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THE CATHOLIC HOUR

THE TWO SWORDS

By

RT. REV. MSGR. FULTON J. SHEEN

The seventh in a series of seventeen addresses on

PEACE, delivered in the Catholic Hour on Februray 1, 1942,
by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen of the Catholic Uni-

versity of America. After the series has been concluded

on the radio, it will be made available in one pamphlet.

National Council of Catholic Men

Washington, D. C.





THE TWO SWORDS

Voltaire, the scoffer, once wrote that “If God

did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”

He meant that neither man nor the universe is self-

explanatory, and that every human creature is in-

curably religious. Catacombs, persecutions, tyran-

nies, and concentration camps alike are powerless

to crush the heavenward aspirations of the soul. The

human heart, like an exiled king, yearns for the hap-

piness of a kingdom where once it walked in a

garden with God.

In this age we could paraphrase Voltaire, and

say that if man had no cross it would be necessary

to make one
;
for life without sacrifice is impossible.

As Francis Thompson put it: “Nothing begins and

nothing ends that is not paid with moan, for we

are born in other’s pain and perish in our own.” This

war-era might be accurately described as one in

which the whole world is re-discovering a cross

—

either the true one or the false. For a century or

more the whole world tried to live without the Cross

of Christ. It abandoned self-discipline for what it

called self-expression, but which really was only self-

destruction; it ridiculed the idea of penance and

reparation, for why should man atone for sin when

there is no sin; it defined freedom as absence of all

restraints, responsibilities, and law, or as “the

right to do whatever you please”
;
it concentrated on

rights but never on duties, on liberties but never on

commandments. So general was this repugnance

to Christianity with a Cross that it is safe to say

that among those who passed through our secular

colleges and universities from 1918 to 1939, a re-



spect for religious institutions, marriage, and the

moral law, was regarded as a mark of mental in-

feriority.

The net result was that the cross of sacrifice

was literally up-rooted from the world as the world

itself became a criss-cross of conflicting egotisms,

inspired by an aggressiveness in which each sought

to get the maximum of pleasure out of life with the

minimum of responsibility.

Then came the inescapable verdict of history:

If men lose a true cross, they will make a false one,

for the human heart knows that survival, either

personal or national, is impossible without effort

and pain.

One part of the world then began to make a

false cross. We can almost date the beginning of
its construction as the 11th of December in the year

1880 when General von Moltke wrote a letter to

General von Bluntschli which was an extravagant

plea for war and militarism, but for the most curi-

ous of all reasons—the need of reviving sacrifice:
“In war, man's noblest virtues come into play:

courage and renunciation, fidelity to duty, and a

readiness for sacrifice that does not stop short of

offering up life itself. Without war the world would

become swamped in materialism."

It was like arguing that sickness and disease

must sweep the earth, otherwise medical theory will

be swamped in ignorance. But the idea of militar-

ism continued to win adherents under the guise of

restoring sacrifice, as, for example, when Mussolini

in a speech on August 24, 1934 said: “We are be-

coming a militaristic nation ... a war-like nation;

that is to say one endowed to a higher degree with

the virtues of obedience and sacrifice."*



As we pointed out last week, the world that

lost the enthusiasm of religion replaced it with a

fanatacism for dictatorship
;
so, also, the same world

that lost the sacrifice inspired by true religion, now

replaces it with the false religion of militarism.

The dictatorships were right in saying that they

could. But the dictatorships were wrong in making

the sword the symbol of sacrifice rather than the

cross. The young men of these dictatorial nations,

whose forefathers were nurtured on the Christian

virtues, were sick of a phantom culture based on

selfishness and parading under the name of free-

dom
;
they wanted the hardy wine of sacrifice. But

since there was no one to dip to them the chalice

of Christ, or because they refused to drink its re-

freshing draughts, they intoxicated themselves with

the poisoned drink of militarism.

