St Basil the Great

Vol 8 Issue 24 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
June 13, 2015 ~ Saint Anthony of Padua

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (20)
2. Third Sunday after Pentecost
3. St Basil the Great
4. Marriage and Parenthood (24)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Tragically the present Regime has forced citizens to accept public sodomy without a battle—no one has risen to take the lead to engage in battle. Good people are generally peaceful and the stigma of being label a criminal causes the American to cower in the face of the bully tactics of the State. It is an humiliation that the forces working for reverse discrimination can rally, riot and wreak havoc to get the State to overturn justice and morality (like the Jews forced Pontius Pilate to condemn the Just), but the good citizen does nothing—not even on a non-violent platform of conscientious objection (like the followers of Christ when he was condemned). Now the Occupational, Safety, and Heath Administration has issued that businesses must have neutral bathrooms or that their workers can choose the bathroom they feel more “safe” in. Tell me, does a woman feel safe when the psychologically maladjusted male walks in on her? While her scream is considered harassment, his psychotic behavior is considered something to be protected and rewarded. Since beauty is never in a lie, it won’t be found in the men’s room—but your little girls will now have to see things they should never have to see if public facilities need to be used. Thankfully, you can still find a family or individual compartment that may spare you—until the line gets too long and this regime may now realize you haven’t conformed. The official documents from this present regime are below for those wishing to see to view suggestions that are not “laws” but if not followed will mean that OSHA will step in for non-compliment and fine you. Catholics must become more vociferous in defending the faith and rejecting moral relativity that rejects morality and embraces immorality. Those who do not accept Catholic teaching regarding the Sacrament of Marriage and sins against the Sixth and Ninth cannot hold claim to having the Catholic Faith: He who is baptized and believes shall be saved; he who believes not, shall be condemned. (cf. Mark 16:16)

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

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Baptism

Means of Salvation

Restoration of Grace

Waiting for the Redeemer (f)

Church Doctrine Pertaining to Circumcision

As Baptism is the formal rite of entrance into the Catholic Church, the Ecclesia, the Church has accordingly concentrated on this Sacrament. Therefore, with the rite of circumcision having no religious significance in the New Testament, but only a rite that pertained to the Old Testament and which, as has been said, was eventually banned by Saint Paul because he saw it was a sign of those wishing to retain Jewish legalism and rejecting as absolute that Christ was God Who had ended the Old Testament covenant and established a new covenant, besides also the other Apostles at the Council of Jerusalem agreed to no longer accepted circumcision as a requirement for Christians, there was no need after the first centuries to consider circumcision in Church teaching. Yet, the struggle against Judaizing the Church as also reflecting upon the significance of Circumcision in relation to Baptism appears in the writings of the Early Christian Fathers and later in Church decrees.

Justinian (+166) still defends Christians against the attacks of the Jew Trypho, who faults Christians for not following the Law of Moses:

Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we are blamed, than this, that we live not after the law, and are not circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers were, and do not observe sabbaths as you do? Are our lives and customs also slandered among you? And I ask this: have you also believed concerning us, that we eat men; and that after the feast, having extinguished the lights, we engage in promiscuous concubinage? Or do you condemn us in this alone, that we adhere to such tenets, and believe in an opinion, untrue, as you think? (Dialogue with Trypho, 10)

St. Irenaeus (+202) preceded through the arguments of Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews to show once again that the Law of Moses (which envelopes circumcision) had no meaning in the New Testament, only in the Old Testament:

Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable. For it declares: God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the covenant between Me and you. Genesis 17:9-11 This same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths: Also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them. Ezekiel 20:12 And in Exodus, God says to Moses: And you shall observe My Sabbaths; for it shall be a sign between Me and you for your generations. Exodus 21:13 These things, then, were given for a sign; but the signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning nor to no purpose, inasmuch as they were given by a wise Artist; but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For we, says the apostle, have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Colossians 2:11 And the prophet declares, Circumcise the hardness of your heart. But the Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God’s service. For we have been counted, says the Apostle Paul, all the day long as sheep for the slaughter; Romans 8:36 that is, consecrated [to God], and ministering continually to our faith, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all avarice, and not acquiring or possessing treasures upon earth. Matthew 6:19 Moreover, the Sabbath of God (requietio Dei), that is, the kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things; in which [kingdom], the man who shall have persevered in serving God (Deo assistere) shall, in a state of rest, partake of God’s table. (Against Heresies, lib. iv, cap. 16)

