m n 





THE POETRY OF DITTY 
by 

Rev. Alfred Duffy, C. P. 
Professor of Homiletics, 

St. Joseph's Monastery, Union City, N. J. 

(Five addresses delivered in the Catholic Hour on Sundays 
from July 12 to August 9, 1936) 

I. Providence—Specifications of Success. 
II. Representative Authority—God in the 

Tribunal. 
III. Asceticism—Duty as an Art. 
IV. Christ the Exemplar—God Dressed as 

Man. 
V. Prayer—Visiting Home. 

I v B l 
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC MEN 

Producer of the Catholic Hour 
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, 

Washington, D. C. 
P r i n t e d a n d d i s t r i b u t e d by O u r S u n d a y V i s i t o r 

H u n t i n g t o n . I n d i a n a 



DEDICATED 
TO ALL MISSIONARIES 

OF 
PULPIT, PRESS, CLASSROOM, CLOISTER AND HOME 

WHO WORK TO ENCOURAGE THE PERFECT 
FULFILLMENT OF LIFE'S DUTIES 

BY THE SONS OF MEN 

Imprimatur, 
•J-John Francis Noll, D. D. 

Bishop of Fort Wayne 



PROVIDENCE—SPECIFICATIONS OF 
SUCCESS 

(Address delivered on July 12, 1936) 
God is the master of the universe, not only in the 

sense that He is entitled to the submission of His 
creatures and can exact service f r o m them, but also 
because He is the only One competent to direct 
creation to the accomplishment of its best success. 

Only God knows the workings of His own mind. 
Only God knows the complete program of creatural 
existence. He has implanted into everything the in-
stincts and powers which enable it to function ac-
cording to His will. He has established for every-
thing in the universe the best and most favorable 
destiny it can have. Not t h a t this world is the best 
t h a t God could have created, t h a t God could not have 
invented a higher scale of dignity f o r a great many 
of His creatures, t h a t every stone could not have 
been a precious stone, or that every vegetable could 
not have had a r a r e fragrance, or t h a t every beast 
could not have won prizes, or t h a t every man and 
every woman could not have been both clever and 
handsome. But even though God might have im-
proved creatures to satisfy a higher standard of 
human excellence, nevertheless, once He has lo-
cated a creature in the great mosaic of nature, t h a t 
creature can best succeed by accepting the limita-
tions He has divinely set for it. And whether we 
find t h a t creature in the infinitesimal world of inter-
acting atoms or in the bewildering reaches of space; 
whether it be an insect hidden under a stone in the 
forest, or the king-beast of the jungle, or man, the 
history of its mission in the world is known not at all 
or only inadequately to itself. Its full career is a 
secret in the mind of God. 



¿4 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
The name of God is the only possible response to 

that question of Isaias: "Who has wrought and 
done these things, calling the generations from the 
beginning?" The response is "I the Lord, I am the 
first and the last." And so, there is no dignity, no 
reason in saying—I will—-when God has said—Thou 
shalt not. Such an exhibition may be called self-
expression, or a daring of conventions; but it was 
just such an exhibition that made hell the house of 
Lucifer and changed Eden into a vale of tears. The 
best thing Lucifer could have been was a good angel. 
He could not have been like God in the manner he 
attempted; neither could man. And these were the 
only two creatures who could unlawfully aspire be-
yond themselves. But while a creature cannot move 
outside the strictures God has fastened on it, it can 
take full advantage of its native powers. Incidental 
circumstances, such as where it happens to be, or 
what force moved it there, or what its neighbors are 
like; these things cannot make it better or worse. 
A glacial boulder buried in the strata of the earth 
where God put it, can be as good a stone as one 
quarried for a cathedral. A f a r m e r can be as good 
a man as his king. A layman can be as good a man 
as his bishop. Neither God nor man judges a broom-
handle by the buds it grows, nor a man's morality by 
the cut of his coat. Everything in creation is quali-
fied to succeed, provided it observes the standard of 
success established by God. Such observance takes 
complete care of its own destiny. 

There is this difference, however, between the 
point of view of the creature and the point of view 
of the creator. If every creature could think, it 
would think only of itself. It would have to tend 



PROVIDENCE—SPECIFICATIONS OF SUCCESS ' 5 
only to its own work. The sun would merely have to 
shine, and not bother whether the earth was heated, 
or flowers grew as a consequence. Grass would 
only have to grow with no concern as to whether 
cattle grew f a t on it. To the creature the world 
would seem to revolve around itself. But f r o m the 
creator's point of view the vista is different. To 
Him, creation is not a series or pile of creatures with 
destinies. It is an organized thing. Creatures are 
not put into insulated compartments where neither 
sight nor sound of them can influence a neighbor. 
Their fates are so interlocked that a cough or a 
thought or a drop of water may rearrange forces 
and develop emergencies, which can register an 
eifect in eternity. 

Hence, whoever assumes the task of directing the 
destinies of each creature, so that one great common 
purpose will be served, must possess an infallibly 
correct prophetic mind and an infinitely masterful 
hand. He must have set the gears and tempered the 
bearings of the great world machine, so that one 
destiny would interplay with all other destinies, so 
t h a t each would be forceful in the general move-
ment, and none would interfere with the economies 
of another. 

He must have provided that the stars would not 
have become jumbled, that grass should not acci-
dentally grow oaks, that lions should not put men in 
cages, that the soul made for a man should not by 
some blunder inhabit an ape. It would be necessary 
t h a t he forecast t h a t humor and laughter and ro-
mance temper the seriousness of living, and that a 
head-ache or a heart-ache or a rainy holiday would 
not be mere nasty circumstances that litter the 



¿6 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
smoothness of life, but that they would be events 
with a mission, and the mission one of benevolence 
to the whole world. These are the routine problems 
of the Master of the universe. 

God designed and built the ship of creation. He 
alone knows the principles of navigation« by which it 
is brought to port. Man rides in it as a passenger. 
He learns to make his way about and to name the 
ropes and braces and sheets and deck areas. He 
has been told by God some facts about proprieties of 
conduct, which will contribute to the efficiency of 
the order on board. But other matters that are no 
business of his, he has not been told. He knows noth-
ing of the mystery of movement and direction by 
which he and all creation are being propelled toward 
their destinies, nor the secret by which these des-
tinies are laced into a cooperative unity. Man may 
look back to a small event like the fall of a stone, or 
to a remote event like the fall of a star, and know 
how it changed the course of his life. But the his-
tory of the fact from the beginning, how it started, 
how it proceeded through an accumulation of causes 
and effects until its fall cut so sharply against t h e 
tide of his life, that the tide never flowed the same 
t h e r e a f t e r ; these things he does not know. The des-
tiny of a stone or of a star is to fall under certain 
conditions, but there is required an infinitely ex-
haustive knowledge of economies to make either 
event turn the course of a soul. "The works of God 
are done in judgment f r o m the beginning, and f r o m 
the making of them he distinguished their parts, 
and their beginnings in their generations." "Thou 
hast done the things of old, and has devised one 
thing a f t e r another; and what thou has designed 



PROVIDENCE—SPECIFICATIONS OF SUCCESS ' 7 
hath been done; f o r all thy ways are prepared, and 
in thy providence thou hast placed their judg-
ments." 

There is only one formula for the realization of 
the benefits of whatever destiny God has devised for 
a creature. That formula is the observance of law. 
God does not launch us into existence and tell us to 
muddle through life as well as we can. Nor does 
God make a lottery of life and give a fortune to t h e 
one who makes the best guess. He has written a 
list of instructions for our direction. If we c a r r y 
out these instructions automatically we are serving 
our best interests and the best interests of everyone 
else in the world. These instructions are God's law, 
and His law is the flawless prescription written by 
His wisdom to encompass the best destiny of every 
creature. 

But while God makes laws, He does not ration-
alize those laws f o r us. God does not say f o r in-
stance, t h a t divorce is unlawful, and then proceed 
to explain t h a t this law to human judgment will 
seem good in a great many cases, and will seem cruel 
in many others, but that in the light of His special 
analysis it is never cruel but always merciful. God 
does not say to the poor m a n : "Thou shalt not 
steal", and then unroll the f u t u r e to display the 
blessed function of poverty in his particular case. 
God does not say: "Honor thy f a t h e r and thy 
mother", and then write a volume of commentary 
to justify the inclusion of unworthy fathers and 
mothers under the scope of His legislation. God's 
law is divine medicine compounded to insure moral 
health. Man's duty is to take it. 

Human reason is not valid against the law of. 



