Vol 14 Issue 41 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
October 9, 2021 ~ Saint John Leonardi, opn!
1. Sacrament of Penance
2. Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Francis Borgia
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
Last week was the Feast of the Holy Rosary (some celebrate the feast again on Rosary Sunday). This week there will be the Feast of the Divine Maternity and, on the 13th, the remembrance of the anniversary of the Miracle of Fatima. The message of Our Lady of Fatima has been overshadowed by those promoting a false millennialism. Our Lady came to tell us to pray and offer sacrifice for peace and the conversion of sinners. In the first apparition in May of 1917, Our Lady asked the children: Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the suffering that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and to ask for the conversion of sinners? With a positive response, Mary continued: Then you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort. Say the rosary every day, to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war. In the July apparition the Mother of Jesus said: Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for your love, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She then proceeds to show them a vision of hell, saying:
You see hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pope Pius XI.
When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father.
To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyrized, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.
Mary then continues: In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world (Memoir III, p. 2; IV, p. 39). Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31, 1942 and again on December 8, 1942. When World War II ended and country after country fell under the dominion of the Marxists Communists of Russia, Pius XII renewed the consecration once more on May 1, 1948. No one heeded the call to prayer for peace in the world and the conversion of sinners except a few souls (in contrast with the billions of living people). What was one to think of the words, In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph? Russia would be converted? Unless it was on the condition of Catholics themselves being converted and offering reparation for the sins committed? And why the words, that Lucia adds to this, that In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be kept, if not the return to faith of Portugal and her keeping the faith under the leadership of António de Oliveira Salazar in 1932? (+1968) How fast Portugal fell back into apostasy after the death of this great Stateman—for does Portugal have the Catholic Faith today? And this frightening aspect is why Our Lady concluded: When you say the Rosary, say after each mystery, “O my Jesus, pardon us and deliver us from the fire of hell. Draw all souls to heaven, especially those in most need.”
Our Lady never promised unconditionally the world would return to her Son—that is what Vatican II promised. The Conciliarists cajoled Catholics that if they accepted the new doctrines of Vatican II, the world would accept Christ since it would not be the undesirable traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. Has this universal apostasy become what has voided the conversion of Russia? Or was a different sense intended that is not clearly conveyed by the words of Lucia?
As was said in the beginning, those who are seeking to make the message of Fatima an establishment of an earthly reign fall into the same line of thinking the Jews had about the Messias and ended up crucifying their Saviour. Many Catholics, because of the false expectation of a world conversion to Conciliar Catholicism (and it might be questioned what type of Conciliar Catholicism: Bergoglio-Biden or Ratzinger-Bannon) have either completely embraced the world or are in despair as the kingdom of Satan dominates more and more the world. Remember, these days will be as in the time of Noe (cf. Matt. 24:37; Luke 17:26). As traditional Roman Catholics, this means we want to stay in the bosom of the Church that passes through this stormy world to the shores of salvation knowing that only within her hold we are saved as those in the Ark with Noe. Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the suffering that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and to ask for the conversion of sinners? May our answer be a resounding yes!
As always, enjoy the readings provided for your benefit.—The Editor
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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
What is the Sacrament of Penance?
The Church has the Power to Forgive All Sins
The preceding has provided ample testimony that Sacred Scripture holds the Church has the power to forgive sins. To briefly review, above it was mentioned in the Old Testament the penitent went to the priest to confess sin and receive the required penance to be fulfilled if one wanted their (serious) sin to be forgiven:
Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended, They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned. (Num. 5:6-7)
Christ said,
Nobody putteth a piece of raw cloth unto an old garment. For it taketh away the fulness thereof from the garment, and there is made a greater rent. Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. But new wine they put into new bottles: and both are preserved. (Matt. 5:16-17)
Christ did away with the Mosaic Covenant sealed with the blood of animals and introduced a New Covenant in His Blood (cf. Heb. 1:11ff; 3:1ff; 9:11ff). The sacramental types were also set aside and the Sacraments of the New Testament replacing them. If, as Saint Paul says, the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:13-14) Therefore, there must be, in the New Testament, a means of obtaining the forgiveness of sins that indeed takes away the sin more so than the Old Testament. If in the Old Testament forgiveness could be obtained by the sacrifice of an animal or restoration of wrong done through the confessing to a priest, would the New Testament be void of also obtaining the forgiveness of sin through the confessing of sin to a priest who also imposes a penance and the restoration of wrong?
