The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-12-17

maid?" 1t is to fight Satan, and to
fight him successfully
The zsummoning of maiden in IA
supreme crisis to the field of battle
and the shock of war is strange nei-
Their to legend nor to history The
student of Virgil knows how the gal
liant Rutulian who opposed the adj
vance of the Trojan invader, summon
ed to his side Camilla, "the maiden
flower of Italy, All Christendom
knows the Maid, now canonized in our
liturgy, who in her day and genera
ton, preserved the soil and crown of
France. The pen of Lord Byron has
immortalized the Maid of Saragossa:
And she whom once the semblance
of scar
Appalled,, an owlet's larum chilled
with dread,
Now views the column-scatterin
bayOnet jar, --
The falchion flash, and DER the yet
warm dead
: Stalks with Minerals step where
Mars might quake to tread
The combat of the Virgin Mother is
spiritual, however; her battle field is
not one country or one city alone, but
wherever there is a soul to be saved.
Wherever the dragons net is spread.
And | venture to say that her spear
and shield are always readiest where
youth is tempted. She is a maiden,
and therefore leans exquisitely to
whatever is young and promising and
fair; being a mother Also she would
protect the young as only a mother
can.
A Bitter Warfare.
A young man is new field, an I'M
conquered country. With him life is
exuberant, and health like mountain
stream. Passion is strong, resolution
weak, hope illimitable; self-confident,
ignorant of the complex world around
him, he trusts where his elders would
hesitate, and is at home where even
an angel would be shy to tread. I'M
presslonable as wax, he needs cultiva-
ton and direction. AS an organist
knows the manual stops and pedals of
bis instrument, and through them can
evoke whatever strains he pleases, so
Satan knows the young man-even
the young Levite-knows him in every
weakness, in every vanity. in every
passion. In word, Satan knows how
to play upon him.
Watching Satan is Mary She is his
Scr1ptural foe: Il will place enmity be-
tween thy seed and her seed" She
is his necessary foe, because human
nature cannot fight him of itself.
Good breeding, it is true, goes far to
maintain good conduct Fortes ere.
antur fortibus ct bons-'thorough
bred breeds thoroughbred" There is
even in steer and in steed the mettle
OF their sires." Self-respect goes far
Their than breeding; human re-
spect may go further still But good
breeding and self-respect, and the fear
OF being compromised, are all fiimsy
barriers against sudden rushes of pas
sion, against the sudden undertow of
something vicious, or unruly, or mean.
Yes, Satan is no symbol, however
adroitly he tempts the latter day mind
10 think him so; he is not only real
but rampant; he is not only liar but
lion; and his protagonist is and ever
snail be the Blessed Virgin Mary.
1t is for this combative destiny that
Holy Scripture first outlined her; and
The CLEAN Of Genesis becomes a glory
in the Apocalypse. For, although the
woman clothed with the sun and the
moon under her feet and on ner head
a crown of twelve stars" is taken as
symbol of the Church, the text may
also be applied to our Blessed Lady.
1t is she, at any rate, whom st. Bernard
| VIsuallzes, placed between the sun and
the MOON between Christ and His
Church; and in an interesting passage
the good saint proceeds to say that
the sWathings of carnal thoughts must
be shed. if one desires to approach
this celestially clothed figure, this
ethereal conception, this transcenden
tai vision of st. John.
Faith and Sense.
We are mystics no more: the glare
of electricity has blinded the glimpses
| OF the glory, and the whirrings of the
| airplane have silenced the music of
the spheres. Still, even in age of ar
tlflc1al lights and ear-stunning mechan-
lsms, there may be vouchsafed visions
and tones of that which mortal eve
| hath not seen and mortal ear hath not
| heard. Or, If cal1ner ground be TAX
en- than that of an apostle wrapped
to the seventh heaven, concepts of d.
vine beauty can still be woven from
1 cieanness of heart. Blessed are the
clean of heart for they shall see God. y
At this point. Christianity and Platoon
ism touch. What if man. asks the
Socrates of Plato, had eye to see the
true beauty-the divine beauty. I
mean-pure and clear and unalloyed.
not clogged with the pollutions of
mortality and all the colors and van
tiles of human life?" Do you not see
that beholding beauty with the eve
of the mind. he will be enabled to
bring forth, not images of beauty. but
realities, for he has hold not of an
| image, but of a reality; and bringing
| forth and educating true virtue, to be
come the friend of~God and be immor
| tai. if mortal man may. Would that
asks the wisest of the Greeks, "be al
1 iOnnlalo lifa9,,