, rob the Roman Church of her possessions, and thus weaken and embarrass the functions of the supreme government of the Catholic Church, duty and interest alike require of the faithful to repair this injury, and to succor the distress of the Mother and Mistress of all churches by their generous and abundant contributions.

This is the obligation of the poor and of the rich alike, though not in equal measures. Upon those who are relatively poor, by comparison with the wealthier class--that is, those who are dependent upon their own hard labor for a modest livelihood--it is not necessary to press this obligation in urgent terms. They make up the great body of the faithful, and by their zeal and charity it is in a great part that the enterprises of the Church are sustained. {135} To those of you, my dear brethren, who belong to this class, what I have said already will be enough--that is, to the greater part. For there are some who waste in the service of the devil what they can save from their earnings, and, therefore, have little or nothing left to give to God and the Church. Those who give themselves to excessive drinking--as some unhappily do, to their own shame and ruin and the scandal of religion--waste their hard-earned money in the service of the devil. So, also, those who give their money to unlawful societies, and to foolish, wicked enterprises, which are forbidden both by the laws of the Church and of the country, waste it in the devil's service. All such persons are bad subjects and rebels in the kingdom of God. Therefore, I exhort them to return to their fidelity and allegiance, to renounce the service of the devil, and to give a part of what they have devoted to his wicked works to the holy cause of God and the Church. Let those, also, who are led away by foolish vanity to spend more money than is suitable and right upon the decoration of their person, sacrifice those ornaments which are not in keeping with the modesty of their state in life, that they may have more to give to our Lord, and may merit more precious and lasting jewels, which will never lose their lustre. {136} Those who serve the meek and lowly Saviour of the world, who put on the form of a servant for our sakes, in humble labors and offices, are ennobled by their Christian charity. Imitate, therefore, the zeal, self-denial, and generous liberality of your forefathers and brethren in all ages and countries, who, out of their poverty, have made such great gifts to God and their fellow-men, and whose alms have swollen from small rills to such an abundant stream, fertilizing and blessing the earth. It will come back to you a hundredfold, especially when it is bestowed on the Vicar of Christ, who is, like his Divine Master, in a special sense the father of the poor.

The obligations of the rich in respect to giving are far greater than those of the poor, but not generally so well fulfilled. The spirit of the Catholic religion ought to inspire them with a generous and lavish charity. The spirit of God is a princely spirit; and in the early and middle ages this princely spirit was manifested in a princely munificence. There are not wanting, in our own times, many signal instances of this same generous and noble magnanimity of Christian character in the great and wealthy. The present needs of the Holy See have called forth, in numbers of those who are noble or rich, a manifestation of that same piety, devotion, and liberality which has adorned the history of happier epochs, and given a purer lustre to so many illustrious names. {137} But our age is one of luxury and self-indulgence. The rich are exposed in an unusual degree to those temptations which have always made their state so dangerous. Therefore, they need special admonitions to administer well the goods entrusted to them by Almighty God, and beware of that excessive love of money, that pride, selfishness, and extravagance, which are so contrary to the spirit of Christianity. They need to be stirred up to give in proportion to their wealth to the sacred cause of God, and not to stint themselves to the small measure which, for the poor, is generous and honorable, but which for them is niggardly and disgraceful. To the rich, therefore, I say that they should imitate the example of those holy and noble persons who have consecrated their wealth to God.