Tertullian (+240) in, An Answer to the Jews, takes up the same arguments as Irenaeus and Saint Paul:

But Abraham, (you say,) was circumcised. Yes, but he pleased God before his circumcision; nor yet did he observe the Sabbath. For he had accepted circumcision; but such as was to be for a sign of that time, not for a prerogative title to salvation. In fact, subsequent patriarchs were uncircumcised, like Melchizedek, who, uncircumcised, offered to Abraham himself, already circumcised, on his return from battle, bread and wine. But again, (you say) the son of Moses would upon one occasion have been choked by an angel, if Zipporah, had not circumcised the foreskin of the infant with a pebble; whence, there is the greatest peril if any fail to circumcise the foreskin of his flesh. Nay, but if circumcision altogether brought salvation, even Moses himself, in the case of his own son, would not have omitted to circumcise him on the eighth day; whereas it is agreed that Zipporah did it on the journey, at the compulsion of the angel. Consider we, accordingly, that one single infant’s compulsory circumcision cannot have prescribed to every people, and founded, as it were, a law for keeping this precept. For God, foreseeing that He was about to give this circumcision to the people of Israel for a sign, not for salvation, urges the circumcision of the son of Moses, their future leader, for this reason. . . . This, therefore, was God’s foresight—that of giving circumcision to Israel, for a sign whence they might be distinguished when the time should arrive wherein their above-mentioned deserts should prohibit their admission into Jerusalem. . . . (cap. 3)

When questions—seemingly already decided, but raised in opposition to the Church—arose, the Church resorted to her Catholic or universal teaching which inevitably went back to Scripture and the Fathers and Doctors of the Church as also, if dogmatically taught, her Councils. To answer a question of the Archbishop of Arles, Humbert, concerning the baptism of children, which the Albigensian heretics rejected as Pope Innocent III wrote Maiores Ecclesiae causae in the year 1201, against the Albigensian heretics who, like the Waldensians, rejected infant and child baptism. Innocent continues to hold the same teaching as expressed by the Fathers of the Church:

(For) they assert that baptism is conferred uselessly on children. . . . We respond that baptism has taken the place of circumcision. . . . Therefore as “the soul of the circumcised did not perish from the people” [Gen. 17:4], so “he who has been reborn from water and the Holy Spirit will obtain entrance to the kingdom of heaven” [John 3:5]. . . . Although original sin was remitted by the mystery of circumcision, and the danger of damnation was avoided, nevertheless there was no arriving at the kingdom of heaven, which up to the death of Christ was barred to all. But through the sacrament of baptism the guilt of one made red by the blood of Christ is remitted, and to the kingdom of heaven one also arrives, whose gate the blood of Christ has mercifully opened for His faithful. For God forbid that all children of whom daily so great a multitude die, would perish, but that also for these the merciful God who wishes no one to perish has procured some remedy unto salvation. . . . As to what opponents say, (namely), that faith or love or other virtues are not infused in children, inasmuch as they do not consent, is absolutely not granted by most. . . . some asserting that by the power of baptism guilt indeed is remitted to little ones but grace is not conferred; and some indeed saying both that sin is forgiven and that virtues are infused in them as they hold virtues as a possession not as a function, until they arrive at adult age. . . . We say that a distinction must be made, that sin is twofold: namely, original and actual: original, which is contracted without consent; and actual which is committed with consent. Original, therefore, which is committed without consent, is remitted without consent through the power of the sacrament; but actual, which is contracted with consent, is not mitigated in the slightest without consent. . . . The punishment of original sin is deprivation of the vision of God, but the punishment of actual sin is the torments of everlasting hell. . . . (D 410)

It should be noted the resemblance of the moral principles of the Albigensians and Waldensians to today’s New Age movements, which, according the Catholic Encyclopedia, is as follows:

