22. Christ Living on Our Altars

 

If you go into a Catholic Church seeking Christ, you will find Him. You will see a little red light burning before the altar. That is the sign that the living Christ is present in the tabernacle upon that altar. That is why the Catholic Church is truly the temple of the living God. It is not a meeting house. It is not a temple of worship where only sermons are given and prayers are said. It is the temple where the living God dwells, just as truly as He dwells in heaven. Here is the continued presence of Christ upon earth. That is why the Catholic looks upon his churches with so much reverence, whether they be the magnificent temple of St. Peter’s in Rome or the humblest wayside shrine, where the little red lamp keeps its silent vigil before the tabernacle of the living God. That explains the holy atmosphere of the sacred place. That explains the awful difference between a dead shrine, no matter how beautiful, and the living house of God, no matter how plain.

Christ said to the Samaritan woman. And we can say: “If thou did’st but know the gift of God,” “If the non-Catholic world did but know this gift of God by the hundreds of millions they would return home to partake again of the heavenly banquet that a loving God has prepared for them, and to live their lives bathed in the divine sunlight of His Presence.

21. The Holy Eucharist

 

If you enter the Catholic Church you will have returned home into the Church of Christ, into the Church of your fathers. There an almost unbelievable privilege is in store for you. From that day forward, yours it will be to take your place at God’s banquet table, to be nourished upon the living Body and Blood of Christ Himself, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This is the greatest of all the Sacraments of the Church for in it the faithful have the inestimable privilege of receiving the author of all grace, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine.

Christ knew that men need food to preserve the life of the body. He knew too that men would need just as badly spiritual food to preserve the life of the soul. Hence the night before He died, He prepared a divine banquet for His children. Christ was the lover of men, who loved them with an inexhaustible love. Now the desire of the lover is to be with and be united with the object of his affection. Christ was the divine lover of the souls of men. Hence loving them, He loved them as the Scripture says ‘to the end’, and though returning to His Father in heaven, He determined to remain in reality with His children upon earth. In order to do this, He left His living Body and Blood upon our altars, that He, the living God, might always dwell in our tabernacles, that we might receive Him into our hearts in Holy Communion.

Let us listen to St. Paul speak of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Writing to the Corinthians he says: “Brethren, I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and giving thanks broke and said: ‘Take ye, and eat. This is my Body, which shall be delivered for you. This do for a commemoration of me.’ In like manner He also took the chalice after He had supped, saying: ‘This Chalice is the new Testament in my blood; this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me.’” Taking Christ at His word, the Catholic Church rejoices in having the living Body and Blood of Christ upon her altars, and the same living Body and Blood of Christ as heavenly food for the souls of men. This is by virtue of Christ’s own command who said: “Unless you eat my Flesh and drink my Blood, you shall not have life in you.” (Jn. 6.54) God in His infinite love of men, exhausts the very possibilities of His power in giving us Himself. That is why Catholic Churches are temples of the living God, because the living Christ dwells in the tabernacle on her altar under the appearances of bread and wine. That is why Catholic priests are priests, because they offer up this same sacrifice for the people.

Certainly since Christ was God, He had the power to change bread into His Body. What nature by its ordinary powers could do, certainly He, the Author of nature, could do. And if God could create the world out of nothing; if Christ could turn water into wine, as He did at the marriage feast of Cana, why could He not if He so willed, change bread and wine into His own Body and Blood? On the occasion of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes in the desert, the multitude that was there, having witnessed the great miracle, were in admiration at what Christ had done. On that occasion Christ promised them that He would later on give them an even better food to feed upon. “The bread which I shall give you,” He said, “is my Flesh for the life of the world. Unless you eat my Flesh and drink my Blood, you shall not have life in you.” Many of the Jews that were there found this hard to believe.

“This is a hard saying,” they said, and they walked away. Christ knew what was in their minds. He knew that they did not believe He had the power to do what He said He would do, give them His very Flesh to eat and His Blood to drink. But though, He read their hearts and knew what was in their minds, He did not call them back. He did not say: “Come back, my friends, I do not mean that I will give you my real Flesh to eat and my real Blood to drink. I mean only that I shall give you bread that shall be a sign of my Body and wine that shall be a sign of my Blood.” No! Christ did not call them back. He allowed them to walk away. Then turning to His Apostles, He asked: “Will you also go away?” The Apostles however gave Him the answer that is the only answer mankind can give to Christ the Son of God: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

The Jews themselves knew well what Christ meant. They understood them so well that they said: “This is a hard saying. How can any man give us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink?” They would not believe that Christ was God, and even if He were God, He would be so good to men that He would give them His own Body and Blood for nourishment. But the Apostles believed, and after the death of Christ, they did as He had commanded. They took bread into their hands, and through the power He had given them as His ordained priests, changed it into the Body of Christ, pronouncing over it the exact words of Christ: “This is My Body.” Taking wine in turn, they changed it into His Blood, saying the same as Christ had said: “This is My Blood, which shall be shed for you unto the remission of sins."

From that day forward, on every Catholic altar from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the priest consecrates bread and wine and offers Christ’s living Body and Blood up to His heavenly Father, just as Christ had offered up that same Body and Blood on the Cross. On the Cross Christ offered Himself up to His Father in a bloody manner; on the altar Christ is offered up in an unbloody manner. On the Cross Christ was offered up in reality and under the appearance of His own Body and Blood; on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine Christ is offered up as a sacrifice for man’s sin but in the same reality of His own Flesh and Blood.

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass after the priest has performed the consecration, the faithful approach the communion rail. Communion for them does not mean however merely receiving a sign of Christ. It means they are receiving Christ. It does not mean they are receiving an imitation of Christ, a type of Christ or a symbol of Christ. It means they are receiving the living Body and Blood of our Lord in one exquisite moment of union with God, when the Son of God stoops down from the high heavens to give Himself as the kiss of peace to His earthly children. The Church does not let the overwhelming generosity of the gift paralyze her faith in the Giver. The goodness of God and the generosity of God should not be a stumbling block in the way of Man’s salvation. It becomes a stumbling block only when man with his small mind refuses to believe that God is so good and so generous. We should rather expect an overwhelming gift from a divine lover, from Him of whom it was truthfully said: “Greater love than this no man hath, than that he lay down his life for his fellowman.”

You a non-Catholic and I a Catholic have similar tastes and similar needs because we are both human. We do not want to be fed upon signs and symbols and figures and imitations. We want and we need what the good God has been willing to give us, His own Flesh and Blood. “Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you shall not have life in you,” said Christ. Hence when He further says: “This is My Body; this is My Blood. Do this in commemoration of Me,” the Church joyfully accepts the gift of Christ, she dispenses the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist to the faithful and she adores the real presence of Christ upon her altars.

