Vol 7 Issue 43  ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier

October 25, 2014 ~ Our Lady on Saturday

 

1. Defense of the Catholic Faith, Chapter 34
2. Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost—Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
3. Christ the King
4. The Christian Family (25)
5. Articles and notices

 

Dear Reader:

On the Feast of Christ the King, celebrated this year on October 26, the title, King, seems so contrary to modern mentality. The word conjures thoughts of tyranny and oppression, dictatorial commands and absolute power. It is strange that Chairman and President do not give the same thoughts, though Chairman Mao Tse-Tung was all the above along with Chairman Stalin. Chairman is just another word for President, or one who presides. Presidents, like many who rule African nations, have also been known to be of the same caste with many South American Presidents. But the mind of the general public has been fashioned to equate Kings, but not Chairmen or Presidents. Therefore, the Feast of Christ the King seems out of touch and antiquated and unacceptable to the modern mind. Maybe it should be Christ the President? Or Chairman Christ? Why King?

As the struggle of the Church was at its zenith in the fight against Atheistic Communism, the natural development of a supreme state (god) was in full opposition to the Catholic supernatural restoration of all things in Christ. The Church, long rejected as having a voice on the International scene—Benedict XV had proposed a peace plan for World War I and it was ignored—found itself under attack even by those nations claiming to Catholic or Christian. Through treaties with individual nations, the Church found herself having to compromising to having a “legal” standing or find the Church treated no different than she was in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The conflict in Mexico, where the Churches were closed, the final resolution did not free the Church, but brought it under closer regulation to having to accept an anti-Christian Socialist regime—a regime that still results in the people fleeing their country to come to the United States at the peril of their lives.

But, the same development is being progressively inserted into the Government of the United States, as elsewhere. Marxist Socialism, condemned so many times by the Popes, finds itself live and well where Governments basically run businesses by regulations and, to remain open, how much they must pay in taxes. Civil rights is actually an antithesis to individual rights—and the use of individual rights is only used when rejecting the divine law (the Ten Commandments). Since the use of the term “individual rights” took over Europe with the bloody French Revolution, where the Church and her institutions were usurped by the State, so now “individual rights” are being replaced with “civil rights” via the Progressive Liberals in the United States government and the European Union in Europe.

What has changed is the side the Catholic Church has taken since Vatican II: from fighting Socialism, to defending Socialism; from opposing individual sin and the sins of nations that oppose the divine law, to accepting individual sin and opposing “social” sin and supporting nations that oppose the Divine law.

Pope Pius XI, inspired by the Holy Ghost, asked Catholics to establish the reign of Christ in their hearts, to restore Christ in society, to make Him the center of one’s life. This placing one as head of one’s life is placing one as king. It does not conjure up negativity, but the positive desire that if Christ does reign in one’s heart, He will reign in one’s actions—actions that will restore peace and goodness in a world torn by war and evil.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

 

 

A Battle for the Catholic Faith

September 11, 1683

 

We Came. We saw. God Conquered!

Venimus. Vidimus. Deus Vincit!

September 12, 1683

 

King Jan Sobieskie’s words sent to Pope Innocent XI on conquering the Mohammedan besiegers of Vienna.

 

 

Chapter 34

End of the Crusade

 

When King John Sobieski had left Krakow on 13 June, 1691, to fight the Mohammedans in Wallachia and Moldavia, it was to be his last campaign. He was able to take Soroc and Nerzecum, but could not proceed further, due to an early winter.

 

The vast quantity of snow which fell uncommonly early, froze the soldiers, broke up the roads, embarrassed the artillery and the wagons, and fatigued both men and horses. When the Polish army arrived upon the frontiers of the kingdom they looked as if they had come from a defeat. This was the fourth time that the King failed in his attempts upon Moldavia and Walachia, and the Emperor Leopold wanted but little of being equally or more unfortunate in Hungary.

