The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-04
SERMON OF THE MOST
REVEREND ARCHBISHOP

that men hear Him, believe Him, and
obey Him: amen, l say to you, he
who heareth my word and believeth
Him that sent me hath everlasting
life:" "He that despiseth me and
keepeth not my words, hath one that
judgeth him." The injunction to the
Apostles is positive and explicit:
Preach the Gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that belieyeth not
shall be condemned" How could it
be otherwise? When the one who has
proven Himself Gods messenger, God
himself visiting His people," speaks,
He must be heard and believed, be-
cause of the reverence due Him. Di-
vine majesty must assert and sustain
itself: the creature cannot be allowed
to be Indifferent towards the Creator:
else the creature were setting himself
above the Creator Jesus taught: to
us to seek out His words, and treasure
them in love: to us to believe and
obey. Mysteries there may be in the
revelations of the supernatural: our
duty still is to believe, to submit in
all things our understanding to the
mind of the Almighty. 1t was the
purpose of divine revelation, as st.
Paul writes, ito destroy every height
that exalteth itself against the knowl-
edge of God, to bring into captivity
every understanding unto the obedi-
ence of Christ
Jesus, the Sanctifier of Souls.
Coming as Saviour and Redeemer,
Jesus died to merit for men graces
whereby they we're to be purified from
sin and fitted for divine life. He
instituted ordinances through which
those graces we're to descend into
souls. He ordered baptism: he al
lotted to the Apostles the power of
binding and loosing: He instituted the
sacrament of the Last Supper. To
men to submit to those ordinances, or
be deprived 0f the merits of the Re
demption The creature has not the
right to mark out his own road to
Heaven, to assert his independence of
the divine plannings. Else, again,
man should be the Master, and God
the servant
! Christ, the Founder of the Church.
Finally, to perpetuate through ages
His teachings, to provide for the min
istration of His graces even unto the
end of time, Jesus founded His
Church, building it upon the rock that
no opposition could shatter or weaken
-entrusting to it's chieftains His own
power, giving to them the promises of
abiding guidance: 'All power is
given to me in Heaven and on earth !:
as the Father sent me, so also send
you-Going, therefore, teach all ma
! tions-And behold / am with you all
days even unto the consummation of
the ages" The Church of Christ is
Christ still dwelling among men, still
teaching, still sanctifying: we are not
Christ's disciples, we have not entered
into the fullness of the spirit OF
Christmas unless today we hear the
Church and obey it's mandates, as we
should hear Christ, and obey His man.
dates, were He visibly our immediate
teacher and Master.
Say what men will, do what they
will, Jesus has spoken. His word
abides. For there is no other name
under Heaven given to men whereby
we must be saved"
The Attitude of Many Towards Christ
An Independent Morality.
What now is the attitude in the
world of men around us towards
Christ and His teachings? Verify, "He
was in the world, and the world was
made by Him, and the world knew
Him not" There are those who
while casting towards Bethlehem 9
glance of vague admiration, profess
that whatever Jesus may be to others
to them He is as if He had not come
They do not need Him: they neeG
neither His teachings, nor His graces
They are allsufficient to themselves
Are they not the honest men, the gooC
citizens, the benevolent neighbors, the
faithful guardians of those entrusted
to their care? What more is re
! quired? I answer-this is required
that they remember their duty tt
God and to His Christ. This is the
) first commandment: "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with thy whole
heart, with thy whole soul and with
thy whole mind" thy God thou shalt
serve. Whatever the value of this so
called independent morality, from
which God is excluded, it is vital,
lacking in that chief element of hu
man morality, which demands above
and before all else the solemn recog
milton of the Creator and Sovereign
Master, which exacts obedience to His
will, submission to His word. God has
} not visited His people to be neg
lected by them, to be scorned in His
gifts, to be despised and set aside a:
useless to humanity, as incapable oi
asserting His rights to love and wor
ship. Let men be the honest serv
ants, as much as they claim to be:
let them have earned earth's wealth
and honors to the full extent OF
their highest ambitions: unless they
have served God and kept His com
mandments their life is a failure:
their end is without hope and joy. Coo
! has been forgotten; and God is the
; judge to vindicate the eternal law ol
gratitude and Justice. violated b1