The Holy Eucharist is rightly called the ‘wine of virgins and bread of martyrs,’ since millions of faithful Christians, nourished on this food, have risen to the heights of sanctity, millions have gladly endured the pains of martyrdom.

This then will be your privilege if you reenter the Church of your fathers. Once again you will be able to approach and partake of the divine banquet God Himself has prepared for you. This, the incredible gift of God to man, will again be yours. If there were naught else for you to receive, this in itself should be enough to urge you to hasten back home.

20. The Sacrament of Penance

 

For thirty years Christ, the Son of God, lived at Nazareth, the quiet retired life of a carpenter’s son. At the age of thirty He began His public life which lasted but for three years. In those three years that so changed the course of all history, the Redeemer of mankind was laying the foundations of His Church. Broad and deep must be these foundations, for they were the foundations of a Church that was to last till the end of time. For that reason He had said to His Apostle Simon: “Thou are Peter”, meaning that He was changing Simon’s name to that of Peter. Peter means rock, so Christ continues: “and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He was therefore building a Church that was not meant to be the salvation only of those who lived in the time of Christ, but for all men of all time. Hence He would leave with His Church the authority to deal with men of all time, to teach them and to administer the Sacraments that would be necessary for their spiritual life.

Entrance into the Church He made possible through the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism. This Sacrament would wash away from the soul any stain left upon the children of Adam through the sin of the disobedience of their first parents. That sin is called original sin. But Christ knew the weakness of men. He knew the temptations to sin that would surround them in this life, that might lead them to commit sin after their Baptism. He knew that they would need another source of forgiveness. He had come, as was said, not to save those who need not penance but to save sinners that were lost. Hence He gives to His Apostles and their successors the power to forgive sins. After His resurrection, He thus addresses His disciples: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. Receive ye the Holy Spirit, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained.” (Matt. 18.18) Again the Church does not dispute with Christ. Rather she takes Christ at His word and knows that her priests have the power of forgiving sins in His name.

All of us must work out our salvation in fear and trembling while we are upon this earthly pilgrimage. What a wonderful feeling of relief and consolation it is, then, to know that if we have sinned, we have the means of reconciliation with God at hand. The Sacrament by which sins committed after Baptism are forgiven is called the Sacrament of Penance. The sinner kneels at the feet of the priest; with sincere sorrow for having offended the Almighty God, he humbly confesses his sins and resolves with a firm purpose relying on God’s sure help to commit them no more. Then he hears the healing words of absolution fall from the lips of the priest who sits there in the place of Christ: “I absolve thee from thy sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Again we may ask, why doubt Christ, merely because He has been so good to us.

19. The Sacraments

 
Christ above all, He who was the divine Savior of men, knew the priceless value of the human soul. He knew it so well that He was willing to lay down his own life to save it, to suffer the awful agony of the cross in so doing. He knew the awful responsibility that would be the lot of men to cooperate with Him in the salvation of their souls. He knew in addition the difficulty men would have in view of the weakness of human nature, and in the midst of the temptations to break God’s law in this life. Christ therefore not only redeemed mankind by His death on the cross, He not only established His Church to be a light and a guide and a teacher of men unto salvation, but He also purchased for him innumerable graces that man would need in his journey through life. These graces would be spiritual helps that would give man the spiritual strength necessary to win out in the struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. That these graces might flow into the souls of men, He dug for us seven different channels of grace in order that all men might partake of the spiritual strength they so desperately needed. These seven channels of grace are called Sacraments.

Now a Sacrament is a sign, a sign of Christ operating upon the souls of men. It is a visible sign instituted by Christ Himself to show that He is pouring His grace into their souls. For instance Baptism is a Sacrament. Christ instituted this sign, which is the pouring of the water upon the head of the person to be baptized and the pronouncing of the words by the priest. Christ Himself, the Author of all grace, instituted the sign, the pouring of the water. Christ Himself indicated plainly the words to be used. “Baptize,” He said, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He Himself taught us the necessity of Baptism. “Unless a man be born again,” He said, “of water and the Holy Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.” And to the Apostles He gave the command: “Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Baptism then is the first channel of grace, the first Sacrament. By it the person baptized is freed from the stain of original sin. He is made again a child of God and an heir of heaven. It is the badge of the Christian. It gives him the further right to partake of all the other sacraments Christ instituted. The sacraments the Church administers to the faithful are like the doctrines she preaches. They go back in an unbroken succession to Christ Himself for the Church neither makes up her doctrines nor invents her sacraments. She takes Christ at His word. Consequently when Christ says: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,” the Church takes Him at His word and teaches the absolute necessity of Baptism, the first Sacrament.

18. The Blessings of The Catholic Faith

 

What then can I expect if I embrace the Catholic faith? There ought to be some magnificent blessing that should come to me from God if I do so. Of course we should not consider only blessings and rewards when it is a question of doing God’s holy will. Blessing or no blessing, if it is God’s will, we must be prepared to do it. And yet God in His extreme goodness, always has a blessing and a reward for His children when they but do their duty.

One of the greatest blessings that shall come to you, if you re-enter the faith of your fathers, is that you will again be a member of the one, true Church Christ founded, in which He intended that you work out your salvation. And out of the knowledge that you are in the true Church, a lively feeling of security and peace will flow. There will no longer be any doubt, any misgivings, any confusion in your mind. You will be at home on earth, as much as this earth can be our home. And out of this security, a life-long happiness shall be yours. We can be happy in nothing if the salvation of our immortal soul is insecure; we lay the firm basis of happiness in everything, if, as far as we are concerned, we have made secure our immortal salvation.

Christ came upon earth not only to satisfy for man’s sins but also to establish His Church upon earth. He intended that Church to be, until the end of time, the teacher and the guide of mankind on its way back to God. After the work of the redemption had been accomplished, just before he ascended into heaven, Christ called His Apostles together and entrusted to them their mission. “All power,” He said, “is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations—teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Matt. 28;18,20)

To the Church He gave the command to teach; to the faithful He gave the command to listen and to accept the teachings of the Church. Furthermore He promised that He would be with the Church always, that the Church would have His continued assistance to the end of time to keep her in the way of truth forever. This is the firm foundation upon which will rest your security as a Catholic. Listening to the Church in matters of faith and morals, you will be listening to Christ Himself.

Christ’s words on this point are very clear. Before He ascended into heaven, He said to His Apostles; “And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth.” (Jn. 14,16,17) “But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.” (Jn. 14:26) “But when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will teach you all truth.” (Jn. 16:13) The Catholic faithful, then, have only to listen to the Church’s teaching and they can be certain that, with the help Christ shall give His Church, she shall not teach them error.

Nor could this be otherwise. Christ expressly commanded the faithful to listen to the Apostles and accept their teachings. If these teachings ever could be false, Christ Himself, the God of truth, would be forcing His own followers to believe in error. It is entirely against reason to think that God would do this. This is why the Catholic has no misgivings about his faith. The security of the Catholic as far as his faith is concerned is well illustrated by the following story.

