The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-04-23


society," changing some matters OF
lesser Importance, that did not seem
; suitable to our customs: with this
however" he adds, lit must not be
thought that anything essential has
been taken from the Order, as we
want it's nature to be kept entire and
unchanged
Nature of Third Order.
Thus every alteration was only ex.
trinsic, and did not touch at all the
substance of the same, which contin.
ues to be such as the holy founder
wanted it to be. And we are of opin.
ion that the Spirit of the Third Order
entirely pervaded with evangelical
wisdom, will greatly contribute to the
amelioration of public and private Gus
toms, provided it fourishes anew as
when st. Francis by word and exam
pie preached everywhere the Kingdom
of God In fact, first of all, he wants
brotherly love to shine particularly in
his Tertiaries as a producer of har-
mony and peace. Well understanding
that this is the chief commandment of
Our Lord and as the summary of the
whole Christian life, he directed all
his care to imbuing with it his follow
ers; and he thus succeeded in render
| ing the Third Order most useful to hui
man society; because the seraphic ar
dor of charity which inflamed, St.
Francis could not remain shut in his
| heart, and necessarily burst to COM
municate itself to as many as it could.
Therefore, having begun by reform
ing the private and domestic life of
his brethren, directing them to the ac-
quisition of virtue, as if it were their
| sole aim, he thought that he ought not
| to stop here, but use this individual
| reform as an instrument to bring with
| in society a breath of Christian life,
thus gaining every one to Christ. And
the thought which inspired Francis to
make of his Tertiaries so many her
aids and apostles of peace in the vio-
| lent strifes and civil troubles of his
| times, was also our thought, when al
| most the whole world blazed in the
| horrible war, and is now, when T. z
| immense fire is not yet extinguished,
| but still smokes, and here and there
| bursts forth in flames. And added to
this is the internal trouble which ex-
cites the nations-owing to the long
| forgetfulness and the contempt Of
Christian principles-and causes the
various social classes to fight for the
| pf ri lxy
a fierceness as to make one dread a
universal catastrophe.
! What Is Expected.
Therefore, in this immense field, in
which, as the representative of the
King of Peace, We have lavished our
most tender cares, We expect from all
the children of peace of Christ the
assistance of their activity, but spe-
| cially from Tertiaries, who will ad-
mirably help in this reconciliation OF
spirits, if, besides growing in numbers,
they will intensity their enterprising
zeal. 1t is to be hoped, therefore, that
| there be no town, no village, no bor-
ough, without good number OF breth-
rem, who, however, must not be inert.
| and contented with the bare name of
Tertiaries, but active and Jealous tor
their salvation and that of their neigh
| Dor. And why could not the various
Catholic associations of young men,
women, and workingmen, flourishing
almost everywhere, enroll themselves
in the Third Order of Penitence, to go
| e., oil nf
the advantage of the Church, with
that spirit of charity and peace which
animated ST. Francis? Because the
peace so anXiously invoked by peoples
is not the peace laboriously elaborated
by polite craft, but the one which
Christ brought to us, when he said:
Peace | leave with you; My peace
give unto you; not as the world Civ
eth do | give unto you
II And the agreement between the
States and the different classes, that
may be evolved, by men, cannot las,
; nor have the strength of true peace
if it is not founded on the tranquility
of spirits, that in it's turn can only
, exist when the passions fomenting al
: kinds of discord are kept in leash
, From whence are wars and conten
tions among your asks the Apostle st
/ James, Are they not hence, from
: your concupiscences, which war il
i your members?" Well, then, to ordel
man 'interiorly, so that he may be no
! | the slave but the master of his pas
r sions and in turn be obedient and sub
! | iect to the divine will, in which orde
) universal peace is founded, this is th'
f effect of the virtue of Christ showins
! Itself admirably efficacious in the fam
{ lily of Franciscan Tertiaries.
+ The TWO Spirits.
Since, then, this Order proposes, a
q We have said, to guide its members t
!. Christian perfection, although they b
involved in the solicitudes of tn
J world-because no state of life is il
! compatible with holiness-if they ar
many who live according to this rule
S it follows that they will incite all tn
S others among whom they live, not onl
G to fulfil entirely their duty, but ais
n to aspire to a perfection greater tha
S the one prescribed by the ordinar
d law Therefore, that praise bestowe
> by Our Lord on his disciples most d,
< voted to him, when He said: THE
Q are not of the world, as | also am ne
r of the world" can justly be apple
Il 49, <,f Il ~ rx~l,