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THE CATHOLIC HOUR

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LESS OF THE SUN-WORSHIP
BY

THE REV. J. HUGH O’DONNELL, C.S.C.

The second in a series of addresses under the general title of “Hail,
Holy Queen,” delivered in the Catholic Hour, broadcast by the National
Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the National Council of
Catholic Men on May 5, 1946, by the Rev. J. Hugh O’Donnell, C.S.C.

,

President of the University of Notre Dame. 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.



LESS OF THE SUN-WORSHiP
A modern spiritual writer

once wrote : “Through Our Lady,

God fell in love with humanity.
,,

In this happily phrased thought
^ < « ' '

we find the key that unlocks the

mystery of Mary, Our Life. The

scene is beautifully recorded in

the Gospel according to St. Luke

in the passage relating to the

Annunciation.

The Angel Gabriel was sent

from God to a city of Galilee,

called Nazareth, to a virgin . . .

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And the Angel being come in,
said unto her: “Hail, full of

grace, the Lord is with thee

:

Blessed art thou among women.”
Mary was troubled and thought
with herself “what manner of

salutation this should be.” But

the Angel reassured her, saying:

“Fear not, Mary, thou hast found

grace with God. Behold thou

shalt conceive in thy womb, and
shalt bring forth a son ; and thou

shalt call his name Jesus. He
shall be great, and shall be called

the Son of the most High . . .

And of his kingdom there shall
be no end” (Luke 1:26-33).

And Mary, perplexed, said to
the Angel: “How shall this be
done, because I know not man?”
( Luke 1:34). Yet through di-

vine inspiration she knew in her
heart the extraordinary signifi-

DeacfcWfed

cance of the pronouncement. And
the Angel, continuing, said to

her: “The Holy Ghost shall come

upon thee, and the power of the

most High shall overshadow

thee. And therefore also the
Holy which shall be born of thee

shall be called the Son of God”

( Luke 1:35). Because no word

shall be impossible with God,

Mary made her humble reply:

“Behold the handmaid of the

Lord; be it done to me accord-
ing to thy word” (Luke 1:38).

Mary had spoken her fiat. She

was resigned to God’s holy will.

And months later at Bethlehem,
in the abandoned stable warmed

only by the breath of cattle, she

gave birth to the Son of God

—

to Life Itself—to the God-Man,
Jesus Christ.

Thus Mary, whose body be- -

came a sanctuary for divine life,

also became the mediatrix

through whom all the members
of the human race can reach that

Life Itself. “Impossible,” says

the world. “Quite possible,” re-

join those who have the gift of

faith. “But how?” asks the

world. And the faithful answer:

“By having recourse to Mary in

carrying out the teachings of her

Divine Son, as sanctified and

promulgated by His Church,

which He founded, and to which



He gave His divine sanction to
the end of time.” “Behold,” He
said, “I am with you all days,
even to the consummation of the

world” (Matthew 28:20). Know
true life, says the Church, and

the mystery unfolds itself. The

question is answered.

Now in order to have a full ap-
preciation of what this life

means, it is necessary to under-

stand the true composition of

man, 'beginning with the miracle

of childbirth.

Motherhood is woman's glor-

ious prerogative. It is her high

destiny to be God's agent in

bringing life into the world. Who
has not been touched by the

beauty that transfigures a moth-

er when she enfolds her child in

arms for the first time? And who
has not been moved at the sight

of a new-born babe? Who has
not marveled at the fair body of

the infant, so symmetrically per-

fect, so tender, so helpless, yet

so promising? Immediately we

think of the poet's tribute

:

“What a piece of work is man

!

how noble is reason ! how infinite

in faculty! in form and moving

how express and admirable! in

action how like an angel! in ap-

prehension how like a god!”
But what would the body of

man be were it not for the prin-
ciple that animates it? For it is

the soul that gives it life. That

soul is brought into being by the

direct act of the Creator Him-
self. It is what makes man the
image of God. The soul is im-

mortal. It never dies. And, as

God's image, it will never rest

until it rests in God. “We were
made, 0 Lord, for Thee,” says
•St. Augustine, “and our heart

is restless until it finds peace

in Thee.”

Since the soul sets man above
and apart from all of God's oth-

er creatures, it is the superna-

tural life, the life of the immor-

tal soul, that should be our first

concern. It is this life eternal

that we are striving for as we
sojourn here in this our exile.

