The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-11-04

In the midst of the worst forms of
idolatry and the densest Ignorance
of all religious truths, the nations
preserved one truth that was handed
to them from the portals of the lost
paradise, namely, the promise of a
Redeemer and the expectations of
His coming. Among the Arab tribes,
Job, in the midst of his bitterest
trials, consoled himself thus: 81 know
that my Redeemer liveth; and on the
last day | shall rise out of the earth;
and | shall be clothed again with my
skin and in my flesh; / shall see my
God; whom I myself shall see; and
my eyes shall behold and not another;
this my hope is laid up in my bosom"
Cob xix, 1920 This magnificent
testimony furnishes us with an elo-
quent proof that long before the types
and prophecies designated the Mes
sias more clearly, the expectation Of
Him made itself strongly felt.
In like manner did Balaam, who
was commissioned by the pagan king
of the Moabites to curse the Jewish
people in the desert, and who instead
spread his hand in blessing over
them, eXclaiming enthusiastically, 81
shall see Him. but not now: shall
behold Him, but not near" plumbers
xiv, ~ These are only single
voices taken from ancient times, but
they grow in volume until they pene-
trate to the ends, of the then-known
world. God chose the Jewish people
to make this possible, to make other
nations share in their expectation,
and thus render it more general.
During the 20 years of the captivity
of Babylon they spread the hope of
the Redeemer to come throughout
Babylonia. During the five subse.
quent centuries, driven by their bust
ness instinct, they founded colonies
in every city and every harbor along
the Mediterranean sea, and in every
one of these colonies, they read the
prophecies concerning the Redeemer
to come and told their neighbors
about them.
In the year of 2S5 B. c., at the
request of the king of Egypt, 70
Jews, translated, at Alexandria, their
sacred books into Greek, the cultured
language of those days, and thus
spread their belief in the one true
God and in Messias to come, among
the educated Gentfiesa of the time.
Thus the Redeemer became the de-
sired of all nations.
FuIfillment in Christ.
But God, who had chosen the Jew
ish people to preserve and to spread
the hope in the Redeemer to come,
likewise chose another, a pagan peo-
pie, the Romans, to weld under its
sway the nations of the ancient
world, from the Euphrates to the
North sea and the Rhine, into one
vast empire and unite them by the
bond OF common language. Thus
when the new gospel would be
preached, it could spread far and
wide over the highways that led from
one end of the Roman empire to the
other, so that EVERY eye can see and
every ear can hear, how the glory of
the Lord and His Word have been
made manifest" Usaias.) When the
fullness of time had come, the En-
peror Augustus issued a command to
all the governors that all the subjects
of his empire should be enrolled. This
applied to Judea which had become
Roman province. In obedience to this
command, Joseph, accompanied by
Mary, proceeded to Bethlehem, and
thus the prophecy was fulfilled that
the Savior should be born in Bethle-
hem.
That Jesus of Nazareth was the
Redeemer announced by the prophets,
He and He alone, is evident from the
fact that in Him and in Him alone
were fulfilled the foretellings of the
prophets. One cannot deny the full
fillment of the prophecies in Christ
without denying either one of two
colossal facts-one (which lasted 1000