THE FAITH IS SIMPLE
By

REV. J. J. McLARNEY, 0. P.,

Professor of Sacred Eloquence at the Dominican House of Studies,

Washington, D. C.

Ten addresses delivered in the Nationwide Hour of Faith (produced by the

National Council of Catholic Men, in cooperation with the Blue

Network, Inc), from October 24 through December 26, 1943.

The Faith is Simple

Your Rosary, Right and Wrong

Reasons for Rationing

Life Is All Lend-Lease

Marriage Lasts for the Duration—of Life
The Healing Hand

Consulting the Experts

Repentance

We Lead the Little Child

A Little Child Leads Us

Stations Carry the Hour of Faith

H
National Council of Catholic Men,

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W.,

Washington 5, D. C.

Published in U. S. A.

By
Our Sunday Visitor Press,

Huntington, Indiana

Page

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.. 48

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Nihil Obstat:

REV. T. E. DILLON

Censor Librorum

Imprimotur:

Hh JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D.D.
Bishop of Fort Wayne

OeaddRbtf



THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

(Talk given on October 24, 1943)

The other day while I was visit-

ing some friends, the conversation

turned to certain of the teachings

and practices of the Catholic Church

. . . as it frequently does when a

priest is present. One of the group,

who is not of our Faith, remarked

that the Church and her teachings

seemed to him a very complicated

business. He assured me that he had

nothing against the Church what-

ever; that he had really made an

earnest effort to understand her.

But, he said, he was discouraged

by the impression that the Catholic

faith is an intricate pattern of in-

consistent dogmas, moral prohibi-

tions, sacraments and sacramentals,

meticulous and lengthy ceremonies,

all of which add up to a shapeless

creed, quite dull and unwelcome to

the rational or modern mind.

I sympathized with this man’s

attitude, for I can very well see

how such a notion might arise. If

you stand outside a church and look

at its windows, you may be com-

pletely baffled by the lines you see.

But if you go inside and look at

the windows you will have a color-

ful and perhaps artistic prospect in

stained glass. It is so with the

Faith. From the outside looking in,

that is, through the eyes of its

critics or enemies, the true Faith

may seem either pretentious or

meaningless. That is the impres-

sion of those who have never walk-

ed inside to look around. That is

how it might honestly appear to

any one who is not a Catholic.

For that matter, as I told my

friend, that is even how it might

appear to many Catholics. They

themselves are sometimes puzzled

by many things in the Faith. The

questions which they ask often

prove their confusion. They are

shamed by their ignorance about

a Church which is two thousand

years old, the largest single organ-

ization of humans in the world, in-

ternational as no other thing is in-

ternational, and careful of the spir-

itual needs of hundreds of millions

of people. How could they know

everything about it? How could

one know everything readable in a

public library? For that matter,

how could you know everything

about your own bodies and minds,

with which you are very intimate ?

There is no reason for you or me

to be discouraged because we can-

not answer all questions with the

readiness of an expert on “Infor-

mation Please”. (I doubt very

much if those experts could give a



4 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

very good account of themselves

in a quiz about the Catholic Church.

I wouldn’t be so sure of myself,

either).

There is one clear fact, however,

which encourages me ; and it should

encourage you to take another

glance at the Faith, if you never

have, or to reconsider it, even

though you do profess it. The

fact is that the Faith is simple,

very, very simple—about as simple
as any organization to which you

may belong.

Compare the Faith to the Ameri-

can way of life. You hold alle-

giance to your country. You are an

American, you live in the Ameri-

can way. Look around your room

now and see the symbols and fruits

of Americanism: a service flag in

the window, an American news-

paper on your knee, an American

radio here, an American telephone

there. All these possessions come

to you through American channels.

The people who produced them,

sold them, delivered them, service

them, these people have done so

under American laws and regula-

tions—laws and regulations about
which you may know little or noth-

ing. But without the laws and

regulations these possessions might

not be in your home today! they

might never have been bought or

paid for (if they are), or delivered

to your home, if their production,

sale, and distribution were not reg-

ulated by government. But what

do you know about this governing

and regulating? You probably

know what applies to your business.

If you are a lawyer or an official,

you may know a lot about it.

But I doubt if there is a man

in the country who knows it all.

(He’d be too wise to admit it, any-

way).

We all share ignorance, but there

is one fact which we all know;

your tailor, your newsdealer, your

butcher and baker, the telephone

operator and the milkman—^they
all know that every law and regu-

lation can be traced back to charter

principles which are found in the

Constitution and the Declaration of

Independence. The Federal Consti-

tution, the common possession of

all, gives us all a voice in our

government and imposes obliga-

tions on us according to time and

circumstance. It is a simple doc-

ument, quite within the grasp of

the ordinary mind.

All our law goes back t6 these

two great charters. You must obey

the traffic signals and stop at a red

light. Why? Because the Declara-

tion establishes firmly the other

fellow’s right to life. Without these

charters, our situations would be

very different today.



THE FAITH IS SIMPLE 5

The point is that we do not

consider Americanism foolish or

impossible merely because we do

not know everything about its sec-

ondary laws. We can be good citi-

zens if we understand the princi-

ples which are found in the Con-

stitution and the Declaration. We

should study our laws and learn

more about Americanism, but we

need not move to another country

simply because we don’t know all

there is to know about our own.

We can still be good Americans.

(To be good Americans, I might

say here, means that we should

try to be better citizens each day.

Patriotism, like any form of good-

ness, is not static; it goes ahead.)

Isn’t it the same way with the

Faith? If you’re a Catholic, you’ve

been to Mass today—or you’re go-
ing, I hope—and you saw—or will
see— the priest in greem vestments.
You may know that green, the

symbol of hope, is worn on the

Sundays following Pentecost, and

that today is the 19th Sunday after

Pentecost. On the other hand you

may not have known this at all.

You may have wondered why the

priest didn’t wear white or red or

purple.

Or perhaps you were struck by

some other phase of the ceremony

which you’d never thought of be-

fore—for example, why the priest
mixes a little water with the wine

in the chalice. But should these

questions confuse you? Are you

less a Catholic because you do not

know? Of course not. You know

what the Mass is, fundamentally.

And you can find the answers to

these secondary questions if you

ask. If you are not a Catholic,

these apparent puzzles should not

drive you away. The Faith and its

practice can be, and should be, and

must be, very simple.

All dogma—and dogma means a
teaching, a lesson, nothing more

—

all Catholic dogma can be reduced

to one Catholic charter, the Apos-

tles’ Creed, the Catholic Faith in

twelve articles. Each article has

implications. But so has each ar-

ticle of the Constitution, as the

Supreme Court will tell you. Cath-

olics know their Creed. So do

many others. It is much shorter

than the Constitution or the Decla-

ration. All dogmatic teaching of

the Catholic Church is reducible to

it.

We believe these truths and we

try to live by them. To live by

them, faithfully, certain rules of

conduct are necessary. We call

them the Ten Commandments.

Everyone has a rough idea of what

they are. Christ compressed the

first three into one:



6 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with thy whole heart, with

thy whole soul, and thy whole

mind. This is the first and

greatest commandment.”

And He compressed the last seven

into another:

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor

as thyself.”

These two laws, given more fully

in the Ten Commandments, govern

all our relationships with God and

our fellow-humans. They are all-

inclusive. Without them, there can

be no democracy. They are natur-

al, orderly, just, and effective. They

were not made by the Church. They

are written in nature. God an-

nounced them to Moses. Christ ex-

plained them to us. If you know

a law which contradicts them, do

not obey that law. It is immoral.

The Church insists that her child-

ren follow the Commandments.

They are simple and wise. Anyone

who is truly rational, truly modern,

truly humane, must accept them.

And they are not too hard to live

by. On the contrary, attempts to

live apart from them have always

resulted in war, injustice, and all

manner of evil.

The Apostles’ Creed is the Code

of Belief. The Ten Commandments

are the Code of Morals. There is

also a Code of Discipline—which we

call the Six Precepts of the Church.

Discipline is a hard word to some

ears. But no organization, whether

it be a nation or a bridge club, a

navy or a cafe, can exist without

some internal rules. Neither can

a Church. So she imposes six pre-

cepts on her members. They reg-

ulate the observance of the Lord’s

Day, the reception of the sacra-

ments, the support of the Church,

fasts, abstinences, and marriage.

These rules are imposed so that we

may obey the Ten Commandments

more easily. They are certainly

not many, only six. Yet all Church

Law can be boiled down to them.

And ‘they, too, are simple.

It is important to remember that

the Creed, the Commandments, and

the Precepts, are binding on all

Catholics from the Pope right down

to folks like you and me. The

priest is bound, even as his people.

There is no such thing as a Church

dignitary being above the law. It

binds him, too.

Well, these are the Codes of

Catholicism : the Apostles’ Creed,

which should be acceptable to any

student of the Bible; the Ten Com-

mandments, which should be agree-

able to any reasonable person of

good morals
;

the Six Precepts,

which should not be repugnant to

any man or woman of good will.

There are hundreds, thousands, of



THE FAITH IS SIMPLE 7

which flow our whole heart, our whole soul,

A body of 360 and our whole stren^h, that we

hardly get along with- may love our neighbors as
ourselves.

laws and regulations

from these three,

millions can

out teaching, without due process

of law, without the etiquette of

ceremonies, without scores of func-

tions and functionaries. The

Government cannot. Neither can

the Church. She must make her

doctrine clear; she must make mor-

ality firm ; she must guide her mem-

bers with a steady band.

Why does the Church teach and

guide and rule? In order that we

Catholics may love the Lord with

The Church exists to help us in

obeying these rules. Without a

teacher we can become confused

. . . and quickly. With help

from a teacher—and the Church is
that teacher—we can have a simple
faith, we can live a simple faith.

Not any faith at all, but THE

Faith, according to St. Paul: “the

unity of the spirit in the bond of

peace One Lord, one faith,

one baptism.”



YOUR ROSARY, RIGHT AND WRONG
(Talk given on October 31, 1943)

Marines in the South Pacific may

be seen wearing Rosaries around

their necks. There are two reasons

for this. One reason is that the

shorts they wear—and sometimes
they wear little else—^have no pock-
ets. The other reason is that they

revere the Rosary. Some of them

are not Catholics. But they under-

stand that the Rosary is for every-

one, not for Catholics alone. They

revere it, not as some kind of rab-

bit’s foot, but as a simple instru-

ment in a good method of prayer.

Many people think that the Ro-

sary is exclusively for Catholics.

It is not exclusively Catholic.

(Nothing Catholic is exclusive.) It

should appeal to all Christians.

And why not? The Bible furnishes

the chief vocal prayers of the Ro-

sary. The Our Father is our Lord’s

own prayer. The Hail Mary is the

salutation of the Angel Gabriel

made to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

We repeat the Lord’s Prayer as

we finger the large beads in the

Rosary. We repeat the Angelic

Salutation as we touch the small

beads. But this is only the vocal

element of the Rosary. That is not

all. The most important element

of the Rosary is the mental prayer,

the thought. We do not merely

think of the prayers which are

uttered, but of certain great events,

mysteries of the life story of Christ.

There are fifteen of these “mys-

teries” in the Rosary. Five recall

His joyful Childhood, the preface

to our salvation. Five more recall

His Sufferings and Death, the price

of our salvation. Five, last of all,

recall His glorious Resurrection,

the pledge of our salvation.

These mysteries are Joyful, Sor-

rowful, and Glorious. The Joyful

Mysteries are : the Annunciation of

Christ’s coming to Mary, the Visi-

tation of Mary to Elizabeth, the

Birth of Jesus, His Presentation,

and the Finding of Him in the

Temple at Jerusalem. The Sorrow-

ful Mysteries are: His Agony in

the Garden, the Scourging of Him

at the Pillar, the Crowning with

Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross,

and the Crucifixion. The Glorious

Mysteries are: His Resurrection

from the Tomb, His Ascension to

Heaven, The Descent of the Holy

Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles,

the Assumption of Mary to Heaven,

and her Coronation as its Queen.

