The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-02-17
Continued from page ~
LENTEN PASTORAL.

Lord: it is my meditation all the day.:
in language of similar delight and
gratitude should we be able to tell
Heaven of our deep and continuous
application to learn and to know in
all it's doctrines and all it's precepts
the teachings of Christ and of His
Church.
Increased knowledge Begets Deeper
The more we know our Christian
faith, the more we love it; the more
it sinks into our minds, the more
easily We assimilate it into our daily
lives. The splendor of divine truth
clearly seen and clearly apprehended
ravishes the soul with it's beauty, and
makes adhesion to it in belief and
practice not only easy, but so COM
polling that obedience is delight,
almost a necessity. TIC lack, however,
in knowledge of the faith is to expose
ourselves to many evils. There are
some who cling loosely to the faith,
some who depart altogether from it:
those have never tasted the fullness
of it's sweets, have never opened fully
to it's radiance the avenues OF their
minds. There are some who falter
under the weight of the precepts of
Christ and His Church: those have
never learned the fullness of power
wrapped up in the truths taught by
Christ and by His Church; they have
never known fully of the graces, at
their disposal, of the means of appro-
priating to themselves those graces. 1t
is the knowledge, rich and complete,
of the faith that begot in Christian
history saints and martyrs: it is
similar knowledge of the faith that
holds us erect amid the battles we
must fight for God and for our souls.
The Catholic, i'll instructed in his re-
ligion. Is the reed which the passing
wind of error or passion bends and
breaks: the Catholic, well Instructed
in his religion, safely defies the most
violent storm.
t. causes of regret are many as
we survey the Catholic field-Catho-
lies, who are Catholics only in name,
who quit even the name before the
whisper of temporal interest or pub
lie opinion-Catholics who dare sell
dom make open and courageous pro-
fession of their belief-Cathollcs VINO
however brave the answer when the
rolI-call of the warriors of the Church
is sounded, disgrace it's standard IN
other moments by the wickedness OF
their private life. And why all this?
To a large degree, because of lack OF
instruction in the doctrines of religion.
Need of Instructed Catholics.
Let us be frank with ourselves: too
many of us are poorly instructed IN
the Christian faith. A little of the
Catechism long ago when we were
admitted to First Communion or to
Confirmation, a sermon heard now and
then. to which, perhaps, we listened
distractedly, from which perhaps we
gathered small fruit-such often is
the record of our religious training.
No consecutive, attentive hearing or
sermons, no studious reading of Cath
olic newspapers, or of Catholic books
what could we know, what do we
know? And yet less than we now
know. will they in future years know,
who are more or less dependent upon
us for their religious instruction,
whom it behooves us to form by les
son and example into intelligent, stall
wart soldiers of holy Church. Mat
tiers on this score are ever growing
worse. Time was generation or two
ago when books treating of religion
were in every household and there
were eagerly read; when no Catholic
home was without it's Catholic news
paper or magazine. 1t is a reading
age, this age of ours, and Catholics as
others are readers. But what do the
large number read? The daily politi-
cal newspaper, an agricultural or COM
mercial weekly, novels, stories of trav-
els. People today read much-much
in bulk of form, little in profitable
value. Not even serious works on his
tory, philosophy, or general intellec-
tual culture come to their shelves or
to their hands. With all our boasting
of scholarship, and of our love of
reading, Intellectually we are a super
fetal people. Fed upon mental food
the highest in kind when it is not posi-
lively pernicious-we are weaklings in
things Of the mind, in that superior
mental culture which makes for ex-
allied manhood and endows the nation
with citizens who think and reason
But whatever of other themes, that of
religion is assuredly set aside, being
deemed of such little Importance to
our interests and activities, as to merit
on their part only the slightest degree
of attention, even when it is not alto
gether hidden away from their notice.
Creation must be studied, not so the
Creator: morals must be studied, not
so the Legislator. Time must be
thought of, not so eternity: the inter
ests of the body must be served, not