The Irish standard., 1904-10-22


the stone and to grant that whoever
gives aid to the building of the church
may have health of body and soul. He
refers to the vision of Jacob, and
Jacob arising i'll the morning took the
stone which he had laid under his
head and set it up for Il title, pouring
oil upon the top of it, Gen IS, IS.
And he made Il vow: truly this place
is holy and l knew it not" The Of
iciator proceeds: In the faith of
Christ let us place the first stone in
the foundations in the name OF the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost that faith, the fear of God and
fraternal love may flourish here and
at this place may be destined for
prayer and to invoke and praise the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ with
TIE Father and the Holy Ghost. After
wards that there may be at the ingreSs
of our humility by the merits of the
saints the flight of demons and the
entry of the angel of peace. He con-
cludes by invoking God to grant Il
heavenly increase to the building that
! what is begun by His orders may by
His bounty be completed.
Christ in establishing the kingdom
of His church founded it on Il rock.
He promised to st. Peter: "Thou art
Peter and upon this rock l will build
my church and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it, Its firmness
| and stability are signiiicd and insured
by the firmness of the foundation on
which it was to be built than which
none other can be found tirmer. Peter,
the rock. was the vicar the rcprcsen-
tativc of Christ from which office by
| divine institution he derived the firm
ness to give stability to the whole
spiritual cdiice. Christ himself is the
primary foundation. For other
foundations no man can lay but that
which is laid which is Christ Jesus"
Peter is the secondary foundation,
resting on Christ and deriving all his
strength and tillmness from Him and
communica ting it to the church.
| The ceremony which we perform to-
day brings forcibly before our minds
/ all this that took place at the found
| ing of the Christian commonwealth, as
we'll us the purposes for which church
(! is intended. We may apply to the
| latter the words of jacob: This is
no other but the house Of God and the
/! gate of heaven" Gen. 2S, II. In
church God dwells in Il special man
/, ner. 1t is true heaven and the heaven
Of heavens cannot contain Him. He
is present everywhere. The royal
psalmist says: eff ascend into heaven
thou art there, if l go down to hell
thou art present. If l take my wings
early in the morning and dwell in the
utternost parts of the sea. even there
also shall thy hand lead me and thy
right hand shall hold me-" Ps 1873.
God is everywhere we know and is at
all times ready to hear our petitions,
special manner. Theologians distin-
guish different ways in which God is
present, viz, by his essence. He is in
| all places, not only those that actually
exist, but in those that can possibly
exist, by his power He is present sus-
| tanning all things that have been
created and by His peculiar presence
| He is present in the church which is
peculiarly His own house. So that
| apart altogether from the sacramental
| dwelling of Christ, the Goldman, under
God makes His home in the church.
This is no other but the house of
God" 1t is also ''the gate of heaven"
God might have elected to save men
| without churches, without ministers,
| without sacraments, but it is not for
us to make conditions nor to speculate
| what might have been, but to conform
in heart and mind to what actually is.
God has established the church and in
Stituted the s;lcraments us the means
of applying the fruits of his passion
to mems souls. Looking at human
nature as it is constituted the estab-
lished order is the surest to enlist our
cooperation. We require some tangi-
| BILE embodiment of the spiritual to ap-
peal to our gross nature, to awaken
spiritual desires and stimulate spirit
| ual efforts If God had arranged that
| man worship Him in solitude accord
ing to the promptings of his own
! heart, for Il while he might pray. he
| might occasionally repent Of his sins,
but is it probable that he would long
pcrsevcre? If for while his souls
gaze We're attracted by the heavenly
light and dazzled by its effulgence,
! there would be danger that after Il
short time he would avert it to feast
on some created object and rob the
creator Of what is due to Him-un-
divided love. There would be an
aversion from the creator and con-
version to the creature, yea, and the
conversion to God again would be
more difficult-would be more tnrdily
accomplished. To keep man erected
towards heaven and to recall him
when wandering n stranger to justice,
] ~ hlo cir,, clctbnI with Sniritl1o1