Vol 14 Issue 25 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
June 19, 2021 ~ Saint Juliana Falconieri, opn!

1.      What is the Holy Eucharist
2.      Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
3.      Pope Saint Silverius
4.      Family and Marriage
5.      Articles and notices
Dear Reader:

This Sunday is a day dedicated to Fathers: Father’s Day. Even though the dedication may be recently introduced, it has been silently dismissed recently by most of the world as an unpleasant thought or politically incorrect—remember, evolution is politically correct, which means humans are no more than animals on the higher end of the food chain in the survival of the fittest—and the father is, accordingly, an invention of humans that created patriarchy and the oppression of non-alpha male cohorts. [Now our Science experts are exempt from the claim of superiority as being politically incorrect regarding them because, well, you must follow the Science. That all this is so literally portrayed in George Orwell’s book, 1984, is because it was already politically practiced in his day just that no one could believe it was happening.]

Besides the fiction of Science, there is still another consideration: the breakdown of the family. With the introduction of the pill, married men found it was convenient to have extra-marital affairs without the stigma of children being born and the affair becoming public (as the man would be responsible for the support of the child if it were to be born). Even to this very day we find men forcing women to abort their child when they find out a woman is with their child—definitely a horrible crime. But, under political correctness—though contrary to nature—we say it is legal for consenting adults to have extra-marital relationships. The next step after the pill was the legalization of adultery—because if something is not a crime, it is legal. This would mean, soon enough, the legalizing of abortion—because the pill did not always work. I do not imply it was simply the fault of the man, for women supported their own degradation in the name of equality as propagated by the National Organization of Women (NOW). They threw away their dignity and the respect a decent man would display toward them as soon as they became the Ms. Objectified, they found themselves cheaper by the dozen in a commercialized society that made them a commodity—worker during the day and, after spending their money on vanity, worker during the night. Therefore, both the man and the woman found they could not have a husband and wife relationship because neither knew how to be a husband or wife, only partners in orgies.

Those men who refused to conform, who desired a family, who wanted to be a husband to a wife and a father to his children were mocked by society as blundering fools to be led by the nose by the condescending wife and ignored by the street-wise children. You may say that there are fathers of families—and I agree, there are and it is because they ignored the Science. But rare to find and rarer to find the wife following and almost impossible to find the children listening—because they, unfortunately, chose to follow the Science.

In truth, though, fathers are living images of God the Father, Who is the provider, the protector, and leader of His people. The father is to be the provider, the protector and the leader of his family. The role of being head of the family sets a hierarchy—a patriarchy. This consequence is why fatherhood is completely unacceptable to a world that promotes a pseudo-equality albeit in constant contradiction of itself. Fatherhood also is unacceptable to the state that sees itself as god and therefore the one alone to be the provider, protector and leader of its constituents, not wanting any competition. The state, therefore, benefits in its demagoguery by cancelling fatherhood so that it may usurp the role.

It is only by ignoring Science and turning back to listening to Our Father in Heaven that there is any hope of re-establishing fatherhood. But as long as the masses insist on following the fiction of Science they will find themselves chasing their evolving tails in seeking the elusive happiness this world promises but can never give and lose that sense of reality that is completely evident as one reflects upon the family where the father is a father, the mother is a mother and the children are molded into the next generation of parents.

To our fathers, then, we want to extend our sincerest gratitude that you took up the responsibility of being a father by protecting your family from its enemies, that you provided for their spiritual, moral and physical well-being, and that you guided them withby your example and conforming words that allowed them to easily follow you in life, be it to Bethlehem, or to Egypt, or to Nazareth or to Jerusalem.

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 priest then makes the sign of the Cross with the Host over the paten saying: May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen. He then places the Host in his mouth, on his own tongue, reverently consuming the Body of Christ.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife [the soul] hath prepared herself. And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen are the justifications of saints. And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Apoc. 19:7-9).

Instead of which things thou didst feed thy people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste. (Wis. 16:20)

Spending a few moments in the bliss of heaven on earth, meditating on the mystery of this union, the priest breaks his stillness and takes the pall off the Chalice, genuflects, and then gathers any particles that may have broken off the Host while continuing to cite Psalm 115, verses 12 and 13 and Psalm 17 verse 4: What return shall I make to the Lord for all He has given me? I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the Name of the Lord. Praising will I call upon the Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies. (Cf. 2 Kings 22:4)

The priest then makes the sign of the Cross with the Chalice, saying: May the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen. The priest then drinks the Blood of Christ, afterwards placing the Chalice on the corporal.

