Tree of Life
Vol 8 Issue 17 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
April 25, 2015 ~ St Mark, opn!
1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (14)
2. Third Sunday after Easter
3. Sts. Cletus & Marcellinus
4. Marriage and Parenthood (17)
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
When I wrote about the Catholic Church and her battle against the Mohammedans that preserved Europe from enslavement under Mohammedanism (which always accompanies the dominion by Mohammedans because of Qur’anic ideology) I concluded when the European States took the battle from her in 1699. As Catholics no longer listened to the Church, but turned to their national leaders, the Catholic Church was no longer able to be a force against the evil inherent in Mohammedanism. Today, the Conciliar Church, in its humanism and complete disregard for the spiritual welfare of its members, has become the chief associate in the transference of Mohammedan subjects into Western Europe and the United States. Obama, a raised Mohammedan, is bringing into the United States the refugees from the failed policies of toppling the infra-structures of Mohammedan dictatorships (their tribalism, sectarianism, and ideological outlook can only be controlled when there is someone strong enough—a dictator—to quell the various tribal factions) and leaving these countries to now fight once more among themselves until someone is ruthless enough to gain control again—presently ISIS. But these refugees are incapable of adopting a Western Culture that has been developed by Christian ideas which are completely opposed to the ideas contained within the Koran. This is why many return to join the ISIS and other Jihadi movements that continue to fight against Christians. What will happen when there are enough Mohammedans that they feel secure enough to begin implementing their Sharia and Jihad in the locals they become concentrated? There are already Mohammedans who have beheaded their wives and daughters here in the United States. There are already Mohammedans who have, in the name of their diabolical Allah, murdered people in the United States by bombs and shootings. The solution to the Mohammedan problem is unresolvable as long as Mohammedanism exists because Mohammedanism is the problem. The Conciliar Church has joined leaders like Obama to open the gates to the Mohammedans instead of keeping it closed so people of the Christian faith will find themselves unable to live their Christian faith. It may be done in the name of love, but it is not true love because there is no concern about their soul or the souls lost because of their actions, which is the only purpose they were created and questions whether the Conciliar Church believes in creation, meaning God created man to know, love and serve Him in this life to be with Him forever in the next.
There is another interesting statement by Francis this week, which is in an article printed below, that includes saying Protestants are the equal of Catholics in that “Their blood is one and the same in their confession of Christ!”
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor
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Baptism
Means of Salvation
Original Innocence Lost
The Original Sin (i)
And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them. And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen. 21-24)
God restores His gift of grace with Adam and his wife by clothing them. Man would no longer have sanctifying grace as a gift bestowed with life, but would be clothed with sanctifying grace, that is, sanctifying grace would be bestowed on man with justification, the remission of sin. This symbolism is seen in the parable of Christ when he speaks of the king who puts on the wedding feast for his son: And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But he was silent. (Matt. 22:11-12) The Church, after baptism, clothes the baptized with these words: Accipe vestem candidam, quam perferas immaculatam ante tribunal Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ut habeas vitam aeternam. (Receive this white robe and carry it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may have everlasting life.— Rituale Romanum, pars I, cap. 1, n. 24) The priest, as he vests with the stole, recites: Redde mihi, Domine, stolam immortalitatis, quam perdidi in prævaricatione primi parentis: et, quamvis indignus accedo ad tuum sacrum mysterium, merear tamen gaudium sempiternum. (Restore unto me, O Lord, the robe of immortality, which was lost in the transgression of the first parents: and, although unworthy, I approach to Thy sacred mystery, may eternal joy be nevertheless merited—tranl. ed.) The words, Restore unto me, place Psalm 50 in the mind of the priest, where one reads:
Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels. Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit. (Ps. 50:11-14)
Only God could restore the grace lost by the first parents, therefore it is He who makes the garment. Man cannot obtain justification by himself. Adam and Eve had made garments out of fig leaves (cf. Gen. 3:7), but it was not sufficient to cover their sinful nature. It is a new garment, not made with the old, that is, the sanctification will not be as a creature of God bestowed with grace as before, but man justified through the redemptive act of Christ as understood in the words of Our Lord: That no man putteth a piece from a new garment upon an old garment; otherwise he both rendeth the new, and the piece taken from the new agreeth not with the old.(Luke 5:36; cf. Mark 2:21.)