Now to pray the Rosary proper-

ly one should repeat the Lord’s

Prayer and the Angelic Salutation

and, at the same time, meditate



YOUR ROSARY, RIGHT AND WRONG 9

about one of these mysteries. There

is no conflict here between words

and thoughts. When a man sings

an old love song to one he loves,

he can think more about the be-

loved than the song. When we

sing the Star Spangled Banner, we

can think more about our country

than about the banner, or more

about the banner than about the

words of the anthem. So it is with

the Rosary. We recite, with sing-

ing hearts, the wondrous words

of our Lord and those addressed

to His Mother, while at the same

time we remember and think, as

she would think, about the divine

charity and beauty and truth of

His life, His death, and His Res-

urrection.

What Christian cannot do that?

What Christian can help but do

that? The Rosary is a devout

synopsis of the Bible story. The

events of the Bible, especially those

events which took place in the life

of Jesus, are not merely for Chris-

tians to read about. They are for

Christians to think about, too. They

are for Christians to pray about.

That is why there is a Rosary. If

there is a Bible, there ought to be

a Rosary. If Christians revere the

Bible, they ought to love the Ro-

sary, too. The Bible is for all

to read. The Rosary is for all to

pray; and to pray rightly.

When you say the Rosary, your

method can be right or wrong.

For some it is too long. For some

it is too short. The Irish sexton

felt that it was too short one night.

The priest, whose position he en-

vied so, was called away to attend

the dying. He was leading the

people in the Rosary. Before he

hurried off, he told the sexton to

continue the prayers where he had

to stop. With glory thus thrust

upon him, the sexton carried on.

An hour later the priest came back

and, to his amazement, heard the

Rosary still going on. It should

take no more than fifteen minutes.

But the sexton was reluctant to let

his temporary greatness pass. He

was chanting bravely: “The thir-

ty-seventh sorrowful mystery, Ba-

rabbas stabs Pontius Pilate.’' The

sexton was wrong. There are only

five sorrowful mysteries. And they

give us enough to think about.

For some people the Rosary is

too long. Three little children

thought so as they brought their

flocks of sheep to a small hollow

known as the Cova da Iria, near

Fatima, a village about ninety

miles from Lisbon. The children

were Lucia dos Santos, a girl of

ten, and her cousins, Francisco and

Jacinta Marto. Francisco was nine

and Jacinta was seven. Each day

after they ate their lunch, they



10 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

knelt, as all the faithful in that

country find time to do, to say the

Rosary. Playfully, as children will,

they would begin a streamlined ver-

sion of it. On each bead they

would abbreviate the prayer. On

the large beads they would say only

the two words “Our Father”, and

on the small beads only the two

words “Hail Mary”. Winking and

laughing the would skip through

the Rosary. Their time for the dis-

tance was hard to beat.

The three youngsters were

wrong. The Rosary is not too long.

It might have taken them ten,

twelve, fifteen minutes at most.

That is not too much time to spend

with timeless truth. And Lucia

and Francisco and the tiny Jacinta,

in the midst of signs and wonders,

found out that they were wrong

in the most remarkable spiritual

event of the Twentieth Century.

But that is another story which

could be told at another time.

Some people are inclined to im-

provise prayers in the Rosary. That

is wrong, too. It is important to

remember that the introductory

and concluding prayers are not es-

sential, but the Pater and the Ave,

that is the Our Father and the Hail

Mary, in proper and orderly recital,

are essential, if the prayer is to

remain a Rosary.

The evening Rosary was a daily

custom in our family. When I was

not old enough for school, I was

old enough to say the Rosary. We

would kneel around the dining

table or at bedside. My father

would begin. My mother would

keep order—and sometimes that
was a job. Each child, in order of

age, was permitted to “lead” a dec-

ade, that is, to say the first part

of the Our Father and the ten Hail

Marys of each mystery. The others

would respond with the second part.

My sister Mary always preceded

me. She was about six. I was

about a year younger. I noticed

with what an unctuous “smile in

her voice” she would say “Hail,

Mary”. She took a great pride in

her own wonderful name. One

evening—could you blame me—^her
priority over that prayer became

too much for me. When my turn

came, I began “Hail Jimmy, full of

grace.” After the uproar, my fa-

ther explained to me that I was

wrong : we do not pray to our-

selves and we do not think of our-

selves when we say the Rosary.

Then on we went with it, until the

Rosary was finished and the day

for little people was done.

Did this Rosary in childhood

make us superstitious? Did it

make us bigoted and narrow at an

early age? No. It taught us that

our prayers are best when they are



YOUR ROSARY, RIGHT AND WRONG

prayers from the Bible. It taught

us that we should not pray to our-

selves but to God through His

Mother. It taught us that we do

not think of ourselves, but of God

and His mercy. It taught us that

“Words without thoughts nev-

er to heaven go.”

It taught us to remember always

that the Faith of our Fathers has

a foundation in history: in the life

and death and resurrection of the

God who was made Man, who died

for our sins at the hands of a few

Jews, who are forgiven, because

the God-Man said of them—and
we thought about that in the Fifth

Sorrowful Mystery—^the God-Man
prayed for them: “Father, forgive

them, for they know not what they

do”.

There is no greater cure for

bigotry and anti-Semitism than

that. And it can be taught, im-

pressed, it can be remembered, in

the recitation of the Rosary. For-

giveness? We could do with a lot

more of it this morning.

But that is only one lesson which

the Rosary teaches. My time is

too short to tell you of the many

more.

The over-all lesson is this.

The Rosary gives us a daily com-

panionship with Christ, a compan-

ionship comparable to that of His

Mother during the thirty years of

His private life at Nazareth. Out

of it we learn that courtesy and

Christian nobility which should

mark our dealing those who know

us best: our families.

The Rosary gives us a daily in-

timacy with Jesus, such as was His

Mother’s privilege ; an intimacy

which draws us into the garden

of His sorrows where He wept for

us, to the pillar where He was

scourged for us, to the Cross

where He died for us. If our boys

brave today’s battles because they

know that others before them have

been heroes—^because they have
what we call morale—then men and
women can stand up to danger and

death in the cause of justice and

charity, if they only remember

that Jesus Christ did just that for

them.

The Rosary teaches what dread-

ful wrongs can be wrought by po-

litical leaders who so grossly mis-

conceive their position that in their

hands the rights of man are no

more precious than the rights of

pigs in a butchery. It teaches

that death for the freedom of men

is a gateway to glory, not the mere

glory of the memory of men, but

the very real and living glory of

a resurrection like that of Christ,

who prevailed over death itself,

when He rose out of the tomb in

triumphant pledge to all ages that



12 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

God and His justice will prevail.

Come war, come wounds, God and

His justice will prevail. It teach-

es hope in that victory and the

peace to follow—a hope borne out of
an empty tomb and lifted to the

height of heaven where Christ, our

King, is lifted up to draw all things

to Himself.

Now what do you think? Should

there be in the hearts of children

and their elders a respect for court-

esy and nobility? Or can we do

without that sort of thing?

What do you think? Is there

any need in this day of heroism in

sufferinng, and forgiveness, and

understanding? Or can we do

without that sort of thing?

What do you think? Is there

any need today of hope? Any need

of victory, any need today of

sacred trust and confidence in God

and His justice and His right?

Any need of these things? How

our souls shiver in the need! Then

there is need of something like

the Rosary, which teaches them.

The Church must needs preach it.

We need to pray it.

Learn about the Rosary. Learn

as little children, like Bernadette

—

it was her song—^like Lucia, and
Francisco, and Jacinta. It is our

Lady’s prayer. It is our Lady’s

way to peace. Learn her way of

prayer. Take her path to peace.

And live, at last, her way of life.



REASONS FOR RATIONING

(Talk given on November 7, 1943)

Here in my hand is a ration

book. I have been meditating on

it. I am very ignorant about War

Ration Books, because I am not

forced to shop for my dinner. There

is a man in our house who does

that for a hundred of us. And he

does it very well. Rationing is not

new to him. The people in houses

like ours have been rationed for

centuries. Meatless days are twice

a week the year around. Lent for

our house is not just forty days,

but at least six months; and that

means meat but once a day, except

on meatless days. Other things

are measured accordingly. Such

is the way of men in monasteries.

This War Ration Book, however,

is something new. On its cover I

can read my name signed under a

promise that I will use it for the

purpose authorized by the Office of

Price Administration. I read that

it is a criminal offense to violate

rationing regulations. On this

other War Ration Book, I read the

statement of the government as

follows: “Persons who violate ra-

tioning regulations are subject to

$10,000 fines, or imprisonment or

both.” Those are hard words for

me, or for anybody. I cannot even

buy the food I want to buy from a

person who wants to sell without

incurring such dangers. Who

thinks he can push me around, who

thinks he can regulate my appetite,

who thinks he can deprive me of

food? Who? Why, the Govern-

ment can do that, the Government

is doing just that, in our present

emergency. And we all agree with

the principle that the Government

has a perfect right to do it at the

present time.

The War Ration Book makes me

think that, if we hunger and thirst

now, we shall have our fill later on.

And thus we’ll win the peace. It

makes me think about the grain of

wheat which buries itself now that

it may burst forth green in the

spring. It makes me remember

we are not giving things equally

to everyone now, but are curtailing

our food on the home front, that

our soldiers may have more than

sufficient to win the war; we are

giving to each according to his

need, as St. Augustine advises. This

War Ration Book makes me think

about the occupied and conquered

countries which may be given

enough to eat, because we deny

ourselves something of our abun-

dance. It makes me think that

Christ will tell us on the last day:



14 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

‘‘I was hungry, and you gave me

to eat .... as long as you did it

to one of these my brethren, you

did it to me” {Matthew 25: 35-40)

It makes me think that we can

revive a place like Sicily, for ex-

ample, and once more, as Longfel-

low writes, make “the happy island

dance in corn and wine.” This ra-

tion book reminds me that I must

suppress my rights for the time

in favor of the common good of all.

That is why Uncle Sam has pulled

in his belt. That is why we all

follow suit. That is why Liberty

has blown her trumpet and we all

march in line. Some pitiable Am-

ericans may, like skulking dwarfs,

creep in and out of black markets.

But most of us are keeping in step.

America has a war to win, as well

as a face to feed.

Rationing is nothing new, as I

said before. Long ago the Church

blew a trumpet in Sion and sancti-

fied a fast. There was a war going

on then and there is a war going

on now, as far as the Church is

concerned. It is a war against

evil—against the evil of flesh and
blood in our own fallen nature;

against the evil of the spirit of

wickedness in high places; against

powers and dominations of Hell. To

win that war, the Church, like a

wise old Mother who has seen war

and strife and dying souls on many

a spiritual front—the Church tells
her children that there are also

times for fast.

What does Mother Church say?

She says, in the Code of Canon

Law, that at certain times the

quantity of food must be cut to

one full meal, and perhaps two

small collations daily. That means

fast. She says, also, that at cer-

tain times the quality of food must

be regulated, so that flesh meat is

forbidden. That means abstinence.

She says that all who are more

than six years old are obliged to

abstain. She says that all who are

more than twenty and less than

sixty are obliged to fast. On each

Friday, during Lent, and on cer-

tain other days, these laws are

active. That, for the information

of those who wonder and may de-

mur, is a very brief statement of

the laws of fast and abstinence.

It is not very complicated.

Well, I might say, “Who is the

Church that I am pushed around

the dining table like that? Who is

the Church, that she says I must

swallow fish and pass up meat?

Who is the Church, that she makes

laws about one meal a day and

other starvation routines? Who

or what is this Church?”

That is not a difficult question

to answer. It is no more difficult to

answer that question, “Who is the



REASONS FOR RATIONING 15

Church?” than it is to answer the

question, “Who is this country?

—

this country which regulates my

food, my shoes, my gasoline and the

cuffs of my trousers?” Who is this

country? Why, you are this coun-

try. So am I. So are all of us ; we

are this country. And no one can

say nay to us if we wish to eat

lightly. This country has a govern-

ment which regulates the amounts

and kinds of things which we use,

and eat, and wear—because we have
a war to win.