This campaign was the last that the King of Poland ever made. It was not his advanced age that

made it necessary for him to retire (for he was only sixty-one), but forty years spent in war, during which he never spared his own person; ten in the great offices of the Republic; eighteen upon a throne which required constant action; all these labors had worn out his body and his mind felt the effects of it. He resigned the command of the army to the Grand-General Jablonowski, in order to apply himself wholly to the internal administration of the kingdom,

and even this was above his strength. He was in the ambiguous situation of being too far gone to

govern himself and not far enough to be wholly governed by others. (Sobieski, 195)

 

Jablonski was able to protect the Polish borders from Tartar incursions, but there were no further attempt by the Poles and Lithuanians to gain further territory from the Mohammedan intruders. Sobieski (196) injects that it was mainly out of respect for the Warrior—but the Ottomans were struggling in the midst of defeats, changes of regimes, and lack of a Grand Vizier to lead the Turk army after so many had been killed during the battle of Slankamen (19 August 1691). The Russians were also moving down the Don River and Crimea, successfully pushing out the Tatars and Turks.

 

As Spain was awaiting the death of Charles II and factionalized in choosing a successor, so Poland was awaiting the death of John III and factionalized in choosing his successor. John Sobieski realized it was not in his power to name a successor and his sons, unlike their father, did nothing to gain a name. Engaged in prayer and study, John finished his life on 17 June, 1696, after exhorting his sons and wife to live their faith in peace and asking the nobility present to preserve mutual concord for the good of the Republic, whose welfare would be an object of his wishes, even in the presence of the great source of all power, before whom he should so soon appear. (ibid., 198)

 

Augustus II (1697-1733), Elector of Saxony, was chosen by Czar Peter and Emperor Leopold to be successor Sobieski’s, despite the Polish nobility choosing François Louis of Conti (France). Augustus would eventually lead the Polish army in the victory over the Tartars in Podhajce (1698). Previous to his appointment, Augustus II led the Imperial troops with General Heissler in the siege of Temesvár. As the relief troops of the Turks approached, Heissler lifted the siege to meet the Turk army near the Bega River. Here he was mortally wounded and died five days later. The Turks were able to defeat the League Troops in what is known as the Battle of Ulaş.

The success of this victory would be lost, when, in 1697, the League forces would obtain successful campaigns. Bartolomeo Contarini was able to successfully lead the Venetian fleet in attacks against the Turkish fleet with heavy damage to the Turk ships. On the 11 September, Eugene of Savoy was able to once again inflict heavy casualties on the Ottoman army. As the Ottomans were crossing the Theiss River, the League army was able to surprise the Mohammedans. Mustafa II was leading the forces with the Grand Vizier, Elmas Mehmed Pasha. Unprepared, the 100,000 strong army of the Turks suffered a loss of over 30,000 men (many drowned or trampled) while the League suffered around 500 casualties. Elmas Mehmed Pasha was killed and the Christians once more took the seal of the Turks. The Turks left everything behind,  including, this time, the Sultan’s Harem. The Christian soldiers found themselves with camels, besides the tents and horses of the Janissaries. The Christian leaders had the complete treasury and the artillery of the Ottomans.

It was a decisive battle that brought Mustafa II to refusal to go to battle again and begin arrangements through the English ambassadors to the terms of peace.

When Augustus II, with his Polish-Lithuanian troops, defeated the Tatars at the Battle of Podhajce—6000 men against 16,000—it became clear to the Sultan and the Ottoman nobility there was no will among the Mohammedans to continue the struggle to conquer all Christian Europe.

It is not surprising the Ottomans agreed to the English mediating the terms of peace—the English were no friends of the Emperor or of the Catholics. In English correspondence we read of the attitude the English held of the Catholics trying to regain freedom for their fellowmen. When the Venetians attempted to take Chios, William Raye, English consul in Smyrna, wrote a friend in England: “and all this occasioned by the discontent or ambition of some few zelotts of the Roman Church, who have thereby enslaved their cuntry which before continued very happy in the enjoyment of many extraordinary priviledges under this government.” (PRO, SP 97, XX, fol. 294, letter dated at Smyrna on 22 March 1694/95 O.S., i.e., 1 April 1695—as quoted in Setton, 395). Later, another English traveler, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, would give her impressions about the Great Turkish War as follows:

 

Leaving Comora on the other side the river, we went the 18th to Nosmuhl, a small village where, however, we made shift to find tolerable accomodatlon. We continu’d 2 days travelling between this place and Buda, through the finest plains in the world, as even as if they were pav’d, and extreme fruitfull, but for the most part desert and uncultivated, laid waste by the long war between the Turk and Emperour, and the more cruel civil war occassion’d by the barbarous persecution of the Protestant religion by the Emperour Leopold. That Prince has left behind him the character of an extrodinary piety and was naturally of a mild mercifull temper, but putting his conscience into the hands of a Jesuit, he was more cruel and treacherous to his poor Hungarian subjects than ever the Turk has been to the Christians, breaking without scrupule his coronation oath and his faith solemnly given in many public treatys, Indeed, nothing can be more melancholy than travelling through Hungary, refflecting on the former flourishing state of that Kingdom and seeing such a noble spot of earth almost uninhabited.

