The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-01-12


The object of prayer is not to In
form God of our necessities or oil
our inmost sentiments of love, praise
sorrow, or thanksgiving, for He, the
Omniscient One, knows all the Sc
crets of our hearts.
The Christian prays, however, to
fulfil a duty written in the heart OF
man and insisted on constantly by
the Son of God. The elemental prln
ciple Of religion is the acknoWledg.
ment of God as our Creator, Lord
and Final Destiny, and our utter de
pendence upon him. The revelation
OF Jesus Christ, unfolding to us SO
many new proofs of that Creators
love, makes this acknowledgment the
more imperative.
The Son of God teaches US how to
praise, bless, adore, thank, and crave
pardon of God, and promises us
favors through the invocation of His
holy name: IF you ask the Father
anything in my name, he will give it
to you"
Will you kindly tell me something
about the life of VoItaire? often
hear his name, but do not know any
thing about him?
Voltaire was q French man of let
tiers, a philosopher, dramatist, and
poet. His real name was Francis
Mary de Arouet; Voltaire was as
sumed later for reasons that are still
in dispute. He was born in 1894 and
died in 1878. He was baptized a
Catholic and was educated in Cath
Ollie college under the management
of the Jesuits; afterwards he studied
for the law, but soon began to devote
himself to literature. There is
scarcely a department of letters to
which he did not contribute; he
claimed to be a philosopher; he wrote
scores of dramas; he entered the field
of history and physics; he was an
esGayist and a satirist and wrote
many TomanCes in prose. lie gradu-
ally lost the faith and became bit
ter and a dishonest enemy of the
Church; he refused the sacraments
on his death-bed. Voltaire was won
derfully clever and an extremely
superficial man; his writings were
most widely read and had a very per-
niciOus effect on the faith of the
French people. His libels on religion
undermined the belief of thousands.
What do you mean by man out
side the Church being in good faith
or bad faith?
There are very many outside the
communion of the Catholic Church
who are most firmly persuaded
of the truth of their own religious
position; they are searchers after the
truth Of God and feel that they pos
sess it; through no fault of their own
they are heretics, and they are in
good faith. There are some others
who are convinced Of the truth of the
Catholic Church, but for reasons OF
cowardice or for some base motive
they are not willing to obey their
conscience in this matter; or, they
are persuaded Of the untenableness
of their own religious sect, but are
unwilling to pursue the truth of the
matter any further by a candid
search. These persons are in bad
faith. The Church OF God does not
judge the persons Of either class, MOI
does it become Catholics to judge
them; this matter~is left in the hands
Of God Who is the searcher OF
hearts
If man is up in years and ha:
never been confirmed, what shoulc
he do?
He should present himself to his
parish priest Immediately and ex
plain his case. Catholics are obliged
to receive the sacrament of confrma
ton; to neglect to do so is a SIM Con
tirmation is administered a number
of times every year in one or other
of the city churches, and arrange
ments can easily be made for the &C
Commodation of adults from neigh
boring parishes.
How much time should spend ii
preparing myself for confession?
That depends largely on the kind
OF a life you lead and the frequency
Of your confessions. One who leads
a good life and goes to confession al
frequent intervals can make the prep
aration for confession in very short
time; usually it is not advisable fol-
such persons to give too much time
to this preparation, otherwise scru
pulousness may result. If one is
careless of the moral side of life
and seldom goes to confession, the
examination of conscience requires
more time. The daily examination
Of conscience is the best preparation
for a good confession.
If St. Peter was infaiIibIe, why die
he deny the Saviour?
InfaIlibility is in nowise connected
with the personal errors, weaknesses
or sins of individual Popes, but il
limited only to ex cathedra utter
ances intended for the whole Church
At any rate, the objection falls to The
ground, for at the time of the denia
st. Peter was not Pope, for he hat
not yet received the gift of Pente
WOE, -, So. =