Who is this Church? We, you

and I, all who acknowledge it as

the one and true Society founded

by Christ for our salvation. We

are the Church. And no one can

say us nay, or say that we are

fanatics, or say that we are very

foolish, if for good purposes, we

wish to serve a light table. The

Church, that is, we, have a Church

government which regulates the

amounts and the kinds of things

which we eat—because we have a
war to win, that is, we have souls

to save.

That is why Catholics observe

the laws of fast and abstinence.

It is all very reasonable. No one

is asked to do the impossible. If

a person be sick, or an expectant

mother, or a working man or wo-

man, the fast and, sometimes, the

abstinence, is relaxed. Even the

family of the working man may eat

what he is permitted to eat, so

that the domestic situation will

not be too complicated. In times

like these, bishops have relaxed the

laws more freely because of local

conditions. As far as I know, there

have been no cases of malnutrition

to be laid at the door of the Cath-

olic Church.

Does the law of fast and absti-

nence make Catholics become like

prisoners on bread and water?

Hardly, if my own experience can

be cited. Does the law restrict our

freedom? Not at all! On the con-

trary, the law of fast and absti-

nence is an assurance of greater

freedom.

Fast and abstinence assure us of

freedom from want. There are

many kinds of want. There is the

want of food for some, because

others are selfish about food. If the

fast and abstinence of Catholics

can impress on the minds of the

greedy that one’s stomach is not

a divinity, those who have will be

more inclined to give to those who

have not, and there will be better

distribution of it all. The last few

years in England have witnessed

that blessing.

Then there is also the want of

health. Fast and abstinence are

an assurance of health. Too many

people dig their graves with their



16 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

teeth, because they have not learned

self-discipline and control. There

is some foundation for the belief

that this is the reason why there

is sometimes such lethargy among

the rich and such vitality among

the poor.

This may also be one of the rea-

sons why there is such a healthy

birthrate among the poor and such

an unhealthy birth-rate among the

rich.

This could explain why a rich

country often has a problem of

manpower.

Most biologists will agree that

animals that are slightly underfed

multiply more abundantly than an-

imals which are sleek and fat. Fast

and abstinence, governed by mod-

eration—;there can be intemperance,
you know, of too little, and intem-

perance of too much—fast and ab-
stinence, governed by moderation,

are an assurance of health. The

Church, wise old Mother, is a good

nurse, and a good dietitian.

Fast and abstinence make for

freedom for those who fast and

abstain. They make for freedom

from fear. There is the fear which

stalks the world today that mon-

sters of might and materialism

will devour the spirit of liberty and

personal right. To be free of that

fear we have rolled up our sleeves,

we have converted our factories and

machines, we have produced our

guns and planes and tanks, we have

flung the healthiest and the best-

equipped and the best-fed army in

history all over the world. And we

fast and abstain, with ration books,

to strike down that stalking fear

and raise that freedom on high.

There is also the fear in every

human heart that the greedy flesh

will overcome and devour the beau-

ty of the free soul which longs

for the happiness of God. There

is the fear that the law of hungry

members, the craving of bodily ap-

petites, will conquer the law of the

mind, which tells us that it is bet-

ter to need a little than to have

too much. There is the fear that

the body will have its reward in

the flesh pots of pleasure in this

life at the cost of the eternal loss

of the soul. But that fear does not

exist in that heart which is con-

trolled and disciplined to the rea-

sonable rigors of fast and abstin-

ence.

There is a fear, finally, that full

with food and heavy with sleep, we

may forget that the Lord of the

Heavenly Harvest, who multiplied

bread, who dined with publicans

and sinners, the Lord who changed

water into wine that men might

feast—that same Lord fasted in
the time of fast; He taught us to

feast and taught us to fast ; and



REASONS FOR RATIONING 17

how; and when; and where, as

any reader of the Scriptures knows.

Yet, with the shadow of the Cross

upon Him, He invited us to imitate

Himself: “If any man will come

after me, let him deny, himself,

and take up his cross daily, and

follow me” {Luke 9: 23). He took

up His Cross, and on that Cross

He died to save us on the sixth day

of the week, Friday. And for fear

that selfish, sinful, fattened men

and women will forget that Lord,

that Cross, that Friday when true

freedom was born, a wise Mother,

with tears and remembrance, tells

her children to restrain themselves

and think, and give thanks and

pray. That is why Catholics do

not eat meat on Friday.

These reasons are not hard to

understand. They are very noble

reasons which the Church has for

her rationing plan. They are very

much akin to the reasons which

Americans have today who grit

their teeth and say: “We can win

this fight. We can help a lot, if

we hunger a little.”

These thoughts may help you

to beef less, if I may use a collo-

quialism, about your little bit of

beef; to kick less, to use another,

with fewer shoes ; to cover more

ground in the road to victory with

less gasoline.

These thoughts may help Ameri-

cans who are now beginning to

remember God; these thoughts may

help the country which is now in

the way to triumph—a country of
strong, and lean, and self-sacrific-

ing people ; these thoughts may

help us all to realize that the wise

Mother—our Church—has been
leading the way for a long, long

time.



LIFE IS ALL LEND-LEASE

(Talk given on November 14, 1943)

Lend-lease has long arms. To

nearly every phase of life in the

lands to which lend-lease has been

extended, something new has been

added. We need not complain

about that. America has lent and

leased out of its abundance that

the world may be free from pres-

ent-day evils.

The great program of lend-lease,

however, has had a necessary ef-

fect on nearly every walk of Am-

erican life, down to the smallest

details. For example : last week

I was asked to telephone a new

Red Cross Worker at seven-fifteen

the next morning. I finish Mass

each day before seven, so it’s no

problem to be on speaking terms

with the world at seven-fifteen. But

the Red Cross worker had no alarm

clock. Her father had no alarm

clock. Nor her mother. Between

them, they could not buy or bor-

row an alarm clock. Well, for

Thursday, November 11th, at least,

I was acting alarm clock. Some

one across the sea is probably using

an alarm clock which she might

have bought.

Do not misunderstand. I am not

saying this in any spirit of bitter-

ness. The point is that the Ameri-

can people have gladly emptied

their pockets, their bread baskets,

and their piggy banks. They have

given up their cars and they walk

to work; they hunt and peck on
-

ricketty typewriters; their radio ,

sets are without batteries. Guns,

gadgets, destroyers, shells, shoes,

tanks, toothbrushes; men and wo-

men and food and money ; anything,

everything which can be of use

directly and indirectly in the great

war effort is shipped to those places

where they will do the most good.

The European knows it. He counts

on it. The American knows it, too.

He is happy about it. He is pay-

ing for it. He does not rejoice in

the necessity for it. But, in the

emergency, he is happy to give and

to serve.

The American is grateful in

many ways to the other United

Nations for the sacrifices which

have been made for a cause which

must benefit America. By the

same token, the European should

be grateful to the American for

the sacrifices which he is making.

There is an obligation of mutual

gratitude. There is much to be

said on both sides and there is

much to be thankful for—and on
both sides. But it would be a pretty

mess if no one on either side of



LIFE IS ALL LEND-LEASE 19

the lend-lease transaction were

thankful.

Consider the possibility. Sup-

pose that the Russians, the British,

and the French not only refused

to be thankful to us, but even de-

nied that there was any obligation

to be grateful. Suppose that, fur-

ther, they paid no attention to us

after the war and just considered

us beneath their notice. That

would be the unkind cut. That is

almost unthinkable. That would

live in infamy. We certainly do

not deserve such treatment—or do
we?

Americans have stocked the ar-

senal of democracy with all the in-

struments of health and power.

They have lavished its treasures

and its stores upon the needy and

the beleaguered all over the world.

But the same Americans have been

blessed and protected for many

generations by light and grace, by

the armor of the Faith. An om-

nipotent Hand has kept us in its

palm. But how and when, on any

old day, does the average American

remember to thank the mighty

fortress which is our God?

Life is a stewardship for God.

It is the original and the funda-

mental lend-lease. The good things

of this world have been extended

to us—on loan. And we are blessed
with them as no other people has

been blessed. Our healthy bodies

—and we have the healthiest bod-
ies in the world—have been leased
to us and tenanted by our immor-

tal souls. We have the light of

liberty, born out of the belief in

God which our founding fathers

professed. We have the horn of

plenty, filled by the generous

bounty of our Creator. All these

things are not intrinsically ours.

The day will come on which we

shall have to render an account

of our stewardship, for then we

can be stewards no longer. On that

day loan and lease will reach their

terms. But meanwhile are we

grateful

?

Thanksgiving Day is very soon.

But I am not talking about that

day. I am rather talking about

this day, and about every day like

it. Are we grateful today? About

75,000,000 Americans certainly give

no evidence of gratitude, this morn-

ing. They may be grateful, but

there is no evidence.

What kind of evidence do I want ?

The kind of evidence which our

Lord suggests in the Gospel of this

morning. “Render therefore to

Caesar the things that are Caes-

ar’s; and to God, the things that

are God’s” (Matthew 22: 21).

We call today the Lord’s Day.

Why not give it to Him ?



20 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

The Catholic Church is very anx-

ious about the evidence of grati-

tude. The Church remembers the

ancient Law which Moses received

from God and which he gave to

the Jews; the very reasonable and

fundamental Ten Commandments.

The third commandment reads:

“Remember that thou keep holy

the sabbath day. Six days thou

shalt labour, and shalt do all thy

works. But on the seventh day

is the sabbath of the Lord thy

God: thou shalt do no work on

it, thou nor thy son, nor thy

daughter, nor thy manservant,

nor thy maidservant, nor thy

beast, nor the stranger that is

within thy gates. For in six

days the Lord made heaven and

earth, and the sea, and all things

that are in them, and rested on

the seventh day: therefore the

Lord blessed the seventh day,

and sanctified it” {Exodus 20:

8 -11 ).

The Church remembers the care

and the common sense which always

marked the conduct of our Lord

on the Sabbath. He entered the

temple or the synagogue on that

day. He kept the Sabbath. But

He also scorned the Pharisees who

strained their gnats about the ob-

servance of it. He mentioned cases

to them in which the law of Sab-

bath might be relented
;

for ex-

ample, if an ox fell into a pit on the

Sabbath day, one could pull it out

immediately. But the Catholic

Church also recalls His demand

that God be given what is His.

And so, in keeping with this sound

reasoning and with the commands

found in the Bible, the Church has

formulated a precept which may be

found in the Code of Canon Law

:

On holy days of obligation

Mass must be heard and one must

abstain from servile work and

from judicial proceedings; also,

unless legitimate custom or spec-

ial indults make an exception,

from public markets, fairs and

other public buying and selling

(C. J. C. 1248).

Why has the Church promulgated

this precept ? So that men and wo-

men will not forget the words : “Re-

member that thou keep holy the Sab-

bath day;” so that men and women

will not forget to render unto God

what is His; so that men and wo-

men will not forget that all life is a

lenddease proposition; so that men

and women will not forget to thank

God for all that comes from Him;

so that men and women will not for-

get that the worship of God must

be practised not at convenience and

whim and pleasure, but in God’s

way, in His place, and in His time;

so that men and women will not

forget that when our Lord institut-

ed the sacrifice of the Mass the

night before He died. He said

“Do this in commemoration of

me.” That is why Catholics go to

Mass on Sunday.

Do men and women forget?



LIFE IS ALL LEND-LEASE 21

What about the 75,000,000 who are

forgetful this very morning? What

about the Catholics who are not

going to Mass today? Some do not

remember. They are forgetful!

Some remember and do not attend

Mass anyway. They are ungrate-

ful!

There is nothing difficult about

the Law of Sunday observance. It

binds all Catholics who are seven

years or older. But all who would

suffer a grave inconvenience by at-

tendance are by that very fact

excused. Mothers who must them-

selves care for children cannot be

in two places at the same time.

They are excused from Mass in

such a case. Workers who are not

allowed to take time out for Mass

are excused. Invalids are excused.
/

A light reason is not sufficient to

excuse one from a grave obligation

;

but there are many grave reasons,

too—and the Church understands
them. There is nothing difficult

about the Law.

