The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-16
SERVICES HELD AT
 CATHOLIC CHURCHES Rev. Father Kerrigan Continues
 Discussion of Sacrament A NEW CHURCH OCCUPIED
Rev. Father Meurer Celebrates the Masses in the Recently Con. structed Edifice of Our
 Lady of Sorrows.

Rev Father O Reilly sald Hldss ct '''0 and the Rev. Father Kerrigan was the celebrant at 9 o'clock and at high mass at 10:30 o'clock At the last service Mem offs mass No. was rendered in good style. the soloists being Mrs. Putnam. soprano; MT. Arrico, tenor, and MT Her bert, bass At the offertory Mrs. Put nam sang Bizets Ave Maria.
 Father Kerrigan filled the pulpit and continued his discussion of the Holy Eu- charist, the title of his discourse being .erhe Real Presence at the Bar of Rea- son."
 Outline of Sermon.
 The synopsis of what the priest said fol- lows:
 The great diTr ulty of those who object l to the literal sense in Christ's words, This is My body. this is My blood" is that it appears repugnant to reason that Christ could cause the substance of His body to exist under appearances or accidents of bread and wine, or, in the words: Human reason, varying. falllble. finite, though 1t be, cannot comprehend in all it's intimate phases this revelation of God, the Infinite. therefore it is false. This Is but an echo of the word of the Pharisees. How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
 The Pharisees took Christ for a mere man, hence their ineredulity. Professing Christians believe him to be Christ, hence equal to His Father, hence able to do things not repugnant to, but above our understanding It Is the part of reason to determine whether Christ uttered these words, not to test his veracty or omnipo- tence. If the incomprehensibility of miracle were an argument, goodbye Christianity.
 pr. Patten, president of Princeton Theological Seminary and an eminent Presbyterian divine, in recent sermon, meets squarey that rationalistic tend ency that would pooh-pooh this or that miracle. Christianity" he says '1s piece of information given supernaturally and miraculously." Deny me; by that same token deny all, and then where is Christianity? A mere moral philosophy, with no binding power
 Science and Metaphysics.
 The deduction of physical science, hypo- thetieal as they mostly are, can never clash with the doctrine of the Real Pres ence, because the question to be consd- cred that of substance, is of higher field of inquiry, that of metaphysics. The doctrines of the Real Presence is not re- pugnant to, but above human reason. To prove a repugnance, we must know the intimate essence of matter and also the sacramentai state. Of these, we know next to nothing. We must compare these two with reason, the unknown with the known. How arrive at any conclusion?
 The apostles expressed no surprise at these words. Christ was God to them. Nature, too, is full of mysteries de- manding the surplus thinking energy of man before he question omnipotence. These are life and death, the action of the soul, the germ of life in a seed and electricity. Many of those who deny the Real Presence as incomprehensible to reason. swall easily the Blessed Trinity, apparently repugnant to reason, likewise the Incarnation.
 The argument that the real presence contradicts the senses, reporting, as they do, bread and wine present instead of the body and blood of the Lord, will not hold water. They report correctly here, for the substance Is that of Christ, the ap- pearances those. of bread and wine. The testimony of the senses is not an absolute criterion of certainty. Senses judge of ap- pearance and appearances often deceive. The sun is fixed, and neither rises nor | d. When a scientist, human though he be, tells us the earth revolves about the sum- q. we adjust our senses very soon. But when Christ, the son of the living God says that what is apparently bread is His body, we prefer the testimony of our senses to His divine word. Are there not instances, too. in Scripture of the senses reporting one thing and the authority of Gods voice another? In Genesis xix Matthew xviii, Mark xvi, angels are taken to be men, and, most strange of all, in Luke iii, 22, the Holy Ghost descends in bodily shape, in the form of dove. The senses report a dove; God through His word, the Bible says 1t is the Holy Ghost. Christ said of the bread; This is My body" Almighty God says of the dove. This is the Holy Ghost" Christ the sec ond person and the Holy Ghost the third person of the blessed trinity are of the same divine nature. Is it more repugnant to reason to veil one rather than the other under the accidents of something else?
 Our Lady of Sorrows.
 Services were held yesterday for the first time in the new edifce of Our Lady of Sorrows. There was mass at o'clock and high mass at 10 o'clock. The music at the latter service included Cans mass, well sung by a select choir. MT. Chali- foux played a beautiful violin solo.
 At 10 o'clock the Rev Father Meurer, pastor of the church. preached an im- pressive sermon.
 Father Meurer had for the subject of his remarks the history of the church. "how it encourages us to lead a pious life" The speaker said For good Cath olics there is nothing more consoling, nothing more encouraging than the his tory of our church of our Lord was founded with his blood and was enriched by the Holy Spirit. This divine institu- tion is protected by the Almighty God, and is preserved and governed by the Holy Chest" Father Meurer then show ed how the church had overcome all per- secution, and would triumph over error to the end of time.