You serve an exacting Master. You are placed in a position which is beset with responsibility and danger. It is a responsible position, because of the great and important duties and obligations which are annexed to it; dangerous, because of its great difficulties and temptations. Those who are favored and elevated above their fellows by Divine Providence, have not received these blessings in order that they may make a display of themselves or indulge their passions, but in order that they may glorify God and do good to their fellow-men. {138} If they wish to be safe in the midst of the allurements and seductions of this world, to derive real and lasting advantage from their wealth, and to save their souls, they must consecrate their riches to the service of God. There is but one end for which one can live in this world which is worthy of a Christian--the exaltation of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Princes, nobles, men of power and influence through their talents, learning, station, or wealth, if they do not devote themselves heart and soul to the advancement and extension of the Catholic Faith and the Catholic Church, are recreant to their trust. It is this treason of the great and rich in Catholic nations to the sacred cause of Christ and His Church which is the chief cause of irreligion and vice among the people, of rebellion and revolution, political and social disorder, and which threatens to produce convulsions still more extensive and terrible, in which the privileged classes will become the victims of a conflagration which their own folly and wickedness have kindled. The throne of the Roman Pontiff is the keystone of the arch of political and social order, public peace and prosperity, civilization and good government. Those who have the greatest stake involved in the social commonwealth have the greatest interest in maintaining the rights of that august and sacred throne. {139} It is a disgrace to Christendom that the Sovereign Pontiff of the Catholic Church should be left to struggle almost alone and single-handed with enemies who have plotted the overthrow of the Holy See and of religion. It is shameful that he should be left to bear the burden of debts and embarrassments which have been created by those who have unjustly invaded and despoiled the patrimony of the Church. The majestic figure and attitude of Pius IX. is a condemnation of the nations of Christendom in this nineteenth century before the tribunal of conscience and of Almighty God. Only those can free themselves from this condemnation who are found on his side, sustaining his cause by word and deed, proving their loyalty to Christ and His Vicar by their open renunciation of all sympathy and complicity with the enemies of the Holy See, and by their zealous and active support of the spiritual supremacy and temporal princedom of the Roman Pontiff.

By the grace of God, my dear brethren, we will not incur that condemnation. We are true and faithful members of that Holy Catholic Church which was founded on the day of Pentecost. Although remote in the distance of space from the See of Peter, the Holy Roman Church, we acknowledge with pride and joy that the Mother and Mistress of Churches is the Mother and Mistress of the Church of this Western world. {140} We are the loyal and devoted children of our Holy Father, Pius IX. His rights we will sustain while life shall last. Our prayers shall never cease to ascend to heaven for his success and triumph; our generous contributions to his temporal necessities shall never fail him. We rely on the unfailing word and almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ to give victory and triumph to the cause of His crowned and anointed Vicar and of His Holy Church; and we will, therefore, do our duty zealously and faithfully to promote that victory, that we may share in its glory and reward.

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The Sermon IX.

The Living God.

(For Trinity Sunday.)

Jer. x. 10.

"__The Lord is the true God:
He is the living God__."

To-day the Church makes a solemn profession of faith in the mystery of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is true this is a profound, inscrutable mystery, which we could never have discovered, and which, even now that it is revealed, we cannot fully grasp with our reason; but it is not so absolutely impenetrable that we may not reason about it in so far as to see a fitness in it, and to recognize its truth and conclude its necessity from its perfect harmony with the other mysteries of the Christian faith. We can see how the whole system of religion, which shows us God as the Creator of the universe, and the Redeemer and glorifier of the human race, finds its fittest sanction and most reasonable explanation in its truth; while the rejection of it would leave the mind oppressed and bewildered with a thousand difficulties impossible of solution, and of such a nature as to lead us to abandon the belief in God as a living personal Being, and seek for their explanation in some theory of Pantheism or Polytheism, the first of which denies the personality, and the second the unity, of God.

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If I needed an apology for endeavoring to show the reasonableness of this doctrine, it would be that in our day it is famentably true that the great body of so-called Christians, who have cast off the primary authority of revealed truth, and set up the destructive theory of private judgment in its stead, are fast losing their faith in this necessary truth of Christianity, and falling away into Rationalism and Infidelity. It becomes the Christian preacher, therefore, to raise his voice in defence of this fundamental doctrine of Christianity. Christianity is true only because the Trinity is true. Abandon that, and belief in Christ the incarnate Son of God is impossible.