Now, I realize that it is almost

comical to preach in church to the

people who are present about the

gross negligence of the people who

are absent. It is ridiculous to ex-

pect people who are absent to react

favorably to words which they do

not hear. But this is not such a

case. And to all Catholics, I would

say, I hope you have all been to

Mass today, or that you are going

to Mass, for your attendance at

Mass is much more important than

any word of mine. Your presence

at Mass is your acknowledgment

of belief in God; it is your pledge

of remembrance that Christ died

for you; it is your public expres-

sion of gratitude for the good

things which God has lent to you

and leased to you.

What is the effect of the Catholic

precept upon you who are not of

the Catholic Church? There is no

effect at all. The Catholic law is

for Catholics. The divine law, how-

ever, as expressed through Moses,

is for everybody. “Remember that

thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’’

That law is for you. The Catholic

Church does not legislate for non-

Catholics any more than New Jer-

sey legislates for New Yorkers.

But it is the constant hope of the

Church, and of every sincere Cath-

olic in it, that everyone who is not

in it, will be helped by our constant

Catholic prayer that* there be but

one fold and one shepherd
;

one

Lord, one faith, one baptism. It is

our prayer that you will always do

your duty, and render to the Lord

for all that He has rendered to

you; that you will rejoice in the

Lord; that you will adore Him, and

thank Him, and pray to Him—^the
Lord our God, our Help in ages



22 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

past, our staff and strength in

stormy days, our glory in eternity

to come.

Some can always arrange the

schedule to allow the maid her day

off. (And woe betide the employ-

er who refuses to do that, for maids

are hard to get.) But they cannot

arrange to give God one hour.

Some can arrange without fail to

hear a favorite radio program, but

they just can’t manage to get to

Mass and to hear the word of God.

How ungrateful they are!

But others are always faithful,

always observant, always provident

about paying their debts to God.

For them there is no must in the

law. It is a privilege and a pleas-

ure to return thanks to God. For

them there is no blue law. They

can take in a movie; they can take

you out to the ball game, after

church.

These are the people who are

placing their country and its high

purposes in the hands of God. Some

of these people—Catholics—do not
feel that they do enough just to go

to Mass on Sunday, so they go i

every day to the divine sacrifice
;

'

not because they must go but be-

cause they wish to go and be filled .

with the light and grace of the

Savior.

The law of the Church does not

bind them to daily Mass. But there

they are, praying for us, for our

needs, for our health and safety.

This is their reverse lend-lease.

And may God give them credit.

May God hear their prayers. May

God give us all the sense of grati-

tude to Him ; may He give us faith

and peace.



MARRIAGE LASTS FOR THE DURATION—OF LIFE

(Talk given on November 21, 1943)

This morning I want to take you

to a wedding—a wedding complete
with a lovely bride, a handsome

groom, orange blossoms, and all the

other things that usually accomp-

any such festive occasions.

The church is decorated with

flowers, and the friends of the

bride and groom fill the pews.

Yes, weddings are usually beauti-

ful, glamorous functions. But

there is more to them than just

these trimmings. Weddings are

serious things, too—and that is
what the Church thinks about them.

She expresses her teachings about

marriage in the words used at the

ceremony.

Let me describe it to you briefly.

The bride and groom are kneel-

ing in front of the altar, and the

priest, attired in his vestments,

gives the young man and woman

some good advice—advice which the
Church gives to everybody who is

about to be married. It goes like

this

:

My dear friends
:
you are about

to enter into a union which is

most sacred and most serious. It

is most sacred, because it is es-

tablished by God Himself; most

serious because it will bind you

together for life in a relationship

so close and so intimate that it

will profoundly affect your whole

future. That future, with its

hopes and disappointments, its

successes and its failures, its

pleasures and its pains, its joys

and its sorrows, is hidden from

your eyes.

You know that these elements

are mingled in every life, and

are to be expected in your own.

And so, not knowing what is be-

fore you, you take each other

for better or for worse, for rich-

er or for poorer, in sickness and

in health, until death.

Truly, then, these words are

most serious. It is a beautiful

tribute to your undoubted faith

in each other, that, recognizing

their full import, you are never-

theless so willing and ready to

pronounce them. And because

these words involve such solemn

obligations, it is most fitting that

you rest the security of your

wedded life upon the great prin-

ciple of self-sacrifice.

And so you begin your married

life by the voluntary and com-

plete surrender of your individ-

ual lives in the interest of that

deeper and wider life which you

are to have in common. Hence-

forth you will belong entirely to

each other. You will be one in

mind, one in heart, one in affec-

tions. And whatever sacrifices

you may be hereafter required to
make, always make them gener-

ously. Sacrifice is usually diffi-

cult and irksome. Only love can

make it easy; and perfect love

can make it a joy.

No greater blessing can come

to your married life than pure



24 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

conjugal love, loyal and true to

the end. May, then, this love

with which you join your hands

and hearts today, never fail, but

grow deeper and stronger as the

years go on. Nor will God be

wanting to your needs; He will

pledge you the life-long support

of His graces in the Holy Sacra-

ment which you are about to re-

ceive.

This admonition expresses very

well the teaching of the Church

about matrimony. The priest is

the official representative, the offi-

cial witness, of the Church and he

makes certain that the contracting

parties understand, before they en-

ter into the contract, just what

that contract entails. You will

note that the entire spirit of his

advice is centered about the idea

of sacrificial love, not selfish love.

Matrimony does not consist of vy-

ing in selfishness, but rather of

vying in generosity toward one an-

other.

The two contracting parties—

I

realize that it may sound unroman-

tic to call the loving couple “two

contracting parties,” but that is

what they are—^the two contracting
parties then proceed to give consent

to the contract which forms the

union.

Let us suppose that they are

.
John and Mary. The priest asks

the bridegroom the following ques-

tion: “John, wilt thou take Mary

here present for thy lawful wife.

according to the rite of our Holj^^

mother, the Church?”

John replies: “I will.” W

The priest then asks the bride:)]

“Mary, wilt thou take John herej

present for thy lawful husband, ac-^i

cording to the rite of our holyjd

mother, the Church?” )

Mary replies : “I will.” '

!

'h

Notice, please, that there is mu-^

tual consent. It takes two to make-'

a marriage.

At the direction of the priest,
,

they join their right hands. . The;

bridegroom repeats after the priest i

the following pledge: “I, John,,

take thee, Mary, for my law-

ful wife, to have and to hold, fromi

this day forward, for better, forr

worse, for richer for poorer, inn

sickness and in health, until deathn

do us part.”

The bride then repeats the samet

pledge: “I, Mary, take thee, Johm

for my lawful husband, to have andi

to hold, from this day forward, forr

better, for worse, for richer, fon

poorer, in sickness and in health,:,

until death do us part.”

Notice, here, that bride andi

groom have stated the terms of th^

contract. They are very weighty}’

terms: to have and to hold; fromn

now on; in goodness or badness;:

in riches or in poverty; in goodi

health and bad health; until death..

The priest then speaks officially.



25MARRIAGE LASTS FOR THE DURATION—OF LIFE

for the Church in her official lang-

uage: “I join you together in mar-

riage. In the Name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy

Ghost. Amen.’’ He makes the

sign of the Cross over them and

sprinkles them with holy water.

Next, the ring is produced and

the priest blesses it with words

which are translated as follows

:

‘'Let us pray. Bless, 0 Lord, this

ring which we bless in Thy Name,

that she who is to wear it, keeping

true faith unto her husband, may

abide in Thy peace and obedience

to Thy will, and ever live in mu-

tual love. Through Christ our

Lord. Amen.”

When the ring has been sprinkled

with holy water, the groom places

it on the finger of the bride, saying

:

“With this ring I thee wed and I

plight unto thee my troth.”

The priest says: “In the Name of

the Father and of the Son and of

the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

Finally he prays for the couple:

“Look down, we beseech Thee, 0

Lord, upon these Thy servants, and

graciously protect Thy institution

whereby Thou hast provided for the

propagation of mankind ; that those

who are joined together by Thine

authority may be preserved by Thy

help. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.”

Thus the ceremony is completed.

There may follow the Nuptial Mass,

which, for Catholics, is the proper

solemnity of the marriage, although

it is not essential. The essential

ceremony has been described for

you.

Do you miss anything in the

words of the ceremony? Of course

you miss something. There is no

mention of “love, honor, and obey.”

Right you are. There is no “love,

honor, and obey” in the terms of

the marriage, according to the rite

of the Catholic Church. These

words are not in the terms of the

contract. They are understood. If

a man and woman do not intend

to love, honor, and obey, they

should not enter into the contract.

There can be no good faith in a

contract of any kind if fidelity to

its terms is not presupposed. The

idea of the Church, moreover, is

that love, honor, and obedience,

should be mutual, not one-sided.

There are as many things in mar-

ried life which call for obedience

on the part of the husband, as

there are things which call for

obedience on the part of the wife.

For example, when the babies

come, there must be obedience to

the routine of feeding and the pre-

paration of formulas. Ask any

married people—they could cite
many other instances.



26 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

The entire ceremony is quite in

accord with the teaching which the

Church has always expressed about

marriage. It is a divine institution.

It is the expression of the deepest

and most common instinct which

God has placed in the human being

;

the instinct to form a society. The

domestic society, which is formed

by marriage, answers the bodily

and spiritual needs of both sexes

and their offspring. The contract

of marriage depends upon the hu-

man will, the free will of the con-

tracting parties. Without freedom

of consent there can be no con-

tract. But it is important to re-

member that the nature of mar-

riage does not depend upon the hu-

man will. Man and woman are not

free to make of marriage what they

will, but they must abide by the

natural and divine law. The obli-

gations and privileges of marriage,

which are freely given and accepted

in the contract, are of divine mak-

ing. And they must be treated as

such.

There are three principal benefits

to be derived from marriage. The

first is the good of the offspring

which naturally follow as the ef-

fect of marriage. The second is

the good of the partners in riiar-

riage. The third is the good of

the union itself. The first good

implies that there should be child-

ren and that they should be cared

for properly. The second good im-

plies that honor and fidelity, love

and sacrifice, be uppermost in the

minds of husband and wife. The

third good demands that society in

general, the Church, the State, and

everyone, give to the married union

the respect which its dignity de-

serves.

With these facts in mind, it is

not difficult to understand why the

Church thinks more' highly of the

married state—your state, perhaps
—^than of any other human institu-
tion. You see why the Church reit-

erates so often the words of Jesus:

“What .... God hath joined to-

gether, let not man put asunder’'

{Mark 10: 9). You can under-

stand why the Church condemns di-

vorce. Divorce is ruled out by the

terms of the contract. Remember

what they are : “From this day

forward, for better, for worse, for

richer, for poorer, in sickness and

in health, until death do us part.”

Another point is very significant

in the Catholic marriage ceremony.

The priest more than once men-

tions the Name of God. In that

holy Name, the two are joined. In

that holy Name, the ring is blessed.

In that holy Name, the groom

plights his troth. This should in-

dicate that marriage is not just a

private affair; a private contract



MARRIAGE LASTS FOR THE DURATION—OF LIFE 27

between two private persons. No.

Even the state considers it a public

contract and, therefore, demands

that it be publicly witnessed and

publicly registered. But the Church

thinks even more of the marriage

than that. The Church considers

marriage a contract made between

man and woman AND God. She

knows that Christ Himself digni-

fied that contract by making it a

sacrament, so that the very con-

tract becomes a sign or cause of

God’s choicest graces.

I hope that we understand, there-

fore, the careful regulation of mar-

riage by the Church for her Cath-

olic people. Every effort is made

to instruct them. Every effort is

made to protect them, even against

their own mistakes. The Church

is not strict about it. The Church

is merely reasonable and consistent

about it. The entire purpose of the

Church is the well-being of man-

kind in this world and in the next;

your well-being and the well-being

of your children, who are not only

your children, but God’s children,

too.



