Vol 14 Issue 16 ~  Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
April 17, 2021 ~ Our Lady on Saturday

1.      What is the Holy Eucharist
2.      Second Sunday after Easter
3.      Saint Apollonius
4.      Family and Marriage
5.      Articles and notices
Dear Reader:

With the consideration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ I find it appropriate to go through a conversation with someone who stopped me to tell me that he now denied God, life after death and claimed the Bible was just a compilation of stories—though previously he was a non-denominational “Christian”. He informed me that he came to this conclusion when his father died. The rationale was that even though he prayed for his father to live, his prayer was seemingly not answered. Therefore the young man theorized it was because there is no God to answer prayer; nor is there, consequentially, life hereafter; and that we are born only to die.

Born to die? I thought. Can one actually believe that one is born to die and that is all of one’s existence? Does that mean I eat to die? I sleep to die? I work to die? If my end is death, would it not be better that death came sooner than later? Would I not then, in this manner, be fulfilling the purpose of my existence all the more quickly—which is to die? That maybe mothers should abort their babies because the baby’s existence is only to die anyway?

I am not sure the young man thought out his statement and the consequences his statement led to, or was just expressing his anger because he thought he willed God into existence and the God he willed was not that God Who willed him into existence. However it might be, I stated that one could not accept such a horrible concept that one is just born to die, to live a life for no other purpose than to die—a cruel reality if such were reality. Why would one, then, who is suffering, want to live?—and therefore my grasping that if people, like him, believe this, rather one ought to commit suicide in the euphemism of euthanasia (good death) and not live.

No! I told him, no! I live to live. I was born to live, I now eat to live, I now sleep to live, I now work to live—and I help others now to live, not die. And this is reality! This is a purpose worth living life for.

Perhaps this is why even now life is in stages—gestational life, infantile life, childhood life, young adult life, adult life, senior adult life—each to prepare us for the next life and finally life everlasting. Each stage more full than the previous, but only complete in the last stage because neither could there be an ad infinitum or there would be no purposeful end. Therefore I told him this is why I believe in life after death—death, which is only a temporary separation of the soul from the body (which faith tells us is a punishment for Original Sin and that if Original Sin was not committed one would pass from this temporal life to eternal life without a death—separation of soul and body—in between). This is why I, told him, I believe in God, for only Life can give life.

It is, therefore, in this sense that one can understand Christ’s words that it behooved Him to suffer before entering into His glory (cf. Luke 24:26; 1 Peter 5:10). It is in this sense that one can understand why it was necessary for Him to both be transfigured before His Apostles as also to rise from the dead and visibly ascend into heaven before His followers: to confirm that this world is only a passing reality, only a stage—not one in which man merely plays a part and it is over for his appearance, but one that is opening to man the fulness of life  and that if man lives his life on this present stage, even though it be one of suffering, he will be able to live his life also in the next stage.

God has set the mind of man to be rational, and that rationality—logical thinking—can only lead man to Him—being that He is Truth Itself. Unfortunately man does not want to take the time to think logically, to follow the consequences of his thinking (cf. Saint Apollonius below), because he does not see that he is to live for Life Itself, but allows the author of death to convince him to serve him who is a murderer from the beginning (cf. John 8:44) and dies to Life. May we not be so unfortunate to be swayed into this culture of death (to the soul) but live for Christ Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. John 14:6).

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

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WHAT IS THE HOLY EUCHARIST

By Rev. Courtney Edward Krier

II

The Holy Eucharist is a True Sacrifice

An Explanation of Holy Mass

Part 2

The Mass of the Faithful

The Gifts prepared for the Consecration, the priest goes over to the epistle corner and washes his fingers (hands if incense used or other ceremonies) that will touch the host while reciting Psalm 25: I wash my hands among the innocent, and I go around Your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of praise, and tell of all Thy wondrous works. . . . As the Psalm begins in Latin, it is called the Lavabo; and as with all Psalms recited, it ends in the Glory be except Requiem and Passiontide Masses. He bows to the tabernacle for the Glory be as always and returns to the center of the altar where he slightly bows and says the Suscipe: Accept, most Holy Trinity, this offering which we are making to Thee in remembrance of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, Our Lord . . . . It is a summation of all the other Offertory Prayers and a request that despite the unworthiness of the priest, it be accepted because it was commanded: Do this in remembrance of me (cf. Luke 22:19; 1 Cor.11:24f).