This new religion swept through Europe, and

within nine years after von Moltke professed to cure

materialism with the sword, there was born to a

government worker of Austria one who, with other

totalitarian dictators of Europe, would raise mil-

itarism to new heights of glory. So determined was

he to fill the vacuum created by the world's abandon-

ment of a crucified Savior, that he chose as the

symbol of his new cult the swastika : The cross an-

nulling a Cross; the false cross of militarism con-

tradicting the true Cross of Christianity; the cross

of hate double-crossing the Cross of love—a realiza-
tion for the 20th century of the prophecy of Simeon

to the Virgin Mary as he looked upon the infant in

her arms and called him “a sign that shall be con-

tradicted” (Luke 2:35). We in our day see that
contradiction in its new form—the cross across a
Cross.

The new religion was a proclamation that if



men had lost the power to practice the virtues of

Gethsemane, then certainly it would be better to

practice those of Sparta than none at all. If nations

would no longer seek inspiration in Calvary, then

let them seek it in Valhalla! The ideal of the mil-

itarists—the need of a cross—was right
;

their

solution—the anti-Christ—was diabolically wrong.
The parable of the prodigal son was fulfilled again:

Those who leave the Father’s house must eat, and

if they have not the Bread of the Father’s House,

they will fill their bellies with the husks of swine.

Totalitarianism could never have swept Europe

if it did not at least promise some solution of the

problems of life; if the citizens of those countries

thought it was as wrong as a diet of sulphuric acid

they never could have accepted it. It was some-

thing which Liberalism failed to give—it was a
quest for meaning, a search for an absolute. The

error consisted in grounding that absolute in man

rather than God, and in giving politics a theologi-

cal overtone by pledging loyalties to primitive re-

alities which could not bear the weight of absolute

significance. The whole world, suffering the ter-

rible effects of having apostatized from Christianity,

began a search for a new Calvary. Machiavelli read-

ing his Livy, Rousseau dreaming over his Plutarch,

Hitler thumbing his Wagner, Lenin digging into

his Marx, Mussolini copying his Sorel, the Japs

studying their James, were all led by the same

abomination of desolation to a false god, a false

altar, and the utter chaos. Nations as well as per-

sons “get religion” some time in life, and if they

refuse to accept the burdens of Christianity they

will turn to the resuscitated ghosts of Wotan or

Caesar, or to the cadaver of Lenin.

The choice then confronting the modern world



is not whether men will believe in a cross: It is,

which one will they embrace?

We in America no longer have the choice of
living with or without sacrifice! Pearl Harbor and

the barbarism of militarist nations has roused us

from our undogmatic slumbers. We were not even
considering a national regeneration through sacri-

fice; our ears were still attuned to false prophets

talking progress and license. Then suddenly bombs

began to fall on our possessions, and as they fell

they seemed to whistle: “America, take up your

cross
!”

Overnight we saw that it was impossible to

conquer those nations which were willing to die for

a false absolute with our false relativity which,

denying the distinction between good and evil, left

a man with nothing to die for. Like a man aroused

from deep sleep, we realized that the fanatacism

which their false cross inspired could not be over-

come by our own indifference and neutrality to the

true Cross, and that if we were ever to defeat those

who made politics into a pseudo-religion we could

do it only by living a true religion unto the re-

making of politics.

As a nation we were like Simon the Cyrenean

who stood by the wayside as an indifferent spec-

tator to the Christ climbing His Golgotha for the

Redemption of the world. But as Simon was aroused

from his lethargy by the cruel soldiers of a dictator-

ship, who forced him to take up the cross behind

the Savior, so too we, who were apathetic to sac-

rifice, were constrained by the violence of modern

dictatorships to lay the Cross of Christ on our own

shoulders and follow Him to the Hill of the Skull.

And just as Simon quickly changed from an un-

willing slave of the Lord’s Cross to an enthusiastic



cooperator, so too we as a nation of other Cyreneans

are beginning to see how light is a cross when we

can carry it in the footsteps of the Lord of the

Universe. America has made its choice: We are
marching under the banners of the true Cross

against the double-cross.

It would have been so much easier for us to

have fallen down before false gods as they did, for

the false gods never begin by demanding man him-

self, but only a part of him; that is, what he can

give to the nation, the race, or the class. They end

however by destroying man completely. The true

God on the contrary begins by asking for the whole

man
—

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy

whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with

thy whole strength, and with thy whole mind”

{Luke 10:27)-—but ends by liberating man com-
pletely. The false cross bends without ever setting

a man free; the true cross frees without bending.