THE HEALING HAND

(Talk given on November 28, 1943)

How often one sees in the news

photos the picture of the pi
lest,

with stole upon his shoulders, kneel-

ing beside the victim of an accident.

How often, in the news of a major

catastrophe—as, for example,- the

terrible fire in Boston, a year ago

one reads that priests from the

neighboring parishes came to min-

ister to the dying. We take these

items for granted, for somehow we

understand that the priest is ex-

pected to be present; he should be

there. Many times in the dark

hours of night one will see the

priest hurrying to some quiet part

of town. Or during the day he will

be seen hastily taking a taxi to a

nearby hospital. Why? Because

some one is ill, some one is in

danger, and he has been summoned

to do his Christ-like duty; to heal

the sick by his spiritual ministra-

tion, or to speed the departing soul

to the heaven of God.

The priest could tell you some

thrilling stories about his sick calls.

He could bring you to the mansion

of the millionaire. He could bring

you to the hovel of the pauper. He

could take you through the wards

of the great metropolitan hospitals.

He could take you for dramatic

rides in ambulances, in police cru-

isers, to places where sudden death >

has visited; to fires, to floods, to .

scenes of carnage, of murder, and

of suicide. He could bring you
'

to the death-bed of the saint ; he -

could lift your hair with tales of

death-bed repentance, of justice
'

achieved in a last moment where

there wasn’t a minute to lose. But

he doesn’t tell you much about these

things.

Why is it that you do not hear

very much about the sick calls of

the priest?

The chief reason is that most of

the details which would interest

others are not the business of

others. They are the business of

the person who calls the priest;

the business of the priest who is

called
;
the business of God in whose

Name he is called. But one thing

is certain. You know he is there

where he is needed. And you ex-

pect him to be there.

Why is the priest on the scene?

First of all he is bound by the law

of the Church, in virtue of his

office, to minister for the sick in

his parish with sedulous care and

abundant charity, especially those

who are in danger of death. He

must bring them the sacraments

and commend their souls to God.



THE HEALING HAND 29

It is not a matter of choice
with

him. It is a matter of serious
ob-

ligation. Were he not obliged un-

der the law, he would be obliged

by the requirements of
qharity,

even as you are, to do what he can

for those in need.

When it is a matter of life and

death, no one hesitates to do what

he can. Life and death! Life and

death! We hear the police sirens

and fire equipment racing through

the streets and we know to what

lengths the public protective ser-

vices will go at such a time. Life

and death! We know how many

ships and planes will be sent over

the wide ocean to save the lives

of a few in a rubber raft. Life

and death! The blood banks and

the plasma, the ambulances and the

hospital trains, the hospitals and

the stores of medicine, all these

tell us how important it is to pre-

serve life, to minister to the sick,

to give them all we have to help.

This is humanity. This is Christ-

ianity. This is a duty to man and

to God who made him. And in

this duty we expect the minister

of God, the priest, to be first in

line. And he is.

What does the priest do when

he is called? When the sick-bed

is in tranquil surroundings, he en-

ters the house and utters the words

of our Lord: “Peace be to this

house and to all who dwell therein.”

Then he prays for the invalid and

for the others there. If the patient

wishes to and can make a confes-

sion, the sacrament of penance is

administered ; that is, the priest,

alone and quietly, hears the sins

of the penitent, prescribes a fitting

penance which usually involves the

recitation of some prayers, gives

absolution, and, as a result, brings

peace to the troubled conscience.

That is a blessing which, it seems,

no one else can bring. Then, if it

be possible, the priest administers

the Holy Eucharist; that is, the

patient is given Holy Communion,

the Body and Blood of our Lord

under the appearance of bread.

If there be danger of death, the

sacrament of Extreme Unction is

then given. The priest anoints

the five organs of sense with the

consecrated oil of the sick, and

prays that God may forgive the

sins which have been committed.

During it all, he prays that God’s

grace may be showered upon his

servant here that, in recovery or

in death, he may find peace and re-

freshment, justice and strength.

If there be a recovery of health,

the priest has done his work and is

grateful for his privilege. If there

be no recovery and death finds its

way to that bed-side, the priest

must be there to send the depart-



30 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

ing soul to its Maker, to call upon

the angels and saints of God to

come forth to meet the newcomer

and welcome him to the heavenly

city. And after death it is his

responsibility to perform the sol-

emn rites of the dead in which

there is so much of consolation

and of hope.

This is the duty of the priest,

so little dramatized, so much mis-

understood, and sometimes, unfort-

unately, misrepresented by unin-

formed writers and speakers. They

know little of the 24-hour respon-

sibility which the Catholic priest

bears. They know little of the

distracted days and sleepless nights

which are sometimes his lot. They

know little of the sorrows and woes

which the priest accepts as his sec-

ret so that the suffering soul may

be relieved. They know very little

;

and what he knows, they will never

know.

To this sublime office the Church

directs her priest. Why? Simply

because the Church, following the

example of her divine Founder, has

a care for the sick. Christ healed

and saved. He never faced infirm-

ity without curing it, just as He

never faced sorrow without for-

giving sin. He charged the first

members of His Church with His

owm mission. “As the Father hath

sent me,” He said, “I also send

you” {John 20: 21). The Church

is conscious of her mission. She

has an abiding care of the sick.

There is a serious charge often •

leveled against the Church, how-

ever, by those who do not under-
j

stand. The charge is that, while
|

much time and effort is given to
\

the spiritual alleviation of the suf- I

fering, very little is done to take ^

care of the physical causes of suf-
;

fering. It may seem that way to

some, but the facts belie the ac-

cusation. The Church is often in- -

dieted for her apparent lack of

social work. There are many Cath-

olics who feel ashamed of that in-

dictment and they do not know how

to defend themselves, because they

do not know the facts. There are

many non-Catholics who are friend-

ly enough to the Catholic Church

but seem to find her derelict in her

duty to suffering humanity. But

what are the facts?

In the United States today there

are 726 Catholic hospitals conduct-

ed by the heroic orders of religious,

men and women, for the alleviation

of suffering, for its prevention and

cure. These are chiefly staffed by

persons who take no salary what-

ever. Seven hundred and twenty-

six are a lot of hospitals. And these

do not represent the numerous re-

ligious^ congregations which exist



THE HEALING HAND 31

for the nursing of the sick poor.

This is the Church among the sick.

There are in the United States

183 homes for the aged conducted

by the Little Sisters of the Poor

and other wonderful groups of sis-

ters. These existed long before

any one talked of old-age pensions

and social security. And money

cannot buy the services which these

courageous women give and to

which they have dedicated, not

their working hours, not a portion

of their time, but their whole lives.

They are the Catholic Church work-

ing for the aged.

There are in the United States

316 orphanages conducted by the

Catholic Sisters and Brothers. And

these existed long before the civil

legislatures began to worry about

juvenile delinquency. These are the

Girl-towns and Boy-towns which

people take for granted. These are

the production plants in which men

and women labor who love God and

His creatures to the extent of lay-

ing down their lives for the little

ones. These people are the Cath-

olic Church laboring for the future

of America.

There are in the United States

181 offices of Catholic Charities,

conducted under the supervision

of the diocesan heads, for the pre-

vention and alleviation of poverty.

This is the Catholic Church work-

ing among the poor.

Hospitals, foundling asylums, or-

phanages, homes for the aged, day-

nurseries, refuges for the wayward

and the incurable, schools for so-

cial service—all these represent the
Church’s mission to care for the

needy. This is the material side of

her work. This is the healing

hand of the mystical body of Christ.

May it never be withdrawn!

I think it is safe to say that no

other organization in the country,

including the Federal government

itself, can count as many institu-

tions for the alleviation of human

suffering, human dependency, and

human need, as the 1406 which

have just been listed. And there

are hundreds more.

This is the Catholic offering for

spiritual, physical, and national se-

curity. I do not present it to you

in any spirit of boastfulness and

pride. Rather I am regretful that

they are not even more numerous

and more effective than they are.

But I do present them to you as

living evidence that the Church is

interested not only in the spiritual

welfare of her children, but also

in their physical welfare—and she
would like to count you all her

children as you are God’s children.

While her chief and ultimate in-



32 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

terest is the salvation of souls, she

cannot neglect the salvation of bod-

ies, too.

Since the very beginning of

Christianity, it has been the work

of the priest to cure souls. Since

the very beginning it has been the

work of Catholics to cure bodies.

That is why the Church invented

the hospital many centuries ago.

That is why there are countless

orders of men and women dedicated

to such tasks. That is why the

Church honors saints like Cather-

i
i

ine of Siena, and Ursula and Cam-
-

illus (who first wore the Red Cross ?

on the battlefield), and John of God,

and Vincent de Paul and Don Bosco. I

That is why, in their footsteps and -

with their Christ-like spirit, the >

priest goes to the bed-side, to the
(

fire, to the accident, and to the 1

battle-field, to cure the body for ?

this life, and to cure the soul for
^

this life and the next—^where there
is no sorrow or sickness, but end- .

less happiness of body and soul for

those who love God.



CONSULTING THE EXPERTS

(Talk given on Dec

The great meeting of the Allied

leaders at Cairo and Toheran, was

something more than a meeting of

the Big Four. Each of the leaders—

Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai

Shek, and Stalin—was accompanied
by very important people. The mil-

itary and naval commanders were

there. Each nation was represent-

ed by a large staif. The personnel

included men to whom the leaders

could turn at any moment and ask

for expert advice. The leaders

could not talk wildly about future

campaigns either in the Pacific or

in Europe without detailed infor-

mation and sound advice. In other

words, they could not get very far

without the help of technical ex-

perts.

Life is a very complicated busi-

ness—at least as complicated as
war. There is hardly a phase of

life in which we do not need the

advice of the experts. If you build

a house, or remodel one, you are

wise to send for an architect. The

architect is wise if he sends for

other experts who can help him.

He talks to a mason, a carpenter,

a plumber, an electrician, or to a

contractor who, in turn, will con-

sult these others. Or perhaps you

will postpone your conference with

ember 5, 1943)

the architect and talk to an expert

in real estate to determine the ad-

visability of building in this or that

section of town. You consult the

expert.

If you are sick, you go to a

doctor. He is an expert in bodily

ills. He may judge that your ail-

ment might be the better treated

if you were sent to a medical man

who has specialized in disorders

of a specific type. He sends you

to a specialist, then. The specialist

is a technical expert. You are

very grateful that you can consult

him. And you place yourself in

his expert hands.

Uncle Sam, a few years ago, was

faced with the problem of getting

ready for war, and quickly. The

instruments of war—necessary high
explosives, petroleum, rubber, con-

centrates of food, and innumerable

other supplies—had to be produced
and made available. The country

turned to experts. The supplies

produced had to be shipped to vital

points. The country called in the

experts. They have done a pretty

good job.

The man who is confronted with

a legal puzzle sends for his expert,

his lawyer. This expert may be

stumped in the case, let us say.



34 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

by a tax problem. He consults one

who is familiar with the technicali-

ties of legal taxation, in other

words with one who is even more

a technical expert than he is.

This is the age of the specialists.

The complications of life have made

them necessary. No one of us can

know all the angles, as the expres-

sion goes. We are constantly in

need of the man who knows the

particular angle in which our sit-

uation grows acute. We would be

foolish to rush into a problem blind-

ly without the best advice. So we

tread the ground carefully and feel

our way as we go ahead under the

guidance of the expert.

It is only reasonable that we ap-

ply the same principles of wisdom

and caution to our personal conduct.

In everything which ,we do or can

do, we can be right or wrong. But

we do not always know what is

right and what is wrong. We are

in a quandary, sometimes, and we

do not know what to do. The ob-

vious thing is consultation with

some one who knows. But who

does know? We shall find out.

