The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-12-23
MESSENGER SUNDAY DECEMBER

u
hagellations and voluntary macerations.
What has not this delicate woman-brou ght
up IN all the softness of the nineteenth cen
tury-enough Of privations already to as
suage her thirst for immolation Whati it is
not, then. suffic cient for her to have rotrenched
oil that alters nature; abe must further de-
siguediy infiict upon il oil that can cruelty
Behold this pure and ohaste victim; che
strikes her body she tesrs her virgin hesh
and her prayers and supplioations ascend to
! eought after, and perhaps by the streams of
her blood 80 courageously shed
And why, 0 holy victim, why against an in
nocent body these Establishments, this violence,
this cruelty : "Ah ~ exolaims the generous
ushter of Carmel, 81 repair, l satisfy, ex-
plate. l am repairing the disorders of the
world am satisfy ing the Justice Of God
am expiatipg, by the exeess of Suffering, the
| excess of pleasure; AM expiating by the pain
| of sacrifice the qualifications of selishness; a
victim, aIn fulfilling my vocation suffer
and immediate myself for the salvation of my
! neighbor.
Yes, Christians, understand it WELL the Car
meite expistes by her mecsrstions the scan
dals and defilements of our seusuality Men
of the world, so ardent for enjoyment, aud so
| athirst with voluptuoushess, sne expiatee your
debauoheries; Christian women, SO prompt TO
enjoy and 50 Powerless to suffer, she expistes
yonr sensual dances, yonr senspa costume; she
expistes by her Christian austertles that pa.
gan boldness and audaoity, which cause the
ohaste to blush, and rejoice the voluptuous.
| She takea, in fine, this severe fagellation,
| her Rule Gays, not only for the increase of
faith, for the State, for our rulers, for benefec
| tors, and for the sonls in Purgstory"; she
| takes it especially for all who are in mortal
! sin, and this,-adds the Rule--duripg the re.
| citation of the psalm Miserere, and the pray
ere for the said intentions. But, at the pre-
! by the immoiation of the Aesh, the debanehes
Of sepsuality. And hence how many among
us who sin and do not expiate, who enjoy and
do not suffer, ought to bless heaven for giving
i than, n Choaan aOula DiakOrv AaerifS Saan
and reparative victims!
| The third current, which is carrying away
the age in the storm Of contemporary sell
fshness, is the current of pride and iRdepea-
dence
! 1t is the instinct of all selfishness not to be
| su bject to any but self, and to depend only on
| ideal Of selfish ness applied to the human will
Every egotist is tyrant who seeks for slaves;
| he takes the position of 8 sovereign, and says:
| "Who shall be my masterf and W shall dare
TO command me, and give me ordersT Such
WAS always the inclination of human nature;
such is, in particular, the bent of our times.
SEES from below they seek on high the atmos
phere of independence, that uneongenial at
mosphere in which the people pant for breath,
and loose their free respiration. Ascendam,"
nature; mon serriam," az ,cill not Obey" is the
cry of independence, impelled by our pride.
Acknowledgement this is worthy of remark
in proportion as this movemente is propa-
| gated, we unlearn to obey. We know servil-
| ity we know 1t, alasl but too we ], and we
| see these, especially, who have been so often
sacred of duties, give evidence of servile
cripHing, of which we could not have believed
| q great and generous race capable. Ah! yes,
| We know servility but what we have un-
| learned, and no longer know, 10 o free and gen.
erous obedience.
] This spirit of Independence, which ia the
peculiar spirit of the nineteenth century,
breathes everywhere. 1t is felt in society,
| which is kept in continual perturbation,
| always tossed between revolution and despot-
ism-one the daughter of independence. the
family, breaking up its harmony and driving
| away happiness; raising the child sgainst the
parent, the wife against her husband, the bus
| band against the Church; all against God and
| His Christ. It ia felt in the Workshop, where
| it suspends labor and dimiuishes prod uction,
| urges the laborer to revolt against the master,
and breaks up tha5 relation of paternal COM
mard and flal obedience which made the
charm, the strength and the fruitfuluess of
Christian workshops. It 10 felt in the Church,
where it comes to awaken. as We have seen,
even ia the heart of :he Priest who breaches
obedience, those il stincts of revolt which viz
J the alone can restrain, but which pride causes
som etimes to burst forth, to tie great scandal
of the people. And why should not cay it 7
| It would be felt, il every opening were not
clneld against II. even in the depth of tt Q
! cloistsr, where ono enters only to obey 10
+ YOU Z cume to give the example of pride and
revolt, in the very asy nm of hn mility, and ID
tie sanctuary of obedience!
All may God give us-to Teaot against these
| revolutionary instincts, which are everyw here
marifesting themselves, and sometimes with a
frighttui solemuity-exsmples of a sublime
and heroic obedience! Holy daughters Of Car
mel, whose obedience is prove rbial, aud whose
humility is familiar TO us, come into our midst
| in order to maintain in Christian generations
that worship of humble obedience wh;on, more
than all things else. honors the God of Calvary,
the God of sacrifice, obedience even unto
| death.
| Doyoa see that young Christian born in the
highest rank of sec city, and destined, in the
natural course of things, to exercise command 7
Jesus Christ has appeared to her, in the sC-
preme act of His en bDit sion aud obedience, on
| that cross TO which He asceuded in order to
obey, and he has eaid to the great lady, the
daughter of baron of count, the daugh-
ter Of q duke or of prince; born sometimes,
| as has been seen, on the steps of throne ::
| " My child, thou oanst, if thou wilt, aspire to
command but see Me, thy Sovereign see
what have done for Thee; behold NE, obedi-
ent even to death; factus obediens usque d&
rnortcsa. Thou desirest to love Me; then thou
desrest to resemble Me; thon shalt be obedi-
! ent, and with an absolute obedience.
And the noble but humble Christian has re-