Such is our goal, and as we strive
to reach it, Mary is our help-
mate and our mediatrix. In this

sense she is our life, because she

will lead us to God, the Source

of Life.

Now, in order to possess God,

man must follow in the footsteps
of His Son. He must accept the
way of the Cross as the Master

does. He must undergo another
Calvary, if he is to enjoy life

eternal. Truly does the author

of the precious little book, The

Following of Christ, declare : “If,

indeed, there had been anything

better and more beneficial to

man's salvation than suffering,

Christ certainly would have

showed it by word and example.”



And what creature knows the
meaning of suffering better than

Mary, His Mother? '‘And because

of Our Lady God fell in love with

humanity.”

Mary stood at the foot of the
cross on Calvary and saw her

Son breathe forth his human life
as an oblation to God the Fa-

ther for the sins of mankind.
«

She is the tender, loving Mother

of Mercy. Because she herself

knew every sorrow except sin,

she knows the philosophy of the

Cross, which is that to suffer is

to live not only here, but here-

after. We too must go through
a refining process if we are to
possess God for all eternity. As

St. Paul says, we must lose our

life to save it; we must crucify

our body and bring it into sub-

mission
;
we must die to the

things of this world if we are to
enjoy the fullness of life here-

after. The Cross is ever with

us; but in Mary we have the
eternal cross-bearer. When the
Angel told her that she had been

chosen by God, she foresaw the

trials, the burdens, the sacrifices,

the sorrows that awaited her.

Yet she confidently placed her-

self in God’s hands, and accepted

her mission as co-redemptrix of

mankind with the words: “Be

it done to me according to thy
word” (Luke 1:38).

Now, in order to bring the

body into subjection so that the

soul may enjoy the glorified life
for all eternity, we must prac-
tice penance and mortification;

which is just another way of say-
ing that the cross is always with

us. From the natural point of
view, this is a hard saying. Be-

ing human, we instinctively
shrink from pain, and even dis-

comfort. It is not easy to accept

the cross. Indeed, who can ac-
cept it without the help of Mary,

who bore her cross so nobly? For

a moment let * us contrast the

philosophy of the cross with the

philosophy of the world.

A characteristic of the philos-
ophy of the world is that being

agnostic—that is, not-knowing
—it has neither vision nor retro-
spection. Indeed, both must be

alien to it, because by its nature

the philosophy of the world is of

the present, and of the present

only. It recognizes no spiritual

origins, and hence can have no

destination beyond the limits of

this world’s horizons. Accord-

ing to this philosophy, life has

only a material purpose; and

since there is no spiritual end,

those who live by it have no

choice but to be of the earth,

earthy; and to pervert the nat-

~al order and use earthly means

ab ends in themselves.

Consider today’s cult of sun-

worshippers. Perhaps they



would object to the title, but in

sober fact there is little substan-

tial difference between them and

the sun-worshippers of old. Like

the pagans, they offer their

bodies to the sun, in the hope

that the alchemy of its titillating

rays will somehow enhance and

ennoble them. In performing the

rite, some get well browned. Oth-

ers, we might say, go so far as

to give their bodies to be burned

—and coconut oil is no soothing
ointment. Now, doctors have

long recognized the therapeutic

value of the sun, and in certain

ailments advise sun-bathing as a

restorer of health. Within rea-

son, the practice is good. But

what concerns me is that so often
the sun-bath is prolonged into a

moon-bath accompanied by bod-

ily pleasures that are ruinous

not only to the body but also to

the soul. Sin in some of its

various aspects follows. The

tragedy is that such cultists con-

fuse the means with the end : in

glorifying their bodies through

obeisance to the sun, they are los-

ing their souls by not recogniz-

ing the Creator of the sun, God

Himself, their last end. For God

sent His only Son to redeem men

in order that they might become

sons of God. Instead of sun-

worship, mankind must return to

the worship of the Son—of God.
From Mary is learned the les-

son of the body as the repository

of the soul, the image of God.

Recall the words of the Arch-

angel Gabriel: “The Holy Ghost

shall come upon thee:” That is,

Mary's conception of the Incar-

nate Word was brought about
by the Holy Spirit, Who also
supported and strengthened her

through all that the Incarnation

implied. The very life of man-

kind dwelt within the body of

the Blessed Mother, who was the

Vessel of Honor, the Vessel of

Singular Devotion. This por-

trays more clearly St. Paul's ref-

erence to the body as the “temple

of the Holy Ghost.” “And the

Lord God formed man out of the

slime of the earth : and breathed

into his face the breath of life,

and man became a living soul”

( Genesis 2:7).