We would hardly worry about

right and wrong, of course, unless

we were fairly certain that there

is a law of right and wrong. There

is. But some people do not think

so. A few years ago I attended

a dinner at which several experts

in community planning gave some

interesting talks. The future of

children was discussed by two ed-

ucators. When the audience was

invited to offer questions for any

one of the speakers to answer, I

asked this one: “Are we teaching

our children the difference between

right and wrong?” There was a

pause. Then the lady who acted

as toastmaster asked me: “Which

of the speakers would you like to

answer that question?” I said:

“Any or all the speakers?” The

lady, who is a highly paid teacher

of economics in a great State Uni-

versity, replied: “I do not think

any of the speakers can answer

that question until we take a vote

and determine, by will of the ma-

jority, just what is right and what

is wrong.” That ended the discus-

sion, so far as she was concerned.

But it cannot end the discussion

for you and me.

Can stealing be made right by

popular vote? Or was it always

wrong to steal? Can murder be

made right by popular vote? Or

was it always wrong to murder?

Would it be quite right and moral

and proper to stage a rape of Paris,

like the rape of Nanking, if every

one voted for it? Or are you and

I agreed that always and ever there

has been a universal moral law by

which justice and honesty and fi-



CONSULTING THE EXPERTS 35

delity and the high virtues are

right ; a universal
moral law by

which injustice, dishonesty, infideli-

ty, and other associated vices and

crimes are wrong? I thing we are

all agreed upon that.

Who made that law? Why, the

only One who could make such a

law, the Maker of all mankind. He

made us that way. We cannot

live properly unless there be
right

and wrong—not right and wrong
because we make things right or

wron^, but because there was a

right and a wrong before we were

made. God is the Law-giver and

we must follow His law.

Every law which man makes

should be made according to that

eternal Law of God as it is made

known to us by revelation and right

reason. Our laws are made because

we wish to protect that supreme

law. Otherwise our laws would be

unjust.

But, you may say, how is one

to know just how that supreme law

might apply to this or that case?

I can only reply that one, of him-

self, cannot always know, because

he cannot possibly see, always, the

multiple ramifications of the moral

law. Well, what is one to do? I

answer that he should do what any-

one would do in a legal tangle. He

consults an expert. The lawyer

may bring the matter to the high-

est court in the land, hoping for a

right decision. Sometimes that may

not be necessary. He may be able

to give you an answer more read-

ily than that about the application

of the civil law. He is an expert.

In like manner, when one is puz-

zled by a problem of moral conduct,

one should go to an expert who has

studied the moral law, the divine

Law; one who has studied the ap-

plications of the law of morality in

the myriad changes of human con-

duct, one who has for his specialty

the right and reasonable under-

standing of how God wants us to

act in this or that case. In our

moral problems we can go to one

whose business it is to set us right.

We can go to one who will teach us

about truth and falsehood, about

right and wrong; an accredited

teacher who has authority to teach.

We can go to one who knows the

law and who has authority to judge

the morality of what we have done

or what we propose to do; a judge

whose judgment must be just. We

can go to one who will heal the

wounds of care and guilt, a physi-

cian who can reduce the fever of

passion and temptation, a specialist

who can diagnose our moral con-

dition as sound or symptomatic of

evil, a technical expert in justice

and goodness who can tell us how



36 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

i

j

better to regain our spiritual

health. We can go to one, finally,

who is not working for a fee, who

is not expectant of rewards, who

is deeply interested in our personal

welfare, as a father is interested

in the happiness of his child. We

can go to one who derives his title,

“Father,” from that fact. We can

go to a priest. That, frankly, is

what I do. And that is what you

can do.

You will understand, from this,

why the Church administers,

through her priests, the sacrament

of penance. The Church does not

want to hear the sins of people

just to hear the sins of people.

The Church does not want to hear

about sins at all, any more than a

good doctor wants to see all his

friends sick in bed, or a good un-

dertaker wants everybody to die.

But the Church, in the sacrament

of penance, wants to correct moral

illness; the Church wants to judge

moral wrong; the Church wants to

guide toward justice; the Church

wants to console and encourage
;
the

Church wants to protect from cor-

ruption and cherish in goodness,

all those who are in danger of sin.

That is why there is a sacrament

of penance. It is the judgment seat

of right and wrong. It is the lab-

oratory of moral health. It is the

arm-chair of a quiet interested

father. It is the consulting room i

of the technical expert.
^

Now, I can hear some one say:
|

“Why should I tell my sins to any 5

man?” Well, that isn’t the point. *

Why should you tell your legal -

troubles to any man, or your phy- {

sical troubles to any man, like a
\

lawyer or a doctor? That is not ;

the point either. The point is that i

there can be legal troubles and

wrongs; there can be trouble and

disorder in health; so we go to the

experts for advice. The point is

that there can be, there is moral

trouble
;

moral wrong
;
moral in-

justice; moral turpitude. There is

a way to correct; there is a way to

cure; there is a way of recovery. ~

And there are experts in these mat-

ters who can guide, and advise, and

cure. But they cannot judge and

diagnose, they cannot heal and cure

and advise, unless they know the

case. That is why we tell them,

that is why we confess to them.

And the confession is just part of

the process.

Our confession is useless unless

we regret, unless we are sorry for,

our sinful condition
;
our confession

is a mockery and a sacrilege unless

we tell the true state of our soul;

our confession is just a waste of

time unless we desire to get better

and to avoid the causes of moral

disease; our consultation is point-



CONSULTING THE EXPERTS 37

less unless we take the doctor’s

medicine and follow his advice. All

this means, in the sacramental

sphere, that we must have sorrow,

we must confess our sins> we must

accept the judgment, the advice,

the penance of the consulting ex-

pert, who is the priest; and we must

have the firm purpose of avoiding

the occasions of evil, and evil itself.

But, by what right does the

priest exercise this almighty funct-

ion? I answer that the power and

the right was given to the Apostles

and their successors by Christ, our

Lord, who said to them: “Peace

be to you. As the Father hath sent

me, I also send you. Receive ye

the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you

shall forgive, they are forgiven

them; and whose sins you shall re-

tain, they are retained” (John 20:

21-23). The priest’s mission, un-

der the jurisdiction of the Church,

is the mission of Christ to judge

sin, to instruct in goodness, to heal

the wounds of the soul, and, what

is the prerogrative of divinity, to

forgive.

So the Church educates the

priesthood. She demands of priests

a preparation and a training far

more intensive than that which is

necessary to become a physician,

a lawyer, a chemist, or an engineer.

The future priest is subjected to

a discipline in morality which has

no equal in the whole wide world.

He is trained in the wisdom of the

world’s oldest teacher—the Church.
It is his specific business to know

the Faith, and the Moral which fol-

lows from the Faith. It is his re-

sponsibility to give technical ad-

vice in justice and right, in duty

and obligation, in good order of

human conduct. It is his official

task to represent Christ and His

Church in the tribunal of penance.

Others may give technical advice

on matters of property, health, pol-

itics, public relations, military tac-

tics, or engineering. The priest is

the technical expert in right and

wrong.

His power is even more wonder-

ful than that. He deals with pro-

fessional confidence in the secrets

of human character. He is bound,

in spite of death itself, to the seal

of secrecy. He is empowered by

our loving Master to grant mercy

and forgiveness to those who seek

mercy and forgiveness. That is

why he is a priest. It is his work

to heal the ailing soul, to quiet the

troubled conscience. It is his work

to make the crooked straight and

the rough ways plain. That is why

there is a Church. That is why

there is a priesthood. That is why

there is penance, the sacrament of

wisdom and mercy.



REPENTANCE

(Talk given on December 12, 1943)

In the middle of the Fifth Cen-

tury there was an important meet-

ing of eight bishops in the town of

Antioch. They convened one day

on the porch of the basilica, a spot

which was comfortable and com-

manded a view of the nearby street.

Deep in the agenda of the meeting,

they were interrupted by the sound

of a parade. A group of men and

women tripped along the street.

In the center was the most notor-

ious woman in all Antioch. In an

age when acting was hardly an

art, but a sinful craft, she was

Antioch’s leading actress. She was

the premiere danseuse of Antioch

when dancing was not—even the
best of it—as respectable as it is
today. She was notoriously bad.

The people called her Margarita.

She rode on a well-groomed don-

key, with many fantastic graces, as

the old chronicle states. She was

decked out from head to foot with

pearls and gold and precious stones.

Her splendid train of followers was

richly dressed. In the words of the

old chronicle they surrounded her,

“of whose beauty and loveliness

there could be no wearying in a

world of men.”

When the eight bishops saw her,

riding by so shamelessly and bare

of limb and head and shoulder, they

groaned and, as from a great, a

grievous sin, turned their heads

away. That is, all but one.

His name was Nonnus of Tab-

enna, “a man marvellously great

and a mighty monk, with great

learning and greater in simplicity

and humility.” He did a strange

thing for a bishop. He regarded

her long and intently. After she

had passed by, his eyes still fol-

lowed her. Then he turned to the

bishops there around him.

“Did not,” he said, “the sight

of such great beauty delight you?”

They answered not a word. They

didn’t know what to say. That was

a strange question for a bishop!

Nonnus bowed his head and sur-

prising tears fell from him upon the

good book in his hands. “Did not

the sight of her great beauty de-

light you?”, he asked again.

Again they said nothing. Then

he, with a gravity which repelled

all suspicion, said: ’’Verily, it great-

ly delighted me, and well pleased

was I with her beauty ! That beau-

ty God shall set before us in His

judgment that we may compare it

with our own. For she has made

her vows to the devil, and she keeps



REPENTANCE 39

them, and with sinful fidelity. But

we have made our vows to the

Omnipotent God and we permit our

sloth to break them. How many

hours has she spent in her cham-

ber, dressing and adorning and

making herself lovely to the eyes

of men, while we have spent but

little time in our prayers and de-

votions and penance, making our-

selves welcome to the sight of the

angels of God. May the Lord

Christ be merciful to us that this

woman’s adornment has exceeded

the adornment of our immortal

souls. She has promised to please

men, and she has kept her sinful

word. We have promised to please

God, and through our laziness, we

have died. Did not the sight of

such great beauty delight you?

Well, verily it delighted me.”

This was the great charity with

which he said his prayer that night

and for shame of his own unworthi-

ness he slept fitfully and dreamed

much. In his dream he was stand-

ing in the church at Antioch dur-

ing a ceremony. Suddenly a great

black dove flew towards his head

and worried him with its wings,

which were squalid and smelled of

filth. Again and again the dove

harried him, until he siezed it and

plunged it into the holy water.

There it floundered a moment and

rose, leaving all its filth in the holy

water, and it flew away as white

as snow.

The good man worried about

that dream until the next day when

he preached to the faithful in the

very same church. There he spoke,

the chronicle says, “with no alloy

of artifice or philosophy, nothing of

human vanity; but full of the Holy

Spirit, he reasoned with them,

speaking from his heart of the

judgment to come and the eternal

blessedness that is in store.”

Now it happened that, by the

compassion of God, into the church

came Margarita, who had never

been inside a church before. She

heard his words and gave them

thought and, without any control of

her tears, she fell to weeping and

despair. It was an unexpected thing,

but it happened.

Later that day the bishop Non-

nus received a message from Mar-

garita, in which she requested to

see him, so that, through him, she

might come to Christ, who came

upon earth to save sinners, who did

not disdain to draw near to the

publican. The astonished bishop

replied: “I am only a sinner, serv-

ing God. Come to us, and in the

presence of all the bishops, I will

speak to you.”

Next day, with no waste of time,

the woman came to them—^the eight
bishops— in the basilica. At the



40 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

feet of the good Nonnus she knelt

and this is what she said

:

“My Lord, I pray thee to follow

thy Master, the Lord Christ, and

shed on me thy kindness and make

me a Christian. My Lord, I am a

sea of wickedness and an abyss of

evil. I ask to be baptized.”