“The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” (I Cor. 10: 16.) Appropriate and fearful utterance! For the Apostle would thereby say: the blood in the chalice is identical with that which flowed from the side of Jesus, and this we drink. He calls it a chalice of benediction, because while holding it in our hands, we praise and magnify Christ, we admire with astonishment His unutterable gift, and thank Him that He has not only shed this blood to redeem us from sin, but that He has, moreover, imparted the same to us. (Gihr, 777)

At this time the server says the Confiteor if there are persons present to communicate. This is a Sacrament, and though it is not in the Missale, the form for administering Holy Communion outside of Mass is the same as that during Mass since at least the thirteenth century. The priest then gives the absolution: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to everlasting life. The server responds: Amen. The priest continues while making the sign of the cross over those to receive: May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, + absolution, and remission of our sins. The server responds: Amen. This absolution frees one from the guilt of all venial sins if one has any so that the communicates can receive with a pure soul the Body of Christ. One should be sorry for one’s slightest faults and obtain this forgiveness—of course mortal sin is not here absolved but must be confessed in the Confessional.

The Priest holds the Host for all to adore, and as when the Agnus Dei was recited, says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. In this manner, though, the Church wants those to receive prepare also with the thoughts spoken earlier concerning the Communion of the priest. Ecce is to bring to mind not only the words of John the Baptist pointing to the Christ, but Pontius Pilate, who brought forth the Christ bearing the crown of thorns and purple mantel, and said to the people: Behold the Man. (John 19:5)

Therefore, in the same reverential fear but confidence the priest says three times with the people (joining the priest inaudibly): Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. This is as though the people should repeat his words—and they do so aloud in some countries. MacMahon writes, regarding the faithful at this moment before Holy Communion:

They should say the Confiteor with the server and receive the absolution with sorrowful and loving hearts. They should look with lively faith upon the Sacred Host held in the priest’s hand as he says Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God), and in deep humility bow the head and strike the breast while they say with the priest Domine, non sum dignus (Lord, I am not worthy, etc.). They should then approach the altar with due reverence and order to receive the Sacred Host. With thoughts all centered on Jesus, Whom they bear in their bosoms, they should retire from the altar rails for fervent thanksgiving, which should in ordinary circumstances last not less than one quarter of an hour. (154; cf. CCD, 232)

The priest returns to the altar or, if no Communion is administered, begins the purification of the Chalice. The server pours an amount of wine equal to before while the priest says: What we have taken with our mouth, O Lord, may we receive with a pure mind; and from a temporal gift may it become for us an everlasting remedy. After consuming the wine, he goes to the epistle side and the server pours first a few drops of wine (just as the priest poured a few drops of water at the Offertory) and then sufficient water equal to that of the wine poured in at the Offertory. This assures that no particles or drops of the Body and Blood of Christ remain on the priests fingers or in the Chalice after the priest consumes the contents of the Chalice. While the wine and water are poured over the fingers into the Chalice, the priest prays: May Thy body, O Lord, which I have received, and Thy blood which I have drunk, cleave to my inmost parts; and grant that no stain of sin may remain in me, whom the pure and holy mysteries have refreshed: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Though Christ is present for as long as the Sacred Species retain their accidents, the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ should touch every faculty of the body and soul, so that the effects of Holy Communion should remain.

Here we beseech the Lord that His transient sacramental presence may produce in the depths of our soul lasting and profound interior effects, that it may obtain for us in a special manner perfect purity from all that is sinful. Christ’s body and blood remain in us so long as the sacramental species are not destroyed, they remain also afterward within us (adhaereat visceribus meis) by the sacramental power and grace which purify, ennoble, and sanctify the faculties of the soul and the inclinations of the heart, so that it is no longer we that live, but Christ that liveth in us (Gal. 2:20). As the branch is connected with the vine, so in like manner Communion causes us to remain in Christ and continually to draw from Him grace and life, in order that we may be ever faithful in the love and service of God. In that our Eucharistic Saviour remains and acts in us like a glowing coal, we become perfectly cleansed from every stain of sin; all that is impure is consumed within us. The garment of sanctifying grace is so brilliantly white and so resplendent that no imperfection, no breath of evil may tarnish its purity (in me non remaneat scelerum macula). These spiritual miracles of purification and sanctification are produced by the pure and holy mysteries (pura et sancta sacramenta) of the Eucharist, which ever continue to refresh, rejuvenate, quicken, renew (refecerunt), the higher life of the soul so that it may not wither away and be lost. (Gihr, 785-87)