There is then said: and in honor of . . . . and the same list of Saints found in the Confiteor are mentioned (except Saint Michael—because he does not partake in the act of Redemption): the blessed Virgin Mary, ever Virgin, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. . .  The list of names, though short, seems more ancient—though it may be that the names of special patrons might have then be added, for the prayer continues with: and of these—which is understood as, whose relics are in the altar stone where the priest’s hands are resting and on the altar if relics of other saints are placed there. It finishes with: and of all the Saints; that it may add to their honor and aid our salvation; and may they deign to intercede in heaven for us who honor their memory here on earth. Through the same Christ our Lord. The Blessed Trinity, being pleased with Mary and the Saints, looks upon them in whose honor Mass is offered—for, indeed, the Mass is offered in memory of the Life, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and it is offered in honor of the Saints.

But this prayer further says that the sacrifice is offered “to their honor.” These words, indeed, signify the fruit accruing to the saints in heaven through the Holy Sacrifice; the Mass is also offered to obtain for the saints the spread of their veneration on earth. We therefore offer the sacrifice and pray that the saints may be ever more and more honored and glorified on earth.This means that we offer sacrifice and pray, not so much in behalf of the saints, as for ourselves; for it is to our own benefit and advantage if greater honor be shown to the saints. Inasmuch as we honor and glorify the saints during and through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we advance thereby our own welfare (nobis ad salutem), since in this way we obtain for ourselves the powerful intercession of the saints (illi pro nobis intercedere dignentur in coelis). For, since we celebrate upon earth the memory of the citizens of heaven, we would thereby incline them to be more favorably disposed to interest themselves in our behalf with God. Moreover, the blessed rejoice when we offer Mass to God as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in their name, that is, when we off er it to God to praise and thank Him for all the benefits, for the grace and the glory, they have received from Him. (Gihr, 588-89)

The priest then kisses the altar and turns to the people and says in a loud voice: Orate Fratres—Pray, brethren—then continues in a lower voice: that my Sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty. It may have been noted that the priest has indicated that it is the Church offering the Sacrifice, such as in offering the Chalice he said, We offer. Some may return the thought to the deacon who also held the chalice with the priest in the Solemn High Mass. But the Church always exacts a meaning that is applicable to the moment and purges that which has no verifiable meaning. Facing the faithful, the priest is obviously entreating the faithful to unite with him in the most sacred act that is about to commence: The Consecration and Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. The softness of voice is to introduce a mystery. Mass is the greatest Drama. Everything, as just mentioned, disposes one, tells one, something of the great Mystery to be accomplished. This unexpected shift from loud to soft is to obtain the attention of, but then to draw the faithful into the sacred mystery. The server responds for the people their acknowledgement of participation: May the Lord receive the sacrifice from thy hands, to the praise and glory of His name, to our benefit, and to that of all His holy Church. The priest then responds in the continued low voice: Amen.

Although the faithful unite in offering the Holy Sacrifice, still they make mention here only of the act of the celebrant, inasmuch as they pray that the Lord would favorably receive this sacrifice from his hands. This is proper, for it indicates that the priest, as the servant and organ of Christ, alone performs the sacrificial act itself; for only his hands are anointed and consecrated to offer sacrifice. (Gihr, 591)

Secret

The priest then prays in a low voice the Secret prayer—called Secret (or whispered) from time immemorial. It indicates the general intention of the Church for the sacrifice being offered, such as seen in the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: May we celebrate these sacred rites worthily, O Lord, for each offering of this memorial sacrifice carries on the work of our redemption. Through our Lord. There is some indication that it is from the time of the Arcana Disciplina (Discipline of the Secret) and was the offertory prayer said after the bread and wine that were to be consecrated had been set aside from what was to be given to the poor and the clergy. He ends the Secret with the words: Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. The server, in the name of the faithful, replies: Amen. This is said aloud and begins the Anaphora (a rhetorical repetition), or Preface.

After the Orate fratres he has, like Moses on Mount Sinai, entered into the holy cloud, [cf. Ecclus. 45:1, 5] and therefore he henceforth communes “face to face” with the Lord; henceforth he has eyes and mind directed only to the altar, and the faithful will behold his countenance again only after the marvels of Consecration and Communion have been consummated.