The holy Trinity, in whose image man was made, but from Whom man is infinitely separated as creature, points now through the inspired writer to the pride of man to assume that there is some possibility man could come any closer of his own effort to the divine nature of the Godhead than that which the holy Trinity had originally created man: And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil. . . . (Gen. 3:22) Saint Augustine writes:
Now by whatever means or in whatever manner God spoke, it is certainly true that He said this; and therefore in the expression one of Us the plural reference must be to the Trinity, as was true in the expression Let Us make mankind, [Gen. 1:26] just as the Lord also referred to Himself and the Father in the expression We will come to him and make Our abode with him. [John 14:23]
God, then, replied to man’s proud ambition, showing the results of man’s desire for what the Devil had suggested in the words You will be like gods. Behold, God said, Adam has become like one of Us. God spoke these words not so much to heap opprobrium on Adam as to instill in the rest of mankind, for whom these words have been written down, a fear of being filled with a similar pride. God said, He has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. How are we to interpret this except to say that it is an example presented for the purpose of inspiring us with fear because the man not only did not become what he wanted to be but did not even retain the condition in which he had been created? (Gen. ad litt. lib. 11, c. 39, 53)
Yet, the admonition would not be heeded. Cain would, through pride, become angry with his brother Abel and slay him (cf. Gen. 4:2ff). After the flood, man would build the Tower of Babel to reach heaven:
And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands. (Gen. 11:2-3)
God causes the division of man, knowing that it would keep humanity humbled by its inability to unite. The same pride is seen today in the efforts of man to establish one world organizations to unite man in efforts to reach heaven, be it the United Nations or Ecumenical Interreligious Services and Dialog such as held in Assisi in 1986 and 2011.
Adam and his wife were cast out of the Garden of Eden:
Now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen. 3:22-24)
The grace of sanctification was lost by the first parents, which would grant immortality as it would grant eternal life. This is the sense of the words still found in the Baptismal Ritual with the inquisition of the candidate to be baptized: [Name], what do you ask of the Church of God? and the candidate replies: Faith. Upon which the priest asks: What does Faith offer you? and the candidate answers: Everlasting Life. Wherefore the priest responds: If, then, it is life that you wish to enter, keep the commandments. . . . The candidate is outside the Church, which represents paradise. If he enters, he has everlasting life because he has sanctifying grace since he received the Life of God, the Holy Ghost. The tree of life has always been understood to provide Adam and Eve the preservation of their youth, which preserved them from death.
The tree of life is probably to be conceived as having fruit of preternatural power capable of entirely restoring human energy and vitality and so of preserving the strength of youth. By its means Adam and Eve, though mortal by nature, would have enjoyed the gift of immortality. (Orchard, 184)
Ambrose writes in his work, Paradise, the following concerning the tree of life:
We should be aware of the fact, therefore, that where God has planted a tree of life He has also planted a tree of Life in the midst of Paradise. It is understood that He planted it in the middle. Therefore, in the middle of Paradise there was both a tree of life and a cause for death. Keep in mind that man did not create life. By carrying out and observing the precepts of God it was possible for man to find life. This was the life mentioned by the Apostle: ‘Your life is hidden with Christ in God.'[Col. 3:3] Man, therefore, was, figuratively speaking, either in the shadow of life—because our life on earth is but a shadow—or man had life, as it were, in pledge, for he had been breathed on by God. He had, therefore, a pledge of immortality, but while in the shadow of life he was unable, by the usual channels of sense, to see and attain the hidden life of Christ with God. Although not yet a sinner, he was not possessed of an incorrupt and inviolable nature. (Paradise, 29)
And he writes further:
John in his writings has made this clear: ‘If anyone shall add to them, God will add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone shall take away from these words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his portion from the tree of life.’ [Apoc. 22:18, 19] (Paradise, 56)
And, looking at the Old Testament, constant reference is given to this tree of life for it would be through the tree that man would once more partake in eternal life. Therefore one reads in Exodus:
And they came into Mara, and they could not drink the waters of Mara, because they were bitter: whereupon he gave a name also agreeable to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness. And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we drink? But he cried to the Lord, and he [God] shewed him a tree, which when he [Moses] had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness. (Exod. 15:23-25; cf. the words of Ecclus 38:5: Was not bitter water made sweet with wood?)