The dualism of the Albigenses was . . . the basis of their moral teaching. Man, they taught, is a living contradiction. Hence, the liberation of the soul from its captivity in the body is the true end of our being. To attain this, suicide is commendable; it was customary among them in the form of the endura (starvation). The extinction of bodily life on the largest scale consistent with human existence is also a perfect aim. As generation propagates the slavery of the soul to the body, perpetual chastity should be practiced. Matrimonial intercourse is unlawful; concubinage, being of a less permanent nature, is preferable to marriage. Abandonment of his wife by the husband, or vice versa, is desirable. Generation was abhorred by the Albigenses even in the animal kingdom. Consequently, abstention from all animal food, except fish, was enjoined. Their belief in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, the result of their logical rejection of purgatory, furnishes another explanation for the same abstinence. To this practice they added long and rigorous fasts. The necessity of absolute fidelity to the sect was strongly inculcated. War and capital punishment were absolutely condemned. (Weber, article Albigenses)

In seeking the reunion of the Armenians, Pope Eugene IV had invited them to the Council of Florence. The reunion was temporarily obtained when the Armenians subscribed to the Decree Exultate Deo, on November 22, 1439. The following is an excerpt speaking of the Sacraments and its relationship with the “sacraments” of the Old Testament:

Fifthly, We are putting the true doctrine of the sacraments of the Church into a brief formula as an easier means for instructing the Armenians, both those of the present and those of the future. There are seven sacraments of the New Law: they are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; and they differ greatly from the sacraments of the Old Law. The sacraments of the Old Law did not cause grace but were only a figure of the grace that was to be given through the Passion of Christ; but our sacraments both contain grace and confer it on those who receive the sacraments worthily. The first five of these are ordered to the interior spiritual perfection of the individual; the last two are ordered to the government and to the spread of the whole Church. For by Baptism we are spiritually reborn and by Confirmation we grow in grace and are strengthened in the faith; being reborn and strengthened, we are nourished with the divine food of the Eucharist. If by sin, we become sick in soul, Penance spiritually heals us; Extreme Unction heals us in spirit and in body as well, insofar as it is good for the soul. By Holy Orders the Church is governed and given spiritual growth; by Matrimony she is given bodily growth. All these Sacraments are brought to completion by three components; by things as matter, by words as form, and by the person of the minister effecting the Sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. And if any one of these three is lacking, the Sacrament is not effected. Among these Sacraments, there are three, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, which print on the soul an indelible character, that is, a certain spiritual sign distinguishing the recipient from others. Hence, these are not given more than once to one person. The other four do not imprint this character and may be repeated. (D 695)

What the Council of Florence decreed in 1439 was again decreed a hundred years later in 1547 by the Council of Trent. At its seventh session on March 3, 1547, when the Fathers of the Council formulated the doctrine on the Sacraments stated as a Canon (Dogmatic Statement) the following: If anyone says that these same sacraments of the New Law do not differ from the sacraments of the Old Law except in ceremonies and in external rites: let him be anathema (D845). This may best be understood by turning to the Roman Catechism that was decreed to be published by the Council (Conc. Trid. Sess. 24. de Reform, c. 7) :

Speaking of circumcision, a Sacrament of the old Law which was given to Abraham, the father of all believers, (Gen. xvii. 10) the Apostle, in his epistle to the Corinthians, says: “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of the faith which he had”(Rom. iv. 11.; Rom. Cat., 101)

The Catechism of the Council of Trent also takes up that which Innocent III taught about infant baptism and elaborates by drawing on the Fathers above quoted:

That this law extends, not only to adults, but also to infants, and that the Church has received this its interpretation from Apostolic tradition, is confirmed by the authority and strengthened by the concurrent testimony of the Fathers. Besides, it is not to be supposed, that Christ our Lord, would have with held the Sacrament of baptism, and the grace which it imparts from children, of whom he said: “Suffer the little children, and stay them not from coming unto me; for the kingdom of heaven is for such” (Matt. xix. 14.)—from children whom he embraced—upon whom he imposed hands—whom he blessed. (Mark x. 16) Moreover, when we read that an entire family was baptized by St. Paul, (1 Cor. i. 16. Acts xvi. 33.) children, who are included in their number, must, it is obvious, have also been cleansed in the purifying waters of baptism. Circumcision, too, which was a figure of baptism, affords a strong argument in proof of this primitive practice. That children were circumcised on the eighth day is universally known. (Gen. xxi. 4. Lev. xii. 3. Luke i. 59 ; ii. 21) If, then, circumcision, “made by hand, in despoiling of the body of the flesh,” (Coloss. ii. 11.) was profitable to children, shall not baptism, which is the circumcision of Christ, not “made by hand,” be also profitable to them? Finally, to use the words of the Apostle, “if by one man’s offence, death reigned through one; much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ.” (Rom. v. 17) If, then, through the transgression of Adam, children inherit the stain of primeval guilt, is there not still stronger reason to conclude, that the efficacious merits of Christ the Lord must impart to them that justice and those graces, which will give them a title to reign in eternal life? This happy consummation baptism alone can accomplish. (Rom. Cat., 123)

Ludwig Ott, in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, sums the Catholic teaching regarding circumcision and the other outward signs of grace instituted in the Old Testament in relationship to baptism and the remaining sacraments in these sentences:

As the entire Old Covenant “was our pedagogue in Christ” (Gal. 3, 24), so the Old Testament Sacraments as types pointed to the future riches of the Messianic era (Hebr. 10, 1: Umbram habens lex futurorum bonorum) and were thus a confession of faith in the coming Redeemer. By awakening the consciousness of sinfulness and faith in the coming Redeemer, with the co-operation of actual grace in the recipient, they created a disposition favourable for the reception of sanctifying grace which God then conferred and thus these Sacraments brought about inner sanctification ex opere operantis.

Circumcision performed on young infants effected the inner sanctification neither ex opere operato as in Baptism, nor merely ex opere operantis, i.e., not merely by reason of the faith of the representative of the recipient, but quasi ex opere operato. As an objective confession of faith in the coming Redeemer, it was for God the occasion of regularly bestowing the grace of sanctification. Cf. S. th. III 70, 4: “In circumcision grace was bestowed not in the power of the circumcision, but in the power of faith in the Passion of Christ, Whose sign circumcision was.” (Ott, 348)

(To be continued)

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Week of Third Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

Love and atonement

1. With the holy liturgy we pray: “Grant, we beseech Thee, that revering with meet devotion [the infinite wealth of Thy love], we may make a worthy reparation for our sins” (Collect). We have a twofold duty to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: the duty of loving surrender and the duty of atonement.
2. The duty of love. Love requires a return of love. To the love of Christ, which we venerate under the symbol of His Sacred Heart, we reply with a loving self-surrender, which implies an ardent longing that He be known, loved, and honored; it implies deep grief at the sight of sin and a joyful delight in the promotion of His interests and in the triumph of His love, His Church, and His grace. This love constrains us to come to Him with full confidence, to pour forth our hearts before Him, to bewail our coldness, our faults, and our imperfections, to present to Him in a childlike spirit our toils, our troubles, and our trials, and to commit all things into His hands. It goes even one step further and makes us living images of Jesus, both inwardly and outwardly. Such a love drives us to embrace a life of penance and self-denial. We reduce our needs and conquer our senses. We limit ourselves even in permissible delights. We detach ourselves inwardly and even outwardly, as far as our calling allows, from worldly things. We conform our will in perfect harmony to His good pleasure. We live, now no longer by our own spirit, but by a conscious dependence on His spirit and under the influence of His grace. Happy is the soul that is so deeply wounded by the love of Christ that it loses all taste for anything that is not Christ or does not lead to Christ. Happy is the soul which is so penetrated by His love that it rules all its affections, words, and works, so that the soul no longer knows or seeks anything except Him. Blessed is the soul that is so absorbed in Him that it renounces all other love and thinks of Him alone and is completely possessed by Him. “And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20).