No one else in the world ever could point to a cross

and say: “Come to me . . . and you will find rest

for your souls” {Matt. 11:28, 29).

We said in the beginning, the world is no longer
free. to live with or without a cross; it is only free

to decide which one it will embrace. In like manner,

we are no longer free to live with or without vio-

lence. We are only free to choose between two
kinds of violence: Shall it be the violence of the

false cross born of hatred, vengeance, and irreligion,

or shall it be of the violence of the true Cross born

of charity and love? Shall it be a violence against

neighbor, or a violence against self? For violence

there must be even for the just: “But from the

days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom

of heaven has been enduring violent assault, and



the violent have been seizing it by force” {Matt.

11:12). If we can get enough Jews, Protestants,

and Catholics in the United States to spend a Holy

Hour a day in meditation and prayer, we shall be

a nation of the true violence, for only by the peni-

tential uprooting of all that is base in us shall we

be made worthy to defend a Justice descending from

the Father, witnessed by the Son, and diffused by

the Holy Spirit.

Neither are we free to choose to live with or

without a sword
;
we are free only to choose one of

two kinds: The sword like Peter’s which thrusts

outwards to cut off the ear of the servant of the

high priest, or the sword like the Savior’s which

thrusts inwards to cut out our own baseness, self-

ishness, and egotism. “I have come to bring a sword,

not peace” {Matt. 10:35). If thirty million Ameri-

cans would take up the sword of the Holy Hour in

their hands, every day while America is at war, we

would win not just a victory, as we did in 1918, but

a peace with justice wherein even the vanquished

would love us. Twenty-two million Catholics there

are in the United States. To them particularly I

appeal, to unsheathe the sword of God’s justice, to

take it by the hilt with them tomorrow morning to

Holy Mass and Communion, and like the knights

of old lay it on the altar, that it may be consecrated

to that justice and charity which alone can remake

a world. To Peter who drew the outward sword in

the Garden, the Savior had but one question

:

“Couldst thou not watch one hour?” {Mark 14:37).

Why do we all respond when new swords of violence

are directed against Him ? If you heard His voice

in the Garden would you say No! Will you say it

now as He cries out to us from the Garden of the

world’s agonies? If you or any Jew or Protestant



would like a book of suggestions for the Holy Hour

we will gladly send it to you.

Neither are we free to choose whether or not

we shall be armed. We are free only to choose

whether we shall have only one kind of armament

or two. It is our contention that no nation can be

saved in this crisis unless there is an armament

not only for our bodies, but also for our souls. One

source of raw material for this spiritual armament

is to be found in the secret mines of the daily Holy

Hour. Hearken then to St. Paul: “Therefore take

up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist

in the evil day, and stand in all things perfect.

Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with

truth, and having put on the breastplate of justice,

and having your feet shod with the readiness of

the gospel of peace, in all things taking up the

shield of faith, with which you may be able to

quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.

And take unto you the helmet of salvation and the

sword of the spirit, that is, the word of God” (Ephe-

sians 6:13-17).

No man, no nation, today can live without a

cross! Sacrifice is inescapable. And there are only

two crosses from which we may choose: The cross

of brutal force militarism and the cross of Christ,

the cross which claims God is as Caesar, and the

cross which “renders, therefore, to Caesar the things

that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are

God’s” (Matt. 22:21).

There are only two ideas left in the world:

Totalitarianism and Christianity. Totalitarianism

has an idea : The crucifixion of neighbor for love of

self. Christianity has an idea: The crucifixion of

self for love of neighbor. In between these two

there are no ideas, and hence no choice. Perhaps



then we ought to thank God that our nation, which

at one time felt it could live without a cross, now

recognizes that, without it, it is like a shorn Samson

—clipped of the secret strength of an ultimate con-
viction. But with it, it is strong in Him Who first

saved the world not by detachment from sacrifice,

but by acceptance of a Cross.