At the salutation, Dominus vobiscum, the priest reminds the people to raise their hearts, and from the faithful comes the answer and assurance to the priest that it has been done. [Cf. S. August.,  De vera relig., chap. 3.] At the words Sursum corda the priest raises his hands, in order by this gesture to manifest and accentuate the inward soaring of the mind and his desire to give himself wholly to the Lord. By this movement of the hands is expressed the longing for that which is above us, that which is heavenly and eternal. Thus the Church complies with the invitation of the Prophet: “Let us raise our hearts together with our hands to the Lord in the heavens” (Lam. 3:41). The hymn of the Church contains a like sentiment: Mentes manusque tollimus (“Minds and hands we raise to the Lord”). To the Saviour, who has preceded us to heaven and who is awaiting us on the heavenly throne, we cry out with holy enthusiasm: Be Thou, O Jesus, the desire of our hearts, and the object of our longing and striving.

Sursum corda (“Lift up your hearts”). The meaning of these words is most comprehensive: they signify that we should withdraw all the faculties of our soul from what is earthly and consecrate them exclusively to intercourse with God and divine things. We should turn our mind and spirit from worldly objects and close them to distracting thoughts, so as to be immersed with all our might and attention in. holy meditations. If the mind is penetrated with a higher light from above, then the will also will be incited to devotion. The heart becomes aglow with holy love of God and disengages itself from the bonds of worldly inclinations and desires that enchain it in the dust; it rouses itself from its sluggish indolence and tepidity that it may with holy ardor soar heavenward with all its powers. (Gihr, 599-600)

(To be continued)

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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

M. F. Toal

THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY

JOHN X. 11-I6

At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep: and the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, BISHOP AND DOCTOR

John x. 11-14. It is a grave thing, Beloved, a grave thing indeed to have the care of a church; it is a task that needs a measure of love and courage as great as that of which Christ spoke, so that a man may lay down his life for his flock, may never abandon them, and may boldly face the wolf. It is in this the shepherd differs from the hireling. For the latter, indifferent to the sheep, is ever watchful of his own safety; while the former, regardless of his own safety, seeks that of his sheep.

And having indicated to them the signs of the true shepherd, He tells them of the two kinds of despoilers. One is the thief, who kills and steals. The other does not himself destroy, but should these things take place, he does not prevent them. By the one He refers to the followers of a certain Theudas; by the other He exposes the teachers of the Jews, who had no concern for the sheep that were entrusted to them. And because of this of old Ezechias had reproached them, saying: Woe to the shepherds of Israel! That fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? (Ezech. xxxiv. 2). But they did the opposite; which is wickedness of the worst kind, and the cause of all other evils. And because of this he says: they have not led back those that strayed, nor sought for those that were lost, nor bound up those that were broken, nor healed those that were sick, because they fed themselves and did not feed my sheep.

And this Paul also says, in other words: For all seek the things that are their own; not the things that are Jesus Christ’s (Phil. ii. 21), and again: Let no man seek his own; but that which is another’s (I Cor. x. 24). From both kinds (of despoilers) Christ distinguishes himself. From those that come to plunder by saying: I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly (v. 10): and from those who care nothing whether the sheep are taken by the wolves, by not deserting them, and by laying down His life that they may not perish. For when they sought to put Him to death He neither withdrew His teaching, or betrayed those believing in Him; but stood firm, and chose to die.

And so everywhere He says: I am the good shepherd. Then because His words seemed to be without testimony (for the words, I lay down my life were fulfilled a little later; the words, that they may have life, and have it more abundantly, were to come to pass after their departure from this life) what does He do? He proves the one by the other; namely, in that He gave His own life He will also give life. This Paul also teaches: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Rom. v. 10). And again, in another place: He that spared not even his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? (Rom. viii. 32).

But why do they not say to Him as they said before: Thou givest testimony of thyself: thy testimony is not true? (Jn. viii. 13). Because he had often forced them to be silent; and because He was less interrupted as through His miracles people drew near to Him with greater confidence. Then, because He had just said: And the sheep hear his voice, and follow him (v. 3), lest anyone should say: What of those who do not believe in Him? hear what He adds: And I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. This Paul also indicated: God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew (Rom. xi. 2); and also Moses: The Lord knowetl: who are his (II Tim. ii. 19; Num. xvi. 5): those, he says, whom He foreknew.

