T H E D IV IN E R O MA N C E

“ ”

by

FU LT ON J . SHEE N , Ph D .
, D D . .
, LL D ,
. .

P f Phil oso ph y
r o es so r of of R ligi e on,

Cath olic University of Am ic er a.

Seve n add resse s e

deliver d in th e Ca th olic Ra di o Hour
e
,

o
s p ns or d by th e

N ational C ou ncil o f Ca th olic Men

I . Man s ’
" uest f or Go d II Th e B lessed
.

O verfl ow IV God s
’
.

"
Trinity III Love s
’

"
. .
. .

u est f o r M a n V Th e D i
.v ine E u at
.io n .

VI T h.e P u l p it of th e C r os s V II D y ing . .

and B eh old We Live .

N a ti onal C ou ncil o i —Ca th olic Men

S ponsor of th e Catholic Ra io Hour d
1 3 1 4 M ass achu setts A ve ue n
Wa shington D C , . .
 L
PUB I S HE R S ’
F OR EW ORD

o
Thi s v lume is publi s ed with th e purp se h o of
g ng
ivi n n fo
perma e t rm and a wider h earing to
n
th e seve addresses which th e Rev Dr Fulton J
of o of g on
S heen pr ess r of Philosophy Reli i at th e
. . .

n of A
,

Cath olic U iversity m erica delivered in th e

g nn ng
,

Catho lic R adio H our be i i M arch 9 1 9 3 0

, , .

o
F ll wi o ng cl
th eir d eliv ery th e N ati onal C oun i
of on o of o
,

Cath olic Men sp s r th e Cath olic H ur

f d
, ,

h as rec eived r o m many hun red s of Catho lic s

- o of h
and non Cath o lic s r e qu ests f or c pies t ese
f no l
addresse s It is believed th er e ore that t on y
of n
.
, ,

all th ese me and wo m en bu t th ou sand s of

n o
fi

o th ers wh ose mi ds and h ea rts w ere m ved by

’
o on
Dr S he en s e l o qu ent an d s ch olarly ex p siti of

f d h of
.

th e un am ental Tru t s Chri stianity with

n o c
which h e d eal t i th e Ca th olic H ur wi ll ovet
o o n o .
n n
th e pp rtu ity to p ssess th e addresses i pri t .

n
In or d er to i sure a c ountr y wid e and con -

tinu ou s cir culati on of thi s b ook th e pri ce of it

h a s b een fi
,

x ed p r actically at th e c ost of publi

cation .

O U R S U NDAY VI S IT O R
n
P rinters a d Publi sh ers
Huntington Indiana ,

D i stributors
 AUTH O R S INTRO D UCTI O N ’

O B le ss e d Lo rd
ur cca i t ld Hi A p o stles t on one o s on o s o

p ach th h u t p i j u cti which l g

,

“ ”
re on e o h d
se o s, an n n on on ag o a

it fi gu ativ ful fil lm t b t whi ch with th

s r e ad i w se m en u e r o, no e s

t h av it li t al ali ati w ll Th i ours e f s e mo

, ,

o e s er re z on as e s c o r ns
wh ich i th fi hav b b adca t over th
.

s i e r st ser es to e een ro s e

Ca h li c H u i
t o w t tho qu t f l i t
r s no ff dt a e re es o s eners, o ere o

th public on th p inted pag un der th title f Th D ivi

,
“
e e r e e o e . ne
Romanc e
”
.

Th ec ourse rms a unity be gi i fooe

a s it d s with th e nn ng
u Lf uh o e fo n
ve hich is to b u d in
,

q st
e f or i e nd Tr t and
a L w ‘
o ad
God In th e sec ond serm on s me attempt is m e wit the h
ad o n fe
.
,

i of revelation t learn something of th e in er Li of God

h d Lv d g o ng d
, .

In th e t ir serm on o e is reveal e as i ou tsi e of

f g n u h
a m oral universe and i th e fo rt
,

itsel and cr eatin

oe a ne
L v app ears p erson lly to restore th e pristi
, ,

beauty of the
v on o
m oral uni erse Th e la st three serm s sh ow h ow L ve In
c c u lv
.

arnate which is Chri st Him self ontin es to i e in His

u n
, ,

new B ody which is th e Chur ch ; to die thro gh si on th e

r
“
f
pa t of th ose wh o cruci y Chri st again, in their souls and ”

h
,

finally to rise again in th e p ermanency of His Church wit

n
which He abid es eve to th e c onsummati on of the w orld .

Th ourse i in no
e c c t v ial ki g
s it d sense, on ro ers see n as
t be t a mi n d what b ad is a ta vi g m
, , oes,
o o It h re to s r n an as
p ach d f m th h u t p m ai
.

“
al ady b
re een it
re w e ro e o se -
o s;
”
no ns
f h uma h a t
re
t b w itt
o e th fl hy tabl t
r en on
d ife es e s o n e r s , an

on e i gl h a t permits hat messag e t be w itt

s n e e r
it t o r en on
by h fi g
t e f G d th auth
n will f l that mu ch will l
er o o e or ee a
ady hav be en d on e t mak thi w l d a b tt p l
,

re e

which to live
i o e s or e er ace n
.
 d
D e icated to
L
MARY IMMA CU ATE
with fi li l om e
a h ag
 “
THE DIVINE ROMA C N E " 5

MANS
Th e qu est o f God is
’
" UEST FOR GOD
ssentially th e sear ch f or th e
e
full accou nt a n d mea n i ng of li fe If we but h ad th e .

p ower to take our soul f rom our body ut it in a , p

crucibl e a n d distil out th e mea n i n g of that qu est
fi
,

what would we nd it to b e ? I f we could but make

th e i n most heart o f all human ity sp eak out its i n ost m
yearnings what wo ul d we dis cov er th em to be ?
,

ul
Wo d we not fin d that every heart and ind a n d m
s o u i n cr a ti on desires f undame ntally thr ee realiti es
l e
and only three r a ities—L i f Truth and Lov
el In e , , e .

e e
~

fact so de p ar these three realities B eing Truth

, , , l
,

a n d Love that we ca n say th e whole un ivers e over

,

fl ow s with them O f ea ch thing in th e n i v rse it

. u e
can be s a id that it is O f each thi n g i n th e u n i ver se
.

it ca n b sa id that it is tr
e for it is r at d to a ue , el e
mind and of each thi n g i n th e n i v rs it can be
, u e e '

sa id that it is lo ve for it is related to a wi , a nd a ll

desire .

The first deep seated year n i n g then in th e human

-
, ,

heart is th e yearning for Li f Of a o r tr ea sur es e. ll u

it is that which we s rrend r l ast an d with th e u e ,

gr eatest reluctance Titles j oys a n d wealth power , , , ,

m
.

a biti on h onor —a11 of thes e we will l et go p ro

,

p p
,

vided we ca n h old on to that precious al itati ng , ,

vibrating thing called Li f e Th e very i n sti n ct which.

el
imp s a man to put out h is hand when h e wal ks in
th e dark pr ov es that he is willing to sacri ce a a rt
,
fi p
of h is body rather tha n to ndang r that whi ch he e e
h olds most precious—h is Li f ot ev n th e sad e N . e
fact of s icide dispr o v es th e reality of thi s yearn i ng
u ,

u
f or i n every s icide ther e is an illusion a n d a senti
ll
ment The i usi o n is that suicid e is total destr uo
.
6 “
THE DIVI NE ROMANCE ”

ti on The sentiment is the desire f or r p o se or th e

. e
w ill to shake off th e worries of life Suicid e is not .

so much the desire that o ne w ants to b annihilated , e

but rather that o ne wants to be at ease which is ,

j ust an other way of saying one wants to have a

diff erent life .

The sec ond m o st fundamental craving is th e de

sire f or Truth The very first questi on w e asked
.

when w e came int o this w orld w as the questi on

“
Why a questi on which betrays that we are all
b o rn incipient phil o s ophers A s children we tea r .
,

a part our t oys to find out what makes the wheels go ,

r o und A s gr ow n ups never having l ost the desire

.
-
,
“ ” “ ”
to kn o w the Why and Wherefore of things we ,

tear apart by our mental analysis the very toy of

, ,

the univer se to find out what makes its wheels g o

r o und We turn our telesc opes on th e sun and ask
.

’
it t o divulge its secrets ; w e ask the stars to tell us
the story of their twinkling ; and th e very o cean to
u
s rrender the mystery of its depth We are incura .

bly bent on kn owing and disc overing the truth of

— i
things that s why we hate to have secrets kept
fr om us .

B ut that is not all The third fundamental inclina

.

ti on of human nature is th e desire to l ove and to b e

l o ved Fr o m the first day in the Garden of Ed en
.
,
“ ”
when God said : I t is not go od f or man to be al one ,

on even t o the crack of d oom man has thirsted and ,

’

will th irst f or L o ve Each child that is b orn into

.

l
the wo r d insti nctively presses itself to its m other s ’

br east in testim ony of a ff ecti on Later on he goe s .

to his m other to ha ve his play w ounds b o und and -

,
“

to shed h is tear s d own th e cheek of his m other .

Finally when the child h as gr own to man s estate

,
’
,
 “
HE DIVINE ROMAN CE
T
”
7

he l o o ks f or a compani on y o ung like unto himself

, ,
“ ”
one to wh om he can unpack h is heart w ith word s ;
o ne wh o will measure up to that beautiful definiti on
“
of friendship ; one in wh o se presence w e can ke ep

silence ”
— it is only bef ore s trangers that we m ust
speak Then th e l ove of sp ouse f or sp o use is se aled
.
.

in the b onds of matrim ony and when m on otony ,

threatens its sanctity then there c omes a child

,

which makes an earthly Trinity Thus the l ove of .

paren ts f or children bec omes th e l ove of g randp ar

ents f or grandchildren and so the quest go es on fr om
th e cradle to the grave .

We desire life and truth and l ove but do we find ,

them in their plenitude o n this earth ? D o w e carry

within ourselves th e energy the f orce and the p ow er
,

to r ealize them to the highest degree ? A re we such

masters and cap tain s of o ur fate that we may give
to ourselves an o verfl owing measure of these m ost
preci us
o of a l l gifts ? We p o s sess a fracti on of life ,

a fracti on of truth and a fracti on of l ove but do we

, ,

possess them in their fullness ?

C ertainly Life is not completely under o ur c ontr ol .

Successes of life ar e s oon exhausted R eputati ons .

'

wane and are forgotten Schemes have their h our

.

and come to naught The science of one age is super

.

seded by an other The taste of one age is unintelli

.

g ib l e to th e nex t —
P oets bec ome silent Each tick .

“
of the cl o ck brings us cl o ser to the gra ve ; our

hearts are but muff led drums beating a funeral

” “
march to th e grave Fr om hour to h o ur we ripe
.

”
and ripe ; fr o m h our to h our w e rot and rot Life .

may be a great torrent o utp oured fr o m the l u ex

.

h austible chalice of eterni ty b ut we are permitte d ,

but a few dr ops of it in th e cup of our own life .

 “
THE DIVIN E ROM N CE A ”

And alth ough Truth i s a c onditi on of our nature ,

neither d o w e p o ssess it in its fullness f or the or , m e

we study th e less we kn ow o r rather the ess we
, l
think w e kn ow Learning open s up a th ousand new
v
.

istas of kn owledge d own which w e might travel f or

a lifetime if we had a tho usand lives What man is
,
.

ther e wh o has devoted his life to s tudy w h o will not

h onestly avow that he really kn ow s less now than
what he th ought he knew th e night he graduated
fro m high sch ool ? How often too the search f or , ,

truth corrects th e prej udices of y o uth and h ow often ,

earnest seekers after truth ha ve c ome to mo ck and

remained to pray ? Great minds like ewton have N
confessed that all th eir knowl edg e seemed to leave
x

them standing on th e seash ore of truth before which

stretched an ocean of infinite truth Th omas .

A quinas the greatest mind th e w o rld has ever p ro

,

duced declared at the end of h is lif e that all that he

,

wr ote seemed to him as straw c ompared to a isi o n v

which D ivine Truth had acc orded him .

Finally Lov e in its p erfected state is not to b e

’

f ound in thi s w orld Br oken hearts ruined h omes

.
, ,

young w id ow s divorce c o urts orphans all are so

, , ,

many el oquent pr oofs that man has not f ound a true

and lasting l ove Unf o rtunately w i th th e pas sing
.
,

of time it often l o ses its delicacy How rare f or .

,

example is th e yo ung man wh o can treasure f or days

,

a nd f or w eeks and f or year s the gift of a r o se or

t h e to uch of a hand of a friend .

m agic of l o ve s W ine and drink deep a s he may of her

’
"
uaff as he w ill th e

springs a day mus t finally c ome when th e last cake

,

is cr um bi ed at life s great feast and th e ast em

’

,
l
brace is passed fr om friend to friend The n oblest .
 THE
“
I
D VIN E RO MAN CE ”
9

and best of human l ove ends and n othing is perfect ,

that en ds .

Th o ugh we are the l ord and master of the uni

verse th ough we p o ssess these str ong yearn ings
,
,

which are the very mai n springs of our beings yet -

,

we do not find the se yearnings fulfilled on this earth .

Life is mingl ed w ith death ; Truth is mingled with .

err o r ; and Love i s mingled w ith hate O ur life th en

' .
, ,

is not in cr eatures ; our Truth then is not in th e , ,

sp oken w ord ; our L ove then is not in what we see , ,

.

Life cann ot exist with d eath ; Truth cannot exist

with err or ; and L ove cann ot ex st w ith hate i .

But where find the s o urce of these three realiti es ?

Where find the auth or of Existence and Truth and
L ove that vibrates thr ough all creatio n ? Shall we
say that they have no s ource But if they have no
?
,

s ource h ow can they be and affect our lives at this

,

moment ? They are things that are reas onable and ,

therefore must have been intelligently pr od uced

, .

They cann ot c ome fr o m the dismal slime of primeval

j ungles f or then the mind w ould be confr onted with
,

th e absurdity that the n obler c omes fr om the less no

ble Where then find their s ource ?
.
, ,

Supp ose I am in search of the s ource of the light

which is in this br oadcasting r oom Where shall I nd . fi
?
it The so urce of the light is not to be f ound under
that distant chair f or there light is mingled with
,

shad ow The so urce of the light is n ot to be f ound

.

under th e mi cr oph one f or there there is light min ,

gled wi h darkness Where find the s o urce of l ght

t . i ?

I must g o out to s omething which is n othing but

pure light namely the electric bulb gl ow ing in the
, ,

center of this r oom So too if I am to find the

.
, ,

s our ce of the Life and th e Truth and the L ove that

 “
10 THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

is in this w o rld I must g o o ut to a Lif e that is not

,

mingled with th e shad ow death ; I must g o out to ,

i
a Truth which s not mingled w ith the shad ow err or , ,

and I must g o out to a Lo ve which is not ming ed l

“
with the shad ow hate I must go out bey ond the
, .