Let us consider, then, with all due reverence, the mystery of the being of God, and express the reasons which our own mind can present to confirm the faith of the Christian, when, signing himself with the sign of Christ, he adds the solemn declaration of his belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

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First of all, it is proper to state distinctly what the doctrine of the Trinity is. We believe that there is one infinite, eternal Being, whose nature is in no way divided, nor can be conceived of as partly one thing, and partly another thing. We believe that God, though one in being, is a Trinity in person. This Trinity of person in God does not separate His being into parts any more than His attributes, such as His wisdom or His justice, could divide Him, making His wisdom or justice one thing, and Himself another thing, which is not wisdom or justice.

It is God who is both wise and just, and His wisdom and justice have no existence but in Him. So it is God, one Being, who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and these three Persons, taken together, or one by one, are not something else besides the being of God, but they, each and all, are God. God __is__ the Trinity. So that the Father cannot regard the Son, or the Holy Ghost, as some other being--some other God, because the Son and the Holy Ghost are the same God as the Father is. In being God is not three, but one. Nor does the fact of there being three Persons add anything to the being of God, or lessen the absolute perfection of His unity, by introducing an element of division: on the contrary, we shall see that a perfect being must exist in three persons, and a being with only one person, such as we are, is necessarily an imperfect being.

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And when we say that the three Persons are distinct one from the other, so that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy Ghost, that again in no manner can affect the unity of the Divine Being, which in all three is identically the same. God, whose being is one, lives in three persons, and we can address ourselves to any one of the three separately, to God living as the Father, to God living as the Son, or to God living as the Holy Ghost; but the Being who __lives__, either as Father, or as Son, or as Holy Ghost, is One, and cannot be addressed in any manner as if He was double or triple. This very reasonable distinction between a being and the person of that being seems to be something which many wise and learned men appear either unable or unwilling to understand.

The being of God lives. He is the living God, and the three persons are His life. Not that God has three different lives; that as Father he has one life, and as the Son a second life, and as the Holy Ghost a third life. There is but one life in God, and it is the three persons that live that life. This appears to me to be the most reasonable explanation of the Trinity which our minds are capable of conceiving, and I will develop this thought in a few words.

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God is a __living__ being. Let us ask ourselves whence does God receive the life of His Divine Being? Who is the author of His life? Plainly, from no one but from Himself. He is the first, and only, and complete cause of His own life. There was nothing before Him from which He drew His infinite being, nor upon whose prior existence He depends for life. There is nothing now that can sustain Him or support His life, neither can there be anything after Him. He is the eternally living God. He is, then, the eternal cause of His own life.

What is He as cause, and what is this divine life of His being which is the effect of that cause? As cause, He is the Father, the Parent, the Progenitor, the Producer, the Begetter of His own life. And that life, which is begotten in Himself, is the Son. He is the eternally living God, and hence the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Person of God who begets His own life is the Father. The Person who is the Life begotten is the Son; and is a Person, because it is God who says by the mouth of the Son--I am the Life begotten.

Both the Father and the Son are equal, because it is the same Divine Being who is both Father and Son, as we profess in the Creed--"__consubstantial with the Father__." Both are eternal. The Father does not exist before the Son, because it is the same Divine Being which is the life as Son, as well as Giver of life as the Father. God is the Father, because He begets a Son--His Life. {146} God is the Son, because He is the Life begotten of the Father--the Divine Progenitor of the Life of the Eternal Godhead.

God is the eternally living God. He lives the life which He gives Himself. His life is infinitely perfect, infinitely lovely, infinitely good. He enjoys the life He has. We possess life, not like the life of God, it is true, because it is limited in duration, imperfect in action, subject to change, and incapable of absolute happiness; but, such as it is, we live it, we enjoy it. The enjoyment or living of our life proceeds from two sources. First, from the cause of our life--from that which makes us live; and, secondly, from the life we possess. And we say--I enjoy my own life. But, mark it, we cannot say as the Father can say--I give myself life; nor as the Son of God can say--I am the life. We can only say--I enjoy the life which is given to me. Hence we are only one person--the person living, enjoying the life which is not from ourselves, but from God.