There was a certain English lady some time ago who was dissatisfied with her religion. She was an Anglican, a member of the Church of England. So she brought her doubts to her pastor, an Anglican minister. “I am thinking of investigating the claims of the Catholic Church,” she told him frankly.

“Oh,” he replied, “You are just suffering from a touch of the Roman fever. We all get a touch of that sooner or later, but it will pass away.” The Roman fever is the name given by Anglicans to the desire to return to the Roman Catholic Church. But the fever did not pass away in this instance. The woman consulted a Catholic priest. The priest explained Catholic doctrines to her and set forth the claims of the Church to be the one, true Church of Christ. Again the woman returned to her minister. She told him she still had grave doubts whether or not she was living in the Church in which Christ intended her to live.

“You must not worry, my good lady,” said he. “These doubts will pass away.”

“Well,” she replied, “if I take your advice and remain in the Anglican Church, will you answer for my soul in making this decision when I stand before the judgment seat of God?”

“But you cannot ask me to do that,” came the reply.

“Then my mind is made up,” said the lady. “The Catholic priest had not the slightest doubt about being willing to stand security for my salvation as far as this decision of mine is concerned of entering the Catholic Church. That is the Church I will enter.”

Any Catholic priest then will stand responsible for your soul in the matter of your conversion. He will be willing to pledge the salvation of his own soul that you are making the right step. Of course, once you have embraced the Catholic faith, you will be expected to live up to the commandments of God and His Church; you will be expected to grow in virtue, to avoid sin. But you need have little fear if you are of good will. Just as Christ in His infinite wisdom gives His assistance to the Church to keep it in the way of truth, so also He gives to the Church tremendous helps in order that the faithful may have the strength required to lead good Christian lives to the day of their death. He wanted all of them to be able to say with St. Paul: “I have fought a good fight; I have kept the faith; for the rest there is laid up a crown for me in heaven.” The helps which Christ instituted and gave to the Church are called Sacraments. To be able to partake of the Sacraments Christ instituted will be one of the greatest blessings you will receive upon coming home.

17. Why Not Visit a Catholic Church

Just as no one should be timid as far as approaching a Catholic priest is concerned, no one should be timid about entering a Catholic Church. The doors are always open every day of the week. Each morning the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered up in the church if there is a resident priest present. All through the day the living Christ is in the tabernacle inviting the silent worshipper. You may enter and feel the quiet presence of God. Religion, you know, is not a thing that should be relegated to an hour or so on Sunday. The Catholic feels that every hour of every day should be consecrated to God and the church stands open every day to invite the faithful to a quiet visit with God.

And though many outside her fold know little or nothing of Catholic worship or doctrine, this is certainly not the intention of Christ or the Church. As her founder wishes her to be, the Catholic Church is open and frank and honest in her doctrine, her morality and her manner of worshipping. She has nothing that she wishes to hide.

But if you enter a Catholic Church, do not be surprised if Catholics worshipping there take little notice of you. They are there for what they imagine you came for, to worship God. Hence they will be intent upon one thing and one thing alone while they are in church, the worship of God. With them you too can slip into a pew, look up at the altar and commune with your God.

16. The Next Step

The next step you should take on your way home is to seek the assistance and direction of a priest. Any priest will be only too glad to give you what help he can. This is a part of his vocation, one of the duties of the office he fills. Christ Himself said: “Other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” (Jn. 10, 16)

But if you do not feel confident enough to introduce yourself to a priest, ask some Catholic friend of yours to do so. The priest may seem strange to you at first, but you will find him surprisingly reasonable and human. The Catholic priest by the Sacred Orders he receives, has a special work to perform. He is chosen from among men and set aside to offer up worship at God’s altar. But though he is set apart and anointed for a holy work, he is still a human being, very glad to be of service in God’s cause and in the service of his fellowmen.

We are all, Catholics and non-Catholics, children of God, bound by the charity of Christ to love one another. The very greatest love that we can show one another is that love whereby we are anxious about the salvation of our neighbor. This is the love that impelled the Son of God to descend to earth and take upon Himself our flesh in order to save the sheep of Israel that were lost. This is the same love that impels the missionary to leave family and friends to travel to distant parts of the earth to win souls for Christ. This is the only reason why the Catholic priest is anxious that the truth of Christ be made known to you and to all men. He is absolutely confident that he is a member of and a leader in the Church in which Christ meant that all men should work out their salvation.

15. How Shall I go About it?

If I wish to investigate the claims of the Catholic Church with a view to entering it, providing I discover it to be the one true Church Christ founded, how shall I go about it? What steps shall I take? Well, the first step you must take in this matter is to pray. As a humble seeker after truth, ask God for light to know His holy Will. Like the beggar in the Gospel, cry out with the loud voice of your soul: “Lord, that I may see.” For faith is a gift of God, that God gives to those who ask for it. Christ has promised that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in His Name, you shall receive.” “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

The great Cardinal Newman, one of the keenest minds of all time, took over twenty years to find his way back into the Church of his fathers. He had been a member of the Anglican Church, and he wished to remain a member of that Church if such were the will of God. Amid the doubts and perplexities that tormented him, he wrote the beautiful lines of the hymn ‘Lead Kindly Light.’ We too can repeat his words in prayer:

Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on.
The night is dark and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on.

God finally answered his humble prayer, giving him not only the light of mind that he begged for, but adding also the strength of soul that would enable him to follow the inspiration of God. From that time forward no sacrifice that he would be called upon to make could deter him from answering Christ’s call to return to the Church of Christ.

“Without faith,” Scripture tells us, “it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11, 31) But without God’s grace, we cannot possess faith. That is why there are many men in the world today who are convinced that the Catholic Church is the one, true Church founded by Jesus Christ, yet who have not entered it because God did not give them the gift of faith. Such a man was Cobbett, author of a history of the Protestant Reformation in England. Though Cobbett was not a Catholic, in his history he gave irrefutable proofs that there was no need of any such reformation in England, that the Catholic faith was literally stolen from the people, that they did not willingly give it up. On one occasion Cobbett was asked by a Catholic: “Why, then, do you not embrace the Catholic faith? You seem to defend it in everything.” Cobbett replied: “I am surprised that you, a Catholic, should ask me that question. You certainly should know that there is a great difference between conviction and conversion.” In other words Cobbett was intellectually convinced that the Catholic Church was the true Church of Christ, and yet he lacked the grace of God to live up to his convictions. To merit the grace of embracing the Catholic faith means more than just making an intellectual study of it. It means in addition humble prayer that God will give you not only the light of mind that you may see your way but also strength of soul, that you may have the courage to walk therein.