¿10 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
God. For divine law is the expression of divine wis-
dom, whether chiselled on tablets of stone and de-
livered amid the thunders and lightnings of Sinai, 
or written by the finger of God in the hearts of men. 
Reason is a superb gift. It is the faculty which 
draws a line across visible creation and separates 
the aristocracy, that is man, from the proletariat, 
that is everything else. By the power of his intel-
lect man has conquered the great forces of nature. 
He has harnessed the wind, compelled the sea and 
the air to bear up his ships, has weighed the stars 
and calculated their light and measured their speed-
ing through the firmament, he has used the air to be 
his messenger. A thousand secrets has reason 
plucked from nature, and yet who will dare say that 
the limits have been reached of man's tremendous 
power of soul. Reason has its use, but among its 
uses we cannot concede it the title of God's compe-
t i t o r . When reason presumes to sit in judgment on 
the laws of God, it is in much the same situation as 
the blind men of the old story, who went to the zoo 
to observe an elephant. One of them felt the ele-
phant's leg, and claimed that an elephant was like a 
tree. Another touched its aide, and thought an ele-
phant was like a wall. The third stroked its ear, and 
imagined an elephant was like a fan. The difficulty 
was not so much that the blind men could perceive 
nothing, but rather that they very definitely could 
perceive something, but could not perceive enough 
t o effect an integrated idea of just what an elephant 
is like. If man wishes to feel important as the king 
.of visible creation, he can justify the feeling, but he 
must remember that he is important just because of 
God's good pleasure in making him His pet. But 



PROVIDENCE—SPECIFICATIONS OF SUCCESS ' 11 
if man is reasonable he knows that as a constructive 
critic of God's administrative policies, he is utterly-
negligible. 

God's law is the perfect formula f o r the co-
ordination of that society of destinies which is called 
creation. Observance of divine law is an affiliation 
with the only adequate instrument of direction, the 
wisdom of God. Observance of divine law is, then, 
man's only guarantee, his only hope for personal and 
communal success. 

Yet the history of mankind has recorded many a 
conflict between God's laws and human argument. 
It shows many a human court of conscience pro-
nouncing a sentence subversive to God's will, render-
ing a verdict of invalidity against divine omnisci-
ence, detecting flaws and loopholes in divine consti-
tutions. But when man presumes to take a position 
against the law of God, he cannot point to the earth-
ly issue of his conduct and consider himself justi-
fied. He cannot point to happy remarriages of di-
vorced people and claim that divorce is proved good 
even though God has raised a law against it. He 
cannot say that big business and politics and diplo-
macy are better off for the lies so opportunely told 
to make a successful case. He cannot vindicate war 
as an instrument of prosperity. And the reason 
why he cannot validly do these things is the same as 
the reason why he cannot collect today a bet that 
the sun will not shine tomorrow. The reason is 
precisely because tomorrow is the day that com-
pletes the event. In ethical matters, matters involv-
ing God's law, the tomorrow is eternity, t h a t period 
which lies immediately a f t e r death and continues 
forever. The God who made observance of His law 



¿10 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
the one condition of success is also the God who set 
the date for demonstrating the superiority of His 
methods over all others. That date follows time. 
It is not a part of it. God has legislated for man's 
eternal safety, and the efficiency of His legislation 
must be judged only in the light of man's eternal 
fate. Eternity not time, divine foresight not hu-
man strivings, divine economy not human statis-
tics, form the only basis for comparison of stan-
dards of real achievement. 

If a man sins against the law of God and then 
honestly repents, his sin may be the act of a reason-
able but humanly weak creature. But when a man 
makes a philosophy of his rebellion, and substitutes 
it for the law of God as his moral code and formula 
for success, when a man does this, his philosophy 
rates on a par with that of the cat on the hearth, the 
canary in the cage, the mouse in a hole of the wains-
coting, mentioned in the story. They were all watch-
ing the king at his desk. They all had their own 
reasons for thinking him a tool. They all wanted to 
suggest an improvement in his routine. The mouse 
criticised him for exposing his life to the cat. The 
cat could not figure why he did not eat the canary. 
The canary sadly pondered his stupidity in not 
seizing his opportunity to fly out the window. 

Men so often judge God by their own tiny meas-
ures and short sight. They consider His laws a 
tyranny, when they are actually the specifications of 
real success. They consider obedience a drudgery, 
when it is actually the poetry of being wise with the 
wisdom of God. 



REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY i l 

REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY—GOD IN THE TRIBUNAL 
(Address delivered on July 14, 1936) 

There is only one theory that satisfactorily ac-
counts for the life of man on earth. It is the simple 
and very old one—God gave man life that man 
might use it to win a better and permanent one, a 
life f r e e f r o m the tantalizing recurrence of little and 
big griefs which beset him on earth. This is the 
only theory that enables man to fit history and his 
own experience with his reason. It is the only 
theory that explains the orderliness and the good-
ness persistently outcropping in the road he travels. 
The world came f r o m the a r t f u l hand of God and is 
circling back to that same origin. And so it is not 
strange that it should savor of its Maker. This is 
the only theory that explains man's sense of honor, 
that sense of personal cheapness and impending 
doom, which follows the most secret violations of 
his ideals. For sin is not merely an offense against 
a statute, it is a betrayal of one's own dignity. This 
is the only theory that rationalizes the unfinished 
problems of justice which man sees strewn through 
history, even his own personal history. Men are to 
live through another life that will see the unfinished 
businesses of justice completed. 

God is not so thriftless as to leave work half 
done. . He cannot will the end without willing the 
means necessary to its accomplishment. He cannot 
give man life that he might earn a better life and 
then surrender him to a principle of luck. God 
would not set man down in the midst of creation and 
leave him to be the prey of every stronger man who 



12 t ; h e p o e t r y o f d u t y 
came along. He would not permit him to pioneer all 
over again to learn the lessons that he might learn 
from the experience of others, nor allow him to at-
tain nothing just because many of the necessary 
tasks of life cannot be done alone, but must be done 
by harmonious team work. We would not expect 
God to do this. We would rather expect Him to in-
vent a system of guarantees and protections for 
man's life and freedom, a system t h a t would cor-
relate the public efforts of one man with the public 
efforts of another, so that they would not hinder 
each other, when they might just as easily help each 
other. 

God has invented such a protective and unifying 
agency. It is called the State. Its function is to aid 
man to live freely and efficiently. It takes care of 
one part of man's destiny—the preservation of his 
life and of the opportunity to use his life in the ser-
vice of his conscience. 

There is another critical aspect of man's destiny 
which is taken care of by another tribunal. Man 
must not only live efficiently from a political point of 
view, but he must live in such a way as to earn from 
his Creator a better and permanent life. He must 
be taught certain important facts about this other 
life, its value, the method by which it is to be gained, 
the obstacles to the winning of it. This aspect of 
man's destiny calls for an educational system which 
is capable of matching human conduct with eternal 
truth, which can state the solution of the religious 
problems of mankind. It calls also for a system of 
aids to cure his waywardness and strengthen his 
good purposes. This side of man's destiny is cared 
f o r by the Church, which is specifically a tribunal 



REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY il 

authorized and equipped to teach religious truth, 
to minister spiritual strength, and to organize and 
make these two services available by legislation. 

Both of these tribunals to which the care of 
man's destiny is entrusted are invested with the 
authority of God. Each in its own sphere holds a 
commission as God's agent. Each in its laws truly 
reveals the will of God with reference to the public 
conduct of men. Each is sacred. Each is entitled to 
reverence. Each is entitled to the obedience that 
God Himself would command if He in His own per-
son stood before men and told them what to do. 

The greatest obstacle to the observance of human 
law is the fact that people do not look f a r enough 
behind the law. They are so familiar with the 
mechanics of legislation, the parliamentary pro-
cesses by which a bill is brought to vote, the divi-
sions of opinion during debate, the names of those 
who sponsor an act, and the antics of some legisla-
tors who discuss it—they are so familiar with these 
commonplaces of law-making that the law itself 
loses a great deal of its dignity. It seems to have 
come into existence by a kind of accident. It ap-
pears an arbitrary thing, the whim of men who had 
to find some way of justifying the salary they re-
ceive. But these are not the reasons that give law 
any of its cogency. These are not the facts by 
which the sacredness of law stands or falls. The 
dignity of law is rooted in a truth, which stands be-
hind all these—the t r u t h that it is God Who dictates 
all just law. Human lawmakers rate merely as His 
secretaries. He speaks. They write His law into a 
book. "ByNme kings reign, and lawgivers decree 



¿14 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
just things. By me princes rule, and the mighty de-
cree justice." 