And the same idea is brought forward by the words found in Job:
Depart a little from him, that he may rest, until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling. A tree hath hope: if it be cut, it groweth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout. If its root be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust: At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted. But man when he shall be dead, and stripped and consumed, I pray you where is he? (Job 14:6-10)
Gerald Vann (The Paradise Tree, Sheed & Ward, 1959) dwells upon the importance of the tree of life by looking at the prayers and hymns of the Church in her Liturgy. For instance, the Vexilla Regis prodeunt:
Abroad the Regal Banners fly,
New shines the Cross’ mystery;
Upon it Life did death endure,
And yet by death did life procure.
Who wounded with a direful spear,
Did purposely to wash us clear
From the stain of sin, pour out a flood
Of precious Water mixed with Blood.
That which the prophet-king of old
Hath in mysterious verse foretold,
Is now accomplished, whilst we see
God ruling nations from a Tree.
O lovely and refulgent Tree,
Adorned with purpled majesty;
Culled from a worthy stock to bear
Those Limbs which sanctified were.
Blest Tree, whose happy branches bore
The wrath that did the world restore;
The beam that did that Body weigh
Which raised up hell’s expected prey.
This tree of life is only reachable for mankind to once more partake of the fruit once Christ has died. Vann re-summarizes the creation story to bring out this point in the following words:
The story begins with the Spirit-Mother brooding over the dark chaos and bringing forth from it form, beauty, light, distinction. We are shown the ‘garden of delight’—and according to one reading it is ‘in the east’, whence the Sun of righteousness comes—and in it is the tree of life and about it flow the four rivers: for this paradise-garden is the beginning, not the end; we can see it as the abode of the puer aternus but not as the heaven of the saints, for between the two there lies the whole of history, the whole of the process of re-integration whereby, in and through Christ, harmony is restored between man and God, between matter and spirit, between the four elements of the human psyche, between man and Nature. For the first garden is in fact lost to humanity through the wiles of the serpent-dragon; and the angel with the flaming two-edged sword bars the way to the tree of life, that tree which is in the middle of the garden and which is also in the middle of history, for the tree is Christ, the life-giving Logos: the alpha of Eden, the omega of Heaven, and, in the middle, in ‘the whole world’s midpoint’, the redeeming Tree, rising from Adam’s grave, the water of life flowing beside it. (Vann, 64)
The Tree, which is Christ, is lost to mankind through the folly of mankind’s pride; for it is life-giving only in so far as it is worshipped. The first sin was in fact the refusal of worship, of obedience: the attempt to be as God, to achieve mastery through the experiential knowledge of good and evil. The point of the special creation of Adam is that the Lord God ‘breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and made man a living soul’: he was given a certain autonomy, he was able to rebel, and he did so: he refused life, refused the Tree, refused the Way. (ibid., 67)
John the Evangelist brings out the same concept, that of reception of life through the sacraments—which both obtains the remission of sins and bestows eternal life upon the recipients—in his Apocalypse: He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him, that overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God. (2:7) And later he sees the triumph of the Church where, In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (22:2) He rejoices in the members of the Church for, Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. (22:14)
God sets, then, the Cherubim to stop Adam and his wife as also their children from trying to obtain eternal life, for now they, and all humanity must wait for the Promise of redemption.
Having considered the Scriptural presentation of the original sin, in the next chapters salvation in the Old Testament will be treated.
Third Week after Easter
Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
Resignation
- “Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake” (Epistle). While the liturgy of the third Sunday after Easter emphasizes the thought that we have no permanent abode in this world it reminds us that we must adjust our lives to the plan which God made for us while we remain in this world. “Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake” (Epistle).
