The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-04-15
SUFFERING, THE ROAD TO
VICTORY.

cross Easter morning Jesus IlSeS
triumphant from the grave. 1t is
the lesson taught by the Redeem
err of Mankind; it is the lesson
needed by Notwithstanding
the Road to Victory.
Jesus was God Incarnate: to
His humanity He could have CIV
en- all the sweetness of human
life, all the joys earth may taste,
Heaven may distill. And this the
lot that the world Of men, would, at
first guessing, have traced before
Him from His entrance therein to
his departure therefrom. When,
in fact, it was otherwise with Him,
protests were intoned against the
predication that in Him there re-
sided the power and the majesty
of the Almighty God. Christ cru
cified-It was "unto the Jews, in
deed, stumbling block, and unto
the Gentiles foolishness." The
world scorns the cross, declares it
an accursed evil: Jesus takes it
with Him along the entire path
way of life, and dies upon it on
Calvary. Where is true wisdom
the wisdom that the smiles of
Omnipotence do crown? In the
Judgment Of the world, Or in that
Of Jesus? The victory of Easter
morning gives the answer The
miracle of the Resurrection lifts
above all doubling, above all quib-
bling the solemn fact that Jesus
is the Son Of God-God made
man "because Of us, because of
our SALVATION; the solemn fact
that while Jesus walked upon
earth, words and acts Of his were
words and acts Of the eternal
Word-words and acts no less
supreme in wisdom than supreme
in power.
Jesus was the sufferer" de-
spised, and the most abject of
men, a man of sorrows, and &C
quainted with .infrmity.'' Why
this? Because He had come to
console men, to redeem them from
sin, to bring them into His own
divine life. "He hath borne our
infrmities and carried our sor-
rows-He was wounded for our
iniquities, He was bruised for our
sins: the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him and by His
bruises we are healed" In all
this the wisdom Of Jesus is mani.
fest-the fullness of adaptation
of the means to the end. Would
we have seen in Him the Redeem.
er, saving us by paying in Himself
the penalty due to eternal justice
if all in Him were joyousness and
bliss? Would we have seen in Hin
the friend and the comforter, il
while we mourn He was in glad
ness, if, while we struggle, He
was free from trial; if while we
suffered, He was not suffering
The depth and the height Of the
wisdom of Jesus! Human life is {
life Of sorrowing:, our passage
across earth is through dark wales
far more than over sun-lit hill
tops: what we need is the assur
ance that sorrow does not spell
despair, that pain is not withou
it's compensations, that overhang
ing clouds are not without the riff
, , through which lights rays ma,
, enter. And this assurance we re
ceive from the sufferings of Jesus
e He suffered: therefore suffering
does not close out the divine smile
+ but rather draws it nigh. He wa
: acquainted with infrmity
therefore we know-we feel
+, that He understands us and il
E earnest and meaningful sympath,
, aids us to bear our heaviest bur
+ dens. He suffered with the inten
of satisfying divine justice for on
: !, sins therefore we have the fait]
: that our sins may be FORGIVEN
q that loving and merciful God
: more eager than we ourselves i
. work for the sanctifcation an,
r the final salvation Of our immorta
: souls.
f 20 the depths of the riches o
. the wisdom of the knowledge @
N IS
4 reasonings, we would deem suffer
: ing unbecoming to an Incarnat
God: and yet without the suffer
ings of Jesus we never could hav
known the unutterable love @
God for us, and His great mercie
toward us, even when sin held U
n apart from Him.
le The resurrection of Jesus is a
-S the mora nrnci0I7S whom II oonor