The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-11-21

or emhlems "lHS," "xP," and the COM
btnation of the Greek letters Alpha
and Omega?
'sTTIS" is an Authorization of the
Greek form of the most Holy Name of
Jesus, which written in full, is in
Greek "Tesous" capital r being repre-
scented in Greek by capital II. ZIP"
Is a similar Authorization of the Greek
form of the name Christ" Oh being
represented by the Greek letter \
(called Chi or XII, and "R" being rep
resented by 'P," called in Greek
Rho" The Greek first letter al
nha" is the same as our capital GA"
the last letter Of the Greek alphabet
(Alpha- Beta) is omega" which re-
sembles somewhat capital ~" re-
versed. In the Book Of Revelation or
Apocalypse" Of st. John Q-8) we
read: 81 am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, saith the Lord
God, Who is, and Who was, and Who
is to come, the Almighty" In XXI-6
the triumphant Saviour uses the
same words of Himself In XXII-13
the same Christ on His throne says:
II am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last, the beginning and the
end" This shows that He is God.
God was first, there was none before
Him and there will be none after
Him, as lie is from eternity and will
exist forever, though creatures may
perish or change He is the source,
the origin, the final goal of all things.
All the letters of the alphabet are
Included between the first and the
last; so the expression alpha and
Omega" means infinite perfection
also. The somewhat similar usage of
the Hebrew Aleph, the first, and THAI
the last, letter of Hebrew alphabet
brought out this meaning of nerfec-
ton more explicitly than the Greek,
but the symbolism passed over to
some extent from one to the other.
All these meanings Of eternity, per
lection, efficient and final causal1ty
are contained in the use of the ana
gram made up Of the combination of
Alpha and Omega and applied to Our
Divine Lord.
/. Why did Almighty God create
those souls, who, He foresaw, would
abuse their freedom by mortal sin
and be lost eternaIly? 2. May we
hold that matter existed from eter-
nifty?
1. This question involves mysteries
which human reason is unable 10
solve fully. 1t is certain that God is
Infinitely good and wishes the saliva
ton of all men and that our Redeemer
died for ALL 1t is equally certain that
those who died in mortal sin go to
hell. There is no contradiction be-
tween these two certain truths, even
though we are unable to explain in
fully satisfactory manner how they
are to be recOnciled. Let us not IN
sist upon trying to place ourselves IN
the point of view OF Almighty Goo
and presuming to understand His de
signs, and to criticise them with the
nnny force of our weak minds. Sin
lfself is the real mystery. Punish
ment for sin is reasonable, but why is
there sin at all? There is sin because
man has free will, the power ,tC
choose between good and evil. God Is
not responsible for sin in any way
He forbids it; He gives abundant hell
tn enable us to avoid it; He puts be
fore us the strongest possible motives
nf love and fear to induce us to aVolC
II. But He respects His own gift o.
free will and will not violate it OF
render it of no avail. Out of sin 1T
self, evil as it is, His wisdom anc
goodness can draw good. The lncar
nation, the Redemption, the miracles
of conversion and repentance, the yea
of good men for souls the patience o
Gods servants afflicted by Sinners
these and other wonders of divine
mercy and goodness have struck 81
forciblv the most enlightened minds
of our race that they have expressed
themselves with sublime audacit.
which our weak intelligence and i'm
perfect love of God can scarcely ap
nreciate. In the beautiful "EXultet
sung at the blessing of the Pascha
Candle on Easter Saturday, tn
Church adopts those sentiments II
the words that say there was Gel
tain necessity for the fall of Adam
a certain good fortune in it, consid
ering who Christ is, and why Co
became Man and what He did TO
men. These strong and startling
words ought not move us to cavil an
criticise, but they ought to lead u
to a humble faith and confidence i
the goodness of God. Let us thin
of sin only that we may hate and avoi
it, and of hell that we may not ia
into it. 1t is not necessary, and
may be dangerous for souls that ar
not advanced in the love of God an
the practice of virtue, to puzzle then
selves about the mysteries that mus
surround the relations between tn
Infinite God and His finite creatures
2. We may not hold that matter e.
listed from eternity. In the begin
ming God created Heaven and earth
These are the first words of til
Bible, and beginning" here means tn
beginning of time, while created
means 'made out of nothing" TIL
Vatican Council teaches that ''Tn tn
beginning of time God formed out
nothing both the spiritual and til