Peter; kill and eat.

Vol 8 Issue 41 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
October 10, 2015 ~ St Francis Borgia, opn!

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (37)
2. Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Divine Maternity of the B. V. M.
4. Christ in the Home (12)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Returning from participating in the Fatima Conference—a conference that has been a yearly event for almost 50 years—which promotes faithful Catholics studying their faith and living the message of Fatima, it has been very encouraging to see the dedication of these lay faithful scattered throughout the United States. I first attended one of the early ones in 1972 that brought to light to a teenage mind some sense of the loss of faith in the Catholic Church and the need to struggle for preserving that faith through the axiom lex credendi lex orandi (“ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi” Prosper of Aquitaine; cf.Mediator Dei of Pius XII)—the law of faith determines the law of prayer—that clearly showed the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had to express the unchangeable faith and not vice versa that the hootenanny messes of the Vatican II Conciliar Church, which changed the axiom to lex orandi lex credendi—the law of prayer is the law of faith—and allows changes in the faith according to how people pray: no longer for the salvation of souls with Christ’s redemptive act on Calvary, but ecumenism in a social celebration of human community and now, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, creation sustainability as seen in the following notice:

Creation Sustainability Committee of the Office of Life, Justice, and Peace:  “Caring for Our Common Home:  Some How-To Foundations for a Creation Ministry,” Saturday, October 17, in San Dimas

The Creation Sustainability Committee of the Office of Life, Justice, and Peace is holding a workshop for parishes that are considering starting a Creation Sustainability ministry.  The event will also include examples of creation protection in the interfaith community, and reflections on further actions that a parish or parishioners can take.  Inspired by the work of Pope Francis in his recent encyclical, “Caring for Our Common Home:  Some How-To Foundations for a Creation Ministry”

Our Lady of Fatima asked for prayer, penance and sacrifice for the conversion of the world (meaning those living according to the spirit of the world). May we fulfill her request.

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

____________________

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

The Apostles Fulfill Christ’s Command to Baptize

It was be made clear that baptism in the Acts of the Apostles corresponds to both Baptism in the sense of washing with water, or the Sacrament of Baptism, and baptism in the sense of the reception of the Holy Ghost, or the Sacrament of Confirmation. Saint Luke is the author of both his Gospel (of St Luke) and the Acts of the Apostles. It may be confusing unless one places both texts together to reference. As it was discussed in the previous section, Christ had already instituted the Sacrament of Baptism before His Passion and Death (cf. John 3:22 and4:1-3). Therefore, when Luke writes in Acts 1:5, For John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence, one recalls his words quoting John the Baptist: I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Luke 3:16). He ended his Gospel: And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high (ibid. 24:49). Then, describing the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, he writes: [T]here appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:3-4).

Dessain, in his commentary on The Acts of the Apostles, explains:

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is called a ‘baptism’, or cleansing, as in Joel 2:28 and Isaias 44:3, but the sacrament of Baptism is not meant, This we may presume, with St Augustine and St Chrysostom, the Apostles had already received. Leaving aside the case of Cornelius, Christian baptism always preceded the baptism with the Spirit, as is clearly asserted in 2:38. (Orchard, 1024, 822a)

With the Apostles receiving the Holy Ghost through Confirmation, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire (cf. Matt. 3:11), for which they waited, now they began to “teach all nations” and “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (ibid. 28:19). The Acts of the Apostles is that demonstration of the action of the Holy Ghost by the Apostles teaching and baptizing. It may be said that the Old Testament is that work of the Father, the Gospels that work of Christ and that in the Acts of the Apostles the work of the Holy Ghost. The first response Peter gave to the crowd that had gathered outside the Cenacle after Pentecost was: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38). And the result from his preaching: They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls (ibid. 2:41). As the persecution begins under the Jewish leaders and Saul of Tarsus (cf. Acts 8:1ff), the Christians were forced to flee Jerusalem. Philip the deacon goes to Samaria and teaches the Gospel and when they had believed Philip preaching of the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. (ibid. 8:12).  It is the same when Philip is sent south to the Eunuch of Candace: And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said: See, here is water: what doth hinder me from being baptized?Philip replies: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him (ibid. 8:36, 37-38).