Then that you might not think their knowledge equal, hear how He corrects this by what follows: I know mine, He says, and mine know me. But their knowing is not equal. But where is there equal knowledge? In the Father and in Me. For, as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father. For unless He wished to assert this, why did he bring it forward? For the reason that frequently He placed Himself as one among the many, and so that no one would therefore think that He knew the Father as man, He adds: As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father. Thus I know Him precisely as He knows Me. Accordingly He said: No one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son (Lk. x. 22), indicating a certain special knowledge, such as no one else could attain to. I lay down my life for my sheep. This He says frequently, showing that He is not an uncertain person. In the same way the Apostle, when he wished to prove that he was a true teacher, and was defending himself against certain pretended apostles, he appealed to his stripes and his deaths, saying: In stripes above measure, in deaths often (II Cor. xi. 23). For should He say: ‘I am light, I am life’, it would seem to the foolish that He was speaking from vanity. But to say: I am ready to lay down my life awakened no envy. Because of this they do not here say to Him, Thou givest testimony of thyself: thy testimony is not true. For His words reveal a tender concern for them, as though He were indeed prepared to give Himself for those who were ready to stone Him.

2. Because of this He here makes a timely reference to the Gentiles. And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring. Notice however that the word must which He here uses does not imply necessity, but indicates something that will of a certainty come to pass; as though He had said: Why wonder if these follow Me, and if they shall hear My voice? For when you shall see others following Me, and hearkening to my voice, then will you be much more astonished.

And do not be troubled because He says: That are not of this fold. For the distinction arises only from the Law, as Paul says: Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing (I Cor. vii. 19).

And them also I must bring. He shows that both flocks were scattered, and that both the one and

the other are without shepherds, for the Good Shepherd had not yet come.

Then He proclaims their future union: And there shall be one fold. And this same Paul has also declared: That he might make the two in himself into one new man (Eph. ii. 15); through Jesus Christ Our Lord, to Whom be praise and honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I.                   ST AUGUSTINE, BISHOP AND DOCTOR

On the Shepherd, the Thief, and the Hireling

John x. 1-16; Ch. i. The health of the members (of Christ’s Body) is in unity and love.

Through your faith you are aware, Dearly Beloved Brethren, and I know that because of this you have been taught by the Master from heaven in Whom you have placed your hope, that Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has just suffered for us, and risen again, is the Head of the Church, and that the Church is His Body, and that in His Body the unity of the members, and the bond of their mutual love, is as it were the token of its health. And whosoever has grown cold in charity, has grown weak in the Body of Christ. But He Who has raised up our Head is able also to heal our infirm members: provided they are not cut off by too grievous wickedness, but remain with the Body till they are healed. For all who adhere to the Body still have hope of healing; but they who have been cut off can neither be treated nor healed.

Since then He is the Head of the Church, and the Church is His Body, the whole Christ is then both Head and Body. He is now risen. And so we have our Head in heaven. Our Head intercedes for us. Our Head, without stain and immortal, now makes intercession with God for our sins, so that at the end of the world, we also being risen, and partaking of His heavenly glory, may follow our Head. For where the Head is, there also are the other members. And whilst here, we are His members; let us then be filled with hope that we shall follow our Head.

Ch. ii. The Unity of Christ and His Members. For consider,Brethren, the love of this Our Head. He is now in heaven, yet while the Church suffers here on earth, He too suffers here. Here Christ hungers, here He thirsts, here He is naked, here He is a stranger, He is sick, He is in prison. All that His Body here suffers, He has said that He suffers. And on the last day, setting this His Body at the right hand side, and the rest, by whom He is now despised, on the left, He will say to those on the right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mt. xxv. 34). And in reward for what? For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; and so He goes on to the rest, as though it were He Who had received: so much so that they, not understanding Him, answer and say: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, a stranger, or in prison? And He will say to them: As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.

For so also in our own body is the head above, and the feet on earth. Yet in any crowd when men press close together should someone tread on your foot, does not your head say, ‘you are treading on my foot’. No one has trodden on your head, or on your tongue; it is above in safety, no harm has come to it, and yet, because of the bond of love, there is a oneness from your head down to your feet, the tongue does not consider itself apart from the foot, but says: ‘you are standing on me’ when no one has touched it. Therefore just as the tongue, which no one has touched, says, ‘you are standing on my foot’, so Christ, Whom no one has touched, says: I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. And how does He conclude? These shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

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18: ST APOLLONIUS THE APOLOGIST, MARTYR (c. A.D. 185)