Returning to the center of the altar, he consumes the contents of the Chalice, uses the purificator to dry the inside of the Chalice, and then, with the purificator over the Chalice places the paten and then the pall on top, sets the Chalice to the epistle side while he folds the corporal and places the corporal in the burse. He then sets the Chalice back in front of the tabernacle or center of the altar, place the veil over the Chalice and then the burse on top. After bowing to the Cross—or Christ present in the Tabernacle—he goes to the epistle side to recite the Communion Antiphon.  The Antiphon is all that remains from when a Psalm, such as Psalm 22, was sung while the faithful communicated.

The Lord ruleth me [is my Shepherd]: and I shall want nothing.

He hath set me in a place of pasture.

He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:

He hath converted my soul.

He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake.

For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evils, for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.

Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me.

Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.

Afterwards he returns to the center of the altar and kisses it to show the greeting is from Christ, then turns to the people, saying: The Lord be with you. And the server replies in the name of the people: And with your spirit. He then returns to the epistle side, says Oremus—Let us pray—and prays the Postcommunion oration (prayer). Concluding the prayer he closes the book, which represents the Book of Life and symbolizes the End of the World—The Divine Liturgy is over (cf. Apoc. 22) He then returns to the center of the altar and again greets the people in the name of Christ: Dominus vobiscum. The priest then says what normally the deacon would have announced: Ite, Missa est—Go, Mass is ended. The server responds: Deo gratias—Thanks be to God. This is most appropriate to give thanks (Eucharistia) to God for the great blessings He has bestowed upon those in attendance at Holy Mass.

In feria and penitential rites, the priest says: Let us bless the Lord. At Requiem Masses the priest says: Requiescant in pace—May they rest in peace. Here the server says: Amen. As this was the end of the Mass, one may notice that there are added prayers and admonitions at this moment: Prayer (and admonition) over the spouses at a wedding, Prayer over the People during Lent, etc.

Mass ended, the priest turns toward the Crucifix or Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle, bows with hands resting on the altar and says the Placeat:

May the performance of my homage be pleasing to Thee, O Holy Trinity; and grant that the sacrifice which I, though unworthy, have offered up in the sight of Thy Majesty, may be acceptable to Thee, and may, through Thy mercy, be a propitiation for myself and all those for whom I have offered it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(To be continued)

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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

M. F. Toal

THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY

LUKE V. 1-11

At that time: When the multitude pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, he desired them to draw back a little from the land. And sitting he taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said to him: Master, we have laboured all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word we will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke.

And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him.

I. ST AMBROSE, BISHOP AND DOCTOR

Explanation of the Gospel²

I. When the Lord had healed many and various kinds of illnesses the multitudes began to be oblivious of time and place, in their eagerness to be healed. Evening comes on, they still follow Him. They come to a lake; they press upon Him. And so He goes up into the ship of Peter. This is that ship which, according to Matthew, had lately been tossed about by the waves (Mt. viii. 24), and which, according to Luke, is filled with fishes: that you may know that though the beginnings of the Church were stormy, Her later times shall be abounding. For they are fish who traverse this life. Then He slept amid His Disciples. Here He teaches. He sleeps amid the frightened; He watches with the steadfast. But hear the Prophet (Cant. v. 2) telling us how Christ sleeps: I sleep, and my heart watcheth.

2. And the holy Matthew rightly believed we must not lightly pass over this evidence of divine power, where He commands the winds. For here we have not human authority; for as you have heard, the Jews declare (Lk. iv. 36) that with a word, He commands the unclean spirits and they go out. Here is a sign of heavenly power. That the troubled sea is made calm, that the elements are obedient to the command of the divine voice, that things without sense receive an understanding of obedience: here a mystery of divine power is revealed to us. That the waves of the world grow still, that an unclean spirit is quietened; the one happening does not contradict the other, but both the one and the other is brought about. You have before you in the elements a miracle; in the mysteries you have a proof.