And so the first fact that makes the observance 
of law easier, that makes it something more than a 
nuisance tax on the liberties of life, is this—obser-
vance of human law is an act of obedience to no 
man. It is an act of obedience to God. "Let every 
soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no 
power but from God: and those t h a t are, are or-
dained of God. Therefore he t h a t resisteth the 
power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they 
that resist purchase to themselves damnation." A 
legislator cannot feel flattered that as he stands in 
his tribunal the commonwealth is subservient to 
him. The community has no more reverence for 
him as a man than the quality of his manhood can 
command. Any other reverence, is given him be-
cause he represents God. And since he represents 
God his judgment before the tribunal of God will be 
made on the basis of his own reverence for his own 
responsibilities. "Give ear, you that rule the. peo-
ple, and that please yourselves in multitudes of na-
tions: For power is given to you by the Lord, and 
strength by the most High; who will examine your 
works, and search out your thoughts." 

A position of political authority is not a season 
of leisure. It is not a season of fortune hunting. It 
is not a stepping stone to financial or social security. 
If any of these things come in the course of an 
honest discharge of duty, they are well earned. But 
even then they are the incidentals of office, not nor-
mal pay. Consequently, obedience to a law written 
by a legislator is obedience to a law written by a 
man who is himself subject to God and responsible 



REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY il 
to God f o r his stewardship. Obedience to law is 
obedience to God. It is an act of worship, f o r it is 
an acknowledgement of God's sovereignity, of His 
right to rule us. 

Another fact that makes the observance of law 
easier is this—observance of law is not merely one 
of the routine acts of life like shopping or shaving 
or riding in the subway. It is an act of chivalry. I t 
is a very fine courtesy toward God. It is not a deed 
that goes into the maw of forgotten history, some-
thing so insignificant that it might just as well not 
have been done. Its value as a bit of human con-
duct is not suggested by the inattention of executives 
to law-abiding citizens and their consuming inter-
est in law-breakers. It is true that there is no 
earthly bonus attached to the average good record 
of law keeping. A pedestrian or a motorist who 
obeys traffic laws is not congratulated by every 
policeman he passes. He does not receive medals. 
But he has done an act of service to God. And if the 
world does not notice it, or does not remark about 
it, well—it is hardly the world's business to go so 
f a r out of its way. The affair is between men and 
God. God has challenged loyalty. And men have 
proved themselves His obliging friends. He is the 
timekeeper and He is the paymaster. His sense of 
appreciation is great and the wages He pays are 
very good. "Whatsoever you do, do it f r o m the 
heart, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing 
that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of in-
heritance." 

While circumstances may put a tax on our 
reason to see the authority and wisdom of God in 
some individual laws, the validity of these laws is 



¿16 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
not thereby affected. God delivers his messages 
through human representatives; and it is a way with 
all human beings that they can make mistakes, t h a t 
they are so often only partly right. Nevertheless 
human law is fortified by the authority of God, pro-
vided only that it is not unjust. It is no objection 
against the validity of law that the legislator may 
not be a good man, any more than it would be a 
proof of a man's incompetency as a musician to say 
that he has poor taste in neckties. Credentials to 
represent someone is almost always a fact entirely 
disassociated from one's grooming, whether sarto-
rial or spiritual. Neither is it an objection against 
the validity of a law that it is made incidentally to 
serve party purposes. If the law is good, it has 
God's backing. If it is experimental, it must be 
conceded the same cogency, until it be proved harm-
ful to the community. A doctor's prescription does 
not cease to be good medicine just because he tries 
to make friends with his patients. It is no objection 
against the validity of a law that its purpose missed 
fire in certain cases. Human law is at best a cum-
bersome machine. It is usually constructed so as to 
exclude too much intrusion of personal bias on the 
part of executives and the judiciary. Its ideal is to 
be a simple and almost automatic device adjusted 
to prevent license and at the same time to permit a 
maximum of fundamental liberty; But at times the 
mouse t r a p catches the dog and at times the mouse 
makes off with the cheese. The mouse t r a p is a dead 
thing and cannot be taught to discriminate. So is 
the letter of the law. Both, however, have justifica-
tion for their existence. The mouse t r a p catches the 
average mouse, which is a good thing; and the law 



REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY il 

catches the average offender, which is another good 
thing. The law cannot be made as flexible as the 
human reactions of a good man. Men must often 
submerge their sense of fairness in judging the 
value of law in order to rise to the higher fairness 
of allowing for its limitations. 

A great number of specific things could happen 
without affecting the integrity of law. A president 
could be impeached and still legislation which he 
suggested could stand. A pope might be a scandal to 
the Church without involving any release of obe-
dience on the part of his spiritual subjects. A bis-
hop might make a regulation for his diocese which 
could be suspected of having been instigated by some 
interested party, and whether the suspicion should 
prove fact or fancy, the regulation would command 
obedience. A couple who are to be married must 
suffer that the public be informed of it by proclama-
tion in church, even though they and the whole 
world may know that there is nothing to impede 
their union. A driver must stop his car at a red 
light even though he can see that there is no traffic 
within a mile of him. 

But though human law is an instrument which 
helps society to function smoothly, it is, by no 
means, a complete code of conduct. A man can 
abide by all the legislation directed at him and still 
be a villian. The miser in the old fashioned melo-
drama, who was always bedevilling the poor with a 
mortgage foreclosure, and always on the verge of 
exploding a romance, had the law on his side. Now-
adays he has left the field of real estate for more 
complicated operations, but his soul is still cut to 
the same pattern. For human law to achieve its 



¿18 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
highest efficiency, it must be fused with divine law. 
Personal honor and conscience must supervise con-
duct when the law is looking the other way. We are 
discovering this forgotten principle lately. With 
all our law there continues to be a host of funda-
mental injustices in society. Legislation cannot be 
made as f a s t as methods of evasion can be thought 
up by clever men. Human law is the voice of God. 
But His voice also echoes in conscience. Man can-
not serve Him by obeying one and not the other. 

In this country of ours we find a rather unique 
attitude towards legislators. The attitude results 
f r o m the spirit of democracy t h a t has worked its 
way into practically every tissue of American life. 
It is the tendency to subject our lawmakers to a 
persistent and good-natured ribbing. They are cari-
catured and joked about and called by nicknames. 
This is good sane f u n up to a point and does not 
seem to be resented by the victims. It is a little 
wholesome realism which insists upon emphasizing 
that the mere f a c t of occupying office does not 
change the size of a man's nose or the perspective 
of his chin or his record as an angler. But this atti-
tude can be carried too f a r . A legislator is much 
more than the mere butt of public horseplay. And 
the public would be better off if reminded of this 
fact occasionally. It should not be left in the posi-
tion of the little boy who practised crossing his eyes 
until he could not straighten them again. A people 
which too often sees its governing body as a group 
of funny looking tinkers puttering around mending 
leaks in the ship of state, is likely to miss the vision 
of God doing His sacred chores on earth. 

Everyone who grants that religion has a prac-. 



REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORITY il 
tical mission in life, concedes that righteousness, 
goodness of soul, is a matter of acting as God would 
have us act. Such a principle implies the need to 
know God's desires as a condition to fulfilling them. 
But God is f a r away in a place called heaven and the 
walls of eternity must be penetrated before we can 
challenge Him to a personal expression of His will 
regarding us. In the meanwhile our lives have got 
to be made or unmade. We must know. We cannot 
wait. It is for this reason that God sits in those tri-
bunals of human law, the church and the state. The 
face we see there is not the face of God. The caden-
ces of voice, the mannerisms of speech, have not the 
grandeur of the divine. But the lips speak the mes-
sage of Him Who rules the earth. Man seems to 
preside, but he is only a manikin chosen to occupy 
the chair of God. 



¿0 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 

ASCETICISM—DUTY AS AN ART 
(Address delivered on July 26, 1936) 

Duty can be defined as an obligation to fit con-
duct to reason—to do what we know we should do, 
and to refrain from doing what we know we should 
not. It is a selective act. It implies that more than 
one course of action is possible, but that not all pos-
sible courses of action are right. If a man has the 
duty of going to church, we understand that he is 
able to go to church, and is able to stay home. We 
do not consider that a man has the duty to see when 
his eyes are open, or the duty to occupy space, or the 
duty to fall if he steps out oi a window. The reason 
is because his field of conduct in these instances is 
confined to one act. He has nothing to say about 
what he will do in these matters. There is no duty, 
because there is no choice. 

Duty implies choice not only in the sense that it 
demands an assortment of things to choose from, 
but also in the sense that it involves the ability to 
make up one's mind. It excludes the situation de-
scribed in the fable about the beast, which died of 
starvation between two stacks of hay, because both 
were equally inviting, and he could not decide which 
one to eat. There could be no such thing a s duty if 
a man could not choose the less attractive of two 
courses. There could be no such thing as duty, for 
instance, if a man had to kill his enemy just because 
it would be more pleasant than letting him live. 
There could be no such thing as duty if a man could 
not help but rob the community bank because wealth 
is more comfortable than poverty. Duty implies the 
ability to tolerate having a crumb, when it is reas-



ASCETICISM—DUTY' AS AN ART 21 
onable not to take the whole loaf. It implies that a 
man can do the pleasanter of two things, but can 
also r e f r a i n from doing it when it is unreasonable. 

