The Irish standard., 1891-01-03
MINNEAPOLIS
CHRIST Is TRULY GOD AND MAN.
''Behold this Day is Born to You Saviour
Who is Christ the Lold."

Behold tnlS LAY is DOTH 10 Lou d OdYlVui
Who is Christ the Lold.'
On Christmas Day r v. J. G. Byrne,
taking the above words for his text,
preached as follows:
Penetrated with the sublime signifi
canoe OF this festive day let our rejoicing
be b artfelt. our anthems SINGER. With
US let there be no place for the Gait OF
the unbs lever, none for the hypocrisy OF
the would be Chri, tian. Therefore let
there be no use of gi,ttering phrase or
sen eless song 10 evoke slckiy enthu-
slasm over the birth of a man hat man
not God, but let our Chris mas be usher
cd in with the joyous chant of supernal
voices, the rustliug Of angel wings and
the ecstat;c enthusiasm of Faith which
ali proclaim: ''Behod this day is born
to You Saviour who Is Christ the Lord.
This day the divorce of heaven and earth
is annulied, the enmity OF man and his
maker is IN end, tie thraldom OF Satan
is broken. Into the lowline 8 of human
ity, into the weakness of flesh, INTO the
environment of time and place the Omni-
potent and Eternal has descended that
by the SAM arms by which Satan van
xulshed man, he in turn might be
vauquished. ''Let us 60 over" then 'to
Bethlehem and lot us see this word that
is come to pass" We cannot go IN
reai,ty as the shepherds did but VIZ can
60 III Thought and In the spirit OF faith.
For nineteen Centuries the whole
Christian world on this day has made
this pilgrimage OF Faith, aud it has al
ways iound like the shepherds Of old
''Aary and Jos ph, and tho Infant lying
in manger" that is reality. Shall the
twentieth century, on whose thr> sholu
We stand, fud tuete but myth? There
is no denying the ravages made LII the
non. Catholic world by inndeiity. The
dead branches, as was inevitable, are
crumbling into the dust. Separation
from the living budy OF the Church has
done what all the cruelty of Herod cuu q
not dot has made away with the Dl-
vine CAild. 1t matters lltte that re-
fined aud inidelized Christianity has
substituted human Christ with AL the
attributes of iunoc nee, wisdom and
heioism that would be ineffably attract
i've in any ono .lse-no, it matters not,
since out OF the reai, historic Christ they
have crushed the life divine and with it
all divine virtue, all saving power. Men
who 1o1nd sweet dalliance with books,
which are rife with treason to the God
head Of C,rist, have awakened one day
in the dark,--the light OF Faith has gone
out aud (wretched onesY their sad plaiut
is that of the Magdalene, 'They have
taken away my Lord and l know not
where they have laid him, (John ~ 13)
81 wish l could believe but cannot" I"
These sad words, as the world grows
older, re- growing more frequent. What
was enacted in the little inn at Betnle-
hem is being reenacted in the great
hose elry of tue word at large. "A here
is no room" for the Divine Child. But
" We shall make room for him in our
hearts. TO Bethlehem hen | us turn
our gaze, where the KING of Kings holds
heaven y court. Nhat joy to be admit
ted this aay into that e.estial company,
even if it be only in spirit. Faith alone
will admit us, faith which ushered in the
wise men of thc East, a..d the shepherds
OF the plains. In the spirit of Faith
then let us take up this Christmas theme
and weave garland Of divinity for the
brow Of the Virgins Child that We too
may adore and that the very depths OF
our souls may reecho the angelic hymn
"Giory be to God iu the highest and
peace on earth to men of Good will,
for "Behold tuis day is born to you a
Saviour, who is Christ aud tue Lord"
In the spirit of Faith it is nee ssary
that We approach this theme. For short
is the flight Of Autteri reason over
sensible things aud vainly would it essay
TO reach with certainty the hei hit of
Christ's divinity were it not strengthened
by this heav, n y influence. Could the
scientist polse for us in the heavens ths
ever burning and never consumed sun,
five did not feel it's heat and see its
radiance? Were we left in the cold and
in the dark would we not mock at his
theories and what were uulnte ligible in
the great mysteries of the orb of day
would we not call it absurd? Yet not
withstanding the mysteriousness Of the
sun there it IS, we feel it, we see it, we
admit it, it explains the who 9 universe
remaining itself unexplained. Now
Christ is the sun of jus ice. About Hin
pravitate all the forces for and against
eternal right and He alone holds them
in equilibrium. Crying for justice is
the sin of man, crying for merry is the
most precious blood OF that Di,in-
Child; on the one side is the wrath Of
God, on the other is the love of His only
begotten Son: here is the image of God