- When St. Paul tells us that we are to be subject to every human creature for the love of God, he does not imply that we should close our eyes to injustice, selfishness, and evil. The emphasis placed on a return to social justice by recent popes, makes the mind of the church clear on this point. We do indeed live a in a vale of tears, and we know that we can never expect perfection in this world, but we can and must work toward an improvement of conditions in the world about us. While it is not easy, as a Pope Leo XIII pointed out in his encyclical on the condition of labor, to define the relative rights of the rich and the poor, there are nevertheless certain definite principals which truth and justice dictate in controlling our relationships with our fellow men. The solutions proposed by the various forms of socialism are not and cannot be accepted by the church, because under the specious garb of humanitarianism, they are, as St. Paul tells us in the epistle, “making liberty a cloak for malice,” and are not based on the principles of liberty and justice. Many of those who propose plans for the betterment of living conditions, look upon man as merely a part of animal creation, forgetting that he has not only a right to a reasonable amount of comfort and happiness in this world, but also a duty to bear the cross so that he may earn an eternal reward for his labor. Speaking of these false socialistic theories Pope Leo XIII says:
What is of still greater importance, however is that the remedy they propose is manifestly against justice. For every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own. This is one of the chief points of distinction between man and the animal creation. For the brute has no power of self direction but is governed by two chief instincts which keep his powers alert, move him to use his strength, and determine him to action without the power of choice (Leo XIII, on the condition of labor).
Any plan for the improvement of the life of a man on earth must learn to look upon men “as servants of God.” The reformer and the social worker must first learn to “honor all men; love the brotherhood, and fear God” (Epistle). While St. Paul has great respect for authority and commands us to “honor the punishment of evil doers,” he does not deify the state. It is a pernicious mistake to suppose that the civil government has the right, at its own discretion, to penetrate and pervade the family and the home. While the civil government does have the responsibility for caring for the welfare if its citizens, it does not have the right to control and dictate how they should live, as is being done in so many of the welfare states today.
The Church is not content with the pointing out the errors of socialism; she points to the true remedy for social injustice and applies it to actual conditions. It is her right to teach men and to train them through the instructions of her bishops and priests. Through her teaching office she diffuses her salutary teachings far and wide. She strives to influence the minds and the hearts of men, so that they may willingly yield themselves to be formed and guided by the commandments of God. It is precisely in this fundamental matter that the church has a power peculiar to herself. The agencies she employs for the improvement of human life in this world, are given her for the very purpose of reaching the hearts of men, by Jesus Christ himself, and they derive their efficacy from God.
- “Shout with joy to God all the earth” (Introit). The earth ought to be a place of joy and happiness, especially now that our redemption has been accomplished. Man has been redeemed but he must allow himself to be regenerated through the grace of God. As long as men refuse to listen to the Church and refuse to apply the principles taught by Christ, there will continue to be social injustice, pain, and suffering in this world. It is futile to plan and establish World Wide organizations for peace if we continue to ignore the will of the God of peace. Christ once stood on a mountain outside the City of Jerusalem and wept over it. In spite of all the He had done to turn it from its evil ways, it had been deaf to His pleading. He could foresee that the day would come when not a stone would be left upon a stone in that beautiful city, and that it would be destroyed for its weakness. “If thou hadst known and that in this thy day, the things that are for thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes; (Luke 19:42). So too, Christ must look down upon the world today, and upon the great temple we have built for the United Nations in our frantic search for peace and must say, “If thou hadst known the things that are for thy peace.” All this elaborate equipment, all these detailed plans and negotiations are commendable, but it would be so much simpler if you would only learn to obey the Ten Commandments.
PRAYER
Hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of the suppliants and pardon the sins of those who confess unto Thee; that in thy mercy Thou mayest give us pardon and peace. Amen.
The glory of the Resurrection
“Alleluia. It behooved Christ to suffer . . . and so to enter into His glory” (Alleluia verse). “Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more; death shall no more have do before us and prays for us to His Father. “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given Me may be with Me [as My brethren, as members of My body], that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me.” (John 17;24).
