The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-01
THE DIGNITY OF CHRISTIAN
SUFFERING.
Christians, the Members of Christ's
Body; Christ, the Soul of the Church
Continues to Suffer in His Members.

Nature, in both man and brute,
abhors pain. 1t is only to be expected
therefore, that a people or an age
without a strong belief in the super
natural, should rebel against pain and
comfort as an end in themselves, and
should repudiate the doctrine of pen
ance. This is a logical position for
an unbeliever; for, as we are told by
Bishop Byrne of Nashville in his we'll
known translation, Jesus Living in the
Priest, in the natural order suffering
is barren, inglorious and without con-
ISOLATION But the Christian can suffer
with resignation and sometimes even
with ioy. Whence this strength and
this courage? 1t is supernatural. 1t
comes from the fact that Christ has
made suffering fruitful, glorious and
sweet And how has this magical re-
suit been accomplished? BY Christs
death on the cross, and by the results
of that death, in the Church Bishop
Byrne continues: Jesus Christ gives
life in the Blessed Eucharist, not
alone as the principle and source of
grace, but also as the universal soul
of the Church, whose actions He
directs and whose members He gov
lerns.
Here we shall try to follow step by
step the teaching of the Doctor of the
Gentiles According to st. Paul Chris
tians are the fitness of Jesus Christ.
It is indeed true that our divine
Saviour is perfect and complete in His
Own Person, but nevertheless He re-
ceives a certain amplitude from His
members. The human soul, for in
stance, is complete in itself from the
very first instant of it's creation, and
yet it seems to grow and expand IN
a child from it's capacity to give to
the child a fuller life, communicating
to the infant, as it wakes strong, a
greater power of movement, of sensa-
ton and reason. Similarly Jesus
Christ, though perfect and complete
in Himself, seems to extend and ampli-
fy Himself in us in exercising through
us His capacity to love, to humble
Himself, to suffer and to practise
other virtues.
strength and virtue we're gathered to-
gether and centred in the Man-God
during His sojourn on earth, neverthe-
less it was not possible for Him alone
to put into execution all the great
and sublime designs which His Divine
soul had conceived. The limitations
of His natural body did not permit
this Hence it was in a sense neces-
sary that God should give Him Sec
ond body. which should be diffused
throughout the whole earth, which
should endure for time and eter-
nifty, that through this body He might
be able to satisfy His zeal and His
infinite longing to give glory to His
Father.
His own voice could not reach all
men and carry to them the words of
eternal life, but this He could do
through His Apostles, and this He
will continue to do through their sue
cessors to the end of time. AS st.
Paul says, it is Christ who speaks,
and Christ who exhorts through their
voice; their words are but the echo
of His, they are but His ministers
and His interpreters: God, as it we're,
exhorting by us.
Again, Jesus Christ would have
wished to have endured thousand
torments, to have suffered thousand
deaths in order to adequately satisfy
His Fathers justice, and fittingly
honor His holiness. This He could
not do Himself, He could die only
once on the Cross. But what He
could not do Himself He has done
through a countless multitude of mar
tyrs and afflicted souls in whom, as
in His own members, He amplifies
His sufferings, prolongs their duration
multiphes them, renews them, and
will go on renewing them until the
day of His second coming.
This explains the enduring and gen
erous constancy, the heroic courage OF
the innumerable martyrs of faith and
penance whose deeds seem to us tC
be beyond the utmost power of nature
And so they were, but Jesus Christ
wrought in those martyr-heroes ant
bore them on to heights so sublime
Picture to yourself for moment
those unconquerable athletes of Chris
tianity. They are dragged before trib
unals, cast as food to wild beasts
stretched over burning Goals; flames
consume them, their members are
rent asunder with hooks of iron, theil
flesh is torn into bits and falls from
their bodies in shreds. The yer!
thought of all this appals you, and yo'
fear, while contemplating it in fancy
that their constancy will give wa,
under such terrible strain and suffer
ing. No, no; fear not; have no sucl
thought: those valiant souls know
well that Jesus Christ suffers in then
and with them; they see Him, they ar
conscious of His presence in tn
depths of their souls. Nothing fright
ems them; they know not fear; the
jeer at their sufferings; they smile i
the midst of their torments. Thei
bodies are torn and MANNED, the stee
burrows and lays open the flesh o
their limbs, and still they bless Goo
thank their execution rs and sin
canticles of joy. Does nature CIV
such courage to tender children an
timid virgins? No, Jesus Christ live
fhoT