Christ promised Peter the fulness of binding and loosing sin as found in Matthew, 16:19: I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. In the Biblical understanding, this both interprets as the power over sin and the fulness of the power—i.e., over all sin. What prevents one from entering heaven? Sin. And once sin is taken away, one is able to enter heaven. He promised this power later to all the Apostles in Matthew 18:18: Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. The context is within that of forgiving:
But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. (Matt. 18:15-17)
That all sins may be forgiving is understood in the word, whatsoever. There are no restrictions, as later heretics would impose.
That Christ gives the power is seen in the scene after the resurrection when Christ appears to His Apostles and says:
Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. (John 21-23)
Though one may want to dissect and separate Scripture from Scripture, Scripture is one and must be read as one as God, the Author, is one. Again, Protestants may say it is just a declaration that sin is forgiven, not a true remission of sin—but this corresponds to their rejection of the reality of Christ’s word, just as they deny that when Christ said, This is My Body, Christ really said, This is My Body.
The forgiveness of sins as a sacrament is continued to be administered as found in James, 5:14-16:
Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved.
One sees here that confess follows and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him where the priests are brought in; but the words, confess your sins one to another show that it is not a group, but one confessing to another (priest). Saint Paul may be referring to forgiveness of sins through confession as he explains: Now I am glad: not because you were made sorrowful; but because you were made sorrowful unto penance. For you were made sorrowful according to God, . . . For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation. . . . (2 Cor. 7:10)
The struggle over the Church’s power to forgive sins in the second and third centuries is found in that of the Church combatting those heretics who, though not denying the Church being able to forgive sins, but in the Church’s power to forgive all sins. The Gnostics, who claimed superior knowledge above the Apostles and were seducing Christian women into their sect, were opposed by Irenaeus (+202), who writes:
Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences seared as with a hot iron. 2 Timothy 3:6 Some of them, indeed, make a public confession of their sins; but others of them are ashamed to do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of [attaining to] the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized altogether; while others hesitate between the two courses, and incur that which is implied in the proverb, neither without nor within; possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children of knowledge. (Adv. Haer., I, 7)
And the Shepherd of Hermas (150 AD):
And I said to him, I should like to continue my questions. Speak on, said he. And I said, I heard, sir, some teachers maintain that there is no other repentance than that which takes place, when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins. He said to me, That was sound doctrine which you heard; for that is really the case. For he who has received remission of his sins ought not to sin any more, but to live in purity. Since, however, you inquire diligently into all things, I will point this also out to you, not as giving occasion for error to those who are to believe, or have lately believed, in the Lord. For those who have now believed, and those who are to believe, have not repentance for their sins; but they have remission of their previous sins. For to those who have been called before these days, the Lord has set repentance. For the Lord, knowing the heart, and foreknowing all things, knew the weakness of men and the manifold wiles of the devil, that he would inflict some evil on the servants of God, and would act wickedly towards them. The Lord, therefore, being merciful, has had mercy on the work of His hand, and has set repentance for them; and He has entrusted to me power over this repentance. And therefore I say to you, that if any one is tempted by the devil, and sins after that great and holy calling in which the Lord has called His people to everlasting life, he has opportunity to repent but once. But if he should sin frequently after this, and then repent, to such a man his repentance will be of no avail; for with difficulty will he live. And I said, Sir, I feel that life has come back to me in listening attentively to these commandments; for I know that I shall be saved, if in future I sin no more. And he said, You will be saved, you and all who keep these commandments. (Book II, Commandment 4, 3)
The general understanding of this passage is the sin of adultery can be forgiven—already through baptism, afterwards by penance (though the author indicates but once), but the process is difficult—and that is understood since the penalty to be performed before being absolved was strenuous in the early Church. Saint Polycarp (+155), a disciple of Saint John the Beloved Apostle, writes to the Phillipians:
And let the presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man; (Rom. 12:17; 2 Cor. 8:31) abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting [an evil report] against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; (Matt. 6:12-14) for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself. (Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10) Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord [have alike taught us]. Let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offense, from false brethren, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draw away vain men into error. (Epistle to the Phillipians, 6)
The penitential rites of the early Church also point to the confession and absolution of all sins. Pohle points to four Penitential rites in the Church, private, canonical, public and solemn:
(1) Private Penance (poenitentia privata) consists in secret confession, absolution, and satisfaction, without recourse to the external court of the Church. It is the discipline with which we are familiar today. In the primitive Church it was applied especially to secret sins. Thus the Council of Neocæsarea (about 314) exempts from public penance all sins of thought; St. Basil, the crime of secret adultery on the part of women, St. Gregory of Nyssa,clandestine thefts. St. Augustine says that sins committed publicly should be atoned for in public, whereas sins committed secretly may be expiated in secret. In the earliest days (Irenæus, Tertullian) all mortal sins had to be atoned for publicly.
(2) Canonical Penance (poenitentia canonica) was imposed for grievous crimes, whether public or private, in accordance with the existing ecclesiastical canons. Not infrequently it was assumed in secret and in that case partook of the character of private penance.
(3) Public Penance (poenitentia publica) consisted of public self-accusation and other humiliations. It was performed before the bishop, clergy, and people, and, unlike Canonical Penance, could be assumed voluntarily.
(4) Solemn Penance (poenitentia solemnis) was canonically inflicted only for the three so-called capital sins,— apostasy, murder, and fornication, and had to be performed under stated conditions (fasting in sackcloth and ashes, etc.). It usually ended with the solemn “reconciliation” of the penitent on Holy Thursday. Solemn Penance could be assumed but once (poenitentia una, μετάνοια μια).
The various Church decrees concerning who could be forgiven and how, such as Pope Callistus (+ 222), as written by Tertullian: I also hear that an edict is published and is indeed final. Evidently the Supreme Pontiff, because he is the bishop of bishops, declares: I forgive the sins of adultery and fornication to those who have performed the penance. (Fragment from De pudicitia, c. 1; cf. DB 43)
(To be continued)
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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers
M. F. Toal
THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY
At that time: There was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He, having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to him and prayed him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him: unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. The ruler saith to him: Lord, come down before that my son die. Jesus saith to him: Go thy way. Thy son liveth. The man believed the word which Jesus said to him and went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him. The father therefore knew that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him: Thy son liveth. And himself believed, and his whole house.
ST EPHRAIM, DEACON, AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
On Earnest Prayer
PSALM cxxii
1. Mercy comes down from on high. Let us all turn our eyes on high. From the heaven of heavens comes salvation. Let us give thanks to Him Who dwells in heaven. In one of his psalms, David spoke words that sum up the whole of prayer: To thee have I lifted up my eyes; who dwellest in heaven (cxxii. 1). And He humbled himself, that we like Him should humble ourselves. As the eyes of servants turn continually towards their masters, to see, should they be sad, that they also may appear dutiful and sad. Should they be joyful, their servants also appear joyful. Again David speaks, and adds a phrase like the one that preceded it: As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so that, if she is happy, she may cheerfully approach her. But should her mistress be sad, her maid creeps away in fear and hides herself; and where she sees her gloomy and severe, she flies from her anger: So are our eyes unto Thee, the Lord our God.
I cannot, David is saying, exult and rejoice before Thy face, till Thou hast mercy upon me: for I see that Thou art angry. Let us recall to mind these words of David, and let us meditate upon them within us, and let us say: Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.