The most practical statement of the problem of 
conduct is this—it is the problem of refusing to do 
an attractive thing which is wrong. Spiritual suc-
cess would be an easy matter if a man were indiffer-
ent in every crisis he met, if the side of law and 
conscience had an allure equal to the side of sin, if 
passion pulled as strongly and consistently toward 
heaven as it does toward hell. But this condition 
does not prevail in human nature as we know it. The 
average typical duty is one that we feel reluctant to 
execute. It is a botheration at best and an agony at 
worst. It places before our eyes, say, one of the pos-
sible comforts of living, and then forbids us to take 
it. It imposes a burden which would be light if it 
could be laid down immediately, but then weights it, 
with the monotony of years, by asking us to carry it 
as long as we live. It forbids us, for instance, to lie, 
though often a lie might seem the ideal lubrication 
for the machinery of circumstance. It forbids us 
to cheat, though some mild cheating might seem to 
be the one spark that would kindle our mediocrity 
into the blaze of success. Duty is constantly beating 
against the course of natural preference, and correct 
morality sets us the task of halting the movement of 
preference to make way for it. 

This is the simple answer to the question, why 
sin is an established fixture of normal human life. 
The world does not go out of its way to sin. It sins 
because it would have to go out of its way not to. 
There is no heroism attached to crime. The criminal 
is not one who has driven his soul up to a r a r e r 



¿22 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
plane of existence. He is a man who has been lazy 
enough to lie down in the muck. When a person 
makes no spiritual effort, he drifts. And the d r i f t 
of any stream is downward. A law of gravitation 
exists in the moral order, as well as in the physical 
order. And the general features of moral gravita-
tion are the same as those of physical gravitation. 
An object will fall unless it is supported by a force 
equal to t h a t which draws it down; and it can rise 
only at the expepse of more energy than the force 
which draws it down. Nobody considers sin as a 
victory of human stamina over the hostile forces 
that beset it. They regard it as a compromise, a let-
down. Even those philosophies that attempt to jus-
t i f y sin and incorporate it into the dignities of 
human behavior, do not characterize it as an act of 
bravery, in the sense that it is a struggle to take cir-
cumstances into hand and shape them to fit the de-
sign of life; they confess sin to be a submission to 
the whims of sentiment. This is precisely what all 
their pretty talk about the release of the libido 
really means. Any bravery that they couple with 
the idea of sin is a braving of conventions, a disre-
gard of respected standards of decency, a bravery of 
the same quality found in the man who is not brave 
enough to keep away f r o m the bottle, but who is 
brave enough to lie drunk in the gutter before his 
neighbors. 

Such a description of duty may seem to make it a 
very bleak and forbidding thing, something which 
has us beaten from the scratch line, with a score of 
defeat posted before we play the game of life, and 
destined so to go into the records. But duty is really 
a more hopeful case than that. At least there are no 



ASCETICISM—DUTY' AS AN ART 23 
mysteries about it. Ordinarily it is perfectly accom-
plished by acting in a way in which we are capable 
of acting, but a way in which we experience some 
difficulty. A man's normal method of moving is to 
walk, but he could choose some other method. He 
could dance, for instance. Dancing is a more com-
plicated operation than walking, a more difficult 
kind of movement. But it can be learned. Prac-
tise can make it so easy that it becomes enjoyable. 
Moral reactions can be trained just as physical re-
actions can. A man can learn to fulfill his duties 
with facility and grace, just as he can learn to dance 
with facility and grace. His soul can be trained to 
reject sin, just as his fingers can be taught to play 
the piano. There is a place for a r t in the discharge 
of duty just as, for example, there is a place for a r t 
in public speaking. 

If we look back over our Jives, we discover a host 
of experiences which started out to be almost insur-
mountable difficulties, but which the practise of 
years has smoothed into matters of spontaneous con-
duct. We learned to read. We began by learning 
the alphabet and thie elementary sounds of the let-
ters of the alphabet, how these letters are joined to 
form syllables, how syllables are built into words, 
and the ideas represented by the words. We spelt 
laboriously and chanted lustily of the momentous 
event that the cat caught a rat, and John has a new 
hat. But as the years went by, and our elementary 
technique was checked against the facts of life, and 
books became one of our chief avenues of informa-
tion and one of our chief adventures in living beyond 
the narrow horizons of our home town, and our 
country, and our age, and our profession—then 



¿24 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
reading became not only easy, but a consolation, not 
only an exercise in education, but a release from 
the commonplaces of life, not only an experience, 
but one of the fundamental departments of exist-
ence. And the issue was the same with so many 
other things, with table manners and mathematics 
and tidiness and unfaith in day-dreams. All these 
accomplishments we had to learn by tedious and con-
stant effort. But there came a time when no more 
effort was required, at least no considerable effort. 
Practise had succeeded in making our difficulties 
easy. 

Our ordinary duties are certainly no more diffi-
cult of execution than these. Worshipping God is a 
simpler act than reading. It does not require so in-
tensive a training. It does not call for such a thor-
ough study of elementary facts. Loving our par-
ents and reverencing authority are not nearly such 
dull and lifeless exercises as computing sums and 
products and differences by arithmetic. It is as 
easy for a man to respect the personal and property 
rights of his neighbor as it is for the child to keep 
his dessert until the end of the meal. 

The Church has always recognized this fact as 
the heart of the question of ethical behavior. She 
has been aware t h a t a man's morals are susceptible 
to improvement by exactly the same method as his 
golf. And the method is practise. 

The Church knows that the necessities of life 
are pretty much what we make them ourselves. She 
knows that in morals there are many things which, 
if we never become used to them, will never become 
needs, just as in diet there are delicacies for which 
we never become hungry if we have not acquired a 



ASCETICISM—DUTY' AS AN ART 25 
taste for them. This is one of her reasons f o r en-
couraging us in self-denial. Except in the old case 
of curiosity, a person has no desire for high living 
if he has grown accustomed to simple living. Such 
a condition is all in favor of duty, as the duties of 
life fit better with simplicity than with luxuriance. 
And violations of duty ordinarily result f r o m want-
ing too much, rather than from wanting too little. 

The Church also understands that experience is 
the greatest builder of confidence and morale. We 
are more likely to t r y if we have succeeded before in 
the same kind of enterprise. If a man abstained 
f r o m smoking, when he wanted very much to smoke, 
he will certainly feel more security about tolerating 
other more important abstinences which duty im-
poses on him. The Church is not being a f u s t y old 
grandmother burdening us with the tryanny of her 
whims, when she makes us forego eating flesh meat 
on Friday, and when she makes us curtail the quan-
tity of our food during Lent, and when she forbids 
that marriages be celebrated with any spectacular 
ceremony during Lent and Advent. She is breaking 
us to the bit of duty. She is putting us through the 
finishing school of obedience. She is rehearsing us 
in the etiquette of meeting the obligations of life, 
and teaching us the strategy of conquest. 

The Church has been accused of trying to dic-
tate a formula for every step her children take ; and 
we her children have been accused of being law-rid-
den slaves. She has been criticized for not allowing 
sufficient liberty of spirit, sufficient latitude for un-
legislated service of God. She is condemned for 
having forgotten that Christ said that the kingdom 
of God is within us, and that the day He desired to 



¿26 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
hasten was a day when God would be worshipped in 
spirit and truth. But she has continued to be the 
long suffering realist, who believes that the horse 
which on parade prances and bows and side-steps and 
rears, is not acting on the promptings of the mo-
ment, but is rather repeating the lessons learned on 
the exercise field. The Church has the knack of 
making her philosophy correspond with what every-
one sees and knows. She no more expects a child 
to be born with a perfect passion for obedience than 
she expects him to be born with a proficiency in 
using a knife and fork. She rather anticipates that 
he will need some training, and perhaps a casual 
spanking, before he becomes a good man and a 
creditable citizen. And this is why she asks us to 
acquire the habit of self-control by the only known 
method of acquiring it—by practise. 

The Church realizes that the grace of God is the 
most important element in the accomplishment of 
our eternal and even our temporal salvation. But 
she also remembers that Christ said something to 
the effect that if we want to come a f t e r Him, we 
must take up our cross daily and follow Him. She 
recalls t h a t He elaborated a program of perfection 
by saying: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treas-
ure in heaven: and come, follow me." And while 
she acknowledges that such an intensive pursuit of 
perfection is not a native obligation of every man, 
she does not miss the point of Christ's consistent 
preaching. She holds that the grace of God does 
violence to no one. It is nothing like an assault upon 
the fortress of an unwilling heart. It is given as an 
auxiliary to human striving. When a man does what 



ASCETICISM—DUTY' AS AN ART 27 
he can, grace fills out the measure of success. But 
in the case of. salvation, the Church interprets 
"doing what he can" as an effort at least comparable 
to his efforts in other lines where his interests lie. 
If thé salesman considers that he is doing right by 
himself only when he makes his salesmanship an art, 
and the diplomat only when he makes diplomacy an 
art, and if everyone who has an ambition in life will 
f u s s and ponder trying to school his wits and his 
energies to yield the best results, then the Church 
surely has her excuse for insisting t h a t a man's 
main job in life has at least an equal claim on his 
attention, and that duty should also be made an art. 