” “
margent of this w orld o ut past the golden gate ,
v

”
ways of the stars o ut past the cl otted clay of all
,
“
humani ty o ut even to th e hid battlements of eter
,
”
nity , o ut to S ome O ne wh o is Pure Life Pure ,

Truth and Pure L ove

, .

“
There is a qu est that call s m e
In nights w hen I am al one ,

Th e need to ride wh er e th e w ays divid e

Th e K nown r om th e Unknown f .

on
I m u t w hat th ough t is ne ar me
A nd s o on I re ach th e plac e,
'

Th e tenu ou s rim w h er e th e een gr ow s S dim

A nd th e sigh tl ess hid es its ac e f .
,

I have ridde th e wind n ,

I have ridden the sea

I have ridden th e m a d stars oon n
,

I have set my fe et in th e stirrup seat

,

Of a c omet c oursing M ars .

A nd v ywh ere
e er
Thro th e earth and air
’

My th ought sp eed s ligh tning sh od

o o g
-
, ,

It c mes t a plac e wh ere ch eckin pac e

‘
It c ri e s B ey ond li es God .
’

O h w ould that I had th e speech of angel tongues or

,

the language which A dam sp oke in Eden or a ton g ue ,

like I saiah which had been touched with a co al from

the very altar of God— then perhap s I co uld make , ,

yo u understand what Go d i s But our untem pered

s peech w
.

“
hich descends gri my and ro ugh cast fro m
’ ”
Babel s brick layer s str ong it is to damn str ong it
, ,
 ”
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE
“ 11

is to speak of ch eek and lip and b os om ; f or these

things m ove w ith light ease n the sp eech of the i
wo rking day .B ut to speak of G o d : it m oves w i th
the clumsiness of the hier oglyphs P oor as it is lan . ,

gu age may tell its story that God is not so me dim

-
,
“
far off abstracti on not s ome spati o temp oral con g
”
fi
” “
uration ; not an ep o ch al o ccasi on ; not an energy ,

but the fullness of Life and Truth and Love Go d .

i s that Life Which h as thr obbed thr o ugh o ut th e age

lessness of eternity wherein each m oment is eternity
,

and eternity is as a moment ; that Life whence h as

“
co me all exi sting things fr om the stars the glim ,
”
mering tapers lit ab out the day s dead sanctities on
’
,

even to the smiling face of a babe in a cri b .

Go d is that Truth in Wh om darkness and ig nor

ance can find no place , before Wh o m all is spread out
in its widest extent and smallest detail ; that Truth
the Greek academicians s ought as they walked the
streets of Athens the truth the sc entist seeks as he
, i
uncovers f o ssils in the stra ta of th e e arth the truth ,

th e saint seeks as he leaves th e lights and glam ors of

th e w orld f or th e shades and shad ows of the cr o ss
w here the saints are made .

God is that L o ve Wh o ever

w ills and l oves the
Good because it is His nature , that Love whence h as
c o me th e l ove o f sp o use f or sp o use , and that yet
stranger lo ve of a Stephen wh o l oved and prayed f or
th ose wh o st oned him in hate ; and the purer l ov e of
“ ”
passi onless passi on and m ild tranquilities wherein
the heart c onfides in God al one .

I f then God is th e s ource of the Life the Truth

, , , , ,

and th e Love in the universe and if the very ex is

,

tence of th es e things depends m ore up o n Him th an

 ”
12
“
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE

the evening rays up on the setting sun do we n ot owe ,

Him so mething in return ? I f ther e are gifts shall

there not be gratitude f o r gifts ? I f a an inve nts m
a machine d oes not the g overnment g ive him patent
,

rights entitling him to returns on hi s invention ? If

'

an auth or writes a b ook is he not entitled to r oyal

,

ties on his writings simply because they are the

,

creati n
o of his mind N ow we are Go d s inventi on
?
,
’
,

or better still G o d s creati on Is not God theref ore

’
, .
, ,

entitled to return on His creati on ? Is He not eu

titled to r oyalties on His wo rks ? And since He h as
'

given us three great gifts which c ontain all other

gifts sh o uld He not be entitle d to triple returns on
,

th ose gifts Since He has given us Truth are we not ,

in duty bo und to knowHim Si nce He gave us Love

?
,

i
sho uld wenot l ove n return ? Since He gave us Li fe ,

sh ould we not serve Him ? I f we admit that tripl e

b ond then we admit religi on or commerce between
, ,

God and man and such is the first less on of the penny
,

catechism : Why did God make us ? God made us to

know Him to l ove Him to serve Him n this world
, , i
and to be happy with Him f orever in heaven .

Thus I c ome ba ck to my starting p o int : Th e qu est

f or God is essentially the search f or the full accou nt
and meaning of life And life h as a meaning because
.

the essence of God is Love .

God is not a B eing Wh o d o es not kn ow h ow to love ;

not one of th ose tepid h earts that have no flames ,
‘
and wh ose tiny sparks have n ot th e p ower of en
kindli ng others but fly back only upon themselves ;
,

not a p owerless God Wh o kn ows h ow to l o ve but

cann ot realize His dreams ; not a God Wh o burns
’
with l ove but h as only c old w ords to say Go d s love .

is not li ke a stream which runs deep and mi ghty as

 ”
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE
“ 13

l ong as it is held within narr ow banks but like the

great Feast at which five th o usand sat and all did
h ave their fil l .

I f we would know what God is then we n eed only

l oo k into our own hearts f or s omething God like is -

mirr ored there—f or whatever is best in th e treasur

,

ed lives of her o ic men and the serene unwritten lives

of inn oc ent w omen ; whatever is best in the l oyalty
"

of human hearts and the unwearying sweetness of a

mother s l ove ; whatever is n oble in the sacrificing

’

care of a father and the devoti on of an unselfish

friend is but the dim reflecti on; the far off echo the
,
-
,

faint shad ow of that which in God is perfect We .

are but enj oying a two billi onth part of the light and
-

heat which streams f r om the sun and it may equally

b e th at we are receivi n g even a smaller fracti on of
the Love and Life and Truth whi ch is in God .

D o not think that any heart can speak with such

a raptur ous language but that there is a d eep er
heart a greater l ove and a n obler aff ection
, , If .

your own m other seems to you to be the i n carnati on

of all that is l oving in li fe do y ou think the God Wh o
,

made m others can be any less l o ving ? I f your own

father seems to you to be the realizati on of all that
kindness in life can mean do you think the Go d
,

Wh o made fathers is any less kind ? I f your own

heart and mind revel in the size of the planets and
the nature of the spheres do you n ot think it sh ould
,

thr ill at the kn owledge of Him before Wh om all the

nati ons of the earth are p o ised as the grai n s in th e
balance ? I f there are times when the j oy of livin g
almo st transp orts us into other realms ; if th ere are
times when the disco very of a human truth lifts us
into heights of ecstatic rep ose ; if there are ti m es
 ”
14
“
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE

when the human heart in its n oble st reaches and

purest aff ecti ons has the p ower to cast us into
an ecstasy to thrill and exalt us then what must be
"
, ,

the g reat Heart of Hearts I f a human heart can in

crease the j oy of living then what must b e the great
"
,

Heart of God If th e Sp ark is so brigh t oh wh at

"
, ,

mu st be th e F lam e
 "THE I
DI V N E RO MAN CE ”

THE BLESSED TRINITY

The burden of the last message was that man is
engaged in a threef old quest f or life truth and l ove
, , , ,

and since h e cann ot find these n their fullness on i

this earth because here lif e is mingled w ith death
, ,

truth with err or and l ove with hate he must go out

, ,
“ ”
beyond th e margent of thi s w orld out to S ome one ,

wh o is pure Life pure Truth and pure Love which

, , ,

is God .

But this kn owledge of God which came f r om rea

son w orking in the visible things of the w orld g l ves

a very inc omplete c oncept of Him I t is like the .

kn owledge anyone might gain of an artist by l ook

ing at his painting B rit I c ould l ook at that painting
'
.

fr om now until the crack of d oom and I w o uld never

kn ow anything of the artist s inm ost th oughts and ’

l oves h opes and aspirati ons I c ould kn ow this only

, .

by a pers onal revelati on o n h is part .

I n like manner I can divine s omething of the exist

ence of God s omething of His I nfinite P ower Life
, , ,

and Beauty by c ontemplating Hi s universe but I ,

I

c ould never divin e anything of His secr et Th ought

. v
and Love His creati on gi es but dim hints of the se .

It was therefore only natural that man sh ould de

sire further kn owledge of the inner life of God and ,

in seeking that light w ould ask such questi ons as

Plat o asked f our centuries bef ore Christ :
I f there i s only one God what d oes He think ,

ab out f or if He is an in telligent being He must

,

think of s omething ?
?
I f there is only one God wh om d oes He l ove
, A nd
to be happy one must l ove .
16
“
THE D V N E I I ROMANCE ”

These questi ons were hurle d against the high

h eavens as so much brass f or there was no man to ,

give them an answer The answer c ould c ome on ly.

f r om God Hims elf and it came w hen O ur Blessed

,

pp
Lo rd a eared on earth a n d revealed to us the in
mo st li f e of God when He told us there were three
,

Pers ons in God God the Father God the Son and
, , ,

God the H oly Gh o st This tremend ous mystery.

,

kn own as the mystery of the Trini ty ; the mystery

which answers the questi ons of Plat o which is ab ove ,

reas on and yet not c ontrary to it with the help of ,

revelati on and anal ogy I shall try to explain to y ou

, .

I f we w ould answer the questi ons of Plato and

m ‘

know what God thinks ab out and wh om God l oves , ,

l et u s first ask the questi ons of man f or an h as , m

been made to the image and likeness of God The .

study of man s th o ught will tell us s omething ab ou t

’

e
th th ought of God .

M an thinks ; he thinks a th ought—a thought like

” “ ” “ ” “ ”
“
Justice ,
Faith F ortitude Charity But wh o
, ,
.

h as ever seen Justice ? Wh o ever heard of Char

“ ” “

ity going out f or a walk ? Wh o kn ows the si z e the

”
,

“ ”
weight an d the c ol or of F ortitude ? N o one h as
,

ever seen tasted or t ouched these th oughts an d yet

, , ,

they are real They are spiritual thoughts theref ore

. ,
.

But where did they c ome fr om ? Since they are n ot

wh olly i n the o utside w orld , they must have been
pr o duced or generated by the mind itself not w ith
, ,

that physical birth by which animal pr o duces ani mal ,

but that spiritual generati on by which we produce

ideas o r internal w ords There are other ways of .

begettin g life we must remember than the mere

, ,

physical ways we see in the w orld ab out us The .

m o st chaste way that life is begotten is th e way i n

18 “
THE DIVIN E RO MANCE ”

name : it may be called a W ord or it may be called ,

a Son and the two ar e one and the same except f rom
, ,

diff erent p oints of view .

Fi rstly this th ought of God is a W ord as my own

, ,

th ough t is called a w ord a fter it is pr on ounced It .

’
i s an internal w ord But G o d s th ought is not like
.

ours . It is not multipl e God d oes not think one .

Th ought or one W ord one minute and an other the

, ,

n ext Th ou ghts are not b orn to die and do not die

.
,

to be reb orn in the mind of God A ll is present to .

Him at once I n Him there is only one W ord He

. .

ha s no need of an other That Th ought or Word i s .

i nfinite and equal to Himself un que and abs olute i

fi
, ,
‘
rst b orn of the Sp irit of God ; a W ord which tell s
T

what God i s a W ord fr om which all human w ords

,

have been derived an d of which created things are

,

but merely the broken syllables or letters ; a W ord

wh ich is the s ource of all the Wisd om in the w orld .

The latest scientific discoveries the new kn owledge ,

.

of the gre at expanse of the heavens the science s of ,

bi ol ogy physics and chemistry the m ore l ofty ones

, , ,

of metaphysics phil o s ophy and the ol o gy the kn owl

, , ,

edge of the Shepherds and the kn owledge of the ,

Wise M en—all this kn owledge h as its S ource in the

W ord or the Wisd om of God .

The infinite Th ought of Go d is called not only a

W o rd to indicate that He i s the Wisd om of Go d
,
-

but is als o called a Son because He h as een gener , b

u i
ated J st as n our own human order the principle
.

of all human generati on i s called the Father so too , , ,

in the Trinity the principle of the spiritual genera

ti on is called the Father and the term of the genera
ti on is called the Son because it is the perf ect image ,

and r esem l an ce of th e Fath er If a n ear thl y f ather

b .
 “
THE D VIN E ROMAN CEI ”
19

can transmit to his son all the n ob ility of his ch arac

ter and all th e fine traits of his life h ow much m ore ,

so can the Heavenly Father co mmunicate to His

Eternal Son all th e n obility with all the per f ecti on
and eternity of His Being .

The Father i s not first thinks the ‘

and then ,

Father and Son are co eternal f or in Go d all is pre -

,

sen t and unchanging othing is new and n othing

. N
is l ost Thus it is that the Fathe r c ontemplating His
.
,

I mage His Word His Son can say in th e ecsta sy

, , ,
.

“
of th e first and real paternity : Th ou art M y Son ;
i
th s day have I beg tten Thee
o
” “
This day ”
—this .

day of eternity that i s the indivisible durati on of

, ,
“ ”
being with out end This day in that act that will
.
,

h —
never end as it as never begun ; this day the age
lessness of eternity .

Go back to the rigin of the w orld pile century on

o , ,

“
century ae on on aeon age on ag e The W ord was
, , ,
”
with God Go back bef or e the creati on of the an
.

gels bef ore M ichael su mm oned hi s w ar h o sts to vic

,

tory and there was a fl ash of archangelic spir its ,

“ ”
even then The W ord was with God I t is that .

W ord which St J ohn heard in the beginning of his

.

“
G ospel when he wr ote : I n the beginning was the
,

W ord : and the W ord was with God ; and the W o rd

”
was God and j ust as my interi or th oughts are not
,

m ade manifest with out the Word which in the , ,

“
language of J ohn Became flesh and dwelt am ongst
,
”
us . A nd that W ord is no other than the Seco nd
Pers on of the Blessed Trini ty the W ord Wh o em ,

braces th eb eginnin g and end of all things ; the W ord

Wh o existed bef ore creati on ; th e W ord Wh o presided
at creati on as the King of th e Universe the Wo rd ,

made flesh at Bethlehem the W ord made flesh on the

'

,
20
“
THE DIVIN E R O M AN CE ”

cro ss and th e Word made flesh dwelling with divin

,

ity and humanity in the E ucharistic Emmanuel The .

G oo d Friday of twenty centu ries ag o did not mark

the end of Him as it did not mark the beginning I t
, .

is one of the m oments of th e Eternal W ord of God

p
.