THE Emperor Marcus Aurelius had persecuted the Christians on principle, but his son Commodus, who succeeded him about the year 180, although a vicious man, showed himself not unfavourably disposed towards them. During the cessation of active persecution under his reign, the number of the faithful greatly increased, many men of rank enlisting themselves under the banner of the cross. Amongst these was a Roman senator called Apollonius, who was well versed in philosophy as well as in the Holy Scriptures. In the midst of the peace which the Church was enjoying, he was denounced as a Christian by one of his own slaves to Perennis, the praetorian prefect. The laws against the Christians had not been repealed and, although the slave was promptly put to death as an informer, Perennis called upon Apollonius to renounce his religion. As the saint refused, the prefect referred him to the judgement of the Roman senate. In their presence the martyr who, possibly on account of his learning and social position, seems to have been treated with a certain exceptional consideration, debated with Perennis and boldly gave an account of his faith. As Apollonius persisted in his refusal to offer sacrifice, he was condemned and decapitated; another, less probable, account tells us that he was put to death by having his legs crushed.

In the opinion of hagiographical scholars the dialogue between the martyr and his judge bears every mark of having been extracted from an authentic record taken down by a stenographer. Alban Butler in the eighteenth century could not have known of this recently discovered document, and a quotation from the fearless words, spoken on the threshold of death by the Christian apologist so many hundred years ago, may well supply the place of any later homily. We borrow the slightly contracted, but substantially exact, translation of the late Canon A. J. Mason.

Death, said the martyr, was appointed for all; and Christians practised themselves for it in dying daily. So far were the heathen calumnies against Christianity from being true, that Christians would not allow themselves a single impure glance, nor listen to a bad word. He said that it was no worse to die for the true God than to die of fever, or dysentery, or any other disease. ” Are you then bent upon death?” asked Perennis. “No”, said Apollonius,” I enjoy life; but love of life does not make me afraid to die. There is nothing better than life—the life eternal, which gives immortality to the soul which has lived well here.” The prefect confessed that he did not understand. “I am heartily sorry for you”, said the prisoner; ”so insensible are you to the beauties of grace. Only the seeing heart can appreciate the Word of God as the seeing eye the light.”

Here a brother philosopher of the Cynic school interrupted Apollonius, and said that such language was an insult to the understanding, though Apollonius himself thought that he was uttering profound truths. “I have learned to pray, and not to insult,” Apollonius answered, “only to the senseless does the truth appear to be an insult.” The judge besought him to explain himself clearly. Then Apollonius answered with what Eusebius justly calls a most eloquent defence of the faith.

“The Word of God”, he said, “who brought into existence men’s souls and bodies, became man in Judea—our Saviour Jesus Christ. Perfectly righteous and filled with divine wisdom, He lovingly taught us what the God of all is like, and what is the end of virtue, befitting the souls of men with a view to social order and dignity. By His own suffering He put a stop to sins in their very beginning. He taught us to stop anger, to moderate desire, to chastise the love of pleasure. He taught us to relieve sorrow, to be generous, to promote charity, to put away vainglory, to abstain from taking revenge, to despise death—not when inflicted for wrongdoing, but in patient endurance of the wrongdoing of others. He taught us to obey the law laid down by Himself, to honour the king, to worship the immortal God, and Him only, to believe our souls to be immortal, to look forward to judgement after death, to expect the reward of the toils of virtue to be given by God after the resurrection of those who have lived good lives. All this He taught us plainly, and gave us convincing reasons for it; and won great glory for this excellence. But He incurred the envy of the unnurtured like the righteous men and philosophers before Him. For the righteous are unserviceable to the unrighteous; as the fools unjustly say in a certain proverb”—here Apollonius refers to a passage in the Book of Wisdom—” ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn.’ And not only so, but it was said by one of the Greeks”—a speaker in the Republic of Plato—” ‘the righteous man shall be scourged, tortured, bound, have his eyes put out, and at last be crucified.’ As the Athenian sycophants persuaded the multitude and unjustly sentenced Socrates, so our Master and Saviour was sentenced to death by some of the wicked who reproached Him as they had reproached the prophets before Him . . . . We,” he concluded, “have hastened to honour Him because we have learned from Him lofty commandments, of which we were ignorant before, and are under no delusion. Yet if it were a delusion, as you say, which tells us that the soul is immortal, and that there is a judgement after death, and a reward of virtue at the resurrection, and that God is the Judge, we would gladly be carried away by such a lie as that, which has taught us to live good lives awaiting the hope of the future even while suffering adversities.”

