The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-11-20

prayers?
To begin the day by addressing tC
Almighty God words of praise and
petition, alteration and Thanksgiving
most certainly appeals to all of Chris
tian faith. That it is of obligation tC
do so may not so quickly be decided
1t is evident that we must pray. The
Church requires us to pray at least
on Sundays and holy days of obliga
tion when she obliges us to hear Mass
We know, however, of no positive
law stating specifically that we must
pray morning and evening. To dc
only what the law demands is not a
mark of filial service to God Who is
Our Father.
Will you please explain the doctrine
of the Atonement and publish refer
ences to discussions of the subject?
The doctrine of the Atonement
refers specially to the vicarious
satisfaction that Christ made for our
sins. The work of Christ on earth
was ito save" man. This salvation is
described in the New Testament as
eternal life," grace" heirship of
God, joint heirship with Christ. Man
had lost by sin the original state of
his friendship with God. He had lost
all right to attain the end for which
he was made. Continued existence
was without an adequate purpose
and SO he deserved death. Christ
the Goldman, the Mediator between
God and man, intercedes with God for
man. He pays to the full the debt
that man had contracted by sin, He
suffers the full penalty that divine
justice demanded, even the death
which man had deserved. In doing this
much He atoned for mans sins, He
made satisfaction for them. His
sufferings had, however, a greater
value than merely to balance the
account that sin had contracted. They
secured for man an additional credit
with God, an infinite treasury of
further favors. Both the satisfaction
itself and the additional merits were
based on the law of justice. Full
value was given for what was OBJ
tanned.
Christ not only satisfied God for
mans offences, but, for each element
in the offence He made reparation.
Man by his sin was disobedient;
Christ was obedient; man showed a
spirit of lawlessness, irreyerence, and
a want of love; Christ's work was
filled with reverence for Gods law,
for Gods majesty and with love for
His goodness. HE was heard. because
of his reverence"
We have tried to distinguish be-
tween atonement or satisfaction and
merit. Yet it is not easy to under
stand how satisfaction could be made,
unless merit be at the same time inn
piled. For satisfaction is made for
sin when the original order establish
ed by God in restored. This is done,
not when the divine honor is ap-
peased, but when man becomes
again friend of God, when he OBJ
tains not only pardon, but sanctifying
grace. This is secured through the
merits of Christ. Hence the two,
atonement and merit, are necessarily
connected.
The saving work of Christ was not
applied at one time to all individuals
in the world, nor did it blot out all
our sin for all time to come. 1t
secured for us, as we have said, full
satisfaction before God for the sins
of the whole world and superabun-
dance of merit stored up for us. The
application of this satisfaction and
these merits to each individual is by
the means that Christ himself has
appointed; namely, prayer and the
sacraments and the suffering of the
ills of life in union with Christ.
To one who has not true con-
cept of Gods love for man revealed in
Christ it might appear that in Christs
sufferings the innocent was punished
for the guilty In truth, however,
Christ was not punished as criminal
is punished. BY His own free act He
assumed the debt that man owed,
He died because He so willed," Il
lay down my life of myself, no man
takes it away from me, for | have
power to lay it down and | have
power to take it up again Further
more one who will not suffer in this
world, will suffer forever in the next.
1t is only by suffering that we share
i'll the work of Christ; suffering in the
heart by our repentance for sin, to
partake of the pardon that Christ has
purchased for us; suffering the ills of
life to have applied to our own sins
the satisfaction that Christ has made
for all the sins of the world. Christ's
atonement therefore has secured for
all the satisfaction and merits that
personally we may share in, by accept
ing the means and fulfilling the law
that Christ has established.
All Catholic dogmatic theologians
discuss this subject. st. Thos.
Aquinas, 3 q. As. a. 8. Hunter. Ii
Cos. Wilhelm and Scanned, Ii, 1S4.
A hires out to 3 for $4,000 and is
paid only $500. Has A the right to
make up the difference unknown to
BIT
If A has fulfilled his part of the
contract and demands in vain the full
salary that was agreed upon. the
proper course for him to follow is
to appeal to the civil authority to
enforce his claim. Circumstances
might exist wherein this course
would he irnnracticah1e In snnh an