The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-03-05
Signs Of the Times.
(sxcoND ARTIcI.E.)

on his forehead, and the mad revol OF vino
0 around him,-on the grand old Rock stand
9 the lone old man. He is a sign to this gen
Grafton.
"Shatter the ck,-crush it--submerg'
it,"-mutter the waves in WRATH. "Bea
against him,-destroy m,"-shout tht
wild winds. Wrap him and his Rock II
darkness,-and hide them from the sight Of
man forever, "-shriek the clouds.
But the Rock trembles not land bright
as ever nor dimmed by darkness flashes the
great light upon it's summit and across the
angry surge. And the lone man fears not.
In his heart throbs the great promise while
he bends his brow to the blast,-and he is
| brave. Yea the Rock and he are as still
and rs calm as God. And the sea-storm;-
it is furious and tickle as man. Said I,-he,
who is sign on the Rock, can read and
interpret all the signs Of the storm 1
did and he can. Howl
Said 1 not he is a signf Sign of what
OF sorrow-persecution- acknowledgements
cifxion. That is-a sign of Calvary that
is sign of Christ. Sorrow is the JUNCTION
wherewith God annoints his Prophets, his
Pontiffs, his Christs. God is nearer to his
servants in the dark than in the light of
their lives. In the days glare when the
heavens are calmly blue, they seem to
recede farther,-and the stars are hidden.
In the night the sky stoops nearer unto us
and all the stars come out.
On lofty sorrows as on lofty mountains
heaven rests. The lone man on the Rock,
amid the pitiless buhetings of the tempest,
by the sign of his sorrows is sign of
Christ. Wbyf Know you not the Law
mystery,-and which, though mystery,
explains all the mysteries of History
Read =" 1t is expedient for one man to die
for the people-to save them from their
SINS" Caiphas said it,-nigh nineteen CEN
turtles agone,-and every century since has
proved that Caiphas was right.
The Jewish High Priest announced the
law and destiny of the Christians PontiF.
The world, for its wickedness, needed an
expiation as deep as its crimes, as wide as
its woes, as mighty as its malice, as extern
sive as its duration,-and as holy as the
God it had offended. That expiation de-
manded mighty victim, and that victim
who7 The Holy One,-the Christ of God.
That victim must atone during every hour
Of human history Howl. By suffering.
But he suffered ohce,-and so entered into
his glory. He can suffer now no more for
ever. True,-in his own person he has
suffered his last Yet still he is the victim;
and as victim must atone ;-and in atom
ing must suffer. TITS the Law. But how
fulfil the law. He must suffer mystically
through the sufferings of others. What
othersq His representatives. The good
must atone for the guilty. Hearts holy
must be praised and broken that the weight
of their tears and blood, and prayers and
sorrows and sublime designations, may coun-
terbalance, in Eternity's scales, the awful
weight of this worlds wickedness. The
just must become expiatory victims for the
unjust. at is expedieut still. Our age
needs its own expiration and must have it's
own victim. Mans sins need -it-God's
justice demands it. That victim is the
lone man on the Rock. That man, in eartll's
language, is named Pius,-in scripture,
Peter i'm prophecy, "Crux de Cruce." He
is the Victim IL the century-because he
is the Vicar of Christ. He maketh repara-
ton. For what For your sins and mine.
Why he and not another7 Because he of all
in the world to-day holds the place of the
eternal Victim. He is the visible head of
that Victims mystical body and as head
he must wear the Victims crown. That
crown is made of thorns. 1 beheld the
Prisoner in Rome,-I look back towards
the Prisoner in Jerusalem 81 think of the
words of Caipbas land they are not the
words of human dream but the utterance
of a truth, the fulfilment of prophecy
the accomplishment of a law-the mani
festation of q mystery-when 1 bow my
head and say, " The angels of the Passion
have transported the brook of Cedron to
the Tiber and Calvary to the Vatican.
Plus the Victim manifests Christ the Vic
tim. Plus is the sign of Christ. Plus
shall I say it 7-is the Christ of this>age =
for he, of all who are named in tl,ia ara