Chapter 36

CHRIST THIRSTS 
FOR THE SOULS OF MEN

When the Savior of the world hung upon the Cross of Calvary, one of the seven last words He uttered was:  "I thirst."  Bitter and painful, however, as His physical thirst was at that moment, He thirsted yet more for the souls of men.  Realizing this, it is sad and distressing to see how many men and women there are who refuse to accept His invitation to unite themselves to Him in His faith, in order to take the proper care of the salvation of their immortal souls.  How many there are who are in doubt as to whether or not they are in the true Church, and yet who do nothing about it.  The wise man tries to solve his doubts in every other concern of life.  Will not God hold him to account for not trying to solve his doubt in this the greatest concern of all!  God gave him to use it above all in order to know God, that knowing Him, man might love Him and serve Him in this life and thus possess Him eternally in the next.  

On a certain occasion I attended a convention of professional men.  While there I met many men prominent in public life who told me frankly:  "Father, I'm not of your faith.  In fact, I haven't any religion to speak of.  But I admire the Catholic Church, and I am willing to do anything I can to assist her in the great work that she does."  It struck me then that the so-called Reformation had not only taken countless men and women away from the Catholic religion but from all religion.

But Christ as He hung on the Cross, did not want admiration.  He wanted and thirsted after the souls of men.  He did not want assistance from the outside.  He wanted men to assist themselves, as much as He wanted them to assist Him.  He wanted them to do penance and be baptized, to be members of the one Fold and under the one Shepherd He would establish in Peter.  If a man has the intelligence to be a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer, the type of men by whom I was surrounded, the same man ought to have the intelligence and the courage to inquire into the claims of Christ.  Such men are very wide awake and concerned and interested in the affairs of this life, in the success of their business or profession.  But in the success of the greatest concern of all, they just don't care.  And they try to hide their guilt in this matter, for they are guilty before God by saying that it really doesn't matter whether I practice any religion or not as long as I try to be honest.  In reality however, no man can be honest, who refuses to give to God both publicly and privately worship that his position as creature of God demands.  God will surely call such men to account when they stand before His judgment seat to give an account of stewardship.  How will they excuse themselves then for having ignored Him, for having refused Him loyalty and service.  "He who will confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father in heaven."