¿28 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 

CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR—GOD DRESSED AS MAN 
(Address delivered on August 2, 1936) 

One homely truism which Jesus Christ respected 
in the days of His mortal life was this—example 
speaks louder than words. In fact, example so pre-
dominated in His method of teaching that His pub-
lic ministry could be described by St. Luke in the 
Acts of the Apostles by the one sentence: "Jesus be-
gan to do and to teach." Example is the most satis-
factory kind of pedagogy, and God, in stooping to 
practise, in inviting us to follow Him, instead of 
standing behind us and driving, was merely giving 
another exhibition of His infinite wisdom by being a 
great pedagogue. And so we find in the redemptive 
operations of Christ, not only elementary atonement, 
but the luxury of example; not only sublimity of 
doctrine, but the personification of all that is right 
and good in human life. At the time of His trans-
figuration He was proposed to man by the Eternal 
F a t h e r : "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased: hear ye him." And the Savior says to Him-
self: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 
No man cometh to the Father but by me." "Men 
whom we see," says St. Augustine, "were too imper-
fect to serve as a pattern, and God who is holiness 
itself, was too f a r beyond our gaze. Then the Eter-
nal Son of God, His living Image, became man and 
showed us by His example how man could here on 
earth approach the perfection of God." Jesus 
Christ, God dressed as man, becomes f o r us the ex-
positor of perfect dutiful life in human circum-
stances. 

There are only three lessons in conduct that can 



CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR 29 
be taught to men, because there are only three hu-
man operations involved in growing perfect. The 
first is creaturely obedience. The second is that 
finessing of creaturely obedience, which is called 
charity. It is the formula which reduced ten com-
mandments to one, a kind of gyrocompass which 
needs only to be set in order to take care of all the 
navigating problems of life. The third is rehearsal, 
exercise in self-denial which develops fluency and 
facility in obeying. 

These three lessons are given demonstration in 
the person of Christ from the beginning to the end 
of His earthly career. He obeyed. 

Before Gabriel brought his message to Mary, the 
Son of God had made a contract with His Father. 
"In the head of the book it is written of me, t h a t I 
should do thy will: 0 my God. . . behold I come 
to do thy will, 0 God." A f t e r the chill bleakness of 
a cattle stall, the tedious commonplaces of a car-
penter's workshop, the uncouth vagaries of uncul-
tured colleagues, the apparent failure of a public 
ministry, Jesus Christ was still mindful of that 
contract to obey. "I have a baptism wherewith I 
am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it 
be accomplished!" As He lay prostrate in the shade 
of Gethsemane's olive trees and previewed the his-
tory of the next day, and sweated blood over the 
vision of its horrors, when He would be alone and 
the reptile, sin, would wind itself about Him, and 
He would accept the blame and take the punishment 
for crimes that could never be His, when the world 
would think Him a fool, and heaven would appear 
to treat Him as an enemy—then, again, duty over-
came revulsion and He confirmed His pledge to His 



¿30 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
F a t h e r : "My Father, if this chalice may not pass 
away, but I must drink it, thy will be done." The 
will of His Father was His sacred rule of life, and 
the one consuming passion of His life. "My meat is 
to do the will of him t h a t sent me." The will of 
His Father was His only sanctuary of success. All 
other sanctuaries housed failure. 

His Father spoke to Christ in the unlikeliest of 
places, in the strangest of tones, in the person of 
men who ruled in the name of God and whose lives 
profaned that Name. But His Father's authority 
was there, and He obeyed. Nothing in the features 
of Annas or Caiphas. or Pilate reminded Him of His 
Father, but He saw the oil of anointing on their 
heads and the credentials of His Father's^ authoriza-
tion in their hands. He observed the law® of Moses. 
He fulfilled the tax laws of Rome, and when His 
poverty had not the wherewith to pay, out of a fish's 
mouth came the coin of the tribute. His enemies 
could probe His life in vain to find one word, one 
deed, that might be construed as inimical to Rome.or 
Roman precept. He could safely challenge the High 
Priest, Annas, who sought a pretext for a Roman 
condemnation: "I have spoken openly to the world: 
I have always taught in the synagogue, and in the 
temple, whither all the Jews resort; and in secret I 
have spoken nothing. Why askest thou me? ask 
them who have heard what I have spoken unto 
them: behold they know what things I have said." 
The last command which Jesus Christ received on 
earth was f r o m a very menial state servant, an ex-
ecutioner, and hands were stretched and feet ex-
tended that riveting nails might fasten an obedient 
God to a cross. 



CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR 
33 

But while Christ obeyed, He did not obey in a 
stolid impersonal way as if He were a kind of obey-
ing-machine touring the world to demonstrate the 
mere mechanics of obedience. He obeyed with the 
verve and grace and' versatility which transforms 
obedience into charity and emphasizes the f a c t that 
human life is perfect only when it helpfully invades 
and seasons the rest of the world. In the early days 
of His ministry when the disciples of John the Bap-
tist questioned h i m : " A r t thou he that a r t to come, 
or look we for another", He answered: "Go and re-
late to John what you have heard and seen. The 
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the 
deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the 
gospel preached to them." Christ sounded the key-
note of His public life. He was not merely the exe-
cutor of human redemption. He was the friend of 
His fellowmen and a member of human society. 
When St. John the Evangelist closed his gospel story 
of Christ, his three year's acquaintance with the 
Master led him to w r i t e : "There are also many 
other things which Jesus did; which, if they were 
written everyone, the world itself, I think, would 
not be able to contain the books t h a t should be 
written." 

The charity of Christ had a universal scope. 
Class distinctions, the social and financial hierar-
chies, neither prompted nor hindered the exercise of 
His benevolence. From the time He changed water 
into wine to prevent embarrassment at a wedding 
banquet, until the time when He answered the prayer 
of a thief on the cross beside Him, Christ took mir-
acle out of its hiding place and set it to the familiar 
task of sweeping the sadness f r o m the lives He met. 



¿32 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
Service that is worth the doing is worth doing 

graciously. And Christ surrounded His charity 
with a spontaneity that exquisitely revealed the 
charm of His character. The tears he shed at the 
tomb of Lazarus, His friend, have forever sanctified 
the manifestation of natural grief and sorrow at the 
passing of dear ones. There was not only forgive-
ness but also courtesy and encouragement in good 
for the woman taken in adultery, and for the pub-
lic sinner who bathed His feet at the banquet table. 
There was not only wisdom in His words but a 
graciousness in His manner which made Him equally 
the honored guest at the table of publican and Phari-
see. Tolerance was coupled with beneficence at the 
home of Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue at 
Capharnaum, Where a disconsolate mother grieved 
the death of her daughter, where already the profes-
sional mourners were weeping and chanting their 
lamentations, where many friends had gathered to 
offer their sympathy to bereaved parents. "Why 
make you this ado, and weep? the dasmel is not 
dead, but sleepeth," said Christ. "And they laughed 
him to scorn." The child was dead, they had seen 
her, and their ridicule found vent in derisive mock-
ery. But the Lord was not deterred by scorn. He 
would not be prevented by mockery f r o m the doing 
of good. When the jeerers had been put out, Jesus 
took the mother and father, Peter, James, and John, 
and with them entered the room where the child was 
lying. And taking her by the hand, He said to h e r : 
"Damsel, I say to thee arise." Immediately the 
twelve year old girl rose up and walked. In the ex-
citement over this intrusion of the supernatural, it 
seems that Christ alone remained realist enough to 



CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR 33 
recommend that the little girl be given something to 
eat. 

The evangelist - tells us that Christ went about 
doing good. It was not always a holiday sort of 
goodness. But it was always a perfectly human 
sort. And it has set the standard for the best that 
man can be. If Christ fulfilled His mission by the 
awesome staging of redemption on Calvary, He ful-
filled it also by sitting with children at their games. 
If it is part of His perfection that He brought from 
heaven the meat that perishes not, it is also part of 
His perfection that one morning in Galilee He cooked 
fish for His friends. 

While it was Christ's duty on earth to obey and 
to exhibit that perfection of obedience which is built 
upon charity, it was not His duty to practise self-
denial to acquire facility in obeying. There was 
never a possibility of His being at fault. No emer-
gency could develop in His life which could take 
Him unaware and create a w a r f a r e in His soul be-
tween a desire for right and an attraction for wrong. 
He could never be tempted in the sense that tempta-
tion is a test, because the test would be superfluous 
since there would be no possibility of the issue being 
to His disfavor. But for our instruction Christ did 
practise self-denial. 