3. Therefore, that ship which the holy Matthew had anticipated, this the holy Luke chose for himself, namely, that from which Peter would fish. That ship is not tossed about which has Peter aboard, but that which has Judas. Although many meritorious Disciples sailed in it, nevertheless the perfidy of the traitor tossed it up and down. Peter was in both the one and the other; but one who is safe through his own good life is endangered by the crimes of others. Let us beware then of the unbelieving; let us be on our guard against a traitor; lest because of one person many of us be threatened by the waves. So that ship will not be tossed about in which prudence navigates, where there is no treachery, where the wind of faith blows. For how could that be troubled where He is present Who is the stability of the Church? Where there is little faith there is trouble and unrest; where there is perfect love there is calm.

4. Accordingly, though He commanded the others to let down their nets, only to Peter was it said:

Launch out into the deep, that is, into the deeps of preaching. For what is so deep as to look upon the depths of the riches of God, to know the Son of God, and to take upon oneself to declare the Divine Generation; which though the human mind cannot with the full power of reason comprehend, yet the fulness of faith can. For though I may not know how He was born; yet I may not not know that He is born. I know not the line of His generation, but I confess the Author of His Birth. We were not present when the Son of God was born of the Father; but we were present when He was called Son of God by the Father. If we cannot believe in God, in whom shall we believe? For all that we believe, we either believe by sight or by hearing. Sight is often deceived; hearing is based on faith. Is the character of one who lays claim to another searched into? If good men should speak, we would think it a crime not to believe them. God lays claim to the Son; the Son confirms this; the sun hiding its light confesses it; the trembling earth bears witness to it. Into this deep of investigation the Church is led by Peter; that it may see here the Son of God rising from the dead, and there the Holy Spirit pouring forth.

5. What are the nets of the Apostles which they are commanded to let down, if not the forms of words, and as it were certain profundities of speech, and the subtleties of discussion, which do not let go those that come to their nets? And well is it said that the Apostles use nets in their fishing, since they do not destroy those they catch, but save them, and draw them upwards from the depths to the light; bringing those who are wavering, from the knowledge of the lowest things to the knowledge of the highest.

6. There is another, apostolic, kind of fishing, and in this kind the Lord commanded Peter only to go fishing, saying: Cast in a hook, and that fish which shall first come up, take (Mt. xvii. 26). This is indeed a great and spiritual lesson; Christian men are taught that they are to be subject to the higher authorities, so that no one may think that the decree of an earthly king is to be set at naught. For if the Son of God pays the tribute to authority who are you to think it must not be paid? And He paid the tribute Who had nothing; but you who follow after the gain of this world, why do you not acknowledge the authority of this world? Why, through a sort of obstinacy of mind, do you hold yourself above the world, seeing you are subject to the world through your own miserable greed?

7. The didrachma, which was the price of our soul and body, is therefore paid; promised under the Law (Exod. xxx. 32), it was paid under the Gospel; and not without purpose is it found in the mouth of a fish: For from out thy own mouth shalt thou be justified (Mt. xii.37). Truly is it said that our confession of faith is the price of our immortality; for it is written that, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. x. 10).

8. And perhaps this first fish is the first martyr (witness); holding in its mouth the didrachma, that is, the price of the tribute. Christ is our didrachma. That first martyr, Stephen namely, therefore held a treasure in his mouth, when in his passion he spoke to Christ. But let us return to our original subject, and learn humility from the Apostle.

9. Master, he says, we have laboured all the night, and have taken nothing; but at thy word I will let down the net. And I, O Lord, know that it is night to me when you do not command me. No one has yet given in his name; it is still night. I have cast the net of my voice all through Epiphany, and I have caught nothing. I cast it through the day; I wait for your command: at thy word I will let down the net. O vain presumption, O fruitful humility! He who before had taken nothing, at the word of the Lord encloses a very great multitude of fish. For this is not a work of human skill; it is the fruit of the divine calling. The arguments of men pass away; it is by their own faith the people believe.