And now thanks to a rebirth of sacrifice let

it be one that has the tang of repentance about it;

one wherein we accuse not life but ourselves, and

blame world troubles not on systems but on our

sins. By this kind of self-accusation we will begin

to see ourselves as our brother's keepers and as

people on whom God has laid the heavy charge of

being the disciples of His Freedom: “IF anyone

wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and

take up his cross, and follow me" {Matt. 16:24).

There is a price tag on every soul in the world

;

there is a value on every nation and every people.

But they can be bought not by gold and silver, but

only by our trials, our sacrifices, and our prayers.

Would you, a Jew, if you knew that your daily Holy

Hour of meditation could save a soul in a German

concentration camp, not make that sacrifice as your

brother's keeper? Would you, a Protestant, if you

know that your unbroken daily Holy Hour would

co-redeem, with Christ, a soul enserfed in an enemy

country, refuse to watch that Hour? Would you,

a Catholic, if you knew that daily Holy Hour in-

cluding daily Mass and Communion would restore

to the sacraments of Jesus Christ a soul who had

lost his faith, refuse to lift your heart with the host

and chalice of the Savior?

But this is the only way souls are saved. It is

the only way devils are driven out
;
for the kind that

possesses the modern world “can only be cast out by



prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:20). We help our-
selves more by praying and suffering for others than

we do by praying for ourselves. That is why we

recommend the Holy Hour, which looks not to our

petitions, but to the world’s needs and the glory of

God and the praise of His Divine Son.

We are now a nation on a cross! Beneath it,
as once before in history, there come the scoffers of

religion, the undisciplined and selfish who snear at

sacrifice. Out of their mouths as from craters of

blasphemy, there comes the echo of the words first

heard beneath the Cross of Calvary, “If he is the

King of Israel, let him come down now from the

cross, and we will believe him” (Matt. 27 :42). Come

down from your Cross of sacrifice
;
come down from

Hands hurt in the service of others, from Feet

pierced with brotherly love, from Lips burnt with

the fires of charity. Come down and we will be-

lieve.

But Our Savior refused, until the work of re-

demption was completed and with the strong voice

of triumph He could say: “It is consummated!”

(John 19:30).

Neither must we respond to that false challenge

of the enemies of the Cross! It is human to come

down! It is divine to hang there until the last lost

sheep is brought back into the fold. America, take

up the cross of the Holy Hour. Continue it every

day while America is at war. And let this be our

inspiration: God came down from the heavens, but

He did not come down from the Cross!

0 Lord Jesus Christ, Who in Thy Mercy hear-

est the prayers of sinners, pour forth, we beseech

Thee, all grace and blessing upon our country and

its citizens. We pray in particular for the Presi-

dent—for our Congress—for all our soldiers—for



all who defend us in ships, whether on the seas or

in the skies, for all who are suffering the hardships

of war. We pray for all who are in peril or in
danger. Bring us all after the troubles of this life

into the haven of peace, and reunite us all together

forever, 0 dear Lord, in Thy glorious heavenly

kingdom.







THE CATHOLIC HOUR
1930—Twelfth Year—1942

The nationwide Catholic Hour was inaugurated
on March 2, 1930, by the National Council of Cath-
olic Men in cooperation with the National Broad-
casting Company and its associated stations. Radio
facilities are provided gratuitously by NBC and the
stations associated with it

;
the program is arranged

and produced by NCCM.

The Catholic Hour was begun on a network of
22 stations, and now carries its message of Catho-
lic truth on each Sunday of the year (and Good

Friday) through a number of stations varying from

90 to 107, situated in 40 states, the District of Colum-

bia, and Hawaii, including one short-wave station

broadcasting to the entire western world. Consist-

ing of an address mainly expository, by one or an-

other of America's leading Catholic preachers, and

of sacred music provided usually by a unit of the

Paulist Choir, the Catholic Hour has distin-

guished itself as one of the most popular and

extensive religious broadcasts in the world. A cur-
rent average of 18,700 audience letters a month,

about twenty per cent of which come from listeners

of other faiths, gives some indication of its popular-

ity and influence.

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