He began it in a stable and concluded it in a 
tomb. Neither the stable nor the tomb was His 
own property. In both instances He could feel like 
an intruder on the hospitality of others. How 
easily He could have arranged things otherwise! 
He was the greatest man in the world, and He had 
the power to live on a scale that would measure up 
to that character. The hand that stilled the tem-



¿34 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
pest and the word that withered the barren fig tree 
could have built Him a palace which would shame 
the architecture of earth. The eyes that saw where 
the fish net should be dropped and t h a t read 
thoughts out of other men's souls could have mined 
all hidden wealth and forestalled every move of an 
enemy. But Christ held His power in abeyance. 
And while He unleashed it to serve the afflicted of 
the world, He never accounted Himself in t h a t cate-
gory. Not even when the storm clouds burst and the 
hour of His bitter Passion and final rejection came; 
when men had bound Him with ropes, when per-
jury and double dealing had won a death sentence 
against Him, when a king had mocked Him and a 
vacillating governor had ratified the faulty findings 
of jealousy and hatred, nor when nails had pierced 
hands and feet, and a cross had been planted on Cal-
vary. The friends He made were normally of the 
poorer class, so that no one might cite His ex-
ample to justify the courting of the great as an 
approved method of achieving essential success. He 
often went hungry, so that sociologists might learn 
the lesson'that man lives not on bread alone, but on 
the word of God, and that hunger of soul is at least 
as dreadful an experience as hunger of stomach. He 
ministered with His own hands, so that the world 
might understand that personal service is as great 
a beneficence as the philanthropy that consists in 
merely writing a check. Christ walked, when He 
could have been riding. His skin was tanned by the 
elements and the dust of the open road was upon 
Him. He slept under the sky and had no pillow for 
His head. He lived a hard life t h a t men might be 
impressed t h a t a good life must be a hard life. Life 



CHRIST THE EXEMPLAR 35 
that is a probation, a time of trial, must be replete 
with an assortment of nuisances t h a t challenge the 
temper of souls and measure the quality of devotion 
to God. And, if a good life is necessarily a hard life, 
and if the prize of heaven is worth the game of win-
ning it, then man must copy to some degree the pri-
vations of Christ for the simple purpose of learning 
to say "no" when he would much rather say "yes". 

Christ's mission on earth was principally to 
effect human redemption. But on the side He offer-
ed to those who saw Him and listened to Him a vis-
ion of God, transfigured to the semblance of man, 
perfect God bonded to the common circumstances of 
human life, breathing, and moving, and eating, and 
speaking, according to the familiar formulas of hu-
man experience. What was divine in Him did not 
disrupt the functioning of what was human in Him. 
He was recognizable as man, and only on the r a r e 
occasions, once on Tabor and a few times a f t e r His 
death, when He was glorified and transfigured, did 
His divinity seem to encroach upon His humanity 
and make Him appear alien to earth. But for the 
rest, He was what He invites every man to be. He 
was obedient to His Father, with an obedience of 
the savory kind which is called charity, and which 
makes duty a recreation rather than a task. What 
indulgences He allowed Himself in life were admit-
ted only up to the point that they fostered and did 
not impede His mission. Obedience, charity, self-
denial—these three words made a cross, hung our 
redemption on it, concluded the mortal career of 
Jesus Christ, and set the only correct fashion f o r 
moulding the human soul. 



¿36 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 

PRAYER—VISITING HOME 
(Address delivered on August 9, 1936) 

Everyone in the world is called to holiness. "Be 
ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy." 
Holiness is the only way to eternal happiness. The 
providences of God over human souls are all directed 
to the development of virtue, which is a necessary 
condition for correct living. And correct living is 
just another name f o r holiness. St. Paul says: "For 
the grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all 
men; instructing us, that denying ungodliness and 
worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, 
and godly in this world". But holiness is not an easy 
conquest. It cannot be referred to as the simplest 
matter in the world. Everyone's experience would 
give the lie to such a claim. Being holy implies 
being in a state of combat against three powerful 
enemies—against the glamor with which the world 
invests its sins, against the native fickleness of the 
flesh, and against that shrewd tactician, the devil. 
Like all competitive games, holiness has its pessi-
mists, men and women, discouraged at little set-
backs, waiting to be beaten by luck which they feel 
is sure eventually to break against them, proclaim-
ing by their outlook t h a t sustained virtue is impos-
sible. They are wearing dark glasses to look at the 
sun of justice. And while the glasses may permit 
them to look steadily at the sun, they rob the light 
and color and cheer from its rays. Pessimism is an 
unreasonable anticipation of failure. It is not a 
wholesome reaction in any department of life. 

The Catholic Church teaches that God gives to 
all men sufficient grace to work out their eternal sal-



PRAYER—VISITING HOME 37 
vation. She holds that in building His Church to 
serve men as the tutor and guardian of their spiri-
tual lives, Jesus Christ established a system of helps, 
called Sacraments, the functions of which are pro-
marily to give grace to men or to add to the quantity 
they already possess. She holds that God by mys-
terious manipulations of minds and hearts and cir-
cumstances provides seasonal helps to men, so that 
the right things happen at the right times to bear 
them to heaven. But she insists that besides these 
periodic visitations, which are coupled with the sac-
raments or which are bestowed at the discretion of 
God, divine light and strength are available to us on 
call. She teaches that Christ proclaimed a doctrine 
of prayer, which is briefly to this effect—that God 
will g r a n t us anything we ask for provided it is 
best for us in securing our eternal destiny. 

In the sermon on the Mount Jesus Christ ex-
pounded His first lessons on prayer. A multitude 
had surrounded Him, and He went up into a moun-
tain, sat down, and taught His disciples. Occupying 
a considerable portion of t h a t discourse was an in-
struction in the technique of communicating with 
God to advantage. First He warned against one 
state of soul that always violated His sense of fitness 
and brought to His lips words of scathing denuncia-
tion: "And when ye pray, you shall not be as the 
hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the syn-
agogues and the corners of the streets, that they 
may be seen by men; Amen I say to you, they have 
received their reward. But thou when thou shalt 
pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the 
door, pray to thy Father in secret; and thy Father 
who seeth in secret will repay thee." Prayer must 



¿38 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
not be considered an opportunity to advertise our 
holiness to the world. It is a social adventure with 
God, not a campaign to thrust ourselves into the ad-
miration of the public. "And when you are .pray-
ing," Christ continued, "speak not much, as the 
heathens. For they think that in their much speak-
ing they may be heard. Be not you therefore like 
to them, for your Father knoweth what is needful 
for you, before you ask him." Prayer is not an 
attempt to convince God or make Him understand. 
It is not necessary that we propound our case and 
use our most touching tones and our most select 
vocabulary. All that is required is that we ask sin-
cerely. Christ offered a specimen prayer f o r the 
use of those who might be vague about the eti-
quette of addressing God. "Thus therefore shall 
you p r a y : " He said, "Our Father, who a r t in heaven, 
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us 
this day our supersubstantial bread. And forgive 
us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And 
lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from 
evil. Amen." 

This is the great classic prayer, for the reason 
that it is the Master's own prayer, constructed out 
of the wisdom of His mind to fulfill all the conven-
tions of creaturely communion with God. This 
Lord's prayer illustrates perfectly all that had ever 
been said to define worthy prayer. Prayer is con-
versation with God. It is an elevation of the soul to 
God. It is the asking of seemly things f r o m God. 
This Lord's prayer suggests the answer to the 
question, why God Who knows our needs likes to 
have our story f r o m our own lips. Prayer is a 



PRAYER—VISITING HOME 39 
sanctifying contact with God. It is a creature's act 
of adoration. It is a child's confident appeal to God, 
his kind Father. 

The Lord's prayer, or any other prayer which 
corresponds to its formula, cannot be sincerely re-
cited without bringing a man closer to heaven than 
he was before. Real prayer is more than a request 
for a favor, even though its words may say no more 
than that. It is not only an act of policy, it is an act 
of holiness. We leave for a time the general world 
and its strife and bustle and business and go visiting 
to heaven. We pay a call at the home of God. We 
speak to Him about our problems. We remind Him 
of our concern for His honor and glory, and express 
our wish that His name may be reverenced and 

. known and loved and honored by all men. We 
speak of His kingdom, all creation, and of our hope 
that all men may become true subjects of His realm, 
rendering filial homage and rejoicing in the loving 
care of His providence. We ask Him to hasten the 
day when His will may be the guide of men, and 
when true obedience to His laws may be a habit with 
all mankind. And having expressed our praise and 
love to God, we remind Him of our needs, temporal 
and spiritual, and ask to be preserved from all those 
dangers to soul and body that might impede our ser-
vice of Him. 