2. But since we know not how we are to pray, in accord with the will of God, the Holy Spirit teaches us through David how we are to pray to Thee. Therefore, my brethren; you who are listening to me, let us be pupils of David. For if he does not teach us, and if we do not heed his teaching, all the prophets and apostles will not avail to persuade us. In this time of sadness we all grieve under the rod of an angry God, until He shall again rejoice us Who now chastises us. We shall not rejoice with a full heart, until the anger of God has turned away from us. Let us therefore stand in earnest prayer before the Most High, Whose Throne is in the heavens. Since he looketh upon the earth; let us be in fear of Him Who looketh down on us. Let us not assemble together in a careless manner in His holy house, to stand in His Presence: for He is not pleased with the careless, but with the efforts of those who love Him.
3. On a day appointed for prayer, let your prayer not be disturbed. Do not neglect prayer in order to go out in the streets to talk and argue. And should some one come to chatter with you, be wise; bid him be silent, saying to him: ‘Today we are supposed to pray; we must do what is imposed on us.’ Praying and disputing in talk, what, I would like to know, have they in common? Petition and deception; it would be strange that these two should be heard together. Fasting and loud talk; that these should be associated, I find astonishing. And that chastity and wantonness should be found together would wholly amaze me.
It is not becoming, O prudent man, to pray with a double mind; nor that we should divide our heart, keeping one part for the Church, another for the street. Who can deceive God, Who searcheth hearts? And who shall hide his thoughts from Him Who knows all things that are hidden? Who shall give his mind to good and evil thoughts, thinking that no one will know of them? That you should pray, and then go out to talk and argue; that is a very foolish thing to do. To talk and argue, coming at the same time to worship God; that is the doing of the foolish of heart.
4. If you would learn how you must act, so that you may neither injure yourself, nor be rebuked because of your prayer, I shall give you counsel. Decide for yourself in what I tell you; and it will be well for you if you do as I say. If you have made up your mind to come and pray before God, make this pact with yourself: that in coming from your home to the place of prayer, that for the whole duration of your journey to the house of prayer, and petition, you will not waste your time with some companion, but, that from the beginning to the end of your journey, you will sanctify the time with prayer.
And when you stand before God, in prayer, do not pray with a mind that is disturbed and filled with unrest and, since the church is holy, neither should you stand in it with a mind that is defiled; and while the Scriptures are being read, do not let your thoughts turn to the tumult outside. Incline your ear and your mind to hearing the words of the prophets, and turn your face and turn your senses towards the Apostles, as they cry to you: ‘Gird thy soul, and be strengthened that thou may hear the Gospel of thy Lord.’ Do not listen with indifference to the Gospel of the Truth. Should you be slothful in God’s Presence, He will send you away without a reward.
For reflect: If a worker in your field neglected the harvest; when he afterwards came for his wage you would remember that he was lazy, and you would not pay him as you would a diligent servant, who gave you satisfaction. All we children of the Faith are workers in the field of the Divinity, and everyone who comes to pray, comes to the field of God. Prayer to God bears fruit. Let us not neglect it, and lose its fruits. He who offers up sincere and earnest prayer, reaps and gathers in its fruits. He who is slothful in prayer, will be a stranger to its fruits. Let us see then that our mouth does not pray in a negligent manner. It greatly profits us to pray, and to know also what kind of prayer we are offering: for there is power in the prayer of a just man. Over anger especially prayer is always victorious. In his time of illness the sick man looks for help and healing, and submits himself to those who will help him; how much more should we, who are sick through sin, compose our soul and pray with mind and heart? For we have need of two things: to be freed from our afflictions, and to be forgiven our sins.
Great is the power of prayer. Let us not be slothful in prayer. Prayer bears fruit. Let our prayer not become unworthy. Let us speak to others of prayer; if laziness does not prevent us; and if we are ready of speech, let us praise it. Perhaps some amongst us here in the congregation will murmur to themselves: What is the meaning of this correction, which makes nothing of our labour? Let the grumbler, whoever he is, listen; and he will learn that this is good and profitable for him. For it is enough that it serves to show us that the taste of pleasure does not satisfy us. Let us not think too much of the fleeting things of this world, rather let us be steadfast in our love of spiritual things, which are profitable to the soul. For by the help of things spiritual, the things of this world are also made profitable. Fields are cultivated, when souls are not neglected. And when souls are cultivated, fields do not remain fruitless; though we know that spiritual works will not take the place of the plough.