14. Can We Afford to Remain Indifferent to God?

 

The true Church then is One; it is Holy; it is Catholic; it is Apostolic. These are the four great marks Christ has imprinted upon His Church in order that it may be distinguished from imitations of the true Church even in this day of multiplication of sects. In this day of widespread doubt and confusion, you need truth and security as you seek the salvation of your soul; you want to feel sure you are on the right path. If you do, you will honestly and sincerely investigate the claims of the Catholic Church.

Holy Scripture warns us: “It is a terrible thing to fall in the hands of the living God.” It is not comforting then to consider the state of those who live their lives indifferent to the claims of God. Such people bother little whether the church in which they worship is the church Christ established. As one lady remarked to me on a certain occasion: “Oh! any Church is good enough for me, except the Catholic Church.” Yet this lady knew little or nothing about the Catholic Church. Her eyes were closed to the truth. She did not want to investigate. She preferred to listen to the gross calumnies against the Catholic Church, and to be content with the misrepresentations by which its doctrines are depicted.

This attitude of being indifferent to all truth, leads in the end to indifference to religion, which is the great sin of America today. How many people will tell you frankly: “I don’t go to any Church. My children some­times go but neither I nor my wife go. We have got out of the habit of going.” Or they will say: “When I do go, I go to the Church that has the best preacher. I like to hear a good sermon.”

On one occasion I asked a young man where he had been baptized. “Father,” he said, “I really do not know, but it was in the church that was nearest to the house in which we were living at that time. There are four boys in our family. None of us go to Church any more, nor do my parents, but we were all baptized, and as it so happens, in different churches.” This is undoubtedly the wrong attitude to take regard­ing one’s religion. To attend a Church because its pastor is the most popular preacher or be­cause it is the most convenient to reach or would seem to imply that God’s truth rests upon popularity or convenience. This attitude of mind is the cause of what is present in the United States today, a woeful indifference to religion in any form, indifference to the extent that some sixty to seventy million of our citi­zens admit that they worship God in no Church whatsoever.

13. Holy

 

Not only must the Church Christ established be Catholic but, as the Nicene creed professes, she must be Holy too. In other words Holiness must be a distinguishing mark of Christ’s Church. The Catholic Church has that mark for she is Holy in her founder Jesus Christ, who was holy with the holiness of God. The Church is also holy in her doctrines. The entire world testifies to this. It recognizes the Catholic Church as a tremendous force for good in the world precisely because of the doctrine she teaches. This is the very objection that some of those outside her fold hold against her, that she expects too much of frail human nature and holds her children to the practice of too high a morality. Such people do not want a church that will refuse them divorce as the Catholic Church does. They don’t want a church that will stress the awful malice of sin, and the great punishment God has in store for unrepentant sinners. They don’t want the Church as Christ made it, but they want a church of their own making, a church that will not bother them too much with thoughts of the next life. And they refuse to acknowledge that if the morality of the Catholic Church is high, it is because Christ made it so, as He declared: “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Nor is the Church Holy only in her founder and her doctrine. She is holy also in the remarkable holiness of so many of her children, the Apostles who gave their lives to the spreading of Christ’s kingdom upon earth, the early martyrs who likewise gave their lives to testify to their faith, and after the Apostles and Martyrs hundreds of thousands of Confessors and Virgins, men and women who in every age through the grace of God rose to sanctity in the Church He founded. Of course there are Catholics in the past and in the present who have not led and who do not lead holy lives. But this is because they do not live up to the teaching of the Church of which they are members. Christ’s Church was made not only for the salvation of the just but for the salvation of sinners as well. Granted, then, that there are Catholics whose lives are not what they should be, this is but a small part of a large picture: of the Church of Christ coming down through the ages as an inspiration and a help for millions of common men and women to lead holier lives in Christ.

44,543

12. Catholicity

 
This is the third mark by which the true Church can be known. The Church Christ founded should be Catholic, that is universal. It should embrace all nations and all men of all races and colors. “Go forth and teach all nations,” said Christ, and the Apostles and their successors in the Catholic Church have gone forth to all nations and men of all nations have embraced the faith. This is the Church that is as much at home in England as it is in Italy, in France as well as in China, in Japan, in Germany, in the United States, in the most remote regions of Africa and Alaska. The hearts of all men, savage and civilized, throb to the beauty of its worship as their minds submit to the truth of its doctrine. The beauty of the Catholic faith has been compared to the beauty of the rainbow. In the rainbow all the colors of the spectrum blend perfectly. In the Catholic faith men of all races and colors and conditions in life kneel as one before the altar of God and find the inner-most yearnings of their soul satisfied. The Catholic Church is humanity caught up and made one in Christ. 

I remember the colored porter on a train on a certain occasion telling me of his religious experience. He said he had been a Baptist once, but later on had changed his religion and had become a Presbyterian. I asked him to recite the Nicene Creed. Now the Nicene creed is that profession of faith drawn up by the Bishops of the Catholic Church far back in the fourth century of the Christian era. When the porter recited it for me, he came to the words: “I believe in the Catholic Church.” “So,” I said, “you are a Catholic.”

“Oh, no,” he hastened to reply. “I’m a Presbyterian.”

“But,” I pointed out, “you said, ‘I believe in the Holy Catholic Church’.”

“Yes, I did,” he admitted. “It is queer how that never occurred to me before.”

Nor does it occur to most Protestants. And yet every time they say the Nicene creed, they are uttering the very profession of faith the Catholic formulated in the fourth century. The words, “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church” meant then just what they mean now, the universal Church founded by Jesus Christ, which is the Church that still glories in the name Catholic.

11. Unity

Christ intended that the Church He founded should remain one and undivided until the end of time. Unity then must be a mark of the one, true Church. “And there shall be,” says Christ, “but one Fold and one Shepherd.” Nowhere but in the Catholic Church do we find the perfect example of such unity, all Catholics the world over believing the same doctrines, offering up the same sacrifice, and governed by the one visible head, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ upon earth. This is the unity Christ Himself prayed for the night before He died. “And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me; that they all may be one, as Thou Father in me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one of us, that the world may believe that Thou has sent Me.” (John 17; 20, 21) The night before He died Christ not only prayed that His Apostles would remain united and all those with them who through the preaching of the Apostles should believe in Christ but He also adds the prayer that the world witnessing the perfect unity existing in His Church, may be drawn to believe in Christ Himself. Unity then must be an outstanding mark of the true Church.

Some non-Catholics like to talk of the Catholic Church as the Mother Church, as though it were a matter of merit to have sprung from the Mother Church. But in reality it is of little merit to have sprung from the Mother Church when to have sprung or descended from the Catholic Church means that you are now split away, divided from and cut asunder from the Church Christ founded. Christ never meant that the Church He founded should give birth to a dozen others. And in the back of the mind of many non-Catholics this feeling ever persists, as is exemplified in the story of the following conversion.

