The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-29
SERMON Blythe MOST REVEREND
ARCHBISHOP.
The Opening of the New Novice-House
of the Sisterhood of st. Joseph
The Investiture of Thirty-eight Can
didates-The Profession Of Twenty
Novices-St. Paul, March 26, 1918.

didates-The Profession Of Twenty
Novices-st. Paul, March 26, 1918.
"Then Peter answering, said to
Him: Behold we have left all things
and have followed thee: what there
fore shall we have? And Jesus said
to them: Amen I say to you, that you
who have followed me, in the resur-
rection, when the Son of man shall
sit in the seat of his Majesty you
shall also sit on twelve seats judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. And every
one that hath left house, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife or children, or lands for my
names sake, shall receive one hun
dred fold, and shall possess life ever
lasting. (St Matthew, XIX-27-29).
It is today in st. Paul, as in the
long ago in Palestine, as oft and oft
in every age of the Church of Christ.
1t is spoken, the act of plenary re-
nunciation of self and of possessions
by the disciple, to the end that near
ness to the Master be the fuller, that
service under His leadership be the
more entire. 1t is spoken, the an
swer of the Master setting upon the
act of the disciple the seal of divine
approval and announcing the reward
with which He promises to crown it.
AS Peter in the long ago, as legions
to be counted only by Gods omnis-
morning speak our maiden throng:
We have left all things and have fol-
lowed Thee: what therefore shall we
have? And as of yore the answer:
Amen I say to you, that you, who have
followed me shall receive
an hundred fold, and shall possess
life everlasting.
The Charm of Idealism-Its Source
in Religion.
We are in the world Of idealism
1t is idealism the purest, the loftiest
the idealism of the supernatural.
Idealism is the vision of realities
beyond and above the lowly world
bordered by the reach of sense; it is
the longing of the soul for those high
born realities, it's flight, generous and
unselfish, towards union with them.
There are those who despise ideal
ism-who crave nought for the world
of men but the fieeting fact of the
day, the shallow and short-lived en-
| joyment to be wrested from it. Posi-
| twists they call themselves: they are
the dire enemies of humanity. Would
you have the world of men grow in
sweetness and charm of life, in serv
| ice to fellow-creature, in grandeur o1
thought and exaltation of spirit, bid
them look upward and onward and
know that there dwell, as not in the
darkened wales of earth, the true, the
good, the beautiful; that there lives
and reigns the eternal God, in whom
alone man finds abiding life and fe
licity.
The world to-day is losing in ideal
ism, because it is losing in. religion
God put out of sight, the ethereal
regions enclose only dream shadow
earth becomes the sole value. God nc
longer thought of and loved, idealisn
vanishes: the selfish grasp of pei
and pleasure remains the one object
of life on earth. In many ways re
ligion is the salvation of humanity
in this, too, that it guards and pre-
serves idealism.
IdeaIism Of the Gospel.
Let us study idealism as set fortf
in the Gospel of Jesus-God, the uiti
mate goal of our ambitions, His
blessedness our blessedness, His life
our life: BE ye perfect, as also youl
heavenly Father is perfect" 1t is the
idealism of the Supernatural.
How far each disciple of Jesus shall
enter into the idealism of the Gospel
how near each one shall be to Goo
in this life and in the next, each one
gives answer for himself.
This much we must know-a meas
ure of supernatural idealism is neces
sary to our salvation, so much of II
as is attained through the observance
of the commandments. What God or
dains must be done under penalty oi
exclusion from His love and rewards
"If thou wilt enter into life," says
the Master, keep the command
ments" Violation of the command
ments is sin, the setting aside of the
whole scheme of divine idealism, the
loss of divine favor in the present
life, the loss of it throughout eternity
The observance of the commandments
| is the minimum: much more, how
ever, is allowed, If courage is ours
to go further in ascension towards
love and favor. "Tn my Fathers
house there are many mansions"-so
many degrees of nearness to the
throne of glory and beatitude.
Across all fields of thought and ac
ton souls arise, especially high-born
and generous, who, weary of the ordi
nary, find rest only on the more ex
alted planes of sacrifice and service
where great ambitions and great deeds
breathe native air. Why should there
not be such souls where the super
natural is the ideal-more than else
where there where the goal is the
loftiest, the power Of uplift the might