The glorious goal


THE CATHOLIC HOUR

THE GLORIOUS GOAL
BY

FULTON OURSLER
An Editor of the Reader’s Digest

JUL 3 1946

The third in a series of addresses by prominent Catholic laymen
entitled “THE ROAD AHEAD,” delivered in the Catholic Hour, broad-
cast by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the
National Council of Catholic Men on June 16, 1946, by Fulton Oursler,
an editor of the Reader’s Digest. After the series has been concluded
on the radio, it will be made available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men
Washington, D. C.



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THE GLORIOUS GOAL

We have seen that the nations,
as they look to the future, are

confronting a moral choice. And

we have seen that the United

States of America, in the grave

domestic issues with which it

must deal in the years ahead, is

faced with a moral choice of its

own.

What is true of the world and
of this nation is even more over-

whelmingly true of each one of

us, as individual personalities.

Men and women, considering
their own personal future, must

make a moral choice. They must

go one way or the other—to-
ward heaven or hell. Let no one

deceive you into believing other-

wise. Month by month, and even

hour by hour, the issues of the

struggle of the future are com-

ing into clearer focus—struggles
of whole peoples, of parties

within nations, of good and evil

within the human soul.
What can the individual citi-

zen do to play a Christian’s full

part in the battle? Specifically,

what can the individual Catholic

do so that he may help his coun-
try to follow in the pathway of

Almighty God? How help, to
bring all the nations of the world

to obey God’s will?

It is not hard for us to know
what to do. Fortunately, the an-

swers to these questions are not

far to seek. The Christian man
and woman are perfectly armed
against the subversions of this

life. For thousands of years all

the knowledge that man needs
has been accumulating. We are
heirs to the experience of pat-

riarchs, the wisdom of judges,

the visions of prophets, and we

are beneficiaries of direct reve-

lation by our Father in Heaven.

The Ten Commandments are

vital and strong this instant as

they were when handed down in

lightning and thunders on Mt.

Sinai. The Life of Our Lord as

recounted in the Gospels is still

the shining light for the foot-

steps of every faltering soul. We
know that . . God so loved the

world that he gave his only-be-

gotten Son, that those who be-

lieve in him may not perish, but
may have life everlasting” (John
3 : 16 ).

We have the teachings and
parables and deeds of Our Lord

to keep us on the straight and

narrow course which—and only
which—leads to our perfect and
glorious goal. And we have the

history of the early Church, as

told in the Acts of the Apostles;

and we have the Epistles those

early heroes wrote, with the

glow of coming bonfires throw-



ing upon their pages an immor-

tal light of martyrdom.

We have the writings and tra-
ditions of the Church; doctrine

and dogma and significant epi-

sodes in the history of our faith

handed down by word of mouth

from old priest to young priest

in the long centuries of apostolic

succession. We have the Creed
of the Apostles, formulating in

words that we cannot misunder-
stand, exactly what it is that we
believe. Our priceless posses-

sions are the sacraments, those

outer signs of inner grace; one

to bid us welcome into the world,

in baptism; one to give us final

absolution and God-speed as we
return into the illimitable mys-

tery from which we came. One

of the remaining five sacraments

is not for the many but for the
few; that is the sacrament of

Holy Orders by which a man be-
comes a priest; and by the bene-

ficence of that ordination it is

possible for us to receive all the

other sacraments for our spirit-

ual life!—of marriage, of con-
firmation, confession, and above

all, Christ's gift to His children,

the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy

Communion.

Even these priceless posses-

sions are not all of the ready

treasure at our right hand. It is

our unspeakable privilege to

speak to God in prayer—to Our
Father Who is in Heaven. There
is no barrier that can stand be-

tween the Almighty Ruler of the

Universe and the least of all

earth's people, if he brings to

the altar an humble and contrite

heart. More, if he finds it hard

to pray, the living and the dead

will help him; mortal and im-

mortal; his friends on earth and

the saints in Heaven will foster

and sponsor his appeals for

strength. For another unspeak-

able privilege is the Communion

of Saints.

There are, I say it with aston-

ishment, millions of Christians

who recite a statement that they

do believe in the Communion of

Saints but never dream of enjoy-

ing communion with them. But

the true Christian boldly and

patiently and believingly seeks

such Communion. For it is a

high privilege to entreat prayers

of a host of bright and holy

souls, and of the glorious first

and queen of all the saints, Our

Blessed Lady, Mary Most Sancti-

fied, Mary Most Holy, Mary the

Mother of God.