Norway today is not the Catholic country it once was, and yet Norway too witnesses its conversions to the faith of its fathers. One such was the conversion of Mrs. Marie Elizabeth Brataas. She was the daughter of Peter Overn and Maren Flannum, both strict Lutheran Norwegians. One Sunday, coming home from the Lutheran Church, she asked her husband also a Lutheran, what the minister meant when he preached about the one Fold and the one Shepherd. She told him that she had always thought that the Lutheran religion was the one Fold but, to her amazement, she heard him say: “No! not the Lutheran but the Catholic is the one Fold and the One True Religion.” Her sister Petrea, in the meantime, had become a Catholic and a Carmelite nun. When she asked her Pastor, Krogh Tonning, for permission to have her name taken off the church registers, as she was becoming a Catholic, he answered: “You are taking the right path.” Later on he followed her into the Catholic Church.

This unity of faith is not only one of the glories of the Catholic Church, a mark to show that she has been divinely instituted but it is a thing that Christ Himself earnestly prayed for. Holy Scripture is the revealed word of God. Through it God speaks to us clearly and plainly. And in the strongest words possible Christ makes it plain in Holy Scripture that His followers should persevere in the unity of faith, should admit no doctrines contrary to those He Himself had taught the Apostles. St. Paul gives us a striking warning in this matter. Speaking to the Galatians he says: “But though we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: if anyone preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.” (Gal. 1. 8-9.)

To preach a doctrine then, other than that Christ taught the Apostles, is not to preach the Christianity of Christ. To set up a division in Christianity to do this, that is to establish a sect, is directly contrary to the command of Christ. For this reason the establishing of sects, divisions of Christian believers, is listed as one of the greatest of sins. In his letter to the Galatians St. Paul says: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatries, witchcrafts, enmities, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissentions, etc., of which I foretell you, as I have foretold you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5. 19-21) Hence though millions of men have embraced this sect or that in the course of time, and particularly since the Protestant Reformation, it was neither the wish nor the intention of Christ, that they should save their souls anywhere else but in the bosom of the One True Church He Himself founded.

10. Apostolicity of The Church

By the Apostolicity of the Church is meant that the true Church must go back in an unbroken succession to the Apostles. It must teach all the doctrines and only the doctrines that the Apostles taught, that they themselves received from Christ. It must have the same authority to teach that they possessed. It must administer the same sacraments they administered. It must exercise the same authority to govern the faithful they administered. This in itself is a striking proof that the Catholic Church is the only true Church for the Catholic Church is the only Church that does go back in an unbroken line to Christ. It was to the Apostle Peter alone and to his successors that Christ said: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Through Peter then and his successors, the Bishops of Rome, Christ’s Church comes down to you.

This was the Church Christ commanded all men to listen to. To the Apostles under Peter, He gave the direct command to teach; to the faithful He gave the equally direct command to listen and accept their teachings. “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city.” (Matt. 10; 14, 15) And in the Gospel of St. Luke we read: “And He said to them, go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not, shall be condemned.” (Luke 16; 15, 16)

What is it then that Christ commands us to accept? It is to receive Baptism at the hands of the Apostles and their successors and to believe the doctrines they would teach the faithful, the very same doctrines Christ taught His Apostles, the same doctrines the Catholic Church teaches today. “Going therefore,” He said, “teach ye all nations, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded thee.” (Matt. 28; 20) The Catholic Church alone goes back directly to Jesus Christ in doctrine, in sacrament, in authority. The Catholic Church alone then can be the true Church of Christ.

9. Trademarks by Which The True Church Can be Known Today

Today we have the Anglican Church, the Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Congregational Church and so many others representing themselves as the Church of Christ that the claim is now made, in view of the fact that all these denominations claim to be the Church of Christ, that it is impossible to discover the true Church Christ founded. It can not be impossible however for Christ would not found His Church and command all men to enter it unless it were possible for it to be known as such. In this 20th century, surrounded by so many Christian sects it is not easy to find the one, true Church as it was in the 10th century when all Europe possessed the one true Faith. Though it is not as easy, still, it is not impossible.

I say ‘though it is not as easy nowadays to find the one True Church as it was formerly’ and I think we can all admit that, in the present state of things, for many people it is not as easy. When a child has been brought up from its tenderest years in a belief and a practice different from that of the Catholic Church, it is not so easy for him to find his way back home. For I may live in a false religion, and may not know it to be a false religion. It may never occur to me to investigate the position in which I find myself and the means of investigation may not be within my reach. I may be what is termed—in­vincibly ignorant—of the truth. If I am, no blame may be attached to me for not knowing the truth. God does not expect the impossible of anyone. But in these days of widespread education, when books, periodicals and other means of enlightenment are within the easy reach of all, no intelligent well-meaning man need be invincibly ignorant of the Church Christ founded. A man’s religion is his most important possession upon earth, since religion is the means God has instituted to help save his soul. Whether then we be Lutherans or Episcopalians or Catholics, we must be Lutherans or Episcopalians or Catholics because we are convinced on reasonable grounds that the Lutheran religion or the Episcopalian religion or the Catholic religion is the religion Christ Himself founded and the one in which He intended us to work out our salvation and no other.

But are there any distinguishing marks by which a person living in the 20th century can know with certainty which religion is the true religion? Yes, there are. There are four great signs or marks, trademarks as it were of Christ, stamped on the true religion to make it stand out as the Church of Christ. The true religion should be Apostolic; it should be One; it should be Catholic it should be Holy. Let us examine these separately in order to see if the Catholic religion possesses them in their entirety. 

Click on the Postcard for a High Resolution Printable Image.

8. How Did Protestantism Come to Exist

 

The one great reason why one should enter any church is to seek the salvation of his soul. On the other hand, the reason why the Catholic Church makes the claim that she alone is the Church in which Christ intended all men should save their souls is that she is the only Church Christ Himself founded, whose teachings Christ commanded all men to listen to and to accept.

For over 1900 years now the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Christ. In the course of that time various groups broke away from union with her to found churches of their own. Not one of them can claim then to have had Christ as their founder. Some broke away because they refused to recognize the Bishop of Rome, who is the successor of St. Peter, as the lawful head of the Church. The Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are in this position. Though these churches deny the authority and the supremacy of the Pope, in theory at least they do not deny the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Other groups however have cut themselves off from the Church in a more complete manner. These groups not only deny the authority of the Pope but they also repudiate many of the doctrines of the Church. Catholics call them sects, meaning cut off. Against such divisions that might arise in the Church St. Paul warns the Ephesians: “Be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, One Body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Ephesians 1, 4, 3-6)

The first great sect to arise in the Church to threaten its unity was promoted by the priest Arius and was called Arianism. In the fourth century under the lead of Arius, this sect denied that Christ was the Son of God. After Arianism other sects arose at different times denying this article of faith or that, but none of them was of a permanent character until what is known as the Protestant Reformation took place in the 16th century.