The glory of the risen Christ. Christ gave us a glimpse of His glory through the three apostles whom He took with him to Mount Tabor, where “He was transfigured before them. And His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as snow” (Matt. 17:2). Now, after the resurrection, the splendor of the victory becomes visible on Tabor. The soul of Jesus, from the plenitude of the lights of the divine life with which it is flooded, sheds its heavenly beauty and strength upon His body also. Even though He was wounded , scourged, spat upon and mocked, even though He suffered the pains and tortures of His passion, and was out to death and robbed of all beauty yet He now shines with the brilliancy of the sun (gift of clarity). He can no longer suffer pain or death (gift of impassibility). He has shed all the defects of mortal human nature. The fulfillment of every wish and command follows the act of the will with the speed of light, penetrating all things like thought, like a spirit; He is like a spirit, yet possesses a true body (gift of agility). For the risen Christ, walls, towers and locks are no longer an obstacle. On Easter morning the glorified body of Jesus rises from grave and penetrates the door of the room where the disciples were gathered with the ease with which light penetrates glass. Such was the glory of the risen Christ. “Shout with joy to God all the earth, alleluia; sing ye a psalm to His name, alleluia’’ (Introit).
The glory of those who rise with Christ. “When Christ shall appear [on the last day], who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory”(Col. 3:4). Christ is risen, and we, too, shall one day rise from the dead. We are bound to Him by a most intimate union, for we have already risen with him. The beginning of our resurrection is to be found in our baptism, by which we receive sanctifying grace, and in Holy Communion, by which we receive actual grace. This is the source of our eventual resurrection. “Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory, according to the operation whereby also He is able to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:21). “Then shall the just shine as the sun” (Matt. 13:43).
All the noble and holy saints who have ever lived on earth will rise and live again, and they will be honored and acclaimed in heaven for all eternity. For them there will be no more sorrow, no pain. “Behold, I make all things new” (Apoc. 21:5 II Cor. 5:17) This miserable body which we now have will share in eternal life, in the glory and the immortality of the resurrection. “It is sown in corruption; it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness; it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body; it shall rise a spiritual body. . . . And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?” (I Cor. 15:42-44, 53f)
- “A little while” (Gospel). If Christ is risen, then we, too, shall rise. After our residence on earth for a little while, the life “in My Father’s house” awaits us (John 14:2). That life will not be an empty existence, a dull, shadowy life such as the pagans considered the afterlife; it will be a life spent in company with the blessed and with God, who is the fountainhead of all life and happiness. After this “little while” we shall experience complete satisfaction, we shall have every desire fulfilled, and be perfect in God, “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given Me maybe with Me” (John 17:24) A future of perfect bliss lies infallibly ahead of me. What, then, are the momentary trails and difficulties I suffer now? Two things are absolutely certain: that life on earth is brief and transient; and that after a little while there will be an eternal life of glory (cf. Rom. 8:18). Indeed, they are inseparably connected. By means of this short life I earn my eternal glory. “These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?” John is asked in the Apocalypse. When he is unable to answer, he is told: “These are they who are come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of lamb” (7:13 f.). “Out of great tribulation.” That is the surest pledge and the best guarantee of a happy eternity.
Should not our hearts be filled with joy and blessed hope? We are one with the risen Christ. This union is the source of all our good fortune. If we truly believed and had full confidence, we would exclaim, “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” The Christian may expect such a resurrection. “A little while. . . and I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.”
PRAYER
O God, who hast willed that Thy Son be crucified that we might be freed from the power of the devil, grant unto Thy servants that they may obtain the grace of the resurrection. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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26: SS. CLETUS AND MARCELLINUS, POPES AND MARTYRS (c. A.D. 91 AND A.D. 304)
THE exact order in the succession of the earliest popes has never been satisfactorily established, and it is still a moot point whether St Cletus was the third or the fourth occupant of the chair of St Peter. The fact that he is sometimes referred to by the name of Cletus and sometimes by the Greek equivalent of Anencletus has further confused the issue. It is now, however, agreed that the names belong to the same pope, and that he died about the year 91—probably as a martyr during the reign of Domitian. Nothing else is known about him. He is named, as the third pope, in the present canon of the Mass, and the name Anacletus has now been expunged from the list of popes in the Annuario Pontificio.