The duty of atonement for our own sins and for those of others. He who lives by the spirit of Christ naturally feels the injuries which are done to Christ. The same love which makes the interests of Christ our interests, causes us to be sad when we see Christ persecuted and despised. We take all His injuries as our own, and they cause us pain because of our great love for Him. The more we see Him despised and treated with coldness and indifference, the more we are constrained to express our own love for Him. In like manner we strive to exert special care to prevent faults and unfaithfulness in ourselves and to avoid anything that could give Him pain. Therefore we undertake fresh penances and renunciations in order to give Him an authentic proof of our love. In the same measure we adore Him, worship Him, praise Him in His glory, and beg of Him mercy and grace. We strive to perform our works more perfectly, to accept with perfect resignation from His hand all the trials and temptations that come to us in life. All these things we do out of love for Christ, who has loved us with an eternal love.

3. “Poor Jesus,” St. Alphonsus Liguori would say, “Poor Jesus! Who is concerned about you or your interests?” How He longs to be loved by us! We contemplate the crucifix, and yet we remain unmoved. We read the cruel story of His suffering and death, and yet we remain cold and indifferent. We kneel to pray, but we can scarcely hold out for fifteen minutes. We see others falling into sin, and yet we are not disturbed at knowing that Jesus is being injured, so long as our own soul is not placed in danger. Strange signs of love indeed! Jesus seems to occupy a very unimportant corner of our heart.

We go our own way and seek our own will. All our energies are bent on satisfying our own desires, on making all things easy and pleasant for ourselves. We are ever in search of physical satisfaction and comfort, and we want our spiritual life to consist in a rich measure of interior consolations. We praise the Sacred Heart of Jesus with our lips, but in reality seek ourselves in all things. Where is our love? Where is our spirit of atonement?

PRAYER

O God, who in the heart of Thy Son, wounded by our transgressions, dost mercifully vouchsafe to bestow upon us the infinite wealth of Thy love; grant, we beseech Thee, that revering it with meet devotion, we may make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Pass through temporal things”

1. This week the Church prays that God may ever pour forth upon us a greater measure of His mercy, so that under His guidance and direction we may make use of temporal things in such a way as not to lose those which are eternal. Temporal things are given to us that we may serve the eternal God.
2. Temporal things are given for our use. We are obliged to “pass through” such things and yet remain detached from them. This obligation extends to all things that are not God: to all created things, animate and inanimate, physical and spiritual, the things of nature and those above nature, whatever the day may bring. All these things are given to us for our use. But we are to use them only as means and instruments in the work of God, that we may serve Him and accomplish our own salvation. With good reason God attached much pleasure and satisfaction to man’s use of creatures, but He did not mean that man should seek his final end in them. These pleasures were to serve as a fine oil does for the machine: they were to be a benefit which man was to accept gratefully from the hand of God, and thus out of gratitude serve God more faithfully, devotedly, and joyfully.

Holy Mother the Church knows how prone we men are to make use of created things, not merely as a means to an end, but as an end in themselves; she knows how apt we are to rest in them, to seek our joy in them, and even to make them our God. She knows how many men say secretly to themselves: Man must indeed fear God, respect Him, and adore Him at a respectful distance. But actually they seek their enjoyment in created things such as a comfortable life, sports, travel, great works of art, beauty, health, honor, renown, good fortune, and prosperity. For these things they live, and in them they find their happiness. With great sadness Holy Mother the Church, during these weeks that follow Pentecost, thinks of these her children who are so poorly enlightened by the spirit of the Holy Ghost. She prays God most earnestly that He may have mercy on these wayward children, that He may show them even greater mercy than hitherto, and pour forth the Holy Spirit upon them, so that they may learn to make use of created things as a means of serving Him, and that they may pass through them in such a manner that their hearts, their desires, their longings, and their love may not remain attached to them. We, too, share this sadness of Holy Mother the Church and join her in beseeching God from the depths of our hearts that He may give us all the grace so to make use of all these created things that we may eventually attain the eternal God.