Jesus Christ h as a re histo ry— the only pre hi sto ry

,
- -

that is pre— history a pre histo ry not to be studied

,
-

in the r ocks of the ear th not in the caves of man , ,

not in the slime and dust of pr meval j ungles but i ,

in the b oso m of an Eternal Father ; He al one br o ught

hist ory to history ; He alone h as dated all the rec o rds
of human events ever since into tw o peri o ds — the

peri o d bef ore and the pe r od after His coming ; so i

that if we w ould ever d eny that the W o rd became.

Flesh and that the Son of God became the Son of

,

man we w ould have to date our denial as one th ou

,

sand nine hundred and thirty years after His c o m

’

mg .

We are yet finished with the inner life of Go d

not ,

f or i f Go d is the s ource of all life and truth and

goodness in the wo rld He must have a will as well ,

as an intellec t ; a l o ve as well as a th ought I t is a .

fa ct of nature that every being l o ves its own per

f ection The perfecti on of the eye is c ol or and it
.
,

l oves the beauty of the sun setting in the flami n g

m onstrance of th e west ; th e perfecti on of th e ear
is s ound and it l oves th e h arm ony of an overture
,

of Beeth o ven o r a s onata of Ch opin L ove h as two .

terms : He wh o l oves and He wh o is l oved I n l ove .

th e tw o are recipr ocal I l ove and I am l oved B e

. .

tw een me and the one I l ove there '1 8 a b ond It is not .

my l ove ; it is not h is l ove ; it i s our l o ve ; the my steri

o u s res u
l tant of two affecti ons a b o nd which en ,

chai n s and an embrace wherein tw o hearts leap with

,
 ”
“
THE DIVINE ROMAN CE 21

but a single j oy The Father l oves the Son the

.
,

I mage of His Perfecti on an d th e Son l oves the Fath

er L ove is not only in the Fath er Lov e is not only
. .

in the Son There is s omethi ng betw een them as it

, .
,

were The Father l oves the Son Wh o m He engend

.
,

ers The Son l oves the Father Wh o engendered Him

.
, .

They c ontemplate each other ; l ove each other ; unite

in a love so p owerful so str ong and so perf ect that , ,

it f orms between them a living b ond They give .

themselves in a l ove so infinite that like the truth

which expresses itself only in the giving of a wh ole
personality thei r l ove can express itself in n oth
,

ing less than a Pers on Wh o is L ove Lo ve at such , .

a stage d oes not speak ; d oes not cry ; d oes not

express itself by w ords nor by canticles ; it expresses ,

its elf as we do in s ome ineff able m o ments by that ,

which indicates the very exhausti on of our giving :

namely a sigh or a breath— and that is why the
, ,

Third Pers on of the Blessed Trinity is called the

Holy Spirit or the H oly Gh ost .

That breath of l ove is not a passing one as o ur

own but an eternal spirit
, How all this is d one I .
,

kn ow not but I do believe on the testimony of the

,
/

Word I ncarnate that that H oly Spirit has been sent

by God to rule His Church “
But when the Spirit of .

”
Tr uth is c ome He will teach you al l truth and I
'

, ,

beli eve that the c ontinuous u nbr oken successi on of ,

the truth c ommunicated by Christ to His Church

h as survived to o r own day not because of the u ,

human organizati on of the Church f or th at is car ,

ried on by frail vessels but because of pr of usi on of ,

th e Spirit of L ove over Christ s V icar and all wh o

’

bel ong to C hrist s mystical b ody ’

.

Three in one, Father Son and Holy Ghost ; three

, ,
 " ”
22
“
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE

person s in one God ; one n e sse nce distincti on of i ,

pers on s such is the mystery of the Trinity such is

, ,

the i nn er life of God Just as I am I kn ow and I.

, ,

l ove an d yet I am one ; as the three angles of a tri

angle ; do not make three triangles but one ; as the
heat p ower and light of the su n do n ot make th ree
, ,

suns but one ; as water air and steam are all mani
, , ,

f estations of the one substance ; as the f orm c olor , ,

and perfume of the r ese do not m ake three r o ses ,

but one ; as our s oul our intellect and o ur will do

, ,

not make three s ubstances but one ; as one times ,

one times one times one d oes not equal three but , ,

one so too in s om e much m ore mysteri ous way there

, ,

are three Pers ons in God and yet only one God .

The Trinity is the answer to the questi ons of

Plat o I f there is only one Go d what d oes He think
.
,

ab ou t ? He thinks an eternal thought or ab out His ,

Eternal Son I f there is only one God wh om d oes

.
,

He l o ve ? He l oves His Son and that mutual l ove is ,

the H oly Spirit I firmly believe that the great phil

.

osop h er was f umbling ab out f o r the mystery of th e

Trinity f or h is great mi nd seemed in s ome small

,

way to suspect that an infini te being must have

relati ons of th ought and l ove and that God canno t
be c onceived with out th ought and l ove B t it was . u
not until the W ord became I ncarnate that man knew
the secret of th ose relati ons and the inner life of
Go d .

I t is that mystery of the Trinity w hich gives the

answer to th ose wh o have picture d God as an egotist
God sitting in s olitary splend or befo re the w orld
,

began reduced to l ove Hims elf as a selfish deity f or

, ,

the Trinity is a revelati on th at befo re creati on God ,

I

enj oyed the amiable s ociety of His thr ee Pers ons ,

 “
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”
23

the infinite c ommuni on with Tru th and the em race b

of infi nite L ove and hence had no ne ed ever to g o
,

outside of Himself in search f or happiness Th e .

greatest w onder of all then is that being perfect

, , ,

and enj oying perfect happiness He ever sh ould have

,

made a w orld And if He did make a w orld He co uld

.
,

only have had one m otive f or making it It c ould .

not add to His perfecti on ; it c o uld not add to His

Truth ; it c ould not increase Hi s happiness He made .

a world only because He l oved .

Finally it is the mys tery of th e Trinity which

,

gives the ans w er to th e quest f or o ur happi ness and

the meaning of Heaven He aven is not a place where
.

the re is the mere vocal repetiti on of alleluias or the

m on oton ous fingering of harps Heaven is a place
fi
.

where we find the fullness of all th e ne things we

enj oy on this earth Heaven i s a place where we
.

find in its plenitude th ose things which slake the

thirst of hearts satisfy the hunger of starving
,

mi nds and give rest to unrequited l ove Heaven is

, .

the co mmuni on wi th perfect Life perfect Truth , ,

and p erfect Lo ve God the Fath er God the Son and

, , ,

God th e H oly Gh o st to wh om be all h on or and gl ory

forever and ever A men. .
44
“
I
THE D VIN E ROM N CE A ”

LOVE S OVERFLOW ’

A way back in the agelessness of eternity in that ,

day that had neither beginning n o r end God was ,

enj oying infinite c omm uni on with Truth and Love

in the amiable s ociety of th e three pers ons of the
Trinity : Father Son and H oly Gh o st Wanting
, , .

n othing f or His perfecti on desi ring n othing f or His

" ,

happiness needing n othing f or the replenishin g of

,

His life there was no need f or God ever to g o out

,

side of Himself I f theref ore He ever ch ose to

.
, ,

create a w orld it must have been not on acc ount of

,

need nor duty nor constraint but only on account

, , ,

of l o ve.

Why then did God create a w orld Go d created ?

the w orld f or s omething like the same reas on that

we find it hard to keep a secret G ood thi ngs are
hard to keep The r ose is goo d and tells its secret
.

in perfume The sun is good and tells its secret in

.

light and heat M an is good and tells the secret of

.

h is g oodness in the language of th ought But God .

is I nfinitely G ood and therefore I nfinitely Lov ing .

Why theref ore c ould not He by a free impulsi on of

His Love let l ove overfl ow and bring new w orlds
into being ? God c ould not keep as it were the , .

secret of His L ove and th e telling of it was Creati on .

Love overfl owed ; eternityinoyed and said to time :

'

“ ”
Begin . O mnip otence m oved and said to n othing
“ ” “
ness : Be Light m oved and said to darkness : Be
fi
.

”
light. O ut fr om th e ng er tips of God there tum -

bled planets and worlds Stars were thr own int o .

their orb its and the spheres i nt o spa ce O rbs and .

br otherhoods of orbs began to fill the h eaven s Th e .

g re at m arc h of the w orld eg a n in whi ch l an et b , p

26 THE
“
I
DIV NE R O MANCE ”

fish L ove is p ossible only when it is p ossible

.
not to
l ove O ne cann ot l ove c old statues
. .

“ ”
I t is the p ossibility of saying N o which gives
so mu c h charm to the heart when it says Yes“ ”
. A
vict ory may be celebrated only on th ose fields i n
which a battle may be l ost Hence in the di vine .
,

order of things God made a w orld in which man

,

and w oman w ould rise to m oral heights not by that ,

blind driving p ower which makes the sun rise e ach ‘

m orning but rather by the exercise of that freed om

,

i n whi ch one may fight the good fight and enj oy the
sp oils of victory f or no one shall be cr ow ned unless
,

he has struggled .

God in His G oodness did not ch oose simply to

make a man m oral and then give him merely the
m oral rewards to which a man is naturally entitled .

He willed to do m ore than this When a man b e .

c omes a father is he c ontent merely to give h is child

,

only that which is necessary ? D o es he not rather

as a l oving father g ive to h is son even m ore than

that which is his due So i n like manner God willed
?
,

to give man certain gi fts of b o dy and s o ul which ,

f ar exceeded the nature or the capacity of man Im .

agine a wealthy banker wh o w ould f orm a trust f und

f or a f oundling baby in which a vast sum of m oney ,

was to be paid to the child wh en he reached the a ge

of twenty one pr ovided that during that time he led
-
,

a good m oral life N ow God established s ome such

.

trust fund He willed to give to the first man and

-
.

wo man certain gifts w hich w ould be theirs perman

ently and f or their p osteri ty pr oviding that they
, ,

pr oved f aithful in their l ove A m ong these gifts were .

immunity fr om disease and death f reed om fr om the ,

rebelli on of flesh over reas on and ab ove all "a gift ,

 “
I
THE D VIN E ROMAN CE ”
27

of kn owledge which far surpassed reas on and eu

abled man to grasp divine truths in a far gr eater
way than a telesc ope reveals to the eye the distant
stars and planets ; and a gi ft of p ower or gr ace
which made the first man and woman not mere crea ‘

tures of th e handiw ork of God b t G od s own chil , u ’

dren and co heirs w ith Him in the Kingd om of

,
-

Heaven These gifts be i t undertsood were even

.
, ,

less due to the nature of man than the p ow er of

bl ooming bel ongs to marble or the s ong of a p o et,

bel ongs to a beast .

But these gifts were c onditi oned f or the universe ,

is m oral They c ould be kept on one c onditi on name

.
,

ly by l oving God and l oving God means l oving what

, ,

is best f or ourselves But h ow try L ove ? The onl y

.

way to try l ove is in a trial which f orces one to de

clare it The only way f or A dam and Eve as free
.

m oral beings to pr ove their l ove and gratitud e to

God was by ch oosing Him in preference to all else ,

and admitting that their added kn ow ledge and their

added p ower or grace were gifts A d ouble c ondi .

ti on was laid up on them to test their l ove : the first

was an obscure p oint in order that they w ould admit
,

the added kn owledge was a gift of God and one ,

reserved p oint in o rder that they w ould admi t that

,

the added p ower of the will was a gift of God Thus .

they w ould sh ow that they l oved God with their

w h ole mind and their wh ole will and preferred Him
to all things else I n c oncrete terms the trial was
.
,

that they might enj oy all the riches of the garden of

Paradise but the fruit of one tree —the tree of the
, ,

knowl dg e of good and evil—they were not to t ouch .

G d did not say w h y they sh ould n

o ot — and that w as
p
th e obscu re oi nt on which their in telli gence was
28 “
I I
THE D V N E ROM N CE A ”

tri ed M an sh ould believe God on this p oint as on all

.

others God did say they must abstain fr om th e

.

f ruits of that tree That was the r eserved p oint

.

whi ch w as the trial of their will God w as imp os .

ing a limit to the s overeignty of man reminding him ,

that if he did the one thing f orbidden he w ould im

peril all the things pr ovided an d that like Pand ora , , ,

later on if he sh ould open the forbidden b ox he

, ,

would l ose h is treasures and l et l oo se c onfusi on

w orse C onf ounded on the w orld .

The st ory of the fall as rec orded in Genesis is

kn own to all Satan appearing in the fo rm of a
.
,

serpent tempted E ve —wi th the questi on that de

,

str oyed c onfidence which is th e r oot of all l ove .

“
Why has Go d c ommanded you that you sh ould not
”
not eat of every tree of Paradise ? Eve l oo ks at the
f orbidden frui t ; it is beautiful t o beh old M ore and .

m ore she turns herself fr om the v o ice and th ought of

God to the fragrancy and imagined s w eetness of th e
”

f orbidden frui t The lingering th ought passes int o a

.

Vivid imaginati on th e vivid imaginati on i nt o a burn

,

ing w ish the burning wish into a half f ormed pur

,
-

p ose the half f ormed purp ose into a hasty act Swift
,
.

ly the crisis is up on her as all such crises are and

, ,

the deed was d one irrevocably until time shall be no

m ore She gives the f orbidden fruit to A dam and
.
,

P ride and Self Will entered i nto h is heart He want

-
.

ed to sh ow he did know what w as good f or him and ,

that his mind need not be kept obscured on any one

’

p oint nor h is will reserved by any one c onditi on He

,
.

wanted to be independent and sh ow that he c ould do

w hat b e l iked And so he ate the fruit w hich he was
.

f orbidden to eat because it was fair and still m o re to ,

sh ow h is own independence Surely this is under .

,
 THE
“
DIVI NE RO MANCE ”
29

standab le Have we not d one the same thing in our

.

ow n lives o ver and o ver again ? When we were chil

dren were we not f orbidden to do s omething wh ich
,

w e wished to do ? D id we not l ong f or it and deter

mine to have it all the m ore because it w as f orbid
den A dam did it f or the very same reas on and
?
,

that act of dis obedi ence by which A dam failed th e

test of l ove is the first sin of this created universe ,

th e sin which infected humanity in its origin and

the sin which f or that reas on has been called o ri
, .

ginal sin .

The wh ole trial was perfectly reas onable I ma g ine .

a w ealthy man wh o owns a beauti f ul estate on Long

I sland He tells his chauff eur and his wife that he
'

w ill permit them to live in his mansi on ride in h is ,

m ot or cars use his servan ts enj oy h is yacht play

, , ,

ab o ut h is spaci o us gardens eat at h is expense I n a , .

w ord they are to enj oy everythi ng pr ovided that

,

they w o uld not t ouch a certain oil painting that hung

in one of his drawing r ooms N ow if the lady per .
,

suaded the gentleman to t ouch that painting she ,

w ould not be a lady and if the gentleman t ouched

, ,

the painting at the suggesti on of the lady he w ould ,

not be a gentleman By d oing the one thing f orbid

.

den they w ould l ose all the things pr ovided and wh o "
,

would accuse the master of the h ouse of i nj ustice

if he no l onger permitted them to enj oy his gifts ?

