The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-12-27
MORNING STAR AND CATHOLIC MEssENGER.
NEW ORLEANS SUNDAY. DECEMBER g. 1868.
CHRIsTMAs.


mas! 1t is tlay of Joy! Have we thought of
this 1t is Christ born to overcome the world,
the flesh and the devil. Shall celebrate it
with bacchanalian orgies, ostentatious displays,
and profane aInusements That were scarcely
in the spirit of the festival.
Christmas! 1t is the day of three Masses, to
honor the three births of Christ the first, the
eternal generation of the Son in the bosom OF
His Father; the second, the birth of that same
Son earth the veritable and outward mani
festation of God, Emmanuel, God with us, hav-
ing taken flesh of virgin; and the third, to
signify the birth of God in our souls, to render
dirne, SONS of God by adoption, co-heirs with
Christ; our brother of the eternal kingdom of
truth, beauty, justice, happiness and love-
We are divorced d from this by nature !; none
that fact even too forcibly. But the Restorer
comes. We will hail with gratitude and joy,
and. zealously endeavor to comprehend His
views in our regard to cooperate with them.
First, then who is this restorer who comes to
us Tertullian shall furnish us with the an
creation of the world, because there was moth
ing outside of Him; but in Him His wis
dom, His reason, and His interior word; which
exterior word. This exterior utter
ance is termed generation, by which God said:
Let there be light without prejudice to the
1t is" says he, this Word, which, say, is
person. and to which, attribute the name of
Son; and acknowledging Him for the Son,
He was always in the Father, and has been pro-
dnced by hint without ever being separated
from him. He was produced from Him as n
plant from its root, the river from its source,
the ray from the sun. ! declare, then, that 1
name the two-God and His Word, the Father
and His Son; and the third, after God and His
rule which laid down, that the Father, the
Son and the Spirit inseparable from each
other. When 1 say that the Father is other
than the Sonand the Holy Spirit, say so from
necessity, not to mark diversity but order not
to mark division but distinction; 4Ie is other
in person, not in substance.
He who begets is other than the one who is
begotten. He who sends is distinct from Him
who is sent. He who is made is other than He
who makes. The Lord Himself has used this
word other, in the person of the Paraclete
when He says L will pray my Father, and He
will send you another comforter
"Never will the name of two Gods and of
that the Father is God, and the Son God, and
the Holy Ghost God but because the Son is
called God only from His union with the Fa-
thcr, will, in order not to scandalize the Gen
tiles, initiate the example OF the Apostle, and
if l have to name the Father and the Son
together, will call the Father God, and the
Son our Lord Jesus Christ. But when / name
jesus Christ alone, may call Him God.
when the, Scripture says there is but one
God, it is against the pagans, who admit null
titude of false gods; OF against heretics, who
also create idols by their words; that is to say,
those who admit several principles, as Marcion
and the like. To show the unity of su distance,
not the singlen of person, He says am in
the Father, not, am the Father. When he
says, and the Father one, He does not say
O am, but (we) are He does not say unas in
the masculine, but Haum in the neuter."
took flesh, it was God indwclling that came
amongst us, to dwell with us, and in us, that
we may be one with Him as He is one with
the Father" The Word Of God, begotten
of the Eternal Father, that He might be born,
first, visibly i'll the world; secondly, invisibly
in ,ur hearts, to render us diriRc-to repair our
loss, restore rs to our lost position but the
Kingdom of God" that kingdom to which all
aspire, "is within YOU" saith the Lord, there
80 abr no
Christmas. GLORY to God on high. Peace on
earth to men of good will" sung the angels.
Let us have the good will, then, which alone
exceedingly:" but see you for what you rejoice;
it is the coming of the Lord to restore harmony,
peace and love- To give man grace to regain
that divinity of adoption which he lost by his
fall, his life in human form is to be the preach
ing to souls, full of wondrous teaching
as when hereafter the divine love flows from
His lips. Behold Him who is to redeem the sin
of Adam! A child laid in manger, suffering
cold and hunger, warmed by the breath of the
fox and the ass, His creatures. This is the les
son of God to man, also His creature; to man
intent on worldly gain, making merit of pro-
curing worldly comfort, saying to his neighbor,
we must perforce conform to the advance
ment OF the age; we must belong to times in
which we liver There is your God, vain man,
on earth and He is, even in human descent,
of royal blood; one heralded by angels, who
were at all times at His bidding See how He
conforned to the spirit of the age, to the ne
cessities of the times! Had man been COM
hisSloneu 10 save mankind, (whlch We're, now
ever, impossible, but for the sake of hypothe-
sis, had one of our modern reasoners, with the
means possessed by our Lord He lay in the
manager at his control, been intent on diifusing
tFsath, Lee would have deemed it necessary for
the "tii:ics,' that great age of Augustan learn
ing, of imperial magntcence, of splcndor and
luxury, to make an immense display of intel
lect, power and affluence, in order, SO
often hear it said, to gain respectable posi-
ton, that may do more good. Human in
tellect, deluded by this idea, might have sought
to traverse the world with the clouds for n
chariot, attended by angels, borne up by the
spirits of the blest, would not all men then
have believed The question has been asked
more than once by the scoffer; for exterior
means are ever the first object in human calcu-
lations, when they are intent on progress, even
spiritual DrOpress,