10. The nets are broken, but the fish do not escape. Companions are called to help, that is, those in the other ship. What is this other ship if not Judea, from which James and John were chosen? Judea was made his sanctuary (Ps. cxiii. 2). They come therefore from the Synagogue to the ship of Peter, that is, to the Church: that they may fill both ships. For in the name of Jesus every knee shall bend, whether of Jew or of Greek; Christ is all in all (Col. iii. 11). In me this over-fulness awakens mistrust, lest by their fulness the ships come close to sinking; for it must be that heresies come, that the good may be confirmed.

11. We can also consider the other ship as another church; for from one church many others are derived. Here is another task for Peter: for whom his catch of fishes is already an anxiety. But the man of God who is perfect (II Tim. iii. 17), just as he knows how to gather in those that were dispersed, can also safeguard those that are gathered in. Those Peter catches by his word, these he credits to the Word: he denies they are his catch, his work.

Depart from me, O Lord, he says, for I am a sinful man. For he is struck with fear at the divine blessings: and the more he had merited them, the less does he presume on this. Let you also say: Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man, so that the Lord may answer you also: Fear not. For the Lord is kind to those who confess their sins. Fear not also to attribute what is yours to the Lord: for what is His He has made over to us. He knows nothing of envy; He does not snatch away from us; He does not rob us. See how good the Lord is, Who has given so much to men; so that they even have power to give Life.

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20: ST SILVERIUS, POPE AND MARTYR (c. A.D. 537)

SILVERIUS, the son of Pope St Hormisdas, was only a subdeacon when, on the death of Pope St Agapitus I at Constantinople on April 22, 536, he was forced as bishop on the Roman church by the Ostrogothic king of Italy, Theodehad, who foresaw the appearance of a Byzantine candidate; however, after Silverius had been consecrated the clergy of Rome agreed to accept him. The Empress Theodora wrote asking him to recognize as patriarchs the monophysites Anthimus at Constantinople and Severus at Antioch; Silverius replied politely with what was in effect a refusal, and he is said to have remarked as he did so that he was signing his own death warrant. He was right; Theodora was a woman who would tolerate no opposition: but she could afford to wait.

After the devastation of suburban Rome by the Ostrogothic general Vitiges, the pope and the senate willingly opened the gates of the City to his Byzantine opponent Belisarius—and Theodora had her chance. An attempt to entrap Silverius by means of a forged letter in a charge of treasonable conspiracy with the Goths having apparently failed, he was kidnapped and carried away to Patara in Lycia in Asia Minor; and the next day Belisarius—who was acting under pressure from his wife Antonina—proclaimed as pope in his stead the Empress Theodora’s nominee, the deacon Vigilius. A very bad episode in the history of the papacy had begun.

Apparently the Emperor Justinian had been kept in ignorance of what was going on; and when he was told by the bishop of Patara of what had happened, he ordered that Silverius be sent back to Rome and an inquiry instituted. But when the pope landed in Italy the supporters of Vigilius intercepted and captured him; and Antonina, eager to gratify Theodora, prevailed on her husband to let them deal with him as they chose. Accordingly Silverius was taken under escort to the island of Palmarola in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off Naples.

There, or perhaps in the neighbouring island of Ponza, he ended his days soon afterwards, as the result of the ill-treatment he received. According to Liberatus, who wrote from hearsay, he died of hunger; but his contemporary, Procopius, states that he was murdered at the instigation of Antonina, by one of her servants. In any case the feast of St Silverius is kept as that of a martyr.

It is not at all clear how the appointment of Vigilius to the papal see came to be regularized; but once he was recognized as pope his patroness Theodora experienced disappointment, for he ceased to support her intrigues on behalf of Monophysism and stood forward as the upholder of orthodoxy—which after all is what is expected of a pope.

(Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

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PLAIN TALKS ON MARRIAGE

FULGENCE MEYER , O.F.M.

(1954)

CHAPTER VIII.

Husband and Wife

“Let everyone of you in particular love his wife as himself: and let the wife fear her husband” (Eph., 5, 33).