With the throwing of the zealot Saul from his horse and showing him Who he was persecuting, Christ converted this Pharisee into a disciple—but not without first sending Ananias so that he may see (teach the faith), and be baptized and then later receiving Confirmation and Apostleship:

And the Lord said to him [Ananias]: Arise, and go into the street that is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth. (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name. And the Lord said to him: Go thy way; for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’ s sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and rising up, he was baptized (ibid. 9:11-18).

Turning from Paul’s entrance into the Church and that of the conversion of the Jews and Samaritans, now attention is drawn to the Gentiles. Even though Paul is said to be a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles  (ibid. 9:15), Paul would not start until after meeting the other Apostles and preparing for his vocation, which happens later when with Barnabas, he is made also an Apostle (cf. Acts 13:2 and 46ff). Here Peter’s world is turned upside-down. Raised according to the Levitical precepts, which includes refraining from eating certain “un-clean” animals, he has a vision as follows:

Peter went up to the higher parts of the house to pray, about the sixth hour. And being hungry, he was desirous to taste somewhat. And as they were preparing, there came upon him an ecstasy of mind. And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts, and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him: Arise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said: Far be it from me; for I never did eat any thing that is common and unclean. And the voice spoke to him again the second time: That which God hath cleansed, do not thou call common. And this was done thrice; and presently the vessel was taken up into heaven. Now, whilst Peter was doubting within himself, what the vision that he had seen should mean, behold the men who were sent from Cornelius, inquiring for Simon’s house, stood at the gate. (Acts 10:9-17)

Saint John Chrysostom provides this commentary on this passage:

What is this? It is a symbol of the whole world. The man [Cornelius] was uncircumcised: and — for he had nothing in common with the Jews— they would all accuse him as a transgressor: you went in to men uncircumcised, and ate with them: Acts 11:3 this was a thing altogether offensive to them: observe then what is providentially managed. He himself also says, I have never eaten: not being himself afraid— far be the thought from us— but it is so contrived by the Spirit, in order that he may have it to say in answer to those accusing him, that he did object: for it was altogether necessary for them to observe the Law. He was in the act of being sent to the Gentiles: therefore that these also may not accuse him, see how many things are contrived (by the Providence of God). For, that it may not seem to be a mere fancy, this was done thrice. I said, says he, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.— And the voice came unto him, What God has cleansed, that call not thou common. ch. 11:8, with 10:14 It seems indeed to be spoken to him, but the whole is meant for the Jews. For if the teacher is rebuked, much more these. The earth then, this is what the linen sheet denotes, and the wild beasts in it, are they of the Gentiles, and the command, Kill and eat, denotes that he must go to them also; and that this thing is thrice done,denotes baptism. What God has cleansed, says it, call not thou common. Great daring! Wherefore did he object? That none may say that God was proving him, as in the case of Abraham, this is why he says, Not so, Lord, etc. not gainsaying— just as to Philip also He said, How many loaves do you have? Not to learn, but tempting, or proving him. And yet it was the same (Lord) that had discoursed above (in the Law) concerning things clean and unclean.(Homily 22 on Acts of the Apostles)

And even though Peter would go to the house of Cornelius and teach and baptize:

While Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. And the faithful of the circumcision, who came with Peter, were astonished, for that the grace of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Gentiles also. For they heard them speaking with tongues, and magnifying God. Then Peter answered: Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:44-48)

The remaining Apostles and disciples were reluctant to accept the Gentiles: And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying: Why didst thou go in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them? (ibid. 11:2-3) And even though Peter justified his action by replying:

I remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said:John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. If then God gave them the same grace, as to us also who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, that could withstand God? Having heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying: God then hath also to the Gentiles given repentance unto life. (ibid. 11:16-18)

The scene shows that Peter was still was compelled to baptize Cornelius and the other Italians that were with him, showing he understood the command of Christ was not optional to be part of the Church. Though the Apostles accepted this occasion as an exception, it would soon be evident that the Gentiles would be accepted into the Church through baptism. Paul would become the Apostle of the Gentiles and would extend the preaching outside the Synagogue. Those who believed would be baptized as one reads in chapter 16: And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, did hear: whose heart the Lord opened to attend to those things which were said by Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household. . . . (v. 14-15) And, again, when Paul and Silas were imprisoned and an earthquake destroyed the jail, the jailer came and said:

Masters, what must I do, that I may be saved? But they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. And he, taking them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and himself was baptized, and all his house immediately. (Acts 16:30-33)

This is repeated in Corinth where Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized (ibid. 18:8). When Paul later goes to Ephesus and discovers a group baptized in repentance according to the manner of John the Baptist, he instructs them of the Gospel and these Ephesians having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (19:5).