God alone is to be our final end: God the Father, the unfathomable source of divinity; God the Son, the eternal, resplendent Word; God the Holy Ghost, the eternal and blessed expression of the mutual love of the Father and the Son; the blessed humanity of Jesus; the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In God we will find our joy and our rest. The mighty and holy God entered our souls at the hour of our baptism, and He lives there within us in order that we may enjoy Him, possess Him, and share His divine life with Him. He gives Himself to us as a loving Father, with whom we may speak with the greatest confidence and trust. He gives Himself to us that we may live with the living God in our souls and find our joy and our habitation in Him rather than in anything else that is not God. Happy are we, the sons of the Church, who know Christ, who possess Him as our offering in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as the food of our souls in Holy Communion, as our friend and companion in the tabernacle, as the life-giving vine, to which we are engrafted as branches through the mystery of the communion of saints. He has given Himself to us for our enjoyment, that we might find happiness and rest in Him. As we pass through life, in everything we meet on the way, in everything the day may bring, welcome or unwelcome, we see Him, His continual presence, His holy will, His wisdom, His goodness, His love, and His providence. In all our labors, trials, sufferings, and temptations, we see God before us and the working of His love in us. Thus we rest in God’s good pleasure, in His wisdom, His goodness, and His eternal love for us. Therefore we are not disturbed by the injustice and injuries done to us by other men. Neither are we too concerned about our health, our existence, or our earthly goods; for we have found peace in God. But this is only a small beginning and a foretaste of the blessed peace that we shall enjoy when we attain the final and complete possession of God.

3. “The time is short. It remaineth that they also who have wives be as if they had none; and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not; and they that use this world as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. 7:29-31).

We are to pass by all created things. They have been given to us only as instruments and means for attaining God. We are to use them only for the purpose for which they were given; we may use them only so long and to the extent that they are useful to us in the service of God. In a holy freedom of the spirit and the heart, we must lift ourselves above created things and never allow ourselves to become the slaves to them. We are to possess God alone, Christ Jesus alone, and therefore we must seek only those things that are dear to Him and lead to Him.

PRAYER

O God, the protector of all who hope in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; multiply Thy mercies upon us, that having Thee for our ruler and Thee for our guide, we may so make use of temporal goods that we lose not those which are everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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JUNE 14

St. Basil the Great, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church

1. Basil was born in Caesarea of Cappadocia, in 330, to a family of prominence which lists among its other saints Gregory of Nyssa, Peter of Sebaste, and two ladies named Macrina, the older of whom was Basil’s grandmother. At first educated by his father, a rhetorician and attorney of Caesarea, Basil was later sent to Constantinople and to Athens, forming at the latter place an intimate friendship with Gregory of N azianzen. About 356 he returned to his native Caesarea to teach rhetoric. Soon, with his sister, he began cultivating the ascetical life, and eventually received baptism.

Journeying to Syria and Palestine, Basil studied the spirit of monasticism there, and then returned home and gave his property to the poor, so he could live, with Gregory of Nazianzen, a life of solitude. They spent their time in prayer, work, and study, and it was during this period that Basil wrote his Rule for Monks. He was ordained a priest in 364, and began to devote much time to preaching. Consecrated Archbishop of Caesarea in 370, he successfully defended the faith defined at Nicea, in spite of the intrigues of the Emperor Valens and the imperial governor. Basil died on January 1, 379. The present feast marks the day of his consecration as a bishop. Besides his Rule, which is still followed by the Order bearing his name, he produced so many other valuable writings that he is honored as one of the four great teachers of the Eastern Church.

2. “The Lord moved him to speak before the assembled people, filling him with the spirit of wisdom and discernment” (Introit). With these words the Church introduces our Saint as the great, wise teacher of the Christian people, especially of monks. What he taught he had previously lived, in his solitude on the River Iris. Here he had achieved perfect poverty, having nothing but what neighbors supplied, meditating on Holy Scripture and laboring strenuously, always in the presence of God. Above all else, he had loved virginal purity.

Then “the Lord moved him to speak.” As a priest and bishop, he was grieved to see so many souls fall victim to Arianism, separating themselves from Christ. With copious tears he prayed day and night for his lost sheep. Every morning and evening he preached, in order to keep his Hock. He was fearless before the governor when the latter threatened him with death if he would not permit the Arians to enter his church. St. Basil declared: “I do not fear the rack; my body is already emaciated, and that is a step toward the end. Neither do I fear death, but would consider it, rather, as a grace, since it would unite me with God, for whom alone I live.” When the Emperor summoned Basil and tried to change his attitude, St. Basil remained firm. The Emperor decided to banish him then, but God stepped in: four times Valens attempted to sign the order of banishment, and each time his pen broke. His hand trembling and numb, the Emperor gave up the attempt, and Basil triumphed in the Lord: “My faithfulness and mercy shall go with him: as my champion he shall rise to greatness” (Offertory). St. Basil is the “faithful and wise steward whom his master entrusted with the care of his household, to give them their allowance of food at the appointed time” (Communion).