The Church Loves Christ

“As the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things.” The Church loves Christ exclusively. Her one aim is the spread of His kingdom, the conquest of immortal souls for Him, the achievement of His glory, and the supreme dominion of His love. No rival for her love is ever considered, and every competitor for her attention is hopelessly disappointed. There have been ever so many false prophets who tried every open and furtive ruse to wean her away from her divine Spouse, but never for a moment did she waver or even deign to attend to their advances. She was consecrated to Christ, entirely and unreservedly from the start, and to this consecration she is true with abiding loyalty apd heroic persistency, in bad times as well as good times, in the period of adversity as well as in the heyday of prosperity. Her devotion and attachment to Christ never change or wane. Like Christ Himself, they are always the self same: the same today as they were nineteen hundred years ago, and as they will be at the end of time.

In this way, says St. Paul, should a woman be loyal and true to her husband. He must be the one and only object of her love: He engages all her heart’s tenderness and affection. He controls all the thoughts of her mind, and all the dreams of her imagination. Aside of him no rival whatsoever, let him be ever so charming and bewitching, has any chance to be observed or considered by her, let alone to be encouraged or accepted. Her one passion in life is concentration on the husband of her bosom. From this she derives her best joys and her sweetest thrills. She would not exchange him for any man in the world, for in her eyes he is the noblest, grandest and dearest specimen of Christian manhood there is. Anyway, if there is a better one, she does not want to know of it. In this appreciation and love of her husband she waxes rather than decreases as the years roll on, and the end of their lives finds her as devoted, loyal and attached to her mate as she was on her wedding day.

The Church Trusts Christ

The Church has always had full confidence and absolute trust in Christ and His fidelity. She was never suspicious or jealous of Him. At times it almost seemed as though He was neglecting His troth to her. In the bloody persecutions that threatened her with extinction she had to take refuge under the earth in order to be safe from her cruel enemies. She might have asked: “Where is my divine Spouse? why does He not hurry to my defense? why does He suffer me to be reduced to such a pass? has He forgotten me? is He going after a strange love, after another church that is to replace me?” Not once did the Church harbor the least suspicion of His loyalty. All appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, she was always sure and restful in her trust in Him, in His timely help and abiding protection.

This is the manner of confidence a Catholic woman places in her husband. She is not only convinced of his unwavering fidelity to her, but she lets him know and feel that it is not in her power ever to doubt or question his conjugal loyalty. From the beginning, therefore, of her married life she consistently parries every temptation to suspiciousness and every inclination to jealousy. She fights shy of all those insidious female whisperers, whether they pose as well-meaning relatives, disinterested friends, or solicitous neighbors or acquaintances, who try to poison her marital happiness by the venom of malicious gossip or slanderous insinuations implicating her husband. The source of these hypocritical confidential advices is usually nothing else but base jealousy, that is stung by the sight of the nuptial bliss of others, and goes out ruthlessly to disturb or destroy it. Much more is a good woman on her guard not even by way of a joke to make a remark to her husband, or to cast a slur or aspersion intimating that perhaps he is not so true as he pretends or ought to be. One such ill-advised joke has often demolished the sweetest connubial love forever.

The Church Works and Suffers for Christ

The love of the Church for Christ is not only theoretical and sentimental, but it is active and practical. The Church works and suffers for Christ, cheerfully and continuously, the more the gladder. Whatever she does: if she baptizes children, absolves sinners, invites communicants to the Holy Table, clothes nuns, ordains priests, consecrates bishops, crowns popes, builds churches, schools, seminaries, colleges, orphanages, hospitals and the like, sends missionaries abroad in the land or into foreign countries: it is all and exclusively for Christ. She does not seek her glory, but that of Christ. His joy is her joy, His victory is her victory, His triumph is her triumph.

In like manner a good woman’s love for her husband is not merely made up of sweet sentiments, honeyed phrases, or sentimental demonstrations: but it shows itself in active work, in practical enterprises, and in vital sacrifices for her husband. She takes a lively interest in his work or business, and assists him in either or both, directly or indirectly, according to her capacity. Above all she aims to render home to him what it should be to every good man: a haven of rest for the body and mind, a harbor of true happiness for the heart, and a genuine inspiration for the soul; a magnet to his entire being, from which he separates himself but with a pang, for which he longs with desire, and to which he returns with delight. To make such a paradise of her little home she spares neither thought nor study nor labor nor sacrifice. She feels happy and comfortable in knowing that she is contributing to the happiness and comfort of her husband. She loves, nourishes and cherishes her husband as her own body; and in loving him she loves herself and procures for herself the highest bliss this life contains.

