The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-06-21


they carry only the sad inventions of
men. If. we look around the world. we
find many religious societies or
churches at variance with one another,
of which each claims to be the true
church established by Christ. But as
truth is but one and as Christ estao-
lished but one church. so there can be
but one true church. This true church
is ana must be the church built upon
and guided by Peter: Thou art Peter
and upon this rock (Peter) will build
my church and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it," Thus, then
the Lutherans, the Calvanites, the
Greeks and the Anglicans are not the
church of Christ, because they are not
in or with the bark OF Peter. The true
church is one in it's doctrine, in its
worship and in its hieraschy, while the
others change their moral code. their
creed and their Worship as change the
climate, the caprice and the passions
of men. This endless changing cannot
be of God, whose essence is immuta-
bic. In their eternal variations and in
their multiplied creeds, they openly
and fatty contradict Christ, who, in
praying for His church, said to his
Father: Keep them, o Father, that
they may be one as you and are one. -
On ,he other hand. how different it
is with the Catholic church, the true
bark of Peter and our mother, from
whose unfailing bosom we have drawn
our Christian life. She possesses unity
of doctrine in a marked degree, and al
though she has countless children scat
tered over all the countries of the
world, she everywhere teaches to all
the same faith-an,ong the sayages of
the tropical and frigid regions as we'll
as. among the civilized peoples of the
temperate zone. Call forth from the
grave a Catholic of every age of Chris
tianity, Of every nation, cline and race
place them in a circle around you, ask
them what they believe, and, taught
by this abiding teacher, each will pro-
claim the same profession of faith, pro-
claimed to you from her sanctuary to-
day-the same in the first. the fifth,
the tenth. the sixteenth. the TWEEN
tieth century; nothing new, nothing
changed; Jesus Christ yesterday, to-
day and forever
Now, whence this admirable unity
of faith? The Catholic church owes
this unity of belief to her hierarchy
divinely instituted. The sovereign
| pontiff has received in the person of
| the Prince oft he Apostles" the com
mission to confirm his brethren in the
faith" and as a vigilant sentinel he
watches over the integrity of that faith
and repudiates every change in it.
| Think for an instant on this phenom-
| enon of the unity of faith in the null
! tiplicity of men and mind. Two men
| cannot be in accord for a quarter of
! an hour. and yet millions of men with
as many minds during nineteen CEN
! turtles believe the same truths and
without discussion submit their intel
ligence to the same faith. How can
/ this wonder be explained? Represent
! to yourselves a man seated on a rock
| in the midst of the ocean, and insist
| ing that the waves should observe a
uniformity of motion. You would ex-
claim: This is truly wonder" Wei,
! there is man who, from his seat on
the rock on which Christ has built His
church, commands disturbed and huc-
| tuating minds, and insists on a uni
| form method of thinking, and this
man is the pope. AT his feet he be-
| holds the ebb and flow of human opin-
| ions, which disturb and overthrow ev-
erything in the world, while he does
not change and by his authority main
tains unity in the church. Is it pos
sibie not to see the finger of God in all
this? Must we not recognize in it the
fidelity of the immutable God, who
promised: Il will be with you all days
even to the consummation of the
world which promise He confirmed
with an oath: Amen, 1 say to you:
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my word shall not pass"
Another noteworthy incident in the
Gospel of the day is that Christ con-
firmed his teachings to the multitudes
from Peters bark by a miracle-the
miraculous draught of fishes. And the
miracle has been the property of the
| AdNltOllC CAuICu III dlt ages dIQ III oil
countries. This is the divine char
acteristic mark by which we recognize
the bark of Peter. The flight of de-
mons, the resurrection of the dead,
the gift of prophecy and the healing
of those who were hopelessly sick
these are what you shall find on every
page of the Church's history. While
| the apostolic men proclaimed Gods
truths, he confirmed their preachings
by miracles. The miracle is a pal
pable, invincible profit is the seal
of God placed on the divine word sent
from heaven to earth. BY the gift of
miracles God tells us: 1t is who have
that have clothed them with my
power; and if they had not been sent
by me, would nature obey them? A
certain doctor of the church says:
God has the right to make himself
believed, and also the means to make
himself heard. AS soon as an affirm
alton is signed by these words: I, the
Lord, and as soon as that signature is
Iegalized by his inimitable seal, viz,
the miracle, it is he who speaks, it is
he who commands, and we have only
to believe and obey" (Bossuet)
Jesus commanded Peter to launch his
bark out into the deep. What does
this signify? He indicates the exalted
life, wholly supernatural and heaven
| ly, to which the church. by her doc
trine. by her morals. and by the ON
nipotent power of her sacraments,
leads us. In her fold. and there alone.