“If any man comes to me, without hating his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yes, and his own life too, he can be no disciple of mine. A man cannot be my disciple unless he takes up his own cross, and follows after me” (Gospel). This passage strikingly pictures St. Basil. He was wealthy and well-educated; he was the founder and master of a famous school of rhetoric; he was a successful lawyer: life offered everything a young man could want. Yet he turned his back on the proffered world, gave away his property, went away to live a life of penance after the example of hermits, and finally dedicated himself entirely to God by monastic observances. Of himself and his friend, Gregory of Nazianzen, he declared: “We consider it our greatest fame to be called, and to be, Christians.” It was St. Basil’s ambition to follow the Crucified until he grasped God. “The law of God dwells in my heart, and my feet do not stumble.” By his word and example St. Basil has, for sixteen hundred years, lured the noblest and best into his path of renouncing the world and surrendering to Christ; especially in the East have millions allowed themselves to be taught and inspired by him. St. Benedict, himself Patriarch of the Monks of the West, called him “our Father Basil.”

3. “I have fought a good fight; I have finished the race; I have redeemed my pledge; I look forward to the prize that is waiting for me, the prize I have earned. The Lord, the judge whose award never goes amiss, will grant it to me when that day comes” (Epistle). Our Lord comes today in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and we go to meet Him. May He grant that we shall grasp the full import of the words he addresses to us on this feast. Our sharing in the Holy Mass obligates us to the sacrifice of ourselves; the spirit of sacrifice must live and grow continually in our hearts.

Collect: Listen, we beg Thee, Lord, to the prayers offered by us on this festival of Thy blessed confessor bishop Basil, and since he was found worthy to give Thee fitting service, let his merits persuade Thee to free us from all sin. Amen.

MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD

The Catholic Ideal

By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard

(1911)

CHAPTER XI

SEXUAL INSTRUCTION FOR THE YOUNG

The manner of giving this information is more important than the matter. There must, on the one hand, be no tendency to laugh and joke about it, whilst there must, on the other, be no attempt to suppress it as if it were something wicked. The inquiring mind at this stage is alert and receptive. Moreover, it works in harmony with a natural instinct. Thus of its own nature it readily makes the right inferences and draws the necessary conclusions. The aim of the parent is to keep these conclusions as ideal as possible, and to prevent them from becoming topics of conversation and reading. The more they act on the senses so much the more likely are they to induce an indulgence of the senses, and thus lead to acts of impurity.

After the age of thirteen or fourteen the boys will claim more particularly the attention of their father, and the girls that of their mother. Now is the time for explicit teaching on certain well defined matters.

If the boy has been encouraged to look to his father rather than to his own play fellows for information of this kind, he will sooner or later ask in anxiety about the relief of nature in the night.

He may be told that so long as this does not arise from any tampering with himself, it is perfectly natural and nothing to be distressed about. The father may also take the occasion to warn him against the sin of self-abuse. This sin is so prevalent amongst boys that the father need hardly be afraid of giving the warning too soon. Let it be said solemnly and plainly that the boy has certain powers given to him by God, for the purpose of begetting children in lawful marriage, and that if those powers are abused in boyhood they will be damaged for their function in manhood.

Strong motives will be required by the boy to keep him straight. At this age natural motives are very powerful, but they are more powerful if spiritualized and raised to a supernatural plane. Tell the boy first, then, that this is a sin against God. The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and sins against the body, therefore, have a special malice in them and bring after them a special punishment. The law of nature is broken and nature will exact a heavy toll. But what is the law of nature except a reflex of the divine mind? And what is the retribution of nature except a fulfilment of the divine Will? Tell the boy, then, that self-abuse impairs the brain and shatters the nerves, that it dulls the intelligence and weakens the will, and that these are the effects ordained by God to follow on the violation of his law.

