The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-04

Suppose for an instant that God
could not create soul whom He fore
saw would be lost by the abuse of
free will and grace. It would follow
then that every one, by the very fact
of creation, and without any effort on
their part, would be infallibly certain
of heaven.
If this were the case, man, who is
created with the free will to choose
either good or evil, could give him.
self up to the full satisfaction of every
evil desire and passion, feeling conf
dent that God must one day give him
eternal happiness. What becomes
then of the distinction between good
and evil? What sanction would there
be to the moral law?
Indeed, Gods foreknowledge of the
eternal ruin of a sinner brings out
paradoxical as it may seem-the good
ness of the Almighty, who deigned to
give to certain ones the gift of exist
ence, even though He knew they would
abuse this gift.
But you may object further, why did
God give men this perilous gift of
free will?
God, in His infinite goodness, Gre
ated men to His image and likeness,
to be one with Him in love for all
eternity. To love God, we must know
Him and serve Him, and that freely.
AS a circle implies a center, so mans
dignity implies the freedom of choice.
How absurd, then, to call God cruel if
we abuse His most precious gift of
the will to our eternal ruin.
What does the Mass represent?
It represents and renews, though in
unbloody manner, the sacrifice OF
Christ on the Cross. GAS often as you
shall eat of this bread and drink of
this chalice, you shall show the death
of the Lord until He come" q. Cor.
XII, 26.)
Is the Apostles Creed found in the
Bible? Whence do we get it and how
do we know that the Apostles wrote
it?
The Apostles Greed is a concise
statement of the principal mysteries
of our Religion. 1t is not found in the
Bible except substantially. The Apos-
ties received the truths contained in
it directly from Christ, and tradition
says that before separating to evan
gelize the world they drew up this
creed as a solemn declaration of the
truths which they were to preach to
all mankind
How is the interior of church con.
secrated?
After saying: peace be to the
house," the Bishop enters, and kneel
ing down, invokes the Holy Spirit
While the Litany of the Saint and the
Renedictus are sung, the Bishop strews
ashes in the form of cross on the
floor and writes in them with his
crozier the Greek and Latin alphabets
The Greek and Latin alphabets signify
that the Church is consecrated on the
foundation of the Catholic apostolic
faith, which in the beginning was pro
claimed chiefly in the Greek and Latin
languages. He sprinkles the inside
walls and the floor with holy water
and anoints with chrism twelve places
on the walls, each one of which is
marked with a cross and lighted
taper, sometimes called the apostle
cross. The amounting Of the walls al
the apostle-crosses signify that in
: the church the faith will be taught anG
practised as preached by the Apostles
Then the Bishop blesses the Gregoria1
, water. The Gregorian water derive:
it's name from Pope st. Gregory the
) Great, who first ordered this. manner
, of blessing. With the water is min
, gled salt, ashes and wine, all pre-
viously blessed. The altar symbolize'
Jesus Himself, the wine symbolize
the divine nature in Jesus, the waite
His human nature, the ashes Hi
, death and the salt His incorruptibllity
He signs the main door of thu
church with two crosses, and suppl
, Gates for mercy for those who shall
, pray in this edifice. He makes tn
cross with the blessed water on tn
. altar table in the center and at tn
: four corners, walks seven time
around the altar, sprinkling it with tn
+ same water, and three times he sprir
kles the walls of the church, once tn
floor in the form of cross, and the
sprinkles it towards the four point
: of the compass. When he has anoir
: ted the inner and outer doors of tn
: church, with chrism, the sacred relic
: are carried in solemn procession an
placed in the altar stone with prayer
The Bishop anoints the altar in tn
center and at both ends with holy Of
= and chrism, meanwhile making fiv
signs of the cross over it, and incer
, sing it. He makes five crosses COZ
, sisting of five grains of incense, an
then covers them with wax. Ono
; more he anoints the altar amid pra,
ers. Finally the altar cloths are bles!
ed on which the HOLY Sacrifice is 600