Not even yet have I named all

the armor and all the equipment

which is the endowment of the

Christian as he finds himself in

conflict with the confusions of

this life. But I have cited



enough to show that he is well

outfitted, not only for the rest

of his life on earth, but equally

for eternity.

Can you imagine what the

world would be like, if every

Christian were to use that equip-

ment? Before its mere mobiliza-

tion, the hosts of evil would col-

lapse. The hosts of hell could not

withstand the irresistable forces

of devotion and humility and

love. Use the weapons that God

has given us and the troubles of

mankind will begin to disappear

—and soon a race of human
beings worthier of Heaven will

begin to appear.

Now I believe all this is pos-
sible !

If that sounds like a most bla-

tant fantasy of hope, let us begin

by conceding its difficulty and go

forward then, in faith, remem-

bering that with God all things

are possible. We have many
earnest Christians today—but
we have too many indifferent
ones, who do not associate the
practice of their belief with the

affairs of daily life. We need
shining examples of Christian

courage and piety in every

neighborhood, in every office

and factory. In each place,

someone must foster the renewal

of the fervent Christian ex-

ample. Someone must make a

start. Why should it not be I or
you?

Alone, we are small and weak,

against the evil of the world,

—

but someone has said that God

and one make a majority. The

powers and forces of evil do, in-

deed, seem to be very strong.

But the truth is that a very little

good is far more potent than a

large concentration of evil.

There is a dramatic reminder of

that superiority in the story of

David and Goliath — all the
angry, destructive might of the

giant laid low by a stripling

with a slingshot in his hand.

The only trouble now is that the

striplings of good are so few

and the world is over-bred with

the giant sons of fury. A few
more slingmen and we can lay

the giants low.

This simply means that work-

ers are needed on the good side;

believers of the Christian way

are needed; disciples on obscure

fronts of home and workplace.

The time is ready. With our

great heritage and equipment as

Christians, we shall be able to

do mighty deeds. How then may
we proceed?

We can use every opportunity,
every minute of our lives to be a

light before the eyes of our con-

fused companions. The first and

greatest service we can render



is to become a living Christian

example of mercy and devotion.

It does not matter immediately

whether our associates under-

stand what we believe or not. Be

sure of this—they can under-
stand and believe what we do

!

Let us do, then, as Our Bles-

sed Lord would have us do—in
every little one of life's trans-

actions. That is our glorious

goal. Faith, hope and charity to

shine in all our actions—then
truly we become a light. The

other day I was reading a small

book called “You Can Be A
Christopher." The author told of

a night meeting held in an open

air stadium of Los Angeles

known as the Hollywood Bowl.

Suddenly the speaker asked that

all the lights be put out. There

sat the vast assemblage in dark-

ness, except for the million tiny

points of silver stars hovering in

the skies over the home-town of

movie celebrities — only they
were hovering forever, being not

picture stars but God's stars in

Heaven. And the people in the
stadium were without light in

the sudden darkness, because the

picture stars in the audience did

not give any light at all. Then,

suddenly, they heard the voice

of the speaker, who was saying:
“I am now about to light a
match. Can you see it?"

Everyone of the nearly 50,000

men and women who sat in dark-
ness could see clearly the orange

spurt of the match-flame. Shake-

speare remarked on the carrying

power of one lighted candle; so

shines a good deed in a naughty

world ! Having proved Shake-

speare's point with a match, the

chairman of the Hollywood audi-

ence then went even further. He
asked every individual present

to light a match. Suddenly, as

if miraculously, the darkened

amphitheatre was bathed in

golden light. Fifty thousand

little tapers joined to become one

burst of glory.

So it is with the tiny tapers of

our individual faith. Enough of

us can fill the road ahead with

light. This does not mean that

Christians have not been zeal-

ous; I believe the human race
has been preserved safe so far

only because Christians have

been so. It does mean that we

must be more zealous; there

must be more of us to be so. We
must go forward into the future

with increasing and dynamic de-

votion.

