Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-21
SPECIAL SERVICES
MARK PALM SUNDAY
PASSION IS SUNG AT CATHOLIC
CHURCHES
Bishop conaty breaches Sixth of the
Course of Lenten Sermons on
HThe Kingdom of
Christ"

Palm Sunday, commemorative of the
triumphant entry of Christ into Jeru-
salem, was observed yesterday in the
churches of Los Angeles. At the
Catholic churches, from the missions
to the cathedral, palms were blessed
and distributed at the masses.
At the churches the Passion was
sung in place of the usual sermons,
this being an important feature OF the
day.
At the Cathedral of st. Vibiana
Bishop Conaty preached the sixth of
his course of Lenten sermons last
evening from the following text:
"Pilate asked Jesus, Art thou king
them And Jesus answered him, Thou
sayest that 1 am king. For this
was born and for this came l into
the world that l should give testimony
to the truth St. John xviii: 81"
The bishop spoke of the triumphaI
entry Of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem
and saids that the people by their ho-
sannas acknowledged Christ as king
and paid to him the tribute of then
love.
He said in part:
This temporary triumph of Christ
was a forerunner of the triumph which
ne was to win over sin and death and
1t foreshadowed the triumph of divine
love which was to win mankind tC
faith i'm Christ and thus establish him
in that kingdom of divine grace by
which man participates in the bless
ings of redemption and secures for
himself his eternal inheritance in the
kingdom of heaven. Christ's mission
on earth was to found kingdom, not
as the Caesars ruled, nor as the Ju-
dean kings held authority, but it was
to be a spiritual kingdom in which
truth and love were to prevail This
kingdom is q kingdom of faith and its
subjects believe in God and love to
fulfill His commandments. 1t is a
kingdom of truth for Christ came to
teach man the great truth of God
and thus give to his intelligence that
satisfaction which truth alone can
give and to his manhood that strength
which comes from the knowledge of
God and the grace which accompanies
it. The kingdom of Christ is a king
dom of love established by the blood
of Christ through which man is en-
abled to give that service which is
pleasing to him. The cross is the
emblem of Christs kngly power and
the resurrection is the credential of
his divine authority to rule mankind.
He sent his apostles to the Greek
and Roman world, as well as to the
Jewish synagogue, preaching to them
the unity and trinity Of Cod the in
carnation and redemption through
Christ, and establishing the church and
its sacramental system as the means
by which human nature might be lifted
into the dignity which belongs to the
children of God, that thus society
might be redeemed from the degrada-
tion of sin. Against the sensuality
of paganism they preached the moral
ity of Christ, against the idolatry of
the pagan gods they preached the wor-
ship of the Christ who had been cru
Gifted and who had risen from the
dad.
"The triumph of Christianity came
in the establishment of the church, In
its growth and development notwith-
standing the fact of three centuries
of persecution on the part of the great
est empire that the world has ever
known. Julian, the apostate emperor,
cried out when dying: 'Galilean. thou
hast conquered The public triumph
of the church came when the EN-
peror Constantine foreswore the gods
of the empire and became a Christian.
The establishment of the Christian be-
lief meant an absolute social revo-
luton.
christianity entered into the indi-
vidual life and by its grace gave man
the power to rule himself; it entered
into the social life and gave society
the proper direction in its laws and
built up the great system of justice
which recognizes the law of God as the
foundation of all civil law. 1t estab-
lished the p.inciples of human dignity,
giving to manhood and womanhood its
dignity and honor, to childhood and
life it's sancity. 1t taught to all man
kind the fundamental principle of that
equality which finds its source in God
as the common Father and Christ as
common Redeemer and in heaven
as a common Inheritance. 1t taught
the world for the first time the mean
ing of the fraternity Of man and es-
tablished charity as. a fundamental
rule of life essential to the proper un-
derstanding of the love of God"