St. Paul says he also baptized the household of Stephanas (I Cor. i. 16ff) when arguing that baptism did not create a relationship with the person baptizing, but with Christ:

For it hath been signified unto me, my brethren, of you, by them that are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I give God thanks, that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Caius; Lest any should say that you were baptized in my name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

(To be continued)

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Week of Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

“Redeeming the time”

1. The Epistle admonishes us to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The end is drawing near. We may look upon our lifetime as a market from which we are to buy and carry away all that we can for God and for our soul. We can easily misuse the time that is allotted to us, or use it to the detriment of our own soul. “Wherefore, become not unwise.”
2. “Redeeming the time.” The years are hastening by. Before we realize it our allotted time will be exhausted and we shall stand at the brink of the grave. Every day and every moment of the day are given to us to be used for God, and thus to prepare for ourselves a happy eternity. Of all the time that is given to us, we can be certain of only the present brief moment. And before we have time to reflect on it, that moment is also gone. The past is gone forever and will never return. The future does not yet belong to us, and perhaps it never will. And so we possess only the present brief moment, and even this will be gone in an instant. Our whole eternity depends on whether or not we make use of the present moment. We can lose it or let it pass by unused. We may even make use of it for sin. But we can also make use of it to obtain precious graces. Death or life, happiness or unhappiness, heaven or hell, depend on the use we make of the present moment. Should we, then, not make use of every moment of the life that is given us, which may end at any moment, for the purpose of gaining heaven? Can we afford to let a single minute pass by unused? Do we dare give a single minute to living for this world or for sin? Should we not rather strive zealously to gain all that can be gained for God and for our soul?

“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord” (Rom. 14:8). We are Christians dedicated to God by virtue of our baptismal vows and perhaps by religious profession. Our whole being, our bodies and souls, our gifts and talents, our health and strength, belong to Him. Our time also belongs to Him. It is not we who have the right to determine and decide how the days, hours, and minutes given to us are to be used, but He to whom we are dedicated. He should determine the use of our free time and every moment of our life. Only one thing is left to us to do; to seek to know at every moment of the day what God desires of us, so that we may speak a ready fiat to all that He commands or desires. Since He is the complete master of every moment of our life, it should be a matter of complete indifference to us whether He assigns us to this task or to that. We should be prepared at every moment to undertake and perform whatever He wills and desires. God does not allow us a single moment for idleness. He determines all things, controls, rules, and ordains all our actions. If He assigns us no outward work to do, then He occupies us inwardly. At every moment He draws us to Himself to love Him, to thank Him, to praise Him, and to subject ourselves completely to His holy will. Every moment of the day should be an expression of the child’s love for its Father in an unbroken elevation of the soul which loves Him and delivers itself confidently into the hands of its Father. At every moment we should contemplate God and His holy will and His grace. At every moment we can gather rich and grace-laden sheaves for the barns of eternity.

3. We can be certain of only the present moment, and we must make the best use of it. During that one moment we must do well what God desires of us. But instead we are so fond of living for the future; we make plans and are unnecessarily anxious about the things that are to occur tomorrow. Or we are preoccupied with the past, with unnecessary and injurious recollections, doubts, and scruples, and allow the present moment of grace to pass unused.

All too often we postpone to a later time what we ought to do at the present moment to fulfill the will of God. Eventually these deferred duties catch up with us and we find them an intolerable burden. Thus we can no longer perform such duties as we should. We hurry through them with an unbecoming haste merely to get them finished, not because we see in them the will of God. And all this time we should be performing every duty as it comes, with ease and confidence, with our eyes always fixed on God. Only one who is deeply grounded in the faith and who is absorbed in God can make the proper use of his time.

Since we waste so much of the time that is given to us, our faith urges us to recall our Lord’s return for the judgment, and in the words of the Epistle it reminds us of the day of our death: “Redeeming the time.” We have much to atone for.