The d octrine then of the fall of man is far fr om

, ,

the travesty made up on it by friv ol ous minds wh o

make the ordinance of God rep ose s olely on an apple ,

f or to do this is to miss th e p oint of the wh ole st ory .

To say the fall does not mean merely a garden and

a serpent ; to say that it is much m ore than any g ar
 T HE
“
30 DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

den snake is not the same as s a

or any ying there
was no garden and there was no snake I t is simply .

saying what is of primary and what is of sec ondary

imp ortance ; what i s primary is the respect due to
God th e fruit of the tree being the symb ol of that
,

respect To make light of the fruit of a tree under

.

such circumstances is j ust as rash as to make light

of the flag of our c o untry as a symb ol of o ur c oun ,
’
try s s overeignty A flag stands f or a nation and
.
,

the hand that carries it w ould retain it at the c ost

of a th ousand deaths rather than let it be seized and

desecrated by the enemy I t may be a small thing to .

vi olate a cl oth that is red and white and blue but ,

it is no small thing to desecrate that f or which it ~

stan ds So likewise in the terrest rial Paradise the

.
, , ,

fam ous tree in which God resum ed all the kn owledge

of good and evil was a symb ol a m oral limit which
, ,

God imp o sed o n the s overeignty of man to pr ove his

obedience and h is l ove To say it was only a fable.

is to miss the great truth that things may not only

be but may als o signify like a handshake or a smile
, ,
.

There are three p oints that I w ould make in con

clu sion c oncerning the fall of man The first is that .

by this act of dis obedience which is called h is orig ,

inal sin man l ost n othing which was due to him or to

,

h is nature He l ost only gifts and became as St

. .

”
A ugustine h as said Just merei nan O n Christ mas
“
,
.

D ay when y ou distribute gifts to yo ur friends a ,

pers on with wh om y ou are unacquainted w ould not

dare c ome to y ou and argue that you had refused to
give him gifts as y ou had given your friends Your .

“
answer w ould be : Sir I have d one you no inj ustice .

I have deprived you of n othing which is y our due I

,

have even given to my friends th at which was not

 “
THE DIV N E ROMAN C E I ”
31

”
theirs . And
it is with original sin I n l osing the
so .

gifts of God man l ost n othing which was due to his

nature He was reduced to a state in which God
.

might p ossibly have created him w ith the diff erence ,

that th e l oss of the gifts w eakened his in tellect and

will but did not make h is nature intrinsically cor
,

rupt Ima gine a line of s oldiers ; n otice one of these

.

in particular He resembles all the others in dress

.
,

appearance and acti on but yesterday he was an of

fi
, ,

cer than ks to a p olitical preferment rather than

,

to merit ori ous advancement For an act of misd o .

mean or he was degraded and the badge of his office

was taken fr om him He was reduced to the state in .

which you see hi m now O riginal sin then is not to .

, ,

be in the state we are in but to have fallen int o that ,

state .

i i
Sec ondly th s s n of A dam was not merely th e sm
,

of an individual it was the sin of all humanity f or , ,

A dam was the head of all humanity I f he had been .

faithful we w ould have enj oyed all of his gifts f or

, ,

he acted in our name Since he w as unfaithful we .

,

su ff er his l oss for he acted in our name Thi s is not

,
.

an inj ustice A ll humanity is b ound up with one an

.

oth er I n 1 9 1 7 f or example President Wils on pr o

.
, ,

claimed war with out any explicit declarati on on our

part He was our p olitical head and he acted in our
.

name A dam is our head and he acted in our name

.
,
.

When he declared war agai nst God we declared war

in like manner with out any explicit declarati on on,

o ur part because of our oneness w ith him A nd

,
.

j ust as in the physical order the infected bl ood of a

father may pass on to a son so too the stain of the ,

first man has passed on to the wh ole human r ace and

“ ’
stained every one but o ur tainted nature s s olitary
32 “
THE DIVIN E ROMANCE ”

b oast —the Blessed M other of our Lord and Savi our

”

Jesus Christ .

Finally ori ginal sin al one can explain the alm ost
,

c ontradictory character of human n ature which

makes a man aspire to higher things and at the same
time succumb to the baser The only reas on we ever
.

seek the n obler things of God is that we once p osses "

sed them ; we seek because once we f ou n d .

A ll religi on is full of a sense of an uneasiness and

a need of deliverance ; every great student of human
n ature has ech oed as true the w ords of the great
Latin p oet O vid wh o testified that we all appr ove the
"
better things but of ten f oll ow the w orse ; all pe o les p
and nati ons have put their golden age in the past
when the ch o sen ones of their race once walked wi th
God What is this universal testim ony of humani ty
.

but the witness to the fact of original sin ? O ur lives

are like the great unfinished Gothic cathedrals of
E ur ope ever testifying that o ur ideals are never
,

c ompletely realized here bel ow The c onj ectures of .

anthr op ol ogists ab out primitive man are n othing

c ompared to the s olid fact of the sense of human sin .

By its nature the evidence of Eden is s omething we

cann ot find By its nature the evidence of sin is
.

—
s omething one cann ot help finding A s a matter of .

pers onal experience s omething h as happened w e —

are not what we o ught to be .

"
i?

There are ultimately only two p os sible the ories to

acc ount f or th e nature and the origi n of man : one i s
that the life of man is a push fr om bel ow ; the other ,

that the l ife of man is a gift fr om ab ove ; th e one is

_ _

that man is wh olly of the earth earthly ; the other ,

that he is partly of the heaven heavenly The sec ond,

.

is the Christian c oncepti on : ma n is not a risen beas t ,

84 THE
“
I
DIV N E ROM N CE A ”

Which of these two views of man i s n obler ? The

one which regards him as a little b io chemical e nti ty -

of flesh and bl oo d not m ore than six feet tall apt

, ,

to be killed by a micr obe ; standing self p oised and -

self centered i n such a universe as this acknowledg

-
,

ing in self c onceit no God no purp o se no f uture a n d

-
, , ,

still h oping that the blind c osmic f orces of space and

time will sweep him on until he bec omes l ost in the
bursting of the great c o smic bubble ; or that same
being awakened to h is ow
,

n actual i gn orance h is p os ,

sible wisd om his own actual sinfulness h is p ossible

, ,

saintliness ; his own actual humanity h is p ossible ,

sharing in the life of Christ and then by an act of ,

self distrust which is th e highest kind of self asser

- -

tion enr olling himself under no less a pers on than

,

th e Son of God m ade M an and crying out directly

to the L ord of the universe
“
I am th ne O God 0
”
, i , .

help me wh om Th ou hast made .

When a man answers this questi on aright he w ill

understand s omething of the true nature of man and
the l ove of God Wh o came to rest ore the gifts which
man had l o st and in gratitude his heart will cry out :
" "
,

“
M y God M y God What is a heart that Th ou ,

sh ouldst it so eye and woo p ouring up on it all Thy

, ,
”
art as if Thou hadst n th in g el se to d
o o ?
,
 THE D IVINE R OMAN CE
“ ”
35

GOD S
’
"
UES T FOR MAN
Lo ve is naturally expansive but D ivine Love is ,

creative Love told the secret of its goodness to

.

n othingness and that was creati on L ove made s ome

, .

thing like unto its own image and likeness an d that ,

was man L ove is pr o digal of its gifts and that was

.
,

the elevati on of man to the adeptl v e s onship of Go d .

Love must alw ays run risks of not being l oved in

return f or l ove i s free The human heart refused to
, .

return that l ove in the only w ay in which l ove can

ever be sh own namely by c onfid ence and trust in a
,

m oment of trial M an thus l ost the gifts of God

.
,

darkened his intelle ct weakened his will and , ,

br ought the first or O rigin al sin int o the w o rld f or ,

sin i s ultimately a refusal to l ove .

The refusal of man to l ove the best created th e

m ost difli cult pr oblem in the wh ole hist ory of human
ity namely the pr oblem of restoring man to the
,

favor of D ivine L ove I n sh ort the pr oblem was

.
,

this : M an had sinned ; but his sin was not merely a

rebelli on against an other man but a rev olt against ,

the I nfinite L ove of God Theref ore his sin was in .

fini te But it may be asked since man is finite h ow

.
, , .

can he commit an infinite crime ? The answer to that

questi on is that an off ense an inj ury or a sin is al , ,

ways to be measured by the one sinned against It .

w ould b e f or example a far greate r off ense to in

, ,

sult the may or of y our ow n city than a citizen of

y our own city and it w ould be a greater off ense to
,

c ommit a crime against the govern or of yo ur State

than against the may or I n like manner it w ould be .
,

a still greater off ense t o c ommit a f el ony against the

P resident of the United S tates than against the g ov
36 THE
“
DIVINE ROMANCE ”

ernor of any State I n other w ords sin is measured

.
, ,

by the one sinned agains t But man sinned against .

Go d But God is I nfini te Theref ore man s off ense

. .
,
’

is infinite .

S uch is one side of the pr oblem The other side is .

i
this : Every nfracti on or vi olati on of a law demands
reparati on or atonement We need only g o into the
.

h o spitals to see there that every Vi olati on of a law

of nature h as its reck oning day ; we need only g o int o

o ur asylums to see there that nature itself t akes

revenge on excesses and squares her acc ounts w ith

,

sin A Judge see ms to be sitting there in Judgment

.

executing sentence up on t ho se wh o w ould vi olate her

c ommands I n a still higher sphere parents wh o
.

l ove their children demand reparati on f or their

faults and j udges wh o l ove s ociety imp o se sentences
,

in at onement f or crime ; f or a Justice which s ees

evil and d o es not punish it is not Justice But since , .

God is I nfinite L ove He might ard on man and f or

, p
get t h e inj ury b ut pard on w ith out c ompensati on
,

would eclipse the Justice which is th e nature of God .

With out setting any limits to the M ercy of God I

'

c o uld understand His acti on better if His mer cy was ,

preceded by a satisfacti on f o r sin f or one can never ,

be merciful unless he is Just M ercy is the overfl ow .

of Justice .

But assuming that man sh ould give s atisfacti on ,

c ould he satisfy adequately f or h is sin N o because

?
,

the satisfacti on or reparati on or at onement which

man had to off er was only finite A t this p oint it may .

be asked wh y cann ot man give an infinite recom

pense f or h is sin ? If he can c ommit an infinite crime ,

wh y can he not make an infinite retribu ti on ? : The

answ er is that while inj ury is in the one inj ured ,
 “
THE DIVIN E RO MAN CE ”
37

h on or or reparati on is in the one h on oring If a .

ci tizen of the S oviet St ate a M inister of Finance of,

France a Senator of a S outh A merican R epublic

, ,

and the King of Great Bri tain came to call on the

President of our c ountry they wo uld not all render,

him equal h on or H on or w ould be in the one h on or

.

ing and he wh o held th e highest office w ould render

th e greatest tribute . N
ow I have said that man owes

h on or and reparati on to God b ut since man is finite ,

it foll ows that the h on or which he will render to

God w ould als o be finite A nd there is the pr oblem of
.

th e I ncarnati on .

M an wh o i s finite owes an infinite debt But h ow .

can a man wh o owes a milli on pay the debt with a

cent How can the human atone to the D ivine How
? ?

can Justice and M ercy be rec onciled ? If satisfacti on

is ever to be made f or the fall of man th e finite and ,

the infinite the human and the di vine God and man
, ,

must in s ome way be linked t ogether I t wo uld not .

do f or God al one to c ome d own and su ff er as God

a l one f or then He w ould not have anything in com
,

mon with man ; th e sin was not G od s but man s I t ’ ’

.
,

w ould not do f or man al one to suff er or atone f or the ,

merit of h is suff erings w ould be only fini te If th e .

satisfacti on w ould be c omplete two c ondi ti ons w ould ,

have to be fulfilled : First man w ould have to be ,

man to act as man and to atone M an w ould have to .

be God in order that h is sufferings w ould have an in

finite value But in order that th e finite and th e in
.

finite w ould n ot be acting as tw o di s tinct pers onali

ties and in order that infinite merit w ould result
,

fr om man s suff ering God and man in s ome w ay

’
,

would have to become o ne or in other w ords there , ,

would have to be a God man If Justice and M ercy-

.
38 “
THE D IVINE RO MAN CE ”

were to be rec onciled there w ould have to be an In

carnati on which means God assuming a human na
,

t ure in such a way that He w ould be true God and

,

true man There w ould have to be a uni on of God

.

and man built up on s omewhat the same lines as the

,

uni on of spirit and matter in man M an h as a d o uble .

nature the nature of a b o dy which is material the

, ,

nature of the s oul which is spiritual and yet he is ,

only one pers on The I ncarnati on of God w ould im

.

ply s ome such uni on of two natures in the unity of

a Pers on but quite naturally a far m ore perf ect one
, .

Let me make this s oluti on clear by an example .

O n the desk bef ore me is a pencil That pencil rep re .

sents human nature ; of itself the pencil cann ot write .

My hand now goes d own to the encil takes it up p , ,

m oves it acr oss a paper and immediately the pencil

,

is end owed with a p ower which bef ore it had not .

I f after I had written y ou sh ould ask me w h o w r ote

,

the lines I w ould not say my fingers wr ote them

, ,

nor w ould I say my pen cil wr ote them but I w ould ,

say I wr ote them

, I n other w ords we attribute the
.
,

acti ons of vari ous natures to a pers on and the one

thing that characterizes the pers on is not acti on not ,

nature not directi on but resp onsibility That is

, ,
.

why I do not say my stomach is h ung ry b ut I am

'

, .

hungry ; not my eyes see but I see A cti ons b e ,

.

l ong to a pers on .

N ow let the pencil represent p oor human nature ,

of itsel f unable to pay an infinite debt to God Im .

a gine now a divine Pers on with a D ivine ature N

c oming d own to that human nature taking it up and ,

bec omin g united with it in a far m ore perfect way

than my hand is united with the penci I f such an l .

act of c ondescensi on w ould ever happen the acti on ,

 “
n
l i t: D IVIN E M
RO AN CE ”
39

of the human n a ture and the acti on of the divine

nature w ould not be attributed to either nature .

al one as the acti on of th e pencil w ould not be attr i

,

buted to th e nature of the pencil or to the natur e of

th e hand al one ; it w ould be attributed to the pers on .

B ut if the Pers on w ere one of th e Pers ons of the

Blessed Trini ty namely th e Sec ond Pers on th e
, , ,

Eternal Son of God it w ould f oll ow that every ,

th ought every w ord every sigh every tear of th e

, , ,

human nature of that Pers on w ould be the very

th ought very w ord very sigh and very tear of God:
, , ,

Then Jus tice and M ercy c ould be reconciled Go d .

w ould be j us t in demanding infinite satisfacti on ;

God w ould be merciful in ma king that p o ssible by
c oming d own to earth and being f ound in the habit
and the f orm of man .