(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

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PLAIN TALKS ON MARRIAGE

FULGENCE MEYER , O.F.M.

(1954)

Chapter V

Sins Against Holy Marriage

(Part Two)

“What Can We Do?”

“But what are we to do?” query many in utter perplexity and distress; “to have more children is out of question in our present circumstances. We can not afford it, that’s all; or the wife is in poor and delicate health, and not in a condition to be a mother again; or, even, she will be sure to die, if she has to go through the ordeal of pregnancy and childbirth once more, as the doctor has positively declared. So what can we do ? ” Do what many other Catholic couples, similarly situated as you are, are doing and have been doing, with the help of God’s grace, for a long time: practice self-control. That is the only virtuous birth-control. If the flesh is weak, remember that God never asks the impossible, but always supplies the grace to do what He asks you to do, and that you can do all things in Him that strengthens you. If others can do it, why not you?

St. Augustine, who was no doubt as well acquainted with the weakness of human nature as any other Father of the Church, declares that unquestionably those are the happier marriages, the parties of which either live in virginity, by mutual consent, or, after having procreated children, agree to live together in virtuous continency. The union of the spirits and minds in true friendship and love is much dearer and more satisfying than the union of the bodies.

This Life’s a Trial

In every state of life and profession situations arise that test human virtue to the utmost and demand heroic self-denial. These situations are not at all peculiar to married life alone, but they occur in some form or other in the celibate life in the world as well as in the life of a Religious in the convent or of a priest of God. What would you think of a priest for example, who would heartily enjoy all the honors, emoluments and privileges attached to his office: but when there was question of performing an arduous duty, say of risking his life to administer the sacraments at the time of an epidemic, he would cravenly be found wanting. Would you not entertain the deepest contempt for so cowardly a character? Why, then, do you not similarly despise yourself for enjoying unrestrainedly the privileges of holy matrimony, whilst you meanly and vilely shirk its sacred duties? Does something cease to be a duty no sooner it becomes difficult of rendition?

“Forbid Them Not”

You say that, while you are perfectly willing to abstain indefinitely or forever, your partner is not; and that you have to yield in keeping with your marriage vow. Very well. But render your duty not only to man, but also to God. Be true to both, and take the consequences, whatever they will be, trusting fully in God’s providence as to the ultimate result. He will provide somehow. A large number of children is quoted again and again in the Bible as a special benediction from on high. Our Lord will appreciate and reward your response to, or, at least, your acquiescence in His pleading appeal: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark, 10, 14). At any rate, as the good women say, it is far better to have the children on your lap than on your conscience. And particularly at your death it will be infinitely sweeter to have devoted children kneeling about your bed in loving prayer, than to have specters of them haunt and torture your conscience for your horrid sins of race-suicide.

Nature Is a Hard Creditor

Many married women are in poor health and, for that matter, many married men are, too, in consequence of the sin of prevention. They are paying nature’s penalty for having outraged it. The nervous system is usually the first sufferer. The imagination and the mind are soon drawn into sympathy, and ere long health is quite generally undermined. The person grows moody, peevish, fretful, suspicious, sensitive and despondent. The ailment is contagious and affects the other party. Sweet conjugal love, trust and harmony go a-glimmering, and make room for mutual distrust, discord and friction. Medicines will not cure this unfortunate condition, as long as the unnatural cause of it continues. Consequently ill health, far from being a justification for onanism, is in many instances a warning to respect nature’s laws and thereby to enjoy its benefits. Reputable physicians authorize the statement, that many diseases of women, cancer not excluded, would be far less prevalent, if women in general in their marriage relations followed rather than transgressed nature’s inviolable laws.

The Critical Case

As to the case involving serious danger of life to the woman in the face of another birth, it is dealt with best, of course, by mutual continence. It provides the husband with the best chance to display his true love for his wife in the most eloquent and substantial manner; by heroically and cheerfully denying himself where it hurts or costs most, for the love of her. And she, in her turn, should encourage and uphold him in this resolution by checking her own connubial longings and desires accordingly. This is hard, it is true. But every profession in life imposes certain hardships and severe trials that try our mettle and test our love for God, and our worthiness to be received in His. kingdom. Married life hardly has more taxing duties, not excepting the one we are discussing, than other states of life have, all things considered. We are here on earth on probation. Not by shirking difficult obligations, but by meeting them resolutely and generously, shall we gain a claim to God’s recognition and reward.