St Marcellinus followed St Caius in the bishopric of Rome in 296, and reigned eight years. Theodoret states that he acquired great glory in the stormy times of Diocletian’s persecution; on the other hand it was generally believed throughout the middle ages that under fierce trial he yielded up the holy books and offered incense to the gods. The legend, fostered by the Donatists, that he afterwards acknowledged his guilt at a certain Council of Sinuessa, pronouncing at the same time his own deposition, is now universally discredited, no such council having ever taken place; but ancient breviaries and catalogues of popes certainly allude to the fall of Marcellinus and to his subsequent repentance crowned by martyrdom. If, as seems more than probable, he was guilty of a temporary lapse, he expiated it by a holy death and is honoured as a saint and a martyr, though his actual martyrdom is far from certain. He was buried in the cemetery of St Priscilla which he built or enlarged.
(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)
MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD
The Catholic Ideal
By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard
(1911)
CHAPTER VIII
BEFORE AND AFTER CHILDBIRTH
On the other hand, some operations are both lawful and praiseworthy. The Cesarean operation, that by which the child, which cannot be born in the ordinary way, is taken from the abdomen of the mother, is one such. The question as to when it may or ought to be performed is a complicated one and hardly concerns the general public. When, however, it is raised by a doctor, Catholic or non-Catholic, a consultation with one’s spiritual director is advisable.
The doctrine that the child is a separate and distinct human being, from the moment of conception, implies a grave responsibility in the cases of miscarriage. If the embryo which comes away is alive, yea, if it only live for a few moments, it has a right to Baptism. Many people feel a repugnance to this idea. Still the truth must not be shirked. If the soul is there, it must have every chance of salvation, for it is of priceless value. There is no need for a particular examination as to whether the child is alive or not. The Sacrament is administered conditionally. On the one hand, the child may be dead. If this is certain, no Baptism may take place. On the other hand, it may be alive, yet capable of living only for a few moments. The time is too precious for detailed examination. Let the ceremony be performed as quickly as possible. The doctor, or the nurse, will take the whole being, the embryo with its covering, and put it in a basin of clean lukewarm water. The covering is then broken so that the liquid within flows out whilst clean water flows in. The embryo should then be moved about in the water whilst the person performing the ceremony says these words: “If thou canst be baptized, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
When there is danger of death of the child during the process of being born it must be baptized conditionally. Either the nurse or the physician, but not the priest, must pour water (sterilized) on such part of the child as is apparent, though it be only the hand, saying at the same time the words with the condition above stated.
Where there is danger of death to the mother during childbirth, she should receive the last Sacraments. The conditions of danger are well known to the members of the medical profession, and so the doctor must be the guide. This danger is present in all cases where operations are needed. The principle wants emphasizing, however, that the Sacraments are for the sake of men, and not men for the Sacraments. It is much better to run the risk of administering the Sacraments when unnecessary, than to run the risk of missing them when necessary.
It may be well at this point to call attention to the special blessing which the Church is ready to give in the case of dangerous childbirth. She implores the Creator of all things, under the beautiful figure of supreme doctor and nurse. “Accept,” she says, “the sacrifice of a broken heart of Thy servant so that, by the obstetric hand of Thy mercy, her offspring may come safely to light, and be preserved for holy regeneration.”
Here again the Church has foremost in her mind the higher welfare of the child. She has the tenderest care for the safety of body, but this safety of body must be directed to the safety of the spirit. When, therefore, a child has been brought to a happy and successful birth, the duty of its parents is to see that it is baptized as soon as possible. If the child is strong and healthy, it should be taken to church for this purpose within eight days. If the child is weak, and likely to take harm from the weather, then the priest is to be sent for. As long as it remains unbaptized it is to some extent under the power of Satan, and all unnecessary delay on the part of the parents is a grave injustice to the child.
The churching of women is an act of thanksgiving to God for having been brought through a difficult crisis. It is also a blessing given by the Church. But it is not a Sacrament.