So God enjoys with an infinite beatitude His own life. It is the Person of the Holy Ghost. He says not--I give myself life. It is the Person of the Father which says that. He does not say--I am the life. It is the Person of the Son who says that. But he says--I am God, living My life; I am God, enjoying My life. {147} Yet it must be kept in mind that all this is one simultaneous act in God: the eternal giving of life to Himself; the life itself eternally springing into being, and the eternal enjoyment or fruition of life. These are not separate acts, but one, single, inseparable act of the Triune God. The Being which acts is God, and God is not one or two of the Trinity, but the Trinity itself. The principle of the act is attributed to the Person; the act itself to the God head. Hence, again, the Son does not live a different life from the Father, or the Holy Ghost a different life from the other two Persons, but the life they live is all one.

To the Holy Ghost is attributed the living or enjoyment of life, as we attribute the living of our own life to our own person; and, therefore, our person is, in a remarkable manner, an image of the Holy Ghost. We speak of our __spirit__ as living, rejoicing, etc., and when we die or yield up the living of our life, we say--We give up the ghost.

In Me, says the Holy Ghost, are all possible perfections; I rejoice in them. My life is all good, wherefore I love Myself with infinite love. My life is all beautiful, wherefore I admire it, and am well pleased, and take an infinite delight in it. My life is all holy. I am the supreme object of My own adoration. My life is all true, wherefore I contemplate all truth with unspeakable bliss. In My life is no conflict, no change, no anxiety, doubt, or sorrow, wherefore I am in eternal peace. {148} My life is all that is or can be, wherefore I seek not for My happiness outside of My own happy being. Such I am, and such I live, the Holy Ghost, who proceed from the Father and the Son, who, together with the Father and the Son, am adored and glorified, the great I AM, the Ancient of Days, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, who was, and who is, and who is to come, the Almighty, Good, Wise, Just, and True, the eternal, living God.

Dear brethren, such thoughts, I know, are bewildering, and leave our poor human intellects stupefied in presence of that Majesty, the simplest idea of whom is beyond all power of expression.

But we know that God is, and that we know Him, great as He is, incomprehensible as He is, so far transcending all grasp of our feeble minds; yet even in His mysterious Being He is no stranger to us. The doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in God is wonderful, but it is not a strange doctrine. It is a truth full of light and consolation. It is a revelation of Him, who is all in all, that draws us, if I may say so, nearer to Him.

Starting with this view of Him, enlightened with this truth, all that He has done for us in the world of nature and of grace, becomes clear, plain, reasonable, and consequent. All the other mysterious truths of Christianity, as I have said before, suppose the truth of this, and, indeed, would be unmeaning without it. The consideration of one or two of these will confirm the view I have taken of it.

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Look at creation. This is fully as incomprehensible to our minds as the mystery of the Trinity itself. But without a revelation of the Trinity, it would be more difficult of belief, further away from our grasp, baffling more utterly all our attempts to form a reasonable conception of it. What is it? It is that God, who is all that is or can be, yet can create and has created something which is not God. It looks like a contradiction. Those who have rejected the Trinity and yet believe in God so regard it, and are led to imagine that the created universe and all that is in it and of it is Divine.

We read that, when God created man, He said, "Let us make man to our image and likeness." [Footnote 40]

[Footnote 40: Genesis i. 26]

The creature is, then, an image of the Creator. Creation is not God, but is an image of God; that is, the being and life of creatures, analogous to the being and life of God, is not of themselves, but is a reflected image of God, which we may compare to the reflected image of ourselves in a mirror. The image we behold is not our own being, but an imperfect likeness of it. So the creation which God beholds imaged in His own Divine mind is not His own Divine being, but an imperfect likeness of it. {150} And now it is not the image of an abstract being--of an ideal being--but of a living being. The living God is the Trinity, as I have shown. The mystery of creation is illuminated by this truth, as you will see.

We say in the Creed, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth." He is the Personal Cause, the Progenitor of all creation. Yet we also say, with St. John: "The Word was God. All things were made by Him: and without Him was nothing made that was made." [Footnote 41] And with holy Job: "The Spirit of the Lord made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life." [Footnote 42] And again, with the Psalmist: "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." [Footnote 43]

[Footnote 41: St. John i. 1-3.]