Multiply individual devotion

and we shall speedily see im-

provement in international and

domestic affairs. No Christian
needs to be told of the grace

that will come to the individual



life, for that is a fact demon-

strable in daily experience.
There is neither time nor space

on the road ahead for languid

Christianity. Our enemies are

vigorous and possessed of the

writhing strength of evil; there

is something demoniac in their

persistent activity. We must
overcome that evil with good.

Specifically, by the corporal

and spiritual works of mercy, we

shall begin to confound our ene-

mies. Our good deeds will shine

like Portia's candle. The afflicted

that we comfort, the doubtful
that we counsel, the ignorant we
instruct, the offenses we forgive,

the oppressors whose wrongs we
bear patiently, even the sinners

we admonish, the living for
whom we pray, will look with
new respect and disturbing won-

der on the faith that can pro-

duce such patterns of behavior.

We shall not seek gratitude or
expect it; we must seek merely
to understand the will of the

Lord and do it, and the hungry

that we feed, the naked that we

clothe, the thirsty to whom we

give drink, the harborless to

whom we give shelter, the sick

we visit, and the captive—all
will recognize, that Christ, Our

Blessed Lord, can move His fol-

lowers to imitate Him. We shall

thus become His living adver-

tisements.

But that is only a small part

of what we can do, and what I
believe we are going to do. We
are not, as our enemies suppose,

pious dolts, innocent bumpkins

in a sophisticated world. Our in-

structions on that point are

clear. We were told by the Mas-
ter to be harmless as doves—-but
wise as serpents. We shall, then,
be wise as serpents and use that

wisdom on the good side. We
shall use it in all our relation-

ships, economic, social and po-

litical. We shall carry that wis-
dom into the smallest affairs of
life—from an exchange of ideas

in a corner cigar shop to the

marking of a ballot in the voting

booth. We shall not be deceived
because a man labels himself of
this party or that, and certainly

not of this religion or that.

Using our wisdom, we shall want

to find out about the man and
know him for what he is. Not

merely is he an able man,- or a

fool
;
but also we shall want to

know—is he a good man or a
bad man? Because the decisions
of the future are moral de-

cisions, choices between good

and evil, we shall cast our

strength on the good side, and

take- pains to find out, with all

the resources of worldly wisdom,



which is the good side. We shall
not be taken in by terms misused

—like democracy, a word which
is often the cloak and mask of

political brigands who would rob

us of our freedom.

We shall, under God, join with
all men of good will and stout

heart to restore morality to its

rightful, supreme place in all

human relations. We shall find
ways, organized and unorgan-

ized, to let our feelings be

known, even in the highest coun-

cil chambers. No matter who ob-
jects, they shall have to let God

in to the councils of Nations.

The day incoming when it will

be unpopular to insult God—be-
cause of uncountable little fires

lit by little individuals who adore

Him.

We shall find ways to make
our views felt wherever expedi-

ency instead of principle dictates

the actions of executives, judges,

and legislators. We shall stand
in the way of greed and pride
and sloth, whether in industry or

labor. And we shall restore God
to education.

All these things are part of

our glorious goal. We are going
to do these things—or else civili-
zation is going to collapse. The

road ahead is very near ahead.

The harvest is great, the labor-

ers are few. The need above all

is that Christians shall go to

work and labor with unflagging

energy in the service of the

Master.



THE CATHOLIC HOUR
1930—Seventeenth Year—1946

The nationwide Catholic Hour was inaugurated on
March 2, 1930, by the National Council of Catholic Men
in cooperation with the National Broadcasting Company
and its associated stations. Radio facilities are provided
by NBC and the stations associated with it; the pro-
gram is arranged and produced by NCCM.

The Catholic Hour was begun on a network of 22
stations, and now carries its message of Catholic truth
on each Sunday of the year through a number of sta-
tions varying from 90 to 110, situated in 40 states, the
District of Columbia, and Hawaii. Consisting usually
of an address, mainly expository, by one or another of
America’s leading Catholic preachers—though some-
times of talks by laymen, sometimes of dramatizations
—and of sacred music provided by a volunteer choir,
the Catholic Hour has distinguished itself as one of the
most popular and extensive religious broadcasts in the
world. An average of 100,000 audience letters a year,
about twenty per cent of which come from listeners of
other faiths, gives some indication of its popularity and
influence.

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