The Disloyal Wife

In reviewing this ideal attitude of a Christian wife, many a woman may have to admit, that in her life she fails to exhibit it. Perhaps her attachment to her husband is not so constant and whole-hearted as it should be. She has been disappointed in, or has grown tired of, married life. She begins to feel that she made a poor choice of a mate at best, and that she might have fared much better had she given herself more time to look about and select with care, or had she accepted the advances of this one or that one. The effect of such and similar thoughts and imaginations upon her marital fidelity is not good. She soon begins to weaken and long for other loves and new thrills of sexual alliances.

There may be conditions at home or elsewhere that nurse her temptations and fan her adulterous longings into real and effective desires. As the first woman, she gives ear to the insidious serpent, appearing to her in the way of a novel or magazine story, which she should have never read; or of a theatrical or moving picture play, which she should have never seen; or of a male friend or acquaintance, whom she should have never met; or of a boarder, roomer, laborer, deliverer of articles, or some professional man, whose first unbecoming approach or illicit advances she should have definitely and finally repulsed: the result is fatal and disastrous, to her virtue as well as to her peace, and often to her whole life’s happiness and career. “The wages of sin is death.” Resist the beginning, and you will never have to rue the end, of sin.

The Jealous Wife

There are other women who are perfectly and scrupulously loyal to their husbands, but who mar the easy and sweet tenor of married life by their abnormal suspiciousness and jealousy. Such a woman seems to take it for granted from the beginning of their marriage, that her husband needs to be closely watched and carefully hedged about, so as not to stray or deviate in his love. She lets him feel and know that she is not sure of him, and that it would not overly surprise, though it would terribly hurt her, if he struck out into forbidden byways of sexual adventures. She questions him at every turn, and demands a strict account of his every move, to render herself secure as to his marital constancy. She is quick in suspecting something wrong without any objective warrant, and she is just as hasty in accusing her husband openly and brutally of disloyalty, when not even the thought, desire or hint of it ever entered his mind. It will be her fault and responsibility, if in this case the innocent, ill-judged and falsely accused husband chafes and frets and revolts, and finally seeks redress by actuating the saying: “If I have the name, I may as well have the game.”

The Lion and Dragon

In addition to being jealous and suspicious such a woman is usually given strongly to nagging. She likes to find fault with her husband, pick flaws in his conduct and manners, and criticize him for doing this and neglecting that. She derives pleasure from humiliating him, not only in private but also in public. Nor is she satisfied in blaming and vilifying him once or again for the same offense, but she repeats and rehashes it in season and out of season so often and so long as to render herself thoroughly obnoxious and extremely unsufferable. Of her the Bible says: “A wrangling wife is like a roof continually dropping through” (Prov., 19, 13). “It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman, and in a common house” (ib., 21, 9). “There is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman” (Ecclus., 25, 23). And if she kept her suspicions and complaints to herself, she might in the end be tolerable. Instead of that, eager to pose as a martyr, she retails them not only to her mother and other relatives, but publishes them to the whole neighborhood to the poignant humiliation and disgrace of her husband.

They Expect Too Much

Moreover a jealous or suspicious woman has a morbid and inordinate craving for marks of affection and signs of endearment from her mate. She wants far more attention, consideration and coddling than a normal man, burdened with ordinary home and business interests, is capable of rendering. If he were to be as tireless in thinking of new ways and methods of pleasing, cajoling and surprising her with various demonstrations of love and adoration as she desires him to be, he would not only wear himself out, but also unfit himself for the discharge of other and more important duties. Yet if he does not meet her expectations, she charges him with being cold, indifferent and disloyal.

Even otherwise good and sensible women are perhaps by their very sex inclined to be rather exorbitant in their demands for, or expectations of love, affection and recognition from their husbands. Whilst they insist that the husbands should sympathetically understand and meet their needs and propensities, they fail to make a proportionate allowance for the nature and temperament of their husbands. If they did, they would comprehend that a man is often engrossed with serious business or other interests, and can therefore not occupy himself for the time being with the little amorous amenities and gallant pastimes of conjugal life. After all between the two, a good provider, though he be less of a gallant, is preferable to a charming gallant, who is a poor provider, as a husband.

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Father Krier will be in Eureka, Nevada (Saint Joseph, Patron of Families), June 24.

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