The weekly Thibodaux sentinel. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 1898-1905, 1902-04-05
The Resurrection.

The Resurrection.
The following very able and brilliant sermon
was delivered ut the Catholic Church last Sum
day BY Rev. D. P. Lawton S. J. of New Orleans
'Thls is the day which the Lord
hath made, let US be glad and rejoice
therein" Palm III, 24th verse.
Why, my brethren, are these words
of the Prophet King Of old taken up
by the Catholic Church to lay repeat
ed at her affairs and re echoed from
her myriad pulpits ? Why has she 80
quickly folded up her week of mourn
ing and clad herself in the gorgeous
regalia Of her holiday attire Il? Why
docs she call her children from their
homes and group them around her
with all the tender solicitude of her
maternal heart? Is it that she may
display before their admiring gaze
the pomp. the pageant and the poe
try which characterize her expressive
ritual ? Is it that the thousand tapers
OF her affairs may shed their lustre,
and the incense of her censers he
waited on high, and the psaling Of
her organ. he rolled in resonance
along the domes of her stately basili
Ca, and the loving reverence of her
children's hearts he translated to
music that touches to tears. Is it
that she may display to her children
the flowers of the springtime exhaling
their fragrance and spending their
transient beauty before her affairs
decked ont IN all the glittering glory
Of her festive garb? Yes, my breth
ren, it is for these, for, blot from the
calendar of the Catholic church the
festival which we celebrate to-day.
Erase from her mind the memory of
the mystery which she commentaries
on this Easter Morning, and the
whole saperstructure of her exterior
symbolicaI worship topples to the
ground. But it is for more than
these motives uplifting though they
be in themselves, for a higher, a
holier, a more magnificent motive
sways her action. 1t is for these, for
she has ever been the true inspira
tion of the purest poetry and the
highest art. 1t is for these, for she
has ever pressed into her service all
that Is lovely in nature and beautiful
in art but it is for more than these,
for fairer to her to-day than the
fairest vision of earthly beauty is the
sight of that empty tomb near Cal
vary's crest, and sweeter far than
earth's most dulcet melody is the
voice of that white clad angel who
proclaims to the world that Christ is
risen to die no more. No wonder my
brethren, that with these consoling
tldlugs surging within her mighty
heart, the Catholic church should give
herself over today 10 the sweet emo
tons of exstatic Joy. No wonder
that hymns Of harmony, jubilanl
anthems and joyous alIelulias shoulii
give articulate expression to the sent
iments of her soul. No wonder tha
with exultant transport she shoul(
cry out today: "This is the day
which the Lord hath made, let us b.
glad and rejoice therein" for Chris
her king has risen, risen a victor ovel
death and hell, risen to sign her ere
dentials with the signet Of His divin
ity, risen to take his place on tn
throne of tue world as sovereign o
the souls of men.
A brief consideration of the mo-
tives of Christ in his resurrection
cannot fail to beget in our souls
irmer faith in the divinity Of tn
church which he founded on cart
and a more ardent hope in the con.
soling prom ises of which His resur.
rection is the gracious pledge.
1t was by His resurrection frou
the dead that Christ impaired to th
religion which He founded q soil
basis and a permanent duration, fo
it was by that miracle and that alone
that he imprinted upon it the seal Q
his divinity. The religion whic
Christ founded upon earth We've
merely as a system of morality is
pure and a sublime code of laws, b.
despite its purity aud sublimity, H
knew full well that it would be
every age a prey to the human min
whose pride it humbled, and q foe
the human heart, whose passion
restrained. If therefore it was
prove supremely adequate to the en-
for which He intended it, namely u
bringing of mankind to its etern
destiny, if it was to prove for q
time an unflinching champion
truth in the intellectual aud NOR
arenas of the world, it was necessal
for Its very existence and propag'
ton that it should he vested wi
proofs Of the divinity Of its missio
so unquestionably evident, 90 ove
whelmlng convincing that nothll
but the most hopeless bIunders al
t, the most stolid obstinacy could 4
J, to perceive their cogency, or refu
their acceptance. And it was I