What shall I, frail man, be pleading,

Who for me be interceding,

When the just are mercy needing?

Guilty, now I pour my moaning,

All my shame with anguish owning;

Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning.

(Sequence of the Requiem Mass, trans. from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.)

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.

Spiritual sloth

1. “Brethren: See how you walk circumspectly, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Epistle). The times indeed are evil, filled with temptations, allurements, and dangers for our unstable supernatural aspirations and efforts. The chief danger and difficulty lie in our natural inclination toward spiritual sloth, which hinders us in our attempts to make use of our time for God and for the cultivation of a deep spirituality. The three chief forms of spiritual sloth are distraction, melancholy or depression of spirit, and occupation with unnecessary things.
2. Distraction is a state in which we are occupied with things which should not occupy us at the time. It is a “sin without a body.” Distractions work in silence and call no attention to themselves. In fact, one of the most dangerous aspects of distractions is the fact that we scarcely notice that we are distracted. They are like a cancerous growth on our spiritual life, which gives birth to many unwholesome conditions, such as dissatisfaction with ourselves, a critical attitude toward others, a restless desire to justify ourselves, and an unhealthy tendency to criticize others. It destroys our recollection in prayer, makes us listless after our Holy Communion, causes us to fulfill our duties without zeal, and fills us with an overpowering distaste for mortification. This condition causes us to postpone till later deeds which we should do this very day and this very moment. We fall into a state of unrest and spiritual sloth, and we no longer see God in our duties, but only an intolerable burden. Distraction prevents us from beginning a work which we have long been about to commence. Distraction causes us to overburden ourselves with too many oral prayers and too many outward practices of piety.

Spiritual melancholy. No other condition in the spiritual life can lead to so many grievous sins as melancholy. It is op· posed to humility, since it makes us quarrelsome and contentious rather than patient. It is in no sense contrition, but rather a secret anger with ourselves; it is not a true sorrow because we have offended God. It is, in the last analysis, a species of self-love. We become melancholy because we are too slothful to be faithful to our duties and to act properly. We have lost the courage necessary to break with our faults and imperfections. We inwardly turn to creatures and seek consolation from them. We want to be noticed and recognized, and we think that others ought to know how we feel and how we travail and suffer. Such spiritual melancholy gives the devil power over our soul. It weakens and impedes the effectiveness of the sacraments. It makes sweet things bitter, and causes the salutary instruments of the spiritual life to act like poison. We lose our courage for struggle and renunciation. We can no longer find God, and this very difficulty plunges us into a deeper melancholy. How effectively all this checks us in our attempts to make good use of the graces that God gives us! The chief source of such deep melancholy is the tendency to be less concerned with God and His honor and will than with our own will and what is pleasing to us, This tendency is true even in practices of piety; even many religious set as the goal of their spiritual effort, not God’s honor, but rather their own spiritual progress. They are more concerned about themselves than they are about God’s glory.

Preoccupation with unnecessary things. There perhaps never was a time when men were so prone to become absorbed in unnecessary things as now. They are tempted on all sides to waste their precious time in an inordinate and excessive preoccupation with lectures, newspapers, radio programs, movies, sports, celebrations, and new sensations. Not only worldly people give themselves to this intemperate concern with the things of this world, which prevents them from attending to the one thing necessary; but even we who are consecrated and dedicated to the service of God, have become absorbed in these unnecessary things, and thus impair our spirit of prayer and recollection, and prevent ourselves from giving ourselves entirely to God. How many unnecessary distractions we allow ourselves! How many unnecessary and even sinful thoughts and plans we harbor! How much time we devote to secular reading. Truly the liturgy has good reason to urge us to be “redeeming the time, for the days are evil.”

3. An unusual degree of holiness and mortification is not required for our making the best use of every moment that is given to us. One of the greatest advantages of the religious life is this, that it protects and guards us against spiritual sloth. But even in the religious state, as well as in the world, one must have an appreciation of the value of every moment, an intense life of faith, a burning love for Christ, a generous detachment from the world, and a love for mortification.