[Footnote 42: Job xxxiii. 4.]

[Footnote 43: Ps. ciii. 30.]
[USCCB: Ps. civ. 30.]

We speak of creation, then, either as of the Father, of the Son, or of the Holy Ghost, because it is of the Trinity--one act of the Godhead. But we attribute creation properly to the Father, because He is the Infinite Personal Cause. We attribute it to the Son, because He is the Infinite Personal Life. "In him was the life," says St. John, in the next sentence after that in which he says all things were created by the Word, "and," he adds, "the life was the light of men." {151} So chant we in the Credo: __Lumen de lumine__--Light of light. It is the first word spoken by God at the creation--"__Fiat lux!__" Admirable conception! Light is, as it were, the Creator of the image reflected in a mirror, and the Divine Word is the light--the Creator of the creature who is the image and likeness of God. St. Paul calls our Lord, who is Man united to the Word, "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. In Him were all things created in heaven, and on earth, visible, and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and in Him: and He is before all, and by Him all things consist." [Footnote 44] Because our Lord was the Word of God, the same thing is declared of Him, as the Eternal Wisdom, by the inspired prophet: "I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures." [Footnote 45] The creative act is, then, an image of the Son of God being divinely begotten by the Father; and creation in existence is an image of Him who truly said, "I am the Life."

[Footnote 44: Coloss. i. 15-17.]

[Footnote 45: Ecclus. xxiv. 5.]
[USCCB: Sirach xxiv. 3.]

We attribute the creation to the Holy Ghost when we say in the Creed, "And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver."

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Recall what I said about the Holy Ghost, that He is God living, enjoying His Divine life. Creation is the image of God living, and hence of the Holy Ghost. When man was created, the Sacred Record says, "God breathed the breath [or spirit] of life into his face, and man became a living soul." With man, everything lives and enjoys its being with an enjoyment which is a reflection of the supreme living beatitude in God. Thus exclaims the writer of the Book of Wisdom: "The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole earth: and that, which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice." [Footnote 46]

[Footnote 46: Wisdom i. 7.]

It is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, the Lord and Life-giver, who, as holy Job declares, "hath adorned the heavens" with their radiant beauty, who hath filled the whole earth, and vivified it, so that it is not a dead but a living image of the Eternal, Omnipotent, Living God. Did I not say well, my brethren, that the mystery of the Holy Trinity is an illumination of the mystery of creation?

Look, again, at the Mystery of the Incarnation, in which are included the other Mysteries of the Regeneration and Redemption of man. We can not understand its manner. We cannot see how it is, any more than we can understand how the Son is begotten of the Father, or how the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both. {153} But the Trinity illuminates that also, and enlightens us to see and believe it, now that it is revealed to us. Like Creation, it is an act of the Trinity, because it is God uniting His Divine Person of the Son to humanity, His created image. This is why our Lord, as Man as well as God, calls Himself the Son of God. This is why the Apostle calls us, who are His brethren in the flesh, sons of God. It is the act of God as the Father. "God so loved the world, as to give his only-begotten Son." [Footnote 47] It is an act of God as the Son. In His last discourse, Jesus says to His disciples: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father." [Footnote 48] It is an act of the Holy Ghost. As we say in the Creed, and as the Scripture testifies, "He was conceived by the Holy Ghost."

[Footnote 47: S. John iii. 16.]

[Footnote 48: __Ibid__. xvi. 23.]
[USCCB: John xvi. 28.]

The mystery of the Trinity thus enables us to recognize the Divinity of the Person of Jesus Christ, as also the sublime character and object of His Incarnation. It reveals to us the true destiny of man, and shows us how the very reason of creation is in God Himself, and is to find its end, its accomplishment and fruition in God. For, as you see, the Incarnation was an act, of which the Person of God Himself was the object. {154} It was God communicating His Divine Life to the creature, and thus all creatures, through Jesus, who is the First-Born of them all, are to find their destiny, the end of their creation, in eternal union with the Divine Life. "I am the Life," said our Lord, and "because I live, you shall live." [Footnote 49] He and the Father are one. But, O wonderful revelation! "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." [Footnote 50]

[Footnote 49: St. John xiv. 6 and 19.]