When Nonnus had persuaded her

to rise from the ground, he told

her that the rules of the Church

provided that a public sinner could

not be baptized unless there was

given some assurance of sincerity

and fidelity. But her demands were

so simple, so humble, so repentant,

that they agreed to make an excep-

tion and baptize her. She was giv-

en to the care of a good matron

named Romana. When the time

came to confess her sins, she did

so. When asked what name she

chose with which to be christened,

she admitted that her parents had

called her Pelagia, but that she had

earned the name Margarita because

the men of Antioch had commonly

given her gifts of pearls. (Margar-

ita means “pearl.”) So she became

Pelagia and, with that name, she

set about the task of learning the

truths of the Church and the re-

ligious practice of Christians. All

the gold and wealth which she had

was given to the Church for the

poor. All her old haunts and old

friends were forsaken. Pelagia

turned traitor on Satan. Her old

vows to him were broken. Her

new life began, but not without

many a wrench of heart, not with-

out many a temptation.

Eight days after her baptism,

she left Antioch and never returned.

A few years later in a quiet her-

mitage on the Mount of Olives near

Jerusalem a hermit died. He had

been known as Pelagius; and very

few, but the ministers of religion,

had known him at all. When the

neighboring monks came to pre-

pare the body for burial, they found

with astonishment that this was

the body of a woman, not a man.

Yes; it was a woman whose face

had borrowed from majesty what

had been given up to beauty. Some

time later, she was identified by

Nonnus as Pelagia, the penitent of

Antioch.

That is the story of Margarita

who kept her vows to God with such

care, who adorned her soul with the

bright symbols of virtue which can-

not be cast off like the jewels of

this world. That is the story of

Pelagia, Saint Pelagia, who is ven-

erated annually in the Oriental

Churches on October 8th.

It is a great story, which de-

serves better telling than I have

given it. The point is perfectly

clear, however, to every one. The



REPENTANCE 41

point is that repentance is a wond-

erful thing. The point is that re-

pentance is possible to every one,

with the grace of God. The point

is not that Margarita was praise-

worthy because she was evil, any

more than the publican was praise-

worthy, in our Lord’s parable, be-

cause he was a sinner. Margarita

was, on the contrary, faithful to

her evil way, more faithful indeed

than other persons are to goodness.

In this, good people might take ex-

ample from sinners, making^ unto

themselves friends of the mammon

of iniquity, as Our Lord suggests.

He meant, of course, that we should

be as wise and prudent about doing

good, as evil-doers are subtle and

astute about doing evil.

The story of Saint Pelagia, like

most other stories, has two sides to

it. There is the side of the sinner

and there is the side of the saint.

Approaching the story from the

side of the sinner, we can conclude

that there is a chance for every

sinner to make a personal recovery

act. There is a chance for every

one to put off the works of dark-

ness and put on the armor of light.

Pelegia was struck by the kindness

of a preacher’s word ; she heard the

sound of grace and she followed

that sound; she saw the pearl of

salvation, and of great price, and

she sold all that she had to pos-

sess that pearl. She had the hones-

ty and the humility to see herself

through God’s eyes. She was

wrong and she had the courage

to admit it. There was some good

left in Pelagia; it was the good

of honesty—she was a realist—in
the face of truth; it was the good

of courage—the brazen woman be-
came the brave woman. If we

can take Pelagia as a pattern of

a bad individual, we can say that

there is a little bit of good in

every bad man or woman. We can

say that if one will follow that

little bit of good, there is no com-

pelling reason why one should re-

main bad.

Approaching the story from the

side of the saint, we must be struck

by the interest of the holy Nonnus.

He was a real democrat. His de-

mocracy was based on the principle

that every one could be at least

as good as he was. He had the

democracy of the saint. (There are

two kinds of democracy, according

to Arnold Lunn ; one good and true

;

the other bad and false. The saint

says: You are as good as I am.

The sinner says: I am as good as

you are.) For the holy bishop,

there was a lesson in the very evil

of this woman, because her evil

was dressed in beauty. His re-

action to the sight of her was not:

“I am holier than thou.” His re-



42 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

action was: “I wish I were holier

than I am.”

Pelag:ia was pretty bad. But

Nonnus was not interested in dwell-

ing on that fact. His interest was

to make her better. That he pray-

ed for, and worked for, as we know

from the story, and that he accom-

plished, by the grace of God.

There are lots of sinners in this

world, who, perhaps, have never

heard that there is more joy in

heaven upon one sinner doing pen-

ance than upon ninety-nine just.

There are lots of sinners in this

world who could be repentant

saints, if only those who are reput-

ed to be good wo.uld give them a

chance to recover. Repentance can-

not take place unless there be hope !

in the sinner’s heart. Let us, who -

are supposed to be good, make ’

known that hope. i

This is the hope which the
j

Church preaches and teaches by the
j

sacrament of penance. This is The
|

hope which breathes in the very i

life of the Church. This is the ^

democratic hope which makes us ^

all equal in our chance to keep our

vows to God. It is this hope which

is born of kindness to those less

fortujiate than ourselves. It is the ;

hope which can turn sin into re-

pentance and repentance into sanc-

tity. If we can generate it, if we

can spread it, the world will be a

better place to live in.



WE LEAD THE LITTLE CHILD

(Talk given on December 19, 1943)

When I was in college I often

read a statement which was drawn

in large letters on the wall of our

academic hall. It read : “There

is nothing more worthy of a man’s

ambition than that his son be the

best of men.” That statement made

a deep impression on my mind. As

years go by, the strength of it

increases. It was true when Plato,

great student of human affections,

wrote it, twenty-three centuries

ago. It is equally true today.

There is great thought, great

theology, great philosophy, implied

in those words. They explain the

reason why we are concerned about

the future, about the peace, about

the post-war world. We are con-

cerned and we are worried. And

we should be, because it is nat-

ural, it is worthy of us, to strive

bravely for the welfare of our

children. There is nothing more

worthy of our ambition than their

freedom from want, from fear, and

from evil of any kind.

The parent is always ambitious

for the child. Sometimes this is

overdone. A father may be ob-

sessed with the notion that his

son must follow his own footsteps

in his own profession, even though

that be the worst job of all for

that particular child. A mother

sometimes plans for a daughter to

go to such a college, to marry such

a man, to enter such or such an

avenue of society, even though the

girl may be temperamentally un-

fitted for any such thing. You and

I know many cases of maladjust-

ment which have been caused by

parental ambition which is over-

weening. But these are exceptional

cases. In the ordinary cases, the

good parent plans well for the

child. And there is nothing more

worthy of careful planning.

The child cannot get along very

well without parental help. You

will hear some people say that they

can do well without parents and

you will hear examples cited of

successful orphans. But we must

remember that the asylum for or-

phans is a public admission that

the empty place of the parent must

be supplied by others, if the child’s

good is to be achieved. Whatever

the exceptions, whatever the od-

dities of life may be, the fact is

that the child needs both parents

and the need is very great. That

is the chief practical reason why

the spiritual Mother, the Church,

opposes the divorce of parents, for

divorce of parents means the di-



44 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

vorce of at least one parent, or

both, from their natural offspring,

the child, who is a primary re-

sponsibility of both father and mo-

ther.

The material advances which

have been made in child psychology

are not to be minimized in this

connection. But no child psychology

would be worth studying unless

the psychologist treated the child

somehow as a parent would treat

the child. No teacher can achieve

any success unless the child be

taught somehow as a parent would

teach, if the parent were able. No

guidance can be effective in the

child unless the elder guide as-

sume, for the time, the love and

the responsibility of the parent.

All scientific ambition to make the

child better is a parental ambition.

And that is as it should be.

All these reflections, in which we

are all agreed, point to the un-

assailable fact that the child is

primarily the parent’s job. The

child cannot get along without the

parent. The parent is naturally con-

cerned about the child. And so he

plans.

That children may live free

from material want our mothers

and fathers work and cook and

clean and calculate for the future.

That children may live free from

the slavery of ignorance, our fath-

V

ers and mothers send us to proper
J

schools. That children may live
'

free from the pestilence of im- !

morality, our fathers and mothers
'

keep a vigilant eye on childhood ^

associations, habits, and hobbies.
'

That is the parental job. There

is nothing more worthy.

The American father and mother

are well aware of these responsi-

bilities. They are like the fathers

and mothers of every country.

These facts need not be taught pro-

fessionally. Everybody knows them.

They are written in the human

heart. They are history. They

are life. Our present task is not

to impress them on the American

parent. But our present purpose

is to protect the American parent

and the American child against

those tendencies and teachings

which have for their result the

separation of parent and child; a

separation, total or partial, which

makes it difficult for the child to

obtain the help of his parents; a

separation, total or partial, which

denies to the parent the personal

fulfillment of that great ambition

of which Plato wrote: that his son

be the best of men.

It is the great concern of adult

America this very day that juvenile

delinquency is growing, and grow-

ing rapidly. Just as the individual

father and mother have for their



WE LEAD THE LITTLE CHILD 45

duty the protection of their own

child against crime, the fathers

and mothers of society have the

social, the national responsibility,

of protecting American children

against crime—against their own
crimes, and against the crimes of

others. It is a very urgent duty

which faces us, because the evil

of juvenile delinquency is very

great, very widespread, and very

significant.

It is our obvious course to search

out the causes of this epidemic of

juvenile delinquency. If you ask

me what the causes are, I would

say that all the causes can be re-

duced to one. It is this: The de-

linquent American child has lost

his parents. He has been separated

from them. Either they have been

drawn away from the child by some

extraneous influence; or they have

themselves withdrawn from him ; or

he has been drawn away from them.

In any case, there has been a sep-

aration. And that is the cause

of the delinquency which now hor-

rifies all Americans who think.

The separation of which I speak

need not be, even though it often

is, a severance of domestic relation-

ships; that is, it need not mean

that the child has one home and

the parent another. The separa-

tion of which I speak is that which

occurs when the child leads one

life and the parent another life;

and that can occur even under the

same roof.

This is what I mean (you can

recall instances which may bear

out what I say, although I have no

particular cases in mind at the

moment). But this is what I

mean: There is no unity of life

in the home where the child is

taught neatness and punctuality,

while the parent does not pracice

it. There is separation. There is

no unity of life in the home of the

child who is taught at school the

obligations of citizenship, while the

parent does not live up to those

obligations. There is no unity of

life in the home in which the child

is required to memorize the elemen-

tary rules of morality, while the

parent exemplifies the contrary.

There is separation in that home,

where there should be unity. The

child who is taught at parochial

school or Sunday School the simple

prayers of childhood, which are all

the more true because of their

simplicity, experiences a strange re-

action when he notices that his

parents do not pray. The reaction

is that the child concludes that

prayer belongs to the church or

the school, but not to the home. If

teacher says one thing about good

and bad—although, unfortunately,
too little is said in schools about



46 THE FAITH

these eternal principles—if teacher
says one thing, while father and

mother do another, that is the end

of one standard of morality for the

child. How could it be otherwise?

You can’t blame the little fellow

because he is puzzled. He is a

babe in the moral woods. He has

been separated from his natural

guides. That is one thing which

I mean by separation.

This, too, is what I mean: If

some other person, or business, or

government, should make it attrac-

tive to the parent to leave the home,

without excellent and guaranteed

provision for the welfare of the

children, this is a temptation to-

wards separation. The temptation

is too often very successful. The

‘child, somehow, realizes—if old
enough—that the parent is shirk-
ing a responsibility. Well, the lit-

tle mind argues, if Daddy, if Mam-

ma, can neglect me, I can neglect

other things. You can’t blame the

little child. It is a bent twig. The

tree inclines later. The parent,

separated for much of the waking

time of the child, doesn’t notice

the bending, but the child is bent

to other things, nevertheless.

This, too, is what I mean by

separation. The parent who leaves

all the child’s education to the

school, forgets that the first school

is the home. There are things

IS SIMPLE

which must be taught which can-

not be taught in school. The good

teacher, in normal human life,

should be only a part time substi- .

tute for the parent. But if the

parent is not familiar with the

mental development of the child, a ^

separation takes place. Things can

go wrong. And they do go wrong,

too often.

This, too, is what I mean by

separation. The parent who leaves

the child’s religion entirely to the

care of the Church, forgets that

the child is not likely to have any

interest in things which do not

seem to interest the parent. As

the parent does, so does the child.

If the child is taught the divine

truths of religion on the one hand,

only to find on the other that the

parent does not know them, or does

not believe them, or does not teach

them by example, there is a sepa-

ration of parent from child. And

that happens too often.