5. Without health of body, material things are of no benefit to you. Without streams of prayer, what you have sown will not be watered. Without the help of prayer you shall not reap what you sow. Without the mercy of the Creator, there can be no good, no blessing. Be earnest then in prayer, and your barns will overflow. Winter and summer be earnest in prayer; for winter and summer prayer is necessary for us. Winter reminds us to pray, that we shall not want for the dew and the rain. Summer urges us to pray, that our fields and our barns may be blessed. The day cries to us: Give thanks to Him Who gives light to the labourers; the night tells us to give glory to Him Who gives rest to the weary. He has made a holy house for those who dwell here; that they may learn the way of holiness. The multitudes in the streets teach us that the Church must speak judgement in quiet; and with uplifted voice She cries: ‘Take thought for your life.’ The Cross, with arms outstretched, has compassion on its adorers. The Exalted and the Most High inclines His ear to our prayer, and the Angels of His mercy visit us one by one. Let us, my brethren, with our whole heart, give thanks for all these things. For it is through prayer that all graces work in us. We are inexcusable (Rom. i. 20); but God is just. We are all sinners; our Creator is pure and free of all fault. We are evil to one another; but our Maker is merciful. Glory be to Him Who in His mercy bears with us who rebel against Him. Amen.
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OCTOBER 10
St. Francis Borgia
Francis was a young nobleman at the court of the King of Spain. He became a Duke when he was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful life with his wife Eleanor and their eight children. But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect Christian gentleman, a true man of God, and his great joy was to receive Holy Communion often.
This happy life ended when his beloved wife died. Just a few years later, Francis did something that astonished all the nobles of Spain: he gave up his dukedom to his son Charles and became a Jesuit priest. So many people came to his first Mass that they had to set up an altar outdoors. But his superior tested him by treating him in exactly the opposite way he had been used to all his forty-one years of life. He who had once been a duke had to help the cook, carrying wood for the fire and sweeping the kitchen. When he served the food to the priests and brothers, he had to kneel down in front of them all and beg them to forgive him for being so clumsy! Still he never once complained or grumbled. The only time he became angry was when anyone treated him with respect, as if he were still a duke.
Once a doctor who had to take care of a painful wound Francis had gotten said to him: “I am afraid, my lord, that I have to hurt your grace.” The Saint answered that he would not hurt him more than he was right then by calling him “my lord” and “your grace.”
It was not too long before the humble priest accomplished wonderful works for God’s glory as he preached everywhere and advised many important people. He spread the Society of Jesus all over Spain and in Portugal. When he was made Superior General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, the Jesuits grew to be a very great help to the Church in many lands.
Through all such success, St. Francis Borgia remained completely humble.
How did this Spanish nobleman learn such humility, after so long being honored as a great man in the world? By reflecting often on the humiliations of Our Lord and strongly willing to imitate Him.
(Benedict Baur)
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LETTERS TO JACK
WRITTEN BY A PRIEST TO HIS NEPHEW
By the
RIGHT REV. FRANCIS C. KELLEY, D.D., LL.D.
(1917)
XIII
LOVE
THERE isn’t anything funnier, and yet there isn’t anything more appealing, than a boy or a girl suffering and happy in “love”; and yet there isn’t anything quite so fearful as that same love when it has discovered itself to itself.
A BABY is attracted by a shining ornament, and a youth is attracted by bright eyes. Both may be fools in their own way.
My dear Jack:
I can almost see you smile when you open this letter and almost hear the whispered question: “How can forty-six years of inexperience teach a modern twenty anything about the great lesson of loving?” Yes, I know. Love, you think, was cut out of my life; while to you it is not only permissible, but much to be desired. But how do you know that it was cut out of my life? Mortal eyes have not searched hearts; and the great bulk of the love that has been in the world, and is still in the world, has been, and is, love unconfessed. Indeed, I think the strongest loves are those that never, by the touch of speech, were released from the heart. It may be that I know a great deal more about it than you do; though in another way. One thing I am willing to confess: of what the world calls “love”, I have known nothing by experience.