[Footnote 50: __Ibid__. 20.]

"God hath sent His only-begotten Son into the world," says St. John, "that we may live by Him." [Footnote 51] "Ye are the temples of the living God," [Footnote 52] exclaims St. Paul. "We are made partakers of the Divine nature," [Footnote 53] says St. Peter. And St. Paul again designates us, first, as the "partakers of Christ," [Footnote 54] and next as the "partakers of the Holy Ghost." [Footnote 55]

[Footnote 51: Ep. St. John iv. 9.]

[Footnote 52: 2 Cor. vi. 16.]

[Footnote 53: 2 Ep. St. Peter i. 4.]

[Footnote 54: Heb. iii. 14.]

[Footnote 55: Heb. vi. 4.]

Once more, our Lord bids us fear not the apparent annihilation of death. "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in Me, though he be dead, shall live. And every one that liveth, and believeth in Me, shall not die for ever." [Footnote 56]

[Footnote 56: St. John xi., 25, 26.]

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How clear, how consistent is every word! As we contemplate the truth of the Incarnation in the light of the revealed Trinity, our faith must grow stronger, and the hopes and aspirations of our hearts be confirmed, and our love wax the deeper; for this brighter view of God must draw us nearer to Him by sight and by love. We, too, burn to answer our Lord as did Martha, when He asked her if she believed His words: "Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God, who art come into this world." [Footnote 57]

[Footnote 57: St. John xi. 27.]

We set out, my dear brethren, to look at the reasons which Christian philosophy is able to show us of the reasonableness of the mysterious doctrine, of which we make acts of profession oftener, perhaps, than of any other, for we do it every time we make the sign of the Cross; and in honor of which we are to-day keeping solemn festival. We have been talking and thinking like philosophers on this deep mystery, and to us might be very properly addressed that pertinent remark of Thomas à Kempis: "What doth it avail thee to discourse profoundly of the Trinity, if thou be wanting in humility, and, consequently, displeasing to the Trinity? If thou didst know the whole Bible by heart, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what would it all profit thee, without the love of God and His grace?" [Footnote 58]

[Footnote 58: __Imit. Christi__, book i. ch. I.]

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Truly, a question of no little import to us all. Today the Church brings us, as it were, face to face with the awful Majesty of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, the Living God. It is a fearful thought to be in that Presence, for it must compel us to ask ourselves--Are we indeed the image and likeness of the Living God? And not only that, but are we, as we should be, __living images of Him?__ Are our souls living in His Divine grace, or are they standing before Him to-day dead in sin? To be wise in the knowledge of the Blessed Trinity is well, but to love Him is better. To be ignorant of the Blessed Trinity is a misfortune; but to sin against Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being is a crime against the Life of God. Wonder not that to lose God is to lose eternal life, and fall into hell, the eternal death. To sin is, in the language of St. Paul, to "trample under foot the Son of God, and offer an affront to the Spirit of Grace." [Footnote 59] Filled with horror at the thought of this crime against the Holy Trinity, he exclaims: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God." [Footnote 60]

[Footnote 59: Heb. x. 29.]

[Footnote 60: Heb. x. 31.]

Therefore, brethren, let us adore with profound humility the Ever-Blessed Trinity, full of gratitude that He has vouchsafed this revelation of His mysterious Being to us, and thus enlightened our minds that we may know Him, and love Him, and serve Him better. {157} But let us so live, as children of the Heavenly Father, as brethren of Jesus Christ our Lord, and as sanctified temples of the Holy Ghost, that, when the veil of this life be rent in twain, and we shall stand face to face in eternity before the glorious majesty of God, and in presence of the glittering hosts of angels who surround His throne, we may be able to present the record of a life which has truly been an image and likeness of the Life of the Living God--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; to whom be glory now and for ever throughout eternal ages. Amen.

