Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1940-02-01

baptism, and his wife was Cath
olic. and he attended a school es
{ tablished by Catholic lawyers. 81
|, one who wants to be fair can sc,
, that it was not Gales, Gil am
!, Jaurez and Morelos who really wa
acting. but "The Hidden Hand" anC
4 power that was forcing them be
II hind the scenes. Else how accoun
!, for such actions. The so-called Irol
II Man Gales, didn't hesitate to pu
himself under the care of the sister!
whom he prosecuted, when he wa;
stricken down with sickness ant
i went to a Catholic sisters hospita
in Los Angeles.
| The sanity religious sisters ant
| monks hidden away in the cloisters
1 of their converts perform bodily
! penances because they believe they
/ can help other souls sick ant
wounded by the moral disease Of
sin and corruption, just as one
| member of the human body can as.
| sist the other when in need. For
| example, let speck of dust enter
the eye, and the hand Immediately
| flies up to minister. Let a man slip
] on the street, and sprain his ankle
| and the other foot does double duty
over to someone's doorstep. When
a person burns his face, a doctor
| will graft skin from healthy
member of the body and apply it to
his face; if a person is suffering
| from anemia, doctors will transfuse
blood from another healthy person
| to build up healthy, new, red blood
| corpuscles. Now if it is possible for
a doctor to graft skin in the order
of nature, is it not possible for Je-
| sus Christ to draft prayer and apply
| it to some soul burned and SCARED
with sin? If doctors in the order
of physical life can transfuse blood
to help physical life of the body,
cannot Jesus Christ the Great Ply
sician, transfuse sacrifice, Masses,
prayers, HASTINGS, and notifications
Of these holy souls hidden away in
the cloisters of their monasteries,
and apply these to build up a
healthy, new Jealous love for God
and His Commandme ents?
The world is full of those who sin
and atone not; who offend God and
never repent; who have their sins
forgiven, but never do penance.
These poor, burnt, anemic, wound
ed members of Christ's Mystical
Body, the church, may yet be saved
by these holy souls behind their
convent walls, who expend their
spiritual healing prayers and good
works for the salvation of souls.
And the world which asks of such
sanity souls-"what good do they
do?" fails to understand that in the
order of divine life, they are doing
for the wounded on the spiritual
battlefields of the church, exactly
what doctors and nurses are doing
for the wounded, in the order of hu-
man life, on the battlefields of the
world. And since the saving of a
soul is immeasurably greater than
the saving of body, we may very
we'll ask if the comparison is justi-
fed at all.
In these days when the world re-
CARDS sin as lesser evil than a
headache. the value of reparation
is apt to be overlooked Let me re-
peat, that reparation and penance
exist because there is sin. Sin con-
tains a double element: the joy Of
|
obedience against the Command
ments of God Equilibrium can be
established between the two, there
fore. only by a commensurate pain
to atone for the forbidden joy, and
q compensating repentance to atone
for the act of disobedience. OF the
two elements. the latter is more i'm
portant, for it gives to the former
it's moral significance. Otherwise
pain would be pain for the sake of
pain. and not sacrifice, and we
would be like the Hindu mystics
who glorify pain as an end in it
self. 1t is sorrow for sin and a de-
sire to love God that changes pain
into sacrifice and makes pain and
suffering meritorious. But is not
enough to be sorry for our sins.
Sin involves a debt and where
there is a debt, the debt must be
paid 1t is not enough for a gun
man to tell the court that he is
very sorry for his sin of robbery,
and that he will never rob again.
No, he must pay the debt in addi-
tion to his being sorry The judge
will sentence him-wfll make him
do penance by a term in the peni
tentiary. 1t is not enough for d
man who has run into great debt TO
say to his creditors Il am very sor
ry l contracted such debts, will
not run up any more" He must pay
the debts in addition to his being
sorry. So likewise with sin. 1t is
for our sins. We must pay the
there was fun in running them up
we must suffer pain in tracking
them down. If we take a hundred
steps in the wrong direction, we
must put our foot down exactly one
hundred times to get back in the
right direction.
1t is strange to hear people who
willingly impose strict bodily hard
ships upon themselves, such as FAST
ings and diets and vigorous exer-
cises for beauty of body, shudder
and stand aghast in holy fear of thel
Catholic church, when she teaches
them to do same things for beauty
of soul, and just as training rules
which call for athletes refrainine
from many rich foods and bodily
pleasures such as smoking and
sweets and pastries, in order tol
strengthen the body with the power
and vigor and agility necessary tol
meet the enemy and win as st. Paul
says a ''corruptible crown" SO thel
church teaches us that these things
are necessary also to strengthen the
soul of man with Fortitude and
Power to meet the enemy of his
70
That is what the apostle means
when he tells the Corinthians: I'll
therefore SO run, not as at an un-
infu MT nnn haatin0 the