What I have j ust imagined f or you is what h as

actually taken place L ove tends to bec ome like the
.

one l oved ; in fact it even wishes to bec ome o ne w ith

,

the one l oved God l oved unw orthy man He willed

. .

to bec ome one with him and that was the I ncarna
ti on O ne night there went out over the stillness of an
.

evening breeze out o ver the white chalked hills of

,

B ethlehem a cry a gentle cry The sea did not hear

, , .

the cry f or the sea w as filled wi th its own voice Th e

,
.

earth did not hear the cry f or the earth slept The , .

great men of the earth did not hear the cry f or they ,

could n ot understand h ow a child c ould be greater

tha n a man The Kings of the earth did not hear the
.

cry f or they c ould not fath om h ow a King c ould be

,

b orn in a stable There were only tw o clas ses of men

.

wh o hear d the cry that night : Shepherds and Wise

M en Shepherds : th ose wh o kn ow they know n oth
.

ing Wise M en : tho se wh o kn ow they do n ot know

.
40 THE
“
DIVIN E RO MAN CE ”

everythi ng Shepherds : p oor simple men wh o knew

.

only h ow to end their fl ocks w h o perhaps c ould

.
t ,

not tell wh o was the Go vern or of Judea ; wh o per ,

haps di d not kn ow a single line of V irgil th ough

, ,

there was not a R oman wh o c ould not qu ote fr om

h im On the other hand there were the Wise M en ;
.
,

not Kings but teachers of Kings ; men wh o knew

,

h ow to read th e stars tell the st ory of their m ove

,

ments ; men wh o were constantly bent on disc overy .

B oth of thes e heard the cry The Shepherds f o und .

their Shepherd and the Wise M en disc overed Wis

,

dom A nd the Shepherd and Wisd om was a Babe in

.

a crib .

A nd fr om that day to th is there have been only~

two classes of pe o ple wh o have heard the cry of

Christ and wh o have f ound Christ : the very simpl e
and the very learned The very simple ; good s ouls
.

wh o kn ow perhaps only h ow to tell their beads and ,

the very wise minds like Pascal A quinas B onav en , ,

ture or M ercier But n ever the man with one book ;

, .

never the man wh o thinks he kn ows O nly the sim .

ple and only the wis e find Christ because b oth are
humble ; b oth ackn owledge either i gn orance or the
limitati ons of human knowledge which is humility ,
.

I n order to enter the cave one must stoop and the ,

st oop is the st 0 0 p of humility Th ose wh o p ossess .

that kind of humility ca n enter the cave There they .

w ill find what thes e two gr oups f ound : a Babe out

str etched on a bed of straw So great was the maj es .

ty seated on the br ow of the Child so great w as th e ,

dignity of the Babe so p ower ful was the li ght of

,

th o se eyes that sh one li ke tw o celestial su n s that ,

“
u
they c ould not help b t cry out : Emman u el : God
is w ith u God r eveal ed Hi ms elf to man agai n
”
s .
.
42
“
THE DIVIN E R OMAN CE ”

lig ences of
Europe and A merica am ount to naught ;
an intelligence that if it had m oved in other days
, ,

w ould have f ound Plat o and A ristotle but p oo r phil

o soph er s D ante and Shakespeare but p oor p oets
, ,

and our m odern scien tists but mumbling beginners

, .

Each breath each sigh and each tear of that Babe

, ,

was the breath sigh and tear of God Each one of

, , .

them w o uld have been su fficient to have redeemed

ten th o usand w orlds Then why a life of suff ering .

and why an existence that ed to the hard bed of the l

cr ss ? Why the shedding of the last dr op of bl ood
o ?

For s omething like th e same reas on that there are

m ore birds than are necessary f or the needed s ong of
man m ore grains of sand than are necessary f or a
,

seash ore— because of the sup erfl uity of Love L ove .

which is r eal l oves even to the p oint of sacrific e in

, ,

fact l oves even to the end which i s th e giving of

one s ow n life Christ l oves to that extent f or
’
.
,
“
greater l ove than this no man hath that he lay d own
”
h is life f or h is friend .

The drying of the bl oo d of Christ on an infam ous

gibbet then is s omething m ore than s ome in our
, , ,

day w ould have us believe wh o declare that Christ s ,

’

death is interesting and valuable because of the sub

j ectiv e eff ect it has o n the mi nd of the believer He .

w en t t o death t ney tell us in order that man might

"
, ,

be impressed with His Her oism N o He went to .

death not to impress us subj ectively but to save us ,

obj ectively I magine a man sitting on a pier on a

.

bright sunny day lazily fishing and apparently with

,

out a c oncern i n the w o rld N ow supp o se that a .

stranger w ishing to impress that fisherman with th e

great hu mani tarian l ove he bor e him w ould rush ,

f orward cast himself h eadl ong over the pier into th e

,
 “
THE I
D VIN E ROMAN CE ”
43

sea, and dr own The wh ole matter w ould be ridicu

fi
.

l ous f or there is n o relati on between the sh erman s

,
’

need and the act of the benefactor But supp o s e th e .

fisherman had f allen int o the water and was dr own

ing Then the friend came and threw himself in to
.

save him and gave his own life in the rescue ; in such
“
a case we w ould say : Greater l ove than this no man
”
hath that a man lay d own his life f or his friend .

Here there is an obj ective rela ti on betw een the m an s ’

need and the rescue ; so too in th e greater drama of , ,

Salvati on there is a relati on between man w h o was

l ost in sin and God Wh o came to save him— not by
,

gold o r silver but by the outp ouring of His Preci ous

,

Bl ood A nd if you were the only pers on in the w orld

.

wh o ever lived H
e w ould have c ome d own and suf
,

f ered and died j ust f or you al one That is h ow much .

God l oves you .

I t takes a D ivine an I nfinite Be ng to use the very

, i
instruments of defeat as the instruments of victory .

The fall came thr ough three realities : First a dis ,

obedient man : A dam Sec ondly a pr oud woman

.
, ,

Eve Thirdly a tree The rec onciliati on and r edemp

.
, .

ti on of man came thr ough these same three For th e .

dis obedient man A dam was the obedient new A dam

, ,

of the human race Ch rist ; f or the pr oud Eve there

, ,

was the humble M ary ; and f or the tree th e cr o ss , .

I n the face of this cardinal d octrine of Christian

ity which is the I ncarnati on of God h ow tawdry and
, ,

p oor appear the substi tutes offered in which we are

asked to venerate a system pr o s trate ourselves b e ,

fore a series of abstract n ouns or fall d own on our

knees bef ore the c osm os These things are to o un .

real f or the very reas on that they are systems and

,

hence will never appeal to the heart of man Hu .

44
“
THE DIVIN E R O MANCE ”

mani sm is imp o ssible because it is too a cademic ; l ove

of humanity is imp o ssible because there is no such
—
thing as humanity there are only men and w omen ;
the reli gi on of pr ogress is imp o ssible because pr o
gress means n othing unless we kn ow whither we are
pr ogressing Phil os ophical sys tems scientific con
.
,

structions and sl o gans leave the heart of man c old .

Even a the ory ab o ut l ove means little as l ong as it

remains a the ory But let l ove bec ome pers onal in
.

i ll
s ome one and then t pu s at every heart string in -

the w orld There is the secret of the appeal of the

.

I ncarnati on . Love became I ncarnate and dwelt

am ongst us Since that day hearts that have kn own
.

what the I ncarnati on means can never c ontent them

selves with any system which asks us to ad ore th e
c osm os M an never h as l oved never will l ove any
.
,

thing he cann ot get h is arms ar ound and the c o sm os

,

is too big and too bulky Th at is wh y th e Immense

.

God became a B a be in order that we migh t encir cle

 THE
“
D IVINE ROMAN CE ”
45

THE DIVI NE E UATI O N

L ove tends to become one with the one l oved :
"
This was the I ncarnati on in which God became man .

L ove kn ows no limits in its giving : This was the

R edempti on thr ough the merits of Jesus Christ ao ,

complished thr ough the Pers on of God taking up on

Hi mself a human nature like unto ours in all things
,

except sin Thus far we have pr o gressed in o ur un

.

folding of the D ivine R omance .

N ow we g o on to inqu i re wh a t did Christ do with

the human nature which He assumed and united to
His D vine P erson What did He do with that b ody
i ?

which He took fr om the Blessed M other M ary and ,

which i n its physical state lived fr om the crib to

the cr o ss ? He did many things with it but they are ,

all reducible to three : He taught He governed and , ,

He sanctified
Firs t He taught not as the Scribes and Pha risees
, , ,

but as one having auth ority C onsci ous that He was

.

th e Eternal W ord of Go d that illumi n ed every man

coming into the w orld He taught not as a searcher
,

of truth b ut as one c ommunicating i t fr om its very

“ ”
s ource and F ountain Head : I AM THE T R UTH .

D esiring that others sh ould share in that truth He ,

gathered men ab o ut Him and bade them g o out and

teach the nati ons of the earth to observe all things
whats oever He had c ommanded .

Sec ondly He used His b ody n o t only to teach but

,

als o to govern and f ound a Kingd om A ll g overn .

ment is based up on p ow er C onsci ous of His uni o n

.

“
with His Heavenly Father He c ould say : A LL ,

N
P O WE R I S G IV E T O M E I HE AV E A D I N N N N
E AR TH ”
. Gathering th e elements of His First
46 “
THE DIVINE RO MANCE ”

Kingd om c onsisting m ostly of ign ora nt men He

, ,

ch ose fr om the twelve of them one as their Chief and

—
Guide Peter the R ock on whom He said He w ould ,

build His Church and to wh om He c ommitted th e ,

p
supreme ower of feeding His lambs and feeding His
sheep .

Thirdly with Hi s b ody He sanctified :

, I AM “

C OM E TH A T Y O U MA Y H AV E L I FE A D N
TH A T I A BU D A CE N ”
N
Through th e instru N .

mentality of that b ody He o e n ed bli n d eyes to the p

light of G o d s sunshine un stop ed deaf ear s to th e
’
, p
u
m sic of the human voice forgave en itent M agda , p
len sanctified the woman at the well an d re mad e
, ,
-

N ic o demus as one b orn a n ew But as e sent out His . H

A p ostles to teach His Truth to establish the govern ,

ment of His Kingd om He now sends them out as His ,

Father had sent Him to f or g ive sins to cast out ,

devils and renew His Sacrifice in c ommem oration of

,

Him and to baptize in th name of the Father and

, e
of the Son and of the H oly Gh o st .

I n other words the human nature or the b ody of ,

O ur Blessed L ord was the c onj oined instrument by

which He taught governed an d sanctified ; by it He ,

c ommunicated His Truth as Teacher His law as ,

King and His Life as a Priest f or He w as the

, ,
.

Truth the Way and the Lif e

,
.
a

The remarkable thing ab out His ear thly life was

the fact that He often sp oke of it c ontinuing after
His death f or He Wh o laid d own His life c ould take
,

it up again He reminded His Ap o stles over and over

.

again that after His resurrecti on He w ould assume

,

an other b ody not a b ody like unt o the one which He

,

took fr om the Blessed M other but rather a kind of ,

s ocial b ody w hich w ould be made up of all th ose who

 “
I
THE D VIN E RO AN CE M ”
47

bec ome inc orp o rated int o His Kingd om He s aid .

that this uni on between Himself and this b ody would

be organic vital and life li ke like a uni on of the
,
-
,

vine and the branches and j ust as the branches c ould

,

not live with out the vine so neither c ould this n ew

,

b o dy of His live with out Him ; He pr omised them

that He w ould not leave them o rphans but that He
would remain with them al l days even to the con
summati on of the w orld and that w hen two or m ore
,

were gathe red t ogether in His name He w ould be

in the midst of them Finally He told them that He
.
,

would bec ome so much identified with the p oor hun ,

gry persecuted members of this new b ody that wh o

,

ever w ould do a kindness to any one of them or even

give them a drink w ould be d oing it unto Him ; that
,

this b ody w ould not be like an instituti on but like

a mustard seed that w ould gr ow fr om small begin
ning s to fill the wh ole earth and that between it and ,

Hi mself there would be s omething of the unity that

existed between Him and His Heavenly Father — “
I
N N
I THEE A D TH O U I M E ”
N .

He did say h owever that His uni on with this new

, ,

b ody w ould not be c omplete until the day of Pe nte

c ost f or He w oul d not assume His new b ody until
,
“ ”

He had taken His own fr om th is earth He left the .

elements of this new b ody on earth when He as ,

cended into Heaven namely His A p o stles

, But this , .

little gr oup of men gathered ab out Him as yet were

wanting a s oul f or their c orp orate unity fighting as ,

they were f or first place in the Kingd om of Heaven

and even returning to their nets and their b oats
after the R esurrecti on They were like the chemicals
.

that exist i n a lab oratory which chemicals c ould ,

p
make up the hysical constituents of a body a n d yet
48
“
H M
T E DIVIN E RO AN CE ”

cann ot because they lack a soul or vivifying spirit

, .

They were as yet a kind of organ izati on ; but they

were to bec ome an organism unde r the influence of
the spirit of Christ that w ould c ome on Penteco st .

Ten days after the A scensi on of O ur Blessed L ord

i nt o H
eaven the H oly Spirit descended up on the
,

A p ostles gathered in the upper r oom of Jerusalem ,

baptized them with fire gave them a s oul made them

, ,

one signed them with a sign and sealed them w ith

,

a seal and at that precise m oment the new b o dy of

,

Christ was b orn— the b ody of Christ is His Church .

I n the fiery gl ow of that Penteco stal gift the small ,

and scattered rays c ombined to f orm one great radi

u
ance and they wh o b ef ore h ad been b t men of little
,

f aith filled with childish egotism now went into the

w orld c onsci ous that they were the beginning of that
new b o dy of Christ which w ould gr ow as the mus
tard seed even to th e c onsummati on of the w orld .

A m I teach ing a strange and n ovel d octrine when

I say that the Church is the b ody of Christ ? R ecall
to your mind an incident that happened w ithin
twenty years after the day of Pentec ost within ,

which time that new b o dy of Christ had gr own and

expanded to fill much of the then kn own w orld The .

incident that I refer to is that of Saul of Tarsus the ,

fiery Hebrew of the Heb rews wh o hated Christ and

,

things Christian as much as any man c ould hate .

A rmed with letters fr om the Synagogue of J erusa

lem he sets out f or the City of D amascus to seize and
,

persecute the Christians there wh o bel onged to the

Chur ch of the body of Christ While on the way sud
.

u
denly a great light sh one r o nd ab out him He falls .

to th e grou n d and hears a voice saying to him :

“
A A
S U L, S U L WHY PE R S ECUTE ST T O U
, H
50
“
THE DIVI NE RO AN CEM ”

an other sense than He di d in Judea an d Galilee ) .

A nd He Christ i n Heaven is the Head of that Body

, , .