 

She continues in to describe two towns on the way to Mohacs as both considerable towns when in the hands of the Turks, … now quite ruin’d; only the remains of some Turkish towers shew something of what they have been.…

 

Arriving at Zenta, she again comments:

 

… We pass’d over the feilds of Carlowitz where the last great victory was obtain’d by Prince Eugene over the Turks. The marks of that glorious bloody day are yet recent, the feild being strew’d with the skulls and carcases of unbury’d men, horses and camels. I could not look without horror on such numbers of mangled humane bodys, and refflect on the injustice of war that makes murther not only necessary but meritorious. Nothing seems to me a plainer proofe of the irrationality of mankind (whatever fine claims we pretend to reason) than the rage with which they contest for a small spot of ground, when such vast parts of fruitfull earth lye quite uninhabited …. ( Robert Halsband, ed., The Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 3 vols., Oxford, 1965-671, 298-301, 305, two letters, one dated at Petrovaradin on 30 January O.S. 1717, and the other at Belgrade on 12 February O.S.—as quoted in Setton, 403.)

 

[N.B. The English refused to accept the Gregorian Calendar as being “Popish” and “Roman Catholic”, so their dating was 10-11 days off until they accepted the calendar in 1752.]

 

As the principle powers in the war with the Turks since 1683 met together in Carlowitz near Belgrade, in November 1698, to draw up terms of peace, unfortunately once again the Roman Catholic Church, i.e., papal legates, was not invited to participate, nor was a treaty concluded with the Pope—albeit it was Pope Innocent XI who called for, arranged and paid for much of the Crusade. Russia, Poland-Lithuania, the Holy Roman Empire, and Venice all concluded Treaties with the Ottoman Empire on January 26, in which the Peace Treaties of Carlowitz were signed. The Treaty between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire begins as follows:

 

In the Name of the most Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

IN perpetual Memory of the Thing, Be it known to all to whom it doth appertain, That after sixteen Years cruel and destructive War, between the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord Leopold (with his full Titles) on the one part, and the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord, Sultan Mustapha Han Emperor of the Turks, and of Asia  and Greece, and his glorious Predecessors on the other part of the said most Potent Emperors considering how much Blood has been spilt, and how many Provinces have been laid waste, taking Compassion at the afflicted Condition of their Subjects, and being seriously inclined to put an end to such great Calamitys increasing every Day to the Danger of Mankind, God thro’ his Mercy has permitted, that by the Mediation of the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord William III…. (Whatley, 290-91)

 

In the Peace treaty between the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs (because the Pope had the right of decisions within the Holy Roman Empire—now disregarded since the Thirty Years War) gave Hungary and Transylvania to the Hapsburgs with the exception of the Banat Temesvár, bounded by the Theiss, Mureș, and Danube rivers. Leopold also received Croatia and Slovenia. The treaty was to last for twenty-five years, but there would already be attempts by both parties to gain new territory in the beginning of the eighteenth century (1700’s).

In regards to the faith, the Mohammedan Turks promised, in the thirteenth stipulation:

 

In respect to the Monks, and the Exercise of the Christian Religion, according to the Rites of the Roman Catholick Church, whatever Favours were granted them by any former Ottoman Emperors of most Glorious Memory in their Reigns, either by Sacred Capitulations, or by Imperial Signs Manual, or by particular Edicts and Mandates; the most Serene Emperor of the Ottomans will hereafter confirm them in such manner, that they may repair their Churches, and perform their Functions as usual heretofore. And it shall not be lawful for any one to molest or extort Money from the said Monks, of what Order or Condition soever they be, contrary to the sacred Capitulations and the divine Laws, but they shall enjoy the Clemency of the Emperor as usual.