As the boys get older they maybe warned against venereal disease. The terrible natural effects may be pointed out, but always these natural punishments should be associated with the divine law, and shown to be but a portion of the punishment due to such sins.

A proposal has been made, and in European countries partly put into practice, to enlighten young minds concerning the many extreme forms of sexual perversion. This instruction I hold to be decidedly pernicious. If the boy is warned against the more common sins he will at once recognize the less common and more heinous ones, if the temptation should arise. Whereas if the idea is put into the boy’s head unnecessarily, temptation is put in his way. Nay, I would go further and say that books dealing with the extreme forms of sexual perversion should not be read even by adults, unless their profession obliges them to deal with such cases. Obviously the doctor, the lawyer, and the priest should know all about these things. But the ordinary layman can only read them to his own disadvantage. And if this is true of scientific works, how much more true must it be of certain novels and pictures? The policy of reading and seeing all things is sure to work disaster on those who adopt it without sufficient reason. Where there is reason in this matter there is also grace.

Together with reverence for the divine law there should be instilled into boys a profound reverence and respect for womankind. This will be directed in the first instance towards their own mother and sisters. The habit of mind and heart thus formed in early youth will be of the utmost service to them when in later years they have to associate with and move amongst women not of the family.

The mother will give corresponding instruction to the girls. Directions concerning the first signs of womanhood must be explicit. Our Lady’s Virginity may well be taken as an occasion to explain the nature of virginity and its importance to young girls. There is a bodily virginity and a spiritual virginity. Bodily virginity is usually taken to be the sign of spiritual virginity. It is certainly a most important protection of the same, and as such must be guarded with the utmost care. Bodily virginity may be lost either through sin or through ignorance, or through accident, or through necessary surgical operation. Such a misfortune therefore may imply sin or it may not. And if it does not imply sin it may give rise to needless distress and scruples. Mothers therefore can do much both to protect their daughters’ chastity, and to preserve their peace of mind, by explaining to them clearly these circumstances of womanhood. The question has been asked:

Who is to instruct those children who have no parents, or whose parents are unfitted for the task? For those who have no parents the duty devolves upon the guardian. For those whose parents are unfitted, the task may be undertaken by the schoolmaster or the priest. But generally speaking it is not advisable that children should associate such instruction with the priest. In the confessional he never speaks of it unless he is asked or unless he has reason to suppose that there is something wrong. It is not right, therefore, for parents or guardians to relegate instruction to the confessional, for it is their duty to anticipate the wrong by giving instruction before the wrong has been done.

With regard to children at boarding schools, there should be some arrangement between parent and teacher. The parent will endeavor to take the lead either before the child is sent to school or during the holidays, and then communicate with the head teacher accordingly.

The time of going out from home to earn a living is an occasion for special warning. Again, there is no need to go into all the details of the dangers· of the streets. It will be sufficient to say that grave dangers do exist and that the chief occasion of these dangers is the accepting of acquaintance with unknown men or women. If good relationships have already been established between mother and daughter, then the girl will willingly tell her mother of any new friendship she may have made.

Whenever there is a question of a girl leaving home for a distant town, and more especially for a foreign country, the mother may well inform her child of the existence of the White Slave Traffic. There are, though, I believe, large numbers of mothers even who do not know of its existence. Let it be said here then that this terrible business is spread all over the world. It consists of tricking young women into houses of ill fame under pretense of finding them situations. The two chief means of enticing girls away are chance acquaintanceships whilst traveling, and advertisements in the newspapers.

Provision has been made for the protection of Catholic girls by an international Catholic society. Whenever, therefore, a girl thinks of taking a situation away from home, and especially if she be going to a foreign country, she should first put herself in communication with [the pastor of a Catholic Church where she intends to go].

(To be continued)

Part of the United Sodomites of America is to adopt regulations that bypass the citizen in order to impose their religious views upon others. May true Catholics and those wishing to live a truly moral life have the grace to see the snares laid to entrap them and be able to avoid falling into the ploys of the evil one.  —The Editor

https://www.osha.gov/newsrelease/trade-20150601.html

https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3795.pdf

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Father Courtney Edward will be in Los Angeles June 16 and San Diego June 17.

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