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Sermon X

The Real Presence.

(For The Feast Of Corpus Christi.)

St. Matt. i. 23.

"__They shall call His name Emmanuel,
which, being interpreted, is God with us__."

We conclude the seasons of Easter and Pentecost with the Feast of the Blessed Trinity, following in thought our ascended Jesus up to the right hand of His eternal Father. From Christmas to Ascension we commemorate the mission (as it is called) of the Second Person of the Trinity: how the Father sent the Son to become Incarnate, to accomplish our redemption, and found the Church. At Pentecost we celebrate the mission of the Third Person: how the Father and the Son together sent the Holy Ghost, to become incorporate in the Church, and abide with and in it through all time. Then, on Trinity Sunday, the Church, in her turn, bids us remember that, although the Son and the Holy Ghost were sent down to earth, yet they never left heaven; where they had dwelt from eternity, and will dwell to eternity, consubstantial and coequal with the Father.

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But the Church is the kingdom of the Incarnation; and the Incarnation is God made visible. Therefore, as a true spouse, living only for her Beloved, she does not leave us contemplating the invisible God, but quickly sets before us the Incarnation again--the end of her yearly song no less than its beginning. For the feast of Corpus Christi is to Christmas as the end to the beginning of a chain of mysteries which centre in the Incarnation. It is, indeed, a sort of second Christmas--the sacramental life of our Lord bearing striking resemblance to His helpless infancy. Again, lest we should forget that our ascended Lord left behind Him the very body He carried into heaven, the Church does not let us stand gazing up after Him with the group on Olivet, but invites us to turn and rejoice with her in the mystery of His perpetual presence here below--a presence not the less real because supersensible, nor the less consoling because veiled.

I shall speak, then, of the Blessed Sacrament, first, as a reality; and, secondly, as a consolation.

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First, as a reality. You are aware, my dear brethren, that no article of our faith excites so much the wonder of those who are not Catholics as the doctrine of the Real Presence. They are forced to acknowledge, too, that we actually do believe in it, and take it as a matter of course. Their wonderment is natural enough: for they judge of it only by the senses; and certainly we cannot conceive of any mode in which it would have more apparent __un__reality. If, however, they believe that the Christ who was born in a stable, lived in obscurity for thirty years, was rejected by the Jews as "the carpenter's son," and, at last, died a felon's death, was God, they must allow that the Godhead in Him had very much apparent unreality, and that its surprising concealment can only be accounted for by design. Again, if they are familiar with the Bible, they know that in several passages a certain adorable secrecy and shyness are ascribed to God as characteristic of Him. As, for instance, in the Psalms we are told that He "makes darkness His hiding-place." [Footnote 61] In Job it is asked, "Peradventure thou wilt comprehend the steps of God, and find out the Almighty perfectly? He is higher than heaven, and what wilt thou do? He is deeper than hell, and how wilt thou know?" [Footnote 62] while Isaias breaks out with the exclamation: "Truly Thou art a hidden God, Thou God of Israel, the Saviour!" [Footnote 63]

[Footnote 61: Ps. xvii. 12.]
[USCCB: Ps. xviii. 12.]

[Footnote 62: Job xi. 7.]

[Footnote 63: Is. xlv. 15.]

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As far, then, as the hiddenness of the Real Presence goes, it ought rather to commend our doctrine than otherwise, and create a presumption in its favor.

But the radical difficulty with the stranger to the truth lies in his not understanding the Incarnation and its object. It is nothing to him, I may say. He professes belief in it, indeed, but has utterly "lost its meaning" (as dear Father Faber says). Let him once begin to realize the Incarnation, and he will find he is taking the road to Rome: he will find that there is such a thing as a visible Church, and such a person as the Mother of God. To the Catholic, on the contrary, the Incarnation is everything. It is the fount of the whole system to which he glories in adhering. The Church exists for nothing else. The world exists for nothing else. The world for the Church, the Church for Christ, and Christ for God.