Moreover, it shall be lawful for the Embassador of the most Serene and most Potent Emperor of the Romans at the resplendent Porte, to produce his Commission concerning Religion, and the Places of Christian Visitation in the holy City of Jerusalem and to present his Instances to the Imperial Throne. (Whatley, 298)

 

The Treaty with the Poles (Augustus II) required the return of Moldavia, but would have the region of Podolia and Ukraine west of the Dneiper River—giving Poland her boundaries previous to the Polish-Ottoman War of 1672-76. The Catholics are also to be given back their churches and monasteries in those areas held by the Mohammedans and the Mohammedan Tatars were to leave Moldavia.

The Treaty with the Venetians was signed the 7 February, 1699, agreeing to what the Habsburg and Polish ambassadors laid down. They were able to keep Morea (The Peloponessus)—though the Turks would take it again in 1715. They also were given back the Ionian Islands and the Dalmatian seacoast.

The Russians signed an armistice, but would not conclude a treaty of Peace until two years later. Their presence and participation in Carlowitz would give the Russians an entrance into European politics.

 

Fra Marco D’Aviano, chosen by Innocent XI as his representative during the Crusade because he was in the court of Leopold, but, during the war followed the Imperial army, leading the soldiers in prayer and exhortation, preaching to his fellow Venetians to join the Holy League and reminding the Emperor of his Christian obligations, was to returned to Vienna in May of 1699, very ill and unable to continue his work (he was only 67). Arriving, he was received in the Capuchin Monastery. Fra Marco was visited by the Imperial family on 2 August, and other important visitors also paid their respects afterwards, hearing of his illness (cancer). On 12 August the Papal Nuntio, Andrea Santa Croce gave him the Apostolic blessing from Pope Innocent XII and then Fra Marco renewed his vows and received Holy Viaticum. The next day, with the Imperial couple present, holding a cross tightly, he quietly went to the Lord. He had lived to see the signing of the Peace of Carlowitz, but not the driving out of the Mohammedans from Europe. With his death would also end the idea of a religious crusade by state rulers.

 

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WEEK OF TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

 

Our faith

 

1. The son of a ruler at Capharnaum has become desperately sick. The father, hearing that Jesus is passing from Judea into Galilee, travels two days to beseech Him to come down at once to Capharnaum and heal his son. “Lord, come down before my son die.” The Lord fulfills the desire of the ruler, but not in the manner he had expected. He does not go to Capharnaum Himself, but heals the sick boy from a distance. He tells the ruler: “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” The ruler believes; when he reaches his home, he finds that his son has recovered. The fever had left him at the moment when Jesus said to him, “Thy son liveth” (Gospel).

2.”Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not” (Gospel). The father of the dying boy has heard of Jesus and believes that He has the power to save his son from death, otherwise he would not have traveled so far to meet the Lord. But his was not the kind of faith Jesus required. The ruler thinks the Lord must visit his house at Capharnaum to effect the cure. He believes the power of the Lord to be local and to depend on His personal presence. He expects Him to lay His hands upon His son and to make him well by a miracle visible to all. For this reason the Lord admonished him saying, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.” The officer is so absorbed by his desire to save his child that he takes no further notice of the admonition. With the urgency of a man in desperate straits, he repeats his prayer, “Come down before my son die.” Jesus does not go to Capharnaum, for it is more important to inspire in this man faith of a higher kind. He heals the sick boy from afar without laying His hands upon him, without a sign or motion. The officer allows himself to be led to the heights of perfect faith by the Lord. “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” He believes the words Jesus has spoken to him. “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29). Thus the Lord teaches His people to have faith in His love, in His divine providence, in His almighty, hidden power. His ways are not our ways.

“Lord, come down before my son die.” In the anxious officer with his weak and imperfect faith, the liturgy sees us Christians of today. We know by experience how many of our brethren in Christ live entirely for this world and what it has to offer, losing themselves more and more in things that are transitory. The Christian faith suffers much from these unfaithful brethren. The maxims of the world are continually gaining ground. This worldly attitude, with all its false ideals and goods, and its denial of Christ and His Church, is growing by leaps and bounds. We know the dangers to which our own souls and those of our beloved ones are exposed. We fear for their salvation. With the officer of the Gospel we approach the Lord and say, “Lord, come down before my son dies.” Intervene as You have often done in the history of Israel and of the Church. Come down for judgment with a strong arm, with burning anger, with a judgment terrible on evil. Work some wonder that they may believe again and return to You, and thus save their souls. Thus secretly we look for some sign or wonder of the Lord. But He warned us: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not”; therefore He does not fulfill our wish. He rather leads us on to the heights of faith. “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matt. 28:20). He wishes us to trust in His love, His wisdom, His will, and His power, and to believe firmly in His power to save souls and to conquer evil. “But have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). What the Lord wants of us is faith; as yet He does not come for judgment. Daily He gives us new grounds for faith, and thus He strengthens our faith and increases it. We believe, just as did the officer of the Gospel, and proceed on our way to our eternal home with a strong, blind faith. There we shall learn that “thy son liveth.”

