The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-11-26

3
God rs. He is self-subsisting, per-
feet Being. He is Personal God,
all-wise, all-powerful, all-good, all
just, all-holy. He is changeless,
eternal, infinite. He is one God
in three Divine Persons. He Great
ed us innocent and holy. He re-
deemed us after our fall into sin.
He sanctifies us. He is our begin.
ming and our final purpose or end.
He loves us as our Father with q
tender love, and He wants our
filial love in return. He gave us
His Son as our Brother. and with
the love that Surpasses all other
loves, our Brother laid down His
life to give us life eternal.
Here is the answer TO all our
questioning; the satisfaction for
all our needs. The purpose of hu-
man life can be summed up in
the three luminous propositions
which define our relationship TO
God: we were created to know
Him. 10 love Him, TO serve Him.
We were created by Him and for
Him. We shall find no rest until
we rest in Him. He is The fulfill
ment OF ell our sspirations--
truth and goodness and beauty.
He is the beginning and the end,
our origin and our destiny. He
is our only hope for happiness.
The most perfect revelation of
God to man is made in His Son,
Jesus Christ. He is Emmanuel,
God t0sth as. Just as the Creator
brought light and order to the
ancient chaos at the dawn of crea-
ton, so His Divine Son, Jesus
Christ, restored light and order
to a world sunk in error and evil.
The mission and message of Christ
complete the earlier, partial reve-
lations of God, and launch the
world on the Christian era.
Triumph In The Gross
The era of Christ! In the sign
of the Cross, Christ conquers the
paganism which had enslaved man.
kind, and He sets mans feet on
the highroad of Faith, Hope, and
Love; the highroad of happiness
through harmony with God, with
fellowman, and with himself. Jesus
Christ restored meaning and pur-
pose and love to human life; He
warmed and Illuminated our life
where before it had been cold and
dark. He rescued man from the
wild wandering and the black des-
pair of the atheistic materiaiism
of that day. In this day of the new
paganism, we Christians can again
triumph in the sign of the same
Cross of Christ.
Christ is the Prophet and the
Teacher, in whose doctrines are
the truths which inspire and salts
fly the souls of men. He speaks to
us with power and authority. He
has the words of life eternal.
Christ is the Priest, the Media
tor. His is the great Atonement.
By His Sacrifice, we are redeemed
from our sins. The Cross of Cal
vary stands for that great love
which throughout the centuries
has drawn men powerfully to
Christ - that love by which He
laid down His life for His friends.
And Christ is King, the Lord of
Heaven and earth, whose Kingdom
endures for ever and ever. He is
the Lawgiver, laying down the
code of conduct that binds the
consciences of men. He is the
Judge, merciful and just, Who re-
wards the good and Furnishes the
evil. He is the Ruler Who reaches
from end to end nightly and dis
poses all things well. From Him
alone do earthly magistrates rec
eive their power of governance.
He is the King of Kings. Worship
and obedience, order and discip-
line, filiaI love - these He exacts
from His subjects, but in return
He gives them His Fathers love
and His Fathers home, rich, lar
CESS of grace and abiding peace of
soul. Truly, to serve Him is to
reign
This, then, is what we mean by
the Faith; this is the truth about
God and Jesus Christ. This is
why we repeat without ceasing
that God and His Christ afford
the answer to all our problems,
and provide the solution to all our
difficulties. Those who have never
known the Christian religion, or
who have not known it in its full
ness as taught by the Catholic
Church, should turn to it now, and
examine its credentials. 1t is the
answer to their quest.
The Western world, with its law
of fraternal charity and its humane
culture, was created by this Faith
in God and in His Son, Jesus
Christ. At its best, our civilization
was the fine Towering of the
Christian Faith. Now that the
West has fallen from its former
greatness, let us recognize that it
is because so many have fallen
away from the Faith, or have de.
natured it by dilution and COM
promise. We have fallen down
before idols of flesh and of gold.
II is not the True Faith that has
failed us: it is we who have failed