Evening star., 1926-02-14

POPE |
| we deplored. shut ont from the laws
and the commonwealth. with author
| ity no longer derived from God. bat
| from man. ii must happen that
| the very foundations of authority viii
crumble without the loss of the prin-
| cipal reason why some should have
| the right 10 govern and others the
duty TO obey. The whole fabric OF
human society must be shaken. as II
rests no longer on any solid basis OI
support" Uibi Arranul.
Wherefore. whenever men snail in
public and private acknowledge The
| royal power of Christ, incredible b"ne-
| fits will necessarily come 10 the entire
| civil community. as for instance jas
tice and liberty, order and tranquility,
concord and peace For. as the royal
dignity of our Lord imbues the human
authority of princes and governors
with religion 50 also it ennUbles the
duties and services of citizens. Hence.
| the Apostle Paul, when commanding
wives and servants that they should
Venerate Christ in the husband and
| in the master. warned. however. that
they are not TO obey them as men
but only because they hold the place
OF Christ, since it would not be right
| that men redeemed by Christ should
| be subject to men. You are bought
with price: be not made bondslaVes
! of men N. Corinthians. vii. 23b
Concord and Peace.
| Now If rulers and magistrates legit-
imately chosen be convinced that
| they rule not by their own right. but
by the mandate and in the place of
| the Divine King. is it not clear how
| holly and wisely they would use their
| authority, and how reasonap Die they
would be in making and i'm executing
| laws for the common good and the hu-
man dignity of their subjects? From
this the tranquility of order would
| surely grow and. with every source
OF Sedltfon removed, become perma-
nent.
whereas. when Il citizen beholdS in
| a prince. or any other of the common
wealth, men by nature his equal and
Tor one cause or other unworthy and
cenSurabie, he will not on that account
! ignore their right of rule when in
| them he Will perceive the image and
| authority of Christ as God and Man
AS for the principal functions Of
concord and peace. it is clear that the
broader this kingdom becomes and
| spreads among men universally. all
the more will they become conscious
| or the common interest which binds
them together. and this consciousness.
| besides anticipating and preventing
frequent dissensions, Will also soften
| and diminish their asperities
! Nay, II the kingdom of Christ should
! in fact embrace all as il does by right
could we despair of that peace which
the King of Peace brought upon
earth? He who came to reconcile all
| things, who did not come TO be min
| 1Stered unto but to minister. and al
| though He was God of all, gave m ex-
| ample of humility, establishing a spe-
cial law connected with the precepts
of charity, saying besides: MY yoke
is sweet and My burden light" Oh,
what blessings we should enjoy if in
| dividuals and families and states
would allow themselves TO be governed
| by Christ!
Then at length" to use the words
| which our predecessor Leo XIII ad-
dressed to the entire sacred hierarchy
25 years ago, 'it will be possible to
heal all wounds, then every right will
| revive again the hope of pristine au-
thortty, then will the ornaments of
peace be restored, and then will
swords be shattered and arms fall
from the hands, when all shall accept
willingly and obey the empire of
Christ, and every tongue confess that
| the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory
of God the Father" (Annum Sanctum,
25 May, 1890
A Special Feast
Now since for this it is necessary to
spread abroad as widely as possible
knowledge Of the royal dignity of our
| Savior in order that these most desir-
| able advantages be more properly ap-
preciated and that they become more
| stable in Christian society. it would
/ seem that nothing will be better for
this purpose than to establish a proper
| and special feast day Of Christ as
King. For imbuing the people with
I the faith and leading them by faith
to the interior joys of life, far more
! efhcacious are the annual celebrations
\ OF the sacred mysteries than even the
! most weighty documents of ecclesias-
| t1cal teaching. AS a rule these latter
! reach only the few and the more
| learned, whereas the former impress
and teach all the faithful. One means.
we may say, speaks but once: the
other speaks every year and forever.
| The document appeals effectively to
the mind, the feast to mind and heart:
that Is, to the whole man. Since man
consists OF soul and body, he should
be so moved and interested as to drink
IN dlvlne doctrine more abundantly
| through the variety and beauty Of the
| sacred rites and. converting it into
vigor and blood, make it serve him for
| progress in the spiritual life. 1t is,
besides, handed down by tradition
that celebrations Of this kind in the
course Of the centuries have grown
one out Of the other whenever the
necessity or utility Of the Christian
people seemed to demand them; when.
for instance, the people were to be
strengthened in some common crisis,
to be fortified against the spread Of
heretical error, or moved with more
vivid recollection and emotion to re-
call with more earnest piety some