3. We are continually looking for a sign from the Lord. We seek proofs of His reality, of His Godhead and incarnation, of His divine providence, of His mysterious and effective operation in our hearts, of His power to bend our stubborn wills with His gentle inspirations. Faith in His promises are not sufficient for us. We listen avidly to prophecies and to fortune tellers, and believe implicitly the senseless talk about strange things which are to befall us personally and the world in general. We well deserve that reproach of the Lord, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.”

“The days are evil” (Epistle), and for this reason we should all the more trust the providence and power of Christ’s love. We must not fear. The more that cares oppress us and dangers threaten us, the closer should we draw to the Lord, praying, repenting of our sins, confiding in His kind love. “The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord; and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every living creature with Thy blessing” (Gradual). Thus we believe and trust. If we trust in the word of the Lord, we will not be deceived as the officer of the Gospel was not deceived.

PRAYER

Graciously grant to Thy faithful, we beseech Thee, O Lord, forgiveness and peace, that they may be cleansed from all offenses and serve Thee with a quiet mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

“Walk circumspectly”

 

1. “Brethren: See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise” (Epistle). This timely admonition to live for the one thing necessary, the salvation of our souls, becomes the more urgent as we recall with the liturgy the approach of the Lord at the time of our death.
2. “Not as unwise.” The first step in the Christian way of life is to free ourselves from the folly of sin and from all evil; that is, to purify our soul. He who wishes to climb a ladder, must start with the lowest rung. Our first task as Christians is to fight against our faults and to root out our own vices. To accomplish this end we must work diligently. Although the beginnings may be difficult, the task later becomes easier, since grace operates ever more readily in our soul once a beginning has been made. “See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise,” not as those who think that they can make progress without purifying the heart, without a struggle against their evil inclinations and prevailing faults, against temptation and the power of the passions. All virtue must be built on the foundation of self-denial and the mortification of the outward and inward senses, of our inclination to pride and uncharitableness. Virtue must be based on an earnest spirit of self-denial, either through a willing acceptance of those sufferings and trials sent to us by God, or through voluntary imposition of mortifications upon ourselves. We must overcome our purely natural manner of thinking and reasoning about events and people, about trials and difficulties. We must daily seek a greater detachment from our own will and from the power of self-love, which poisons and destroys the value of all our work and effort.

“But as wise.” The Apostle could have boasted of many advantages: his ancestry, his talents, his learning, his zeal for the law. “But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having my justice, which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God, justice in faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection which is from the dead. Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do; forgetting the things that are behind and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:7-14). What excellent advice! With every step we draw nearer to the final coming of Christ, to our death and judgment.

“As in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark; and they knew not till the flood came and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two shall be in the field; one shall be taken and one shall be left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken and one shall be left. Watch ye, therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come. But this know ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of Man will come” (Matt. 24:37-44).

3. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them. . . . And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answering, said: Amen I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:1ff.).

“Walk ye circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God.” The Epistle here has in mind an effective and practical understanding of the will of God, by virtue of which we make use of every moment to carry out what God expects of us, and especially to bear the burdens he sends us. That is true Christian wisdom.