A s He took a b o dy fr om M ary wh o was filled with

the H oly Spirit with which He lived a physical li fe
,

of thirty three ye ars so He lives t o day His mystical

-
,

life in a new b ody taken fr om human ity but likewis e

overshad owed with the Pentec o stal Spirit which we ,

call the Church A s His I ncarnati on was made up of

.

a visible and a n i nvisible element a hu man and di ,

vine : so too His c ontinued Incarnati on in His

, ,

Church is made up of tw o elements human and ,

divine The human element in it is p oor weak h u

.

manity and the divine acment is the life of Go d

, .

Wi th this new b ody taken fr om humanity and filled

with His Spirit Christ is re living His life at Beth
,
-

lehem , N
azareth Galilee and Jerusalem He is d oing
,
.

with this new b o dy three things as He did three ,

things with His physical b ody : with it He teaches

fi
,

He governs a n d He sancti es .

First of all He teaches But h ow d oes He teach ?

, .

He Wh o is invisible teaches thr ough the instrumen

tality of His body A teacher in a class r oom f or .
,

example wishes to c ommunicate a piritual truth

, S ,

such as l ove of duty That spiritual truth is s ome .

thi ng which h as no matter no size n o weight or , _

,

c ol or and yet it is c ommuni cated materially by writ"

,

ing by w ords o r by examples I t d oes not bec ome

, , .

a diff erent truth when it is c ommunicated visibly or

audibly So too when Christ t eaches He teaches
.
, ,

thr ough the visible head of His mystical b o dy wh o

is Hi s V ica r on earth Just as His own physical b ody .

had a visible head so too His mystical b o dy h as a , , ,

visible head Thi s visible head is the success or of

.
.

His first V icar on wh om He built His Church and

 “
THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

promised that the gates of hell w ould not prevail

against it Tw o c onclusi ons f oll ow : The first is that
.
,

the truth Which is c ommunicated to the b ody

thr ough its visible head the V icar of Christ is not
, ,

a distinct spiritual truth fr om the truth existi ng in

the invisible head of the Church which is Christ ,

Himself a n y m ore than the spiritual truth of th e

,

teacher became an other truth when articulated The .

Truth of Christ and the truth of His V icar are one

and the same and such is the meaning of the w ards :
,
“ ”
HE TH A T HE AR E TH Y O U HE AR E TH M E , .

Sec ondly the truth will be necessarily infallible or

, ,

free fr om err or f or it is essentially the truth of

,

Christ and hence the infalli bility of the V icar of

,

Christ is only an other way of saying the inf allibility

of Christ I nfallibility is an end owment of the B ody
.

w ith which its V isible Head thi nks and speaks the
M ind of Christ And to deny that Christ can com
.

municate His truth as He c ommunicated it centuries

ag o is to limit the truth of the Son of God to P ale s
,

tine as a Space and to thirty three years as a Ti me -

.

To the m embers of that b ody Chri st speaks thr ough

the Peter of our own day as He p oke thr ough th e S
Peter of the first .

Sec ondly Christ not only teaches thr ough the in

,

strumentality of His b ody which is the Church but , ,

He als o governs thr ough it The supreme legisla .

,

tive executive and j udicial decisi ons of the Vicar

,

and th ose under h is auth ority are the deci si ons of

C hr ist an d therefore binding with the auth ori ty of
Christ M y w ill f or example may direct that my
.
, ,

hand be m oved Th e decisi on of my will is invi sible

.
,

but the manifestati ons of the will are external and

visible So too the will of Christ and the govern
.
, ,
52 “
THE D VIN E I RO MANCE ”

ment of His Church are expressed thr ough the visi

ble he ad of His b ody and th ose j oined to him as the
other A p ostles were j o ined to Peter This al one ives
g .

the key to the childlike obedience so incomp reh ensi

ble to the out sider which we give to the Church an ,

obedience whereby we submit to it as the will of '

Christ expressed in the acti on of His Vicar It is .

f or us n o S lave mentality no c orpse like servitude ,

-
,

but a pr of oundly religi ous act an abs olute devoti on ,

to Christ paid by His chi ldren wh o are enj oying the

gl ori ous liberty of the children of God .

Finally Christ d oes a third thing wi th His b od y

fi
,

and that is He sancti es with it Th e b ody of Christ

fi
.

is c ontinually receiving th roug h seven mysteri ous

physical signs the Energy of the D ivine Life and the
liberating handling of His Preci ous W ounds f or ,

each Sacrament is a kiss of God a material thing

fi
,

used as a means of spiritual sancti cation and the

tr ue minister of every Sacrament is n one other than
the Supreme and Eternal High Priest— Christ Him
self .

I n summary then Christ Wh o in His human

, ,

b ody taught governed and sanctified now c ontinues

, ,

to do the same in His mystical b ody and her teach ,

ings are Christ s infallible teachings her c ommands

’
, ,
’
Chri st s divine c ommands and her Sacramental ,

Life Christ s D ivine Life : T h e Church then is th e

,
’ "

, ,

c ontinuati on of the I ncarnati on It is not an ins ti .

tuti en like a bank but a life not an o rganizati on like

, ,

a club but an organism not s omething h or iz ontal

, ,

extending fr om the A p ostles as men to us as other

men b ut as s omething ver ti cal in which D ivine Life
, g

descends first fr om Go d to Christ and then on to

us in the Church .
 “
I
THE D VIN E R O MAN CE ”
53

The G ospel therefore is being re li ved by the pre -

sence of Christ in His new b ody which is the ,

Church Just as His own h um an b od y w as subj ect

'

to physic al weaknesses j ust as it became tired at ,

Jac ob s well and had its lips blistered with the kiss
’
,

of Judas so I see His own mystical b ody subj ect not

,

to physical weakness b ut to m oral we akness and

,

scandals and even to other betraying lips But I

, .

can see n o m ore reas on f or d oubting the divinity of

His mystical b ody because of its failures and weak
nesses than I can see a reas on f or d oubting th e
,

D ivinity of Christ because three of His A p ostles

S lept in the garden Thr ough the lips of the Church
.

I hear Christ S peaking and her w ords I accept as the

very w ords of Christ When she li fts her hands in
.

the c onfessi onal and bids the sinner g o and sin no

m ore I see once m ore Christ lifting His hands in f or
g iveness as onl ookers taunt Him :
“
How can man
”
f rgive sins
o ? When I see s ome of her own children
leave her because they cann ot accept her d o ctrine I ,

see Christ once m ore permitting His own ch o sen dis

cipl es wh o f ound His sayings hard to leave Him and

walk with Him no more When I see her h old al oft .

“
a white H ost in the Chalice and say to me : Beh old
”
the Lamb of God I believe that Christ Himself is
,

as really and truly there as if He sh ould thr ow O pen

the Tabernacle d oor and declare unto me His li ving

presence When I see a p riest m ount the altar steps
.

to renew the Sacrifice of Calvary I see once m ore the ,

bleeding feet of Chris t climbing the hill and His

wo unded hands outstretched on the gibbet of a cr oss .

When I hear her call men and w omen away fr om the

,

lights and glam ou rs of the w orld to th e shades and

shadows of the cr oss where sai nts are made I hear ,
 “
54 THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

o nce m ore Chris t c ommending M ary because sh e

had ch osen the better part and that after all only
, , ,

one thing in life is necessary and that i s the salva

ti on of a s oul When I hear her misunderstoo d and

.

hated by the w orld I can hear Christ once m ore

,
“
reminding us : Because I have take n you out of the
world theref ore the w orld will hate you But r e
, .

”
member that it hath hated M e be fore you I n th ose .

m oments when she is accused of being unscientific ,

b ehind the times and the Church of the p oo r I hear

,
“
,

men once m ore asking Christ : Can anything goo d

c ome o ut of azarethN ? ”
I n th ose other m oments
when the w orld sh outs and acclaims her and w ould
alm ost cr own her K ing rI see the palm branches of
triumph change into spears of threat Then in th ose.

m oments of s orr ow when the Church go es on trial

and I hear her c ondemned f or being too d ogmatic ,

I am reminded of Annas c omplaint that Christ

’

w ould not speak out c oncerning His ministry and

His d octrine When I hear her charged with bein g
.

too w orldly and unpatri otic I take the charges mere

,

’
1y as ech oes made bef ore Pilate s palace that Christ
was perverting th e nati on and refusing to give tri
bute to Caesar When I hear her c ondemned f or
.

being too unw orldly and refusing to c ompr omise I ,

can al mo st see Her od once again r obing Christ in

the garment of a f o ol b eacuse He w ould not do a
w orldly trick to gai n His release When the charges
.

are added viz that she 1 s to o d ogmatic or too und og

, ,

ma tic too w orldly or too unw orldly I recall that

, ,

they are c on tradictory charges and that the only

fi tting punishment f or one c ondemned on contradic
t ory ch af g es is th e sign of c ontradicti on : the cr oss
on whi ch one bar is at variance an d in c ontradicti on
 THE
“
I
D IV N E RO MANCE ”
55

with the other The Church then must have her

.
, ,

passi on days even as Christ must be c ondemned i n

three languages in Hebrew Latin and Greek in the
, , ,

cultures of Jeru salem R ome and Athens i n the

, ,

n ame of the good the true and the beautiful N ow

, .

as then the representatives of these three cultures

pass beneath the cr oss and ask that the Church give
u p and come d own Th ose wh o crucify i n the na me of
“
.

the goo d sh out unt o her : C ome d own fr om y our

,

S
belief in the piritual destiny of man ; c ome d own
fr om y our belief that man has been made to the im
age and li keness of God : c ome d own fr om your b e
lief in the sanctity of marriage c ome d own and we ,
”
will believe . Th ose wh o crucify in the name of th e
“
true pass beneath the cr oss and plead : C ome d own
,

fr om your belief that there is such a thing as truth ;

c ome d ow n fr om your belief in the D ivinity of
Christ and the exis tence of Go d ; c ome d own fr om
your belief in the c ontinued life and truth of Christ
in His C hurch Can you not see that there are o ther
.

cr osses on Calvary beside y our o w n ? C ome d own

”
a n d we will believe Th o se wh o crucify in the name
.

“
of the beau tiful S h out : C ome d own fr om yo ur belief
that salvati on is purchased thr ough m orti cation ; fi
c ome d own fr om yo ur belief that the only way to
save a life is to l ose it ; c ome d ow n fr om your belief
that an other w orld i s to be purchased by the tem
pered enj oyment of this one See the straits to "
which your phil os ophy has already led you Your .

flesh is hanging like purple rags C ome d own and .

”
we will believe .

’
The divinely supreme miracle of Christ s wh ole
life and the wh ole life of the Church is that sh e d oes
n ot come d own The miracle of th e crucifixi on i s the
.
56 THE
“
I
D VIN E RO AN E M C ”

fact that Ch rist still hangs there D ivinity in such

.

m oments is Sh own by restraint of p ower A human .

being w ould have stepped d own with the same im

p etuo usness with which weak men answe r timid
challenges The miracle i s to be able to c ome d own
.

and yet not to c ome d own I t is human to c ome

.

d own but it is divine to hang there I t w ould be

, .

easy f or the C hurch to come d own ; to have bee n

Gn o stic in the first Century ; to have been Arian in
the f ourth and to be pagan in the twentieth It is
, .

always easy to let the age have its head but it is ,

di fficult to keep one s own‘ I t is always easy to fail ;

’
.

there are a th ousand aiigl es at whi ch a thing will

fall but only one at which it stands and that is the
,

angle at which the Church is p oised between Heaven

and earth and f r om that angle she o erlookS th e p as
’
.

sing fads and fancies of the ages and S ngs over i

them in deep and s on or ous t o nes a requiem in the
language of Hebrew Latin and Greek awaitin g the
, ,

day when sh e shall c ome d own to walk in th e gl ory

of her new Easter m or n .
 “
58 THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

ing Hills now had the r o ugh nails applied to th em

, .

The first kn ock of the hammer is heard in silence ;

bl ow f oll ows bl ow and is faintly reech oed o ver the
city walls beneath M ary and J ohn h old thei r ears
. .

The s ou nd is unendurable ; each ech o s ounds as an

other str oke The cr o ss is lifted sl owly off the
.

gr ound staggers f or a m oment i n mid air and then

,
-
, ,

w ith a thud that se emed to S hake even hell its elf it ,

sank int o the pit prepared f or it O ur Blessed Lo rd .

h as m o unted His pulpit f or the last time and what

"
,

a maj estic pulpit it is I n itself the cr o ss is a ser

mon How much m ore el oquently it speaks now
"
.

when ad orned with the W ord of Eternal Life

Like all wh o m o unt th eir pulpits He o erlooks His ,

’

audience Far off in the distance d ow n over the

.
,

Valley of Jeh osaphat and over on the other S ide of ,

the valley He c ould see the gilded r oof of the Te mple

,

reflecting its rays against the sun which was s oon ,

to hide its f ace in shame Here and there on Templ e .

walls He caught g ilmp ses of figures straining their

eyes to catch the last view of Him Who m th e dark
’

N
-

ness knew not earer the pulpit but off at the b ord
.
,

er of the cr owd st o od s ome of His own timid disciples

,

ready to flee in case of danger Greeks and R omans .

w ere there too as well as Scribes and Phari sees

, ,

fro m Jerusalem There we r e Temple priests in the

.

cr owd aski n g Him to c ome d ow n and pr ove His D i

]

vinity There were the D ei ty blind m ocking and

.
-
,

sp itting at Him There w ere s ome wh o had foll owed

.

Him f or an h our taunti n g Him that othe r s He ,

saved but Himself He co uld not save There were

,
.

R om an s oldiers throwi ng dice f or the garments of a

God And there at th e foot of the cr oss sto o d th at
.

wou n d ed fl ow er ,
that bro ken thi n g, Mag dal en f or ,
 “
I
THE D VIN E ROMAN CE ”
59

given becau se sh e loved much A nd there with a .

,

face like a cast m oulded out of l ove was J ohn A nd , .

there God pity her was His own M other M ary

, , , .

M ary M agdalen and J ohn I nn ocence penitence

, .
, ,

and priesth ood : the three types of s ouls f orever to

be f ound beneath the c ross of Christ .

All is silence now The Scribes and Phari se es

.

cease their raillery the R oman s oldiers put away

,

their dice The sky is darkened and men gr ow fea r

.

ful They are awaiting th e farewell address of the

.

Son of God He begins to speak but like all men

.
,

wh o die He thinks of those wh om He l oves m ost

, .

His first w ord was a w ord ab out His enemies :

“
F A THE R F OR G IV E THE M F OR THEY K O W , N
N O T WH A T THEY DO ”
His second w ord was .

S “
ab o ut inners and He sp oke to a thief : T I S D Y H A
TH O U S HA LT BE W I TH M E P ARADI SE ”
IN
"
.