Protestantism began with Martin Luther who was himself a Catholic priest. History tells us that he left the Catholic Church, denied the authority of the Pope, rejected one Catholic doctrine after another and finally established his own brand of Christianity, Lutheranism.

Henry the VIII was then King of England and England was entirely Catholic. Upon Luther falling away from the Church, Henry wrote a book condemning Luther and upholding the doctrines Luther had denied. But because the Pope refused to grant Henry a divorce from his lawful wife Catherine, Henry subsequently followed the example of Luther and denied the authority of the Pope. Henry’s action led to the introduction of the doctrines of Lutheranism in England and finally to the establishment of the Anglican Church in England. The division of Christianity under Protestantism had now begun. Sect upon sect arose until now there are hundreds of different sects, divisions, groups calling themselves Christian churches, all teaching doctrines more or less different and worshipping in different ways.

On the very face of things, this can hardly be what Christ intended. If the all-wise and all-knowing Son of God were to the trouble of coming upon this earth and taking upon Himself our flesh, becoming man to redeem mankind, He certainly would not have established ten different varieties of Christianity instead of one, teaching ten different doctrines and leading the faithful in ten different directions. If he did He would have been directly responsible for the woeful state of confusion, disunity and division that exists among the Christian sects today. Upon establishing His Church, Christ hand promised that He would be with her even to the end of the world and that the Gates of Hell, that is the forces of error and division Hell, that is the forces of error and division would never prevail against her. But the Gates of Hell would have prevailed if the Church had even once taught false doctrines or was unable at any time to correct whatever evils and abuses might have arisen in the administration of Church affairs. And the Gates of Hell assuredly would have prevailed if, to secure whatever reformation was needed, the Church Christ founded must needs be split asunder into a hundred and more different sects, each one having its own particular interpretation of the doctrine Christ taught, each practicing Christianity in a different way.

At the time the Protestant Reformation started, there were undoubtedly things that needed reformation in the Church. It is reasonable to suppose however, that if reformation was needed, that reformation should have come from within. After founding His Church, Christ did not leave the Church in the hands of angels. He left the Church in the charge of the Apostles and their successors. The Apostles and their successors were men with the weaknesses of men. Christ had promised them His assistance in order that as far as His doctrines were concerned, the Church would ever teach the truth. The administration of the Church, however, would remain subject to the weaknesses of human nature. It is not surprising then that at times this or that scandal would arise. In His own body of Apostles there was one who had betrayed Him. But unless the promises of Christ were false, the Church He founded has His Perpetual assistance so that she could correct abuses, remedy evils, overcome scandals, in other words, reform herself, if reformation was needed. And herein lies one of the most fundamental mistakes of Protestantism. In the supposed attempt to remedy the evils that existed, in the Church, the founders of Protestantism stepped outside the Church Christ founded, they forfeited His assistance and they became an easy prey to the spirit of error, division and confusion that has divided Christianity and goes on dividing it outside the Catholic Church.

Click for Free Download.

7, Is This Book Propaganda?

Today there are hundreds of thousands of men and women who, though they claim to be Christians, belong to no particular church. They are living in practical indifference to God and are risking the salvation of their immortal souls. They will have much to answer for when they stand before the judgment seat of the Almighty. For if Christ founded a Church upon earth, he meant that men should enter it. If He commanded that all men receive Baptism, He meant that they should become members of His Church. If He commanded that all men listen and accept the teaching of His Apostles, He meant that all men should be docile members of that Church He would build upon Peter, the head of the Apostles. To such men this little book makes its appeal. The invitation which God gives you now, you must not put off too lightly. As the Scripture warns us: "The night cometh when no man can work." And again: "Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation." The invitation, which God gives you now, may not be given again.


As you read these pages however, it may seem to you that what is written here is Catholic propaganda. As a matter of fact, in the good sense of the word, it is. Propaganda in it's original sense means anything that is written or spoken or depicted in order to encourage and promote a movement, an idea, a faith. This is the honest and true type of propaganda the Church practices at the command of Christ Himself. Upon establishing His Church He gave the clear command to the Apostles: "Go forth and teach all nations."

In the sense in which the word propaganda is often used today, it signifies anything said, written or done in a partly false manner to influence people into accepting some belief or some idea not entirely true. The Catholic Church does not employ this false type of propaganda. It realized that no true conversion will ever be made by force, by deceit, or by trickery. It presents its claims honestly and openly to your reason and to your conscience. It invites your full investigation into its history, its dogmas and its practices. Only then when the truth prevails under the impulse of God's assistance can a true conversion be made.  

If the Catholic Church fulfills the duty given it by Christ, she must never cease teaching the doctrines of Christ to all men. Catholic missionaries have in fact carried the message of Christ to all parts of the world. All parts of the world have responded to their appeal. On the other hand, there could be more effort made at times by the ordinary lay Catholic at home, and even by the priest at times, to restate Catholic doctrine to their Protestant brethren. Secure in his faith, content with his faith and not wishing to impose his faith upon the unwilling, the Catholic layman usually makes little effort to propagate it. The ordinary priest, moreover, is so immersed in the duties of taking care of his congregation that he has little energy and time left over for the work of reconverting those who have strayed. Christ Himself, however, gave us the injunction to work for the conversion of those not as yet in His fold. "Other sheep I have," He says, "that are not of this fold; them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

It is strange and yet it is true, that the Catholic Church, although two thousand years old, remains largely unknown to a large part of the modern world. A certain convert in Alaska once remarked: "What kind of a church do you people run? Is it a closed corporation? It seems as difficult to enter it as it is to pry open the door of a bank vault. I have been coming to your church now for the past six weeks, assisting at the services on Sundays, and I have not as yet met the priest in charge." In some cases then the approach to the Church is difficult. To make it less difficult, is the purpose for which this book is written.

 

  

6, Testimonies of Converts

There is a very interesting book called "Through a Hundred Gates." It is published by the Bruce Publishing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In it is related a short account of the conversions of some forty and more noted men and women of today, and in all parts of the world. The Catholic Church appeals to all men. This is nowhere better proven than in the long list of her illustrious converts from all the corners of the globe―England, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Spain, France, Holland, Russia, Hindustan, India, China, Japan, everywhere in fact where the human heart seeks God. Men from all nations and races have not only embraced the faith, but men from all nations have returned to the faith their fathers once lost. I shall quote here the testimony of but a few to emphasize how carefully they examined the claims of the Catholic Church to be the one, true Church of Christ before they came back home.

In the coming into the Church Dr. Erik Peterson of the University of Bonn, Germany, said: "I am now forty years old. I have studied theology circumspectly for twenty years. My action (in embracing the Catholic faith) was prompted by my conscience that I might not be a castaway of God. Whoever judges me, let him know that I shall appeal against his judgment to the judgment seat of God."