There is a widespread impression that bad luck comes to the woman who, going out for the first time after childbirth, does not take the opportunity of being churched. So ingrained is this idea that many women look upon churching as of far more importance than Baptism. Now the ceremony of churching is of no obligation whatever, whilst that of Baptism is. There can be no comparison between the two. It is a praiseworthy custom to go to church and render thanks to God as soon as possible, but nothing more than a custom. Provided the woman does not stay away out of contempt for the ceremony, but merely for considerations of health and convenience, she commits no sin. If, on the other hand, she goes as soon as she can, she obtains a blessing for herself and her family.
The law of nature demands that mothers should suckle their own children. The Church, in interpreting this law, does not make it binding under pain of mortal sin. If the mother be suffering from bad health, or if she have to attend to business or other grave duty, then the Church does not exact this duty under any pain whatever. But wherever a nurse is called in, the mother must see that she is of good health and morals.
Whilst allowing this liberty of substitute, the Church points to the law of nature as the more perfect ideal, and as tending more to the welfare of the child and the happiness of the family. Nay, she ennobles the law of nature by setting before the world that type of mother of whose Child it was said: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the breasts that gave thee suck.” Any suggestion of substitution in this case is simply unthinkable. And if it were not beneath the dignity of such a mother to accept the full burden of her office, so it should not be beneath the dignity of the dames of a worldly society. It should rather be their glory to set the example to their poorer sisters. The poor nurse, who is taken away from her own child, has all the dignity and feelings of motherhood equally with the richest woman in the land.
Not on this point only, but on every other that pertains to the care of the child, born or unborn, the mother’s mind is raised and her heart enkindled by the Catholic ideal. This ideal is realized in Mary, the Mother of God. The Protestant consciousness has never become reconciled to the title, and consequently has never learnt the lesson which it teaches to the whole Catholic motherhood. When the eternal God took flesh in the womb of the Virgin, and deigned to be the object of a mother’s tender nursing, care, and affection, then was motherhood raised to its highest grade of splendor and magnificence, then was the law of nature made perfect by the law of grace. A real perfect Mother of flesh and blood was given to the mothers of the world to show them the glory of their state. She was instrumental to the forming of the Incarnate Christ; they are to be instrumental to the forming of the Mystic Christ.
“But, every day that goes
Before the gazer, new Madonnas rise.
What matter, if the cheek show not the rose,
Nor look divine is there, nor queenly grace?
The mother’s glory lights the homely face. . . . . .
Oh, sainted love: oh, precious sacrifice:
Oh, heaven lighted eyes.
Blest dream of youth; best memory of age.”
(To be continued)
The Pope participates in the suffering and consternation of the Orthodox Patriarch of Ethiopia for the recent slaughter of Christians
Vatican City, 21 April 2015 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon Pope Francis sent a message to the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abuna Matthias, upon hearing of the slaughter of 28 Ethiopian Christians kidnapped in Libya by the group ISIS.
“With great distress and sadness I learn of the further shocking violence perpetrated against innocent Christians in Libya. I know that Your Holiness is suffering deeply in heart and mind at the sight of your faithful children being killed for the sole reason that they are followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I reach out to you in heartfelt spiritual solidarity to assure you of my closeness in prayer at the continuing martyrdom being so cruelly inflicted on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and some parts of Asia.
It makes no difference whether the victims are Catholic, Copt, Orthodox or Protestant. Their blood is one and the same in their confession of Christ! The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard by everyone who can still distinguish between good and evil. All the more this cry must be heard by those who have the destiny of peoples in their hands.
At this time we are filled with the Easter joy of the disciples to whom the women had brought the news that ‘Christ has risen from the dead’. This year, that joy – which never fades – is tinged with profound sorrow. Yet we know that the life we live in God’s merciful love is stronger than the pain all Christians feel, a pain shared by men and women of good will in all religious traditions.
With heartfelt condolences I exchange with Your Holiness the embrace of peace in Christ Our Lord”.
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Father Courtney Edward will be in Los Angeles May 5 and in San Diego May 6. He will be in Eureka, Nevada, on May 19. He will be in the Czech Republic (Touzim) from May 28-June 8.
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