A nd the thief died a thief f o r he st ole Paradise His

third w ord was to His saints It w as th e newA n
,

nunciation :
“
MO THE R BE H O L D THY S O ,
”
As N .

the serm on went on it seemed to gain in emphasis

,

ab out the l ove of Go d f or man an d at this particula r

p oint that we are now c onsidering when He began ,

to speak it was not a curse up on tho se wh o crucified

,

Him ; it was not a w or d of repr oach to th e timi d dis

cipl es off at the b order of the cr owd ; it was not a

word of with ering sc orn to th ose wh o taunted and .

mocked Him ; it was not a pr oud pr ophetic w ord of

p ower to th ose wh o taunted His weakness ; it w as
not a w ord of hate to th e R oman s oldiers ; it was
not a w ord of h ope to M agdalen ; it was not a w ord
'

of l ove to J ohn ; it was not a w o rd of f arewell o His

t
own M othe r ; i t was no t even to God at thi s m oment

"
,

it was to man And o ut fr om th e abundance of th e

60
“
THE DIVIN E RO AN CE M ”

Sacred
”
H
eart there welled the cry of cri es : “
I
TH IR ST .

He the man He Wh o h olds the earth i n the

Go d "
fi
-
,

palm of His hand He fr om wh ose ng er tips have ,

-

tumbled planets and worlds He Wh o threw the stars ,

int o their orbits and spheres int o space now asks

, ,

man a piece of His own handiw ork to help Him

, e , . H
asks man f or a drink Not a drink of earthly w ater .
,

that is not what He wanted b ut a drink of l ove ,

I thi rst f or l ove .

There is perhaps no w ord in the English language

that is m ore often used and m ore often misunder
st ood than the w ord th at r ang out fr om the Pulpi t of
th e Cr oss on that day : the simple w ord l ove L ove .

as the w orld understa n ds it means to have to own , ,

to p ossess : to have that obj ect to ow n th at thing , ,

’

to p o ssess that pers on f or the particular pleasure

fi
,

which it will give That is not love ; that is sel sh

.

ness that is S in Love is n o t the d esi re to have to

, .
,

own to p o ssess
,
L ove is the desire to be had to be
.
,

owned to be p ossessed
,
L ove is the giving of oneself .

f or the sake of an other L ove as the w orld un der .

stands it is symb olized by a circle which is always

,

circumscribed by self Love as our Lord under .

stands it is symb olized by the cr oss with its arms

,

outstretched even unt o infinity to embrace all h u

manity w ithin its grasp A s l ong as we have a b ody .

,

then l ove can n ever mean anything else but sacri

fi
,
“ ” “ ”
ce . That is why we speak of arr ows and darts
of l o ve— s omething that w ounds .

But if love in its highest reaches m ea n s sacrifice

, , ,

then these words of O ur Blessed L ord fr om the cro ss

are th e climax of Love s ways with unl oving men ’
.
 THE
“
I I
D V N E RO AN CE M ”
61

Love did not keep the secret g of its oo —

dness tha t
was creati on L ove became one with the one l oved
.
,

and that was the I ncarnati on But if l ove h ad merely .

stopped with God bec oming man we might say that ,

God did not do everything He c ould do to show His

'

l ove ; we might say that He was like the heathen

gods that sat indiff erent to the w oes and ills and
heartaches of the w orld and hence never drew fr om
the heart of man a beat of l ove If D i vine L ove .

stopped merely by appearing am ongst us man

'

might say th at God could never understand the suf

f ering s and the loneliness of a human heart ; that
a God c ould not l ove as men do namely to the p oint , ,

of sacrifice I f therefore l ove was to give of its full

.
, ,

ness it must express i tself even to the p oint of sac

fi
,

ri cing itself f or the salvati on and redem ti on of p

mankind I f theref ore He Wh o su ff ere d on Cal
.
, ,

vary He Wh o was now preaching fr om th e Pulpit

,

of the C r o ss were not Go d but a mere creature or a

, ,

mere man then there must be creatures in this

,

world better and n obler than God Shall man wh o

'

toils f or his fell ow man su ff ers f or him and if needs

, ,

be die f or him be capable of d oing that which Go d

,

cann ot do ? Sh ould this n obl est f orm of l ove which ,

is sacrifice be p o ssible to S inful man and yet im

, ,

p ossible to a perfectly goo d God ? Shall we say that

th e martyr sprinkling the sands of the C ol o sseum
with his bl oo d the s oldier dying f or h is c ountry the
, ,

missi onary S pending himself and being spent f or

th e good of heathens aye and m ore shall we say , ,

that th o se w omen ma rtyrs by pain wh o in l ittle

fi
, ,

hovels and l ow ly c ottages have sacri ced al l the j oys

of life for the sake of S imple duties and little cha ri t ,

ies u nno ticed and un kn own by all save God —shall

, ,
62
“
THE DIVIN E R O MANCE ”

we say that all th ose wh o fr om the beginning of the

,

w orld have sh own f orth the beauty of sacrifice have ,

no di vine pr ototype in h eaven ? That they have been

capable of di splaying a n obler form of l ove than
He Wh omade them ? That they have h own greater S
l ove than Love I ts elf ? Shall we say th is or shall ,

we say w ith J ohn and Paul that if man can be so

,

g oo d Go d must be infinitely better ; that if man can

,

l ove so much God can l ove infinitely more Shall we

, .

not say this and find in the Cr o ss of Calvary the

,

perfect exp res sion of love by an All Per f ect Being of -

,

Wh om perfect c ondescensi on and sacrifice were re

quired by naught in heaven o r earth save by His own
perfect and inconceivableLove which He now preach
eS fr om the Pulpit of the Cr o ss ? I f we do say this ,

that He is very Go d of Go d and love is now reaching

,

its climax in the redempti on of mankind then no ,

“
l onger can men say Why d oes God send men into
—
,

the w orld to be miserable when He is happy f or

the Go d man i s miserable now N o l onger can men
- .

“
say , Go d makes me suff er pain while He goes
”
thr o ugh none f or the God man is now endurin g
,
-

pain to the utm o st N o longer can men say that God

.

has a heart that cann ot understand f or now His ,

own Sacred Heart understands what it is to be aban

earth rej ected by one and aban d oned by the other .

I
,

N ow it is true to sa y of L o ve tself that it i s really

dying f or u s f or gr eater l ove than this no man hath
,

that a man lay d own h is li f e f or h is friend .

The drama of that day i s an abiding one For .

Calvary is not j ust a mere historical incident like ,

th e battle of Wate rl oo ; it is not s ome thi n g wh i ch

 “
THE DIVINE ROMAN CE ”
63

h as happened , it is s ometh ing which is als o hap en p

ing Christ is still on the cr o ss
. .

“
Whenever there Is Sl lence ar ound me
By day or by n ight
I am startled by a cry .

I t came d own fr om the cr oss

The first time I h ear d it .

I went out and searched

And found a man i n the thr oes of crucifixi on
An d I said I will take you d own
‘
,
’
,

And I tried to take the n ails out of h is fee t .

u ‘
B t He s aid Let them be
,

For I cann ot be taken d own

Until every man every w om an and every
, ,

’
C ome together to take me d own .

‘
A nd I said But I cann ot bear y our cry
, .

What can I do ? ’

H ‘
And e said Go ab o ut the w orld
,

Tell every one that y ou meet

That there is a man on the cr oss
.
.

B ecause of sin Christ dies agai n f or as St Paul , .

“
reminds us as often as we sin we crucify again
,
”
to ourselves the Son of God Th e scars are still .

“ ’ ”
O pen Earth s pain still stands deified and still
.
,
’
like falling stars Christ s bl ood dr ops crims on the -

r obes of other J ohns and the hair of other M agda

lens A s l ong as earth wears w ounds still must
.
,

Christ s w ounds remain f or each new si n draws

’
,

aside the curtain of an other Crucifixi on Christ is .

still on trial in the hearts of men an d every sin is ,

a noth er act by whi ch B ar a bas is referred to b p

64
“
THE DIVIN E RO AN CE M ”

Christ There still are other J udases wh o blister His

.

lips with a kiss there still are other Pilates wh o

,

c ondemn Him as an enemy of Caesar there still are ,

other Her ods wh o r obe Him in the garment of a fool ,

there still are gambling idlers wh o cast their dice ,

gambling away the riches of eternity f or the baubles

of time ; there still are other Calvaries f or sin is the

fi
,

cr uci x 1 0 n o ver again Arms that are outstretched.

to bless we na il fast Feet that w ould seek u s in the

, .

devi ous ways of sin we dig with steel Eyes that

, .

w ould l ook l ongingly after us as we set out f or

f oreign c ountries like other pr o digals we fill with
, ,

dust Lips that w ould speak to uS w ords of tender

.

‘
pleading and f org iveness e b urn with gall A heart
‘

that w ould pant f or us as if we were fountains of

—

li ving waters we pierce with a lance And when

,
.

the last nail has been driven and Christ like a ,

w o unded eagle IS unfurled up on His banner of sal

,

vati on we begin to say in o ur own heart of hear ts

,

that after all He c ould not be Go d f or i f He were ,

God h ow c ould w e have crucified Him ? With the

j ob of s1nn1ng d one which means the crucifix ion we
, ,

make our way d own the hill of Calvary and then

there comes not th e quake of earth but the quake of
c onsci ence which makes us say i n our s oul with the
“ ”
Centuri on : I ndeed this is the Son of God A s nu
"
.
,

easiness and rem orse creep up on us we l ook back t ,

Calvary and wonder why He d oes not c ome after us .

Why if He is the G oo d Shepherd d oes He not pur

, ,

sue His sheep Why if He is the Lord of all good

?
,

gi fts d o es He not raise His hands to bless ? Why if

, ,

He is the Lord of sinners d o es He not bid us retur n ,

to th e foot of the Cross ?

Oh "
t ll m e e, how can han ds bl ess that are n ailed
66
“
H
T E DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

DYING AND BEHOLD WE LIVE

Havi n g delivered Hi s f arewell address fr om the
"

pulpit of the cr o ss and finished th e w ork of His Eter

nal Father Jesus b ows His head and dies To make
, .

certai n of His d eath a centuri on Longinus by name

, , ,

pierces His Heart with a lance and the D ivine Mas

ter Wh o saved up a few dr ops of His Preci ous
,

Bl oo d now p ours them out to pr ove that His l ove is

, ,

str on ger than death .

Two men wh o lacked c ourage to declare their af

fi liati ons while He was living J oseph of A rimathea
,

an d N
ic odemus br ought perfumes and s ices a n d
, p
e mbalmed the Body of Jesus It was first laid on
.

’
M ary s lap and it seemed to her th at Bethlehem had
,

co me back again —but really it had not Between

, .

Bethlehem and Calvary our sins had interv ened .

The body was lifeless Jesus was dead . .

His en emies remembered that He had said that

He would rise agai n but they were certain He would
,

n ot They were afrai d that the Apostles would come

.

a n d steal away the B ody a n d then say He had risen .

Guarding against such deceit they went to Pilate , ,

asking him to set a watch of s oldiers ab out the t omb

f or three days in additi on to which they w ould at

— n

tach their own offi cial seal to the stone bef or e the
entrance Pilate acceded to their request Then the
fi
. .

E vangelist M atthew ttingly cl osed h is Gospel with

“
th e mo st ir onic senten ce in literature : A nd they de
parting made the sepulchre sure The seal was
placed o n the sepulchre and a great stone r olled in
fr ont of the d oor They took every precauti on
.

agai n st f raud but c ould take n one against D ivinity

,
.
 “
T HE D IVIN E
”
RO MA NCE 67

A S they made their way d own Calvary s hill , such

’

th oughts as these ran thr ough their minds : ow “

N ,

His fishermen can g o back to their n ets and th eir

b oats ; their Kingd om is a m ockery A s f or their .

M aster His Heart was so pierced that l ood and

, b
wat er cam e from it Even th ough He had a breath
.

of li f e left in that bl oodless b o dy it is now b eing ,

su ff ocated by the hu n dredweight of spices with

which He was embalmed O ur vilig ance and that of
.

e
the s oldi ers will not p rmit any one to steal away the
H
B ody He Wh o said e had li fe in abundance is now
.

dead ; He Wh o said He c ould summon twelve legi ons

of angels to His as sista n c e now is c old as death ; He

Wh o said He could raise up a child of Abraham f r om

a ston e is n ow buried under stone The I mp ost or is
" "
.

dead How wonderf ully e ff ective is a R oman death

N othing can survive a Cru cifixi on He wil l n ever "
rise agai n ”
"
IS that true ? Ca n one rise fr om the dead ? Does
not the very fact that H
e was b orn i n a stran ger s
’
’

cave an d buried in a stranger s grave pr ove that

human birth and death are equally f oreign to Him ?
Look ab out at nature Is not the sprin g time the
.

Easter D ay of the G ood Friday of winter ? Has not

all death within itsel f the germs of li f e ? D oes not
“ ”
the falli ng rain bud the greenery ? Do es not the
falling ac orn bud the tree ? Why sh ould all creati on
ri s e fr om the dead and not the R edeemer of crea
tion ?

“
I f this bright lily
Can live on ce m o re ,

And its white promise

Be as before ,
 “
68 THE DIVIN E ROMAN CE ”

Why can not th e great st one

B e m oved fr om His d oor ?

If the green g ra ss
A scend a n d shake
Year after year ,

And blossoms break

A gai n and agai n
For A ’
pril s sake ,

Why can n ot He,

Fr om the dark an d m old ,

Sh ow us agai n
His manif ol dm
And gleaming gl ory ,

A stream of gold ?

Fai nt he art b sure

, e
These things must be .

See the new bud

O n the old tr ee "
I f fl owers can wake ,

O h wh y not He ?
,
”

Sunday m orning came and it was one of calm

, ,

like the sleep of inn ocents and the clear benign air
, ,

see med alm ost as if it had b een stirred by angels _

’

w ings. M ary walked in th e gar den and s o meo ne

near her sp oke a w ord and pr on ounced it l ongingly
, ,

w istf ully in that t ouching and unforgettable vo ice

“ ”
which h ad called her so many times : Mary And .

to th is one and only w ord sh e made an an swer a

, ,
“ ”
w ord and o nly one : R abb oni An d as She fell at
“

His kn ees in the dewy grass and clasped in her

h
hands th ose bare feet s e sa w t w o —
scars two red ,
 THE
“
DIVIN E ROM N CE A ”
69

lined marks of nails f or Christ was , now walking

in the gl ory of His new Easter morn .

That was the first Easter D ay C ent ri s have . u e

whirled away since and o n this new E aster D ay as
,

I turn fr om that garden to the altar I beh old placed ,

over the tabernacle on this R esurrecti on D ay the

, ,

image not of a Ri sen Savi o r but the image of a

, ,

dying one to teach me that Christ lives over again

,

in His Church and that the Church like Chr ist not
, , ,

only lives not only dies b t alw ays rises f r om the

, , u
dead She is in l ove with d eath as a c onditio n of
.

birth and with her as with Chri st unl ess ther e is a

, , ,

Good Fridayj n her life there will never be an Easter,

Sunday ; unless there is the cr own of th orns there

"
will never be the hal o of light and unless there is ,

th e cr o ss there will neve r be the emptly t omb I n .

other w ords every now and then the Church must

,

be crucified by an unbelieving w orld and buried as

dead only t o rise again She never does anything
, .

but die and f or that peculiar reas on he never d oes

,
S
anything but live Every now and then the very life
.

seems to have gone out of her ; sh e is palled with

death ; her bl oo d seems to have been sapped out of
her ; her enemies seal the t omb r oll a stone in f r ont ,
“
of her grave and say : Th e Church will never rise
again ”
" But s omeh ow o r other sh e d o es rise a gain .