Without the soul the body is a

lifeless thing
—

“for dust thou

art, and into dust thou shalt re-

turn” ( Genesis 3:19). But the

philosophy of the world does not

believe in the soul. The philos-

ophy of materialism takes many

forms, ranging from the hedon-

ism of the sun-worshipper to the

pragmatism of the utilitarian,

and all forms have this fault in

common : they see man as a soul-

less automaton, self-made, suf-

ficient unto himself, coming out

of nothingness, and to nothing-

ness returning.



No doubt the sun-worshipper
would think you were simple if

you were to suggest that the

beach wagon that he drives to

the scene of his rituals could

spring into being by itself, fully

assembled, just by chance. Yet,

when he considers himself, a far

more perfect machine, and the

ordered universe in which he

moves, he naively brushes aside

the basic truths that every effect

must have a cause; that there

can be no such thing as an end-

less series of secondary causes;

that everything must be contin-

gent upon a first cause, and that

the First Cause is God.

What is the body without the
Soul? Look at the body in death,

so strangely meaner than in life,

as it is consigned to its narrow

grave. Is this the end of man?

Is he as inconsiderable as this?

If so, then we may say with Car-
lyle that~ the stars look down

“as if with pity from their

serene spaces, like eyes glisten-

ing with heavenly tears over the

little lot of man.” But this is not

the end, for after death comes

life, life eternal. The soul leaves

the body and returns to the God

Who made it, there to hear the
words. “Come, ye blessed of my
father, possess the kingdom pre-

pared for you from the founda-

tion of the world,” or “Depart

from me, you cursed, into ever-

lasting fire, which was prepared
for the devil and his angels”

(Matthew 25:34, 41) As you live,
so shall you die. “As you sow, so

* m

shall you reap,” was not spoken
i

of the body, but of the soul. Let

us reflect, therefore on our brief

sojourn “in this our exile.” Let

us see it in the light of our true

home in heaven, and keep always

“an alien ear, homesick for

harpings of eternity.” Let us

look beyond this confused, dis-

traught, and weary world to the

heavenly kingdom where there

are neither the uncertainties of

life nor the certainty of death,

but only bliss forever.
f «.

•*

No modern writer has ex-
pressed so well the true philos-

ophy of life and death as the

late and beloved Father John W.

Cavanaugh, distinguished ninth

president of Notre Dame: “Come

with me then to God's own, to
the last resting place where the

great ones of the earth are sleep-

ing their dreamless sleep. Stand

in spirit beside these moss-grown

graves and remember that the

clods beneath your feet were

once a human heart disquieted

by the wild thirst for wealth or

power or pleasure. Standing in

the silence and the loneliness of

that place, reflect how trivial,

how infinitely trivial and unim-

portant are the petty ambitions

and jealousies and pains and



pleasures of life, and as the sense

of this universal emptiness

grows upon you, reflect what a

precious privilege it is to ex-

change the cares and heart burn-

ings of life for that interior

peace which was the sole pos-

session of Jesus and Mary. Re-

member the beautiful promise of
Our Lord that they who instruct
others unto justice shall shine

as stars in the Kingdom of

Heaven. Go think of it in silence

and alone, and weigh against a

grain of sand the glory of a

throne.”

To all who are maimed in body,
or bruised in spirit because of

the war; to the crippled and ill;

to sinners who have put God out
of their lives for some created

thing; to boys and girls whose

lives are before them with the

temptations that may lead them
from the path of happiness; to

fathers and mothers oppressed

with daily and heavy burdens as

they struggle to maintain a home
in which to rear children in

righteousness
; to all who are

wearied and distressed, remem-

ber that we have a powerful in-
tercessor and helpmate, if we but
have recourse to her. “Anyone

who can recall ever having in-
voked Mary and having been left
unaided,” says St. Bernard, “may
cease further to praise her

mercy.”

She within whose body rested

the Infant Christ; she, glorified

by the poet as “the one woman
above all women glorified—our
tainted nature’s solitary boast”;

she, given to us by her Divine

Son as the mother of all man-

kind—she it is who yearns to
have her children united with

her so that she may bring them

at last to the throne of her Son

—Life. Eternal.



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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