 

PRAYER

Graciously grant to Thy faithful, we beseech Thee, O Lord, forgiveness and peace, that they may be cleansed from all offenses and serve Thee with a quiet mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Last Sunday of October

The Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ

 

1. “The Lord is King.” This is a day of thanksgiving to the Father, who has conferred universal kingship on His divine Son, the glorious hero of untold sufferings and humiliations. It is a day of homage to the man Christ, to whom “all power was given in heaven and on earth.” “His dominion will reach from sea to sea, from the great river [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth. All the kings of the earth shall bring their homage, all the nations serve him” (Gradual). We, too, do homage and serve Him.
2. The Gospel of today’s Mass concerns itself with that important moment in the history of mankind when Jesus was brought by the Jews to the judgment seat of Pilate, representative of pagan Roman world-power. “Art thou the king of the Jews? . . . Thou art a king, then? Pilate asked. Jesus answered: It is thy own lips that have called me a king. What I was born for, what I came into the world for, is to bear witness to the truth…. My kingdom…. does not belong to this world.” It is, rather, the kingdom of God, which is the Church, full of grace and truth. It is God’s realm, in which we are safe from the dominion of Satan and sin, and become sharers in the divine freedom. It is God’s rule that rejoices our hearts with its divine activity in us. It postulates that our thinking and striving be rooted in God by virtue of our living union with Christ, the Head. Jesus brought this kingdom to earth, establishing it by His teaching and example, but especially by His death on the Cross. He gives laws and commands; all judgment is His (cf. John 5:22). “Everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the name of Jesus, and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10, 11). We render joyful homage: “Power and Godhead, wisdom and strength, and glory are his by right, the Lamb that was slain. Glory and power be his through endless ages” (Introit). “The Lord sits enthroned as King forever; the Lord will give his people his own blessing of peace” (Communion).

God has transferred us “to the kingdom of his beloved Son” and made us partakers of this kingdom. “In the Son of God, in his blood, we find the redemption that sets us free from our sins.” Emancipated from the power of sin, we obtain the life of grace, sonship of God, power over the world, over the flesh, over the urge of evil passions; we receive God’s gift of interior freedom of heart and spirit in the possession of His life. In addition there is the expectation we have of being taken up into the future kingdom of endless glory. “We return thanks to God our Father for making us fit to share the light which saints inherit, for rescuing us from the power of darkness, and transferring us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Epistle).

3. He is the true likeness of the God we cannot see; His is that first birth which precedes every act of creation”; He is the eternal Son of God, God from God, light from light, begotten, not made. It was through Him that all things came into being; everything was made by Him and for Him. All the marvelous and beautiful things that the universe contains are His property. He is the rightful master of the spirit, will, heart and body of man. To Him belong heaven and earth; He has the might and the right to make use of all earthly things. In every way the primacy was to become His. It was God’s pleasure to let all completeness dwell in Him, the man Jesus Christ. He must be King also over me, my very being and existence. I must live for whatever He wishes of me.

We rejoice with Holy Church that the Father made Him Lord and King of the universe, saying: “Ask thy will of me, and thou shalt have the nations for thy patrimony; the very ends of the world for thy domain” (Offertory). “Christ conquers; Christ rules; Christ is King” (Inscription on the obelisk in St. Peter’s square, Rome).

The Lord is a king; He directs with strong hand His kingdom, His Church, our souls. Powerful enemies will besiege His kingdom in vain. “Do not be afraid, you, my little flock. Your Father has determined to give you his kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

We dedicate ourselves and all we have to Christ the King. We pray that all men, all races and nations of the earth may bow to His dominion.

 

Collect: Almighty, everliving God, who hast willed that in Thy beloved Son, the universal king, all things should be made new, grant in Thy loving-kindness that all peoples of the earth, now torn asunder by the wound of sin, may be subdued to the gentle sway of Him who is God. Amen.

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THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

By MOST REV. TIHAMER TOTH

(1949)

XIII

 

THE SIN OF BIRTH CONTROL

 

II

A SIN AGAINST THE CHILD

 

But such exclusion is also a sin against the interests of the child. That the child is an essential part of the family, can hardly be doubted by sensible persons. Therefore most married couples accept a child from God’s hand. Many couples will accept only one, at the most two children. More than that? No, indeed. And it does not occur to them when making all kinds of excuses for not accepting more children, how greatly they are sinning against the one child they have brought into the world.

 

1. The parents of one child often say that the number is not important, but the quality. They do not give many children /151/ to the nation; only one. But this one will be a precious asset.

Sadly enough, life does not prove them right. On the contrary, really great men generally have not come from one-child families but from large families of brothers and sisters. If we seek the reason, we find that parents bring up a number of children better and more successfully than they bring up an only child.