This is precisely the content of the Lord's 
prayer. We can infer from it what the character-
istic psychology of effective praying must be. Effec-
tive prayer must be motivated by an interest in the 
works of God, even though we think of these works 
only as they concern ourselves. Effective prayer is 
also motivated by an expectation of benefit to our-



¿40 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
selves, whether t h a t benefit be the reward of suc-
cessful petition or the experience of social contact 
with God. 

At a more advanced point in the sermon on the 
Mount, Christ returned to the topic of prayer to say 
that when we address a request to God, we should 
be confident of the issue. He pledges that every 
proper petition shall be granted. "Ask, and it shall 
be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it 
shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, 
receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him 
that knocketh, it shall be opened." Being an artist 
of expression, He clarified His meaning by using a 
homely example, a father's reactions to his child's 
asking food. "What man is there among you," He 
said, "of whom, if his son shall ask bread, will he 
reach him a stone? Or if he shall ask him a fish, 
will he reach him a serpent?" Christ insists that 
even this example fails to do justice to God and indi-
cates His readiness to help His children in their 
needs. "If you then, being evil, know how to give 
good g i f t s to your children, how much more will 
your Father who is in heaven, give good things to 
them that ask him?" 

Ask, seek, knock,—what clear, forceful, signifi-
cant words! How many important things there are 
to ask about in life, and how limited our sources of 
information! When we want inspiration, we can 
get only opinion! In how many corners of life 
might we seek and find the treasure of merit, which 
must be deposited as security in heaven, if we could 
only discover some fountain f r o m which we might 
drink strength and courage for our search! At 
how many doors would we knock, if the sanctuary 



PRAYER—VISITING HOME 41 
within were proof against the siege that the world 
organizes against our souls! Christ solves the 
riddle most completely and picturesquely, by recom-
mending prayer. God is the sage who inspires; we 
need only ask Him for direction. He is the ocean of 
good fresh strength; we have only to take the 
trouble to drink. His grace is the one inviolable 
redoubt; we can retreat to it on appeal at any 
time. 

On two other occasions Christ extended His dis-
cussion of prayer to say that besides being confident 
in its issue, we should be persevering in its prac-
tise. He told the parable of the man, who at mid-
night went to borrow three loaves of bread from his 
friend, who at that hour had retired for the night, 
and whose family was asleep. The friend was 
none too pleased at such an interruption of his 
slumbers, and remonstrated to the effect that morn-
ing would be the proper time for making such a re-
quest. But Christ said: "I say to you, although he 
will not rise and give him, because he is his f r i e n d ; 
yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give 
him as many as he needeth." And the other story 
was about a widow who sought justice against an 
adversary and went to a certain judge, who was evi-
dently a precursor of some of the modern political 
philosophers, which consider that justice is uncon-
nected with either the laws of God or the rights of 
individual men, but whose indifference to the re-
sponsibilities of his office was overcome by the 
widow's sheer persistence. "Altho I fear not God," 
said the judge, "nor regard man, yet because this 
widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest 
continually coming she weary me." Christ con-



¿42 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
eluded that God will quickly answer the prayers of 
those who appeal to Him. 

This is not a guarantee chat a specific request is 
executed as soon as it leaves our lips, or t h a t t h e 
world immediately falls into line with our desires 
jus]b because we express them to God. It does mean, 
however, that prayers are answered according as 
God sees it is good for us, and good for the world, to 
answer them. Christ has pledged that all worthy 
intercession will be successful. If favors do not 
come when or how we want them, it is because God 
knows a better time and a better manner of bestow-
ing them. But He does not want to suffer the insult 
of being asked unwisely and then being discredited, 
because He does not deliver at the hour specified. He 
wants us to continue to trust Him, and to continue to 
ask. 

Prayer is one of the aids which make the duties 
of life so much less formidable. If we had to face 
the a r r a y of obligations which conscience imposes 
on us, and face them with no more hope of success 
than the physical laws of the world would allow, we 
would certainly have a case for not trying at all. 
Physical science tells us, f o r instance, t h a t there i s 
a definite amount of energy released f r o m the com-
bustion of a definite amount of coal or gasoline or 
other fuel, and that this energy will heat a definite 
number of square feet in a building, or that it will 
run an automobile a definite number of miles. The 
heating system of a bungalow could never be ade-
quate in the Empire State Building. We could not 
get twenty miles of transportation if the engines of 
the "Queen Mary" were supplied with only one gal-
lon of fuel. But something very much like this hap-



PRAYER—VISITING HOME 43 
pens when we pray. Prayer is a mere word, even a 
thought, or a deed done with a holy purpose. But it 
sets in motion all the machinery of salvation t h a t 
there is in heaven. And it keeps this machinery run-
ning until God redeems the pledge He made us when 
He said that what we ask He will give us. Duties 
that are too tedious for our natural endurance, or 
too subtle for the natural powers of our mind, can 
be perfectly managed by the light and grace which 
prayer puts at our disposal. 

Since duty is one of the perennial conditions of 
human life it calls for a practise of prayer which is 
habitual as an ideal. Christ exhorts us to pray al-
ways and not to grow fainthearted. Such an accom-
plishment is not confined to those who are profes-
sionally dedicated to a life of holiness. Every act of 
everyone's day can be a prayer. St. Paul expressly 
recommends in his- epistles to the Corinthians and 
the Collosians: "Whether you eat or drink, or 
whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God. . . 
all whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all 
things in the name of the Lord, , Jesus Christ." St. 
Augustine shows us how this can be done: "Let the 
harmony of thy life," he tells us, "ever rise as a 
song, so that thou may never cease to praise. . . if 
thou wilt give praise, sing, then, not only with thy 
lips, but sweep the chords upon the psalter of good 
works; thou dost give praise, when thou workest, 
when thou eatest and drinkest, when thou liest to 
rest, when thou sleepest; thou givest praise even if 
thou holdest thy peace." St. Thomas of Aquin 
briefly states the same thing: "Man prays so long 
as he directs his whole life to God." 

Life finds its fullest meaning and its best secur-



¿44 THE. POETRY OF DUTY 
ity when it is anchored to the one thing that does not 
d r i f t with the current of creaturely change—God. 
No reckoning of any kind can be done without refer-
ence to some unchanging standard. A man afloat on 
a r a f t in the middle of the ocean under a clouded sky 
can guage neither the direction or the velocity of his 
movement. He is moving with other things that 
move. He with other things may be approaching a 
hostile shore or he may be approaching home. If 
he could only halt his course while the current r a n 
on, he could determine its set and speed. A similar 
situation occurs in the life of the spirit. The soul 
can go a d r i f t . The fatigue of striving a f t e r the bet-
ter things, the confusion that comes of contact with 
the shoddy philosophies some men live by, the f e a r 
t h a t morale may break down under strain, the mo-
notony of duty; these crises come within the experi-
ence of the average man and challenge him to find 
a reason which will prove his efforts worth while. 
The reason lies only in God, Who made us and guides 
us to heaven, Who through earthly tribunals speaks 
His will to us, both as citizens of the church and citi-
zens of the state, Who has the will and the power 
to carry us through all spiritual emergencies. He 
is the anchor we can always cling to, while we make 
observations of the blind d r i f t of other things. Our 
bond with Him is the bond of prayer, prayer which 
is a visit with God Our Father, at home. From the 
vantage of this communion with Him, this contact 
with eternal truth, we can take our bearings and 
distinguish the futilities of life f r o m its wisdom. 
And God always dismisses us with a gift. 



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OUR SUNDAY V I S I T O R is t h e a u t h o r i z e d p r i n t e r a n d d i s t r i b u t o r of a d d r e s s e s delivered in t h e Catholic H o u r ( p r o d u c e d b y t h e NATIONAL, COUNCIL O P C A T H O L I C M E N , 1312 M a s s a c h u s e t t s Ave., N. W., W a s h i n g t o n , D. C.) T h e a d d r e s s e s published t o d a t e , all of w h i c h a r e still available, a r e l i s t e d below. O t h e r s will be published a s t h e y a r e delivered. 
" T h e Divine R o m a n c e , " b y R t . Rev. Msgr. P u l t o n J . Sheen, 80 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $9.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Moral O r d e r " a n d " M a r y , t h e Mother of J e s u s , " b y R e v . Dr. George J o h n s o n , 64 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 p e r 100. 
"A Trilogy on P r a y e r , " by Rev. T h o m a s F . B u r k e , C. S. P . , 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 per 100. 
" T h e S t o r y of t h e Bible," b y R e v . D r . F r a n c i s L. K e e n a n , M p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $8.04 p e r 100. 
" F o u r Religious F o u n d e r s , " by Rev. D r . F r a n c i s J . Connell, C. SS. R „ Rev. B e n e d i c t B r a d l e y , O. S. B., Rev. T h o m a s M. Stehwertner, O. P., Rev. S l g m u n d C r a t z , O. M. Cap., a n d Rev. M. J . A h e m , S. J . , 56 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 p e r 100. 