God Is Good

But if here, too, the husband is not willing to abstain all the long years that are seemingly still ahead of him, and insists on his marriage rights, what is the poor woman to do? She will fare best, if she yields virtuously and throws herself completely on the sweet and fatherly providence of God. He will take care of her one way or the other so she will have no regrets, whatever the issue. Either He will give her another child, that will not only be healthy itself, but will also bring health to its mother by its being born—for the doleful predictions of the physicians do not always come true in this matter; most doctors make them with sincerity, of course, while some unconscientious doctors make them merely to please their patients by telling them what they likely want to be told, in order to have an excuse from further child-bearing—or, if the mother dies in consequence, God will take her unto Himself, and apportion her a place among those of His servants who preferred to be tortured and to die, rather than to transgress His holy law and offend Him ever so little. And if He is always the Father of orphans, as He tells us He is, He will have particular care of those whose mothers died “suffering the little ones to come to Him”. “Know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded” (Ecclus., !2, 11).

Hypocrisy at Its Zenith: Folly at Its Height

The economical reason is perhaps the most universally alleged justification for sinful birth-control. It is at the same time the most flimsy and hypocritical, and nowhere more so than in our country of great and splendid opportunities for making a living. People say: “We want to give our children a good education. Education costs money. Our money will only reach for the education of one or two children. It would therefore be folly and unfair to have more.” Very well. But conduct yourself accordingly, and practice virtuous abstinence while you desire no more children. No matter to what schools and colleges they send them, parents, who through sinful and selfish prevention have but one or two children, give these children the worst possible education by their own unvirtuous conduct and godless selfishness. They would do immensely better by their children, whether they have few or many, if they did their own duty to God conscientiously, and transmitted to their children this, the best element of true education, the fear of the Lord.

Large families ordinarily thrive much better economically than small families. This is accounted for naturally, because of the spirit of thrift engendered in the family and the children by their very circumstances; and supernaturally, since God always provides for those who serve Him in truth and rely upon His fatherly providence. Educationally, too, a child of a large family as a rule is better off for many reasons than the solitary child. The best education of life is in its main elements obtained in the home. At any rate, if selfish couples succeed in deceiving themselves with specious reasons, they must know that they will never deceive God, Who searches the heart and the reins. How blindly absurd the position of birth-controllers can be, was recently brought home to me by a Catholic married man, who believes in sinfully restricting his family in order, as he says, to give his children a good education. He severely blames his mother for having accepted more children than she could properly educate. Yet he himself is the seventh child of nine.

The Spread of the Cancer

What are the reasons of the spread of this moral cancer among our American Catholics? One reason is the husband’s neglect of his duty to assert himself as, and actually to be the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. The head should lead by superior intelligence and a higher sense of duty, instead of yielding in weak connivance or acquiescence when the woman feels, and winces under, the burdens of her sex and its responsibilities in married life, and directly or indirectly pleads for sinful consideration in asking her husband “to be careful” in the performance of the marriage act. From the very beginning a Catholic man should set himself firmly and finally against the very suggestion. He will be willing and glad, for good reasons, to observe continence to spare his wife; but he will never consent to any unnatural process of conjugal love. Much less will he ever himself take the initiative in intimating or insinuating so wicked a conduct. By weakly yielding to the suggestion and invitation of Eve, Adam brought a tremendous series of evils upon himself and her and all their descendants.

Love Finds a Way

The husband will ask himself, too, whether perhaps he is not indirectly the cause of his wife’s disinclination to let the marriage act take its proper course. Possibly he is so strongly lacking in that tender regard, sympathetic devotion, and generous considerateness towards his wife in the period of gestation; or likely he makes so poor a living for her and the children he already has; or maybe he is all round so hard, stingy, unfeeling, cold, demanding, self-centered and self-indulgent, that it is more his than his wife’s fault, if she recoils from undergoing all the throes and fears and dangers of motherhood to bear children to such an undeserving man. If he were what he ought to be: a Christlike man in his sentiments of love, loyalty and attachment to his spouse, she would gladly submit to her duty, however hard, for the love of him. Human nature is not mere animal nature, and it calls for a handling inspired not merely by animal passion, but by intelligent appreciation, genuine esteem and sincere love.

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Father Krier will be in in Eureka (Saint Joseph) April 22. He will be in Pahrump (Our Lady of the Snows) May .

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