1) This is apparently a contradiction, but in reality it is so. With a number of children, the parents’ exercise of authority and their love is more wholesomely divided. Thus the children’s individualities are not too greatly repressed by continual parental commands, nor is there will-power destroyed by excessive indulgence and fondling. This is the explanation of the fact that many more great individuals issue from large families than from families having only one child.

2) Further, where there are more children, each has to learn early in life that this and that must be given up. In a family of many children each one has to be satisfied with less, and to their requests they will often hear this reply: “My dear, there is no more for you. We must keep some for the others.” And this does no harm. On the contrary, it is a principle of right upbringing. Thus children learn to forgo things for the sake of others and will be better able to withstand life’s privations and the blows of fate when they reach mature years.

Where there is only one child, the parents spoil it with too much care and too much indulgence. All the love and educational propensities that nature has bestowed on two parental hearts, are poured out upon this one child: the poor little thing has no opportunity to be self-reliant, to exercise its initiative, and therefore it develops into a clumsy, helpless, timid, spoiled person. /152/

 

1. We draw attention to another reason why children from larger families are better brought up than is an only child. The reason is that the training of the children is not exclusively the work of the parents. The children themselves take a hand in training one another.

1) It is a well-known fact that a child likes to play. But to be able to do so it needs playmates, and a child’s best playmates are its own brothers and sisters. The child who has grown up without sisters and brothers, was never really a child, it has never fully lived and enjoyed childhood. Al ways spending its time among grown-ups, it becomes precocious, at first only a little pert, later on a meddler, and finally a sophisticated prematurely old child.

An only child growing up alone misses the happiest time of life, playful childhood, and therefore it becomes a bored, reserved, sad, and unhappy child. On the other hand, where a number of brothers and sisters romp and shout and wrestle with one another, quarrel and become reconciled, they live the happiest period of life: carefree childhood.

2) Brothers and sisters are not only playmates, but the best of tutors for one another. While they are playing together they must be continually considerate of one another, behaving with forbearance and self-restraint toward one another. Thus each one learns that he is not the center of the world, but that his brothers and sisters have just as many rights as he has.

A number of brothers and sisters living together counterbalance one another, control and bring up one another. There may be any amount of friction among them, but that is necessary for the formation of their characters, just as the pebbles of a brook are made smooth and shining by continually rubbing against one another.

Where a number of sisters and brothers live together, each /153/ has to learn discipline, fraternal charity, forgiveness, renunciation, unselfishness.

 

1. A third and interesting phenomenon connected with this question is this: not only do parents bring up their children, but children also train their parents.

1) Children train their parents to the virtues which they need if they are to become good guardians and instructors.

In the first place, to self-sacrificing love. Worthy of study would be the change that takes place in the soul of the most superficial woman, when her newborn infant is first laid on her breast. It would be worth observing with what tender love a father takes his child in his strong arms.

And we must also consider what a feeling of responsibility and what a love of work are aroused in the hearts of parents anxious for the spiritual and physical welfare of their children. They must feel how responsible they are for every word they let fall in front of their children, for every example they show them. Every child thinks his own father and mother the best, the noblest, the cleverest, the most ideal two people in the world. To a child his parents are naturally ideal. Happy the child whose parents really are ideal persons. But what a warning to parents to endeavor not to remain too far removed from the ideal their children have formed of them and that lives in their hearts!

2) Do you not believe that a child can train its parents? Well, listen to this simple little story.

There was once a little girl who was accustomed to say her prayers with her mother every morning and evening. One evening her mother had a great deal of work to do and therefore was late in coming to pray, so the little girl said:

“Mamma, please come to pray with me.” Her mother replied a bit impatiently, “Pray with your papa tonight.” “With /154/ papa?” replied the child. “Papa does not know how to pray.” She had never seen her father praying, therefore she supposed he did not know how to pray. The poor man had become religiously indifferent long before. But now, at the simple remark of that innocent child, he was shaken to the soul and was brought back to a God-fearing life.

What parent’s heart would not be softened, and who would not determine to be self-controlled and restrained when the innocent eyes of their sons or daughters are raised trustingly; lovingly; admiringly to their own? Yes, children do indeed train their parents.

To be continued.

 

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Father Krier will be in Los Angeles November 4 and San Diego region November 5. He will be in Eureka, Nevada, November 11 and Modesto, California November 26-27.

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