" T h e Philosophy of Catholic E d u c a t i o n , " b y R e v . Dr. C h a r l e s L . O'Donnell, C. S. C., 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i t i e s , $5.00 p e r 100. 
" C h r i s t i a n i t y and t h e Modern Mind," b y Rev. J o h n A. Mo-Clorey, S. J . , 64 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I a q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Moral L a w , " b y R e v . J a m e s M. Gillls, C. S. P . , 88 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 25c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $9.50 p e r 100. 
" C h r i s t a n d His C h u r c h , " b y R t . Rev. Msgr. J o s e p h M. C o r r l -gan, 88 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 26c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $9.50 p e r 100. 
" T h e M a r k s of t h e C h u r c h , " by Rev. Dr. J o h n K . C a r t w r l g h t , 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 
" T h e O r g a n i z a t i o n a n d G o v e r n m e n t of t h e C h u r c h , " b y Rev. D r . F r a n c i s J . Connell, C. SS. R., 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 
"Moral F a c t o r s in Economic L i f e , " by Rev. D r . F r a n c i s J . H a a s a n d Rev. Dr. J o h n A R y a n , 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy1, 10c postpaid. In q u a n t i t i e s , $5.00 p e r 100. 
" D i v i n e Helps f o r M a n , " b y Rev. D r . E d w a r d J . W a l s h , C. M., 104 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 30c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $11.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e P a r a b l e s , " by Rev. J o h n A. McClorey, S. J . , 128 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 35c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $12.00 p e r 100. 
" C h r i s t i a n i t y ' s C o n t r i b u t i o n t o Civilization," by Rev. J a m e s M. Gillls, C. S. P . , 96 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 25c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i t i e s , $10.00 p e r 100. 
" M a n i f e s t a t i o n s of C h r i s t , " b y R t . Rev. Msgr. F u l t o n J . Sheen, 123 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 36c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $12.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e W a y of t h e C r o s s , " b y R t Rev. Msgr. F u l t o n J . S h e e n , 31 p a g e s a n d cover ( p r a y e r book size). Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $4.00 p e r 100. 
" C h r i s t T o d a y , " b y V e r y Rev. D r . I g n a t i u s S m i t h , O. P . , 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.50 p e r 

100. 



" T h e C h r i s t i a n F a m i l y , " by Rev. D r . E d w a r d Lodge C u r r a n , ( I p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $7.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Dublin E u c h a r i s t i c C o n g r e s s , " b y H i s E m i n e n c e William C a r d i n a l O'Connell. A n a d d r e s s r e b r o a d c a s t f r o m Dublin, 12 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $3.75 p e r 100. 
" R u r a l Catholic A c t i o n , " b y Rev. D r . E d g a r Schmiedeler, O. S . B., 24 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $4.60 p e r 100. "ReliQion a n d H u m a n N a t u r e , " by R e v . D r . J o s e p h A. Daly, -40 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.60 p e r 100. 
" T h e Church a n d S o m e O u t s t a n d i n g P r o b l e m s of t h e Day," by Rev. J o n e s I. C o r r i g a n , S. J . , 72 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s . $8.00 p e r 100. "Conflicting S t a n d a r d s , " by Rev. J a m e s M. Olllls, C. S. P . , 80 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $9.0* p e r 100. 
" T h e Hymn of t h e C o n q u e r e d , " b y R t . R e v . M s g r . F u l t o n J . S h e e n , 128 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 36c p o s t p a i d . I n -quantities, $12.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Seven L a s t W o r d s , " by R t . Rev. SIsgr. P u l t o n J . Sheen < p r a y e r - b o o k size), 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $3.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e C h u r c h and t h e Child," by Rev. Dr. P a u l H . P u r f e y , 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.50 p e r 100. 
" L o v e ' s Veiled Victory and Love's L a w s , " b y Rev. D r . Qeorge P . S t r o h a v e r , S. J . , 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.50 p e r 100. 
"Religion a n d L i t u r g y , " b y Rev. D r . F r a n c i s A. W a l s h , O.S.B., 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e L o r d ' s P r a y e r T o d a y , " by V e r y Rev. D r . I g n a t i u s S m i t h , O. P . , 64 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 p e r 100. 
"God, Man and R e d e m p t i o n , " b y Rev. Dr. I g n a t i u s W . Cox, S . J . , 64 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copies, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i -t i e s , $6.00 p e r h u n d r e d . 
" T h i s Mysterious H u m a n N a t u r e , " by Rev. J a m e s M. Glllis, C. S. P . , 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 
" T h e E t e r n a l Galilean," b y R t . Rev. Msgr. P u l t o n J . Sheen, 160 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 50c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $16.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Queen of Seven S w o r d s , " b y R t . Rev. Msgr. F u l t o n J . S h e e n ( p r a y e r - b o o k size), 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 16c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $3.00 p e r 100. " T h e Catholic T e a c h i n g on Our I n d u s t r i a l S y s t e m , " by R t . R e v . Msgr. J o h n A R y a n , 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.00 p e r 100. " T h e H a p p i n e s s of F a i t h , " by Rev. D a n i e l A. L o r d , S. J., 80 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $9.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Salvation of H u m a n S o c i e t y , " b y Rev. P e t e r J . B e r g e n , C. S. P., 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r h u n d r e d . 
" F a i t h , " by Rev. V i n c e n t P . K i e n b e r g e r , O.P., 48 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15o p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r h u n d r e d : 
" C a t h o l i c E d u c a t i o n , " b y Rev. D r . George J o h n s o n 40 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r h u n d r e d . 
" T h e C h u r c h a n d Her Missions," b y R t . Rev. Msgr. W i l l i a m -Qulnn, 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i -$5.50 p e r 100. 



" T h e Church a n d t h e D e p r e s s i o n , " by Rev. J a m e s M. Gillis, ç . b . P . , SO p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 20c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i t i e s . $9.00 p e r h u n d r e d . 
._„ " T h e Fullness of C h r i s t , " b y R t . Rev. Msgr. F u l t o n J . S h e e n , 176 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 60c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t é s . $16.50 p e r 100. " T h e Church and Modern T h o u g h t , " by Rev. J a m e s M. Gillis, Ç. S. P., 80 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copies, 20c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n -t i t i e s $9.00 p e r 100. 

"Misunderstood T r u t h s , " by R t . Rev. Msgr. D u a n e G. H u n t , 48 p a g e s a n d cover, 15c p o s t p a i d . In q u a n t i t i e s $6.50 p e r 100. 
" T h e J u d g m e n t of God" a n d " T h e Sense of D u t y , " by R t . Rev. Msgr. William J . K e r b y 16 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c p o s t -p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s $4.00 p e r 100. 
" C h r i s t i a n E d u c a t i o n , " by Rev. Dr. J a m e s A. Reeves. 32 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 10c postpaid. I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.0* p e r 100. ' 
" W h a t Civilization Owes to t h e C h u r c h , " b y R t . Rev. W i l l i a m Quinn, 64 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.00 per 100. 
"If Not C h r i s t i a n i t y : W h a t ? " b y Rev. J a m e s M. Gillis, C. S. P.,. 96 p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 25c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $10.00 p e r h u n d r e d . 
" T h e Prodigal W o r l d , " by R t . Rev. Msgr. F u l t o n J . Sheen, 140-p a g e s a n d cover. Single copy, 50c postpaid. I n q u a n t i t i e s $16.00 p e r 100. 
" T h e Coin of O u r T r i b u t e , " by V e r y R e v . T h o m a s F . Conlon, O. P . , 

40 p a g e s a n d cover. S i n g l e copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 
" P o p e P i u s X I , " by H i s E m i n e n c e P a t r i c k C a r d i n a l H a y e s . A n a d -d r e s s i n h o n o r of t h e 7 9 t h b i r t h d a y of H i s H o l i n e s s . 16 pagres a n d beautiful* 4-color cover S i n g l e copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $6.25 p e r 100. 
" M i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e C h u r c h , " by R t . R e v . M s g r . D u a n e G. H u n t , 

48 p a g e s a n d cover, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 
" T h e P o e t r y of D u t y , " by R e v . A l f r e d D u f f y , C. P . , 48 p a g e s a n d c o v e r . S i n g l e copy, 15c p o s t p a i d . I n q u a n t i t i e s , $5.50 p e r 100. 

Complete lot of 53 P a m p h l e t s t o one a d d r e s s f o r $6.50 p o s t p a i d . 
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