At lea st a d ozen times in history the w orld h as ,

buried the Church and each time sh e h as come to

life again We ch oose but a few such instances
. .

A hunted S avio ur must always have hunted chil

dren and in tho se days of the R oman persecuti on
the Church like a m ole had to dig into the caves of
, ,
’
the earth There under the foun dati on of R ome s
.
,

pr oudest temples under r oads that r ocked with the

,
70 THE
“
D IVIN E RO AN CE M ”

tramp of R ome s resistless legi ons these children of

’
,

God were n o urishing themselves on the Bread w .

Life f orti fying their b odi es as well as their s oul s

, ,
“
f or the day whe n they w ould be led to the thumbs
”
down crow d of the R oman C olisseum to testi fy to
'

their faith ven with their bl ood The day came ;

,
e
.

they were led into the center of that gr eat amphi

theater with enemies r ound ab out : there was no os
cape except fr o m ab ove but that was en ough They
,
-
.

met death with a smile u on their lips Caesar s p .

’

mini ons scattered fresh san ds to hide their bl oo d

u
b t c o uld not still their vo ice It r ose fr om the din .

of that arena ; it entered into the very chancery of

G od s Justice ; it p ierced th e mist of undawn ed ages
’ ‘

with no u n certai n challenge : In our bl ood has been

“

mingled the blood of the Living God dying an d b e ,

”
hold we live R oman sw ords blunted by ma ssacre
.

n o l onge r fitted thei r sheaths ; the wi ld beasts over

fed on the living fl esh of the Church lost their crav
ing f or food but still the bloo dy warf are went on
,
.

Caesar was certain he had c onquered He rej oiced .

that the Church was dead Her li fe was sapped and .

S
drain ed ; he c ould n ever survive the R oman sw ord .

A stone was rolled before the d oor The Church .

w ould never rise again And as they set their watch

.
,

and even as they watched the Church like her R isen ,

Savi our came f r om the grave of the Catacombs and

was seen walking i n the gl ory of her new Easter
M orn .

There came other moments in her hist ory when

in th e ey es of the w orld sh e seemed to have her very
life dr aine d out of her Whenever the Palm Sundays
.

of earth ly r ej oicing came her way and the w orld ,

proclaimed h er King and strewed palm branches b e

,
 “
THE DIVIN E RO AN CE M ”
71

neath her feet in a w ord whenever a great m easure

, ,

of temp era] pr o sperity came her way and sh e began ,

to r ely m ore up on acti on than prayer sh e becam e ,

weak The y oke of Christ then seemed heavy to her

.

children ; b o dies craved f or the line of least resist

ance and hearts yearned f or the fl esh p ots of Egypt -
.

It is a strange but certain fact that the Chur ch i s

S
never so weak as when he is p owerful with th e world ,

never so p oor as when S he is rich w ith the riches of

the world ; n ever so f oolish as when sh e is wise with
the fancies of the w orld She is str ongest with D i
.

vi n e Help when sh e is weakest with huma n ower p ,

f or like Peter sh e is given the miracul o us draught of

fishes w hen sh e admi ts by her own p ower sh e h as
lab ored all the night and taken n othi n g .

When her discipline her s irit of saintli ness her p

fi
, ,

zeal f or Christ her vigils and her morti cations

, ,

bec ome a thing of less imp ortanc e the w orld mak es ,

the fatal mistake of belie vi n g that her s oul is d ead

and her faith is departed N ot so The f aith , even . "
in th ose days of lesser prayer i s s olid f or it is the ,

faith of the centuries : the faith of Jesus Christ .

What may b e weak is her discip line her prayerful ,

ne ss and her saintliness f or these are of men

,
’
, ,

whereas her f aith is of God A renewal of spirit .

,

then will c ome not by changing h er way of thinking

, ,

f or that i s divine but her way of acting f or that is

, ,

human .

But the w orld failing to make this di stincti on b e

,

tween the D ivine and the human in h er as it failed ,

to make it i n Christ take s her f or dead

,
To the .

world her very life seems spent ; h er heart pierced

, ,

her body drai n ed ; in its ey es sh e is j ust as dead as

the M aster wh en taken d own fr om the cr o ss and ,
 THE D IVINE
“
72 ROMAN CE ”

there is n othing left to do but to lay her in th e sopul

chr e.

O nce m ore a great stone i s r olled bef ore her tomb ;

the ofli cial s eal of death placed up on it the watch ,

set ; but as they watch ed saintliness came back ,

Christ stirred in Peter s bark and at the very mo ’

,

ment men were saying sh e was dead sh e was seen ,

walking in the gl ory of her new Easter M or n .

Then came o ur own times and with it an other

d eath Her death this time was inflicted not by exe
.

cutioner s but by other Pilates

, These were danger .

ou s days f or any civilizati on is in a bad way when

,

it bec omes indiff erent l i ke an other Pilate to the

, ,
“ ”
answer to the questi on : What is Truth ? Fr om
i nside and outside of the Church sprang up that ol d
Greek error that there is no truth— an err or which ,

f or wan t of a kn owledge of its an cient ancestry was ,

called M oder n ism Truth was derationaliz ed err or

.
,

rati on alized and pr oof s br ought f orward to pr ove

,

all pr oofs were w orthless Teachers wh o bedecked .

themselves in the r obes of prophets became insulted

if told they were not gentlem en but rem onstrated ,

mildly i f told they wer e not Christi an s Mi n ds now .

were told and they b egan to believe with the f orce

, ,

of repetiti on that we must be indiff erent to b oth

,

err or and truth ; that it is a lack of br oadmind edness

to mak e up on e s mi n d ; th at i t makes no diff eren ce
’ '

whether God exists whether Chri st is God or , ,

whether the Sacraments do actually c omm unicate

D ivine Life ; the only thi n g that matters is th e sub
p
j ective i m ressi on such beliefs have up on the feeling
of the b eli ever M inds began to live by catchw ords
. ,

phrase s c overed up l oos e th inking and there was

hardly an ear that did not hear such catchw ords and
74 THE D IVIN E
“
RO MAN CE ”

n ever took place men Would s oon begi n to regar d

,
.

the funeral as a j oke So it is with the Church Th e

.

'
.

n otice of her ex ecution h as been p osted but the ex e

cution h as never taken place Science killed her and
‘
.

still She was there ; Histo ry interred her but still ,

sh e was alive M odernism slew her b ut still sh e

.
,

lived.

Even civilizati ons are b orn rise to greatness then , ,

decli ne suff er and die but they never rise again

, , .

But the Church d oes rise again ; in fact he is con S

stantly finding her way out of th e grave because sh e

had a Captain Wh o f ound His way out of the grave .

The w orld may ex p ect h er to bec ome tired to b e

a
,

weak when sh e bec omes p owerful to become p oor ,

S
when he is rich but the w orld need never expect
,

her to die The w orld S h ould give up l ooking f or th e

.

extincti on of that which so many times h as been

vainly extinguished .

Like a mighty oak tree which h as stoo d f or twenty

centuries sh e bears f resh green f oliage f or each new

age that the age may c ome and enj oy the refreshin g
benedicti on of its shade The fl owers that open thei r
.

chalices of perfume this pring are not ol d things S ,

but new things on an ol d r oot Such is th e C h urch Sh e . .

is reb orn to each new age and hence i s the only new,

thing in the w orld I t is th e errors that are ol d f or

. _ ,

our so called new th ought is only an old mistake with

-

a new label ; it is not a new enthusiasm nor is it a

new l oyalty The Church h as put to bed all the er
.

r or s of the past f or she kn ows that to marry th e

passing fads of any age is to be a wid ow in the next .

She is the refore not behind the times but bey on d ,

the times always fresh whil e the age is dyi n g

,
.

She will g o on dying and l iving again and in each .

 “
THE DIVINE ROMAN CE ”
75

recurri n g cycle of a G ood Friday and ah Easter Sun

'

day her one aim in life will be to preach Christ and

fi
Him C r uci ed A S a student I may be expected to
.

kn ow s omething of her aims and as her priest I ,

may be expected to kn ow s omething of her secrets ,

and I h onestly assure y ou at the cl o se of thi s serie s

, ,

that the Church seeks not the overthr ow of govern

"
ments desires not to impede pr ogress strives not to
, ,

persecute th ose wh o diff er w ith her ; I kn ow all

these things are said ab out her ) But what she d oe s .

seek with the full ard or of her s oul is to bring

, ,

minds captive to the understanding of Christ to lead ,

wills to the gl ori ous liberty of the s ons of God to ,

thrill human hearts with the L ove that leaves all

others c old and to open eyes to a Beauty that leaves
,

all other beauty pai n And hence if any single

.
, ,

w ord of mine has lifted up b ut one s oul to a n obler

understanding of Chri st or fanned a single S park,

of l ove f or His cause into a flame or induced th e ,

tendrils of a S ingle heart to entw ine ab out th e Heart

of Hear ts then I shall believe that my w ords and
,

my life S hall n ot have been sp oken or lived in vain .

The H our will g o on under still n obler gu idance

, ,

but its end and purp ose will ever remain the same :
to bring the peace of Christ to the s ouls of our
c ountrymen There will be no w eap ons to make that
.

peace an armed peace but there will be two insigni

fi
,

cant instrumen ts used which have been used fr o m

,

the beginning and they will be the instruments O ur

,

L ord taught His A p ostles to use namely th o se of ,

fishermen and shepherds I might say theref ore we .

, ,

“ ”
will g o on by h ook and by cr ook and the h ook will
fi
be the h oo k of the Sh erm an and the crock will b e ,

the crock of the shepherd ; and with the h ook we

76 “
THE D IVI NE ROMANCE ”

will catch souls f or Chri st, a n d with th e crock we

p
will kee them eve n to th e end of ti me ; f or as sh
,
fi
ers of me p
n a n d sh e herds of souls we are committed
to the high desti n y of maki n g Christ th e K i n g of
human hearts a n d with on ly th e sign of Jon a s the
,

p r ophet the f ulfillmen t of that d esti n y can n ever be

,

d o ubted f or if Tru th wins C hrist wins ; if Truth

"
, ,
’
Ah b t
u tru th can t lose
.
 ARDINAL HAYE S STATES AIMS
C

O F T HE C ATHO L IC RAD I O H O U R

"S udi f h Nati al B adca i g C mpa y N w Y k

E ac
xtrt
t
f m hi a dd t
ro
o o
h i augu al p
t
g
e
am t
sh ress
on
a
ro
t e
st n
n r
o
ro
n ,
r
e
In
or
e

City, M a rch 2,

O ur g u
c on r at l ations and ur ratitude are exten ed to th e o g d
u l
N ati onal C o nci of Cath o i Men and its officials and to a lc ll
d
,

wh o by their financial supp ort have ma e it p ossible to use

f a c g v
, ,

thi s of er of th e N ati on l B road a stin C ompany Th e hea y

a ag g g a
.

exp ense of m n in and financin a weekly p rogr m its

u g
,

mu sical n mbers its sp eakers th e sub sequent answ erin of

, ,

inquiries mu st be m et That resp onsibility rests up on th e

c
.
,

N ati onal C ouncil of Cath oli Men

Th o
i s radi h our is f or all th e p eopl e of th e Unite S t tes d a
o fl c dd h
.

To ur e l ow itiz ens in thi s word of

- e icati on we wi s to
a n d a
, ,

ex p re ss c ordial greeting a d in e ed c ongr tulati ons For

v hc
.
, ,

th is radi o h our is one of ser ice to America whic ertainly

l n a
,

wil liste in inter estedly and even sympath etic lly I am

o e
to th e v i c c c
, ,

sure of th e an i ent Chur ch wi th its hi stori

c c
,

ba kground of all th e enturies of the Chri stian era and

h no c a
,

wit its own table ontribution to th e di sc overy ex pl or

f g u Cu
,

ti on ou ndati on and g rowth of our l ori o s o ntry .

u v f c
,

Th s to oic e b e ore a vast public th e Cath oli Church is

no light ta sk O ur p r ayers will be with th ose wh o have that
a d f c a
.

t sk in han We eel ert in that it will have b oth th e

g n g d o
.

ood will a d th e oo wi sh es of th e gr eat maj ority of ur

c ountry men Surely th ere is no tru e l over of our C ountry
-
.
,

wh o d oes not eagerly h op e f or a l ess worldly a l ess material

n a o d d go l
, ,

a d m re spiritua stan ar am on ur p eople

d
.

With good will wi th kin ness and with Chri st like sym pa -

g d
,

th y f or all thi s work is inau u rate So may it c ontinue

f d d
.
, .

So may it b e ulfill ed Thi s wor of d e icati on v oices th ere

f h h h o
.
,

ore th e op e that t i s radi o our may ser ve t make known

o h c o f c
, ,

t explain wi t th e harity of Christ ur aith whi h we

v f a
, ,

lo e even as we love Chri st Him sel M y it serve to make

e u f l l
.

bett r nderstood that aith as it rea ly is—a ight revealing

a o v
th e pathw y t g n
hea en : a stren th a d a p ower i ine dv
og o n
,

th r u h Chri st : pard oning ur si s el evating c onsecr ating

c d d
, ,

our om mon every ay uties and j oys b ringing not only

-

u c g n
,

j sti e but ladness a d p eac e to our s earching and ques

RADIO S TA T ION S B ROAD C A S T IN G T HE
“
L
C A TH O I C
H U O R
”

e
Spo ns or d b y th e N ational C o uncil ath lic M
C

"
of o en

Th e al
N ati on Broaaddcaa stingg CC oc n ro mpa y th u gh th o op e " e c r

Staati ons rn s es fu i h with ut cha

,

ti on of its A ssoc cia ted S

th e f aciliti es b a i wid w kly b adca t
, , o rg e,
byy W hich
wh l th i s n t on e -
ee ro s

is ma e p osa d blle )
slib .

N ew York
B o ston WEE I
P rovid enc e WJ AR
W orc ester WT
TA G
P o rtland Me , . WC SH
Philad elphia " WFI
Philadelphia “

Wa shington WRC
Sch nectady WGY
Buff al o WB E N
Pittsburgh WC A E
D etroit WWJ
A kro n WFJC
Cincinnati WSA I
St. L
oui s E SD
I

Ch icago WE N R
D avenp ort " WO C
Des Moines " I
WH O
O maha WO W
K ansa s City WDA F
D uluth S up eri or
-
WE B C
Minneap oli s St P -
. aul K STP

"
Th ese st ations bro adcast C a th olic H our a lt erna te wee ks .