The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1956-03-30

wonder and with holy JOY we commemorate the
central fact of our holy religion. For, says St
Paul if Christ be not risen then is our preach
ing vain; and your faith is also vain"
1t is frutiess task to attempt TO align Chris
tan truths, and their commemorative feast days,
in the order of their Importance. For they are
like the stones in arch; one is just as import
ant to the structure and solidlty of the arch AS
any other They are all necessary. But we can
still note the position of the keystone.
God simply 0verwhelms US with His gifts
and mercies He became man for u.s. suffered
and died for us; rose from the dead; instituted
the Church, sending the Holy Spirit upon it;
left us Himself as Sacrament and Sacrifice in the
Holy Eucharist instituted the means of freeing
us from sin; lowered us with the other sscra-
ments; gave us His Mother for own; guards
us always by His Proyidence,-the list Of the
works of Gods love and mercy towards US is end
less
Now, how shall we go about to line up the
great works of God in the order of Importance,
discerning greater and lesser? The Incarnation,
the Passion, the Resurrection the Birth of the
Church on Penecost Day, the Holy Eucharist,
the Sacrament of Penance the Place Of Mary in
the flow of Grace,-how these facts be set
in ascending or descending scale? We have
said that these great works are like stones in
an arch: they must be taken all together, not
separately, or the arch falls down.
Yet, as we have indicated we may justly
regard the Resurrection of Our Lord from the
dead as the keystone of the arch. Ii is the great
Truth and the miraculous Fact which locks to-
gether in solid strength all the other great
Truths and Facts of our holy faith Without its
central and shaping service, the archway Of
Christianity could not stand
$50
What wonder, then, that those who doubt
or deny the Resurrection find themselves found
ering and reduced to sentimentalism and the
mouthing of vague formulas when they attempt
TO express religion in the name of Christianity?
To ease out by doubt or denial or metaphorical
interpretations the Keystone from the arch is
simply to destroy the arch Ii is vain to summon
tho world to attention, and to point out the mag
nifieent sweep and power of the archway when
lis component elements lie scattered on the
ground.
The truths of our religion are, all and singly
marvellous mercIes and loving kndnesseS of
God But there is nothing merely soft or adapt.
able about them. They have the solidity OF I'M
perishable granite. AS certain halfhearted follow
erS of our Lord learned ancient occasion,
the truths of Christianity are hard sayings"
There is no way of softening them to suit con-
ity,
We simply must take Christ on His own
terms or we cannot take Him at all We simply
must take Christianity as ii is, without watering
it down to meet modern needs and make 1t
fit in with the enlightenment of scientific age"
or we cannot take Christianity al all And when
we try TO soften the hard saying, or to make
pliable the solid elements of the arched Struc-
ture. we Stultify ourselves by giving the world
an entertaining spectacle of one who processes
to have his cake and eat il too.
Take the case Of those who dismiss the ReSur-
rection or regard its meaning as metaphorical
or symbolcal. These persons are lyrical in their
praise of Christ as great man, noble teacher
But how can their attitude towards Him hold
when, on their own teaching, Christ Is defeated
dead man whose noble teaching that He is Him
self God has been disproved? What is left of
Christ to honor or praise? He said He would
rise again from the dead; even His murderers
knew it, and said so to PLATE And, by the teach
ing of the folk we here consider. He did not
keep His word.
How can Christ be great teacher il the
main item OF His teaching has been proved
false? How can one say that Christ is a noble
person if He is proved merely teacher of false
doctrine? No; you take Christ as God-made Man,
OF you leave InflSt. Ihere is no sane alternative
course
Yet the modern world wants to water down
the Resurrection to a figure Of speech and
symbol II finds suitable celebration Of Easter
in candle-liGht ceremony or in the ceremonious
marching out TO meet the dawn. II COOS of the
emergence of tender plants in sprngtime, and
the surge OF life that succeeds the bleak and
dreary death of winter. Ii won't do that's all
Either Christ rose literally from the dead or
He did not rise; and if He did not rise, there is
no religious meaning in Easter Day at all.
No fact in history is more plainly and indub
tably proven than the actual Resurrection of
Our Lord from the dead. Even the enemies of
Christ we're not so silly as to deny the evidence;
they merely tried to hush il up. They brihed
guards They tried, by throat and Imprisonment
10 stop the mouths OF those who knew of the
Resurrection and preached its truth. They were
not foolish enough tthough they did hire sleep
ing witneSses,-which is frantic insanity to
deny the factual evidence that proved it; for
these facts were known TO many.
We hail with adoring faith, Our Lord and
God this happy Easter Day risen from the dead,
glorious and immortal, pledge of our Re.
demption. and the promise of the glory that
waits for US if we keep the faith and live ii,