The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-04-10
DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.

The dogma of our holy Faith that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the
second Person of the Blessed Trinity,
consubstantial with the Father and
the Holy Ghost and equal to them in
all things, is the fundamental doc
trine of the Catholic Religion. 1t is
because we believe that our Redeemer
was true God, as well as true man,
that we give assent to all the truths
| which the Church, that He divinely
instituted teaches us. We place our
belief and trust in His Divinity, and
the sanction of our Faith is more than,
human. The sects separated from
Catholicity may be satisfied with
Christ who has an ideal of human
perfection, the greatest and most adj
mirable of men; but to us Jesus Christ
is God, a divine Person. Were He
anything less, our faith and belief
would lose the stability and unques-
tioning firmness which are its chief
characteristics.
We believe in Jesus Christ, Gods
only Son. He, Himself, claimed to be
more than mere man. He asserted,
in an authoritative tone, that He was
the Son of God. 81 am the Son of
Cod" he said, 'if do not the works
of the Father, believe me not" Even
when on trial for His life, when He
might have saved Himself by denying
His divine Sonship, He not only ac-
knowledged, but insisted upon His Di-
vinity. 1t was precisely because He
made such a claim that the Jews be-
came incensed against Him and would
4 be satisfied with nothing less than His
crucifiXion. For when Christ asks
them, For which of these good works
do you stone me-" they answer, For
a good work we stone Thee not, but
for blasphemy, and because Thou
being man, makest Thyself Cod"
This was their principal accusation
made to PLATE against him. 1--WE
have law and, according to the law,
He ought to die, because He made
Himself the Son of Cod" His enemies
charged Him with the blasphemy of
usurping to Him divine Sonship.
Jesus Christ did not deny the charge.
He made no defense against their in
dictment, and it was because He main
tanned His Divinity, and for that alone,
that He suffered the death of the
Cross.
And it was not only the enemies of
Jesus that gave evidence of the Saw
tours claim to be God as well as man
st. John the Baptist clearly attests
that Christ is the Son of God; St. John
4 the Evangelist records this same fact
in his Gospel; st. Paul teaches that
the fullness of Divinity dwells in
Il Jesus, calls Him God, and proclaims
Him to be One Who is worthy of the
alteration of the Angels. The apos
ties preached this fundamental doc.
trine of Christianity to the whole
world of their day, and sealed their
faith in its truth by shedding their
life blood to attest their faith in the
Divinity of their God and Redeemer.
Jesus Christ, again and again, as
serted that He was the Son of Cod
and identical, in nature, with the
! Father. It is impossible that He
: could have deceived His listeners an6
even more unimaginable that He coulG
i have been deceived Himself. We
!; Judge of the scredibility of any mar
: from His character Deceit is never
/ found in one who is yirtuous to the
extent of being free from any flaw Of
, imperfection The world has always
admitted that never a man lived OF
. spoke as did the Son of Man. His
i virtues have never been equalled
neither before nor after the time Of
!; His soiourn on earth. 1t is not con
ceivable, then, that one who was such
q paragon of virtue; whose character
, was the most lovable and heautifu
} that was ever known. could have viii
! fully deceived those who believed ii
! Him.
+ We find even a greater difficulty in
assuming that Jesus Christ was Him
self deceived and falsely imagined
that He was Divine. There was moth
ing of the fanatic about Him He was
not a likely subject of ha1lucinations
II we cannot assert that He was an
Eimpostor, how much more impossible
is it for us to characterize Him as .
lunatic! The sweetness, humility and
. Eabove all else. quiet. logical common
/ sense of His life and teachings pre-
j Iclude even d reasonable doubt of His
I mental ability to know His own iden
i Itity On thewofd of the Saviour Him
/. SELF. We believe that He was reals
what He claimed to be, the Son oi
IGod.
i And our faith IN the Divinity 81
Jesus Christ does not rest upon His