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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OCTOBER 11

The Motherhood of Our Lady

Fifteen hundred years have passed since Nestorius, in Constantinople, dared to assert that the humanity of Christ is independent of His divinity, and to teach that there are two persons in Him. To teach, further, that Mary conceived only the human person, the man Christ, and was therefore not Mother of God, not God-bearer, but merely mother of a man in whom God dwelt as in a temple. In the year 431 the Council of Ephesus took a clear stand against Nestorius. It formulated the Catholic doctrine thus: In Christ there is only one person and that a divine person. Therefore Mary gave birth to the Son of God, and she is God-bearer, Theotokos. We joyfully endorse this confession of faith. In memory of the Council of Ephesus Pope Pius XI introduced the feast of the Motherhood of Our Lady on the Council’s fifteen hundredth anniversary, in 1931.

1. Mary is the Mother of Christ. We accept the prophecy of Isaias: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel” (Introit). The Gospel of the feast relates that, after Mary and Joseph had taken their Child on the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem and “set about their return home, the boy Jesus, unknown to his parents, continued to stay in Jerusalem.” Sorrowing, they sought the child, and after three days found Him in the Temple. “My son, why hast thou treated us so? Think, what anguish of mind thy father and I have endured, searching for thee.” Mary is the mother of Him who had no earthly father; Joseph is his foster father. Jesus testified that His real Father is in heaven: “Could you not tell that I must needs be in the place which belongs to my Father?” The Child of Mary is conceived of the Holy Spirit. In the Communion antiphon we proclaim: “Blessed be the womb in which the virgin Mary bore the eternal Father’s Son.” Blessed art thou, holy Mother, for thou didst bear the Son of God in the most intimate spiritual and bodily union: Thou His Mother; He the fruit of thy womb. “The Lord is with thee!”

Mary is our Mother, “no vine ever yielded fruit so fragrant; the enjoyment of honor and riches is the fruit I bear” (Lesson). Mary did not keep the Savior of mankind to herself, but gave Him to us at Bethlehem, at the Presentation in the Temple, and on Golgotha. She accepted His testament from the Cross: “Woman, this is thy son” (John 19:26). In John He intended all of us to be adopted. Amid the anguished sorrow that she suffered at the feet of her dying Son she became our Mother. From the Cross our Savior spoke to all of us in John: “This is thy Mother.” She gave us Christ, and, in Him, supernatural life. She is concerned about us and extends her love for Jesus over to us. Happy we who have such a Mother—the best and truest ever! The fact that Mary is truly the Mother of Christ is the best pledge that she is truly our Mother and exercises a mother’s care over us. We must thank her for that.

3. Full of faith, we repeat the invocations of the Litany of Loreto: “Mother of divine grace, pray for us. Thou purest, most chaste, immaculate, lovely, wonderful Mother, pray for us,” Mary is mother of mercy, all-powerful with her Son, full of goodness and love toward us. All this because she is the Mother of God.

“Hither turn your steps, all you that learned to long for me; take your fill of the increase I yield” of Jesus Christ, my Son, today, in the Holy Sacrifice, in Holy Communion. Just as God the Father “gave him up for us all” so has Mary given us everything with her Child. We believe this; we are grateful for it; we consider ourselves fortunate indeed.

Collect: O God, who didst decree that, at the angel’s message, Thy Word should take flesh in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary, grant to us, Thy suppliants, that we who believe her to be indeed the mother of God may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Amen

CHRIST IN THE HOME

BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.

(1951)

MARRIAGE

ONE HEART, ONE SOUL

How happy are married persons who can say as Maurice Retour to his wife, “We love each other for our ideas. We see only God and we have become united in order to serve Him better.” Such is Christian love.

“We shall ask Christ, who sanctified marriage, to give us all the graces necessary for us. We pray with force but also with joy because we have great confidence in the future since both of us expect our happiness from God alone.”

And after Holy Communion which they both received on their wedding day they begged God “to make their mutual love always effect their personal sanctification, to bless their home by sending them many children, to keep in His grace themselves, their little ones and all who would ever live under their roof.”

Sometimes we hear it said that there are no examples of married persons living effectively the holy law of marriage as God prescribed it and Christ ratified it.

There are many. More than one might think. And, thanks be to God, there have been some in all ages.

In the time of the early Church, Tertullian, believing his death to be approaching, wrote two books entitled Ad Uxorem, “To My Wife.” In the last chapter of the second book he gives

an unforgettable picture of marriage. One cannot meditate on it too often.

…

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