The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-12-03
POPULAR APOL0GET|CS

Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev. James Wal
cher.
az. Seven sacraments or Two?
Objection: We Protestants acknoWl-
edge only two Sacraments: Baptism
and the Lords Supper; the other five
are Catholic inventions.
Answer: /. Only two, that is, more
exactly said: two, more or less"
The Apology of the Augsburg Confess
sion Zone of the early Lutheran creed
formulariesy enumerates Penance ex-
pressly, which makes three. More
over, one can get along with one
sacrament or with none, as Luther
says: eyes, even if you do not go to
the Sacrament Lords Supper) you
can still be saved by the Word, and
Faith" Again: whoever does not
want to be- baptized, leave it alone"
/ Also Hase (f1890) thinks that the
highest successes of the Lords Sup
per can also. be effected by mere
sermon.
/ 2. The seven Sacraments of the
Catholic Church come. down to us
from apostolic times and are instituted
f by Christ. The systematic enumera-
ton came only later with the scientific
treatment of the doctrine.
A striking proof we have TN the
Oriental Schismatics who separated
from the Catholic Church in the ninth
century and some even in the fifth,
and still they believe in the seven Sac
raments. Since they were always enc
mics of Rome, they certainly did not
adopt this Catholic invention" of the
seven Sacramento from the Roman
Church later on. All attempts on the
part of Protestants to bring these
Orientals over to their side came to
naught because of the doctrine "of
the seven Sacramento which they had
received from Christ and His Apos-
ties" So they expressed themselves
in synods Of the 10th and 18th GEN.
turtles, and lastly at the Conference
of Bonn (1S74), where Old Catholics,
Protestanfs and Anglicans made a
vain attempt to unite with the Greeks.
The Russian high priest, Janischew,
declared: "The doctrine of the seven
Sacramen:s is contained in the old
ecclesiastical liturgical practice of both
Churches (of the East and West) and
in the writings of the Church Fathers
approved by the Councils, who do not
enumerate the Sacramento, but every
one of them is definitely acknowl-
edged; on this we must unconditional
ly insist" (Cf. DIR. HI. Reusch's Re-
port of this Conference)
?, 48. The Eucharist.
objection: How can Christ be. pres
ent under the appearances of bread
and wine? This doctrine is too hard
for me.
Answer: That is what the murmur-
ing Disciples said too John SGD;
but Christ demanded faith. That we
poor men with our limited minds can,
not understand everything that the
infinite and almighty God can do, is
no contradiction, nay, not even
strange; but that Christ, our Savior,
should tell us lie, that would be a
contradiction. Therefore, we Catho-
lies believe this mystery without
twisting the words in Christ's mouth.
We do not make of the "is' (''This
is my body'') a becomes" IutherJ
or signifies" Calvin.
In the Abbey church of Ottobeuren
in Swabia, which was consecrated in
1868, there is the following picture on
the tabernacle: Christ sits at table
with the consecrated Host in His
hand and says the words: "This is
my body" On the one side of the
table stands Luther with an open book
in his hand in which is written: 'This
becomes my body" Cat the moment of
reception); on the other side of the
table stands Calvin also with an open
book bearing the inscription: "This
signifies my body"
At the foot of the picture is the sig
nif1gant question: "Who is right q"
pastor in Janssen's History of the
German People, vol. 6, p. So, foot note
Germ. Ed.)
The expression Ito eat ones flesh"
John g. can mot be taken figura.
lively; for in the figurative sense in
the language in which Christ spoke
1t means: ITO calumniate somebody
or to seek persons life" But in the
sixth chapter of ST. John there is no
lquestion of that; hence we must ad-
here to the literal sense. Moreover,
Christ promised eternal life to those
who would eat his flesh, which could
! hardly be the case if taken figurative.
ly, for it would mean: "He that calum.
mates me, or seeks my life, hath ever
lasting life" (Cf. John $3.50 The
literal sense Of the words of promise
| in this sixth chapter of st. John is con-
firmed by the words of institution
(Matth. rs: rs, Il; Mark 14:22-24;
Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:23!29).
40. The Mass is Against the Scriptures.
Objection: The Catholic Mass is
against the Scriptures; il the Letter
to: the Hebrews, we read that Christ
having died once, dies no more; that
He has found an eternal redemption.
Now in the Mass, Christ is said to
die again and to redeem US again..
Answer: In the Mass Christ does
not die anew, but renews in an un-
bloody manner His sacrifice which
He offered in a bloody manner on the
Cross; nor does Christ, in the Mass.
redeem us again but sinlnly annIin.