Bishop Duane G. Hunt of Salt Lake, Utah diocese tells us why he came into the Church. "It was during a post-graduate course in a law school that I finally made up my mind that I must be and would be honest with myself, and that since logic led me unmistakably to the Catholic Church, I would follow. I could not be a mental coward, I came into the Catholic Church, therefore, because I could not stay out."

Augustine J. Roth, another illustrious convert, gives us his reasons. "The answer to the question, why I became a Catholic, can be summed up in a few words. I became a Catholic because, after an extensive investigation lasting years, I found the Catholic Church to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I became a Catholic for the same reason that nearly half a million souls became Catholics last year, for no man can know the true Church and feel content to remain outside her communion. I hated the Catholic Church so thoroughly that I would have abandoned the inquiry even though it meant staking my salvation and losing what little faith I had left. That I took the step later on is a proof for the mysterious working of God's grace in my life, which took me step by step through the emptiness of other churches and then bestowed upon me the greatest of all gifts, the gift of Faith."

Dr. E. Schmidt, a German scholar, has this to say of his conversion. "The logic of Catholic doctrine, if this expression is permitted, led me into the Catholic Church, just as the lack of logic drove me away from Protestantism. At the time of my conversion I was nineteen, and to this day I have not regretted for a single moment that I then followed the superior logic of Catholic dogma or, shall I say, the superior promptings of God's grace"  

Says Hans Carl Wendlant, noted religious writer of Germany: "Next to the grace of God and the intercession of the Blessed Mother, I attribute my conversion to the recognition that Truth and Love have There is a very interesting book called "Through a Hundred Gates." It is published by the Bruce Publishing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In it is related a short account of the conversions of some forty and more noted men and women of today, and in all parts of the world. The Catholic Church appeals to all men. This is nowhere better proven than in the long list of her illustrious converts from all the corners of the globe―England, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Spain, France, Holland, Russia, Hindustan, India, China, Japan, everywhere in fact where the human heart seeks God. Men from all nations and races have not only embraced the faith, but men from all nations have returned to the faith their fathers once lost. I shall quote here the testimony of but a few to emphasize how carefully they examined the claims of the Catholic Church to be the one, true Church of Christ before they came back home.

In the coming into the Church Dr. Erik Peterson of the University of Bonn, Germany, said: "I am now forty years old. I have studied theology circumspectly for twenty years. My action (in embracing the Catholic faith) was prompted by my conscience that I might not be a castaway of God. Whoever judges me, let him know that I shall appeal against his judgment to the judgment seat of God."

Bishop Duane G. Hunt of Salt Lake, Utah diocese tells us why he came into the Church. "It was during a post-graduate course in a law school that I finally made up my mind that I must be and would be honest with myself, and that since logic led me unmistakably to the Catholic Church, I would follow. I could not be a mental coward, I came into the Catholic Church, therefore, because I could not stay out."

Augustine J. Roth, another illustrious convert, gives us his reasons. "The answer to the question, why I became a Catholic, can be summed up in a few words. I became a Catholic because, after an extensive investigation lasting years, I found the Catholic Church to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I became a Catholic for the same reason that nearly half a million souls became Catholics last year, for no man can know the true Church and feel content to remain outside her communion. I hated the Catholic Church so thoroughly that I would have abandoned the inquiry even though it meant staking my salvation and losing what little faith I had left. That I took the step later on is a proof for the mysterious working of God's grace in my life, which took me step by step through the emptiness of other churches and then bestowed upon me the greatest of all gifts, the gift of Faith."

Dr. E. Schmidt, a German scholar, has this to say of his conversion. "The logic of Catholic doctrine, if this expression is permitted, led me into the Catholic Church, just as the lack of logic drove me away from Protestantism. At the time of my conversion I was nineteen, and to this day I have not regretted for a single moment that I then followed the superior logic of Catholic dogma or, shall I say, the superior promptings of God's grace"  

Says Hans Carl Wendlant, noted religious writer of Germany: "Next to the grace of God and the intercession of the Blessed Mother, I attribute my conversion to the recognition that Truth and Love have found their highest expression in the Catholic Church."  

Professor Dr. Paul Kotaro Tanaka, Professor of Law at the Imperial University of Tokyo writes: I became a Catholic through God's grace eleven years ago. All I would say is God forcibly took hold of me, and I took hold of Him more and more.

 

 

5. The True Reason For Entering The Church

The fundamental reason then why one should enter the Catholic Church is that it is the Church established by Jesus Christ, in which he intended that all men work out the salvation of the soul entrusted to them. Of course there are many reasons why one might be attracted to the Church, reasons that sometimes impel men to enter the Church. One might be attracted by the splendor and beauty of Catholic worship, by the dignity and learning of her priests, by the staunch way in which the Church upholds the sacredness of the married state or because at times one's friends are Catholics or one's husband or wife. But while all of these are things that might attract us toward the Church, one's motive in entering the Church should be more substantial than the mere beauty of Catholic worship or the fact that my friend or my wife or husband is a Catholic.

Nor should a true conversion ever mean "hitting the sawdust trail" as it is sometimes vulgarly termed. For conversion to God means much more than the sole declaration that you accept Christ after listening to a sermon or two. An emotional sermon that stirs up an emotional response is hardly sufficient ground for the full acceptance of all that Christianity implies. It is true that emotions have their place in religion, but no one should rely on them alone either in his acceptance of religion or in his religious life afterwards. One should enter the Catholic Church after reasonable inquiry into her doctrines, convinced that this is the Church Christ Himself founded, and hence there is a solemn obligation in conscience binding one to enter.

The salvation of one's immortal soul is the most important business man has to transact in this life.
God demands of us that we take it seriously. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," Christ says to us. On the other hand just as no one should enter the Church unless from solid motives, so no one should remain in a Church unless he is sure that it is the Church established by Christ, and in which Christ meant him to work out the salvation of his soul. To embrace the Catholic faith then a certain amount of reasonable reflection is always necessary, a knowledge of her doctrines and an honest inquiry into her claims of being the One Church divinely instituted by the Savior of mankind.

4. Why All Men Should Practice Religion

There are many people in this world who, though they practice religion to some extent, are not much concerned whether the religion they practice is the true religion or not. There are others who have strayed so far from the notion of religion or the practice of religion that they will ask: "Why should I embrace any particular faith or practice any religion? What's the good of it? Why is it necessary?" In answering these questions I shall be forced to make this chapter a little longer than those preceding.

"The proper study of man," says the great Grecian philosopher Aristotle, "is man." In other words after the study of God Himself, there is no study so usful, so important as the study of man. It is useful to try to understand the nature of trees, of rocks, of animals and of the forces of nature, but it is more useful and far more necessary for man to understand man himself. And in the study of man there is no consideration more profitable than the study of man's eternal destiny. From the beginning of the world, nothing has occupied man's attention more than this. Where did I come from? Why am I here on this earth? Whither am I going? These three questions have troubled the minds of men since the very beginning of human history. Taken together they form the mighty problem of what is called the riddle of existence. That riddle must be solved if man's life upon this earth is to have a solid, worthwhile purpose, if man's religion is to be reasonable.