Can we blame the child for this

separation? Not in the ordinary

case. It may be that, later, under

particular conditions, the child runs

away—from home, from rectitude,
from the advice of the parents. But

that is the extraordinary case. In

the large, this separation takes

place because older people would

have it so. These older people are

not anxious that the child be the



WE LEAD THE LITTLE CHILD 47

best of men. They are concerned

rather with some present opportu-

ity, than with the future security

of young America.

It is my personal conviction that

the prevention of juvenile delin-

quency cannot be achieved without

a logical cure. That logical cure

is the correction of adult delin-

quency. The child is given to us

for our leadership. If our leader-

ship is bad, the child will be bad.

If our leadership is good the child

will be good. Like father, like

son. Like mother, like child.

Let us be modest and truthful

about it. If the child be delinquent,

he has followed our leadership. If

the child is to be led aright, we

must lead. What a glorious leader-

ship that can be. There is nothing

more worthy of a WMn's ambition

than that his son be the best of

men!



A LITTLE CHILD LEADS US

(Talk given on December 26, 1943)

The celebration of the birthday

of Jesus Christ is like no other

birthday celebration. The simple

reason for this is that there is no

one like Jesus, the Son of God,

our Savior. It is a simple reason,

but, like other simple reasons, it

demands a lot of study and under-

standing. Christmas is Christmas

because Jesus is Christ. Even

if we do not understand that

fully, we must at least admit

to ourselves that there must

be some powerful reason for the

endurance of a date in history for

two thousand years; the endurance

in the calendar of civilization of a

date which was marked by the

birth of a child whose earthly par-

ents were humble and obscure peo-

ple from a little town called Naz-

areth. There must be some rea-

son why the birth of that child

has been considered so very im-

portant in the subsequent history

of mankind. There must be some

reason why Christmas has become

more than any old day; why it

has become the great day of the

year; why it has become more than

a great day; why it has become a

season in itself. Christmas is more

than just a day, because the Child

whose birth it marks was more

than just a human child. He is ,

divine. There is, there was, no
.j

other human being like Him. That
j

is why there is nothing else like ^

Christmas.
]

The story is plain enough. Every- - -

body knows what happened. “And r

it came to pass that in those days

there went out a decree from Cae-

sar Augustus, that the whole world

should be enrolled. This enrolling

was first made by Cyrinus, the

governor of Syria. And all went
,

to be enrolled, every one into his •

own city. ’

“And Joseph also went up from

Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth -

into Judea, to the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem; because .

he was of the house and family of •

Daivd, to be enrolled with Mary

his espoused wife, who was with I

child. And it came to pass, that

when they were there, her days
’

were accomplished, that she should
*

be delivered. And she brought

forth her birst-born son, and wrap-

ped him up in swaddling clothes,

and laid him in a manger; because

there was no room for them in

the inn. i

“And there were in the same i

country shepherds watching, and f

keeping the night-watches over
\



A LITTLE CHILD LEADS US 49

their flock. And behold an angel

of the Lord stood by them, and the

brightness of God shone round

them, and they feared with a great

fear.

“And the angel said to them

:

Fear not; for, behold, I bring you

good tidings of great joy, that

shall be to all the people ; for

this day is born to you a Saviour,

who is Christ the Lord, in the city

of David. And this shall be a

sign unto you: You shall find the

infant wrapped in swaddling cloth-

es, and laid in a manger. And sud-

denly there was with the angel a

multitude of the heavenly army,

praising God, and saying : Glory

to God in the highest; and on earth

peace to men of good will.

“And it came to pass, after the

angels departed from them into

heaven, the shepherds said to one

another: Let us go over to Bethle-

hem, and let us see this word that

is come to pass, which the Lord

hath shewed to us. And they

came with haste; and they found

Mary and Joseph, and the infant

lying in the manger. And seeing,

they understood of the word that

had been spoken to them concern-

ing this child’’ (Luke 2: 1-17).

When they had seen, the history

of St, Luke tells us, they under-

stood. Let us, for a few minutes,

try better to understand.

Let us visit the newly born babe.

What do we see in Him? If we

see only a child, just like any other

child, we see exactly what we are

supposed to see: an infant whom

anybody could love, of whom no one

need be afraid. Our eyes see ex-

actly what is there. But our minds

should see more than that.

The angel told the shepherds

who this Child was: a savior who

is Christ the Lord. The angel of

the fields repeated what had been

told to the Mother by the angel

Gabriel at the Annunciation, nine

months before: “Thou shalt con-

ceive 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” (Luke 1: 31-32). When

the shepherds had heard the angel

in the fields, they investigated.

They did the obvious thing. They

did not scoff at the idea of a Savior,

of a Christ. They went to find out

for themselves. And when they

had seen, the gospel relates, they

understood. They understood, as

a result of their reasonable inquir-

ies, coupled with God’s grace, that

this Child was the Son of the Most

High, the Son of God. They un-

derstood that this Child, just then

born in time, was indeed begot-

ten in all eternity by God the Fath-

er. This Child was the Word made

flesh. This was no mere human

child that they saw. He was a



50 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

human Child, but He was more

than that. He was the divine

Child.

How did the shepherds learn all

this? By inquiry. How did they

hnd that this was worthy of their

belief? By investigation. How

are we to find it worthy of belief?

How are we to learn the inner

meaning of this event? How are

we to discover the depth of the

riches of the wisdom and of the

knowledge of God? Only as the

shepherds—^by inquiry and investi-
gation. And when we have seen,

we shall understand.

We shall see and understand, if

we investigate the evidenee that

the Child born of Mary on the first

Christmas is like no other child,

because He is the Son of God. We

shall see and understand that

Christmas is not only the birthday

of a man-child, but the birthday

of the Man-God. We shall see and

understand that Christmas means

nothing unless it means that God

became man. We shall see and

understand that those Christians

who follow the human history of

Jesus and call themselves after

Him, while, at the same time, they

withhold from Him the humble ac-

knowledgment of His divinity, are

not really seeing and understand-

ing, themselves. They deny the

true meaning of His own words;

they fail to understand His mis-

sion; and, while they celebrate a

feast at Christmas, they bring no

honor to Bethlehem. They do not

see and they do not understand.

We shall see and understand,

if we go over to Bethlehem—^that
is, if we study the Scriptures

—

what the Shepherds understood.

We shall understand that the Jew-

ish people had expected the coming

of some one, of a Messias. They

had a reason to expect Him. First

of all they had been promised that

He would appear. Secondly, He had

been described for them by their

prophets. Thirdly, they knew ex-

actly where and approximately

when He would come. And this

was He, whom the shepherds saw.

And they understood.

We shall see and understand,

as the shepherds understood, that

there was work for the Messiah to

do. His mission was to “save his

people from their sins’’ (Matthew

1: 21). It was because of sin that

He came. It was to save us from

sin, to rid us of sin, that He was

born, and lived, and preached, and

died, and rose from the dead. We

sinners shall understand that He

came for us and to us because we

are sinners. He came to us as a

Christ, a Messias, a Savior. We

shall understand, without too much

difficulty, that if we forget that

this Child is no mere human child.



A LITTLE CHILD LEADS US 51

but something more that that,

Christmas can mean but very little.

Those who do not understand the

work which Jesus came to do can

see little of divinity in Christmas.

If the Child who is born to us is

not something more than mere

man, then there is little sense in

celebrating a whole season in hon-

or of His birth. But, if He was

and is what He said He was and

ever would be, then we have a

never-ending reason for the cele-

bration of Christmas.

Those who celebrate Christmas

because they follow the salutary

rules which He laid down for a

good life, but do not acknowledge

that He is our Savior, do not un-

derstand the Child in the manger.

They are the people who speak

of Jesus as a great teacher, Jesus

as a humble leader, Jesus as a

subtle student of human nature.

They are the people who compare

Jesus with Confucius and Buddha

and others in a confusing attempt

to make them more than human

and Him less than divine. They

are the people who always refer

to Him as Jesus, but withhold

from Him His proper and exclu-

sive title : Christ. Unless they

understand that this Child is not

only Jesus, but Jesus the Christ,

the Anointed, they have little rea-

son to celebrate Christmas.

We will see and understand, if

we will follow the inspiration of

grace, that this Child is three

things in one. He is the Son of

God, the Second Person of the

Holy Trinity. He is the human

being, Jesus, the Son of the Vir-

gin Mary. He is the Christ, the

Savior of mankind. He is all

these things in His own divine

Person.

If we understand less than all

this, we should try to understand

more. The shepherds were moved

by the message of the angel. We

are moved by the interior voice of

divine grace. We should no more

refuse to obey it than the shep-

herds should have refused the

angeTs word. If we obey, we shall

see and understand. We shall see

and understand the nature of

Christmas, which marks the eter-

nal birth of the only begotten Son

of God ; which marks the tem-

poral birth of Jesus, the only Child

of Mary, the Virgin Mother; which

marks the spiritual birth of the

Redeemer in our souls, who came

to save His people from their sins.

It is because of this three-fold

birth that the Church celebrates

this birthday with three Masses

instead of one. In this three-fold

celebration we shall see and under-

stand.

We see the Child and we under-

stand the Redeemer. We under-

stand the Redeemer and we under-



52 THE FAITH IS SIMPLE

stand that He is God’s own Son,

who must Himself be God. If we

merely see, but do not understand,

let us look on the Child a little

longer, with more confidence and

with more love. That we might

understand, this Child was given

to us; that we might understand,

this Son was. born to us. In time,

we shall understand, if we take

time to go over to His Bethlehem

and see.

The Son of God came on earth

to give us abundant life. This

abundance is not measured in hu-

man terms, nor limited by human

fantasy, nor circumscribed by the

confines of this world. The Son

of God lived among us that, by

teaching us a better way of life

here. He might lead us to the best

life hereafter; a life of endless

happiness, of endless peace, of end-

less freedom.

All this goodness, which redemp-

tion implies, is come to us in this

Child, that, with our little minds,

we may understand. All this

comes to us in a little Child that

our timid hearts may beat with a

deeper love. We are led by a lit-

tle Child that, with our small andt

faltering steps, we may follow Him

home.



STATIONS CARRYING THE HOUR OF

FAITH

Alabama Mobile WMOB 1230 kc

Arkansas Hot Springs KTHS 1090 kc

California Fresno-Visalia KTKC 940 kc

Los Angeles KECA 790 kc

San Francisco KGO 810 kc

Colorado Denver KVOD 630 kc

District of Columbia.-Washington WMAL 630 kc

Florida St. Petersburg-Tampa ... WSUN 620 kc

Indiana ^Fort Wayne WOWO 1190 kc

Iowa- Burlington KBUR 1490 kc

Davenport woe 1420 kc

Dubuque WKBB 1490 kc

Sioux City KSCJ 1360 kc

Kansas Coffeyville KGGF 690 kc

Lawrence WREN 1250 kc

Kentucky Louisville WINN 1240 kc

Louisiana New Orleans WDSU 1280 kc

Massachusetts ..... Worcester WORC 1310 kc

Michigan Bay City WBCM 1440 kc
Jackson WIBM 1450 kc

Saulte Ste. Marie WSOO 1230 kc

Mississippi Gulfport WGCM 1240 kc
Jackson WSLI 1450 kc

Vicksburg WQBC 1390 kc

Missouri ...,-Hannibal KHMO 1340 kc
Kansas City KCMO 1480 kc

St. Louis KXOK 630 kc

Nebraska KFOR 1240 kc

Omaha KOWH 660 kc

New York New York WJZ 770 kc

Ohio Akron WAKR 1590 kc
Cincinnati WSAI 1360 kc

Cleveland WJW 850 kc
Columbus WCOL 1230 kc

Toledo WTOL 1230 kc

Oklahoma Ardmore KVSO 1240 kc

Muskogee KBIX 1490 kc

Shawnee KGFF 1450 kc

Tulsa KOME 1340 kc

Pennsylvania WARM 1400 kc

South Carolina .. WFIG 1340 kc



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