But if I have not in manhood had any experience, at least stern duty has always forced observation. A pastor very soon gets to fear the thing that seems so often to be stronger than God Himself. He knows what sends many of the young people, who owe much to his careful teachings, straight on the downward path to perdition. Every pastor has remembrances of long argumentations, in which he had the right side, with reason, logic, self-interest and a great many other things supporting him; and on the other side nothing but “love”—but it was love that won. He remembers very well that he entered into the fight hopeless, knowing in advance that he was beaten, but fighting on for the sake of duty. “Love”, as the world knows it, has been a will-o’the-wisp that beckoned many lost ones into the everglades.
But, after all, is that thing really love? It is not. Some people cannot understand how reason and love could ever go together; yet I cannot understand love without reason.
To show you what I mean I am going to ask you to consider the two kinds of love, both of which inevitably push themselves on the attention: that of husband and wife, and that of parent and child. Which is the stronger and the more enduring? My observation tells me that it is the latter. The love of husband and wife changes, with fading beauty, into a wonderful companionship, that has a charm all its own. It lasts less as love than as understanding. It steadies into something reasonable, having a definite end in view; and dies only when the reason is quarreled out of it. I have no hesitation in saying that the emotion immediately preceding this understanding is not love. It is passion, chastened and made somewhat beautiful by respect. I think that the boy or girl stage of love is very beautiful, because it is a love that is full of fear to touch and spoil. There isn’t anything funnier, and yet there isn’t anything more appealing, than a boy or a girl suffering, and happy, in “love”; and yet there isn’t anything quite so fearful as that same love when it has discovered itself to itself. It is then that passion steps in. I have come to the melancholy conclusion that too many mistake passion for something better. The love that begins pure, that passes through the second stage when it is not so pure, and then mellows into understanding, is the love that, while it peoples the earth, nevertheless cares for the earth, and gives birth to the great things. To my mind this love is never as strong as the love of parent for child, which will dare all and do all; which is constantly reasonable and thoughtful, and in which there is never a selfish thought. The wife may “love” her husband because he is good to her; because he makes it easy for her; because he is considerate of her; because he is generous with her; because he is an ideal to her. The husband may love the wife for reasons that are akin to her reasons for loving him. But the love of a mother for her child is not because of the child’s strength or power to help her, but rather because of its very weakness and its very helplessness and its very powerlessness. Therefore, to me the thought has often come that love is a growth passing, after a stage of preparation, through three epochs: the epoch of preparation, the epoch of passion, the epoch of understanding, and then, at its best, spending itself, and becoming therefore real, on what it produces.
I do not know if I have made myself clear to you. I fear I have not, because I am not sure that I have made myself clear to myself; for the hardest thing that one can do is to express, even to oneself, the things that are of the spirit and the soul, and true love is of the spirit and the soul.
Feeling as I do about this supremely important matter, I would warn you to mistrust yourself; for youth is impressionable. It is youth that hurries through the woods to gather wild flowers, while age only walks thoughtfully through the gardens. A baby is attracted by a shining ornament and a youth is attracted by bright eyes. Both may be fools in their own way. To abandon oneself to love without any thought of the course that it inevitably must take, is an act of folly. But you say, “Perhaps it cannot be helped?” It can be helped, for even love is no excuse to lay aside reason and religion. Religion says that love is placed upon earth for a good purpose, to replenish the earth. When it is understood that this is the purpose, reason steps in and then love will go to the great goal which is its best and purest, to the foot of the Throne.
(To be continued.)
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Father Krier will be in Eureka, Nevada, (Saint Joseph) October 21 and Albuquerque, New Mexico, (Saint Joseph Cupertino) October 26.
Please pray for our parish that the City of Las Vegas will approve the building of a parish hall and classrooms at their meeting on October 6.
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