Let us suppose that instead of the millions of men that live upon earth, there were but one. Suppose that that one, upon being ushered into existence, should as it were, find himself in a small rowboat in the middle of a vast ocean with nothing but water all around him stretching to the horizon. The rowboat seems to be headed in some direction, but East, West, North or South, the rower knows not. If you were that man, sooner or later, probably sooner, you would ask yourself these questions: from what port did I set out? Why am I traveling at all? To what port am I headed? If you could give yourself no answer, you would most likely quit rowing. If I do not know for what port, if any, I am headed, why row? If I don't know, why I am rowing, why row? The oars seem to have been given to me for a purpose the boat seems to be made to carry me somewhere: the water itself seems to have been intended to sustain the boat. But if with all this I am going nowhere in particular, I am embarked upon a ridiculous journey.

Yet that is your position and the position of every man that ever lived upon this earth. Out of the womb of eternity when you existed not, you came and, with the speed of the fastest airplane that ever winged its way across the sky, you are traveling forward toward another eternity. What am I supposed to do while I am on this momentous journey? Is the journey after all worth taking seriously? Should I try to direct my way or should I just let myself drift? Storms will come in this journey through life as they would come to the rower upon the ocean. Storms will come in the shape of trials and disappointments, sickness, and, at times, the loss of fortune and friends and in the end, death. If there is no purpose in life other than to live, why should I try to bear up under such disappointments and trials? Why should I endeavor to rein in my passions or curb my selfish interests? Or is there possibly a port toward which I am headed, for which it would be worth while steering a straight course and suffering the buffets of this life to reach?

There is such a port. Its existence gives awful significance to this life. The rower was given a pair of oars to row with; you were given your reason to find out the direction in which you should steer your boat, the port toward which you should tend, in other words to know the grand purpose of life. For unless you were put here by God, to live a short time on probation, to prove yourself amid the trials and temptations of this life as worthy of the life to come, then your lot is sand indeed. All through this life your heart will be yearning for happiness. You will go through life so wistfully enjoying a bit of it here, a bit of it there. In the end your heart will still be yearning. It will never be completely satisfied. This is the testimony of every man that ever lived. Solomon, supposed to be the wisest and the richest of the kings of earth, surrounded with all the honors and the pleasures of life, in the end testified that it was all in vain. "Vanity of vanities," he exclaimed, "and all is vanity." Useless, worthless, dissatisfying, empty.

And at the moment of death, you will be unwilling to die. You will want more life. Your whole being will be crying out for eternal life. Yet you with your human heart, your wonderful intellect, your magnificent will, your marvelous imagination, you, the masterpiece of creation will be the greatest disappointment, the saddest wreck, the one great blunder in all the universe unless you honestly admit what your reason tells you: I was created by God, I am destined for God, and only the possession of God can one day fill my heart to overflowing with all happiness. Riches and honors and earthly enjoyments all pass away. Only God and eternal life remain forever. The great St. Augustine was a man who in his life tasted most of the pleasures that this life affords. In the end however like Solomon, he turns away from them with emptiness in his heart, exclaiming: "Thou has made me for Thyself, O Lord, and my heart will not rest unless it rest in Thee."

This then is the sole purpose of life, so to live as to prove ourselves worthy of God. It answers the question what is the good of religion, why it is necessary for me to embrace any religion and to enter any church. God creates the soul of each man who enters this world. He infuses that soul into the body. Because of that soul man becomes a human personality with the dignity of having been created by the hand of God and in God's own image. Man then possesses this dignity but he also possesses a destiny equal to his dignity. That destiny is one day to possess God and to live happily with God throughout all eternity. But to merit eternal life with God, man must fulfill certain conditions. Man in this life then is on a short probation. For God intends that man shall obtain his salvation by living up to God's commandments with the divine assistance. This present life is but a sojourn upon earth. We have not here a lasting dwelling place, for heaven is man's true home. The great purpose of life then, and the great good and necessity of worshipping God in the true religion is to achieve the salvation of one's immortal soul. This is the fundamental reason for entering the Catholic Church, the only Church established by Jesus Christ. Why then should you be concerned about religion? Why Because God demands it of you and because the salvation of your immortal soul is at stake. The greatest evil that can ever befall you is the loss of your immortal soul. The late World War, or a war a hundred times more destructive, is of no consequence compared to the loss of your soul. "What doth it profit a man," says Holy Writ, "if he gain the whole world, yet suffer the loss of his soul."

 

3. There Can Be But One, True Religion

But why change one’s religion? Why reenter the Catholic Church? Isn’t one religion as good as another? The plain answer to this important question is an emphatic, No. This saying for the most part is the work of those who in reality are indifferent to all religion, and make this an excuse for their indifference. A little reasoning should suffice to prove that one religion is not as good as another religion. If it were there would have been no need of Christianity in the first place. For there were other religions existing upon earth at the time Christ established His Church. There were Confucianism and Buddhism and Judaism and Paganism. Were one religion as good as another, it would have been sufficient for God to have allowed these religions to function without establishing another. Christ, however, did establish another.

In His dealings with man, God has always been definite and exact. After the fall of Adam, God promised that in due time He would send a Redeemer to satisfy for man’s sin. But in order to keep the knowledge of the one, true God among men until that time, God called Abraham to be the father of His chosen people. Hence he established the Jews as the one true and divinely appointed guardian of His law until He should send the promised Messias. The Jewish Church, then, was the one, true religion up to the time of Christ. God Himself then gives the answer to the question, “Is not one religion as good as another?” He Himself established one religion as the true religion up to the coming of Christ. Christ in His turn established but one Church, and He proclaimed that that Church would last to the end of time. “Thou art Peter,” He says, “and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16, 18.) Christ said “Church” not “Churches”, and He meant church, not churches. And again He says: “And there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd.”

It is evident from many other considerations that there can be but one, true religion. As there is only one God, there can be but one, true worship of God. Truth itself is one, and it cannot be contradictory. At one and the same time, two and two cannot be four and six and nine. If it were, what confusion would result in the field of mathematics. In the field of morality, what terrible evils would result if it were equally good and true to murder one’s parents and to protect their lives. Likewise were it equally true that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and not the Son of God, if it were equally true that Baptism is a Sacrament and absolutely necessary for salvation and neither a Sacrament nor necessary for salvation, what doubt, uncertainty and confusion would arise in the minds of Christians. The disastrous state of division and disunion that exists in the Christian sects outside the Catholic Church today is partly the result of following the theory that one religion is as good as another. Christ manifestly would not come upon earth to found fifty-seven different churches teaching different doctrines to confuse men’s minds. He came upon earth to found the one true Church that would be the one sure and safe path to salvation.