The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-10-14
SERMoE BY THE MOST REVER-
END ARCHBISHOP.

Thou shalt love thy Lord thy God
with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole SOUL and with thy whole mind.
ThisIis the greatest and the first COM
ma9dment. And the second is like to
this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor
aSl thyself." Those the words in
which the Master Himself has defined
the great duty Of charity--the love of
God, and for the sake of God, the love
of the.ncighbor. Blessed is the human
heart that responds to the call of char
ity as betokened by the Saviour of the
world: blessed it is before God:
blessed it is before men. The heart,
thrilled with charity, ascends with all
its might, in the complete gift of self,
to the Creator, into the presence of
the Almighty God, the Sovereign Lord,
the first claimant upon human allie
glance, there to proffer alteration, there
to promise service. Thence, radiant
With the beauty of the Divine Face,
made conformable to the volitions of
the Divine Majesty, it comes back to
earth to mirror here, so far as it may,
the Eternal Deity, and to scatter, so
far as it may, over fellow-creatures
the rays of the Divine Beauty, the
love of the Divine Bosom
The first, the all-imperative, the all
absorbing duty of the human heart is
to adore, love and serve God. God is
the Sovereign: man is the subject.
The first motion of the human heart
should be to bend itself before God,
to acknowledge dependency upon Him,
to pledge obedience in all things to
His supreme will. From this duty,
grounded as it is upon the eternal law
of Righteousness and justice, God Him.
self cannot dispense. This the eter-
nal law: u am the Lord thy God: thou
shalt not have strange gods before
me-" Other duties whatever they be,
must not be taken as substitutes for
duty towards the Almighty God To-
attempt such substitution is to pgt
false gods in the place of the one trfe q
and ever-abidfng God. Noble, hear ii
full as charity towards felloW-man
seems to be and is, it is blasphemy
towards Heaven when it pushes God
aside and proclaims all duty fulfilled
because the neighbor is well served.
This too often is the sin of the world
of today. l am philanthropic, it is
said: l do good to my fellow-men:
there ! rest my Justification This is
not what eternal reason demands:
this is not what God commands.
Charity must first ascend to God Him
self: This, the greatest and the first
commandment" Then let it go to the
neighbor: this, "the second command
ment." This is charity rightly or
dered; the charity of which the Apos-
tie Paul makes proclamation when he
writes: And if | should distribute
all my goods to the poor, and if
should deliver my body to be burnt,
and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing"
Noble, beautiful, is the charity that
is given to the neighbor. But it glows
in its full beauty, in it's full strength,
only when it is transfused with the
love of God, when it is given to the
neighbor in obedience to God. Do we
wish to exalt into sublimity the claims
of the neighbor upon our love and
service: do we wish to give to this
love the full yigor of our souls, stop
ping short of no sacrifice, deferred by
no obstacle, wearied by no ingrati-
tude--let us see in the neighbor, as
the Master has hidden US to do, the
Master Himself: let us know and feel
that what we give to the neighbor, the
lowliest, the most abandoned, the most
unworthy, we give to Almighty God
Himself, expecting from Him alone
recognition and reward. The Master
it is Who has said: For whosoever
giveth to drink a cup of cold water
in my name, because you belong
to Christ, Amen, | say to you, he
shall not lose his reward" The Mas
ter Himself it is Who one day will
judge men, awarding glory to those
who have served Him-giving food
when He was hungry, drink when He
was thirsty, clothing Him when He
was naked: and Who in answer to
the query when was all this done, will
say; Done it was to the very Master
Himself, when it was done to the least
one of His children. The grandeur of
Christian charity as seen i'll the story
of the Christian Church, as seen In
the sacrifices of it's saints and heroes,
astoundS us, SO complete is it in the
giving of personal service, in the full
ness of personal oblation, in its abso
lutte inadvertence of human praise, OF
human gratitude. The wording does
not understand it: and judging it from
mere earthly considerations, fair
would call it madness. Aud, indeed
inexplicable it is, unless in search fol
its motives we pass through the gates
of the Supernatural, adore God upor
His throne, and on earth hear the Lore
God acClaiming service to fellow mef
as very service to Himself. The
preaching of Christ was the Gospel oi
perfect charity-love of God, and fol
the sake of God the love of the neigh
Dor. The evidence that the Catholic
Church is the offspring of tile Gospe
Of Christ is the perpetuation within
its fold of this heroic charity. Within
the fold of the Catholic Church heroi,
charity towards the neighbor is so vel
practiced that, so to speak, being al
every day occurrence. it fails to at
tract notice. to awaken wonderment